Mini Black & White Cookies

I participated in another bake along with Megan! I did my first one with her back in December and made chocolate crinkle cookies. I was very pleased with these cookies. I believe that the recipe came from Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. It was a great choice and helped me use some of the leftover buttermilk from the corn muffins that I did not care for earlier this week. I didn't like the tedious frosting of them but they tasted very good in the end. I told the boys that they were zebra cookies. They liked them too and the entire batch disappeared in 2 days. They are very cake-like and soft.

My batch only made 3 dozen cookies. It was supposed to make 4. I always tend to make cookies bigger than they actually should be. The dough was also very hard to roll in balls initially after mixing. Thanks Martha for noting in the recipe that I should have chilled the dough for awhile (sarcasm). It would have been much easier to roll the dough into balls and made more uniformed cookies if I would have done so. I also would probably have been able to get 4 dozen as well. Oh well.

As for frosting these bad boys...this was the only part of the recipe that I didn't like. I don't have a lot of patience and maybe it was a good thing that I didn't have another 12 cookies to frost. My frosting also tasted more lemony than it should have. I didn't read the recipe well enough the first time through to learn that I should have thinned it with water. I just added some extra lemon juice. oops! I liked the lemon taste though. So did the rest of us. The Hubster did comment today that there was a very strong lemon taste to them though.

Ingredients
Makes about 4 dozen.

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup
2 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix butter until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add granulated sugar; mix until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in egg and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Mix in flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the buttermilk.
2. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls (or use a 1/2-ounce-capacity ice-cream scoop); place them 2 inches apart on lined sheets. Bake until bottoms turn golden, about 10 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool.
3. Whisk confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, lemon juice, remaining 1/4 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 tablespoon water in a small bowl until smooth. If necessary, add more water (icing should be a bit thicker than honey). Transfer half to a small bowl. Stir in cocoa; if necessary, thin with water. Spread white icing on half of each cookie's flat side, and cocoa icing on other half; let set 30 minutes.

Beef Tenderloin with Rosemary and Chocolate - CEiMB

Thank you Amanda! This was an excellent choice. I admit that I was a tad skeptical about mixing beef and chocolate. The whole combo just sounded strange. But it was SO good and I have a renewed faith in Ellie's recipes and this cookbook. Our dinner tonight was out of this world. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 180 in Ellie's cookbook.

I didn't buy a beef tenderloin. Our grocery budget this week didn't allow for a 2 lb beef tenderloin that would have put us out almost $30 some dollars. So I opted to buy a eye of round beef roast. It took a little longer to cook and was a little tougher than the way we normally prefer our steaks but it was still fantastic. The recipe was very easy to make and I guess healthy for you too. The sauce was made with beef broth, red wine, thyme, a bay leaf, scallions, celery, carrots, rosemary and cocoa powder. I served the dinner with herbed mashed potatoes and cauliflower.

The Hubster even liked it!! I am going to make this yummy chocolate sauce with filets when it gets warmer out and we can start using our grill again. We could actually use it now. However, we would likely get frostbite standing out there grilling anything. It is -8 degrees and the wind chill makes it more like -30 degrees.

Black and White Banana Loaf - TWD

This recipe was chosen back in August for the TWD group. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 232 in the cookbook.

My banana bread turned out almost cake-like and very moist. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips. The recipe also called for dark rum, lemon zest and a squirt of fresh lemon. I don't know if I used too big of a squirt of lemon or what. The taste, for me anyway, was OK. I couldn't tell if it was because of the lemon or the rum. Maybe I just don't care for banana bread? The Hubster and kids seemed to like it though and it disappeared rather quickly.

The bread was marbled after I divided the batter in half and mixed the melted semi-sweet chocolate chips in it. It is a very nice looking loaf of bread I will add. I think that I just prefer zucchini or strawberry bread better.

Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins - TWD

The recipe this week was chosen by Rebecca at Ezra Pound Cake. The recipe can be found HERE or on page 6 in Dorie's cookbook.

I put off making these muffins for the entire week and then decided to make them with chili tonight for supper. I think that A LOT of TWD bakers made chili to accompany their corn muffins. I also divided the recipe in half and omitted the chili powder, bell pepper, black pepper and jalapenos from half the recipe. I didn't know if I would like them with the spicier component. I normally am a huge fun of cornbread and like it very sweet.

