Better-than-Brownie-Cookies

I was really sad a few days ago... My sister is growing up and doesn’t care about me anymore – the sister who, as a little girl, would be around me 24/7; the same sister who would grab my legs if I got the car keys. Feeling her so distant breaks me heart... :õ(

But life brings us great surprises – one day after calling my sis and hearing “I’m busy now” I met a reader of the blog that put a smile on my face: she’s 17 and adorable! She’s one of my coworker's daughter and wanted to meet me while dropping by the office. Her name is Marina and she made me blush with so many kind words about the blog. After that I even got a lovely email and a beautiful book. I’ve told her mom that I would like to “adopt” Marina as my little sister. :D

I made these cookies for her (after my macaron disaster) as a way to thank her for being so generous.

Marina, dear, it was a great joy meeting you and your tenderness made my heart warm again.
xoxo

Better-than-Brownie-Cookies
slightly adapted from here

1 1/3 cups (233g) dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids or more, chopped
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 eggs
2/3 cup (134g) sugar – I used vanilla infused sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (35g) all purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (175g) dark chocolate chunks or chips

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

Melt the 1 1/3 cups chocolate with the butter in a small saucepan over low heat – stir constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool for 5 minutes. Mix eggs, vanilla and sugar in a medium bowl. Combine thoroughly. Set aside.
Sift flour and baking powder together in a small bowl.
Add melted chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and slowly add your dry ingredients. When stirred, add the cup of chocolate chunks/chips and stir.

Scoop 1 ½ tablespoons of dough onto prepared sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are firm on the outside (dough loses its sheen). Leave to cool completely on sheets.

Makes about 18

A big hug, flavored with passion fruit

Blogging has several good aspects, and a very important one is meeting great people – and it doesn’t matter if they live around the corner or across the ocean.

The lovely Barbara is one of those people and she’s going through a hard time right now, battling cancer once again. :(

The equally lovely Bron and Ilva organized a virtual hug for Barbara and I’m glad to be a part of it. I hope she likes this fresh and simple dessert, full of fruity flavors.

Barbara, my dear, be sure that there are Brazilian fingers here crossed for you. I know you’ll kick cancer in the ass again.
You might be half a planet away, but are certainly close to my heart.

Passion fruit jellies with banana and honey yogurt
slightly adapted from Australian Gourmet Traveller

350ml passion fruit juice*
175ml freshly squeezed orange juice
200g sugar
6 gelatin leaves, softened in cold water
200g yogurt
30g honey
thickly sliced banana, to serve
passion fruit pulp, to serve

Combine juices, sugar and 1 cup water in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves, then pass through a fine sieve. Warm ½ cup juice mixture in a saucepan over medium heat, squeeze excess water from gelatin, add to pan and stir until gelatin dissolves, then add remaining juice mixture. Cool slightly and pour into six 1 cup-capacity glasses and refrigerate for 4 hours or until set.
To serve, whisk together yoghurt and honey. Top jellies with a spoonful of yogurt, cover with banana slices and spoon over passion fruit pulp.

Note: to make passion fruit juice, blend passion fruit pulp in a food processor to crack seeds, then strain through a fine sieve. Twelve passion fruit yield about 1 cup of juice.

* I used concentrated bottled juice

Serves 6

Alfajores

I’m kind of tired of war movies – don’t get me wrong, there are wonderful ones out there, I just think that maybe I have seen too many in a short period of time. But tell me, how will I be able to resist such a beautiful poster?

In the same way, you must be tired of seeing so many cookies around here. Bear with me, please – it’s just one more thing I cannot resist. :)

The alfajores were a present for a dear coworker of mine, Adriana – it was her birthday last week and I made these especially for her.

I used Katia’s recipe and the alfajores turned out wonderful – the dough is not hard to work with and yields a good amount of cookies. Just make sure you use firm dulce de leche – a runny kind won’t stay put inside the alfajores.

Alfajores

1 ¼ cup (150g) cornstarch
1 cup (140g) flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
¾ cup (150g) sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cognac
dulce de leche
icing sugar

Sift cornstarch, flour and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside.

In large mixer bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg yolks one at a time and mix until incorporated. Add cognac and mix well.

