Dutch Frangipane-Filled Cookies ("Gevulde Koeken")

Our Avid Baker's Challenge ("ABC") group is in full swing. For our March challenge, the chosen theme is "COOKIES". Any kind of cookies! Due to the global pandemic, I haven't been able to travel to The Netherlands to visit my family. Although we talk often, I miss hanging out with them. I also miss the baked goods.

If I can't go to The Netherlands, I'll bring The Netherlands to me. And so became my baking journey to make "Gevulde Koeken" for the very first time. These buttery and melt-in-mouth cookies (I'd call them pastries, really!) are filled with a soft and creamy almond paste filling. I love eating them the day they're baked. That's when the buttery outer "cookie" shell is still crisply. When you bite into it, it crumbles into your mouth!

Freshly baked Gevulde Koeken, golden brown and delicious!

ABC - Easy Peasy Cheesy Cookies

This June challenge for ABC was something I've always wanted to try: savory crackers. Although the recipe is called Cheesy Cookies on the Weekend Bakery blog, they're really crackers in my book. The dough comes together really quickly in the food processor (yes, "easy peasy" indeed).

I added some interesting spices to kick things up. Instead of rolling out the dough and using a cookie cutter, I went a different route (it was also VERY hot in my kitchen as the AC was out of service). Inspired by these tiny savory Moroccan crackers called "Petite Fekkas Sale", I decided to shape them like that instead. They baked up in less time also which was a plus (remember, no AC!).

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

ABC - Tender Loving Crackle Cookies

I love crackle cookies and when I saw Christina Marsigliese's TLC cookies blog post, I knew I had to pick them for our ABC group's June Challenge. I've made this type of cookies before, using a Nick Malgieri recipe which were awesome, so I knew the bar was set high. Christina's recipe did not disappoint.

I didn't change much in the recipe except I added 1 tsp of instant espresso powder for a little mocha flavor (and that's coming from a girl who doesn't even drink or like coffee) and I used 60% Ghirardelli chocolate chips.

Fudgy + chewy = yummy!

And pretty too!

If you'd like to join the ABC bakers in their monthly baking adventures, please go to the ABC blog for more information.

TBB - Gingersnaps

This cookie confused people. It confused my husband. He said, "a gingersnap cookie is supposed to "snap", it's supposed to be crunchy. This is not crunchy!" I asked him to put those prejudices and mental inhibitors aside, and taste and enjoy the cookie for what it is :o)

Today I took the cookies to work. It confused them too. After complementing me on how professional and perfectly round they looked (and me saying, it's not like I weighed them or anything.... and then admitting that I did), someone said, "I thought you were allergic to peanuts!" Obviously, the color threw them off. To not confuse them even further, I referred to them as "Ginger Cookies instead of Gingersnaps" (sorry Rose!!!).

At work, everyone (myself included) is participating in a company-assisted fitness program which is somewhat of a competition. I was afraid nobody would bite (pun intended) and I'd be stuck eating all of the cookies by myself (there's only so much room in the freezer). I had no such problem! I got rave reviews. One person even came back for seconds, while another came by to say how good they were, and that he really shouldn't have seconds, since they just gained two pounds when they're supposed to be losing weight.

As for me, I tried to keep an open mind, which allowed me to enjoy the cookies as-is just fine!! :o)

Beautiful deep cracks and an inviting golden brown color!

TBB - Almond Coffee Crisps

Another round of cookies for us, Rose's Alpha Bakers. And what a special cookie it was. The Almond Coffee Crisps looked so plain and casual, but boy, did it pack a lot of flavor. It has finely chopped almond, espresso powder and lots of butter.

Light as air, crispy, melt-in-your-mouth Almond Coffee Crisps

TBB - The Ischler

The Ischler that almost never was. It was this week's baking challenge for Rose's Alpha Bakers. Such bad timing for me! I've been battling a really nasty cold all of last week, I really dislike roll-out cookies, and I dislike sandwich cookies even more because for the amount of work you put in, you're only getting half the number of cookies. I deliberated skipping this week's challenge. Then my brain went into problem solving mode: "are there any kind of shortcuts that can be made?". Well, I could make half the recipe, skip any kind of fruit, use the chocolate ganache leftover from the Eclairs I made recently, and use almond meal from the freezer so I wouldn't have to mess with the extra steps of finely chopping the almonds (Trader Joe's sells unblanched almond meal). And so, my "quick(er)" version of The Ischler was born :o)

Ganache dipped Ischler with toasted and chopped almonds

And then I went overboard with shapes, dipping, and chopped almonds.

Did I mention overboard? It did look pretty though!

