Last year my absolute favorite cookie was Eric Kim’s Grocery Store Cookie. I called it my Marie Kondo cookie, it brought me JOY. The original Lofthouse cookies, a cakey blob, packed in plastic trays covered with copious amounts of fake frosting and sprinkles…elevated to a wondrously delicious cakelike, buttery, tender cookie topped with raspberry buttercream frosting. The only thing the two cookies had in common was the SPRINKLES.
Guess which one is the Grocery Store Cookie?
As soon as NYTcooking posted this year’s Holiday Cookies, I looked for Eric’s cookie. It wasn’t hard to find, his was first on the list. For the kid in all of us, Eric developed a recipe for festive M&M Cookies. (Bonus: Video of Eric making these!) Simple, nostalgic and YUMMY. A hint of crispiness on the edge, surrounding a chewy cookie dotted with M&Ms. The M&M’s are cut into pieces so you get this really nice distribution of the candy coating and chocolate center. With the first bite, I was transported back to my 9-year-old self.
M&Ms aren’t easy to cut and not bounce around! My dough bowl and mezzaluna came in handy!
Cookie Workout
The cookies can be made with one bowl, whisk, and spatula (or wooden spoon) with the caveat that you start with soft butter (not melted) butter. If you have a thermometer, it’s around 65-68 degrees. You will also need some arm power as the recipe calls for beating the mixture for one minute to smooth and fluffy. One minute, whisking a dough by hand is pretty long. Opt for your mixer unless you haven’t done your workout for the day.
Geeking Out
The baked cookies ended up with crevices that weren’t apparent in Eric’s batch. I have a theory, I chilled my dough overnight which meant the dough was pretty cold, the butter had solidified and the dough had additional time to hydrate. The chilled dough is a tad more resistant to spreading and collapsing thus creating fissures. Here’s a great geek article on chilling your dough from Buzz Feed. Next time I’ll bake them off with just a short chilling time to see if they don’t develop cracks. I don’t think it impacted the flavor or texture too much. If you try different M&Ms please leave a comment! I think it would be amazing with peanut M&Ms or almond M&Ms.
I like these, I LOVE the Grocery Store Cookie. I’ll be making both for the holidays.
So, make these cookies, pour yourself an ice-cold glass of milk, grab a cookie and enjoy the holidays. I’m going to watch BIG, the perfect movie to go with these cookies!
Straight back to childhood, M7M Cookies, are chewy and a delight to eat.
Course cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword Almond Cookies, ERic KIm, M&M Cookies, NYTcooking
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Ingredients
½cup(115 grams) unsalted buttervery soft
1cup(200 grams) granulated sugar
¼packed cup(57 grams )dark brown sugar
1large eggat room temperature
1tablespoonvanilla extract
1teaspoonkosher saltDiamond Crystal or ¾ teaspoon coarse kosher salt
¼teaspoonbaking soda
1 ½cups(185 grams) all-purpose flour
½cup(96 grams) M&M’s
Instructions
Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 large sheet pans with parchment.
In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, sugars, egg, vanilla and salt by hand until smooth and fluffy, at least 1 minute. Whisk in the baking soda, then switch to a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Add the flour, then carefully and coarsely chop the M&M's, and add them, too. Gently stir to combine. Place the bowl in the refrigerator while you wait for the oven to finish heating.
Using two spoons or a cookie scoop, plop out 2-tablespoon/50-gram rounds spaced a couple of inches apart on the sheet pans. (You should get about 8 cookies per pan.) Bake until lightly golden at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on the sheet pan; they will continue to cook as they sit.
Notes
If you really want to use your ixer. The key is not to overmix. On a Kitchen-aid when making cookies I rarely go above setting 4 (medium) when mixing cookie dough. YOu don't need turbo which would increase the chance of overbeating.YOu might want to fold in the flour and M&Ms to avoid overmixing. If not, set mixer to stir and mix until you don't see any flour and stop. Finish it off with a spatula.
Here we go, Twelve Days of Cookies to kick off the holiday season!. From one of my favorite cookbooks this year, Kristina Cho’s Mooncakes and Milk Bread, her Grandfather’s Almond Cookies. If you are looking for a great holiday gift, her book is amazing. Literally, recipes of your favorite Chinese Bakery goods, Pineapple Buns, Cocktail Buns, Cha Siu Baos, Egg Tarts. I was over the “moon” when her book came out.
Hoping for a return to a bit of normalcy (thankful for vaccines), I headed to my favorite bookstore, Omnivore Books in the City, for an in-person meet and greet with Kristina. She came with a batch of Almond Cookies to share. My first bite, buttery, crispy edges, almond-ny, absolutely delicious, I made a mental note to put this cookie on my bucket list.
These cookies can be made entirely by hand. Classic cream butter and sugar until smooth. Don’t overmix. Add egg and almond extract and then dry ingredients. Chill the dough as these cookies tend to really spread. Paint them liberally with the egg wash. I bake them on parchment.
From Kristina Cho’s Mooncakes and MIlk Bread, delightful, crisp, buttery almond cookies.
