All-Occasion Sugar Cookie

I’ve come to the realization that I used to make sugar cookies all wrong. I had a problem with over-rolling – making them too thin, resulting in a flat, sometimes crunchy cookie. And we all know that is just not right.

For my birthday last year, my husband got me some rolling pin rings. I can honestly say that these have changed my life for the better. I can now make cookies and pie dough the perfect thickness and it’s wonderful.

I decided to make some cookies to give to friends on Mother’s Day, but I had a little too much on my plate and didn’t get around to decorating them in time. So naturally we snacked on them all day, and they were really good. And they are so easy.

All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

From Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan
Yield: About 50 2-inch cookies

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2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated – because this dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finish the job with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy and malleable.

Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. If you want to make roll-out cookies, shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. If you want to make slice-and-bake cookies, shape each half into a chubby sausage and wrap in plastic. Whether you’re going to roll or slice the dough, it must be chilled for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)

Getting Ready to Bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

If you are making roll-out cookies, working with one packet of dough at a time, roll out the dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of ¼ inch, lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly. Lift off the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies. Pull away the excess dough, saving the scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the rounds onto the baking sheets with a spatula, leaving about 1½ inches between the cookies. (This is a soft dough and you might have trouble peeling away the excess or lifting the cutouts; if so, cover the dough, chill it for about 15 minutes and try again.) After you’ve rolled and cut the second packet of dough, you can form the scraps into a disk, then chill, roll, cut and bake.

If you are making slice-and-bake cookies, use a sharp thin knife to slice the dough into ¼-inch-thick rounds, and place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1½ inches between the cookies.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all. Remove the pan from the oven and let them rest for 1 minute before carefully lifting them onto a rack to cool to room temperature.

Storing: The cookies will keep at room temperature in a tin for up to 1 week. Wrapped well, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Lemon Truffle Cake

I made this for Easter and it was amazing.

Let me talk about this lemon truffle for a minute. It’s perfection. Lemon curd, cream cheese, and white chocolate mixed together for a creamy filling. I could have just eaten it by the spoonful it was so good.

The white cake had a nice density and moistness that complemented the lemon truffle filling, and I loved the extra pop of lemon curd on top of the cake. You use whipped cream to frost the outside of the cake, and I have to say that anything else would be too heavy and distracting from the rest of the cake.

This cake took a little bit of work, but I think it was worth it. It’s a definite crowd pleaser, and the leftovers made an awesome breakfast!

Lemon Truffle Cake
from Recipe Girl

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For the cake:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 2/3 cups granulated white sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 large egg whites

For the lemon truffle filling:
3/4 cup granulated white sugar
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup water
2 large egg yolks
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1/3 cup lemon juice, freshly squeezed
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
6 ounces (1 cup) chopped white chocolate or chips
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese

For the whipped cream frosting:
1 cup whipping cream
3 Tablespoons powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease and flour two 9-inch round cake pans.

Prepare the cake: In a large bowl with an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, milk, and butter. Blend until the butter is evenly mixed. Add the vanilla. Beat at low speed for 1 minute, then increase the speed to high and beat for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl constantly, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy.

In another bowl, beat egg whites until stiff. Gently but thoroughly fold the whites into the cake batter. Pour evenly into the prepared pans.

Bake 35 to 40 minutes, or until the cakes are no longer jiggly in the center. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Split the cooled layers horizontally to make 4 layers in all.

Prepare the filling: In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in water until smooth. Cook over medium-high heat until mixture comes to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce the heat to low and cook 2 minutes longer, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks with a fork. Slowly stir about 1/4 cup of the hot mixture into the egg yolks, whisking quickly while adding the hot liquid. (You don’t want to create scrambled eggs, so be sure to add the hot mixture slowly, whisking it into the eggs as quickly as possible). Continue adding 1/4 cups of the hot mixture to the eggs until you have warmed up the egg mixture. Whisk the egg yolk mixture back to the mixture in the saucepan. Cook over low heat until the mixture boils, whisking constantly, then continue to cook for 2 minutes, stirring.

Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and lemon juice and zest. Transfer half of the hot filling to a small bowl and set aside to cool. Add the white chocolate to the hot filling in the saucepan and stir until the chocolate is melted; set aside. In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Beat in the white chocolate mixture until light and smooth. At this point, you should have a small bowl of lemon curd and a bowl of white chocolate truffle filling.

