Kirche Mousse

I've been playing around with a mousse recipe I have. It has a serious amount of kirche and a bit of vanilla. I adore it because it packs a serious punch. I'm thinking of using it in a cake (the recipe for the mousse comes from a cake - but I wasn't brilliantly happy with the cake when I did make it). I'm thinking of using a recipe for a shortbread type cookie with a bunch of salt in it as the base - maybe a sponge with kirche soaked cherries or cranberries as another layer or maybe a cherry/cranberry gellee layer and then some more mousse. But I'm not sure yet.

For the top one it was simply put in a mold with the salty short bread cookie, the one in the wine

glass had mousse with layers of the cookies crumbled, and another layer of kirche soaked tart cherries.

Star Anise and Grapefruit Cookies

These sounded so weird that I thought I had to try them. I have to say I adore adore adore black licorice so I had no aversion in using star anise, the grapefruit however had me doubting.

The recipe is from the February Bon Appetite and it's by Elizabeth Falkner.

INGREDIENTS
8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, diced
1 teaspoon plus 1/4 cup sugar
3 whole star anise
1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons finely grated grapefruit peel

PREPARATION
Combine chocolate and butter in medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave in 10-second intervals until chocolate is almost melted; remove and stir until melted and smooth. Finely grind 1 teaspoon sugar and 3 star anise in spice mill or small coffee grinder. Transfer to small bowl; whisk in flour, cocoa, coarse salt, and baking powder.
Beat remaining 1/4 cup sugar, eggs, honey, and grapefruit peel in large bowl until thick and smooth. Fold in chocolate, then dry ingredients. Cover bowl; chill batter until cold and firm, at least 45 minutes and up to 1 day.
Preheat oven to 375°F. Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing mounds 2 inches apart.
Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until dry-looking and tester comes out with moist crumbs still attached, about 10 minutes. Cool on sheet 3 minutes, then transfer to racks and cool completely. DO AHEAD Can be made 1 day ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper.

You know the combination worked really well. You would eat a cookie thinking it was chocolate, and it was. The star anise is fairly subtle and then the ending is grapefruit. A pretty amazing cookie.

Vanilla Kipfel

These are xmas to me. Forget everything else. We didn't really have a traditional dinner at our place when I was a kid for xmas, we'd have some great tasting stuff usually a roladen or sauerbraten or if it was really hot we'd have schnitzel and a potato salad. I did love going to my Nana and Opa's place and consuming vaste amounts of food, but most of all you'd catch me in a corner with my brothers eating these guys.

At xmas time these days as I'm not usually there to celebrate anymore, Nana sends me a bunch of cookies in the mail, usuaully gingerbread, coconut macaroons and vanilla kipfel. These don't really make the huge trip accross the ocean, and so I end up with a bag of delicious crumbs, that I consume within a week. I love those parcels.

These guys are basically a shortbread made with ground almond meal as well as flour. They are shaped into cresents and baked, and then while they are still hot from the oven, you dust them with icing sugar which also has vanilla sugar in it. These are amazingly good. At least to me.... and my brothers.... and husband...and friends...

World Peace Cookies - Dorie to the Rescue Again

These are yet another Dorie Greenspan cookie. They are wonderful, they have no eggs in them, they are chocolaty and they have a secrete ingredient that makes them even better. Salt. Specifically Fleur de sel. It adds a slight grittyness (much like Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese in a weird way), and an amzing uplift to the cookie that is really tasty. The reviews I recieved were all positive for these babies so although they aren't pretty cookies they're seriously tasty cookies. Tasty far outweighs pretty in my book!

Choc Chip Cookies

Something simple and quick is what I've been craving to make. Nothing fancy and complex. These are just simply choc chip (bitter sweet choc was used) with a bit of vanilla extract, some walnuts and a whole heap of butter. Another wonderful Dorie Greenspan recipe. I have to admit I love Dorie. Her recipes are simple, straight forward. However they aren't simple in their taste. They often have an adventurous side to them for instance incorporating unusual spices. And, the best part is, her recipes usually work and taste amazing.

Snow Men and the art of piping

I have absolutely no skills in piping, seriously. I have a bit of a shake, and I get nervous at the idea of something being permanently attached to something. But I decided to try and make some of my left over pate sucree into snow men - simple one's without too much glitter and glam.

The easy part was rolling and cutting (although I'd like to have made them closer to 4mm rather than 7mm so they would have gotten a little more firm quicker). When it came to decorating I was stumped having never decorated xmas biscuits except with my nanna and opa (these consisted of a basic white icing with a smidge of lemon, and sprinkles on top - which are delicious, just not, well I guess 'elegant' for lack of a better word). So I started researching what to put on the biscuits, I could so colored sprinkles, colored icing, I could add candy, do some serious piping decorations... I just got lazy and made some royal icing and piped on a scarf, some buttons and a hat.

I really need to work on my piping skills.

Sucre, dried tart cherries and bitter sweet choc cookies

I have a confession to make, I always have left over sucre when I make a tart. Always, so this week I made a concerted effort to reduce my waste in that department. I did make cookies for the past two weeks (seriously 2 weeks of creaming and refrigerating) so I was feeling rather cocky on the cooky front. 

