Hazelnut Browned Butter Shortbread Cookies

Add this to the Christmas repertoire. On Christmas Eve Eve I set out a cookie platter with about 6 types of cookies, fudge, etc. I think most of the women went for the Penuche Fudge I just posted, but my Dad said his favorite was this cookie. I've never made shortbread (gasp) and when my Stepmom said she had a recipe she wanted to try (or she wanted me to try), I grabbed the stand mixer and said "dibbs".

These turned out really good. I think everyone's favorite part was the chocolate with sea salt on it though. They may have tasted the cookie underneath, or maybe not. The original recipe didn't call for rolling out the dough, but I really can't miss the opportunity to use cookie cutters. I know, I'm an oddball =D.

Hazelnut Browned Butter Shortbread Cookies
The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch

1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
1 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour (I would start with 2 cups and work your way up if you have to)
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Fleur de Sel

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In small saucepan, melt 1/4 cup of the butter over medium heat. Reduce heat to medium-low. Continue to cook, without stirring, about 5 minutes or until butter becomes brown and fragrant. Remove from heat, cool slightly.

In a large bowl, beat remaining butter with electric mixer on med speed for about 30 seconds. Add sugars and salt. Beat until combined, scraping side of bowl occasionally. Beat in browned butter and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in any remaining flour and the hazelnuts. Divide dough in half.

Roll dough out half at a time and cut into desired shapes. Place on cookie sheets.

Bake in preheated 325 oven for 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Recut circle into wedges while warm. Cool on cookie sheet 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack; cool.

In glass 4-cup measuring cup, place chopped bittersweet chocolate and 1/2 teaspoon shortening and microwave at 30 second intervals until melted. Dip scalloped edge of each wedge into chocolate, allowing excess to drip off. Return to wire rack. Lightly sprinkle the chocolate with fleur de sel. Allow to stand until chocolate is set (about 1 hour).

*Photos courtesy of the loverly LadyJayPee. Go stalk her blog. Now.

Penuche Fudge

So, minding my own business at home. Makin some fudge...you know, the usual. And what comes out of the pan? This delicious fudge concoction that we just couldn't stop eating. I'm serious. This stuff was dangerous. So dangerous, in fact, that two of us pretty much ate all of it in a week. No joke. Stop looking at me like that.

Anyways...I had a grrreeeeaaaattttt ( as Tony the Tiger would say) Christmas at home. And it was so hard to come back to the city. I was given lots of baking presents including several cookbooks (or bakebooks) that need my immediate attention (duh). I have several awesome recipes to share from my stay at home, this being the first and probably the best. This fudge is very sweet, but oh so good!


Penuche Fudge
Martha Stewart

Vegetable oil cooking spray
1 5-oz can evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
5 oz (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coat a 5-by-10-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Line with plastic wrap leaving a 2-inch overhang on 2 sides.

Bring evaporated milk, brown sugar, butter, and salt to a boil in a medium saucepan, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, stirring frequently, until mixture registers 236 degrees on a candy thermometer, about 25 minutes.

Transfer to a mixer bowl, and beat in confectioners' sugar on low speed. Scrape down sides of bowl as needed. Increase speed to medium, and beat until mixture is thickened and smooth, 2 to 4 minutes. Reduce speed to low, and add vanilla.

Spread mixture in pan, smoothing top. Refrigerate, uncovered, until firm, about 25 minutes. Unmold fudge using plastic overhang, and discard plastic. Cut into 18 pieces. Penuche will keep, covered, for up to 1 week.

*Pictures taken again by the talented LadyJayPee.

Chocolate Truffles

Happy Christmas Eve from the Pacific Northwest! Like I said before, I'm baking up a storm while at home for Christmas, and having so much fun! Sometimes its just so good to come home and be spoiled for a week =)

Our family is doing a not so secret santa exchange this year. Thank goodness, because I'm pretty poor. Obviously I am baking my gift! And I decided to make truffles for my step uncle because I knew he liked chocolate. And who best to go to than Alton Brown?!

These truffles were easy to make, if not a bit time consuming. They turned out nice and chocolatey, and I had so much fun decorating them. I ended up rolling them in cocoa powder, topping with shredded coconut and drizzling with white chocolate. They would definitely be good topped with nuts like pecans or pistachios, too!

Chocolate Truffles

Alton Brown

10 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

Cocoa powder, coconut, white chocolate and/or chopped nuts for decorating

8 ounces semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate

Place the 10 ounces of chocolate and buter in a medium size glass mixing bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds. Remove and stir, and repeat this process 1 more time. Set aside.

Heat the heavy cream and corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until simmering. Remove from the heat and pour the mixture over the melted chocolate mixture; let stand for 2 minutes. Using a rubber spatula, stir gently, starting in the middle of bowl and working in concentric circles until all chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth and creamy. Pour the mixture into an 8 by 8-inch glass baking dish and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

Using a melon baller, scoop chocolate onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper and return to the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Place cocoa powder, nuts and/or toasted coconut each in its own pie pan and set aside.

In the meantime, place the 8 ounces into a medium mixing bowl which is sitting on top of a heating pan lined bowl, with the heating pad set to medium. Stirring the chocolate occasionally, test the temperature of the chocolate heating until it reaches 90 to 92 degrees F. 

Remove the truffles from the refrigerator and shape into balls by rolling between the palms of your hands. 

Dip an ice cream scoop into the chocolate and turn upside down to remove excess chocolate. Place truffles 1 at a time into the scoop and roll around until coated. Then place the truffle into the dish with either the cocoa powder, nuts or coconut. Move the truffle around to coat; leave truffle in the coating for 10 to 15 seconds before removing. In the meantime, continue placing the chocoalte-coated truffles in the cocoa or other secondary coating. After 1 to 15 seconds, remove the truffle to a parchment lined baking sheet pan. Repeat until all truffles are coated. Allow to set in a cool place for at least 1 hour; or stor in an airtight container in the refrigerator. 

*All pictures are again taken by LadyJayPee =)

Cranberry Bliss Bars

I'm home for Christmas now! So my days consist of sleeping for an inordinate amount of time, going for super long runs in the forest, and eating. Oh! The eating! My Stepmom, LadyJayPee, doesn't need an introduction. Needless to say, we kind of sit in the kitchen for most of the day baking and cooking. And, of course, we have to taste everything we make and critique it. Two foodies in the house definitely makes for lots of fun, thats for sure.  

I took over the kitchen yesterday afternoon to make Cranberry Bliss Bars yesterday under the watchful eye of LadyJayPee. The bars turned out great! My Dad definitely had more that one bite and kept saying "yup, that's good". They are supposed to be a clone of the Cranberry Bars from Starbucks. I think the Starbucks bars have a more cookie base then these cakey-ier ones have. I think the frosting and the drizzle are pretty spot on, though! Nonetheless, these are great and I think our guests will surely enjoy =)

Cranberry Bliss Bars

Good Things Catered

1 c. butter, softened 
1 1/4 c. light brown sugar, packed 
3 large eggs 
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp orange extract 
1 tsp ground ginger 
1/4 tsp salt 
1 2/3 c. all-purpose flour 
3/4 c. diced dried cranberries 
3/4 c. white chocolate chunks 

6 oz cream cheese, softened 
3 c. powdered sugar 
4 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp vanilla extract 
1/4 c. diced dried cranberries 

1 c. powdered sugar 
1 Tbsp milk, plus a bit more if needed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare (well grease) 9x13 baking pan (I used two square pans). 

In bowl of stand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy and light in color, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, vanilla, ginger, and salt; beat well.  Gradually mix in flour just until combined. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in cranberries and white chocolate.

Pour batter into prepared pan and spread evenly. Place in oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until cake is barely light brown on the edges.  Remove from oven and let cool. 

Meanwhile make the frosting. In stand mixer bowl, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, lemon juice and vanilla and beat on low until smooth. When the cake has cooled invert onto cutting board and spread frosting over top, evenly. Sprinkle top with diced cranberries. 

Prepare icing by whisking powdered sugar and 1 Tbsp of milk, adding more if needed to come to a thick consistency icing. Place icing in a pastry bag, snip the end and drizzle over cranberries in a sweeping motion. 

Slice into 16 triangular bars. Serve immediately or place in refrigerator to serve later.

*All photos taken by LadyJayPee (cause let's be serious, my camera and photography skills would never compare to these photos!)

Cinnamon Cupcakes with Oatmeal Cookie Frosting

Happy Birthday to Annie Bananie!

In honor of the big day, I made cupcakes (really, did you expect anything different?). I found these on a blog and was so impressed with how original they were! Oatmeal in a frosting?! Get out of town! And I knew Bananie would love all the flavors in these guys.

The cupcakes were great! I loved the cinnamon flavor to them. I think next time I will take them out of the oven a little sooner, though. I thought they were a little dry. The frosting was also very great. If you can get past the fact that there is oatmeal in it, it tasted just like a cookie! So goooood!

Cinnamon Sour Cream Cupcakes
Culinary Concoctions by Peabody

4 oz. unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cake flour
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a muffin tin with baking spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.

In a small bowl, lightly beat the eggs and vanilla together. Add to butter mixture in two additions, scraping down after each addition.

In a medium bowl, add together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Add half this mixture to the mixer on low speed. Add the sour cream. Add the remaining flour mixture, blending until fully incorporated.

Fill muffin tins 3/4 full. Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Let cool for 5 minutes, then remove from tin and let cool on a wire rack. Frost when completely cool.

Oatmeal Cookie Frosting

2 cups oatmeal
8 oz unsalted butter
4-5 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
milk to thin

Using a food processor, pulvarise the oatmeal until it becomes powder form.

Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the butter until it is soft, about 1 minute. Add the oatmeal and 1 cup of powdered sugar and beat on medium speed.

Add the remaining powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time. Add the vanilla and beat until fully incorporated. If frosting is too thick, thin out with milk.