THE SECRET RECIPE CLUB COOKIE SWAP: SPICED HONEY-GINGER COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets, Secret Recipe Club by sallybr

I have been a member of The Secret Recipe Club for a little over 3 years, and never get tired of it! Getting assigned a food blog every month to cook from is so much fun, because it exposes you to different styles of cooking and of course opens the horizons to new sites that could otherwise go unnoticed. Every year, the club takes a break for the holidays, so groups C and D do not post in December. However, instead of taking a break this year, Sarah, the club’s Owner – and Resident Saint who keeps our boats sailing smoothly – came up with a different twist: both groups would be joined in a single event, a Cookie Carnival Swap. Participation would not be mandatory, so that those who prefer to sit back and relax could do so. Me? Sitting out? No way. So, this month we have a huge event with 60 food bloggers! As usual, we were assigned a blog in secret, and had to pick a cookie recipe to make and blog about. My assigned blog, Culinary Adventures with Camilla, was a ton of fun to stalk! One of the things I loved about her site is that she designs all her recipes. Nothing from cookbooks or cooking shows. That is beyond impressive. Camilla describes herself as a “tree-hugging, veggie-crunching, jewelry-designing mean mommy who loves to cook but hates to clean”. She is also a freelance writer and photographer for Edible Monterey Bay. Is that cool or what?

I had a tough time deciding between three cookies: Faux-reos, Salted Mayan Chocolate, and Spiced Honey-Ginger Cookies. You must stop by and read about her Oreo Cookie experience, she was sort of challenged to make them from scratch, and admitted she had never even tried a Oreo until then. Talk about a challenge! Still, my love for spices made me choose the last one. Plus, since the recipe called for ginger syrup, it gave me the opportunity of making it myself, something I’ve been meaning to try for years.

SPICED HONEY-GINGER COOKIES
(slightly modified from Culinary Adventures with Camilla)

2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 C butter, at room temperature
1 cup raw turbinado sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup ginger syrup (recipe follows)
2 tablespoons honey (I used acacia honey)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Place flour, ginger, baking soda, and spices into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Add in the sugar. Beat in the egg, honey, and ginger syrup. Mix together until a soft dough forms. Pinch off small amounts of dough, and roll into balls. Place the balls 2″ apart on an ungreased baking sheet, flatten slightly. Bake until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 13 minutes. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here
.

GINGER SYRUP
(adapted from many sources)

4 ounces fresh ginger, unpeeled
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
pinch salt

Cut the ginger into small pieces. Place the ginger pieces with water, sugar, and pinch of salt in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle boil, reduce to a low simmer, and cook for 50 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Let cool, then strain the syrup through. Store the strained syrup in the refrigerator, covered. It should keep for a couple of weeks.
.

to print the ginger syrup recipe, click here

These cookies were absolutely delicious, and perfect for this time of the year. If you like gingersnaps, they will please you because they are similar, but the cardamon takes them in a slightly different direction. On a side note, every time I open the bottle of cardamon I get mesmerized by its intense, delicious smell. Truly addictive for me. I reduced the amount of ginger powder called for in the recipe because my syrup seemed very powerful. Do not be alarmed by the amount of sugar in the recipe: one cup of sugar plus the syrup, and honey. The cookies end up with a perfect balance of spice and sweetness.

I took the full batch (about 35 cookies) to our department, and once again they were a huge hit. They seem pretty humble and harmless, but once you grab the first one it is impossible not to go back for more.

The ginger syrup was a fun culinary project that made our home smell terrific on a gray Saturday afternoon. You will have more than you need for the cookies, so consider making homemade ginger ale: just add a little syrup to a glass with some ice cubes, squirt a little lime juice, and fill the glass with carbonated water or club soda. If the temperature outside was not so polar-bear-friendly, I would have a glass right now.

Camilla, you have a great food blog, and I’ll be visiting you often from now on. I hope you also had a blast with your assignment… As a note to my readers, at this time of the year cookies are in everyone’s mind, so click on the blue frog for a serious collection of goodies made by my fellow virtual friends from The Secret Recipe Club.

Sarah, thanks for organizing this event, saving me from a horrible SRC withdrawn episode!