In slow speed, add the sifted ingredients and mix until the dough comes together – don’t overmix.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; line two large baking sheets with baking paper.

Roll out dough between two pieces of baking paper to ¼ inch (0.60cm) thickness. Using a 2-in (5cm) round cutter, cut cookies and place on prepared sheets – don’t reroll the dough more than twice. If you are working on a warm place, refrigerate the dough for a couple of minutes before rolling it.
Bake for 10-15 minutes or until barely brown on the bottom - tops will be pale. Set on cooling rack to cool.
Sandwich the cookies with the dulce de leche and dust with icing sugar before serving.
This recipe can be easily doubled.

Makes 25 sandwich cookies

Chocolate shortbread fingers and gifts from Berlin

I’ve come to the conclusion that I’m a clickaholic – every time I read something online I click, and click, then click and click again. I go, link after link, and sometimes I don’t even remember where I started. :)

I was listening to Billy Idol’s “Sweet Sixteen” this morning on my way to work – absolutely love that song – and, after googling him, then the song, I ended up here. I did not know about that artist and was really intrigued by his bio and work.

That’s how I met Silvia, a lovely Brazilian blogger who lives in Berlin. I clicked on Technorati, then clicked on one blog that had linked mine... And we became friends.

All the delicious treats you see on the photos were sent by her, all the way from Germany. Isn’t it amazing? You, my blogger friends, will end up spoiling me pretty bad... :)

Silvia, my dear, thank you so much for the gifts!! I loved each and every one of them! xoxo

Another result of my clicking mania was finding this recipe – Jen posted it a long time ago and I urge you to try it, too. These cookies are wonderful and I’m sure you have all the ingredients in your pantry.

Chocolate shortbread fingers

1 ½ cups (340g/3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons (370g) all-purpose flour
4 ½ tablespoons Dutch process cocoa powder
heaping ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (200g) superfine sugar
granulated sugar, for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 160ºC/325ºF. Butter/spray a 30x20cm (12x8in) rimmed baking sheet and line with parchment paper, letting it hang over the long sides. Sift together flour, cocoa, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

Beat together butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. If you don’t have superfine sugar, process granulated sugar in a food processor for 15 seconds. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Spread dough into baking sheet. Chill dough in refrigerator or freezer for about 15 minutes or until firm. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake for about 20 minutes or until firm – mine took 35. While still hot, cut into 10x2.5cm (4x1in) pieces. A pizza cutter works wonderfully for this. Sprinkle top of shortbread with granulated sugar, covering completely. Cool completely in the pan.

Makes about 20 (I cut mine a bit shorter and wider than Jen’s)

Spiced yogurt mini cakes and a box of gifts

I got a box full of gifts!!

These were the prizes I won with my sake panna cotta at the event hosted by my lovely friend Clarice. She sent all these amazing things all the way from Japan. Thank you, dear!

I had Clarice in mind while making these mini cakes – they are delicate and pretty, just like her. She loves all things cornmeal, but the wonderful cinnamon she sent was such an inspiration and I felt like baking with that flavor.

Clarice, my friend, I wish I could personally serve you these cakes, on a beautifully set table; since I can’t, I virtually offer them to you, with love!

Spiced yogurt mini cakes
from a Brazilian cookbook

1/3 cup skinned almonds, coarsely chopped
225g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
180g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
90g unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
200g plain yogurt

Icing:
1 cup (140g) icing sugar
2 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons sliced almonds, slightly toasted

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF; generously butter a 12-cup muffin pan.

In a bowl, place the chopped almonds, 4 tablespoons of the granulated sugar, the cinnamon and nutmeg.
In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

Using a stand mixer, cream together butter and remaining granulated sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Fold in 1/3 of the sifted ingredients and half the yogurt. Proceed with the remaining dry ingredients and yogurt in 2 additions.

Place a heaped tablespoon of batter in the bottom of each muffin cup. Generously sprinkle with the almond and spice mixture. Cover with cake batter (don’t fill the pan too much or it might overflow while in the oven)
Bake for 20 minutes or until golden and a skewer inserted in the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and let cool completely before unmolding.

Make the icing: mix sugar and milk together until smooth and runny – add more milk if necessary. Pour the icing over the cooled cakes and sprinkle with the sliced almonds.

