Sand Dollars

Something terrible happened today.

I had a baking accident.

I had just finished prepping my second pan of cookies, and had just placed it aside to move on to the next, when the karmic spirit of unfulfilled bakelogging promises swept down upon me and hurled my beautifully assembled pan of cookies onto my woefully unmopped kitchen floor.  Not a single cookie survived the mystical onslaught from above.

The scene of the crime.

Thankfully, I was able to pick the cookie carnage (and myself) up off the floor and carry on with my baking.

These cookies look like my favorite sea shell, the sand dollar. I used to spend hours combing the beach for those beautiful, if difficult to find shells with my family. These cookies are much easier to procure (and tastier) than an actual sand dollar.

Sand Dollars

Yield: 48 cookies, less if you drop a dozen unbaked cookies on the floor

• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup lightly packed brown sugar
• ¾ cup confectioner’s sugar
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup finely crushed almonds

• 1 large egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 cup sliced almonds

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line several baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. Stir flour, cornmeal, and salt together in a small bowl.  Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars, and vanilla extract together on medium speed for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula 2 or 3 times during mixing.  
4. Adjust the mixer to low; pour in the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated, about 30 seconds.  Fold in the crushed almonds.  Divide the dough in half.  Wrap one half in plastic wrap, set aside.
5. Roll out the other half of the dough in between two sheets of plastic wrap to a 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut out cookies with 2 inch round cutter.  Place dough rounds onto prepared baking sheets about an inch apart.  Reroll scraps, cut out more cookies.  Repeat with remaining dough round.
6. Whisk egg and water together in a small bowl. Lightly brush egg wash on to tops of cookies with a pastry brush.  Arrange five almond slices in a flower patter in the center of each cookie.  Brush cookies again with the egg wash.
7. Bake cookies until they are golden brown, about 15 minutes.  Cool completely on baking sheets on wire racks.  Store cookies in an airtight container for 3-4 days.

Coconut Melt-Aways

These delicate coconut crisps melt in your mouth, hence the not so original name.

Coconut Melt-Aways

Yield: 25-30 cookies

• 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon cake flour
• 2 tablespoons plus 1½ teaspoons granulated sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon pure almond extract
• 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
• 1 cup powdered sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. Place the flour, sugar and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade.  Pulse 5-6 times to blend.
3. Scatter the butter pieces over the top, and drizzle the extracts over the top of that. Process for 30 to 35 seconds, or until dough comes together.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Add in the coconut and pulse 7-8 times to blend.
4. Scoop up dough by rounded teaspoons and roll into 2 inch long worms.  Place dough worms onto prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart.  Flatten into ovals with the palm of your hand.
5. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until cookies are light golden and firm.  Cool completely on baking sheets on wire racks.
6. Place powdered sugar in a bowl or plastic bag. Toss cookies one at a time in powdered sugar to coat thoroughly.  Store cookies in layers separated by parchment paper in an airtight container for up to a week.

Bird’s Nest Cookies

Happy Easter!!!

Bird’s Nest Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies

Bird's Nest Cookie

• 1¼ cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• about 60 mini robins eggs (the speckled malted delicious ones you can only find at Easter)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Spread the coconut in an even layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes or so, until golden brown (watch this carefully!! Once coconut takes a turn towards the dark side, it’s ruined forevermore).  Let cool on baking sheet (or if you’re like me and only have the two good baking sheets, transfer the coconut to a pie plate or cake pan).  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets.
2. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt together onto a sheet of parchment (y0u can reuse the same sheet almost indefinetely if it’s just for the sifting).  Set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium high speed for 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy.  Add in the egg and vanilla extract; beat well.  Adjust the mixer to low; slowly pour in the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
4. Roll the dough into 1¼ inch balls.  Roll each ball in the toasted coconut (be sure to coat thoroughly).  Place the coconut coated dough balls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart, twelve balls per sheet.  Press your finger straight down into the middle of the balls for tall high nests, or wiggle it around a little for wide flat nests.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden.  Let cool completely on baking sheets.
6. To serve, place 3 candy eggs in the center of the cookie. I like to match the colors (the blue is the most natural looking), but they look just as cute with a mishmash of colored eggs.

Apricot-Sage Cookies

I’m not sure what’s wrong with me.  My nose is stuffy, my throat is sore, my head hurts, and I’m tired, achy, and altogether miserable.  I’m taking Aleve cold and sinus, and it doesn’t seem to be helping much. I didn’t even have any warning that I was about to die. This came on all of a sudden!  I was perfectly fine until about 4 o’clock yesterday afternoon.  And then bam! I’m knocked on my backside by the mystery cold of death.

If anyone knows how to cure mystery death colds, I would be really grateful. I have to work a double tomorrow, and nobody likes a waitress who can’t stop sneezing long enough to take your order.

Apricot-Sage Cookies

Apricot-Sage Cookies

Yield:  18 sandwich cookies

• 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ¼ cup yellow cornmeal
• ½ cup butter, softened
• 2 tablespoons snipped fresh sage
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 egg
• Apricot preserves

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir flour, sugar, and yellow cornmeal together.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two forks until mixture resembles fine crumbs.  I know that this takes forever.  Just be patient and your butter will eventually work its way into the flour (These are the times that I wish I had a food processor–10 seconds and it would be done!).  Stir in the fresh sage.  Add in the milk and the egg; stir until combined.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Knead dough until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky, working in a bit more flour as needed.  This will take about 3 minutes of moderately vigorous kneading.  Divide dough in half.
4. Working with one half of the dough at a time, roll out dough to a scant ¼ thickness.  Cut out cookies with a 2 inch round cookie cutter.  Place cut-outs onto prepared baking sheets about 1 inch apart.  If desired, dust with sanding sugar.
5. Bake for 10 minutes, or until cookies are just golden.  Let rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
6. When cookies are cool, spread the bottoms of half the cookies with a scant teaspoon of apricot preserves.  Top with remaining cookies, matching up sizes.

Recipe adapted from Better Homes & Gardens

Lemon-Thyme Cookies

I’m really sick, and I think it’s just going to get worse. 

Blarg.

Lemon-Thyme Cookies

Lemon-Thyme Cookies

Yield: 36 cookies

• ½ cup butter, softened
• ¼ cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh thyme
• 2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
• sanding sugar or granulated sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium-high speed for 30 seconds, or until fluffy.  Add in the sugar, and continue to cream until thoroughly combined, about 1 minute.  Add in the fresh thyme, lemon zest, and lemon juice; beat until smooth, about 2 minutes.  Adjust the mixer to low; slowly stir in the flour until just combined.  
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Knead dough until smooth, elastic, and no longer sticky, working in a bit more flour as needed.  This will take about 3 minutes of moderately vigorous kneading.  Divide dough into thirds.
4. Working with one third of the dough at a time, roll out dough into a 6 x 4½ inch rectangle.  Using a fluted pastry wheel, cut out 12 1½ inch squares from the dough rectangle.  Place the squares on prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch of space in between. Lightly dust cookies with sanding sugar (or granulated-whatever you have on hand will work).  
5. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are just golden.  Let cookies rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Better Homes and Gardens

Nancy’s Brown Butter Buttons

I got a new cookbook!!! 

It’s the most beautiful baking book I’ve seen in a very long time.  The pages are thick and glossy, the recipes mouthwatering, and it’s nominated for a James Beard Foundation Award for best cookbook in the baking category!  I have a feeling you’ll be seeing a lot of recipes inspired by/adapted from/straight up ganked from this book.  I hope to learn a lot from Ms. Braker and her fantastic collection of  recipes. 

The first recipe I tried didn’t dissapoint.  These cookies are luxuriously-crumbly-melt-in-your-mouth delicous.  They’re not the prettiest thing to look at, but you won’t care as soon as you take your first bite.

Nancy’s Brown Butter Buttons

Nancy's Brown Butter Buttons

Yield: 3½ dozen cookies

• 1 cup  (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 cup granulated sugar

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
2. Melt the butter in a heavy 1½ quart saucepan over medium-low heat and heat just until it begins to turn a delicate brown, about 8 minutes.  Remove from the heat and pour into a medium bowl.  Set the butter aside to cool slightly, about 15 minutes.  Meanwhile, sift together the flour and baking soda onto a piece of parchment paper; set aside.
3. Add the vanilla to the butter, and then stir in half of the sugar, blending well before adding the remaining sugar.  Add the flour mixture in two additions, blending well after each addition.  Set the mixture aside for 10 minutes to allow the flour to absorb the ingredients.
4. To shape each cookie, measure about 1½ teaspoons of the dough, or scoop up the dough with an ice cream scoop about 1¼ inches in diameter (#70).  Work the crumbly dough between your palms to form cohesive balls, and place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about ½ inch apart.  
5. Bake the cookies until they puff up, crack a bit on top, and are golden on the bottom, 15-18 minutes.  Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack and let the cookies cool on the pan for about 5 minutes.  Using a metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe adapted from Flo Braker’s Baking for All Occasions

Pecan Sandies

Saturdays are hard!! I should consider starting a new rule that Saturday’s cookies shouldn’t take more than an hour to mix, bake, and blog about, or I will epically fail at this project. 

Also, check out this “personalized” add that my g-mail gave me!

Wow.

Pecan Sandies

Pecan Sandies

Yield: 60 Cookies

• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• ½ cup firmly packed light  brown sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1½ cups pecans, finely crushed, plus 60 nice looking halves for garnish

1. Combine flour and salt in a small bowl.  Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together on medium-high speed for 2-3 minutes, or until light and fluffy.  Add in the egg yolk; beat well.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula if needed.  Add in the flour mixture and stir on low speed until just incorporated. Fold in the finely crushed pecans.
3. Divide the dough in half.  Turn one half onto a sheet of parchment paper and shape it, rolling it inside the paper, into a log about 10 inches long by 1 1/2 inches in diameter.  Wrap each log tightly in plastic wrap and slide inside  an empty paper towel tube to maintain the shape.  Refrigerate the dough logs for at least 2 hours and up to one day.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
5. Slice the dough into 1/3 inch thick rounds, rotating the log often so as not to flatten any one side.  Place dough rounds onto prepared baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches in between each.  Place a pecan half in the center of each cookie.  Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until pale golden around the edges.  Let  cookies rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Butterfly Cookies

I do not have the patience for decorating.  I was envisioning wedgewood china, and I ended up with this:

Ugly Butterflies

Maybe one day when I have actual pastry bags instead of modified ziploc baggies, I’ll put forth the effort to make my cookies professional looking.  Until then, they’ll look a little “interesting.”

Butterfly Cookies

Butterfly Cookie

Yield: 30 cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Food Coloring.

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl.  Set aside.
3. Cream butter and sugar together with an electric mixer on medium high speed until light and fluffy.  Add in the egg and vanilla extract; beat until smooth. Add in any desired food coloring (I used 20 drops blue and 10 drops green); beat until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until just incorporated. There is no need to chill dough.  Just plough on through to step 4.
4. Divide dough in half.  Roll each half into a ball.  Working with one ball at a time, roll out to a ¼ inch thickness on a lightly floured work surface.  Cut out butterfly shapes and place on prepared baking sheets.  
5. Bake for 6 minutes. Don’t let the cookies brown at all. Let cookies rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
6. Decorate with Royal Icing if desired.

Royal Icing

• 1 egg white
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Beat egg white on medium speed with an electric mixer until foamy.  
2. Add in the powdered sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form.  Beat in the vanilla extract.  Cover with a dampened paper towel until ready to use.

Mini Irish Soda Breads

It’s actually St. Patrick’s day!!!  After spending all of the 8th dealing with drunk girls in green, I’m a little over it.  There will be no shamrocks in this household today!!! These biscuits are more than Irish enough for me.

Mini Irish Soda Breads

Mini Irish Soda Breads

• 1½ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 egg yolk
• ½ cup buttermilk
• 2 tablespoons honey

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone liner.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl.  Beat in the butter with an electric mixer set on low until the mixture resembles  a coarse meal.
3. Whisk together egg yolk, buttermilk, and honey in a small bowl.  Add the egg mixture all at once to the flour mixture.  Stir just until dough comes together.  DO NOT OVERMIX!!
4. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured work-surface.  Knead once or twice to get dough to come together.  Lightly pass a rolling pin over the dough one or two times until the dough is 1/2 inch thick.  With a floured 1 1/2 inch biscuit cutter, cut out as many dough rounds as you can and place on prepared baking sheet.  Gently pat scraps together, reroll, and cut out more rounds.   
5. Cut a cross into the top of each round.  Bake for 10-13 minutes or until well-risen and golden.  Serve warm.

Dinosaurs!!! (oatmeal cut-outs)

Forgot all the theories you’ve heard about the extinction of the dinosaurs. A giant meteor didn’t crash in present-day Arizona and send a trillion tons of dust into the atmosphere blocking the sun and causing the planet to sink into the Ice-Age. This is what really happened to those poor dinosaurs.

It was a day like any other in prehistory.

The brontosaurus was enjoying his mid-morning snack.

The triceratops was sharpening her horn.

Yet something was not quite right.

An ominous cloud fell over the valley.

DOMO!!!!

With a ferocious roar, Domokun leapt into the valley and started to attack!

That was the beginning of the end for the dinosaurs.

Dinosaurs!!!

Yield: 24-36

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, stir together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add in sugar, egg, vanilla, butter, and milk (I know this seems really crazy and against everything you’ve ever learned about cookies, but just roll with it–the end result is somthing between pie and cookie dough). Beat on low speed until well blended and mixture comes together, about 2 minutes.  Stir in the oats and beat for another minute.  
3. Working with half the dough at a time, turn out dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll to a 1/4 inch thickness.
4. Cut out various dinosaur shaped cookies (the T-Rex is my favorite).  Place cookies on prepared baking sheet, leaving about an inch between each.  Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden around the edges.  Let cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
5. Decorate with your favorite frosting (bailey’s buttercream!!!).