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Peanut Butter Molasses Ginger Chews

March 27, 2013 by 15 Comments

Peanut Butter Molasses Ginger Chews | www.foodiewithfamily.com

Cookies are the instant gratification fix of the food world. You mix things together, you scoop, you bake and you iiiiiiinhale them. Or at least that’s what I do. This recipe was developed at the request of my dear-ole-dad who asked me to find a road-tested peanut butter and molasses cookie recipe for him. I couldn’t. So I did what any self-respected recipe developer would do.

I made one up. Then I tested it like I was doing a recipe for a company, because people, this is my DAD we’re talking about. I don’t give him lousy recipes. Something about owing my life -in part- to him, blah blah blah.

I put everything my dad loves in a cookie into one little chewy, crispy package: peanut butter, molasses, and ginger. And Dad specifically asked that I make it “not-cakey”. He said, “Crispy and chewy are both fine, but if I want cake, I’ll eat cake.”

Understood.

The addition of peanut oil to this recipe helps it to spread while it bakes. This does double duty- it prevents cakiness and it adds a bit of crispiness to the edges. I call these “The Incredible Morphing Cookies” because when they come out of the oven, they’re domed and puffy and soft.

Peanut Butter Molasses Ginger Chews | www.foodiewithfamily.com

As they sit on the cooling racks, they deflate a bit. When they’re completely cooled, they become crisp. When you transfer them to a cookie jar and let them rest overnight, they remain crisp at the edges and soften to chewy inside. Every single stage is delicious. I highly recommend eating a couple at each point. You know, for scientific reasons.

 

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Peanut Butter Molasses Ginger Chews

Rating: 51

Peanut Butter Molasses Ginger Chews

These crisp-yet-chewy cookies are full of good stuff: peanut butter, molasses, white whole wheat flour, ginger, butter and more. They are simple, fast and taste like Mary Jane candies!

Ingredients

  • 2 cups brown sugar, packed
  • 1 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup molasses
  • 1/2 cup peanut oil (or vegetable or canola oil)
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups white whole wheat flour
  • 4 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 4 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat.

Cream together the sugar, peanut butter, butter, oil, molasses and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large mixing bowl until smooth.

Sift the flours, baking soda, ginger and salt together then add to the peanut butter mixture. Beat on low or stir in the flour until it is well mixed and even.

Use a small cookie scoop or a teaspoon to scoop the cookie dough into mounds that are about 2 teaspoons worth of dough. Roll the dough into balls and roll the balls in the extra sugar to coat completely.

Place the sugar coated cookie dough balls in 5 rows of 4 (using an extra cookie sheet if necessary to make sure you have at least 2 inches between each cookie dough ball.)

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are set in the center and firm at the edges.

Let the cookies cool on the pans for 2 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Store at room temperature in a cookie jar or other airtight container.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/03/27/peanut-butter-molasses-ginger-chews/

Filed Under: Cookies, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Sweet and Salty No-Bake Popcorn Cookies | The Croods

February 27, 2013 by 13 Comments

Salty and Sweet No Bake Popcorn Cookies from Foodie with Family

I love movies of all kinds: comedy, drama, action, adventure, COLIN FIRTH (because he gets his own category), HUGH JACKMAN (because he does, too), classics, musicals, suspense, animation (both silly and serious)… I love all of them. I can converse entirely in movie quotes and adaptations thereof when in the company of another movie lover. I don’t do this often because it’s just not as much fun when someone looks at you blankly when you say something like, “Wonder Twin powers activate! Form of a play date!” and try to fist bump.

Sigh.

I am especially fond of animated films. I’ve loved them my entire life and being firmly entrenched in adulthood is -in my opinion- not any kind of reason to stop. So when Dreamworks Animation -the studio behind some of my all time favourite animated films (Shrek, The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, Chicken Run, Kung Fu Panda, and Megamind)- contacted me and asked me to develop a recipe for their upcoming film THE CROODS, I said yes enthusiastically.

From the moment I signed on, I knew what I was going to do… A Sweet and Salty No-Bake Popcorn Cookie. What goes better with movies than popcorn? And without giving too much away, popcorn features prominently in THE CROODS as well. It was a match made in animated film heaven!

Sweet and Salty No-Bake Popcorn Cookies are -like the movie- full of everything whimsical and bright: crunchy popcorn and salty pretzel sticks, sweet and sticky marshmallow, nutty brown butter and bright candy covered chocolate pieces.

Sweet and Salty No Bake Popcorn Cookies from Foodie with Family

They’re like a cross between a popcorn ball, rice crispy treat, candy bar, a bag of pretzels and a rainbow. Every bite is a happy bite; I challenge you to eat these without a smile!

Thankfully, you don’t have to wait long or fire up the oven when you get a hankering for these fabulous treats. All you have to do is pop some popcorn, melt some butter and marshmallows together, stir all the goodies together and scoop-n-squish the cookies. You don’t even have to wait until they firm up. Eat them warm and gooey if you want. I won’t tell!

