The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap: Corn Cookies

Sorry for the horrible picture, didn't dawn on me to take pictures with my actual camera, and not my phone!

This year, I was part of something amazing.  The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!  Hundreds of other bloggers joined in all of the fun and cookies were sent all over the country.  It was so amazing to find a couple boxes on my doorstep when I came home from work of a variety of different cookies!  And it was even better to discover new blogs in the process! 

I received Dark & Stormy Cookies from Kathy Can Cook, Toffee Cookies from Anna from Girls Can Tell, and Lime Cookies from Creative Crops.  I'd never been do any of those blogs before, but I'm now a regular because they're all so sweet and have great blogs!

It was definitely hard to choose a cookie to send to my lucky recipients as well.  I didn't want to send a "normal" cookie, but something different.  So I turned to one of my favorite cookbooks of the moment - Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi.  I made the Corn Cookies, which are my absolute favorite out of everything I've made out of the book so far.  They're different, like a cross between a butter and a sugar cookie, with that slight hint of corn in the background.  Definitely amazing.


Ingredients:
From Momofuku Milk Bar by Christina Tosi

2 sticks of butter, at room temperature
1 & 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 & 1/3 cups flour
1/4 cup corn flour
2/3 cup freeze-dried corn powder 
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 & 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Combine the butter and sugar in a large bowl and beat for 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the egg and beat for an additional 7 to 8 minutes.

Add flour, corn flour, corn powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Mix until dough just comes together, no more than 1 minute.

Portion the dough into 1 inch diameter balls and place onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Wrap with plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350F.

Arrange the chilled dough 4 inches apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Bake for 18 minutes, or until faintly browned on the edges and bright yellow in the center.

Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pans and store in an airtight container for 5 days at room temperature, or in the freezer for up to 1 month.

I hope my lucky recipients enjoyed their cookies as much as we did!

And I can't wait for this fun event to happen next year too!

Secret Recipe Club: World Peace Cookies

Hello.  It's me guys!  I know I was a little sporadic last week, but I warned you, remember?  Life is crazy.  Life is about to get really crazy.  I start at Jack Fry's on Thursday.  And I still have my other job.  And I still have to go to school.  So yeah, this blog is looking like it's coming in 4th place.  So if I go missing for a little while, know that I'm just busily trying to make something of myself.  And I will try my best to at least post once a week!

Anyway, that brings me to today's post.  It's Secret Recipe Club time!  It's where all of the bloggers in my designated group get shuffled around and get assigned another blogger's recipe to remake on our own blog.

I was assigned Beantown Baker.  Jen is such a super fun gal.  She creates the most amazing baked goods - with her other half being her guinea pig, as well!  She's an engineer by trade and she still makes time to blog some goods!  I definitely must learn her secret of balancing a busy life!

I don't know if my choice was "legal" - I chose to do Jen's September SRC choice - World Peace Cookies.  Technically, it is a recipe on her blog, so I guess it's still fair game.  I was in the mood for some chocolate and these just kept calling my name.

Ingredients:
Adapted from Beantown Baker

1 & 1/4 cups flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
pinch of kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup 72% dark chocolate (I used some Ghirardelli squares), chopped

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.

Beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes more.

Pour in the dry ingredients, and mix on low speed for about 5 times, or until flour is incorporated and looks somewhat crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Shape each half of the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours or up to 3 days.  (I think mine were in there for about 2 days - I ended up getting busy (surprise surprise)).

When you are Ready to Bake:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you're cutting them — don't be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won't look done, nor will they be firm, but that's just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

And voila!  World Peace Cookies.  They really do make all of your troubles disappear - even if just for the 5 seconds it takes to devour one of them.  They're also perfect with a cold glass of milk!


So thanks Jen for letting me peruse your lovely blog, and I'll be back to test out some more treats - don't you worry!


Interested in the Secret Recipe Club?  Check it out and find out how to join here!

Great American Bake Sale 6-25-2011

A few months ago, I signed up to participate in a Louisville chapter of the Great American Bake Sale.  All proceeds go to the charity Share Our Strength which helps fight childhood hunger in America.  I was excited and nervous at the same time.  I joined just a random team, which included one other person, Eve.

Eve is a total creative genius when it comes to sugar cookies!  She's the brains behind Sugar Circus and man does she have talent!  She ships her cookies anywhere too, so if you're interested in some custom made cookies - drop her a line!

Anyway, we ended up raising almost $200 so I'd say it was a success!  So check out the goods...

Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookie Sandwiches, Oreo Stuffed Brownies, & Homemade Granola Bars!

Mini Nutella Pies - the poll winner from last Friday's poll!  Scroll down for a quick recipe =)

Used our CSA blueberries to make mini blueberry pies too!

Eve's awesome Angry Birds sugar cookies!  She also had Robots, Ice Cream Cones, True Blood, and UK & UofL cookies too!  She's got mad skills yo!

It was so great to meet Eve and her wonderful family!  I know Sugar Circus will do well because she's got some serious talent!

The bake sale was a great opportunity to support a great cause - and I'm definitely excited to get into more events like this!  Oh - and I actually already have.  Lauren over @ KeepItSweet is holding a blogger Bake Sale to Beat Cancer that's open until midnight Wednesday 6-29!  And I've got my Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie up for bid - so if you're in the U.S. and want a little taste of what I've got going on in my kitchen, place a bid - and help us beat cancer!  And even if you don't like my cookies - there's tons of other blogger goodies up for sale too so definitely check it out =)

Mini Nutella Pies

Nutella
Mini Pie Crusts
Chopped Hazelnuts, optional

Okay, there's really not a very detailed recipe to this.  It could get crazy if you wanted to make your own pie crust, but sometimes a girl's gotta take some shortcuts! 

Preheat oven to 350F.  My crusts were ready to bake so there was no need to pre-bake them before filling.  Just check out the directions on the pie crust box before you continue.

Fill the pie crusts about 1/2 way with Nutella.  Bake for about 20 minutes, or until crust is golden.  Top pies with chopped hazelnuts.

Quick Nutella fix, right?  Right!

Anyway, I know it's late, so I won't keep ya.  Be back tomorrow - hopefully at an earlier time!

The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Happy Friday!  I'm off this weekend so it's definitely a great Friday!  Andy and I are about to head out to dinner and have some drinks with some friends, but I thought I'd cap off the week with the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie.

The chocolate chip cookie is one of those cookies that, once you find that perfect recipe, you don't switch it out.  One that you always make when you find yourself with that craving for chocolate chip cookies.  And everybody's perfect chocolate chip cookie is different.  I'm a soft and chewy gal.  Andy, he's pretty much a "I love every chocolate chip cookie known to man" kind of guy.  So, needless to say, this was a winner for both of us.  And for once, I made a cookie and had absolutely no leftovers to bring to work.  And I didn't feel guilty.  Is that bad?  Hehe.

What's your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe?

And don't forget to read until the end and vote in the poll (after the recipe!) for next week's dessert!  


Ingredients:
Adapted from Buns In My Oven's Recipe

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 stick of chilled butter (8 tablespoons) cut into small cubes
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 & 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 & 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, beat both sugars and butter cubes until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.  Add in egg, vanilla, and baking soda and beat for another minute or two.

Mix in flour and salt.  Beat on a low speed until just incorporated.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter onto parchment paper, making your cookies the desired size.  I did a nice heaping tablespoon full on each of my cookies and had the perfect "two-hand" cookie.  You know, the cookie you want to hold in both hands and just grin from ear to ear after each and every bite.  You know what I mean, right?  Right.

Bake in oven for about 16-18 minutes and then cool cookies on cooling rack.  The cookies will be soft and chewy, and gone in no time flat!  You might want to double the recipe if you're planning on feeding more than 2!  Hehe!

Well, the first poll I did went pretty well, so I've decided to do another one!  I have a couple different options so just pick your favorite and we'll see who wins next week!