Oatmeal, Coconut and Macadamia Nut Cookies

Do you bake to create something new? To recreate a taste memory? To use up a surplus of ingredients? Or just because you need something sweet? I bake for all of those reasons, but this recipe is one in a series of cookies I've been making over the past few years trying to recreate a teenage indulgence. I was never a mall rat, but whenever I did go I would pick up a cookie at a famous cookie franchise. It was called Mrs. something or other... They were huge and chewy with a centre verging on raw. I loved them and could make one last all day. Like I said, they were huge. This chain sold lots of cookies but this one was my favourite for a number of reasons: it did not contain chocolate; it had coconut; and macadamia nuts. Oh and I did I mention the size? It does matter.
A few years ago I was at a mall and went to pick one up only to find they had been discontinued for years! Like I said, I'm not a big shopper. I was disappointed so I set out to make them myself. Over the years I've taken a few cracks at the recipe, but my results have always been too cakey or too crisp. Sometimes the cookie didn't spread at all, other times it spread all over the place. I even tried to adapt a few ANZAC biscuits recipes, as they are full of oats and coconut, but they weren't quite right either. My most recent attempt is the first I have been mostly happy with. It's almost thick enough and chewy--almost too chewy. I used golden syrup instead of white sugar along with old-fashioned rolled oats and shredded coconut, but will try quick oats and flaked coconut next time. And maybe change the ratio of flour to coconut/oats to give me exactly what I'm looking for. That said, these were delicious and if you're a cookie dough monster like me you'll love them raw or baked.

Oatmeal Coconut and Macadamia Nut Cookies
Adapted from Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy by Alice Medrich
2 cups rolled oats
¼ cup water
5.625 ounces/1¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch freshly grated nutmeg
8 ounces/1 cup unsalted butter
5.25 ounces/¾ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup golden syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 cup roasted, salted macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup sweetened coconut

1. Place the oats in a bowl and sprinkle with the water, stirring to combine. Set aside. Whisk the flour, baking soda and nutmeg together in a medium bowl.
2. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Take off the stove and add the sugar, syrup, vanilla and salt and stir well. Add the egg and beat in. Add the flour mixture, oats, nuts and coconut and stir just until combined.
3. Cover the dough and let it stand at room temperature for a couple of hours, or ideally overnight in the fridge. This helps to moisten the oats thoroughly.
4. Preheat oven to 350℉. Line baking sheets with ungreased parchment. Scoop 2 level tablespoons of dough for each cookie and flatten into a small hockey puck shape. Bake 10-12 minutes, just until cookies are golden on the edge. Slide parchment and cookies onto a rack to cool. Store airtight.

Digestive Cookies

If this sounds like some sort of health food to you, relax and keep reading! Digestive cookies (or biscuits) are a common item on cookie shelves in Canada and the UK. I seem to like making cookies that are easy to find in stores, as the oreos, graham crackers and this recipe show. I'm not a (complete) nut, it's just that homemade is better! Digestives are available plain or chocolate dipped and are the perfect partner for a cup of tea or coffee. They are often used as cheesecake bases, but are also an ideal accompaniment to a cheese plate.

With cheese or with tea, you'll love them

Here in Canada, there is usually only one brand of digestives available, but when I was in England, Scotland and Ireland people had very strong opinions about which brand I should buy. I was a very good sport and tried them all! My first batch were crisper than store-bought, but I couldn't stop nibbling on them. The flavour was a bit sweet and salty, with a wonderful grain taste and texture. For the second batch, I made balls of dough and pressed them with the 'homemade' stamp. These were thicker than the first batch, and I didn't bake them as long, making them soft and crumbly. I really can't decide which I like better as they were both so good. I even made an ice cream sandwich with them, but I left it in the freezer when I left town, so I can't tell you too much about that!
I used whole wheat flour from a local farm, and it was milled from Red Fife wheat right in front of me at the farmers' market. You can also use half or all spelt flour instead, and while I also bought freshly milled spelt flour I haven't tried making the digestive with that yet.

Digestives
Makes 35-40
From River Cottage Every Day

250 grams/8.8 ounces whole wheat flour
250 grams/8.8 ounces quick-cooking oatmeal
125 grams/4.4 ounces soft brown sugar
2 teaspoons fine sea salt (this gave a distinct salty edge--can halve it if you like)
2 teaspoons baking powder
250 grams/8.8 ounces unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
about 1 tablespoon milk (I needed a bit more)

1. Combine all dry ingredients in a food processor and pulse to combine. This amount filled my food processor, but it was fine. Add butter and but in until it resembles fine breadcrumbs. You can also do this easily by hand--it's a bit like making pie crust.
2. Gradually add the milk and pulse until it comes together into a slightly sticky dough. I found it easiest to do this by hand, after transferring it to a large bowl. 
3. Flatten into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate about 30 minutes, or for a few days. Remove from the fridge about an hour before you want to bake it, as it gets very hard.
4. Preheat oven to 180℃/350℉. Dust the table and dough with flour and roll to 3-4 mm thickness/¹⁄₈", or thicker for a softer, crumblier cookie. The dough is sticky and crumbly, but if you are gentle it's easy to roll. Cut with a 6-7 cm (2½") cutter and transfer to a parchment lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, checking after 5. You want them to be golden brown around the edges and lightly coloured on top. Let cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.

