Cookie Carnival: Snickerdoodles

Choosing this month's cookie carnival recipe was a group effort. We were given three recipes to vote for, and the humble snickerdoodle won out. My guess is, everybody just wanted to have the fun of typing the word Snickerdoodle this month - I know I did.

Snickerdoodles are a great cookies to share. They are easy to make, no special ingredients are required, and everybody likes them! I made a half batch and took them in to work. I changed up the recipe a bit (we're a butter only household), but the end results were still fabulous.

This is my June entry for the Cookie Carnival hosted by Kate of the Clean Plate Club. Check there to find the round up, and join in on the fun!

Snickerdoodles

1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 stick butter (4 TBS)
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg

1/4 cup brown sugar
1 TBS cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together. In the electric mixer beat the butter and 1/2 cup sugar until fluffy. Add the egg, and beat to combine. Add the dry ingredients and combine.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon. Roll small cookie balls in the sugar mix and flatten onto the cookie sheet.

Bake 10 minutes. Rotating half way through.

Tuesdays With Dorie: French Chocolate Brownies

On our recent trip to Seattle, one of our favorite treats at the Pike Place Market was the Chukar Cherries.

We bought several bags of the cabernet chocolate cherries as souvenirs for our friends and family.

I guess I had that on the brain when I read the recipe for this week. I thought cherries would be a great replacement for the raisins (which seemed a little odd to me, although I'm sure they would have been delicious).

In going with the Chukar theme, I was hoping to switch the rum with Cabernet, but the googling I did on the subject made it sound like maybe that wasn't the best idea (due to the low alcohol content). I stuck with the rum, but the flame wasn't nearly as exciting as I was hoping for. I also made a few other changes to the recipe due to time constraints and my usual meddling to cut out a bit of the fat and sugar, which I marked in red.

Everybody has heard about the potential health benefits of drinking moderate amounts red wine, but have you ever thought about rum? One study examined two groups of elderly individuals with regards to diet, alcohol consumption (in this case corn wine and rum), and serum lipid levels. They found a correlation between alcohol consumption and increased levels of HDL-C (the good cholesterol) and decreased levels of LDL-C (the bad cholesterol) and total cholesterol.1 While more research is needed in this area to make any definitive statements, it is an interesting study.

This is my weekly submission to Tuesdays with Dorie, hosted by Laurie of quirky cupcake. Be sure check out all the other creations by my fellow TWD bakers. A big thank you to Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook for picking this weeks recipe.

French Chocolate Brownies

- makes 16 brownies -
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden (dried cherries)
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (combo semi-sweet and bittersweet)
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces (only 1 stick)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar (only 1/2 cup)

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

Put the raisins/cherries in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes(or only 30 minutes at 350), or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

1. Ruixing Y, Shangling P, Hong C, Hanjun Y, Hai W, Yuming C, Jinzhen W, Feng H, Meng L, Muyan L. Diet, alcohol consumption, and serum lipid levels of the middle-aged and elderly in the Guangxi Bai Ku Yao and Han populations. Alcohol. 2008 May;42(3):219-29.

Cookie Carnival: Blueberry Drop Cookies

I actually made these for an end-of- school picnic a few weeks ago, but with all the Seattle traveling I didn't get a chance to post it until today.

These turned out a bit more muffin/scone-esk than I expected but everyone agreed they were delicious. The lemon and blueberry were a really nice combination.

These cookies were a life savor with their short prep time. I had a final in the morning at 7:30, and still had plenty of time to come home and bake these before our lunch party.

I used frozen (and thawed in the fridge) blueberry's. These were a little messy. I think in the future fresh, or leaving them frozen, would be better. I also modified the recipe a bit to cut out some of the butter (also changed the fat from shortening to butter) and sugar (which was probably why the texture was funky), and didn't do the refrigeration step (due to lack of time).

Blueberry's contain many potentially beneficial, and often mentioned, compounds such as antioxidants and anthocyanins. Epidemiological studies have implicated these compounds as potential risk reducers in age-related diseases. One study suggests that dietary supplementation with fruits and vegetables rich in antioxidants might be beneficial in reducing the damage the body undergoes from oxidative stress, with is a normal part of aging and can lead to age related diseases such as Alzheimers.1

This is my first submission into the cookie carnival, hosted by The Clean Plate. Check out the site to find the whole round up!

BLUEBERRY DROP COOKIES

Ingredients:

* One-half cup shortening (I used half a stick of butter)

* 1 cup sugar (I used half a cup of sugar)

* 1 egg

* One-fourth cup milk

* One-half teaspoon almond extract

* One and one-half teaspoons grated lemon zest

* 2 cups all purpose flour

* 2 teaspoons baking powder

* One-half teaspoon salt

* 1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over

Instructions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, milk, almond extract and lemon zest, mixing well after the addition of each ingredient. Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the blueberries and mix until well blended.

2. Cover and chill for 4 hours (skipped this step). Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls, one and one-half inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing them with a spatula.

Makes about 4 dozen.

1. Joseph JA, Shukitt-Hale B, Casadesus G. Reversing the deleterious effects of aging on neuronal communication and behavior: beneficial properties of fruit polyphenolic compounds. Am J Clin Nutr. 2005 Jan;81(1 Suppl):313S-316S.

Tuesdays With Dorie: Madelines

Just a quick post this week (don't kick me for not being verbose - my excuse is the same - school).

In the midst of finals I managed to whip up a batch of the Earl Grey madelines from the 'playing around' recipes.

I've always wanted to make madelines (I'm not sure why) but without the proper pan I was forced to improvise. I made a half batch with mini muffin pans, which turned out good, except only one ended up with the madeline baby bump.

I saw someone mention substituting spoons for the correct pan. I tried this as well, with less than stellar results (probably due to my over-filling with the refrigerated batter).

This is my weekly submission to Tuesdays with Dorie, hosted by Laurie of quirky cupcake. Be sure check out all the other creations by my fellow TWD bakers. A big thank you to Tara of Smells Like Home for picking this weeks recipe, check there to find the whole thing.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies

Tis the season of unnecessary cookie baking. My favorite time of year. Cookies are a good way to get your feet wet in the baking world, generally there's enough dough for more than one batch, so if you mess up the baking time and get cookies that are too crunchy or soft, there's always more for another try. This recipe came from an old church cookbook (with a few tweaks due to ingredient shortages).

Oatmeal Cookies

1 1/2 Cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
powdered sugar


Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix together the two mixtures. Stir in the oats. Form balls approximately 1 tablespoon in size and roll balls in powdered sugar. Place on cookie sheet and press down with a fork.

Bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes or until light brown.

For me this recipe made 36 cookies (3 sheets of 12 cookies each)