TWD: Tall & Creamy Cheesecake

I made the cheesecake yesterday and it's in the fridge chilling for New Year's Eve. I will have a full post, with pictures, on Thursday.

Happy New Year!

English Gingersnaps

I know, here we are after Christmas and I'm posting another cookie recipe! Shame on me. However, this recipe debuted this year to rave reviews by all and I just have to share. I meant to post it earlier but I haven't had as much time to blog lately.
My mom and I love gingersnaps. They're the only cookie that I like with milk, they are my favorite non-chocolate cookie, and I have a special place for them in my heart because my grandfather introduced me to eating frozen gingersnaps with a glass of milk when I was just a little girl. It used to be that I only ate gingersnaps at Christmas but my addiction to food blogs earlier this year has inspired me to break all sorts of "rules." I saw the recipe for Maida Heatter's English Gingersnaps on Cookie Madness earlier this fall and I knew that I wanted to try it. You see, even though I don't always love being a singleton, there are some perks, one of which is making whatever I want, whenever I want to make it. I made these cookies and they were spicy, buttery, and chewey and I was completely ashamed at how quickly I ate the whole batch (and that's part of living by yourself that's not so great: when something is all gone, you know that you're the culprit!). I made a trial batch of these right after I got home to see if they made the Christmas cookie cut and everyone unanimously approved. Even my sister said that she normally does not like a gingersnap (very true) but that she really liked these cookies. I also put them in my cookie boxes for my neighbors in Washington and they loved them too. So, as these cookies have officially joined the Christmas cookie rotation in my world, it only seemed appropriate to share them here.
I accidentally adjusted the recipe (I wasn't paying attention again. It's amazing to me that I love school as much as I do and yet I goof on recipe directions all of the time.) Anyway, the selling point of the original recipe is thin & crispy gingersnaps. I could never figure out why mine were chewy & soft but I didn't complain because that's what I was looking for. It turns out, my cookies are short 4 tablespoons of butter from the original recipe. So, less butter combined with the brown sugar makes for a nice, chewy cookie.

English Gingersnaps

8 tbsp unsalted butter (Maida's recipe calls for 12 tbsp if you want crispier cookies)
1 c brown sugar
1/4 c molasses
1 egg
2 c flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp black pepper
sugar for rolling the cookies in (I use raw sugar, any kind will do)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Whisk together dry ingredients in a medium size bowl.
3. In a different bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in molasses and egg.
4. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
5. At this point the dough will be very soft. You can chill it for 30 minutes or you can go ahead and roll it if you're in a hurry.
   
6. Scoop rounded teaspoons of dough and shape into balls. Roll the dough balls in sugar and place on a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet.
   
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are just cracked.
   
8. Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool on the sheets for a couple of minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and let them cool completely.

TWD: Rewind

Butterscotch pudding sounds interesting to me and at some point I will definitely make it but this week I went for the "rewind" option instead. I was in the last group to join TWD (better late than never) and this means that I have a lot of options for rewinding! I read a lot of the TWD posts before I got the nerve to join the group. It sounded like such a great idea -- to bake through this fantastic cookbook and read about all of the different permutations that an individual recipe can have. In my short time as a TWD-er, I have been amazed at the immense creativity found in this group of bakers! I was nervous about joining because I live by myself now and what on earth am I going to do when I have to bake a cheesecake, just for lil' 'ole me?! But then I figured out that friends and neighbors are great for little problems like that. Anyway, I joined and I've had the best time!

Lenox Almond Biscotti is the recipe that convinced me that I needed to join TWD. I don't really like biscotti and I'd never had the urge to make it but I remember reading the posts and I saw all of the different varieties that came out of this one recipe. Oh my goodness, I emailed Laurie right then and there and asked could I pretty please join TWD? So, for my rewind this week I'm offering my seasonal take on Lenox Almond Biscotti, Lenox Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti. These debuted to rave reviews from my very picky grandfather and my domestic goddess Aunt Kathy so I know that they're good.

• I used vanilla extract rather than almond extract because I thought that the almond flavor would overwhelm the pistachios and cranberries in the biscotti.

• I dipped the finished biscotti in white chocolate and dredged them in festive sprinkles and I thought that the outcome was great.

