Friday Night Baking is a Real Thing

How do I unwind after a week at work? I bake. If I can't bake on Friday night I feel a little sad. That means I am completely wiped out from week at work.

I like baking cookies and or something for breakfast on the weekend. I actually thought of doing a blog called Friday Night Baking. Yes, I already own the domain name!

This week I made 2 new recipes. Almond Icebox Cookies from Better Homes and Garden. An Almond Shortbread, who doesn't love shortbread!! And a Blueberry Crumb Cake. Blueberry Extra Crumb Cake from Joy The Baker.

The Almond Shortbread had to be baked on Saturday morning, the dough had to chill overnight : (

Oh but the finished product!! Wow. Light and almondy!! A nice crisp. This was a cookie you could not eat only one of. Winner!

The Blueberry Crumb Cake was a bit of a challenge. The recipe said to bake for 45 to 55 minutes. Well, I baked it for 45 minutes and then 55 and then another 10 and another 1 and...  I kept testing it with the cake tester and it was not looking like it was done. After maybe an hour and 30 minutes I took it out and it seemed like maybe it was done. I left it in the pan overnight, hoping for carry-over baking...

Fast forward to Saturday morning. The cake tasted amazing! That is the edges. Towards the center... tasty but was it baked all the way through? Let's just say if I was on The British Bake Off I would probably have to turn in my apron.

And this is what I like to do on Friday nights.

Cannoli Cookies

It was a Cooking With Nonna type of day. Tomorrow I am going to a party at my nephew's house. His son received his Confirmation and they are also celebrating my brother's 70th birthday. What does that mean? I have to bring cookies. It is what I do.

I had the recipe for Cannoli Cookies bookmarked in the Cooking with Nonna cookbook. I am so glad I finally made this recipe. Absolutely delicious!

Ingredients-
1 cup unsalted pistachios
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 orange, zest only
1 large egg, room temperature
8 ounces whole milk ricotta, room temperature
1 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
For Glaze-
2 cups confectioners sugar
3 tablespoons milk, plus more if needed
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
For Topping-
Chocolate Sprinkles

Method-
Place the pistachios in the bowl of a food processor and process until coarsely chopped, about 15-20 seconds.
Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.
Set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine the sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and zest.
Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 5 minutes.
Beat in the egg and the ricotta.
Add in the dry ingredients little by little until a dough forms.
Mix in the pistachios and chocolate chips.
Using a tablespoon, roll the dough into balls and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
The bottoms of the cookies should slightly brown.
Cool completely before glazing.

To make the Glaze:
In a bowl mix together the confectioners sugar, vanilla, and milk until a smooth glaze forms. Add less milk for a thicker glaze or more for a thinner glaze. Top with chocolate sprinkles.

A Little Baking

A perfect vacation day! I made Molded Cookies. No, not moldy, molded. A number of years ago,  Chris and I were in Vermont and I saw a ceramic cookie mold of cats. I thought it would look cute hanging on the kitchen wall. I did not even think to use it for baking. That was back in our first house. I was cleaning out a cabinet in the kitchen and found the cookie mold. Why not use it to make cookies? I looked for recipes on the internet and found on for Beautiful Brown Sugar Molded Cookies on Simple Bites Blog. The directions for using a cookie mold were most detailed in this post.

What a fun batch of cookies to make. I got exactly 2 dozen from the recipe, that never happens.

My only problem was the baking time. The cookies were thicker then I think they should have been. The next time I make them I may roll them out thinner.

The finished product was the cutest cookies! The flavor was very mild for a brown sugar cookie. Will I make the recipe again? Yes! Here is the link to the recipe - Beautiful Brown Sugar Molded Cookies.

Lets Bake Cookies!

Today I had a perfect Saturday morning. I baked 2 new cookie recipes.

The first recipe was for Sesame Seed Cookies. The recipe is from Cooking With Nonna. I love the way these came out. They look just like bakery cookies. Click here for the recipe. These are perfect for coffee in the morning. Or tea in the afternoon. Or when you are stuck in traffic on the way to work. Or when you are stuck in traffic on the way home from work. One note about the recipe - I made 1/2 of the recipe and ended up with 46 2 inch cookies!

The next cookie was a Confetti Biscotti. Wow! These will be on this year's Christmas cookie list. The dough was an amazing to work with. And the taste? A little salt on the top made these cookies over the top delicious. Click here for the recipe.

Saturday Afternoon Baking - Toffee Shortbread

Someone was looking for cookies last night. Today I made a new recipe. Literally! Toffee Shortbread. I love shortbread cookies. Shortbread is a blank canvas waiting for whatever flavors you want to add to it. I had some toffee chips in the pantry. I found a couple of recipes to use as guides. This is what I came up with. And damn they are good!

