Almond Mocha Pudding Cookies

Let's make this short and sweet. Just like the recipe for these delicious cookies. I will however give you a quick background.

During my recent visit in Alabama, my sister and I were craving something sweet. Or maybe it was just me and she politely went along with it (how southern of her). Either way, we quickly discovered the limitations of our resources. But I was determined. I mean...I was in a gorgeously huge kitchen after all....and I needed to bake!

A quick inventory found us with flour, sugar, butter, and eggs....thats good. We have the basics. What else....a box of chocolate pudding? Hmmm....this could be interesting. Oh, and a handful of sliced almonds..

Well...this is a job for Google! A quick search for 'pudding in cookies' came up a surprisingly long list of results. I had never heard of using pudding in cookies (apparently I'm in the minority where that's concerned. Oh well, so much for thinking we were on the cutting edge of a new method). What we ended up with were amazing, delicious, soft, melt in your mouth cookies!

Almond Mocha Pudding Cookies

Inspired by Kraft Easy Pudding Cookies
makes about 4 dozen 2" cookies

1 cup butter or margarine, softened (read the tip below regarding the end result based on which one is used)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 3.9 oz packet of instant pudding
1 tsp instant coffee
2 eggs
2 cups self rising flour
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Preheat your oven to 350'

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy,

Add the pudding and instant coffee and beat until combined.

Beat in the eggs one at a time.

Mix in the flour until well combined.

Scoop out 1 tablespoon of cookie dough, form into a ball and place onto a baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Place a few almond slices on top of the dough ball and gently press to secure.

Bake 11 - 13 minutes. Allow to cool 1 minute before placing onto a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely. (HA!! Ya right! Who are we trying to kid here? Grab one...for each hand.)

Tip:
Margarine will result in a fluffy almost cake like cookie
Butter will result in a flatter, not as fluffy cookie

Both are soft, chewy and amazingly delicious! Don't be surprised if they don't last more than 24 hrs.

Tate's Bake Shop Linzer Heart Cookies and a Giveaway

Today I have a special treat for you.

And a surprise.

Your treat is this recipe direct for Tate's Bake Shop:

TATE'S BAKE SHOP LINZER HEART COOKIES

These decorative cookies make beautiful and tasty gifts. 

An important tip: be sure to chop the nuts and chocolate very fine in a food processor (pulse to chop so the friction doesn’t warm them), or the dough will be too rough-textured to roll out smoothly.

You need a graduated set of heart-shaped cookie cutters to make these.
Yield: 20 sandwich cookies

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour 

1 cup cornstarch 

¼ teaspoon salt 

¾ pound (3 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 

2 cups toasted, skinned and very finely chopped hazelnuts

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, very finely chopped 

-plus-

½ cup seedless raspberry jam 

½ cup confectioners’ sugar for sifting

1. Sift the flour, cornstarch, and salt into a medium bowl. In a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar with an electric mixer set on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour mixture, just until combined. Mix in the hazelnuts and chocolate.

2. Gather up the dough and shape it into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until chilled, at least 2 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 day. Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes to soften slightly before rolling.)

3. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough to a round about ¼-inch thick. Use a 3 ½-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the cookies as close as possible to avoid excess scraps. Arrange the hearts about 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Gather up the dough scraps and gently knead together, and cut out more cookies. If the dough becomes too soft to roll out, refrigerate until chilled. You should have 40 cookies. Refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.

4. Position the oven racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F.

5. Use a 1-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter to cut out the centers of 20 cookies.

These will be the cookie tops. (You can bake the mini hearts to nibble on later! Don’t throw away or re-roll.) Bake, switching the position of the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking, until the cookies begin to brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Sift some of the ½ cup of confectioners’ sugar over the hot cut-out cookies Let cool completely on the baking sheets.

6. Spread the jam on the cookie bottoms, leaving an 1/8-inch border around the edges. Add the tops, sugared sides up, and press together gently. Just before serving, sift the remaining confectioners’ sugar over the cookies.

Ok...I have a tip for you here. This is the 3rd or 4th time I've made Linzer cookies. Each and every time, I struggle with the dough. It's not just this recipe. I think it's Linzer cookie dough in general. It's very firm and crumbly and then it warms up quickly and becomes sticky. Next thing you know, you're tossing more flour on the counter, on the rolling pin, on the dough. You're grabbing a spatula to help remove the cookies from the floured surface. That spatula gets tossed in the sink and you're digging through your drawer looking for a thinner spatula. Ah...the bench scraper! Ya that works. 

You know what else works...wonderfully? 

Parchment paper. Grease the counter top or other flat surface to keep the parchment paper from moving. Lay the parchment parer on the greased surface. Roll our your dough and cut out your shapes. Lifting the edge of the paper up, carefully peel the cookie off. 

BINGO!! 

Also, use any shaped cookie cutter you want. And use your favorite flavor of jam.

Now...For your surprise. 

Actually, it's two surprises. Or maybe three. Depending on how you break it down.

First....Tate's Bake Shop is having a special sale, 50% off, on their Cookie Cube Tower & Baking for Friends

Second, I have a discount code for you. This code will give you 20% off their other products: BLOG213

Use this code at checkout. 

Third..(and I think this is the best one).....

G I V E A W A Y ! 

Yes...you can own the Cookie Cube Tower and Baking for Friends for free!! 

"A sweet treat at a sweet price for those special Valentines on your list! Designed to delight the cookie lover and baker both, we've paired Baking for Friends, the latest baking book from Tate's Bake Shop's own Kathleen King, with our elegant Valentine's Day Cube Tower with three, 3.5 oz packages of Tate's Bake Shop's crispy chocolate chip cookies all dressed up in red! Each cube contains approximately 6-7 cookies."

All you have to do is leave a comment telling me what flavor of jam you'd use in the middle of your cookies.
(PLEASE give me your email address if you are not a blogger so I have a way of contacting you should you win. Otherwise the prize will go to someone I can contact). 

If you want extra entries,

Share on Facebook, leave a comment stating that you did 

Share on Twitter, leave a comment stating that you did

Pin on Pinterest, leave a comment stating that you did

(each comment will be worth ONE entry).

I will announce the winner on Wednesday, 2/13/2013

 

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

Yep...these are cookies. Not cupcakes. Cookies. Very delicious. Very big.....cookies. They're big like a cupcake but made like a cinnamon roll....with a cinnamon, brown sugar filling and icing on top and everything. Think....cookie falls in love with a cinnamon roll and has a baby. Does it get any better than that?

What makes it a cookie? The dough of course. It's not a bread dough. It's cookie dough. (mmmm....cookie dough)

Last weekend as I was looking through the food section of the Los Angeles Times,  the heading...'Sweet tooth satisfaction' caught my eye. And boy, they weren't lying. Of course I made them the very next day. When I told the girls at work that I was bringing them in, one said they were all for her. Another said she'd bring milk (which she did and quickly chilled the milk in the freezer). Before noon, all of the cookies were gone.

Note: this is a time consuming cookie to make. I made the cookie dough and got through to the assembling part one afternoon and baked them the next day. You can do it in one day but start early. 

Cinnamon Roll Cookies
Printable Version

Cookie dough
1 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups plus 1 tsp unbleached flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Filling
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 TB cinnamon

Glaze
2 oz cream cheese, softened
2 TB butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla (recipe said vanilla bean scraped, which I didn't have)
Zest of 1/2 orange, optional (I opted out)
3 TB milk

Make the dough:
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and powdered sugar. Beat in the eggs, one at a time until combined thoroughly. Beat in the vanilla extra. Set aside.

In another large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients; flour, cinnamon, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Slowly beat the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients that you had set aside. Mix until just combined but don't over mix.

Remove the dough from the bowl and wrap with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.

Make the filling:
Just before you remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator, mix together the ingredients for the filling (pecans, brown sugar, melted butter and cinnamon) in a small bowl until well combined.

