cookie carnival :: june round-up!

it's so exciting to have so many people participate this month! thanks to each and every one of you who baked the Doodles. i so much enjoyed getting your emails and photos.

so, let's get to it! i have to say. . . i enjoyed the cookies, but i wasn't all ga-ga over them. i know people who think they are the king of cookies. and they're good. they are a solid, real, honest-to-goodness cookie. but, at the heart, they are just a sugar cookie. which isn't a bad thing. it's just sorta. . . so-so. if i'm going to have a sugar cookie i prefer the Vanilla Bean Thins we did back in April. i think those had a little more character and were sort of more sophisticated, i guess. that being said, i'd make the doodles again. they were tasty with coffee, that's for sure!


here is the recipe brought to you by martha stewart.

INGREDIENTS
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons cream of tartar (what the frack is cream of tartar, anyway?)
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
* 1/2 cup pure vegetable shortening
* 1 3/4 cups sugar, plus more if needed
* 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
* 2 large eggs

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, with one rack in top third and one rack in bottom third of oven. Line baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
2. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, shortening, and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine.


3. In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon. Use a small (1 1/4-ounce) ice-cream scoop to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after 5 minutes. Transfer the sheets to a wire rack to cool about 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to the rack. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.

and here's all the folks who participated. if you sent me a photo, it's placed *above* your entry.


first up (in no particular order) is sihan of Fundamentally Flawed. you must visit her blog and read her post if for no other reason than the baby tigger situation. go see if you wanna know what i'm talking about.


next is jen of Delightful Delicacies. check her post for the story of how she was sung to from a conga line! ha! fun.

megan of My Baking Adventures baked along with us and she wonders what i think when i get her emails (she's an infamous recipe fiddler). i usually think, "hooray! megan's getting creative!" she added coffee to her doodles. check out her post to read how that went for her.

brook from And a Cookie For Dessert (great blog name) joined in and baked up some snickerdoodly goodness. here is a bit of what she had to say about this recipe, "Nice and chewy with the perfect mix of sugar and spice from the cinnamon. " read the rest of her post here.


pam of Cookies with Boys is up next. clearly she is a cookie enthusiast and will no doubt fit right in here. here's a little snippet of her post. "They smelled really enticing and they looked alluring when they came out of the oven." read the rest here.

stephanie from Confessions of a City Eater is next and she has the most beautiful pink ribbon'd cookies ever. here's a bit of her post, "This particular recipe was great...the cookies were crispy and chewy at the same time. Within 10 minutes of them being out of the oven, we ate half of them." read the rest of her post here.

stacy of Simply Tasty played along this month and her post cracks me up because it goes into detail about her aversion to shortening. and i'm right there with her. no likee. read her post here.

temperance of High on The Hog didn't get the crackly tops she was looking for, but seemed to like the cookies despite their flaw. read her post here.


hoooooraaaaay! kitty of Boring History Girl has participated quite a few times and and hasn't had an easy time of it, but this time she KICKED snickerdoodle ass! go, kitty. we knew you could do it. check her post here.


afoneleri of Camcupcakes had never heard of a Snickerdoodle before, but ended up cranking out some good little treats. read her post here.

april of Abby Sweets got to give her hubby a treat with these--his fave. read her post here.

holly of PheMOMenon made hers a little different and added M&M's! yum! i love that holly participates in my little food event. her emails are delightful to get. she's always cheerful. read her post here.


hannah of Ma Baker's Blog has also never had a snickerdoodle. but she baked herself up a fine batch of them! read her post here.

*side note* we need to get some guys baking with us, don't we? looooootta gals in here....

megan of Megan's Cookin' had this to say, "These cookies were so soft and chewy. I'm eating one right now for breakfast research. When I asked the hubby for his opinion, he said "Mmmm, there so chewy and, and, Mmmmm!" she's always a fun one to have carnivaling with us. read her post here.


Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake wins for most fun photography. she also dug up some info on the usage of cream of tartar in the recipe as well as some history on the Snickerdoodle. fascinating! read her post here.

carrie of Carrie's Sweet Life is new to the carnival and i certainly hope she sticks around. read her post here.



hygeia of Phamished had this to say, "Snickerdoodles are a great cookies to share. They are easy to make, no special ingredients are required, and everybody likes them!" read the rest of her post here.


and finally cat of creating with cattitude (LOVE the blog name) joined in this month had this to say, "Today's cookie has a twist, it has been dunked into a cinnamon-sugar mixture thus calling it the Snickerdoodle." read the rest of her post here.

that's all folks! soon, i'll be emailing you with the cookie for july. until then, something i have been wondering. . . in your mind, would a bar be fair game for a cookie carnival? i'm thinking it is (especially given that many cookbooks lump them together in one section-- cookies and bars). what do you think?

