Double Chocolate-Mint Cookies with Chocolate Frosting

If someone told me to name my favorite ice cream flavor, I'd probably say mint chocolate chip. This wouldn't be the true answer—coconut, I believe, leapt to the front of the pack a few years ago. But mint chocolate held the highest status as a child, and this kid attachment to one flavor isn't easily shaken off. Locating the chip-dappled bucket was the first order of business when we arrived at our oft-visited ice cream parlour, where opening the door triggered a bell to announce the arrival of our little feet (and, later, their departure, now patterned by drops of intense green dairy project). I also recall conversations about the absence of green in the Breyer's mint chip we got from the store, as it achieved a convincing peppermint taste despite its lack of food coloring. So here's a cookie for that kid, and for anyone who just enjoys a good treat. A beautifully minty, more-than-enough chocolate, chocolate cookie.

I had to choose a chocolate cookie for the second pick in my cookie bonanza. Generally, the absence of chocolate doesn't put me in a dither. But the flavor is so beloved, I reckoned I ought to toss in a dozen or so. The ratio of chocolate to cookie here is unequivocally weighted toward the former.  The dough is a cocoa powder base, stuffed with chocolate chips and haloed with frosting, itself rich with cocoa.  The mint adds that fresh bite without diluting the pure chocolate experience.

Adapted from the Minimalist Baker's Chewy Double Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Double Chocolate-Mint Cookies with Chocolate Frosting
Cookie Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract
2 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup chocolate chips

Frosting Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

Directions:
--Cream together butter and sugar. Add eggs and peppermint extract and stir to combine. In another bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Use a spoon to incorporate dry ingredients into wet. Stir in chocolate chips.
--Put dough into the fridge while you preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
--Scoop dough in 1 TBSP portions onto two cookie sheets, flattening slightly with the palm of your hand. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cookies have firmed up, but still have some give on the top. Let cool completely before topping with frosting, otherwise it will melt off.
--Make frosting. Melt butter and stir in cocoa, mixing until no granules of the powder remain. Add sugar, milk, and vanilla, stirring to form a thick consistency. Add more sugar if the frosting is too runny. Once cookies have cooled, top each one with a spoonful of frosting.

Pecan Macaroons

Not too long ago, I received the challenge to create a cookie sampler for an end-of-semester celebration, so this is the first in a two-part series covering the chosen types. I wanted some variety, so I did a frosted chocolate cookie and these macaroons. This cookie, the pecan macaroon, is reminiscent of German Chocolate Cake filling. The pecans and coconut are bound together by a gooey honey and vanilla mixture—a little time in the fridge condenses them into sturdy little confections. Pass them around and watch them disappear.

This recipe, I was pleased to discover half way though the cooking process, meets the requirements for gluten-free and vegan baking (and, well, no-bake baking, actually). I've dabbled in vegan baking before, with mixed results, but I'm not one to seek out recipes specifically for their gluten-free properties. So it's a delight to have one on hand. The macaroons are even Passover-friendly. All of which is to say, make them for any occasion you like.

Pecan Macaroons

Ingredients:

2 cups shredded, sweetened coconut
1 cup pecan meal
2/3 cup honey (or agave or maple syrup)
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 TBSP vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
extra 1/3 cup shredded coconut for coating

Directions
--Mix together all ingredients. Set out a cookie sheet and clear space for it in the fridge. Use hands to form the dough into balls, using about 2 TBSP dough per macaroon. Roll in extra coconut and place on the cookie sheet. Dough will be very sticky.
--Refrigerate at least 2 hours before serving. Makes 24 medium-sized macaroons.

Rhubarb Gingersnap Bars

My recent drink order of a rhubarb gin and tonic is, I think, a concrete sign that I've turned into an official rhubarb fan. After a summer of fresh rhubarb tossed into quick breads, pop tarts, crumbles and more, I have a firmly entrenched fondness for it. It makes me quite pleased to know I can cross the strange, stringy vegetable off the list of foods I don't like. As for celery and raw onions, I believe they've been tattooed onto the list. (The drink itself was terrible, though not enough to turn me off rhubarb or gin.)

