Peanut Butter Miso Cookies

Folks – it is a CRAZY world out there! I’ve been struggling to make sense of my own thoughts and emotions during this tumultuous time. COVID-19, such a short little name with a monumental impact. I saw it creep slowly throughout the world, talking with my family in Taiwan as they watched their country struggle to get the virus under control. It seemed as if we were safe for awhile, but now, even in my state of Minnesota, there are over a hundred cases (and that’s only the confirmed ones!).

I guess I say this not to add to the chaos, but as a gentle reminder that the best thing that we can be doing is to stay home. Trust me, as a twenty-five year old who loves to explore, that’s the last thing I want to be doing either, but staying home WILL save lives. It’ll help keep your parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and even your pets (!!) safe. Why, you ask? Well, diseases can only be transmitted if there are people to transmit it to. When contagious people stay home and don’t have anyone to spread it to, then we help prevent the spread of the disease. The scary thing about this is that you can totally be contagious and not know it… so bottom line- STAY HOME PLEASE!

And while I’m on this little public health rant (sorry, I can’t help it, in my other life, I work at the Department of Health!), can I just throw in a small plug for baking? It is absolutely wonderful for getting your mind off things just for a small while, and I find it helps with my anxiety. My favorite thing to bake right now is peanut butter miso cookies.

If you did a double take, don’t worry, most people are totally caught off guard by the combination! But if you love salty-sweet desserts, this one is totally for you. And if you don’t, well, give them a try anyway, you might be surprised! My only suggestion for this recipe is to let them sit overnight. Something magical happens in the refrigerator and the flavors blend so seamlessly after sitting for awhile. That being said, I’ve also baked them right after making the dough and they were terrific as well.

Bake well, stay well, and take care ❤

Peanut Butter Miso Cookies | Makes about a dozen

difficulty level – easy

INGREDIENTS

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted or at room temperature
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar*
• 1/3 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/8 cup (a.k.a. 2 tbsp) red miso paste (you can usually purchase at an Asian grocery store)
• 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter (this is super important for texture! If you only have smooth pb, it wil work, but the texture will be off)
• 1 extra large egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

*If you want a chewier peanut butter cookie, add in 1 full cup of brown sugar.

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 (F).
2. Combine coconut oil, light brown sugar, white sugar, miso paste, peanut butter, egg and vanilla in a bowl. Mix well with a whisk.
3. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
4. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until just combined. It is important not to over mix, otherwise the cookie will be tough. I like to use a spatula for this part.
5. Roll into walnut sized balls (think a little smaller than a golf ball)
6. Bake at 350 (F) for 10-12 mins or until edges are just starting to brown.
7. Cool on a cookie rack, or eat while hot!
8. Cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days, and will keep for a couple months in the freezer (I like to roll the dough into individual balls and then freeze. When you’re ready to bake, no need to defrost, just bake them a little bit longer.)

Enjoy!

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Easy Palmier

 You’ve got guests coming over in an hour, you just got home and there’s no time to waste.  What do you do?
a) run around in circles and panic (perfectly acceptable answer, I do it all the time) b) check the freezer for some leftover cookie dough (highly encouraged to have frozen cookie dough at all times) c) decide to not make anything and hope tea will just do it d) scrounge up that puff pastry sitting in the corner of your freezer

Let’s be real, all answers are acceptable in this case and I’ve probably done them all one time or another, buuuuuttt if you happen to have frozen puff pastry on hand and are in a time crunch, this is your answer! Legitimately 20 minutes start to finish (in a pinch) and breathtakingly beautiful in addition to being absolutely delicious, your dad, mom, sisters, cousins, friends, or in-laws will think you’re a baking genius.

Don’t believe me? Give them a try, I’m serious! The key to perfect palmiers is to keep your puff pastry cold, which if you’re short on time, is actually better for you because then you won’t accidentally let it sit for too long on the counter.  If this happens, don’t panic, just pop it back into the freezer for a couple minutes until the butter solidifies again and you can be on your merry way.

