All Through the Year Cheer: Independence Day

Here's the perfect treat to serve at your Independence Day festivities: Apple Pie Cupcakes.  It's apple pie a la mode, re-imagined.  Picture it: you're sitting on your back porch watching the fireworks, sweet iced tea in one hand and an apple pie cupcake in the other.  Plush vanilla cake, gently spiced apple filling, and a luxurious brown sugar buttercream make for a very nice snack indeed.

This recipe will be a part of the All Through the Year Cheer : Fourth of July event hosted by Brandy of Nutmeg Nanny and Faith of An Edible Mosaic.  Be sure to check out the ATTYC site for more details and to see the recipe round-up.  There's bound to be an excellent collection of recipes celebrating the Red, White, and Blue!



Apple Pie Cupcakes (makes about 30)
Cake portion adapted from Baking at Home with The Culinary Institute of America 

Apple Filling:
4 Granny Smith apples
½ cup sugar
1½ tsp. apple pie spice
1 Tbl. butter
1 Tbl. flour

Cupcake:
3½ cups cake flour
2 cups sugar
1 Tbl. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 cup unsalted butter, diced & at room temperature
1 cup whole milk, divided
4 large eggs
2 large egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla extract

Brown Sugar SMBC (recipe follows)


Preheat oven to 350°F.  Place paper liners into 30 wells of three muffin tins.

Prepare apple filling: 
Peel and finely dice the apples; you should have around 4 cups of diced apple.  Place apples in a large skillet.  Add sugar, apple pie spice, and butter.  Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, until apples are soft and have released their liquid (about 5 minutes).  Sprinkle flour over apple mixture.  Stir well and continue to cook over medium-low heat for another 3-4 minutes until thickened, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and set aside to cool while preparing cupcakes.

Prepare cupcakes:
Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Add butter and ½ cup milk. Mix on medium speed until smooth, about 4 minutes. Scrape down the bowl as needed.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, egg whites, remaining ½ cup milk and vanilla extract until combined. Add to the batter in 3 additions, mixing for 2 minutes on medium after each addition. Scrape down the bowl between additions.

Divide the batter evenly between the muffin tins. Bake for 16-20 minutes, or until cupcakes spring back when lightly touched in the center. Cool completely on wire racks.

Assemble Cupcakes:
Using a small paring knife, carefully cut a cone from the center of each cupcake.  Remove cone tops and reserve for another use (such as: quieting the kids, hubby, dog, etc.) Fill cupcakes with a spoonful of apple filling and with Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream.


Brown Sugar Swiss Meringue Buttercream

1⅓ cups packed dark brown sugar
4 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, softened but still cool

Place the egg whites and brown sugar in a heatproof bowl; whisk to combine. Place bowl over a small saucepan of gently simmering water (double boiler set-up). Heat egg white mixture to 160°F, whisking constantly. The mixture will become thin and foamy as you approach 160°F.

Pour the heated egg white mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add a pinch of salt.  Beat on high speed with the whisk attachment for 7-9 minutes, until stiff peaks form and mixture has cooled. The mixture MUST be cooled to room temperature before proceeding.

Switch to the paddle attachment.  With the mixer running at medium speed, add the butter, 2 Tablespoons at a time. Allow the butter to incorporate before adding more. As you add butter, the appearance of the mixture will go from a fluffy meringue to a thin, cake batter-like consistency. Once all the butter has been incorporated, increase the speed to medium high and beat until an emulsion forms and the mixture has transformed into a thick & smooth icing. (How long this will take depends on the starting temperature of both the egg white mixture and the butter pieces, so be patient. Pay attention as the mixture is whipping--you'll hear a definite difference in sound when the buttercream is ready.) Add vanilla extract and beat on low speed for a minute or two to incorporate and to reduce any air bubbles.

Valentine's Exchange, Part III

Today I'm bringing you the final recipe for cookies I included in my Valentine's Day Exchange package.  The event was hosted by Holly Noelle of Domestic Dork.  I had so much fun selecting, baking, and packaging recipes for my bloggy exchange partner, Liza of The Smiths.  This was my first but certainly not my last blog exchange :) 

Aside from the standard box of chocolates, no candy signals the start of the Valentine's Day shopping season better than Conversation Hearts--those tiny multicolored hearts with messages on them.  Love 'em or hate 'em, you can't deny they're pretty much the ultimate in Valentine-ness.  I recreated them in cookie form with sugar cookies, glaze, and Wilton® Food Writer pens.  My penmanship with a decorating bag is poor at best, so these pens were a lifesaver! :)  This was certainly not my original idea, but they were simple and too cute not to try.  I'm very pleased with the results, so these cookies will definitely make it into my rotation!

