Sesame Cookies (Benne Wafers)

 Another great and interesting cookie, this time from King Arthur Flour.  They're crispy and the sesame flavor comes through in a great way.

350 F
8-9 minutes

1 c butter

1 c (213 gr) light brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 c (120 gr) flour

1 c (128 gr) toasted sesame seeds (I used these and didn't toast them again)

Line pans with parchment.

Cream butter, sugar, salt, baking soda, vanilla, and egg.  Add the flour and mix until smooth.  Add sesame seeds.

Drop by tablespoons onto parchment. Bake 8-9 minutes, until golden brown.  Cool for a minute before transferring to cooling rack.

Orange Spice Cookies

 I made these for Christmas and they were a hit.  They aren't super sweet, have a very smooth texture and are easy to make.  I made the Chinese five spice mix myself rather than buying it.  

350 F

17-19 minutes

Dough

2 1/2 c (315 gr) flour

1 tsp five spice mix

1/2 t ground cardamom

1/2 t ground ginger

1/4 t salt (eliminate if using salted butter)

1 c (2 sticks) butter

1/2 c (100 gr) sugar

1 T zest from an orange (keep juice and remaining zest for glaze)

1 large egg

1/2 t vanilla

Glaze

2/3 c (80 gr) powdered sugar

2 T orange juice

2 t orange zest

Mix flour, spices, and salt well.

Cream butter, sugar and zest on medium speed until fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and mix for about a minute, until it's well incorporated and no longer looks curdled.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until no streaks remain.  Don't overmix.  Form into a 6" square and wrap in plastic wrap.  Put in freezer for about 30 minutes, until firm but not frozen.

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line pans with parchment.  Roll to about 1/4" thick on a lightly floured surface.  Using a pizza roller, cut into desired size - about 1" squares.  Bake 17-19" minutes, until edges are lightly browned.  Cool on pan for about 10 minutes and transfer to rack to cool completely.

Mix the powdered sugar and orange juice until smooth.  Brush the glaze on the cookies and sprinkle with orange zest.  Allow glaze to dry (it dries hard).

Chinese Five Spice mix

1 cinnamon stick (3")
2 T fennel seeds

1 T peppercorns (the recipe called for Sichuan but I didn't have them)

1 tsp whole cloves

5 star anise

Slowly roast all the spices in a small pan over low heat until fragrant.  Let cool.

Grind the cooled mix into a a fine powder.

Shortbread Cookies

 I love shortbread but until now, haven't had a recipe that makes me happy.  This one does.  It's simple and tasty.  I found the recipe here and modified slightly.  

Scottish Shortbread

1 1/2 c flour (185 grams)

1/2 c white rice flour (80 grams)

1/2 c sugar (100 grams - can successfully decrease to 80 grams because this is pretty sweet)

2 sticks (8 oz) cold butter (add 1/4 tsp salt if it's unsalted butter) cut into pieces

Approximately 1/2 cup chopped chocolate (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line a 8x8 pan with parchment - make sure sides are long enough to lift out the shortbread.

Put everything but the chocolate in the food processor.  Mix until it's loose and sandy but sticks together when pressed between your fingers.  Mix in the chocolate.  Press firmly and evenly into prepared pan (back of a spatula works well). 

Bake for 35 minutes, until set but not brown.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Cut into sticks -- I did 24 - eight rows of three.  Pierce with a fork, all the way down.  Carefully lift the shortbread out of the pan using the parchment and set it on a cookie sheet.  Spread out the shortbread (it can stay on the parchment).  

Place the shortbread back in the oven and turn the oven off.  Leave it in the residual heat for 30-45 minutes until it's to the desired color.  

Cool on a rack.  Store in an airtight container.

Everyday Peanut Butter Cookies

The peanut butter cookies of my youth; my Dad's favorite cookies.  I know shortening is supposed to be evil and all but really, the crisp is worth it!


Peanut Butter Cookies

400F
10 minutes


1 c shortening
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
3 c flour
1 c peanut butter

Cream the shortening and sugars.  Add the rest.   Make into balls approximately 1" in diameter and press down with a fork.

Bake for 10 minutes on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Golden Syrup Sugar Cookies

I'm making pies for our friendsgiving dinner next weekend and am considering making a pecan pie, something I've never made but have eaten a couple of times.  I don't love the ones I've had, just like it, so I started looking for alternatives.  I found Smitten Kitchen's Pecan Pie and plan to give that a try as it promises less goo.  It calls for Golden Syrup, which I don't have. Turns out it's easy to make your own.  I just followed this recipe.

But what should I do with this stuff other than the pie?   A little digging and I found a recipe for cookies that use a token amount of it but also seemed a little intriguing because they sounded too good to be true.   I made them anyway....they taste like Biscoff cookies, best known (by me) as the cookies Delta hands out on their flights. 

