SHORTBREAD LEMON COOKIES

Recipe from the book: BAKING by James Peterson with some tweaking.(*)

Makes 35 cookies

1 3/4 C flour
1 t salt
1 C butter, cut into 1/2 inch slices
3/4 C granulated sugar
1/4 C turbinado or granulated sugar (optional) i used light brown sugar instead. *

*zest of 2 lemons

In a bowl, whisk together the flour and salt. Combine the butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer and cream the butter using the paddle attachment blade on medium to high speed for about 1 minute, or until fluffy.

Turn off the mixer, add the flour mixture and zest, turn the mixer on at low speed. Gradually increase the speed to medium and beat for about 1 minute, or until the dough clumps together.

Transfer the dough to a parchment paper that will just fit into a sheet pan. Use rolling pin and your fingers to press the dough into a 9 by 12 inch rectangle about 1/3 inch thick. Sprinkle evenly with the turbinado sugar (brown sugar), if using. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

*The book didn't  suggest to use cookie cutters but i did. Cut the dough right before putting them into the oven.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden brown on top. Slice the rectangle, while still hot, into 1- inch wide strips. Cut across the strips by making four slices, 2 1/4 inches apart, at about a 30 degree angle with the 1 inch strips, to form diamonds. Let cool completely on the parchment paper before serving.

Store tightly sealed in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

"Shortbread dough is similar to extra buttery sweet pastry dough but contains no liquid. These cookies are quite salty - a delicious juxtaposition with their sweetness-but if you don't want the salt, cut it in half"- JAMES PETERSON.

I like salty and sweet combination so i didn't reduce the salt content but go ahead if you think there is too much salt...but believe you me... it's just perfect and w/ a hint of the lemon...this recipe is definitely a keeper!!!

APPLE PIE COOKIES

Another great cookie recipe from my good friend Marina. I actually wasn't surprised that these cookies would come out delicious. Marina is a cookbook author, Taste of Home Field editor and Blue Ribbon winner, of course they are ooohhh sooo good ..okay, addicting ha!ha!
Thank you, Marina for another winner recipe.


These cookies are crunchy on the outside and moist and chewy in the inside, my kind of cookie  I'm not a fan of those crisp, hard cookies. Each bite you get to taste layers of flavor. you get the nutmeg, cinnamon sugar flavor right away then you get to taste the apple, then the nuts and the hint of the lemon orange extract. These are perfect for the holidays.

Ingredients::
Yield : 4 dozens.

3 eggs
1 lb sweet butter, softened
1 lb brown sugar
1 1/2 C sugar

1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp.  fresh grated nutmeg
2 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 Tsp. fiori di sicilia extract***
6 C sifted flour
1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 C chopped walnuts, toasted ****
2-3 Tbsp. butter
3 C finely chopped apples (5-6 small apples)
2-3 Tbsp sugar
2-3 Tsp cinnamon

1 tsp fresh grated nutmeg
2 tsp fresh lemon zest
1 Tbsp fresh lemon

Cinnamon-Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside.In a large bowl beat eggs 4 to 5 minutes. Set aside.Cream butter until creamy.
Add brown sugar and mix until well incorporated.
Add spices and extracts. 
Mix thoroughly to combine well.

Add beaten eggs to sugar-butter mixture and mix until well incorporated.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, slat and baking soda.Add to batter and mix well, 

In medium to large saute' pan, melt the 2-3 Tbsp of butter.
In a medium bowl, toss chopped apples with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon zest.
Saute' apples in melted butter until soft.
Add lemon juice and stir well.
Remove apples onto a flat plate to cool down.
Add cooled apples and walnuts to batter and mix until well incorporated.
Careful not to break apart the apples.
Refrigerate batter for 10 minutes.
Drop cookie batter by using an ice cream scoop onto prepared pans.
Sprinkle tops of batter with 1 tsp cinnamon sugar.
Bake only six cookies at a time on each cookie sheet.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes.
Let cool 5 minutes before removing from pan and placing them on a cooling rack.

**I didn't have fiori di sicilia extract. According to Marina you can purchase this from The Bakers Catalog of King Arthur's Flour. But you can make your own:

FIORI DI SICILIA EXTRACT (MIX YOUR OWN) : Lemon extract, Orange extract and Vanilla extract.

