Birthday Biscotti Revisited

Two years ago this Tuesday, I posted a recipe for my favorite chocolate almond biscotti which were being shipped across the country as a birthday surprise. I dropped another batch of birthday biscotti at the post office this morning, with two new (and delicious) surprises.

1. The original recipe includes chopped almonds in the batter and sliced almonds on top. I swapped both for pistachios, my favorite for taste and color.

2. I used a vanilla salt that I made during the holidays, inspired by Joy the Baker's recipe (which I've included below).

Start with the original recipe, swapping whatever nuts and salts you choose.

Seedling Cupcakes

After mentioning these cakes in the previous post, I had many requests for a recipe and instructions. Fear not, these cupcakes are quite simple and are a little taste of spring when there's a sub-freezing windchill outside! The cakes are also perfect for a spring or summer birthday, and would be fun for your pint-sized guests to "plant" themselves. 

Here's what you need:

1. 4-ounce canning jars (I used Ball's quilted jelly jars). They usually run about $10 per dozen depending on where you purchase them. That might sound expensive if you need 24, but remember you can reuse them endlessly. 

2. Your favorite cake recipe. I used my chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting recipe.

3. Butter or non-stick cooking spray, to grease the jars.

4. A jelly roll pan or cookie sheet.

5. Chocolate cookies or wafers. I used Newman's Own Organics Double Chocolate Chip Cookies - YUM!

6. A toothpick, or something similar, to help you "plant" your seedlings.

7. Edible herbs or flowers. I chose mint since my options were limited last winter when I baked the cakes. A variety of herbs or flowers would be awesome, especially in the summer when you have so many choices.

8. Popsicle sticks, optional. The sticks allow you to personalize the cakes and make them look more like seedlings. I wrote "Happy" and "Birthday" on mine. Writing the recipient's birthdate as you would a planting date would look cute as well.

Cookies for Two

A snowy day calls for fresh-baked cookies, especially with Christmas around the corner. This recipe is simply a smaller version of my "classic" chocolate chip cookies (adapted from the Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe). You will end up with about five cookies instead of almost four dozen. A perfect way to warm up after shoveling snow!

Chocolate Chip Cookies for Two
Makes 5 3-inch cookies

2 T. unsalted butter, softened
2 T. brown sugar
1 T. raw sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 t. vanilla
1/4 c. flour
1/4 t. baking soda
pinch of salt
chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° and line a small baking sheet with parchment paper.

Blend butter and sugars in a bowl with a fork. Stir in yolk and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt and stir until well combined. Fold in a handful of chocolate chips, M&M's, or other chocolate candy.

Drop by rounded tablespoon or ice cream scoop onto baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-11 minutes until golden brown. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes before removing. 

December Baking

December is a busy month in the kitchen. Between Christmas cookies and homemade gifts, my sink is always full of measuring cups, spatulas, and cookie sheets. Short, dark, cold days left me yearning for the tastes of summer at the beginning of the month. I broke into my frozen blueberry stash from July to make a batch of orange blueberry poppy seed muffins on December 8th. 

These muffins are a twist on Joy the Baker's lemon blueberry poppy seed muffins. I swapped the whole milk in Joy's recipe for soy and the lemon zest for orange. These muffins are moist and full of blueberries. If your blueberries are frozen to start, toss them with 1-2 tablespoons of flour in a bowl. This will help prevent your batter from turning blue.

When you begin to sprinkle the crumb topping over your muffin cups, you will be hesitant to use all the topping. Don't stop sprinkling! I was hesitant too, but I was so very happy I used it all.

Dark Chocolate Chip, Pistachio, and Smoked Salt Cookies

I love adding pistachios to cookie recipes (as in these Oatmeal Cranberry Pistachio gems), so I bookmarked Joy the Baker's recipe for dark chocolate, pistachio and smoked salt cookies as soon as I saw it. But what the heck is smoked salt and where was I going to find it?

The recipe sat for a few weeks as I waited for an excuse to bake these cookies, or stumbled upon smoke salt (whichever came first). I was stopping in Whole Foods to pick up some treats for an impromptu dinner with friends, and somehow remembered my need for smoke salt. I tried the baking aisle first, where two gentlemen who worked at the store looked at me confused and asked, "What are you trying to make?" Luckily, one of them thought to radio the man at the specialty foods/cheese counter, who happened to be standing behind a huge glass jar filled with a smoky brown salt. Within minutes I found myself in a circle with these three workers, all sniffing the campfire worthy scent of their smoked salt.

Needless to say, once I had the salt I didn't need an excuse to bake. These cookies are as easy to whip up as any other chocolate chip cookie recipe and I was delighted at their thinness and chewy texture (if you want to hear me talk more on that, check out my classic chocolate chippers).

A smoked, nutty, and chocolately cookie - how can we make it any better, you ask? How about using some homemade vanilla extract. Yes, be jealous, and then make your own. Luckily, the man in my life has a stash of these perfect bottles in his kitchen and I get dibs.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes

My chocolate peanut butter cupcakes finally deserve a posting, as chocolate and peanut butter is arguably the greatest combination in the world of sweet treats. 

When it comes to chocolate cupcakes, I prefer a dark chocolate or Devil's Food cake. Often the standard homemade chocolate cake just isn't chocolaty enough. If you don't have the time to whip up cakes from scratch, I suggest Trader Joe's chocolate cake mix (in the pink box). TJ's leaves out the artificial colors, flavors and preservatives you may find in other mixes and produces a yummy, moist cake. (I've never tried TJ's frosting, so if you have let me know how it is).

Chocolate Almond Biscotti

Covering my friends and family with icing and crumbs on their birthday is one of my favorite joys. What to do then, when a dear friend moves 3,000 miles across the country and the postal service won't accept your bribe to deliver a cake with 25 lit candles to their doorstep? You make birthday biscotti, of course.

Happy birthday Kenny!

I'm not a coffee drinker (or espresso, cappuccino, etc.), but I love biscotti. Why? It's another excuse to eat a cookie. I was first introduced to this recipe by an old co-worker at a morning meeting. Let's just say we spent more time raving about his delicious biscotti than we spent talking about work.

My favorite thing about these biscotti, besides the chocolate chip cookie taste, is that you don't have to dunk them in hot coffee in order to take a bite. They are a bit softer than coffee shop biscotti, which makes a non-coffee drinker quite happy.

Cookie Dough Bites

The best way to say "I love you" to a sweet tooth is with cookie dough. Trust me.

Greek yogurt is the secret to making this cookie dough recipe egg-free and granting you the permission to lick the bowl, spoon, your fingers, and eat as much as you like. Simply blend the ingredients together as you would a normal cookie recipe: blend butter and sugars, add vanilla and yogurt, mix in the dry ingredients, and lastly, the chocolate chips.

For quick cookie dough bites, drop the dough onto a cookie sheet using an ice cream scoop. Pop those bad boys into the freeze and you're done! For a more festive treat, spread the dough into a jelly roll pan and cut into shapes with cookie cutters after freezing.

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Whoopie Pies

I'm not sure you can say you're from Pennsylvania if you've never had a whoopie pie from a local farm stand. There they sit, next to the tomatoes and summer squash, surrounded by zucchini bread and peach pie. You tell yourself, "I don't need that," and yet you know it was baked and individually wrapped just for you.

Germantown Farmers Market

Often a pie (accidentally) makes its way into my market bag. Chocolate cake with marshmallow filling is the standard whoopie pie, but I prefer pumpkin (There aren't many pumpkin-flavored desserts that I don't like). Personal-sized desserts are my favorite: No sharing required and no evidence remains of your indulgence. But the truth is, I don't really love the super sweet, traditional marshmallow fluff-shortening filling. After all, what about that combination sounds appetizing?

These chocolate peanut butter whoopie pies, on the other hand, are delicious. The cakes bake up moist and fluffy, and are filled with a yummy, not-too-sweet, not-too-rich buttercream. You will quickly forget that these are vegan!

Chocolate Peppermint Cupcakes in a rush

Have you ever counted the number of ingredients on the side of a cake mix box? Best not to try. I grew up on box mixes and was using them primarily up until my decision to stick to foods containing just a few ingredients that I can actually pronounce. Box mixes are convenient and reliable, however, so I won’t swear them off – especially in a pinch.

At the end of a busy week before Christmas filled with decorating, shopping, work, and school, I decided to make Christmas cupcakes for some friends. I don’t believe I had ever made “Christmas” cupcakes before, so I wanted to make them seasonal. The answer: peppermint.

It’s this simple:

1. Pick up a box of chocolate cake mix, preferably Devil’s food or dark chocolate

2. Grab a container (or two!) of chocolate icing - go darker here too, not milk chocolate

3. Toss a bottle of peppermint extract in your basket

4. Stop in the seasonal aisle and grab some Peppermint Patties and candy canes

Bake the cake mix according to the directions on the box. Add just a drop or two of peppermint extract to the icing (about ¼ teaspoon). Peppermint extract is strong, much stronger than vanilla extract, and a little goes a long way. It’s best to start with a little, stir, and taste. You can always add more and you won’t mind taste testing as you go. I used about a container and a half of icing to ice 24 cupcakes with the method you see in the photos.

Decorate the cakes with the peppermint candies. I placed a few candy canes under parchment paper and crushed them with a rolling pin to make the peppermint dust, and cut the Peppermint Patties in half to show off their bright white centers.

These cupcakes are delicious. Which leads me to ask, why don’t we see them more? I spent some time searching for chocolate peppermint cakes online and most recipes made a white peppermint frosting. Chocolate and mint is a superb combination and you can bet I’ll be making these again next year – hopefully with a perfected homemade cake and icing.

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

It was easier than I expected to pick a recipe for my first post. My family has been baking chocolate chip cookies since I was too short to see the stovetop. My mom was in charge of the Christmas baking when I was kid, but she always knew to call me when I was allowed to lick the bowl. What a good mother! She also knew to make my sister and I some cookies without any chocolate chips. Have you ever tried it? YUM! Sorry chocolate lovers, but I like to taste the cookie too!

A few years ago, I took over most of the Christmas baking for our family gatherings. In my years as a baker, I’ve learned that you don’t mess with something great. We have been using the recipe on the back of the Nestle semi-sweet chocolate morsel bag, minus the chopped nuts, for years.

It may be our retro oven, my mixer, baking pans, or old habits, but these chocolate chippers always turn out to be flat and chewy. Many bakers may frown on my flat cookies but I promise they are delicious. The flat nature of these cookies also makes them great for ice cream sandwiches.