PB&C Love Blossoms

There's a certain balance, complementing, and enhancing going on when sweet and salty get together. Like, who doesn't love the delicious union of chocolate and peanut butter? (Except maybe people allergic to peanuts... or chocolate...)

So if you need something salty for your sweetheart, or to sweeten up your salty friends... make these cute lil peanut butter and chocolate love blossoms. You can use the traditional chocolate kisses, but I thought the Dove chocolate hearts (thus "love") would be adorable for Valentine's Day or any day :-)

PB&C Love Blossoms
very slightly adapted from Bake at 350

1/2 C butter
3/4 C creamy peanut butter
1/3 C white sugar
1/4 C brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 C flour
44 chocolate hearts or kisses, unwrapped (you can unwrap while cookies bake)
more white sugar plus pink or red fine sanding sugar for rolling

Preheat the oven to 375.

Beat together the butter and peanut butter until smooth and combined. Beat in the sugars until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the soda and salt and mix until evenly distributed. Add the flour 1/2 C at a time, beating after each addition.

Mix about 1/4 C sugar and a few tablespoons of the colored sanding sugar into a small bowl. You can control just how intense the color is by how much of the colored sugar you add. I just wanted a hint, a blush of pink.

Scoop dough and roll into 1" diameter balls (I used my 1" scoop, pretty easy hehe). Roll in the sanding sugar and place on the lined cookie sheets about 1-2" apart. They won't spread much, so I was able to fit 20 on one sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until just golden.

As soon as they come out of the oven, carefully press a heart or kiss into each cookie. Allow to cool. Eat or share!

One afterthought: If you're like me and happen to eat a bunch of chocolates while you're prepping and suddenly find that you won't have enough for every cookie you make... before baking, just use your fork to press criss-crosses into them and bake for 6-7 minutes.  Also cute!

chocolate cut out cookies for your valentine

On Valentine's Day (and several other special days of the year, to include birthdays, weddings, and when my softball team wins), I want nothing more than to be sappy, happy, sentimental, and surrounded by puffy hearts and twinkly lights and pretty flowers. Yay hearts!

Regardless of if I'm single or lucky enough to be with a kinda awesome dude (hi!), I cheese OUT for Valentine's Day. My life is and always has been filled with love, and I get to "officially" recognize just how lovely life can be. I've been blessed with family that's pretty close despite the distances across states and continents (thanks Facebook). I've kept only the best of people in my life as friends and more (hi again, you rock!). Many of those friends have kept me company since childhood (high five to longevity). I have never had a traumatic Valentine's Day (heck one of my favorite ones was maybe 15 years ago spending a night with my other single girls giggling and watching a hot young Brad Pitt in Thelma and Louise). I never want for good food cuz I'm the one making it, haha. I get to SHARE said good food with the people in my life. Oh, and my car is hot and my home is cozy. Yup, lots of/to love in my life.

So, allow me to sweeten life up even more with some chocolate and hearts in one little cookie. I hope you get a chance to make these for someone who has made your life a little better, or for someone whose life you want to make better, or for yourself, cuz you make your own life Awesome.

Because these cookies ARE awesome. Perfect for Valentines Day, or maybe a bridal shower using the bride's colors, hehe (hi Miatta, congrats!). They taste like thin brownies. They're easy to work with and hold their shape, too. Instead of royal icing, I decorated with glace icing. I'm still pretty new to piping and stuff, so it's better you go HERE for the recipe and instructions. One note is that they do need to dry overnight, so plan ahead! They turned out dainty and pretty, and I hope the person getting these will love them as much as I do!

Brownie Roll Out Cookies
Adapted from The Busty Baker

3 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 C cocoa powder (I used dutch processed)
1/2 tsp espresso powder
2 sticks butter
1 1/3 C sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Sift together all the dry ingredients (from the flour to the espresso powder). Set aside.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Beat eggs in one at a time until combined. Mix in vanilla. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients until smooth. Make sure to scrape down the sides a few times to make sure it's even.

Separate dough into 3 quart bags. Flatten out so it's about 1" thick, then press out the air and zip closed. Refrigerate at least an hour or overnight.

When ready to roll out cookies... preheat oven to 350. Flour your work surface, turn a pack of dough out onto it, flour that and flour the rolling pin. Roll out your cookies to about 1/8" to 1/4" thickness. Cut out and lay on parchment lined baking sheets. It's best to chill cookies on the pan for another 5-10 minutes before you bake. I baked the small 2" cookies for 5-6 minutes, and the larger 3-4" cookies for 6-7 minutes. Allow to cool on the pan.

When completely cool, decorate with icing (again, see this link) and allow to dry overnight so you can stack them.

Christmas cookie staple: chocolate crinkles

Here's an oldie but goodie: choco crinkle cookies.

I haven't made this since 2008, and I don't know why... they're so good. Pretty, too. To get those contrasty cracks, you roll the dough in powdered sugar before baking, and then they spread in the oven to reveal the chocolatey goodness. Take a bite you get sweet and a deeply chocolate numminess with a hint of Christmas spice. The insides are almost fudgey, and the edges just crisp enough.

Chocolate Crinkles

3/4 C flour
3/4 C sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp butter
1/3 C cocoa powder (NOT dutch processed)
1 egg
1 tsp instant espresso that's been dissolved in 1 1/2 Tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 C chocolate chips
1/2 C powdered sugar

Combine first 5 ingredients (flour through cinnamon) in a large bowl and set aside. Melt butter and mix in the cocoa powder until smooth. Whisk in the egg, espresso, and vanilla. Pour over the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon to mix until combined. Mix in the chocolate chip cookies. Refrigerate while the oven preheats to 350. (Chilled dough will make it easier to scoop and roll around in the powdered sugar later.)

Put powdered sugar in a small bowl. Scoop a cookie and drop into the powdered sugar. Roll to coat. Place on cookie sheet. I bake 12 evenly placed on a sheet. Sprinkle just the tops with a bit more powdered sugar. Bake for 9 minutes. Allow to rest on the baking sheet about 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

This recipe makes exactly 24 when using a 1" scoop.

saved shortbread snafu: cacao nib lace cookies

On Wednesday when I came into a box of Sharffen Berger cacao nibs. I was soooo excited! I spent 3 days looking for recipes, and ultimately decided to use the Nibby Shortbread Cookie Recipe provided on the side of the box. For one of the only times in my life, I followed a recipe ingredients exactly. Do these look like shortbread? Nope! Because they so weren't. Clearly there was too much butter/not enough flour, because look how much they melted and spread. But thankfully they turned into something else, something delicate that still pack a wallop of flavor. So, I present to you... cacao nib lace cookies :-) 

Not what I expected, but sooo delightful. Light, crispy, super buttery with that punch and bite of cacao nib.

So what's a cacao nib? It's basically raw chocolate - the chocolate before it's processed with milks and sugar and other flavors to become the chocolate bars/chips you know and love. They're teeny little pieces that don't melt, so they stay crunchy in a recipe. Because it's unsweetened chocolate, there is a distinct chocolate flavor but it gives way almost instantly to a complex almost but not quite bitterness reminiscent of espresso. The flavor sings when added to something sweet, and these do exactly that.

The only thing I can possibly think of that I did wrong is over mix the batter. Oh, and I refrigerated the dough before baking, but I do that with all of my shortbreads to excellent results. But hey, if you follow this word for word, maybe yours will end up like shortbread. If they end up like these, though, you'll be just as lucky.

Cacao Nib Shortbread Lace Cookies
directly from the Scharffen Berger Cacao Nib Box

1 C butter, slightly softened
3/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
3 oz (1/2 package) Scharffen Berger Cacao Nibs
1 1/2 C all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Use paddle to cream butter, sugar, and salt just until incorporated. Mix in cacao nibs. Gradually add flour until combined. Do not over mix.

Using the palm of your hand, roll into 1" balls and flatten.

Place on cookie sheets, and bake 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.

Red Velvet Cookies

Happy 4th of July!

I love holidays - Give me a reason to make or bake up something theme-y, and I'm thrilled. One of these days when I have a family of my own, I'm so going to be That Mom who makes the tastiest little treats for back yard BBQs and t-ball games. I'll be That Mom who sends delectable home made goodies to school for birthdays (and to suck up to the teachers). One of these days...

Til then, I'll experiment here and there with fun themed things, like these red velvet cookies with a cream cheese icing and red and blue sprinkles. Patriotic, yay - just right to bring to a rooftop gathering to watch the DC fireworks tonight. You can use 2 of the cookies and sandwich the icing to make whoopie pies, but right now the individual cookies will do just fine. I doubled the original recipe, so this will make about 48 cookies or 24 sandwiches.

Red Velvet Cookies
adapted from Paula Deen

Cookies:
2 2/3 C flour
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 stick butter
1 3/4 C sugar
4 eggs
4 tbsp buttermilk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp red food coloring

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix together the dry ingredients - from the flour to the salt. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar together until thoroughly combined and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Using a silicone spatula so nothing gets stained, mix in the buttermilk, vanilla, and food coloring until well combined. Mix in dry ingredients until combined.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Use a medium cookie scoop (to scoop batter onto sheet, leaving at least 2" between each. Bake for 7-8 minutes or until top springs back when touched. Allow to cool on pan.

Cream Cheese Frosting
2 bars cream cheese
1 stick butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 C powdered sugar

Beat the cream cheese and butter together. Mix in the vanilla. Mix in powdered sugar -- taste along the way to get your desired sweetness.

This was submitted for the Sweets for a Saturday post over at Sweet as Sugar Cookies.

Happy National Macaron Day

Today is National Macaron Day. Yep, didn't know that macarons had their own day either. Good excuse to use part of my Memorial Day weekend to bake? Yes. BTW, I've also noticed that I've made enough macaron recipes that they should get their own tag. Yay macarons!

For the coffee lover, I made espresso macchiato macarons. A macchiato is a shot of espresso with a dollop of foam, so it's got the bite of espresso softened a bit. To mimic that, these have an espresso shell with a white chocolate ganache filling. (A side note about the ganache - don't let it chill too long or it'll be way too hard to spread like mine was, thus why it's a touch uneven.) The shell's intense and the white choco rounds off the edge. If you want a more mild coffee flavor, cut the espresso back to 1 tsp.

Espresso Macchiato Macarons

For the Shell:
90g aged egg whites
1-2 Tbsp sugar
110g blanced almonds
200g confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp instant espresso powder

For the Filling:
1/4 C heavy cream
6 oz good white chocolate
2 tbsp butter

Special equipment: food processor, sieve/fine mesh strainer

Age the egg whites: keep egg whites in a container in the fridge for 3-5 days, or at room temperature for 24 hours.

Make the shells: Combine the almonds, confectioners sugar and espresso powder and put into food processor and grind until it looks fine. Sift into a large bowl. Dump the stuff that doesn't go through the sieve back into the food processor and repeat. Keep repeating until the majority of if is sifted into the bowl.

In a super clean mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, start beating egg whites at medium speed. When it gets bubbly enough that it looks like bubbly dish soap, up the speed to high. Add the sugar little by little until the foam turns into shiny meringue, the consistency of shaving cream. Stop when you can make slightly stiff peaks.

