The 2013 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

Whew! It's finally time to unveil my cookies for the 2013 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

One of my recipients self-identified as gluten-free, so I needed to find a recipe was either already gluten-free, or could be altered to accommodate this allergy. Happily, cookies are quite forgiving when using alternate baking flours, and there are some pretty good commercial GF flours on the market now, so it is no longer strictly necessary to spend an entire paycheque on buying various bags of GF flours and playing mix-and-match.  Not that there's anything wrong with that, not at all!  In fact, I'll be doing some more research on making my own GF flour for any future commissions.

However, I felt it was important that this cookie recipe be as accessible as possible for anyone who wanted to recreate it, and so I went with a well-trusted GF flour that seems to be available in at least the large grocery stores and health food stores in the mid-to-major cities across North America.

I looked through a LOT of cookie recipes, both mine and others', to research ideas and techniques for an awesome cookie that would fit the bill. In fact, I developed a couple of different recipes before I decided that the recipe below was my favourite. I've made changes so it can be either GF or not, depending on your preference/needs; just sub out the gluten free flour 1:1 with all-purpose flour.

Gluten Free White Chocolate Cranberry Macadamia Cookies

Yield: about 36 small cookie, 24 medium cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Bake Time: 8 minutes

Note: all ingredients are presumed to be at room temperature

• 1¼ cups gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Flour)
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• ¾ cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract (Tahitian vanilla is best if you have it)
• ½ cup white chocolate chips
• ½ cup dried cranberries, chopped
• ½ cup macadamia nuts, finely chopped

Assemble your ingredients mise en place style.
Prepare two baking pans with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk GF flour, baking soda, and salt. 

With mixer at medium speed, beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
Beat in egg and vanilla until well combined. 

 Reduce speed to low and stir in flour mixture until just combined. 

 With a wooden spoon, stir in white chocolate baking chips, cranberries and macadamia nuts. 

Chill dough in fridge, covered, for a minimum of 20 minutes. 

At this time, start the preheat of your oven to 375˚F.

Scoop teaspoon-sized quantities of chilled dough and gently roll into balls; place on prepared baking pans about 2” apart. Lightly press each dough ball down with the smooth, flat bottom of a clean glass that has been dipped in white sugar.

 Bake until golden around edges, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans and switching them between the upper and lower oven racks halfway through baking. 

Remove and let cool on pans for a few minutes before transferring cookies to wire racks to cool completely; store tightly covered. Keeps for 5-7 days.

These cookies tend to taste better the next day after baking. Like they'll last that long!

Good luck, and please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions or concerns about this recipe, or any cool tips for gluten free baking!

Recipe and Tutorial: Cranberry Lemon Scones

While I was up visiting my sister and family this past weekend, I had the opportunity to do some baking with my sis, which I love to do. She's a great sous-chef (very precise, measures all the ingredients out for a recipe's mise en place, and always jumps in to assist when needed...as I said, Priceless!), and being together in the kitchen really gives us a chance to be together and bond.

Starbux CL Scone

Since we were also making Chocolate Chip Cookies for "the guys" and their UFC Fight Night later that evening, I asked what recipe would she like us to make for *us*...maybe a Sunday morning breakfast treat?  After hemming and hawing, the Sis decided that we would make scones.  But not just any scones; Cranberry Lemon scones with a sweet, lemony glaze on top, as an homage to the ones she loves so much from Starbucks.

Now, when making scones, they are very much like biscuits; in fact, you could definitely say they are the British version of an American biscuit (although for Britons, biscuit actually means cookie, but I digress...). So the first and best rule to remember when making these is that less is more. Less liquid in the dough, less kneading, less handling over all, will help to make a tender, light, almost fluffy interior and a crispy exterior.  Too much liquid, and the dough will collapse under its own weight. Too much kneading, rolling, or handling, and the gluten in the flour activates too much too soon and leaves you with cranberry-scented briquettes on which you could chip a tooth.

Given that we were working under a deadline (we had to be back by a certain time to put the baby to bed before the fight, and dinner prep was awaiting), and we didn't have any biscuit cutters, I think we did rather well! The best thing about these scones is how versatile this recipe is: don't like cranberries? How about raisins, or currants, or dried cherries, or chocolate chips? Not a fan of lemon? Make it orange zest, or culinary lavender, or espresso powder, or one of several baking spices or crushed nuts. The sky's the limit!

