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.

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!

Belated Cheesecake

I'll be honest, I've never baked and not referenced a recipe. Sure, I've memorized recipes and not looked at them, but completely improvising from what I know? Never done it until this past rainy Tuesday afternoon.

I've been craving mint chocolate. Surely it's the arrival of fall that brought it on--who doesn't love a peppermint mocha? That and playing with flavored chocolate is utterly delightful. How did it turn out? Not good. Not bad either, the flavor is right but the texture is all wrong: crumbly instead of fudgy. The only bright side to desserts with the wrong consistency is that they can make a great base for something else. It's like you bought a box of pre-packaged cookie crumble to make a pie crust out of. Or a mini cheese-cake crust.

Well, I've had some cream cheese sitting in the fridge for over a week now, so I put it to use. Here is the recipe for the cheesecake:

Mini Cheesecake*:
16 oz creamcheese room temperature
2 eggs room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Cream creamcheese and eggs in a bowl until well combined.
3. Add sugar and combine well, then lemon juice and vanilla.
4. Pour mixture over prepared crusts in muffin cups (really this can be any dessert that has the right flavor and the wrong texture. The drier the better).
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center no longer jiggles when moved.
6. Enjoy!

*Recipe based from Simply...Gluten Free  by Carol Kicinski.

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.

Odradeks Chocolate Chip Cookies

The recipe I use is here. My boss is a huge fan of chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips. So I use this recipe but make the dough chipless and add them on top at the end (in my signature pattern) to satisfy both cravings. The ground walnuts are a perfect substitute for the chips, adding flavor and texture to an otherwise simple cookie. Here are my adjustments:

Delicious (Gluten-full) Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp hot water
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup walnuts run through food processor

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)

Peanut Butter Brownie Sandwich

Does it get better than chocolate and peanut butter? I'm a fiend myself, especially when the chocolate is dark and rich and the peanut butter smooth and all natural. I borrowed another idea from my Simply...Gluten Free inspiration but added a trendy twist: dessert sandwich. I've seen a lot of small time bakeries making more of their treats by stuffing them. The peanut butter in this gluten free dream bite has honey trickled on it for smoothness. I will definitely make this again. Yum!

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.

Gateau au chocolat

My friend, Clara, is from France and she visited Saratoga frequently while I lived there. A couple times she baked what she calls "Chocolate Dripping Cake" for me and my housemates. It's a delicious rich and flour-less cake with a thin crust and gooey center. I combined her recipe with some of the gateau recipes I researched online (I was attracted by the idea of whisking egg whites: a great way to let out your frustrations from the day). I also used some of the 100% cocoa my friend, Gabby,  made at Suenos Farm in the Pinchincha region of Ecuador. The extra bitterness was countered with a little white chocolate and some semi-sweet baking chocolate. Naturally, I was impatient and didn't let the cake cool long enough so it wasn't perfectly formed when I plopped it out of the pan. I substituted a tea strainer for a sifter to decorate and improvised two pots for the double boiler. It worked well! Overall, the flavor is rich and the texture just right.

Baking Biscaitie Minis

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Biscaitie Minis

Mint Chocolate Chunk Biscaitie Minis

How about those soft biscotti? I bake them constantly, so it's about time I write about them! I'm headed to New York City for the week to find some potential distributors for my new product, Biscaitie, so I pumped out mini versions and I'm half convinced to keep them this size (they're so cute!). One night, five flavors: Ginger Almond, Mint Chocolate Chunk, Lemon Poppyseed, Chocolate Coconut White Chocolate Chip and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip. The environment for baking is everything. I had the company of 5 marvelous friends, red wine and Ella Fitzgerald.

Four hours went surprisingly quickly with all the great conversation, soothing music and sweet aroma therapy. YUM! There are lots of samples for my New York City readers! Moral of the story? Creating a desirable environment for baking is half of the process.