Checkerboard Sablée

White Sablée Recipe
2/3 cup cake flour
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 cup cold butter, cut into cubes
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk (plus additional if needed)

- In a large bowl combine the flours, sugar and salt.
- Add the cold butter and lightly toss into the flour with your hands.
- Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter (or a fork) until the butter is no smaller than baby peas.
- Add the whole egg, and egg yolk and cut in with pastry cutter for about 3 minutes, or until the dough looks like gravel.
- If by pinching a piece of dough and it doesn't come together, or if it just looks too dry add another egg yolk at this point. If not, don't.
- Dump out the dough on a work surface and knead just long enough to get it to hold together.
- Roll into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Move onto chocolate dough.

Chocolate Sablée Recipe
3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup confectioners sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs cold butter cut into slices
1 egg

- In a large bowl combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder and salt.

- Add the cold butter and lightly toss into the flour with your hands.

- Cut in the butter with a pastry cutter (or a fork) until the butter is no smaller than baby peas.

- Add the egg and cut in with pastry cutter for about 3 minutes, or until the dough looks like gravel. 

- Dump out the dough on a work surface and knead just long enough to get it to hold together.

- Roll into a ball, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

To make the checkerboards you'll need 1 egg white, lightly beaten to "glue" the dough together.

- Take the white dough ball and roll out flat, like you would for a pie crust, about 1/4 inch thick. Brush with the egg white.

- Roll out the chocolate dough ball the same thickness as the white and put it on top of the white. 

- Trim the dough so you have even edges. 

- Then cut the dough in half so you have two even squares/rectangles of dough. Brush one of the layers with egg white.

- Flip over one of the cut pieces of the dough and place on top of the other so you have a layer of alternating: white, black, white, black.

So here in the background you have your flat pieces of dough, and in the foreground is the cut pieces.  I've cut off the edge a strip, laid it on it's side, cut another strip and flipped it over so the colors alternate and laid on top of the other. 

- Then, using a sharp knife, cut a thin slice, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and lay it on it's side, brush with egg white. Then cut another slice, the same thickness as the first, flip over and lay it on top of the other slice so white comes up against black.

- Roll gently with your rolling pin to press the dough together.

- Repeat until you've used all the dough and have a bunch of black and white strips. 

- To ease the cutting process place all the strips on a piece of plastic wrap and put them in the fridge for about 30 minutes, or to speed up the process put them in the freezer for about 5-10 minutes.

- Using a sharp knife cut the dough into about 1/2 squares and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. 

- The cookies will be pretty tiny, so you'll want to watch them closely so they don't burn. Bake for about 8-12 minutes or until barely brown, at 350 degrees F. 

With any remaining dough you can mix the white and black together to make marbled cookies like these.

Or you can even just make stripes, like these.

Madeleines

No one is quite sure where these shell shaped sweets began. As story has it Louis VX's father-in-law first introduced them at Versailles. One thing is sure though, you will love them!
That's the hand-written note from my mother's boyfriends, French Mother who I've never even met, but can tell by her generosity to give me this recipe she's a very sweet lady! And I'm sure she's just the cutest little thing!

I had the opportunity to have an authentic madeleine in Paris this summer. We had just gotten off the metro and walked down this cute little street right in the Paris city center, and happened upon a cafe so we stopped in. It was delicious. The only thing I regret about that little cafe, is that I didn't buy more madeleines.


2 eggs, room temperature
1/8 tsp salt
1/3 granulated sugar
1 tsp grated lemon peel
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup melted butter, cooled

- Grease and flour each shell of frame of madeleine pan.

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

- Beat two eggs with 1/8 tsp salt until frothy.

- Gradually beat in 1/3 cup granulated sugar.

- Crank up the speed of the mixer and beat until very thick and lemon colored, about 15 minutes.

- Fold in the lemon peel.

- Sift 1/2 cup flour over egg mixture and gently fold into egg mixture.

