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The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014: Snacktime delight cookies

December 15, 2014 / Mel / 0 Comments

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap is back for 2014, marking it’s 4th year! From the site:

The GREAT FOOD BLOGGER COOKIE SWAP brings together food bloggers from around the world in celebration of all things scrumptious. The premise is this: sign up. Receive the addresses of three other food bloggers. Send each of them one dozen delicious homemade cookies. Receive three different boxes of scrumptious cookies from other bloggers. Eat them all yourself (or, you know, share. If you want. No judgement either way.) Post your cookie recipe on your blog. See everyone else’s cookie recipes. Salivate. Get lots of great ideas for next year’s cookie swap. Rinse and repeat.

The swap is partnered with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, which is a fantastic nonprofit, and supported by sponsors such as OXO and Dixie Crystals. And it’s just really a lot of fun.

I’ve been participating in the swap since 2012, and have baked up recipes such as Chocolate toffee chip cookies with almonds and smoked sea salt and Dark chocolate caramel corn delights.

For this year, I took my favorite chocolate chip cookie base and mixed in pretzels and ruffled potato chips to make a fun snacktime-style cookie. They’re buttery, salty and just the right level of sweetness.

I also received some really lovely cookies, ranging from soft chocolate cookies from Sara of Sensibly Sara (they melt in your mouth!), chocolate chip cranberry cookies from Crystal of Mrs. Happy Homemaker, and Hononghjerter from Ba-Li Cravings. But most importantly, the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap raises money for Cookies for Kids’ Cancer.

Do you have a food blog and want to participate next year? Sign up here to receive notifications about when the 2014 swap will start to organize and do your part to share some cheer over the holidays and raise money to help some really wonderful kids. It’s good for the soul.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2014: Snacktime delight cookies

Yield: 40 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons ice water

10 oz (approximately 2 cups) flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

5 oz (approximately 3/4 cup) sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

5 oz (approximately 1/2 tightly packed cup plus 2 tbsp) brown sugar

12 oz semisweet chocolate chips

3 oz crumbled pretzels

3 oz crumbled ruffled potato chips

Directions

Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium-high heat.

Cook the butter, swirling regularly, until the butter is browned and has a nutty aroma. This should take about 5-7 minutes, depending on the strength of your stovetop.

Whisk in the ice water (which replaces the moisture cooked out while browning the butter), and cool in the fridge for 20 minutes.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine both sugars, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix on medium high speed until the mixture is golden, about 5 minutes.

Set the mixer on low and slowly pour in the browned butter. Once added, turn the speed up to medium and mix until combined.

On low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, scraping down when necessary.

Add the chocolate chips, pretzels and potato chips, mixing gently to combine.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill the cookie dough for at least 8 hours or up to 72 hours.

When you're ready to bake the cookies, heat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line cookie sheets with either parchment or baking silicone.

Scoop the cookies onto the sheet, leaving at least 1.5 inches between cookies.

Bake for 7 minutes, then rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back. Bake for an additional 6-7 minutes.

Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and place on cooling racks. After about 5 minutes, the cookies can be transferred off of the cookie sheet and directly onto the rack.

Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/12/the-great-food-blogger-cookie-swap-2014-snacktime-delight-cookies/

All work by Cupcake Friday Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

Chinese 5 spice snickerdoodles

December 3, 2014 / Mel / 0 Comments

Because I have a cookie club with a few of my friends across the country, I’ve been baking A LOT of cookies this past year. It’s great because I can stretch my creativity and cookies ship easily, meaning I get to share them with ease.

This is a snickerdoodle recipe I’ve been using most of my life, with a handful of updates. The original recipe from a cookbook I no longer remember the name of (it was ANCIENT) called for shortening. Um, no. I don’t like the flavor of shortening, and can’t get behind baking with it. My mom had written in the margin of the cookbook “oil” next to shortening, and I used that for awhile, but I began to notice the taste of my cookies seeming a little off.

