Chocolate Puddle Cookies

 

My mom went to visit my sister and my nieces last week. Since she lives about 15 minutes away from me she always will bring me home a little treat! Usually something with chocolate! This time she brought me a flour less chocolate walnut cookie from Nuvrei Bakery. This cookie had the perfect mix of sweet and salt! Yum! So, of course I tried to replicate it, I got really close. I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks. Something happened to my cookies and they did not turn out flat looking and a little thin. The cookie from Nuvrei was chewy on the inside and shinny on the outside. I will have to try again! They still turned out really good!
Here is the recipe I used:

3 cups / 11 oz / 310 g walnut halves, toasted & cooled
4 cups / 1 lb / 453 g confectioner's (powdered) sugar

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons / 2 oz / 60 g unsweetened cocoa powder

scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 tablespoon real, good-quality vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 320F / 160C degrees and position racks in the top and bottom third. Line three (preferably rimmed) baking sheets with parchment paper. Or you can bake in batches with fewer pans.

Make sure your walnuts have cooled a bit, then chop coarsely and set aside. Sift together the confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, and sea salt. Stir in the walnuts, then add the egg whites and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

Spoon the batter onto the prepared sheets in mounds of about 2 tablespoons each, allowing for PLENTY of room between cookies. These cookies are like reverse Shrinky Dinks - they really expand. Don't try to get more than 6 cookies on each sheet, and try to avoid placing the batter too close to the edge of the pan.

Bake until they puff up. The tops should get glossy, and then crack a bit - about 12 -15 minutes. Have faith, they look sad at first, then really blossom. You may want to rotate the pans top/bottom/back/front.

Slide the cookies still on parchment onto a cooling rack, and let them cool completely. They will keep in an airtight for a couple days.

Makes 18 large cookies.

If you notice the pattern that my cookies are sitting on and like check out the following blog: http://lovelydesign.blogspot.com/ Sharilyn has the cutest designs!

Happy 2010!

 

Happy 2010 to all! Today is the second day of 2010 and I am getting lots done since I have been so busy in the last few weeks. The one thing I don't want to do is take down my pretty Christmas tree. It's just so cheery and makes me smile! Before Christmas I was contacted by my old company, HopeLab and was asked to help do some temp work. I graciously accepted and of course brought them some baked goods when I was there. This recipe is from Martha Stewart's book, COOKIES! These are really yummy and really easy to bake. This holiday season I did not bake as much as I wanted to, but will hopefully do some baking in the next week.

French Macarons

The last several weeks I have been getting exercise with my friend Rosemary. Our reward after walking about an hour is usually going and getting something sweet! Yes, it probably voids the exercise but, it makes us feel better! One of our favorite treats is at Miette, a Hazelnut French Macaron . These are heavenly treats and totally worth the small fortune that is paid for just one macaroon. I decided to try and make the macaroons a few weeks ago and they turned out really yummy. The one thing I forgot to buy was heavy cream for the fillings so I improvised and used a peanut butter and chocolate mixture.

Cookie Swap!

For my birthday I decided to have a cookie swap! Everyone who is invited brings a batch of cookies over and at the end of the party we all have a bag of different cookies to try out! For this I tried a new recipe for a nutmeg tea cookie. I also made chocolate hazelnut oatmeal cookies! We had so many fun different kinds of cookies, my friend Janine made coconut macaroon which were delicious!

Melt in your mouth...not in your hand!

Last night I was looking through Elinor Klivans book called, "The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook and I was drawn to the recipe for Chocolate Chip Filled Melting Moment Cookies. I was drawn because of the ingredients, I wanted to see how the batter would end up. I have only used cornstarch when cooking Chinese food it usually helps thicken a sauce or helps homemade marshmallows not stick to one another. So, using 3/4 cups of cornstarch in a recipe really made me want to try!
As you can see, the cookies did not have much color. The filling was a butter cream frosting with chocolate. I have to admit, they turned out pretty yummy! Easy to make and kind of fun, making the hash pattern on the cookie! I think these would be good with cinnamon, or hazelnut.
Here is the recipe that I used:

Cookies:
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup cake flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla ( I used 1.5 teaspoons of vanilla, I LOVE vanilla)

Filling:
1/4 cup unsalted butter room temp
1/4 powered sugar
1/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips ( I used regular sized chips and chopped up)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper

Sift flours, cornstarch, baking powder, salt and set aside

In a large bowl, beat butter, and powered sugar until smooth about 1 minute.
Scape sides down and add vanilla mix until blended.
On low speed add flour mixture until just blended.

Roll a level tablespoon of dough between your palms to form a ball. Place cookie on baking sheet and space two inches apart. Using a fork flatten cookie to leave impression on the cookie.

Bake for 30 minutes until bottoms of cookies are light brown. Cool for 10 minutes on baking sheet and transfer to wire cooling sheet.

Make the filling:
Mix butter, sugar and chocolate together with wooden spoon and spread about a teaspoon or more on the bottom of one cookie and put another cookie in the filling to form a sandwich.

ENJOY!

A good day...

Since being unemployed I have decided to take this time and enjoy it! I am still constantly looking for a job, but when I am not I want to do the things I love. Here is what I got to enjoy yesterday on a sunny beautiful day.

10am: Interview!
11:30: Farmer's Market
1:30: Jog in the warm sun
3pm: Phone Interview
4:30: made home made mac and cheese! YUM
7pm: Made home made chocolate chip cookies! YUM

I made mac and cheese with cauliflower. It sounds kind of weird but it was so yummy.

Cookies!

On Sunday I was in the mood for chocolate. I am trying not to eat as much sugar because of health reasons. But, I still need that fix! The cookies are very similar to a recipe I have made before. The difference is I used whole wheat flour and took most of the sugar out and replaced with applesauce. then I added some flax seed just because! They came out really moist and soft. 

Health Kick!

Over the weekend I had the craving to bake some cookies. But, I wanted to not over do the fat and sugar intake, so I tried to modify a recipe found in Martha Stewart's Cookie book. I LOVE Carrot Cake, so it seemed only natural that I would like carrot cookies! In Martha's Cookie Book there is a recipe for Carrot Cake Cookies with the frosting in the inside of two cookies, YUM! Having the guilt kick in I decided to not but the frosting in the cookies and added a few "health" benefits! If you would like the real recipe go to Martha Stewart's Cookie Book, but here is what I did. 

1/2 a recipe:

1/2 cup butter at room temp

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 white sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cups of whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

dash of salt

heaping of 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon

heaping of 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg

heaping of 1/2 teaspoon of ginger

1 cup of rolled oats

1 cup of grated carrots

1/2 cup raisins

2 tablespoons of flax seed

Combine all dry ingredients and set a side

Add butter and sugars into mixer and beat until light and fluffy (3-4 minutes)

add egg and vanilla and beat on medium until well combined

Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix just until blended

add carrots, flax seeds and oats. 

Chill four an hour

Preheat on 350 and bake cookies for 12-15 minutes until sides or crisp

ENJOY!!!

Ok! so they aren't the healthiest cookies! but its a start. 

I made sure to take a nice long walk after eating cookies! 

Debbie's Birthday

On Thursday night I made a batch of cookies for a co-workers birthday. I made her Chocolate cookies. The recipe was from the new book I received for my birthday. The Martha Stewart Cookie Book. I actually did not like the taste of these cookies, I thought they were pretty good just a little too sugary tasting. If you can have something that is too sugary!