I know a lot of other palmier recipes tend to be heavier on the sugar, this one uses just a third of what normal recipes call for, and I actually find that it gives a better bake, caramelizes faster and leaves the palmiers just flaky enough but not rock hard.  On the plus side, it’s less sugar, which means you can eat more 😀

I’m feeling pretty good at the moment because I’ve blogged two recipes after blogging NONE for the past 5 months, so yeah, I’m going to say that today has been a success.  I hope that all of you have been having a wonderful day.  The sun peeked out today for the first time in what seems like forever, so I’m pretty ecstatic about that.  I can’t believe that the week is half over, hang in there, the weekend is near! Much love and even more palmiers to everyone! 

EASY PALMIERS | Makes about 2 dozen palmiers depending on how you slice

INGREDIENTS

• 1 sheet of puff pastry (thawed)
• 1/2 cup of granulated white sugar

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 (F)
2. Roll out puff pastry until it lays flat
3. Sprinkle the 1/2 cup of sugar evenly over the entire rectangle
4. Using a rolling pin, roll out the puff pastry, pressing just hard enough for the sugar to stick into the puff pastry.  You’ll want to roll the puff pastry out about an additional 1-2 inches on each side
5. To make the palmier shape, start from one end of the puff pastry and roll until it reaches the middle.  Then roll the other end of the puff pastry until that reaches the middle.  It should look like two rolled circles right next to each other.
6. At this stage, if you have time, I would refrigerate for about 30 minutes before cutting and baking.  If you don’t, throw it into the freezer for 5 minutes and then slice into 1/2″ pieces.
7. Bake for about 5 minutes on the first side, the puff pastry should start to puff and turn a light golden brown.  Take palmiers out of oven and flip over.  Bake for an additional 2-3 minutes or until top of the flipped side is a golden brown.
8. Cool before serving for crunchy flaky layers.
9. Palmiers will keep for 3-4 days in an air tight container.

Enjoy!

Vegan Dark Chocolate Orange and Pistachio Cookies

Yes, these cookies are vegan. No, I’m not joking. Promise (really!). I guess I should confess, I’ve been on a vegan kick lately.  Vegan savory dishes, vegan desserts, and for a hot second vegan purses (which turned out to be a scam -_- ) All else aside, these cookies are REALLY, REALLY good. I brought them to share with my friends at school and they were hooked onto the chocolate-y, nutty, orange-y flavor. In fact, none of them even noticed they were vegan until I casually mentioned that they didn’t have any eggs or butter.

I originally got the inspiration from my best friend, who happens to love the orange and pistachio combination.  She actually doesn’t like chocolate (I know, I was shocked too, but now I just make baked goods without chocolate in it for her, haha), but I LOVE chocolate, so I knew I had to incorporate dark chocolate as well.  This is just my personal opinion when it comes to chocolate, but I think that buying chocolate bars and chopping it up yourself just gives the best results. You get large melty pools of chocolate, but also tiny pieces that get all mixed into the dough and are like hidden gems when you bite into the cookie. So, it is really up to you whether or not you want to use chocolate chips, or buy a bar and chop it into pieces.  Just make sure that if you’re making these cookies for people who are strictly vegan to check your chocolate and make sure there is not dairy in it (believe it or not, some dark chocolate still have a lot of dairy in it!).

Don’t leave out the orange zest in this recipe.  I know that sometimes the combination of orange and chocolate can feel strange, but the zest doesn’t change the texture of the cookie at all and really helps brighten up the flavor of the cookie!  The best thing about this recipe is probably the fact that you SHOULD bake these cookies right away.  Yep, that’s right, no chilling ladies and gentlemen.  Normally chilling intensifies the flavor and I’m all for it, but in this case, it actually makes the pistachios soggy and not very nutty at all.  However, if you want to chill your cookies, or forget them in the fridge because you had to do laundry (this girl here), they will still taste really delicious 🙂

New York is finally starting to show signs of spring.  Today was the first sunny day in awhile and I’m BEYOND ecstatic.  It’s still too cold for dresses and sandals, but at least I didn’t have to wear a second jacket going outside. The flower beds outside of my apartment are starting to sprout tulips and the pop of color really just makes it feel that much more spring-y. My apartment itself doesn’t get much sunlight, so I’m headed out to soak in some vitamin D. Hopefully spring is just around the corner for everyone.  And in the mean time, if you’re craving something citrus-y, make these cookies!!!!!! They’re so good!!! PROMISE!

