what do you want to eat?

chocolate-orange cookies

My friend, client and cookie baking queen Amanda recently posted on her Sweet Bella Bakery blog a recipe for Chocolate-Orange Sugar Cookies that I just had to try. I'd volunteered to make Valentine's treats for Dylan's preschool class, and decided we'd make these for Dylan to take to school. I made a few changes to the recipe (noted in italics below) and they turned out delicious. I didn't have orange extract, so I used orange zest and a little orange juice. They didn't have a strong orange flavor at all, so I'll have to pick up some extract for next time I make these. I also decorated with buttercream frosting that I had in my freezer instead of making the royal icing.

These are delicious cookies with a rich, deep chocolate flavor.  Mine came out a bit crunchy, but after being stored for a day they are now soft.  And did I mention yummy?  Oh yeah, I did.  Maybe I should go have another one just to be sure.  :)

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Chocolate-Orange Sugar Cookies from Amanda Lassiter, Sweet Bella Bakery
adapted from Southern Living's Chocolate Fleur-de-Lis cookies

3 sticks butter
2.5 cups sifter powdered sugar (I'll admit, I didn't sift my powdered sugar, the fine mesh strainer I use for sifting was buried in my sink.  And my cookies turned out fine...just so you know)
2 eggs
1 tsp. pure orange extract (I used the zest of 1 orange and about a tablespoon of juice)
3 cups All Purpose Flour (I used 1 1/2 cups of whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups of AP flour)
1 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. sea salt

Soften butter at room temperature and beat until smooth in an electric mixer. Add sifted powder slowly until blended. Beat eggs and orange extract in a small bowl until combined, add to butter mixture.

Combine flour, cocoa, & salt and slowly add to the butter mixture. Beat for 2 minutes until blended. Divide dough in half and place on wax paper sprinkled with a small amount of flour/cocoa mixture. Roll each portion out to 3/8"-1/2" thickness and chill.

When dough is chilled, cut out shapes with cookie cutter or card stock design. Bake at 350 for 10-13 minutes, depending on the size of your cookie. Decorate with Royal Icing (I already mentioned that I used leftover buttercream frosting from my freezer, but I'm including Amanda's Royal Icing recipe anyway). 

Royal Icing
16 ounces powdered sugar
30 grams meringue powder
1/2 tsp. light corn syrup
less than 1/2 cup water

Sift powdered sugar & meringue powder into the bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment on low. Stream in water and speed up to medium high. Drizzle in corn syrup and mix for 5-6 minutes. For Outline Icing, place in decorator bags with #3 tip. For Flood Icing, add 1/2 teaspoon of water at a time until mixture is the consistency of thick syrup and place in decorator bottles.

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Dylan making a big mess of the flour and cocoa mixture. I clean the counter really well before we start so I can brush all that spilled flour back into the bowl.


Dylan loves to squish out the dough, but not as much as he likes to eat it ("want to eat it" gets said a lot when we are making cookies).


After the squishing, it's time to roll the dough thinner. He hasn't quite mastered the squish and roll needed with the rolling pin yet.


I let Dylan pick out the shapes for the cookies. I couldn't quite believe I didn't have a heart in my vast collection of cookie cutters. I'll have to remedy that sometime soon. Dylan really enjoys squishing down the cookie cutters and making the shapes. Here he is putting the shapes on the cookie sheet.


Since these were Valentine's cookies, I stuck with pink icing (which looks nice with the chocolate don't you think?) and used hearts where I could. (Also, I didn't have a whole lot of time for decorating, another reason for the one color choice...probably the real reason =)

red beet brioche (and french toast too)

For Valentine's Day dinner, I had the great idea of having breakfast for dinner.  I didn't get my bread baked in time, so instead we had pizza last night and made this Red Beet Brioche French Toast for breakfast today instead.  

My inspiration for Red Beet Brioche came from my Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day cookbook and the artisanbreadinfive.com blog.  On the blog, they posted about a lovely heart shaped beet bread loaf using the Red Beet Rolls recipe in the book.  This stuck with me and I bought beets so I could do it.  Then the though of red french toast popped in my head.  The problem was that the Red Beet Roll recipe is a savory recipe with onions in it.  So, I decided to adapt it to a brioche recipe and see what happened.  I used the Pumpkin Pie Brioche recipe and substituted beet pureé for the pumpkin and left out all the spices. I had great success and the bread has such a lovely color.  

Red Beet Brioche
adapted from Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day

3 cups white whole wheat flour
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
handful or two of flaxseed
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast (or 2 packets)
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups lukewarm water (use the reserved beet water)
4 large eggs
1/2 cup honey
3/4 cup neutral flavored oil, or unsalted butter, melted (I used olive oil and it worked great)
4-5 red beets, peeled, chopped, boiled and puréed.

 

First, boil the beets until soft. Pureé the beets and then reserve the red tinted water to use in the dough.

Then, mix the flours, flaxseed, yeast and salt in a large bowl or dough bin.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the beet pureé, eggs, water, honey and oil.

Then mix it all together until all the flour is integrated.  Put the top on the dough bucket loosely (or cover the bowl with plastic wrap) and put it in a warm place to let it rise for 2 hours (or until it doubles in size).  At this point, you can pop this in your fridge for up to 5 days.

When you are ready to use the dough, pull off about a grapefruit sized chunk of dough and shape it for your pan of choice.  I used a small bread pan like this:

This photo shows the bread after the second rise.  I used the dough before refrigeration, so it only need about 30 minutes to crest above the top of the pan.  If you are using the dough refrigerated, then let it rise for about 1 hour and 45 minutes, covered loosely with plastic wrap.

Then bake at 350º for 45-50 minutes depending on the size of the loaf.  The loaf is done when it is medium brown and firm.  Remove the loaf from the pan and allow it to cool on a cooling rack.

Now, the french toast part.  I mixed together 2 eggs, about 3/4 cup of milk (I don't usually measure), and a generous splash of vanilla.  Mix it in a flat dish and then put in slices of bread to soak.  Melt butter in a skillet and fry on both sides until golden.

You'll end up with lovely pink and brown french toast.  Which we promptly topped with butter, blueberries and syrup.  Yum!

Enjoy!!

easy quiche

In the middle of winter is probably not the time to be posting about quiche.  But a friend of mine of Facebook had a friend ask her about quiche, and I remembered I'd taken photos of the last quiche I made back in September specifically for this blog (phew, that was quite a sentence).   I didn't get around to blogging about it.  So, now that I've remembered, I will tell you all about it. 

This particular recipe comes from an old cookbook of mine entitled "The Starving Students Cookbook" (I should note the version I have was published way back in 1994 and was given to me by my friend Lisa in 1995...if you are reading this...Thanks Lisa!).  The quiche recipe is the only recipe I still use regularly from this cookbook, mainly because its very versatile and as I said in the title of this post, easy.  

This cookbook has seen a lot of use over the years.

The original recipe is entitled "Quiche in a Blender".  I've kicked it up a few notches over the many years I've made it, and use whatever veggies I have on hand.  And I add bacon, cause bacon kicks everything up a few notches.

Here's the basic recipe straight from the book (which will be followed by my altered recipe):

Quiche in a Blender
from The Starving Students Cookbook 

1 cup milk
1/2 cup Packaged Pancake Mix (e.g., Bisquick)
2 eggs
2 Tablespoons butter or margarine
3/4 cup grated jack, white, chedder or swiss cheese
1/2 cup frozen cut-up broccoli

Preheat oven to 350º

STEP 1:  Combine all ingredients, except broccoli, in blender container.  Blend on low speed 1 minute.

STEP 2: Thaw broccoli in cold water, drain and pat dry with paper towel.

STEP 3: Spread a bit of butter around inside the pie pan.  Lan broccoli in bottom of pie pan. Pour blender mixture over broccoli (being careful not to spill over the sides). Bake in 350º oven 40 minutes or till quiche is puffy and golden and doesn't jiggle when you move it.

footnote: You might want to try this with spinach for a terrific spinach quiche. 

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My version follows the above directions down to the "frozen broccoli".  I add a lot more stuff to my quiches than just broccoli (although, I'm sure just broccoli would be fine as well).  So, here's what I did last time I made this recipe.

Quiche in a Blender, Jen's Version

1 cup milk
1/2 cup Package Pancake Mix 
OR  1/2 cup whole wheat flour
      3/4 tsp baking powder
      1/4 tsp salt
      1/2 T shortening
2 eggs
2 Tablepoons real butter
3/4 cup of grated cheese (your choice) + extra for the top of the quiche 
Fresh herbs, finely chopped
2-3 slices of bacon, cut into smaller pieces (lardons)
Your choice of vegetables

And now, here's how I put it together.  You can either go ahead and blend the milk, flour, bp, salt, shortening, eggs, butter and grated cheese before sautéing or if you like to multitask like me, do it while you are sautéing your veggies.  

Start by sautéing the bacon until crispy.

Remove the bacon from the skillet and add in your roughly chopped vegetables.  This time around, I used kohlrabi and peter pan squash from my garden.  Season with salt and pepper.

Once your veggies are in and starting to cook a bit, then add in your chopped herbs.  I used chives, rosemary, basil, and a mystery herb from my garden.

Sprinkle on the herbs and keep tossing everything around.

Til it look something like this and you get some nice browned bits on your veggies.

Remove the veggies and add in some chopped greens.  I used swiss chard.  Kale or collards or spinach would be lovely as well.  Saute your greens until softened.

Butter the pie pan.  Here is another way I differ.  I like to layer my quiche.  So, put about 1/3 of the bacon, veggies and greens in the pan.  Pour about 1/3 of the blended mixture on top.  Then repeat until everything is used up.  Try to end with a layer of the blended mixture.

Then, sprinkle on some more cheese for the topping.  I usually add a bit of parmesan on top too.

Bake at 350º for about 40 minutes or until it looks like this.  

It's really yummy and  you don't miss the pie crust at all.  Enjoy!!

Groundhog Day Cookies

I never got around to posting about Groundhog Day Cookies last year, although I did take some photos.  So, this year, before I've even made a batch, I thought I would go ahead and post for those of you who may want to make these on Wednesday for Groundhog Day.

First, a little background.  My dad was from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, home of the groundhog.  Not only is my Dad from Punxsy, but we can trace the Shermer family living in Punxsy back in 1848 where my great-great grandfather owned a shoe store. When I was a kid my mom made these cookies for us and we even had Groundhog Day parties some years.  I still have the old napkins that my mom saved.  I remember where they used to live in the dining room china cabinet and pulling them out every year.  I love that I still have her cookie cutters and can carry on this tradition with my kids.  If you'd like to order your own cookie cutter, click here.

I went to Punxsy a few times growing up.  And we visited Punxsy Phil, the groundhog.  He lives in the library and you can view him through a window from the outside.  My last trip to Punxsy was Labor Day weekend 2009.  We were living in Ohio and some of my cousins who I hadn't seen in many, many, MANY years were getting together for a reunion.  Since this is the first time I've ever lived within decent driving distance, we made the trip.  It was nice to see everyone again and revisit the Punxsy Camp, site of the last reunion I had attended around 18 years ago.  

So in honor of my Punxsutawney heritage, I give you Groundhog Day cookies.  :)

Cutting out the cookies.


Here are the little critters before heading into the oven.

 

Groundhog Cookies
from www.groundhogday.org 

2 cups sifted flour (I did half whole wheat and half all-purpose, and threw in some flaxseed)
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger 
1 teaspoon ground cloves 
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon 
1/2 cup soft butter 
1 cup sugar 
1/2 cup molasses 
1 egg yolk
1 egg, slightly beaten 
Currants or raisins

Sift together first seven ingredients. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Blend in molasses and yolk. Stir in flour mixture and mix well. Form into a ball.

Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill overnight, several nights or freeze. (I more than likely made this the same day I baked, so just chill for 1/2 and hour to an hour then proceed)

Place small amounts of dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, and cover with plastic wrap. Roll 1/8 inch thick. Cut out cookies with lightly floured cutter.

Place cookies on greased baking sheet. Brush with slightly beaten egg. Decorate with currants or raisin eyes. Repeat until all dough is used.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in a preheated 350-degree oven. Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet. Makes 72 or more medium-sized groundhogs.

