Showing posts with label Sweets. Show all posts

Basic Butter Cookie

1 cup butter - room temperature
¾ cup white sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour

Chocolate

1 cup dark chocolate chips
½ teaspoon vegetable shortening/oil
Nonpareils

Instructions

Preheat oven 375F
Combine butter and sugar until well combined
Add egg yolk, vanilla, and salt, beat well.
Slowly add flour until completely combined
Pipe cookies into shapes, chill in fridge for 10ish minu10-12 minutes, edges will start turning light brown
Allow cookies to cool for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack
Dip in chocolate only after cookies are 100% cooled.

Tip

Only pipe cookie dough onto a cold cookie sheet.
Use large tip - dough is thick
Chocolate starts to harden fast so time your sprinkling on non-parrels
Melt chocolate and shortening/oil in a small bowl. Heat until completely melted, I use a microwave in 20 second increments stirring well in between.

Make any shape!

Beatty’s Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Buttercream

My favorite cake

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup good cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup buttermilk, shaken
½ cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room
1 teaspoon kosher salt temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Butter two 8-inch round cake pans

Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined. In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry ones. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared pans and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely. (Not to worry; the top will sink a little in the center.)

Place one layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread a thin layer of buttercream on the top only. Place the second layer on top, flat side up, and spread the frosting evenly first on the sides and then on the top of the cake. Cut in wedges and serve at room temperature.

Note: For cupcakes, reduce bake time to 25-30 minutes.
Chocolate Buttercream Frosting (frosts one cake, or 12 cupcakes)
6 ounces good semisweet chocolate, such as Valrhona (see note)
½ pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 extra-large egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1¼ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon instant coffee granules, such as Nescafe
Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl over a pan over simmering water. Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.
Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium-high speed until light yellow and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and continue beating for 3 minutes. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Dissolve the coffee in 2 teaspoons of the hottest tap water. On low speed, add the chocolate and coffee to the butter mixture and mix until blended. Don’t whip! Spread immediately on the cooled cake.
Note: I use Valrhona Le Noir 56% Cacao Semisweet Chocolate. You can use also use a good bittersweet chocolate but don’t use chocolate chips because they have stabilizers in them.

Copyright 2006, Barefoot Contessa at Home by Ina Garten, Clarkson Potter/Publishers, All Rights Reserved

Peanut Butter Blossom

Holiday Favorite!

Love to use different colors of sugar!

Aunt Lois' Famous Delicate Sugar Cookies

Thanks Aunt Lois and Cheryl too!

1 Cup powdered sugar
1 Cup white sugar
1 Cup butter (softened)
1 Cup vegetable oil
2 Eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond flavor

Cream above together

Add 4 cups of flour PLUS 1 heaping tbsp flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cream of tarter

Add to first mixture and mix well. Roll into small balls* and roll into white sugar, place on ungreased cookie sheet. Press down with a fancy bottom glass dipped in sugar.

Bake 350 for 10 minutes

*A small potato/cookie scoop works great

Hamantaschen

Hamantaschen...small triangular shaped cookies with fruit filling remind me of Hebrew School many many years ago. I remember prune and poppy seed being my favorite followed by apricot, and believe I was the only student who didn't like the nontraditional chocolate chip version. Hamantaschen are made during the holiday of Purim, if I recall correctly a celebration from the book of Esther where the evil Haman planned to kill all the Jews but instead Mordecai came to their rescue. This day of deliverance is now celebrated with carnivals and kidsdress up like Esther or Mordecai with the courageous ones dressed as Haman or a hamantaschen. Hamantaschen are triangular in shape and they represent the three pointed hate the Haman wore. At work this week my team member from Germany told me that taschen means purse or pouch, it made.

Our temple does the most amazing services during this holiday, they write scripts and act them out using themes from things we love like Dr. Seuss, GLEE and most recently, "The Muppets Take Purim". They are quite an amazing group of people.

Anywhooo.......I saw Purim on my Outlook calendar one night while working at home and thought it would be a great idea to make some with my daughter. Seldom home and often crabby I knew she would be a captive audience since her grounding wasn't up for another two days. I thought a little bonding and chatting while baking might be one of those memories I could help create, the kind I long for with my own family but can't. It took her a while to get into the rolling of the dough but after an hour or two she actually smiled, teeth and all! It was a great evening for the both of us and one I hope to make an annual event from here on out. I tried a new filling this year, almond and WOW were they delicious! Here is hoe the recipe goes, it is from The Hadassah Jewish Holiday Cookbook I received many years ago from G as a Chanukah present. It goes a little like this...............

