Happenings » cookies

The first 12 days of Christmas Cookies

colleenandnick — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 13:57:58 +0000

I’m not sure if there will be time for any more baking (or at least, I’m baked out for the most part right now, but who knows what next week will bring), but here are the first 12 kinds of holiday cookies! All are new recipes to me this year, with 5 of them coming from Julie’s holiday baking cookbook!

Starting from 6 o’clock and going clockwise:

chocolate cherry sugarplums
hazelnut meringues
pistachio spice cookies
coconut macademia triangles
double butterscotch cookies
buckeyes
bourbon balls
kisses
rolo cookies
green and white cookies
pecan pie bars
butterscotch coconut cookies

I still want to make maple frosted pumpkin cookies & coconut macaroons, but not sure if the motivation is there. Regardless, don’t these first 12 look so pretty all packaged up?

Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies

colleenandnick — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:50:00 +0000

I was skeptical, but these were good! I think you can get more than the 20 that I got out of this batch. They didn’t travel very well, but I think that the sprinkles will be good on ice cream later on and they lasted more than 3 days in a ziplock bag.

Nick liked these when they came out of the oven. I used strait up chopped walnuts, but have heard that pecans can also work in this recipe.

Francois Payard’s Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies
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Recipe By: From the April 21, 2008 issue of New York magazine
Serving Size: 20

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups walnut halves
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven golden and fragrant, about seven minutes. Let cool slightly, then transfer nuts to a work surface and coarsely chop.

Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and lower temperature to 320 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk (or combine in an electric mixer on low speed) confectioners’ sugar with cocoa powder and salt followed by the chopped nuts.

While whisking (or once you change the speed to medium), add egg whites and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened (do not over beat or it will stiffen).

Spoon the batter onto the baking sheets in evenly spaced mounds, and bake for about seven minutes, then move pans from front to back and top to bottom, and allow to bake for an additional seven or eight minutes (for a total of 14-16 minutes), until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked.

Slide the parchment paper (with the cookies) onto two wire racks. Let cookies cool completely, and store in an airtight container for up to three days.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies

colleenandnick — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 12:47:00 +0000

Mmm, these were good! Batter was awesome, coming out of the oven and cooled I was worried they were too hard, but after a day in an airtight container with a piece of bread – these rocked for days to come. (We enjoyed them during our trip to cabin with the Pender peeps!)

I didn’t follow the recipe exactly. Instead of 1.5 pounds good white chocolate, I used 1 bag of Nestle’s white chocolate chips. Then I added 1/2 a bag of mini chocolate chips.

Chocolate White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
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Recipe By: Food Network, Barefoot Contessa 2001
Serving Size: 48

Ingredients:

1/2 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs, at room temperature
2/3 cup good unsweetened cocoa
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1.5 pounds good white chocolate, coarsely chopped

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, 1 at a time, and mix well. Add the cocoa and mix again. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and add to the chocolate with the mixer on low speed until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper using a 1.75″ ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly.

Variety is the spice of life

colleenandnick — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:17:00 +0000

It’s been a long time since I’ve gotten my back on, cookie wise at any rate. Inspired by the oatmeal goodies from yesterday, tonight I made 4 other types – basic chocolate chip, peanut butter chocolate chip, butterscotch chocolate chip and dark chocolate with white chocolate chips. Good thing we’ve got a crowd for the cottage to eat them up!

Salty Oat Cookies

colleenandnick — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:38:00 +0000

My first attempt at re-creating the Teaism Salty Oat Cookie (actually made by Kayak cookies out of Maine) – there was a nice article & recipe in the Washington Post back in June about the closest recipe they’d found, so I tried it out.

A couple of things…

-Nick rated these cookies a 5, saying “these were really good, I’d give them a 5 – if you were trying to match the Teaism recipe then you were pretty close.”

-the lack of raisins was really noticeable to me, I’d want to add those next time

-my sea salt grinder grinds it too fine – I’d like a chunkier salty topping on these then what I had

-my cookies didn’t bake up as high as I would have liked – I have a few theories on this…first, the rack was lower in the oven than normal, so they were closer to the heat source. second, I used the new AirBake cookie sheets – I never seem to have good luck with these, all my cookies turn out better somehow if I use a standard ol’ cookie sheet. third – I believe this recipe was supposed to make 18 cookies, and I got 1.5 times that many, so it’s possible I just didn’t make large enough balls.

All in all, they were good cookies – I’m definitely planning on trying this out again with some minor modifications! Maybe I’m just a perfectionist…

Salty Oat Cookies

This cookie is all about the oats, without much spice to interfere with their earthy taste.

It’s also a great dough to make ahead and keep on hand to bake off a few when the urge hits. Refrigerate the dough for several days. The cookies can be stored in an airtight tin for up to 1 week.

Ingredients

•12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

•1 cup light brown sugar

•½ cup sugar

•1 teaspoon baking powder

•¼ teaspoon baking soda

•¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon

•2 large eggs

•1 teaspoon vanilla

•1.75 cups flour

•2 cups rolled oats, not quick cooking

•sea salt, for sprinkling

Method

In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for a few minutes on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sugars, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon, beating until the mixture is well blended. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs and vanilla extract, mixing until well incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and add the
flour and oats, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary and mixing just until they are incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least an hour before baking.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Form the dough into golf ball-size balls and place about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle sea salt generously on top of each ball of dough, as you would sugar. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 15 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and beginning to turn golden, being careful not to overbake. (The cookies should have a tender interior.) Transfer the cookies, still on the parchment paper, to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

I let these sit for a good 1.5 hours in the fridge….

Source: Washington Post | (Servings: 18 – 213 calories each)

Not quite Teaism, but not too far off…

colleenandnick — Tue, 17 Jul 2007 15:15:00 +0000

As you can see, the attempted Teaism salty oat cookies turned out a bit smaller and a bit flatter than their store-bought counterparts…and they didn’t have raisins…but give me time, I’m hoping to have this recipe perfected before the holidays.

I do love that everyone I ‘drag’ to Teaism for a salty oat cookie and some chai seems to leave loving the atmosphere and that combo as much as I do!

This baking experience was inspired by the leisurely cookie/chai combo that Kris, Nick and I had yesterday before Kris flew home to Nebraska.