Pistachio Cornmeal biscotti

Friend,

It was great to see you, the husband and to meet the newest member of your family! 

The biscotti is from a Martha Steward Cookie cookbook - and I liked them too. The addition of cornmeal really helps them crunch without being rock hard.  Also - I used salted pistachios and dried cherries and added about a cup of bittersweet chocolate chips, so they were extra salty and a little more sweet than just the cranberries would have been. I tend to throw in a lot of stuff into biscotti. this dough was particularly crumbly when forming into logs -  I just patted them into shape and they stuck together after baking.

Let me know if you have any questions or what new combinations you come up with!

Scate

MS's Cranberry-Pistachio Cornmeal Biscotti

1.25 cups all-purpose flour

1.25 cups yellow cornmeal

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp coarse salt

6 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temp

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 TBSP finely grated lemon zest

1 cup dried cranberries (i used cherries)

1 cup chopped pistachios (i never chop them)

(i added 1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips)

1. preheat oven to 350 with rack in center. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, bkg powder and salt.

2. put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitter with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until smooth. Add sugar and mix until pale and fluffy Mix in eggs one at a time; mix until just combined. Add lemon zest, cranberries, and pistachios and mix until combined.

3. Transfer dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment pater. Pat into a log that is roughly 14 x 3.5 inches. Bake until firm, lightly browned, and slightly cracked on top, 30-35 minutes. Let cool on sheet on a wire rack about 15 minutes.

4. Transfer log to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut on the diagonal into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange slices upright on a baking sheet lined with parchment. Bake cookies until they begin to brown at the edges, about 15-18 minutes, rotating half-way through. Let cookies cool on a wire rack. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temp up to 2 weeks.

Cookie Exchange: Cardamom Pistachio Butter Cookie

I love finding new Christmas Cookies that are really tasty - and unique. These tasty butter cookies have a nice, mild cardamom flavor and topped with pistachios, coconut, and orange zest.

Cookie Exchange!

I've read a few FB updates from friends who are frantically baking for an upcoming Exchange. It's pretty exciting to read about as I rewrite my Torts Outline in the Library as opposed to getting flour all over the kitchen and making a triple batch of Butter Cookies...

Girls' Cabin Weekend

Last weekend, I headed north to a cabin on a lake with about 12 girls for the weekend. Perfect excuse to do some baking!

In charge of breakfast treats, I made blueberry muffins, biscotti and banana bread. All things that I have done before - so I know they'll work. But - in order to change it up a bit I decided to try a few new techniques that I found.

Blueberry Muffins I used my favorite recipe from the American Test Kitchen book. However, I used some of Joy the Baker's tips from her Browned Butter Blueberry Muffins. I browned the butter and used the topping from Joy's recipe. The topping just makes the muffins look so much better - and it's just flour, butter, and sugar. So easy! I used a pastry cutter instead of my fingers to mash up the topping ingredients. To make it travel worthy - I baked the muffins 95% of the way at home, then popped them in the oven at 250 for 30 minutes right before serving. This browned them up a bit more, took away the tackiness from traveling airtight, and let me serve them warm without a mess in the kitchen.

For the biscotti, I followed another favorite recipe and used dried cherries, toasted whole almonds and chopped white chocolate for the 'add-ins'. I formed the logs more narrow than I usually do - and was sure to chill the dough logs before baking to help them hold their shape (just like cookies.) I love this recipe - the addition of butter keeps them soft enough to eat without dunking into coffee first. Nice when sharing with a crowd - it eliminates the need to post a warning to avoid broken teeth!

The banana bread got rave reviews! I stirred in 1/2 cup each of toasted coconut and walnuts (instead of chocolate chips) and topped the bread with melted bittersweet chocolate. The add-ins really boosted the texture and helped differentiate it from the blueberry muffin texture.

A nice way to have 'variety' with cookie-like biscotti, perfectly sweet blueberry muffins and nutty banana bread with coconut and chocolate.

