wanna toffee break?

I heart it when I find a recipe and just can't wait to try it. I mean, seriously, isn't it great when you flip through a recipe book (or are surfing the inter-webz) and you find that one recipe that gets your taste buds going and your hands itching to pull out all those ingredients?!!

That's how I felt about this recipe. That's how I like to pick my recipes... sigh.

I'm back to the happy baker's recipe book (well, she's just so darn happy... and so am I, so why not right?)... Erin baked an (i'm not boy crazy) toffee maple shortbread... just the thought of maple and toffee together made my mouth water. There was only one thing... I didn't have any maple extract. And I really try to stay away from imitation extract when possible... so I swapped out the maple for some vanilla. Am I ever happy that I did!!!

The shortbread ended up being nice and crunchy, with the surprise of the toffee bits (which luckily didn't overwhelm the buttery base), and the vanilla was just a nice subtle compliment. I think I have a winner. AND I am totally inspired for my holiday baking (I know... it's only May and I'm already thinking Christmas baking... sad, but true): cherry-chocolate shortbread. Yep. That's right. I bet you can't wait for me to share those with you eh? Well... knowing me, I'll be making them sooner rather than later... I do need to test them out right?

If you're in the mood for a delicious cookie (which I might add would go GREAT with ice cream and freezes well), turn on your oven and whip these together. Totally worth it. I promise.

Toffee Vanilla Shortbread
ingredients:
3/4 c. butter, room temperature
1/2 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. toffee baking bits

Preheat your oven to 300 F. Spray your 8-inch square baking pan with some non-stick spray and set aside.

In the bowl of your stand-mixer (using the paddle attachment), beat together the butter and powdered sugar; increasing the speed to medium, you want it to get like and fluffy.

Add the vanilla extract and the salt. Continue to beat together.

Lower the speed of the stand-mixer and stir in the flour and toffee pieces. Erin's recipe says not to over mix... I took that to mean that the batter should come together and be as smooth as possible (given toffee bits).

Once the batter has come together, put it in your square pan and gently pat the dough out (get it nice and even); I used my fingers... just wet them a little and the batter will spread nicely.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Place your pan on a wire rack and allow to cool before cutting them into squares.

note: you'll notice that I use my zester as my guideline for cutting my squares... I was able to get over 2 dozen shortbread's out of this recipe... and they were evenly cut and sized! Gotta love that trick :0)

same recipe different cookies

These cookies are the same as yesterday... only instead of being mini peanut butter chocolate chip cookies they became regular peanut butter and chocolate chip cookies. I tossed several handfuls of chocolate chips into the peanut butter batter... next time, I'll add more. Too much chocolate? No such thing :0)

Use your mini ice cream scooper to make a good sized ball of dough. Flatten it down either with your palm or with the teeth of a fork. Bake @ 350 for 10 minutes - the bottom of the cookie will be golden - but the rest of the cookie won't be over-baked and then dry out.

Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Cookies are always such a nice thing to have on hand don't you think.

one bite cookie

Aren't these cute? Doesn't the thought of peanut butter and chocolate - salty and sweet just make your mouth water?! These pretty little treats were brought to my attention when I was cyber surfing and discovered (thanks to a hint from Joy the Baker) 17 and Baking... an absolutely beautiful, fun and fresh blog. Elissa (the blogger) is super enthusiastic about baking... which makes me super enthusiastic about trying out her recipes.

Tiny Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Buttons - the name alone (and accompanying pictures) made me want to roll up my sleeves, pull out my stand mixer and get baking. I did change it up a little bit from Elissa's recommendation... I didn't make 15 dozen 1/4 tsp sized cookies... I made 9 dozen 1 tsp sized cookies. You get more peanut butter to chocolate ratio - but I'm ok with that. As my friend Audrey said - it's almost like eating chips - you can sit with a little bowl of them in front of you and just pop them in your mouth... without even realizing that the bowl is almost empty!

Next time I have helpers in the kitchen though, I'll get right on baking 15 dozen cookies :0) I'll leave it up to you whether you decide to make them tiny buttons or only mini cookies... salty/sweet goodness either way!

Mini Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
ingredients:
3/4 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. salted butter, room temperature
1/3 c. white sugar
1/3 c. light brown sugar
1 egg
3 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (I used vanilla salt)
White sugar for rolling
Chocolate chips (any type)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl of your stand mixer, beat the peanut butter and butter together. Add the two sugars and continue to beat until it lightens up (about 1 minute). Add the egg, milk, and the vanilla and beat until fluffy.

Meanwhile, in a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt together. Beat the dry ingredients in 3 additions to the peanut butter mixture.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to chill for at least 10 minutes in the fridge - it makes it easier to work with.

Now, at this point it was recommended that I use a 1/4 tsp and roll the dough into 1/2 inch balls. I choose to change things up a bit... so I grabbed my 1 tsp and rolled the dough into slightly bigger than 1 inch balls.

Roll each ball in the white sugar (rolling sugar) and place them on an ungreased cookie sheet. They don't spread while baking, but try not to bake too many at once (2 dozen max) since you need to work fast to top each baked cookie with a chocolate chip.

Bake for 8 minutes (if making the tiny buttons bake for 5 minutes).

Remove from the oven,IMMEDIATELY press a chocolate chip into the centre of each cookie. Leave the cookies for a minute, then remove from the sheet and cool completely on a wire rack.

