60 in 60: Day 44- Chip Cookies

These cookies were originally a recipe out of a Better Homes and Garden's Cookie Book. They were modified by Heather for her friend, Chip. I modified them just a little bit more (the original recipe calls for cayenne and cardamom, not nutmeg). When Heather sent me the recipe she included how these cookies should be stored. Unfortunately, for the fridge, these cookies didn't make it to the "storing" stage. They did, however, make it all the way to the "Save the recipe because these are freaking delicious" stage.

Heather's description of the recipe follows: "Okay, this is adapted from a Better Homes & Gardens recipe. I changed a bunch of stuff around, added things to taste, and made corrections as I saw fit and there's actually very little of the original recipe left in there, but gotta give credit where it's due. We just call them Chip Cookies because my friend Chip asks for them, is responsible for most of the flavors being requested, & cites this finished recipe as his favorite. If I had to classify them, I guess they'd be chocolate-gingerbread-wafer-cutout... things. He has to be rationed, or he'll eat all of them in one sitting and make himself ill. They're a bit time-consuming, but totally worth it!"

Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter (not margarine)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp nutmeg (which I used because I was missing the 1/8 tsp cayenne 1/2 tsp cardamom)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
(Heather says "If you don't have all that stuff, the cayenne & a couple teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice should do the trick.")
2 tsp cocoa powder
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg yolk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 & 1/2 cups flour, (Heather says "Spooned lightly into the cups, not packed & leveled off, or the cookies will be really dry.")

beat the butter for 30 seconds


Add in the brown sugar, spices, cocoa, & salt. Beat all that until it's incorporated, then add the egg & vanilla.


Mix in the flour just until it's all mixed in. Don't over mix it or the cookies will be tough.
Divide it in half & chill it if it's too mushy to roll out. (Mine went in the fridge for about 20 minutes or so, just so I could roll it.)


Roll out cookie dough to about 1/8 inch thick on a floured surface. Cut out cookies using fun shapes. (Heather says: "If you want authentic Chip Cookies, use leaf-shapes and dog-bone shapes, 'cause those are his favorite.")


Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. (Some of my cookies ended up looking like wonky bats.)


While the cookies are cooling, melt the chocolate chips.


Drizzle chocolate over the cookies.
Heather says: "Chip favors as much chocolate as humanly possible coated on the cookies, but I think about 50% coverage is good for letting the spices & flavors all come out.") I just let whatever came off of the rubber spatula coat the cookies. I liked the ones with less chocolate, while my boyfriend enjoyed the ones with more.


Let the chocolate cool off before devouring the deliciousness that are "Chip Cookies."


Just in case you don't devour all the cookies in one sitting, here are Heather's rules for storing, "When all the chocolate is set (this can take a while, and cats hamper the process), store in an airtight container (if you used parchment paper earlier, tear it up & put it between layers of cookies in the container, otherwise, throw 'em in a ziploc bag). They freeze really well, and if it's really hot & muggy, you want to at least put them in the fridge to keep the chocolate from melting."

Yield: There.. was more than one cookie? I don't believe you.

60 in 60: Day 43- White Chocolate Walnut

Just so you know, there is a big difference between "White Chocolate Macadamia Nut" and "White Chocolate Walnut."

White Chocolate Walnut

Ingredients:

1 and 1/3 c flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c butter
1/2 c Raw Sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
4 oz white chocolate chunks
1/2 c finely chopped walnuts

(You should know this one:) Cream together the butter and the sugar.


Add the vanilla and egg, beating until just blended.


Mix in the rest of the ingredients all willy-nilly.


Form the dough into balls the size of walnuts (Which I found amusing, because there are chopped walnuts in the cookies.)
Bake for 10-12 minutes on a greased cookie sheet at 350.


Cool on the sheet until cookies firm slightly, then transfer to racks for the cookies continued cooling pleasure.


I'll let my pal, Rosie, do the talking for me on these cookies: "[JessAnn] sent me cookies. i am orgasming right now because they are seriously some of the most amazing delicious cookies ever." So, fellas, take a tip from your girl, JessAnn, if you want buxom, blonde women to quiver with ultimate joy, bake them cookies.

Book Yield: 20
My Yield: 20!

60 in 60: Day 42-Cherry Cookies

Posted by JessAnn on , , , ,
Another previous-made recipe (but aren't all of these? How abouts I say "way previously-made"?) from the Golden Cookie Book of doom and deliciousness. (I wish it were really called that.) These delightful, colorful, odd-shaped cookies, that reside on page 118, were originally made on October 7th.


Cherry Cookies

Ingredients:

1 and 2/3 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c butter, cut up
1 egg, beaten
3/4 c sugar
1/2 c finely chopped candied cherries
1 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl and use a pastry blender to cut in the butter until the mixture resembles (say it with me) fine crumbs.


Add the egg, beating until just blended.


Stir in sugar, cherries, and vanilla to form a soft dough.


Knead the dough until smooth.
Form the dough into a long log (Random fact: "Lanky llamas like to lay on long logs" was a voice exercise I did back when I was in the theatre.)
Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Catch up "Chuck" since they have part of the second season on Hulu.


Slice that dough! (1/2 in thick)
Bake on greased cookie sheets at 375 for 8-10 minutes, or until "just golden."


Transfer to racks to cool.


These are delicious, and since candied cherries are easy to find around the holiday times, are a PERFECT non-denominational-holiday cookie!

Book Yield: 35
My Yield: 27 and a half (Don't ask.)

