TWD—Baking With Julia—Hazelnut Biscotti

Well, aren’t I the lucky one—I get to be one of the hosts for today’s Tuesday's With Dorie recipe from Baking With Julia.  When I saw that biscotti was one of our recipe this month, I threw in my vote to host because I love biscotti.  I was happy to be chosen to host.  I’m hosting along with Jodi of Homemade and Wholesome.  Check out her biscotti, she’ll have the recipe posted, too.  I’ve mentioned before, but the “old” shows of Baking With Julia are on my local PBS station every Saturday and I record them.  It is so great to see some of the episodes where we are making or have made the recipes I’m watching on the shows. 

From simple and well-worded directions for getting the skins off the hazelnuts by boiling them in water and baking soda, to the cookie dough coming together easily with a bowl and spoon, these biscotti are great!

One word of warning though, and I’m just saying this hypothetically—don’t use cornstarch instead of baking soda when boiling the nuts—the skins simply won’t come off.  Okay, okay, so I did that.  I was surprised to see that the cornstarch congealed and was just strange.  I’ll spare you the photos I took all the while not realizing I wasn’t supposed to use cornstarch but baking soda.  Here’s the boiled hazelnuts with baking soda in the water.  Just as the recipe indicates, the water will turn black when they are ready.

I thought removing the skins after the nuts were boiled was the most tedious and annoying part of the recipe, but it still wasn’t that bad. 

After making the dough, two cookie dough logs are put onto a baking sheet.  The recipes suggested that with the sticky dough you flour your hands.  I got mine a little wet with water instead.  I have done this before with biscotti and liked how easy it was to form the logs. 

The first bake of the biscotti went off without a hitch!

 

After cooling for a short time, I sliced the “logs” into half-inch pieces.  The biscotti were placed on a wire rack and baked for ten minutes in their second baking.

The biscotti really was enjoyable enough as-is.

The biggest surprise to me with these is that Kevin (who hates crunchy cookies) has been eating them dunked in milk and said they are actually pretty good.  I’m glad he likes them so I don’t eat them all. ;)

And of course, if you know me, like many of you know me, I just couldn’t leave well enough alone and I couldn’t leave chocolate out of these—or off of them.  Drizzle, drizzle!

Here’s the recipe--

Hazelnut Biscotti, from Dorie Greenspan, Baking With Julia

Makes about 4 dozen biscotti.  It’s the baking soda in the dough that gives these biscotti their wonderful open, crunchy texture.  Although they’ll tenderize over the course of a few days (if they last that long), just-baked, they’re exceptionally dry and crackly.  It’s also baking soda that makes easy work of the usually pesky job of peeling hazelnut—they’re boiled in a baking soda bath and emerge ready to shed their skins in a flash.

This recipe can be doubled and the choice of nuts varied.  You can make the biscotti with almonds, pistachios, or even peanuts; you can add raisins, or try chocolate chips.  And you can make the dough easily either by hand or in a mixer with a paddle.  If you choose the mixer, whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl, beat the liquid ingredients and sugar in the mixer, then add the dry ingredients to the liquid and continue with the recipe.

2 cups water

3 tablespoons baking soda

2/3 cup unblanched hazelnuts

1  2/3 cups all-purpose flour (200 grams)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons hazelnut liqueur, such as Frangelico, or brandy (I used Torani Hazelnut flavoring syrup instead of liquor—Katrina)

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup sugar (150 grams)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Preparing the nuts:  To skin the hazelnuts, bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan, add the baking soda and the nuts, and boil for 3 to 5 minutes, until the water turns black.  To test if the skins have loosened sufficiently, drop a nut into a bowl of cold water and rub lightly against the skin—if the skin just slides off, the nuts are ready to go.  Turn the nuts into a colander and run cold water over them.  Slip off the skins, toss the nuts onto a towel, pat dry, and transfer to a jelly-roll pan.

Place the pan in the oven and toast the nuts, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes, or until evenly browned.  The best way to test for total toastiness is to bite into a nut—it should be brown to the center.  Remove the nuts from the oven and cool.  Lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

When the nuts are cool enough to handle, coarsely chop them and set them aside.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and reserve until needed.

Making the dough:  Put the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk just to blend.

In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, liqueur (flavoring), vanilla, and sugar.  Add the dry ingredients to the liquid and stir with a wooden spoon to mix.  Add the nuts and continue to mix, just until well incorporated.  (Since the dough is stiff, sticky, and hard to stir, you might find it easier just to reach in and mix it with your hands.)

