7 posts tagged “cookies”
I had a little shredded coconut to use up and was trying to figure out what to make for it that wasn't TOO awful. I decided biscotti would be a good way to use it because it's one of those things that, even when made according to recipe with no healthy substitutions, is not too bad for you. Plus, it's something to eat with my eggs in the morning.
I didn't have to do any recipe inventing here, though. I was glad to find a recipe for Coconut Biscotti on Cooking Light's site right after I got the idea. These turned out great, and even with my addition of the chocolate, are not a calorie killer. Plus, biscotti have a long shelf life, so these work out great even though there are only 2 of us.
This makes a sticky dough. I would recommend using a silpat or parchment paper to do all the kneading and forming, so you don't have to transfer it to the baking sheet. Kinda wish I would have thought of that when I was making them...
Coconut Biscotti
Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 20 biscotti
3/4 cup AP flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. grated whole nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. coconut extract
2 large eggs
1 cup flaked coconut
3 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
a few drops of canola oil
Preheat oven to 300.
Combine the first 6 ingredients in a bowl. In a separate large bowl, beat the sugar, vanilla and coconut extracts and eggs together at medium speed until thick (about 2 minutes). Add the flour mixture and then fold in the coconut mixture.
Turn the dough onto a heavily floured surface and knead 7 or 8 times. Shape the dough into a roll and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silpat. Pat to about 1" thickness. Bake for 40 minutes or until golden. Cool for 5 minutes on wire rack.
Cut diagnally into 20 slices. Place slices on baking sheet and bake 10 minutes. Flip the slices, and bake 10 additional minutes.
In a double boiler or a stainless steel bowl over simmering water, add the chocolate chips and just a little canola oil to thin it out. Melt the chocolate and then drizzle over biscotti.
Any recipe that starts out with one pound of butter has got to be good. I'm sorry, but it's just a fact. Kourambiedes are another one of my favorite cookies. They are basically the Greek's version of shortbread cookies, and are rolled in powdered sugar. The cookies are really similar to Mexican wedding cookies/Russian tea cakes. If you were thinking maybe the pound of butter wasn't rich enough, then surely the dousing of the cookies in powdered sugar adds that extra sweetness you want :)
The last time I made these, we were out of ouzo and brandy, so I used about 1 tsp. of almond extract and they were still really good, and more almond-y. I say this in case you tend not to keep liquor around the house and want to know if something can be substituted. But today, I went the traditional route since I have a just-opened bottle of ouzo in the liquor cabinet.
I'm submitting these cookies over to Susan at FoodBlogga who is hosting a Christmas cookies event. New cookies are being added constantly, and I have been drooling over a large portion of them for days.
Kourambiedes
makes about 4 dozen
1 lb. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup confectioners sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 shot ouzo, brandy, or cognac
3.5 cups flour
1 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
2/3 cup roasted and crushed almonds
additional confectioners sugar, for rolling
Preheat the oven to 350.
Beat the butter until very creamy, a good 10-15 minutes. Add the sugar and cream together. Beat in the egg yolks, one a a time, until well incorporated and finally, mix in the vanilla and the ouzo.
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture slowly, until incorporated and a relatively stiff dough forms. Add more flour, if necessary. Knead in the almonds, and knead the dough 5 or 6 times.
Using tablespoon sized portions, roll the dough into whatever shape you want (I did crescents; in my famly, crescents, rounds and esses were the most popular) and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for about 24 minutes or until done. Cookies should be slightly browned, but not too dark.
Let the cookies cool for ten minutes or so before rollling in powdered sugar.
Melomakarona are one of my favorite cookies on the planet. Like most Greek desserts, they have honey, cinnamon, and walnuts. What can I say? We don't like to mess with a good thing. But, it's this mixture that makes them perfect for the holidays (or really, year round, if you're me!).
The dough for this cookie is pretty basic, but what makes them unique is the honey/simple syrup mixture the cookies are dunked into and the texture that arises from that process. The dipped cookies are pretty soft, due to the syrup, but are not chewy. The finished cookie has sweetness from the honey and sugar, a little spice from the cinnamon and cloves, and a nice crunch from the walnuts. That's why they're pretty much my perfect cookie.
