Tax season is taking it's toll on us these days. Sophia is home sick. I am tired. Nate is crabby. Paul is busy, and stressed. I haven't been posting much, but I am gearing up for three holidays. I am making Corned beef and cabbage on Sunday, the second night of Passover, and Easter. It's a lot to plan and a lot to cook. I am starting to get in the green spirit. Today at the supermarket I bought green grapes and green juice for my daughters class on Wednesday. I hope she is ready to go back to school for it. These cookies are really just for us. I am in the mood for a sugar cookie. I will make a few for me, without rolling them in sugar.
Luck O the Irish Cookies
1 1/4 cups white sugar
1 cup butter
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
a few spoons of green sanding sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Lightly grease 2 cookie sheets or line with silpat or parchment.
Cream together sugar and butter.
Beat in egg yolks and vanilla.
Add flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Stir.
Form dough into walnut size balls and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Roll in green sanding sugar. Flatten slightly with the back of a glass. Bake 9-10 minutes and cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet.
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Monday, March 15, 2010
Monday, March 8, 2010
Vanilla Oatmeal Cookies
Before we get to the cookies, have you noticed how much I love ziplock bags? I am addicted. They make new greener ones which I am trying to use, but really... the no clean aspect is addictive.
Speaking of addictive, Vanilla Oatmeal Cookies.... can I just say, YUM!
Adapted from http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/12/04/chewy-oatmeal-raisin-cookies/#more-4462
Vanilla Oatmeal Cookies
Yield: 32 cookies
1½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 vanilla bean, scraped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat
Whisk the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt together in a medium bowl.
In your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugars; beat until fluffy. Add the scraping of the vanilla bean and beat in the eggs, 1 at a time.
Add the flour mixture and stir in on low speed until just incorporated. Stir in the oats with a wooden spoon.
Scoop out a large tablespoon full of dough at a time and roll into balls. Place on cookie sheet at least 1 1/2 inches apart.
Bake until the cookie edges turn golden brown, 18-20 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Speaking of addictive, Vanilla Oatmeal Cookies.... can I just say, YUM!
Adapted from http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2009/12/04/chewy-oatmeal-raisin-cookies/#more-4462
Vanilla Oatmeal Cookies
Yield: 32 cookies
1½ cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 vanilla bean, scraped
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat
Whisk the flour, baking powder, nutmeg, and salt together in a medium bowl.
In your electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the sugars; beat until fluffy. Add the scraping of the vanilla bean and beat in the eggs, 1 at a time.
Add the flour mixture and stir in on low speed until just incorporated. Stir in the oats with a wooden spoon.
Scoop out a large tablespoon full of dough at a time and roll into balls. Place on cookie sheet at least 1 1/2 inches apart.
Bake until the cookie edges turn golden brown, 18-20 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 2 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
I am craving the simple pleasure of these wonderful cookies. I now need to make a dinner plan that ends with these.
2 cups all-purpose flour (I have been getting good results with white whole wheat, but I wouldn't call them "perfect")
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In your mixer bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.
Mix in the dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. Big cookies really are better, if you like the middle chewy. But smaller cookies do work fine. I often do them smaller so they fit in the bento boxes.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are just lightly toasted. They should not be done yet. Cool on baking sheets for a 3-5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to finish baking and cool completely on the racks.
What makes this recipe work? A few things.... the extra egg yolk, the ratio of more brown to white sugar, the large size, the different size and weight of the chips which helps them to settle evenly, and the baking that continues outside the oven on the hot cookie sheets.
2 cups all-purpose flour (I have been getting good results with white whole wheat, but I wouldn't call them "perfect")
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In your mixer bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.
Mix in the dry ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. Big cookies really are better, if you like the middle chewy. But smaller cookies do work fine. I often do them smaller so they fit in the bento boxes.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are just lightly toasted. They should not be done yet. Cool on baking sheets for a 3-5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to finish baking and cool completely on the racks.
What makes this recipe work? A few things.... the extra egg yolk, the ratio of more brown to white sugar, the large size, the different size and weight of the chips which helps them to settle evenly, and the baking that continues outside the oven on the hot cookie sheets.
Wednesday, February 10, 2010
Sugar Cookies for Valentine's Day
This was adapted from Alton Brown's Recipe. The most important distinction is the added vanilla.
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg plus one yolk, beaten
1 1/2 tablespoon milk
1 t vanilla extract
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine.
Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color.
Add egg, yolk, vanilla and milk and beat to combine.
Slowly add flour mixture, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar.
Remove 1/2 of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick.
Cut into desired shape. I am thinking hearts? ;) At this point I am going to press in some heart shaped candies I bought. I don't know if they will melt. I really do not want to ice them, but I may have to.
Place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silpat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges.
Cool on sheet for two minutes, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies, but of course that depends on how large you make them.
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 egg plus one yolk, beaten
1 1/2 tablespoon milk
1 t vanilla extract
Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
Mix flour, baking powder, and salt and whisk to combine.
Place butter and sugar in large bowl of electric stand mixer and beat until light in color.
Add egg, yolk, vanilla and milk and beat to combine.
Slowly add flour mixture, and beat until mixture pulls away from the side of the bowl.
Divide the dough in half, wrap in waxed paper, and refrigerate for 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Sprinkle surface where you will roll out dough with powdered sugar.
