Witch's Hat Cookies

Halloween: it conjures up glowing jack-o-lanterns, a rustle of leaves on the ground, spooky bats and ghosts and skeletons hanging from doors or trees... and going door-to-door for sweets, all the while dressed up in some fantastic costume. Growing up, trick-or-treating has to be the best part of Halloween. Now that I'm at the age where it's more appropriate to hand out candy from my front door rather than to go out collecting it, I love Halloween no less... maybe even more! Halloween (or Halloweek) still gives me an excuse to dress up in costume, and as Jo and I proved earlier, carving pumpkins is a lot of fun and roasted pumpkin seeds are delicious, AND we get to bake Halloween-themed goodies! Seriously, what's not to love?

Enter the Witch's Hat Cookies. These are perfect for your Halloween parties this weekend - they look adorable and they taste great (the cookie dough is almost brownie-like, and who doesn't love Hershey's kisses?) So whether or not you make it out trick or treating on October 31st, here is a treat for you...

I halved the following recipe and it made 35 cookies... so it's up to you how many you want to make, but here is the recipe (from Canadian Living) in full:

THE RECIPE: 

4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped

1. In double boiler, heatproof bowl, or smaller saucepan over saucepan of hot (not boiling) water, melt chocolate, stirring occasionally.
2. Meanwhile beat together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Once chocolate is melted, beat it in too.
3. In separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Stir flour mixture into butter mixture in 2 additions to make smooth dough.
4. Roll dough into small ball and press flat onto parchment paper lined baking tray (size of cookie should be about 1 inch). Place cookies about 1 inch apart from each other.
5. Bake in 350 degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes, until edges are crisp (which is not easy to see on these chocolate cookies, but they will definitely be done in 10 minutes or less depending on your oven; I baked mine for 8).
6. Transfer to racks and press Hershey's Kisses into centre of each cookie. Let cool.

Icing:
Although the icing step of these cookies is not 100% necessary if you are in a rush, I think it adds a nice touch! I whipped up a quick icing with icing sugar, butter, vanilla and milk - and then played around with the food colour for a bit to get the light shade of orange I ended up with.
These amounts are approximate for the icing and can be modified depending on the thickness (you don't want your icing to be too thin or it will run):

1 cup icing sugar
3 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp milk
A few drops of pure vanilla extract
Food colour (yellow and red)

1. Blend icing sugar and butter together until smooth.
2. Blend milk and vanilla into icing sugar mixture.
3. Food colour: for orange, I started with yellow, and blended it in a few drops at a time, until I had a fairly bright shade of yellow. Then I added ONE drop of red, and suddenly my icing had turned a pinkish orange! So I added more yellow, until I was at a very pale orange - but since I wanted a bright orange, I added another drop of red. Once again, I had a pinkish icing - so I added some more yellow, and then decided I'd rather not risk pink icing again, so the colour in the pictures is what I finished with. If you're better at mixing food colours, feel free to give me some tips on how to make a brighter orange!
4. Transfer icing into a small ziplock bag and remove all access air from bag before sealing it. Push the icing into one of the bottom corners of the bag, and then cut a tiny, tiny hole.
5. Ice away your Witch's Hats! I chose to just ice around the Hershey's Kiss, although you could do a second rim around the brim too!

Melting chocolate... mmm

Press the Hershey's Kisses into the cookies when you take them out of the oven (in the past I've done this step backwards, and if you put them on the cookies before they go in the oven, they will melt and look more like Witch Hat Blobs than Witch Hat Cookies!) 

The icing brings these Witch's Hat Cookies to life!

Happy Trick or Treating!

Caroline and Jo

Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Happy Hallo-Week! (O.K... that was a pretty bad attempt at a funny Halloween joke, but bare with me).

This post came from a desire to carve pumpkins and blog about it... but because we are a food-centered blog, we needed something edible to go along with it. Enter pumpkin seeds!!

Ya, we made a bowl out of a pumpkin. Nbd. Watch out Martha Stewart!

For those of you who haven't tried this tasty treat... it's pretty tasty... and easy!! (Win!) And a great way to make use of some of that pumpkin gunk/guts/slimy stuff.

THE RECIPE:

All you need for this recipe is:

Pumpkin Seeds (minus pumpkin gunk)
Melted Butter
Salt & Pepper

1. As you are hauling out the insides of your pumpkin, separate the seeds from the slimy stuff and put them into a colander. Don't worry if there are some slimy bits mixed in - they'll rinse off pretty easy! Which brings us to the next step...
2. Rinse the pumpkin seeds.
3. Spread the seeds on a cookie sheet trying to make a single layer so the seeds will dry faster/toast more evenly.
4. IF you have the time, let the seeds dry out for a few hours or overnight. Since we are impatient we've never actually tried this so we don't ACTUALLY know if it makes a difference - try it and let us know!
5. Toss the pumpkin seeds, melted butter, and the salt and pepper together in a bowl.
6. Re-lay the seeds on the cookie sheet and bake for approximately 30 minutes at 325 degrees - or until they are golden brown/crispy/look delicious!

7. Put into a pretty bowl... or enjoy them hot and fresh off the cookie sheet like I just did...

Sidenote: We like to think of ourselves as food minimalists - only using essential, good quality ingredients. This is why we stuck to classic unsalted butter, coarse sea salt, and freshly ground pepper for this recipe. But there are lots of different spices you could try! A few ideas are: Curry flavored pumpkin seeds, paprika, BBQ, garlic and cheese (damn, maybe we should have tried that one... just thought of it now), or whatever your heart desires or your pantry/spice cupboard contains!

As for our carved pumpkins - the inspiration for this blog post - well, they turned out pretty damn good too:

Left: Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King Right: Cannibalistic, Evil Pumpkin... eating smaller Pumpkin

Happy Hallow-Eating!! (Yea..? No..? Whatever, I like it).

Caroline and Jo

Pumpkin Cheesecake

I went to Chicago this past weekend with my friend Libby, for fun. For those of you who haven't been, Chicago is a beautiful city with some really neat architecture, which obviously we took the time to appreciate while there... but we also went for the shopping, a little bit of nightlife, and some delicious meals out. On our first night, we went for some famous Chicago deep dish pizza. Now dear readers, you may be thinking something along the lines of "deep dish pizza? That sounds amazing! I hope this blog post is about how to make deep dish pizza!"and I'm sorry to disappoint you... but eating deep dish pizza on Saturday really met my quota of it for quite some time.

On Sunday we went for brunch at the Ralph Lauren Restaurant and I had Banana Foster French Toast - which was to die for. I am an avid fan of French Toast - and my all time favourite is the Apple French Toast at Pan Chancho in Kingston - so I don't want to say that this was better than that... but yes, it was delicious. So, you may think it would be logical that I am posting about French Toast now... but once again, I have to disappoint you.

We did not fly home until Monday night, so we spent Monday morning shopping, then had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory before doing the Chicago Architecture Foundation river cruise tour - which was very interesting. But wait, I think I've finally hit on what I'm about to blog about - and it's not architecture! So that leaves... cheesecake!

I love cheesecake. I've baked quite a few cheesecakes in the past few years and this flavour has been on my baking to do list since last fall when I picked up a slice of it in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia... So, when our server at the Cheesecake Factory mentioned that they have a seasonal Pumpkin Cheesecake, I had to try it. And now, I had to try baking my own Pumpkin Cheesecake!

I used mini springform pans in an attempt to make mini cheesecakes - but they did not turn out quite as well as I hoped.  I did not half the recipe for my mini springform pans, so I had a lot of extra batter and decided to make even minier cheesecakes in muffin tins! The muffin ones actually turned out much better than my mini springform pan ones did... and the wrappers peel right off making them perfect individually portioned cheesecakes! I am posting the recipe with the original amount for a 9" springform pan, however if you chose to adapt it like I did, you can line a muffin tray with wrappers and make about 24 mini cheesecakes! And don't forget to adjust the baking time - they'll be done in about half the time. (Recipe adapted from Canadian Living)

THE RECIPE:

1-1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 Tbsp granulated sugar

3 Tbsp melted butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 8 oz/pkg cream cheese, softened

1 cup whipping cream

1 cup canned pumpkin purée

3/4 cup granulated sugar

4 eggs, separated

3 Tbsp all-purpose Flour

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 cup sour cream

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine first 4 ingredient for crust, press into bottom & about 2" up the sides of a 9" springform pan. Bake at 325 for 5 minutes. In a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese with whipping cream, pumpkin, sugar, egg yolks, flour, 1 tsp vanilla, spices & salt. Beat until smooth. Beat egg whites until stiff; fold into pumpkin mixture. Spoon batter into crust. Bake at 325 for 1 hour. Combine topping; last 3 ingredients, spread over cheesecake & bake 5 minutes longer. Chill thoroughly before serving & store leftovers in refrigerator.

Pure Pumpkin

Egg whites are ready when they form peaks

After I took the cheesecakes out of the oven to cool, within a few minutes they deflated a bit... this is something I'll have to work on for next time! Here are the finished results:

Mini version made in muffin tray

Mini Pumpkin Cheesecake

One note about the recipe - I don't think the sour cream glaze is entirely necessary, and since it does take extra time, when I make this recipe again I will probably cut that step out. The cheesecake is good enough that it doesn't need a glaze! 

My mini cheesecakes do not taste exactly the same as the Cheesecake Factory Pumpkin Cheesecake, but they are still pretty delicious - if you like pumpkin pie, and you like cheesecake... you have no reason not to try this out! 

Happy Eating!!

Caroline

Our Italian Feast - Tiramisu

So now that we've introduced your taste buds to a plethora of Italian courses (Caprese Salad and Homemade Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce), let's switch to the sweet course! We chose the classic Italian dessert, Tiramisu. This recipe is from the Italian "Joy of Cooking", the Italian Food Bible... The Silver Spoon. 

THE RECIPE:
2 egg whites
4 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups icing sugar
1 3/4 cups mascarpone cheese
1 pkg (7 ounces) ladyfingers
3/4 cup freshly brewed espresso (or strong coffee)
2 squares semisweet chocolate, grated (recipe called for 7 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated - this seemed like too much to us... but go with what feels good)

1. Whisk egg whites into stiff peaks.
2. Beat egg yolks with sugar in another bowl until pale and fluffy. Gently fold in the mascarpone, then the egg whites.
3. In a 9x9 pan, make a layer of ladyfingers and brush with espresso. Cover with a layer of the mascarpone cream mixture and sprinkle with grated chocolate (to cover cream layer).
4. Continue making layers until all the ingredients are used up, ending with a layer of mascarpone cream. Dust with the remaining grated chocolate.
5. Refrigerate for about 3 hours or more, if time permits.

Thus concludes our Italian adventure via food (and wine). It should be mentioned that this adventure began at approximately 4:30 PM on Thursday October the 13th... and ended at approximately 2:21 AM on Friday October the 14th. Dear readers, do not be discouraged - we'd say that's shorter than a flight to Italy, but now that we think about it, we're not so sure that it is...

Long story short, this epic Italian meal could probably be completed in half the time, if it weren't for wine, story ADHD and 147 pictures of food... but that's what made our Italian Feast so great! We're sure you'll find ways to make yours just as special - but hopefully, more time efficient!

Happy Eating!

Caroline and Jo

Our Italian Feast - Homemade Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce

Post Caprese Salad, we decided on a Gnocchi with a Simple Tomato Sauce for the main course of our Italian Feast. We added some spinach at the end for extra flavour and colour! This recipe hails from two of our favourite FoodNetwork chefs: Anthony Sedlak (sooo dreamy) provided us with the Gnocchi recipe, and Giada De Laurentiis (annoying big mouth, tasty food) with the Simple Tomato Sauce. 