Course cookies
Cuisine Asian-American
Keyword Almond Cookies, Kristina Cho
Prep Time 20 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Ingredients
125g1 cup all purpose flour
1/4teaspoonbaking soda
1/2teaspooncoarse salt
113g1/2 cup; 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
130g2/3 cup sugar
1large egg
3/4teaspoonpure almond extract
1large egg yolk
15sliced almonds
Flaky saltfor topping
Instructions
In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine the butter and sugar with a spatula or wooden spoon until smooth. Add the egg and almond extract and continue to mix until fully incorporated. Add the dry ingredients and mix until a thick dough is formed (it will be sticky). Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill until slightly firm but scoopable, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using a 1 1/2-tablespoon cookie scoop, measure out 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and place on the prepared sheet. (Or use a spoon to
scoop and roll the dough into a smooth ball, wetting your hands if the dough is still sticky.)
Repeat with remaining dough, spacing them 3 inches apart. Wet your fingers with water to prevent dough from sticking and gently press down on the dough balls with your fingers until they are 1/2 inch thick.
In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolk and use to lightly brush the tops of the cookies. Place an almond slice on each cookie.
Bake until cookies are golden brown and crisp around the edges, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer the sheets to a wire rack, sprinkle with flaky salt, and allow cookies to cool on the sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to the rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Directions to make cookies with a mixer. The key is to not overbeat! As easy as these are to make by hand, some of us just love our mixers. Combine butter and sugar in mixer bowl. On medium speed, beat mixture until smooth and creamy. It should not reach the light and fluffy stage! Add egg and almond extract and beat on medium until combined. Add dry ingredients, combine on stir or lowest speed until the flour mixture is incorporated and you don’t see any dry spots. You can always stir in the flour by hand. The cookies spread quite a bit so don’t crowd them on a baking sheet. Use an ice cream scoope to portion out your dough.
So, let the TOC begin!
Pao de Queijo (Jeremy’s Cheese Bread-Food from the Heart)
Earlier in the year as I was clicking through my Instagram, perusing what my favorite bloggers and IGers were up to, I landed on Two Red Bowls. A black and white photo of a young man hugging Luke, her son, and Luke gazing up at him. It was and is a beautiful photo. As I read her post, my chest tightened and my heart sank, the young man was her brother, Luke’s uncle, who had just passed away from colon cancer, far too young. It was so sad and so brave of her to share this with us, strangers, who feel a connection to her through her beautiful writing and wonderful recipes.
A few months later she posted a recipe for Pao de queijo, a Brazilian cheese bread. This was her brother’s contribution to holiday feasts. She described how he made these savory bites in the afternoon for everyone to enjoy while prepping for the evening feast.
I made a mental note to make his Pao de queijo for Thanksgiving. I did, and as I watched my family gobble them up, I hoped her family was also together for Thanksgiving and finding comfort in the shared memories of her brother.
How to describe Pao de queijo? They look like Gougeres, those airy, light, cheesy, French puffs. The KEY difference is these puffs are made with tapioca flour which gives them an elastic, stretchy quality, kind of like mochi.
Let’s Starch Here
These puffs are incredibly easy and quick to make. I did a little sleuthing for background on these savory Brazilian morsels. Recipes called for Tapioca Starch or Cassava Flour. Both forms come from the cassava plant, cassava flour uses the entire root while tapioca is only the pulp and therefore contains very little protein or fiber. This recipe calls for tapioca starch or flour (same thing) not cassava flour. Bob’s Red Mill offers a Tapioca Flour and most Asian markets carry multiple brands of Tapioca Starch/Flour. Bonus, it is gluten-free!
Traditional recipes for Pao de queijo call for heating up the liquids and then adding the starch which becomes a dough that is kneaded and formed into balls before baking. This recipe is an easy but no less delicious version.
Throw all the ingredients, sans cheese, in a blender and pulse to combine. The tricky part is the tapioca flour which gets gooey really fast. Add your tapioca flour after putting at least some of the liquids in the blender. Blend well.
Say Cheese
Add the shredded cheese last. Pulse the blender a couple of times and you are done. Don’t pulverize the cheese. I like the combination of Parmesan and Mozzarella, it provides a nice balance of flavor and texture. Use any cheese you like, cheddar, pepper jack, Farmer Cheese. Adjust for the saltiness of your cheese.
Pour the batter into mini-muffin tins, it reminds me of making popovers. It should be just the right amount of batter to fill the 24 cups equally. Watch them rise as they bake. Serve immediately. I plan to make a batch for Christmas too.
I made a batch with butter just to satisfy my “butter is better” mantra. Straight substitution, 1/4 cup melted butter for 1/4 cup oil. I added 1 tsp of oil (very arbitrary) since butter is 80/20 fat to water. I warmed the milk a little (not hot) to keep the butter from solidifying. The puffs turned out fine, they seemed a little heavier than the all-oil batch. The butter did give the puffs a fuller flavor (built-in butter bias perhaps). Your choice. Whatever you do, make them, they’re lovely.
JEREMY’S CHEESE BREAD (PAO DE QUEIJO) Two Red Bowls
Brazilian cheese bread made with tapioca flour. Stretchy and cheesy, the perfect munchie.
Course Breads
Cuisine Latin America
Keyword Brazillian, cheese bread, Pao de Queijo
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 20 minutesminutes
Equipment
mini-muffin tin
Ingredients
1cup(125 gram) tapioca flour or tapioca starch
½cupwhole milk or milk of your choice
¼cupvegetable oil or unsalted butterplus more for greasing the pan
1large egg
½teaspoonsalt
½cupabout 2 ounce shredded cheese of your choice (Parmesan and mozzarella or Farmer's Cheese or blend of cheeses)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a 24-well mini-muffin pan with cooking spray or oil.