ONE YEAR AGO: A Simple Taco to Remember

TWO YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with Homemade Calzones

THREE YEARS AGO: Plum-Glazed Duck Breasts

FOUR YEARS AGO: Holiday Double-Decker

FIVE YEARS AGO: New York Deli Rye

2Dec2014

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE AND MINT COOKIES

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

If you type “chocolate cookie recipe” in a Google search you’ll get over 2 million hits in return. Two million. How many recipes for chocolate cookies does the world need? Nobody knows. Since in my humble food blog I only have 13 cookie recipes, of which less than half involve chocolate, I need to catch up. Here is one more for you, no chocolate chips, just good old melted chocolate, cocoa powder, and pieces of chocolate mint candy, such as Andes. By the way, did you know that Andes mints originated in Chicago in the 1920’s and were originally named Andy’s Mints? It turns out that the owners of the company quickly realized that men did not care to give their partners a candy with another guy’s name on the box. So, instead of honoring its creator, Andrew Kanelos, Andy’s became Andes, and now we have a chocolate mint that is not too far away from celebrating its 100th Birthday. The distinguished candy works well in this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis.

DOUBLE CHOCOLATE AND MINT COOKIES
(from Giada de Laurentiis)

6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
One 5-ounce package chocolate mint thins, such as Andes, each cut into thirds
.

Heat the oven to 300 degrees F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
.
In a small bowl, combine the bittersweet chocolate and butter. Place the bowl over a pan of barely simmering water and stir occasionally until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Allow it to cool for 5 minutes.
.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, 2 tablespoons water and vanilla extract. Gradually add the dry ingredients. Fold in the cooled chocolate. Stir in the chocolate mint pieces. Chill the dough 10 minutes to firm slightly.

.
Using 1/4 cup measuring cup, drop 6 mounds of batter onto each prepared sheet, spacing evenly apart. Bake the cookies for a total of 18 to 20 minutes, until slightly puffed and dry-looking with some small cracks on top.
.
Cool the cookies completely on sheets.
.
ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Mint is an interesting flavor. I think most people like it, but when someone doesn’t care for it, it’s a bit like cilantro. Intense hate. I wish I could tell you whether the mint flavor is too strong in these cookies, but I didn’t have a single one. I baked them during my lunch break, took them still warm to the department, but when I went back to grab one, only crumbs were staring at me from the platter. However, according to one of our graduate students, the mint component was pretty mild. Two pointers for success from watching Giada’s show: first, keep the pieces of the Andes candies on the large side, because that makes them melt in your mouth as you bite into the cookie. Second, cool the dough before baking. The recipe uses relatively little flour, so cooling is needed to be able to scoop them out nicely.

With this post Google has one more chocolate cookie to share with those desperately searching for it. Mission accomplished.

ONE YEAR AGO: In My Kitchen, December 2013

TWO YEARS AGO: Sourdough Mini-Rolls

THREE YEARS AGO: Do you eat your books?

FOUR YEARS AGO: Mediterranean Skewers

FIVE YEARS AGO Fettuccine with Shrimp, Swiss Chard, and Tomatoes

7Nov2014

HELEN FLETCHER’S OATMEAL COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

A few months ago I started following the blog hosted by Helen Fletcher, a fantastic baker who has this to say about her site:

With 25 years experience owning and operating a wholesale specialty bakery servicing hotels, restaurants and caterers, I am going to share a wealth of information I’ve gained over those years with you.

That would definitely be enough to capture my attention, but once I started browsing her site one more thing became clear: Helen not only has tremendous experience in baking, but she is also a natural teacher. You know how some people have a special talent to explain things clearly, to emphasize what really matters? That is exactly what she does. She is also the author of three cookbooks: The New Pastry Cookbook, European Tarts, and Baking as a Business (available in PDF format).

Just to give you a glimpse of the recipes (actually they are more like tutorials) available on her site, here are some of the ones that tempt me: 27 Layer Tuille Torte, Chocolate Strawberry Mousse Torte, A Trio of Angel Food Cakes, Orange Almond Madeleines, and even the show-stopping Hungarian Dobos Torte calls my name, as her instructions are so detailed. Now, don’t hold your breath, I am not attempting that one… yet. Taking baby steps, I started with harmless cookies.