Cranberry Lemon Scones

Our Cranberry Lemon "Scone Clones", before they were iced

Yield: 8 scones

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ cup white sugar
• 5 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, chilled and diced
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 cup milk (from 2% to half and half/table cream is fine)
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1-3 tbsp fresh lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 400˚ F (200˚ C). Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Cut in butter. Mix the egg and milk in a small bowl, and stir into flour mixture just until moistened. Add dried cranberries and lemon zest.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead briefly to help mixture come together. Roll dough out into a ½” thick round. Use a round pastry cutter to cut into 8 rounds, or a sharp knife to cut into 8 wedges, and place on the prepared baking sheet. If using a pastry cutter, ensure your rounds are cut as close together as possible, in order to minimize the amount of dough that needs to be rerolled (re-rolling the dough will toughen the scones).
4. Bake 15 minutes, or until golden brown, rotating and switching pans once during baking to ensure even browning. Allow to cool completely.
5. Once cool, combine icing sugar and lemon juice into a thin paste (flat icing); using a fork or spoon, drizzle flat icing over top of cooled scones to desired taste. Allow to dry or serve immediately. These should be eaten within 24 hours for maximum freshness.

Recipe and Tutorial: Gingerbread Biscotti

I have a regular customer who loves loves LOVES my gingerbread biscotti! While he is Croatian, he has a poker party nearly every weekend, and his fellow players are mostly Italian...and Italians know good biscotti, letmetellyou. I am constantly informed of how GOOD these are, and that no matter how many dozen he buys, there are never any left over at the end of the evening.  My father used to call this phenomenon "moreish", as in when you eat something that is so tasty, you end up having a little bit more, and then some more, until they're all gone.

This recipe is one I developed specifically for this customer, and is one of two "go-to" favourites of his; the other favourite will be the topic for another post! This gingerbread biscotti recipe can be made with or without nuts, but I usually make it without, since I am often pairing it with the other biscotti recipe that's chock full of them!

Don't be nervous or afraid of making biscotti if this is your first time; they are essentially cookies, but baked twice so they dry out crisp and firm, which leaves them the perfect vehicles for dunking in your coffee or espresso to soften.

The recipe below is a bit fiddly and involved, but most of the ingredients are spices and fruit, so once those are combined, it's much easier.  Don't skip the processing of the rolled oats; this makes for a firmer cookie.

Gingerbread Biscotti

Yield: approximately 30 biscotti

• 1 cup (100g) old fashioned rolled oats, divided
• 1 ¾ cups (225g) all purpose flour
• ¾ cup (160g) dark brown sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¾ tsp ground cinnamon
• ½ tsp ground ginger
• ¹/₈ tsp ground cloves
• 2 large eggs
• ¼ cup (60ml) fancy molasses
• 2 tbsp light oil
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp crystallized ginger, minced
• 2 cups of three of the following: raisins (any kind), dried cranberries, dried blueberries, currants, pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds), chopped dates, chopped dried apricots, white chocolate chips, mixed nuts, lightly toasted and chopped

Topping:

• 2 (60 g) egg whites, lightly beaten
• ½ cup white sanding sugar

Preheat oven to 350˚F and place the oven rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat (silicone baking mat). 

In a food processor, finely grind ½ cup (50 grams) of the rolled oats. Combine the finely ground oats with the remaining whole oats and the other dry ingredients.
 
Whisk together the eggs, molasses, oil, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Slowly add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients, and beat just until combined. Mix in the chopped mix-ins until just incorporated.
 

Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and divide in half. Form each half into a flattened bar about 12” long and 5” wide. Transfer the bars to the prepared baking sheet, spacing at least 3” apart.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown on the edges and firm to the touch. Remove from oven, immediately brush the top lightly with beaten egg white, and sprinkle generously with sanding sugar; let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, or just long enough so you can hold the cookie bar for cutting without burning your fingers.


Reduce oven temperature to 300˚F.  Transfer the partially cooled bars to a cutting board and cut into ¾” slices.  Place the biscotti back on the baking sheet face-up, leaving about ½” between each cookie.

Bake for 6-8 minutes, rotate pan, and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until dry and firm. Remove and let cool completely.

Can be stored in an airtight container for several weeks.