In a blender, combine the flour, milk, vegetable oil, egg, and salt. Process until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed, about a minute or so. Add the cheese and pulse once or twice more, until just combined.
Divide the batter evenly into the greased mini-muffin pan. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Baking for less time will give stretchier, chewier rolls, and more will give a crispier exterior. Serve warm. Leftovers can be frozen and reheated at 400 for 5 minutes.
Notes
Using a blender helps fully emulsify and aerate the batter, especially as the tapioca flour has a cornstarch-y consistency that can be difficult to mix by hand. YOu could probably use a handheld blender or food processor.Try different cheeses, cheddar, or Monterey Jack, Farmer's Cheese.Replace a few tablespoons of the milk with sweetened condensed milk which nicely complements the tapioca flour’s natural sweetness. But keep the amount of egg and oil the same, as that can affect how well the puffs rise and hold their shape.
May your holidays be filled with love and laughter shared with family and friends.
Lasso Some Biscuits From Milk Bar (Ted Lasso Biscuits)
Yes, you are not seeing double, this is a different recipe for Ted Lasso’s biscuits! AND it’s a good one. I am a Johnny come lately to Ted Lasso having ignored the initial buzz about the show until…
Biscuits with the Boss
…recipes and articles started popping up on the internet for Ted’s Biscuits. That’s when I took notice. The show is funny, endearing, cute, and a bit bawdy, just the escape we all need. All that and biscuits, made it irresistible.
It seemed only fair that I try the “official” Ted Lasso Biscuit from Apple TV first. The biscuits had a smooth texture, were a bit crumbly and not too sweet. The second day brought out the buttery flavor making this a very respectable shortbread biscuit. Perfect with a cup of tea or coffee. I would make these again, say, if I didn’t have eggs for Christina Tosi’s version or if I wanted an easier, simpler, cookie.
I have been a fan of Christina Tosi for a long, long times since her days at Momofuku. Her Corn Cookies, Crack Pie and Compost Cookies are iconic. Soooo, when she posted her version of Ted’s Biscuits, yeah, I ran not walked to my kitchen and got busy.
Tosi’s version is more typical of a shortbread recipe, beat the butter and sugar just until smooth and creamy, not fluffy. Atypical are the addition of egg yolks to the batter. This adds fat and moisture to the cookies making them softer, moister than shortbread. The powdered sugar lowers the protein for a tender cookie. Adding a touch of brown sugar gives the cookie a caramel finish. The cookie is rich, buttery, with a super fine, tight crumb almost like a dense pound cake.
The addition of egg yolks makes for a soft dough. Try not to overmix dough, I stopped mixing once the dough starting clumping. Press the dough into the pan. You can dampen your hand which helps with the stickiness. Use an offset spatula to smooth the top.
It isn’t necessary to line the pan with parchment, but I did, it’s easier to remove from the pan. The baking temperature varied on different sites between 315 and 325 degrees. At 325 degrees, the cookies were ready in 35 minutes. Force of habit, I docked the dough with a fork for even baking. Unlike traditional shortbread, during baking, the holes disappeared, probably due to the egg yolks. Docking shortbread allows steam to escape, no bubbles, and even baking, is it necessary with this recipe, not sure.
During baking, the top of the dough forms a shiny, golden brown layer, the edges will be a deeper brown. Completely cool the cookies before cutting. The texture is soft, and cutting was not a problem. Cut cookies out to desired size and shape, rectangle or square. I divided the dough into 3 then cut each third into 8-9 rectangular cookies. Perfect pink box size. Make these cookies now.
Christina Tosi’s version of Ted Lasso Biscuits. It’s a winner!
Course bar cookies, cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword biscuits, Shortbread, ted lasso
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 40 minutesminutes
Ingredients
1cupunsalted butter, 2 stickssoftened
1 ⅓cupconfectioner’s sugar
3tablespoonslight brown sugar
3largeegg yolks
1 ¾cupAll purpose flour
1/2tspscant kosher salt
Instructions
Heat the oven to 325F Line a 8x8” baking dish with parchment, grease pan
Using a mixer, beat butter, sugars and salt together on medium speed until smooth and creamy
Stir in the egg yolks
Add the flour and mix just until the dough just comes together. Do not over mix.
Press dough into an even layer in the pan. The dough will be sticky, dampen hands (just a bit) to press dough in. Spread and level dough with an offset spatula. Dock dough with a fork 2 inches apart.
Bake at 325F for 35 minutes or until a thin, golden brown layer forms on top.
Cool completely before cutting into 3 rows. Cut each row into 8 pieces.
Notes
Can be baked at 315 degrees for 45 min or until golden brown
I LOVE Shortbread cookies and have quite a few recipes on 3jamigos that are shortbread-centric. I live by the motto “more butter, more better”. Food52 shared the recipe for biscuits from the Ted Lasso show, of course I made them. It was a no-brainer, an automatic cookie bucket list entry. In fact, it was The “biscuits” that enticed me to watch the show. Up to that point, Ted Lasso was not even on my radar despite friends and family buzzing about it. Well, I started watching Ted Lasso and the buzz is justified. Optimistic, empathetic, decent and endearing, qualities we seemed to be in short supply of these days. Ted Lasso is the perfect escape and the biscuits are pretty darn good too.