** I used mixed nuts. I used almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts.

VANILLA BEAN MACARONS WITH GANACHE FILLING

Now that i got the hang of it, yes, i'm talking about French macarons, the flavors are endless. I'm not intimidated to make these macarons anymore!!. Ofcourse, mine aren't perfect, but practice, practice...i'll eventually make the most beautiful macarons i'd ever make! lol!

I made vanilla bean macarons this time. I guess i spoke to soon coz the batter for this macaron was a bit thick but inspite of that they still came out good. The shape is not that perfect but i like it!!!! annnddd it still got their feet! ha!ha!ha! isn't that what matters most?

I used the madagascar vanilla bean pods. They are expensive but reallyyyy worth it. After i take out the vanilla beans "seeds" i save the pods and put them in my jar of sugar. Those pods will impart vanilla smell and taste to your sugar.

For more macaron flavors, "secrets on how to make successful macarons" and the recipe for both the macaron shell and the ganache filling...pls check my other blogs...MY FRENCH MACARONS GOT FEET and MACARONS .

MY FRENCH MACARONS GOT FEET!!!

Well, well, it's been a long time since i last made macarons. As i mentioned in my other macaron blog MACARONS these little jewels are an obsession of mine. I am proud to say that my macarons has improved immensely. I can tell you that I'm comfortable making them this time. Rate of success? hhhmmm about 85% ..yes, I'm so proud to say that. They all had feet and yes, there were cracked shells but not much...can i hear a woot! woot! sshhh!!! i did a happy dance. I'm entitled to my opinion right?

Thanks to my friend Tina  and macaron bloggers, i took notes which i call "secrets" to make a perfect macaron. See, when i made them the first time, the cookbook i read and macaron blogs just straight up shared the recipe but never mentioned about the extra steps you have to do in order for you to make a beautiful macaron. Which leads to frustration and disappointment because you believe you followed the recipe word for word, step by step but your end product is no way similar or the same as theirs.

So, I'm sharing the notes that i have learned. This is to save you from the frustration and disappointments.

1. It is imperative to use a scale. That's my opinion.
2. Age your egg whites. Use a day old egg whites.
3. Some say sift your dry products..i didn't it still came out good.
4. Use a template for a uniform size. (I must admit, i need more practice on this step)
5. Use parchment paper or silpat pls.
6. Don't over mix your batter. It should be runny but not to runny=;)
7. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees then lower to 300 degrees few minutes before you put them in.
8. They say bake one sheet pan at a time w/c i did but didn't even think about the reason for it. But Tina thought that it does make sense especially for small oven, to avoid over crowding.

There has been an influx of macaron recipes but i'm sticking to my original recipe with slight adjustments based on the notes i have made.

I MADE MATCHA MACARONS. I ADDED A TSP OF MATCHA (JAPANESE GREEN TEA) POWDER TO THE DRY INGREDIENTS. A TSP. OF THE MATCHA WOULD SUFFICE OTHERWISE THE TASTE OF THE GREEN TEA WILL BE OVERPOWERING.

3 egg whites (about 90 gr)
30 gr granulated sugar
200 gr powdered sugar
110 gr almond flour or finely ground almonds
pinch of salt

Preparation:

1- Preheat the oven to 320 f. (SEE MY NOTES REGARDING THE TEMPERATURE)  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2- In a food processor, combine the ground almonds, powdered sugar. Mix until you get a thin powder. (ADD THE MATCHA)  Remove from the bowl, Sift the mixture. Set aside.

3- Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until soft peak. Gradually, add the granulated sugar and continue to beat until the mixture becomes shiny. At this point, you add the desired food coloring (if using).

4- Sift the dry ingredients over the egg whites in 3 steps. fold the mixture until shiny. Do not over mix.

5- Fill a pastry bag fitted with a round 1/2 inch tip with the batter and pipe evenly the cookies leaving 2 inches between them. Let the cookies rest for about 20 minutes.

6- Cook the macarons for 12 to 15 minutes. Let them cool before filling.


Ganache filling:

1 pint heavy cream
8 oz semi- sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

1. In a heavy saucepan, boil heavy cream. Turn off the heat. Add chocolate chips and let it rest until melted. Use a rubber spatula to stir the mixture until all the pieces are melted.


2. Pour it into a room-temperature bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

STRAWBERRY RHUBARB COOKIES

Another cake mix cookie, check out my other cookie HERE. So, i still have extra RHUBARB COMPOTE that i wanted to finish and i remembered i have a box of strawberry cake mix in the pantry that i've been planning on using.

