Double the Cookie!

 

Everyone loves an Oreo, and almost as many love peanut butter cookies, so why not have both? Elise Thomas, who wrote the new cookbook, Eat Dessert First, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her Oreo-stuffed peanut butter cookies. Essentially a standard peanut butter cookie with an Oreo in the center. Elise told Tonia that she knows a little something about cookies, as she's the CEO over Cookie Co headquartered out of Redlands, California. It's a growing cookie shop with locations all over Southern Cal, along with 26 franchises. Now, Elise wants you to enjoy her quality cookies anywhere, even if you don't have a Cookie Co nearby!

If a Cookie Could Be Ugly....

   

Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And if something tastes good, who are we to call them ugly? Elizabeth Minchilli, who wrote the cookbook, The Italian Table, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her new book and a recipe for Crucchi. That's a delicious Italian cookie that has a particular look to it, and that says Elizabeth, is because you literally form them by squashing the dough with your hands. Note the ingredients list, it's not long. That means it's a very easy cookie to make. Try it out!

 

1 cup of toasted blanched hazelnuts (preferably halved)
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups of sugar
Pinch of sea salt
2 large eggs


Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

If your hazelnuts are whole, stick the point of a knife into a nut at the fat, dimpled end, and it should break in half fairly easily. Don’t worry if the halves aren’t perfectly even. If that seems too fussy, then just roughly chop them. Just don’t chop too finely!

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl and beat them with a fork. Add the eggs to the flour mixture and mix with a spoon. The mixture will be very dry and stiff. Use your hands to finish mixing, adding the nuts at the end.

Using your hands, form an irregular, raggedy mound of about a tablespoon of dough, and drop it onto the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 20 minutes. It is hard to tell when they are done, since they are a deep, dark brown, but 20 minutes is usually good.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely. The cookies will be very hard on the outside and a little moist and chewy on the inside. If making them ahead, store them in an airtight container for up to a week.

Credit for the book: © The Italian Table: Creating Festive Meals for Family and Friends, by Elizabeth Minchilli, Rizzoli, 2019.  All images credited © Elizabeth Minchilli.

Cookies For Breakfast

  

That's because they're fully loaded. But instead of a sugar crash, you'll get sustained energy throughout the day and a real fill-up before you hit the road. Registered dietician and author Marisa Moore stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her new cookbook The Plant Love Kitchen and recipe for loaded breakfast cookies. She says there's a lot here to like, including a short ingredients list that's very healthy. Marisa told Tonia she uses roasted and salted sunflower seeds to give the cookie a

crunch and the dried cranberries to add some chewiness. She says because there's not much in the way of sugar, but plenty of fiber and protein, these cookies will fill you up and not slow you down! Great for breakfast or a snack!

• 4 ounces dried cranberries
• roasted, salted sunflower seeds
• ¼ cup hot water
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• ¼ cup almond butter (or sunflower butter, or peanut butter)
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a half baking sheet with oil or line with parchment.
• Blend the dried cranberries with hot water in a small food processor or blender until a thick paste forms.
• Place the puree in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the oats, brown sugar, almond butter, cinnamon, and salt until a dough forms. Use a tablespoon measure to scoop the dough, roll, then flatten 12 small cookies and place on the prepared baking sheet. 
• Bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes or until the cookies are lightly brown on the bottom and fragrant. Enjoy warm or let cool on a cooling rack before transferring to a sealed container for up to 3 days. 

An Authentic Vermont Cookie

  

And when it comes to these kinds of cookies, you best bet on the butter quotient, simply because in this case, butter does make it better! Gesine Bullock-Prado, who is the author of the new cookbook, My Vermont Table, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about how these self-described "cozy" cookies, and the butteriest you'll ever make. Gesine told Tonia that these are Maple Tuiles, a French cookie by heritage, kicked with the seasonal flavor of maple, arguably one of Vermont's most famous exports. Gesine told Tonia that even though these cookies are fancy French, you only have to bake them for three minutes. Your reward, a crispy, buttery cookie you'll adore!

4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick; 57 g) unsalted European butter (I use Vermont Creamery cultured butter), at room temperature.

1⁄2 cup (96 g) maple sugar (I use Choice Maple out of Hartford, VT)

1 large egg white, at room temperature

1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

1⁄2 cup (60 g) unbleached, all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)

1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the butter and maple sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix until smooth. Scrape the bowl and add the egg white

and vanilla bean paste. Mix until combined. Scrape the bowl again, add the flour and salt, and mix until combined. Alternatively, you can mix this by hand in a bowl with a flat, wooden spoon. In that case, make sure your butter is slightly softer than room temperature.

Place about a teaspoon of the batter on a silicone baking mat and spread into a very thin 2-by-4-inch rectangle. Bake for 1 to 2 minutes, until the batter is golden brown. While the cookie is still warm and pliable, roll the cookie around a chopstick into a tight cylinder. Once you get a hang of the process, you can graduate to making two cookies at a time.

Excerpted from MY VERMONT TABLE: Recipes for all (Six) Seasons by Gesine Bullock-Prado Copyright © 2023. Used with permission of the publisher, Countryman Press. All rights reserved.

Raymond Prado photo credit

Getting An Early Start on Cookie Season

It may barely be October, but that's no reason why you can't start thinking about holiday (or anytime) cookies. And one cookie idea is a doozy! Jorj Morgan, who wrote the new, interactive cookbook, You Can Cook Anything, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen with her recipe for the Big Soft Ginger Cookie. We told you it was a doozy, and has actually been in Morgan's family for quite some time, this being her grandma's recipe. Jorj told Tonia you can use either butter or margarine. These cookies are great for Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas or anytime!

Changing Up the Pumpkin Cookie

 When you want a pumpkin cookie, you don't want pumpkin cake! That's why when you make these Pumpkin Snickerdoodles, it's important to cook the pumpkin in a skillet. Amy Traverso, who's the Senior Food Editor for Yankee Magazine, came by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her recipe. She told Tonia that heating the pumpkin in a skillet removes the moisture and lessens the chance you'll end up with a cakey cookie.

Yield:

2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

¾ cup pumpkin puree
1 stick (8 tablespoons) salted butter, softened
1¼ cups granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
2 cups all-purpose flour
1¼ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1¼ teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
½ teaspoon baking soda
Cinnamon sugar, for rolling

Instructions

Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a small frying pan, cook the pumpkin puree over medium heat, stirring often, until the mixture is drier, darker in color, and making crackling sounds, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat and cool.

Preheat your oven to 375°F and set your racks to the upper- and lower-third positions.

In a large bowl, using a stand or handheld mixer, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the pumpkin and egg yolks to the butter mixture and stir, scraping down the sides of the bowl a couple of times. Don’t worry if the mixture looks a bit curdled. Add the flour, pumpkin pie spice, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda; beat until combined.

Pour your cinnamon sugar into a shallow bowl (you’ll need about a cup for this many cookies). Break the dough off into pieces the size of Ping-Pong balls and roll them into balls, then roll in the cinnamon sugar. Arrange the balls on the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between. Bake until the cookies are puffed and golden at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes.

No Options in These Cookies

 

That's because they're fully loaded. But instead of a sugar crash, you'll get sustained energy throughout the day and a real fill-up before you hit the road. Registered dietician and author Marisa Moore stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her new cookbook The Plant Love Kitchen and recipe for loaded breakfast cookies. She says there's a lot here to like, including a short ingredients list that's very healthy. Marisa told Tonia she uses roasted and salted sunflower seeds to give the cookie a

crunch and the dried cranberries to add some chewiness. She says because there's not much in the way of sugar, but plenty of fiber and protein, these cookies will fill you up and not slow you down! Great for breakfast or a snack!

• 4 ounces dried cranberries
• roasted, salted sunflower seeds
• ¼ cup hot water
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• ¼ cup almond butter (or sunflower butter, or peanut butter)
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a half baking sheet with oil or line with parchment.
• Blend the dried cranberries with hot water in a small food processor or blender until a thick paste forms.
• Place the puree in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the oats, brown sugar, almond butter, cinnamon, and salt until a dough forms. Use a tablespoon measure to scoop the dough, roll, then flatten 12 small cookies and place on the prepared baking sheet. 
• Bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes or until the cookies are lightly brown on the bottom and fragrant. Enjoy warm or let cool on a cooling rack before transferring to a sealed container for up to 3 days. 

