pb & chocolate chunk cookies

Have you all heard about the famous bakery in nyc called "Baked"? Amazing place. No, I haven't been, yet. Oh yes, I will be going there, soon, very soon. I hope to meet at least one of the owners and just tap their minds about owning, running a top-notch bakery. It is has been my dream to have my own bakery & diner. And I just love this bakery's concept: new frontiers in baking. I just love how creative they are: no boring cupcakes or same old cookies to be found there. They are creative and inventive, and from what I've heard not stingy on the sizes and quantities. They claim: "...We like to think of ourselves as dessert experts; the kind of people blessed with a highly (almost holy) developed sense of taste and smell...." I can sooo relate to that! I know I have a highly developed sense of taste; knowing what is needed or missing in a recipe; knowing there is too much heat, too little sweet, or not enough cream, etc... Amen.
**Thank you Matt from Baked for your wonderful email--I don't think you could ever imagine how much you made my day with that email! You so totally rock my world!**

Months ago I finally broke down and bought their cookbook: Baked. I opened and devoured the book like it was a brand new shiny and clean Mercedes Benz; pouring over all glossy pictures, with clean hands, careful not to sneeze, move my hair so I won't dirty the pages with any body hairs, fluids, nothing! Careful not over-bend the pages and cause the spine of the book to move, crack, rip, tear, nada. It's a lovely book, a book I will go back to time and time again. As you know I made their famous root beer cake. God that was good. Such a unique, but easy taste in a cake. And the frosting was perfect. I will make that again just so I can take better pictures this time with my new camera. These cookies were really good. I love a good cookie that tastes different. I think it's genius that they made this cookie with dark brown sugar--it made all the difference. And use a good quality milk chocolate in here kids. I mean if you're going to make a damn good cookie from a damn good cookbook then use high quality ingredients.



Here's a serious question for all you foodies out there: if you could have your own bakery, diner, or food related establishment, what kinds of creative food creations would you feature?
Did anyone catch the new show The Chopping Block with Chef Marco Pierre White? Oh I have loved that man and his cooking philosophy for years. He's quite talented, and so very focused on his craft. I love his saying of: "...romance of the chef...is it consistent? Or is it unhinged? A lot of chefs today, in my opinion, cook by numbers, they dance to the drum of the guides, not the palettes of their clients..."
I just hope that during the length of the show series we actually get to see Chef Marco cook, what a treat that would be.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Milk Chocolate Chunks
From Baked
print recipe

1 3/4 cup of all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons of baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) of unsalted butter, softened, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 cup granulated sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup creamy peanut butter
6 ounces good milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together until fluffy.
Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated.
The mixture will look light and fluffy.
Add the vanilla and peanut butter and beat until just incorporated.
Add half of the flour mixture and mix for 15 seconds. Add the remaining flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.
Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for at least 3 hours. (I left mine in the fridge for 2 nights—I just forgot about it; it came out perfect).
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, at least 2 inches apart. With the palm of your hand, very gently press each cookie down so it forms a very tall disk shape. Do not press too hard and do not press it flat. Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with granulated sugar and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until the tops of the cookies just begin to brown.
Should make about 30 cookies.

mint chocolate thumbprint cookies

Chocolate & mint runs a close second to my all-time favorite combo of chocolate & peanut butter.

I found these little gems over at Recipe Girl.
The cookie part is like a shortbread and the filling is a light peppermint fudge cream. They were really good, they truly only lasted a day in my house. I didn't even give these away; hubby & I ate them all. Bad girl! Having just one made you want to have another one, then another, and another. Bad I know, but geez they were good. I know a lot of people are like that with potato chips, having one is hard. Well, I'm like that with anything chocolate and mint.
The next time I make these I want to add a peanut butter fudge in the middle with a peanut butter shortbread. Doesn't that sound good?
What's your favorite food combo that you just can't eat one of, be it sweet or salty?

ginger & praline spice loaf

Recently one of my baker friends gave me a tub of pralines. A 5 pound tub! You can imagine how happy I was--oh the possibilities and non-stop munchies. HA!
Besides eat them non-stop, I have praline cookies on the list, but I wanted something a little more creative. Plus there have been a lot of homemade baked breads surfacing around food-bloggerland, has anyone else noticed this? My last bread creation was such a hit, I was inspired to try another creation. My latest creation is all about ginger cake with pralines mixed in. And ginger and pralines actually work together very nicely.