february cookie carnival :: peanut butter & chocolate sandwich cookies!

the carnival has come to town for it's first ever visit! i'm feeling so lame for not having put this post up first thing this morning, but you know how it is. things happen. for me, a 5 month old baby with a nasty cold happened. crank-key.

onto the cookies! i decided to start with this recipe because my husband loves the peanut butter chocolate combo and i wanted to do something fun for him. also, it was easy and the cookies looked so amazing. . . in my head. the actual cookies didn't turn out as picture perfect as i'd hoped. i think this is because i chose to use natural peanut butter rather than the regular old hydrogenated kind. there is so much sugar in the cookies that i couldn't bare to use sugary pb as well. the result was tasty, but i bit. . . bulky. and i made them a little bigger than they should have been. but like i said, they tasted WONDERFUL, and that's really more important. as ever, i had my son involved. he loved scooping the dough. turns out this is much more fun, even, if you have dump truck spoon! well, of course!

i'm thrilled that KitchenNut participated in the carnival. she's got a post up on her blog today with the results of her cookie carnivaling. and you should visit her blog anyway, cause it's great.

also joining me this month was tiffany from Lattes and Life. check out her entry here. and here is a photo of her efforts. she took some great pictures and i have to say her cookies look damm near perfect. go tiffany!

and finally sari over at The Geek Inside joined up. . . .at least i think she did. she hasn't posted yet, so we'll see! thanks, ladies, for joining me in this new blog event!

peanut butter and chocolate sandwich cookies
from fine cooking magazine makes about 30 sandwich cookies or 60 single cookies

for the cookies: 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter, at room temperature 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar 1 tsp. baking soda 2 large eggs 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

for the chocolate filling: 10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups) 4 oz. (8 tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

make the cookies: 1. position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 2. in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with hand mixer) beat the peanut butter, brown sugar and baking soda on medium speed until well blended, about a minute. add the eggs and vanilla and mix on low speed until just blended, about 30 seconds. 3. shape level tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls about 1" in diameter. arrange the balls 1 1/2" apart on the prepared baking sheets. do not press down. bake one sheet at a time until the cookies are puffed and crackled, but still moist-looking, about 11 minutes. cool cookies for about 10 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

make the filling: 1. melt the chocolate and the butter in the microwave or in a medium heat-proof bowl set in a skillet with 1" of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. remove from heat, set aside until cool and slightly thickened, 20-30 minutes.



assemble the sandwiches: 1. turn half of the cooled cookies over so they are flat side up. spoon 2 tsp. of the chocolate filling onto the center of each cookie. top with remaining cookies, flat side down. press gently on each cookie to spread the filling almost to the edge. set on the rack until filling is firm, 20-30 minutes.

if you are interested in joining up for March--email me! kate(at)thecleanplateclub(dot)(net).

join the carnival!

it's time to celebrate the cookie. dontcha think?

read below to find out all you need to know to become a carnivaler!

Cookie Carnival FAQs

HOW do i join up?

send an email to kate{AT}thecleanplateclub{DOT}net, please put "cookie carnival" in the subject line. and i'll email you the recipe of the month.

When do you post the round-up?

Good question. Whenever i can get to it! i ask for the links and photos to be sent to me by a certain date (usually the last or second to last day of the month) my intention is to get the post up in the following day or 2.

How will i know the round-up is up?

I will send you an email with the link.

What do i have to do to be included in the round-up?

Easy. Just send me an email by the appointed date including a link to your post (not to your blog, but a direct link to your post). that's all!

Will you post a photo of my cookies?

YES! in order to have a photo up as part of the round-up, all you have to do is attach one to your email that includes the link to your post. your photo MUST meet the following criteria in order to be posted:

A. it must be titled with your blog name. example: cleanplateclub.jpg
B. it must be no larger than a width of 205.

If your photo meets these criteria, i'll post it. please understand i get a lot of emails (which i love) and it's very time consuming to put the round-up together. this will ensure that i can do the work more quickly!

When/how will i find out the new recipe for the month?

I will email it to you sometime in the first week of the month.

Do i have to participate every month?

NO! this blog event is open in that way. you can participate or not. it's up to you! just make sure you get me a link to your post when you DO participate, so we can all see how you did! i love to have people participate as much as possible, but we're all busy, so we do what we can!

How do i opt out?

Just send me an email telling me to remove you from the list.

Can i submit a recipe for consideration?

Heck yeah! just email me the recipe and i'll toss it in the pot. sometimes i'll decide a recipe by a vote as well.

sound like fun? i hope so! let the cookie baking and mouth watering begin!