Happy (Early) Halloween
Sorry for the lack of new recipes, it’s been crazy here lately! I’ve been out a lot, and when I wasn’t out, I was glued to the TV and worried about my parents and friends down in San Diego who had to evacuate because of the fires. Everyone’s fine, but it’s been a super scary week.
Speaking of scary…
OK, not so scary. And yes, I forgot to add the mouths. Oops. Happy Halloween!
Your Turn
So I’m a little curious about the people who visit this blog regularly. Tell me about yourselves! Where do you live? What do you do? Are you married? Have kids? Have you tried any recipes on my blog? If so, what did you think? And finally, do you have a recipe (or a nice Jewish boy) for me?
Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies
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When I came across this recipe, I was hoping they would be like the Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies. Sadly, they’re not. And they’re just OK, definitely nothing special. The cookie is sort of blah and the icing is way too sweet–and I’m someone who loves all things sweet.
I’m going to bring them into the office tomorrow so I’ll you know what my guinea pigs say. Update: Huge hit with the coworkers. Maybe I’m just picky.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
Cookies
3/4 cup butter flavor Crisco, plus additional for greasing
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups quick oats, uncooked
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Icing
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup butter flavor Crisco
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation
- Heat oven to 350 F. Grease baking sheets.
- For cookies, combine shortening, brown sugar, milk, egg and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.
- Combine oats, flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix into creamed mixture at low speed just until blended.
- Drop rounded measuring tablespoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets.
- Bake one sheet at a time at 350 for 0 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to foil to cool completely.
- For frosting, combine confectioner’s sugar, shortening, and vanilla in medium bowl. Beat at low speed, adding enough milk for good spreading consistency. Spread on bottoms of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies.
Makes about 16 sandwich cookies.
My notes:
- I ended up with more than 16 sandwiches since I used a smaller cookie scoop.
- I flattened the tops of the cookies after scooping them, in an attempt to get a flatter cookie.
Recipe from The Baking Bible.
Candy Corn
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I saw this recipe over on The Urban Housewife and immediately decided this recipe was a must-try. I have to admit this was my second attempt at making these. The first time, I followed the directions perfectly and ended up with a super stiff ball of dough and was extremely disappointed. After doing some research, I noticed other candy corn recipes said to boil the mixture for five minutes over low heat. This recipe calls for medium-high heat. So, the second time around I boiled the mixture over low heat, and it was a success!
My amazingly talented friend Lauren made the spooky shapes. Aren’t they awesome?
These are good. A slightly different flavor from store-bought candy corn and a completely different texture. I had hoped these would firm up a bit more to get that more solid shell around the outside but that didn’t happen. I’m thinking maybe a medium rather than low boil would do the trick.
Note from Epicurious
When you’re at the grocery store, pick up some plastic gloves. They’ll make it easy to knead the dough without ending up with food-coloring-stained hands.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup corn syrup
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup non fat milk powder
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
Red and yellow food coloring
Preparation
Bring first 4 ingredients to boil over high heat in heavy large saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-high (I reduced to low) and boil 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Sift powdered sugar, milk powder, and salt into medium bowl. Add powdered sugar mixture to pan; stir to combine. Let mixture stand until slightly warm to touch, about 20 minutes.
Divide dough into 3 equal pieces; place each piece in small bowl. Add several drops of yellow food coloring to one piece of dough. Using plastic gloves to protect hands, knead food coloring into dough until smooth and color is even, about 15 minutes. Repeat using red and yellow food coloring (to make orange) with second piece. Leave last piece white; knead dough until smooth. Roll each piece into a thin rope (don’t roll too thin or dough will break). Push three ropes together to form long rectangle. Using sharp knife, cut ropes into triangles. Using fingers, shape candy corn as desired. Store at room temperature in airtight container, separating layers with pieces of waxed paper to prevent sticking.
Or: If you’re feeling creative, color dough various colors and shape into spooky shapes!
Yields about five million pieces. OK not really, but a lot.
My notes:
- I boiled at low rather than medium-high like the recipe calls for.
- I separated each of the colors into four ropes rather than one long rope.
- Make sure you have a lot of free time, because these things take forever to cut.
- I got tired of cutting after about the twelve millionth piece, so by the time I got to the third rope, I cut them larger.
- I didn’t have gloves, so I put sandwich size Ziplocs over my hands until the color was somewhat kneaded in.
Recipe from BA Blog on Epicurious via The Urban Housewife.
Chipster-Topped Brownies
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Ever been in the mood to bake but couldn’t decide between brownies or cookies? Well, thanks to Dorie, now you don’t have to.
I had been eying this recipe for quite a while, but never had all the ingredients or the time to fuss. Fortunately, I did today and oh my god are these good!
Then again, what’s not to like about a brownie with a chocolate chip cookie on top?
Ingredients
For the brownie layer:
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 2/3 cups sugar
4 large eggs
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
For the cookie layer:
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup (packed) light brown sugar
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or 1 cup store-bought chocolate chips
Getting ready:
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan, line it with wax or parchment paper and butter the paper. Put the pan on a baking sheet.
To make the brownie batter:
Put both chocolates and the butter in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water. Stirring occasionally, heat just until the ingredients are melted, shiny and smooth. If the mixture gets too hot, the butter will separate from the chocolates. Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and eggs on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes, until pale, thick and creamy. Beat in the salt and vanilla extract. Reduce the speed to low and mix in the melted chocolate and butter, mixing only until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula, then, still on low speed, add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the batter. Using the spatula, fold in the walnuts, and scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Set aside.
To make the cookie dough:
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
Working with a stand mixer in the cleaned bowl or with the hand mixer in another large bowl, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium-high speed until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. One at a time, add the egg and the yolk, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Still on low, mix in the chopped chocolate. Drop the cookie dough by spoonfuls over the brownie batter an, using a spatula and a light touch, spread it evenly over the batter.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the cookie top is deep golden brown and firm and a thin knife inserted into the brownie layer comes out with only faint streaks of moist chocolate. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature.
When the brownies are completely cool, carefully run a knife between the sides of the pan and the brownies, then invert them onto another rack, remove the paper and turn right side up onto a cutting board. Cut into bars about 2 inches by 1 inch. (You can cut larger bars if you’re serving to cookie lovers with Texas-size appetites.)
My notes:
- I used semi-sweet chips instead of bittersweet.
- I omitted the nuts.
- I baked mine for a total of around 35 minutes. I figured 50-55 seemed really long, so I initially checked them at 25 minutes then continued to add five minutes and check them again until they were done.
Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