Assemble the cake: Spread one third of the white chocolate filling over one layer of the cake. Top with a second cake layer, then spread with one third more of the filling; top with a third cake layer and spread the remaining filling over. Top with the last cake layer and spread reserved lemon curd. Refrigerate, uncovered, until the filling is set (2 to 3 hours).

Make the whipped cream: In another bowl, whip the cream and sweeten it with the confectioners’ sugar. Frost the sides of the cake with half of the whipped cream frosting. Put the remaining frosting into a pastry bag and pipe decoratively around the top and bottom edge of the cake. Refrigerate up to 8 hours before serving.

Best. Gift. Ever.

Kouing Aman from Les Madeleines Café in Salt Lake City. Butter and salt infused with labor and love. Sent to my husband courtesy of a student that he helped to get an internship. Best. Gift. Ever.

Lemon Poppy Seed Sugar Cookies

Does any flavor say spring more than lemon? I think not. And it seems like I've been seeing lemon poppy seed combinations popping up everywhere in blogland. So I decided to try one of these recipes out.

Mel's Kitchen Cafe is one of the new blogs I've found. I saw her lemon poppy seed sugar cookies and just had to try them out. It's a cake-like cookie that is not too sweet. The lemon flavor wasn't very pronounced since she only uses the zest, so I added in a 1/2 tsp of freshly squeezed lemon juice to up the flavor. It was really easy to make, and I think it would make a perfect complement to some herbal tea.

Lemon Poppy Seed Sugar Cookies

adapted from Mel's Kitchen Cafe

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2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

1/2 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice

zest of one lemon

1/4 cup buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, combined the flour, baking powder, salt, baking soda and poppy seeds. Whisk together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, lemon juice, and lemon zest and mix well. Alternate adding the flour and buttermilk, beginning and ending with the flour. Mix until just combined.

Scoop 1 tablespoon of dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are set. The cookies should be puffy and fairly light in color when they are finished baking. Remove from the oven and let cool for 1-2 minutes on the baking sheet. Move the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 2 1/2 to 3 dozen cookies.

Crème Caramel

I bought the cookbook of all cookbooks last week. 1,000 pages of pure happiness.

To break it in, I wanted to make the recipe on the cover. Being from out west where there is a heavy Mexican influence, I thought that the picture on the cover was flan. So I searched the index, but it wasn't to be found. My awesome husband suggested that I look at the beginning of the book for a reference, and I quickly found that the cover recipe was crème caramel. Ooh, fancy.

Apparently this is the French version of flan. It was extremely light and delicate. The texture was very smooth, and it honestly melted in my mouth when I took that first bite.

On a side note, whoever figured out that the caramel would liquify like that when custard is baked on top of it is a genius. I mean, when you pour it into the ramekin the caramel turns rock hard. But when you invert the custard onto a plate after baking, the caramel pours out into liquidy (is that a word?) deliciousness. Genius.

Classic Crème Caramel

from the editors of Cook's Illustrated

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Caramel

1 cup (7 ounces) sugar

1/3 cup water

2 tbsp light corn syrup

1/4 tsp juice from 1 lemon

Custard

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1 1/2 cups light cream

3 large eggs, plus 2 large egg yolks

2/3 cup (4 2/3 ounces) sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

1. For the caramel: In a medium nonreactive saucepan, bring the sugar, water, corn syrup, and lemon juice to a simmer, without stirring, over medium-high heat, wiping the sides of the pan with a wet cloth to remove any sugar crystals that might cause the syrup to turn grainy. Continue to cook until the syrup turns from clear to golden, swirling the pan gently to ensure even browning, about 8 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling the pan gently and constantly, until large, slow bubbles on the mixture's surface turn honey-caramel in color, 4 to 5 minutes longer. Remove the pan immediately from the heat and, working quickly but carefully (the caramel is above 300 degrees and will burn if it touches your skin), pour a portion of the caramel into each of 8 ungreased 6-ounce ovenproof ramekins. Allow the caramel to cool and harden, about 15 minutes. (The caramel-coated ramekins can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for up to 2 days; return to room temperature before adding the custard.)

2. For the custard: Adjust an oven rack to the center position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat the milk and cream in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until steam appears and/or an instant-read thermometer held in the liquid registers 160 degrees, 6 to 8 minutes; remove from the heat. Meanwhile, gently whisk the eggs, yolks, and sugar in a large bowl until just combined. Off the heat, gently whisk the warm milk mixture, vanilla, and salt into the eggs until just combined but not at all foamy. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve into a large measuring cup or container with a pouring spout; set aside.

