The Italian word for sweet is dolce.

While the word is used to describe pastries and dessert, it’s also used as a form of endearment.

Sei dolce means you are sweet!

Blogging has many rewards including the opportunity to express a shared passion, in my case baking.

But one of the rewards of blogging that I would never have imagined when I started my blog, way back in 2005, is the opportunity to meet people that I would have otherwise never have met before.

This past week I met up with a lovely (very dolce) woman who had contacted me about the subject that is near and dear to the hearts of all cooks and bakers: cooking equipment. A friendly e-mail about corzetti stamps turned into an e-mail exchange that turned into a meeting over coffee and the realization that the world is actually a small place full of kindred spirits.

It was such a pleasure to meet my new friend and I just wanted to say thank you very publically. I also wanted to highlight one of the many shared pleasures my new friend and I have: Rosetta Costantino’s Calabria from Scratch.

This beautiful blog is an homage to the cuisine and customs of Calabria. Since my mother is Calabrese, I loved Rosetta’s blog from the first and am really looking forward to her upcoming cookbook.

One of Rosetta’s recent posts feature an Italian dolce called Bocconotti (little mouthfuls). While I have heard of Bocconotti, I never realized that there was a version of the cookie attached to Calabrian sweets. I asked my mom if she knew of these cookie and she wasn’t familiar with them.

My new friend also told me that she hadn’t heard of them before (in relation to Calabrian baking) but that she was on a quest to discover a recipe that would recreate the Bocconotti that a family member of hers used to make.

In the spirit of adventure, my mom and I decided to try these cookies one Sunday afternoon and the result was quite nice. Not only did I get to bake with my mom but we turned out some cookies that were very good.

While I don’t consider these a traditional family cookie, I really enjoyed trying them. It was a reminder of something that I sometimes forget when it comes to blogging: my blog is about baking.

I started my blog because I love to bake. Because I love dolci. While my blog is an avenue for many pursuits, it makes me happiest when I’m baking something sweet.

I want to thank my new friend for meeting up with me. I’m looking forward to many dolci adventures!

Ciao!

You can find the recipe for Bocconotti Calabresi here.

I have been fortunate enough to have a few brushes with the pastry world.

I have had the tremendous honour of having lunch with Dorie Greenspan and many, many, many years ago, shortly after completing my university degree and enrolling in a publishing certificate program, I had the opportunity to talk to Regan Daley.

For about 30 seconds.

I was working on an internship with a publishing company and it was around the time that In The Sweet Kitchen, Regan Daley’s tremendous baking book, was being produced.

I no longer remember the circumstances, but I do remember being asked to call her to confirm a few details.

I believe the entire conversation lasted about 30 seconds. Or at least I was so nervous that it seemed like 30 seconds.

What I do remember was how sweet Ms. Daley was, especially when talking to a most nervous intern fresh out of school.

When In The Sweet Kitchen was published, I wanted it immediately. Strangely, though, over the years I have never picked up a copy. Do not take that as a sign of the book’s merits.

This is a tremendous baking book. It’s thorough, detailed and innovative without being intimidating.

What is particularly unique about the book is that the recipes don’t actually begin until more than halfway through. The first half of the book is an exhaustive look at everything from ingredients to baking methods.

I don’t care if you’ve never turned your oven on in your entire life, there is no way that you cannot come away from this book with a basic understanding of baking and more importantly, inspiration to start baking.

The recipes themselves are gems. Daley doesn’t go for the run-of-the-mill recipes but rather builds the recipe chapters with some really interesting recipes that are destined to become favourites.

The recipes are meticulous and the head notes to the recipes are both informative and often entertaining.

Once again, had I all the time in the world I probably would have baked my way through this book.

Instead, I settled on shortbread.

But not just any shortbread. Butter-Toffee Crunch Shortbread.

In the recipe directions, Daley writes, “I should warn you, at this point, that this dough now smells better than any cookie dough you have ever experienced. Restrain yourself …”.

She’s not kidding, people.

I have to confess that I was in very short supply of retraint and ate a significant portion of this dough. Raw.

These were quite simply the best shortbread cookies I have ever eaten or baked. And then eaten.

For good measure, I thought I should try another recipe and I settled on The Ultimate Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies only because I happened to have a bag of chocolate chunks lying around.

I can confirm that the cookies were the ultimate, were definitely soft and were also chewy.

Another winner.

If you already own In The Sweet Kitchen, then you know the joys this book has to offer.

If you don’t own it, what are you waiting for?

Ciao!

In the moments when baking seems most impossible, I think of cookies and I smile.

That’s because I know that as soon as I can get back to baking, I will be baking cookies.

Is there anything more perfect in baking then a warm cookie, fresh out of the oven?

How about a heart-shaped warm cookie, fresh out of the oven, smothered in creamy goodness and then sandwiched with another heart-shaped cookie?

Come on! You can’t resist that. Not even the most hardened soul could be immune to that kind of baking firepower.

As I ease my way back into baking after a prolonged (for me) period away from the kitchen, I give myself over to the will of the baking fairies who clearly wanted me to bake these cookies.

They’re from Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life. The baking fairies had their way with me on this one.

Not a day after I found myself pondering what to do with a mostly full canister of Bird’s Custard Powder (left over from this Daring Bakers’ challenge), I happened to be flipping through Nigella’s book and came across a recipe for Custard Cream Hearts which uses, you guessed it, Bird’s Custard Powder in both the cookie and the cream filling.

I bow to the wisdom of the baking fairies.

I went into the kitchen and engaged in the beautiful act of baking cookies.

I mixed and rolled and cut out and baked and mixed some more and filled and sandwiched and ate.

And I smiled.

Ciao!

Butter Cookies with Custard Cream à la Nigella
Based on a recipe from Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life.

Note: I used a roughly 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter and was able to get about 20 sandwich cookies out of this recipe (that means I made about 40 heart-shaped cookies). I altered the original recipe by making it more of a butter cookie and adding some cinnamon for flavour. Store the cookies in an airtight container. They should keep for a few days.

For the cookies:

1-½ cups all-purpose flour (you will need extra flour to roll out the cookies)
3 tablespoons Bird’s Custard Powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1 tablespoon whole milk (you may need a bit more)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Pulse 15 to 20 times, or until the butter has been cut into the flour mixture so that it looks crumbly.

Mix the egg and milk together in a small bowl.

With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the egg/milk mixture until a dough forms around the blade of the processor. You may not need to use all of the liquid. If you use all the liquid and the dough is still dry and won’t come together, drizzle in a tablespon or so of extra milk.

Once the ball of dough has formed, stop the processor and remove the dough. Shape it into a round disk and then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour (you can refrigerate it for up to a day).

Once the dough has chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured surface. You can roll it out to whatever thickness you like. I prefer thicker cookies because they remain a bit more tender after baking.

After rolling our your dough, begin cutting out cookies and transferring them to the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies until golden (I rolled my cookies out to about a 1/4 inch thickness and baked them for about 18 minutes). Once baked, remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for about five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the cream filling:

1 tablespoon Bird’s Custard Powder
¾ cup icing sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperaute
Hot water (you’ll need a bit to help cream the mixture together)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

You can make the filling in a bowl using a wooden spoon or with an electric mixer.

Place the custard powder and icing sugar in a bowl and mix. Add the soft butter and using a wooden spoon mash it into the powder/sugar mixture a bit.

Add a few tablespoons of hot water to loosen the mixture. Continue beating with the wooden spoon.

If it’s too dry and not creamy, add a few more tablespoons of hot water and keep beating with the wooden spoon. Continue doing this until you have a creamy and light mixture.

Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon and mix well.

To assemble the cookie:

Take one heart cookie and spread about a teaspoon of cream filling on one side. Take another heart cookie place on top of the cream filling to form a sandwich.

Enjoy!

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca.

Okay. So I’m exaggerating just a bit. The Daring Bakers aren’t actually physically going to the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver but we’re definitely going in spirit with the January 2010 Daring Baker’s challenge.

Lauren, who is one of the sweetest girls, decided to put her Canadian pride on display by choosing a very “Canadian” treat for the DB challenge. As a proud Canadian myself, I cannot wait until February 12th when the world’s focus will shift to Vancouver.

While I don’t know what will happen over the two weeks of competition, I have no doubt that the world will see what good, caring and friendly people Canadians are. And I also have no doubt that we will have our fill of drama, joy, thrills, tears, beautiful moments and reminders of why sport, amateur sport in particular, is such a worthy pursuit.

With all the compelling stories that the Olympics promise, I was so happy that this first challenge for 2010 was relatively straightforward.

The best part of the challenge was learning to make graham crackers. Nanaimo Bars use graham cracker crumbs in the recipe for the base of the bars. Lauren very creatively challenged us to make our own graham crackers, and not just regular graham crackers, but gluten-free graham crackers at that. She also generously provided some links to recipes for regular graham crackers for those who didn’t want to try the gluten-free version.

I was surprised at how easy it was to make graham crackers. Considering how much I love to eat them out of hand and how regularly I use graham crackers in baking, I can’t thank Lauren enough for thinking of this part of the challenge.

As for the Nanaimo Bars, if you’ve never seen one or tried one, you should definitely attempt them. They’re an easy bar cookie to make (if you use store-bought graham crumbs there’s actually no baking involved) and I have yet to meet anyone that doesn’t like them.

I made basic Nanaimo Bars (no variation) as I’d never tried them before so I wanted to make the original. When I served the bars, I cut them into very small squares because they are quite sweet.

I want to thank Lauren for her efforts in hosting the challenge and for making all Daring Kitchen members honourary Canadians just in time for Vancouver 2010!

Ciao!

For the challenge recipe, click here.

Click here to visit The Daring Bakers’ blogroll.

If you’re interested in following the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, visit the official site here.

I can’t believe we’ve arrived at the last Magazine Mondays entry for 2009! Where did the time go?

I have to thank everyone that has participated in Magazine Mondays over the past year. It’s been a lot of fun and I’m happy to say my magazine pile has gotten (marginally) smaller over the past year. Hope the same goes for you!

While I didn’t do a huge amount of baking this holiday season, I baked a few of my old standbys and I did manage to try one or two new recipes including these lovely Linzer Cookies from the December 2002 issue of Food & Wine.

I switched the recipe up a bit by using a raspberry jam for the filling rather than making my own as the recipe instructs (although I would like to try that one day).

The cookies were pretty, festive and delicious.

This will be the last Magazine Mondays entry for 2009 and the first one for 2010 will not happen until January 11 as I’ll be on vacation for the first week of January.

I hope you’ll join me for an edition of MM at some point in the new year!

Here’s who joined me this week:

Tina of Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Apple Raisin Bars from an old issue of Family Circle.

Carrie of Deliciously Organic made Chocolate Caramel Bars from Martha Stewart Living.

Jennifer of Daydreams of Baking made Chocolate Nut Cookies from Women’s Day.

Poppyseed of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Chicken Kiev from Gourmet.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle from Gourmet.

Have a wonderful last week of 2009, everyone!

Ciao!

Christmas looks like cookies.

Lots and lots and lots and lots and lots and lots of cookies.

All made with love and hope and warmth.

Christmas looks bright and beautiful.

It’s almost here …

Ciao!

These amazing cookies are called Buttered Rum Meltaways and they are by far the best new cookie that I’ve tried this Christmas season. Hope you try them too!

And on the twelfth day of the 12 Days of Cookbooks, I give you The Happy Baker by Erin Bolger.

One of my frequent lunch-time treats during the workday is to walk up to Yonge and Yorkville and stop in at The Cookbook Store, Toronto’s best store.

Admittedly, I try not to do this too often as the trip inevitably ends with yet another cookbook purchase.

I am weak. I know.

Earlier in the year, on one such lunch-time foray, I came across a book called “The Happy Baker” and my first thought was, “Well … yeah! Who isn’t happy baking?!”

I picked up the book and was instantly smitten.

Written by Erin Bolger, it’s a funny, quirky and so-cute look at the sweets that we fall in love with through life. Erin very amusingly pairs the delicious recipes in her book with stories of growing up, dating and becoming a woman.

It’s all very sweet. And it just made me laugh and it made me happy and it made me want to bake, all at the same time.

I wish I could have tried more of the recipes in the time that I’ve had the book but I did try two: Best Friends Forever, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies and Better Late Than Never Peanut Butter Crispy Cups. Both treats were an enormous hit.

I actually added some peanut butter to the chocolate chip cookies and they worked beautifully.

But I really believe that half the fun of this book and the recipes is just sitting with it in the kitchen and reading the stories while you decide what to try.

I loved it all.

Hope you take a look at it!

Ciao!

And on the tenth day of the 12 Days of Cookbooks I give you Dolce Italiano: Desserts from the Babbo Kitchen by Gina DePalma.

While it was published in 2007 and while I’ve owned it since it was published, I really only started to focus on this book during this past year. My birthday cake was courtesy of DePalma’s book, as were a few other recipes that I never blogged about. All were delicious.

To be sure, there are many, many baking books on the market. But to be honest, there are very few good Italian baking books. I would say that DePalma’s must be considered as one of the most definitive books on Italian baking.

Incredibly thorough, her book covers virtually ever “famous” Italian dessert, as well as numerous baked goods that wouldn’t be very familiar to North American audiences.

What I love best about the book is that the recipes straddle the line between traditional and modern. Many of the recipes will have a little twist that leads you to a better place.

I recently made Baci di Dama for the first time, using DePalma’s recipe. Stunning. Seriously. Without question, they were among the best cookies I’ve made all year.

I could go on and on, but it’s not necessary. Well-written, some really good photos, passionate, well-produced … DePalma’s book has it all.

It would be the perfect gift for anyone that loves to bake, especially Italian sweets. If I didn’t already have the book, I’d be asking for it for Christmas.

Ciao!

And on the seventh day of the 12 Days of Cookbooks I give you Carole Bloom’sBite-Size Desserts: Creating Mini Sweet Treats, from Cupcakes and Cobblers to Custards and Cookies.

Carole Bloom is yet another brilliant pastry chef and cookbook author who I am lucky enough to “know” through her books. I own several of them including The Essential Baker: The Comprehensive Guide to Baking with Chocolate, Fruit, Nuts, Spices, and Other Ingredients (which is another one that I highly recommend).

Bloom’s books help you to create baked goods of the very highest standard. Her latest helps you to create mini baked goods of the very highest standard.

Honestly. Every little thing in this books is so adorable. So cute. So adorable!!!

I’ve tried many of the recipes, all with great success, but my most favourite so far has to be the Nectarine and Walnut Galettes on p. 97 (I used plums instead of nectarines). The pastry for these galettes completely blew me away. It has ground walnuts in it. It is, without question, one of my top five favourite new things that I made this year.

As I mentioned, I’ve tried numerous recipes from the book but another favourite is the recipe for Toasted Pecan Shortbread Bites. The picture isn’t great but trust me these cookies are so cute and so good.

This would make a great gift for a seasoned baker. The recipes do tend to be a bit involved and usually involve several stages so it might not be the best book for a beginner baker.

I’m off to bake something mini …

Ciao!

And on the fourth day of the 12 Days of Cookbooks I give you Martha Stewart’s Cookies.

I’ve had both success and failure with Martha Stewart recipes in the past, but this book, published in 2008, is a big success in my opinion. It made my list of top 12 cookbooks that I discovered in 2009 for the simple reason that Christmas is cookie season and this book is filled with fabulous cookie recipes.

Produced by the editors at Martha Stewart Living, the book has a cookie for everyone from basic cookies to more complex creations.

If you want to surprise people with cookies this Christmas, this is a great book to buy for yourself or to give as a gift.

I tried two recipes: Coconut-Cream Cheese Pinwheels and Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars.

The Coconut-Cream Cheese Pinwheels were a bit time consuming because of the pinwheel effect but they were well worth it. Not only are they pretty to look at, but the cream cheese pastry was so tender. I used some lovely blueberry jam for the filling.

The Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars were such a treat as well, and so easy. Basically you top a peanut butter base with the jam of your choice (I chose strawberry), and then top with the remaining peanut butter base and salted peanuts. Such an easy yet pleasing treat.

There’s a picture of every cookie, the recipes are clear and easy to follow and most importantly, they work.

This one has my seal of approval.

Ciao!

Is it Monday again, already?!

Yikes! It never fails that as the Christmas holidays begin to appear on the horizon, it seems that time flies by even more quickly than usual.

Since Christmas is cookie season as far as I’m concerned, I had to share these amazing cookies that I first made about two months ago. Since that time they have become absolute favourites. I haven’t met one person that can resist them.

For this week’s Magazine Mondays entry, I give you Salty-Sweet Butter Pecan Cookies from the King Arthur Baker’s Banter blog.

Oh, sweetness! These cookies are unreal. Before baking them, you dip them in a mixture of sugar and salt. If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, used properly, salt makes such an incredible difference in baked goods. So many people don’t believe me but it’s so true. Every single person that tried these cookies would ask, “Why are these so addictive?” and I would answer, “It’s the sugar and salt”.

Salty-sweet. It’s the way to go!

I almost didn’t try these cookies because the recipe calls for vegetable shortening. Honestly, I can’t say I’m totally thrilled about the idea of using vegetable shortening in a cookie but I have to admit, they were delicious. I keep meaning to try them with all butter, but I haven’t done so yet.

I really can’t say enough good things about these cookies. Hope you’ll give them a try!

As you know, Magazine Mondays is all about kicking that pile of clipped recipes in the butt. And Christmas is the perfect time to finally try so many of those earmarked recipes. Get to it!

Here’s who joined me for this week’s edition of MM:

Wandering Coyote (who is on Canadian Living’s payroll … I’m convinced) made a Glazed Balsamic Chicken from a May 2004 issue of Canadian Living.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made a Pumpkin Pie Cake from an old issue of The Shreveport Times.

Poppyseed of Poppyseeds and Tiger Lilies made Creamy Mushroom and Almond Pasta from Issue 38 of Donna Hay magazine.

Andreas of Delta Kitchen made Sesame Spatzle.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

If you haven’t already heard, it was announced that The Daring Kitchen won a Foodbuzz Blog Award for Best Group Effort.

I don’t think there is a better name for an award that could perfectly capture how and why The Daring Kitchen is what it is.

In every sense, it is truly the culmination of a group effort. And that group is made up of all of you Daring Bakers and Daring Cooks out there.

Congratulations! Take a bow! Be proud of yourselves! Bring on those DK challenges!

Ciao!

Thank you to everyone that voted for The Daring Kitchen. To celebrate the victory, here’s an easy “cookie” recipe that you can make quickly. Of course if you’re a Daring Baker you’d make the puff pastry from scratch …

Cinnamon Sugar Puff Pastry “Cookies”

Yield: It’s difficult to say because it all depends on the size of your puff pastry sheet, as well as the size of your cookie cutter. But you should get at least 20 to 30 “cookies” that are roughly an inch in size.

1 sheet of puff pastry
all-purpose flour (to dust your work surface)
1 tbsp. ground cinnamon
1 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten with 1 tbsp. of water

Combine the ground cinnamon and vanilla sugar in a small bowl and set aside.

Flour your work surface and your rolling pin and roll out your sheet of puff pastry until it’s about a 1/4 inch thick.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

While the oven is preheating, begin cutting out your “cookie” shapes using a cookie cutter of your choice. When you cut the cookies, press down evenly but don’t move the cutter around too much. This will prevent the puff pastry from rising nicely. You don’t have to use a cookie cutter here. You can also cut the puff pastry into small squares with a sharp knife.

Transfer your “cookies” to one or two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. When you’re done cutting out cookies, put the trays in the refrigerator for 10 minutes.