Hamantaschen Dough

3 cups all purpose flour

1 T baking powder

3/4 cup lightly salted butter

2/3 cup sugar

3 eggs plus one to be beaten with 1 T water

1 t vanilla

Filling

I don't do filling. I want the exact same flavors I had as a child and there is no substitution in my mind for Solo. You can find it in the baking aisle.

Directions

Whisk flour and baking powder
In a separate bowl cream butter and sugar
Add butter/sugar mixture to flour mixture and combine
Add3 eggs and vanilla mixing until dough in formed
Refrigerate for at least two hours
Roll out to 1/8" thickness
Cut into circles. I use a water glass with approx 3" diameter
Place 1 teaspoon filling into center
Fold dough and pinch creating a triangle
Brush with egg/water mixture
Place on cookie sheet lined with parchment
Bake at 350 for 20 minutes
Let cool for a few minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

Raspberry White Chocolate Crumb Bars

This is an adaptation from a recipe that I found in the Nestle Classic Recipes book I bought decades ago. Wow, that sentence made me feel really old. The original recipe was tooth melting sweet - way too much for me! Once you try this recipe, you'll find it hard to believe the original could be any sweeter than this one but I find it a tastier treat than its predecessor. It is definitely a winner and an easy "Go-To" treat for a quick dessert, unexpected company or a girl's night in.

Ingredients

1 Cup salted butter at room temperature

2 Cups Flour

1/2 Cup packed brown sugar (I like dark)

1 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips

1 Cup White Chocolate Chips

1 14oz can Sweetened Condensed Milk

1/2 Cup chopped Pecans

1/3-1/2 Cup Seedless Raspberry Jam

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

Grease/Spray a 9x13 pan

Beat butter until soft, add flour, sugar and mix until crumbly

Press 1.75 Cups of mixture into bottom of pan

Bake 10-12 minutes

Microwave dark chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk for 60 seconds, stir until incorporated

Pour over hot crust

Add pecans into remaining mixture and sprinkle over the chocolate

Drop small amounts of jam over the mixture

Sprinkle white chocolate chips over the top

Bake for 25-30 minutes

Cool

Cut bars small, they are sinfully sweet!

Enjoy!

Once Each Spring

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

I never used rhubarb until 10 years ago or so. For some reason I never thought I would like it and I certainly didn't know what to do with it.

Anyway, I found myself in a new home that had two plants in the backyard and upon removing them to build a much needed play set for the kids, I met my first neighbor. She oooohed and aaaahed over the plants, going on and on about how great the rhubarb was, she couldn't just come right out and ask me for the plants, instead she just went on and on about how throwing them away was a waste....blah, blah, blah. I hate it when people pussy-foot around. Just ask for the damn plant! After a good 5 minutes or so I simple told the woman to take one of them and be on her way. As it turns out I've only spoken to her a handful of times since I've been here. It turns out she is the neighborhood gossip and I have no time for that either. Anyway.......I found myself left with a plant and asked the nice next door lady, Mrs. Johnson if she would like the remaining plant and she did. Before we could plant it in her yard we cut it down and I took the rhubarb home. Not knowing what to do with it I asked around at work and sure enough the recipes poured in. I tried this recipe not because it sounded the best or because I like pie, but because the woman who gave it to me I like best, her name was Juel and she was my mentor at work. To date this is the only of all those recipes I have ever tried, it is so delicious there was no need to expand my rhubarb repertoire. Of course now I don't have any rhubarb plants, so each year I take enough rhubarb from Mrs. Johnson's plant to make one pie. We have it for dessert on a Sunday evening and I always bring two slices over to the Johnson's; it is a tradition we never speak of but all look forward to each year.

Use your favorite single crust recipe. I hate baking so I buy the Pet Ritz deep dish frozen crust and it is great.

