White Chocolate Mocha Cookies
For some reason, I was craving cookies the other day. I was deciding between two recipes that both had espresso powder in them and decided on this one because it was more different from any cookie recipe I’ve done on the blog due to the addition of cocoa powder . The other recipe looked more like a regular chocolate chip cookie.
The day I made these cookies, I was not overly impressed. I allowed the rest of the dough to refrigerate for two days (I had planned to make more cookies out of this dough the next day, but I didn’t feel like baking that day.), and it made a world of a difference.
I halved this recipe and still made almost 2 dozen cookies. After forming the balls of dough, I rolled them in sugar to add sparkle, and then baked them. After baking the cookies, I immediately mashed the rounded cookies slightly with the bottom of a measuring cup to make them have a different look. Lastly, in these cookies, I used the Guittard white chocolate, semi-sweet chocolate, and cocoa rouge powder that the Guittard company sent me a while ago. I think they look much better than they did when I didn’t roll them in sugar and left them rounded . They also tasted much better.
Remember: These cookies are much better in a warm state and with cold milk!
1/4 sugar for dredging (optional)
Roll dough into balls; coat with sugar (optional), and set on baking sheet or Silpat. Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. If your cookies are too rounded, immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, press down on the cookies lightly with a measuring cup or the bottom of a cup.
Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies
Here’s another recipe I found on someone else’s blog not too long ago. Her photos are lovely (she’s not going through a white balance problem like I am!), so make sure you stop by her blog.
I admit that I only made these cookies because I had been wanting to get rid of the rest of my coconut since I made the Nanaimo Bars for the DB challenge (yes, that long!), so I just gave in and used them in these. As the originator of this recipe stated, the coconut does not stand out much in this cookie, but it does contribute to the texture.
If you’re not crazy about coconut but are trying to get rid of it, these cookies may be for you! The cookies were very soft even after my overheating oven made them too dark. There is a subtle hint of salt in each bite as well. These cookies are best warm, so just nuke them in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds and dip them in ice-cold milk haha!
Tips: I halved this recipe easily, and I still ended up with a lot of cookies. These cookies do not spread much, so I had to smash them down either with my hand of the back of a glass. Also, I refrigerated the dough for about 24 hours to enhance the flavor.
2 sticks of butter (1 cup), room temperature
1/2 c white sugar
1 1/2 c brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt (I always use Kosher)
3 cups shredded sweetened coconut
1 lb chocolate chips/chunks
Preheat oven at 350°F. Cream the butter and the sugars until light. Continue mixing the butter/sugar mixture while adding the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Then, add the vanilla. Combine the flour, soda and salt in the mixer bowl. Then, mix until just combined, taking care not to over-mix (I stop as soon as I can see the batter again even with lots of flour here and there because I will be mixing some more with the add-ins). Add the coconut and chocolate chips, and mix a 30-60 seconds more.
Drop by spoonful (I used my ice cream scoop for big, thick cookies) onto parchment-lined or Silpat cookie sheet. Bake at 350° for 11-13 minutes. They should be lightly golden on the outside but still look gooey on the inside.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream
Thank you for the little bowls, Lydia!!
Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. That is my motto for this ice cream flavor. I’m not a fan of cookie dough and cookie dough ice cream, but for some reason, I decided to set aside a block of the Triple Chocolate “Chunp” Cookie dough for this ice cream. 2 cups whole milk Bring milk and cream to a boil in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. If you are using a vanilla bean, put the seeds and pod into the pan, cover and set aside for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, bring the milk and cream back to a boil before continuing (I turn off the heat right before it’s about to boil). If you are using vanilla extract, wait until later to add it. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk the yolks and sugar together until very well blended and just slightly thickened (until it looks pale). Still whisking, drizzle in about one third of the hot liquid-this will temper, or warm the eggs so they won’t curdle. Whisking all the while, slowly pour in the remaining liquid (I usually just pour in half the hot liquid, whisk, and pour egg mixture into the pot). Pour the custard back into the pan, and cook over medium heat, stirring without stopping, until the custard thickens slightly and coats the back of a spoon. If you run your finger down the bowl of the spoon, the custard should not run into the track (about 5 minutes). The custard should reach at least 170°F, but no more than 180°F, on an instant-read thermometer. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and strain the custard into a 2-quart measuring cup or clean heatproof bowl. Discard the vanilla pod (I left the pod in while it refrigerated to intensify the vanilla flavor); or if you are using vanilla extract, stir it in now. Refrigerate the custard for 4 hours or overnight before churning it into the ice cream (I always leave my custard in overnight.). Remove the pod. Scrape the chilled custard in the bowl of an ice cream maker, and churn according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Meanwhile, cut up the log of cookie dough into small pieces. Pack the ice cream into a container, and drop pieces of cookie dough into the custard. Stir the mixture well to evenly distribute the dough. Freeze the ice cream for at least 2 hours, until it is firm enough to scoop.
I started with a base vanilla ice cream recipe from Dorie Greenspan. I rolled up the reserved cookie dough into a small thin log and refrigerated the log along with the vanilla ice cream custard base. After churning the custard the next day, I cut up the log of dough into small pieces (you could cut them in bigger pieces, if that is what you prefer), and then added them to the churned ice cream.
I was surprised at how good this ice cream was since I’m not crazy about CCC dough. It was beyond FANTASTIC. The vanilla flavor was very pronounced and meshed well with the chewy pieces of dough and chunky pieces of rich chocolate.
So, reduce your trips to the store for store-bought cookies and ice cream. Reuse your cookie dough in this ice cream. Recycle the container you used for the ice cream for another batch haha. Enjoy!!
Chocolate Chip/Chunp Cookie Dough Ice Cream
2 cups heavy cream
1 moist, plump vanilla bean, split and scraped (or 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract)
6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
Chocolate Chip Cookie dough (I used about 80-100 grams of dough; go based on your preferences, but don’t use too much, or it will interfere with the base flavor)
Triple Chocolate "Chunp" Cookies
I turned in my paper Sunday morning. My brain is fried. I missed blogging. Did you miss me? After spending hours and weeks on that paper, I just want to write simple, short sentences now. Funny how that previous sentence was pretty long. See? Brain. Fried.
While working on my paper, I was craving cookies. That craving may have come along after seeing the onslaught of chocolate chip cookies (CCCs) on the blogosphere. Anyway, I used one of my favorite CCC recipes and instead of using just one type of chocolate, I used all the chocolate I had in my cupboard: Valhrona fèves, Ghiradelli white chocolate chips, and Callebaut milk chocolate chunks (hence the name “chunp” = “chunk” + “chip” of chocolate).
These cookies came out perfectly. What I liked about them was the variety of flavors that just melted and mingled on my tongue. Also, with the three types of chocolate in there, each cookie came out tasting and looking different. So, one cookie tasted more like a white chocolate cookie while another tasted more like a milk or semi-sweet chocolate cookie.
Even when I accidentally overbaked them by one or two minutes, they were still soft in the middle. You are supposed to refrigerate the batter for optimal flavor, but I baked a small batch of cookies on the same day I made the dough and baked another batch the next day. Then I stored the baked cookies in a Ziploc bag for whenever I was hankering for a cookie as I typed my paper. I still have more batter in the fridge, and I plan to make ready-to-bake balls of dough, flash freeze them on a jelly roll sheet for an hour, throw the balls in a freezer bag, and then freeze them so they’ll be available for future cravings.
With the three types of chocolates, cake/bread flour combination, and refrigerated dough, this is not your ordinary chocolate chip cookie. I hope you make these today.
It’s good to be back!
aka Leite’s Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and David Leite via The New York Times
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour (I weighed my ingredients this time around)
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1/3-1/2 pound semi-sweet fèves, 1/3-1/2 pound white chocolate chips, 1/3-1/2 milk chocolate
Sea salt (optional; I didn’t add extra flour on top because you can taste the salt in the cookie already)
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside. (I use a whisk instead)
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and try to incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. [Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.]