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Sweet and Salty No-Bake Popcorn Cookies | The Croods

Sweet and Salty No-Bake Popcorn Cookies | The Croods

Sweet and Salty No-Bake Popcorn Cookies like a cross between a popcorn ball, rice crispy treat, bag of pretzels, chocolate candies, and a rainbow with crunchy popcorn and salty pretzel sticks, sweet and sticky marshmallow, nutty brown butter and bright candy covered chocolate pieces. These chewy no-bake cookies are guaranteed to make you smile!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup unpopped popcorn kernels (if using a pan on the stovetop, you also need enough oil to pop it according to package directions.)
  • 4 tablespoons unsalted butter
  • 1 10-ounce bag of marshmallows or 4 cups of mini marshmallows
  • 3 cups thin salted pretzel sticks
  • 2 cups candy coated chocolate morsels
  • oil for your hands

Instructions

Pour the pretzels into a large mixing bowl and use your hands to break them roughly. The goal is to have most of them broken into three or more pieces. Set the bowl aside.

Line two sheet pans with silpats, parchment paper or wax paper and set them aside, too.

Pop the popcorn kernels using either an air popper or on the stove top using the directions on the bag of popcorn. Pour the popcorn into a bowl and give the bowl a couple of firm shakes back and forth to loosen unpopped kernels and let the drop to the bottom of the bowl.

Use your hands to scoop and shake the popcorn (again, to get rid of any remaining unpopped kernels) before transferring them to into the mixing bowl that has the broken pretzel sticks in it.

Use your hands to gently crush the popcorn so that about 1/3 of it is broken into smaller pieces.

In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter over medium low heat and let it bubble around the edges, lowering the heat if necessary to keep it from burning, just until the butter is golden and smells a little nutty. Add the marshmallows and carefully stir to coat them in butter. Drop the heat to low and -stirring constantly- melt the marshmallows in the butter until smooth. Pour over the popcorn and pretzel mixture and stir to coat everything evenly. Stir in the candy coated chocolate morsels just until distributed.

Oil your hands generously and use them to scoop about 1/3-1/2 of a cup of the popcorn mixture and gently press it together to form a ball. Put it on the lined pan and gently press down to flatten it slightly into a thick cookie. Repeat with the remaining popcorn mixture until it is gone.

Eat immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/02/27/sweet-and-salty-no-bake-popcorn-cookies-the-croods/

Would you like to learn more about The Croods?

Visit the official website

Like The Croods on Facebook

Follow @DWAnimation on Twitter #TheCroods

Re-pin great DIY tutorials, printables & more from The Croods on Pinterest!

THE CROODS is a 3D comedy adventure that follows the world’s first modern family as they embark on a journey of a lifetime when the cave that has always been their home is destroyed. Traveling across a spectacular landscape, the Croods are rocked by generational clashes and seismic shifts as they discover an incredible new world filled with fantastic creatures — and their outlook is changed forever.

Starring: Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, Catherine Keener, Clark Duke and Cloris Leachman.

Croods_Poster

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by The Croods by Dreamworks Animation. All opinions and are -as always- my own.

Filed Under: Cookies, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

Grandma’s Snickerdoodles

February 20, 2013 by 20 Comments

Grandmas Snickerdoodles from Foodie with Family

My family lives, talks, dreams, plans, prepares, preaches, and eats food. We don’t breathe it, however, as aspirating food is generally acknowledged to be a bad idea. In short, we are all food maniacs.

There have been a handful of time that I’ve been brought up short when chatting with people and they inform me that their family tradition is to keep their recipes secret. At those moments, my jaw has dropped open like a cod and I’ve been at a loss from words. This is probably because in my family, if you even imply you like something we’ve cooked for you, we hurriedly jot down the recipe and cram it into your hands.

The recipe I’m sharing today is my Grandma’s snickerdoodle recipe. When I posted a picture of it on facebook, one of my aunts said, “I can smell them now!” Thus is the power of Grandma’s snickerdoodles. My Grandma’s version of this classic cookie is a classic itself. And while I’m certain Grandma made them for everyone, I always felt like she made them just for me. And THUS is the power of my Grandma.

I’ve talked before about my prized possessions: my handwritten recipe cards that Grandma gave me in my first years of marriage. (You can read a couple of those posts here and here.) I cannot even find the words to say what my Grandma means to me.  Every single one of those now-laminated recipe cards represents my Grandma thinking of me when I wasn’t there and wanting me to eat well. And honestly, friends, I think that’s what our compulsive recipe sharing boils down to; it’s our desire to be part of feeding you and caring for you even when we’re not there.

Can you imagine anything better than coming in from playing in the snow for hours to the smell of snickerdoodles fresh from the oven? There really is only one thing better than that: sitting down at the table of someone you love, being handed a plate of those cookies and a mug full of warm tea.

There’s something about the scent of those cinnamon and sugar crusted butter cookies that -to this day- puts me back at the table in Grandma’s dining room. I suspect that for the rest of my life, cinnamon is going to smell like hugs to me. I’ll take it.

Fair warning, though: these cookies are absolutely irresistible. And when I say irresistible, I mean that you’ll be unable to walk past the cookie jar without fishing out one… or two… or three…(or five. Oh dear.) You wouldn’t say no to Grandma’s cookies, would you?

 

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Grandma’s Snickerdoodles

Rating: 51

Grandma’s Snickerdoodles

My Grandma's Snickerdoodles are a perfect rendition of the classic: tender butter cookies with a cinnamon sugar crust. Be warned, though, they are completely irresistible.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups and 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar, separated
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 3/4 cup flour
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Instructions

Cream together the butter, 1 1/2 cups of sugar and eggs until smooth. In a separate bowl, use a whisk or fork to combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix until well combined. Cover the dough and chill for at least 30 minutes but up to 24 hours before working with it.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line cookie sheets with silpats or parchment paper.