Ingredients

3 Eggs

1 1/2 Cups sugar

1/4 Cup flour

1/4 t cinnamon

1/4 t nutmeg

salt

4 Cups Rhubarb & Strawberry combination (I like 3 C Rhubarb to 1 C Strawberry but usually use 2 of each - that seems to be the family preference)

Directions

Beat Eggs. Mix in sugar and spices. Mix in flour and salt. Beat until smooth. Add fruit and mix

Pour into pie shell and use your favorite crumb topping. Bake at 400 for 50-55 minutes.

I like this pie served warm, not hot with some really good vanilla bean ice cream.

Welcome Spring!

One of my favorites - Oatmeal Craisin Cookie With White Chocolate and Pecans

This recipe is really the Oatmeal Raisin Cookie from The Silver Palate Cookbook with a few adjustments. I've made it many times with different ingredients and the public has determined this is the best combination; I'd have to agree.

12 T Sweet Butter

1 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup White Sugar

1 Egg

2T Water

1.5 t Vanilla

2/3 Cup Flour

1 t Cinnamon

1/2 t Salt

1/2 t Baking Soda

3 Cups Oats - Quick Cooking

1 Cup Craisins

1 Cup White chocolate chips

1 Cup Pecans, chopped

Cream Butter and Sugar

Add egg, mix

Add water and vanilla, mix

Mix Flour, Cinnamon, salt and baking soda well in a separate bowl

Add flour mix to butter and mix well

Add Oats, chocolate chips and craisins, nuts and mix by hand

Bake at 350 for 11 minutes on parchment or buttered cookie sheet

Wait a few minutes before moving off sheet to cool

Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies with Pecans

I am still working on cleaning out the pantry after the holidays, I found myself with 1/2 bag pecans, some dark chocolate chunks and a canister of oatmeal. I initially was going to make some bar cookies, but per the request of my youngest child we determined cookies were were the better choice. Since I mentioned bar cookies, I thought I'd add a little commentary regarding them. I've always been under the impression bar cookies were for the lazy baker who didn't want to take time to rotate their dough every 8-10 minutes, I now am older and wiser and realize bar cookies often take longer to make and can be every bit as delicious. I make a wonderful chocolate raspberry crumb bar and it was my intent to make them today, but I was missing 2 ingredients. I'll share that recipe at a later date. Anyhow....back to the treat of the day. (Quantity of pecans and chocolate were based on leftovers, modify to suit your taste)

2 Cups flour
1/2 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 t Cinnamon
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
1 T, yes a T of vanilla
3 T water
3 cups oatmeal
8 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1 cup chopped pecans

Mix Flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and set aside

Combine butter and sugars and then add vanilla, water and eggs (1 at a time)

Add ingredients from step #1

By hand mix in oats, chocolate and pecans

refrigerate for 2+ hours

Shape into 11.5 inch balls

Bake on parchment paper for 12-14 minutes

This recipe makes a lot of dough so I am going to freeze and bake more at a later date

Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

I made a resolution to waste less food. My strategy was to plan before I shopped and to get creative before perishables expired.

Week 1 of the year and I found myself with 4 bananas needing a home. I have no idea what to do with over-ripe bananas except bake banana bread. I'm not a baker but I know this isn't complicated. After looking through at least 4 or 5 cookbooks and 15-20 recipes on the Internet I decided to try the pieces I liked from a few different recipes, after all there was a common denominator in all of them; flour, sugar etc.....
While perusing the recipes I liked the idea of adding butter milk, cinnamon and a few miniature chocolate chips (Which I had left over from holiday baking). I really liked this recipe, it was moist and banana-ee and will make it again; even G liked it and he is hard to please. The bread did fall a little more than previous attempts, I may try to bake is at a lower temperature for a longer period of time, any bakers out there have a better idea, please share if you do!

Here is what I used.

1 1/2 Cups flour
3/4 t baking soda
1/4 t baking powder
1 t vanilla
4 ripe bananas
1/3 Cup butter milk
1 stick butter
1 Cup white sugar
2 T Vegetable Oil
1 egg
1/2 Cup miniature chocolate chips

Preheat to 350 and butter/spray 9" loaf pan

Mix dry ingredients
Beat butter (room temp) and sugar until fluffy, add oil and egg mixing thoroughly
Mix buttermilk, vanilla and 2 mashed bananas
Slowly add flour mixture alternating with the butter mixture until incorporated
Small dice remaining bananas and add to mixture
Fold in chocolate chips
Bake approx 50 minutes
Cool on rack before unmolding

Cookie