Dark Chococolate Mocha Cookies

These cookies are based on the Marta Stewart recipe for Dark-Chocolate Espresso Cookies. They are crunchy on top and soft on the bottom and middle.  The salt along with the espresso powder adds a bit of complexity to the recipe.

Chocolate Blackout Cookies

This recipe is based on Martha Stewart’s Double Chocolate Cookies using Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips (60% cacao). You can sometimes get a large bag at Costco for a good price.I tripled the recipe and used a convection oven to cook 18 cookies at a time.

My wife tasted them and said they were better than the Blue Chip Cookie Triple Chocolate cookies.

Chocolate Raspberry Cookies

These cookies are more like miniature cakes that you can pop into your mouth.

Rainbow Cookies (also called Italian Wedding Cookies)

These were my favorite bakery cookies when I was growing up and they are still my favorites. This recipe makes cookies that rival those in a bakery at a fraction of the cost.

Rainbow (Italian Wedding) Cookies

Ingredients

• 7 ounces almond paste
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• Green food coloring
• Red food coloring
• 1 cup raspberry jam, divided into ½ cup portions
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate, chopped

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Grate almond paste into small pieces and blend with sugar in a food processor until there are no lumps.
3. Put almond paste mixture, butter, almond extract and egg yolks in a bowl and beat on medium speed until smooth and fluffy. With mixer on low speed add flour until thick dough forms.
4. In a clean bowl beat egg whites until they form stiff peaks. Stir one third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten (the batter will still be rather stiff). Fold in remaining egg whites until thoroughly combined.
5. Divide dough into thirds. Stir green food coloring into one and red food coloring into another (leave the third one uncolored).
6. Line the bottom of three 13×9 inch rimmed baking pans with parchment paper. Spread each batch of dough into a separate pan (the layers will be thin).
7. Bake each layer in the oven until; the edges begin to turn golden (10 – 12 minutes). When done and still hot, run a knife along the edges to ensure the layer is loose from the pan. Invert a cooling rack over the pan and turn the layer over onto the rack. Remove the parchment paper and cool completely.
8. Place the green layer on a piece of plastic wrap large enough to wrap all three layers. Spread ½ cup of raspberry jam evenly over the green layer. Place the uncolored layer on the jam and spread the remaining ½ cup of jam over it. Place the red layer on the top of the jam and enclose with plastic wrap. Invert a baking sheet over the top to weigh it down and chill for at least eight hours and up to 24 hours.
9. Melt chocolate in a metal bowl set over barely simmering water. Remove baking pan and plastic wrap and spread melted chocolate evenly over the top of the pink layer. Let stand until set (about one hour) and cut into 2-inch by 1-inch cookies.

Black and White Cookies

You can usually find these distinctive cookies at Jewish bakeries. When you frost them, make sure that you keep the icing in a straight line down the center of the cookie.

Makes eight cookies.

Black and White Cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• ½ cup vegetable shortening
• 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons sugar
• 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup heavy cream

Icings

• 4 cups confectioners’ sugar
• 2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 2 ½ teaspoons lemon juice

Recipe

Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand-mixer beat butter, shortening and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy (3 minutes). Add eggs and egg yolk one at a time beating between each addition until egg is fully incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in two batches alternating with the cream. Beat until just combined.
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a ¼ cup measuring cup to scoop dough onto baking sheet three inches apart. Bake until edges begin to turn golden and the centers are tender (10 – 12 minutes). Transfer parchment and cookies to a wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove cookies from parchment and let cool completely.
5. Prepare chocolate and white icings (see below). On the bottom of each cookie using a small offset spatula spread chocolate icing over half the cookie and white icing over the other half. Let icing set for 30 minutes.

Icings

1. Whisk sugar, corn syrup, vanilla and 2 tablespoons water until smooth. Add more water until mixture is slightly thicker than honey. Divide the icing in half.
2. Stir lemon juice into one half to make white icing and cocoa powder into the other to make chocolate icing. Thin with water, if needed and use immediately.

