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Category: Baking

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  Grinch Cookies

  Posted at 5:00 am by Lisa Cavallari

  Dec 15th

  These cookies are minty, chocolatey and have a hint of mocha.  The perfect cookie for the Grinch to slink up to and snag all for himself.

  My daughter, who loves the Grinch, was my taste tester.  She was disappointed that a Grinch face wasn’t decorated on top.  🙂  Okay, so I lost points for presentation.  In my humble opinion, they taste great with a big glass of milk or a cup of coffee.

  Grinch Cookies

  • Difficulty: easy
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  Credit: adapted slightly from http://www.sallysbakingaddiction.com

  Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1 Tbl instant coffee granules
  • 2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
  • 3/4 cup butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • Green food coloring (I used gel food coloring.  Add as much to your desired level of greenness)
  • 1 1/2 cups chopped Andes Mints (you can buy the baking bits or chop them yourself)

  Directions

  1. Combine flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, salt, instant coffee and cornstarch in a large bowl with a whisk.
  2. In a smaller, separate bowl combine melted butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla and green food coloring.
  3. Pour wet ingredients into the dry using a rubber spatula or wooden spoon.
  4. Fold in Andes chopped mints.
  5. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.
  6. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  7. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Use about 3 Tbl and roll dough into a ball.  Place 8 balls on cookie sheet spacing evenly.
  8. Bake for 11-12 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly on pan before transferring to a cookie rack to cool completely.
  9. Enjoy!

   

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  Posted in Baking
• 

  Brownie Cookies

  Posted at 5:30 am by Lisa Cavallari

  Dec 8th

   

  

  If you like brownies, then you’ll love these cookies.  The texture is not as fudgy as a brownie, but the flavor is spot-on.  These are surprisingly light and very addictive.  Just ask my daughter and husband.  Between the three of us, we inhaled just under a dozen.

  Another nice thing about this recipe is that it makes 48 cookies so there’s plenty to send off to work or swap in a cookie exchange.  Please note: you should make the dough the night before to give it ample time for chilling.

  Brownie Cookies

  • Servings: 48
  • Time: 1 hr
  • Difficulty: moderate
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  Credit: http://www.cookingclassy.com

  Ingredients

  • 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (spoon into measuring cup)
  • 4 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup powdered sugar

  Directions

  1. In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.
  2. In a large mixing bowl beat together the sugar and oil with a hand mixer.  Mix in cocoa powder.  Add in eggs and vanilla and blend well.
  3. Add flour mixture and combine until fully incorporated.  Cover dough with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
  4. The next day preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Place parchment paper on a baking sheet.
  5. Take dough out of fridge and scoop 1/4 of it out and into a small bowl.  Put the large mixing bowl back in the fridge to keep the dough from getting too sticky.
  6. Pour 3/4 cup of powdered sugar into a small bowl.
  7. Scoop about a Tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball using your hands.
  8. Drop the ball into the powdered sugar and roll it around until coated.
  9. Repeat these steps until you have 12 powdered sugar-coated balls on your cookie sheet.  It should look like snowballs.
  10. Bake for 13 minutes in the oven.  Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
  11. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

   

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  Posted in Baking | Tagged Brownie cookies
• 

  Cookies For Saint Nick

  Posted at 6:05 am by Lisa Cavallari

  Dec 2nd

   

  Here is the perfect cookie to bake this Christmas season.  These M&M cookies are easy to make, take the classic chocolate chip cookie up a notch, but most of all, they are delicious!  

  Be prepared to make more than one batch because they always disappear quickly.  You can even make the dough ahead of time and freeze it until you are ready to use.  Give it 24 hours to thaw in your fridge.  

  Christmas M&M Cookies

  • Servings: 24
  • Difficulty: easy
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  Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup Christmas M&M’s

  Directions

  1. Whisk flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl.
  2. Whisk melted butter and sugars in a medium-sized bowl.  Add eggs, one at a time whisking slowly.  Add vanilla.
  3. Using a large spatula, pour wet ingredients into the large dry ingredients bowl.  Mix until combined.  Add chocolate chips and M&M’s.
  4. Put plastic wrap over the top of bowl and refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
  5. Take bowl out of fridge and preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  6. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and scoop about 2-2 1/2 Tablespoons of cookie dough.  Form it into a ball and place on cookie sheet until you have 9 rolled balls.
  7. Bake for 12-13 minutes.  Allow to cool on cookie sheet before using a spatula to place cookies on a cooling rack.
  8. Enjoy!

   

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  Posted in Baking

• Chocolate Eclairs

  Posted at 5:50 am by Lisa Cavallari

  Aug 14th

  

  Another wonderful recipe from Elvira Cavallari are her famous chocolate eclairs.  This eclair version is more homey and rustic than the perfect, pristine one you’ll see in glass display cases.  In my humble opinion, I’ll take approachable and delicious over too pretty to eat any day.   The recipe isn’t difficult, but there are three separate steps that can make it seem more intimidating than it actually is so don’t let that stop you.  Start off with baking the buttery shells, then you make the custard filling and top it off with the chocolate frosting.  It will make 30 small eclairs so you can serve them for a shower, holiday get-together or a small dinner party and just freeze the rest.  They freeze beautifully!

  Enjoy.  They are definite crowd pleasers!

  • Servings: 30
  • Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
  • Difficulty: intermediate
  • Print

  Ingredients

  Shells

  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 cup boiling water
  • 1 cup sifted flour
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 4 eggs unbeaten

  Custard Filling

  • 1 package vanilla pudding mix (not instant) I used Jello Cook and Serve 3 oz package
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 pint (1 cup) heavy whipping cream

  Chocolate Frosting

  • 1/2 cup soft butter
  • 3 oz. melted unsweetened chocolate, cooled
  • 3 cups confectioners sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • about 3 Tb milk

  Directions

  Eclair Shell

  1. In a medium pan over the stove melt butter in boiling water.
  2. Lower heat and add flour and salt all at once.
  3. Stirring rapidly, stir until mixture lowers side.
  4. Remove from heat and add 1 egg at a time.
  5. Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet covered in parchment paper.
  6. Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.
  7. Allow to cool and begin making the filling.

  Custard Filling

  1. Prepare 1 package Jello vanilla pudding mix in a small saucepan on the stove using only 1 1/2 cups whole milk instead of 2 cups according to the directions on the box.
  2. After pudding has reached the right consistency, cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator for 1 hour or until cool.
  3. Whip 1/2 pint heavy whipping cream into pudding.

  Chocolate Frosting

  1. Mix butter and chocolate together.  Blend in sugar.  Stir in vanilla.  Add enough milk until frosting is smooth.
  2. Slice each shell lengthwise in half.
  3. Frost each eclair with frosting.
  4. Use a spoon to fill custard into each shell.
  5. Refrigerate eclairs until ready to serve or freeze for up to 1 month.

  Enjoy!

  

  These were immediately eaten after this photo was taken.  I have to make sure they pass the taste test!  😉

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  Posted in Baking | Tagged Chocolate Eclairs

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