Gingersnaps

Remember the gingersnaps I made when I was at the FCI (they were on my first exam)? These are the same recipe. I really love these cookies, and I don't ordinarily like ginger so that's really saying so something. They have a delicious taste and a perfect texture. Plus they look beautiful--partly because I'm crazy and actually scale out the dough rather than eyeballing it, so all the cookies are the exact same size. They make a great gift since they transport well and last a reasonably long time at room temp. Of course that assumes you want to give any of them away!

Almond Joy Fudge~With Recipe

I love fudge but I don't always feel like dealing with the typical candy making exceed sizes like making cooked sugar, so I really love "fake" fudge made with a condensed milk base. I know it isn't fudge in the strictest sense, but it is close enough. I have made this fake fudge before, but this is my own recipe (based very loosely on a Nigella Lawson fudge recipe from Nigella Express, I believe.)

Ingredients:

• 14 oz good dark chocolate, chopped
• 1 14oz can condensed milk
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 3/4 cup slivered blanched almonds
• Pinch salt

Procedure:

1. Line a 9x9in pan with foil and lightly butter the foil.
2. Combine the condensed milk, butter, salt, and chopped chocolate in a saucepan. Put over low heat and warm until the chocolate and butter is melted, stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula.
3. Promptly but not too vigorously, stir in the coconut and almonds.
4. Pour into the pan and even out the top.
5. Allow to set on the counter for at least 30-60 min and then transfer to the refrigerator to chill for another 2 hours or overnight.
6. Slice into one inch squares with a sharp knife and store in one layer or in multiple layers with wax paper between them in an airtight container in the fridge.

This fudge should be stored cold but it can be left out for hours, which is convenient if you want to give it as a gift. And fudge makes an excellent gift!

Brownies--a serving suggestion

So you made brownies but you want them to look special. Brownie squares are delicious and a classic, but they are a little boring. Why not make brownie circles? All you need is a biscuit cutter. Just try to space them a close together as possible so you get a bunch of them. The exact same brownie but a slightly classier look that makes them appropriate to serve at, for example, dinner parties. They also make a nice gift stacked and wrapped in cellophane.

Obviously you'll have brownie scraps left over. If you don't end up eating them right out of the pan, I recommend putting them in a ziploc and shove them in your freezer. That way when you really want something chocolate but all you have for dessert is a pint of vanilla frozen yogurt, you now have a pint of vanilla frozen yogurt with brownie crumble topping! Yum!

Fourth of July Dessert Plate

Any holiday is a good excuse for food. I feel that July Fourth is no exception, as you may have noticed from my little pastry battle. Well after my little war fought with food, there was enough dessert left over to feed a small army, so I gave away some plates of food. I think they came out very pretty, so I thought I mention them here. I didn't have left over brooklyn blackout cupcakes (I may have eaten a few too many) but I did have a little extra mocha buttercream so I piped it on the white cake cupcakes. I did whip up a small batch of royal icing for these fairy cakes but didn't anticipate that the foil cupcake wrappers would peel away from the cake, allowing the icing to drip down the sides of the cakes rather than pooling on top of them. They still tasted excellent (the royal icing actually improved on the cakes), even if they did look like a smurf threw up on them. The sour cream frosting for the guinness cakes was more spoonable than pipe-able, so I was afraid it'd end up all over everything on the plate so the guinness chocolate cupcakes remained unadorned and still absurdly delicious. I also left the shortcakes and scones plain so that they wouldn't get soggy. Trust me, they were very good plain. Who wouldn't like getting a plate with that assortment of delicious baked goods?!

Goodie Bags

The reason I baked chocolate chip scones, spiced chocolate cookies, lemon curd (for the meringue shells), and peppermint bark was that we were having people over for the holiday. I didn't want any of them to leave empty handed--albeit it with full stomaches--so I made them goodie bags with scones and chocolate cookies. I think that they look really nice, especially because two cookies happened to be almost the same hight as one scone. I like these so much, I'm thinking of doing something like this as gifts for people who won't be getting an entire cookie plate.

Cookie Plates

I made a few cookie plates as gifts this year. They were really quite nice, if I do say so myself. They had brownies (the same cocoa brownies I made for the cookie plates last year), my own recipe chocolate chip cookies, cream cheese mints (see recipe here), gingerbread cookies with Meyer lemon glaze, and rum raisin cookies (the same ones we made in class). I wasn't a fan of the gingerbread cookies, they were too ginger-y not cinnamon-y enough, but I loved the glaze with them. I got the idea for that flavor combo from Nigella Lawson's, who does proper gingerbread (cake, not cookies) with a lemon glaze. I cut these into isosceles triangles and drizzled them with the glaze to look like garland on a tree.

Wouldn't you love to get a gift like this?

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving a.k.a eat-as-much-as-you-can-because-calories-can't-possibly-count-on-a-national-holiday day!

Ok, not really, but still, I love Thanksgiving because it's really a holiday about food (and giving thanks, obviously).

So we always make turkey with excellent stuffing (my mom makes it with apples, apricots, celery, onions, mushrooms, and italian sausage), gravy, cranberry sauce (jellied and, this year, real cranberry sauce too), mashed potatoes, veg, and some sort of roll. The last few years I've made biscuits. This year I did the same. I used a recipe I found on the food network website for the Neely's buttermilk biscuits (it's the same recipe I used last year). I think they were slightly better this year.
       

I also made apple pie with crumble topping for dessert. The recipe was from the William-Sonoma Pie and Tart cookbook. It was very easy and really good! The only problem--if you can call it that--is that the recipe made enough apple filling for two pies. Well the pie crust I made was enough for two pies (or one double crust pie) so I just rolled out a second crust, made extra crumble mixture, and voilà two pies for almost no more effort than one! I just served it with some vanilla ice cream. A simple, delicious dessert that's perfect after a rather large meal.

St. Patrick's Day Shortbread

Here are the shortbread cookies I made for St. Patrick's Day.  They were amazing!  I have to say, I've had trouble finding a good shortbread cookie recipe that makes decent quantity.  (So many recipes only make around a dozen cookies, and that is not nearly enough!)  Anyway, I found this recipe in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.  I'd already made her chocolate shortbread, so I figured her plain one would be good.  I was right!  It really was incredible shortbread.  It was buttery and sweet, but not to sweet.  And the texture was perfect; slightly crumbly, compact but not dense, and ever so slightly crisp.  I used light green sanding sugar on top to make them holiday-ish, but usually I would just use plain sugar, though of course you can use any color you want.

Bourbon Currant Cookies

  

Yet another cookie for my Christmas cookie plate.  I really wanted to make something bourbon, but I didn't want a bourbon ball.  So I looked at the indices of a couple cook books and I found these in Martha Stewart's Cookies.  They seemed Christmasy enough and I really like that cookbook, so I didn't mind that I was trying a new recipe in a bit of a time crunch (I had to finish all the plates by Christmas day, and I was making these on the afternoon of the 24th.)

They were very, very good.  However, I think 'cookie' may be a bit misleading.  They were cookies, don't get me wrong, but the dough, the taste, and (to some extent) the texture, were scone-like.  That isn't a complaint, mind you, just an observation.  They were excellent...almost like a boozy scone crossed with a nice butter cookie.  

Coconut Almond Macaroons

Another Christmas cookie.  These are almost like the coconut macaroons I make normally, but with a bit less sugar and some almond extract.  They don't taste too almondy, just a hint of almond comes through.  I personally don't like my macaroons to be too sweet, so I cut way back on the sugar.  (Well, I also cut back on the sugar because I use sweetened coconut, which I think is almost enough sweetness.)

Very soon I'm going to make them with chocolate drizzled on them or perhaps chocolate chips mixed in.  When I do, I'll post the whole recipe, because by then I'll have perfected it.

P.S. No photo for these either, because they look just like the other coconut macaroons I made, and you can see them on the cookie plate.

Cream Cheese Mints, take two

  

Oops, the photo came out quite faded...that's odd, it shouldn't be.

Another Christmas cookie: my cream cheese mints.  I'm not going to write much because I have actually posted the recipe for these already.  You can see it here.

For this batch I used about 5-6 (I think) drops of red food coloring to get the pink color.  Aren't they pretty?!

Gingerbread Christmas Cookies

The first cookie on the plate was gingerbread cookies...a Christmas classic.  I used the same gingerbread dough I used for the Christmas tree cookies to make these.  However, I left off the icing, because I thought they tasted better plain.  To make them I just used the smallest snowflake cutter and made a ton of the 1.5in (or so) diameter cookies.  A perfect size for a cookie plate, I think--they aren't so big as to overwhelm the rest of the cookies, nor are they so small as to get lost.

P.S.  I forgot to take a photo of these separately, sorry.  But you can see them on the plate or the tree (this batch didn't have the holes for hanging, of course).

Christmas Cookies

    

Over the next few days I'll be blogging about the Christmas cookies I made.  You see, every year I make a variety of cookies to give a gifts.  This year I made (clockwise from top), brownies, bourbon currant cookies, my cream cheese mints, gingerbread cookies, and (center) coconut macaroons.  I think that gave a pretty diverse selection of flavors while still keeping in the Christmas-y cookie tradition.  And they looked so nice together too!

Cookies are wonderful to give as gifts (and to receive, I'd imagine).  I just arrange them on a white paper plate and wrap in plastic wrap.  Either I tape the ends of the cling wrap together under the plate or tie them with ribbon on the top (though, that's a bit of a pain because usually you have to use two very long strips of the cling wrap to get the plate wrapped properly, so I don't tend to do it the ribbon way.)

By the way, when picking cookies to put together there are no firm rules (at least that I'm aware of).  I personally like to do one really chocolaty thing, at least one crunchy/crisp cookie, and one soft/chewy cookie.  In addition, I like having one that is slightly unusual and one that is pretty common.  Of course these can overlap...for example a chocolate brownie would be a chocolaty, chewy, and common cookie.  Don't ignore brownies or other bar cookies--cut into small squares, they count as a cookie for the purposes of a cookie plate.  I tend to avoid cookies with nuts unless I'm sure the person I'm giving them doesn't have nut allergies.  I also like to include at least one gluten free thing in case of someone being celiac (though that may just be because I know enough many people who can't eat gluten that now I'm used to making gluten free things.)

Quadruple Chocolate Loaf Cake with Vanilla Custard Sauce

I made this last weekend to bring to a, for lack of a better word, dinner party (but is only 4 people a party?).  The cake was from Nigella Lawson's cookbook, Feast.  The custard sauce was from her cookbook entitled How to be a Domestic Goddess.  The cake was excellently moist and chocolaty.  I was going to serve it as a whole cake, but I changed my mind and cut it into cubes.  Because I did that, I really needed to serve it with something.  So, I made the custard sauce, which is just to say creme anglaise.  I just served it with some fresh strawberries.  YUM!

What is great about this is it travels well.  I put the cake cubes in one tupperware and the custard in another.   And brought a pint of strawberries.  Just serve in three separate bowls and let everyone take what they want.

P.S. Sorry, I completely forgot to take a picture!

P.P.S. Don't listen to Nigella about using plastic wrap to line the pan...use parchment instead.  The plastic melted a bit (I know she says it won't, mine did, perhaps the plastic wrap she uses is more heat resistant than mine.)  It was a nightmare to clean off my lovely loaf pan.

Oops and Chocolate Covered Peanuts and Raisins

Oops, I didn't post yesterday.  I forgot, sorry!  Anyway, this is what I was going to post yesterday, had I remembered:

This is a great way to wrap them to give as a gift; just cut the top off a plastic baggie and tie with ribbon. 

Last week, I made dark chocolate covered peanuts and flame raisins.  It was very easy but tedious.  Basically, I melted chocolate and dipped each nut and raisin in it individually.  To dip the nuts I put a little chocolate in a spoon and rolled the nut (or raisin) around until it was completely covered.  Then I put the chocolate covered nut/raisin on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.  It's that simple!  (It just takes a long time.)  All you have to do is be patient and let them harden at room temperature.  At this point, I decided to mix the two, but by all means keep them separate.

By the way, I used peanuts and flame raisins (fancy raisins, I'm assuming 'flame' comes from the fact that they are made from red grapes), but you can used any nut or dried fruit you want.  Obviously if you use a larger nut or fruit, dipping rather than rolling the nut in chocolate might be more practical.  And of course you can use other types of chocolate.  Some other parings I recommend: white chocolate and pistachios or dried apricots, milk chocolate and cashews (actually my aunt's recommendation, not my own idea, I've never tried them, but they sure sound good!), and dark chocolate and pecans or dried cranberries, to give a few ideas.

Fudge, con't

     

Fudge is great to give as gifts because, well, who doesn't like fudge?  I cut the fudge into 1in squares and stacked a chocolate peanut square and a peanut butter square in the center of a square of cling wrap and then tied the wrapping with a small piece of curling ribbon.  Simple as that!  Simple, but it took me over an hour to wrap 30 of these.  They were quite a hit, let me tell you!

Chocolate Peanut Fudge and Peanut Butter Fudge

  

Last week I made two batches of fudge to bring into class on Thursday and to my old high school on Friday.

I made Paula Deen's chocolate dummy fudge with peanuts (instead of pecans, to go with the next batch, you'll see why in a minute!)  It is a wonderfully easy recipe, hence the name, and it is really, really good.

I also wanted to experiment with a more traditional fudge recipe, so I looked on the Food Network website and found a recipe for Peanut Butter Buttermilk fudge.  It isn't the really traditional type made on a marble slab, but it is still boiled sugar and liquid (buttermilk, in this case) brought to soft ball stage.  It was fun!  I've never made candy that has been sugar based, so I've never fiddled with soft ball stage or the others before.  Have I mentioned, I had fun?!  This is really good fudge as well, and really peanut buttery!

The two different fudges have really different textures, and not just because the chocolate fudge had nuts.  The chocolate fudge is creamy and needs to be kept refrigerated or it goes all gooey.  The peanut butter fudge is slightly less creamy and a tad bit dryer.  It doesn't need to be kept in the fridge, though kept it there with the chocolate peanut fudge, because it is much more convenient.

Tomorrow, I'll post how I wrapped these to give as cute little goodies to all the teachers at my old high school!

The Great Blueberry Muffin Showdown of 2010-Results

    

Batch Three

Batch 5

The votes have been tallied and the gift muffins were delivered, so I can now announce the results of the Blueberry Muffin Showdown.

And the winner is................a tie between batches 3 (Martha Stewart) and 5 (Nigella Lawson)!

We just couldn't narrow it down any further.  Batches 3 and 5 were in all the judges top 3 lists and had an equal amount of first place votes.  We just couldn't decide between them, so I made them both.

Now I did know my cousin prefers a muffin with a sugar topping, so I added on to batch 5 (batch 3 had one already).  Since batch 3 has normal sugar on it, I used sanding sugar (which is much coarser than regular, granulated sugar).  It was very good and, if I do say so myself, an improvement.

Cream Cheese Mints (with recipe) a.k.a Christmas Cookies, con't

I made these mints for Christmas, but I also make them year round.  They are festive, but also delicious and not specific to the holidays, so why not!  They don't taste like cream cheese at all, it just acts as a nice base for the sugar and mint.

The only problem with them is the recipe is affected by the weather.  If it is dry out it takes as much as a cup less powdered sugar than if it is humid or damp.

Ingredients:
8 oz full fat cream cheese (yes it should be full fat, the low fat just doesn’t work quite as well)
6-8 cups powdered sugar
3/8 tsp good mint extract
Food coloring (optional)

With an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or by hand with a wooden spoon if you are feeling like a work out) mix together the cream cheese and the powdered sugar, adding the sugar in 1/2 cup at a time. Once about 75% of sugar is fully incorporated, add the mint extract.  Mix well and continue to add the last quarter of the sugar.  When the dough it finished, add food coloring if you want (I often just leave them plain, they are so pretty when they are a pure, snowy white).  If you don't think they are minty enough, you can add more mint extract now.  Mix on a very low speed until the color (and extra flavor) is mixed through.  The dough should be soft enough to mold into balls but not sticky--almost like play-doh.

Here’s where it gets fun. Using a small ice cream scoop or a melon baller or your hands make shooter marble size balls of the dough. Put them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet with a little space between them (you’ll need it later). Once you have done about a dozen, flatten the mints slightly with the tines of a fork to make them a thick disk with nice little ridges on them. Continue until you have used up all the dough.

Leave them to set on the counter for at least 4 hours. Once they have hardened on the outside (not like hard candy hard...in fact hardened may not be the right word, but trust me you’ll know when it happened, even if I’m not describing it well) feel free to stack them and store them on a plate covered with plastic wrap in the fridge. Don’t worry, you don’t have to get them in the fridge right away, in fact if you have the space, leave them out over night, then you’ll know they are set properly when you go to store them.

If you don’t have time to wait, throw them in the fridge on the baking sheets. They firm up enough to eat, but they don’t get the nice coating that makes them stackable and keeps them from turning back into soft pliable balls of dough when they are out of the fridge for any length of time.

What I do, is put a dozen or so in the fridge so I can have mints soon (about 30 minutes) and leave the rest to set on the counter (about 4 hours, give or take depending on the temperature of your kitchen). That way I have the instant gratification of eating what I’ve made in less time than it takes to bake a cake and still have the nicer, properly (and patiently) prepared mints too.

Makes about 90 1-inch diameter mints

White Chocolate, Cranberry, Pecan, Oatmeal Cookies a.k.a. Christmas Cookies, con't

These are the white chocolate, cranberry, pecan, oatmeal cookies I made for Christmas.  It may seem like an odd combination, but it is darn tasty!  The tartness of the dried cranberries balances the sweetness of the white chocolate chips.  The pecans are very nice with both flavors.  The recipe called for walnuts or pecans, I personally like pecans more and I think the flavor is a little nicer with the cranberries, but walnuts work too, I'm sure.  As for the oatmeal, it is quick oats so it has a texture similar to a normal (not oatmeal based) cookie, but it still has an oat-y taste.