cookie carnival :: february challenge

it's cookie time again! after what seems like a long hiatus, it's time to get back to it.

as many of you know, i had a hard time choosing a cookie this month. it seemed like valentine's day made it so that i could not get chocolate out of my head. you gotta have chocolate on the love day, right? and then i fixated on chocolate and raspberry. but i couldn't find a really GREAT choco-ras concoction, so i had to go a different route instead. . .

and i landed (yet again) at this book. i won't gush about it anymore as i've done that enough.
without further ado, this month's cookie is the CHOCOLATE FUDGE COOKIES with TOFFEE and DRIED CHERRIES from the awesome Regan Daley.

for your ease, i've got a handy-dandy pdf of the recipe all ready for you. so, have at it! i can't wait to hear about (and see) everyone's results!

please get your links to me by feb 28th. remember you can post at any time. it's up to you. just get me the link and the photo by the 28th @ 7pm EST to be included in the round-up.

cheers!

chocolate dippin'

when a meal really comes together and is as lovely as i had hoped, i can't help but chronicle it all. it never matters to me if it was something really complex and challenging or if it was the simplest of kitchen creations.

i've posted about the soup and the *awesome* bread. now the dessert. i chose it because we love our chocolate around here. and i wanted something my son could make with me that he would think was REALLY fun. not just scooping and mixing flour and sugar. so, we decided to melt some good-quality chocolate and dip all kind of yummy things into it.


o, the strawberries, bananas, grahams and marshmallows! it was all good. no one could pick a favorite.


this is really fun one to do with kids. just melt some good chocolate in a double-boiler or bowl over a pan and dip! i added a bit of butter, too.

cookie carnival :: august round-up!

it's the last carnival of the summer. and what a yummy way to end the season! it seems that most of the carnivalers this month liked this cookie as much as did.




i (like many of you) have never made biscotti, which was part of what made it fun. it's always a good time in the kitchen when i am doing something new. unless i muck it up. but fortunately, this time, i did not.

i've never been a huge fan of biscotti, but i can't really ever argue with the chocolate hazelnut combo. and love coffee. LOVE coffee. so, it seemed like a good match. hot coffee, yummy dipping cookie. what's not to love?

this recipe surprised me, though. for me, it yielded a more moist cookie than i was expecting. it seems like biscotti is "supposed" to be really dry and somewhat hard. these were not. so, i wonder is it just about leaving them in the oven longer or what?

while contamplating this choice for the august carnival i learned that in italian biscotti means "biscuit." to be more specific they are named for the baking method. "bis" means twice and "cotto" means baked. i had no idea that this is how they were made. see...the cookie carnival is not only fun, it's educational!

here is the recipe we all used. as usual there were many of you who tweaked the recipe a bit here and there. which i totally encourage.

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT BISCOTTI

ingredients
1 1/2 cups hazelnuts, toasted, husked
3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

preparation
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Grind 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts in processor. Set aside. Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt in large bowl. Beat butter and sugar in another large bowl to blend. Add eggs and vanilla and almond extracts and beat until well blended. Beat in flour mixture. Mix in 1 cup whole toasted hazelnuts, chocolate chips and 1/2 cup ground hazelnuts.

Divide dough into 2 equal pieces. Shape each piece on baking sheet into 2 1/2-inch-wide by 14-inch-long log. Place logs on prepared baking sheet, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart (logs will spread during baking). Bake until logs feel firm when tops are gently pressed, about 35 minutes. Cool logs on baking sheet 15 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Using long wide spatula, transfer baked logs to cutting board. Using serrated knife, cut warm logs crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices.

Arrange slices, cut side down, on 2 baking sheets. Bake biscotti until firm, about 15 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool completely. (Chocolate-Hazelnut Biscotti can be prepared ahead. Store in airtight container up to 4 days, or wrap in foil and freeze in resealable plastic bags up to 3 weeks.)

T H E R O U N D - U P
thanks to everyone who participated this month!
(photo appears *ABOVE* the corresponding entry IF it was provided)

ellyn of Recipe Collector and Taster experimented with egg whites instead of whole eggs. read her post here to find out how and why!!


giz at Equal Opportunity Kitchen played along this month. (BIG apologies for leaving her off the roundup.) she's a self-confessed biscotti lover. read her post here.



lynn of Bites and Pieces forgot to add both the baking soda and powder. eek! read her post here to find out how that went.



sara angel of My Sweetest Day had the same problem i *always* do. the recipe didn't yeild as many as it said it would. what's up with that? read her post here.


brook of And a Cookie For Dessert (i keep thinking her blog should be called "brookie jar" it's either really stupid or really cute. i can't tell.) had this to say,"I really enjoyed making these - it was exciting to see the logs rise up in the oven and then slicing into them for the second baking." read the rest of her post here.

