Rachel Robin's Nest

Crafts, Projects and Recipes to Help Feather Your "Nest"

Thanksgiving Recipe #3: Pinwheel Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies November 21, 2012

Filed under: Baking — raediantphoenix @ 4:29 pm
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Well, here it is, the last in my trilogy of Thanksgiving recipes.  Sorry I didn’t offer anything more traditional or substantive, but I have never actually cooked an entire Thanksgiving meal myself.  This afternoon, Ben and I will pile ourselves into the car with my stacks of desserts and breads and go to my parents’ house, where my father will have prepared a vast smorgasbord of food.  My contributions are the mere icing on the cake, as it were.  And so, you get cakes and breads.

The idea for these cookies came when I was browsing Christmas cookie recipes on Pinterest.  I came across a recipe for Peppermint Pinwheel Cookies.  They look absolutely gorgeous, and I’m sure they taste great too.  And slice and bake cookies are AWESOME.  I know there’s something very traditional and Christmas-y about spending an entire day rolling, cutting, chilling, rolling, and baking sugar cookies, and then spending an entire evening frosting them.  But slice and bake cookies are really fast, and with the pinwheel design, really pretty too!

I started with Martha Stewart’s Basic Sugar Cookie recipe, and sort of winged it from there.  Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Pinwheel Slice and Bake Sugar Cookies (adapted from Martha Stewart)

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, plus more for rolling
  • Yellow and orange food color

Directions:

Using an electric mixer or stand mixer, cream butter, sugar and salt until light and fluffy.  Beat in egg next. Mix in vanilla.    Switch mixer to low speed and mix in flour until just combined.

Divide dough into 2 even balls (a food scale would be handy here if you are a perfectionist).  Add yellow food color to one ball and orange to the other, and knead until the colors are even.

Divide the orange dough ball into 2 even halves (again, a food scale can help with precision).  Divide the yellow ball the same way.

Shape each of the 4 portions of dough into rough rectangles, and then roll them out on a floured surface one at a time.  Try to keep them all uniform in size and shape.  The resulting rectangles should be about 10 inches long and 5 inches wide, and the dough should be about 1/8 inch thick.

Using an offset spatula or other tool (pizza paddle?), gently lift one orange dough rectangle and lay it on top of a yellow dough rectangle.  Do the same for the other two rectangles of dough.  I did one with orange on top and one with yellow on top for variety.

Gently roll each dough sandwich to unify the layers.  Try to keep the edges as straight and uniform as possible.

Once you have finished rolling and shaping, starting at the long edge, roll each rectangle into a log.  Make sure you crimp the first edge tightly so you don’t have holes in the middles of your cookies!  Gently roll each log a bit to make them nice and round (they should be a bit less than 2″ in diameter), then roll up in parchment and wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days (which means these are great when you know you’re going to have a marathon few days of cooking! Make the dough ahead and bake later!).  A great tip to keep them nice and round is to put them in paper towel tubes!

When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350*.  Unwrap your dough logs and, using a sharp knife, trim off the ends so you have nice, straight sides, and then continue slicing cookies off in 1/4 inch thicknesses.  I ended up with 52 cookies!

Place on ungreased baking sheets and bake for 12 minutes.  Allow to cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

I would like to apologize profusely for not taking process pictures on these, but I have been CRANKING out baked goods like it’s my job, and I simply didn’t have the time or the energy.  However, if you’re at all confused about the layering and rolling process, simply Google “pinwheel cookies” for extra help and photos.

OK, I’m off to pack for my long Thanksgiving weekend in Vermont!  Happy Thanksgiving!

 

Thanksgiving Recipe #2: Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies November 20, 2012

Filed under: Baking — raediantphoenix @ 2:24 pm
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Sorry, friends, this one’s a repeat.  I posted this recipe in October of last year, but really, these cookies are so delicious and so seasonally appropriate, can you blame me for sharing them again?

Even better, this year I got 6 dozen cookies from one batch of dough.  How can you go wrong?  That’s 2 dozen to bring to your coworkers, 2 dozen to bring to Thanksgiving, and 2 dozen for you to hoard at home and eat with frosty glasses of milk when you get midnight sugar cravings.  At least, that’s what I do.

Anyway, I hope these cookies bring as much joy to your Thanksgiving as they always bring to mine.  I’ll have one more recipe for you tomorrow, and then Rachel Robin’s Nest will be taking a long weekend in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday :)

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

Thanksgiving Recipe #1: Beer Bread November 19, 2012

Filed under: Baking — raediantphoenix @ 2:28 pm
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With Thanksgiving only a few short days away, I’m sure you’re all in a tizzy about your Turkey Day menu.  There’s too much to cook and not enough time to do it, right?  And you’ve only got one oven, so trying to cook turkey and pies and breads and rolls and casseroles all at the same time is impossible.  So in the spirit of making yummy food really fast, I give you: Beer Bread!  All you do is stir the ingredients together, slap the dough in a greased loaf pan, and bake.  Easy peasy!

I don’t know about you, but having a nice, warm, fresh slice of bread with butter is a really important part of my Thanksgiving.  I know most of us don’t have time to make a traditional yeast bread for Thanksgiving, but this bread really is a great substitute.  You may never go back to traditional bread again!  The source blog, Emmy Cooks, also offers up great sweet and savory add-ins to made  your bread even more special!

Beer Bread (via Emmy Cooks)

Ingredients:

  • 3 cups flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat, 2 cups all-purpose)
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp baking powder
  • 1tsp salt
  • 12 oz beer (one can or bottle)

Simply mix all ingredients well, pour dough into a well-greased pan, and bake at 375* for 45 minutes.  Wasn’t that easy?  Now get back into the kitchen and baste that turkey!

Stay tuned for more Thanksgiving recipes this week!

 

Chewy Homemade Granola Bars November 12, 2012

Filed under: Baking — raediantphoenix @ 2:35 pm
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I’m a big-time snacker.  I get really cranky when I get hungry, so my days usually go something like this:  Breakfast, Morning Snack, Lunch, Afternoon Snack, Pre-Dinner Snack (if Ben works late), Dinner, Before Bed Snack.  But the problem is, if I don’t have good, healthy snacks around, I start to reach for things like cheese and crackers, cookies, or whatever else just happens to be handy.

Therefore I recently went on a search for healthy alternatives, and I found these babies on Pinterest.  Made with nut butter, nuts, coconut, oats and ground flax, they are healthy, not-too-sweet, and actually very satisfying.  The ground flax provides heart healthy omega-3s, the nut butter and nuts provide protein, and the oats provide healthy whole grains and fiber.  So far, I’ve made them according to the original recipe with Peanut Butter and Peanuts, and this weekend, I also tried all-natural unsweetened Almond Butter and Almonds, which resulted in a more refined, grown up taste.  I’ve also substituted Craisins for the chocolate, which was delicious.  The great thing is, the recipe is pretty customizeable, so give it a shot!

Chewy Granola Bars (via Jo and Sue)

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups quick rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup Rice Krispies
  • 1/4 cup coconut
  • 1/2 cup mini M & M candies (I used chocolate chips, or Craisins)
  • 1/2 cup chopped peanuts (or try another nut)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 Tbsp ground flax
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter (or try another nut butter)
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1 egg

Directions:

1.  In a large bowl, combine the oats, Rice Krispies, coconut, chocolate, nuts, brown sugar and flax

2.  In a separate bowl, combine the nut butter, honey, vanilla and egg.  Mix well.

3.  Combine the wet and dry ingredients until evenly distributed

4.  Press into a well-greased 9 x 9 pan and bake at 350* for 18-20 minutes.  The edges will be lightly browned

5.  Allow to cool for 5 minutes, and while still hot, score into 16 bars.  This is important!  If you let the bars cool completely before cutting, they’ll crumble.  Once they are completely cool, cut into bars and store in an airtight container.

These are my new go-to snack.  I bake them once a week and there’s enough for both Ben and myself to take one for lunch every day, with a few extras for on-the-go snacking.  These would also be awesome snacks for the kiddos, especially when made with M&M candies!

 

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles September 23, 2012

Filed under: Baking,Recipes — raediantphoenix @ 5:08 pm
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Aaaah fall.  My favorite season.  Today, the high temp is 70*.  There’s a lovely breeze with just a hint of a chill, the sun is shining, and the sky is that perfect fall shade of cornflower blue.  Delightful!

I spent about 2 hours the other night pinning fall recipes, decorations and gifts on Pinterest.  In fact, I finally created a board just dedicated to Fall, because, well, why not?

One of the things I pinned to my “Fall” board were these Pumpkin Snickerdoodle cookies, and I simply had to bake some up today.  P.S. go check out A Bitchin’ Kitchen now, she’s got a great fall recipe roundup!

Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies (via A Bitchin’ Kitchen)

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

  • 3 3/4 cups flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar (I only had light brown-it worked)
  • 1 cup pumpkin puree
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp vanilla

For the coating:

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp ground ginger
  • dash allspice

Directions:

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Whisk to evenly distribute.   In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars.  Beat in pumpkin, then egg and vanilla.  Stir in dry ingredients until just combined.  Don’t over-mix!  Cover dough and refrigerate for one hour.

Preheat oven to 350*.  In a small bowl, whisk together the coating ingredients.  Scoop small balls of dough and roll in coating mixture.  Place dough balls on prepared baking sheets.   Dip the bottom of a glass in water, then in the coating mixture, and use the glass to press dough balls flat.  Re-sugar glass as needed.  Bake for 10-12 minutes (mine went for 13, but I tend to make big cookies) or until centers are set.  Cool on wire racks.

I have to say, these cookies are awesome!  I’ve always been partial to Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies, but these are less cakey, more dense and the spices are a cross between pumpkin pie and Christmas.  They’re very moist and absolutely delicious!

 

Summery Cake Mix Cookies July 26, 2012

Filed under: Baking,Recipes — raediantphoenix @ 1:22 am
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I’ve lived in Boston for almost 2 years now, and it’s taken me this long to get down to the Esplanade along the Charles River.  All I can say is, I wish I’d gotten there sooner!  Sail boats, kayaks and stand-up paddleboarders zip up and down the river, people and dogs jog along the paths, there are food vendors (Italian sausage and peppers, yum!), and there’s even a concert shell where they have live music!

Ben and I went for a picnic this past Saturday and it was absolutely lovely.  We filled the cooler with snacks, water and gin and tonics (shh, you’re not supposed to drink in public!).  I decided that we were going to need a sweet treat, so I whipped up some cake mix cookies using this box of Pink Lemonade Cake Mix I got on clearance for a whopping $0.62.

If you read my post on the Strawberry Cake Cookies, then you know that these cookies are quick, easy and delicious.  And the pink lemonade flavor was the perfect addition to our picnic.  Go grab some and try it out for your next picnic or barbecue!

Summery Cake Mix Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 box Pink Lemonade Cake Mix
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 egg

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
  2. Mix all ingredients well
  3. Spoon by tablespoon onto a baking sheet and bake for about 14 minutes, until the bottoms are just lightly brown
  4. Let cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely

 

Oreo Stuffed Brownies March 14, 2012

Filed under: Baking,Recipes — raediantphoenix @ 12:38 am
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Do love Oreos?  Ok, how about cake batter?  Check and check?  Excellent. Read on.  You will be happy you did.

The other day, my friend Erin from Wicked Vegan sent me this link to a recipe for Birthday Cake Oreo Stuffed Brownies.  Apparently, it’s Oreo’s 100th birthday, and they are celebrating by making Oreo cookies with cream that tastes like cake batter.

Then the genius at Bake at 350 took those Oreos, and baked them inside brownies.  Wow.  Just.  Wow.

Erin and I actually had to travel to two different stores to find these.  (PS, we broke up with Target, because they didn’t have any. Jerks.)  But Star Market came through in a pinch.  Also, just yesterday, I saw that Stop and Shop had a huge “Oreo 10th Birthday” display. It was really difficult for me not to buy more of them, but I refrained.

Sadly, I was so excited to make these that I completely forgot to take any pictures of the process, so I figured that I should just send you over to Bake at 350  and you can follow her directions.  While you’re there, check our some of her other fun stuff!

The two things I did differently:  I did not put sprinkles on top.  I wish I had, but I just couldn’t wait any longer to eat them.  They are still delicious.  Secondly, I used King Arthur Flour’s brownie recipe, because it is by far the most chocolatey, most fudgey and dense brownie I have ever made.  Combined with Birthday Cake Oreos, you are guaranteed brownie bliss.

Ok, now you go make some of your own, because I’m definitely not sharing mine!

 

Chocolate Chip Shortbread February 4, 2012

Filed under: Baking — raediantphoenix @ 9:50 pm
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Well, tomorrow is the Superbowl, and we’ve been invited over to our friends Renee and Ryan’s place to watch the big game.  GO PATS!  Renee is making pulled pork (YUM!) and I offered to make dessert.  I wanted something really tasty, but also somewhat novel, and not too rich, since I’m sure there will be a bunch of other heavy snack foods.  I finally settled on this recipe for Chocolate Chip Shortbread from King Arthur Flour.  With only 6 ingredients and only 3/4 cup of white sugar, it’s not quite as unhealthy as some baked goods, and it is absolutely delicious.  One batch makes up to 32 pieces, depending on how you cut them.

Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Ingredients and Materials:

  • 2 9in round cake pans
  • Blender or food processor
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/3 cups flour
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Step 1:  Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and lightly grease the cake pans.  I used Crisco for this, but go ahead and use whatever you’ve got.

Step 2:  Cream together the butter, salt, sugar and vanilla.

Step 3:  Combine 1 cup of the flour and the chocolate chips in blender or food processor.  Chop until the chocolate is in very small pieces.

Step 4:  Mix the flour/chocolatemixture and the remaining 1 1/3 cups flour into the butter mixture.  Mix very well.  The dough will be very thick and crumbly.

Step 5:  Divide the dough in half (I just eyeballed it)

Step 6:  Press the dough into the prepared pans with your fingers.  You can also use the flat bottom of a measuring cup to smooth it out if you wish.

Step 7:  Prick the dough with a fork in an attractive pattern.  For me, this step is completely optional.  I did it the first time I made it, and I didn’t the second time.  Honestly, I found it difficult and time-consuming, and didn’t find that it made a big difference in the finished appearance, so do whatever you wish!

Step 7:  Bake for 35 – 40 minutes, until it’s golden brown around the edges.  Remove from the oven, let cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then turn out onto a clean surface.

Step 8:  Using a pizza cutter, cut the shortbread into as many pieces as desired while still warm.  If you wait until it’s cool, it will break rather than cut.  I find that a small bit of this is very satisfying, so I cut mine into 16 pieces each, but the recipe recommends 12 pieces.  Again, I think it’s up to you.   Move cut pieces to a wire rack to cool completely.I have to say, this recipe is REALLY good.  Simple yet satisfying, and I love that the pieces are shaped like little pieces of pie!  It’s similar to a chocolate chip cookie, but crisper and much more interesting to look at.  My King Arthur book has many variations on shortbread, and if they’re all this easy and delicious, you can be sure I’ll be trying them all out!

 

Strawberry Cake Cookies January 19, 2012

Filed under: Baking — raediantphoenix @ 7:05 pm
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These cookies are affectionately known by those who make them as “Pink Cookies,” and they are a staple in the St. Pierre extended family.  My best friend, Mandy, and her mother have been kind enough to share the recipe with me, and I’m prepared to commit a possible breach of etiquette by sharing what may be considered by some to be a secret recipe.  But they are just so good I can’t help it!

First of all, just the fact that they are pink in color tickles me, well, pink!  And the strawberry flavor combined with chocolate chips is to die for.  Think strawberry ice cream drizzled with hot fudge sauce.   Yup.  There you go.  Now you’re on track.  The best part is, these are super duper easy to make.  We start with a box of cake mix (shameful, I know!), and tweak it to make cookies instead.

I once made these cookies for an office party, and they were gone in very short order.  My coworkers all wanted the recipe, and still ask me to make them every once in a while.  I had intended to make a batch of these for the office before Christmas, but I just got a little overwhelmed with all of the other preparations.  Since I had already bought the cake mix, I decided to make them on Sunday night, so that I’d have tasty, homemade treats to eat all week.

Strawberry Cake Cookies (from the St. Pierre family kitchen)

Ingredients:

  • One box of strawberry cake mix
  • 1/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour and cake mix, breaking up any large clumps
  2. Mix in oil, water and egg.  Dough will be very greasy.  Do not over mix
  3. Fold in chocolate chips
  4. Spoon out onto parchment lined or lightly greased baking sheets, and bake at 350 degrees for 13 minutes.  The bottoms will be just beginning to brown
  5. They will be soft, so leave them on the trays to cool for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack and cool completely

So pretty, so easy, and so tasty!  These would be perfect for a little girl’s birthday party, a bridal or baby shower, or for anyone who adores strawberry flavor.  I’ve been meaning to experiment with other cake mixes (hello, German chocolate.  Or lemon.  Or vanilla with sprinkles?) because if it works out the same way, the possibilities for fun new cookies are endless.  I’ve also been meaning to try using either butter or Crisco instead of oil, but I’m not big on experimenting when it comes to baking.  I’m more of a follow the recipe kind of girl.  But we’ll see.  Maybe next time!

How did your “Pink Cookies” come out?

 

Oatmeal Espresso Chocolate Chunk Cookies November 14, 2011

Filed under: Baking — raediantphoenix @ 6:46 pm
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Last night at about 8pm, I had a sudden and intense craving for something sweet.  I simply could not put it out of my mind.  And wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t have anything already made.  Shame on me.  I therefore decided to whip up some cookies.

A few months ago, I made some REALLY excellent oatmeal cookies, with chopped walnuts and chocolate chips (I freakin hate raisins. Blech), and I wanted to try to recreate them.  Unfortunately, however, my King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion has not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different oatmeal cookie recipes.  And for the life of me, I couldn’t remember which one I had used.  Boo.

So I just picked one at random:  “Chewy Oatmeal Cookies.”  Sounded good to me.  I was craving sugar hard at this point, and willing to eat just about anything.  And I had a secret weapon up my sleeve:  Barry Callebaut Dark Chocolate Espresso Chunks.

I worked in a chocolate store that used only Barry Callebaut chocolate for almost six years, and as a result became an incurable chocolate snob.  It’s not that I won’t eat the crappy stuff, I just judge the heck out of it.  And it truly doesn’t taste as good.  Nestle chocolate chips are a cheap, sad imitation of real chocolate.  You need to read your ingredient labels, people!  But with these espresso chocolate chunks of heaven, I knew that my cookies would be AWESOME.

If you want to procure some of your own, I got mine at the King Arthur Flour Store and Cafe in Norwich, VT.  Barry Callebaut chocolate is also often found in health food/all natural stores like Whole Foods, and other specialty shops.

The Essential Chewy Oatmeal Cookie by King Arthur Flour Company

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
  • 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 tsp almond extract (I didn’t use this)
  • 3/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/8 tsp ground cloves
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 large egg
  • 6 tbsp light corn syrup
  • 2 tbsp milk
  • 3 cups quick cooking oats
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 cup raisins (optional)
  • 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
  2. In large bowl, cream together butter, shortening, sugars, extracts, spices, salt and baking soda, beating until fairly smooth.  Beat in the egg, scraping the bowl, then beat in the corn syrup and milk.  Stir in the oats, flour, raisins and nuts (or espresso chocolate chunks, or chocolate chips etc)
  3. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 11 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown.  Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool

These cookies definitely fulfilled my craving, and came out (I think) even better than the ones I was trying to make-golden brown bottoms, crispy outside and soft and chewy on the inside.  I think the corn syrup was the key ingredient for that awesome texture.  They are not too sweet, and the espresso-y goodness of the dark chocolate is a nice counterpoint to the spicy sweetness of the cookie.

What’s your favorite cookie recipe?

 

 
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