Unfortunately, these muffins didn't really do anything for me. The Hubster liked them but called them "bland". They were not sweet enough for me in the slightest. We haven't eaten the chili yet but it smells delicious bubbling away in the slow cooker. Maybe I will like them better with the chili.

The meal is a perfect choice for this evening though. It is getting COLD here and by the end of the week we should have seen temperatures dip way below zero with wind chills of -30 something. Oh how I wish that I lived in California!!

Fried Rice with Scallions, Edamame, and Tofu - CEiMB

This week's recipe was chosen by Running with Food. I knew that tofu would not go over well in our house. I have never tried it and would have been willing to give it a shot, however, I knew that the Hubster would not. I also had no clue what edamame was until I went to the grocery store in search of it. I kind of thought it would be some sort of onion. WRONG! Soy beans. Interesting.



I substituted 1.25 lbs. of chicken for the tofu. I also used white rice (probably 4.5 cups) instead of brown because I wanted to use up some stuff in our pantry instead of buy more. Plus, I know that I don't really care for brown rice. I could only find a 10 oz. of package of edamame beans in their pod as well. I just peeled the beans out of the shells after cooking them and used the entire package. I increased the amount of ginger, garlic and corn as well and didn't use a "less sodium" soy sauce.
I was very skeptical about scrambling the eggs in the well of fried rice and thought that this runny egg would go everywhere. But I was wrong. The 2 eggs scrambled great in their little well.

As you can see, I completely made this recipe less healthy than it is supposed to be. However, we enjoyed it and my husband was very happy with how it tasted.

French Pear Tart - TWD

This week Mrs. Greenspan herself chose the recipe. Yes....Dorie! Yup...The author of the cookbook. How cool is that?! In celebration of TWD's 1st anniversary Dorie chose her pear tart.

The Hubster has been very excited about this dessert. He loves pears and almonds so I knew that this was going to be right up his alley. I was right. His exact words were, "Dude, this is SO good"! He then continued to inhale 2 pieces.

This delicious little tart was not hard to put together at all. I used fresh pears and poached them in water, sugar and lemon juice. I did boil them for longer than the recipe called for (15 minutes) because I wanted them to be soft and not at all crunchy (about 25 minutes). Dorie suggests that when using canned pears, the tart turns out just as good. I thought it would be fun to try and poach the pears because I have never done anything like that before.

The shortbread crust had me worried though. Mine was quite crumbly and didn't appear to form as the recipe stated. No worries though. It tasted absolutely delicious. It seriously tasted like a shortbread cookie. So. Ridiculously. Good!

The almond pasty cream was just as excellent. I really liked the almond taste and the slight chewiness was simply yum. Paired with the pears on top this is one FABULOUS dessert. I am sure to be making this one again for the Hubster. He was quite impressed.

Once again, this is the reason I love TWD. Just browsing through this wonderful cookbook I would have never picked this recipe to bake. However, this fun little baking group "forces" me to look outside the box and try new things.

THANKS DORIE! Not only for the great choice this week but also for my favorite baking cookbook!

Chocolate Cherry Almond Biscotti - CEiMB

Better late than never!

This recipe was chosen by Leanne from Enjoying My Favorite Things. Very nice choice Leanne! She has the recipe posted on her blog or if you click HERE you can find it. The recipe is also on page 302 in Ellie's cookbook.

This is only the second batch of biscotti I have ever made. The first being Lenox Almond Biscotti for TWD. I made this healthier version of biscotti tonight. The recipe calls for olive oil in place of butter. It also calls for dried cherries, almonds and dark chocolate. I used semi-sweet mini chips in place of the dark chocolate. I may have also put in a little extra mini chips as well.

This biscotti is OK. I wouldn't say that it is outstanding. I'm not sure that I really like the olive oil taste to it or not? You can definetely taste it in there though. I also remember that I liked the lenox almond biscotti much better the second day so I am thinking that I will enjoy this a lot more tomorrow. We'll see I guess. The Hubster even said that it was good.

For the life of me I can't figure out why my biscotti look like pieces of bread. I followed the recipe to a tee and made my log 10 inches long by 3 inches wide. The biscotti sure don't look like others that I have seen.