After ten minutes, remove the tray(s) of “cookies” from the refrigerator. Carefully brush them with egg wash (egg and water mixed together) and then sprinkle evenly with the cinnamon sugar mixture.

Bake in the middle or lower part of the oven for 8 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. and bake for another 5 minutes, or until the “cookies” are puffed up and browned.

Remove from the oven to a wire rack and let cool. Or at least try to let them cool down before gobbling them up. These treats should be eaten quickly as the puff pastry doesn’t remain crisp for long.

Enjoy!

It’s all the cookies you’ll be baking.

Don’t look now but it’s already November and if you think that the holiday season is still far off, you’re wrong.

Very soon cookie recipes from all over the world will be knocking on your door, begging you to bake them.

Don’t fight it. Embrace the cookies.

Let’s say that together.

EMBRACE THE COOKIES!

If I may be so bold as to get the ball of cookie dough rolling, you may want to consider Julia Usher’s Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year as a prime candidate for holiday baking ideas (as well as year-round cookie-baking projects).

Take it from a cookbook addict, this is an incredible baking book. Don’t be intimidated by the idea of cookie-baking projects. While there are recipes for both elaborately decorated cookies and simpler treats, the book’s greatest strength is to approach each recipe in a clear, organized way so that even the beginning baker can master these cookies.

Oh, and the cookies! They are so sweet … literally and figuratively. Every major holiday is covered so it’s a book that will guide you throughout the year, not just Christmas.

I’ve had this book for awhile and if I had the time, I would have tried many of the recipes but I wanted to tell you about it in advance of the holidays so you can run out and get a copy or put it on your wish list for Santa.

I have a real soft spot for crescent cookies of any type. The book features a recipe for a crescent cookie called Sugar Between the Sheets. For more than ten years I’ve had a go-to crescent cookie recipe that I make every Christmas: my Apricot Walnut Crescents. I make them every year, often by request. But after making the crescent cookies from Usher’s book I must say they’re going to give my Apricot Walnut Crescents a run for their money.

Made with sour cream, a rich and tender pastry holds a filling of walnuts and sugar that almost caramelizes as it bakes. So. Sweet!!!

As I mentioned above, I could have easily tried every recipe in the book if I’d had the time. Rest assured, though, I’ve bookmarked several other recipes for the holidays.

While I’m getting myself organized and planning ahead, you should be too. If you’re big on cookies for Christmas or any other holiday, you’ll love this book!

Ciao!

Another Monday here already! It’s hard to believe that we’re almost midway through August. Just the other night I was out for a walk and noticed that night has begun to fall earlier.

Soon, the days will shorten even more and we’ll start thinking about pumpkins and frost again.

But that never depresses me. In fact it’s just the opposite. I love the Autumn and just the idea of it, around the corner, fills me with anticipation. It feels good to be anticipating something.

Not that I should complain in that department because in a little over a week I’m heading to Italy to visit my family for three weeks. I’m so excited that I’ve actually forced myself not to be excited. So much so that I’ve been downplaying my trip quite a bit. But now that it’s looming, I am genuinely anticipating seeing my family again and spending some time getting to know my roots again.

I will most definitely not be posting while I’m away. For those of you dedicated to participating in Magazine Mondays, have no fear. Wandering Coyote of ReTorte (the most dedicated Magazine Mondays follower!) has kindly agreed to host MM beginning on Monday August 17 all the way through Monday September 14. She’s a true MM enthusiast so if you post any magazine recipes, be sure to e-mail her at wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca.

As for me, I leave you with this lovely bar/cookie as my last MM post for awhile. A few months ago I was looking for a recipe that called for almond paste as I had some hanging around that I wanted to use. Almond paste tends to harden quickly so it’s not something you want to keep for months and months. While searching Epicurious, I came across a recipe for Almond Bar Cookies that appeared in the December 2004 issue of Gourmet. I had all the ingredients so I gave them a go and was not disappointed.

These are so rich. They’re definitely decadent thanks to the buttery flavour and the sweetness imparted by the almond paste. If you’re an almond fan, though, you should give them a try. Just be sure to cut the bars into smallish squares as too big a square will be almost too much. That’s how rich they are!

Here are my fellow bloggers that have joined me for this week’s edition of MM:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Pumpkin, Orange and Raisin Muffins from Canadian Living.

Janie of Panini Girl made Poblano Peppers Stuffed with Potatoes from Bon Appétit.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Remember, if you want to participate in Magazine Mondays between August 17th and September 14th, e-mail Wandering Coyote of ReTorte at wandering_coyoteATyahooDOTca .

When I first flipped through Urban Italian: Simple Recipes and True Stories from a Life in Food by Andrew Carmellini and Gwen Hyman, I of course started with the dessert section. And the recipe that made me stop was this one: Nero Cookies.

At first I smiled because I thought “mmm … chocolate cookies … word for black in Italian is nero and these cookies are so lusciously dark and black … mmm”.

Forgive me. I’m not up-to-speed on my Roman history so much these days.

Once I read the headnote to the recipe, I discovered that the cookies were named Nero Cookies because the cracks that develop in the cookies as they bake reminded the author of the ancient walls in and around Rome. Being that the cookies are dark and dense, he called them Nero Cookies after one of Rome’s most notorious emperors.

Consider me worshipful.

Hail, Cookie!

Ciao!

These are an intense and delicious version of crinkle cookies. I’m sure you can find a version of Chocolate Crinkle Cookies in many different baking books. Here’s a version that I found on-line that you might enjoy: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies.

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of The Food Network.

I wrote a post a little while ago about how things just seemed to be a bit off for me in the kitchen. Unhappily, that trend has continued.

I don’t really know what’s wrong, but it’s really bothering me. It seems as though lately, when I bake or cook something, it’s just off. Recipes don’t turn out the way I expect or even worse, I make mistakes while preparing something.

For example, just a few days ago, I made a silly mistake that cost me one-and-a-half pounds of butter, six eggs and a whole lot of almond flour.

That one hurt. Maybe I’ll work up the will to tell you about it soon. Maybe not.

I’ve spent a lot of time wondering what’s wrong and I’ve came to the realization that when your heart’s not in it, it just doesn’t work.

And my heart just hasn’t been in it lately. I’m tired. I feel like I’ve spread myself a bit thin in certain areas and it’s all manifest in the fact that I haven’t felt much like baking or cooking.

You can’t force desire. If you do, you end up with mediocrity.

So I’ve just let myself be. I’ve simplifed things. I’m not going to force myself to test eight different recipes in one weekend when all I really want to do is sit outside with these books.

When it’s DB challenge time, I almost always try the recipes on the weekend and I’ll cram in tonnes of other baking at the same time.

I’ll push out four or five different products and bring them all to work on a Monday.

Not this time.

This time, I just focussed on one small thing. I made the Milan Cookies and the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies that were the challenge put forth by this month’s host: Nicole of Sweet Tooth.

I mixed and stirred and piped and baked and snapped some photos. And wouldn’t you know, they turned out really well.

I still don’t feel like I’m my usual self in the kitchen, but these cookies turned out nicely.

I was happy. I even started thinking about what to bake next and I haven’t felt like that in quite a few weeks now.

No matter what, you have to keep the faith.

Ciao!

The original recipes for the Milan Cookies and the Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies are Gale Gand via The Food Network.

A very quick post today, my friends.

I missed Magazine Mondays last week due to a furious schedule and things haven’t let up very much. Busy bee, as they say.

For my MM submission I give you Glittering Lemon Sandwich Cookies from the December 2008 issue of Gourmet.

These were okay. Not bad, but not great either. The filling is a bit on the too sweet side. While it was fun to use the sanding sugar (not so much fun to source the sanding sugar, though), in the end, I wouldn’t say this was a recipe worth making again. But I am glad I stood up to my magazine pile.

Somewhat.

Here’s a list of lots of wonderful foodbloggers who stared down their magazine piles:

Bobbi of Bobbi’s Art made Hamburger Buns and Buttermilk Raspberry Cake from Gourmet.

Elizabeth of The Waspy Redhead made Chocolate Stout Cake from Bon Appétit.

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made a Sour Cherry Buttermilk Loaf from Gourmet (different take on the recipe above).

Andreas of Delta Kitchen made Pasta with Coconut and Spinach (yum!) from essen&trinken Für jeden Tag 04/09.

The Tea Lady of Tea and Scones made Mexican Casserole from Cookin’ with Paula Deen.

Joy of The Cooking of Joy made Fresh Orange Sherbet from Cooking Light.

Biz from Biggest Diabet Loser made Wake-Up Wontons from Taste of Home Healthy Cooking.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Last week I mentioned in my Magazine Mondays post that the March 2008 Food & Wine issue had an excellent feature called “How to Cook Like You Own an Italian Villa”. I tried many of the recipes and loved them all. By far, however, the recipe for Jam-Filled Mezzaluna Cookies was my absolute favourite.

I try so many new recipes in a year, both from magazines and cookbooks. And I would say that in a year, there’s probably only a handful of times where I come across a recipe that becomes part of my recipe family.

And this recipe has now been officially adopted.

While they’re more than a cookie, these treats are buttery pieces of pastry heaven meant to enclose the jam of your choice.

They were incredible. I don’t know what else to say about them other than to say that when I bit into one, warm out of the oven, I just had this image of eating one of these lovely treats with a steaming espresso at the kitchen table in our little house in Italy.

It was love at first bite.

As with all Magazine Mondays, I’m always happy to share with you links to posts from other food bloggers who have squared off against their magazine piles. Here’s who made a dent:

Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Roasted Garlic and Sundried Tomato Bread from Canadian Living.

My Jenny of All Things Edible made Brownies from The Brownie Project.

Janie of Panini Girl made Pea and Parmeson “Wanton” Ravioli from Gourmet magazine.

Tamy of 3 Sides of Crazy made Golden Cake with Chocolate Fudge Frosting.

Amy I. of Playing House made Vanilla Bean Shortbread from Cooking Light.

Andreas of Delta Kitchen made Asparagus Pizza.

Here’s a photo journal of the Jam-Filled Mezzaluna Cookies:

I had a lot of fun rolling out this very tender dough. I used a 4-inch tart ring to cut out the pastry circles.

I used some lovely cherry preserves to fill the cookies.

I very gently sealed the cookies.

I placed the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. I brushed them with egg wash and sprinkled on sugar. The recipe instructs that you sprinkle on sliced almonds but I omitted that step.

Ciao!

I cannot believe April is more than halfway over and I have yet to even mention my Flavour of the Month: Lori Longbotham’s Luscious Lemon Desserts.

I adore Lori. I love her recipes and all her cookbooks are just so good. I count them among my most treasured books.

The warm weather has (finally) arrived here in Toronto and it’s just too beautiful outside for me not to be out there. So I’m going to keep this short.

Do you know that I have never made sugar cookies?

Isn’t that crazy!

I had bookmarked Lori’s recipe for Old-Fashioned Lemon Sugar Cookies and I just had to try them.

Something about the lemon and old-fashioned, rustic look to these cookies made me think of a pretty farmhouse in the country with flowers everywhere and budding trees and blue skies and gingham curtains for the windows and a lemonade stand out front and cute gardening clogs by the back door and a nearby pond and chicken and dumplings bubbling on the wood-burning stove. You know, back when life was simpler.

Mind you, I have no idea where this specific farmhouse is located. I’m pretty sure that I don’t own a scrap of gingham and I know, for a fact, that I would look horrid in any manner of clog. I’ve never had a lemonade stand nor have I ever had chicken and dumplings. And wood-burning stoves scare me. A little.

Never the less, a Cream Puff can dream.

And whilst she’s dreaming, she can bake these delicious cookies that have a lemon hit that gets you right where it counts: in the imagination.

Ciao!

Note: I don’t have a recipe for you, unfortunately. As regular readers will know, I don’t like reproducing recipes from cookbooks unless I have adapted them into my own recipe. But if you have a favourite sugar cookie recipe, try it out with lots of lemon peel and a hit of lemon juice. You’ll love it!

Happy Valentine’s Day to all my lovelies!

(And to you too!)

Ciao!

Valentine’s Day Butter Hearts

Note: It’s difficult to pin down the yield of these cookies as they can make anywhere from 3 or 4 dozen cookies to 5 or 6 dozen depending on the size of the cookie cutter. Either way, you’ll get a lot of cookies!

1 cup, unsalted butter softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar (If you have vanilla sugar, use 1/4 cup vanilla sugar and 1/4 cup granulated sugar)
1 large egg yolk
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups all-purpose flour

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar together until very light (about 3 minutes).

Add the egg yolk, the vanilla and the salt and beat for another minute.

Add the flower and combine on low speed until the flower is incorporated and you have a sticky dough.

Turn the dough out onto the counter and gather into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

On a floured surface, roll the dough out to about a 1/4-inch thickness. With the cookie cutter of your choice, cut out as many cookies as you can, rerolling the scraps and making more cookies.

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake from 6 to 10 minutes depending on the size of your cookie. Small cookies like the hearts above will take about 8 minutes.

Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

I think I’ve written this many times before on my blog but whenever people ask me what I most enjoy baking, my answer is always cookies.

I love all baking, but cookies are my favourite because to me they offer a certain freedom that other baked goods don’t. You have to commit to a cake or a pie. A cookie, in my humble opinion, is innately free.

You can make them big or small.

You can sandwich them or not.

You can dip them in milk.

Last year, I had the chance to review Carole Walter’s Great Coffee Cakes, Sticky Buns, Muffins & More. Later in the year, I had the chance the review another Carole Walter’s book, Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets.

I’m a huge fan of Carole Walter’s because to me, she is a baker’s baker. By that I mean that her books are perfect for helping the home baker produce truly worthy baked goods. While there are a lot of great baking books out there, some of them that claim to be geared to the home baker miss the mark.

Great Cookies won an IACP award in 2004 and rightly so. It’s a hardcore cookie book with recipes that cover every category from drop cookies to cut-out cookies.

Even though it was published in 2003, the recipes feature classics, some new cookies I’ve never seen before and lots of other cookies that are bound to please no matter how much time goes by.

While I was busy baking Christmas cookies, I was craving something old-fashioned and I found myself craving a good ol’ oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. In the days between Christmas and New Year’s, I cracked open Carole’s book and decided to try her recipe for Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies only to discover that I had exhausted my supply of chocolate chips. In fact, I had no chocolate whatsoever in the house.

Scary times.

Anyway, I did have a bag of butterscotch chips hiding in a cupboard corner so I improvised and threw those in. Next to the bag of butterscotch chips was a half empty bag of toffee bits so I threw those in as well. And I also had some praline left from the December Daring Bakers’ challenge so I figured, what the heck, why not throw that into the batter too!

The end result was surprisingly good. I was worried the cookies might be too sweet but they weren’t. And after the heavier and more complex foods and desserts that we enjoyed during the holidays, it was really nice to settle down with these cookies and a glass of milk!

Hope you get a chance to check out Carole’s book!

Ciao!

Everything-in-the-Cupboard Oatmeal Cookies
Based on Carole Walter’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets.

Note: You can of course use chocolate chips or whatever add-ins you like. I made about 3 dozen 3-inch cookies with this recipe.

3/4 cup brown sugar
2-1/2 cups rolled oats (large flake)
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 large egg
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup toffee bits
1/4 cup ground praline (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a food processor, process the brown sugar, 1/2 a cup of the oatmeal and the granulated sugar until it’s very fine; set aside.

In another bowl, sift together the flour, the salt and the baking soda. Add in the remaining oats and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and the corn syrup. Mix with the paddle attachment until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes).

With the mixture on low speed, add the processed oatmeal mixture and mix until combined.

Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until just combined.

With the mixture on low speed, add the remaining dry ingredients and mix until just combined (don’t overmix).

With a wooden spoon, mix in the chips, toffee bits and praline (if you’re using it).

Spoon dollops of the cookie dough onto the cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies. You can make these as large or small as you like.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes (keeping an eye on them so they don’t burn if you’ve made small cookies). When they’re done they should be slightly golden around the edges.

Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let rest on a rack for 10 minutes before transferring the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Let your cookie sheets cool and then repeat with the remaining batter.

Enjoy!

Today is the Epiphany. In the Christian holiday tradition, it’s the day that the three Magi visited the Baby Jesus. In other holiday traditions it’s also referred to as the Twelfth Night, the end of the Christmas season. In Italy, the eve of the Epiphany is the day that La Befana, a wizened old woman, travels throughout Italy rewarding well-behaved children with presents and punishing misbehaved children with lumps of coal.

As a child, I remember being horrified at my father’s stories about La Befana. I remember thinking how lucky I was to be growing up in Canada where we were visited by sweet and harmless Santa Claus. Of course now that I’m older and I understand more of the folklore behind La Befana, I sometimes wish that I could be in Italy to take part in so many of the traditions that continue through the holiday season, beyond Christmas and New Year’s.

As the years go by, I sometimes find myself dissatisfied with how we celebrate the “holiday season” because we tend to focus on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and New Year’s Eve and forget that in actual fact, the holiday season is a time that spans the period between Christmas and the Epiphany. It’s supposed to be a time of light and joy. Being of an Italian background, there are so many customs and traditions, now long abandoned, that mark each day of the holiday season. Sometimes I feel that in the desire to satisfy the commercial aspect of the holidays, we forget that really, we’re supposed to be having fun throughout this entire period.

So I wanted to commemorate the Epiphany and La Befana this year for two reasons.

First of all, as I get older, rather than constantly complain about how much this or that sucks, I’ve decided that I should shut up and actually do something to change what I don’t like. And since I don’t like how we seem to focus on the wrong things during the holidays, I’ve decided to not complain (for a change) and do something about it.

While I didn’t get a visit at all from La Befana (not sure what I would have done with a lump of coal anyway …), I did put out a little La Befana doll ornament that I have and I also ensured that all our Christmas decorations remained up. We have dutifully lit the Christmas tree and will enjoy its lights for one last time before the beginning of the Christmas season next December (never too early to start planning …).

But the other way that I’ve chosen to make a change is by actually baking for this special day. The cookies pictured above are called La Befana’s Stars and they’re from Gina DePalma’s amazing cookbook: Dolce Italiano. If you’re interested in baking and in Italian sweets, I strongly urge you to make this book yours.

These cookies also give me the opportunity to mention a very good cause associated with this book. In September 2008, Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy, Jenn of The Leftover Queen and Michelle of Bleeding Espresso hosted an event called O Foods for Ovarian Cancer. I heard about the event through a post on the event by the Happy Cook on her blog My Kitchen Treasures.

The event highlighted the important battle against ovarian cancer and also highlighted Gina DePalma’s own battle with the disease. Gina has been bravely documenting her journey on her site.

While I was unable to take part in the event, it was never far from my mind and so I wanted to make these cookies as a way of showing my support for this tremendous effort on the part of food bloggers everywhere.

Epiphany is a word that doesn’t just refer to a religious holiday, it’s also a word that’s used to describe the sense of having a revelation or of discovering something new. It can mean that something finally makes sense or that you finally realize or truly get something.

I hope 2009 is a year of epiphanies for all of us!

Ciao!

Cookie-baking, for me, is the quintessential Christmas activity.

This year, I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to bake for a lot of people.

Today, I’d like to thank all of you that honoured me by letting me bake for you.

Without question, this was a tremendous learning experience. I learned how crucial it is to be organized and prepared if you want to be a successful baker. I learned that lists work. I learned that as much as I love delivering cookies, next time, I’ll probably hire a delivery service. But most importantly, I learned that I love doing this more than I even imagined.

So thank you so much for helping me to realize this little dream.

Stay tuned … Easter cookies and treats are being dreamed up as we speak …

Ciao!

The cookies pictured above are from Food & Wine courtesy of Fabio Trabocchi. They’re Almond Cookies with a Caramel Dipping Sauce.

