Cocoa Kiss Cookies

Cocoa Kiss Cookies - first made October 7, 2005

Here's a great way to use up any leftover Hershey's kisses - you know the ones you bought that were wrapped in fall colors but you can't really use them once Halloween and Thanksgiving are over unless you pick out just the ones in the silver foil. Although Hershey's has come up with a plethora of different varieties on the Hershey's kiss, use the one that's solid chocolate, whether it be dark, milk, or white or any combo. Don't use the caramel kisses with these or anything with a soft center as they'll just melt and leak out of the cookie dough.

This is a simple cookie from Hershey's Classic Recipes book - you make a chocolate dough, wrap it around the Hershey's kiss and roll into a ball and bake. I like to freeze them first then bake them later so the cookies retain more of their round shape. They don't come out round after you bake them but, done correctly, they're not exactly shaped like a Hershey's kiss either. They're more of the shape of the Baci candy. This helps camouflage that there's a Hershey's kiss inside.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup Hershey’s cocoa
1 cup finely chopped pecans
1 bag (9 ounces) Hershey’s Kisses Milk Chocolates
Powered sugar

1. Beat butter, granulated sugar and vanilla in large bowl until creamy. Stir together flour and cocoa; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Add pecans; beat until well blended. Refrigerate dough about 1 hour or until firm enough to handle.
2. Heat oven to 375˚F. Remove wrappers from chocolate pieces. Mold scant tablespoon of dough around each chocolate piece, covering completely. Shape into balls. Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool slightly, about 1 minute; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Roll in powdered sugar. Roll in sugar again just before serving, if desired.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Bars

Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Bars - first made January 20, 2003

Since it's Halloween, thought I'd post some recipes that can use up any leftover Halloween candy. If you have peanut butter cups leftover, you might like to use them in this recipe from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle. This makes really good brownies and the "surprise" part is the peanut butter cup that's in the middle of each piece. The tricky thing with this brownie is lining up the peanut butter cups correctly and then knowing where to slice so that the peanut butter cup is (ideally) in the middle of the brownie or at least somewhere in there so you don't see it coming out the side. I sliced the top brownie in half so you could see the inside but the brownie on the left bottom has a PB cup peeking through so you know I was off by a bit.

What I've found helps is to not completely submerge the peanut butter cups or else you'll completely lose sight of them. After you make the brownie batter, wait a few minutes as the batter will stiffen up. This will help support the weight of the peanut butter cups as you arrange them in the pan so they don't sink straight to the bottom. The downside of the more stiff batter is it's harder to spread over the peanut butter cups without rearranging them. The recipe calls for only 16 peanut butter cups so 4 rows of 4 but I find that cuts into relatively large pieces. I prefer to do 5 rows of 5 or 4 rows of 5.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons Dutch-processed cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
16 miniature peanut butter cups

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325˚F. Line a 9-inch square pan with aluminum foil so that the foil extends 2 inches beyond 2 opposite sides of the pan. Lightly grease the bottom and sides of the pan.
2. Place the butter and chocolate in the top of a double boiler over simmering water and heat, stirring occasionally, until melted and smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and cool the chocolate mixture until tepid.
3. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Stir until blended.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer, using the whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until blended. Gradually beat in both sugars, mixing just until blended. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate mixture and vanilla extract. Stir in the flour mixture, mixing until blended.
5. Scrape half of the brownie batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Arrange the peanut butter cups evenly over the batter, in four rows of four cups each. Press down lightly on each cup. Scrape the remaining batter over the cups and carefully spread it into an even layer, without moving the cups. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it. Cool the brownies completely in the pan on a wire rack.
6. Using the ends of the foil as handles, lift the brownies out of the pan. Cover the plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
7. Remove the plastic wrap from the brownies and invert them onto a cutting board. Peel off the foil. Reinvert the brownies and cut them into 16 squares.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week or freeze up to a month.

Basque Cake

Basque Cake - October 30, 2009

Of all the things we made at CIA, Basque Cake has to rank as one of my all-time favorites. Perhaps it's just the simplicity of the cake after all the fancy stuff we made. Or maybe just because it's so good. Basque Cake is a vanilla butter cake filled with pastry cream. The edges are a little crisp and the middle is soft and gooey with the goodness of butter and pastry cream. I don't make it that often though because it's so rich with butter, sugar and pastry cream and I want to keep on fitting in my clothes.

