Almond Bar Cookies

Another recipe I decided to try, from my recent filing spree. And I learned something with this particular one from Gourmet. If a recipe comes from that source, there are some advantages:

• Firstly, you can go to Epicurious to read or find the recipe. (For recipes that are older, most are now on Gourmet's own website. Going back decades.)


• And secondly, people who have tried the recipe, upload comments and reviews of the recipes.

This latter - reading comments - would have been very important to this recipe, had I done that. I would have learned that others who had made these found them way too greasy, but a simple reduction of butter would have helped. I didn't go to Epicurious, so, ended up with a cookie that is good, but just as many said, way, WAY too greasy. If you want to read the comments, click here.

Almonds are good, in my book. Almond paste adds a wonderful richness - and tenderness actually - to baked goods. When whipping up the batter/dough for this, it had a wonderful lightness to it, yet the cookies are solid with almond flavor. It wasn't hard to make. Just wished I had thought through the chemistry of 1 1/4 cups of flour and 2 whole cubes of butter. Too much, for only 25-30 pieces. The cookies are delicious, but a little bit goes a long way. I probably will try these again, heeding the advice of others. You line the 8x8 or 9x9 pan with foil, BUTTER the foil (I question why that last step), then prepare the dough and spread it with an offset spatula in the readied pan, then brush with egg white so the sliced almonds will stick to the top. Bake. Easy.

Almond Bar Cookies

Recipe By: Gourmet Magazine, Dec. 2004

Serving Size : 25
1/2 cup almond paste -- not marzipan
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter -- softened [reduced from 1 cup in original recipe]
1 large egg -- separated
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon almond extract
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter a 9 x 9 pan, line with foil, then butter the foil.
3. In food processor, pulse almond paste until broken in small bits, then add 1/4 c sugar and salt, processing 1 minute more. In a large bowl, beat together butter and remaing sugar, 3 minutes. Add almond mixture, egg yolk, and almond extract, beat 2 minutes more. Reduce speed, then add flour. Mix until combined.
4. Spread batter evenly in pan and brush with egg white. Bake 35-40 minutes.
5. Cool in pan 1 hour. Cut into 25 squares.

Per Serving: 119 Calories; 7g Fat (52.5% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 23mg Cholesterol; 47mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

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Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

I must admit that when I read this recipe the first time, I thought "it's just another variation on chocolate chip cookies." Why fool with a good thing, my mind said. I've relied on the good-old Tollhouse (Nestle's) recipe, and never been unhappy with it. But the further I read into Smitten Kitchen's blog, the more I became convinced I'd best try this recipe. When you read the list of ingredients you definitely will think this is not all that different. Yes, more chips. And more nuts. But really, what's that mean but just a more densely populated cookie? But then you read the details, and you find out that there really are some differences:

1. You must start with cold butter

2. The nuts are toasted

3. The nuts are chopped finely so they almost disappear in the cookie

4. The cookies are baked differently - on parchment in a 300 degree F. oven for a long time

And are they a radical change? Well, maybe radical is too strong a word. Are they different? Yes. The texture is different - they're nicely crumbly and crisp. There is definitely something different about the nuts - besides the fact that there are a LOT of nuts (and chips) in these cookies. But having toasted the walnuts makes a huge difference. I used my food processor to chop the nuts, and did just as the recipe indicates - lots of the nuts were crumbs, but there were some pea-sized pieces in there too. Nothing larger, though. To say that I loved these is putting it mildly. These may be my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe from henceforth. Smitten's recipe came from David Liebovitz's book, The Great Book of Chocolate. I made no alterations to this recipe. My hat's off to Deb for passing on Liebovitz's recipe to all of us chocolate chip cookie fans.

Cook's Notes: Having read some of Smitten's comments - a couple of people had problems with them - I got everything prepped before I started mixing the cookies. The problems others had, I believe, might have been caused by the butter not being thoroughly chilled when they started making the cookies. Or, it could have been the type of butter used. So, my oven was hot. The dry ingredients were combined. The eggs and vanilla were standing by. The cookie sheets were ready. I chopped up the butter into the 1/2 inch cubes then put them back in the refrigerator while I did all the other prep work. Once I began to mix the cookies they took little more than a minute or two to be ready for plopping onto the parchment-lined cookie sheets. They took longer to bake - the recipe indicates 18 minutes. Mine took about 22, and my oven runs hot, so was surprised.

"Blue Chip" Chocolate Chip Cookies
Original Recipe: The Great Book of Chocolate by David Liebovitz
Source: Deb at the Smitten Kitchen Blog
Servings: 20
1/2 cup granulated sugar -- (100 grams)
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar -- (120 grams)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter -- (115 grams) cold, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour -- (175 grams)
1/4 teaspoon salt -- or 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips -- (200 grams)
1 cup walnuts -- or pecans, (130 grams) toasted and VERY finely chopped
1. Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven and preheat to 300F (150C). Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Beat the sugars and butters together until smooth. Mix in the egg, vanilla, and baking soda.
3. Stir together the flour and salt, then mix them into the batter. Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.
4. Scoop the cookie dough into 2 tablespoon balls and place 8 balls, spaced 4 inches (10cm) apart, on each of the baking sheets.
5. Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
6. Store at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days. (I always freeze my cookies)
NOTES : Make sure the butter is cold. Make sure walnuts are very finely chopped - with some pieces as large as a pea, but with some almost a powder.
Per Serving: 212 Calories; 12g Fat (49.3% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 25g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 23mg Cholesterol; 66mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.
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Oh darn, I did it again (Brandied Apricot Bars)

Surely I'm not alone in having an occasional baking failure, or my idiosyncrasies. I rarely have an actual cooking "failure." But, this was a close call! One of my greatest cooking failings is that I don't read the directions completely before plunging into the preparation. This time was no exception. But, hey, it's a cookie, and what's a little extra sugar, right?

