Adventures in Food
Posts tagged cookies
Basket cookies & bunny bread
Apr 6th
Anybody want a cookie?
For Easter I wanted to pass along a couple ideas I came up with while roaming through our neighborhood Italian shop, Alesci’s. Over the holidays, the bakery puts out their version of pupa cu l’ova, or basket cookies, a traditional Italian Easter treat. The idea behind the cookies is to bake an egg tucked into a cookie dough “basket.” Roaming online recipes, I found various ways to do this–sometimes the egg was hard-boiled, other times it wasn’t. Sometimes the egg was already dyed, others went sans color.
The sizable basket cookies at Alesci’s are made with a stiff biscotti dough that’s thickly glazed with powdered sugar and then tossed with multi-colored sprinkles. From what I could tell (and I’d have to happily research this by eating more), the cookies are baked, glazed, and then while still warm the hard-boiled egg is pressed into the cookie. Some recipes call for baking the cookies with the egg inside. My thought is if you want to try this at home, you could make a regular sugar cookie dough spiked with a little bit of anise. I’m going to have to try that for next year.
Don't eat the egg in the middle--it's just for decoration!
But what I did make with my kiddos is some bunny bread. We used pizza dough to create our edible bunnies. I rolled out the dough and then had the kids use a biscuit cutter for the bunny heads and simply cut the ears out with a kitchen knife. For the eyes we used black beans, but olives would work well too. We experimented with the nose and teeth. An overturned mushroom stood in for teeth on a couple of our bunnies. My daughter made a pepperoni smile for another. We did make one big bunny by stretching the dough out into a circle but in the end my teen noted it looked more like a pig than a bunny. Ah well, I wanted some sort of Easter treat for my kids that didn’t involve sugar and this one turned out tasty–and fun. Happy holidays everyone!
The floppy eared bunny
This one looks more like a pig, huh?
Bye bye bunny!
Holiday sweets round-up
Dec 22nd
From simple cookies to rich cakes, here are some ideas to make your holidays a little sweeter.
Cookies
Viennese cookie
For all of the flavor of Linzer cookies without the work, try check out this version I came up with for Wandering Educators.
Make these beautiful cookies in minutes to give away to neighbors–or to eat with your kids.
Loaded with hazelnut flavor, Nutella is one of my favorite holiday ingredients (okay, I use it all year, but around Christmas I buy it in bulk.)
Last minute school party that you need to take treats to? These whip up in minutes and kids love ‘em.
Brownies and Bars
Mudgie's Brownie Waffle
These dessert waffles are great with berry sauce or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cheese Bars
Make a pan of these sweets to serve at your next holiday party.
These little treats pack big, creamy flavor!
Cakes
Mmmm...cheesecake
Raspberry Chocolate Truffle Cheesecake
This is a Christmas tradition around our house.
You literally throw the ingredients together for this dessert that tastes like German Chocolate cake.
Add mint chips to the batter to make this cake even tastier.
Halloween chocolate sugar cookies
Oct 28th
Instead of decorating the usual sugar cookies for Halloween–what about starting with a chocolate dough? I used this recipe to make my Harry Potter sorting hat cookies, but the intense chocolatey, workable dough is perfect for any kind of cookie cut-outs. I used my Halloween linzer cookie maker to craft my cookies.
I’ve been packing these in my kids’ lunch bags all week.
Here’s the recipe:
Chocolate butter cookie dough
*Adapted from King Arthur Flour’s Baking Companion Cookbook
Yield: Depends;)
Prep time: 30 minutes + baking, fridge time
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cocoa (*see note below)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 butter at room temperature (not margarine)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tablespoon water
1/2 Tablespoon honey or agave
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)
Vanilla frosting
Directions
- Cream the butter and sugars together.
- Add the egg, water, honey and extract (if using) to the butter mixture. Blend well.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. *Note: to get the dark color try using Hershey’s special dark cocoa at the grocers or order dark cocoa powder from King Arthur Flour.
- Gently mix the dry ingredients gently into the batter just until incorporated.
- Place dough on waxed paper, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or until solid.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line your cookie pans with parchment paper.
- Working with 1/3 of the dough at a time and leaving the rest refrigerated, roll out the dough, using flour (or cocoa) and a rolling pin, to 1/8″ thick.
- Bake the cookies for 7 minutes and then check on them. You don’t want to overcook them!
- Remove the pan and allow the cookies to cool ON the pan.
