Oreo's with Sophistication

Hiding away from slushy banks of snow...and I couldn't be happier. Normally, I develop cabin fever. I feel like there's something I should do outside, that I need to experience fresh air. But this Friday, I holed myself up with three good friends and made a day of reading, napping and of course, baking cookies.

Who knew the weather would have such a big impact on my baking? I added ingredients in a wave of chocolate craving inspiration. One by one they snowballed into the mixer (and yes, I finally have one of them too, but more about that in another post) forming a mound of cookie dough magic.

Cookies baked, I realize the flavor needed a little tartness to round it out. What about greek yogurt? FROZEN GREEK YOGURT. Voila. The Oreo matured into a much more engaging (gluten free) dessert.

Sophisticated Oreos

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup dark cocoa powder
1 cup gluten free flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp xanthum gum
1 tsp kosher salt (or more, see instructions)
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup coconut flakes

1 container Plain or Vanilla Greek Yogurt (Fage brand I find is best) 

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, add softened butter, shortening and sugars and mix on medium setting until creamed.
3. On low speed, add eggs one at a time followed by the teaspoon of vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. (I added extra salt to balance out the sweetness, about 4 teaspoons).
5. Slowly pour dry ingredients into the slowly churning butter. And beat until well combined.
6. Add chocolate, white chocolate and coconut.
7. Drop tablespoon servings onto an ungreased cookies sheet or parchment paper and bake for 10-13 minutes.
8. Let cool and devour!
9. When cookies are fully cooled (I prepared them two hours later), spread a hefty dollop of plain or vanilla greek yogurt on the bottom face of a cookie.
10. Close the sandwich with a second cookie and freeze for 20 minutes.

#Mmm: Saltie

Think maritime, think cozy, think sunny and clean. That's the atmosphere when you walk into Saltie, a cute bakery & sandwich treat spot on Metropolitan Avenue in Williamsburg. I ordered their recommendation for a dessert. Eying the options in the display, I knew I couldn't be disappointed: cranberry honey corn muffins, squash pockets and pumpkin oatmeal caraway cookies (pictured below). The server at the front jumped to the mousse immediately: a specialty of the chef standing nearby. "I'm so glad you ordered it," the chef noted, serving a dollop of rich chocolate into a white bowl, "cause I get to lick the spoon." On top she sprinkled a touch of coarse sea salt and a drizzle of, you'll never guess...olive oil. It is fantastic. Rich and flavorful, sweet with the bite of salt and a surprise of olive smoothness. The flavors accompany the chocolate in an unexpected medley of flavor and texture.

The owners and co-authors of the cookbook, Saltie, blend their various flavor comfort foods to invent recipes. Italian-American, Scandinavian-American and British-American: the combinations are inspiring. They use anise, rose, dried lavender flowers, currants and olive oil (and much more). Overall Saltie is an inspired collaboration; particularly for your taste buds. #Mmm.

Unbaked: The Journey of Cookie Dough

My friend, Gordon, sent me his father's recipe for oatmeal craisin chocolate chip cookies. Naturally I made them, but this time I took a photo of each step. Having made cookies so many times, I realize that some textures come instinctively to me. I know when butter and sugar are "creamed" and when you beat an egg into the batter until "fluffy." But how do you sense all of this from a description without someone showing you what that looks like? Stir until just combined. Well, okay...but what does that even look like?

Cookies baked, I ended up with 8 photos of the process. And while that's helpful, 8 is a lot. I opened them all in photoshop and got an idea: what about a grid?

Voila. Here you have it: a step by step of making this delicious recipe for oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. Read left to right, top to bottom.

Oatmeal Chocolate Craisin Cookies 

3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt 
2 cups oatmeal
2 cups chocolate chips
1 cup craisins

1. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream sugars, butter and shortening.
3. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition until fluffy.
4. Stir in vanilla then maple syrup until well incorporated.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Pour dry mix into butter mixture and stir until just combined.
6. Add oatmeal, chocolate chips and craisins. Mix until well dispersed and dollop cookies by the tablespoon onto an ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper.
7. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the edges begin to crisp.
8. Devour.

