raisin pecan oatmeal cookies – Ina Garden

After finishing Ina Garten’s memoir Be Ready When the Luck Happens it felt imperative to bake something from her repertoire.  🙂  I immediately found these nutty, chewy, crispy gems.  Buttery and flavorful, they were a hit with both Matthew and Anthony.  And a great addition to my overly chocolate centered package to the shelter. 

Mixed into my All-Natural Turkey Hill Vanilla ice cream. Well, delicious. Seriously. I usually have a small mug of ice cream every night, and I was tempted to have a second, but I held back, knowing that there is always tomorrow (hopefully!)  

BTW, I like Turkey Hill All Natural vanilla ice cream (with all cookies) because it isn’t too rich and has clean ingredients with zero additives.  And no I’m not getting money or free ice cream for mentioning this.

I made a double batch of Ina’s cookies and froze the dough in logs with parchment paper and now I have slice and bake at the ready.  As usual – use sight and touch to decide when these cookies are baked.  The time in a recipe is meant as a guide so check and keep checking.  

Also, review my baking tips – regarding the measurement of your flour.  This is where many go wrong ending up with dry, cracked and little spread to your cookies. 

Enjoy-

You will find Ina’s recipe HERE.

And do toast your pecans first.  Roast a whole bunch so you have for your next batch! 

As an alternative try the recipe with roasted walnuts and dried cranberries :). I will next time.  

chocolate chocolate chip cookies

Sylvie and I LOVE these cookies.  We LOVE them.  Sweet and full of chocolate and a plethora of chips and chocolate wafers these are on our hit list.  Chewy yet sturdy.  If you make them as instructed they are giant and that makes them even more enticing for some reason.

My father was visiting the last time I made them and well – tbh, he didn’t LOVE them like we did.  He likes a darker richer chocolate cookie (I think) and Rob couldn’t really weigh in too much since I burned the batch he tried.  (These are tricky to bake because they are so dark!)  I sent the rest to the shelter so I’m not exactly sure how other people felt but they did get a 5 star rating in The NY Times so there is that!  These beauties mixed in to my vanilla ice cream, well, um, heaven.  

Big note – make these in advance – they are best if you are able to chill the dough for 24 hours before baking.  I also usually double this recipe.  Up to you…save extra in the freezer to bake off at a later date.  Also – I love to mix up all my chips.  I use both bitter and semi (with different percentages) in my cookies.  I chop some bar chocolate and make some shards and I use thin discs too as well as regular chocolate chips.  I find this adds a nuance to the cookies making each bite  more exciting than the next.  

Check out Guittard chips – they have a “super chip” chocolate chip that is a different texture than the semi sweet or dark Akoma chips.  I also add some classic Nestle chocolate chips because they are a taste memory for me even though there are more pure chocolate chips out there now.  

Found these in The NY Times baking section.  I will include the weighted measurement since that is way more accurate that cups etc.  So if you have a scale please use it.  You will guarantee a better outcome.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup/145 grams all purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup/75 grams Dutch process cocoa powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (diamond crystal!) (if you must use table salt cut by half but really get some kosher salt.  And not Mortons.)
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 10 tablespoons/141 grams unsalted butter, room temp
  • 3/4 cup/150 grams dark brown sugar
  • 2/3 cup/133 grams granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 2 cups mix of semi, bitter, dark, chocolate discs, chips or chopped chocolate

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda.

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment (or hand held beaters) beat the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until very light and fluffy.  This will take about 5 minutes.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined.

With the mixer on low add the dry ingredients to the butter/sugar/egg mixture and beat on low until JUST combined.

Add the chocolate chips and fold in to incorporate.  

Place the batter in plastic wrap – you can do big discs or you can make rolls to slice and bake shown in the photo above.  Let chill in fridge for 24-36 hours.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking pan with parchment.

Portion balls – about 3.5 ounces (these make giant cookies!)  and place 5 balls onto your baking pan.  They will spread so do not try to add more (unless you are making smaller cookies (which I have done). 

Bake the cookies until set – about 18 m but still a bit soft in the center.  These are a little tricky so keep a close eye on them – a minute or two before and after.  

Continue to bake rest of batter or simple freeze dough and bake when you have a craving or guests!

Enjoy –

chocolate chunk shortbread cookies

These cookies are scrumptious!  Seriously good.  Rich buttery shortbread with bittersweet (or semisweet) chocolate chunks rolled in coarse sugar – well, what is there not to like.  Andy said “fire” which is always a good sign.  Rob is not a shortbread person so yeah, he didn’t care for these.  But if you do like shortbread then these are a no brainer.  