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt (optional) and bake until golden brown but still soft, 17 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.
Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies & Bars
They taste very good with or without a cinnamon sugar glaze on top as well. Just be sure not to overbake them, so that they stay soft and chewy. 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons butter, softened Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well.
Cookies: Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 7 to 9 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered. Bars: Press dough onto bottom of ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan (or 9×9 if using half of the dough). The dough will be hard to spread, but it will eventually happen. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered. 24 BARS. HIGH ALTITUDE ADJUSTMENT: Increase flour to 1-3/4 cups and bake as directed.
I’ve been working on my paper these past few days (deadline was extended to the 28th), but I’ve been cooking, too. I don’t have much time to write on here as before, so I’ll just post mostly photos and the recipe for now. Those are the most important parts anyway, right?
I made oatmeal raisin cookies and bars using the well-known recipe, Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, from the Quaker’s Oatmeal canister. They were as good as usual.
If you don’t like scooping out cookie dough, it is much easier to make the bar version.
Oh my!
Yum!
O-M-G! Look at those raisins!
Enjoy!
3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked) (I had only 1 1/4 cups, and it worked fine)
1 cup raisins
1 cup nuts (optional)
1 cup chocolate chips (optional; omit cinnamon)
Valentine Lofthouse Cookies
Remember those Lofthouse Sugar Cookies I blogged about before? No? Well, here they are again in heart form. I am really really not a lover of all things pink with hearts. I tried to make the icing red, but it didn’t happen. I guess I needed to add the whole jar of dye to get that color. What I ended up with was hot pink! ugh!! This was my first time working with dye, so oh well…
Anyway, as everyone knows, the holiday of love is coming up. I might not have a Valentine this year, and I’m totally okay with that. Relationships bring on too much drama for my needs haha. I enjoy being single, especially while being a graduate student.
So, in honor of this holiday and for the people out there who actually like hearts and the color pink, you should try out this recipe. This is a soft, cakey, delicious cookie. These cookies are so good that I have to control myself from not eating the whole batch.
I made these cookies for my students (and made a few extra for me hehe). I’m trying my best to keep my hand out of their cookie jar. Because if I don’t control myself, only one student will end up with a cookie tomorrow LOL! They take some time to make, so make the dough the day before Valentine’s. I posted a few process photos below so that you can see how thick the dough is. You’ll need a bit of flour to handle the sticky dough, but it’s worth all the trouble.
Enjoy!
2 cups sugar (in my halved version, I added 2 Tbsp (1/4 cup for full version) EXTRA of sugar to make the cake part a tad sweeter)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups sour cream
5-6 cups AP flour, until desired consistency for rolling (in my halved version, I used 2 1/2 cups in the dough and then added about half a cup more of flour while rolling out the dough. I needed more than a cup for the full version.)
Cover and refrigerate overnight (or 6-8 hours).
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Roll out dough to a 1/4 to 3/8 inch thickness using a generous amount of flour (I used a combination of flour and powdered sugar for a non-stick surface and flavor). Cut out shapes, and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 minutes.Cool on wire rack. Frost (recipe below), and decorate as desired.
1/2 cup shortening
5-8 Tbsp (or more) evaporated milk (or regular milk), until you reach the desired consistency
1 tsp vanilla extract
red food coloring (optional)
Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake
Sunday, February 7th, was….*gulp*…my birthday. Whew! There. I said it. I know my mom’s proud and shocked. It has taken me years to admit my birthday publicly to friends, students, and strangers. Usually I don’t tell anyone and don’t even celebrate the day of my birth. I also turn off my cellphone to avoid well-intentioned phone calls from relatives and my ex-girlfriend. I really don’t like commemorating the 7th of February, but interestingly, food blogging is the catalyst behind my decision to slowly change my perspective.
For weeks, I have been planning out what type of cake I wanted to make for my birthday. Like I said, I don’t usually do anything for my birthday, but now that I have just started baking, I decided to make something special for it. (My friend guessed right that I made this cake for the blog more so than for my birthday haha)
I wrote down notes for my quintessential cake. I wanted it to be special. I wanted it to have layers. I wanted it to be beautiful – no, I wanted it to be stunning. I wanted it to have my go-to cheesecake in it and chocolate. From there, I put together what I’ll call a Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake made up of an Oreo crust, regular cheesecake filling (to contrast with the welcomed onslaught of chocolate), espresso mousse au chocolat, and espresso chocolate ganache on top.
Since I’m not very creative, I didn’t add any frills such as whipped cream decorations or pieces of fruit, and ultimately, I was happy with that decision. It was already more than enough. It was decadent. Smooth. Silky with a slight crunch from the crust. Delectable. Rich. PERFECTION.
I really, really, really don’t mean to brag, but every single layer was perfect. Every layer complimented each other brilliantly. I was shocked. I couldn’t believe I had made this cake…every single layer. I was proud of myself for planning it out and allowing my plans to come to fruition successfully.
I knew that I couldn’t keep this amazing creation in my house for long, so via text messaging and quick visits, I shared slices with my nearby colleagues/friends/neighbors (yes, they wear all three of those hats; I live in graduate housing, remember? 
). They all loved this cake. One person said I should sell it. Another person ate two slices in under 5 minutes. Another couldn’t focus on our non-gastronomic conversation even after finishing off the cake and scraping the plate b/c she would interject repeatedly about how delicious the cake was haha.
My mom’s birthday card in the background; she just couldn’t resist…
Leave a comment, if you like what you see!
A creation compiled by me along with two giants in the cooking world.
NOTE: to make things easier, make the cheesecake and crust on one day and the mousse and ganache on the next day. Cheesecake lasts longer than mousse. Keep this cake refrigerated and will last up to 2-3 days but is best eaten the day it’s made.
30-32 Oreo cookies (or chocolate sandwich cookies) for a high crust
4 Tbsp unsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted
1-2 tsp espresso powder (optional)
Crush cookies in a food processor or in a ziploc bag with a rolling pin or mallet. In a bowl or food processor, pour melted butter on top of the crushed cookies and add the espresso powder (optional), and mix or pulse well. Place the oreo mixture at the bottom of a springform pan. Smooth out the mixture with the bottom of a measuring cup or glass. Wrap the bottom of the pan in a double layer of aluminum foil. Place the crust in the freezer while you make the cheesecake.
HALVED & adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours
For the cheesecake:
1 pound (two 8-ounce boxes) cream cheese, at room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt (I always use kosher salt)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup heavy cream (or sour cream or combination)
Put a kettle or pot of water on to boil. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Working in a stand mixer (or large bowl with hand mixer), preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese at medium speed until it is soft for about 4 minutes. With the mixer running, add the sugar and salt, and continue to beat another 4 minutes or so, until the cream cheese is light. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the eggs one by one, beating for a full minute after each addition to yield a well-aerated batter. Reduce the mixer speed to low, and stir in the heavy cream or sour cream.
Put the foil-wrapped springform pan in the roaster pan, and pour in a few cups of the hot water in the pan around the springform pan (I do half before putting the cheesecake mixture, to reduce my chances of getting water in the cheesecake and to get everything ready.)
Give the batter a few stirs with a rubber spatula, just to make sure that nothing has been left unmixed at the bottom of the bowl, and scrape the batter into the springform pan. The batter should fill only half of the pan. Put the roasting pan in the oven and pour the rest of the boiling water into the roaster to come halfway up the sides of the springform pan.
Bake the cheesecake for 1 hour and 15-30 minutes, at which point the top will be browned (and perhaps cracked) and may have risen just a little above the rim of the pan. Turn off the oven’s heat, and prop the oven door open with a wooden spoon. Allow the cheesecake to luxuriate in its water bath for another hour.
