Recipe Index

Hey guys -

I'll be back with a new recipe soon (even though tomorrow is my last first day), but for now, I just wanted to let you know about a little something to make it easier to find all the other recipes up here.
This here is a Recipe Index - a comprehensive list of all the recipes on this site, divided by category.
It's still a work in progress, so let me know if there are any issues or dead links.
The link will have a permanent home on the left hand side of this page, so this is the place to visit for baking inspiration!

Enjoy,

Amy

Friend Request Accepted...

I always like to ask friends what they would like me to make. Friends, family, coworkers, classmates - I want to know what you want, because, as much as I'd like to, I'm not going to eat everything myself. Just a lot of it.

There are some requests that I know by now - anything with peanut butter for Esti (who will certainly get her wish for her birthday on Friday!), anything without peanut butter for Ariel and Sarah, anything with lemon for Racheli, anything with nuts for my parents, anything without nuts for my brother, anything without nuts, mango and citrus fruits for Naomi, anything with blue sugar for Laura (Yes, blue sugar. More on that another day), just about anything for Miriam... and the list goes on.

There are some requests that are not happening (sorry, I don't have all the ingredients for a trifle, it is 2 a.m.) (no, I'm not making you petit fours, I don't have 8 hours) and some times where I make things just for me (or how they make my apartment smell).

But what is the most requested dessert? Well the conversation goes something like this:

Me: What should I make?
You: Chocolate chip cookies!
Me: Seriously? But that's so boring!
You: Uhhhh, sorry?

Because while we all love a great chocolate chip cookie, I don't love making chocolate chip cookies, because, well, they're a bit boring. I'd rather experiment. Try something new. Make something that may end up in the garbage - heck, I wasted 4 hours, 12 eggs and my sanity, but at least it was exciting!

So when I saw this recipe for browned butter chocolate chip cookies, I got excited. Browned butter refers to cooking - "browning" the butter used in a recipe in a pan or skillet before incorporating it with the other ingredients, giving it a nutty, enhanced flavor.
Sounds great, right? Right. But unfortunately me, in my naivete, used margarine instead of butter, which, is a big no-no. Apparently its something in science with the words protein and clarified and particles and things like that - but it didn't work.
So I bow my head in shame, and I'll just have to try these again soon with real butter. Overall, these were a good cookie - just nothing exceptional. I'll post the recipe below for those of you who want to try, otherwise I can always count on these.

If you have a request of your own for me to make - let me know in the comments (or e-mail) and you might see it here soon!

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Speaking of friend requests, come check me out over at Twitter! If you follow me, you'll get to hear about my obsession with American Idol, how I love to bake in high heels despite the risk, and what ends up on the wall instead of the oven. I'm @BakingMistaking, come visit!


Tip of the Day: I like to shape my drop cookies in the bowl of a tablespoon measurement - they're all uniform, they have a flat bottom so they don't roll around on the tray, and a tablespoon is a good amount for most - not all - cookies.

Recipe: (from the Baking Bites cookbook)
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups (12 ounces) chocolate chips

Melt butter in a small pan and cook over low-medium heat until turned an amber color.
Let cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
Whisk together with the sugars, eggs and vanilla.
Add the flour, oatmeal, baking soda and salt, mix until combined.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Bake cookies on parchment paper lined baking sheets on 350 F for 12 to 15 minutes.
Cool for five minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Palmiers....OK we can call them Elephant's Ears

I feel like I've had a string of so-so desserts recently, so I wanted to give you guys a real success to sink your teeth in to. (get it?) And these were definitely a success. And with just two ingredients, they are seriously easy and I might just venture to say that anyone can make them. Yes, there is a sharp knife and a hot oven involved, so probably best for ages 8 and up, but otherwise...make Palmiers!
If these don't immediately look familiar to you from the home of every assorted cookie plate in the country, then let me tell you more about them. They have two things: puff pastry, and sugar.
OK, fine, I added a little cinnamon to mine for some additional flavor, but that's it, I promise!

Here's how it goes: take pastry. Sprinkle with sugar. Roll two ends to the middle until they meet. Slice off cookies. Bake. Eat. Bake more. Eat.
Seriously, this puff pastry comes straight from the freezer section of the store (I used Pepperidge Farm). I'm sure you could make your own, but really, why bother?
After thawing the dough, roll it out a little until it's thinner. Then sprinkle with the sugar, and roll each end up until the middle.
It's important that when the dough goes in to the oven to bake, it's very cold, so chill between steps. They're easier to slice when cold, so put the dough in the fridge after you've rolled it up. If they warm up too much while you're cutting, you can chill them again before baking.
Sometimes they won't quite hold their shape after slicing - but they're easy to form back the way you want!