Gnocchi is actually very simple to make, it just takes a little patience. Also - this is my (Jo) second time making Gnocchi from scratch and both times I haven't used a ricer or food mill. Get one. Seriously. The potatoes will be so much easier to manage if they are really smooth, which can only be accomplished with a ricer - basically a glorified, adult version of those cool Playdough toys that makes the Playdough look like hair or spaghetti. Anyway...

THE RECIPE:

1 1/2 pounds Baking (Russet) Potatoes

1 Egg

1/4 cup Ricotta Cheese

1/4 cup Grated Parmesan Cheese

1 cup All Purpose Flour (plus more for dusting)

1. Add Potatoes to a pot and fill with cold water enough to cover the potatoes. Season the water with salt and bring to a boil; lower to a simmer until Potatoes are tender but not overcooked. 

2. Drain and let dry slightly. While the Potatoes are still warm, peel off the skins, cut into quarters, and push through a ricer or food mill (we used a regular cheese grater... but it doesn't have the same effect). 

3. Gently fold the remaining ingredients into the potato mixture until just combined. 

4. On a floured surface, divide the dough into small sections and roll each piece into a 3/4 inch thick log. Cut into 1/2 inch long pieces and roll each individual piece along the back of a fork to create ridges (this takes practice and doesn't have to be perfect!)

5. To cook, bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Boil in batches, dropping in a few pieces of Gnocchi at a time; the Gnocchi are ready when they float to the surface of the water (if you are making these fresh it will only take about 30 seconds!) Remove with a slotted spoon and top with whatever sauce you feel like! We made ours with a simple Tomato Sauce with some added spinach and parmesan cheese! 

Sidenote: Gnocchi freezes really well! Just put your uncooked Gnocchi into a ziplock bag and freeze! You can cook them from frozen following the same directions listed above, they'll just take a bit longer to float! 

While Giada De Laurentiis (a.k.a. The Everyday Italian) may bug the HELL out of us, this recipe for a Simple Tomato Sauce is kiiiind of amazing. It is so easy and SO tasty! 

THE RECIPE:

1/2 cup Olive Oil

1 Medium Yellow Onion, Chopped (Stay tuned for a super-awesome post on how to chop onions)

3 Cloves Garlic, Chopped (Giada called for two... we added three because seriously, garlic is faaantastic)

1 1/2 stalks Celery, Chopped (Again, Giada said 1, we said 1 1/2)

3 Small-ish Carrots (Giada=1, Jo and Caroline=3 bitties) 

2 Cans (28 Ounces - the BIG ones) crushed tomatoes

Some Basil Leaves

2 Bay Leaves (if you have them... we didn't and it still tasted great)

1 Tbsp of Butter 

Salt and Pepper 

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute until translucent (2-3 minutes). 

2. Add the celery and carrots and season with salt pepper. Saute for approx. 5 minutes, until all veggies are soft. 

3. Add the tomatoes, basil, and bay leaves (if using). Simmer, covered, on low hear for 1-1 1/2 hours. The sauce should thicken (there WILL be excess oil around the sides - don't freak out like I did... it'll turn out awesome). 

4. If you used Bay leaves take em' out. Check the seasoning and add the butter (ADD THE BUTTER). 

5. Blend the sauce in a food processor or blender 3 portions-ish at a time. Blend til smooth and enjoy :D

Sidenote: This sauce ALSO freezes really well!! Let it cool then portion it into freezer bags or Tupperware containers. Giada tells us it should keep for up to six months... but it's so damn good we guarantee you'll eat it faster than that. 

We added some baby spinach to our dish - just toss it in with the Gnocchi and Tomato Sauce before serving, it will wilt the perfect amount - a little bit crunchy, a little bit soft, a whole lot of yummy :) 

Happy Eating!

Caroline and Jo

Our Italian Feast - Caprese Salad

Well dear blog readers, yesterday Caroline's parents jetted off to Italy without her. In an attempt to appease her sorrows of being left behind in rainy Toronto we decided to have an Italian feast of our own! First on the menu: Caprese Salad - or as we like to call it, Capr-EASY Salad!! (Because it's easy to make - get it?)