The recipe calls for baking in a 10-inch springform pan but I made these in a molten chocolate cake pan with 6 individual-sized cups with removable bottoms. My friend Annie the Baker and I found these pans on sale at Shackford's, a wonderful little kitchen store in Napa. They were on sale and there were 2 left so Annie and I each got one. Using the pans with removable bottoms is great because you can just push the cakes up when they're baked and take them out intact. There was enough batter and pastry cream left over that I also made a cake in a ramekin and an 8" round cake pan. Don't try taking it out of the pan(s) while they're still too hot or they'll break apart. Also, if you're going to use any pan with a removable bottom or a springform pan, line the bottom of the pan with foil. There's so much butter in the batter that some of it leaks out when it's first placed in a hot oven and you don't want that dripping in the bottom of your oven.

To make this cake, you're going to need a kitchen scale to weigh everything accurately. I don't have the volume measurements for this, only weights. Every baker should have a food scale anyway - you can be much more accurate when baking if you weighed rather than volume measured everything.

Basque Cake

1 pound butter, softened
1 pound sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs, at room temperature
13 ounces cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon dark rum
8 ounces pastry cream
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 325˚F – 350˚F.
2. Grease and flour 1 10-inch cake pan or springform pan. Put parchment paper on bottom.
3. Cream butter with sugar and vanilla. Do not overwhip; use paddle attachment. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Sift flour, baking powder, and salt, and gradually fold into butter mixture with wooden spoon.
5. Spoon into large pastry bag fitting with a plain tip (#9). Pipe approximately half of the mixture in a spiral onto bottom of prepared pan. Pipe extra ring around inside edge of pan to prevent filling from sticking to sides of pan.
6. Stir rum into vanilla custard. Spread evenly over mixture inside of outer ring, using small spatula or palette knife.
7. Pipe remaining mixture in spiral over filling.
8. Bake in preheated oven 45 to 60 minutes or until center of cake springs back when lightly pressed. Cool in pan on wire rack 15 minutes. Remove from pan and cool completely.
9. Dust top with sifted confectioners’ sugar just before serving. Alternatively, spread mixture in pan instead of piping it.

Pastry Cream

Pastry Cream - October 30, 2009

One of the first things we were taught to make in culinary school was pastry cream. My CIA chef instructor said bakeries used this in many of their offerings and was one of their staples. It's pretty simple to make but there are techniques you should use to make it successfully. The original recipe below is straight from my CIA recipe book and yep, it's that sparse in instructions since we were shown how to do it and the recipe is pretty much the bare bones of how to make it.

I hadn't made pastry cream in years and I think I've lost the knack as when I was heating up the whole mixture, mine started clumping instead of thickening gradually. Fortunately, the baking gods invented strainers and I was able to strain mine into respectability. When you make this, whisk the sugar/cornstarch/eggs until blended then temper with the hot milk, meaning add the milk a little at a time, and whisking to incorporate the milk fully into the custard. When you put the whole thing back in the pan and heat to boiling, keep stirring it constantly. I think that was my mistake as I was trying to clean up and wash the dishes instead of keeping a constant stir of the mixture over the stove. But it still tasted pretty good to me. I'm not much of a pudding or custard-type dessert person but I'll make an exception for pastry cream. I can eat this thing like pudding. I made half of this recipe in order to use it for Basque Cake. Oh and when you've finishing making it, cover it with plastic wrap directly over the pastry cream itself, not over the rim of the bowl. This will prevent a skin from forming over the cream.

1 quart milk
8 ounces sugar
3 ounces cornstarch
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
Vanilla extract to taste
3 ounces butter

1. Heat milk.
2. Mix sugar and cornstarch, then add eggs.
3. Temper in milk.
4. Boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter and vanilla.
5. Strain and cool.

Chocolate Wafer Sandwich Cookies

Chocolate Wafer Sandwich Cookies - October 29, 2009

I don't make sandwich cookies that often. They're usually easy to make but they take longer than drop cookies and I don't always have that kind of time when I'm working. But since I'm on vacation (!), I figured today would be a good day to try one. Most sandwich cookie recipes are generally the same - make the dough, chill it, roll it out, cut out the shapes, bake, make the filling, put two cooled cookies together with the filling to make the sandwich cookie.

A good sandwich cookie to me will offer complementary flavors between the filling and the cookies and contrasting textures which is typically crisp cookies and soft fillings. That's what I like in a sandwich cookie anyway. This one didn't disappoint. It's also from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook and offers the option of a vanilla cream filling and a chocolate filling. Since the cookies were already chocolate, I opted for the vanilla filling. You'll notice the original recipe calls for equal parts shortening and butter. I deviated and used all butter. I can't stand the idea of eating shortening as is, even if you mix it with butter and sugar. Martha, what were you thinking? My instincts were right and the vanilla cream filling made with all butter was pretty tasty (it's butter, what's not to love?).

What I liked about these sandwich cookies was the chocolate cookie was crisp so it was perfect with the creamy filling. And the filling was just the right texture, not runny or too hard, and held the cookies together quite well. One other note about making sandwich cookies: after you bake them and they're cool, match the ones that are closest in size to each other before you start applying the filling. Even though I used the same cookie cutter for all the shapes, some came out in slightly varying sizes. You don't want one big cookie and one smaller one sandwiched together - it just looks weird.

Chocolate Wafer Sandwich Cookies

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Vanilla Cream Filling or Chocolate Cream Filling

1. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla; beat to combine. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture, and beat to combine, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
2. Turn out the dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and divide in half. With floured hands, shape each piece into a flattened rectangle, wrap with plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
3. Place one rectangle of dough only a lightly floured work surface. Roll out dough to a scant 1/8-inch thickness, stopping every so often to release the dough by running an offset spatula underneath. You should end up with a rectangle that’s about 14 by 11 inches. Transfer dough to a prepared baking sheet, and freeze until very firm, about 30 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough.
4. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Place one rectangle of dough on a clean work surface. Working quickly, cut out rounds using a 2” cookie cutter. (If the dough begins to soften too much, return to the freezer for a few minutes.) Using a wide metal spatula, transfer rounds to parchment-lined baking sheets, about 1 ½ inches apart. Gather together remaining scraps, reroll, and cut out more rounds. Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes. Repeat with remaining rectangle of dough.
5. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until the centers of the cookies feel firm when lightly pressed, 12 to 14 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Using an offset spatula, spread 1 tablespoon desired filling onto the flat sides of half the cookies. Sandwich with remaining cookies, keeping the flat sides down. Unfilled cookies can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. Once filled, cookies are best eaten the day they are made, but they can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Yield: about 2 dozen sandwich cookies

Vanilla Cream Filling

1 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup vegetable shortening
1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine all ingredients. Beat on medium high speed until fluffy and light, 3 to 4 minutes. Use immediately or refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Let soften at room temperature before using.

Chocolate Cream Filling

4 ½ ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (1 cup)
¾ ounce unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2/3 cup (half of one 14-ounce can) sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Melt chocolates in a heatproof bowl set over (but not touching) simmering water, stirring occasionally. Add condensed milk, butter, and extract; stir to combine. Continue to stir over simmering water until all ingredients are smooth, 2 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool slightly.

Linked to Everyday Sisters blog

Classic Crumb Cake ala Martha Stewart

Crumb Cake - October 29, 2009

In case you're wondering why I'm baking so much today when I said I wasn't really baking this week because I was on vacation and wouldn't have anyone to give the baked goods to, I was able to find some willing recipients today. My friend Karen and her husband Rex are building a house and their construction crews have been regular recipients of what I make. I was in a baking mood so I arranged for Karen to come pick up all the stuff I made today for the crew. Which was nice because it allowed me to try out several new recipes today.

One of those recipes was the Classic Crumb Cake recipe from the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook. At first I was worried because the crumb topping recipe made a lot of crumb topping. As in, there was more crumb than cake when I was layering them in the pan. And the amount of butter listed for the crumb toppping is NOT a typo. I was worried Martha had gone off her rocker with that much crumb mixture but as it turned out, it actually worked. I guess that's why they call it crumb cake. This is not the same as streusel coffee cake which has a lighter layer of streusel on top. A crumb topping doesn't usually contain nuts whereas most streusel toppings do.

Watch the baking time on this cake. I actually timed this one and took it out when the recipe said to (and you know how haphazard I am sometimes about timing things). I almost didn't take it out on time because the middle part of the crumb topping still looked a bit wet and I thought it should be more crumby. But I also know a cake with this kind of texture should never be overbaked or it'll be dry. For my oven, it was the right call because the cake turned out moist with a nice soft texture. The crumb topping was delicious - just turn a blind eye to how much butter and sugar is in it (as I did with the shortbread).

Cake
1 ¼ sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 ¼ cups sour cream

Crumb Topping
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Generously butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Mix in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and sour cream; beat just until combined.
3. Spoon the batter into the pan, and smooth with an offset spatula. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the batter. Bake, rotating the pan halfway through, until cake is golden brown and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 40 to 50 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Before serving, dust with confectioners’ sugar, if using.