Wow.

Things have been stressful lately.

There’s a lot going on and with the holidays just days away, it’s been feeling particularly heated around these parts.

I’m in cookie baking heaven/hell, depending on how you look at it. I’m baking feverishly to complete my orders and while I’m having a fabulous time, it’s also opened my eyes to the challenges of baking for other people.

In the midst of it all, I have had very little time to bake for myself. This is one of the reasons why our annual workplace cookie swap was such a welcome break. I actually got to try a recipe for myself!

While I have my yearly standbys when it comes to Christmas cookies, I always like to try some new recipes and I’ve had this particular recipe for Kahlúa Truffle Triangles bookmarked for awhile. It comes from the Fine Cooking site.

I have to be honest, when I made these and tasted them, I wasn’t terribly impressed. All I could taste was chocolate (not that chocolate is a bad thing). Initially, the shortbread and Kahlúa flavours were not very prominent. But these are the type of cookies that taste much better a day or even two days after you’ve made them. The flavours settle and meld together. If you’re a fan of dark chocolate, then you will love these. They are intense and not very sweet so for those of you with a sweet tooth, these may not be up your alley.

To be honest, it was nice to bake something just for me. Break is over … back to baking …

Ciao!

Click here for the recipe for Kahlúa Truffle Triangles.

Is there anything my coworkers can’t do???!!!

I don’t think so. I’m sorry to have to do this but it appears as though I’m going to have to make you jealous … again!

This past week we held our fourth annual office cookie swap in celebration of the holidays.

Prepare to be dazzled!

The quality of the baking was excellent and almost all of the cookies were taken by the time the event was over.

Best of all we got to spend some time together chatting and having fun while consuming vast (and I mean vast) quantities of sugar.

Many thanks to our one coworker who took into consideration our health and brought in this lovely fruit platter.

Happy Holidays to all the amazing people that I work with!

Ciao!

Right about this time of year, I start to get the cookie twinkle in my eye. That’s the twinkle representing all the cookies that will be born in the month ahead as the Christmas frenzy starts.

There are many family favourites when it comes to Christmas cookies; these would be the ones that we can’t do without. And of course there are always new ones to try.

For today’s Magazine Mondays post, I decided to try a recipe that I’ve had bookmarked for a very long time. I’ve made palmiers before, and have many variations of the recipe, but I just wanted to put this particular recipe (from a 1998 issue of Martha Stewart Weddings) to rest.

They were pretty and delicious and disappeared in the blink of an eye. Will I make them for Christmas? Possibly.

What I do know is that there is much sweetness ahead. Have a wonderful week everyone!

Ciao!

Note: During the month of November, I will be taking a hiatus from Magazine Mondays. But never fear! Those of you wishing to attack the magazine pile can still do so. Wandering Coyote of Retorte has so graciously offered to host MM for the month of December. So you can send your links to her at wandering_coyote{@}yahoo{.}ca.

Joining me this week for Magazine Mondays are the following people who managed to lessen their magazine pile just a bit:

Wandering Coyote made a mouth-watering Sausage and Penne Gratin.

Debbie started the week off with not one but two MM entries … Coconut Crusted Salmon with Tamarind Barbecue Sauce and New Mexico’s Chili Glazed Chicken with Hominy Polenta.

You may have noticed that a certain book has been taking over the food blogging world thanks to an exciting virtual cookbook blog tour.

The book I speak of is none other than Anita Chu’s Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imagineable.

Most of you will know Anita from her sweet (literally and figuratively) and charming blog, Dessert First.

For those of you that don’t know Anita, she’s a passionate baker who has turned her love of pastry and dessert into a livelihood that now includes her very first cookbook.

As I told her in an e-mail recently, this is proof that good things do happen to good people!

The blog tour for Anita’s book has already touched down on Jen’s blog, Ari’s blog and Sara’s blog and today I’m happy to be hosting this great event. In the days to come you can visit Helene, Veronica, Aran, Béa and Peabody to follow the book on its tour.

A Field Guide to Cookies is a small format cookbook that’s 304 pages in length. It features photographs, along with a glossary of ingredients, an index of recipes and a legend of symbols used throughout the recipes.

And when you read the subtitle, that it’s a guide to every type of cookie imagineable, it really does include every type of cookie you could possibly imagine baking. In fact the first thing that struck me (pleasantly) when I flipped through the book is the variety of recipes included.

Clearly, Anita did her homework before and during writing this book. The variety of recipes alone would make this an indispensable cookbook for both the novice and more experienced cookie baker.

If you’re familiar with Anita’s blog, then you’ll know that she’s a very elegant writer. Her style is clean and conscise, as well as precise.

Her writing style in this book mirrors the standard she’s set on her blog. The recipes are very clear and simple to follow with uncomplicated instructions. For the first-time cookie baker, these are not intimidating recipes and for the more experienced baker, these are recipes that are attractive because in short order you can have a batch of lovely homemade cookies.

And there’s a cookie for everyone in here. Whether you like rolled cookies, filled cookies, drop cookies — whatever you fancy — you’ll find it in here.

Put it all in a cute little package that is quite maneouvreable, and you have yourself a must-buy cookbook (Sometimes with small format books — this book’s dimensions are roughly 6 x 5 x 1 inches so it’s not a large tome by any means — the books are difficult to hold or keep open on a page but Anita’s book definitely does not suffer from that problem.)

Okay so down to the nitty gritty. What did I bake and how did the cookies turn out?

I chose three cookies: Chocolate Espresso Cookies, Algerian Almond Tarts (Dziriate) and Swedish Sandwich Cookies (Syltkakor).

The Chocolate Espresso Cookies were intense. Almost truffle-like in texture, they had a wonderfully deep chocolate flavour enhanced by the espresso powder in the cookies. These were a huge hit as we are definitely chocolate lovers in my family. They were so good that I almost didn’t get a chance to snap a photo! What I liked about these cookies is that they were unfussy. Just mix the batter, roll the cookies into balls and bake. You end up with a cookie that has a sophisticated and elegant taste but doesn’t come with hours of prep work. Loved them!

The second cookie recipe I tried was for the Algerian Almond Tarts or Dziriate. Now, please don’t be put off by my photo. Unfortunately, my cookies did not hold their shape in the oven but this is through no fault of the recipe. When shaping the cookies, I was in a bit of a rush and didn’t wet the dough to ensure that the edges stayed together. As a result, the cookies lost their shape in the oven. But that aside, they were absolutely delicious. In fact, of the three cookies I tried I would say that these had the best taste thanks to the exotic (to me anyway) hint of orange flower water. I have a bottle of the stuff hidden way back in a cupboard and I thought it was high time I used it. This was one of the reasons that I chose this recipe. Add in the nuts, butter and vanilla and you have a truly beautiful cookie. Next time, though, I will take more care when shaping them so that they’ll actually look pretty, too!

Finally, I mixed up a batch of Swedish Sandwich Cookies (Syltkakor). All I can say about these is make them. The dough comes together so quickly and as these are sandwich cookies, you have lots of options in terms of what type of cutter to use and what type of filling to use. I brought these cookies to a famly function and everyone loved them.

I have to thank Anita for including me in her blog tour. This has been such a fun experience and I’m honoured to say that I own a copy of Anita’s first cookbook!

In the days to come, please be sure to check out the following blogs to find out how these bloggers feel about Anita’s book:

Nov. 17th - Helen of Tartelette

Nov. 18th - Veronica of Veronica’s Test Kitchen

Nov. 19th - Aran of Cannelle et Vanille

Nov. 20th - Bea of La Tartine Gourmande

Nov. 21st - Peabody of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

Ciao!

Chocolate Espresso Cookies
From Field Guide to Cookies: How to Identify and Bake Virtually Every Cookie Imagineable by Anita Chu.

Recipe:

1¾ cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
2½ teaspoons instant espresso powder
1¾ teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
12 oz semisweet chocolate
½ cup softened unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
½ cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (6 oz) chocolate chips

1. Sift flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.
2. Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water, stirring occasionally so it will melt evenly; remove from heat when smooth.
3. In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars on medium speed for several minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.
4. Pour in melted chocolate and beat until combined.
5. Add flour mixture and chocolate chips and mix on low just until incorporated.
6. Cover dough and refrigerate for about 15-20 minutes until it is firm enough to scoop.
7. Preheat the oven to 350◦F. Line several cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
8. Roll dough into 1½-inch balls and place on sheets about 2 inches apart.
9. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes—cookies will still appear soft but will firm up upon cooling. Cool cookie sheets on wire racks before removing cookies with a metal spatula.

Yield: About 5 dozen cookies.

Mine aren’t nearly as pretty as Martha’s, but they’ll do.

I was asked to put together a cookie tray for a family function by my aunt and she specifically asked for madeleines. I have a favourite madeleine recipe from this book but for the cookie tray, I thought I’d finally try a recipe for Rose-Water Madeleines from an issue of Martha’s Weddings magazine.

After baking the madeleines, you apply a rose-water syrup to the edges and then sprinkle on coloured sanding sugar, which is a type of sugar used in cake and cookie decorating. As far as I know there’s only one cake decorating store in the Greater Toronto Area that sells sanding sugar (Hello, Golda’s Kitchen! … if anyone knows of any other stores in Toronto that sell the stuff please do let me know) and I didn’t have time to drive out there so I used regular granulated sugar that I tinted pink.

The madeleines were moist and not-too-sweet and the pretty edges was a nice touch, although I’d like to try them again with proper sanding sugar.

Anyway, I hope you’ll enjoy some with a cup of tea … have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

Remember, if you have a magazine recipe that you’ve finally tried, let me know and I’ll link to it! Here’s who has joined me recently for Magazine Mondays:

Natashya made a comforting Fall Fruit Crumble.

Liliana made some mouth-watering Ricotta Fritters.

It’s been over a month since my last Magazine Mondays post. Hard to believe but true.

While my magazine pile hasn’t exactly dwindled all that much, I must say that Magazine Mondays has helped me to put some old magazines to good use. So I guess I don’t feel so bad about my food magazine habit.

Especially since I returned from Italy with a whole lotta food magazines!!!

For this edition, I chose a recipe from a specialty magazine I bought in 2006 called Lidia: Italy at Home. It’s a magazine that features the great Lidia Bastianich sharing Italian food tips, recipes and knowledge. There are a number of recipes that I bookmarked but the one that I chose to try was a recipe for Fruit Jam Tartlet Cookies.

The reason I chose this recipe is that it brought to mind the crostata made by my aunts in Italy. A crostata is an Italian sweet that can take many forms. It’s best described as a tart with some sort of fruit filling in the form of jam or fresh fruit. But crostatas can also be filled with chocolate, pastry cream and any number of other fillings.

My father’s family makes a very rustic type of crostata filled with homemade prune jam. My grandmother used to make the dough with oil but nowadays the dough is made with butter.

When I went to Italy in 2003, I was there for a very short time so the opportunity was never there for my aunts to make a traditional crostata with me. This time around, I spent so much time hopping from one family member’s home to another, that I once again missed the chance to watch my oldest aunt, Zia Filomena, make a crostata. She is the family’s undisputed master crostata-maker. So she’s promised me that next time, we will make that crostata together.

I plan on holding her to that promise!

Have a wonderful week everyone!

Ciao!

Fruit Jam Tartlet Cookies
From the 2006 issue of Lidia: Italy at Home.

Note: These cookies are actually a crostata that is then cut into small squares to form cookies. You could just as easily serve the crostata whole. The recipe is published here (scroll down a bit on the page.)

A little over a week ago, I happened to be perusing the NY Times Dining & Wine section when I came across an article by David Leite on the ubiquitous chocolate chip cookie.

For me, the more chocolate chip cookie recipes I try, the more I want to try. Somehow, the chocolate chip cookie has become the baked good for which there is no “best”. Each time I try a new recipe, I somehow seem to like it better than the last one. And yet I hestitate to call it the best because I know, without doubt, that somewhere there is another recipe waiting to be tried.

Leite’s article includes the opinions of a number of chocolate chop cookie experts including the likes of Jacques Torres and Dorie Greenspan. What I found interesting about the recipe was the idea that after making the batter, you let it rest in the refrigerator.

Disclaimer: Science hurts the Cream Puff’s brain.

Having gotten past the disclaimer, apparently allowing the dough to rest for a long period in the refrigerator lets something happen magically on the molecular level so that the liquid in the cookies manages to hydrate the dry ingredients. So you get a tastier cookie. Or something like that.

So now that you know that I will NEVER be teaching a Science 101 course anywhere, what you really do need to know is that these are fabulous cookies.

I’m heading out on vacation in August and I’m desperate to clean out the pantry so my one edit to the recipe is that I used semisweet chocolate chips in place of the bittersweet chocolate disks.

So a few days later, imagine my surprise (well, not really) when I saw that the cookies had taken on a life of their own in foodblogworld. Everyone from Dorie to King Arthur was blogging about these cookies. They really are the best chocolate cookies … so far.

That is to say, one never knows what other chocolate chip cookie recipe awaits one just around the corner.

Have a wonderful week!

Ciao!

Chocolate Chip Cookies - Recipe from the NY Times.

Check out who else is cleaning up that magazine pile: Lori of Lori’s Lipsmacking Goodness made Spicy Orange Hummus; Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies made Honey Tamarind Baby Back Ribs; Liliana of My Cookbook Addiction made a Fresh Fig Tart and Wandering Coyote of ReTorte made Tomato Jam.

If you’ve finally put a magazine recipe to the test, let me know and I’ll include it in my next Magazine Mondays round-up!

Mamma mia! What happened? June was supposed to be all Italian and then it whizzed by faster than a Roman teenager on a Vespa!

Not that I can complain all that much, mind you. I’ve spent the month enjoying many wonderful meals and best of all, over the past ten days or so, I’ve also been enjoying the fruits of our vegetable garden.

Yes, I’d say Italian June has been quite tasty.

But such a tasty month should end with a lovely little sweet, I think. While I firmly believe my mother’s amaretti are the best, I could not resist trying the amaretti in Maxine Clark’s Easy Italian.

They’re amaretti, but with a bit of a twist in that the recipe calls for pine nuts to be included in the cookie dough.

I’m a relatively new convert to the religion of the pine nut. It was not part of the nut family that I grew up with, which consisted mainly of almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts. I remember tasting the pine nut for the first time and being strangley captivated by it’s butteriness.

As with my mother’s amaretti, these little beauties are very easy to make and are a very pleasant way to end a meal and to bid farewell to what has been a tasty month.

May July be just as sweet!

Ciao!

Amaretti with Pine Nuts
From Easy Italian: Simple Recipes for Every Occasion by Maxine Clark.

Note: Unfortunately I did not have enough pine nuts to use in the cookie dough so I only sprinkled them on top. I used blanched almonds for the entire dough. You can use a pastry bag to pipe out the cookies or you can just use a spoon and carefully spoon drops of the dough onto baking sheets.

2 cups whole blanched almonds
1/2 cup sugar
3 large egg whites
1 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. orange extract (optional)
a handful of pine nuts (for sprinkling)
icing sugar for dusting (optional)

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

In either a blender or food processor, grind the almonds with about a tablespoon of sugar until they are very fine.

In a bowl, beat the egg whites (with a mixer or by hand) until they are foamy. Begin adding the remaining sugar, a little at a time, and continue beating the egg whites until they are very stiff (stiff peaks form).

Gently fold in the nuts and then add the almond and orange extract (be careful not to overmix so that you don’t deflate the mixture).

Using a tablespoon, carefully spoon rounds of dough onto the parchment-lined baking sheets. Leave a few inches between each cookie.

Sprinkle some of the pine nuts over each cookie and bake for about 30 minutes. The cookies will be firm and lightly golden when they’re done.

Let cool completely before dusting with icing sugar and serving.

Enjoy!

Makes you think of snakes doesn’t it? Creepy!

But actually there’s nothing creepy about this post or the cookies pictured above for those are S Cookies made by my very own Mama Cream Puff!

When I was a kid, we would either eat homemade cookies or, on occasion, Italian store-bought cookies. While my brother and I longed for Oreos or Chips Ahoy, what we got was a pretty small selection of your basic Italian-style cookie. Most popular among these cookies (with my mother), was the S Cookie. The brand of choice was Biscotti Milano.

S Cookies were crisp, dry cookies, shaped like an S, with a very light vanilla glaze. While the glaze did give them some sweetness, they weren’t overtly sweet, which is why I think they were the preferred cookie. Also, their dry nature made them perfect for dipping into a class of milk and coffee, which also made them popular with my parents.

I detested S Cookies. Not so much because they didn’t taste good, but rather because they didn’t taste like Oreos.

Once I was old enough to assert a certain level of cookie independence, I turned my nose up at S Cookies deeming them far too simple and rustic for my refined 9-year old tastes. I still didn’t get my Oreos, but I sure as hell wasn’t going to give anyone the satisfaction of eating an S Cookie.

Of course, then I grew up and realized what a stupid kid I was.

Don’t get me wrong. Oreos are great. But one bite of an S Cookie and I’m transported back to those wonderful homemade cookies that would come from my grandmother’s or my mother’s kitchens. And there’s just no comparison. Sorry, Oreos!

Back in March, I featured Sweet Maria’s Italian Cookie Tray by Maria Bruscino Sanchez as the Flavour of the Month on my blog. I didn’t have the chance to try these back then, but I asked my mother if she’d give them a go and she did. While they’re not quite like the S Cookies that we used to buy, they’re very good. Crispy and dry with a nice cinnamon sugar coating, they’re the perfect cookie to munch on with your milk and coffee.

Another fun thing to do in Italian June.

Ciao!

Cinnamon S Cookies
From Sweet Maria’s Italian Cookie Tray by Maria Bruscino Sanchez.

Note: The original recipe bakes these cookie at 375 degrees F. but we found that to be way too hot. We lowered the heat to 355 degrees F. Also, the original recipe uses a cinnamon and brown sugar mixture for the coating but we preferred a cinnamon and granulated sugar coating.

1/2 cup (1 stick), unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, lightly beaten
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsps. cinnamon
2 tbsps. granulated sugar

Preheat the oven to 355 degrees F. Line two baking trays with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix the butter and brown sugar on medium high speed until light and fluffy (about 3 minuts). Add the egg and mix well. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure the egg is incorporated.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and baking powder. As soon as a dough forms, turn the mixer off.

Remove the dough to a lightly floured surface (have some extra flour on hand in case the dough gets sticky).

Break off small pieces of dough and roll them into ropes that are about 5 to 6 inches long. The rope should be the width of a straw or pencil.

In a large, shallow dish, mix together the cinnamon and sugar. Roll the ropes of dough in the cinnamon-sugar mixture and then form an S shape with the rope of dough when you place it on the baking sheet.

Leave a few inches of space between each cookie.

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, keeping an eye on the cookies as they can burn very easily. They’re ready when they begin to turn slightly golden.

Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Sometimes I think I must be related to the Cookie Monster.

Even though he may not be as addicted to cookies as he once was.

What’s up with that???

Anyway, I’m always happy to talk about a new cookie discovery and this week I simply must tell you about the Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies from the March 2000 issue of Bon Appétit magazine (another Magazine Mondays recipe crossed off the list!).

Let’s see. They’re big. They’re chocolatey. They have chopped up Skor bars in them.

Okay, go make some.

Go … and make sure you have a good week too!

Ciao!

Here’s the recipe for Giant Chocolate-Toffee Cookies.

Sugar High Friday is one of my favourite events and yet I always seem to miss the opportunity to participate. However, when I saw that my Helene was hosting this month’s edition and that the theme she’d chosen was Citrus, I just had to make time!