- Add butter and fold in quickly

- Fill prepared shells about 3/4 full.

- Bake 8-10 minutes or until golden.

Remove from shells to wire rack to cool.

Mai's Molasses Cookies

 

This is my mother-in-law's recipe. Now, if you've been paying attention, you'd know that I'm not actually married (minor detail). However, although there isn't a piece of paper making us legally a family I still consider my boyfriends family, family.

Any-who.

The first time I had one of these cookies was before I had even met Mai. She was sweet enough to mail me a little package of them during Christmastime. And I knew the second I put one of these suckers in my mouth that I MUST have the recipe, and my life would never be the same. I couldn't stop eating them.

Shortly after that I received a little recipe book in the mail, hand-written mind you, of some of her recipes including this one. Best day ever!

These cookies are so yummy, they're soft and chewy and incredibly flavorful. Your taste buds will do a little dance, and your salivary glands will water until there's no tomorrow... or just until the cookies are all gone.

Oh yeah, one more, itty-bitty, minor detail I forgot to mention; Mai is a baker, she does this for a living and has been for 20 some-odd years. She, ah-hem, knows her shit. So trust me, you want to eat this cookie!

2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1/2 cup dark molasses
4 cup flour
4 tsp baking soda
1 tbs ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl and set aside.

- Cream the sugar, oil, molasses, and eggs together in a mixer.

- Add the flour mixture to the molasses mixture and blend until combined.

- Take bits of dough and roll into about 1 inch balls.

- Place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.

- Measure out about 1/4 cup granulated sugar and put into a bowl. Using the flat bottom of a glass dip the bottom into the sugar and press onto cookie balls flattening just slightly, re-dip in sugar as necessary.

- Bake for about 10 minutes, remove when still soft and place on cooling rack

Then do what I do and eat these cookies until you can't move, because that's just how I roll!

Russian Tea Cakes

I've never actually made these cookies before, so this is a first. But I'll tell you what, I've eaten plenty of them in my day, and they're damn good. Because they're made with confectioners sugar instead of granulated sugar they just melt away the second you pop them in your mouth! They're melt-in-your-mouth good! Yum!

I know it says cake in the name, but these cookies are hardly cake, they're not nearly as difficult to make as a cake is, tell you what. These are so simple you'll wonder why you've never made them before!

Russian Tea Cake Recipe:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temp
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 cups flour
1 cup hazelnuts (or nut of your choice), toasted and finely ground
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

For covering/dusting
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

- Beat butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy, then add the powdered sugar and vanilla.

- In a bowl whisk together the flour and cinnamon.

- Combine the flour and butter mixtures then add in the hazelnuts until incorporated.

- Remove dough from bowl and wrap in plastic and chill until cold, about 30 minutes.

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

- Whisk together the remaining 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and 1/2 tsp cinnamon and set aside.

- Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on baking sheet about 1/2 inch apart.

- Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown on bottom and just pale golden brown on top. Be careful, because these can burn on the bottoms quite quickly so watch them close. Don't, for example, go start some laundry while they're baking. Sit tight, right there in the kitchen.

- Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet, then gently toss the warm cookies in the cinnamon/sugar mixture to coat completely, transfer coated cookies to cooling rack.

- Sift any remaining sugar over cookies prior to serving.

Black & Whites

The first time I had a black and white cookie I was in New York City, (where else can you get a REAL one?), in a cute little cafe (that I don't remember the name of) on some random little street, and it was everything I thought it would be and more.
Black and whites are one of my favorite cookies, because they're similar to a cake and (hello!) we all know how much I love cake. And because they're pretty and elegant, but are also quite simple. One side black, one side white on a simple white cake-like cookie. Done and done. Oh, and they taste really good too!


I love them, and I whole-heartedly believe that they love me back!


