Tate's Bake Shop Giveaway

A couple of months ago, I received an email from Tate’s Bake Shop,
asking if I’d like to try a selection of their famous cookies. My immediate reply was “Yes! I love cookies!”.

Soon after, a beautifully wrapped package came in the mail, containing a sampling of their chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia nut, and oatmeal raisin cookies. Let me tell you, these cookies are good. Thin and crispy, with a slight caramel-y flavor. I had fully intended to take photos of them for you, but my family devoured them. My favorite was the oatmeal raisin, a little chewier than the rest, and downright delicious.

Also in the box was a copy of the Tates Bake Shop cookbook, which is
beautiful and has lots and lots of fun recipes inside. (and a foreward by Ina Garten!)

Would you like to try these cookies out for yourself? Today I’m giving
away the Tate’s gift pack assortment, provided by Tate’s Bake Shop, with all the cookies I mentioned above plus the cookbook!


How to enter:

Enter once by leaving a comment on this post, telling me which kind of cookie if your favorite and a way to contact you if you don't have a blog.

Enter a second time by becoming a fan of Tate’s on facebook, come back here and leave a second comment telling me you’ve done so.


No entries after 11 pm EST this Friday, January 7th. US residents only.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

11 days to Christmas. Can you believe that? Here I am posting a autumn-y pumpkin recipe. I have no excuses, only that I had all the ingredients I needed, I'm snowed in, and I felt like baking cookies.



I’m glad I went against the seasonal grain for these, because they are some of the best cookies I’ve ever made, rich, moist, spicy and quite cake like. I originally intended to top them with this brown butter glaze, but they don’t need it!

If you happen to have some pumpkin hanging around from fall, try these out. They’d make a great Christmas gift!




Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Adapted from here

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 2/3 cups sugar
1 1/4 cup canned pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven.

Lime Cookies, plus a giveaway!

Spring is upon us here in the south, trees are blossoming, the daffodils are blooming, the days are longer. It’s lovely. I’m celebrating the best way I know how - baking cookies.



Really, really good cookies. They might be my new favorite. They are sweet, with a little bit of tang from the lime zest, crisp and crunchy. Perfectly balanced, and perfect for a spring day, maybe easter brunch? They are also really gorgeous, pale centers, with flecks of green, and dark brown edges.

Also to celebrate, and because I like y’all so much, I’m giving away this lovely light blue Emile Henry pie dish, courtesy of CSN stores site, cookware.com. Check out all their awesome cookware, and also their home bars. Thanks CSN!



What to do to enter:
Enter once by leaving a comment on this post and a way to contact you if you don't have a blog.

Enter a second time by tweeting about the giveaway to @honeyandjam AND leaving a ANOTHER comment on this post.

Enter another time by posting about this giveaway on your blog AND leaving ANOTHER comment on this post.

No entries after 11 pm EST this Friday, April 2nd.

I’ll select one winner through random.org Saturday.



Tart Lime Cookies
makes about 60 cookies
The Modern Baker via So Good and Tasty

3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups cane sugar or regular granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
zest of 2 large limes
12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 24 pieces
2 large eggs

sugar coating
1 1/2 cups demerara sugar (or just regular sugar)
zest of 1 lime

Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and lime zest in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse 10 times to reduce the zest to smaller pieces.

Add the butter and pulse until it is completely mixed into the dry ingredients, but the mixture is still powdery. Add the eggs and pulse until the dough forms a ball.

Turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and divide into two equal pieces. Form each into a cylinder about 8 inches long.

Clean any flour off the work surface and combine the demerara sugar and lime zest, working together with fingertips for a minute to release the lime flavor into the sugar. Pour the sugar onto the work surface in a wide line about 8 inches long. Roll one of the logs of dough in it to coat the outside completely. Repeat with the other log of dough. Wrap each log of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

When you are ready to bake the cookies, set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350˚F. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper.

Cut the logs of dough into 1/4-inch thick slices and arrange them on prepared pans about 1 inch apart on all sides. Repeat with the second log of dough, or wrap, freeze, and save it for another day.

Bake the cookies until they are firm and golden around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. After the first 10 minutes, place the pan from the lower rack on the upper one and vise versa, turning the pans from back to front at the same time. Slide the papers off the pans to cool the cookies. If you only have one pan of cookies to bake, adjust the racks to the middle of the oven.

Store cookies at room temperature between sheets of wax paper in a tin or plastic container with a tight fitting lid.

Cranberry Orange Shortbread

I’m finally back from no oven land! It’s tough being without your oven when you use it most every day. I wish that upon no one!

I’ve had these craisins sitting around in my cupboard for ages, today I finally put them to good use, shortbread! I love shortbread because you can flavor it any way you like, this combination is one of my favorites, cranberry and orange. I was originally going to do scones with the same flavors, but choose these instead in the interest of working through my cookie issues.



I’ve never made these slice and bake kind before, I’d always avoided them for some reason. No idea why, they were so easy. I made up the dough last night and baked them this morning, they came out wonderfully. Put them on your christmas cookie bake list, these beauties will be sent out in christmas packages later today.



Cranberry Orange Shortbread Cookies
Makes about 4 dozen

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon finely grated orange zest
1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed until creamy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the powdered sugar, beating until smooth. Add vanilla, almond extract, orange zest and dried cranberries and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low.

Mix flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter beating at a low speed until blended.

Form dough into 2 logs, each about 1 1/2 inches in diameter; wrap in parchment, and refrigerate 1 hour (or up to 3 days).

Preheat oven to 350.

If frozen, let the logs stand at room temp for 10 minutes. Remove parchment. Slice logs into 1/4-inch-thick rounds, and space about 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Bake until pale golden, about 12 minutes. Let cool.

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Even more chocolate chip cookies! Plus a giveaway!

The other day, I decided to try and find the perfect chocolate chip cookies. I know I just posted some last month, but I figured I could find a recipe better than my favorite. I started out ambitiously, printing out 5 recipes to try. The first recipe was a Martha Stewart one, which I just didn’t care for at all. It was just sort of bland, I didn’t even take pictures of them!



The second was a recipe from Alice of Savory Sweet Life. I’m sort of in love with it. They grow on you, getting better as they cool. They are crisp, and the perfect mix of salty and sweet, I absolutely loved the sea salt in them. The first batch I made I used my small cookie scoop, the second I used my big 3 tablespoon scoop, and they were even better, more textured, crisp on the edges and softer in the center. So make them big!



The third was from Ashley of Not Without Salt. They are your quintessential chocolate chip cookies. The texture is exactly what you expect, but with an added crunch from the turbinado sugar, and they are delicious. It’s an excellent cookie. I wish I could have used chocolate chunks, like Ashley recommends, but sadly I only had chips. I bet they would have been even better!

After that one, my quest for perfection was waning a bit, so the last 2 recipes will have to wait a while. Both of these recipes are so, so good, and it’s really hard to pick a favorite. You should really make both, as they are quite different, but equally good, and much better than my former favorite. I’m making them again tomorrow to send off in the mail, I hope the recipient enjoys!


To encourage you to make some for yourself, today I’m giving away the Oxo 3T Cookie Scoop. It makes big, uniform sized balls of dough so all of your cookies cook perfectly and at the same speed. I love it!



What to do to enter:
Enter once by leaving a comment on this post telling me what your favorite kind of cookie is and a way to contact you if you don't have a blog.

Enter a second time by twittering about the giveaway to @honeyandjam AND leaving a ANOTHER comment on this post.

Enter another time by posting about this giveaway on your blog AND leaving ANOTHER comment on this post.

No entries after 10 pm EST this Thursday, December 10th.

I’ll select one winner through random.org Friday.





Alice’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes approx. 45-48 cookies using a sm-med 2tbl. cookie scoop
INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups (12 oz) all-purpose flour *If at all possible, please weigh the flour
1 tsp. smallish-medium coarse sea salt *please do not use table salt, the sea salt gives the cookies a nice flavor and hints of texture. If you must use table salt, use 1/2 tsp.
1 tsp. baking soda
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 cups/16 oz of semi-sweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 360 degrees. Cream butter, sugar, and brown sugar until it is nice and fluffy (approx. 5 minutes on medium speed on a K-5). Add both eggs and vanilla and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt, and flour until cookie batter is fully incorporated. Finally add chocolate chips until well distributed. The cookie batter should be somewhat thick. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough or use a medium cookie scoop and plop the batter onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the edges are nice and golden brown. Remove from heat and allow the cookies to stay on the cookie sheet for an additional 2 minutes. Pick up the parchment paper with the cookies still on top and transfer to a cool non-porous surface. Allow the cookies to cool on the paper for at least 3 minutes before serving. Enjoy!


Ashley’s Chocolate Chip Cookie
8 oz. 2 sticks butter
2 oz 1/4 cup white sugar
2 oz 1/4 cup Turbinado sugar
12 oz 1 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
1/4 oz 2 tsp vanilla
1 lb. 3 1/2 cup All Purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 lb. chocolate (use the best quality chocolate you can afford. With a serrated knife cut chocolate chunks roughly 1/2 inch)
Cream the butter and the sugars until light. Scrape down the side of the bowl. Continue mixing while adding the eggs one at time. Make sure each egg is incorporated before adding the next. Add the vanilla. Scrape down the bowl with a spatula. Combine the flour, soda and salt in another bowl. With a whisk, stir to combine. With the machine on low, slowly add the flour. Mix until just combined, taking care not to over mix. With a spatula fold in the chocolate.
If you so choose, and I do recommend that you do, sprinkle a very fine dusting of good quality sea salt. Fleur de Sel or Murray River Pink Salt are my recommendations.
Bake at 360* for 12 minutes. They should be lightly golden on the outside but still look gooey on the inside.

Mmm, chocolate chip cookies!

For a baker, I don’t have much of a sweet tooth. Not to say that I don't like sweets, they just aren't my very favorite thing. My list of favorite things to eat goes like this:

1. Cabbage
2. Collard Greens
3. Honeycrisp Apples
4. Bacon
5. Cookies



I know! Cookies are the only sweet thing on the list (other than those honeycrisp apples, which are so, so delicious, be still my heart!). Cookies are also my least favorite thing to bake:

1. Cake
2. Pie
3. Everything else
4. Cookies

Cookies and I just don’t agree! I always either burn them, they spread out too thin, fall apart, too dry, something always happens. I don’t understand why! But if I conquer pie crust, I can conquer cookies, for sure.



But in the meantime, here's only cookie recipe that always works well for me. I love it! It makes the most delicious salty/sweet chocolate chip cookies. I’ve posted them here before, ages ago, but they are definitely worth a repost. Have a couple with a big glass of milk!



Chocolate Chip Cookies
from Baking Basics and Beyond

makes about 4 dozen

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips (optional)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Heat oven to 375 with oven rack in the middle

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.

Beat butter, shortening, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in bowl of a stand mixer on Medium-High speed until creamy, scraping down bowl once or twive.
Add vanilla and egg and mix well.

Reduce mixer speed to Low and add the flour mixture. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat until dough forms. By hand, stir in chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and pecans.

Drop dough in rounded tablespoon about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes until cookies are browned on edges.

Oatmeal Cookies

It’s been an exciting week for me. First, I was offered a job doing something I already love to do. Second, Elise from Simply Recipes twittered about me. ME! The little ol’ food blogger who occasionally uses t-shirts as table cloths for photos. (please pretend you never heard that. thank you.) Crazy! Insane! Simply Recipes is one of the first food blogs I ever found, and I’ve been a loyal reader ever since.



How did I celebrate? By baking oatmeal cookies. Oats are one of my favorite ingredients. I love them in just about everything. But before today, I had never made oatmeal cookies. I found this recipe a couple of weeks ago and it intrigued me. Whole wheat flour, honey, dark brown sugar and craisins? Sounded amazing.




And they are. That hint of honey really brings it all together. I think I’ll add a little more next time. Honey + Oats is a match made in heaven. These are super easy to make so you have no excuse. Make them today!



Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground nutmeg
2 sticks butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup craisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the two flours, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Then add in the honey, eggs, and vanilla.

Remove from the mixer and stir in the flour mixture. Next stir in oats and craisins. Drop spoonfuls of the batter onto silpat- or parchment-lined cookie sheets. Flatten cookies slightly.

Bake cookies until golden brown, about 10 minutes (mine took 15). Cool completely.

Lemon Whoopie Pies

A couple of weeks ago I emailed Charity of Sweet Charity Pie and asked if she wanted to try out a new recipe again, after our very successful zucchini cheddar bread. She said yes and suggested we make these lemon whoopie pies.

I was ecstatic, I love whoopie pies. I remember the first time I had one - I was in Amish country in Pennsylvania. I went into this little shop run by mennonite women and saw them. They looked like giant oreos, I had to try one!



It was a culinary experience. So delicious. I’ve tried several time so recreate the whoopie pie I had that day, but I’ve never come close.

So it was nice to try this variation on the chocolate cookie/cream filling. The lemon version is much lighter than the traditional one, slightly more tart. The cream cheese filling was so nice, creamy and lemony. I’ll definitely be making these again.

Thanks for the suggestion, Charity! I loved them.

Lemon Whoopie Pies

the Big Fat Cookie book via Joy the Baker

makes 8 giant cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) usalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1 large egg

1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup buttermilk.

Lemon Cream Cheese Filling

6 Tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

2 Tablespoons lemon juice

2 3/4 cup powdered sugar

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, sugar and lemon zest until smooth, about 3 minutes. Stop the mixer to scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during the mixing. Add the egg, lemon juice and vanilla, mixing until blended, about 1 minute. The batter may look curdled. On low speed, add half of the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the buttermilk. Mix in the remaining flour mixture just until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth again.

Drop heaping tablespoons (about 3 level Tablespoons each for a giant cookie) of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 3 inches apart. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and the tops feel firm, about 12 minutes. With the exception of a time line at the edges, the tops of the cookies should not brown. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

To make the filling-

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on low speed, beat the butter, cream cheese, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice until thoroughly blended and smooth, about 1 minute. Add the powdered sugar and mix until smooth. If the filling is too soft to hold its shape, chill it in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Turn half of the cookies bottom side up. Leaving a 1/4-inch plain edge, use a thin metal spatula to spread each one with about 1/4 up of filling. Gently press the flat bottoms of the remaining cookies onto the fillings.

Wrap each cookie in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Serve cold. The wrapped cookies can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

This past weekend my dad and brother when on a camping trip with their scout troop. When they came home, they brought something with them. No, not expansive knowledge of knot tying (although they did bring that also). Little Debbies. Oatmeal Cream Pies to be exact. I know what you’re thinking, how dare they bring pre-packaged pastry products into the house of a baker. I thought the same thing.



I’m pretty sure I was about 8 the last time I had a Little Debbie. I was at a friends house, her mom always had snack cakes in the house (my mom never did, still doesn’t!).I didn't even remember what they tasted like. So being the adventurer I am, I decided to try one of them.

It was gross. It just tasted bad. Artificial. So I thought, surely I can make a something better. Right?

Wrong. At first at least. The recipe I used was a disaster! First, I didn’t have enough plain oats. So I had to PICK APPLE PIECES OUT OF CINNAMON APPLE OATMEAL. Then sift all the sugar and cinnamon out. Let me tell you this, there is A LOT of apple bits and sugar in those little packets of oatmeal.



Then I tried three different times to get it to work. The first time, at the temperature the recipe gave. The second, at a lower temp. The third time I used a silpat because I couldn’t get the things off the pan. They burned far too quickly and spread out too much.

They actually tasted fantastic, but they were totally flat and impossible to get off in one piece.



But I was determined to make it work. So, I bought new oats, found a new recipe, tweaked it a bit, and tried again. This time they came out great, not too thin, and not too sweet.

And plus, they are kind of adorable in that reminiscing about simpler times kind of way. You should make these, you won’t be sorry.



Oatmeal Cream Pies

1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups quick oats

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars.
Add eggs one at a time, until well combined, then add vanilla.
Whisk together flour, salt, baking soda, cocoa powder, cinnamon and oats. Add to the creamed mixture. Refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

Drop about a tbsp of dough on cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10-12 minutes, or until they are just starting to brown around the edges, they will look moist in the center, so don’t overcook.
Put them on a wire rack to cool.


Filling:
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups marshmallow cream
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 tablespoons milk

Cream the shortening with the marshmallow cream, then add the powdered sugar and vanilla, beat on low for about a minute. If it’s too thick, add a little water. You want it to be spreadable but not runny.

flourless peanut butter cookies and parmesan pull apart rolls

Today has been a long day. Or at least it’s felt like it. I got up early this morning, watered all of the plants, whose numbers seem to grow everyday. Then I quickly got to work on these cookies. Yet another Joy the Baker recipe that I absolutely love.



I don’t how anything with only 4 ingredients can be so delicious. They are nice and crisp on the outside and gooey on the inside. I’m thinking these will probably become a staple for me. And start to finish, they only take about 15 minutes!



The recipe recommends using all-natural peanut butter, but all I had was Jif. At about 9 minutes in I checked on them and they weren’t holding together at all, I thought I was just going to have a bunch of blobs of hot peanut butter. I was cursing poor Jif’s name, sure that I should have run out and got some expensive brand. But after about 12 minutes, they were perfect. And oh so tasty.



As soon as those were out of the oven, I started these parmesan pull apart rolls. I’m determined to work with yeast as much as I can, and it’s going really well. These were AMAZING. Soft and light, with a strong parmesan taste. It’s perfect, expect that I couldn’t get them into roll shape. The dough is super sticky and after 3 tries, I just gave up and threw all the dough in the cake pan. It came out great, although I think I’m going to have to rename them parmesan rip apart rolls.




Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
From The Gourmet Cookbook via Joy the Baker


1 cup all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter

1 cup sugar (1/2 cup brown sugar and 1/2 cup granulated sugar)

1 egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a baking sheet with butter and set aside. In a mixer combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add egg and baking soda and mix for another 2 minutes. Roll into walnut sized balls and create a cris-cross pattern with a fork. If you’d like, add a few chocolate pieces to the top of the cookies. Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on a baking sheet for two minutes, then transfer to… your mouth.


Parmesan Pull Apart Rolls
From Gourmet Magazine via Picky Cook

2 teaspoons active dry yeast (from a 1/4-oz package)
1 teaspoon mild honey or sugar
2/3 cup warm milk (105–115°F), divided
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 Tbsp for sprinkling
1 1/4 cups grated (with a rasp) Parmigiano-Reggiano (1 1/3 oz) (I used pre-shredded parmesan from the grocery store)
1 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into Tbsp pieces and softened
1 tablespoon water

Stir together yeast, honey, and 1/3 cup warm milk in mixer bowl and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. (If mixture doesn't foam, start over with new yeast.) Whisk together flour (2 1/2 cups), cheese, and salt, then mix into yeast mixture along with remaining 1/3 cup warm milk at low speed. Increase speed to medium and beat in 2 eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, until a very soft dough forms, about 3 minutes. Beat in butter, 1 Tbsp at a time, until dough is elastic, about 2 minutes. (Dough will be very sticky.)


Scrape dough into center of bowl and sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbsp flour. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled, 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Punch down dough (do not knead) and turn out onto a floured surface. Cut dough into 12 equal pieces and roll each into a ball by cupping your hand and pushing dough against work surface as you roll in a circular motion. Arrange rolls 1 inch apart in a buttered 9- by 2-inch round cake pan and cover with a kitchen towel (not terry cloth). Let dough rise in a draft-free place at warm room temperature until doubled and dough fills pan, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°F with rack in middle.
*
Whisk together remaining egg with water and brush on tops of rolls. (You will have leftover egg wash.) Bake until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Loosen edges of rolls from pan with a sharp knife and invert rolls onto a rack, then reinvert and cool at least 20 minutes.

Rolls are best the day they're made but can be frozen (cool completely, then wrap well) 1 month. Thaw, then reheat on a baking sheet in a 350°F oven until warmed through, 5 to 10 minutes.

amazing shortbread.

The last time I tried to make shortbread it was a disaster, it tasted like you were eating chalk. So I did some research, looked at a ton of different recipes and finally decided on this one from William Sonoma. I'm more than happy with it, it's delicious, buttery, melt in your mouth goodness.

Ingredients:

16 Tbs. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room
temperature

1/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar, plus 1 Tbs. for
sprinkling

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp. salt

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 300°F.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer fitted with the flat beater, beat the butter on high speed until fluffy and pale yellow (3 or 4 minutes for me). Add the confectioners’ sugar and the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and continue beating until the mixture is no longer gritty when rubbed between your thumb and finger (probably 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla.

Over a sheet of waxed paper, sift together the flour and salt . Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low speed or stir with a wooden spoon just until blended. (I did both)

Using floured fingertips, press the dough evenly into an ungreased 9-inch square baking pan. ( I made a round instead of a square) Sprinkle evenly with the 1 Tbs. granulated sugar.

Bake the shortbread until the edges are golden, about 1 hour. Remove the pan from the oven and immediately use a thin, sharp knife to cut the shortbread into strips 3 inches by 1 inch. Use a toothpick or the tines of a fork to decorate the shortbread with a pattern of dots. Let the strips cool in the pan on a wire rack for 30 minutes before transferring them to the rack to cool completely. Makes 27 bars.

Christmas Cookies

I spent today making christmas cookies to give out as gifts to family, friends, etc. I tried out three new recipes, two came out really well, the other, not so much. It was a russian tea cookie recipe, I don't think it had enough sugar, it just tastes like a ball of flour. I'll have to try another recipe soon, because I love that kind of cookie.

Now, for the successes!

First is just a basic sugar cookie. I rolled mine in colored sugar.



ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.



Second Rosenmunnar, or Swedish Thumbprint cookies. They were oh so good, and super easy. I used Blackberry and Raspberry Jam.

ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 cup any flavor fruit jam

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add sifted flour, and mix well. Shape dough into 1 inch diameter balls and place on cookie sheets. Imprint your thumb in the center to make a 1/2 inch indentation. Fill with your favorite preserves.
3. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown at the edges.

Have a great week!

My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies!

This evening my mom was craving cookies, so I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies. I used just a basic recipe from Baking Basics and Beyond but they were SO good. I halved this recipe and left out the white chocolate and pecans. I’d loved to use pecans next time though, and i think i'm going to try it with reeces pieces or peanut butter chips. I used my new silpat and absolutely loved it. It was an early christmas present from mom. Everything just slides off of it and it just wipes clean. Anyway, here's the recipe!


Chocolate Chip Cookies Deluxe
from Baking Basics and Beyond by Pat Sinclair

makes about 4 dozen

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 375 with oven rack in the middle

Mix flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.

Beat butter, shortening, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in bowl of a stand mixer on Medium-High speed until creamy, scraping down bowl once or twive.
Add vanilla and egg and mix well.

Reduce mixer speed to Low and add the flour mixture. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat until dough forms. By hand, stir in chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and pecans.

Drop dough in rounded tablespoon about 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes until cookies are browned on edges.


mmm, they were good.

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