Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies
from The New Best Recipe

3 cups Flour
.75 cup dark brown sugar
.75 teaspoons bakjing soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1  tablespoon ground ginger
.5 teaspoon ground cloves
.5 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) Butter, softened but cool, cut into 12 pieces
.75 cup light or dark molasses
2 tablespoons milk

In a food processor, process the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt until combined.
Scatter the butter pieces over the flour ixture, and process until the mixture is sandy (15 seconds)
With the machine running, gradually add the molasses and milk.  
Process until the dough is evenly moist, and forms a ball (10 seconds)

Scrape the dough onto a work surface, divide in half
Roll dough to .25 inch thick between two sheets of parchement paper.  Leaving the dought between the paper, stack onto a cookie sheet and freeze for 15 to 20 minutes, or chill for 2 hours or overnight.  

Adjust oven racks to upper and lower middle positions.  

Preheat oven to 350 F
Line 2 baking sheets with parchement, or greese.  
Remove dough from fridge, one sheet at a time.  Peel off parchent from one side, replace.  Flip, peel and discard second sheet of parchement.  
Cut into 5 inch ginger bread men, or 3 inch cookies.  
 Place on cookie sheet .75 inches apart
Bake for 8 to 11 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.  
Cool on sheets for 2 min, then remove and cool.  

Mixing: 7 minutes
Chilling: 15-20 in freezer, 2 hours-overnight in fridge
Shaping: 30 minutes
Baking: 8-11 minutes

Cookie Press Butter Cookies

Three recipes to try and compare.  Results pending.  

Spritz
from Better Homes and Gardens HOmemade Cookies 

1 cup Butter, softened
1 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla
2.33 cups Flour
.5 tsp Baking Powder
.25 tsp Salt

Preheat Oven to 400 F
Cream butter and sugar.
Blend in eggs and flavoring.
Combine flour, baking powder, salt; stir into wet mixture.
Without chilling the dough, pack the dough, half at a time, into a cookie press.  
Press into desired shapes onto ungreased cookie sheet.  

Bake at 400 F for 7 to 8 minutes.   

 Mixing: 10 minutes
Chilling: None
Shaping: 10 minutes
Baking:  7 to 8 minutes

Pressed Cookies
from The New York Times Cook Book

.5 pound Butter
1 cup Brown Sugar, packed
.5 cup granulated Sugar
2 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
.5 teaspoon  baking soda
2 tablespoons milk

Preheat Oven to 400 F

Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs and vanilla, cream well
Sift together dry ingredients
Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture alternatively with the milk .  Mix well. 
Force the dough through the cookie press onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  
Bake 10 minutes.

Mix: 15 minutes
Chill: None
Shape: 10 minutes
Bake: 10 minutes

Candy Cane Holiday Cookie

These cookies are a holiday favorite for my family.  

Candy Cane Cookies
.75c butter
 .75c sugar
1 egg
.5 tsp vanilla
.5tsp peppermint extract
2c flour
.5tsp salt
.25tsp baking powder
1tsp red food coloring
Heat oven to 375 F
Cream butter and sugar
Beat in egg, vanilla and extract
Stir flour with salt and baking powder, add to creamed mixture
Divide dough in half, add food coloring to half
Chill dough for 30 minutes
Divide each dough into 30 balls, keep half of each dough chilled until
ready to use
Roll each ball into a five inch rope
For each cane, pinch together one end of a red rope and one end of a
white rope, twist ropes together, pinch together remaining ends.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet, curve to form cane
Bake for 10 minutes

Mixing: 10 minutes

Chill Time: 30 minutes

Shaping: 30 -60 minutes

Baking: 10 minutes

Tv Snack Cookies from Patisserie Arnaud Larher

Tv Snacks

3/4 cups blanched almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 to 3/4 teaspoon salt to taste
1 cup all purpose flour
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 7 pieces

Position racks to divide the oven into even thirds, and preheat the oven into 350 F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set them aside.

Put the almonds sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse, scraping down the sides of the bowl, until nuts are finely ground, about 2 minutes.

Punishments from Boulangerie Poilane

Punishments

1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
slightly rounded 1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
2 cups all purpose flour

Put the butter in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade and process until the butter is smooth.  Add the sugar, and process until combined, scraping the sides to make sure everything is thoroughly blended.  Add the egg and continue to process until the mixture is smooth and satiny.  Add the flour all at once and pulse 10 or 15 times, until the dough forms clumps and curds and looks like streusel.

Turn dough out into a work surface and gather it into a ball.  Divide the ball in half, shape each half into a disk, and wrap the disks in plastic.  If you have the time, chill the disks until firm, about 4 hours.  If you are in a hurry, you can roll the dough out immediately; it will be stickier.  The dough can be shilled for up to 4 days or frozen for up to a month.

