Rhubarb Ginger Jammers from Dorie Greenspan

I like stuff that can endure a lot of mileage: the old-man boots that never leave my feet, the Bundt pans piled up in my kitchen, my relationship with my best friend, not my stupid ol’ smartphone (arguably the newest thing I own, let it be noted). These are all trusty things, sure, but they’re also versatile things that have been reliable and awesome forever and always through all sorts of stresses and contexts—they stand up over time. And this might not be revelatory, but that’s a quality I seek in most of what I consume, from clothes and books to podcasts and recipes. Especially recipes. Don’t get me wrong: I’m like a mockingbird to the shine of labor-intensive, one-time-only baking—birthday cakes are one of my favorite things to create, after all—but it’s the dependable, blank-canvass baked goods toward which I gravitate.

Which brings me, obviously, to these cookies. Dorie Greenspan calls them Jammers, and they’re part of her menu at Beurre and Sel, one of the many gluttonous reasons why a trip to New York is in order. I’ve made them before with apricot preserves and cardamom, with blueberry lemon verbena jam, and I’ll surely make them again with whatever summer throws my way. Round out the streusel with ground nuts, oats, or cornmeal, work some zest into the dough, swap in bourbon for the vanilla extract, brown the butter for either the cookie or the topping: this recipe can traipse through all sorts of treatments and will live up to its excellence each time. The version here is made with some more of that rhubarb ginger jam from last week’s brioche doughnut experience, and we polished off a solid 40 in a shameful two days. They were particularly delicious mid-afternoon on day two, with an iced creamy coffee and a sunny porch break. So use whatever sort of jam you’ve got on hand, or cook up a quick, thick compote if you’re so inclined, and mix it up with the toppings too—ground pistachios, buckwheat streusel, almond extract. You’ve got a lifetime of miles to look forward to with these babies, so hop to it!

Rhubarb Ginger Jammers

Recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan, via Bon Appétit

Cookie Dough

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 large egg yolks, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

Streusel and Filling

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

5 1/2 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup thick jam or compote, such as rhubarb ginger (recipe below)

1.  Using an electric mixer at medium speed, beat butter in a large bowl until smooth and creamy, about three minutes. Add both sugars and salt; beat until well blended, about one minute. Reduce speed to low; beat in egg yolks and vanilla. Add flour and mix just to combine. Dough will be soft and slightly sticky.

2.  Divide dough in half. Place each half between sheets of parchment or waxed paper. Flatten dough into disks. Working with one disk at a time, roll out dough, occasionally lifting paper on both sides for easy rolling, until 1/4 inches thick. Freeze dough in paper until firm, at least two hours. Do ahead: Dough can be made two days ahead. Cover and keep frozen.

3.  Meanwhile, make the streusel. Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a small mixing bowl. Using your fingertips, rub butter and vanilla into dry ingredients until no large lumps remain and butter is well incorporated. Streusel will be sandy and hold its shape when pressed between your fingers. Cover and chill. Do ahead: Streusel can be made two days ahead. Keep chilled.

4.  Arrange a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 350 degrees F. Using two-inch cookie cutter, cut out rounds of frozen dough from freezer. Place rounds in bottom of muffin cups and gently pat to flatten. Continue cutting frozen dough into rounds; gather scraps and repeat process of rolling out and cutting to make 34 rounds (I got more than 40). Cover muffin tins with foil and chill in freezer until dough is firm, about 30 minutes or up to two days.

5.  Spoon about one teaspoon jam into the center of each round of dough. Using your fingers or a small spoon, sprinkle one to 1.5 tablespoons streusel around edges of each cookie, trying not to get any in the jam.

6.  Bake cookies, in batches if needed, until sides and streusel are golden, 20-22 minutes. Let cool in tins for 15 minutes. Run a small knife around edges of muffin cups; gently remove cookies and let cool completely on a wire rack. Store in airtight container at room temperature; will keep crisped texture for about three days. 

Rhubarb + Ginger Jam

Makes about a pint

1 pound rhubarb stalks (pink if you got ‘em)

1 to 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

2-inch knob of ginger, peeled and grated (about two heaping tablespoons)

Zest and juice of half a lemon

1. Trim the rhubarb and chop it into one-inch pieces. In a medium bowl, toss rhubarb with the lesser amount of sugar, grated ginger, and lemon juice and zest. Let sit for at least two hours, stirring two or three times, until rhubarb has let off its juices; you can also cover and let the rhubarb do its thing in the fridge overnight. Ultimately, the mixture should get really juicy.

2. Pour the rhubarb mixture and juices into a medium saucepan. Bring to boil to and stir to dissolve the sugar, then allow to rapid-boil for about 15 minutes; the stalks will completely break down and the mixture will thicken up quite a bit. Keep an eye on it though so as not to burn. Taste, and if you prefer a slightly sweeter jam, add the remaining quarter-cup sugar and stir to dissolve. Remove jam from heat and allow to cool—it will thicken as it does—or fill sterilized jars and process accordingly. We just filled one big ol’ jar and are keeping it in the fridge instead of storing.

Walnut + Cream Cheese Cookie Sandwiches

It's 70 degrees and sunny in San Diego. I'm still shackled to my computer in DC working remotely, most unfortunately, but thank golly I'll be home snarfing fish tacos and wearing cut-offs before the day is through; southern California Christmas is sort of a terrifically fluorescent thing. My parents recently moved from the suburban home of my childhood to the San Diego neighborhood in which I would spend all my time were I ever to move back (so, never), and I am so excited to help them christen the place with leftover burritos and bloody marys and backyard sunbathing and general daughterly detritus.

In the meantime leading up to my sunny winter vacay, I've been doing shittons of holiday preparation and generally making enormous, annoying messes at my DC home. One such task was baking for the holiday party that I mentioned last week, and I wanted to share the second of three recipes that emerged from that frantic morning. If you're still seeking holiday baking inspiration or getting ready to fatten up yr family, look no further than these walnut cookie sandwiches. They appear a little unexciting or homely even, but these cookies are deceptively buttery and rich and basically all you need to have a pleasing holiday snack. I hope that you enjoy, and happy holidays from my kitchen to yours!

Walnut + Cream Cheese Cookie Sandwiches

Adapted from Kate Zuckerman via Lottie + Doof

I toasted the walnuts beforehand to make sure the cookies had enough nutty kick and also chilled the filling before making the sandwiches. Other than those changes, this is relatively untweaked.

Cookies

1 cup walnuts

2 1/2 cups flour, divided

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 ounces (two sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, at room temperature

Cream Cheese Filling

4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1.  Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lay the walnuts out on a pan and roast for 10 - 12 minutes, until the nuts are slightly darkened and fragrant. Combine the walnuts and one tablespoon of the flour in a food processor and grind to a fine powder. In a dry bowl, whisk together the walnut powder, remaining flour and salt and set aside.

2.  Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for one minute. (I don't have a stand mixer and did this with an egg beater.) Add the sugar and beat on medium high speed until the mixture becomes fluffy and lighter in color, six to eight minutes, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and continue to beat until it is fully incorporated and the batter looks smooth and glossy, one to two minutes.

3.  Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture all at once, and using a rubber spatula, fold together a few times. With the mixer on low, mix the dough until thoroughly combined, one to two minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula and mix for another 30 seconds.

4.  Divide dough in half and using a rubber spatula, scrape the dough onto two pieces of plastic wrap. Form dough into two logs, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs fully in the plastic and refrigerate for two hours or overnight.

5.  Preheat the oven to 350° F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using a sharp knife, cut as many 1/8-1/4 inch slices from each log of dough as possible and place the cookies on prepared cookie sheets. Bake the cookies until golden brown and you smell the toasted walnuts and butter, 12 - 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool before proceeding with filling.

6.  To make the cream cheese filling, combine all ingredients in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until the filling has increased in volume, lightened in color, and formed stiff peaks, four to five minutes. I then chilled the filling for about 20 minutes in order to get it to firm up. Mound a couple teaspoons of filling on half of the cookies and sandwich with the other half. Zuckerman recommends serving within five hours of filling so cookies don't lose their crunch. You can bake the cookies and store them in an airtight container for up to four days ahead, then fill them the day you plan to serve them.

Jammy Date and Fig Swirls

I've been on a cookie roll (ba dun ch!) the past week or so, thanks in no small part to Lottie + Doof's killer annual 12 days of cookies series on his blog. While I tend toward salty-sweet, chocolaty, coffee-y, and other darkly flavored cookies and baked goods, Tim has a lot of fruit-filled, unique flavors in his repertoire that are always intriguing. These cookies don't sound all that special on the Epicurious post where the recipe is originally from, but Tim's praise and photos made them seem like an amazing, modernized Fig Newton, and that they are! The cream cheese- and butter-dough has a light anise flavor that even my anise-averse pal thought delicious, and the fig and date purée bakes up into a deep, jammy filling that is so delicious both hot out the oven and cooled the next day.

Plus, these cookies are total stunners. I brought them to a holiday party at Ginger Root -- a local artisan boutique run by two awesome ladies where I also sell earrings -- and the plate of swirls got a lot of love, 'specially among the folks slinging back the punch while they shopped. Whether on your dessert table at home or scattered among designer wares, these cookies are appropriately holidayish and easy to love.

Jammy Date and Fig Swirls

Adapted from Gourmet via Lottie + Doof

The precision in the directions might seem fussy to some, but don't worry too much about being perfect -- the cookies will turn out lovely no matter what size your rectangles and rolls are.

1 cup packed soft dried figs (8 oz), stemmed and coarsely chopped

1 cup packed pitted dates (7 oz), trimmed and coarsely chopped

1/3 cup water

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons anise seeds, ground in an electric coffee/spice grinder

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

4 oz cream cheese at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 large egg yolk

1/4 cup large-granulated raw sugar

1.  Purée figs and dates with water and two tablespoons granulated sugar in a blender or food processor until almost smooth.  

2.  Whisk together flour, anise, baking powder and soda, and salt in a small bowl. Beat together butter, cream cheese, and remaining 1/2 cup granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at moderate speed until pale and fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in vanilla and yolk until combined well. Add flour mixture and mix at low speed until just combined.

3.  Halve dough and form each half into a rectangle. Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about one hour.

4.  Roll out one piece of dough between two sheets of wax paper into a roughly nine- by seven-inch rectangle, about one-third-inch thick. Remove top sheet of wax paper and drop half of fig mixture by spoonfuls onto dough, then gently spread in an even layer, leaving a one-fourth-inch border around edges. Starting with a long side and using wax paper as an aid, roll up dough jelly-roll style into a log. Roll log in raw sugar to coat completely. Make another log in same manner. Chill logs, wrapped in wax paper, until firm, at least four hours, or well-wrapped up to three days.

5.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut logs crosswise into one-third-inch-thick slices and arrange slices about two inches apart on baking sheets that are lightly buttered or lined with parchment paper. Bake in batches in middle of oven until pale golden, 15 to 17 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool. (Tanglewood note: Gourmet recommends strongly that you bake only one sheet at a time in the exact center of the oven; I did this, but I don't really know how crucial it is.) Cookies will keep layered between parchment paper in an airtight container for up to one week.

Whole-Wheat Shortbread Cookies

Tonight! The gifted musician who is my fella is premiering a composition that he wrote for marimba, string quintet, and chorus. He has literally worked his fingers to their blistering bones to write this piece, which was inspired by the water-themed African folk songs that he and his classmates studied this semester. Joey was tapped by his school to be one of two student composers debuting original work at this evening's performance, and I'm bursting at the seams with excitement for him. In the past year, he has somehow managed to learn and excel at playing marimba (with four mallets!) and learned how to use composition software that makes everything sound like a video game, and which will undoubtedly translate into some seriously beautiful and bewitching music; his future is all kinds of bright and shiny.

After this composition endeavor, Joey heads to to Vermont with his band (link to old songs) for a year of intensive writing and recording, punctuated by extensive touring. Obviously I will be sending them baked goods all the while. These cookies—a solid airmail possibility—were recently featured on my all-time favorite food blog, and they are a total snap to make. While Lottie + Doof finished his with sugar alone, I thought the coffee-sugar combo nicely complemented the sturdy wheat flavor, and the cookies topped with cinnamon tasted just like buñuelos. Joey, I see you your bright future and raise you a buttery one!  

Whole-Wheat Shortbread Cookies

Adapted from Lottie + Doof

Makes about 70 one-inch cookies

Obviously this recipe calls for a scale, something that I highly recommend purchasing.  They save time, dishes, and ingredients—seriously one of the best $25 you can spend for your kitchen!

10.5 ounces all-purpose flour

5.5 ounces whole-wheat flour

4.75 ounces cornstarch

16 ounces high-fat butter (Plurga is recommended), at cool room temperature

4.75 ounces natural sugar

1 teaspoon salt

Superfine sugar, superfine coffee grinds, and ground cinnamon, for dusting

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Combine the flours and cornstarch in a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and salt with an electric mixer (or KitchenAid with the paddle attachment) until fluffy, about three minutes. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and combine, but be careful not to overmix. (I did the last bits of combining with cold hands and a rubber spatula since I’m paranoid about my oft overzealous electric mixer.)

3.  On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a quarter-inch thick and cut into desired shapes (Tim used a two-inch cutter; I used a one-inch inverted glass); you may reroll and cut scraps. Arrange one inch apart on cookie sheets and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until edges have browned. Let cool on sheets for two minutes, then dust with sugar or your desired sugar mix (ratios follow). Store in an airtight container once cookies are totally cool. They’ll last a couple of days!

For coffee topping:  Combine 1/4 cup of sugar with 1 scant tablespoon superfinely ground coffee, or to taste.

For cinnamon topping:  Combine 1/4 cup sugar with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, or to taste.

Crunchy Seed Cookies

Spring, you devious bastard. First you’re gettin’ weirdly toasty and inviting ice cream sandwiches and porch-sitting, and now you’re all snowin’ on us again; a retreat indoors feels totally unnatural this time of year. So, Bobbie and I rode bikes home in the spittle-snow last Saturday after an evening spent eating dinner with best friends and then dancing artfully inside a ring of non–best friends wearing togas. Super food and slippery floors made it an evening impervious to dumb ol’ snow, but my nerves are starting to rankle anyway.

The flipside, at least, is that indoor activities translates to lots of kitchen time, and last weekend’s windy, wet jerkdom prompted an all-day baking session that led to these—possibly the most adorable cookies known to humankind. If anime could bake itself into a pastry, it might come out looking like these li’l baby butter cookies covered in seeds (on both sides!). They are also super tasty and addictive, and I whole-heartedly recommend them no matter what the weather outside your window portends, which, for me, is a snow-wet weekend filled with yard sales, karaoke, beer, crafts, and clothing swappin’. Take that, fake spring.

Crunchy Seed Cookies

Adapted from Alice Medrich, Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy

This recipe makes about 60 li'l cookies. They are really the most adorable cookies of all time. And even though I'm wary of fennel, I loved it here and will certainly use it every time. I'm planning to add poppy and sunflower seeds next time though, maybe in place of the white sesames. Customizing is love.

2 teaspoons black sesame seeds

2 teaspoons white sesame seeds

2 teaspoons flax seeds

2 teaspoons fennel seeds (I used 1 1/2)

1/4 cup coarse raw sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, very soft

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 tablespoons bourbon (I used brandy)

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a large shallow bowl or plate, mix seeds and coarse sugar and set aside. In a different medium bowl, combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt, and mix together thoroughly with a fork.

2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and granulated sugar. With a large spoon or electric mixer on medium-low, mix the butter and sugar until smooth and well-blended, but not fluffy. Add the egg and bourbon/brandy and mix until smooth. Add the flour mixture, half at a time, and mix by hand until completely incorporated.

3. Roll heaping teaspoons of dough into one-inch balls. Press each ball into the seed mixture on both sides (genius!), flattening the ball to a half-inch thick round. Place the cookies two whole inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets, and bake for 14 to 16 minutes until cookies are slightly browned on the edges, rotating pans halfway through. Set the liners on racks to cool. Medrich says cookies will keep for up to two weeks in an airtight container, but we ate them all in three days. 

Coffee Ice Cream Sandwiches

March is starting to feel like the most do-or-die month, and I sort of totally love it. I'm besickened with the worst cold I've had in over a year and one day from my organization's giant, fancy gala for which I'll be up all night barking into a walkie-talkie, yet all I can think about are ways to start a bicycle cafe and names for my weekend doughnut business (Dough-Zone Layer!). I've been staying up late to make earrings for Ginger Root, DC's most awesome custom clothes, jewelery, and design store, and am squeezing in a visit with my sister that has been full of SVU (pasttime numero uno), good food, and chest hair jokes. Joey and I are planning our symphony date and our vacation to San Diego, and right now even, I'm waiting for an assignment at work to come through and using my spare minute to blog. I'm straddling obligations and compulsions–and not really balancing them–but instead of making me feel crazy and weird, it's making me feel excited. I'm totally pumped for what's in store in the next few weeks, and hopefully these ice cream sandwiches are some indication of what will filter through this manic month!

Coffee Ice Cream

Adapted from The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups cream, divided

1 1/2 cups whole coffee beans

3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used turbinado)

Pinch salt

5 egg yolks

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon instant espresso or superfinely ground coffee

1.  In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stir the milk, a half-cup of the cream, whole beans, sugar, and pinch of salt until the sugar is dissolved and the milk is steaming (not boiling!). Cover and let steep for one hour.

2.  Fill a large bowl with ice, and place a medium metal bowl inside it over the ice. Pour the remaining cup of cream into the metal bowl and put a fine mesh strainer over the top. Whisk the five yolks in a separate large bowl, and then reheat the milk and beans until the mixture is steaming (not boiling!). Slowly pour the milk into the egg yolks to temper, whisking vigorously the whole time. Pour the yolks and milk back into the pan, and. stirring the whole time, cook over medium heat until the mixture has thickened into a custard, seven to ten minutes. You'll know the custard is ready when you can run your finger across the back of a spoon dipped in the custard and it leaves a clear trail.

3.  Pour the custard through the sieve into the cold cream, pushing on the beans to extract as much custard as possible. You'll need to clear out the strainer every now and then so that it doesn't overflow. Mix the vanilla and superfinely ground coffee into the cold cream mixture, and stir the whole thing until it's cool. Allow the mixture to cool completely in the fridge, preferably overnight, and then process according to your ice cream maker's directions.

Ice Cream Sandwiches

I made these sandwiches using cookies that were leftover from last week's thin mints. Any not-too-crispy cookie will do though, and a stay in the freezer overnight will soften them up a little bit for perfect ice cream sandwich texture. The coffee ice cream goes really well with the chocolate wafers, but I think that a chocolate chip cookie with toffee would have also been amazing!

1.  Make half of this recipe to get about 35 cookies, or enough for 15 or so sandwiches. Once the cookies have cooled completely and the ice cream has hardened in the fridge for about an hour, scoop 1 1/2 to 3 tablespoons of coffee ice cream (or however much) onto a cookie back, then sandwich it with a second evenly sized cookie.

2.  Wrap the sandwiches in waxed or parchment paper and let them hang out in the fridge for a few hours or overnight to soften the cookie somewhat. Take them out about ten minutes before you're ready to serve, and enjoy!

Homemade Thin Mints

During the first of the only two seasons where I ever sold girl scout cookies, my dad bought 30 boxes of Thin Mints so that I could "earn" the super seller girl scout patch that had a harp seal pup on it. An additional prize was in the mix too, but I was really into harp seals, specifically, and my earnest patch-wantin' tears coaxed my dad into footing the bill for a freezerful of cookies. Not like he complained though, because as much as the rest of us, my father the girl scout hero could totally eat a whole tube of thin mints in one sitting. And then three summers ago my mom was leaving Safeway and decided to confront a cookie-selling scout about the hydrogenated oil and corn syrup that were standard (at the time) in girl scout cookies. The girl was most likely an eight-year-old do-gooder with no idea what my mother the girl scout villainizer was talking about, but still, Mom had a point. Enter:  homemade thin mints! 

I made them a little too large, a little too thin, and none too smooth, but they are so very, very good, that they might permanently thwart your craving for actual Thin Mints. Plus, the chocolate wafer that they use also makes an excellent snacking cookie and a phenomenal sandwich cookie for ice cream and filling (more on that later). 

Homemade Thin Mints

Adapted from Alice Medrich, Bittersweet

This wafer recipe makes approximately 70 cookies. I divided the dough in two and used one half for these thin mints and the other half for the tops to ice cream sandwiches. You could either halve the recipe below or double the chocolate coating recipe to make a whole batch of thin mints.

1 1/2 cups (6.75 ounces) flour

3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (I used the fancy shit)

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

14 tablespoons (1 3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

3 tablespoons whole milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1.  In the bowl of a food processor, put flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, and baking soda, and pulse a few times until blended. Cut the butter into 12 chunks, add it to the bowl, and pulse it a few times. Combine the milk and vanilla in a small bowl and with the processor running, add the liquid and continue to process until dough clumps together. Transfer the dough to a large bowl and knead a few times to ensure that it's thoroughly mixed. 

2.  Divide the dough in two, and roll each into a log that is 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter (I used the smaller diameter for the thin mints, larger for the ice cream sammiches). Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about an hour, or up to a day as needed.

3.  Preheat the over to 350 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Slice your cookies into thins that are 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch thin, and space one inch apart on the sheets. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through. Cookies will puff up and deflate as they bake, and they are ready about 1 1/2 minutes after they deflate. They should crisp as they cool, and if they don't, you can pop them back in the oven for a few minutes so they finish baking. Cool cookies on their sheets on top of cooling racks. When completely cool, being the chocolate-coating process!

Chocolate Mint Coating

This makes enough for 35 to 40 thin mints, or about half of what the recipe above yields. You can either halve the cookies, double this chocolate to make a huge she-bang, or keep the wafers in the freezer and use them as needed for ice cream sandwiches or snackin'.

12 ounces semisweet chocolate, chips or chopped

2 to 3 teaspoons peppermint extract, or to taste

1.  Prep your station by lining cooling racks or cutting boards with waxed or parchment paper.

2.  Place the chocolate in a metal bowl set over gently simmering water. Stir frequently until chocolate is melted, smooth, and glossy. Start by mixing in a teaspoon of peppermint extract, and increase by half-teaspoons until you reach your desired level of mintiness (I used a full three teaspoons). 

3.  Using a fork or clean fingers, dip the cookies in the chocolate one at a time, coating both sides with a thin layer. Let the excess drip off, and place the dipped cookies onto the wax paper to set. If the dipping chocolate ever gets too thick, put it back over simmering water for a minute to thin it out. Place the finished cookies in the freezer or fridge for 20 minutes to speed up the setting of the chocolate. I kept my thin mints in the freezer the whole time because frozen thin mints are the best, but they'll keep stored in an airtight container at room temperature too.

Pine Nut Rosemary Cookies

Dudes, trust:  These cookies are the jam.  I have a friend who jokingly refers to them as "roasted chicken cookies" (I hope you're already sold) because rosemary is so elemental to oven meats, and another friend who started talking to me about pesto after he had them, but these aren't the unclassifiable troll child of a savory-sweet marriage that friendly jokes make them out to be -- these are an awesome cookie reinvention.  They're also a completely crossable bridge between savory and sweet, falling deliciously short of being overwhelmed by either flavor.  And as we know, savory-sweet land is, of course, the most addictive land of all.   

Bonus summer-awarded points for level of ease too!  While I am generally uninterested (disinterested?) by claims of ease in the kitchen, on this fifty-first day of heat above 98 degrees in the swampy wonderland that I call home, I'll grasp onto anything that minimizes my time in the kitchen.


Pine Nut Rosemary Cookies
Via Martha Stewart

I'd say these are pretty customizable too.  If you're not a fan of pine nuts, try hazelnuts and a pinch or so of cardamom instead of the rosemary, or maybe walnuts with thyme.  Lemon thyme is supposedly budding in everyone's backyards these days, and I think that could make a bright substitution for the rosemary.

1 tablespoon + 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup pine nuts,* toasted + extra for topping cookies
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (remember, trust!)
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup + 2 tablespoons granulated white sugar
2 tablespoons good-quality olive oil
3 tablespoons heavy cream (I used half-and-half)
1 large egg, lightly whisked
About two tablespoons raw or turbinado sugar for sanding

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees F., and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  Finely chop rosemary some more in a food processor. Add pine nuts, and pulse until coarsely ground, about like the consistency of coarse corn meal. Transfer to a large bowl; whisk in two cups of the flour, baking soda, ginger, and salt, and set aside.

2.  In another large bowl, cream butter with white sugar on high until light and fluffy, two to three minutes (may take less time if your kitchen is of hellish temperature). Slowly mix in oil. Reduce speed to low. Mix in flour mixture in three increments, and then add cream. Using a fork, mix until well combined.  Mix in egg, then final 1/4 cup of flour.

3.  Using a 1 1/2-tablespoon ice cream scoop, scoop balls of dough onto cookie sheets, leaving at least an inch between each mount. Very slightly flatten tops, top each with a pine nut or two, and then shake some raw sugar on there.

4. Rotating halfway through, bake cookies until edges are golden, about 13 minutes.  Let cool on sheets for ten minutes, and then transfer to wire racks to let cool completely. Cookies are best if eaten the same day, though they'll be fine for a day if store in an airtight container.

* Moment of Science:  Instances of "pine mouth" have reportedly been on the rise in recent years, so to avoid turning your mouth into a piney wonderland, be sure to use pine nuts that are neither rancid nor imported from China. Thems the rules.

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I just arrived home in the District, fresh from a four-day seafood, BBQ, Fat Tire, and sunshine bender in Savannah, where Joey (time to give him some photo love) and I celebrated a birthday, food-laden and Southern style.  This means truffled macaroni and cheese, shrimp and grits, red rice, oodles of okra, tuna steak sandwiches, sweet tea galore, mashed sweet potatoes, wonderful coffee, and pretty wonderful people too.  A park every other block and ornateness that transfixes for hours, well when we weren't stuffing ourselves, swimming, bicycling, or (let's be honest) drinking, we were usually just walking around staring at the people and the houses. I think we both started to feel at home our last day there, which was an encouraging shame since we loved it (so quickly!) but had to leave (so soon!), and also a testament to how easily the city's charm and grit can really hook you.

Well and so then there are these cookies.  They have nothing to do with Savannah except that I made them right before we left and haven't stopped thinking about them either, so I guess they share bewitchment over the mind of a capricious 24-year-old.  I might even like these better than the all-famous Leite/New York Times recipe. The whole-wheat flour adds the best nutty flavor, and these are so shamefully buttery and perfectly salty--the texture is outstanding. I also cannot profess my love enough for the book from whence this recipe came, which has expanded my list of obsessions by eight new flours. Those plus a few cities in the South, and I'd say I have my daydreams all sorted out.

Whole-Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain: Baking with Whole-Grain Flours

I halved the recipe and also halved the size of my cookies (from three tablespoons of dough to 1 1/2 tablespoons).  As you can see, they're plenty big that way.  I've included Kim's original amounts below, but a halved batch with smaller cookies yielded exactly 30.

3 cups whole-wheat flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons salt (I used sea salt)

2 sticks unsalted butter, cold, cut into half-inch pieces

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 cup granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

8 ounces high-quality bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped into quarter- and half-inch pieces

1.  Position racks in lower and upper thirds of oven.  Preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2.  Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl.  Add any leftover grains that remain from the sifting.

3.  Combine the butter and sugars in a large bowl, beating on low speed with an electric mixer for two minutes, or until just blended.  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing to incorporate after each addition, then add the vanilla.  Then, add the flour mixture until barely combined.  Scrape sides and bottom of bowl using a rubber spatula.  Add the chocolate using the rubber spatula, and make sure it's evenly distributed.  Make sure all of the flour mixture is incorporated by using your hands to blend in any visible dry ingredients (Boyce asks you to do this on a lightly floured surface, but I found it worked great to just do this in the bowl).

4.  Scoop three-tablespoon mounds of dough (I did 1 1/2-tablespoon mounds) onto your prepared baking sheets, spacing them three inches apart.  Bake for eight to ten minutes, then rotate sheets from top to bottom and front to back, and bake for an additional eight to ten minutes, until evenly browned (I baked my cookies for 13 minutes total, since they were smaller).  Remove to wire racks and let cool.  Mine kept for three days, covered. 

Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies and Radio CPR Record Sale

A little more than a year ago, I was lamenting the District (I was so misguided!) while proffering the Radio CPR Record Sale as a rare form of social recourse (I was so correct!), and this year the radical ladies (one in particular) who power the station were kind enough to let me contribute to the sale again.  Two veteran baked goods soldiers continued their history of wowing, but this year I also offered a new recipe of vegan granola bars with a plethora of nuts and sticky things keeping 'em together and some espresso chocolate shortbread cookies that are like a double shot of caffeine and awesome straight to your heart.

And really, the heart doctor business must be booming.  The past three weeks might have limped along on the chronicling front here, but there's butter/batter a'beating in my kitchen nearly every day. In spite of jam-packed days and a few spectacular failures, I've emerged from my sweltering kitchen armed with a handful of buttery, awesome recipes to share.  These espresso chocolate shortbread cookies are numero uno, and if you live and die for butter and coffee (me too!), you very much must make them. 

Espresso Chocolate Shortbread Cookies

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan who says they make 32, but my method (madness?) made only 18

1 tablespoon instant espresso power

1 tablespoon boiling water

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup powdered sugar

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I guesstimated from a Ghiradelli bag and probably used closer to 5 ounces), finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt (Kari addition)

Additional powdered sugar for dusting, if you like

1.  Dissolve the espresso in the boiling water and set aside to cool to room temperature. 

2.  In a large bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar together on medium high for about three minutes, until very smooth and somewhat pale. Beat in the vanilla and espresso, then reduce the speed to low and add the flour and salt, mixing only just until the flour disappears into the dough. Do not overwork the mixture. Fold in the chopped chocolate with a rubber spatula.

3.  Scoop the dough into a gallon-sized zipper-lock plastic bag. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 9" x 10 1/2" rectangle that's 1/4" thick -- your rectangle should take up about half the bag.  Make sure the dough has even thickness throughout, seal, and the pop it flat into the fridge for at least two hours and up to two days.

4.  Position the racks to divide the oven in thirds and preheat to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Remove the dough from the fridge, cut the plastic bag away, and, using a ruler to guide you, slice the dough in 1 1/2" squares. Space the cookie squares one inch apart on the sheets, and then make two sets of fork marks in each cookie, gently pressing the tines all the way through the dough until they hit they sheet.  Careful not to crumble the cookies when you do this step.

5.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating pans and switching from top to bottom halfway through. The cookies will not take on much color.  Remove from cookie sheets once you pull them from the oven, and allow to cool completely on racks. Dust with powdered sugar if you like. The cookies seem to get better with a day of rest, stored in an airtight container.

Best Peanut Butter Cookie Quest: Part One

You may have noticed that I'm capricious and that I get really "into" things for brief periods of time.  Awhile ago it was sewing.  Then photography.  Bikes for quite some time, but never long enough to hone any lasting expertise.  At one point it was the South, and this week it's Twitter, secret cafes, and Rickshaws.  I'm gearing up to be real into camping and web design, but in the meantime, I'm still all about baking—possibly my longest-running hobby—and therefore I have decided, as much as a noncommittal kid can, to undertake a quest for my personal favorite peanut butter cookie of all time.  Did I mention that the quest is going to be totally delicious?  Oh yes, absolutely yes.

This one here used to be my all-time favorite, but this time around I found the peanut butter flavor wasn't pronounced enough, partially because I think there might be too much butter, but also because the chocolate overpowered the peanut butter chips.  This is a peanut butter cookie recipe for a chocolate-lover, which I am, but which preference I will forego in favor of something more sincerely peanut buttery.  Stay posted:  If I don't suddenly decide to take up furniture design, I think constant baking energy could do us some sweet, sweet wonders.

Peanut Butter Cookies (makes 50 to 60 small cookies)

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup peanut butter (I used hand-milled chunky, but apparently the fake shit works best)

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 large egg at room temperature

1 tablespoon milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup peanut butter chips (I'd up to 3/4)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chips (I'd decrease to 1/4)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.  In a small bowl, mix flour baking soda, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat together butter and peanut butter on medium-high until light and fluffy, two to three minutes.  Add in sugars and beat until smooth.  Add egg and mix well.  Add milk and vanilla, and a little bit at a time, beat in flour mixture.  Using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon, mix in all of the chips.

3.  Put a couple tablespoons of sprinkling sugar on a plate, and by rounded teaspoonfulls, drop balls of cookie dough onto the sugar and roll them around until covered.  Place the balls onto your cookie sheets (mine were bare, but parchment paper never hurts), press down lightly with a fork, and toss 'em in the oven for ten to 12 minutes.  Do not overbake.  Leave cookies on sheets for one minute only, then remove to a cooling rack to let cool completely.  These are awesome after they've been sitting for about an hour, eaten in groups of five or six.

Flashback: Triple Ginger Cookies

A smattering of ginger sugar on top

Remember these crackle-topped, chewy cookies with three kinds of ginger? I made them again last night, this time with three twists of cracked black pepper, which you could round up to one-quarter teaspoon. Verdict: Still delicious, still awesome.

Triple Ginger Cookies

Baking isn’t exactly my personal recourse for existential destitution, and neither should blogging be, but, well, if ever there was a platform for public self-expression, then maybe this would be it. That said, my friend Jason is coming to visit me in March, and he asked me the other day what my favorite things to do in DC are and how many days do I think are good for getting a feel for the city. I totally drew a blank. Partial words and blurry things flickered through my head, but I, after living here for more than a year, was completely dumbfounded. “Quick, quick! Better find something I love about this place! Joey, what the hell do I love about DC?”

And now, in a really artistic and seamless segue, I will link in to my recipe for the best ginger cookies ever — it uses three different kinds of ginger — and at the end of it all, I’ll affirm how much I like DC and I’ll figure out how to make Jason like DC too. See? Seamless and artistic. Abby says that maybe part of why we’re still here is because DC is so alienating and weird, and she’s probably right that in a lot of ways, the sense of belonging is part of what propelled us from California in the first place. So maybe these moments of panic are just DC’s way of reminding me to eke out my happiness in a way that is challenging and satisfying — like through cookies.  Recipe after the jump!