TWO TAKES ON RASPBERRIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO ALL MY AMERICAN READERS!

Berries in general (except for strawberries) were not part of childhood. They were either impossible to find in Brazil or terribly, terribly expensive. It took me a while to warm up to them once I moved to the US. At first I did not care for fresh blueberries, and found raspberries impossibly tart. Maybe aging changed my taste buds, or maybe it’s the result of my gastronomic stubbornness: if I don’t care for something the first time I try, I go back at it a few months later, with an open mind. Whatever the case, I now adore all berries, including the uniquely tart raspberries, or as they are called in Portuguese framboesas. Cute name, almost as cute as the French framboises. Obviously, it’s almost impossible to beat the charm of the French language. N’est-ce pas?

Today I share with you two recipes showcasing these cute berries, both from food blogs I follow and love. The first recipe comes from Gayle’s site, and in a nice coincidence exactly one year ago I reviewed her book The Global Pastry Table. Her recipe calls for raspberry jam (I used store-bought, but you can go the virtuous route and make your own). The second recipe, from Lynda’s blog, calls for a mixture of preserves and fresh fruit. In another nice coincidence, I also reviewed her book in a not too distant past. Both recipes turned out delicious, and will be perfect for the holiday season coming up…

Pecan Raspberry Thumbprint Cookies-3

PECAN-RASPBERRY THUMBPRINT COOKIES
(from Pastry Studio)

(Makes about 60 cookies)

14 1/4 oz (3 cups + 2 tablespoons) flour
6 oz (1 1/2 cups) pecans, toasted
3 oz (1 cup) powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 oz (3 sticks) cold unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup – 3/4 cup raspberry jam

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment or silpats.

Place the flour, pecans, powdered sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Process until the nuts are finely ground. Cut the butter into 1/2” pieces and add along with the vanilla. Process until the dough begins to form clumps around the blade.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4” balls and set them about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. Press your thumb gently into the middle of each ball to make a well for the jam. Stir the jam to loosen it and then spoon about 1/2 teaspoon into the wells.

Bake until the cookies are golden brown, about 17 – 20 minutes. Place the pans on a wire rack to cool.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

compositethumb

Comments: These cookies were a lot of fun to make, but of course I think there is room for improvement. By the way, I halved the recipe and got about 32 cookies. Next time I want to make them a little more uniform in size, and also smooth out the surface a little better. But, this time I went with a rustic look. When in doubt, apply “rustic” to the title of your productions and everyone will be impressed… Let this be our little secret. And one more secret for you… do you know when I made these cookies? Six months ago! I’m not kidding you when I say I’ve got way too many things waiting in line to go public. Which also explains why I’m giving you two recipes in one single post, after all I don’t want you to wait six more months to enjoy these amazingly delicious raspberry squares that I made just a couple of weeks ago. See? I don’t always blog at a snail pace.

Raspberry squares

RASPBERRY ALMOND STREUSEL BARS
(slightly modified from Taste Food)

for the crust and topping:
½ cup whole wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup almond flour
½ cup old-fashioned oats
½ cup dark brown sugar
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract

for the filling:
3/4 cup raspberry preserves
1/4 cup apricot jam
6 ounces fresh raspberries
1/4 cup sliced or slivered almonds, coarsely chopped

Heat the oven to 375°F. Butter an 8 by 8-inch baking pan. Line the bottom with parchment leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 opposite sides. Butter the parchment.

Combine the flours, almond meal, sugars, cinnamon, and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine. Add the butter and extracts. Pulse until mixture is coarsely blended, 10 to 12 times. Transfer 1/2 cup of the mixture to a bowl to reserve for the topping. Press the remaining mixture firmly and evenly into the pan. Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Place the preserves, jam, and raspberries in a bowl. Mix with a fork to combine, lightly mashing the whole raspberries but leaving large pieces intact. Spread the mixture over the crust. Add the almonds to the reserved topping, then sprinkle the topping over the filling.

Bake until the filling is bubbling and the topping is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Remove from pan and cut in small squares. Serve at room temperature or cover and refrigerate for up to 2 days.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

barscollage

Comments: It goes without saying that the combination of raspberries and almonds is a classic. In these bars, the cinnamon component will also be quite prominent. The three flavors together form a superb trinity! I think the almond extract could be omitted if you don’t have some hanging around in your pantry, but I must say it adds a lot to the crust and topping. Make sure you let the whole thing cool completely before slicing, or it will crumble on you. I actually placed the whole baking dish lightly covered with aluminum foil in the fridge and sliced it several hours later. I cut the squares a little smaller than Lynda did, ending up with 25 squares instead of 16. Since I take these treats to the department, I like to maximize the number of servings so that more people can profit from a little sweetness on a busy morning.

