CARAMEL SANDWICH COOKIES

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

Today I share three versions of Caramel Sandwich Cookies. The first recipe (top left) is my default (Chocolate Chipotle Cookies that you can find here). The second version (bottom right) was made using Sweetapolita Bakebook recipe for Dark Chocolate Cutout Cookies which I won’t share due to copyright issues. At any rate, as written the recipe is a bit too strong for my taste, I would advise using less dark cocoa powder particularly if you are baking for kids. The lighter cookie (bottom left) is Cinnamon Orange, and the recipe is below.

CINNAMON-ORANGE SUGAR COOKIE
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

1 cup butter (226 g), at room temperature
1 cup sugar (200g)
zest of half a large orange
1/4 cup agave nectar
2 eggs
1 tsp orange bakery emulsion or orange extract of your choice
575 g all-purpose flour (about 4 cups)
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Heat the oven to 350 F and line baking sheets with parchment. Mix the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt, and set aside. Mix the sugar with the zest rubbing it well to release the oils. Cream the butter with the flavored sugar, just until smooth and combined. Add the agave nectar and continue mixing for a minute or so.

In a small bowl whisk the eggs and orange emulsion. Add to the butter-sugar mixture and mix at low speed until combined. Add the flour mixture on low-speed, until it forms a dough.

Remove the dough from the bowl, cut in two pieces and wrap them in plastic. Refrigerate for one hour, then roll, cut shapes and bake in 350 F oven until golden at the edges, depending on the size of the cookies, 10 to 15 minutes. For these cookies, I used a patterned rolling pin.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Rolling pin available at etsy (click here)

For both chocolate cookies, I used a stamp to create the design on the top portion of the cookie. One of them is available here, the other I could not find any longer, had it for many years.

I have tried two different recipes for caramel filling, but the second one was far better in terms of texture and flavor. You can find it here. I made half the recipe published in the site.

The caramel filling complements quite well both the chocolate and the orange cookies, very versatile, and it has the perfect texture to bite into. I think that embossed rolling pins and springerle-type stamps are a very nice way to embellish sandwich cookies.

ONE YEAR AGO: Miso-Caramel Cracker Cookies

TWO YEARS AGO: Mooncakes for Mid-Autumn Festival

THREE YEARS AGO: Almond-Raspberry Triangles and a Special Cookbook Review

FOUR YEARS AGO: Sweet and Spicy Roasted Cauliflower

FIVE YEARS AGO: Roasted Cauliflower Salad over Hummus

SIX YEARS AGO: Queen of Sheba

SEVEN YEAR AGO: Brunch Burger

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Mango Salsa with Verjus

NINE YEARS AGO: Raspberry Bittersweet Chocolate Chunk Brownies

TEN YEARS AGO: Scary Good Pork Burgers

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Review of exercise program Focus25

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Celebrate Wednesday with a Thai Seafood Curry

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Post-workout Breakfast

FOURTEEN YEARS AGO: Semolina Barbecue Buns

FIFTEEN YEARS AGO: Lavash Crackers

25Apr2023

PISTACHIO SUGAR COOKIES, THE UZBEK WAY

Posted in Cookies by sallybr

I am absolutely in love with this recipe, which I adapted from past adventures to incorporate pistachio flour to the party. It is hard for me to pick a favorite cutout sugar cookie recipe, but this is a very strong contender. Plus, it has the advantage of keeping the shape for patterns from molds, rolling pins, and…. a bread stamp! Yes, this post joins bread with cookies, by using the Uzbek stamp to create a design. I tell you, I am over the moon with these! To see the bread stamp used for its intended purpose, visit this old post of mine by clicking here.

PISTACHIO SUGAR COOKIES
(from The Bewitching Kitchen)

150 g butter, room temperature
90 g powdered sugar
1 g salt
1 egg (45 to 50g)
30 g pistachio flour
250 g all purpose-flour
1/2 tsp pistachio bakery emulsion (I used this one from LorAnn)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Cut the butter in small pieces, add to the bowl of a Kitchen Aid type mixer with the sugar and salt. Mix on medium-speed until creamy and light.

In a small bowl, whisk the egg with the flavor emulsions. Add to the creamed sugar in low speed, in three additions. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is mixing homogeneously. Once the butter and egg are mixed, add the flours. Mix on low speed until it starts to form a dough, remove from the bowl and gently knead by hand until smooth.

Form a disc and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Roll the dough, cut cookies and gently press with the Uzbek stamp tool dipped in flour to prevent it to stick to the dough. Depending on how soft your dough is, you might need to brush a little flour on top before pressing the design.

Freeze the cut and stamped cookies for 10 to 15 minutes before baking at 325F until it starts to get dark on the edges. Fifteen to twenty minutes, depending on your oven. Remove to a cooling rack and paint once the cookies are at room temperature.

ENJOY!

to print the recipe, click here

Comments: Take a look at that speckled dough! The pistachio flour adds wonderful taste and texture to the cookies. Please give it a try. Cookies will be great even baked without any adornment. Of course, if you sandwich them with some lemon buttercream or a pistachio ganache, I won’t hold any of it against you.

For more ideas on how to paint them, and details on the Uzbek stamp, please visit my cookie blog with a click here.

ONE YEAR AGO: Carrots and Zucchini Stir-Fry with Peanut Sauce

TWO YEARS AGO: Cookie Therapy, Anyone?

