Holiday Swirl Cookies

Hello, world!  Did you miss me?  I just realized the other day that I haven't posted here since the end of September!  I've been cooking, but I just haven't had time to photograph or write about my food.  I don't really know what happened.  One day it was September and the next...poof!...it was December.  I'm hoping to get back to blogging seriously after the new year, but until then, I'd like to share a couple of links to recipes that I made at home recently.  The first were these deliciously light swirl cookies.  They take a little time and attention, but they are worth it.  This is a basic sable cookie (a not-overly-sweet French sugar cookie) that is crisp, light and as my husband puts it, "ethereal."  Thanks to Sprinkle Bakes for this holiday go-to cookie!

**I made a couple of slight changes to the recipe.  Instead of using red food coloring and strawberry flavoring, I used green food coloring and peppermint extract.  :-)  I also didn't have any cake flour, so I used all-purpose flour minus four tablespoons and added four tablespoons of corn starch.

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Coconut Peanut Butter Stuffed Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies [Secret Recipe Club]

So it's Secret Recipe Club time again!  I have to say that after participating in this group for a few months, I've found that I really love it.  Being assigned a random blog to cook from each month is quite exciting, and really makes me try new things.  This month, I was assigned Angie from Big Bear's Wife, a great cook and the host (who keeps us all in line) of my group of SRCers. 

I spent a long time trying to decide what to make from her beautiful blog, but I finally settled on her Peanut Butter Stuffed Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I halved her recipe since I didn't need 12 of these babies floating around my house.  I also made my own peanut butter filling to replace the peanut butter cups since we try to steer clear of processed foods, but it was quite simple to make regardless.  The end result was fabulous--I could barely keep my daughter away from it at all stages!  I will say that I would probably make these in smaller dishes next time (I only had larger oven-proof bowls).  It's quite rich and filling, so smaller bowls would not only help your figure, but really is all you can finish in one sitting.  They are best eaten fresh from the oven...and perhaps with a big scoop of ice cream on top!

Coconut Peanut Butter Stuffed Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Big Bear's Wife
Makes 6 cookies in small bowls

Cook's Note: I used natural organic coconut peanut butter with great results.  Feel free to substitute regular peanut butter or just use peanut butter cups or eggs instead of the filling below as indicated in the original recipe if desired.

Peanut Butter Filling:
1/2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup coconut peanut butter
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Cookie Dough:
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Small oven-proof bowls

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farhenheit.

Make the peanut butter filling: With a hand mixer or in a stand mixer, mix 1/2 stick butter and 1/2 cup peanut butter until well combined.  Add the powdered sugar and mix until combined.  Set aside.

Make the cookie dough: With a mixer, combine the brown sugar, sugar and butter until well combined.  Add the eggs and mix until incorporated.  Add the vanilla and mix again.  In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt and baking soda.  In small batches, add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well.  Add the chocolate chips and mix.

Using an ice cream scoop, add one scoop of cookie dough to each bowl.  Pat it down to cover the bottom of the bowl.  Add a heaping tablespoon of the peanut butter mixture to the middle, spreading it around.  Make sure to leave about 1/4-1/2 inch border around the edge of the bowl.  Add another scoop of cookie dough to the top, and spread over the peanut butter and push gently on the edges to seal with the bottom layer of the cookie dough.

Place in the hot oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until the top of the cookies becomes golden brown.  Let cool for about 5-10 minutes before serving.  Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if desired.

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Double Chocolate Snowball Cookies [International Blogger Cookie Exchange]

Last year I participated in the first annual International Blogger Cookie Exchange hosted by Lori at Fake Food Free and Andrea of Food Embrace and loved it so much that I put my name in the hat to participate again.  Instead of actually sending the cookies we make to each other, we send each other recipes to try at home and eat ourselves!  I was delighted to find out that my recipe was coming from fellow Kentucky Food Blogger Tammi from Picture Perfect Cooking.  She sent me the recipe for Double Chocolate Snowball Cookies...and my entire family LOVED them!  These are great cookies to make with kids--easy, but they get to get their hands dirty while rolling the dough around the chocolate chips.  My daughter helped make these, but as you can see in the photo above, it was my son who tried to sneak a bite or two!

I made the recipe as instructed for half of the batch.  The second half, I divided into two parts and tried different fillings.  I had a craving for caramel, so my original idea was to stuff a caramel into each cookie, but my daughter begged to create her own cookie...how could I say no?!  I cut caramel squares into quarters and placed two quarters into each of my cookies.  My daughter wanted to play with hers, so put one quarter of a caramel and two chocolate chips into hers.  Her version won hands down!  The all-caramel cookies leaked caramel all over the pan and came out flat, while hers looked just like the original version.  My husband described my daughter's cookies as tasting just like a candy bar.  I'll definitely be making this again and am excited to try out new fillings: miniature candy bars, peppermint chips...the possibilities are endless!