Fold in half of the dry ingredients until mostly combined. Fold in the rest.  It's done when you can cut the spatula through the batter and it sinks back into itself in 10 seconds. It shouldn't take more than 50-55 strokes  total.

Pipe onto parchment lined baking sheets - about the size of a quarter or half dollar. Make sure to leave at least 1-2" between them because they'll spread. Let sit for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Bake shells 14-15 minutes. After they're cool, match up like-size shells to make sandwiches.

Make the filling: Chop chocolate well and put in a heat proof bowl. Heat cream in a small pot over medium heat until the edges start to bubble. Add to the white chocolate. Allow to sit for a minute. Stir until smooth. Whisk in the butter. Allow to cool to room temp. Beat again with a whisk. Fill the cookies.

As usual, all macaron recipes are inspired and adapted from Tartelette.

Baby Shower Cookies

Look how cute! They are ALMOST as cute as the mom-to-be :-)

Our girl, Genelle, is preggo. A few of us took on different roles to help throw her baby shower this past weekend, and of course I volunteered to do cookie duty! I wrapped them in individual baggies so guests could take them home as the favors. Since they don't want to know if it's a boy or girl yet, I went with some gender neutral baby shower themed sugar cookies. I am VERY happy with how cute they turned out. With some tweaking and practice, I can totally rock making decorated sugar cookies in the future.

I made sugar cookies with royal icing for a Daring Bakers challenge, but I used entirely different recipes this time around. I'm still tweaking them, so I'm just pictures to post at the moment.

Instead of royal icing, I used glacee icing. It's MUCH better tasting than royal icing and dries to a nice sheen so you can still stack cookies later.

Piping takes patience and practice. I'm still pretty new to it, but I doubt this'll be the last time I do it.

Can't wait to find out if they're having a boy or girl!

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Heart Day!

After my awesome macaron fail the other week, I was deterimined to try again. I did, and succeeded, just in time for Valentine's Day. Macarons are quite the labor of love - they require patience in aging the eggs and beating the meringue until just right, tenderness while mixing the sugar/almonds into the meringue, of course some sweetness, and definitely hope that they'll turn out well, lol! And a sense of humor to shape them like little hearts!

This is the 1st (successful) time I've flavored the macarons - these are chai macarons with pink honey vanilla buttercream. This time around, I did everything I didn't before - aged the eggs, measured by weight, didn't overbeat or overmix anything. And look how cute! These are definitely a sweet treat for Valentine's day.

I Heart Chai Macarons

90g aged egg whites
2 tbsp white sugar
110g blanched almonds
200g powdered sugar
2 chai spice tea bags

Combine almonds, sugar, and the contents of the 2 teabags in a food processor and process until fine. Sift the contents into a big bowl, and then regrind the big bits and then sift again. Repeat until it's all fine.

In a stand mixer, beat the egg whites on medium until foamy like bubble bath. Turn the mixer up to high and add white sugar a little at a time and beat until you get stiff peaks. Remove from stand mixer.

Add 1/2 of the almond mixture to the bowl and use a spatula to fold in. Add the rest of the almond mix and continue folding until the batter is evenly incorporated. You want to fold until you get a consistency where you cut the spatula across and the batter sinks back into itself after 10 seconds. The whole process shouldn't take more than 50 strokes.

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop batter into a disposable piping bag. Snip off a 1/2" opening. To make hearts, pipe Vs onto the baking sheets. Otherwise, pipe quarter sized rounds. Make sure to leave at least 1" between them as the batter will spread. Allow to sit for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 300. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on the baking sheets.

Per the usual, recipe adapted from Tartelette :)

Pink Honey Vanilla Buttercream
1 stick butter
3/4 C confectioners sugar
1 Tbsp honey
1 tsp vanilla
red food coloring (optional)

Beat all together. Scoop into a piping bag. Fill macaron shells.

oh macarons, you finicky bastards

Remember the first time I made macarons? I totally had beginners luck! And then the second time I made them? I pretty much impressed myself with how easily I took to these bad boys. You were probably thinking, what was she blabbering on about that first time about being all nervous about making macarons? Surely they can't be THAT difficult if she got it right the first time around... Sadly, my third time was NOT a charm.

Today's post will include no recipe, just pictures - THIS is why I was fretting way back when:

Where are the feet!? Why are the tops wrinkly? What are those black specks? (Oh wait, I remember now - those are tea leaves, hehe...) And how come this happened on my THIRD batch in the oven? I had to bake in 3 rounds... the 1st batch of the night came out nicely. The 2nd batch half of them rose with feet, the other half did not. The third batch? I'm still trying to wipe it from my memory.

First batch. Ooh pretty! Uniform. Smooth tops. All have distinct feet. Not as pretty as the last times, but hey I think they're acceptable... The texture of the cookie was right on.

Second batch: Um, something is amiss. Notice the cracks up top. And how the ones on the right have feet but the ones on the left do not. Some of them even had, like, half risen to create half a... foot?

And you saw the pictures of the 3rd batch. I may have just shed another tear. Those were supposed to be macarons?

I have theories as to why:
1) I didn't measure with a scale, and instead used cups and tablespoons per Tartelette's recipe via bell'alimento.
2) I didn't age the egg whites.
3) I overbeat the whites.
4) The tea made the batter too heavy so it didn't rise properly.
5) I overmixed the batter.

BUT. How come my first batch turned out fine but then they got progressively worse? I don't get it!

