Since making macarons for the first time last Christmas, I have been saving egg whites in the freezer to make them again. I promised myself before we moved (twice in 6 weeks actually, ugh!) that I would only bring those frozen egg whites to the new house if I made macarons ASAP. So I did.
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I made these amaretti by accident.
Actually, I don’t think making something that tastes this good really qualifies as an “accident”, but I meant to make amaretto cookies to use in another recipe, not amaretti cookies. However, if you Google “amaretto cookies”, what comes up is a bunch of recipes for amaretti, and not knowing that there was a difference (there is*), I opted for the best sounding and easiest recipe. It wasn’t until after I’d baked them that I realized they weren’t the kind of cookies I was expecting….
There has been an absence of chocolate around here lately, which is kind of surprising because I’ve found myself craving it often. I somehow have no chocolate in the house (probably because I ate it all the last time I was craving chocolate) other than the unsweetened baking kind and cocoa powder. Anyway, my point is: more chocolate….
These cookies were born of necessity; the kind that is born at 8:30 on a Wednesday night after you’ve eaten dinner and watched a movie (Fantastic Mr. Fox, so great!) and are feeling the need for something sweet. Of course there’s nothing readily available and you don’t feel like leaving the house. Someone suggests baking cookies, but alas, there is no butter. There is, however, a litre of olive oil. Cookies made with olive oil? A challenge! (Thank goodness for the Google machine.)
These are an adaptation of a recipe that originally included black pepper, rosemary, and red wine – I can’t quite imagine what those ones must taste like (I think I might need to find out), but these ones are really quite good. …
Third post containing chocolate in a row, my goodness! Actually I’m surprised it hasn’t happened sooner…
Have you made those peanut butter cookies that are just peanut butter, egg, and sugar? These almond butter cookies are like that, but better. Chewy, crisp, and buttery (but made without butter or flour), they also have maple syrup, chocolate chips and chunks of toasted almonds. Yum. They were so good and so easy!…
When I was growing up, my Mum and I baked a lot of cookies together, and one of my favorites was the Chocolate Thinsees from a cookbook called Golde’s Homemade Cookies. These were a dark chocolate cookie made of a soft batter and topped with chopped nuts, and during baking they spread out thin and became satisfyingly chewy, yet soft, with a texture almost more like cake than cookie. Sounds odd, but I loved them and as soon as I was old enough to use the oven by myself, I made them all the time – they were totally addictive.
A few weeks ago I had some mandarin oranges languishing in my fruit bowl, and I decided that orange-flavoured cookies would be the best way to use them up. I pulled out my copy of Golde’s cookbook, and came across the Chocolate Thinsees recipe. Chocolate and orange is a tried and true combination, but I didn’t have any of the semi-sweet chocolate that the recipe called for. I did, however, have some white chocolate, so I decided to make White Chocolate Orange Thinsees and top them with Brazil nuts. It was a good call.
These thin, crisp cookies are sort of like French tuiles, but with a chewier texture. They weren’t quite as cake-like as I remember, but they were just as addictive – they barely lasted a whole day, and by the time the last batch came out of the oven, I had already eaten so many that I have no idea how many I actually made. Golde suggests that these make a great tea cookie. I suggest that you make them immediately and just try to stop yourself from eating them by the handful!
Adapted from Golde’s Homemade Cookies by Golde Hoffman Soloway
Preheat oven to 300˚F.
In the microwave or over a double boiler, melt:
2 oz white chocolate, roughly chopped
Set aside to cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, cream together:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, soft
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp orange zest
When light and fluffy, stir in the melted white chocolate, then add:
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Mix until well blended, then stir in:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
dash salt
Mix well. The batter will be quite soft.
Drop the batter by teaspoonfuls on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. The cookies will spread a lot in the oven, so leave a few inches of room between them – I found six per sheet to be plenty. Sprinkle the cookies with chopped nuts (about 3/4 cup total) – I used Brazil nuts.
Bake in the 300˚F oven for 15-18 minutes, until light brown at the edges and set in the middle. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing them to a cooling rack with a thin spatula. If they have all run into each other to form one giant cookie, cut them apart with a sharp knife before removing them from the baking sheet.
I dare you not to eat them all in one day!
PS – It was brought to my attention that I’ve been nominated for the “Kreativ Blogger Award” by Sibella of Baking with Sibella. Thank you Sibella, I’m very flattered! However rather than listing seven things about myself and nominating seven other blogs, I would encourage you to visit Sibella’s lovely blog and check out her gorgeous baking – I’m especially taken with her Non Plus Ultra cookies.
This past week has been a flurry of butter, sugar, flour, parchment paper, the whirring of the KitchenAid mixer, and the beeping of the oven timer. I’ve made five kinds of cookies, chocolate truffles, macarons, and stollen dough. I’ve been baking before work and after work, and when bedtime rolls around, my back and feet are killing me and I spend the night dreaming of cookies. But it’s all good. I love it. Baking cookies is what my Christmas is all about :). This biscotti recipe is one of my favorites to bake at Christmas, because it gets awesome reviews from whoever receives them – especially Lynette, who asks, “Are you making the biscotti?” every year ;).
I first discovered this biscotti (from the Baker’s Best Chocolate Cookbook) in “Cafeteria” class in grade 10 or 11 (essentially pre-cook’s training). They were SO GOOD that I asked my Mum for the cookbook just so I could have the recipe. The first time I tried them at home, I burned them. I remember having dozens of slightly charred biscotti in the freezer because my Mum wouldn’t let me throw them out after putting all that white chocolate and fruit and nuts in them. Sigh. But obviously, I didn’t let that burnt experience stop me from trying again ;).
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These are the perfect marriage between a peanut butter cookie and a chocolate chip cookie. Both are classics in their own right, and this recipe somehow manages to combine the tastes and textures that makes each one great. Good peanut flavour, slightly chewy like a good chocolate chip cookie, and full of chocolate chips. Seriously, these are the best peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever tried.
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I recently joined an online cooking challenge group called the Daring Bakers (their website, the Daring Kitchen, is also home to the Daring Cooks). Every month members are challenged to make a certain recipe, showcasing their creativity and skills to interpret it. The members keep it a secret (no blog posts or online mention of the challenge) until the 27th of the month, when everyone posts a write-up on their blog, recounting their kitchen adventure with that month’s challenge recipe. April was my first Daring Bakers’ Challenge, and it was a good one!
The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container. Prizes are being awarded to the most creative edible container and filling, so vote on your favorite from April 27th to May 27th at http://thedaringkitchen.com!
I have to admit that I was a teensy bit disappointed because mousse isn’t exactly a challenging baking recipe, and the previous months’ challenges had definitely employed more advanced baking skills (including a Jaconde sponge/entremet and a yeasted meringue coffee cake, both of which I want to try out at some point!). However, the edible container part was intriguing, and gave me a chance to try two things that I have wanted to make for a long time: tuile cookie cups and chocolate cups using water balloons. I got over my initial disappointment pretty fast after that, because I love maple syrup (and coincidentally, I had just bought a litre of it for a relatively good price!) AND because Evelyne suggested incorporating bacon into the edible container – and who doesn’t love bacon? Plus the maple/bacon combination is just so delicious…
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Hazelnut Shortbread – triangular cookie on the left
As promised is Part I, here is the recipe for Hazelnut Shortbread. As I said previously, this cookie has a beautiful crumbly texture, great hazelnut flavour, and is not overly sweet at all. It may have been my favorite cookie this year.
Again, when baking shortbread, using real unsalted butter is a must. Because there are so few ingredients, butter really plays a starring role, and the flavour will be worth it.
The original recipe directs you to press the dough into two 8-inch cake pans and then score into wedges. I wanted to yield more, smaller cookies, so I shaped the dough into a triangular log, stuck it in the fridge until firm, cut it into slices, and sprinkled each one with raw sugar. The baking time was shorter as well, but I can’t remember exactly how long I baked them for. I would start checking for doneness after about 10 minutes.
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