Category: Book Reviews

Review of books I have read or listen to!
Want A Bakehouse Pecan BLONDIE – CALL ME

Want A Bakehouse Pecan BLONDIE – CALL ME

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I can see the light at the end of the tunnel…Cookie #11 and it’s a good one. Bakehouse Pecan Blondies from Zingerman’s Bakehouse Cookbook.

Ipso Fatto posted her review of these delicious Pecan Blondies which then began the usual dance in my head I like to call the Cookbook Tango.  Like mental Pong, do I or don’t I, should I or shouldn’t I?  Really, I don’t need another cookbook… but it looks so good. Well, I could “kick the tires” so to speak beforehand, try some of the recipes, see if I like it.  Okay, I’m gonna be tough and really scrutinize the book before getting it. Yes. Yes. Yes.

Who am I kidding, it took one recipe and I caved.

In my defense, Bakehouse Pecan Blondies are absolutely fabulous and justifies my quick surrender.  Why?  You take pecans, toast them in butter and salt, then toss them in a simple sugar-water caramel.  Once the pecan-sugar mixture cools and hardens it literally turns into pecan crack. Chop it up and fold the pieces into the blondie batter and shazam, deliciousness is born!  Pecan praline the zinger in Zingerman’s blondies.

Zingerman's Pecan Blondies

The batter is simple and comes together quickly-melted butter, eggs, brown sugar (you can use dark brown sugar for the Muscovado brown sugar) and flour.  Fold the pecans in, bake, dunzo.  It’s not as dense as a brownie and not as airy as a cake.  It’s just right.

Let’s get busy baking!

This is a beautiful book, filled with great stories about the bakery and the folks that are or have been a part of Zingerman’s tradition.  This is not cutting edge, new wave fou-fou food, more like all-American homey food, desserts and artisanal bread done really well and with love. Photos for most recipes are included and informative crib notes on the side.  The recipes are organized well and include both volume and metric weight measurements (yay!). Definitely making more treats out of this book soon!

 

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Want A Bakehouse Pecan BLONDIE – CALL ME

Ingredients

Praline

  • 2 Tbs 57gm unsalted butter
  • 1 cup 115gm pecan pieces
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 Tbs 27gm water
  • 1/2 cup 115gm granulated sugar

Blondies

  • 1 cup + 3 Tbs 230gm packed Muscovado brown sugar
  • 1 cup 230gm unsalted butter, melted
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1-1/2 cups 200gm all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp baking powder

Instructions

For the praline

  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees, spray a 9x9 square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray
  • Brown the butter: Haven't done that? Serious Eats step by step is really good
  • When butter is browned, remove from heat and add pecan pieces, salt and vanilla and toss to coat nuts.
  • Toast the pecan mixture on a sheet pan at 325 degrees for approximately 12 minutes until they are toasty brown. Start checking at 8 minutes. Set aside.

Caramelize the sugar: Stir together sugar and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat without stirring until it is caramelized to a rich reddish-brown. Careful not to burn or go to dark, it will take on a bitter taste. Immediately add the pecans and stir to combine and then spread pecans evenly in the prepared 9x9 pan. The praline will start to harden so work quickly and spread as thin as you can. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, remove pecans from pan and chop into small irregular pieces, 1/4-1/2 inch size. The praline can be made ahead and stored in a cool, dry spot.

    Blondies!

    • The easy part of this recipe
    • In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking powder. Stir to combine and set aside.
    • In a large bowl, whisk the brown sugar, melted butter, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until mixture is homogenous and thick.
    • Add dry ingredients to butter-sugar mixture and stir to until it is homogenous. Add the chopped pralines, stir to combine.
    • Pour batter into prepared 9x9 pan, spread evenly and bake for approximately 45 minutes until puffed in the middle and golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.
    • Cut into rectangles and serve with ice cold milk, coffee, tea..just about anything and wait for the smiles.

    Mui-road trip to Ann Arbor from Minneapolis is on the bucket list!