Ghriyba - Moroccan shortbread cookie

Ghriyba is a childhood favorite cookie of mine. This Moroccan version of a shortbread cookie has a wonderful melt-in-your-mouth texture which I really love. It's typically enjoyed with a glass of hot Moroccan mint tea :o)

There are many version of this Moroccan cookie. The kind I will be sharing with you today is made with finely ground almonds and golden flax seeds. Traditionally, this kind is made with almonds and sesame seeds, but since I'm allergic to sesame seeds, I used flax seeds instead, which works great.

I challenge you to "go Moroccan" and give these cookies a try. You won't be disappointed :o) If you do, I would love to hear how you liked it.

Nice crackly top!

ABC - Ginger Crackles

This is a somewhat bittersweet post. This month's Ginger Crackles recipe is the last recipe from The Weekend Baker for the ABC bakers. Many ABC bakers have expressed great joy in baking from this book and will continue do so outside of our group. I can't agree with them more and am looking forward to baking new recipes from The Weekend Baker as well as re-bake some of my favorite recipes.

Yummy Ginger Crackles!

These simple looking cookies are packed with flavor from the molasses, ginger and other spices.

Announcement: the ABC bakers will be baking from www.KingArthurFlour.com in 2013. If you'd like to join us, please email me at HanaasKitchen [at] live [dot] com.

Rose's Crescents

Jenn and I both own a copy of Rose's Christmas Cookies. Neither one of us had baked from it much so we decided to pick a couple recipes and bake them together. The first recipe is Rose's Crescents: butter, almonds, and cinnamon sugar. Need I say more? :o)

Rose's Crescents dipped in cinnamon sugar

I don't think I've ever made cookie dough this fast. Everything goes in the food processor and the butter can be used cold. Let the dough firm up in the fridge for a couple hours, or do as I did and put it in the freezer for 15-20 minutes.

ABC - Zebra Cookies

So so sorry for the late Avid Baker's Challenge post. The last few days leading up to the bake food sale I organized at work for the quake victims in Japan were extremely busy. Thanks to many volunteers, we were able to pull off a fund raising where we sold dessert items as well as savory food items for lunch. I cooked a healthy lentil/veggie soup that sold really well (got lots of recipe requests for that). I also baked a few items, including this month's ABC item, Zebra Cookies. Only I ran out of time, so I had to choose between skipping the cookies all together, or "be creative". So I skipped the chocolate part. I know, I know, I'm a bad ABC-er! I ended up making an orange version with the vanilla dough. Luckily, the other ABC-ers did a great job following the rules and making the beautiful looking Zebra Cookies :o) You can find them HERE.

Orange butter cookies with festive sprinkles

In case you're wondering, we raised $921 at the fund raising yesterday. The best part: my employer has pledged to match it. Yay! :o)

SMS - Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

*** update ***
8/3/2009: as promised, here's the update on how these two PB cookies did at my workplace. The SMS PB cookie won (10 votes) whereas the TWB PB cookie got 5 votes. In general, the comments were that the PB flavor in the TWB cookie was too strong (as intended as it contains no butter). Then there were some who voted for the SMS PB cookie but commented it could use a bit more PB flavor (but not as much that it would become a TWB PB cookie). So I think my next revision will be: reduce butter by 25% and add 25% more PB. It was fun and everybody was more than willing to participate in my "little cookie survey" today :o)


This week's SMS recipe was chosen by Stephanie from Ice Cream Before Dinner. Her recipe of choice was Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies. You can find the recipe HERE. I have to admit, that sounds really good. Too bad I can't eat them due to peanut allergies but I'm sure there will be plenty of people who will enjoy these cookies very much. Thanks Stephanie!


I cut the recipe in half and ended up with 13 cookies (1 oz each). The only thing I added to the recipe was vanilla extract (not sure why you would want to make cookies without vanilla, but that's just my opinion). I also took this peanut-butter-cookie-making opportunity to try another PB cookie that was on my to-try list (PB is the only fat used - no butter) ever since I purchased The Weekend Baker. I've borrowed this book from the library multiple times and then decided to just buy it. Made several recipes from it, including Emergency Blender Chocolate Cupcakes (as the name implies, they're a breeze to whip up and taste delicious). Someday I'll have to post it here. Needless to say, I highly recommend this book.



Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby liked both cookies. Although he liked the SMS PB cookie (9 out of 10), he preferred the TWD PB cookie as it was more moist (9.5 out of 10).
• Added vanilla extract to the recipe.
• Baked 1/2 a recipe and got 13 cookie which I baked for 15 minutes at 325.
• Used natural peanut butter for both recipes.
• Will update my blog tomorrow to let you know how my coworkers liked both cookies.
• Check out the other SMS bakers to see how they liked the PB cookie.
  