Rhubarb is, of course, a summer foodstuff, and this post comes just a bit late to land in the 'summer's last gasp' category. Perhaps you, like me, still have some rhubarb stuffed into the freezer. But for those of you who don't, I encourage you to experiment with apples, cranberries or another fruit. Or embrace the season (as upcoming blog posts indicate I have) with squash, using the recipe that inspired these bars: Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Bars.

Strawberry Lemon Squares

I've had my eye on this recipe for too long. About a year ago, I received the link to Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Pink Lemonade Bars from a friend who has the envious knack of finding, from the unimaginable number of published food blogs, precisely the sort of recipe that strikes a chord in one's epicurean soul. I could live off the recipes she sends—from beet ravioli to pumpkin cinnamon rolls. But as happens too often, when one maintains a list of must-make-recipes, I tagged this recipe and put it aside. So it is with a great sense of completion that, ten months later, I set aside a now-creased copy of the recipe and pulled the bars from the oven.

With a couple tweaks and substitutions, this recipe delivered. The crust is a simple dough—so simple that I mixed it up right in the pan. I fulfilled the pink lemonade theme, but used strawberries in place of raspberries. The strawberry puree cuts the tart citrus and adds a blushing pink color that is bespeckled with flecks of the lemon mixture. With lemon zest in the crust and lemon juice in the top layer, the pleasant zing runs through the entire bar. The bars slice up easily and welcomed the sprinkling of confectioner's sugar, an added color and dimension of sweetness. Hopefully you won't wait as long as I did to give them a go.

   

Lemon Poppy Seed Macaroons

      It turns out that there are two types of macaroons that are Passover-friendly. We have the generous-sized, coconut spheres, of course—like snowballs that have been squashed and toasted on one end (see above). But also the carefully crafted, cloudlike French macaroon. I have not yet made the latter, but they joined our Passover Seder this year courtesy of my cousin Angela (who has just started her own dessert company, Cherry on Top Confections). And as an extended aside, let me tell you about these French macaroons.

Angela's French Macaroons

Angela whipped up two types of French macaroons; a soft, sun-colored coconut-pineapple and an easter-green pistachio. The crisp cookies sandwiched a luscious, dairy-free cream reminiscent of gelato. The recipe is a trade secret; whatever it is, it kept us coming back for more. I provided the ubiquitous coconut macaroon, a duty I've held for the past couple years. And even with stomachs filled with tsimmis and matzo-ball soup, the table found room to squeeze in a helping or two of both kinds. 

Last year's coconut macaroons were brightened up with smashed raspberries, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen. This year I thought I'd switch up the traditional macaroon by pairing it with another classic flavour: the combo of lemon and poppy seed. And it worked well, both in terms of taste and appearance. Flecks of lemon zest and poppy granules brightened up the white shards of coconut while adding a zesty bite. Now, I have made the almond extract optional in the recipe below. I added it, and while I thought the macaroons had a deep, sweet flavour, the almond was too assertive for my taste, somewhat blunting the lemon. Next time I'll leave it out or add lemon extract.

One hang-up I should mention: these are only Passover-worthy if you permit kitniyot foods at the Seder. Poppy seeds fall into this interim 'legume' category, along with other foodstuffs such as lentils, peas, corn, and rice. The legend, as I understand, is that these foods were originally banned because it was difficult to distinguish between them and the chametz grains that are always prohibited. So while poppy seeds are not expressly forbidden, some Jews abstain from eating them during Passover. But wherever you fall, the macaroons are certainly good enough to make any time of year.

