7 minute cookies – boozed or caffeinated

by on March 8, 2013

7 min cookie-142

Home is where the heart is. We all heard this phrase before. But I never thought about it’s meaning or the truth behind this. Until I moved again and again and again and again. I am in my fifth home, fourth state in four years and start to wonder where is my home and where is my love for it?

This must have simmered in me for some time and bubbled up last week while shopping for groceries. Life can be strange. Sometimes lightning hits you between milk and fresh bread. I was about to pay as the lady behind the checkout counter asked me about my key chain. It is green and you can read “Heimat” in big letters on it. I told it means home and my sister gave it to me before I left Germany and moved to the US four years ago. I still know exactly what she said: “This is to remember you where your home is”.  I heart the cashier saying something like awe and that is cute… But I was suddenly somewhere else with my mind. I turned my head that she wouldn’t see my teary eyes. I still don’t know what hit me, is it all the moving? Changing locations? Living so fare away from my family and friends? Or starting from scratch – again? I suddenly felt small and all alone. And I don’t know even why, I love it here, Atlanta had been very good to me so far. First I find myself silly and overreacting. But I realized you can’t move home like a box, it is not by default the place where you put your sox in a drawer. Home might be there your heart is but it is a feeling that has to develop. For now my home is as always at my parent’s house in Germany and here and now is the home to be – in process.

7 min cookies-1735

Baking is my cure for many things, it relieves stress and grey clouds. I started baking as soon as I was able to use the kitchen. I wrote down this recipe during our family vacation in Florida last year, our rental house had a small but well picked selection of cookbooks and I scribbled this recipe on a small piece of paper. I forgot to note the source, sorry for that, but you can find the recipe all over the internet, I guess it’s not a secret recipe, more a common one. I used milk chocolate my sister brought me from Switzerland and the rest was also good quality organic chocolate. I believe it’s important to use the good stuff if you use so much of it. The smell and look of the melted mess is insane, like shiny dark brown lava. I wish I could tell you how many cookies you will get, but they went so fast. I wrapped some and gave it to the handymen, it was one of these days they continually came in one after another and leering at my cooling rack. I had no choice than sharing. But I have to admit I ate more cookie dough than good for me and couldn’t stop.

7 min cookies Collage

7 minute chocolate cookies

ingredients

  • 400 g / 14 oz./ 1 can sweetened condensed milk
  • 55 g / ¼ cup unsalted butter
  • 340 g / 12 oz. chocolate (2/3 semisweet, 1/3 milk chocolate)
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 125 g / 1 cup all purpose flour
  • ½ tsp. fine sea salt
  • 130 g / 4.6 oz. chopped walnuts
  • 2.5 Tbsp. instant espresso powder or 5 Tbsp. bourbon

instructions

  1. Preheat your oven to 175 C / 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium saucepan (choose one that is big enough for vigorous stirring) over low heat, mix and melt sweetened condensed milk, butter, chocolate, vanilla extract. Stir well to prevent the chocolate from sticking to the bottom and burning and reduce heat if necessary. Remove saucepan from heat and add flour, salt, nuts and espresso powder or bourbon. Stir well.
  3. Drop with teaspoon or small ice scoop on lined baking sheets, leave space in between they spread out big times and bake for seven minutes.
  4. Still hot the cookies will be fragile and look undercooked, slide parchment paper with the cookies of the baking sheet and let cool before transferring to your mouth or cookie jar.
  5. They taste best the day made but still fudgy and yummy for at least three more days.

some notes

Good quality chocolate is the key. If you prefer a sweeter cookie or you bake for kids, you might want to use more milk chocolate and skip espresso and bourbon (you might know that).

You can also use just semisweet chocolate, I love for a mix of 45%, 60% and 85% (cocoa solids).

variations

Dived dough in half and flavor one half with espresso (for breakfast) and the other half with bourbon (for happy hour). :)

You can use any nuts you like, toasted hazelnuts are great and the cookies turn out more chewy. Almonds are mmmmh. Pecans and bourbon are a dream team.

Cooking time: 7 minutes (hence the name)

7 min cookie-140

{ 7 comments }

heidesand – German icebox cookies

by on December 11, 2012

I am reporting live from my old room, in my parent’s house, in my hometown, where I spend most of the time of my youth. Yes I am in Germany and visiting my family. And right now it’s in the middle of the night, way past midnight and I am wide awake, like I never had been all day.  Welcome back jet lag, I didn’t miss you.

Just shortly before I arrived a great deal of snow fell and covered wide parts of Germany under a white blanket. As you might know I am living in the South and snow is a rare thing for me to see and I wasn’t aware how much I missed it. And it’s Christmas time, cookies, mulled wine and I am home, this can’t get much better (beside some sleep would be nice).

One nice part about Christmas is traditions, keeping old and making new ones. Traditions are more than a reliable or foul proof ritual, it is comforting and stress relieving. Things done a hundred times shouldn’t go wrong.

