Pistachio Cookies

When I walked in the house on Tuesday, I knew that even if I went up to my room, I wouldn't do my homework.

So instead I went into the kitchen, sniffed around, found some pistachios and white chocolate, and set to work on a cookie. I remembered a macadamia butter cookie recipe I'd seen a couple years back in a Cooking Light magazine, and with my soon-departing friend in mind, set off to make a cookie she'd like.

The first batch came out burnt. But it had potential. Great potential. I just needed to be more careful with the oven.

The second batch came out a tad bit overbaked. But this time, you could tell they were good crunchy cookies.

And the third batch, while crispy, proved it was the oven, and not the cookie, that was the problem. So last night, between 5:15 and 6pm, the short window of time which I was in the house, I whipped up another batch (after buying more pistachios and white chocolate) and this time, they were exactly what I was looking for: subtle pistachio flavors, slightly overwhelming white chocolate scattered throughout, and the occasional sweet-tart kick from dried cranberries.

Pistachio-White Chocolate Cookies
makes 2-3 dozen cookies

2/3 cup (4 ounces/113g) unsalted pistachios or pistachio nut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
scant 1 cup (3.5 oz/100 g) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 ounces/170 g white chocolate chips, finely chopped (or chips pulsed in food processor)
1/4 cup (1.5 ounces/40 g) sweetened dried cranberries, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC/Gas Mark 4. Line or grease two baking sheets.

In a food processor, process pistachios for 2 minutes or until ground into a paste, unless using purchased nut butter. In a large mixing bowl, combine pistachio butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Beat together until combined. Beat in egg and vanilla extract until smooth and evenly combined.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir into wet mixture. Mixture will be thick. Stir in white chocolate and dried cranberries until just evenly dispersed.

Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheet, two inches apart. Flatten with a fork in criss cross patterns or the bottom of a greased glass.
Bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges are golden. Let cool 1 minute.

Four-Day Weekend Blondies

It's like a Friday afternoon. Only better, because it's three fifteen and I've been home for FOUR hours. Granted, my mom thinks I should be medicated and on the couch knocked out by Nyquil, but I'm full of energy. Sniffly, yes, but energetic. And with hands that have been washed far too many times today.

But that's what let's me bake. Well, I guess not exactly, but it's how I keep from worrying about killing anyone. Or at least giving them a cold. If I feel a sneeze coming, I run out of the kitchen. So far, this plan is working. I hope.

Today I baked with levkar for the first time. And the brownies turned out surprisingly moist, not unlike butter-laden brownies.

But this is not that recipe. Oh no, far from it. This is a recipe that I think Paula Deen might approve of. Actually, probably not, because it only has one stick of butter, and no nuts. And there are dried kumquats! The kumquats are optional, because I'm not sure where you would find them, other than crazy shops in Chinatown with a variety of dried/preserved fruits to sample and choose from. There were at least three kinds of kumquats, varying in salty sweet tartness. I'm sure dried apricots could be nice, though the recipe didn't originally have any dried fruit, it was just a suggestion at the end of the recipe for modifications (which also included crystallized ginger, adding extracts, nuts, etc.)

Time on my four-day weekend is ticking away, so I think I'll cut to the chase:

White Chocolate Cream Cheese Blondies (with kumquats!)
Adapted from Cream Cheese Blondies in Bruce Weinstein's The Ultimate Brownie Book, p.124
makes 24 2x2" blondies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, at room temp
1 large egg yolk, at room temp
6 ounces white chocolate, chopped (about 1 cup)
4 ounces dried kumquats, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line a 9x13 inch pan with foil (optional) and butter. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese, granulated sugar, and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed (or, I'd recommend a stand mixer, my hand mixer wheezed a bit at the beginning) until the sugars have dissolved and the mixture is smooth and thick, about 4 minutes, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. (Weinstein recommends 8, but 4 seemed to be fine.)
Add the eggs one at a time, allowing the first to be incorporated before adding the second. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla.

With a spoon or spatula, stir in the chocolate chips and chopped kumquats (if using). Stir in flour mixture until just incorporated. Spoon batter into prepared pan, spreading gently to corners.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is light brown and toothpick or tester comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Set the pan on a rack to cool for at least 30 minutes.

Cut blondies into 24 pieces. Serve immediately or let cool completely before storing. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 3 months.

A Winter Break Adventure

What? You say that doesn't look like a winter adventure?

And I'll be honest, there is nothing adventurous about rice krispy treats dipped in chocolate and sprinkles, or even making them. But the adventure is what led me to even consider making them, inspired by what I saw in the dessert case at Foodlife.
I'm sure dipped rice crispy treats on sticks are common. I'd just never seen one before, and it seemed like a neat concept. Other than the jaw pain I endured today trying to eat one straight out of the fridge (please, learn from my mistakes.)

I realize I still sound like a bore. But foodlife was not a part of the plan at all. It was merely that my friends and I decided we wanted to go ice skating, so I suggested we make it even cooler since the weather was warm (yes, 40 degrees is warm) we go ice skating in Millenium Park. Two hours later, we were on our way there. And pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't too crowded.

And then there was a slight problem. An hour-and-a-half long problem that is. At 6:30 at night, ice skating is popular. There was a long line that we somehow failed to notice, attributing to onlookers or just ignoring. So ice skating was postponed.

The next day, arriving half an hour before the rink opened proved to be a much quicker solution. And three hours later we were off the ice and ready for lunch. Which is when I saw the rice crispy treats on a stick dipped in chocolate and then dipped in coconut. Mmm...

Neither my friend nor I were hungry enough for dessert, so when I got home, after making a nice fish dinner that, in order to be cooked perfectly, was eaten cold, made my version of the treats, sans sticks. I ran out of coconut, but it is my favorite of the toppings I used.


Dipped Rice Crispy Squares
makes 36

1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 oz) butter
1 (10.5 ounce) bag marshmallows
6 cups cripy rice cereal (Rice Krispies)
6 ounces milk chocolate (or semi-sweet)
1 to 2 cups assorted things to dip (shredded coconut, chopped nuts, sprinkles, etc.)

Line or grease a 9x9 square pan.
Melt butter in a heavy pan over medium heat. Stir in marshmallows, stirring until melted. Remove from heat and stir in cereal. Press into prepared pan and chill for 30 minutes.

Cut into squares (6x6, or other size). Melt chocolate, either over simmering water on the stove, or in the microwave on medium in 30 second increments until melted. Dip squares into chocolate and then coconut. Set upright on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Repeat for remaining squares.
Chill until set.

Full circle, almost

My first post of the year was Oatmeal-Raisin cookies, and I'm ending 2008 with more cookies.

I guess that was a bit of a premonition about what my habits would be for the year, with cookie recipes now equaling muffin recipes, with 7 cookie recipes posted this year.
Make that 8 now.

I was not planning on making cookies today, but when I went to Trader Joe's today, I saw Miniature Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter cups. They were too cute to resist, and at the same price as a bag of chocolate chips for 12 ounces, too easy to toss into my basket. I figured I could use them in cookies of some sort.

Then it was crunch time. I told my parents I'd have a clean kitchen for them (I made banana muffins and espresso candied walnuts today) when they got home, I had to pick out what cookies I was going to make. I had just thrown out the bag from some Hershey Kisses and remembered that there was a recipe for peanut butter blossoms on the bag. I figured I could just use that as my base dough and work my way from there.

Quick, easy, and by the time my parents got home 30 minutes later, the last pan was in the oven.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Peanut Butter Cups
makes 30-40 cookies
Note: If you can't find mini peanut butter cups (I haven't seen them anywhere but TJ's), you can omit them or substitute chopped peanut butter cups or chocolate chips. Milk can also be used instead of buttermilk.
I also think this dough would work for thumbprints, but I haven't tried yet. I've yet to find a dough that I like for them.

1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 oz) butter, softened
3/4 cup (186 grams) creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons buttermilk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour or all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 ounces (1 package) mini peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 375ºF. Line 3 cookie sheets with parchment or baking mats.

In a large bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, and sugars on medium speed until combined. Beat in egg, buttermilk, and vanilla extract.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Stir the flour mixture into the peanut butter mixture until combined. Stir in the mini peanut butter cups.

Drop rounded teaspoons of the dough onto prepared baking sheets spaced 1" apart. Bake for 10 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned.

Baby, It's Cold Outside

The temperature here has dropped twenty degrees today, so it feels cold out.
But if you plan to venture on out or still need a nice gift for the holidays, I have a few suggestions.
Granted, you would have to have the ingredients on hand and a bit of time. And it is Christmas Eve.

