Category: Cookies

Double Trouble

Sadie1 Comment

What do you know about Hartford, Connecticut?  My answer is: not much.  Which is interesting because that is where I am spending the summer.  I got a great summer internship in Hartford, so I had the fun task of finding a place to live for 10 weeks.  I hate apartment hunting, I seem to do it too often.  This is my 6th apartment since college, which doesn’t sound like a whole lot, but I had my five year college reunion this year.  That means I average less than a year in each apartment (not to mention a few stretches at the parents house between places).  At this point I can move with the best of them.

Pack the apartment? easy.

Cancel my utilities and start the new utilities?  no problem.

Deal with the cabel guy(s)? with pleasure.

Forward my mail? duh.

Change addresses for everything important? no sweat.

Hand over the old keys and get the new keys? ok.

Corral my brothers to do the heavy lifting and UHaul driving?  I’m going to need back up:

Dark Chocolate Cookies with Espresso

From Martha

Yields about 2 dozen (maybe less)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 stick unsalted butter
  • 1 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs at room temp
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 Tbs espresso powder
  • 8 oz bittersweet chocolate (4 oz to melt, and 4 oz to chop)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Sift together dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt), and set aside.
  3. Cream together butter and sugar with an electric mixer.  Add eggs and vanilla.
  4. Add espresso powder to melted chocolate and combine with wet mixture.  Make sure the chocolate is not too warm because it will cook the eggs.  Combine slowly and keep mixing to avoid this problem.  Slowly add in dry mixture.  Finally, fold in chopped chocolate.
  5. Spoon dough onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Remove cookies and allow to cool.

I’ve concluded that there is no such thing as an “easy move,” and my brothers will be in bad mood reguardless of the baked goods provided.  But these are certainly a step in the right direction and a much needed shot of sugar/chocolate/energy, during a long day of moving.

Do you have any good tricks or advice to make a move easier?

Spring Cleaning

SadieLeave a comment

As I’ve mentioned before, when I want to bake with the ingredients I already have in my pantry, it usually ends up as shortbread.  I’m heading out of town for summer which means it would be nice use up some ingredients in the cupboard before I leave.  Among these ingredients: a stick of butter, unsweetened cocoa, instant coffee, and powdered sugar.  All leftover from past baking adventures.  What does that equal, you ask?  You guessed it:

Mocha Shortbread

From Martha (who else)

Yields about 8 cookie slices from cake pan

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup plus 3 Tbs AP flour
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 stick unsalted butter room temp
  • 1/3 cup powdered sugar (plus more for dusting garnish)

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Sift together flour, cocoa, and salt.
  3. Cream butter and sugar together then add flour mixture a little at a time.
  4. Mixture will be crumbly.  Make sure you mix it until it’s relatively uniform and all of the dry ingredients are incorporated.
  5. Press dough into the bottom of a round cake pan (8 or 9 inches).  No need to prepare the pan, cookies with this much butter don’t stick.
  6. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes.  Allow to cool and slice like a pizza.
    Oops, I broke a couple. I guess I’ll just have to eat the rejects…

    These aren’t super sweet, I would say they’re more of a grown up cookie.  They would be great with some summer berries and a dollop of whipped cream, or paired with some after dinner coffee or tea.  I would even consider using this recipe as a cookie crust for a mousse/cheesecake/pudding type of cake.

    PS- I recently added this song to my workout playlist.  I am obsessed.

Martha Strikes Again!

Sadie2 Comments

That’s right, I own a few books.  Though most of them are presidential biographies, I have a few food/cook books.  I was browsing through the Martha Cookie Cookbook the other day, and I saw a recipe that I’ve been meaning to try: Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chunk Cookies

From Martha 

Yields about 3 dozen (maybe less)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup AP flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp coarse salt
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 cup unsalted butter (1.5 sticks)
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup mashed ripe banana (about 1)
  • 1 cup old fashioned oats
  • 8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or chips if you don’t have chunks)
  • 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 375.
  2. Cream together butter and sugars.  Combine flours, salt, baking soda, and oats in separate bowl.
  3. Mix banana, egg, and vanilla into butter and sugar mixture. Then slowly add dry ingredients to wet.
  4. Fold in walnuts and chocolate chips.
  5. Use an ice cream scoop to portion dough out onto parchment lined cookie sheets.  Bake 12-14 minutes.  Remove and all to cool.

    I made two batches at once. It was a good decision.