THREE YEARS AGO: The Quasi-Vegan Quiche

FOUR YEARS AGO: Not Quite Moqueca

FIVE YEARS AGO: Roasted Butternut Squash with Cashew Nuts

SIX YEARS AGO: Mississippi Roast and the Open Mind

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Walnut-Raisin Bran Muffins

EIGHT YEARS AGO: A Star is Born!

NINE YEARS AGO: Chestnut Flour Sourdough Bread

TEN YEARS AGO: Kinpira Gobo and Japanese Home Cooking

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Walnut Sourdough

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Thai Chicken Curry

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: Zen and the art of risotto

30Oct2022

WOULD YOU LIKE A COOKIE OR A BROWNIE?

Posted in Cake by sallybr

HAVE BOTH!

I cannot take credit for the idea, it was something Marlyn posted on her youtube channel, and I thought it was brilliant! She took the concept of colored cookie dough one step further, and used it to top brownies, baking them together. Works like a charm, and the possibilities are endless…

for Marlyn’s version, click here

You can use any brownie recipe you like, mine included walnuts. For the cookies, I made flowers with dough of different colors, and with marbled pieces too.

You then need to place them (FROZEN) over the raw brownie batter. Marlyn placed shapes all over in random spots, and that works too, you just cut through the design once serving the brownie. I decided to space the flowers so that each would end up centered on every piece.

After that, bake as you normally would. The cookies and the brownies have similar baking times, and the brownie batter protects the cookie if you need to bake longer. But for me it was a total of 25 minutes. Let the brownie completely cool, and then slice it in pieces.

This was a huge success when I took to the department to share with our colleagues on a Monday morning. Nothing like starting the week correctly!

I am dreaming of baking a set of blondies with chocolate cookie shapes on top. Once baked, you can even add details with a little Royal icing, like I showed yesterday on my cookie blog (see last picture of this post).

ONE YEAR AGO: Sourdough Fun, Three Ways

TWO YEARS AGO: Spooky Bakes, a Farewell

THREE YEARS AGO: Fall-Inspired Baking

FOUR YEARS AGO: On a Halloween Roll

FIVE YEARS AGO: Pumpkin Macarons

SIX YEARS AGO: Zucchini, Lemon & Walnut Cake

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Paleo Energy Bars

EIGHT YEARS AGO: Pecan-Crusted Chicken with Honey Mustard Dressing

NINE YEARS AGO: Mozzarella Stuffed Turkey Burgers

TEN YEARS AGO: Cashew Chicken Lettuce Wraps

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Clay-pot Pork Roast

TWELVE YEARS AGO: Panmarino

THIRTEEN YEARS AGO: A Classic Roast Chicken

4Sep2021

THE NEVER AGAIN FOLDER

Posted in Cake, Cookies by sallybr

Some adventures in the kitchen can be catastrophic. My lowest of the low was a certain Vegan Soufflee made in 2019 that was by far the worst thing I’ve ever made and maybe the worst I’ve ever tasted. Then there are things that ended up quite tasty but the process was so convoluted that… all I could think was “never, never again.” I share two examples today. You can actually use your own recipes to come up with them, they are both very simple. A brownie cake and sugar cookie dough, in two colors.

LADY BUG BROWNIE BITES

This one took me by surprise, after all I like to think I’m quite comfortable around Royal icing. And after baking the brownie bites in your favorite silicone half-dome mold, you are half way there. But, not so fast, my dear… not so fast. Getting the red icing to smoothly coat the surface, all the way down, is VERY messy and requires colorful language. Then you need to add the details in black while the red is still wet. Finally the white eyes are added later, when the base is set and any Zen you had is far gone.

They did look awfully cute, but I tell you, NEVER AGAIN!

Moving on…

JIGSAW BLACK AND WHITE COOKIES

For these cute looking cookies, all you need is the right cutter, and I recommend this one. I actually saw someone on IG making a pastry shell using this technique and immediately adapted it for cookies. It seemed so straightforward.

Roll out both doughs less than 1/4 inch thick (I was going to do sandwich cookies because I like to maximize suffering, so I wanted them thin). Cut with the mold, separate the pieces and assemble them together. Cut them in square shapes to bake.

I know they look pretty nice and appealing, but it was time-consuming, a lot of work to come up with just a few cookies. Also, you are left with some trimmings that to use you must mash together for a marble effect, no way to re-roll and get more jigsaw patterns going.

To be honest, I really like the Jigsaw Cookies and might do them again, maybe a Red Velvet and White when Valentine’s comes up. But I need some time to forget the hassle and tell myself “I don’t remember it being that bad.”

ONE YEAR AGO: Chai-Butterfly Macarons

TWO YEARS AGO: Roasted Cauliflower Salad over Hummus

THREE YEARS AGO: Sous-vide Egg Bites

FOUR YEARS AGO: Paul Hollywood, The Weekend Baker

FIVE YEARS AGO: Texas Sheet Cake

SIX YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen, September 2015

SEVEN YEARS AGO: Sour Cherry Sorbet: A Labor of Love

EIGHT YEARS AGO: In My Kitchen – September 2013

NINE YEARS AGO: Raspberry Sorbet at Summer’s End

TEN YEARS AGO: When three is better than two (four years with Buck!)

ELEVEN YEARS AGO: Grating Tomatoes (and loving it!)

TWELVE YEARS AGO: A Peachy Salad for a Sunny Day