Chewy Chocolate Cookies. May the 4th and all.

INGREDIENTS

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chunks

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Heat chopped chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl in 20-second increments, stirring between each, until almost melted; do not overheat. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla on high speed until light and fluffy. Reduce speed to low; beat in melted chocolate. Mix in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks and walnuts.

Drop heaping tablespoons of dough 2 to 3 inches apart onto baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until cookies are shiny and crackly yet soft in centers, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 10 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I got the recipe here.

If there was a word that meant “better than sublime”, I would use it to describe these cookies.

INGREDIENTS

¾ pound unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash

7 ounces sweetened flaked coconut

Raspberry and/or apricot jam

DIRECTIONS

Cream together the butter and sugar and then add the vanilla. Separately, sift together the flour and salt. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture to the creamed butter and sugar. Mix until the dough starts to come together. Dump on a floured board and roll together into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Roll the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Dip each ball into the egg wash and then roll it in coconut. Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet and press a light indentation into the top of each with your finger. Drop 1/4 teaspoon of jam into each indentation. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the coconut is a golden brown. Cool and serve.

I got the recipe here.

It’s like an orange creamsicle.

INGREDIENTS

¾ cup butter, room temperature

1 ½ cups sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup sour cream

2 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

3 seedless tangerines

Icing

1 cup of confectioners’ sugar

1 tablespoon orange juice

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Grease a 10-inch bundt pan.

Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl until light and fluffy. The mixture should be noticeably lighter in color. Add eggs one at a time, allowing each egg to blend into the butter mixture before adding the next. Mix in vanilla.

Combine flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Pour flour mixture into batter alternately with the sour cream, mixing until just incorporated. Fold in segments of tangerines.

Pour into pan. Bake in preheated oven for 8 minutes. Lower heat to 350 degrees F and bake for an additional 40 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean.

Let cool and then make icing by mixing together sugar and juice until smooth and pour over cake.

“Who cares about the cake, just give me the frosting.” This is the first time in my life I have ever said that.  I actually deleted the cake recipe and just posted the frosting.  Put it on anything. Thank you Mel’s Kitchen Cafe.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 24 tablespoons (3 sticks) butter, cut into 24 pieces and softened at room temperature

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, flour, cornstarch and salt. Slowly whisk in the milk until the mixture is smooth. Place a fine-mesh strainer over a medium saucepan and pour the milk mixture through the strainer into the saucepan. Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly, until the mixture boils and is thick enough that it starts to become difficult to easily whisk. This could take anywhere between 5-10 minutes, depending on your stove, heat, etc. It should bubble quite a bit at the end (be careful of the splatters) and thicken considerably.
2. Transfer the mixture to a clean bowl and cool to room temperature – this is extremely important! If it is even slightly warm, the frosting won’t beat up properly. Refrigerate overnight if necessary but make sure you give it time to get to room temperature before adding butter.
3. Once the frosting is completely cooled to room temperature (it should have no hint of warmth at all!), beat the mixture with the vanilla on low speed until it is well combined, about 30 seconds (a stand mixer will work best for this). Add the butter, one piece at a time, and beat the frosting until all the butter has been incorporated fully, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium-high and let the mixer work it’s magic. Beat the frosting for five minutes, until it is light and fluffy. Let the frosting sit at room temperature until it is a bit more stiff, about 1 hour.

I got the recipe here.

 

 

 

 

ANZAC (Australia New Zealand Army Corps) biscuits became popular during World War I.  They were perfect for care packages that were sent to soldiers since they could be made without eggs, and they kept well on the overseas voyage to Europe.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups rolled oats

2 cups sugar

1 cup desiccated coconut

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 tablespoons Lyle’s Golden Syrup

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup boiling water

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside. In a large bowl, combine flour, oats, sugar, and coconut. Set aside.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter with syrup. Dissolve baking soda in boiling water, and add to butter mixture. Stir to combine.

Add butter mixture to dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Using a 1 1/2-inch ice-cream scoop, drop onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart (be sure to pack the scoop tightly so the mixture doesn’t crumble). Flatten cookies slightly with the heel of your hand.

Bake until golden brown and firm but not hard, about 15 minutes. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

I got the recipe here.

