Easter Egg Cookies

Flat Easter egg cookies are fairly common and can be striking and adorable (the Easter egg cookies over at I Am Baker are a prime example).  But, not all of us have the artistic talent, time, or patience to create such intricate cookies.  To make my Easter egg cookies, you need only enough skill to form dough into a shape somewhat resembling an egg.  Trust me, you can do this.  What makes my Eater egg cookies cute is the colored foil they are wrapped in - reminiscent of the ever-so-popular chocolate Easter eggs.

Let's forgot about the cute factor for a minute and focus on the taste of these Easter egg cookies.  They are nutty (I used hazelnuts, but you can choose from any of your favorite nuts) and loaded with coffee flavor.  They taste a bit like biscotti dunked in coffee, but with the texture of Christmas snowball cookies or the similar Mexican wedding cookies.  In fact, I may repeat the Easter egg cookie recipe again as a ball come Christmas-time. 

Easter Egg Cookies Recipe

I based my Easter egg cookie recipe off of the nut ball recipe from The Passion Fruit.  My adapted recipe is below.

Yield: 18 Easter Egg Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons instant coffee
• 2 cups finely chopped toasted hazelnuts (or any other chopped nuts)
• powdered sugar, to taste

Special Supplies:

• Colored foil candy wrappers in whatever colors you like (you can buy them at kitchen specialty shops or online)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. 
2. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, mix butter, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy.
3. Mix in flour, salt, and coffee. 
4. Stir in hazelnuts. 
5. Shape dough into eggs.  I suggest having an egg on hand as a model.  You could also use an egg serving tray like the one in the photo to test the eggs for size (they will not rise in the oven). 
6. Freeze the cookie dough eggs for 20 minutes to help them hold their shape.
7. Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet or Silpat for 12 minutes. 
8. Once cool to the touch, roll in powdered sugar.  If you lift them off of the cookie sheet too soon, they may crumble in your hands.
9. Wrap in colored foil.

Ginger Coconut Macaroons for Passover

Every year at our potluck Passover, my cousins are responsible for bringing the coconut macaroons.  The whole family (except me) raves about these particular macaroons - purchased from a neighborhood bakery.  Sure, the bakery macaroons are better than the ones from the can that I grew up eating, but I knew I could do better.  This year, I told my mom (our Passover host) that I'd like to take care of all of the Passover desserts - including the coconut macaroons.

Hot Buttered Rum Cookies

Leave out these hot buttered rum cookies on Christmas eve and you'll get a very jolly Santa!  These hot buttered rum cookies taste like simple spice cookies (there's cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves in the batter), but instead of using vanilla extract, their flavored is enriched with spiced rum.  The rum does not overpower (if you want a really strong rum flavor, try my rum balls!); in these cookies, the rum just adds warmth and depth.

I've topped the hot buttered rum cookies with a rum glaze.  Like the cookies themselves, the glaze just has a hint of rum.  If you prefer a more intense rum experience, it's easy to make the glaze stronger - I explain how in the recipe below.

Sparkly Sugar Plums for Christmas

What is a Sugar Plum?

You have probably heard 'Twas the Night Before Christmas several hundred times, but if you are like me, you may not have stopped to find out just what a sugar plum is after hearing the sugar plum verse:

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads.

I always assumed that sugar plums referred to sugared and baked plums.  Even the sugar plum fairy from The Nutcracker didn't give me a clue as to what to expect from sugar plums.

Sweet Nothings - Egg Kichel for Chanukah

Egg kichel, or egg cookies ("eier kichelach" in Yiddish), are practically weightless cookies so they're sometimes called "nothings".  But, don't be fooled by their modest name.  Egg kichel are a cross between croissants, flaky pie crusts, and sugar cookies.  When you look at the ingredients, they don't sound like anything special: eggs, sugar, salt, oil, flour, and baking powder.  They also aren't the prettiest things (although you cookie decorators could surely jazz them up).  However, when they came out of the oven, my grandmother said they were the best thing that I have ever made for her.   If you've got a Jewish grandparent, neighbor, or friend, skip the chocolate gelt (coins) and bring them these sweet nothings for Chanukah.  You will have done your mitzvah (good deed) for the day. 

Cookies Made with Hard-Boiled Egg Whites - It Works and It's Fantastic!

I love a chocolate chip cookie that lives in the sweet spot between hard and crispy and soft and chewy - a cookie that is good with a glass of milk (but doesn't require one) and that gently crumbles in my mouth, but doesn't fall apart in my hand if I hug it too hard.  These chocolate chip cookies fit the bill.  Their flavor - sweet and salty with just the right amount of chips - hits the mark as well.

The taste and texture aren't the only things that set these chocolate chip cookies apart from the crowd; it's their surprising ingredient - hard-boiled egg whites - that makes them so unique!  The egg whites dissolve during baking so your unsuspecting eaters will never know they were there.  I can't profess to understand all of the science behind why the hard-boiled egg whites give these cookies such a stellar texture, but I can say that surprisingly, using them works. 

Honey, I'm Nuts for You - Easy Honey Nut Valentine's Day Cookies (Gluten-Free)

If you're nuts for a nut lover, this is the Valentine's day cookie to make them.  These honey nut Valentine's Day cookies are super simple to make - they have only three ingredients (an assortment of nuts and seeds, honey, and a couple of egg whites to help hold it all together in a chewy granola bar sort of way) - and they are gluten-free!  The best thing about these cookies is that you can use whatever nuts your Valentine loves.  Does your hubby crave cashews?  Use them!  Does your child pine for peanuts?  They'll work too!

Laddu - A Gluten-Free Indian Cookie that Doesn't Require an Oven

Laddu is a gluten-free Indian cookie most commonly prepared in small balls (laddu literally means small ball in Sanskrit).  Although laddu can be spiced with anything, mine were flavored with orange, cardamom, and a touch of nutmeg and were drizzled with a chocolate coconut ganache.

Laddu are prepared differently than most American cookies.  The process begins by roasting chickpea flour with ghee or butter (use ghee if you can get it as it will give the cookies a richer flavor).  You then mix in the spices, honey for sweetness, and a touch of powdered milk.  Roll the batter into balls and you're done - no need to touch the oven.

Laddu has a Mexican wedding cookie-like texture - it's hard on the outside, but when you bite into it, it crumbles in your mouth as if you were eating a ball of refrigerated cookie dough.

Bereavement Cookies - A Sad Name for the Best Sugar Cookies I've Ever Eaten

In Jewish tradition, after someone dies, the mourning family has a stream of visitors for meals and prayers for a full week - it's called sitting shiva.  I didn't fully comprehend the value of the tradition until six years ago when my husband lost his father.  Although hosting guests every day can get old and you just want some quiet time to think, being surrounded by people helps you to see that you aren't dealing with your loss alone and it gets you through a very difficult period.  There's always plenty of time to be alone and reflect when the week is over.

Guests at a shiva home are expected to arrive with food - which brings me to the bereavement cookies.

Macaron Recipe - Pumpkin Pie Spice Macarons with Caramel, Dark Chocolate Ganache, and Smoked Sea Salt

I'd seen plenty of macaron recipes online, but like many in the Cupcake Project Facebook community, I found macaron recipes intimidating.  I'd heard macaron recipe horror stories like, "It was raining outside so the macaron recipe didn't work at all," or "I over or under-mixed so the macaron recipe failed."  I had decided that macaron recipes weren't for me and that I should stick to cupcake recipes.

Amrita teaching St. Louis food bloggers how to make macarons.

Last week, however, things changed.  I was invited to learn the art of macaron making from fellow St. Louis food blogger and self-taught macaron expert Amrita of The Sweet Art.  Amrita made macaron recipes seem so easy - because they are.  Sure, there are a lot of steps and you've got to read the tips and tricks carefully, but if you can follow a cupcake recipe and make cupcakes, you can make macarons.  In fact, I'm going to go one step further and say that it is actually easier to make adorable macarons than cupcakes because you don't need to be an expert at making pretty swirls of frosting to make your macarons look like they were made by a professional pastry chef.

Cocoa Butter Cookies - A Twist on a Classic

Close your eyes and you'll think you're eating chocolate chip cookies.   Open them, and you'll notice that there are no chocolate chips.  The cookie doesn't show any signs of having chocolate - no cocoa powder, no chocolate chunks, nibs, or even melted chocolate topping.  The secret is that you're eating a cocoa butter cookie - a cookie where the butter has been replaced one for one with cocoa butter!

Oatmeal Okra Cookies (Oo!)

To my delight, the okra in these oatmeal okra cookies served its job well: it provided an excuse to eat more cookies (having a green veggie in them must make them healthy) without screaming, "Look at me, I'm okra!"  The cookies are cakey (soft and airy), hearty from the bits of okra and oatmeal, sweet in a breakfasty way (like zucchini bread), and vibrantly flavored from the addition of licorice-like fennel and a touch of ginger.  Less a dessert than a snack, they are the kind of cookie that would be great to pack in your bag for a day trip or to nosh on when you take a water break on your hike (assuming you take hikes like me - mild ones that don't require power bars).