Assembling the cookie:
Flour your work surface. Turn the dough onto the surface and roll out to a 10" x 10" square. Evenly spread the filling over the dough. Gently, and carefully roll the dough into a tight log. Wrap the lop with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour. Overnight would be better.

Note: I used my bench cutter to help me roll the dough into a log. It was a hot day and the dough was softening up pretty quickly. Plus it wanted to stick to my counter, even with the flour. Also, once the dough is wrapped in plastic, I placed the log on a tray to support it as I carried it to the fridge.

Baking the cookies
When you're ready to bake your cookies, grease 2 muffin tins (12 cups each). You'll be making 24 cookies. I don't trust those cooking sprays for these types of things so I used shortening.

Preheat your oven to 350' F

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and cut into 1/2' slices. Place each slice into a muffin cup.

As you can see, my log didn't come out perfectly round. It was very....umm...oblong-ish. So I took each slice and kinda squished it's sides in, gently, to force them into some resemblance of a "round". Then placed forced them into the muffin cups. If you haven't figured it out by now...I'm not into "perfect". Or maybe perfect isn't into me. Either way....it rarely happens. Lets just say I've learned to embrace 'rustic'.

Bake the cookies for about 15 minutes or until slightly browned, rotating the pan once halfway through, for even baking.

Allow to cool in the muffin cups.

Making the glaze:
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Slowly beat in the powdered sugar. Beat in the vanilla. Add enough milk until the glaze is smooth and thick.

Use a knife if needed (to help release the edges and sides) and gently, carefully remove the cookies from the muffin cups. Use a fork to generously drizzle the glaze over the cookies.

Eating the cookies
Now, get out a tall glass of ice cold milk and grab one. Quick...before they're all gone.

Almond Crisp Cookies

A loooooong time ago....when I was a young wife and mother (early 90's?), I use to subscribe to a series of "Leisure Arts Publication" books. The books arrived monthly and had a different theme each month. Then they came out with a Christmas series and I was all over those babies. I loved looking through the books and "planning" on making something....sometime. The books had, not only recipes....but cute little crafty things as well. Now that I think of it though...I don't remember making a single thing from any of the books. But one can't always rely on my memory...so don't hold me to it.

Last weekend while I was pulling out my boxes of Christmas decorations, I came across a couple of the Christmas books...specifically....The Spirit of Christmas Cookbook....how fun does that sound?! So of course I sat down right away....I mean...I did need a rest after futzing around in the garage, right? I came across the Almond Crisps recipe and saw how easy they seemed...with only 5 ingredients! I can do that!!

I think what really caught my eye though...was thier lacy appearance and the promise of sweet, crisp yumminess. And that's exactly what I got. Very caramelly....delicate and delicious!

This recipe calls for ground, blanched almonds. I had a bag of raw whole almonds in my freezer (I keep all my nuts in the freezer) and I really didn't want to spend the money on already ground blanched ones.....so I did a little research and found out how to do it on my own.

How to blanch almonds: bring some water to a boil (enough to cover the amount of almonds you're going to blanche), remove the pan from the heat, toss in the almonds and let them sit there for a bit....until the water is cool enough to be able to place your hand in it without burning yourself. Then gently squeeze one almond at a time between your thumb and forefinger....causing the almond to simply slip right out of it's own skin. Lay them out to dry on a towel.

Once dry...the almonds are ready to grind.

How to grind almonds: Place 1 cup of almonds at a time into a food processor along with a few tablespoons of sugar and grind away. If you're using a blender, grind 1/2 cup at a time. The sugar is necessary when grinding nuts. It prevents the ground nuts from becoming oily and lumpy which would make it near impossible to add to other dry ingredients. (at least that's what Julia Child says...and I will take her word for it).

If you don't want to go through all of that...then by all means....buy yourself a bag, already done. I'm too much of a cheapskate.