Use a fork to combine the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar with the 2 teaspoons of ground cinnamon.

Use a small disher (cookie scoop) or teaspoons to scoop about 2 teaspoons of cookie dough, roll it into a ball and then roll them in the cinnamon sugar to coat. Place the cookies 2-inches apart on the cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until lightly browned but still soft. Let them rest on the cookie sheets for one minute before transferring to a cooling rack.

Store at room temperature in an airtight container.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2013/02/20/grandmas-snickerdoodles/

 

Filed Under: Cookies, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , ,

Ada and Anna’s Maple Sandwich Cookies

March 20, 2012 by 20 Comments

Ada and Anna are my secret weapons. They are an Amish mother and daughter who I am so glad to have as friends. They live just up the road from us with Ada’s husband (Anna’s father), Henry. Those three have to be some of the most fun-loving, joyful people I’ve ever met.

Ada’s my ace in the hole for baking supplies. She runs a small bulk-foods store in a room of their workshop (Henry makes custom landscaping and building stones for a living) and I’m a frequent customer. Fifty pound bags of my favourite flours? No problem. She’ll get them for me by next week. Fifty pounds of dark chocolate chunks for Christmas baking? They’ll be in in about five days. I buy yeast, spices, candy, barley, cornstarch, baking soda and powder, and noodles by the pound at her store. I cannot even begin to calculate just how much money I’ve saved buying ingredients from her over the past two years.

Even if she wasn’t such a great resource, I’d still find excuses to get up there and visit. Almost every time I stop by, I’m offered a bite to eat and Ada and Anna are no slouches in the baking department. In fact, their donuts are the only ones I ever actually crave… Those plate sized, maple glazed, lard fried donuts are just the things to bring a non-donut lover into the fold. And by into the fold, I mean give me folds in my chin because I can’t stop eating them.

Last Friday I scooted up the hill to pick up a fifty pound bag of semolina flour that I was going to split with a friend. As I pulled into their driveway on that warm and glorious day, I could see them bustling around the kitchen with doors and windows open. “Hey Rebecca! Come on in and pull up a chair,” they called. I sat down long enough to see that they were rolling out what looked to be a quintuple batch of cookie dough (and turned out to be a sextuple batch. I was close!) and the flour was flying. There was no way I was going to skip being part of that action. I rolled up my sweater sleeves and asked them to put me to work.

They did.

We rolled out, cut, transferred to pans and baked (in their wood-fired outdoor oven) one hundred and ninety two cookies, then made maple frosting to fill those cookies. In the final summation, we turned out eighty six maple sandwich cookies. While I was still using a flour coated spatula to transfer cookie dough rounds to the pans, Ada mixed the frosting with her hands and Anna started assembling the cookies. Anna padded over behind me and slid a finished cookie next to me on the flour covered table. She said, “I thought we’d better try a couple of these just to make sure we stay motivated.” I’m fairly certain she twinkled as she said that and I’m more than certain I sparkled while I ate it.

You may have had a whoopie pie or a sandwich cookie before, but you’ve never REALLY had one until you have maple cookies with maple filling made by dear friends.

Ada saw us snitching cookies and said, “Well? Don’t you think you need my opinion? I’m the oldest one here.” so we brought one to her, too.

After we finished putting together the cookies, slid three pies into the wood oven, and plopped down at the now-clean table with three mugs of mint tea and a three-high-stack of sandwich cookies in front of each of us (don’t look at me like that, Ada did the stack of three cookies in front of me. I had to eat it. It was the polite thing to do. The tasty, tasty polite thing.), I asked what the occasion was; why so many cookies?

“Well, Henry hinted around that he might like a batch of these. They’re his favourite.”

I asked whether they planned on selling some of them since they were making so many.

“Oh no. We just like to have them around in case of visitors. And Dad really likes them.”

I plan on hinting around about these cookies on a regular basis. Henry is no fool.

Nor are my boys. The cookies I brought home to them disappeared in a flash.

A Couple of Notes: Ada and Anna’s recipe was vague in instructions, assuming that the reader will have baked cookies before and know what to do. I’ve embellished the instructions a bit for the sake of those who don’t have all that experience on which to draw. Additionally, their recipe calls for mixing everything by hand, obviously- since the Amish in our area don’t hold with ‘gadgets’ in the kitchen- so I’ve added instructions in case you’d like to make use of modern amenities (like stand or hand mixers.)The frosting -as they made it that day- makes use of shortening and butter flavour. You can skip the combo and just use softened butter, or make it as they do. While I don’t usually go for butter flavour, these cookies were outstanding. I’d eat them again and again! The same holds true for the maple flavouring. Normally, I’m a maple syrup only gal. Some of this stems from the time my little sister dabbed a bit of maple flavour inside each nostril because she liked the smell so much. After the first 10 minutes, she had had enough, but she didn’t stop smelling it for a week or so. Ah, the miracle of the mucous membranes. The point is that in these cookies, somehow it is just perfect. If you object to maple flavouring, try real extract. But do try them!