Black and White Recipe:*


1 3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp
4 eggs
1 3/4 cup milk
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups cake flour
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
a pinch of cinnamon (just a tiny ammount)


* Most traditional black & white recipes include 1/2 to 1 tsp of Lemon extract. I prefer to leave this ingredient out, because I dislike chocolate and citrus together. But please, if you want to go the traditional route, add in the lemon & be sure to leave out the cinnamon.


White frosting
2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla


Chocolate frosting
8 oz bitter or unsweetened chocolate
1 tbs butter
1/4 cup heavy cream
unsweetened cocoa powder (optional-see note*)


I wanted to do these cookies my way. Although I enjoy the traditional Black and White, I wanted to experiment with the frosting and change it up a bit. The traditional black portion of the frosting is... less chocolate-y than I would like, and is quite sweet. As is the white frosting, it's just too sweet. Not that I didn't want the frosting to be sweet, I just didn't want the frosting to overpower everything with it's sweetness! Plus I wanted to put my own spin on this cookie.


- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.


- Cream together sugar and butter until light and fluffy, add eggs, & vanilla extract


- Whisk together cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder and salt.


- Add flour mixture to the butter mixture in batches, stirring well after each addition until combined.

- Add in the milk.


- Using a spoon, ice cream scoop, or your hands make little balls, place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake until edges brown slightly about 15-20 minutes.


- Allow cookies to cool completely on cooling rack.


While cookies are cooling, make the frostings.

White Frosting:


- Whisk together the heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar until the consistency is thick, but still spreadable. Add more sugar or cream as necessary to reach the desired consistency.


Chocolate Frosting: (which is more of ganache-but slightly thinner)


- Heat the heavy cream in a sauce pan just until barely boiling. 
- Put the chocolate, chopped up (unless using chips) in a heat-proof bowl (microwavable), place the butter in with the chocolate. 
- Add the heavy cream to the chocolate.
- Whisk all together until it's thick and not runny, but still spreadable.



*Sometimes, the chocolate ganache can be too thin, if you let it set for a few minutes it usually thickens, (it can also help to put it in the fridge for a few minutes too) if not you may have to add either more melted chocolate or you can add unsweetened cocoa powder instead (1 tbs at a time) until it thickens. This ingredient is optional- if the chocolate is thick enough you would not have to add it. And then obviously, if the mixture is too thick, heat more heavy cream and add to the mixture but not too much. 


Once the cookies are completely cooled flip them all over so flat side is facing up.


Spread the chocolate frosting on half of the flat side of all the cookies. It's important to do this step first as the chocolate, especially since I made more of a ganache than the traditional recipe (which is more "runny"), tends to set and harden faster than the white. However, if it does start to set before you finish, pop your bowl in the microwave for 5-10 seconds and stir until it's spreadable again.


Repeat with the white frosting until, you have a black and white cookie!


Let the frosting set, (preferably overnight) then store in an airtight container.

Since these cookies are more cake-like they tend to go stale more quickly so enjoy up to about 3 maybe 4 days after making them. I would suggest taking them to work and impressing all of your co-workers with your awesome baking skills!


This recipe was adapted from Smitten Kitchen who adapted it (mostly) from Zabar's.

Sugar Cookies

(Isn't this snowman just the cutest little creature?)

Sugar cookies have got to be one of the most widely known and loved cookies ever, and possibly the oldest. They are the perfect holiday cookie and are incredibly fun to decorate with your friends or family, in fact that's my favorite part.
For awhile there, though, I didn't even like sugar cookies. I know what you're thinking, how could I not like sugar cookies!? Something must be wrong with me. Well the good news is that I met my boyfriend, and his Mother makes the most killer sugar cookies on the planet, thus I fell in love. With both the cookies the boyfriend, and the mother!!

Day 5 of 10 Days of Cookies, SUGAR COOKIES!

Sugar Cookie Recipe:

2 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (two sticks) plus 3 tbs butter, at cool room temp.
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk

Frosting (see recipe below)

Note: You can also make this dough a day in advance and keep in the frige until ready to use
- In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.

- Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Beat in the egg and egg yolk.

- Combine the butter and flour mixtures together until combined.

- Remove the dough from the bowl and fold it together into a ball. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge for 30 minutes.

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

- After 30 minutes remove the dough from the fridge and lightly flour your work surface.

- Using a rolling pin, gently roll out the dough 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick.

- Cut into shapes with cookie cutters and pull away the excess dough. Repeat rolling and cutting until the dough is gone.

-  Place cut dough on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until very pale brown.

To make the frosting you'll need:

1 pint heavy cream (or milk, but I prefer the cream it gives it a richer flavor and thicker consistency without using a ton of sugar)
2-4 cups confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla
a plethora of icing colors

Whisk all ingredients together until well combined and thick, but spreadable add more sugar as needed for consistency.

Separate the frosting into bowls and, color, color, color.

Then, invite over all your friends, family and neighbors over and have a cookie decorating extravaganza! That's what I did!

Hazelnut Biscotti

Here's a little history lesson for you (information found here).
Biscotti are a twice-baked cookie originating in the Italian city of Prato.  The word, biscotti, originates from the medieval Latin word biscoctus, meaning "twice-baked." It defined oven baked goods that were baked twice, so they were very dry and could be stored for long periods of time. Being very dry, biscotti traditionally are served with a drink, into which they may be dunked. 

 Biscotti are very versatile and can be enjoyed at any time. I usually like it with my morning coffee, or for a late night snack. 

And now you know!

Hazelnut Biscotti Recipe:


2 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 cup butter, melted (and slightly cooled)
1 1/2 cup hazelnuts, coarsely chopped


Chocolate ganache for dipping (see recipe below)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper


- Whisk the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar together in a large bowl.


- Mix the eggs together with a fork. Add the eggs and the melted butter to the flour mixture, stir until combined. 


- Add the chopped hazelnuts and stir until well incorporated. 


- On one of the prepared sheet pans, shape the dough into two 11-inch logs. Flatten the logs so they're each about 3 inches wide. 

(note: I cut the recipe in half, so that's why I only have one log, shown above)


- Bake for about 35 minutes or until the tops of the logs turn pale brown. 


- Turn down the oven to 300 degrees F and remove the logs from the oven. Let the logs cool for 15 minutes. Then slice them with a serrated knife on a diagonal into 1/2-inch-thick cookies using a sawing motion with very little pressure.  If the dough is too soft and tears, let the logs sit for 5 minutes more. 

- Arrange the biscotti cut side up on both sheet pans and bake for about 30 minutes**, or until golden brown.

- Let cool until set, then dip the ends of the cookies in the chocolate ganache if desired. Or you can drizzle the chocolate over the tops of them.


Chocolate Ganache Recipe:


1/4 to 1/2 cup heavy cream
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
1 tbs butter, room temp
unsweetened cocoa powder (optional-see note)


- Heat the heavy cream in a sauce pan just until barely boiling. 
- Put the chocolate, chopped up (unless using chips) in a heat-proof bowl (microwavable). 
- Add the heavy cream, and butter. 
- Whisk all together until you have a thick, but still spreadable, chocolate sauce. 
- Dunk one end, drizzle or engorge the entire cookie in the sauce. Enjoy.


Note: sometimes, for many reasons unknown, the sauce will be too thin, if you let it set for a few minutes it usually thickens, if not you may have to add either more chocolate or you can add unsweetened cocoa powder (1 tbs at a time) until it thickens. And obviously, if the mixture is too thick, heat more heavy cream and add to the mixture (hence the 1/4 to 1/2 cup cream-it kind of varies)


These will store well in an airtight container for a few weeks. 


