Archives for the 'cookie' Category
End of the month round-up, part one…pastries, bread, and cookies
The canolli came from Fraboni’s and it was a mid-afternoon snack that follwed a Fraboni’s crazy-tasty sandwich called The Otto…I swear that sandwich is so good it defies logic…of course it’s filled with porky products. The canolli, consumed with a double espresso was heavenly…sweet, creamy, crunchy…mmmm!
Snickerdoodles have to be my all-time favorite cookie in the category of cookie that contains no chocolate. They somehow manage to have a tangy flavor that accents their sweet, cinnamon goodness, and their texture is so toothsome…I get addicted to the texture when I eat them and I can barely stop myself.
Madison Sourdough Company makes a reliable and flavorful baquette…if they would just make one with seeds like a Semifreddi’s seed baquette (fennel, sesame, and poppyseeds) I’d be blissed out.
I’m a sucker for lemon curd and poppyseeds. Scott’s Pastry Shoppe here in Middleton had the audacity to combine the two and cradle it in a buttery, almost brioche like pastry…I confess this pastry left me speechless. The frosting on top was more than gilding the lily…it was slitting the wrists. Woohoo good.
A cherry scone is good…not as good as a strawberry scone but it’ll do. I made these using jarred morello cherries from TJ’s and they were pretty good. Just take any one of the many strawberry scone recipes I’ve posted and substitute cherries.
We’ll move on to savory food next.
Merry Christmas
We’ve been sick with a dreadful bout of flu for the past 2 days. I went down first, followed 12 hours later by GH. Luckily, Christmas isn’t a big deal around here. We’ll pull ourselves together and go see a movie with the boys and then perhaps dinner at our favorite Indian restaurant. I’ve always thought of the spices in Indian food to be the perfect antidote to illness.
I bet you’re munching on a cookie right now, aren’t you? The next time you bake, include these delightful Italian gems. Crumiri cookies have long been a favorite of mine. A stroll through San Francisco’s North Beach always included a stop for some of these, but now I make them myself…and they’re really easy. Plus you’ll get to use your pastry bag…always fun!
Crumiri [printable version]
1-3/4 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
Preheat oven to 325 F. Eggs and butter should be at room temperature.
Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and mix in. Mix together the flour, salt and cornmeal and add to the butter mixture.
The cookie dough will be thick. Smoosh into a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped tip (3/4” to 1”).
Pipe the cookies onto parchment covered baking sheets in an overlapping oblong about 3 inches long.
Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, anywhere from 12 to 14 minutes. Cool and freeze then dip one end in melted chocolate.
S’more me to my soul
Lucky us, we got a snow day today. I guess if you grew up in the city or in a balmy part of the world you might not have experienced the pleasures of a snow day. But I’m sure you can imagine…a day just like every other day, filled with appointments, to-do lists, and obligations, then suddenly…it’s all called off on account of snow. Oh, happy day!
I took advantage of my unplanned day off to craft a new bar cookie, one I’ve been contemplating ever since I made those marshmallows. LAmonkeygirl’s comment about deconstructed s’mores got me to thinking about a s’more bar cookie. I searched the internets to see what was out there and all the recipes were miserably disappointing and involved a chocolate chip cookie base. That just didn’t sound like a s’more to me.
I started with a standard graham cracker crust. Then I added a layer of milk chocolate. Yes, I could have used bittersweet, but honestly, those s’more I had as a kid were made with Hershey’s milk chocolate and I wanted to stay true to that experience. After the chocolate melted I added a layer of my marshmallows. Back into the oven until they were all melty and soft then I topped it off with buttered graham cracker crumbs and I let that bake for a bit. When it came out it had melted all together and look really gooey and good.
The results are heavenly…a chewy, buttery, chocolaty treat that is sure to bring back memories of campfires, friendship bracelets, and kumbaya. But really these are so much better…no nasty mosquitoes, outhouses, or poison ivy. These s’mores are right at home on a cold winter day.
S’more bar cookies
1 ¼ cups graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
Another ½ cup of graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons butter, melted
10 ounces milk chocolate
Marshmallows
Put the first three ingredients in a 11” x 9” baking dish. Using a fork or your fingers mix this together well and then press it into the dish so it is flat and level. Bake at 350° for 7 minutes or until it begins to brown on the edges.
Crush 8 ounces of milk chocolate into little bits and distribute them evenly across the surface of the crust. Put the dish into the oven for 5 minutes or until the chocolate has melted enough to be evenly spread across the crust.
Once the chocolate is spread about add enough marshmallows to cover the chocolate. Put the dish back in the oven and allow it to cook for 5 minutes or until the marshmallows puff up and turn golden brown on the edges.
Remove the dish from the oven and spread the marshmallows so they evenly cover the surface. Combine the remaining butter and graham cracker crumbs and spread them across the surface. Bake for 10 minutes or until it looks golden brown, bubbly, and gooey.
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