SMS - Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Sorry for missing last week's SMS recipe. From all the comments I've read about last week's Butterscotch Cashews Bars, it seems like I've missed a good one. It's definitely on my "rewind" list. I have a good excuse though. My friend got married yesterday and guess who had the honor of making the couple's wedding cake? Yours truly :o) Everybody loved the way the cake looked, but more importantly (to me anyway) is that everybody loved the cake's taste. I'll post wedding cake pictures soon!

This week's SMS recipe, Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies, was chosen by Megan from My Baking Adventures. Chocolate and dried fruit... what's not to love? Thanks for choosing this recipe, Megan!! Check out the recipe for these yummy cookies here.

Last step of the cookie dough making process

Unfortunately, I didn't have any dried cherries so I substituted craisins (sweetened dried cranberries). As the name implies, they're dried and therefore have a tendency to absorb moisture. In this case, steal moisture from the cookie. To prevent this, I like to soak dried fruit in a little bit of hot water or juice. Today, I soaked the craisins in a mixture of hot water and orange juice. This process will also help prevent the craisins from drying out in the oven.

Nice and round, thanks to the empty paper towel roll "trick"

The other change I made is reduce the baking soda and add baking powder. I find that too much baking soda leaves an off-flavor in baked goods. The last change I made is use semi-sweet chocolate chips as well as white chocolate chips (50/50) because I like cranberries and white chocolate. These were "real" white chocolate chips by Callebaut, meaning they contain cocoa butter, not some vegetable oil.

One dozen pieces of delicious chocolaty goodness

Freshly baked cookies and a pretty pink rose from my garden

Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby and I liked the cookies, but I liked them a bit more than he did. Hubby found the cookie to be a bit too chocolaty. He also would have liked more craisins. His rating: 7.5 out of 10. I enjoyed the cookie a lot. Chocolaty goodness with a crispy edge, chewy craisins and a soft center. I ate the cookies about 1.5 hours after they came out of the oven. The chocolate chips were still melty and delicious.
• I baked a dozen cookies and froze the second log for another time.
• Baking time: 6 minutes, turn cookie sheet 180 degrees, 7 more minutes.
  
• Modified leavening: 3/4 tsp baking soda and 1/2 tsp baking powder.
• Always plump up your dried fruit before adding them to your dough or batter to prevent them from stealing moisture from your baked goods.
• I remembered to use an empty paper towel roll this time. This kept the log of dough nice and round.
  
• Don't forget to check out the blogroll and see how other SMS bakers liked this cookie.

Yum!

SMS #11 - Chocolate Chip Cookies with Toasted Almonds

Guess who picked this week's SMS recipe? Ok, you'll NEVER guess. Melissa Murphy!! Yes, the author of the book, The Sweet Melissa Baking Book, we all bake from each week. Melissa picked the bakery's favorite cookie, the Chocolate Chip Cookie with Toasted Almonds. YES! Such a welcome change from the usual walnuts, which I can't eat due to allergies (don't ask me why I can eat almonds but not walnuts).

I almost sat this week's recipe out but then decided to go for it after all. So around midnight on Saturday I made the dough and decided to use a combination of semi-sweet chocolate chips and butterscotch chips (4 ounces each). What can I say? It was too late to be chopping chocolate. And instead of roasting natural almonds, I used those ready-to-eat salted/roasted almonds, which worked great.


I'm glad I didn't skip this week. These cookies were chewy in the middle and crispy around the edges with a great buttery taste, just the way I like them. I love the crunch of the almonds which I gave a very rough chop. I only wish my cookies turned out as this thick as Melissa's. Maybe I'll add a bit more flour next time. Check out the recipe here. Thanks for picking a great cookie recipe, Melissa. No wonder it's a favorite at the bakery.


Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby and I enjoyed these cookies. He gave it an 8 out of 10. His only dislike was that the cookie left his fingers more "oily" than usual. I might add a tablespoon of flour to hopefully fix that issue.
  
• Using butterscotch chips and chocolate chips was a last-minute decision. To my taste, the cookie was a tad too sweet. I'm sure it would have been the right amount of sweetness if I had used chocolate chips only. So next time, I'd use a tad less sugar when using butterscotch chips.
• I added a teaspoon of molasses to the dough to enhance the brown sugar flavor in the cookie. It also adds to the browning of the cookie.
• Unfortunately, I read this tip a bit too late but I thought I'd share it with you all for next time. Place your wrapped cookie dough inside of an empty paper towel roll so that you don't get that flat underside. I got this tip from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.
• Don't forget to check out the SMS blogroll to see how other SMS bakers liked this cookie.