Just Pics

Took a bunch of photos recently. The Rice Crispies were made in a jumbo muffin tin. These Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookies came out really nice - I left out the cocoa so the peanut flavor could shine. This Chocolate Cake is from a Cooks Illustrated recipe. It was delicious with huge chocolate flavor.

Rice Crispy Treat

Peanut Butter Choc Chip Cookie

Chocolate Cake

Chocolate Cake Slice

Love-heart Rolled Chocolate Cookies

chocolate cookies with raspberry icing

Chocolate Rolled Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tablespoons chocolate or coffee liqueur or strong brewed coffee

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup cocoa powder plus extra for rolling

3 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.
2. With an electric mixer cream together the butter and sugars until fully incorporated and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg, coffee or liqueur, and vanilla.
4. Add in drys mixture about 1 cup at a time.  Blend until fully incorporated.  (If you are using a hand mixer you may need to add the last cup of flour by hand).
5. Divide dough into two or three large balls, place in a plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator 1-2 hours (if you’re in a hurry, you can chill the dough for about 20 minutes in the freezer).
6. Once chilled, work with one ball of dough at a time, and roll onto a surface lightly dusted with cocoa.
7. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters and place on a baking sheet.
8. Place the baking sheet (with cookies on it) in the freezer about 5 minutes (this helps the dough keep it’s shape when baked).
9. Bake cookies for 7-10 minutes (depending on size) in a 350°F oven.
10. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet a few minutes and then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
11. Ice with sugar cookie icing and decorate as desired.

Source: Glorious Treats

Yield: 2 dozen+

Baking Temp: 350°F

Tip: Roll out thicker than you normally would roll cookie dough, such as to 3/8".

Sugar Cookie Icing

Ingredients

2 tsp milk
2 tsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp raspberry (or other) extract
a few drops of food dye
1 C confectioner's sugar, sifted

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, stir sugar and milk until smooth.
2. Stir in corn syrup, extract, and dye if doing one color. Gently stir until icing is smooth, glossy, and thick.
3. If doing two colors, divide out into separate bowls, add dye, and stir.
4. For method pictured, using thick icing, pipe a closed shape as an outline.
5. Thin icing with milk until just thin enough to flood within your border. Pipe or spoon within borders, smoothing with small tool until it meets edge.
6. Let harden at room temperature.

Tips

• Use a coupler with a ziploc baggie. Use 2mm decorating tip.
• Use your non-dominant hand to squeeze the bag and your dominant hand to direct the tip.
• I have more rolled cookie tips with Polvorones de Naranja.

Anzac Biscuits (Coconut Cookies)

 I am excited to bring you this recipe because most Americans haven't tried this southern hemisphere classic. Try it as-is if you like (tastes old fashioned), but I recommend adding vanilla. If you have coconut essence you could try adding a touch of that, or perhaps rum. I can't wait to try this with coconut oil in place of butter! Or maybe agave rather than sugar? The possibilities abound :)


Anzac Biscuits

Yield: 18 cookies of 1 Tbsp each
Source: The PWMU Centenary Cookbook
Baking time:  15 min
Baking temp: 325°F (160°C)

Ingredients

1 C rolled oats
1 C white flour
3/4 C desiccated coconut
3/4 C sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 Tbsp boiling water
1/2 C butter, melted
2 Tbsp golden syrup

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325°F.
2. Combine oats, flour, coconut and sugar in large bowl.
3. In Pyrex cup, melt butter in microwave then stir in golden syrup.
4. Microwave water (in small cup) then stir in baking soda.
5. Add water solution to butter and stir.
6. Add butter mixture to dry ingredients and mix well.
7. Place small rolled balls on prepared baking ray.
8. Bake 15 min or until golden brown. 
9. Let cool on tray 2-5 minutes before removing to rack.

Tip: Prepare your baking trays with a silicone mat, with parchment paper, or grease with butter.
Tip: For a flavor a little less oaty, add 1 tsp of vanilla extract to wet mixture.
Tip: Golden syrup is a sugar cane syrup. Substitute agave syrup, light colored honey, etc.

Note: This traditional recipe is from Australia and New Zealand. These biscuits were sent to soldiers fighting overseas hence the name Anzac (Australia New Zealand Army Corps). Including no eggs, which were rationed during war, they have a long shelf life.

No-Flour Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Today's recipe is pretty special because it won my husband and I second place in a cookie competition at Chico Natural Foods! The picture of our fork-pressed cookie at the bottom here is courtesy Chico Natural (the top picture is mine).