Not sure why more people don’t know about these.  One of my faves from Jersey.

INGREDIENTS

Dough

2 cups bread flour

1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

1 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water, at room temperature

Onion-Poppy Seed Filling

2 1/4 teaspoons vegetable oil

6 tablespoons onion, chopped

3/4 teaspoon poppy seeds

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

Black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

Dough

Whisk flour and the yeast, then salt. Using dough hook, on low speed, gradually add the water, mixing for about 1 minute or until the flour mixture is moistened. Raise the speed to medium and continue mixing for 7 minutes. Bowl should be clean but the dough should be soft and elastic. Add a little extra flour or water if necessary. Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, press down and spray a little oil on the top. Cover and let double about 1½ to 2 hours.

Shaping

Punch dough down and place on a floured counter. Cut into 6 equal pieces (about 3 ounces). Work with one piece at a time, keeping the remaining dough covered. Maintaining as much air as possible in the dough, round each piece by pulling the dough together to form a pouch, stretching to make a smooth skin, and pinching it together where the edges meet. Set it on a floured baking sheet or tray, pinched side down. (The rounds will be 2 1/2 inches by 1 1/2 inches high.) Flour the tops and cover with plastic wrap.

Allow the bialys to rise for about 2 hours at 75 to 80°F or until almost doubled; when pressed lightly in the center, they should keep the impression. If the dough is underrisen, it will puff up in the center instead of maintaining the characteristic hollow crater. The trick for underrisen dough is to make a small hole in the center before adding the filling. Since the dough bakes so quickly, it’s easy to test bake one to see if the dough is ready. If you want to be on the safe side, make the hole anyway.

 

Onion-Poppy Seed Filling

Heat oil in small pan. Add the onion and saute over medium heat, stirring often, for about 5 minutes or until translucent. You can get them as caramelized as you like. Remove from the heat and add the poppy seeds, salt, and pepper to taste. Cool.

Good time to preheat the oven to 475°F 30 minutes before baking. You will need to place two pans in the oven. One for baking the bialys and the other for ice just as you start baking them to create steam. Now back to the shaping of the bialys

 Holding each piece of dough with both hands, with your thumbs in the middle and almost touching, pinch the center of the dough tightly between your thumbs and first two fingers and stretch the dough to 4 1/2 to 5 inches in diameter, forming a crater in the center. Place it on the lined baking sheet and spoon 1 teaspoon of onion-poppy seed filling into the center.

Place the bialys directly on a hot baking sheet. Toss a handful of ice cubes into the sheet pan on the oven floor (this helps make your oven closer to a professional bread oven; the steam helps form a crust), and immediately shut the door. Bake for 6 to 10 minutes or until pale golden and mottled with brown spots. 

Remove the baking sheet or parchment from the oven and transfer the bialys to wire racks to cool until just warm.

I got the recipe here.

Raspberry, walnut, and poppy Hamantaschen. Happy Passover.

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp grated orange zest

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 tsp salt

Place butter and sugar in bowl and use electric mixer to until light and fluffy.

Add the egg, vanilla, and orange zest to the bowl. Beat again until creamy and well mixed.

Sift flour and salt into the bowl.

Mix until crumbly dough forms.

Knead dough into a ball and then flatten into a disk.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight.

Make any fillings you want.

Here are some ideas

Poppy Seed Filling

Nut Filling

Raspberry Filling

In the morning, preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly flour a smooth, clean surface. Unwrap the dough disk and place it on the floured surface. The dough will be very firm after chilling.

Use a rolling pin to roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. At the beginning, it will be tough to roll out– you may need to pound it a bit. A heavy rolling pin works best. As you roll, cracks may form on the edges of the dough. Repair any large cracks with your fingers and continue rolling.

When the dough reaches 1/4 inch thickness, scrape the dough up with a pastry scraper, lightly reflour the surface, and flip the dough over. Continue rolling the dough out very thin (less than 1/8 of an inch thick). The thinner you roll the dough, the more delicate and crisp the cookies will turn out– just make sure that the dough is still thick enough to hold the filling and its shape! If you prefer a thicker, more doughy texture to your cookies (less delicate), keep the dough closer to 1/4 inch thick. Lightly flour the rolling pin occasionally to prevent sticking.