I contemplated a number of very complicated desserts but instead settled on a simple cookie that is perfect for a tea party because to me, the spring is the perfect time for a tea party. The original recipe for these lovely little bites is from Issue 22 of the Donna Hay Magazine.

Called Pistachio and Lemon Bites, the cookies are very similar to other butter and nut-based cookies like Mexican Wedding Cakes. But these have a lovely lemony flavour and scent as well as a very appealing colour thanks to the pistachios.

I made these cookies over a week ago and I kept thinking about how to present them in this post. I tried to come up with some interesting angles but in the end I decided that there’s not much to say beyond this: Just as Helene provides so much light and flavour and enjoyment with her blog and baking, so do these cookies provide the perfect taste of butter, nuts and lemon.

Just enjoy them.

Ciao!

Pistachio and Lemon Bites
From Issue 22 of Donna Hay Magazine.

Note: This recipe makes about 30 cookies. The original recipe made a very dry and crumbly dough so I tweaked it a bit.

12 tbsp. unsalted butter (1-1/2 sticks of butter), at room temperature
3 tbsp. superfine sugar (also called fruit sugar)
1/2 cup pistachios (shelled and unsalted), chopped (not too finely)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. finely grated lemon rind
icing sugar (for dusting)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (using the paddle attachment) and mix on high speed until very light and fluffy (5 minutes).

Add the pistachios and vanilla extract and mix on high speed for an additional 2 minutes.

Add the flour and lemon rind and mix on low speed until the dough begins to come together.

Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls and place on the baking sheets.

Bake for 15 minutes. The cookies should be lightly golden. If not, bake for a few minutes more.

Remove from the oven and let sit for about 5 minutes before rolling in icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags: sugar high friday

Lately, as I rush out of the house in the morning grabbing at the fruit basket before I go, my reaction tends to be the same, “Apples, again!”

Now I love apples. But by this time of year we’ve been on a steady diet of apples as primary fruit since … oh … about September.

What I want are peaches. Juicy, fuzzy Ontario peaches.

And I want those few precious strawberries from the handful of plants in our garden.

I also want cherries, straight from Niagara.

But all I got is apples.

So I made me some Apple Pie Bars and pretended I was eating them in the middle of a blackberry patch on a sunny afternoon.

Have a good week!

Ciao!

Note: For this edition of Magazine Mondays, I finally tried the recipe for Apple Pie Bars from Food & Wine’s March 2008 issue. If you have to eat apples, you might as well dress them up!

After putting up my last post, I realized that the recipe was somewhat incongruous with the theme of the post. Baked pasta is good and all, but not quite what one thinks of when one imagines the arrival of spring.

I returned to the inspiration drawing board and realized that it was time to finally post a cookbook review that I’ve had in the works for quite a long time.

Back in the winter, I received a copy of Valerie Peterson’s and Janice Fryer’s pretty book called Cookie Craft. As the title would suggest, the book is all about the craft of baking and decorating cookies.

While I’ve gained experience over the past few years decorating cakes and cupcakes, I’ve spent almost no time learning how to decorate cookies. For this reason I was excited to receive my copy and to see what I could learn.

And then three months went by.

So last week, finally, I decided it was high time to dust off this little book and challenge myself to a new baking project.

While not a very big or long book, Cookie Craft is divided into a number of chapters that are full of helpful tips, interesting projects and great basic cookie recipes.

Interestingly, the book begins with numerous project ideas (divided by seasons, holidays and celebrations) and follows that up with chapters on ingredients and supplies; planning; recipes and decorating techniques. As well, the book includes instructions on how to store and ship your cookies.

There are pictures throughout and some useful diagrams that help you to visualize the process. I especially enjoyed the tips and suggestions sprinkled throughout the book in sidebar boxes.

For my own cookie project, I decided to try the basic recipe for Rolled Sugar Cookies decorated with royal icing for the piped outline and thinned out royal icing that I coloured and used to flood the interior of the cookie.

In honour of spring, I broke out some very pretty cookie cutters and had a great time making the cookies. Personally, I could have eaten them just like that but the whole point of the exercise was to learn how to decorate cookies.

I started by whipping up a batch of royal icing to pipe outlines for the cookies. The icing was fairly easy but the piping … not so much. I do not have what I would call “a steady hand”, however, what I lacked in steadiness I made up for in fun as I thoroughly enjoyed trying to create neat outlines on the cookies.

This step was followed by whipping up another batch of royal icing (slightly thinned with water) that I tinted with gel food colouring. I dabbed blobs of this icing in the centre of the cookie and used a toothpick to spread it out.

Again, it wasn’t very professional looking but it was a lot of fun to see what colours I could mix and what the end result looked like.

In the end, I had some very funny-looking and bright cookies. I shared them with friends and family and everyone seemed to really enjoy them.

While I can’t say I see a future in cookie decorating for myself, I certainly came to appreciate the art of decorating the cookie thanks to this book. If you have a chance to pick it up, I highly recommend it!

Ciao!

Note: For another great review about this book (and to see how cookies should truly be decorated!), check out Anita’s post.

One cannot choose a cookbook as the Flavour of the Month and then allow the whole month to pass without saying even one thing about said cookbook.

That just won’t do.

Especially when one has chosen such a special, pretty little cookbook as the Flavour of the Month for March 2008.

As often happens in life, while searching for one thing, I came across another even better thing. As I scoured www.amazon.com for a certain book I was looking for, I hit upon Maria Bruscino Sanchez’s Sweet Maria’s Italian Cookie Tray and what a delightful find it was!

This slim little volume should not fool you, though. It carries more baking wisdom in its little pocket than many books three or four times the size carry. And it’s full full full of the kinds of recipes that you find handwritten on old pieces of paper tucked away in kitchen drawers. Except in this book the recipes actually have identifiable measurements like cups and tablespoons as opposed to “a handful of this” or “two fingers worth of that”.

I didn’t know who Maria Bruscino Sanchez was when I bought the book so I looked her up and found out that she’s a baker with a business of the same name located in Connecticut. Sanchez is the author of three other cookbooks that I was unable to locate because they’re exceptonally hard to find! On a whim, I decided to e-mail her and lo and behold she sent me a lovely e-mail in response informing me that all four of her books will be available in a bound volume in the fall of 2008.

Yes! The cookbook monster is appeased.

In the meantime, I’ve been keeping this book close at hand to leaf through during the few quiet moments that I’ve had over the past month or so. And while I didn’t have time to try a recipe, Mama Cream Puff came to the rescue and made the very first recipe in the book: anginetti.

I asked her to make these because they reminded me very much of a simple lemon cookie that my grandmother would often make. The recipe consists of eggs, milk, lemon extract, sugar, vegetable oil, flour and baking powder. The baked cookies are topped with a glaze of icing sugar, lemon extract and water.

Simple.

And delicious.

Ah, the joys of accidental stumbles! You just never know what treasure you’ll find.

A wonderful weekend to all!

Ciao!

People will often ask me what my favourite thing is to bake and my answer is always cookies and pies. I love pies for their versatility. There’s nothing you can’t put in a pie. They’re also forgiving as no one will ever know about that rip in the bottom crust.

And cookies I love because they each represent a little baking story unto itself. Every cookie is its own beginning, middle and end. While a cookie may be related to its brethren in the batch, in the end, it stands alone.

For this edition of Magazine Monday, I had a strong urge to bake cookies so I turned to a recipe for Chocolate-Dipped Espresso Shortbread Cookies from Issue #61 of Fine Cooking magazine (my very favourite food magazine).

Judging from the looks of pleasure on the faces of all those that tried these cookies, they’re most definitely a keeper. Of course, I would not be able to tell you how good they were as I did not actually eat one.

I have given up sweets for Lent.

That’s right.

Me. No sweets. Six weeks.

And we’ll just see how well that turns out.

I wish all of you a wonderful, sweet-filled week!

Ciao!

Here are some Magazine Monday posts on other blogs:

Quellia of All Things Edible made a number of goodies.

Linda of Make Life Sweeter! made an incredible Cashew Nut, Honey & Vanilla Pie.

Technorati tags: magazine mondays, shortbread, espresso, chocolate

I’m so happy to see that you’re with me during my month of chocolate. For those of you that haven’t read my last post, I am attempting to post food made with chocolate for the entire month of February!

Today’s post, accomplishes a number of things. First of all, the little cookies you see above are in fact chocolate chip cookies so there’s my chocolate commitment fulfilled. Secondly, this is a Magazine Mondays post as the recipe for those chocolate chip cookies is one that I’d bookmarked awhile ago and finally got around to trying. And finally, I get to tell you about my little eggy friends.

It’s been awhile, but some of you may remember the Traveling Egg Meme. These sweet little creatures were created by Hannah of Bittersweet who gifted them to my sweetie Helene of Tartelette. Helene then decided that rather than keep them to herself, she’d share them with the world via a meme.

These little sweethearts travelled far and wide and made their way to my home last fall thanks to Peabody. Now the idea is to spend some quality time with the eggs and then send them back out into the world, to find a new home and to grace another family with their presence.

Just one problem. I didn’t want to give them up!

During our time together, I grew so attached.

We spent Christmas together.

We played in the snow together.

We read cookbooks together.

We watched hockey together.

We even baked together.

And through it all, I secretly hoped that Hannah and Helene and everyone else would forget the eggs and forget that they were with me. I know. That’s so selfish. But this way my little friends would stay with me always and we would be so happy.

But after a few gentle reminders, I had to face the unhappy truth. It was time to send my little eggs back out into the world.

We spent our final hours together baking these chocolate chip cookies from the May 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

To the person who will soon be receiving my little eggy friends, enjoy them as much as I did!

Ciao!

It’s here! It’s finally here!

All the preparing and baking and wrapping is over and all that’s left is the eating. I don’t know even know how many pounds of butter we went through this year but it was all worth it.

It’s Christmas!

While there was no George Clooney in my stocking this morning, there were a lot of other wonderful things including time with my family, time with my friends and a lot of laughter and cheer.

I hope that all of you are enjoying a beautiful Christmas with your loved ones. For my part, I’m sending you these rich and decadent decadent caramel sandwich cookies.

May your day be bright and merry!

Ciao!

Alfajores (Dulce de Leche Sandwich Cookies)
From the Holidays 2007 issue of Ricardo magazine.

Note: These are an adaptation of the cookie known as Alfajores.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
at least 1 cup dulce de leche (you may need more)
1/2 dried grated coconut

In a bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Set aside.

In another bowl, cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and beat until smooth. Mix in the dry ingredients. Shape the dough into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Set a rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

On a floured surface, roll the dough to a thickness of about 1/8th of an inch. Using a round cookie cutter (whatever size you choose), cut out as many rounds as you can. Bake the cookies until they begin to colour, anywhere from 9 to 12 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet before handling.

For each sandwich cookie, spread about 1 tablespoon of the dulce de leche on the underside of a cookie. Top with another cookie and repeat with the dulce de leche. Top with a third cookie. Spread dulce de leche around the sides and then dip in the coconut.

Enjoy!

I hope Santa likes butter and cinnamon. Because that’s what he’s getting this Christmas Eve.

Not wanting to miss an edition of Magazine Mondays, I decided to prepare these Cinnamon Spritz Cookies for Mr. Claus. The recipe comes from the December 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Now I have a tendency to be a bit hard on Martha. I sometimes find that her recipes don’t fulfill their promise. But in this case, I must give Ms. Stewart credit. These cookies were delicious. They’re crisp and buttery and enrobed in cinnamon sugar.

If Santa doesn’t leave me George Clooney as a gift after tasting these, then he’s no longer a cookie lover in my books.

I wish I could stay longer and write more but I must be off. The house is a disaster, there’s cookie dough everywhere, gifts must be wrapped, food must be prepared, chocolate must be eaten, alcohol must be consumed, friends must be hugged … and I must prepare for George Clooney’s arrival.

Have a great holiday week!

Ciao!

Note: For some reason I can’t find the link to this recipe on Martha’s site. I’ll do some more digging over the holidays and hopefully post the recipe soon.

Technorati tags: magazine mondays, spritz cookies

I love Christmas!

Only 23 days to go.

Just 23 short days to Rudolph and Santa and the tree and the gifts and the food and the weight gain.

I love it!!!

And how will the Cream Puff be spending the next 23 days?

The next few days will be spent trying to finish a major project at work.

Following that, the Cream Puff will be spending a handful of well-deserved days soaking up some sun and Christmas shopping in a warmer climate.

Upon returning, the remaining eight or nine days will be spent baking, eating, shopping, baking, spending time with family and friends, baking, drinking, baking, blogging, baking and baking.

I love it!!!

There really was only choice for Flavour of the Month for December 2007: Georgeanne Brennan’s Christmas Sweets. I bought this book as soon as it was published this past September and I’ve been waiting impatiently to try some of the recipes.

Let’s see what treats it holds.

Happy December!

Ciao!

When it comes to defining moments, it’s funny how they never seem defining as they’re happening. You don’t realize you’re in the right place at the right doing the right thing until it’s all done.

When I think back to last November 19th, I could never have imagined that one simple post about pretzels would have sparked the birth of one of the most incredible things to happen in food blogdom: the Daring Bakers!

None of this could have been possible if not for a person who I have come to call one of my dearest friends (even though we’ve never actually met in person!). Lis of La Mia Cucina has found a place in my life and I could not imagine not knowing her.

So how did it all start? After a few e-mail discussions, Lis and I decided to try making pretzels at home, something that we’d never done before. We thought it would be fun if we both tried the same recipe and blogged about it on the same day. On November 19th, 2006, we put up our posts.

The reaction was tremendous! So much so that we quickly decided to try the idea again in December, except this time we were making biscotti. As word spread, people began e-mailing us and asking to take part in the next baking “challenge”.

Today, we number more than 300. Together, we have woken up at 4:00 a.m. to roll croissants, we developed a passion for fourless chocolate cakes, we have invested in red velvet, we have built monuments to crepes, we have made St. Honoré our patron saint, we have paid homage to bagels, we have looked at ourselves in the mirror, we have tarted ourselves up with caramel and chocolate, we have girded our buns with cinnamon, we have conquered bostini and this month … well … that’s still a secret.

So now that a year is behind us, what lies ahead in the year to come? For starters, Lis and I are hoping to give the Daring Bakers a proper Web site. We currently have a blogroll that lists all of our members but it’s time for the DBers (that’s what we call ourselves) to get a spiffy new site. Toward that end, we’re asking for your help. If anyone is interested in helping us with a new site design, please get in touch with us (lamiacucina67@gmail.com or creampuffsinvenice@gmail.com). Unfortunately this won’t be a paying gig (although perhaps we can arrange the delivery of some baked goods … ), but it would be a great opportunity and would offer great exposure. Beyond that, Lis and I hope to watch this group continue to grow and explore the possibilities of baking.

To be sure there have been some growing pains, but the incredible experiences of the last year have far outweighed those. And it goes without saying that the last year has been made easier with the help of a few individuals who must be acknowledged. Every Daring Baker is special but without the tireless work of our blog administrator, Mary of alpineberry, I just don’t know how this group would function. Mary oversees our private blog and she handles the huge task of communicating with every new member of the Daring Bakers. Mary, I bow to you!

Lis and I also owe a huge thanks to Veronica of Veronica’s Test Kitchen. She took it upon herself to approach Ximena of Lobstersquad about designing a logo. Thanks to her the Daring Bakers have an emblem that it all ours. Veronica also takes on the job of sending the logo out to every new member. Many thanks, Veronica!

Having come full circle, Lis and I decided that we would honour the occasion with … what else … pretzels.

Happy Birthday to the Daring Bakers! Many happy returns!

Ciao!

Note: Pictured above are Pistachio Pretzels from the the December 1999 issue of Better Homes and Gardens.

Technorati tags: daring bakers

November is a hard month for me.

Ever since I was a child I’ve also felt that November is a creepy month. Maybe it’s the lingering Halloween effect or just the fact that it’s dark so early in the day.

The cheery fall weather of October begins to move determinedly towards winter. You can pretend it’s not going to happen but you just know that the first snowfall isn’t far away.

November is the month that I lost my father. That, in and of itself, makes it challenging to get through.

While I’m usually a social creature, during November I find that I mostly just want to rush home after work and curl up on the couch. The only respite I seek from this routine is baking.

It just feels good to bake in November. It’s soothing and comforting and right.

Looking at The Overburdened Bookshelf, there were hundreds of cookbooks to choose from (where did all these cookbooks come from???) for the November 2007 Flavour of the Month. I thought of some of the newer cookbooks like Indulge or Demolition Desserts. And then I considered some of the older books Trattoria Cooking. In the end, I settled on one of my very favourites: The King Arthur Flour Baker’s Companion.

Like an old friend, this book is open and welcoming. Thorough, easy-to-use, appropriate for both the beginner and the more experienced baker, this cookbook covers every aspect of baking imagineable from breads to cookies to cakes.

I’ve turned to this book so many times whenever I want to bake something that is deeply comforting. To me, the book celebrates one of the fundamental joys of baking: bringing warmth into your kitchen.

Here’s to a November of warmth, light and baking!

Ciao!

Technorati tags: oatmeal, cookies

I sometimes find myself looking at the calendar in astonishment after I realize how quickly the months slip by. Is it really two months until Christmas?

And is October really almost over (already) without my having written once about my Flavour of the Month, Father Giuseppe Orsini’s Italian Baking Secrets?

Of course I’ve mentioned this cookbook a few times already, but I have yet to actually tell you about it.

Who is Father Giuseppe Orsini? Based on what I can gather from the biographical information in the book, he’s a Roman Catholic priest who has an enormous passion for baking and in particular for Italian baking.

Italian Baking Secrets is a collection of all those handwritten recipes you find stashed away in tins or tucked into books. The book is straightforward and charming in its simplicity. While there are some bread recipes towards the beginning of the book that required multiple steps, most of the recipes are ones that I could imagine my grandmothers making. Just a few ingredients and there you go, the perfect cake or the perfect cookie to dunk in your coffee.

I bought the book after seeing it on a shelf at Toronto’s The Cookbook Store. I didn’t take any time to read through it I just picked it up and walked immediately to the cash register.

Had I actually spent some time looking through the book, I would have noticed a few inconsistencies. For some reason there are a few recipes that are repeated in different sections of the book. And the measurement units used for ingredients are not always consistent. But these minor peculiarities somehow add to the book’s overall effect. It really is like those handwritten recipes scribbled onto bits of paper!

One of the recipes in the book that caught my eye was a recipe for cookies called crumiri. If I close my eyes, I can almost see my little self sitting at a table at my aunt’s house in Italy having breakfast. Our breakfasts in Italy, especially as children, didn’t consist of oatmeal or cereal, but rather huge mugs of hot milk coloured with espresso. Those mugs were accompanied by cookies or bread onto which we would spread butter and homemade jam.

That was breakfast.

My favourite, of course, were the cookies. I remember they’d come in these colourful bags and I would love to read the story of the cookies printed on each package. For some reason, the ones I remember the most are the crumiri.

In my memory, they are golden and crumbly with a not-too-sweet flavour. They taste of vanilla too. But most of all, I remember their shape and texture. The adults around me would say that they are shaped like horseshoes but to me they look like little boomerangs with ridges on them.

In my memory, I wonder what would happen if I actually threw one across the room. Would it boomerang back? But of course I would never do this as I can just imagine the stern look on the face of my aunt …

Memory is an incredible thing. In the wake of my 34th birthday, I laugh at how often my friends and I will joke that our memories are “going”. I will forget grocery lists, what I told my brother yesterday, that 10:00 meeting and my keys.

And yet, I will see a recipe for a cookie and remember the exact texture of that very same cookie when I ate one years and years ago.

