Brown Sugar Refrigerator Cookies

Brown Sugar Refrigerator Cookies - made dough October 25, 2022 from Golde's Homemade Cookies by Golde Hoffman Soloway 

1 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg, beaten slightly

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup nuts, chopped, optional

1. In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix to combine. Whisk the flour and baking soda together then add to creamed mixture, mixing until just combined. Add vanilla and mix to combine. Fold in nuts if using.
2. Shape dough into 2-inch thick logs, about 12 inches long. Wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill or freeze.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
4. Slice logs into 1/4-inch thick slices and evenly space on baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until golden. remove to wire rack to cool.

I thought these would be distressingly plain and they kind of are. Or at least they would be if you ignored the random brown sugar splotches in some of the cookies, a sure sign there were brown sugar lumps in the dough that melted during baking.

Rookie issue, right? But, in my defense, my brown sugar bag must've had some kind of air hole in it (thanks, Target) so the brown sugar dried more quickly. I didn't want to throw the bag out so I microwaved it slightly and broke up as many hard, dry lumps as I could before adding to the butter and beating the heck out of it. As you can see, I didn't get them all.

However, the saving grace of these cookies is they tasted pretty good. Light, airy and crisp with a great brown sugar flavor. Yes, they're plain and would blush against fancy cookies plus they spread more than I liked but they're good if you want plain and delicious. They would also be good as sandwich cookies with a vanilla, Nutella or cookie butter filling.

Another Arroz Caldo recipe

Another Arroz Caldo recipe - made October 26, 2022 modified from Salu Salo

2 pounds skinless chicken thighs, cut into chunks
salt and pepper
2 tablespoon olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 thumb-size ginger, cut into strips
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon fish sauce
1 1/2 cups uncooked rice, washed and drained
1/8 teaspoon saffron
7 cups chicken stock
4 soft-boiled eggs
chopped green onion, for garnish

1. Season chicken pieces with salt and pepper. 
2. Heat oil in heavy pan over medium heat. Fry garlic until browned then add onion and ginger. Cook, stirring constantly, until onion is softened.
3. Add chicken and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until meat is no longer pink.
4. Add fish sauce and stir. Add rice and saffron. Stir to combine.
5. Add chicken stock and stir. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30 minutes or until chicken is tender and rice is cooked. If mixture becomes too thick, add more water or chicken stock as needed.
6. Add soft boiled eggs. Season with taste with fish sauce or salt. Serve hot, garnished with chopped green onion and lemon wedges.

I modified this slightly as I only had bone-in chicken thighs, not boneless, and I didn't have any onions, not even a dusting of onion power in my Penzey's spice drawer. And I'd given my jar of saffron to my mom. Plus I didn't have any green onions on hand or any fresh ginger, just powdered ginger. Okay, fine, I modified it more than slightly.

Fortunately, unlike my sweet tooth which insists on picky heights of culinary dessert snobbery, my bar for savory foods is much, much lower. As in, arroz caldo, or Filipino rice porridge with chicken and soft-boiled eggs, is a perennial favorite and it's hard to make it badly. Even my culinary talents extend to cooking chicken and rice in (powdered)ginger-infused chicken broth and letting it boil until aforementioned chicken and rice are done. Comfort food at its finest.

Triple Chocolate Oreo Cookies from Crazy for Crust

Triple Chocolate Oreo Cookies - made dough October 23, 2022 from Crazy for Crust

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

8-10 Oreos, chopped, about 1 1/2 cups

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla and eggs, mixing until just combined.
2. Beat in melted chocolate and cocoa powder until just combined. Add salt, baking soda and flour, mixing on low speed until just combined. Stir in milk chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate chips and chopped Oreos, until evenly dispersed.
3. Portion dough into golf-ball-sized dough balls, cover and chill for 1 hour or more.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space dough balls. Bake 8-9 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Mine didn't look as good or as chubby as the ones on Dorothy's (Crazy for Crust) blog but I imagine they tasted the same because her recipes are always good and so were these cookies.

Light and crisp at the edges and satisfyingly chocolatey-chewy in the middle. I could've made them more dressy by pressing Oreos chunks and chocolate chips on the outside once they came out of the oven but since I was packaging these for mailing, it was better to keep the chunks and chips inside the cookies.

Chewy Brownies from Bigger Bolder Baking

Chewy Brownies - made October 26, 2022 from Bigger Bolder Baking

1 cup (8 ounces, 2 sticks) butter, melted

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (177 grams) dark brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (227) granulated sugar

4 large eggs

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (142 grams) all-purpose flour

1 cup (115 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, mix melted butter, oil, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla on high speed with an electric hand mixer or on medium high speed in a stand mixer.
3. Add flour, cocoa powder and salt, mixing on low speed until just combined. Fold in half of the chocolate chunks.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Generously top with remaining chocolate chunks.
5. Bake 45-50 minutes or until toothpick inserted near center of brownies come out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

You know how I've been waiting and waiting until the weather cools down before I put in a bulk order for unsweetened chocolate so it could survive the mail without arriving as a melted mess? Well, it finally cooled down enough for me to order but when I went back to my usual sources for high quality unsweetened chocolate, it was to find they've all gone markedly up in price. As in, I'm better off financially buying Bakers unsweetened chocolate from Target, 4 ounces at a time, for a few bucks than trying to buy 5 lbs of unsweetened chocolate for $100. Eek. All that waiting for nought.

Fortunately, I found this recipe from Bigger Bolder Baking that uses unsweetened cocoa powder and is amazingly like my go-to brownie recipe in terms of rich chocolate flavor and firm, dense, fudgy-but-not-fudge texture. Seriously, the pictures don't do this one justice. 

I'm thrilled I have an alternate recipe for great brownies that uses cocoa powder. I'm usually skeptical of cocoa-powder-only brownies as they tend to be more cakey or not taste as good. But this one breaks all my prejudices against cocoa brownies. Honestly, it was so good I made it twice in one week for care packages. Plus it bakes up nice and thick as well. If you don't want to break the bank on buying high quality unsweetened chocolate, this is a perfect alternative. Further plus is unsweetened cocoa powder (the good kind) isn't as expensive and is easier to source as fair trade. 

Dream Cake Bars

Dream Cake Bars - made October 24, 2022 from Golde's Homemade Cookies by Golde Hoffman Soloway

Pastry

1 cup all-purpose flour, sifted

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 tablespoons brown sugar

Topping

2 eggs

1 cup brown sugar, packed

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (I used toasted almonds)

3/4 cup coconut, shredded

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 x 8 pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, mix flour, butter and 2 tablespoons brown sugar. Knead into light dough. Press gently into pan and bake for 10 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the eggs lightly with a fork. Add the remaining topping ingredients and mix thoroughly. Spread topping over partially baked pastry. Return pan to oven and bake an additional 25-30 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before cutting.

I'm still making my way through this particular baking book I've had forever and rarely used. So far the recipes have just been "okay". Not bad, not particularly excellent but literally "okay".

I had hoped this one would break the okay barrier since it has the elements I like in a bar cookie: shortbread crust, brown sugar and coconut. I substituted toasted almonds for the walnuts since I don't like walnuts so as to increase its chances of meeting the approval of my picky taste buds.

Alas, to no avail. They weren't bad but they weren't spectacular either. The brown sugar flavor was good and I like the coconut-almond combination. The shortbread crust was a bit too floury and dry rather than being shortbread like the crust on my favorite lemon bar recipe. So this still goes into the "okay" column in my book.

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies - made dough October 19, 2022 from Everything Chocolate by America's Test Kitchen

1 1/4 cups (6 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups (3 3/4 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

1 cup (4 ounces) dried sour cherries, chopped

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chip-size

12 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 ounces) packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. 
2. In another bowl, stir together oats, pecans, sour cherries sand chocolate chunks.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until combined, about 1 minute, scraping down sides of bowl as needed.
4. Add egg and vanilla; beat until combined. On low speed, add flour mixture and beat until just combined. Add oat mixture and beat until just incorporated.
5. Portion dough into 1/4 cup measures and roll into balls. Flatten slightly with bottom of glass. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough balls. Bake until edges have set and middles no longer look raw, 20-22 minutes. Let rest on baking sheets to 5 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

I substituted toffee bits for the dried sour cherries in these cookies. Since I was mailing them in care packages that would likely take 2-4 weeks to arrive, I didn't want to risk using fruit, even if dried, in case they turned moldy on the trip. Toffee bits are safer for longevity.

These did not make pretty, uniform cookies as you can see. They strike that "homemade" look given how misshapen some of them are. The dough was a little soft when I portioned into dough balls and I wasn't going for the perfect cookie look so I hadn't bothered  to make them perfectly round smooth dough balls, something that's hard to do with oats in the dough anyway.

But don't let appearances fool you as these were really quite good. Not too sweet, a good amount of chewiness and, for those of you who don't like cinnamon which is often used to spice oatmeal cookies, this recipe doesn't have any so all you get is buttery, brown sugary goodness and caramelized oatmeal and chocolate flavor.

I omitted the pecans in the recipe since I don't believe in nuts in most cookies but you could also add them for a little more crunch and flavor. Otherwise, this is a good, straightforward oatmeal cookie. They do spread a bit though so don't look for thick or soft cookies from this one.

Stamped Cookies #24 - Apple Cider Springerle Cookies

Apple Cider Springerle Cookies - made October 24, 2022 from Gingerhaus Springerle

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar 

1/2 cup white sugar 

1 egg 

1 teaspoon vanilla 

1 teaspoon cinnamon 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

3 instant apple cider packets (0.74 ounces each) 

3 cups all-purpose flour 

1. Cream butter and sugars together. Add egg, vanilla, cinnamon, salt, and baking powder. Mix well. 
2. Add the three packets of instant apple cider mix. Mix until well combined. 
3. Add the flour and continue mixing until all ingredients are incorporated. 
4. Dust the surface of your counter and rolling pin with flour and roll out the dough to a thickness of approximately 1/2 inch. 
5. Dust the surface of your dough and your cookie mold with flour. Press the mold into the dough just far enough down to fill the mold cavity. Remove your mold and cut out the cookie. You do not need to brush off the excess flour on the top of your cookie. 
6. Place your cookies on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. 
7. Chill your cookie sheet full of molded cookies for at least 1/2 hour in the fridge. 
8. Take your cookie sheet out of the fridge and immediately place it on the center rack of a preheated 375℉ oven. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Remove the cookies when the bottoms are just beginning to turn brown. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before removing. 

Although I've found a great recipe for cookie stamp cookies in Susan's Favorite Recipe, I still can't resist trying out new ones. This recipe is from the same Facebook group and I've seen it posted in other places as well but I'm giving credit to Gingerhaus Springerle as that's the closest source I've been able to trace it to.

I also wanted to try out my new Navy stamp from Kitchen Vixen as I had selected a deployed service member in the Navy for one of my care packages (the other one is a Marine as you can see from the other stamped cookies). Since it's now fall, apple cider cookies also seemed appropriate to send for a "taste of home".

The dough was pretty easy to work with and you can see how well the impressions stayed after baking. I don't like to make the cookies too thin with these stamps as they're harder to remove from the stamp without breaking if they're too thin. But it does mean you also have to bake them just right. If underbaked too much, the impressions sink into the more doughy cookie and you lose some detail. Bake them too long and they get too hard. I try to bake them long enough for the edges to get golden and the middles to not look so raw.

Flavor-wise. if you like apple cider, these are great cookies. I'm not a huge apple cider fan but I didn't mind the flavor. The texture is probably one of the best I've tried so far with stamped cookies. The edges were crisp and the middle was soft but not too soft. Overall, I was pretty happy with these.

Cookies and Cream Bars from Kroll's Korner

Cookies and Cream Bars - made October 20, 2022 from Kroll's Korner 

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 (1.55 oz) Hershsey's Cookies n Creme Bars, chopped

15 Oreos, divided, roughly chopped

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, cake flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes.
4. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract, mixing until just combined. Add dry ingredients in two additions, mixing until just combined after each addition.
5. Fold in Cookies n Creme chopped bars, 2/3 of chopped Oreos and mini chocolate chips. Spread batter into prepared pan in an even layer. Top with remaining chopped Oreos.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool completely before cutting and serving. 

Although I prefer Oreos in their original form, I often gravitate towards "cookies and cream" recipes, whether as cookies or in bar form. Bars are easy to package and ship so this seemed like a good one to try.

I've tried several good recipes from Kroll's Korner and this was no exception. I didn't have Hershey Cookies n Cream bars so I just used white chocolate chips, semisweet chocolate  chips and chopped Oreos for the cookies-n-cream flavor and they worked just fine.

The batter was thick and I only baked it for 20 minutes as the recipe directed and that was made for a perfect "fudgy" texture, not too mushy or raw and not dry. Overall, another winner from Kroll's Korner. I'm going to need to try the cookie version as well.