Chocolate Almond Biscotti

I really like the classic Italian biscotti cookie, but I don't make them very often. Why, you ask? Essentially, I'm just too lazy. It's not that they're difficult to make, it's more so because they're time consuming what with the whole twice baking thing and my attention span (when it comes to baking) usually doesn't allow for something that takes longer than, say, 20 minutes. So saying, I found this recipe on one of my favorite food blogs (Closet Cooking) and really liked the fact that it's sort of a scaled down version; it only makes one log which translates into about 12 cookies. Yes, you still need to bake them twice- otherwise, they wouldn't be called biscotti- but hey, that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make every once in awhile. And of course, I had to tweak them ever so slightly... I swapped out the pistachios for almonds, and used plain ol' vegetable oil instead of olive oil. Now, if only I'd had some dried cherries on hand... oh, well. Next time, eh?  ;)

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Ingredients:
1 cup AP flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt
6 Tbs. sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
splash of vanilla extract
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients. (In this case, the sugar counts as a "dry" ingredient.) Stir in the remaining ingredients until just combined. Pour the dough onto a baking sheet and, using slightly damp hands (it helps to combat the stickiness of the dough, trust me), form it into a log about 8 inches long and about 2 inches wide. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes then allow the log to cool on a wire rack for 35-40 minutes.

Drop the oven temperature to 325 degrees.

Once fully cooled, use a serrated knife to slice the log into 1/2 inch cookies. Place the cookies cut-side down on the baking sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 10 minutes, flip them over, and bake on the other side for another 10 minutes. Allow the biscotti (twice-baked cookies) to cool on a wire rack then pour yourself a strong cup of coffee and dig in.

Enjoy!

*Cook's note: These aren't overly sweet cookies so you may want to use milk chocolate or even semi-sweet chocolate instead of the dark that I used. *I* happen to like the fact that these turned out deeply chocolatey without being terribly sweet, but I can see where the addition of dried fruit (like cherries, prunes, or even apricots) would make for an interesting contrast in flavor.

(Addendum: So it's now been several days since I made these cookies, and I have to say that I'm not as impressed with them as I was when they were just an hour out of the oven. The texture is just not quite right; they're not nearly as crisp as they should be even though I've stored them in the same air-tight container I've put previous batches. So, while I do like the flavor, I don't think I'll be using this particular recipe again... instead, I'll probably just use this flavor profile and apply it to one of the other biscotti recipes I've used in the past that I know hold up well.)

Cookie Palooza 2012

Cookie Palooza 2012

The 2nd annual Cookie Palooza started Saturday night and continued through Monday; surprisingly (sadly?), I have to say it wasn't as much fun as last year.

Maybe if I had stopped Sunday after making 3 different kinds of bar cookies as well as the first batch of cheesecake cookies, well then, perhaps I'd feel differently. Instead, I'm just plain sick to death of all things sugar at this point and, in fact, couldn't bring myself to write this post last night because it was sounding way the hell too whiny even to me.

So. New day, no more sugar, and my house no longer smells like baked goods after making spicy tacos, lentils primavera, and stuffed mushrooms; lots of savory smells to cancel out the sweet, thank goodness.

Cookie Palooza 2012

3 different bar cookies

I started out by making this recipe for PB&J blondies, except I left out the "J" part. They turned out pretty well... okay, REALLY well based on the fact that my roommate inhaled 4 of the cookie bars before I could even put them away. Now, the cookie exchange at work this year doesn't have as many participants as last year so we only need to make 2 dozen of our chosen cookie/dessert. A pan of these bars slices quite nicely into 24 pieces which is the perfect amount. However, since my roommate had already eaten several of them, I knew I would need to make another batch which would also give me the chance to tweak the recipe a little more to my liking, namely, using a little less sugar and adding in some chocolate chunks. The second batch, made yesterday, turned out beautifully (even if I couldn't taste them) and I was sure to package and label them immediately as OFF LIMITS so that these can make it to work tomorrow for the exchange.

Because I was so pleased with how the first cookie bar turned out, I decided to try out another recipe for Oatmeal Scotchies that I pulled off the bag of Nestle butterscotch chips. Again, being me, I couldn't leave well enough alone and added chopped pecans to the recipe and baked them in a pan rather than as a drop cookie. (There was a note at the bottom of the recipe with instructions on how to make them a bar cookie.) Maybe it was because my pan wasn't big enough and the bars were a little too thick (in my opinion), but I wasn't terribly impressed with the way these cookies turned out. Yes, the flavor was good, but the texture left a little something to be desired. Eh. Live and learn, right? (Of course, my roommate didn't find fault with them given the number she's already eaten.)

cheesecake cookies with graham cracker crust

Next up were the cheesecake cookies. I found this recipe online from The Brown Eyed Baker after doing quite a bit of searching, and these cookies were fantastic! What I really loved about the recipe (besides the taste, of course) was how simple it was. I read many other recipes that involved rolling the dough into a log and rolling the log in the crumb of choice before refrigerating, slicing, and baking. Not only are there very few ingredients, but once the dough comes together, you roll it into golf ball sized balls (maybe a little smaller), roll them in your crumb of choice (I used graham crackers for the first batch, then crushed Oreos for the 2nd batch at my roommate's insistence), and bake.

cheesecake cookies with oreo crust

Now, I will say that I doubled the recipe because the original recipe only makes about 12 cookies, and maybe I did make them smaller than I was supposed to because I got 34 cookies out of my doubled recipe. Plus, I refrigerated the dough to let it firm up a bit before rolling/coating/baking, but other than that, I pretty much followed the recipe to a T and these were, far and away, the star of Cookie Palooza 2012.  :)

Again, maybe if I had stopped there- on a high note, as it were- then I'd be more apt to label Cookie Palooza 2012 a success. Instead, I continued on to make these Holiday Biscotti with almonds and dried cranberries, dipped in melted white chocolate (which I've made in years past and really like), another bar cookie that I found the recipe for in a book my roommate gave me for my birthday (white chocolate fudge bars from 500 Chocolate Delights: The Only Chocolate Compendium You'll Ever Need by Lauren Floodgate), AND a second batch of the peanut butter blondies with the addition of chocolate chunks. By the time Cookie Palooza 2012 came to an official end on Monday, just the smell of sugar and vanilla was enough to make me nauseous! So now I've got a kitchen full of yummy cookies and no desire to eat any of them... good thing my roommate and co-workers have no such compunctions, eh?

Cookie Palooza 2011, A Retrospective, Part 2

Original post date: Monday, 12/6/11

The last day of my 3-day weekend, and what did I do? Bake. Again.

cranberry bread

Well, I also swept, vacuumed, and did a load of laundry, but mostly I was in the kitchen. I made another 2 loaves of cranberry bread because, really, you can't have enough and I'll probably bring a loaf or 2 to work again for the overnight doc since she decimated the first loaf I brought her. Plus, it freezes beautifully, so if I decide to be greedy and keep it all to myself... well, there you go.

meringue cookies

In addition to the cranberry bread, I also tried out yet another new-to-me recipe for meringue cookies. They were pretty easy to make, but I won't know how they taste until tomorrow since they will cool in the oven overnight. Normally, when I try a new recipe for the first time (at least when it comes to baking) I stick pretty close to the recipe as written. Not today, though. Nope. I changed up the flavoring in these meringues by using dark chocolate chips (60% cacao) and orange zest, one of my favorite flavor combinations, so I can't wait to taste them.

Addendum: The most IMPORTANT lesson I learned about making meringue cookies is to line the damn cookie sheets with parchment paper like the recipe tells you!

Cookie Palooza 2011, A Retrospective, Part 1

ultimate ginger, pb&c biscotti, triple chocolate

Original post date: Sunday, 12/5/11

Care to guess what I did today?

This being my 3-day weekend, I decided to take advantage of my time off and spend it in the kitchen, trying out new cookie recipes. We're having a cookie exchange at work next week and I can't decide what to make; too many choices, and you know I have to make something to put all other cookies to shame. To that end, I've got a stack of recipes I've been wanting to try and so I've been planning to have a cookie palooza this weekend. My best friend and her kids were originally supposed to join me, but she's not feeling well this weekend so we had to postpone. However, I've got the supplies and the burning need to make cookies... so that's what I did.

Yesterday, I made 2 loaves of cranberry bread and promptly wrapped them and put them in the freezer to make room for cookies. I then got a jump start on cookie palooza and tried out one of my new recipes, the ultimate ginger cookie. It's funny, really, because I always thought I didn't like these spicy cookies; we never made anything like them when I was growing up. The thought of making a classic gingerbread man cookie never really appealed because it's more work than I'm interested in. On the contrary, these were fairly easy to make and turned out pretty damn good; my roommate certainly liked them given the fact that she ate 2 handfuls of them this morning for breakfast.

So that brings me to today and my continued cookie experimentation: I started with a variation of a recipe that I've used before, one for biscotti. Previously, I've made them with pistachios and dried cranberries, dipped in white chocolate, but today's version was a peanut butter chocolate biscotti. Huh man. Those were some freakin' awesome cookies... perfect for dunking in a cup of coffee as the Italian's intended. While those were cooling, I got started on the next new-to-me cookie, a triple chocolate cookie. This was the pseudo-healthy recipe I had picked out to make with the kids because I know how their mother feels about baked goods and her desire to make them as low fat as possible (no butter or oil, egg substitute instead of whole eggs, and splenda where possible).

(*Side note: I have a different, decidedly decadent chocolate cookie recipe waiting in the wings, just for me. This one is NOT to be shared so the "healthy" version is the decoy version.)

Again, these cookies turned out really well. But honestly, how bad can triple chocolate cookies be? Maybe not as rich and chewy as I would have hoped for, but still. It's chocolate.

lemon ricotta with lemon glaze

The last cookie I decided to try my hand at was a light and almost fluffy lemon ricotta cookie with a lemon glaze. I'm a big fan of lemon so this was at the top of my Must Try list; I was definitely NOT disappointed. Just sweet enough with the tart bite of fresh lemon... yum. Only problem is, I still can't decide what to make for the cookie exchange we're having at work. Guess this means I need to do some more experimenting. There's always the good old stand-by recipes that I make every year: classic chocolate chip, peanut butter (with or without thumbprints), oatmeal raisin, and my all-time favorite oatmeal cookies with dried cranberries and white chocolate chips.

Hmmm... what a delicious dilemma.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup AP flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups old fashion rolled oats
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup peanut butter (I prefer using natural instead of the sugary stuff)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
optional add-ins: 1 cup chopped nuts/chocolate chips/peanut butter chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours and oats then set aside.

In a large bowl using an electric mixer (I suppose you could go old school on it and break out the wooden spoon if you really want to) cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugars, baking powder, and baking soda until well mixed. Add in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla, beating for another 1-2 minutes on medium speed. Stir in as much of the flour and oat mixture as you can using the electric mixer before switching to a wooden spoon to stir in the rest. Fold in whatever add-ins you want (I went with a mix of both dark chocolate chips AND peanut butter chips), then drop by the dough by rounded teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving about an inch of space between each cookie. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown and set. Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool for several minutes before diving in.

Enjoy!

Hurricane Preparedness

With Hurricane Sandy approaching, we had quite a bit of work to do to get the house ready to weather the storm; my roommate handled the outside work and I was in charge of the inside work. At the top of MY list of preparations was to make sure we had water and non-perishable food items for a 3-5 day power outage (my neighborhood is notorious for losing power during major storms). While I stocked up on the standards like bread, crackers, peanut butter, canned soup (canned?! desperate times... *shudder*), fruit cups and the like, I also wanted to do some baking. So, what did I make? Well, in the sweets department there's the French apple pie with crumb topping, loaded oatmeal cookies, peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and I still had a loaf of vegan banana chocolate-walnut bread in the freezer.

In addition to the sweets, we made a last-minute run to the grocery store to stock up on junk food like tortilla chips with salsa and queso dip, pretzels, and popcorn. Because I had several whole wheat pita pockets stashed in the freezer, I made pita chips (easy enough to slice and bake, spiced however you want) and my roommate requested spinach dip. For dinner last night, I made a rather simple (but delicious none the less) baked pasta with zucchini, mushrooms, marinara, and the last of the chicken breasts from the freezer.

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

(based on the basic Oatmeal Cookie recipe from Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book)

loaded oatmeal cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup AP flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups old fashion rolled oats (not the quick cooking kind)
1 Tbs. ground flaxseed
3/4 cup butter (that's 1 1/2 sticks, and make sure to bring it to room temperature- it makes mixing easier)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup dried apricots, diced
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
3/4 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flours, oats, and flaxseeds.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugars before adding in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, scraping down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is well combined before mixing in the dry ingredients. Fold in the dried fruits, nuts, and chocolate chips. Drop cookies by the tablespoonful on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 11-13 minutes until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks before storing in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

peanut butter oatmeal cookies

*Even though these weren't the only cookies I made, as the day went on, snapping photos kind of fell by the wayside. Also, I'd like to point out that between the oats and dried fruits, these cookies are practically a breakfast food (I saw that eye roll!) and as such, a definite necessity for any power outage.