8 posts tagged “cookies”
I may be flattering myself to believe that many (not few or none) of you have followed the thread of comments on granola bars: my attempt at mailing food. If you haven't, well I can quickly get you up to speed by admitting that I mailed them to the wrong address.
Honestly, now that I see how the packaging turned out on the second batch of bars, I'm glad the first never made it, as I simply wrapped them in parchment paper. These are much cuter.
I collect various treat bags and boxes when I see them on sale at Target (which seems to be quite often), so I have a little bit of a stash. The opportunity to use them is not great, so I was thrilled with this one. Why I didn't think of it the first time, who knows? Obviously, my brain was elswhere the first time around. The assortment of "relative" stickers were from an old craft project a couple of years ago. Being a pack rat pays off eventually.
I made two changes to the recipe this time, which you can find by clicking on the link above. Swapped out applesauce for oil, and replaced 1/2 c. of the oats for oat bran. Husband, who didn't get to sample the first batch, gave these his approval.
When I received a comment requesting granola bars, I was happy to oblige. I like granola bars myself, specifically Kashi's Dark Chocolate Cherry, but have never made them. With a specific requirement of chewiness, I started my search there, and decided on Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars as the inspiration. They actually turned out pretty good...almost like a cookie, and in my mouth that isn't a bad thing. We'll see if the commenter agrees. I made the bars on Monday afternoon, and mailed them on Tuesday morning (he is a family member, I will not mail food to random strangers). With the postal service, who knows when they will arrive at their final destination. Hopefully, he'll find them chewy and not stale, fresh and not moldy.
MG's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cherry Granola Bars
1/4 c. packed brown sugar
1/3 c. peanut butter
2 1/2 T. honey
1/4 c. applesauce
1 t. vanilla
1 1/2 c. rolled oats
1/2 c. chocolate chips
2 T. chopped dried cherries
2 T. chopped peanuts
1/4 c. cheerios
1/3 c. whole wheat flour
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 8 x 8 inch baking pan.
In a bowl, stir together the brown sugar, peanut butter, honey, applesauce, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together the oats, chocolate chips, cherries, peanuts, cheerios, and flour. Stir the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture until evenly coated. Press in the prepared pan. (I used a meat mallet to pack it in tightly).
Bake for 20-25 minutes until slightly golden. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars.
I attended some sort of "leadership" retreat as a freshman in high school. I think all class officers from my school were in attendance. We did a lot of different games, met in focus groups, brainstormed...you know, activities that really got things accomplished and bettered the student body.
In one such activity I do remember having to answer a series of ridiculous questions. I'm not sure what the answers were used to prove. It could have been simply to "break the ice" or get us acquainted. The one question I remember was "What is your favorite food?" I easily answered, "chocolate cake." I noticed a few eyebrows were raised. Should I have said, "Pizza or Tacos," like everyone else?
Now when I think about that question, I wonder what I would answer. I definately love chocolate cake!, but I love a lot of different foods too. I think an artist friend put it well, when he was asked, "What is your favorite color?" His answer, "Of all the colors, I can't possibly pick one." Of all the foods....
I got a wonderful cookbook for Christmas: Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. It looks like it's going to be delicious! The other night, I tried Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies. My "favorite food" in bite size pieces. I'm really excited. I've put some in the freezer, so now when I crave chocolate cake, I'll pull out a cookie or two and mmm, craving gone!
Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies (adapted from Baking from My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)
2 1/4 c. flour
2 T cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 stick unsalted butter, at room temp.
1 1/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
2 eggs
1 t. vanilla
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 c. sour cream
1/2 c. dried sour cherries
375 degrees. Whisk together first 5 ingredients.
Beat the butter until creamy and smooth. Add sugars and beat for 2 minutes. Add eggs one by one. Beat for another minute until smooth and satiny. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the vanilla and melted chocolate. With mixer still on low, add dry ingredients and sour cream alternately, begining and ending with dry ingredients. Mix only until incoporated and batter is smooth. Mix in cherries.
Drop batter onto baking sheets (I used a smallish cookie scoop), leaving 2 inches between spponfuls.
Bake 10-12 minutes.
Have you ever woke up panicked? Let me put it another way. Have you ever woke up panicked because you had big hair? I have, and it is terrifying.
I don't remember how old I was, maybe 12? Our family got a hold of a bad batch of ibruprofen. It caused hallucinations. (Is there someone we can sue)? In the middle of the night, I remember having this horrible feeling that my hair was huge. I looked in the mirror and it was! I can still see my reflection. I was so scared of this mass of unruly hair on my head, I woke up my parents about it. It probably was equally terrifying for them to have their pre-teen daughter wake them up and proclaim with tears in her eyes, "I have big hair!" They of course thought I was crazy. It was all very real to me. Luckily the morning brought back my regular hair, flat and limp. Which is worse?
So when I found this recipe for Big Hair Raspberry Tarts, I couldn't help but chuckle thinking of this memory. I fell in love with the photo and idea of this recipe from the beginning. When husband said he needed treats for work, I finally had my opportunity. I wasn't expecting these to taste so good. The marshmellowy texture of the meringue with the crunchy butter cookie was quite remarkable.
Big Hair Raspberry Tarts (adapted from Food and Wine Magazine's 2002 Cookbook, Rebecca Rather)
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
2 c. granulated sugar
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/8 t. salt
3/4 c. seedless raspberry jam
8 large egg whites (I ruined my first batch of egg whites, so only having 5 eggs left, I made my meringue with this. It was fine, just not as big of hair as it could have been).
