Cookies | Eat Your Heart Out

Homemade Girl Scout Cookies

January 31, 2013 by Stephie 11 Comments

I don’t know about you guys, but when I was growing up, Girl Scout cookie time was big business.

All three of us had a different favorite, and we were willing to hunt down any Girl Scout that crossed our paths to make sure that we got those danged cookies. Then, once we got our cherished boxes of cookies, it was a battle not simply inhale them in one sitting, but rather squirrel them away in the freezer and just eat a few at a time, making that box last as long as possible.

And no, there was no sharing our Girl Scout cookies in the Swope household. You got the flavor you asked for and if you had wanted a Thin Mint, you should have asked for those instead! (I may or may not have heard my mother say this to my father once or twice…)

Clearly, my mother was all about the Thin Mints. I personally love the Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies. But my dad, he’s a Caramel DeLite kind of guy (which, incidentally, I learned as an adult are called “Samoas” in some parts of the country…who knew?). The chocolate drizzled over that coconut-caramel situation with the shortbread cookie? Yep, Jerry’s a goner.

A while back I wrote about spending some time before Christmas in the kitchen with Stef from Sarcastic Cooking. In addition to those awesome shortcakes, we also made these homemade Caramel Delites/Samoas. I can’t lie, they were definitely a labor of love…but when I took my half of the batch home to my daddy at Christmas, his reaction to finding them in his stocking – and the look on his face when he took his first bite of one – made the effort well worth it.

He even said he thought they were better than the originals. And when it comes to his Girl Scout cookies, the man’s a tough customer.

So if you want to find out how to have these lovelies all year round (and maybe make them for your sweetie for a certain love-themed holiday that is fast approaching), head on over to Stef’s site!

Filed Under: Cookies, Desserts Tagged With: Baked goods, Chocolate, coconut, Cookies

Treats for Santa: Secret Weapon Gingerbread

December 10, 2012 by Stephie 7 Comments

Do you like the “Be a Good Cookie” spatula that I used in these photos? Right now, OXO is partnering with Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, and 50% of the proceeds from each Good Cookie spatula will go towards pediatric cancer research! Hop on over to OXO’s site to pick up one for you and maybe one or two to add to your Christmas gifts this year.

____________________________

I don’t think it’s any secret how Santa maintains his belly that jiggles like a bowl full of jelly.

I mean, I don’t know what the missus is feeding him the rest of the year, but just one night of eating as many cookies as he does cannot be good for one’s metabolism.

That’s the problem with Christmas cookies: they’re around for the entire month of December, and yet just one or two nights of eating cookies for dinner (or, um, breakfast…) can entirely ruin your diet for the year.

Crap.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t indulge this holiday season. Not at all! I’m just saying that after your 6th holiday party, you might start feeling a little sluggish if you don’t take a step back to occasionally think about what you are putting into your body.

That’s why these gingerbread cookies are going to be your new secret weapon. I took a traditional gingerbread cookie recipe and I cut out half of the fat (and thus a significant number of calories) and replaced it with applesauce. I also slightly reduced the molasses and replaced some of the all-purpose flour with white whole wheat flour.

And guess what? You would never know.

Seriously! You could take these slightly spicy cookies to any party this season and they would get demolished right alongside their counterparts – no one would be any the wiser.

You know what else is great about these cookies? They are made on the stove top, which means that you don’t have to wait for the dough to chill. Which means that you can go from dreaming about gingerbread to eating gingerbread in under an hour.

That’s my kind of cookie.

{Don’t forget to vote for me in the TopDog photo competition! Just click here and hit “boost” – that’s it! Voting ends a 11:59 pm (EST) on December 12.}

Adapted from Eat, Live, Run.

Secret Weapon Gingerbread

Yield: Approximately 40 smaller cookies, or 20 large cookies

Ingredients

⅔ cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup molasses
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon white pepper
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
1 egg, slightly beaten
½ teaspoon salt
1¾ cups white whole wheat flour
2 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a large heavy-bottomed pot, combine the brown sugar, molasses, cinnamon, ginger, cloves and white pepper. Bring to a full boil over medium-high heat; remove from heat and immediately add the baking soda and stir well. (The mixture will foam up…just keep stirring!)
Add the butter a couple of chunks at a time, stirring to combine between each addition. Once all of the better has been added and has melted, stir in the applesauce.
At the point, the mixture should still be warm but not hot. Add the egg and stir. Finally, add the salt, then the flour. Stir until the dough comes together – the dough should be very soft and still slightly warm.
Roll out on a well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters or use a large glass to make round cookies. Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes.

Filed Under: Cookies Tagged With: Baked goods, Cookies, Dessert, Healthier, Holidays, Whole wheat, winter

Treats for Santa: Fruitcake Cookies

December 3, 2012 by Stephie 13 Comments

Before I get to this wonderfully “retro” recipe, and start explaining to everyone why I swear I have not lost my mind, I have a very tiny favor to ask of you:

I recently submitted a photo of my Chicken and Smoked Sausage Stew to a TopDog photo competition…would y’all mind taking a second to vote for me? All you have to do is click here, then make a quick username and hit “boost”! That’s it! It will only take you a second and I would be incredibly grateful.