Almond Crisps
Printable Version

2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons finely ground blanched almonds
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
2 tablespoons whipping cream
1 tablespoon all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350'. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper or grease it. You will be baking only 4 crisps at a time. They need lots of room to spread (hey!! I resemble that remark!!). Plus...when it comes time to "roll" them....they'll cool off too much by the time you get to the last one if you're working with more than 4 at a time. (That'll make sense in a minute)

Combine all of the ingredients into a nice big 10" skillet. Cook over a low heat, stirring constantly until the butter has completely melted and the mixture is well combined. It'll kinda resemble a grainy type gravy.

Turn the heat down to very low, to keep your mixture warm (stir occasionally) . Drop mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet....4 cookies...at least 2 inches apart. More if you have room....I think I had 4" in between the little blobs.

The book says to bake for 5 minutes. That was not the case for me....at all. I don't know if my "heaping tablespoonfuls" were more than theirs....but I ended up cooking mine for 8 - 10 minutes. Keep an eye on them. They're done when they're nice and golden brown.

Let them cool for just a second! Gently loosen the cookie with a spatula and turn it over.

As you can see, the bottoms are nice and smooth. Quickly roll each one around the handle of a wooden spoon. 

Place on a rack and allow to  cool completely.

Here are a few hints and tips. I found that it worked best when I did one cookie at a time....flip, roll....then moved on to next. What this did was allow the other cookies to remain warm on the sheet. Once the cookie cools, it becomes too delicate and crispy to roll. But!!! If a cookie does become too firm to roll just stick it back in the oven for a minute until it softens up, then proceed.

They're fun, delicious and so pretty!

I'm definitely adding this recipe to my yearly Christmas Cookie baking list. Here are my other favorites that have become a tradition in my household:

Ginger Cookies: Soft, chewy, spicy and very addictive. Perfect with a cup of tea. If you want to make Gingerbread Man Cookies....just add an additional 1/4 cup of flour to recipe. I haven't tried it yet so I can't guarantee the results.

Eggnog Kringla: Soft, light and delicately sweet with just a hint of eggnog flavor.

Linzer Sandwich Cookies: These are probably the most festive Christmas Cookie I bake....buttery and nutty and are sure to impress your guests.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays

Chuckies Cookies and Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway

Cookies. There are so many kinds out there and several textures....soft, fluffy, thin, chewy, crispy. We all have our favorites. Some of us are picky....some of us aren't. Me? A cookie is a cookie. I love 'em all.

October is National Cookie Month and I'm barely getting there...by the skin of my teeth. It's finally cooling off a bit and I wasn't frowned upon for turning on the oven. Do you know how happy I was when the mercury dropped below 90'? And I got to make a beautiful batch of thin, chewy cookies from a recipe in Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook called Chuckies? Woo hooo!!! I have made a few recipes from this cookbook (which, by the way, is one of my all time favorite dessert cookbooks) in the past and have loved every one of them:

Chocolate Jumbles
Anadama Bread
Cappuccino Shortbread

And there are several more that I want to must try!

A few weeks ago, Tate's Bake Shop sent me 3 bags of their new award winning cookies, Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate All Natural Cookies

They almost vanished before my eyes...a bag left the house that night to a "kick-back" with one of my daughters. The next day, another bag disappeared at my office and the last bag disappeared somewhere in between. I think I got to eat 2 cookies. They were delicious! Thin, crispy yet the chocolate chips were soft (one of the first things my youngest, chocolate-loving daughter noticed with approval). I'm not a "whole wheat" fan. I just don't care for that earthy flavor but to be honest...I couldn't even tell that these cookies were whole wheat. Which is a huge plus in my book.

With all that said.....I have the pleasure of GIVING AWAY 3 bags of these fabulous Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate All Natural Cookies....AND a copy of the Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook,

autographed by Kathleen King, the owner and baker at Tate's Bake Shop in Southhampton, New York. If you're not familiar with them...I highly recommend checking them out... 

