#doriescookies Archives

Snowy Topped Brownie Drops, Cookie Number 4

By threejamigos | August 8, 2018 | Comments 0 Comment

Another winner from Dorie!

Though a tough call, the favorite out of this holiday trio was the Snowy Topped Brownie Drops. A decadent, chocolatey, cookie finished with generous dusting of powdered sugar. Have an office party coming up? This is the cookie to make to guarantee an invitation to all of the holiday parties of the season! But don’t reserve these just for the holidays, they are too good not to bake any time of the year!

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Snowy-topped Brownie Drops

Ingredients

5 tablespoons 71 grams unsalted butter cut into small pieces
8 ounces 226 grams bittersweet chocolate*
3/4 cup 150 grams granulated sugar
2 large eggs cold
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3/4 cup 102 grams all-purpose flour
Confectioners’ sugar for rolling

Instructions

Coarsely chop the chocolate. Place 6 ounces of the chocolate together with the butter pieces in a heatproof, microwave safe bowl or the top of a double boiler. If using a microwave, microwave for 3-5 segments of 30 seconds on high, stirring in between to help melt. If using a double boiler, place the double boiler (or any heatproof bowl) over gently simmering water, taking care that the water doesn't touch the bottom of the pan. Stirring until the chocolate and butter are just melted, then remove the bowl from the heat.
Immediately whisk in the granulated sugar into the melted chocolate. The mixture will turn grainy.
One at a time, add in the eggs, whisking for one minute after each addition. The batter should become quite smooth, shiny, and noticeably thicker. Whisk in the vanilla and salt.
Using a silicone spatula, fold in the flour until it just disappears. Fold in the reserved 2 ounces of chopped chocolate. The dough will be very sticky.
Cover the batter with plastic wrap or in an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner. Place about 1/3-1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar in a small bowl. Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out round portions of the dough, and roll each ball in the confectioner's sugar to create the snowy top. Once the ball is generously coated in confectioner's sugar, place it on the baking sheet. Repeat for the remaining dough, spacing cookie balls 2 inches apart.
Bake only one baking sheet of these cookies at a time, for a total of 12 minutes, rotating after 6 minutes. The cookies should spread and crack, with set sides, but will still appear fairly underbaked in the middle. This is how they should look.
Set the cookies on a metal cooling rack to cool at least 2-5 minutes, then serve warm or at room temperature.
Unbaked dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days and in the freezer for 1-2 months. Once baked, these cookies will keep 3-4 days but will gradually lose their softness.

Notes

You could use semi-sweet or a high percentage dark chocolate here instead, but the cookies will be a bit sweeter.

Swedish Visiting Cake Bars Day 3 of 12 Days of Cookies

By threejamigos | December 17, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

If you like almonds you are going to LOVE this cookie. A crispy almond topping layered on a chewy slightly dense cake. Perfect with a cup of tea. A nice addition to any cookie tray. Find the thinnest sliced almonds possible, they seem to work better to ensure your meringue has a nice crunch but is still light.

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Swedish Visiting Cake Bars Day 3 of 12 Days of Cookies

Ingredients

For the Topping

1 cup confectioners' sugar
3 large egg whites
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds blanched or unblanched

For the Bars

3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter melted and cooled
Confectioners' sugar for dusting optional

Instructions

Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9-inch square baking pan and line it with parchment paper.

To make the topping:

Put the sugar in a medium bowl and pour over the egg whites. Using your fingers or a form, mix until the sugar is moistened. If there are lumps, ignore them. Toss in the almonds and stir them around until they're coated with the sugared whites. Set aside while you make the batter.

To make the bars:

Working in a large bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs, and salt together until the mixture lightens in color and thickens a little, about 2 minutes.
Whisk in the vanilla and almond extracts. Switch to a flexible spatula and gently stir in the flour. When the flour is fully incorporated, gradually fold in the melted butter. You'll have a thick batter with a lovely sheen.
Scrape it into the pan and use the spatula to work the batter into the corners. The layer will be very thin.
Give the topping another stir, or a run-through with your fingers, and turn it out onto the batter. Use a spatula or your fingers to spread the almonds evenly over the mixture, making sure to get nuts into the corners too.
Bake for 28 to 32 minutes, or until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean or with only a few crumbs stuck to it. The meringue topping will be pale golden brown. If you'd like a deeper color on the topping, run it under the broiler until you get the shade of gold you like best.
Transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edges of the cake and unmold it onto the rack. Very gently peel away the parchment and invert the cake onto another rack to cool to room temperature.
Transfer the cake to a cutting board and, using a long, thin knife, slice it into nine 3-inch squares. For smaller portions, cut each square into two triangles. If you'd like, you can dust the bars with confectioners' sugar just before you serve them.

