I went to Trader Joe’s the other day hoping to score some of their humongous chewy oatmeal cookies that make me feel all cozy and fuzzy and that all’s well with the world.  Lo and behold, as luck would have it, they were ALL GONE. [...]]]>

I went to Trader Joe’s the other day hoping to score some of their humongous chewy oatmeal cookies that make me feel all cozy and fuzzy and that all’s well with the world.  Lo and behold, as luck would have it, they were ALL GONE.  All that were left were those chocolate chip cookies that may all be well and good, but nowhere near as appealing as those chunky, chewy, fatty, oatmeal cookies.

I had no choice but to make my own.  And of course, I turned to the tried and true, Smitten Kitchen.  Now, friends, in this day and age when food blogs are a dime a dozen (yes I’m aware this probably includes mine), I turn back to Smitten Kitchen again and again.  She just has such an admirable repertoire in her archives, I can always find something yummy.  And unlike many blogs which are all pizazz and pretty pictures but pack no punch (whoa I did it again!  Again, totally unintended alliteration, my dears), her recipes are always good.  Now, I’m not affiliated with Smitten Kitchen in ANY way, and I’m aware that this gushiness is a tad unseemly, but I do love checking her website to see what’s new.

So back to the cookies.  They were good.  Not as decadent as the Trader Joe’s ones, of course, lacking all that palm oil and homogenizers and whatever they put in there, but more wholesome and still really yummy.  I did not feel, like I do with many cookies, that globs of butter were clogging up my arteries as I ate them.  In fact, since I used whole wheat flour, and since fiber and oatmeal are supposed to slow the absorption of cholesterol into your bloodstream, perhaps the combo of whole wheat and oatmeal canceled out the stick of butter in those cookies?  (I’m just kidding – they probably didn’t…)

I’ll redirect you to Smitten Kitchen’s site if you’d like to make these chewy oatmeal cookies, and just so you know, you can totally use whole wheat flour, and they turn out just as good.  Hardly tell the difference.  Oh, and please use good plump juicy raisins.  They DO make a difference.

Smitten Kitchen’s Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Yes, I know.  It’s been a while.  Not because I don’t love you guys, but because Chris and I have been traveling to and from LA and Toronto visiting family during our spring vacation.  Not only have we been busy, but we haven’t really had [...]]]>

Yes, I know.  It’s been a while.  Not because I don’t love you guys, but because Chris and I have been traveling to and from LA and Toronto visiting family during our spring vacation.  Not only have we been busy, but we haven’t really had an opportunity to cook.

We do have lots of ideas that we’ve garnered from our travels, so expect some new bursts of creativity on this site within the next few weeks.  I’ve stolen a bunch of new ideas from my mother-in-law, Karola, that I can’t wait to show you all =).

In the meantime, I helped my mother-in-law to make these spectacular Valentine cookies.  Check them out.  Aren’t they just lovely?  Just like little lace-edged Valentines.  They’re almost too pretty to eat, but I bet they’ll go fast.  And they’re good too – buttery cookie, sweet pom jam…what’s not to like?

By the way, that beautiful white plate up there is a true antique.  It’s about 100 years old, and it belonged to Karola’s grandmother in Germany.  Pretty cool huh?   I’m hoping that someday Chris and I will be able to pass on some family traditions (as well as, hopefully, a few sentimental mementos) to our kids.

Pomegranate Jam Hearts
I really don’t know where this comes from.  It was passed on through a colleague of my mother-in-law’s.

2 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
6 tbsp pomegranate jelly

Sift the flour and salt and set aside.

Combine butter and sugar and beat with a wooden spoon until smooth.  Ad vanilla and almond extracts and stir till well blended.  Add dry ingredients and mix until dough comes together.

Divide dough in half and gather each half into a ball.  Flatten into disks, wrap in plastic, and place in fridge for about 40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Take out one ball of dough at a time.  On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to a little less than 1/4 inch thick (I found this much easier between two sheets of plastic).  Loosen dough from surface using a spatula.  Using a heart shaped 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter, cut out 24 hearts.  In 12 of the hearts, cut out a small heart-shaped hole using a 1 inch cutter.  Place on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack until edges are light brown, about 12-15 minutes.  After 5 minutes, transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Spread about a teaspoon of jam on the 12 hole-less cookies.  Sift the cutout cookies with confectioner’s sugar.  Place the cutout cookies on top of the jam to make 12 jam cookie sandwiches.

Any extra dough can be used for sugar dusted cookies.

Biscotti is to me what the madeleine was to Proust. Well, sort of. When I was in college I spent many hours in my local Second Cup (Canada’s answer to Starbucks) sipping a coffee and dunking a delicious chocolate-covered biscotti into it, while reading a [...]]]>

Biscotti is to me what the madeleine was to Proust. Well, sort of. When I was in college I spent many hours in my local Second Cup (Canada’s answer to Starbucks) sipping a coffee and dunking a delicious chocolate-covered biscotti into it, while reading a book or writing an essay (believe it or not, I actually enjoyed writing essays). Biscotti, for me, have come to symbolize unhurried leisure and enjoyment of the moment while I savor the flavors of the biscuit melting slightly into the coffee. I’m not as refined as Proust, of course, and the biscotti is a rougher-textured, less delicate snack in comparison to the light madeleine. Plus, even after having lived in France, I’ve never been a huge fan of madeleines. I’ve had too many that were dry and tasteless.

During this holiday season, I didn’t so much crave rich cookies and cakes so much as I wanted the flavorful crunch of biscotti, so I whipped up a batch both to bring to Christmas parties as well as to enjoy with my own hot beverage at home.

To reduce the risk of the biscotti breaking as you slice them, make sure the cookie loaf is fully cooled before cutting into it with a sharp serrated knife. My loaf spread quite a bit in the oven, making for a very long slice, so I cut the longer biscotti slices in half to make them more manageable for eating.

Cranberry-Almond Biscotti
I can’t remember where I got this recipe, but it’s good!

½ cup softened unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp almond extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
Dash salt
½ cup chopped almonds
½ cup dried cranberries
milk for brushing and extra sugar to dust

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each egg. Stir in extract.

Whisk together flour, salt and baking powder and add to egg mixture. Stir together, then fold in almonds and cranberries.

On a greased baking sheet pat the dough into two equal rectangles, about 12×3 inches each. Brush with milk and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 375 F for 15-30 minutes until golden on top and firm. Use foil to lift each loaf onto a wire rack and cool for 15 minutes. Slice diagonally about ½ inch thick.

Lower oven temperature to 300 F. Bake slices, this time on an ungreased baking sheet, 10 minutes per side until browned and crisp.