Happy National Cookie Day! Did you know this was a thing, and just didn’t tell me? If so, shame on you. But if you’re pleasantly surprised, like I am, then let’s do our best to make the most of this day, starting with baking and eating lots. And lots. Of cookies.
Cookie season is perhaps my favorite time of year. And something about this year seems more cookie-filled than most, with the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and all. So when OXO® asked if I’d like to help make a holiday cookie video in support of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, how could I say no? If you haven’t heard of Cookies for Kids’ Cancer, it is a national non-profit organization committed to funding new therapies used in the fight against pediatric cancer, which claims the lives of more children in the US than any other disease. I’ll bake to that.
Julie and I filmed this back in October when she came to visit. We’re total goobers, you’ll have to forgive us. Also, clearly amateur videographers (as evidenced by our truncated noggins). Whoops. Foreheads or not, we hope our “Baking a Difference” video will help raise awareness and encourage you to be a good cookie, and donate or hold a bake sale for the cause.
If you want the recipe for the Meyer Lemon and White Chocolate Biscotti we make in the video, hop on over to The Little Kitchen, and Julie will hook you up. I’ve chosen to share another decadent variation, Orange and Dark Chocolate Biscotti. Stay tuned too as I’ll be back tomorrow giving away a super-sized set of OXO® baking tool goodies!
Considering this was the first time I’d actually ever made biscotti, it may surprise you that I really do love it. My favorite part is that there’s no denying it is totally, 100% a cookie, but a cookie that’s perfectly acceptable to eat for breakfast.
Personally I believe all cookies should carry such a characteristic.
Biscotti are by nature very sturdy cookies (their crunchy texture comes from the fact they are baked twice; in fact, biscotti literally means twice-baked), and they are perfect for shipping or gifting. I think this orange and dark chocolate version is great when dipped in even more dark chocolate (isn’t everything?), but if you’re shipping to a warmer part of the country, you can easily skip that part.
Put the two together and, well, you’ve got yourself one heck of a combination.
I whipped up a few dozen of these babies to sell at the Sweet Relief bake sale last earlier this month. They were gone before you could say Bob’s your uncle (actually, Tom’s my uncle. Bob was my grandfather. So much for that cliche).
The recipe is loosely based on my malted milk chocolate sandwich cookies from last year (I told you I had a thing for sandwich cookies), but with dark chocolate and a peanut butter filling. Slightly more butter and dark cocoa makes for a richer, softer chocolate cookie. Don’t over-bake them because the softness is what makes them irresistible: the cookie gently giving way to the sweet and salty filling within.
This recipe is one of a few I’ll be posting in the coming weeks that feature Hershey’s products. You may have noticed from my twitter feed that Taylor and I went to Hershey, PA a few weeks back, as part of their Baker’s Dozen holiday promotion.
I think you could say the chocolate lover in me was giddy at the opportunity.
We got to play around in their (gorgeous!) test kitchens, eating cookies and playing with all things chocolate, and filming a holiday how-to video that we hope to share with you in the coming weeks. Stay tuned!
How many times, in the midst of the endless food of the holidays, have you wished for a simple salad? After a second helping of turkey, bowls of creamy mashed potatoes piled high with rich gravy, and a larger-than-you-really-needed slice of decadent pumpkin pie for dessert (and then another slice for breakfast), sometimes a salad sounds downright divine.
For those momentary healthful cravings, this salad is perfection. It’s not just an ordinary Niçoise salad (which usually contains canned tuna fish), but instead features slices of black-sesame-crusted tuna atop a bed of bright baby greens and tossed with an Asian-style wasabi vinaigrette.
This salad is just one of the recipes we’ve created for the Spice Islands® Flavor Explorer blog, this one showcasing the unique black sesame seeds and potent wasabi powder. I can tell you that we loved cooking our way through the Spice Islands® library, playing with flavors and combinations that we’d never used before.
I have a soft spot for German pancakes. Also known as Dutch Baby pancakes. Or Puffy pancakes. But whatever you call them, they are sweet and eggy concoctions that you can’t help but crave. And they are so much easier to prepare than regular pancakes, since there’s no slaving over a hot frying pan. Instead, you just throw the batter in the oven and wait for the magic to happen.
I had a bit of pumpkin left over and decided to throw it and some pie spices into my go-to recipe. The result was a bit less puffy than usual, perhaps, but the flavor definitely made up for it.
It’s almost like eating pie for breakfast.
If you’re into that sort of thing.
I’ve also an apple version of these before, and don’t you dare make me choose which way I like it best. You can also halve the recipe and bake it up in a cast iron skillet (perfect for two).
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