Toasted Hazelnut Slice 'n Bake Cookies

Toasted Hazelnut Slice 'n Bake Cookies - made dough September 23, 2017 from Sally's Baking Addiction

We’re getting into that time of year where I start thinking about holiday desserts. Wait. That’s a lie. I started thinking about holiday desserts long before now, especially since this year I decided to hold my not-so-annual holiday dessert party again. Plus I’m hosting a family dessert gathering two weeks after that. So it’s time to plan ahead and start the dessert lineup of what I want to serve.

When I make so many desserts for a party, I like to do a mix of easy, do-ahead treats as well as something fancy, may-require-last-minute baking or preparation. I’m testing out these cookies and they fall into the first category. Anything “slice ‘n bake” will almost inevitably do that since, by definition, you can make them ahead of time, pop into the freezer until you need them, then even when you’re ready to bake, all you have to do is (typically) thaw them slightly then slice and bake. No messing about with forming them into any shape, no using cookie shapers or cutters, just you, the cookie log, a sharp knife and a parchment-lined baking sheet.

As always, toast the nuts and let cool completely before incorporating into the dough. That brings out the flavor and adds a little more crunch to your finished cookie. Try to make the cookie logs as evenly shaped and sized to each other as possible from end to end. No tapered ends, no chunky middle. You want each slice of cookie to be as uniform as possible to its cookie brethren.

If you go the sandwich cookie route like I did, this makes it easy to match same-shape cookies for your sandwich cookies. Since this was a hazelnut cookie, the obvious filling to use was Nutella. You could also use cookie butter if you choose. There’s no going wrong with either.

I liked these cookies. The hazelnuts added a nice crunch, as expected, and the cinnamon provided a good flavor, not to mention contributed to the heavenly aroma while these were baking. For once, resist the temptation to underbake them because you do want them baked enough to be crunchy. If you underbake, they won’t have the “snap” to them and will be more chewy. Not necessarily a bad thing but I liked them a little crunchy. The Nutella filling provides a nice smooth-texture contrast to the crunchy cookie.

3/4 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup toasted and finely chopped hazelnuts, divided
coarse sugar for rolling, optional
8 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

1. In a large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for 1 minute on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the brown sugar and beat on medium high until fluffy and creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until combined.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk flour, cinnamon and salt until combined. On low speed, gradually add into wet ingredients until just combined. Beat in 3/4 cup chopped hazelnuts.
3. Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and, with floured hands, divide in half. Shape each half into an 8-inch log, about 2.5 inches in diameter. Tightly wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator at last 4 hours or up to 5 days.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Remove logs from refrigerator and roll in coarse sugar, if desired. Slice each log into 12 equally thick cookies and place evenly on baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until brown around the edges. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer cookies to cooling rack to cool completely.
6. Melt the chopped milk chocolate in the top half of a double boiler set over hot water. Whisk until smooth and completely melted. Dip half of each cooled cookie in melted chocolate and place on parchment paper. Sprinkle with remaining chopped hazelnuts. Let cool until chocolate has set.

Nutella Lava Cookies

Nutella Lava Cookies - made dough September 30, 2017 from Gastro Senses

Do you want a shot of pure chocolate with no messing around? Tempered with an additional shot of Nutella in the same bite? Look no further and break out that mixing bowl. Here you go.

Roll dough into balls first

Make indents in the center and fit the frozen Nutella over the indent

The name of these cookies does not lie. This really is Nutella “lava” when you bite into this cookie. But I’m getting ahead of myself. First, let me give you the tips and tricks to make this the cookie of your chocoholic-dazed fantasies.

Chill the Nutella. You can skip this step if it’s cool enough where you live that your Nutella is more like fudge than liquid gold. But I’d recommend chilling for at least an hour so that the Nutella is firm enough that you can scoop it into round balls with a small ice cream scoop. I didn’t chill mine so when I spooned it out onto parchment paper prior to putting in the freezer to solidify, the scoops spread into flat ovals rather than remaining round balls of Nutella goodness. You want round so that when you cover it with the cookie dough, you also have round cookie dough balls. They will spread a bit in baking so the more round to start with, the better.

