Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

A common problem with home cooks like myself is a love of cookbooks. In this day and age, I get more of my recipes online, yet I can't help but be addicted to cookbooks. It's the feeling of holding the book in your hands, skimming through pictures and recipes, and displaying it on your specially reserved cookbook section of the bookshelf. Not to mention I get 40% off cookbooks at my job, which makes it that much harder to resist adding to my collection. I know that it is easy to have an excessive collection of unused cookbooks, though, so I try my best to exercise restraint.

One way I curb my cookbook addiction is my checking out cookbooks from the library. I can't go into the library without heading for that section, just to see what's on the shelves. There is usually something that catches my eye, and I'll take a couple books home at a time to explore in depth. This recipe came from Barefoot Contessa at Home, which I have really enjoyed looking through. I've tried out a couple of the recipes, and as usual, Ina Garten has pulled together a collection of reliable, approachable, and delicious recipes. I thought these bars were perfectly buttery, without being overly rich. The flavor really did remind me of a sweet version of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. These came together so easily, and I think they would make a great snack for kids and grown ups alike!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars

From Barefoot Contessa at Home, by Ina Garten

Ingredients

* 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
* 2 cups (18 ounces) creamy peanut butter (recommended: Skippy)
* 3 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
* 1 1/2 cups (18 ounces) raspberry jam or other jam
* 2/3 cups salted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Grease a 9 by 13 by 2-inch cake pan. Line it with parchment paper, then grease and flour the pan.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light yellow, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla, eggs, and peanut butter and mix until all ingredients are combined.

In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture. Mix just until combined.

Spread 2/3 of the dough into the prepared cake pan and spread over the bottom with a knife or offset spatula. Spread the jam evenly over the dough. Drop small globs of the remaining dough evenly over the jam. Don't worry if all the jam isn't covered; it will spread in the oven. Sprinkle with chopped peanuts and bake for 45 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and cut into squares.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscotti

I went on an Italian food kick last week, and these biscotti were an excellent recipe discovery that came from my binge. While biscotti are an Italian treat, I'm pretty sure this peanut butter and chocolate version was strictly Italian American! It was my first time making biscotti, which is a shame for any half Italian foodie to admit. They weren't hard to make at all, although they're a little more time intensive than some cookies because you have to flip them a couple times as they cook. The end result was so worth it, though. I've been snacking on these all week, and would highly recommend you give them a try!



Peanut Butter and Chocolate Biscotti
from foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

* 10 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons)
* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
* 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
* 3 large eggs
* 1 1/4 cups sugar
* 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup smooth natural peanut butter, room temperature
* 1 1/4 cups dry roasted peanuts
* 1 1/4 cups chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chunks (about 6 ounces)

Directions

Position racks evenly in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt the butter over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally. Continue to cook until the butter browns and gets a nutty aroma, about 5 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl.

Beat the eggs in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until light and pale yellow, about 2 minutes. Gradually add the sugar while beating. Then slowly add the butter and vanilla until evenly mixed, about 30 seconds more. Add the peanut butter and mix until combined.

While mixing slowly, add the dry ingredients to the wet, in 2 additions, mixing just until absorbed. Fold in the peanuts and chocolate pieces.


Divide the dough evenly into thirds, and put each portion in the center of a baking sheet. Shape the dough with slightly wet hands into logs about 2-inches wide and 15 inches long. Bake until set and brown around the edges, about 25 to 30 minutes. (For even baking take care to rotate the pans-- top to bottom and front to back--about half way though.) Cool logs on the baking sheets for about 10 minutes.

Lower the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Carefully transfer the logs to a cutting board. Cut logs crosswise, with a long serrated knife at about a 45 degree angle, into 1/2-inch thick cookies. Place cookies cut side down on the baking sheets. Bake until crisp, about 8 minutes. Flip the cookies over and bake until golden brown, about 8 minutes more. Cool biscotti on the baking sheets. Serve.