VEGAN ORANGE DARK CHOCOLATE PISTACHIO COOKIES | Makes 1.5 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/3 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tbsp orange zest
• 3/4 cups of chopped vegan dark chocolate
• 3/4 cups of shelled chopped pistachios
• 1/3 granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tsp water
• 2 tsp molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Sea salt or kosher salt for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 (F) and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a medium sized bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and ground cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, combine white sugar and orange zest.  Work together with hands until sugar takes on the fragrance on the orange zest.  Then add in dark brown sugar, vegetable oil, water, molasses and vanilla extract into the bowl and mix well. 
4. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix until just combined. 
5. Mix in pistachios and dark chocolate pieces until well incorporated.
6. Portion out golf-ball sized dough balls and place at least 2 inches apart from each other.
7. Sprinkle tops of cookies with sea salt or kosher salt
8. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until edges are just beginning to brown, and the center is just set.
9. Let cool before storing in an air-tight container.
10. Cookies will stay fresh for up to a week in an air-tight container.

Enjoy!

Vegan Lemon Orange Black Tea Cookies

 *Disclaimer: There are no “after” pictures on account of everyone eating them before I had a chance to take photos

What do you get when you give someone who doesn’t drink tea, tea bags?  They make cookies with them! Seriously, I’m not sure if it’s my Asian upbringing that prevented me from tossing these straight into the trash or the fact that I’m trying to live more sustainability, but either way, the end result was some pretty amazing cookies. These cookies are like having tea and cookies all in one bite.  Or like a drop of summer with the infused lemon-orange flavor. 

At first, I was a bit skeptical about trying to make tea infused cookies.  In my previous experience, they’re hard to do, even in regular cookies, much less vegan cookies.  Something always manages to go wrong, whether it’s the tea flavor being too strong, or too weak or too bitter after baking.  Luckily, by using lemon-orange tea, or any other sort of fruity lying tea you might have around, the citrus flavor is balanced perfectly with the black tea, so it doesn’t taste too bitter at all. 

I won’t lie, there’s a fair bit of time that goes into these cookies, mostly waiting around time, but still, time that you have to spend not having cookies in your stomach.  BUT, I can promise for being vegan, these are ENTIRELY worth it. The key to this recipe is giving your tea bag of choice enough time to steep in the water and oil, otherwise you’ll end up with tasteless cookies.  It took me about a million times to get the timing right, but lucky for you, it should only take one try 🙂

The vibrant color you see in the pictures are entirely natural. The lemony cream color is just from the black tea, while the more magenta colored ones are from being rolled in crushed freeze-dried raspberries before baking.  Again, the Asian part of me couldn’t bear to throw away too sour freeze-dried raspberries sitting in my pantry, and they turned out to be the perfect tartness needed for these cookies.

DO NOT OVER BAKE THESE COOKIES!!!!!! SO IMPORTANT, I can’t emphasize that enough.  Because there are vegan cookies, when you over bake them, instead of becoming golden brown with crunchy edges when you use butter, it ends up burning and hardening. If you’re unsure, err on the side of under baking.  I mean, their vegan, so technically no raw eggs = eat all the raw cookie dough you want!

As I’m writing this, I’ve got some beet (yes, beet) bread in the oven that I’m hoping will retain a nice, bright pretty color, so send me some good thoughts if you can spare them! I know it’s been awhile since I blogged my last post, but things have been busy around here! I’m finishing up my first year of grad school, which means doomsday (aka finals) is fast approaching.  Can you believe that they make people write 40 page papers? My hand is cramping up already as I think about it. After that I’ll be headed back to good ole’ MN for awhile before starting a environmental health summer internship.

What can I say? I’m excited for summer, the sunshine, and of course, more of these citrusy cookies! If you’e got a couple hours to spare, try this recipe out! Or add it to your meatless Monday dinner as dessert, I can promise no one will complain. 

VEGAN LEMON ORANGE BLACK TEA COOKIES | Makes 12-16 large cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 tsp neutral tasting oil
• 1/4 cup + 2 tsp hot water (basically as hot as you would normally make tea with)
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tea bags of your choice (preferably a fruity tasting one)
• 1/4 cup crushed freeze-dried raspberries

DIRECTIONS

1. Measure out water and oil into their own bowl.  Add one tea bag to each bowl and let steep for 10 minutes. Take tea bags out of each liquid, making sure to squeeze tea bag thoroughly so you don’t mess up measurements.
2. Mix flour, baking powder and salt together in a small bowl.
3. Combine steeped water and oil, vanilla and white sugar and whisk until smooth.
4. Add flour into sugar mixture and just combine until no flour is visible.
5. Refrigerate dough for 1 hour (this is crucial as the mixture will be too soft to handle otherwise!) and up to 24 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 325 (F). Portion out golf-ball sized cookies and roll half in the crushed freeze-dried raspberries.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until centers of cookies start to look set/firm.
8. Cookies stay fresh for up to 5 days in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Chewy and Soft Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies

I kid you not, these are hands-down, THE best vegan chocolate chip cookies you’re ever going to eat. Period. Slightly melty and soft in the center, chewy on the edges, and stuffed so full of chocolate pieces, they’re impossible not to love. I know, I know, hearing the word (or even reading the word) vegan, has probably sent you running to the nearest grocery store to frantically buy pounds of butter until no more will fit in your cart. And if you’re not as extreme as that, you’re probably skill a little skeptical about the word “vegan”.

To be completely honest, I definitely didn’t buy into vegan desserts for the longest time. I always imagined them to be tough, dry, tasteless and probably rock-hard. So I avoided them for the longest time, until I became, wait for it *drum roll* lactose intolerant. YUP, no joke, probably the saddest day of my life. But I guess it was coming, considering I’m Asian and 95% of all Asians are lactose intolerant.

I guess I moped about this for awhile, but then started to do some research on how to create a delicious cookie, without butter. Turns out, the recipe also ended up not needing eggs either, so voila! A vegan cookie, so delicious, that you don’t even miss the butter or eggs. Is it any healthier? I mean, just because something is vegan, doesn’t mean it’s automatically healthier, but this recipe doesn’t contain all the saturated fats that butter carries, and also does use dark chocolate, which is good for you! I’m not saying should eat the whole batch in one sitting, buuuuttt, it probably wouldn’t kill if you wanted to (I say this from experience, haha).

This is the easiest recipe ever, it does require molasses, which I realize probably isn’t a pantry staple, but this recipe is worth investing in a bottle of molasses.  Plus, that stuff is hardy, so it’ll keep for awhile, AND molasses happens to be a great substitute for honey or sugar if you’re ever out. You only need two bowls, you could probably get away with one (I won’t tell), and you don’t even need to cream anything.

Complete aside, but still important: as someone studying environmental health sciences and sustainability, this kind of stuff matters to me. I know that change is difficult, but it’s the new year, and isn’t that for resolutions? Give eating more sustainably a go (I’d suggest this recipe, haha), and you might be surprised with what you find 🙂

Anyway, I’m typing this as it’s blizzard-ing away, so if you’re stuck inside like me in this east coast snow storm, still on holiday break, or are just in the mood for some chocolate chip cookies that are a little healthier, give these one a try, I promise you won’t be disappointed!

VEGAN CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES | Makes 2 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips (make sure their vegan)
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup + 1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup + 1 1/2 tsp water
• 1 tbsp molasses
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Sea salt for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and dark chocolate chips together.
2. In a separate large bowl, mix brown and white sugars with molasses and knead with hands until well incorporated.
3. Then add in vegetable oil, water and vanilla into sugars – whisk together until smooth.
4. Then add flour into sugar mixture and just combine until no flour is visible.
5. Refrigerate dough at least 2 hours and up to 24 hours, the longer you chill the dough for, the deeper golden brown it’ll get, and the crispier the edges get!
6. Preheat the oven to 350 (F), portion out golf ball sized cookies and sprinkle each cookies with sea salt before baking.
7. Bake 10-11 minutes
8. Cookies will stay fresh in an air-tight for up to one week.

Enjoy!!! (and for me, a nice cold glass of soy milk!)

Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

 PSA: THESE COOKIES CAN BE MADE IN ONE BOWL/POT/CONTAINER!

