Mini Egg Cookies

 Another year is flying by and it is somehow already that time when the grocery stores are filled with delicious tempting easter chocolatey delights.  It used to the cream eggs that would lure me in, however one of my friends in vet school let me in on the Cadbury mini chocolate egg secret (I blame you Hannah!).  Last month I somehow convinced myself I should save money by buying a large bag instead of the smaller snack size bags.  Which shockingly led to me consuming way too many each night after work.  So in my usual logic, I figured I should bake them into cookies to limit my consumption.  While I'm grateful that decision led me to a new delightful cookie recipe, it also led to buying another bag of eggs (research and development!), which doesn't help in my laughable quest to eat healthy.

This recipe is a mild adaptation of my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  (I seem to switch up my recipe each year...).  The recipe is a winner because it has a higher ratio of chocolate chips to batter, and provides a nice thick chewy cookie.  I also added in a dollop of peanut butter - which adds a complexity to the flavor of the cookie without overpowering it.  While you can taste its presence, it is mild enough that even the Europeans at work approved (they tend not to like peanut butter).  Of course it is the baked mini eggs on top that make this cookie amazing and so popular.  I suspect this would be a good cookie base for other candies as well (peanut butter M&Ms sound delicious!), but I doubt I will try that till after the easter season has passed.

Spider peanut butter blossoms

We had a halloween bake sale at work this week, which inspired me to create a spider version of the classic hershey's peanut blossom cookies.  Taste is usually one of my biggest focuses when baking, however with halloween this weekend, I wanted something to fit the theme as well.  When I first googled for halloween baked goods, I found that many of the recipes didn't look very tasty, and seemed like they took way too much effort decoration wise (like complicated iced sugar cookies!).  Then luckily I stumbled upon some pictures of similar peanut butter spider cookies, and knew I had found a winner.

The base recipe for these - the classic hershey's peanut blossom - is delicious, and should be a staple in your recipe book.  I used nerds for eyes (I do not have the time to fashion my own candy eyes!), and just piped on melted chocolate for legs.  The decorating aspect of it only added about 10 minutes to the whole process.  So if you have a halloween party coming up this weekend, get baking!  Happy Halloween!

Funfetti cookies (nutella stuffed!)

I did not have (or want) a lot of sprinkles in my life growing up, but every once in a while a colorful sprinkle coated sugar cookie will tempt me in a bakery.  Most of the time I get sucked into buying one, I find them disappointingly crunchy, bland, and dissapointing.   Then recently Smitten Kitchen shared a new recipe for these, describing the home made version as tender and buttery, (and so colorful!), and I was sucked into trying them once again.  Fortunately these homemade cookies taste just as fun and delicious as they look.  Especially if you are like me, and go one step further by stuffing half of them with Nutella.   (Oops!)

The smitten kitchen version is delicious, but I ended up finding another version that I loved even more and was a little easier to make.   These cookies are super soft and buttery in the center, and the sprinkles give a delightful crunch.  And the color makes them seem so festive!  If you are feeling indulgent (and patient) you can stuff the cookie with balls of nutella, then roll each one in the spinkles.  If you are in more of a rush to get cookies into your mouth, just mix the sprinkles into the batter, and bake away.

Note: I recommend buying and using vanilla bean paste in these cookies if you have it.  It is not too hard or expensive to find these days, and makes it taste like you used fresh vanilla beans!

Coconut Chocolate Chip Biscotti

The last few months I have actually been baking pretty frequently, but two things have been holding me back from updating the blog.  First - It has been dark as I arrive at and leave work each day, making it hard to capture good photos of anything new I do bake.  Second - I've been making a lot of old classics that are already on here, or that don't seem exciting enough to post (my cravings for chocolate +/- peanut butter seem ever present...).   I also actually started worrying for a short period that maybe I had run out of new recipes/ideas - how many variations on chocolate and cookies and brownies can there be??  (Luckily I then convinced myself I am not there yet!).  So I opened of a new cookbook I'd recently received as a gift to look for some inspiration, and stumbled upon this recipe.  Plus I'm currently working nights, which means I can take food photos in sunlight!

The name "biscotti" is an italian word that means twice-cooked, and that is why these delightful cookies are so crunchy.  They are best served with a hot drink to dunk them into - they go especially well with hot chocolate.  The dried out nature means they keep well, so they are a great cookie to make in advance of having company.  The addition of coconut is subtle in flavor, but adds well to the texture, making them a little more moist.

Baltimore Berger Cookies

Back while I was still living in the UK one of my friends brought us some Berger cookies from her hometown of Baltimore.  Like most of the rest of the world, I had never heard of these cookies.  According to wikipedia, they were developed by a baker in Baltimore in the 1850s, adapted from a German recipe.  The base is similar to that of the black and white cookie, aka a soft boring sugar cookie.  But then that simple white cookie is piled high with a fudge like chocolate frosting and that is what makes this cookie shine.  My friend from Baltimore tells me the goal when making them at home should be to have as high a ratio of chocolate to cookie as possible.  I usually aim for 1:1, before the chocolate looks about to topple off the cookie base.

