a sweet & spicy cookie

Anyone else love those fancy Lindt Chocolate & Chili bars??

Yeah, me too.

I’ll be honest, I really like anything spicy. I like to eat food that makes my nose run and my face sweat. I especially love things with cayenne pepper or red chili flakes. I once was stupid enough to try the “Thai hot” level of hot at a Thai restaurant. Horrible, awful, terrible mistake, people.

But I saw one of those delicious, dreamy chocolate bars at Tar-jay the other day and thought about how awesome it would be to make a chocolate and chili cookie.

And thus was born the Sweet & Spicy Cookie… just in time for a sweet and spicy Valentine’s Day (yes, I know it is in 2 weeks but a girl needs to prepare accordingly).

Sweet & Spicy Cookies (makes 15-18 cookies)
1 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp sea salt
1/4 – 1/2 cayenne pepper (more or less to spice preference, I went with more!)
1/2 cup chocolate chips, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 T molasses
1 egg
1/4 cup milk
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cayenne pepper. Mix well. In a separate mixing bowl combine melted chocolate, vanilla, molasses, milk, and egg (be sure to make sure the chocolate has cooled a bit so the egg doesn’t cook!). Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until you have a smooth, loose batter (like a cake batter). Heat the oven to 350* and on a well greased/butter baking sheet, drop large spoonfuls of the batter 3 inches apart from each other. Bake for 13 minutes. Remove from baking sheet to cool. Enjoy with a glass of milk to help the spice!

my contribution to the holidays

I’m very iffy on Christmas spirit this year. One second I’m loving Christmas and the time I finally have to relax and visit some family. I’m known for sneaking looks at my presents and not sleeping the night before Christmas. But another second, I’m ready for it to be over. There’s so much drama related to Christmas and I don’t have the energy to assign dishes, wrap presents, and figure out the ever-changing plan for when everyone is showing up at everyone else’s house.

Too much work.

Plus, my mom is verbally not looking forward to the holidays since my brother Hunter is deployed. Last year he was deployed in Korea, this year in Afghanistan. And apparently I’m chopped liver. I kid, I kid.

Well yesterday I made an attempt at being spirited and finally made the sugar cookies my mom had been begging me to make. The pictures are a little sparse because a) I forgot to take them and b) I got distracted and went skiing halfway through making them (no joke).

I’d like to thank my best friend Tiffany’s husband, Johnny, for lending me an extra jacket!

But here they are, in all of their sorta holiday glory! Get out your butter!

Peppermint Sugar Cookies (makes 15-20 cookies)
For cookies:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1 egg
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup flour
For icing:
1 stick butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1-2 T heavy whipping cream
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1-2 drops green food coloring (optional)
In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. When well combined, mix in the vanilla, peppermint, and egg. In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Mixing slowly, incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet until a dough has formed. Roll the dough into balls (smaller or larger to suit your taste, but I recommend ping-pong size) and place onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes until edges are just brown. Remove from oven and cool on a cookie sheet. They will be nice a chewy! After the cookies have completely cooled, beat together butter, powdered sugar, and peppermint extract for the icing, drizzling in heavy whipping cream to give it the perfect icing consistency. Once satisfied with the texture, add in the food coloring (optional) and mix well. Spread icing on cookies — lay it on thick! Enjoy!

I did it all for the cookie

I think that, without a doubt, my two favorite cookies are sugar cookies (try these!) and oatmeal raisin cookies. But I’m very picky about both. They have to be soft and chewy, but obviously completely cooked. And when it comes to oatmeal raisin cookies, specifically, I prefer them to be as healthy as possible.

For the following cookies, you could make them even healthier by cutting down on the butter, but why would you? When the cookies are already filled with goodness — raisins, oats, whole wheat flour — a little butter never hurt. And when you consider how many cookies are made with that butter, it seems like a lot less. In fact, there’s about 3g fat per cookie depending on how big or small you make them. I can deal with that.

So I ventured out to make my favorite cookie, and then spent the subsequent week trying to give away as many as possible.

But, I tell ya… with a cold glass of skim milk, two of these babies make the perfect mid-day treat to brighten anyone’s spirits!

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (makes 24 cookies)
1 stick salted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg white
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch salt
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup seedless raisins (add more or less depending on your preference!)
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter with both sugars until smooth.  Then, add in the egg white and vanilla, beating until well combined. In a small mixing bowl, thoroughly combine whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Using a mixer, slowly incorporate the flour mixture into the butter mixture until fully combined. Using a large spoon, fold in the oats and raisins into the mixture until just combined. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet in large spoonfuls and place about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350* for 12-13 minutes until just done and lightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then place on cooling racks (this makes them optimally chewy).

a baking lovechild

Today I simply wish to show you one of my very favorite cookies made in my family. They are the lovechild of a Snickers bar and a chocolate chip cookie and I love them.

I suppose you could switch out Snickers for any other mini candy bar, but why would you?

Stuffed Snickers Cookies (makes 16-18 cookies)
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
16-18 mini Snickers bars, unwrapped and set aside
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, sugar, and vanilla until creamy and smooth. Slowly beat in the egg. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. When fully incorporated, gradually add it into the butter mixture, mixing well to form a soft dough. Using your hands, pinch off a ping pong ball sized piece of dough and roll it completely around a mini Snickers bar. Place on the baking sheet. Repeat to use up all of the dough and Snickers bars. Space evenly with 2-3 inches between the cookies. Bake at 375* for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from oven and cool upside down on a baking rack (trust me: put them upside down in case some Snickers caramel is dripping from the bottom and sticks to your counter). Allow to cool for a few minutes then devour!

Jai ho!

There’s no point to the title of this post other than the fact that it is one of my cellphone ring tones and I have it stuck in my head 24/7. Now you do too. Also, I spent a good part of summer (winter) 2009 learning the movie dance in my unheated office in Argentina to keep me warm. It has sentimental value.