On their website
TatesBakeShop.com
or on FaceBook
Facebook.com/TatesBakeShop 
or.... on Twitter
Twitter.com/#!/TatesBakeShop

And now....for the cookies I baked for National Cookie Month....Chuckies. I made only 1 change. And it was out of necessity on my part rather then with the intent to alter or improve. You see, I thought I had bittersweet chocolate at home so I didn't buy any. But I didn't. Therefore, instead of having chunks of chocolate in this amazing cookie, I had a Mexican chocolate flavored dough. Which was wonderful. But I still wanna bake these again the way they are intended in the cookbook. You see...I had just bought some Mexican Chocolate (had no idea what for at the time....but I figured these cookies would be a great way to put the chocolate to the text). Only I didn't know that the kind of Mexican chocolate I purchased is intended for hot chocolate and it is not that great to eat...as in chunks...in cookies. Apparently, the chocolate is a bit grainy. But this was the chocolate I had at home (I seriously did not want to go to the store again). Soooo, with a little help from my wonderful baking buddies....whom I can go to with all sorts of questions and someone will have an answer....I was informed that I could stick the Mexican chocolate in a food processor, grind it up and use it that way (Thank you Lee...you're the bestest!!!). Which I did. With delicious results.

Chuckies with Mexican Chocolate
Printable Version

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (dark or light...whatever you have)
1 cup sugar
2 TB corn syrup
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 lg eggs
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chunks (or 6.2 oz of Mexican chocolate)
1 1/2 cups macadamia nuts, lightly toasted and chopped
2 cups coconut, lightly toasted

Preheat the oven to 350' F. Cover 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper (or grease them)

To toast the nuts and coconut, spread on a cookie sheet and bake at 350' for about 10 minutes or more. Shake the pan part way through to ensure you get an even toast.

In a large bowl, combine your flour, ground Mexican chocolate if thats the route you're taking, baking soda and salt.

And while you're at it, get in touch with the child in you and play with your food

In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add in the corn syrup and vanilla . Mix until just combined. Add the eggs and mix them lightly.

Then add the flour mixture to the creamed butter mixture until just combined. In other words...don't over mix.

Stir in the nuts and coconut and chocolate chunks (if that's the route you're going).

Using a small ice cream scoop, or 2 tablespoons, scoop and drop the dough onto your prepared cookie sheets. Leave at least 2 inches...if not more (don't skimp on the space.....you will need it!!) and bake them for about 18 minutes or until the edges start to brown.

Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from the cookie sheet. Be warned...they may not even last that long!

Place on a cooling rack and let them cool completely.

 

If by chance you over bake this cookie and you find yourself with a rather hard, crunchy cookie (ya...I did that with a few of them). Don't worry. Don't fret. Don't beat yourself up over it.

There's a cure.

Place the cooled, hard cookies in a sealed container or baggy along with a slice of bread. Leave it for several hours or overnight. The cookies will absorb the moisture from the bread and become nice and moist again!

And now for the Giveaway! Are you ready?

To enter to win 3 bags of Tate's Whole Wheat Dark Chocolate All Natural Cookies....AND a copy of the Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook, autographed by Kathleen King....

Leave a comment (please note that if your comment doesn't link to your blog or email address and I have no way of contacting you....you will forfeit your winnings :( Make sure I have a way to contact you!!)
"Like" me on Facebook.com/pages/Peaceful-Cooking
"Like" Tate's Bake Shop on  Facebook.com/TatesBakeShop
"Follow" me on Twitter.com/#!/ImStuffed
"Follow" Tate's Bake Shop on Twitter.com/#!/TatesBakeShop

All entries must be made by 11:59 p.m. pst, Sunday, November 6, 2011

I will announce the winner in about a week or so! Good luck and enjoy!

Tate's Chocolate Jumbles

 

It seems I've been on a Tate's Bake Shop kick lately. But lemme just tell ya....the recipes in that cookbook are so danged good. I mean....as I'm looking at this book, opened next to me, I see a recipe called Simple Lemon Wafers. How wonderful does that sound?!

Ok, back to the cookies. I did change up the recipe a bit. Hmmm...now that I look at it, more than I thought. I omitted the nuts cuz one of my darling daughters (and some days that term is used more loosely than others....more like in a rather sarcastic tone) does not like nuts. I'm not a huge huge fan of white chocolate so I used regular semi-sweet chocolate chips. Also...I had enjoyed the Cappuccino Shorbread that I made recently and I was still on a high from those....sooooo I added espresso powder to these beauties. But the basic foundation of the cookie remains the same. The structure was not altered. The cookies are still cakey and absolutely fabulous. If you want to eat something sweet that makes your taste buds sing like an angel and all your senses and awareness of space and time are focused on the flavors dancing on your tongue....then these are the cookies for you.

Chocolate Jumbles (in an altered state)
Printable Version
makes about 18 jumbo cookies

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
4 tsp espresso powder
1 TB baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar (light or dark...doesn't matter)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350' F Grease 2 cookie sheets or cover with parchment paper

In a large bowl combine flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder and salt.

In a another large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix together. Gradually add in the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts (if using).

If you have an ice cream scoop....this is the perfect time to use it. Fill a cup with some warm water...dip the scoop in the cup and scoop out a blog of cookie dough (about 2 tablespoons worth is what we're going for) and drop unto the cookie sheet. Press each dough wad down with your fingertips....gently, to sorta flatten them out a little.

Bake for about 20 minutes. You don't want to over bake them. If they're a bit soft when they first come out of the oven....that's normal.

Allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the cookie sheet. Remove and allow the cookies to continue to cool on a wire rack.

That's it. The end. Now all you have to do is enjoy and try to prevent yourself from eating several before the day is done. If you want to save yourself....take most of them to work and share with your co-workers.

Cappuccino Shortbread

 

Ooey gooey chocolatey deliciousness.  Rich and wonderfully satisfying. Did I mention how easy it is to make?

I found this recipe in Tate's Bake Shop Cookbook. Kathleen described them as "...thin and crisp....". Mine didn't turn out that way. Probably because I didn't use the recommended 9x9 square pan. I don't have a 9x9 square pan. I have one that's 8x8 and that's what I used but didn't adjust the cooking time at all....which I imagine resulted in the thicker, more chewy version. Whatever the case may be.....it just doesn't matter. They're good. 

The recipe calls for instant espresso powder. My local market just recently started stocking it. The minute I saw it on the shelf, I grabbed one. I don't make espresso. Well, I did once....but I use it for baking when called for. But my favorite application is adding it to my morning coffee for that little  extra somethin' somethin'. If you don't have any, or can't find it....you can use instant coffee. The flavor will be a bit mild. Maybe increase the amount a little? I don't think it would hurt anything.

Cappuccino Shortbread

Printable Version

1/2 cup plus 2 TB room temperature butter

1 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp instant espresso powder

2 TB firmly packed dark brown sugar 

1 tsp cornstarch

1/2 cup confectioners / powdered sugar 

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 cup chopped semisweet chocolate (I used chocolate chips)

Hmm....as I type this...and take a closer look at my photo, I realize that I did not use confectioners sugar. I used just plain old granulated sugar. How silly of me. O'well. No harm done. They're good.

Preheat the oven to 325' F

In a medium mixing bowl, combine everything except for the chocolate chips. 

I know that the only liquid ingredient is vanilla extract. No, that is not an error. Forge ahead....all will be well. Trust me.

See? It may be crumbly.....but it's combined. Just the way it's suppose to be. 

Now get that pile of chopped chocolate and mix it in.

Don't worry about greasing the pan. Put (no point in saying "pour" cuz that's not gonna happen) the mixture into your pan....pat down evenly

Bake for about 30 minutes or until brown on the edges.

Ya....the edges weren't brown....I could've baked it a few more minutes. Hm. Whatever....they're good. 

Ok...as soon as you remove the pan from the oven, cut the shortbread into squares (whatever size you want....just keep in mind that it's rich and sweet so you don't need big squares). Allow to cool in the pan before removing.

When ready....grab yourself a square and enjoy with a cup of coffee, tea or even an ice cold glass of milk.