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Ada and Anna

Ada and Anna

These soft, brown sugar maple cookie sandwiches are filled with a fluffy maple flavoured frosting that stays nice and soft and doesn't harden like most frosting recipes. Make more than you think you'll need. Company is guaranteed if people know you've made these!

Recipe courtesy of Ada and Anna Stutzman

Ingredients

    For the Cookies:
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon maple flavour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons heavy cream
  • 2 3/4 cup sifted flour
    • For "Fluffy Frosting":
  • 2 cups softened butter (or 2 cups shortening and 2 teaspoons butter flavouring, as Ada makes it.)
  • 2 cups marshmallow fluff, store bought or homemade.
  • 2 teaspoons maple flavouring
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 5 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup whole or evaporated milk (or more as needed)

Instructions

To Make the Cookies:

Ada says to mix the ingredients together in the order given. In other words, use a sturdy spoon or stand mixer or hand mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until well combined and even. Then beat in the eggs and flavourings, soda, salt, cream then flour. Cover the bowl and chill for at least two hours.

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Roll the dough out on a generously floured surface. Use a 2-3 inch diameter round cookie cutter to cut as many cookies from the dough as possible. Use a floured spatula to transfer the cookies to ungreased cookie sheets (or parchment lined sheets) about 2 inches apart. Re-roll the scraps of dough until you have used all the dough.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until they are just set and slightly springy. Ada advises not to overcook the cookies or they'll be too hard. Immediately after taking the pans from the oven, use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a towel lined counter. Let cool completely while you make the frosting.

To Make the Fluffy Frosting:

Ada uses her hands, so that is certainly an option, but you can also use a spoon, stand mixer or hand mixer to beat together the butter or shortening (and butter flavour), marshmallow fluff and vanilla. When that is smooth, stir in the powdered sugar and the milk. If more milk is necessary to reach a spreadable consistency, add it 1 teaspoon at a time. The finished frosting should be thick, but spread easily on a cooled cookie.

To Assemble the Cookie Sandwiches:

Spread about 1/4-inch of frosting on the back of a cooled cookie. Sandwich another cookie on top of the frosting, back to back. Repeat with remaining cookies. Store cookies in an airtight container. If you use butter, you should store them in the refrigerator. These are best when brought to room temperature before serving.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/20/ada-and-annas-maple-sandwich-cookies/

Filed Under: Comfort Food, Cookies, Desserts, kid food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian

Almond Joy or Mounds Cookies

March 2, 2012 by 9 Comments

By a show of hands, who out there is going to be angry with me if I post two dessert recipes in one week? Anyone? No? We’re good? Good. Because this one? Phew. This cookie recipe is the ne plus ultra of cookies.

This is like a combination of a Twix bar with an Almond Joy or Mounds bar. The anatomy of the cookie is thus:

  1. Crispy chocolate butter cookie base. It is what it sounds to be. It’s a little shortbready and carries a little snap to it. It’s the perfect place to put your…
  2. Honey caramel coconut chew. Yes. Just yes. Have you had honey coconut caramels? Maybe not. It’s an old one (and I blush to see the photo of it, but ever onward, right?) And if you’ve parked a honey caramel coconut chew on top of a crispy chocolate cookie, you might as well add a…
  3. Big, fat toasted almond. Sigh. There are very few things I like better than a handful of still warm aromatic, toasted almonds.  Well, maybe there’s one thing I like better than that. It’s when I cover them with…
  4. Melted dark chocolate. This doesn’t require a whole lot of explanation, but I’ll do it anyway because I add a little coconut oil (you could sub in butter if coconut oil is hard to find where you live) to the melted chocolate for added flavour and to make it a little softer once it’s set up. All this would be plenty fine, but if you’re going to the trouble you might as well gild the lily, right? Top the whole thing off with a sprinkle of…
  5. Flaked sea salt. Have you had sea salt with dark chocolate? When you add just a touch of sea salt to chocolate you taste chocolate like you never have before. The salt actually performs in this role. It suppresses some of the bitter flavours and amplifies the sweet and sour flavours.

Can you use regular old table salt here? Negatory. Table salt has iodine added to it which is great if you have goiter issues, but not so great taste wise. You know those bitter flavours you were suppressing with the salt? Yep. The iodine adds it right back in along with a pronounced metallic taste. Don’t go there. If you can’t get my favourite Maldon Sea Salt*, use a nice coarse sea salt or kosher salt (church of the last resort, but still acceptable.)

*I collect different salts. Crazy salts are my impulse buy weakness. Maldon Sea Salt is one of my all time favourites, though. It is harvested in Great Britain and is sold in the most impossibly beautiful irregular flakes. Some of them are pyramid like, some are flat and clear, some of them look like tiny gemstones. You usually grind them together in your fingers while sprinkling over food (or your tongue) and it’s generally used as a finishing salt rather than one you cook into foods.

The cookies, despite all their components, are deceptively simple to make. The dough can be made and frozen ahead of time. In fact, freezing the dough is necessary, so make it up to three months ahead of when you’d like to make it if you feel like it! The honey caramel coconut chew takes only one and a half minutes to make then five minutes to cool before scooping onto the cookie bases. Toasting almonds is a piece of cake and then you melt chocolate and coconut oil together for dunking. It doesn’t get much easier than that. And cookies can’t taste much better than this.