Elissa says that the cookies will last several days in an airtight container at room temperature... I don't know if that is true or not. They are all gone. Two batches of them. I think that is a sign of a good cookie. Don't you?!

i heart david... and his cookie recipe

I've been busy in my kitchen all week - first I attempted Joy the Baker's Root beer float cake (delish... will post my attempt soon), then I baked Elissa's (from 17 and baking - awesome blog btw) tiny peanut butter chocolate chip buttons, some of my kidney bean cookies (which, although Zabi said "sound just awful" they aren't... they are fantastic!!), many many banana loafs and finally these cookies.

These cookies are simply perfect. A thin and crispy cookie that still maintains a chewy centre - nothing dry, hard or dense about these babies. These cookies rocked my world this week.

I'd been asked by my cousin Olivier to make bake cookies. He wanted plain ol' chocolate chip cookies... he claimed (correctly) that I don't have a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe on my blog... it's true. I seem to either hit up triple chocolate cookies or I favour cookies with oatmeal, raisins, nuts... nothing that is perfect for dunking in a tall glass of milk after a hard day at school :0)

This recipe is for Olivier - as are the dozen cookies I got out of it (well, minus 1 cookie - you can't blame a girl for taste testing can you?). Super simple - you should try making these too!

Oh, and a HUGE thank you to David Lebovitz (whom I don't know personally, but feel like I do whenever I surf his blog) - these really are the greatest "plain ol'" cookies. EVER.

David Lebovitz's Great Chocolate Chip Cookie
ingredients:
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. (1 stick) cold butter, cut into 1/2 inch cube pieces
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt (if using salted butter, you can omit this)
1 1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 300F (you want your racks to be in the top 1/3rd of the oven). Line (or spray) baking sheets with parchment paper (I used 4 cookie sheets).

In the bowl of your stand mixer, and using your paddle attachment, beat the sugars and the butter together until smooth (a couple of minutes). Mix in the egg, vanilla and baking soda.

In a smaller bowl, mix together your flour and salt (if adding). Mix them into the sugar/butter batter. Finally, mix in the chocolate chips (always at the stir speed of your mixer).

You might think that you are using way too many chocolate chips for the butter/sugar/flour ratio. YOU AREN'T! Chocolate chips are good - so dump them in!

I used my mini ice-cream scoop (great investment) and scooped out the dough, placed each ball on the cookie sheets (9 per sheet), spaced quite a bit apart (these spread). Flatten each of them a little with your hand.

Bake for 18 minutes (or golden brown). You don't want to over bake though... so once the edges are golden and firm, take the cookies out of the oven, allow to rest on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then remove and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temperature. I'd like to say that they last much longer... but these are cookies. They aren't meant to last forever... grab your glass, pour some milk and enjoy.

I was able to get 23 cookies out of this recipe.

the sweet smell of gingerbread... continues!

Oh ginger... what a wonderful spice! I love it in my cooking - pickled, minced, sliced, diced... anyway you prepare it, I heart ginger. Which is why I'm very drawn to ginger sweets (actually, candied ginger is one of my favourite candies... seriously. almost addictive)... so I decided to keep baking with it this past week. On the menu, gingerbread people. My ginger people weren't decorated in my kitchen, since I gave them to my friend Tonya, so that she and her daughter could decorate them this weekend.

With the remaining dough I decided to use a circle cookie cutter and make little round disks that I then sprinkled with sugar prior to baking.

This recipe is thanks to Heidi @ 101 Cookbooks - I used some fresh ginger as well as the dried ground ginger, which I felt gave the cookies a real punch. A good, simple, dependable recipe that holds well to the rolling pin and cookie cutters. Highly recommended. :0)

Gingerbread Cookies
ingredients:
4 c all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1.5 tsp ground ginger
knob of fresh ginger, finely minced
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tbsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp finely ground black pepper
1/2 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 c. dark brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
2/3 cup molasses
large grain sugar for decoration


In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Set aside.

Using your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Incorporate the brown sugar and beat until creamy. Blend in the eggs one at a time and then the molasses. Add the flour mixture, add half the flour, incorporate and then add the rest of the flour... keep your mixer on low speed. Once that's done, divide the dough in half and wrap both halves in plastic wrap. Chill for at least an hour - I allowed mine to sit in the fridge for 24 hours.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 F and line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

If you've allowed the dough to set for quite some time in the fridge, take it out just a little before you'll want to roll it out - so that it warms up just a bit (take it out about 5 minutes before you would start rolling it).

Lightly flour your working surface and then gently roll out the dough; I use the same technique as I do with my pastry dough, rolling in one direction and turning the dough in a clockwise motion until I end up with about 1/8-inch thick dough.

Then grab your ginger people - or any cookie cutter of your choice, and start cutting the figures out of the dough. I made a dozen people - 6 boys and 6 girls (for the decorating party) and with the remaining dough I cut out rounds and sprinkled those with the large grain sugar prior to baking them.

The key to gingerbread is not over baking the cookies; make sure that the sides are a little firm but that there is still a little give when you press down on the top of the cookie. Between 8 - 11 minutes... depending on the size of the cookie (the people 11 minutes, the rounds 9 minutes).

Decorate as you wish... I look forward to seeing what was created with my cookie base ;0)

butter and scotch... well kinda, sorta....

Last week was all about getting myself into the holiday spirit. What better way than by baking cookies? Cookies are the ultimate in holiday goodies. There's nothing better than making the perfect cookie and sharing it with friends and loved ones.

Deciding on cookies was the easy part. Then I starting thinking about what flavour combination I wanted to play around with. Butterscotch reminds me of the holidays. So I decided to tweak a tried and true recipe (Chocolate Damnation Cookies) and swap out the pecans and dried cranberries in that recipe with butterscotch chips for this one.

