Making swirled gingerbread cream cheese bars!!

I decided to try something that I've never made before and use a gingerbread recipe. I used this recipe from Cookies to Die For! by Bev Shaffer that utilizes two layers of cream cheese flavor and one solid large layer of gingerbread that combined great! I would highly recommend this recipe to a friend, especially since many of mine enjoyed it.
"Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 2 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature, plus additional, melted, for brushing foil
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/3 molasses
• 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 13x9" baking pan with foil. Lightly brush foil with melted butter.


In a small bowl, mix together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.


Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, beat the butter with 3/4 cup of granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.


Beat in egg until well blended. Mix in flour mixtures until combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl


Stir in molasses and 3 tbsp. water just until blended. Do not overmix.


Gently spread into prepared pan.


Using an electric mixer, in a medium bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Beat in remaining 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar and the vanilla. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.


Reserve 1/2 cup of the frosting; cover and refrigerate remaining frosting until ready to use. Spoon teaspoonful dollops of the reserved 1/2 cup of frosting over the gingerbread batter in pan. With knife or spatula, ever so gently swirl frosting throughout the batter to marbleize.


Bake for 28 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Carefully lift out of pan using foil. Cool completely on a wire rack.


Invert and gently peel off foil. Invert again so bottom is down, then spread refrigerated frosting over gingerbread. Cut into bars, makes about two dozen" (Shaffer 164).


This recipe was troublesome occasionally, when it required careful spreading of the cream cheese upon the gingerbread batter. But, it was completely worth it for the flavor. This was likely one of the recipes that took a longer time, especially with all of the baking and cooling time, but I had time to spare so it wasn't an issue. Just don't expect to be done with this recipe within an hour.

 While I enjoyed the end results, I did make a mistake that likely was damaging to the flavor cream cheese. In the recipe it says to reserve 1/2 cup of frosting to put on before baking (Shaffer 164). I misread the recipe, I think because it uses the word reserve I assumed it meant to save for later, not the other way around. This put more frosting on the gingerbread before baking, and not on the other side of the bars which would likely have given a stronger cream cheese flavor, which I think was weak.

As much as I liked the results of the bars, and how many people enjoyed them, I think they could've been better. In my opinion, the gingerbread to cream cheese ratio was not exactly where it should've been. Other than that mishap, I think all of the flavors were great and many people agreed with this.

In the future, if I ever do try this recipe again, I might change things with the cream cheese. Since I don't think there is anything I could do differently with the gingerbread and cream cheese flavors themselves, I think proportions is what I could work on. I could either follow the recipe for once in my life, or I could make more cream cheese than prescribed by multiplying all of the measurements by 5/4 or 3/2.

Do you think I should change the cream cheese frosting at all? How so?

Shaffer, Bev. Cookies to Die For! Gretna, LA: Pelican Pub., 2009. Print.

Making Shortbread with Choclate chips!

I chose this recipe for shortbread because I am Scottish and shortbread is a very common item there. Traditionally, made in large wedges, then just broken off into pieces and eaten with tea. I have actually made the traditional shortbread so I was interested on how the take on shortbread would end up.
"Ingredients

• 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp. cornstarch
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 3 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/3 cup coarse grain sugar

Heat oven to 350 degrees.


Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, beat the confectioners' sugar, butter, and vanilla, until light and fluffy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl.


Mix in the flour, cornstarch, and salt until blended. Stir in the chocolate pieces.


On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to a 10" square. Cut into 16 squares, and then diagonally cut each square in half.


Place each wedge 1 1/2" apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Sprinkle tops with coarse sugar.


Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or just until edges are a light golden brown. Makes 32 pieces" (Shaffer 186).

I decided to try this recipe to see how a new and different twist on the normal shortbread I hold so closely to home. Although this recipe was fairly simple to follow, I noticed some key differences from the first time I made shortbread. I can say I probably had higher expectations for this recipe, but in the end I had many tell me it was good, although some other mixed reviews.

I, unintentionally, did not follow the recipe entirely. It calls for 1/3 of a cup of coarse grain sugar on the shortbread wedges before baking (Shaffer 186). I, of course, forgot to follow this step and didn't realize until the wedges were baking. I don't think this was a key step, but I wanted to clarify this. Also, when I tried to cut the wedges into 32 pieces, I ended up with some pieces smaller than the others. So, I had to cut and make even more wedges, ending up with more than 32 pieces.

