Friends Food Family

Double Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Every year, I look for a new cookie to add to my many holiday cookies. This year, out of the 5 or 6 new cookies I baked, this Double Chocolate Sugar Cookie recipe ended up being the big family favorite. This cookie has wonderful chocolate chewiness with the perfect sugary crunch. I made the recipe a little different from the original and it still came out perfect. I hope you enjoy these as much as we did.

"These Double Chocolate Sugar Cookies are the perfect blend of chewy and crunch." ~ Danielle B.

Double Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Adapted from The Cafe Sucre Farine

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups of flour, +2 tablespoons
• 3/4 cup of cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 14 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
• 1-3/4 cups of dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup of mini semi sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup of demera or turbinado sugar

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium bowl mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and baking soda, set aside.
3. Using a hand-held beater or mixer with the paddle attachment, place butter, dark brown sugar, vanilla and salt in a large bowl and beat on medium high for 1 minute until blended.
4. Add egg and egg yolk one at a time, beating each until well incorporated. 
5. On low speed, add the flour mixture. Mix until just blended.
6. Add mini chocolate chips and mix until incorporated.
7. Place demera or turbinado sugar is a shallow bowl.
8. Using a well rounded tablespoon of dough, roll into a ball and then roll in sugar. 
9. Place on cookie sheet and using the bottom of a glass, press the cookie slightly and then sprinkle with additional sugar.
10. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies puff and are slightly cracked. They will be dry on top.
11. Watch cookies carefully as you do not want to over bake them. 
12. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie racks.

This recipe makes 36-40 cookies. They freeze well, too. Eat some now and freeze some for later. 

  

Cardamom Raisin Snickerdoodles

This past month I have been involved in the Food Blogger Love Cookie Exchange.  #fblcookieexchange

I happened to be looking for some holiday cookie ideas on Pinterest and landed on Sarah's website, Fantastical Sharing of Recipes. Since I was going through a job transition and was trying to get back into food blogging, I thought this was a great idea. Plus, who doesn't love baking cookies. As part of the cookie exchange, I was asked to make a donation to either Climates Animal Rescue or No Kid Hungry, which I happily did. Then, I would be sent three names and would be responsible to send each a dozen cookies. Finally, I am to write about the exchange with the cookie recipe and Sarah will put together a list with all the recipes. (Link is at the bottom of the story.)

I decided that I wanted to make some new varieties of cookies this holiday season so the hunt for a new recipe was on. I went through many of my cookbooks to see if I could find cookies that were unique but not too challenging. I have learned from many years of making cookies, sometimes the simplest of cookies are the ones everyone enjoys. So, I found three I was going to try: 1. Chocolate Biscotti with Dried Cherries and Pistachios 2. Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies and 3. Cardamom Raisin Snickerdoodles. 

Fast forward - I made all three types of cookies. I figured once I tasted them, and had my husband and mother-in-law taste them, I would pick a winner. Into the box and out in the mail they would go. Issue - I liked the Chocolate Biscotti, Jeff liked the Cardamom Raisin Snickerdoodles and Althea LOVE, LOVE, LOVED the Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Now that I didn't know which cookies to send and a box that was just too big, I had to make some decisions. So, I packed all three types in the box and sent them off with a tasting of our favorite Andria's Chocolate Chip Cookies.

My cookie recipients were:

1. Kaylin of Keep It Simple Sweetie
2. Sarah of Sarah Cooks the Books
3. Linda of The Orange Bee

 In the meantime, I received

1. Bittersweet Chocolate Espresso Chip Shortbread Cookies from Faye of Live Bake Love (Espresso and chocolate! YUM!)
2. Almond Biscotti from Pavani of Cook's Hideout (Perfect with a cup of coffee, delicate crunch!)
3. Opa's Gingerbread from Kate of Kate's Recipe Box (Reminded me of the amazing gingerbread we ate in Germany)

These cookies were all amazing. It was so nice to sample them through the week as I normally had biscotti for breakfast with coffee, gingerbread as a mid-afternoon snack with hot chocolate and shortbread for dessert with a little red wine. I guess this is what cookie heaven is like.

If you are interested in any of the recipes, follow the link to the all the amazing recipes: Food Blogger Love Cookie Exchange Recipe.

So, just a little bit about the Cardamom Raisin Snickerdoodles. They are amazing, light and buttery with a holiday spice flavor. I love adding cardamom to recipes with apples and oranges so this was perfect. The uniqueness to this recipe is it has the feel of cinnamon and nutmeg, yet none are included. It's definitely a different flavor, pleasing and festive. I am going to add this to my cookie list this year. I'm actually going to try to add a bit of orange rind the next time I make them. I thing it would balance the flavor of the cardamom with the raisins. 

Give them a try and tell me what you think. It could be the best cookie you make this season.

Thank you Sarah for putting this together. It's a lot of work but I am truly grateful!

Cardamom Raisin Snickerdoodles 

(Adapted from Food 52 - Baking)

Ingredients:

3 cups of flour

1 cup of white sugar 

1/2 cup of brown sugar

2 teaspoons of cream of tartar

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon of ground cardamom

1 cup of butter, melted and cooled

3 eggs, slightly beaten

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 cup of raisins

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, add the flour, sugars, tartar, baking soda, salt and cardamom. Mix until blended. Put aside.
3. In a small bowl, whisk eggs into the melted butter. Once blended, add vanilla and mix until blended.
4. Using a spatula, mix the egg and butter mixture into the large bowl of dry ingredients.
5. As the mixture begins to come together, add the raisins. Stir until the dough comes together.
6. In a small bowl, add 1/4 cup of white sugar and 1 teaspoon of cardamom. Mix together. You will be using this mixture to roll the cookies before you bake them.
7. Start making cookie balls approximately 1-1/2 inches in size and roll in the sugar and cardamom mixture. Place on cookie sheet.
8. Bake 6-8 minutes or until slightly golden and the tops look dry.
9. Remove from oven and place on cookie rack.
10. Cool and enjoy!

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

 

 

Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every holiday season, I have a set group of cookies that I make every year. I especially love my traditional cookies because they disappear the fastest. My belief is to create a solid list of traditional cookies and then throw in a few sugary surprises.

My perfect cookie tray dozen is:

1. A chocolate chip cookie - Andria's Chocolate Chip Cookies - bittersweet chocolate and Heath Bar bits make them perfect!
2. An oatmeal cookie - Nannie's Oatmeal Cookies - brown sugar oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips and raisins.
3. A macadamia nut cookie - White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies - men love these, more than women!
4. A gingersnap cookie - Dipped Gingersnaps - a great twist on a traditional cookie.
5. A chocolate cookie - Chocolate Snowcap Cookies - soft and fudgy with nonpareils.
6. A jelly filled cookie - Jelly Filled Thumbprints - brown sugar shortbread cookie with a fruity jam.
7. A peanut butter cookie - Peanut Butter Blossoms - who doesn't love these!
8. A shortbread cookie - Danielle B's Special Thumbprints - mini chocolate chips and a Hershey kiss.
9. An easy bar cookie - 7 Layer Bars - This is as good as a candy bar.
10. A soft cookie - Angie's Ricotta Cookies - tastes like a little moist cake with lemon icing.
11. A biscotti - Dried Cherry Pistachio Biscotti - perfect with a cup of coffee.
12. A new addition - Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookie - a new cookie that people go crazy for!

I like this choice of cookies because they all get eaten. There is nothing worse than arriving with a platter of cookies, only to be leaving and seeing many of them still on the plate. Believe me, that used to happen. I would spend hours on specialty cookies only to find all the traditional cookies would be eaten. The specialty cookies would be sitting very pretty on the plate and later, they would be in the trash. 

This year, I was looking for some new cookies to add to my list and decided to try these Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies. I bought a bag of Butterfinger Bits and thought the taste would be good. I love crushed candy bars in cookies. It gives them a unique flavor. That's why I add Heath Bar Bits to my chocolate chip cookies. 

The original recipe didn't have mini chocolate chips but I love a bit more chocolate with my cookie. I figured the mini chips wouldn't overwhelm the flavor of the candy. The recipe was easy and the cookies were delicious. They were crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy with flavors of peanut butter and chocolate. My mother-in-law, who lives next door, is my official taste tester. She's not a big candy bar fan but all she talked about was how much she liked the cookies.

I just bought another bag of Butterfinger Bits so I'm off to make another batch. I'm going to add them to my perfect dozen list and let's see how well these cookies do this season.

Happy Holidays! 

Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Adapted from Nestle recipe)

Ingredients:

1 cup of butter

1-1/2 cups of white sugar

2 eggs

3-1/2 cups of flour

1-1/2 teaspoons for baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 bag of Butterfinger Bits or 8 Butterfinger candy bars, break into chunks

1 cup of mini chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
2. Using the paddle attachment on an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium high, until light and creamy (2 minutes).
3. Add eggs and beat until blended, about 1 minute.
4. On low speed, add flour, salt and baking soda.
5. Before the mixture comes together, add the Butterfinger pieces and the chocolate chips.
6. Mix until combined. 
7. Using a well-rounded teaspoon, drop dough onto cookie sheet.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden and the tops look dry.
9. Cool on cookie rack. 

Makes 48-60 cookies.

YUM YUM Cake or The Best Texas Sheet Cake

Back in the spring, we were having some friends for dinner and I was looking for an easy dessert. I was watching the Food Network and The Pioneer Woman was on. I have been following Ree Drummond ever since I started my food blog back in 2009. I love her recipes as well as her storytelling.

During her segment, she was making a Texas Sheet Cake and I kept thinking, I have a recipe for this somewhere. When I was younger, my Aunt Joyce would come to visit and she always made some interesting recipes that we didn't necessarily make in New England. She was originally from Alabama and traveled the world with my uncle as he served in the Navy. They lived in California, Japan, Texas, Hawaii, and Florida; and those are only the places I can remember, I know there were more. When she made this YUM YUM Cake, I remember it was more like a brownie, a gooey frosted brownie. It was dense and fudgy, sticky and sweet. Being the chocoholic that I am, this recipe always stuck with me. I went back into an old recipe folder and found the hand written recipe from my mother. Forty years later, it was almost identical. 

I went back and forth between the two recipes and decided to go with the additional cocoa as I do like chocolate. Ree's recipe definitely put a little more chocolate flavor into the cake; 4 tablespoons of cocoa VS 4 heaping tablespoons of cocoa. Both recipes taste delicious, one more fudgy than the other. The sheet cake is addictive and I say that because after you have a piece, you keep taking little slivers or wiping the spatula, gathering all the sweet gooeyness. You don't want to waste even a crumb! 

Since that time, I have made the cake a number of times. It's easy to make and within an hour the cake is mixed, baked and frosted. It can't get an easier than that. Our friends and family have definitely enjoyed this dessert, especially when they leave with a big slab of Texas Sheet Cake "to-go".

The best complement you can get from a dessert like this is...."Please don't make this dessert again because I can't stop eating it." Yup! I'll be making it again.

Tell us what you think. Did you like the cake? Do you make a cake similar to this? Share your favorite sheet cake recipes.

YUM YUM Cake or The Best Texas Sheet Cake 

Adapted from The Pioneer Woman

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 13 x 18 sheet cake pan.

• 2 sticks of butter, melted
• 4 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
• 1 cup of boiling water

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter with cocoa. Add boiling water and boil for 30 seconds. Remove from heat and add to dry ingredients below.

• 2 cups of sugar
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

In a large bowl, combine sugar, flour and salt. Add chocolate mixture. Stir until well blended.

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla

In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, baking soda and vanilla. Add this to the chocolate mixture in the large bowl. Whisk until smooth. Pour into sheet cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes until the cake springs back upon touch or a toothpick comes out clean. 

While the cake is baking, start making the frosting.

• 1 - 3/4 sticks of butter (14 tablespoons)
• 4 heaping tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa
• 6 tablespoons of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1 pound of confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 cup of chopped pecans

In a medium sauce pan, melt the butter with cocoa. Remove from heat and using a hand whisk add milk and vanilla. Add confectioner's sugar 1/2 at a time, whisk until smooth. After 2 cups, start tasting the frosting. You shouldn't use anymore than 3 cups. I use about 2-3/4 cups total. Once you like the sweetness, add the pecans.

When the cake comes out of the oven, frost the cake. 

This cake will feed 18-24 people (or more). As much as it is delicious the first day you make it, it tastes even better the following day.

 (This is my mother's handwriting for my Aunt Joyce's recipe)

Easy Apple Cake Recipe

It's been a while and nice to be back writing about our love of cooking. As much as Jeff and I have been cooking up a storm, I have not been good about posting our recipes. It makes me sad when I think about all the great recipes I could have been sharing, especially the fresh vegetable recipes that we made with goodies from our garden. Now that the garden is done for the season, I feel like I have time to breathe and get back into telling our story.

We did quite a bit of canning this summer and I promise to backtrack through some of the recipes, especially the Red, Yellow and Green Tomato Salsas. I would have considered Jeff the canning expert but with everything we (and sometimes I) canned this summer, I officially took over as the "Canning Queen". Five different types of pickles, pickled beets, pickled jalapeños, tomato sauce, tomato salsa, pickled tomatoes, strawberry jam and the list goes on.

Moving into fall, we normally head to Carlson Orchards to spend the afternoon walking the orchard and picking a variety of apples. This year we were lazy, we opted for The Big Apple, which is local to us. When I mean lazy, we didn't pick any apples, just went in and bought 4 varieties of apples. I do know this, next year I want to pick apples. It was the first time in 10+ years that we hadn't and it's not something I want to put aside. I enjoy the apples as much as the experience.

The apples we got were delicious and within 3 weeks I have made honey applesauce, apple conserve, the Disappearing Apple Crisp, carrot cake jam and this delicious apple cake. When I was looking for a new apple dessert, I wanted something that wasn't too sweet and could be used as a snack or breakfast treat verses a dessert. I know this is a dessert but my idea of dessert for this cake would have been a cinnamon crumble topping...much more sugar. 

The ingredients are fairly straight forward and I had this cake put together in less than 30 minutes. The best part was I got to use this amazing cake pan. I'm not sure how old it is, but it is very special. My sister-in-law, Laura, gave it to me after her mom, Joan, passed away suddenly. Joan had always spent the holidays with us and loved to cook. She would bring us cookbooks as well as treats from her kitchen when she arrived. I'm so glad I have some of her bakeware because it reminds me of her as well as her love of baking. I think she would have enjoyed the apple cake.

The apple cake cooked up beautifully and once it cooled slightly, I had to have a taste. The cake was moist and the warm apples melted in my mouth. It had a nutty taste and it was the perfect sweetness. I love these types of cakes with a cup of coffee or tea at 3 PM in the afternoon; a "pick me up" snack. Jeff likes to have a sweet at night around 8 PM. "This is exactly what I was looking for... little bit of fruit, a few nuts and not a lot of sugar."

Now that we have a simple dessert for apples, I want to find a pumpkin snack cake for all the pumpkin I have and will be cooking over the next few weeks. If you have any suggestions, send them my way. I love highlighting family favorite recipes.

Enjoy!