So now I use butter, which called for an adjustment to the flour. I also mix spices into the cookie dough, as well as roll the dough balls in sugar and spices. And while cinnamon is the classic spice for this kind of cookie, the Chinese 5 spice is an excellent substitute.

Chinese 5 spice snickerdoodles

Yield: 50-60 cookies

Ingredients

3 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp Chinese 5 spice, plus 1/4-1/2 tsp additional spice to roll the cookies in

1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 2-4 tbsp additional sugar to roll the cookies in

2 eggs

Directions

Heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or baking silicone.

Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, salt, and Chinese 5 spice in a bowl, stirring gently to combine. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed, beating until pale and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.

Add the eggs and beat until combined.

Slowly add the dry ingredients and beat until the dough comes together. Chill for 10-20 minutes to make the dough easier to handle.

In a wide, shallow bowl, mix together the extra sugar and Chinese 5 spice.

Scoop the cookie dough and roll into 1 1/2-inch wide balls. Roll the shaped balls in the sugar and spice mixture, then place on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches of space around each cookie.

Bake for 8-10 minutes until the bottoms of the cookies are slightly golden and the tops have cracked a bit. Cool fully on a rack before packaging or eating.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/12/chinese-5-spice-snickerdoodles/

All work by Cupcake Friday Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

Dutch apple pie: A Thanksgiving tradition

November 26, 2014 / Mel / 0 Comments

Dutch apple pie has always been a part of my family Thanksgivings, or at least for as long as I can remember. My mom doesn’t fancy herself a baker, but she would always pick up a Mrs. Smith Dutch apple pie, as well as a spiced pumpkin pie for herself.

Once I got into baking, and trying my hand at pies, I tackled the Dutch Apple. , from Cook’s Illustrated, is a fantastic book for baking science and testing techniques, and it’s where I found my first Dutch Apple recipe to work with.

Since then, I’ve adapted the recipe to fit my own needs and tastes, and it’s always a joy to make and bring to my family table.

Dutch Apple Pie

Ingredients

Pie Crust Ingredients

1 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (keep in freezer until ready to use)

3 tbsp plus 1 to 2 tbsp whiskey (or use equal amount of ice water)

Apple Filling Ingredients

4 large Granny Smith apples (about 2 lbs)

 3 large Cortland apples (about 1 1/2 lbs) 

1/4 cup granulated sugar 

1/2 teaspoon Chinese 5 spice 

1/4 tsp salt 

2 tbsp unsalted butter 

1/2 cup heavy cream

Streusel Topping Ingredients 

1 1/4 cups flour 

1/3 cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar 

1/4 tsp Chinese 5 spice

1/4 tsp salt 

7 tbsp unsalted butter, melted

Directions

Begin with the pie dough so it has time to chill. Pulse together flour, sugar and salt in a food processor.

Blend in butter by dropping a cube at a time into the food processer, just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps.

Drizzle 3 tbsp whiskey over the mixture and pulse a few times until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful of dough: If it doesn't hold together, add more whiskey or ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time, pulsing until just incorporated, then test again. Do not overwork dough, or pastry will be tough.

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. With heel of your hand, smear the dough once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat.

Gather dough together, with a pastry scraper if you have one, and press into a ball.

Form into 1 disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill until firm, at least 1 hour.

Once the pie dough has chilled, grease a pie plate and roll out the bottom crust. Fit it into the plate, trimming the edge, folding it under, and then pinching it into a fluted design.

Place the bottom crust into the fridge to chill for 40 minutes, or in the freezer for a faster chill of 20 minutes.

For the filling, combine the peeled, cored and sliced apples in a large mixing bowl with the sugar, Chinese 5 Spice and salt. Toss to combine.

Heat the butter in a dutch oven over medium-high heat until the foaming subsides. Add the apple mixture and cook with the lid on for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Remove the lid and cook for an additional 5-10 minutes until the apples have softened.

Place a colander over a large bowl and drain the apples, shaking a bit to get as much juice drained as possible. Set the apples aside.

Return the juices to the dutch oven and add the heavy cream. Heat the mixture over high heat and bring to a boil, stirring.