With the recipe sorted out I then had to remember another key component of baking cookies; it's all about that perfect bite.

With these cookies it really is all about under cooking them just a wee bit... a gooey centre to bite your teeth into is always a good thing! These are already being handed out to friends and loved ones... my friend Jeff is a real fan (so is his office).

The one thing about these cookies... the batter needs to chill at least 60 minutes (or up to 3 days) in the fridge before you can shape the dough and bake them. Just factor in that extra "prep" time... and you're good to go! Oh, and by using the salted butter you don't need to add any additional salt to this recipe ;0)

Chocolate Butterscotch-Chip Cookies
ingredients:
10 squares of semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 c. salted butter, room temperature
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 c. dark chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. butterscotch-chips

Melt the chocolate in a saucepan (small pot) over medium-low heat, stirring continuously (so that the chocolate doesn't burn). Once completely melted, set the pot aside and start on the rest of the batter.

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

With your mixer, cream together the butter and sugars together (paddle attachment) - start at a lower speed (2) and then increase to a medium speed (4 or 6) to create that pale, fluffy look. Lower the speed and beat in the eggs (one at a time) and then the vanilla until everything is very blended. Beat in the melted chocolate.

Stop your mixer and add the flour mixture to the batter. Turn your mixer to the stir speed and slowly incorporate all the flour into the chocolate. Toss in the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips and turn on the mixer so that they distribute evenly into the batter (about 30 seconds). Cover the bowl and allow to chill for at least 60 minutes in your fridge (it will firm up). Easy eh?

When you're just about ready to bake these babies... preheat your oven to 350 F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Shape the dough into golf sized-balls - it's easiest to form them with your hands; pull up your sleeves and get your hands a little dirty, it's fun! Place them about 2 inches apart - I got about 8 cookies per cookie sheet; and bake for 13 minutes - you want them to just set; soft cookies are good. Leave them on the cookie sheet for an extra two minutes (once out of the oven) and they will firm up a bit without getting too hard. Cool completely on a wire rack.

I got 25 cookies. If you decided to make small cookies (using a mini ice-cream scooper) you'll get 4 dozen cookies and you should bake them for about 7-8 minutes.

Whichever size you decide on, you'll end up with lots to share and even more people with huge smiles on their faces (oh, and a great smelling kitchen)!

Enjoy... and happy beginning of the season! :0)

bliss in a bite

If you know me, you know that I like to chat with people and talk things over, share ideas, get really enthusiastic, and completely commit to an idea... I think you've noticed that I tend to be on the obsessive side of things (scones, almond butter, lemons...and just about everything else in my life too)!

Now that I've started on this Starbucks kick, well... I've become game for trying any Starbucks baked good people seem to like. So Tonya challenged me with this one... chocolate dipped coconut macaroons. I didn't make them exactly as she remembered; since Starbucks used to make a flat cookie: with one half a beautiful white and the other half a dark chocolaty brown.

My little pyramid shaped cookies turned out pretty awesome, and Tonya said that I totally kicked their butt! Whoot Whoot!

Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons
ingredients:
2/3 c. sweetened condensed milk
1 egg white
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp salt
3 1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut
10 ounces semi-sweet chocolate squares, chopped (or whole chocolate chips)

Preheat your oven to 325 F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl (no need for any electric mixers for this recipe), stir together the condensed milk, egg white, vanilla and salt until just combined. Stir in the coconut until well blended.

Once everything is blended, grab your mini scooper and drop the dough onto your prepared cookie sheets - if you want to make more cookies, spoon out about 1 tablespoonful of dough per cookie.

Moisten your fingers as needed in order to shape your macaroons into little pyramids.

Bake one cookie sheet at a time (place the other cookie sheet into the fridge to remain cool) for about 15 to 20 minutes (the tops will be golden brown).

Allow the cookies to set on the cookie sheet for about 2 minutes, then cool the macaroons completely on a wire rack (at least 30 minutes).

Once your Macaroons have cooled grab your chocolate and melt it (either in a double boiler or over low heat in a saucepan). This should take a few minutes, whisking every once and a while to ensure that the bottom doesn't burn and that the chocolate is completely melted and smooth.

Hold a macaroon by its pointed top and dip the bottom into the chocolate - allow excess chocolate to drip back into the pot. Place the macaroon back onto your cookie sheet (lined with the parchment paper). Repeat with the remaining macaroons.

Refrigerate the macaroons until the chocolate sets, about 15 minutes.

You should get about 22 little pyramids in total... each one absolutely delicious. I promise.

another daring challenege... mais en français!

I have something to confess... whenever I used to hear the word macaroons I always thought of those stiff meringue nests that people seem to really enjoy eating (I'm not one of those people). So when I saw that I was being asked to bake several dozen macaroons for the October DB Challenge my heart sorta sank... and then I realized how erroneous I had been.

These cookies aren't hard and ridiculously sweet... they resemble more of a cookie sandwich - two light cookies bound together with a buttery filling. The best part of this challenge was that we were all encouraged to use whatever flavour profile we wanted.

I was divided... lemon cookies with a lemon cream cheese filling OR chocolate with a peanut butter filling. Oh what to do! Such a dilemma...

Since I had baked my 3 layered lemon cake over the weekend I decided to opt for the peanut butter. I don't regret that choice at all. I ended up with some beautiful cookies and the creamest, buttery filling. Delish!