Sno-Cap Cookies

Why You Should Make Sno-Cap Cookies

1. You are a huge Sno-Cap fan. (I know many of you love Sno-Caps. When I asked on Facebook about your favorite movie theater snacks other than popcorn, Sno-Caps came up multiple times.)
2. You are making popcorn cupcakes for your movie night and you need an appetizer that will be a sure-fire blockbuster hit.
3. You are having a chocolate chip cookie craving, but it's midnight and the only store that sells chocolate chips is closed.  Guess what?  24-hour drug stores sell Sno-Caps.
4. You like to buy your cookie ingredients at the movie theater concession stand. (This is not recommended unless you like getting ripped off.)

Madeleine Recipe with An Unexpected Twist

Madeleines are simple sponge cake-like cookies - so simple that you probably have all of the typical madeleine recipe ingredients in your house right now: eggs, salt, sugar, flour and butter.  The only thing that you may not have is a madeleine pan.

Isn't the madeleine a snotty cookie to require her own pan?  But, like a little girl in blue jeans and ratty T-shirt who puts on a princess hat and becomes royalty, the madeleine pan makes this simple cookie regal (more importantly, you can't make madeleines without it).  Get one (make sure it's non-stick - it makes it so easy) for the baker on your Christmas list.

What's the Unexpected Twist in My Madeleine Recipe?

Cuddrireddra - The Cookie Recipe Worth A Four Year Wait

Orange, red wine, and cinnamon come together in cuddrireddra, an Italian deep fried cookie that resembles a biscotti in texture.  Don't let the frying scare you off.  Everyone was surprised to hear that the cuddrireddra were deep fried - unlike donuts or funnel cake, they are not at all greasy.  The cuddrireddra have a respectable crunch without being rock hard and the flavor is unique but comforting at the same time - like the smell of home cooked food that sometimes fills the hallways of apartment buildings.  One taster couldn't help but remark over and over again that cuddrireddra are much better than chocolate chip cookies.  It's no surprise that she felt that way; cuddrireddra are the cookies that were worth tracking down for four years.

Ladyfingers - A From Scratch Recipe Perfect For Tiramisu

Ladyfingers, like Oreo cookies and graham crackers, can easily be made from scratch at home (see my homemade Oreo cookies and homemade graham crackers for details on those cookies).  From scratch ladyfingers will certainly be fresher than store-bought ones, and you probably already have the ingredients on hand (eggs, sugar, flour, and baking powder).

When you make homemade ladyfingers, you also get a chance to get creative!  Why not try making man-toes or little babyfingers?  For a Bachelorette party, you could try making and then eating some other body parts. ;)  Or, if like me, you're thinking cupcakes, you can make your ladyfingers in cupcake tins so that they are all ready to be used in tiramisu cupcakes.

Notice how they aren't filled to the top so there is room for all of the
tiramisu goodness!

It's important to know that ladyfingers come in two varieties - the crunchy kind and the soft, sponge cake-like kind.  The ladyfinger recipe that I am sharing here is for the soft kind.  This is the kind that works best in tiramisu because it can better absorb all of the coffee/rum syrup.

I wouldn't recommend eating these ladyfingers on their own.  Their flavor comes from whatever you soak them in.  If you don't want to make tiramisu with them (I'm not sure why you wouldn't), you could also dunk the ladyfingers in chocolate milk or whipped cream or chocolate fondue.  Feel free to share other ideas in the comments.

Biscoff Cookies - From Scratch Recipe

"Biscoff cookies, peanuts, pretzels?" asks the friendly flight attendant. "Biscoff cookies, please," I reply - as if there were any question.

Southwest Airlines is my favorite U.S. airline; so much so that I dressed as a 60's Southwest flight attendant one year for Halloween.

Before there was baby Myles, there was my poodle, Scruffles.

But, Delta offers Biscoff cookies, and in doing so, they won a piece of my heart.

Biscoff cookies are a simple cinnamon/sugar biscuit-type cookie with an ingredient list that doesn't contain any funky chemicals or high fructose corn syrup! 

When browsing one of my favorite food blogs, Coconut and Lime, I discovered that Biscoff cookies are actually branded  Belgian biscuits called speculoos.  Biscoff stands for "biscuit" plus "coffee" (it's served with coffee - it's not not coffee flavored).  I decided that I had to make some myself.

I used a speculoos recipe that I found on Matzoh and Rice.  Most tasters thought that the flavor was spot on for a Biscoff cookie, but the texture was slightly off - there wasn't as much crumb.  It was close enough for me. I would eat them on a plane.  I would eat them in the rain.  I would eat them in a house.  I would eat them with a mouse.  I would eat them here or there.  Say!  I would eat them anywhere!

But, How Did You Brand The Homemade Biscoff Cookies With Cupcake Project?

