Milk & Cookies

Cookies made with love.... and chocolate

I am going to let you in on a little secret. I have a Wednesday night ritual that has completely changed the way I approach my week. Wednesday…. humpday…. the worst day of the week (many will say). I used to hate Wednesdays. Now I look forward to them.

Every Wednesday I come home from work and plug in my Ipod. I find an album that suits my mood (unless I am grumpy) and turn it up… way up. This week it was Radiohead – In Rainbows. I pour myself a glass of scotch… Then I bake.

I think that setting your mind to look forward to something can really change your overall attitude for the better. It turns out that I feel happier, not just on Wednesday, but every day.

The results of this week’s baking experience are below. These cookies were the most recent post on Joy the Baker. Instead of using fruity jam (PB&J cookies), I decided to fill the thumbprints with chocolate. Here is my recipe:

INGREDIENTS (makes ~3 dozen cookies)

• 1 3/4 cups finely ground honey roasted peanuts
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 tspn. vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar (optional)
• 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 1 cup jam if you want to make them fruity instead)

DIRECTIONS

First thing to do with these cookies is to crush up the peanuts. Just put them in a food processor and chop chop until they are finely ground. Then mix them up with the flour in a medium bowl. Set this mixture aside.

These cookies are really easy and quick, so you might want to get your oven pre-heating early this time around. Set it to 350°F.

In a large mixing bowl beat together the softened butter and the sugar on medium speed until it is fluffy and smooth. Then add in the vanilla extract and mix it a bit more until it is evenly blended. Then set the mixer speed to low and slowly add in the peanut and flour mixture. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides if needed. Try not to over mix, its ok for the batter to be a little uneven.

Prepare a couple of baking trays with parchment paper. Start making little ~1 Tblsn. sized balls of dough. Just roll the dough around a little bit in your hand and then plop it down on the parchment paper. Then using your pinky (not your thumb) press a narrow hole down the center of the dough. Don’t go all the way through the cookie though, you want a little well for the filling. I did my first batch with my thumb (I mean, they are thumbprint cookies), but this dough spreads more than I expected during baking, so my wells were really shallow. Using your pinkie and going pretty deep will make it work better.

Once your tray is covered in little dough bowls, go ahead and bake them on the top rack for 15 minutes. They won’t look completely cooked at the end, but its ok, they will stiffen up as they cool. Once removed from the oven, let the cookies sit for a couple of minutes and then move them to a cooling rack if you have one. After all of the batches of cookies are complete, dust them with the powdered sugar. (This was my favorite part since I finally got to use our sifter.)

Time to prepare the filling. If chocolate, melt the chocolate chips down in either the microwave using the 15 second – stir – repeat method, or on a double boil on the stove. If you are using Jam, bring it to a boil on the stove or in the microwave. Take your filling and either pipe it into the cookies, or just spoon it in to fill the wells up with delicious. Be careful of lurking spouses during this process… they will often strike when your back is turned and try to eat up all the filling!

Blackberry Heaven

Overview

Zoe and I have been making cookies every week for a few months now. It is a tradition formed out of necessity, hunger, and desire for something to look forward to on an otherwise boring day… Thursday.

For my first entry on Milk & Cookies, we are featuring these fruit filled delights.  The recipe originates from allrecipes.com, but was tweaked ever so slightly.  The fresh blackberry on top is also a new addition, and one that I would highly recommend.  Now, on with the baking…

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tspns. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tspn. salt
• 1/2 cup blackberry preserves
• 1 cup fresh blackberries

Directions

First things first, we will need to mix up the dough.  It’s good to soften the butter before mixing it with the sugar, and I like to just plop my butter sticks into a microwave safe bowl and nuke them for about 15 seconds.  Put the butter, sugar and eggs into a large mixing bowl and cream together.  This should take about 1 minute with some beaters, or until your arm gets too tired to keep going if you are doing it manually.  Add the vanilla and salt and mix them in.

To complete the dough, mix in the flour about 1/2 a cup at a time.  Once the dough is soft and workable, put it in the refrigerator for about an hour.

When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375 °F.  Scoop out some dough and roll it into a ball about 1 inch in diameter.  If you powder your hands with some extra flour, this step will be much easier.

Place the cookie ball on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. As you make more cookie balls try to space them a few inches apart on all sides.  I was able to make 15 cookies on each cookie tray in a 3 x 5 grid.

Use your finger or thumb to make a well in the center of each cookie.  If any cracks form in the edges of the dough you can either leave them or pinch them shut.  Make sure that any cracks aren’t too deep or the filling will spill out and mess up your cookie.

Fill the holes with preserves.  I have found that the easiest way to do this is to spoon the jam into a ziplock bag.  Squish it around a bit to soften it.  Then cut the bottom corner of the bag off to create a little nozzle.  Now you can neatly squeeze the jam out and feel like a real gourmet pastry chef!

Bake each tray for 8-10 minutes in the preheated oven.  The cookies will get a slight browning along the bottom and the jam will just start to bubble.  These cookies are very easy to over cook so be vigilant!  As soon as you pull them out, plop a fresh blackberry into the center and let the cookies cool.  Since I was making a large batch of them, I just threw each tray into the fridge for about 15 minutes before removing the cookies.

Well, there you have it…. the first Cookie Blog entry!  Hope you enjoy making and eating these cookies.  Don’t forget your ever important side-kick… a nice cold glass of milk.