Ugh. That's TWO cookie FAILs this week. (I forgot I had no raisins when halfway through making oatmeal raisin cookies, and it was so late the stores weren't open, so there may or may not be a stand mixer hanging out on my counter with creamed butter/sugar and a bowl of dry ingredients hanging out next to it waiting for said raisins...) TWO! I haven't messed up a batch of cookies since those stupid choco chip cookies (and I really dont think that was ME who messed up.) This is ridiculous. OH, and to add insult to injury, I messed up my new manicure while piping that last batch of reject macarons. (And why was I piping while waiting for my nails to dry? Oh... let's not talk about that...)

Tomorrow I attempt this again. Notice I never said they tasted bad... in fact they are downright delicious! They're just not RIGHT. If they turn out well, I will post a recipe. I will probably do a happy dance too. And I really like to dance, so let's cross fingers that it works out!

another chocolate chip cookie

Who doesn't love a chocolate chip cookie, right? (And whoever doesn't, don't trust them!) I don't actually remember the last time I made a batch, so I figured I'd whip some up. It was also a good opportunity to try yet another recipe claiming to be the best. This time: Cooks Illutstrated's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies. These are so good they may actually live up to the name: I'm usually good at only having 2 or 3 cookies from a batch, but I Cannot. Stop. Eating these.

Funny thing is I posted a choco chip cookie recipe about a year ago. Didn't like it one bit. THIS recipe, though, I'd totally hit the like button if I had one! I dare say it's on par with, maybe even better than Alton Brown's recipe, which has been my go to classic CCC recipe for as long as I can remember. Like Alton Brown's, it involved an egg plus a yolk. Like the NYT recipe, I used chocolate disks. Unlike both, the CI version involves browned butter. (Sidenote #1: I've said it before and I'll say it again: browned butter = heaven, which may be the tipping point as to why this recipe is awesome!) (Sidenote #2: unlike most cookie recipes, you can also make this without a stand mixer, so added bonus I suppose.) My verdict = 9.5*. I could have been happy eating just the dough.

* I "accidentally" used 72% bittersweet chocolate disks for this recipe. By "accidentally" I mean that I was looking at a bunch of different recipes before baking, and bittersweet is what got stuck in my mind (I was looking at the NYT recipe). So I used the disks I had on hand, and it makes for a more sophisticated taste and I really liked how they created layers of chocolate to bite into. BUT. The Cooks Illustrated one calls for semisweet, and I bet it'd taste better because it's The Classic flavor. I have no doubt in my mind that had I used the semisweet, the flavor would be a solid 10! If I can't stop eating them now, I'm scared for when I do use the semisweet, lol.

Cook's Illustrated's Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie
(Trom the May/June 2009 issue by way of The Way the Cookie Crumbles)

14 tbsp unsalted butter, divided
1/2 C white sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 C bittersweet chocolate chips/disks/chunks* (see note above)

Over medium heat, melt 10 tbsp of butter in a saucepan or skillet. Continue cooking, swirling constantly, until butter turns slightly darker and smells nutty (or like toffee). Remove from heat and pour into a large heat proof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tbsp butter into it until melted.

Add white and brown sugars, vanilla, and salt to melted butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Whisk in the egg and egg yolk until mixture is smooth. Let it sit for 3 minutes, and then whisk again for 30 seconds. Repeat the 3 min-30 sec directions two more times. It should be lump-free, smooth and shiny.

Combine the flour and baking soda in a medium bowl and then mix until its even. Using a wooden spoon, stir into the butter mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate while you preheat the oven to 375.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. If using a large cookie scoop (about 2 tbsp size), place about 6 on the sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. If using a medium cookie scoop (about 2 tsp size), place about 8 on the sheet and bake for 7-9 min. Edges should just be golden brown and centers should still look soft. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet while the next round is baking.

Christmas macarons

For Christmas, my mom challenged me to make French macarons. Well, more accurately, I took it as a challenge when she asked if I'd ever made them before because she had some frozen macarons she brought back from France and didn't know how to make them herself. Something to compare my macarons to? Challenge accepted! Oh, THEN my mom says something along the lines of she can't believe I make all the stuff on my blog, haha. She's like, "I recognize the kitchen towels in the pictures and your dirty fingernail, otherwise I wouldn't believe it!" So this is a chance to impress her with my mad skillz and show her that I am a chip off the old block (half of my memories involving her are in the kitchen baking something) I told h er, well yes I do make it all, and yes I do know how to make macarons. Wanna see?

I followed the same recipe for the shells I used last time, and then filled them with a simple chocolate ganache. Love the classic combination. And while the macarons my mom brought back were flavored, so not an exact comparison to mine... We can both confirm that the texture of the macaron cookies themselves were spot on, so Victory is mine!

Macarons and Chocolate Ganache Filling
adapted from Tartelette

3 egg whites, aged 1-3 days (large eggs)
2-3 tbsp white sugar
110 grams blanched almonds
200 grams powdered sugar

Prepare/Age the eggs: Separate the whites from the yolks, place whites in a really really clean bowl, and cover loosely. Let it sit at room temperature 1 to 3 days. I aged mine for 3 days. You can also refrigerate up to 5 days.

Prepare the almond meal: Combine almonds and confectioners sugar in a food processor and proccess until it's very fine. Sift through a strainer to keep the big bits out and regrind as necessary, until pretty much all of it can be sifted through.

Make the meringue: In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until foamy -- it should look like a bubble bath. Continue beating and add sugar little by little (I added 2 tbsp worth) just until it forms a glossy meringue that looks like shaving cream - you should just get stiff peaks.

Add about half the almond meal/powdered sugar mix to the meringue and mix in - about 10 strokes. Gently fold in the rest of the dry mix until it comes together. You know it's done if you cut your spatula through it and it sinks back into itself within 10 seconds. You can also take a little bit and dollop it onto a plate - it should flatten on its own. If it's got peaks, fold a couple more times. This whole thing shouldn't take more than 50 strokes.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Fill a pastry bag or zip top bag with the batter. If using a zip top bag, snip off the bottom corner when ready to pipe. Pipe small rounds the size of a quarter onto the baking sheets. It should spread a little, so leave an inch between each one. Let sit for 1 hour so the shells harden. Preheat oven to 300.