Mighty Mouse? No, Mighty Jamie To Save the Day (12 Days of Cookies)

By threejamigos | December 16, 2017 | Comments 1 comment

My Christmas present arrived early this year. The twins are home! Lucky for me Jamie is in a baking mood and immediately tackled one of our favorite cookie books, Dorie’s Cookies. So, without further ado…

Heeeeeere’s Jamie with Day 3, 4, and 5 of our 12 Days of Cookies

Hey everyone! Jamie here. Home for the holidays! I got home Thursday night, so naturally, I have already baked three different kinds of cookies. I decided that mom needed some help with completing her “12 Days of Cookies” blog posts. Between you and me, she gets MAJORLY stressed when she bakes during the holidays, so knocking out three different cookies for her is really just me trying to make my holidays a lot more pleasant. But don’t tell her I said that.

To be honest, I’m really not a cookie person. I’d much rather eat a slice of super dense chocolate cake than a gooey chocolate chip cookie. Call me crazy, I know. I will say that baking cookies is a little more enjoyable than baking cakes. It’s SO easy! They take a 3rd of the time to bake, and once you bake them you don’t have to spend extra time making more frosting or fillings which really means I only have to do dishes once. (HUGE).

I picked these three cookies because they looked pretty easy to me, and their pictures in the cookbook looked pretty good. The Swedish Visiting Cake Bars are better cold and almost have a custard-like taste to them. My dad wasn’t super thrilled about all the almonds on top, but I think they add a nice crunch. They are more cake-like than you would expect, but they have an awesome almond flavor that I am a huge sucker for. These cookie-cake bars definitely grew on me. The Snowy Topped Brownie Drops are basically small lumps of brownies with a ton of powdered sugar on them–what’s not to like??? Unless you don’t like chocolate. My least favorite part of these cookies is that the dough must be chilled for at least 3 hours. I tend to get impatient and want to finish baking all in one fell swoop. But my dad did say that they are his favorite of the three, so maybe it’s worth it. Last but not least, the Coffee Malteds cookies. I made a tiny mistake (or a huge mistake if you talk to my mom) when I didn’t sift the malted milk powder before mixing it into the wet ingredients, so my cookies have some weird lumps of malted milk powder in them. But other than that, they taste pretty good (ps. you can’t even taste the weird lumps so w/e). I dipped them in chocolate, which in my opinion makes them 10000000 times better. We are taking the cookies to our annual pre-school cookie exchange tomorrow, so we’ll see which one is everyone’s favorite!

HI CLAIRE

Attention Java Junkies! Coffee Malteds: Day 5 of 12 Days of Cookies

By threejamigos | December 16, 2017 | Comments 0 Comment

Coffee Malteds from Dorie’s Cookies a great cookie for all Java Junkies and even those that aren’t coffee lovers. The addition of malted milk powder adds a nutty, vanilla, earthy flavor-a touch of Ovaltine in your cookie. To take them over the top, Jamie dipped them in chocolate, genius!

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Coffee Malteds from Dorie's Cookies

