Recipe #33: Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies with Fresh Ginger

Recipe #33: Old-Fashioned Molasses Cookies with Fresh Ginger

Posted by Unknown

You will have to refrigerate the dough for 1 hour before baking so plan accordingly. I didn't have a lot of time on the weekend for baking so I picked these for a simple recipe.

The great thing about these is that you are adding freshly grated ginger which I love and an added bonus is the addition of cinnamon. This recipe also calls for a 1/4 cup of molasses which I haven't used much.

When you are ready to bake you form the dough into 3/4 inch balls and then roll around in sugar. The recipe recommends you place the cookies 2 to 3 inches apart after flattening - ofcourse I decided they only need to be about an inch apart which was my mistake as they did bump into each other when baking. Silly me!

The result: a very flavorful delightful little cookie. I felt the molasses was just a tad overpowering so I might add a smidge less next time and up the ginger. I enjoyed these the most for breakfast with my coffee.

For full recipe see page 135 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook.

Recipe #31: Toasted Pine Nut Amaretti

Recipe #31: Toasted Pine Nut Amaretti

Posted by Unknown

This is a traditional Italian cooked that I decided to make for my friend's birthday since she is Italian. This is a very easy cookie to throw together but there are a couple steps to pay attention to like toasting the pine nuts and dicing up the almond paste. The cookies are ready to bake once the batter is done. Scoop them out on silpat if you have it and then bake for about 50 minutes.

The result: a very flavorful chewy cookie. The almond paste taste almost overpowered the cookie for me but the more I ate the more I liked them. My husband was addicted to them so that's always a good sign. Next time I will cook them about 5 minutes more in hopes they are not so chewy. 

For full recipe see page 139 in the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook.

Recipe #22: Chocolate Butter Pecan Sandwich Cookies

Recipe #22: Chocolate Butter Pecan Sandwich Cookies

Posted by Unknown

Much like the peanut butter sandwich cookies these take some time to make. I made these in celebration of the 4th annual girls weekend with my longtime best girlfriends. We get together one time a year away from our kids and husbands and shop, get our nails done, do yoga, go to dinner, and eat sweets.

The filling was easy to make so I thought. I didn't pay enough attention to the consistency of the filling. Basically you are taking pecans, brown butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla and combining it all in a food processor until a thick paste forms. For some reason I decided that the filling still needed to be a bit crumbly and some of the pecans should still be in tact. This proved to be an epic fail when putting the cookies together.

I then moved onto the cookie dough and chilled for one hour as instructed. The reason you do this (as far as I can tell) is once you scoop the dough onto the cookie sheet you have to press it down and make a flat cookie - if the dough is too warm it sticks to your hard. They recommend pressing down with your fingers but I found that awkward so I used my palm.

Here comes the epic fail part: When I went to put the sandwiches together I pulled out the filling from the fridge and it did not spread on the cookie. It ended up being very crumbly and chunky and so when I would press the cookies together the cookies ended up falling apart because I had to press too hard to try and get the filling to stick to the cookies. What I will do differently next time is make sure to really process the filling so the nuts and the rest of the ingredients form a thick paste.

Although the sandwich cookies did not turn out as I had hoped it doesn't mean we didn't eat them. In fact, my girlfriends were more interested in the filling more so then the cookie so they would leave the poor cookie behind and just eat the inside.

For full recipe see page 127 in the Dahlia Bakery Cookbook

My girls...

Recipe #18: Russian Tea Cakes

Recipe #18: Russian Tea Cakes

Posted by Unknown

I whipped these up one morning when I had run out of sweets in the house. I was thankful to have just enough pecans. 

I may have rushed through a little too fast on this one because when I went to form the dough balls the batter wouldn't stick together so I ended up making them about twice the size that was recommended in the book. If this happens to you I suggest just eating one with your cup of tea (the perfect pairing). I ate two last night before bed and regretted it. It just ended up being too much sugar for me (which is weird).