Bake for 12-14 minutes. Look, more feet!

 
Chocolate Ganahce
 
1/3 C heavy cream
1/2 tsp instant espresso
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped well
 
Put chocolate into a small bowl. Heat heavy cream over medium high heat until the edges start to bubble. Mix in espresso powder until dissolved. Pour over the chocolate and let sit for 2 minutes. Stir until smooth. Allow to cool until thick enough to pipe.
 
Assemble the macarons: Match up similar sized/shaped cookies. Pipe or spoon about 1 tbsp of the ganache in between and sandwich the cookies. Allow to cool/set completely (I just did this overnight) so flavors can meld. Enjoy!

iced chocolate peppermint snaps

Behold, the one Christmas cookie recipe I will be posting before Christmas. Just under the wire, lol. They're basically thin mints topped with white chocolate and crushed candy canes... perfect for the holidays! Big thanks to Carly for trying the recipe first and sending me a sample. So good I had to try for myself :-)

These crisp cookies are adapted from Martha Stewart's recipe. I didn't get 60 cookies the way she did, I got 36 uniform square cookies. I skipped her method of chilling discs of dough then rolling them out and cutting out circles. I went the shortcut method (that I picked up from a post on one of the first blogs I started reading, Smitten Kitchen): after mixing the dough, dump into a gallon size ziplock bag, roll until unform, chill, then cut away the plastic and cut squares. That method is SO much neater and in my opinion much simpler to cut out cookies. And I'm all about easier and neater during this majorly hectic cookie baking season!

Iced Choclate Peppermint Snaps
adapted from Martha Stewart

1 C flour
1/2 C dutch processed cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
5 tbsp butter
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp peppermint extract
crushed candycanes -- about 20 small ones
8oz white chocolate

Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and powder, and salt in one bowl. Beat butter and sugar on medium high until well combined - 2-3 minutes. Reduce speed to med-low and mix in the egg, then the yolk, then extract - beating well after each addition. Slowly mix in the flour mixture, mixing until just combined.

Dump into a gallon size bag, zip about 75% so air can escape while you roll it out. Roll it to about 1/8" thickness -- will take up about 3/4 of the bag. Zip, and refrigerate flat for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.

Preheat oven to 325. Cut edges of the ziplock so you can peel back one side, exposing the flat dough. Cut with a knife or pastry wheel into 36 squares like so:

Arrange on baking sheet with at least 1" between each cookie. Bake for 11-13 minutes then cool completely on a cooling rack that's over newspaper or something you won't mind throwing away later...

Chop up white chocolate and put into a microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 30-second bouts, stirring between each one, until chocolate is melted. Put into a piping or ziplock bag and snip a small piece off the end. Drizzle over the cookies. (You can also just dip a fork into the chocolate and drizzle, but the bag was a lot neater cuz I just tossed it out afterwards. This is also why you want something under the cookies to catch the extra drizzle.) Sprinkle with the crushed peppermint. Allow to dry completely (I let it sit overnight) and then enjoy!

meringue kisses

Meringues are some of the simplest and most versatile cookies to make. Cookies? Confections? Whatever, lol. I say simple because the most basic merginue only has 2 (maybe 3) ingredients: egg whites and sugar... and maybe salt (or cream of tartar) as a stabilizer. Versatile because you can flavor them pretty much any way you can imagine - use a vanilla bean, extracts, zests, spices, etc. This time I made one batch and split it into vanilla and chocolate.

I found out AFTER I made this recipe that meringues generally fall into two categories: The kind that creates something of a crisp shell and a marshmallowy center. I associate this texture more with pavlovas (basically a topped meringue, lol) than cookies. These are also delicious, and you get the contrasting textures which is interesting. There's also the kind that's crisp all the way through, which is my favorite because it kind of crumbles then melts on your tongue when you eat. And apparently it tastes kinda like the marshmallows you get in kids cereals, lol. I attained both textures when I made these -- I got the marshmallowy one first, then decided I wanted it crisp, so I dropped the oven temp to 200 and baked for another 25 minutes to dry it out. Turned out just the way I liked it!

Two tips: First, since you just gotta say it when it comes to making meringues: CLEAN BOWL! CLEAN UTENSILS! Clean = Successful :-) Second, did you notice how my chocolate ones kind of cracked? I shouldn't have opened the oven door so many times. And to avoid cracking as they cool, I turned off the oven, cracked open the oven door, then let them cool slowly that way.

Meringue Kisses

3 egg whites

1/8 tsp cream of tartar

3/4 C superfine sugar (food process granulated sugar for about 30 seconds to make superfine), divided

1 vanilla bean, split and caviar scraped

1 tbsp cocoa powder

Special equipment: stand mixer (preferably), and 2 piping bags and tips (one for each flavor)

Preheat oven to 300. Line 2 pans with parchment paper.

Mix vanilla caviar into 1/2 of the sugar and set aside. Combine egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment and beat at medium spead until foamy. Turn mixer to high. Add the plain sugar slowly, a table spoon at a time. Then add the vanilla sugar little by little, all while the mixer is running. Beat until glossy and stiff peaks form (check by sticking a spoon in and pulling out real quick - peak should stand straigt up like in the pics above. Also, make sure your mixer is OFF before you do that!) Also, check that most of the sugar is dissolved - if you rub it between your thumb and finger, it shouldn't be too grainy.

For the vanilla meringes, fill first piping bag with half the meringue. To make the chocolate ones - fold the cocoa powder into the 2nd half of the batter. Once it's even, fill other piping bag. Pipe 1-1/2" rounds onto baking sheets. (Should make approximately 30 of each.) Bake for 30-35 minutes. If you like marshmallowy center meringues, turn off oven, crack door, and allow to cool. If you want it completely crispy, drop the temp to 200 and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, then turn off oven, crack door, and allow to cool.

Store in an airtight container.

I put some out at Friendsgiving, then paired them up in little baggies for guests to take home:

pumpkin cookies with browned butter icing

I like the idea of Martha Stewart, but don't actually know enough about her style to know if I like her. I've watched her, but never tried any of her ideas to know if I'm a fan or not. I even get her cookie a day emails, but is the first time I've ever actually made anything. Based on these alone, I'm now a fan :-) It was the browned butter icing that caught my eye -- because browned butter is amazing and I have no idea how I lived without it until recently when I made some for a Daring Bakers challenge (which I haven't actually posted, whoops). Holy canoli browned butter is good. So put that on a cookie? Heck yeah I'm in. I also happened to have a lone can of pumpkin in my pantry, and it's getting to be pumpkin and Halloween time, so here I am with these:

After baking them, I wouldn't exactly call them cookies. I understand there are different textures and types of cookies, but I generally don't like this kind... These were basically dollops of cake. Or mini muffin tops. And you know what, they were really GOOD little cakey muffin tops. By themselves, they're fluffy and spiced just right that I kept popping them in my mouth. But then there's the icing... That browned butter icing where you see flecks of the browned parts. Ridiculous. It's rare I meet a cookie that I can't stop eating - I'm usually happy with 2 or 3 in a batch. I could not stop eating these. This recipe easily makes over 5 dozen little cookies... so I had to give them away to save me from myself because I really could have eaten all of them. They're delightful.

Pumpkin Cookies (little pumpkin muffin tops) with Browned Butter Icing
adapted from Martha Stewart

Cookies:
2 3/4 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 tsp ground ginger
3/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 C (1 1/2 sticks) butter
2 C brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
2 large eggs
1 15-oz can pumpkin (not pumpkin pie, straight up pumpkin) minus 2 tbsp
3/4 C evaporated milk
2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 375. Sift together the dry ingredients - flour through the nutmeg. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Mix in eggs. Slowly mix in the pumpkin, evaporated milk, and extract until well blended. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dish out cookies -- you can either use a 1-1/2" scoop then slightly flatten, or pipe out 1-1/2" rounds. I did both, and got the same general result. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool on sheet while you bake the next set. Allow cookies to cool completely before icing.

Icing:
1 1/4 sticks butter
4 C confectioners sugar, sifted
1 tbsp vanilla
1/4 C evaporated milk

Sift the sugar into a bowl. In a small, light colored bottom pot or pan, melt butter over medium heat. Cook, swirling occasionally, until golden brown. (The milk solids will fall to the bottom of the pan - cook until they get a nice milk-chocolatey brown and the butter darkens a bit. But don't cook too long or it'll burn - it should smell a bit nutty, or like toffee.) Immediately add to the sugar (make sure to get allll the brown bits). Add the vanilla and evaporated milk, then mix until smooth. If it's too firm to spread, add a bit more evap milk. Ice cookies. Try not to eat the icing straight.

Note -- this icing doesn't harden completely. It'll develop a shell, but it's a soft icing that'll squish, so when storing, don't stack them or the icing will stick. That's it you don't eat them all.

daring bakers: decorated sugar cookies

The September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mandy of “What the Fruitcake?!” Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking. You can find the recipe on Mandy's blog. I followed the cookie recipe almost exactly - I just added a tsp or two of cinnamon to spice it up a touch!

We were supposed to decorate these cookies with a "September" theme. And while most of the American population starts thinking about football come September, I think of the same thing I think of for 3/4 of the year: softball. September is the beginning of the last season of the year - that last 8 weeks before the cold kicks in and I trade in the glove and ball for, well, different kind of gloves and balls (ski gloves and dodgeballs, but not at the same time!) I currently play on 3 teams, and because of the timing of when I got to bake, these cookies are dedicated to my Sunday night team, the Coconut Banger's Ball Club:

Super cute, right!

So I made cinnamon sugar cookies, and topped them with vanilla icing. We weren't required to make royal icing from scratch, so the first round of cookies I used a store bought cookie decorating icing. That's what I used on the stars. But I wanted to try the royal icing, too, so I whipped up a batch using meringue powder and used it to make the softballs. I have no idea if it turned out the way it was supposed to... but the icing dried well enough so I assume I got it right. I used a decorating writing icing tube thing for the red, blue, and yellow writing/outlines.

rugelach

I haven't yet met a rolled food I don't like. Cinnamon rolls, sushi, croissants, lumpia, mocha rolls, those little canned crescent dough things... And to add one more to the list - rugelach.

Pronounced "rug-uh-la," these are little rolled Jewish cookie - tender, just sweet enough, and completely addictive. It's either a yeast-based dough or a cream cheese based dough (like this one) that's rolled into a circle, then spread with a variety of fillings (jam, cinnamon sugar, chocolate, nuts and berries, etc - I'm partial to apricot preserves!), then cut into triangles that are rolled into little crescent shapes. They can also be shaped into logs and cut into little pieces:

While rugelach are common enough that you can get them almost anywhere, they're particularly popular during Jewish holidays - and given that Rosh Hashanah just ended yesterday, I had to try my hand at them. Okay that's not entirely true, hehe, I'd already been planning to make these this week because I had some awesome ones in this deli in NY last weekend. Then I noticed all the happy new year statuses from my Jewish friends on facebook... good timing, right!

Rugelach
from Ina Garten

Dough:
8oz bar cream cheese, room temperature
2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 C flour

Filling:
1/3 to 1/2 C apricot preserves (or your jam of choice)
6 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp cinnamon
raisins (I used golden raisins)
mini chocolate chips

and one egg for the egg wash

Make the dough: Cream the cream cheese and butter until light. Beat in the sugar, salt, and extract. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour until just incorporated. On a lightly floured surface, form into a ball. Cut into 4 equal parts, flatten into discs, wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least for several hours, or better yet, over night.

Prepare the filling: Combine the sugar and cinnamon. Place jam in a small microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds. Stir until it's all liquidy.

Make the cookies: Lightly flour your work space. Take out one disc of dough and roll out into a 9" circle. Spread a thin layer of jam evenly over the circle, leaving a 1/2" border. Sprinkle with a tsp of cinnamon sugar. (If making chocolate rugelach, spread a super thin layer of jam and cinnamon sugar like above, then sprinkle the mini choco chips evenly, then press into the dough so it'll be secure when you roll it up. If making the raisin one, first sprinkle the raisins with a bit of cinnamon sugar and give them a rough chop. Then same directions - super thin layer of jam, a bit of cinnamon sugar, press chopped raisins into dough.)

Use a pizza cutter or large knife to cut the disc into 12 wedges (like a piza is cut). Starting from the wide end, roll each wedge towards the point. (Keep in mind you can also roll into a long rectangle that's 4-5" wide, then spread, roll, and cut.) Place the roll with the point on the bottom (so they don't unwrap) onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350 while it chills.

Beat the egg in a small bowl, then add a bit of water and beat well to make the egg wash. Brush each cookie lightly with egg wash. Sprinkle with sugar -- you can use more cinnamon sugar, turbinado, sanding sugar, or just plain sugar. Bake for 17 minutes.

Makes 48 cookies.

first time's a charm: french macarons

You ever have moments where you want to throw your arms in the air and shout, Queen of the Kitchen! Cuz tonight I definitely did. I present to you: French macarons.

So the first time I ever tasted a French macaron was maybe a month or two ago. I talked Brandt into baking some - purely because I was too intimidated to make them myself. Intimidated? Yeah. Google the French macaron and you'll see so many blogs talking about how tempramental macarons can be. Meringues in general can be tricky, so making a little treat where the meringue is simply the base? Ugh. Let someone else make it. Hi Brandt! Okay so he made them, right, and they were good! As much as I bake/cook I don't usually go back for seconds after I try anything that first time, but I think I ate, like, half a dozen... and it would have been more had he not run out.

Flash forward to this week when I decided it was time to tackle macarons myself. Was I still intimidated? Yup. I mean I've been researching these puppies for weeks now... seen plenty of pictures of failed ones, read lots of stories of how many times someone had to try it before it finally worked out. Where are the feet!? They shells are too bumpy! They didn't puff up! They puffed up too much! I looked at these freshly piped dollops of batter and mentally prepared myself for the worst.

There is a flip side to all that research. I read about all the techniques needed to make these a success. I learned that it will take anywhere from 1 to 5 days for the whole process start to finish. I learned that weighing them is your best bet (but estimated conversions will be listed below.) I learned that by letting the batter sit for a while after piping, their outside shells will harden a bit. I'm guessing that makes for a very delicate top. I took all the tips into account, and these turned out exactly right -- crisp delicate top, airy middle, meringue-y cookie part. Smooth tops. And look at the feet! Queen of the kitchen!

The recipe below is for the shells. A macaron is basically a sandwich with 2 shells and a filling - often ganache, buttercream, jam, or curd. In my first picture, I filled them with key lime curd, peach preserves, and raspberry jam. (I had all three in my fridge, convenient yay!) The curd was my favorite, though I look forward to trying a flavored buttercream or ganache... and to trying different shell flavors too. In the mean time, heck, I could happily eat the shells by themselves!

One more note: Of the dozens (seriously, dozens) of blogs I read to find recipes and tips, the vast majority of the variations are based off of Tartlette's recipe. Apparently she is the macaron goddess. Thus, this recipe is from Tartlette.

French Macarons

90g egg whites (just a touch less than 3 egg whites)
25-50g vanilla sugar (2 tbsp to 1/4 C)
110g blanched almonds (about 3/4 C)
200g confectioners sugar (about 1 1/2 C)

Prepare/Age the eggs: Separate the whites from the yolks, place whites in a really really clean bowl, and cover loosely. Let it sit at room temperature 1 to 3 days. I aged mine for 3 days. You can also refrigerate up to 5 days.

Prepare the almond meal: Combine almonds and confectioners sugar in a food processor and proccess until it's very fine. Sift through a strainer to keep the big bits out and regrind as necessary, until pretty much all of it can be sifted through.

Make the meringue: In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the egg whites until foamy -- it should look like a bubble bath. Continue beating and add sugar little by little (I added 2 tbsp worth) just until it forms a glossy meringue that looks like shaving cream - you should just get stiff peaks.

Add about half the almond meal/powdered sugar mix to the meringue and mix in - about 10 strokes. Gently fold in the rest of the dry mix until it comes together. You know it's done if you cut your spatula through it and it sinks back into itself within 10 seconds. You can also take a little bit and dollop it onto a plate - it should flatten on its own. If it's got peaks, fold a couple more times. This whole thing shouldn't take more than 50 strokes.

Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Fill a pastry bag or zip top bag with the batter. If using a zip top bag, snip off the bottom corner when ready to pipe. Pipe small rounds - about 1" in diameter - onto the baking sheets. It should spread a little, so leave an inch between each one. Let sit for 1 hour so the shell hardens.

Preheat oven to 300. Bake for 14-18 minutes, depending on the size. My small ones baked in 15 minutes. I made bigger ones (about 2" diamater) and they took 16 min.

2 thumbs up: thumbprint cookies

I had a hankering to bake tonight, so I scrolled down my mental list of recipes to try and I settled on thumbprint cookies. They're so simple and I almost always have all the ingredients on hand. And there's something really homey about them, especially when done well. I've had well done cookies (hi Mary), so I figured I'd give a recipe a go. These turned out buttery, crisp but chewy, and cozy. There's room to tinker with it - try a different jam or give it a glaze - to dress it up a bit. But on their own, they're lovely.



Thumbprint Cookies
adapted from Food Network Kitchens

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 C sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 C flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
seedless raspberry jam

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Mix in egg and vanilla until just combined. Stir in the dry ingredients until combined. Refrigerate while the oven preheats at 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Scoop and form into 1.5" balls and place on cookie sheet. Use the back of a 1/2 tsp measuring spoon to press an indentation into the center of the ball. This is the thumbprint part, so you can, in fact, use your thumbs to do this. Fill with about 1/2 tsp of jam. Bake for 14 minutes or until edges just brown.

Makes about 2 dozen.

the first chocolate chip cookie I *didn't* like

Recently I've been craving an American classic: chocolate chip cookies.



Now which one to make? My oatmeal choco chip one is one of my signature cookies, so no need to make that again. Alton Brown's The Chewy is delicious and my go to regular chocolate chip cookie. I've tried the NYT cookie and thought that was pretty good. I tried the recipe Ghirardelli printed on their can of choco chips. And of course I've made the classic Tollhouse cookie. I know how all of those taste. While they're all good, I'm always on the look out for other recipes to try. Maybe there's something better out there, and maybe there's not. But only one way to find out...

Instead of searching for another random chocolate chip cookie recipe online, I went with something right in my living room. This particular chocolate chip cookie came from one of my Christmas gifts: the book Baking by James Peterson. From the look of the recipe I already knew it'd be different from any of the ones I'd already tried. Only 1 egg yolk, bittersweet chocolate, and an odd butter to sugar ratio? What the hell... maybe this would Wow me.

And honestly, it didn't. They're pretty cookies, don't get me wrong... but I love a chewy, caramely, gooey centered, crisp edged cookie. These were sandy and crispy throughout, almost like shortbread. There was no balace of dough flavor to the strong chocolate at all. Full disclosure, though: I left out the nuts (I'm definitely in the no nuts in choco chip cookies camp) and maybe that would have helped the flavor balance, but by texture alone I was not a fan. But in case you do like nuts and crispier cookies... here is the recipe to try.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Baking by James Peterson

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped

1 C flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt (kosher)

3/4 C butter, sliced

1/4 C white sugar

1/4 C brown sugar

1 egg yolk

1 tsp vanilla

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Mix in the egg yolk and vanilla. Dump in all of the flour mix then mix until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Refrigerate at least 30 min.

Preheat oven to 375.

To make approx 12 large cookies, scoop 2 tbsp of dough, round into a ball and flatten a bit. Bake for 12-14 min. To make approx 20 medium cookies (my personal preference), scoop 1 tbsp of dough into a ball, place on cookie sheet, bake 8-9 min.

They sure are pretty, and would be great with a glass of milk.

baby it's cold outside

Can you read that? Yesterday's snow forecast: Washington DC 16-24". They called it thundersnow. Was it an exaggerated weather forecast? Nope, not at all. It's everything they said it'd be and more. After a solid 24-26 hours of snowfall, it looks like marshmallow fluff, 2 feet deep, covering EVERYTHING.

Wanna see? I do!

This was the front yard at my Dad's house around 11am. I packed up half my kitchen and braved the roads to come over last night. What better time than a huge snow storm to bond with the family, right? Plus his neighborhood is prettier (and his TV is bigger and I won't have to cook myself meals).

And this was the front yard again around 8pm. Notice my brother's car... On Fri night he put the wipers up so they wouldn't freeze to the glass. Last night, couldn't see them at all. (Aww look at the sparkly christmas lights.)

So needless to say, we're snowed in, so I baked. Unfortunately I don't have pictures from what I baked yesterday :) I made the awful realization that my camera can only hold a few pictures because my SD card is missing. It's very likely in my work computer... My OLD work computer... the one gave back to IT to replace last week. Ugh. So I'm really hoping that it hasn't been lost completely.

What I DO have are pics from my baking night with my buddy Alan. We made some jelly things, chocolate crinkles, and these mint chocolate swirls. They're light and crunchy, not too sweet, and very cute. Alan had one of those small magazines full of holiday baking... I think it was Betty Crocker, but the photo copy of the recipe doesn't say for sure.

Chocolate Wintergreen Swirls

1 1/2 C powdered sugar

1 C butter or margarine, room temp

1 egg

2 1/2 C flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 C powdered cocoa

1 Tbsp milk

1/4 C mini choco chips (optional)

1/4 tsp peppermint extract

4 drops food coloring (also optional)

Beat together powdered sugar, butter, and egg until smooth. Stir in flour and salt. Split dough into 2 equal sections -- stir milk and powdered cocoa into one half, and the peppermint and food coloring and chips into the other.

Roll out dough onto some waxed paper into equal sized rectangles about 7" by 13". Lay the minty dough onto chocolate one so the edges are as flush as possible. Roll into a tight log, then wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 325. Cut roll into 1/4" thick slices. Place about 1" apart on parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Enjoy!