I can still remember the taste.

Hard on the heels of that memory, is the realization that I suppose it doesn’t really matter that I sometimes forget the grocery list.

But to forget the memory of my little self eating cookies and slurping warm milk under my aunt’s watchful eye, somehow, that would be unbearable.

Ciao!

Crumiri
From Italian Baking Secrets by Father Giuseppe Orsini.

1-3/4 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar (I like to use vanilla sugar)
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tbsp. vanilla or almond extract (if you’re not using vanilla sugar)
2/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, using a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar for about 5 minutes. The mixture should be very light in colour.

Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl after each addition.

Mix together the flour, salt and cornmeal and add slowly to the butter mixture, with the motor running on low speed. As soon as the flour mixture is added, add the extract (if using).

The cookie dough will be thick. Spoon into a piping bag fitted with a star-shaped tip (3/4 of an inch to an inch in width).

Pipe the cookies onto the prepared baking sheets in whatever design you like. The cookies shouldn’t be longer than 3 or 4 inches and should be spaced 2 inches apart.

Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges, anywhere from 12 to 14 minutes.

Let cool on a wire rack.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags: crumiri

As we approach another weekend, I thought I’d give everyone a sweet reminder of SHF #35: The Beautiful Fig!

The deadline for submissions is midnight on Monday September 24th with the round-up to be posted on Friday September 28th.

I’ve had a few comments and questions from people about fresh figs so I just want to remind everyone that you don’t necessarily have to use fresh figs. You can use dried figs or any product made with figs. Be creative!

For a little inspiration, I decided to make Fig and Pistachio cookies from a lovely cookbook that I purchased a few months ago: Italian Baking Secrets. The book is written by Father Giuseppe Orsini, a priest from New Jersey.

I’d never heard of Father Orsini until I wandered into The Cookbook Store one day and saw his book front and centre. He’s apparently the author of numerous books on Italian cooking and baking, although this one is the first that I’ve seen.

It’s a sweet book filled with recipes, many of which I recognized from weddings and showers. As soon as I saw the recipe for these cookies, I knew I had to give them a try.

Enjoy the figs and I can’t wait to see what you create!

Ciao!

Fig and Pistachio Cookies
Adapted from Italian Baking Secrets by Father Giuseppe Orsini.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange extract (if you don’t have orange extract, use 1 tbsp. grated orange zest)
1 cup shelled unsalted pistachios (don’t chop them up)
1 cup chopped dried figs
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the flour and baking soda and set aside.

Combine the sugar and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and cream on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary.

Mix in the vanilla and orange extracts (or orange zest).

Stir in the pistachios and figs.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.

Scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface and gather into a ball.

Divide the ball into three equal pieces.

Roll the pieces into logs that are about an inch and a half to 2 inches thick and about 10 to 12 inches long.

Carefully transfer the logs to the baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. The logs will be slightly golden and firm to the touch.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes.

Carefully slice the logs into cookies (about an inch thick).

Transfer the cookies back to the baking tray so that they are standing upright. Do not lay them on one side. Put the cookies back in the oven for 10 minutes.

Let cool completely and dust with icing sugar before serving.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags: sugar high friday, shf, figs, pistachios, cookies

Well, it’s still very much hot in the city! I’m itching to try quite a few recipes from Lori Longbotham’s Luscious Berry Desserts (Flavour of the Month for July 2007), but I just can’t stand to turn on the oven.

And when even the Cream Puff won’t turn on the oven … well … that should tell you what the weather is like outside!

Instead, I’m making another withdrawal from my blog bank with a long overdue book review: Gale Gand’s Chocolate & Vanilla. I received this book many months ago and was pleased as I’d had my eye on it for quite awhile. While I’m very familiar with Gale Gand, surprisingly (even for me) I don’t own any of her cookbooks.

Chocolate & Vanilla is divided into two sections, obviously titled Chocolate and Vanilla! The book is filled with beautiful full-colour photos and has a very interesting design. If you open the book to the vanilla section, once you get to the end of that section, you have to flip the book over for the chocolate section. Alternately, if you open the book to the chocolate section, you then have to flip it over for the vanilla section.

At first I was a bit confused by this but once I realized that it was actually the design of the cookbook, I found it quirky and charming. It’s a bit risky, especially since it means that the book has no index. While each section does have a table of contents, the lack of index was probably the only drawback for me. I rely heavily on a cookbook’s index. But to be honest, it’s such a lovely book that I don’t consider it a huge deal.

Both the vanilla and chocolate sections begin with an excellent introduction, including histories of the ingredients and what to look for when buying vanilla and chocolate. The recipes are clearly laid out and they all begin with a very charming headnote. I love it when authors add a little intro to their recipes, whether it be to explain how the recipe was created or where it originates from. All of the recipes include very helpful elements like “do-aheads” and lists of what equipment you’ll need to prepare the recipe.

As for the recipes themselves, well, how do Cherries in Port over Vanilla and Late-Night Vanilla Flan strike your fancy? Anyone up for Chouqettes with Pearl Sugar or Vanilla Charlotte? And for those days when you simply must have chocolate, how about Black and White Cream Cheese Brownies or Mexican Hot Chocolate Fondue? Chocolate Babka? Chocolate Fudge Soccer Cakes?

Okay, I’ll stop now. Needless to say the titles of the recipes are endlessly tempting. But as always, the ultimate test of a cookbook is in the results. So what did I try?

Let’s start with some Chocolate-Amond Upside-Down Cake. The picture does not do it justice. It’s a moist, chocolatey sponge covered in sliced almonds smothered in a goey caramel. Yes. It’s that good.

Just one page later, Gand has a recipe for Chocolate-Praline Cake in a Jar. Intrigued by the idea of baking a cake in a jar, I took a closer look at the recipe and knew I had to try it. While I didn’t bake mine in jars (I used mini muffin cups), this was a true winner! The cake is dense and moist and the praline topping is irresistible.

As I read through the book, I found myself returning over and over to a recipe for Éclairs with Coffee Glaze. I adore éclairs and just couldn’t resist making these. Being a Cream Puff, I enjoyed the opportunity to make my close cousins the éclairs. And the custard filling and coffee glaze were amazing!

With three recipes under my belt, I was enjoying this cookbook more and more. Usually when I’m reviewing a book I’ll try three recipes but I was so intrigued that I had to try a few more.

The éclairs were followed by what has become my most favourite shortbread ever: Deep Chocolate Shortbread. When I tasted the shortbread shortly after baking it, I was a bit disappointed. It seemed to be on the bland side. But as with all good shortbread, it tastes much better when it’s had the chance to sit for a bit. The following day I bit into a shortbread bar and was blown away. The butter and the cocoa had melded perfectly. I’d buy this cookbook for this recipe alone!

Chugging along, I tried the Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins and the Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Strawberry Mash (sorry … no pictures). At this point, if you haven’t figured out that I’ve completely fallen in love with this cookbook, then hopefully the next and last recipe will convince you.

Allow me to introduce Mary’s Butterballs (also pictured at the beginning of this post)!

I will say this about Mary’s Butterballs. Lots of butter. A vanilla sugar coating. Nutella in the middle.

No need to say anything else.

If you’re looking for a great book on vanilla and chocolate, check this one out. If you’re a fan of Gale Gand’s, definitely check this one out! I’m amazed that such a slim cookbook could hold so many treasures, but it’s true.

Now if only it would cool down enough to bake!

Ciao!

Technorati tags: vanilla, chocolate, gale gand

I heart yellow.

Yellow is the sun. Yellow is bright and warm and always makes me happy when I see it.

Yellow is a friendly smile and blooming flowers. Yellow is everywhere a loved one is.

Yellow is courage. Yellow is Barbara of winosandfoodies.com and The Taste of Yellow event to celebrate LiveStrong Day.

Yellow is strong. Yellow is fearless.

Yellow is a hug. Yellow is a night out with friends.

Yellow is laughing until you cry. Yellow is the funny story everyone begs you to tell.

Yellow is the book you’ve read a thousand times. Yellow is the movie that makes you cry. Yellow is the funny pair of socks that you’ll never part with.

Yellow is intelligence. Yellow is compassion. Yellow is lending a helping hand.

Yellow is the picture of the one you love. Yellow is the song that you love. Yellow is music.

Yellow is bravery. Yellow is staring down the bad guy.

Yellow is the cure for cancer.

Yellow is my father.

I heart yellow.

Ciao!

Lemony Lemon Bars with Raspberry Coulis

Adapted from Afternoon Delights by James McNair and Andrew Moore.

Note:  These bars are a bit unusual in that they are creamier than your average lemon bar. I’ve added a bit of cream to the bar to give it a creamier texture. These bars can be a bit difficult to cut but I find that refrigerating them before slicing and using a hot knife helps a lot. The recipe will yield anywhere from 24 to 30 bars, depending on how small you cut them.

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 large eggs
• 2-3/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• pinch of salt
• 3/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tsp. grated lemon zest

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter a 9 x 13-inch pan.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat at medium high speed until the mixture is creamy and combined. Add the salt and mix to combine.
3. Add one cup of the flour and mix on low speed until combined. Add the second cup of flour and mix on low speed until thoroughly combined.
4. Put the dough into the buttered pan and with your hands, spread it out into an even and flat layer.
5. Bake the crust for about 20 minutes. It should be nicely golden.
6. Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
7. In a large bowl, mix th eeggs, sugar, flour and salt. Whisk until the mixture is combined.
8. Add the lemon juice, the heavy cream and the lemon zest and stir to combine.
9. Pour the lemon mixture onto the baked crust and put the pan back in the oven.
10. Bake the bars until the lemon filling is golden on top and doesn’t jiggle in the middle (about 30 minutes).
11. Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
12. Once cool, you can either cut into bars and serve or refrigerate for up to 2 days. I recommend refrigerating before you cut into bars.
13. Using a small cookie cutter or even a small spoon, cut out or scoop out a bit of the centre of each bar.
14. Fill the indentation with a bit of raspberry coulis (recipe follows). Dust with icing sugar if you like and then serve immediately.
15. Enjoy!

Raspberry Coulis

Note:  You can make this as thick or thin as you like. I like a medium consistency. I also don’t like it to be too sweet, but feel free to add more sugar if you like. This will yield about 2 cups of raspberry coulis. The coulis will keep in the refrigerator for a week.

• 2 to 2-1/2 cups frozen raspberries (you can also use fresh)
• 1/2 to 1 cup hot water
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/4 cup sugar

1. Combine all the ingredients, except the water, in a food processor.
2. Process for about a minute, or until the raspberries have been processed and the mixture is combined. Add 1/2 cup of hot water and process until smooth.
3. Taste the coulis and adjust for sweetness. If you want a thinner coulis, then add more hot water and process again.
4. Once the coulis is to your liking, strain through a fine mesh sieve.
5. Pour the strained coulis into a bowl and keep refrigerated when you’re not using it.
6. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:livestrong, livestrong day, a taste of yellow, winosandfoodies, lemon, lemon bars

Spring has embraced Toronto in a huge way! It’s a gorgeous day outside and for a change, I’m looking forward to being out there running errands.

I couldn’t help but post these adorable cookies and wish all of you a wonderful weekend.

I’ll post the recipe soon, but until then, enjoy the beautiful weather.

Ciao!

Jam Sandwich Cookies

Recipe from back of cookie cutter package. Cookie Cutters made by R&M International Corp.

Note:  Of all the cookie cutter sets that I have, these are my favourite. They’re called Springtime Linzer Cookie Cutters and the set consists of a cutter attachment with little slots that anchor the various cookie cutters. This particular set has six cutters to choose from including chick, rabbit and butterfly. I bought mine at Golda’s Kitchen, which ships internationally. Click here to see the cookie cutter set.

You can use whatever jam you like for these cookies. I like apricot because the lovely colour seems just right for spring! If you don’t have orange extract, you can use vanilla extract.

With this particular cookie cutter set, I can get about 40 to 50 cookies, which will yield about 20 to 30 cookie sandwiches.

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 tsp. pure orange extract
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 2 cups sifted cake flour (sift your flour and then measure out 2 cups)
• 1 cup apricot jam
• additional icing sugar for dusting

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until fluffy (about a minute or two).
2. Add the orange extract and the icing sugar and mix until well combined (a minute or two). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. 
3. Add the flour, one cup at a time, mixing well between each addition. Don’t over mix the flour. If it appears as though the dough won’t come together, remove the bowl from the mixer and mix in any remaining flour by hand.
4. Transfer the dough to a work surface and gather into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
5. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
6. After an hour, remove the dough from the refrigerator and divide in half. Place the portion you’re not using back in the refrigerator.
7. Roll out the portion you are using to a thickness of a quarter of an inch. Take whatever cookie cutter you’re using and begin cutting out cookies.
8. Transfer cookies to one of the prepared baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, just until the cookies between to turn slightly golden around the edges. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
9. Reroll any scraps and cut out more cookies and bake them as directed above.
10. Remove the second portion of dough from the refrigerator and roll out as above. If you’re using a stamped cookie cutter such as the ones that I used, then be sure to cut out the other half of the cookie sandwich (i.e., if you cut out the bottoms with the first half, then cut out the tops with the second half). If you’re not using a cookie cutter with a stamp or with a design in it, then continue cutting the shapes you cut the first half with.
11. Once you’ve rolled out all the dough and baked all the cookies, let them cool completely.
12. Take the cookies that you intend to use as the tops of the cookie sandwiches and dust them with icing sugar.
13. Take your jam and give it a few stirs to loosen it. Taking the bottom part of the cookie sandwich spread a teaspoon of jam over the cookie and then top with the other half of the cookie sandwich.
14. These will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature, for 2 or 3 days.
15. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  cookies, jam, apricot jam

I miss my blog.

It seems that I’ve been at work more than I’ve been anywhere else lately. In the midst of it all, time and time again I find find my thoughts turning to my blog and to blogging in general. What have my favourite bloggers been writing about? What’s new in blog world? Has anyone been eating cream puffs in Venice?

It’s at these times that I realize what an integral part of my life this blog has become. And no matter how long I’ve been blogging, I’m always a bit taken aback by that. It’s always a bit of a surprise that this little bit of web space has come to mean so much to me.

Whenever I find myself away from the kitchen for an extended period of time, the urge to bake becomes almost unbearable. And it’s at these times that I want to do nothing more than bake cookies. More than any other product of the kitchen, cookies own me. There’s something about a cookie that’s so perfect. A cookie is a story all unto itself.

No surprise then that for two nights last week I stole away to the kitchen and baked cookies into the wee hours of the morning. The reason for this labour of love was a fundraiser held by my cousin for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. I prepared a cookie tray that was part of the silent auction (and I’d like to thank my dear friends M and M for submitting the highest bid!) so I used the opportunity to bask in the kitchen’s glow.

My cookie friends were all there. The Brandied Eggnog Cookies that never fail to disappoint. I made some new friends with the Lemon Pistachio Cookies and the Rum Raisin Sandwich Cookies that I met. But the friends that I especially enjoyed making were the Walnut-Apricot Jam Thumbprint Cookies. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I adore thumbprint cookies. I love sinking my thumb into a soft, buttery dough and feeling it yield. Bliss!

I won’t lie to you. Last week’s late night adventures in cookie-booking exhausted me. And I’m still tired. But it was so worth it! Those little cookies will sustain me until I can return to the kitchen … and to my home away from home … this blog!

Ciao!

Walnut-Apricot Jam Thumbprint Cookies

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

Note:  Another winner from the brilliant book by Dorie Greenspan. I swear everything in this book is so impressive. The original recipe for these jam thumbprint cookies uses hazelnuts in the dough and raspberry jam for the filling. I chose to try one of the variations with walnuts and apricots. I experimented and added more walnuts and just loved the texture of the cookie. I also added some ginger to the apricot jam for a bit of a kick. But be careful no to use too much! You should get between 40 and 50 cookies (depending on how big you make them).

• 2 cups walnuts, finely ground
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup + 1 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• icing sugar for dusting
• apricot jam (about a cup)
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and place a rack in the centre of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix the ground walnuts and the flour; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for about 30 seconds until creamy. Add the sugar and beat on medium speed until fluffy (3 to 4 minutes).
4. Add the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
5. With the mixer on low speed, add the walnut/flour mixture, a tablespoon at a time, until it is all incorporated.
6. Refrigerate the dough for 10 minutes.
7. After 10 minutes, remove the dough and begin forming balls using about a teaspoonful of dough. Place the balls of dough on a baking sheet and using your thumb (or any finger you like!) make a deep indentation in each ball of dough. Don’t break through the bottom of the dough.
8. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for about 16 minutes. The cookies will be slightly golden around the edges and on the bottom.
9. Remove the cookies and let them sit on the tray for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Once cool, dust the cookies liberally with icing sugar.
11. In a small pot, heat the apricot jam and ginger (if using) until it starts to bubble. Remove from the heat and using a teaspoon to fill each cookie with the jam.
12. Let the jam cool completely before serving the cookies.
13. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  thumbprint cookies, dorie greenspan, cookies, jam

I owe an enourmous thank you to the talented Mari of the blog My Silly Little Thoughts. Mari baked and decorated these gorgeous cookies, packed them in a lovely tin and then sent them to me. I wish I could say that the cookies were admired by many but that is not the case.

They were demolished by a very hungry Cream Puff.

For those of you who don’t know, Mari is the brilliant and creative mind behind Mischief Mari Cookies. Intelligent, talented and a damn good baker, Mari recently offered cookies to the person who could correctly answer a question she’d posed on her blog. I was one of the two people who correctly guessed that the reason why Mari had pigs on the brain was that 2007 is the year of the pig according to the Chinese calendar.

True to her word, Mari sent me these adorable cookies and I couldn’t have been happier. Thank you so much, Mari. You’re wonderful!

Ciao!

It’s hard to believe, but 2007 is knocking on the door! It’s time to say goodbye to the year that was. For me, it was a year of discovery as this little thing we call blog took me on an incredible ride. I tried so many new things and met so many new people. I have not regretted one moment!

To be sure there were many incredible events this year including La Festa al Fresco and Meeta’s Postcard event, but one of the more recent impromptu events that intrigued me was the recipe exchange that I’m sure everyone was involved in at some point or other. Not only did I meet many new people, I received a number of recipes to add to my "must-try" list.

As it happened, the inspirational and lovely Anita of Dessert First sent me a recipe for Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies from Emily Luchetti’s A Passion for Desserts. Coincidentally, I had bookmarked that very recipe when it was posted on Leite’s Culinaria.

Clearly it was a sign that I needed to make these cookies!

Do you like chocolate? Do you like hazelnut? Do you like buttery goodness?

Yes?

Then you will love these cookies!

They are two buttery halves of hazelnut heaven glued together with the greatest spread of them all (in my opinion) … Nutella!

In Italian, we have a saying on New Year’s Eve. We say to all the people that we love:  Buona fine e buon principio. It means have a good ending and a good beginning.

So with these little hazelnut gems, I wish all of you the happiest of endings and the very sweetest of beginnings.

See you in 2007!

Ciao!

Hazelnut Sandwich Cookies

This recipe comes from Emily Luchetti’s A Passion for Desserts. The recipe is posted on Leite’s Culinaria. You can click here for the recipe. I followed it exactly with one change. After sandwiching the hazelnut cookies together, I rolled them in finely ground hazelnuts and then dusted them with icing sugar.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  happy new year, nutella, hazelnuts

I’m back! I have bid adieu to the jet lag and recovered (somewhat) from 48 hours of constant eating. As I look ahead to 2007, and all the plans I have for my blog, I cannot move forward without sharing some of the wonderful experiences that I enjoyed on my 11-day trip through Berlin, Prague and Vienna.

