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>Nutella-Stuffed French Toast

13 Jan

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Nutella-Stuffed French Toast. Do you see it? Do you see the oozing chocolate hazelnut spread? Do you see how perfectly golden the rustic Italian-style bread becomes when I dip it in an egg/milk/vanilla/cinnamon batter and cook it on the skillet? Do you see how the dusting of powdered sugar gives this ‘twist on a classic breakfast’ that finishing touch? People, this is Nutella-Stuffed French Toast. Can breakfast really get any better than this?

Nutella-Stuffed French Toast
inspired by World Nutella Day

-Bread (challah bread, sourdough, brioche, cinnamon raisin bread, regular sandwich bread…)
-Nutella
-Jam

-1 egg
-milk (I just eyeballed it, maybe it was about 1/2 to 3/4 cup?)
-a pinch of salt
-cinnamon
-a dash of vanilla

-butter or earth balance spread

-powdered sugar

1. Take one slice bread and spread it fairly generously with Nutella. Take the other slice of bread and spread with a thin layer of jam, I like to use raspberry jam. Press the two slices of bread together like a sandwich.

2. Using a fork, whisk together your egg, milk, salt, cinnamon, and vanilla. Dip your sandwich into the batter on both sides.

3. Heat a skillet and place a bit of butter in the pan. Fry your sandwich until gorgeous and golden on each side (aka about 1-2 minutes per side?).

4. Dust with powdered sugar and enjoy with fresh fruit and a tall glass of milk (or milky coffee…yum!).

Lemon Cornmeal Biscotti with Cranberries and Walnuts

28 Dec

These cookies are addicting. No matter how hard you try, you simply cannot just have one. I think it is impossible.

I call them biscotti but they are softer and chewier than the typical hard and crumbly biscotti. Whatever the name, these little guys are so so so so so darn good! I believe that this may be my favorite type of cookie batter to lick the bowl with. Mmm, so buttery and lemony and comforting!


And using my new KitchenAid mixer makes everything so much easier; I can just plop my ingredients in the mixer and it does all the work for me.

This recipe makes a LOT of biscotti, I was overwhelmed and froze half of the cookies for my family to eat when I go back at school.

Here is a link to an interesting article about twice-baked cookies, mandelbrot vs. biscotti.

With a twice-baked cookie, you first make your dough, roll it out into several long logs, bake, slice, and bake again.


I chose to add lemon zest, walnuts, and cranberries (I added golden raisins and dried blueberries, too!), but feel free to add in whatever you like: chocolate chips, pistachios, hazelnuts…

I also really like the texture that the cornmeal lends to the cookie. Soft, chewy, with a little added cornmeal crunch! Very nice.

Lemon Cornmeal Biscotti with Cranberries and Walnuts

makes a LOT of cookies, I would guess about 6 dozen

2 sticks cold butter, cubed
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon baking powder
4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cups cornmeal

zest of 2 lemons
dried fruit combo, about 1 cup
toasted nuts, about 1 cup

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and sugar unitl nice and smoothe and fluffy. Add your eggs one at a time.

Combine the rest of your dry ingredients and add them to your butter, sugar, egg mixture. Stir in the lemon zest, dried fruit, and nuts.

Divide the dough into 6 even pieces. Lightly flour a clean surface and roll each piece into a nice, even log. Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (I ran out of parchment so I just lightly greased the cookie sheet).

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets at least once. Take the logs out of the oven and let them cool for about 5 minutes. Using a serated knife, slice your logs into individual cookies and place the cookies cut side down. Bake for another 15 minutes or so, you will have to watch them.

This make a LOT of cookies, which are great for freezing, storing, or giving as gifts!

 

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Chocolate Crackle Cookies

23 Dec

I am now the proud owner of a Candy Apple Red 90th Anniversary Kitchen Aid Standing Mixer with a glass bowl.


Beautiful. This is my baby.


I had to make SOMETHING immediately after I brought my baby home. First, I made tart dough. Then I stuck that in the freezer to use later in the week.

Then I made these chocolate crackle cookies from Alice Waters’ The Art of Simple Food.


Ok, so at first, I was not happy with the outcome of these cookies; they were super cute but I felt like they were lacking something in taste, and I could not pinpoint what it was. At first, I thought maybe they were too rich?…or maybe the ground almonds, which my cousin mistook for coconut, gave these cookies a funky texture?

I mean, these cute little guys are made with only good things—dark chocolate, cognac (a variety of brandy), ground almonds…and they only have 3 tablespoons of butter! But, sadly, I was not that impressed. They are not necessarily bad, but I thought they were nothing worth swooning over.

So it has been a few days now and I figured I would give these cookies another shot. Well, actually I brought my friends a few samples to snack on and I was very afraid of what they would say, but to my surprise, yes, they were swooning: “Oh my, Stephanie! These taste like little petit fours, like chocolate truffles, like little baby cake bites!”

Really guys? Ok fine, I’ll give them another taste. As I bit into a 4-day-old chocolate crackle cookie, yes, holy heck, these were sooooo yummy! My friends were right, these DO taste like a little truffle cake bite! A few days ago, I thought they were too rich. Now, I think they could be even richer!


I guess these cookies/petit fours/truffle bites taste better as they age. Make them, taste them, let them sit a few days, taste them again. Really, you will taste a difference!

I think next time I make these, I will futz with the recipe a bit…I definitely think that a few pinches of salt and some vanilla extract will benefit, as well as a bit of good quality cocoa powder. Adding in some coffee or experimenting with another kind of extract (mint…?) might be fun, too! Also, maybe next time I might nix the ground almonds and just use more flour? This is the beauty (or for some people, the stressor) about cooking and baking–nothing is ever constant!

Chocolate Crackle Cookies
From The Art of Simple Food

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Pulverize in a food processor:
1 cup almonds, toasted
2 Tablespoons sugar

Put them in a bowl, and combine with:
½ cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder

Melt in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water:
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Ghirardelli)
3 Tablespoons butter

Stir in:
1 ½ Tablespoons brandy (I used cognac, and had a few sips for myself but boy, is that stuff STRONG!!)

Set the mixture aside off the heat. Whisk together:
2 eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup sugar

Continue whisking until the mixture forms a ribbon, about 5-7 minutes. Stir in the melted chocolate and the almond and flour mixture. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours or until firm (I just chilled mine overnight).

Before baking, preheat the oven to 325°F. Fill a small bowl with:
Granulated sugar

Fill another small bowl with:
Sifted powdered sugar

Roll the cookie dough into 1-inch balls. Roll a few at a time in the granulated sugar to coat them, then roll them in the powdered sugar.

Set them on parchment-lined baking sheets 1 inch apart. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Midway through baking, rotate the baking sheets for even baking. When the cookies are done they will have cracks in their white shells and they will be firm on the edges, but still soft in the center. Do not overbake.

>Mexican Wedding Cookies

14 Oct

>It’s raining. No, really. Raining. Pouring. Windy. Wet. The power went out.

I just want to snuggle and hold a mug filled with hot, steamy…tea, hot chocolate, coffee…

I want to be lazy and curl up on the couch, read a book, listen to the crackle of a fireplace, watch sappy television (Grey’s Anatomy is my guilty pleasure)…

And yet I want to dance naked in the rain. I want to be swept off my feet, twirled around, and have him pop a big wet kiss on my shivering lips.

Just this weekend, I really felt the turn from summer to fall. Last week I was wearing summer dresses and sandals. Today I’m sporting a warm coat and rain boots.

It’s the middle of October. The “holidays” are just around the corner. After the Halloween craze, we will start seeing websites, magazines, and newspapers advertising the trendiest way to prepare a Thanksgiving turkey, and before we know it we will hear Christmas carols until our ears fall off.


If you plan to attend a dinner party and are looking for a nice little somethin’ somethin’ to bring over to wow your hosts, I definitely recommend making these precious little cookies. These beaming balls of buttery dough have many names–butterballs, Mexican wedding cookies, Russian teacakes, snowballs…

I guarantee that whatever you decide to call these nutty, powdered-sugar-y delights, you will make friends fast if you share.


Whenever I go to a potluck or simply want to make a nice little cookie to bring over to a friend’s house, these Mexican wedding cookies immediately come to mind. With just a few ingredients, these cookies are easy and just plain good! I like to plate them with a pretty doily underneath.

Usually when I think of a cookie I envision a big, chewy chocolate chip cookie or a fat cookie filled with oatmeal raisins and sweet spices. These Mexican wedding cookies, however, bring to mind an entirely different realm of cookie—the second they hit your tongue, you will understand why. They just melt in your mouth! Mmmmmm you can really taste the warm, comforting, buttery, nutty goodness.

One of the key factors of the instant melt-in-your-mouth texture and flavor of the cookie is the use of honey instead of sugar. The honey just adds to the smoothness and you can taste it ever so subtly. I have even experimented with using flavored honey (lavender honey is my favorite!), which adds a fun twist to the mix.

Store these in a tin or airtight container and they will keep for several weeks. At least among my family and friends, we have trouble keeping these cookies around for more than a day or two. They somehow all end up in our bellies ; -)


**Note: These pictures were taken a few weeks ago when it was still sunny outside.

Mexican Wedding Cookies
Adapted from The Silver Palate

Makes about 36 cookies

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the cookie sheets
• 3 Tablespoons honey (feel free to use flavored honey such as lavender, orange blossom…)
• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup shelled pecans, chopped moderately fine (I usually use walnuts; almonds work, too)
• ¾ cup powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 300°F. Grease one or two cookie sheets.

2. Cream the butter (I usually use a fork or a whisk). Beat in the honey. Gradually mix in the flour and salt, then the vanilla. Add the nuts. Wrap the dough in plastic and chill for 1 hour (I will sometimes make the dough the night before and take it out of the fridge the next day about 30-40 minutes before I want to use it).

3. Form the balls by hand, the size of quarters. Place 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake until lightly golden brown, about 35-40 minutes.

4. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven’ as soon as the cookies are cool enough to touch, roll in the confectioners’/powdered sugar. Allow to cool and roll again in the sugar.

Lindsey Shere’s “Chez Panisse Almond Tart,” Tasted at Pizzaiolo Restaurant

3 Oct


I should be studying. Biochemistry.

Instead I sit, fantasizing about this almond tart.

I have been thinking about making this tart for a long time, using Chez Panisse co-founder and former executive pastry chef Lindsey Shere’s recipe. Many restaurants have used her recipe–Oliveto and Pizzaiolo (both in Oakland, CA) to name a few.

You can make this as a tart or turn the recipe into a Christmas bar cookie and add dried cherries, chocolate chips, … you name it!

I tasted this tart for the first time today at Pizzaiolo and have not stopped thinking about it since. The texture of slivered almonds is so wonderful! The flavor of the tart takes the almond-y-ness and enhances it with a caramel-like mixture of cream and sugar. Yes! Life is good.


Did I mention how much I LOOOVEE slivered almonds? Arranged in layers all atop the buttery crust, I like to pick off each nut sliver one by one. Ahhh, don’t you just want to reach for the computer screen pick off an almond sliver?!


To find the recipe for Lindsey Shere’s Almond Tart, purchase Chez Panisse Desserts or check out David Lebovitz’s blog.

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