Chocolate Caramel Layer Cake

Although the cake looks dense each layer is very light and so is the filling. I hate frosting cakes and the ganache frosting in this recipe is easy to apply. The recipe is based on the Fine Cooking Cinnamon-Caramel-Ganache Layer Cake.

Makes 1 cake (about 12 servings).

Ingredients

Filling

• 2 cups heavy cream
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons + ¼ cups water
• 4 ½ ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
• ½ cup sugar

Frosting

• 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 2 ounces unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• Pinch of table salt
• 6 tablespoons cool water

Cake

• 1 ½ ounces unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ cup lukewarm + ½ cup cool water
• ½ cup buttermilk, room temperature
• 6 ounces cake flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 4 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature and cut into 4 pieces
• 1 cup sugar
• ½ cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature and lightly beaten

Recipe

Filling

1. Bring the cream, salt and 2 tablespoons of water to a simmer.
2. Put the chocolate in a medium bowl and set a strainer over it.
3. Pour ¼ cup water in a 3-quart saucepan. Pour the sugar in the center of the pan and pat it down until it is evenly moistened. Cover pan and cook over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves (2 – 4 minutes). Uncover and cook without stirring until the syrup begins to color (about 1 minute). Reduce heat to medium and cook until the caramel turns red-amber (about 1 – 2 minutes). If the syrup colors unevenly swirl the pan gently. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the cream mixture. Return to low heat and simmer stirring constantly until the caramel is completely dissolved (1 – 3 minutes).
4. Pour the caramel cream through the strainer. Whisk until the chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Scrape into a wide shallow bowl, cover loosely, cool and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled (at least 4 hours and up to three days).

Frosting

1. Put the chocolate, butter, corn syrup and salt in a metal bowl set over barely simmering water. Stir gently until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.
2. Take the bowl off the water and stir in water. Let cool and thicken without stirring at room temperature for at least three hours (the consistency should be like chocolate pudding).

Cake

1. Line the bottom of three 9×2-inch round cake pans with parchment. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. In a bowl whisk cocoa powder and lukewarm water. In another bowl mix buttermilk and cool water. In a third bowl whisk flour, baking soda and salt and sift them three times.
3. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment beat the butter on medium speed until creamy (15 seconds). Add the white and brown sugars gradually while beating until the mixture lightens in color and appears sandy but fluffy (5 minutes). Add the eggs slowly over the course of one minute. Continue to beat for a few more seconds until the mixture is smooth and fluffy. Stop the mixer and add the cocoa mixture. Beat on medium speed until just combined. Stop the mixer and add one-quarter of the flour mixture. Mix on low speed until just incorporated. Stop the mixer and add one-third of the buttermilk. Repeat, scraping the bowl as needed, until all the flour and buttermilk have been added.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the three pans. Bake 17 – 20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool the cakes for five minutes and then turn on to racks, remove the parchment and cool completely.

Assemble Cake

1. Beat the chilled filling in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment at medium speed until very thick and stiff enough to hold it’s shape but still spreadable (1 – 2 minutes). Put a cake layer upside down on a cake circle and spread half the filling evenly all the way to the edge of the layer. Top with a second upside down layer and gently press in place. Spread the remaining filling on the second layer. Top with the third layer, also upside down. Smooth any filling that protrudes from the sides.
2. With an offset spatula spread a thin crumb-coat layer of frosting evenly over the top and sides of the cake. Put cake in refrigerator for 10 minutes to set the crumb-coat. Spread the remaining frosting over the top and sides of the cake.
3. Garnish as desired.

Lemon Glazed Lemon Cookies

This recipe is from Martha Stewart Living. These are the most lemony cookies I’ve ever made.

Makes 18 cookies.

Ingredients

Lemon Cookies

• 2 C all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
• 2 tbsp lemon juice
• ½ C unsalted butter
• 1 C sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Lemon Glaze

• 2 C confectioner’s sugar
• 2 tbsp finely grated lemon zest
• 1/3 C lemon juice

Recipe

Lemon Cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, sal and lemon zest.
3. In a stand mixer on medium speed using the beater beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, vanilla and lemon juice and beat until combined. Set speed to low and beat in flour mixture one third at a time until completely incorporated.
4. Drop dough by heaping tabelspoons, 1 inch apart, onto two baking sheets. Bake until edges are golden, 15 – 20 minutes.
5. Let cool 2 minutes on sheets then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Lemon Glaze

1. Whisk together confectioners’ sugar, lemon zest, and lemon juice until smooth.

Assemble

1. Dip the top of each cookie in the glaze. Let set for at least one hour.

Moroccan Bastilla

My wife and I occasionally go to a Moroccan restaurant called Marrakesh. They have a traditional Moroccan appetizer called Bastilla (pronounced buh-STEE-ya) that is wonderful. It has sugar, cinnamon, almonds, chicken, spices and it’s all wrapped up in phyllo. A few weeks ago I thought about it and wondered if I could make it at home. I searched Google for a recipe and found one by Chef Daniel Avurto of Mamounia. I’ve made this recipe twice now and each time it tasted exactly the same way it did at the Marrakesh.

This recipe is for one bastilla that serves about eight as an appetizer (so long as you can keep everyone from taking seconds). To make two, just boil the whole chicken instead of half  and use twice as many eggs (no need to double the vegetables and spices in the pot with it). You can split up the labor and cook the chicken the day before if you like.

Ingredients

Chicken filling:

• ½ chicken
• 1 onion, chopped
• ½ teaspoon ginger
• ½ teaspoon turmeric
• ½ teaspoon black pepper
• 1 whole cinnamon stick
• 1 cup chopped cilantro
• 6 large eggs

Almond filling:

• 8 ounces (230 grams) slivered almonds (if using sliced almonds, crush them)
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon

Pastry crust:

• 1 box frozen phyllo pastry dough (in your supermarket freezer section)
• ¼ cup melted butter
• Confectioners sugar

Recipe

Chicken filling:

1. Put enough water in a large pot to cover the chicken.
2. Add the onion, ginger, turmeric, black pepper, cinnamon stick and cilantro.
3. Bring water to boiling over high heat, add chicken and cook for 30 minutes.
4. Take the chicken out of the stock and set aside to cool. Reserve 1/3 cup of the stock.
5. When cool remove skin, bone and cut the chicken into bite sized pieces.
6. Whisk the eggs with the reserved stock.
7. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. When hot, add the egg mixture and soft-scramble the eggs.
8. Combine the chicken pieces and egg mixture in a large bowl.

Almond filling:

1. Process sugar and cinnamon in a food processor until combined.
2. Put almonds in a bowl, add sugar mixture and mix together.

Pastry crust and final assembly:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Thaw phyllo dough according to package directions (but do not remove from storage bag). Note: Each piece of phyllo dough is paper thin and must be handled quickly and carefully so it doesn’t dry out until it is in place. If you need to leave the dough for more than a few moments, cover with a damp towel to ensure it doesn’t dry out.
3. Remove and unroll the thawed phyllo dough from the storage bag. If you need to leave the unrolled dough for more than a few moments, cover with a damp towel to ensure it doesn’t dry out.
4. Brush melted butter on the bottom and sides of a 9 inch (23 centimeter) oven-proof skillet.
5. Cover bottom and sides of skillet with phyllo dough making sure the dough covers and overlaps in the bottom of the pan and goes over and outside the side.
6. Carefully spread 1/3 cup of the almond filling over the dough in the skillet.
7. Spread the entire chicken mixture on top of the almond filling.
8. Top with the rest of the almond filling.
9. Fold the excess dough over the filing and add more phyllo dough as needed to ensure the top is completely covered. Tuck any excess dough into the inside side of the skillet so the filling is completely encased.
10. Bake Bastilla for 15 – 30 minutes or until lightly browned.
11. Place serving plate upside down on top of skillet and invert skillet.
12. Put confectioners sugar in a sieve and sift a layer of sugar to completely cover the bastilla.
13. Cut into pieces and serve immediately or for an authentic service break the bastilla open with your fingers, let it cool a bit and let everyone pull off pieces onto a plate and eat with your hands.