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macaroons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.


Chocolate Macaroons
ingredients:
2 1/4 c. icing sugar
2 c. almond flour
3 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp white sugar
5 egg whites, they must be at room temperature

Preheat your oven to 200 F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. If you don't have any, do not grease your pan... the cookies need to be quite dry.

In a large bowl, combine the icing sugar, cocoa powder and the almond flour. Set aside.

In the bowl of your stand-mixer start whisking the egg whites (with the whisk attachment). Start at a lower speed, increasing until about speed 8. At that point your egg whites should have formed soft peaks. Add the 2 tbsp of sugar and increase the speed to level 10. Continue whisking until you get to the stiff peak stage.

Take the mixer bowl off the stand-mixer and gently fold in 1/3 of the almond-icing sugar combo. Sift in the remaining almond flour in 2 batches. Be gentle and don't overfold - just fully incorporate the ingrendients.

Place the batter into an icing bag (or ziplock bag). Use either a large tip or cut off the corner of the bag in order to pipe the batter onto the cookie sheet. You want to pipe them into one-inch mounds so that they form little circles.

Bake the macaroons for 5 minutes. Remove the pans from the oven and raise the temperature to 375 F.

Once the oven has reached that temperature, return the pans to the oven and continue to bake for another 7 minutes. Cool the cookies on a wire rack before filling them with the icing.

*I was able to get about 3 dozen cookies out of this batch - but I also didn't have a proper piping bag (or ziplock bag) - so I ended up with some bigger macaroons that I would have otherwise.

A Sweet & Salty Peanut Butter Filling
ingredients:
125 g natural peanut butter
70 g icing sugar
25 g softened butter
25 g milk
5 g vanilla extract
3 g fine sea salt

In your mixing bowl (use a paddle attachment for the kitchenaid) cream together the butter and peanut putter at a medium speed. Add the icing sugar and salt and incorporate into the batter. Reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla; finishing with the milk being incorporated, about a tbsp at a time.

Pipe the peanut butter onto the base of one of the macaroons and top with another. Store in an airtight container... if they even last that long!

i heart my sweetie pie... aka my KitchenAid

So... as you know, I bought my KitchenAid Accolade 400 on Tuesday. An event that brought a HUGE smile to my face. I'm going to let you in on a little secret... I'm not having a very good week. You know, sometimes things happen that make you take a step back and reevaluate what you're doing and where you're going... this week wasn't one of those weeks. The events of this week just made me plain ol' sad... life happens and we deal with it - but sometimes you just wish that it didn't make you want to cry.

So buying this expensive (even @ sale price) new gadget and baking some goodies seemed like a good way to try and take my mind off of things and decompress. That's exactly what I did last night - I decided to drown my sorrows in some butter, sugar and cocoa powder.

The recipe comes from the KitchenAid recipe book that was included in the box with the mixer... the cookies turned out great, but the best part is that they lifted my spirits just a little... Seriously, it's incredible how simply turning the "stir" speed made me giddy... I am a true baking geek (and very proud of it)!

Oh yes - I meant to buy a new camera in order to take better pictures and impress everyone with a visually beautiful blog... but the KitchenAid came first :0) Please be patient friends... pictures will come (I promise).

Macadamia Chocolate Chip Cookies
ingredients:
3/4 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
1 c. butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
2 1/4 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. cocoa powder
225 g (1 pkg) dark chocolate chips
100g macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat your oven to 325 F. Spray two cookie sheets with nonstick spray and set aside.

Place the sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla in the mixer bowl. Attach the bowl and the flat beater to the mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix for 30 seconds. Stop and scrape the bowl - then increase to Speed 4 and beat for another 30 seconds. Scrape the sides with a spatula.

Turn to the Stir Speed (this is when I became giddy). Gradually add the baking soda, salt, flour and cocoa powder to the batter. Mix for 2 minutes. Scrape the side and beat at Speed 2 for another 30 seconds.

Add this point turn your mixer back to the Stir Speed and add the chocolate chips and the nuts and just blend - about 15 seconds.

Lift the flat paddle out of the batter and grab your little scooper.

You'll want to scoop the dough onto your cookie sheet - about 2 inches apart - I was able to bake 8 cookies per sheet at a time (they do tend to spread out while baking).

Bake for 13 minutes - they'll look a little undercooked but that's ok. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for a minute or 2 and then remove them to completely cool on a wire rack.

The recipe said that you should get 48 cookies - I got 55 cookies out of the dough. Plenty to share (which I did) and plenty to indulge in as well (I did that too). I'm still sad, but at least now I know that I can get giddy just by turning on that "Stir" speed :0)

Lemon + butter + cookies = YUMMY!

We all know I love lemons. I think I love lemons more than I love chocolate. I've made my margarita cookies and my lime meltaways - both of which have become fast favourites. But this might become one of my new "go-to" cookie recipes. It's a freezer cookie - the dough gets rolled into a log, wrapped in plastic wrap, allowed to chill and then sliced into thin pieces. All this means is making the dough in advance - but since it's going into the freezer you can make it up to 2 months in advance... just think of it as a baking investment :0)

I found this little gem of a recipe in my grandmother's recipe book (I know, I've used this book several times in the past couple of weeks... I guess we all know where I'm finding my inspiration).

Lemon Butter Cookies
adapted from: The Fannier Merritt Farmer Boston Cooking School Cookbook
ingredients:
1 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
pinch of salt
2 c. all purpose flour

In a large bowl, cream the butter. Add the sugar and beat it well into the butter. Add each egg individually, beating well, adding the lemon zest and juice, cinnamon, cloves and salt into the batter. The cookie dough will be fluffy at this stage. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon, making sure all the flour is incorporated.

