Sugar Doodle Vanilla Cookies

Sugar Doodle Vanilla Cookies - made dough November 28, 2012 from Averie Cooks

I recently discovered Averie's blog through one of the link parties I participate in and I'm so glad I did.  Her write ups are entertaining and provide a lot of baking insights, I love her recipes and her dessert pictures make me drool in a pretty undignified manner.  Considering how jaded my taste buds are when it comes to sweets, that's quite a feat.  Click on one of the links to go to her blog and tell me I don't lie.

This is a great vanilla cookie if you like snickerdoodle-type cookies without the cinnamon sugar coating or if you prefer vanilla over chocolate (ahem, Vanilla King, I'm talking 'bout you).  It doesn't spread too much and is chewy and all things good and right with vanilla.  I like it baked just until the edges are golden and the middles are barely not raw.  Then at room temperature, it's moist and good.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 large egg

2 tablespoons cream or milk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup bread flour (all-purpose flour may be substituted and used exclusively; bread flour yields chewier cookies and is recommended)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt, optional and to taste

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on low speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, 2 to 3 minutes. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg, cream, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 4 to 5 minutes. 
2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flours, baking soda, salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Transfer dough to an airtight container and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, up to 5 days.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a 2-ounce cookie scoop, form heaping mounds weighing 2 1/4-ounces each (weighed on a scale, which is approximately a scant 1/4-cup measure) and place them on the baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until pale golden and edges have just set, even if slightly undercooked in the center, as cookies will firm up as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing. 
4. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired. 

Posted to Sweet Treats and Swanky Stuff
 

Sausage and Cheese Pinwheels

Sausage and Cheese Pinwheels - test run on November 17, 2012

I was testing out a couple of savories ahead of time to make for my dessert party to offset all the sugar.  Normally I would buy some mini quiches (which I did end up doing on party day as I ran out of time!) and other pre-made appetizers and call it a day but I thought I would try the "semi-homemade" approach.  I got the idea for this from pinterest but the original recipe called for making the bread part from scratch.  I knew I wouldn't have that kind of time (and I was right) so I defaulted to crescent roll dough.  Of course I didn't measure anything (I reserve exactness for baking) so below are just the general guidelines.  This is one of those so-easy-even-I-can-make things.  You don't even really need a recipe.  Of course, mine didn't come out as neatly pinwheeled as all the other pictures I've seen.  It's hard to keep that crescent roll dough uniform when you cut it.  But, hey, it still tastes the same.  So if you need a quick appetizer for a holiday gathering, it's hard to go wrong with this one.

1 tube of crescent roll dough
8 ounces ground pork, cooked, drained and cooled, crumbled into bits
1 cup of shredded Cheddar cheese

Roll out crescent roll dough and sprinkle evenly with the crumbled pork.  Sprinkle with Cheddar cheese.  Roll up dough, jelly-roll style, and slice into 1/2" slices.  Bake according to crescent roll dough package directions.  Serve warm.

Ferrero Rocher Brownies Bites with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Ferrero Rocher Brownie Bites with Nutella Frosting - made November 30, 2012 from a Tastebook recipe

Back to another new dessert I made for my dessert party last week.....

I love Ferrero Rocher.  As in I love it so much I rarely buy a box because I will eat it.  All of it.  I think it's the soft chocolate center inside the crispy shell that sucks me in.  So when I saw this recipe on pinterest that has a Ferrero Rocher atop a brownie base and covered in caramel icing, my first thought was inevitably, "genius!  pure genius!"  I modified the recipe to avert those blasphemous words "brownie mix" and subbed in a from-scratch brownie recipe I wanted to try.  Instead of caramel sauce, I used nutella to flavor the frosting.  I was making this for my dessert party so I didn't have time to make homemade caramel or risk it failing if I didn't make it correctly and I thought nutella frosting would be appropriate for a candy with a hazelnut in the middle.

The original recipe calls for making these in muffin tins but I used my mini cheesecake pans with the removable bottoms because they were the perfect size for the Ferrero Rocher (not too big or too little) and the removable bottoms meant I could easily remove them from the pans.  If you have one, I highly recommend using it for this recipe.  The brownie recipe below does make for slightly delicate brownies and at first I wasn't going to include the recipe here since it did give me a little grief because they were fragile, especially when warm.  But I admit they tasted really good with the candy and frosting once they cooled so I've added it below.  However, feel free to use your own brownie recipe.  You want one that's fudgy as opposed to cakey and a dark chocolate brownie is preferable since the frosting is sweet.  This was probably one of the most inspired concoctions I made for my dessert party and another keeper for future years.  One of my guests said it was her favorite ever.  Yay - a hit!

