Posts tagged ‘cookies’

Dec 2

Cardamom,Orange And Chocolate Ribbon Cookies-Day 2 of 7 Days of Holiday Cookies

Ribbon Cookies

These cookies are always included in my gift boxes for the holidays. They pack and travel well and are delicious. This is a vintage recipe from a magazine, I can’t really remember how old the recipe is for sure, or what magazine it came from. The original recipe is just chocolate and vanilla with rum flavoring, I made some additions that I think make this cookie unique and more interesting, To the chocolate dough I add orange zest and the vanilla dough has cardamom. The flavors are subtle yet you know they are there.

I love how easy these cookies are to make, nothing complicated and they are so pretty and in my opinion very festive. The dough freezes well and I think it tastes even better after sitting in the freezer for a while. One very important thing to note is that these cookies are best when baked for EXACTLY the amount of time specified. If baked too long they become a bit too hard. I bake them for exactly 11 minutes and they are perfect.

Makes Approximately 36 cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature

1/2 cup good quality shortening at room temperature (I like spectrum)

1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 large egg at room temperature

2 tablespoons whole milk or half and half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

zest of one orange

1/3 cup (1.5 oz)semi sweet chocolate melted (use the microwave method it’s great)

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

1/2 cup toasted walnuts chopped finely

In mixing bowl beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment for approximately 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda and salt and beat until combined. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla. Add flour and mix to combine with spoon. Melt the chocolate in the microwave at 30 second intervals stirring in between. It took me 60 seconds.
Divide dough in half. Knead the melted chocolate and walnuts into half of the dough and then the cardamom and orange zest into the other half. Line a 9x5x3 loaf pan with plastic wrap. Divide chocolate dough in half and press into the bottom of the loaf pan, now divide the vanilla dough in half and press on top of chocolate layer, now another chocolate layer and finish with the vanilla layer. Cover with the plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. If you plan on freezing the dough after the initial 30 minutes in the refrigerator invert, wrap the dough well in plastic wrap and place in ziplock bag ( I like to double wrap anything going in the freezer). Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
Remove from refrigerator, invert onto cutting board and remove plastic wrap. Divide into 3 equal pieces (each is 3 inches) and cut each third into 12 equal pieces that are about 1/4 inch thick. Place on baking sheet with either parchment or silpat and bake for 10-12 minutes turning baking sheet around halfway through baking (5 minutes) CAREFUL NOT TO OVERBAKE remove from oven when edges start to turn a light brown. If you leave them in longer than the prescribed baking time they become over done and are really crunchy. I took out my batch of cookies at 11 minutes. They were just right. Its almost counterintuitive but it’s important for this recipe to adhere to the bake time.

Photo by Nicole Franzen for Food52

Dec 1

21 Comments

7 Days of Holiday Cookies-Day 1, Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies

Double Chocolate Espresso Cookies

For 7 days I am going to post a recipe a day, each one is a recipe for Holiday cookies or other treats that can be included in gift boxes. I bake dozen after dozen of cookies and mini loaves every year that I give to family and friends. I also participate in the Secret Santa Swap on Food52. I love presenting a box of homemade baked goods as a gift, it’s something I have done year after year, a labor of love that I look forward to. I start making the cookie dough on December 1 and make a batch a day of assorted doughs, wrap well and freeze. My freezer is full of various types of cookie dough and it’s very easy to thaw and bake when you need to.

This first recipe is from Food52 and is one of my all time favorites, it is a staple in my holiday box of goodies every year. The recipe is from Kelseythenaptimechef, who is a phenomenal cook and I believe she even has published a cookbook. These cookies are addictive, soft and chewy, not too sweet, simply delicious! I make a couple of changes, very minor really. Instead of semisweet chips I use milk chocolate chips or chunks along with the dark chocolate chips, I like the contrast because I use a dark cocoa powder (Valrhona), Hershey’s works as well both regular and Hershey’s dark.

Makes 50-55 cookies

2 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (2 whole sticks +2 tbs)

1 cup sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs, room temperature

2 1/2 cups flour

3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 tablespoons instant espresso powder (like Medaglia D’Oro, or similar)

12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350
Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Then, add eggs one at time, mixing after each addition to make sure they are well combined.
In a separate bowl mix together dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder. I use a whisk to make sure the dry ingredients are well mixed.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Mix everything until the ingredients are fully combined, but do not overbeat. Using a wooden spoon, stir in chocolate chips.
Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper. Using a 1 1/2″ ice-cream scoop, or rounded teaspoon, drop dough on the sheet 2″ apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and serve.

