Brown Sugar Craving...

sandwich cookies
Originally uploaded by lemonadestand

For some reason or another, I've been craving brown sugar. I was looking for brown sugar recipes online when I started thinking about browned butter. Browned butter is butter that is ever so slightly burnt and it makes a huge difference in taste. My first introduction to browned butter came via the Treats Truck and Kim's browned buttercream sandwich cookies. They're delicious...and it was a real treat to find a recipe with a picture of very similar looking cookies on the Land O'Lakes website.

This recipe is super easy. Except that I consistently fail at having the patience to make things pretty. The dough is supposed to be rolled into a log, chilled, and then sliced, but I barely rolled it into a log and I sloppily wrapped wax paper around it before tossing it in the freezer for 45 minutes. It was really lopsided when I took it out! I tried to redeem myself after slicing to make them more circular, but then the cookies weren't very neat anymore. Sigh! I guess this was a shortcut that really failed.

But the cookies were good. Very similar to what's offered at the Treats Truck. I made the frosting before the cookies, so they had dried out a bit before I sandwiched them and they cracked when I squished the two cookies together. Still tasted good. I really liked the browned butter cream. The cookie was pretty good, too, and just hard enough to properly press into sandwiches, but still soft enough to not be crunchy when bitten into.

Browned Butter Sandwich Cookies. Adapted from Land O'Lakes

1 c soft butter (2 sticks)
2/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c ap flour
1/4 tsp salt

1) Beat butter and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy.
2) Add egg yolks and vanilla, beating until well mixed.
3) Reduce speed to low, add flour and salt. Beat until mixture becomes a dough.
4) Divide dough in half. Shape each half into a log about 1 1/2" in diameter. Wrap in plastic and chill for 3 hours or overnight.
5) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a sharp knife, cut each log into 1/8" slices. Place 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheets and bake until edges are lightly browned ~9 minutes.


Cream Filling

1/4 c butter
2 c powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp heavy cream

1) Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until butter starts to brown. Immediately remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.
2) Add powdered sugar, vanilla, and 1 tbsp heavy cream. Add more cream as necessary for desired spreading consistency.

Note: So I learned that flour is added last and at the lowest speed to help prevent too much gluten from building up. I wonder what the texture of a cookie with too much gluten is like. Perhaps breadlike?

Palets Aux Raisins

When this recipe showed up in my workbook at ICE, I was reluctant to try this one out because...well...the raisin in the name and the thought of currants in my cookie made me uneasy. However, they turned out much better than I thought! They're no chocolate chip cookies, but still pretty good and super easy to make.

Palets Aux Raisins

4 1/2 oz butter

3 1/2 oz sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tbsp dark rum

5 1/2 oz ap flour

3 1/2 oz currants

1) Cream the butter with th esugar until soft and light. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat in rum, then flour and currants.

2) Pipe on parchment lined sheet pans with 1/2" plain tube. Bake at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.

xoxo,

lemonie

Eleni's Cookies

I don't know what exactly took me so long to get to Chelsea Market. I'm sort of disappointed in myself! It's weird...I had known about it, but I neer really thought about it being a place to go to until it was recommended by someone at my gym. So, I planned it into my weekend schedule and I went yesterday.

My goodness! The bakeries are so cute. I also like the transparency to it. I really like looking at kitchens so it was lovely getting to see the dough kneading going on at Amy's Bakery. I didn't buy any bread from there, although I feel like I should have, but I did go into a lot of the other stores to try them out.

Now I'm not going to buy almond flour from anywhere but Buon Italia. I've never seen the flour so fine before...and it's way cheaper than the stuff I pick up at Whole Foods. Fat Witch's brownies were completely disappointing. You would think that if brownies were their specialty, they would be better. Afterwards, they inspired me to make this blondie recipe I've been working on for dinner and they were well received, so it wasn't all bad. I ate my first rugelach yesterday and the judges are still out on that one. Taste good, texture...ehh. But the real treasure of yesterday was finding this cow cookie at Eleni's. Most decorated cookies don't taste very good b/c they need to be firm. This isn't an exceptional cookie, but despite being dry and hard, it's got good flavor. It actually reminds me of something, but I haven't been able to figure out. Right now, my best guess is Nilla Wafers. So, it has more flavor than the typical cardboard tasting cookies...and well...it's a cow. How can I resist the cow? I also wanted to get this googly-eyed dinosaur, but I knew if I ate one cookie, I wouldn't eat the other so I wasn't about to throw away $4 just to own the googly-eyed dinosaur. That's for next time.