Store cookies in a tightly sealed container for up to 3 days.

Seasons Greetings!

Hello everyone! I think this might have been my longest absence from this blog since I started writing it. School was CRAZY busy the last couple weeks of the semester, and as much as I wanted to blog, I had to force myself to study and do final projects instead. And, really, I didn't have much to blog about. My kitchen was sorely neglected the month or two, between working evenings, having a night class, and just being too darn busy. I've been eating too much junk from my freezer and dining out more than I'd like, and I can't wait to get back to planning meals like before!


Next semester I'm only taking one class, and I've quit one of my part time jobs. I hope to start substitute teaching this spring, to help my job prospects for next year. My schedule will still be sporadic, but at least I know I'll be home (and less stressed) more often than this semester. And what better time to get back to cooking and blogging than this time of year? I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I think it's my favorite holiday because of the fact it is spread out over a month, and everyone seems to get more friendly and easy going as they run around more crazily than usual. I know, it's not quite that perfect, but don't you find yourself with an extra spring in your step come December? Great example- I went to lunch with a friend at the huge Macys on State Street today, and even thought it was a total zoo, I just smiled and enjoyed the whole experience. Typically, I can get totally bitchy in these crowded store/slow tourist situations, but somehow at Christmas I just deal with it a lot better. Anyone else feel this way?

I also love the traditions that surround Christmas. Every family has them, and it is so fun to compare notes with friends. In the last three years of marriage, Joe and I have worked some of our old family traditions into the holidays, and have also started trying to incorporate some of our own. One non-negotiable tradition I've taken from my mother is baking and sharing TONS of Christmas cookies. Last year I told you about the three recipes I have that my mom has baked for as long as I can remember. They showed up in my kitchen again this year, but I also decided to mix things up and add a couple recipes of my own.

The first recipe I made was Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkles, which I found on epicurious.com. They had kind of mixed reviews, but I found the recipe to be a total success. They were chewy and had a rich chocolate flavor, and the hazelnuts really added a special holiday flavor. I loved the way they looked, too, with the powered sugar and cracked appearance. Most likely I will make these again next year, and I might not reserve them just for Christmas!

I also made sugar cookies, which is nothing new, but I challenged myself by decorating them with royal icing. What a fun project it was! I used a box of sugar cookie mix, because someone had given me a cookie making gift, but next time I will try Annie's recipe. I used the Royal Icing recipe from Martha Stewart's Cupcakes book, which I borrowed from a friend. I think royal icing is pretty standard, though, so I'll probably just try Annie's recipe for that next time, too! No matter what recipes you use, check out her tutorial before you decorate, because it's amazingly helpful. Thanks Annie for all your great ideas! I put off royal icing for a long time, but now I'm brainstorming all the reasons I might have to make decorated cookies in the future. So much fun (and yes, Joe thought I was a little crazy... but cute, too!).

Gel food coloring is important, so you don't thin out your icing.

First we outlined the cookies, with thicker icing.

Then, we thinned out the icing, and filled in the shapes.

The finished product! Not bad for a first attempt, right?

Happy Holidays everyone! I hope you have a wonderful holiday season, and that 2010 is a year to remember!


Chocolate Hazelnut Crinkle Cookies
from epicurious.com

* 2/3 cup hazelnuts
* 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 6 oz fine-quality bittersweet
* chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), finely chopped
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
* 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
* 2 large eggs
* 1/4 cup whole milk
* 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
* 3/4 cup confectioners sugar

* Special equipment: parchment paper

Directions

Make dough:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F.

Toast hazelnuts in a shallow baking pan in oven until skins split and nuts are pale golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven (turn oven off), then wrap hazelnuts in a kitchen towel and rub to remove any loose skins. Cool nuts completely. Pulse nuts with granulated sugar in a food processor until finely chopped.

Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water or in top of a double boiler, stirring until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and set aside.

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.