Inspired by Diana's Desserts' Almond Lemon Macaroons

Lemon Poppy Seed Macaroons
Ingredients:
14-oz package of shredded, sweetened coconut
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
zest of 1 lemon
3 TBSP poppy seeds
3 egg whites
optional: 1/2 tsp. almond extract (lemon extract could be a good substitute)

Directions:
--Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
--In a large bowl, combine coconut, granulated sugar, salt, lemon zest, and poppy seeds. Add egg whites and mix with a wooden spoon. If desired, add extract.
--Scoop spoonfuls, about 2 TBSP worth of batter per cookie, onto prepared sheets. Bake 20-25 minutes, or until tops of cookies are lightly browned and starting to crisp. Remove from oven and let cool on sheets, at least 15 minutes. When cooled, carefully peel off of parchment.

Chocolate Rugelach

A trip to my grandmother’s kitchen reveals a few familiar sights. A cardboard carton of ginger ales beneath the kitchen table. A mysterious pot on the stove. And, more often than not, a small box from Cecil’s Delicatessen, containing several plump rugelach. I don’t recall that I’ve tasted one of these cookies—although it is likely I have.  But the legend of Cecil's rugelach overshadows its taste, often showing up on my grandfather's lunch tray or popping into the conversation as I help my grandmother in with the groceries. So it was not without trepidation that I baked and brought a batch of rugelach to a dinner celebrating the final night of Hanukkah, a dinner that brought to the table four generations, three menorahs, and the good silver.

The cookies received a good report—accompanied, for dessert, by some lovely ginger cookies and several good lumps of store-bought ice cream. I can’t say how the rugelach stand up to Cecil’s, but they’re a fine cookie in their own right. The whorls alternate between flaky cream cheese pastry and hearty melted chocolate. You can bite down through the layers or slowly uncurl the pinwheel and eat it curve by curve.

These cookies require a couple steps, but they can very easily be broken up over a couple of days, allowing you to suspend the process at a number of stages. For example, I chilled the dough overnight—and, later, the rolled logs of rugelach. So while they do demand your time, they’ll accommodate your schedule, as long as you plan ahead a bit.

Rugelach can be filled with a variety of sweet spreads and flavours—apricot jam is a classic, or other fruit spreads, along with nuts and chocolate (I have a hunch that Nutella would be excellent). Here I’ve rolled up the rich, pliable dough with shards of semisweet chocolate. I used basic baking chocolate, chopped into rough pieces and sprinkled right onto the rolled dough. If you’ve got more time, you could roll the dough into two spheres and cut the cookies into triangles, making crescent rugelah. I went for a rectangular shape, since I wanted to refrigerate the uncut dough. 

Adapted from Serious Eats' Easy Chocolate Rugelach

Chocolate Rugelach

Ingredients: 

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

3 TBSP granulated sugar

1 TBSP brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

8 oz. semisweet chocolate

Directions:

--In a medium bowl, cream together butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla, and mix until combined. Stir in flour until a crumbly dough forms. Use hands to form the dough into a ball.

--Place dough in plastic wrap. Wrap and chill in refrigerator, at least one hour but up to 24 hours.

--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two sheets with parchment. Remove dough from fridge and turn out onto a floured surface. Divide dough in half.

--Coarsely chop chocolate into large shards. Roll one half of dough into a square, approximately 12 x 4 inches. Sprinkle half of chopped chocolate over square of dough. Starting with a long side, roll dough up into a log.* Using a sharp knife, cut log into 1/2 inch slices. Repeat with other half of dough and the rest of the chocolate.

--Place cookies on sheet, leaving a little room between each cookie (they won't spread much). Bake until golden brown on top, approximately 18-22 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on pan before arranging on a platter or putting away in a cookie jar.

*You can refrigerate the logs as well, if it suits your timetable. I chilled mine for about sixteen hours.

Peppermint Sugar Cookies

Over the years, we've scaled back somewhat on our Christmas cookie-baking repertoire. I'm not sure if this is due to the dwindling crowd that celebrates Christmas at our house, or because we gradually came to realize that some cookies were being made on autopilot, out of sheer tradition and not because anyone was particularly fond of the cookie itself. I remember countertops covered with plates of cookies- some speckled with M&Ms, another batch covered in a cloud of powdered sugar (along with most of the kitchen). Sometimes we threw in a batch of double chocolate mint chip, for good measure.