Last time I made these, probably two years ago, after they were finished I even went into my recipe software and re-arranged the recipe, separating the ingredients for the bar part, the syrup part and the glaze part. So that I wouldn't do exactly when I repeated - again - today. But did I print out the recipe and toss the old one? You can guess, can't you? No. I didn't. Dummy. Idiot that I am. So this morning, as usual, always with 101 things on my mind (gotta finish this quickly, need to pay some bills, make the bed, finish my makeup) before I leave for a luncheon. I did READ the ingredients. But I glossed over the directions about separating the sugar portion (some of the sugar goes in the syrup).

This recipe is a favorite (when I make it) of my friend, Cherrie. She's an excellent cook, but she isn't a baker, so she relies on her friends who are bakers (uh, yea, that's me and others, I assume) to give her some goodies. And sometimes I give her a little bag of cookies which she parcels out in her DH Bud's lunch bag. I gave her one of my Bishop's Breads I made before Christmas. (I don't mean to be going on and on about my Bishop's Bread - it's just that Cherrie has learned to love this like I do.) Just a slice with her afternoon tea. So when one of her friends called to tell me she was having a birthday luncheon for Cherrie today, I thought - oh, I'll make a batch of those Brandied Apricot Bars for her. That will make Cherrie very, very happy. She adores these things. More than I do, actually. I mean, they're really good, but she would happily cross a glacier to get ahold of these, and she doesn't "do" cold. Of all the things I bake, these cookies may be her very favorite.

It could be the little rolling warmth that emanates from your gullet after chewing one - after all, it does have brandy in it. Not cooked much, either. Supposedly the alcohol is cooked off when you heat alcohol to a boil, but since this is apricot brandy you use, it's potent stuff and I'm sure there is still alcohol remaining, because I sure do get warmth in my mouth, throat and tummy when I eat these. Back when I made these the first time, Cherrie was actually staying with us for awhile. She and I were both having sleeping issues, often waking up in the middle of the night, not able to sleep (my reason was that I was taking Claritin-D; once I stopped taking that, I began sleeping better). But back then, if she heard me up, we'd meet in the kitchen, whispering so we wouldn't wake up my DH, and tiptoe with a tea tray into our living room, light the fire and have some Earl Gray and one of these bars. Or maybe two. At 6:30 am, or so, my DH would wander out, sleep in his eyes and say what in the world are you two doing? He learned eventually - if I wasn't in the bed with him when he awoke, I'd be in the living room with tea and a fire, or in my office playing some mindless solitaire.

So, back to today and too much sugar. What to do, what to do? I was already fully into the batter when I re-read the directions. That's when I discovered my mistake. Oops. I had put a scant cup of white sugar into the batter. So, I cut down some on the brown sugar (about half) and used less sugar in the brandy mixture. The lemon juice topping requires a certain amount of sugar - otherwise it would turn out too sour, so I really couldn't reduce the powdered sugar there. I also made these in a 9x13 Pyrex pan, so baked them slightly longer, and it made 32 bars, not 36. But even with all my bad reading and chemistry juggling, they turned out just fine. Amazing. And Cherrie was really tickled (see big smile below) with my plate of cookies. All for her, with a little bite for everybody else at the luncheon.

So, the recipe below, for these tummy-warming bars, is the corrected one. Note to self: print out the gosh-darned corrected recipe and put it in your file! (done!)

Brandied Apricot Bars
Recipe: Adapted by me from a Sunset Magazine article, 1996
Serving Size : 36
COOKIE BATTER:
7 tbsp butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp grated orange peel
1 tbsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups dried apricots -- minced
2/3 cup golden raisins
APRICOT SYRUP:
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup apricot brandy -- or Cointreau
3 tsp lemon juice
LEMON JUICE GLAZE:
4 tsp lemon juice
2/3 cup powdered sugar
1. Batter: preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, beat butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and brown sugar with mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then add orange peel and vanilla.
2. In separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, soda and cinnamon. Stir into butter mixture along with apricots and raisins.
3. Pour batter into lightly buttered 10x15 inch pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until cookie is lightly browned and springs back in center. If using a 9x13 pan, bake for about 25 minutes. Set on rack to cool.
4. Apricot Syrup - Just before bars are done, combine 1/3 cup sugar, brandy, and 3 tsp lemon juice in sauce pan. Bring to boil over high heat, remove and when bars comes from oven, spoon warm apricot syrup evenly over it. Let cool completely, then cut into 3 dozen equal pieces and leave in pan.
5. Lemon Icing - mix 4 teaspoons lemon juice and powdered sugar until smooth. Drizzle over the cookies. Once drizzle is sort-of dried, remove bars from pan. Serving Ideas : Originally a cookie, I think these make an equally interesting dessert. But, whichever, they're great with a cup of coffee or tea.
NOTES : When making the final glaze, add enough powdered sugar to make the glaze fairly firm - otherwise the bars are too soft and difficult to hold in your hand(it will ooze the glaze) and they're hard to store. Serve immediately or store airtight up to 2 days; freeze to store longer. If storing or freezing, separate layers with waxed paper or plastic wrap. Originally the bar called for more butter and sugar, but I reduced the amounts, as well as the amount of apricots and raisins.
Per Serving: 132 Calories; 6g Fat (38.9% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 37mg Cholesterol; 93mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fruit; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates. Printer-friendly recipe, click title at top.

