Maple Walnut Cookies

On one of my trips up to the Bay Area (which if you know me is a very frequent trip), one of many things I watched my mom bake was this recipe for Maple Walnut Cookies. The kitchen smelled great from the intense aroma of maple, and my mom was having a blast shaping each cookie on the baking sheet, first as a ball, then sticking a walnut on top and pressing it down to flatten the cookie. Her "having a blast" is actually putting it mildly (and I'm sure if I haven't already, I'm about to embarrass her). Her giddiness at seeing the walnut press down the cookie suggested she had either spiked whatever beverage she was drinking (highly unlikely if you know my mom) or it was late enough at night that the giggles had overcome her (totally likely...and it's genetic...she definitely passed the giggle gene on to her kids).

She even called me over to experience the fun of pressing a walnut into the cookie. And when I came over to her "work station" to shape a cookie on her baking sheet, sure enough, she was right; it was a lot of fun! If anyone ever asks, "What is it about baking you like so much?," I'd have to say moments like these are some of the best. Watching my mom get excited about something as simple as pressing a walnut into a cookie says a mouthful. :) We truly love baking.


Maple Walnut Cookies
Adapted from a recipe by Kristine Kidd in the Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library: Cookies and Biscotti
Makes 3 - 4 dozen

1 cup walnuts
3/4 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar, divided
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons maple extract (sometimes called maple essence)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
about 3 to 4 dozen walnut halves

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a food processor or a blender, coarsely process the 1 cup of walnuts. Add 1/4 cup of the brown sugar and process finely; set a side.

In a large bowl, combine the butter, the remaining 1/2 cup brown sugar, maple extract, and salt. Using an electric mixer set on high speed, beat until light and fluffy. Reduce the speed to low, add the flour and the nut mixture and mix until just incorporated.

From the bowl of cookie dough, grab enough dough to form into a 1-inch ball using the palms of your hands. Continue until all of the dough is used. Place the dough balls about 1 1/2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press a walnut half onto the top of each.

Bake the cookies until brown around the edges, about 20 minutes. My oven cooks fast so my cookies were done in less than 20 minutes. Perhaps check at around 15 minutes. Either way, this is a more crunchy, less chewy cookie. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze right away to enjoy later.


Step-by-Step in Pictures
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheet...

Press a walnut half onto the top of each ball...
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes...

Let cool on a wire rack, then enjoy!

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies and Bonus Limerick!

The Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookie Limerick
by Marni

There once was a double chocolate cookie
With more flavor than Jersey Shore's Snooki.
Don't make the mistake
To think you can wait.
Lock them up or be exposed as a rookie!


The texture of these cookies could not be more perfect. And I've had plenty of cookies in my lifetime. Hundreds, for sure. Thousands? They are incredibly chewy, and have a glossy surface that makes them look special. If you read the list of ingredients, you might be going "whoa" to the quantity of chocolate. Nobody said Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies would be light on the chocolate. These really take that name to heart. 20 ounces of chocolate is a lot, no doubt. But please, don't skimp or think you can manage without an ounce or two. You're just not doing the cookie justice, then. Go for it. All the way!

It's funny how sometimes I make really gourmet, exotic, fancy shmancy treats that require more skill and more ingredients and serve them to friends and not everyone eats them. Then I make these simple Carole Walter cookies with simple flavor - chocolate chocolate, and it yields 80 little cookies, and magically, all 80 cookies disappear with just 12 people in the room. True story. I remember that afternoon well. Hmmmmm. Must be a great cookie!


Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from a recipe by Carole Walter in Great Cookies
Makes approximately 4 dozen 3-inch cookies (but I like to make them smaller, yielding about 80)

8 ounces fine-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, such as Lindt Bittersweet, coarsely chopped
1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned in and leveled
2 tablespoons strained Dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, slightly firm
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup lightly packed very fresh dark brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons hot water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
12 ounces fine-quality bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, such as Lindt Bittersweet, cut into 1/4 to 1/2-inch chunks, or 2 cups (a 12-ounce bag) semisweet chocolate chips

To make the dough
Melt the 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate in a double boiler (or in the microwave, though be careful not to burn the chocolate). Keep warm.

Sift the dry ingredients in a bowl (flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt), and set aside.

In an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium-low speed until smooth and creamy. Should only take about a minute. Mix in the granulated sugar, then add the brown sugar. Blend until light in color, about 2 or 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs until well-combined. Blend in the melted chocolate (that's still warm), then add the hot water and vanilla.

Set the mixer speed to low and blend in the dry ingredients, adding half at a time, but just until combined. Do not overmix! Take the bowl out of the mixer and gently fold in the chocolate chunks. Cover the bowl and chill in the fridge for about an hour.

To bake the cookies
Position the shelves in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease the cookie sheets or line with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.

Drop spoonfuls of dough, about 1 1/2-inches in size, onto the cookie sheets, and space them out about 3 inches apart since they will spread a fair amount during baking. Bake for 10 to 11 minutes. I prefer chewy and slightly undercooked so I check for doneness even before 10 minutes are up. Even so, at 10 minutes, the cookies will look underdone and you just have to have faith and take them out and let them firm up as they cool. Also, since you have two cookie sheets baking at once, you should swap the two sheets halfway through baking and turn them around so they will bake evenly. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand on a trivet for just 2 minutes, then use a thin metal spatula to loosen from the cookie sheets. About 10 minutes later, transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely. You are going to die and go to heaven when you taste these!

To store, place in an airtight container between layers of wax paper. They'll taste yummy for about 5 days. If you know up front that you can't eat the whole batch in 5 days, store in an airtight container in the freezer immediately after they've cooled.

Nutty Note: Carole Walter advises that if you want to add walnuts, reduce the amount of bittersweet chocolate chunks to 8 ounces or 1 1/3 cups chocolate chips and use 1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped walnuts.


Step-by-Step in Pictures
Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt) and set aside...

Beat the butter until smooth, then add the two sugars...
Beat in the eggs...

Add the melted chocolate...

Then add the hot water and vanilla...

Mix in the flour in two parts, then fold in the chocolate chips...

Chill for about an hour...

Then drop spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets...

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes, then let cool completely...

Enjoy!

Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe comes from a very cool book dedicated solely to the chocolate chip. Every recipe is another approach to using chocolate chips. I love books like these that focus on one ingredient. If I'm in the mood to make something with a certain ingredient, or more pragmatically, I'm trying to use up an ingredient in my fridge, I turn to one of my ingredient-focused cookbooks. I have a whole cookbook on just squash, another on peanut butter, another on dates, or omelets, or lemons. I recently picked up this Elinor Klivans chocolate chip cookbook because chocolate chips are a staple in my cupboard; I ALWAYS have them on hand.


What appealed to me most about this chocolate chip cookie recipe is that the banana in it does not get mashed, only chopped into small cubes and stirred into the cookie batter. I like, but don't love, super soft cookies that are too cake-like, so the idea of using banana chunks instead of mashed banana is a big deal for me. The result is a cookie that, from a distance, looks a lot like a regular oatmeal chocolate chip cookie, but one bite and you know it's something different, something special, something that has banana flavor and texture, without being cake! It remains cookie all the way!


Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from a recipe by Elinor Klivans in The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup oatmeal (not quick-cooking)
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
2 bananas, cut into 1/4- to 1/3-inch pieces

Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and butter the paper, or just use a silicone baking mat.

In a small bowl, combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter with the granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth. That shouldn't take more than a minute or two.

Add the egg and vanilla and beat until just blended. Don't worry if you see some curdling.

On low speed, add the dry ingredients and again, don't overmix! When you don't see traces of flour anymore, you can stop.

Add the oatmeal and mix briefly to combine. Then add the chocolate chips and mix once more.

Remove the beater from the bowl of dough and use a spoon to (very gently!) stir in the banana chunks. Try to keep them intact. When you are finished, about 20 seconds later, you should still see banana pieces, not mush.

Drop heaping spoonfuls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets. They will spread out a little, so leave at least 2 inches between each cookie.

Bake the cookies until the edges are light brown and the tops look dry. Each tray took me about 14 minutes, but depending on your oven, check as early as 13 minutes in, and up to 18 minutes.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for the first 10 minutes, then use a spatula to slide them onto a cooling rack to cool the rest of the way.

These freeze easily; just wrap well in plastic wrap and then place in a freezer bag. Out on the counter, they'll remain fresh for up to 3 days if you store in an airtight container.


Step-by-Step in Pictures
Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside...

Cream the butter with the sugars...

Add the egg and vanilla...

Add the dry ingredients...

Add the oatmeal...

Mix in the chocolate chips...

Chop the bananas into small cubes or chunks...

Add the banana chunks into the dough...

Gently stir in the banana pieces so they are mostly still intact, not mashed...

Drop heaping spoonfuls of cookie dough onto the baking sheet...

Bake for 13-18 minutes at 350 degrees F...

Let cool 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to cooling rack. Then eat!

Almost-Like-a-Bakery Traditional Hamantaschen

For Purim this year, I made chocolate-peanut butter hamantaschen, which you saw in my last recipe post, but I also made these more traditional ones by Marcy Goldman. That's because Purim wouldn't be complete without a little poppyseed filling and jam filling. Plus, since part of the fun of making these cookies is giving them away to family and friends as mishloach manot care packages, I wouldn't want my grandfathers on either side to miss out on the flavors they grew up with as little kiddos in Youngstown, Ohio, and New York.


Two years ago I blogged about traditional hamantaschen by Carole Walter. They were delicious and I will absolutely be making those again. But this year, I wanted to try a new recipe and so naturally I found myself sitting on the carpet in front of my cookbook bookcase studying Marcy Goldman's Jewish baking book. She had more than one option for traditional versions, but I was drawn to the title of this one, "Almost-Like-a-Bakery." They were true to their name and turned out yummy!


Almost-Like-a-Bakery Traditional Hamantaschen
Recipe by Marcy Goldman in A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking
Makes 4 to 6 dozen pastries

1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or unsalted margarine
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice or milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Approximately 4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Golden egg wash (see recipe below)
Fillings: chocolate hazelnut paste, cherry, apricot, prune, or poppy
Regular or coarse sugar (optional)

In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening, butter, and sugar together. Add the eggs and blend until smooth. (If the mixture is hard to blend or seems curdled, add a bit of the flour to bind it.)

Stir in the orange juice or milk and the vanilla. Fold in the flour, salt, and baking powder and mix to make a firm but soft dough. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and pat the dough into a smooth mass. Cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

Divide the dough into 2 or 3 flattened discs and work with one portion at a time.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Use a 3-inch cookie cutter and cut as many rounds as you can. Brush the rounds with egg wash. Fill with a generous teaspoonful of the desired filling. Draw 3 sides together into the center. You should now have a 3-cornered or triangular pastry. Repeat this process with the remaining dough and filling. Brush the pastries with additional egg wash. If desired, sprinkle with regular or coarse sugar, and bake in the center of the preheated oven until golden brown (18 to 25 minutes). Cool on the baking sheets.

If you prefer, this dough can be made ahead and refrigerated, wrapped in plastic, for up to 2 days, or frozen (either as a disc of dough or as already formed and filled pastries, for a couple of months). If refrigerating, allow the dough to warm up before rolling out. For frozen pastries, bake without defrosting.

Golden Egg Wash
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1-2 tablespoons milk or water
Pinch of sugar

In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients. Use a pastry brush to glaze or brush on prepared, unbaked hamantaschen.


Step-by-Step in Pictures

Cream the shortening, butter, and sugar together...

Add the eggs, milk (or orange juice), and vanilla...

Fold in the dry ingredients until the dough comes together. Then let rest before shaping or wrap up and chill...

To shape, cut circles out of the dough, then brush the rounds with egg glaze and fill with poppyseed filling or jam...

Fold the sides up to form triangle cookies. Poppyseed filling here...

Apricot-jam filled with egg glaze and rainbow coarse sugar, ready to go in the oven...

Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 25 minutes, then you're done!

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Hamantashen

I know I've said before that I'm a fan of cookbook author Marlene Sorosky. But what I haven't told you is that I own every single one of her cookbooks now. Last weekend, I searched online for the missing ones from my collection, and ordered all of them in one giant credit card blow. I was tired of staring at the void in my cookbook bookcases, knowing that some of her books were not there. I had had enough! Some people collect vintage Barbie dolls, some collect stamps or coins, I collect cookbooks. It's not about having every single cookbook that was ever written. But it is about having every single cookbook by my favorite authors. Over time, I'll complete my Beatrice Ojakangas, Lou Pappas, Carole Walter, Beth Hensperger, Marcy Goldman, Lori Longbotham, and David Lebovitz collections, and a few others.

My Marlene Sorosky collection

This recipe immediately stood out to me because it's not your conventional hamantashen (which I do really like, too). It's a chocolate dough, and a winning combination of peanut butter-strawberry filling to go with that chocolate. It looks really neat to include in your mishloach manot care package to give your friends and family on Purim along with more traditional hamantashen, fruit, and snacks. Since I'm going through a fancy salts phase/obsession and newly purchased Maldon sea salt, I sprinkled a few flakes on the just-out-of-the-oven cookies to finish the look. You certainly don't need to, but my taste buds were very happy with the result!


Chocolate-Peanut Butter Hamantashen
Recipe by Marlene Sorosky in Fast & Festive Meals for the Jewish Holidays

Chocolate Dough
6 tablespoons butter or margarine, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped, melted, and cooled slightly
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Peanut Butter Filling
Scant 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup strawberry jam or preserves
3 Tablespoons whole or low-fat milk
Strawberry jam for topping (optional)

Place rack in upper third of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Grease or spray 2 heavy-duty or cushioned baking sheets.

To Make Dough: In mixing bowl with electric mixer, cream butter and powdered sugar on medium-high speed until very light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Mix in egg and vanilla until well blended. Mix in melted chocolate. Add flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix on low speed until incorporated. Mix on medium speed 1 minute. Shape into a flat disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold enough to roll. (Dough may be refrigerated up to 2 days. Leave at room temperature until soft enough to roll but still very cold.)

To Make Filling: In a medium bowl, stir peanut butter and jam together. Stir in milk.

To Shape Hamantashen: Divide dough in half; cover 1 portion with plastic wrap. Roll other half between 2 sheets of wax paper into an 11-inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Using a 3-inch round cutter, cut out circles. (A clean, empty tuna can with both ends removed makes an ideal cutter.) Spoon 1 1/2 teaspoons filling in the center of each circle. Press 3 edges together to make a triangle, leaving a small opening in the center for the filling to show. Place 1 inch apart on prepared baking sheets. Reroll scraps, cut out, and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.

To Bake: If not baking on cushioned baking sheets, double-pan by placing 1 baking sheet on top of another. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until tops are firm. The cookies will firm up slightly as they cool. If you like them soft, bake the minimum time; for crisper cookies, bake longer. If baking 2 sheets in one oven, rotate positions halfway through the baking time. If desired, top each with a small dollop of jam and return to oven for 1 minute to set. Cool 2 minutes and remove to racks. (Hamantashen may be stored, airtight, for several days or frozen.)

Makes: about 24 hamantashen


Step-by-Step in Pictures

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and powdered sugar...

Mix in egg and vanilla...

Mix in melted chocolate...

Add flour, baking soda, and salt...

Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate...

To make the filling, stir together peanut butter and strawberry jam...

Add milk to the filling...

Stir filling until all ingredients are incorporated...

Roll out the chocolate dough and cut circles...

Spoon a dollop of peanut butter filling in the center of each round...

Shape into triangles and place on cookie tray...

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees...

When the cookies are done, take them out of the oven and drop a tiny bit of strawberry jam on top of each one, then return to the oven for 1 minute...

Enjoy!