Cooking for Seven

I have been making this recipe for approximately 6 1/2 years. We printed the recipe (simply entitled Peanut Butter Cookies IX) from allrecipes on a thin sheet of paper. The page has been torn and has grease marks and purple scrawls. Penciled in next to the ingredient list are the measurements for doubling and TRIPLING the recipe. Yes, we like these cookies.

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Of course, I have made some (healthy) changes to the original. If you would like to make the cookies as they were intended to be, simply use 3/4 cup brown sugar and 3/4 cup white sugar in place of the raw sugar, regular peanut butter, and 3/4 cup white flour and 1/4 cup whole wheat.

Enjoy!

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Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup demerara sugar or sucanat or rapadura
• 3/4 cup natural peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup (4 ounces) whole wheat pastry flour (aka soft white wheat)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup regular rolled oats
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375 ° F.

2) In a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), cream together the butter, sugar, and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir into the butter and sugar mixture. Add the oats and chocolate chips.

4) Form the dough into balls the size of golf balls and place on an ungreased or parchment lined baking sheet. Flatten the balls slightly.

5) Bake in the preheated oven for 8-12 minutes, or until the edges begin to brown. Remove from oven and let the cookies to cool on the pan for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.

Makes approximately 2 dozen cookies.

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The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Macarons are French cookies made with egg whites, almond flour, and sugar and sandwiched with a delicious filling.

For this challenge, we were encouraged to create whatever flavor of macarons we wished. I decided to make chocolate flavored cookies filled with coffee meringue buttercream. It was certainly a winning combination.

“You never make enough of those things,” my sister chided.

I suspect that I did not make my macarons properly. There was no almond flour in the house, so I attempted to grind the almonds with the powdered sugar. It worked fairly well, but I just couldn’t get the almonds ground fine enough. Also, almond flour is dryer than ground almonds, so the cookies were a bit dense. However, the flavor was wonderful.

These cookies were surprisingly easy to create. Next time I will either grind the almonds more or break down and buy some almond flour. I also think I could make these healthier by using raw sugar that has been processed in a blender or food processor.

Here is a very nice video showing how French Macarons are made.

French Macarons

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Ingredients

For the Macarons:

• 2 ¼ cups Confectioners’ (Icing) sugar (225 g, 8 oz.)
• 2 cups Almond flour (190 g, 6.7 oz.)
• 2 tablespoons Granulated sugar (25 g , .88 oz.)
• 5 Egg whites at room temperature
• 4 tablespoons cocoa powder, optional for chocolate macarons

For the Meringue Buttercream:

• 2 large egg whites
• 1/2 cup demerara or white sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 2 teaspoons of coffee extract, espresso, or flavoring of choice

Directions:

For the Macarons:

1. Preheat the oven to 200°F (93°C). Combine the confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder (if using), and almond flour in a medium bowl. If grinding your own nuts, combine nuts and a cup of confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of a food processor and grind until nuts are very fine and powdery.
2. Beat the egg whites in the clean dry bowl of a stand mixer until they hold soft peaks. Slowly add the granulated sugar and beat until the mixture holds stiff peaks.
3. Sift a third of the almond flour mixture into the meringue and fold gently to combine. If you are planning on adding zest or other flavorings to the batter, now is the time. Sift in the remaining almond flour in two batches. Be gentle! Don’t over fold, but fully incorporate your ingredients.
4. Spoon the mixture into a pastry bag fitted with a plain half-inch tip. You can also use a Ziploc bag with a corner cut off. It’s easiest to fill your bag if you stand it up in a tall glass and fold the top down before spooning in the batter.
5. Pipe one-inch-sized (2.5 cm) mounds of batter onto baking sheets lined with nonstick liners (or parchment paper).
6. Bake the macaroon for 5 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and raise the temperature to 375°F (190°C). Once the oven is up to temperature, put the pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, or until lightly colored.
7.  Remove from oven and cool on a rack before filling. When the macarons are completely cool, spread with filling of choice and serve.

For the Meringue Buttercream:

1. Place the egg whites, sugar, and salt in a medium heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water and whisk gently and constantly until the egg whites are hot (approximately 140° F) and the sugar is dissolved, 3-4 minutes.