I saw the recipe in the NY Times and knew I had to put in my “to bake” folder.  After baking them, and loving them, I purchased Alison Roman’s cookbook – Nothing Fancy: Unfussy Food For Having People Over.   I whole heartedly recommend it.  I made the cookies, meatballs and chicken from the book and wow.  These shortbread cookies were made especially for the book because Alison says that chocolate chip cookies are often lacking in a certain area – too soft, too hard, too chocolatey, too buttery and so on.  I do still love regular chocolate chip cookies (and all the variations) but these are an awesome addition to my (and now your) repertoires.  Enjoy –

The directions are clear in the article so I’m going to just give you the link.  If you have questions just ask :). Here is the link.

peanut butter cookies

I absolutely love these.  LOVE.  Joy.  Everything about them – the texture, the sugar coating, the versatility, the plain old scrumptiousness.  I’m not a fan of normal peanut cookies at all.  So this is a nice change for me.  

Rob had a nibble but the texture actually turned him off.  I don’t get it.  But I don’t have to.  I sent some to the shelter but feedback isn’t on the top of the list there (rightly so) – so I’m just hopeful that someone enjoyed as much as me.

The first time I made these I used dark chocolate chips and Reesees chips.  (Pictured on the sides above.). And they were good.  Good!  But the peanut butter chips always taste a little too sweet for me.  So the next time I chopped up some good quality (Callebaut) milk chocolate and added it to the mix (center photo).  Well, well, I mean so good.  Of course you can always add chopped or chips of dark and semi sweet which I think most people would choose but I’m telling you – a good quality milk chocolate (and not the chips – the bar) is worth a try.  For kids and those who like things sweet (me) I’d also consider M&M’s candies.  Yup I would.  I will and I’ll try to share with neighbors and friends to see if they like them too.

I found this recipe on SmittenKitchen.com.  Love everything about the site – and have for many years.  I also have the Smitten Kitchen cookbook.   If you have some time click on the link where she tells us why and how she created this recipe.  Well, adapted it. 

Actually,  you might as well just read her directions.  It will make my life easier and she has some beautiful photos.  Way better than mine.  Oh – lastly I used creamy peanut butter – and I used the Wild Friends brand.  I didn’t want a PB with added oils and sugars.  I found it at Freshdirect (my grocery delivery store) and they came out great.  You can also get it here.

Enjoy-

sugar cookies (and more variations!)

OK, these are terrific.  Seriously good cookies.  Goooood.  The cookies are pictured above in the box and ready to go, in a bigger box with other treats that I will blog about, and on the counter with some valentine treats.  I dropped a box of assorted cookies to my friend Jodi and all she wrote back was “the sprinkle cookies”.   She isn’t that verbose in text but this was the simplest compliment and it made me smile.  I had to add “good, right?” just to get some more feedback and praise.  So I urge you to try these!  The beauty of this recipe is that you can roll them in sprinkles, chocolate sprinkles, mini chips, toffee bits, really anything!  Have some fun.  II’m making more tomorrow so I’ll add some photos then.   

This recipe comes from my newest favorite cookie book called 100 Cookies The Baking Book For Every Kitchen by Sarah Kieffer.  And wow – I’ve made several of her recipes and I’m overwhelmed with the desire to bake the entire book.  This section in her book is called “sheet-pan banging” cookies and it points to her method of making the cookies rippled and flat.  My latest batch were the best looking but of course no photos.  She instructs the baker to make large balls of dough and I know that would be great but so far I’ve only done medium.  Tomorrow I’ll do large.  You can also make them small cute and rippled (a bit).

Although this method can take longer it is fun and worth it.  The bigger the cookie the less you can fit on one pan so be mindful of that.  Sarah has snickerdoodles and molasses and all kind of sheet pan banging recipes to try.  I like this sugar cookie one because of all the variations.  I doubled the recipe and kept some dough in the fridge.  You can then make more as you wish – but make sure the dough comes to room temp a bit so that the goodies will stick to it and the dough will spread.

Oh, and get out your kitchen scale as there are weighted measurements too which I love.  

Enjoy-

 

Ingredients

  • 2 Cups (284 grams) all- purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (diamond crystal is best)
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 cup (2 sticks or 227 grams) unsalted butter, room temp
  • 1 3/4 cups (350 grams) granulated sugar (divided) 
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 

Directions

Adjust the oven rack to the middle of the oven and set at 350 degrees.

