New York's Most Infamous Cookie

For some reason, about a week ago, I got a HUGE craving for a black and white cookie. It's not really that random if you know me and my sugar cravings =). Anyways, I didn't just want to buy any old cookie from a deli, I wanted to make my own! Ok, that was completely a lie. Not only did I end up getting a black and white cookie from a bakery, but my friend (hi Emily!) brought me one for my birthday last Friday.

Anyways, I found a recipe on Joy the Baker's blog and took a whack at these this past weekend:
http://www.joythebaker.com/blog/2008/12/black-and-white-cookies/ (I reprinted the recipe on this post as well).

These cookies turned out amazingly well! The actual cookie was very fluffy and the frosting was fairly basic and turned out really well, too! I made about half of the cookies very large and half on the smaller side.

Black and White Cookies

The Cookies:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2/3 cup well-shaken buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Stir together buttermilk and vanilla in a cup.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes, then add eggs, beating until combined well. Mix in flour mixture and buttermilk mixture alternately in batches at low speed (scraping down side of bowl occasionally), beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix until smooth.

Spoon 1/4 cups of batter about 2 inches apart onto a buttered large baking sheet. Bake in middle of oven until tops are puffed and pale golden, and cookies spring back when touched, 15 to 17 minutes. Transfer with a metal spatula to a rack and chill (to cool quickly), about 5 minutes.

The Glazes:
Vanilla:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
  
• 1 Teaspoon light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

Chocolate:

• 4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
  
• 13 Tablespoons butter
  
• 1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
  

In a bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon of corn syrup and 2 tablespoons hot water, until smooth. That’s your vanilla glaze.

In a separate bowl, melt the butter and the chocolate in a microwave for about 1 minute. Add the corn syrup and stir until smooth. That’s your chocolate glaze!

Once the cookies are cooled, face them all bottom side up of a clean surface. Spread half of the cookie with vanilla glaze and the other half with chocolate glaze. Refrigerate for 20 minutes to set.

Homemade Girl Scout Cookies

As Spice said, I have been on a bit of a baking binge lately. That being said, it was hard to decide which of my recent forays with sugar would get the privilege of getting my first blog post.

The winner: Girl Scout Cookies: Samoas.

I made these last weekend and really enjoyed the whole process! I got the recipe from Baking Bites: http://bakingbites.com/2008/01/homemade-girl-scout-cookies-samoas/. I have also retyped the recipe below. There are lots of steps to this cookie, which I think make it more fun, but it is a bit time consuming!

Cookies
1 cup butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
up to 2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Work into a ball, adding just enough milk to make it soft. Separate the dough into two pieces. Roll one piece out to about 1/4 of an inch and use a cookie cutter to cut them. Place on a greased cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Let cool several minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Topping
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
8 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Spread coconut on a baking sheet with sides(I used baking dish because it was all I had). Toast for 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes). Let cool on baking sheet.

Unwrap caramels and place in a microwave safe bowl with milk and salt. Microwave in 60 second intervals, stirring each time, until caramels are melted. When smooth, fold in coconut. Spread topping onto cooled cookies.

While topping sets, melt chocolate in a small bowl by microwaving on 30 second intervals. Dip the base of each cookie into chocolate and set on a piece of parchment paper. Drizzle the remaining chocolate on the top of each cookie.

Let cool and enjoy! Or share with other people so you don't enjoy too much =)

Rosemary Salmon and Pan Seared Veggies

As you know, Sugar is on a baking binge. It is all she ever wants to do! The result of this are now showing on my waistline, something that I will now be trying to battle in my side of the blog.

Rosemary Salmon is a dish inspired by a recipe I found a popular diet book (some beach or another). I have made some changes and added a veggie side dish to help complete the meal.

Rosemary Oil
1/4 cup Olive Oil*
2 Tbsp. copped fresh Rosemary
1.5 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 clove of garlic, crushed
salt

Mix all ingredients and let seep in an airtight container as long as possible (I'm talking overnight, or longer)

Let Salmon come to room temperature. Rub 2/3 of Rosemary Oil over both sides of fish and let sit. Heat your grill pan, and oil it (there should be enough oil on the fish but we don't want to take chances).

In a separate skillet heat heat the remaining Rosemary Oil and a Tbsp. of butter. Once melted, Get your Veggie On! Chop any and all of your favorite veggies into similar sized pieces (I used Asparagus, Yellow Pepper, Red Onion, Garlic, and Shallots), and sautee uncovered until soft with a slight bite.

Once your grill pan is nice and hot get your Salmon on there but pay close attention. My fillets were about 3/4 of an inch and took about 3-4 minutes on each side. (For those of you who don't have a grill pan, you can achieve the same outcome by broiling for the same amount of time, just keep an eye on it!)

The end result was simply delicious, and just the meal needed after a sugar binge.