     
    Ho Ho Ho! Yo-Yo’s are here! Day 2 Holiday Cookies

    Ho Ho Ho! Yo-Yo’s are here! Day 2 Holiday Cookies

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    Day 2 of 12 days of Cookies.  I am off to a slow start having posted the first cookie days ago.  But I promise, this cookie will make up for the wait.  Once again I found a delicious treat in Ottolenghi’s dessert book, Sweet. Yep, my new fav. I am a sucker for shortbread and their Yo-Yos are just that, buttery, melt in your mouth shortbread cookies. They didn’t stop there, the cookies are then paired with a luscious buttercream to make an absolutely delicious sandwich cookie. Perfect for a holiday cookie platter.

    The cookies are made with custard powder, an English invention.  A thickening agent like cornstarch, the custard powder gives the cookies their sandy texture. The addition of annatto to the powder creates that lovely yellow-orange hue.  I found Bird’s Custard Powder at a local Indian supermarket, cornstarch can be used instead but I love the color from the Bird’s Custard.

    The dough comes together quickly.  Dry ingredients are sifted into a bowl and butter cut into it. The mixture starts out very dry and crumbly but after adding the vanilla and increasing the speed of the mixer the dough comes together nicely.

    Use a tablespoon ice cream scoop to measure out portions of dough. Roll each scoop into a smooth round ball and then smoosh each with a fork.

    I have a confession to make.  I couldn’t find rhubarb so I substituted strawberries instead to make the buttercream.  The berries give the buttercream both flavor and color and make very striking sandwich cookies.  No wonder they call these cookies Yo-Yos.  Can’t wait until rhubarb is in season.

    and to get you into the holiday baking mood….Mariah

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    Ho Ho Ho! Yo-Yo’s are here! Day 2 Holiday Cookies

    Ingredients

    • 1 small stalk rhubarb trimmed, washed and cut into 1-inch lengths
    • 4 1/2 tbs unsalted butter room temperature, cubed
    • 1 cup plus 2 tbs confectioner's sugar
    • 1/2 tsp lemon juice

    Dough

    • 1 1/3 cups plus 2 tbs all-purpose flour Plus 1 tbs for dusting
    • 1/2 cup custard powder can use cornstarch
    • 1/2 cup plus 1 tbs confectioner's sugar
    • 1/8 tsp salt
    • 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature, cubed
    • 1/4 tsp vanilla extract use 1/2 tsp if using cornstarch

    Instructions
    Twelve Days of Cookies Starts… NOW (Saffron, Orange and Honey Madeleines)

    Twelve Days of Cookies Starts… NOW (Saffron, Orange and Honey Madeleines)

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    This holiday season I am determined to post a Twelve Days of Cookies list and I will only stand a chance if I start now. This month Food 52 Baking Club is featuring Ottolenghi’s book Sweet authored with Helen Goh, his dessert partner in crime. As with all Ottolenghi books, this one is beautiful, worthy of your coffee table, but more importantly, worthy of use in your kitchen.

    A long long time ago in a kitchen somewhere far away, I tried to make madeleines.  I flopped, and since then my madeleines pans have been relegated to the back of a kitchen cabinet.  Looking for a recipe to try for National Cookie Day (yesterday, hope you made a batch) I came across Ottolenghi’s Saffron, Orange and Honey Madeleines.  They looked and sounded so delicious I decided to pull out my forgotten pans and give it the old college try.

    I’m glad I did.  The madeleines are buttery, cakey, tender, everything a madeleine should be and more.

    The batter is made in a food processor (oh snap). Eggs and sugar are whirled in the processor, flour and leavening added, pulse a couple more times and then add the saffron infused melted butter. The batter is poured into a WELL BUTTERED AND FLOURED pan (trust me on this) and baked for 7-9 minutes.  In those short minutes, your entire kitchen will be blanketed by the aroma of vanilla, butter, and orange, heavenly.

    The cooled madeleines are popped out of their shells (haha, get it?) painted with heated honey (watch your fingers, the honey is hot) and one end rolled in ground pistachios.

    So good.  If you don’t have a madeleine pan you could probably use a mini-muffin tin…they’ll still be delicious but they just won’t be the same (sigh).

    You can find the recipe on Bon Apetit but without weight measurements (boohoo). If I were you I’d splurge and get the book, totally worth it!

    [amd-yrecipe-recipe:150]

     
    Food Porn (Kristen Kish Cooking)

    Food Porn (Kristen Kish Cooking)

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    I recently received Top Chef Winner Kristen Kish’s beautiful book, Kristen Kish Cooking: Recipes and Techniques from Blogging for Books. Right off the bat I am going to say I am torn. It is a DROP DEAD GORGEOUS book and I am in love with it…but from afar. This is like that “out of my league” guy I was never going to get and if he ever spoke to me, I would have sounded like a babbling idiot…intimidated by his awesomeness.
    My first run through of the book, I literally drooled over every dish. All I could think was has she opened a restaurant yet? If so, where is it?  I’m making reservations.  Actually making one of her creations seemed daunting.
    Each plate is a work of art, each plate reminds why she is a chef and I am a home cook with kids, a dog and a job that will pay for a visit to wherever she ends up creating her beautiful food.   Her presentation is stunning simplicity that belies the complexity and thought she puts into each dish.  Each recipe is accompanied by a story from her life or how the recipe came about.  I loved reading these little vignettes. Her description and use of a variety of techniques in each recipe will no doubt make anyone a better cook.
    The second time I picked up the book I knew I had to gather up the guts to pick a couple of things to try, after all I needed to review the book. The book is divided first by snacks, salads, sweets and by protein-meat or from the sea.  Each recipe contains liners on what techniques are used in the recipe and ingredients in one column and directions in the inner column.  Very well organized.
    Confession, I looked for the easiest recipe I could try.  A dish that didn’t require special ingredients or a multi-step process to make.
    I decided on her Sour Cream Cake, Pecan, Malted Milk Creme Fraiche, baking is in my comfort zone. The batter was fairly straight forward, I have a 8-inch round cake pan and amazingly I also had the malted milk powder.
    Things were going smoothly…right up until I put the batter in the pan. Hmm, it’s a lot of batter, it’s pretty dense, maybe it doesn’t rise that much.
    WRONG. Though I knew better I wanted to follow the directions explicitly. Halfway through baking the batter oozed over the sides of the pan like the BLOB and dropped onto the floor of my oven. I quickly shoved some foil underneath, a little smoke but at least the smoke alarm didn’t go off, catastrophe partially averted.
    I e-mailed Kristen and she was great.  She recommended a springform pan or extending the walls of my pan with a parchment collar. Mine took well over an hour and was still undercooked in the center. The edge was delicious, the cake was buttery and tender.  She texted me again after making the cake for her family.  Hers took 49 minutes to bake and she used a deep 8 inch springform.  Definitely going to try this again.

    I tried a second time using a 9 inch springform and to prove you can teach an old dog new tricks I extended the sides with parchment. In my haste I used butter that was still cold, I thought I could get by. WRONG AGAIN. Mea culpa.  Ugh, the cake came out a little dense. It required around 50 minutes to bake despite the larger pan.

    Note to self and everyone, use  a pan with at least 3 inch sides or taller and room temp butter! No shortcuts.

    I will try again as the third time is always a charm. I think I would use light brown sugar instead of dark for a milder flavor.  I love the nuttiness and the crunch of the pecans and the hit of salt in the topping.

    Whew.

    I then tried her recipe for Cavatelli, Corn, Roasted Tomato, Thai Basil.

    Full disclosure. I CHEATED.

    I bought pasta instead of making the cavatelli. The sauce was easy to prepare and delicious. I love the roasted tomatoes and charred corn and the creaminess of the sauce. Much like a carbonara, egg yolks and hard cheese (Romano) are stirred together and hot pasta is added to the mixture which creates a silky lovely sauce. I added a splash of the pasta water to thin it just a bit. Yummy. The Thai basil added color contrast to the dish but just a hint of flavor. I hope it’s not blasphemous but I think I would add a bit of bacon or pancetta next time..yummy


    I was about to try her recipe for egg pudding but for 8 eggs (4 servings) it calls for 10 tablespoons of butter, some creme fraiche and a brown butter drizzle on top. Luckily, within the directions I could only account for 7 tablespoons of butter, I’m ok with not using the remaining 3 tablespoons.  Decided to save this for a day when I work out first.

    There are recipes I am definitely going to try. Even a couple that look pretty involved but sound deliciously worth making.  Roasted chicken thighs and Labneh (but first gotta get those Calabrian chilis), Braised Potatoes with Pancetta and Comte, the Potato Puree with Chicken Skin Crisps and the Hamachi, Sweet Onion, Bacon, Miso and Potato are on my bucket list.  Until then I will keep her book on my coffee table to salivate over and enjoy.
    Will Blog for Food (Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook)

    Will Blog for Food (Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook)

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    I received an e-mail from a publisher a couple of weeks ago. They had come across my blog and wanted to know if I would like to review a book they had coming out. Me? I was flattered (my aw-shucks, you really like me moment). Wait, this isn’t some ploy to get me to buy another book is it? So I asked “Do I have to send the book back?  I hate mailing stuff.  I GET TO KEEP IT?!  Sure I’ll do it!” The last thing I needed was another baking book as I am the owner of way too many cookbooks. As space on my shelf grows tight I have had to be selective about which books I get and keep.  BUT THIS WAS FREE. So what the heck!  When I did receive my copy of Miranda Couse’s Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook I felt like I was getting an extra birthday gift.  I flipped through the book for an initial look just to size it up. I noted the extensive section on essentials, ingredients, and how-tos. Great for beginners. The cookies are organized by types such as drops, classics, brownies and bars, slice and bake and holiday treats. There are tips and variations interspersed throughout the book, very informative. Each page is user-friendly with the ingredients and quantities listed on the left and instructions on the right. Every recipe is preceded by a highlighted box with prep time, baking time, how many cookies and shelf life, love that. There are photos every couple of pages but not one for each cookie.  Bummers.  But the photos included are well-staged and close-up, you know exactly what the cookie should look like.

    Now to the serious stuff. I tried two recipes, the Blueberry Lemon Shortbread and Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownie. Both were straightforward and easy to make, especially the shortbread. The cookie is buttery, very lemony which really creates a nice contrast with the blueberries. Dried blueberries are used which I think intensifies the flavor. Really delicious cookie. The brownies were a bit more effort with the 2 batters but worth it. They are decadent, gooey and dense. The sweetness is tempered by the hit of espresso powder. Next time I might add chocolate chips to the brownie batter just to amp up chocolate. Double yums.

    Despite having a zillion cookie books, I am making room on my shelf for this one. It is easy, straightforward, well organized and more importantly, the recipes work. I know Jamie is going to love it.  Holiday baking here we come.

    This would be the perfect stocking stuffer for novice bakers and cookie lovers!

     
    Cookiefinity-Triple Play (Triple Oatmeal Cookies from BraveTart)

    Cookiefinity-Triple Play (Triple Oatmeal Cookies from BraveTart)

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    This month’s Food52 Baking Book Club features Stella Park’s BraveTart.  You may remember I previously blogged about her delicious Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies and the debacle of using the printed version in People magazine.  BIG MISTAKE. About a month ago, Omnivore Books hosted Ms.Parks, being a cookbook junkie, I jumped in my car and headed to the City to attend. Got my very own SIGNED copy, uh-huh, uh-huh..doing the happy dance.

    Talented dessert chef, blogger, and author of Marbled, Swirled and Layered, Irvin Lin was on hand to moderate the conversation.  Which just proves there is a conspiracy going on as I was FORCED to buy not just one new cookbook but two. Now I have to find shelf-room for his book too. Aiyah!

    After her talk, I waited patiently while one woman monopolized the Q&A session (sheesh-some people), they finally picked me and I blurted out “I’m the one who tweeted about processing the honey roasted nuts” and recounted the horrible editing job of her recipe in People magazine. I think of it as a cautionary public service tale for everyone.