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups 204gms all-purpose flour
1/4 cup 40gms unflavored malted milk powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
8 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into chunks, at room temperature
1/2 cup 100gms sugar
1/4 cup 50gms packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground coffee preferably from espresso beans (or use instant or powdered coffee or espresso)
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 large egg at room temperature
1 large egg yolk at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat it to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
Whisk the flour, malt powder, and baking powder together.
In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, both sugars, espresso, and salt together on medium speed until well blended, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, return to medium speed and, one by one, beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla, beating for 1 minute after each goes in.
Turn off the mixer, add the dry ingredients all at once and pulse, just to begin incorporating the flour and malt powder. When the risk of flying flour is passed, mix on low speed only until the dry ingredients disappear into the dough. You'll have a rather crumbly dough, but that's fine. Give the dough a few last turns with a sturdy flexible spatula and then reach in, knead if necessary and gather the dough into a ball.
Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out level portions of dough, or use a teaspoon to get rounded spoonfuls. Roll the dough into balls and place them an inch apart on the lined baking sheets.
Bake the cookies for 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheets top to bottom and front to back after 8 minutes. The cookies will be soft and golden only around the edges; they won't look done, and they're not—they'll firm as they cool. Transfer the sheets to racks and then, after about 10 minutes, carefully lift the cookies onto the racks to cool completely.
Do Ahead
Packed in a tightly covered container, the cookies will keep for up to 3 days (after that, they get firmer and are perfect for dunking...in coffee, of course). Wrapped airtight, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Like Mother, Like Daughter Day 3: Dorie’s Blondies

By threejamigos | December 20, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

Hi! Jamie here. I’m back for a holiday season of cookies, Christmas music, and lying on the couch watching TV. If you haven’t guessed by now, my mom is kinda crazy about cookies—especially during the holidays. Although I beg her every year not to bake 36 dozen cookies—I eat so many of them—she somehow turns it around and gets me to bake cookies, too. Yup, I’ve caught the baking bug.

We recently had our annual cookie exchange party last week, and, being the ridiculously hyper competitive person I am, I set out to bake the best cookie. Yes, only I would try to make a fun get together an intense competition. I’m just as crazy as my mom. I choose to blame her.

Anyways, as I was looking around for the best cookie recipe, my eyes were drawn to the THREE huge purple books that my mom had sitting on our coffee table. Yes, you guessed it, they were Dorie Greenspan’s cookie books. And no, it isn’t unusual that my mom has multiple copies of the same book, especially when they are Dorie Greenspan’s. I swear she is OBSESSED with that lady. So, I decided to rifle through the book to find the best recipe. I LOVE everything coconut, so, naturally I flipped to the back of the book to find all the recipes with coconut in them. I was surprised to find a recipe for blondies. Dorie adds sweetened coconut, chopped pecans, and chocolate chips to these classic bar cookies, and she bakes them in muffin tins. Intrigued, I set to work. I substituted unsweetened coconut for the sweetened and added a bit more sugar. I also did half mini semi-sweet chocolate chips and half toffee bits, for a little extra sweetness to make up for the unsweetened coconut.

Of course, as soon as I started scooping the cookies into mini muffin tins, my mom came over and FREAKED out over the size. Apparently Dorie’s mini muffin tins were bigger than normal mini muffin tins. I didn’t want to redo them, so I just tossed the pan into the oven, used regular tins with the leftover dough, and waited. I pulled them out in 15 min…I was scared that I would over bake them in the mini tin! I’m sure glad I did, too. The blondies came out incredibly gooey and chewy on the bottom, but had a nice crunch on top. Perfect. I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on the tops because they started to sink and then threw on some red and green sprinkles to make them really festive. They are sweet, and the nuts and coconut give it a great texture without overpowering the blondie flavor. The recipe makes about 30 mini blondies, so I would recommend doubling the recipe if you have a lot of people over. There is a great article on Kitcn that covers these delicious blondies made 3 different ways. Check it out!

Dories Blondies blew all the other cookies out of the water, of course. I mean, we all saw that coming.

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Like Mother, Like Daughter Day 3: Dorie’s Blondies

Ingredients

Another winner from Dorie Greenspan's Cookies Book!

Makes about 30

Cooking spray or butter, for coating the pan

1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans toasted
2 ounces best-quality milk chocolate finely chopped
1/3 cup shredded sweetened coconut
8 tablespoons 4 ounces unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
1 large egg at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions

Arrange a rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 325°F. Butter or spray a 24-well mini-muffin tin.
Stir the pecans, chocolate, and coconut together in a medium bowl; set aside.
Place the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. (Alternatively, use a large bowl and electric hand mixer.) Add the egg and beat on low, scraping the bowl as needed, until you have a smooth, creamy mixture. Beat in the vanilla.
Turn the mixer off, add the flour all at once, and pulse a few times to start incorporating it. Mix on low speed until the flour is almost fully blended into the dough. Add the pecan mixture, mixing just until they're evenly distributed; if you'd like, you can do the last few turns by hand with a sturdy rubber spatula.
Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out level portions of dough or use a teaspoon to make rounded spoonfuls and place one in each mini-muffin well. When each well has dough (you will use about half the dough), press each mound of dough down very lightly with moistened fingertips.
Bake until the cookies are firmly set around the edges and golden-brown in the center, 14 to 16 minutes. A tester inserted in the center of a blondie should come out clean.
Place the tin on a cooling rack and let the blondies rest for 3 minutes. Unmold the blondies either by turning the tin over and rapping them against the counter or popping the blondies out with table knife. Transfer the blondies to the rack and and let cool to room temperature, about 10 minutes.
Let the mini-muffin tin cool and and repeat baking the remaining dough.
Recipe Notes
Make ahead: You can scoop the dough out onto a lined baking sheet, pat it down, freeze until firm, and then pack the pucks in an airtight container and freeze for up to 2 months. Leave the pucks at room temperature while you heat the oven before baking.
Storage: The blondies are best eaten soon after they're baked, but they can be kept in a covered container at room temperature for up to 1 day. They can also be frozen, wrapped airtight, for up to 2 months.

Hi Claire J

Finding Dorie (Vanilla Polka Dot Cookies)

By threejamigos | November 25, 2016 | Comments 0 Comment

Rock and rollers, Tom Cruise, that Bieber Kid, they all have their groupies. I am a Dorie groupie. Yep, not ashamed to admit it. Dorie is the bomb. Are you wondering-who? Not that hilarious little blue fish in Finding Nemo? No. “You mean Ellen DeGeneres who voices that cute little fish?” Nope. I am a fan of Dorie, Dorie Greenspan-cookbook author, dessert queen, cookie connoisseur and baker extraordinaire.

The Real Deal

I recently drove up to the City to see her at Omnivore Books, one of many tour stops (how does she do it?) for her newest book, Dories Cookies. A hefty compendium of deliciousness that, yes, is all about the cookie. Her recipe for Jammers, a buttery sable’ topped with jam and streusel alone makes it worth getting. I don’t know Dorie on a personal level, but she is gracious, humorous and generous-one of the nicest souls you’ll meet. This comes across when meeting her in person and in her writing.

All this, and her cookbooks are REALLY, REALLY good. The recipes are well written, easy to follow, and the results are YUMMY. Before heading to the book signing I spent an agonizing few minutes trying to pick which book of hers I wanted her to sign (I literally have all of them). I went with the first Dorie book I ever bought, Paris Sweets. It contains her iconic recipe for Korova Cookies, aka World Peace Cookies and has the loveliest illustrations.

As I waited in line, I talked to Dorie’s husband Michael. Wouldn’t you know it, he is just as nice! The list of recipes I have tried from Dorie’s books grows ever longer and this newest book will definitely add to it. Right about now is when I start looking in earnest for cookie recipes for the holidays. I opened the book and bam, Vanilla Polka Dot Cookies caught my eye. The cookie starts with a buttery, vanilla laden dough made with egg whites. The dough smelled so delicious, I had to stop myself from dipping my finger in the bowl and popping a swirl of dough in my mouth.

The dough comes together quickly and can be used for this recipe immediately. Scoop, roll and dip. Place the balls on a lined baking sheet press to flatten and bake. How easy is that?

The dough does not spread so press the cookies to desired thickness. I wanted a flatter thinner cookie, a smaller cookie, approximately 2.5 inches in diameter. I used a tablespoon ice cream scoop to portion the dough. The cookies took only 14 minutes to bake, well short of the suggested 20-22 minutes. My cookies were much smaller which accounts for the shorter baking time. Watch the cookies carefully when baking, they brown very quickly. All in all these fit the bill for a crispy, buttery festive cookie perfect for the holidays. I brought them to Thanksgiving dinner and the kids gobbled (get it?) them up.

The recipe for these cookies can be found here along with her recipe for World Peace Cookies, courtesy of the Star Telegram. If you are a Dorie fan like me, take a photo of any of Dorie’s cookies you make from her book, post it on Twitter or Instagram, and tag it with #Doriescookies and @Cookies4Kids. This will automatically trigger a 5 dollar donation to pediatric cancer research, woohoo! Thanks and HAPPY HOLIDAYS.

