Showing posts with label unique cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label unique cookies. Show all posts

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Mexican Wedding Cookies


Oh the baking urge - it's a scary thing when it hits. For the past week or so, I've been craving these tasty cookies. I think it's positively silly to wait until the holidays to make them. They taste wonderful year-round. I used this recipe off the Food Network site.
I added 2/3 the amount of sugar and then tasted the dough to make any adjustments. I hate it when cookies are too surgery - especially these cookies, since the pecans have such a delicate, buttery flavor. Oh! And I threw my pecans into a grinder so they became more like pecan meal. I think this is the best way to do it since the cookie is quite crumbly as is. Usually I cut down on the amount of butter in my cookies, but this time I didn't because the dough can get very dry without the added fat content.

Shout out to Domino Farms - hometown, Baltimore!!!

The dough should look a little something like this :) Resist the temptation to add more flour to increase the batch size - these little sweeties need the extra fat content to keep a tender crumb.
Roll them into 1 inch balls and place on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for about 20 minutes, as the recipe indicates, but check towards the end. When you smell them, they're most likely almost ready to take out of the oven.
The prep station. Allow the cookies to cool on the tray for about 3-4 minutes, otherwise your fingers will burn off - nuts retain heat VERY well. Roll them in confectioner's sugar and place on a serving dish.
Munch away!

Friday, July 30, 2010

Traverse City Inspired Cookies


Anyone and everyone who knows me knows one things: I LOOOOOVE COOKIES!!! Russian tea cookies, oatmeal cranberry cookies, chocolate chip cookies...yum yum.

So the other night I got a craving - a cookie craving. But this time, I wanted to make something a little extra special. So I went to the cupboard and found the perfect extra ingredient: Traverse City Dried Cherries. I just chopped up about a 3/4 cup and threw them into a chocolate chip cookie batter. The little pieces peeking out of the batter crisped up a little and were so tasty. I use Ghiradelli 60% bittersweet chips because I love that they are a little bigger than the normal size chip and the chocolate has a deeper chocolate flavor and are less "sugery."
My favorite part of making cookies is the beautiful color of sugar and butter mixed together in perfect harmony. My second favorite part is adding the dry ingredients to the wet and watching the delicious dough form for real. Then...it's NIBBLING time!


These cookies are the perfect pair to an ice cold glass of milk. Although I must admit...I am a sucker for cookie dough over the actual baked cookie. So I am usually a little ill by the time it comes to the dipping part...hehe :)