Super delicious birthday cookies

 
You know those people in your life that you just *trust* when it comes to food? I don't care if they are serving you a piece of toast, or a bowl of soup, or a slice of pie....you know it's going to be good.

Well, this recipe comes from one of *those* people....my Aunt Janice. When she mentioned these Pecan Snowballs around Christmastime, I knew I MUST make them!

Two things....

1. Aunt Janice says that she usually doubles this recipe. I forgot to buy double the pecans.  I will not make that mistake again. DOUBLE IT....they go FAST!
2. The.dough.is.so.good.....do not pinch off a piece to taste before baking.  You may end up eating half the dough before it gets to the oven. {Not that I did that or anything.}

Pecan Snowballs
{from Aunt Janice}

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3 Tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup flour
Powdered sugar to coat the snowballs after baking

Cream sugar, salt, butter.

Add vanilla, then flour and nuts.

Chill 2 hours.

Form small balls...about 1 inch diameter


Place balls on cookie sheet and bake in 250 degree oven (yes, two hundred fifty:)  until light brown on bottoms......40-50 minutes.


Roll them in powdered sugar as soon as they are cool enough to handle.  Then, roll them again after they've cooled more.  Then, roll them again when completely cool.

EVERY year, I say I'm going to make gingerbread cookies more often.  And every year, I forget. But I'm making these again next week (and quite possibly the next week and the next).
I'm going to beg you....MAKE THESE COOKIES!  They are some of my favorite cookies ever....soft, chewy, spicy...delicious!
I had a little too much fun making these.  The gingerbread dudes and gingerbread gals were just decorated with a bit of royal icing.
Was it wrong to start pairing off the gingerbread couples? It's like eHarmony for cookies over here. 
{Sign you've spent too much time with your cookies? You start staring at the gingerbread girl wishing you had her outfit.}

Here's a little trick for making hair from Martha:
Use a garlic press (this is the only thing I ever use mine for). Just fill it with dough and....
.....squeeze. 

These gingerbread scotties could not be easier.  A little collar, a little spring of holly...voila! Gingerbread Scottie Dog.
Here is the recipe.  I'm going to go out on a limb and call it the BEST GINGERBREAD COOKIE recipe EVER.  (I can say that because it's not my recipe, it's from the Southern Living Incredible Cookies cookbook.)


Gingerbread Cookies
(modified from Southern Living Incredible Cookies)

1/4 c. water
1 & 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 c. molasses
1 c. butter
1 c. sugar
5 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. coarse salt
1 & 1/2 TBSP ground ginger
1/2 tsp. allspice
1 & 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Line baking sheets with parchment.

Stir together the water and baking soda until dissolved. Stir in the molasses; set aside.

Beat butter & sugar until fluffy and combined.

Whisk together flour, salt and spices.

Add to the butter mixture, alternating with the molasses mixture. Begin and end with the flour. Form dough into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350.

On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with a floured cookie cutter and place on baking sheet. Freeze for 5 minutes before baking. {They are going to spread.}

Bake 10- 12 minutes (for a large shape). Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, then transfer to cooling rack. Cool completely before decorating with royal icing.    

My mom made these every October.


First, gather your ingredients...

Oreos...my child learned to stop asking for the real ones at the grocery store years ago.  I like to blame it on preservatives and all the words I can't pronounce on the package, but the truth is, I buy Oreos only once or twice a year because I can't resist them.

Once the package is open, all bets are off...there is a path worn in the kitchen tile from my feet going back and forth to the pantry to get just "one more."

Now, Homemade Oreos, I don't feel so bad about. I know exactly what's in them. They're a little softer the the packaged variety, but so satisfying that one, well two, will be enough for one sitting.


Homemade Oreos

1 batch of chocolate roll-out cookies (minus the espresso powder)
{It's going to get messy.}

I cut these out using a 1 and 3/4" cutter and baked for 9 minutes.
{I also pressed a small heart cutter into the top, but not all the way through, before baking.}

Let cool.


Cream Filling
{source: The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion: The Essential Cookie Cookbook }

1 tsp. plus a heaping 1/4 tsp. unflavored gelatin
2 TBSP. cold water
1/2 c. shortening
1 tsp. vanilla
2 and 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Combine the gelatin and water in a small bowl or cup.  Place the cup into a larger bowl of hot water and leave it there until the gelatin is completely dissolved and liquid transparent.

Remove the cup from the hot water and let the liquid cool to room temperature, but hasn't begun to set...about 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, beat the shortening with a paddle attachment until fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla.  Add the sugar a little at a time, beating until the mixture comes together.  Scrape the bowl as needed.  Beat in the gelatin.  Use immediately, or store, well-wrapped at room temperature.

To make the sandwiches, flip one cookie over.  Make a teaspoon-sized ball of filling and place on upside-down cookie.  Press another cookie, right-side-up, down on top of it.

{Makes 26 or so sandwich cookies if you don't eat too much of the dough.}

Remember I'm driving that new, 2011 Chevy Malibu this month? Well, they sent us on a mission to the grocery store.  Normally I'm in my SUV, would the Malibu trunk be able to handle all the groceries?  YES!  It held ALL my groceries...and I did BIG shopping, all the usual suspects, including everything I needed to make these Oreos...
....and did I mention the remote start had the AC on and the car cooled off by the time we got inside?  No?  Well, it did and it was heaven in the 90 degree heat.

The mission got me thinking, though...what items are on your grocery list every week?  I tried to narrow mine down to the top 5:

1. tortillas (you can't live in Texas and be without tortillas),
2. milk
3. OJ
4. flour (always more flour),
5. bananas

What's in your top 5?  Oreos?

After making Frosted Animal Cookies, I guess I had store-bought cookies on the brain.  I had Nutter Butter Brain.  There was no stopping it.

But these are BETTER than Nutter Butters.  These are thick, soft, homemade Nutter Butters topped with peanut butter royal icing (!) and filled with chocolate ganache.  Oh yeah, babe.

First, you'll need the peanut butter cookies.  These are peanut butter roll-out cookies slightly modified from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion. Roll them out a bit thinner than you would a regular sugar cookies for decorating since you'll be putting 2 together.

I used my bikini top cutter for the peanut. :)
Next, you'll need peanut butter royal icing.  I had heard royal icing goes wonky if mixed with fat, but I threw caution to the wind and added 4 TBSP of peanut butter to my finished royal icing.  (I also added some brown AmeriColor food coloring.)  The icing *did* deflate and would not form a stiff peak again, but it was thick enough for piping.  It even dried smooth and shiny.

Would I cover an entire cookie with it?  No.  It did crack in places, like here:

Next up, my old friend, chocolate ganache.  Make it, let it set up a bit and pipe or spread it between two cookies.
{Or just eat it by the spoonful, I won't tell.}


Peanut Butter Roll-Out Cookies
{modified from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion}

1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter (I used Skippy Natural)
1/2 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
3/4 tsp. coarse salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
1/4 c. sour cream
3 TBSP cornstarch
3 c. flour

In a large bowl, beat the butter through vanilla until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and beat until combined.

Add half the sour cream, all of the cornstarch and half of the flour; beat well.  Add the remaining sour cream and flour, mixing just until combined.

Divide the dough in half, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten into a disc.  Refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Roll the dough on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin and cut with a cookie cutter dipped in flour. (got flour? :))  Place the cut cookies on prepared sheets and pop in the freezer for 5 minutes before baking.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until set.  Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely on a cooling rack.

Now, pipe the cookies with peanut butter royal icing, using a #2 tip.

Chocolate Ganache

1/2 c. heavy cream
6 oz. bittersweet (or semisweet) chocolate, chopped
1/2 tsp. vanilla

Place the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until hot and steamy.  Tiny bubbles will appear around the edges.  Pour over the chocolate and let sit 5 minutes.

Stir the mixture until combined, but do not over stir, or the mixture will look "bubbly." (But still perfectly edible...trust me.)  Gently stir in the vanilla.  Let the ganache sit until it has cooled and thickened.

• making pancakes for breakfast,
• climbing the stairs to wake me for school in the mornings, even climbing them twice most mornings when I asked for "5 more minutes,"
• leaving the light on in the hall.

Thanks for forgiving me when...

• I backed the car into the side of the house,
• I rear-ended your car with mine when following you home from the mall,
• I "cleaned" your entire car with Windex....paint and all.

Thanks Dad, for...

• being at every swim meet, not just to watch, but to set-up, tear-down and time every race,
• coaching Molly's soccer team,
• chaperoning all those choir trips...

...and looking like you were having fun doing it all. :)



So much more to thank you for, but you get the idea.  We love you.  Happy Father's Day.  These biscotti are for you.
When I saw this recipe in Food & Wine, I immediately thought of my dad who loves Gouda cheese...although, normally on a Ritz cracker. :)

Gouda Biscotti (ie: cookies for beer)
{adapted from Food & Wine magazine}

2 & 1/4 tsp. instant yeast (active dry is what the original recipe calls for. Click here for more info/instructions.)
3/4 c. plus 2 TBSP warm water, divided
1 TBSP sugar
2 & 3/4 c. all-purpose flour, divided, plus more for dusting
8 oz. Gouda , grated
1/2 c. walnuts, finely chopped
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 teaspoon kosher salt
6 TBSP unsalted butter, softened

In a medium bowl, combine the instant yeast with 1/2 cup of the warm water, sugar and 3/4 cup of the flour. Cover and let stand about 30 minutes; it will rise and be spongy.  (If using regular yeast packets, please refer to the original recipe.)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining 2 cups of flour with the Gouda, walnuts and salt. Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture with the remaining 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water.  Stir in the softened butter until a dough is formed.
 
Dump the dough  and any loose bits onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.  Divide into thirds (a bench scraper is great for this). Using your hands and a rolling pin, form each piece into a log, about 8-9" long and about 1" high.

Place on the parchment lined sheet.  Cover with lightly damp paper towels and then plastic wrap.  Let rise 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove the plastic wrap and paper towels and bake the logs for about 35 minutes, until they are golden and puffed. Place the baking sheet on a cooling rack and let cool for 20 minutes.

{You could stop here and call this Gouda cheese bread.  How do I know? Because the 3 of us ate the ends off of all three pieces.}

Meanwhile, reduce the oven temp. to 300 and put racks on the lower and upper thirds of the oven (use your oven mitts!). Line another baking sheet with parchment.

Using a serrated knife, slice the logs on a diagonal 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick. Place cut pieces on 2 baking sheets and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until golden and crisp.  Flip the biscotti halfway through and shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back.

Transfer the biscotti to a rack and let cool completely before serving.  Serve with an ice cold beer....iced tea is ok, too. Heck, I even ate 2 of these for breakfast with orange juice.