Macarons from Bouchon

Most likely many of you, who read other food blogs, have heard about the macarons. That's not macaroons, but macarons. I think that would be pronounced, in the French, like mac-a-rown. The s is silent, and you'd nasalize the rown too. Very swishy. I'd seen pictures of these gems on some other blogs, but two weeks ago when DH and I drove through Yountville and stopped at Bouchon Bakery, they had bunches in their display case. I had to try one, in chocolate. It was only (ha) $3.00 for one. It stayed in the car for 2 days before I brought it into my cousin Maxine's house, where we were staying in Walnut Creek. We cut it in 4 quarters. I ate my two quarters in a jiffy. They're hard to describe, other than luscious. Soft. Smooth. These had a lovely chocolate flavor. Ideal with a hot beverage of some sort.

Probably only upscale bakeries will have these, and I'd guess Bouchon's would have ranked up there with the best there are outside of Paris. This macarons was absolutely to die for. If I see them again I'll definitely buy more. Well, maybe just one. They're quite rich with the filling in the center. Who knows how many calories there are. I don't want to know! The meringue-like outside cookie part is not crunchy or chewy, but has just a little bit of texture. And the filling was so utterly smooth. So, there's your lesson in French and pastry for the day.

Chocolate Kiss Treasures

Oh, this cookie is a keeper. It's from a cooking class I took with Tarla Fallgatter. I don't know where she got the recipe - I didn't find it on the internet, so perhaps it's a family favorite of hers. They're not difficult - but there are a few steps: chilling the dough, rolling into balls and coating with hazelnuts, making depressions in the dough balls, then the chocolate kiss or nonpareil pressed into the hot, just-baked cookie, then letting the tray cool before you remove them from the baking sheet. But they're really, really GOOD.

You must know by now that I like chocolate. This cookie satisfies fully in that department. Tarla said when she makes these for children, she always uses chocolate kisses (Hershey's) but for adults, she uses the nonpareils. This batch pictured was done with the latter, half of them with the white up, others down. When you press the candy onto the hot cookie, it slightly melts the chocolate so it sticks to the cookie top. But of course! Add this to your cookie list.

Chocolate Kiss Treasures
Recipe By: Tarla Fallgatter
Servings: 30
4 ounces unsalted butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 whole egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 whole egg white -- lightly beaten
1/2 cup hazelnuts -- finely chopped
30 whole Hershey kisses -- or nonpareils
1. Beat together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add yolk, milk and vanilla and beat in.
2. Mix flour, cocoa and salt together and add just until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill until firm, about 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 350.
4. Roll scant tablespoons of dough into balls, then coat with egg white, letting excess drip off and roll in nuts to coat.
5. Arrange balls as coated, 1 1/2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Press thumb into center of balls to flatten, leaving a depression. Bake in batches in middle of oven until puffed slightly but centers are still soft, 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press Kiss (or nonpareil) into the center of each. Let cool 5 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 107 Calories; 6g Fat (53.0% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 11g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 17mg Cholesterol; 26mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Rocky Road

When I tell you this is yum - easy - simple - quick - believe me. It is all of those things. But the YUM part is what you need to remember. This Rocky Road recipe isn't all that different from others you may have read. Until a few years ago I'd not had this, but the addition of butterscotch chips and peanut butter gives rocky road a whole different taste. Time? My guess is that making it takes a total of about 10 minutes.

My friend Chris H. gave me this recipe, and she makes it all year around, I think. What it is, is delicious. Great for the holidays. I'm making it especially for my cousin who is gluten intolerant. He enjoys Christmas goodies, but can't have most of them - like cookies, etc. - because he can't eat anything with flour in it. Rocky Road has no flour. He'll be a happy camper. We'll just have to keep the grandchildren to stay out of it. This will be just for Gary.

Here are the butterscotch and chocolate chips melting together.

And here's the mixture once it's smushed into a 9x13 pan, ready for refrigeration.

Rocky Road
Recipe By: Chris H., a friend from church
Serving Size : 24 - 36
12 ounces chocolate chips
12 ounces butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter
16 ounces miniature marshmallows
1 cup chopped walnuts
1. In a medium saucepan melt the chocolate and butterscotch chips until just creamy. Remove from heat then add peanut butter and stir until thoroughly combined, with no streaks of peanut butter or butterscotch. Allow to cool for about 2-3 minutes.
2. While warm, add the walnuts and marshmallows and stir until combined. Do not allow the marshmallows to melt.
3. Press foil into a 9 x 13 pan and spoon the rocky road into it, press out to fill corners and edges, chill. Keep in refrigerator, although you can put them out at room temperature, but the chocolate definitely melts in your fingers that way!
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 247 Calories; 10g Fat (35.2% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 39g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 1mg Cholesterol; 42mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 1/2 Lean Meat; 2 Fat; 2 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.

