Pretzels and chocolate and brown sugar caramel and sea salt and are you drooling yet? Here’s an awesome treat you can whip up in minutes and is just as addictive as the name dictates. Perfect for a snow day treat or something wonderful to crumble on top of vanilla ice cream.

—

Crack Bark

Courtesy of Ezra Pound Cake.

Ingredients 

• Thin pretzels, broken into smaller pieces
• 1 cup (8 oz) unsalted buter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 cups (one 12oz bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• coarse sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line an 11? x 17? jelly roll pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Cover the pan in a layer of broken mini pretzels.
3. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the butter and brown sugar. When the mixture starts to gently simmer and bubble, let it cook that way for 3 minutes. (Don’t stir.)
4. Pour the butter and sugar mixture over the pretzels.
5. Bake for 5 minutes.
6. Place the pan on a cooling rack, and immediately sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the top. Wait for about 2 minutes, until the chocolate melts. Grab a spatula, and spread the chocolate over the toffee. Sprinkle with sea salt.
7. Let the toffee cool completely, and break it into pieces. (To speed up the cooling process, you can place the pan of toffee in the refrigerator or freezer.)

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2012. | Permalink | 2 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chocolate, indulge, salty, sweet

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

The Test Kitchen is swamped with cookies right now. Every few hours it feels like a new batch appears. Millionaire’s shortbread. Madelines. Pear bars. A new cookie book is in the works and you’d think it would make my desire for cookies wane, but oh no, the exact opposite has been happening. I just want cookies more now.

I whipped these together after reading the recipe in Everyday Food. I love macadamia nuts and the idea reminded me of one of my favorite guilty pleasures, the Sausalito cookie from Pepperidge Farms. Toasted macadamia nuts, bittersweet chocolate, and just the right texture of a moist inside with a delicately crisp bottom.

The chocolate is pretty thick so I didn’t dip so much as paint on the portion that is chocolate. I was tempted to break out the pastry bag and tips and do pretty designs but yeah, delusions of grandeur and laziness got the better of me. Lack of frills aside, these are still delicious and soul satisfying.

—

Chocolate-Dipped Macadamia Nut Cookies

Makes 18 cookies.

Based on the recipe from Everyday Food.

Ingredients

• 1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp. lemon zest
• 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 tsp. kosher salt
• ½ cup macadamia nuts, toasted & finely ground in a food processor
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
• 5 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (morsels or chopped)

Directions

1.) In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high until fluffy, 2 minutes. Beat in egg yolk, lemon zest, juice, and salt until just combined. Beat in nuts and flour with mixer running on low until combined, 2 minutes.

2.) Lay out a piece of plastic wrap and pour dough onto it. Form dough into a 4½-inch log and freeze 30 minutes until firm.

3.) While the dough chills, set racks in top and bottom thirds of oven. Preheat oven to 350° F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

4.) Once ready, slice dough into ¼-inch slices and lay out on prepared baking sheets. Freeze sheets 5 minutes then bake until golden at edges, 12-14 minutes. Rotate sheets halfway through baking.

5.) Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Keep sheets lined with parchment on the side.

6.) Once cookies are cooled, microwave chocolate in 30-second increments, stirring in between each time, until completely melted. Dip half of each cookie in chocolate and transfer back to parchment-lined baking sheets. Chill until set, about 10 minutes.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chocolate, cookies, indulge, macadamia, nuts, sweet

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Sometimes you just have to bake cookies at 11pm on a Saturday night. And sometimes they just have to be chocolate-oat-pretzel cookies.

I got the Baked Explorations book for Christmas and this is the first thing I made out of it. I love the writing style of the Baked duo and their absolutely meticulous borderline OCD/Rose Levy Beranbaum way of explaining how to bake something as simple as cookies. Use cool (but not cold) butter, use a scoop this exact size, press down on the cookies but don’t smush them, etc. As much as I love to cook on the fly, sometimes it’s more relaxing to just follow instructions to the T. And this T stands for Totally awesome cookies.

Everyone knows I’m a sucker for salty sweets and so the pretzels are of course a fabulous element I love in these. Still, I wish they were even more salty. So in the ingredients listed below I’ve added a bit more salt and say you should use bittersweet chocolate. I think the cookies would just really benefit from it. They would go from totally awesome to super totally awesome. If there is such a thing.

—

Cowboy Cookies

Based on the recipe from Baked Explorations.

For the “cool but not cold” butter, the Baked boys detail it by saying you should take the butter out of your fridge, cut it into 1″ cubes, and let it sit out for 20 minutes.

Makes 36 cookies.

Ingredients

• 1¾ cups flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• ¾ tsp. table salt
• 2 cups rolled old-fashioned oats
• 14 Tbsp. butter ( 1¾ sticks), cool but not cold
• ¾ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. espresso powder dissolved in ¼ cup hot water
• 12 oz.  bittersweet chocolate chunks
• ¾ cup crumbled pretzels, divided

Directions

1.) In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the oats and stir to combine.

2.) In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and egg yolk, beating until the mixture looks light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl, add the vanilla, and beat for 5 seconds. Add dissolved espresso and mix until combined.

3.) Add half of the dry ingredients and mix for 15 seconds. Add the remaining dry ingredients and beat until just incorporated. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and fold in the chocolate chunks and ½ cup of the pretzel pieces.

4.) Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate the dough for at least 4 hours.

5.) Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line three baking sheets with parchment paper.