    And with her great southern drawl (she is from Kentucky) she said: “Oh I know, I hate when they edit recipes and get it wrong!”

    I was vindicated.

    The book is a reflection of her, warm, friendly and gracious.  BraveTart is a love tome to iconic American treats. The book works due to her attention to detail and thoroughness.  She has reworked recipes such as Oreos and Nutter Butters and transformed them into delicious homey treats while retaining the essence of the original dessert that you remember so well from childhood. With the first bite of her Triple Oatmeal Cookie, I was immediately transported back to my 12-year-old self, reaching into the familiar pink-purple bag of Mother’s Oatmeal Cookies.

    Her Triple Oatmeal Cookies are delicious, chewy, toothy cookies. The cookies contain old-fashioned oatmeal, steel cut oats and oat flour, the triple whammy of Oatsville.  Cranberries and pecans are added and provide sweetness and crunch, a scrumptious cookie. Feel free to substitute different dried fruit. Interestingly enough Stella posted that raisins will cause or allow the cookies to spread more than cranberries so keep that in mind.  Dried cherries or diced apricots would be amazing also.  Chocolate chips would, of course, work well also.

    I made the dough and followed the instructions to bake the cookies on a foil-lined sheet.  To my surprise, the cookie spread was more than expected.  The first batch was thin, almost like lace cookies. Channeling America’s Test Kitchen I baked subsequent batches on parchment and then on a Silpat.  Here are the results, everyone knows a picture is worth a thousand words.

    So, the cookies on the left were baked on Silpat, center- parchment, right-foil. An Ah-ha moment.  Like the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears, “This cookie (right) is too thin, this one (left) is too thick, the center cookie is JUST RIGHT!” Note to self, bake these cookies on parchment.

    In the end, they were all good, chewy, buttery, crispy edges and full of oat goodness. They were gobbled up.

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    Cookiefinity-Triple Play (Triple Oatmeal Cookies from BraveTart)

    Ingredients

    • 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature (not too soft)
    • ⅔ cup 5 ounces packed light brown sugar
    • ½ cup 3 ½ ounces granulated sugar
    • 1 ½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt a bit less if you use Morton’s kosher salt, half the amount if it’s regular table salt plus additional salt (if you wish) for sprinkling
    • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
    • ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
    • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
    • 1 large egg
    • ⅔ cup 3 ounces all-purpose flour
    • ¾ cup 2 ½ ounces oat flour (alternatively, grind old-fashioned rolled oats in a blender)
    • 1 ⅔ cups 6 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
    • ¼ cup 1 ½ ounces steel-cut oats
    • 1 ¼ cups 5 ounces toasted pecan pieces
    • 1 cup 6 ounces dried cranberries or cherries, if you use raisins the cookies will spread a bit more

    Instructions

    • Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
    • In bowl of a stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and vanilla. Beat until combined. Add egg and continue beating until light and creamy.
    • Whisk together flour, oat flour and both oatmeal types. Stir in pecans and cranberries. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until just combined. Batter will be stiff.
    • Arrange portions of dough (about 1 ounce or 2 tablespoons each) onto lined baking sheets. Flatten into disks and optionally sprinkle each with a bit of kosher salt.
    • Bake in preheated oven 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown on edges but still pale in the middle.
    • Let cool on baking sheet a few minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

    Pictures from a cookbook groupie! When will I learn to hold my phone higher?
    Lemon Cookie Very Pretty & The Cookie Is So Sweet (Blueberry-Lemon Shortbread)

    Lemon Cookie Very Pretty & The Cookie Is So Sweet (Blueberry-Lemon Shortbread)

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    Blueberry-Lemon Shortbread from Miranda Couse’s  Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook is a winner.  These cookies remind me of my favorite scones which have dried blueberries and lemon zest in them. As soon as I spied the recipe I knew I had to try it. The cookies are made with powdered sugar which helps to create a tender cookie. A combination of lemon juice and lemon zest give the cookies their tart, lemony flavor.  Want less pucker? Substitute Meyer lemon or a combination of lemon and orange juice in the cookie.  The use of dried blueberries in these delicious morsels intensifies the berry flavor and provides a foil to the lemon.  Trader Joe’s carries wild dried blueberries that work perfectly.

