Changing your name and moving to an undisclosed location can be a massive disruption in your life but sometimes it’s so worth it. By the time you read this I will have already gone underground, totally untraceable and been made to ‘disappear’ like a KGB ‘person of interest.’ I’ve been enrolled in the Culinary Secret Witness Protection Program.

It’s a program for those who have committed the most egregious culinary gaffes… gaffes that have earned them shame and the scorn of their fellow foodies. I knew the second that I decided to make this easy ‘caramel’ sauce that my name would be mud. I mean, technically it’s not even a caramel (no brunt sugar) but man oh man, it is so delicious and best of all, it’s so so so easy to make.

Here’s the rub. It’s basically warmed, flavored condensed milk. I know what you’re thinking, “Warmed condensed milk? Not even Semi-Homemade’s Sandra Lee would stoop such lows.” And you’re probably right.

But you gotta cut me a little slack here. Making caramel can be a hassle. You have to burn the sugar just so, without scorching it. You have to deal with sugar crystal forming on the sides of your pan. You have to be on the ready as the whole thing bubbles up and splatters as you incorporate the heavy cream.

So, I was more than a little intrigued when I came across this easy, no fuss version in Dana Hay’s cookbook, Off the Shelf: Cooking from the Pantry.

Would it taste anything like caramel? (The answer is, Yes) Would it have the same deep, burnt flavor has the traditional version? (The answer is, pretty much, Yes).

I should also mention that I loved the cookie too. It’s kind of a cross between a sandie/shortbread and a traditional cookie. It has the density of a traditional cookie (not crumbly and dry like a good shortbread) and it has that beautiful light flavor that you expect to have in a shortbread cookie.

It’s a great companion for a good cup of tea or coffee: not to sweet and saturated – just light and buttery.

NOTE: I’ve made several ‘real’ caramel recipes during my time in the kitchen. If you want to go the more traditional way, try the caramel recipe used in these Pecan Sandies & Caramel Filling. It is BAR NONE the best caramel recipe that I have ever come across).

NOTE 2: While it truly is delicious, this caramel does have its weakness. If you need a caramel that hardens when it cools this may not be the best recipe (I wouldn’t recommend it as a cookie filling. Note how the caramel oozes out the side of these cookies. It’s very fluid.) But if you are looking for more of a caramel sauce (to pour over ice cream, to mix in a cake batter) this no-fuss baby will really shine.

Cheers!

TEA COOKIES WITH CARAMEL FILLING

Adapted from Off the shelf: Cooking from the Pantry by Donna Hay.

I divided the recipe in half when I made it. Which was relatively easy to do and the results were great. To use half an egg, light whisk the egg and pour about half of it in the recipe.

The original caramel recipe called for golden syrup – an ingredient not readily available in American markets. This recipe uses honey as a substitution.

2 stick butter, chopped

1 cup confectioner’s sugar

1 ½ all purpose flour

1 cup cornstarch

1 egg

Caramel filling

14oz can sweetened condense milk

½ stock butter

2 TBL honey

Preheat oven to 350⁰

Place the butter, icing sugar, flour, corn starch and egg in a food processor and process until smooth dough forms. Roll dough one tablespoon at a time into balls and place on a lined baking tray.

Flatten the dough slightly and place the trays in the refrigerator for 10 minutes or until firm. Bake the cookies in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes until lightly golden. Cool on racks.

To make the caramel filling, combine the condense milk, butter and honey in a heatproof bowl. Place bowl over a saucepan of boiling water and stir occasionally for 10-15 minutes or until the caramel is thick.

Cool the caramel for 10-15, then spoon onto the flat side of the cookie halves. Top with the remaining cookies and allow to firm.

Sometimes you just gotta take matters into your own hands.

So far, 2010 is shaping up to be a very good year. Well, with the exception of one very scary close call.

Recently, I went out to dinner with a few good friends at one of my favorite Chinese restaurants. It was a great meal. But to me the best part of going to a Chinese restaurant is the fortune cookie at the end of dinner. Each of my friends took turns reading our fortunes out loud. It’s a contest on who has the silliest and most vague fortune of the group.

It’s usually a fun exercise. As we went around the table reading the fortunes out loud we came across the typical forecasts about future wealth and good times ahead. And then it was my turn. I was puzzled by my message, “You already know what lies ahead. Face it with strength.” I looked up at my friends with shock across my face, “Huh? What the hell is this?” I mean, that didn’t sound good.