Life is just a bowl of cherries... cherry choc chip cookies

Let's make this simple. I made chocolate chip cookies last night. We each ate one and I brought the rest to work. So - when we wanted chocolate chip cookies again tonight - and I didn't have extra dough hanging out in the fridge (PARTY FOUL!) - I thought i'd change it up a bit. I cracked open a jar of Trader Joe Morello cherries - chopped them and drained out some liquid, added a dash of almond extract and an extra 2 TBSP of flour to my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe - and voila! A new cookie is born. Pretty fun - and very tasty.

Oatmeal Cherry Cookies - a new twist on a classic

Spring cleaning. I thought about it. I somehow rationalized using ingredients in the cabinet for some cookies as a reasonable substitute. Nevermind the fact that in my grocery trip today - many more items were added to the cabinet than what I was able to use. That doesn't count.

Any way you dice it - these cookies are tasty. And - they are very different from any other cookie that i've had. Please note: cardamom is not a taste for everyone. I thought it was - until H. likened the taste to soap coating his mouth. Oh, well. That means more cookies for the work crowd!

Oatmeal Cherry Cookies

1 cup butter

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1.5 TBSP Brandy (or 1.5 tsp vanilla)

2 cups AP flour

1 tsp baking pwd

1 tsp cardamom (or cinnamon)

1/2 tsp salt (skip if you used salted butter)

2 cups oatmeal

1 cup cherries

1 cup chocolate chunks

* Heat oven to 350

* Cream sugar

and butter

* add eggs, one at a time and Brandy

* In seperate bowl, stir together flour, bkg pwd, cardamom and salt

* Add flour to butter mixture and mix until well c

ombined

* Fold in oats, cherries and chocolate

* Using a small scoop, scoop dough unto parchment lined c

ookie sheets

* Chill prepared cookie sheets until very firm (freeze for 5 minutes or fridge for 10).

* Bake chilled dough balls for 10-12 minutes. Rotate sheet half-way through baking. Pull out of

oven when cookies begin to brown. Slide parchment off of cookie sheets to help stop the baking.

Food + Friends = Living the good life

I can't think of many things that are more enjoyable in life than good food and good friends. Throw in a few drinks, some guitar hero, and sitting outside for the first time of the season - and you have one damn good weekend.

Saturday - Dinner party for 8. Scate bakes up a big batch of Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti in the afternoon and set aside to "air dry." Then, I put on the uber tasty sweet Tomato with Onion and Butter sauce to slowly simmer and whip up a quick batch of pasta dough. H. prepared two chickens for the rotisserie and a fun celery/apple/walnut salad. The dinner was billed as a 'wine and scotch tasting' night - so the number of bottles on the table is real - and what we wanted for the evening. I don't know enough about wine to tell you much - we had some great bottles and a lot of tasting. I'm glad I didn't have far to go that night!


Appetizer/First Course: olives and spiced nuts
Pasta Course: homemade linguini with basic tomato sauce
Meat Course: Rotisserie chicken (rubbed with rosemary butter) and slow-cooked glazed carrots
Salad Course: Apple/celery/candied walnut/soft italian cheese salad
Dessert: Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti with assorted ice creams (coffee and vanilla hagen daz)

Pasta Recipe
3.5 cups flour
5 eggs
*the trick is to hand knead for 10 full minutes, let it rest for at least 30 - then use a magical pasta roller to make your noodles. I rolled and cut the noodles while everyone was watching. It took a little longer than I had anticipated and got our guests to jump in and help with the noodles. This got flour everywhere - but added a little entertainment factor.

Pasta Sauce
3 15oz cans of whole stewed tomatoes
15 TBSP butter
2 onions - cut in half through the root end
* let simmer for 45 minutes - 1 hour until that fat seperates (you will see the fat "float" on top)
* throw away the onions before serving.


Chocolate Hazelnut Biscotti
from epicurious.com - click title for recipe
* the skins took some time to remove from the hazelnuts. It also made a pretty big mess! I used the nuts with some skin left on them (I couldn't get them off!) to grind up for the dough.
* I threw in about 2 cups of chocolate chunks and mini chocolate chips that I had on hand. These stayed soft when eating - and was a great way to up the chocolate!
* the ground hazelnuts really added a nice flavor to the cookie.
* This recipe makes a lot of cookies! I should have made 3 logs instead of just 2 to keep them the size I like.
* I baked for 20 minutes on the second round because they were still "fudgy" looking after 10 minutes. These are forgiving - but i should have baked longer on the first round.
This batch of biscotti made enough for dessert on Sunday night too! The multi-purposed dessert allowed time to complete my 12 mile run on Sunday morning, visit a brand-new baby and parents in the afternoon, and go to dinner with friends that evening. These were even tastier when not preceeded by many hours of wine tasting - or maybe my memory is more clear... Either way - it was a great weekend! You know it was good when it's all gone!