After 1 hour, carefully pull the setup out of the oven, lift the springform pan out of the roaster—be careful, there may be some hot water in the aluminum foil—remove the foil. Let the cheesecake come to room temperature on a cooling rack.
When the cake is cool, cover the top lightly and chill the cake for at least 4 hours or overnight. Make the mousse once the cheesecake has cooled.
Layer 3: Mousse au chocolat/French Chocolate Mousse
adapted from Tyler Florence on Food Network
6 ounces semisweet baking chocolate, chopped (I used Callebaut; use good chocolate)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tsp espresso powder (added to intensify chocolate flavor, optional)
3 eggs, separated
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream, cold (do not use half-frozen cream; the whipped cream will curdle)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Place the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl, and place over a saucepan containing barely simmering water (or use a double boiler). Melt the chocolate and butter together and stir with a whisk until smooth. Add in the espresso powder. Remove from heat and cool slightly. Add the egg yolks to the chocolate, 1 by 1, beating with a whisk until incorporated. Set aside. 
In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar, and continue to beat. Gradually whisk in 1/4 cup sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form. 
Beat heavy cream in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters until it begins to foam and thicken up. Add the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar and vanilla. Continue to whip the cream until it holds soft peaks.
Gradually and gently fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture to lighten it. Then, delicately fold in the whipped cream. Take care not over work the mousse but make sure you blend in the cream well. Place the mousse on top of the cooled cheesecake while still in the springform pan.
Cover the cheesecake with foil, being careful to not let the foil touch the mousse. (If your springform is too small for this, just use less mousse in the cheesecake and instead eat them in ramekins while you prepare the ganache!) If making the ganache immediately, place mousse-covered cheesecake in the freezer as you make the ganache (the cheesecake should NOT be in the freezer for more than 30 minutes). If making the ganache later, place the cheesecake in the refrigerator for a few hours. Either way, the ganache must be cool before you can pour it on top of the cheesecake.
Heat the cream in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Heat it up just BEFORE it boils. Place the chocolate in the cream, and remove from heat. Stir the mixture until smooth. Stir in the espresso powder and rum or vanilla extract. Allow the ganache to cool for about 15 minutes before pouring the mixture on top of the mousse cheesecake. Release the springform pan. With an offset spatula, smooth the ganache while starting at the center of the cake and working outward. (I did a “crumb” crust by placing a thin layer of the warm, not hot, ganache on top, allowed it to cool in the freezer for 30 minutes, then I poured more on the cheesecake after releasing the springfrom pan so that it could pour down the cake.) Don’t do exactly what I did, though. Just pour ganache on top once it has cooled. Keep in mind that the cold temperature of the cake will cause the ganache to firm up quickly, and you may have to pour more on top. Save the rest of the ganache for decorations (if you whip the ganache when it’s cold, you can pipe a beautiful decoration) or save it for something else.
4.5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used Callebaut semi-sweet and milk chocolate)
1 tsp espresso powder (optional)
1 1/2 tsp dark rum (I used vanilla extract instead)
Graham Crackers
I made these graham crackers the other day to accompany another dessert I’ll be blogging about in fewer than 24 hours. (Post is now up!)
To make things simpler, I’ll just post the recipe and process photos. These crackers came out great and tasted great! I love that they don’t require graham flour or wheat flour. Enjoy!
adapted from 101 Cookbooks who got it from Nancy Silverton’s Pastries from La Brea Bakery
2 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached pastry flour or unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
7 tablespoons (3 1/2 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes and frozen
1/3 cup mild-flavored honey, such as clover
5 tablespoons whole milk
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Topping:
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade or in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt. Pulse or mix on low to incorporate. Add the butter and pulse on and off on and off, or mix on low, until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse meal.
In a small bowl, whisk together the honey, milk, and vanilla extract. Add to the flour mixture and pulse on and off a few times or mix on low until the dough barely comes together. It will be very soft and sticky. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and pat the dough into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap in plastic and chill until firm, about 2 hours or overnight.
To prepare the topping: In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon, and set aside.
Divide the dough in half and return one half to the refrigerator. Sift an even layer of flour onto the work surface and roll the dough into a long rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. The dough will be sticky, so flour as necessary. Trim the edges of the rectangle to 4 inches wide. Working with the shorter side of the rectangle parallel to the work surface, cut the strip every 4 1/2 inches to make 4 crackers. Gather the scraps together and set aside. Place the crackers on one or two parchment-lined baking sheets and sprinkle with the topping. Chill until firm, about 30 to 45 minutes. Repeat with the second batch of dough.
Adjust the oven rack to the upper and lower positions and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Gather the scraps together into a ball, chill until firm, and reroll. Dust the surface with more flour and roll out the dough to get about two or three more crackers. Mark a vertical line down the middle of each cracker, being careful not to cut through the dough. Using a toothpick or skewer, prick the dough to form two dotted rows about 1/2 inch for each side of the dividing line.
Bake for 25 minutes, until browned and slightly firm to the tough, rotating the sheets halfway through to ensure even baking.
My Mom, Christmas Gifts, and Chocolate Peanut Butter Tartlets
If you haven’t noticed already, my mom and I are very close. We have a very “Gilmore Girls” type of relationship in the sense that she is a single mother, and I’m an only child on my mother’s side. She is my best friend and my mother. I talk to her every single day, 5-10 times a day.
For many years, she and I had been graduate students at the same time. When she started working on her dissertation, I invited her to live with me in order to expedite the PhD process so she could graduate sooner. Only two semesters later, I was able to call her “Dr. Mom”, and she became a professor of English Literature. I am immensely proud of my mom. She is my inspiration and my role model.
For Christmas, she bought me a bunch of stuff for my somewhat new cooking/baking/photography addiction to make up for all the times she couldn’t give me everything I wanted while she was a struggling student. So, I thought I’d share all the kitchen-related gifts I received because the non-kitchen stuff like clothes and batteries (yes, she even wrapped up my batteries!) is just boring haha!
A beautiful Canon EOS XSi with a 50mm lens! I love this camera!
Left to right: glass cake stand; steamer (used to make the tamales; was on sale for 30 dollars at Bed, Bath, & Beyond); mortar & pestle (yes!); in and near the Pyrex cup: pastry cutter, grater, candy thermometer, offset spatula, zester, egg separator; pastry mat; roast pan (no more foil pans anymore!)
Ahh, a cast-iron dutch oven! My mom actually bought this a few years ago and never used it (GASP!) because well…she doesn’t cook much. After a bit of coaxing, she reluctantly let me have it! Yes! In return, I cooked and baked for her. Most importantly, I bought her a standing globe, which is something she’s wanted for years. She would always say, “Whenever I become a professor, I want to have a standing globe in my office.” I got to admit, out of all the presents I saw on Christmas Day, her present, not mine, was my favorite because I got to make her happy. She even cried happy tears, and she doesn’t cry very often. I love you, mom! Thanks for everything!
Okay, enough of the mushy stuff! I promised to post this tart a long time ago but never got around to it because of the tamales and the rosca for Three Kings’ Day. I made these tarts for Christmas because I thought the crust looked very interesting and indulgent. It is comprised of melted chocolate and chocolate wafers (I used Oreos)!
Unfortunately, the crust was really hard, and after discussing this problem with the blogger who posted the recipe originally, we figured that it may be hard because of the thickness of the crust. So, if you decide to make this dessert, make the crust thin around the edges.
In order to remedy the hardness factor, I placed the next tart in a small pool of milk to soften the crust. That worked perfectly. Unfortunately, I’m not a great fan of peanut butter, and I’m getting tired of chocolate. Nevertheless, this dessert was good. If you’re craving chocolate and peanut butter make this dessert while keeping the abovementioned pointers in mind. Enjoy!!
adapted from Once Upon a Chef (She made one large 10-inch tart)
Note the differences in how much each layer yields if you’re making small tarts! I would half the peanut butter layer for the small tarts.
