Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies - made June 10, 2012, recipe adapted from Doughmakers Cookbook

1 plain, 1 super peanut-ized

Tomorrow, June 12, is National Peanut Butter Cookie Day.  Seriously, who thinks up these commemorative days?  And how clever are they??  Although peanut butter cookies aren't the first thing I'd eat after days of being stuck in a no-sugar zone (or something equally horrifying), I did want to give it proper homage on its day.  I had to fight the instinct to add chocolate - I have this recipe for a thumbprint cookie that has a chocolate peanut butter filling in the center.  Plus, did you know they actually make chocolate peanut butter?  Or I wanted to at least add some chocolate chips to the peanut butter cookie.  But no, it's not Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Day.  So I held fast and went with a purist version.  Just peanut butter.

I did substitute butter for shortening for this recipe though.  Although I know shortening would prevent spread, I prefer the taste and texture of butter.  So I decided to chance it.  It was hot the day I made the dough so my butter got a bit soft which meant the resulting dough was soft.  I had to chill the bowl of dough first before I scooped it into dough balls then I had to freeze the dough balls for at least an hour before I flattened each with the pointy side of a meat mallet to get the indentations I wanted rather than the traditional criss cross.  I got the idea from my culinary school classmate, Annie, who has a successful cookie business and is a peanut butter cookie fiend in her own right.  For anyone in Napa Valley, look up Annie the Baker cookies and try some - you won't be sorry (she also takes mail orders).

For the indents, just dip the mallet in granulated sugar, press down on the dough ball, lather, rinse and repeat for all the dough balls.  Don't freeze the dough balls for too long or you'll have a hard time pressing down with the mallet.  You can freeze the cookies further after you've imprinted on them.

The unbaked version with the mallet indentations

My backup plan in case the cookies spread too much and didn't hold the indentations was to drizzle a peanut butter icing and sprinkle chopped peanuts on top for garnish.  Then claim, "I meant for them to turn out that way." Turns out they spread a bit but still kept the indentations somewhat so I only garnished half of them.  7 minutes wasn't very long in the oven and they still looked a little wet in the middle so I baked them an extra minute or two.  They turned out peanut butter-fudgy which is the consistency I like in my peanut butter cookies so I'm glad I went with the butter instead of the shortening.  They are a bit more fragile this way though so I wouldn't advise these in care packages that you have to mail.  But overall, thumbs up....even without any chocolate add-ins.

The baked version

¾ cup peanut butter

½ cup solid vegetable shortening (I used 1/2 cup unsalted butter)

1 ¼ cups firmly packed brown sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 ¾ cups flour

¾ teaspoon salt

¾ teaspoon baking soda

Garnish (optional)
4 tablespoons peanut butter
2 tablespoons powdered sugar
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream, just enough for a drizzling consistency
chopped toasted peanuts

1.      Combine the peanut butter, shortening, sugar, milk, and vanilla in a large bowl and beat until well blended.  Add the egg and mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and mix until just blended.  If dough is too soft to scoop into balls, chill for an hour first.

2.     Roll the dough into 1- to 2-inch balls.  Place in freezer for no more than an hour.  Dip the pointy side of a meat mallet in granulated sugar and press into each ball, taking care to flatten only enough to get the indentations but not making the cookies too thin.  Freeze for several more hours.

3.     Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

4.    Bake for 7-9 minutes, or until lightly browned, and cool on a wire rack.
5.  For the optional garnish, melt the peanut butter for 30 seconds in the microwave.  Add powdered sugar then just enough heavy cream to thin.  Blend thoroughly until smooth.  Spoon into ziploc bag, cut a small hole in one corner and pipe onto the cookies.  Sprinkle with chopped toasted peanuts. 

Also posted on Trick or Treat Tuesday
 

Buttery Toffee Cookies

Buttery Toffee Cookies - made dough May 30, 2012, baking off as needed, recipe from Land O Lakes Cookies

I have some social gatherings coming up and I needed something on hand that I can bake off the night before so I have fresh baked goods to bring while still being mindful I only have a limited time after work to get it all baked, cooled and packaged up.  The perfect solution is making cookie dough ahead of time, freezing it and baking it the night before you need it.  Word of caution: after you mix the dough, portion it out into dough balls, then freeze it.  Do not freeze the whole thing in one block then try to chip bits off a frozen block of cookie dough to bake.  I know that sounds obvious but I've had a couple of friends freeze the whole bowl of cookie dough.  They can (facepalm) tell you it's much harder to scoop out balls of dough when it's frozen than when it's newly made.  Just sayin'......

The recipe said this makes 4 dozen cookies.  Ha.  I don't know what size cookies they were referring to because my regular-size ice cream scoop made 14 cookies from 1 batch of dough, not 48.  I liked this cookie.  It wasn't too sweet and although it was cakier than I normally like my cookies, it actually made for a nice texture to go with the toffee.  If you want a purely non-chocolate option, go with the toffee bits rather than chopped-up, chocolate-coated toffee.  I don't know that I would add chocolate chips to this dough though because the cookie itself is so subtly flavored that chocolate chips might actually overwhelm it.  It doesn't have the brown sugar or butterscotch flavor typically associated with chocolate chip cookies but if you want a plain vanilla or butter cookie, this is a good option.  As always, don't overbake them or they'll be dry.  You want to bake them just long enough for the edges to be golden and the middles to just barely not look raw.  If the middles look "done", then they're overbaked.

½ cup sugar

½ cup butter, softened

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

4 (1.4-ounce) bars chocolate coated toffee, chopped

1.     Heat oven to 350˚F.  In large mixer bowl combine sugar, butter, egg and vanilla.  Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy (3 to 4 minutes).  Reduce speed to low; add flour, baking soda, and salt.  Continue beating, scraping bowl often, until well mixed (1 to 2 minutes).  By hand, stir in chopped toffee. 

2.     Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.  Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

Chocolate Sugar Cookies - made dough June 2, 2012 and baked June 6, 2012, recipe from the back of the Bakers' Unsweetened Chocolate package

I tend to collect recipes like a child with sticky fingers collects crumbs at the kitchen table; it's inevitable.  While my cookbook collection and the internet provide an infinite number of recipes, I also check out recipes from random places, including the back of ingredient packages I use.  Which is where I got this recipe - the back of a package of Bakers' Unsweetened Chocolate.  Although it's technically "grocery store chocolate" which I normally eschew, I confess I do fall back on Bakers' when I go through a large amount of unsweetened chocolate.  The higher end brands like Scharffenberger tend to be cost prohibitive to use in bulk.  So sometimes Bakers has to do.

For this dough, because you melt the chocolate and butter together, make sure it cools first before you add the rest of the ingredients or you'll have a soupy mass that could change the structure of how the cookies are meant to come out.  Chill the dough briefly before forming into dough balls.  If you're like me and freeze the dough balls before baking, don't roll in the granulated sugar yet.  Just make the dough balls, put in the freezer and only roll in the sugar right before baking.

I was pleasantly surprised at how well this cookie turned out.  I faithfully followed instructions and only baked it for 8 minutes (maybe 9 minutes max) on the convection setting of my oven.  The edges spread a little but not much and the middle of the cookie stayed thick.  It was moist and fudgy without being too chocolatey and it wasn't too sweet despite the granulated sugar coating.  It's a bit fragile so you can't stack it too high and it probably wouldn't travel or ship well but overall, a really nice cookie.  Not bad for a recipe from the back of a box.

3 squares Bakers unsweetened chocolate

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

Additional granulated sugar

1.      Microwave chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water.  Stir until chocolate is completely melted.  Whisk well together so the mixture is emulsified and the butter doesn't separate out.  Don't let it get too hot or the butter will separate.  Let cool slightly.

2.     Stir 1 cup sugar into melted chocolate until well blended.  Stir in egg and vanilla until completely mixed.  Mix in flour, soda and salt until well blended.

3.     Chill dough until easy to handle, about 30 minutes.  Shape into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  (If a flatter, crispier cookie is desired, flatten with bottom of glass.)