The Premise
American football coach goes to England to coach FOOTBALL. LOL
Biscuits with the Boss
Each day Ted brings a box of biscuits (cookies) to his boss, Rebecca. A tiny pink box filled with buttery goodness. Scrumptious biscuits, solid acting, a funny storyline, and Jason Sudekis, 🍿🍿🍿🍿.
The recipe is the “official one” provided by Apple TV, the distributor of Ted Lasso. There are other “me too” recipes out there (that of course I am going to try) like Christina Tosi’s version, but I figured this was a good place to start. These are essentially shortbread cookies. Did I like them? Yes. Do I think they are the be-all-end-all? Probably not.
My absolute favorite Shortbread is from an essay in Cuisine Magazine (sadly gone), “My Father’s Shortbread”. A Classic Scottish Shortbread–buttery, sandy texture, nice crumb, melts in your mouth and yet has some substance to the bite. It is the cornerstone of every holiday box of cookies we give out at Christmas. It is my be-all-end-all shortbread.
My second favorite is Bouchon’s Shortbread, tender, melt in your mouth, screams butter. It is a beautiful cookie. A little sweeter from the dusting of sanding sugar on the cookie.
Back to Ted
Don’t get me wrong. I will make Ted’s Biscuits again. They have a smoother texture than classic shortbread and a softer bite. I’m guessing it has to do with beating the butter much longer than the other shortbread recipes, the addition of powdered sugar and baking at a higher temperature than classic shortbread. The crumb is much more uniform so you don’t get that same sandy texture.
The cookies are baked in an 8 inch pan and cut after they are cooled. Start checking at about 40 minutes during baking. My batch turned a nice golden brown at 45 minutes. Cool cookies on a rack. The cookies are cut after they cool. Use a sharp serrated knife to keep the cuts clean and minimize breaking. I’m not sure why they aren’t cut warm, I might try that next time.
The cookie tastes better the next day, the butter flavor shines when given the chance to sit. Patience has its rewards.
So if you are sitting down to watch Ted Lasso, make a batch of any of these biscuits. It will make the show that much more fun and enjoyable. If you are like Ted, have a cup of coffee not a cup of garbage water (according to Ted). Me, I would love a steaming hot cup of tea.
Ted’s a simple man as are his biscuits. A classic, buttery shortbread.
Course biscuits, cookies
Cuisine American, European
Keyword butter, cookies, Shortbread, ted lasso
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Ingredients
2cupsall-purpose floursifted
¾cuppowdered sugar
1cupunsalted buttersoftened
¼teaspoonkosher salt
Sanding sugar optional
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 300℉
Butter an 8-inch square baking pan and set it aside
Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the butter for three to five minutes until it’s light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar.
Add flour and salt and mix until the dough comes together. Do not overmix.
Press into baking pan, keeping the dough as even as possible. I use an offset spatula and a tamper to even out the dough. Chill for a minimum of 30 minutes in the refrigerator before baking.
Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, or until it looks golden-brown but is still a little soft to the touch. Take the pan out of the oven. Sprinkle with sanding sugar now if using. Let it cool completely on a rack before cutting them.
Remove from pan and use a serrated knife to cut slices to the dimensions you like. Ted cut his into squares, I cut mine into rectangle shape like Walker Shortbread. Go find some cute pink boxes too!
The release of Dorie Greenspan’s new cookbook guilted me into getting on the J-O-B and writing this post. It seems like only a nanosecond ago I made them when actually, the recipe for these Breton-Style Palets is from her newsletter a couple of months ago. At the time, I posted a pic of these delicious morsels on IG. The caption of course read, ‘notes, coming soon on 3Jamigos. I do abuse the ambiguity of the word “soon” a little too frequently.
Without Further Ado
Breton-Style Palets. Ah, one bite had me singing “Smooth like butter, like a criminal undercover, breaking into my heart like that”. A tender buttery cookie that sits at the intersection of shortbread and Madeleine. An absolute delight, not too sweet with a little pop of salt in each bite.
These cookies are very straightforward with a genius tweak from Dorie. First, start with great butter, this is the cornerstone of these cookies, no skimping. The other essential ingredients are flour, and powdered sugar, which tenderizes the cookie and gives it that sweet kick. Egg yolks which add another layer of richness, and finally, salt, for that burst of contrast at the end. According to Dorie, you can add vanilla and or citrus zest, but I’m a purist, I didn’t.
If you start with soft, NOT melted butter, you can actually make these cookies by hand with a bowl and wooden spoon. I used a mixer, being very careful not to overbeat the butter or the dough after adding the flour. Overmixing the butter adds too much air. Aim for a smooth and creamy mixture, NOT light and fluffy. Over-beating the dough after adding the flour, develops the gluten creating one tough cookie. So a light hand peeps.
Logging In with Dough Boi
The dough is very soft and sticky after mixing. I leave the dough in the mixing bowl, press Saran Wrap on top, and chill it for 30-60 minutes before shaping it into a roll. It makes life easier, trust me. Take the dough out of the fridge and shape it into 2 logs about 6 inches long, wrap, and then throw those bad boys into your freezer for at least two hours. When they are thoroughly chilled, it is “slice and bake” time.