Flour your hands and life half the dough onto one side of the parchment-lined baking sheet.  Pat and squeeze the dough into a chubby log 12 to 13 inches long.  Don’t worry about being neat or smoothing the dough—it will even out as much as it needs to in the oven.  Repeat with the other half of the dough, leaving about 3 inches between the logs.

First baking:  Bake the logs for exactly 35 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let cool for at least 10 minutes.  At this point, the logs can remain on the pan overnight, if that’s more convenient for you.

Second baking:  Using a serrated knife, cut the logs into 1/2-inch-thick slices, cutting straight across or diagonally.  (You can make the biscotti thinner or thicker, as you wish, and adjust the baking time accordingly.)  Lay the biscotti on their sides on a cooling rack—you may need to use a second rack—then place the cooling rack in the 300 degree F oven, directly on an oven rack.  (Baking the biscotti like this allows the oven’s heat to circulate around the cookies, so there’s no need to turn them over.)  The cookies may need to bake for as long as 15 minutes, but it’s a good idea to start checking them after about 10 minutes.  When the biscotti are golden brown, dry, and crisp, remove the cooling rack(s) from the oven.  Let the cookies cool to room temperature before packing them for storage.

Storing:  The cookies will keep in an airtight container for about a month.

Contributing Baker—Alice Medrich

Ann Romney’s M&M Cookies (From Family Circle Magazine)

Ann Romney’s M&M Cookies with Peanut Butter & Oats

After seeing on The Today Show yesterday the two cookies chosen by the presidential candidate’s wives, Ann Romney and Michelle Obama, which is a tradition Family Circle magazine started a number of candidates back, I decided that Ann Romney’s M&M Cookies needed to be made here and tested.  I just finished baking them and wanted to hurry and write about them before we head out for a day trip.  They are that good.  You should make them soon.

I love that they only have oats, so if you wanted to make sure and get the gluten free oats, these would be gluten free.  With no added flour, I was worried they would flatten out too much, but these turned out perfectly.  They are baked at a lower temperature (325 degrees) and I think that helps with not-too-much spreading. 

I did not change anything about the recipe except that Ann’s suggested time for baking is 18 minutes and we like more of a chewy/soft cookie here, so I only baked them for 14 minutes.  Perfection! 

Since I didn’t change the recipe, which Ann was quoted as saying “no one in her family can resist them”, here’s the link to the recipe.  Ann Romney's M&M Cookies

On a side note, with wholesome oats and the Skippy Natural chunky peanut butter I used, these cookies are a great treat.  I was quite surprised to see Michelle Obama’s cookies (isn’t she on a big kick to get the nation’s kids healthy???), are FULL of butter and shortening—shortening, you know, the butter-flavored kind full of trans fats.  I was just a little shocked to see that as the cookie she picked to go up against Ann Romney’s cookies.  I think Family Circle has reported that 4 out of the last 5 times the potential first ladies have gone up against each other with their cookie recipes, the winning cookie has also been the presidential candidate who won the election.  Hmmm?  Can’t wait to see!  (And I’ll bet you can’t tell who I’d like to see as our next president and first lady!)  Let’s not get all political here, this is strictly about cookies….;)

TWD—Baking With Julia—French Raspberry Cake (Genoise)

French Raspberry Cake with Perfect Genoise from Baking With Julia

I kept putting off making the Baking With Julia recipe for this week and until Monday almost-afternoon I still hadn’t made it.  Then out of nowhere, I just decided to do it.  I wanted to try making a genoise cake, I can’t remember if we made one before with TWD-BFMHTY, probably, but after reading all the problems and questions on the TWD website, I wanted to prove to myself that this really was an easy cake to make—and it was!

This is one of my favorite recipes so far!  I’m actually happy with the way it turned out and that I was able to cover an entire cake with whipped cream, which I don’t believe I’ve done before.  And I’m happy with how it turned out.  Yes, those of you looking at it from TWD, it’s short.  It became apparent to me that there was no way I was going to be able to cut the cake into three layers, so I didn’t even try.  Two layers it was and it is/was just fine!

The cake for the recipe was supposed to be strawberry cake, with a layer of macerated strawberries in between each layer.  But I have just not been very happy with the strawberries we’ve had available here so far this season (grocery stores), and I have a freezer full of raspberries (plus we like raspberries more here anyway).  So I got some frozen raspberries out of the freezer and let them thaw.  Once they were about half thawed, added a quarter cup of sugar and let them sit for another hour or two.  As the recipe indicated, I mashed the whole berries with a fork and I actually drained the liquid (it made a great smoothie!), instead of spooning the fruit out with a slotted spoon. 