Alright. Cookie time.

In case you hadn’t noticed, it is now December, which means that it is now officially holiday baking season! This year I have a few different treats lined up for you, which is why I am not simply calling this mini-series “Cookies for Santa”…because I am sure every now and again Santa wouldn’t mind having something a little different to snack on. But let’s go ahead and start with a cookie recipe, shall we?

This recipe for fruitcake cookies is an old family favorite. In fact, they were my Uncle Mike’s favorite cookie growing up. One year, when he was in high school, my great-grandmother made a batch of these cookies and sent them home with my uncle. He was, of course, supposed to be sharing with the family…but instead, he hid them under his bed and ate them all himself! Now, you have to understand that the original recipe makes approximately 120 cookies…and yes, he did manage to eat every. single. one. (It does help that, like actual fruitcake, these cookies get better with age.) No one else even knew the cookies existed until my great-grandmother asked my grandmother how they were! I think perhaps the rest of the family was a little peeved, but my great-grandmother thought it was just about the cutest thing she had ever heard.

Now, before you start thinking I have completely lost my marbles in trying to convince you to buy that mysterious fruitcake fruit, you should know that King Arthur Flour has a number of options that are more natural than those you might find in your local grocery store. (For this recipe, this fruit blend is likely your best bet.) I, however, chose to put off my normal reservations regarding preservatives and embraced the retro-ness of this recipe and used what was available at my local Jewel.

Ok, so I assuaged your fears about the candied fruit…but I can still feel you eying your computer screen with suspicion. Admittedly, many of us – especially those of us who grew up in the north – have probably grown up with fruitcake being the butt of Christmas re-gifting jokes. But rest assured, these cookies are more like a chewy, nutty spice cookie than anything else. My father has spent his entire adult life swearing off all forms of fruitcake, yet could not stop eating these. I think I’ve made a fruitcake cookie believer out of him…and I bet I can make one out of you, too!

Give these fruitcake cookies a chance. My uncle would surely encourage it.

Fruitcake Cookies

Yield: 60 cookies

The original recipe makes 120 cookies. I chose to halve it to produce a more manageable amount, but if you are baking for a crowd, simply double all of the ingredients.

Ingredients

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
½ cup brown sugar, well packed
2 eggs
1½ tablespoons milk
1½ teaspoons baking soda
1½ cups flour
½ cup unfiltered apple juice (you also may substitute orange juice)
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups chopped pecans
½ box white raisins (about 1¼ cups)
1 pound chopped candied fruit

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line sheet pans with parchment paper; set aside.
In a medium bowl, stir together the chopped candied fruit with a few tablespoons of the flour. This will prevent the fruit from sticking together later. Set aside.
Sift together the spices, remaining flour, and baking soda. Set aside.
Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at at time, then milk and juice. Add the sifted dry ingredients, then fold in the nuts, floured fruit and raisins. The dough will almost seem more like a cake batter than a cookie dough in consistency – that is ok, it’s how it is supposed to be.
Drop by teaspoons about 1 inch apart (cookies will not spread much at all) on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden. Allow to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
Cookies will last about 2 weeks at room temperature, longer in the freezer. Cookies will get even better as they age, so do not hesitate to make them a few days before you plan to serve them.

Filed Under: Cookies Tagged With: Baked goods, Cookies, Dessert, Holidays, Pecans

Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

August 8, 2012 by Stephie 6 Comments

I think everyone has a few people in their life who seem to be connected to all the right people. They just seem to know everyone worth knowing, or at very least know how to get connected to them.

For me, my uncle is one of those people. Recently, one of those connections of his ended up indirectly leading to a new job for me.

It seemed only fitting that I thank him somehow. And, for me, that pretty much always means: baked goods.

Not only is my uncle a well-connected man, he is also one of the biggest chocolate lovers I know. The chocolate-y-er (don’t judge me), the better. I’m sure he wonders how I am related to him with my dislike of chocolate. So when I found a recipe for Chocolate Chocolate Cookies, I knew I had to make them for him.

I pretty much left the recipe as I found it, with one small alteration: I upped the chocolate factor. Yes, I managed to increase the chocolate-y-ness (stop judging!) in double chocolate cookies. Instead of using regular cocoa powder in the chocolate crumb and the cookie batter, I opted to use double-dutch dark cocoa, a mix of Dutch-process cocoa, for intense chocolate flavor, and black cocoa, for super rich color. The result? An intense, knock-your-pants-off, deep dark chocolate cookie. You’re gonna need a glass of milk for these.

Oh, and my uncle loved them.