Baked Banana Pudding

I do love Alton Brown's show Good Eats.  And watching his show generally makes me want to try whatever it is he's cooking.  A few weeks ago he did a show all about banana pudding (entitled "Yes We Have No Banana Pudding"...which then made me start singing Louis Prima in my head).  And of course, being pregnant and highly susceptible to wanting yummy things I see on TV, it made me really want banana pudding.  This week, the stars aligned, I had 3 ripe bananas and an afternoon to put it together.  And, oh my, the yumminess.  It took me back to those church potlucks when I was a kid.  I hadn't had this southern-style baked banana pudding in quite a long time.  And his recipe is easy to make and delicious.  Especially if you make the homemade vanilla wafers ahead of time.  Although, I'm sure store bought would be just fine if you are short on time.

I didn't take any photos of the 'nilla wafers.  They turned out yummy, but they didn't look very pretty.  

My little guy helped me cut up the bananas with a butter knife.  He did a great job and was too funny because he wouldn't touch the cut bananas with his fingers (too sticky).  He would cut a slice off and then balance it on the knife and put it in the bowl.

Making the pudding part was easier than I thought it might be.  I didn't have the half 'n' half that Alton Brown called for, so I used 2% milk, and it thickened nicely and tasted really good.  The trick is to use a thermometer if you have one.  I used my digital meat thermometer and held it on the side of my pot with a binder clip.  It worked great.  I stirred the pudding while Dylan cut up the bananas.

Then it was time to layer it in.  Alton Brown calls for a glass mixing bowl to layer it all in.  Which is nice, and looks pretty because you can see the layers.  However, I prefer to use a flatter, even dish so you get the yummy meringue topping in every serving.  With a deep bowl you'd lose that.  

And without further ado, here's the recipe.  :)

Vanilla Wafers
Recipe by Alton Brown, 2010

 7 ounces all-purpose flour (I split this in half and did half white whole wheat flour and half all purpose)
3/4 teaspoon aluminum free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
3 1/2 ounces vanilla sugar (You can use regular sugar here, or do what I did and put the sugar in a food processor with the scrapings from the inside of a vanilla bean or two)
1 large egg
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon whole milk (I used 2%)

Position 1 oven rack in the top third of the oven and another in the bottom third. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl and set aside. Cream the butter and vanilla sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl after 1 minute. Add the egg and incorporate on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down the sides of the mixer bowl. Add the vanilla extract and milk and blend on low speed for 15 seconds. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just to incorporate. Chill the batter in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes before scooping.

Scoop the batter in teaspoon-sized balls and arrange them on 2 parchment paper-lined half sheet pans, approximately 35 cookies per pan. Use the heel of your hand to slightly flatten each ball. Bake, 2 pans at a time, rotating the pans halfway through the baking, until golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes. Remove the pans to a cooling rack to cool completely before removing the cookies from the pan.  

(Alton Brown's recipe says it makes 70 cookies, we didn't get that many...I think we had 50, which was still plenty for the pudding recipe).

Baked Banana Pudding
Recipe by Alton Brown, 2010

 3 ripe bananas, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch rounds
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
4 large eggs, separated
2 cups half-and-half (I used 2% milk)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
45 vanilla wafers (I didn't count mine and probably didn't layer them as thickly so I don't think I used this many)
1 pinch cream of tartar

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Toss the banana slices and lemon juice in a small bowl and set aside. (I skipped this step, so my bananas turned brown by the next day.)

Combine 1/2 cup of the sugar, the flour and salt in a 3-quart saucier. Add the egg yolks and whisk to combine. Add the half-and-half and carefully whisk to combine. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly until the mixture reaches 172 to 180 degrees F, approximately 5 to 10 minutes. The mixture will begin to thicken and bubble around the edges. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the vanilla extract.

Spread a small amount of the pudding in the bottom of an oven-safe 1 1/2-quart glass mixing bowl (as you can see from my photos, I used a flatter corning ware dish instead.  I imagine a square glass pyrex would work too). Cover with a layer of vanilla wafers, followed by a layer of banana slices. Pour 1/3 of the remaining pudding on top of the bananas and repeat, ending with a layer of pudding.

Whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form (I used my whisk attachment on my immersion blender...it whips up egg whites in no time). Gradually add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar and continue whisking until stiff peaks form. Spoon the meringue over the warm pudding, being sure to cover the edges. Bake until the meringue is evenly browned, about 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the pudding from the oven and cool for 15 minutes before serving. Cool completely before refrigerating. Refrigerate for up to 3 days.