Chocolate Crust (makes about 5 small tarts):
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I use Ghirardelli)
4 tablespoons (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
8 ounces Nabisco chocolate wafer cookies (about 32 cookies from a 9-ounce package), finely ground in a food processor (2 cups)
Peanut Butter Filling (makes 8-10 small tarts):
8 ounces cream cheese, softened (1 small tub or box)
1 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy peanut butter)
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup well-chilled heavy cream
Chocolate Topping (makes enough for 5 small tarts):
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used Ghirardelli)
½ cup heavy cream
¼ cup salted roasted peanuts, chopped (I didn’t use this; I’m not a nut lover)
Chocolate Crust: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium glass bowl, combine the chocolate and butter and microwave at high power in 20-second intervals until the chocolate is just melted. Stir well, then stir in the cookie crumbs. Press the cookie crumbs evenly over the bottom and up the rim of the tart pans (Be sure not to make the crust too thick in any one spot, especially around the rim. Keep it thin throughout, otherwise it will come out too hard.) Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then cool on rack.
Peanut Butter Filling: In a large bowl, using a hand-held electric or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese with the peanut butter, sugar and vanilla extract until blended. In another large bowl, using an electric mixer, whip the chilled cream until firm. Fold one-third of the whipped cream into the peanut butter mixture to loosen it, then fold in the remaining whipped cream. Spoon the filling into the crust, smoothing the surface. Refrigerate uncovered for about 1 hour.
Chocolate Topping: In a medium glass bowl, combine the chocolate with the heavy cream and microwave at high power in 20-second intervals until the chocolate is just melted and the cream is hot. Stir the chocolate topping until blended, then let cool to barely warm, stirring occasionally. Spread the chocolate topping over the chilled peanut butter filling and sprinkle the chopped peanuts around the edge of the pie. Chill uncovered in refrigerator for 3 more hours.
Carefully remove the rim from the pan by gently pressing upwards on the bottom while holding the rim in place. (If using a springform pan, run a thin knife around the crust to loosen it, then remove the springform ring.) Use a sharp knife to cut the pie into wedges. Run the knife under hot water and dry it between each cut. Serve chilled or slightly cooler than room temperature.
Can be made one day ahead of time.
P.S. Here is the red mixer I won on Pioneer Woman! The mixer my mom gave me last year is the black one.
Molasses Spice Cookies
MERRY CHRISTMAS! HAPPY HOLIDAYS! ¡FELIZ NAVIDAD! BUON NATALE! FELIZ NATAL! JOYEUX NOËL! 즐거운 크리쓰마쓰! 圣诞快乐 新年快乐! メリークリスマス! Selamat Hari Natal! These. cookies. are. so. good. I’m serious. When my mom saw that I was going to make cookies made with molasses and no chocolate or nuts, she quickly said, “I’m not going to want any of them,” to which I quickly responded, “Well, they are going to be all for me then!”
However, after I made them and took one bite of a fresh, warm cookie, I knew that she would change her mind. I broke off a small, warm piece and meandered towards her stealthily. Then, while holding the tempting piece close in front of her face, I asked her, “Want to try a piece?” She looked up at me and reluctantly said, “Okay.” After one bite, she wanted more. They are that good.
You can taste the molasses, brown sugar, butter, ginger, and other common winter flavors. They are soft, chewy cookies and are best eaten when warm. They lasted and tasted fantastic for 3-4 days and that is with homemade fudge, oatmeal cookies, and other sweets lurking around the kitchen.
Because I felt like playing around with my new camera even though I knew the lighting would be bad since I made these at night, I took process photos of the making of the cookies below. If you’d like the regular, printed version of the recipe with my adjustments, click on the link next to the title of the recipe. Enjoy!
adapted from Simply Recipes
Yield: 2.5 dozen cookies
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground allspice
3/4 tsp ground cloves
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/4-1/3 cup for rolling cookies (Use 1/4 to not waste sugar)
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup unsulphered molasses (I used Grandma’s Molasses in the dark yellow jar)
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Mix together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, allspice together in a bowl and set aside.
Use an electric mixer (I used the new mixer that I won from Pioneer Woman!), and beat the butter for 2 minutes (Oops! I put the sugar in first because I left the butter defrosting on the oven top). Add the brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar…
and beat until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes at medium speed).
Add egg, vanilla extract, and…
molasses…
I sprayed in cooking spray so that most of the molasses would glide out easily…
Beat until combined, about 30 seconds. If you are not blessed with a beater blade (like me boohoo), then make sure you stir this mixture well at this point. See the unmixed batter below?
Add dry ingredients, and beat at low speed until just combined (~30 seconds).
Once you add the dry ingredients, don’t beat the mixture too much so that the cookies do not come out too tough. See the bits of flour left in the dough? That’s just enough. The mixture will integrate a bit more once you start making the dough balls.
Place the remaining 1/4-1/3 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. I had quite a bit of sugar left after making the balls, so in order to avoid wasting sugar, I suggest starting with 1/4 cup of sugar.
Working with 2 Tbsp of dough each time, roll dough into 1 3/4 inch balls.
[Check out my new cookie scooper! It is called a "Chip Clip", and I got it from Bed, Bath, and Beyond for about 3 dollars. This scooper is unique because the back of the scoop is made of a special type of rubber that allows easy removal of cookie dough. So, in order to demonstrate how it works, I will be presenting to you all my lovely finger below (aside from the profile photo, this is probably all you'll ever see of me on this blog b/c I abhor taking pictures haha).]
The back of the spoon…
My finger and unmanicured nail! Woohoo!
Further demonstration of how it works. Scoop up the dough…
Push the silicon part of the spoon to remove the dough. If it’s sticky, as this dough is, you may need to help it out a bit by scraping out the sides of the scoop.
Roll the dough in a ball.
Roll balls in sugar and…
…place on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart. I tried flattening out half of the dough balls to see if the flattened shape made a difference, and it didn’t make much of a difference. So, just leave it in a ball.
Bake until the outer edges of the cookies begin to set and centers are soft and puffy, about 11 to 12 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks.
EAT THEM WHILE THEY’RE WARM! Store in an airtight container; they last more than 3 days, if you have any left after that.
Note: Do not overcook. The centers of the cookies should be somewhat soft and spongy when you take them out of the oven, otherwise they will end up hard and dry.
Glaze (optional): When cookies have cooled, lay out over a sheet of wax paper. Sift 1 1/4 cups of confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar) and then whisk with 2 Tbsp of milk until smooth. Dip spoon into glaze and dribble over cookies. (I put some of this glaze on a few of the cookies, and they don’t enhance the cookies that much or make them look any prettier.)
Lofthouse Frosted Sugar Cookies
I’m sure many of you’ve seen these cookies by the front entrance of Wal-Mart or near the bakery section of Costco. These cookies are called Lofthouse Frosted Sugar Cookies, and they are beyond delicious and comforting.
If you’re not familiar with these cookies, the cookie part has a very cake-like texture (even the batter looks like cake batter) with a sweet, buttercream frosting on top. The cookie part is not particularly sweet, so you get most of the sweetness from the frosting.
The underside of the cookie is perfect.I’m not a creative, fanciful person, so it was hard to make these cookies look decent enough for this post. Although not perfect-looking aesthetically, they taste wonderful. They are very soft and sweet.
They taste close enough to the real Lofthouse sugar cookies that you won’t have to buy them in the stores anymore. I made quite a few changes to the original recipe after reading through many comments I found on various websites for copycat Lofthouse cookies, so you won’t have to do any of the research yourself!