Don’t look too closely, this roll is not the butter babies of this post. It is here to illustrate how to make a slice and bake roll round. Roughly shape your dough into “a just short of” the size log you want. Place the dough on parchment or wax paper ( a large enough piece to surround the dough and then some), fold it over the roll, place a straight edge on top of the parchment, tucked right into the bottom part of the roll. Hold onto the bottom edge of the parchment and pull while simultaneously pushing on your straight edge. This creates pressure and forces the dough to form a nice round log, ta-da. Why didn’t I make a video? That would have been so much easier.
The Dorie Move
Here come the Dorie pearls of baking wisdom and technique. This is a soft dough, which will spread when baking. So to get those perfectly round, lovely cookies, Dorie bakes the slices of dough in a muffin tin, that’s right Buttercup, in a cupcake pan. Genius! Beautiful, perfectly round, how did you do that-cookies.
Now go and make these cookies, they are a ray of sunshine to combat the coming winter weather. Come back to this blog when you’re done, by then I will have posted Dorie’s Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookies baked in that very same cupcake pan you used for these cookies… You’re welcome.
*Hmmm, made the Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookies yesterday night, they were not up to expectations so I’ll have to tinker with the recipe a little…Stay tuned!
Another delicious cookie from Dorie Greenspan in the shortbread camp. Buttery, tender, slightly sweet, with a sprinkling of salt for that Breton signature.
8ouncesvery soft (but not oily) unsalted butter226 grams
3/4cupconfectioner’s sugar, sieved or sifted90 grams
1/2 to 3/4teaspoonfleur de sel or 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fine sea saltto taste
2large egg yolksat room temperature
1 1/2teaspoonspure vanilla extract, optional
Instructions
Whisk the flour, baking powder and baking soda together; set aside.
In an electric mixer on low-medium speed or with a flexible spatula (if your butter is soft and creamy, the dough is very easy to make by hand), beat the butter, sugar and salt together until very smooth. If you’re using a mixer, go easy – try not to beat air into the mixture. One by one, add the yolks and beat to blend. Beat in the vanilla, if you’re using it.
Add the dry ingredients in two additions, beating each until just incorporated. The dough will be soft and sticky. Cover dough with Saran Wrap and chill for 30-60 minutes.
Divide the dough in half and roll each half into a log that’s about 5 1/2 to 6 inches long (get the length and the width will be fine). Freeze the logs for at least 2 hours.
Just before cutting and baking, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. The rack should be in the center of the oven.
Working with one log at a time, unwrap the log and score it so that you can cut 12 rounds. If a round cracks or slivers when you cut it, just press the pieces back into shape. Drop each slice into each cupcake hole of a standard-size muffin tin.
Bake the cookies for 18 to 20 minutes – rotating the tin front to back after 10 minutes. Bake until the cookies are beautifully golden around the edges and just firm to the touch in the centers. Remove the tin from the oven and place on a rack, carefully run a knife around the edge to loosen each cookie, invert the pan onto a cooling rack to release them. The cookies are very fragile, so be gentle with them. Cool to room temperature on racks before serving.
Notes
Storing: Packed in a covered container, the cookies will keep for at least a week.
I found the cookie of my dreams at a family wedding a couple of years ago. Strolling around the reception, waiting for the happy couple to arrive, I grabbed a glass of bubbly and gravitated towards the table of sweets, a dazzling array of desserts.
In the center of the table was an amazing assortment of cookies. I chose the sugar cookie sheep, so cute I couldn’t resist. In fact, too cute to eat so I chose a second cookie, a petite round sandwich cookie covered with powdered sugar. I popped one in my mouth.
Wowza, Score One for the Round Cookie
HELLOOOO…little cute as a button sandwich cookie. Where have you been all my life? Tender, light, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth crumb with a rich-brown lovely caramel sandwiched in between. The rest of the wedding festivities were a blur as I fixated on the cookie, just kidding, it was a very nice celebration. I did eat as many cookies as I could, lol. I stealthily circulated the room casually asking, friends and relatives about the cookies. Ok, I’m lying…nothing stealth or casual about my inquisition. I learned the cookies were made by the bride’s aunt who had lived in South America for a while. The cookies were her version of Alfajores which originated in Spain and made its way to many Latin countries. A tender shortbread-like cookie filled with caramelized milk and sugar mixture known as Dulce de Leche. So good.
Yep, made by the bride’s aunt! I had an “in”. I was wowed, they were so damn good and she made enough cookies for 300+ people. This put me squarely in the Auntie Hall of Shame.
It did take 5 years to finally get the recipe from her. I badgered my niece occasionally to no avail (in her defense, she was pretty busy). Finally, at her baby shower a couple of weeks ago, gracing the dessert table, a tray of cute sheep and Alfajores-ahhh, those lovely cookies, again.
Lucky for me her aunt was there and I POLITELY (I accosted her) asked for the recipe. She proceeded to rattle it off the top of her head ending with, “it’s the orange rind that really adds to the cookie, don’t forget it”.
Thank you, Auntie
This is actually a pretty simple cookie. Unlike many recipes for Alfajores, no egg in it. It’s flour, sugar in the form of powdered sugar, butter, salt, and a touch of orange rind. The powdered sugar lowers the protein content creating a tender, melt-in-your-mouth cookie.