When I left Toronto on a cold yet sunny Friday afternoon, I was filled with nervous anticipation. Having never flown by myself, I was anxious to arrive in Berlin. But more than that, I was eager to begin this trip that I’d been dreaming of for so long.

I landed in Frankfurt on Saturday morning with a little more than an hour to go before my connecting flight to Berlin. After disembarking, I literally wanted to kiss the ground as my flight across the Atlantic had been less than comfortable. For almost three hours we were confined to our seats as a result of the worst turbulence I have ever experienced. It didn’t help matters when the pilot ordered the crew to be seated for a significant amount of time due to the shaking plane.

That can’t be good.

Turbulence aside, I made it to Frankfurt with enough time to make it through all the security checks, get lost twice and window shop before my flight to Berlin. But before I knew it, I’d landed in Germany’s capital!

My initial impression of the city, or at least as much as could be impressed upon me during the cab ride to the hotel at which we travelled at warp speed, was that it looked a lot like some of the Italian cities I’d seen. Lots of low-rise apartment building with balconies, wide streets with boulevards down the middle and Smart cars.

Comfortably settled into the hotel, I began the process of meeting my fellow tour buddies. In all, our group numbered 49, most of whom were Australian. Can I just say Australians are FUN people!!! Greetings aside, we were now ready to begin this journey into the heart of Berlin.

But how to describe it?

I saw so many incredible things. The Berlin Wall served as one of the first stops on our tour and perhaps one of the most profound for me personally in that I am old enough to remember some of the brutal history that lies at the foundations of what was once an ugly barrier between so many. In 1989, when the Wall fell, I was 16 years old. I can remember very well the scenes broadcast around the world. Too young then to realize what it’s like to witness history, standing at the Wall brought a renewed sense of that moment.

People really did bring that Wall down! That horrible place where so many had lost their lives trying to escape to a better one was really taken apart, piece by piece. Today, parts of the Wall still stand as a reminder of what must never happen again. These remaining stretches of the Wall are covered in graffiti, some of truly beautiful.

Moving from the Wall, such a visible reminder of how Berlin and Germany were once divided, it was surprising to find myself walking through a city that in many ways is so elegant. I’ve often heard Berlin described as gritty and a bit faded, and it’s true there were sections of the city that looked a bit worn. But I found that appealing. It speaks to history and character, something that’s difficult to find in some of our more modern, cookie-cutter cities.

One of my favourite spots was the square right in front of the library of the Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Made infamous for the book burnings that took place there after Hitler came to power, I found it inspiring that the very same spot is regularly filled with students. Called the Bebelplatz, this spot is the site of a memorial called The Empty Library. There is a glass door in the middle of the square that looks down into an empty room. At night, the room is lit from within to reveal a small room lined with empty bookshelves.

If you are ever in Berlin, I urge you to visit this spot!

Beyond the numerous and worthy memorials around Berlin, there are so many layers to this city that you can uncover. Museum-hopping, the view from the glass dome at the Reichstag, walking through the Brandenburg Tor, all of these activities reveal a city of art, music and literature.

As I explored the city, I was impressed by the amount of green space. It seemed there were small parks everywhere filled with joggers and people walking their dogs. Germans like their sport and of course I could not pass up the opportunity to photograph the Olympic stadium, site of a certain country’s World Cup victory this past summer.

Perhaps the most eye-opening and sombre part of my time in Berlin was our visit to the site of what was once the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp, located just outside the city limits. We were given the option of going to Sachsenhausen and at first I wasn’t sure if I wanted to. After some thought, I decided to act on the words of our tour guide who put it in very real terms when she said that as difficult as some of these sites may be, they are a part of the history of the place we were in.

It was a very emotional place, filled with heart-breaking stories of innocent people who lost their lives. But at the same time, I was glad that I went to honour those very people. Many people have asked me if I think it’s a good idea to visit such a place and my answer is simply this:  it’s a personal decision. For me, it was the right decision to go.

Back in the city core, we turned our attention to Berlin’s Museum Island and other important sites like Checkpoint Charlie. And of course, to my favourite part of Berlin, the Unter den Linden. The Unter den Linden is one of Berlin’s most beautiful streets. The Unter den Linden starts right by the Berliner Dome and ends at the Brandenburg Tor. At night, the trees lining the boulevard down the centre of the street were lit in honour of the holidays. It was such a beautiful sight to behold!   

A number of people asked me what my impression was of Germans after having visited the city. I found almost everyone to be friendly and outgoing. Almost everyone I met spoke English (although I did try my hand at some of the more basic German phrases). I had no difficulties whatsoever communicating with people whether it be in stores, on the subway or just walking about.

I found Berliners to be stylish and very social. Nowhere was this more evident than at the Christmas markets set up throughout the city. Beginning in the early afternoon, the markets began to fill with people who all seemed to stop by for a beer, something fried and rolled in sugar and to greet a friend. I found it heartwarming to watch as Berliners all seemed to enjoy the simple activity of raising a glass and spending a few hours walking about. Unlike a packed shopping mall, I could sense a genuine feeling of Christmas in the air.

As I walked through the markets, it was hard to focus on any particular thing for a long time. Your attention is demanded by beautiful ornaments, the smell of Glühwein (mulled wine) and fried food begging to be rolled in sugar and the sounds of Christmas are everywhere from people laughing to music playing. I passed children playing on a make shift ice rink and buildings lit up so beautifully.

Even though I was not a Berliner, I somehow felt so linked to that place at that time. It felt good and right to walk through the markets. I helped myself to lots of good German beer and yes … a pretzel or two (maybe … possibly even three).

One of the sights that intrigued me, but that I could never quite get close enough to see, were stalls overflowing with beautifully decorated and packaged cookies. Upon returning home, I did some research and found out that they are in fact called Zimtsterne or Cinnamon Stars. I also found out that there was a recent scare about the effects of the cinnamon in the cookies. Scare aside, I decided to try my hand at recreating the cookies as a tribute to Berlin, and the special time that I had there.

I found a wonderful web site called Germany Info which listed a recipe for Zimtsterne. It didn’t sound all that arduous so I decided to give it a try. The original recipe posed some problems for me, namely that the cookie dough was much too sticky to be able to cut out cookies. I adapted the recipe to make a firmer dough and I did so by adding flour. It made the dough much easier to work with.

These are pretty cookies, but they do require some patience and effort. After cutting out the star shapes, some of the meringue (set aside when first making the cookies) has to be spread on the unbaked cookies. Once that step is complete, the cookies need time to dry out at room temperature. And even after baking them, it’s best to leave them for a few days to harden a bit.

In a number of the recipes that I came across for Zimtsterne I noticed that the cookies were topped with a rum glaze. I decided to add a glaze to my cookies as well even though the original recipe does not require it. The glaze adds a nice visual touch as well as flavour element to these lovely little cookies.

As I glazed them, I couldn’t help but think of the Christmas market in Berlin and all the lovely things I’d seen.

Berlin … you were beautiful!

Ciao!

Zimtsterne (Cinnamon Star Cookies)

Adapted from the original recipe at Germany Info.

• 2 cups blanched almonds
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (you may need more)
• 5 egg whites
• 2 cups icing sugar, sifted
• 2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 tbsp. Kirschwasser
• 7 oz. (200 g.) icing sugar, sifted
• 1 tbsp. dark rum
• 2 tbsp. hot water

1. In a food processor, finely grind the almonds. They should resemble fine bread crumbs.
2. Place the ground almonds in a bowl with the flour and combine.
3. In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites at high speed (with a stand mixer or hand mixer) until stiff (3 to 4 minutes).
4. Gently fold in the sifted icing sugar.
5. Remove 1 cup of the egg white/sugar mixture and set aside.
6. Gently fold the almond/flour mixture, the cinnamon and the Kirschwasser into the remaining egg white mixture.
7. Once combined, you will have a very sticky dough. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.
8. Generously flour a work surface and turn the dough out onto the surface. With your hands, pat the dough into a circle that’s roughly half an inch thick. If the dough sticks to your hands, sprinkle generously with flour.
9. Using a 2-inch star-shaped cookie cutter, dip the cutter in a bowl of flour and then begin cutting out star shapes.
10. Transfer the stars to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Gather up the scraps, sprinkle with more flour and pat into a circle again. Cut out more stars. Continue these steps until you’ve used all the dough.
11. Once you’ve cut out all the stars, take the reserved cup of egg whites and icing sugar and carefully spread the mixture over each cookie. Leave the cookie sheets out overnight so that the cookies can dry out. There’s no need to cover the cookies.
12. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 5 minutes.
13. Let the cookies cool for about 30 minutes before removing them from the cookies sheet.
14. While the cookies are cooling, prepare the rum glaze by combining the icing sugar, the rum and the hot water in a bowl. If the glaze is too thick, add a bit more hot water.
15. Once the cookies have cooled for 30 minutes, drizzle the glaze over the cookies and let sit for another 30 minutes so that the glaze can set.
16. After the glaze has set, place the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely. If you can, leave the cookies on the wire rack for several hours to give them a chance to dry out even further.
17. While these cookies will harden on the outside, they will remain soft in the centre. Store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.
18. Enjoy!

Note:  Depending on the size of your cookie cutter, you should get anywhere from 20 to 30 cookies from this recipe.

Technorati tags: berlin, zimtsterne

Now that I’ve had a few days to recover from the jet lag, I’m ready to turn my attention to the impending Christmas festivities. Berlin, Prague and Vienna are still floating around in my mind, but I’m also beginning to anticipate the eating fest that will begin very shortly.

When I first posted about my trip, one of the concerns I had was how I would react to missing out on much of the preparations for Christmas, especially the baking. In my absence, the decorations went up and my mother, the little baking tank that she is, singlehandedly prepared almost all of the traditional sweets that we enjoy at this time of year.

To my surprise, I didn’t mind missing out on this experience at all. I’m not saying I would do it every year, but somehow not being around for much of the pre-Christmas stress has made me focus that much more on what the holiday really means. It doesn’t really matter if I don’t bake 30 different kinds of cookies. The point is that I’ll be with my family and we’ll be enjoying some good food and drink, and hopefully many laughs.

And that’s good enough for me.

With so little time left before Christmas, I decided that I would choose one cookie to bake. Only one. It didn’t take very long for me to choose which one either:  White Chocolate Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies with Lemon. Originally from Tish Boyle’s The Good Cookie, these little gems have entered into the family repertoire of Christmas cookies. They are easy and delicious and look divine on a cookie tray. Plus you get to squish your thumb into them before baking them, which brings me to my next point.

I have a serious thing for thumbprint cookies. I don’t know what it is, but something about pushing my thumb into dough and then filling the indentation just makes me tingle! One of my favourite Ina Garten recipes is for Jam Thumbprint Cookies and I can’t get enough of those either. These particular thumbprint cookies are filled with luscious white chocolate. I’ve adapted them to include lots of lemon zest and occasionally, even some coconut extract. How could you possibly resist?

So stick out those thumbs, massage them, exercise them, get them ready. For the mighty thumb is the key to one of the best Christmas cookies you’ll ever try!

Ciao!

White Chocolate Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies with Lemon

Adapted from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle.

• 1-1/2 cup unsalted pistachios, shelled
• 2-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. coconut extract (optional)
• 1 tbsp. lemon zest, finely grated or chopped
• 8 or 9 ounces white chocolate, chopped
• 1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Process the pistachios in a food processor until very finely ground, but not oily or pasty. This should take about 30 seconds or so.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until smooth, about 1 minute.
4. Add 1/4 cup of the ground pistachios and mix on medium speed for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the egg yolks, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl.
6. Add the vanilla extract, coconut extract (if using) and the lemon zest. Beat for another minute until combined.
7. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and salt and mix until just incorporated.
8. In a large, shallow bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy.
9. Take a piece of dough, roughly 1 inch in size and roll into a ball. Dip the ball in the egg whites and then roll the ball of dough in the remaining ground pistachios. Place on a cookie sheet (about an inch apart) and with your thumb, make an indentation in the dough (being careful not to go all the way to the bottom of the dough).
10. Repeat with the remaining dough. You should get anywhere from 60 to 70 cookies depending on the size of the balls of dough.
11. Bake the cookies in the centre of the oven (one sheet at a time) for 11 to 13 minutes. They’re done when the cookies have spread a bit, the nuts are lightly golden and the bottoms are also golden. Let the cookies cool completely on a wire rack.
12. Once the cookies are cool, melt the chocolate in a double boiler. As soon as the chocolate has melted, stir it and add the vegetable oil and stir again until smooth.
13. With a teaspoon, fill each cookie with some chocolate. If you have any chocolate left, drizzle it over the cookies. Let the chocolate set for at least an hour.
14. These cookies should be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
15. Enjoy!

Technorati tags: thumbprint cookies, pistachios, white chocolate, Christmas

When Lisa of La Mia Cucina and I get to talking, you just know there will be some baking happening.

Ah, yes. It’s good to have blog friends!

After the fun we had with our pretzel cross-posts, we decided to try another cross-post for the holidays. We wanted to bake something that was traditionally Italian and well-suited for enjoying with friends. After a few late-night e-mails, we decided on biscotti.

As many of you know, biscotti are a typically dry Italian cookie. The name of the cookie literally means "cooked twice" due to the fact that biscotti are usually baked twice. Homemade biscotti are a pure treat. They’re easy to make and they last a long time so you can enjoy them with your milk and coffee throughout the week.

I absolutely do not buy biscotti in coffee shops. For starters, they are almost always overpriced. Even if you use nuts, making biscotti at home is always more economical and you’ll find the results to be much better. Which brings me to my next point about most coffee shop biscotti … they’re usually not very good. If you try making biscotti at home, you’ll see that yours are much better!

After deciding to make biscotti, Lisa suggested that we invite a few other bloggers along for the cross-post. After the pretzel experiment, Peabody, Brilynn and Helene all expressed interest in a cross-post. We decided to try a recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s recently released Baking:  From My Home to Yours.

We chose Dorie’s Chocolate Biscotti recipe as the starting point. The only rule was that there were no rules. We were all free to adapt the recipe however we saw fit.

For my biscotti, I decided to reduce the amount of almonds and add toffee bits. Also, instead of using chopped bittersweet chocolate, I used semisweet chocolate chips. And to finish off my biscotti, I bathed them in lots of melted white chocolate. (I’m not sure there’s anything more fun than drizzling chocolate over stuff!)

The biscotti were delicious! Not too hard and not too soft, they hit just the right note of sweetness between the chocolate and the toffee bits.

And now that you’ve read about my biscotti, please go and visit Lisa, Helene, Peabody and Brilynn to see the adaptations they came up with. They had me drooling!

Ciao!

Chocolate Toffee Biscotti

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

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp. instant espresso powder
• 3/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 stick (6 tbsp.) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup almonds, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup toffee bits
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 ounces white chocolate (for garnish)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, instant espresso powder, baking soda and baking powder.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar on high speed until fluffy (about 2 minutes).
4. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix for another 2 minutes.
5. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the dry ingredients.
6. As soon as the dry ingredients have been incorporated into the batter, remove the bowl from the machine and add the almonds, toffee bits and chocolate chips. You can use a wooden spin to stir them into the dough, but I prefer to use my hands.
7. Once you’ve incorporated all the ingredients, divide the dough in half and roll each half into a log about 12 inches long.
8. Carefully transfer the logs to the parchment-lined baking sheet. With your hand, flatten each log so that it’s roughly an inch high and about 2 inches wide.
9. Bake the logs for 25 minutes. The logs will spread a bit and may even crack a bit, but don’t worry.
10. After 25 minutes, remove the logs from the oven and let them cool for 30 minutes.
11. Using a serrated knife, carefully slice the logs into biscotti. Each biscotto should be about three-quarters of an inch wide. Transfer the biscotti back to the baking sheet and stand them upright.
12. Once you’ve sliced the logs into biscotti, return the biscotti to the oven for 10 minutes.
13. Once the biscotti are done, place them on a wire rack to cool.
14. When the biscotti are completely cooled, melt the white chocolate over a double boiler. Using a whisk or a fork, drizzle the melted chocolate all over the tops of the biscotti. Let the chocolate set before serving the biscotti.
15. Enjoy!

Note:  You should get anywhere from 20 to 24 biscotti (depending on how wide the slices are). Store the biscotti in an airtight container for up to a week.

Technorati tags:  biscotti, chocolate, almonds, toffee bits, dorie greenspan

December has arrived with a vengeance here in Toronto. The relatively warm weather we’d been experiencing is gone and in its place we have the beginnings of winter. I don’t mind. I love the snow and the cold and how it makes us all want to run into the kitchen and bake.

December 1st, for me, usually signals the beginning of weeks of preparation for Christmas. I will wholeheartedly admit that I am a Christmas person. I love it all. The carols, the baking, too much family, the food, the shopping … I welcome it with open arms.

This year, however, things will be different. My impending trip means that I will miss much of the preparations for Christmas. I won’t be putting up the tree. I won’t be hanging the lights. And while I will be doing some baking, it won’t be nearly as much as I usually do.

And strangely enough, I’m okay with that.

Up until recently, the idea of relinquishing some of the control I like to exercise over these sorts of events would have seemed unimaginable to me. But lately I’ve been feeling that controlling the events isn’t nearly as much fun as experiencing them. So I’m letting go. And it feels really good.

And since I’m letting go, I’m going to share a very special cookie with you, in the hopes that since I won’t have chance to bake this cookie that often this month, you will. And it’s all part of my entry for the Festive Food Fair hosted by Anna of Morsels and Musings.

The original recipe comes from the 1995 issue of the Canadian Living Holiday Baking Magazine. Canadian Living is a food and lifestyle magazine that is uniquely Canadian. While I can’t say I read the publication on a regular basis, I do look forward to the holiday issue. In the 1995 issue, I came across a recipe for Apricot Crescents, or as they are often referred to, Rugalahs or Rugelach. The dough for these pastries is made with cream cheese, butter, sugar and flour. The pastries are typically filled with jam, nuts and sometimes raisins. I like to use apricot jam and a mixture of finely ground walnuts, cinnamon and sugar. Once baked, these pastries are incredibly flaky and the filling of jam and nuts is delicious.

This is one of my most treasured recipes. I hope it brings you much goodness this holiday season.

Ciao!

Apricot Walnut Crescents

Adapted from the 1995 issue of Canadian Living Holiday Baking.

• 1 pckg. (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2-1/2 tbsp. sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 egg, beaten
• coarse sugar (for garnish)

1. In an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream together the cream cheese and butter, on medium speed, until smooth.
2. Add the sugar and flour and mix until a dough forms.
3. Scoop the dough onto a floured surface and work briefly with your hands until it forms a ball of dough.
4. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces. Refrigerate for an hour.

For the filling:

• 1 cup walnuts, finely ground
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 cup apricot jam (or any other jam of your choice)
• 1 to 2 tbsp. hot water

1. In a bowl, combine the walnuts, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. In another bowl, combine the jam and the hot water and stir to loosen the jam.

To assemble the crescents:

1. Remove a ball of dough from the refrigerator.
2. On a well-floured surface, roll the dough into a 10 to 12-inch circle. Don’t roll it too thin.
3. Spread 1/4 of the jam over the circle of dough. Sprinkle 1/4 of the walnut/sugar mixture over the jam.
4. With a sharp knife, divide the circle into 12 wedges.
5. Starting from the outside edge, roll each wedge up towards the centre, forming a crescent.
6. Place each crescent on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
7. Repeat with the other 3 balls of dough. In total you should have 48 crescents.
8. Refrigerate the crescents for 20 minutes. While they’re in the fridge, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
9. After 20 minutes, brush the crescents with the egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
10. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the crescents are golden. Don’t worry if some of the filling oozes out.
11. Enjoy!