Easy Apple Cake Recipe

Adapted from Food Mayhem

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1 cup of white sugar

1 cup of canola or vegetable oil

2 teaspoons of vanilla

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1 teaspoon of nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

3 cups of apples - peeled, cored and chopped into 1 inch pieces

1/2 cup of dried cranberries, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup of chopped pecans 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 10 or 12 inch cake tube pan.
2. Mix a small bowl, mix dry ingredients of flour, baking soda, nutmeg and cinnamon. Set Aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, whisk eggs and sugar together for 1-2 minutes until the mixture begins to lighten. 
4. Slowly drizzle oil into the sugar and eggs and whisk continually until blended. The mixture will be slightly thickened and light yellow.
5. With a spatula, fold in the dry ingredients and mix until blended.
6. Add chopped apples, dried cranberries and pecans. 
7. The mixture will be thick.
8. Place in tube pan and bake on center rack for 45-50 minutes. Remove from oven when cake is golden and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
9. Cool on baking rack in pan.
10. Enjoy warm or cold.

Serves 8-10 people.

 

 

Happy New Year - Have Some Lemon Shortbread Cookies!

Adding Lemon Shortbread Cookies to some of my favorite holiday cookie recipes.

My, my...it's been a while. As I start to write this article, Adele's song "Hello" keeps running through my head. "Hello from the other side!" That's the way I feel. The past few years have been busy and I have put my food blog on the back burner. Jeff and I have been cooking up a storm, but we haven't been documenting what we have been doing. I "instagram" it, I "facebook" it, but it never gets to the blog.

I decided that I am going to make 2016 my turnaround year. Why? Well, I started Friends Food Family 6 years ago. I did it to keep track of all my recipes and also teach small businesses how to create better SEO (search engine optimization) through blogging. It was part of my job with the MA Small Business Development Center. Today, I want to continue because Jeff and I are doing so many exciting things with cooking and baking and gardening and canning and the list goes on and on. I want you to be part of our process.

I thought I would start the New Year with a cookie I made at Christmas. I wanted to find some new cookies to add to my traditional 12 Cookies of Christmas. Over the past 5 years, I have always written about new cookies I was trying during the Christmas season. What I realized was my family and friends really like the original group of cookies I have been making for over 30 years, with a few new ones sprinkled in. There is nothing festive about them, they are just "really good cookies" and sometimes, it's these cookies they are looking to consume. I will give you all the links to our favorites and the one thing I can guarantee...there won't be any left over. And, just because the holidays are over, it doesn't mean you can't make them during the year!

1. Andria's Chocolate Chip Cookies - This is a staple. Now matter how many different cookie recipes I try, this is the response from my kids, "Mom, these new cookies are great, but I really LOVE your regular chocolate chip cookies." Can't get anything better than that. Also, they are the cookies I bring to most events and people can't get enough of them.
2. Nannie's Oatmeal Cookies - A good old-fashioned oatmeal cookie made with brown sugar, lots of oatmeal, some Wheaties (yes, the cereal Wheaties), chocolate chips and raisins. My parents love these cookies, probably because my mother's mother (Alice) made them all the time.
3. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies - I call these my "guys cookies". Men tend to eat them faster than women and the minute I say "white chocolate macadamia nut" everyone jumps to grab one, or three, before they are gone.
4. Dipped Ginger Snaps - These are fairly new (4-5 years) but have become a delicious favorite. I dip these crunchy ginger snaps in a vanilla bark which adds a twist to a traditional holiday cookie.
5. Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies - I started making them a few years ago and a number of people requested them at Christmas. They are an interesting cookie that is rolled in sugar. They have a combination of espresso, cinnamon and bittersweet chocolate. Perfect with coffee or hot chocolate.
6. Peanut Butter Blossoms - Delicious peanut butter cookies with a Hershey Kiss on the top. Enough said.
7. Danielle B's Special Thumbprints - This is a chocolate chip shortbread cookie that has a Hershey Kiss on top. You may not recognize it as a kiss because we push it down as it melts.
8. Jelly Thumbprints - An old recipe from my 8th grade home economics class. Made with a brown sugar base, this recipe has made people smile for 30+ years. 
9. Cranberry Almond Biscotti - One of the first biscotti recipes I ever made. People love these. They are crispy and chewy, a perfect combination.
10. Angie's Ricotta Cookies - This cake-like cookie is made with ricotta cheese and covered with a lemony icing and colorful nonpareils. A festive cookie for the holidays.
11. 7 Layer Bars - Butter, graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, condensed milk and walnuts. They are very sweet but when you cut them into bite-sized squares they are just enough...to disappear.
12. Chocolate and Vanilla Dipped Pizzelles - I didn't get to make them this year, but I am making them next week for a party. Always a wonderful treat at the holidays.

So, back to my Lemon Shortbread Cookies. The reason I chose these cookies was because I was trying to think back on some great cookies I had eaten through 2015. All I could remember was these amazing lemon shortbread squares my cousin, Andria, made for a graduation party we attended. They were delicious. They were soft and melted in your mouth. I had a tough time finding a recipe similar to it when I came across these Lemon Shortbread Cookies from Ann Drake at On Sutton Place. They looked easy with 7 simple ingredients and sometimes simple is better. The recipe came together quickly and I could roll the dough immediately. The cookies were light and buttery with a sweet lemon icing. They were not my cousin's cookies, but they were delicious just the same. 

As I added these new cookies to the Christmas cookie platters, people really enjoyed them. At one point, I was hiding a large portion of them because Jeff, along with a few others wanted their own private batch. It always make me happy when I have fans of certain cookies. It guarantees that the recipe will make it to the blog!

Ta-DA! Here it is!

There are some great recipes coming in the next few weeks. After counting all the recipe books we own, we decided to start cooking a number of recipes each week from one cookbook. With almost 200 cookbooks, we have quite a few recipes to make!

Looking forward to an AMAZING 2016. Enjoy!

Lemon Shortbread Cookies from On Sutton Way

Ingredients

Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 1 cup of confectioner's sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons of freshly grated lemon peel
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 -2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Lemon Icing

• 2 cups of confectioner's sugar
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• 2 tablespoons of lemon juice

Preparation

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar and lemon peel with a hand mixer on medium speed. Beat for 2 minutes until light and creamy.
3. Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed until the mixture becomes grainy.
4. Add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice and the mixture should begin to come together. Add the second tablespoon if the mixture is still dry. (I ended up using 2 tablespoons.)
5. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead into a ball. 
6. Cut the dough in half and roll out to a 1/4 inch thickness. If hey get sticky, add a bit of flour. Use a cookie cutter to create designs. I used a 2-1/2 inch circle.
7. Place on a cookie sheet and cook for 6 - 8 minutes. The cookies will look dry but try not to brown them. They do not get any larger than the shape you cut.
8. Roll out second half of the dough and repeat.
9. Let the cookies cool on racks.
10. Using a small bowl, mix together the lemon icing. 
11. Ice the cookies with a spoon. You can drizzle the icing or dip the cookies.
12. Once the icing has dried, they can be served or they can be frozen for up to 3 months.

This recipe makes (about) 4 dozen cookies.

 

 

Tuscan Apple Cake

The other day, I was thumbing through some magazines and came across a Tuscan Apple Cake recipe. I knew I needed a quick dessert for the 4th of July and this recipe looked easy to make. The next day, as I gathered a few of the ingredients - I knew it had butter and 2 granny apples - I couldn't find the recipe. I looked at all the magazines we had in the kitchen and couldn't find it. It wasn't in Real Simple, Bon Appetit, or Foodies of New England. I searched the house and finally came upon a Tastes of Italia magazine from February 2013. At the top of the magazine it said, "Take a Trip to the Rolling Hills of Tuscany". I'm still not sure how I ended up with this magazine, but I found the recipe. 

What I liked about the recipe was the simplicity of the cake and the flavors that complemented it. The topping was made of almonds, sugar and lemon peel. The cake was very plain and there were only two apples in the cake. As I was making the recipe, my head was already filled with ideas...Could I add cinnamon? What if I used blueberries? Or maybe some different nuts? Oh, all the things I can do with a simple recipe.

Outside of grinding the almonds, I had the cake together and in the oven in less that 15 minutes. I don't know what it is, but there is nothing better than the smell of a cake cooking in the oven, even if it is 85 degrees outside. In 40 minutes the cake was done and I couldn't wait to taste it. 

After a paella dinner with friends (yes, I missed the photo opportunity on that recipe), we brewed some coffee and cut the cake. The top was a little loose, almost as if we sprinkled sugar on the cake rather than have baked it in. The apple cake was light and moist with a thin layer of apples through the center. It was the perfect dessert, not overly sweet and just enough as an after dinner dessert.

The next time I make this cake, there are a few combinations I would like to try:

1. Blueberries with pecans and lemon peel (zest)-or
2. Dried  cherries with pistachios and orange peel (zest)-or
3. Fresh blackberries with walnuts and lime peel (zest)-or
4. Raisins with walnuts, orange rind and a touch of cinnamon -or
5. Chocolate chips with hazelnuts and orange peel (zest)

There are endless possibilities, or I could stick to the basics and make a Tuscan Apple Cake. Enjoy!

Tuscan Apple Cake

Ingredients:

Topping - 

• 1 cup of almonds, ground
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• Lemon peel from 1 whole lemon

Cake - 

• 6 tablespoons of sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup of butter, melted and cooled
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1-1/3 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 2 granny apples, quartered and sliced thin

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8 or 9 inch round cake pan. Line with parchment paper.

2. In a small bowl, mix the ground almonds, 1/2 cup of sugar and lemon peel. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, using a hand mixer. Beat the eggs and sugar for one minute on high.  

4. Add the butter and beat for another minute. Add the vanilla and incorporate.

5. Add the flour and baking powder and beat until well blended.

6. Pour into cake pan and place the apple on top, pushing them down into the batter.

7. Once the apples are covering the top, sprinkle with the sugar and nut mixture.

8. Press down slightly to pack the topping onto the cake.

9. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a tooth pick comes out clean.

10. Allow to cool on a rack. When taking the cake out of the pan, cover with a plate as the topping tends to be loose.

Serve warm or cooled. 

Extremely Moist Apple Cake Recipe

Oh, it's so nice to be back writing about food. For the past few months, I have been busy with some marketing projects and have neglected this blog, a food blog I have been writing for 5 years. I'm hoping with the time off, I will come back with fresh ideas and a passion to share everything we create.

Back in March, my mother was raving about a cake my cousin had brought to her house that week. She said it was a dense apple cake that was delicious. As the week went on, she commented on "the cake got better and better." She remarked that the flavors were amazing with chunky apples, raisins and walnuts. With Easter a week away, I decided I would make the recipe and have it for Easter breakfast.

A quick story on holiday breakfasts. Jeff and I normally have the three major holidays at our house. When I say major holidays, for us it is Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter. Being a mixed family with 6 children between us, there are traditions to where everyone will spend the holidays and they aren't always at the same place. Our tradition is "last resort". If you don't have a place to go, or don't want to attend a holiday celebration at another relatives house, you can stay at home and celebrate with us. Every holiday, I bake a special treat which we enjoy at breakfast. Sometimes it's a sour cream coffee cake, other times it might be a quick bread, muffins or scones. The talk of an apple cake, just prior to the holiday, was perfect.

I had my mother get the recipe from my cousin and she had some crazy explanations for how to make this cake. It started with, "Beat the vegetable oil and sugar, in a mixer, for 5 minutes on high". OK, I can see eggs and oil or sugar and eggs...or anything with eggs but I didn't get the sugar and oil being blended for 5 minutes. I followed the instructions, put all the remaining ingredients together and it was a lumpy looking cake. There were lots of apples and it seemed like there wasn't enough batter to cover them. Then again, this cake seemed a little wacky from the beginning. I put the cake in the oven and waited to see if this was going to be a delicious treat or a bust!

As you can tell from the picture, it came out beautifully. It smelled heavenly with a hint of cinnamon in the air. 

Family members were starting to mill through the kitchen, looking to taste this breakfast cake. It was extremely moist and flavorful, slightly dense but delicious. It was sweet but perfectly balanced with the apples, raisins and walnuts. And like my mother said, "Save a piece because it gets better every day." Jeff was able to squirrel away a piece that he enjoyed for a number of days. As he finished the last piece he said, "That got better every day, I can't believe it's gone"

My response, "Want me to make another?" and Jeff said, "Yeah, at Thanksgiving."

Extremely Moist Apple Cake Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1-1/2 cups of vegetable oil
• 2 cups of sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 cups of apples, peeled and cut into chunks (1 inch)
• 1 cup of walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 1 cup of raisins

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease and flour a 9 inch tube cake pan.

2. In a medium sized bowl, combine the flour, salt, cinnamon and baking soda, set aside.

3. In a mixer with a paddle blade, mix together the vegetable oil and sugar, beat on high for 5 minutes.  

4. Add the eggs and beat until creamy, about 1 minute.

5. Add the vanilla and mix.

6. Add the dry ingredients and mix until blended.

7. Stir in, by hand, the apples, walnuts and raisins. The batter will be lumpy and you will feel like there isn't enough batter. Do not fear! :)

8. Bake for 55-65 minutes or until the top is golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

9. Allow to cool for 15-20 minutes. Remove from tube pan. 

10. Serve warm alone or with ice cream.

11. Save some to eat over a few days. Like my mother says, "It gets better every day."

Feed 10-12 people.

 

 

 

Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cookies

Back about a month ago, Jeff and I were getting ready to host a Super Bowl Party with a few close friends. We were making beef short rib sandwiches on french baguettes with melted smoked gouda along with a big tossed salad as our half-time meal. 

I knew that we would be eating a number of tidbits (guacamole and chips plus chicken wings) during the first half. By the time we had "dinner" at half-time, people were probably going to be stuffed. Would anyone want dessert after everything we would be eating?

Yes. Know why? There are people like me that no matter how stuffed we are, we still need a little something sweet to end the meal. I knew that something small, that you could hold in your hand, would be perfect. Ultimately, that meant a cookie, brownie or bar dessert.

I was looking on my Pinterest "I want to make that" board when I came across this chocolate cookie with butterscotch chips on my home feed. They looked really good, a crinkled dark chocolate cookie with butterscotch chips. I love the taste of butterscotch but I don't make many desserts using butterscotch chips. I would say, the most I use them for is 7 Layer Bars. 

As I read the ingredients, these Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cookies looked like a dense brownie. I figured they would be chewy, possibly gooey but definitely sweet. They were fairly easy to make and at the end of 30 minutes, I was putting a batch into the oven. With the house smelling like fudgy brownies, I couldn't wait to give them a try. 

As I thought, they were chewy and reminded me of a warm brownie and the butterscotch chips made them really sweet. I'm glad I used the bittersweet chocolate because I think it takes some of the sweetness out of the cookie and lets the flavor of the chips come through.

I wasn't sure how my guests would like them but they were a big hit. People were grabbing two and three cookies as they asked for a glass of milk to go with it. (I think that is the Oreo Cookie Syndrome - when cookies are really sweet, milk is the perfect complement!) The night I made the cookies, I doubled the recipe and froze two dozen for another occasion. I de-frosted them a week ago and brought them to a friend's house. I must admit, I stole a cookie from the top and it was so good! It reminded me that I definitely have to make these cookies again.

