friday links

There are a couple food blogs that I adore simply because of their amazing cake decorating and cookie decorating skills.
I have none of these skills.
I keep meaning to sign up for a class; at least a basic class on "how to decorate a darn cake".
Ever notice you hardly ever see any "frosted" cakes or "decorated" cookies on my blog?
Yeah, there's a reason for that.


This is from "The Sweet Adventures of Sugar Belle"
Those are her Christmas gift cookies!
Look at that detail.  I want to do this!  I must do this!

This is from Bake at 350.  She is the decorating cookie guru.
Elf on the Shelf cookies.  How cute?

And her peppermint candy cookies.
Bake at 350 (Bridget Edwards) has her first book out:

We need to do an interview with her, don't we?
All that talent, I must ask her lots and lots of cookie decorating questions!

I also adore I Am Baker.  Look at this cake that she created.
It has a surprise inside!

And go see her most recent cake post, it's another gorgeous cake decorating tutorial.

Do you like Grape Nuts? I don't, I feel as though I'm eating rocks. But here's a recipe
to make your own grape nuts at home.  (aka quarry oats).
Pumpkin spice palmiers from serious eats
Candy cane peppermint truffles from liv life
my go-to power smoothie (really good) from organic authority
interview with nyc prep school chef (love this, we need more of these people!) from food republic
9 surprising places to find probiotics from blisstree
should we ice injuries? from marks daily apple
wonderful interview w/ david lebovitz: your man in paris from food republic
how to inspire your brain from intent blog
6 anti-inflammatory foods that work like aspirin or NSAIDS from blisstree
holiday food gift ideas you can make from theKitchn
gift guide for the cheese lover from serious eats
10 ways to meditate for those who don't meditate (love this!!) from greatist
do friendly bugs fight fat? from vital choice
is frankenwheat haunting your diet? from intent blog
homemade dinner rolls in the crockpot from theKitchn
how to make homemade cultured butter from theKitchn
how to create what you want in 2013 from intent blog
wooden sushi set--so cute! from dwell studio


my energy has been low lately; this happens to me every winter when the sun is non-existent here in new england. I started using these B Caps from Twinlab for about a week now and have noticed a good increase in my energy levels.

I LOVE these! Found at Target.

Dove peppermint bark is good, not that minty though.

Everyone had these white chocolate peppermint M&M's, and of course I wanted them. Hard to find here on cape cod, but Target had them.
They are tasty, and of course go perfect in sugar cookies.

Seriously!  Do I even need to comment on these?  Delish!

I love Trader Joe's. Don't you?  Best new products, like every week!

These are ok, not ginger-y enough.

Didn't try these, who has?

Heavenly minty air.

A multi pack of Joe Joe's.

Kind of waxy.  Might be good in a crust for an ice cream cake though.

Have yet to try these.

Very good!

Oh my goodness, these were insanely good! Ate them all in one day.

whipping cream from a box.  afraid to try this one.  have you?

Anyone tried these?

this was ok, far cheaper than any other brands.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Interview with Anna Ginsberg of The Daily Cookie

I just love those times when I get to interview a dear friend.
And this is one of those times--a good friend of mine Anna Ginsberg of the famous cookie blog cookie madness has just released her first cookbook: The Daily Cookie.

The Daily Cookie
Some of you may remember Anna as the $1 million dollar winner of the 41^st Pillsbury Bake-Off.

Her original recipe for savory baked chicken and spinach stuffing beat out 98 other finalists from all over the country for the grand prize.

The winning dish consisted of baked chicken stuffed with spinach and frozen home-style waffle sticks, fresh sage and pecans. Topped it with waffle syrup in the peach glaze. 

She is also the creative genius behind her famous cookie and baking blog “Cookie Madness”.  Anna started her blog back in 2005 as a way to display her creative passion for creative cookies, but since then she’s added other baking recipes and a few food product reviews.

Anna is a self-taught baker, lives in Austin, Texas with her family, has appeared on the Today Show and even got the chance to cook with Oprah.

I was thrilled that Anna’s first cookbook: The Daily Cookie finally appeared last month and I was one of the lucky ones to receive first dibs on a copy.  

Not only is Anna a good friend, but she’s also one of my go-to people when I have a question about a baking dilemma. I can't tell you how many times I've emailed her at the last minute about some crazy baking problem I've created for myself and she calmly has the answer. 

Her cookbook: The Daily Cookie: 365 Tempting Treats for the Sweetest Year of Your Life is all about a reason to celebrate a different cookie recipe for each day of the year.  365 recipes for cookies that celebrate historic and pop culture events for every day of the year.  The holidays range from quirky to classic: Day of the Ninja (chocolate “Ninjabread” cookies), Squirrel Appreciation Day (caramel nut bars), Christmas (almond ginger toasts), and Valentine’s Day (mocha chocolate brownies). 

And as a bonus: each recipe includes full-color photographs of cookie as well as anecdotes, fun facts/trivia, and tips.

Recipes include chewy, crispy, no bake, sweet, salty, savory, gluten free—literally something for everyone.  I mean I wish I could tell you everything that is in here because there are some very creative cookie recipes.  And you get a historical fact about a cookie, how it came about, when, and more importantly why.  Excellent idea for a book!

Some of my favorites are:

Scottish oat cookies pg. 79

Macadamia white chocolate pineapple cookies pg. 183

Speculoos pg. 374

Spicy chocolate ginger guys pg. 342

chocolate rum crinkles pg. 382

cranberry, white chip and ginger cookie bark pg. 358

I made one of her recipes: Island Cookies, look for recipe after the interview AND a chance to win one of her cookbooks!

Questions:

Being the grand winner of the Pillsbury Bake-Off back in 2006 must have felt amazing.  

Curious to know was that the first time you entered the Pillsbury Bake-Off?   

Had you entered before?  What were some of the other recipes you entered?

2006 was my second time.  The first time, in 2004, I entered a recipe for Barbecued Chicken Triangles with Raita, an Indian dish made with crescent rolls, Lloyds shredded chicken in barbecue sauce, Indian spices, and raita made with Yoplait yogurt.  The recipe made it to the finals, but didn’t place. 

Before that I’d entered multiple contests to the point where it was becoming quite lucrative.  It was a super fun hobby and a great creative outlet. 

Are you still active in cooking contests? 

No.  Most of today’s contests involve voting, and I prefer the old way where recipes are developed at home and tested by judges.  I have a hard time asking people to vote for me if they haven’t actually tried the recipe.  

I would imagine you are now a judge in some of them? Which ones?  Any favorites? 

My favorite was probably judging a holiday cookie contest at a local Austin cookware shop.

Congrats on your first cookbook!  What an accomplishment.

And what a great idea to make a cookbook based on a different cookie for each day of the year.  Was this in the back of your mind for a while? 

Yes, but I wasn’t sure how I’d execute it.  My agent suggested The Daily Cookie, so I mulled that over, wrote a sample chapter, and realized it was fun trying to match a cookie with every day of the year.  It was a bit of a creative stretch and some days were easier to “cookie match” than others.  Now that I’ve written the book, I keep finding more quirky holidays and coming up with more cookies!

What kind of research did you do to line up a cookie with an historical event or fun fact of the day? 

Loads of reading books, library of congress website, Google, Wikipedia, and looking at calendars.  I actually found a lot more information on each day, but we had to edit a lot out.  In the end, that was probably a good thing.  The focus should be the cookies.

How long did it take you to finish the cookbook?

It was a blur!  I couldn’t even tell you.

Which cookie recipes are your favorites?

Because I was eating so many cookies during testing, I found myself craving the lighter cookies such as the various biscotti and “toasts”.  I also really like the Birdseed Bars and Ten at a Time Chocolate Chip Cookies (mini cookies).  But really, it depends on my mood.   House Chocolate Chip is still my favorite.  I also like the Milky Way Brownies.

Did you have any taste-testers help you? 

Yes, my husband’s co-workers were tasters.  I also had various people help test the recipes, which was enlightening!  It’s interesting to see how people approach directions.

Any recipes you had a hard time with? 

Yes, it took me forever to find just the right crust for the Millionaire Bars.  I wanted it to be very light and sandy – kind of like a Twix bar.  I must have made those 10 times, and finally settled on a cake flour based crust.  I also spent a lot of time trying to perfect the Bakewell Bars, which are modeled after an English tart called a Bakewell Tart.