At this point I placed the bowl with the batter in it in the fridge and allowed it to cool a little (about 30 minutes).

Then I removed it from the fridge and divided the dough in half - shaping it into a log over plastic wrap. Grab your plastic wrap, lay it out flat and put some of your cookie dough on it. Pull up the sides of the wrap so that all of the dough is covered and just form it into a log.

Quick and easy - I promise (I was intimidated the first time I tried too - and have since made 3 cookie dough's that require this process). Make sure that the ends are well twist-tied closed and place in the freezer to allow the logs to really chill. This makes cutting the dough much easier.

Allow to cool in the freezer about 2 hours (or more).

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350 F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Remove a log from the freezer and peel off the plastic wrap. Thinly slice the dough. Place them on the cookie sheets (about an inch apart) and bake for about 10 minutes - you want them to be golden.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

This amount of dough will make about 60 cookies (good ol' fashioned recipe books... you always get the most out of a recipe right?)

Like I said, you can bake them all at once, or divide the batter into lots of little logs and only bake a dozen at a time. If you have problems with self-restraint I recommend the latter... unless raw cookie dough is your weakness :0)

Daring Bakers Challenge... whippets!

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.
(I only made the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow cookies - I'll try out the Milan ones another time)

When I looked at the recipe challenge this month I got very excited... not only did it highlight cookies - which, as you know, I became obsessed with... but these are the cookies that my mother gushes about...

My mom grew up in a large family, and when she first moved out on her own she bought herself a box of whippets and ate the entire thing in one sitting - sugar overload to be sure, but who hasn't done that once or twice in their lifetime?!

I was excited to be able to make something that I just knew my mom would enjoy... I baked my batch just before her week long camping trip - a little treat to enjoy while sitting next to the campfire.

Note: This recipe has a few stages - all fairly simple, but they still require a bit of premeditation - the cookie dough needs to chill a little in the fridge before being baked, and although I made my marshmallows in advance, next time I'll make them the same day and pipe them onto the cookie base, allow to harden a little and then dip in the chocolate glaze.

My version of a Whippet
Mallows(Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
ingredients:
3 c. all purpose flour
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
3 eggs, whisked together


In your food processor, combine the dry ingredients. Slowly add in the butter and continue to combine until the dough is almost sandy. Add the eggs and mix well to combine.

Remove the dough from the bowl and form it into a disk. You want to wrap it up in plastic wrap and have it chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour - I let mine sit in there for 3 days.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375 F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out your dough (with your rolling pin) until it's about 1/8-inch thick. I used a 1 1/2 inch round cookie cutter to cut out the rounds of dough.

Bake for 10 minutes - they will be slightly golden. Remove from the tray and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Note: My batch made 100 cookies!!! (I baked and froze all but 2 dozen of them). In order to keep that amount of dough from warming up too much, I cut out my rounds and then kept them in the fridge until it was time to bake them. But feel free to load these onto the trays - they don't spread as they bake.

Let the real fun begin now that they have completely cooled :0)

Since I had already made my Marshmallows (see blog entry, July 16th)I cut them up into small cubes and spread a little blueberry jam on the top of the cookie and then topped them with the marshmallow. I placed the cookies on a parchment lined cookie tray and placed them in a 350 F oven to have them "slump" a little - pay attention! otherwise they completely melt. They only need about 1 - 2 minutes to slump.
**This is how to do it if you decide to use purchased marshmallows

If you're going to make the marshmallows day of (follow the same recipe as before) - only once you have completed your batch, transfer the batter to a Ziploc bag that you have cut off a tip and pipe the marshmallow onto the cookie top. Allow to sit for a couple of hours while they firm up.

Chocolate Glaze:
ingredients:
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
2 ounces vegetable oil

Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze. Life it with a fork, allow the excess chocolate to drip back into the bowl and place on the prepared pan. Allow them to set at room temperature (a couple of hours) - I then transferred the pans to my fridge and had them chill overnight.

Really really good - half of them had the blueberry jam, and half of them didn't. Both were enjoyed by all - my mother, her friends, my co-workers... myself ;0) Give them a try - they might seem like a lot of work - but they are so worth it!

Happy baking!

the end is here...

Just of my cookie week! Don't worry - you can't get rid of me that easily ;0)

Over the course of the last 4 days I tried and tasted some recipes from some of my favourite blogs - however, I couldn't let this week go with only making other peoples cookies. So this last one is my personal childhood favourite. My friend Robin's mom used to make them, and when I got my hands on the recipe I tweaked it a little - adding a bit more spice, a little less butter - but have found that they are popular as ever!

This recipe makes about 5 dozen cookies ... these not only pack a punch, but are a nice thin cookie - perfect for dunking into tea or milk. I would say these are just about perfect!

Gingersnaps
ingredients:
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. molasses
1 egg
2 1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
Raw sugar, to coat (I use large brown sugar, but white will work too)

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Make sure that your racks are in the middle and upper parts of the oven (too low and the cookies will burn). Line your cookie trays with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, molasses and egg until nice and fluffy. Again, this is when you want to do the majority of your beating - so that the dough doesn't toughen up once you add the flour to it.

In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, b. soda, salt, and spices.

With your wooden spoon, stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until just combined.

Form the dough into small balls and roll each one in the raw sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheet - these do expand as they bake.

Bake for 11 minutes. Allow them to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Not only do these taste great - but they freeze well, and can be ground up to form the base for cheesecakes or to top ice cream with!

i've gone bananas!!!!

Another day - another cookie recipe... yes, the end is almost here, but not before this goody of a recipe gets its 15 minutes of fame. As you know, I heart 101 cookbooks. I absolutely adore Heidi's entries and recipes. Oh and the pictures... sigh. I need to start adding pictures to my blog (I know I know... I just need to get a little camera first).

But let's get back to this cookie. I was drawn in by the name, banana chip cookie recipe. Banana chips in a cookie? Why the heck not! I mean, cookies tend to be crunchy anyway, so why not add some banana to it? And why do we always use only mashed ones? So here goes (I did tweak a couple of things... less butter and two different chocolates rather than just dark).

Banana Chip Double Chocolate Cookies
ingredients:
1 3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 c. oat bran (the original recipe was toasted wheat germ)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1.2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp vanilla salt
1/3 c. butter, softened
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2/3 c. banana chips, loosely chopped
1/2 c. white chocolate chips
1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
2/3 c. walnuts, toasted and chopped

Whisk together the flour, oat bran, salt, baking soda and powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl beat the butter until you have it light and fluffy. Beat in the sugar until it looks like thick frosting. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each fully before adding the next one, and scraping down the sides of the bowl a few times along the way.

With a wooden spoon, stir in the vanilla. Now add the flour in two batches, stirring between each addition. You just want it to be combined, don't over work the batter. Now stir in the banana chips, chocolate chips and the walnuts - you just want everything to be distributed.

I chilled my batter for 30 minutes in the fridge (Heidi's recipe doesn't require this stage, but I think it makes the dough more manageable).

At this point preheat your oven to 375 F. Make sure that your racks are in the middle/upper of the oven. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.

I used my ice cream scooper again to divide these cookies. Each cookie was placed about 2 inches apart (this means more baking time, but these cookies expand while baking). Bake for 8 minutes, until barely golden on top and bottom. You'll want to keep baking them - but Heidi says not too - otherwise they dry out. Cool on racks.

I was able to get 3 dozen cookies - that freeze well (after 5 different types of cookies, making at least 3 dozen each, I needed to freeze some!)

As Shauna and Amanda told me when they tried them - these cookies were made with love... :0)

a "melt in your mouth" kind of cookie...

Day 3. Completely different flavour from the first two. I started off this week with a day of chocolate, followed by a day of vanilla. The use real butter blog then offered me something a little different... lime metaways. Delicate and sweet, these cookies are a real punch of lime covered in powdered sugar. They were one of the cookie doughs that needed to be chilled - but they did live up to that little extra effort (and premeditation).

Lime Meltaways
ingredients:
12 tbsp. butter, softened
1/3 c. powdered sugar
2 limes, zest
2 limes, juice (about 3 tbsp)
1 tbsp vanilla
1 3/4 + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 tbsp cornstarch
1/4 tsp vanilla salt
2/3 c. powdered sugar (for dusting)

With your hand mixer, cream the butter and 1/3 c. of sugar together until fluffy. Add the lime zest, juice and vanilla. Continue to beat the batter (fluffy fluffy fluffy).

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch and salt together.

Add the dry mixture to the butter and beat on low speed until just combined.

Roll the dough into two 1 1/4 inch logs (I rolled mine on top of wax paper) and then wrap in plastic wrap. Allow to chill at least 1 hour. I chilled mine in the freezer overnight.

When you're ready to bake...

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Line your cookie trays with parchment paper. Place the 2/3 c. of powdered sugar into a large Ziploc bag.

Take the chilled logs out of the freezer and allow to soften just a bit (because of the over night freeze I left mine out on the counter for 60 minutes). Slice the logs into 1/4 inch rounds. Place the rounds on your baking sheets, about an inch apart (they don't expand while baking). Bake for 15 minutes - barely golden. Remove from the tray and set on a wire rack for 3 minutes. At 3 minutes, pop them into the powdered sugar and toss to coat (don't get too rough, otherwise they'll fall apart).

Return the cookies onto the rack and allow to cool completely (I placed parchment paper under the rack to catch the excess powered sugar).

The dough will freeze - and can keep for 2 months. Or they'll keep for 2 weeks in an airtight container once baked.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Try this one... people will be instantly impressed when they see these little treats... and they melt in your mouth, just like their name promises.

Day 2 of the cookie binge

As promised I'm letting you in on my second cookie recipe in this great cookie "challenge"... this one was selected from Katy's Sugarlaws blog (a favourite of mine) - her vanilla bean sugar cookies. This recipe is not only incredible raw (yes, the spoon was licked) but it tastes like vanilla bean ice cream when baked. Easy to make, and easy on your taste buds - the biggest question is, can you eat just one?

Vanilla Bean Sugar Cookies (that remind me of ice cream)
ingredients:
3/4 c. butter, softened
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp vailla
2 eggs
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 tsp baking powder
2 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Line a cookie tray with parchment paper.

In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla, eggs (one at a time, between after each addition) and vanilla seeds. Beat really well - the batter will be super fluffy.

Combine the baking powder and flour together, and add to the wet ingredients. Use a wooden spoon to just combine the flour - you don't want to over mix the batter. I then put the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes, just to allow it to chill a little.

Grab your ice cream scooper and scoop out the batter and place on your lined cookie sheet and flatten with your fingers- allow for enough room between each ball of batter, the cookies expand while baking.