New York Special Slices, aka Nanaimo Bars

Oh, just looking at the photo of these makes my mouth water. This is an older picture in my archive, and I don't think I took this one, but yep, that's them. In some parts of the world these are known as Nanaimo Bars (Nanaimo is a small city in western British Columbia). What I know about Nanaimo Bars is that usually they contain mint. Mine do not. I don't like the mint version at all. But if that intrigues you, do a Google search for Nanaimo Bars and you'll find lots of variations. I haven't made these yet this year, but didn't want to dilly-dally around waiting in case you wanted to make them.

I got this recipe in 1963. My first husband and I had moved to Washington, D.C. and stayed briefly with family friends of my parents who lived in Virginia. The wife introduced me to a neighbor of hers, and told this unbelievable story about this recipe. It bears a resemblance to other stories you may have heard. But in this case I MET the woman who'd been "done in," so to speak. She and her husband had celebrated a milestone anniversary and had gone to New York. They'd stayed at the Waldorf Astoria, and had dinner in their fine restaurant. After dinner, she'd ordered this dessert, titled on the menu as New York Special Slices, and was blown away by the taste, so asked the waiter for the recipe. The chef said, through the waiter, get her address and he'd send it to her. It arrived, but with a bill for $200. Now back in the 1960's, a $200 recipe would set anybody back more than just a little bit. So, this woman consulted her attorney, found out it was useless to argue. Pay it, he said. So, she gave it away to anybody she could find. Our friends served these bars to us, and I fell in love. Right there, on the spot.

These aren't hard to make, although they do take a bit of time in or around the kitchen because you need to chill the layers inbetween creating them. Overall, though, these will come together in a jiffy. They need to be refrigerated - you can't leave them out at room temp for very long or the unsweetened chocolate on the top layer gets soft. And it will come off in your hands if you pick it up.

These became a Christmas tradition in my family from then on. You can cut them into very small pieces, or into large squares to serve as a dessert. They're very rich, very chocolatey, so might not be appropriate to serve at the end of a very heavy, rich meal. I usually serve them as you would a cookie, allowed to warm up at room temp for just 5-10 minutes only. I recommend that these be cut into bars ahead of time, as they're a bit tricky to cut. Best not to do that while your guests are waiting at the dinner table.

First you make a graham cracker, coconut and chocolate base, chill it. Then you make a custard filling. Bird's Dessert Mix (Powder) is a dry mix, similar to instant pudding mixes we'd buy at our local market, BUT, Bird's does not have any sugar or butter in it. My local Ralph's carries it, and I've found it at some specialty markets too. It's British in origin if that helps you find it. If you can't find Bird's powder, use instant pudding mix, but don't add the sugar or butter, just the milk noted in the filling ingredients. You're after a thick filling, not a soupy one, so be careful and don't add too much milk. That gets spread on top of the base, and is then chilled. Wait a bit for the next step, then gently melt some unsweetened chocolate and a bit of butter, cool it a few minutes, then pour it over the custard and carefully spread it over the the top, filling in any spots. There is just barely enough chocolate to cover. Chill again, then use a knife dipped in hot water to cut the cookies. They will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.

New York Special Slices (aka Nanaimo Bars)
Recipe: Supposedly from the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, New York City
Servings: 32
BASE:
2 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/4 pound butter
1 whole egg -- beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup coconut flakes
1/2 cup walnuts -- chopped
FILLING:
4 tablespoons butter
2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons Bird's Dessert Powder (see notes below)
4 tablespoons milk
TOPPING:
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 tablespoon butter
1. Melt semi-sweet chocolate with butter. Add the egg, vanilla, coconut, nuts and graham cracker crumbs. Press this mixture into the bottom of a 9x9 greased pan. Refrigerate.
2. Melt the 4 T of butter and add it to the powdered sugar, mixed with the Bird's Dessert Powder and milk. Pour this mixture over the first layer and refrigerate again for about an hour.
3. Then, melt the 3 squares of bitter chocolate and 1 T butter. Pour this carefully over the top layer and spread to cover it all. Chill again. Cut into small squares to serve, and if you have trouble, dip the knife into a tall glass of very hot water. Keep the squares refrigerated, although they can be left at room temperature for a little while.

Note: if you can't find Bird's Dessert Powder (mix) use instant vanilla pudding mix and just add the milk, not the sugar or butter noted in this recipe.
To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Harlequin Pinwheel Cookies

If you've never done a cookie exchange, you should. I've done more of them than I can count, and these days I try NOT to have too many cookies around, because then, guess who eats them? We don't have floods of friends or family in the house during December like we used to, unless we host a party ourselves, so it's best that I just make a few of our family favorites and call it quits with the cookie baking.

These cookies are just as pretty as the picture and would make a great cookie exchange contribution. They look like you've slaved, but you really didn't. They aren't hard to make, although they do take a bit of patience to roll up. It's a 2-step process to make the dough (the cookie dough and the filling), then you have to create the rolls, and freeze them. You defrost the rolls a bit before slicing and baking. It's a good cookie to make over a 2-day period. Make the dough and filling, roll them up and freeze them the first day, then the next day slice and bake them. Only one caution: don't over bake the cookies. If you do, the chocolate filling turns into hard candy and is not easy to eat or very tasty either. You need to allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet. If you try to remove them early, you'll smear the filling and they may break apart. (Trust me, I know this from experience - grin.)

Clockwise top left: the filling melting in bowl over hot water, the filling spread on top of the cookie dough, the finished rolls ready to freeze, and the dough with nuts, before rolling up.

A former employee of mine, Vicki, brought these to our office cookie exchange many years ago, and from then on, each year she had to bring them again. She wasn't much of a cook or a baker, but this was her mother's favorite Christmas cookie. It's become one of mine, too. They're not decorated, and they're not prissy or fancy. Chocolate? Yes! They don't keep long once baked - I stick all my cookies in the freezer once they're baked so I don't have to worry about the shelf life of the cookies. But because the filling becomes almost candy-like, you need to defrost these for 10 minutes or so, before eating them.

Harlequin Pinwheels
Servings: 72
COOKIE DOUGH:
3 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3 whole egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup unsalted butter -- softened
FILLING:
18 ounces chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter
12 ounces sweetened condensed milk
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups walnuts -- chopped
1. Cookie mixture: Using a mixer, beat together the brown sugar and butter, then add egg yolks and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking powder, then add to mixture and beat until smooth. When finished, the dough is a bit on the dry side, so use your hands to pull it into a solid piece.
2. Divide the dough into 3 parts (use a scales to make them equal) and roll each between two pieces of waxed paper to an approximate 12" x 7" rectangle. Each piece needs to have its own waxed paper. If you have a Silpat, position the dough, on its paper, on top of the Silpat. It helps to keep it from sliding. Do not try to make the dough larger - measure if you need to. Cover with waxed paper or a damp towel while preparing the chocolate filling.
3. Filling: In a heatproof bowl or large measuring cup combine the chocolate chips and butter. Place over a simmering pot of water. The bowl should be OVER the water, not in it. Cook until chocolate chips are just barely melted. Add the sweetened condensed milk and 3 teaspoons of vanilla. Stir well.
4. Spread the chocolate mixture over the 3 pieces of cookie dough. Leave one long side with little chocolate so you can sort of seal the edge. Allow the chocolate to cool slightly on the dough - while you go chop up the nuts - then sprinkle the tops with chopped walnuts and gently press them into the filling. Roll up, starting along the 12" side, lifting gently with the waxed paper. Do not peel off the waxed paper, but use it to help you make the full round. If you remove the waxed paper, some of the dough may crack where it's not supported by the paper. Wrap them carefully with aluminum foil (with the waxed paper) and freeze.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°. Allow dough roll to sit out for 10-30 minutes, then remove waxed paper and foil, before slicing into thin rounds. Cut all cookies in uniform thickness, and cut with the edge on top, so you can hold it together as you slice. Otherwise, the outside cookie may fall apart. Place on foil covered cookie sheets and bake approximately 10 minutes. Do not over bake - allow them to get just golden brown. The chocolate part continues to cook after you've removed them from the oven. If you over bake these, the chocolate parts become more like candy (hard). You can remove the foil sheets to a rack. Allow the cookies to cool completely before removing them from the foil.
NOTES : If sealed well, the frozen dough will keep for several weeks. The dough is fragile, however if it dries out. When I made it this time each of the 3 balls of dough weighed 10 1/2 ounces. It helps to have them all the same size.

Per Serving: 120 Calories; 7g Fat (47.7% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 14g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 17mg Cholesterol; 19mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

To print a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Brownie Thins (cookies)

It may be a bit hard to see here, but those cookies are thin. THIN. Really THIN. But chocolately, rich, just like eating the top off of a rich brownie. Or maybe the very top of a muffin, even.

Usually when we return from a European trip, I'm craving salads and greens, and vegetables. Not so this time because we had ample on the ship. In fact, Lucy and I raved about the quality of the designer lettuces they served at the salad bar every day. Absolutely fresh from the fields that very day. And delicious dressings, all home made. But what I did crave upon our return was chocolate. We had almost none on the trip. A couple of times we had chocolate sauce on vanilla ice cream, and we had something similar at the dinner at Gundel. And one night they offered a chocolate terrine. I was sad to decline that but I knew the caffeine would keep me awake that night. But otherwise, chocolate didn't figure much in the shipboard menus.

So, since the cookie barrel is empty around here, I decided to make something chocolate. I was leafing through the December issue of Bon Appetit (how come I'm getting the December issue in the first or 2nd week of November, I ask you?), and spotted these chocolate thins.

These are made in a bowl, so quite easy. It couldn't have taken more than 15 minutes to complete the preparation, and another 20 minutes max to bake them all. Pretty cinchy. And, they are really delicious. But I do warn: they're very fragile. I'll have to figure out how to package these carefully so they don't break - they tend to break in half very easily. But they're very tasty.

Added note 3 days later: these cookies are so, SO thin, they're not easy to serve. You pick them up and they break apart, I'm sad to say. So, make them a bit thicker when you pat out the dough, and make sure they are getting browned around the edges. These are soft cookies - there's nothing crispy about them. But the chocolately taste is wonderful.

