A Little Less Conversation

Well, no, not really. A little more conversation with these sweet treats.

I have very fond memories of elementary school Valentine's day and receiving lollipops, chocolate, and most importantly - Necco Conversation Sweethearts. For those of you who don't know what I'm talking about, here's a picture:

For the first time in years, I didn't go out and buy a giant bag of these (I'm waiting for February 15th when they go on 75% off), but I was certainly inspired by them.

For Hanukkah I received a gift card to use however I wanted. I opted to get these:

 

 

There is little better than 101 plastic cookie cutters. They make me happy. They make cookie baking fun. They make my little heart sing. Or something cliche like that.

In this batch of cookie cutters there are hearts. Hmmm.... Valentine's day.... Conversation Hearts.... Conversation Heart Cookies!!!!!!!

I used the sugar cookie and royal icing recipes that I used during the holiday cookie extravaganza.

I made my dough, chilled it, and rolled it out. Then I got to do the fun part of cutting the cookies. I love getting new cookie cutters!

 

So cute.

I baked the cookies and they came out perfectly. I'm finally getting this whole timing thing down. It's not as easy as it seems.

Seriously, aren't they adorable?

After they cooled, it was time to get decorating. I whipped up some royal icing and divided it into 3 different bowls. I made each bowl a different color. Pink, Green and Yellow. I put some of the icing into my decorating squeeze bottles and added an appropriate piping tip. The bottles look like these (note: these are not my bottles - just similar.)

I divided the cookies into colors (22 each) and piped out a border on each one.

 

  

 

And I let them sit to harden. This part takes a while.

When the borders were hardened it was time to thin out the remaining icing by adding 2 tablespoons of water. Some people use milk. I chose the path that was closest. With the thinned out icing I  "flooded" the cookies. I squeezed out a pool of icing and spread it with a toothpick.

  

  

 

And I left them to harden. Again - this take a looong time. 

So I watched late night TV. Reruns of Sex and The City, Seinfeld, and whatever infomercials were on. They're not the same without Billy Mayes yelling at you to "BUY THIS PRODUCT!!!"

As soon as the icing was dried, I pulled out my trusty edible ink pens:

 

And got to work. I took a handful of Conversation Heart sayings and wrote them on my cookies. The original idea was to do this with icing but at 2am I wasn't about to whip up another batch of royal icing. So edible ink it was.

 

  

 

This Valentine's Day, don't say it with a card or flowers. Say it with a cookie.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love,

FatCat

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

How Sweet It Is...

As part of the Cookie Extravaganza that took place in my kitchen between Thanksgiving and Christmas, the sugar cookies were both my saving grace and my biggest headache. For weeks, I made dough and froze it so that I would save on time. Little did I realize just how many cookies I actually had sitting in my freezer waiting to be rolled, cut and baked.

Such an easy recipe and the result is a delicious, buttery, flaky cookie that holds its shape. You can make the dough and freeze it for up to 2 months or you can bake the cookies and freeze them. I don't recommend the latter unless you have a lot of space in your freezer. You don't want to end up with 14 dozen broken sugar cookies.

So I made my dough, I froze it, and when I was a couple days away from being ready to bake, I put it in the fridge to thaw. It worked brilliantly. The dough was the perfect chilled texture for rolling and cutting. By the way, rolling is a vicious tricep work out.

I rolled out my dough on parchment paper that I dusted with powdered sugar. I found that using powdered sugar rather than flour kept my cookies sweet and still kept the dough from sticking to everything.

Once the dough was rolled to the thickness that I wanted, I put as many of my cookie cutters as I could on to it. I fit them together like a puzzle to maximize the number of cookies I could get in one go. Alton Brown is to thank for that idea.

I baked them on foil lined pans. Depending on the pan I used, some I rotated and some I did not. Once I pulled them from the over, I let the cookies stand for a minute before transferring them to a cooking rack. Then I started the process all over again.

Once all of the cookies were finished baking and completely cooled, I made royal icing and decorated each one. By hand. Just me. 14+ dozen sugar cookies.

It was worth it. They turned out looking lovely.

 

There wasn't a container in the kitchen that wasn't filled with Sugar Cookies. All 4 of my square and rectangular Pyrex, my big roasting pan, a Le Creuset 7 quart dutch oven, and more Tupperware than I care to count. Let it be known, making 6 batches of this dough produces a lot of cookies.

Recipe:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups of flour
1 1/4 teaspoons of baking powder
powdered sugar for rolling

* dough freezes VERY well

Royal Icing:
2 large egg whites
2 teaspoons of fresh lemon juice
3 cups of powdered (confectioners') sugar

For the cookies:

Beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mix until just combined. Add flour and baking powder in intervals. Dough will seem as if it doesn't have enough moisture but continue to mix with mixer until combined. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts, shape into 4 disks, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate (or freeze) until firm.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough, using powdered sugar instead of flour for the rolling, to approximately 1/4" thickness. Cut out shapes with cookie cutters and place on baking sheets. Bake 7-8 minutes until the edges are golden. Cool on a wire rack. Take the scraps and re-roll into a ball and chill again.

Repeat until all of the dough is used.

For Royal Icing:

Beat the egg whites and lemon juice together in a mixer. Reduce speed and gradually add in the powdered sugar. Beat until thick and smooth. If it is too thick, add a little more lemon juice or some milk. 1 tablespoon at a time. If it gets too watery, add a little more powdered sugar. Use immediately and store the remainder in an airtight container. I also saved what I wasn't using at the time with a damp cloth over it. Royal Icing tends to harden when exposed to air. You can divide the icing into different batches and use food coloring to add a little pop to your cookies.

Decorate your cookies with the icing. Allow to dry completely so the icing is totally hard.

Enjoy!!!

These cookies are do easy and the decorating possibilities are endless.

Happy baking!
FatCat

Feeling the Cancun Holiday Spirit

The last 2 years, my office has done something called a "Jingle Mingle." We have several floors in an office building and we rarely see others on the different floors. With this event we have the chance to eat, drink and be merry, all while wandering around the building.

Each department does a theme and sets up an area. They decorate, play music, set out food and beverages (adult and otherwise) and there is a competition for the best theme and execution of the theme.

My department opted to do a Mexican theme. We had homemade jalapeno poppers, plantains, empanadas, guacamole, salsa, homemade tortilla chips, margaritas, Malibu Rum and pineapple juice, and most importantly - Pina Colada Cake Balls!

I took a white cake mix and rather than using water, as the instructions said, I used pineapple juice. I also mixed in crushed pineapple. (ignore the Circus Cookies in the background - they weren't part of the recipe, they just wanted to be in the photo shoot.)

I used cream cheese frosting instead of my usual "regular" frosting. I need to play with the amounts - the dough ended up being pretty loose. Once I rolled it and chilled the balls it seemed a little easier to work with.

I dipped each ball in blue candy melts. I did this for 2 reasons. First, because it seemed festive and appropriate for a beach vacation theme. Second, because I wanted to finish off my bag of blue melts. I dropped each ball into the melted candy and rolled them around with a fork. Then I lifted them out and let the excess candy drip off.

I let the balls set on a tray lined with foil. Before the candy set I sprinkled each ball with shredded coconut.

After all of the balls had set I stuck a cocktail umbrella in each one. You can't have a Pina Colada without an umbrella in it, after all.

 

 

A very belated, Feliz Navidad!

FatCat

Cookies With a Rummy Bite

Joy Of Cooking has these little monsters listed as "Bourbon Balls." I didn't have bourbon on hand so I used dark rum. The result was a potent little ball of rummy-goodness rolled in powdered sugar.

I've made them before. Actually, my husband has made them before and I just helped. They're the perfect bring-to-a-party treat and they went over really well in my office, too. Because these cookies are "no-bake" the alcohol doesn't dissipate. That makes these quite potent, even though you're not using all that much alcohol in them.

You start out with 1 cup of confectioners' sugar and 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder. Whisk them together in a bowl until well combined.

Add in your 1/4 cup of rum (or bourbon).

Then add in 2 tablespoons of light corn syrup.

Stir into the sugar mixture until completely combined. Set it aside.

Crush to a fine crumb, 2 1/2 cups of vanilla wafer cookies. I crushed by hand and then used my Magic Bullet to make a fine crumb. Mix that into the cocoa mixture. At this point you can also put in nuts, dried fruits or anything else that you want into the dough. I didn't do it this time, but crystallized ginger is an excellent mix-in for the rum balls.

When mixing in the crumbs, start with a whisk and then use your hands as the mixture is too thick and difficult for a tool. You'll have to remove the dough from the inside of the whisk. Just giving you fair warning.

Once you add the crumbs to the mixture you need to work relatively fast. This hardens quickly and once it happens, you're done for and have a brick. I'm talking a brick that you can stick in your purse and do serious damage with. That's not good.

Take small pieces of dough and roll between your hands to form a ball. Roll the balls (as you go) in powdered sugar and set on waxed paper. If you store them between layers of waxed paper at room temperature they'll last for up to 3 weeks. If you can make it that long.

These balls of no-bake rum and vanilla wafer offer amazing taste. They're quick and easy to make and 1 batch will give you approximately 60 balls. They make great gifts and while they're traditionally a holiday cookie, you can't go wrong with these any time of year.

You can also make these non-alcoholic. My husband used Sprite instead of rum, but you can really use any kind of liquid that you want.

Rum (Bourbon) Balls

1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 cup Rum (bourbon)
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs (approximately 1 box of cookies)
1 cup fruit/nuts/etc (optional)
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

Whisk together the 1 cup confectioners' sugar and 2 tbs of cocoa powder until well combined. Add in 1/4 cup rum and 2 tbs light corn syrup. Whisk together until completely moistened. Stick in 2 1/2 cups vanilla wafer crumbs and your optional fruit/nuts. Mix together to form a dough. Roll small pieces of dough between your hands and form balls. Roll the balls in 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar. Set on tray (foil or waxed paper lined.). Store in an air tight container between sheets of waxed paper. Can be kept for up to 3 weeks. I dare you to make them last that long.

Happy no-baking!
FatCat