Bake for between 8 - 10 minutes (my oven needed 10 minutes). Remove from heat and allow to cool for a minute on the cookie sheet. Remove from the tray and allow to completely cool on a wire rack.

This made 3 dozen cookies (36).

They freeze well... if you need to hide them because they're a little too tempting ;0)

Absolutely delish. Who says vanilla is plain?

my sweet tooth

I know... all my entries recently have been baked goods... cakes, tarts, cookies, muffins, etc. My sweet tooth seems to be calling to me ;0)

This week is no different. I actually have gone on a cookie binge... I searched all my favourite blogs: 101 Cookbooks, Use Real Butter, and Sugarlaws for cookie recipes that tempted me. I found some really good ones - including a new favourite blog. For the next 5 days you will be getting to share in these recipes too (including one of my personal childhood favourites).

The first recipe comes from my newest blog discovery, Smitten Kitchen - and is based on her Korova Cookies (adapted from Dorie Greenspan's world peace cookies). The claim to fame on this one is that it is the best cookie ever. Pure and simple. Who can resist such a challenge, not me! So here it is. Are you up for the challenge?

Korova Cookies
ingredients:
1 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. dark chocolate cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 stick + 3 tbsp butter, softened
2/3 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla salt
1 tsp vanilla
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (mini mini mini chips)

Combine the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together in a bowl.

Beat the butter with your hand mixer until it gets really creamy. Add in both sugars, salt and vanilla and beat for a few more minutes to combine. I've been learning that beating the batter at this point is really important, since you hardly want to mix the batter once you add the flour - so get your "wet" batter as creamy as you can.

Now, add the flour and, using your hand mixer on LOW speed just combine everything. The dough is very crumbly. If you over beat at this point the cookies will end up being tough after you bake them. Add in the chocolate chips and just distribute with a wooden spoon.

Turn the dough onto your counter and press it together into a ball. Divide that in half and with each half create a log (about 1 1/2 inch in diameter). Cover in plastic wrap and place in the freezer. Allow to chill for at least 1 hour, but it will keep for 1 month. I chilled mine overnight.

Preheat your oven to 325 F. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper (I rotated 3 cookie sheets). Take out the logs and allow them to soften up a little - since I had frozen my logs overnight, I allowed them to sit on the counter for about an hour. Then, using a large knife, slice the logs into about 1/2 inch thick disks. If they crack or shatter as you cut, don't worry... just press them back together - you won't be able to tell once they're baked.

Place the cookies on the sheets with about an inch between them - but don't worry, they don't really expand while baking - what you cut is what you'll get. Bake one sheet at a time, on your highest rack in the oven for 12 minutes. They won't look done - that's ok. Let them cool on wire racks.

*Note- seriously the best cookie dough I have EVER eaten. EVER. This is the type of dough they should put in "cookie dough ice cream".

You should get about 3 dozen cookies.

All of the recipes you'll see this week as part of this "challenge" were actually baked in 1 afternoon/evening... dozens of cookies going in and out of my oven all day :0) I hope you enjoy these recipes (and try them too). I know I'll be making them again... especially this one. Smitten Kitchen is right - this is the world's best cookie.

ice cream cake!

The idea behind this was that I was going to use gelato and make a gelato cake... however, I was in a bit of a rush - and ended up just running into Loblaws and grabbing a chocolate ice cream filled with brownie pieces... nothing wrong with that! Paired with my double chocolate chip cookies as a base and some whipped cream - frozen desserts re-created!

I searched my favourite blogs high and low looking for some hints and inspiration... and found it at 101 Cookbooks - Heidi has done it again! Using her Tropical Icebox Cake recipe I was able to adapt it and bring it to Sara's birthday party (one of two desserts that I made for the birthday girl)...

I hope that this recipe is able to inspire you to make an ice cream cake this summer - an easy way to beat the summer heat (or humidity for those of us in Ottawa).

There are a few steps to this recipe - more time intensive than labour intensive.

Chocolate Ice Cream Cake
ingredients:

Crust:
1 dozen double chocolate chip cookies (see recipe from June 25)
3 tbsp brown sugar
5 tbsp butter, melted

Filling:
2 1/2 c. of PC Loads of Chocolate Brownie Chunk ice cream, softened

Whipped topping:
2 c. heavy cream
4 tbsp white sugar

In a food processor, blend the cookies until they become quite crumbly. Add the sugar and butter and pulse until it resembles coarse sand.

Divide the crust in half, and pack a thin layer of the cookie base into the base of a spring form pan. Set the other half aside, you'll need it in a bit.

Take the softened ice cream and layer it over the cookie base. Place in the freezer and leave it there until the ice cream is hard again.

Once the bottom portion of the cake is ready (frozen hard - I left mine in for 90 minutes) prepare the whipped topping. Beat the heavy cream and sugar together over high speed with your hand mixer. You want the result to be thick but not too stiff.

Now, remove the frozen base from the freezer and top it with the remainder of the cookie crumble. Top that with the whipped cream. Return to the freezer and allow it to freeze as well. The original recipe recommended overnight, I didn't have that time, so I left mine in the freezer for 4 hours.

When I removed the cake from the freezer I topped with slivered almonds and removed the side from the spring form pan.

An uber rich treat for Sara!!! Happy birthday (weekend) lady!

some ideas for base and filling - gingersnaps with coconut gelato, my margarita cookies with a lemon gelato, a dark chocolate cookie with a vanilla ice cream/ frozen yogurt/ gelato tossing in some brazil nuts, or a peanut butter cookie with a peanut butter gelato... sigh. so many options. thankfully summer has just started ;0)

an Anna Olsen recipe... Chloe - don't hate me!

