TWD: Kids Thumbprint Cookies

This is literally the last cookie standing from our great Tuesday with Dorie adventure. Closing the recipe book as it were to Baking From my Home to Yours.

Last week I flew to the East Coast to visit my two boys in New York and Cape Cod so I'm just getting back to normal. My brain is still on EST and my house is a jumble but I still needed to bake on Tuesday, late or not. Somehow I feel like this weekly ritual will help me get things back in order.

For the last recipe these were perfect pick by Dorie herself, reminding me how my love of baking grew in the first place. Thumbprint cookies always remind me of baking with my grandma. I would always pick these to bake when I was little because I thought they were the fanciest cookies to make for the holidays. You can get the full recipe from Dorie here and read a great little wrap of of what this group was all about. I haven't been here from the beginning but I loved the time that I did get to bake with everyone and I look forward to starting the new book in February.

TWD: Earl Grey Madeleines

Now I don't know if the baking gods were smiling upon me (because it's my turn to host) or my pleas to Madeleine from a few weeks ago did me good but these cookies slipped right out of their little shell cups like a dream!
Now I did buy something I never ever buy.... baking spray, with flour. In this case the Pillsbury type and as soon as I put it in my cupboard the other "all natural" ingredients shoved its chemically laden butt right off the shelf and it smashed to the ground and the lid broke into a million pieces (true story) and so I figured it was the beginning of the end. I assumed my little buttery mini cakes of goodness were doomed....but alas they came out beautifully. So thank you; can of things I can't pronounce, or baking gods or general crying and whining to Madeleine because what ever it was my cookies came out great. They are buttery and floral and perfectly yummy. I used Stash Tea Double Bergamont Earl Grey and if you haven't had a cuppa this you should. It's my current favorite and I've been telling people about it all week...they probably think I'm crazy... or English.

Anyhoo enough about that....on to the recipe!

Earl Grey Madeleines
Makes 12 cookies ~ Page 169 from Dorie Greenspans BAKING From My Home to Yours

5 tbsp unsalted butter (2.5 oz)
2 tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (3.25 oz)
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/3 cup sugar
Grated zest of 1/2 lemon
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tbsp honey
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

To flavor the butter with the tea, melt the butter in a small saucepan over low heat or in a microwave oven. Stir in the tea and allow it to infuse for 15 minutes. Line a small sieve with a double layer of damp cheesecloth, then strain the butter into a small bowl; discard the tea leaves.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Put the sugar and lemon zest into a mixer bowl or in another large bowl and using your fingertips, work the zest into the sugar until the mixture is fragrant.
Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and zest together until pale and thick, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the honey and vanilla and beat for 1 minute more. Switch to a rubber spatula and gently fold in the dry ingredients. When they are incorporated, fold in the butter. Press a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter and refrigerate for at least 3 hours for for up to 2 days. This long chill will help the batter for the hump that is characteristic of madeleines. (For convenience, you can spoon the batter into the molds, cover and chill, then bake the cookies directly from the fridge; see below for instructions on prepping the pans.)

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter 12 full-size madeleine molds, dust the insides with flour and tap out excess. Or if you have a nonstick pan, give it a light coating of vegetable cooking spray. If you have a silicone pan, there is no prep needed. Place the pan on a baking sheet.
Spoon the batter into the molds-don't worry about leveling the batter, the oven's heat will take care of that.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the madeleines are golden and the tops spring back when touched. Remove the pan from the oven and release the madeleines from the mold by rapping the edge of the pan against the counter. Gently pray pry any recalcitrant madeleines from the pan using your finger or a butter knife.
Transfer the cookies to a rack to cook to just warm or room temperature (and try not to eat them all yourself, be nice and share.)

Thank you Dorie for not only teaching me how to be a better baker but also teaching me a new word this week. I work with many people who are recalcitrant and up until now I didn't know what to call them.

TWD: Mini Madelines

Oh Madeline... why must you stick? I take every precaution and your cakey goodness still taunts me. Maybe I need to do the unthinkable and ditch my current Madeline pan for silicone but its so hard to get rid of what should be a good decent pan. I have to peruse all the other Madeline baker posts this week to find out what they did to avoid the stickage because the thought of silicone makes me cringe.