Also, I used a 4-inch cookie cutter after rolling out the dough because I wanted big, thick cookies instead of the traditional 2.5-3-inch size. I think these cookies would be perfect for the holidays. Be more creative than I am by coloring the frosting different colors.
NOTE: I don’t recommend making these cookies the same day you want/need them because you will have to refrigerate the dough for 6-8 hours or overnight.
Lofthouse Cookies
2 cups sugar (in my halved version, I added 2 Tbsp (1/4 cup for full version) EXTRA of sugar to make the cake part a tad sweeter)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups sour cream
5-6 cups AP flour, until desired consistency for rolling (in my halved version, I used 2 1/2 cups in the dough and then added about half a cup more of flour while rolling out the dough)
Cover and refrigerate overnight (or 6-8 hours).
Preheat oven to 425ºF. Roll out dough to a 1/4 to 3/8 inch thickness using a generous amount of flour (I used a combination of flour and powdered sugar for a non-stick surface and flavor). Cut out shapes, and bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 minutes.
Cool on wire rack. Frost (recipe below), and decorate as desired.
1/2 cup shortening
5-8 Tbsp (or more) evaporated milk (or regular milk), until you reach the desired consistency
1 tsp vanilla extract
food coloring (optional)
Chocolate Chip Bars
The cookies in these photos came fresh out of the refrigerator the day after I made them. That is why they don’t look ooey and gooey. Sorry about that folks!Here’s another chocolate chip recipe, but in bar form. I saw this recipe on Chocolate Bytes who got it from a youtube video. The recipe reqires shortening instead of butter, which causes the bars (or cookies) to be very soft. I didn’t allow my bars to cook for very long to further ensure softness.
These bars were very delicious and remained so for three or four days (that’s how long they lasted), but I wouldn’t go far as to say they are the best CCCs I’ve ever had. I simply microwaved one or two bars for 30 sec – 1 minute and chewed them happily with a big mug of (skim) milk haha (I grew up on skim milk, so I can’t tolerate any other type of milk for straight-up “drinkage”).
Anyway, if you’re one of those people who tend to shy away from shortening, try using half shortening and half butter to see how they turn out. I think I used butter-flavored shortening all the way. Also, if you don’t want to use the below recipe, simply use one of your favorite CCC recipes, and convert the dough into bars. Enjoy!
Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars1 stick regular Crisco or vegetable shortening (I used butter-flavored shortening)
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 eggs (large or jumbo) (I always use large eggs)
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 cups AP flour
Mix the shortening and white sugar together with a mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes till creamed together.
Add the salt, baking soda, eggs and brown sugar. Mix again on medium for 1 minute or until incorporated.
Add the flour and mix with the mixer until both cups are incorporated.
Stir in an entire bag of semi-sweet chips by hand.
BARS:
Place cookie dough in a foil-lined or sprayed 9 X 13 baking dish and press it out until leveled. Bake at 350 for about 15-20 minutes. If using FOIL, take the bars out by lifting the foil and place the uncut bars on a cooling rack. Once cool enough to handle, cut the bard. If SPRAYED dish, allow the bars to cool in the dish and then cut them once they have somewhat cooled. Place the cut bars on a cooling rack, or just gobble them up right then and there!
COOKIES:
Roll into balls larger than golf ball size, but smaller than a small lemon. They should fit on one cookie sheet at a time (about 6 at a time). Bake at 345 for 14-15 minutes.
Jacque Torres’ Chocolate Chip Cookies
I have tried the Let’s Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookies found on Smitten Kitchen, and I have tried two versions of Alton Brown’s The Chewy – a brown butter version from Recipe Girl and the regular one from Food Network. I had yet to try the Jacque Torres version until today after being tempted by the cookies found on Tender Crumb.
I made a halved version of the cookie dough on Saturday so that I could allow the flavors to marry by Monday, which is when I baked and sent them off to my stepdaughters. Yes, I sent off more treats to the girls. This time I did it in celebration for the youngest girl’s reading achievement I mentioned previously and so that they would have yummy, sweet treats for Thanksgiving.
Not only did I make the cookies, but I also made more cinnamon rolls for them. They will be disappointed, though, that I didn’t make a double version of the cinnamon rolls like I usually do. Let’s just hope they didn’t notice hehe.
Anyway, these cookies were very good, but I’m no longer a good critic of CCCs because I have grown tired of them (shocking, I know!). I’m tired of looking at CCCs and eating them because they are so overly done. There are way too many other dessert recipes out there to explore!
However, if you are crazy about chocolate chip cookies, you should give these a try. I was sure to cook them just below the allotted time so they would stay soft and chewy. They were very soft in the middle and had just enough crunch on the sides. Lastly, I used cake flour instead of pastry flour because I didn’t have the latter.
Enjoy, and have a great weekend. For those who celebrate U.S. Thanksgiving, Happy Turkey Day to you.
Jacques Torres’ Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe (Full Version)adapted from Tender Crumb
PRINTABLE VERSION!
Makes 26 5-inch cookies or 8 1/2 dozen 1 1/4-inch cookies
1 pound unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 1/4 cups packed light-brown sugar
4 large eggs
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons pastry flour (I used cake flour)
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 pounds bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies.
Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp + 2 tsp (or a little more than 1/3 cup) granulated sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp packed light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups plus 1 Tbsp pastry flour (I used cake flour)
1 1/2 cups bread flour
1 1/2 tsp salt (I used kosher salt)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (I used the regular, generic, cheap kind. I’m a grad student hehe)
1 pound bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used one whole bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined. (I refrigerated the dough for about 48 hours)
Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Pecanless Pie Cheesecake
If you’ve seen my pecanless pie tarts, then you already know I’m not a fan of nuts, but I’m addicted to the sugary center and the buttery crust found in pecan pies. So a few weeks ago, I had a hankering for some pie and found this bookmarked recipe for pecan pie cheesecake. Perfect!
Well, I made the cheesecake with very few problems…until…I unhooked the latch on my springform pan. Once I lifted up the sides, all of the pecanless pie “juice” started leaking out!
In an attempt to transfer the pie to another plate, I cracked the top of the pie (now I know how a cracked cheesecake looks in person!) because it was stuck to the sticky syrup on the bottom of the pan. So, I just decided to let it stay where it was – on the springform base.
Despite the problems, the cheesecake was very good, and I’m sure it would have been better with more of the syrupy filling. If I ever make it again, I’m going to double the crust amount so that it can hold in all of the filling.
I topped the cheesecake with homemade caramel (OVERKILL, I KNOW! But I had to make up for the lost syrupy filling right?!) and whipped cream. Needless to say, it was VERY decadent and so delicious. This recipe came from Bake or Break – one of my favorite blogs for desserts. Her photos are so perfect. She uses macro on many of her drool-worthy shots.
Nilla Crust:
1 & 3/4 cups vanilla wafer crumbs
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine wafer crumbs and brown sugar. Stir in melted butter. Press into bottom and up sides of a 9″ springform pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Pecan(less) pie filling:
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup dark corn syrup (I used light)
1/3 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
(1 & 1/2 cups chopped pecans)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and simmer until thickened, about 8-10 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour into crust and set aside.
Cheesecake portion:
3 (8-ounce) packages cream cheese, softened
1 & 1/4 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 eggs
2/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Reduce oven to 325°. With a hand mixer or stand mixer, beat cream cheese at medium speed until creamy. Add brown sugar and flour and beat until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each one. Stir in cream and vanilla. Pour over pecan filling. Bake for 1 hour. Turn off oven and leave cheesecake in oven with the door closed for 1 hour. Remove from oven and run a knife along the outside edges to loosen cheesecake from sides of pan. Let cool. Chill for at least 4 hours before serving.
Daring Bakers: Macarons
The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.
