Holiday Cookies

I decided to spread some holiday cheer among the office and give away some holiday cookies to my co-workers. I decided on three types:

1) Hazelnut Toffee & Chocolate Chip Cookies

2) Oatmeal Raisin Cookie

3) Lemon Ricotta Cookie with Lemon Glaze

HAZELNUT TOFFEE & CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES (courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis)

toasted hazelnuts

I was looking for a basic chocolate chip cookie but had a little oomph to it. I came across these cookies on the Food TV Network site (courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis) and they looked delish! My husband loves toffee so I was ecstatic to find out that a major component to this cookie with toffee bars (four ounces to be exact – that’s equivalent to three Heath or Skor bars). A challenge to the recipe was that you have to toast and hull the hazelnuts. The toasting is fine, but the hulling (as you will see in the next few photos) requiring a little more work (have a dustpan handy – there will be lots of flying hazelnut skin on your counter and floors). Also, I feel as if I left them a minute or two too long – after they were fully cooled, the cookie was crisp (and I prefer mine chewy). Nonetheless, these cookies are pretty awesome.

Ingredients

finely chopped Skor Bar

1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 ounces English toffee candy (recommended: Heath or Skor bar), finely chopped
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted, husked, and chopped
1 (12-ounce) bag semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

hazelnut, toffee and chocolate chip cookies

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Line 2 heavy large baking sheets with parchment paper. Finely chop the oats in a food processor. Transfer the oats to a medium bowl. Mix in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars in a large bowl until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and stir just until blended. Stir in the toffee, hazelnuts, and chocolate chips.

For each cookie, drop 1 rounded tablespoonful of dough onto sheet, spacing 1-inch apart (do not flatten dough). Bake until the cookies are golden (cookies will flatten slightly), about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely. (The cookies can be prepared 1 day ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

OATMEAL RAISIN COOKIES (courtesy of Smitten Kitchen)

I love a good ole fashioned oatmeal raisin cookie. For some reason, the fact I am eating oats and raisins seems to minimize any guilt that I had consumed 1 tablespoon of butter in that cookie. Oh well… I found this recipe on the food blog Smitten Kitchen. It’s pretty bare bones, right up my alley. Since I was making these cookies for a crowd, I doubled the recipe and excluded the walnuts (since my coworkers would be getting plenty of nuts in their hazelnut, toffee and chocolate chip cookie).

Oatmeal Cookies - right out of the oven

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts, if using them.

At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. You could also bake them right away, if you’re impatient, but I do find that they end up slighly less thick.

The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in), taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

LEMON RICOTTA COOKIES with LEMON GLAZE (Courtesy of Giada DeLaurentiis)

key players - lemon juice & zest

My love for lemon cookies go back from Girl Scouts where you could often find me devouring a box of Lemon Cremes. I found an adult version of lemon cookies that incorporate ricotta and is topped with a shiny tart glaze. The result is a tender, cake-like cookie infused with lemony flavor (thanks to lemon juice and zest) and has the right amount of sweetness of sweetness to complement the acidity in the lemon.

 

 

 

 

Ingredients

glistening lemon ricotta cookie batter

Cookies:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 lemon, zested

Glaze:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons lemon juice

1 lemon, zested

Directions

finished product - topped with lemon glaze

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cookies:

In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Glaze:

Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies into a decorative container.

Peanut Butter Noodles

 

 

Peanut Butter Noodles

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a huge fan of Tamra Davis’ cooking blog. If you never heard of Tamra Davis, she’s one cool lady – filmmaker (and wife of Beastie Boys Mike D), working mom, and novice cook. I adore her peanut noodles recipe. It’s the perfect lunch to bring to work – it keeps well in the fridge and is easy to make. You can make a big vat of this (~ six servings) for less than $10 – that’s lunch for less than $2/day! I doubled the standard recipe listed below but also added a few touches such as minced red pepper and bean sprouts. I also added more red Thai curry paste than usual, since I like my noodles pretty spicy. These additional items give the noodles a more ‘pad thai’ taste and appearance. It’s delicious — and it’s vegan too!