It’s fairly obvious you’re a foodie, is your husband a foodie too? 

Actually, we’re terrible foodies because we are extremely picky.  We like really basic foods without sauces, and neither of us eat any seafood. We’re like first graders.  However, we LOVED going to Italy because everything is so simply prepared and tastes so fresh.  Neither of us are proud of our rejection of certain foods, so we go to great lengths to introduce our daughter to different things.  She prides herself on liking everything, and I’m hoping one day she’ll become a chef.

Does he make a great taste-tester? 

He’s really good at judging textures, so in that sense he is. 

What was it like being on Oprah? Were you nervous?

I was nervous until Oprah came out, and then it was easy.  She has a magical way of making you feel comfortable on stage. 

Are there any tips or tricks you learned unexpectedly while making all these cookies for the cookbook? 

Not so much “learned” as was “reminded of”.  For instance, some cookies bake up so much higher on an ungreased cookie sheet as opposed to one that’s been greased or line with slick foil.  I knew that, but doing all that testing really drove the point home. 

For your food blog cookiemadness.net when looking at recipes to try or create next, what sparks your interest most?

I like it when a recipe has an unusual or unexpected ingredient.  For instance, sugar cookies with vanilla pudding mix or cookies made with cornstarch or some unusual type of sugar like coconut palm.  It’s fun to see whether or not certain recipes with unusual ingredients catch on.  For instance, the Hard Boiled Egg Cookies and Frito Candy became quite popular.

And with your food blog, you do a lot of cookie posting, almost a new cookie recipe 3-5 times a week; where do you get the inspiration for all this?

Everywhere!  But mostly I just go for what I’m craving, which is why I have tons of variations on chocolate chip, brownie and peanut butter. 

Do you have any future plans to open a “cookie shop”?

I kind of like the idea of it, but running a store is completely different than home baking, writing a book or baking for fun, so I’d have to commit to a retail lifestyle.  It’s fun to think about, and I know people how have been very successful at it. 

Any other ‘hidden talents’ we should know?

No, outside of baking and cooking I’m pretty useless. Seriously, I wish I could play the drums, but Todd’s (husband) a drummer and I know I’ll never measure up.

Favorite comfort foods?

Ice cream, pizza, fried chicken, steak, fries, pasta, chocolate, and red wine!

Food(s) you don’t care for?

Not enough room to list, but I’ll start with all game, forest animals, all fish and pretty much anything from the sea except for salt, mushrooms, most squash, and tarragon.

Favorite places to travel for the food?

Italy! 

Will there be a second cookbook?

If there is, it will have fewer than 365 recipes.  That was a lot.

Thank you Anna!  And if you would like a chance to win a copy of this cookbook, please leave ONE comment telling us your favorite cookie recipe.
We'll do the drawing December 12, 2012.
Please have a valid email in your comment and/or signature line.
I can't tell you how many Anonymous comments I get that are useless in contests.

From the The Daily Cookie I made the Island Cookies.
A coconut based cookie with a hint of rum and nuts.
Sadly I did not have dried pineapple on hand so I used butterscotch chips instead--tasted just as good, but I highly suggest using the dried pineapple.

Island Cookies

From the book The Daily Cookie

print recipe

1 ¼ cups finely grounded quick-cooking oats (use coffee grinder or processor)

1 cup flour

1 ts baking powder

¼ ts salt

8 TB unsalted butter, room temp

¾ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

¾ cup sugar

1 large egg

1 ts rum extract

½ cup dried pineapple, chopped (I used butterscotch chips)

2 2/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut (I used 1 cup)

2/3 cups pecans, toasted and chopped (I used 1 cup)

Bakers Note:

Containing over 2 ½ cups of coconut, these chewy cookies are for coconut lovers.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees., place rack in the center of oven.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or non-stick foil.

Mix the ground oats, flour, baking powder, and salt together, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in large mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars on medium speed until creamy.  Beat in egg and extract and continue beating for another minute.

By hand or using lowest speed of the mixer, stir in the flour mixture, followed by the dried pineapple, coconut, and pecans.  The dough will be thick. 

Shape into 1-inch balls and arrange 2 inches apart, flattening them slightly on the baking sheet.  Bake one sheet at a time for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.  Let cool a bit before moving to wire rack to cool completely.  

homemade gingerbread bark

Not truly a big fan of white chocolate.