Golden Syrup Sugar Cookies

350 F, 15-20  minutes

9 T butter
1/2 c. sugar
1 T golden syrup
1 T milk
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda

Melt the butter, sugar, syrup and milk together.  Allow to cool to room temperature.  Sift in the flour and baking soda.  Roll into balls and flatten with a fork -- I made about 20 cookies and it took 15 minutes to bake.  I also used parchment paper but I don't know that it was necessary with all that butter. 

I didn't let the butter mixture cool enough before adding the flour so it was fairly fluid.  I let it cool longer and it didn't seem to cause any trouble. 

Addictive Coconut Bars

I was heading over to some friends for a little hanging out and football and wanted to bring something with me.  While the traditional football treats tend to be salty and greasy, I figured that people wouldn't mind sweet and chewy instead.  These were very easy and people really liked them


Chewy Addictive Coconut Bars
350 F


Crust:
1/2 c butter, softened
1 c flour
1/2 c sugar

Mix together and press into a parchment lined 8"x8" pan.   Bake 10 minutes.


Filling:
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 c brown sugar
2 T flour
1 c coconut
1 tsp vanilla

Mix the filling thoroughly.  Spread the filling over the warm crust.  Bake 20-25 minutes.

Rugelach

Just in time for Cinco de Mayo, rugelach!  My timing isn't the greatest but mmm, this stuff is.

This is from the "Smitten Kitchen Cookbook" by Deb Perelman.  I've read her blog for years and my neighbor just lent me the cook book.  I modified a bit.

Alex's Chocolate Raspberry Rugelach

Dough

2 sticks butter, room temp
8 oz cream cheese, room temp
1/2 tsp salt
2 c flour

Cream the butter and cream cheese.  Add salt and flour.  Chill at least 2 hours, up to 3 days.


Fillings

2/3 c raspberry jam
2/3 c sugar
1 T cinnamon
1/2 c finely chopped bittersweet chocolate
3 T pecans toasted and finely chopped (I didn't bother with nuts)

Mix cinnamon and sugar.  Bring the jam to a boil to loosen it up.


Assembly

Cut dough into 6 equal pieces and roll into balls.  Keep two out.  Roll each into a circle about 8 or 9" in diameter.  Spread with a thin layer of jam, about 2-3T.  Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar and some of the chocolate.  Tap down with waxed paper to keep the fillings in as you roll.

Use a pizza cutter to cut the dough into 12 pizza  slice shaped slices.  Roll up each piece, beginning at the wide end.  Place on a parchment paper lined sheet.    Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Place the rolled cookies in the freezer for 15 minutes.


Glaze

1 large egg yolk
1 tsp water

Additional cinnamon sugar

Brush each with egg yolk, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.  Remove promptly from the parchment to cooling racks.

Try not to eat too many of them!

Mmmm, cookies!

Not just any cookies, fancy time consuming checkerboard cookies!

I used to subscribe to "Fine Cooking" magazine and one year they had a spread on Christmas cookies. I saw the checkerboard cookies and really wanted to give it a try myself. They were time consuming to make but turned out very well. The problem with the recipe the way it was written is that there is chocolate cookie dough left when you're done, a waste of perfectly good cookie dough. I knew I could take care of that problem.

The checkerboards in the recipe are a 3x3 configuration as such:My solution to the problem was to turn them into 4x4 squares instead of the 3x3 squares. It worked! I ended up with logs of dough that looked like this:



Slice and bake!

Cookie tips

These were from an email from, er, Cook's Illustrated I believe. I'm putting them here as reference.

• By adjusting key ingredients, you can change the texture of any cookie recipe.
• If you want chewy cookies, add melted butter. Butter is 20 percent water. Melting helps water in butter mix with flour to form gluten.
• If you want thin, candy-like cookies, add more sugar. Sugar becomes fluid in the oven and helps cookies spread.
• If you want cakey cookies, add more eggs. Yolks make cookies rich, and whites cause cookies to puff and dry out.
• If you want an open, coarse crumb and craggy top, add baking soda. Baking soda reacts quickly with acidic ingredients (such as brown sugar) to create lots of gas bubbles.
• If you want a fine, tight crumb and smooth top, add baking powder. Baking powder works slowly and allows for an even rise.

Maple Sugar Cookies

We've gotten maple sugar in our share twice and I haven't used it for much of anything. I tried putting some in a smoothie and found it doesn't dissolve as easily as regular sugar and it made the smoothie gritty. I didn't want gritty cookies so I threw the maple sugar in the food processor for a good long time and then sifted the results with a fine mesh tea strainer because I wanted the particles to be small. It took a long time but in the end, I'd say it's worth it.

