LOVE AT 30,000 FEET

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

It was many years ago that the airlines began to cut expenses by throwing their bored passengers only a small bag of peanuts or pretzels to tame their hunger. But, once on a Delta flight I got a different type of snack. Ripping open the package I found two small cookies inside, and told Phil: “We don’t even deserve pretzels anymore, look at these tiny cookies”! But, with the first bite I fell madly in love! Delta, whenever possible, became my airline of choice, and I stepped inside the plane with one goal in mind: charm the stewardess into giving me two packages. Maybe three… 😉

I kept my passion for these cookies a secret, thinking that professing love for airline cookies would be similar to admitting a weakness for Velveeta (don’t ask, I won’t tell). But one day, I posed a discreet question in a cooking forum trying to find out more about them. All clouds dissipated in the horizon: those are speculaas, very special cookies that originated in Europe centuries ago. Many versions exist, sharing in common a mixture of spices, brown sugar, and butter. Traditionally, they have beautiful, complex designs on the surface, requiring special molds to shape them. I used ceramic molds (highlighted here)that were a bit more affordable than the real McCoy. As to the recipe, my friend Gary shared the method he learned in culinary school. The teacher, chef Gabriel, gave me permission to publish his very own recipe, so you can fall in love with these cookies right in your own kitchen, in the safety of firm ground! Isn’t that awesome?

SPECULAAS
(Recipe courtesy of Chef Jeffrey Gabriel
CMC Schoolcraft College)

8 oz butter at room temperature
11 oz brown sugar
1 + 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 + 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 egg yolks
2 Tbs milk
13 oz flour
2 oz almonds, finely chopped in a food processor.

Place the butter and the brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer, and beat on medium speed until creamy and smooth (about 3 minutes). Add the spices, egg yolks, and milk. Continue beating until it is all well blended.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour with the ground almonds, add them to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until a dough forms. Chill the dough for at least one hour, preferably overnight (easier to work with next day).

If rolling the dough, remove from the fridge and work on a floured, cool surface. Roll the dough to 1/8 inch thick, cut in the shape you want, and bake. If using a mold, pull small amounts of dough, press into the slightly floured mold, and delicately remove it, placing the cookie with the design up on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake the cookies in a 350F oven until golden brown.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: I will not lie to you. Working with these molds requires patience. I can see that with a lot of practice, it could be a soothing, relaxing activity. Not much Zen was happening in our kitchen, though. Gary recommended this book to speed the learning process, and I have it on my wish list at amazon.com. All reviews are stellar. But, if you don’t have a mold, don’t let it prevent you from making speculaas. They may become your favorite type of cookie, perfect for this time of the year, when we all need the warmth of cinnamon, the nice heat of cloves and nutmeg, the sweetness of sugar and molasses.

Note added after publishing: for a great take on speculas, jump here to see Celia’s version, that includes thinly sliced almonds. From what I’ve been reading, that type of recipe is common in Belgium. Check it out!

ONE YEAR AGO: The Unbearable Lightness of Baking

TWO YEARS AGO: Pain a l’Ancienne

1Oct2011

NUTELLA DROP COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Growing up as a picky eater, small and skinny, my Mom used to keep a jar of Nutella around because if nothing else, she knew I would not be able to resist its calling. I would hit that jar several times a day, with a small spoon and a big smile. It didn’t make me tall and voluptuous, but I was hooked …

Of course, I now respect Nutella’s caloric content: nuts, chocolate, and sugar, a deliciously dangerous combo. The big jar sits in the pantry, waiting for a reason to come out and play, like in these cookies that Giada made a few months ago. They remind me of snickerdoodles with a suntan. 😉
NUTELLA DROP COOKIES
(from Giada de Laurentiis)

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1/2 cup Nutella, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar (for rolling the cookies: optional)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat type liners.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar (1/4 cup) on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in the vanilla. With the machine running on low speed, gradually add the flour until incorporated. Beat in the Nutella. Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop small balls of dough onto each baking sheet. Bake until the bottoms of the cookies flatten out slightly, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you want to sugar-coat the cookies, place 1 cup of powdered sugar in a medium bowl, and roll the cookies in the sugar until coated. Alternatively, you can add the sugar to a sieve and sprinkle some on the surface of the cookies once they are cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

If you read the many reviews of this recipe in the FoodTV website, you’ll notice not everyone fell in love with it. I suspect it’s all related to how long you bake these cookies: under-baking is the key, or they’ll be too hard and dry.

I liked the simplicity of the recipe, very few ingredients, quick to put together and bake. But the best is that it gave me the chance to use for the first time my brand new cookie dough dispenser – loved it!

ONE YEAR AGO: Dreaming of butternut squash

TWO YEARS AGO: Simply Elegant: Salmon Curry (one of my very favorite dishes!)

11Jul2010

RUSSIAN TEA COOKIES: WHEN PERSISTENCE PAYS OFF

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

This recipe has tempted me ever since I first encountered it on Barbara’s blog. If you read her post you’ll understand my sentiments and want to bake a batch too. So, a couple of Mondays ago I awakened at 5:30 am and went to the kitchen, hoping to have these cookies still warm from the oven for our lab meeting. As you shall see momentarily, the road to hell is indeed paved with good intentions.

Because I was a little tired and sleepy I carefully followed the recipe, and even arranged the measured ingredients on the counter top (the mis-en-place, mark of a serious cook). Nevertheless, unimpressed by my organizational skills, the ingredients refused to shape into a dough. No matter what I did, I only found revolving sandy crumbs forming in the KitchenAid mixer bowl. My husband woke up, came to the kitchen with a good morning kiss, but quickly decided to fetch the newspaper and read it with his coffee, far away from the kitchen (smart man that he is).

I returned to Barbara’s blog … had I forgotten something? – nope, everything was in order. So I gathered up portions of the sandy mess, formed them into “balls” and baked them, into what turned out to be unstable, unappetizing blobs. Frustrated, I rolled one into powdered sugar and tried it….Not fit for human consumption. Almost in tears, I began cleaning the kitchen, and while putting the almond flour away I noticed something printed on the bag: “brown rice flour“.

Some days a woman should not leave the comfort of her bed until way past 7 am, possibly around noon. But, I made them again, and… persistence paid off. Would you believe that the correct flour made them just as tasty as Barbara described?

RUSSIAN TEA CAKES
(adapted from Barbara’s blog, originally published in A Blithe Palate)

1 + 3/4 cups (6 oz) almond flour
2 cups all purpose flour
6 T sugar, divided (4 T + 2 T)
8 oz unsalted butter, softened
1 t vanilla
extract zest of 1/2 large lemon
1 t salt

Powdered sugar for dusting the cookies.

Heat the oven to 325 F.

Cream the butter and 4 T sugar until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla until combined, then reduce speed and add the two kinds of flour, salt, lemon zest, and the remaining 2T of sugar. Scoop a spoonful of dough and roll it into a 1 inch ball. You should obtain about 36 cookies.

Place them on a lined baking sheet. Bake them until light brown, approximately 20 minutes. Do not overcook. Half way through baking time, switch the cookie sheets, rotating them to promote even baking. Remove from the oven and dust them liberally with powdered sugar. Cool on a rack. Eat 3 or 4 four cookies while no one is looking.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

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Comments: What a difference a flour makes! 😉 My only change to the recipe was to add a bit of lemon zest, because it’s a natural match for almonds. The dough is easy to shape and has a delightful aroma even in its raw form. At the first bite of the cookie I wondered, “do I like it”? But within seconds it melted in my mouth, with a lovely almond flavor, simultaneously sweet and nutty, with a slight splash of citrus as an extra kick. Eat one, and you will reach for a second in no time.

