Tag: espresso

One More for Good Measure

Sadie1 Comment

I hope Santa was good to everyone this year.  He was certainly good to me!  Christmas was nice and low key this year.  I enjoyed that it was on a Tuesday because it created a four day long weekend of celebration.  In my house that means lots of cooking, baking and several shopping trips with and without various family members.tree

Even though Christmas has already passed, I would be remiss if I did not post about chocolate pixie cookies.  These are an absolute staple in our household during December.  Most people know them Chocolate Crackles, but my grandmother has always called them pixies, so I do the same.flowers

Since these are such popular cookies, and there are several recipes available online, I have took the opportunity a couple years ago to shop recipes and find the best one.  While I love my grandmother’s cookies, there is a chance that an expert like David Rocco over at the Cooking Channel might have some good ideas about cookies.  His addition of espresso powder makes all the difference in this recipe, and develops an optimal chocolate flavor.

You should make these even when it’s not Christmas.

Chocolate Espresso Pixie Cookies

Yields about 20 cookies, from David Rocco

Ingredients

  • 4 Tbs butter
  • 2/3 c packed brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 4 oz semisweet chocolate, melted and cooled
  • 1/2 c plain flour
  • 1/4 c cocoa powder
  • 4 tsp instant espresso coffee granules
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • pinch salt
  • 1 Tbs milk
  • confectioner’s sugar

Method

  1. Cream together butter and sugar.  Add egg and cooled melted chocolate.
  2. In a separate bowl sift together flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder, and salt.
  3. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture.  Add milk.  The mixture will be sticky and pretty stiff.  It’s like a delicious stiff brownie dough!
  4. Allow dough to chill for at least 1 hour.  I typically stick it in the freezer overnight for best results.
  5. Preheat oven to 350.
  6. Put a cup or so of confectioner’s sugar in a small bowl.
  7. Roll dough into small balls, probably a little smaller than a tablespoon.  Drop the balls in the bowl of sugar, and coat them.  Tap off excess and place balls on parchment lined cookie sheet.
  8. The cookies will spread so give them a little space.
  9. Bake 12-14 minutes.  Allow to cool and enjoy!pixies

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?