At first, I wasn’t going to participate in this month’s challenge because macarons are made primarily of two ingredients I do not like: nuts (i.e., almond flour) and meringue. However, because I’ve always been curious as to if i could ever create the coveted “feet” on the first try, I went along with the challenge and decided I would just give these French cookies to my students and colleagues afterward.
Now I can say proudly that I’ve made macarons and even saw the “feet” on my first and second attempts. The second batch didn’t come out as well as the first one, but they tasted much better. While both batches didn’t come out perfectly, they were good enough for my first and second attempts. I have posted some process photos below for the chocolate macarons:
I put the almond flour and powdered sugar in my (NEW!!) food processor…
I noticed how much I like the juxtaposition of onyx and silver on my techie stuff and kitchen appliances. My stand mixer, laptop, desktop (not pictured), and food processor are all the same color!
…and sifted the mixture twice and still got bumpy macarons. Oh well.
I added about 15 grams of cocoa powder and then sifted again.
Beat the egg whites until you reach stiff peaks.
Fold the almond mixture into the stiff egg whites in 3 installments. Keep folding until the batter looks like magma or lava. Do not under- or over-stir!
Put the mixture into a piping bag. I didn’t use a tip the first time around. With the second batch, I used a 1/2-inch rounded tip. I didn’t see any difference in the outcome.
See? The pre-baked macarons look pretty good (shape-wise) without the aid of a tip. I’m not that great of a “piper”, but I was pretty satisfied with how they were turning out at this point, despite the bumpy texture.
For the first batch, I made chocolate macarons with coffee buttercream and Mexican chocolate ganache. I didn’t like the taste of the chocolate ones because I could taste the almond flavor. The buttercream and ganache were divine though!
For the second batch, I made a “cinnamon roll” macaron because I was craving cinnamon rolls. I added a blend of cinnamon (~10 grams) and brown sugar (~10grams) to the almond flour and powdered sugar mix. Then I made my go-to cream cheese frosting that I use for my favorite cinnamon rolls.
I, of course, just had to take a bite of the macaron for the blog (sorry for the many bad photos!), and that was when I realized how yummy these were. I have to admit that these were really, really good. I also added a little bit of Mexican chocolate ganache in the middle of a few of the macarons, but I didn’t like that variety very much. It was overkill.
CHALLENGE AFTERTHOUGHTS: I don’t regret participating in this month’s challenge; it was a good experience, and I can now say I’ve made macarons. I doubt I’ll ever make them again, even though the cinnamon roll macarons were very good. I have a bunch of them sitting in my freezer, and I plan to give them away to my students on Monday.
*UPDATE* I gave them away today and my students and colleagues LOVED both varieties. Some came back for seconds. I got rid of them all very quickly. I was surprised at how no one had heard of macarons, especially my colleagues who have traveled to Western Europe many of times.
I personally think they were pretty easy to make even though mine didn’t come out perfectly. If I were to make them again, I would need to find a better way to sift the dry mixture. Anyway, I enjoyed studying many videos and food blogs relating to macarons, including Tartelette‘s (she won’t be referenced to very often by other bloggers in this challenge HAH!) and Mad Baker‘s blogs. Thanks for this challenge, Ami! Also, thanks to all the food bloggers and youtube cooks with their tips, photos, videos, and blogs about macarons. Don’t forget to check out what the other Daring Bakers did for this challenge!
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup water
2 large eggs
3 sticks (1 1/2 cups) unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 1 tablespoon hot water (I used instant coffee)
In a small heavy saucepan set over medium heat, dissolve the sugar in the water. While stirring bring the mixture to a boil, stop stirring, and continue to cook until it registers 235-240°F on a candy thermometer.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or with a hand held beater beat the eggs until they are frothy. Add the sugar syrup in a thin stream, beating, and beat the mixture until it is cool. (The mixture should change to a pale white, thick mixture. You will be have to beat the mixture for 5-10 minutes in order to reach that point.)
Change to the paddle attachment and add in the room-temperature butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, the espresso or coffee mixture, and beat the buttercream until it is combined well. Leave at room temperature so it will be easier to spread.
1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups confectioners’ or icing sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Beat together cream cheese and butter. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt.
Browned Butter "Chewy"
I found this recipe, which was adapted from Alton Brown’s “The Chewy”, on RecipeGirl. I love her photos and almost all of her baked goods.
For some reason, her cookies came out bigger and flatter than mine. They also look darker. Next time, I will flatten the dough mounds before placing them in the oven, and I will darken the butter more. After doing brief research on browning butter, I read that the skillet should not have a black base because it will be hard to see how dark the butter is getting. In order to (attempt to) remedy that problem, I used my white rubber spatula to see how dark the butter was getting. It never became really dark, and I even put the heat on medium for about 5-10 minutes, so I just gave up and proceeded with the recipe.
Because I live alone and have started my diet AGAIN, I baked only 4 small cookies (the ones you see pictured) and froze the rest of the dough. I am an all-or-nothing dieter, meaning when I’m on a diet, I’m very strict with eating and exercise, and when I fall off the diet wagon, I fall off badly. I make up for all the deprivation and resistance to goodies that I did while on track. Consequently, I am trying to train myself to indulge more sensibly from time to time so that whenever I reach my goal, I will be better at maintaining instead of gaining all of the weight back.
As a consequence of gobbling up these cookies, I ate a healthy salad with Naked Juice (WARNING: a video starts up immediately on this site) for lunch/dinner. I plan to eat something else light later on. I also don’t allow myself to eat after 9pm. However, if my stomach is really aching for something, I will eat a small plum or another piece of fruit. Later, I will do some serious cardio and strength training to burn off these yummy cookies. Ah, the price we have to pay to have our cake and eat it, too…and stay fit in the process…
On another topic, I finally got over my anxiety and stepped outside to take these pictures on my patio. I think they look much better than my previous pics, which I usually had taken inside and in the evening (yeah, bad combination, I know). I used the same camera and just added more of God’s light and used my purple scarf as a backdrop, which yielded much better pictures. Right after I was done taking over 100 photos(!), I picked up the plate of cookies to bring them back inside when one of them fell to the ground (look below)! The cookie just smiled back at me (see the face?), I wiped it off, and gobbled it up gleefully and guiltlessly haha. Hey! You live only once! If I die over a fallen cookie…er…correction – a fallen, delicious cookie, then so be it! I will just die happy 
.
Haha! Do you see the tongue sticking out on the right? Weird!These cookies were so good. They were very soft. In fact, one of them wanted to fall apart, and I had to be very careful with it. My oven tends to overheat, so I always have to half the time indicated on a recipe. I also like my cookies to be really soft and not fully cooked, so I baked it for 5 minutes instead of 6.
You should definitely make these cookies. They really are good. I’m not able to say if I think they are better than the original “Chewy” because I forgot how the originals tasted, and I didn’t brown my butter long enough. Nevertheless, they were very good, and I will make them again.
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter
1/4 cup white granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar (packed)
1 Tbs half and half cream (or milk)
1 Tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 cups chocolate chips (I used a combination of Guittard and Ghiradelli semisweet chips)
1. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
2. Melt butter in medium saucepan over low heat. Continue to cook on low heat, stirring often, until butter is browned. Turn off heat and stir in white and brown sugars.
3. Scrape into a medium mixing bowl and use electric mixer to cream the butter and sugars together. Add half & half, lemon juice, vanilla extract and eggs. Mix in until well combined. Add half of the flour mixture and incorporate into the batter with electric mixer. Add the rest and mix until thoroughly combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be very soft and buttery. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until firm for an hour or two (I left my dough in the refrigerator overnight, and it was fine. Just let it sit on the counter for 10-15 minutes before scooping out dough).
4. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop up heaping Tablespoonfuls of cookie dough and use your hands to roll into balls. Place 12 balls on a sheet, keeping about an inch and a half between each ball.
5. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, depending on how large you’ve rolled your balls (mine took 11 minutes).
Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen
Daring Bakers: Chocolate-Covered Marshmallow Cookies & Milano Cookies
The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.
Finally. I have finally completed a true baker challenge with this one. I even made both cookies, even though we could just make one of them. Let’s first talk about the Marshmallow Cookies.
MARSHMALLOW COOKIES:
The base to these cookies was very easy to put together. I made the dough, which was shaped into a disk, two days ahead of time with the intention of doing the rest of the cookie the next day. Well, that didn’t happen because…well…the marshmallows happened haha.
MARSHMALLOWS:
I talked about the marshmallows on a previous post already, but I guess I can go into more detail here. The first time I tried to make them, I didn’t read the instructions carefully and stirred the egg white (I halved the recipe) into the somewhat-cooled caramel. There were strings of caramel everywhere – on my hands, bowl, spoon, pot, etc. It was crazy. After I cleaned off every thing, I tried again. The second time around, I followed the procedures found on the recipe posted on Smitten Kitchen, since it looked easier. Well, everything looked better until I noticed that the softened gelatin had clumped up at the bottom of the mixer bowl. I tried to pour out what I could and went on with the recipe in hopes that everything would work out. The so-called marshmallows came out looking yellowish and weird, so I had to throw them away.
It was getting dark, and I was tired, so I gave up and put everything away. I couldn’t sleep well that night because I couldn’t stand the fact that I hadn’t been able to master what seemed to be a feasible recipe! I had made caramel sauce, soufflés, authentic mole poblano, puff pastry, danish, apfelstrudel, yeast breads, etc. in the past, why couldn’t I make marshmallows? I dreamt about making marshmallows. I could see the beautiful, pristine photos on Deb’s website in my head.
As soon as I woke up the next day, I walked directly to the kitchen, pulled out all of the ingredients by memory, and followed the recipe on Smitten Kitchen instead of that of Daring Bakers. I figured that since they had given us permission to use store-bought marshmallows, I could follow another recipe. That is better than taking the shortcut!
On my third attempt, I stirred the softened gelatin as I poured in the syrup instead of beating it with the whisk attachment on the mixer. After I stirred the gelatin and syrup, I started to swell with excitement because I could tell I was on the right track. Once I mixed the gelatin with the syrup, I turned on the mixer with the whisk attachment and watched the mixture turn into a white, smooth, yet stringy marshmallow fluff!! YIPPEE!! I then added the egg whites and vanilla and poured the fluff into the powdered-sugar-lined pan. They came out perfectly and were so soft. I’m still not crazy about marshmallows, though. LOL
We were supposed to put the marshmallow fluff in a pastry bag and pipe it out onto the cookie base, but I decided to just make them full-out marshmallows and threw them in the oven for a few minutes at a low temperature while atop the cookie base so that the marshmallows could melt a bit and adhere to the cookie. I then allowed them to cool before dipping them in the glaze.
The chocolate glaze for the cookies was no problem. I ran out of the Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips, so to the rest of the cookies I used some unsweetened, dark chocolate and added sugar to the mix, which made the texture look grainy. So, about half of them had semi-sweet chocolate and the other half, dark chocolate. I didn’t try the latter because I don’t like dark chocolate.
MILANO COOKIES:
These cookies were easy to make. I only had problems with shaping the cookies. As you can see, each one is a different size and shape haha. I was going to use my pastry bag, as the recipe instructed us to do, but I didn’t want to dirty one up, and I thought I could get away with using a Ziploc bag. Um, yeah, well, that didn’t work out right. Once I started squeezing out the dough, the bag busted open and all the dough (or goop) fell out onto the silpat/silicon mat. I scraped up everything and put it back in my mixer bowl. Then, I just spooned in 1 x 2-4 inches of dough on the mat. I had a feeling it would spread greatly since we were supposed to make 1-inch portions. Well, they did spread and were misshapen, so in order to make the sandwich cookies more uniformed, I cut the edges with scissors. That worked out perfectly. The chocolate filling came out fine, too. I just don’t like the taste of dark chocolate.
MY CONSENSUS ON BOTH TYPES OF COOKIES:
I didn’t like either of the cookies. I’m very tired of marshmallows. I’m very tired of chocolate (GASP!). I’m very tired of cookies (GASP AGAIN!). They are everywhere in my kitchen. Since I live alone, I halved the recipe, but the recipes still yielded quite a bit. I’m going to give all the cookies to what I lovingly call my “garbage disposal” (aka my neighbor/college). Whatever he doesn’t eat, he told me he would “donate” to our colleagues, and put them in the kitchen in our office.
REFLECTIONS ON THE CHALLENGE:
Even though I didn’t like the cookies, I am so so so happy that I participated in this challenge because I learned so much. I was able to make things I had never made before, which is the point of Daring Bakers. I am so proud of myself for making marshmallows. I’ll never forget it haha. I also enjoyed enrobing the cookies in chocolate.
Thanks, Nicole at Sweet Tooth! Don’t forget to see what the other Daring Bakers have done with this challenge. I’m 100% certain that their entries will be much more creative than mine were haha.
Chocolate S’Mores Ice Cream
I’m not as crazy about S’mores as many other people, but one day I had a rare craving for the stuff. I bought the marshmallows, graham crackers, and Hershey’s chocolate with great hesitation. I originally wanted to make my own marshmallows and graham crackers, but I didn’t feel like putting in that much effort for something I’m not super crazy about eating…well, until a few days ago.
So after I consumed two or three s’mores, my craving was satiated, but I still had an almost full bag of marshmallows, graham crackers, and chocolate. In order to use up some of the stuff, I made some s’mores cookies that were insanely good (never got a chance to take photos of them, but you can click here or here to see them). Since I halved the cookie recipe, I was still left with a lot of s’more ingredients.
So, the other day, I had to make homemade marshmallows for an upcoming event, and all I could think was, “oh great, more marshmallows!” After three trials of making those marshmallows, I was left with three or four egg yolks. As I looked at the egg yolks, all I could think about was making ice cream with them.
Bokeh even makes a discarded letter, empty Coke box, vacuum cleaner, and foot massager look good! LOL!
Even though I’m no longer that crazy about chocolate, I was craving chocolate ice cream for some reason. After I made the custard base for the ice cream, I started thinking about what I could add in it. Then I looked over at the marshmallows and graham crackers and thought “S’mores ice cream!” I looked online for S’mores Ice cream recipes and found only one recipe that was unsatisfactory (i.e., no egg base and faulty instructions). So, I thought I’d just improvise and make my “own” concoction.
Ideally, I would have made a vanilla-based ice cream with chunks of Hershey’s chocolate, marshmallows, and graham crackers added in during the final minutes of churning in the ice cream maker (Someone should try this out, and tell me about it! *wink wink*). However, since I had already made chocolate ice cream, I decided to add in crushed graham crackers and marshmallows. You could also add in chocolate chunks, but for me, that would be too much.
Surprisingly (or not surprisingly), the ice cream tasted great. Thanks to David L.’s chocolate ice cream recipe and the custard base, the ice cream was really creamy and smooth. I think it would also be a good idea to toast the marshmallows, allow them to cool and then add them to the ice cream so that they taste more closely to s’mores. If you decide to make this or the variation mentioned above with the vanilla base, or if you’ve already made it, please tell me about it!
July is National Ice Cream month, so I’m sending this to the Ice Cream Social Challenge, put together by Savor The Thyme. Tangled Noodle, Scotty Snacks & to Ben’s Homemade# 5: Ice Cream.