Crumb Topping

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt
3 ½ sticks (1 ¾ cups) unsalted butter, room temperature

1. In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt; cut in the butter using a pastry blender, until large, moist clumps form. (Alternatively, mix together in a food processor.) Topping can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Butter Shortbread

Butter Shortbread - October 29, 2009

I love shortbread. I rarely make it because when I do, I'm forced to acknowledge how much butter is in good shortbread. Hard to be in denial when the recipe is staring right at you. Shortbread is very straightforward to put together - you mix the ingredients until you get a nice dough and pat it in the pan as evenly as possible. The tricky part with shortbread is the baking time. All the directions say to bake the shortbread when it's golden brown all over but that's really very subjective. If you bake it too long, it's too crispy and the butter can taste burnt. If you don't bake it long enough, the shortbread isn't crisp and is somewhat chewy which is not the texture you're going after with shortbread.

I like to use a rectangular tart pan with a removeable bottom when I make shortbread, rather than a round tart pan like so many recipes call for. When it's the shape as the second picture above, it browns more evenly all over whereas when you use a round tart pan, the edges get brown first then it seems like the middle takes forever to brown while the edges get more and more brown.

This recipe is from Baking by Flavor by Lisa Yockelson and is a nice, simple shortbread recipe. I think I baked this one just a trifle too long as it was just the tiniest bit too crispy. But when it comes to shortbread, I'd rather overbake than underbake (this is probably the only time you'll see me say that). When I was baking it this morning, I was also working out at the same time while it was in the oven so I didn't reach it in time to take it out properly.

Once you have the shortbread to desired doneness, when you take it out, give it a couple of minutes then, while it's still hot, take it out of the pan (pans with removeable bottoms make this really easy) then slice it. When shortbread cools, it hardens and crisps up so it's more difficult to cut evenly. So cut it while it's hot and you'll get cleaner knife cuts. This one turned out pretty well with a good buttery taste but I have an even better recipe for shortbread that I'll post later. It's got butterscotch and toffee bits and goes really well with a buttery shortbread. But that'll be a future post.

Butter Shortbread

1 ¼ cups unsifted bleached, all-purpose flour
¼ cup rice flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup superfine sugar
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

About 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, for sprinkling on top of the baked shortbread

Bakeware: fluted 9 ½-inch tart pan (with a removable bottom)

1. Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Film the inside of the tart pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside.
2. Sift the all-purpose flour, rice flour, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of waxed paper.
3. Cream the butter in large bowl of a freestanding electric mixer on low speed for 3 to 4 minutes, or until smooth. Blend in the superfine sugar and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes longer on low speed. Blend in the sifted flour mixture in two additions, mixing slowly until the particles of flour are absorbed and a soft, smooth dough is created. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a rubber spatula to keep the dough even-textured. The dough will be soft and lightly sticky.
4. Transfer the dough to the tart pan, and lightly press it into an even layer. Prick the shortbread with the tines of a fork in about 15 random places.
5. Bake the shortbread in the preheated oven for 40 to 45 minutes, or until set, and an all-over medium tan color on top. The shortbread must be baked through, otherwise the core will be tacky.
6. Place the pan of shortbread on a cooling rack and immediately dust the top with granulated sugar. Cool for 10 minutes.
7. Carefully unmold the shortbread, leaving it on its round base. After 10 to 15 minutes, cut into even-sized wedges, using a sharp chef’s knife. To slice cleanly and neatly, the shortbread must be cut while still warm. Cool completely.

Toasted Almond Cookies

Toasted Almond Cookies - made 12.1.07

My friend Linda and her husband are Blue Diamond Almond growers and Linda is always so kind and generous as to keep me well-supplied with almonds. Whenever I'm going to meet her, I search for recipes that use almonds so I can bake them for her, using the almonds she gave me. I can't think of a more fitting use for them.

This recipe is from The Weekend Baker by Abigail Johnson Dodge. I've tried a fair number of recipes from this cookbook and they generally turn out pretty well. This was really easy to make and the cookies don't spread much upon baking. Toast the almonds first to bring out their flavor. The almonds from Linda are whole almonds so I toast them first then once they're cool, I put them through a coarse grind in my nut grinder. A nut grinder is one of the essential baking tools that I can't live without. They're easy to use, much easier to clean than a food processor and they get the job done quickly. They're also pretty cheap so if you don't have one and like to bake with nuts, you might want to invest in one. Get a good one that lasts forever. In all the years I've been seriously baking, I've only had to replace mine once. Over 20 years and only on my second nut grinder? That's a pretty good investment. And I don't think I paid more than $10 for either one. Here's a link to one that's similar to what I have: http://www.amazon.com/Progressive-International-Heavy-Duty-Chopper/dp/B0007ZEU2W/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=home-garden&qid=1256778165&sr=8-2

I think the nuts work in this recipe because the cookies aren't cakey and their vanilla flavor provides a good backdrop for the toasted almonds. They're a bit fragile though so I wouldn't recommend shipping them anywhere. Oh, and the recipe calls for a small amount of almond extract but I don't like the taste of almond extract so I substitute vanilla. Seems to work just fine.