    The dough is rolled out to approximately 3/8-1/2 inch thickness.  I’m sure the dough if chilled, would be firm enough to shape into a log for slice and bake cookies.  As I sat munching on one the thought occurred to me that dried cranberries and orange would also be delicious.  Can’t wait to make my next batch.  If you try a different flavor combination, let me know!

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    Lemon Blueberry Shortbread from Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook

    Delicious citrus-berry, buttery cookie!
    Course cookies
    Cuisine American
    Keyword blueberry, cookies, lemon, Lemon blueberry shortbread, Shortbread

    Ingredients

    • MAKES ABOUT 12 COOKIES
    • Prep: 15 minutes Chill: 30 minutes
    • Bake: 14 to 15 minutes
    • Shelf Life: 4 to 5 days
    • ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
    • 7 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
    • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
    • 2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
    • 1½ tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
    • 1 cup all-purpose flour
    • ¼ teaspoon table salt
    • ¼ cup chopped dried blueberries Feel free to substitute other dried fruit, great combo would be orange and dried cranberries, use your imagination, like lime and strawberry

    Instructions

    • In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed or a wooden spoon, beat together the butter and both sugars until light and creamy. This will take about 3 minutes if using an electric mixer or 5 to 6 minutes if creaming by hand. Add the lemon zest and lemon juice and beat to combine. Add the flour and salt, and beat on low speed or by hand until the dough comes together about 1 minute. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the blueberries until incorporated.
    • Place the dough between two sheets of wax paper or parchment paper. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough to an even ½-inch thickness. Wrap the dough in the paper and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
    • Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
    • Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Rechill if they seem soft.
    • Bake 14-15 minutes until edges are golden brown. Start checking at 12 minutes!
    • Let the cookies rest on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.
    • Like many shortbread, flavors will develop and the cookie will be even better the next day!
    A Tale of Two Cookbooks (Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownies)

    A Tale of Two Cookbooks (Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownies)

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    For those familiar with Food52 Piglet Tournament of Cookbooks, I received two cookbooks this past week that made me feel like one of the judges for the tourney.  In a nutshell, The Piglet is like March Madness, sixteen cookbooks go head to head, winner goes on, loser goes home. Judges are selected by Food52 staff and they are not just from the culinary world, but artists, writers, journalists (no pharmacists yet hint, hint) who read and cook from each book and pick their favorite.  Pairings are eclectic and at times exasperating (Robicelli’s Cupcakes vs.The Persian Table, go figure). But that’s what makes it interesting and so much fun.

    Tribute to The Piglet

    Which brings me back to the two cookbooks I received, Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook and Kristen Kish Cooking.  One homey, approachable, familiar and the other dazzling, appealing, intimidating-polar opposites.

    I’ll start with the familiar. Miranda Couse’s Easy Homemade Cookie Cookbook (not the catchiest title), is a compendium of standard and favorite cookie recipes.  I know, do I need another cookie book? Nope.  But this one does deserve a spot on my bookshelf and yours. The recipes are well organized, straightforward, and easy to follow.  Helpful tips and recipe tweaks are interspersed throughout the book and each recipe starts with a blurb on how many cookies it makes, baking temperature and time and their shelf life. There are photos but not for every recipe which would have been nice. The book is divided into types of cookies including drop cookies, bars and brownies, and sandwich cookies to name a few.  I have tried two recipes so far and both have passed the taste test.  The first cookie that caught my eye was a Blueberry-Lemon Shortbread which is so good, it deserves its own post.  The second recipe I tried, though brownies are not my thing, was the Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownies. Chocolatey and decadent, the cocoa brownie layer provided a dense, gooey base for the luscious coffee spiked cream cheese top.  I made new friends when I showed up to work with these bad boys.

    Pour dollop and swirl, the name of the game.

    As I flipped through the book a thought kept running through my mind, Jamie would love this book and I plan to get her a copy of her own.

