Whipped Shortbread Cookies

"Uncle Bill's" recipe for Whipped Shortbread cookies has been sitting in my "to bake" box for ages. I found the recipe on Recipe Zaar and at the time of this posting there were 227 review of the recipe with 99% of them being positive. With all of those 5 star ratings I decided to give them a try.

The ingredient list was very basic: butter, flour, icing sugar, vanilla. And the cookie dough came together quick and easy.


They look simply scrumptious unbaked...


But honestly I was a little disappointed in the finished product. The cookies were tasty, but they were so tender and delicate that they crumbled and dissolved as soon as they touched my lips. I had no chance to bite down on the little buggers and chew. Big disappointment. To me chewing slowly and reverently is a huge part of the whole "cookie" experience.

I also wish mine had come out a little thicker. My dough was a little soft and sticky (I should have added more flour), and the cookies spread substantially during baking. They ended up big and round and flat as pancakes.



Christmas is right around the corner, so I'm going to try these cookies again. Hey, 200+ positive reviews on Recipe Zaar can't be wrong! But this time I'll add a little more flour (to give the cookie more bulk) and substitute half the icing sugar for regular granulated sugar (so they are not as delicate).

I'll let you know how it goes.

Pecan Pie Cookies

Awesome, that is the one word that came to mind when I bit into this cookie the first time. Totally awesome. The cookie part is tender and buttery and the filling is a cross between pecan pralines and pecan pie filling. Delicious.

Here is the pecan pie filling ready to be spooned into the cookie "pie shell".


And the cookie dough ready to receive said filling. I used the round end of a lemon zester to make the cavity in the cookie dough, but the hole didn't look big enough so I used my fingers to widen and deepen the depression.


Then I heaped the cavities with the pecan mixture. Don't be scared to overfill. The filling is well behaved and didn't over flow the cookie shells (too much).


Yummm.... What a flavor combination. But as a true connoisseur of all things pecan, I think the filling taste more like pecan pralines than pecan pie. But regardless of the name you use, they are fantastic.



The original recipe came from Land O’ Lakes, and I made just a few tweaks.


Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted Butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt


Filling Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla


Heat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking power and salt.
In another blow combine butter and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla to butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined.
Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture. Beat until well mixed.

Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls (approximately 1 generous Tablespoon of dough). Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in each cookie, and then hollow and widen the indentation with your thumb.

Combine all filling ingredients in small bowl.
Fill each cookie with 1 rounded teaspoon of filling.
Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned (I baked mine for 12 minutes and they were perfect.)
Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

AB's "Puffy" Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m always on the hunt for the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie recipe. Over the years I must have tried 20, 30, may be 40 different recipes. Recently I ran across Alton Brown’s “Puffy” Chocolate Chip Cookies and decided to give it a try.

Hummm. Mine didn’t come out very “puffy” looking. They tasted good and the edges were crispy and the center soft and gooey, but they definitely didn’t puff to any great degree.

I did make one slight modification and one major addition to Alton's recipe. I didn’t have any butter flavored shortening so I used regular shortening and added 2 teaspoons of butter flavor. I also added 3 ozs of finely grated chocolate. My moto: The more chocolate the better.


Here is the flour going into the mix...


And the chocolate chips being added. I used semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chunks.


Here is my niece, Amanda, doing her “I love chocolate” dance. She got her chocolate loving gene from our side of the family. Her Mom doesn't like chocolate. Have you ever heard such a thing!!!!


Here are the cookies hot out of the oven. There is a little "puff", but they flattend as they cooled. Sigh.


A closer look at the crispy edges and gooey center. And look at those lovely flecks of grated chocolate. Yumm.


So in the final analysis, the cookies were very good. They were intensely sweet and chocolaty, and they had crunchy edges and soft, moist centers. But if I had to make a choice, I think I still prefer the Neiman-Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. The Neiman-Marcus cookie has more bulk and dare I say, more puffiness.