Ingredients for Chocolate Butterscotch Chip Cookies (from Diethood)

• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1 cup of bittersweet chocolate chips (I use Ghiradelli 60% Cocoa Bittersweet Chips)
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 cup of butterscotch chips

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a microwavable bowl, place chocolate chips and butter. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, stir chocolate and butter and repeat. If the mixture isn't melted, microwave in 15 second intervals until smooth. Allow to come to room temperature.

3. Using a mixer, place eggs, sugar and vanilla into bowl and beat until the mixture begins to turn a pale or light yellow. About 10 minutes on medium speed.

4. Add the flour and baking powder and mix on slow until well incorporated. 

5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chocolate mixture. Once the two are combined, add the butterscotch chips.

6. Allow the cookie dough to sit for 10 minutes.

7. Place parchment paper on the cookie tray (you will need three trays) and put a rounded tablespoonful of cookie dough 2 inches apart. I placed 8 cookies per tray. 

8. Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes or until they are dry and the tops begin to crack.

9. Remove from oven and allow the cookies to cool on the trays. Peel from the parchment paper.

10. This recipe makes about 2 dozen cookies. Place in air-tight container.

  

Almond Crumble Cookie - A Modern Twist on Sbrisolona

Back about a month ago, Jeff and I spent an entire Sunday in the kitchen cooking. We like to make a few meals ahead of time since we tend to work late during the week. It is so much easier reheating a meal in 15-20 minutes VS creating a meal from scratch which can take at least an hour. If we can cook one additional meal on a Sunday then we get to relax when we come home rather than start in the frenzy of meal cooking.

Being almost empty nesters, we have the urge to go out to dinner but I do like a home cooked meal and that was one thing we did when our kids were living at home. If Jeff starts cooking, I normally take out a pound of butter and look for some quick desserts to have during the week. Most times I like cookies because they are easy to eat and very easy to freeze. There are times I wonder whether a cookie blog would be better than a cooking and baking blog. I guess I don't want to think I can only discuss cookies. As much as they are a favorite for most, some people would get bored with just cookies.

Jeff recently bought a number of cookbooks and one of them was Martha Stewart's One Pot. We have made a few recipes from the book and there were a few (like 10 out of 120 recipes) dessert recipes at the back. This recipe is an american version of an Italian dessert called Sbrisolona. Sbrisolona is a crunchy cookie made with cornmeal, almonds and a slight touch of lemon. As I read more about the sbrisolona, I realized the two were totally different. This almond crumble cookie tastes more like a real good butter cookie. There is definitely a nutty flavor to it, but I kept thinking it might taste good with a hint of lemon, orange or raspberry. There is no cornmeal or lemon in this recipe, which I think could change the flavor to the entire cookie. The sbrisolona also has coarsely chopped almonds vs finely ground almonds. Needless to say, you may see me making the sbrisolona.

This almond crumble cookie was very easy to make and was perfect as our dessert for the week. It had that buttery, melt in your mouth, texture with a slightly nutty flavor, very similar to a shortbread cookie. I want to make this recipe again and add a hint of flavor. I was thinking maybe adding some raspberry jam and orange rind. I kept thinking that you could probably use any type of nut, too, for a different flavor.

As I broke the cookie into pieces, the crumbs were perfect on a dish of ice cream. Jeff would tell you vanilla ice cream, I would say chocolate or coffee. Oh, the battle of the ice cream flavors.

If you are looking for a buttery cookie that would pair well with coffee, tea or just an afternoon dessert, this is perfect. Almond Crumble Cookie - YUM!

Ingredients for Almond Crumble Cookie (adapted from Martha Stewart)

• 1-3/4 sticks of butter (14 tablespoons total), softened
• 1-1/4 cups of flour
• 1-1/2 cups of almonds, finely ground (measure almonds, then grind)
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher or coarse salt
• 1-1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 10 inch springform pan. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, ground almonds, sugar, salt and vanilla.

3. Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the dry mix until incorporated and you have pea size clumps.

4. Gently press 3/4 of the mixture into the springfoam pan. Then sprinkle the remaining crumbs on the top.

5. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until it begins to look slightly golden. 

6. Reduce the heat to 300 degrees and cook for an additional 10 minutes until it is golden brown.

7. Remove from oven and cool on a baking rack in the pan for 10 minutes. 

8. Remove from the pan and slice or break into pieces.

Serves 10-12 people. 

 

Pumpkin Blossom Cookies with Milk Chocolate Kisses

Pumpkin Blossom Cookies with Milk Chocolate Kisses

I love pumpkin. Whether in coffee, a soup, bread or dessert, I will eat or drink almost anything that has pumpkin flavor. Sometimes I wonder...do I like the pumpkin? Or do I like the pumpkin spice? With most of the pumpkin recipes I have there is as much pumpkin flavor as there is spice.

I have been especially fond of pumpkin with a hint of chocolate. A friend of mine makes a great pumpkin cake and she puts mini-chocolate chips in it. But it not only has a delicious pumpkin flavor but a wonderful balance of spice and chocolate. So, with that in mind, I was looking to make a pumpkin cookie with a milk chocolate kiss. I was looking to capture that Peanut Butter Blossom feel. A nice moist cookie, rolled in sugar with a chocolate kiss on top. 

I found this recipe for a Pumpkin Snickerdoodle from Center Cut Cook. It was a unique recipe, but it didn't have any spices in the cookie recipe. Granted, you do roll the cookies in cinnamon and sugar but there wasn't any pumpkin spice. For those who don't know the combination - pumpkin spice is made with cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves and allspice. I decided I would add a small amount of pumpkin spice to both the cookie and the rolling sugar. I wanted to add a little kick to the cookie. Then I would add the chocolate kiss so I could put my creation, or should I call it, my craving together.

The recipe was fairly easy but the dough needs to be refrigerated for at least 90 minutes. My suggestion would be to make the dough and while it is freezing make a batch of Andria's Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Because they are so good.)

I made these pumpkin blossoms on a Sunday afternoon and had friends over to watch the football game later that evening. I had eaten a cookie piping hot out of the oven and it was delicious but sometimes it's hard to get a read on the true flavor of the cookie. Later that evening people were going crazy over the cookies. They were light and chewy and had great flavor. Pumpkin + Pumpkin Spice + Chocolate = Amazing Cookies. The best comments I got were:

"These are the BEST cookies I've ever tasted." (I love that one!)

"These are amazing!" 

"Can I have the recipe?" (Here you go!)

So, I'm over due with the recipe, but here it is. Try out a batch before the holidays because you may find that these will be your new holiday cookies. I know I will be adding these to my 12 Cookies of Christmas for 2014. If you make a batch, leave a comment and tell me how you liked them!

Ingredients for Pumpkin Blossom Cookies with Milk Chocolate Kisses:

• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 1/2 cup of shortening
• 1-1/2 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup of pumpkin puree
• 2 eggs
• 2-3/4 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice
• 1 small bag of milk chocolate kisses

Rolling mix:

• 1/2 cup of sugar
• 2 teaspoons of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin pie spice

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients of flour, salt, cream of tartar, baking soda and pumpkin pie spice. Set aside.

2. In a mixer, using the paddle, cream together the shortening and butter. Once blended (about 1-2 minutes), add the sugar and cream until fluffy, about 2 minutes. 

3. Add the 2 eggs and once incorporated, add the pumkin puree.

4. When all wet ingredients are together, add the flour mixture in two parts. When the mixture is fully mixed, it will be wet and sticky.

5. Place the dough in the freezer for 90 minutes or until firm to the touch.

6. In a small bowl, mix the rolling ingredients of sugar, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice.

7. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and then roll in the sugar mixture. Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart.

8. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden and the tops are dry and slightly cracked.

9. Remove from oven and place a milk chocolate kiss on the top. Press slightly into place and as it begins to melt you can push it down until you create a flattened, swirled appearance.

10. Cool on cookie racks.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

 

Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies

You know me...looking for the best chocolate chip cookies. I think I may have found them. But, it is not your traditional chocolate chip cookie recipe. I would call it an amazing "adult" chocolate chip cookie called a Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookie.

Recently, I have been looking for cookies that would stand up well as a cookie for an ice cream sandwich. The reason was a project at work. I work for a company called FUN Enterprises, Inc. We provide interactive novelty entertainment to educational, corporate and private events. We bring an experience to the PARTY! As a part of the project, I was investigating costs for a food truck. We decided to go with a very niche food truck and were going back and forth between specialty ice cream sandwiches and clam chowder. We have an opportunity to use a food truck as part of our entertainment services.

When we were investigating the specialty ice cream sandwiches, we were going to offer 6 different types of cookies with 6 different types of flavors. We were looking at it from the perspective of a mix and match ice cream sandwich. As we looked at the different types of cookies we would offer, they had to be somewhat crunchy, freeze well and be strong enough to be pushed together with ice cream. 

With this is mind, I was looking at a few different types of cookies. As I was thumbing through my FINE Cooking Cookies Cookbook, I came across this recipe for Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies. The ingredients looked good - chocolate, coffee and cinnamon - and you rolled them in sugar before baking them, which would give them an added crunch. As I looked at the final ingredients, I noticed there were no eggs. First thing I did was look up the recipe online to see if there was a mistake or comments. The reason I did this is because there are a few recipes I have started and half way through, I have noticed a major ingredient is missing. Eggs in cookies, for me, would be a major ingredient.  But, as the recipe was written, there were no eggs and the reviews were great. I took out the butter and began baking. These cookies were very easy to make and within 30 minutes I had them baked and on cookie racks. The house smelled so GOOD! 

The cookies have a nice balance of coffee and chocolate with just a hint of cinnamon. They were crunchy and sweet; for me, they were perfect. As much as I am always searching for "the best chocolate chip cookie", these were one of the best I've tasted.

Now, onto my next project - Cinnamon Ice Cream. I think that would be a great combination for an ice cream sandwich cookie. How does this sound - Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies with Cinnamon Ice Cream? Heavenly? Follow the next blog article, the Cinnamon Ice Cream will be there!

If you are looking for a cookie that's crunchy and has a really nice mocha blend, you will love these. Perfect to dip in coffee or hot chocolate and of course, there are no eggs in the recipe. 

Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from FINE Cooking)

Ingredients:

• 1-1/4 cups of butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons of instant express (or 4 tablespoons of instant coffee)
• 1 cup of confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 cup of light brown sugar
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 1-1/2 cups of chocolate chips
• 1/4-1/2 cup of sugar for dipping cookies

 Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

2. In a medium sized bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and kosher salt. Set aside.

3. In a large mixer, beat the butter and espresso powder until blended 1-2 minutes.

4. Add the confectioner's and light brown sugar, mix until blended.

5. Add the dry ingredients and once blended add the chocolate chips.

6. Place 1/2 cup of sugar in a shallow dish.

7. Roll dough into tablespoon sized balls and slightly flatten. Then, roll in sugar,

8. Place on cookie sheets two inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are slightly golden and the tops are dry.

9. Remove from oven and allow them to sit on the tray for 5 minutes before putting them on a cookie rack.

Makes about 36-40 cookies. They freeze very well.

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Oatmeal and Two Kinds of Chocolate

We love cookies at our house, especially a good chocolate chip cookie. Coming from New England, our idea of a chocolate chip cookie is based on the Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. We don't add anything to our cookie outside of chocolate chips and for those who like nuts, walnuts. Because we make an oatmeal cookie that my grandmother always made, Nannie's Oatmeal Cookies, we don't have as big a library of oatmeal cookies. As I was looking over the two recipes, outside of Nannie's using 2 cups of brown sugar vs 1 cup of brown sugar and 1 cup of white sugar, the base cookie ingredients are identical.

My mother in law cut this recipe out of her Southern Living magazine and thought it looked like a good recipe, it was called Jana's Chocolate Chip Cookies. It was a fairly simple recipe and it had otameal and a grated bar of milk chocolate in it. With Easter around the corner, I always like trying new recipes.

As I picked up the ingredients at the supermarket, instead of a plain milk chocolate bar, I grabbed a Symphony bar with toffee bits and almonds. I love the creamy caramel taste and thought it might go well with the oatmeal. I started laughing, "Do I ever follow the directions correctly?" Probably not!

The recipe was basic with brown and white sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, salt, baking soda and powder and lots of chocolate chips. The only difference was the grating of the Symphony bar. The cookies were easy to make and before all the cookies came out of the oven, I was cleaned up and ready to taste these chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. The house smelled wonderful as I bit into the hot cookie. I thought they were very good. With the oatmeal, pecans and the milk chocolate, there was a nutty caramel taste to the cookies. They were crunchy to start and chewy to finish. My family absolutely loved them...then there was my mother. She loves her mother's oatmeal cookies. She thought they were good, but still loves Nannie's Oatmeal Cookies better. I guess it could be like me...I am always in search of the BEST chocolate chip cookie. To date, I have tried so many, but outside of my traditional - Andria's Chocolate Chip Cookies - only one chocolate chip cookies stands out - Jacques Torres's Chocolate Chip Cookie. I apologize to all the chocolate chip cookie recipes to date, Jacques is the best one.

As for Jana Kramer's Chocolate Chip Cookies - I would rather call them Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. It's the oatmeal that makes the cookie - plus, it wouldn't compete in my search for th BEST chocolate chip cookie. Next to Nannie's, I would give it a strong second. It was a great cookie with a grated milk chocolate bar twist - I'll defnitely make these again.

Jana's Chocolate Chip Cookies (Adapted from Southern Living)

Ingredients

• 1 cup of butter, softened
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 cup of light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
• 2-1/4 cups of oatmeal, I use old fashioned oats
• 1- 4 ounce bar of milk chocolate, grated - I used a Symphony Bar with Almonds and Toffee Bits
• 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1-1/2 cups of chopped pecans

 Preparation:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, mix flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Set aside.

2. In a large mixer, place butter and sugars and mix until creamy and blended 1-2 minutes.

3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until incorporated, then add vanilla.

4. On low speed, begin to add the flour mixture. Then add the grated chocolate.

5. Once blended, add the oatmeal, chocolate chips and pecans.

6. Place a well rounded tablespoon of dough for each cookie onto a cookie sheet. (Two inches apart) Slightly flatten the cookie mound.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly golden and the dough is dry.

8. Allow the cookies to rest for 2 minutes before placing them on a cookie rack.

Makes 48-60 cookies. These cookies freeze well, too!

Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Hint of Cinnamon

Just before Easter, I was playing on Pinterest, when I came across another good looking chocolate chip cookie. For some reason, I can't resist. If they look appetizing then I want to make them. I looked at the recipe and realized it was a chewy cookie (because it had lots of brown sugar) and it had an interesting ingredient...cinnamon. The recipe came from Amy Johnson of She Wears Many Hats

I love making chocolate chip cookies, for three simple reasons:

1. For the most part, they are so easy to make, it's really hard to kill a chocolate chip cookie.

2. Everyone loves a chocolate chip cookie. People will eat these quicker than any other cookie I make. And believe me, I have probably made over 100,000 cookies in my life time and chocolate chip is always a favorite.

3. They make me smile. The complements and comments I get from a batch of chocolate chip cookies just make my day!

I made the cookies and sent a dozen off with my daughter as she was babysitting for a doctor she works for. She wanted to bring a treat to the house, since it was her first time babysitting. The kids, who were 2, 3 and 6, loved the cookies and she left the remainder of the bag at the house. On Monday, when she was at work, the doctor came in and asked where she got the cookies. She said, "My mom made them." He said they were some of the best he had ever had, "Just the right amount of cinnamon." When she told me the story I started laughing, "another great batch of chocolate chip cookies."

