Cookies Archives - Page 12 of 16

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

By threejamigos | October 16, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

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.

A Cautionary Tale with a Sweet Ending (Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies)

By threejamigos | October 13, 2017 | Comments 9 comments

I can’t resist perusing the racks at airport bookstores. Even though I always carry an Ipad, book, or magazine, I still stop and browse. While waiting for my flight to Nashville I flipped through a copy of People Magazine that had an article with Stella Parks of Serious Eats. Her recently published book BraveTart, an homage to iconic American desserts, was already on my radar of course. The article included a recipe for Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies. They looked and sounded delicious. Trying to be as stealthy as possible I took out my phone and quickly snapped a shot of the recipe, mission accomplished I tucked my phone back in my pocket and left to catch my flight.

Bake sale goodies, Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies, **Classic Chocolate Chip** Cookies and as Jason calls them **Double Butter Raace Krispy Treats** (aka Brown Butter Salted Rice Krispy Treats)

Nuts and Butterflies

A bake sale to benefit a bird and butterfly sanctuary directly in the path of that ridiculous wall Trump wants to build was the perfect opportunity to make Park’s Honey Roasted PB Cookies. The recipe called for processing honey roasted peanuts for a minute until finely chopped. Uh-oh, I don’t think so, a minute in a food processor does not result in finely chopped nuts more like pulverized nuts. Quick, to my laptop to fire off a tweet to Stella Parks..please clarify. A couple of minutes later..yay, a response- “should be like flour, length of time variable depending on your processor”. First hurdle cleared. Surveying the recipe I noticed some of the ingredients had weights, some didn’t. Auugh! This started my rant to the hubster on the inconsistencies in the recipe.

Me yelling: Why would you put the weight for butter but not the flour? WTH! This is silly! And the finely chopped nuts, that wasn’t right! Wow, and she writes for Serious Eats?! Boy, this book has been getting a lot of press!

Hubster hears: blah, blah, blah, BLAH and nods sympathetically (I’m sure)

I continued to grumble. After making the dough I decided to look for the recipe online, lucky for me the page for her Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies is available on Google.

I ATE HUMBLE PIE

My rant was misplaced. The recipe in the book contained weights for every ingredient and the description for the peanuts was to grind them until they were fine, like flour.

So naturally, I did what anyone would do in this situation..I started to complain about People Magazine and how they messed up the recipe. The moral of the story, do not depend on a celebrity gossip magazine for a recipe. It also gave me an excuse to add BraveTart to my cookbook collection.

I still didn’t grind the peanuts enough which I believe changed the texture of the cookie…I was fixated on the finely chopped verbiage. The cookies did not spread like traditional cookies and ended up looking like little cracked hockey pucks. I’m guessing too much flour (no weights-grrrr) I was looking for a flat, classic-looking cookie, ironically, like the picture in People magazine.

I ended up smushing each cookie like old-fashioned PB cookies. I will definitely try these again but next time I will grind the nuts longer and weigh my flour and use the book, lol. They are YUMMY and besides, I still have half a jar of honey-roasted peanuts left! Below is the recipe from her book, BraveTart. You should get it, it’s that good.

2 from 1 vote

Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies from BraveTart

Stella Park's Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies, just make them, you'll thank me

Course cookies, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies, stella parks

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 16

Ingredients

Dry Stuff (Flour Mixture)

1 cup AP flour 4.5 ounces USE Gold Medal flour
1-1/4 cups honey roasted peanuts 6 ounces

Next Step: Butters + Leavening Agents

1-1/4 cups creamy peanut butter 10 ounces
1 stick unsalted butter 4 ounces,soft rt cool (65 degrees use an instant thermometer)
1.5 cups granulated sugar 10 ounces
3/4 tsp kosher salt or half that amount if using regular table salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder

Wet Stuff

2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg straight from fridge, well beaten
3 Tbsp milk 1.5 ounces