I'm also entering this recipe in the All Through the Year Cheer: Valentine's Day event, hosted by Brandy of Nutmeg Nanny.  The full round-up and winner will be posted on Valentine's Day, so be sure to check out the All Through the Year Cheer site.  If you're interested in joining in on the fun, it's not too late--recipe submissions will be accepted until 9 pm EST on February 13th (tomorrow!).

White Chocolate Almond Sugar Cookies
From Karen's Cookies

2¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ cup butter, softened
⅓ cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. almond extract
6 oz. white chocolate

Preheat oven to 350°F.  In small saucepan over low heat, melt the white chocolate and set aside.  In small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt (so they're well combined) and set aside.

In large mixer bowl beat butter and sugar until creamy.  Blend in egg and vanilla extract.  Beat in melted white chocolate.  Gradually beat in flour mixture until soft dough formss.  Shape dough in ball; flatten to ¾" thickness.  Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate 15 minutes* until firm.

On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to desired thickness (I roll ¼" thick).  Bake until edges are golden (8-12 minutes--depending on size and thickness).  Let stand 2 minutes.  Remove from cookie sheets and cool completely.

*Note: You MUST be able to roll and cut the dough after the 15 minute refrigeration time, or it will set up too much and won't roll out well.  This dough is a dream to work with.  You'll love it.


Cookie Glaze

2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
2 Tbl. almond milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ tsp. almond extract
2 Tbl. corn syrup
Food coloring, as desired

Combine powdered sugar and almond milk in a bowl, stirring until smooth.  Blend in extracts, then stir in corn syrup.  Divide glaze among small bowls to add coloring.  Cover bowls and allow to sit for about 15 minutes for bubbles to rise to the surface.  Before using glaze, gently stir out bubbles.  Spread over cookies with an offset spatula.  Glaze will dry to a firm, stackable finish.

All Through the Year Cheer: Christmas

Of all the foods that come to mind when I think about the Christmas season, none are more representative of the joyous spirit of the holiday than Christmas cookies.  For the All Through the Year Cheer: Christmas event, I decided to make the quintessential Christmas cookie: the Gingerbread Boy.  The first recipe I ever tried for gingerbread cookies produced sweet, perfectly spiced, soft and chewy cookies.  Every time I baked them people would go nuts for them, and it was the only recipe I used...until now.  This year I decided to branch out a bit and see if I could find a better recipe.  May I present:

The 2009 Great Gingerbread Cookie Bake-Off Throwdown Extravaganza Spectacular!!!  (are you excited yet?!?!)

The first (and most daunting) task for this bake-off was recipe selection.  I had two very specific goals in mind during my search:

1.  The cookie should be soft.  Save the firm gingerbread for houses and ornaments!

2.  The cookie must hold its shape during baking.  There's nothing sadder than using your super-cute gingerbread boy cutter (see end of post) and ending up with bloated ginger amoebas.

Scouring my cookbooks, magazines and the internet, I narrowed it down to three recipes:

1. Cook's Illustrated's Thick and Chewy Gingerbread Cookies

2. Nauvoo Gingerbread Cookies

3. Martha Stewart's Gingerbread Cookies

After baking up the the first two recipes, I noted how different they were in both flavor and texture.  Wanting to find a middle ground,  I went ahead and tossed a fourth recipe into the mix--a hybrid cookie, born of two very different but equally tasty recipes.  (The third recipe was similar to the first, but the spice level was quite different.)  It took an entire weekend to get them all rolled, cut and baked, but I happily chugged through my baking marathon.  All cookies were prepared as per recipe instructions, with the only substitution occuring in the Nauvoo recipe--I swapped out shortening for the lard (I didn't know people still used lard!)  For time reasons and because it wasn't that important for my test, I had to forgo decorating.  Here are the lovely contestants:

But...it's what's on the inside that counts.  Here's how they stack up:

The next step was to set up a taste test with my co-workers and a friend outside of work.  Each cookie was cut into small pieces, which were placed in separate labeled (A-D only, no recipe names) tubs with a few whole specimens for sampling.  These were left in the upstairs break room at work for people to sample throughout the day and cast their vote.  Tasters were asked to try each cookie, then select their favorite by writing the corresponding letter on a slip of paper and dropping it in the "Votes Bag".  There were plenty of cookie pieces so tasters could try each cookie more than once if needed.  At the end of the day, I counted the votes and rounded up the empty tubs.