Double Chocolate Snowball Cookies
Adapted slightly from Picture Perfect Cooking

Recipe Notes: This is the original version of the recipe, but feel free to play around with the fillings and possibly even the dough flavors.  Try substituting other extracts for the vanilla and see what happens!

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 cup nuts, crushed or chopped (I used hazelnuts.)
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Powdered Sugar

In a large bowl, mix the butter, sugar and flour until light and fluffy.  Stir in the flour, cocoa and nuts.  Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and flatten into a disk.  Chill for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  Unwrap the dough and cut it into about 24 even pieces.  Flatten each piece into a circle and place three chocolate chips into the middle.  Shape into a ball, tucking the chocolate chips inside.  Place on the parchment paper and bake for 18-20 minutes.  Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the sheet or until you can remove the cookies to a cooking rack without them falling apart.  Once they've cooled a little more, roll in powdered sugar.

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Getting Over the Cookie Slump: Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies

So after the Penny's PB&J cookie disaster, I also tried baking a homemade version of my great grandmother's Lemon Whippersnappers, but they also failed. My husband asked, "Do you think it's the oven?" No, no, I think it's me.

I was desperate to be successful at some cookie since I needed them for my kids' teachers as a Christmas gift, so I looked through a list of my saved cookie recipes and came across this Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookie from Epicurious. It looked easy and festive...just what I needed!

They turned out great! The saltiness of the pistachio, the tartness of the dried cranberry, and the sweetness of the turbinado sugar combined to make one tasty cookie. And they were perfect for a little bag of goodies for my kids' teachers. :-) The cookie slump is over...

Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies
adapted slightly from Epicurious
makes about 3 dozen cookies


1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup plus 2 Tbl granulated sugar
1 tsp finely grated fresh orange zest (about one large orange)
1/2 cup shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
1/3 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup turbinado sugar (or you could use other colored decorative sugar)

Stir together the flour, cinnamon, and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together the butter, granulated sugar, and zest in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until dough just comes together in clumps. Mix in the pistachios and cranberries. Gather and press dough together, then divide into 2 equal pieces. Using a sheet of plastic wrap or wax paper, form each piece of dough into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until very firm, at least two hours, but up to 3 days.

Put the oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Brush egg over the log (but not the ends). Sprinkle the sugar over the egg mixture and press to stick, covering the entire log (except the ends).

Cut each bar crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices. (If the dough gets too soft to slice, freeze bars briefly until firm.) Arrange cookies about 1/2 inch apart on the lined baking sheets.

Bake cookies, switching the position of the sheets halfway through baking, until edges are pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies from parchment to cooling racks and cool completely.

**The dough can be frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap and then foil for about one month. Thaw the frozen dough in the refrigerator just until the dough can be sliced.

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When Life Gives You Crumbled Cookies...

...make parfait! This month's Daring Bakers challenge was truly a challenge. After moving back to the United States, finding out that our oven didn't work, cleaning up the house and the aftermath of a winter ice storm, and having to attend a memorial service in Baltimore, we've been busy, busy, busy!

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. Since we had the option to only make one, I chose the Milanos, a family favorite. Unfortunately, though, when I went to bake them, I thought I didn't have any parchment paper, so I just baked the cookies directly on the cookie sheet. If you ever make these, parchment paper is not optional. They stuck to the sheet, and since I baked two sheets at once, I had a lot of cookie crumbs to deal with.

Not to be daunted, I used the leftover cream and chocolate and made parfaits for dessert that night. The funny thing is that the parfaits were more popular than the cookies themselves (which I finally baked correctly when I found a hidden roll of parchment paper)! The cookie recipe can be found at the Food Network site, although I don't highly recommend these cookies (unless you'll be making parfaits). I substituted creme de menthe for the orange zest in the chocolate, which was yummy, but I felt that the cookie itself was a little too lemony and tasted too much like powdered sugar.

They sure do make a pretty cookie, though:

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A Three Year Old's Dream: Dirt Cake

Although I made a birthday cake for my daughter a few weeks ago, her real birthday was on May 31st, and we were lucky enough to have her aunt and a friend visiting that weekend, so I had them bring some "American" supplies to make a dirt cake. My daughter is obsessed with buckets and sandboxes (since every park has beautifully clean sandboxes, and no European child is without a bucket and shovel) and has a slight addiction to gummy worms. I thought a dirt cake for her 3rd birthday would be perfect. I found this recipe at Dianasaur Dishes, and it turned out great! I cut the recipe in half since there would only be five of us, and it was the perfect amount. The final result was extremely rich, but that didn't stop us from devouring it! (Although my daughter only ended up eating all of the gummy worms off the top...)

