Stamped Shortbread Cookies #39 from Uncomplicated Chef

Stamped Shortbread Cookies #39 - made dough June 7, 2024 from Uncomplicated Chef

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup powdered sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon almond extract (I used vanilla)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and powdered sugar until well combined and fluffy.
2. Add vanilla and mix to combine. Add flour and mix on low speed until just combined.
3. On a large piece of parchment paper, form dough into a ball. Place another large piece of parchment paper over it and roll out dough into a large piece 1/4 - 1/3" thick. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
4. Remove dough from refrigerator. Stamp and cut out cookies. Freeze stamped cookies for at least 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Space stamped cookies evenly on prepared baking sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheet for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

This was the second of three recipes I made for the families staying at Ronald McDonald House last week. The first was the Buttermilk Chocolate Cake. Then I made 2 different recipes for stamped cookies and this is one of them. I don't usually make stamped cookies in the summer as it's often too hot to work with the cookie dough easily enough for stamping. But I wanted something fun for both the siblings of the children getting treatment as well as the kids themselves who were at the hospital. So I had to use my Snoopy stamps for this. Making stamped cookies in hot weather is possible but requires a bit more time and care. 

First, be careful that "room temperature" butter isn't too soft to work with or your dough will be too soft and greasy, not to mention harder to stamp well. I cut the butter into tablespoon-size pieces right out of the refrigerator, toss them into the mixing bowl and start mixing. Even then, it was so hot when I made this, that the dough was rather soft and had to be refrigerated before I could even stamp them.

Second, many recipes call for patting the dough into a ball, wrapping in plastic wrap and chilling before trying to roll out. As long as your dough isn't too soft, I find it easier and more efficient to roll the just-mixed dough between two pieces of parchment paper then chill it. The main thing you have to watch is not chilling it for too long as if the dough is too firm, it'll be harder to make clean, crisp stamped impressions. Too soft or warm and the dough will stick to your stamp(s). The sweet spot for me is about 10-15 minutes of chilling time but you do have to work quickly as this dough softens and warms within a few minutes out of the refrigerator.

The stamped impressions held decently well after baking but this dough is better suited for stamps with larger impressions and not finer details as the smaller details will tend to blur out during baking. Fortunately, Snoopy was easily recognizable in these cookies.

The taste was good as I had used Kerrygold butter for a more buttery flavor. Texture-wise, this was more of a shortbread texture in that it had a snap and a drier mouthfeel. But that was to be expected since this is billed as a shortbread. So it delivered its promise. The picture above is a combination of both the stamped cookie recipes I made (second recipe to follow in the next post) but the other pictures are just of this recipe.

Buttermilk Chocolate Cake from Southern Bite

Buttermilk Chocolate Cake - made June 11, 2024 from Southern Bite

Cake

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup water

3 large eggs

1/2 cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Frosting

1/2 cup unsalted butter

3 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 16-ounce box powdered sugar (3 3/4 cups)

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 to 8 tablespoons buttermilk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar.
3. In a medium saucepan, melt together butter, cocoa powder, oil and water. Bring to a boil and let boil for 1 minute. Let cool slightly.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk and vanilla.
5. Pour melted butter mixture over dry ingredients and beat to combine. Add egg mixture and mix to combine to a smooth batter.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs.
7. Make icing: in a saucepan, melt butter and cocoa powder, whisking until butter is completely melted and mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in vanilla.
8. Place powdered sugar in a large mixing bowl. Pour melted butter mixture over powdered sugar and beat to combine. Add buttermilk and beat until desired consistency is reached. Pour over warm cake and smooth.

Whenever you see me make cakes or anything that doesn't ship well overseas, it means I'm baking for local folks. As was the case for this Buttermilk Chocolate Cake. I had an opportunity to provide dessert for 10-15 people last week. They were family members of children getting treatment at a local hospital and they were staying at Ronald McDonald House. A group of volunteers provided salad, main course and dessert. I of course immediately volunteered to bring dessert. I love baking for a good cause and I appreciated the opportunity.

I made 3 things (the other 2 to follow in the next 2 posts) and one of them was this cake. I wanted something simple yet indulgent and this recipe fit the bill. No nuts because you never know if someone has an allergy and something that could also easily be packed up for lunches for the families the next day.

This is essentially a Texas sheet cake, one of my favorite things to make and eat. And this recipe was no exception. It was delicious. The texture was perfectly soft and cakey but not too chocolaty-rich. The richness and sweetness came from the frosting. Don't be afraid to use a good dark cocoa powder to cut some of the sweetness.