Biscotti: Chocolate, Cherry, Almond, Oh My!

I feel like I make biscotti all the time. So - I would have thought that I had it figured out by now! Not quite the case. I always like to doctor up the recipe with the ingredients I have onhand - and it usually works out quite nicely. Todays lesson: adding jarred cherries is NOT the same as throwing in a handful of dried cherries! Seems so simple - but, well - I have a knack for finding out these things the hard way. Let's start with the basic biscotti recipe (from America's Best Recipe)

Biscotti

10 oz flour * 1 tsp baking pwd * 1/2 tsp salt
Whisk together in a small bowl

7 oz sugar * 1/2 stick of butter (softened but cool) Cream together in the stand mixer until smooth

2 eggs
add one at a time to the sugar/butter mixture

1 tsp vanilla * 1/4 tsp almond extract

stir into liquid mixture

* Fold in dry ingredients

* Fold in any "extras" {I used: 3/4 cup whole toasted almonds, 1 jar of trader joe's morello cherries (drained), and 1/2 small bag of nestle chocolate chunks}

Create 2 narrow 'logs' on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake: 350 for 30-35 minutes (until starting to crack on top)

Remove from oven, let cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temp to 325. Slice logs into your cookies and put back on cookie sheet.

Bake cookies until brown and more crisp - about 10 -13 minutes. Flip cookies (or rotate if you put cookies upright) halfway through 2nd baking.

Cool completely before storing in airtight container.

*** My mistake: I folded the wet cherries into the flour before adding to the liquid. These little suckers took up all of my flour. I added more flour - and a little baking pwd - but these still were softer than I was hoping. I think I'll stick with the dry additions - or toss the cherries in their own flour and add at the end.
They still turned out pretty well. These will be mighty tasty at the work breakfast tomorrow!

Cookie Tips

What is better than fresh baked cookies? How about fresh baked cookies without the mess?!

The cookie dough rolls made by tollhouse is the idea. Homebaked/homemade still tastes better - so make your own roll!

Tip #1: move your finished cookie dough onto a large piece of parchment paper. Push the dough into a roll with the paper and put the whole roll into the fridge (or even freezer). If storing for more than 1 or 2 days - you can wrap the parchment in another (more airtight) method such as plastic wrap or using a ziplock bag.

Tip #2: always weigh your ingredients!

Check out "compromise with cookies" for a great recipe.

Butter Sandwich Cookies

This last weekend was the perfect time to start the cookie baking! I spent Sunday afternoon with my mother-in-law - she is a pro at sugar cookies with detailed decorations. I made my favorite: Butter Jam Sandwich Cookies. The only sad part is that you are essentially using 2 cookies to make one. So, make sure you roll these really thin - and watch the baking time. If you are able to get them thin enough, your baking time can be as short as 6 minutes. It's not a bad idea to have a test run with only a few cookies on the sheet. Also, I didn't take the time to rechill the dough everytime - and it was OK. If these were the only cookies on a plate - I'd take the time. However, they are going to be on a plate with about 10 other varieties - and they will still hold their own!

Sarah’s Butter Sandwich Cookies
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons whole milk
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Parchment Paper
Assorted decorations (such as powdered sugar, icing, colored sugar crystals, and edible glitter)2/3 cup preserves (such as apricot, seedless raspberry, or seedless blackberry)

Whisk flour and salt in medium bowl to blend well. Using electric mixer, beat butter and 2/3 cup sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in milk, lemon peel, and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and beat until blended. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 2 hours. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let soften slightly before rolling out.)

