Stamped Cookies #9 (Hello Kitty cookies)

Stamped Cookies #9 - made dough October 26, 2021 from If You Give a Blonde a Kitchen 

3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup shortening

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 tablespoons milk

2 teaspoons vanilla

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together shortening and sugar until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beat in egg, milk and vanilla until just combined. Add in flour mixture in 2 additions, beating on low speed, until just combined after each addition. Do not overbeat.
3. Form dough into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least one hour.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Portion chilled dough into balls about 1 1/2" in diameter. Slightly flatten the balls and stamp with a flour-dusted stamp.
6. Evenly space on prepared baking sheets and bake for 8 - 10 minutes or until edges are golden. Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

My cookie stamping interest obsession continues. I bought these Hello Kitty stamps awhile back with the idea of doing a Hello Kitty-themed care packaged for my friends with kids. I finally got a chance to use them when a good friend mentioned how much her daughter likes sweets and cats. Serendipity.

I wanted to try this recipe since it's made with shortening, rather than butter, and past experience has shown me that cookies made with shortening tend to spread less and have a more crisp texture. I'm not convinced that taste-wise, shortening is better than butter (it isn't) but I really wanted the Hello Kitty impressions to still be distinct even after baking.

One thing I've found with trying out various recipes for cookie stamping is they'll almost all show beautiful impressions from the stamps when you press them into the dough. But the true test is how the cookies will look after baking. Too often, the impressions aren't as sharp or clear as before baking.

This dough turned out to be a little fragile and I wonder if I should've used more flour in it. I went by the weight measurements of the original recipe which are supposed to be more accurate. But the dough was soft, even after chilling, and a bit fragile. The sharp-eyed among you will notice the Hello Kitty in the bottom left of the picture below is missing her (stage) left arm. Yeah, that must've fallen off when I put them in the freezer. 

You definitely want to freeze these first and handle carefully. Then bake at initial high heat to let the cookies set and not spread so you can keep the impressions as clear as possible. With this dough, it's best to use cookie stamps that don't have a lot of intricate detail as those might blur out in baking. 

This kept the Hello Kitty impressions pretty well but I'm not sure it would work with more intricately detailed cookie stamps.

As for taste, when I first ate a taste test cookie while it was still a little warm, I thought it was "okay". I was missing the butter. I had used butter-flavored shortening but that's not the same as real butter.

However, when I ate another cookie at room temperature, I liked it much better. The texture was crisp and the taste was pretty good. And okay, I also used two cookies and sandwiched them with cookie butter. But I swear, the cookies themselves also tasted better at room temperature.

The final step was to vacuum seal them so they would arrive in fairly good shape. I made two cookie sandwiches, sandwiched with Nutella, but left the rest plain to leave it up to my friend's daughter how she'd best like to consume them.  

Apple Pie #2

Apple Pie #2 - made October 3, 2021 from, pie crust from Little Spoon Farm and filling from Chew Out Loud

All-Butter Pie Crust

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into small cubes

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 cup cold water, plus 1 ice cube

2 teaspoons vinegar

1. Drop an ice cube into a measuring cup and fill the measuring cup with water up to the 1/2 cup mark. Add 2 teaspoons of white vinegar; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, sugar and butter cubes. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with two knives or a pastry cutter until the mixture forms large crumbs.
3. Add water, a few tablespoons at a time, into the flour-butter mixture and toss with a fork until the dough is evenly moist. 
4. Use your hands to quickly bring the dough together in the bowl. Do not overwork the dough.
5. Divide the dough in half and flatten into disks. Wraps the disks separately in plastic wrap; chill in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

Filling

1/2 cup butter

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3 tablespoons water with 2 teaspoons cornstarch fully dissolved in it

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

2 teaspoons cinnamon

dash nutmeg

8 Granny Smith apples, peeled and sliced

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan. Whisk in flour to form a roux. Add water with dissolved cornstarch, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg, whisking to combine. Bring to a boil then immediately reduce to barely simmer. Keep sauce warm while rolling out the pie crust.
2. Reserve 1/4 cup of the butter sauce.
3. In a large bowl toss the apple slices with the remaining sauce, coating completely.
4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
5. Roll out bottom pie crust into a 9-inch pie pan. Brush with beaten egg white. Fill with coated apple slices, mounding in the center. Roll out top pie crust and cover apples. Seal and crimp the edges together. Cut several slits in top crust. Brush with remaining butter sauce and lightly sprinkle with coarse sugar and a dusting of cinnamon.
6. Place pie pan over baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F and bake another 35-45 minutes or until crust is golden and apples are soft. If crust is browning too quickly, cover lightly with foil. Cool completely before serving.

This is my second attempt in recent months at making pie crust. You'd think I'd get better with a little practice, right? Well, welcome  to attempt #2 which, sadly, turned out worse than attempt #1.

I thought I was getting smarter about pie crusts and was sure the crust on Apple Pie #1 was so difficult because I hadn't added enough water. So I turned to a new crust recipe and a new filling recipe for this one. Plus I got cute new pie tools that made embossed pie crust strips. What could go wrong? 

*Raises hand*. I, I could go wrong. And I did. In an attempt to (over)compensate for the dry pie dough last time, I added more water. So much more, in fact, that even the little handling I tried to do made the pie dough not so much sticky as develop the gluten. Which you don't want to do when you're trying to make a flaky crust. Fail.

You also apparently don't want to have pretty pie impressions on your crust when your filling recipe calls for you brushing it over the unbaked pie crust and having it be so thick that it obliterates the impressions anyway. Plus pie dough is unlike shortbread cookie dough and doesn't lend itself well to small, intricate designs stamped on it. Like of cute little apples.

My third fail with what I did to this pie was to bake it in a cast iron pie pan. That sounded reasonable enough and I like baking with cast iron (sort of). But I had to bake this so long until the apple filling was soft enough that the crust hardened in the cast iron pie pan. Note to self: pie crust, flaky or not, doesn’t do well in cast iron. Maybe they do for other people but it didn't work for me. How do I know? I got the hint when I had to use a knife to cut the bottom crust. Not the knife to slice a piece of pie out of the whole pie. But a knife to cut the piece of pie so I could lift it with my fork and eat it. Let that sink in.

As a side note: the recipes themselves were fine so feel free to try them on your own. I just need to execute better on them. Dammit, I refuse to be beaten by pie. I'll be back again with attempt #3.

Honey Garlic Glazed Pork Loin

Honey Garlic Glazed Pork Loin - made October 29, 2021 from Diethood

3-lb pork loin

1 tablespoon olive oil

Spice Rub

1 teaspoon sweet paprika

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1/2 teaspoon onion powder

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

salt and fresh ground pepper, to taste

Honey Garlic Glaze

4 cloves garlic, minced

1/4 cup honey

3 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and set aside. 
2. Pat pork loin dry with paper towels.
3. Spice rub: in a small mixing bowl, combine paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, thyme, rosemary, salt and pepper.
4. Lightly spray pork loin with cooking spray. Rub spice mix all over pork loin, coating as much as possible.
5. Heat olive oil over medium heat and sear pork loin until browned on all sides, about 3 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer pork loin to prepared baking sheet, fat layer side up; set aside.
6. In a bowl, combine garlic, honey, soy sauce, mustard and olive oil; whisk until well combined. If too thick, add a little more oil or soy sauce. Brush mixture over pork loin. Roast for 55-60 minutes or until inside temperature reaches 145 degrees F. If pork is browning too quickly, loosely tent with foil on top.
7. Remove from oven and let rest for 10 minutes. Slice and serve warm.

Pork loin seems to be one of the easier proteins to cook with, at least for me. It doesn't take long to cook and flavors well with the right spices or marinade.

The hardest part of this recipe isn't hard at all. And that's searing the pork loin before baking it. You rub the spice mixture into the tenderloins, sear over high heat then place in a baking dish, pour the sauce over it and bake until done.

This turned out really tender and the sauce had a great flavor. An easy weeknight meal if you need something tasty and no-fuss.

Chewy Oatmeal Blondies

Chewy Oatmeal Blondies - made October 23, 2021 from Paris Loves Pastry 

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until just combined. Add flour mixture in two additions, beating on low speed after each addition. Mix in 3/4 cup of oats. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top.
4. Sprinkle remaining oats, pressing gently to adhere. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, not raw batter, 30 to 35 minutes. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

These were good for what they are: an oatmeal blondie, easy to make, easy to package and would survive well in mailing.

That said, I'm not sure I loved them. In fairness, I only ate a sliver so maybe that wasn't enough for a proper taste test. I didn't want to eat a whole piece since I was mailing these off in military care packages and my (jaded) taste buds usually don't need more than a sliver. I taste enough to make sure they turned out and were good enough to send to others.

Which these were. If you want a sturdy, care package bar cookie, these work well. The original recipe called for making these plain but I added chocolate chips for a little extra flavor. I do like the direction in the recipe to sprinkle some of the oats over the bar cookie before baking. That way the oats don't get lost in the batter during baking and you can clearly see what these are: oatmeal bars.

Bakery Review: Naughty Cake from Misha's Cupcakes

Naughty Cake from Misha's Cupcakes - ordered via Gold Belly on October 14, 2021 

A recent trend in decadent desserts is to throw a bunch of different things together into one dessert. Think of it as a sweet version of turducken only instead of a chicken, turkey and a duck mashing together, you've got multiple layers of different cake flavors filled and frosted into one cake with cookies and brownies decorating the outside. Thus you have the Naughty Cake from Misha's Cupcakes.

Or if you want to be more accurate, the description on Gold Belly is: This naughty 6-inch, 5-pound cake has layers of chocolatey brownie, a chocolate chip cookie layer, red velvet cake and Oreo cake, and it's topped with dark chocolate ganache and garnished with Oreo and chocolate chip cookies.

Whew. That's a lot of sweets in one dessert. So naturally, it caught my eye and me wanted the Precious. However, my inner Smeagol beat back Gollum for quite some time because this 4-layer, 6-inch cake costs $99. I can justify and rationalize almost anything to do with sweets and supporting a small business but even for me, that was a little too extra. 

So thank goodness for Gold Belly sales! They had a 1-day sale and this was $30 off. Okay, that brought it just within my price-rationalizing range of $69, shipped. Done.

One early word of warning though: don't order if you're allergic to styrofoam. As you can see from the pictures, that's what it comes packed in, not just dry ice. Which I found surprising as I didn't think vendors shipped perishables in styrofoam packing peanuts anymore. With dry ice packets and air packets, yes, but not styrofoam. I know people who are allergic to styrofoam so this gift wouldn't do for them. 

As for the cake itself, I have a mixed review. I liked three of the four layers. The one layer I didn't care for was the chocolate chip cookie layer. Unlike the other layers, it's meant to be like those chocolate chip cookie cakes some people are so fond of. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people. Never have been. If I want a chocolate chip cookie, I'd rather have an actual cookie, not a cake version of it. So that layer didn't work for me. It was also a bit dry.

The other three layers, as proper cake layers, were absolutely fantastic. I can't pick a favorite as they were all good: perfect cakey texture, moist, good flavor. One of the layers was supposed to be a brownie layer but it was light and more like a chocolate cake. Either way, I still liked it.

The brownie garnishes on top of the cake were more like proper brownies with a dense fudgy texture. I also enjoyed those. The mini chocolate chip cookies garnished around and on top of the cake, not quite so much. Again a little dry.

Overall, I think I liked the concept of this cake more than the actual cake. Perhaps because I've become more of a purist and am not into multiple combinations of dessert or I prefer simpler baked goods but this kind of cake is a bit too much for me. I'm glad I tried it as now I know and it is an impressive cake to give and share with a crowd. I thought the 6-inch size would only serve a few but given the 4 layers of cake, you could probably share this with a good 8-10 of your friends or even more people.

Smoked Gouda Carbonara

Smoked Gouda Carbonara - made October 22, 2021 from Food and Wine 

1 pound spaghetti

5 large egg yolks

1 large egg

1 cup (4 ounces) finely shredded Gouda, plus more for serving

kosher salt

black pepper

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

6 ounces slab bacon, finely diced

3/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1. In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook the pasta until al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.
2. In a large bowl, beat the egg yolks with the whole egg, the 1 cup of Gouda, 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 2 teaspoons of black pepper. Very gradually whisk in 1/2 cup of the reserved cooking water to temper the eggs.
3. In the large pot, heat the olive oil. Add the bacon and cook over moderate heat until rendered but not crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Add the pasta, crushed red pepper and 1/4 cup of the reserved pasta cooking water.
4. Cook, tossing, until the pasta is coated, 1 to 2 minutes. Scrape the pasta mixture into the large bowl and toss vigorously until creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Add more cooking water if needed. Season with salt and pepper. Divide the pasta into bowls and serve, adding more Gouda as desired.

I think I almost broke my arm patting myself on the back on how well this turned out. And before you think that's quite immodest, remember my cooking skills are very rudimentary. Which is a nice-to-myself way of saying not giving myself food poisoning is success. Yes, my bar is that low because, also yes, I have accidentally given myself food poisoning with a dish I once made (that "best by" date on a carton of sour cream at that time was wrong, btw). Thankfully I was the only one who ate it. But still, that's why my expectations aren't high when it comes  to cooking. 

So I was very happy that I successfully made carbonara without the eggs ending up being scrambled. This made a rich, thick sauce coating, not too much sauce but not too little either. The pasta ended up absorbing most of the sauce but it wasn't dry. Still, you might want to err on the side of using less pasta.

The key to carbonara is having everything in place so you can toss the pasta with the sauce while everything is hot. It's the heat from the just-boiled pasta and the hot pasta water tempered into the egg mixture that will cook the eggs. And by cooking, I mean thickening, not scrambling. The hot water has to be tempered into the egg mixture or you risk scrambling the eggs. The heat from the noodles should be hot enough to thicken the egg mixture if you toss them right away. Don't let them cool or the eggs won't cook enough to thicken and you'll just be left with eggy mixture and an increased risk of food poisoning. The smoked Gouda also adds a nice creaminess to the sauce.