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to middle position. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Sift flour into bowl of a food processor (scoop and sweep method if not using a scale)
Add peanuts and pulse until fine (approximately 1 minute) almost like flour
Combine peanut butter, butter, sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder and vanilla* in bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. I'm lazy, I add the vanilla to the milk and add it later.
Mix on low speed to moisten then increase to medium and beat until soft and light ab out 3 minutes
With mixer running add the egg in 2 additions, mixing untile ach is incorporated
Reduce speed to low and add peanut flour, followed by milk, mixing to form a very soft dough
Divide into 34-2 T (1.125 ounce) portions
Arrange on parchment lined baking sheet, 2 inches apart
Bake until the edges are firm and just beginning to brown but cookies are still puffy and steamy in the middle about 16 minutes
Cool on baking sheet until cookie is set about 10 minutes
Store in airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature.

EmBOSSed Grahams

By threejamigos | July 26, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

I love graham crackers and recently shared the recipe to make homemade grammies. Easy and infinitely better than the blue box of cookies that shall not be named. Well, I got my embossed rolling pin. Check out my fancy-schmancy graham crackers. Takes these bad boys to a whole new level.

I found embossed rolling pins on both Etsy and Amazon. I like geometrics but there are a bazillion designs available including cartoon characters, flowers, hearts, just about anything you can imagine.

My pin is approximately 6 inches in width. My method is to roll the dough to 1/4 inch thickness, chill for a couple of minutes and then use the embossed pin for the last roll. Cut the dough into 6 inches strips or the approximate width of the pin. Press firm enough to create the embossed pattern and roll just once. STAMPTASTIC!

Strawberries and Lemon Ricotta Tarts- Smitten Kitchen

Up your graham cracker game! Homemade graham crackers topped with ricotta and strawberries, the bomb!

Course cookies, desserts

Cuisine American

Keyword graham crackers, ricotta cheese, strawberries

Prep Time 30

Ingredients

Perfect way to showcase your graham crackers. Use cracker as base, top with lemon ricotta cheese and sliced strawberries. Easy Peasy!

3/4 pound strawberries thinly sliced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 cups ricotta 10 ounces, fresh if you can find it, a full-fat store bought if you cannot
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

Instructions

Strawberry-Ricotta Graham Tartlets

Adapted — barely, as the recipe was just about perfect — from Food & Wine
Make toppings: In a bowl, toss the strawberries with the remaining 3 tablespoons of sugar and the lemon juice. Let stand until syrupy, 20 minutes. In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, confectioners’ sugar and lemon zest.
Assemble tartlets: Spread about 1 tablespoon of the ricotta mixture on each graham. Arrange the strawberries over the ricotta, drizzle with the syrup and serve.
The strawberries are also delicious over ice cream or yogurt.

Strawberry Trio- Shortcake, dipped in Kahlua Chocolate Sauce and Strawberry Lemon Ricotta Tarts. You can never have too many strawberry desserts!

Grams eating grahams! Giving them the “stamp” of approval!

Variation on a Thumbprint: A Cheesy Favorite

By threejamigos | May 8, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

I wonder who came up with thumbprint cookies? Was it intentional or a happy accident? A baker grabbing a cookie sheet only to find she (he) had inadvertently stuck her thumbs in the cookies and thought, well heck might as well fill it with some jam. And the rest is history as they say. I actually googled thumbprints but alas no specific info on how they came about, just European in origin perhaps Swedish or Polish. All I know for sure is the variations are infinite and each and every one is DELICIOUS. It can be dolled up with nuts or not, filled with any flavor jam or jelly, or fancied up with lemon curd or chocolate ganache filling. Sky’s the limit. The cookie is buttery, with a sandy texture like a shortbread and easy to make. When my kids were little they were in charge of the very important task of making the “the thumb holes”.

While I was flipping through Vivian Howard’s book Deep Run Roots (love, love, love) I came across a cookie that had BAKE ME written all over it, Hot Apple Jelly Thumbprints. The twist, no sugar in the dough? A savory thumbprint made with smoked gouda or sharp cheddar and filled with a spicy apple jelly. I stuck two post-it notes on the page to make sure I try this recipe. Here is a link to the recipe when she made them for a Tabasco Sauce function, yep a hot sauce jam-get it?