If you don't want too sweet of a frosting, besides using a dark cocoa powder, cut back on some of the powdered sugar in the frosting. But also cut back on some of the liquid in the frosting or else it'll be too runny. I'm glad this turned out well and I hope the families enjoyed it.

Dulce de Leche Oat Bars from The Sparrow's Home

Dulce de Leche Oat Bars - made June 7. 2024 from The Sparrow's Home 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups oats

1 can dulce de leche

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and brown sugar. Add egg and vanilla; beat to combine.
3. Add baking soda, salt, flour and oats, mixing until just combined.
4. Press half of the mixture in the bottom of prepared pan. 
5. Place dulce de leche in a microwave-safe bowl and heat until just spreadable, 30-45 seconds.
6. Spread dulce de leche in an even layer over oat layer, leaving a small border around the edges. Drop small pieces of remaining dough over the dulce de leche, pressing in gently.
7. Bake for 23-28 minutes, until top is golden brown. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

When I send out care packages to deployed military service members, I typically do a combination of brownies and various types of cookies. Summertime gets a little more tricky as I'm often sending it to desert-climate countries in triple-degree heat so whatever I send has to withstand extreme temperatures and long mailing times. 

Brownies typically still work fine as long as you don't do any cream cheese-type mixins. Dairy doesn't do well in high temps. I'm hoping dulce de leche does do well, although it's dairy, being that dulce de leche is caramelized sweetened condensed milk. I've been able to successfully send magic cookie bars which has sweetened condensed milk as a topping so fingers crossed that dulce de leche also holds up.

This is an oat bar with dulce de leche as a layer. You make the oat bars, spread half as the bottom layer, cover with dulce de leche then "crumble" the rest of the oat mixture on top. This is one bar cookie you don't want to underbake as part of the texture comes from baking it long enough for the oat topping to get a little crunch. Which then pairs nicely with the smooth creaminess of the dulce de leche.  

I thought this turned out pretty well as the sturdiness of the oat bar perfectly complemented the creamy sweetness of the dulce de leche. It does get slightly messy as the dulce de leche doesn't "set". It remains creamy. The advantage of dulce de leche over caramel is that the texture doesn't change when exposed to heat. Caramel can set and become hard or too chewy when exposed to baking heat but dulce de leche fares better. It doesn't necessarily make for the cleanest slices though so you may want to chill the whole bar before cutting if neatness matters to you. 

Crumbl Cookies review #72: Chocolate Toffee Cake and Cookies & Cream Cheesecake (tester)

Crumbl Cookies review #73: Chocolate Toffee Cake and Cookies & Cream Cheesecake (tester) - visited June 10, 2024

Chocolate Toffee Cake

I got two things from Crumbl this week and neither one was a cookie. I had already tried the Chocolate Milkshake (although back then they called it Chocolate Milk and that was a leftover flavor from last week) and I didn't want any of the other cookie flavors in this week's lineup.

I've been trying to keep an open mind about the non-cookie cake offerings since I enjoyed the Tres Leches one so much. Hope springs eternal that Crumbl will release something equally as good. But, alas, the Chocolate Toffee Cake is not it.

Much as I (surprisingly) liked the whipped cream topping on the Tres Leches Cake, I didn't like it on the Chocolate Toffee Cake. I dislike whipped cream on cakes because you technically should be refrigerating anything with whipped cream. But when you refrigerate a cake, it'll have a dry mouthfeel. The Tres Leches avoids this by being soaked in three milks. The chocolate toffee cake does not.

I found the cake dry when it was chilled and when I let it come to room temperature, it was better but then I didn't like the texture of the room temperature whipped cream. The cake itself also wasn't that special. At the risk of sounding snobby (and let's face it, I'm a baking snob), this is something I - and probably most people - can make on their own. No need to pay $5.98 ($4.49 for the single cookie price + $1.49 upcharge for the cake) for a simple chocolate cake that was neither spectacularly rich or fudgy.

What also killed this cake for me was something I thought I would like the most and that was the caramel. It was too pale and a bit grainy, signs that it hadn't been cooked long enough to get the real caramelization and flavor. I don't know if my store didn't cook it long enough or if this is just how Crumbl corporate directs them to make it. My store rarely makes mistakes though so it literally could be either. But the caramel didn't save the cake and actually detracted from it by being undercooked.