1 recipe of homemade brownies (recipe below or use your favorite fudgy brownie recipe)
24 Ferrero Rocher candies
4 tablespoons butter, softened
2-3 tablespoons nutella
1 cup confectioners sugar
1-2 tablespoons milk, if needed, to achieve the right consistency

1. Remove all wrappers from the candies.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. 
2. Prepare brownie batter (recipe below or use your own). Grease a mini-muffin tin (or mini cheesecake pan with removable bottoms) with cooking spray and fill each cup approximately 1/2 full with batter. Bake for 12-15 minutes until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from oven and immediately press a candy into the center of each brownie bite, embedding halfway in.
3. Cool for a few minutes in the tin then carefully remove the brownie bites from the pan to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.
4. To make the frosting, use the paddle attachment on a stand mixer and beat the butter and powdered sugar together until smooth. Add the nutella and just enough milk to achieve desired consistency. Using a pastry or plastic bag with a piping tip, pipe the frosting onto the top of each brownie bite (or alternatively, you can frost by hand with a small metal spatula). Best served the same day they're made.

Fudge Brownies, recipe adapted from Indulge by Claire Clark
5 ounces 70% dark chocolate

7 ounces unsalted butter
3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

10 ounces dark brown sugar

2 ¾ ounces all-purpose flour

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

Pinch of salt

1.     Preheat the oven to 325⁰F.  Place butter and chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water to melt.  Once melted, remove the bowl from the pan.  

2.     Whisk the eggs, vanilla and sugar with an electric mixer until pale and doubled in volume.  Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt and fold them in.  Combine the warm melted chocolate and butter and fold them in too. 

3.     Spoon into prepared pans, filling slightly less than halfway.  Bake for 20-22 minutes or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean.  Do not overbake.  After removing from the oven, place an unwrapped Ferrero Rocher into the center of each brownie round and embed halfway in. Cool slightly in the pan then gently lift out and cool completely before frosting.

     

Salted Caramel Kiss Cookies

Salted Caramel Kiss Cookies - made dough November 25, 2012 from Cookies and Cups blog

Since December 4 is National Cookie Day, I'm going to blog slightly out of order to put up another new holiday cookie I've discovered this year and that's the Salted Caramel Kiss Cookies I found on Cookies and Cups' blog.  They're similar to one of the staples I make for my bi-annual holiday dessert party, the Peanut Butter & Milk Chocolate Kiss Cookies.  This cookie is along the same lines but it's a caramel kiss on top of a brown sugar cookie so they're a good alternative if you need something for guests with peanut allergies.  I made the dough last week and had it in my freezer ready to be baked off on the day of my dessert party.  Stocking up on cookie dough gradually and before you need it is a time-saving life-line.  I ended up not baking these for my dessert party as I figured I already had enough options when the time came.  So I baked them off for friends I was seeing over the following two days instead.  And they were a hit!

I love the brown sugar/caramelized flavor of this cookie.  The sprinkles of fleur de sel was a nice contrast to the sweetness of the cookie and you can't go wrong with caramel kisses with their liquid caramel center.  These did spread more than I expected (a common occurrence, hmmm) even though, like with the Chocolate Turtle Cookies, I baked from frozen dough in a convection oven.  The original pic from Cookies and Cups' blog looks more like how I would've wanted mine to look so I may play around with this recipe as well to get less spread.  But I wouldn't want to sacrifice the flavor as it was really good. 

14 tablespoons butter
1 3/4 cups light brown sugar
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 light brown sugar
approx 24 chocolate caramel candies, such as Caramel Kisses or Rolos, unwrapped
flaked sea salt or fleur de sel for sprinkling

1. Preheat oven to 350° and line baking sheet with parchment paper (unless you're going to freeze the dough first).
2. Heat butter in medium skillet over medium heat until melted. When butter melts slowly swirl the pan and continue to cook the butter until it becomes a nice, brown-caramel color. The swirling helps it from burning. Let cool for 15 minutes.
3. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl and set aside.
4. When butter is cool, mix 1 3/4 cups light brown sugar and browned butter with electric mixer until no lumps remain, about 30 seconds.
5. Add egg, yolk and vanilla and mix for another 30 seconds, until smooth.
6. Slowly add in flour mixture and mix on medium-low until incorporated.
7. Combine remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in a small bowl.
8. Roll cookie dough into 2 inch balls (a heaping tablespoon) and then roll in sugar mixture.
9. Place on lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
10. Bake approx 12 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Do not overbake.
11. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven press a caramel chocolate candy into the center of each.
12. Sprinkle each with a pinch of flaked sea salt/fleur de sel and transfer to wire rack to continue cooling.