The Puffy (Chocolate Chip Cookie) from Alton Brown

1 cup butter-flavored shortening (I used 1 cup regular shortening + 2 teaspoon butter flavor)
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt (I used popcorn salt )
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used a mixture of semisweet and milk chocolate)

1. Sift together the cake flour, salt and baking powder. Set aside.
2. Combine the shortening, sugar, and brown sugar in a bowl, and cream until light and fluffy.
3. Add eggs one at a time to the creamed mixture.
4. Add the vanilla (and butter flavoring). Increase the speed to medium and mix until thoroughly incorporated.
5. Set the mixer to low and slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Stir until well combined.
6. Using a spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.
7. Chill the dough while the oven preheats.
8. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
9. Scoop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 per sheet. I used about 2 Tablespoons of dough for each cookie. Alton said to use a #20 disher (5 Tablespoons ??), but a cookie that size is just too big for me.
10. Bake for 9 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the center is still pale. Alton said to bake for 13 minutes, but that is for his much larger cookie. My smaller cookies were done in 9 minutes.
    

Raspberry Filled Almond Shortbread Cookies

I've made these Raspberry Shortbread Cookies several times and I'm always amazed by their tender texture and delicate balance of almond, butter and berry flavors. Delicious.

The only thing I don't like about these cookies is how much they spread! The edges thin during baking and turn brown and crisp. From an visual point of view the brown edges aren't very appealing, so I trim them away using a knife or cookie cutter. But don't throw the crispy scraps away! They make a great topping for ice cream.



Any suggestions on how to stop these cookies from spreading? I've tried re-chilling the raw cookie dough balls after filling them with jam but that didn't help.

I've baked them on aluminum pans, baking stones, on parchment paper and silpat, but they spread everytime.

HELP!

But regardless of the spreading phenomenon, they taste darn good.

Mallows

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth.
She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

In Nicole's words, "I'm a huge fan of Gale Gand, I have tried a lot of her recipes and they are such a huge success. For July's challenge though I wanted to try something different and I wanted to do Gand’s version on my favorite store bought cookies which are the Peppridge Farm Milano Cookies and the Mallows (Chocolate covered Cookies). I've been wanting to try this recipe but just haven't have the chance to do so or to be honest haven’t have the courage to tackle homemade marshmallow yet, until now."

So Nicole threw down the gauntlet and challenged all the Daring Bakers to make marshmallows. Hummm. I'm not a big marshmallow fan, but what the hay. Mallows it would be.

The cookie part of the mallow was a snap. Other Daring Bakers had cautioned that the recipe made a ton of cookies, so I cut the recipe down to a third.


Next came the marshmallows. Yikes, what a sticky mess! I had marshmallow cream in my hair, under my nails, stuck to my elbow, nose and cheek. Good thing no one was around to take pictures of me.



As with the cookies, other Daring Bakers had forewarned the procrastinators about marshmallow mixing pitfalls, so I beat the marshmallow mix like forever. Here it is after 15 minutes.


In the end I mixed it too long (you think) because the marshmallows firmed up almost immediately and I had a hard time piping. I tried a variety of piped shapes including the traditional, spirals, and bunnies (got the idea from Martha Stewart).


Here is one of the marshmallow bunnies going into the chocolate bath. Swim little fella, swim.


Some Daring Bakers also reported that the chocolate thinned with oil took too long to set, so they suggested using solid shortening instead. I used the shortening and my chocolate set very quickly, but it got all spotty. I don't know if the problem was my chocolate (Nestle) or my technique (melting in a microwave). I guess my chocolate wasn't tempered properly, but the taste testers didn't seem to mind.

So here are the finished Mallows. The traditional:


The Mallow Bunny (my favorite):



The Spiral: With the spiral I was trying for a lollipop look (a la Bakerella), but they just didn't look right. When I covered them in chocolate they resembled mounds of dog poo on a stick! I didn't want to gross anyone out, so I just sprinkled the spirals with colored sugar instead. ( I have pictures of the "poo" if you want to see...)