Chocolate Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz
2 cups heavy cream 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder 5 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped 1 cup whole milk ¾ cup sugar Pinch of salt 5 large egg yolks ½ teaspoon vanilla extract Warm 1 cup of the cream with the cocoa powder in a medium saucepan, whisking to thoroughly blend the cocoa. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer at a very low boil for 30 seconds, whisking constantly. Remove from the heat and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until smooth. Then stir in the remaining 1 cup cream. Pour the mixture into a large bowl, scraping the saucepan as thoroughly as possible, and set a mesh strainer on top of the bowl. Warm the milk, sugar, and salt in the same saucepan. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. Slowly pour the warm milk unto the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan. Stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. Pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the chocolate mixture until smooth, then stir in the vanilla. Stir until cool over an ice bath. Chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions (If the cold mixture is too thick to pour into your machine, whisk it vigorously to thin out). Makes a little more than 1 quart.
Banana Pudding
Not the most photogenic dessert in the world, but it sure is good!
Woah, it’s been a long time since I’ve posted on here. There are too many other food blogs out there for me to have to write the usual apology for not posting more regularly, so I will just get right to writing about this yummy banana pudding!
I had been seeing quite a few recipes for vanilla wafers on the blogosphere, so I had been planning to make this pudding with said wafers for a long time. I finally got around to it today. I made the wafers (of varying sizes), the egg custard for the pudding, and then put everything together. The wafers were good, but the buttery flavor was too salient for the pudding. I think I will either use less butter in the wafers or try another recipe next time. The wafers by themselves were good, too. I didn’t take any pictures of the cookies because they looked pretty plain, but you can still see them poking out of the homemade whipped cream (I don’t like meringue.) and custard. YUM!
*UPDATE*
After sitting in the refrigerator for a few hours, this banana pudding has gotten a lot better. Now you can barely taste that heavy buttery taste I mentioned previously, so everything has melded together very well. This pudding is divine!
I got the recipe from my favorite southern food blog, Southern Plate. Every single thing I’ve made on this site has been so good. From the chicken crockpot dressing to this banana pudding, she knows what she’s talking about. I also love how she uses generic basic ingredients. Because of her, I own a generous size of generic, Wal-mart brand vanilla extract that only cost me .98 cents .
Here is the recipe. Since I live alone, I halved the recipe (full recipe is shown below),and it still procured a generous portion. In order to add in 1 1/2 egg yolks, I usually stir the yolks (you can do the same thing with whole eggs), and then I pour in what looks like over half of the stuff. It works perfectly every time.
All gone!
Homemade Banana Pudding
adapted from Southern Plate
1/2 C Sugar
1/3 C Flour
3 egg yolks (I saved and froze my egg whites for my new go-to white cake recipe. I will post about that later)
2 C milk
2-3 dozen vanilla wafers* (or 1 box Nilla Wafers)
5 bananas (I used 2 bananas in my half version, and it was perfect)
1/2 tsp Vanilla
dash salt
Place a layer of Nilla Wafers in the bottom of a medium sized mixing bowl. Slice a banana over the top. Repeat two more times with another layer of wafers and remaining bananas.
In sauce pot (or double boiler) on medium low heat, add all ingredients except for vanilla, bananas, and wafers. Stir well with wire whisk and then switch to a wooden spoon. Allow to cook, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, until thickened – about ten to fifteen minutes (Do not rely heavily on the time; rely more on the thickness of the custard. You don’t want to end up with scrambled eggs!). Once the custard coasts the spoon, turn off the heat. Add in vanilla and stir. Immediately pour over wafers and bananas. Let sit for about five minutes or so before serving, to allow wafers time to absorb pudding. Top with meringue (or whipped cream), if desired.
For a basic recipe for Whipped Cream, you can go here. I made mine with 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 2 Tbsps of sugar, and 1/2-1 tsp of vanilla extract.
*Vanilla Wafer Cookies
adapted from Baking Bites
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
Preheat oven to 325F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light. Beat in egg and vanilla extract.
Sift flour, salt and baking powder over the butter mixture and stir to combine. Scrap dough into a pastry bag fitted with a plain piping tip. Pipe the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, making each cookie the size of a large chocolate chip. Cookies will spread, but only a little space is needed between cookies. (IMHO, the dough was too thick for the piping bag, so I just used a teaspoon and dumped the dough onto the pan. Since it would be covered with custard and cream, I wasn’t worried about them looking perfect.)
Bake at 325 F for 10 to 15 minutes, until cookies are a light golden brown. Baking time will vary depending on the exact size of your cookies. Mine were a bit tall, but slightly smaller than a dime. They spread slightly to about dime-size. Cool on baking sheets. Store in an airtight container.
Homemade Oreos and Oreo Cupcakes!
A quick post to show the homemade Oreos I made…and Oreo Cupcakes!
The batter spilled over on some of the cupcakes so they look a bit deformed . Fortunately, the taste was not affected. I still need to work on decorating. I had trouble making pretty, consistent spirals with my piping bag due to the chunks of Oreos in the buttercream icing.
To make the Oreos, I used the recipe on Smitten Kitchen. The cookie dough and filling were really easy to put together. Go to her site, and see her beautiful photos of these delicious cookies.
The cookies are softer than the crunchy ones you find in the store; however, the filling tastes exactly like the Oreo filling! In my opinion, the homemade versions taste better than the store versions, and I plan to make these again for my students during their final exams. They will be so surprised.
For the cupcakes, I used the Hershey’s “Perfectly Chocolate” Chocolate Cake recipe, and it will forever be my go-to chocolate cake recipe. The cupcakes are so moist!! I substituted 1/2 of the milk with buttermilk and added Oreos to the batter and the icing. The idea to make these cupcakes, the addition of Oreos to the batter, and the icing recipe came from Heather Drive. Thanks, Heather!
I have over a dozen cupcakes in the freezer now for future consumption. I also plan to give some away to my colleague/neighbor. For some reason, he never complains about my tendency to give him all of my leftover treats! 
Let’s Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookies
I promised my students that I would make cookies for them last week, but I never got around to doing it. For days, I have been pondering over what I should make for them. I wanted to try a new recipe; instead, I resorted back to my favorite chocolate chip recipe. I found this recipe off of Smitten Kitchen. I ran out of bread flour yesterday when I made the focaccia bread, so I used AP flour all the way. I also added cornstarch because I didn’t have cake flour (1 3/4 cup AP flour + 1/4 cup cornstarch = 1 cup cake flour). Unfortunately, I messed up on the recipe because I forgot to subtract 2 Tbsp of flour. I was nervous about this, so I was forced to try out two cookies to see if they tasted okay.
They were fabulous and looked better than I’ve ever seen them, and I’ve made these cookies about four times already. The dough is to be refrigerated for 24 to 36 hours, so I plan to bake the rest tomorrow evening and give them to my students Monday morning.
Below is the modified, more “practical” version of the recipe on Smitten Kitchen. Her recipe calls for Valhrona fèves and arranging the chocolate disks in a certain way. If you would like the more “ostentatious” version, go there. If you would like a simpler version, I suggest using the recipe below (all changes, additions, or comments are in italics):
Leite’s Consummate Chocolate Chip Cookies: The Simpler Version
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen and David Leite via The New York Times
Takes: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling
Makes: 1 1/2 - 3 dozen cookies (yield amount depends on the size).
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour (OR 1 1/2 cups AP flour + 1/2 cornstarch – 2 TBSP)
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour (I used AP flour this time around)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt (I used Kosher salt)
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter (softened; I place cold butter near or on top of my hot oven for a few minutes. You could also try this method.)
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs (room temperature; I let my cold eggs sit in hot water for a few minutes)
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
a bag (preferably two bags, but I didn’t have another one) of Ghiradelli or Nestlè chocolate chips
Sea salt (I never add this on top of my cookies; it is salty enough inside)
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. [Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.]
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop mounds of dough with a cookie or ice cream scooper onto baking sheet, depending on the size of cookie you desire. These cookies should be fairly big in size. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt (OPTIONAL) and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes (10-12 mins in my oven). Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin (YEP!).
Enjoy!