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Almond Joy or Mounds Cookies

Almond Joy or Mounds Cookies

These dreamy crispy chocolate butter cookies topped with honey coconut caramel chew and a toasted almond are enrobed in a subtly coconut flavoured dark chocolate.

To make these into Mounds rather than Almond Joy cookies, simply omit the toasted almonds.

Ingredients

    For the Cookie Base:
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch or rice flour
  • 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
    • For the Honey Coconut Caramel Chews:
  • 1 cup pure honey
  • 1/2 cup raw sugar or granulated sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups unsweetened medium flake coconut
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
    • Also needed:
  • 24-30 whole almonds, toasted (If you can only find raw almonds, see instructions below the recipe to learn how to toast almonds.)
  • 2 cups dark chocolate chunks (or chopped chocolate)
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil or butter
  • flakey sea salt or kosher salt

Instructions

To Make the Cookie Dough:

Whisk together the flour, cornstarch (or rice flour), cocoa powder and salt in a bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or using a hand mixer, beat together the butter and granulated sugar until smooth and fluffy. Scrape the sides of the bowl, add in the milk and vanilla extract and beat on low speed until combined. (It will not look smooth, but that is okay.) Add the flour to the butter mixture about 1/3 at a time, beating after each addition to combine. When all the flour mixture has been incorporated, turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and split into two equal amounts. Form the dough into logs and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Place cookie dough logs in the freezer until ready to bake.

To Bake the Cookies:

Preheat oven to 375°F and line cookie sheets with parchment or silpats.

Slice 24 rounds of frozen cookie dough no thicker than 1/4 of an inch.

Arrange the dough rounds on the lined cookie sheets. These cookies do not spread much while baking, so you don't have to worry about leaving more than 1/2 of an inch between them.

Bake for 13 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are firm all the way around on the edges. You can cool the cookies on the sheets on which they were baked.

While the cookies cool, make the honey coconut caramel chews.

To Make the Honey Coconut Caramel Chews:

In a medium sized, heavy bottomed saucepan, bring the honey and sugar to a boil over medium high heat. Boil hard for exactly 1 minute then turn off the heat. Immediately stir in the coconut and salt. Remove from the burner and let cool 5 minutes before portioning onto the cookie bases.

To Make the Chocolate Coating:

In a microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate chunks (or chopped chocolate) and coconut oil or butter. Microwave on high for 45 seconds, stir, and continue microwaving in 15 second increments, stirring well after each burst, until the chocolate is smooth and glossy and completely melted.

To Assemble the Cookies:

Scoop generous tablespoons full of the honey caramel coconut chew mixture on top of each cookie base. Gently press 1 toasted almond onto the coconut chews.

Let the mixture cool completely. Stir the chocolate mixture, which by this time should have thickened just slightly. Lift a cookie by the base, invert it and dunk the coconut/almond part of the mixture into the melted chocolate. When you lift it and turn it back right side up, swirl it around a bit to get the chocolate to coat the coconut and drizzle onto the cookie base. Set the cookie back on the pan and repeat with the remaining cookies.

Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with salt to taste. Let stand until the chocolate has cooled completely.

Store leftover cookies in a tightly covered container at room temperature.

To Toast Almonds:

Stir almonds in a heavy, ungreased skillet over medium heat until golden brown. Turn them out of the pan immediately when they reach this stage or they will scorch.

http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2012/03/02/almond-joy-or-mounds-cookies/

P.S. If you run out of coconut to make the honey coconut caramel chews (like I did), you can make something remarkably similar to a Thin Mint by adding a little peppermint extract or oil to the same chocolate coating and dunking plain old (HA! Plain old chocolate cookies. I should be thrashed with a wet noodle for saying that!) into it with the remaining cookies.

Filed Under: Chocolate, Comfort Food, Cookies, Desserts, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Vegetarian Tagged With: , , , ,

Shortbread Cookie Spoons (Spookies)

March 28, 2011 by 4 Comments

You know how sometimes everything just comes together at the right time? Those moments where inspiration strikes at the same time that you have all the supplies to make it happen? This is one of those moments.

I had just made some velvety, luscious chocolate custard and one of my friends started talking about the world’s best shortbread cookies that she just made. I wished aloud that I had a couple of her cookies to dunk in my custard and asked for the recipe.

Lightbulb.

I was going to make cookies that were spoons and eat my custard with them. Were they cookies? Were they spoons? Yes, they were both; they were Spookies*.

*Like a spork, but much more delicious.

I imagined them wrapped up in cellophane and a bow as the prettiest cookie at the bake sale, bagged up with a gift tag as a hostess gift, then the dipping and dunking vistas opened up before me;  Spookies dunked in custard (as I served them), Spanish Style Hot Chocolate, coffee, hot cocoa, pudding… What couldn’t Spookies do?

I messed with my friend’s recipe ever so slightly, substituting orange zest for lemon zest out of necessity and  rice flour for half of the all-purpose flour in her recipe. Why? Well, the best shortbread cookie I have ever had in my entire life came from an elderly Scottish woman who told me she the secret to truly wonderful shortbread was to use half all-purpose flour and half rice flour.  She said as long as you used real butter and the flour blend, everything else would fall into place.