You whip these up in a bowl - no mixer needed. I used good Scharffen Berger unsweetened chocolate in these.

There they are on the Silpat before baking. It's a bit tricky spraying the plastic wrap, laying it over the little blobs of dough, then very gently patting the cookies out thin. I wonder if I made them a tad too thin? Maybe next time I'll try them a bit thicker just to see. Once you remove the plastic wrap, you add the nuts. I used walnuts because that's what I had on hand.

Brownie Thins
Recipe: Andrew Schloss, "Homemade in a Hurry" via Bon Appetit, Dec. 2007
Servings: 24
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate -- chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 piece kosher salt
1/4 cup pistachio nut -- or walnuts
1. Position rack in lower third of oven. Preheat to 350. Butter 2 baking sheets. (I used a silpat in each).
2. Place butter and chocolate in a microwave-safe medium sized bowl. Microwave on medium-high power until almost completely melted, about one minutes. Whisk until smooth. Add sugar and egg and whisk until smooth, about one minute. Add flour (both quantities), both extracts and salt, stir just to blend. Let batter sit for 10 minutes.
3. Scoop rounded teaspoons batter onto prepared sheets, spacing apart (12 per pan). Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with nonstick spray and place, sprayed side down, on top of cookies. Using your fingers, press each mound into 2 1/2 to 2/3/4 inch rounds. Remove plastic wrap. Sprinkle nuts on top.
4. Bake cookies, one sheet at a time, until slightly darker at edges and firm in center, about 7 minutes. Cool on rack for 2 minutes, then transfer cookies to rack and cool completely. Can be made 5 days ahead and stored at room temperature.
NOTES : These taste just like the way the very top layer of a brownie tastes. They're extremely fragile until they're cool, and even then, they're still fragile. Let them cool completely and put waxed paper or plastic wrap between layers.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 69 Calories; 5g Fat (62.1% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 6g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 17mg Cholesterol; 82mg Sodium. Exchanges: 0 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.
To view a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Normally I wouldn't bake cookies again for awhile, because I made cookies for Todd, our son-in-law, a few days ago. He likes soft cookies. Although the almond-cranberry cookies I made were nice enough, they don't make my heart sing. They're soft. He, however, loves them. AND, he told me last night that his cookies are all gone already.

I, on the other hand, prefer crisp and crunchy. So when I spied the photo of these Chocolate-Almond Biscotti over at Acme Instant Food, they called out to me. They're low in fat (with only 6 tablespoons of butter in the full recipe) and rich in chocolate and almond flavor. These are really cinchy to make. I kid you not. Just have everything at room temp when you begin, and you'll have these in the oven in about 10 minutes. They do bake for 35 minutes, cool for another 15 (then you slice them carefully), then bake again for another 10 minutes. That's less than an hour.

These get their chocolate flavor from both cocoa powder and chocolate chunks or chips, so they're truly chocolate-y. They also keep well, and would travel well too.

I certainly don't know about the cooking experience level of my loyal readers, but if you've never made biscotti, there are just a couple of things you need to know. You make a dough-type cookie batter. Usually, the stickier the better since you don't want the resulting cookies to be too heavy (read: hard) so you can't even eat them unless you dunk them in coffee or tea. But, making them too wet and sticky is next to impossible to manipulate (roll) into logs. A happy medium is what you're looking for. These were quite easy to mold, although I did have some difficulty with the crumble factor once they did their first baking, as Kevin mentions in the recipe.

Biscotti are drier to begin with - you bake them in logs (pictured above) until they're more than "cooked," then you allow them to cool some so you can handle the logs. Then you cut them into longer sticks. They must be thick enough to hold together, but this is always the tricky step for me.

One great helpful hint from Keven, though, that I'd never tried before, was to use a serrated knife only to cut through the crust, then use a flat bladed knife to finish the "cut." That worked like a charm. Then you bake them a bit longer to completely dry them out. Cool, package and store in plastic bags for a few days (or a tin) or freeze. These cookies have a very nice deep chocolate flavor. Satisfies my chocolate cravings and my desire for crispy/crunch cookies.

Chocolate Almond Biscotti
Recipe: Acme Instant Food (blog), adapted from epicurious.com
Servings: 28
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs -- room temperature
1 cup almonds -- unsalted, sliced
3/4 cups semisweet chocolate -- chopped
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or butter and flour).
2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a bowl.
3. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamed and very fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating until well combined. Slowly stir in flour mixture to form a stiff dough. Stir in almonds and chopped chocolate. Divide dough in half. Form each half into a log about 2 inches wide and lay on prepared sheet. Remold if necessary on sheet and flatten the logs slightly. Bake for 35 minutes or until outside feels firm.
4. Remove sheet from oven but leave oven on. Let logs cool on sheet for 15 minutes. Transfer biscotti to a cutting board.
5. Using serrated knife, gently slice logs diagonally into roughly 1/2 inch slices. If crumbling is a problematic, use serrated knife to "saw" just through outer crust and then use a very sharp (non-serrated) knife to slice through--using a motion straight from the top down. Arrange cut biscotti on their side on baking sheet and return to oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until crisp. Once cool, you may optionally dip half of each biscotti into melted dark or white chocolate.

