Bon Appetit Desserts (152 page)
Read Bon Appetit Desserts Online
Authors: Barbara Fairchild
½ cup (packed) golden brown sugar
½ cup sugar
¼ cup whole milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
Whisk flour, baking powder, cinnamon, allspice, cloves, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars in large bowl until creamy. Beat in milk, egg, and vanilla. Add flour mixture and beat until blended. Stir in raisins and walnuts. Cover dough and chill until cold, about 2 hours (dough will be sticky).
Preheat oven to 375°F. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto heavy large rimmed baking sheets, spacing evenly. Bake until cookies are pale golden, about 12 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks and cool completely.
DO AHEAD
:
Cookies can be made 2 days ahead. Store in airtight containers at room temperature.
Pine Nut CookiesThese Italian favorites are rolled in a decidedly American ingredient: crushed cornflakes.
Makes about 2 dozen
2½ cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
11 tablespoons (1 stick plus 3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup pine nuts, toasted
4 cups cornflakes, crushed
Powdered sugar (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 heavy large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking powder in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until blended. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add flour mixture and beat until blended. Stir in pine nuts.
Place crushed cornflakes in shallow baking dish. Using 1 heaping tablespoon dough for each cookie, form into balls (dough will be soft and sticky). Roll each ball in cornflakes, pressing gently to adhere. Transfer balls to baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake cookies until deep golden, about 23 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. Dust cookies with powdered sugar, if desired.
DO AHEAD
:
Cookies can be made 2 days ahead. Store in airtight containers at room temperature.
Chocolate-Dipped Lace CookiesThe small amount of flour in the batter is just enough to hold the dough together but still allow the cookies to spread out as they bake, forming thin, lacy designs.
Makes about 20
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
⅔ cup old-fashioned oats
½ cup unbleached all purpose flour
½ cup sliced almonds
2 teaspoons finely grated orange peel
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
¼ cup whole milk
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
Position rack in top third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Line heavy rimless baking sheet with silicone baking mat or foil. Stir sugar, oats, flour, almonds, orange peel, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Add melted butter and milk and stir well. Let batter stand 10 minutes.
Drop batter by level tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet, spacing 4 inches apart (cookies will spread considerably). Bake until cookies are bubbly, lacy, and golden brown, about 12 minutes. Carefully slide baking mat or foil from cookie sheet onto work surface. Let cookies cool completely. Using spatula, carefully transfer cookies to paper towels to absorb any excess butter. Repeat with remaining batter, wiping baking mat or lining cooled cookie sheet with clean foil for each batch.
Line 2 clean baking sheets with waxed paper or parchment paper. Stir chocolate in small metal bowl set over small saucepan of gently simmering water until melted and smooth. Partially dip 1 cookie into melted chocolate, coating ¼ of cookie. Transfer to prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining cookies and melted chocolate. Chill until chocolate is set. Carefully remove cookies from waxed paper.
DO AHEAD
:
Can be made 1 week ahead. Store in airtight container in cool place.
Lacy Sandwich Cookies
This recipe can also be used to make small lacy chocolate sandwich cookies. Use a rounded teaspoonful of dough to make the cookies smaller, and bake them for only about 10 minutes. Once they have cooled, spread a small amount of the melted chocolate over the bottom side of one cookie, then top with a second cookie, bottom side down. Repeat with the remaining cookies and chocolate for a total of about two dozen sandwich cookies.
Equipment Tip:
Clean Chopping
For easy chocolate chopping that’s also easy to clean up, use a wide, heavy chef’s knife or Chinese cleaver and chop the chocolate on a thin, flexible plastic cutting board; the board makes it easy to transport the chopped chocolate to the double boiler, and it’s lightweight, so a snap to rinse off. Flexible cutting boards can be found at
bedbathandbeyond.com
,
amazon.com
, and some kitchen supply and cookware stores.
Cranberry-Orange Drop CookiesUse a razor-sharp Microplane (available at Bed, Bath, and Beyond and kitchenware stores) to grate the orange peel. It makes the job so easy and creates a delicate grated peel.
Makes about 4 dozen
2 cups (packed) dried sweetened cranberries
⅓ cup orange juice
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon ground ginger
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ teaspoons finely grated orange peel
¾ cup chopped walnuts
¾ cup chopped unsalted natural pistachios
½ cup coarsely chopped fresh or frozen cranberries (do not thaw)
Combine dried cranberries and orange juice in small bowl. Let stand until cranberries soften slightly, stirring occasionally, about 30 minutes.
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F. Butter 3 heavy large rimmed baking sheets. Whisk flour, cinnamon, baking powder, ground ginger, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl until just blended.
Using electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until smooth. Add egg, minced ginger, vanilla, and orange peel; beat until well blended, about 2 minutes. Beat in flour mixture. Stir in walnuts, pistachios, fresh or frozen cranberries, and dried cranberries with juices.
Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, spacing about 1½ inches apart. Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time, until golden and almost firm to touch in center, about 18 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to rack and cool completely.
DO AHEAD
:
Can be made 2 days ahead. Store in airtight containers at room temperature.
Technique Tip:
Chopping Cranberries
It’s easier to cut whole fresh cranberries when they are firm. If using frozen cranberries, chop them while they are still frozen and don’t allow them to thaw before adding them to the dough or they will be too mushy to chop.
Cookie Basics: The Big Freeze
There is a way to enjoy fresh-baked cookies any time: Make the dough or cookies ahead of time and freeze them.
FREEZING DOUGH
: This works well for low-moisture batters or doughs, such as for drop cookies, slice-and-bake cookies, and cutout cookies. (Any cookie batter that spreads prior to baking won’t work.) To freeze cookies that are shaped into mounds or balls before baking, shape the dough and freeze the mounds or balls on waxed paper-lined baking sheets until firm. Transfer the mounds to a resealable bag and return to the freezer. When you’re ready to bake, let them thaw briefly on a baking sheet while the oven preheats. Then bake according to the recipe instructions. To freeze slice-and-bake cookie dough, simply wrap the log of dough in foil or plastic wrap and store it in a freezer bag. To bake the cookies, thaw the dough slightly and then slice into rounds. Bake according to the recipe directions.
FREEZING BAKED COOKIES
: Cookies such as chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies fare best when wrapped individually and tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil, then frozen in a cookie tin, food storage container, or resealable plastic bag. Bring them to room temperature, or warm them in a 300°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes. Bar cookies, such as brownies, are best frozen uncut in the pan they were baked in; shortbread and other crisp cookies can be frozen in resealable bags or food storage containers. These are best when just brought to room temperature.
Classic Peanut Butter CookiesThese delicious treats can be transformed into thumbprint cookies that mimic the popular PB&J combo. Instead of flattening the dough balls, use your fingertip to make a deep indentation in the center of each, then fill each indentation with 1 level teaspoon of your favorite jam. Bring the kids into the kitchen for this baking project—they’ll love the job of making the indentations in the dough.
Makes about 2½ dozen
2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt