Cookaholics Bulletin Board

oh Dave...

I don't make Christmas cookies as a general rule, but I'm literally stuck at home (it's dumping like you would not believe right now), and I'm feeling the need to make cookies.

Favorites?

Amy

Not Dave, but here are two favourites: BONNIE’S ESPRESSO BISCOTTI

 ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
 2 eggs
 1 tsp. vanilla
 3 cups all purpose flour
 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
 2 tbsp. instant espresso / instant regular coffee, crushed finely
 1 tbsp. grated orange rind
 ½ cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate
 ½ cup toasted chopped almonds or hazelnuts

Topping:
 ¼ cup granulated sugar
 2 tsp. cinnamon

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream butter with sugar until light, beat in eggs and add vanilla.
Sift or mix flour with baking powder, stir in espresso powder, orange rind, chocolate and nuts.
Stir into batter and mix only until dough comes together
Divide dough in half and shape into logs about 12 inches by 2 inches
Place on prepared baking sheets and bake in 350F oven for 30-35 minutes. Remove logs to cool and reduce oven temp to 325F.
Place logs on cutting board and cut each into about 20 slices on the diagonal, ½ inches thick.
Place cookies cut side up on baking sheet, sprinkle with topping on both sides of each cookie.
Bake cookies 15 minutes, then turn cookies and bake another 5 minutes on other side.
Makes about 40 cookies.

AND

ANISE-ALMOND BISCOTTI
"Biscotti have become very popular recently, but my mother-in-law, Helen, has been baking them for years," says Janet Mercuri of North Royalton Ohio. "Now that I've started using her recipe, friends tell me that my biscotti taste just like their grandmothers' —and I'm not even Italian."
These have a subtle anise flavor and would be nice with a caffè latte.

3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons aniseed, ground
1 cup whole almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped
1 large egg white




Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into medium bowl. Mix sugar, melted butter, 3 eggs, vanilla extract and ground aniseed in large bowl. Add flour mixture to egg mixture and stir with wooden spoon until well blended. Mix in almonds.
Divide dough in half. Using floured hands, shape each dough half into 13 1/2-inch-long, 2 1/2-inch-wide log. Transfer both logs to prepared baking sheet, spacing apart. Whisk egg white in small bowl until foamy; brush over top and sides of each dough log.

Bake logs until golden brown (logs will spread), about 30 minutes. Cool logs completely on sheet on rack, about 25 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Transfer logs to work surface; discard parchment paper. Using serrated knife, cut logs on diagonal into 1/2-inch-wide slices. Arrange slices, cut side down, on same baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes. Turn biscotti over; bake until just beginning to color, about 8 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool. (Can be prepared 1 week ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

Makes about 3 Dozen.
Bon Appétit
December 1999
Janet Mercuri, North Royalton, OH

Amy,

Here are the recipes I have in my computer (ignore the numbers to the right - something the software spits out, unrelated...maybe the order I input them?). About half are icebox - the ones I make the most - but a few others, as you can tell.

Any sound interesting? The underlined ones are the ones I make almost every season. Something different I have made the last two seasons is the oatmeal icebox, but half with barley flakes (I know I posted that sometime back), which were the favorites. And I saw a recipe for Browned Butter Snickerdoodles in Baked Elements, which looks interesting, since I always have browned butter.

Almond Spicebox 1
Biscotti, Multigrain and Seed 31
Biscotti, Chocolate Hazelnut 29
Bittersweet Chocolate Brownies 17
Black Pepper Chocolate Cookies 2
Browned Butter for cookies 30
Browned butter Shortbread 3
Chocolate Almond Spicebox Cookies 19
Chocolate Chip Coconut Macaroons 34
Chocolate Coconut-Nut Icebox Cookies 7
Chocolate Crinkles 16
Chocolate Shortbread 10
Dark Chocolate Sables 27
French Vanilla Sables 22
German Squares 6
Habanero Gingersnaps 26
Hot Gingersnaps x 1/2 28
Oatmeal Bars 8
Oatmeal Brownies 18
Oatmeal Icebox Cookies 4
Oatmeal Snickerdoodles 24
Oatmeal Snickerdoodles 1.5 20
Palm Beach Brownies 35
Peanut Butter Cookies 15
Pecan Butterscotch Icebox Cookies 9
Pine Nut Cookies 5
Russian Tea Cakes (Snowballs) 32
Sesame Icebox Cookies 11
Shortbread 12
Shortnin' Bread 13
Snickerdoodles 14
Snickerdoodles 1.5 21
Sweeet and Salty Brownies 33
Tennessee Icebox Cookies 23
Wienerstube - chocolate spice cookies 25


