Cream-Filled Chocolate Sandwiches

February 13, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 4 Comments

I have two go-to cookbooks when I’m in the mood to bake cookies: Great Cookies by Carole Walter and Martha Stewart’s Cookies: The Very Best Treats To Bake And Share by Martha Stewart. Both are fantastic compendiums of tried and true cookie recipes.

Cream-Filled Chocolate Sandwiches come from Martha Stewart’s Cookies. I absolutely love the table of contents in this book! It’s organized by type of cookie (light and delicate, soft and chewy…) and has a photo of each cookie. When you’re in the cookie baking mood, it’s so fun to flip through the first couple pages and let a photo jump out at you.

That’s what happened a couple weeks ago when I was looking for a dessert to bring for a dinner gathering with new friends.

These sandwiches are the perfect balance between chocolate and vanilla, cookie and cream. Despite they layers, they are low maintenance to throw together. They taste like a more complex Oreo cookie: a smooth, vanilla infused cream sandwiched between thick, chewy chocolate cookie.

A sugar coating gives the baked chocolate cookies great textural interest and a little extra sweetness (not that these cookies need help in that department…).

The cream filling is pure, decadent, and creamy – no slippery aftertaste. Just butter, shortening, vanilla, and powdered sugar whipped together. When you bite into one of these cookies, some of the filling will squish out and its just glorious.

I would absolutely eat the chocolate cookie as is, but they positively ask for a filling. The cream is a traditional compliment, but I imagine they’d be delicious with a peanut butter cream or your favorite preserves in the middle.

Cream-Filled Chocolate Sandwich Cookies from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

To vary the flavor, roll the sides of filled cookies in crushed candy cane, sprinkles, or mini chocolate chips. The dough can be made ahead and chilled in the fridge for up to one week or in the freezer for one month. Thaw completely before proceeding with recipe.

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for flattening cookies
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg, room temperature
Vanilla Cream Filling – recipe follows

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat to combine. With mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture, continue beating until dough is well combined.

Using a 1 1/4 inch scoop, drop dough onto parchment lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Dip bottom of a glass in sugar; press to flatten cookies to about 1/8 inch thick. (You may need to carefully remove dough from glass with a thin metal spatula.)

Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are firm, 10-12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer baking sheets to wire racks to cool completely.

Place cream filling in a pastry bag fitted with a coupler, and pipe about 1 tablespoon filling onto the flat side of half the cookies. (I did this with an off-set spatula.) Place remaining cookies on top, and gently press on each to squeeze filling to edges. Filled cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

Vanilla Cream Filling – makes about 1 cup

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

With an electric mixer, cream butter and shortening until well combined. On low speed, gradually add confectioners’ sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add vanilla and beat to combine. Set aside at room temperature until ready to use.

Rosemary Lemon Sugar Cookies

February 6, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 8 Comments

Oh my heavens. I love rosemary. It has quickly become one of my favorite herbs. Luckily, my husband loves it just as much as I do. After making some rosemary candied bacon, I was dreaming of all the other ways I could infuse rosemary into foods we enjoy.

I originally thought about adding rosemary to my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe (which I will probably still try), but I decided sugar cookies would be the perfect vehicle for some herb infusion.

Unless we were decorating cut out sugar cookies, my mom always made World’s Best Sugar Cookies. I’m not sure where the recipe came from, but these soft, chewy pillows of sugary goodness definitely live up to the name. I updated this classic recipe to include rosemary and lemon.

Rosemary Lemon Sugar As I was dreaming of this cookie, I was reminded of a lemon cream scone recipe that further influenced the flavors. The scone is topped with a mixture of lemon zest and sugar, which I thought would be easy to replicate in the sugar cookie’s outer layer. I rolled my sugar cookie dough in a mixture of sugar, lemon zest, and minced fresh rosemary.

Minced fresh rosemary goes into the cookie dough as well as the sugar coating. A hint of lemon zest complements the earthy spice of rosemary. These are just perfect.