Makes 12

Orange cranberry slice-and-bake cookies and an appeal for Bri

You must have already read on other food blogs that the sweet Bri is battling cancer once again. She’s shown us her strength and will power through these hard times and I’m sure she’s in everyone’s prayers.

Bee and Jai of Jugalbandi are coordinating a fundraiser for Bri. The goal is to raise $12,000 to help her pay for her treatments (for a year). Click here to find out more about it and also to make a donation.

Yellow has become the color of hope – that’s why I’m posting these delicious orange cranberry cookies (a recipe by Deb).

Orange cranberry slice-and-bake cookies

1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
grated zest of 2 oranges
½ cup dried orange-flavored cranberries, chopped

Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until it is smooth. Add the sifted confectioners’ sugar and beat again until the mixture is smooth and silky. Beat in the egg yolks, followed by the salt, zest and cranberries. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, beating just until it disappears. It is better to underbeat than overbeat at this point; if the flour isn’t fully incorporated, that’s okay just blend in whatever remaining flour needs blending with a rubber spatula. Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and divide it in half. Wrap each piece of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Working on a smooth surface, form each piece of dough into a log that is about 1 to 1 ¼ inches (2.5 to 3.2cm) thick. (Get the thickness right, and the length you end up with will be fine.) Wrap the logs in plastic and chill for 2 hours. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and kept refrigerated for up to 3 days or stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.)

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF (I preferred to bake my cookies at the central rack, one sheet at a time). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

While the oven is preheating, using a sharp slender knife, slice each log into cookies about 1/3 inch (1cm) thick. (You can make the cookies thicker if you’d like; just bake them longer.) Place the cookies on the lined baking sheets, leaving about ½ inch (1.5 cm) space between them.

Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are set but not browned. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks to cool to room temperature.

Keeping: Packed airtight, the cookies will keep for about 5 days at room temperature or in the freezer for a month. Unbaked logs can be frozen for longer.

Makes about 50 cookies

Dark chocolate madeleines

These madeleines were especially made for a person I hold very dear. A woman who has been a friend for a while now. We talk about a million things, laugh together and sometimes cry together too.
C., I adore you and wish you all the best not only in 2008 but always!

I made the madeleines using one of the hundreds of wonderful recipes at Bake or Break and the lovely Jennifer was kind enough to let me post it here on my blog as well.

The madeleines were delicious and quite moist on the inside – the flavor and texture reminded me of those luxurious chocolate cakes that call for little or no flour at all, like the Suzy’s cake by Pierre Hermé.

Dark chocolate madeleines

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted (for coating madeleine pans)
85g (3 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
85g (3 ounces/6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 extra large eggs*, at room temperature
1/3 cup (65g) superfine sugar
½ cup (70g) all-purpose flour, sifted
¼ teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 175ºC/350ºF. Using a paper towel or pastry brush, coat the insides of madeleine pan with melted butter.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Melt on low microwave power, stirring every 30 seconds until melted. Add vanilla extract and combine.

Using the whisk attachment of a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the eggs on medium speed until frothy (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and mix until mixture is very thick and pale (about 5 minutes). The mixture should hold a slowly dissolving ribbon when the beater is lifted.

In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt. Add to the egg mixture in three stages, mixing well on low speed after each addition. Mixture should be smooth. Pour the chocolate mixture into the batter and mix well.

Pour or pipe (very tightly) the batter into the madeleine pan, filling them ¾ full (I was a bad girl and poured a little bit more batter). Place the pan on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. If baking two pans at once, bake 6-7 minutes, then switch the position of the pans and bake another 6-7 minutes. Madeleines are done when the tops spring back lightly when touched.

Can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container between layers of waxed paper for 3 days.

*Large eggs and extra-large eggs are interchangeable until you need more than 4 eggs.

Makes 15 small madeleines and 6 bigger ones (the scallop pan I have)

Lime honey madeleines

These delicate madeleines are a simple homage to a friend of mine who lives on the other side of the planet. She’s a tremendously talented cook/baker and I have used many of her recipes here.
A generous and sensitive friend, who sent, all the way from Japan, a box addressed to Brazil – a box full of beautiful and adorable things. And these were among the gifts:

It took me forever to first use the pans – every time I decided to make the madeleines, I remembered that the batter had to be refrigerated for at least a while. And as Murphy is also a friend of mine (sometimes) the idea of baking these beauties would only occur to me when there would be no time for batter-resting.