Cupcake Poop

Occasionally (or all of the time for we messy bakers) there's that little bit of cupcake batter that drips or overflows and sticks to the cupcake tin.  After baking, those little bits (cupcake poop) become secret special treats that only the baker gets to enjoy. Burnt cookie fans may even find that the poop is better than the cupcakes themselves.

Gingersnap Cookies - Making Them Is a Snap!

Gingersnap cookies are a snap to make and oh so handy to have around; not in a "gingersnap cookies can clean your car for you" kind of way (though a container of gingersnap cookies could certainly make your Subaru smell better than any air freshener), but in a snacking and baking kind of way.  Gingersnap cookies make a simple morning/afternoon/evening/3AM treat.  Gingersnap cookies also are fabulous crushed.  Crushed gingersnap cookies can turn any ice cream or fresh fruit sorbet into something a bit more memorable.  When crushed, gingersnap cookies can also be the stars of pie crusts or cup-pie crusts.

Speaking of crusts, I used these gingersnap cookies to make the crust (and the topping) for my original mini ginger lemon poppyseed cheesecakes recipe that is currently featured on Paula Deen.

Whether or not you make these cookies from scratch (and I hope you do), I highly encourage you to try out the cheesecakes (get the recipe on Paula Deen).  They are worlds better than lemon poppyseed muffins and they scream Spring! Surprise Mom with some cheesecakes on Mother's Day and you'll have one happy mama.

Gingersnap Cookie Recipe

I got the recipe for these gingersnap cookies from All Recipes.  I opted to not roll my cookies in cinnamon and sugar as the original recipe suggested because I didn't think the cookies needed it.

• 2 C sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 T ground ginger
• 2 t baking soda
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 3/4 C shortening (I used room-temperature unsalted butter)
• 1 C sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 C dark molasses
• 1/3 C cinnamon sugar (I skipped this)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Sift the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt into a mixing bowl. 
3. Stir the mixture to blend evenly, and sift a second time into another bowl.
4. Place the shortening/butter into a mixing bowl and beat until creamy. 
5. Gradually beat in the white sugar.
6. Beat in the egg and dark molasses. 
7. Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the shortening mixture; stir to thoroughly blend. 
8. Sift in the remaining flour mixture, and mix together until a soft dough forms.
9. Pinch off small amounts of dough and roll into 1 inch diameter balls (or any size that you like) between your hands. 
10. Roll each ball in cinnamon sugar (if you dig that), and place 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.
11. Bake in preheated oven until the tops are rounded and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes. 
12. Cool cookies on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container.

Chocolate Wafers - Paper Thin and Totally Addictive

Chocolate wafers are the Pringles of the cookie world - once you eat one paper thin chocolate wafer, you just can't stop. These chocolate wafers taste like sugar cones with a touch of chocolate or chocolate fortune cookies (I've always held the belief that sugar cones and fortune cookies are the same thing).  Fans of Italian pizzelles should also note that these chocolate wafers use a pizzelle recipe.  However, instead of making them in a pizzelle maker (which would have given them a much more decorative pattern), I made the chocolate wafers in my mini waffle cone maker.   I realize that not everyone has a pizzelle maker or a mini waffle cone maker; I guess April is as good a time as any to start your Christmas list.

If I had wanted to, I could have rolled the chocolate wafers up into little cones like I did with last year's mini ice cream cones.

Or, perhaps I could have folded them like fortune cookies and put a note inside.  But, I left the chocolate wafers as little circles, ate some, and put some on top of my waffled cupcakes. 

Chocolate Wafer Recipe

Full credit for this recipe goes to Andrea of Andrea's Recipes.  She made this recipe in a pizzelle maker, but other than that, I didn't make any modifications. I am reprinting the recipe below with my notes:

• 1/2 C granulated sugar
• zest of one orange, optional
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 C cold water
• 1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and brought back to room temperature
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 3/4 C sifted all-purpose flour
• 1/4 C dutch process cocoa powder

1. Warm the mini waffle maker while you mix the ingredients.
2. Optionally, in a small bowl, work the orange zest into the sugar with your fingers.
3. In the bowl of the stand mixer (or bowl with hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is light.
4. Add the cold water, cooled butter, and vanilla.
5. Whisk together the flour and cocoa powder, making sure there are no lumps (I had limited time and I skipped this step.  Don't do what I did. You could see the little lumps in the end product.)
6. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture. 
7. Mix on low until the batter is smooth and the chocolate color is even throughout. 
8. Pour 1 tablespoon of the batter for each cookie onto the heated and greased waffle cone maker and close the top.
9. Cook according to the manufacturer’s directions, usually 30-60 seconds. 
10. Gently lift with a fork or silicone spatula and transfer to a wire rack. 
11. Store in a tin, not airtight, away from other cookies. They need some exposure to air to stay crispy.