Remove 1/2 of dough from refrigerator at a time, sprinkle rolling pin with powdered sugar, and roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick.
Cut into desired shape. I am thinking hearts? ;) At this point I am going to press in some heart shaped candies I bought. I don't know if they will melt. I really do not want to ice them, but I may have to.
Place at least 1-inch apart on greased baking sheet, parchment, or silpat, and bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to turn brown around the edges.
Cool on sheet for two minutes, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies, but of course that depends on how large you make them.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Cinnamon Chip Cookies
Here are the cookies we made for this week's school lunches. The kids actually did a lot of the baking, and I tried to teach Sophia fractions while she measured. The only casualty was the first egg, which Sophia cracked well. She just missed the bowl.
Cinnamon Chip Cookies
Ingredients-
1. 1 cup butter, softened
2. 1 cup white sugar
3. 1 egg
4. 1 tablespoon molasses
5. 2 t vanilla extract
6. 1 cup all-purpose flour
7. 1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
8. 1 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
9. 1/8 t salt
10. 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
11. 2 cups white chocolate chips
Directions-
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Mix in egg, vanilla, and molasses, blending well.
4. Mix flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture, mixing well.
5. Fold in chips.
6. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto parchment or silpat lined cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Cinnamon Chip Cookies
Ingredients-
1. 1 cup butter, softened
2. 1 cup white sugar
3. 1 egg
4. 1 tablespoon molasses
5. 2 t vanilla extract
6. 1 cup all-purpose flour
7. 1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
8. 1 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
9. 1/8 t salt
10. 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
11. 2 cups white chocolate chips
Directions-
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Mix in egg, vanilla, and molasses, blending well.
4. Mix flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture, mixing well.
5. Fold in chips.
6. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto parchment or silpat lined cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Friday, December 18, 2009
Silent Night
Last night my daughter was up at 2am and did not go back to sleep. So tonight, they were in bed by 7:15. I am baking some lemon shortbread, making some tea, and heading upstairs to enjoy it in peace.
http://pinchmysalt.com/2008/11/28/lemon-shortbread-recipe/
Hope you are all having a lovely evening.
http://pinchmysalt.com/2008/11/28/lemon-shortbread-recipe/
Hope you are all having a lovely evening.
Monday, December 14, 2009
Slowing down
It's a busy time of year. My son's birthday is Wednesday, Hanukkah is upon us, Christmas is coming, and so on and so forth. I have been reading a lot about Slow Parenting, Free Range Parenting, and thinking a lot about getting back to basics. In cooking, that translates to focusing on how I can make it easy to cook healthful, whole food, tasty meals and treats. Doing so in a way that makes it likely for me to do it often.
I always bake a lot around Christmas. Cookies and pies and breads galore. But this year I have been baking every week. The kids have been eating homemade, non processed home baked cookies every day at school in their Bento lunches. So I am not really feeling the need to go nuts. I suppose I could take this opportunity to bake fussier cookies that look beautiful on the table. I don't have time to do this usually. But frankly, who has time to do it now? So instead, I will stick to three cookies (I think)... my famous Big Chocolate Chip cookies (I made double the dough when I baked for the Daisy troupe last week, so it is in the fridge and ready to go), peanut butter blossoms with dark chocolate kisses (because Paul loves them and I love him.) and a simple rustic butter cookie. I asked some friends how they thought I should get my desired rectangle shape, and I got many ideas. Many included using my spritz cookie thing which is gathering dust at the moment, some involved rolling and cutting them into cookie cutter shapes, I went simple. I pushed the dough flat with my hands and cut the shapes with a knife. They came out good and rustic looking and simple. So as much as I love decorating cookies with my kids, this year we are sticking with easy.
Recipes to come, when I have some time to focus on them. For now, I am roasting a chicken for dinner, cleaning the house for the after school religion class my friend teaches here in my dining room, and rushing off to pick up N. at pre school.
Did I mention that I saved $78 at the super market today in coupons? Want to know my method?
I always bake a lot around Christmas. Cookies and pies and breads galore. But this year I have been baking every week. The kids have been eating homemade, non processed home baked cookies every day at school in their Bento lunches. So I am not really feeling the need to go nuts. I suppose I could take this opportunity to bake fussier cookies that look beautiful on the table. I don't have time to do this usually. But frankly, who has time to do it now? So instead, I will stick to three cookies (I think)... my famous Big Chocolate Chip cookies (I made double the dough when I baked for the Daisy troupe last week, so it is in the fridge and ready to go), peanut butter blossoms with dark chocolate kisses (because Paul loves them and I love him.) and a simple rustic butter cookie. I asked some friends how they thought I should get my desired rectangle shape, and I got many ideas. Many included using my spritz cookie thing which is gathering dust at the moment, some involved rolling and cutting them into cookie cutter shapes, I went simple. I pushed the dough flat with my hands and cut the shapes with a knife. They came out good and rustic looking and simple. So as much as I love decorating cookies with my kids, this year we are sticking with easy.
Recipes to come, when I have some time to focus on them. For now, I am roasting a chicken for dinner, cleaning the house for the after school religion class my friend teaches here in my dining room, and rushing off to pick up N. at pre school.
Did I mention that I saved $78 at the super market today in coupons? Want to know my method?
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