These were made with the left over sucre dough, some dried cherries that were hanging about and some bittersweet chocolate that I chopped up. I simply integrated the ingredients into the already warm sucre, rolled it into a log, wrapped it in plastic wrap and then put it in the fridge overnight. The next morning, I unwrapped it, cut it into around 1.5cm rounds, and baked it on a tray lined with baking parchment for around 15min (at 350F). 

They were pretty amazing if I do say so myself. 

Cherry and Choc Chip Cookies

Although nice - I should have done as the recipe first suggested: Use white chocolate. I did use bittersweet chocolate which although was good - I think overwhelmed the tart cherry taste which I would have like to have had more of. However, the texture was good (more on the chewy side) and overall the cookies were pretty good.

Ingredients
1 cup dried tart cherries (around 5.5oz)
1/3 cup cherry liquor
2 Tbs. water
1.5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp.
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1.25 cups semisweet chocolate chips (around 8 oz)
1.25 cups white chocolate chips (around 8oz)

Method
1. Preheat oven to 375F.

2. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. In a small saucepan bring the cherries, the liquor and 2 Tbs of water to boil.

4. Remove from heat and let soak for 15 min - drain cherries and pat dry.

5. In a medium bowl whisk the flour, salt and baking soda together.

6. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment cream the butter and both sugars together until creamy.

7. Add the eggs and the vanilla and almond extracts and beat until combined.

8. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.

9. Stir in the cherries until combined.

10. Scoop tablespoonfuls of the batter onto the sheets of parchment paper making sure to leave around 1 inch between the cookies.

11. Bake for around 13 min - or until the edges are a golden brown.

12. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Taken from: The July 2008 issue of "Bon Appetit" p. 22.

Double Choc Cookies

These smelled unbelievable - like a hot chocolate. They were soft and chewy and had a lovely textural change due to the choc chips. I used bittersweet chocolate and milk chocolate, although you could have used any combo of contrasting chocolates (eg. milk and dark, semi sweet and bittersweet).

Ingredients

8oz butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs

2.25 cups plain flour, sifted

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted

4.5 oz milk chocolate, either chips or broken into pieces

4.5 oz bittersweet chocolate, either chips or broken into pieces

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 300F.

2. Place the butter and the two types of sugars into the bowl of a stand mixer and using the paddle attachment beat until light and creamy.

3. Add one egg at a time, and beat for 1 min between each addition.

4. Add the flour, baking powder, and cocoa and mix together well.

5. Add the chocolate pieces/chips and combine.

6. Using 1 heaped Tbs. of the mixture make into rough round balls and place on a tray lined with baking paper (make sure there is a decent amount of rooms between the cookies as these guys spread).

7. Bake for around 20-25 min (maybe even longer 30 min). They are cooked when they are brown on the bottom.

Taken from Donna Hay's Modern Classics: Book 2" pp. 30, 32.

ANZAC Biscuits (cookies)

These biscuits are chewy and buttery and, as they last a while they are a great hiking biscuit. They are a traditional Australian and New Zealand biscuit (ANZAC stands for Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) and they were used in wartime (specifically WWI) as a nutritional snack that would survive the trip over to the war front. Now, they are traditionally eaten on April 25th which is ANZAC day (the equivalent of Veterans day).

Ingredients
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain (all purpose) flour
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup shredded coconut (try the unsweetened variety)
2 Tbs. golden syrup (available at world market in the USA and other stores that specialize in English food and ingredients)
4oz butter
1/2 tsp. bicarb soda
1 Tbs. hot water

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 325F and line two baking trays with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl place the oats, flour, sugar and coconut and mix with a wooden spoon to combine the ingredients.

3. Place the butter and golden syrup together in a saucepan over low heat, and let them melt together.

4. In a small bowl stir the hot water and bicarbonate soda together.

5. Pour the water and bicarb soda mixture into the butter mixture.

6. Pour the butter mixture over the dry ingredients.

7. Mix well using a wooden spoon.

8. Using a tablespoon to measure out the amount place 1 Tbs of the mixture in your palms and then roll together into a ball. Place on the baking trays with enough room for expansion (these do flatten out quite a lot).

9. Bake for between 10-15 min (check after 10min) until they are golden brown.

10. Allow to cool for 5 min and then remove the biscuits and place on a wire rack to cool down completely.

Taken from: Donna Hay "Modern Classics Book 2" p.16.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Sweet, slightly salty and wonderfully crunchy these cookies (biscuits to me….) were a revelation. I have to admit my exposure to peanut butter isn’t huge – I like it on toast and that’s about it (I haven’t even tried a peanut butter and jelly sandwich). These biscuits were rather addictive in there contrasting tastes, and simple to make.

Ingredients
½ cup melted unsalted butter
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (although I can’t see why you couldn’t use crunchy peanut butter)
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1.5 cups plain flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

Method
1.In a large bowl add the melted butter, brown and granulated sugar, peanut butter, egg and vanilla extract and stir with a wooden spoon until combined.

2. In another bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. With a whisk, whisk the ingredients together.

3. Add the flour to the butter mixture.

4. Mix with a wooden spoon until just combined.

5. Cover and put in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

6. Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease two baking trays.

7. Using dampened hands shape the dough into small (1-inch) balls. Place on the baking sheets, and either slightly press down with your finger tips, or press the top down with a fork.

8. Bake until the bottoms are golden brown (12-15min).

9. Let the cookies cool for a little bit and then using a metal spatula transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Taken from: Williams-Sonoma “Cookies” pp. 52-3.

Sugar Cookies with Royal Icing

These are great for occasions (valentines day etc). The icing part was difficult for me as I hadn't worked with icing before. It has a remarkably dense texture, which requires watering down with hot water - but not too much - just enough to make squeezing it easier. It takes quite a while for the icing to dry (depending on the humidity it can either be 3 hours or up to overnight) so it is best to prepare these in advance.

Ingredients: Cookies

1.25 cups unsalted butter at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups plain flour

1/4 tsp. salt

Ingredients: Royal Icing

3 egg whites at room temp

1/4 tsp. cream of tarter

1 lb. icing sugar, sifted

Method: Cookies

1. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment cream the butter until fluffy.

2. Add the sugar in three separate additions – beating at low speed for 2 min after each addition (make sure that you use a rubber spatula to scrape the walls and bottom of the bowl before each addition to ensure the butter is uniformly integrated).

3. Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.

4. Whisk together the flour and salt and add to the butter mixture using low speed, until just combined.

5. Scrape the dough onto a work surface and divide into 4 part. Make these into flat discs and wrap them in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

6. After at least 2 hours of refrigeration, preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly grease two baking sheets.

7. Remove the dough from the fridge and let stand at room temp for 15 min.

8. Working with one disc at a time roll the discs between two pieces of plastic wrap until 1/8-1/4 (3-6mm) thick.

9. Cut shapes out of the dough and place on the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with all four discs of dough.

10. You can re-roll the scraps once before the biscuits loose their texture. So if you have left over dough after the second rolling, throw them out. If you have detailed cuttings (like the ones I used which had jagged edges) refrigerate for 15-20 min before putting in the oven.

11. Bake for 10-12 min until they are lightly golden on the bottom.

12. Let cool for around 10 min on the baking sheet and then using a metal spatula place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Method: Royal Icing
1. Using stand mixer with very clean bowl place the egg whites cream of tartar and beat on medium speed using a whisk attachment until frothy.

2. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the icing sugar until blended.

3. Beat on high until thick and glossy.

4. Add food coloring if desired.

Method: Assembly
1.Using a pastry bag with a thin tip attached to it (I used a 4 which was pretty big) place some royal icing in the bag. Make sure to cover the icing very tightly with plastic wrap as it dries out very quickly.

2. Try and squeeze a line around the edges of the shape you desire, if it is really hard to do this remove the icing from the bag and place it in a small bowl. Add a little bit of hot water and mix well until you think you have reached a consistency which would make it easier to ice.

3. Once the outline has been complete, draw lines close together inside the shape using the same icing color.

4. With a pastry brush merge the lines. If you require more icing simply put more one.

5. If you want to add other colors as a layer effect – wait at least three hours until you add the additional color.

6. Wait 3-12 hours until the icing is dry and then enjoy

!

Taken from Williams-Sonoma "Cookies" pp. 14-5 and 99.

Cecilia's Linzer Sables

These are a classic. You can fill them with any jam you like, you can use any shape you like, and I imagine any combination of spices as well.

Ingredients
1.5 cups finely ground almonds, hazelnuts or walnuts (I used walnuts)
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp. freshly grated cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground cloves
1 large egg
2 tsp. water
1 stick unsalted butter at room temp.
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup jam (I used raspberry jam)

Method
1. Whisk together the ground nuts, flour, cinnamon, salt, and cloves.
2. Using a fork, stir the egg and the water together in a small bowl.
3. Using a stand mixer with a paddle attachment beat the butter and sugar together at medium speed until smooth, scraping down the bowl as needed.
4. Add the egg mixture and beat for 1 min more.
5. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Don't work the dough much, and if need be mix the dough by hand if the mixer is unable to do it for you.
6. Divide the dough in half. Put the dough between two large sheets of plastic wrap, and press down with your hands until fairly flat. With a rolling pin, roll out the dough until it is around 1/4 inch thick. Make sure that at this time you make sure the dough is not stuck to the plastic wrap.
7. Place on a chopping board (still covered with plastic wrap) and place in the freezer for 45 min.
8. Center a rack in the oven, and preheat to 375F.
9. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
10. Take out the dough from the freezer. Remove the plastic wrap from 1/2.
11. Cut out the shapes, making sure that you cut a small window in 1/2 of the cookies, so that the jam can be viewed. Make sure you save the scrapes, so that you can combine them with the other half's worth of scraps, and re-freeze to make more cookies.
12. Place cut outs on the baking sheet, and bake for 11-13 min. Or until they are lightly golden and firm to the touch.
13. Repeat with the other half of the dough.
14. When cool, spread the jam on.

From Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan, pp.134-6.