The other component is the Dulce de Leche. You could buy ready-made dulce de leche but what fun is that? You could also make your own by cooking sweetened condensed milk, in the can, in a water bath. This is simple but takes hours, and the remote chance of the can exploding loomed in my mind. So I made my Dulce de Leche in the microwave. Worked like a charm but it did have some stumbling blocks.
What You Need
A can of sweetened condensed milk (14 ounces) and a VERY LARGE microwavable bowl. The milk will bubble and boil over if your bowl is too small, yep, exactly what happened to me. Use a 2.5-quart bowl. I recently bought microwave ware, Anyday Cookware, which I love, but the bowl was not quite big enough to avoid overflow.
Liquid Gold
The entire process takes 12-15 minutes. In roughly 2 minute intervals you zap the mixture, remove stir and nuke again. The mixture will bubble and then caramelize leaving you with liquid gold aka Dulce de Leche. It will thicken as it cools down, but you do want a nice deep brown color and it shouldn’t be runny to avoid the “ooze factor” in a sandwich cookie. Use oven mitts, stir and let it cool. You can spoon the filling onto the cookies or use a piping bag to fill the cookies. If you like butter & caramel flavor, you are going to love these cookies.
There you have it, the cookie of my dreams. Make a batch, I guarantee it will put a smile on your face.
The finishing touch is optional but nice, roll the edge of the cookie in shredded coconut. Delicious.
A classic cookie found in many Latin American countries. A tender, buttery cookie with Dulce de Leche, caramelized sweetened milk filling.
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine Latin America, Spanish
Keyword Alfajores, cookies, dulce de leche
Prep Time 45 minutesminutes
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Ingredients
Cookie
1cupunsalted buttersoftened 2 sticks
6tablespoonspowdered sugar
2-1/4cups all-purpose flour
1/2tsalt
Orange zest from 1/2 orange
1teaspoonvailla extract or paste optional
finely shredded coconut, unsweetened preferred but sweetened is ok too
Dulce de Leche
1-14ouncecan of sweetened condensed milk
Pinchof kosher salt or Fleur de Sel
1/4-1/2teaspooncinnamonoptional
Instructions
Cookie
Combine flour and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Zest orange.
Cream together butter and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth and creamy looking, should not get to the light and fluffy stage. Add orange zest, and vanilla if using, stir to incorporate.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture, beat on low speed. Once the flour is incorporated, stop, do not overbeat. Remove dough from the bowl, shape into a ball and wrap with plastic wrap. Flatten the ball into a disc about 1 inch thick. Chill for at least an hour.
Roll dough out to 1/8 inch thickness. Using a cookie cutter, I use a 2 inch fluted cutter, cut out rounds of dough and place 1 inch apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
If dough seems soft at any time, re-chill.
Bake at 340 degrees for 12-15 minutes or until the edges just begin to color on the edges. They should be pale color. Remove and place on a rack to cool completely.
Once the dulce de leche is cold, fill a piping bag or use teaspoons to place dulce de leche on bottom side of half of the cookies. Use approximately 1 teaspoon of filling.
Top filled cookies with the remaining cookies and gently press to distribute filling. You want it to come to the very edge of the cookie. Roll edge of cookie in finely shredded coconut if you want. Dust both sides of cookies with powdered sugar.
Filled cookies can be kept for a couple of days at room temperature or in the fridge a little longer. The moisture in the dulce de leche will soften the cookies with time. If you want to make them ahead, don't fill them until you are ready to serve.
Dulce de Leche (Adapted from Food.com)
Microwave directions:
You will need a 2-1/2 quart microwave bowl for this recipe. If you don’t have one that big, make half at a time. Trust me on this unless you like having caramel all over your microwave.
Pour sweetened condensed milk into bowl. If you have a vented lid, put it on. If not, cover bowl with plastic wrap and poke a couple of holes in it so the steam can escape.
The gold standard will be a 1000 watt microwave, adjust accordingly.*
Set microwave to 50% power and microwave milk for 2 minutes. If you are adding the salt and cinnamon, add it now.
Remove, (use oven mitts please!) Stir and put it back in the microwave. Then nuke at half power in two and a half minute intervals, stirring in between each time, for a total of ten minutes. As you cook the milk, it will boil, expel steam and gradually turn a nice rich brown. Keep in mind, you will need a pretty thick sauce for the cookies. You may need to nuke the milk for another 2-3 minutes. You want a deep rich brown. It will thicken a little as it cools.
*If you have a 1200 watt microwave, set it at 40%. I have a tiny 600 watt microwave so I set the power at 60%.
The Other Method:
Requires a lot more time. First, remove the paper label from the can and place it in a heavy duty pot on its side. Fill pot with enough water to cover the can by 2 inches. Bring the water to a boil and reduce heat so the water is at a simmer.
Make sure the water level stays 2 inches over the can at all times!!!!!! Or the can might explode!!!! Why I use the microwave method, lol. This method comes from Serious Eats.
Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. Simmer milk for 2-3 hours CHECKING WATER LEVEL EVERY 30 MINUTES. Add hot water as needed. 2 hours will give you a golden caramel while 3 hours will yield a deep, dark caramel.
Remove can from water. Allow the can to cool completely before opening, about 4 hours.
Right before the pandemic hit we capped off a year of traveling by going to Maui. A celebration for the hubster’s birthday and his early retirement was our excuse to pack our bags and head out for some sun, fun, and food. Little did we know it would be our last trip for quite a while.