Candied Espresso Walnuts shown above
Christmas Mice
Super Easy Cream Cheese Truffles
Green Tea Sandwich Cookies
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Ginger Crackles
Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies (or shortbread) - these are one of my neighbors favorites out of my cookie box
Pecan Tassies


But if you are looking for a nice little edible gift, the walnuts are my favorite. They're super easy to make, take about half an hour start to finish (well, 45 if you let things cool), and they make the house smell like a coffee shop. Or at least that's how mine smelled before dad started cooking brussels sprouts.

Mice for Christmastime

My grandmother has been making mice for about a decade.
Yes, I said mice.
Like the one in the picture above. Except she didn't make it. Keri and I did. It was a team effort.


She taught me how to make them about six years ago, and the following year my friend Keri and I made them together. I'm not sure if we've made them since eighth grade (when I made a step-by-step tutorial, but this year we finally got around to making them again. And they're so adorable and fun to make!

Keri and I don't see all that much of each other. We see each other at lunch and in history, which is most all through high school, but it was fun to get together. And so the mice took four hours. But don't let that scare you. We easily could have been done in an hour, but we talked, ate lunch, and found fun ways to use the leftover chocolate- we crushed up candy canes to mix in and then poured the chocolate into molds.



Chocolate mice sort of instructions:
I have no clue about quantities, but we used 3 10-ounce jars of maraschino cherries, a 17.6 ounce bar of milk chocolate, part of a 12-ounce bag of slivered almonds (the smallest size should be fine, we needed 204 almond slivers that looked nice), 1 1/2 bags of Hershey kisses (the 11 ounce ones, or 102 hershey kisses), and part of a tube of red gel icing. The numbers were based on how many cherries with stems we ended up with, and that's what we ended up with.
Melt the chocolate, dip the cherries in, push the kiss on, stick in the almonds. Repeat. Place in fridge to harden up for a while, and then dot on eyes. For better instructions, see my how-to from eighth grade.


Last three pictures by Keri. She was having fun with the camera.

Chocolate and Cream Cheese = Truffles

It's a fact. When I have a paper, I find ways to avoid working on them.
Okay, it's called procrastination and I'm sure we're all subject to it, but at least, well, okay, sometimes, I actually do something productive while avoiding what I should be working on.

Not that it's premeditated or anything. I was going to make Peppermint Cheesecake Brownies, but I wasn't sure what to do with the extra egg yolks that I would have leftover, and it seemed like it would be an hour of devotion at once.

Which is funny. Because that's how much time I ended up spending on something that I thought would be so much faster and easier. Which it was. Easier that is. Or at least simpler. Because it had two ingredients. I tried making it three, but that was a bad plan (and makes me glad I didn't make the peppermint cheesecake brownies).

The Philadelphia Cream Cheese coupon in the sunday paper had a recipe for truffles in it. I grabbed it for the coupon ('tis the season for tassies) but then realized it had a recipe (if you can even call it that) for truffles.

And they were surprisingly tasty.


Truffles!

1 8 oz. package cream cheese, softened
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (melted but later on)
decorations, optional

Beat the cream cheese until fluffy and beat in the chocolate. Chill until firm enough to handle (mine didn't need chilling, it set up pretty fast in my cold house) and then scoop and shape teaspoonfulls into balls.
Chill for half an hour or so, and then dip into melted chocolate and place on a sheet of wax paper or silicone mat (and top with sprinkles if desired).
Refrigerate for a few hours until chocolate is set.

Happy Thanksgiving

Mmm. Thanksgiving.
Actually, it's really not the tastiest holiday. I don't really like turkey, or gravy.

But cranberries. I do love cranberries. And oranges. Cranberries with oranges.
CRANBERRY ORANGE RELISH!

Every since Mom first made this cranberry relish about 8 years ago, I've been wanting it every year. So, for the past four years, so ensure I get it, I've been making it.

But for some reason, I failed to double the recipe this year. Oops. I'll just have to make some more tomorrow. Leftover sweet potatoes are no good without cranberry relish on top.

The food isn't what I like about Thanksgiving though (relish aside). It's my family. And no, I'm not trying to be a Hallmark card. I'm serious. Especially after dinner when we play games. Last year we played Catchphrase. Hilarity ensued. But there's an odd number this year.