Okay, full disclosure. I made the cookie but not the jelly. The jelly seemed infinitely more time consuming so I CHEATED. A jar of Peachy Siracha Jam jumped out at me at the market. It was fate.

As simple as thumbprints are to make a question arose while I was making the cookies. Hmmm, 1-1/2 cup grated cheese. Is that finely grated? Coarsely grated? Enquiring minds want to know. What to do? Fire off an e-mail to Ms. Howard hoping she will answer? I did a search which did not turn up anything. I then looked at Dorie Greenspan’s Cookie book knowing she had a savory section. Bingo, Smoked Cheese Cocktail Cookies. (She is my cookie hero). Her process called for coarsely grated/shredded cheese which is then pulsed with cold butter in a food processor. The cookie becomes even easier to make. Butter pulsed with the cheese and then add the flour and pulse into the dough starts to clump..done. How easy is that? The texture is similar to shortbread with a tiny bit of crunch which I am guessing comes from the cheese caramelizing as it bakes. I posted the question regarding grating the cheese on Food52 Baking Club and another member told me she finely grated the cheese before mixing the dough in a Kitchen Aid. The tip came from a Serious Eats article she had read, her cookies came out beautifully, much like a shortbread. I leave it to you to decide which method you use.

With a 2 teaspoon ice cream scoop I portioned the dough into balls and used my handy-dandy thumb of course for the centers (sadly my kids have flown the coop so I had to use my own thumb). The original recipe calls for piping the dough out with a pastry bag. I opted for the scoop method. The touch of sweetness and spice comes from the jam while the cookie is infused with a savory smokey flavor from the gouda. A beautiful balance of flavors. I plan to make these for my next happy hour to go along with that bottle of Cava parked in my fridge. Can’t wait.

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Hot Apple Jelly Thumbprints

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/2 cups smoked gouda shredded, at room temperature

Tabasco Jelly (recipe below)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.
Sift the dry ingredients. Using a stand or hand mixer, cream the butter and cheese well. Slowly add the dry ingredients and continue to paddle until nice and fluffy; about 3 minutes.
Using a piping bag, pipe about 2 tsp. of the cookie dough onto a nonstick baking surface. Using your thumb, make a small indentation in the center of each round. (You may want to have a little flour on hand to prevent your thumb from sticking.) Pipe or spoon about 1 tsp. Tabasco jelly into each indentation.
Bake for 12 minutes, or until lightly browned on the bottom.
Yields approximately 5 dozen small cookies.

Hot Apple Jelly

10 lbs. apples of your choice (If you can find slightly unripe apples, use 5 lbs. ripe and 5 lbs. unripe, as unripe apples have more pectin)
8 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 – 1/3 cup Tabasco brand Original Red Sauce, depending on your preference for heat
Roughly chop the apples. Include everything—the stems, core, seeds, and skin are all important for pectin. Place the apples in a large pot and cover them with water. Bring the apples up to a boil and cook 10–20 minutes, until they are soft but not falling to pieces. Drain the water off quickly.
Place the apples in a colander lined with cheesecloth, and place the colander inside a larger bowl to catch the liquid that drains off. This liquid will be the “meat” of your jelly, so allow it to drain overnight for best results. You should be left with roughly 9–10 cups thickish apple nectar. (If you have more, it’s not a problem; you will just have to increase cooking time.)
Place a small plate in the freezer for testing your jelly. Transfer the apple liquid and the sugar to a heavy-bottomed pot and bring it up to a boil. Let this simmer for about 15 minutes. Check where you are by spooning a little of the jelly onto your super cold plate. If it firms up and wrinkles when you nudge it, you’re good to go. If not, cook it longer, testing every ten minutes or so.
Once you’ve reached the desired set, stir in the lemon juice and the Tabasco Sauce. The jelly should be a beautiful amber color and should be completely clear. Taste and adjust with more of either. Transfer to a container to chill.
In addition to using the Tabasco jelly in these cookies, it would be great served with goat cheese and crackers, or as a glaze over pork chops or ham, or as a sauce for chicken wings. It’s very versatile.