Continue cooking and stirring the juice/cream mixture until it's thick enough that a wooden spoon leaves a trail in the mixture. This should be about 5 minutes. Once thickened, take off the heat and set aside.

Heat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and prepare the crust for a blind bake. Line the top of the crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil and fill with either dried beans or pie weights.

Bake for 18-25 minutes until the crust is lightly golden. Cool on a wire rack while you make the streusel.

To make the streusel, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, Chinese 5 spice and salt, stirring. Pour the melted butter over the dry ingredients, tossing with a fork until all is evenly moistened. The mixture should form large chunks as well as smaller, pea-sized pieces.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper and turn the streusel out onto, spreading it out. Bake for 10-15 minutes until the streusel is golden. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

To assemble the pie, heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and prep a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (this will help catch any drips).

Spoon the apples into the crust, spreading them out evenly, then spoon over the cream mixture. Crumble the streusel over the top and bake for another 10-15 minutes until the filling is bubbling slightly.

Remove from the oven and cool before serving.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/11/dutch-apple-pie-a-thanksgiving-tradition/

All work by Cupcake Friday Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

Blueberries and cream cookies

August 1, 2014 / Mel / 0 Comments

While I think I like blueberries fresh off the bush the best, these cookies may become my new favorite. The cookie is chewy, caramely, with a gentle crunch to the edge, and then the tartness of the blueberries comes in. Heaven. Absolute heaven.

The cookie base for this recipe is inspired by Serious Eats’ Best Chocolate Chip Cookie, and I think it might become my new base for all cookies that have add-ins like this. I used to be a big fan of the New Best Recipe Chocolate Chip Cookie, but unfortunately those have been coming out hard. I much prefer a chewy cookie.

What have you been baking this summer? I know I’ve been keeping my baking to a minimum, mainly because I’ve been so busy working on our condo, training for the Bike MS: City to Shore Ride, volunteering at PAWS and writing for Table Matters. But I haven’t forgotten about all you lovelies!

Blueberries and cream cookies

Yield: Approximately 48 cookies

Ingredients

Blueberries and Cream Cookie Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons ice water

10 oz (approximately 2 cups) flour

3/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

5 oz (approximately 3/4 cup) sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

5 oz (approximately 1/2 tightly packed cup plus 2 tbsp) brown sugar

8 oz dried blueberries

8 oz white chocolate chips

Directions

Melt the butter in a medium pan over medium-high heat.

Cook the butter, swirling regularly, until the butter is browned and has a nutty aroma. This should take about 5-7 minutes, depending on the strength of your stovetop.

Whisk in the ice water (which replaces the moisture cooked out while browning the butter), and cool in the fridge for 20 minutes.

In a large bowl stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine both sugars, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix on medium high speed until the mixture is golden, about 5 minutes.

Set the mixer on low and slowly pour in the browned butter. Once added, turn the speed up to medium and mix until combined.

On low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients, scraping down when necessary.

Add the dried blueberries and white chocolate, mixing to combine.

Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill the cookie dough for at least 8 hours or up to 72 hours.

When you're ready to bake the cookies, heat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.

Line cookie sheets with either parchment or baking silicone.

Scoop the cookies onto the sheet, leaving at least 1.5 inches between cookies.

Bake for 7 minutes, then rotate the pans from top to bottom and front to back. Bake for an additional 6-7 minutes.

Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and place on cooling racks. After about 5 minutes, the cookies can be transferred off of the cookie sheet and directly onto the rack.

Allow cookies to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/08/blueberries-and-cream-cookies/

All work by Cupcake Friday Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

Pecan pie caramel corn

June 20, 2014 / Mel / 0 Comments

I realize that pecan pie is more of an autumn dessert, but I couldn’t resist! That, and I had a bag of pecans I wanted to use up, so it made sense to craft this delectable caramel corn.

When looking up pecan pie recipes, however, I didn’t see any of them using spices, which perplexed me. So I decided to use cinnamon and cloves, since I felt like those two spices would support the molasses and pecans best.

And I was right!