Although Heidesand is an old fashioned speak traditional recipe, it is a rediscovery for me. I lost track of this buttery cookies until recently. They caught my eyes while I had been skimming my recipe stack for Christmas deliciousness. I tend to overlook them, I have to admit, it’s not exactly what I would call an eye-catcher.  I started with one test batch, just a small amount and the cookies went faster than I could pull my camera. I baked several batches since: some thank you cookies for a great person, some to nibble on, some as a sweet gift for a dinner host and some as a Sunday afternoon snack for my parents.

No doubt this cookie recipe is a great tradition and a keeper, slice-and-bake cookies are as easy as it can get. They are quickly put together that means less time in the kitchen, more time for all the fun Christmas stuff. And who can resist browned butter?

heidesand – German icebox cookies

ingredients

  • 250 g / 1 cup + 1 ½ Tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 345 g / 2 ¾ cups all purpose flour
  • 30 g / ¼ cups corn starch or potato starch
  • ½ tsp. fine sea salt
  • 2-3 Tbsp. milk
  • ¼ tsp. almond extract
  • 200 g / 1 cup packed brown sugar or granulated sugar
  • 3 Tbsp. granulated sugar for rolling

instructions

  1. In a saucepan over medium high heat, add butter and cook, stirring frequently (it may foam) until you see small brown specks at the bottom of the pan. If it smells tasty and nutty, remove from heat. Strain and let cool until solid but not firm.
  2. In a mixing bowl with electric mixer, beat the browned butter and sugars until fluffy. Add milk and almond extract and mix. Add flour, starch and salt and mix slowly until just combined using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment or knead with your hands. The dough could be a little crumbly but hold together when pressed. Add more milk if it’s too crumbly, one tablespoon at a time. Use your hands to knead the dough, than divide dough into four parts. Roll each into logs about 3,5 cm / 1.5 inch thick. Wrap each log with foil and refrigerate for at least one hour or other night.
  3. Preheat your oven to 200 C / 400 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  4. Slightly moisten each logs with water and roll in granulated sugar, cut in ½ cm / 1/5 inch slices, place on baking sheets and bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden brown.
  5. Cookies are soft at first but get firmer while cooling. Place on a cookie rack and let cool completely before storing in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

some notes

European-style butter content more fat, which really makes a difference in this recipe. If you use sweet cream butter, add more milk while kneading to receive a smoother dough.

I tried corn starch and potato starch and both worked great. If you don’t have neither, use the same amount all-purpose flour.

{ 6 comments }

gingered coconut oatmeal cookies

by on October 5, 2012

Sometimes people surprise me. Yes I know: don’t judge a book by it’s cover. But we all do that, don’t we? Just yesterday I chatted with a young guy about politics and he impressed me with his knowledge about laws, statistics and history, he knew more about this than I ever will in my whole life. But at first I looked at him and thought all he might think about is NFL and I twisted my mind searching for anything I would knew about football, that wasn’t much either…

Lately another person in my life impressed me – my mum. I am in a long-distance relationship with my family and it sucks but video calling on skype is a great help. We are spending many hours talking and drinking tea or wine together. For a long time every call started with “I can’t hear you Mama” while she had been searching for how to turn on her microphone. Needless to say she had some difficulties and I had to be very patient. Finally her crappy notebook is dying and we talked her into getting an ipad. Phew! What a relief on both counts. Surprisingly this little tablet tent to stick to her hand like a sixth finger. My mum never was one of those geeks (we have that in common) on fact most of the time she had no clue how to handle her notebook. But suddenly she has her own email address, buys books online, added me as a friend on facebook and even calls me with facetime. She learns fast and it is only a matter of time before she will find out how google translator works and she will read my little food blog. It is high time to post one of her recipes before I get caught by her. I “borrowed” this one on my last visit. I use to have a batch of cookies around in case of… well I need one and beside cantuccini this is one of my favorite.

Gingered coconut oatmeal cookies might never win a beauty contest but you know: true beauty comes from within. Packed with fiber from whole wheat flour and oatmeal they are not the worst choice for a treat. Crystallized ginger pieces provide a little zing and it seams unpredictable how spicy the next bite will be or not at all. After all the dough is whipped up on a whim and never let me down.

gingered coconut oatmeal cookies

makes about 40 cookies

ingredients:

150 g /  10 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened

175 g / 3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

 

180 g / 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

100g / 1 cup old fashioned oatmeal

100 g / 3.5 oz. crystallized ginger, cut into small pieces

80 g / 3/4 cup shredded coconut

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp salt

instructions:

Preheat your oven to 175 C / 350 F and grease or line your baking sheet.

In a large bowl mix butter, sugar, egg and vanilla extract until creamy.

In a medium bowl add flour, oats, ginger, coconut, ground ginger and salt. Stir well.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Using a cookie scoop (1 Tbsp) or a tablespoon, scoop little balls on your baking sheet. Flatten those balls with a fork or the bottom of a glass and bake 12 to 15 minutes.

Let cool completely before storing.

{ 3 comments }

coconut biscotti

by on June 7, 2012

Every once in a while  it has to be bacon and eggs and the whole works for breakfast, I am talking about the full treatment. I am also able and love to start the day with yesterday’s cold pizza, some of you think it’s gross (but I know some will nod and agree, come on). I might have an extra (large) durable stomach and like to take full advantage of it. Not often but every other day especially when I have a sweet tooth, I can take my breakfast the Italian way: espresso and biscotti.

The good thing about this crunchy cookies? They stay delizioso for weeks compared to standard cookies which has to be eaten within a few days.  At least once a month I like to fill up my cookie jar with biscotti and place them right beside the coffee machine. At the end isn’t it sad to look at an empty cookie jar? And cookies should be available all day long every day.

I really love dipping biscotti into my coffee but I have an aversion for the muddy crumbs at the bottom of my cup. The solution to avoid that is simple: just don’t put cookies in your cup. A deluxe alternative is spooning some nutella or melt chocolate in a small bowl and mix it with some cream for a more liquid sauce. So I can sip my coffee in peace and indulge biscotti goodness with dipping sauce and make a mess on my shirt, but that’s a different story…

coconut biscotti

I don’t really care for the large coconut flakes, they are too big and I just don’t like to chew on them, so smaller flakes are the key. If you can’t find them: give the large flakes some rounds in the food processor or use the spice grinder (coffee grinder) for smaller batches. Some of you might prefer to toast the coconut flakes in the microwave, do so if you like.

ingredients:

150 g / 5.3 oz unsweetened coconut flakes

250 g / 8.8 oz all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

200 g / 7.05 oz. / 1 cup sugar

25 g/ 0.88 oz coconut oil

1 Tbsp coconut rum (optional)

instructions:

Preheat your oven to 120 C / 250 F. Spread coconut flakes evenly on a parchment paper layered baking sheet and roast/toast for about 5 minutes. You should keep an eye on them, they go from golden brown to black in a minute. Remove from oven and let cool.

Increase the oven temperature to 175 C / 350 F.

In a small bowl measure flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a mixing bowl add eggs and sugar and mix until creamy for about 1 minutes. Add coconut oil and mix just until combined.

Add the flour mix all at once and mix until everything is well combined but don’t over mix. Then add the coconut flakes and coconut rum (if using) and mix shortly. Drop everything on the baking sheet and form a log: use the parchment paper to keep your hands clean, lift one side, fold over and press the dough into log shape, roll and form until you got a approx. 8-9 cm x 28 cm / 3 x 11 inch size. It’s  like forming compound butter.

Bake for 30 minutes, remove from oven and let cool at least 20 minutes. Cooling is important to avoid crumbly slicing or breaking.

Reduce oven to 160 C / 325 F.

Cut log into approx.  1 cm / 0.5 inch slices, place biscotti upright on baking sheet and bake for another 20 minutes.

Let cool and store in an airtight container at room temperature.

{ 0 comments }

almond thumbprint cookies

by on March 9, 2011

Be aware what is coming up is a sad story… An hour ago I had a dentist appointment, actually I am spending a lot of time (and money) there. It is my fault (totally), I am brushing my tooth that is not the point, it is more all the sweet things I let them chew permanently. My dentist’s office is very nice, he had to renovate all of his treatment rooms because about a year ago someone broke in and tried to burn himself. He didn’t succeed but he burned down the offices and that is why everything is brand new, shiny and stylish. Nope I never asked why this guy tried to commit suicide at my dentist’s office. Sometimes it’s better not to know…
But that is not the sad thing I have to tell you. Here it comes: I am sitting here starring at my almond thumbprint cookies (yes it is the plate on the picture) and half of my face is numb because of the anesthesia. You know I am not allowed to eat for the next couple of hours! I know exactly how great the cookies taste, I made them yesterday and got some just as they cooled down. Now I would like to have a hugh cup of coffee with them! Please let this torture end.

This is one of my favorite christmas recipes, I tweaked a little and changed the flavor. You won’t really taste the amaretto liquor or coffee it is more an improvement of the almond taste.
Thumbprint cookies got their name because the hole in the middle is made by pressing a thumb in the center of each cookie. That doesn’t work for me, I always end up thumb sucking and eat more dough than I should. So I use the end of a wooden spoon and still call them thumbprint cookies.

almond thumbprint cookies

makes 35 to 40 depending on the size and how many cookie dough you are eating

200 g / 1 1/3 cups almonds
100 g / 1/2 cup light brown sugar (or sugar)
100 g bittersweet chocolate
1 egg
1 tablespoon amaretto liquor
1 1/2 teaspoon instant coffee

for filling: marmalade or nuts

Preheat your oven to 160 C / 320 F and line two baking sheet with baking paper. Put the almonds on one of them and roast them in your oven for about 10 minutes.

Let the almonds cool down and ground them in a food processor, be careful not to over proceed them.
Put the chocolate in a small bowl and melt in the microwave oven for a few seconds. Chocolate burns very fast, so stir and check. Let cool.

In a small cup put  in the instant coffee and the amaretto and stir until dissolved.

Bring everything together and mix until just combined. With slightly wet palms form little balls and place them on the baking sheet. If your fingers are too wet, the cookies will run and spread a little. Using the back of a teaspoon or your thumb, make a rounded indentation in the top of each cookie. Put some marmalade or an almond into the intention and bake 15 minutes.

{ 0 comments }

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