Out of 26 votes (including myself), the winner is...

Cookie 'A'! (The Cook's Illustrated recipe)  This has been my standby since 2006, and not without good reason.  I set out to find that one perfect recipe to make my specialty, but it turns out I didn't need a new recipe after all--I'd been making it all along!

Comments from the taste test and a few of my notes:

Cookie 'A': The Cook's Illustrated Recipe (link)
- Softest/moistest of the four cookies
- Deepest color
- Sweetest
- Most difficult dough to work with due to softness/stickiness
- Least shape retention

Cookie 'B': Nauvoo Gingerbread Recipe (link)
- Cakey; puffiest of the four.
- "Would be better with milk"
- Less spiced than the others (called "bland" and "boring")
- Held its shape the best
- Very easy to roll
- Driest of the 4 doughs

 Cookie 'C': A Cook's Illustrated/Nauvoo hybrid
- A 50:50 hybrid
- Well-liked (received second place finish)
- Ranked #2 for sweetness
- My second favorite

Cookie 'D': Martha Stewart Recipe (link)
- Deemed too spicy (it contains black pepper)
- "Tasted like crab boil" (Ouch.  That one was below the belt.)
- My personal favorite-- and my pick to win (boy was I ever wrong!)
- Good shape retention
- Second puffiest cookie

 One person voted for 'E'.  This could mean one of three things: (1) someone is being a Mr. Smarty Pants (very likely), (2) it was an attempt to vote for "all of the above", or (3) they wanted to vote "none of the above" (I hope that's not true!).  I guess we'll never know, because no one will 'fess up to it!

My co-workers mentioned there might be some bias towards Cookie 'A' because it was the first one tasted, thereby leaving the remaining three to be compared to the standard of  'A'.  However, several of them also informed me that they tasted out of order, so I will dismiss that so-called bias :)  Also, milk or some other palate cleanser would've been helpful.  Several tasters "complained" that they all tasted the same because the spice level was distracting their taste buds.  

Regarding voting methods, I probably should have asked my tasters to rank the cookies instead of selecting their one favorite.  That way I could give each cookie an average score, with the lowest score being the winner.  Oh well, there's always next time!  A fun time was had by all, so I'm sure this will not be the last taste-off I conduct :)

Please visit the All Through Year Cheer page to check out great recipes from our hosts, Faith and Nutmeg Nanny.  The Christmas recipe round-up will be posted in a few days, along with the winner for this event.  Good luck to all!  (Thank you for bearing with me during my longest blog post ever!  Don't worry, almost done...)

Oh yeah...this is the debut of my new gingerbread boy cutter!  How could I forget?  He's been sitting very patiently in my cookie cutter tub for 11 months now.  For those of you who don't know me, I'm very particular about my gingerbread cookie shapes.  Very particular.  Most cutters I've seen have heads that are too small, arms too small, legs wrong shape, too fat, too skinny, weird shape...I could go on and on.  I'd just make do with the standard Wilton® shape, guiltily cutting the feet off and shaping the legs to my liking.  But the good folks over at The Little Fox Factory finally solved my dilemma!  To quote my own post from January '09:

I am deeply indebted to the Little Fox Factory for finally ending my 3-year long search for the classic, foot-free gingerbread boy cookie cutter! (you know, like "Gingey" from Shrek? ) I was so happy when I saw it for sale online that I stared at the computer screen in disbelief for a few minutes, but I was even more delighted when he arrived in my mail box. So cute! Straight legs AND a big head? Perfection. I can die in peace now. And stop lopping off the feet from the cookies made using my usual cutter.

All Through the Year Cheer: Chanukah

Chanukah. Hanukkah. Either way, that's one holiday I don't know much about. So...I headed over to Chabad.org, which contained tons of very helpful information about Chanukah and other Jewish holidays. Fried foods (particularly latkes and doughnuts/fritters) and rich dairy dishes popped up most often during my search for Chanukah recipes, but since I'm skittish about frying (vats of bubbling hot oil are scary, no?) I decided to focus on dairy dishes.  