60 in 60: Day 42- Apricot Brandy Macaroons

These delicious things of wonder were originally made on October 3rd, using liquor from my aunt's extensive collection. I was supposed to wait for to make these until my aunt got back from her vacation in Tennessee (that was the deal for using her liquor), but I couldn't wait. She's in Tennessee, with a senior group, and I'm in New York, eating cookies.

Apricot Brandy Macaroons

Ingredients:

Cookies:
1/3 c flour
2 c finely ground walnuts
3 egg whites
1/4 t salt
3/4 c sugar

Filling:
8 oz white chocolate
1/4 c heavy cream
2 T apricot brandy
2 T finely chopped pistachios

Beat the egg whites and salt in a bowl until frothy.


Add the sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.



Fold in the dry ingredients.


Bake at 275 on buttered cookie sheets for 20-25 minutes.
For some reason, whenever I make egg-white ANYTHING, they never turn out, so BLAH.
They're not as crunchy or puffy as they're supposed to be. (Meaning they're flat and sticky-squishy.)


For the filling, melt the chocolate with the cream in a double boiler.


Stir in the apricot brandy, taking care not to drink the 2 T that you are supposed to be adding to the filling mixture. Taking a sip from the bottle, just to see how it's supposed to taste is totally okay though.


Plunge the pan into a bowl of ice water and stir until the mixture has cooled.
With the mixer at high speed, beat until creamy.


Stick the cookies together in pairs with the filling.
Roll in the pistachios.


I got really bored rolling the cookies in the pistachios after two or three, so I started putting the pistachios in with the filling. I think this made the cookies taste better. They didn't rise, like they were supposed to, but that didn't matter in the taste. And yes, so you know, I saved some for my travelling aunt. She has six cookie sandwiches in the freezer, waiting for her to return from Nashville.

Book Yield: 20 cookies
My Yield: 12 cookies
(I can't remember if that's 12 sammiches or 12 cookies, though. I suppose if my aunt is getting 6 sammiches, it's 12 cookie sammiches.)

60 in 60: Day 41-Raspberry Tartlets

Made these on Oct 2nd. I'm not going to give you the recipe for tartlet shells, because it was just gross and useless and you're better off making your own up or buying them from the store.

Raspberry Tartlets

Ingredients:

12 tartlet shells (store bought or prepared)
2/3 c confectioners' sugar
Zest and Juice on 1 lemon
2/3 ricotta cheese
1 1/2 T unflavored gelatin
1/4 c cold water
1 c heavy cream
17 oz raspberry yogurt

Stir together yogurt, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and ricotta cheese.


Sprinkle gelatin over the water in a small saucepan over a low heat.
Let stand for a minute then stir until gelatin has dissolved completely.
Stir the gelatin into the raspberry mixture and refrigerate until thickened.


If you didn't follow my warning, and looked up your own recipe for tartlet shells, now would be the time to bake them. If you bought your own, set them out now.


Beat the cream in a medium bowl until stiff.


Fold cream into raspberry mixture.


Spoon mix into shells. Refrigerate for an hour before serving.


I suggest buying your own tartlet shells, because this recipe for tartlet shells is DISGUSTING. That, and, the tartlet shells kind of all fell apart so they were unusable. Also, this recipe made WAY too much filling for twelve tartlet shells. (I know I didn't get to fill all mine, but I'm pretty good at guesstimation.) The filling was okay, but overall this recipe was blah.

Yield: 12 tartlets
My Yield: 2 tartlets, a bunch of crust crumbs, and a big bowl of filling.

60 in 60: Day 41-Gypsy Creams

These cookies are a bit messy, but they're also a bit delicious. I made the Italian Buttercream for them first, but you should probably make the cream while the cookies are in the oven. These cookies (and the buttercream) were originally made on October 3rd.

Italian Buttercream

Ingredients:
'

1/2 c water
3/4 c sugar
3 egg yolks
1 c butter, softened

Stir the water and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat until the sugar has dissolved.
Cook, without stirring, until the mixture reaches the "soft-ball stage" (I just cooked it until it was really, really hot.)
Beat the egg yolks in a double boiler until pale.


Add the sugar-syrup to the yolks.
Place the mixture over barely simmering water and stir with a wooden spoon until the mixture lightly coats a metal spoon.


Put the pan in a bowl of ice water and stir until cooled. Or until your arm falls off, whichever happens first.
Beat the butter in a bowl until creamy.


Beat into the egg mixture.


Set aside until you're ready to use it.


Gypsy Cream Cookies

Ingredients:

1/4 c margarine
1/4 c butter
1/2 c sugar
1 tsp corn syrup
3 tsp boiling water
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 c self-rising flour*
1 c rolled oats
1/2 tsp vanilla

*For the self-rising flour you can add 1 and 1/8 tsp baking powder, 1/8 tsp salt, and a pinch of baking soda to 1 cup of AP flour to substitute.

Beat margarine, butter, and sugar until pale and creamy.


Melt the corn syrup in the water and stir into the butter mixture.


Gradually beat in the flour, baking soda, oats, and vanilla.



Bake at 375 on parchment paper lined cookie sheets for 15-20 minutes.


Cool completely.


Add red food coloring to the Italian Buttercream for a festive flair!


Sandwich cookies together with buttercream.


These were yummy, but messy. A fun treat when you're in the mood for something colorful!

Book Yield: 24 cookies (so 12 sandwiches)
My Yield: 22 cookies (11 sandwiches)