After slicing the cake (which I froze after it cooled as that was supposed to make for easier cutting, but didn’t for me), I topped the first layer with all of the raspberries, which was about a cupful.  Then I topped the berries with some of the whipped cream and for a little kick, I sprinkled some chocolate shavings on the middle layer.  As you can see, I also sprinkled some on top.  I didn’t have any pretty, fresh raspberries to put on top of the cake, so it only seemed natural to put chocolate! ;)

Good dark chocolate (70%) grated with a peeler and ready for the cake!

Mmmm!  While I think it could have used even more chocolate, this is a great cake.  Just perfect for my frosting-hating family.  I’ll be making more cakes in the future with whipped cream for the icing!

Word up (just for my own sake), I don’t like my photos and haven’t lately and won’t for a while—my precious camera has gone to the fix-it shop and these were taken with my phone.  Not really liking how photos are turning out with my phone, but at least I have it, right!

You want this genoise recipe and the French Strawberry Cake (though you can use any fruit you’d like and I’m sure it would be okay).  I’m really enjoying baking in this book, Baking With Julia.  What is really fun is that every Saturday our PBS station here has the episodes from Julia Child’s show, which Dorie Greenspan worked behind-the-scenes on with Julia.  I have been enjoying watching and recording the episodes—a few of which we’ve already made the recipes I’ve seen on the show. 

I say get the book if you don’t have it, but if you want this recipe, our hosts for this week will have it on their blogs.

Sophia from Sophia's Sweets and Allison from Think, Love, Sleep, Dine are the hosts.

Lucky Leaf Giveaway and Blueberry Pie, Strawberry Cookie Pie, Peach Cinnacake and Frozen Strawberry Pie Pops

Brace yourself for a delicious post full of all kinds desserts and treats made with Lucky Leaf premium pie filling—and a giveaway! Lucky Leaf contacted me and asked if I wanted to try some of their pie fillings and some fun ice pop molds.  I thought it would be fun to try them.  After receiving the package, I went to town making all the recipes they sent along with the products.

First, I made some  frozen strawberry pie pops.  I love the spiral shape of them and the boys enjoyed eating them.

I know, this is where you think it would be fun to see some cute pictures of my boys eating the pops.  And this is where I tell you that my camera is broken and on its way to the fix-it place.  Needless to say, I’m not thrilled with any of the pictures that will be in this post since I took them with my phone and due mostly to user-error, they aren’t that great.  So I did take some pictures of the boys, and they are blurry.  sigh  Anyway, for this post, I’ve picked out the best of the worst to share with you, because there are some great treats here. ;)

After making the pops, which I made using only half the strawberry pie filling, I made some miniature strawberry cream peanut butter cookie pies.  In the recipes given to me by Lucky Leaf, they suggested using refrigerated store-bought cookie dough.  But since I don’t do that, I made my own and decided on a peanut butter cookie dough for the crust.  They also suggested mixing the pie filling with thawed frozen whipped dessert topping, but I used real whipped cream.  One of the things I like about Lucky Leaf pie fillings is that they are made with no high fructose corn syrup---so I didn’t want to add any other pre-packaged ingredients and have other high fructose or hydrogenated oils, etc. in these desserts. 

These were good.  The peanut butter cookie crust was perfect for the fluffy strawberries and cream filling.  I took half of these to Kevin’s sister’s house and I think Scott ate the rest of them.  He really liked them!

I then used the peach pie filling to make my version of Lucky Leaf’s Perfectly Peach Cinnacake.   Their suggestion was to use a boxed cake mix, but I made my own dry cake mix and was happy with how it turned out.  Kevin, who as we all know, doesn’t like cake and especially frosting, actually really liked this cake (because it didn’t have frosting).  The boys all enjoyed topping their pieces of cake with some whipped cream.

The recipe said to fold the pie filling into the cake mix, but I didn’t want chunks of peach throughout the cake, so I actually pulsed the filling in the food processor before adding it to the cake.  It was good!

And finally, and probably my favorite of all these desserts I made a simple pie crust and made some mini blueberry pies.  Some perfectly two-bite mini pie pockets that were delicious (I love pie crust!).

Blueberry pie filling goodness hiding inside of these!

Even more fun, was this little three inch lattice pie I made.

I love how perfectly the pie sliced! And it tasted great!  And for the record, I did not make all of these in one day!  I will share the recipes I used for making homemade cake/cookie crust and pie crust in later posts, so stay tuned for those!

Meanwhile, Lucky Leaf is willing to send some of their premium pie fillings, ice pop molds and recipes cards to one of my readers!  Wanna win?  Leave me a comment letting me know what is you favorite flavor of pie.  That’s one entry.  For another entry, like the Baking and Boys! Facebook page and come back and leave me a separate comment that you did (or if you already do).  The deadline to enter for this giveaway is Monday, June 18, noon MST.  (U.S. Residents only please.)

Chocolate Grasshopper Mint Cookies Ice Cream

Decided I needed to share this ice cream recipe since today is National Chocolate Ice Cream Day.  It is a perfect, simple ice cream for any kinds of mix-ins you’d like.  Try it!

Chocolate Grasshopper Cookies Ice Cream, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, ice cream base adapted from Amanda's Cookin'

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free condensed milk)
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 cup 2% milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups chopped Keebler Grasshopper cookies

Put the condensed milk into a medium saucepan. Sift the cocoa into the condensed milk. Whisk together and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until smooth and slightly thickened. Remove from heat. Put the bittersweet chocolate in the condensed milk mixture and whisk until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large measuring cup, gently mix together the cream, 2% milk and the vanilla. Drizzle the cream mixture into the chocolate mixture. Whisk the mixtures together as you are drizzling. Be sure to loosen any mixture from the edges and corners of the pan using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Whisk until smooth. Pour through a sieve into a clean bowl.

Make an ice water bath in a bigger bowl and set the bowl of the chocolate cream mixture into it until it is very cold, whisking now and then. Pour into an ice cream maker and church according to manufacturer’s instructions, about 20-25 minutes. During the last couple minutes of churning, add the chopped cookies. Put in an airtight container and freezer for a couple hours (or enjoy the ice cream soft serve immediately. ;))

I have a little disclaimer with this particular ice cream.  One and a half cups of chopped cookies is plenty, but as I was chopping them, I kept chopped the whole package of cookies and ended up adding them all to the ice cream.  While I didn’t think so, Kevin thought it was a bit too much.  A whole package of the cookies probably totalled 2  1/2 to 3 cups of chopped cookies.  Add the amount you’d like.  Also if you want to bump up the mint flavor even more, you can add 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract.

Tis the season for ice cream!

TWD—Baking With Julia--Oasis Naan

This week’s recipe for Tuesdays With Dorie is Oasis Naan.  This flat bread is good for tearing off pieces and soaking up gravy or sauce from a stew or soup.  I made it to go with some pasta for dinner one night.  We all thought it was just okay.  I didn’t put the scallions on top but did sprinkle it with salt and cumin.  The top one in the photo is sprinkled with a little dried oregano and basil and salt (no cumin).  I knew the boys wouldn’t be crazy about the naan, so with half the dough, I made breadsticks and brushed them with oil and sprinkled cheese and dried oregano and basil on top.  The breadsticks were definitely a bigger hit.

I probably wouldn’t make naan again, but thought it was a good bread dough to work with.  If you’d like the recipe, you can find it on our host blogs--

Maggie at Always Add More Butter—check out what she did with some of the dough for a sweet treat!

Phyl at Of Cabbages & King Cakes

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups and Raspberry Chocolate Cookie Cups—Secret Recipe Club

For the Secret Recipe Club this month, it will be no surprise to the person whose blog I was assigned as soon as she sees this cookie in all the thumbnail links.  It is always great to find new blogs and make new friends with the Secret Recipe Club and I think it’s even more fun when your surprise assignment is someone you’ve already known for a while and already love their blog!

I had the pleasure of being assigned Lisa’s blog, Sweet As Sugar Cookies!  Lisa is as sweet as her blog, I know, because I had the pleasure of meeting her last November.  She lives in LA, but came to Utah to visit some friends and included me in those visits.  Lisa and I got to know each other through drooling over the treats on each others’ blogs over the last couple years.  It was so great to meet her last November!

I was excited to get to pick something to make from Lisa’s blog, but I was also so torn about what to make because there are so many great things to choose from!  Lisa has been on an amazing kick lately making cookie cups—all kinds.  There are so many, but I was drawn to her Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups.  I’ve told her she needs to get the rights or a patent on all these cookie cups she’s been creating since besides the Reese's Peanut Butter Cookie Cups I posted last year, I haven’t seen cups that are filled with all kinds of decadent fillings in perfect harmony.  I just stuck a piece of candy in mine, Lisa has been going all out with flavors and fillings, as well as different kinds of cookies.  Every time she posts a new one, I think that’s my favorite. I chose the Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies Cups, but her recent Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Filled Cookie Cups are a must-try-soon!  Check out all of Lisa’s creations so far.  (She’s mentioned she’s got a lot more ideas to come, too, like Butterfinger Cookie Cups, Caramel Apple Cookie Cups and Take 5 Candy Bar Cookie Cups!)

Orange Cheesecake Cookie Cups

Snickerdoodle Biscoff Cookie Cups

Lofthouse Sugar Cookie Cups

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Chocolate Peanut Butter Fudge Filled Banana Cookie Cups

Double Cookies-N-Cream Cookie Cups

Chocolate Surprise Cookie Cups

One of the things I love about Lisa, she won’t let little things, like ovens being broken for a couple months, stop her or even slow her down.  (I probably would have died without my oven for that long!) ;)  But while she didn’t have an oven, she spent that time creating all kinds of delicious looking treats that didn’t require an oven.  You’ll have to check out the Muddy Buddy craze she went on there for a bit, too, and it wasn’t just with Chex cereal!  If you haven’t been by Lisa’s blog, you must.  She also started a weekly link-up called Sweets For A Saturday over a year ago and has over 1000 followers because of it.  I’ve linked up a few times and you can, too.  If you’ve made and blogged something yummy and want to add it to her weekly link-up, do it!  I think she usually has the link up by Friday night.  Look for the new link each week.  You’ll surely be inspired each time with ideas when you look at the almost 100 entries she gets weekly.

So besides the Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups I made, I also tried my own flavor combo and made a raspberry filling to go with the chocolate cookie cups, with a fresh raspberry on top.  Yum to both!

I love that these are perfect for a 2 or 3 bite treat and they are perfect for parties or any occasion!

As pretty and fun as the raspberry ones were, I think I like the mint chocolate chips ones better and so did all the family who tasted them at a Memorial Day potluck I made them for. 

Plus, we loved the chocolate drizzle over the top of the mint ones.  I meant to shave a little chocolate on the tops of the raspberries ones and forgot.  They are both great and I will for sure be trying out some of the other cookie cup creations of Lisa’s!

I made Lisa’s Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups recipe just as she has it written.  She gives an option for a softer cookie using more butter, and that is what I did.  She also used salted butter and I used unsalted, but added a little salt to the cookies.  And one other small thing was that for her mint filling, I thought it was a little stiff, so I added about 1-2 teaspoons of milk until I liked the consistency.  Even though the filling has mini chocolate chips, I put it in a plastic zip top bag and snipped off enough of a corner to pipe the filling in to the cups.  Just make sure the hole is big enough that the mini chocolate chips don’t get clogged up. ;)

For the raspberry filling, I made a simple raspberry puree with some frozen raspberries and a bit of sugar.  (I only made half a recipe for the raspberry filling, which filled 18 cups with a little leftover.)  After making the puree and straining out the seeds, I just whipped it into a simple frosting/filling.

Raspberry Chocolate Cookie Cups (cookie recipe is on the link above for Lisa’s Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups), Filling recipe by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

3 tablespoons to 1/4 cup (to taste) seeded raspberry puree (3/4 cup frozen raspberries and 1 tablespoon granulated sugar, cooked in small saucepan until raspberries are thawed and broken up, then strained)

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

18 fresh raspberries

Make the raspberry puree.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the powdered sugar, butter, salt and vanilla.  It will need some liquid, so while it’s beating, add one tablespoon raspberry puree at a time until it is the consistency and flavor you’d like.  (I used 3 tablespoons.)  Pipe the filling into the cookie cups, which have cooled for 30-60 minutes in the fridge before removing each from the mini muffin cups, or overnight (covered) on the counter).  The cookies pop right out of the cups with just a little nudge from a sharp knife.  After piping the filling into each cup, put a fresh raspberry on top.  If you’d like, you can also grate a little dark chocolate over the tops.

All that and guess what?  I made some other delicious things from Lisa’s blog as well.  She also has a thing for chai spice and anything and everything made with her own recipe for the spice blend.   I had never tried chai spice before.  So I made some of her mix and happily labeled a jar with it.  I made a recipe she has for some Brown Sugar Chai Spice Ice Cream and I surprisingly loved it.  I like chai enough that right now I wonder if I’ll ever be able to make something with just cinnamon again. ;)  I have since made a Banana Chai Ice Cream that is delicious (made that recipe up as I went along).  And I made a coffee cake that has a chai spiced crumb topping.  Really liking the flavors of chai!  Thanks, Lisa!

If you have never before, you must go check out Lisa’s blog, Sweet As Sugar Cookies.  You’ll quickly come to love her and all the delicious sweetness of her blog!

 

Lime Meltaway Cookies

These Lime Meltaway Cookies from The Martha Stewart Show are perfect lime shortbread cookies.  They have great lime flavor and literally do melt in your mouth with each bite.   These are one of those dangerous cookies for me to have around.  They are easy to eat too many!  With the ingredients only consisting of butter, sugar, flour, some cornstarch and lime they aren’t really on the healthy side, but more of a definite once-in-a-while treat.  I made them for my sister-in-law, Cindy’s birthday.  And I was happy to give most of them to her!

These were also quite easy to make.  The dough came together easily, took a little time (1 hour) in the fridge just chillin’ and then the logs were sliced into perfect little cookies.  They were carefully rolled in powdered sugar while still warm.  Part of the reason they are so tender is the cornstarch.  I would certainly suggest making these for all kinds of occasions or for the lime lovers in your life!

Lime Meltaway Cookies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, from The Martha Stewart Show (link above to the recipe on her site)

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup powdered sugar (divided use—1/3 cup IN the cookie dough, 2/3 cup for rolling)

finely grated zest of 2 limes

2 tablespoons of lime juice

1  1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract (Martha’s recipe has a full tablespoon of extract)

1  3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour (225 grams)

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and 1/3 cup of the powdered sugar.  Beat until light and fluffy.  Add the lime zest, juice and vanilla and beat until fluffy.  Scrape sides of bowl.  In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch and salt.  Add to the butter mixture and mix on low just until combined.

Divide the dough in half.  Place each half on some plastic wrap or parchment paper.  Roll up to form a  1  1/4 inch-wide log (8-10 inches long).  Chill the logs in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cut the logs into 1/4 inch rounds.  Space about 1 inch apart on baking sheets that are lined with parchment paper.  Bake for 13-18 minutes, until they are barely golden in color.  Let cookies sit on baking sheets on cooling racks for about 5 minutes.  While still warm, carefully toss the cookies in the remaining 2/3 cup of powdered sugar in a plastic bag.  Store in an airtight container.  Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Banana Split Granola

 

Banana Split Granola, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

I think this is right up there as one of my favorite granola creations.  And yes, I know, I think I say that with all of them.   This one is so good just as a snack by the handfuls.  It’s almost gone and I’ve yet to put it on yogurt or have it with milk.  But I’m sure it would be fantastic like that, too.

Have you seen all the freeze dried fruit that is out there?  I like freeze dried much more than just dried fruit.  Love the crunchier, lighter texture.  I’ve made a dark chocolate raspberry granola with freeze dried raspberries.  I’ve also put them in Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I have a few family members who LOVE those chocolate chip cookies with the raspberries added.  I think they are great, too.  And while Kevin doesn’t like fruit with chocolate things, he’ll snitch a cookie or two when I make them with the raspberries and I’m pretty sure he secretly likes them. ;)

You can get small bags of freeze dried apples, pears, and a combo of bananas and strawberries.  The boys like all of those, too.  They prefer the apples and pears though, so when I recently bought a big box of the individual bags at Costco, a number of the banana/strawberry ones sat in the pantry not getting eaten.  It hit me one day recently to put them in granola.  I then decided just bananas and strawberries weren’t enough, so I also added some dried pineapple, some cocoa almonds (love those, too and just recently tried them for the first time), and some chopped dark chocolate.  All of a sudden this Banana Split Granola came to life!

Banana Split Granola, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

4 cups old fashioned oats

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup ground flax seeds (meal)

1/2 cup unsweetened grated coconut

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup agave nectar (or honey)

1/2 cup freeze dried bananas and strawberries

1/3 cup chopped dried pineapple

1/4 cup cocoa-covered almonds, or just plain almonds

1/4 cup chopped dark chocolate (or chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment paper.  In a large bowl, combine the oats, wheat germ, flax, coconut, brown sugar and salt.  Stir to combine.  In a medium sized, microwaveable bowl, combine the oil and agave.  Microwave for 30 seconds.  Add the vanilla and whisk until well combined.  Pour over the oat mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until it is all moist.  Spread the mixture evenly onto the baking sheet and bake for 22 minutes.  Let sit on the baking sheet on a cooling rack until completely cooled.  Break into pieces into a bowl.  Add the dried fruit, almonds and chocolate and mix to combine.  Store in an airtight container after trying not to eat too much of it at once. ;)

Get a bite of it with a banana, a strawberry, a piece of pineapple, an almond, a piece of chocolate and some granola—YUM!  I will be making this again very soon!

Chocolate Toffee Crunch Coffee Cake—Secret Recipe Club

Chocolate Toffee Crunch Cake

It’s May Secret Recipe Club time!  I sure enjoy every month having a newly assigned blog to scour over and try to narrow down just what I’m going to make.  This month was no exception.  I was assigned Kim’s blog, Everyday Mom.  She is a busy mom with three kids who loves to bake.  What’s not to love about her? ;)  In looking through her blog, I can see that she spends a lot of time baking WITH her kids.  What a great thing.  I don’t bake with mine as much—I don’t know if it is because I have four boys and they aren’t quite as excited to bake along with me when I want them to.  One of my sons does enjoy it, but they are often just not around and I seem to do most of my baking while they are at school.