Feed the World…Cookies! (Dorie’s Jammers)

By threejamigos | December 4, 2015 | Comments 0 Comment

Is it December already? Time to get in the holiday spirit. In my book that means baking cookies and listening to holiday tunes. I am an unabashed lover of Christmas music. You won’t find me anywhere near a mall on Black Friday. Instead, I’ll be home pulling out my favorite Christmas CDs and kicking back. I’ll wait for CyberMonday to get serious about shopping. For my first holiday season blogging, it seems fitting to create a top 12 days of Christmas cookies list with holiday tunes to go along. If you have a tried and true delicious recipe you make every year, I would love to post it here to share with everyone. Just email or message me on Facebook. A virtual cookie swap! Don’t forget to include your favorite Christmas song, a picture of your creation, and if there is a special story behind the recipe.

I’m Excited, Lets Get Started!

Do They Know It’s Christmas by Band Aid just for you.

Just like her World Peace Cookie, this is another yummy cookie by Dorie Greenspan (how does she do it?) aptly named Jammers. These edible jewels start with a tender shortbread cookie base topped with a nice dollop of jam and finished with a buttery, crumbly streusel topping. Before Dorie released her recipe Tim of Lottie + Doof created his version. The original Jammers are made in 3-inch ring molds. I opt to make them smaller in mini-muffin tins, an idea I found on another blog. Either way, they are delicious.

A Couple of Tips When Making these Cookies

Feel free to use your favorite jam. I often use a couple of different ones for the color appeal. Butter or spray the tins well or the cookies will stick to the pan. I use a tablespoon ice cream scoop to measure out the dough into each cup and lightly tamp the dough into the tins. This is not like a tartlet or mini piecrust. The dough should be a thick layer (~1/2 inch thick) filling approximately 2/3 of the cup. I would leave some space at the top or the jam will spill out as the cookies bake. Top with a generous sprinkle of streusel but try to leave spots of jam exposed. It is prettier that way.

Go Big Or Go Home

Christmas Eve 2022: So I decided I wanted to get closer to the original Jammer, that is, a bigger cookie. I pulled out my regular muffin tin to make Dorie’s Jammers. Through experimentation, I settled on 25 grams of dough that I tamped into each muffin cup. Yep, no rolling and cutting. This should give you a disc of dough about 1/2 inch thick that pretty much fills the tin.

The rest of the recipe is pretty much the same. Baking time is a little longer, approximately 20-22 minutes until the edge is golden brown.

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Dorie Greenspan's Jammers

Ingredients

Adapted from Lottie & Doof's version of Dorie Greenspan's Jammers by Blackjack Bakehouse

Makes about 42 cookies

Cookie dough

1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt heaping
2 large egg yolks at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour

Streusel Topping

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt heaping
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions

Directions for dough:

In large bowl or in bowl of an electric stand mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until very creamy. Add the sugars and salt and beat until well combined, about 1 minute. With mixer on low, beat in egg yolks and vanilla until well blended, about one minute.
Add all of flour at once and with mixer on low, blend with butter mixture until just combined. Do not overmix! (I barely beat it in and then combined the last few streaks of flour with a spatula.)
Press dough into a mound and cover dough in bowl with plastic wrap, pressing the wrap against the dough. Cover bowl tightly with more wrap or foil and chill for at least 2 hours or for up to 2 days.

Directions for Streusel:

Place butter in a microwave-safe bowl and melt in microwave. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until well-combined and pebbly. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or for up to 2 days.

When ready to bake:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray thoroughly. These babies like to stick a little, so grease the cups well.
Break up the streusel crumb topping mixture with a fork until pebbly and set aside.
Press small mounds of cookie dough, about 1 tablespoon-size, into each cup as though making a thick cookie crust (as opposed to a thin pie crust that will just crumble when you try to remove it from the mini muffin pan). The crust should come up to just below the rim of the cup and there should be a small indention in each cup for the filling.
Place about 1 teaspoon of jam/pie filling in each indentation, then top the filled cookies with a generous sprinkle of streusel mixture.
Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, until the top edges of the cookies are golden brown and the crumb mixture is golden.
Allow cookies to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then carefully remove and allow to cool directly on wire rack until completely cool.
Store, uncovered or lightly covered, at room temperature