12 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup granulated sugar
Pinch of table salt
1 yolk from large egg
¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ cup slivered almonds, toasted

1. Position an oven rack on the middle rung. Heat the oven to 350˚F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners.
2. In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar and salt. Beat with an electric mixer (stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or handheld mixer) on medium speed until well blended. Add the egg yolk and vanilla and almond extracts and beat until combined. Pour in the flour and toasted almonds and beat on low speed until the dough begins to clump together. The nuts will break up a bit, but that’s okay.
3. Using a small ice-cream scoop or 2 tablespoons, shape rounded mounds of about 2 tablespoons dough on the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them about 1 ½”. Using your fingers, press down on each mound to flatten slightly.
4. Bake 1 sheet at a time until the cookies look dry on top and the edges are golden brown, about 17 minutes. Transfer the cookie sheet to a rack to cool for about 10 minutes. Using a spatula, lift the cookies from the sheet onto a rack and let cool completely.

Storage: Layer the baked and cooled cookies between parchment or waxed paper in an airtight container. They can be stored at room temperature for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

White Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Cookies

White Chocolate Coconut Macadamia Cookies - first made November 2, 2005

Thought I'd continue the trend of blogging about the cookies where I don't mind if it's got nuts in them. Most of them are because the nuts are a crucial part of contributing to the cookie itself, not that you're just randomly adding nuts to cookie dough. For instance, it's hard to make White Chocolate Macadamia cookies without - well - macadamia nuts.

I love these cookies. White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies are fairly common. I like these because of the addition of coconut as well. They don't spread too much, the edges are crisp when the cookies are newly baked and cooled and the middles are soft and chewy. This recipe is from the Magnolia Bakery cookbook. I typically will make the cookie dough first, portion it into dough balls and freeze the cookies. Then I'll bake the frozen cookie dough balls when I need fresh-baked cookies. As always, toast the nuts first. You can use white chocolate chips if you're in a rush but I like to buy a block of white chocolate (Trader Joe's has them at reasonable prices) and chop them into chunks. I never used to like white chocolate at all but I've found recipes I like that use them so I've learned to like it, especially paired with macadamia nuts or offsetting a dark chocolate brownie batter.

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
2 tablespoons milk
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
6 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, and the salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream the butter and the sugars until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, the milk and vanilla extract and mix well. Add the dry ingredients and beat thoroughly. Stir in the white chocolate, the coconut and the nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden.
4. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.

Buttery Tea Balls

Buttery Tea Balls - first made many years ago

Remember when I said I don't like nuts in cookies or brownies? Well, this is one of those exceptions where you not only add nuts to these cookies but they taste much better with them than without, for both flavor and texture.

I got this recipe from my cousin Bernadette who lives in Canada and also likes to bake. The original recipe name for these are Buttery Tea Balls but they're also known as Mexican Wedding Cakes. Essentially, they're a buttery shortbread-type cookie with toasted pecans, rolled in powdered sugar while they're still warm, then rolled again once they've cooled. The powdered sugar not only adds sweetness but also gives this cookie a melt-in-your-mouth quality.

This cookie only takes minutes to whip up, is easy to make ahead of time, ships well, and looks good when served at parties, making them an ideal cookie for the busy holiday baking season. A couple of simple tips when making this recipe: First, toast the nuts to bring out their flavor. This cookie doesn't have a lot of ingredients so what you do use should be tasty. Second, don't overbake these as they will dry easily and be crumbly rather than melt in your mouth. Lastly, don't be afraid to roll them in powdered sugar. The first layer of sugar will almost melt into the cookie when they're rolled warm but that's okay. You'll roll them again once the cookies are cool and the second layer will adhere, giving them a pretty white coating. Don't roll them too much though - you don't want them completely whited-out. Let some of the cookie peek through the sugar coating. And sift the powdered sugar before rolling the cookies. Then you don't have to worry about pesky lumps of sugar sticking to the cookies.

½ lb unsalted butter at room temperature
4 cups confectioners’ sugar, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¾ cup finely chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. In a large bowl, mix the butter, ½ cup sugar, vanilla, flour, salt and nuts until they form a dough. Roll the dough into 1” balls in the palm of your hand.
3. Place on ungreased baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the bottoms are slightly brown.
4. To coat: Place the remaining 3 ½ cups sugar in a shallow dish. Using a spatula, remove the balls from the baking sheets and while still hot, roll them around in the sugar. Let cool and roll again