I will confess, these cookies were made quite awhile ago, but I simply haven’t had the time or energy to write up a post.  Last time, after a week of exams, papers and group projects, I collapsed on to the bed in a tired heap and asked myself what I was even doing here in New York, what I was doing at Columbia and if I even knew who I was anymore.  Of course, it didn’t help that daylight savings time means that by the time I come home from school, it’s completely dark out and it truly feels like I’m living in a cave. Not to be creating a pity-party, but I guess my point was that, I needed a break.  I needed time to take care of myself, to exercise, to spend time with friends, to bake, to BLOG! And it’s so easy to forget that humans need self-care time too.  We’re so easily caught up in taking care of other people, making sure our lives are in order, that sometimes, we can’t even remember the last time we were hungry for a homemade meal. 

SO, thank goodness for Election Day, giving me the time to take a break from school and reflect on life and rebuild my confidence in the decisions that I’ve made in life. And I hope that wherever you are, whoever you are, you make sure to create some space and time in your life to take care of yourself too.  Whether it’s the early morning cup of coffee, or the late night t.v. show, make sure you’re taking care of your mental health.  Which by the way…you could start by…making these cookies!

Whenever October and November roll around, I’m always addicted to the idea of cranberries, I have no idea why, but it’s probably got to do with Turkey Day. Anyways, these are inspired by Thanksgiving and everything Thanksgiving represents (besides the fact that it eventually lead to the conflict between Native Americans and Immigrants), BUT other than that, warmth, sweetness, a deep gratitude for life. 

Also, they use brown butter, which in my opinion, makes for an amazing flavor combination with the white chocolate and cranberries.  The white chocolate is just sweet and creamy enough to offset the tartness of the cranberries and the brown butter?? (Not a huge fan of white chocolate? Feel free to sub in dark chocolate as well!)That’s the real showstopper, tying the two flavors together and creating a deep, rich, caramel-y undertone. OH, and that pinch of cinnamon? Don’t leave it out, it seriously makes ALL THE DIFFERENCE in creating a cookie that you just want to continue eating forever. 

Brown butter is great, it creates cookies that have chewy centers and crispy edges.  I will forewarn you though, that these cookies (as you can see) are more on the thinner side.  That doesn’t mean that they’re not soft, or chewy, but it does mean that they’re lite-versions (aka you can eat way more without feeling guilty). If you’re not quite sure how to brown butter properly, I have a step by step guide right here. 

CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES | A dozen large cookies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 sticks of butter browned and cooled
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
• Sea salt or kosher salt for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. In a medium-large pot (needs to be big enough to hold all the ingredients), melt and brown the butter.  Allow it to cool.
2. Once cooled, add sugar, vanilla, and egg into mixture and whisk together until smooth
3. Then add in flour, baking soda and cinnamon.  Incorporate dry ingredients into wet ingredients.
4. Fold in white chocolate chips and dried cranberries
5. Refrigerate dough for at least an hour and up to 3 days (they only get better with time!)
6. Preheat oven to 350 (F)
7. Let dough come back to room temperature (otherwise it will be SUPER hard to roll into balls)
8. Roll into golf ball sized balls and place on lined baking sheet
9. Sprinkle on a little bit of salt on top of each cookie before baking
10. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn a golden brown
11. Cookies will stay fresh for up to a week in an airtight container

Enjoy!

Stars and Stripes Sugar Cookies

I’ve struggled for weeks trying to figure out what to write about this recipe.  Why has it been so hard for me? I’m not sure, perhaps because these cookies were made for July 4th, a holiday to celebrate America.  Every 4th of July, I am reminded of the wonderful opportunities that America has given me and my family, but there are still things that are happening in America that make my heart cry.

America has always been a diverse country, but these days, it is the diversity that seems to be our greatest enemy.  I’m not exactly the most eloquent writer, but I guess what I’m trying to say is that I hope these cookies will help you set aside your differences, if only for one day, and enjoy America, the home of the brave and the land of the free.