Okay maybe the title of the post does have a bit of a point, as it comes from India and so does my new favorite cookie. Have you ever had the urge to dunk a cookie into your tea or coffee? Have you ever wished you had the perfect cookie to do so? Well, I am here to introduce you to atta biscuits.

These little lumps of heaven and cardamom were introduced to me after a trip to a local Indian grocery store with Rahul. After dunking them in my tea and seeing how the texture got perfectly soggy and wasn’t overly sweet, I did more research. Turns out these babies are 100% whole wheat and don’t have butter (gasp!) so they actually aren’t a bad cookie choice. They aren’t super sweet and the cardamom adds a type of savory sweetness (does that even make sense?) that is out of this world.

Mine don’t look too pretty, but I promise you they’re delicious and taste pretty close to what came from the Indian grocery store.

Atta Biscuits (makes 9 cookies)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3/4 tsp cardamom powder
~2 T cold milk
In a small bowl, sift together the flour and the baking powder. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, beat together the powdered sugar and vegetable oil until smooth. Then, slowly beat in the cardamom until fully incorporated with the oil and sugar mixture. Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and knead by hand until the dough forms a lumpy, loose texture. Add in milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough sticks to itself loosely — you should be able to roll or press the dough in your palm to form a shape that doesn’t fall apart at this point. Form into whatever shape you want (I used a rounded rectangle as my shape) and place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes and remove to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely, about 1 hour, before tasting.

homemade oreo cookies

My friend Emilie made these a couple of weekends back when I went to a cookout with her family. She has been making these cookies for a while and decided to experiment with a gluten-free variety for her cousin who is on a restricted diet. She was concerned they weren’t quite as crispy as real Oreos, but let me tell you: it is as if an Oreo met an Oatmeal Cream Pie and they had a love child.

And I have the recipe.

I could eat about a million of these things. I think I had 3 or 4 at the cookout and lapsed into a food coma shortly after. They are seriously delicious!

Emilie’s Gluten Free Oreos (makes about 18 cookie sandwiches)
Basic g-f flour mix (makes 3 cups so you’ll have extra):
1 cup Brown rice flour

1 cup white rice flour

2/3 cup potato starch

1/3 cup tapioca starch

Cookies:

1 1/4 cups basic mix g-f flour (see above)

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 T butter, room temperature

2 eggs

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl until well incorporated. Then add the butter cut into pieces and mix until butter pieces are pea sized. Once butter is mixed in, add in the eggs and mix until well incorporated. Drop batter onto a buttered baking dish in small teaspoonfuls, leaving plenty of room for spreading. Bake for 6-8 minutes at 375*, watching closely to prevent burning.

Oreo filling:

1/2 stick butter, room temperature

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

2 cups powdered sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix all the ingredients in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer or a stand mixer (use the whip attachment at a fast speed to achieve a frosting consistency). When the frosting has come together, use a knife and frost the bottom of one cookie. Match it up with another cookie according to size and make a sandwich. Continue with all the cookies until you have a giant plate of cookies!
*Note: this recipe can be made with regular, all-purpose flour. The consistency of the batter will be a bit thicker and harder so you may have to roll the cookies and press them in your hands before baking them, but the rest of the steps are the same!

late night baking

In case you weren’t already absolutely certain about this earlier, let me tell you now about how ridiculous my life is. I stayed up past midnight on Friday night baking with my best friend Emilie. MIDNIGHT.

We played with science, xanthum gum, and wine to make gluten-free oreos for y’all. They are delicious and amazing and easy. And I had planned to post that recipe today, but I misplaced the recipe and instead found these pictures lurking on my camera from this weekend.

Come back tomorrow when I will have hopefully recovered the recipe and the other pictures on my camera. I promise you’ll like these cookies if I ever tell you how to make them.

sugar high

During my 3.5 years of college, there was one thing that never changed: my addiction to the dining hall’s lemon cookies. Yes, the same dining hall I climbed on top of the night before graduation.

I was lucky enough to go to a college with an award-winning dining service and about once a week or so, “lemon cookies” would appear.  I have no idea what they were actually called, we just called them that. In fact, many of my other friends had an addiction to these chewy, sugary, lemony cookies. One of my friends, Anthony (a really talented artist!), and I were really into them. There was a bulletin board of comments & complaints in the dining hall and once Anthony and I wrote a threat to the effect of “Bring back the lemon cookies or the carrots will get it.” (I’m not kidding.) And we were known to text each other when these delightful cookies appeared in D-hall, lest we decided to dine elsewhere and miss them.

Ah yes, those were the days.

Well recently I attended an alumni luncheon here in Austin for my undergrad and since I was the youngest alum there, everyone was asking about the dorms and the dining hall and it brought back memories… specifically of the lemon cookies.

In essence, they’re really just perfect sugar cookies with a touch of lemon. But in reality, they’re magical.

Oh hey, I got to use my new mixer!

And then I danced around in a sugar high for the next 20 minutes.

Lemon Cookies (makes 18-20 cookies)
Cookies:
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp lemon juice
1 egg
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup flour
Glaze:
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp lemon juice
For the cookies, Cream together butter and sugar in a mixer on medium for 2 minutes. Add egg, lemon, and vanilla and mix thoroughly. Once a thick, wet batter has formed, add baking powder, salt, and flour, and mix throughly in a mixer. Roll into small balls and press down lightly on the cookie sheet. Bake at 350* for 10-12 minutes until lightly golden brown on the edges. Allow to cool on cooling racks. For the glaze, whisk together the powdered sugar and the lemon juice and drizzle on top of the cooled cookies. Allow glaze to dry for a few minutes, then enjoy!