2009 Holiday Cookies

I love holiday cookies.. mostly because I LOVE to bake, but I do not want to be eating whatever I bake for myself, like I do the rest of the year (and notably have gained some notable weight this year). Last year I made lime meltaways, which went over great at a cookie exchange, and the year before, Georgia and I slaved over tons of butter and gingerbread cookies. On a whim the other day, I tried the Lenox Biscotti from Dorie Greenspan's book Baking: From My Home to Yours and they were AWESOME. (Other cookies pictured are lime meltaways, salt and pepper cocoa shortbread, and obviously rice krispie treats)


I cannot even begin to tell you how amazing these were. Usually I am not a biscotti fan - something about its dry texture turns me off - even with a cup of coffee. These, however, are a little softer, and the 1/2 cup of cornmeal in them gives the soft texture a fun crunch. Amazing - truly - I got tons of compliments on these.


And, as an extra endorsement, I'll say that I've made this recipe three times in the last week. That's how incredible they are. INCREDIBLE. I added orange zest to mine, in addition to a little squeezed orange juice.


Lenox Almond Biscotti
adapted from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From my Home to Yours

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
zest of 1 orange (or other citrus fruit)
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup sliced almonds, blanched or unblanched

GETTING READY: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together. Add the cornmeal and whisk again to blend.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and orange zest together at medium speed for 3 minutes, until very smooth. Add the eggs and continue to beat, scraping down the bowl as needed, for another 2 minutes, or until the mixture is light, smooth and creamy. Beat in the vanilla extract. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are incorporated. You'll have a soft, stick-to-your-fingers dough that will ball up around the paddle or beaters. Scrape down the paddle and bowl, toss in the almonds and mix just to blend.

Scrape half the dough onto one side of the baking sheet. Using your fingers and a rubber spatula or scraper, work the dough into a log about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. The log will be more rectangular than domed, and bumpy, rough and uneven. Form a second log with the remaining dough on the other side of the baking sheet.

Bake for 15 minutes (I needed more like 17-18), or until the logs are lightly golden but still soft and springy to the touch. Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and cool the logs on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.

If you turned off the oven, bring it back up to 350 degrees F.

Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the logs to a cutting board and, with a long serrated knife, trim the ends and cut the logs into 3/4-inch-thick slices. Return the slices to the baking sheet — this time standing them up like a marching band — and slide the sheet back into the oven.

Bake the biscotti for another 15 minutes, or until they are golden and firm. Transfer them to racks and cool to room temperature.

An Old Family Fav for a New Wife!

This past October while the Phillies battled the Yankees for the World Series title, Georgia, a life long Yankees fan (I'm a devout Phillies Phan!) celebrated her 27th birthday. Setting rivalries aside, I decided to be a good new husband and bake her an old family favorite, the 1-2-3-4 Cake! The name of this traditional bundt cake is derived from the 4 basic ingredients and the quantity used of each. 1 cup of butter, 2 cups of sugar, 3 cups of flour, and 4 eggs. This has been a staple in my family for years - birthdays, holidays, anniversaries - you name it, we made a bundt cake for it. My family has experimented with many flavor combinations over the years: yellow cake with chocolate frosting, chocolate cake with vanilla frosting, yellow cake with orange frosting, and my personal favorite, orange cake with vanilla frosting! The possibilities are nearly endless.

Per G's request, I went with the traditional classic of yellow cake with chocolate frosting. After being married for only a little over a month, I really wanted to impress my new bride with my baking prowess! So I got the cake recipe from my Mom, a brand new bundt pan from Williams-Sonoma, and sought out a good chocolate frosting recipe!

I ended up using Ghirardelli 100% Cacao Unsweetened Chocolate after much deliberation in the baking aisle of the Super Fresh on my lunch break at work. I used the recipe on the inside of the wrapper for Mocha Buttercream Frosting sans the mocha. And to add a special twist to the cake, I substituted 1 cup of brown sugar for the white.

The result was a grand slam! ( If only the Phils could've used it to their advantage!) The buttercream frosting was rich and delicious and the addition of the brown sugar really added depth to the flavor of the cake. Georgia was very impressed with my baking feat as were our friends who came to celebrate the following Saturday with burritos and baseball! A winning combination, unless of course you're a Phillies Phan like me! Oh well, the Yanks' win was nice gift for G. Maybe next year. . .



1-2-3-4 Cake

1 cup of butter - 2 sticks
2 cups of sugar - 1 brown, 1 white
3 cups of flour
4 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
3 3/4 tsp baking powder
Dash salt

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Mix with other ingredients.
3. Grease bundt pan and dust with cocoa powder for easy removal.
4. Pour batter into bundt and bake at 325 for an hour.
5. Remove and let cool before overturning bundt onto wire rack.
6. Let cake cool for an hour before frosting.

Ghirardelli Mocha Buttercream Frosting recipe can be found on the inside wrapper of the bar or at their website: www.ghirardelli.com

The King of Brownies

I love brownies. No, wait. i LOVE brownies. We made and ate lots of brownies in college. Mostly, however, from a box. As an adult though, I keep cocoa powder in my house and hence am capable of the real thing. And what's more real than using the King Arthur Flour recipe?


The coolest thing about this recipe is the process of melting the sugar into the butter and then reheating the mixture before adding it to the dry ingredients. The process creates the shiny sugar look on the top of the brownies I so often see in food mags or in blogs. I did not use the espresso powder, and it was fabulous without it - but I'm sure with it would be awesome.


I only used half the recipe, using an 8 x 8 pan instead of an 9 x 13. Below I'll post the full 9 x 13 pan recipe.


Fudge Brownies
(King Arthur Flour recipe)

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F, and grease your pan.

In a saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and then removing from the pan from heat, add the sugar. Stir to combine. When fully combined, return the pan to the heat till mixture is shiny as your stir - before bubbling or boiling.

In a large bowl, add the eggs and beat with cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso (if adding), and vanilla.

When combined, add the butter/sugar mixture.

Add the flour and chocolate chips and stir to combine. Add to pan and spread with a knife or spatula.

Bake for 30 minutes. Let cool before slicing - or just dive right in, that's what I do :)