If you haven't already notice by all the things that I did differently, this here is a pretty forgiving recipe. Now I want to make it right....so its thin and crispy. Only I kinda wanna sprinkle the top with some coconut before going into the oven.

Linzer Sandwich Cookies

Ya, I know...it's after the fact. A day late, a dollar short. Too little, too late. But in my book, I like to think of it as better late than never. Because if I never shared this recipe with you, it would be a shame. Besides....they don't HAVE to have Christmas Trees in the center. Make them for New Years and cut out a star in the center. Or Valentines Day and cut out a heart. You get the picture.

I don't often watch Martha Stewart. However, when I saw her making these cookies...it really caught my attention. I went on the hunt for the recipe and found it here --->Linzer Sandwich Cookies<--- then went on another hunt for cookie cutters. Ooooh, sure...I have a gallon sized baggy full of cookie cutters but not a single one of them were round, with the cute little scalloped edges. I had such a hard time finding what I wanted. There's not a single kitchen specialty store in my town. Bed, Bath and Beyond had scallop edged cutters but they didn't have a Christmas Tree or any other Christmas shape that would fit in the center. Macy's didn't, The Great Indoors didn't either. And of course none of them had the specialized Linzer Cookie Cutters. After a weekend of failing, my daughter found a little cookie cutter kit at Michaels Craft store that had very small cutters and I ended up getting a 2 1/2" round fluted cookie cutter at Cost Plus World Market (I was hoping they'd have the special Linzer cookie cutters, but they didn't). All this just for cookie cutters. I felt like a dog with a bone...I wasn't letting go until I got what I wanted.

And it was so worth it! Although....the whole nut part of this recipe 'bout drove me nuts. I think next time, I'll use a nut that's already roasted and skinless.

Linzer Sandwich Cookies
(makes about 16 cookies)
Printable Version

1 cup unblanched hazelnuts
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup sugar
1 lg egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (plus more for the work surface)
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup of jam (I used my Pomegranate Jelly)
Powder sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 375' F.

Toast your hazelnuts on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes. Immediately transfer the nuts to a clean towel and vigorously rub them in the towel to remove the skins.

It kinda worked. I got a workout. The nuts were not completely skinless or even halfway skinless. There has got to be a better way.

Anyways....set the semi-skinless nuts aside and allow to cool completely. Once cool, place in a food processor and grind them up until they are....well..... finely ground. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy. Add the egg and beat for another 3 minutes, until smooth. Beat in the vanilla.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the hazelnuts, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add to the butter mixture (I added a little at a time), beat on low to combine.

Divide the dough in half and flatten into disks. Wrap them with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least an hour or overnight.

(I made a bunch of different kinds of dough over the weekend and put them all in the fridge and then was able to bake away during the week as time permitted)

When you're ready to bake:

Preheat the oven to 350' Prepare 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Get out a 2 1/2" round cookie cutter and a 3/4" theme cookie cutter.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to about 1/4". 

Well, if your dough is anything like mine, it might be a bit on the crumbly side and not very rollable.

What I did at this point was to form it into a ball first...and get that dough meshed together. Flattened it.... then it was very agreeable to being rolled out to 1/4" and then cut with the 2 1/2" round cookie cutter

Carefully transfer the cookies to one of the prepared cookie sheets. Using the decorative cookie cutter, cut out the centers of half of the rounds

Repeat with the rest of the dough and the scraps.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, until the edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and place on wire racks to cool completely.

Once they're completely cooled off, you can dust the decorative tops with powdered sugar.

Spread a little jam on the bottoms (about a tablespoon)

Put the sugar dusted, decorative tops on and there you have the prettiest little tasty cookies ever.

These little gems were crumbly without falling apart, and buttery. You can use any kind of rollable cookie dough you prefer....along with your favorite jam, and of course your choice of decorative cutouts. Let your imagination go and enjoy.

I know it's a little late...but Merry Christmas!!

Almond Butter Pudding Cups and Archway Cookies

Not too sweet. A bit on the rustic side. Easy to make.

