Archive for the 'Cookies' Category

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Eagle Brand Cookies

Published on December 3, 2010 in Cookies and Holiday. 2 Comments


Oh my. It’s begun. The holiday cookie madness is taking over and I just can’t stop. But I’m not going to fight it. Nor should you, friends. Just give in to it. This is one of the three Christmas cookies my mom always made (here’s one; the other one is coming). For the life of me, I’m not clear on why these weren’t made year-round. They’re super easy, have 6 ingredients and are ridiculously good. It makes no sense. We shall rectify this situation — after, you know, the holidays are over.

But for now, let’s get going, shall we?

The official name of these cookies are “Eagle Brand cookies,” in honor of the monopoly Eagle Brand had on the sweetened condensed milk market back in the day. I prefer to think of them as “chocolate coconut haystacks” (especially considering Whole Foods doesn’t carry the Eagle Brand brand [Eagle brand?]; so much for that monopoly), but my mother refuses to acknowledge this name and I also must admit that while more descriptive, the name just ain’t sticking.

I digressed again. It’s all the sugar. My mind is racing. Sorry.

Oh, but first, some notes:
Use the best chocolate you can get. With only six ingredients, it makes a difference. As for the nuts, I used walnuts, but pecans would be smashing. Lastly, my mom’s original recipe doesn’t call for the espresso/coffee, but I think that a little bit of coffee really brings out the chocolate flavor even more, which is, naturally, a good thing.

OK, here we go, for real now:

Eagle Brand Cookies

2 ounces best quality unsweetened dark baking chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger)
1-14 ounce can Eagle Brand (or “fill in the blank” brand) sweetened condensed milk
2 cups coconut (I used unsweetened, but if you’re insane, you can use sweetened)
3/4 cup walnuts (pecans would also be smashing)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon brewed espresso or strong coffee

Preheat oven to 275ºF/135ºC (or what my mom endearingly calls a “slow oven”).

Melt the chocolate in a medium mixing bowl in the microwave. Add the condensed milk, stir to combine, then add the coconut and nuts. Mix in the vanilla and coffee.

Spoon a heaping teaspoon onto a Silpat-lined cookie sheet. Cook for 20 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Cool for a couple minutes on the pan. Delicious hot, but great cooled as well. Also easy to freeze (but why would you want to do that?).

Icebox Cookies

Published on May 28, 2010 in Cookies. 0 Comments Tags: , , , .


I love the name of this cookie (the official name from my grandmother is butterscotch icebox cookies, but we always just called them icebox cookies. So that’s what they’re called here). I love the idea and the time period it conjures up. It’s Mad Men without all the floozies. It’s the perfect family with the gingham tablecloth and the icebox full of home-cooked meals, Cool Whip and these cookies. It’s when moms made their kids cookies and didn’t get them from a bag. I realize this time period never really existed (the floozies were there, whether I want to admit it or not and hey, if we’re talking about floozies, we have to add Don Draper to the list), that even when life was simpler, it really wasn’t that simple, but this is my little fantasy and I’m stickin’ to it!


I’m not completely romanticizing this whole thing, though. I am rather pleased to say that my childhood did, in fact, involve home-baked cookies, and I really never had cookies out of bag ever (until we discovered Pepperidge Farms Milano cookies and then the jig was up). And this cookie was one of our favorites. The fact that it was one of my mom’s favorites from her childhood as well just makes it all the better. Make no mistake, this is a sweet cookie, but the exclusive use of brown sugar makes for a unique caramelized flavor. Sliced thin, they bake into a crisp-on-the-outside/chewy-on-the-inside cookie. The type of cookie that is easy to eat one after the other…I’d recommend starting with just one pan. Pace yourselves.


It’s also very retro (and nice) to have cookie dough on hand, so whenever you feel the urge or have someone pop in for a playdate or a mid-afternoon Harvey Wallbanger (or both), you can just slice a few cookies off the roll and…voilà! Fresh homemade cookies. Just like Betty would make (or more likely Carla, the housekeeper, but anyway…).

Icebox Cookies

1/2 cup/113.4 g butter, softened
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup nuts (we usually use walnuts, but pecans would be delish too)

Mix butter and brown sugar in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla extract. Gradually stir in the flour, reserving about 1/3 cup. Mix the reserved flour with the chopped nuts, then add that to the bowl.