I think it may be stem from childhood when I ate one of those white chocolate bunnies during Easter.
Remember those?  Nice waxy, chemically aftertaste, inability to melt, stayed in little pocket piles on your back teeth?....
All the other kids were chowing them down, while I sat there inspecting the insides for evidence of falsehood, thinking how is this chocolate? Why is this chocolate--
Chocolate is dark, rich, melts in your mouth.
White chocolate doesn't melt in your mouth and tastes just like those wax lip candies.  Remember those? I never got that rage either.
Thankfully the appearance of high quality white finally made its appearance in my life, and I "kind of" grew to "love it".
Experimenting with it, mastering the art of tempering with it grabbed my attention
It's one of those chocolates  in my opinion, that needs texture; a crushed Oreo, a nice salty chunk of Cheez It crackers, pineapple & coconut, peanut butter cups, .....



Easy peasy to put together. Prebake gingerbread cookie & butter mixture til crisp.

Spread white chocolate ganache over the crust.

Sprinkle with gingerbread cake crumbles. That's it!

Easy right?
Do I even need to tell you how tasty this is?
Gingerbread and white chocolate are meant to be together--forever.


And away they go on a field trip.....I shall miss them.
gingerbread bark
print recipe

2 cups gingerbread cookies, crushed almost fine (use a hard cookie)

1 stick (8 ounces) unsalted butter, melted

a few dashes of cinnamon

a couple pinches of sea salt

1 cup high quality white chocolate chips or chunks (Ghirardelli is good)

1-2 TB half & half or heavy cream

½ - 1 cup of gingerbread cake crumbles or more crushed gingerbread cookies

Cook notes:

You’ll need some baked gingerbread for this recipe.  If you’re short on time, you can use the Trader Joe’s gingerbread cake mix—it’s pretty tasty.

If you don’t have any gingerbread cake, you could also use gingerbread cookie crumbs for the top (I haven’t tried this, but certain it might taste ok).

I used a 8 or 9 inch tart pan with removable bottom.  If you don’t have this you can use an 8 or 9 inch brownie pan and use foil to line the pan. This will help you remove bark from pan with ease.

If you really like the taste of ginger, adding a few slices of candied ginger to the top would be a nice touch.

For the crust:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the crushed gingerbread cookies with the melted butter, add a few hefty dashes of cinnamon and a couple pinches of sea salt.

Using a 8 or 9 inch tart pan (one with a removable bottom is perfect), spray with nonstick spray.  Place the crust mixture into the bottom and spread evenly in pan, making sure to get all the corners.

Bake for 12-16 minutes or until crust is almost crisp.

Remove from oven and let cool.

Temper the white chocolate with the half & half until you have a nice white glossy ganache. Using a spatula,  spread the ganache over the cookie crust evenly.  Try not to let it go to the sides of pan if you can.

While chocolate is still warm, sprinkle the top of the bark with the gingerbread crumbles.  Let set up at room temp for a bit, then transfer to fridge to harden. 

friday links

I've created a nice list of gingerbread recipes from around the food blogging world.
Do you crave gingerbread in December?
I do something fierce.
The gingerbread mix from Trader Joe's is quite good.
If you're in a hurry and want a fast gingerbread fix, give this one from Trader Joe's a go.
You can create so many things from it:

gingerbread cupcakes with white chocolate-cream cheese ganache

chocolate-gingerbread

Elsewhere around the web:


hot & spicy ginger snaps from RecipeGirl
gingerbread brownies from Oh Bite It
triple gingerbread ice cream from We Are Not Martha
gingerbread cookies from Annie Eats
orange gingerbread with cream cheese frosting from Joy the Baker
gramercy tavern gingerbread from Smitten Kitchen
chocolate-gingerbread granola from How Sweet It Is
gingerbread caramels from Confections of a Foodie Bride
gingerbread-pear empanadas from Laylita's Recipes
soft glazed gingerbread cookies from Dolcetto Confections
gingerbread cupcakes w/ mango buttercream from Pies & Plots
white chocolate gingerbread cake balls from Eats Well with Others
gingerbread latte cupcakes from Bakers Royale
pumpkin spice mousse cake w/ a flourless chocolate-gingerbread cake bottom from Confections of a Closet Master Baker
cinnamon roll swirled gingerbread bars from Picky Palate
nutella gingerbread scones from Cake Batter & Bowl