Of course I used a recipe from the person who sent me the pans – the madeleines were fantastic! I had never tried these famous miniature cakes – can I call them this way? – and it was a new and delicious thing to learn. The smell of the lime is contagious and the flavor… Well, I don’t need to tell these are highly addictive – can’t wait to try different recipes.

Akemi, my dear, you are a very, very special person. I’m so lucky to have you as a friend!! Thank you for sharing such amazing things with me! xoxo

Lime honey madeleines

100g unsalted butter
100g all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
60g sugar
30g honey – I used orange blossom honey
2 tablespoons lime juice
pinch of grated lime zest – this is optional; I’m a citrus sucker so I used the grated zest of 1 large lime

Brush molds with melted butter and sprinkle with flour to coat; tap the pans to remove excess flour.
Sift together flour and baking powder into a bowl.

In another bowl, whisk eggs and sugar until well combined. Add the juice, zest and the flour mixture. Mix only until flour is incorporated.
Melt butter and honey in the microwave oven or in a small bowl over lightly simmering water – I did this step before starting the recipe itself and set the liquid aside to cool a bit.
Add melted butter + honey to batter and mix well.

Cover the bowl with plastic or cling film and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour – I left it overnight.

Preheat the oven to 180ºC/355ºF. Pour batter onto prepared pans – it’s not necessary to level it up, since the batter will spread in the oven.

Bake for 20 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the cakes comes out clean.

Makes 12 madeleines – I got 15 small + 5 large ones

The bumps were pretty small... I think I have to keep making madeleines until I get bigger bumps. :)

Fabulous five-minute fudge

One of my Brazilian blogger friends – a very witty and smart one, by the way – wrote a post a couple of months ago about how much her mother likes to prepare homemade gifts – food, to be more specific. There’s a kind of pie she makes for her friends and coworkers that is so famous I wish I lived nearby so she could bake one for me, too. :D

I like to made food gifts for my friends, and I’m sure many of you do, too. I’m always thinking of baking cookies for one, making candy for another…

I wanted to send a gift to a friend and the lovely Lynn helped me choose what to send. She suggested brownies or fudge – they would be easier to pack and sturdy enough to be mailed. I used this recipe – and what a wonderful website that is. So many great recipes and beautiful photos that it is almost impossible to choose one…

Ju, dear, it was wonderful to know you liked the gift!

Fabulous five-minute fudge

2 cups (12oz/336g) semisweet chocolate pieces
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk (196g/one-half of a 14-ounce can)
1 tablespoon water
¾ cup (90g) chopped walnuts, toasted if desired
1 teaspoon vanilla

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper; set aside. In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine chocolate pieces, sweetened condensed milk, and water.

Microwave, uncovered, on 100% power (high) for 1 minute; stir. Microwave about 1 minute more, or until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth, stirring every 30 seconds. Stir in nuts and vanilla. Pour mixture onto prepared cookie sheet and spread it into a 22x15cm* (9x6-inch) rectangle, or drop mixture by rounded teaspoons onto prepared cookie sheet.

Chill fudge about 30 minutes or until firm. Cut into 3.5cm (approx. 1-1/2-inch) squares

Makes 24 pieces

* I used a 27x15 cm baking sheet and spread the fudge completely inside it – I got 28 squares.

My BBM package has arrived!

Yay!!! My Blogging by Mail package has arrived!!!

And all these fantastic things were sent to me by the sweet Molly, from the wonderful blog Batter-Splattered - all the way from Alaska!! Not only is she a terrific baker, but also a very thoughtful person!



She sent me these delicious chocolate bars (it was sooo hard NOT eating them before taking the photo) and I was so glad because I’ve read about Dagoba chocolate but it’s impossible to find it here in Brazil; some environmental friendly paper bags I knew nothing about (I’ll be filling one of them today with freshly baked cookies), these lovely napkins and a moose cookie cutter!

And she sent these gifts beautifully packaged.

Molly, I was delighted to receive these gifts - thank you, thank you, thank you!

And I also want to thank Steph, from Dispensing Happiness, for organizing and hosting this magnificent event!