OATMEAL COOKIES
(recipe reprinted with permission from Helen S. Fletcher – Pastries like a Pro)

3 cups old-fashioned Quaker Oats (do not use the quick cooking type!)
1 cup + 2 tablespoons flour (160 grams or 5 2/3 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar (225 grams or 8 ounces)
1 cup sugar (200 grams or 7 ounces)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (114 grams, 4 ounces or 1 stick)
1/2 cup shortening (114 grams or 4 ounces)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pound total chocolate chips, raisins, dried fruit or nuts in any combination (454 grams)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt. Set aside.

Cream the sugars, butter and shortening until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until combined. Add the vanilla. If the mixture curdles, don’t worry about it.

Add the flour mixture half at a time, beating on low until completely combined. Lastly, add the nuts, chips or whatever you are adding in.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop the cookies using a #40 disher or 2 tablespoons spacing them apart. Double pan and bake for 9 minutes, turn and bake 8 to 9 more. They should still be puffy when you pull them out. They will drop and finish baking on the baking sheet as they cool. Cool for about 8 to 10 minutes and remove to a cooling rack with a spatula. Cool completely.

Yield: Approximately 50 – 3 inch cookies.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: What made me want to make this recipe right away was this statement by Helen: “I wish I had a nickel for every time someone told me how much they loved this oatmeal cookie. It is not your usual oatmeal cookie… This is a chocolate chip version that is not shy on spices.” Oatmeal, chocolate, and spices. Cannot go wrong with those. As the recipe says, you can add any combination of nuts, dried fruits, and the type of chocolate you like, as long as you keep the high proportion of add-ons. That is important to give the cookies their unique texture. I used white and dark chocolate chips, walnuts, and dried cranberries. Finally, how could I skip a recipe that includes this line in the instructions?

If the mixture curdles, don’t worry about it…
😉

If only cake baking could work smoothly like that! I would be making genoises as if they were going out of style… I exchanged a few emails with Helen, to get her opinion on halving the recipe: 50 cookies seemed like too many. She was very nice, and gently tried to convince me to make the full batch. I am a bit embarrassed to admit that she was right, and I should have followed her advice. My batch made 20 cookies, as I tend to follow Phil’s preferences, and make cookies a little larger than average. The cookies vanished too fast, a full batch would have been better. Oh, well. When a pro speaks, you should listen. That’s what I keep trying to convey to our graduate students, but sometimes my shockingly wise words fall into deaf ears. Which explains 57% of my gray hair.

If a pro speaks, pay attention. If the mixture curdles, don’t worry about it.
(free advice given to you by your bewitching hostess)

ONE YEAR AGO: Thai-Style Pesto with Brown Rice Pasta

TWO YEARS AGO: Shrimp with Spicy Orange Sauce

THREE YEARS AGO: A Simple Appetizer (Baked Ricotta)

FOUR YEARS AGO: Sour Cream Sandwich Bread

FIVE YEARS AGO: Pasta with Zucchini Strands and Shrimp

12Aug2014

BEST THING I EVER MADE: CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

If you don’t watch FoodTV Network, you may think this is my own statement. Not the case. Best Thing I Ever Made is one of the shows I continue to tape, hoping that at some point they will air new episodes. Unfortunately, not much luck in the past year or so. What I love about it is that they ask chefs to share their recipes for the best thing they ever made in a certain category, like Family Recipes, Crowd Pleasers, Cheese, or this particular episode, Sweet Endings. I didn’t know Elizabeth Falkner, but was immediately smitten by her smile, energy and aura. Instead of a super complicated recipe that required you to find beet sugar smoked on the hills of Himalaya, hers was one of the simplest formulas ever. It’s a lot more about technique than anything else.

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES STRAIGHT UP OR WITH NUTS
(recipe from Elizabeth Falkner)
.
8 tablespoons (4 ounces) butter, softened but still cool
3/4 cup (6 1/4 ounces) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon (4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg (1 1/2 ounces by weight)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups plus 3 tablespoons (7 ounces) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped the size of chocolate chips, or bittersweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 cups)
3/4 cup (3 ounces) chopped walnuts, optional
.
In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, cream together the butter and brown and granulated sugars until smooth but not over mixed. (I do this by hand, but if you use a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or a handheld mixer, beat on medium speed for 1 to 2 minutes, and then scrape down the sides of the bowl before continuing.) Add the egg, vanilla and salt and stir just until combined.
.
Sift in the flour, baking soda and baking powder and stir gently just until combined. Add the chocolate and nuts if using and stir just until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes or overnight.
.
Position the racks in the upper third and lower third of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
.
Scoop up 1-inch balls of the dough with a spoon or mini scoop and set them 2 inches apart on the prepared pans. Bake the cookies, rotating the pans after 7 to 9 minutes, for 13 to 17 minutes until the cookies are golden brown. If you like a very soft cookie, bake them for 13 minutes. If you like a crisp cookie, bake them for 17 minutes. Transfer to racks and let cool.
.
ENJOY!
.

to print the recipe, click here.