In my search of Kim’s blog for what to make, I was drawn to a couple of cakes.  One is an Oatmeal Raisin Cake—I still plan to make that sometime.  Sounds really good.  I was actually going to make both cakes and have company over to help eat them, but I ended up just making one and started with this toffee cake.  Kim got the recipe for it in her baking group, Cake Slice Bakers.  The cake is a recipe from Cake Keeper Cakes by Lauren Chattman.  It is actually supposed to have espresso powder in the cake as it was focused on being a coffee flavored cake with toffee in it.  Since I don’t “do” coffee, I switched it up with adding a little cocoa powder to the cake instead. 

The boys actually really liked the cake, which surprised me just because they don’t seem to like cookies when I put toffee in them.  Go figure.  I’ll never figure these guys out.  Here’s the cake as I made it, but check out Kim’s Coffee Heath Bar Crunch Cake.

Chocolate Toffee Crunch Coffee Cake, adapted from Lauren Chattman’s Cake Keeper Cakes, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

For the cake:

1  1/2 cups (180 grams) all purpose flour

1 tablespoon (5 grams) cocoa powder

1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup packed light brown sugar (220 grams)

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1  1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup milk (I used 2%)

For the streusel:

3/4 cup toffee bits

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1 tablespoon butter, softened

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Have a 9 inch round springform pan ready to spray with cooking spray (I like to do it right before putting the cake batter in the pan.)

In a medium sized bowl, combine the toffee bits, chocolate chips, brown sugar, flour and butter.  Work the mixture with your fingers until it resembles large crumbs.  Refrigerate until ready to use.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium sized bowl.  Whisk together to sift.  Set aside.  Cream together in the bowl of an electric mixer the butter and brown sugar.  Beat on medium-high until fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Scrapes the sides of the bowl.  Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and mix together on low speed.  With the mixer on low, add the flour mixture and milk alternately, ending with the flour.  Scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula and stir to make sure all is combined well.  Spray the pan with cooking spray and scrape the batter into the pan.  Smooth it into an even layer.  Scatter the streusel evenly onto the batter. 

Bake the cake 45-55 minutes (I did 45 minutes), until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack for 5 minutes.  Release the sides of the springform pan.  Cool completely.  Cut in to wedges and serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

At the time I made the cake, we didn’t have any ice cream or whipping cream.  But I’d found a container of frozen non-dairy whip cream in the freezer, so we waited a short time, then scooped out dollops of it onto the slices of cake.  It looks like ice cream, but it’s not.  Here it is finally starting to thaw.

Since I didn’t make the cake low fat or with whole grain, I only took a few bites of it.  It’s good!  With all the toffee bits and the brown sugar, it’s definitely sweet and caramel-ly.  I, of course, liked the added chocolate.

It is always so fun to check out all the other Secret Recipe Club postings.  The group has grown so big that were are now in 4 different groups, each posting on Mondays through the month.  I’m in group A.  So fun to be getting to know so many wonderful blogs out there. 

Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have a lot of cookbooks.  I feel like I could REALLY add to that library.  But the other day I walked past some of my books and stopped to look at the section of books that are all chocolate.  Those are sure some delicious looking books to gawk at!  I opened up The Great Book of Chocolate, by David Lebovitz.  The book is slender and thin, but full of everything you’d ever want to know about chocolate and has some great recipes as well.  Naturally, I was drawn to the chocolate chip cookies—Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies.

David mentioned that this is an authentic recipe written on bakery letterhead from the Blue Chip Cookies bakery that used to be at Ghirardelli Square in San Francisco.  He said the recipe is supersecret, but here it is.  Because of its authenticity, I followed the recipe exactly.  Sometimes I actually alter recipes slightly because we live in a high altitudes, but this time I thought I’d see how it turned out as written.  I was afraid the cookies would be flat and crispy, but they turned out perfectly thick and chewy!

I have my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, which will probably always stand as a favorite.  I try others and while even these Blue Chip cookies are great, we all here still like “my favorite” the best.  That said, I was pleasantly surprised with how well the Blue Chip Cookies turned out.  I decided to share this recipe because I like that it is make with cold butter.  I’ve had friends and family “complain” to me over the years that their cookies always turn out flat and they can never figure out why.  I tell them it could be too soft butter.  People also say they weren’t able to make cookies because they forgot to take the butter out of the fridge so it could soften up and come to room temperature.  Well, there’s no excuse now!  (And just a tip, you can always nuke a stick of butter for 10-20 seconds, I usually do 13-15 seconds, and it will take just the right amount of chill off to be perfect for baking.  You can also soak an egg, still in the shell, in hot water for 5 minutes to have a room temperature egg. 