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Working with one disk at a time, roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface until it is between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick.  Using a 1 1/2 in round cookie cutter, cut out as many cookies as you can and place them on the lined sheets, lleaving about 1 inch space between them.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are set but pale.  Transfer to cooling racks.

Chocolate Chiffon Cake with Chocolate Ganache Glaze

Chocolate Chiffon Cake

3 large eggs, separated
1 large egg white
1 cup granulated white sugar, divided
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup safflower oil (or vegetable oil)
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour a 9″ spring form pan.

Separate the eggs, placing the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another.  To the whites, add the extra egg white and then cover both bowls with plastic wrap.  Bring them to room temperature (about 30 minutes) before using.

Meanwhile sift together 2/3 cup granulated white sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the oil, water, and vanilla extract.

In your electric mixer beat the egg yolks for a minute or two on high speed.  Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly pour the oil mixture into the egg yolks until very well combined.  Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until well incorporated.

In a separate mixing bowl, with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites until foamy.  Add the cream of tartar and continue to beat until soft peaks form.  Gradually beat in the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar and beat until stiff peaks form.  With a large rubber spatula or wire whisk, gently fold the egg whites into the batter just until blended (being careful not to deflate the batter).

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.  (When lightly pressed the cake will spring back).  Cool on a wire rack.  To remove the cake from the pan, run a sharp knife around the inside of the pan to loosen the cake.  Invert onto a wire rack.

Chocolate Soak

3/4 water
1/2 sugar
1/4 cocoa powder

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce pan, bring to a boil, then simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool.

Chocolate Ganache

9 1/2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
3/4 cup heavy cream
7 tablespoons butter

Put chocolate in a heat proof bowl.  Put cream in a heavy sauce pan, bring to a boil.  Pour cream over chocolate, wait 30 seconds, stir until smooth.  Cool.

Cut cake into 3 layers.  Wash, dry and reassemble the spring form pan.  Place first layer cut side up into the pan.  Moisen cake with syrup syrup.  Pour 1/3 of the ganache over the cake.  Repeat the process for the other 2 layers, you may not use all of the chocolate syrup.  Chill cake until ganche is firm (12 hours to over night)

Chocolate Ganache Glaze

4 oz chocolate bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons water

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Bring the cream, sugar, and water to a full boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and wait for 30 seconds, then stir to melt the chocolate and smooth the glaze.

Pour glaze over chilled cake, using a spatula to smooth the top and sides.

Fresh Blackberry Pie with Sweet Almond Crust

This recipe works best with berries at the height of the season.  I go and pick olallie berries at a U-Pick farm, and then make this pie the same day.  The berries in the pie are not baked, instead they are held together with a thickened sauce, highlighting the freshness of the berries.  Because of the nature of the pie, you can only make for about two months out of the year (if that), but it is definitely worth the wait.

Crust from Sally’s Fresh Blackberry Tart

First you make and pre-bake the almond pastry crust, then add the filling.

For Filling:

4 1/2 cups blackberries
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
0-1 cups sugar (based on how sweet your berries are)

For a 9-in Sweet Almond Crust:

1 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup finely ground almonds
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1 stick butter (if using unsalted, don’t forget to add a bit of salt to the crust)
2-3 tablespoons ice water
pie weights (you can use dried beans, rice, or those fancy pie weights from Williams Sonoma)

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 400 F

For crust:
In large mixing bowl, combine the flour, ground almonds, brown sugar and salt together.  Cut the butter into one inch cubes.  Rub the butter pieces into the flour mixture.  Add the ice water and rub in, until dough comes together. If the dough is sticky, refrigerate for an hour.

Dust a surface with flour.  Lay out a sheet of plastic wrap that is at least as long as it is wide.  Place the dough in the center of the plastic wrap and pat flat.  Place a second sheet of plastic wrap the same size as the first over the dough.  You will be rolling out the dough between the 2 sheets of plastic, which results in the dough absorbing less excess flour, and greatly reduces the risk of unfortunate sticking.

Place the rolled out dough in a 9-in pie plate.  Line with foil or parchment paper and pour in pie weight, filling to the edges.

Bake about 20 minutes, or until crust begins to look cooked.  Remove foil and pie weights, and continue baking for five minutes.  Remove from oven.

For Filling:

Mash 1 1/2 cups of the berries.  Dissolve the cornstarch in the water.   Add berries and cornstarch mixture to a sauce pan.  Add sugar if using.  Cook over medium heat until warm and thick.  Remove from heat.

Pour 1/4 cup of thickened berry mixture into the pie crust.  Add the remaining berries.  Pour the rest of the berry mixture over top, distributing evenly.  Let cool and serve.