Per Serving: 142 Calories; 7g Fat (42.5% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 22mg Cholesterol; 128mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1 1/2 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

To view a PDF recipe, click title at top.

Almond-Cranberry Cookies

Well, the Heavenly Cream Cheese Brownies disappeared in a flash around here, what with DH's Bible Study Group yesterday and our son-in-law having a snack now and then. So, back to the drawing boards to make some more cookies.

I'd earmarked this recipe for Almond-Cranberry Cookies nearly a year ago, from the blog The Wednesday Chef. She'd taken a Regina Schrambling recipe and made it her own (pistachios to almonds). Regina Schrambling is a food writer for the New York Times. And if you haven't ever read The Wednesday Chef, it's a blog about food recipes from both the N.Y. Times and the Los Angeles Times (both papers having had a long-time rivalry, everything from editorial to recipes).

Written by Luisa Weiss, The Wednesday Chef is somewhat of a face-off between the food sections of both papers. Luisa chooses recipes from both papers and prepares them with commentary. I thoroughly enjoy reading Luisa's blog and have done so for about 18 months. She does like Regina Schrambling, and features her recipes with some regularity. She also likes Russ Parsons, from the L.A. Times.

Cranberries in cookies are a favorite for me. The dried kind that go into everything from trail mix to salads to cookies. The recipe is very easy. I did use my Kitchen Aid mixer, but Luisa's recipe just mixes it up in a bowl with a wooden spoon. Very easy. The cookies have a crisp bottom, but they're tender and soft everywhere else. They're made with all brown sugar, which gives them a caramel-y taste too. Delish.

Todd, our son-in-law, who said he'd sure like to have a cookie now and then (hint, hint, he was implying) while he's staying with us, likes SOFT cookies. If you read my posting about 3 weeks ago about chocolate-chocolate chip cookies, you will know that I like crisp cookies. But I'm making these for him. Todd, they're in the plastic bag in the freezer door, bottom shelf.

Almond-Cranberry Cookies
Recipe: From The Wednesday Chef (blog)
Servings: 36
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter -- (1 1/2 sticks) softened
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup blanched almonds -- toasted and coarsely chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1. Stir together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside.
2. Cream the butter and brown sugar together with a wooden spoon until smooth. Blend in the egg, almond extract and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients until well mixed. Stir in the nuts and cranberries.
3. Drop the dough by tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each. Bake the cookies in a 375-degree oven until light golden brown (centers should be soft), about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let stand 2 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 111 Calories; 6g Fat (48.7% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 13g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 16mg Cholesterol; 72mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.

To view a PDF recipe, click title at top.

What's New about Chocolate Chip Cookies

I come from the school of taste that says cookies are supposed to be crisp. I suppose I should qualify that - most cookies are meant to be crisp. Surely there are some that simply can't be crisp by their very nature. My mother loved persimmons, and every year she made persimmon cookies. More like little bite-sized cakes than cookies to me. I like persimmons, but not that kind of soft cookie. My preference, always, is for crisp. Some years ago I read a very in-depth article in Gourmet Magazine about cookie standards, and exactly what makes a cookie come out crisp vs. soft, vs. crisp outside, soft inside. That kind of thing. It was fascinating reading the chemistry of it all. I still have the article, although I rarely refer to it.

One thing I know for sure is that using butter makes for a crisp cookie. I haven't used margarine for anything in many, many years. I used to use Plugra unsalted for all my baking, but have found that it's too HIGH in butterfat, if you can believe that! So I use grocery store types at the high price end because I don't want butter that is watered down. Grocery store brands usually contain less butterfat and added water. So I use Danish Creamery, or something similar. I always keep a pound of butter in the refrigerator and usually one in the freezer. Just in case I feel inspired.

Last night after I'd gone upstairs to go to bed, my DH's blood sugar went a little low, so he rooted in the freezer hoping to find a frozen cookie somewhere. No luck whatsoever. We ate the last of the homemade cookies about 3 months ago. Since my broken foot on July 6th, there's been zip-zero-nada baking going on in this kitchen unless he did it. He's never made cookies in his entire life, so that wasn't about to happen! But, now that I have my walking papers, he said, please make some cookies. As a Type I diabetic, my DH doesn't eat many desserts. Or at least, he's very careful about when and why he eats anything sweet. But he does enjoy an occasional cookie. Some sweets I'm able to incorporate Splenda, so he can have all he wants. I have yet to try chocolate chip cookies using all Splenda. They might be just fine.

Over the years I've collected plenty of cookie recipes and make a variety throughout the year, and enjoy having something stashed in the freezer for the occasional afternoon cup of tea, or a snack now and then. My first choice, though, is always chocolate chip. It used to be the usual back-of-the-bag Nestle's recipe. But, because I've had trouble a time or two with the recipe (the cookies would come out too flat) I've made one significant change to the master recipe: I add approximately one tablespoon of additional flour to the mixing bowl. If I happen to use Plugra butter (remember, more butterfat) I add 2 tablespoons. I'm also a fan of chocolate chip cookies WITH nuts. Any nuts could be okay, but walnuts just float my boat, as they say. So, these cookies are chocolate chocolate chip walnut cookies.