The Peek-A-Boo Mallow. At this point I was running out of chocolate so I just spooned a blob of chocolate on the top instead of dipping the entire cookie.



So that is it for the July 2009 Daring Baker Challenge. I can't wait to see what we get to bake in August.

The Best Sugar Cookies - EVER

These cookies don't look like much, but they are the best tasting sugar cookies - EVER. I know, I know, you have heard that a million times, but these sugar cookies are really are that good. Slightly crunchy on the outside and soft and cake-like on the inside. Yummm… And the best part is -- they come from a box so they are quick and easy make.


Click HERE for the recipe.

I hope you like them as much as I do.

Raspberry Patch Crumb Bars

The temperatue outside is on the rise, so it must be raspberry picking time. I "pick" my raspberries at Sam's Club. Ha, ha, ha. No bugs, no snakes, just a polite swipe of my credit card at the check-out counter and away I go.

Today's offering is from a recipe I found on the Taste of Home web site: Raspberry Patch Crumb Bars. The crust in this recipe was a little different from what I'm used to: you cut shortening into the flour instead of butter. What?! No butter?! I don't know if I'm gonna like this....


Here are the eggs going in. Don't those yolks look bright? I've been using Egg Land's Best lately, and I really notice a difference in taste.


Here is the crust batter going into the pan. I found that the shortening produced a sticky dough, it wasn't "crumbly" in the least. I even added more flour trying to dry it out some, but I never achieved a good texture.



Aren't the raspberries beautiful? The recipe says to toss them with sugar and starch and spread over the crust. Word of WARNING: TASTE your raspberry/sugar mixture to see if it is sweet enough!!! The berries I used were so tart (lip puckering tart) they almost ruined the whole batch of cookies. I had to coat the finished bars with a thick layer of confectioner's sugar to counter the tartness.

Here is the pan right before it goes into the oven. See how lumpy the crumble looks. It's more like cookie dough than crumble. I know, I know, I'm obsessed with the crumble, but it just doesn't look right.


The finished product. The raspberries look bright and refreshing, and oh so summery.


And the crumble?

It looks okay, doesn't it?

It doesn't look lumpy, does it?

Please lie to me and tell me my crumble doesn't look lumpy.

Neiman-Marcus Chocolate Chip Cookies

Is there anything better than a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie and a cold glass of milk? The melted chocolate oozes when you take a bite and coats your tongue and lips in smooth bliss...



My Go-to chocolate chip recipe goes by many names "Neiman-Marcus, Macy's, Mock Mrs. Fields..." I don't know where the recipe originated, but every time I bake-up a batch I thank that unknown, unheralded baker.

Pictured below is the cast of characters. The key to this cookie's moistness is grated chocolate and finely ground oats. Don't omit either one, and add more grated chocolate if you dare.


Here are the stages of cookie construction. 1) creaming butter and sugars; 2) mixing in the dry ingredients; 3) Adding the grated chocolate and chocolate chips; 4) scoops of cookies dough waiting for their turn in the oven.

I use a tablespoon size ice cream scoop and scoop the dough to overflowing. Bake for just 8 minutes until just the edges start to brown. The cookies will continue after you remove them from the oven, so you want to take them out before they look finished.



COOKIES... Next to brownies, chocolate chip cookies are my favorite. Want some?

Empire Cookies

I stumbled across a blog called The Canadian Baker and after one glance my heart started to thump and drool puddled in my mouth. Empire Cookies. What was this??? Raspberry jam sandwiched between two crisp sugar cookies and topped with almond glaze and candied cherries. Yummm….


I immediately revised my mental "Baking To Do" list and placed Empire Cookies in the number one slot. How had this delightful little cookie escaped my notice all these years? I couldn't wait for the weekend so I could bake up a batch and see if they tasted as good as they looked (oh please, please, please……).