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 baking pan with foil, leaving 4 inches of overhang at the ends.
In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the butter with 1/2 cup sugar at high speed until fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the flour and salt and beat just until belnded, 2 to 3 minutes. Press the dough into the baking pan in an even layer. Score the dough lengthwise into fourths, then score crosswise 6 times to make 24 squares. (The original instructions has you make only 12 squares. They are quite a bit larger). Bake the shortbread for 20 to 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Transfer the pan to a rack and let the shortbread cool completely, about 1 hour.
Lift the shortbread out of the pan. Spread the jam evenly over the shortbread. Using a serrated knife, cut the shortbread into squares following the scored lines. Transfer the shortbread squares to a large baking sheet.
In a large stainless steel bowl set over a pan of simmering water, stir the egg whites with the remaining 1 1/2 c. sugar until the sugar dissolves, about 1 minute. (this took a bit longer for me). Remove the bowl from the heat. Using an electirc mixer, beat the whites at meduium speed until frothy. Increase the speed to high and beat until a stiff, glossy meringue forms, about 5 minutes longer.
Spoon meringue onto each of the squares. Be generous...big hair! Using the back of a spoon, pull up the meringue to form high spikes. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the meringue is golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet on a rack, then transfer the tarts to the rack and let cool completely. Sift confectioners' sugar over the tops before serving.
My grandma passed away a couple of months ago. It's really hard losing a grandma.
My mind has drifted to what a good woman she was, her wonderful qualities, happy memories, but it always comes back to the kitchen.
There were dried apricots in the freezer...apricots from her own tree. I remembered a macaroni, hamburger, green bean and mushroom soup casserole for Sunday evening suppers. She was the first one that I ever saw cut a pizza with a pair of scissors. Have you ever had Rhubarb juice? My grandma made it. There were toothpicks on the table. One drawer was devoted to boxes of JELLO...almost any flavor you could imagine. That got me thinking, and I went to my own cabinet. I had two boxes of JELLO. I don't remember the last time I made JELLO, and I don't remember buying it, but I had two boxes. Is it one of those things you just pick up at the store regardless?
Nothing was ever wasted. Everything was used to its full potential and this meant usually more than once. I learned early on when spending the night, not to ask for cereal for breakfast. I didn't like drinking the milk, and not drinking the milk was wasteful, so I asked for toast. In my own life, I do try to use things more than once when I can. I have a hard time throwing things away if I think it could be used again. Because of this trait, I have been called "Grandma M___" by my Mom. I like this nickname.
After the funeral, I spent time with the rest of my family at her home. That day, I took with me three bags of chocolate chips from her cupboards.
As I was mixing this batch of chocolate chip cookies, I tried to remember having them at my Grandma's. I couldn't. I did remember, however, having bar cookies on many occasions. My grandma raised eight children. Maybe she never had time to make individual cookies. One big cookie was much more efficient and practical...two qualites that could easily describe her.
One evening, I had a few scraps of puff pastry after making chicken potpie. Knowing that I would find a use for them, I placed them in the fridge. A couple of days later, I saw them and thought of Grandma, the chocolate chips, and the yummy chocolate croissants I love. Sometimes not being wasteful tastes really good.
Chocolate Croissants
Place chocolate chips in a strip down the center of a wedge of puff pastry. Roll up into a croissant shape. Bake. Enjoy!
Husband made butter cookies one evening. I love cookies, but strangely, I don't really like butter cookies. I then thought of Pepperidge Farm - Double Chocolate Milano Cookies. Mmm! They are essentially butter cookies with chocolate...chocolate chips...Grandma. She would turn a bad situation - I know that butter cookies aren't a bad situation, but hear me out - into a good situation. These turned out great. Pass the milk.
I now have a half a bag of her chocolate chips in the cabinet. I've thought of using them a few times, but in the end, they will not be used. I know they are there, and that's the comfort that I need.
It had been too many days without my chocolate friend.
Found this Cocoa Fudge Cookie recipe on Cooking Light.
The batter was so delicious, it was all I could do from eating it right then and there. (There are no eggs in this cookie, so eating this raw dough poses no health risks).
A very good cookie!
Not able to leave the recipe alone, I decided to insert a cherry into each cookie. What a tasty surpise!
Unique cookie from Epicurious! These oatmeal raisin cookies feature six different spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cumin, cloves and cayenne. Yes, cumin and cayenne.
Diane's Six-Spice Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
I've made these once as the recipe directs. Good! This time I took the advice of a reviewer and left out 1/2 cup of white sugar. Good! Don't get frightened and leave out the cumin as a lot of reviewers try to get you to do.
It's been a while since I've used Maida Heatter's Book of Great Desserts. Even though her desserts are always delicious, it's not a book I pull off the shelf too often because of her need to over direct the baker. Sometimes I'd prefer the bare minimum in directions. Anyway, I decided to try her Mulattoes this evening despite her warning: "Timing is everything in this recipe. Be careful."
I proceeded with caution.
The batter was very very thin (borderline runny), so I double checked the ingredients. Sure enough, the recipe only called for 1/4 cup of flour. This must be right, so I dropped the batter by rounded tablespoon full and popped them in the oven. Remembering my mother's word of advice, "never bake cookies longer than 8 minutes no matter what the recipe says," I set the timer for 10 minutes instead of the 12-14 minutes Ms. Heatter instructed. 10 minutes seemed about right.
The cookies are amazing! So dark and rich, they are like bites of your favorite molten chocolate cake. Yes, the centers were fudgy and chewy.
(I made one change to the recipe. Didn't have walnuts or pecans, so I left them out).
