Homemade Oreos (3/12)

Ashley came home in March with her friend Chris from Boston to show him a rip-roarin' southern California time for spring break. This visit happened to coincide with a "homemade versions of your favorite childhood treats" kick I was on, and I asked her whether she preferred Oreos or Nutter Butters. She chose Nutter Butters, but I am withholding and petty. Or she said Oreos and I graciously demurred, I can't remember.



These cookies come out somewhere between crispy and chewy. Like a crisp chewy Oreo. To ensure evenly-sized cookies I rolled the dough into 0.4 ounce balls, but they turned out to be around 3 inches in diameter. I'd make them even smaller if you want them to be more authentic. They taste great--somehow missing that hydrogenated oily crunch from real Oreos, but a whimsical crowd pleaser, and the filling's pretty spot on.

Homemade Oreos
from Retro Desserts by Wayne Brachman via Smitten Kitchen

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

Ingredients
For the chocolate wafers:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1 large egg

For the filling:
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions
1. Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375F.
2. In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly
mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While
pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue
processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment
paper-lined baking sheet approximately two inches apart. With
moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes,
rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
4. To make the filling, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl,
and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the
mixer on high and beat for 2 to 3 minutes until filling is light and
fluffy.
5. To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round
tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie.
Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream.
Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the
cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been
sandwiched with cream.



Notes:
-I don't have a food processor. When recipes call for cutting in butter, like pie crust, I just use two knives and cut the butter into the flour mixture just like I would cut a steak: the two tips pointed toward each other, moving back and forth, until the dough is crumbly.
-I hate piping bags. For this recipe I rolled the filling, which is relatively stiff, into little balls and sandwiched them between two cookies, being sure to apply pressure evenly as the cookies may crack.

Chewy Sugar Cookies (9/18)

I made these pretty recently, but I'm bumping it up the list because they turned out great and a coworker asked for the recipe. Here you go, Natalie! I got this recipe for sugar cookies straight from King Arthur Flour, which recommended adding 2 tablespoons of corn syrup for a chewier cookie (which I prefer). You should omit this if you want to make rollout cookies.

I made the corn syrup from a very simple recipe, and got about a jar's worth. It's a good thing to have around, especially as a substitute for the more artificial stuff available.



Homemade Corn Syrup
Put sugar, water, cream of tartar and salt in a saucepan.


Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.


Reduce heat to a simmer and cover for 3 minutes to steam sugar crystals off the sides. Uncover and stir until mixture reaches the soft ball stage (235-240F, or when a drop placed in a glass of cold water forms a soft, flexible ball).

Not there yet! Notice my lazy man's spur-of-the-moment way to soften butter: I leave it on my griddle, which is covering my oven vent, aka getting preheated. A little melty, but works fine.


There we go. It'll continue to heat up a bit even after I take it off the burner (also known as residual heat. SCIENCE!).


Allow to cool completely and store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two months. Write the date on the jar. (About jars...save all the glass jars you have, from pasta sauce, salad dressing or whatever. With a little elbow grease, you can remove the label and any glue residue and have a great airtight container.)

Homemade Corn Syrup
from Recipezaar
yield: 1.5 cups

2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 pinch salt

1) Combine all ingredients in a large saucepan.
2) Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
3) Reduce heat to a simmer and put cover for 3 minutes to get sugar crystals off the sides of the pan.
4) Uncover and simmer, stirring often, until it reaches the soft ball stage (235-240F)
5) Cool and store in a covered container at room temperature for about 2 months.


Sugar-Cookies
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line with parchment.

In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients


In a mixer or other bowl, beat together sugar, cream cheese and butter until fluffy


Add vanilla and almond extracts and egg. Scrape the bowl. Now would be the time to add 2 tablespoons or 1-3/8 ounces cooled corn syrup.


Finally, stir in the flour mixture on low to medium speed until just combined. At this point the recipe calls for rolling tablespoonfuls of dough in 3/4 c of sugar to give it extra crunch and flavor, but I felt bad enough about the 2 sticks of butter so I left it out and they still tasted fine.





They're not the fanciest cookies, but they are soft and chewy and buttery. The 3/4 teaspoon of salt is more than usual and I thought it might be too much, but other people said it balanced out the sweetness well. That's your own call.

For rollout cookies, make the dough with 3 1/2 cups flour. Place the dough in a plastic bag, flatten it into a disk, and chill for 1 hour before rolling it out and cutting. Bake the cookies for 8 minutes, until golden brown at the edges.

Sugar Cookies
from King Arthur Flour
yield: about 3 dozen cookies

12 3/4 ounces (3 cups) all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
8 ounces (2 sticks/1 cup) unsalted butter
10 3/4 ounces (1-1/4 cups) sugar
2 ounces (1/4 cup) cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg
2 tablespoons corn syrup (optional)
5 1/4 ounces sugar for dredging (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line with parchment.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and cream cheese until light and fluffy.

Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts, and the egg; scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl.

Add the flour mixture, and mix at low to medium speed until the mixture is evenly moistened.

(optional) Place the 3/4 cup sugar in a large plastic bag, or in a shallow pan. Scoop the dough by tablespoonfuls into the sugar, rolling them in the pan or gently shaking them in the bag to coat them with the sugar.

Place on the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2" between them.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. The edges of the cookies will just barely begin to brown.

Remove from the oven and cool on the pan for 5 minutes, before transferring to a rack to finish cooling completely.

Chocolate Anise Biscotti (7/18)

I made this recipe once a few years ago and just decided to revisit it. Honestly I don't even like licorice but the anise offsets the chocolate well. A coworker told me he doesn't ever like biscotti but he loved this. Ya burnt!




I got this recipe for chocolate anise cookies from Giada de Laurentiis. The hardest part is waiting for the cookies to cool long enough for me to cut them into pieces and bake again (hence the name "biscotti"/twice baked).

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt


In a separate bowl (or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment) cream together butter and sugar


Add eggs one at a time, mixing after each egg.


Add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.


Add the anise seed and mix well, then add chocolate chips.




Plop dough onto a lined baking sheet


and form by hand into a log roughly 16" x 3"


Bake in preheated 350F oven for 30 min. until lightly golden


Mine looked like this when it came out


Allow to cool at least 30 minutes before cutting. Using a serrated knife, cut the log into 1/2-inch- to 3/4-inch-thick slices. A helpful tip is to lightly spritz the log with water, just to soften the top enough for you to slice without crumbling too much.




Arrange slices cut side up on baking sheet and bake until light golden, ~15 min.


In the end my cookies were still slightly soft in the center, which is what everyone at work commented on--unlike store-bought biscotti, these cookies taste very fresh and distinctive. I'll bet they'd be great with coarsely chopped almonds, too. Hope you enjoy!

Chocolate Anise Biscotti
from Giada de Laurentiis

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon ground anise seed
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line a heavy large baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and butter in a large bowl to blend. Beat in the eggs 1 at a time. Add the flour mixture and beat just until blended. Add the ground anise seed and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Form the dough into a 16-inch-long, 3-inch-wide log. Transfer the log to the prepared baking sheet. Bake until light golden, about 30 minutes. Cool 30 minutes.

Place the log on the cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut the log on a diagonal into 1/2- to 3/4-inch-thick slices. Arrange the cookies cut side down on the baking sheet. Bake the cookies until pale golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a rack and cool completely.