- Decorate with frosting, sprinkles…
Your turn–making any Halloween sweet or meals this weekend?
Kumquat cookies
Jun 8th
After posting about kumquats last week I just wanted to pass along a cookie recipe that was a big hit with my kids. You use the kumquat puree to give the cookies a boost of citrusy sourness. The cookies puff up more like pumpkin ones than dense chocolate cookies. I pulled this right from the Kumquat Growers website but made a few changes. (White chocolate chips–nope, dark chocolate!)
I also made another change, the dough isn’t very sweet. I like that but on half of the cookies I sprinkled Lavender Vanilla Sugar (thanks for the care package mom!). The floral aroma and flavor boosted the kumquats’ tanginess. Plus, my kids liked sharing them with their friends outside so they could say, “Would you like a Lavender Kumquat Cookie?” You just don’t have those everyday.
Recipe
See all the bits of kumquat on the cookies? And the Lavender sugar?
Ingredients
2/3 cup margarine or butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup kumquat purree
Directions
- Cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy.
- Beat the eggs into the creamed butter one at a time.
- In a small bowl combine the remaining dry ingredients.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, combine.
- Add the kumquat puree, combine, then stir in the chocolate chips.
- Refrigerate the dough for 1 hour until stiff.
- Bake at 375 degrees on lightly greased cookie sheets for 10-12 minutes or until just browned.
Makes 2 dozen cookies.
Cherry chocolate chip oatmeal cookies from The Cherry Stop
Jun 1st
As promised, here’s a cookie recipe from Jamie Roster, who happens to co-own with her husband The Cherry Stop, in Traverse City, Michigan, better known as the tart cherry capital of the U.S.
Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups, quick cooking oatmeal
1 1/2 cups dried tart cherries
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Cream the butter and sugars together. Whip in the eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and oats.
- Mix the dry ingredients in with the wet. Stir in the cherries and chocolate chips.
- Use a tablespoon to drop dough balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Makes 4 dozen cookies.
Koeze’s Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe
Mar 30th
These are the most peanutty cookies I’ve ever made–or tasted. This recipe comes courtesy of the Koeze company.
Recipe
Prep time: 15 minutes + baking
Servings: 20 cookies
Ingredients
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup Cream-Nut peanut butter
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 stick butter, room temperature
2 Tablespoons honey
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (chips are fine)
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Cream the peanut butter and butter together in a large bowl. Add the sugars and then the egg and vanilla.
- In a smaller bowl, mix together the remaining dry ingredients (except the chocolate).
- Add the dry ingredients slowly to the creamed ingredients. Mix just until moistened. Stir in the chocolate.
- Place small dough balls onto the cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes or until just barely browned. Let the cookies cool on the pan before transferring.
Do you really need it? Cast iron cookie pan
Mar 18th
I’m a sucker for kitchen gadgets. I couldn’t live without my mini-frother, my digital meat thermometer, or my muffin whisk (it’s a crazy contraption that looks more like a rug beater but ensures that “just moist batter consistency recipes call for). So when I saw a cast iron cookie pan for sale, I thought, Well I’ve gotta try that out. Did I mention I’m a sucker for sales too?
In my defense, my thought was to use it to make a creamy cheese dish that I’d had in an Italian restaurant. You need a small cast iron pan to do it and I figured this one would work–and it would also make perfectly crisped cookies (cue TV personality voice while you say that). But here’s what happened–I tried the cookie mix that came with the pan, I didn’t expect much with the flavor and I wasn’t disappointed. It tasted like cakey chocolate chip brownies, not anything like a good, chewy cookie. But hey, that’s a mix. With my cookie recipe, it would turn out beautifully, right? I mean, I love my regular-sized cast iron pan.
Well, despite coating the pan with plenty of baking spray, the cookie batter stuck to the pan. Worse, it cooked unevenly leaving the center of the cookie doughy and the outside burnt to a crisp. Sigh. The cast iron cookie pan was in the realm of TV infomercials, not essential gadetry, as I’d hoped. I even burned my hand on the pan when I thought it was cool and of course the pan was still plenty hot 10 minutes after coming out of the oven.
I thought about my gadget fixation while taking an online quiz on what kind of cleaning personality I have on Motherboard. Did my penchant for gizmos mean I’d be destined to be a micro-cleaner, obsessed with ridding my kitchen of spots? Or did I have a closet hoarder habit that manifests itself in the kitchen? Well, I fell squarely into the good-enougher, center-of-the-road category. As far as cleaning goes that means I’m not likely to dust until you can write your name in the specks and when it comes to filling up the dishwasher, I cram it. But what does it mean in the kitchen? I think I need to develop my own version and call it, What kind of meal maker are you?
Here’s my kitchen tweak:
When it comes to cooking are you…
A) A domestic diva! who whips up souffles no problem.
B) A good-enougher who’s willing to take a few shortcuts as long as dinner is still delicious (hello, canned tomatoes!)
C) A cable show candidate who throws in whatever ingredients are handy figuring it will either taste okay or land you a spot on America’s Worst Cooks.
I figure, I’m a good-enougher–with a healthy dose of creative cooking steam mixed in–what about you?
Why aren’t you using…almond extract?
Feb 2nd
I ran out of vanilla extract a few months ago. And I haven’t missed it.
Instead almond extract has become my go-to addition to cookies, cakes and all things sweet.
Pop the cap of the almond extract and you might be a little overwhelmed with the pungent scent that only hints of almond. But baked into goodies, the flavor mellows and deepens giving sweets an added boost of nuttiness.
Your turn–are you an almond extract fan? Are you ready to swap out your vanilla extract for something zingier?
Chewy whole wheat oatmeal cookies
Jan 31st
After going over how to grind your own whole wheat last week, I wanted to pass along a few more recipes. Here’s another one: oatmeal cookies.
Sometimes oatmeal cookies can get dry, especially when you’re using whole wheat. The secret to chewiness here is letting the raisins get a soaking in the eggs before going into the batter.
This recipe was tweaked from the original which appeared in the 1978 Colorado Cache Cookbook put out by the Junior League of Denver.
Recipe
Ingredients:
3 eggs, well beaten
1 cup raisins
*I use a combo of golden raisins, dried cranberries and regular raisins
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (or vanilla)
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups oatmeal
¾ cup chopped walnuts or almonds
Directions:
- Lightly beat the eggs. Add the almond extract and the raisins. Let this mixture stand, covered, for one hour.
- In a large mixing bowl cream the sugars and butter together—whip until fluffy.
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl combine all of your dry ingredients except the oatmeal and nuts.
- Add the dry ingredients to the whipped butter and combine well with the mixer.
- Stir in the raisin/egg combination with a wooden spoon.
The oatmeal is the last ingredient to be stirred in. I use regular, whole oatmeal and toss 1 cup into the batter. With the other cup, I pulse it in the food processor to mince the oatmeal. (I also add 1 Tablespoon or more of ground flax seed to the oatmeal for a health boost.)
After your oatmeal is mixed well into the batter, add your chopped nuts. - Place the dough into the refrigerator for at least an hour before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and cook on an ungreased cookie sheet for 10 to 12 minutes or until slightly golden brown.
The BEST whole wheat chocolate chip cookies
Jan 26th
As promised, I’m passing along my favorite recipe for 100% whole wheat chocolate chip cookies. These cookies whip up quickly, but if you have the time, it’s fun to grind the wheat berries with your kids and then make the cookies. Of course, you can always get your whole wheat flour at the store. I’m thrilled that you can now find King Arthur flour everywhere. It used to be that you had to order it, now I can find it at my local grocers. Yeah.
A couple notes, these cookies are great warm, but I find they’re better on day #2–they get chewier. I’ve included this recipe from King Arthur below, with one omission–vanilla extract. Lately, I’ve been avoiding using it, or substituting almond extract for a little extra pizzazz. Here you don’t need it–the chocolate, honey and whole wheat offer plenty of flavor on their own.
Recipe
Ingredients
Prep time: 15 minutes
Servings: About 2 dozen
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons honey
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (opt.)
1/4 cup dried tart cherries (opt.)
1/2 teaspoon espresso powder, cocoa powder or black onyx powder (opt.)
1/2 tablespoon ground flax
Directions
- In a large mixing bowl beat together the butter, sugars, honey, espresso powder (if you’re using it), and salt. Once that’s combined, add in the egg, vinegar, baking soda and baking powder.
- Stir in the flour and then the chocolate chips.
- I always refrigerate the dough for at least one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Lightly coat your cookie pan with baking spray.
- Make cookie balls in your hands that are about the same amount as a tablespoon.
- Bake the cookies for 7 to 10 minutes or just until lightly browned.
Recent comments