Dirt Cake
from Dianasaur Dishes
Serves 6

1 lb. Oreo cookies (just less than 1 package)
3/4 cup whipping cream
1 1/2 Tbl powdered sugar
4 oz cream cheese (I used fromage à tartiner here in France.)
1/4 stick butter
1 small package vanilla instant pudding
1 3/4 cups milk
gummy worms

Place the Oreos in a food processor and grind until finely crumbled and looking like dirt (include the cream).

Cream together the butter and cream cheese. In another bowl whip the whipping cream and powdered sugar until thick. In a third bowl, combine vanilla pudding and milk. Mix well for two minutes. Stir the whipped cream into the pudding. Add the butter/cream cheese mixture and stir well.

Layer the cake in your bucket 2-4 hours before serving time. (I did mine the night before, and it turned out fine.) Place 1 1/2 - 2 inches of cookie crumbs in the bottom of the bucket. Then layer the same amount of pudding mixture on top. Continue layering them, leaving room for a layer of crumbs on top. Just before serving, top with crumbs and worms. Serve with a shovel.

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Baked Apple Cookies

As I've mentioned before, I like to experiment with desserts on our students. A couple of weeks ago, a student's parents were visiting him in Strasbourg, so I went out on a limb and tried these Baked Apple Cookies that I found on Low Budget Cooking. (This site is mostly in German, but some of the recipes are translated into English, as these cookies are. I speak enough German to get myself into trouble, but usually have to rely on the English recipe for actual baking.) I knew when looking at the recipe that the cookies were going to be less sweet than American cookies, but how can you go wrong with caramelized apples?!


The final result was a little strange. My cookies didn't look anything like Low Budget Cooking's pictures and were really a little like a shortcake in texture. They definitely weren't as sweet as I expected, either, even knowing that they'd be European-style cookies. Luckily, I made them the night before we were to have company, so we set them aside to make the decision the next morning. Lo and behold, the next morning, the cookies were sweeter and moister! (This seems to be a trend with European desserts made with caramelized fruit...) We decided to serve them, and at the end of the day, we only had two left, both of which I had to snatch out of my husband's hands in order to take a picture!

These are good tea cookies, but perhaps not a true dessert if you have a sweet tooth. I think next time around, I might add a little brown sugar to the caramelizing process--it might add a depth of flavor and a little more moistness to the cookie. (I've converted the original recipe into American terms, but left the original as well since perhaps it was my conversion that caused the cookies to be a little different than the original...)

Baked Apple Cookies
from Low Budget Cooking

approx. 1/2 pound (250 g) apples, unpeeled, finely diced; sprinkled with:
1-2 ts lemon juice
1/4 cup (45 g) vanilla sugar

1 pinch cinnamon, finely ground
7 Tbl (100 g) butter
1 egg
2/3 cup (150 g) flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt

Heat half of the butter in a pan until foamy. Stir in the sugar and melt. Add apples. Fry until the liquid is slightly syrupy and caramelized. Season with cinnamon and let cool.

Whisk remaining butter until creamy. Add the egg and stir well. Add flour, baking powder, salt and apples. Mix to incorporate. Place teaspoons of batter onto a baking sheet (lined with parchment paper). Leave room around each cookie, they spread out while baking. Bake in preheated oven at 350F/180 deg C for about 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

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Teatime: Lemon-Chamomile Shortbread

For today's student dessert and tea, I let my husband choose the dessert. He's a huge fan of shortbread, but I don't usually like it because it's too buttery in taste. (I know, I know...I'm sure there are a lot of jaws dropping out there! I like to use it sometimes as a fat to cook in, but I just don't really like the flavor.) And guess what he chose? Shortbread.


Granted, I made this last semester for the previous study abroad group and liked it, but it probably wouldn't have been my first choice. Luckily, this recipe from Real Simple adds two of my favorite flavors: tea and lemon. It's an easy recipe with few ingredients, and the final product has a light and bright flavor.

I baked this batch in two round cake pans and then cut wedges, but I think the suggestion in the original recipe--cutting triangles--would provide a nicer presentation. Also, the "batter" will be very crumbly, so don't worry when it really doesn't turn into a dough or batter.

Lemon-Chamomile Shortbread
from Real Simple
Text-Only Version
Yield: Makes 18 cookies


1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Grated zest from 1 lemon
1 teaspoon loose chamomile tea
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Heat oven to 325° F. Combine the butter, sugar, and salt in a mixer and beat until light and fluffy. Blend in the lemon zest, loose tea, and flour until smooth. Press into an 8-inch square cake pan. Bake 30 minutes or just until the shortbread begins to turn golden. Cut into 9 squares, then cut each square into 2 triangles. Cool completely on a wire rack. Remove the shortbread cookies from the pan.

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