On this blog you will find many different combinations of chocolate chip cookies. Each will differ on whether you like yours crispy or chewy. The more brown sugar, the chewier the cookie. So, with a majority of this recipe going to brown sugar, this is a chewy cookie.

The batter was delicious, as I nibbled on pieces of cookie dough. This usually means the cookies are amazing! I really liked this cookie, especially hot. They were sweet, slightly crunch with a great chewiness. The hint of cinnamon was just enough to wake up your taste buds, it definitely enhanced the flavor of the cookie. 

Try making a batch of these chocolate chip delights and see if people notice the cinnamon. If you aren't a cinnamon fan, take the cinnamon out and I'm sure you will enjoy the cookies just as much. Whether these or your own favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, make a batch today. They'll put a smile on everyone's face, including your own - from all the wonderful complements connected to making a simple batch of chocolate chip cookies.

Chocolate Chip Cookies with a Hint of Cinnamon

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) of butter, softened
• 2 cups of brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup of white sugar
• 2 eggs, slightly beaten
• 2-1/2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 4 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2-1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Using a mixer, cream the butter with the brown and white sugars until well blended, about 2 minutes. 

3. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated.

4. Add 2 cups of the flour with the cinnamon, salt and baking soda. 

5. Once blended add the remaining 2 cups of flour until combined.

6. Add the chocolate chips.

7. Using well rounded tablespoons of dough, place on cookie sheets 2 inches apart. I made them the size of golf balls and pressed them down slightly when they were on the sheet. I got about 8 cookies to a tray.

8. Bake for 12-14 minutes until slightly golden and crackly.

9. Remove from oven and allow them to cool on a cookie rack.

10. This recipe makes about 48 cookies.

Just think - atleast 24 happy people will enjoy these cookies because no one can eat just one!

Modern Priscilla Cookbook - Butterscotch Squares

Recently, Jeff and I were rearranging our cookbooks as we are running out of space to put them. We probably have over 200 and space is getting tight. Back a few years ago when Jeff's parents came to live with us, we cleaned out quite a bit of "stuff" from their house. Jeff's mom gave him some old cookbooks his aunts and grandmother used to use. One was the Modern Priscilla Cook Book - One Thousand Home Tested Recipes. As I flipped through the pages, there was notes about the recipes along with additional recipes written on the sides of the pages. The book is falling apart and has some missing pages, but from what I can gather, it was published in 1924. 

We laughed as we read about Fig Cake, Fruit Soup, Savory Rarebit and Scalloped Chicken. It was fun to think about what people made for recipes in the 1920s and 1930s. I also loved that they would paste other recipes into the book, whether on the back and front cover or on the actual pages, to show how they altered a recipe. 

Ah, altering recipes. Something that we as cooks and food bloggers do all the time. We take basic recipes and add our own twist. Even on this Butterscotch Squares recipe, I added butterscotch bits and bittersweet chocolate. It's fun finding old recipes and realizing where a certain recipe might have come from.

I had that moment when I was making the Butterscotch Squares. As they were baking, they began to smell like my grandmother's molasses squares. For as much as I made them when she was alive, I wish I could ask her where she got the recipe. I know there would have been a wonderful story behind that. Probably something like...it called for brown sugar and I didn't have any so I substituted white sugar and molasses. Then I was short on chocolate chips so I added a few butterscotch chips to the recipe...and so on.

I will say, this was a really easy recipe to make, especially since I made it in a large pan, so I didn't have a lot to clean up. Once the butter and sugar was melted and slightly cooled, I mixed the remainder of the ingredients and within 30 minutes they were baked and I was cleaned up. The butterscotch squares were delicious. They had a nice caramel taste and the little bit of butterscotch and chocolate chips added to the sweetness of the brownie. I added the butterscotch and chocolate chips because years ago, Stop and Shop used to sell butterscotch brownies. They were a blonde brownie with butterscotch chips, chocolate chips and walnuts. I was trying to capture that childhood moment. 

If you have an old cookbook you haven't used in a while, take advantage of opening the book and skimming through the pages. I'm sure there is a recipe you have used or a recipe you told yourself you would make some day lost somewhere in the pages. I found some really interesting recipes in the Modern Priscilla Cookbook that I can make as is, or alter as needed. It goes back to everything we do in history - "everything old is new again." Modern Priscilla could become the next Food Network Show!

Butterscotch Squares (I doubled the recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of butter
• 2 cups of brown sugar
• 2 egg
• 1-1/2 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 1/2 cup of chopped pecans
• 1/2 cup of butterscotch chips (optional)
• 1 cup of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, slightly grease a 15x9 inch pan.

2. Melt the butter and sugar in a pan on the stove, over medium heat, until the two are combined.

2. Cool to lukewarm and then add eggs one at a time, incorporating each.

3. Add the vanilla, then stir in the flour and baking powder.

4. Once all ingredients are mixed, add the butterscotch chips, chocolate chips and pecans.

5. Turn ingredients into the pan and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until slightly golden and a tooth pick comes out clean.

6. Remove from oven and place on a rack until cool. Cut into bars.

Makes about 24-36 bars.

Chocolate and Vanilla Dipped Pizzelles

For many years, I have been surrounded by pizzelles. Whether growing up in a predominately Italian neighborhood or having married into an Italian family, pizzelles were a dessert staple. Mostly found around the holidays, if you enjoyed pizzelles, someone would always make them for a family gathering or special occasion. 

Back a few weeks ago, my mother-in-law gave my step-daughter, Kate, an old recipe for her grandmother's pizzelles. We started talking about growing up with people making pizzelles and discussed getting a pizzelle maker. My mother-in-law had a pizzelle maker but had lost the cord to the machine. I don't know how old it is but I am going to guess 30+ years. Jeff went online and found the cord to the Rival Pizzelle Maker on eBay and before I knew it, we were making pizzelles.

As much as I have used a waffle iron, I hadn't worked with pizzelles. I found a recipe in the box, yes, Rival's own Italian Pizzelle - "extra thin...extra crisp...extra special". I figured I would start with this recipe and then try some other flavors, maybe anise, lemon or pineapple citrus...YUM! I was amazed at how easy they were to make. The first pizzelles got stuck to the iron, but after that, it worked fine. Not bad for an old iron.

The cookies were light and crispy (I couldn't stop tasting them!) and I had a pretty good system going, place dough on iron, wait 3 minutes, take out of iron, place on cutting board, cut in half and cool on the rack. Within 30 minutes, I had all the pizzelles made and decided to make a batch of chocolate pizzelles. At the end of the hour, I had 80 half pizzelles ready to go.

I got the chocolate and vanilla bits melted and dipped one side of the pizzelles. I sprinkled them with either chopped pistachios or Heath Bar Toffee Bits. You can dip them in jimmies, nonpareils, nuts or chocolate. Be creative!

The pizzelles were perfect, very light and crispy. They were like potato chips, you couldn't eat just one. The chocolate and vanilla dip gave them a little bit of sweetness. PERFECT! The cookies went back to Emerson College with my son, Stephen, to Philadelphia with my son, Michael and South Boston with my daughter, Danielle. So far, they have been a big hit, with my son, Michael, texting "They were awesome, my whole house loved em".

YES - just what every MOM loves to hear.

If you have been considering getting a pizzelle maker, go for it! They were easy to make and a perfect dessert whether plain or dipped. I can't wait to make another batch!

Italian Pizzelle: (Rival Products)

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup of butter, melted
• 1-1/2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2-1/2 teaspoons of vanilla

Icing:

• 1/2 cup of pistachios, chopped
• 1 cup of vanilla chips
• 2 teaspoons of shortening

Preparation:

1. Preheat pizzelle iron, slightly greater than light. 

2. In a medium bowl, add three eggs and beat with a whisk until blended. Add the sugar and whisk again.

3. Drizzle the butter into the mixture, whisking as it blends. Add the vanilla.

4. Using a spatula, add the flour and baking powder. Mix until incorporated.

5. Place a rounded tablespoon of dough on the pizzelle iron and cook according to directions. 

6. Remove pizzelle for the iron, place on a cutting board and cut in half. Cool the pizzelle on a cookie rack.

7. Melt the vanilla chips and shortening in the microwave. Microwave in 30 second increments.

8. Dip the pizzelle halves in vanilla mixture and sprinkle with chopped pistachios. Place the pizzelle on aluminum foil or parchment paper until they dry.

9. If you don't want to dip the pizzelles, you can sprinkle them with confectioner's sugar.

For Chocolate Pizzelle:

1. Add 3 tablespoons of sugar and 3 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa to the above mixture.

2. Chocolate Icing - 1 cup of semisweet chips and 2 teaspoons of shortening.

3. 1/2 cup of Heath Bar Toffee Bits

Chocolate Mint Blossoms with Hershey's Mint Kisses

During Christmas, I made a number of cookies that made it into the mouths of friends and family but not to the pages of the Friends Food Family blog. As I was going through photos from last year, I came upon these cookies and decided to tell you a little bit about them. 

I love mint. Pair that with chocolate and I am in heaven. One of my favorite mint candies is Junior Mints, but not just the regular Junior Mints but the Peppermint Crunch Junior Mints which you can only find around the Christmas holiday season. I love purchasing a number of boxes and hiding them. Periodically, I will find a hidden box, like I did today, and enjoy the extra minty taste of these seasonal treats.

The reason I write about these Chocolate Mint Blossoms is because I didn't realize how much people liked them during the holiday. I had given my boys a few dozen to take back to Philadelphia and Missouri and then gave the rest to my parents for platters I put together for their groups of friends. Last weekend I was at their house for a Hermit Bar request as my mother was having her Ladies Card Group for lunch on Monday. She had shared a few of the hermits with her friends and they asked if I would make a batch for the group. As I was talking to my parents about the different cookies I made at Christmas, my father was saying that people were fighting over the Chocolate Mint Blossoms. I was shocked. I knew the cookies were good but didn't realize how much people liked them. When I called my boys to ask how their friends liked the cookies the response was the same. People really liked them and started taking 2-3 cookies each. The ugliness comes when the cookies are gone and people aren't willing to share. For me, I have accomplished what I set out to do...make really good cookies!

So, now I would like to share them with you with a few hints:

1. Use Candy Cane Kisses or Chocolate Mint Kisses for the best result. If you can't find the mint kisses - Dove makes a mint chocolate candy which you can use.

2. The chocolate cookie base is very good so consider using the base minus the mint flavoring if you would like to create something different. Think almond flavoring with Chocolate Almond Kisses.

3. Double the recipe - 3-4 dozen disappear fast!

Try these cookies and think about different variations. I can't wait to make them again. With my son coming home from Philadelphia next week, I should send him back with some of these Chocolate Mint Blossoms. They may cause a cookie war when he returns as his roommates know a good cookie when they taste one!

Chocolate Mint Blossoms with Mint Hershey Kisses

(Adapted from Better Homes and Garden's Chocomint Blossoms recipe)

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of butter, softened
• 1/2 cup of shortening
• 1 cup of sugar
• 3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 egg
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• 1 teaspoon of peppermint extract
• 1-1/2 cups of flour
• 1 bags of Candy Cane Hershey Kisses, we used Mint Hershey Kisses

Preparation:

1. In a large mixer on medium high, cream together the butter, shortening and sugar, 1-2 minutes until well blended.

2. Add the cocoa and baking powder, once incorporated, add the egg, milk and peppermint. 

3. Add half the flour and then remove the beater and mix in the last of the flour by hand. The dough will be slightly stiff. Chill dough for an hour.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Roll one inch balls and place on cookie sheet one inch apart. 

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are firm.

6. Remove from oven and press a chocolate mint kiss into the top of the cookie. Remove cookies from the tray and cool on a cookie rack. Let rest until chocolate is set. 

Makes between 3-4 dozen cookies. Great to freeze.

 

Hermit Bars with White Chocolate Icing

Back a few weeks ago, I went crazy looking for a cookie recipe I made at Christmas. I looked through 10-15 cookbooks and dozens of magazines and couldn't find the recipe. Finally, I picked up a magazine that was rolled to another recipe and found what I was looking for. During that process, I began looking at a number of different desserts and recipes and came across this hermit bar recipe.

When I was growing up, I loved hermits. I loved the spicy flavors of cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. It was strange, I think I was the only one of my friends who liked hermits. I sometimes think of hermits as "an adult" cookie. Sometimes you have to acquire a taste, especially when you say there is molasses in the cookie. I still haven't figured out people's fear of molasses but I do hear "I don't really like molasses" (quite often) when I have a spice cookie or bar.

When I decided to make the hermit bars, I kept thinking of my friend, Diane Dias, who makes these amazing cookies called Dipped Ginger Snaps. They are a hit when I make them during the holidays because people like the white chocolate dip. As I was making them, I thought I might have some fun and dip them in white chocolate, too. 

The hermit bar recipe was from the cookbook, The Great Christmas Cookie Swap by Good Housekeeping. It has 60 large batch recipes for people who attend cookie swap parties and need more than four dozen cookies. I have made a number of recipes from the book including Sally Ann Cookies and Cocoa Wedding Cake Cookies.  

The recipe was very easy to put together and there is nothing better than when you bake cookies in logs. With my convection oven, I can bake three cookie trays at once with 2 hermit logs each on the tray. Fifteen minutes later, I am basically done - including clean-up. When the first set of hermits came out of the oven, I put pictures of them on Instagram and started getting comments on how much people love hermits. Then I posted more photos on Facebook and by the time I was done, people were asking for the recipe. I was shocked at all the people who liked hermits. I took a batch (about 4 dozen) to a class I taught on Thursday night and people LOVED them. I feel bad that it has taken me a week to post this recipe. And the best part...people loved the white chocolate frosting!

If you are looking for an old-fashion cookie with a great spiced flavor - yes, there is molasses in them, too - try this recipe. You will be pleasantly surprised at how many people LOVE hermits.

Hermit Bars with White Chocolate Icing (Adapted from Good Housekeeping)

• 6 cups of flour
• 1 tablespoon of cinnamon
• 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 1-1/2 teaspoons of ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of cloves
• 3 cups of brown sugar, packed
• 1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) of butter, room temperature
• 1 cup of molasses
• 3 large eggs
• 3 cups of raisins
• 2 cups of white chocolate or vanilla chips
• 1 tablespoon of shortening

Preparation:

1. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, ginger, cloves, nutmeg and salt. Put aside.

2. Using a mixer, place the butter and brown sugar in the bowl and cream the butter and sugar together. About 2 minutes.

3. Add the molasses and blend, then add the three eggs, beat until well incorporated. About 1 minute.

4. Add the dry ingredients and blend until the mixture is almost together, add the raisins. Once the cookie dough has come together, remove from mixer.

5. Using 3-4 cookie sheets, place two hermit logs per tray. They should be 2 inches wide by 12 inches long and about 1 inch thick and 3 inches apart. These will double in size.

6. In a 350 degree oven, bake for 15-20 minutes. The tops will be almost dried and flattened (slightly cracked) with golden edges.