Compared to the other times I have made traditional shortbread, I would say it is just not quite the same. For starters, the dough was much drier than it should have been before I put it in the oven. The dough would not hold together, and many of the edges would crumbles when I tried cutting the wedges. Although it wasn't very traditional, I did like the flavor, but it was more like a dry cookie than actual shortbread.

If I ever did try this recipe again, I think it would be necessary to use less flour for the dough, to keep everything together for cutting. I would likely add 3/4 of a cup of flour to the dough and see if I needed more. Also, I would add coarse sugar to the wedges before I baked them. Cutting the wedges into a more consistent shape would also be a change that I make. As for flavor, I might try using different kinds of chocolate or some other ingredient to replace the chocolate.

What do you think would be a could change for the chocolate pieces?

Shaffer, Bev. Cookies to Die For! Gretna, LA: Pelican Pub., 2009. Print.

Making chocolate chip cookie brownie bars!

This recipe for chocolate chip cookie brownie bars was in the cook book made by Bev Shaffer named Cookies to Die For! When cut up, it can make about three dozen bars.
"Ingredients for brownie

• 4 oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 4 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Ingredients of chocolate chip cookie

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups unbleached, all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups mini semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9" baking pan. Line pan with foil, then lightly grease foil.


For the brownie base: Melt the chocolate and butter in a medium saucepan, over low heat, stirring to blend. Remove pan from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, and vanilla.


Stir in flour, baking power, and salt. Spread into prepared pan.


For the chocolate chip cookie dough: Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until creamy. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl


Mix in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips. Top brownie base with spoonfuls of cookie dough, distributing as evenly as possible.


Bake for 55 to 65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted i the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely on a wire rack.


When completely cool, invert onto a large cutting board and gently remove foil. Reflip onto another large cutting board so the chocolate chip cookie topping is right side up. Cut into bars. Makes about three dozen" (Shaffer 140).


I tried this recipe because I thought it would be something interesting, combining brownies with cookies. Although combining the two doughs was tedious, the flavors were definitely worth it. At first I though that the brownie had overpowered the flavor of the cookie, but when I tried both flavors separately I noticed they combined quite well.

For once, I almost completely stuck to the recipe given. But, I was bringing these to a get-together and I was running short on time due to the long bake time. So, I was supposed to let the cookie/brownie cool on a large cutting board and then cut them into bars (Shaffer 140). Instead, I grabbed the pan with a towel and put them into my car so I wouldn't be even more late. I then cut them into bars at the get-together.

As much as I love this recipe, it proved to be challenging in some cases. If not cooled as supposed to, it is quite challenging to cut and remove bars out of the pan, while not shredding the foil everywhere. Also, throwing spoonful's of cookie dough on top of the brownie mix was painstaking and not very precise. Although I liked that certain parts had different ratios of cookie to brownie, it wasn't visually pleasing. I thought this especially about the areas I got little to no cookie dough at.

Hopefully, I will be able to do this recipe again. In which case, there are probably some different actions I would take. First off, I would actually let the everything cool properly, then remove and cut the bars. I would also try a different way to more evenly distribute the cookie dough, possibly by trying to give it some shape or roll it out and then place it on top of the brownie mix. Then I might try to mix up the flavors, maybe using larger chocolate chips in the cookie dough or maybe adding flavored chocolate chips to my brownie mix.

How do you think I could make the bars more flavorful without ruining the combination of cookie with brownie?

Shaffer, Bev. Cookies to Die For! Gretna, LA: Pelican Pub., 2009. Print

Making Eggnog Cutouts!

I found this recipe for eggnog flavored cutouts in the book Cookies to Die For! by Bev Shaffer. I made these cutouts during the holidays and it holds true to the description of flavor, however it doesn't use any eggnog which I found interesting.
"Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp. baking powder
• 3/4 tsp. grated nutmeg
• 2/3 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces, cold
• 1 large egg
• 2 tbsp. milk, whole or 2 percent

Confectioners' Sugar Icing

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted
• 2 to 3 tsp. milk, whole or 2 percent

In a food processor, place the flour, sugar, baking power, and nutmeg and pulse to combine.


Add cold pieces of butter and pulse several times just until the mixture forms fine crumbs.


In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk and add to the four mixture. Pulse just until mixture is moistened. Divide dough in half and shape into 2 disk. Wrap in plastic wrap; flatten to 1/2" thick. Chill dough for 2 hours


Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.


Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to 1/8" thick, one disk at a time (keep remaining dough refrigerated). Cut with your favorite cookie cutters, placing 1" apart on prepared cookie sheets.


Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or just until edges are a light golden color. Cool 1 minute, then remove from cookie sheets to wire racks to cool completely.


For the Icing: In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioners'' sugar and milk to make Icing desires spreading or piping consistency.


Decorate cooled cookies by spreading or, with a pastry bag and a thin tip, piping with the Icing Makes about 2 dozen" (Shaffer 223).


These cookies took longer than the last ones I made since of two hours the dough had to chill, but once again the recipe was clear and easy to follow. I may have worked for thirty or forty minutes, but most of the time was waiting for the dough to cool and then baking.

I have never made cutout cookies, and for my first time I decided to do my own thing in a way. The recipe calls for an icing that you can decorate the cookies with after they cool (Shaffer 223). However, I decided to not add the sugar to keep the flavor of the eggnog and to keep the cookie simpler. Also, the recipe says it can make around twenty-four cookies. Yet, I was only capable of making around eighteen, but my cookies were fairly large. The size of the cookies also required a longer baking time than nine minutes to bake completely.



With this recipe, I was quite surprised about how little milk it called for, calling only for a couple tablespoons. But I really did like this recipe, I thought the flavor matched eggnog well. The cookies baked well and there was not a struggle of the cookies running, they came off of the sheet well enough too. However, I think the flavor could have been a little stronger, it felt it was a little dull but it matched.


If I ever try this recipe again, I may try some new things. Since the eggnog flavor was dull, I could try adding more nutmeg, butter, and milk. I am not really sure if this would accomplish the goal, but I hope they will bring out the flavor more next time. I could also try having an icing on the cutouts and see if the original recipe is better. But I am afraid adding an icing will overpower the already weaker eggnog flavor.


Do you think I should try adding an icing to the cutouts? Why or why not?



Shaffer, Bev. Cookies to Die For! Gretna, LA: Pelican Pub., 2009. Print.



Making No-Flour Chocolate Cookies!

This recipe is from the book Cookies to Die For! by Bev Shaffer, that I recently acquired. It makes about a dozen flourless chocolate cookies with walnuts.
“Ingredients

• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
• 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• Pinch of salt
• 2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 large egg whites, room temperature

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Using an electric mixer, in a large bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, confectioners’ sugar, and salt. Add walnuts; mix to blend.

In a small bowl, whisk together vanilla and egg whites.

With mixer on low speed, slowly add egg mixture to dry ingredients. Scare bottom and sides of bowl. Turn speed to medium and mix for two minutes to blend well.

Using a ¼ cup measure or equivalent cookie scoop, drop dough onto prepared cookies sheets, spacing at least three inches apart.

Place cookie sheet in oven and immediately turn oven to 325 degrees. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until thin cracks appear on the cookies’ surface.

Cool completely on a wire rack before attempting to remove cookies. Makes about one dozen” (Shaffer 90).

For my first post I tried to start with a recipe that would be interesting. The lack of flour showed no issues and this recipe was easy to do within an hour! I finished mixing all of the ingredients and scooping them into a cookie sheet in about forty minutes, after gathering all of my supplies first.

I did like this recipe; however, I did stray away in some cases. Shaffer recommended that the two cups of walnuts were toasted (Shaffer 90), but for the sake of convenience, I did not do this process before mixing. Also, the egg whites I used were not yet at room temperature when I mixed them, also for the sake of convenience.

For my first time baking cookies without flour, I liked the results. This brought a new experience and almost a new way for me to bake cookies in the future. However, from a critical standpoint, there were flaws. I think the walnuts did overpower the chocolate flavor, and a ¼ measuring cup was an issue since these cookies spread a lot when in the oven.

For the future if I ever did try this recipe I would change things. For starters, I would try toasting the walnuts beforehand, to see any differences. Also, since the walnut flavor was overpowering, I would reduce the amount of walnuts and I would add more sugar and cocoa powder. I also think that with a strong walnut flavor, the cookies ended up a little bland. I was thinking that maybe I could add something, like chocolate chips, to make the cookies more interesting.

What do you think I could add to make this recipe more flavorful?

Shaffer, Bev. Cookies to Die For! Gretna, LA: Pelican Pub., 2009. Print.