King Me - I win!!

Last night I tried Checkerboard Cookies. It was a surprisingly simple recipe with results that look complicated. The only reason it was time consuming (and it really wasn't) was because the dough needed to be chilled twice.

I was a little nervous trying these. I always get nervous when I try something that "looks scary" and these were pretty intimidating. Just looking at their alternating pattern and the fact that I needed to mess around with two different flavored doughs out of the same batch. How was I going to do that?! I only have 1 mixer!

Luckily it wasn't as terrifying as I had made to be in my head. It required 1 mixer, 2 bowls, and a wooden spoon. Easy. Chocolate-Vanilla Checkerboards were on their way!

I divided the initial dough into two equal parts

To one bowl, I added and additional teaspoon of vanilla extract. To the other I added 1 ounce of melted semi-sweet chocolate and 2 teaspoons of cocoa powder.

Then I flattened each dough into a squarish-circle, wrapped it in plastic wrap and set them in the fridge to firm up a bit.

Once the dough was chilled I pulled it out and sliced each one into 6 strips. Then each strip was rolled into a snake roughly the same length and width. Remember, I said roughly.

Then I started layering. Vanilla, chocolate, vanilla. Squished together. Brushed with some foamy egg white. Chocolate, vanilla, chocolate. Brushed with egg white. Squished together. I repeated this until all of my snakes were attached. I did not brush the top layer with egg white.

When everything was layered I trimmed the ends so that they were even.

Wrapped it up in plastic wrap and it went back into the fridge to firm up.

An hour later it came out of the cold and on to a cutting board. With a really sharp knife I cut 1/4" thick cookies.

 

I baked them at 350 degrees for 11 minutes and ended up with a lovely cookie.

 

 

The recipe:

1/2 cup of butter at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped then melted
2 teaspoons of cocoa powder
1 large egg, separated
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Cream the butter and sugar until smooth. About 3 minutes in the mixer. Add the egg yolk and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder. Gradually add this to the mixture in the mixer.

Melt the chopped semi-sweet chocolate. I used the microwave but the original recipe called for the use of a double boiler. Let it cool a little.

When the dough is combined, divide it into 2 equal parts. In one part add 1 teaspoon of vanilla - I used a wooden spoon to mix the vanilla. In the other bowl add the melted (and slightly cooled) chocolate and the cocoa powder. I used the mixer for the chocolate dough.

Take the divided parts and form as close to a square as you can. Wrap them separately in plastic wrap. Refrigerate no less than 45 minutes.

Cut the chilled dough into 6 strips (you'll end up with a total of 12 strips) and roll each strip into a snake roughly 7 inches long.

Beat the egg white with a fork or a small whisk until foamy.

Start layering your strips, 3 per layer, in alternating fashion (Chocolate, vanilla, chocolate). Smoosh them together so they stick to each other. Brush lightly with the egg white. Continue this layering process, alternating the colors so you get a checkerboard look. Do not brush the top layer with the egg white.

Trim your layered dough so that the ends are all the same. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and return to the fridge. Let it chill for no less than an hour.

Remove from the fridge and cut 1/4" cookies with a sharp knife. Bake at 350 degrees for 11 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving them to a rack to completely cool.

Store in an airtight container.

Now who is up for a little game of checkers?

FatCat

The Epic Tale Of The Pumpkin Ball

OK, so, it's not really epic. But I did promise it back in my second post so I figured I'd follow through now.

Once upon a time, I was at the grocery store looking for cake and bread mixes. I came across Pilsbury Pumpkin Bread mix. Nothing spectacular but I grabbed a box anyway. Little did I know that box would become a staple in my holiday baking for years.

On the side of the box was a recipe for Pumpkin, Ginger, Raisin cookies. I had no desire for anything "chewy" in my cookies so I omitted the ginger and raisins but I mixed in cinnamon, ginger powder. I mixed the dough and rolled it into balls. Each ball was rolled in a mixture of cinnamon, ginger powder and sugar. Baked them and ended up with these domed dense bread-y balls.

One of the best cookies I'd ever eaten. So I went a little crazy and bought a ton of bread mix and made these cookies for everyone I knew for the holidays. I was a student at the time and baking seemed the better way to go for holiday gifts.

For the next few years, every holiday season I would clean out several grocery stores of their pumpkin bread mixes and set to work giving everyone on my list tons of pumpkin balls. There was the year I got "creative" and hand painted the baggies that the cookies went into. That happened once. I realized I have neither the artistic talent, nor the space, nor the time to do that ever again. That was just a huge mess.

At any rate, my holiday cookie baskets changed and evolved and the pumpkin ball was made obsolete. I still make them on occassion for my mother-in-law who enjoys them, but I don't make them for the baskets or as my go-to dessert. I still have a soft spot for these pumpkin-y balls of yumminess.

Fast forward to Friday, January 15. I'm puttering around the kitchen wanting to bake but not really wanting to try anything new - what? It was late! - so I pull out a box of pumpkin bread mix and get to work.

One problem. I had forgotten the recipe. Yes, even using boxed mix, there is a recipe. So I made the bread batter recipe. And added flour. A quarter cup at a time, I ended up adding about a cup of flour to thicken up the batter. Even then, I couldn't roll it. It bacame more of a drop cookie as opposed to the normal rolled cookie that I knew. I figured, what the heck? Try and see what happens. Worst case scenario - they look bad.

I sprinkled the dopped cookies with a mix of sugar, cinnamon, and ginger powder and baked them until they were done. They turned out really tasty. I haven't done it yet, but I'm betting some cream cheese icing sandwiched between 2 cookies would be out of this world.

Here is what you need for pumpkin balls:

Add an egg and 1 stick of butter melted and you're set to make the dough.

Add in some cinnamon and powdered ginger to the dough.

In a separate bowl, mix sugar, powdered ginger and cinnamon. This is for rolling the balls in.

The following picture is from my "mistake" cookies (where I made the bread batter and added flour). I have no pictures of "real" pumpkin balls.

Recipe for the "real" pumpkin balls:

1 box Pilsbury Quick Bread Pumpkin mix

1 egg

1/2 cup butter - melted

cinnamon

powdered ginger

sugar

In a small bowl, mix powdered ginger, cinnamon and sugar. Set aside.

In a large bowl mix the bread mix with the egg and butter. Add cinnamon and ginger powder to taste.

Roll the dough into small balls and roll the balls in the sugar/cinnamon/ginger powder mixture. Set on a cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 12 minutes or until the cookies have puffed up and gotten slightly brown. You don't want to burn these.

Let cool and enjoy. Cream cheese frosting is a good addition or a nice powdered sugar glaze would be good as well.

And they all lived happily ever after.

FatCat

Are They Russian? Mexican? All I Know Is That They Taste Good!

Some call these cookies Russian Tea Cookies. Some call them Mexican Wedding Cakes. I call them buttery balls of deliciousness. That explode. In your mouth. It's awesome!

I got the recipe from the Penzey's Spices catalog. It was sent in by someone from New Jersey. Once I made the cookies and tasted them, I was shot back to my childhood when my grandmother would bake these. She added nuts, I think. I could be wrong. I have been before.

Unfortunately, I didn't do much picture taking with these. It was into the mixer and out to the pan and that was really it. Sorry. I promise more pictures on everything else. Or rather - I'll try.

The recipe is very easy and you get a TON of cookies out of one batch. I did a double batch and ended up with about 80 cookies.

Recipe:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cream the butter until fluffy using an electric mixer. Reduce the speed of the mixer and add 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. Mix until incorporated. Blend for 5 minutes on low. Add the flour, salt and vanilla to the mixer bowl and once moistened, increase the mixer speed to medium to make a stiff dough.

Once the dough is stiff, break off small pieces and form into one inch round balls. Place on a cookie sheet (greased, lined, whatever. I used foil lined pans). These cookies don't expand much so you can get a good number of them onto a pan.

Bake for about 12 minutes. You want to watch them very carefully and take them out when they just begin to get a touch of color. Don't over bake them. You don't want them to get brown.

While the cookies are baking set up a "sugaring" station. I poured some powdered sugar into a shallow dish and set up a cooling rack and a trivet for the hot pan to rest on.

When the cookies are done, put the hot pan on the trivet. Carefully remove cookies one by one (I actually did about 5 cookies at one time because they fit in my dish) and cover them with powdered sugar. Roll with a spoon to make sure that every surface is coated. Remove them to the cooling rack and continue the sugaring until all of the cookies are coated.

These cookies are so quick and easy to make you can whip them up to impress people with freshly made, home made, amazingly yummy dessert cookies.

As there are no eggs in the recipe, this is a safe cookie for someone with an egg allergy. It's also nut free. 2 major food allergies covered! Excellent!

The cookie is very flaky, tender and surprisingly delicate. The buttery taste makes this a fantastic cookie to have with tea or coffee. Or, really, to have any time.

Happy New Year of Baking!!
FatCat