Wine & Plum Chinese Chai Spice Cookies

This is my last installment for The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! I got them from Alyson of Wine & Plum. They're Chinese Chai Cookies--a delicious and buttery cookie that I enjoyed at all times of day (yes, I've literally had one with every meal). You can check out her recipe here. Thank you for the cookies!

Bourbon Spiced Shortbread Cookies from Rebecca

I got my last batch of cookies today for the cookie swap and they are delicious! Careful holiday themed shapes in a lovely box. The bourbon is a subtle flavor, but it certainly adds a kick to a standard holiday recipe. Thank you Rebecca for the cookies!

Getting Experimental: Curry Raisin Biscaitie

For the Great Food Blogger's Cookie Swap, I challenged myself to finally bake up an experimental Biscaitie flavor that my friend, Gordon, recommended over a year ago: curry raisin. I looked up recipes for curry confectioneries, and found that there are few. It's a savory spice, but think about it: curries are also sweet. In addition to the curry, I added subtlety to the spice to ease its "curry-ness." There's cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger, plus molasses, maple syrup and I soaked the raisins in vanilla and beaten eggs.

Curry Raisin Biscaitie

Dry Ingredients

3 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp cardmom
1/2 tsp curry

Wet Ingredients

3 eggs beaten 
1 cup raisins
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses
1 tbsp maple syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F.
2. Beat three eggs in a small mixing bowl, add vanilla and raisins and let soak (about 15 minutes), stirring occasionally.
2. Whisk dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl until well combined.
3. Make a well in the center of the dry mound and pour the molasses, syrup and egg-raisin mixture into the middle.
4. Turing the dough over with your hands, mix the ingredients until well combined and form into two or three loaves (depending on the size cookie you desire).
5. Place loaves on a parchment lined cookie sheet and press flat. Using one beaten egg, glaze the tops of the loaves.
6. Turn pan into oven and bake for 30-40 minutes.
7. Once loaves are done baking, let them cool 5-7 minutes before slicing and returning to the oven for desired hardness.
8. Enjoy! 

Mocha Peppermint Cookies from Jenni

I got a beautiful dozen cookies from Jenni of Traveler in the Kitchen, and I must say, they're DELISH! They were mailed to me as a part of the Great Food Blogger's Cookie Swap. Rich in chocolatey flavor with undertones of mocha mint and a delightful peppermint drizzle, these cookies are truly a seasonal treat. What great presentation too! They came in a Christmas box with peppermint pine trees.

Thanks again, Jenni!

Peanut Nutella Yogurt Cookies

When I first heard about gluten free baking my friend, Hannah, introduced me to a simple recipe for peanut butter cookies. I forgot until recently about making such delights! I adjusted the recipe and discovered these make great tea cookies: small, crisp and sweet.

Quick&Easy Peanut Nutella Butter Crisps

1 cup smooth peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp nutella
1 tbsp greek yogurt
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Mix peanut butter and sugar until well combined.
3. Add nutella, yogurt and egg and beat well.
4. Sprinkle baking powder over mixture and fold in until well dispersed throughout.
5. Make 1 tbsp sized balls out of the dough and roll them in a bowl of sugar (smaller sizes hold their shape better, as these are delicate cookies). Place the balls on the cookie sheet and press with a fork for a textured top.
6. Bake for 10 minutes or until the edges brown.
7. Cool, tray, devour.

Almond Chocolate Dipped Cookies

I tried to make marzipan for my mother's birthday. It was an arduous process, mostly because I've never attempted to make any candy from scratch. I found a simple recipe and followed it step by step, filling my sink with cold water, covering my cutting boards with powdered sugar and trying to gauge a "240 degree rolling boil" by instinct. All this and I ground the almonds myself in a coffee grinder--making them more thickly textured than marzipan should ever be. To finish them off (knowing the chocolate fiend my mother is) I set up a double boiler to melt various chocolates together to get the right bitterness and flavor to counter the sweetness of the varying shapes I molded.