Comments: I always make cookie dough using my Kitchen Aid mixer, but watching Elizabeth mix hers by hand using just a fork seemed like so much fun, I gave it a try. It was not as hard as I anticipated, and made it easier to judge when the butter and the sugar were properly mixed together. Two things are important in this recipe: cutting the chocolate in uneven sizes, and refrigerating the dough, the longer the better, overnight is perfect. The larger chunks of chocolate will melt in your mouth in a way that no chocolate chip will do. Of course, use the best chocolate you can find and afford.

I made the cookie dough after dinner, left it in the fridge until lunch time next morning, baked the cookies and took them to our department still warm from the oven. They were inhaled quite quickly, which I think is a nice compliment to Ms. Faulkner… 😉

Flour, sugar, egg & butter: $5.00

Trader Joe’s Bittersweet Chocolate: $6.50

Unexpectedly including your dog in a food blog shot: PRICELESS…

ONE YEAR AGO: Farofa Brasileira

TWO YEARS AGO: Thai-Inspired Pork Tenderloin

THREE YEARS AGO: A yummy Brazilian cake: Bolo de Fuba’

FOUR YEARS AGO: Summer’s Tomatoes

FIVE YEARS AGO: Leaving on a jet plane…

13Jul2014

WHITE CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA NUT COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

I think I should add a new category to my recipes: PLEASE MAKE ME! This one would go right in, without a shadow of a doubt. Of course, if you are part of the team that hates white chocolate and rather goes for statements like “it’s not real chocolate“, and “any chocolate connoisseur should walk away from such abnormality“… then, maybe these cookies are not for you. I am not 100% sure, though. Something about the marriage between white chocolate and macadamia nuts might shake the convictions of even the most stubborn anti-white chocolate being. Please make these. As Mel described them in her post: these are absolute perfection.

WHITE CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA NUT COOKIES

(from Mel’s Kitchen)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
12 ounces white chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer until the mixture is well-combined.

Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until the mixture is creamy and light in color, 2-3 minutes.

Stir in the flour, salt and soda and mix until just combined; a few streaks of flour remaining are not a problem.

Add the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts and mix until combined and no streaks of flour remain.

Roll tablespoon (or slightly larger) size balls of dough and place on silpat or parchment lined baking sheets, 1 to 2 inches apart.

Bake for 9-11 minutes.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Growing up, I did not like nuts. In those days, back in Brazil, they were awfully expensive, something reserved for special occasions, which in our family meant…. December, with Christmas and New Year’s Eve on the horizon. My Dad would buy walnuts and pecans, still in their shells, and every evening after dinner, would sit at the sofa, patiently cracking them, one at a time. He loved to show off and crack them karate style, much to my Mom’s despair, as pieces of shell would fly everywhere, and sometimes his hand would be hurt in the process. He never admitted to being hurt, instead acted as if he felt no pain whatsoever. If a nut resisted his blows, he would walk to the door that separated the living room from my bedroom, wedge the nut between the frame and the door, and crack it by attempting to shut the door close. Mom would not approve of that either, as it makes a royal mess on the floor. As you can see, anything but a real nut cracker was part of the game. Not that we did not have one, I vividly remember a beautiful silver gadget sitting over the table, neglected to a minor decorative role. Go figure. Dad probably thought that nut crackers were for sissies. After all that hard work, he would dig chunky pieces of walnuts from the shell, and offer me. Silly child that I was, I promptly twisted my nose.

But now that I am older and wiser, I find myself in love with every single type of nut, oddly enough maybe the Brazil nut is the one I like the least. But macadamia, pistachios, walnuts, almonds, pecans, hazelnuts… love them all! Roasted, salted, raw, in sweets, in sauces, in pestos… Dad would be proud.