   But for the past few Christmases, we've nixed the almond crescents and eliminated the M&M (this type of cookie we can make any old day), and highlighted the cookies we like most. Pecan Puffs (these are so good, I can't bear to divulge the recipe. Except that anyone who owns The Joy of Cooking holds the secret. Make a double batch.)  Cookies shaped and colored like candy canes. And, usually, the Mint Crinkle; a plump butter cookie tinged with mint and cheerfully artificial, Christmas-coloured sprinkles. This year, however, this last cookie has been exchanged for another form of mint-and-sprinkle cookie: glazed peppermint cutout sugar cookies.

Per usual, one of my cooking magazines presented this recipe with such beauty, I was too tempted to ignore it. Their recipe is for drop cookie—and if you're pressed for time, I'll certainly advocate this form. But the cutouts are festive. Even if my bells fattened up into somewhat hapless blobs. In retrospect, my suggestion is this; roll the dough out thinly (quarter of an inch thickness, I'd say) and don't place the cookies too close together on the sheet. But regardless of the shape, the result will still be a success; a crisp sugar cookie, steeped in peppermint and covered in a snowy glaze. The sprinkle garnish could be exchanged for crushed candy canes, but I like the modest crunch of these granules.

Adapted from Everyday Food Mag's Peppermint-Chocolate Sugar Cookies
Peppermint Sugar Cookies
Ingredients:
 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. pure peppermint extract
1 egg
1 cup confectioner's sugar
4-5 TBSP half-and-half or milk
1/4 cup red and green sprinkles

Directions
--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
--In a medium bowl, mix together flour, baking powder and salt. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together until combined. Add extract and egg and stir. Add flour and stir with a wooden spoon until mixture is well combined; it may remain a bit crumbly.
--Spread a sheet of parchment on a flat surface, and tear off another piece of parchment the same size. Scoop half of the dough out onto the parchment and cover with other piece. Roll dough out to 1/4th inch thick. Using cookie cutters of your choice, cut cookies into shapes and place on prepared cookie sheets with a spatula, leaving room between the cookies. Repeat with dough scraps, adding more dough as necessary until it is used up.*
--Bake 13 minutes, or until edges are light brown. Transfer to a rack and cool while you make the glaze.
--For glaze: sift powdered sugar into a small bowl. Add as much liquid as necessary to make a spreadable glaze. Spoon onto cookies and spread to edges. Dust cookies with colored sprinkles. Let dry completely before stacking in a jar or on a plate.

*Alternately, scoop dough straight from the bowl with a tablespoon and place right onto cookie sheets, to make drop cookies. Flatten slightly with the palm of your hand before baking.

Dark Chocolate-Maple-Oatmeal Cookies

I think cookies make good car food. You can hold them with one hand. They aren't too terribly crumbly. They're tasty. And they're easy to make when you decide the evening before the car trip that you're going to take a trip and don't want to get hungry on the road. I'm always eager to experience the food that the road offers up. But it's nice, too, to bring along something from home, and of home.



Just butter and sugar so far, folks!

That was the impetus for these cookies. And their substance—a mixture of the season (gooey maple, warm cinnamon) and the stock of the pantry (tiny dark chocolate chips, a seemingly bottomless tin of floury oats). They came together quick--if a bit bigger than I'd intended. My measurements made twenty-four generously sized cookies, each oozing with chocolate and oats. And there's a cozy bite of cinnamon to them that lingers beyond the final crumb.

Dark Chocolate-Maple-Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 eggs

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup regular oats

1 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions:

--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.

--In a medium bowl, cream together butter and two sugars. Add maple syrup and eggs and mix until incorporated. Add baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

--Stir flour into sugar mixture. Add oats and chocolate chips and stir until well incorporated.