A slice of this loaf/bread the next morning with a good heaping of cream cheese on it is heavenly! Heavenly I tell you!

ginger & praline spice loaf
semi-adapted from Gale Gand
print recipe

For the cake:
8 TB (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
¾ cup sugar
½ cup dark molasses (not blackstrap)
1 cup hot water
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 ts baking soda
½ ts salt
1 ts ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ cup finely chopped candied ginger
¼ cup ground of pralines

For the topping:
½ cup ground up pralines

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and lightly flour two 8 inch loaf pans or 1 9-inch loaf pan or a 10-inch cake pan.
In a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or using a hand mixer), combine the melted butter, egg, and sugar. Add the molasses and water and mix. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and cinnamon together. Working in batches, mixing after each addition add the dry ingredients to the molasses mixture. Mix until smooth. Then fold in the chopped candied ginger and chopped up pralines.
Pour into the prepared pan and bake in the center of the oven for about 15 minutes, then sprinkle on the ground up pralines for the topping and bake another 15 – 20 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out clean.
Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to completely cool.

corn, cheddar & bacon pancakes

Hearty, rich, thick, cheesy and all around delish. I've wanted to make a corn pancake for a while now. I love corn muffins, but I have to have them with some cheese or heat in them, I just can't eat a plain old corn muffin. So I guess the same is true with these pancakes; I had to make them with a bit of stuff in them.
They are very rich, filling and heavy, so eating one or two just maybe enough.
The next time I make these I will add in some corn kernels, I just think it was begging for that extra texture. I didn't have any fresh scallions on hand, but you should put them in here if you plan on making them.
The best topping for these pancakes are sour cream and/or salsa. I didn't have either, so the pics look a little naked without them. But if you make these make sure to top them with sour cream and/or some salsa at room temp. Maple syrup will be a no no here. If had corn relish on hand, oh yeah, I would have totally put some of that on here.
Thank you Marisa over at Slashfood, for that little ditty on these pancakes.



corn, cheddar & bacon pancakes
from vanillasugarblog.com
print recipe

2 cups cornmeal
1 ts salt
2 ts baking powder (don't use this if you have self rising cornmeal)
1 ¾ cups buttermilk
4 TB butter, melted/cooled (or 3 TB bacon fat)
1 egg
¼ cup mild cheddar cheese, shredded (I have used Monterey jack too)
½ cup +/- of cooked bacon, chopped up
Couple dashes of hot sauce
A couple good dashes of onion powder
A good handful of freshly chopped scallions

Some butter or bacon fat for frying pancakes
chopped scallions or decorating

Toppings:
serve with butter, sour cream, salsa, fresh guacamole, corn relish, etc..

In a large bowl, combine cornmeal, salt and baking powder. (I’ve also just used self-rising cornmeal; if you do use this then don’t add in the baking powder).
In a small bowl crack open the egg, add in the hot sauce and the onion powder and whisk. Next whisk in the buttermilk and melted butter or bacon fat until fully combined. Add in the dry ingredients, then fold in the bacon bits, shredded cheese, and scallions.
Melt about 1/2 teaspoon butter in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Once completely melted, pour about ¼ +/- cup batter in pan. These pancakes don’t really spread like normal pancakes so you will have to mold them with your spatula to form them into circles. Cook till golden brown then flip over. Maybe 4-5 minutes each side? They take a bit longer to cook than normal pancakes.
Keep in mind when pouring these onto the griddle, don’t make them too thick as they are heavier than normal pancakes and will take longer to bake; you don’t want a gooey middle.

Should make about 6-8 (depending on size).

cranberry bliss bars

If you're a regular to Starbucks then you've surely come across these cranberry bliss bars. I never bought one at Starbucks because they are so overpriced. Why not try and recreate them at home? Obviously we see something we love in a store, cafe, or mostly on one of our favorite food blogs, vowing to make them ASAP. Of course ASAP never happens. And then after the holidays have come and gone, that's when I decide to make them. I didn't know those bars were seasonal, oh well.
They were OK. They tasted really good without the frosting, at least I thought, but then I can be fussy. The next time I make these I am going to try Shelby's version; those look much tastier. These photos were too pretty to not post.





starbucks cranberry bliss bars (copycat recipe)
recipe from mrbreakfast.com

For shortbread base:
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 and 1/4 cups brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 t ground ginger
1 t vanilla
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup minced dried cranberries
1/4 cup white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup minced candied ginger

For frosting:
4 oz cream cheese, softened
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 T butter, softened
1 t vanilla

For garnish:
2 T dried cranberries, minced
1/3 cup white chocolate chips, melted

Preheat oven to 350 and lightly grease a 9×13 pan.
Beat butter and sugar together for the cake base, and add eggs/vanilla beating until fluffy.
In separate bowl, sift together flour, ginger, and salt and then add to the butter/sugar mixture beating well.
Fold in the cranberries, chocolate and ginger. Spread thick batter in pan and bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until light golden.
When cake is cooled, mix all frosting ingredients together and spread a thin layer over the cake. Immediately sprinkle with the minced cranberries.
Next use a sandwich bag with a small corner cut (as your homemade pastry bag) add melted white chocolate and drizzle the chocolate over the cake. Refrigerate until chocolate is firm, cut into triangles and serve