Chewy Ginger Cookies

So I'm off again, week nine already?  I've missed two weeks so far, which isn't such a hot record.  I totally missed last week's cookie recipe, our mouths were otherwise occupied with another recipe and sometimes there is such a thing as too much sugar.  Happily this recipe is totally worth waiting for!  I chose this cookie on a whim.  The recipe I had picked out originally was very similar to a recipe I was already baking that day, so I went with these instead.  They're a perfect hybrid of the seasons, the end of fall and the beginning of Christmas.  They're something akin to gingerbread, with the molasses and ginger, but still in the spice camp that I love so much during fall.  These chewy ginger cookies were super easy to throw together, chill in the fridge and bake up perfectly.  They smelled amazing as I decorated my little house for Christmas, tunes playing softly in the background.  I absolutely loved them!

Baking notes:
-I made a half recipe of these cookies, which made one dozen plump cookies.
- I used blackstrap (very very dark) molasses instead of light molasses because that is all I had on hand.  It made them a little more gingerbread flavoured, but didn't bother me at all.
-I over baked the cookies by a few minutes, totally on accident.  They still turned out delicious, just a little crunchier (and not in a bad way!).

The recipe for Chewy Ginger Cookies is not available online.

50/569

Caramel-Pecan Black Bottom Pie

This isn't exactly what I had in mind when I was looking for a pecan pie recipes for Thanksgiving dinner.  I was thinking classic pecan pie with a twist, chocolate.  You know, black bottom?  Well this isn't a bad substitute. I love pudding pies, and I love caramel, so basically this is gold.  One failed pie crust, two custard layers and a thick caramel pecan topping equals something very close to perfect.

Chalk one up for the pie gods, Alyssa fails again.  There were tears this time, actual tears.  Shane joked that he couldn't keep up with them, as he tried to mop them off my face.  I hate you pie. I hate you.  There was no crispy-flaky pie crust here, just a thin crunchy bottom.  The custard layers were a perfect consistency and had wonderful flavour.  As a bonus the recipe is one custard recipe divided into two, so less mess (i.e. dishes)!  The bottom later is chocolate, which has a nice balanced flavour and the second layer is whiskey.  Like, boom. Booze.  Gotta love it!  Finally it's topped with a toasted pecan and caramel sauce.  Dark, sweet and toasty, oh and perfectly (not) runny.

So no, not a classic, but something entirely different.

Baking notes:
-I wish I could say the pie crust was a good recipe, but I couldn't manage it.  Maybe you can?  The dough was too processed and the butter chunks non-existent after I followed the direction "process until large moist clumps form".  After that it turned into something more like a tart dough.
-I used a poor quality () semi-sweet chocolate.  The flavour was fine, but could have been better.
-The recipe calls for brandy in the second custard layer, but I don't have that in my liquor cabinet and besides, whiskey and pecans go so well together.  I used Jack Daniels.
-I don't know why it asks for that second measure of cornstarch (1/4 tsp). I just left it out.

The recipe for Caramel-Pecan Black Bottom Pie can be found on the epicurious website.

49/569

Fig and Rum Squares

Week seven: go!  I'm sorry to report this week's Christmas cookies are late.  I was very busy snacking on the most delicious chocolate silk pie from the smitten kitchen cookbook and I seriously had no time for any other form of sugar.  It was that good.  After five days though, I'd had enough.  I threw out the very little remaining and baked up these bars.  It was Christmas in my nostrils while these baked! Christmas spice and shortbread, the combination is simply divine.

The fig and rum place these lightly sweetened cookies firmly in the adult camp.  The flavours are complex and layered, I really enjoyed them.  The crumb cookie underneath was very similar to shortbread. The fig layer, a puree of dried figs, brown sugar, spiced rum, orange and cinnamon was delicious. These flavours are very similar to those little candies I made two weeks ago and loved!  The crumble topping is a little tricky to eat, it tends to crumble all over the plate, and I personally dislike the almond mixed on top, however, the crunch is a welcome addition.  Overall I enjoyed these cookies as the mid afternoon munchies set in with a mug of milky tea.

Baking notes:
-I made a half batch of these cookies, to finish off a package of figs.
-I cooked the figs in the orange juice for 3 or so minutes to soften them before I pureed it all in the food processor.  This made them much easier to puree.
-The recipe calls for dark rum, but I only had spiced rum, so that is what I used.

The recipe for Fig and Rum Squares can be found on the epicurious website.

48/569

Semisweet Chocolate Layer Cake with Vanilla Cream Filling

My last shift before the start of my weekend I received a flu shot.  Not one that I wanted, mind you, but one that I got anyway.  Less than 24 hours later I was laid up on the couch with the flu.  It might be part of the reason this cake bombed so bad, because as you can see, bad things happened.  During the making of this cake I went from perfectly healthy to very sick, all in a matter of hours.  We tried the cake a few days later and promptly threw it out.  It sucked that bad.  Reviews on this cake are mixed, some people hated it, others loved it.  I'm firmly in the hate category, but for a few different reasons.  Oddly the cake recipe on the website is not the same as the recipe I used in the book.  If you follow the online recipe, your results might be dramatically better, let me know!