I should note, I made cherry Lenox Almond Biscotti a couple of weeks ago in D.C. and I loved it. I loved the flavor, I loved everything about it. And I even took pictures as I started the process because I was going to use that for a future post. However, I hit a little SNAFU that squelched my desire to photo document (also, I was just really busy at the time and didn't have time). I made my logs of dough about 10" long by 3 or 4" wide thinking that I could have really pretty long biscotti like you see in coffee shops and at the store. Well, let me tell you, it was a nice little reminder to me that a) Dorie knows what she's doing and b) FOLLOW THE DIRECTIONS. Those sweet, beautiful, uniform logs of dough spread like gangbusters in the oven and I had a devil of a time getting them to cook through. Forget about cutting them and the 2nd round of baking. I ended up with biscotti hunks that were delicious (and I ate them and loved them) but I knew that I was going to try the recipe again, this time following the directions, when I got to Houston. I have to say, I much prefer the flavor of the cherry almond biscotti that I made with the almond extract to these cranberry pistachio. But, I like almonds and cherries a lot so that's probably why. They're both fantastic and I had a blast making them.

You can find Dorie's recipe for Lenox Almond Biscotti on pages 141-143 of Baking From My Home to Yours.

TWD: Buttery Jam Cookies

So, I was excited about these cookies, I really was.  And I think that all of that mental hype I had going on just set me up to fall. I hate to say this, I really do, but I didn't like these cookies at all. They were just missing something.  I should have known this when I tasted the cookie dough . . . but NOOOO . . . I thought it would be better cooked.  Side note:  my clothes are extremely tight right now; this could be because I've spent the last three weeks sitting down at the library; or, it could be a result of all of this cookie dough I've been eating!  Whatever!  I can deal with anything as long as my clothes fit! When they get tight -- I am a very (VERY!!!!!!!!!!!!!) unhappy camper!  But, we'll see what some normal weeks do for the fit of my clothing.Anyway, 

I digress. I was very excited to make these cookies because I love butter cookies and I love jam.  The upside of these cookies:  they are super duper easy to make. Just bring your butter to room temp and AWAY you go!  The downside:  complete and utter lack of flavor.  I made the first batch according to Dorie's directions, I dropped them by teaspoonfuls on my silpat. Hint:  unless you want a totally weird, freak cookie, this is not the best way to go (and I'll freely admit here that I have a Martha Stewart bend so just tune me out if you can get past raggedy edges and such). The first batch came out of the oven and I thought to myself, "WTF," I know, not the most PC thought in the kitchen, but really?!&%^$?! I would just appreciate a little warning here.  Just tell me that I need to very carefully shape my cookies and I will do that. Help me out here!  The next batch I rounded into little balls and then I flattened them a little bit and they were much prettier but, alas, beauty does not compensate for flavor. So, at my wits end, I melted white chocolate and drizzled it on my cookies and, wouldn't you know?  Dudley LOVED them.  He thought that they were amazing.  He couldn't stop eating them.  And there, amidst my stress about crappy papers in medieval literature, I threw in the towel.  And I freely admit that I should have been, and I was, really happy that he enjoyed them. BUT . . . I was more flummoxed that he could love them while I thought that they tasted like sweet play-doh.  Now, I should also add, I think that Dudley would like play-doh if I drizzled white chocolate on it. The remainder of these cookies went in the boxes that I gave my neighbors.

So, I am a glutton for punishment.  I'm leaving for Houston at 8 am tomorrow morning and I have Baking:  From My Home to Yours packed in my carry on so that I can bake along over my wonderful holiday break . . . and I think I'm going to try these again.  You see, I think that these would've been better if I'd used strawberry or raspberry jam rather than apricot preserves.  I love apricot preserves but I think that maybe their flavor wasn't strong enough to carry the cookie, so to speak.  I think it's worth another shot at least.  So many people like this cookie that I hate to dismiss it after one try.  Next time, I will bake it for ~ 8 minutes and use strawberry jam (Smuckers Seedless -- I'm a classy girl!).  And . . . if that fails, I declare war against these cookies. They will never be my friends.

Here's a picture of my cookies, stacked up like a fort.  You can see the apricot jam . . . if you look carefully, underneath the 2nd batch, you can also see the porcupines from my first batch! They're the cookies with the jagged edge and weird shapes!

Holy Guacamole

I worried about the title of this post . . . but not enough to change it to plain old "guacamole." I know it's the Christmas season, visions of sugarplums and all that jazz, but guacamole is festive, it's red and green! 

I used to hate guacamole and avocados until about a year ago. I just never understood what was the crazy big deal about avocados.  Av-blah-cados was more like it. Sort of bland . . . slimy texture . . . adds nothing to my sandwich . . . no thank you!  And then I went to a dinner party after work one night and I was STARVING! Side note:  I read someones blog (sorry, can't remember whose) and he/she stated, "my empty stomach is the enemy of the world." And I laughed because I can totally identify with that statement. Anyway, I was at a dinner party and I was starving and grouchy and what do you think that they had to nibble on?  That's right, chips and guacamole. But not just any guacamole, Central Market guacamole. My sister loves CM guac and I had tried it, and given it the thumbs down, before but that night I guess the stars aligned with my empty stomach and I liked it! And then I got on a huge guacamole kick and every week I would go and buy a pound of Central Market guacamole. And then my guacamole habit started to get expensive because a) nothing at Central Market is really what I would call "a bargain" (don't get me wrong, I love that store, it's just expensive!) and b) guacamole in particular tends to be on the pricey side of things. So, I embarked on The Great Guacamole Quest 2008 in an attempt to recreate Central Market's guacamole at home. I couldn't find a recipe for it but they are required to print the ingredients on the label that you print out so that got me started.  It was pretty easy to get started:  avocados (duh), tomatoes, onion, cilantro, lime juice, garlic, and jalapeno (for extra kick). The first few batches I made were ok 

. . . but they were "missing something." And here is where I stumbled on the first "secret ingredient" -- garlic oil. Yup, add some garlic oil and it will add just a hint of garlic flavor and some extra creaminess to the guacamole, it's wonderful. The next "secret ingredient" is more of a tip that I learned from a friend of a friend: soak your onions in the lime juice before you add them to the guacamole and then the onion flavor isn't so pronounced. Now, if you happen to like the flavor of raw onions then you could skip this step. It so happens that I do not like the flavor of raw onions so this was a really amazing tip for me. 

I should add a disclaimer here:  since I've discovered my love for guacamole I have also discovered that pretty much everyone has an opinion on it. Some people like it not have have so much junk in it, some like it seasoned, others don't. So, this is my version that I like and it is highly seasoned, otherwise it'd just be mashed up green gunk and who wants that?  Not me!

Jessica's Guacamole (ripped off from Central Market)

4 ripe avocados (the riper the better)

1 medium, ripe tomato (or equivalent in cherry tomatoes), diced

1/2 of an onion, finely diced 

1 pickled jalapeno (or more if you like your guac spicier), finely diced

3 tablespoons lime juice

1 tablespoon garlic oil

1 tablespoon of finely chopped, fresh cilantro

plenty of salt and pepper to taste

In a small, non-reactive bowl combine the onion and the lime juice. Peel, remove pit, and mash avacados in a medium bowl.  Add the tomatoes, onion with lime juice, jalapeno, garlic oil, cilantro to the mashed avacados and mix thoroughly to combine. Season with salt and pepper. Grab a chip (or a spoon) and taste the guacamole. Make any adjustments to flavor that you deem necessary. Grab another chip taste and taste for flavor. Repeat this process until you deem the flavor good or you notice that there is significantly less guacamole than when you started.  Serve with:  corn chips or warm corn tortillas.

I should note, the last time I made this, the flavor was "off" and I couldn't figure out why but I think that it may have had something to do with the avacados.  They were soft to the touch and looked ripe on the outside but they were very firm (hard) when I peeled and mashed them. So, the riper the avacados, the creamier your guacamole will be.

TWD: Grandma's Sugar Cookies

I like sugar cookies, I don't love them, but I like them.  They happen to be my sister's all-time favorite kind of cookie so I've made quite a few of them and, until recently, I was a regular sugar cookie nazi.  I even have a tackle box for all of the pastry tips and gel pastes and pastry bags and all of the other "essential" decorating tools that I need for decorating the cookies (my mom got it for me -- I think that she was tired of all of the crap-o-la rolling around her kitchen) but that's in Houston, where it belongs.  Anyway, when I saw that we were making sugar cookies this week, it was really hard to squash the urge to go and buy 5 pounds of powdered sugar to make enough royal icing to float from here back to Texas and pick up my cookie decorating goodies.  But then I remembered the giant, sticky mess that accompanies the icing and that by the end of it I feel like I have icing all over me and I've absorbed enough sugary goodness to make a room full of five year olds happy.  Not to mention that the process requires time that I don't have right now.  I did buy pastry bags, a couple of tips, and red and green gel paste before I realized how crazy that was but it's ok because I'll use all of it eventually.  

Which brings me to another story.  You know how, when you're in elementary school and then on through high school, teachers always stress the importance of reading all of the directions very carefully?  I can't tell you how many times this rule has gotten me in trouble -- both in school and in cooking.  I have a horrible tendency to read very quickly through directions and miss an essential part when I'm in a hurry or I just think that I already know what to do, oops! So, it didn't even occur to me just to sprinkle these with sugar or cinnamon sugar.  Sure, Dorie calls for it in the recipe but I just threw that right out of my mind.  Luckily TWD has P&Q (thanks Laurie!) and I was pleasantly reminded that sugar cookies do not have to be an all-out, 3 day icing war.  And I happen to love cinnamon sugar and enjoy it way more than icing anyway. All this = happy Jessica.  

There are a few standards that I have for sugar cookie dough:  1) (& most important!) it must taste good.  This dough tastes good both before and after it's cooked, although I didn't really want to eat that much of it uncooked; 2) it can't be a huge pain to roll out or cut out because if it is then it involves me saying many unkind things and then the kitchen becomes a generally unhappy place.  There isn't a lot that will really ruffle my feathers in the kitchen but I don't like it when dough is hard to work with; 3) I like my sugar cookies to be soft when they're cooked, not crispy.  This dough met 2.5 of my standards:  it tastes good (as good as sugar cookie dough can taste), it's pretty easy to work with (I only had a couple of problems getting the 

dough to come away from the cutouts), and some of the cookies were soft.  Right out of the oven, they're soft (one of my snowflakes broke right away so of course I popped that straight into my mouth).  The cookies that I baked just enough stayed soft but the rest of them are crispy.  So, if you like your sugar cookies to be soft then definitely cook these on the short side of the allotted time.  

Verdict:  it's hard not to like these cookies, particularly during the holiday season.  There's just something about making sugar cookies during holidays that puts me in the spirit.  I love the sprinkles and I love the way they smell while they're baking.  The dough is easy to work with (but I wish that I didn't have an egg white left over) and I will definitely make these again. The morning that  I was going to roll out and make the cookies, my "cookie of the day" from Martha Stewart was a Scottie Dog Shortbread Cookie and I couldn't resist making a few Scottie cookies myself!  Thus, the dogs in the midst of the holiday cookies. Thanks to Ulrike at Kuchenlatein for choosing such a great holiday recipe.

Martha Stewart's Cranberry, Sour Cherry, and Grapefruit Chutney

The week before Thanksgiving I saw Martha Stewart make this chutney on her show and I was intrigued because I love cranberries, pink grapefruit, and cherries.  As you can see from the picture, my chutney looks nothing like hers, probably because I cooked down the cranberries too much and there's just not enough grapefruit in it.  I was cheap with the grapefruit:  I love pink grapefruit and I love to peel them and eat them plain so cutting the supremes of grapefruit is hard for me because it wastes so much of the fruit.  Also, at $2 a grapefruit, I don't really feel like I have the luxury of wasting it!  I cooked the cranberries down more than the recipe called for because I was worried that they would be too bitter if I didn't; however, I think that this is supposed to be a bitter recipe.  I was nervous when I used the apple cider vinegar rather than orange juice or even grapefruit juice and the end result was indeed bitter.  Usually when I make a recipe for the first time I try to follow it exactly and then I will make changes the second time around.  This time, I tasted it after it was done and I'd added the cherries (which were sweet, thank goodness, because I couldn't find dried sour cherries) it was really bitter and a little sour so I ended up adding honey and more sugar. I didn't really feel like it was palatable at all until I added the grapefruit and then I found that if you get a bite of grapefruit in every bite that it's ok.  It's so bizarre to me that the grapefruit is the sweetest thing in this chutney. 

So, would I make it again?  If I did, I would definitely substitute orange juice for the cider vinegar and keep the extra honey and sugar.  I think that this would be good for people who like really sour or bitter things (like my grandfather, who pours white vinegar on his salad!) but for me it was just too bitter!

Cranberry, Sour Cherry, and Grapefruit Chutney

Martha Stewart

1 package of fresh cranberries (or frozen, thawed)

3/4 c sugar (I used 1 cup plus 2 tbsp honey)

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (I would substitute OJ)

1/4 tsp ground cardamom

pinch of ground cloves

pinch of salt

1/2 c dried sour cherries

2 Ruby red grapefruits, supremed

In a medium saucepan, combine first 6 ingredients and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until cranberries just begin to burst and soften, about 5 minutes.  Turn off heat, stir in cherries, and transfer to a bowl. Let cool completely and then gently stir in grapefruit. Refrigerate in an airtight container up to 5 days.

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

When I was little, a friend of our family used to make these cookies every year -- well, I don't know if it was the same recipe but they certainly looked the same.  Sadly, they moved away and I don't know if she still makes them. In the spirit of my love for chocolate and nostalgia for things past, I tried to make them once when I was about 16 and it was a major disaster. I don't remember why they didn't work but I do remember that it was a colossal failure. Then I came across the recipe on Martha Stewart's website and they look so good, I decided that I've come a long way since 16 and surely this time I could make it work! Besides, I think that they're so pretty with the dark chocolate and bright white powdered sugar and I wanted to be able to add these to my cookie list. 

I actually made the dough before Thanksgiving and then stuck it in the freezer because I had negative time to make the cookies (I seriously didn't have time to make the dough, I'm not sure what I was thinking except I was craving something chocolate and noshing on the dough seemed to do the trick!). When I took the dough out of the freezer I expected it to be frozen solid, as cookie dough usually is when it's been frozen . . . nosiree! The dough was still soft enough to roll out pretty much right then and there. Let this be a lesson unto you, this dough needs to be properly chilled! I have a feeling that in my teenage impatience I may have tried to skip that step the first time and that's why the cookies were doomed. Properly chilled and doused with powdered sugar, this dough was actually very easy to work with. I think that rolling cookies into balls is my least favorite thing to do, cookie wise (which is a shame because so many of my favorite cookies require this step) but this time it didn't bother me at all. And the finished cookies are so insanely good. Their texture is almost like a brownie and the chocolate flavor is rich and wonderful. Of course, I love the little bit of added sweetness from the powdered sugar. These have officially been added to my master list of Christmas cookies. Enjoy!

TWD: Linzer Sables

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie was Linzer Sables. I was sort of ambivalent about this recipe because I can take or leave a linzer cookie. They've just always been a little subtle for my taste. This is actually a great recipe though. The dough is easy to work with and the cookies are scrummy.

I didn't realize until this recipe that I left all of my cookie cutters in Houston as well as all of my other special baking tools and goodies. I think that my biggest pet peeve was that I didn't have any little Christmas cookie cutters to make cute little windows in my cookies. BOO! As for the 2" rounds, I was all ready to call it a day and make rectangles with a pizza wheel but I figured out that I had a glass that would work, so there you go! I cut out one sheet of the dough and got 12 circles, or 6 sandwiches. I'm saving the rest of the dough to make cookies to give to my neighbors next week.

I tasted the cookies with and without the jam and I thought that they were surprisingly good. I made the sandwiches with seedless raspberry and apricot jam and I liked each of them too. I doubt that I'll ever crave them but I can see myself making them again because they're so easy and they look so pretty (and even prettier once I get my hands on some cookie cutters!). One caveat, the jam-filled sandwiches were darned messy to eat! I had jam and powdered sugar all over myself! Maybe this is because I was super greedy and ate my cookie right after I put it together. Maybe they'll set up and be easier to eat without getting doused in jam and sugar!

Thanks to noskos at Living the Good Life for choosing this week's recipe. If you want to see the recipe