Well regardless of their reluctance to leave the coziness confines of the pan, they were yummy and possible worth the trouble. Should you be so inclined you can get the full recipe from Di over at Di's Kitchen Notebook this week.

TWD: Salt & Pepper Cocoa Shortbreads

Salt in a cookie sure, but pepper? Very intriguing, like those savory chocolates from Vosges I'm to chicken to try.....

I used Black Onyx cocoa but cut it down to 1/3rd of a cup because I know how this cocoa can just zap the moisture out of anything. This would be a fun recipe to mess around with because they are easy to make. The Fluer de sel is addictive and the texture of the shortbread is melt in your mouth delicious. If you crave salty chocolately goodness these are the perfect PMS food. I should seriously keep these only for the girls at work and hand them out when necessary. Tho the boys do get PMSy too, I don't think chocolate and saltyness has the same ability to thwart a crying bitch fit for them.

I'm gonna go have another cookie :) but you can go make your own by getting the recipe from Buttercream Barbie.

Oreo Cupcakes

Oreo cupcakes lined up like little solders for a co-workers party!

I wasn't quite sure what really qualifies as an Oreo Cupcake in the first place. When in doubt Google it! There are so many variations on the web it boggles the mind! Oreo crushed and cooked into the batter, whole Oreo placed in the bottom for an oreo surprise, minis, filling, pudding, whip cream, cream cheese... the ideas go on and on.  Ahhh deep breaths...

In the end I topped my best chocolate cake with luscious Oreo butter cream and crowned the whole thing shebang with a whole Oreo for good measure. I got a thumbs up this morning! I'll have to take his word for it because I was a good girl and made just enough ;)

TWD: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies

I haven't had a lot of time lately to bake with the TWDers. With special cakes to make and being all Hawaii Five 0 for a for a quick minute... sadly a lot of fantastic recipes have past me by never to be seen again.

This week I really wanted to make the effort and bake along with everyone. The recipe sounded really good but really these cookies were a pain in the arse! They stuck to whatever I tried to bake them on, until finally I gave up.

You see that little plate there with approximately 6 little itty bitty sandwich cookies... that's all I managed to finish.... hmph! whatever sticky cookies from hell.  I shall rewind a few weeks and make a date nut loaf instead just to spite you.....:P

Despite my shady outcome you can always give it a try yourself by going over to Spike Bakes for the recipe... I'm sure they didn't dare stick to a thing in her kitchen.

TWD: Cornmeal Shortbreads

Ok I'm going to be honest with you guys. As I was mixing up these cookies my honey was in the kitchen hanging up a new ceiling fan and I said "Wow we really are coming down to the shit recipes now...." he grumbled something like "stupid ceiling fan... fricken fracken wife and her projects" ok he didn't say that but was probably thinking it when he really said something like "What are you making?" I say "Cornmeal Shortbreads" heavily laden with a snort of skepticism because how could these be good? Well I must eat my words... these are SOOO GOOD! Goods not even good enough... they are stupendously buttery and crunchy and oh so yummy! So maybe we aren't down to the shit recipes... maybe we are really down to the hidden gems!
 

  
To accommodate my laziness and lack of patience...... I baked a 1/2 (stupid stupid me!) recipe pressed into a 8x8 pan lined with parchment, about 1/2 way thru I poked holes and cut the shortbread into 9 pieces.....that I must go hide from my honey because he just walked by and said "those are pretty good cookie thingies".... I will throw him off the trail with mediocre chocolate chip cookies...

You can get the delicious recipe from Valarie at Une Gamine dans la Cuisine. DO it! Go now to make them!

TWD: Midnight Crackles

So I've been telling everyone at work that my New Years Resolution is to be a slacker.... so getting these cookies done on Wednesday falls right into my evil plan.

I used Black Onyx Cocoa which made them extremely chocolatey. They are a little tedious to make but worth the trouble and truly worthy of the Tuesdays with Dorie's 3 Year Anniversary! Thanks to Laurie of Slush and Julie of Someone's In the Kitchen for picking the recipe and keeping thing running for us all.

TWD: Maple Tuile... Crumbs...

Uhm yeah so my maple tuiles are not very tuile like at all.... obviously! I won't bore you with the details of how this came to be.

You can go see how these really should look by visiting our host this week Clivia at Bubie's Little Baker.

TWD: Peanut Butter Crisscrosses~Gluten Free Style!

I'm no glutenfreegirl by any means but I happened to pick up some Peanut Flour at Trader Joe's just because I found it intriguing. With no plans for what I would do with such an odd item in my kitchen it was a fluke to run out of regular all purpose flour when faced with the prospect of having to make some Peanut Butter cookies. I swapped the AP for Peanut and voila Super Peanut Butter Crisscrosses!  These were awesome with coffee tho a little dryer than the original might be I totally loved them.

You can find the real recipe over @ Jasmine Cuisine below is a 1/2 recipe of my rendition.


Gluten Free~ 
Super Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

• 1 1/4 c. Peanut Flour
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
• 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp. Salt
• 4 oz. Salted Butter 
• 4 oz. Peanut Butter
• 1/2 c. Brown Sugar
• 1/3 c. Granulated Sugar
• 1 ea. Whole Egg

A bit of extra granulated sugar to roll your cookies in.

Preheat oven to 350 and line two baking sheets with parchment.

Cream together butter, peanut butter & sugars until fluffy. Mix in egg until well combined. Whisk dry ingredients well (the peanut flour is pretty clumpy so this may take a bit of doing, if you not lazy like me, sending everything thru a sieve might be better) add to other ingredients and mix to combine. This mixture comes out really really dry but can be easily scooped (#40 makes 20 cookies) and rolled in sugar. Place them on a parchment lined baking pan and smoosh with a fork in a crisscross pattern. Bake until bottoms are golden brown, cool and enjoy.

TWD: Espresso Chocolate Shortbread

The weather has smiled upon us and the temperature plummeted to a tolerable level over the weekend. Can I get wOOt wOOt!

With the ability to willfully turn my oven on, I made the Espresso Chocolate Shortbread (chosen by Donna over at Life's to Short ) on Sunday night. They are ... uhhh how do you say....not good. This totally makes me sad because they smelled delicious when they were baking. Like dreadfully addictive good kind of smell but they are just blah. This is probably not due to the recipe, but the ingredients I used. The chocolate was very dark and the shortbread recipe doesn't call for much sugar so they are just bland old bittery hunks of nothingness. Eh... whats a cookie monster to do! I guess god can bless you with good weather so you can bake.... and then he thoughtfully puts you on a cookie diet so you can still wedge your butt into your office chair. Thanks for looking out G!

TWD: Dulce de Leche Duos

Knowing how to make Dulce de Leche from a can of sweetened condensed milk is an evil skill. Thanks to the little tip posted here, I learned you can buy it (bah to easy), boil it (to dangerous) or even make it from scratch (too time consuming). Somehow the slow cooker method just seems devious and cunning to me (right up my alley). A delicious magic trick if you will.... 

Go get the full recipe from Jodie over at Beansy Loves Cake. The cookies are super yummy! I added mini chips to 1/2 of the batch but I liked the plain version better. The flavor or the Dulce de Leche just comes out more clearly without any chocolate to muck it up.

I just noticed something... my cookies do not look like everyone else's cookies... I didn't put any Dulce de Leche in the cookie batter! haha... I swear that part was not in MY recipe book! I like my version a whole lot so I better go note it in the book!

Next week were making coconut teacakes... not sure about this one, sounds sorta prissy...

TWD: Blackberry Thumbprints

When I was just a wee little kiddlet I always wanted to make thumbprint cookies with my grandma. I don't know why, they are kindof a pain. I'm sure she sighed a little each time I wanted to make them because if my attention span was anything like it is now.... I probably didn't do much to help in the end.

These were only about 1/2 as bad, because you don't have to roll them around in nuts (hehehe that sounds kinda dirty!) I used almond flour and filled the thumb holes with seedless blackberry jam prior to putting them in to bake. I like how the jam on gets reduced and tacky around the edges and sorta sticks to your teeth. I'm sure filling them after wouldn't have had quite the same effect.