** I like my biscotti a little softer than the traditional hard, dry version. So I bake mine for a little less time, just until they're still barely soft. About 15-20 minutes.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Kisses

Cookie #3 for the 10 Days of Cookies.
Peanut butter and chocolate go together like... wine and cheese. Unless you're some kind of weirdo (like my Grandma) and don't like peanut butter... you'd agree that it's probably one of the best things on the planet.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Kiss Recipe:

Makes about 24-30 cookies depending on the size

3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temp.
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy-I used smooth)
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

24-30 dark chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

- Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the peanut butter. Then add the vanilla and egg, beat until combined.

- In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

- Combine the flour mixture with the peanut butter mixture, stir until incorporated.

- Roll the batter into 1 inch balls and place on the prepared cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.

- Place 1 unwrapped dark chocolate kiss on each ball of dough, and smash down just until the kiss sits inside the dough.

- Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until they turn light brown around the edges.

Enjoy warm. Store in airtight container for about a week, or you can freeze for longer storage.

Jelly Cookies

Second for my first annual 10 Days of Cookies we have Jelly cookies!
These cookies are fun and easy to make with kids and are perfect for the holiday's! Play around with different flavors and colors of jams, you can even add chocolate instead!

Jelly Cookie Recipe:

2 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) plus 3 tbs butter, at room temp.
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk

1/4 cup of you're favorite jelly (I used my friends home-made strawberry jam)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (or if you're oven is like mine and runs hot, which I somehow seemed to forget while making these cookies, and mine got really brown really fast-preheat to 325 instead)

- in a bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

- cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy, add the vanilla. Beat in the egg and egg yolk.

- sift the flour mixture over the butter mixture and combine with a wooden spoon.

- wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for about 10 minutes.

- take dough out of the fridge and using a spoon scoop out some dough and roll it into a ball, you'll want each ball to be about the same size so they are all done baking at the same time.

- arrange all the dough balls onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper about 1 inch apart.

- flatten the balls into little flat rounds using the palm of your hand.

- then press a finger into the center of each of the rounds to make an indentation for the jelly.

- spoon just enough jelly into the holes so that it's level with the top, you want to be careful to not put too much jelly on them or it will overflow onto the pan.

- bake for about 20 minutes, or until very pale brown around the edges. Let cool then enjoy. These cookies can be stored in an airtight container for about a week.

Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love chocolate and I love coffee, so naturally this cookie had to be my first pick for my first annual 10 days of cookies.

Espresso Chocolate chip cookie Recipe:

This makes the smallest amount of cookies, (about 20-depending on their size) so double or triple if you plan on sharing!

6 oz chocolate chips (or bittersweet chocolate bar chopped) I used both.
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp coffee grounds, ground for espresso*
3/4 cup butter, (at room temp)
1/4 cup brown sugar (preferably light)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (the white stuff, yo)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup nuts, such as walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F 


- cream together the butter and sugars, then add the egg and vanilla.

- mix the flour, baking soda, salt and espresso powder *(I used Gorilla Coffee's espresso a-go-go whole bean and ground it really fine so it's like a powder) in a large bowl.

- combine the flour mixture with the butter mixture just until combined, stir in chocolate chips and nuts if desired (I usually leave out the nuts, because they just really don't belong in chocolate chip cookies... but hey, if adding nuts floats your boat, I say go for it)

- measure out two tablespoons of dough-you can also use an ice cream scoop-and roll into a ball. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.

- bake for about 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown (oven times/temperatures may vary so watch the cookies closely)

- eat them all right out of the oven (like I did) or if you're sharing them, let cool and store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Photographs by Jesse Coss a Utah advertising photographer.

EggNog cupcakes

These are for my friend Heather's birthday, which is today, wish her a virtual HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

EggNog cupcakes with vanilla and whiskey pudding filling and nutmeg infused frosting and they are YUMMY!
The blue butterflies came from Sweet Deja Vu and the photographs were taken by Jesse Coss who is a Utah advertising photographer, oh and he's also my boyfriend so I'm kind of lucky that I get to have professional photo-shoots every time I bake something!