Laying off the cream
My apologies going out to the TWDers.. the Banana Cream Pie was a no show on the table this week due to other baking 'must-do's' and an otherwise crazy work schedule. (as i type this entry, my eyelids enter a viscous cycle of drooping followed by violent twitching upwards).
Instead, here's the Toasted Lemon Almond Bars for this month's cookie carnival guest hosted by Holly of Phe.mom.enon .
With a recipe boosted by a book with a hell of a reputation (in my opinion at least since I've wanted to own The Sweet Melissa Baking Book for the longest time...), I was all ready to take on the challenge after having been on a rather long and embarrasing hiatus from the event.
The comeback recipe... a gorgeous toasted almond lemon bar featuring lemon curd on a shortbread crust. I chose to bake mine in a tart shell as I just had to make sure that every piece had an additional crust to it! No biasness going on over here...
The end result wasn't one that was all favourable with me. The lemon curd turned out to be just a little chewy...almost like a kueh. *strange...* The shortcrust base though... was a God-sent with the added frangrance of almonds pushing the entire dessert just over the border of satisfactory.
A chilled slice for a sinful supper anyone?
From The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy
Makes 1 dozen bars
"Everyone loves lemon bars. I make mine extra special by adding toasted almonds to the shortbread crust."
For the Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/2 cup sliced blanched almonds, lightly toasted
1/2 teaspoon salt
20 Tablespoons (2 1/2 sticks) cold, unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces
For the Lemon Filling:
4 large eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice (about 7 lemons)
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar for sprinkling
To Toast the Almonds:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the almonds in a single layer on a cookie sheet. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until lightly golden and you can smell them. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Before You Start:
Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 13 - inch pan with nonstick vegetable cooking spray. Make a parchment "sling" by cutting two pieces of parchment paper, measuring 16 1/2 inches long by 12 inches wide (you can also use aluminum foil). Place one piece across the length, and the other across the width of the pan, with the excess hanging over the edges. You will use this sling later to lift the finished bar from the pan. Spray the sling with the cooking spray.
To Make the Crust:
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade, pulse the flour, sugar, almonds, and salt to combine. Add the cold butter in pieces and pulse until the dough comes together in a ball.
2. Turn the dough out into the prepared pan and press evenly into the bottom and 1 1/4 inches up the sides. (This crust, once it is baked, needs to act as a liner in which to pour the liquidy lemon filling. So be sure to do a good job of pressing the dough up the sides - no cracks!). Cover the dough with a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil, and fill with pie weights ( you can use dried beans or uncooked rice as pie weights as well). Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until lightly golden. Carefully remove the pie weights and the liner and bake for an additional 10 to 15 minutes, or until the whole crust is golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
To Make the Filling:
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the almond extract and flour, and whisk until smooth. Add the lemon juice, and whisk to combine.
To Complete the Bars:
1. Pour the lemon filling into the prepared crust. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F. Bake for 30 minutes, or until the filling is firm and lightly golden. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
2. When cool use the parchment sling to lift the entire bar from the pan and onto a cutting board. Slice into twelve 3 x 3 1/2 - inch bars. Remove from the pan and, using a small sifter, dust with the confectioners' sugar.
The bars keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. For longer storage, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 5 days, or freeze well wrapped in plastic wrap and then aluminum foil for up to 3 weeks. Do not unwrap before defrosting. Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.
cookie carnival:
The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Cookie Carnival: November Issue
After a incredibly long hiatus from this baking event. I'm glad to be right on track with the November's recipe for the ultimate chewy and soft chocolate chunk cookies! If the title hasn't captured you yet, I'm not sure what might. This recipe comes from Regan Daley from her absolutely fabulous MUST-HAVE book, In The Sweet Kitchen . Thank you Kate for the wonderful selection. The cookies were gorgeous with just the right amount of crispness and the right degree of chewiness involved. Guess I'll be putting these down on my 'to bake again' list! Cheers!
cookies packed and ready to be sent off by special delivery to babe.
Hope that these managed to chase away the exam blues!
The Ultimate Chewy and Soft Chocolate Chunk Cookies
INGREDIENTS
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup tightly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsps. pure vanilla extract
3 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
16 oz. flavorful bitter or semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, or lightly butter them, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, or stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, or a large bowl if mixing by hand, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well and scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Beat in the vanilla.
2. Sift the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl. Add the dry ingredients to the butter-sugar mixture, and mix until just combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
3. Using your hands, shape knobs of dough about the size of a large walnut and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. Stagger the rows of cookies to ensure even baking. Bake 12-15 for smaller cookies, 14-17 for larger ones or until the tops are a light golden brown. If the cookies are neither firm nor dark when they are removed from the oven, they will cool chewy and soft. Cool the cookies on the sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. If somehow they don't get inhaled immediately, they may be stored airtight at room temperature for up to one week.
cookie carnival: Snickerdoodles!
The Magic of Spice!
The cookie dough was pretty much a gist to mix up. I had all the required ingredients in the pantry hence stirring up the magic was a breeze. I enjoyed the mixing of the sugar and cinammon stage the most. The smell whiffing from the powdered mixture was etheral. Like a brief moment in heaven. And the smell was later amplified ten fold after i opened up the oven doors.
Makes 4 dozen.
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
* 1/2 cup pure vegetable shortening
* 1 3/4 cups sugar, plus more if needed
* 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon, plus more if needed
* 2 large eggs
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, with one rack in top third and one rack in bottom third of oven. Line baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.
2. Sift together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, shortening, and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs, and beat to combine. Add dry ingredients, and beat to combine.
3. In a small bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup sugar and the ground cinnamon. Use a small (1 1/4-ounce) ice-cream scoop to form balls of the dough, and roll in cinnamon sugar. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Bake until the cookies are set in center and begin to crack (they will not brown), about 10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets after 5 minutes. Transfer the sheets to a wire rack to cool about 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to the rack. Store in an airtight container up to 1 week.
After that, kick back and relax with a cup of milk on a hot summers day and enjoy...
Bleeding love
Cookie Carnival :: MayBleeding Love
Okay, so after much procrastination; it boiled down to the point of having to bake the cookies because the blueberries that I had purchased were on the brink of spoiling if I had left it any longer in the refrigerator. Arghs.. but don't worry, this precious little recipe came out to be SOO worth it after the whole internal conflict situation I encountered along the way.
introducing this month's cookie carnival recipe from Emeril as chosen by our Kate from the cleanplate club. A simple recipe that calls for minimal ingredients yet yield such a delectable goodie all a very short span of time. We're talking about express cookies on the go over here! *yum*. couples with a few special ingredients, for example, blueberry in a cookie? boy.. now that's unconventional... and others such as almond essence and lemon rind. It all heightens the flavor of this cookies. Best still, its fat and chewy in the centre! just how i like my cookies done!
So for anyone keen on using the freshest blueberries in the market season without having to do the classics like blueberry muffins and blueberry pies. Please do consider these lovely biscuits. I'm sure u'll enjoy these just as much.
Ingredients:
* One-half cup shortening
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 egg
* One-fourth cup milk
* One-half teaspoon almond extract
* One and one-half teaspoons grated lemon zest
* 2 cups all purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* One-half teaspoon salt
* 1 cup blueberries, rinsed and picked over
Instructions:
1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the shortening, sugar, egg, milk, almond extract and lemon zest, mixing well after the addition of each ingredient. Slowly add the flour, baking powder and salt. Fold in the blueberries and mix until well blended.
Makes about 4 dozen.
shooting stars
Gourmet Magazine
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
1 fresh (moist) vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg yolk
Special equipment:
a 2-inch cookie cutter (we used a fluted diamond-shaped one)
Preparation
Make vanilla sugar:
Scrape vanilla seeds from pod with tip of a knife into confectioners sugar. Halve pods crosswise and bury in sugar. Cover tightly and let stand at least 24 hours and up to 1 month.
Make cookies:
Discard pods and transfer vanilla sugar to a food processor. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse just until mixture is in pea-size lumps. Add yolk and pulse just until a dough forms. Gather dough into 2 balls, then flatten into 2 (5-inch) disks and chill, each disk wrapped well in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 325°F.
Roll out 1 disk (keep the other chilled) to less than 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Cut out shapes with floured cookie cutter and chill scraps. Arrange cookies 1/2 inch apart on a buttered large baking sheet. Make more cookies with remaining dough, rerolling scraps (but only once).
Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until edges are pale golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.
Cooks' notes:
• Dough can be chilled up to 2 days.
• Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.