Note:  These cookies are also my entry for Anna of Morsel and Musings‘ event:  Festive Food Fair. Anna very kindly invited me to participate by blogging about festive food that we like to serve during the holiday season. These rugalahs would definitely qualify. Thank you, Anna, for the invitation!

Technorati tags:  apricot, rugalahs, festive food fair

For as long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by Vienna. My fascination began at a very young age when I fell in love with The Sound of Music. Laugh if you will, but to this day all I need to hear is one note of Edelweiss and I will instantly become teary-eyed.

What can I say? I’m a sap that way.

But it’s true that I grew up in a household that appreciated the Austrian culture. Much of this had to do with the fact that for many years my father worked for a business that was owned by two very colourful Austrian men. My parents would attend social events organized by Austrian immigrants and my father would regularly stop at a wonderful Austrian deli near his work. He’d bring home all sorts of smoked meats and the most delectable little sausages.

My brother and I loved it! Until the dancing lessons, that is. I blame it all on the Viennese Waltz.

You see, my parents believed that part of being a well-rounded individual included the ability to dance. So on Sunday mornings, after one Italian League soccer game had finished and before the second one started, my brother and I were forced to submit to dancing lessons, in our basement, given by our father.

You can only imagine how thrilled we were.

Whatever love I may have felt, whatever affection I may have harboured, whatever dreams I may have had of one day visiting Austria, they disappeared as soon as my father hit play. Like the resentful adolescent that I was, I begrudgingly submitted to the lessons, making it as difficult for my father as I possibly could. Eventually, the lessons stopped and I reveled in my small victory.

If my father was disappointed, he never let me know it. Whenever we went to weddings or parties, he’d always dance with my mother and then lead me onto the dance floor to dance with me. However bratty I had been during those lessons, he always asked me to dance.

Looking back on those days, it’s hard to believe that very soon, we will mark the fifth anniversary of my father’s passing. There are still moments when I’m amazed that he’s gone. But lately, I seem to feel his loss most when we’re at weddings and I know that he will not be asking me to dance. And it never fails to make me think of those lessons.

And Vienna.

This longing for a place I’ve never been inspired me. So for twelve days in December, I will be visiting three cities that I’ve always longed to see:  Berlin, Prague and finally, my beloved Vienna. Between work and other commitments, I haven’t really had much time to think about my trip, but now that I am barely three weeks from departure, it’s time for the reality to sink in.

And to help get me in the mood, I decided to bake one of my very favourite cookies from one of my very favourite cookbooks:  Rick Rodgers’ Kaffeehaus. I usually make these at Christmas time, but I simply couldn’t resist making them now. They are buttery and rich Austrian cookies, fragrant with vanilla bean. Over the years, I’ve intensified the vanilla flavour by adding extract and also a drop of almond extract. Sometimes I’ll even add orange zest, but not always. Piled high on a beautiful dish, it’s impossible to resist these cookies.

Just as I suspect it’s impossible to resist Vienna.

When I’m there, I know I’ll think of my father. It’s funny because when we were in the midst of those dancing lessons, I used to wonder to myself if my father knew how lucky he was to have a daughter who would actually dance the Viennese Waltz with him.

But really, I was so lucky to have a father who would dance the Viennese Waltz with me.

Berlin, Prague and Vienna … I’m on my way!

Ciao!

Note: The cookies pictured above are Vanilla Crescents (Vanillen Kipferln) from Kaffeehaus by Rick Rodgers.

Technorati tags: vanilla, almonds, vienna, viennese waltz

When trying to explain to people why it is that I have so many cookbooks, and in fact continue to buy cookbooks, one of the comments I make most often is that I love buying a cookbook and feeling like I’ve made a new friend.

No, no. Don’t worry. My cookbooks aren’t talking to me. (At least not yet …)

What I mean by making a new friend is that a good cookbook, a really good cookbook, will allow you to hear the author’s voice loud and clear. So whether you’re trying a recipe for the first time, learning to bake, trying to figure out  how to tie a roast or simply just passing the time on a Sunday afternoon, a well-written cookbook will reach out to you and guide you just like a friend.

To me, a cookbook worth keeping forever is one that is without pretense. The recipes should be spot on, and the instructions should be clear as glass. Whether or not it has photographs is immaterial. While pictures help, a well-written cookbook will guide you and help you along even without photographs or illustrations. Most importantly, however, I want to hear the author’s voice. I want to imagine that as I’m making the recipe, the person who wrote the book is reading it to me, helping me along at every turn.

While I own a lot of cookbooks, I can honestly say that not all of them meet these standards. That’s why cookbooks will come in and out of my life all the time. The ones that aren’t good enough will find a temporary home on The Overburdened Bookshelf, but eventually they’re passed on in the hopes that someone else will see something in them that I didn’t.

When I heard that Dorie Greenspan had written a new cookbook, I immediately looked at my shelf and began mentally calculating what books I’d have to move around to make room for Dorie’s new one. When I saw the actual book in a bookstore, I realized I’d have to say goodbye to a few cookbooks to make room. This is not a small glimpse at the world of baking. This is a 500-plus page ride through the world of all things sweet. I decided that rather than buying it for myself, I’d add it to my Christmas list in the hopes that a generous family member would make my Christmas morning.

You can’t even imagine how thrilled I was when Sara of I Like to Cook offered me the chance to have my own copy of Baking:  From My Home to Yours in return for blogging about it in the latest round of the Cookbook Spotlight. She didn’t have to ask me twice.

Dorie Greenspan is a more-than-accomplished pastry chef and writer. She has authored nine cookbooks, including a collaboration with the great Julia Child on the magnificent Baking with Julia. If you’ve never had the chance to look at that cookbook, I highly recommend it. It is among the finest of cookbooks!

Baking:  From my Home to Yours is a refreshingly simple yet astoundingly thorough look at baking in all its forms. The book covers everything from muffins and scones to cheesecakes to beautifully decorated cakes for the most special of occasions. What is particularly impressive is that virtually every recipe is introduced by an anecdote with Dorie describing either the history of the recipe or how she came to bake that particular item. It’s abundantly clear that a very experienced and knowledgeable baker is offering you these recipes.

But even more impressive, is the sweet, friendly tone of the entire cookbook. It’s like walking into a friend’s kitchen to bake together. Especially for those of us that are novices or perhaps just learning to bake, nothing could be more comforting or encouraging. If Dorie Greenspan is going to help you bake a cake, you’re in good hands.

As I mentioned previously, this is a big book with hundreds of recipes. Certainly it would be a constant source of ideas for any home baker as I imagine it would take quite some time to bake your way through it. And for those of you that like photographs, there are lots of them — full colour and unbelievably tempting. If you’re considering an addition to your cookbook family, or perhaps thinking about a gift for that baker you know, I can’t think of a better cookbook to buy.

For my first attempt at baking something from the book, I had a heck of a time choosing a recipe. There are just so many! Instead, I used the same tactic that I did with the previous Cookbook Spotlight … I simply flipped the book open to a random page and tried the first recipe that I saw. In this case, it was a recipe for Buttery Jam Cookies.

The recipe was simple to make and it gave me the opportunity to use the apricot jam my mother and I made during the summer. As I found with most of the recipes in the book, the list of ingredients is straightforward, with items that most of us would have in our pantries. The instructions were easy to follow, although I did overlook a bit of Dorie’s advice to my own detriment.

The batter for these cookies is very stiff. Dorie notes that in the recipe. But rather than spooning the dough onto the cookie sheet (as directed), I thought I’d practice those piping skills. Not a good idea. It was incredibly difficult to pipe out that dough! The end result looked pretty, but boy did I have to sweat over the piping bag. I think next time I will just listen to Dorie.

In the end, the cookies were buttery and smooth and perfect with a cup of tea. I only wish I could have shared them with Dorie, and of course, all of you!

Ciao!

Buttery Jam Cookies

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

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 8 tbsp. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp. whole milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup apricot jam
• icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place two racks in the oven, one in the upper third of the oven and one in the lower third of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar (on high speed) for 2 to 3 minutes until light and fluffy.
4. Add the egg and beat on high speed for an additional minute.
5. Add the milk and the vanilla extract and beat on high speed for 30 seconds.
6. Add the jam and beat on low speed for 1 minute.
7. Add the dry ingredients, with the mixer on low speed, just until they’re mixed in. The dough will be extremely thick and stiff.
8. With a an ice cream scoop our a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of the dough onto baking sheets, forming cookies that are about 1 inch to 1-1/2 inches in size.
9. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes, rotating the trays from top rack to bottom rack halfway through.
10. Once baked, let the cookies sit on the pan for a minute or two and then remove to a wire rack and let cool completely.
11. Dust with icing sugar before serving.
12. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe will yield between 40 and 50 cookies, depending on size.

Technorati tags:  cookbook spotlight, apricot jam, cookies, dorie greenspan, baking: from my home to yours

The sweet and imaginative Clivia of Clivia’s Cuisine has taken to offering her readers a new Swedish word along with each post. In exchange for visiting her lovely site, you can learn the meaning of a new word.

Now I’m not exactly sure when I developed my love of all things Swedish, but I must confess that I am fascinated with the country, its culture and its food. I have a wonderful friend who lives in Stockholm (Hello, I!) and dream of visiting her one day.

Ah yes, to dream.

In Swedish, that’s till dröm.

What better way to spend a Sunday afternoon than curled up on the couch, under the warmest blanket, with a plate of dreams by your side and a lovely cup of tea as well. And by plate of dreams I mean a plate of Drommar Cookies, one of my very favourite cookies in the world!

A cookie, a sip of tea, a nap and a dream … I think I’ll spend the rest of the day repeating this regimen.

Ciao!

Drommar Cookies

Recipe is from Elizabeth Wigg Maxwell and is posted on Epicurious.

Click here for the recipe.

Note:  These cookies are incredible! I discovered them one day when I was trying to figure out what to do with a huge stash of sweetened, flaked coconut. I searched the Epicurious database (such a wonderful resource!), and found these cookies.

They were a hit from the first time that I made them. They are buttery and full of coconut. The exterior of the cookie is crispy and the inside is chewy and so good! You will love them. I promise!

Now I must return to my dreams …

Technorati tags:  coconut, cookies, dream cookies, drommar cookies, sweden, clivia’s cuisine

Today is the great Julia Child’s birthday! To be honest, I probably would not have known that had it not been for Lisa of Champaign Taste who sent me an e-mail several weeks ago, inviting me to participate in an event to mark this occasion.

Like countless others, I am a fan of Julia’s and greatly respect the impact that she’s had on the world of food. I doubt there are many cooks or chefs who are as universally recognizable as Julia Child.

To be very honest, my history with Julia does not go back very far. As a child, my only awareness of her relates to some vague memories of a blooper show that showed her bungling a chicken all over the place. I seem to recall an uncle trying to imitate her distinctive voice, but beyond that, there wasn’t much Julia Child in my life while I was growing up.

The seeds of my respect for Julia were planted about five years ago, when my mother presented me with a copy of Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. At the time, the Overburdened Bookshelf didn’t even exist and my cookbook collection consisted of a handful of cherished items. The first time I looked through the book, I was smitten.

Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home was quickly followed by Baking with Julia, a book that to this day is a constant source of inspiration and even comfort (nothing makes you feel better on a rainy day than looking through this book). And shortly after, I had the good fortune to see a few episodes of Julia’s wonderful "Cooking with Master Chefs" series on PBS. How could you not love that delightful woman in her charming little kitchen, proving time and time again that the act of preparing food fulfills some of our most basic human needs?! Joy, desire, satisfaction, warmth, fun … it can all be had in the kitchen.

I have not tried a significant number of Julia’s recipes, but at this time of year, and for this occasion, I decided to try the recipe for Cantuccini from Baking with Julia. While we are only a little more than halfway through summer, the fact is that the start of school is only a few weeks away. While my school days are long behind me, it’s hard not to experience that familiar feeling in the pit of your stomach as the first day of school approaches.

As a child, school day mornings all began the same way:  with a mug of warm milk coloured with a few drops of espresso and Italian cookies. Italian children everywhere are introduced early to milk and coffee (latte e cafè in Italian). The union of milk and coffee, blessed with cookies for dunking, is a tradition in Italian homes both in and out of Italy. I chose cantuccini because they are exactly the type of cookie we’d have in the morning. Drier than biscotti, cantuccini are not very sweet and are perfect for dunking.

In fact, I’m going to make myself a mug of milk and espresso, grab a handful of cantuccini and leaf through Baking with Julia. And as always, I will be amazed.

Ciao!

Cantuccini

Adapted from Baking with Julia by Julia Child.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsps. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1-1/2 cups whole, blanched almonds
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a bowl, combine all the dry ingredients and stir. Add the almonds and mix well.
3. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs and vanilla extract.
4. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be dry.
5. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and begin gathering it together. Knead it for a few minutes and you will see that it will slowly come together into a firm dough. Keep some flour handy in case it sticks.
6. Divide the dough in half and shape it into two 12-inch logs. Transfer the logs to a baking sheet lined with parchment.
7. Bake for 30 minutes. The logs will rise a bit and will be golden and lightly brown on the bottom.
8. Transfer the logs to a wire rack and let cool completely.
9. Once cool, slice the logs, on the diagonal, into quarter-inch slices. Lay the slices, cut side down, on a baking sheet lined with parchment.
10. Bake for an additional 10 or 15 minutes, or until the cantuccini are dry and lightly golden.
11. Let cool completely. Cantuccini can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.
12. Enjoy!

Technorati tags: cantuccini, julia child

Ladies and gentleman, I am here today to announce an exciting discovery in the dessert department.

Up until this point in my life, I’ve defined desserts and sweets as cakes, cookies, bars, squares, custards, puddings and so on. It’s been a blissful existence investigating the possibilities of each and every one of these definitions. How many chocolate cake recipes can I actually accumulate? As it turns out … quite a lot. And I’ve often said that one can never have too many recipes for lemon bars. That’s just not possible.

When it comes to squares, I’ve always believed that squares are just as their name would suggest … square pieces of sweets with some sort of base, topped by some sort of sweet filling and often finished with icing sugar or whipped cream. You can’t imagine my surprise when I discovered a new category of sweet … "the goopy square".

What’s a goopy square? Well, it’s sort of like a square except that when you slice and serve it, it doesn’t remain a square. It becomes goopy. Hence, the name.

The goopy square has a base that is very similar to a shortbread crust. The filling, which is where the goopiness eventually comes from, is a caramel sauce that is firm when chilled, but goopy when allowed to come to room temperature. Goopy squares are best served slightly warm, preferably with ice cream. But you can enjoy them just as they are.

Unlike regular squares, goopy squares are messy. This of course means they are far more fun to eat than regular squares. I came upon my goopy square discovery when I decided to make the New York Pecan Squares from Out to Brunch by Donna Dooher and Claire Stubbs, which of course is the Cream Puffs in Venice Flavour of the Month for May 2006.

I thought I was making a typical square that was rich with butter and pecans. But as often happens with amazing discoveries, you think you’re going one place and you end up somewhere else.

I hope you will discover the joy of goopy squares. And I dare you not to eat the whole pan.

I dare you!

Ciao!

New York Pecan Squares

Adapted from Out to Brunch by Donna Dooher and Claire Stubbs.

For the shortbread crust:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 cups cake and pastry flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar for 2 minutes. Add the pastry flour and salt and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Add the egg and egg yolk and mix until just combined and the dough gathers in a ball.
3. Using your hands (wet them if the dough is a bit sticky), spread the dough evenly in the bottom of 9 x 11-inch pan. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Cover the dough with a sheet of parchment paper and fill with pie weights or with dried beans in order to blind bake the pastry. Bake for 20 minutes and then remove to a wire rack.
5. After 10 minutes remove the parchment paper and let the crust cool completely.

For the goopy squares:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1-1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/3 cup heavy cream (35% cream)
• 4-1/2 cups pecan halves (you can also use walnuts)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine the butter, sugars, honey and salt in a large saucepan. Cook over high heat until it comes to a boil. Once it’s boiling, let it boil for 6 minutes. Immediately remove from the heat and very carefully add the heavy cream. Have a bowl of ice water nearby in case the sauce overcooks or in case you get burned. Safety is very important when making a caramel or a caramel sauce! Stir the cream and then immediately add the pecans and mix well to coat the pecans.
3. Pour the filling over the cooled crust. Bake for 20 minutes.
4. Allow to cool completely before cutting into goopy squares.
5. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe will make anywhere from 12 to 18 goopy squares depending on how large you cut them. The pan size called for in Out to Brunch is 9 x 11 x 2 inches. I found it very difficult to find a pan this size, however, I did find aluminum pans that size in the grocery store. I was told that you can find glass baking dishes in that size as well.

Technorati tags: squares, pecans, mildred pierce

This Cream Puff happens to believe that baking and love make the world go round. So on this Friday, to help get you ready for the weekend, I’ve baked a lovely cookie from the best cookie book in the world.

I wish you a wonderful day and a beautiful weekend.

A Macadamia Kiss from me to you.

Ciao!

Macadamia Kisses

Adapted from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle.

• 3/4 cup unsalted macadamia nuts
• 2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
• 1-1/4 cups granulated sugar, divided
• 1/4 cup water
• 4 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• pinch of salt
• confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F; place two racks near the centre of the oven.
2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a food processor, place the macadamia nuts and the confectioners’ sugar. Process until the nuts are finely ground, about 20 seconds. Do not over process or the nuts and sugar will turn into paste.
4. In a small saucepan, combine 1 cup of the sugar and the water. Cook over medium heat until the sugar dissolves. Be sure to stir constantly. As soon as the sugar is dissolved reduce the heat to low.
5. In the bowl of an electric mixer, with the whisk attachment, whisk the egg whites at medium speed until they’re foamy. Add the cream of tartar and salt and beat at high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and continue to beat until stiff peaks form.
6. Attach a candy thermometer to the pan with the sugar syrup. Increase the heat to high and cook the syrup until it comes to a boil. You want the thermometer to register 248 degrees F.
7. With the mixer off, add 1/4 cup of the hot syrup to the egg whites and then beat at medium speed until well blended.
8. Continue to add the syrup, 1/4 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.
9. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in 1/2 cup of the macadamia nut mixture.
10. You can either spoon the meringue onto the cookie sheets or you can use a pastry bag. If you use a pastry pag, use a large plain tip. Pipe or spoon the meringue onto the sheet so that they’re 1-1/2 inches at the base.
11. Sprinkle with the remaining macadamia nuts and bake, two sheets at a time, for 40 to 50 minutes. The meringues will be dry on the outside but still soft on the inside. Any remaining meringue batter will be fine for a second batch of baking.
12. Transfer the meringue kisses to a wire rack to cool completely.
13. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
14. Enjoy!

Note:  Makes about 60 Meringue Kisses. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Technorati tags:  meringue, macadamia nuts, baking

When I was a little girl, I loved going to big Italian weddings for two reasons. The first was the chance to see the bride. I was a timid child, so I was wary of approaching the bride in her all her white tulle glory, yet the sight of her was always special.

But the second reason, and the one that was far more exciting, was the chance to receive and open the bomboniera, the customary gift handed out by the bridal couple. It’s not that I cared so much about the gift, it’s that I wanted the chance to get at the confetti that, by tradition, had to accompany the bomboniera.

Confetti are sugar-coated almonds. Italians use them to mark special occasions from baptisms to weddings to anniversaries. But the confetti that accompany bomboniere are certainly the most special. The sugar-coating is usually white in colour and the confetti are wrapped in tulle, usually in a small sac. The confetti must always be odd in number in order to ensure that the marriage is indivisible. It is most common to receive five confetti, which represent love, fidelity, longevity, fertility and happiness.

