Kitchen Conundrum

Linzer Cookies Recipe

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Sometimes, there is nothing better than a delicate jam filled, sugar coated cookie. Don’t get me wrong, chocolate chip or molasses cookies are always welcome, but sometimes, you just want a cookie to enjoy with a cup of tea. And Linzer Cookies fit the bill. These buttery little gems are not overly sweet and they have a nice nutty flavor with a lovely hint cinnamon.  The recipe is quite easy but you do need to take the time to chill the dough, so it’s best to make them a day in advance of when you might want them.

I love that you can find specialty cutters that come with different shapes for the centers. Of course, if you don’t have one of these special cookie cutters you can just use a knife to cut out your design or a cutter that is much smaller than the one you use to cut out the cookie.

In honor of Valentine’s Day (week) I made heart shaped ones.

 

Ingredients

2 ½ cups All Purpose flour

2/3 cup of finely ground almonds

¼ tsp cinnamon

1 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Raspberry Preserves or Jam (I use Seeded, but you can use Seedless if you prefer)

Method

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, almonds, and cinnamon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.

Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing well.

Divide the dough into two parts and roll into a ball and the press into two discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours up to overnight. The dough should be firm enough to roll out.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

On a floured surface, roll out one disc until it’s about 1/8” thick. Keep the other disc in the refrigerator until ready to use.

Cut the dough with a cookie cutter dipped in flour. If you are using a knife to cut your design, you can do this now. Cut enough dough to have tops and bottoms.

Transfer the cut outs to a baking tray lined with either parchment paper or a Silpat mat.

Repeat with the remaining dough and the second disc.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until a light golden brown. Cool on the baking tray for five minutes then transfer to a cooling rack. Cool completely.

When ready to fill, invert the bottom cookie (so you have a nice bottom) and spread with about ½-1 tsp of jam.  Dust a top cookie with Confectioner’s sugar then gently place on top of the jam making a sandwich cookie.

Store for up to one week, flat and in one layer.  This recipe makes about two dozen cookies if your cookie cutter is about 2”.

 

Enjoy!

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies Recipe

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While the mysterious origins of Red Velvet Cake are as varied and as deep as creatures of the Red Sea, it’s been brought back, it’s in style and it’s, apparently, here to stay.

Which, is fine by me. What could be bad about a chocolate cake, a devil’s food cake for that matter, with a bit of red food coloring. Nothing at all. Except don’t even think about wearing white anywhere near it!  That red coloring is very much like a red velvet cloth that’s been put in the laundry with your whites.  But, as you eat one Whoopie Pie, your mind will drift away and you won’t even care that your best white towels are now a rosy shade of pink.

Share a Red Velvet Whoopie pie with a loved one this Valentine’s Day.

This wonderfully moist and rich cake recipe has been adapted from The Joy of Baking.

 

For the Cakes:

Ingredients

2 ½ cups flour

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbs cocoa powder

1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 ½ cups white sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup buttermilk

1 tbs liquid red food coloring

1 tsp white distilled vinegar

1 tsp baking soda

 

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Prepare a Whoopie Pie pan or a shallow baking dish with spray oil and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or a large bowl with your hand mixer, beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and beat until combined.

In another small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk and the red food coloring.  Try not to splatter, as red food coloring has a way of staining anything it touches. Permanently!

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and color buttermilk to the butter mixture, beating until all the ingredients are well combined.

In a small cup mix the vinegar and baking soda. (Science Experiment!) The mixture will fizz but won’t overflow the cup (Darn! That’ll be for another day.) since it’s not so much.  Quickly fold into the cake batter.

Spoon the batter into the prepared Whoopie Pie pan or into the prepared cake pan. The batter should only be filled about 1/4 of the way up the sides. You want a thin cake.

Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean. Cool the cakes in their pans for 10 minutes then remove them to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Meanwhile, let’s make the filling! 

For the Filling:

Ingredients 

6 tbs unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups confectioner’s sugar

1/8 tsp salt

1 jar marshmallow crème (I used the regular white, but you can also use Raspberry or Strawberry marshmallow crèmes- fun for Valentine’s Day!)

2 tsp vanilla

Method

In a large bowl, beat together the  butter, sugar, salt and the marshmallow crème until smooth.  Add in the vanilla and mix well. You can now spoon the mixture into a piping bag if you want, to be used to fill the whoopie pies or you can just use a spoon to fill the centers. Refrigerate any unused crème bringing it back to room temperature before attempting to pipe any more cakes.

Assemble The Whoopie Pies

If you used a Whoopie Pie pan, you can just use two of the individual cakes and sandwich them together with filling in between. However, if your cakes have too much height, or you want to get more pies (double!), you can just slice off the tops of each cake, horizontally, and fill the centers and return the tops to the bottoms. It’s really up to you. For the ones pictured here, we just sliced off the tops. We are very glad we did too, because they all went quickly.

If you used a shallow cake pan, you can use a cookie cutter to cut out your shapes, or twist an inverted glass to make rounds of cake.  Or you can just slice out pieces if you have a steady hand and can create matching tops and bottoms. (They can be close since crème will be in the middle!)

Once you have all your tops and bottoms laid out, pipe or spoon the filling into the center of the cooled pies on one side. Place it’s matching part on and you are ready to eat!

To store: Place in a single layer on a piece of wax paper. Because the cake is so moist, it has a tendency to stick, peeling a layer of cake off. So if you want one pretty side, be sure to make sure they are stored in only one layer.

 

Cornbread Recipe

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Cornbread means a lot of different things to different people, depending on where you are from. Say cornbread to my in-laws and they’ll  think of a rye bread that is crusted in corn meal.  But that is an Eastern European cornbread, and nothing at all like the cornbread we make here in the states. Typically, from the South and the Southwest,  cornbread varieties include skillet or molded corn pone cakes, Jonnycakes, hushpuppies, hot water cornbread and baked cornbread. Each is similar in ingredients but vastly different in texture and form.

I grew up eating cornbread made in a cast iron skillet or if my mother was being “fancy” she would bake them in the cast iron molds shaped like little ears of corn.  They were thin and crispy on the outside and dense and firm on the inside. I used to eat them coated in butter, or my favorite was to crumble and mix the pieces into a glass of milk and eat it with a spoon.

Nowadays, I prefer to eat cornbread that’s fluffier and moister but still with a rich butter flavor and crispy on the outside. You could almost call it a corn cake.

And it goes so well with hearty stews and chilis!

 

Ingredients

½  cup butter or margarine, softened

½  cup sugar

3 eggs

1 2/3 cups milk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

1 cup cornmeal

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

½ cup frozen corn kernels

Method

Preheat Oven to 400 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.

Add the eggs and milk, mixing well.

Add the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Blending together until just mixed.

Fold in the frozen corn kernels.

Pour into a greased 13-in. x 9-in. x 2-in. baking pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.

Cut into squares; serve warm.

Cover any uneaten portions with plastic wrap.

 

Its really good for breakfast with a glass of milk or as a late night treat with a cup of tea.