Weekend Warrior-Weekend Baker (Toasted Almond Cookies)

By threejamigos | May 4, 2017 | Comments 1 comment

My New Year’s resolution every year is to make a concerted effort to try recipes out of the gazillions of cookbooks I own. I generally cook or bake from only a handful of books I have, my go-tos. One of my favorite blogs, Ipso Fatto, also collects cookbooks the difference being she actually uses hers. Lucky for me we seem to have similar taste in cookbooks. My hubby is convinced its not so much that we have similar taste, its because I buy every cookbook published so of course we would have the same books. Her recent post featured a scrumptious almond cookie from Abigail Dodge’s Weekend Baker. After reading it I spent the next hour rummaging through my bookshelves and mumbling to myself “I know I have that book, where is it”. Eureka, finally found it. Time to make some Toasted Almond Cookies, uh-huh.

Thanks to Ipso Fatto I am now making good on my annual new year’s resolution.

I love these cookies. Not the prettiest cookies on the block but it was love at first bite. They’re buttery with a touch of sweetness and a nice crunch from the toasted almond slivers. I had to stop myself from eating the whole batch. In all fairness the recipe only makes 20 cookies. Yep, just a measly 20 cookies.

Note to self..double the recipe.

These are a snap to make. Toasting the almonds adds flavor and crunch so don’t skip this step. Throw the almonds on a baking sheet and toast in a 350 degree oven for approximately 5 minutes. Easy peasy. As the almonds cool make the dough. The cookies do not spread much so don’t forget to flatten the dough before baking. I used a fork dipped in sugar and pressed each cookie with a criss cross pattern much like the classic peanut butter cookie. I did not flatten the dough enough with the first batch resulting in the edges and bottoms browning before the center was completely baked. The second pan of cookies turned out perfectly, golden crisp edges surrounding a sable’ like cookie and crunchy almonds. Yums.

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Weekend Warrior-Weekend Baker

Ingredients

12 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
Pinch of table salt
1 yolk from large egg
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup slivered almonds toasted

Instructions

1. Position an oven rack in the middle. Heat the oven to 350˚F.
Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar and salt. Beat with an electric mixer (stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or handheld mixer) on medium speed until well blended. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and almond extracts and beat until combined. Pour in the flour and toasted almonds and beat on low speed until the dough begins to clump together. The nuts will break up a bit, but that’s okay.
3. Using a small ice-cream scoop or 2 tablespoons, shape rounded mounds of about 2 tablespoons dough on the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 ½”. Using your fingers, press down on each mound to flatten.
4. Bake 1 sheet at a time until the cookies look dry on top and the edges are golden brown, about 17 minutes. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Using a spatula, lift the cookies from the sheet onto a rack and let cool completely.

Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies (Everything Is Better With Sprinkles)

By threejamigos | May 1, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Is anyone else feeling like me? Where did the year go? I can’t believe it’s almost summer! My kids are in the homestretch at school and finals are just around the corner. We just dropped their care packages off at the post office, nothing like some sugar and munchies for those late-night study sessions. I remember those days well.

Care Package Contest

Wes made his Good Cookies which truly are the study cookie of choice for our kids (I’m not jealous in the least bit, nope not at all….brats). We packed homemade granola, Hawaiian-style sweet bread buns, and dried mangos. I almost made the usual CCC but decided to change it up. Back in the recesses of my mind, I remembered Jordan remarking how much he liked Chocolate Sprinkles Cookies. Just maybe I could knock Wes’s Good Cookies off that number one spot in the care package derby….as you can tell I am not the least bit competitive.

The recipe for these kid-friendly cookies comes from Bake or Break, an absolutely wonderful site with easy, delicious recipes for all things baked.