Two Cookies In One!

Everyone loves an Oreo, and almost as many love peanut butter cookies, so why not have both? Elise Thomas, who wrote the new cookbook, Eat Dessert First, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her Oreo-stuffed peanut butter cookies. Essentially a standard peanut butter cookie with an Oreo in the center. Elise told Tonia that she knows a little something about cookies, as she's the CEO over Cookie Co headquartered out of Redlands, California. It's a growing cookie shop with locations all over Southern Cal, along with 26 franchises. Now, Elise wants you to enjoy her quality cookies anywhere, even if you don't have a Cookie Co nearby!

A True Vermont Cookie

 

And when it comes to these kinds of cookies, you best bet on the butter quotient, simply because in this case, butter does make it better! Gesine Bullock-Prado, who is the author of the new cookbook, My Vermont Table, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about how these self-described "cozy" cookies, and the butteriest you'll ever make. Gesine told Tonia that these are Maple Tuiles, a French cookie by heritage, kicked with the seasonal flavor of maple, arguably one of Vermont's most famous exports. Gesine told Tonia that even though these cookies are fancy French, you only have to bake them for three minutes. Your reward, a crispy, buttery cookie you'll adore!

4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick; 57 g) unsalted European butter (I use Vermont Creamery cultured butter), at room temperature.

1⁄2 cup (96 g) maple sugar (I use Choice Maple out of Hartford, VT)

1 large egg white, at room temperature

1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

1⁄2 cup (60 g) unbleached, all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)

1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the butter and maple sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix until smooth. Scrape the bowl and add the egg white

and vanilla bean paste. Mix until combined. Scrape the bowl again, add the flour and salt, and mix until combined. Alternatively, you can mix this by hand in a bowl with a flat, wooden spoon. In that case, make sure your butter is slightly softer than room temperature.

Place about a teaspoon of the batter on a silicone baking mat and spread into a very thin 2-by-4-inch rectangle. Bake for 1 to 2 minutes, until the batter is golden brown. While the cookie is still warm and pliable, roll the cookie around a chopstick into a tight cylinder. Once you get a hang of the process, you can graduate to making two cookies at a time.

Excerpted from MY VERMONT TABLE: Recipes for all (Six) Seasons by Gesine Bullock-Prado Copyright © 2023. Used with permission of the publisher, Countryman Press. All rights reserved.

Raymond Prado photo credit

Push These Buttons...

 

 

 



...or eat them. Nutella Buttons that is. Dorie Greenspan, who wrote the cookbook Baking Chez Moi, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her Nutella Buttons, and are they amazing!  Dorie told Tonia she uses mini-muffin pans to make the buttons.  She fills the pans with white cake batter, a dollop of Nutella, topped with more cake batter and dipped in chocolate. After baking, you'll find this button is one you don't want to push!  Instead, you'll want to eat it!

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup minus 1 tablespoon (95 grams) confectioners’ sugar, sifted

¾ cup (102 grams) all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking powder

Pinch of fine sea salt

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Drop of pure almond extract (optional)

¾ stick (6 tablespoons; 3 ounces; 85 grams) unsalted butter, melted

About ¼ cup (74 grams) Nutella or jam, at room temperature

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. The buttons can be baked in mini muffin tins or in foil-and-paper mini muffin cups. If you’re using muffin tins, butter them or line with paper cups; if you’re using foil muffin cups, put them on a baking sheet.

Separate the eggs. Put the yolks in a small bowl and whisk them lightly, just to blend. Put the whites in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a large bowl.

Whisk the confectioners’ sugar, flour, baking powder and salt together in a large bowl. Add the yolks, vanilla extract and almond extract, if you’re using it, and beat energetically. Pour in the melted butter, stir to combine and then give the batter a vigorous beating.

If you’re working in a stand mixer, fit it with the whisk attachment; if not, use a hand mixer. Beat the whites until they hold firm peaks but are still glossy. Using a flexible spatula, stir about one quarter of the whites into the batter to loosen it, then gently fold in the remaining whites. (At this point, you can press a piece of plastic film against the surface of the batter and refrigerate it overnight, if you’d like.)

It’s hard to give exact measurements, because muffin tin sizes can vary, but the principle here is to put a small amount of batter, about 1 teaspoon, in the bottom of each mold or paper cup, add ½ teaspoon Nutella or jam, and then cover the Nutella with enough batter to fill the mold or paper cup just to the top. If you’re using mini muffin tins and have some unfilled molds, put a spoonful of water in each empty one (to help the buttons to bake evenly). If you have more batter than muffin tins, refrigerate the batter until you’re ready for it.

Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, or until the tops of the buttons are golden brown and springy to the touch and a toothpick stuck into the center of a button comes out clean. Remove the buttons from the muffin tins as soon as they come out of the oven; the buttons baked in cups can stay in their liners. Cool the buttons to room temperature on racks. If you have more batter, make sure that the muffins tins are cool before filling them with the remaining batter and Nutella.

Cookies: Fully Loaded

No options necessary with these breakfast cookies. But instead of a sugar crash, you'll get sustained energy throughout the day and a real fill-up before you hit the road. Registered dietician and author Marisa Moore stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her new cookbook The Plant Love Kitchen and recipe for loaded breakfast cookies. She says there's a lot here to like, including a short ingredients list that's very healthy. Marisa told Tonia she uses roasted and salted sunflower seeds to give the cookie a

crunch and the dried cranberries to add some chewiness. She says because there's not much in the way of sugar, but plenty of fiber and protein, these cookies will fill you up and not slow you down! Great for breakfast or a snack!

• 4 ounces dried cranberries
• roasted, salted sunflower seeds
• ¼ cup hot water
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• ¼ cup almond butter (or sunflower butter, or peanut butter)
• ⅓ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• Pinch of salt

• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly spray a half baking sheet with oil or line with parchment.
• Blend the dried cranberries with hot water in a small food processor or blender until a thick paste forms.
• Place the puree in a medium mixing bowl. Stir in the oats, brown sugar, almond butter, cinnamon, and salt until a dough forms. Use a tablespoon measure to scoop the dough, roll, then flatten 12 small cookies and place on the prepared baking sheet. 
• Bake at 350°F for about 12 minutes or until the cookies are lightly brown on the bottom and fragrant. Enjoy warm or let cool on a cooling rack before transferring to a sealed container for up to 3 days. 

This Cookie Has a Certain Zest

Admittedly, when it comes down to it, real Italian pastries don't have a lot of sugar, especially when compared to their American counterparts. As a result, you can really taste the actual flavor of these cookies, which is to say zesty orange! Susan Gravely, who wrote the new cookbook, Italy on a Plate, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her Orange and Sage Scented Shortbread. She says she includes orange zest in the recipe, which really helps that flavor come through. Susan told she also uses real sage leaves and mixes that with the zest. Susan loves these cookies so much, she says she's had to stop making them, because she eats them all!

Yields 2 dozen

ingredients

8 ounces unsalted butter, softened

12 cup sugar

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

Pinch of salt

1 tablespoon orange zest

6 fresh sage leaves, minced

Combine the butter and sugar in a medium bowl and beat until fluffy. Add the flour, salt, zest, and sage leaves, and mix until the dough comes together.

Divide the dough into two equal portions and roll out 2 (212 to 3-inch diameter) logs on a lightly-floured surface. Wrap with plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least two hours.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Cut the cookies into 12-inch slices and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 25 minutes. Check after 20 minutes for doneness; cookies should be slightly firm to the touch.

Remove with a spatula to a wire cooling rack and serve warm, or at room temperature.

The "Ugly" Cookie

  

Of course, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And if something tastes good, who are we to call them ugly? Elizabeth Minchilli, who wrote the cookbook, The Italian Table, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about her new book and a recipe for Crucchi. That's a delicious Italian cookie that has a particular look to it, and that says Elizabeth, is because you literally form them by squashing the dough with your hands. Note the ingredients list, it's not long. That means it's a very easy cookie to make. Try it out!

 

1 cup of toasted blanched hazelnuts (preferably halved)
2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
1 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups of sugar
Pinch of sea salt
2 large eggs


Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

If your hazelnuts are whole, stick the point of a knife into a nut at the fat, dimpled end, and it should break in half fairly easily. Don’t worry if the halves aren’t perfectly even. If that seems too fussy, then just roughly chop them. Just don’t chop too finely!

Put the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and mix to combine.

Crack the eggs into a small bowl and beat them with a fork. Add the eggs to the flour mixture and mix with a spoon. The mixture will be very dry and stiff. Use your hands to finish mixing, adding the nuts at the end.

Using your hands, form an irregular, raggedy mound of about a tablespoon of dough, and drop it onto the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart.

Bake for 20 minutes. It is hard to tell when they are done, since they are a deep, dark brown, but 20 minutes is usually good.

Remove them from the oven and let them cool completely. The cookies will be very hard on the outside and a little moist and chewy on the inside. If making them ahead, store them in an airtight container for up to a week.

Credit for the book: © The Italian Table: Creating Festive Meals for Family and Friends, by Elizabeth Minchilli, Rizzoli, 2019.  All images credited © Elizabeth Minchilli.

The Crispiest, Butteriest Cookies You Can Bake in Three Minutes

And when it comes to these kinds of cookies, you best bet on the butter quotient, simply because in this case, butter does make it better! Gesine Bullock-Prado, who is the author of the new cookbook, My Vermont Table, stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about how these self-described "cozy" cookies, and the butteriest you'll ever make. Gesine told Tonia that these are Maple Tuiles, a French cookie by heritage, kicked with the seasonal flavor of maple, arguably one of Vermont's most famous exports. Gesine told Tonia that even though these cookies are fancy French, you only have to bake them for three minutes. Your reward, a crispy, buttery cookie you'll adore!

4 tablespoons (1⁄2 stick; 57 g) unsalted European butter (I use Vermont Creamery cultured butter), at room temperature.

1⁄2 cup (96 g) maple sugar (I use Choice Maple out of Hartford, VT)

1 large egg white, at room temperature

1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

1⁄2 cup (60 g) unbleached, all-purpose flour (I use King Arthur)

1⁄4 teaspoon fine sea salt

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine the butter and maple sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix until smooth. Scrape the bowl and add the egg white

and vanilla bean paste. Mix until combined. Scrape the bowl again, add the flour and salt, and mix until combined. Alternatively, you can mix this by hand in a bowl with a flat, wooden spoon. In that case, make sure your butter is slightly softer than room temperature.

Place about a teaspoon of the batter on a silicone baking mat and spread into a very thin 2-by-4-inch rectangle. Bake for 1 to 2 minutes, until the batter is golden brown. While the cookie is still warm and pliable, roll the cookie around a chopstick into a tight cylinder. Once you get a hang of the process, you can graduate to making two cookies at a time.

Excerpted from MY VERMONT TABLE: Recipes for all (Six) Seasons by Gesine Bullock-Prado Copyright © 2023. Used with permission of the publisher, Countryman Press. All rights reserved.

Raymond Prado photo credit

No One Will Ever Say They're Small

  

This is a big one!  Cookbook author Elinor Klivens, who wrote Big Fat Cookies, told Tonia's Kitchen about her recipe for Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies, and stuffed they are!  Elinor told Tonia she starts with an all brown sugar dough, and standard chocolate chip cookie ingredients.  She then sets aside one cup of extra chocolate chips, takes 2 tablespoons of dough and balls them on a cookie sheet.  Eleanor then adds the chocolate chips and places two more tablespoons of dough on top of that. She describes it kind of like a chocolate chip sandwich.  When it's all baked, it's delicious!

2 cups (280g) unbleached all purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened for about 30 minutes

1 1/2 cups (240g) packed light brown sugar

2 large cold eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups (505g/18 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 175°C/350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2 Sift the flour, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 1 minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until blended, about 1 minute. The mixture may look slightly curdled. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until incorporated. Mix in 2 cups (336g) of the chocolate chips.

3 Roll 2 tablespoons of dough between the palms of your hands into a ball, flatten it slightly to make a 2-inch (5cm) disk and place on one of the prepared baking sheets. Repeat to make a total of 16 disks, placing 8 on each baking sheet and spacing them 4 inches (10cm) apart. Leaving a 1/4-inch (6mm) plain edge, lightly press 1 tablespoon* of the remaining chocolate chips onto each disk. Using the remaining dough, make 16 more disks, placing one on top of each chocolate-chip-topped disk. Press the dough disks gently to cover any of the chocolate chip filling that shows around the edges.

4 Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the edges are lightly browned but the centers are still pale golden, about 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 10 minutes, then use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm (the filling will be soft and melted) or at room temperature.

5 The cookies can be stored in a tightly covered container at room temperature for up to 4 days.

6 * I ended up using less than 1 tablespoon of chips – it was difficult placing all that amount of chocolate inside each disk of cookie dough

Christmas Cookie Week: This Coffee Contains a Crunch!

 

And by crunch, we mean a cookie crunch. Cookies go well with coffee, we all know that. So what happens when you put the coffee in the cookie? Good question said Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin. They wrote the new cookbook, Fabulous Modern Cookies. Both stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about their Coffee Bean Crunchers. It's not a traditional Christmas flavor to be sure, but both told Tonia that it's more of a refined taste, probably for an adult palate. It's a rolled cookie that packs a bold kick, and would be perfect for an office party!

Unbleached all-purpose flour - 3 cups /425 grams

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Unsalted butter, at room temperature - 16 tablespoons/227 grams

Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup /100 grams

Light brown sugarPacked - 1/2 cup /100 grams

Egg, at room temperature - 1 large /50 grams (weighed without shell)

Instant espresso powder - 2 teaspoons

Pure vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon

Whole roasted coffee beans - 1/2 cup/ 35 grams

Directions

1. Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Combine the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater, and cream together on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, espresso powder, and vanilla until the mixture is uniform.

3. Reduce the mixer to low speed, and mix in the flour mixture until combined and no dry flour is visible. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the beater with a silicone spatula to make sure all ingredients have been incorporated.

4. Place the coffee beans in a bag, such as a 1-quart resealable storage bag. Crush the beans coarsely, using a heavy object, such as a rolling pin or the bottom of a small pan. The goal is to still have small, crunchy nuggets of coffee bean that are smaller than 1/4-inch chunks but not a fine powder. Stir the crushed beans into the cookie dough, using a silicone spatula.

5. Divide the dough in half. Roll each half of the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper. Stack the paper-covered sheets of dough on an 18-by-13-inch baking sheet, and refrigerate until cold and firm throughout, at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

6. Position two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 350F. Line two 18-by-13-inch baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

7. Use a coffee bean shaped cookie cutter (or any shape) to cut your desired shapes from the dough and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between cookies. If you don’t have a coffee bean–shaped cutter, find an oval or ellipse that seems reasonably close. Drag the back of a butter knife through the center of the cookie to draw that central coffee bean line. (Be sure to use the back of the knife—you just want to draw a line, not cut through it.) These cookies keep their shape well, so you can crowd the pan a little more than with cookies that spread more during baking. But keep them about 1 inch apart for proper heat circulation.

8. Bake until the edges are just starting to brown, 10 to 20 minutes. Halfway through baking, rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on the sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Large (over 4 inches) or delicate shapes should be allowed to cool completely on the sheets to prevent breaking. Repeat with the remaining dough, rerolling the scraps of dough, if necessary, once the baking sheets have completely cooled, or prepare additional baking sheets. After cooling, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.

Think Apple Pie...Without Apples...In a Cookie

Lots to unpack here with Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin. They're the authors behind the new cookbook Fabulous Modern Cookies. Both writers stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about just how they're shaking up the cookie recipe world, with some new and different takes on classic recipes. This time around, they're going back a ways to an oldie...it's called a Moxie Cookie and it's made with the Ritz Crackers and Cream of Tartar. Two things you certainly would not expect in a cookie recipe. The chefs told Tonia that Cream of Tartar offers a green apple-esque flavor profile when you follow the recipe, with the crackers it turns into a crispy and chewy cookie that might just surprise you!

40 crackers (133 grams) of Ritz biscuits

½ cup (71 grams) pecan nuts, toasted and cooled (see note)

½ cup (100 g) packed light brown sugar

teaspoon cream of tartar

Half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

1 large egg white (35 g)

1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

4 tablespoons (57 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled but still biodegradable

1. Place two racks to divide the oven into thirds and heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Drain bread measuring 18 x 13 inches

Sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

2. Place the biscuits in the bowl of a food processor and blend until they turn into small crumbs. Transfer the crumbs to a bowl. Add the pecans to a food processor and grind them well as well. Add the ground nuts to the bowl with the biscuit crumbs. (Alternatively, the crackers can be crushed by hand directly into the bowl and the pecans can be chopped by hand.)

3. Add the brown sugar, cream of tartar, cinnamon, and nutmeg to the bowl. Mix these dry ingredients together by hand using a silicone spatula. Add the egg whites, lemon juice and melted butter and mix until all the dry ingredients are moistened and the mixture is formed into a cohesive mass. Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes before washing it off.

4. Portion 1 tablespoon (18 grams) of dough, using a #60 ladle, roll into balls, and arrange 13 servings evenly on first baking sheet. Flatten the balls a little with your fingertips. Repeat the process with the rest of the dough and arrange it on the second baking tray.

5. Bake until the edges of the cookies are firm and beginning to turn brown, 13 to 17 minutes. Halfway through the baking process, rotate the pans front to back and top to bottom. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on a baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. After cooling, cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.

Cookies Are Always Fun...

...but sometimes the same-old, same-old standbys like Chocolate Chip Cookies or Peanut Butter Cookies can get a little long in the sweet tooth. With that in mind, authors Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin stopped by Tonia's Kitchen to talk about their new cookbook, Fabulous Modern Cookies! It takes the traditional recipes and sets them on their sides! Case in point, a delicious spin on the cookie batter where they use what they call Bronze (or Brown) Butter to put a spin on these taste treats. By doing that, they told Tonia the different butter offers a toffee-esque flavor profile that is incredibly delicious. They also take peanut butter cookies and put an East Asian spin on things, by offering a Peanut Satay cookie. Is it different? You bet! Is it delicious? Absolutely!

Unbleached all-purpose flour - 3 cups /425 grams

Salt 1/2 teaspoon

Unsalted butter, at room temperature - 16 tablespoons/227 grams

Granulated sugar - 1/2 cup /100 grams

Light brown sugarPacked - 1/2 cup /100 grams

Egg, at room temperature - 1 large /50 grams (weighed without shell)

Instant espresso powder - 2 teaspoons

Pure vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon

Whole roasted coffee beans - 1/2 cup/ 35 grams

Directions

1. Whisk together the flour and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Combine the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a stand mixer fitted with a flat beater, and cream together on medium speed until smooth and creamy, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the egg, espresso powder, and vanilla until the mixture is uniform.

3. Reduce the mixer to low speed, and mix in the flour mixture until combined and no dry flour is visible. Scrape the sides of the bowl and the beater with a silicone spatula to make sure all ingredients have been incorporated.

4. Place the coffee beans in a bag, such as a 1-quart resealable storage bag. Crush the beans coarsely, using a heavy object, such as a rolling pin or the bottom of a small pan. The goal is to still have small, crunchy nuggets of coffee bean that are smaller than 1/4-inch chunks but not a fine powder. Stir the crushed beans into the cookie dough, using a silicone spatula.

5. Divide the dough in half. Roll each half of the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness between two sheets of parchment or waxed paper. Stack the paper-covered sheets of dough on an 18-by-13-inch baking sheet, and refrigerate until cold and firm throughout, at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

6. Position two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 350F. Line two 18-by-13-inch baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

7. Use a coffee bean shaped cookie cutter (or any shape) to cut your desired shapes from the dough and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between cookies. If you don’t have a coffee bean–shaped cutter, find an oval or ellipse that seems reasonably close. Drag the back of a butter knife through the center of the cookie to draw that central coffee bean line. (Be sure to use the back of the knife—you just want to draw a line, not cut through it.) These cookies keep their shape well, so you can crowd the pan a little more than with cookies that spread more during baking. But keep them about 1 inch apart for proper heat circulation.

8. Bake until the edges are just starting to brown, 10 to 20 minutes. Halfway through baking, rotate the pans from front to back and top to bottom. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on the sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Large (over 4 inches) or delicate shapes should be allowed to cool completely on the sheets to prevent breaking. Repeat with the remaining dough, rerolling the scraps of dough, if necessary, once the baking sheets have completely cooled, or prepare additional baking sheets. After cooling, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.