This time I wanted to do something different, so I added 2 heaping tablespoons of Dutch process cocoa to the batter too. And, I used Nestle's relatively new "Chcolatier" chips that are made with bittersweet chocolate, rather than the usual milk chocolate chips in the yellow bag. So these are really chocolate bittersweet chocolate-chip cookies with walnuts, with 1 T. of added flour.

A few months ago I had trouble finding Dutch Process cocoa when I ran out, so since I needed some new spices and herbs anyway, I ordered it through Penzey's. If you don't know about Penzey's, you're missing a real treat. I buy nearly all my herbs and spices from them now. Even though I live in a busy urban area teeming with grocery stores, and my local markets carry just about everything. But nobody had Dutch Process cocoa. This cocoa from Penzey's is fragrant and dark. The label says it has twice as much cocoa in it as grocery store varieties. Good!

I don't know about you, but I always make one pan of cookies to make sure the batter is right. That's what I did here, and they came out just fine. And if you don't have one of these scoops shown above, you should. If you're a cookie baker, this scoop makes short work of putting the dough onto sheets. I use large sheet pans with a Silpat on each one. There are three sizes of scoops - they're made in Britain. This one is the tablespoon size. The larger is more for muffin sized scoops. The smallest, the teaspoon size, I don't know what I'd use for. My scoop came from the Baker's Catalog (the one associated with King Arthur Flour). Click here if you're interested.

If you want the recipe, click here for the original Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie from Nestle's site. If you use rich butter, just add a T. of extra flour, and about 2 T. of Dutch Process cocoa. Dutched cocoa is processed differently than regular cocoa, a very fine smooth powder that easily dissolves in liquid and disperses in baked goods.

So, DH, these are for you. Look in the freezer in the Ziploc bags in the door. So, excuse me, I need to make a cup of tea.

Cranberry Noels - what? This is May isn't it?

Are all cookies seasonal in your book? Certainly I have a few cookie recipes that I don't make year around . . . like gingerbread men . . . or sugar cookies decorated with red and green. But otherwise, cookies are calendar universal. I had a bag of dried cranberries that needed to be used, and I remembered this recipe that's become a personal favorite since 2000 when my friend Darlene brought them to a Christmas cookie exchange.

If you haven't ever been to a cookie exchange, you should try it. These days, every woman's magazine blasts ideas for how to streamline our shopping, wrapping, decorating, cooking and entertaining during the holidays. Happily I've hostessed cookie exchanges for years. I had my first one in about 1971. And I've had them many times since - not every year, but every few. I love to have a variety of cookies to serve friends and family during the holidays, so what's easier than inviting a group of baking friends to share everyone's goodies. I can remember many times trying to figure out the math - okay, 11 people coming, everyone's bringing 5 dozen, how many of each cookie do we take? Got it. Oh, one gal didn't come at the last minute? Oops, change the number. Oh, another gal only got 50 out of her batch? Uhm, what do I change the number to now? Eventually we just took a bunch and if there were still lots of cookies, we'd make another turn around the cookie table adding a few more to our stashes.

I didn't intend this to be a lesson in cookie exchanges, but one thing I've learned is that each different cookie needs to go into its own plastic bag and sealed. Otherwise, someone's double mint cookies will infect all the other cookies in your container with mint. And all the bags go directly into the freezer after the exchange.

These Cranberry Noel cookies were the hit of the cookie exchange that year. Hands down. (Thank you, Darlene.) They came from Martha Stewart, but at the time they were the #1 winner of a Christmas cookie contest Martha had on her website. For this posting I did look it up and finally found it on one of Martha's forums here. I know they were originally part of a cookie contest because I wrote it into my recipe in 2000. She subsequently published it in a Christmas special issue, apparently. These are super simple - you mix up the batter, roll into two logs, roll the logs in shredded coconut, chill, slice and bake. And once they're cooled they go into Ziploc freezer bags and back into the freezer.

So, just because these contain dried cranberries, pecans and coconut, that doesn't mean you can't have them in May! I had one yesterday in the mid-afternoon with my cup of Earl Grey tea. Delicious.

Cranberry Noels
Recipe: Winner of MarthaStewart.com's online Cookie Contest, 2000
Serving: 48 Preparation Time 15 minutes

1 cup unsalted butter -- room temp
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract -- or rum (I always use vanilla)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup dried cranberries (sometimes I chop them a little)
1/2 cup pecans -- chopped
3/4 cup shredded coconut meat -- unsweetened

1. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add milk, vanilla, and salt. Beat until just combined. Gradually add flour, cranberries and pecans. Mix on low speed until fully combined.
2. Divide dough in half and shape each half into 8-inch logs, about two inches in diameter. Roll logs in coconut, pressing firmly to coat the outside of the logs, but without misshaping the logs. Wrap logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about two hours.
3. Heat oven to 375°. Using a sharp knife, cut logs into 1/4 inch thick slices. Transfer to an ungreased cookie sheet, placing about 1 - 1.5 inches apart. Bake until the edges are just golden brown, about 12 minutes. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 78 Calories; 5g Fat (57.8% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 8g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 10mg Cholesterol; 23mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 0 Fruit; 0 Non-Fat Milk; 1 Fat; 0 Other Carbohydrates.

To print just the recipe, click on the title of this posting.