Update: An easier way to make the sugar particulate size smaller is to use a coffee grinder. I didn't bother to sift it afterwards which sped up the process significantly.


Maple Sugar Cookies

350 degree oven
8-10 min
approx. 7 dozen small cookies

1 c maple sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1 c butter
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
2 c flour

Cream sugar and butter. Add the egg and beat until fluffy. Mix in the baking powder and flour. Separate dough into two pieces and roll each one into logs in plastic wrap (the dough is extremely sticky) - mine were about 1" by 2" by 8". Refrigerate until firm. Slice pieces to 1/8" and place 1" apart on a cookie sheet. Bake until light brown. Allow to cool a bit before removing from cookie sheets.

Verdict: Oh my! Try not to eat them by the handful. They're crispy around the edges and just a little soft toward the middle making them both somewhat chewy while still melting in your mouth. They're probably a touch sweeter than they need to be if that is possible so maybe it might be a good idea to decrease the sugar slightly, maybe to 3/4 c of maple sugar.

Lemon Pepper Cookies

I just had a recipe request and since I was looking it up for her, I figured I may as well post it here. It's an unusual cookie, more of an adult cookie (and no, I don't mean the shape although of course you're free to do whatever you'd like), and it's strangely addictive. Unfortunately, I can't remember where I got the recipe.

LEMON-BLACK PEPPER CORNMEAL COOKIES

400F Oven
approx 8 min

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
3/4 teaspoon fresh, coarsely ground black pepper
Pinch of salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
zest from 5 lemons
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 large egg yolks

Mix dry ingredients. Beat butter, sugar, and zest until fluffy. Mix in the egg yolks. Slowly add dry ingredients until just mixed. Roll into small balls, place on greased cookie sheet and press down with a sugared glass. Bake until light brown. Transfer to rack and cool

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Is it a bad thing that today I was reading "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan while baking Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies? The cookies have some real food in them, and some local food too. I've got lots of oatmeal to use and these were terrific.

The recipe is from my borrowed copy of King Arthur Flour's "Whole Grain Baking." Two recipes tried, two thumbs up. I picked this recipe because my friend had marked them with a smiley face and "very, very, good."My comments are in parentheses.

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

350 degrees
13-17 minute
GREASED baking sheets

3/4 c unsalted butter (I used a mix of regular and unsalted since that's what I had)
1 1/4 c brown sugar (I used dark brown)
3 T dark corn syrup (I used light since that's what I had...)
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
2 t cinnamon
1/4 t ginger
1/4 t nutmeg
1 T cider vinegar
1 T vanilla (oops! I forgot to put this in and didn't realize it until now!)
1 large egg
1 1/3 c rolled oats
1 1/4 c whole wheat flour (I used white whole wheat)
2 c dried fruit
1 c nuts

I didn't use nuts, instead I did a mix of 1 c craisins and 2 c chocolate chips.

Cream all the ingredients butter to vanilla. Beat in egg. Add remaining ingredients and mix until combined. Drop by heaping tablespoons.

Bake for about 14 minutes, cool on racks. Try not to eat too many.

I wonder if I could have used honey in place of the corn syrup?

Party time!

We're heading over to a St. Patty's day party in a little bit and I always like to bring a little something to contribute to the fun.


This week I was feeling lazy. I'd thought about making Dr. Pepper cupcakes because Sam would love doing that but the 7 minute frosting sounded like a pain since I'd have to make it by hand. Last year I made cupcakes and I'm not sure it's acceptable to make them two years in a row.


I also thought about making Snickers "Salad" because it's really easy and I've never had it. Snickers bars cut into pieces, Cool Whip, and diced grannysmith apples.


In the end, I made these:Yes, those are my famous Crack Cookies. Sam insisted they be decorated I'm hoping the sugar shamrocks and suffiently clear that people will understand that they're not just blobs on the top.

We ran out of the green sugar though so I tried a second decorating strategy that unfortunately was less successful. Sam helped, can you tell? Still, they tasted just fine!

Peanut butter crack

Oh lordies! Don't try this one at home kiddies, just don't try it unless you want to have to unbutton your top button of your jeans. I took our traditional peanut butter cookie recipe and modified it to add a little extra crisp and some melt in your mouth goodness. I know it's not really a local food although the eggs and butter qualify.


Peanut Butter Crack Cookies

375 degrees, approx 12 min

1/2 c soft butter
1/2 c oil
1 c white sugar
1 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3 c flour
1 c peanut butter
1 c Rice Krispies

Cream sugars and butter, add oil when they're well mixed. Add remaining ingredients and mix until well blended. Make into balls about 1 1/4" in diameter and press down with a fork. Bake until nicely browned.

They're a little delicate so they break easily but the melt in your mouth in a very addictive way.

Rating: I suggest you don't try them.....