Drop Style Christmas (or anytime) Sugar Cookies

I made these back at Christmas time, very tasty! And perfect soft texture. 10/10.  You could make with different sprinkles to be "anytime" cookies.  And these are large cookies, FYI.

Link to original recipe: https://sallysbakingaddiction.com/drop-christmas-sugar-cookies/

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 T. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. sprinkles, plus more for topping

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar together on medium speed.

3. Beat in egg and vanilla.

4. Gradually mix in reserved dry ingredients until well combined, then mix in sprinkles.  Dough should be thick/sticky consistency.

5. Scoop dough in 2 T. portions and roll into balls.  Toss balls in extra sprinkles to coat all over.  Place balls on a plate and cover.  Transfer to fridge and let chill for 2 hours.  (I think I just chilled the dough without forming in balls first, though.)

6. Heat oven to 350°F.  Line baking sheets with parchment.

7. Place dough balls 3" apart on prepared baking sheets and flatten each slightly.  Bake for 11-12 min, or until edges are lightly browned.  Centers will still look very soft.

8. After removing from oven, let cookies rest on sheet for 5 min., then transfer to cooling rack.  Enjoy!

Black Cocoa Crinkles

Mmm these are very good!  And easy to make, too, so I will give them 9.5/10.  While you could make these with regular cocoa, that would defeat the point of this recipe; you might as well make the cake mix version in that case (which I also love).  Before the pandemic, I bought black cocoa powder (King Arthur Flour brand) at the Sur La Table store closest to me; it is also available on King Arthur Flour's website and Amazon.  It's a bit pricey, but keep in mind that you won't be using very much at a time.  And it's worth it IMO :)

Link to original recipe: https://spoonfulofbutter.com/black-cocoa-crinkle-cookies/

Ingredients:

1 c. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1/4 c. black cocoa
1/4 c. dutch-processed cocoa (do not substitute!)
1 c. superfine sugar
50 mL canola oil
2 large eggs, room temperature (I put mine in a bowl of warm water for a few min to bring them up to temperature)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. powdered sugar (for rolling)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, sift together black cocoa and dutch cocoa.  Mix in superfine sugar by hand, then pour in the oil.  Mix on low speed for 1 min.

3. After the 1 min, keep mixer running on low and add eggs, one at a time, along with vanilla.  Mix in well.

4. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just combined--careful to NOT overmix!

5. Cover dough with plastic wrap, pressing it to the dough, and transfer to the fridge.  Refrigerate for 4 hours.

6. Heat oven to 350°F.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

7. Form dough into 1" balls by hand and toss in the powdered sugar until coated entirely/all over.  Place on prepared baking sheets, spacing balls 2" apart.  Transfer to oven and bake for 11-13 min (I went 13).  Let rest on cookie sheets for a few min. before transferring to cooling racks.  Enjoy!

Pressure Cooker Bolognese Sauce

Good, but not great straight out of pot. Tasted much better next day.  Took nearly as much effort as my other/regular version.  8/10. Was my first try at using the simmer setting of the pressure cooker, went well!

Link to original recipe: https://stripedspatula.com/bolognese-sauce-recipe-instant-pot/

Ingredients:

1 T. olive oil
1 1/2 c. yellow onion, chopped
1/2 c. carrots, chopped
1/2 c. celery, chopped
1 lb. gruond beef
1/2 lb. ground pork
4 oz. cubed pancetta
1 tsp. kosher salt, plus additional to taste
1/2 tsp. coarse ground black pepper, plus additional to taste
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T. tomato paste
1/2 c. dry red wine
28 oz. crushed San Marzano tomatoes (in purée)
1/2 c. water
1/2 c. Italian parsley, divided
1/4 c. heavy cream
pinch of ground nutmeg
cooked pasta of your choice, for serving (went with rigatoni)

Directions:

1. With lid off, heat oil in the bowl of the pressure cooker using the 'sauté' setting.  Add the onions, carrots, and celery.  Cook until starting to brown and soften (around 8-10 min).

2. Stir in the ground beef, pork, pancetta, kosher salt, and pepper.  Cook, mashing the meats into small crumbles, until browned and most of juices have evaporated.

3. Add garlic and tomato paste to the mixture.  Cook for 1 min.   Stir in the red wine and bring to simmer.  Simmer for 2-3 min.

4. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, water, and 1/4 c. of the chopped parsley. Bring back to a simmer, then stop the 'sauté' setting.  Close and seal the pressure cooker.  Set on 'meats/stew' for 20 min of pressurized cook time.

5. At end of pressurized cooking, use 'quick release' method to depressurize.  Carefully open and remove lid once all pressure is gone (float has dropped).  Turn the 'sauté' setting back on and let mixture simmer for 5-10 min.

6. Stir in the heavy cream, nutmeg, and remaining 1/4 c. parsley.  Season with additional salt and pepper, to taste.  Serve over cooked pasta and enjoy!

Inside Out Peanut Butter Blossoms

Another that I made back in December. These were good, but I prefer the regular (not inside out) version.  7/10, as they got a bit hard after sitting.  Baked longer than recipe indicated.

Link to original recipe: https://www.bettycrocker.com/recipes/inside-out-peanut-butter-blossoms/7b2a1401-fc59-428a-a16e-4e34bc689ea7

Ingredients:

1 pouch (17.5 oz) Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie mix
vegetable oil, water, and egg as called for on the pouch
2 T. all-purpose flour
20 Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped
1/3 c. coarse sanding sugar

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, combine cookie mix, vegetable oil, water, egg, and flour, until a soft dough forms.

3. Make dough into balls measuring around 1 1/2" in diameter, then flatten each one out.  Place a chocolate kiss in the middle, then wrap dough up around kiss and re-roll into ball shape.

4. Toss balls in sanding sugar, then place balls 2" apart on prepared cookie sheets.

5. Bake for 8-10 min, or until edges are set (I think I had to go closer to 12 min).  Cool completely before serving.

Slow Cooker Brown Butter Carrots

Made these at Thanksgiving (2019).  They are pretty good, but not over the top. 8/10.

Link to original recipe: https://www.delish.com/cooking/recipes/a50813/brown-butter-carrots-video/

Ingredients:

2 lbs. carrots, peeled and cut into 1" chunks
1/4 c. unsalted butter
1/3 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. fresh thyme, chopped
kosher salt, to taste
1 T. parsley, chopped

Directions:

1. In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt butter until just starting to brown, then immediately pour into slow cooker.

2. Add carrots, salt, brown sugar, and thyme.  Season with salt, then stir to combine.

3. Cover and cook on 'HI' for 3 hours, or until tender.  Garnish with parsley, serve, and enjoy!

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

Made these over Christmas break at mom's.  Only pic I have is of finished product.  Taste just like a cookie version of chocolate covered cherries--soft and nice! 10/10 :)

Link to original recipe: https://www.smalltownwoman.com/double-chocolate-cherry-cookies/

Ingredients:

1 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
2/3 c. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tsp. cherry juice (from jar of maraschino cherries)
30-36 jarred maraschino cherries, stems removed
for chocolate drizzle--
1/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 T. sweetened condensed milk
1 T. cherry juice (from jar of maraschino cherries)

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder, and baking soda.  Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter, sugar, and brown sugar. 

3. Mix in eggs, one at at time.  Then gradually mix in the reserved dry mixture.

4. Mix in the vanilla and the 2 tsp. of cherry juice until just combined.  Cover and refrigerate dough for 30 min.

5. Heat oven to 350°F.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

6. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on prepared cookie sheet, 2" apart.  Make a thumbprint well in each cookie and place a maraschino cherry in each one.  Bake for 10 min.

7. Meanwhile, in a small pan over low heat, melt chocolate chips and condensed milk together, stirring often.  Once melted, stir in the 1 T. of cherry juice.

8. Once cookies have cooled a bit, drizzle melted chocolate mixture atop cookies.  Let set and enjoy!

Baked vanilla cake donuts

In the mood for donuts?  These are pretty good--I will give them 9/10, would make them again.  A few things to note: the original recipe says to dip donuts immediately in powdered sugar or cinnamon sugar (if using)...I did this and it really didn't work.  Only some of the powdered sugar coated, and not very well.  The cinnamon sugar didn't stick at all; I ended up brushing the ones I wanted to coat in that with a little melted butter in order to make it stick.  The full recipe for the glaze is WAY too much in my opinion.  I had 16 donuts as the yield and made half of the glaze recipe, which was more than enough for the 10 I used it on (I would have had enough for the other 6 as well, had I not covered them in the other mixtures).  I also had to thin the glaze with probably another 2-4 T. of heavy cream (didn't measure, just kept adding until reached desired texture).  And finally, I suggest leaving your butter out the night before to get soft; as for the eggs, I put them in a small bowl of warm water to bring them to close to room temperature.  I forgot to warm the milk to room temp and the donuts still turned out fine.

Link to original recipe: https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/baked-vanilla-doughnuts
for glaze: https://www.finecooking.com/recipe/vanilla-doughnut-glaze
Note: Fine Cooking online recipes are normally only available with subscription, but they are currently all available.

Ingredients:

6 T. unsalted butter, softened
3 T. canola oil
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar (packed)
2 large eggs, room temperature (see note in intro)
1/2 T. vanilla bean paste (I did not have this; I subbed vanilla bean sugar)
2 3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 T. baking powder
1/2 tsp. fine sea salt
pinch of ground cinnamon
pinch of ground nutmeg
1 c. whole milk (at room temp--see note in intro)

toppings, if desired (ingredients for glaze are listed in directions)

Directions:

1. Position a rack in center of oven and heat to 425°F.  Lightly grease donut pans.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, oil, sugar, and brown sugar together until light and fluffy (around 4 min).

3. Mix in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla.

4. Add part of the flour (I went with 1 3/4 c.), along with the baking powder, sea salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  Mix in at low speed, then add the rest of flour to mix in.

5. Gradually mix in the milk (I added all at once, which was fine, but it did splash a bit).

6. Transfer mixture to pastry bag with no tip (or a large zip-top plastic bag with around 1/2" hole snipped off at one corner).  Pipe mixture into prepared donut pans, filling each cavity full.

7. Bake for 7-9 min (I went 8), or until fork/toothpick comes out clean after inserted in middle of a donut.  Cool in pan for 5 min, then turn out onto a cooling rack.

8. If topping with powdered sugar or cinnamon-sugar, melt a little butter and brush it on the warm donuts, then dredge in desired topping.  If topping with glaze, prepare glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together 1 3/4 c. powdered sugar, probably close to 3/4 c. heavy cream (add slightly less to start, then rest if needed), a dash of vanilla sugar or vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste, if you have such) and a pinch of fine sea salt.  Frost donuts with glaze and let set, then enjoy!

Classic Baguettes

I'm so happy to have succeeded at making baguettes at home!  It takes time, but actually easy and totally worth it.  I got a baguette pan just for this purpose and very glad I did.  Will be making these often!!  10/10! Updated post on 13 April 2021.

Link to my YouTube video for making these: https://youtu.be/1DecdP3HQSc

Link to original recipe: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-baguettes-recipe

Ingredients:

starter--

1/2 c. cool water (I went with water around room temp)
1/16 tsp. active dry yeast/instant yeast
1 c. (120g) all-purpose flour (*original recipe says 'unbleached', but I only had 'bleached', which still worked)

dough--

1/2 T. active dry/instant yeast
1 c. plus 2 T. warm water (around 100°F)
all of the starter
3 1/2 c. (418g) all-purpose flour (*same as above)
2 tsp. salt

*you will also need 1 1/2 c. of water for the baking part*

Directions:

1. Make the starter: Using a fork, mix the ingredients listed for the starter in a medium bowl, until they form a soft dough.  Cover and let sit for 14 hours (I went overnight as suggested in the original recipe, and actually went closer to 15-16 hours); mixture should look a bit bubbled at surface when ready.

2. Place all ingredients for the dough in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Use the dough hook to mix on low speed (2 on my KitchenAid) for 4 minutes.

3. Lightly grease a medium sized bowl and place dough in it.  Cover and let rise in a warm area for 45 min. (Originally I used the 'bread proof' setting on my oven for this step, but I have since stopped, as is seems to over-proof the dough.)

4. Lightly punch down the dough, fold the edges into the middle, turn it over, re-cover it, and place back in the warm area for additional 45 min. (Update is that I do use my oven's 'bread proof' setting for this step, which works well.)

5. Lightly grease a work surface and turn dough out onto it.  Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces.  Round each portion by pulling edges to middle.  Wrap in lightly greased plastic wrap and let rest for at least 15 min or up to 1 hour (I went 30 min).  

6.  Unwrap 1 piece at a time.  Set the plastic wrap aside to reuse after unwrapping.  For each dough ball, flatten it just a little, then fold it nearly, but not quite, in half, sealing the edge as you do so.  Turn the dough around, repeat process 3 more times.  The dough should have started to elongate itself.

7. With the seam side down, cup your hands across the dough log and roll-pinch gently to elongate it further until it reaches 16" in length.

8. Place the dough logs into a lightly greased or parchment-lined baguette pan (Originally I misread and greased my parchment, don't think that is necessary. I no longer use parchement, I use a small amount of butter to lightly grease the baguette pans).  Cover loosely with reserved greased plastic wrap.  Let them rise at room temp for 45 min to 1 hour (I went 45 min).

9. Shortly before the 45 min (or up to an hour) is up, place a ceramic-coated cast iron pan (I used my smallest one) on the lowest rack/lowest position of the oven, but close to the front (see next step for why).  Heat oven to 450°F.  Meanwhile, bring 1 1/2 c. of water to boil on the stove.

10. Uncover the baguettes.  Using a very sharp knife or baker's lame, make 3 to 5 slashes at a 45° angle across the top of each loaf.

11. Transfer baguettes to oven, then pour the boiling water into the pan at the bottom of the oven.  Close the oven door as quickly as possible to trap in the maximum amount of steam.

12. Bake baguettes for 24-28 min, or until turning deep golden brown (I went 28 min.)  Remove and cool on a rack OR for even crispier crust, leave oven door cracked open a few inches and let baguettes cool along with oven until room temp is reached.  Serve up and enjoy!!

Chocolate & Vanilla Shortbread Stripes (with video link)

These addictive cookies are part of my 2023 Christmas Goodie Countdown on my YouTube channel. They are a bit of work, nothing difficult, totally worth it!

Link to my YouTube "making of the recipe" video: https://youtu.be/CprPJXu2Z_A

Link to original recipe: https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/zebra-striped-shortbread-cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/3 c. all-purpose flour, divided
1 1/2 tsp. kosher salt, divided
1/3 c. Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 1/4 c. (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. powdered sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 c. sanding sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1 1/3 c. of the flour and 3/4 tsp. of the salt.  Set aside.

2. In another medium bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, remaining 1 c. of flour, and remaining 3/4 tsp salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, sugar, and powdered sugar until light and fluffy (around 4 min).

4. Beat in the egg yolk and vanilla extract.  Divide this mixture in half and add one 'half' to each of the reserved bowls of dry mixture.

5. Scrape the plain mixture (non-cocoa) back into stand mixer bowl and mix on low speed until just combined.  Scrape mixture back into original medium bowl, then repeat procedure with the cocoa mixture.

6. Line a work surface with a large sheet of parchment.  Divide each dough (the plain and the cocoa versions) into fourths.  On the work surface, pat each piece of dough into a rectangle around 6" x 2".

7. Layer a plain rectangle atop a cocoa one, then another cocoa and another plain so that there is a stack of 4 layers.  Tightly press and roll this into a log until it measures around 8" long with 1 1/2" diameter.  Repeat with the remaining 4 rectangles.

8. Wrap logs in plastic wrap and chill until very firm, at least 2 hours.

9. Arrange racks in upper third and lower third of oven and heat to 350°F.  Line baking sheets with parchment.

10. Unwrap one dough log, then brush with beaten egg all over, except ends.  Roll log in sanding sugar to coat well (push sugar into dough as you roll).  Repeat for second dough log.

11. Slice into 1/4" rounds. Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets 2" apart.  Place 1 sheet on top rack of oven and other on bottom rack.  Bake for 6 min, then switch sheet positions and bake for additional 6-8 min--until edges are just set.  Let cool on baking sheets.  Enjoy!