Another idea from the 12 days of cookies feature I stumbled across. Almond & Pine Nut Cookies. Looked simple enough. Why not? As with most of my holiday cookie production, I doubled the recipe.
First, I got past what I deemed a bit of pretentiousness on the part of the contributor (organic free-range eggs, high-quality vanilla extract, superfine sugar). I use eggs, vanilla and sugar. But that's just me.
Almonds and pine nuts are roasted in a 350° oven for five minutes. A couple handfuls of these are reserved for later. The rest go into a food processor and turned into a coarse powder.
The rest of the ingredients are then added directly. Well, almost all of them. Flour, sugar, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, eggs, baking soda. I think that's it. This gets processed until a pasty dough is formed. This is where I ran into a bit of trouble. Doubling a cookie recipe in a food processor just doesn't work well. Fortunately, the mess was minimal as I transferred everything to a mixing bowl and finished the job with my hand mixer.
Oatmeal is added, and then the reserved nuts, after rough chopping them first.
The dough was absolutely delicious. But it is probably better to form one-inch balls and place them on a cookie sheet. Or use a couple spoons. Do not flatten, even a little, the balls of dough. They bake at 350° for 10 minutes. Let them rest on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes after coming out of the oven. They are very soft and delicate, but firm up quickly.
There is an almost savory flavor to these cookies, as a counterbalance to the sweetness of the sugar. Yes. Plain old sugar. They are now officially admitted to my pantheon of holiday cookies, and will be made every year.
Sorry. I forgot to take a picture.
Bon appétit!
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Monday, December 13, 2010
Rugelach
I expanded my holiday cookie repertoire this year. To truly make it a "holiday" array of cookies, I looked up a recipe for rugelach in my Jewish Holiday Cookbook. I tried my hand at these tasty morsels before, with a limited degree of success. I was confident I could improve on the final result. Well, hopeful that I could.
The dough is made from cream cheese, butter and flour. That's it. The dough is quite thin and gets covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for at least two hours. At least. I let it chill for five hours. Until it was almost rock hard.
After struggling to remove the dough from the bowl, I cut it into four equal parts. Actually, eight because I had doubled the recipe. Each section is rolled out into a circle approximately nine inches in diameter. I brushed the circle with melted butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar.
With the side of a spatula I cut the circle into 16 pizza-like slices. Then, starting with the outer edge, I rolled each slice into a crescent roll shaped morsel.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment, or a Silpat and space the rugelach a couple inches apart. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet after 15 minutes.
Remove to cooling racks and enjoy. Really enjoy!
Bon appétit!
The dough is made from cream cheese, butter and flour. That's it. The dough is quite thin and gets covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for at least two hours. At least. I let it chill for five hours. Until it was almost rock hard.
After struggling to remove the dough from the bowl, I cut it into four equal parts. Actually, eight because I had doubled the recipe. Each section is rolled out into a circle approximately nine inches in diameter. I brushed the circle with melted butter and sprinkled it with cinnamon sugar.
With the side of a spatula I cut the circle into 16 pizza-like slices. Then, starting with the outer edge, I rolled each slice into a crescent roll shaped morsel.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment, or a Silpat and space the rugelach a couple inches apart. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet after 15 minutes.
Remove to cooling racks and enjoy. Really enjoy!
Bon appétit!
Friday, December 3, 2010
Rapid Pull-Apart Rolls
I was watching the Cooking Channel today. I do that from time to time. And time and again. The show Kelsey's Essentials came on, and as I lay back on the sofa to watch a half hour of quick bread recipes, I became intrigued. The recipes were actually for rolls, but you'll have to indulge me. Won't you? After the first recipe, for quick pull-apart rolls, I decided to act. It's Friday, and the thought of oven-warm rolls dripping with butter and jam was too tempting. It all looked easy enough.
Preheat the oven to 400° right off the bat. You'll see why later.
In the stand-up mixer bowl, three tablespoons of yeast is covered with 1.75 cups warm water and allowed to sit for five minutes. A half cup of honey is stirred in, followed by 1/2 cup melted butter, with the mixer on low speed, using the paddle attachment. Next come two beaten eggs and two teaspoons salt.
After this is nice and mixed, four to six cups flour are added slowly, until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. I used the full six cups, and still needed to add more. At this point I switched to the dough hook and added more flour, a spoonful at a time, until the right consistency was achieved.
The dough is placed on a work surface and divided into 24 portions, formed into balls and placed in baking pan or an oven-safe skillet. I used a baking pan. The tray of dough balls is covered with a towel and placed on the oven, to rise for 20 minutes. This is called proofing and the warmth from the preheating oven will aid in this.
After the dough balls have doubled in size, they are brushed with melted butter and put in the oven for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Another brushing with melted butter after they come out of the oven and they are ready to eat.
These were simply yummy!
Bon appétit!
Preheat the oven to 400° right off the bat. You'll see why later.
In the stand-up mixer bowl, three tablespoons of yeast is covered with 1.75 cups warm water and allowed to sit for five minutes. A half cup of honey is stirred in, followed by 1/2 cup melted butter, with the mixer on low speed, using the paddle attachment. Next come two beaten eggs and two teaspoons salt.
After this is nice and mixed, four to six cups flour are added slowly, until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. I used the full six cups, and still needed to add more. At this point I switched to the dough hook and added more flour, a spoonful at a time, until the right consistency was achieved.
The dough is placed on a work surface and divided into 24 portions, formed into balls and placed in baking pan or an oven-safe skillet. I used a baking pan. The tray of dough balls is covered with a towel and placed on the oven, to rise for 20 minutes. This is called proofing and the warmth from the preheating oven will aid in this.
After the dough balls have doubled in size, they are brushed with melted butter and put in the oven for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Another brushing with melted butter after they come out of the oven and they are ready to eat.
These were simply yummy!
Bon appétit!
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