Gingerdoodles

 

The ginger snap meets the snickerdoodle in this scrumptious cookie.

A couple of days ago I was craving a good cookie.  I shuffled down to the kitchen and started pulling ingredients out of the cabinets.  I wanted a nutty, dark, toasty cookie with lots of flavor.  I toasted whole wheat flour, oats and walnuts in the oven, and ground them into a flour.

I browned a little butter… of course.  Don’t I always?

Someday on my grave it will say, “Here lies Emily.  She liked to brown butter.”

I incorporated the nutty flour and browned butter into a cookie dough, along with brown sugar, molasses, egg, leavening, spices and crystallized ginger. 

After a quick chill, the dough gets rolled into balls, coated in cinnamon-sugar and baked.  I really can’t think of a more delicious cookie right now.  These are so good!  Soft, chewy, spicy and sweet.

Ring in the new year with a gingerdoodle!  I hope you all have a Happy New Year!  Thanks for reading Sugar Plum in 2011.  I really appreciate it!

Gingerdoodles

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
3/4 cup walnut halves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons molasses
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided use
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground clove
1/4 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Evenly place flour, oats and walnuts on a large cookie sheet; bake 10-12 minutes, or until ingredients are lightly toasted and fragrant.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Cook 2-3 minutes, whisking frequently, until butter foams and starts to turn light golden brown.  Transfer butter to a large mixing bowl. 

Add brown sugar and molasses to mixing bowl.  Mix together, using a mixer on medium speed, until well combined and creamy.  Beat in egg until well combined.  Beat in vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, salt, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, ground ginger and clove until well combined.

Process flour, oats, walnuts and crystallized ginger in a food processor until finely ground.  On low speed, beat dry ingredients into wet, until just combined.  Chill dough in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir together additional 1 teaspoon cinnamon and granulated sugar until combined.  Roll tablespoons of dough into balls, and roll balls in cinnamon-sugar until well coated.  Place balls on cookie sheets, spacing about an inch apart.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until crackled and crisp.

Cool 1 minute before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Cherry Pistachio White Chocolate Tea Cookies

It’s a funny thing, having a phone for three years.  Part of me hated it because it was so ugly, old, and didn’t have internet.  I think most people probably would’ve been embarrassed to be seen with it.  I didn’t really mind though.  The phone worked just fine, and I got super fast with texting.  I could text in my pockets, for crying out loud.  That’s pretty, pretty, pretty damn impressive. 

As long as it worked, I was perfectly fine with continuing to use it.  Until Friday.  My phone bit the dust.  One minute it worked, the next it locked up, wouldn’t do anything at all, and said DOWNLOAD on the screen.  It just gave up on life.

Where am I going with this?  Well, I finally gave in and got an iphone.  I know, I know.  I’m one of the last ones to crossover to the other side.  It’s the 3G, and it was free.  I don’t know if that’s what it’s called.  That’s how much I care about phones. 

But now I have internet on my phone!  I could blog on my phone if I wanted to!  Isn’t that incredible?  Ohhh technology.  You’ve come a long way.  I remember when we used tin cans to communicate.

As far as I can see, there’s only one downfall with the iphone.  I’m treating everything like it’s a touch screen now.  My computer, Kindle, video camera, TV, you name it.  It’s becoming a problem.  I’m like, “WHY ISN’T THIS WORKING?!”

These cookies are so very good.  So delicious, so cute.  So crumbly and buttery and sweet.

They don’t have any egg in them, so they’re more shortbread-like.  They’re very similar to a Mexican wedding cookie.  But more fun.

There’s a hint of cinnamon in them, along with toasted-salted pistachios, dried cherries, and chopped white chocolate.  Yes, these are perfect for Christmas.  But they’re also perfect any time of the year, served with tea.  What’s your favorite kind of tea?  I’m curious.