This weeks recipe for Thumbprints for us Big Guys on pg 164 was chosen by Mike over at Ugly Food for an Ugly Dude. These were very linzer cookie-ish... what in the hell wait a second looking back in my archive this is so 6°sofkevinbacon (mmm bacon...) I made that dough into thumbprints way back then and the linzer sables were chosen by a guy too... and the guy is in the Netherlands and that's where my grandma is from... whoa.. ha groovy! Didn't make that up just noticed this as I'm typing and no I'm not smoking anything! Cross my heart!

TWD: Honey-Wheat Cookies

Playing a bit of catch-up on my Tuesdays with Dorie recipes. The worstest part of having to skip some things, is that the things I've skipped, I really wanted to make! So it was time to double up and get ir done....

I read fantastic reviews about the Honey-Wheat Cookies. These were hosted by Michelle at Flourchild a few weeks ago, you can click on the links to find the recipe there.

When I gave these little guys the initial sniff test they smelled super wheaty, and not to terribly appealing. I tentatively gave the honey a cookie as I bit into mine, not expecting much but a mouth of wheat laced sawdust....but they taste incredible! The honey and lemon really shine thru and the texture is downright addictive.

Of course I opted for cookies this morning with my coffee (breakfast of champions donchaknow) and I think they only got better after a little beauty sleep.

TWD:My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm finally feeling a little more like myself after being sick for weeks and weeks (and weeks)... it was getting downright depressing. I'm still only rockin' it at about 80% capacity but eh what can you do. At least we have gorgeous sunny California weather for a few days so that's something to be happy about ;)

It's Thursday's w/Dorie for me this week. My Best Chocolate Chip cookies were chosen by Kait over at Kait's Plate and you can find the recipe there. I think these are thin and crispy and delicious. I told the honey they were disgusting and I wouldn't force him to have any.....sadly...he didn't fall for it.

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars

Oh these are so good! I just cut them up and mistakenly ate 2. Reasoning that because I cut them in fairly smallish 2x2 pieces, eating 2 of them is like really eating 1 right? And they are choc full of oats, yeah oats are fiber and good for you right? Uh yeah bad idea.... I need to go lay down now.  You can grab the recipe from Lilliana over at Confectiona's Realm or page 114 & 115 in Baking from My Home to Yours.

TWD: Sables

Holy moly  its Wednesday! How the heck it is already the second week in December, I need to go back a few weeks so I have time to do what I need to do before Christmas!

The recipe this week for  Tuesdays with Dorie was Sables chosen by Bungalow Barbara. Sables I obviously haven't made yet.... and not because I was drinking rum, although that would probably make me feel better about it, but because I'm just flat out busy. I hope I can make them this week tho because for all the posts I've seen they are just beautiful and easy to make.... when you have the time.

You can check out the recipe and some variations on the theme at Barbara's blog here.

TWD: Coconut Butter Thins

This weeks recipe for Tuesday with Dorie was chosen by Jayne over at the The Barefoot Kitchen Witch. If you clickity click on over to her site you will find the recipe but more importantly a masterful play by play by her little munchkin of when they made the cookies.

Just look at the toasty coconut bits in these buttery cookies..... so very tasty! I didn't put any lime or that spice they asked for because I didn't have them. I'm sure those ingredients gave these a little something extra but even without they were just plain awesome.

Bake Along: Faux-Reos

These cookies are dangerously good. They were like giant oreos but so much better than any other oreo I've ever eaten. I can imagine this was maybe how they tasted before they got chemical laden and mass produced.

I've never been a huge fan of the inside of a regular oreo (It's okay you can call me a weirdo cuz I also don't get whipped cream on my Starbucks...insane I know) so I made the cappuccino version of the filling. If you could get past the odd texture when you were squishing it in the cookies it was actually pretty darn tasty.

If you'd like to try them crack open a copy of King Arthur Flour Bakers Companion if you have one or head on over to Megan's site for the recipe.

Hey Megan, I have a copy of Baked on its way to my house as we speak... I swear I NEEDED this book....

TWD: Caramel Crunch Bars Continued....

Alright I can never ever make these again. They are just too fantastic... I could have eaten the whole lot of them. Sniffer on the fritz or not...