No Flour Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen cookies
Source: bakingbites.com
Baking Temperature: 350°F

Ingredients

1 C peanut butter
3/4 C brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp cocoa
2 tbsp water
1/2 to 3/4 C semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In small cup mix together cocoa and water.
3. In a large bowl place peanut butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and cocoa/water; stir well.
4. Fold in chips.
5. Drop by tablespoonfuls (or form balls with hands) onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Flatten slightly with fork, if you wish.
7. Bake 10-13 minutes until golden brown at edges.
8. Cool on pan 2 minutes then remove to rack to continue cooling.

Tips

• Keeps well when wrapped individually in plastic and refrigerated or frozen.
• For larger cookies make 2 inch balls (makes 1 dozen).
• If you take care to select gluten-free ingredients, this recipe can be gluten-free.
• Using white sugar or natural cane sugar will not affect the flavor much.
• Use any kind of peanut butter: homogenized or natural, smooth or chunky. I use freshly ground peanut butter such as is available at natural and bulk stores.
• For a flavor leaning more peanut, omit the cocoa and water and use chunky peanut butter. You can also omit the choc chips and keep the cocoa.

Gingerbread

Yield: 3 dozen men
Baking Temperature: 350°F
Baking Time: 8-12 minutes

Ingredients

3 C AP flour
2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp ground cloves (optional)
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
6 TB butter, room temperature
1/2 C dark brown sugar, packed
1 egg
3/4 C molasses

Instructions

1. In large bowl, whisk together flour, spices, leaveners and salt; set aside.
2. Using electric mixer beat butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg and molasses.
4. With mixer on slow, gradually add drys until just combined.
5. Divide dough, flatten into discs wrapped in plastic and refrigerate at least 2 hours (or freeze).
6. Thaw before rolling.
7. Roll to 1/8" thick, cut into shapes, and in a preheated oven bake 8-10 minutes for soft or 11-12 min for crunchy cookies.

Ah, a seasonal recipe at last. I ended up giving away most of these little guys as a gift, which was well recieved (yay). I frosted mine using the frosting recipe from Sugar Cookies, partly just to see how they would come out, but frosting is totally optional. It's not hard, so don't limit yourself, but it doesn't really add a whole lot of flavor, just sweetness. The most important thing to note was how easy it was to roll these out. I tried a different recipe first and it was a huge struggle. This recipe is easy to roll! This makes a lot of gingerbread men so I cut them all out at once and put them on parchment paper for easy switching in and out of the oven.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Yield:  3-4 dozen cookies
Baking Temperature:350°F
Baking Time:  12 min

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softenened
1 C firmly packed soft brown sugar
½ C white sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ C AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
3 C old fashioned oats
1 C raisins
1 C chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
3. In large bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy.
4. Add eggs and vanilla, beat well.
5. Add in flour mixture, beat well.
6. Stir in oats, raisins, and nuts using wooden spoon, mix well.
7. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto silpat cookie sheet.
8. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown.
9. Cool one minute on sheet and move gently (using frosting spatula) to wire rack to finish cooling.
10. Serve warm with a glass of milk.

Notes: Refrigerated and frozen cookies can be briefly microwaved for a warm-up, but refrigerated cookies are also good. Perfect for a quick morning snack.
Occasions Used:  Serve these cookies in colder months.
Source: Quaker Oats

Rolled Sugar Cookies

From Sweet Things: Food Pics!

Sugar Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies
Baking Temperature: 350°F
Baking Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients

3 C sifted cake flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1C unsalted butter, slightly firm
3/4 C superfine sugar
1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Instructions

1. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
2. In large bowl cream together butter and sugar.
3. In small bowl, beat egg and vanilla together with a fork.
4. Beat egg/vanilla into butter/sugar.
5. Add half of dry ingredients, mix, then other half mixing only until it begins to form a mass.
6. On a lightly floured surface, knead the dough until just smooth.
7. Divide into quarters and press into 4 discs.
8. Dust each disc lightly with flour and wrap in plastic.
9. Chill 15 min; heat oven to 350°F.
10. On a lightly floured surface working with one disc at a time, roll the dough out very thinly (1/16").
11. Cut with cookie cutters and transfer to silpat on cookie sheet.
12. Bake 10-14 min or until edges begin to brown, rotating sheet within oven at least once.
13. Let stand 2 min then transfer to wire racks to continue cooling.
14. Let cool before decorating.

Sugar Cookie Icing - Ingredients

1 C confectioner's sugar, sifted
2 tsp milk
2 tsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp almond (or other) extract
food coloring

Sugar Cookie Icing - Instructions

1. In a small bowl, stir sugar and milk until smooth.
2. Beat in corn syrup and extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If too thick, add more corn syrup.
3. Divide out to color.
4. Dip or paint cookies.

Tip: go to the Polvorones de Naranja recipe for some rolled cookie tips.