Pecan pie caramel corn

Yield: Approximately 26 oz

Ingredients

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 cup popcorn kernels

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

3 tbsp molasses

1 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups pecans

Directions

Heat the oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large dutch oven, combine the olive oil and popcorn kernels over medium high heat. Put the lid on, and pop, shaking the pot from time to time. When the popping stops, remove the popcorn from the heat.

Sort through the popcorn, removing the unpopped kernels. Return the popcorn to the dutch oven, and set aside.

To make the caramel, melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Once melted, add the brown sugar and continue stirring until the sugar dissolves.

Add the molasses, then turn the heat up and boil the caramel for 2-3 minutes until a deep amber.

Add the salt, cinnamon and ground cloves, stirring to combine.

Add the baking soda, stirring until dissolved (the mixture will bubble up and lighten in color).

Add the vanilla, but be careful. The caramel will sputter when a liquid is added. Stir to combine.

Pour in the pecans, stirring to coat.

Pour the caramel over the popcorn in the dutch oven and stir to coat.

Pour the caramel corn onto the parchment paper, spread out, and place in the oven.

Bake for approximately 40 minutes, stirring the popcorn every 20 minutes.

Once done baking, cool on a rack for 5-10 minutes before enjoying. Store in an air tight container to keep the popcorn fresh.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/06/pecan-pie-caramel-corn/

All work by Cupcake Friday Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

Sugar cookie cupcakes with cookie butter frosting

June 13, 2014 / Mel / 0 Comments

Another month, and another cupcake taking its inspiration from a dessert. This time? The humble sugar cookie, which, when done right, is delightful on its own, with tea, or dressed with a simple icing.

For the cake, I kept it simple, using my tender and fluffy vanilla cake. This recipe bakes up beautifully and fills the entire house with the alluring scent of vanilla. Then, I used a secret weapon in the frosting: cookie butter spread. Some know it as Speculoos, or I know some people who SWEAR by Trader Joe’s Cookie Butter. “But what the heck is it?” you ask.

Speculoos/Biscoff/Cookie Butter is a spread made with Belgian cookies that have been baked, crushed, and then mixed with oils to create a spread. The flavor is a little caramely, with hints of cinnamon, and it’s delightful. If you haven’t tried it before, I highly recommend picking up a jar.

As with most spreads, this whips into the buttercream beautifully. Definitely taste in-between sugar additions—you don’t want a sickeningly sweet frosting.

The garnish—in this case, actual sugar cookies that are about 1 1/2-inches wide, finish off the cupcake. You can either purchase your favorite sugar cookie, or bake some yourself, using this base cookie recipe. You’ll only use about 1/4 of the dough for the cupcake toppings, but you can easily freeze the rest of the sugar cookie dough for another time. Shape the remaining dough into a 1-inch disc, then wrap twice in plastic wrap—the dough will keep for at least 2 months if wrapped up well.

Sugar cookie cupcakes with cookie butter frosting

Yield: 12 cupcakes

Ingredients

Vanilla Cupcake Ingredients

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/8 cup (6 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

1 tbsp vanilla

Cookie Butter Buttercream

1/2 cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup cookie butter spread (like Speculoos)

1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp cream (as needed for texture)

Sugar cookies as garnish

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the racks toward the center. Line pans with cupcake papers.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and gently mix to combine. Set aside.

Cream the butter with the sugar, beating until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, mixing to combine.

Alternate the dry ingredients and milk, and mix until combined.

Add the vanilla extract, mixing to combine.

Divide the batter between 12 wrappers in the cupcake tins and bake for 20-22 minutes.

Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

For the cookie butter frosting, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Add a 1/2 cup of sugar gradually, beating until combined.

Add the cookie butter spread and vanilla extract, then add the remaining sugar in 1/2 cup increments to your own taste. Check the texture ... if it's too stiff, add the cream, then whip until fluffy.

https://cupcakefridayproject.com/2014/06/sugar-cookie-cupcakes-with-cookie-butter-frosting/

All work by Cupcake Friday Project is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License