World Peace Cookies Recipe

World Peace Cookies Recipe
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours, metric measurements from Deb Perelman’s Smitten Kitchen
Makes about 36 cookies
Ingredients:

1¼ cups (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1/3 cup (30 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons or 150 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3cup (120 grams) (packed) light brown sugar
¼ cup (50 grams) sugar
½ teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 ounces (150 grams) bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous ¾ up store-bought mini chocolate chips

Method:

Make the cookie dough: Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together. Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour. Drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1½ inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

Getting ready to bake: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F (160°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about one inch between them.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

Serving: The cookies can be eaten when they are warm or at room temperature — Doris prefers them at room temperature, when the textural difference between the crumbly cookie and the chocolate bits is greatest — and are best suited to cold milk or hot coffee.

Storing: Packed airtight, cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; they can be frozen for up to 2 months. They can also be frozen in log form for months, and can be sliced and baked directly from the freezer, adding a few minutes to the baking time.

Tips: If you find it difficult to shape the dough into a log, do it between a piece of parchment paper. To avoid very crumbly cookie dough when slicing, ensure that the butter is soft at room temperature before mixing, the chocolate chunks are small and the dough cold but not freezing. Let it rest on the counter for 5 to 15 minutes after being removed from the fridge or freezer. To avoid spreading cookies, chill the tray of sliced cookie dough for 5 to 10 minutes before baking. If the log breaks while cutting, just rearrange the crumbs and press them together again to form a round cookie.

Prune and chocolate cake

Prune and chocolate cake

From this link http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2011/dec/16/christmas-lunch-recipes

This rich and elegant cake is deceptively simple to make, and a great alternative for the many who don't get on with Christmas pud and mince pies. Serves eight to 10.

12 pitted prunes
100ml brandy
250g butter, cut into cubes, plus extra for greasing
250g dark chocolate, about 70%, broken into pieces
4 eggs, separated
100g caster sugar
100g light muscovado sugar
50g plain flour
50g finely ground almonds
1 tbsp icing sugar

Soak the prunes in the brandy overnight. Next day, grease a 23cm springform cake tin and line the base with baking parchment. Butter the parchment. Heat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. Drain the prunes, reserving the soaking liquid, and gently pat dry on kitchen paper.

Put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl and place over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the water doesn't touch the base of the bowl. Stir occasionally until the butter and chocolate have melted, then leave to cool slightly. Whisk the egg yolks and sugars in a large bowl until well combined. Stir in the melted chocolate mixture. Combine the flour and almonds, then fold them in, too.

In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until they hold firm peaks. Stir a large spoonful of egg white into the chocolate mixture to loosen it, then fold in the rest of the egg whites with a large metal spoon or spatula, trying to keep in as much air as possible.

Pour half the cake mixture into the prepared tin. Arrange the prunes over the top, then spoon over the rest of the mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes, until only just set – it should still wobble slightly in the centre – then leave to cool for about 15 minutes before releasing the tin.

Dust with icing sugar, and serve warm or cold, on its own or with thick cream or creme fraiche – flavour the cream with some of the prunes' soaking liquid and a bit of icing sugar, if you like.

Millionaire's SHORTBREAD WITH ROSEMARY-INFUSED SALTED caramel

From this link.

Ingredients

225g plain flour

85g caster sugar

315g unsalted butter

1 x 397g tin sweetened condensed milk

4 tbsps golden syrup

2 sprigs fresh rosemary

1 tsp Maldon sea salt

200g good-quality plain chocolate (at least 70pc cocoa solids)

Method

The rosemary-salted caramel is revolutionary. You would never think to pair the two ingredients, but rosemary adds a mature depth to this normally too-sweet treat. And the basic shortbread recipe is fantastic on its own, too.

Makes: 16 squares

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 35 minutes

Cooling time: 1 hour

1Pre-heat the oven to 170°C/Gas Mark 3. Line a 23cm square brownie tin with greaseproof paper. Put the flour and sugar into a bowl and rub in 200g of the butter -- the texture will be sandy but malleable enough to form a ball shape when pushed together. Press this sandy shortbread mixture into the tin and smooth it with your knuckles. Prick it with a fork and bake for five minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 150°C/Gas Mark 2 and cook for a further 30 minutes, or until pale golden and no longer doughy. Let it cool in the tin.

2Melt the remaining 115g butter in a pan over a low heat for two to three minutes, then add the condensed milk, golden syrup and rosemary sprigs.

3Whisk the mixture well until the butter is thoroughly incorporated. Bring it to a slow simmer then, keeping the temperature even, cook for 10 minutes, stirring continuously, until thickened and light golden-brown in colour (this mixture can burn very easily, so never take your eyes off it). Very carefully remove the rosemary from the pan, then pour the sauce evenly over the cooled shortbread. Sprinkle with the salt and leave it to set.

4 Break the chocolate into pieces and place in a microwaveable bowl. Microwave for one minute and 45 seconds on high, or until fully melted, stirring halfway through. Leave to cool for five minutes, then pour and spread the melted chocolate evenly over the toffee mixture and leave to cool in the fridge for one hour. Once set, cut the caramel shortbread into 16 squares.

The squares can be stored in the fridge, but if you keep them at room temperature for a while the caramel goes lovely and gooey!