Chocolate Chocolate Cookies

Yield: 12-15 large cookies

Adapted slightly from Scarletta Bakes, as adapted from Momofuku Milk Bar

Ingredients

For the chocolate crumb:

⅔ cup flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ cup sugar
⅔ cup double-dutch dark cocoa
1 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

For the cookies:

13 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1½ cups sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ounces 60% baking chocolate, melted
1½ cups flour
½ cup double-dutch dark cocoa
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1¾ teaspoons kosher salt
½ recipe chocolate crumb (about 1 heaping cup)

Instructions

First, prepare the crumb:

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, sugar, cocoa powder, and salt. Pour in the butter and mix with a spatula until all of the dry ingredients are moistened and small clusters begin to form.
Spread the crumb onto the prepared sheet pan, breaking up any large clusters. Bake for 20 minutes; crumbs should still be slightly moist to the touch, and will continue to harden as they cool. Allow to cool completely before using or eating. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week at room temperature, or up to 1 month in the fridge. (This recipe makes twice as much chocolate crumb as is needed for the cookies, so you can either make a second batch of cookies, or enjoy the crumbs on their own.)

To prepare the cookies:

With an electric mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, and corn syrup on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until fluffy and fully combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed. Add in the egg, vanilla, and the melted chocolate; mix for another 7 to 8 minutes.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined, about 1 minute, being careful not to over mix the dough. Fold in the chocolate crumbs until just incorporated, about 30 seconds.
Using a ¼ cup measuring cup, portion out the dough onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, slightly flattening the tops of the cookie dough domes. Cover the sheet pan tightly in plastic wrap and chill for at least 1 hour, or up to 1 week. Warning: Cookies will not bake properly from room temperature – don’t try it (unless you want a giant mess on your hands).
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange the chilled dough about 4 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets (I was able to fit a maximum of 6 cookies on each of my large baking sheets). Bake for 18 minutes – cookies will puff, crackle, and spread. If, after 18 minutes, cookies still seem doughy in the center, give them 1 more minute in the oven – but no more!
Allow cookies to cool completely on the baking sheets before storing in an airtight container for 5 days at room temperature or 1 month in the freezer.

Filed Under: Cookies Tagged With: Baked goods, Chocolate, Cookies, Dessert

Raspberry Lemon Bars

July 26, 2012 by Stephie 8 Comments

As I write this, I am sitting in O’Hare airport typing on my phone because my laptop battery is nearly dead and several middle-aged gentlemen are monopolizing the charging station. My flight has, of course, been delayed. Due to weather. Only…all I see are blue skies, and the radar thing tells me there are only blue skies in Boston. (Yes, as you read this, this whole thing is long in the past. I’m scheduling this post ahead of time…that’s just real life.)

So, go figure. There must be a raindrop 400 miles away.

On a related, and less complain-y note, how interesting that we live in a world where I can simultaneously blog and listen to Gotye on my phone while sitting in an airport. I’m sure those middle-aged men at the charging station probably feel the same way…or maybe not.

So about these lemon bars. I have to tell you, I love lemon bars, but I almost never make them. I had a hankering for some last week, though, and knew I had to brave turning on my oven.

But we all know I can’t leave well enough alone…so instead of your basic lemon bar, I gave these guys an extra boost of fruity deliciousness with a sauce made of beautiful fresh raspberries. When you spread the raspberry sauce over your freshly baked crust and pour the lemon filling on top, it naturally creates a beautiful deep pink and yellow swirl.

Beautiful and delicious. Just how I love my desserts…and my men. Wait…never mind.

Raspberry Lemon Bars

Yield: 1 13×9-inch pan

Lemon filling from the Joy the Baker Cookbook. Crust from my recipe for Caramel Pecan Bars.

Ingredients

For the raspberry sauce:

2 pints fresh raspberries
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons corn starch

For the crust:

2 cups flour
¾ cup butter, cubed
⅔ cup powdered sugar

For the lemon filling:

4 large eggs
1½ cups sugar
6 tablespoons flour
½ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2-3 lemons)
2 teaspoons lemon zest
Powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13×9-inch pan with foil (allow some foil to hang over the edges) and lightly grease the foil. Set aside.
In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients for the raspberry sauce. Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mixture is thick and bubbly. Mash any whole berries with the back of a spoon until the mixture reaches your desired consistency. Turn heat to low to keep the mixture warm.
Combine the crust ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse sand. Pour the crust mixture into the prepared pan; press into the bottom and about ½ inch up the side of the pan. Crust will appear very crumbly – this is ok, it will come together in the oven. Bake for about 8 minutes, or until lightly golden.
While crust is baking, whisk together the ingredients for the lemon filling until completely blended and incorporated.
Remove the baked crust from the oven and immediately spread the warm raspberry sauce evenly over the bottom. Pour the lemon filling over the raspberry sauce – it will naturally mix and swirl with the raspberry sauce. Return to oven and bake for 20-25 minutes, until browned around the edges and no longer jiggly in the center.
Allow bars to cool completely in the pan. Use the foil to lift the bars from the pan; cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar to serve. To store, place in an airtight container with waxed paper or parchment paper separating the layers. Bars will last, in an airtight container, in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.