7. Remove from oven and place the cookie sheets on cookie racks and allow them to cool for 15 minutes. 

8. Remove cookies and place on a cutting board, cut the cookies on the diagonal to create bars, about 1 inch apart.

9. Using the microwave (on high) - place the white chocolate chips and shortening in a dish and microwave for 30 seconds, stir the mixture. Microwave for an additional 30 seconds and stir again. If all the chips are melted and smooth, you can start dipping. If they still need more melting, microwave in 15 second increments. You don't want to burn the white chocolate because it will seize.

10. Place aluminum foil on the cookie sheets and begin dipping the cooled hermits, placing them to dry on the foil. Dip the ends or the sides in the cookies. I dipped the ends on a few, the sides of a few and left some plain. If the white chocolate starts to get stiff, microwave for 15 seconds to loosen the mixture.

Hope you LOVE them as much as we did! 

Here we go again! Another Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

As most of you know, I am constantly looking for the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. As it stands I think we have done over 10 chocolate chip cookie recipes looking for the perfect cookie that is both chewy and crunchy. It also has to have the right balance of cookie and chocolate.

Last year, my favorite cookie was the Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie. It had a combination of bread flour, cake flour, brown sugar, white sugar and lots of bittersweet chocolate. I made this recipe several times and it was a hit at many parties and gatherings. The best part of this chocolate chip cookie is the sprinkle of coarse salt on the top. It gives you that perfect salty sweet dessert. I liked these cookies so much, they became the banner for the new design of the website and logo (look up above!).

I researched the story behind this cookie (Karrie on Happy Money Saver) and I found that it was very similar to the Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. The differences were: 

1. Karrie replaced the light brown sugar with dark brown sugar
2. Instead of using different types of flour, she used regular flour
3. She eliminated the kosher salt on the top

Some of the things I found great with this cookie:

1. No weighing of ingredients
2. No refrigerator time to chill the dough
3. Perfect balance of crunchy and chewy

Finding the perfect balance of crunchy and chewy is what I am always looking for in a cookie. Karrie achieved that with the dark brown sugar. When I make chocolate chip cookies, I will sometimes mix the brown sugars. If it calls for a cup of light brown sugar, I will use 1/2 cup of light brown and 1/2 cup dark brown. Dark brown sugar gives you that chewy, almost sticky feel to the cookie. It also gives more of a toffee flavor. When I make Andria's Chocolate Chip Cookies, which is our signature cookie, I add Heath Bar bits, which will add the same type of chewiness and flavor.

As Jeff enjoyed these cookies with his favorite vanilla ice cream, he thought these were the best chocolate chip cookies I have made. He likes a chewy cookie but he liked that the cookie had some crunch, too. Brian and his friends loved the cookies, but truthfully, they love anything homemade.

I thought they were very good, but I still like the Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies. For me, it might just be that "sweet and salty" thing. I'm going to try these cookies again, with a bit of kosher salt on the top. That could be the finishing touch to possibly finding the BEST chocolate chip cookie!

Ingredients for the PERFECT Chocolate Chip Cookie

1-1/4 cups of butter, softened (2-1/2 sticks of butter)

1 cup + 2 tablespoons of sugar

1-1/4 cups of dark brown sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

3-1/2 cups of flour

1-1/4 teaspoons of baking soda

1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1-1/4 pounds (20 ounces) of bittersweet chocolate chips (we use Ghiradelli)

Preparation:

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Put aside.

2. Using a mixer or electric beaters, cream the butter with the two sugars until blended 1-2 minutes.

3. Blend the eggs in one at a time, then add the vanilla.

4. Beat until well incorporated (one minute), add the dry ingredients. 

5. As the dough finally begins to come together, add the bittersweet chocolate chips.

6. Mix until the dough comes together.

7. Using a 1/4 cup scoop (or your hands), roll balls slightly larger than a golf ball. 

8. Place on a cookie sheet and flatten slightly. Put 8 cookies per tray.

9. Bake cookies in a 350 degree oven for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown and the tops are dry.

10. Remove from oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, remove and cool on racks.

11. Makes about 30-36 cookies. They freeze well, too!

Post By Tricia White 

Post by Friends Food Family.

Orange Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

My favorite cookie this holiday season was the Orange Pistachio Shortbread Cookies.

I will admit, I was not good about getting all my new cookies up for the Christmas holiday season. One thing I wanted to do was have some posts about ingredients. One of the ingredients was supposed to be pistachios. I made quite a few cookies with pistachios, each better than the next. I promise that my next post will be about the BEST cookies made with pistachios.

I always try and look for different cookies around the holidays and what I liked the most is that pistachios have such a great flavor and you don't normally find them in cookies. When you do, it's a delightful taste. Secondly, they are such a beautiful green color, perfect for the holiday season.

This recipe was given to me by my friend, Angela Carbonetti. She posted it on my Facebook account thinking I would enjoy the Pistachio Shortbread recipe from Chow.com. I was sending her a message at Thanksgiving and came across the recipe again. I love Angela and her family. Her mom, Angie, was an amazing baker. Angela and I were laughing about how her mother would turn her bedroom into a bakery. She would store all of her holiday cookies in the room and when people would stop by, she would go into the bedroom and magically appear with a box of cookies...and her cookies were the BEST. Two of my favorite cookies on the blog are from Angie (Angie's Ricotta Cookies and Angie's Almond Slices). GAWD, I miss her.

This recipe was very easy to make, after toasting the pistachios, the entire recipe is made in the food processor. The original recipe called for lemon zest, but I only had orange zest. If you decide to use lemon, the original recipe called for 1 teaspoon of lemon zest.

A few observations: 1. After pressing down the shortbread (step 6), they suggested you use a fork and score the dough. Mine kept getting stuck and pulling the dough apart, so I skipped that step. 2. Make sure you cut the shortbread when it is still warm, mine was cold and it was more difficult, it cracked into pieces more easily.

After it was baked and I got to sample the pieces, I realized how delicious these cookies were. They had a little bit of a sweet and salty taste. I loved the orange and pistachio combination. I would call them addictive. You taste a piece, then you want another, then another...especially if you have tea or coffee. As I finished off the holiday season, more and more people requested the recipe. I was excited because it became one of my favorite recipes of Christmas.

Bake a batch, share and enjoy!

Ingredients for the Orange Pistachio Shortbread Cookies: 

3/4 cup of pistachio kernels - slightly salted (if unsalted, add 1/4 teaspoon salt to the recipe)

1/2 cup of sugar

1 cup of flour

1/2 cup of butter (one stick), cut into 8 tablespoons

1 tablespoon of finely grated orange zest

2 teaspoons of sugar (to be used at the end of the recipe)

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Using an 8x8 baking pan, line the pan with aluminum foil with overhangs or fold a piece of parchment paper to fit into the pan leaving paper hanging over the edges. (Explanation - you have to create a way to lift the shortbread from the pan. It is too delicate to turn out onto a cutting board.) Make sure you generously grease the pan so to easily remove the foil or parchment.

2. In a small frying pan over medium heat, stirring regularly, toast the pistachios until they begin to smell fragrant and are slightly golden, 7-8 minutes. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

3. Place 1/2 cup of pistachios and 1/2 cup of sugar into a food processor and process until the mixture looks like coarse sand, about 30 seconds.

4. Add the flour and pulsate to mix. Add the butter and orange zest. Pulsate until the dough begins to come together. 

5. Add the last of the pistachios and pulsate 3-4 times allowing the pistachios to become chopped not ground. This will give the shortbread some texture.

6. Turn the mixture into the pan and shake the pan to evenly distribute and then press the dough with your hands or you can use the bottom of a glass.

7. Sprinkle with the remaining 2 teaspoons of sugar.

8. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until the shortbread is slightly golden and firm to the touch.

9. Allow to cool for 15 minutes. Grab the corners of the foil or parchment and remove the shortbread from the pan. Remove the foil or parchment from the shortbread and cut the shortbread while it is still warm. The colder it gets the more brittle it becomes to cut. 

10. This will make 16 shortbread squares or you can cut each square in half, which I did. I find people love to take a nibble. They will eventually take more, but 1/2 is great to start.

Written by Tricia White

Raspberry 7 Layer Bars with Chocolate, Coconut and Almonds

 

I love 7 Layer Bars. For the most delicious dessert you could imagine, they are the oddest combination of ingredients. Think about it...graham crackers, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, coconut, condensed milk, walnuts and let's not forget...a stick of butter. If someone tried to explain a 7 Layer Bar to you, with everything that is in it, you might refuse to try it. But put it in your mouth and you are hooked. 100% sugar addiction. What is it about the combination of chocolate, butterscotch and coconut.

As I was baking on Saturday, I was thinking about a bar I make that is similar to a 7 layer bar called Peanut Butter Chocolate Coconut Bars. I wanted to make a few more bar cookies for my cookies trays and I had 3 bags of coconut. I already made 7 Layer Bars and I was thinking about using some chocolate cookie crumbs I had left from Thanksgiving. That would make a great base for a bar cookie. Then, for some strange reason, I was looking at a jar of raspberry jam and thought...coconut, raspberry, chocolate...this might work. I grabbed an 8 x 13 pan and began melting a stick of butter. Before I get ahead of myself, I'll give you the ingredients you need.

1. Let's get the ingredients - 

• 1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
• 1-1/2 cups of chocolate cookie crumbs with 1 tablespoon of sugar added
• 1 cup of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 3 cups of shredded coconut, sweetened
• 1 can (14 ounces) of condensed milk
• 1/2 cup of raspberry jam
• 1 cup of sliced almonds

2. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

3. Melt the stick of butter in an 8 x 13 bar pan. I put it on the stove for a minute and let it melt.

4. Sprinkle the chocolate crumbs over the butter. I use a cup first and then add 1/4 cup at a time to fill in so the bottom is covered. Gently pack down crumbs with a fork.

5. Sprinkle the cup of mini chocolate chips evenly over the crust, then the coconut.

6. In a small bowl, mix the condensed milk with the jam. Pour the mixture over the coconut. 

7. Finish with the sliced almonds.

8. Bake for 30-35 minutes or when the sides begin to brown and the top is slightly golden.

9. Take out of oven and cool. I find if I run a knife around the pan after about 15 minutes, they are easier to cut out.

10. Enjoy...and share!

So, I started by serving them to some friends who came for dinner. When the first thing out of their mouth is , "Oh, my GOD! These are delicious! They taste like Almond Joys with a hint of raspberry", you know they are good. We cut more sliced and enjoyed the sugary goodness. Yes, like 7 Layer Bars, these are ADDICTING!

I posted the photo on instagram this morning and my daughter, Danielle, called, "I'm coming home this week, save me some of those!" The requests are starting to come in, I think I'm going to have to make another pan of Raspberry 7 Layer Bars. 

If you are looking for something different, that looks great with its holiday colors, think Raspberry 7 Layer Bars with Chocolate, Coconut and Almonds. You can't go wrong!

 

Dried Cherry Pistachio Biscotti

I love King Arthur Flour! They make a wonderful flour product which I use for all my recipes, whether baking or cooking. But I also like them because of the way they engage with their fans. I follow kingarthurflour on Instagram and they really do interact with their fans. I can't tell you the number of times they have liked some of my Instagram shots. (Follow friendsfoodfam and kingarthurflour on Instagram)

This is very important to me because during the day I am a Senior Business Advisor with the MA Small Business Development Center Network. One of my roles is teaching social media marketing to small businesses. I tell my clients all the time...you need to like, comment and share. You want to engage with your customers and clients. Cultivate your super fan! When companies like King Arthur Flour engage with their customers, who can be food bloggers (like me) who use their product all the time, they want to spread the word. I don't need much to activate my "super fan" powers but a "like" or a "comment" from a major brand is really all I need.

So, now the real story...this year, I am highlighting ingredients that I like for the holiday season and one ingredient happens to be pistachios. As I was looking for pistachio cookie recipes, I happened to be on Instagram and right in front of me was King Arthur's Cherry Pistachio Biscotti. PERFECT - pistachio nuts (green), cherries (red), biscotti that looks festive, I need to try this recipe. I checked the pantry, I had all the ingredients and even had some gold sparkling sugar. 

These cookies were extremely easy to put together and within 30 minutes, I had the biscotti out of the oven and cooling. They smelled delightful. The best part of making biscotti is cutting it for the second baking and eating the ends. It allows me to test them without eating a bunch of cookies. Because I make so many cookies during the holiday - just this weekend I made 7 different types of cookies - you can actualy get tired of eating cookies. But I will say, "those biscotti ends were delicious." The tartness of the cherries, the nuttiness of the pistachios and the crunchy sugar make for a really amazing biscotti. 

I posted the picture of the dried cherry pistachio biscotti on Sunday and everyone is looking for the recipe. Well here it is - go forth and start your holiday baking. Make sure you include these cookies - your friends and family will LOVE you!

PS - My son just came walking through and grabbed a few biscotti, "Mom, these are REALLY good!"

Cherry Pistachio Biscotti (Adapted from King Arthur Flour)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of butter, softened

1-1/3 cups of sugar

3/4 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 tablespoon of baking powder

4 eggs

4 cups of flour (King Arthur, of course!)

2 cups of pistachio nuts, coarsely chopped

2 cups of dried cherries, coarsely chopped (if you don't have dried cherries, you can use dried cranberries)

Demerara or sparkling sugar

 

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease three large cookie sheets.

2. In a large bowl (I use a Kitchen Aid Mixer), beat the butter, sugar, salt, vanilla and baking powder on medium high for until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

3. Add the four eggs, two at a time and beat until well blended.

4. On low speed, blend the flour into the mixture. Once the flour is incorporated, add the dried cherries and pistachios. 

5. Using your hands, roll two logs per tray - 12-13 inches long, 2 inches wide and 1 inch thick. Flatten them slightly. Sprinkle tops with demerara sugar or sparkling sugar.

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until the logs are slightly golden and firm to the touch.

7. Remove from oven and allow logs to cool on the tray for 20 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

8. Remove logs from the trays and using a serrated knife, cut the logs on a diagonal into 1 inch slices.

9. Place biscotti onto the cookie trays and bake for 10 minutes. This will help to make the biscotti crispy. If you like more of a chewy biscotti, don't bake a second time.

10. This makes about 60 delicious biscotti.

By Tricia White

Chocolate Pistachio Sables

Every year, in November, I start looking for cookie recipes to start the list for the 12 Cookies of Christmas. Sometimes, it's hard to find cookie recipes with a dramatic taste or ingredient. I am always looking for something unique. This season, I decided to look at specific ingredients and give you the opportunity to use them in different cookie and bar recipes. One of the ingredients I will be showcasing is pistachios. These are a tasty nut with full flavor and distinct color. What better than green nuts at Christmas!

Bon Appetit magazine showcased a number of cookies under Make Ahead Cookie Primer. One of those cookies was the Chocolate Pistachio Sables. I loved the look of them on the page because of their festive color. They were easy to put together but they do need some time in the refrigerator, about 3-4 hours to be exact. If you are doing a bit of baking, put these together first and place them into the refrigerator and then you can get back to them later. Or, you can use them as slice and bake cookies because the dough can be made and frozen up to a month in advance. Just slice the frozen cookies prior to baking. 