Beat together butter and brown sugar in another bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in melted chocolate until combined. Add milk and vanilla, beating to incorporate. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture, mixing until just combined. Stir in nut mixture. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill dough until firm, 2 to 3 hours.

Form and bake cookies:
Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Sift confectioners sugar into a bowl. Halve dough and chill 1 half, wrapped in plastic wrap. Roll remaining half into 1-inch balls, placing them on a sheet of wax paper as rolled. Roll balls, 3 or 4 at a time, in confectioners sugar to coat generously and arrange 2 inches apart on lined baking sheets.

Bake, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are puffed and cracked and edges feel dry (but centers are still slightly soft), 12 to 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies (still on parchment) to racks to cool completely.

While first batch is baking, roll remaining dough into balls. Line cooled cookie sheets with fresh parchment, then coat balls with confectioners sugar and bake in same manner.

Daring Bakers: Milan Cookies

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gail Gand of the Food Network.

Last month I completely spaced out and missed the Daring Bakers challenge. I didn't mean to skip it, and I actually thought the recipe for a traditional English tart/pudding sounded pretty tasty. But the deadline came and went before I even thought about making the recipe, and I decided to just skip it completely and do the July challenge instead. Then, today, July 27th, I realized I'd once again blown off the challenge! But this time it wasn't too late... the reveal date is today, and I had absolutely nothing planned to do all day. So I headed to the grocery store, and got to work on the Milano cookie recipe from Gail Gand. I would have loved to try the marshmallow cookies as well, but with the tight deadline I figured I'd just do one of the two recipes.

The ingredients were easy to come by, and the procedure was pretty straightforward. I had a basic piping tip from when I made eclairs, so piping them onto the silpat was no problem. I don't see why a ziplock bag with the corner snipped wouldn't work either. The recipe seemed to make a decent yield, so I did a half recipe. There were still plenty of cute cookies to go around. Overall, I enjoyed these cookies. I liked how crisp they were, and the orange and lemon flavors were really elegant. I would have liked if the cookies were just a bit thicker, but then they might not have been quite as crisp. Thanks, Nicole, for this fun and very manageable cookie recipe!

Milan Cookies

from Gail Gand on foodnetwork.com

12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened

2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar

7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 tablespoons lemon extract

1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour

Cookie filling, recipe follows

Cookie filling:

1/2 cup heavy cream

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1 orange, zested

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar.

2. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts.

3. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.

4. With a small (1/4-inch) plain tip, pipe 1-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.

5. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

6. While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream.

7. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well.

8. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).

9. Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.

10. Repeat with the remainder of the cookies.

Makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies

Cookie Baking Frenzy!

Yes, frenzy is the only way to describe my recent cookie baking. In the last week I've baked 9 batches of cookies... and six varies among those batches! I baked four types last Sunday, and after giving them to my 3 coworkers as a Christmas gifts I already determined I needed to bake more. That lead to one batch on Thursday, one on Saturday, and three more today. Does this sound like a math problem to anyone else?!

I have enjoyed this baking immensely, though, because I really don't usually bake as much as I would like. Joe and I are not frequent sweet eaters (ok, I am not... he might be!). And living in Chicago means I have to carry treats on the train with me if I'm going to try to share them with coworkers, which is a pain in the neck. Therefore, I tend to put more of my energy into cooking. But this Christmas has been an excuse to coat my kitchen in flour and really get my oven working. I'll share a few recipes today, and save some for another post.

These three recipes are all from my mom. She has a great collection of Christmas cookie recipes that make their appearance each year, so I knew she was my first source for ideas. Each of these cookies was just the crowd pleaser I remembered. Maybe because of the pounds of butter?? But what better time then -28 degree windchill (no joke) to add a little extra insulating body far? The jam thumb prints were the most popular, and the almond extract gave them that extra special flavor. My favorites are the toffee bars, and of course the snowballs are classic. If you've shared some holiday cookies on your blog, let me know. I have a feeling my crazy holiday baking is not over quite yet!

