Orange cardamom crinkles

I decided to make these cookies today because they looked so delicious in the little ebook I got from The American Butter Institute.  I love citrus cookies, lemon bars.. Mmm, my absolute favorite.  I had all the ingredients I needed at home and so I whipped them up this afternoon.

They had a very bright, sunny flavor but they were lacking in the cardamom department.  I even ground fresh cardamom, but the flavor just wasn't there.  I'm thinking 1/4 tsp wasn't enough.. or my cardamom is just past it's prime.

My kid, on the other hand, LOVES these cookies.  I'd be safe to say by now he's gobbled up about half of them.  For him I'll try again tomorrow... after we run to the mall (I know, I know.. but it MUST be done) and the grocery store for a few quick things (which will include another fresh orange and hopefully some fresh cardamom.)  I'm thinking that instead of drizzling them with chocolate as the recipe states I'm gonna sandwich them with some instead :)

Ingredients:

zest of 1 orange
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with
parchment paper.
In small bowl, rub orange zest into sugar until it resembles
wet sand. In large bowl, cream butter and zesty sugar until
light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla, egg and orange juice. Scrape
sides and continue mixing. Stir in cardamom, salt, baking
powder, baking soda and flour until just combined.
Pour powdered sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll heaping
1 teaspoon of dough into ball, roll in powdered sugar, and
place on prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between
each cookie. Repeat with remaining dough.
Bake about 10 minutes, until bottoms begin to brown and
cookies aren’t shiny in center. Remove from oven and transfer
to wire rack to cool completely.
Once all cookies are baked and cooled, melt chocolate in
microwave-safe bowl in microwave for 20 second intervals
until mostly melted. Stir until completely melted. Transfer
to sandwich bag. Snip corner and pipe swirls over cooled
cookies. Serve!

The Great Food blogger cookie swap... Recipe

I was so incredibly excited to be a part of The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap this year.  It's been So exciting to not only receive 3 dozen of amazingly delicious cookies, but to research some new recipes of my own and share them. These are very similar to the Mexican Chocolate Cherry Cookies that I've been making for years.

For my cookies I made Mostaccioli Cookies, which are Italian chocolate spice cookies.  Delicious chocolate cookies spiced with cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.  Because I was shipping the cookies, I did not glaze them.

MOSTACCIOLI COOKIES
Adapted from here


2 eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons ground clove
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
11/2 tsp salt
8 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups All Purpose flour
1/2 cups toasted walnuts
1 3/4 cups mini chocolate chips

For the glaze:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 300F.

In a large mixing bowl, vigorously mix all ingredients, less the flour, nuts and chocolate chips. Slowly add flour  to form a cookie dough. Once the dough is combined, mix in the walnuts and chocolate chips.

Roll your dough into balls 1 1/2-inches in diameter and place on a sheet tray. To keep them from rolling, carefully smush the balls onto the sheet tray.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies are just about to crack.

Remove from the oven and place onto a cooling rack.

Optional glaze:

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place it over a pan of simmering water (a double boiler). Whisk the chocolate until melted and smooth. Then whisk in the heavy cream and salt until the mixture is homogenous.

Dip the top of your cookie into the glaze, then put it back on the cooling rack to dry completely (15-20 minutes).

Store in an airtight container.

______________________________________________________________________________

I forgot the slips with the bloggers who sent me cookies.. I will update the post tonight with who sent me delicious cookies :)

OMG Blog of the day? What a Great surprise!!

This email just totally made my day.. made my Week!


Thanks guys @ eRecipe :)

I am serious about baking

I take my baking very seriously.  When I first made cookies for my  honey he looked at the mason jar of vanilla extract on my kitchen table and said what the heck is that?  Homemade vanilla extract.  I told him that I made my own, I guess maybe he didn't quite believe me at the time though?

I use it in everything I bake and especially the marshmallows I make.  This ain't no bottled imitation garbage.  This is straight up vanilla beans and vodka and the more beans I can cram into each jar the better.  I've got a few jars that I top off when I see them getting low, pour from one jar into the next and start all over when I've got just a few drops left in the jar I use most often.  The oldest batch I have is about 4 years old and so dark and rich.

When I'm baking or making any kind of sweets I always add a little more vanilla than the recipe calls for.  I always give the jar a good shake and make sure I get plenty of those teeny black vanilla beans into whatever I'm baking.

My dad was a huge fan of Breyers vanilla ice cream, it had to be Breyers with the crisp white ice cream little flecks of vanilla bean in there.. not that fake yellow "French" vanilla stuff.

Am I purist? Maybe a little.  When I'm baking for someone I want to make it the best it can possibly be, whether I'm baking for my family, friends or surprising someone with some treats... hell, even if I'm trying out a batch of cookies and share them with my co workers you bet it's gonna be the best batch of cookies I can make them to be.

It's all about quality and the love that goes into making them.

My honey snapped this the other night of one of my younger jars that was sitting on the kitchen table after I used a bit in some chocolate chip cookies I made to bring to dinner with friends :)

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap... and a giveaway!!

I haven't done a giveaway in forever and since I'm going to be researching and baking for the next few weeks for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and sending three lucky bloggers a dozen cookies each I figured what's one more dozen?

One lucky winner will receive one dozen home baked cookies.  I'm not exactly sure what I'm baking up yet and I'm sure I'll give y'all a peek at the cookies I'm going to choose from but it will definitely be one of them that I'll send to the winner.

I've never used Rafflecopter before so I'm new to this.

Here goes!!

Good Luck!  Contest starts today and ends on 11/20

Enter here to win!!



a Rafflecopter giveaway