I think I've finally perfected the chocolate fudge topping, now that a few people from Baltimore have tasted them and said they are better than the original.  I shipped some this week to the friend who introduced them to me, and she wrote back that "they taste like friendship and home."  For a blog that is all about comfort food and baking away from home, that seemed like a pretty perfect endorsement (at least for those from Baltimore).

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pretty soon into starting my internship this summer, I realized that fitting things into my weekly schedule other than work, food and sleep was almost impossible.  As usual, this meant that running/exercise was one of the first things to go out the door so I tried to compensate by keeping myself from buying junk food or dessert at the grocery store.  However I developed a bad habit of eating giant spoonfuls of peanut butter dipped into chocolate chips, repeatedly, every night.  Until one night I glanced at the side of the peanut butter jar and learned just how many calories are in one small spoonful of peanut butter...  This encouraged me to dredge up the recipe for these cookies so I could get my delicious peanut butter and chocolate craving satiated with a cookie or two, without consuming a 1000 calories each night.

These cookies are soft, super peanut buttery, packed full of chocolatey chunks, and wrapped in a thin crisp coating of sugar.  They got rave reviews the first time I brought them to work, but that was also on a crazy day, and half of the comments where things like "this is the first thing I've eaten all day, and this cookie is amazing" (at 5pm).  So I brought in another batch on a less hectic day, and they still got rave reviews, and my cookie tin was emptied pretty rapidly.  So if you are one of the smart people out there who likes peanut butter and chocolate, then I recommend you go bake some cookies.

Peanut butter cookies
Minimally adapted from Smitten kitchen
Makes 2-3 dozen

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter, softened (or microwaved 10 seconds)
1 cup peanut butter (I use smooth)
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 Tb milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chocolate chips

Optional: 1/4 cup sugar to roll cookies in

Make the cookies:
Preheat oven to 350

1. In a medium bowl, mix the butter, peanut butter, and both sugars with electric beaters until smooth and fluffy
2. Add in the egg, milk, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and mix well.
3. Mix in the flour, just until combined, then mix in the chocolate chips by hand, using a spoon.
4. Pour your 1/4 cup of sugar into a small bowl, if you opt for the sugar coaint.  Using your hands form small balls of cookie dough into balls about 1-1.5 inches wide, roll each ball in sugar, then place on a ungreased cookie tray, about 1 inch apart.  Use a fork and press down to slightly flatten each ball of dough to get your signature peanut butter cookie mark.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating tray half way during baking time, until the edges look slightly golden.  Cool on a wire rack and enjoy within 1-2 days (store in an air-tight container).

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These last few months have been quite a transition period.  They included finishing vet school rotations, a few trips to the US, planning a conference, studying for finals, planning a move back to the states, and taking final exams...  I have actually fit in quite a bit of baking into that period (its possible I'm a stress baker, oops!), but I only recently realized that I've let the blog fall behind!  My most recent baking has alternated between french macaron's (as usual) and recipes chosen purely to use up ingredients left in our cupboards - which didn't always lead to the most delicious, blog-worthy things.   I do have a few newer recipes to share at some point in the future, but I decided that as I'm moving back to the US, and started this blog about baking American in the UK, maybe an old fashioned classic would be a great transition recipe.  So here I present you with my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.  (My apologies if posts continue to be sparse over the next year, I'm not sure how many hours I will get to spend outside of the hospital walls!)

This recipe, if baked right, will give you a thick-ish cookie, soft in the middle, a little crunchy on the edges, and oh so delicious.  In fact is so good I've often had people ask for the recipe, which is impressive for something as simple as a chocolate chip cookie!  I'm sure anyone who bakes in the US already has their standard go-to recipe for the chocolate chip cookie, but if you ever have any disappointment in the outcome, then I recommend you try out this new variation, it has a few things going for it!  Here are some of the aspects to the recipe that I think makes the difference:

Melting Chocolate Meringue Cookies

Passover is just around the corner, so I thought I would share a pesach-friendly recipe to get everyone excited.  The holiday often is often known for having mediocre desserts, as people try to adapt their favorite every day recipe to not include leaveners, replacing flour with matzah meal etc.  But personally, I prefer to instead choose recipes that are meant to not rise or have flour in them to begin with.  There are a lot of delicious recipes out there that I make all year, that just so happen to be kosher for passover.  I just realized last year that this cookie recipe is one of those... And it is also gluten free!  So this is a great recipe to have in your book, and its fast to whip up.