julie of Someone's In The Kitchen can't stand hazelnuts. . . which i just can't even comprehend! read her post here. (no pic)


charlotte of Taylor Loves Chocolate feels she failed at the biscotti. sorry charlotte! read her post here to find out the full story.


rayrena of Happy Cows is funny. this is the first line of her post, "Is there a better excuse for coming out of blogger hibernation? Chocolate. Hazelnut. Biscottti." read her post here. (and welcome her--it's her first carnival.)

michelle at Culinography was the only one (i think) to replace the hazelnuts with peanuts. read her post here. (and welcome her--it's her first carnival.)


mary ann of Meet Me in the Kitchen had this to say, "These were great, an easy first time biscotti making experience for me. I will probably make these again because everyone here love the combination of hazelnuts and chocolate!" read her post here. (and welcome her, she's a first timer at the carnival.)


kitty at Boring History Girl says, "Now, there are two major problems with this recipe. Firsly the dough is so seriously delicious that you may be forced to eat it all before it even makes it into the oven." read the rest of her post here. she's a lot of fun, you won't be disapointed!


steph at A Whisk and A Spoon wows me with her photography again. she has a lovely style and i enjoy her writing a lot. read her post here.


susan of Slice of Sueshe had a minor kitchen disaster. she also did some fun tweaking (almonds, white chocolate..), which to me, is so fun! i love getting emails from all of you and seeing what you have done this month. read her post here.


jacque at Daisy Lane Cakes writes and awesome and chuckle-inducing post (thanks for that!) here is what she had to say about the "once baked" biscotti (she saved some to eat before sending the rest back to the oven) They were awesome! I loved them so much I wanted to marry them. read the rest here.

megan of Megan's Cookin' deems these unworthy of her Christmas baskets. read her post here to find out why.


stacey of Simply Tasty also did some tweaking to the recipe. stacey used white chocolate chips and also melted and drizzled as you can see. she also cut back on the almond extract and used almonds instead of hazelnuts. read her post here. she actually comes back to the post days later to update you on how the biscotti went over. it's fun!

temperance of High On The Hog chose pecans rather than hazelnuts. she had never had biscotti much less baked it. until now. read her post here.


michelle of Something New is Cooking played along this month and she and her family loved the cookies she baked. read her post here.



christine of Cooking With Christine has also never had biscotti before much less made it herself. here is what she had to say,"Biscotti is AMAZING!!! Sure, it's crunchy, but it's not a traditional cookie. So, if you are from the "soft & chewy" cookie club like me, don't be afraid." read the rest of her post here.


natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies is one of us biscotti-makin' virgins. she confesses to not being a biscotti lover. until now. read her post here.


april of Abby Sweets played a long this month. and she was one of the many who replaced the hazelnuts she chose pecans. here is what she had to say, "Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't turn it down if it was offered to me, but I wouldn't go out of my way for it either." read the rest of her post here.

cookie carnival :: august!

this month for the Carnival, we are cooking up some
CHOCOLATE-HAZELNUT BISCOTTI!

i'm totally excited to get into this recipe. hope you are, too!

email me if you would like to join up! kate (AT) the cleanplateclub (DOT) (NET)

cheers and happy eating!

cookie carnival :: may round-up!

it's round-up time!

i am so excited to say that this is our biggest carnival yet--12 participants came through. which is so great! i'm thrilled to have all these folks focusing our food obsession on cookies once a month with me.

on to this month's cookie! from Emeril (bam!) came our recipe for
BLUEBERRY DROP COOKIES. i have to say, i LOVED these cookies. they were one of the things i baked for the bake sale i told you about recently. yum. they were light and airy while still being moist---tasty! i made a few tweaks to the recipe which i noted below.

this recipe also marked the first time i ever used shortening. i usually balk at it...just the *idea* of it, but this time i thought, "i'll trust good ol' emeril and see what it's like." it certainly made a light cookie--like little blueberry-lemon cloud, they were. so, i can see why peeps use the shortening. so, thanks emeril!


BLUEBERRY DROP COOKIES

ingredients:

* one-half cup shortening
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* one-fourth cup milk
* one-half teaspoon almond extract i omited this--thought i had some in the cabinet, but didn't, so i used a bit of vanilla and added some fresh lemon juice to kick up the lemon aspect, which was yum.
* one and one-half teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* One-half teaspoon salt
* 1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over i used frozen.

instructions:
1. in a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, milk, almond extract and lemon zest, mixing well after the addition of each ingredient. slowly add the flour, baking powder and

salt. fold in the blueberries and mix until well blended. since i used frozen and feared they would make the dough a soppy mess, i did not add blueberries at this stage, but rather let the dought chill w/o 'em.

