dinsdag 21 december 2010

Christmas Cookies: Candy Cane Kiss Cookies


My friend Jenny from New York was so kind to send me some Hershey Kisses as they are not available here in The Netherlands. Amongst the bags she sent me was a bag of Candy Cane Kisses, which made me search the Internet for a cookie recipe to use them in. Over at RecipeGirl I found this recipe. My mom and dad test-tasted these and absolutely loved them. After baking the cookies the kitchen smelled minty-fresh!



Candy Cane Kiss Cookies
(adapted from RecipeGirl)

Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen


1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1¼ cups butter, at room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped Candy Cane flavored Hershey’s Kisses
granulated sugar
additional, unwrapped Candy Cane Kisses- about 30



Preheat oven to 350°F.

Make room in either refrigerator or freezer for your cookie sheet.


In large mixer bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, extracts and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2-3 minutes).


In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet mixture and beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1-2 minutes). The mixture will be a bit crumbly.


Stir in chopped Kisses. Shape dough into ¾-inch to 1-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set.


As soon as they come out of the oven, press a Candy Cane Kiss in the center of each cookie. They’ll crack a little around the edges, so just use your fingers to kind of hold the cookie together while you set the kiss inside.


Put cookie sheet (with cookies) immediately into the freezer (preferred) or refrigerator so that the Kisses will set quickly. As soon as you press them into the cookie, they will begin to soften… so if you can get them into the freezer then they will keep their Kiss shape.


Store in a covered container- at room temperature for up to a week.

In the freezer they should be okay for a couple of weeks.



Tips:
You can add an addition teaspoon of peppermint extract: the cookie gets plenty of peppermint flavor from the addition of the chopped kisses, but if you’d like it really minty then go ahead and add the peppermint extract.


RecipeGirl says she spotted these Kisses at Target and CVS Pharmacy.



maandag 20 december 2010

Still looking for Christmas gifts???

Christmas is coming up and this means several things: delicious food, time spent with family & friends and of course shopping for Christmas gifts. We all know shopping for gifts can be a nightmare: running from store to store, only to find out they don't have what you're looking for.

I have found the perfect solution: shop online!!! Check out CSN: they have over 200 sites with more that sell almost anything: counter height stools, cookware, toys, clothing and many other things! I am sure you'll be able to find the perfect gift for everyone special in your life!

dinsdag 14 december 2010

Christmas Cookies: Lime Meltaways


Here's another cookie that will go into this years cookie gift-bags for coworkers. This is a partial success... I liked these, but thought the lime-flavor was a bit understated: a bit more lime-flavor would have been nice. My dad really liked these, unfortunately my mom did not.... She absolutely hated them!! She took one bite of the cookie I offered her (she's my preferred taste-tester as she always tells me exactly what she thinks of everything I make) and almost spit it out, she then gave me back the other half of the cookie and told me she hated the flavor and didn't care for the texture of the cookie. I was somewhat stumped since this was the first time my mom really didn't like the end result of something I made.... :S


Lime Meltaways
Recipe by Martha Stewart

3 dozen cookies

3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
Grated zest of 2 limes
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups, plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon coarse salt


Directions

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer with the whisk attachment (I used my regular paddle attachment), cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla; beat until fluffy.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to butter mixture, and beat on low speed until combined.

3. Divide dough in half. Place each half on a separate 8 by 12 inch piece of parchment paper, roll dough into 1 1/4-inch diameter logs. Chill at least one hour.

4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place remaining 2/3 cup sugar in a resealable plastic bag. (I placed in bowl) Remove parchment from logs; slice dough into 1/8-inch thick rounds. (I sliced them more like a 1/4 inch) Place rounds on baking sheets, spaced 1 inch apart.

5. Bake cookies until barely golden, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool slightly 8 to 10 minutes. While still warm, place cookies in the sugar-filled bag; toss to coat. (I put powdered sugar in a bowl and added baked cookies to coat) Bake or freeze remaining dough. Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.



maandag 13 december 2010

Virtual Cookie Exchange: White Chocolate & Macadamia Nut Cookies

A while ago Di of Di's Kitchen Notebook and I had a conversation on Twitter where she shared her idea of hosting a Virtual Cookie Exchange. Ofcourse I was immediately smitten with the idea: I love baking cookies and seeing all the other cookies would probably give me even more ideas and inspiration for my Christmas Cookie Goodie Bags that I'm giving out at work this year!



Within no time at all Di had a list of names of other Tweeps whom we thought would love to join and the Virtual Cookie Exchange was born! One of Nancy's very talented daughters designed the wonderful badge pictured above for all of us to use in our posts. Di will post a roundup of all the cookies later this week, so be sure to keep an eye on her blog!!


I had a lot of trouble deciding the one cookie I wanted to share with you, there are so many good ones!!! Finally I chose this one because it was voted as the most popular cookie of last years 12 Days of Christmas Cookies, both by my family and coworkers. Since then I've made it several times: the White Chocolate and Macadamia Nut Cookie!! These cookies are also a bit versatile: if you like a chewy cookie bake them for 12 minutes, but if you prefer a more crunchy cookie bake them for 15 minutes!



White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
(adapted from My Tasty Treasures)

2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped macadamia nuts
2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Beat together the melted butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla in a bowl with an electrical mixer until creamy.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until just mixed.
Stir in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips by hand.
Drop by the spoonful onto a greased or lined baking sheet.
Bake for 12 - 15 minutes or until edges look golden brown (I baked mine for 12 minutes).
Cool on the cookie sheet for at least 4-5 minutes so the cookies can set.
Remove to rack to cool completely.
Enjoy!!!




donderdag 2 december 2010

CEiMB - Tortellini-Spinach Soup - One Sentence Post


This week it was Bri's turn to pick the recipe for Craving Ellie in My Belly and she did a great job:
this soups tastes deliciously spicy (I used chili flakes instead of red pepper flakes) and is perfect for the wintery weather we've been having here as it's been snowing and we've been having temperatures around -8 degrees Celsius during the day. I may have overfilled the soup just a bit as I had a bit more veggies at hand than the recipe indicated.

The recipe can be found here at Bri's blog Yoshimi Vs. Motherhood, don't forget to check out what my fellow Ellie-istas think of the Tortellini-Spinach Soup!




Madonna - Crazy For You [Official Video]



A childhood favorite... Looked it up after Glee's Madonna show.