These melting chocolate cookies are made from meringue, so they are light as air when you pick them up, and melt in your mouth, filling it with a rich chocolatey taste.  Even though they are light, and small, they are full of flavor and decadent, so just one or two little cookies will fill your your chocolate cravings.  These are delicious all year round!

Almond Cookies

During our many travels the last few months we ended up spending a quick weekend visiting family in Minnesota.  It just so happened our visit coincided with a tasting event for their local Star Tribune's annual holiday cookie competition.  We spent a great afternoon sampling delicious cookies, and got to leave with new recipes in hand, and it was great seeing some new variations on old holiday classics.  The winner this year were these tasty Italian almond cookies - little soft balls of almondy, lemony deliciousness rolled in powdered sugar.

A few things drew me to this recipe... I find that without outside guidance my baking sometimes gets repetitive, alternating between chocolate, peanut butter, and chocolate and peanut butter, sometimes mixing it up with some caramel... Not that any of my taste testers (friends), complain, but its still nice to mix it up.  This recipe provided a nice alternative to the classic chocolate chip cookie.  I also liked that this recipe is a similar base to the macarons I'm obsessed with making, but much easier to make. I had just brought back some fresh cinnamon from a vacation to Zanzibar last week, so I rolled some of the cookies in a cinnamon/sugar mixture instead of the powdered sugar called for in the original recipe.

Candy Cane Holiday Crunch Cookies

The holidays are one of my favorite times of year, because this whole season one does not need an excuse to bake.  Of course, I bake frequently all year long, but suddenly it becomes ok, or even expected, to bring desserts for every occasion. And there are so many fun holiday flavors and decorations!  These candy cane cookies are one of my favorite easy festive recipes. They are pretty fast to whip up, and they look so cute!  The crunchy minty candy canes complements the softer chocolates fudgey cookie below, held together with a touch of white chocolate.  This year I was excited to stumble upon already crushed bags of candy cane in our local grocery store in the US, making these even easier to make.

And if you are looking for quick homemade holiday presents, these cookies in a jar are a great option! Every time I bake these, they get lots of complements.... Something about the m&ms, oatmeal AND chocolate chips, combined with the great chewy texture make them a favorite for any occasion.

Snickerdoodles

Snickerdoodles are another "American" classic that I think everyone should have in their book (although there is some debate on whether they have a German or American origin).  When I've shared them here in the UK, most brits have never heard of them, but enjoyed them enough to request another batch that same week.

To me, an ideal Snickerdoodle is a relatively flat cookie with a cracked surface, that has a slightly crunchy edge and a soft melt in your mouth buttery center, and of course coated in cinnamon and sugar.  When cooked just right, they puff up in the oven, then once out of the oven they collapse on themselves just a little in the center.  It took me a few tries to conjure up the cookie of my childhood, as most of the recipes I found either made a fluffy thick cookie, or one that was a bit too flat or thin, but I finally figured out just the right ratio of flour to butter.  These cookies are pretty easy to make, and make a great alternative/complement to my usual chocolate recipes.

Almond Joy Cookies

 These cookies are inspired by "Almond Joys", the American candy bar made of a coconut filling, a layer of almonds on top, and then covered in chocolate.  The use of almond butter (like peanut butter, but made with almonds) was a great idea - I hadn't baked much with this in the past.  These are a dense chewy hearty cookie full of delicious flavors that make you want to reach in for just one more.  I find them a little less sweet then the average american cookie, which is one of the reasons why I think they were so popular with my british friends (who had never heard of Almond Joys).

The desiccated coconut flakes we can buy in the UK are reported to be a little bit drier and less sweet than the sweetened coconut flakes available in the US - I found the only difference this makes is that the dough is a bit more crumbly, requiring more effort to form the balls before baking.  However they came out tasting great for me in both countries.  The only real change I made from the original recipe was to add in chocolate chunks instead of drizzling it on top, and I went for the thicker chewier size.  The original recipe has all the weights of the ingredients, if you prefer that to measuring cups.

Gingersnap sandwich cookies

This recipe is adapted from a cook book by Lisa Dupar, a favorite local Seattle chef.  In the book she describes them as "crack cookies" due to their terribly addictive nature.  The flavor of the cookie is similar to my previous ginger snap recipe, however these come out a bit thicker and spicier.  The genius addition of a cream cheese filling seems to soften the cookies and really bring the flavors all together (while also adding to their cuteness!).

Homemade Thin Mints!

Browsing facebook this time of year makes me very aware that I am sadly missing yet another girl scout cookie season back in the states.  Last year I tacked homemade Samoas with great success - and found that they are very delicious home made (and not even that much of a hassle if you don't mind sacrificing the original shape).  I had also previously made a few attempts at thin mints, but they never tasted quite right.