4.     Bake at 375˚F for 8 minutes or until set.  Remove and cool on rack.  Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Cake with White Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Best Birthday Cake - made June 3, 2012 from Chocolate American Style by Lora Brody

The original recipe title isn't very descriptive so I'm calling it how I see it: this is a chocolate cake with white chocolate cream cheese frosting.  Or, if you want to be a stickler, it's a cocoa cake since the chocolate flavor comes only from cocoa.  And you know what that means: use a good, high-quality cocoa!  Because that'll be what determines the chocolatey-ness of the cake.  I use Pernigotti from Williams Sonoma and it's a winner every time in terms of a dark chocolate fudgy taste.  The batter is thinner than most cake batters but that's to be expected since cocoa is a dry ingredient and sucks out all the moisture in a cake so you want it to have a relatively higher amount of liquid ingredients so your cake won't be dry.

The baking gods were with me when I baked this cake because once again I avoided my usual underbaking problem by not taking it out too soon.  The texture is nice and well, cakey, not too dense or too light. For those of you who persist in liking cake mixes, this has a texture similar to a boxed cake mix but of far infinitely better flavor.  The original recipe below calls for baking in 2 9-inch cake pans but I almost always opt to bake in a 9 x 13 pan for easier packaging and giving away.  It makes one thick layer instead of 2 thinner ones so you just have to adjust the baking time accordingly and take out when moist crumbs adhere to a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake.  The frosting makes a lot because it's meant to frost a 2-layer cake so if you're not a big frosting person and you make a 9 x 13 pan, you can probably get away with only making a half recipe of frosting.  I'm not a huge flavor fan of white chocolate or cream cheese unless they're paired with "real" chocolate and in this case, they were so the frosting worked really well.  The dark chocolatey goodness of the cake was perfectly complemented by the sweetness of the frosting.

Only word of caution is this wouldn't be a good cake to make or serve in extreme heat since white chocolate has a lower melting point and you also don't want to subject cream cheese to hot temps or it'll spoil faster.

Cake

Unsalted butter and flour for preparing the cake pans

2 ¼ cups (18 ounces) sugar

1 ¾ cups (8.25 ounces) cake flour

1 ¼ cups (4 ounces) unsweetened natural cocoa powder

2 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

3 extra-large eggs

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups (12 ounces) buttermilk

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or granules, dissolved in ¾ cup boiling water, cooled

For the frosting

4 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped

16 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

4 cups (1 pound) confectioners’ sugar

Semisweet chocolate shavings (optional)

1.     Preheat the oven to 350˚F with the rack in the center position.  Coat the interiors of two 9-inch round cake pans with butter.  Line each pan with a 9-inch circle of parchment.  Lightly butter the parchment.  Dust with flour, knocking out the excess.

2.     In a large mixing bowl, sift together the sugar, cake flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  Place the eggs in a medium mixing bowl.  With the electric mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs well, then beat in the melted butter and vanilla.  With the mixer still on medium speed, beat in the buttermilk and espresso, and beat only until they are combined.  The mixture will appear curdled.  Scrape the liquid mixture into the flour mixture, and beat on medium speed just until all traces of the flour mixture disappear.  Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula as you mix.  Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pans, dividing it equally.

3.     Bake the cakes for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cakes pull away from the sides of the pans and a cake tester inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.  Transfer the cake pans to a wire rack and cool the cakes in the pans for 20 minutes.  Invert the cakes onto another rack, remove the cake pans and parchment, then invert the layers again so that they are right side up.  Allow them to cool completely before frosting.

4.     To make the frosting, melt the white chocolate in a metal bowl set over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water, or in a microwave-safe bowl in a microwave oven.  When the chocolate has melted, remove the bowl from over the water and let the chocolate cool while you continue with the frosting.  Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl.  With an electric mixer, beat them together on high speed for about 4 minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually mix in the confectioners’ sugar.  Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for 2 minutes.  Add the melted white chocolate and beat until well blended.  Refrigerate the frosting, covered, until it is firm enough to spread on the cakes.

5.     When you are ready to frost the cakes, use a long, serrated knife to split each cake layer in half horizontally.  Place the bottom half of one split layer on a serving plate, cut-side up.  Use an offset spatula or kitchen knife to spread ¾ cup frosting on the exposed surface.  Frosting the cut surface will loosen many chocolate crumbs, but don’t worry about that.  Top this layer with its other half, smooth-side up.  Frost this layer the way you did the first, then stack and frost both halves of the second split layer in the same way, ending with the smooth layer up.  Frost the top and sides.  Scatter semisweet chocolate shavings on top of the cake, if desired.

The cake can be made 1 day ahead.  Refrigerate the cake, in a cake saver.  Let the cake sit at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.

   

Lemon "Brownies" - the new chocolate?

Lemon Brownies - made May 25 and June 2, 2012, recipe adapted from Becky Charms' blog

2nd attempt was more moist and fluffy although my camera didn't take a good pic

 When I saw the pictures of these "brownies" from Becky Charms' blog, I had to make them.  They looked so good and the recipe seemed very straightforward and easy to make.  Plus I still had fresh lemons to use up from my mom's lemon tree.  I followed the original recipe as is when I first made it but it didn't turn out as moist as I expected it to be from Becky Charms' picture. From the picture in hers, I thought it would be more moist.  It's possible I baked it a minute or two longer than I should have even though I baked it for even less time than her recipe said to.  They weren't dry but I expected them to be more lemon "fudgy" if that makes sense. 

1st attempt wasn't as moist as I wanted it to be

So I tried them again.  This time, I doubled the recipe, added a little baking powder so they'd get a little rise and baked them in a 9 x 9" pan for the thickness I wanted.  I'm so glad I tried again because the 2nd attempt was much better.  They were a bit more cakey because of the baking powder so it might've crossed from "brownie" to "cake" but I liked it just the same.  This is a perfect cake (or brownie) for summer gatherings when you need a non-chocolate alternative that can survive the heat.

The "Brownie" Batter

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

4 tablespoons lemon zest

4 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Tart Lemon Glaze

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

4-5 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon zest

1.      Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line a 9-by-9-inch pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. 

2.      In the bowl of an electric mixture fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until creamy, about 45-60 seconds.  Add sugar and beat together until combined then add salt. 

3.      In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon zest, and lemon juice until combined. Pour into the mixture and beat at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes.  Add baking powder and flour and beat just to combine (do not overmix).

4.      Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25-28 minutes, or until just starting to turn golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before glazing.  Do not overbake.

5.      When brownies are cooled completely, make the glaze: combine the powdered sugar with the lemon zest and juice, and whisk together. Spread 1/2 the glaze over the brownies with a rubber spatula.  Let glaze harden.  Spread the remaining glaze over the bars, and let it harden.  Cut into bars, and serve.

Milky Way Caramel Brownies

Milky Way Caramel Brownies - made June 1, 2012, brownie recipe adapted from Brownies and Blondies by Lisa Yockelson

I made the original version of this brownie awhile back but forgot to take a picture.  It called for melting some caramel with a little heavy cream then adding 1/2 cup of the brownie batter to it then you swirl the two batters together.  The caramel bakes into the batter to make it more moist but there wasn't enough pure caramel to be a "ribbon" or "swirl" of caramel running through it like I had envisioned.  So this time around, I left out the caramel mixture completely and instead added Milky Way Caramels into each brownie piece.  As an aside, I never knew there was such a thing as Milky Way Caramels.  I don't care for Milky Ways in general because they seem to just be nougat enrobed in chocolate but Milky Way Caramels are pure caramel enrobed in chocolate.  I call those "Rolos" but the Milky Way people made them into rectangles and called them Milky Way Caramels.  Po-tay-toe, po-tah-toe.

Anyway, I made these in a mini square brownie pan with a chopped up Milky Way Caramel in the middle of each square but if you don't have one, using a regular 9 x 9" baking pan will work just fine.  You can add the caramels directly into the batter for random placement or else pour the batter into the pan then push the caramel pieces into it.  Make sure you cover the caramels completely with brownie batter or the caramel will overbake and harden when it cools.  A little seepage is okay, and probably inevitable but try to cover them completely with batter when they go into the oven.  This was a good basic brownie, not as chocolatey or as rich as some others I've made but still pairs well with the caramel.