In all, it's a lot of work. Then again, what recipe isn't the first time you try it?

After a final taste, I realize the final product is nothing even resembling marzipan, but as Almond Cookies (a gluten free natural) they turned out superbly. The texture works well so long as you don't expect it to be smooth, and the balance of flavors is altogether spot on.

Here's to more creativity inspired by my mom. Happy Birthday!

Ice Cream Sandwich

Break time at work and I needed a snack. I used the last of the spare dough (from the previous post) and made two thin under baked cookies as the parenthesis for my sandwich. The rest is vanilla ice cream, chocolate chips and sliced strawberries. A simple experiment at first, with a lot of potential for growth.

Watermelon Thumbprints

Thanks again to BK Swappers, I had a delicious jar of (labor intensive) watermelon jam. It has all the flavor of watermelon and the perfect texture for jelly. I'm still shocked that something so ethereal in texture could yield jam! Borrowing Kicinski's recipe for thumbprints, I made a simple dough to match the flavor. Unfortunately I forgot to add my xanthum gum, so these cookies turn into a jam cookie paste soon as you get them to your mouth (and that's if they don't crumble on their way!) Hopefully this is a lesson I only need to learn once.

We Three Gluten Free

I've been trying to figure out how to optimize my cookie dough, not just in terms of flavor, texture and eye-ppetite, but in how much I can do with just one batch. Kicinski's gluten free cook book has a great recipe for Snickerdoodles (pictured here in the right corner). I took the rest of the dough and experimented, adding a touch of ginger and butterscotch to some (center) and chocolate to the others (left). My sister had the grand suggestion of a spicy chocolate flavor in the next experimental batch, and I think some cocoa and coconut flakes would taste delicious too (especially since I used coconut flour for this recipe). The tough thing with gluten free dough is keeping the texture right after baking. I find that the shortening helps as a thickener and smaller sized cookies hold their shape best.

Here is the recipe with my alterations:

3/4 cup of soft unsalted butter
1/4 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla
2 3/4 cups coconut flour
1 tsp guar or xanthum gum
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp kosher salt

Bake at 350 F for 12 to 15 minutes. 

1. Cream butter, shortening and sugar with a wooden spoon.
2. Add eggs one at a time, then vanilla.
3. Whisk dry ingredients together in a separate bowl and stir into the wet until just combined.
4. Form tablespoon sized balls and roll them in cinnamon sugar, chocolate chips, butterscotch, anything that you thing might taste good, and give them a re-assuring flattening pat before baking.
5. Let cool a few minutes before moving to a wire rack.
6. Enjoy!

(Recipe based off of "Snickerdoodles" in Simply...Gluten Free Desserts, by Carol Kicinski)

Oatmeal Cookies...Like Never Before

I've found a gluten-free guru. The complexities of baking with different blends of flours impacts the texture and "gluten free-ness" of a given dessert. With the right combinations, so says Carol Kicinski in Simply...Gluten Free Desserts, you yield an unrecognizable and at times even better dessert than the gluten-full option. I found the cook book in the library amidst my "it's too hot to do anything but find AC" walks. I slipped into the baking section and had a lot of fun snooping around the cook books until closing. Kicinski was by far my best find! These cookies are delicious and were gone as soon as I could make them (I filled two tupperware containers). The best tip I learned? Grind half of the oats in a food processor before mixing them in. The finer texture works wonderfully to thin the cookies out, making them a perfect blend between the traditional crispy chocolate chip and flavorful oatmeal raisin.

Peanut Butter Cocoa Cookie Crisps

The best homemade cookies in GF translation I've had are peanut butter. My theory is that peanut butter is a strong enough flavor (and craving) that you can satisfy with or without flour. There are some very simple recipes online that yield a delicious substitute to the gluten-full kind. I tweaked the recipe by adding a little crisco for body and cocoa for an integrated chocolate swirl. The outcome is a crispy, cocoa peanut butter cookie. They're great for dipping in coffee. Next time I'd like them a little sweeter and with more chocolate. Then again, can you ever have too much chocolate?