a whisk and a spoon

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cocoa Almond Meringues

We are having hot, sticky weather here.  I’ve baked enough to know that sticky weather equals sticky meringues, so I thought about hitting the snooze bar on TWD this week and skipping these Cocoa Almond Meringue Cookies.  But I had some weekend time on my hands, and I figured I could do a scaled down batch…just enough to be eaten the same day, with nothing left to wilt in a container overnight.

I like meringues, and I’m a fan of these.  Beneath their crisp, light cocoa shells, they are chewy and very dark with chocolate (studded with crushed hazelnuts, too, in this case).  If you like your meringues drier and crisped-through, I’m guessing you could bake them longer, or at the end of the book’s suggested time, turn off the oven and let the cookies continue to hang out for a few more hours inside.  I actually did bake these about 15 minutes longer than the recommended hour and ten because I made a few quite large meringues as opposed to a zillion little guys, and I wanted to make sure they weren’t soup inside.  I made a special exception to my “no coffee after 3:00” rule and served these with a little glass of milky iced joe.  It was the perfect thing to cut the sweetness of the meringues.

Next time I find myself with extra egg whites, I’ll be sure to keep these in mind!  For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Ugly Food For an Ugly Dude.  Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies

Hooray, Spike, for finally giving these Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookies their fifteen minutes of fame.  This is one of the first recipes in the book that really piqued my interest, mostly because I couldn’t imagine what the heck a “cake cookie” could be.  But then, after making approximately a hundred zillion whoopie pies at the bakery in Red Hook where I used to work, it dawned on me that these might something similar.  Although Dorie says they are thin and plain, somehow mine came out chubby and rounded– like little cakes in cookie-mound form.  These are nice and moist, and to boost the chocolaty-ness, I used my darkest cocoa, replaced the cinnamon and nutmeg in the recipe with a bit of instant espresso powder and left out the currants entirely.  While they are pretty good on their own (just grab a glass of milk or iced coffee and have at ’em), I think they’d be great filled with buttercream.  Since it’s so schwetty out here, I decided to make them into ice cream sandwiches instead, using a bit of the caramel gelato I help to make at the shop where I now work.

For the Sour Cream Chocolate Cake Cookie recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Spike’s blog.  Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Cornmeal Shortbread Cookies

If you are looking for a crunchy, buttery, sweet little cookie to serve with tea, Cornmeal Shortbread may your thing.  A pop of citrus zest adds extra flavor (I used orange), and that little bit of grittiness from the cornmeal boosts the crumbly texture typical of shortbread.  I’m glad to have a stash of extras in the freezer!

For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Une Gamine dans la Cuisine, as it was Valerie’s pick this week.  Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!

Tuesdays with Dorie: Pecan Powder Puffs

Even if you’ve never heard of a Pecan Powder Puff, you probably already know what’s up with these cookies.  You’ve likely seen (and tasted) them under one of their other aliases: Russian tea cakes, Mexican wedding cookies, etc.  Something that goes by that many names sounds a little sneaky, but if you like nuts, they are really one of the nicest little cookies you’ll come across.

These little puffs are full of ground pecans (although you could certainly use walnuts or almonds in their place).  They get their sweetness mostly from a liberal coating of powdered sugar….preferably enough powdered sugar to make you cough a little bit…know what I mean?  They are crumbly, but melt in your mouth.  If it’s still chilly enough where you live for hot cocoa, the two are a perfect match.  I wish I’d made them a little bigger.  I wish I’d made more of them.  *sigh*

For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Buttercream Barbie, as it was Tia’s pick this week.  Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!