Thumbprint Cookies

I moved this week into a beautiful new place and I've had a lot of fun testing out the new kitchen. Today, Joe came over to help create my first meal here. He took charge of the chicken cordon bleu, and I made my beautiful white bread and some yummy thumbprint cookies.

I love thumbprint cookies b/c they taste sort of healthy due to the jam in the center. Since I just moved in, I don't have very much on hand...but I went out and bought a safe bet - strawberry jam. Today's recipe came from my favorite site for suggestions: allrecipes

Thumbprint Cookies

3/4 c butter
1/2 c sugar
2 egg yolks
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 c fruit preserves/jam, any flavor

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2) In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, sugar, and egg yolks. Mix in flour a little at a time until a dough forms.
3) Rough doll into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make a dent in the center of each cookie (I use the back of a melon baller b/c my thumb always leaves uneven holes). Fill with 1/2 tsp of jam/preserves.
4) Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the the bottom of the cookies are golden brown.

Notes: I would use cold butter rather than softened b/c then the dough will shape better. It might lose shape in the oven b/c of the butter, so if you have some time and can pop your tray into the fridge before putting it in the oven, please do so.

I've made this recipe many times before. It's so soft and delicious!

Whimsy & Spice

Last summer, I was blessed enough to get a table next to Mark, founder and baker behind Whimsy & Spice, when I was selling at the Brooklyn Flea. I also got the chance to see his two daughters and wife, Jenna. Although we didn't interact that much, I gave his youngest daughter a few treats and when I left, he gave me a brownie. I was on Etsy the other day and much to my surprise, I found them again!

I was so excited when I found Whimsy & Spice online that I went a little crazy and ordered practically one of everything. One thing I didn't order, which I think is probably their first shop staple, is the marshmallow. For some reason, I just get grossed out by chewing on marshmallows. What I did order was the brown sugar gingerspice shortbread cookies, the rose & black pepper thumbprints, the lucious brownies (espresso with dulce de leche), hazelnut whisky sandwich cookies, and the chocolate & butterscotch layered bar cookies. After waiting a whole week, (for some reason the commute from Brooklyn to New Jersey took priority mail like 4 days) I finally got them!

Gingerspice shortbread cookies: Really yummy. The ginger leaves a nice aftertaste that almost makes my tongue tingle.

Rose & Black pepper thumbprints: To be honest, I already knew I don't like the flavor of rose, but I was curious about the combination and I thought they were so pretty. The rose flavor wasn't as strong as it was for many of the other rose desserts I've had before, but it's still there. The aftertaste is strongly of black pepper.

Lucious Brownies: First thought - espresso! The dulce de leche takes a backseat to the espresso flavor.

Hazelnut Whisky Sandwich Cookies: This was a big winner for my mom. She doesn't like really sweet things in the first place (she claims it hurts her teeth). It tastes like the whisky is in the chocolate center so it's both strong and subtle. Not really sure how to describe it...it definitely tastes of liquor, but not of whisky. Hm.. The cookie is really tasty. Anyway, my mom was heading up to bed and she grabbed out off the table and ran like I wouldn't even notice.

Chocolate & Butterscotch layered bar cookies: The sweetest of the bunch! A very strong butterscotch taste. I can't taste the chocolate at all. The graham cracker is a nice touch though...b/c it gives some texture. However, since I never ate butterscotch as a kid, the butterscotch flavor is really intimidating.

So, my final review: My favorite overall was the gingerspice shortbread cookies and Lemon-zest agrees.. The hazelnut whisky sandwich cookie was a hit with one old lady. Lemon-zest scarfed down a thumbprint before even noticing that it had rose or pepper (really weird). Least favorite: chocolate & butterscotch cookies. I think the cookies are really delightful though. I think they're really cute to give away as gifts. The packaging is really professional, even though I know they're done at home b/c I read their blog. If you're into really sweet or really soft cookies/brownies, then this probably isn't for you, but if you're up for a little bit of adventure...you should give them a try. Or at least check out their blog.

xoxo,

lemonie

Jessica's 1st Birthday Cookies!

Today's Jessica's first birthday! Jessica is my cousin Patty's daughter. Since my mom knows best about the proper gifts for someone reaching this milestone and b/c I'm broke, lemon-rind and I used our baking skills to provide gifts for the party itself. We made sugar cookies! I baked them and cut out the circle shapes, and lemon-zest took to frosting. She wrote "j" on them and don't they look so pretty?! I got a little too excited about putting them into the box so I didn't let them set properly...and when they got into the box, some of the frosting got mushed. =(

I'm still out on the quest for the perfect sugar cookie and frosting. There was one recipe I used a while ago with cream cheese that I really liked, but I didn't have cream cheese on hand so I turned to allrecipes.com to find a good alternative.



Rolled Sugar Cookies
1 1/2 c softened butter
2 1/2 c white sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
5 c ap flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

1) Cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
2) Beat in eggs and vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and salt.
3) Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.
4) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut shapes with cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
5) Bake 6-8 minutes. Cool completely.

These cookies are a dream to work with. They roll well, they bake well, and after baking, they literally just slid off the sheet.




I tried two different frostings. This one is the glossy pink one above. It's very pretty, but I wasn't a huge fan of the flavor. The cookies weren't very sweet, and I can taste the corn syrup on the icing, so the overall flavor seemed to be the corn syrup!

Glaze Icing
1 c confectioners' sugar
2 tsp milk
2 tsp light corn syrup
1/4 tsp vanlla extract
Food coloring

1) In a small bowl, mix sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and vanilla until icing is smooth and glossy. If too thick, add more corn syrup. Add food coloring.

This one tastes better, but just isn't as pretty. =(

Frosting
4 c confectioners' sugar
1/2 c shortening
5 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
Food coloring

1) Cream together sugar and shortening until smooth. Gradually blend in milk and vanilla with electric mixer until stiff. Color.

I hope the cookies are well received! Next time I make cookies, I'll probably go back to my trusty cream cheese recipe...it's sweet and soft...so it can handle the pretty glaze much better b/c the corn syrup taste isn't as overpowering.

Snowballs!

Nearly ten years ago, my parents bought a minivan. It was the only car big enough to trek our 6 member family back and forth between home and anywhere. When I went away for high school and my brother to college, my parents used to stop by and have picnics. All the chairs would go down and we'd set up a small table in the back...and have a dinner inside the minivan! We'd even cook in there. Well, the minivan has finally kicked the bucket. So, with only one car...taking it to work takes priority, leaving me in the kitchen!

We didn't have a white Christmas here...all the snow we had melted! I went in to the kitchen and made it snow with snowball cookies.




I got my first Kitchen Aid for my birthday this year!










Snowballs

2 sticks butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1 tbsp water
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour

Cream together butter and sugar. Mix in water and vanilla before adding flour.

Mine looked powdery after I did that...








And then roll into balls. I had trouble rolling them because it was so powdery. I had to make the circle shape by hand.



I popped these into the oven, which had been preheated to 325 degrees. I also realized that I wasn't sure how long to put them in for...so I put them in for about 12 minutes.

When they came out, I let them cool off, before rolling them around in some powdered sugar.


When I make real snowballs, they're never quite this round. I usually pack them too hard and they end up misshapen.

But these are easy to roll into balls. And fun to eat. And messy like real snowballs.


My brother and sister-in-law came to visit for Christmas and they brought their dogs, Peenoo (which means soap) and Hercules.

Peenoo really wanted to eat some snowballs.



Hercules was too sleepy to care. =)


xoxo,
lemonie