Melomakarona
makes 4-5 dozen cookies
Cookie Dough
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1.5 cups vegetable oil
6 cups flour
1.5 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cloves
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
Syrup/topping
1.5 cups sugar
1.5 cups water
1.5 cups honey
1/2 lb. walnuts, crushed
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
To make the cookies:
Preheat the oven to 350.
Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat until just incorporated. Add the oil and orange juice, mixing until smooth and combined.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients. If necessary, add more flour to make a workable dough. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.
Roll cookies into oval shapes with the palm of your hand and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Press the cookies down slightly with your fingertips, and then prick them with a fork several times. Bake the cookies for about 25 minutes or until done. Set aside to cool completely.
To dip the cookies:
Mix the walnuts, cinnamon and cloves together in a bowl and set aside.
Once the cookies have cooled completely, start making your syrup. Bring the water, honey and sugar to a boil in a large sauce or saute pan (I like using a high saute pan, the bigger surface area across will let you dip more cookies at once). After it has boiled for a minute or two and thickened slightly, skim the foam off the top. Turn burner to low, just to keep the syrup warm.
In batches, dunk the cookies in the honey syrup. Leave them in there for about 40-50 seconds or so, before removing them with a slotted spatula and placing them on a baking sheet lined with wax or parchment paper. Top the dipped cookies with the walnut mixture.
Store these in an airtight container and they should keep for quite a while (if they last that long :)
Phew, that was a mouthful.
Every once in a while, even I get the baking bug. I tend to stick to muffins/cupcakes and cookies because those are a little harder for me to screw up than cakes and pastries. The other day, I randomly got a craving for some sort of cranberry cookie. I bought some white chocolate, cranberries and pecans and figured I'd make some cookies, bars or blondies with those ingredients. We ended up going out Friday night so I didn't end up making the cookies. Since I had today off, I figured I would find a recipe and get moving.
I adapted (and halved) a recipe from Quaker Oats for oatmeal cranberry white chocolate chunk cookies. These turned out great and were soft and chewy. I think I prefer a flatter, slightly crisp cookie though, so next time I make these I might just use the recipe for the Quaker Oats vanishing oatmeal raisin cookies and make the adjustments that way.
I was thinking mine were chewier/rounder because I used bigger spoonfulls (a cookie scoop instead of a teaspoon) but considering I got 3 more cookies than I was supposed to get, that doesn't seem right. It's hard to tell whether these are supposed to be flatter since the picture on the QO site seems to be some sort of pie and I am not a good enough baker to know what kinds of recipes yield big chewy cookies vs. what kind yield flatter crisper ones, haha. (an update: talk about not being a good baker. I realized the day after I made these that I was paying no attention and used bread flour instead of AP. ::smacks forehead:: I'm sure the higher gluten level prevented them from spreading as much).
Oatmeal Cranberry White Chocolate Chunk Cookies
adapted from Quaker Oats
1/3 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate
1/4 cup chopped pecans
1/4 cup dried cranberries
Preheat oven to 375.
In medium bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg, mixing well. In separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture in 3 additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries, pecans and white chocolate chunks. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 10-12 minutes or until done.
Yields 18.
OK, well, to be honest, I did overbake these a little but they still turned out delicious, and are incredibly easy.
I got the recipe for these macaroons right off the bag of coconut, and dipped half of them in some melted chocolate.
Coconut Macaroons
Courtesy of the Baker's flaked coconut bag/Kraft
1 package (14 oz) flake coconut (5 1/3 cups)
2/3 cup sugar
6 Tbsp. flour
1/4 tsp. salt
4 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 tsp. almond extract
Preheat oven to 325.
Mix coconut, sugar, flour and salt in large bowl until well blended. Add egg whites and almond extract; mix well. Drop by tablespoonfuls, 2 inches apart, onto greased and floured baking sheets.
Bake 20 min. or until edges of cookies are golden brown. Immediately remove from baking sheets to wire racks. Cool completely.
I was just telling a friend that there are a couple main rules I live by:
1. To make sweets better, add Nutella
2. To make savory better, add bacon or goat cheese.
The German chocolate cake travesty-turned-trifle left me with some unused coconut. I considered making macaroons or even a coconut cake but I didn't want anything involved, and I felt like chocolate.
First I considered putting some chopped chocolate and coconut into an oatmeal cookie recipe but as I was scouring my cabinets to see what I did and didn't have, I came across an almost-empty jar of Nutella and decided to use that instead.