IMPORTANT: The more you knead the butter together with the dry ingredients, the softer and less tough your cookies will be, because the butter will surround the individual flour particles and prevent too much gluten from forming.  The key to getting nicely shaped cookies is to cut them on the prepared cookie sheet or parchment paper to make transporting the cookies into the oven easier

STARS & STRIPES SUGAR COOKIES | Makes 2.5 dozen large cookies
INGREDIENTS

For cookies

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 11 tbsp cold butter – in 1/4″ cubes
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp almond extract

For icing

• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 3-4 tbsp milk
• Blue and red food coloring

DIRECTIONS
For the cookies

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar and salt. Mix well.
2. Add butter cubes into dry mixture and use hands to incorporate butter and flour until mixture resembles fine sand.  The more you knead, the better!
3. In a small bowl, beat egg and almond extract together. Then pour into dry mixture.
4. Using wooden spoon or spatula, mix egg in until a dough forms.  Then work dough with hands to form a ball.  Chill dough until firm (~2 hours or up to 3 days).
5. Flour surface generously before placing dough on parchment paper or cookie sheet. Roll dough to 1/8″ thick.
6. Using star cookie cutters (I used a 2″ cookie cutter and a 5″ cookie cutter) cut out shapes leaving ~ 1″ in between each cookie.  Remove scraps and chill cookies in fridge for 10 minutes. This will ensure that cookie do not spread in oven.
7. Preheat oven to 300 (F).  Since cookies are already on parchment paper or cookie sheet, simply place in oven and bake 12-14 minutes for smaller cookies and 16-18 for larger ones. Tops should be an even golden brown color.

For the icing

1. Mix powdered sugar and milk together in a small bowl. Icing should be thick and not runny. Add more powdered sugar if the mixture seems too runny and more milk if the mixture seems too thick. The icing should be able to stay in one place and not spread everywhere when placed on a surface.
2. Divide white frosting among 3 bowls. Keep one bowl for white frosting and color the other two bowls red and white, following the instructions on the food dye (mine are all natural colors from Whole Foods)
3. Using an off-set spatula, frost cookies first with white frosting and let icing dry.
4. Then drizzle with red and blue icing. Icing can be thinned with milk if consistency becomes too thick to drizzle.
5. Cookies will stay fresh in air-tight container for up to a week (if they last that long).

Enjoy!

Raspberry Brown Butter Madeleines

 The first time I ate a madeleine, it was neither in France nor a fancy bakeshop, it was at Starbucks with my best friend, and it tasted like heaven. My best friend is, by the way, the person that made this blog all possible. She worked so hard to be able to get a nice camera for my birthday and has taste tested about a million pounds of dessert for me.  Madeleines happen to be one of my best friend’s favorite desserts and since finding that out five years ago, I’ve been on a quest to perfect the madeleine.
Madeleine’s are hard to get right. Over bake them and you end up with a crusty and dry product.  Under bake them, and the characteristics hump of a madeleine is actually a secret hangout spot for raw dough (don’t ask me how I know…). Now that I’ve probably scared you away from making madeleines, let me add that, with a few tips and tricks, you’ll have the most delicious madeleines in town.

One of the reasons why madeleines are so special are because they require fancy-ass pans.  Mine are mooched from my boyfriend’s mom, but you can pick up madeleine pans from stores like Sur la Table or Home Goods. I recommend getting two pans, because most recipes will make 2 dozen and you don’t want to be caught between trying to grease and flour a previously used madeleine pan and having to deal with slowly softening batter.

RASPBERRY BROWN BUTTER MADELEINES | Makes 16-18 large madeleines or 24 small ones
INGREDIENTS

• 10 tbsp unsalted butter
• Scant 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup frozen raspberries – chopped

IMPORTANT: Browning butter gives the butter a nutty and caramel flavor. When you brown butter, it will seem as if you are burning the butter because caramel colored bits will start appearing at the bottom of the pot.  These pieces are what carry the flavor, so you want to make sure to scrap all this off the bottom of the pot! Sifting flour make sure that you don’t incorporate clumps of flour into the batter, which will result in dense and tough madeleines, not the light, buttery goodness that you want. 

DIRECTIONS

1. To brown butter, melt butter on medium heat in a small sauce pan.  When butter begins to brown, you will start hearing bubbling and start seeing bubbles appear on the surface of the liquid. The bubbling should intensify and you should begin to see copper-colored flecks appear on the bottom of the sauce pan.  The butter should start turning a light golden color. Once the bubbling begins to die off, remove from heat source and stir mixture with spoon to scrap dark bits off the bottom of the pan.  Set butter mixture aside to cool.
2. Either with an electric mixer or by hand, beat eggs for 2 minutes in a large bowl.  Then gradually add in sugar and then beat until mixture is frothy (meaning lots of white bubbles on the surface!)
3. Add vanilla and salt into mixture and mix thoroughly.
4. Sift in flour and using a spatula, gently fold in flour until it is fully incorporated – mixture will be quite thick.
5. Add browned butter into the mixture in 3 batches. With a spatula, mix the butter fully into the batter with each addition. Stop mixing when the last batch of butter has been just blended in.
6. Refrigerate batter for at least 4 hours so that the dough has a chance to rest and you will be able to achieve the traditional hump that madeleines are known for having.
7. Preheat the oven to 375 (F).
8. Butter and flour the madeleine pans by melting 1-2 tbsp of butter and brush butter on pans.  Dust pans with flour and shake the pans over the sink or trash can to get rid of excess flour.
9. Spoon batter into a sandwich bag or pipping bag.  If using a pipping bag, fit with a 1″-tip, otherwise snip corner off a sandwich bag.
10. Fill each indent 3/4 of the way full (it will spread and puff during cooking)
11. Take about 1 teaspoon of chopped raspberries and press gently into each dough mound to make sure raspberries stay put during baking.
12. Bake for 10-12 minutes until madeleines are gold brown and puffy. Invert pans immediately after removing from oven so madeleines will not stick in pan.

Enjoy!

the best chewy chocolate chip cookies

 I’m pretty sure I have a chocolate chip cookie obsession. Not just the “I love to eat chocolate chip cookies” obsession, but the full-blown, “make ten batches of chocolate chip cookies and then proceed to frantically give them away otherwise I’ll eat them all” obsession. Chocolate chip cookies were the first cookies I’ve ever baked, and I still think they’re the best cookie. You can’t go wrong with them, yes, there are a lot of different types of chocolate chip cookies out there (crunchy and thin, thick and chewy, lots of chocolate, no chocolate at all), but I’m positive that there is a type out there for everyone.

To avoid doing homework during college (oops…), I’d always try out new chocolate chip recipes and test them out on my roommates. They were THE best taste testers since some of them really liked a lot of chocolate chunks, one of them didn’t like any chocolate, and they were always willing to gobble up cookies coming straight out of the oven. This recipe is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, thin and chewy, but with still soft centers studded in large pools of molten chocolate…a hint of vanilla and just a sprinkle of sea salt on top. Ugh, I am guilty of eating way too many of these in one sitting.

These are super simple to make, and the addition of molasses is a game-changer, I promise you! If you just DYING to have chocolate chip cookies as soon as possible, you can go ahead and bake them after a 30 minute chill in the fridge, but I would definitely recommend not going less than 2 hours of chilling.  The chilling allows the gluten in the dough to relax and the flavors to emulsify, which leads to a softer cookie and has some serious caramel flavor.

MY FAVORITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES | Makes approximately 1.5 dozen

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp All-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda (make sure it’s fresh or your cookies will end up flat and sad)
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 tsp unsulfured blackstrap molasses
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter – softened
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chunks or chopped pieces from a chocolate bar
• Kosher or sea salt for sprinkling

DIRECTIONS

1. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium-sized bowl
2. In separate bowl, combine dark brown sugar, granulated sugar and molasses. Use hands to rub sugars and molasses together until well mixed (mixture should look uniformly like light brown sugar)
3. In large bowl, cream butter either in stand mixer (medium-high speed) or by hand until it is the consistency of mayonnaise
4. Then add in sugar mixture and beat together until butter is light and fluffy (3-4 min with mixer, 8-10 by hand)
5. Add in egg and vanilla and then mix until just combined – do NOT over mix!
6. Add in dry ingredients in 3 batches, mixing well after every addition (put mixer on low speed for this)
7. Add in chocolate and mix in pieces by hand, over-mixing the dough will cause the cookies to be tough
8. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours and up to 2 days
9. Pull out dough 30 minutes prior to baking to bring it to room temperature and preheat oven to 350 (F)
10. Roll dough into a little bigger than golf-ball sized balls and place on lined cookie sheets, giving them at least 3 inches apart to spread out in oven
11. Gently flatten each ball with the palm of your hand and sprinkle with sea salt
12. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden and the center still looks a little soft. Cool the cookies (if you can!) on a wire rack.

Enjoy!