Grandma's Christmas Snowballs

1 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup chopped nuts

Cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla to blend. Mix in flour and salt. For the nuts you can use walnuts right out of the bag - you can toast the walnuts first for a nuttier flavor - or, my favorite, you can use pecans and toast them first. Chop them pretty fine then add to batter.

Form into small balls. Bake at 325 15 or so minutes. Depends on your oven. Here I have to turn them up a bit and a bit of time. You might want to start with 15 mins at 325 and see if you need more time.

Toffee Bars

(From Virginia Hospitality cookbook)

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed (light or dark)

1 egg yolk

2 cups flour

1 tsp. vanilla

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup nuts chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in egg yolk. Add flour gradually stirring to blend. Add vanilla. Spread about 1/4 inch thick into 10 x 15 jellyroll pan (I use the big pyrex baking dish and it works just fine). Bake 20-25 mins. until golden brown.

Remove from oven and sprinkle choc. chips on top. Let them melt to soft spreading consistency. Smooth chocolate over surface and sprinkle nuts over top. Pat nuts down lightly with your hand. Cut into bars while still slightly warm.

Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

(From the Land 'O Lakes butter carton years ago!)

2/3 cup sugar

1 cup butter

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 cups flour

1/2 cup raspberry jam

Heat oven to 350. Combine sugar, butter , and almond extract and beat until creamy. Add flour until well mixed. Shape into 1"balls then make thumbprint. Fill hole with jam. Bake 14-18 mins. Cool then glaze.

Glaze:

1 c powdered sugar

1/2 or so tsp.almond extract

2-3 tsp water.

I don't always glaze them and they are still good. If you are going to freeze them don't glaze. I've done it and they turn pink! But you can freeze them then defrost and glaze before you serve them.

Fall Flavored cookies

A quick post is better than none at all, right? Work has me swamped again this week, so I am only making a brief visit to the blog for tonight. These cookies are simple to make, and they are a perfect representation of fall flavors. At first I wasn't sure how I would like chocolate chips with the pumpkin flavoring, but they added a richness to the otherwise light and cake-like cookies. They puff up nicely because of the pumpkin, so these cookies always end up looking really pretty. And if you're husband is bored and hungry, he can make them on his own (the pictures are from his batch!).

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
from an unknown online source (aka scrawled down a couple years ago and stuck in my recipe book)

Combine:
1 cup pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg

In a separate bowl, combine:
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt

In a small bowl, dissolve:
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp milk


Mix all parts, then add:
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, until light brown and firm.

Chocolate Florentine Cookies

These cookies were a pleasant surprise when I baked them for the first time a while back. I really didn't know what to expect, and when I first took the thin, spread out cookies out of the oven I though I'd wrecked them! The parchment paper was an absolutely necessary part of this recipe (or a silpat if you have one), because you end up peeling the cookies away from the paper once they cool. And it's important that they do cool completely; being impatient will just leave you with mangled bits of cookies. They end up chewy, with rich dark chocolate waiting in the middle. I made this batch pretty large, but you could easily make smaller bite sized cookies to please a crowd. One of my friends deemed them "magical", and if that's not an endorsement, than I don't know what is!

The recipe for Chocolate Florentine Cookies came from the Nestle Classic Recipes cookbook. It was a gift from my mother in law back before Joe and I were married, and I have found it to be a dependable cookbook for timeless, crowd pleasing recipes. There are some great sounding cookie recipes, as well as bars, cakes, and pies. If only I had more people to eat my baking, I would probably use this cookbook a lot more. It is a good one to have around though, for dependable recipes to fall back on.

Chocolate Florentine Cookies

From Nestle Classic Recipes

2/3 cup butter

2 cups quick oats

1 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup all purpose flour

1/4 cup light or dark corn syrup

1/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

11 oz package chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or foil.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan; remove from heat. Stir in oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla extract and salt; mix well. Drop by level teaspoons, about 3 inches apart, onto prepared baking sheets. Spread thinly with a spatula.