Peanut Butter Noodles (Inspired by Tamra Davis Cooking Show)

1/2 a package of buckwheat soba noodles
2 tablespoons of peanut butter
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons mirin or ½ a lemon
1 tablespoon of agave or sugar
Thai Kitchen Green or Red Curry Paste (as much as you like)

½ a package of tofu
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1 tablespoon of minced ginger
1 teaspoon of agave or maple syrup

Cilantro chopped (per taste)
(Julie’s additions)
1/2 red bell pepper, finely minced
1 cup mung bean sprouts

Directions

Boil soba in lightly salted water. Strain and rinse under cool water. Let it sit in a colander.
Make a sauce from the peanut butter, soy sauce, mirin or lemon, agave and Thai red curry paste. Set aside.
Fry tofu in small scrabble size pieces in sesame oil. Add the ginger and agave at the end.
Mix together the soba with the peanut sauce, mung bean sprouts and red bell pepper. You may need to add a bit of water to spread evenly.
Add the tofu.
Sprinkle with chopped cilantro

No-Knead Whole-Wheat Bread!

No-Knead Whole Wheat Bread with strawberry preserves

When I came across this recipe for NO-KNEAD whole-wheat bread, I was excited. I personally don’t do well with recipes involving yeast – can’t seem to grasp the kneading process – the batter becomes tough and I end up with a non-pliable, dry dough. However, this simple recipe for 100% whole-wheat bread requires no kneading – if you have a KitchenAid mixer (like I do), you’re in good hands. The mixer does all the work for you – just use the paddle attachment and mix on high for a few minutes. I replaced the non-fat dry milk with regular milk; and used honey instead of molasses.  The result – dense, slightly sweet, healthy bread that you can use for sandwiches or eat alongside soup. I made this last night, and the taste and texture was wonderful (especially when spread with butter after the bread comes right out of the oven).

No-Knead 100% Whole-Wheat Bread (courtesy of King Arthur Flour)

1 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
3 tablespoons molasses, maple syrup, dark corn syrup, or brown sugar corn syrup
2 teaspoons instant yeast1/4 cup Baker’s Special Dry Milk or nonfat dry milk
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 cups King Arthur whole wheat flour, white whole wheat preferred

Directions

Heavily grease an 8 1/2″ x 4 1/2″ loaf pan. This loaf tends to stick, so be sure to grease the pan thoroughly with non-stick vegetable oil spray.

Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Beat the mixture vigorously for about 3 minutes; an electric mixer set on high speed works well here. You should have a very sticky dough. It won’t be pourable, but neither will it be kneadable. Scoop it into the prepared pan.

Cover the pan with lightly greased plastic wrap, and let it rise for 60 to 90 minutes; it should just about rise to the rim of the pan, perhaps just barely cresting over the rim. While the dough is rising, preheat the oven to 350°F.

Uncover the bread, and bake it for about 40 to 45 minutes, tenting it with aluminum foil after 20 minutes. The bread is done when it’s golden brown on top, and an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center registers between 190°F and 195°F.

Remove it from the oven, and after 5 minutes turn it out onto a rack. Brush with melted butter, if desired; this will keep the crust soft. Cool the bread completely before cutting it.

Welcome!

Welcome to my very first blog post (eva!). Since I’ve been working from home the past year, I’ve taken a great interest to cooking and baking. I hope to use this forum to write and showcase some of my culinary delights (and disasters), from the comfort of my own (tiny) kitchen.  I am inspired by many cooking resources out there – whether it is food blogs written by professionals & novices alike – to my library of assorted cookbooks catered to different lifestyles and cuisines. I am excited to bring these great recipes to you. In a nutshell, I am just a regular person who loves to cook and loves to eat. I hope you enjoy the site!