Toffee Shortbread

Ingredients-
½ cup butter softened
⅓ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup toffee candy crumbs

Method-
Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cream the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the sugar and beat until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add vanilla. Add the flour and salt and mix until just combined. Add Toffee candy crumbs. Combine. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and flatten into a 1” disk. Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until about ¼“ thick.

Cut out in desired shapes. Transfer to the baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.

Remove from the oven and transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool. 

Fried Squash Flowers Just Like My Uncle Art's!

 

 Aunt Nora, Mom and Uncle Art

Every year when I see the squash flowers pop up on food blogs and at the farmer's market I remember my Uncle Art. I was always getting calls from my Uncle Art to stop by because he had made something for me. I always knew what it was... fried squash flowers! He would hand me a greasy paper bag and say, "Here you go kiddo! And don't eat all of them!" Of course I would finish the bag before I got home. Lucky for me Chris was not a fan of these.

Every summer I have tried to duplicate his recipe. I had gotten a recipe from my Aunt Catherine after my uncle had passed but she was not sure it was correct.

 

Finally today I found a recipe that resulted in the closest thing to my uncle's recipe. SavourFare.com, Fried Zucchini Blossoms. The batter is so light and easy to make! Every bite brought back good memories.

Today started out as a rainy Saturday. So I headed for the kitchen. I had been wanting to try a new crunchy granola bar recipe. Carrie's Crunchy Granola Bars. They were good but need something added to them... sugar maybe!

Next I needed to bake cookies. I looked in the cookie jar the other day and realized I had not baked since Easter! I had posted a recipe on Pinterest that I wanted to try. It was from RealSimple.com, Coconut Slice and Bake Cookies. Oh these are good! I believe if you have coconut you should have chocolate so I added chocolate shots. Yes these are really good.

Hey isn't this a blog about what I made for dinner!

Actually Chris made dinner. A perfectly grilled steak. And corn on the cob, yes they were the 2 smallest ears of corn at the store!

My contribution to the meal was....

Yes you guessed it. Roasted Potatoes! I can't help it. But I tried a new recipe. Again from a Pinterest post. The recipe is from PlainChicken.com, Easy Oven Roasted Potatoes. Of course they were fantastic!

And someone was happy to see me in the kitchen... 

Beer-Braised Beef with Smashed Potatoes

One of the newsletters I receive is La Cucina Italiano. This week the featured recipe was Beer-Braised Beef with Smashed Potatoes, Bocconcini di Manzo alla Birra. I thought beef, beer and potatoes. How could it not be good. Tasty, tender but need to add more meat, at least a two more shanks. And oh I forgot to make a vegetable!

Ingredients
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 pounds onions, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 pounds meaty cross-cut beef shanks (about 4 ossobuco)
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Fine sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
3 (14.9-ounce) cans dark beer such as Guinness
2 cups low-salt or homemade beef broth
2 1/4 pounds Yukon gold potatoes

Instructions
In a 5 1/2-quart Dutch oven or wide heavy pot with lid, heat oil over medium-high heat; add onions and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and golden, about 8 minutes. Remove pot from heat.

In a large heavy skillet, melt 2 1/2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat. In batches, brown shanks, 3 to 4 minutes per side, wiping pan and adding up to 1/2 tablespoon more butter, if necessary.

Transfer shanks to a cutting board. Cut meat off bones (reserve bones); cut meat into 1-inch pieces. Transfer meat and bones to pot with onions; stir in paprika and season generously with salt and pepper. Add beer and 1 cup broth; bring to a simmer and cook, partially covered, adding remaining cup broth to pot as necessary to keep meat covered by at least 1 inch, until meat is very tender, about 2 hours.

When meat is 30 to 40 minutes from being done, put potatoes into a medium saucepan and cover with water by 2 inches. Bring water to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes or more, depending on size of potatoes. Drain and peel potatoes; transfer to a large bowl. Add remaining 5 tablespoons butter and coarsely mash; season to taste with salt and pepper. Cover to keep warm.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer meat, bones and onions to a large bowl. Into a second large bowl, strain braising liquid through a fine-mesh sieve; put any remaining onions into bowl with meat. Remove marrow from bones and stir into meat mixture; discard bones. Adjust seasoning.

Arrange meat and potatoes on a large serving platter; moisten with a little braising liquid. Serve warm.

Also made some cookies...  9 dozen!

Shortbread Candy Bars

This is not what we had for dinner. This is an amazing cookie. Shortbread cookies have always been one of my favorites. But when you add chocolate and leftover Halloween candy, Crunch bars, Mounds bars and M&Ms... it is love. I saw this recipe on Stirring the Pot and was so happy we had left over candy!