Tip of the Day: Thaw puff pastry out of the box, about 1/2 an hour. If any cracks form, just wet the dough a little and press it back together.

Recipe:
1/2 box puff pastry
sugar
cinnamon (optional)

Thaw the pastry.
Roll out in to a rectangle about 8x14".
Sprinkle the surface liberally with sugar, and cinnamon if you desire.
Roll the long ends of the rectangle toward each other until they meet in the middle.
Press down to hold in place.
Refrigerate the dough for 20 to 30 minutes.
Slice off cookies 3/8" wide and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
Sprinkle with additional sugar on top.
Bake in a 400 F oven for 10 minutes, then flip them over, and bake for another 10 minutes, or until crispy.
Your baking time may vary widely so take them out when they look crispy and the centers are cooked through.

Chocolate Sandwich Bars and reinvention

As you can see from the title of this post, I set out to create Chocolate Sandwich Bars. And ended up with something a little...different.
The idea for these is so simple, and so ingenious, that I can't believe I didn't think of it before. These bar cookies call for a cookie base, and a chocolate filling, that you spread between two layers of cookie batter and then bake it all together. Just genius.
Unfortunately, it didn't quite execute the way I wanted. Though I followed the recipe except leaving out the almonds in the dough, I found I didn't have nearly enough dough, and too much filling.
After I spread the first layer in, then the chocolate, I soon realized I didn't have enough filling to top them completely. But there was no way I was giving up then, so I swirled what I did have together with the chocolate and baked it up.

And of course I still ate one.
They had a great, rich, chocolatey taste, but I would definitely like there to be more cookie to the filling - and look like more like a sandwich! - and maybe a little bit sweeter. The idea is still exciting, so I'll just have to try again soon.

Tip of the Day: While I'm a big fan of using foil, disposable pans, when making bar cookies I often try to use a metal pan if I can - otherwise you don't get the nice smooth edges. Of course, that just leaves more of an excuse for the chef to "even them out"!

Recipe: (From Bars & Squares)
Note: This is the recipe in its original format. I'd recommend doubling the dough if making it.

Base:
2 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
[1 cup chopped almonds - I left these out]

Filling:
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 ounces)
1 cup milk or whipping cream
2 tbsp butter

Melt the chocolate and butter together, and combine with the milk. Set aside to let cool.

Whisk the sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla together until smooth.
Stir in the flour, and almonds if using, until smooth.
Spread half the batter in the bottom of a greased 9x13" pan.
Spread the filling evenly over the base.
Dot the remaining batter on top and spread with a knife to cover.
Bake at 350 F for 30 to 35 minutes.
Let cool completely in pan before cutting.

Busy Day Cake

Between work and school and all my time spent in the kitchen, any recipe titled "Busy Day Cake" is bound to catch my eye. And it did.
From Edna Lewis' "The Taste of Country Cooking," this Busy Day Cake is designed to be thrown together in a few minutes, and then topped with whatever fruit or jam you have lying around.
I certainly managed to throw it together quickly, but after my friends and I each sampled it with our favorite toppings - jam, frosting, ganache - I wasn't all that impressed. But I don't know if it was something I did, or just the recipe.
I wasn't supposed to bake it in a bundt tin, but I did anyway. Perhaps it cooked too quickly in here? I also substituted cinnamon for the nutmeg, but that's more of a personal thing. Maybe I'm just too used to complicated cakes with mix-ins and fillings and frostings and icing and glazes? Not sure. Perhaps I just left it in the oven too long and will never know the goodness of this cake? The mystery continues...

Either way, this cake was nothing to write home about. Good thing blogs don't need stamps.

Tip of the Day: Butter softens best sitting out for an hour at room temperature, but if you need to speed it up use the microwave, but make sure to put it on a lower setting or a "soften" setting or you'll end up with melted butter.

Recipe:

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 tsps vanilla
2 cups flour
3 tsps baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 good pinch freshly grated nutmeg
½ cup milk, at room temperature

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs, one by one, until well mixed. Add in the vanilla.
Mix together the flour, baking powder, salt and nutmeg.
Add about 1/4 of the flour mixture to the batter and beat together.
Add 1/3 of the milk, and then alternate adding the flour and milk until all mixed.
Bake in a 9x9" pan for 30 to 35 minutes on 375F.