I hope you enjoyed this double feature with a raspberry theme. I find that desserts and cookies made with raspberries are never overly sweet, the tartness of the berries cuts through the sugar and brightens up everything. Plus, how can anyone resist that intense red color they offer? So gorgeous!

ONE YEAR AGO: Spice Cake with Blackberry Puree & The Global Pastry Review

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THREE YEARS AGO: Chicken Parmigiana, the Thriller

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FIVE YEARS AGO: Tartine Bread: Basic Country Loaf

SIX YEARS AGO: Pugliese Bread

30Aug2015

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: TAILGATING PARTY!

Posted in Cookies, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

If you are a regular reader of my blog, you will probably be a bit surprised to see another Secret Recipe Club feature just one week after the last one. Here’s the reason: some months have five Mondays, but there are only four groups of blogs (A through D) in the club. So in some months a Monday would be empty of virtual fun, and that is sad. The moderators then had this brilliant idea of coming up with a special theme for these extra Mondays in which all groups participate. Since football season is starting, the theme for today’s Reveal Day is “Tailgating“. Now, I must say I’m not too wild about tailgating, probably because I did not grow up in the US. But, nothing makes me miss a party, and I loved coming up with a recipe appropriate for the occasion. I was assigned the blog Dancing Veggies, hosted by Amanda, a member of Group A. One of the things I got a kick out of stalking her blog is the way she chooses pretty creative, unexpected names for her posts. For instance, what do you think a post called “Heart Racing” would be about? A bowl of chili? a hot Indian curry? Nah. It’s about Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies! 🙂 How about a post called “Meet me at Midnight?” Caviar on toast and a shot of vodka? A platter of oysters on the half shell? No, not really. That one is about German Chocolate Brownies… For this tailgating event, my contribution is a plate of cookies, and since Fall is knocking at the door (stiff upper lip ON), my cookies include the P word. Talk about someone who dances with the music… that’s me, baby, all the way! And speaking of dancing to the music, Amanda just explained to me the meaning behind her posts titles: they are all song titles, the “dancing” part of her blog, Dancing Veggies. Too awesome for words!

PUMPKIN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
(slightly modified from Dancing Veggies)

makes about 30 cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup mashed pumpkin
1 + 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 to 1/2 cup mini dark choc chips
1/4 to 1/2 cup white choc chips

Heat the oven to 350 F.

Cream the butter and sugar for 5 minutes, until slightly fluffy. Add in the egg, salt, and vanilla extract and beat for a few more minutes before adding in the mashed pumpkin.

In a small bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, and spices. Slowly add to the wet ingredients and beat until just mixed. Spoon the dough onto cookie sheets in walnut sized portions. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until a golden orange shade. Cool on a rack.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: My main modification of the recipe was to use a mixture of white and dark chocolate chips. I am very fond of white chocolate and had just a little bit left in a bag, so I decided to put them to good use. I left the amounts pretty flexible in the recipe, because Phil loves a cookie that is loaded with chips, so see how much your dough can take and go for maximal pleasure. I think dried cranberries would work great too, by the way. The texture of the cookies is on the chewy side due to the pumpkin puree, which by the way, I used canned. As usual, no one will be able to taste the pumpkin, it just gives them a mysterious flavor. The nutmeg and cinnamon of course complement it all beautifully. A perfect Fall cookie (stiff upper lip threatening to fail).

You cannot have summer back, but you can always have a cookie!

Amanda, I had a lot of fun browsing your collection of recipes, in fact your zucchini fritters were insistently calling my name, but I thought that maybe those would be hard to enjoy at tailgating with the dipping sauce and all. So I stuck with cookies, easy to grab and run away to the stadium not to miss the kick-off. As usual, everyone can check the collection of tailgating recipes by poking the cute blue frog at the end of the post.

ONE YEAR AGO: One Million Page Views!

TWO YEARS AGO: Tlayuda, a Mexican Pizza

THREE YEARS AGO: Paradise Revisited

FOUR YEARS AGO: Feijoada, the Ultimate Brazilian Feast

FIVE YEARS AGO: Vegetable Milhojas

SIX YEARS AGO: Italian Bread

21Jul2015

CHOCOLATE CHIP SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

It’s hard to make a case for one more chocolate chip cookie recipe, but this one is worth talking about… What makes this recipe special is its shortbread nature. No eggs in the dough. As Sue described in her original post, shortbread cookies were probably the first versions “invented” by bakers. Think flour, butter and sugar. Beautify it with your favorite additions. And that’s pretty much it. The texture is completely different from a regular cookie. I think I slightly over-baked this batch, as the edges turned just a tad too dark compared to hers. It did not compromise the deliciousness of the final product, though. Trust me.

MILK CHOCOLATE CHIP SHORTBREAD COOKIES
(from The View from Great Island)

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 + 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup milk chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 350F.

Cream the butter and the sugar together. Beat in the vanilla extract.
Add the flour, a little at a time, until the dough comes together. Fold in the chips just before it all comes into one mass. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and bring it all together with your hands. Form it into a plump disk and then roll it out, flouring your rolling-pin as necessary, to about 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick.

Cut cookies with a 3″ cookie cutter, pressing down firmly to cut through the chocolate chips. Reform the dough as needed to use it all up. Arrange the cookies on a cookie sheet and then cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the whole tray for at least an hour.

Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes. You want them to be every so slightly golden just around the edges, and be slightly firm to the touch. Let them cool for a few minutes on the tray and then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Such a nice dough to work with! It rolls smoothly, each cookie hiding the perfect amount of chocolate chip goodness… I rolled mine straight on the countertop, nice and easy.These cookies don’t spread much, so cut them in the size you’d like to enjoy them. You might be surprised to see milk chocolate instead of dark, but I think the extra sweetness is perfect in the shortbread environment. Of course, you can use this basic recipe to make many variations. Think white chocolate and dried cranberries, toffee bits and dark chocolate would be awesome too. Not to mention macadamia nuts, a little lemon zest… Ok, I’ll stop here, but you don’t have to, put your imagination to work…

I’d never had a shortbread cookie before. With the first bite, I asked myself “do I like it?”… one more bite…. “Hummmmm, I think I do like it!“….. After two cookies disappeared in lightning speed, I realized they won me over, big time! If you’ve only had “regular” cookies until now, open your baking horizons with a batch of these.

Sue, as usual it took me quite a while to blog on this recipe… I checked my files and noticed I baked these cookies back in January, can you believe it? But better late than never to say thank you for the inspiration!

😉

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13Jun2015

FAB CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

These cookies were originally called “Flourless Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies.” If that’s not a mouthful of a name, I don’t know what is… But doesn’t it sound great? Flourless immediately conveys a soft, melt in your mouth fudgy texture. Almond butter is the grown-up, classy version of peanut butter. Once you add chocolate chips, oats, and a touch of coconut (omitted from the already long name), you can stop searching for the perfect cookie to start the day. Or as a mid-morning snack…

The recipe comes from Zainab’s blog, Blahnik Baker. Zainab is a food blogger who is working hard to finish her PhD in neuroscience. I remember those days (the PhD days, not the neuroscience); they are bittersweet like the best piece of chocolate. Part of you is thrilled by the vision of the finish line approaching, but getting there is never easy. Always harder than you anticipate. I don’t know a single PhD candidate who at the time of the defense said “I started writing my thesis early enough, it all went smoothly”. Nope, never. But, one way or another, we all seem to get there, and at some point forget the pain, enjoy the thrill.

FAB CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
(from Blahnik Baker)

⅔ cup old-fashioned rolled
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
⅓ cup coconut flakes
1 cup almond butter (I used coconut almond butter)
⅔ cup dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
⅔ cup dark chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with wax paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and coconut flakes

In another medium bowl, using a hand mixer or stand mixer, mix the almond butter and sugar until smooth. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and mix until combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Reduce speed to low and add in the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined (do not over mix). Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate chips by hand.

Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop 2 tablespoon rounds of dough onto the prepared sheets.

Bake cookies for 9-11 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheet for 2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a cooling rack and let cool completely.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

I did not grow up eating cookies, they were not part of my family tradition. However, since moving to the US, I developed intense fondness for cookies with rolled oats. A common American practice is to dunk cookies in milk, but I find that hard to watch. It actually makes me a little queasy, much to the amusement of one of my stepsons, who loved to tease me about it. But, the truth is that even with my anti-American stance on the dunking of a cookie, I suppose that this one would be perfect for such objectionable act.

We loved these cookies! If you don’t have coconut almond butter, use the plain type, but don’t omit the coconut flakes, they contribute a nice texture and that tropical flavor that makes these babies special and unique.

Zainab, thanks for the recipe, and good luck in this final stretch of your research, have a batch of cookies nearby, they do give a lot of energy and will make writing a tad easier. Wishful thinking?

😉

ONE YEAR AGO: Pumpkin-Chipotle and Kale Pizza

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26Apr2015

SECRET RECIPE CLUB: GINGERSNAPS WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS

Posted in Cookies, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

It’s shocking but we are arriving at the end of April. Hard not to use a beaten up expression like “time flies”. It simply does. But, birds are singing, owls are making a ton of noise in the middle of the night, sun is shinning, and I am a happy camper, having stored all my sweaters, coats, and boots far away from my sight. As usual, the last Monday of the month brings with it Reveal Day: a showcase of posts made by food bloggers who participate of The Secret Recipe Club, and are paired in secret. My assignment was the blog by Julie, Confessions of a Cooking Diva. Don’t you love that name? Made me wish I had named my blog The Drama Queen Cooks…. Tongue in cheek, of course. As regular readers know, I am a level-headed, composed, unflappable individual. Julie is originally from Idaho but lives in Utah with a cuddly cat and a basset hound, a type of dog I find very cool with its incredibly sharp sense of smell. Julie shares with me a deep fear of baking, but admits that nothing scares her more than spiders. I’d have to settle for cockroaches as my number one fear, but we are basically virtual sisters. I assembled quite a few recipes on my list of possibilities, like her One Pot Green Chile Mac & Cheese… her Caribbean Jerk Salmon Tacos… her Turkey Sausage….her Black Bean Burgers…. and her Apple-Pecan Cheesecake… But, my love for spices spoke loudly, so here I am to share with you an AMAZING recipe for cookies that marry a traditional gingersnap with chunks of white chocolate. Heaven. Pure heaven in cookie shape.

GINGERSNAPS WITH WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIPS
(from Confessions of a Cooking Diva)

1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup molasses
2 tbsp. canola oil
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
2 + 1⁄4 tsp. baking soda
1+1⁄4 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1+1⁄4 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. ground ginger
2 eggs
3+1⁄2 cups flour
1⁄2 bag of white chocolate chips (I used 3/4 bag)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare baking sheets by spraying them with cooking spray or line them with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Mix in the molasses, oil, vanilla, baking soda, salt and spices until well combined.

Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until smooth. Slowly add in the flour, half a cup at a time. Mix well. Stir in the white chocolate chips. Scoop the dough into balls and roll them in sugar. Place on cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10 minutes. Then allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing and placing on a cooling rack.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click

Comments: Recently I read a book I’ve had for a long time but stayed sitting on a shelf, patiently waiting for me. It is called BOUCHON BAKERY, a masterpiece of a pastry book, written by Thomas Keller & Sébastien Rouxel. My only criticism is its coffee table format, not very user-friendly. But if you don’t mind that, it is well worth getting. The book goes well beyond recipes. In fact, it offers a deeper view of what it takes to start and maintain a bakery of the level of Bouchon. A lot of merit goes for the man in charge, Sébastien Rouxel, and his almost compulsive attention to detail. In Sébastien’s opinion, you cannot be a good pastry baker unless you are neat and organized, to the point that your bench is spotless clean at the end of the day, and as clean as humanly possible while you work. As he says, being neat and organized doesn’t start when you get to work, it starts when you wake up. That is quite a statement! So, let’s say that I was under the spell of the book when I worked on this assignment. My kitchen looked very professional, all ingredients lined up, detailed prep work. I am afraid it won’t last, but it felt great…

recipe

As to the cookies, they are FABULOUS. It is important not to over-bake them, so 10 to 11 minutes and you are done. I baked them mid-afternoon on a Sunday and took them to the department next morning. They were still soft, with a bit of moisture and chew, which is the way I like a cookie. If you prefer a more snappy creature, bake longer. The white chocolate goes very well with all those fragrant spices, that made our kitchen very inviting. Too inviting, maybe?

The ball can wait. I rather fetch a cookie!

Julie, it was nice to “meet” you through this month’s adventure, our students and colleagues in the department sure appreciate your recipe very much, and so did I! Have a great Reveal Day! And, if I may offer you a little gift, here it is. Print it and stick it on your fridge in case you need it.

As usual, my readers are all invited to dive into the collection of delicious recipes featured by my fellow virtual friends from Group D of The Secret Recipe Club by clicking on the cutest blue frog in the world, right at the end of the post.

ONE YEAR AGO: Turkey Chili with Almond Butter

TWO YEARS AGO: Secret Recipe Club: Leek and Cheese Tart

THREE YEARS AGO: Secret Recipe Club; Triple Chocolate Brownies

FOUR YEARS AGO: Shaved Asparagus Salad

FIVE YEARS AGO: Indonesian Ginger Chicken