Swap chocolate sprinkles for the chips for this riff on chocolate chip cookies. This transforms both the taste and texture of the cookie. Chocolate flavor permeates the entire cookie rather than that burst of chocolate you get when you bite into a chip. The edge of the cookie is crisp while the center is just a tad chewy. Those in the No Nuts camp will be happy…not a nut to be found in this cookie.

NO Faux Sprinkles Please

The star of this cookie is the sprinkles, so please make sure you use good quality chocolate sprinkles. You know, real chocolate sprinkles not waxy pretend wanna-be sprinkles. Guittard makes delicious chocolate sprinkles that can be ordered from King Arthur Flour or if you have an Asian market or a market that carries Dutch products, DeRuijter has a line of chocolate sprinkles that are very good.

Make these cookies soon and sprinkle some happiness and yumminess on your kids!

Everything Is Better With Sprinkles

Chocolate sprinkle cookies for the kid in all of us. Crispy edges, chewy center and chocolate everywhere

Course cookies, Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword Chocolate Sprinkle Cookies

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Ingredients

2 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate sprinkles

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease or line baking sheets.
Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating just until combined after each addition.
Mix in vanilla.
Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until almost combined. Stir in chocolate. Do not over mix.
Using a small ice cream or cookie scoop (2 T) scoop and place dough onto lined pans.
Bake 10-12 minutes until edges are golden brown. Adjust cooking time for a chewy cookie decrease baking time ~1 minute for a crispier cookie increase baking time ~1 minute
Transfer from pan to wire racks to cool completely.

Not Your Mama’s Graham Crackers

By threejamigos | April 12, 2017 | Comments 1 comment

For as long as I can remember, I have loved graham crackers. Picture a kindergartener fidgeting in her chair, hands clasped on my lap (trying to look angelic of course), waiting for the carton of milk and graham crackers. Once I got my milk and cookie, I would break the cracker in half, dip it in my milk, and quickly pop it into my mouth and feel it dissolve on my tongue.

Stepped up Grahams

The cookie of choice, Honey Maid Graham Crackers, and not just in school. My mom always kept a box of graham crackers in our pantry. The perfect after-school treat or bedtime snack.

One of my favorite farmer’s market stands is the 2nd Story Bake Shop (sadly gone now). I usually stop by for my favorite indulgence, their pie cookie. A delicious bite-size treat of a buttery crust filled with seasonal fruit- fall apples, spring strawberries, summer peaches.

Cracker Craft

On my last visit as I grabbed my pie bite, their cookie jars caught my eye. The first one contained almond sticks. The second had graham crackers. The graham crackers were slightly darker than golden brown, round not square with none of the characteristic markings. They looked rather unassuming. The vendor exclaimed it was her favorite cookie. Ok, I’ll give it a go. It was DELICIOUS, crispy, buttery, with a hint of cinnamon and honey. Wow, not your mama’s boxed graham crackers.

After some cajoling, banking on me not knowing the book or pastry chef, they revealed the source of their recipe. The Craft of Baking by Karen DeMasco (Tom Colicchio’s pastry chef). Wouldn’t you know it, I own a copy! No big surprise there.

Homemade graham crackers. I know, who would have thunk it that you can actually make graham crackers at home. Of course, you won’t have that familiar blue box with the honey bee on it, but you won’t miss it after you try these.

Making these cookies is similar to shortbread cookies. I opted not to roll out the dough but to form a slice and bake log. Easy peasy. The dough is pretty soft, chilling makes it easier to form a log. I used clover honey which is very mild in flavor. I’m sure you can experiment with other kinds of honey. I am waiting for my embossed rolling pin to arrive so I can roll and stamp the dough before baking, an idea I saw on food52. The cookies looked amazing. The embossed version in a delicious dessert can be found here!

I couldn’t resist turning some of these homemade graham crackers into the quintessential campfire treat, S’mores. I can almost hear all of you going hmmm, I remember making S’mores! So keep this recipe in mind, and when summer rolls around travel back to your kid days, get out the marshmallows, Hershey’s Chocolate bars, whip up a batch of these grammies, and enjoy!

Not Your Mama’s Graham Crackers

Course cookies, crackers, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine American

Keyword graham crackers

Prep Time 45

Cook Time 19

Ingredients

Da Dry MIx-Sift together and Set Aside:

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more for rolling
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Cream Mixture:

8 ounces 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, at room temperature
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup honey

Instructions

In a bowl, sift together the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, and honey. Mix on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute. In two additions, add the dry ingredients, letting the first fully incorporate before you add the second.
Flatten the dough into a rectangular shape, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes or up to 2 days. (The dough can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 1 month.)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Unwrap the chilled dough, and on a lightly floured surface, roll it out into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Using a ruler and a pastry cutter or a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1-1/2-by-3-inch rectangles; use a spatula to transfer the rectangles to the prepared baking sheets as you go. Reroll the scraps of dough once, and cut out more cookies. Using a fork, pierce each rectangle with two rows of four to six marks.*
Bake the graham crackers, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until they are golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
The graham crackers will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
*Or alternatively, shape dough into a log 3x3 square or 3 inch round, chill until dough is firm enough to cut. Slice 1/8 inch thick slices. Place on cookie sheet approximately 1 inch apart. Bake 11-12 minutes until golden brown. Optional" sprinkle with cinnamon sugar before baking.
Makes approximately 30 cookies

Let’s Get Ready to Crumble! (Cranberry Apricot Oatmeal Cookies)

By threejamigos | April 3, 2017 | Comments 1 comment

There is this wonderful bookstore in the City (San Francisco for all you out of towners) called Omnivore. It is a tiny tiny storefront in the middle of a residential neighborhood (parking sucks) close to Delores Park that has become the mecca for cookbook lovers and foodies. Their schedule of speakers is literally the A list of cookbook authors and chefs. I drove up to Omnivore right after the election to see Dorie Greenspan the baking guru. I needed a pick me up and her new book Dorie’s Cookies was just the answer.

Last weekend Omnivore threw a cookie contest or as they called it a Cookie Crumble. You could either bake a batch of cookies or pay 5 dollars to taste and judge ever tasty morsel. I signed up to bring cookies of course.

Tactically I knew if I was serious I needed to make a cookie that stood out, had some sort of chocolate in it, maybe a different spice, a catchy name and garnered attention at first glance (sprinkles, icing, I have no shame cookie bling). After mulling it over and perusing through different baking books and blogs I came up with…….drum roll please…..

Oatmeal Cookie!

Whaaat? I know, that hardly fits my criteria for a winning cookie. In fact quite the opposite.

Let me explain, one of my favorite blogs Ipso Fatto had posted an oatmeal cookie that she had just made. That one wasn’t particularly memorable but it brought to mind another recipe she had tried that she felt was much better, a delicious Cranberry Apricot Oatmeal Cookie from the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook (of course I have it, the beauty of an addiction). Oooh, it looked so yummy and sounded soooo good. Bits of apricot and cranberry in an oatmeal cookie flavored with cloves, ginger, cinnamon…buttery, spicey, chewy with crispy edges. Despite my initial strategic thinking this became THE one.

We headed to the city cookies in hand. Checking Omnivore’s FB page, eight people signed up. Looking good…

Uh-oh, did ALL these people forget to sign up? Sheesh!

Whoa! At least fifty entries and that’s the good news. The bad news, a gazillion (slight exaggeration) of them looked like oatmeal cookies. Oh well.

and the winner is…not me (damn) but……a chocolate cookie with white chocolate drizzles (the one on the right side of the plate, I admit it was pretty darn good). I should have stuck to my tactical plan.

Five dollars for this plate of cookies. Guy in golden pants-SCORE. He was determined to get one of each cookie and I think he came darn close. I snapped a quick pic, I think I have plate envy.

So my cookies didn’t win, but they are yummy and if you like oatmeal raisin cookies add this one to your baking bucket list. A little bit more spice than a classic oatmeal cookie and the addition of apricots, cranberries, not just raisins makes for a delicious cookie.