I omitted the chocolate chips from the recipe because I wanted a soft texture with no interference from the firmness of chocolate chips. The better to sink my teeth into a fudgy cookie with a soft, flowy Nutella center. It’s also critical not to overbake these. I know I always say that but I also always mean it. The first pan I baked just a fraction too long. The cookies weren’t dry but they were more cakey at the edges than I cared for. The second batch I snatched out of the oven when the first cracks appeared at the edges and the middles no longer looked raw or shiny. They were perfect.

This is not a cookie for the dainty. Because once you take a good bite out of the middle, that Nutella will flow. It won’t drip but it won’t necessarily stay in place either. You might have to lick your chops a time or two. But it’s worth the sacrifice.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
1 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
24 tablespoons Nutella, chilled
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus more for topping, optional

1. Scoop 24 tablespoons of Nutella onto a sheet of parchment paper. Freeze for 1 hour or until solid.
2. Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. In another large bowl, cream butter until soft and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add both sugars and cream together another 2-3 minutes.
4. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until just combined. Gradually mix in cocoa powder on low speed.
5. Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
6. Scoop dough into portions about 1/4 cup size and, using your hands, roll into 24 dough balls. Using the curved side of a teaspoon, make indents in the center of the dough balls and place frozen Nutella scoops in the middle.
7. Working quickly, cover the Nutella scoops completely inside by pulling the dough and forming balls. Press additional chocolate chips on top of the dough balls and sprinkle with sea salt if desired. Freeze for another hour.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and evenly space frozen dough balls 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
9. Bake for 12 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Gateau Basque

Basque Cake - made (again) September 22, 2017 from the Culinary Institute of America

I've blogged about Basque Cake before but that was over 8 years ago and it's worth posting again as it's one of my favorites. But for something that's one of my favorite cakes, I don't make it very often. I've explained before because if I did, I would eat it. Well, yeah. Duh.

If you've made this Basque Cake before, you would understand both ends of the conundrum. It's delicious, especially if you're into buttery vanilla cakes with pastry cream inside. It's also a calorie bomb if you actually read the ingredients that got into it. A whole pound of butter for one large cake. Not counting the pastry cream and its plethora of artery-hardening ingredients. Meh, you only live once, right?

And if you don't want to weigh more than you should, you probably wouldn't make or eat this cake very often either. But whenever you do, enjoy it because it really is that good.

Basque Cake isn't hard to make. It just takes a little patience as it does involve a few extra steps. Such as making the pastry cream. I only make a half recipe from the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) recipe. It's so good. I don't even like many custard-type desserts but I could eat this pastry cream all day long. Yeah, I'd feel sick by the end of the day but what a way to go.

After you make the pastry cream and let it cool, you make the cake batter, pipe a bottom layer. cover with pastry cream and them pour the remaining batter over it. "Pour" is an overstatement though because this cake batter is really stiff. So it's more like spoon and spread evenly than pour.

Once you have it in the oven, your kitchen will be filled with fabulous scents of baking butter and vanilla. Resist the temptation to open the oven door as that lowers the temperature every time you open it. Also resist the temptation to take these out too soon. The original recipe if making the full-size cake is to bake it for at least an hour. If the top is getting too brown, cover lightly with foil but keep baking.

It's hard to tell when this cake is done because the toothpick test doesn't work well. The pastry cream in the center will make you think it's still raw but hey, it's cream. The cake part may also come out "clean" but the high butter ratio of this cake won't show any crumbs on the toothpick and instead it may just look shiny. Time it. When all is said and done, this is well worth any trouble. I like to make them into small cakes to make them easier to package up and give away. Because I can't have the whole cake/full recipe in my house. I'd eat it all.

