...then we'll eat a whole roll of Tollhouse Cookiedough as fast as we can

Thin mints and cranberry, white chocolate, pecan cookies.

Can anyone guess the movie that this quote is from? I will give you a hint, it's a film from the last decade that has become a holiday classic. Will Ferrell is in it. It's Elf! AJ and I have watched this film every Christmas season since it came out (that's going on 8 years)! Now Elf is one of my favorite ways to celebrate the holiday season, second only to eating a whole roll of cooking dough (and snuggling).

This year we had some friends over to watch the movie, drink some eggnog, and feast on some cookies. I decided to go with two of my favorite holiday cookies, thin mints and cranberry, white chocolate, pecan cookies. The thin mint recipe came from that lovely robot, Ms. Martha Stewart. But in all seriousness she has some amazing cookie recipes (and she's only part-robot). I made them a couple years ago when I spent New Year's Eve in Boston. The best way to finish these cookies off is to drizzle them in white or dark chocolate. This year I didn't have time, but they still tasted great.

The second cookie I chose to make is a JAM holiday favorite that all started 4 years ago or so (Jenny or Malia can correct me if I'm wrong) in my mom's kitchen. Us girls got together for a seasonal cookie bake off. We ended up making the cranberry, white chocolate, pecan cookies, mexican wedding cookies, and one more that I seem to have forgotten. The cranberry, white chocolate cookies have been made with great frequency ever since. Sometimes we throw in some oats for extra texture, sometimes we don't. This time I left out the oats, but they still have the most wonderful sweet, tart, nutty flavor. The recipe (from the Washington Post) calls for cups and cups of cranberries (dried and fresh), pecans, and white chocolate chips. I ended up reducing the amounts by about half a cup each, so that they were more cookie like and less mass of mix-ins. Either way they're super tasty, but the more mix-ins you add the more crumbly they become.

I'm going to have a marsh made out of marshmallows.

To top off my whole baking extravaganza I made marshmallows...from scratch. They were actually pretty easy to make. You soften some gelatin in water, heat up a sugar, corn-syrup, water mixture, and then mix them all together. Fresh marshmallows are the jam! Seriously, you can't beat them. I dusted them in confectioners sugar so you can handle them without them sticking to everything. The only hard part is waiting three hours to eat them (they have to cool and set sufficiently).

I hope I have inspired you all to bake some sweeeet holiday treats! Merry Chrismakwanakah everybody!

You know it's Spring when Pastel-Colored M&Ms are in stores!

The weather in Mountain View has been incredible the past couple of weeks - sunny and warm! The flowers are blooming and the birds are chirping. But you know it's really Spring when pastel colored M&Ms make their way into stores.

To commemorate the beginning of Spring I decided to make some M&M cookies. These were a fun treat my mom used to make when we were kids. I think the pastel colors are just beautiful. And did you notice that these Spring M&Ms also have bunnies, lambs, and chicks? I don't think they taste any different, but they sure are cute!

Cookies pre-bake time.

I looked online for a good recipe, and ended up using one from the Joy of Cooking. I ended up tweaking the recipe, because I ran out of all-purpose flour. I subbed 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour to make up the 2 cups of flour. I also used baking powder instead of baking soda. As a result of these substitutions I ended up with a puffier, "cakier" cookie. They had more of a wholesome flavor due to the wheat.

The trick to making these cookies visually appealing is to push the M&Ms into the dough after you have formed them into balls and smashed them down into discs. This way you can show off the cute lil' chicks and lambs. I let AJ decorate a couple. He said, "This is how a man makes a cookie." That crazy kid.

"Man" cookies.

I like the lambs with "Ms" for eyes.

I am not sure I would add whole wheat flour to the next batch of M&M cookies I make, but they were tasty. I think the whole wheat version could do well with the addition of some spices and maybe a brown butter glaze. Something to try next time.

Enjoy! Happy Easter!

Flourless Peanut Butter Blossoms

Peanut butter blossoms with dark hershey kisses.

There are some things that are just meant to be together: health care and reform, mario and luigi, and of course peanut butter and chocolate! Now one of my favorite recipes involving those two ingredients is peanut butter blossoms. My bff, Travis, recently sent me a recipe for flourless pb blossoms. Wait, no flour? I was highly skeptical, but Travis said they were amazing and super easy to make.