Every shortbread I’ve made since has incorporated her trick. To test her (now our) theory, I did a side-by-side comparison on my friend’s recipe. I made a batch using all-purpose flour and one using the blend of all-purpose and rice flour. They were both outstanding, but the one made with rice flour was slightly more delicate in crumb and flavor.  The verdict: Half the crew here was in the rice flour camp and half was in the all all-purpose camp but everyone agreed that they would eat either without hesitation. If you can lay your hands on a bag of rice flour, I encourage you to make it as written below. If you can’t, substitute another cup (4 1/4 ounces, by weight) of all-purpose flour for the rice flour. It’ll still be delicious!

Note: To the best of my knowledge, there aren’t any spoon shaped cookie cutters in the world. I did the next best thing. I used brute force and a pair of pliers to bend an old bell-shaped medium-sized (2″) cookie cutter into a spoon-ish shaped cutter. It was a bit wonky, but effective and efficient. If you’d prefer, you can trace a tablespoon sized measuring spoon on cardboard and cut that out to use as a template.  I found it much simpler to bend the tar out of a cookie cutter and use it than to cut around a cardboard template repeatedly, but do as the whimsy moves you!

Shortbread Cookie Spoons

Gently adapted from Krysta, Evil Chef Mom.

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

  • 2 sticks (8 ounces, by weight) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, cut 1/2-inch pats.
  • 1/2 cup superfine sugar (Can be made by placing granulated sugar in a blender on HIGH for about twenty seconds.)
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • zest of 1/2 an orange
  • 1 cup (4 1/4 ounces, by weight) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (5 ounces, by weight) white rice flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup Bourbon and Vanilla Infused Sugar (preferably Bourbon infused) or granulated sugar

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flours and set aside.

Fit a stand mixer with the paddle attachment  and beat butter on medium high until butter is totally smooth, about 1 minute. Change mixer speed to low, and with it running, gradually add the superfine sugar, then the vanilla, orange zest and salt, and continue mixing until it lightens in color. Turn mixer off, add about 1/3 of the flour blend. Turn mixer onto low and incorporate all the flour. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides and add another third of the flour blend.  Again, mix on low until incorporated, then turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides and add and blend in the final installment of flour. Continue mixing on low until the dough forms a fairly cohesive mass.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead four times, or until smooth. Dust the top of the dough with flour. Gently roll the dough out to an even thickness between 1/4- and 1/3- of an inch.

Line two cookie sheets with silpats or parchment paper and place to the side.

Use your spoon cookie cutter (or trace around the edge of our template with a sharp paring knife) and carefully transfer the shapes to the lined cookie sheets, placing them 1-inch apart.  Collect the scrap dough, gently push it back together and roll out, cutting more cookies. Continue gathering scraps, re-rolling the dough, and cutting until all the dough has been used.

Place the cookie sheets in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350°F with racks positioned in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. When hot, place one cookie sheet on each rack. Cook,rotating the trays from front to back and top to bottom after 7 minutes, for a total time of 15 minutes or just until they become golden brown around the edges. Remove the trays from the oven and immediately sprinkle the raw sugar over the hot cookies. Cool the cookies completely on the pans.

 

Store in an airtight container at room temperature. These cookies just improve with age.

…Want your own bourbon and vanilla infused sugar? That’s coming your way tomorrow! I guarantee you want this recipe. Think of it stirred into coffee, tea, sprinkled over cookies, etc… I thought so. See you tomorrow!

 

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Shortbread Cookie Spoons (Spookies)
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert, Cookie
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 15
 

These lightly orange-scented, spoon shaped shortbread cookies turn the ultimate cookie into the ultimate dipper. Dunk in hot chocolate, coffee, tea, or milk. Don’t stop there, though. Try them in pudding, custard, and ice cream!
Ingredients
  • 2 sticks (8 ounces, by weight) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature, cut ½-inch pats.
  • ½ cup superfine sugar (Can be made by placing granulated sugar in a blender on HIGH for about twenty seconds.)
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
  • zest of ½ an orange
  • 1 cup (4¼ ounces, by weight) unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup (5 ounces, by weight) white rice flour
  • ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
  • ½ cup raw sugar (preferably Bourbon infused) or granulated sugar

Instructions
  1. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the flours and set aside. Trace a measuring spoon (tablespoon size) onto cardboard and cut out to use as a template or bend a medium-sized metal cookie cutter into a spoon shape. (Of course, if you happen to have a spoon sized cookie cutter that will work!)
  2. Fit a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat butter on medium high until butter is totally smooth, about 1 minute. Change mixer speed to low, and with it running, gradually add the superfine sugar, then the vanilla, orange zest and salt, and continue mixing until it lightens in color. Turn mixer off, add about ⅓ of the flour blend. Turn mixer onto low and incorporate all the flour. Turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides and add another third of the flour blend. Again, mix on low until incorporated, then turn off the mixer, scrape down the sides and add and blend in the final installment of flour. Continue mixing on low until the dough forms a fairly cohesive mass.
  3. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead four times, or until smooth. Dust the top of the dough with flour. Gently roll the dough out to an even thickness between ¼- and ⅓- of an inch.
  4. Line two cookie sheets with silpats or parchment paper and place to the side.
  5. Use your spoon cookie cutter (or trace around the edge of our template with a sharp paring knife) and carefully transfer the shapes to the lined cookie sheets, placing them 1-inch apart. Collect the scrap dough, gently push it back together and roll out, cutting more cookies. Continue gathering scraps, re-rolling the dough, and cutting until all the dough has been used. Place the cookie sheets in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
  6. Preheat oven to 350°F with racks positioned in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. When hot, place one cookie sheet on each rack. Cook,rotating the trays from front to back and top to bottom after 7 minutes, for a total time of 15 minutes or just until they become golden brown around the edges. Remove the trays from the oven and immediately sprinkle the remaining sugar over the hot cookies. Cool the cookies completely on the pans.
  7. Store in an airtight container at room temperature. These cookies just improve with age.