Confetti are perhaps the best symbol of how important almonds are to the traditions and cuisine of Italy, in particular Southern Italy where the almond tree abounds. While it’s unclear where the almond originated, it’s believed that the almond is native to Asia or Africa. Besides Italy, almonds are cultivated in many countries including Greece, Morocco, Portugal, Spain, Turkey and the United States, where the major almond producer is California.

Rich in Vitamin E, the almond is part of the rose family (Rosaceae) and is closely related to the peach. There are two types of almonds, bitter and sweet. While sweet almonds are more widely-consumed, bitter almonds are valued for their essential oils. However, bitter almonds can be dangerous because they contain prussic acid, which, if consumed in large enough quantity, can be lethal. Prussic acid is destroyed when almonds are heated prior to being used for such purposes as the extraction of their oils.

Almonds lay claim to an important role in my family’s baking. The most tangible example of this would be amaretti. For those of you who have never come across amaretti, they are cookies made of either ground almonds or almond paste. Their name means "little" and "bitter", in reference to their small size and to the bitterness of the almonds. For every Italian family that you meet, you will undoubtedly come across a different version of amaretti. Everyone has their favourite favourite version and everyone swears that their amaretti are the best.

My family is no exception. We have a collection of amaretti recipes, all of which make appearances during special occasions and holidays. My favourite amaretti, however, are the ones my mother makes most often. The recipe comes from her mother, who in turn got the recipe from a close family friend. While many people in my family circle make these cookies, none are superior to my mother’s.

These particular amaretti are made with ground almonds, sugar and cocoa, which is not a common addition to a recipe for amaretti. These cookies are a bit larger than your average amaretti, although you can make them smaller if you like. They are the type of cookie that improves with age. Freshly baked, they are soft, chewy and fragrant. As the days pass, the amaretti harden slightly and the almond flavour becomes more assertive. These are pretty cookies that never look out of place on a dessert plate. And best of all, they will keep for a long time (at least a week), which means you can enjoy them with a cup of espresso over the course of many afternoons.

As with all treasured family recipes, my mother’s amaretti have become so much more than just a special cookie. They have marked so many of my family’s milestones. But most importantly, they’re from my mother.

And they are so dear to my heart.

Ciao!

My Mother’s Amaretti

Treasured family recipe.

• 1-1/2 pounds almonds, finely ground (plus extra whole almonds to garnish cookies)
• 2 cups granulated sugar (plus 1 cup extra sugar to roll the cookies in)
• 1-1/2 tbsp. cocoa
• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp. almond extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Position your oven racks so that one rack is at the bottom of the oven and the other rack is in the middle of the oven; line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine ground almonds, sugar and cocoa.
4. Add eggs and almond extract and mix until well combined.
5. Using a tablespoon or your hands, scoop out enough of the almond mixture to form a ball that is roughly 1-1/2 to 2 inches in size.
6. Roll each ball in the 1 cup of extra granulated sugar and place on cookie sheet.
7. Use extra whole almonds as garnish by placing one almond in the centre of each cookie.
8. Bake cookies on lower rack for 10 minutes and then move to middle rack for an additional five minutes.
9. Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Once cool, store cookies at room temperature in an airtight container. Cookies will keep for up 10 days.
11. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe will yield anywhere from 50 to 70 cookies, depending on the size of the cookies.

Technorati Tags:  almonds, cookies

"Is it February 4th already?"

That was my first thought when I glanced at my calendar on Saturday morning. My second thought was, "What happened to January?"

And my third thought was the realization that I was experiencing my very first episode of a little syndrome I like to call Food Blogitis, which I define as "anxiety brought upon by the complete failure to be organized and prepared in the making of food and writing of posts for a blog". And that would be me. Completely anxious because up to that point I had failed to not only bake anything from February’s Flavour of the Month, Pure Chocolate by Fran Bigelow, but failed also to even organize myself so that I could consider baking something from the book!

But as I learned from my university days, nothing motivates as much as fear and panic. As I leafed through Fran’s book, I quickly decided that I wanted to start off with something that would whet my desire for chocolate, but not necessarily overwhelm me right away. I mean I still have the  whole month to get through …

What I was looking for was a chocolate appetizer of sorts and I found it with a recipe for White Chocolate Coconut Cream Bars. I must be perfectly honest, though, the picture is what sold me. I didn’t even look at the recipe.  The photo in Fran’s book should be hanging in an art gallery somewhere. Spectacular! You’ll have to excuse my amateurish attempt above, which doesn’t do the finished product nearly enough justice.

When I finally stopped drooling over the photo in the book, I read through the recipe and quickly realized that these bars were not going to be as simple as they looked. The bars consist of a layer of shortbread studded with chocolate, a layer of white chocolate and coconut cream and finally a layer of chocolate ganache. While I wouldn’t describe each step as difficult, especially if you have experience baking, they did require time and attention.

But remembering my commitment to exercise more patience in the kitchen, I took a deep breath and started. As the recipe recommended, I made the white chocolate and coconut filling first. I have nothing but good things to say about this filling. While the flavour of white chocolate was distinct, it wasn’t overly sweet and the addition of the coconut was a nice touch. If I ever make these bars again, however, I would consider adding a drop or two of pure coconut extract to the filling, simply to boost the coconut flavour. (Something you need to know about me … I’m a coconut fiend!)

Having prepared the filling, I set about making the shortbread layer. While this step wasn’t difficult, I did find it somewhat challenging to finely chop the chocolate. I’m not used to working with chocolate and finely chopping it is a bit of a chore! It’s made me question my knife skills, or lack thereof as my wrist was considerably sore after I was done. (Note to self:  look into improving knife skills!)

Finally, the ganache, and here’s the only blip that I encountered. I’ve made ganache (the mixing of cream and chocolate) many times without ever encountering any significant problems. While the ganache tasted delicious, I found that it was a bit too liquidy. I followed the recipe instructions to allow the chocolate to set for an hour, but that hour was not nearly enough. As you can tell from the photo at the top of the post, the ganache was still a bit runny. I finally had to put the pan in the refrigerator for an hour for the chocolate to set properly.

At last, the taste test. Eagerly I bit into one of the bars and was pleased. The base was buttery as shortbread should be, but also chocolaty thanks to the addition of the chopped semisweet chocolate. The filling was heaven, but not overwhelming. The ganache layer was firm and provided a wonderful dark chocolate contrast to the white chocolate in the filling.

Overall, I was happy with my very first attempt at a recipe from Fran Bigelow’s book. While I can’t say I was blown away by these bars, they were enjoyed by all and I would definitely try them again.

But more importantly, I overcame my first experience with Food Blogitis. I am now ready to face the chocolate challenges that lie ahead!

Ciao!

White Chocolate Coconut Cream Bars

Adapted from Pure Chocolate by Fran Bigelow.

Coconut Cream Filling:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped
• 1-1/4 ounces unsweetened finely shredded dried coconut

1. In a saucepan, heat the cream until it is barely simmering. Remove the cream from the heat and immediately add the finely chopped white chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Add the coconut and mix well.
2. Pour the mixture into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap, making sure that the plastic wrap is touching the surface of the cream. This will prevent a sking from forming.
3. Let the mixture sit for at least 3 hours so that the flavours can develop. Do not let it sit at room temperature for more than 24 hours.

For the shortbread layer:

• 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used Lindt chocolate)
• 6 ounces white chocolate, finely chopped (I used Lindt chocolate)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups cake flour, sifted and then measured

1. Butter a sheet pan that is 9 x 13 inches.
2. In a food processor, pulse the semisweet chocolate for a minute until it is very fine.
3. In a double boiler, melt the white chocolate. Remove it from the heat as soon as it’s melted and stir to ensure that it’s smooth. If the chocolate sets then return it to the double boiler until it’s loose again.
4. In an electric mixer, with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the melted white chocolate and mix well. Add the sifted cake flour and the semisweet chocolate. Mix on low-speed until incorporated.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead it a few times. Using your hands, press the dough onto the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer.
6. Put the pan in the refrigerator for 20 minutes to firm up the dough.
7. While the pan is in the refrigerator, heat your oven to 325 degrees F.
8. After 20 minutes, remove the pan from the refrigerator and bake for 25 minutes. The shortbread will be lightly golden and may be puffed in places as well.
9. Let cool completely.

To assemble the bars:

1. Once the shortbread layer has cooled completely, take the white chocolate and coconut filling and place in the bowl of an electric mixer. Beat at high speed for a minute.
2. Remove the mixture from the bowl and spread onto the shortbread base.
3. Refrigerate while you make the ganache.

For the ganache:

• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 3-1/2 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1. In a pot heat the cream until it comes to a simmer. Take the cream off the heat and add the chocolate. Stir until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Let it sit for a few minutes to thicken.
2. Once the ganache has thickened slightly, spread over the white chocolate and coconut filling. While the ganache should set in about an hour, you may have to put it in the refrigerator to fully set.
3. Slice into squares with a sharp knife.
4. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe yields 24 bars. Many thanks to my friend Stephany who helped clean up the pictures that I took. Thank you, Stephany!!!

This post is all about payback. In the ongoing Caramel War that is waged on a regular basis in my home, I have launched my latest offensive.

You see a few days ago, as many of you read on my blog, I made a version of stroopwafels using pizzelle and a caramel filling. But the Caramel, trickster that it is, scored a victory. It lulled me into a false sense of security. It made me think that it was cooking smoothly and that I would finally be able to claim Caramel Victory. Then, overconfident and foolish creature that I am, I looked away. And in those few seconds, the caramel attacked, vigorously changing colour.

When I turned my attention back to the pot, I saw the Caramel smiling in its dark, dark amber way. Another pot of overcooked Caramel.

I gathered myself together and fought bravely. I added the cream and butter and made the filling. I applied the caramel filling to the pizzelle and I served them, pleased to hear that people liked them.

But I knew I had lost the day. I knew that during the night, while I lay awake in bed, that leftover Caramel in the glass jar in my refrigerator was convinced that the war was over and finally won.

Sorry. But things don’t work that way in my kitchen.

I just couldn’t let it go. I had to mount one final attack. And I knew just the recipe to do it. I thought that I was ready to put Tish Boyle’s The Good Cookie back on The Overburdened Bookshelf. I enjoyed it as the Flavour of the Month for January. I tried some new recipes, all with great success. But within that book lay my secret weapon:  Caramel-Almond Tiger Cookies.

This was a second chance; the opportunity to strike back at my opponent. It was a dangerous ploy. I was low on supplies with very little cornstarch in the house and no almond extract whatsoever. The need for slivered almonds would have to be met with blanched, sliced almonds. It’s war. You make due.

As quickly and quietly as possible I made the butter dough, throwing in some pure vanilla powder for flavouring. I scraped the cornstarch container of every single speck of cornstarch praying that it would be enough and it was. I let the dough firm up in the refrigerator, on the first shelf, away from the prying eyes of the leftover Caramel.

Once my cookies were baked, I prepared myself for the final blow. I found the zone and went there. Almost machine-like, I placed the heavy saucepan on the stove and added the sugar and water. I stirred constantly until the sugar dissolved, not even moving to answer the telephone. Once the sugar was ready, I raised the heat and stopped stirring.

And then I watched.

And I watched.

And I watched.

I could feel the sweat beading on my brow. From the corner of my eye I could see the spatula hanging partially over the counter and partially over the sink, teetering precariously. But I didn’t move to touch it.

I watched that Caramel like I have never watched anything before and I saw it. I saw how quickly it changed. But this time I was ready, whisking it off the stove as it turned a golden amber colour.

It didn’t have a chance.

That’s right, Caramel. Who’s your Daddy now?

Caramel-Almond Tiger Cookies

Adapted from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle.

For the almond cookies:

• 1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds or slivered almonds (I used sliced, blanched almonds)
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted, butter, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla powder (the original recipe called for 1/4 teaspoon almond extract)

For the cookie dough:

1. Process the almonds and 1/4 cup of the all-purpose flour in a food processor until fine, 30 to 45 seconds.
2. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and add the other 1-1/4 cups of flour, the cornstarch and the  salt.
3. With an electric mixer, beat the butter and the sugars together until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the pure vanilla powder or almond extract. Mix well.
4. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
5. Gather the dough on a work surface and pat into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours. It should be firm enough to handle.
6. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and place a rack in the centre of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Roll out your dough, and using a 1-1/2 inch cutter (I used a fluted one), stamp out as many rounds as you can.
8. Once you have stamped out all the rounds, transfer them to the baking sheets.
9. Reroll the scraps and cut out as many more rounds as you can. Transfer those to the baking sheets.
10. Count the number of rounds. Using a 3/4-inch round cutter or a 3/4-inch plain pastry tip, cut out little circles from the middle of half the rounds. These will be the tops of your cookies.
11. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 10 to 12 minutes or until they are just golden around the edges. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

For the caramel filling:

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/3 cup heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. In a small, heavy saucepan, combine the sugar and water over medium heat. Stir constantly until the sugar dissolves, 3 to 4 minutes.
2. Once the sugar has dissolved, raise the heat to high and stop stirring. Keep a pastry brush and cup of water handy to brush down the sides of the pan occasionally to prevent the formation of sugar crystals.
3. WATCH THE CARAMEL CLOSELY!
4. After about 4 to 5 minutes, it should begin changing colour. Once it’s a golden amber (not too dark), remove it from the heat.
5. Add the cream carefully and then the butter and stir until smooth.
6. Let the caramel sit for 20 minutes to cool down.

To assemble the cookies:

1. Once the caramel is cool, spoon a teaspoon or so of caramel in the centre of a cookie round and top with another cookie round with a hole stamped in the middle.
2. Once all your cookies have been sandwiched together, place them on a cookie sheet lined with aluminum paper or waxed paper.
3. If your caramel filling is still loose, take a spoon or fork and drizzle the caramel over the cookies. If your caramel filling has hardened a bit, return it to the stove and heat it very gently until it becomes spreadable again. Drizzle the caramel over the cookies.
4. Let the cookies set overnight.
5. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe yields between 40 and 44 sandwich cookies, depending on the size of your cookie cutter. This is the final recipe for Tish’s book this month. Stay tuned to see which book I choose as the Flavour of the Month for 2006!

Butter … sour cream … apples … brandy.

How can you possibly go wrong?

The answer is:  you cannot! Lucky for me I noticed that we had some Granny Smith apples languishing in our fruit basket. While I love apples, especially Granny Smith apples, I knew those little gems were doomed to turn old and gray before anybody ate them. I could not let that happen!

So I hauled myself over to my overburdened bookshelf (which has been creaking dangerously of late), and I began to leaf through the many volumes of inspiration.

Sour cream apple pie? Apple turnovers? Applesauce with a swirl of sour cream? Hmmm … they all sounded delicious, but not quite what I was looking for.

And then my eyes fell on Tish Boyle’s The Good Cookie and I immediately thought of two things:  Tish’s book is the Cream Puffs in Venice "Flavour of the Month" for January 2006 and I have yet to post about it; and Sour Cream Apple Crumble Bars.

First things first. One of the many reasons I started this blog was that I wanted the chance to finally start using all those cookbooks that I’ve accumulated over the years. So I created the Cream Puffs in Venice "Flavour of the Month" to help me focus on one book at a time. For the month of January 2006, I chose The Good Cookie, but I have yet to post anything about this lovely book.

Published in 2002, this book is an excellent guide to baking some very unique cookies. There are over 250 recipes, most of which are fairly straightforward. The Brandied Eggnog Cookies have become a family classic, and the White Chocolate Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies have become my personal favourite (I’ll post about these cookies at a later date).

So with this book in hand, I realized that there was a recipe that I’d been meaning to try but hadn’t  gotten around to. And wouldn’t you know it you needed Granny Smith apples! Tish’s recipe for Sour Cream Apple Crumble Bars is reminiscent of so many comforting apple desserts:  apple pie, apple crisp, apple crumble and the list goes on!

I found the recipe very easy to follow and the results were, as always, delicious! The buttery and delicate pastry crust is the perfect support for those luscious, caramelly apples with the faint hint of brandy. I did make a few adjustments here and there to suit my own tastes. Namely I used more Granny Smith apples than the original recipe required. I also increased the amount of some ingredients like the lemon juice and the brandy (one can never have too much brandy). Feel free to adapt the recipe to your own tastes … ahh … the joy of cooking!

You’ve heard the saying, "An apple a day keeps the doctor away," right?

Well no one ever said how to eat that apple. So I say, "Eat your Sour Cream Apple Crumble Bars." They’re good for you!

Ciao!

Sour Cream Apple Crumble Bars

adapted from The Good Cookie.

Sweet Pastry Crust

• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 large egg yolk
• 3 to 4 tsp. cold water (the original recipe requires 2 tsp. but I needed more than that for the dough)
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and place a rack in the centre of the oven. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan.
2. In the bowl of a food processor, mix together flour, sugar and salt. Mix until well blended. Add the butter pieces to the flour mixture and process until the mixture resembles coarse oatmeal, 6 to 10 seconds.
3. Whisk together the egg yolk, water and vanilla extract. Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture through the feed tube with the food processor running. Mix until the dough begins to come together, 15 to 20 seconds. (I had to add some more water as the mixture was still a bit dry.)
4. Scrape the dough out of the food processor bowl and into the prepared pan. Using your fingers or the back of a spoon, pat the dough into an even layer. Bake until the crust is golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool completely.

Apple Filling

• 1 1/2 pounds Granny Smith apples (4 to 5 medium)
• 3 tsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tbsp. frozen apple juice concentrate
• 2 tsp. cornstarch
• 3 tbsp. Calvados or brandy (original recipe required 2 tbsp. of Calvados or brandy. Feel free to add more!)
• 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Peel and core the apples and then cut into 1/2-inch pieces.
3. In a bowl, mix the apples, lemon juice, concentrate, cornstarch and brandy.
4. In a large skillet, melt the butter and then add the brown sugar. Stir well and be sure that there are no lumps.
5. Add the apple mixture to the skillet. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the apples are soft, but not too soft.
6. Transfer mixture to a bowl and set aside.

Topping

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 7 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

1. In a bowl, combine all of the topping ingredients. Mix well so that all the ingredients are thoroughly moistened. Set aside.

Sour Cream Mixture

• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/3 cup currants or chopped raisins (optional)
• Icing sugar for dusting (optional)

1. Mix the sour cream into the cooled apple mixture. Spread this mixture evenly over the cooled pastry crust.
2. Sprinkle the prepared topping evenly over the apple and sour cream mixture. With your hand, gently press the topping into the apple mixture.
3. Bake the bars for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden around the edges.
4. Cool the bars completely before cutting into squares. Be sure to use a sharp knife when cutting the bars.

A New Year … a new beginning.

While I’m not one for resolutions, I do resolve to make my blog public very soon.

But I’m still hanging on to a few things from 2005, mainly because I haven’t had the chance to write about them yet. For example, I cannot bid adieu to 2005 until I talk to you about The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle.

I. Love. This. Book.

I bought it two years ago and can honestly say that I have not regretted the purchase once. Beside the fact that the book is beautifully designed and photographed, the recipes are easy to follow and well-organized. The introductions to each cookie recipe are so inviting. Surprisingly, I’ve only tried a handful of the recipes in this book (there are over 250 recipes in total). But this must be remedied my friends. This is why I have made this book the Cream Puffs in Venice "Flavour of the Month" for January 2006.

I have the honour of becoming a godmother in February. You can be certain that I will be turning to this book for assistance when the time comes to bake cookies for that grand occasion.

Happy 2006!

Ciao!

The Brandied Eggnog Cookies pictured above are from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle.