Chocolate Crinkles

Chocolate Crinkles are my favorite of Christmas cookies.  They are chocolaty, a little dense like a brownie, and are pretty to look at with the powdered sugar contrast on the dark chocolate cookie.  Some recipes even call them "Tuxedo Cookies" because of that contrast.

I have my grandmother's recipe, but a few things I couldn't decipher, due to the old terminology she used, and she is no longer around to verify the info with.  So, I searched high and low for other crinkle recipes, and found one on Joy of Baking, which had high reviews.  Here is that recipe:

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons(56 grams) unsalted butter

8 ounces (225 grams)semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Topping:

1 cup (110 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Directions:

In a stainless steel bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) At this point beat in the vanilla extract and then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (3-4 hours or overnight).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Place the confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. With lightly greased hands, roll a small amount of chilled dough to form a 1 inch (2.5 cm) ball. Place the ball of dough into the confectioners sugar and roll the ball in the sugar until it is completely coated and no chocolate shows through. Gently lift the sugar-covered ball, tapping off excess sugar, and place on prepared bakingsheet. Continue forming cookies, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on baking sheets. (If you find the dough getting too soft for rolling into balls, return to the refrigerator and let chill until firm.)

Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

So, as there is a first time for everything, my first time baking the Chocolate Crinkles, I had a few came out just the right way, crackled on top.  However some didn't turn out as perfect as I wished, but the most important was the taste, and it was right on point, and amazing!  Tasted just like grandma's!  I highly agree with letting batter chill overnight, and lightly getting your hands a little dirty with some butter, to roll the cookie dough into little balls.  I used a small melon ball scooper to scoop out the dough.  


Serve these with hot cocoa and you'll have loved ones coming back for more year after year!  Perfect to leave some for Santa as well! 


Happy holiday baking!

Grandma's Kifli

My family pronounces it Kee-Flee.  My husband's family pronounces it Kiful.  However you say it, they are yummy!  The word is they are Hungarian, but predominately Eastern European.

This recipe belonged to my grandmother, whom passed in 2008.  I've had difficulty getting the pastry just so.  I want to share this, though, because if you are great at figuring out difficult dough recipes, maybe this is a challenge for you.  Not quite difficult, yet the dough is dense and rather sticky to the point of you'll have a major mess on your hands, which is when I get frustrated and stop.  I so wish now I had paid attention to my Grandmother when she made these.  My grandfather jokes now how she used to get so mad when the dough wouldn't work, so I know I am not alone in my frustrations...

The treats are sweet and a bit savory, they look kind of like crescent rolls, but are far from them.  The key to making them sweet is the filling, either apricot or cherry, which is what we are used to.

Ingredients:

1 LB. Crisco (actually calls for OLEO, which I learned is an old fashioned form of Crisco, and/or lard)
1 C. Sour Cream
4 C. Flour
1 Cake  of Fresh Active Yeast
1/4 C. warm milk
3 Egg Yolks (Reserve egg whites for glaze)
1 Can of Solo Cake/Pastry Filling (Apricot, Cherry, etc)
Sugar is to be on hand.

Before I get into the directions, let's talk about cake yeast!  I had no idea what this was, and it is NOT the active dry yeast, typical for bread making.  This is what it looks like:

I found this, not easily, in the refrigerated egg/butter section at Albertson's.  I had searched high and low at Safeway and Fry's before feeling like all hope was lost.  Ask for Fresh Active Yeast, if you need to ask forassistance, and tell them it is refrigerated, its not with the other yeast, it is a living yeast and is so by being in the coolers!

Ok, now onto the directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F.

2) Mix the cake of yeast with the warm milk now, yeast should dissolve nicely into the milk.

3)  Mix Crisco and Flour as for pie crust-meaning if you know how to make pie crust, the end result of combining the Crisco and Flour should leave you with pea sized crumbles.  Pretty much you are using your hands and kind of pinching the flour and Crisco together to make the crumbles. 

4) In a separate bowl, mix together the egg yolks, sour cream, and yeast/milk mixture, lightly whisk this together to incorporate all ingredients.  Fold the egg yolk mixture inot the flour mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula.  Once you have a well mixed dough, cut dough in half, and wrap individually in plastic wrap.

5) Refrigerate overnight.

6) Roll out dough to 1/8" thickness, onto a hard surface coated with granulated sugar and flour to help keep dough from sticking, the sugar is what sweetens the bread. Make sure your rolling pin is covered in flour as well to help from further sticking.  

7) Once dough is at 1/8" thickness, cut into 2" squares.  This is really an eyeball thing, as they squares should be large enough to hold 1 tsp. of filling.  Place filling in center of square, and then take one corner of square, and begin rolling towards diagonal corner.  Shape the rolled dough into a crescent shape, and place onto a greased cookie sheet.

8) Once you've filled your tray with the Kiflis, brush with your reserved egg whites to lightly coat, this helps create the pretty sheen.  Bake for 10-12 minutes and/or until they are golden.  Once Kifli is out of the oven, sprinkle with granulated sugar.

I will attempt to create this yet again, and will post pics of completed and/or camera ready Kifli!  

Enjoy!  

Snickerdoodles

The one time of year these sweeties come out has got to be the best time of year, in my opinion, which is during the holiday season.  I love Snickerdoodles, I love what having them bake in the oven does for the fragrance of the home, and they have a texture and sweetness that is light.

Many families have their own recipes, passed down generation after generation.  I found this recipe, and do not take credit for it, but what is unique about it is not using "cream of tartar", which so many recipes have, including my own family's recipe!  I made this recipe the other day, my first time ever, and I was over the moon with happiness how they turned out.  Nobody in my family has made them since my grandmother's passing in 2008, and when I made these, I felt like they came from her, which is a wonderful feeling.

This recipe is really easy to follow, and I follow up with my different approach to it.

Here's the recipe and instructions:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 large eggs

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; set aside. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.

2. Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 20 (1 3/4-inch) balls; roll in cinnamon sugar. Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

3. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes.

My twists on this: I used a hand held mixer for the mixing, and I did not rotate the baking sheets, nor lined them with parchment paper.  On average, each batch took about 13 minutes and were perfect! I used a small melon ball sized scooper to scoop the dough with, which helped make the cookies the perfect size every time.  Also, after rolling each dough ball into the cinnamon sugar mixture I made sure they stayed in shape, so did a little Quality Control on every little cookie dough.

Once cookies were cooled, I packaged them up in medium sized cello treat bas, tied them with curling ribbon, and attached a tag stating what they were.  Treats are everyone's Christmas gifts this year, and baking cookies from the heart is the best gift of all.  It won't last a long time, but the traditions that we grow to love and cherish and sharing them with others, is a truly great gift.

Click here to see the Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everybody knows the Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip recipe!  Its on the packaging, its in many recipe boxes and books, and is timeless.  So, you have the recipe, I do too, and I have been baking "my" chocolate cookies the way I do for the past years, and all I receive are compliments, and "what's your recipe or secret?"  There is no secret, and the recipe isn't mine.  But, I do a few things that are what make my cookies come out as great as they do.  I am posting the recipe and directions first, and below I will walk through what I do.

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon salt

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

• 3/4 cup granulated sugar

• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 2 large eggs

• 2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

• 1 cup chopped nuts

Directions

PREHEAT oven to 375° F.

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets. 

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. 

PAN COOKIE VARIATION: Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars. 

SLICE AND BAKE COOKIE VARIATION: 

PREPARE dough as above. Divide in half; wrap in waxed paper. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm. Shape each half into 15-inch log; wrap in wax paper. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.* Preheat oven to 375° F. Cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely. Makes about 5 dozen cookies. 

* May be stored in refrigerator for up to 1 week or in freezer for up to 8 weeks. 

FOR HIGH ALTITUDE BAKING (5,200 feet): Increase flour to 2 1/2 cups. Add 2 teaspoons water with flour and reduce both granulated sugar and brown sugar to 2/3 cup each. Bake drop cookies for 8 to 10 minutes and pan cookie for 17 to 19 minutes.

So, that is the recipe and directions.  Pretty easy and familiar.  Most important item I use is to make sure the butter is unsalted butter.  I prefer Land O Lakes Unsalted Butter, or simply Fresh and Easy's unsalted butter. This makes a HUGE difference, because, butter is salty to begin with, and the recipe calls for salt, only 1 tsp, but if you use regular butter which has a lot of salt, adding more salt makes a salty batch of cookies-not a great surprise to the taste buds.

I also prefer to use C and H's Bakers Sugar.  It is ultra fine, professionals use it for their baking needs, and I am a fan.

Next, the thing I do is use a hand held mixer to beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla.  I used to just beat the batter mixture with my own elbow and wrist power, with a wooden spoon or spatula, but the consistency of the creamy batter is far better using this little tool.  I use the lowest setting, to start, making sure the melted butter, sugar, and the brown sugar are all blended, and no brown sugar lumps, but a few might exist.

Once the eggs are then added to the batter, usually the brown sugar lumps will begin to dissolve, and then I hit the level 3 or 4 to really make sure there are no air bubbles, and I let this continue for about a minute, then wind it down to the lowest setting.

When it comes to adding the flour mixture, I add in a cup of flour, or so, at a time, keeping the speed on the lowest setting.  As the flour is thickening the batter, the higher the speed will not help, and can wear down the motor.  Keeping it on the lowest setting will keep it consistent.  Once all the flour is added, mixer is turned off,  and you have a really thick cookie dough, that is when I add in the chocolate morsels and nuts, and I fold them in with a spatula.  The mixer could chop the morsels and nuts, which again isn't good.

Then, I put the batter into the fridge.  Almost like letting bread dough rise, cookie dough needs to set to get that "perfect" cookie texture!  I know this from experience.  If I put cookies into the oven straight after I have made the dough, the first batch or two will come out with really large cookies that have spread into one another, and it seems a waste-yummy still, but if I'm making cookies to give as gifts or to sell, I'd rather all cookies be same shape, size, thickness.  After I let the dough sit in the fridge for about 20 mins, I will then use a small "melon ball" sized scoop to scoop out the cookie dough.  And, when I scoop, I scoop up the dough, and pull it against the bowl to get any excess off the edges, release the dough ball and place it on the cookie sheet.

Another tip, if you have a well used cookie sheet that has darkened from use, I actually use non-stick aluminum on top of the cookie sheet.  The oven light reflects off this, which will help with the golden light color of the cookie.  If you are using a well used cookie sheet, there isn't much light to reflect off the oven light and won't create an overall golden hued cookie, but rather a darker, almost burnt color.

One more piece of advice...the recipe calls for 9-11 minutes in the oven.  I tend to pull them out at 9, and if too pail put them back in for 1 more minute to get a little more golden, but to not darken.  The cookies will continue cooking when out of the oven, and the coloring will stay the same light golden coloring.

And there you have it!  That is the recipe I use, and my tips and tricks to get them looking like "almost" perfect, store bought cookies!  In my opinion, anyways, but many whom greet the cookies as well! 

Caramel Apple Pie

Yum!!! This is an easy to follow recipe and will reep great rewards!

Ingredients:

2 Pie Crusts-refridgerated pie crust dough makes it easy, if you make your own, way to go!!

Apple Filling:
6 granny smith apples-peeled, cored and chopped 1/4" thick
3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
3/4 c. sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt

Caramel Sauce:
1 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cream, room temp
1/4 cup butter, room temp

Appliances:
Dutch Oven-for apples
Large scale sauce pan-deep and wide
Pie Dish

Directions:
Apple Filling:
1) Put dutch oven over med-high heat. Once warmed throughout, add in cut apples, stirring for about 1 minute, make sure not to burn, but to warm the apples, you'll begin to smell them-delicous! Add in butter, incorporate all apples with butter, sauteing, lower heat. Continue stirring, apples to become soft. After 3-4 minutes, add in dry ingredients, and if needed a bit more butter-it never hurts! Bring pot back to med-high heat until sauce is near bubbling, then reduce heat to low, cover, stir occasionally, should not be near burning temp.

Carmel:

*Special Note*-Proced with caution, always, when working with any candied topping. Make sure no babies or puppies nearby.

1) Pour sugar into pan, swirling around to evenly distribute. Heat on medium until sugar melts and caramelizes. Sugar will turn a reddish-brown color when ready. Do not stir or disturb. If sugar needs to be redistributed, gently swirl pan.

2) Stir butter and cream, being careful to avoid splashes-I added cream first, with pan off heat, will sizzle. Caramel will be extremely hot! Then add butter, off heat still to avoid major splashing onto yourself and onto stovetop. Continue stirring until butter and cream are fully incorporated.

3) Let simmer on medium heat for one minute. Remove from heat.

Prepare pie crust dough:
1) Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2) Dough should be at room temperature. Add first pie crust to bottom of pie dish, pressing into dish and against sides. Make three long slits into other pie crust, this is your vent for the top. Set aside.

Adding pie filling and caramel sauce to pie crust dough.
1) Take applie filling off of heat, uncover, and stir one last time.

2) Pour/ladle half of apple filling into pie dish. Pour caramel evenly over the apple filling, then add the remaining applie filling mixture.

3) Cover with remaining pie crust, folding top into dish to create a seal with the other crust. I'm not creative with crimping yet, but both crusts should meet, no curst hanging over edge of dish. Push dough against pie dish, then taking a fork, press fork into dough, all along the edge of dish. If this doesn't make sense, look up crimping pie dough on youtube to get demonstration. Once you have done this, you have it down pat!

4) Place pie dish in center of oven rack, bake 30-40 minutes, pie should be golden, filing bubbling. Set on pie rack for 2-3 hours, cover with lose dish towel.

5) Servie it up! If you want it warmed, place back in oven on warm setting.

If you wish to omit caramel, then omit the caramel recipe, everything else should follow suit.

Bon appetit!!

Berry-licious Angel Food Cake

This is a semi-homemade treat! Nothing really home-made about it, but if you're going to a party and are asked to bring a dessert, this is an easy dessert that will appease most palettes. Let's begin!

1 Store bought angel food cake-from your local grocer (if you've got the time and the perfection to create your own fluffy, finely molded angel food cake, go for it!)

1 pkg. frozen berry mix-thawed (raspberries, strawberries, blueberries)

1 tub of frozen whipped topping-thawed

Sugar to taste

I told you this was easy, but wait! Let's start with the angel food cake (afc)! Lay afc on its side, and 1/3 from the top, cut top off, reserve. Stand cake upright now, you are looking at a cake with top cut off, and exposed hollowed out center, like a doughnut. Pretend like you're going to make another doughnut-but not quite! Take a sharp knife, find the most center aspect of what is before you, and slide knife into that first point of cake, leaving about an in from the bottom, continue to travel the knife around, so it almost looks like you are going to have two separate circles, but they are still attached as you are not cutting through to the bottom, are you with me???

Once you have completed your circle, your cake is all still in tact; with your hands GENTLY separate cake from the center slit (point is you are going to add filling here, so make room for the berries, cake is pliable, and will allow you to make a trough). You will use your hands and spoons here to help make the trough hold the berries and not break the cake! (I should do a demo, if this seems a bit daunting, cause once you see this, you can do this in your sleep!)

With the berries and sugar, place them into a sauce pan, on low-medium heat, let the juices of the berries come out, stirring the while, and let them mingle, you want a runny berry mixture, if needed add a bit of water, and add that sugar to bring sweetness out, but not too much. If you want it super sweet, add as much as you want. You are creating a sort of berry sauce here, but its not a puree.

Remove berry mixture off heat, let cool a few minutes, then begin spooning into the trough you've created, using your fingers to hold open the trough, and with your other hand gently spooning mixture in throughout whole cake. Once you've got your berry filled AFC, put the top that you cut off back on. And now, as if to decorate a cake, bring out your whipped topping and begin to decorate your cake with a spatula! Once entire cake is covered, put it in fridge to solidify and form.

Then serve! Its refreshing and light! Has won over my guests on a memorial day bar-b-que! One day I will make my AFC from scratch, as well the whipped topping, but this costs you about $5-6, and your guests will enjoy it!!

Bon appetit!