Capr-Easy Salad!

THE RECIPE:

Tomatoes 

Buffalo Mozzarella Cheese

Fresh Basil (from our backyard herb garden - because who doesn't have one of those right? #WASP)

Olive Oil

Balsamic Vinegar 

1. Slice tomatoes, Mozzarella, and Basil. 

2. Arrange on pretty platter. 

3. Drizzle with Olive Oil and Balsamic Vinegar

We paired our salad with some Ace Bakery Ciabatta Bread (to soak up extra Olive Oil and Vinegar... sooo good) 

This salad literally takes 2 minutes to make! Unless you are trying to take fancy pictures of it for your awesome food blog. 

Happy Eating!

P.S. Stay tuned for the rest of our feast! More posts to come :) 

Caroline and Jo 

Apple Oat Muffins

Dear Reader - I hope you have recovered from any Thanksgiving induced food comas enough to look at the pictures of my most recent baking adventure. I'll give you a few more moments to recover while I tell you about how I spent part of my weekend. This was one of the most beautiful Thanksgiving weekends I can remember, and I was lucky enough to do one of my favourite fall activities with some of my high school friends: apple picking. 

Every year, sometime around the first crisp, sunny day in September, I start to wish I was apple picking. The last time I attempted to actually go apple picking was in the fall of my third year at Queen's. My friend Kyle and I chose a Saturday morning we were both free, and drove west from Kingston, along Bath Rd (Highway 33) in search of an apple orchard. We faced one major obstacle that day, however: the rain. It was a downpour, and the thought of picking apples while getting drenched did not quite appeal to me... so we bought already picked apples from a fruit stand instead. 

I know everyone will be pleased to hear that this weekend's apple picking excursion was much more successful! We went to a great place called Devins Orchards not too far north of Toronto. We had clear blue skies and bright, bright sun and five varieties of apples to pick from! It was great to catch up with my friends, Charlotte, Jean and Vianna while we sampled the different apples and picked a few pounds each to take home. 

I focused on picking the ideal baking apples, and came home with a selection of Cortlands and Empires. These apples have a good sweet-tart balance for baking. I baked a batch of some of my favourite muffins, apple oat. I've adapted this recipe from Canadian Living to include a topping that will leave you wondering why we would ever eat muffins that don't have a sugary, cinnamonny oat topping. These muffins are great for breakfast, as a coffee break snack, or any time of day - Enjoy!

THE RECIPE: 

1 ¾ cups quick cooking rolled oats

1 ¾ cups plain yogurt (I use 0%, but can use 1 or 2%)

2 eggs

1 ½  cup apples, peeled and diced

¼ cup vegetable oil

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups whole wheat flour (can use 1 cup regular, 1 cup whole wheat flour)

¾ cup brown sugar

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

¾ cup dried cranberries (or raisins) (optional)

Topping:

¼ cup brown sugar

3 tbsp quick cooking rolled oats

½ tsp cinnamon

1 tbsp butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Grease muffin tray or line with paper muffin cups.

2. In small bowl, stir together yogurt and oats. These will need to stand for 10 minutes, so in the meanwhile, prepare the dry ingredients.

3. In large bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

4. Whisk eggs, apple, oil and vanilla into yogurt and oat mixture.

5. Pour yogurt mixture into the large bowl, over the dry ingredients. Add the dried cranberries, and stir until moistened. Be careful not to over-mix.

6. Spoon batter into muffin tray. For small muffins, fill cups halfway to three-quarters full, and for larger muffins, fill closer to the top of the muffin cup. Sprinkle each muffin generously with topping.

7. To prepare topping, combine brown sugar, oats, cinnamon and melted butter.

8. Bake muffins in centre of 375°F oven for 25 to 30 minutes (depending on size of muffins) or until golden brown. Let muffins cool in pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to rack and let cool completely. Makes around 12 muffins.

At Devins Orchards

Perfect apple picking weather!

Assembled ingredients, ready for Step 4 of Recipe

Freshly picked Cortland and Empire apples

The finished result - you'll have to bake these yourself to know how delicious they smell!

Happy Eating!

- Caroline

Leftover Turkey Sandwich

Happy Turkey Day darling blog readers! On this beautiful Monday evening most of you are probably anxiously awaiting a tasty Thanksgiving dinner - your houses probably smell fantastic, your mouths are probably salivating. However, given that my Thanksgiving dinner was last night, I am enjoying arguably the best part of this delicious holiday - leftovers!

This post is less of a recipe and more of a Jo-Thanksgiving-Tradition: the Leftover Turkey Sandwich. Thanksgiving on a piece of bread. Heaven on a plate. Whatever.. it's awesome. I'm sure many of you have your own renditions of this post-Thanksgiving treat, and I wanted to share mine with all you lovely people! (If you haven't tried this before do it now! or an hour and a half after dinner tonight... or as midnight snack, or as breakfast, or lunch, or dinner tomorrow).

The Recipe:

Slice of Rye bread

Turkey bits

Mashed Potatoes

Mashed Turnips

Cranberry Sauce

Turkey Gravy

Salt&Pepper

1. I like to heat up the turkey, potatoes, and turnips in the microwave before assembling my sandwich - but if you just really want to get to eating this step isn't necessary... the hot gravy will suffice.

2. Start by spreading the mashed potatoes over your slice of Rye (I used Rye because it's what my family buys... but it also doesn't get too soggy), follow with the turnips and then the cranberry sauce.

3. Cover your layers of tasty mashed up stuff with as much turkey as you can possibly fit.

4. Drench in hot turkey gravy and season with a bit of salt and pepper!

Enjoy your sandwich with a side of Scrambled Eggs Etc! (or snuggled up with a book, movie, or TV show).

Also - don't feel bad about licking the plate clean... we all do it...

Happy Eating!!

Jo

Gingerbread Cookies

Scratch Gingerbread - these are Ninjabread Cookies!

Not too long ago, I sat in Starbucks with some of my good friends sipping our beverages of choice (a nonfat, half-sweet, no-whip Pumpkin Spice latte for me – my favourite fall treat) and the subject of Molasses came up. My friend Angela received cookie cutters in the shape of ninjas from her friend Emily, and Angela was eager to make ninjabread! (We conceded that yes, the cookie cutters could be used with shortbread, however ninjashortbread just doesn’t have the same ring to it…)

“I’m going to buy a gingerbread mix,” Angela said. Blasphemy.
“I have a better idea,” I said. “Let's make ninjabread together, from scratch! I have all the ingredients but molasses, so I can pick that up.” Then we proceeded to discuss how strange molasses is – it’s texture, it’s consistency… How it reminds me of the expression, “slow as molasses” or, the less commonly used full expression, “slow as molasses in January.”

“I’ve never heard that saying before,” Angela said.

“Um, grade 9 Physics? Don’t you remember learning about the Molasses Disaster?”

Blank stare. Fair enough, I have a really good memory – for some things, anyways.

It was January 15, 1919, and in the North End of Boston, a molasses storage tank burst. Molasses ran through the streets at an estimated speed of 56 km/h (35 m/h). When the storage tank collapsed, it created a wave of molasses between 8 and 15 feet high, several nearby blocks were flooded in 2 to 3 feet of molasses, and unfortunately, 21 people died, while 150 were injured from the Molasses Disaster. (Thank you Wikipedia for refreshing my memory on the facts of this tragedy).

       
Now, as I said, I have a good memory… but since Physics (or any science) has never been my forte, I can no longer tell you why we learned about the expression “slow as molasses” or the Molasses Disaster in grade 9 Physics. I believe it has something to do with the velocity of molasses…  Surprisingly, my quick google search didn’t help me find the answer either. Please feel free to enlighten me if you know any more about molasses!