Firstly, is the matter of the actual cake layers.  The cake was so fragile it literally tore apart in my hands. Strangely this is not a problem I usually have, I'm a (fairly) gentle baker.  I believe it had to do with the cake flour called for, it made the cake way too delicate.  Of course, it could have been a creaming method problem as well, we'll never know.  Second, I take issue with the whip cream layers, which never set up as firm as they could have.  When the cake was placed on top of the whip cream they separated into four (or more) pieces, thus moving outwards and leaving giant gaps in the cake. By the time this happened I was feeling very crummy and I threw the cake in the fridge to set. I made the chocolate layer and left it on the counter, both needed to sit for two hours and I collapsed on the couch.  I never got up that afternoon.  Two days later, when I got around to it, I tried to salvage the now rock hard chocolate frosting by whipping it with the mixer.  This resulted in a split frosting.  I piled it on top of the cake and left it.  Enough was enough, was there a point in salvaging a doomed cake?

We tried a slice, but were totally disappointed.  The texture left much to be desired and the flavour wasn't anything but sweet.  There was an absence of true chocolate flavour in the cake layer and a defined vanilla flavour in the whip cream. Everything felt both cloying sweet and strangely mute.  I tossed it in the garbage, as it was taking valuable space in our tiny refrigerator.  Yes, having a small kitchen means that sometimes treats get tossed.  Sorry. (but not.)

Baking notes:
-I made this cake exactly as outlined in the book.  It's not the same recipe as the one online (even though it has the same name).  Unfortunately I wasted a lot of ingredients in this cake, including 18 oz of chocolate.  So sad.
-I stopped following the recipe when the ganache was meant to be poured.  I was to sick too get off the couch, and tried whipping it the following day.
-Fail, total fail.

The recipe for Semisweet Chocolate Layer Cake with Vanilla Cream Filling can be found on the epicurious website.  (Hopefully a better version, give it a shot and let me know.)

47/569

Lime Snowball Cookies

Okay, so lime snowball cookies for my sixth week of Christmas cookies.  It was a toss up of cookies vs. bars.  Cookies, being more radically different than last week's post, won.  I've made plenty a mexican wedding cookie, or russian tea cake, or whatever you like to call them, for the past few christmases and this was a welcome change.  It's a lot like a shortbread being crumbly and crunchy, but smooth and sweet all together.  Okay, so it might actually be a shortbread cookie with it's 1-2-3 sugar - butter - flour ratio, but they're good.  Then after all that butter and sugar goodness is a tonne of lime.  Lime! It makes this zest and bright with total in-your-face citrus.  I gave them all away and everyone loved them! Grandparent, co-workers, friends.  A few people even asked for the recipe.  Less than 24 hours later, they're all gone.  Great!

Baking notes:
-I did not have the lime oil, nor could I find it at my local store.  Instead I put in two tsp of lime zest and omitted the oil.  Worked fine.
-I weighed the cookies for consistent baking.  The first batch I did at 12 grams per cookie, but they were a little too small. So the next tray had 15 gram cookies on it.  They baked up better
-I baked the 12 gram cookies for 13 minutes, but they were underdone and burning at the same time.  The 15 gram cookies I baked a little lower for 20 minutes and they were perfect.

46/569

The recipe for Lime Snowball Cookies can be found on the epicurious website.

Sweet Almond 'Biscotti'

I did it again, I bought almond paste.  Almost every time I see it I buy it, and almost every time it goes hard before I get around to using it.  Shane called me out this time, while it was still in my basket and I vowed to use it before I had to throw it out.  There are a few recipes in the book that contain almond paste, and this is probably the easiest.  I whipped up the cookie batter in 6 minutes, literally.  It was very, very simple.  While it baked the house quickly filled with the smell of sugar and toasty almonds and after it cooled I sliced it into cute little cookies.  They are absolutely perfect for a morning coffee or an afternoon pick me up.  They're not to sweet, and perfectly nutty.  They're not exactly a biscotti, no, much softer than that.  Crunchy from the crust and the nuts and soft on the inside.  And biscotti actually means twice baked, and these are only baked once. Regardless, they're a simple and sophisticated cookie.  Enjoy.

Baking notes:
-I definitely thought these were going to be flat flavoured without so much as a drop of vanilla.  But I was pleasantly surprised and how good they are.
-I made a 2/3 recipe, because I only had 4 oz of almond paste instead of 6 oz.  The only unpleasant part was the dividing of an egg into 3 parts.
-I baked the biscotti for 32 minutes instead of the 40 called for, it was already a little overdone.

45/469

The recipe for Sweet Almond 'Biscotti' can't be found online.