6.) Use a small ice cream scoop with a release mechanism to scoop out dough in 2-tablespoon-size balls and place the dough balls onto the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle the remaining pretzel pieces over the dough balls. Use the palm of your hand to press the dough down lightly; don’t smash the cookie–you just want to slightly flatten the ball and push the pretzel pieces into the dough.

7.) Bake for 11-13 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown or just start to darken.

8.) Set the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes to cool. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely. They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2011. | Permalink | 4 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking, chocolate, cookies, indulge, oats, salty, sweet

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Time to take a stroll down memory lane.

It’s always fun to try and remember your earliest food memories. My third birthday cake is probably the earliest I have, but it’s more the candles and party than the eating of the actual cake. Eating Pepperidge Farm Milanos at around age 4 on the other hand – now that’s something I can picture with perfect clarity. The bag appearing in the pantry, the fancy fluted wrappers, the first taste of chocolate that wasn’t sweetened milk. I could easily eat the whole bag but knew they were expensive and special and had to make them last. My nostalgia still makes me feel that way anytime I buy them.

They are special cookies. Delicate and delicious with that perfect crunchy cookie and semi-sweet chocolate filling. I rarely buy Milanos these days since I usually have my own baked goods around 24/7, but I came across this recipe while hunting for new cookie ideas and stopped dead. Why hadn’t I ever made my own Milanos before? Upon seeing just how easy the recipe was, I knew I’d rectify that situation tout de suite.

I strayed from Gale Gand’s recipe to make the flavor more akin to how I think of milanos: vanilla cookie + semi-sweet filling. No citrus, no mint, nothing else. Just perfectly combined chocolate and vanilla. And that’s what these are. Perfect. Just how I remember them.

—

Milanos

Based on the recipe from Gale Gand.

Makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies.

The only fussy thing about this recipe is using the piping bag to make the cookies. The shapes are hard to replicate, especially since you can’t control what they do once they go in the oven. I suggest piping a few practice cookies (only a few – not an entire sheet) and baking them to get an idea of baking time and how much you should pipe. It’s an extra step but really worth the effort.

Ingredients

For the cookies:

• 12 Tbsp. unsalted butter (1½ sticks), at room temperature
• 2½ cups powdered sugar
• 7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
• 2 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1½ cups flour

For the filling:

• ½ cup heavy cream
• 8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

Directions

1.) Preheat oven to 350° F and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats, set aside.

2.) In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together butter and sugar on high, at least 2 minutes. Turn down speed to medium and gradually add the egg whites. Mix in the vanilla extract. Add the flour and beat on low until just incorporated.

3.) Fill a pastry bag fitted with a small, plain tip (about ¼” wide) with the batter. Pipe 2-inch sections of batter onto prepared sheet pans. This is the hardest part – your cookies may look a bit wonky and no, they will never look as perfect as Pepperidge Farms’, but don’t be afraid to practice a few times on a paper towel until you get the right feel for it. Be sure to space your cookies 2 inches apart because they spread quite a bit.

4.) Bake 8-10 minutes or until puffed and light golden brown around the edges. Let cool completely on sheet pans placed on wire racks.

5.) While the cookies cool, make the filling. Place chocolate in a small, heatproof bowl. Bring cream to a low boil in a small saucepan over medium heat and pour over chocolate. Whisk until the chocolate has completely melted and set aside to cool and thicken.

6.) Once everything is ready, use a small off-set spatula to spread a small amount of the filling onto one cookie. Top with another cookie and repeat with remaining cookies. Place on a tray or sheetpan and refrigerate 30 minutes to set the filling. Devour immediately. To store cookies: place in air-tight storage container in between sheets of parchment. They are best enjoyed within 24 hours since they will get soft as they sit.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2011. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: baking, chocolate, cookies, indulge, sweet

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh

Ohhhh, white chocolate. You are one of my few culinary enemies I have yet to defeat. I will admit, you’re delicious in peppermint dark chocolate bark, and occasionally drizzled on chocolate cake. Otherwise, your flavor is sickly sweet and takes over anything it touches. Yet I try to make my relationship with you work. Tirelessly.

These cookies were an attempt to try and use up some white chocolate morsels I had lying around and I figured whole wheat flour, some pecans, and an equal ratio of semi-sweet morsels to white would balance out. It pretty much didn’t. If you like white chocolate, you’ll adore these cookies. They’re super moist and chewy, have fantastic texture, and the white chocolate flavor is right there in your face. For me, these are cookies to be handed out to others. If I ever make them again I’ll change the ratio of semi-sweet chocolate to white to at least 2 to 1 (maybe 3 to 1) but hey,  my loss can be your gain.

—

Whole Wheat Black & White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Ingredients

• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. table salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 tsp. brewed espresso
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Directions

1.) Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a large mixing bowl. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter, sugars, and espresso until creamy, about 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla extract.

2.) Add the eggs one at a time, beating well in between. With the mixer running on medium, add the dry ingredients slowly and beat until mixed well. Add chocolate chips and pecans, and beat until just mixed.

3.) Line a baking sheet with parchment or wax paper. Drop 2-tablespoon sized balls of dough onto sheets and fit as many as possible onto one sheet (since it’s going in the freezer, and I don’t know about you but my freezer can only fit 1 cookie sheet).

4.) Freeze at least 3 hours and either move to a new cookie sheet or plastic freezer bag (for future use).

5.) If baking, preheat oven to 350° F. Put about 12 cookies per freshly lined baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Cool completely on baking sheets on wire racks.

© Jessica J. for jonesing for..., 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chocolate, cookies, indulge, nuts, sweet

Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh