German Chocolate Macaroons

This was a Facebook find, via Pinterest, that my husband insisted I make for Christmas. He's a hard core macaroon fan (not to be confused with macaron). These are sweet, chewy, nutty, and pretty much the perfect coconut macaroon. They aren't difficult to make, but they are very time-consuming. So time consuming that I was way too tired to haul out the real camera and take fussy photos. This is my iPhone. Sorry. :)

The source recipe is from Chef in Training.

Ingredients

5⅓ cups shredded sweetened coconut (two of the smaller size bags)
¾ cup sugar
6 Tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
5 egg whites
1 cup finely chopped pecans (Calls for toasted, but they were fine untoasted)

Chocolate topping

Melt 4 ounces sweet chocolate (The Baker's kind)
1 tablespoon shortening

Sweetened condensed milk topping

6 ounces sweetened condensed milk (I just did the whole 14 oz can because I had no use for a partial can.)

Cookbook Review: Butter: Baked Goods

Format: Hardcover
Pub Date: October 2013
Publisher: Random House
Length: 264 pages
FTC: Purchased myself
List Price: $35 ($22.14 on Amazon as of today)

I ordered this recently as an early Christmas present for myself. I'm not familiar with the author or her bakery, but I LOVE to bake. And this one looked cute. Little did I know I would be receiving a gorgeous hardbound baking book that I would be proud to show off.

There is a wide variety of recipes in this book. Everything from scones and muffins to pies and cookies is here. There aren't a ton of any one type of recipe, but what is here is definitely appealing.  Most of the recipes are easily accessible for the average home cook. Only a few are the least bit fussy. And I only found one ingredient that I could not source locally: pistachio paste. Which isn't a problem for me, because I'm really not all that fond of pistachio.

Butter's claim to fame is the homemade flavored marshmallows. I've seen homemade marshmallow recipes before (Ina Garten has one) but I haven't seen flavored ones. The main recipe for marshmallows also features several variations including raspberry, coffee, mint, and coconut. Given the techniques, you can easily swap other flavors in where you want to as long as they're added in the right part of the recipe.

Recipe: Tri-Cornered Cream Cheese Cookies with Jam Filling

I'm sure it comes as no surprise that I have approximately a billion cookie cookbooks. This recipe is a variation found in the September 1994 Cookies Galore Pillsbury magazine. These are far more fussy than most of my usual cookies, since I'm more of a  drop cookie/bar cookie fan. But for Christmas, I make these for my husband who adores them. The dough can also be used for a sugar cookie dough that you can cut with cookie cutters. Baking times should be adjusted based on the size of the cookies.

Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 (3oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
jam in various flavors: I use blackberry, seedless raspberry, and apricot
powdered sugar

In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; blend well. Lightly spoon flour into measuring cup; level off. Stir in flour and salt; mix well. Cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 to 2 hours for easier handling. I refrigerate mine overnight. I also put any scraps BACK in the fridge before re-rolling, because this dough gets soft really quickly.

Heat oven to 375F. On lightly floured surface, roll half of dough at a time to 1/8" thickness; refrigerate remaining dough. Cut into 2 1/2" circles with cookie cutter. Place 1 inch apart on ungreased sheets. Spoon 1 teaspoon jam onto center of each round. Shape into triangles, folding 3 sides in without covering jam; pinch corners to seal.


Bake at 375 for 7-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets. Dust with powdered sugar, if desired.


To make cutouts, follow the recipe above, omitting the jam and powdered sugar.  Cut with floured cutters. Bake similar sized cookies together, carefully watching the time. They tend to over bake quickly.  If your cookies have detailed designs, you might consider chilling the cutouts before baking.

Recipe: Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I discovered this recipe via the lovely food blog, Full Fork Ahead. They have adapted it from a Kitchen Aid recipe. My only change is to use a combination of milk chocolate chips and Nestlé semi sweet chunks. These cookies are soft, chewy, don't spread everywhere, and you can't bite into one without getting some chocolate! Imagine kick-ass Keebler Soft Batch without that chemical preservative taste. Mmmm...

You really need a sturdy stand mixer to make these. If you don't have one, you'll have to do these as you normally would,  adding the last of the flour by hand.

1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt (I use 1 teaspoon to cut down on saltiness)
4 cups all-purpose flour
6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chunks (about 1 cup)
6 ounces milk chocolate chips (about 1 cup)


Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place sugars, butter, eggs and vanilla in mixer bowl. Attach flat beater to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 (just above "stir") and mix about 30 seconds. Stop and scrape bowl with spatula. Turn to speed four (about medium) and beat about 30 seconds more. Stop and scrape bowl with spatula.

Turn to Stir (low) Speed. Gradually add in baking soda, salt and flour to sugar mixture and mix about 2 minutes. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 30 seconds more. Stop mixer, scrape bowl again. Add in chocolate chips and mix on Stir Speed for 15 seconds.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, or roll into balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges of the cookie have just started to turn golden brown. Leave on baking sheet for about a minute after removing from oven, then put them on wire cooling racks.

Keep an eagle eye on the cookies because they'll lose their chewy, soft texture if you overbake them.

Recipe: Soft Pumpkin Cookies

These are my favorite cookie to feed the kids. Yes, they're full of sugar and fat, but they also have pumpkin. It's sort of a vegetable, right? And anytime I can sneak veggies into something and have the kids not complain, I consider it a WIN!

Originally from a Libby's recipe, I've only changed one thing: I use a rounded teaspoon instead of an exact teaspoon of cinnamon because I like my cookies on the spicy side. If you want less spice, you can always reduce it to the exact teaspoon. Also, my cookies never look like theirs do (as you can tell by the photo), and I use the criss-cross method of icing drizzle. (Basically, gently swinging the icing-coated whisk back and forth over the cookies instead of very precisely drizzling with a spoon.)


Soft Pumpkin Cookies
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 (rounded) teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1 cup canned pumpkin (NOT pumpkin pie mix)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Glaze (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Grease baking sheets (I just use parchment paper).

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in medium bowl. Beat sugar and butter in large mixer bowl until well blended. Beat in pumpkin, egg and vanilla extract until smooth. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle glaze over cookies.

You can leave these unglazed, but they really are better with the icing.

FOR GLAZE:
Combine 2 cups sifted powdered sugar, 3 tablespoons milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in small bowl until smooth.

Recipe: Caramel Pecan Shortbread Cookies

This is the most-requested cookie on my holiday cookie tray. The recipe is from Land o Lakes.


Cookie
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt



Topping
30 unwrapped caramels
1 tablespoon half and half
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 325°F. Combine butter, powdered sugar and brown sugar in large bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until creamy. Reduce speed to low; add flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until well mixed.

Press dough evenly into 8-inch square baking pan lined with aluminum foil; prick with tines of fork every 1/2 inch. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Lift cookies from pan using aluminum foil. Immediately cut into 20 (approximately 4x1/2 inch) sticks. Cool completely.

Place caramels and half & half in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on HIGH, stirring twice, until caramels are melted (1 to 2 minutes). Dip ends of shortbread sticks into melted caramel mixture; roll in pecans. Place onto waxed paper; let stand until set.

Recipe: Finnish Stars aka Prune Tarts aka Joulutortut

Those who live in the Great Lakes area and/or those of Finnish heritage will recognize this Christmas classic.

Prune tarts (yes, prunes) are traditional Yule Tarts. They start with a dough, cut into a pinwheel shape using either a knife and/or a pinwheel cutter. Then a prune (yes, prunes!) filling is placed in the center. The dough is then folded over into the traditional star shape.

This is a vintage recipe that came from the old, metal cutter. And I do mean vintage. The original cutter was purchased by my mom's family sometime in the early 60s. There is a plastic pinwheel cutter out there, but it isn't quite the same. Since the metal one is so hard to find, though, it will work.

I think even prune haters should try this recipe as-is. But you can, of course, substitute any THICK preserves for the filling.

This is a bit of a retro recipe, so it may look a little funky to modern bakers. ;)

Prune Tarts

Dough: 
4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter
2/3 cup milk
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs

Filling:

3/4 lb prunes
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup sugar

Mix butter into dry ingredients with pastry blender. In small bowl,  beat the eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix egg mixture into dry ingredients till a medium soft dough is formed. Set in a cool place for an hour.

Cook the prunes in water until soft. Remove the stones, and add the sugar. (Most prunes these days are already pitted). Beat to a paste.

Roll out dough to about 1/4 inch thick and cut with tart cutter (sharp knife or pinwheel cutter). Place a teaspoon of filling in the center, fold the strips over to the center and press together.

Place on a cookie sheet and bake in the over for 20 minutes or until golden brown at a temperature of 400 degrees.

Makes about 4 dozen tarts.

Recipe: Big Soft Ginger Cookies

My Aunt Cindy won second place in the California State Fair with this recipe.  I have made them every year for Christmas for the past 15 years and counting. She's no longer with us, but I think of her every Christmas when I dig this recipe out of my file box. And my family and friends ask me when I'll be be baking these for the cookie trays every year.  I even use them as bribery material for my brother-in-law when I need him to do me a favor ;)

Note: This recipe has been adjusted for baking at 3500 feet in elevation. If you live above or below that, you may need to adjust the baking time, temperature and/or molasses amount to get the soft texture that makes these so great.

Big Soft Ginger Cookies
1/4 cup molasses*
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup margarine, butter, or shortening**
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar

*We use a mild molasses

**This is the only cookie recipe where I use butter flavored shortening instead of butter. For some reason, at my altitude, it works better here.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
2. Combine flour, ginger, soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt; set aside
3. In large mixing bowl, beat shortening for 30 seconds on low speed to soften. Gradually add 1 cup of sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg and molasses; beat well.
4. Stir dry ingredients into beaten mixture.
5. Shape into 1 1/2 inch balls. Roll in the 2 tablespoons sugar (placed in shallow bowl or rimmed plate) and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 1/2 inches apart.
6. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-9 minutes or until light brown and still puffed. Do Not Overbake!
7. Let stand 2 minutes before transferring to wire rack. Cool.

Makes 24 3-inch cookies.