A few months ago I was watching the food network and fell upon Anna Olsen's show Sugar and she was baking cookies. Not just any cookies - double chocolate chip cookies. Even through the television the batter looked utterly decadent... and from then on I thought to myself "I've got to make this recipe!"

It's really simple too- combine sugar, butter chocolate and flour (well a couple of other things too). The biggest pain is that you have to chill the cookie dough in your freezer for at least 4 hours prior to baking. The good news is once you make a batch of these, make some more and just keep it in the freezer... nothing wrong with frozen cookie dough ;0)

note: I bought a scale... so I actually use it and that's why sometimes I use measurements that are in grams and ounces... sorry!

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
ingredients:
1/2 c. butter
8 oz white chocolate
4 eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 c. brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c. all purpose flour
1/2 tsp b. powder
1/4 tsp vanilla sugar
6 oz dark chocolate chips

Over a pot filled with a couple of inches of simmering water, place a metal bowl and add the butter. Melt it halfway, and add the white chocolate. Whisk the two of them together to melt - don't worry if they separate (mine did). Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat together the eggs with the sugar and vanilla. Beat for about 5 minutes - you wants a thick batter. The brown sugar will continue to lighten as you beat it - you want it to become a pale caramel colour.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, b. powder and salt together.

Return to your large bowl, add your white chocolate and butter to it. Beat well to combine. Add the flour mix to it and continue beating everything together. Once everything is combined, stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

Cover your bowl with plastic wrap and allow to chill for at least 4 hours in the freezer.

Preheat the oven to 325 F. Using your mini ice cream scooper -spoon out the cookie dough and roll gently to shape into a ball. Place on your parchment line cookie tray. Bake for 18 - 20 minutes.

So I made the cookies... but follow the blog and see where these cookies will end up... ;0) there's always gotta be a twist!

FYI - this batch made me almost 4 dozen cookies... plenty for all those cookie monsters!

memories of Scotland... thanks to a Brazil nut

It was Mel's birthday last weekend - and so a weekend away meant that treats were an absolute necessity :0)

When Mel visited me in Scotland we became OBSESSED with chocolate covered brazil nuts (makes you wonder why anyone would waste their time with chocolate covered almonds or peanuts...seriously). So in my Golden Book of Patisserie I found a cookie recipe that brought back memories of those delicious nuts ;0)

This batch makes 3 dozen little bite-size cookies - cute, yummy, and oh so easy to make. And this recipe was all about Melanie. I hope you all enjoy these cookies as well...

Chocolate & Brazil Nut Cookies
ingredients:
1/4 c. butter, room temperature
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 1/3 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 tsp b. powder
2/3 c. brazil nuts, coarsely chopped
1/4 c. white chocolate
1/4 c. dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookie sheets with wax paper.

Beat together the butter, sugar, and vanilla using a hand mixer. Th result should be pale and creamy. Add the egg, beating everything until just combined. Lower the speed of the mixer to low and add the flour and b. powder, combine well. Stir in the nuts and chocolate by hand using a wooden spoon.

Now, wet your hands so that they are damp, and roll the mixture into 36 walnut sized balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheets. (space them a little apart - but they don't really expand while they bake)

Bake them for 15 minutes, or until golden.

Let cool on the cookie sheets for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

these are probably my new favourite cookies.

Salty/Sweet Mexican Treat! ;0)

I didn't post last weekend - but I did get to spend my Sunday afternoon with Deb and Brynn Ransom again... with Julie joining us in the kitchen. On the agenda was a recipe from my rebar modern food cookbook - their lime sugar cookie. The thought of limes and sugar made me think of margarita's.... so I decided to make these cookies but add some coarse sea salt along with the raw brown sugar. An outright success! These cookies will keep you coming back for more (Julie, Deb and Gigi both really enjoyed them since they both have more of a salty tooth than a sweet one). Easy to make - I even whipped up a batch for my friend Emily early this morning. Grab and go when you need a little escape from the end of winter blues... and a quick trip to Mexico! :0)

Margarita Cookies
ingredients:
1 c. brown sugar
2 tbsp. butter @ room temperature
2 tsp vegetable oil
zest of 1 lime
1 large egg
juice of 1 lime
1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. pumpkin seeds, toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 tsp b. soda
1/2 tsp salt (I used some coriander flavoured sea salt)
raw b. sugar and coarse sea salt to sprinkle

Preheat your oven to 350F. In a large bowl, cream together the sugar, butter, oil, and lime zest until well combined. Add the egg and lime juice -the batter should loosen up and combine well.

Meanwhile, on your stove top - toast the sunflower seeds in a non-stick pan. Keep the heat about medium, and toss them occasionally. You don't want them to burn. The seeds will start to pop when they are done - about 5 minutes. Take the seeds off the heat and coarsely chop them.

In a smaller bowl, combine the flour, seeds, b. soda and salt. Add this mix to the wet batter. Combine with a wooden spoon.

I used my small ice cream scoop (which only seems to be getting lots of use recently) and form small balls, dropping them onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Leave space between the cookies - they spread out while baking.

Flatten each cookie with a fork and then sprinkle with the raw b. sugar and the coarse sea salt. Place in the oven and cook - mine needed about 12 minutes (but start off with 8 minutes and increase by a couple minutes... it all depends on your oven).

Cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes and then remove the cookies and place on a wire rack. You should get about 20 well sized cookies.