So when someone sent me a link to yet another thin mint recipe this year, I decided to give it a try.  I was hesitant at first because the recipe was featured on a healthy blog, full of vegan and gluten free substitutes, and in my past experience they are often willing to substitute taste for healthiness (pretty much the opposite of my baking philosophy).  But it turned out this recipe makes a perfect cookie base for the thin mint - tender, crunchy, chocolaty.... and easy!  (And even better, it may make a perfect base for a home made oreo, but only time will tell...).  The husband even said these are better than real thin mints (though we haven't had those in a few years...) They are certainly just as addicting.

Ginger-not-so-snap cookies

In the UK, since they don't celebrate thanksgiving, we are now well into the holiday cookie season, which I love!  I am always looking for an excuse to bake something (its much more fun than studying for upcoming exams....).  This past week I brought out my gingersnap recipe from my archives, and discovered they are way better than I remembered them.  The spices in them make them taste like the holidays!  One of the other great things about this recipe is that they age well.  Fresh out of the oven they are good (what cookie isn't?) but 24 hours later, they soften up, and the flavors seem to meld together, and then they are really good...



Here is some of the feedback I received:
               "Best cookies slash biscuits I’ve ever had,"
               "Even though they don't have chocolate in them, these are great," 
               "Can you please please please make some more," (I did, I made another batch a few days later).

Notes: *This recipe teaches that molasses in the US = black treacle in the UK!
This is a recipe for a soft, buttery gingersnap - so if you prefer the crunchy variety, steer clear! They can be a bit sensitive with their baking times - so it may take a tray or two to find the exact time to bake them for in your oven, but its worth it!  You want to take them out of the oven while they are still puffed up, then watch them collapse into a thin cookie while they cool on your wire rack.  If they collapse in the oven, cook them less.

Iced Pumpkin Spice Cookies

Happy Halloween!  Growing up I was never a big fan of pumpkin, and thus never baked much with it.  However this time of year I always start to feel an increasing pressure for pumpkin baked goods.  So I gave in and started baking more with it this year - and learned that pumpkin is mainly a vessel for delicious fall spices.  These cookies were the final touch in winning me over!  They are a soft spice filled cookie, with a light sugary/spiced icing on top - great for a blustery autumn day.

Note - if you are in the UK and have struggled to find cans of pumpkin, no worries, just roast your own!  Follow this link for simple steps and pictures of how to roast a pumpkin.  And remember: you can substitute any type of squash you like the flavor of, in a recipe that calls for pumpkin.  If you are sticking with pumpkin - pick a small one, as they tend to be sweeter.  I roast and puree a few pumpkins at the beginning of the season, then freeze little containers with 1 cup of puree - a great way to have easy pumpkin all season.

Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies

With a name like this, I don't think these cookies need much introduction, one could guess that they would be pretty good.  My first taste of them fresh from the oven, of course confirmed this suspicion.  But once they cooled down and sat for a while, that was when these cookies really shine.  All the flavors seem to meld delightfully together into an amazing soft flavorful chewy cookie.

So I recommend you resist finishing them off straight from the oven, the wait will be worth it.

Carrot Cake Cookies

Carrot cake is a favorite in our household that was previously reserved for special occasions worthy of 3 layer pretty cakes.  But I recently stumbled upon a picture of a "carrot cake cookie" and thought it was worth a shot.  I was a bit nervous that if I left my recipe as is (to maintain its delicious flavor and texture), and just baked them as cookies, I'd get a very flat cookie.  And, I did indeed come out with a flat cookie, no matter how small I made them, but that turned out to be ok.

These cookies may not win any awards for beauty - but they sure make up for that in taste.  And the flatness of the cookie means you finally get the perfect ratio of frosting to cake in every bite!  Carrot cake is now welcomed into the world of every day finger food recipes in our house.

Homemade Samoas

It is that time of the year again when everyone on Facebook is talking about all the delicious Girl Scouts cookies they are selling, buying, and eating, and here I am, stuck in the UK, with none.  I got lucky last spring, when one of my friends sent me an amazing Easter box full of delicious treats including two boxes of cookies (which my lovely dog ate one of ..) but this year neither us were that lucky, and I was sad.

That is.. til I stumbled upon a recipe for homemade Samoas.  Usually I might scoff at the idea of spending hours in the kitchen slaving away over something I could buy (that would be easier, and probably cheaper!).  But as we can't buy them here, I figured I might as well try out the recipe.

I made half of the batch into the original "donut" shape, then made half into little rectangles to save on energy.  Making the original shape definitely requires a labor of love and lots of tedious time in the kitchen.  But it turns out if you are willing to accept rectangular Samaos, the recipe is surprisingly easy, and amazingly delicious!  They taste just like Samoas, and maybe even better.  My only complaint might be that the recipe is TOO easy, and thus I've made two batches this week, and need to start running again.