Cherry Pistachio White Chocolate Tea Cookies

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup finely ground salted toasted pistachios
3/4 cup sweetened dried cherries
4 ounces white chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups all purpose flour
Confectioners' sugar (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Coat cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together butter and sugar until creamy - about 1 minute.  Beat in baking soda, vanilla and cinnamon until combined.  Beat in pistachios, cherries, white chocolate and flour until a crumbly dough forms.

Take tablespoons of dough and roll them into balls; place on cookie sheets, spacing about an inch apart.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown and crisp.  Cool 2 minutes before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool.

Dip cookies into confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Almond Toffee

I hope everyone had a good Christmas!  (Or is having a good Hanukkah or Kwanzaa or Boxing Day!)

I participated in the usual Christmas festivities; Eric’s family’s Christmas Eve party, their Christmas Day breakfast, and my family’s Christmas.  Lots of good food was to be had; homemade pulled pork tamales on Christmas Eve, along with guacamole, rice, and jalapeno poppers, Honeybaked Ham for Christmas breakfast, along with donuts, cinnamon rolls, biscuits, bacon, sausage, eggs and fruit.

My family had Chinese food for lunch.  That’s our tradition now!  This is the third year we’ve done that, and it’s worked out well.  I’m a fan of it… even though everyone gives me a hard time about ordering “Hunan Bean Curd.”  It’s just tofu, people!



I’m also proud to say that I am now an owner of a Kindle!  Eeee.  I was so excited and surprised when I opened up the package.  Thank you, mom and dad!  My mom also gave me the complete collection of the Little House on the Prairie books.  Haha.  You all know how much I love those. 

My sister gave me an angel food cake pan, which I didn’t have.  Get ready for some angel food cake recipes!  January is going to be heavenly.

Let’s see… I’m trying to think what other food-related presents I received… a fancy cheese knife from my dad, and a book on putting up preserves from my mom.  I’ll have to do some posts and jams and pickles in the future!

We did not have toffee for Christmas dessert, but we did have French Silk Pie.  I used this recipe from Cooks Illustrated.  I thought it was really good and I’d definitely use the recipe again.  I’d probably use one of my own crust recipes, though.  I barely had enough dough to fill the pie dish. 

I didn’t take a picture of the pie.  Fail.  Oh well. 

I made this toffee before Christmas, but there’s no rule that says you can’t make toffee after Christmas!  It’d be perfect for a New Year’s Eve treat!  

I made one batch of almond toffee, and covered it with chocolate and white chocolate.  On one half I sprinkled crushed mint cookies and candy canes.  Mmm.  Both were really delicious!  So buttery and crispy.

This is my written version of a combination of Cookie Madness’ almond toffee and another recipe I found online, but I can’t find the other recipe now.  Anyway, you’ll have to try this sometime.  It’s pretty easy.  The most important part is taking the hot syrup off the stove at the right time.  I didn’t use a candy thermometer for this because I found it easier just by looking at the color of the syrup.  Also, toast your almonds!

 

Almond Toffee

1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  

Line a 13x9-inch baking dish with foil.

Place almonds on a cookie sheet and bake 8 minutes or until lightly toasted.

Bring butter, sugar, water and salt to a boil, in a large saucepan, over medium heat.  Boil for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When hot syrup turns light golden brown, stir in almonds.  Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until syrup starts to turn golden brown.  Quickly remove pan from heat and stir in baking soda and vanilla until combined; pour toffee into prepared baking dish.

Sprinkle chocolate chips on top of toffee and wait a few minutes for them to melt before spreading evenly.  Sprinkle white chocolate chips on top, wait to melt, and swirl into chocolate.  Cool completely before cutting into pieces.

To make a mint variation, sprinkle 1/2 cup crushed Thin Mint cookies on top, followed by 2 crushed candy canes.

Hot Buttered Rum Crisps

Greetings, and Happy Christmas Eve, Eve! 

I have to make this post snappy, because it’s late and I have to be up early tomorrow for work.  I just wanted to quickly show you a few pictures from the cookie exchange I had with my family last week.  We only had five people, but some of us brought two kinds of cookies, so we ended up with a bunch!

I brought the Eskimo sandwich cookies I posted about a few days ago, and I also brought another sandwich cookie, which I’ll be blogging about another time.

My little sister baked a Star Wars cookie – Wookie Cookies.  They’re made with cinnamon, milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips.  They’re sitting on the glass pedestal in the picture below.

My mom made rainbow cookies!  This is the second time she’s made them.  They’re great!  I admire her
for baking these.  I’ve never had the nerve to attempt them.

My mom also made peanut butter cookies.  Overachiever.

My older sister made molasses cookies!  Yum.  They were pretty tasty.  Those tortillas scoops were also pretty good.

My other older sister baked biscotti and an orange-butter cookie recipe, which were delicious as well.  My pictures turned out blurry on those, unfortunately.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun.  My mom made little snacks for all of us, and we watched movies and drank White Russians like The Dude.  Good times.

Now after that heart-warming story, I bring you today’s cookie recipe: Hot Buttered Rum Crisps.

 

What we have here is a very buttery, very delicious crispy cookie.  The batter is made from toasty browned butter, brown sugar, melted butterscotch chips, rum, and spices.  Oats, raisins and toasted pecans are stirred in for a little added texture.  You could leave out the raisins if you wanted to. 
Okay, okay, or the pecans.  You’re killing me.

Serve with a glass of hot buttered rum for dunking.

Happy holidays!

Hot Buttered Rum Crisps

1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup butterscotch chips, melted
2 large eggs
3 tablespoons spiced dark rum
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted
1/3 cup raisins

Melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; cook 2-3 minutes, whisking frequently, until butter foams, and starts to turn golden.  Pour butter into a large mixing bowl.

Add brown sugar and melted butterscotch to mixing bowl; mix, using a mixer on medium speed, until well combined.  Mix in eggs, rum, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking powder, baking soda and salt until well combined - about 2 minutes.  Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour, oats, pecans and raisins until just combined.  Chill cookie dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto cookie sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart.  Bake 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown.  Cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheets before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Peppermint Bark Stuffed Chocolate Chippers

Hi everyone!  I hope you’re doing well!  Can you believe we’re only a few days away from Christmas?  Yikes!  I *think* I have all my shopping done.  I’m sure I probably forgot something.  I still haven’t decided what I’m making for Christmas.  I kinda want to try baking a fruitcake.  I have a feeling I’d be the only one who’d like it though.  I happen to love dried fruit.  Raisins, apricots, cherries, dates… you name it.

I’m craving pie, too, so maybe I’ll go with that.  French silk pie? 

Or I could bake sticky toffee pudding. 

Figgy pudding? 

Stollen?

I need to figure this out quickly.

What are you guys baking??

Before I forget, the winner of the retro caramel apple pie apron is….

Commenter #3 – Becki!  Congratulation, Becki!  I’ll be contacting you shortly about shipping information. 
Thanks to everyone who entered!  It must be giveaway season, because I have more giveaways coming shortly.

These are some cookies I baked for you.  They’re double chocolate cookies; they’re made with cocoa powder and melted dark chocolate.  They’re very good on their own, I must say.  But I can’t bake an ordinary chocolate cookie recipe and post it on this blog.  I have to take it to the next level.  Let’s get crazy.
Let’s take a double chocolate cookie and stuff it with….

Homemade peppermint bark.

 

Peppermint Bark Stuffed Chocolate Chippers

1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, divided use
6 candy canes, finely crushed
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup dark chocolate chips, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
Melted dark chocolate, for garnish (optional)

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

To make the peppermint bark, in a medium bowl, microwave white chocolate and 2 tablespoons butter until melted - about 1-2 minutes, stirring frequently.  Mixture will start to stiffen.  Stir in candy cane until combined.  Using hands, scoop out 1/2 tablespoons of mixture, and roll into 28 balls; set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together remaining 12 tablespoons butter and sugar until creamy - about 1 minute.  Beat in eggs until combined - about 1 minute.  Beat in melted chocolate, vanilla, baking soda and salt until combined.  Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in cocoa powder and flour until just combined.

Take a heaping tablespoon of dough and flatten into the palm of your hand; place a peppermint bark ball on top, and wrap dough around cookie.  Repeat process with remaining cookies.  Place on cookie sheets, spacing about an inch apart.  Press down lightly on cookies, to flatten slightly.  Bake 10-12 minutes, or until set, and slightly crisp.  Cool 1 minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Drizzle melted chocolate on top of cookies, if desired.

Makes 28 cookies

Thin Mint Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

 

Here we go.  Now THIS is what I’m talking about.  Here we have a dark chocolate cookie stuffed with a mint cookie.  Thin Mints would be absolutely perfect in these.  I actually used a brand of thin mints I bought at Aldi.  They were very similar to the real thing.  You could also use Keebler’s Grasshopper cookies.

If you don’t bake these for Christmas, I’ll be terribly disappointed in you.  These will wow all of your family and friends.  They’re good!  I received rave reviews on these babies.  I liked them a lot, too.  Do you know what I did?  I made a milkshake with these cookies in it.  Oh yes I did.

If you wanted to gild the lily, you could top these cookies with Hershey’s Dark Chocolate Mint Kisses.
Incredible.  Just incredible. 

I have one more thing for you today before you get to make these cookies.  A giveaway!

A giveaway sponsored by Shabby Apple, an online boutique which carries clothing, jewelry, and accessories.  I linked to them the other day on my holiday gift guide.  I love, love all of their dresses!

They’re very fancy.  I wish I had some place to wear one of their nice dresses.  The Taco Bell drive through just doesn’t cut it.

They also sell aprons!

Today I’m giving away this retro apron!  The Caramel Apple Pie apron is a crisp bib of caramel-colored cotton with a gathered skirt descending from a contrasting tie-waist and pleated detailing at the bust will be sure to keep your favorite silks protected from your favorite sauces. 

The best part is that the apron comes with a caramel apple pie recipe.  I wish I could enter!  To be eligible for this giveaway, you must be a resident of the United States.  To enter, “like” Shabby Apple on Facebook, and then leave a comment telling me which dress or item is your favorite. 

This giveaway is only good for today!  I’ll announce the winner tomorrow.  Oh, be sure to leave some way I can contact you if you win. 

Tootles.

 

Thin Mint Stuffed Chocolate Cookies

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup unsweetened dark cocoa powder
2 cups all purpose flour
32 thin chocolate mint cookies

Beat together butter and sugar, in a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, until creamy - about 1 minute.  Beat in melted chocolate, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt until well combined - about 2 minutes.  Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in cocoa powder and flour until just combined.  Chill dough in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.  

Spray your hands with cooking spray.  Take a heaping tablespoon of dough and flatten into the palm of your hand; place a mint cookie on top, and wrap dough around cookie.  Repeat process with remaining cookies.  Place on cookie sheets, spacing about an inch apart.  Bake 10-12 minutes, or until set, and slightly crisp.  Cool 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Makes 32 cookies

Panettone Failure & Other News

This bread pudding isn’t pretty.  I know.  I don’t want to look at it either.  Bread pudding is just ugly, and there’s nothing I can do about that.

It’s cubed panettone mixed with heavy cream, evaporated milk, eggs, eggnog, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar, and topped with fresh cranberries and almonds. 

It was actually pretty good, despite the looks.  I would use the same measurements of the ingredients again.  The eggnog and spices were right on.  The problem was my panettone bread.  I actually used a panettone I baked myself.  It was an experimental recipe… I wanted to create an easier panettone bread, and made it in the bread machine.

It turned out very dense and almost black on the outsides.  So I cubed up the bread and used it in this bread pudding recipe.  That was a mistake, because the bread was way too dry for this, and made the pudding dry.

Oh well… you can’t win them all. 

These cookies, however, are winners. 

They’re Lorie’s Eskimo Crackle Cookie Sandwiches with Coconut-Marshmallow Buttercream.

SO good!  I would make these cookies again and again.  I made my own buttercream recipe up by using butter, confectioners’ sugar, heavy cream, vanilla, and melted down homemade-coconut marshmallows. 

On a side note, Chef’s Catalog.com is sending me a few dishes as promotional items.  I’ll be using them for my food pictures.  I’m sure you all get sick of seeing the same plates all of the time.

In exchange, I’m giving them some link love. 

There are all kinds of culinary related items on Chef’s; cookware, bakeware, serveware, cutlery, kitchen tools, furniture, and food.  I had no idea they had so much! 

I want this Frieling Layer Cake Slicing Kit.  Think of how easy it would be to make multi-layered cakes.  I have such a hard time with that.  I’ve never seen anything like this before.

I also want this Mini Pie Baking Set.  Mini pies are cute as can be!  You could bake a different flavor of pie for every member of your family.

I also love this beautiful Le Creuset 2-Quart Poterie Stoneware Pitcher.  I would pour eggnog from it.



I think I would feel very French if I owned these Egg Serving Cups.  Oh la la.  You can serve poached eggs in these for a fancy breakfast.

You should definitely check out their website if you love to cook or bake.  They have just about everything you could possibly need.

Well, that’s all for today.  I’ll be back soon with some cookie recipes!

I leave you with some pictures of The Graduate.




I’m such a dork. 

Eggnog Pumpkin Pie

 

Happy Eggnog Friday!  The eggnog festivities continue.  I still have one more eggnog recipe to post, but I guess it’ll have to wait until Sunday or Monday.  I’m running out of days before Christmas!  Yikes!  I have so many holiday recipes to post.  I might have to blog every day next week just to catch up.  Food blogging really is a full time job!

Before I forget, let’s see who won the Safe Egg prize package! 

The winner is….


Jessica and Bruce!  Congratulations!  If you could just email your information to me, I’ll forward it to the Davidson’s Safest Choice peeps. 

Thanks to everyone who entered.  I loved reading your opinions on fruitcake!  Who knows, maybe I’ll try baking one this year for the first time.

Please don’t tell me you’re sick of pumpkin yet.  I still consider December to be pumpkin season.  People bake pumpkin pies at Christmas, don’t they? 

Well, if you’re wanting to bake a pumpkin pie for Christmas, this is the one.  It’s Eggnog Pumpkin Pie!

I really loved this pie.  I would bake it again and again.  The crust is made out of ground gingersnaps and butter.  I think the crust could have used some extra sweetness, so I would add a tablespoon or two of sugar next time.  (I already edited that into the recipe.)

The filling is made from canned pumpkin, eggnog, eggs, spices, vanilla and brown sugar, and the topping is sweetened whipped cream.  The eggnog is what makes this pie so good.

Very, very good.  I guarantee everyone will love this pie if you bake it.

I have another bit of information for you… Eric is graduating from college today with his bachelor’s degree in geography – Environmental and Natural Resources, with his minor in geology.  Let’s all give him a pat on the back for his hard work.

Hooray!  Congratulations, Eric!  I’m so proud of you!

This is the most recent picture I have of him.  He just happens to be wearing a little straw hat. 
(My grandma gave my baby niece this sheep wearing a hat.  So each of my family members took turns wearing the hat and taking pictures.  Heh heh.  We’re so mature.)

Eggnog Pumpkin Pie

2 cups ground gingersnaps
8 tablespoons butter, melted, divided use
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 Safe Eggs
1 cup eggnog
1 (15 oz) can pumpkin
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt

Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a large bowl, stir together cookie crumbs, 6 tablespoons melted butter, and sugar until combined.  Press crumbs into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.  Bake 10 minutes or until golden brown and crisp.  Cool 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat together eggs, eggnog, pumpkin and brown sugar until well combined - about 2 minutes.  Beat in flour, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and salt until combined.  Pour pumpkin filling into pie crust.  Bake 50 minutes, or until a knife inserted into pie comes out clean.

To make the whipped cream, in a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on high speed, beat together cream, granulated sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form.  Spread whipped cream over pie.

Makes 9 servings