Well, here’s your chance to make a great cookie with butter right out of the fridge!  I think I’ve tried a similar recipe before.  These cookies are also baked in the top 1/3 of the oven at a much lower temperature for a longer time than most cookies.  Well, whatever the case, it works for these.  Give them a try!  You know, I prefer chocolate chip cookies to have nuts, but since so many don’t like nuts, I usually leave them out.  But this Blue Chip recipe called for nuts, so sticking with the exact recipe, I added them this time.  I gave the option of walnuts or pecans.  I used pecans.  I’m only printing the recipe because it’s other places online as well.  But if you’re looking for more, any or all information about chocolate, get David’s book, The Great Book of Chocolate.  (I love that David gives all the amounts in his recipes in cups and grams!  Weigh your ingredients if you can, you’ll also get better, more accurate results.)

Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies, by David Lebovitz, The Great Book of Chocolate, from Blue Chip Cookies

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (120 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar

8 tablespoons (1 stick or 115 grams) unsalted butter, cold, cut into pieces

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1  1/4 cups (175 grams) all purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1  1/2 cups (200 grams or 9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli 60% cacao chocolate chips—my favorite)

1 cup (130 grams) toasted walnuts or pecans, chopped (I used pecans)

Adjust the oven rack to the top third of the oven.  Heat to 300 degrees.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.  **While the oven is preheating, put the nuts on one of the baking sheets and toast them for 10 minutes (the oven is on low, so adjust the time according to how much you like the nuts toasted).**—This is my way of toasted nuts.  --Katrina

Beat the butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer until well combined and smooth.  Mix in the egg, vanilla and baking soda.   Stir together the flour and salt, then mix it into the batter, just until combined.  Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Scoop the cookie dough into 2-tablespoon-sized balls and put 8 balls of dough on each baking sheets, leaving a couple inches of space between each.  Bake for 18 minutes, or until pale golden brown.  Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.

 These are great cookies!  I stuck most of them in the freezer for a picnic we’re going to tomorrow.  I was asked to bring dessert. 

Next from this book, I’m going to make the Chocolate Fitness Cake—with only three ingredients, it’s pretty healthy---cocoa, egg whites and a little bit of sugar, baked like a souffle.  Sounds good!

TWD—Baking With Julia—Strawberry Rhubarb Hungarian Shortbread

For Baking With Julia today we made Hungarian Shortbread (pages 327-328).  First things first was to make a rhubarb jam.  I really need to get a rhubarb plant (or two) so I can readily have my own on hand.  It is hard to find in stores around here, even when it is in season.  A couple weeks ago I saw it at a grocery store I don’t normally go to and I knew it wasn’t at the ones I do usually go to.  So I went back to that store to get the half pound of rhubarb that I needed.  When I’d seen the store’s supply before, it was plentiful.  The trip where I actually needed to buy some there was three little stalks left that weren’t that pretty.  sigh

I bought what was there and had to cut off quite a bit of it that wasn’t usable.  After all was said and done, I only had five ounces of rhubarb and I needed eight.  (I decided to halve the shortbread recipe when I saw that it took one pounds of butter and four egg yolks!)  It was a good thing when I saw the lame rhubarb that I also grabbed two pounds of strawberries.  So for this jam I used rhubarb and strawberries and it made a lovely jam. 

The shortbread was easy to make and fun to grate after it was frozen for a short time.  Kevin saw me doing it and couldn’t figure out what in the world I was grating—he thought it was cheese.

The first layer of shortbread is grated into the pan and pressed down slightly.  Then the jam is spread on it and the second layer is grated over that. 

As soon as the baked shortbread came out of the oven, you are instructed to heavily dust it with powdered sugar.  I kind of think just a light dusting would have been fine. 

Okay, so just for the heck of it while I was spreading on the jam, I decided to only do half of it with the strawberry rhubarb jam and a opened a jar of fig preserves that I have had in the cupboard and spread that on the other half. 

I have to say, the shortbread is super sweet.  Maybe it was just because I tasted it after serving everyone some homemade ice cream on Monday, which was also super sweet.  I actually only tasted it and no one else has had a chance to taste it yet.  I’m going to have to take the rest of the week off from baking or something—or give some of the stuff away that we have around here right now!

If you want to make this shortbread, check out our hosts’ posts (ha—a rhyme!) for the week.

Lynette of 1 Small Kitchen and Cher of The not so exciting adventures of a dabbler... are the hosts.  You can check out all the other Hungarian Shortbreads here at the Tuesdays With Dorie website, too.