Snickerdoodles

I wanted to make cookies but wanted something easy. Snickerdoodles were suggested by my partner. I made them right away and they were gobbled up like popcorn!

Snickerdoodles

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Baking Temp: 375°F

Baking Time: 10 min

Ingredients: Dough

1/2 C unsalted butter, softened

1 C white sugar

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 C all purpose flour

Ingredients: Cinnamon Sugar

4 TBsp white sugar

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. In a mixing bowl, combine 4 TBsp sugar and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon then transfer mixture to shallow dish.
2. In (the same) mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds.
3. Add the 1 cup sugar. Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally.
4. Beat in the egg and vanilla until well blended.
5. Whisk together bakind soda, cream of tartar and flour.
6. Add the flour mixture to your bowl and beat until smooth.
7. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour.
8. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls.
9. Roll balls in cinnamon sugar mixture to coat.
10. Place balls of dough 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
11. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes or until edges are beautifully golden.
12. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

Note: This recipe is from PopularCookieRecipes.Com

Polvorones de Naranja (Orange Cookies)

Polvorones de Naranja

Yield: 4 dozen cookies
Baking Temperature: 400°F
Baking Time: 10-15 min

Ingredients

4 C AP flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ C white sugar
2 sticks butter (room remperature)
4 large egg yolks
1 can/14oz sweetened condensed milk
zest of 1 orange
¼ C orange juice

Instructions

1. In medium bowl, sift flour, baking soda and sugar.
2. In large bowl, cream butter and egg yolks thouroughly.
3. Slowly add condensed milk to butter/eggs, then zest.
4. Slowly add the drys until they are all incorporated.
5. Finally mix in orange juice.
6. Flour a surface and roll out small quantities dough using a rolling pin to ¼ inch thickness or less (see below).
7. Cut 2" rounds using cookie cutter.
8. Gently transfer to baking sheet/silpat.
9. Bake 10-15 min at 400°F, will not brown much at all. Thin cookies take much less time to cook.
10. Cool 2 min on sheet (if soft) before transferring to wire rack to complete cooling.

Notes: The zest and juice requirements are more or less what one orange provides. This is a big recipe and expect to do several batches. Cookies will freeze fine in an airtight container. Undecorated this cookie is sophistacated and not overly sweet but (once cooled) a dusting of confectioner's sugar or a sugar cookie frosting are fun additions. Consider having the egg whites for breakfast...

Tool notes: In addition to your usual tools you will need a fine grater, a (hand) juicer, a rolling pin, and a cookie cutter. As you can see, I used stars but a round cutter would have more evenly colored edges. See pictures of these tools here.

About Rolled Cookies

I remember the first time I rolled out sugar cookies. It was just a few years ago and I did a lot of research on how to best go about it. I have to say that this recipe, while not really a sugar cookie, is much easier for a first-time roller as the dough is a lot less sensitive to the heat of your hands.

If you've never made a rolled cookie before but you've got your rolling pin all ready to go, here are my quick hints.

• Refrigerate dough for half an hour if it is too sticky to work with.
• Flour your work surface and pin as necessary. Keep cup of flour nearby.
• Find a BIG area for your work surface. I used my glass dining table. Granite, marble, or steel countertops are ideal.
• Lay out a piece (or two) of cling film (plastic wrap) on your work surface.
• Roll a (handful sized) ball of dough flat onto the plastic.
• Use the cutter all over your flat dough. Flour the cutter if it sticks.
• Peel the large pieces of scrap dough away.
• Lift the plastic wrap and with one hand under you can peel the cookies off easily (or lift wrap right up and slap the cookie onto the silpat/cookie sheet upside-down).
• Be careful about spilling flour on the top of your cookie because the flour will stay there despite baking.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Baking Temperature: 375°F
Baking Time: 9-11 minutes

Ingredients

2 1/4 C AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
2 sticks butter (room temperature)
3/4 C white sugar
3/4 C packed soft brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
12 oz semisweet chocolate chips
1 C chopped nuts (optional)

Instructions

1. In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.
2. In large bowl, cream together butter, sugars and vanilla.
3. Add eggs one at a time, beating well.
4. Gradually beat in dry ingredients.
5. Stir in choc chips and nuts with a wooden spoon.
6. Drop ping-pong size balls of dough onto ungreased baking sheet/silpat.
7. Bake 9-11 minutes until golden brown.
8. Cool 2 minutes on sheet before transferring to wire rack with offset spatula.

Notes: Semisweet or milk chocolate chips can be used with or without nuts; walnuts are the classic nut for this cookie. Try white chocolate chips with pecan or even macadamia for a more exotic cookie.

Tip: Chill dough overnight in the fridge or for a few hours in the freezer. Cold (defrosted) dough is easier to roll into balls plus it is claimed it ripens the flavor.