It's Not Delivery, It's Me!

Apart from the hectic schedule, the expense of buying tools and ingredients and the hassles of dealing with the university's administration, I'm really enjoying the course I'm taking. Here's a look at some of the goodies we made last week.

Pizza - I chose to make mine Hawaiian. I can't wait to try a thin crust version at home.
We also made Italian bread (not pictured) which is made with the same dough as the pizza crust. After the bread baked we sliced it in half and slathered garlic butter in the middle then wrapped it in foil and let the flavour make love to the bread. Mmm mm good!

Chinese Almond Cookies - easy to make crispy cookies garnished with almonds with a hint of almond extract in the dough as well. A very yummy little treat. Perfect for making with kids actually. I'll keep that in mind for when I have some.

Spritz Cookie - a simple piped butter cookie garnished with dried cherries. We made 3 different shapes.

Banana Nut Bread - a simple, timeless, homey, classic. It was moist, delicious and oozing with flavour.

Tropical Treats

For the last few weeks I've been feeling a tropical vibe. It came through in my desserts. Coconut macaroons are something I ate a lot as a child. My mom loves them and used to take them home for us as an occasional treat. Incidentally I happened to be talking to her on the phone for the entire time I was making them, which wasn't that long since they're so easy to make. Too easy in fact, I'm tempted to just through some together for a sweet snack. A temptation I will resist in the name of vanity. When I made the Chewy Lime and Coconut Sugar Cookies, I discovered the beauty of a marriage between the flavours and decided that I'd make Coconut Lime Macaroons. The flavours were just as delicious in macaroon form and I ate one everyday until they were done.

Revisiting things that worked seemed to be the second theme of the last couple weeks. I had a visit from my aunt who happens to be a huge fan of my blog. Since she lives abroad, this was her first opportunity to taste my goods. I remembered her comments about the Nectarine and Mascarpone Tart with Gingersnap Crust  and decided to do a version with mango, one of her favorite fruits. The ginger and lime zest in the tart went very well with the mango. I have to say I prefer this version to the Nectarines, but perhaps I'm biased towards tropical fruits. I served the tart with Moscato which according to my internet research, would go well with the fresh fruit in the dessert. I rushed to make this on the same day it was served, it was a rather busy weekend. But if you make this recipe it really is best to make it the day before and add the fruit topping just before you serve it. That way the creamy filling has more time to set. The piece I had the day after was just perfect! This is by far one of my favorite recipes.

Put the lime in the coconut

This week I decided I wasn't going to buy anything. Whatever I baked had to be from ingredients I already had on hand. Now, its pretty difficult to do this without the basics: eggs, flour, sugar and butter. Lucky I had them all. I chose a recipe from one the the blogs I follow, Two Peas and Their Pod, and made Chewy Lime and Coconut Sugar Cookies.

These cookies were very simple to make. First I combined the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl. In another bowl I beat together the sugar and butter, then added the egg, vanilla, lime zest, lime juice and desiccated coconut. I gradually added the dry mixture to the wet one and beat til combined. I took heaped tablespoons, rolled them into a ball with the palms of my hands and then rolled them in sugar and placed them on a baking sheet.

The cookies baked for about 10 minutes in a preheated oven at 350 degrees until the tops were cracked and very slightly golden. They were left to cool on the pan for 2 minutes and then transferred to the cooling rack where they completed the cooling process. I had my first taste with a cup of tea.

These cookies are more than meets the eye, they are absolutely divine, delectable, delicate, delicious. The lime and coconut work together so well and the texture, just the right amount of crisp on the outside but chewy at the heart of it without being doughy. Wonderful! And they took such a short time to make. I didn't bake all the batter at once. Some of it sat in the fridge for a day or two and wow the second batch was even more delicious. I'm on to batch number three now, making between 12 and 18 each time and I still have a little batter left. This recipe is yielding more than 36 cookies for me. I have to get rid of them quickly! Its too dangerous to have them here with me, alone. I may even have to resort to taking some to work. I spent nothing, used up some left over ingredients and ate some very very tasty cookies. Thumbs up for this one!