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Filed Under: Cookies, Desserts, Rebecca, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Deep Dish Snickerdoodle Skillet Cookie

March 8, 2011 by 12 Comments

Raise your hand if you, like me, love snickerdoodles beyond any other cookie on the face of the earth.  Raise your other hand if you, also like me, really don’t think snickerdoodles need to be messed with to make them wonderful.  Raise your foot (since we’re running out of hands) if you think tinkering with snickerdoodles is close-on to blasphemy. Well, now that we’re most of us standing on one foot with both hands in the air, let me make a confession (because at this point, if you raise that other foot to kick me you’re down on your keister. This is what I call self-protection.) I messed with snickerdoodles today.  And I didn’t just mess with any snickerdoodles, I messed with the best, most sacred recipe for them in the entire world; My Grandma’s.

My Grandma’s snickerdoodles are the cookies that made my teen years not so gloomy, clad-in-black and angsty. Simple, pure barely sweet sugar and butter cookies rolled in cinnamon sugar and baked until puffy, crisp on the outside, and tender as could be on the inside. Life was very good when Grandma put a plate of them in front of me.

I have been playing with skillet cookies (as seen here, here, and here). Reasoning that if chocolate chip cookies worked, so would a host of other flavors, I boldly went where Grandma’s cookies have not gone* and plopped the whole batch of snickerdoodle dough into a sugar and butter coated cast-iron skillet. And ain’t a thing wrong with it, let me tell you.

Why bother skillet-ing the cookie? Why not just roll the dough into balls and proceed as normal? Because we can. And because we’re talking about one skillet, cramming the cookie dough in and baking. Hello time saver. You’re awfully handsome.

This is different than Grandma’s snickerdoodles. For starters, and most obviously, it’s one mondo huge cookie.  It’s deep dish. It’s mega, mega. Secondly, and more subtly, there is a high ratio of caramelization and crisp on the bottom of the cookie. This is a-okay by me.  When cooked at the lower end of the time frame given in the recipe, you get a more chewy, moist center.  The longer you leave it in the oven, the higher the crisp layer ascends. Cook accordingly.

But do cook.  And I’ll just bet you have everything you need in the pantry and refrigerator to make a pan full of Deep Dish Snickerdoodle Skillet Cookie in time to have a warm wedge of this topped with a scoop of melting vanilla ice cream* in your mitts before your evening date with the couch. It is a mighty nice thing. And I do believe Grandma will approve.

*My ice cream is winging its way homeward in the back of my husband’s car as I type.


Deep Dish Snickerdoodle Skillet Cookie

Scroll to the bottom for an easy-print version of this recipe!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks/8 ounces) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces by weight) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 3/4 cups (11 3/4 ounces by weight) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

In a mid-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Set aside.

In a mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and eggs until the mixture is smooth and lightened in color.  Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix together until evenly and thoroughly combined. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Rub a cast-iron (or other oven-proof) skillet with a small amount of butter.  Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the bottom of the skillet. Scrape the cookie dough into the pan. Moisten your hands with water and pat out the dough evenly, covering the bottom of the skillet completely. Evenly sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over the cookie dough. Bake the cookie for 30-45 minutes. When the edges have browned and the center is golden brown the cookie is ready to be pulled from the oven.  At this stage, the cookie, when sliced, will be very moist. If you like your cookies crispier, leave in the oven for closer to the 45 minute mark. When done to your liking transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes.  After 20 minutes, you can slice the cookie into wedges.  This is best served slightly warm with ice cream melting over it.  But really? What in life isn’t better that way?

 

Print
Deep Dish Snickerdoodle Skillet Cookie
Author: 
Recipe type: Dessert, Cookie
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 

Serves: 12
 

The classic snickerdoodle cinnamon and sugar rendered as one huge deep dish cookie with a high ratio of caramelization and crisp on the bottom of the cookie.
Ingredients
  • 1 cup (2 sticks/8 ounces) butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1½ cups (10½ ounces by weight) granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2¾ cups (11¾ ounces by weight) all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Instructions
  1. In a mid-sized mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Set aside.
  2. In a mixing bowl or stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar and eggs until the mixture is smooth and lightened in color. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix together until evenly and thoroughly combined. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
  4. Rub a cast-iron (or other oven-proof) skillet with a small amount of butter. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon sugar mixture over the bottom of the skillet. Scrape the cookie dough into the pan. Moisten your hands with water and pat out the dough evenly, covering the bottom of the skillet completely. Evenly sprinkle the remaining cinnamon sugar over the cookie dough. Bake the cookie for 30-45 minutes. When the edges have browned and the center is golden brown the cookie is ready to be pulled from the oven. At this stage, the cookie, when sliced, will be very moist. If you like your cookies crispier, leave in the oven for closer to the 45 minute mark. When done to your liking transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, you can slice the cookie into wedges. This is best served slightly warm with ice cream melting over it. But really? What in life isn’t better that way?