ENJOY!  Really, I mean it.  Be sure to eat some while its warm....that's the best :)

 

Blueberry, Chocolate and Orange Buttermilk Scones

I've been seeing lots of scone recipes lately.  There's one in my Forgotten Skills of Cooking cookbook that uses fresh (wild) blueberries.  I saw Buttermilk-Cherry Scones in Mary Jane's Farm Magazine that are baked in a cast iron skillet.  And most recently I spotted a chocolate and orange scone recipe on the Joy the Baker blog.  They all look delish and all a little different.  I decided to use the Mary Jane's Farm recipe and change it up a little bit (also, this was the only one that doesn't call for eggs, and I was out of eggs this morning) by using whole wheat flour and flaxseed and cutting down on the amount of butter.  I love the crust formed on the bottom from baking in the cast iron skillet.  These were melt-in-your mouth tender and the flavor combination was divine.  

I took this photo pre-glaze...the glaze adds a nice shiny top to the scones.

Blueberry, Chocolate and Orange Buttermilk Scones
(adapted from Mary Jane's Farm Magazine)

2 cups white whole wheat flour

1 cup all purpose flour

a handful of flaxseed

1/3 cup sugar

2 1/2 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

7-8 tablespoons of cold butter, cut into chunks (I used what was left of the stick after buttering my skillet)

3/4 - 1 cup of blueberries

a handful or two of chocolate chips

1-2 T orange zest

1 to 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (I ended up using about 1 1/2 cups to make my dough)
Note:  If you don't have buttermilk, you can sour your milk by adding 1 T of white vinegar to 2 cups of milk.  Let it sit for 5 minutes or so until it thickens.  I store this in a mason jar in the fridge for when I need buttermilk. 

Glaze:

1 T heavy cream (you could substitute milk here and just have a less decadent glaze)

1/4 t cinnamon

2 T powdered sugar

 

1. Preheat oven to 400º.  Butter a 12" cast-iron skillet.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the flours, flaxseed, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add the butter and beat with an electric hand mixer until just blended (I cut the butter into the flour mixture with a pastry cutter until it looked crumbly...no mixer necessary).  Stir in the blueberries, chocolate chips and orange zest.  Gradually add the buttermilk until all the dry ingredients are incorporated and a dough is formed (here is where I needed about a 1/2 cup more buttermilk than what was called for in the original recipe.  I also got messy and used my hands to get all the dry ingredients incorporated).

3. Form a ball with the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Press the dough into an 8" inch circle, about 1/2" - 3/4" thick. Cut the circle into eight wedges.

4. Place the scones 1/2" apart in the prepared skillet (mine were closer together than this and they baked up with no problems).  Bake 20-25 minutes, until golden.

5. While the scones are cooking, whisk together the glaze ingredients.

6. Remove scones from oven and brush on the glaze.  Allow to cool completely (or don't, we didn't and man those warm scones were awesome!  Lovely crust on the bottom and tender on the inside.  Mmmmmm!)

Homemade Oreos

While doing some research for a cookie bakery that I have been working on a design project for, I ran across a website called Bake at 350.  Well, I shouldn't say ran across, my client pointed me in that direction.  While perusing, I discovered her post on Homemade Oreos.  And my pregnant self decided they needed to be made.  Like right then.  So, Dylan and I got to work making the chocolate wafer dough, rolling it out and cutting out the cookies.  By the time we got to the rolling it out part he wanted to eat the dough.  And he did.  The silly boy (he is his father's son after all).  We actually made these back in September and I didn't take too many photos (except for these two bad camera phone photos).  Here's a link to the recipe.  The only change I made was to use half white whole wheat flour in place of half of the all-purpose.

 

Denny created a triple decker oreo.


And then ate the whole thing.

homemade thin mints

I recently ran across this recipe for Homemade Thin Mints on one of my favorite food sites 101cookbooks.com.  I decided I needed to try it and an invitation to a cookie exchange gave me the perfect excuse.  One of the best things about 101cookbooks is her use of natural and whole grain ingredients.  It makes me feel less guilty about eating the yummy things I bake (and sharing them with my little one) if I can use healthier ingredients.  