Hawaiian Delights
I am a sucker for Hawaiian food. A fusion of Native, Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Portuguese, Korean and all of it tweaked so it taste great and is easy to eat while sitting on a beach! Our bucket list of food included Spam Musubi, a hunk of rice topped with a fried slice of SPAM and wrapped in seaweed, Poke’ (seasoned raw fish in a bowl with rice), island style bbq, Huli, Huli Chicken. YUM.
Then there are the sweets, Malasadas (best damn donuts), Haupia (coconut jello) and my favorite, Butter Mochi. Hawaiian Butter Mochi is the island’s answer to Blondies or Brownies but better (I know, them is fighting words). Buttery, gooey, sweet and so satisfying. Like our Spam Musubi quest, we went out of our way to find all things mochi.
This isn’t my first mochi rodeo, I posted a Butter Mochi Muffin recipe a while back that peeps really like (so says Google analytics, lol). Since then it has been off to the “rices” trying recipes with Koda Farms Sweet Rice (glutinous rice flour). Mochi now merits its own category in my recipe index. These muffins started it all, dense, chewy, with a touch of familiar cakiness, and the perfect amount of sugar. They are a great introduction to mochi-based desserts. BONUS: Mochi is gluten-free!
The Muffins that started it all!
Mochi Mania-Island Style
Hawaiian Butter Mochi takes mochi back closer to its Japanese roots, lighter, springier, and less cakey. The recipe calls for coconut milk and regular milk. The regular milk and less mochi flour are the “denseness” buster and gives the mochi its characteristic texture. Butter adds flavor. It is usually baked in a pan and then cut into squares but I decided to bake them in muffin tins. All for the edges folks. Each person ends up with their own gooeylicious mini-cake highlighted by a crispy, buttery edge, and finished with toasty shredded coconut and a sprinkle of Fleur de Sel, soooooo yummy.
Inspired by Aloha Kitchen and the website Catherine Zhang, these Butter Mochi Mini-Cakes are onolicious. I hope you will try them!
The two key ingredients you can find at most Asian stores, sweet rice flour and coconut milk. My go-to brands are Koda Farms Mochiko and Chaokoh or Arroy-D for coconut milk.
The batter will be very pourable due to the use of milk as part of the liquid and less mochi flour.
Don’t be afraid to fill the cups to 7/8. The mini-cakes will puff up but will fall as they are cooling. You will end up with a flat top or sometimes even a slight depression, it’s all good.
This muffin is a mash-up of Hawaiian Butter Mochi and Butter Mochi Muffins! Gooier and less cake-like than my butter mochi muffins. Baked as muffins they have crispy edges and a soft center-onolicious!
Course Dessert, Snack
Cuisine Asian, Fusion
Keyword butter mochi, hawaiian, Mochi, muffin
Prep Time 15 minutesminutes
Cook Time 45 minutesminutes
Total Time 1 hourhour
Ingredients
Da Wet Stuff
1/4 cupUnsalted butter55gm
3/4 cupCoconut milk170gm
1 cupWhole milk240gm
2Eggs
Da Dry Stuff
1 3/4 cupGlutinous rice flour225gm
1 cupGranulated sugar200gm
1tspBaking powder
Flaked or shredded coconut for garnish, preferably unsweetened but use what you like
Prep Yo Pan
Butter
Rice flouroptional
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
Generously grease 12-cup muffin tin with butter and dust with rice flour, if you don't have rice flour, skip it. The flour does help the batter rise in the pan and getting crispy edges.
In a large, microwave safe bowl combine the coconut milk and butter, heat in the microwave for 1 minute
Add the milk and 2 eggs, whisk until combined. I like whole milk but you can use 2% milk or alternative milk like oat milk.
In a medium sized bowl combine the glutinous rice flour, sugar and baking powder
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and whisk until smooth
Pour the batter evenly into the 12 muffin cups
Sprinkle with coconut and bake for 45 minutes, or until golden brown
Remove and cool. Muffins will keep for a couple of days on the counter. Pop them in a toaster oven to re-crisp edges. They also freeze pretty well.
Grocery Store Cookies! Sprinkle a Little Holiday Cheer
My favorite holiday cookie of the season is Eric Kim’s (check out his site, wonderful essays, beautiful writing) Lofthouse Style Grocery Store Cookie. It’s surprising since I am not a fan of those ubiquitous cookies with the toothachingly sweet, artificial tasting frosting and eye-popping sprinkles. But his homemade rendition looked so appealing, I had to try them.
Eric’s homage to the grocery store cookies is part of NYTcooking’s week-long video series on Holiday Cookies. He takes the concept of the grocery store cookie and creates a small-batch, no preservatives, all-butter, cream cheese, tender cakey-cookie topped with a sweet, slightly tart raspberry buttercream. The only resemblance to the supermarket cookie is the sprinkles on top!
These cookies are simply DIVINE
The directions are straight forward and if your ingredients are at room temperature, a bowl and a wooden spoon are all you need to make these cookies. How easy is that? But you can be lazy like me and use your stand mixer, especially for the frosting.
Though hand mixing the dough is very doable, if time is short, go ahead and bust out your Kitchen Aid mixer. Combine cake flour and baking powder in a small bowl and set aside. Cream butter, cream cheese, salt, and sugar at medium speed until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract (yes, 1 tablespoon) and beat mixture on medium for approximately 1 minute to aerate and incorporate sugar. Reduce mixer speed to stir or low setting and add flour mixture. Mix just until flour is incorporated. The dough will be very very soft. Toss the bowl into the fridge for 15 minutes to chill the dough so it is easier to scoop.