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

1/2 recipe of pastry cream

1. Preheat oven to 325˚F – 350˚F. (lower temp if baking in a glass pan)
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 pastry cream. Spread evenly over mixture inside of outer ring, using small spatula or palette knife. Alternatively, spread mixture in pan instead of piping it.
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 (optional). 

Chewy Cafe-Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chewy Cafe-Style Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough September 22, 2017 from Host the Toast

This is a good, basic chocolate chip cookie. It has crisp edges, a chewy middle and a caramelized brown sugar flavor, all the elements you want in a chocolate chip cookie.

I'm not sure what else to say about it. I've made so many chocolate chip cookies over the course of my baking life that not all of them can stand out. It isn't a Levain Bakery copycat and it didn't stay particularly thick when baked. It did brown a bit more at the edges before the middles were baked enough than I normally care for but it's stilll a good cookie.

Perhaps I would've been more enthusiastic about it if I'd used milk chocolate chips or chunks instead of semisweet. But I was trying to mix it up so I used semisweet sweet.

To get the craggy look of the top, the recipe advises making a dough ball, tearing it in half and smushing the smooth bottoms side by side with the torn edges on top. I know many recipes do this trick to achieve that look. I'm indifferent to it. I'm an equal opportunity chocolate chip consumer when it comes to how it looks. Smooth topped or craggy, I'll eat them.

2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (6 ounces) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the cooled melted butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar for one minute. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract; beat until just combined.
3. Gradually add in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
4. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 30-60 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and scoop 1/4 cup of cookie dough at a time and roll into balls. Tear balls in half by pulling gently on both sides. Smush the two halves together again, leaving the torn sides face up. Evenly space on baking sheet and bake for about 11-12 minutes, or until edges are light golden brown and middles are no longer raw. Cool completely.

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies - made dough September 17, 2017 from One Bowl Baking by Yvonne Ruperti

These cookies are slightly misnamed. They're not hard but they're not soft like a cakey cookie either. They're chewy but they're also a bit crisp if you bake them properly. That's because of the oil. Anytime you have oil in a sugar cookie, that's what leads to its crispness and airy texture.

When you first mix the cookie dough, the oiliness is pretty prominent and makes for a soft dough. I had to chill the dough for 15 minutes before I even dared shape it into logs. You could also scoop the dough into cookie dough balls but I knew I wanted to make sandwich cookies and it was easier to make them into dough logs to cut after chilling and before baking.

Like I've done before, I like making this kind of sugar cookie to use as sandwich cookies. With cookie butter as the filling. You could also use Nutella or peanut butter but cookie butter is my go-to sandwich filling with sugar cookies.

This was a nice straightforward cookie. The cookies themselves are crisp and airy with a good vanilla flavor, complemented by the cookie butter filling. Excellent for serving at a tea or party.

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup canola oil
1 large egg
2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped and reserved, or 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups (10 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

1. In a large bowl, combine the granulated sugar, melted butter and salt. Stir in the oil, egg and vanilla bean seeds or extract until combined.
2. Add the flour, cream of tartar, baking powder, and baking soda, stirring until just combined. Do not overmix.
3. Portion into small dough balls, cover, and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough balls in 1/2 cup granulated sugar and evenly space on baking sheets. Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges are light golden brown and middles are no longer shiny or raw.
5. Let cool for several minutes then remove cookies to wire rack to cool completely. 
6. When cool, spread a layer of cookie butter on the bottom of half the cookies then sandwich with the other half.

The Most Amazing Chocolate Cake

The Most Amazing Chocolate Cake - made October 2, 2017 from The Stay at Home Chef

I'm moving this up in the blogging order because I made this cake this week for a work potluck and had several requests for the recipe. Normally I bake 2-3 weeks ahead of when I post something but if I'm asked for the recipe, I try to accommodate sooner than later.

Typically, for potlucks, I try to bring something easy to serve and eat, usually cookies, brownies or easy-to-portion sheet cakes. They're easy to make and you can make the individual portions small so people can eat as much or as little as they want. For this potluck, I went off the beaten path in making this triple layer chocolate cake. I don't usually make cakes in three layers because even a small slice can be so intimidating to eat. But from a visual perspective, I have to admit, few things wow as much as three layers of cake and frosting, especially if both cake and frosting are chocolate.

This definitely has the wow factor, even hampered by my less-than-stellar (non) decorating skills when it comes to cakes. The batter is a bit thin which past experience tells me means this cake is likely to come out moist with a soft crumb. And so it did. When using this much cocoa, you also want to make sure the cake has a lot of liquid since cocoa is a drying agent. Between the buttermilk, water and oil, this definitely has the moisture factor.

If you want a dark, rich chocolate cake, you must use a dark, rich cocoa powder. That's where the chocolate flavor comes from and if you use a subpar or tepid cocoa, your cake won't have that chocolate punch. I (always) use Pernigotti cocoa but you can also use Valrhona, Scharffenberger or other high end cocoas. Some bloggers recommend Hershey's Dark; I've never tried it myself so I can't speak to it but I'm not going to lie. I'm a baking ingredient snob so Hershey's doesn't usually cut it for me.

The original recipe calls for baking the cake in three 9" round cake tins. I baked this in three 8" round cake tins and used the leftover batter for 6 cupcakes. You can go with 9" rounds but if you do 8", don't try to use all the batter in the 8" rounds. It'll make your cake too high when the layers are stacked up and you risk the batter overflowing the cake pans if you fill them too much before baking. I never time cakes but go by the toothpick test. Poke the toothpick near the center and if it comes out with a few crumbs or clean, take them out. I prefer a few moist crumbs rather than completely clean but you can also use the touch test; if the cake springs back when lightly pressed near the center, it's done.

The frosting recipe makes a fair amount of frosting. My usual error in frosting multi-layer cakes is I get paranoid I won't have enough frosting so I skimp on the frosting between the layers and end up with too much leftover frosting at the end which I try to use by plastering the sides and top. This time, I estimated (fairly) correctly and got enough between the layers. I had enough frosting leftover to frost the extra cupcakes as well as make a half-assed attempted to decorate the bottom of the cake with random "stars". Just don't look too closely at them in the pictures.

To cut some of the dark chocolate richness and provide a little texture, I sprinkled the top with milk chocolate toffee bits. It made for a decent presentation but it's okay to leave this plain if you don't like toffee or you know your cake eaters have nut allergies. You can also sprinkle crushed Oreos on top or drizzle caramel.

I liked this cake. It was rich, it was moist, it was chocolaty. I don't know that I would bake it other than for a large group gathering. Slicing thin slices is a bit tricky with so many layers and it got messy when I was trying to cut the last chunk. But the taste will compensate for the appearance if you can't make perfect slices.

butter and flour for coating and dusting the cake pans
3 cups (450 g) all-purpose flour
3 cups (650 g) granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups (155 g) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 1/2 cups warm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
7-8 cups powdered sugar
about 1/4 cup milk, as needed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter three 9-inch cake rounds. Dust with flour and tap out excess. Line bottoms with parchment rounds, optional but recommended.
2. Mix together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a stand mixer on low speed until combined.
3. Add eggs, buttermilk, warm water, oil and vanilla. Beat on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes.
4. Divide batter evenly among the three pans. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center of each round comes out with a few moist crumbs, not raw batter.
5. Cool on wire racks for 10 minutes then turn the cakes onto the racks and allow to cool completely.
6. While cakes are cooling, make frosting: in a large bowl, beat together the butter and cream cheese until fluffy. 
7. Add the cocoa powder and vanilla extract; beat until combined.
8. Beat in powdered sugar, one cup at a time. Add milk as needed to make a spreadable consistency.