    A nod to Kristen Kish’s cookbook which I will save for a weekend to read, drool over and tackle. Stay tuned.

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    Coffee Cheesecake Swirled Brownies

    Ingredients

    • MAKES 9 BROWNIES
    • Prep: 25 minutes
    • Bake: About 35 minutes
    • Shelf Life: 4 to 5 days

    For the Brownies:

    • ½ cup all-purpose flour
    • ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
    • ½ teaspoon table salt
    • ½ cup 1 stick unsalted butter, melted
    • 1¼ cups granulated sugar
    • 2 large eggs
    • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
    • ¼ teaspoon instant coffee granules

    For the Cheesecake

    • 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
    • ⅓ cup granulated sugar
    • 1 large egg
    • ½ teaspoon instant coffee granules.

    Instructions

    To make brownie:

    • 1.Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray. (or use parchment paper)
    • 2.In a medium mixing bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.
    • 3.In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed or a wooden spoon, beat together the melted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and coffee granules until thick and creamy. This will take about 2 minutes if using an electric mixer or 4 to 5 minutes if creaming by hand. Add the dry ingredients and beat on low speed or by hand until incorporated, about 30 seconds.
    • 4.Reserve about ¼ cup of the brownie batter for the top. Transfer the remaining brownie batter to the prepared pan and smooth it out into an even layer.

    To make the cheesecake

    • 1.In a large mixing bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed or a wooden spoon, beat together the cream cheese and sugar until light and creamy. This will take about 1 minute if using an electric mixer or 2 to 3 minutes if creaming by hand. Add the egg and instant coffee, and beat to incorporate.
    • 2.Using a spoon, dollop the cheesecake batter on top of the brownie mix. Add a dollop of the reserved ¼ cup of the brownie batter in the center of each cheesecake dollop. Using a skewer or butter knife, swirl the batters together.
    • 3.Bake for about 35 minutes, until the top is set.
    • 4.Let the brownies cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for 1 to 2 hours to set.
    • To serve, cut into 9 bars. Serve the bars chilled or let them come to room temperature before serving.
    • Add more chocolate to create a rich, dense brownie. Do so by melting 4 ounces of semisweet baking chocolate with the butter or add 1/2 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to batter.

     

     
    Holiday Cookies, Already? (Book Review-Holiday Cookies)

    Holiday Cookies, Already? (Book Review-Holiday Cookies)

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    I love cookies and every year I look forward to baking holiday cookies to share with family and friends. The process for which cookies end up in my annual holiday platter starts..well, the day after Christmas. Throughout the year I keep an eye out for new cookie recipes to go along with my tried and true traditional shortbread and Jan Hagels that I make every year.
    So of course I jumped at the chance to review a new book from Blogging for Books aptly titled Holiday Cookies by Elisabet Der Nederlanden. The collection is filled with classic, traditional cookies like Spritz cookies, green and red pinwheels and gingerbread. She does add a twist to many by varying the spices and flavors-eggnog madeleines, saffron biscotti or fig and cardamon rugelach which definitely add interest.  I chose the Malted Milk Chocolate Cookies to try. It called to the kid in me and conjured up images of Malt-o-meal, Ovaltine and Whoppers. This is the only recipe I have tried so far and unfortunately the cookie was pretty nondescript. Neither the malt flavor or chocolate were stood out. The cookies did not spread or crack as much as the cookies pictured, perhaps too much flour on my part (weights people). I will try other cookies in the book hope I find one for my annual holiday assortment. l’ll update my review when I do.  The recipes depend solely on volume measurements and not weights, bummers. I love cookbooks that contain both weight and volume measurements. I am a big fan of having a scale it is much more accurate and reliable.
    The book starts with a section on how to pack cookies and decorate your cookies with a festive flair. Chapters are organized by classics, exchange cookies, spice and around the world. She also includes a chapter on candy and decorating. The recipes are organized with ingredients in the column on the left and directions on the right, very easy to follow. THE PHOTOS ARE GORGEOUS and the book is worth its weight in presentation ideas. Can’t wait to try a couple more recipes.