Use a two-tablespoon ice cream scoop to measure out the dough. Scoop all of the dough and place it on a pan that will fit in your freezer. Place the pan in the freezer to chill the dough (min 10-15 minutes). Do not skip this step, makes the dough much easier to work with, keeps it from spreading, and gives the flavors time to meld.
Frosting Goodness
While the dough is in the freezer, make the frosting. Freeze-dried fruit is the magic that provides both color and flavor to the frosting- it is this tweak that provides the spark in this cookie. The recipe calls for raspberry but strawberry, blueberry or mango freeze-dried fruit would work. I like raspberry not just for flavor but for color, it gives the frosting a hot pink happy glow. Freeze-dried fruit can be found at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, and Target. Grind the fruit into a powder in a mini food processor or place in a Ziploc bag and use a rolling pin to pulverize it. Sift to strain the seeds out of powder. The frosting is sweet, tart, and fruity, just delightful.
Combine the softened butter, fruit, vanilla, salt, and sugar in a mixing bowl. Blend on low speed until the ingredients are mixed together then increase the speed to high and beat until light and fluffy, a couple of minutes, and about double in volume. Set aside.
Take the cookies out of the freezer and roll them into balls (eminently doable thanks to freezing). Place each ball on a parchment-lined cookie sheet 2-3 inches apart. If the dough gets too soft or sticky to work with, return it to the freezer. Flatten each to approximately two inches in diameter and one-inch thickness. Bake 13 to 15 minutes or just until the edge starts to color, don’t over bake. You will be rewarded with a tender, buttery, light cakey-cookie with a wonderful vanilla punch.
The Finale: Cookie + Hot Pink Frosting x Sprinkles = Happy
Swirl a generous amount of the frosting on each cookie and then SPRINKLE-FY each one. These cookies are so indescribably good, put them on your BAKE THESE COOKIES list now.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you the 2020 Holiday Cookie Box!
Remember Lofthouse Cookies from the Supermarkets? Every little league game, school bake sale featured those sprinkle adorned, frosting laden, cakey cookies in the plastic trays. Imagine a homemade, luscious, delicious, version.
Course cookies
Cuisine American
Keyword Grocery Store Cookie, Lofthouse Cookie, sprinkles, Supermarket
Prep Time 30 minutesminutes
Cook Time 15 minutesminutes
Equipment
Small sheet pan that will fit in your freezer I have a side by side so sadly a regular-sized cookie sheet will not fit
Cookie sheets
2 Tablespoon Ice cream scoop #40 the size of the scoop will be on it somewhere! Sometimes on the handle or the rim of the scoop, even on the little thing-a-ma-jigger that pushes the dough out of the scoop
Ingredients
Cookie
Da Dry Stuff- Combine in small bowl and set aside
2 ¼cupscake flour(285 grams)
2teaspoonsbaking powder
Da Wet Stuff
½cupunsalted butter (115 grams) 1 stick, at room temperature
3ouncescream cheese (85 grams) at room temperature
1cup granulated sugar(200 grams)
½teaspoonkosher salt
2large eggsat room temperature
1tablespoonvanilla extract
Frosting
1cupfreeze-dried raspberries (30 grams) finely ground in a food processor or spice grinder
1cupunsalted butter (225 grams) 2 sticks, at room temperature
2cupsconfectioners’ sugar (245 grams)
1teaspoonvanilla extract
Pinchof kosher salt
Da Bling
Multi-colored SprinklesHappy dust!
Instructions
Make the cookies: In a large bowl, using a spoon, cream the butter, cream cheese, sugar and salt until smooth and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and whisk to incorporate some air and to dissolve the sugar crystals, about 1 minute. Stir in the flour and baking powder until just incorporated.
Heat oven to 350 degrees and line two rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper. Using two spoons or a cookie scooper, plop out 2-tablespoon/50-gram rounds spaced a couple of inches apart. (You should get about 7 to 8 cookies per sheet pan.) Place the sheet pans in the freezer for 15 to 20 minutes until the dough is no longer sticky and easier to handle.
While the dough chills, make the frosting: In a fine-mesh sieve set over a medium bowl, sift the ground raspberries, using a spoon to help pass them through, until most of the ruby-red powder is in the bowl and most of the seeds are left behind in the sieve. (Discard the seeds.)
To the bowl, add the 1 cup butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract and salt and, with an electric hand mixer, mix on low speed until the butter absorbs the sugar. Then, turn the speed up to high and beat until the frosting doubles in size, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure all the ingredients are incorporated. Transfer the frosting to a small container, cover tightly, and set aside. (You should have about 2 cups of frosting.)
Remove the sheet pans from the freezer. Roll the chilled dough into even balls and flatten them slightly with your fingers so they’re about 2 inches wide and 1 inch high. Bake the cookies for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the pans and switching racks halfway through, or until they no longer look wet on top, are still light in color and spring back to the touch. They will puff up and crack slightly. Let cool completely on the sheet pan. (They will continue to cook as they sit.)
Using a butter knife or offset spatula, frost each cooled cookie with the raspberry frosting and adorn with the sprinkles.
It seemed only fair that I try the “official” 