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Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers and S’Mores Bars

June 16, 2010 by 7 Comments

Oftentimes, the ordinary things are the ones that bring the most pleasure; a cool breeze on a hot day, sitting quietly next to your kids on the couch, studying puffy white clouds in a cerulean sky, eating the first sun-warmed berry of the season or curling up to sleep at night between cool, clean sheets. And there are the blissful moments when simply ordinary is elevated just a bit; not so far that it’s ostentatious- only enough to gently nudge it into the realm of extraordinary.  Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers are one of those.

Most of us were raised with graham crackers as a staple of the snack table.  Brown, sweet and homey, graham crackers are an ordinary pleasure.  But dipped in chocolate, graham crackers glide into sublime territory. The transformation from plain Jane graham cracker to velvety chocolate-enrobed cookie is nothing less than magical. It goes from nursery food to party food.  If you lay a plate full of these out at the dessert table at a party I guarantee an empty, crumb-free plate within nanoseconds.

There are two real and present dangers with Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers.

  1. The danger of total paralysis in trying to decide just how much of that blasted cracker to cover with chocolate.  Do you carefully coat one side?  Dunk one end and leave a ‘chocolate-free zone’ for grasping with the thumb and forefinger? Drizzle melted chocolate artfully over the top?  Dip marshmallows in chocolate and stick to the graham crackers a la s’mores? Go all the way and submerge the entire cracker in chocolate?  It’s worse than deciding what to wear the first day of school!
  2. The danger of dunking an entire box of graham crackers in chocolate and eating it alone in the closet.

I combat the first threat this way.

In the name of all that is good and true, why would you only do it one way?  Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, it has been said. Go wild.

And I combat the second temptation by succumbing to it.  Minus the closet.  Now don’t worry;  I share with the kids.  But they’re smaller than I am and I eat faster than they do.  Score.  They’re little, though, so I’m sure they’re low in calories.  Besides, real graham crackers are made with whole grains.  That makes this healthy*.

*Shhhhhh.  I know most graham crackers are not made with whole grains today.  Don’t intrude on my delusions.

I know I could’ve simply melted chocolate and dunked the crackers, but I went one step further; I added coconut oil to my chocolate when I melted it.  I had a couple reasons for this seemingly heretical act.  I wanted to make the chocolate a little easier to bite into after it set up and I wanted the chocolate to melt on my fingers so I could lick it off.  It’s the little things in life…* 

*Feel free to omit the coconut oil from the recipe when making this.

Oh!  And lest I forget, do come back tomorrow.  You might want to try what I did with these later.  I’ll give you a hint.

For a photo-free, printer-friendly version of this recipe, click here!

Chocolate Covered Graham Crackers and S’mores Bars

Ingredients:

  • 2 sleeves of graham crackers, broken into quarters along the scored lines
  • 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate,  chips or (finely chopped) bars
  • 2 Tablespoons extra virgin coconut oil or unsalted butter
  • Optional: For s’mores bars, one large marshmallow per graham cracker piece

Place chocolate and coconut oil or butter into a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on high heat for 1 minute.  Remove bowl and stir with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon.  Microwave in additional 10 second increments, stirring well after each time, until the chocolate and oil are completely melted, combined and smooth.

Line a cookie sheet with a piece of parchment paper and set aside.  Here’s how you gild those lilies.

For half-covered crackers:

  • Use the thumb and forefinger to grab the end of a graham cracker piece.  Dunk the free end into the chocolate and use a spoon to bathe chocolate as far up the cookie as you would like to go.  Let the excess chocolate drip away and place on the parchment lined pan.

For drizzled crackers:

  • Carefully drop a cracker flat onto the surface of the melted chocolate.  Use two forks to lift the cracker from the chocolate and allow the excess chocolate to drip away.  Transfer to the parchment lined pan.  Use a spoon to drizzle more melted chocolate in patterns over the uncovered surface of the cracker.

For fully covered crackers:

  • Drop a cracker piece into the melted chocolate.  Use two forks to turn the cracker in the chocolate, making sure all surfaces are covered.  Use the forks to lift the cracker from the chocolate and allow the excess chocolate to drip away.  Transfer to the parchment lined pan.

For s’more bars:

  • Carefully drop a cracker flat onto the surface of the melted chocolate.  Use two forks to lift the cracker from the chocolate and allow the excess chocolate to drip away.  Transfer to the parchment lined pan.  Cut each marshmallow in half.  Kitchen shears are the quickest way to do this job.  Dunk the cut sides of the marshmallow into the chocolate, lift and let excess chocolate drip away.  Position the marshmallow halves chocolate side down on the cracker pieces.  Leave as is, or use a spoon to drizzle chocolate over the marshmallows and crackers.

Important!: Place pan in the freezer to set up the chocolate. Eat with child-like abandon!

Filed Under: Breakfast Foods, Cookies, Desserts, kid food, Party Food, Rebecca, Recipes, Stretching your dollars Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,
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