I did have one issue with the pistachios. As I was getting ready to make the sable cookies, I noticed I had dry roasted pistachios. I was afraid they would be too salty. I rinsed them quickly in some warm water and dried them off. It took off some of the excess salt away. The sables were still delicious with the pistachios having a slightly salty taste which I loved with the bittersweet chocolate and the dense shortbread base.

When I was finished baking them, I gave them to friends and family figuring they would like them, but probably not love them. Sometimes these dense cookies can be the last cookie left on the plate at holiday parties, but was I wrong. My son, Stephen, went searching for them over the next few days, taking several for lunch. My sister's son wanted her to make a batch and I had two people call me for the recipe. The salty sweetness was addicting. You have one, you want more.

I will be showcasing quite a few cookies with pistachios so feel free to use the search bar or category section to find more of these delicious cookie recipes.

NOTE: I freeze all my cookies and use them through the month of December in all my cookie trays. The last batch of chocolate pistachio sables I made has been eaten. Back to the ovens for more.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Pistachio Sables - Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:

2-1/2 cups of flour

1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder

3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon of baking soda

1-1/4 cups of butter (2-1/2 sticks), softened

1-1/4 cups of light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1 large egg white

2/3 cup of bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used bittersweet)

1 cup of pistachios, unsalted and coarsely chopped

 

Preparation:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients - flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

2. Using an electric mixer on high, beat the sugar, butter and vanilla for 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.

3. Place mixer on low and mix in the bowl of dry ingredients.

4. Once slightly together, add the egg white and then bittersweet chocolate and chopped pistachios.

5. Separate the dough into 4 pieces. Roll each piece into an 8 inch log by 2 inches in diameter. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Take the dough from the refrigerator and take plastic wrap off the roll. 

7. Using a serrated knife, cut the logs in 1/2 inch slices. Place slices on a parchment lined or seasoned baking sheets. 

8. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the sables are slightly golden. Cool on cookie racks. Makes about 4 dozen.

Written by Tricia White

Roasted Almond Thumbprint Cookies

OMG! Who doesn't like thumbprint cookies? They are one of the easiest cookies to make and at our house, they disappear faster than I can make them. And these Roasted Almond Thumbprints are no exception.

I decided that as I was looking for cookies for my 12 Cookies of Christmas that I was going to highlight combinations of cookies. I have 4 or 5 thumbprint recipes, so I am going to put them all together to give you a choice of the thumbprints you might like to make. Please bear with me as I will be highlighting quite a few bars and cookies over the next two weeks as I start to put together the lists. 

These Roasted Almond Thumprint Cookies were featured in Bon Appetit's November "Make Ahead Holiday Cookies". They have a great selection of cookies which are fairly easy to make and are right in line with what people are looking for in holiday cookies. I learned a long time ago that fancy cookies are nice, but I find they are the last cookies left on the plate at the end of most events. When you make a combination of thumbprint cookies, chocolate chip cookies, ginger snaps and white chocolate macadamia nut cookies, I can guarantee, there won't be any left.

These thumbprints were easy to make as most of the ingredients ended up in the food processor, so outside of roasting almonds, these cookies were together in 10 minutes. The only thing I do differently is to put the jam in the cookie before I cook it rather than after. Many people put the jam in after, but I find the jam doesn't set and the cookies are always sticky.

These cookies have a wonderfully nutty taste and would pair well with strawberry jam, orange marmalade or our favorite, seedless raspberry. After I made them, I froze them for a function later in the week. As I opened the container to make a cookie platter that night, I noticed half of them were gone. My son, Stephen, confessed, "Mom, those are the best cookies." Even frozen, they disappeared.

Watch for the 12 Cookies of Christmas this year as I will highlight all types of cookies and our favorites as well as those that people wait for every year. As we head into the holidays - Be happy and enjoy!

Roasted Almond Thumbprint Cookies - Adapted from Bon Appetit

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups of flour

1-1/2 cups of unsalted, roasted almonds

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 cup of butter (2 sticks), softened

1/2 cup of sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 cup of raw/course sugar or demerara sugar

Seedless raspberry jam (or your favorite jam or jelly)

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

2. Place flour and roasted almonds into a food processor and pulse until the almonds and flour are well blended. The almonds will be finely ground.

3. Add baking powder and salt, pulse once or twice to blend. Set aside.

4. In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and 1/2 cup of sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until pale and fluffy. 

5. Reduce speed to low and blend the flour mixture with the sugar/butter mixture.

6. Place the demerara sugar into a shallow bowl. Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls and roll in the sugar. Place on cookie sheets and place a thumbprint in the center. Fill with a 1/2 teaspoon of jam or jelly.

7. Cookies can be placed 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies is slightly golden and firm. The bottoms will be beginning to brown. 

8. Remove from oven and cool on cookie racks. This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies and they freeze well. 

Written by Tricia White

Cornmeal Craisin Biscotti with Toasted Walnuts and Orange Zest

Biscotti has always been a favorite of mine, probably because I love crunchy cookies. I also like cookies that have a number of flavors involved and biscotti always seem to have that. Whether nuts, flavorings, chocolate or fruits, you can always enjoy a burst of flavors from these treats.

Every Thursday, I get to enjoy lunch with the United Regional Chamber of Commerce staff. I look forward to these lunches as I actually will take time to enjoy lunch and wonderful conversation. Some Thursdays we will order lunch out, other times, we walk to a cute little sandwich shop called Jonathan's Coffee Cafe. Just recently, Jonathan's began selling little bags of biscotti. For the life of me, I can't remember the name of the bakery who makes them, but they are quite good. I was drawn to the Mocha Walnuts and then the Cornmeal Craisin. The cornmeal craisin are delicious...with a hint of orange and crunchy demerara sugar on top.

Last week, my mother had some surgery and I went to her house to make some meals for the week. While I was getting my supplies at the supermarket, I kept thinking about those biscotti. I grabbed a bag of cornmeal and figured my mother should have the other baking ingredients. Once I arrived, I went on a search for some online recipes for cornmeal craisin biscotti. I came across a David Lebovitz recipe called Cormeal Biscotti. It was perfect. My mother had all the ingredients, plus a bag of craisins. I figured I would start with this recipe and then add and subtract a few ingredients after that. The biscotti was very easy to make, all the dry ingredients in one bowl, melt the butter in another bowl, mix the eggs, vanilla and zest - basically done. Place logs on the cookie sheets and we were ready to go. The house smelled wonderful and after the second baking, we were scrambling to taste these biscotti. They were crunchy, the toasted walnuts and crasins brought great flavor with the subtle hint of lemon. As my mother enjoyed a cup of tea, I couldn't tell if she was actually drinking the tea or eating it with the tea soaked biscotti.

The next day when I got home, I knew I would change the recipe a bit. First, I doubled the recipe...I like to save some extra cookies to freeze. Then I swapped out the lemon zest for the orange zest and finished with demerara sugar sprinkled on the top. I think I found my Cornmeal Craisin Biscotti.

I brought a batch to work this past week and everyone loved them. The best comment was my co-worker, Manassah. "I hate you, these are so good!" The best complement I can receive. I also brought a few into the United Regional Chamber. "OK, I need you to try these, I think I recreated our biscotti from Jonathan's", I said to Lisa and Kim. "WOW, I think these taste better", said Lisa. More music to my ears. These are a keeper!

Now, grab some cornmeal, toast some walnuts and make a batch of these biscotti. They will be a perfect holiday treat to enjoy as a quick breakfast or a wonderful dessert with coffee or tea. 

Ingredients for the Cornmeal Craisin Biscotti with Toasted Walnuts and Orange Rind

(We doubles this recipe to make about 60 cookies)

• 3 cups of flour

• 1 cup of cornmeal, preferably stone ground

• 2 cups of sugar

• 2 teaspoons of baking soda

• 1/2 teaspoon of salt

• 4 eggs

• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

• Zest of one orange

• 1/2 cup of butter, melted and cooled

• 1-1/2 cups of craisins

• 2 cups of walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

• 3-4 tablespoons of demerara sugar 

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, place parchment paper on 3 cookie sheets.

2. In a large bowl, place the dry ingredients of flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking soda and salt. Mix together and then put aside.

3. In a small bowl, mix eggs, vanilla and orange zest with a small hand whisk.

4. Make a well in the dry ingredients bowl. Pour in the egg mixture, stir, then add the melted butter. Mix until the batter becomes wet and crumbly. Add the craisins and walnuts and mix to incorporate all ingredients.

5. Place the mixture on a slightly floured counter or board and knead a few times. Divide the dough into three pieces. Roll two logs 2 inches by 13 inches from each piece. Place 2 logs per cookie sheet. 

6. Bake for 20 minutes or until slightly golden and they feel set. Remove from oven and cool for 20 minutes.

7. Reduce the oven to 250 degrees. Remove the biscotti from the parchment paper and using a serrated knife, cut the biscotti on a diagonal about 1 inch apart. 

8. Place the cookies on the cookie sheet (no parchment paper needed) and bake for 20 minutes. remove from oven and cool.

9. Enjoy and then freeze a few. Always great to have something special when guests stop by.

Written by Tricia White

Marie-Helene's Apple Cake

Where do I begin? Maybe with an apology? It has been the longest I have ever been away from blogging. My last post was in early September and then...life got in the way. Jeff and I were planning a trip to France and leaving the first week in October. As we tried to get many of our work commitments taken care of, things needed to be done around the house and it seemed like we were coming home later and later and cooking less and less. I knew that once we got back from vacation, I would jump back into cooking, baking and blogging.

After eating the most amazing French food for 12 days, we came home with some great ideas for the blog. The first thing we did was have a "guinea pig" dinner with our close friends. For those not familiar with guinea pig dinner, we invite friends and tell them we are trying some new recipes and ask if they would like to be our victims or guinea pigs. We haven't had anyone turn us down and I am proud to say everyone has lived. Last night, we decided to find some French recipes, pair them with some great French wines and talk about our adventures from Paris to Aix-en-Provence.

We have a few French cookbooks but our favorite is Dorie Greenspan's "around my french table". We have made numerous recipes from this cookbook and the dishes always turn out wonderful. Now that we have been to France and tasted some of the cuisine, the recipes brought back great memories. Marie-Helene's Apple Cake seemed to be the perfect choice for dessert.

So, we chose a squash soup for a first course, a veal dish for the dinner and an apple cake for dessert. I will start with dessert and work back into the meal. What I loved abut this recipe was the limited number of ingredients and the ease of making it. I started by cutting my apples and chose 4 different types: MacIntosh, Jonagold, Fuji and Macoun. The recipes couldn't have been any easier...eggs, sugar, vanilla, flour, baking powder, a pinch of salt and dark rum. The smell of the dark rum was amazing. When I put it into the cake, I realized that the basics to this recipe had been kicked-up a notch. 

Into the oven it went and I waited an hour and then some. Once it was golden brown, I removed it from the oven. As the cake cooked, it didn't look like the cake Dorie made. Mine looked like I had more apples, but none the less, it still looked delicious. The smell of apple cake filled the kitchen. I let the cake cool and put it aside until dinner was finished. When I brought out the cake, you could smell the apples and a hint of the rum, I couldn't wait to have a bite. After cutting the cake and serving it with the vanilla creme fraiche, I grabbed a fork and dug in. It was slightly dense but sweet and tart, there was a taste of rum which tied in nicely as the cake wasn't overly sweet. All the guests agreed, it was the perfect ending to a wonderful evening of french cuisine. With only a small wedge left, it was devoured by lunch today. 

This is a great dessert that is simple to make and wonderful to eat! Apples are in season, so grab a few varieties and try this recipe before the holidays. Maybe instead of an apple pie, you might want this apple cake. If not, this would be a wonderful dessert to serve on any cold afternoon with a hot cup  of cinnamon coffee. Bon appetit!

Marie-Helen's Apple Cake (Adapted from Dorie Greenspan)

Ingredients:

4 large apples (your choice of apples), peeled, cored and cut into 2 inch cubes

3/4 cup of flour

3/4 teaspoon of baking powder

A pinch of salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of dark rum

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1/2 cup of butter (8 tablespoons), melted and cooled slightly

1 small container of vanilla creme fraiche

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and generously butter an 8 inch springform pan. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the pan on it.

2. In a small bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and pinch of salt. Put aside.

3. In a medium bowl, add the 2 large eggs and whisk until foamy. Add the sugar and whisk until well blended about one minute.

4. Whisk in the vanilla and the rum.

5. Add half the flour mixture to the bowl. Whisk until blended. Add half the melted butter, and whisk until smooth. Repeat again, finishing the flour and butter.

6. Using a spatula, fold in the apples chunks.

7. Place in the oven for 70-80 minutes or until slightly golden on the top or a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Place on a cooling rack.

8. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then run a knife around the edges of the springform pan and then remove the sides, allowing the cake to further cool.

9. Serve with a small side of vanilla creme fraiche...perfect!

9. After serving, this cake lasts for 2-3 days. It can be left out and you don't need to cover the top. Use plastic wrap or wax paper to cover cut sides.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti

Back a few years ago, I went on a baking frenzy and was making many different types of biscotti. They were easy to make and I loved the texture, plus...people devoured them quicker than I could make them. I actually got an offer from a local restaurant to make their biscotti but I didn't have a commercial kitchen available so it was a "no go".  

Recently, a little sandwich shop I frequent was selling espresso chip biscotti. After my second round of purchases, I came home and decided that I would make some myself. I pulled out my three biscotti cookbooks and decided to make use of my Williams-Sonoma Cookie and Biscotti Cookbook. The book was written in 1994 but it has some of the best biscotti recipes I've ever made. 

I decided to make the Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti because we had a big bag of hazelnuts sitting in the pantry, I was craving something chocolate, and I actually had a jar of instant espresso. Perfect reason to bake these biscotti and I am also trying to identify cookies for the holidays. Every year I try to highlight different cookies and this year is going to be strictly biscotti.

This Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti recipe had a few unique techniques.

1. You combine the chocolate in the food processor with the brown sugar. You can combine the two until the chocolate chips are completely blended or leave some chunks to blend into the cookies while baking (which is what I did.)

2. Eggs are the main liquid ingredient - no butter or oils. 

3. I chose to use bittersweet chocolate vs semi-sweet. I just really enjoy bittersweet chocolate in a sweet cookie - nice balance.

These cookies came together quickly and I mixed the last of the dough with my hands. Sometimes, when the dough gets tough to mix, I put my hand in and blend the dough. It also allowed me to knead the dough in the bowl, eliminating my having to knead the dough on the wooden pastry board. 

Before I knew it, the biscotti were baked and then baked again. As they were coming out of the oven for the second time, our friends had arrived to enjoy a Labor Day cook-out. My girlfriend, Sharon's son, Ross, was the first to test the cookies. After the first bite he said, "May I have a glass of milk to dip these in? These are great!" I started to laugh. I always think of biscotti as adult cookies, especially with the espresso and hazelnuts. But here is Ross, all of 9, enjoying these delicious treats. 

Over the next month, you will be seeing quite a few biscotti recipes so please bear with me. I want to find an amazing bunch of biscotti recipes for you to share with your friends and family as we head into the next three months of holidays.

Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti (adapted from Williams-Sonoma)

Ingredients:

½ cup of bittersweet chocolate chips, chopped (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacoa Bittersweet Chocolate Chips)

1 cup of brown sugar, firmly packed

1-3/4 cups of flour

1/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa

1-1/2 tablespoons of espresso powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

¼ teaspoon of salt

3 eggs

1-1/4 teaspoon of vanilla

½ teaspoon of almond extract

1 cup of hazelnuts, toasted and chopped coarsely

 

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a food processor, using a metal blade, pulse the chocolate and brown sugar until the chocolate is blended with periodic chips seen throughout. Put aside.

3. In a medium sized bowl, mix the flour, espresso powder, baking soda and salt together. Put aside.

4. In a large bowl, add the eggs, vanilla and almond extract. With a hand whisk, whisk the mixture for one minute. The mixture should be well until blended.

5. Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon add the brown sugar and chocolate mix as well as the flour mix to the eggs, vanilla and almond extract.

6. The mixture will become very stiff. Add the hazelnuts.

7. At this point you have a few choices…

A. On a floured board, knead the biscotti dough until it comes together in a soft ball or

B. Place a bit of flour onto your hands and knead the dough in the bowl until it comes together in a soft ball. (I did this and it was much easier and less to clean up.)

8. Cut the ball in half and create two 12-inch logs. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the biscotti logs are firm to the touch.

9. Allow biscotti to cool for 10 minutes on the cookie sheet. Remove from parchment paper and cool completely on cookie racks.

10. Once cool, slice the logs with a serrated knife, at a diagonal, creating cookies 1 inch per slice.

11. Place the slices, standing, on the cookie sheet and bake for an additional 25 minutes.

12. Cool and enjoy! Makes 30-40 cookies

Lemon Strawberry Shortcake with Fresh Whipped Cream

I love the month of June. Every year, around the second week of June, Jeff and I go to our local favorite, C.N. Smith Farm, to pick your own strawberries. We usually come home with 10-12 pounds of strawberries which we use for a number of recipes as well as freezing a few to enjoy through the summer. This year, we made strawberry jam, too...which is a story for another time. Instead of strawberry jam, we ended up with strawberry sauce. That was definitely a "back to the drawing board" recipe.

So, I remembered pinning a recipe to one of my Pinterest boards from Oh Sweet Basil for Lemon Shortcakes with Strawberries. As much as I love to fall back on our favorites, what's a new strawberry season without a new strawberry dessert. I love lemon with strawberries and Jeff loves any type of dessert with strawberries so we had to try this out. 

Some of our past strawberry dessert recipes are still good...

1. Wilson Farm's Strawberry Shortcake

2. Visitandine with Strawberries

The recipe was easy to put together and while the shortcakes were in the refrigerator, I cut up the starwberries and got them mixed and chilling. I love making homemade shortcakes, they taste so good and because they are so fresh they absorb the juices of the berries and make for a deliciously tasting dessert. Best word to describe it..."melt in your mouth" - freshly picked strawberries, homemade shortcakes and fresh whipped cream, is there anything more delicious?

Thirty minutes later they went into the oven, but be careful, my one issue with shortcakes is the degree you bake them at. This recipe calls for an oven at 425 degrees. In these types of recipes, there is always a fine line between golden and burned. Though these bake in 12-15 minutes, start looking at them at 10 minutes, sometimes the difference between not burning the shortcakes is 1 minute.

Once the lemon shortcakes came out of the oven, I whipped the cream and just waited for the family to drift through the kitchen for dessert. As the shortcakes were cooling, the strawberries were floating in a bright sea of sauce and the whipped cream was ready to go. As many of you know, I like my desserts with chocolate...lots of chocolate, meaning, I'm not a big strawberry shortcake fan. Well, that night I was! The Lemon Shortcakes were tangy and sweet and had a wonderful silky texture. The strawberries were a perfect complement and with a little bit of whipped cream it was dessert heaven. 

There is only one way to eat a really good strawberry shortcake

1. Try and make your shortcake from scratch (even if it is Bisquick)

2. Use fresh berries, they're always better than frozen

3. Take the time and whip the cream - no cool whip or canned whip cream

Before the summer is over, you deserve to treat yourself to atleast one strawberry dessert - let it be Lemon Strawberry Shortcake with Fresh Whipped Cream - you won't be disappointed.

 

Ingredients for Lemon Shortcakes

2 cups of flour
5 tablespoons of sugar
1 tablespoon of baking powder
3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup of cold butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1-1/2 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup of heavy cream, plus a few tablespoons for topping
1/4cup of milk

Strawberry Topping
1 pint of strawberries, sliced in quarters
2 tablespoons of sugar

Place strawberries in a medium sized bowl and add the sugar. Stir the strawberries a few times to blend with the sugar. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for atleast an hour. This will allow the strawberry juices to release, giving you a wonderfully sweetened sauce.

Fresh Whipped Cream
1-1/2 cups of heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon of sugar

Using a hand mixer, place the heavy whipping cream and sugar in a bowl and whip on high speed until soft to firm peaks appear. Depending on how you like your whipped cream.

Preparation of the Lemon Shortcakes
1. In a medium bowl, blend all of the dry ingredients together - sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder.
2. Using a small whisk, add the lemon zest and blend thoroughly.
3. Using a pastry cutter, blend the cold butter pieces into the mixture until you have a grainy consistency with pieces that are about pea size.
4. Using a fork, add the egg, lemon juice, heavy cream and milk to the butter mixture and mix until the dough comes together.
5. Place on a floured surface and knead to bring the mixture together.
6. Roll out the dough to a 1/2 inch thickness and using a cookie or biscuit cutter, cut and place on a slightly greased cookie sheet.
7. Place the biscuits in the refrigerator, cover with plastic wrap for 30 minutes to rest.
8. Preheat oven to 425 degrees
9. Remove biscuits from the refrigerator and brush with a little heavy cream and them sprinkle with sugar.
10. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until slightly golden. Be careful not to let the bottoms burn.
11. Remove from oven and cool on racks.
12. Ten minutes before serving, whip the fresh cream.
13. To assemble, cut biscuit in half (we used two biscuits) and place in dish, spoon strawberries on to the biscuit and add fresh whipped cream.
14. Grab a spoon and indulge!

Tozzetti - Like Biscotti, but BETTER

- Tozzetti, similar to Biscotti, buttery and nutty, twice baked cookies -

There is nothing better than making a biscotti style cookie with minimal ingredients and big taste.

I went on a baking kick the other night and decided I wanted to make some biscotti. I came across this recipe in the newest edition of Bon Appetit Magazine (June 2013) called Tozzetti and decided this was going to be my baking project. 

As I did my research, tozzetti are Italian cookies which are in the biscotti family and are usually made with nuts. This recipe calls for almonds, but a few of the others differed from using hazelnuts to adding lemon rind or anise. This recipe was very plain, to the point that I was thinking of adding orange rind or maybe dipping them in chocolate. Then I stopped, sometimes we need to leave well enough alone. What if these cookies were amazing as is. Let's make them and then add addition ingredients the next time.

There are only seven ingredients for the tozzetti - butter, sugar, eggs, flour, salt, baking powder and almonds. Desserts like this don't get any easier. I no more had the batter together when they were in the oven for their first baking. Like everything I do, when the ingredients are simple or the amounts seem small, I double the recipe. So, I had five tozzetti logs on three baking sheets.

After the first round of baking, I took them out of the oven and let them cool. I started cutting the logs to put back into the oven and was enjoying the ends. The cookies were wonderful. They were nice and buttery, not too sweet and had a delicious nutty flavor. Leaving the recipe alone was just what it needed. These were delightful. I yelled into Jeff, "I have the perfect cookie for your ice cream."

Twenty minutes later, the tozzetti were out of the oven and cooling. I scooped Jeff his favorite vanilla ice cream and added two tozzetti cookies. I delivered his dessert to the living room and ran next door to drop a few off with Jeff's mother. As I was getting the last of the cookies out of the oven, Jeff asked if I might be able to bring him another cookie so he could finish his ice cream. I knew I had a great cookie. 

So far, Jeff and his mother enjoyed them, my son, Stephen took a half dozen to work and I treated my clients to some afternoon goodies. Sweet success, this is definitely a keeper. As much as I would love to add lemon or orange zest or maybe dip the bottoms in chocolate, I know this recipe is perfect the way it is. Sometimes recipes should be left alone...no additions and no subtraction...because it allows you to savour the simplicity and ease of making a delicious product.

Enjoy them with wine, coffee, tea, hot chocolate or Jeff's favorite, vanilla ice cream! This is a perfect after dinner dessert.

Ingredients for the Tozzetti

3/4 cup of sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, at room temp
2 large eggs
1-3/4 cups of flour
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
1-1/4 cups of almonds (I used sliced almonds)

Preparation for the Tozzetti

1. Preheat oven to 325° 
2. Using an electric mixer on medium-high, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating to blend between additions, until combined.
4. On low speed, add dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking powder), and mix until blended.
5. Add the almonds.
6. Place dough on lightly floured work surface and knead just to bring together, about 2-3 times.
7. Form into 14" long, 2" wide, and 1 inch thick logs. Place logs (2 per sheet) on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
8. Bake until puffed, slightly cracked, and starting to brown, 25–30 minutes. It should be firm.
9. Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack and let logs cool.
10. Using a serrated knife, slice log diagonally 1/2-inch thick.
11. Place slices back on baking sheet and return to the oven for about 15–20 minutes on until golden brown.
12. Remove from oven, cool and enjoy!

They will keep for about a week in a tightly covered container.

Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last week, as I was going through my "The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie" board on Pinterest, I kept finding myself looking at Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies. They looked delicious but they use two different types of flour, cake flour and bread flour. I knew I didn't have any in the house so I kept thinking that I wanted to find something easy, you know, I already have all the ingredients. 

Then last Thursday, I received a tweet from Force 4 Photography that said, 

Force 4 Photography ‏@Force4Photos

@FriendsFoodFam So far, the best chocolate chip cookie I've sampled (and there have been many) is the NYTimes recipe: http://tinyurl.com/6ley7h 

I met Russ Jennings and Kevin Ham, of Force 4 Photography, at a presentation they gave for the MA Small Business Development Center called Maximizing your Company's Presence using Google products and Tools. It was funny, when I opened the cookie link (@Force4Photos) it was the Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. OK, this is the second time this recipe had been placed in front of me, someone was telling me to make the cookies. I knew last weekend (Memorial Day) was a perfect time, my kids were home, from Missouri and Philadelphia, and we were having a cookout on Sunday night. Off to the supermarket to get cake and bread flour.

As I was getting the ingredients together, I came across a large chunk of callebaut chocolate and thought this would be perfect for the cookies. I decided to chop to dark chocolate into chunks...and splinters. This would give a nice blended taste. I followed the cookie directions exactly as stated. I decided to use the measured weights as my guide. I did this for two reasons: 1. I wanted to make sure the amounts were exact 2. I very rarely weigh my ingredients and thought this was be a good practice for baking. And, to my surprise, weighing the ingredients was so easy.

After refrigerating the dough for 3 hours I started rolling chocolate chip cookie balls slightly larger than a golf ball. You can make them bigger (with an ice cream scoop) but I wanted to have more than 12 cookies as I had quite a few guests coming and any extras would go back to Missouri and Philadelphia. By making them the size I did, I ended up with almost 30 cookies. I probably would have had more if I wasn't enjoying the cookie dough so much.

The cookies were absolutely delicious and PERFECT. They were crunchy, yet chewy, the flavor was balanced with chocolate chunks and cookie. The best part was the salty sweet flavor. That little bit of salt on the top was heaven! Everybody was raving about them. Our friends didn't just take seconds...they took thirds and I was sending people home with some. Now, that is a cookie worth making.

Buy some cake and bread flour and try this Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. My only regret - my son Brian said, "Could you make me a batch of these rather than your regular chocolate chip cookies?" Andria's cookies are my classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, these are the family favorite. I was (cookie) crushed...move over Andria, Jacques is in the house. 

Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies: (Adapted from the New York Times)

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons of cake flour (8.5 ounces)
1-2/3 cups of bread flour (8.5 ounces)
1-1/4 teaspoons of baking soda
1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons of coarse salt
2-1/2 sticks of unsalted butter (1 1/4 cups)
1-1/4 cups of light brown sugar (10 ounces)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar (8 ounces)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1-1/4 pounds of bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60% cacao content
Sea salt

Preparation:

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix the flours, salt, baking powder and baking soda together. Put aside.

NOTE: We actually weighted the flours and sugars. With a recipe that was coming so highly regarded, we wanted to follow the exact directions.

2. In a large bowl, using a mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time incorporating each egg into the mixture. Add the vanilla.
4. On low speed, add the dry ingredients. Once blended, add the chocolate.

NOTE: We used a block of bittersweet chocolate and chopped it into pieces. You can chop the chocolate discs in a coarse fashion if you would like to have size variations in your cookie. It makes for a chocolate swirl effect.

5. Place plastic wrap over the mixture and refrigerate for 3-24 hours.
6. Remove dough from the refrigerator.
7. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Using a cookie (or ice cream) scoop, create balls of dough a bit larger than a golf ball. Place 6 cookies per sheet.
9. Sprinkle cookie balls with a bit of sea salt.
10. Bake for 12-16 minutes or until the cookies begin to look slightly golden.
11. Remove from oven and cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then move to a cookie rack.
12. With the size of cookie we made, we ended up with 24-30 cookies.

Enjoy!

 

Cinnamon Raisin Buttermilk Coffee Cake

(Delicious Cinnamon Raisin Buttermilk Coffee Cake)

On Mother's Day, we serve a big breakfast for both the Sankey and White families. We open it up to all siblings and their families to enjoy a big breakfast with their mother.

As I was shopping for all the breakfast supplies, I knew I wanted to make one of our family favorites, Buttermilk Pancakes with Blueberries. I picked up a large container of buttermilk and upon arriving home, realized I already had buttermilk. So, with two containers of buttermilk, I knew I would be making more than Buttermilk Pancakes. 

Usually, when our family comes for a holiday or special occasion meal, we make a coffee cake. People will snack on it prior to the meal with a cup of coffee. I decided to look for a recipe that had buttermilk and found this Raisin Buttermilk Coffee Cake from Taste of Home. There weren't many ingredients and I knew I could mix it, get it in the pan and basically have it coming out of the oven just prior to guests arriving for breakfast.

We served our cinnamon raisin buttermilk cake warm from the oven. Our mothers got the first taste and I always know that when it ends with, "Could I have just a little bit more?", it's good! Everyone grabbed pieces to enjoy with their coffee as we finished the bacon, eggs and pancakes. My favorite part to making a quick coffee cake is being able to send a little sweetness home with our guests. My daughter enjoyed the biggest piece of cake as she left to go back to her apartment in South Boston, "My roommates will love this, they like everything you make!" I guess as a mother, knowing your kids (and their friends) love what you make, it's worth every recipe.

This works as a great breakfast cake as well as a snack cake, it was very light and melted in your mouth. The cinnamon topping added just enough sweetness to not overpower the cake. There are times I love a bread or cake that has lots of topping but for something light before our breakfast, it was perfect. I even got my nephew, Matthew, to try it and he doesn't like raisins. He said he really liked it.

Try a pan full of cinnamon raisin buttermilk coffee cake, it's easy and your family will love it.