I must admit, they taste delicious straight from the freezer too. Tim and I have topped warmed up cookies with vanilla ice cream and we’ve also enjoyed them with buttercream sandwiched in the middle.

Rosemary Lemon Sugar Cookies

This recipe does require chilling. You can make the dough ahead of time and chill overnight. Cookies freeze really well.

Cookie Dough

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

Cookie Coating

1/2 teaspoon minced fresh rosemary

zest of 1/2 lemon, approx 1/2-1 teaspoon

1/4 cup granulated sugar

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter, powdered sugar, and granulated sugar. Add egg and beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, 1 teaspoon minced rosemary, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

Add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Beat until just combined and add the oil and vanilla. Mix in the remaining flour mixture.

Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill at least two hours for easy handling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

When the dough is chilled, use a large cookie scoop to form 24 dough balls.

Stir rosemary, lemon zest, and sugar together using a fork to make sure the zest is evenly distributed.

Roll cookie balls in sugar mixture.

Bake 10-12 minutes. Let cool on pan for a couple minutes than transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield: 2 dozen

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Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

January 26, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 4 Comments

Downton Abbey Season 3 is finally delighting US devotees and what better way to enjoy the Crawley family drama than with your own tea time. Sunday evenings are the perfect time to brew a pot of Earl Grey, bake a batch of delicious Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones, and watch the story unfold.

Scones have earned a bad reputation for being high-maintenance, but don’t be intimidated by these pastries. Even if you don’t have Mrs. Patmore and Daisy working their culinary magic in your kitchen, scones are well within your baking grasp.

Dorie Greenspan is one of my favorite baking gurus. For this simple, hearty scone, I adapted a recipe from Dorie’s cookbook Baking: From My Home To Yours. Nutmeg is the perfect compliment to this buttermilk based scone. Oats offer texture and depth to an otherwise light crumb.

I used brown sugar because the strong, caramel flavors taste wonderful with nutmeg. If you can, use freshly grated nutmeg.

Using a food processor to cut in the butter takes much of the guess work out of scone making. Add all the dry ingredients, give an initial mix, then add cubes of cold butter. Pulse until butter is pea sized and distributed throughout the dry ingredients.

Transfer mixture to a bowl and add liquid. I had to add a bit more buttermilk to my dough to get the right consistency. If your dough seems too dry, add liquid one tablespoon at a time. You will get lovely scones every time.

Serve scones with jam, lemon curd, or a pat of butter. So, even if Mr. Bates never makes it out of prison you can drown your tears in a warm Oatmeal Nutmeg Scone and the Dowager’s humor.

Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

adapted from Dorie Greenspan

A subtle sweetness compliments the earthy oatmeal texture. Try them with a slice of cheese or a dollop of raspberry preserves.

1 large egg

1/2 cup cold buttermilk

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups old-fashioned oats

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 T) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk the egg and buttermilk together. Set aside.

Put the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to combine. Drop in the butter and pulse until the mixture is pebbly with pea sized pieces of butter. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.

If mixing by hand: Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Drop in the butter and, using your fingers or a pastry blender, mix the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture is pebbly.

Pour the egg and buttermilk mixture over the dry ingredients and stir with a fork just until the dough, which will be wet and sticky, comes together. Add buttermilk 1 tablespoon at a time if the dough isn’t coming together.

Gently knead the dough while still in the bowl, shaping it into a ball. Divide the ball in half and turn one half out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat the dough into a rough circle that’s about 5 inches in diameter, cut it into 6 wedges and place on the baking sheet. Repeat with the other half.