       
Also – I have to add this in because I’m a huge history nerd and love literature – in Gone With the Wind, when Scarlett tells her house servant, Prissy, that she is “slow as molasses” – this is an historical inaccuracy. Although Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone With the Wind after the Molasses Disaster (published in 1936), the story is set during the Civil War and Reconstruction period, and so really Scarlett had no idea how slow (or fast) molasses could move in January!            

       
Now that you know everything you never thought you needed to know about molasses, here is how to use this sticky syrup to create ninjabread! Angela and I baked these cookies together, and to learn more about the cookie cutters and see all the creative things you can do with ninjabread cookies, check out Angela’s blog by clicking here. 

We used my aunt's recipe for Gingerbread - as you can see, she has beautiful handwriting. I've typed it out for you below so it's easier to read!

THE RECIPE:

½ cup butter

½ cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

½ cup molasses

¼ cup water

2 ¾ - 3 cups flour (I used 1 cup whole wheat, 2 cups regular flour)

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon ginger

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground allspice

1. In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg, molasses and water.

2. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices.

3. Gradually blend dry ingredients into creamed mixture. If necessary, chill until firm enough to roll.

4. On floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-inch (3 mm) thickness. Cut into desired shapes and place on parchment paper-lined baking sheet

6. Bake in 350° F oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or golden brown at the edges.

7. Let cool and decorate if desired. Makes about 40 ninjas. 

 Fancy Molasses. Not to be confused with fancy-pants. 

 Pouring the molasses - we were very careful to avoid any spills. 

 Cutting the gingerbread dough into ninjas! 

This is a great gingerbread recipe if you're looking for softer cookies with lots of flavour. Of course, if you don't have ninja shaped cookie cutters, you can use any shape cookie cutters you like, or roll the dough into flat discs for a round cookie. I will most likely be using this recipe again at Christmas time (especially because I now have an almost full container of molasses in the fridge) - but then you can definitely expect that the cookies will be festively decorated with icing! (Jo has a piping kit!)

Happy Thanksgiving! 


- Caroline

Chocolate Chip Cookies

       As George Bernard Shaw said - in a quotation found after a relentless search on Google: "There is no love sincerer than the love of food." This blog is dedicated to all lovers of food like us - two cousins on a mission to successfully join the food blog-o-sphere and who genuinely love all things pertaining to food and cooking.

       Like our attitudes towards blogging and cooking, we wanted to keep our first post simple. So what better recipe to start with than the classic Chocolate Chip Cookie? While there are many tasty chocolate chip cookie recipes out there this one is one of our personal favourites and hails from our favourite Food Blog Smitten Kitchen. We love these cookies because they are crispy on the outside but deliciously light and chewy on the inside! They are abundant in chocolate chips and are best served with a cold glass of milk (obviously).

 

THE RECIPE:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F (165°C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
3. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Gently shape cookie dough into balls and drop onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
5. Bake larger cookies for 15 to 17 minutes, or 10 to 12 minutes for smaller ones (check your cookies before they’re done; depending on your scoop size, your baking time will vary) in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden brown.
6. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

 While this photo is completely unnecessary we were impressed with our accidental creation of an egg/vanilla yin-yang! (I'd also like to point out that both eggs were - for the most part - successfully cracked with one hand). 

 We used a fancy-pants Kitchen Aid mixer... but regular bowls work O.K. too... 

 If you read cookbooks for fun on a regular basis as we may or may not do... you may have noticed the frequent call for a "wooden spoon". We don't know what is so special or important about using a wooden spoon... but we didn't want to risk it. As a side note: Had Caroline's father been around during this stage of the cookie-making process he probably would have said something along the lines of "would you like some cookie dough with those chocolate chips?" - Ooooh Tim.

Voila! Ze finished product: 

As previously mentioned... these cookies are best served with a cold glass of milk. We cannot stress this point enough. Seriously. Enjoy!

And thus concludes our first ever post! Thanks for reading! 

Sincerely, 

Caroline and Jo