Cocoa Almond Meringues

Cocoa Almond Meringues
Source: Baking: From My Home to Yours
Makes about 30 cookies

1 C. confectioner’s sugar (plus extra for dusting) *Note: I skipped the dusting
1/3 C. finely ground almonds
1/4 C. unsweetened cocoa powder
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1/2 C. sugar
1/2 t. vanilla extract
1/3 C. finely chopped bittersweet chocolate *Note: I used semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift together the confectioner’s sugar, ground almonds, and cocoa. (Note: If you have a food processor, it’s incredibly easy to grind the almonds. Just toss a handful in and pulse until you have a fine meal.)

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large dry bowl (make sure the bowl is impeccably clean and dry), whip the egg whites and salt on medium speed until the whites are opaque. Increase the speed to medium-high and continue to whip as you add the granulated sugar about 1 tablespoon at a time. Then whip until the whites are firm and hold stiff peaks — they should still be very shiny. Beat in the vanilla, and remove the bowl from the mixer. With a large rubber spatula, quickly but gently fold in the dry ingredients, followed by the chopped chocolate. The whites will deflate a bit as you fold in the dry ingredients — just try to work rapidly and use a light touch so you deflate them as little as possible.

Drop the meringue by tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between the mounds. Dust the tops of the cookies very lightly with powdered sugar.*

Bake for 10 minutes. Then, without opening the oven door, reduce the oven temp to 200 degrees and bake for 1 hour more. Remove the baking sheets from the oven and allow the meringues to stand in a cool, dry place (not the refrigerator) until they reach room temperature.

Carefully peel the meringues off the parchment paper. Store in an airtight tin in a cool, dry environment.

Notes: I tried to make the cookies tablespoon-sized, but I still ran out of room on my two cookie sheets and had leftover dough. I baked two cookie sheets side-by-side in the oven, but I suspect you could do one sheet on each rack. Use the racks to divide the oven into thirds first.

If you like this recipe then you might also try Snow Caps.

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses

Peanut Butter Crisscrosses
from Baking: From My Home to Yours, by Dorie Greenspan

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
pinch of grated nutmeg
2 sticks (8 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups chopped salted peanuts (I omitted this since I used crunchy peanut butter)
about ½ cup sugar, for rolling

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.

Working with a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for a minute or two, until smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter and beat for another minute. Add the sugars and beat for 3 minutes more. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl and, on low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they just disappear. Mix in the chopped peanuts. You’ll have a soft, pliable (mushable, actually) dough.

Pour the ½ cup of sugar into a small bowl. Working with a level tablespoonful of dough for each cookie, roll the dough between your palms into balls and drop the balls, a couple at a time, into the sugar. Roll the balls around in the sugar to coat them, then place on the baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between them. Dip the tines of a fork in sugar and press the tines against each ball first in one direction and then in a perpendicular direction – you should have a flattened round of dough with crisscross indentations.

Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. When done, the cookies will be lightly colored and still a little soft. Let the cookies sit on the sheets for a minute before transferring them to cooling racks with a wide metal spatula. Cool to room temperature.

Repeat with the remaining dough, making sure to cool the baking sheets between batches.

Storage:
The cookies will keep for at least 5 days in the cookie jar. Wrapped airtight, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

These were perfect peanut butter cookies - crispy on the outside and soft in the middle. I highly recommend this recipe.

Basic Biscuits

Basic Biscuits

Baking: From My Home to Yours By Dorie Greenspan

Yield: 12 - 2 inch diameter biscuits

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 1 3/4 cps all-purpose flour and 1/3 cup cake flour)
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces
3/4 cup whole milk

Preparation

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Get out a sharp 2-inch diameter biscuit cutter, and line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour(s), baking powder, sugar and salt together in a bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers, toss to coat the pieces of butter with flour. Quickly, working with your fingertips or a pastry blender, cut and rub the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly. You’ll have pea-size pieces, pieces the size of oatmeal flakes, and pieces the size of everything in between, and that’s just right.

Pour the milk over the dry ingredients, grab a fork and toss and gently turn the ingredients until you’ve got a nice soft dough. Now reach into the bowl with your hands and give the dough a quick, gentle kneading-3 or 4 turns should be just enough to bring everything together.

Lightly dust a work surface with flour and turn out the dough. Dust the top of the dough very lightly with flour and pat the dough out with your hands or roll it with a pin until it is about 1/2 inch high. Don’t worry if the dough isn’t completely even-a quick, light touch is more important than accuracy.

Use the biscuit cutter to cut out as many biscuits as you can. Try to cut the biscuits close to one another so you get the most you can out of this first round. By hand or with a small spatula, transfer the biscuits to the baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, working them as little as possible, pat out to a 1/2 inch thickness and cut as many additional biscuits as you can; transfer these to the sheet. (The biscuits can be made to this point and frozen on the baking sheet, then wrapped airtight and kept for up to 2 months. Bake without defrosting-just add a couple more minutes to the oven time.)

Bake the biscuits for 14 to 18 minutes, or until they are puffed and golden brown. Transfer them to a serving basket.

World Peace Cookies

I was searching through my Dorie book again and I really wanted something sweet but I didn't have any eggs. I decided to make these cookies and they were fabulous.

World Peace Cookies
Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours
- makes about 36 cookies -

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 1/3 cup storebought mini chocolate chips

Procedure
1. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.

2. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

3. Turn off' the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek-if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough-for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don't be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

4. Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you've frozen the dough, you needn't defrost it before baking—just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

5. GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

6. Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you're cutting them—don't be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

7. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes—they won't look done, nor will they be firm, but that's just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

STORING: Packed airtight, the cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

I made another Dorie recipe yesterday and I think they turned out pretty good. I wouldn't say they were fabulous, but I would consider making them again. I halved the recipe and made 30 cookies. They don't expand very much when you cook them so I recommend making them larger than the teaspoonful balls that the directions state. In order to make the recommended yield you need to make tablespoonful balls. They had a nice soft and chewy consistency. If I was more of an oatmeal cookie fan then I would probably like these cookies more but I'm more of a chocolate chip cookie kind of girl so I thought they were ok.

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Ingredients
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chunks (I used a combination of bittersweet chocolate, semi sweet chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips)

Preparation
Adjust the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, Silpat baking mats, or foil. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, spices, baking soda, and salt just to blend.

With an electric mixer (preferably a stand mixer fitted with a paddle), beat the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients slowly, beating only until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. (At this point, the dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 1 day.)

If the dough is at room temperature, drop rounded tablespoonsful two inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. If the dough has been refrigerated, scoop it out by rounded teaspoonfuls and roll the balls between your palms. Place them 2″ apart on the sheets. Press the balls gently with the heal of your hand until they are about 1/2″ thick. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are golden and just firm around the edges.

Lift the cookies onto wire racks with a wide metal spatula - they will firm as they cool. Repeat until all the dough has been used.

Makes about 60 cookies.

Volcano Cookies

These cookies were good but next time I make them I am going to sub chocolate chips for the nuts.

Volcano Cookies
recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”

• 1 cup blanched almonds (whole, sliced or slivered), coarsely chopped
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1. Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

2. Spread the chopped almonds and walnuts out on one of the baking sheets and toast the nuts in the oven. They will need 10 minutes or less to turn golden brown, so keep a close eye on them and stir them at least twice. When the nuts are toasted, remove them — with the liner — from the baking sheet and cool the sheet. Transfer the nuts to a plate, then reline the sheet and use it to bake the cookies.

3. Put all the ingredients, including the nuts, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan. Set it over medium heat and stir constantly with a silicone or wooden spatula until the ingredients are just warm to the touch. Remove from the heat.

4. Drop the batter by slightly rounded teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving about an inch of space between the mounds.

5. Bake the cookies for about 20 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. When properly baked, the cookies will be puffed, cratered, shiny and dry. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them remain on the sheets for 5 minutes before gently prying them from the liners and transferring them to racks to cool to room temperature.

Storing: Kept in a cool, dry place at room temperature (they should never be refrigerated), the cookies will hold up for about 3 days. As with all meringues, humidity will make them go soggy and sticky.

Makes about 36 cookies

Creme Brulee

Creme Brulee

recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups heavy cream
• 1/2 cup whole milk
• 3 la rge egg yolks
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 2 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• About 6 tbsp sugar for topping

Method

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 200 F.

Put six shallow (an inch high and 4 inches in diameter) baking dishes on a baking sheet.

Bring cream and milk to a boil, remove from heat.

In a 1- or 2-quart glass measuring cup (works much better) or medium bowl, whisk egg yolks, sugar and v

anilla together until well blended.

Still whisking, drizzle in one quarter of the hot liquid and temper the yolks. Pour in the rest of the liquid, mix and strain it into the baking dishes.

Bake the custards for 50-60 minutes or until the centers are set. Tap the sides of the dishes and the custards should hold firm.

Let the custards cool until they reach room temperature. Cover each with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 3 hours. Sprinkle each custard evenly with 1 tbsp sugar. You can use a blow torch to brown the sugar. I used a creme brulee iron.

Perfection Poundcake

I went to Borders bookstore on Friday to buy the latest copy of Jen Lancaster's book. I read her first two books and they were hilarious so I am definitely looking forward to reading this one. While I was at Borders I browsed through the bargain shelves and saw a copy of Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I have heard wonderful things about this cookbook. There is also a blogging group dedicated to baking recipes from this book. The book lists for $40 but Borders had it for $7.99. At that price I couldn't resist. It is a beautiful book with over 500 pages and 300 recipes. When I got home I looked through the book and found several recipes I wanted to try. I made three of the recipes this weekend. I don't think I've ever made that many recipes from any of my cookbooks. The recipes are very easy to follow and use common ingredients. The first recipe I made was Perfection Poundcake. It had a really good flavor and nice yellow color with slightly brown crust. However it was a little dry. Jamie from Good Eats & Sweet Treats had a good suggestion. She made strawberry shortcake out of her poundcake. If I had strawberries or the energy to go to the store and buy some I would definitely do that.

Perfection Pound Cake
from Dorie Greenspan, Baking: From My Home to Yours

2 cups all-purpose flour (or 2-1/4 cups cake flour)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Butter a 9x5-inch loaf pan or an 8-1/2 x 4-1/2-inch loaf pan. Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium. Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 to 2 minutes after each egg goes in. As you're working, scrape down the bowl and beater often. Mix in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated - don't overmix. In fact, you might want to fold in the last of the flour, or even all of it, by hand with a rubber spatula. Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top.

Put the cake into the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes. If it's browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent. If you're using a 9x5 pan, you'll need to bake the cake for 70 to 75 minutes; the smaller pan needs about 90 minutes. The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean.

Remove the cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 30 minutes.

Run a blunt knife between the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

Storing:
Wrapped well, the cake will keep for 5 to 7 days at room temperature (stale cake is great toasted) or up to 2 months in the freezer.