11

Jan

Coconut Macaroons

Several months back…

The friends came over. The recipe had five simple ingredients. The heat turned the egg white beating into an hour of arm-straining pain.

I’ve made macaroons, but these were special. We had great conversation and passed the bowl around when our arms got tired. Of course, it we didn’t strain for perfectly peaked egg whites while sitting in a lawn chair in 107 degree weather, I’m sure it would’ve gone by in 10 minutes flat.

Here is Ina Garten’s recipe (Barefoot Contessa). It is awesome. I will not even dare change it, except I do like a little drizzled chocolate on top. Enjoy it. Forgive me that there is not one single photo or our creations…we devoured them much too quickly. Here’s one of Food & Us’:

Coconut Macaroons Ina Garten’s   

Ingredients

  • 14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
  • 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip the egg whites and salt on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until they make medium-firm peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.
Drop the batter onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper using a tablespoon. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and serve.

Eat, lovelies, eat!

~Laurel~

14 years ago Short URL

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26

Jun

Whoopie Pies

As promised, the recipes for the whoopie pies.

As you probably know, whoopie pies have been trendy lately. Their history is vague, but most likely were treats Pennsylvania Dutch farmers found in their lunchboxes. Discovering their wives had included the giant cookie sandwich, they’d yell “Whoopie!” Other names are gobs, hucklebucks and BFOs (big fat oreos). Bakeries in Lewiston and Roxbury, Massachusetts claim to have sold the first pies commercially in the early 30s. So there’s a bit of the history. It is not a reference to the warnings of marriage in the Jazz classic “Makin’ Whoopie” or from the silly musical “Whoopie,” but its roots center around two moist cookie cakes with fluffy, creamy filling holding them together. (Most of this info from here.)

I followed Martha Stewart’s recipes pretty closely, and this worked out pretty well for my first time making them. It served as Matt’s birthday cake, and he helped me make it the night before, which was a lot of fun.

Banana Whoopie Pies with Peanut Butter Buttercream
*makes 18 whoopie pies of varying sizes* 

Ingredients

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup mashed banana (from 1 large ripe banana)
  • 1/2 cup sour cream
  • 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl. Combine banana and sour cream in another bowl.
  2. Beat butter and granulated and brown sugars with a mixer on medium-high speed, until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, beating until incorporated. Add banana mixture in 2 additions, alternating with flour mixture.
  3. Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a 1/4-inch plain tip. Pipe batter into 1 1/4-inch rounds on baking sheets, spacing rounds 1 1/2 inches apart. OR Spoon tablespoon-sized (smallest) batter onto parchment paper up to 3 tablespoon-sized (largest) onto paper.
  4. Bake until edges are golden, about 12 minutes. Slide parchment, with cookies, onto wire racks. Let cool.

Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Peanut Butter Buttercream
*makes 18 whoopie pies of varying sizes*

Ingredients

  • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
  • 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup whole milk (yes, whole milk)
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • Peanut Butter Buttercream
  • 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (optional)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt into a small bowl; set aside.
  2. Add butter, shortening, and sugars to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; cream on high speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add egg; beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add half the flour mixture, then the milk and vanilla; beat until combined. Add the remaining flour mixture. Beat together, scraping down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
  3. Drop 12 slightly rounded tablespoons (or more) of batter 2 inches apart on each baking sheet. Bake the cookies in the upper and lower thirds of oven, 10 minutes; switch the positions of the baking sheets, and rotate each one. Continue baking until the cookies spring back to the touch, 2 to 3 minutes more.
  4. Remove from oven; let cookies cool on baking sheets, 10 minutes.Transfer with a metal spatula to a wire rack; let cool completely. Meanwhile, line a cooled baking sheet with a new piece of parchment; repeat process with remaining batter.
  5. Spread 1 scant tablespoon buttercream on flat sides of half the cookies.Top each with one of the remaining cookies, flat side down, and gently press together. Transfer pies to a tray.
  6. (Optional) Melt half the chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat; add remaining chocolate, and stir until melted and smooth. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip or a small parchment cone. Pipe chocolate in a spiral pattern on top of each pie. Let chocolate set before serving, about 1 hour. *I did not do this.*

    Peanut Butter Buttercream (the glue!)
    *Very simple, makes 1 1/2 cups*

    Ingredients

    • 1 1/2 cup natural, creamy peanut butter
    • 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
    • 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

    Directions

    1. Cream peanut butter and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on high speed. On low speed, mix in sugar until combined, then beat mixture on high speed until fluffy and smooth, about 2 minutes. Spread onto cookie cake parts of whoopie pies right away.

     
    This recipe turned out quite well! It’s a little fussier than most baking I do everyday, but the second batch literally took 1/3 of the time of the first batch, so practice helps! Also, since I varied the sizes of the whoopie cookies, make sure you have pairs that are the same size, whatever their size (or else they won’t fit together with the buttercream). I learned that the hard way, haha. And for some variety, I added just a jar of vanilla frosting (with red food coloring b/c Matt loves red) to some of the cookies. There you have it, whoopie pies!

    ~Laurel~

    15 years ago Short URL

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    26

    May

    Clove Cookies

    Do you ever base your next meal on the clearance items at the grocery store?

    Now, before you get images of green bacon or fruit fly-infested peaches, come back to me and think of something spice-y. I found this on the end of an aisle at our neighborhood grocery store:


    It retailed for $7, and my cheap self got it for $1. And they’re cloves…the smell of Christmas filled our house five months ago, and I miss it!

    A little background on cloves…
    Cloves are derived from Syzygium aromaticum, the hand-picked and dried buds from the Myrtle family of pink and red flowering trees. The plant is cultivated in Madagascar, Tanzania and Brazil, among other places. (Oh, to be a little clove on the beach…) Clove oil is used to treat toothaches, and clove buds are said to be great moth repellents. The word clove is derived from “clou,” the French word for nail. Parents on the Molucca Islands, where cloves were first grown, planted a clove tree every time a new child was born. It is said that this spice was Aphrodite’s, the goddess of love’s, favorite scent for defining sensuality. The plant and spice are tracked as top-selling spices in Europe all the way back to the eighth century. Even our ketchup and Worcestershire sauce would not taste the same without the clove’s contribution. This spice has so much history! (from the Journal of Food & Nutrition)

    So, clove cookies sounded like a good idea…
    And they were, sorta. I used brown rice flour for the first time. If you hold a pinch of the flour in your hand, it is soft, finely textured, and seems a lot like pastry flour. Perfect for cookies, right?

    Wrong! It could’ve been me, that’s for sure, but the baked texture of this cookie was way too gritty for my liking. I think this flour should be used for crusts…yes, it would’ve been a perfect base for a pizza crust. But this recipe was still really good! I’d just make it this way…the better way…


    Clove Cookies
    1 1/2 cups flour (all-purpose, wheat pastry flour, etc.)
    1 t. organic ground cloves
    1/4 t. ground cinnamon
    1/2 t. baking soda
    Dash of salt
    1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
    1 “egg” (flax egg worked well)
    2 TB brown sugar 
    1 TB agave nectar (optional, for extra sweetness)
    2 TB agave nectar or honey (for topping at the end)
    In a medium bowl, mix dry ingredients together. Add wet ingredients to dry. Blend together until completely moistened; dough will be sticky, but shouldn’t fall apart.

    On a flat surface, roll dough out into a rectangle 1/8–1/4 inch thick, rolling between 2 sheets of parchment or wax paper to prevent sticking. Remove top sheet of paper. Carefully slice cookies into two-inch squares or shapes with small/medium cookie cutters.

    Bake at 350 for 9 minutes. Cookies will rise slightly and give a bit at the touch. While cookies are out of the oven and still warm, top with a bit of honey or agave nectar. Serve with a cup of tea or vanilla ice cream. Yum!

    Christmas smells on a warm, rainy, humid May day…ahh, the comfort. As you enjoy these treats, reflect on the great blessings in your life and think of ways that you can help your neighbors who might need a friend today. The tornado-stricken places are certainly on my mind right now. We could all use a little cookie, some warm tea, and the little comforts of home. Happy night.
     

     

       

    ~Laurel~

    15 years ago Short URL 1 Comment

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