Cookies and Cream Cheesecake

Last week, I don't think there was a tester, at least none that I saw when I checked last Wednesday. Surprisingly, when I randomly checked this past Monday, my store did have a test offering on both Monday and Tuesday. So I don't know if this is a one-off or if Crumbl is no longer doing testing on Wednesdays but letting the store decide. 

Either way, against my better judgment (let's hear it for sweet-tooth greed), I got this Cookies and Cream Cheesecake tester. It's against my better judgment simply because I don't like cheesecake. Cream cheese is too tangy for me and cheesecakes aren't worth the calories to me. So this probably isn't fair for me to review because of my anti-cheesecake bias. As objectively as possible, I'll say if you like cheesecake, this might be worth it to you. You can't go wrong with an Oreo cookie crust. The cheesecake itself was a little firm; I think I would've preferred it to be a little softer and smoother but that's a personal preference.

Because I'm not a cheesecake person, I haven't eaten enough cheesecakes to be that discerning about it. Was it the best cheesecake I've ever had? No. It wasn't the worst either but I don't think I've had more than a dozen cheesecakes in my life. For me, this is tangy and I just don't enjoy the tang of cream cheese. I can take it in cream cheese frosting if you put enough sugar in it to counter the tang but not in an actual cheesecake. For Crumbl and cheesecake fans, the $5.98 (again, single cookie price + $1.49 upcharge) might be worth it. For me, it was not. I'm glad I tried it so I can make an informed opinion about it but this isn't something I'd get again. 

Everything Brownie Cookies from Cookie Madness

Everything Brownie Cookies - made dough May 13, 2024 from Cookie Madness

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 2/3 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt plus a pinch

6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup (50 grams) brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/3 cup light corn syrup

5 Oreos, chopped into chunks

1 1/2 cups mix of dark chocolate and white chocolate chips

Any other add ins you prefer (toffee bits, cookies and cream bars, etc)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the top half of a double boiler set over hot water, melt unsweetened chocolate, stirring until smooth and completely melted. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the cooled melted chocolate and mix to combine. Beat in the corn syrup and vanilla until combined. Add egg and beat until just combined. Scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl to keep mixture even textured.
5. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed until just combined and no floury streaks remain. Fold in chocolate chips and Oreo chunks. 
6. Portion dough into golf-ball size dough balls and flatten slightly. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Let rest on baking sheets for several minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. 

If you want an excellent fudgy cookie that isn't cakey, look no further. This reminds me of the chocolate cookie from Levain Bakery in NYC or, as I like to call it, "baked fudge". It's a little rich so I'm glad I made them small but the white chocolate helps cut some of the fudgy richness.

Whenever you bake with white chocolate, if you don't want them browned from baking, tuck the white chocolate pieces inside the cookie dough balls and, as soon as you take them out of the oven, press a few white chocolate chunks gently over the top of the baked cookies. Then let set and cool.

The only thing you have to watch with these is to actually time them since it's hard to tell by appearance if they're done. Err on the side of underbaking rather than fully baking or overbaking as chocolate sets once it cools and that'll give you the fudgy texture.

Crumbl Cookies review #72: Coconut Cream Pie Cookie

Crumbl Cookies review #72: Coconut Cream Pie Cookie - visited June 4, 2024

I love coconut; coconut cream pie is one of the few custard-y pies I actually like, mostly because of the filling. When it comes to Crumbl, their banana cream pie cookie is still one of my favorites. So I had high hopes for the coconut cream pie cookie as well.

Alas, my hopes were dashed when I ate the actual cookie. The filling itself was good, albeit I scraped off most of the whipped cream topping as I still don't like whipped cream. But I liked the coconut custard.

No, what ruined this cookie for me was the crust. Either it had been overbaked or else Crumbl didn't use the same pie shell recipe as they had for the banana cream pie. My taste buds aren't the most discerning in the world but the mouthfeel was so dry that I wonder if they've started using shortening or - ugh - margarine instead of butter in their pie shell? Cheaper ingredients and it shows. Dry, dry, dry. Plus the taste of the cookie shell just wasn't good. It lacked flavor, hence why I think there's less butter or butter has been substituted for something more inferior.

I really wanted to like this cookie. To the point that, in case I just got a bad one and it was simply overbaked and that I should try again, I'm tempted to get another one later this week and see if it's any better. I have until tomorrow to decide since this is on the menu until tomorrow (reminder that Crumbl is closed on Sundays) but right now my inclination is "no". If that really is how this cookie is supposed to be, I don't want to waste not only another $5 but the calories just aren't worth it.