Why use the fridge when the freezer is so much faster?!!

It's been more than a week since my last post, no I haven't dropped the ball, I went on a weekend trip with the bf to the south coast and had an AMAZING time. So when I got home this evening, I HAD to bake. This week's recipe utilizes one of my favorite nuts, pistachios. I made Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies from Gourmet December 2006.

I started by shelling the pistachios and zesting the orange, which again highlighted the fact that I need a zester. It's way too difficult to zest citrus with an ordinary grater. I can't find them anywhere in Jamaica. I'll have to get one the next time I go abroad. After reading the reviews, I decided to chop the nuts in my mini chopper for a bit so that the cookies would be easier to slice. 

Now that the hard stuff was complete, I combined the flour, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl I whipped the butter, sugar and orange zest together. 

In thirds, I added the flour mixture to the butter mixture. When it was completely combined, I added the cranberries and pistachios. I tasted the batter and decided it could use some more zest so I finished off whatever was left on the orange I had.

I divided the batter into two square logs using plastic wrap. The instructions said to refrigerate for at least two hours, but I figured it wouldn't hurt if I just put 'em in the freezer until they were firm enough to slice instead. So I did, and for the most part, it worked!. There were a few cookies that fell apart a little, but I just squooshed 'em back  together, no prob! After slicing them, I baked them for 18 minuted on a parchment lined sheet, then placed them on a rack to cool. They cooled very quickly, which was good because we couldn't wait to taste them.

My boyfriend, myself and our friend who was visiting took a taste. These tasted good but they weren't as sweet as I had expected, or wanted them to be. I was also disappointed that I did not pick up the fresh flavour of the orange zest. But with a few adjustments this could be a winner. I especially liked when I got a bite of cranberry or pistachio, that was the highlight of this cookie.

For those of you who can't stand the suspense involved in waiting for me to make a new blog post, I have added a new feature, you can follow me by email. Enter your email in the box entitled "Follow by Email" under the "About Me" section to the right and follow the instructions. You will receive an email to confirm your intentions to receive emails. Confirm it and you will receive an email every time I make a new post. Its that easy! All you have to do is make sure my emails aren't going to your junk box, after all my posts aren't junk! They're delicious! 

Holiday + New Book = BAKING!

This week my aunt sent me an Amazon gift card to purchase any of the baking books on my list :-). I selected "Baking: From My Home To Yours" by Dorie Greenspan. I bought it in Kindle because its instant, more portable and I don't have to worry about shipping. Plus now I have a copy of it on my PC, my Kindle and my Ipod. Today is a holiday, so I decided that I'd try out a recipe from my new book. I thought, "What haven't I made yet?" and the answer came to me "cookies!" I chose a classic, chocolate chip cookies. Dorie's recipe is entitled "My Best Chocolate Chip Cookies".

I elected to make a half batch of these cookies since I didn't know what I'd do with 45 cookies which is what the full recipe makes. I started out by whisking the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) together. I added 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, cause, well, I can! Then I creamed the butter and sugar, beat in the egg and vanilla. Then I combined the two mixtures and added chocolate chips and finely ground pecans to the mix. I don't have a food processor, but I do have a mini chopper which I used to grind the pecans.

I scooped rounded tablespoons of the mixture unto two baking sheets lined with foil and baking PAM. Each sheet was baked for 12 minutes, Then cooled for one minute after which I removed the cookies and placed them on the cooling rack to continue cooling.

Up until now I have been avoiding purchasing cookie sheets. I figured I would just make due with what I had. However it was clear during the baking of the cookies that the sheets I have are too small. The cookies were crowded and so they ended up odd shaped. So I have a choice either continue to make misshapen cookies, bake a small amount at a time or buy bigger baking sheets. I think I'll take the third option. 

After they were cooled, I tasted a cookie. The cookie was crisp, thin and chocolaty. These were good, but not the texture I prefer in a chocolate chip cookie. Some like them big and cake-like, some like them thin and crisp, me? I like them chewy. So along with the search for a brownie to knock my socks off, I'll also be looking for a chewy chocolate chip cookie that'll make me melt.