Cranberry Orange Relish
adapted from the November 2001 issue of Gourmet (I think Mom made the entire menu that year)
Makes about 2 cups

1 (12-ounce) bag fresh cranberries
1 navel orange
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Place the cranberries, sugar, and cinnamon in the food processor. Zest the orange over the food processor, and then peel the orange and separate the segments from the pith and toss them into the food processor too (the segments, not the pith. That would be nasty.) Pulse until it's all chopped up.
Refrigerate for at least two hours to let flavor develop. And then hoard it.
Or be nice and serve it.

I'd recommend doubling this recipe if you have someone who relishes it as much as I do. Gourmet says it serves 10, but who are they kidding?

It Smells and Tastes Like Fall Now

My friend Lauren really likes pumpkin bread. Or so she says. I've never actually seen her a room with pumpkin bread. So I told her I'd make some. And then about 10 minutes later, I realized it would be hard to give to her, and pumpkin bread is so much tastier (in my opinion) in the morning. And I usually see her in the afternoons.
So I made those pumpkin bites from last year, which are essentially miniature pumpkin muffins. And they sustained her through a frustrating Calc study session. (Aren't you glad you are out of high school?)
But I was determined to get a pumpkin cookie down. So I turned to the banana-oatmeal cookies I've made far too many times. Because if they work for bananas, why not pumpkin?

It turned out to be harder than I thought. The first few batches, while tasty, nobody could ever identify the pumpkin in them. By batch 4 or 5, I'd found the secret. Ginger and toasted pecans. For some reason, the ginger and pecan flavor is reminiscent of fall and pumpkins. Or maybe I'm just crazy.

Either way, you should try these cookies.
Did I mention they're also super easy?

Spiced Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
makes 30 or so small cookies

1 cup (130 g) whole-wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon (85 g) pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups oats (130 g)
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/3 cup dried cranberries (Craisins)
1/3 cup white chocolate chips or 2 ounces white chocolate, chopped

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the oil, sugars, and pumpkin puree until smooth. Whisk in egg and vanilla extract.
Stir in flour mixture. Stir in the oats, pecans, dried cranberries, and white chocolate.

Drop by tablespoonfuls on the prepared baking sheet and bake for 12-15 minutes, or until tops are dry and edges are lightly browned. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to rack to cool completely (or enjoy immediately.)

Green Tea Sandwich Cookies

My friend's mom recently came back from Japan and with her she brought Green Tea KitKats. They're like normal kit kats, except the filling is matcha flavored, and the coating is a matcha white chocolate.

At lunch yesterday, when my friends and I got to talking about how tasty the kit kats were (and how long it had been since any of us had green tea ice cream). I said I'd make green tea ice cream, but then realized it would be hard to take it to school with me. So I decided to try to make cookies with a green tea filling instead.

I'd thought about making green tea sandwich cookies before when I saw a recipe somewhere, but never did. I just didn't feel like getting on the computer. So I turned to my Biggest Book of Cookies that one of my friends gave me for my birthday and looked for something similar to what I wanted. I usually don't like to make cookies that involve more than mixing, dropping, and baking, but I was inspired. And my two hours of work yielded only 22 cookies (there were more cookies, enough for closer to 30 sandwiches, but I ran out of filling and was too tired to make more; it was 10:30 at night).

I decided against dipping these rich, buttery cookies in a green tea-flavored white chocolate because they're fairly delicate, and delicious just the way they are. Hopefully my friends will like them!


Green Tea Sandwich Cookies
makes about 30
(adapted from a French Pistacho Buttercream recipe in Better Home & Gardens Biggest Book of Cookies)

Cookies:
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks; 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar, sifted (or sift into bowl with butter)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
Granulated sugar (for coating)

Filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick, 2 oz) unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon matcha (green tea) powder

To make cookies:
In a mixing bowl, beat 3/4 cup butter on high for about 30 seconds. Add 1/2 cup powdered sugar and salt, beat until fluffy and combined. Beat in egg. Beat in flour on low, or stir it in. Cover and chill dough about 1 hour, or until easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Using a teaspoon, shape dough into balls. Place on a cookie sheet (lined for easy cleanup, but it doesn't need greased regardless). Use the bottom of a glass dipped in the dough and then sugar to flatten each ball into a 1 1/2-inch circle.

Bake for about 8-12 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool completely.

While the cookies cool, make the filling:
Beat the 1/4 cup butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and green tea powder until light green and fluffy.

To assemble the sandwiches, spread about 1/2 teaspoon filling on the flat side of one cookie and top with another. If you prefer more filling, double the buttercream recipe.