Chocolate Turtle Cookies

Chocolate Turtle Cookies - made dough November 28, 2012 from Pixelated Crumb

I love "thumbprint" cookies for holiday parties.  They're cute, little and tasty.  I was already making the Peanut Butter kiss cookies for my dessert party so I went with this as a different cookie option.  Instead of Hershey kisses in the middle of the cookie, this held a well of caramel.  Caramel, chocolate and toasted almonds (or pecans).  You can't really go wrong here.  I made these ahead of time and took it up to the step of rolling the cookie dough balls in the egg white and chopped nuts then making the well in the center.  After that I put them in freezer bags and stashed them in the freezer until baking time. 

Let me just say this cookie is the reason I can't stop trying out new recipes.  Because, even though I have a veritable treasure trove of tried and true cookie recipes I could make, you just never know when you're going to discover another gem.  And this is a gem.  I'm so glad I found it and tried it because it's going to have a regular place in my holiday baking from now on.  This is a seriously good cookie.

The texture is like a chewy, fudgy cookie, the nuts provide a nice crunch and the caramel was divine.  Seriously.  Plus they're cute, right?  My only issue with it is my cookies spread more than I would've liked even though I baked them from frozen dough and on the convection setting in my oven.  There wasn't a "well" for the caramel as much as a "little dip".  I did re-impress the center with a half teaspoon to make it more well-like but the cookie still had a little spread.  But that's not enough of an issue to stop me from making these again (and again).  I will just need to play with the ingredients a bit to see if I can have it spread less, perhaps add a smidge more cocoa.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg, separated, plus 1 egg white
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups pecans, chopped fine
14 soft caramel candies
3 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour.
2. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk egg whites in bowl until frothy. Place pecans in another bowl. Roll dough into 1-inch balls, dip in egg whites, then roll in pecans. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using 1/2-teaspoon measure, make indentation in center of each ball. Bake until set, about 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking.
3. Microwave caramels and cream in bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Once cookies are removed from oven, gently re-press existing indentations. Fill each with 1/2 teaspoon caramel mixture. Cool 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. 

Linked to Crazy Sweet Tuesday
 

Dessert Party 2012

Here's the dessert spread I had this year - some standbys (click on recipe title to go to recipe) and a couple of new ones (those recipes to follow)

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Kisses

Holiday Caramel Treats

Chocolate Turtle Cookies (recipe to follow in a future post)

These are my new favorite this year

Buttery Tea Balls

I always have to make "snowballs" since I have mitten serving dishes

Lemon Bars

Instead of powdered sugar, I glazed with powdered sugar and lemon juice

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Ferrero Rocher Brownie Bon Bons with Nutella Buttercream Frosting (you're going to want to wait for this post)

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies

Red Velvet Cheesecake Brownies - made November 29, 2012 from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

I had my holiday dessert party last night and had a few friends over.  I think I've given up on sticking to tried and true recipes during the holidays.  There are just too many great recipes out there to try and having people over gives me an excuse to not only try out new recipes but to provide them with new ones to sample. I still made a couple of stand-by recipes but I also compromised to work in a few new recipes. I did mini-taste tests of some new recipes before the party and if they passed muster before the big day, I kept them in.  And if a picture was alluring enough to persuade me to take a risk on it, I did.  This recipe falls into that category.  It's hard to go wrong with brownies and 'tis the season for red velvet.  I'm not a cheesecake fan but I have friends who are so they could taste test these with me.

Mine didn't turn out quite as alluring-looking as the picture that drew me in from Sweet Pea's Kitchen.  In the time it took to bake the red velvet brownie part, the cheesecake part started to turn a little brown.  It looks better when it isn't browned but I didn't want the brownie part to be raw as opposed to fudgy.  Still I thought it tasted pretty good.  This is about the only way I'll eat "cheesecake" - when it's marbled or swirled into a brownie and this is also a seasonal-appropriate option for Christmas or Valentine's Day.

1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoon red food coloring
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
8-oz cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8" pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small, heatproof bowl, melt butter and chocolate together. Stir until combined and very smooth. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and red food coloring. Add chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Add flour and salt and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain.
4. Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer.
5. To prepare cheesecake mixture, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg and vanilla extract in a medium bowl until smooth. Distribute the cheesecake mixture in 8 dollops over batter in the pan. Swirl in with a knife or spatula.
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until brownies and cheesecake are set. A knife inserted into the cheesecake mixture should come out clean and the edges will be lightly browned.
7. Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack before lifting out the foil to remove the brownies.