May 17

17 Comments

Featured Recipe-South-Of-The-Border Chocolate Cookies

Don’t these look good!! Photo by hardlikearmour

Today’s featured recipe is from Sara, her cooks name on Food52 is hardlikearmour. She is a Veterinarian, experienced and prize winning cook and a cake decorator, her cakes are amazingly beautiful and professionally done. Her recipes are approachable, comforting and so very delicious. This recipe for her soft, spicy chocolate cookie is just one of her 110 recipes on Food52. She has been a finalist and/or won prize after prize on both Food52 and Whole Foods. Her Pear and Rosemary Danish is unbelievably delicious and won the contest for Best Recipe for Pears on Food52. Her prize winning recipe for State Fair Cream Puffs is so wonderful, you will think you have died and gone to heaven and the Bourbon Chocolate Whipped Cream filling is truly heavenly. It’s not just sweets that Sara specializes in, her savory dishes and drinks are amazing also, try her incredibly complex and delicious Chili El Pastor one bite and you will understand that she is a master at blending and balancing spices. I am also including my favorite summer drink that she developed. I triple the recipe every time I make it, Sara’s Lime in the Coconut Float is made with a delicious lemongrass and Lime simple syrup. The simple syrup makes an outstanding drink when added to seltzer or make the float, either way it’s absolutely delicious. Please visit Food52 and peruse her recipes, you will want to make each and every one, they are all so good you will have a hard time deciding which to make first and many of her recipes I make over and over, they are just that good.

Makes 40 to 50 cookies

1 ¾ cups sugar (12.25 oz)

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature

2 large eggs,room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups all-purpose flour (10 oz)

1 cup dutched cocoa powder (3.25 oz)

1 tablespoon aluminum-free baking powder

2 ½ teaspoons cinnamon

½ teaspoon cayenne – see cook’s note at end of recipe

½ teaspoon fine sea salt

½ cup turbinado or sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 350º F with a rack near the middle. Line 2 to 3 baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpats.

Cream sugar and butter using a stand or hand mixer, until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add eggs and extracts, and beat until well-combined, about 1 to 2 minutes. In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, cinnamon, cayenne, and salt. Add them to the sugar and butter mixture, and mix on low speed until the flour has been incorporated. Increase to medium speed and mix until well-combined, another minute or two.

Roll dough into 1- to 1 1/4-inch diameter balls, then roll balls in sugar. Place 12 to 15 balls on prepared baking sheets – stagger 3 rows each of 2 and 3 balls to get 15 on a sheet. Flatten balls slightly, so they are about ¾-inch thick . Bake one sheet at a time for 9 to 9 ½ minutes, rotating the baking sheet after 5 minutes. The cookies will look puffy, and may seem like they’re not done, but they will be perfect! Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing the cookies to a cooling rack. Once cool store in a sealed container to maintain perfect texture for at least several days.

Cook’s notes: 1.) 1/2-teaspoon cayenne gives a pleasant warmth to the back of your throat after eating a cookie or two. If you’re not a fan of heat, feel free to scale back or omit the cayenne. 2.) If you prefer to use regular cocoa powder just add 1 teaspoon baking soda and decrease baking powder to 1/2 teaspoon.

Lime In The Coconut Float

Lime/Lemongrass Simple Syrup

2 limes

1 stalk lemongrass

1/2 cup water

1/2 cup sugar

Thinly slice lemongrass and set aside. With a vegetable peeler remove the lime zest in strips trying to avoid getting much white pith. Set aside. Juice the limes and set juice aside for making the soda.

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Heat on high, stirring or swirling occasionally to dissolve sugar until it boils. Boil for 30 to 60 seconds.

Remove from heat. Add the lemongrass and lime zest, cover with a tight fitting lid, and allow to cool to room temperature. Pour through a mesh strainer into a glass jar. Cover and store in the refrigerator.

Float

1 to 1 & 1/2 tablespoons lemongrass & lime syrup1 tablespoon lime juice2 scoops coconut sorbet (about 1/2 cup total)seltzer, cold Combine syrup and lime juice in a 12-oz glass. Add sorbet. Slowly pour seltzer over the sorbet, it with froth up pretty fiercely. Stir gently after glass is about 2/3 full. Continue to slowly fill glass with seltzer. Serve immediately with a straw.

I want to leave you with a picture of just one of the beautiful cakes that Sara designed.