And this is my entry for the Archway Cookies "Take a Sweet Bite out of Summer" contest. Anyone can enter...if you're interested, the contest runs through August 15, 2010

It all started a few weeks ago when I won a box of Archway Cookies on BakeSpace.com. I was thrilled!! But I had to do a little research. I had never had an Archway Cookie. I looked in my local markets. Nothing. All  my east coast buddies were all talking about their favorite Archway Cookie they grew up on. Did I live on another planet? Wth?! Well, come to find out that Archway Cookies are not sold in California. But they are the sister company to Mother's Cookies...and I grew up on those babies!!!

Not long afterward, I received a HUGE....box full of cookies. A dozen different kinds. All from Archway.

The mission: bake, make, create something...

The wheels start spinning. I have a destination...sorta. Vague. I knew I had to create something with the cookies....but I didn't know what. It's hard to come up with stuff when you don't have a specific guide line. But somehow it happened.

Btw..I wasn't the only one who had copious amounts of cookies sent to them. Several other BakeSpace members won the cookies as well. And they too had to come up with something created with Archway Cookies. We all posted recipes and pictures of our cookie adventures in the BakeSpace Forum: Calling all Cookie Tastemakers | Archway Cookie Giveaway Go check it out and see the amazing stuff these people came up with...I mean, not just desserts but you'll find bbq sauce, meatballs and casseroles too.

I made a few things...but this Almond Butter Pudding Cup is my favorite so that's what I'm sharing with you for now.

Almond Butter Pudding Cups
Printable Version

10 Archway Classic Oatmeal Cookies (one package)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons melted butter
8 oz melted chocolate
12 paper cupcake liners

1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cup Almond Butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the cookie cups:

Preheat the oven to 375' F

First, let's get the cups out of the way. Toss your cookies, hmmm...let me rephrase that... Place your cookies in a food processor and pulse and grind until crumbled. Or you can place them in a baggy and beat the crap out of them with your rolling pin until you have the same results.

Let your mood be your guide.

Mix in 1/4 cup sugar until combined. Pour in the melted butter and mix until all the crumbs are moistened. Line 12 muffin cups with cupcake liners. (note: I was going to just spray the pan with cooking spray, but I was afraid I'd crumble the cup trying to remove it.)

Evenly divide the crumbs between the muffin tins and press against the bottom and up the sides to form the cup.

Bake for 5 minutes. Allow to cool for a bit then store in the fridge while you're preparing the rest of the stuff.

Melt the chocolate according to the directions on the package. I just put mine in a bowl over a small sauce pan with a bit of boiling water (a make-shift double boiler) and stir until smooth.

Carefully remove the crust from the pan and spread some chocolate inside the cups.

Return to the fridge and allow the chocolate to set. Oh ya...I dropped an extra dollop of chocolate in the middle of each one. Don't ask me why. I'm sure you'd have done the same thing. Cuz seriously, is there such a thing as "enough" chocolate?

For the pudding:

Ah yes...the pudding. My original plan was to make peanut butter pudding. Which would be great. But when I saw a jar of Almond Butter, Creamy with Sea Salt, at Trader Joes....I knew I had to do it. Trade out the peanut butter for almond butter.

Oooooh yaaaaaaaaa.

Combine 1/2 cup sugar, the cornstarch and salt in a heavy bottomed sauce pan. Gradually stir in the milk. Cook over a medium heat, stirring constantly (and I mean CON STANT LY) until the mixture comes to a boil. Be prepared to stand there for a while. It aint gonna happen quickly. But you don't want to stop that stirring, not even for a few seconds. Lumps and pudding do not go together. Once it begins to boil, reduce the heat to low and cook for 2 minutes, stirring occassionally....but regularly. You don't want the bottom to burn.

Add the almond butter and vanilla and stir to combine. Remove from heat. Place the pan on a cooling rack. Cover the pudding surface with a piece of plastic wrap (thus preventing pudding skin from developing) and cool.

You don't want to fill the cups with warm pudding and melt the chocolate. Once cool, fill each cup. Garnish with chopped roasted almonds

Chill well before serving and store in the fridge.