I do have a couple tricks up my sleeve when making them. For uniformly sized cookies, use an ice cream scoop to portion out the dough. I often chill my dough to minimize spreading. I scoop all the dough, put it on a sheet and place it in the fridge. To get the nice craggy tops, about 3-4 minutes before the cookies are done, (they’ll look puffy) quickly open your oven door, lift and rap the cookie sheet once or twice on the wire shelf. The cookies will “deflate” and develop the crevices and ridges. If you want the uniform top then ignore the rapping. My baking time was shorter, closer to 12-14 minutes. Not all your cookies come out round? As soon as I remove the cookies from the oven I survey them for odd shapes. The cookies are still soft and pliable so with a knife or spatula go ahead and gently push the edges of the cookie to shape them. Voila perfectly round cookies. Is this cheating?…I won’t tell if you don’t.

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Cranberry Apricot Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried apricots diced
1/3 cups golden raisins
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter softened
1 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and spices. Stir in the oats and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl combine dried fruits.
In the mixer using a paddle attachment on med-high cream butter, both sugars and vanilla until pale and fluffy, approximately 4-5 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time.
On low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 additions and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. Add the dried fruits and mix until combined.
Put on cookie sheets and flatten to 1/2 inch thickness.
Bake until golden brown around the edges and still slightly pale in the middle, 14-18 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking.
Remove and allow to cool at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan.

Got Dough? (Tasties)

By threejamigos | March 1, 2017 | Comments 2 comments

In life there are two sides to everything. The yin and yang of the universe. There are those that twist their Oreos apart, lick the frosting off the cookie and then eat each cookie (seems kind of silly to me) versus those that absolutely never take Oreos apart but eat the cookie and frosting together. Or how about vanilla or chocolate? Coke or Pepsi?

Crust or filling? ……….CRUST OF COURSE, DUH.

So, what does one do with the scraps of dough left from the pie that’s baking in the oven? It would be a shame to let it go to waste. Not quite enough for another pie but enough to make you feel guilty if you toss all that buttery, flaky goodness out.

Tasties to the rescue. One of the many delightful recipes from The Art of the Pie by Kate McDermott. This is my new bible on pie. Detailed instructions on everything you ever wanted to know about pie crusts and fillings written in a warm easy style. The majority of recipes are fruit based and pretty classic, apple, blueberry, strawberry rhubarb. A small section on hand pies, mini pies and savory pies. Photos are gorgeous. As a bonus, stories by the author add a very personal feel to the book. Plus…she has a blog The Art of the Pie, definitely worth checking out.

Back to the Tasties. The dough is formed into a rectangle and sprinkled with generous amounts of cinnamon & sugar. It is then rolled into a log and sliced into 1 inch thick segments. Sprinkled with more sugar and baked. So simple, why didn’t I think of that? I’m already dreaming of the next time I have leftover dough, maybe I’ll add nuts or use jam instead.

Sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar, add nuts if you like.

Parchment underneath pastry makes rolling into a log much easier.

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Tasties from The Art of the Pie

Ingredients

Leftover Pie dough
Cinnamon
Sugar
egg white + 1T water
jam
finely chopped nuts

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees
Gather up extra dough trimmings and smoosh together gently
Roll dough on parchment paper into a rectangle approximately 1/8" thick
Generously sprinkle dough with sugar leaving a 1/2 inch border along one long side
Liberally top sugar with cinnamon (see photo) use a lot of cinnamon don't be shy!
Sprinkle finely chopped nuts on this if desired
Brush border without cinnamon sugar with a bit of water.
Using the parchment paper as a support to roll dough into a log starting with edge opposite of the brushed water border. Like a jelly-roll.
Turn log over so that seam side is down to help seal it.
Brush roll with egg wash or milk or cream
If roll seems soft, chill for 15-30 minutes before cutting.
Slice roll into 1 inch pieces and place on parchment lined baking sheet.
Bake for approximately 15 minutes until golden brown.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with additional granulated sugar.
Options: I would like to try using jam instead. Make sure you use parchment for ease of clean up.