Cinnamon Raisin Buttermilk Coffee Cake (Adapted from Taste of Home)

Cinnamon Brown Sugar Topping
1 cup of brown sugar, packed
1 cup of chopped walnuts (we toasted ours, slightly)
1/3 cup of butter, melted
2 tablespoons of flour
4 teaspoons of cinnamon

In a small bowl, using a fork, combine the 5 topping ingredients and mix until you have a coarse crumb consistency. Put aside.

Coffee Cake Batter
1/2 cup of butter, softened
1-1/2 cups of sugar
2 eggs
3 cups of flour
4 teaspoons of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
2 cups of buttermilk
1 cup of raisins

Preparation:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar together using a mixer (hand or stand alone).
3. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating them into the butter and sugar mixture.
4. Add half the flour mixture and then half of the buttermilk mixture, alternating until the mixture is completely combined.
5. Mix in the raisins.
6. Place 1/2 the batter in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Sprinkle with 1/2 the cinnamon brown sugar topping. Put remaining batter on top, finish with the remaining topping.
7. Bake in oven for 35-45 minutes or until golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.
8. Allow to cool slightly and depending on whether you want to enjoy a warm piece or cooled, slice and serve.
Feeds 12-15 people.

 

The BEST Lemon Raspberry Cake with Lemon Icing

(Lemon Raspberry Cake with Lemon Icing)

Happy Birthday to Jeff! Here's a Lemon Raspberry Birthday Cake with Lemon Icing for You!

This past week we celebrated Jeff's Birthday. Every year when I make his cake, I always try and find something different. For me, it's chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. For Jeff, it is normally something fruit based. I know he is a fan of berries...blueberries, strawberries, raspberries...you get the idea. So, I looked up a number of cake recipes, had some ideas floating around my head and went to the market to get my supplies. Lemons, strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, seedless raspberry jam and buttermilk, an odd combination but stay with me.

The cake I choose was from Ina Garten called Lemon Cake. As I was looking at the ingredients, a few things piqued my interest. First was the amount of lemon zest and lemon juice that was used in the recipe. I knew this would give the cake a nice lemony flavor. The second ingredient was the buttermilk. I love using buttermilk when I bake and slightly tangy taste it adds to a recipe. Between the sugary icings and the sour ingredients, this recipe sounded delicious. 

I decided to make the lemon raspberry cake in cake pans versus loaf pans. I knew the consistency would be similar to a loaf cake or pound cake but I wanted something that looked like a birthday cake. Originally I was going to make the cake in a tube pan and fill the center with a mixture of the strawberries, blueberries and raspberries. Somewhere between making the cake and baking the cake, I put the batter in cake pans.

Looking back, I'm glad I did. This cake is so good, you really want to appreciate the pure lemoniness of the dessert. I struggle sometimes with doing "too much" to a recipe. As food bloggers, I think we are always trying to "kick it up a notch" when we really don't have to. I decided to make the recipe and add a few basic elements to enhance the cake.

After baking the cake and assembling it with raspberry jam, I knew I had something tasty. The ingredients came together easily, it baked up perfectly and assembled quickly for one of the prettier cakes we have made. It looked and smelled AMAZING! After singing "Happy Birthday", we quickly cut into the cake. With a little bit of berry sherbet, the cake was delicious. Just enough sweet and tangy. Jeff kept saying, "This is probably the BEST lemon raspberry cake I have ever eaten." And you have to remember, we cook and bake all the time!

We have been savouring this cake all week. I have been slicing slivers for breakfast while Jeff has been enjoying it as his nightly dessert. You can now begin to understand how we enjoy our sweets!

Hold on to this Lemon Raspberry Cake with Lemon Icing recipe, think - a perfect Mother's Day, graduation or cook-out dessert. Your guests won't be disappointed, and neither will you!

Ingredients for the Lemon Raspberry Cake with Lemon Icing:
1 cup of butter (2 sticks), at room temperature
2 cups of sugar
4 large eggs, at room temp
1/3 cup of grated lemon zest (2-3 lemons)
3 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of kosher salt
1/4 cup of lemon juice, freshly squeezed
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temp
1 teaspoon pure vanilla

Lemon Syrup:
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of lemon juice, freshly squeezed

1 jar of seedless raspberry jam

For the icing:
2-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
4 tablespoons of lemon juice, freshly squeezed

For garnish:
fresh raspberries and mint leaves

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour (2) 8 inch cake pans. You may also line the bottom with parchment paper, if desired.

2. Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes (the mixture is grainy). With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, and then the lemon zest.

3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl, combine the lemon juice, the buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter until completely incorporated. Divide the batter between the 2 pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

4. In a small sauce pan, combine the lemon juice and sugar to make the lemon syrup. Cook over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

5. After removing the cakes from the oven, allow the cakes to cool for 10-15 minutes. Remove from the pans and brush the top and sides of the cake with the lemon syrup. Allow cakes to cool completely.

6. Prior to assembling the cake, place 1/2 to 3/4 cup of raspberry jam in a small pan and warm to melt the jam. Remove and cool slightly.

7. For the icing, place the lemon juice and confectioner's sugar in a bowl and mix until smooth. The texture should be thick, white and spreadable, adjust the sugar and lemon juice as needed.

8. To assemble the cake, place the first layer on a plate, spread the raspberry jam over the top of the cake and allow it to drizzle down the sides. Place the second layer on top and spread the icing over the top, again, allowing the frosting to drizzle down the sides.

We garnished the lemon raspberry cake with a few fresh raspberries and mint leaves. Cut and enjoy!

Shortbread Blondies - Blond Butterscotch Brownies with a Chocolate Shortbread Base

At the beginning of 2013, I started looking at food trends for the new year. I came across an article that talked about Blond Brownies being a dessert trend. One blond brownie recipe I love is Bobby Flay's Throwdown Blondies. For the past few months, I have been trying to find a different type of spin on a blond brownie.

As I was looking up a recipe for brownies the other day, I came across a recipe we made about a year ago, Shortbread Brownies. It has a shortbread based crust with a chewy brownie top. They were delicious. I started to think, what if I used a chocolate cookie base and put a blond butterscotch brownie on top? That could be really good. I started my experimentation on Friday night and I can admit that the first attempt was not good.

As a food blogger/baker/cook, I can appreciate trying to create new recipes, the problem is that we sometimes go overboard. Here, let me explain. I found a chocolate shortbread recipe which I thought would make a perfect base. Once I partially baked the base, I decided to put a thin layer of butterscotch (butterscotch chips) and then added the blond brownie batter. After 35 minutes, I took the brownies from the oven and they looked perfect. I waited for them to cool and couldn't wait to cut them. I cut the first corner and put a piece into my mouth...they were OK. I started cutting into the middle of the pan and realized - 1. They weren't finished cooking...raw in the middle 2. The thin layer of butterscotch was too thick and made the bar too sweet 3. The cookie base was too thick and separated from the bar due to the butterscotch. So, into the trash they went. First attempt - DISASTER. What I learned...don't overly complicate the recipe, I didn't need the butterscotch chips.

During Saturday, I searched for a chocolate shortbread cookie base which didn't have eggs. I was looking for something drier and not as thick. I found a great recipe on Bake or Break that was used to make Coconut Bar with Chocolate Shortbread Crust. I liked the Blond Butterscotch Brownie recipe I used during my first attempt which was through Taste of Home. Back to the kitchen to try this again. The chocolate cookie based baked up nicely and then I added the blond brownie top. I made sure that I toothpick checked the brownies so that they were fully cooked.

I cut into the brownies and tested a piece...PERFECT. They were buttery, chocolate, slightly crunchy, slightly chewy, sweet with a little bit of salt. This recipe combination definitely worked. I brought some into work, and gave one to my regional director as she was leaving for a meeting. She called me 5 minutes later from her car, "You are evil", she said. "Those were so good, I love the sweet and salty taste." I had great responses to these bars and am definitely making them again. I'll be adding this recipe to my next Summer Cook-Out Recipes for 2013. Give them a try, I bet you can't eat just one!  

Chocolate Shortbread Crust (Base) Ingredients:

3/4 cup of flour
1/3 cup of light brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 of teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons of butter, cold, cut into small pieces

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Place all dry ingredients into a small bowl.
3. Add the pieces of butter and blend with a pastry blade or two knives. The mixture will look crumbly.
4. Place mixture in a greased 13 X 9 baking pan. Shake the pan to even the crumbed mixture and then press firmly into place. It will resemble a slightly dried crust.
5. Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven and allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Blond Brownie Ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter, melted and cooled
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 cups of flour
2 cups of brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 cup of semi-sweet mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup of Heath Bar toffee bits

Preparation:

1. In a small bowl, whisk melted butter, eggs and vanilla together.
2. In a separate large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder and salt.
3. Add the egg and butter mixture to the dry ingredients. Mix until the batter comes together. The batter will be thick. NOTE: We mixed this for a few minutes to get it well blended.
4. Add the chocolate chips and Heath Bar bits. Mix until combined.
5. Spread over the chocolate shortbread base.
6. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.
7. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Yield: 2 dozen.

Sugar Dipped Butter Cookies

Sometimes dessert doesn't need to be anything more than a simple butter cookie. During the Easter holiday, I found myself baking a number of cookies to freeze for both the holiday and what I consider a rainy day. I like to have a few dozen cookies in my freezer in case I need to bring a quick dessert to a friend's house or one of the kids are visiting and want to take some homemade goodies back home. 

I opened a box of Land O Lakes Butter and noticed a recipe inside the box that read: Sugar Dipped Butter Cookies. Sometimes, I'm interested in making a dessert that is unexpected and the recipe is right in front of me. I grabbed the butter and set out to make the cookies. The recipe was basic and with 6 ingredients I was ready in less than five minutes. With the batter made, I was ready to roll butter cookies. 

The fascinating part of making these cookies was rolling them in water. For the hundreds of thousands of cookies I have made over the years, I have never rolled cookies in water before coating them with sugar. After I got the first batch in the oven, I couldn't wait to see what they looked like when they were finished baking. The sugar was hardened and crackly and the cookies smelled wonderful.

My mother-in-law loves traditional style cookies. She loves desserts she can enjoy with her tea. I let her sample the first cookie and she wanted to take a few next door with her to keep for her daily tea. OK, Fan #1 of the butter cookies, let's keep going. Jeff was coming through the kitchen, looking for his evening scoop of ice cream. As he left with a dish of rainbow sherbet, I sat a cookie on the top of his scoop. Five minutes later I got the request, "Trish, can you bring me another one of those cookies?" Fan #2...let's keep going. As I got the last tray of cookies out of the oven, I grabbed a cookie to taste myself. PERFECT! It was buttery and melted in your mouth. The sugar coating was crunchy and added just enough sweetness to the cookie. 

The next morning I decided I would have sugar-dipped butter cookies for breakfast, as Jeff would say, just because I can. They were still amazing. They tasted like little sugary muffins and dipping them in my coffee was HEAVEN! For as much as I am the ultimate chocolate freak, I truly enjoyed these buttery delights.

If you are looking for something a little different, yet traditional, these sugar dipped butter cookies are perfect.

Ingredients for Sugar-Dipped Butter Cookies: (adapted from Land O Lakes)

1 cup of sugar

3/4 cup of butter, softened

1 egg

2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt

1 bowl of water and 3/4 cup of sugar for dipping and rolling cookies

Preparation:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a medium sized bowl, cream the butter with the sugar (by hand or mixer), until creamy, about 1-2 minutes.

3. Add the egg and mix well.

4. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, mix by hand until incorporated.

5. With a tablespoon of dough, roll into a ball, dip in water and then roll in the sugar. Place two inches apart on a cookie sheet. 

6. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned.

Makes 4-5 dozen cookies.

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

When my children were younger, one of their favorite snacks (and probably not the most nutritious) was Dunk-A-Roos. They are individual packages of graham crackers (like Teddy Grahams) with a little scoop of frosting. Basically, they were dipping cookies in frosting. As much as my kids ate them, you could always find me in a corner somewhere hoarding a package myself.

This chocolate chip cookie dough dip was brought to my attention from Kristen O'Brien at Option One in Mansfield, MA. We were discussing my love of chocolate chip cookies and she asked if I had ever eaten chocolate chip cookie dough dip. For as much as I had seen many photos of the dip, I hadn't made it myself. She was telling me how delicious it was and I kept thinking "Dunk-A-Roos". She sent me the recipe and then I searched out a few more. I wanted to see what some of the ingredients were and how each recipe differed. I ended up using the basics to Laura's Sweet Spot recipe and added a few thing of my own.

The recipe for chocolate chip cookie dough dip is fairly basic. It very much reminded me of a butter cream frosting recipe with less confectioner's sugar. There are a few additional ingredients which give it a sweeter flavor along with some chocolate chip cookie qualities.

I started by melting the butter, but instead of just melting, I decided to brown the butter. Browning the butter gives it a wonderfully nutty flavor. Next, it called for light brown sugar. I love the depth of dark brown sugar so I added half light brown sugar and half dark brown. In the end, the recipe only called for mini chocolate chips. Instead, I added mini chips, Heath Bar Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits and ground pecans. I wanted the dip to have a caramel taste, the way my chocolate chip cookies do. 

The minute I was finished, I was searching the pantry for cookie dippers. Ah, Mini Nilla Wafers and Mini Chocolate Teddy Grahams, let the dipping begin. My first victim was Jeff and he is not one who likes frosting. I think that is why we are perfect together...he likes cake, I like the frosting. No cake will ever go unfinished at our house. He liked it, but didn't love it. I, on the other hand, was eating the browned butter chocolate chip cookie dough dip with a spoon. My son, Stephen, arrived home and he is a sugar addict like me. The two of us began dipping Nilla Wafers like it was our last meal. As he was leaving I packed him a small container of dip and a bag of cookies so he could eat them in the car.

As I had everyone in the house try the dip, I realized we had very little left. This was definitely a tasty treat that was extremely easy to make as well as easy to enjoy. It's like eating potato chips and onion dip, you can't dip just once. The next time you are looking for a quick snack or easy dessert, think Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip - you can't dip just once!

Thank you, Kristen, for introducing us to this incredibly delicious dessert.

Recipe for Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter

1- 8 ounce package of cream cheese, softened

1 cup of confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup of light brown sugar (we used 1/8 cup dark and 1/8 cup light brown sugar)

1 teaspoon of vanilla

a pinch of kosher salt

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips

1/4 cup Heath Bar Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits

1/4 cup ground nuts (we used pecans)

Serve with:

Mini or regular Nilla Wafers

Teddy Grahams - Any variety

Graham Crackers

Apples

Sponge Cake

or your favorite dessert to dip

 

Preparation:

1. In a small sauce pan, over medium heat, melt the butter and cook until the butter turns a slight golden brown. It will get very foamy, but if you stir occasionally it will reduce. It takes about 4-6 minutes. Once the butter gets golden, remove from heat and allow the butter to cool.

2. In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, blend the browned butter and cream cheese.

3. Add the sugars, vanilla and salt. Beat until well blended, about 1 minute.

4. Mix the nuts, mini chocolate chips and Heath Bar bits by hand. Chill or serve immediately. Makes about 2+ cups.

Written by Tricia White