2. cover and chill for 4 hours. preheat oven to 375 degrees. drop the dough by teaspoonfuls, (i added the frozen blueberries to each spoonful) one and one-half inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. bake 12 to 15 minutes. remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing them with a spatula.

Makes about 4 dozen. mine did not yield nearly this many. mine might have been a *tad* large, but not my too much and i only got 2 dozen out of it.

let's find out how everyone else did! i hope i got all the right pics with the right people and the links to all of your posts in there properly. if anyone finds an error, email me. i'm starting to see double here!

first there's holly over at Phemomenon.

she's funny because she is a self-proclaimed food "fiddler." she loves to tweak the recipes and i love that. here's a bit of her post. "In the beginning I was just going to substitute half the shortening with some butter, just for flavor, just because. Then, I got thinking about how much I love orange with blueberry, so I switched out the lemon." read the rest on her blog.

Jen, the Beantown Baker is next.though she's been on the email list for a while now, this is her first entry in the carnival and we're so happy to have her. read her post (and many others!) here.

on to hygeian at Phamished.

she give some great bits on the health benefits of blueberries. read her post here.

sihan of Fundamentally Flawed is up next.

here's a bit of her blog post. "A simple recipe that calls for minimal ingredients yet yield such a delectable goodie all a very short span of time. We're talking about express cookies on the go over here! *yum*." read the rest here.

next we have april and Abby Sweets.


she also went for the vanilla rather than the almond. it's fun to see how people like to change things up. read her post here.

tiffany of Lattes and Life is next. isn't that a good blog name?

she has a fun little tale to tell about how she got a hold of her blueberries. check out her post here.

robin of Made With Love is up next.

she also found that the recipe didn't yield as much as it said it would. so, thanks robin for helping me feel less crazy! read her post here.

next up is temperance at High on the Hog.


this is her first carnival and her post cracked me up. here's a bit of it. "Thoughts while baking...Pure almond extract may smell good but you really don't want to try it. Also Ammaretto is not an adequate substitute (darn it). I have always wondered when you zest a lemon what are you suppose to do with the rest of it?" read the rest of her post here.

and on to the hilarous kitty over at Boring History Girl. she's had trouble with nearly every cookie recipe, but bless her heart she keeps at it!!! i love getting her emails. check out her post here.

next up is megan over at My Baking Adventures


she also has the food "fiddler" bug. she omitted the BLUEBERRIES. cookie carnival renegade is what she is. here's a bit of her post. "Now, being the person that I am, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I asked Kate if I could try a different fruit, as blueberries aren’t too popular with certain family members. And I felt really silly asking her that, considering the name of the cookies are BLUEBERRY Drop Cookies." read on HERE.

on to steph over at Steph Chows.


now it's getting just silly. she also tweaked the recipe. the fun thing about hers is that she tricked them out health-food style. check her post here.

finally, we have megan over at Megan's Cookin'.

she noted that the unbaked little cookie dough lumps look sorta like aliens. it's true. check out her post here.

whew! that's all 12 of you! hooray! thanks, everyone for participating. JUNE'S cookie recipe is coming soon.

i stand corrected---THIRTEEN of you. we had a late comer to the round-up. mari of Mevrouw Cupcake!she paired hers with lemon ice cream and frankly, the thought of this has me just squealing with delight over here. i can't believe that i can't try a bite of it right at this very moment. she's got a great post up telling her tale of baking these little beauties and a great book recommendation, to. i've already got it on hold at the library. thanks, mari! better late than never!



happy summer!

cupcake hero :: march marshmallow!

could i be the next cupcake hero? is it possible? well, i'm not saying it's NOT possible, but given that it's my first try at this wikkid fun food blog event, i'm not holding my breath. i had a great time coming up with a good entry, though.

the theme for the month was MARSHMALLOW. so, of course i went down the s'mores path. but ultimately, i couldn't find a suitable way to get the graham into the mix. a chocolate cupcake with marshmallow frosting would be excellent, but how do you get the graham in there? well, i also figured there'd be lots of s'mores-type entries, so i gave up on the quest and finally landed on a recipe i have had for years--raspberry cupcakes. i usually do a lemon glaze on them, but for the challenge, i made it a lemon marshmallow frosting which *totally* rocked. it was SO good.

so, here's how it's done:


RASPBERRY CUPCAKES WITH LEMON MARSHMALLOW FROSTING

1 egg
4 egg whites
2/3 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup raspberry puree (approx. 1 pint of raspberries, sieved to remove seeds)
1/2 cup milk
2 1/4 cup flour

:: preheat oven to 350.

:: with an electric mixer, mix all ingredients on low speed to combine, and then on high speed for about a minute.

:: pour into 18 prepared cupcake tins, and bake for around 20-25 minutes.

MARSHMALLOW FROSTING:
2 large egg whites
2 cups sugar
1 cup water
9 standard-size marshmallows
3 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

::In a large bowl with electric mixer on high speed, beat egg whites until soft peaks form; set aside. In a medium saucepan, combine sugar and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium high and boil until a thin syrup forms that drops in a thin thread from spoon -- about 15 minutes.

:: With mixer on medium speed, gradually pour half of the syrup into egg whites and beat until soft peaks form; keep remaining syrup at a simmer. Add marshmallows, one at a time, to syrup mixture until the marshmallows melt down. Gradually beat syrup into the frosting mixture until it reaches spreadable consistency. Beat lemon juice in.

Daring Bakers january challenge :: lemon meringue pie!

well, i did it! (sort of) i completed my first challenge with the Daring Bakers. and it was hard! i've never been very good with the pie crust. so, when i learned the challenge was lemon meringue pie, i was a little afraid to try it given my past with crust-making debacles. but, given that i was supposed to have done the december challenge (yule log) and had to post-pone my first assignment, i felt i had to take it on. and i did! But, it didn't come out so well.

i ended up making 2 crusts--the second marginally better than the first and i'm still not sure what i am doing wrong. i watched some videos online. the best one i found was the epicurious one. helpful! (you can find video demos of almost anything you need here.) but still, i came out with touch, chewy crust. looked good, tasted fine, but the texture, not so good. i'm disappointed. i really want to be able to do a good pie crust, but i feel like i'll never get good at it until someone who really knows how to make a good crust can show me. i did all the things you are supposed to do. cold ingredients, cold bowl, cold utensils, work quickly. don't over mix. maybe i did over mix? maybe it didn't chill long enough. who knows. pie crust is a big fat mystery to me right now. but i will get good at it one day!

if that wasn't enough, the pie turned out soggy. it was fine and then it became sad. weepy and watery. i'm not sure what that was about, but clearly i've never made a LMP before. and may never again! it tasted pretty good! but the texture of the whole thing was just. . . off.

as usual, my son was there with me making his pie right along side. he was quite serious (for a 3-and-a-half-year-old) about the whole thing. "mommy, i really think it needs a liiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitle more salt." his pie something with black beans. i don't know. i'll have to ask him what it's called. half the fun of baking is having him there with me, for sure.

well, it's a bummer about the pie, but I'm not discouraged! i'll be looking forward to the next challenge in February. given the whole valentine thing, i hope it's something chocolatey!






addendum - wednesday, january 30th

as lis and slush pointed out....no, it doesn't look soggy, but that's because i took these photos right away. about an hour later it was seriously weepy. poor pie.

covered in chocolate and spit-up :: a brownie recipe

i've got me a 3-going-on-4-month-old girl at home. she's awesome. she's my honey pie. she smells good enough to eat. her laugh is like sonic sweets for the soul. it's makes for an interesting challenge when my 3-going-on-10-year-old boy and i want to bake something in the kitchen. any mom knows this dilemma. most probably just avoid it all-together and stay out of the kitchen as much as possible, but i can't do that. partly because i love to cook and partly because my son does, too. and on these endless winter days when he's not in school, we need something to do! (and eat!) so, into the kitchen we go. my son has an interesting challenge of doing more than he used to because now mommy has to tend to baby. i walk around the kitchen with the babe in one hand and the other hand is busy getting ingredients and measuring cups ready. the boy has to do all the scooping, dumping, mixing. so what if there's an egg shell in my brownie? and maybe there's a little more salt in there than there should be. oh well. so we made brownies in a round pan instead of a square one because mommy couldn't bend down and search for the right pan. big deal. we still get it done. and it's yummy. and he feels proud. he and i come out of it unscathed--a little chocolate on our pants. baby drool all over my shirt. but at the end of it all, we sit down for brownies and milk. and that's good stuff. here is a GREAT recipe for chocolate brownies:

CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Vary baking time for fudgier or cakier brownies

2 sticks unsalted butter 8 oz bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped
1 1/4 cups all-purp' flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Grease a 9x2-inch square baking pan (or a 9" pie plate if you're like me!).

Melt butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water--stir occasionally, until just melted and smooth.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

Whisk together sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl, then pour the chocolate mixture in, whisking until well combined.

Whisk in the flour mixture and pour batter into baking pan.

Fudgy Brownies: Bake until top is shiny and set--the sides will have begun to pull away slightly and a toothpick or tester will not come out clean, about 35 minutes.

Cakey Brownies: Bake until toothpick or tester comes out clean, 50 minutes to 1 hour.

Cool brownies completely in pan on a rack. Invert onto a cutting board and cut into squares or the shape of your choosing.

ENJOY!