I know strawberry and rhubarb are a perfect match so why not make cookies out of these ingredients! I also added some chocolate chips..why not...it just made these cookies oh so yummy!!! These cookies are so delicious if i may say so. You should give this a try.

Ingredients:

2 eggs
1/3 C canola oil
1 pkg. strawberry cake mix
1/2 C rhubarb compote
2 T chocolate chips

Pre-heat oven at 350 degrees F.
Combine eggs and oil.
Add the cake mix.
Beat well. 
Mix thoroughly.
Fold in the rhubarb compote and chocolate chips.*I added chips on half of the batter.
Drop by teaspoons onto baking pan lined with parchment paper or silpat.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes

RHUBARB COOKIE CAKE

I was given a bag of rhubarb stalks, I haven't cooked/baked with rhubarb, to be honest, i'm not really a fan of rhubarb. But i didn't want to put these rhubarb to waste.

First thing that came to my mind was to make strawberry rhubarb pie which is the common way to use rhubarb. I'm not a pie fan as well so i surfed and researched and found this Land O Lake recipe. Oh this recipe is definitely a keeper.

Rhubarb isn't that bad after all. I actually love the smell. You will have to take out the stringy part of the stalk just like you would a celery stalk. The browned butter shortbread cookie crust compliments the rhubarb custard filling. The browned butter shortbread cookie crust was so good that i'm using it again w/ another kind of fruit.


Preparation time: 15 min
Baking time: 40 min

Crust Ingredients:

½ C Land O Lakes Butter
1 C All purpose flour
1/3 C sugar

Filling Ingredients:

2 C sliced fresh rhubarb
2/3 C sugar
¼ C all purpose flour
¾ t baking powder
½ t ground ginger
2 eggs
¼ C firmly packed brown sugar

Topping Ingredients:

1 C whipping cream
2 T firmly packed brown sugar (I used light brown sugar)

Heat oven to 350°F.
Melt butter in 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat.
Cook, stirring constantly, until butter just begins to turn golden brown (3 to 4 minutes). Immediately remove from heat.
Add 1 cup flour and 1/3 cup sugar; mix well.
Press firmly into bottom of ungreased 8-inch square baking pan.

Combine rhubarb, 2/3 cup sugar, 1/4 cup flour, baking powder and ginger in medium bowl.
Beat in eggs with wooden spoon until smooth; pour over crust.
Sprinkle 1/4 cup brown sugar evenly over top.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until top is golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
Cool at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Combine whipping cream and 2 tablespoons brown sugar in small bowl.
Beat at high speed until soft peaks form.
Dollop each serving with sweetened whipped cream.

*Substitute 2 cups frozen rhubarb, thawed and patted dry with paper towels.

CHOCOLATE GOOEY BUTTER COOKIES

I've seen these cookies around the foodblogsphere but didn't bother making them until now. My frined MARINA gave me the recipe. It does look like the crinkled cookies but soft. We liked this, i will add chocolate chips on my next batch.

1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

HELLO DOLLY BARS

Recipe from Cooking Light- Annual Recipes, 2008. Really, really good, you have to make these to understand what i mean!.
Line your pan with parchment paper, so it will be easy to take them out of the pan and cut into bars.

Y: 24 serving bars

1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs (about 9 cookie sheets)
2 T butter melted
1 T water
1/3 C semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 C butterscotch morsels
2/3 C flake sweetened coconut
1/4 C chopped pecans, toasted - i used almonds
1 (15 oz. ) condensed milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Line bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 baking pan with parchment paper, cut off excess paper around top edge.

3. Place crumbs in a medium bowl. Drizzle with butter and 1 T water, toss with a fork until moist.

4.Gently pat mixture into an even layer in pan (do not press firmly).

5. Sprinkle chips and morsels over crumb mixture.

6. Top evenly with coconut and nuts.

7. Drizzle milk evenly over top.

8. Bake at 350 degrees fro 25 min. or until lightly browned and bubbly around edges.

9. Cool completely on wire rack.

I love the combination of the coconuts, chocolate chips, butterscotch morsels and the nuts.

 

DULCE DE LECHE CHEESECAKE NANAIMO BARS

Have you heard of Nanaimo Bars? I First heard of these, last month, Nanaimo Bars were the Daring Bakers Challenge which was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen,  check HERE for the DB Challenge- January.

Nanaimo (NAH-NYE-MOH) Bars are a classic Canadian dessert created in Nanaimo, British Colombia.