2. Remove from heat and whip with a hand mixer until thick and cooled, approximately 5 minutes. Beat in the butter and flavoring and continue beating until smooth and spreadable. Use immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Return buttercream to room temperature and beat with a hand mixer before using.

Yield: 10 dozen.

This is my very first Daring Bakers Challenge! I am very excited.

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

The host gave us the option of choosing only one of the two to make. I was feeling a little daunted at the thought of homemade marshmallows, so I decided to just make the Milans.

They were absolutely delicious. And so cute! I decided to only make half a recipe, so every one disappeared the same day.

The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons of lemon extract. This seemed like an awful lot to me, so I downsized to just 1 teaspoon. This was a mistake as the cookies were not quite “lemony” enough. Also, the recipe called for orange zest in the chocolate filling. Since I didn’t have any on hand, I substituted orange extract. I thought it gave it wonderful flavor.

I’ll definitely keep this recipe…it would be perfect for a Girls-only Party or an Afternoon Tea.

Milan Cookies
Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website

Ingredients:

• 12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons lemon extract
• 1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour
• Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 orange, zested

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a cookies sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a stand mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.
4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto the prepared cookie sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.
5. Bake in a preheated oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.
6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).
9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies

This morning, the desire to make cookies suddenly overcame me. So this afternoon I found a reliable-looking recipe, gathered my ingredients, and made these delicious cookies.

I knew I wanted to make the original recipe a little more healthy. Thus I replaced half of the AP flour with whole wheat and used Demerara sugar instead of granulated. The large crystals from the Demerara sugar give the cookies a pleasing crunch.

We had used up the last of our pure vanilla extract, so I was forced to use *horrors!* imitation. Yes, that’s a bottle of pure vanilla in the picture. I just couldn’t bring myself to take a picture of GV imitation vanilla extract.

Then, after all of the cookies were done baking, our order of vanilla arrived.

Oh well.

They are still excellent cookies, if I do say so myself. Mom thinks they’re a little on the sweet side, and I agree with her. Maybe next time I’ll use only 1½ cups of sugar instead of 2.

And maybe next time I’ll use a full tablespoon of Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract.

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:: Chocolate Chip Cookies ::

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Adapted from Allrecipes

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups Demerara sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1½ cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 teaspoons hot water
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup toasted chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts are good choices)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2. Cream together the butter and Demerara sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Dissolve baking soda in hot water. Add to batter along with salt. Stir in flour, chocolate chips, and nuts.
3. Drop by large spoonfuls onto ungreased pans. Bake for about 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are nicely browned.
4. Remove from oven. Allow to cool for a few minutes on pan. Transfer to cooling racks to cool completely. Store in airtight containers at room temperature or in the freezer for longer storage.

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This Wednesday was Dad’s birthday. Finding I didn’t have a present, I decided to bake him some biscotti. I was a little concerned he wouldn’t like them. Twice before I have made biscotti - and failed miserably. However, this batch turned our quite well (perhaps due to the fact that I actually followed the recipe).

“Those were good,” he said the next day. “Those are good.”

I am pleased and satisfied.

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:: Chocolate & Almond Biscotti ::

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole almonds, toasted and chopped coarse
• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons softened butter, divided
• 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 (120z) bag of chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 325° F. In a large bowl, beat 1 cup of butter and the sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to the butter mixture with the mixer on low and beat until well combined. Stir in the almonds. If the dough is too wet to handle, stir in an additional 1/2 cup of flour.

3) Butter 2 large baking sheets. Divide the dough into 3-4 portions and shape into long, flattened logs on the baking sheets, about 5 inches wide and 5/8 inches thick.

4) Bake the logs in preheated oven for 27-30 minutes, or until firm and slightly browned. Transfer logs one at a time to a cutting board and cut diaganally into 1/2 inch thick slices. Arrange sliced back on the baking sheets and bake for an additional 15 minutes.

5) Line two large baking sheets with wax paper. Melt the chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons butter in a double boiler. Place in a rectangular baking pan and dip the bottoms of the biscotti in the chocolate. Place the dipped biscotti onto the wax paper lined baking sheets and place in the freezer to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

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P.S. This is my entry for Eat Christmas Cookies 2. Stop by and see the roundup of delicious Christmas cookies!