3. Bring 2 quarts water to a boil in a kettle. Meanwhile, fold a dish towel to fit the bottom of a large baking dish or roasting pan and position it in the pan. Divide the reserved custard mixture among the ramekins; place the filled ramekins on the towel in the pan (making sure they do not touch) and set the pan on the oven rack. Fill the pan with boiling water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins; cover the entire pan loosely with aluminum foil so steam can escape. Bake until a paring knife inserted halfway between the center and the edge of the custards comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Transfer the custards to a wire rack; cool to room temperature (The custards can be covered with plastic warp and refrigerated for up to 2 days.)

4. To unmold, slide a paring knife around the perimeter of each ramekin, pressing the knife against the side of the dish. Hold a serving plate over the top of the ramekin and invert; set the plate on the work surface and shake the ramekin gently to release the custard. Serve immediately.

Meringue Roulade

My parents went to Ireland last week to visit my sister who just had a baby. They were killing some time at Blarney Woollen Mills when they decided to stop in at the restaurant. They tried something they had never had before - meringue roulade. They instantly fell in love.

On their way back to the States, they were going to have an overnight layover close to my house. So my mom asked me to make a meringue roulade while they were here. We made it and it was fairly easy (my trusty stand mixer making this possible).

So what is a meringue roulade? It's kind of like a sponge cake made out of a soft meringue (think lemon meringue pie topping, crispy on the outside with a soft, chewy center), filled with whipped cream and berries or lemon curd. It's a common dessert in Europe, but we American folk apparently aren't in the know.

It only takes 20 minutes to bake, and while it's baking you can do the prep work making the cream and cutting up the berries. If you make lemon curd it'll obviously add a bit of time. But it's a light, quick dessert, delicious, and it's sure to impress those you serve it to!

Meringue Roulade

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4 large egg whites

1 1/4 cups sugar (in Ireland they use caster sugar, which is very fine sugar)

2 cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 tbsp powdered sugar

pinch of salt

1 1/4 cups berries, using some for garnish

or

1/2 cup lemon curd

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 400°F. Line 15 x 10 x 1-inch baking sheet with parchment paper, extending 2 inches over ends of pan.

Beat egg whites in large bowl until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1 1/4 cups sugar, beating until meringue is stiff and shiny. Tip: to test the meringue, rub a small bit of it between your fingers. If you can feel the grit, keep beating. My grit never actually went all the way away, but it was noticeably less gritty when I decided to just bake it as is.

Spread meringue evenly in prepared baking sheet. Bake until pale golden, about 8 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F. Bake until meringue is slightly firm to touch on top but soft inside, about 8 minutes. Remove baking sheet from oven and turn the meringue out onto a tea towel dusted with powdered sugar. Carefully peel off parchment paper and cool for 20 minutes. Tip: when turning the meringue over onto the tea towel, do it quickly or your meringue will fall apart. It may be crumbly, but that's ok.

Whip cream, vanilla, powdered sugar, and salt in medium bowl until stiff peaks form. Slice strawberries, if using.

For strawberry meringue roulade: spread whipped cream over meringue, leaving 2 inch border on one end. Sprinkle strawberries over the whipped cream. Starting at 1 long side, gently roll up meringue jelly-roll style, enclosing filling. Place roulade, seam side down, on platter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and garnish with strawberries. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

For lemon meringue roulade: spread lemon curd over meringue, leaving 2 inch border on one end. Then spread whipped cream over the lemon curd, leaving 2 inch border on the same end. Starting at 1 long side, gently roll up meringue jelly-roll style, enclosing filling. Place roulade, seam side down, on platter. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and garnish with strawberries. Place in refrigerator for at least 1 hour and up to 4 hours.

Valentine Cookies - Love These!

I needed to make cute valentine cookies. And I needed a girls' night. Enter these:


Aren't they beautiful?! I found the idea and recipes on Annie's Eats and am so happy I did! Go check it out if you want a fun V-day activity. And these chocolate sugar cookies? Awesome.


Chocolate Sugar Cookies
from Annie's Eats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
6 tbsp (3 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

In a small bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Blend in the egg and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated and no streaks remain. Form the dough into a disc, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 1-2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 325˚ F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. On a lightly floured work surface, roll the dough out to about ¼-inch thickness. Cut out desired shapes with cookie cutters and place cut outs on the prepared baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, just until set. Let cool on the baking sheet about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Decorate as desired.

Note – The yield of this recipe will depend on the size and shape of cookie cutter you use, so an accurate estimate is not possible.

For a tutorial on how to ice these cookies, go to Annie's Eats.