Yes, I'm a Daring Kitchen member but only joined the Daring Cooks not the Daring Bakers. I don't think i can do both, but this Nanaimo Bars were just calling my name!! I had to make them and try them. So here goes my version.

I adapted the DB Challenge recipe. There were a lot of versions for the middle layer so i thought of coming up with my own middle layer.

Ingredients:

For Nanaimo Bars — Bottom Layer

1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
1/4 cup (50 g) (1.8 ounces) Granulated Sugar
5 tablespoons (75 mL) Unsweetened Cocoa
1 Large Egg, Beaten
1 1/4 cups (300 mL) (160 g) (5.6 ounces) Graham Cracker Crumbs
1/2 cup (55 g) (1.9 ounces) Roasted Almonds (Finely chopped)**
1 cup (130 g) (4.5 ounces) Roasted Coconut (Shredded, sweetened or unsweetened)

*** I learned from my co-Daring cooks that roasting gives another layer of flavor to what ever dish you're making. So i suggest you roast the almonds and the coconuts, they taste really good.

For Nanaimo Bars — Middle Layer

1/2 cup (115 g) (4 ounces) Unsalted Butter
2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons (40 mL) plain yogurt***
2 tablespoons (30 mL) Cheesecake Instant pudding or pie filling
2 tablespoon Dulce de Leche
2 cups (254 g) (8.9 ounces) Icing Sugar

For Nanaimo Bars — Top Layer
4 ounces (115 g) Semi-sweet chocolate
2 tablespoons (28 g) (1 ounce) Unsalted Butter

Directions:
For bottom Layer: Melt unsalted butter, sugar and cocoa in top of a double boiler. Add egg and stir to cook and thicken. Remove from heat. Stir in crumbs, nuts and coconut. Press firmly into an ungreased 8 by 8 inch pan.

For Middle Layer: Cream butter, yogurt, dulce de leche, pudding mix, and icing sugar together well. Beat until light in colour. Spread over bottom layer.

For Top Layer: Melt chocolate and unsalted butter over low heat. Cool. Once cool, pour over middle layer and chill.

They are so sweet, a small cut about 1x1 size would suffice.

Matcha Glazed Butter Cookies

1 C sugar
2 sticks unsalted butter
3 ½ C flour
1 t baking soda
2 t baking powder
¼ t salt
¼ C milk**
½ T vinegar**
2 large eggs

**You may use buttermilk, omit the vinegar
Green Tea Glaze Ingredients:

You may adjust the measurements if you want a thicker glaze.

1 C Powdered Sugar
1 T Green Tea Powder (Matcha tea)
2 T Milk

1. Cream butter and sugar
2. Add eggs one at a time
3. Add buttermilk or milk and vinegar mix
4. Add the rest of the ingredients.
5. Mix until dough is well mixed and smooth.
6. Roll dough; use a heart cookie cutter or any shape you want.*
7. Place cookies on ungreased baking sheets.
7. Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees F until they start to brown on the bottom.
8. Let the cookies cool then start putting the green tea glaze.

*I made little heart indentions in the middle of the cut out cookies to make it us my guide for the glaze.

PETITE PALMIERS

These are easy to make. Great for gifts! A no recipe recipe once again.
I was thinking of baklava ingredients as i was making this sans the pistachio.

Ingredients:
1 sheet of puff pastry
mixture of sugar and cinnamon
honey or corn syrup ( i prefer honey)

DUST YOUR BENCH W/ FLOUR SO PASTRY WON'T STICK

SPRINKLE THE CINNAMON SUGAR MIXTURE AND PRESS USING THE ROLLING PIN SO SUGAR MIXTURE WILL STICK TO THE DOUGH. REPEAT PROCESS ON THE ON THE OTHER SIDE.

FOLD AND ROLL OPPOSITE SIDES UNTIL EACH ROLLED SIDES MEETS AT THE CENTER.

CUT INTO UNIFORM SIZES.

ARRANGE SLICED PALMIERS ON THE BAKING PAN MAKING SURE YOU SET THEM FAR TO ALLOW THE PASTRY TO PUFF.

THEN DRIZZLE EACH PALMIERS W/ HONEY ABOUT A TSP PER SLICES.

BAKE IN A PREHEATED OVEN AT 365 DEGRESS F FOR ABOUT 10 MINUTES OR UNTIL BROWN.

ENJOY!!!!!