Orange Mocha Cookies, con't

  

Here's the photo of the orange mocha cookies that I promised.  Don't they look lovely?!

Orange Mocha Cookies

I love these cookies, from Martha Stewart's Cookies.  They get their distinct mocha flavor from a mixture of espresso powder and unsweetened coco. Orange zest added to the dough gives them a subtle citrus flavor. Cut into thin slices and baked until crisp, these cookies hold their shape when dipped into a cup of mocha coffee. I topped these cookies with purple sanding sugar which came out really well, but they would look just as good plain. They are especially wonderful because once you make the dough you can store it tightly wrapped in logs in the freezer.  That way you don't have to make them all at once; always good because the recipe makes a ton of cookies.  Yum!

P.S. I'll post a photo later.

Palmiers

   

These are a little burnt, so they don't look quite as pretty as they should.  Serves me right for forgetting to take a photo of the not burnt ones before I gave them all away.

Palmiers or Elephant Ears are a traditional French cookie made with puffed pastry and sugar.  I use store bought puff pastry.  I know using homemade is better, but I just can't bring myself to the trouble of making puff pastry from scratch for such an otherwise simple cookie.  If you use store bought puff pastry, they are exceptionally easy to make and produce a lovely result.  And they taste great!

I'm not going to give you a proper recipe, sorry, but here's an almost recipe:  

Basically you spread 1 cup of granulated sugar on a large, smooth, clean surface (if you have a pastry marble, this would be a good time to use it).  Then put a sheet of defrosted puff pastry on top of the sugar.  Evenly and thickly coat the pastry with another 3/4 or so cups of sugar.  Roll the pastry out into a 14- to 15-inch square (don't worry it doesn't have to be exact!)  Then fold in the left and right edges about a quarter of the way in.  Fold them over.  Fold again.  The folded rolls (for lack of a better word) should meet almost in the middle now fold them together, like closing a book.  Slice into thin pieces (I go with 3/8 of an inch).  Put on a baking sheet (far apart, they expand).  Bake on high heat (350* in a convection oven, 375* in a normal oven) until sugar starts to caramelize, about 5-8 min.  Flip them very carefully (the sugar is HOT).  Bake for another 3-6 minutes or until they are just golden but not burnt.  

For cinnamon palmiers, mix 1-2 tbsp of ground cinnamon (or to taste) to the sugar before rolling the puff pastry in it. 

It's hard to get them perfectly golden.  I tend to either have slightly under or over done palmiers.  But I don't mind, they are excellent either way!

Sunday Night Cake

   

The Sunday Night Cake is so named because the guys who opened the bakery called Baked (in Brooklyn) felt it was simple enough to make on a Sunday night.  They are quite right.

It is excellent and very simple, which is nice when you have a sweet craving but you are really tired (from, say, working on your thesis!)  The cake is dense but still fluffy.  It's sweet and cinnamon-y and delicious.  They suggest a pudding-like chocolate icing with it, which I did not make this time.  I made it once before with the icing, which was amazing.  I could have sworn I posted it but, I can't find it, so I have to assume I thought about posting it but didn't...oops!  I will post it soon.  I want to show it to you.  It looked amazing!

By the way, the recipe calls for sour cream, which I didn't have in the house.  So I substituted in fat-free Greek yogurt.  It worked quite well.  I think the cake was ever so slightly tougher than when I made it with sour cream.  I didn't mind, though...it was still excellent!

P.S. This is from the second Baked cookbook, I think. 

Another Chocolate Chip Cookie, con't

Oops, I must not have taken photos of the chocolate chip cookies.  They looked pretty much like any other chocolate chip cookie though, so I'm sure you can picture them!

Another Chocolate Chip Cookie

These are from one of the two Baked cookbooks, I believe it was the first one, but I really don't want to get up and look right now!  Anyway, they are excellent!  They're not my favorite chocolate chip cookies, but they are darn good!  They're a wonderful staple chocolate chip cookie.  They have a great taste and GREAT texture.  They're sort of soft and chewy--but not undercooked--with a slightly crisp, browned outside.  Yum!  What is really wonderful about chocolate chip cookie dough is it will keep in the fridge for a day or two so you can have hot cookies whenever you want (and if you're busy, you don't have to make all the batches at once)!  This dough was especially amenable to doing that! (I know this, by the way, because I made them over 3 days last week and am just now writing about them...woops!)

I think I forgot to take a picture, but I may have one or two on my phone.  If I do, I'll post them later.

Nigella's Chocolate Chip Cookies, con't

    

Here's the photo of the Nigella chocolate chip cookies... Don't they look amazing?!  It's hard to tell in the photo but they were quite large!

Nigella's Chocolate Chip Cookies

My English presentation went well, in case you were wondering.  However between that and my other work, I haven't had time to write up a recipe for my bread pudding.  I merely have a list of ingredients, which probably won't do you much good!

But I do have other things to post.  I have been in a cookie mood lately, as those who know me will attest to.  I've tried two new chocolate chip cookie recipes and one new chocolate chocolate cookie recipe--all with excellent results!

One of my favorites was Nigella Lawson's chocolate chip cookies, from her new cookbook, Nigella Kitchen.  I own all of Nigella's cookbooks (well technically my mom owns them, but you know) and this is the first one to have a chocolate chip cookie recipe.  So I had to try it!

The recipe was really interesting.  It was easy, but different from most chocolate chip cookies I've made.  For example, it used melted instead of creamed butter.  And it used a ton of chocolate chips!  Not that I don't use a slightly obscene amount of chocolate chips in my cookies, but most recipes don't call for as much to start.

They were not my favorite taste wise.  Not to say they weren't good, they were excellent!  I just found them a little bit sweet and not quite molassesy enough.  Trust me, it didn't stop me from eating them!  What really made them so good was the texture and size (which are, to some extent, linked).  They were sooooo gooey and chewy in the middle, which is how I like my cookies.  But the reason they could be quite so gooey was that they were HUGE!  She uses 1/4 cup of dough to make one cookie!  That's at least twice the dough I normally use.  I have to say they were a bit gluttonous, but who cares, they were great!

P.S. I'll post a photo soon.