Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
April Fools’ Day is not quite over. I present to you these humongous chocolate chip cookies…
that are not quite exactly what they seem because…
there are OREOS inside of them!!!
If only all April Fools’ jokes could be this… sweet.
These cookies were not originally baked with the intention of fooling anybody. They were actually baked for a lab function where the theme was “Tastes From Around the World.” Everyone brought something from their home or adopted countries/states, like ice wine from Canada and home-made plum schnapps for Romania. Funny enough, out of a lab of 13 members, I am actually the only uni-lingual American-born citizen. To represent my home state and country, I brought wine from California and cookies that embody American excess (and propensity for obesity)- Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies!
They’re truly gigantic, but SO fun to make and eat. They are truly at their best when still slightly warm… dunked in a refreshing glass of milk!
Lacey Chocolate Sandwich Cookies
Though Andreas and I don’t really make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day, we do try to do a little something special, whether it’s dinner together at our favorite sushi spot or bacon lettuce tomato sandwiches on a lunch date. This year I somehow managed to make Andreas’ ULTIMATE IDEAL COOKIE, almost completely by accident!
His ideal cookie is thin and shatteringly crispy, sweet with a hint of salty. This cookie is IT. I have to give a shout out to my cousin Emily, for bringing to my attention some lacey and florentine cookie recipes two weeks ago (Emily, I’m still not certain about the difference of the two, but I’m thinking a lacey cookie is any flat and crunchy cookie with high butter to low flour ratio, whereas a florentine is a type of lacey cookie that includes ground nuts). Because of the thin crispyness of these cookies, they seemed a perfect candidate to satisfy Andreas’ cookie wishes, so I found a recipe that incorporated a few more of Andreas’ other favorite ingredients: shredded coconut and oatmeal.
The cookies are light and so crispy on their own, slightly caramelly (that’s what happens when a good amount of butter melts into a good amount of sugar), with a bit of chew from the coconut and oatmeal. With melted chocolate chips spread between two cookies, they made excellent crispy cookie sandwiches!
Now that I’ve found the cookie that Andreas would DO ANYTHING FOR, I am having a hard time suppressing thoughts of all the ways I can use this to bribe him to do what I want and buy me lots of presents the next time I will reward him with his favorite cookie!
Chinese Almond Cookies
Happy Year of the Rabbit!
I know I’m a day late, but pulling together a 35 slide powerpoint lab meeting presentation prevented me from posting this yesterday. But don’t let the passing of New Year’s day prevent you from enjoying these buttery little cookies- they are quick to pull together and are perfect on non-New Year’s days, particularly with tea.
These cookies remind me of the favorites we would get from Chinese bakeries in San Francisco when I was little- buttery and a bit crumbly, just slightly sweet, with a lovely subtle almond flavor. And happily crinkled tops.
So happy.
Here’s to the new year, may you have the best health, love, and happiness in this year!
Crescent Jam and Cheese Cookies
I’m not sure I would call these cookies (instead of pastries), but I will not hesitate to call them AMAZING.
The flaky pastry dough is very reminiscent of (if not identical to) another favorite “cookie” of mine, rugelach. I don’t know what chemical reactions occur between the cheese and butter at 400 degrees, but they just happen and give you wonderfully light and flakey croissant-like layers (but without all the intensive work). WIN.
These “cookies” are infinitely adaptable to your taste preferences because you can fill them with any sweet or savory ingredient(s) that strikes your fancy. My fancy this time? Nutella. And raspberry preserves.
The raspberry preserves were a little messy… it didn’t want to stay in the dough. Or perhaps I (as usual) was a tad bit over-generous with the portion of filling.
And this has been a familiar scene lately with all the snow that fell this week, though I can happily say that I love the results of a dusting of powdered sugar in my kitchen so much more than the consequences of a snowstorm in Boston (brown slush and ice until April).
Oh, hello delectable flakey layers. Thank you for being so addictive.
Chez Panisse Gingersnaps and Thomas Keller’s Oreos
Well, how quickly time flies (I guess I was having too much fun this month), I can’t believe it’s already Christmas Eve.
I’m in Virginia (which is as cold as Boston, boo) for Christmas, and since no holiday is complete without an EXCESSIVE amount of BUTTER, I brought an army of cookies with me: Chez Panisse Gingersnaps and Thomas Keller’s Oreos. It’s like bringing a bit of California to Virginia, wouldn’t you say?
This was my first time ever baking gingersnaps. I’ve never really been a fan of ginger-flavored cookies, even with all the gingerbread men and gingerbread house hype during the holidays; unlike others who perhaps have difficulties refraining from sampling the gingerbread men or houses they were supposed to be decorating, I’ve never had a problem.
These cookies are fantasticly tasty- warmly spiced with cinnamon, ginger, and molasses, and topped with crunchy raw sugar. The cooking time is customizable to your cookie texture preference- if you’re into less snappy gingersnaps, bake with a little less time, and if you’re into high snap factor, bake with more time. If you’re into the crispy sides and chewy middle.. well, I don’t think I managed to get that perfect balance THIS time (sorry Andreas), but I don’t doubt that you guys can figure it out.
Added bonus to a yummy spicy cookie? They make your kitchen smell like the HOLIDAYS.
Now these guys are less holiday-themed and more because I had been dying for an opportunity to bake them. Cookies that require rolling out, cutting, chilling, baking, cooling, AND filling are not baked on any random day in my kitchen- I’m gonna be honest, that’s quite a bit of work for a cookie just for myself. But given how well-received the chocolate-y chocolate World Peace Cookies have been with Andreas’ family the last two Christmases, I felt that they might enjoy Thomas Keller’s Homemade Oreos.
The secret to their awesomeness is in the white chocolate cream filling. You heard me. WHITE. CHOCOLATE. CREAM. FILLING. You will NEVER look at store-bought oreo filling the same. Believe me.
Sometimes “homemade” versions of store-bought goods sometimes lack the essence of the commercial counterpart (perhaps because we taste that first and forever define that food with the commercial flavor), I have to say, Thomas Keller’s Oreos pretty much TKO (technical knock out.. HAHA, get it??) store oreos’ butts! Although this isn’t the best chocolate cookie recipe I’ve had (for that, see here), but the combination of the crispy and slightly bitter chocolate cookie with the creamy and buttery white chocolate filling is the epitome of the old adage “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts.”
I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas!
Orange Macaroons
There has been a tragedy in my kitchen.
Has this ever happened to anybody?! The metal whisk part totally separated from the metal rod!!! Maybe this is the Kitchen God’s way of telling me to invest in a stand mixer?
Luckily, I was far enough along in the recipe to continue through to the sweet and almond-y end! These almond-flavored macaroons- think nutty sister to coconut macaroons (not to be confused with the ethereally light meringue-based macarons)- are concentrated vehicles of sweet almond paste and orange zest.
The soft and slightly sticky dough is rolled out into long strands in powdered sugar to give each cookie a nice sweet coating. The cookies are then rolled into little balls and allowed to rest on the cookie sheet for 30 minutes. This allows the dough to form a “skin” on the exterior surface, which will translate into a thin crispy shell surrounding once baked.
When bitten into, the crisp exterior gives way to a dense, soft and chewy cookie that is crazy intense in almond and citrus flavor, but still manages to not be too sweet. This keeps you coming back for more… and more… AND MORE!!!! Of all the cookies I have ever baked, these cookies are the easiest to eat a dozen without even realizing it! Thank goodness this recipe makes like 50 cookies!
Orange Macaroons
adapted from Martha Stewart, via Patrick Lemble, and a great lemon version at 101cookbooks
makes 4-5 dozen
2 large egg whites (I found I only needed one)
1/8 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted, plus more for rolling and coating
1 pound almond paste
Zest of 1 orange
1 tablespoon orange liqueur, such as Grand Marnier
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 1 egg white and almond extract. Add confectioners’ sugar and almond paste; beat until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add orange zest and orange liqueur; beat to combine, about 1 minute.
- Lightly dust work surface with confectioners’ sugar. Turn dough out onto work surface; roll into two 3/4-inch-thick logs, about 18 inches long. Cut each log crosswise into 30 1/2-inch pieces. Roll each piece into a ball.
- Lightly beat remaining egg white. (I found that the dough was really really moist and did not need the extra egg white.) Coat each ball with egg white and roll in sugar, tapping to remove excess; transfer to prepared baking sheets. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
- Pinch each piece of dough with three fingers to form an irregular pyramid shape. Bake until lightly golden, about 15-18 minutes. Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack and cool completely. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week (but they won’t last that long!).
Graham Crackers
A few weeks ago, I was inspired to make these lovely strawberry ricotta graham tartlets.
Unfortunately, I chose to be inspired on one of the hottest and stickiest nights of the last few weeks. Which meant rolling out soft buttery dough was pretty much a total disaster. It melted and stuck to my rolling pin, tore and ripped before making it to the baking sheet, but despite it all… they baked up to be a wonderfully spiced cookie. I hesitate to call them graham crackers, because though the flavors were reminiscent, the texture was completely different- more of a dense buttery cookie than a flaky cracker. (P.S. the sweet ricotta and strawberry pairings was also delicious for a light summertime weekday dessert!)
That night, as I was going to bed, I thought about how to make the cookie more flaky and cracker-esque and decided that the method of cutting butter into the flour that makes pie crusts so successfully flaky could certainly be adapted for a cracker! I woke up excited, thinking that I had stumbled upon something NEW to the home-made graham cracker world… and found that of course others before me have already incorporated the technique into graham cracker recipes! So though I can’t really take any CREDIT for this cracker, I am pleased to think that perhaps my brain can think like a baker!
These crackers really are excellent though. It’s interesting to compare common store-bought items to home-made; I always wonder if the home-made recipes are designed to taste like their store-cousins and in reality, taste nothing like the original that the store-bought version was originally fashioned after! These don’t taste exactly like store-bought graham crackers… I think they are BETTER. Whatever flavor it is that makes graham crackers taste “graham-y” is amped up in these cookies… is it the honey and the molasses-y flavor of brown sugar? In any case, the store-bought ones now taste a bit stale in comparison. There is a nice crispy crunch (hooray for the pie technique and a bit of leavening agent!) and I love the cinnamon sugar sprinkling on top.
The crackers (cookies?) were tasty alone, but also fantastic with a bit of jam. My favorite way to enjoy these cookies, however, was in ice cream sandwich form. Yum.
Green Tea Cookies
One of the souvenirs that I brought home for myself from Japan was matcha- green tea leaves, finely ground into a powder. Matcha has recently grown in popularity here in the U.S., perhaps due in part to green tea ice cream and lattes, but matcha has been integral to Japanese culture since the 12th century in traditional tea ceremonies. It was brought over from China (yeah!) by Zen Buddhist monks, who drank the tea to promote peaceful and calm alertness during meditation.
A teaspoon of matcha dissolved in water tastes quite different from steeped green tea leaves- richer in that green tea flavor with a creamier texture. Tea made from matcha supplies 100% of the nutritional elements of green tea (such as antioxidants, vitamins A and E, and chlorophyll) because the whole leaf is dissolved into the tea, unlike brewing tea with loose leaf teas where a proportion of antioxidants and vitamins are retained in the leaves.
While in Japan, I saw a lot of very tempting baked goods and confections flavored with matcha, from doughnuts and scones to ice cream and mochi. Yum. I was inspired to try this recipe that had made its way through food blogs awhile ago that used matcha to flavor rich butter cookies. I had actually tried the recipe before, using a matcha mix that I had found at Whole Foods, however because the powder was a mix of green tea and sugar (and ground toasted rice- genmai), the cookies were certainly buttery but not so green tea-y. The matcha I brought back from Japan was a shockingly brilliant green color that promised intense green tea taste, and I just couldn’t wait to make green tea lattes and cookies!
The batter and dough also retained a bright, almost luminous, green color from the matcha. It almost felt like I was making cookies out of Play-Doh because the color seemed so artificial!
But they certainly didn’t taste anything like Play-Doh! (…uh… what I GUESS Play-Doh would taste like!)
These cookies are fantastic; not-too-sweet and oh-so-buttery! With my super matcha from Japan, the green tea flavor is just pronounced enough so that you know it is a green tea flavored cookie rather than merely just a green colored butter cookie, but not overpoweringly “grass-y.” I have been enjoying them with my matcha tea, and I’m starting to think that I should have brought MORE matcha back from Japan!
Green Tea Cookies
from Lovescool
makes about 25 cookies
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
5 oz. unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 egg yolks
1.5 tablespoons matcha
1/2 cup granulated sugar (for coating)
- Whisk together the matcha and confectioners sugar in a small bowl.
- Beat the butter in a separate bowl until creamy. Add the matcha and sugar mixture until smooth and light in color.
- Add the egg yolks and mix just until the eggs are fully incorporated
- Add the flour and mix until a mass forms.
- Form the dough into a disk and chill in the refrigerator until firm (at least 30 minutes).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll the dough out to 1/2 inch thickness. Cut dough with a cookie cutter. Alternatively, the dough can be rolled into a log and chilled, then slices cut for round cookies.
- Toss each cut cookie in a granulated sugar to coat.
- Place the sugar-coated cookie on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes, or until slightly golden around the edges.