At this point, you can freeze the scones. Add two minutes to baking time for frozen scones.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until their tops are golden and firmish. Transfer them to a rack and cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Rosemary Currant Bread

January 16, 2013 ~ Emily ~ 3 Comments

One of the restaurants I miss the most in SoCal is a little French inspired cafe in San Marino. Julienne has the best hot chocolate I’ve had in the States and is my favorite place to go out for breakfast. My mom have been going there for 10 years. We know the staff and the staff know us. Herbert always remembers to fill my empty mug with coffee after I finish my hot chocolate. He also knows we like an order of their rosemary toast to tide us over before our food comes.

I was so disappointed that their rosemary currant bread wasn’t in Julienne’s cookbook. (The Graham Chewy Bars are well worth the price of the cookbook). I wanted to replicate those perfectly toasted pieces of chewy bread, speckled with sweet currants and rosemary.

When Farmgirl Fare (check out her beer bread recipe – amazing!) had a recipe for Rosemary Raisin Bread, I hoped that with a few tweaks, it would turn out like Julienne’s.

It did! And, my mom happened to be visiting when I tried it. She approves. As does my husband, who is also a huge Julienne fan.

Rosemary Currant Bread

I chose dried currants instead of raisins 1. because that’s what Julienne’s bread has, and 2. currants are smaller, less plump, and give an intense burst of flavor.

Call me a lazy baker, but I adapted the original recipe for my bread maker. If you want to make it the old fashioned way, just use the ingredients listed in my recipe and follow the instructions given by Farmgirl (linked above).

Rosemary Currant Bread

1/2 cup warm milk

4 large eggs, beaten

4 Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

3 ¾ cups bread flour (1 lb, 2¾ oz – 533 g)

2 teaspoons instant yeast

2 Tablespoon dried rosemary

1½ teaspoons salt

1 cup dried currants

Add the ingredients, except dried currants, to your bread machine in the order listed: wet first, then dry.

Adjust bread machine setting for a “large light” loaf. If the dough begins to knock hard against the pan, add a tablespoon more milk.

The large-light setting should give you time, about 20 minutes in, to add additional ingredients. (Mine beeps when it’s time to add the mix-ins). Add dried currants.

This is a LARGE loaf. I was a bit concerned the first time I made it because the dough pressed against the top of the sneak-peek window of my machine while baking. No need to worry; it bakes up perfectly.

I love this bread warm so I take it out of the pan immediately. Slice and slather with butter. It’s also delicious toasted with jam or as the vehicle for any sandwich fixings.

Crockpot Apple Butter

December 20, 2012 ~ Emily ~ 2 Comments

Slowcooker Apple Butter

Simple.

4 ingredients.

Crockpot.

Have I convinced you yet?

Homemade apple butter always seemed complicated until my mom discovered this crockpot method.

Crockpot Apple Butter

Peel and chop enough apples to fill your crockpot. Cook on low for 8 hours. Add vanilla extract and brown sugar (or maple syrup for no-sugar peeps) and let it cook some more. The result is a thick apple spread with intense flavor.

Now, I have no excuse not to have copious amounts of this versatile condiment in my refrigerator. Now, please excuse me while I dip my finger in the jar…

Crockpot Apple Butter

Author: Emily C. Gardner

Four simple ingredients transform into an intensely flavorful condiment you’ll want to have all year around. Use maple syrup or honey for a spread with no refined sugar.

Ingredients

10-15 apples (Amount depends on the size of your crockpot. Use a variety. I like a mix of Golden Delicious, Fuji, and Braeburn.)
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/3 cup maple syrup or 1/2 cup brown sugar

Instructions

Peel and core apples.
Chop each apple into 8 pieces.
Fill your crockpot to the brim with apple pieces. My 6-quart crockpot holds 12ish medium apples.
Turn crockpot on low and cook for 8 hours. I let mine cook overnight.
When you wake up, give the apples (now brown) a stir. Add vanilla, cinnamon, and brown sugar. Mix to combine.
Let the apple mixture cook, uncovered, in the crockpot until it has reduced to your desired thickness. Mine usually takes a couple more hours.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge or can it for later consumption.