Well they DID!!!! (Taste as good as it looked, that is.)

The dough was a breeze to mix up, and the rolling and cutting went fine. I did have to add a little more flour to keep the dough from sticking to the rolling pin (stupid New Orleans humidity), but the added flour didn't affect the overall taste at all. Baking was a snap too. 10 minutes exactly. The cookies didn't spread, so you can pile a bunch on your cookie tray. Less oven time, less clean-up time, and more cookie munching time.

To ice the cookies I borrowed a tip from a reviewer on RecipeZaar and thinned the icing more that the recipe directs. Then just dip the cookie into the icing rather than spreading it. Dip, swirl, next, dip, swirl, next. Assembly line quick and it gives you a super smooth finish to the dried icing.


To finish off the cookie, the recipe (and British tradition) calls for a candied cherry to be placed on top. I was all out of candied cherries (ha, ha, ha), so I put the kid's gummy fruit on top. Is that tacky? I'm sure The Queen would not approve. I guess I'll have to call them Trailer Park Cookies rather than Empire Cookies.

Eary Grey Tea Shortbread Cookies

"Coffee?"
"No thank you, but I would like some hot tea. Earl Grey or
Blackcurrant if you have it."

I'm a tea drinker, there I've admitted it. I don't like coffee, cappuccino, or even chocolate covered espresso beans. I just don't like it taste or even the smell. I think it all goes back to one memorable Mardi Gras (that year the gang was dressed as Commodes of the Rich and Famous) when I was guzzling coffee and eating bananas in the hopes of sobering up. I did sober up but it had more to do with… well no need to go there.

So here I am 20+ years later and I stumble upon a recipe for Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies on the Food Network website. Be still my anti-coffee heart. I didn't have any Earl Grey on hand, so I used my second favorite tea, Twinings Blackcurrant (Twinings Vanilla is my favorite). Boy did they turn out good. Crisp on the edges, slightly soft in the middle, and oh so buttery and smooth. Yummm…

The blackcurrant tea also gave the cookies a faint berry taste/aroma that was elusive as well as addictive. My guest devoured all 2 dozen cookies in 10 minutes flat and still couldn't pinpoint what gave the cookies their unique taste. In the words of one guest, "They're bloody good."

I used the Food Networks version of Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies, (take a moment to read the comments associated with the recipe. There are angry accusations of recipe theft, plagiarism and a rehash of Cindy McCain's cookie recipe debacle. What a hoot!)

But Martha Stewart's has a version

As well as several on RecipeZaar

Whichever recipe you use, I'm sure you will enjoy them.

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

I don’t know if you are supposed to publish your failures (or non-tasty results) on a blog, but disappointment is a big part of baking so here goes…. I found a Martha Stewart recipe for Strawberry Shortcake Cookies that looked good and sounded delicious.



Here is the strawberry shortcake cookie dough all mixed up. Looking good at this point.



Here they are about to go into the oven. The recipe said to use parchment paper, but I used a silicon baking mat instead. The recipe also said to sprinkle sugar on top of the cookies. I should have known better. From my many scone baking adventures I have found that any sugar that lands on the pan instead of the cookies will burn to a crisp.



Just out of the oven at this point. The still look good. The edges are turning brown and the centers are still pale and soft looking. Yummm…



I thought I had a winner at this point. But then I turned a cookie over and noticed the bottoms. YUCK…. Granted I do have a hot spot in my oven and I have to rotate the tray once or twice, but even with that a few of the cookies ended up a little too toasty. Also notice the areas of the cookies where the sugared strawberries came in direct contact with the pan. Cinders!!



Here are the best of the bunch. The finished cookie looked nice, but unfortunately the taste was downright bland and definitely not worth the calories. If they had tasted better I might have experimented with protecting the bottom, but they were not worth a second try.