  • Line the sheet pan(s) with parchment paper or tin foil (dull side up)
  • In a small bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar.
  • With the paddle attachment of stand mixer or with beaters, beat the softened butter on medium speed until creamy, about a minute or 2.
  • Add 11/2 cups (300 g) of the sugar (don’t add it all as I did my first time through)
  • Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy about 3-4 minutes.
  • Add the egg and vanilla and mix on low to combine.
  • Add the dry ingredients and beat on low until just combined.  Remove from mixer and finish mixing by hand so that you don’t overmix 
  • If you want to add sprinkles or chips or other treat into the cookies you can do that now.  Just don’t overdo it.  
  • Next roll the dough into 3 oz (85 g) balls.  Again, you can do these smaller if you choose.
  • Roll each ball into the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar and the addition of your sprinkles, chips, flakes, etc.
  • At this size (3 oz) place 4 balls on the cookie sheet.  And bake one pan at a time.  Again, I made smaller balls and was able to fit 9 on my pan.  But tomorrow I’ll do the real thing.
  • Bake for 8 minutes.  Then lift one side of the sheet pan up about 4 inches and gently let it drop down against the oven rack so that the edges of the cookies set and the center falls back down.  After the cookies puff up again in 2 minutes, repeat lifting and topping the pan.  Repeat every 2 minutes to create ridges and ripples around the edge of the cookie.  Some of my cookies weren’t really spreading so I took them out and kind of banged them on the counter – just a bit.  
  • Bake for 13-15 minutes in total, until the cookies have spread out and the edges are golden brown, but the centers are much lighter and not fully cooked. 
  • Remove from oven and place on a rack to cool for a bit – or, if you are lazy like me just on the counter.  
  • If the cookies are too dark or cooking too much remove from the pan after 10 minutes (and onto a wire rack) to continue to cool.  Or just leave on pan too cool.
  • Enjoy these babies!

snickerdoodles (dairy free, gluten free, no refined sugar)

I’ve made these gems a few times this winter.  I really liked them – the texture and taste.  I crumbed into my vanilla ice cream and it was true bliss.  Andy ate them too – and even vied for them (as they were made really with Greg in mind) which is pretty amazing too.  His friend Steve who is gluten free and Gabi my vegan hair colorist both gave a big thumbs up.  But most importantly, Greg loved them.  He went back to Boston with a little box full and he looked so happy about it.  It was nice to see that smile (for sweets) on my 24 year old as It is hard to bake for Greg given his restrictions (GF, DF).   I found this recipe in Bakerita:100 + No-Fuss Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free, and Refined Sugar-Free Recipes for the Modern Baker by Rachel Conners.  I followed the recipe – although the second time I made them I used refined sugar in the cinnamon sugar blend that you roll the cookies in.  The coconut sugar was fine but the real sugar better – but do what makes you happy.

These are so easy to throw together – but you will probably need to go to the store and get a few things – although if you have food restrictions you may have some of the ingredients already in your pantry.  

Take out your kitchen scale if you have one as Rachel gives us the weighted measurements!

I baked some of these right away and I left some dough in the fridge to bake off as needed.  Fresh baked warm snickerdoodles…well, yum.

Enjoy-

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cup (168 g) blanched almond flour
  • 1/4 cup (32 g) coconut flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 refined coconut oil (67 g), melted
  • 1/3 cup (113 g) maple syrup
  • 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 

    TOPPING
  • 1/4 cup coconut sugar (or regular refined sugar)
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon 

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line sheet pan(s) with parchment. 

Whisk together the two flours, the baking soda, cream of tartar, salt and cinnamon.

Melt the coconut oil and mix in the maple syrup and vanilla extract

Mix the wet and the dry until thoroughly combined. 

Prepare the topping by mixing the two ingredients.

With a cookie scoop or spoon, form your cookies.  Roll in your hands a bit then roll around in the topping.  The cookies are delicate so be a bit careful.  I like a lot of sugar and cinnamon so I kind of pressed them into the topping to really coat the cookie.

The size of the cookie depends on you.   Rachel measures about a tablespoon of dough.  You can do that, or smaller if you like.  It will change the baking time a bit (the smaller the cookie the less time to bake).

Place cookies on sheet pan about 2 inches apart (they don’t really spread).  And then flatten a tad with your palm.  

The larger cookie bakes for about 10 minutes.  Mine took a bit longer.  I will say that it is hard to tell when these are done.  You want them to be a nice golden color.  

I decided to use one cookie as a tester and also checked the bottom for clues.  The hard part is that these cookies crumble fairly easily so that tester cookie, although still edible, will likely fall apart.  Anyway, the bottom should look a nice golden brown too.  Try not to overtake though.  This is the trickiest part of making these – trial and error will help.  I hope you like them! 

 

chocolate crusted banana blondies

Jessie’s text to me after I dropped these nuggets off was “Avery just tried your desserts and said they were a miracle in her mouth!”  Avery is her daughter btw and that made me happy because I too felt the same way but couldn’t articulate it as well.  The chewy banana top and the chocolate crusted bottom are so good together.  The addition of pecans gave these bars additional texture and cut the sweetness which resulted in a treat that went from delicious to scrumptious.  These were featured in the New York Times by food editor (among other things) Melissa Clark.  Her sweet tooth rivals mine and I find I want to bake everything that she writes about.  Her savory recipes are equally impressive.  I have her two instant pot books as well as Dinner, Changing the Game and I use them all frequently.  Enjoy! 

This recipe calls for brown butter – Here is a video review and there are more videos on youtube should you want more instruction.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/4 cups), divided!
  • 200 grams Famous chocolate wafter cookies (to make about 3 cups of crumbs)
  • 55 grams of light brown sugar (about 1/4 cup)  
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 
  • 2 ripe bananas 
  • 2 large eggs
  • 455 grams dark brown sugar (about 2 1/2 cups) 
  • 2 tablespoons dark rum or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 130 grams all purpose flour (about 1 cup)
  • 80 grams toasted walnuts (I used pecans), chopped (about 1/2 cup) 
  • flaky sea salt for sprinkling

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 375 and line a 9×13 pan with parchment.  I usually spray the pan first to make the parchment stick
  • Melt 1 stick of the butter (just one stick) then place the wafer cookies, melted butter, light brown sugar and salt into your food processor and grind until the mixture is the consistency of wet sand.  Dump into prepared pan, and press into an even layer.  Bake for about 10 minutes or until the surface is a bit firm.  Reduce oven temp to 350 degrees 
  • Melt the remaining butter (12 tablespoons or a stick and a half) and continue to cook the butter over medium high heat until the foam subsides and the butter becomes a nice nut brown. This should take about 5 minutes.  You don’t want to burn the butter though.  Here is a video review of browning butter and there are more videos on youtube
  • Combine the mashed banana, eggs, dark brown sugar, and vanilla (or rum) and then add the brown butter.  
  • Gently fold the flour into the wet mixture and add the toasted walnuts or pecans (or not if you don’t want them!)  
  • Pour this batter onto the cooked cookie crumb crust and sprinkle a little flaky salt on top – as you may know I love Maldon sea salt for this.  
  • Place in the oven and bake for about 45-55 minutes — until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached or clean – but not with wet batter. 
  • Cool and eat! 
  • These freeze really well

Recipes

butterscotch brownie bars

The title in the NY Times said “These Brownies are as sweet as candy” –  chewy, salty and run through with brown butter…   Well, come on, how could I not make them.  My mom sent me the recipe oh, I don’t know maybe 6 different times.  And I had already clipped it. 

I love these.  LOVE.  They are not for everyone because they are definitely on the sweet side.  I made them this summer for a hospital near by and I was told that they were a hit.  They are incredibly easy and use only one bowl so they are ideal for bulk baking.  Additionally they freeze well.  The brownies can be made with or without chocolate chips and with or without nuts – but to me pecans and chocolate are ideal.  There are choices too of vanilla, coffee or rum -and for me coffee hit the spot but you get to pick.  

As mentioned – I found this in the NewYork Times and created by Melissa Clark.  

Have a good time – 

Ingredients

  • 1 cup melted butter (2 sticks) 
  • 1 1 pound box of dark brown sugar (or about 2 1/4 packed cups)
  • 2 large eggs 
  • 2 tablespoons vanilla extract (or a shot of bourbon or espresso)
  • I used espresso – and like that it tamed the sweetness a bit
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 cups (255 grams) all purpose flour
  • optional 1 cup or so chocolate chips
  • optional 1 cup nuts – I used pecans – delicious

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease or better yet  foil a 9×9 pan or 9×13 pan. Let the foil have a nice overhang so you can use it to pull the brownies out of the pan.  

  • Put  the brown sugar in a medium sized mixing bowl.
  • Melt the butter in a saucepan and let it bubble and sizzle away until you notice that it gets quiet – at this point it should start to brown, you can swirl your pan around to see the color and allow the butter to brown more easily.  The butter should look amber – or a golden brown.
  • Immediately pour the butter onto the brown sugar.  Whisk until smooth, then let the mixture cool for a few minutes before you add the eggs.  You don’t want to curdle the eggs –
  • Whisk in the eggs and the vanilla extract (or bourbon or espresso) 
  • Add the dry ingredients to the bowl sprinkling the salt and baking powder as you add it – add the flour then gently mix to incorporate.
  • Fold in optional chips and nuts and pour into baking pan.  Sprinkle if you like with a little sea salt – Melissa Clark does this – I didn’t – but do what you like and what suits your taste.
  • Bake until the top is firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out without any wet batter clinging to it.
  • In a 9×9 pan this can take 25-35 minutes.  Larger pan 20-30 m.
  • Let rest in the pan and if you used foil you can lift out by the foil overhang and cut and enjoy.  These freeze really well! 
  • I hope you like them!!

orange cookies

These are Lidia Bastianich’s yummy little gems.  Simple little citrus cookies with a sweet and delightful orange glaze.  These are so pretty and perfect with coffee or tea, or crumbled up over vanilla ice cream – or simply on a cookie platter.  These are from my new favorite cookie book: One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes.  I just love this book.  I really do.  Each recipe collected by Tracey Zabar has a blurb about the origin of the cookie and/or how much it is loved.  It such a gift that the author was able to gather these recipes from some very famous chefs to share with us.

FYI, the dough need a little time to set up in the fridge.

orange cookies (from Lidia Bastianich via One Sweet Cookie by Tracey Zabar):

3 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (use 1/4 if using table salt)
6 ounces (1 and a half sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup plus one tablespoon sugar
3 large eggs (room temp is best)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated orange zest

glaze–
2 and 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/4 cup orange juice (as needed)

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

With paddle attachment (or handheld beater) cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffier – about 2 minutes.  Add the eggs, one at a time beating well after each addition.

Add the vanilla, orange juice, lemon juice and orange zest.  Beat to combine.

Add the flour to the mix and on the lowest speed possible, mix until just incorporated.

Remove from mixer and fold to incorporate all of the dry ingredients.

Roll the dough into logs as shown here.

Place in fridge or freezer until firm enough to cut with out losing their shape.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line sheet pans with parchment paper.  Cut the logs into 1/2 inch round and place on sheet pans.  Bake for about 15 minutes or so – until the cookies are golden.  Cool completely.

For the glaze, whisk together the oj and confectioners’s sugar – add a dash of sea salt if you feel like it.

Once cooled, dip each cookie in the glaze (upside-down) then shake off excess and place sticky side up on parchment to set and dry.  If glaze is too thick or thin, adjust with more juice or less.

Save some batter for another day – and save for longer in the freezer.

Enjoy –

 

 

 

oatmeal raisin cookie

Oh so good.  So good!   Back in the early 90’s I worked very close to City Bakery.  I would go there and eat something super healthy and yummy for lunch (on rare occasions because I couldn’t really afford to go there) – and after, I would splurge on a crazy delicious cookies.  And even though I wouldn’t pick oatmeal raisin first, these can tempt.  Andy loves these – and so did Sylvie’s friend Grace.  Gave the rest away!  Enjoy –

city bakery’s oatmeal raisin cookies (very slightly adapted from One Sweet Cookie: Celebrated Chefs Share Favorite Recipes by Tracey Zabar and Ellen Silverman):

I should note that Maury Rubin (who created these) uses all organic ingredients.  Also that these are best if you refrigerate the dough for at least 6 hours before you bake them.

1 and 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt (use half if using table salt)
2 and 2/3 cups rolled oats
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (I happen to like milk chocolate here, but many prefer dark or semi)
2/3 cup raisins

In a medium bowl, combing the flour, baking soda, salt, and oats and set aside.

With the paddle attachment of a stand mixer (or handheld beaters) cream the butter until lighter and fluffy.  Add the sugar and beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes.  Add the brown sugar and mix.  Then the egg and mix again.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

On the lowest speed, add about half of the dry ingredients.  Then the other and mix until almost incorporated.  Add the chips and raisins and mix just a tad.

Place the dough in the fridge for 6 hours or longer.  You can place in a bowl and cover, then use a cookie scoop to scoop the batter on to the pan.

Or, like me, you can make the dough into logs – so you can slice and bake.  Click here to see instructions on this.

Remove dough from fridge and let come to room temp for 20 minutes.  Or alternatively, you can slice and bake right out of the fridge – just adjust baking time.  They will take longer to bake the colder they are.  Makes sense.

Preheat oven to 350.  Maury made these really big.  2 tablespoons or so.  You can do what you want.  Place scooped or cut dough on lined baking sheets.  Bake 9 -14 minutes (keep checking) until golden brown.

Let cool and enjoy.