Cornmeal shortbread cookies

Dear Stone-ground cornmeal,
We need to talk. I've tried really hard to make it work with you, but you just won't soften up, even when I slather you with jam. I'm afraid I can't take it any more. Last time we met, I thought you cracked a filling. You didn't, quite, but I'm afraid it's over between us in the sweet kitchen. I'll be turning to your slick and smooth younger brother, finely ground cornmeal, for my future baking needs. So, I know this is awkward, Stone-ground, but it's not me, it's you. Sorry. I'll still be calling you when polenta is on the menu, if that's okay?
Regards,
Mary

As you might have gathered, these weren't very successful cookies. They looked cute and the flavour and shortbread texture were amazing, but the cornmeal was too coarsely ground to soften up, even after being sandwiched with raspberry jam and left overnight. It's my own fault, as I keep going back to the fancy cornmeal I bought. Luckily it's all gone now, so I can try these again another time with finer cornmeal. The sunshiny colour was perfect for a spring day.

This recipe was selected by Valerie of Une Gamine dans la Cuisine. She was one of the first bloggers to visit me after I started this blog, and she still comes back sometimes! There was no way I would miss her recipe. Her site is beautiful, and she uses a point and shoot camera, like me, but her photos are amazing. Go and check it out.

I decided to use my cookie press to make spritz cookies because chilling the dough in a zipper bag and then cutting the bag off and throwing it out just seemed wasteful. I also wanted to make small cookies, and I got an awful lot of tiny cookies from a half batch. I sandwiched most of them together with homemade raspberry jam. The ones I didn't sandwich got dunked in tea and coffee. See what the other TWD bakers came up with here.

The Daring Bakers make panna cotta and florentines

Pistachio marzipan panna cotta with florentines

Who needs an excuse to make panna cotta? The Daring Bakers, I guess! I don't why I don't make it more often: it's simple, delicious, and impressive enough that it looks like you were slaving over it, when in fact the fridge did most of the work. I made a number of variations this month, and I love when a challenge inspires me to eat nothing but pudding for a month. It's a good thing the canal is still open and I can skate it off!

Pistachio Dome

I never got the challenge florentines made, as I decided to go with a more traditional (I think), recipe using almonds and candied orange peel. This was great as I made a big jar of candied orange peel in December and it was taking up precious space in my fridge.  I found this recipe here, and quite enjoyed these confections. They're more like a candy than a cookie, meaning rich and delicious. 

Ginger-vanilla panna cotta with blood orange gelee

I have belatedly realized that I haven't written down any of my recipes for this month. I really need to measure and write things down when I'm in the kitchen rather than assume I'll remember weeks later. I did not use the challenge panna cotta recipe either, as I knew it'd be too rich for me. The first panna cotta I made, during a gray and cloudy week, was ginger-vanilla with a blood orange gelee. I adapted the recipe from the panna cotta plus gelee I had posted just a couple of days before the challenge was announced. I omitted the Amaretto and steeped some freshly chopped ginger in the cream/milk mixture.

Coconut panna cotta with tangerine, blood orange and cardamom granita

Next, I combined a recipe I was testing with one of my own. I was testing the granita above (which was lovely) and decided to make a panna cotta to serve it on, just for kicks. Inspired by some beautiful coconut panna cottas in the Daring Kitchen forum, I set out to create my own lighter version. I love coconut milk, but again, I didn't want it to be too rich. So, I combined it with milk and Cointreau and I really enjoyed the results. You can find the coconut panna cotta recipe here and the granita recipe here.

I love this green

The pistachio marzipan panna cotta was my absolute favourite. I had some leftover homemade pistachio marzipan from these amazing brownies, so I combined it with some milk and a bit of cream to make a soft, slightly textured and very pistachio panna cotta. I am really kicking myself for not writing this one down, as it was outstanding. That said, I doubt I'll be blanching and peeling any more pistachios to make more marzipan, so it might just have to be a happy memory. I think I already whined about that job in the brownie post so I'll stop now. If I do have a burst of enthusiasm, you'll be the first to know.

Thanks so much to Mallory of a sofa in the kitchen for the great challenge idea. Be sure to check out the Daring Kitchen homepage to see a slide show of some stunning creations. Here's the challenge PDF, complete with recipes and helpful links. 

Blog-checking lines: The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

Cupcake art

I have finally got over a nasty cold/sore throat that I had been fighting (and mostly losing) for about 2 weeks. As a result, I haven't felt much like baking. I did make 4 big pots of soup over that time, and I ate lots of poached eggs. Thursday I baked for the first time in a while, but you'll have to wait a few days to see what I made. It's worth the wait, trust me. Have I ever steered you wrong? However, while I was lying on the sofa and generally moping, others were busy. Most excitingly, one of my photos from the summer was turned into a print by Lisa Orgler of The Lunchbox Project. Lisa paints pictures of food and I love her quirky style. She asked for submissions of cupcakes for a poster she's putting together, and she chose mine! Here it is, with my original photo beside it. Here's the link to the original post, with recipe.

In other news, I spent the day yesterday making a birthday cake for my mother's surprise party tomorrow. It's a 2-layer, 12" vanilla genoise with raspberry and vanilla buttercreams. I will try to get a photo, but it's hidden in her garage, frozen solid. And, my Escher salamander cookies showed up in Not So Humble Pie's science cookie roundup #8. Check it out here.

Tuile not get the best of me!

What's your favourite thing to bake? Mine is cake. Not only do I love the texture, especially of a sponge cake, but the method suits me. You pay attention for a few minutes while you whip up the batter, then you put it in the oven and you've got at least 25 minutes before you have to pay attention again. Oh, and when you can smell a cake, it's almost ready. Cookies, on the other hand, require a whole different level of attention that I haven't got. Mixing the dough is fine, but then you have to roll it/cut it/mark it with a 'B'/divide it evenly/roll it into balls/roll them in sugar/press them flat with a fork or glass/space them evenly on the baking sheet/prepare that baking sheet/pay attention for 6 to 12 minutes or so/cool on sheet for a bit/remove to a rack to cool/cool baking sheet. And that only gets you about a dozen cookies, so you have to repeat! They sure do taste fantastic fresh from the oven, though. Why am I going on like this? Well, these tuiles and I are not friends, for many reasons. I made them a couple of months ago, to go with some pumpkin ice cream, but it took a few tries to get it right. I got it really wrong in a number of ways, including one smoke alarm incident. You can read about it here.

Tuile version 1.4, from earlier this year

Why could I make complex things, with multiple components like wedding cake, croquembouche, tian and pavlova, but not a simple cookie? So, when this recipe came up in TWD, I was leery. Did I need to make these again? Was it just bad kitchen karma the last time I tried? Well, the answer is yes, and no. I decided to try again, because they seem so simple. 4 ingredients, one of which is maple syrup. Then, Nancy posted the ingredients in weights, so it seemed easy enough just to make a half recipe. That would have been great, except for the attention span issue. Whenever I halve/double a recipe, I always forget to halve/double one ingredient. I can only pay attention for so long... This time it was the flour. I must have forgotten to halve it (for the second time that day), and didn't notice until I went to pull the first tray from the oven. They had hardly spread and could not even charitably be described as lacy. So, I added a bit of butter and syrup to the rest of the batter and tried again. They were even worse. At this point, I thought it was high time to give up. But, as bedtime approached, I couldn't. I made another half batch, carefully measuring all the ingredients this time.

Version 2.1 (in front) and 2.2 (in back): too much flour, but they tasted like
maple fortune cookies. I may be on to something.

Early the next morning, I got the batch you see up top in the oven, and I am so happy to say that they worked out well. They were crisp and lacy, and easy to remove from the baking sheet. I was so happy, that I had a few with breakfast, along with fruit salad in my favourite bowl.

Thanks so much to Clivia for selecting this recipe! I can now say I enjoyed the process, but I am not going to be making these again for a long while! I actually find them too rich and sweet, and greasy coming off the cookie sheets. Or perhaps that's just the contrast with the sour grapes! I promise not to complain next time. Even though I did get strep throat at school. See what the rest of the TWD gang thought here.

Ad Hoc chocolate chip cookies

Are you always in search of the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe? It seems to me, from wasting time online my extensive research, that folks want a very chewy cookie. Caky is bad. Too thin and crisp is usually bad. So, basically we are looking for warm cookie dough, I think. Have I got my finger on the pulse of chocolate chip cookie lovers? Or is that a bit too personal?
Anyway, I was looking for something to make for the Ottawa Foodies potluck that happened recently. I had to work that morning, so it couldn't be too elaborate. It needed to be portable and not require any serving utensils, because I was too lazy to bring my own. So, cookies it was. I made a double batch of dough the night before and finished baking them seconds before I ran out the door, only an hour late. After reading Valerie's post on the cookies I decided to reduce the flour by a fair bit, as I did want the chewiest cookies possible. That made my cookies much flatter than hers, but I loved the texture, even a couple of days later. Yes, I kept tasting in the service of sharing my findings with you. I'm unselfish that way.
I froze the leftover dough and baked them to send to a friend for her birthday. I underbaked them, hoping they'd still be somewhat soft when Canada Post finished mangling them. Amazingly, they survived the journey. This batch wasn't as flat as the first batch, but the only picture I got were of the ones I forgot in the oven and didn't mail! They are brown and crisper, but still very good.

The overdone batch: dark and crispy

Oh, and what is with cookie yields? This recipe apparently makes 30 3-inch cookies, and I doubled it, expecting 60 or so. I used EXACTLY the measure called for and got about 100. Here's the recipe:

Chocolate chip cookies
from Ad Hoc at Home, by Thomas Keller


2⅓ cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
5 ounces 55% chocolate, cut into chip-sized pieces (about 1¼ cups) I replaced this with milk chocolate
5 ounces 70 to 72% chocolate, cut as above  I used 72%
8 ounces cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces *
1 cup packed dark brown sugar, preferably molasses sugar. I added a dollop of molasses to brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
Vanilla--not in recipe, but I couldn't help adding it

*I just noticed the 'cold' as I was typing. Maybe that's why mine were flatter. Oops.

For chewier cookies, instead of underbaking them, Keller recommends misting them with water before baking. I tried it, but couldn't tell the difference between those and the unmisted ones, so didn't bother after the first tray.

Preheat oven to 350℉. Line 2 baking sheets with Silpats or parchment.
Sift the flour and baking soda together and stir in the salt.
Put the chopped chocolate into a fine-mesh strainer and shake to remove any chocolate 'dust'.
Beat half the butter until fairly smooth. Add both sugars the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes, until the mixture is light and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until the first one is incorporated before adding the next, and scraping the bowl as necessary. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Mix in the chocolate, and fold with a spatula to ensure that the chocolate is evenly incorporated.
Using 2 level tablespoons per cookie, shape the dough into balls. Arrange 8 cookies on each pan, leaving about 2 inches between them, as dough will spread. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the tops are no longer shiny, rotating pans and switching racks if you are baking 2 trays at once.
Cool the cookies on the pan on cooling racks for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
The dough or shaped cookies can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 2 weeks. Defrost frozen cookies in the fridge before baking.
Apparently makes 30 3-inch cookies, but I got substantially more than that.

The original batch: paler, flatter and chewier. Cloudier that day, too.

Cardamom sablés

If you love cardamom and butter, this is the cookie for you. I made a batch of these for a friend's birthday and mailed them off, and they arrived safe, sound and delicious. These are a buttery shortbread style cookie, and the variations are endless. This recipe is from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From my Home to Yours, and I first made it last Christmas, just before I joined the Tuesdays with Dorie group. This week is a rewind week, where instead of all of us making one recipe, we choose one we missed or would like to revisit. So, if you want to see a variety of recipes, click your way over to the TWD site. 

Sablés

Makes about 50

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature, plus 1 large egg yolk, for brushing the logs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cardamom, preferably freshly ground
coarse sugar (I used raw sugar)


You can use a hand or stand mixer for this, or make them by hand. I made them by hand this time. Using a wooden spoon, beat the butter until smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars, cardamom and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. The mixture should be smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy. Beat in 2 of the egg yolks, again beating until the mixture is homogeneous.
Add the flour, and mix gently to combine, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. The dough will not clean the sides of the bowl, nor will it come together in a ball -- and it shouldn't. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you're aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy (rather than smooth) dough. Pinch it, and it will feel a little like Play-Doh.

Scrape the dough out onto a smooth work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long: it's easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the plastic to help form the log. Wrap the logs well and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours, preferably longer. (The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months).

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Remove a log of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and place it on a piece of parchment or wax paper. Whisk the remaining egg yolk until it is smooth, and brush some of the yolk all over the sides of the dough -- this is the glue -- then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with decorating sugar.
Trim the ends of the roll if they're ragged, and slice the log into 1/3-inch-thick cookies. (You can make these as thick as 1/2 inch or as thin as -- but no thinner than -- 1/4 inch.) Place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving an inch of space between them.
Bake one sheet at a time for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the midway point. When properly baked, the cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top; they may feel tender when you touch the top gently, and that's fine. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest a minute or two before carefully lifting them onto a rack with a wide metal spatula to cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remaining log of dough, making sure the baking sheets are cool before you bake the second batch.
These keep well in a tin for about 5 days or so, and can even be frozen if you haven't sugared the edges.

Pumpkin ice cream with maple tuiles

I'm happy to report that I survived my move and am mostly unpacked. Thanks to some lovely friends and my family, it was quite easy and stress-free. I really like my new place, even if the kitchen is tiny and the oven is older than me (and that's no easy feat). I can't decide what I should bake first, though, so any suggestions are more than welcome. I've already done most of my TWD baking for the month, so it needs to be something else. Something special. But maybe not too special in case the oven is demented.

I made this ice cream last week, when it was unseasonably hot. I love pumpkin, and wanted to make something besides pie. Don't worry, I will be making a pie or two for Thanksgiving, which is on Monday. I thought about pumpkin bread, but it was too hot to turn the oven on. Pumpkin creme brulee sounded good too, but all the recipes had so much more cream than pumpkin. So, pumpkin ice cream it was. I adapted the recipe by doubling the pumpkin, as it was still too creamy for me. I hate eating ice cream and getting that greasy layer on the roof of my mouth. Aren't you glad I told you that? I found it a bit disturbing that the spice-infused custard tasted like pumpkin pie all on its own, showing how much it is the spices that tend to take centre stage. Oh, and I know many people swear by canned pumpkin and say it's just as good as fresh, but that's a lie. The colour of fresh pumpkin is a brilliant orange, while what comes out of the can is a muddy colour. It's fine for winter, if you haven't got a freezer full of your own pumpkin puree, but while they are in season I urge you to make your own. You may never go back to canned... I am very lucky that my aunt and uncle grow pumpkins on their farm and I always get at least 6   every fall. Some I use fresh, in pies, cakes, soups and more. Some I puree and freeze.

The tuiles were delicious: buttery, crisp, and full of maple flavour, but they were a giant pain in the ass! The recipe recommended baking them on a bare baking sheet and then removing them while warm to a rolling pin (for curved cookies), or to a rack (for flat cookies). I got lumps when I tried that. So, I put the batter in the fridge and thought I'd try another day. Next, I used a silicone liner and put 6 in the oven. I wandered out to the front porch, and wondered idly if I'd be able to hear the oven timer from there. The answer is no, but the smoke alarm was easily audible! When I pulled them out of the oven, the 6 cookies had gathered in the centre of the mat to form a giant black, lacy disc. Hmpf. Okay, time for one more try. This time I used parchment and stayed in the kitchen. I only baked two, and let them cool on the baking sheet. Perfect!

Pumpkin ice cream

Adapted from Craft of Baking, but found here

1½ cups (375 ml) milk
1 cup (250 ml) cream (I used whipping cream, but would go lighter next time)
⅓ cup plus 2 tablespoons (95 g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon freshly-grated ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly-ground nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large egg yolks
¼ cup packed (60 g) dark brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon rum (optional, but keeps the ice cream a bit softer)
1½ cups (350 g) fresh pumpkin puree (instructions follow recipe)

1. In a medium saucepan mix the milk, cream, granulated sugar, brown sugar, ginger, ground cinnamon, cinnamon stick, nutmeg, and salt.
2. Warm the mixture until hot and the edges begin to bubble and foam.
3. Whisk the egg yolks in a separate bowl and gradually whisk in about half of the warm spiced milk mixture, stirring constantly.
4. Scrape the warmed yolks back in to the saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heatproof spatula, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula.
5. Strain into a bowl and chill thoroughly, preferably overnight.
6. Whisk in the vanilla, rum, and pumpkin puree. Press the mixture through a fine-mesh strainer, then freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Fresh pumpkin puree


Preheat oven to 400℉. Wash and halve or quarter pie pumpkins, depending on size. Scrape out seeds and strings, and make sure you roast the seeds for a snack. Place pumpkin pieces in a large baking dish and add water to a depth of 1cm or ½". Cover with foil and roast for 45 minutes to an hour, until pumpkin flesh is tender and easily pierced with a knife. Cool. Scrape flesh from skin and put through the finest blade on a food mill. Drain in a sieve over a bowl to get rid of excess water.

Translucent Maple Tuiles

From Baking from my Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, sifted

1. In a small bowl, using a sturdy rubber spatula or a hand mixer, beat the butter, brown sugar and maple syrup together until light in color and texture. Gently stir in the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated. Cover the bowl, pressing a piece of plastic wrap against the surface of the batter, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or for up to 1 week.
2. Getting ready to bake: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Have two unlined baking sheets at hand and, if you want to curve the cookies into their traditional tile shape, a rolling pin or a slender bottle.
3. Roll small scoops of dough between your palms to form balls the size of small cherries or hazelnuts, and put the balls 2 inches apart on the unbuttered baking sheets (I recommend parchment). Bake for about 7 minutes, or until the cookies spread and are golden coloured and honeycombed.
4. Immediately remove the baking sheets from the oven, let the cookies rest a few seconds and then, using a wide metal spatula, lift them from the sheets: The best way to do this is to carefully work the spatula under a cookie edge, then push the spatula beneath the cookie with a quick jerk. If the cookie crumples a bit, as it might, don't worry -- it will straighten out on the rolling pin or rack. For curved cookies, moving with alacrity, lay the cookies, a few at a time, over the rolling pin. Transfer the cookies to a rack after they have set -- under a minute -- or, if you want flat cookies, just cool them on a rack. If the cookies cool and stick stubbornly to the baking sheet, slide the sheet into the oven for another minute to warm them. I didn't try curved cookies with the parchment, but I bet laying the whole sheet of parchment could be draped over something curvy. If you want flat tuiles, just let them cool on the sheet and parchment and then peel them off. They are pretty delicate, and don't keep well, especially if it's humid.

 

Torview Toronto's colour of the month is orange. Wouldn't you know that it's my favourite colour? 

TWD: Peanut butter and bacon cookies

I don't know what came over me yesterday when I was making these. I had no chopped peanuts or chocolate chips, so I thought about what I could add for extra crunch. I haven't had one since university, but I used to enjoy peanut butter on fluffy white bread with extra crispy bacon. So, there you have it. These were actually really good, though I think the recipe yield is way off. I made half a recipe, skipped the chopped peanuts and the salt and replaced them with 6 slices of crisp crumbled bacon. I used a scoop that holds exactly 1 tablespoon, so should have got 20 cookies, according to the recipe. I got 57! Now, they were a dainty size, but they were crisp and delicious, not soft, even when I reduced the baking time substantially. Oh, and like a good Canadian girl, I rolled them in maple sugar, because bacon and maple syrup are a match made in heaven. Everyone loved them, but couldn't identify the mystery ingredient. That didn't stop them from taking seconds! Good thing, because peanuts are not allowed in most elementary schools, and bacon makes them even more offensive. And today's the first day of school--yay!

This recipe was chosen by Jasmine of Jasmine Cuisine. Thanks for an easy to put together pick at a busy time of year. Visit her for the recipe.

Roasted marshmallow ice cream sandwiches

Oh my! These were pretty amazing. I've had roasted marshmallow ice cream on my mind for a few years now, as it's one of the more popular flavours at Greg's Ice Cream in Toronto. I don't live in Toronto any more, but I always go to Greg's when I'm in town. Their sweet cream ice cream is my favourite--it's like vanilla without the vanilla. Cardamom is another fave, though both these seemed like they'd be fairly easy to reproduce. The roasted marshmallow, on the other hand, is the subject of much speculation on Toronto food sites. I had to experiment.

When I made the Baked Alaska I noticed the toasted Italian meringue tasted very much like roasted marshmallows. So, I decided to use that, as I was too lazy to make my own marshmallows, and the store-bought ones are a bit scary. The recipe worked out nicely, as the custard used the egg yolks and the meringue the whites. I took the sugar from the custard and used that in the meringue so the ice cream wouldn't be too sweet. Can ice cream be too sweet? The labour intensive part of this recipe was the browning of the meringue 'marshmallows'. I put tablespoon-sized blobs on a baking sheet and used my torch, but next time I might spread the meringue thinly and broil it. The more browned bits, the better. I added the browned meringue to the hot custard and whisked to blend. I decided not to use the blender, as I liked the tiny dark specks. The meringue didn't totally deflate, making this ice cream seem light.

Roasted marshmallow ice cream

Source: me!

2 cups milk

1 cup whipping cream

4 eggs, separated

about 1 cup sugar, divided

½ teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon rum

¼ cup water

Combine ⅔ cup of sugar and ¼ cup water in a small saucepan. Stir until sugar dissolves, then heat, without boiling, until the syrup reaches 236-244℉. While you are doing this, heat milk and cream to near boiling. Whisk eggs yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar together till thick and pale. Whisk hot milk/cream mixture in and return to pot. Stir constantly over medium-low heat until mixture thickens and coats the back of the spatula. Keep an eye on the syrup! If you are not comfortable doing all this at once, make the custard first, and cover the pot while you complete the meringue. When the syrup is at about 230℉, start whipping the egg whites and cream of tartar. When they reach soft peaks, add the remaining sugar and whip till stiff peaks form. Still whipping, add the hot syrup in a thin stream and beat till cool. Blob this mixture on a baking sheet, or spread thinly. Broil or use a torch and brown well. Whisk into hot custard, then chill thoroughly. When chilled and ready to churn, whisk again, adding vanilla and rum. The rum is to prevent it from freezing to hard. Churn in an ice cream maker and then transfer to a freezer-safe container to firm up. If you want to make ice cream sandwiches, put ice cream into a parchment lined 9"x13" pan to a depth of 1" or so. Freeze.

For the cookies, I took a gluten-free, coconut oil biscuit from here and put the gluten and butter back in! Here's the version I used, adapted from Tartelette:

8 tablespoons (110gr) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt

In an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Lower the speed and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract.
In a separate medium bowl, combine the cocoa powder, the flour, baking powder, and salt. Still with the mixer on low speed, at the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until the dough starts to come together. Gather the dough into a ball and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a pan with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
On parchment, roll out the dough to about 1/4-inch thick. Use your preferred cookie cutter to cut out as many pieces as you can, removing extra dough. Slide parchment onto cookie sheet and gather and re-roll the scraps if necessary. Make patterns on cookie with a fork or other tool if desired. Place on lined baking sheet and bake 8 - 10 minutes. Cool completely before sandwiching them with ice cream.

Are you still reading? Try this ice cream! The flavour is mild, but so good. I think these would be amazing with the graham crackers. They are my favourite ice cream sandwich cookies, as they soften up a bit more than these chocolate ones. Maybe chocolate dipped, for a s'morewich? 

Gingered carrot cookie dough in cream cheese ice cream

This week's recipe was chosen by Natalia of Gatti Fili e Farini. She's got the recipe--go say hello! I had never noticed the recipe in the book, but it sounded intriguing. Even more intriguing, because I was away on a business trip and had to wait awhile before I got home to look at the recipe. I love carrots and coconut in any form, so I knew I was going to love these. I don't like raisins, though, so I left those out, and replaced the pecans with cashews. The only thing I was worried about was the possible homeliness of these cookies. There was no picture, and they didn't sound pretty. I don't know what's wrong with me, but I don't like an ugly cookie. I just have to doctor it up somehow, as I did with the Dulce de leche duos from last year. I thought about a cream cheese filling, but word on the TWD discussion board said they were a bit lumpy for that. So, I thought about making a cream cheese ice cream and putting the crumbled cookies in that. Then I tasted the cookie dough...

Do you ever eat the raw cookie dough? Do you ever like it even more than the baked cookies? Yes and yes for me. I always try everything I bake before I cook it, and I usually prefer it to the baked version. Or maybe it's that I feel slightly nauseous by the time things come out of the oven. I've always been like this, and I can remember eating huge gobs of whatever my mother was making while her back was turned. I don't just mean desserts: bread dough and raw ground beef were things I couldn't keep my grubby little fingers off. I also ate raw potatoes and turnips and bacon out of the package if nobody was looking. Despite my mother's dire warnings, I never got sick. I know some who won't eat batter because of the raw eggs, but salmonella is rarely if ever in the news here. Is it possible to build up a tolerance to it? Living in Japan was fabulous for the abundance of raw food. Sushi, of course, but raw beef dipped in raw egg yolk? I'm there. Chicken sashimi? It was pretty good too. Now that I've grossed you all out, let's talk about these delicious cookies, shall we?

I made this cream cheese ice cream from Epicurious, adding some vanilla. It basically tastes like frozen cream cheese icing, which is a very good thing, I think. I put small blobs of the cookie dough in after I had churned it, meaning after 4 searches of my storage area, and a very long wait till the canister was sufficiently frozen. Then I had to wait again for it to firm up. This is a yummy and easy ice cream, and I think you could taste the carrot and spices, along with the coconut more in the dough than in the baked cookies. YUM!

I did bake some of the dough, and these were very yummy cookies, especially hot out of the oven. I wonder what they'd be like with zucchini, since I am drowning in the stuff. More on that in my next post. 

Chickpeas and Oreos: MaryMary cannot live on cake alone

Clockwise from top left: asafoetida, turmeric and dried Korean peppers, fresh cayenne chile, ground cumin, and black mustard seeds

When I look at my blog posts, it looks like I only eat dessert, and mostly cake. That is somewhat true, but I do eat savoury food at least once a day. Sometimes twice! It's just that it's usually dark before I even start making dinner, so I have a hard time getting photos, and I don't find main courses as photogenic as dessert. At least not when I'm taking the pictures! Now that the days are getting longer, I have no excuse, and never mind for now the fact that I finish work by 3 and am often home before 4. Earlier this week, I made one of my favourite dishes: Easy Karnataka Chana, which is a chickpea dal. This is quick and easy, and means you can have homemade Oreos for dessert. It's from Mangoes and Curry Leaves by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, a couple based in Toronto who are travelers, cooks, writers and photographers. Their books are beautiful, and have won numerous awards.

Easy Karnataka Chana
1 cup dried chickpeas, soaked overnight, or for at least 4 hours in 4 cups water
4¼ cups water, plus up to 3 cups more if serving as a soup
1 teaspoon ground cumin
4 green cayenne chilis, minced (1 used 3 red ones)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon black mustard seeds (I am very generous here)
pinch of asafoetida powder
½ teaspoon turmeric
½ to 1 teaspoon cayenne powder (I had some Korean chile powder, so I used that)
about 1½ teaspoons salt
about ½ cup chopped cilantro/coriander leaves (I use closer to a cup, but don't measure)

Drain the chickpeas and place them in a food processor with ¼ cup water, the cumin and the chilis. Process for 20 seconds, scrape the sides and process for 10-20 more seconds. They should be coarse. I usually don't bother to chop the chilis, and end up with more finely chopped chickpeas by the time they are chopped. Be sure to leave some texture--you don't want a smooth paste.

In a deep heavy pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. When it is hot, add the mustard seeds and cover until they stop popping. Quickly add the asafoetida, turmeric and cayenne and stir. Pour in the chickpea mixture--it will spatter a bit. Stir-fry for a minute to expose all the chickpeas to the hot oil.

Add the remaining 4 cups water and stir to blend well. Bring the mixture to a boil, lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 45 minutes, or until the chickpeas are cooked through, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. If serving as a soup, add the extra 3 cups water and bring to a boil.

Add the salt and bring to a simmer for a few more minutes. This may seem like a lot of salt, and I thought it was too much the first time I made it, but after a few minutes simmering it's perfect. Start with 1 teaspoon if you're unsure.

Stir in the chopped coriander and serve. I like this with basmati rice, and make a meal out of it. It keeps and reheats really well, but it will get thicker, so you can add water when reheating if you like.

And for dessert:

I've been thinking about making homemade Oreos ever since I saw the recipe on Smitten Kitchen, and then when I loved the homemade graham crackers I made in January, I knew I had to try it. But when? The perfect opportunity appeared the other night: I was having dinner at O's house, and the Ottawa Senators were up 1-0 in their playoff series with Pittsburgh. I took this as a sign that it was time to make the cookies, and it also meant that I wouldn't show up both late and empty-handed. It was also a nice excuse to get silly with cookie cutters again. 

I made this recipe, and used the lower amount of sugar. The first time I followed the recipe and made them as a drop cookie, but they were too thick for sandwich cookies, I thought. They were delicious, though, and I thoroughly enjoyed getting rid of them. I formed the leftover dough into a cylinder, chilled it, and then sliced thinly and baked as directed. The only other change I made was to replace the shortening in the filling with butter, because I didn't need to be that authentic, and I knew melting wouldn't be a problem in the chilly, wet weather we've been having. The filling was very rich, but Oreo perfect. Don't be tempted to slather it on too thick (like I did).

I must admit, I almost wanted to keep these at home instead of bringing them to O's place for dinner. Yes, they were that fantastic. I'll be making a few more tomorrow for J, and to bring the Sens luck!

                       

TWD: Dulce de leche duos, my way

If you're a member of Tuesdays with Dorie, you're probably thinking that your cookies didn't look like the ones above. That's because the ones you can see are NOT Dorie's cookies. I was a bit skeptical about the original recipe, and with good reason, it turns out. These were the ugliest cookies I've ever made! There was no picture of them in the book, either. Very suspicious...

I love dulce de leche and have made it a number of times (from scratch--none of that can-boiling business for me).   The cookie batter just seemed to have too much sugar (white+brown+dulce de leche) so I left the white sugar out, hoping they wouldn't be too sweet. Maybe this is why my cookies didn't really spread, and looked like homely little lumps after baking. I made the second tray smaller, and just ended up with smaller lumps. I added oatmeal to the third tray for the lumpy lump effect and wondered why I hadn't made only half a batch...

Anyway, people seemed to like them, but they were too cakey for me, and I couldn't get past their appearance. So, what to do? Skip posting this week, even though I made the cookies, or make another batch of something? I had some pâte sablée in the freezer, so decided to roll and bake a few of these to fill with dulce de leche. Much better: the cookies were crisp and buttery and the filling didn't just soak in and make them even cakier. If you're still reading this, you deserve a good laugh, so check after the jump for the photo of the original cookies. Better still, head over to the TWD blogroll to see what they were supposed to look like. This week's recipe was chosen by Jodie of Beansy Loves Cake. I bet hers look nice!

TWD: Thumbprints for us big guys

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Mike of Ugly Food for an Ugly Dude, so head over to his blog for the recipe. As written, this is a shortbread-style cookie with ground hazelnuts and a raspberry jam filling. I decided to use ground almonds with a lemon curd filling because
a) I had no hazelnuts, and
b) I was taking these to a friend's place.
She has a pathological aversion to raspberry seeds and has passed it on to her children, but they do all love lemon. I also used dark brown sugar instead of white, just because I felt like it. Be sure to check out the Tuesdays with Dorie blogroll to see what variations everyone else has come up with.

I made a half recipe of the lemon curd from Gourmet Today, edited by Ruth Reichl. I chose this lemon curd because it called for whole eggs, but it's a bit pale for that same reason. Tasty enough, though. Here's the recipe:

1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

1 cup fresh lemon juice (about 4 lemons)

1 cup sugar

6 large eggs

⅛ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1½ sticks ) unsalted butter, cut in cubes

Whisk zest, juice, sugar, eggs and salt together in a heavy saucepan and add butter. Cook over moderately low heat, whisking constantly, until it's thick enough that the whisk leaves visible trails and it just starts to boil, 6 to 8 minutes.

Pour through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl, covering surface with wax or parchment paper, and refrigerate.

TWD: Dorie's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I followed the recipe exactly as written! I'm not sure why I didn't take anything out, or substitute something, but I decided to give Dorie's cookies a chance. Everyone is always looking for the ultimate chocolate chip cookie, and I'm no exception. I like thick and gooey-chewy cookies. Well, I actually prefer the raw dough, but I always bake some of it! These cookies were really tasty, and chewy, but they were a bit thin, so I'm still looking. Whichever recipe I decide on, I'll be chopping up bars of bittersweet chocolate from now on. So long, chocolate chips. It was nice while it lasted.

This week's recipe was selected by Kait of Kait's Plate, so head over to her blog for the recipe. To see what the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers thought of them, check out the blogroll. 

No TWD for me next week. I'm away and only had time to bake 2 of February's recipes before leaving. Bummer that I missed out on those brownies last week, and next week's cookies, but c'est la vie. See you on the 27th with the Daring Bakers' reveal. 

Tuesdays with Dorie: Mrs. Vogel's Scherben

Mrs. Vogel's what? I know, I wondered too. Scherben apparently means shards, which is what these deep-fried cookies are supposed to resemble. When I first read the recipe, I thought I might skip this week, but it's only my second one, and I didn't want to be a quitter just yet. It wasn't the name, it was the fact that I needed to deep-fry these things. Last time I deep-fried anything it was at a friend's place. I put a few too many potatoes in the oil and it bubbled up all over the stove. No fire, just a lot of fussing, and I will never hear the end of it! Anyway, the recipe only called for a few ingredients and I had them all, so I thought I'd try it out. The dough was very easy to work with, and I quickly rolled it out, cut it into strips and gave them a twist:

After chilling them for another hour, I fried them in a tall pot with not too much oil. No spills, no fires! It was only -11 outside so I opened the patio door = no smell either.

After draining, they were ready to be tossed in cinnamon sugar:

The next step in the recipe said something about dusting them with icing sugar, but I was thinking more along the lines of an avalanche, because I didn't really like these at first, and I thought more sugar would help. It did! Good thing, because I thought my future fried dough experiences would be limited to eating Beavertails. I packed them up and took them to a friend's, and they tasted pretty good when I got there. Maybe it was because I was starving and had to fight a gaggle of children for them, or maybe it's because Mrs. Vogel sure does know her Scherben.

Thanks to Teanna of Spork or Foon for picking this recipe. You can find it on her blog. Check out the rest of the Scherben (yes, I like typing that, and with a capital too) at the TWD site.