--Roll dough into 1-inch rounds and place on prepared sheet. Bake 10 minutes, or until edges are lightly crisped.

Chewy Granola Bars

I'm so happy to have discovered this recipe. A local restaurant called Toast (okay, it used to be local until I left Kentucky) makes a granola that's simply to die for. Chock-full of coconut, plump raisins and buttery-tasting oats. Then they sprinkle it with bananas, blueberries and milk. I love the stuff. It's so good, I'm willing to pass up the bread pudding pancakes for it. Okay, sometimes I get both. But I always get the granola.

But these granola bars are the answer for my time away from Kentucky. They capture the crisp-crunchy gumption of the granola I so sweetly love. And they are terribly easy to make. Once you've melted the butter, it's a one-bowl operation (use a big bowl). The only can't-cut-corner is lining the pan with parchment paper. These bars are very sticky when warm; the paper was instrumental in getting them from the pan and onto a cooling rack. And it's helpful for catching any crumbs that're dislodged in the cutting process. These crumbs provide instant granola, of course, but also could be ice cream or fruit crisp topping.

I cut the bars after about 15 minutes of cooling time. A little longer wouldn't hurt either. They're very pliable—and will remain so for over a week when left in an airtight container. I've found them an excellent mid-morning snack.

Chewy Granola Bars
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Thick, chewy granola bars
Ingredients:
4 tablespoons melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons agave nectar (can substitute more syrup or corn syrup)
1 tablespoon water
1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup oats, ground in a blender or food processor
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup flaked, sweetened coconut
1/3 cup peanut butter

Directions:
--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line one 8x8 pan or two loaf pans with parchment.
--Melt butter in a small saucepan. Mix with vanilla, syrup, agave and water in the saucepan.
--Mix together oats, sugar, ground oats, salt and cinnamon until combined. Add raisins and coconut and stir.
--Add wet ingredients to dry and mix. Add peanut butter.
--Scoop mixture into pan (or divide evenly between two pans). Press with fingers or the back of a wooden spoon, making sure mixture is tightly squished together in the pan.
--Bake for 30-40 minutes if using 8x8 pan, 20-30 minutes for loaf pans, until top is brown. Don't worry if it looks very brown; the mixture will still be quite chewy and soft.
--Using parchment as handles, remove bars from pan and let cool, 20 minutes. Using a serrated knife, cut into bars (I got 9 rectangles from each loaf pan).

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies arose from a lone banana that survived the thirteen hour trip from Minnesota to Kentucky, traveling home from my now alma mater St. Olaf College. This banana, combined with a longing for St. Olaf's vegan banana chocolate chip cookies, and the empty innards of a cookie jar, prompted the decision to bake. With the canvas of a classic chocolate chip recipe, I formed a cookie that is a far cry from those I had at school, but nonetheless quite tasty.

 

These cookies could theoretically be vegan, for the banana replaces the egg. However, I used butter, as opposed to vegetable shortening, so these particular cookies were not. They came out very soft, with a near quickbread-like texture. I might cook them for longer next time; in the cookie jar they clung together a bit too much, making it difficult to reach in and grab just one (although this makes a great excuse to go ahead and eat two). I added both dark and white chocolate chips to the batter, but they would probably be excellent with toasted walnuts or pecans, or even dried cranberries.



Adapted from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion's Essential Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
2 TBSP corn syrup
1 TBSP cider or white vinegar
2 bananas, mashed
1 TBSP pure vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips (any assortment of white, milk and dark)

Directions:
---Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly grease or line with parchment paper two cookie sheets.
---In a small bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. In a medium bowl, cream together butter and two sugars until combined. Add corn syrup, vinegar, banana and vanilla and mix until everything is incorporated. Add dry ingredients to wet and stir with a spoon. Stir in chocolate chips.
---Drop in tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10 minutes or until set. Transfer to rack to cool.