When they are baked make sure to give them a few solid minutes to cool off before rolling them around in the mountain of powdered sugar. I was patient when I did the first batch but when the second batch came out I ran into a time crunch. I put them in the powdered sugar and what ended up happening is the dough came off a bit. If you wait the sugar sticks nicely to the dough and then you just let them cool completely in the sugar and then store or serve.

For full recipe see page 146 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook.

Recipe #17: Cranberry Apricot Oatmeal Cookies

Recipe #17: Cranberry Apricot Oatmeal Cookies

Posted by Unknown

Who knew a cookie with fruit could taste so good? I have to admit I am not typically a fan of fruit in cookies until now. These tasty morsels have cranberries, pecans, and golden raisins mixed in but I think what my taste buds responded to most were the spices - cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. The mix of these spices reminds me of the holidays and instantly gives me the warm and fuzzies.

The cookies were pretty easy to make. The only difficulty I had was scooping the batter onto the parchment paper. It was hard to get the dough to fit just right in the ice cream scoop so some of the cookies were not perfectly round when baked. 

There is also a fine line during the baking process of them being perfectly baked to going just a minute too long and them turning out too browned and crispy so my rule of thumb with cookies is when in doubt pull them out. My oven is always so tricky anyway so I did end up baking these a total of 6 minutes past the recommended max baking time and they turned out perfect. It took me a couple tries to get the time just right.

For full recipe see page 125 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook 

Recipe #13: Chocolate Truffle Cookies with Crackly Crust

Recipe #13: Chocolate Truffle Cookies with Crackly Crust

Posted by Unknown

I made these cookies last week as I had about 30 extra minutes on my hands before relieving the nanny. Instead of throwing in some laundry I decided to cruise through a recipe and bake these cookies. These have been haunting me ever since we went to the Book of Mormon as they were being served at the Paramount.

I hurried through the recipe and was in awe of the amount of chocolate that goes in these bad boys. A pound plus 4oz of bittersweet chocolate AND then 2 cups of bittersweet chocolate chips get mixed in at the end.
I read that whipping the batter well as you incorporate the eggs will give that crackly top - in hindsight I would have spent more time on this step.

Baking the cookies took the most time because as I've mentioned in previous posts I can only bake 6 cookies at a time in my small oven and in this recipe you turn the cookie sheet halfway through plus you can't refrigerate the dough so you need to commit to the baking process once the dough is made.

The result: A packed with chocolaty goodness cookie. Not all of the cookies turned out to have the crackly crust that makes the cookie so desirable. The taste was still there but next time I really need more then 30 minutes to whip this up and I need to use a bigger ice cream scoop.

Recipe #10: Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel

Recipe #10: Sour Cream Coffee Cake with Cinnamon Streusel

Posted by Unknown

First off - I don't love the picture above. I couldn't get decent lighting so it turned out a bit blurry.

I took a little time off from baking just to enjoy family and decompress after our holiday madness. The sad part of taking a break from baking is that I didn't have homemade treats in the house however I managed to get by with some pretty amazing brownies from the Metropolitan Market up the street.

Before the Christmas break a friend of mine sent me an amazing deal from Gilt (http://www.gilt.com/home) that had KitchenAid mixers on sale for $250. I quickly ordered my new silver KitchenAid and it was supposed to arrive by Christmas Eve - just in time for Christmas! I was home all day and waited patiently for the UPS driver however it never showed up. I checked the tracking # and it said it would be arriving on 12/26. I was traveling that day to Iowa and I had a friend come by to pick up the KitchenAid for me. To my utter disappointment someone had stolen it right off my front porch. This happened once before about a month prior with another package. I was so bummed!! And ofcourse when I called Gilt that deal had expired and they had no mixers left in stock but they did refund the money which was nice. I will continue to be on the hunt for another good deal or eventually I will just give in to buying it at full price. 

It's now time to get back to it. I thumbed through the Dahlia Bakery cookbook and landed on the coffee cake. This just sounds heavenly. This week I just happen to have some free time as our nanny started watching my son as I officially go back next week to work. The great thing is my office is just a short walk up the stairs.

Anyway... I decided to go with raspberries as the fruit to add in this recipe. The recipe is pretty straightforward and it took about 30 minutes to get everything measured out and prepped (this probably could have gone more quickly had I not been prepping dinner at the same time).

The total baking time was 50 minutes and I was pleased that my oven actually cooked something that matched with what the recipe stated.

The result: By far the best coffee cake I have ever tasted. My father-in-law has a pretty darn good recipe for coffee cake but I have to say this one is better. I made sure to take a bite when it was still warm right out of the oven. The first word that comes to mind when tasting this coffee cake was butter. It was moist, full of flavor, and I loved the tartness the berries added.

The only thing I will do next time is try a mix of blueberries and raspberries. I made sure to give some of this away as it would have been way to dangerous to keep in the house. That is the only downfall of working from home - I will still be so close to all the calories that tempt me.

For full recipe: See page 106 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook.

Recipe #9: Sparkling Sugar Cookies

Recipe #9: Sparkling Sugar Cookies

Posted by Unknown

Our family tradition around Christmas has always been to roll out some store bought sugar cookie dough, gather around the table, and frost away for hours. This year I decided to make sugar cookies from scratch and wow what a difference! The dough was simple and quick to make. I don't typically like sugar cookies but I think it's because I was always eating the store bought stuff, I could eat these cookies all day long.

For frosting my mom mixes together powdered sugar, butter, and food coloring. My siblings don't exactly enjoy frosting all the cookies but it is a tradition that we follow through on each year. As you can see from the picture we aren't exactly gifted at decorating cookies but we do our best and all that really matters is how they taste. 

Now that my husband and I have a son we will start our own holiday traditions with him and this recipe will be made year over year.


For full recipe: See page 148 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook

Recipe #6: All American Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Recipe #6: All American Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Posted by Unknown

It's been a tough day - my 10 year old Boxer dog, Amy, is unexpectedly very ill and it's time for some emotional eating and one of my favorite things in the world is chocolate chip cookies. I was a little nervous to make these cookies - not because the recipe looked daunting or anything but because I was recently introduced to the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever had so wasn't sure how these would compare.

I had no problems making the recipe and at this point I have purchased 3 different sized ice cream scoops and they have changed my life. It's so easy now to scoop the dough and get uniformed shaped cookies.

The result: There is a good amount of chocolate in every bite! They easily compare to my other favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe which I will post separately.  In fact, it would be hard for me to choose a favorite. They are chewy in the center and a little crisp around the edges. They definitely helped make me feel better temporarily.

Later in the week we had to put Amy down so this post is dedicated to her. If she had wanted to eat in her final days I would have shared a chocolate chunk cookie with her. Her favorite food was apples and I know she is having an abundance of them now. 

For full recipe: See page 123 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook

Recipe #4: Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, aka “the Nora Ephron”

Recipe #4: Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies, aka “the Nora Ephron”

Posted by Unknown

My son had his 6-month shots this morning at the doctor so to ease “our” pain I decided today was the day to make the peanut butter sandwich cookies. It’s been about 3 months since I have experienced the joy that comes from eating one of these decadent cookies.  I am excited and scared all at the same time – excited because I will now have these tasty morsels in my home and scared for the exact same reason.

I have never left the Dahlia Bakery without purchasing one of these cookies (and if I had it was an oversight that I later regretted). I would go pick up treats from the bakery any chance I got. If there was a birthday on my team or if I just wanted to surprise my co-workers with a special treat I would go to Dahlia and pick up an assortment of cookies – always making sure to get myself a peanut butter sandwich cookie.  I really had a hard time trying anything else in the bakery because this became my favorite purchase. When I was pregnant these were definitely a regular part of my diet.

Now that I have made these cookies it’s no wonder why they are a few bucks a pop. They take a lot of time to make and since my oven is so small I was only able to cook 6 cookies at a time so it took me half the day to complete the process. It wasn’t until after dinner that I had the pleasure of scooping the peanut butter onto one cookie and smooshing the two cookies together. That was the definitely the best part of making the cookies – that and the fact that I knew it was only a matter of minutes before the moment I had anticipated all day.

I have two of the cookies in front of me… my husband picked one up and said “Oh my god!! Tears of joy!!” so I guess he was impressed. Just took a bite – DANG! These are amazing. The cookies turned out perfectly… just done enough, not too soft or too crunchy, and the peanut butter gooey goodness in the center makes me want a big glass of milk. Success.

Here are my notes on making the cookies. Like I said – they were time consuming so be ready for the commitment. I didn’t have enough Skippy peanut butter so I used Adams Natural Creamy Peanut Butter. It was pretty hard to stir and get the consistency I desired but I managed to make it work and I prefer the taste of Adams to Skippy (I will try Skippy next time though since that is recommended). I didn’t have the 1-ounce ice cream scoop so I used a tablespoon scoop and the cookies turned out pretty uniformed. Some turned out bigger than others so I just paired them up the best I could to make the sandwiches. I did manage to make 48 cookies just as the recipe said. I had some leftover peanut butter filling only because I did not make 3 sandwiches due to overcooking a batch… well that and I ate 3 cookies in the process (hey! I had to taste the goods along the way).

All in all, I am very satisfied with how this recipe turned out. I think I will still enjoy getting one of these cookies from Dahlia because I find that when I cook or bake something it never tastes as good as when someone cooks for me.


For full recipe: See page 130 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook

Coconut Macaroons: Take 2

Coconut Macaroons: Take 2

Posted by Unknown

 Well well well… it sure does help to have an accurate temp when baking. I made the macaroons again and they turned out much better. They were crisp all around and had a yummy chewy center. They were more evenly browned and delicious. I shared them with a few close friends and they were pining for the recipe.


For full recipe: See page 137 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook

Recipe #1: Coconut Macaroons

Recipe #1: Coconut Macaroons

Posted by Unknown

I decided to start with Tom’s favorite, the coconut macaroons, on page 137. I took Tom’s advice and separated the eggs when they were cold. I let them sit out at room temp for about an hour and a half  (even though it wasn’t necessary for this particular recipe however it worked out this way because I was in the middle of getting Nash down for his nap).

I used regular old beaters to whip the egg whites since I don’t have a kitchen-aid. I put it on my Christmas list for Santa and really hoping he comes through with a silver kitchen-aid (hint, hint).

The coconut was a bit tricky to measure, I didn’t pack it down and I ended up adding a couple additional tablespoons in the end just to make sure I had enough in the recipe.

I let the batter sit overnight in the fridge.

The next day I scooped the batter with a tablespoon; I did lose one tablespoon of the precious batter on the floor. The recipe made 21 cookies (counting the one that fell on the floor).

My oven is old and the temperature never seems to be quite right which is essential when baking. I took a risk and cooked the macaroons for 10ish minutes at 325 degrees and then turned the cookie sheet and cooked for 15 minutes and checked them. They were not like the picture in the book so I kept baking for 10 additional minutes. They were lightly browned and I decided to pull them out for fear I would overcook them. For the second batch I noticed the batter spread when I put them on the cookie sheet – next time I will be sure to put the batter back in the fridge until I am ready to cook the second batch.

The result: a crispy outside with a chewy inside of heavenly sweet coconutty goodness.

I was bummed they did not turn out exactly like the picture in the book so I will try them again at some point.  And… I went out and bought an oven thermometer so I can’t blame the oven temp going forward. 

As I write this I am enjoying my fourth macaroon for the day with a cup of tea, a perfect way to end the evening.


For full recipe: See page 137 in the Dahlia Bakery cookbook