ONE YEAR AGO: CINNAMON-RAISIN WALNUT LOAF

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9Oct2009

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

Talk about an American classic… I’ve seen so many recipes for chocolate chip cookies, and one of the major issues is… do you like nuts in your cookies? Purists want the flavor of chocolate, and little else. Others enjoy the scrumptious crunchiness of walnuts or pecans, and without them, something is missing. My beloved falls in the second category, and he’s set in his preference. I don’t care that much, as long as the cookies are chewy. Please, no dunking in milk, as my stepson loves to do, it grosses me out, and he dunks them right in front of me! 🙂 In fact, the first thing he said after my naturalization was: “now that you’re an American, you’ve got to start dunking some cookies in a tall glass of milk“….

Whether you are a purist or not, or a “dunker” or not, I’ll bet you’ll enjoy these cookies. I’ve made them several times since I first saw the recipe at Smitten Kitchen. In this batch my only adjustment was to chop some of the nut pieces slightly larger. These cookies will still please the purists, though…

CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
(as posted in Smitten Kitchen, original recipe from The Great Book of Chocolate)

(receita em portugues na segunda pagina)

100g (1/2 cup) granulated sugar
120g (1/2 cup) dark brown sugar
8 Tbs unsalted butter (1 stick), cold, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
175 g (1 + 1/4 cup) all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
200 g (1 + 1/2 cup) good quality semisweet chocolate chips
130 g (1 cup) walnuts toasted and chopped

Heat the oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, or use a Silpat lining.

Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2T balls and place them on a baking sheet separated by 3 inches. Bake for 18 minutes, until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.

Makes 24 cookies.

to print the recipe, click here.

Comments: You’ll notice that these cookies bake at a lower temperature than most recipes call for. If you are like me, and enjoy chewy cookies, this is the best way to bake them. I like to make the dough and rest it in the fridge for a couple of hours. By doing so, the dough spreads less during baking, which also favors a chewy texture.

Toasting the nuts is an important preliminary step, but watch them carefully, because the difference between toasted and burned is just a few seconds!

Match made in heaven: a chocolate chip cookie with a mini-capuccino, served in a cup from one of our favorite cafes in Paris!

para receita em portugues, clique aqui

25Jul2009

SNICKERDOODLES WITH A TWIST

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Sweets by sallybr

cookies1

For the record, I don’t have a sweet tooth. I can go for months without dessert, and my sweet cravings are satisfied by some yogurt with a little agave nectar and by bits of bittersweet chocolate every now and then. So, if I tell you that when I made these cookies I ate one and went back for three more…. trust me, you should fire up your oven!

I chose these cookies because I was mesmerized by their picture in this wonderful blog. I am so glad I did, even though my photos don”t come close in terms of quality, the flavor of these babies is great: snickerdoodles with a twist…

For Brazilians and other foreign readers who may not know about them, snickerdoodles are a classic, probably of German origin, that have been around since the beginning of last century. They are very simple cookies, that get rolled in cinnamon and sugar right before going into the oven. The crinkled look is their trademark.

In this rendition, a little coffee powder is added to the dough. Normally, I don’t like changes in a classic recipe, but in this case, the results were awesome. Even if you’re not fond of coffee, give these cookies a try. The coffee flavor is subtle, and it’s wonderful with the cinnamon, making these cookies simply irresistible.

closeup

CINNAMON CAPPUCCINO COOKIES
(recipe adapted from “A Kiss and a Cupcake“)

1 cup butter (two sticks), softened
1 + 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 + 3/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 + 1/2 tablespoons powdered coffee (see comments)
granulated sugar + cinnamon (3:1)

Preheat oven to 350°.

Cream together sugar and butter whipping them with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until smooth. Add powdered coffee and beat until incorporated.

Combine remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to butter mixture in three batches. Chill resulting dough for 20-30 minutes. Scoop out 1-inch balls of dough and roll them in sugar/cinnamon mixture; place on chilled cookie sheets 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until centers are set.

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen.

click here for comments and additional photos