Use a 3-inch cookie cutter (not smaller) or the 3-inch rim of a glass to cut circles out of the dough, cutting as many as you can from the dough.

Gather the scraps and roll them out again. Cut circles. Repeat process again if needed until you’ve cut as many circles as you can from the dough. You should end up with around 35 circles (unless you’ve kept your dough on the thicker side, which will result in less cookies).

Place a teaspoon of filling (whichever filling you choose) into the center of each circle. Do not use more than a teaspoon of filling, or you run the risk of your hamantaschen opening and filling spilling out during baking. Cover unused circles with a lightly damp towel to prevent them from drying out while you are filling.

Assemble the hamantaschen in three steps. First, grasp the left side of the circle and fold it towards the center to make a flap that covers the left third of the circle.

Grasp the right side of the circle and fold it towards the center, overlapping the upper part of the left side flap to create a triangular tip at the top of the circle. A small triangle of filling should still be visible in the center.

Grasp the bottom part of the circle and fold it upward to create a third flap and complete the triangle. When you fold this flap up, be sure to tuck the left side of this new flap underneath the left side of the triangle, while letting the right side of this new flap overlap the right side of the triangle. This way, each side of your triangle has a corner that folds over and a corner that folds under– it creates a “pinwheel” effect. This method if folding is not only pretty– it will help to keep the cookies from opening while they bake.

Pinch each corner of the triangle gently but firmly to secure the shape. If any cracks have formed at the places where the dough is creased, use the warmth of your fingers to smooth them out.

When all of your hamantaschen have been filled, place them on a lightly greased baking sheet, evenly spaced.

Place them in the oven and let them bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, till the cookies are cooked through and lightly golden.

I got the recipe here.

 

 

 

 

Everything you need for breakfast in one bread.

INGREDIENTS

3 very ripe bananas

1 large egg at room temp

2 tablespoons sour cream or yogurt

2 ounces of espresso

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon ground espresso

1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted

¾ cups granulated sugar

1 ½ cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9X5-inch loaf pan.

In a medium-large mixing bowl, stir the mashed bananas together with the egg, sour cream, espresso, and vanilla extract, until everything is well combined.

Stir in the instant espresso.

Stir in the melted butter until it is completely incorporated. Follow this by stirring in the sugar until everything is well mixed.

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Dump this mixture into the wet ingredients and stir just until there are no dry streaks left. The batter will still be lumpy. Scrape the batter into the prepared loaf pan and bake in the oven until a tester inserted into the loaf comes out clean, about one hour.

Remove from the oven, allow to cool.

I got the recipe here.

 

My favorite college baseball team is the one that Steve Rodriguez is coaching.  These raisin, walnut, chocolate chip cookies have some flax seeds, wheat germ, and whole wheat flour to make them the perfect dugout snack.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups Cake Flour

1 2/3 cups Whole wheat flour

2 1/2 sticks butter (room temperature)

1 1/4 cups Brown sugar

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

10 ounces of milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

2 tablespoons flax seeds

2 tablespoon wheat germ

DIRECTIONS

In a bowl sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs (one at a time) and vanilla. Incorporate flour mixture. Stir in chocolate  chips, walnuts, and raisins.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop out a small ice cream sized amount of dough onto silpat lined cookie sheet and slightly flatten dough. Sprinkle a little bit of sea salt on each cookie. Cook for approximately 12 minutes.

  

 Strawberries, raspberries, and tarragon. It tastes like summer if it were a bread.

INGREDIENTS

5 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, softened, plus more for pan

1/2 pint strawberries and ½ cup raspberries, quartered and mashed

½ cup yogurt

1 tablespoon tarragon chopped finely

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

½ cup milk

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-by-4-inch loaf pan.

In a small saucepan, bring strawberries and raspberries to a boil over medium heat. Cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add chopped tarragon and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

With an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, and eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add yogurt.

Add flour mixture alternately with 1/3 cup milk, beginning and ending with flour. Fold in reserved strawberries and raspberries.

Scrape batter into prepared pan, smoothing top.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour (tent with foil after 45 minutes if top is getting too dark). Cool in pan 10 minutes.