My Baking Adventures

It’s that time again - the Cookie Carnival is here! The always lovely Kate chose Blackberry Almond Bars for this months’ Cookie Carnival. And she made special note in her email that tinkering with the recipe is allowed. Now I’m SURE she wasn’t talking about me. I never always change things around.

But this recipe was special to me. I actually made the blackberry curd myself! No, I mean I really did! My evil twin suggested using store bought blackberry jam, but honesty and integrity prevailed - and I had blackberries in the fridge that were so tart they were almost inedible. So I introduced them to the mini-prep, strained them, and cooked the puree with eggs, sugar and butter. I could have taken a bath in that mixture. It was smoooooooth. Just say it in your best Barry White impression and you’ll know what I mean.

Now Kate, the ONLY change I made **drum roll please**………………….was to omit the almonds in the crust. I had meant to put lemon zest in but I got distracted and forgot.

These are really good - all the powdered sugar on top makes the blackberries less tart, and the shortbread crust is always a bonus!

I can only imagine the look on Kate’s face when she gets my post each month. She probably rolls her eyes and says, “What has that girl done this time?”. And, once again, she’s right. I never used to be like this - changing recipes, mixing things up - but I suppose it comes with *yikes* age. Ok, I’m not that old, but I’ve become a much more confident baker over the past year and I guess it’s because having something go wrong isn’t such a big deal anymore. I can say that now, because these turned out great!

So when Kate announced this month’s cookie (which we voted on, by the way), I couldn’t help myself. A little voice came on in my head (can anyone else can hear it?) and commanded me to do something different.

I’ve only made snickerdoodles once, and while they were really good, I wouldn’t go out of my way to make them again.

So as I stood there staring into the bowl of dough, I wondered………what goes with cinnamon and sugar? And at that exact moment, I turned and saw the container of instant coffee. Bingo! I added about 2 tablespoons of coffee powder to the batter. I rolled them in the cinnamon/sugar mixture, and baked them up.

Cowabunga! Chewy - coffee - cinnamon - sugar cookie! Yaaahooooo! The coffee powder didn’t melt into the batter, so with each bite you can distinctly taste it.

Bonus! They were even better the next day!

In case you are wondering about the odd measurements, I have taken a tip (once again!) from Anna and downsized the recipe. It’s also to prove to my 11 year old that I can do *ahem* fractions .

Snickerdoodles - adapted from Martha Stewart

¾ c. all purpose flour
½ tsp cream of tartar
¼ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
¼ c. butter
¼ + 1/8 c. sugar
1 egg
2 tbs. instant coffee powder

¼ c. sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a small bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt.

In a medium bowl, cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and coffee powder and beat to combine. Turn mixer to low, and add flour mixture. Roll dough into small balls (I used my #30 ice cream scoop and got 10 cookies), then roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. Bake for 10 minutes, until center is just set.

Cool completely on wire rack. Store in an airtight container for up to a week, or freeze (which is what I do) for longer storage.

The cookies have returned! This month, we are baking up cookies with a BAM! Kate chose Emeril’s Blueberry Drop Cookies.

Now, being the person that I am, I couldn’t leave well enough alone. I asked Kate if I could try a different fruit, as blueberries aren’t too popular with certain family members. And I felt really silly asking her that, considering the name of the cookies are BLUEBERRY Drop Cookies. I thought about using a different fruit, but finally, I decided to add a little more lemon zest to give them a burst of flavor.

After that, only other change I made was to use butter instead of shortening. I prefer the taste of real butter, because I don’t care for the aftertaste of shortening. And in case you are wondering, yes, I can tell the difference.

These cookies are fantastic. They have lots of potential - as well as being great on their own. I am so glad Kate suggested this recipe - it’s the kind of recipe that I would have bypassed on first glance. And that’s a shame, because I will definitely make these again.

So after David tried one, he asked, “Where are the blueberries? I like blueberries!” *smack, smack*

Blueberry Drop Cookies - Emeril Lagasse

½ cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
¼ cup milk
½ tsp almond extract
1 ½ tsp grated lemon zest
2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar, egg, milk, almond extract and lemon zest, mixing well after the addition of each ingredient. Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the blueberries and mix until well blended.

2. Cover and chill for 4 hours. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Drop the dough by teaspoonfuls, one and one-half inches apart onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes before removing them with a spatula.

Yay! The cookies are coming! I had the good fortune to come across the Cookie Carnival blog site, and I made it in time to join in for the April recipe.

The rules are quite simple - Kate selects a recipe, all the members make it and post it, and then we get to eat it. (Ok, I’ll confess, I ate one before I actually posted it).

This months recipe was Vanilla Bean Thins, from Gourmet Magazine. This particular recipe was tricky to work with. It’s a sugar cookie type dough, made very quickly in the food processor. In fact, I was surprised at the mixing method - it reminded me of a tart crust dough. I am thinking of using this recipe next time I make a tart!

I had a bit of trouble rolling the dough - again, because it was very crumbly. I had to work it a bit to get it to come together. I also could not seem to roll it as thin as the recipe directs - less than 1/8″. No way!! I ended up making them thicker - 1/4″. I cut out my diamond shapes and into the oven they went. Since they were thicker, they took longer to cook than the stated 10-15 minutes.

Well, I am happy to tell you that these are fantastic!! They are much lighter in texture than a standard sugar cookie and the flavor is really pleasant - not too sweet, with plenty of vanilla flavor from the vanilla bean. Definitely a keeper!

Vanilla Bean Thins - Gourmet Magazine

Ingredients

1 fresh vanilla bean, split lengthwise

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 large egg yolk

Preparation

Make vanilla sugar:

Scrape vanilla seeds from pod with tip of a knife into confectioners sugar. Halve pods crosswise and bury in sugar. Cover tightly and let stand at least 24 hours and up to 1 month.

Make cookies:

Discard pods and transfer vanilla sugar to a food processor. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse just until mixture is in pea-size lumps. Add yolk and pulse just until a dough forms. Gather dough into 2 balls, then flatten into 2 (5-inch) disks and chill, each disk wrapped well in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Roll out 1 disk (keep the other chilled) to less than 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Cut out shapes with floured cookie cutter and chill scraps. Arrange cookies 1/2 inch apart on a buttered large baking sheet. Make more cookies with remaining dough, rerolling scraps (but only once).

Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until edges are pale golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.