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons unsifted all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsifted cake flour

¼ teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1 cup granulated sugar

3 extra-large eggs

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup Milky Way Caramels, chopped (use more if you wish)

9 x 9 x 2” baking pan

1.     Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line a 9 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Thoroughly mix the all-purpose flour, cake flour and salt.

3.     Whisk the butter and chocolate in a bowl; beat in the sugar, eggs and vanilla extract.  Add the dry ingredients and stir to form a batter.  Add Milky Way caramels.

4.     Pour and scrape the chocolate batter into the prepared pan; spread the batter evenly, covering any Milky Way Caramel pieces completely with batter.  Bake the brownies for 25 minutes, or until just set.

6.     Cool the brownies completely in the pan on a rack.  Cut into 2 ¼ by 2 ¼ inch squares.  Remove the brownies from the pan using a metal spatula.  Store in an airtight tin.

Buttermilk Fudge Cake with a Chocolate Gloss

Buttermilk Fudge Cake with a Chocolate Gloss - made May 28, 2012 from Cakes to Die For by Bev Shaffer

Been a little quiet on the blog this week - I've been busy: traveling for work last week, trying to catch up and just not online as much.  But I'm planning a bakefest shortly so I will have more recipes to put up.  Thanks for all the comments and invites to new link parties.  If I don't respond or don't respond right away, it's because of time and how it seems to fly by (OMG, it's June already) but I do read them all and do my best to keep up.  But sometimes it's all I can do just to find new recipes, type them up (and hope for no mistakes/typos but they do get through - sorry), bake them and blog about them.  Ack, I'm even running out of ingredients because I haven't had time to go grocery shopping.  A Costco run is in my future - I'm down to my last 2 pounds of butter, lol.

But there's always time for chocolate cake.  The ideal time to make chocolate cakes is generally before it gets too hot, especially if it's frosted.  Otherwise it just melts.  While the taste might still be the same, it doesn't look as pretty.  At least that's my excuse for making a chocolate cake while we're still having spring weather, before summer heat arrives.

This is a very good, very easy chocolate cake to make with a great "cakey" texture.  For once I didn't underbake (or overbake) it so the texture came out as it should.  The original directions called for making it as a round, 2-layer cake but I opted for simple and made it as a 9 x 13 cake.  I'm glad I did because the frosting made only enough for a thin layer of frosting on top of the cake.  I don't think it could've stretched to cover a 2-layer cake, top, middles and sides.  So if you do make it as two layers, you might want to double the frosting recipe for it.  Although avoid my mistake and (cough) sift the powdered sugar to get rid of the lumps or they'll appear in your frosting.  Ask me how I know.

A few little powdered sugar lumps in the frosting - oopsie

1 ¾ cup unbleached, all-purpose flour

¾ cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa, sifted

1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

1/8 teaspoon salt

¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ cups buttermilk

Chocolate “Gloss”

½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into pieces

1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1.     Heat the oven to 350⁰F.  Grease 2 9” round cake pans and cover pan bottoms with a round of parchment paper.  Or else line a 9 x 13" baking pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray. 

2.     In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.

3.     In a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the white and brown sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Scrape bowl.

4.     Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in the vanilla.

5.     With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients alternately with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.  Mix just until blended.

6.     Spread batter into prepared pan(s) and smooth the top(s).

7.     Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centers comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes.

8.     Cool in pans for 10 minutes.  Invert onto plates lined with waxed paper.  Peel off parchment or foil and reinvert cakes onto cooling racks.  Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

9.     For the chocolate “gloss”: in a large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter with the confectioners’ sugar until very light.  Add the vanilla and melted chocolate, beating until glossy and smooth.

10.   Place one cake layer on a cake stand or serving plate.  Spread with a small amount of the gloss.  Top with the other layer and frost the sides and then the top, swirling the gloss.

11.   Let cake stand for at least 30 minutes before slicing, to allow the layers to set.  Serves 8.