The thin mints are definitely more of a time consuming process than I originally thought.  I made two batches and the dipping in chocolate portion of the recipe took a long time for the almost 8 dozen cookies I ended up with.  These are worth the effort, although don't expect them to taste just like their Girl Scout cookie counterparts.  The cookie part is a softer, richer tasting cookie...not as crisp.  However, these are just wonderful out of the freezer and that tends to give the cookie a bit more crunch.

Here's some of the process through photos and the recipe and the slight changes I made are below the photos.  Be sure to visit 101cookbooks.com and scroll through some of her other delicious recipes.  

 

Here's my little helper after helping measure out all the ingredients. I love the smudge of cocoa powder on his nose.


Cutting out little circles of cookie dough. You have to roll the dough really thin for the thin mints. I found that if I used smaller amounts of dough, it made it much easier to get them thinner.


The cookies don't spread much, so you can fit more on your cookie sheet.


Here are my stacks and stacks of cookies waiting to be dunked in melted chocolate/peppermint goodness.


I'm sure I didn't need to show you the chocolate chips melting...but they just look so lovely and scrumptious I couldn't help myself.

My dunking station is at the ready.

A freshly dunked thin mint.


Dylan came over to "help" me dunk the cookies. Translation: "want to eat a cookie". I finally had to shoo him away before he ate them all.


The cookies out of the freezer...all set and ready to eat.

Homemade and All-natural Thin Mint Recipe
from 101cookbooks.com, my notes are in italics

Chocolate Wafers:
8 ounces organic butter, room temperature
1 cup organic powdered sugar
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 cup cocoa powder (I used Hershey Special Dark cocoa powder)
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
I also threw in a handful of ground flaxseed 

Chocolate Peppermint Coating:
1 pound good quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
(I used a mixture of about 2/3 bittersweet to 1/3 milk chocolate chips...it also took more than 1 lb for a batch..more like 1 1/2 to 2 lbs for me)

1/4 tsp. peppermint extract (Here, I also used a lot more than called for...more like a whole teaspoon of extract to get a good pepperminty (but not toothpasty) flavor.)

Preheat your oven to 350. Racks in the middle zone.

Make the cookie dough: In a mixer cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cream some more, scraping the sides of the bowl a couple times if necessary. Stir in the vanilla extract and then the salt and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter is smooth and creamy, sort of like a thick frosting. Add the whole wheat pastry flour and mix just until the batter is no longer dusty looking, it might still be a bit crumbly, and that's o.k. You don't want to over mix and end up with tough cookies.

Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and kneed it just once or twice to bring it together into once nice, smooth mass. Place the ball of dough into a large plastic bag and flatten it into a disk roughly 3/4-inch thick. Place the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill.

Rollout and bake: Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin, remember how thin Thin Mints are? That's how thin you need your dough, about 1/8-inch. You can either roll it out between two sheets of plastic, or dust your counter and rolling pin with a bit of flour and do it that way. (Here is where I used smaller pieces of dough to roll it out thin.  My dough out of the freezer was a bit crumbly anyway and breaking off small pieces to roll out seemed to solve that problem.) Stamp out cookies using a 1 1/2-inch cutter (this time I used one with a fluted edge, I've done hearts and other shapes in the past). Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a baking rack if you've got one.

Make the peppermint coating:
While the cookies are in the oven you can get the coating ready. I use a makeshift double boiler to melt chocolate (a metal pan over a saucepan of gently simmering water), but I know many people who swear by melting chocolate in the microwave. Slowly melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally until it is glossy and smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract. If you think the chocolate needs a bit more peppermint kick, add more extract a drop or two at a time - but don't go overboard.

Finishing the cookies: You are going to coat the cookies one at a time and then gently set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet to set. Drop one cookie into the chocolate and (using a fork) carefully make sure it gets fully coated. Lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan to drain any extra chocolate off the cookie. You are after a thin, even coating of chocolate. (Not sure how thin and even mine got...be careful shaking or banging off the excess cookies..I had a few of my thinner cookies break during this process...but remember..mistakes mean more for the tasters in your house.)  Place on the aforementioned prepared baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set. They will set at room temperature, it just takes much longer, and I prefer them straight out of the freezer anyways ;)

Make 3 or 4 dozen cookies.

 

Pumpkin Pie Brioche Monkey Bread

It has been far too long since I've updated this food blog.  I have some posts to catch up on, but until then, I have this one.  This lovely, lovely bit of yumminess I made tonight.  Yes, it's onto the main event:  Pumpkin Pie Brioche Monkey Bread.  

To start, you make a recipe of Pumpkin Pie Brioche Dough from "Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day".  This is a very versatile dough with a delicious flavor and actually has good things in it for you.  I modified the recipe by doubling the spices and using half olive oil/half butter when it called for oil or butter.  I also (as always) threw in a handful of flaxseed and substituted 1/2 cup quinoa flour for 1/2 cup of the all-purpose flour.  

There are numerous yummy things to do with this dough besides bake a loaf of bread.  I've seen recipes online for cinnamon rolls, mini bundt brioches and my favorite (until now anyway) Pumpkin Pie Brioche with a Twist.

Now, onto the main event:  The Pumpkin Pie Brioche Monkey Bread.  This comes via a blog called Something Shiny (thank you Something Shiny for this wonderful heavenly way to use the brioche dough).  The monkey bread from my childhood consisted of 4 cans of Pilsbury Refrigerator Biscuits that were cut into 4 pieces, rolled in cinnamon sugar and put into a bundt pan.  Then, you would top that with a boiled mixture of butter and sugar.  Out of the oven was a gooey, sticky, sweet monkey bread.  The Pumpkin Pie Brioche Monkey Bread is a more refined and lighter version of this.  You simply roll the balls of dough in melted butter, then in cinnamon sugar and put it in your bundt pan.  Sprinkle any excess sugar on top (I poured on my little bit of excess butter first), then bake.  It's not as gooey as the original, but I don't miss that at all.  Each little bite of brioche is tender and cinnamony and just divine.  We had to cover it back up with the bundt pan so that we would stop eating it.  

First make little balls of dough.  They don't all have to be equal, but they will get bigger when they rise and bake.

Roll each piece of dough in melted butter.

 
   
Then roll in a cinnamon-sugar mixture.  Be careful if a small child is helping you.  My little guy just wanted to stand there and eat the cinnamon-sugar.  Silly boy.

Then put the little balls of dough in a greased bundt pan.

Here's what the monkey bread looks like before it rises and bakes.

Go to Something Shiny now and get all the details.  This is totally worth it!

Cherry Chocolate Sourdough Cobbler

When we were in Pennsylvania back in September, we stopped at an Amish store on our way home.  They had a collection of Country Wisdom Bulletins with information on everything from Herbal Teas to Sourdough starter.  And since I've been enjoying my sourdough starter so much, I picked up the Sourdough Country Wisdom Bulletin.  The only recipe I've made so far is the variation on their Sourdough Cherry Cobbler that you see above. 

The original recipe calls for canned cherry pie filling.  I have cherries in my freezer from summer, so I opted to make my own filling–cooking the cherries with a little bit of sugar and adding cornstarch to thicken.  I also used whole wheat flour in place of all purpose.  The other change I made is adding the chocolate (and leaving out their addition of raisins).  Because, as we all know, chocolate and cherries make a wonderful couple.  If you don't have sourdough starter, you could try this recipe with something else in it's place, like yogurt or sour cream. You will have to add some type of leavener, perhaps a teaspoon of baking soda or baking powder.  Or, try my chocolate substitution in your favorite cobbler recipe...just substitute 1/4 cup of flour with cocoa powder.

Here's my version of the recipe:

Chocolate Cherry Sourdough Cobbler

1 can cherry pie filling (1lb. 5oz.), or use an equivalent amount of fresh cherries
1/4 cup sourdough starter
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 425º.

If using fresh cherries, cook them over medium heat with a sprinkling of sugar over the top (use more or less sugar depending on how sweet you want the cherries to be).  Mix together 1 tsp. of cornstarch and enough water to dissolve it in.  Add this to the cherry mixture and bring to a boil.  

Grease an 8-inch pie plate or cake pan.  Put in the cherry filling.  

Sift together the dry ingredients and cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse meal.  Stir in the sourdough starter and chocolate chips.  Mix thoroughly but lightly.  Spoon the mixture over the top of the cherry filling, working in circles from the outer edge of the pan.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the top is lightly browned and the cherry filling is bubbling up through the center.