Oatmeal Icebox Cookies

3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp soda
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 cups rolled oats OR barley
1/2 cup Butter; unsalted, chilled
3/4 tsp Vanilla
1 large egg
2 oz walnuts; cut up med-fine

A. Combine flour, salt, soda, ginger, and sugars in FP and process to mix thoroughly. Add butter, cut up, and process to cut in completely. Beat egg and vanilla together, and pour into FP while pulsing. Scrape mixture onto oats and nuts in a large bowl, and mix in by hand. Place on an 18" long piece of wax paper and form into a 3/4x3" log, about 15" long, wrap up, and slide a baking sheet under it. Freeze 4hrs., or overnight.

B. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350º and line sheets with parchment. Slice frozen dough into 1/4" slices and palce 2" apart on sheets. Bake 12-14 min., or until well browned. Cool a min. or so, then remove to wire racks to cool.

Thanks Jean...while I like biscotti, I'm in the mood for something softer.

Dave, no barley flakes in the house, and I'm most certainly not going anywhere (over a foot of snow and counting), so how about the pine nut cookie recipe?

Amy

Not Dave either but I am in love with CI's browned butter chocolate chip cookies.

Mary

oooh, browned butter chocolate chip! I'm in...

Amy

I make either choc chocolate cookies or I make these.

Sarah's Chewy Chocolate Raisin Cookies

Those pine nut cookies are delicious! Been making them since the mid-70's.

Pine Nut Cookies

1/4 lb Butter; chilled
1/2 cup Sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup Sugar
1/8 tsp Salt
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup pine nuts; toasted

A. Place flour, sugar and salti n FP and process briefly; Cut up butter and add, along with vanilla and egg yolk, and process untill a ball of dough is formed. Work in nuts by hand.

B. Preheat oven to 300º. Roll dough into 3/4 in. balls and place 1 1/2 in. apart on parchment paper, and bake 20-25 min., or until just beginning to brown around the edges.



And here's a method (I know I've posted this before) for making browned butter, that can be substituted for regular butter once for ounce, since the water evaporated from the butter is replaced with the milk.

Browned Butter for cookies

1 lb unsalted butter; or more, as needed
6 tb milk; approx.

A. Heat the butter in a heavy 1 1/2-2 qt. saucepan over medium heat. Stir occasionally as the water evaporates, and more often when temp. starts rising over 250º. Heat until temperature reaches 290-300º, and the particles in the butter are browned, but not too dark. Pour into a metal bowl (place bowl on scale, and zero out, before placing butter in bowl) to stop the cooking, and cool to below 200º. Whisk in milk to bring weight of butter back to 1 lb, or whatever the original weight was. Cool to room temp, whisking occasionally, to emulsify the milk and fat. Refrigerate, and use as needed, in place of sweet butter.

Amy, no offence. Try the espresso ones when you are in a biscotti mood -they are amazing. The anise are the perfect simple biscotti, like a Stella D'oro but so much better.
I still have to try the brown butter ones, the few times I've tried to brown butter it's been blackened.
These are my go to cc now, although you won't be able to bake them till tomorrow.
http://www.injennieskitchen.com/2010/03 ... p-cookies/

Oh yes! It's my favorite CC cookie! The browned butter gives it a butter gives it a butterscotchy-caramely flavor. Of course, like most CI recipes, it's quite fussy. Stir - wait - stir - wait - stir - wait..................................


I also love their molasses cookies. Best I've ever had! A slightly crisp edge with a soft, chewy bite. I skip their whiskey glaze - it tends to dominate the flavor.