Entries from The Amateur Gourmet tagged with 'cookies'
Michael Jackson Tribute Cookies
My mom was the one who called me last week with the news. I was working with a friend and totally unprepared for the message my mom had to deliver. "Did you hear who died?" "Yes," I said, "Farrah Fawcett." "No," she said. "Did you hear who else?" "No, who?" I ran through possible celebrity deaths in my head. Or was it someone we knew? "Michael Jackson," said mom. Almost instantly I repeated those words: "Michael Jackson." And my friend's wife yelled out from the other room: "Michael Jackson died?" It was the kind of sentence you don't expect to say and then when you do say it, or when you hear it, you liked it better when that sentence didn't exist. Such was the case with those awful words, "Michael Jackson died."...
"Baked" Oatmeal Cookies with Cardamom
The title of this post is a misrepresentation: the recipe I'm about to share does not advertise the fact that it contains cardamom. In fact, the recipe--from my new favorite baking book, Baked: New Frontiers in Baking--is titled "Oatmeal Cherry Nut Cookies," a title that doesn't mention cardamom at all. But cardamom was what caught my eye as I decided to make these cookies for dessert last week at 11 PM; so much so, that I didn't even stop when I realized I didn't have nuts or dried cherries. Cardamom would carry the day and carry the day it did....
Ginger Cookies
Tali's Cookies
First of all, apologies for the slow posting (or, rather, no posting) this week: I was in Georgia doing research for a top secret project that may or may not go anywhere--you'll have to wait and see. But now I'm back and do you know the first thing I ate after walking back into my apartment? One of Tali's cookies....
Weekend Baking: Crispy Salted White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
This is baking weather, peoples. What better on a chilly day than to fill the apartment/house/shack with the smell of something baking in the oven? Nothing better, I say, nothing. Last weekend I had you make a chocolate cake and many of you came through; but this time I bet even more of you will join in. Why? Because those cookies you see above are maddeningly awesome; they come from the brilliant Smitten Kitchen website (seriously, is there a prettier website alive?) and the cookies are, to quote Michael Jackson, devilishly good. Let me put it in pretentious foodie terms: the salinity of the salt plays off the sweetness of the white chocolate, and the oats create a texture that is substantive without being heavy. And I took 'em out a bit early so they were actually pretty chewy (which I like) not so much crispy. So I guess you could call 'em "Deb's Chewy Crispy Salted White Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies" but that'd be a mouthful. Your assignment: make the cookies. Here's the recipe: the recipe. Take a picture of yourself or your loved ones with the finished cookies and upload the pictures to the Amateur Gourmet Photo Group on Flickr and prepare to see yourself on the blog on Monday. Millions of people will ogle you and talk about how sexy you are and how much they love your cookies. What could be better? Have a salty, chewy, white chocolate-filled weekend....
The Cookies That Looked Like Dog Poo
I was recently gifted the "Tartine" cookbook; a gorgeous hardcover book with an introduction by Alice Waters and pictures that make you want to lick the page. Those who remember my trip to San Francsico will remember my trip to Tartine (click here) and the delightful frangipane tart I enjoyed....
A Cookie Trick
As much as I miss Diana for her winning personality, I mostly miss her for her cookie sheets. It was with her cookie sheets that we first made the greatest cookies of our lives--you can read the recipe here. Meg of Megnut rejected these cookies when she tried them and called them "too thin," but I still think they're the best. Yesterday I was all set to make them when I made a painful discovery: Diana, despite my efforts to thwart her, remembered to take her cookie sheets. Her cookie sheets, unlike mine, are flat with no sides and the cookies made on them came out perfect every time. The ones made on mine often got burnt around the edges or black underneath--my cookie sheets have sides. I was almost ready to give up, when I had a "eureka" moment. "What's wrong?" asked Craig. "I'm having a eurkea moment," I answered. The eureka was this: I could bake cookies on the BACK of my cookie sheets. Flip them upside down. Lay parchment across them and bake them that way. Look: See what I mean? So I made the batter as usual and, as I revealed in a previous post, I used an ice cream scoop to get the batter on to the sheets: I also flattened them with a wet hand, a trick I learned from one of my regular TV shows (Barefoot Contessa)? They went into the 350 degree oven and I was going to switch the sheets after 9 minutes to cook another 9 minutes more, but at that point they were already a perfect golden brown and the edges were dark. So I made the executive decision to take them out 9 minutes early and guess what? They were fantastic. I mean you saw that picture above, look at this one: What more could you want from a cookie? And you can recreate these at home this weekend using my trick. Who needs Diana and her stinkin' cookie sheets? From now on I will use her for her personality and nothing more....
Let's Make Our Cookies Bigger
People of the world, aren't you tired of tiny cookies? You know the kind I'm talking about. They're the kind that you end up making when a recipe says, "Drop cookie batter by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets." That's what the recipe says for Nestle's Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies, which I made again tonight (here's the recipe from the first time I made them). They're great cookies--sweet chemical morsels embraced by wholesome natural oatmeal--and I definitely enjoyed them when they were small. But tonight I wanted them bigger. To make them bigger here's what I did: I used an ice cream scoop. I scooped out big blobs of batter, pushed the little handle on the scoop and dropped them on to parchment paper placed on my cookie sheet. The recipe was to make two dozen, I made nine. Then, instead of using the time allotted on the bag, I baked them until they were flat and brown around the edges. And you know what? I got exactly what I wanted: big, smile-inducing cookies. Everybody loves a big cookie. So don't cowtow to the tiny cookie gods just because they yell at you from the side of a bag. Get yourself an ice cream scoop and make your cookies bigger: you'll be glad you did....