I started with the Quaker Oats Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe because I think it's pretty tasty. But I ended up changing it quite a bit to account for the coconut and nutella by adding a little less sugar, removing the cinnamon and raisins, changing up the flour, etc.
At 113 calories and 4.5g of fat per cookie, these are really not even that bad for you! (note to self: approach Nabisco regarding 100 calorie packs of mini Nuella-coconut-oatmeal cupcakes). And, thought I never think anything is "too rich" I really do not think these are overly sweet, since I cut the sugar. In fact, if I weren't trying to keep the calories low, I probably would have added more sugar, but then I never find things to be too sweet :P
Coconut and Nutella Oatmeal Cookies
Yields 2 dozen
1.5 cups oats
3/4 cup flour (I used half whole wheat and half AP)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar (I used a combo of brown and granulated)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup Nutella
1 large egg
2/3 cup flaked sweetened coconut
Preheat oven to 350.
Cream together butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla, egg and nutella.
In another bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
Combine wet and dry ingredients well. Stir in coconut.
Drop by spoonfuls or cookie scoop onto a cookie sheet (I lined mine with a silpat but it's not necessary).
Bake for about 10-12 minutes or until done (I always overcook cookies so if you are like me, remove them when they don't really look done because chances are, they are).
Cool one minute on cookie sheet before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.
I decided to make a somewhat nicer dinner today, being Valentine ’s Day and all. Truth be told, the meal was not even the slightest bit more difficult than my everyday-dinners but we had a soup and dessert course so the sheer amount of food was greater. This proves slightly problematic when you do not yet own your dream kitchen with a double cooking surface and 2 wall ovens. Anywho, tonight I made a mushroom soup; lamb chops au poivre with mashed and green beans tossed with garlic and pine nuts; and homemade ice cream sandwiches.
I have never made a mushroom soup before, so I decided to give it a shot and just make up my own recipe. Most of my soups start out in one of two ways: mirepoix (carrots, celery and onions) or sauted (or caramelized) onions eventually deglazed with some type of booze. I decided to go with the latter and work from there. This was very simple and flavorful.
Mushroom soup
3 tbsp. butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 lb. assorted mushrooms, chopped
2 sprigs (leaves) fresh thyme or probably about ½ tsp dried
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup dry sherry
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup beef broth
½ cup half and half or heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste
Melt butter in large stockpot/saucepan. Add onions and cook until tender over medium-low heat, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms, thyme, and garlic. Continue cooking over medium-low until mushrooms brown (do not add salt) and most of the moisture they’ve released has evaporated, about 15-20 minutes.
Add sherry. Switch heat to medium-high and cook until sherry is reduced by at least half, about 3 minutes.
Add broths. Simmer for about 20-30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Add half and half or cream and heat through over medium-low, about 5 minutes.
If you like a chunky soup, serve as is. If you like it smooth, puree with an immersion blender or food processor. If you are like me and like something in between, do what I did: put a couple ladlefuls of the soup into a processor and pulse process. Re-add back to the soup and let it thicken slightly.
For the lamb chops, I used a recipe from Bon Apetit. The only difference is that I used short loin chops instead of rib and a splash of half and half at the end. A nice change from steak au poivre, easy and delicious. I seared the chops about 2 minutes per side and then put them in a warm oven to finish cooking while I made the sauce. This made for a perfectly medium rare chop.
For the mashed potatoes, I just made them with butter and half and half since we had some in the fridge. A rarity since I tend to make mashed potatoes with skim milk and a little bit of butter or sometimes even *gasp* Smart Balance.
For the green beans, I heated some olive oil in a pan, then threw in 2 cloves of minced garlic and some chopped pine nuts. I sautéed that over low heat, while my green beans boiled (just covered fresh beans with water, brought to a boil and cooked for about 5 minutes). Then I tossed the drained green beans with the oil-garlic-pine nut mixture and some salt and pepper. See, I can make vegetables besides asparagus!
For the ice cream sandwiches, I used Ina’s chocolate white chocolate chunk cookies and vanilla ice cream. I rolled them in some chopped hazelnuts. I tried to take the pic before the ice cream started to melt, but no dice there. It doesn’t look that great but it tasted pretty damn awesome. Thank you, Ina, for never letting me down.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