Roll out each dough disk between sheets of parchment (or waxed) paper to 14x11-inch rectangle, occasionally lifting parchment paper to smooth out wrinkles. Refrigerate dough on baking sheets, still between sheets of parchment paper, until cold and firm, about 30 minutes. Place 1 dough piece on work surface. Peel off top sheet of parchment paper. Press same parchment paper gently back onto dough. Turn dough over (still between parchment paper sheets). Peel off top sheet of parchment paper and discard.

Using 2 1/4-inch scalloped round cutter and with dough still on parchment paper bottom, cut out cookies. Using 1- to 1 1/4-inch scalloped round cutter, cut out center from half of cookies. Gather dough centers and excess dough around cutouts; shape excess dough into disk and chill. Slide parchment paper with cutouts onto baking sheet and chill. Repeat with remaining dough disk, cutting out rounds, cutting centers from half of rounds to make top rings, and gathering and chilling excess dough. Roll out excess dough between sheets of parchment paper, making more cookie bottoms and top rings. Repeat rolling and cutting until all of dough is used.

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using metal spatula to lift cutouts from waxed paper, transfer cookie bottoms to 1 prepared sheet and top rings to second sheet, spacing slightly apart (cookies spread very little). Sprinkle some top rings with colored sugar crystals (or leave plain to decorate later). Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until pale golden, about 8 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; cool completely.

Arrange cookie bottoms on work surface. Spread each with 1 teaspoon preserves. Sift powdered sugar over plain cookie rings or decorate with icing and sugar crystals or edible glitter as desired. Press 1 top ring onto each prepared cookie bottom. (Cookies can be made 3 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of parchment paper in refrigerator.)

Chocolate-Cherry-Almond Biscotti

Once again, I am looking through the cabinets to see what I can bake tonight. I love bringing biscotti into work as it gives an excuse to eat cookies in the morning. Dried cherries, a small amount of dark chocolate chips, a small amount of semi-sweet chocolate chips, and almonds. I have to admit that I rummaged through a snack mix to get a few more almonds. It's not something that I would recommend, but in this case the almonds were raw and mixed with dried blueberries - so I think they will do the trick. This is my second Monday in a new job, and the second Monday that I have brought cookies in - I think I might be setting a dangerous protocol that will require cookie baking every Sunday night. Sounds fun!

 Biscotti with cherries, chocolate and almonds

adapted from The New Best Recipe

2 cups (10

 oz) flour

1 tsp baki

ng powder

1/4 tsp salt

4 TBSP butter (softened)

1 cup (7 oz) sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp almond extract

3/4 cup almonds: toasted, cooled and coarsely chopped

1/2 cup dried cherries

1/2 cup chocolate chips

egg white for egg wash

preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, then mix in extracts. 

3. Stir in cooled almonds, cherries, and chocolate chips.

4. Fold in flour mixture until just mixed.

5. With floured hands, shape dough into 2 long 'logs' that are 2" wide by 13" long.

6. Smooth sides and brush with egg wash.

7. Bake for 35 minutes, until top begins to brown.

8. Pull logs out of oven. Let cool for 10 minutes. Turn down oven to 325 degrees.

9. Using a serrated life, cut each log into cookies 3/8 inch thick - on the bias.

10. Place cookies back on sheet about 1/2 inch apart. Bake until crisp and golden on each side (about 15 minutes)

Biscotti can be stored in airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Compromise with cookies

Making chocolate chip cookies has always brought smiles and good will. As a new wife a few years ago, I offered to make cookies for my husband to bring into the office. His only request - make them thin and crispy. Now, I prefer them thick and chewy - quite the opposite from what I was imagining. After an argument - I reluctantly made the cookies that he would like most. The 'thin and crisp chocolate chip cookie' recipe from the American Test Kitchen has since become my FAVORITE cookie recipe - turning out fantastic carmelized cookies that stay chewy for days.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups (7.5 oz) unbleached flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick melted and cooled unsalted butter

1/2 cup (3.5 oz) granulated sugar

1/3 cup (2 1/3 oz) brown sugar

2 Tbsp light corn syrup

1 large egg yolk

2 Tbsp milk

1 Tbsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

* using a scoop will ensure uniform sized cookies. You can also shape the dough into a long roll on parchment paper, cool in the fridge, then slice off the amount you want for each cookie.

* Bake for 10-12 minutes in a 375 degrees.

* Cool the dough before baking.