Bringing the dough together.

If you are looking for a simple recipe, you need look no further! This recipe requires four ingredients: egg, sugar, peanut butter, and hershey kisses. The dough comes together quite easily. I recommend chilling it for 10 min before rolling the balls out.

Into the oven they go!

In ten minutes, these babies are ready to be taken out of the oven, and kissed with some delicious dark chocolate. I recommend having the kisses unwrapped before you remove the cookies from the oven. The kisses need to be pushed into the cookies while they are still soft and warm.

Mmm choco peanut butter.

These cookies are much richer than the blossoms that are made with flour. If you are looking for a simple rich treat, I would recommend them. Also, what can be better than a recipe sent with love from an old friend? Thanks Travis!

Flourless Peanut Butter Blossom Recipe (makes about 20 cookies)

1 egg

1 cup sugar (I used 3/4)

1 cup peanut butter (I used all natural pb)

20 dark chocolate hersheys kisses

1. Heat oven to 350 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a mixer bowl, beat together the egg, peanut butter, and sugar until a dough forms.
3. Shape the dough into small balls and place 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheet.
4. Bake for 10 minutes.
5. *Remove baking sheet from oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss in the middle of each cookie.

Oreo Chunk Cookies

Cookies and milk - one of the best combinations of all time.

AJ loves anything with oreos, the most common treat being oreo ice cream. In Boston he came across the "paradise surprise" - a cookie with chunks of oreo enmeshed in the dough. In one of my baking moods, I decided to try and recreat this recipe. I came across a promising one on the "Cookie Madness" blog.

Large and in charge.

The recipe makes 12 huge cookies. I made a couple of changes to the recipe. I used half white whole wheat flour, and half all-purpose. In addition, I used free-range organic eggs, and organic sugar and butter. I even used organic oreos! The cream was delicious, but I prefer the trademark oreo cookie, but at least I could understand all of the ingredients that were used in the organic oreo. I cut out one tablespoon of butter, purely because I only had 11 tablespoons in the house, losing nothing in terms of flavor or structure. Take care to press the dough into a flat disc, this ensures even baking.

Fresh baked cookies - the smell is heaven.

I have to say these cookies are quite possibly the best I have ever made! They came out crisp and somewhat chewy on the edges and soft on the inside. The bits of oreo were a nice foil to the rich buttery dough. If you're not a huge fan of oreos (sacrilege!) I would definitely recommend making the dough and adding in chocolate chips or candy. The dough recipe is a keeper!

Cookies + Hot Chocolate = Crazy Delicious

The holiday season is almost over (I think the couple days after the new year still count seeing as many of us won't return to work until January 5th), and so I wanted to review the holiday baking that I have done over the past couple of weeks.

There is nothing better than baking cookies to get one in the holiday spirit. A couple of weeks ago I was visiting AJ in Boston and wanted to bake some cookies for our annual viewing of the movie "Elf" starring Will Ferrell. If you have not seen this movie yet, please do! It is a cute, heart-warming film that is best viewed in the company of friends while enjoying hot cocoa and cookies.

I had seen a recipe for chocolate peppermint cookies in the December issue of Martha Stewart Living. With Malia's help, we set out to bake these, some Mexican Wedding cookies, and some classic sugar cookies.

Wedding Cookies in adorable, but ridiculous sugar cookie sleigh (we did not make that).

Putting together the dough was rather simple, but the rolling the dough and cutting the cookies out, proved to be a lot trickier. The dough is very sticky and requires ample time in the refrigerator before being rolled out. I would recommend an hour in the fridge. Once you have rolled out the dough, I would recommend sticking it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes. This makes cutting the cookies out much easier. Malia and I also found that shot glasses were the perfect size for cookie cutters.

Once the cookies have baked, we melted white and dark chocolate in separate double boilers. We dipped some in the dark, some in the white. We crushed candy canes (the minis work the best) and sprinkled those on as the melted chocolate cooled (using the dark and the white proved genius as we were abled to drizzle different kinds of chocolate on top, creating some beautiful and not so beautiful patterns). It is important to put these cookies in the fridge so they can set up. But you don't want to leave them in overnight, as they will start to soften.

The Mexican Wedding cookies were much easier to work with, although you should expect to become completely covered in powdered sugar by the end of the process.

These cookies were a hit. Malia and I slightly preferred the buttery, nutty taste of the wedding cookies. Although the chocolate peppermint were a huge hit with the crew in Boston. As I said earlier, I think the best way to enjoy these is with a homemade batch of hot chocolate (none of that swiss miss stuff please)! AJ and I have added this to our Elf viewing tradition. I make the hot chocolate and he adds a touch of Bailey's. Delicious!

Hot Chocolate with Bailey's.

Recipes follow:

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Makes approximately 40 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour (plus more for dusting)

1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch-processed cocoa (JAM Note: I couldn't find dutch processed, so I used Hershey's Dark Chocolate blend of natural and dutch-processed cocoas)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 oz (5 tbsp) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

3/ tsp pure peppermint extract

10 miniature candy canes

1 lb white chocolate morsels

1 lb semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in bowl. Beat butter and sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed for 1 minute. Reduce speed to medium low and add egg, then yolk, beating well after each addition. Beat in peppermint extract. Slowly add four mixture and beat until just incorporated. Shape dough into 2 disks, wrap each in plastic, and refrigerate (1 hour, up to 2 days).

Roll out one disk on a lightly floured surface to 1/8 inch thickness. Return dough to freezer for 15-20 minutes. Using a 2-in cutter (JAM Note: used shot glasses), cut out circles and place on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Combine scraps and roll out. Freeze for 15 minutes before cutting. Repeat with second disk.

Bake cookies until they are dry to the touch, about 12 minutes (ours took approx 10 minutes). Transfer to rack to cool. (Undecorated cookies will keep for up to 3 days.)

Melt chocolate in heatproof bowl over a pot of gently boiling water. Remove from heat and dunk cookies into melted chocolate (JAM Note: spoons worked the best for turning cookies over). Place on parchment paper and sprinkle with crushed candy canes or drizzle with white or dark chocolate. Refrigerate until set, up to 3 hours.

2 out of 3 JAMs

Heather Chittum's Wedding Cookies

Washington Post

Note: The secret to these cookies, known as snowballs or mexican wedding cookies, is the beating of the butter and the confectioner's sugar. A full 7 minutes is required. The dough must be refrigerated for 30 minutes before being rolled into balls. Once sugared these will last up to one week. Makes approx 36 cookies.

Ingredients:

2 sticks (16 tbsp) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup chopped walnuts (almost ground)

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp honey

Directions

Combine the butter and 1/2 cup of the confectioner's sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer or hand-held electric mixer. Beat on medium-high speed for 7 minutes, until the mixer is pale white and fluffy.

Meanwhile, combine the flour, nuts and salt on a sheet of wax paper or parchment paper.

Stop to scrap down the sides of the bowl, then, with the mixer on low speed, add the vanilla and honey; beat to mix well. With the mixer on low-speed, add the flour-nut mixture and beat until just combined. Transfer the dough to a container with a tight-fitting lid. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon liners. Use a mellon baller to make walnut sized pieces of dough, then roll them into balls and place them 2 in apart on baking sheet. Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until edges are just pale golden. While cookies are in the oven place confectioners sugar in a large bowl. Begin coating the cookies as soon as they are removed from the oven. Gently roll in confectioners' sugar until evenly coated. Let them cool completely before storing. Store in airtight container that has confectioners' sugar sprinkled on the bottom.

2.5 out of 3 JAMs

Hot Chocolate w. Bailey's

Ingredients

3 (3.5 oz) bars Green&Black organic chocolate (70% cacao)

1 gallon organic milk

2 tbsp cinnamon

12 shots of Bailey's Irish Creme

1/2 cup honey (or to taste)

Pour milk into saucepan and heat over medium heat until brought to a simmer. Coursely chop chocolate and place in a heat proof bowl. Place bowl over pot of boiling water until melted. Pour milk into melted chocolate mixture and continue to heat. Add honey and cinnamon. We waited to add the Bailey's until each mug had been poured. (You can add the Bailey's before if you like). Once the mixture is steaming, but yet at a boil, pour into mugs. Marshmallows are optional. Enjoy!

3 out of 3 JAMs

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!

Fall Festivities - Pumpkin Bars!

In honor of my previous post for Shake Shack and the super delicious Pumpkin Pie Oh My! I knew I wanted to bake something to bring into work with pumpkin.

Not content with pumpkin pie, I settled on a recipe I found for Orange Spice Pumpkin Bars with Brown Butter Frosting. Yum! For those who have never heard of a pumpkin bar, think of it as similar to lemon bar but with a pumpkin and fall flavor profile.

My coworkers were quite happy with my end results as were Travis and me! (Which makes me think about combining them with custard to make Pumpkin Bars Oh My!) I brought about a dozen into work and they were gone pretty instantly. Everyone particularly enjoyed how moist and dense they were and the hint of citrus in the bar itself.
The bars turned out moist and dense, tasting of pumpkin pie and cake and all things fall. The frosting was thick and creamy, almost like a sweet version of cream cheese- based frosting. They are perfect both as a special breakfast (I had one with a caramel macchiato from Starbucks at work, with my coworker having one with a latte) and as a dessert/snack. Not overly sweet, these bars really hit the spot and set up a great autumn mood.

All in all, a great 3 out of 3 JAMs due to the strong pumpkin flavor, complex hints of orange and spice, and the brown butter frosting.


The recipe is below, taken from Pillsbury's Fall Baking (with only a couple of subtle alterations):

Orange Spice Pumpkin Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

Bar Ingredients:

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (JAM note: could substitute 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1/4 tsp ground ginger, 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg, and 1/8 tsp cloves)
• 2 tsp grated orange peel
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (JAM note: canola works too)
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 1 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix)

Bar Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of a rectangular baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat bar ingredients with electric mixer on low speed, scraping bowl occasionaly, until moistened. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, scraping bowl. Spread batter evenly in pan
3. Bake 23 - 27 mins or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool for about an hour.

Frosting Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup unsalted butter (JAM note: Cannot use margarine or other substitute as they do not brown the way butter can)
  
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 to 4 tbsp milk

Frosting Instructions:

1. In a 2 quart saucepan, heat butter over medium heat, stirring constantly until is light golden brown. (JAM note: Here the butter is liquid and starting to turn brown)(JAM note: Here the butter is nice and brown.)
2. Once golden brown, remove from heat. Stir in powdered sugar, vanilla, and enough milk until frosting is smooth and spreadable.
3. Immediately spread frosting over cooled bars, refrigerate for about 15 mins or until set. Cut into rows. Can be stored cold or at room temperature.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other day as I was cleaning out my pantry I noticed a large can of oatmeal left over from last winter. Checking the expiration date (totally in the clear with a March '09 date) I knew I wanted to bake some sort of oatmeal cookie goodness.

Quick check of the pantry and I found both chocolate chips and raisins. I am a HUGE oatmeal chocolate chip cookie fan (weird that we don't call them chocolate chip oatmeal, but anyway) so I knew that's what I wanted. Travis, on the other hand, loves his oatmeal raisin cookies so as I compromise I figured I'd make half a batch oatmeal chocolate and half oatmeal chocolate raisin.

Using my adapted cookie recipe I quickly had a yummy bowlful of chocolate oaty dough (definitely an electric mixer helps to cream the brown sugar/white sugar/butter mixture which gets really sticky and to ensure even chocolate chip and oat distribution):


I spooned out half the dough using an ice cream scoop onto cookie sheets, as I like larger sized oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.Adding raisins to the rest of the dough (probably somewhere around 3/4 of a cup, I then scooped them onto cookie sheets too and baked all the cookies in the oven. The total recipe produced 22 cookies, though in the end I had 10 non raisin and 12 with raisins (as the addition of raisins makes the same amount of dough make more cookies)

About 12-14 mins later, voila! Yummy oatmeal chocolate chip and oatmeal chocolate chip raisin cookies :)
My tried and true recipe is as follows:

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (makes about 20-24 cookies)

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (at room temp)
• 3/4 cup brown sugar (I use dark brown)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 tbsp milk
• 1 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup oats
• 3/4 cup raisins (for 1/2 batch with raisins)

Baking Instructions:

1. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt in medium bowl, set aside
   
2. Cream butter, sugars, vanilla together in large bowl
3. Beat in egg
4. Gradually add flour mixture in, alternating with milk (i.e. 1/4 of flour mixture, then 1/2 tbsp of milk, etc)
5. Add in chocolate chips and oats
6. Mix to ensure even dispersion of oats and chocolate
7. Optional: Add in raisins, mix to combine
8. Bake in oven at 350 for 12-15 mins