Bake for 6 to 8 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely on baking sheets placed on wire racks. Peel foil from cookies.

Carefully melt chocolate in the microwave, stirring every 10 to 20 seconds. Spread a thin layer of melted chocolate onto flat side of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen sandwich cookies.

Chicago travels to Italy

Living in such a large city has given me a chance to experience a lot of interesting things. There is always a new band playing or an exhibit opening, and you can never complain that there's nothing to do. The summer festivals here are outstanding, full of food, music, art, and so many people. And the diversity around the city is amazing. I think if I tried hard enough, I could find food from any country or ethnic group you can imagine!



Some of the food is not quite as foreign, but is still exciting and different from what I am used to eating. Italian food is nothing new to me-- I have two full blooded Italian grandmas, after all. I've always enjoyed Italian food, and I grew up with fantastic variations of homemade sauces and freshly baked biscotti. But I have yet to visit Italy, and I have not experienced many Italian desserts beyond my ever-favorite tiramisu.





This changed about 8 months ago, when I got a job at an office in the Hancock Building on Michigan Avenue. You might wonder how this landmark building has anything to do with Italian cooking. It's not so much what's in the building as it is what's below it. L'Appetito is an Italian deli that is in the basement of the building, and it's sweet and decadent pastries and cookies are the special treat that helps me survive any rough (or regular) day at work.



One of the standouts are their amaretti cookies. I've heard about and seen packaged versions of these before, but they sounded like kind of boring, crunchy, almond flavored cookies... nothing too special. The fresh ones at L'Appetito are another story. Moist, chewy, and bursting with almond flavor. They are hard to resist, and I find myself munching on this Italian sweet at least once a week.



Summer has been busy, and I've found myself less inspired in the kitchen lately. I was explaining this to my coworkers recently while munching on my favorite aforementioned almond cookies, and I realized the answer to my kitchen dilemma was right in front of me; it was time to attempt some amaretti cookies of my own.



I searched online for inspiration, and a couple blogs led me back to the source I should have consulted right from the begining. Cream Puffs in Venice is a blog full of delicious Italian desserts, and of course she had an amaretti recipe that sounded like a perfect foundation for my first attempt. I might try to play around with ingredients more, adding candied orange, pearl sugar, or sliced almonds on top, but overall I was really happy with how the cookies turned out. Chewy, sweet, and very 'almondy'... just as I hoped. If you're in Chicago, be sure to check out L'Appetito, then go home and make your own cookies!



"My Mother's Amaretti" from Cream Puffs in Venice

1-1/2 pounds almonds, finely ground (plus extra whole almonds to garnish cookies)

2 cups granulated sugar (plus 1 cup extra sugar to roll the cookies in)

1-1/2 tbsp. cocoa

4 eggs

3 tbsp. almond extract

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Position your oven racks so that one rack is at the bottom of the oven and the other rack is in the middle of the oven; line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine ground almonds, sugar and cocoa.
4. Add eggs and almond extract and mix until well combined.
5. Using a tablespoon or your hands, scoop out enough of the almond mixture to form a ball that is roughly 1-1/2 to 2 inches in size.
6. Roll each ball in the 1 cup of extra granulated sugar and place on cookie sheet.
7. Use extra whole almonds as garnish by placing one almond in the center of each cookie.
8. Bake cookies on lower rack for 10 minutes and then move to middle rack for an additional five minutes.
9. Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
10. Once cool, store cookies at room temperature in an airtight container. Cookies will keep for up 10 days.
11. Enjoy!

If you have a food processor, it's easy to turn these blanched almonds into ground up poweder for the cookies.

This recipe was also a perfect chance to use the Fair Trade Cocoa Powder that my mom gave me for an Easter treat.