gingerbread-maple moon pies from Tracey's Culinary Adventures

gingerbread cookies from vanillasugarblog

soft gingersnap cookies w/ white chocolate chunks from Two Peas and Their Pod

gingerbread cheesecake bites from Created by Diane

Other finds:
owl cookies from Rosy Posy
eggnog bread with rum glaze from Knead to Cook
custard & white chocolate cookies from Warm, Snug & Fat
4 weeks of yuletide recipe roundup from Kitchen Historic
baking without flour for the holidays from NPR Food
global cold cures from NPR Food
go Paleo without going broke from Paleo Lifestyle Magazine
physical toll on negative emotions from Marks Daily Apple
homemade harissa sauce from Food Republic
37 ingredients that made up the Twinkie! from Gizmodo
stretch wrists to prevent hand inquiries from Greatist
sunglasses to fight the winter blues from Greatist
11 alternative medicines explained from Greatist


cinnamon roll coffee cake from Averie Cooks

Have a wonderful weekend!

double chocolate-walnut cookies

Thin and crispy cookie or soft and chewy?
How can you choose?
Can we add a third option: thick.

This third option, no, let's just call it what it really is: obsession.
This third obsession of mine started when I first discovered Levain Bakery cookies.
Those giant, quarter pound monsters had me at the first bite.
So far I've made:
original chocolate chip cookie
double chocolate with ganache
double chocolate with mint
oatmeal-raisin
sugar cookie (almost a quarter pound!)
What's on the list next is peanut butter with something, carrot cake like cookie--OK this is a healthy version of the quarter pound cookie to see if it can be done.
What else?
Monster?
Coconut?
Cowboy?
And for those of you that are thin and crispy lovers?
Try these cookies I made from past Top Chef contestant Eric Wolitzky.
You may remember that episode where he made those flat, thin cookies from Season 1, Episode 7.



Choose whatever size you want to make these, just adjust the baking times according to size.

double chocolate-walnut cookies

print recipe

3 sticks unsalted butter (24 TB), room temp

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

3 TB half & half (or cream), might need more

1 ½ ts pure vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

¾ cup dark double dutch cocoa powder (regular dutch ok too, but flavor isn’t as intense)

½ ts cinnamon (I used Vietnamese cinnamon for a deep intense flavor)

Oversized ¾ ts sea salt

1 ½ ts baking powder

½ ts baking soda

1 ½ cups of 60 % (or higher cocoa) dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

1 cup of toasted walnuts, rough chop

In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, or by hand beat butter and both sugars just until creamy. Don’t overbeat. Add in the eggs, vanilla, and half & half and beat just until incorporated.

In another bowl mix the flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Lumps are good.

Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Keep in mind this dough is very hard and thick.  It’s also very sticky, and might be a little dry.

OK to add a dash or two more of half & half to mixture to make it come together only if it’s really dry and too crumbly.

Cover and chill this at least 3 hours before baking; this will help it come together.

When ready to bake:

Always keep the dough cold as you can—this lends a nice tender/flaky cookie that won’t spread much.

Warm dough will yield a flatter cookie. Bake first batch, keep remaining batch in fridge till ready to use. Or shape all cookie dough balls, place on a plate or tray, and keep in fridge as they are ready to bake.

Preheat oven to 385 degrees.

You can either make them into huge cookies (as I did) or smaller ones.

Whichever you choose, keep the dough in balls, do not flatten.

Divide dough into 12-14 big lumps. Mold into HUGE golfballs; do not press flat! 

Keep them as balls on the cookie sheets.  Bake on ungreased cookies sheets (one sheet at a time).

For larger cookies bake 13-16 minutes, smaller cookies 10-15 minutes.

Rotate pan halfway through.

It will be hard to tell when the cookies are done.  Look for crackles on side, cooked/semi-firm tops; they should be a bit soft in the middle.  They will set up as they are cooling (trust me).

Don’t overbake or they will turn into scones.  Once baked don’t try and move the cookies off the pan, they will break apart, let them chill a bit before touching.

Makes 12-14 giant cookies or 22-24 smaller cookies.