Enter The Kugel.  Rich, comforting, and chock-full of dairy goodness, it's comfort food at its finest.  You can make potato kugels, vegetable kugels, rice kugels, or go all-out with a Noodle Kugel.  When it comes to noodle kugels, there seems to be two types: sweet (most popular, often with raisins and/or apples) or savory.  Since this is my first venture into kugel making and I wasn't sure which I'd like better, I decided to make both.  The recipes below are based on Smitten Kitchen's wonderful (sweet) kugel, scaled down by one-fourth.  All in all, it was great delicious fun!  I'd definitely make both kinds of kugel again! 

 These recipes are being entered into the All Through the Year Cheer: Chanukah event, graciously hosted by the lovely Chaya of Sweet and Savory Says it All.  Please visit Chaya's blog to peruse her vast collection of recipes, and while you're there check out the Chanukah recipe round-up.  


Raisin Noodle Kugel  (makes 2 mini loaf pans)
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

4 oz. medium egg noodles
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
4 oz. creamed or small curd cottage cheese (not low-fat!)
¼ cup + 2 Tbl. sugar
2 Tbl. butter, melted
2 eggs
½ tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. cinnamon
¼ cup raisins (could've used more!)

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease two mini foil loaf pans (3¼ x 5¾ x 2").

Boil the noodles for 5 to 7 minutes (don't cook all the way), then drain.  In large bowl, combine cream cheese, cottage cheese, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and cinnamon.  Beat until well mixed.  Stir in raisins and drained noodles.

Divide mixture into the two prepared pans and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until center is set.  Serve warm or at room temperature.



Savory Noodle Kugel  (makes 2 mini loaf pans)
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen

4 oz. medium egg noodles
4 oz. chive & onion cream cheese (from a tub), softened
4 oz. creamed or small curd cottage cheese (not low-fat!)
2 Tbl. butter, melted
2 eggs
¼ tsp. onion powder
¼ tsp. garlic powder
¼ tsp. black pepper

 Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease two mini foil loaf pans (3¼ x 5¾ x 2").

Boil the noodles for 5 to 7 minutes (don't cook all the way), then drain.  In large bowl, combine cream cheese, cottage cheese, butter, eggs, onion powder, garlic powder and pepper.  Beat until well mixed.  Stir in drained noodles.

Divide mixture into the two prepared pans and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, or until center is set.  Serve warm or at room temperature.

Sweet Potato Casserole

 Happy Thanksgiving, dear readers!  I have so much to be thankful for this year, and I truly hope you do as well.  For those of you heading out of town this week, I wish you safe and speedy travel.  Enjoy the holidays and treasure the moments you have with your family and friends! 

I ♥ sweet potatoes.  Bake 'em, mash 'em, fry 'em up--I'll take them all.  But when it comes to that iconic Thanksgiving concoction, bedecked in all its marshmallow glory, it's a different story altogether.  No one in our family makes it, so I didn't eat it growing up and never grew accustomed to its sweet candy goodness.  It's more confection than vegetable, and it deserves a spot on the dessert table, far away from the rolls and green bean casseroles.  

You can imagine my delight as I browsed through the first issue of my Cook's Country subscription and spotted a recipe for sweet potato casserole unlike any other I'd ever seen.  It was topped with the big (regular) marshmallows instead of the minis, but what hooked me was the amount of sugar required.  Only two teaspoons for the five pounds of sweet potatoes!  Teaspoons, not cups!  Finally, a sweet potato casserole I (and my non-sweet tooth family) can live with.  

This is my third entry for the Thanksgiving All Through the Year Cheer round-up, because I just HAD to share this recipe with you!  It's fantastic and a real show-stopper.  If you're still in the menu-planning stages or haven't finished your Thanksgiving grocery shopping yet, consider adding this dish to your holiday table!  Better yet, stop by All Through the Year Cheer on Monday, November 23rd, to view the recipe round-up.  There will be lots of new & inspiring dishes for you to browse!
 

Sweet Potato Casserole  (serves 8-10)
Cook's Country, October/November 2009

5 lbs. sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
6 Tbl. heavy cream
6 Tbl. unsalted butter, cut into 6 pieces
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. pepper
2 oz. cream cheese
10 oz. bag marshmallows, halved crosswise (use greased scissors)

Combine potatoes, cream, butter, sugar, salt, and pepper in Dutch oven.  Cook covered, stirring occasionally, over medium heat until potatoes begin to break down, 20 to 25 minutes.

Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to cook, covered, until liquid has been absorbed and potatoes are completely tender, 15 to 20 minutes.  Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 450°F.

Add cream cheese to pot.  Using potato masher, mash until cream cheese is fully incorporated and sweet potatoes are smooth.  Continue to cook, stirring constantly, until potatoes are thickened, about 5 minutes.

Transfer potato mixture to 2-quart baking dish and top with single layer marshmallows.  Bake until marshmallows are browned, about 5 minutes.  Serve.

To make ahead:  After transferring sweet potato mixture to baking dish, mixture can be refrigerated, covered, up to 2 days.  Microwave until warm for 4 to 7 minutes before topping with marshmallows and baking as directed.

All Through the Year Cheer: Thanksgiving

11/24/09 Update:  This cake was selected as the winner!  Yay!  Thanks to Laurie Lufkin, who created the recipe as well as Faith & Nutmeg Nanny for making the selection.  I will soon be the proud owner of a copy of Holiday Entertaining by Williams-Sonoma :)

In search of a dessert that showcases all of autumn's best flavors?  Look no further.  The prize-winning "Taste of New England Harvest Bundt Cake" by Laurie Lufkin (of GoodMorningGloucester) is the perfect addition to any holiday table.  Cream cheese, maple syrup, cranberries, spices, pumpkin, apples, nuts--what more could you want?   And lest you think there are too many flavors in this cake, don't worry.  This cake tastes like pure Autumn, without any of that pesky "too much going on" syndrome.

Be sure to check out all the entries for Thanksgiving's "All Through the Year Cheer" event.  Recipe round-up and winner will be posted on November 23rd--just in time for you to add a few recipes to your Thanksgiving menu!  The original recipe may be found below, with my changes written in BLUE.  It's a long recipe, yes, but the final product is well worth the effort!

Taste of New England Harvest Bundt Cake
by Laurie Lufkin of GoodMorningGloucester (link)

Filling:
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 egg yolk (used a whole egg by mistake)
2 Tbl. cornstarch
¼ cup Vermont maple syrup
¼ cup brown sugar
2 Tbl. butter, softened
¼ tsp. salt
½ tsp. cinnamon (omitted)
2 Tbl. Cape Cod whole berry cranberry sauce (used orange marmalade)
⅓ cup dried Cape Cod cranberries, chopped
added: ½ tsp. orange extract

Cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
¾ tsp. nutmeg, freshly grated
¾ tsp. powdered ginger
½ tsp. salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 cup butternut squash or pumpkin puree (used canned pumpkin)
1 cup sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Topping:
½ cup Macintosh, Granny Smith, or other tart New England apple sauce (used Mott's® unsweetened applesauce)
1 cup confectioner's sugar
¼ tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbl. apple brandy (used apple butter--cake needed to be work-friendly!)
2 Tbl. heavy cream
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup New England hazelnuts, toasted and chopped (used walnuts)
¼ cup dried Cape Cod cranberries, chopped

In a medium bowl prepare the filling.  Beat together cream cheese, egg, cornstarch and maple syrup.  Add brown sugar, butter, salt, cranberries, orange marmalade and orange extract until combined.  Refrigerate until ready to use but for at least one hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Heavily grease a 12-15 cup Bundt pan and set aside.

In another bowl sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and salt and set aside.

In a large bowl beat granulated sugar, brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy.  With mixer running, add eggs one at a time and mix until blended.  Beat in squash/pumpkin, sour cream and vanilla until well combined.  Beat in flour mixture until just combined.

Spoon one third of the batter into the pan.  Spoon filling in a circle on top of batter but do not allow filling to touch the edge of the pan (a tiny ice cream scoop is perfect for this; I put the filling in a pastry bag and squeezed a ring of filling onto the batter.  I couldn't stop the filling from spreading and touching the sides of the pan.  So instead of a ring of filling I got more of a swirled cake).  Top with remaining batter.

Bake at 350°F for 55-65 minutes until golden brown and cake tester comes out clean.

Remove from oven and place on cooling rack for 15 minutes.  Turn out onto serving plate to cool completely.

Before serving, make the glaze.  Whisk together apple sauce, confectioners sugar, cinnamon, apple brandy (or butter), heavy cream and vanilla extract in small bowl.  Drizzle glaze over cake and sprinkle with walnuts and cranberries.  Enjoy!

All Through the Year Cheer: Thanksgiving

Aside from a glorious golden turkey, few things say "Thanksgiving" better than cranberry sauce and pie.  So why not combine them?  This Cranberry Crumb Pie recipe comes to us from the good folks over at Eagle Brand®, and contains both sweetened condensed milk and cream cheese (two of my favorite things!).  The sweet, creamy cheesiness of the bottom layer perfectly complements the mildly tart cranberry layer, while the crumb topping provides a nice textural contrast.  Sound delicious?  It was.

This recipe is being submitted for All Through the Year Cheer's Thanksgiving event.  The recipe round-up will be posted on November 23rd (this Monday) along with the lucky winner, so be sure to check it out!  If you love holidays and the all the wonderful foods associated with them, consider joining in on the fun!  We'll be celebrating Chanukah next!

Cranberry Crumb Pie
Adapted from Eagle Brand®

9-inch unbaked pie crust
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
14 oz. can sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup lemon juice
2 Tbl. brown sugar
2 Tbl. cornstarch
16 oz. can whole berry cranberry sauce
Crumb topping (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Bake pie crust 6 minutes; remove from oven.  Reduce oven temperature to 375°F.

Beat cream cheese in large bowl until fluffy.  Gradually beat in sweetened condensed milk until smooth.  Stir in lemon juice.  Pour into partially baked pie crust.

Combine brown sugar and cornstarch in small bowl; mix well.  Stir in cranberry sauce.  Spoon evenly over cream cheese mixture.  Top with crumb topping.

Bake 45-50 minutes or until bubbly and golden.  Cool.  Serve at room temperature or chilled.


Crumb Topping:
¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup flour
½ cup oats (quick or old-fashioned)
¼ cup butter, cut into 8 pieces

Place brown sugar, flour, and oats in a medium bowl, and stir to combine.  Add butter pieces.  With a large fork or a pastry cutter, work through mixture until crumbly.  Use to top pie before baking.

All Through the Year Cheer: Halloween

This year's Halloween cookies are decidedly more low-key than the previous years (2008, 2007).  I noticed (and you may, too) when looking back at those and other older posts that switching over to my new layout has done freaky things to the font, sizing, and spacing.  One day-- if I have time and can remember to--I'll go back to all those posts and edit their layouts.  For now, they'll just look crazy :)

These cookies are being entered into the "All Through the Year Cheer...Cooking with Faith and Nutmeg Nanny" event.  This blogging group will celebrate various holidays throughout the year with fun holiday recipes from the hosts, Brandy of Nutmeg Nanny and Faith of Thought 4 Food, as well as any participants who want to join in on the fun.  It's a brand-new group, so Halloween is first up on the list (how excited am I to be joining a group in its first event!?!).  Faith is hosting this month, so head on over to Thought 4 Food on October 30th to check out the round-up!

To make the spiders for these cookies (or to adorn any of your Halloween goodies!), you'll need to seek out some big ole' chocolate chips.  I found that Ghiradelli's 60% Cocoa Bittersweet Chocolate Chips worked especially well, since they are both larger and flatter than a standard "yellow bag" chocolate chip.  You know which ones.  For the legs, I used Betty Crocker Parlor Perfect Chocolate Sprinkles.  They're longer and skinnier than other chocolate sprinkles I've seen in the markets, but you can use whatever you have on hand.  Chunky leg spiders would be uber-cute!

Ready to start?  Place about 6 chocolate chips on a piece of waxed paper that's been set on an overturned paper plate (it's a flatter surface, so you won't have to deal with the plate rim getting in your way later).   Microwave for 20-30 seconds, depending on your microwave's wattage.  For my 1300W oven, I did about 25 seconds.  The chips won't look melted, but the very bottom portions should soften.  With your fingers (if you're dainty!) or a pair of dedicated kitchen tweezers, insert 8 sprinkles into the chocolate chip.  Let cool, then carefully peel off waxed paper.  Easy peasy!  Use as desired. 

 The recipe for the cookies may be found here at Wilton's site.  It's the basic recipe you'll find on the back of their cookie cutter packages, only chocolate.  Roll ¼" thick and cut out with 2" round cutters.  I decorated with a basic royal icing.  Want a more festive look?  Or wanna use up that Halloween decorator sugar you bought last year at the 75% off post-Halloween clearance?  Sprinkle still-wet royal icing with color-coordinating sugars.