Form into a long roll about 2″ in diameter. Wrap in wax paper and plastic and refrigerate overnight. Slice very thin (about 1/4″ thick) and place on a greased cookie sheet (or use a Silpat liner).

Bake for 8 minutes at 350ºF/180ºC.

Peppermint Pockets

Published on December 23, 2009 in Cookies, Desserts and Holiday. 1 Comment


Yes, it’s that time of year folks. Time to start packin’ it away. Chow down. Get yourself stuffed to the gills. And what better way to do it than with butter and sugar and a few other goodies? Ahhh, Christmas cookies. It really doesn’t feel like Christmas until I get to cooking some cookies. It’s best to bake Christmas cookies in one’s pajamas (or cozies as they’re known as in this casa). I believe it adds to the feeling of festiveness and, let’s face it, elastic waists can only be a good thing when baking is involved!

This is one of three cookies that were traditional Christmas cookies in my house growing up (the other two are an Eagle Brand coconut cookie and a classic spritz cookie – coming, coming, don’t worry!). Peppermint pockets were by far the most work and the most “fancy” – I’ve never really had anything like these. They’re devastatingly good — and I’m not really a peppermint person per se (say that five times fast!). You’ve got a lovely crumbly texture to the cookie and then once you get to the middle, you hit the creamy, peppermint gooey jackpot. I also love a cookie that if you accidentally exhale while biting into it, you end up like Woody Allen in that famous scene in Annie Hall.

Age-inappropriate Annie Hall references aside, this is a fun recipe to make with your kiddies – having four kids in five years pretty much ensured my mom had a nice little assembly line going in the kitchen, particularly at holiday time. You can make the bigger cookie part and little hands are perfect for rolling and flattening the tops. If you’ve got a few other kids lying around, one can do the filling and the other can handle the post-bake roll in the crushed peppermint sugar. So, get the assembly line set up and get to it!




NOTES:
Try not to freak out about all the sugar. It seems insane, but if you add it all up, it’s only 1-1/4 cups. And you probably won’t use all the filling or the coating*, so deduct 1/2 cup when pondering this. There. Not so bad.

If you want to go organic and corn syrup-free with the peppermint candies, try these.

The red food coloring is optional and also hilarious. Doesn’t its inclusion just make this such an old-school recipe? You know, before we knew about all the things that can kill us? Anyway, you can substitute beet juice, if you have some lying around or just skip it.

* Because you will end up eating a lot of the dough. But try not to eat it all. You will get sick. I ate a few cookies’ worth and felt ever so slightly ill, but didn’t regret it for a second. Is that wrong? No? Okay, good.

Merry Christmas!

Peppermint Pockets

Dough:
1 cup/227 g butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 – 3 cups flour, sifted

Cream the butter until smooth. Gradually add the sugar and vanilla extract and mix until well blended. Slowly add the flour at low speed (if using a mixer), incorporating it into the dough before adding more. I ended up only using 2-1/2 cups of flour, and the dough was pretty crumbly. Next time, I’ll probably use a bit less. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate while preparing the other components.

Coating:
1/2 cup hard peppermint candy, crushed
1/4 cup confectioner’s sugar

Mix the crushed candy and confectioner’s sugar together and set aside.

FYI, I recommend using a food processor for this, as my attempt at using a wine bottle over a dish towel with the candy in a ziploc bag WHILE the child was napping, mind you, was a bust. But try to not to grind it up too finely (as I did); you want some bits in there.

Filling:
2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon milk
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
3 tablespoons reserved candy coating
1 drop red food coloring (optional)

In a small bowl with a wooden spoon, blend the cream cheese with the milk. Gradually mix in the sugar, the reserved candy mixture and the food coloring (if using).

Using a rounded teaspoon’s worth, roll the dough into balls and flatten slightly onto an ungreased cookie sheet. They may be somewhat crumbly and crack here and there; just try to keep the basic shape and don’t worry too much about perfection (I know it’s hard). With your thumb, make a deep hole in the center of the cookie (don’t go through the bottom, though, please) and fill with about a 1/2 teaspoon of filling. Flatten a small piece of the cookie dough in your palm and place that over the hole and press down to seal the edges.

Bake for 12-15 minutes. While still hot, roll each cookie in the crushed candy mixture.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies (or 1 dozen if you (and your husband/partner in crime — I didn’t do this alone!) eat sickening amounts of the cookie dough).