A few days had past and I was still a bit annoyed (if not a little spooked) by my fortune. What did it mean? Was it a prediction of bad times on the horizon. I had a decision to make. I could sit by and do nothing or I could take the reins and head off my impending doom. I mean, I’m not a superstitious person but why take the chance, right? I knew actually what I needed to do. I would have to cancel out the last fortune cookie with a new one.

But this time I was leaving nothing to chance. I would make my own fortune cookies and stack the deck in my favor with self serving predictions of good fortunes.

Plus, I thought it would be kind of fun to make my own fortune cookies.

A quick web search gave me a boatload of super easy recipes to work with.

I picked one and almost immediately got to work. I just made a few minor tweaks. I decreased the amount of almond extract and incorporated lemon zest to give the cookies a little zip (I usually taste a bit of citrus in the restaurant cookies).

In the end, these cookies could be one of my favorite recipe discoveries since starting the Ceramic Canvas. They’re fun and super easy to make.

I think they’d be cool for parties – a really fun conversation starter.

Cheers!

NOTE: I have step-by-step photographs of how to fold the fortune cookies. I’ll try and post them soon.

NOTE 2: If after cooking and folding the cookies the centers are still soft and pliable you can pop the folded cookies back into the oven for a minute or two to let them harden. Just be careful not to leave the cookies in the oven for too long or they will turn dark brown and/or burn.

FORTUNE COOKIES

2 large egg whites

½ TSP pure vanilla extract

¼ TSP pure almond extract

1 TSP lemon zest

3 TBL vegetable oil

8 TBL all-purpose flour

1½ TSP cornstarch

¼ TSP kosher salt

8 TBL granulated sugar

3 TSP water

Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease 2 9-X-13 inch baking sheets.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract, lemon zest and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff.

Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar into a separate bowl. Stir the water into the flour mixture.

Add the flour into the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.

Place level tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Gently use the back of the back of a spoon to make circular motions on the surface of the batter to form circles with about 3.5” diameters.

Bake until the outer 1/2-inch of each cookie turns golden brown and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14 – 15 minutes).

Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass, wooden spoon or the edge of a muffin tin. Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies.

Makes about 14 cookies.

“Suckers,” I chuckled to myself without a hint of sympathy for the poor victims.

I was watching a story on the evening news about people who had had their emails and/or social networking accounts broken into by hackers. Admittedly, this could happen to anyone but a few had done things like used their names as their passwords or used a password that was obvious in another way.

So, I am embarrassed to admit that part of me was kind of thinking that they got what was coming to them. Out of caution, I immediately got up and changed the passwords on my email accounts – regularly changing your email passwords is evidently a great way to keep hackers at bay.

Now if you’re thinking my response to these poor people displayed a stunning lack of compassion, don’t worry the email security karmic gods would soon make sure that I didn’t go unpunished.

As I logged into one of my email accounts a few days later, I was puzzled when my access was denied for entering the incorrect password.

This can’t be I thought to myself, “I’ve had this password for years. I know it’s correct.” That’s when I remembered the hacker story and how I had changed the password to throw any would be hackers off of my trail. The only problem was that now I couldn’t remember what the new password was.

I would spend the next few days going through countless words, old street addresses, names of favorite grammar school teachers and names of hated grammar school teachers…all to no avail. I’m such a sucker.

After I gave up and cried uncle, it took me three long days to convince my email provider that I was indeed me (and not one of those hackers that was on the evening news).

Moral of the story…show compassion for your fellow man, cause karma will bite you in the you know what.

Let’s talk Nutella-Pistachio Butter Cookies.

The inspiration for these cookies came from Zoe, the editor of one of my favorite blogs. A few weeks ago she suggested that I post a recipe using Nutella, the delicious Italian chocolate-hazelnut spread. I thought it was an amazing idea. I just needed to find the right recipe for a little inspiration.

Just a few days ago I came across a recipe for Icebox Butter Cookies in Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. I was struck by the photograph in the cookbook. The cookies looked light and buttery. I’m not sure what an ‘icebox’ butter cookie is but these cookies are more like sandies: light, buttery and crumbly.

Because they are so light and not overly sweet they’re the perfect match for the sweet, chocolaty and rich flavor of the Nutella. -a very yin yang kind of thing.

I think they’re fabulous.

If you get a chance to give them a try, let me know what you think.

(Disclaimer: I realize that my dry sense of humor doesn’t always translate well in the written word. Just to be clear, I am not mocking victims of internet hackers. The butt of the joke is actually my favorite target…me.)

NUTELLA-PISTACHIO ICEBOX BUTTER COOKIES

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

¼ cup granulated sugar, plus ½ cup for rolling

1 large egg

½ TSP almond extract

2 ½ cups 2 TBL sifted all-purpose flour

¾ cups chopped unsalted pistachios

1 TSP kosher salt

130z jar of Nutella

In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and ¼ cup of granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add egg and almond extract, and beat to combine. Add flour and salt; mix on low speed until combined. Add chopped pistachios until combined.

Turn dough onto a clean work surface. Divide in half and roll each piece into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap in parchment paper (or plastic wrap), making sure to cover ends completely. Refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350˚F, with racks in the upper and lower thirds. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Let dough stand at room temperature until soft enough to slice, about 15 minutes. Roll dough logs in remaining ½ cup of sugar, coating them evenly, and slice into ¼” thick rounds. Place about 1” apart on prepared sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies have cooled, spread about 1 teaspoon of Nutella on the bottom side of one cookie and top each with another cookie, creating a sandwich.

Makes about 30 sandwich cookies (60 single cookies)

I am so excited!

It’s Chocolate Week here at CeramicCanvas.com – an entire week dedicated to our favorite ingredient.

First, I should confess. While I do love chocolate, I am not the biggest fan of dessert. Dessert has never been my thing. Even when I am at a restaurant that has a respected pastry chef, I almost always pass on dessert and ask for the cheese menu. I’m a sucker for a good cheese selection.

So, no one could have been more surprised than me when I was taken with these sandwich cookies while thumbing through my copy of The Golden Book of Chocolate.

If I retraced my steps to identify the exact moment where I got sucked in, I think it was when I realized that the recipe called for using a mousse. It looked so light, so airy. I was hooked. I was also intrigued by the chocolate shortbread recipe.

As you may remember from the Pecan Sandies post, I love cookies made with shortbread dough. While it can be harder to roll (easily breaks apart), I find shortbread cookies to be more buttery, light and crumbly than the standard cookie dough.

So just like that, I knew the recipe that wanted to kick off Ceramic Canvas’ first Chocolate Week.

I figured that neither the mousse nor the cookie would be too sweet. And I decided to finish the cookie off with strawberries dipped in honey.

The verdict? I love them. The mousse is light, airy and chocolaty. The cookie was full of chocolate flavor without being overwhelming – which is important since both the cookie and mousse are all about the chocolate. And the strawberry added the perfect element of sweet (the honey) and sharpness (the fruit itself) to give the cookie real balance.

My only hesitation is that I wouldn’t classify this cookie as a ‘shortbread.’ Its texture is not crumbly like a standard shortbread/sandie but rather it is a little soft and chewy. This isn’t necessarily bad – it’s just not what I was expecting. Next time I will experiment with the cookie recipe to achieve a more crumbly texture. I think it will be a nice counter to the smooth texture of the mousse.

I will definitely make these babies again. Enjoy!

And stay tuned for the next the installment of Chocolate Week.

CHOCOLATE MOUSSE & SHORTBREAD COOKIES

Via The Golden Book of Chocolate

Shortbread:

½ cup all-purpose flour

¼ cup confectioner sugar

3 TBL unsweetened cocoa powder

1 TBL ground almonds

3 TBL unsalted butter, diced and cold

1 large egg, lightly beaten

4 TBL honey

Mousse:

12oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

3 cups heavy cream

8 strawberries

confectioner sugar, for dusting

Shortbread: Mix flour, confectioner sugar, cocoa and almonds in a medium bowl. Add butter and rub in with your finger tips until the mixture resembles fine crumbs (use pastry cutter as an alternative).

Make well in the center and pout the eggs in a little at a time mixing with your fingers until the mixture comes together but is not sticky. You may not need all of the egg.

Dust with flour and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Gently heat honey. Take a strawberry by the stem and dip it into the honey. Set aside on plate. Repeat with remaining strawberries.

Mousse: Place the chocolate in a large bowl. Bring 1¼ cups of the cream to a boil over medium heat. Pour over chocolate. Stir until melted and smooth. Set aside, until ready to use.

Whip the remaining heavy cream until thick. Fold into the chocolate mixture. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Preheat oven to 350˚. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mat. Roll out pastry to ¼” thick. With a fluted 2-inch cookie cutter cut out 24 disks. Place on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

Spoon mousse into a piping bag with a star nozzle. Place a shortbread cookie on a plate and pipe a spiral of mousse on top. Cover with shortbread and mousse. Top with more shortbread, Dust with confectioner sugar and top with a strawberry.

Makes 8 cookies.

It’s well known within our circle of friends that we do not keep junk food in the house – no potato chips, cheese puffs or Doritos. With that said, I have been known to occasionally give in to the pull of a box of ‘movie theater butter’ flavored microwave popcorn if I somehow find myself strolling down the grocery store’s snack food aisle (I know, I’m a hypocrite). But rarely does our ‘snack food free zone’ home ever affect our friends…that is until they become houseguests.

Case in point, two very good friends of ours who shall remain nameless (oh, what the hell, their names are Will and Darryl from Atlanta). Whenever they come up for visits, they walk in the door with suitcases, a host’s gift, smiles, hugs AND a small grocery bag filled with Doritos and other treats to help tide them over during their stay.

Now, it’s not that I have some holier-than-thou attitude about snack foods. Honestly, I have very little self control when it comes to junk food. I love love love the stuff. I especially love Lay’s chips. The salt, the oil…just to think about it. I take my time when eating them, making sure to place the salted side of the chip face down on my tongue, I let that flavor settle in and then take slow, deliberate bites so that I not only enjoy the flavor but I enjoy the loud crunch that comes with each, satisfying bite. Oh, now we’re talking.

See what I mean, I have a problem.

And my devotion to junk food is not isolated to salty snacks. ‘Cause me loves sweet treats too. As a kid, I was a huge fan of Keebler Pecan Sandies. Their flavor can be boiled down to three ingredients: butter, pecans and sugar. What’s not to love?

I like them so much that years ago (when I first started seriously cooking for myself), I searched for the perfect recipe for homemade Pecan Sandies. As we say in the South, I hit pay dirt.

This recipe is a little gem. Perfect flavors. Of course, you get the holy trinity of any good Pecan Sandy (pecans, butter, sugar), but it is this cookie’s texture that makes it a stand out. It has a perfect shortbread texture. It’s crumbly. It’s light as air.

You bite it and it instantly breaks apart in your mouth – which is perfect, because each tiny crumb serves as a little vessel of flavor being dispersed to every corner of your mouth. And pairing the cookie with caramel just heightens the nutty flavor of the pecans.

The smooth and creamy buttery flavor, the nuttiness of the pecan and caramel, the texture – it’s…just…heaven.

 
PECAN SANDIES WITH CARAMEL FILLING
I originally discovered this recipe on either Martha Stewart’s website or the television show. Since then, the recipe has been published in the Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook.

Although there is a caramel recipe included in the MS book, I find it a somewhat difficult caramel to make: it too easily crystallizes. I’m sure the problem is me but I have always had the same problem with this recipe. I recently discovered a much easier caramel recipe in the Williams-Sonoma book, Cooking for Friends (as featured in my recent post for Ricotta-Almond Doughnuts with Caramel Sauce). It’s simple and a breeze to make.

For Cookies: Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook
½ cup pecan halves
2 sticks of unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
½ tsp kosher salt

For Caramel: Adapted from Cooking for Friends, by Alison Attenborough, Jamie Kimm
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tbl of butter, diced
¼ cup heavy cream

TO MAKE THE COOKIES: Spread the pecans on the baking pan, and toast until fragrant and golden brown, 5 to 7 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Transfer the pecans to blender and pulse until finely chopped.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract, flour, and salt; beat to combine. Stir in pecans.

Form the dough into a disk, and wrap in plastic. Transfer to refrigerator, and chill until firm, 30 to 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough 1/4-inch-thick. Using a 2 1/4-inch fluted pastry cutter, cut out 68 rounds. Place the rounds, spaced 1 inch apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Refrigerate dough 5 to 10 minutes. Using a 3/4-inch round aspic cutter, or the large end of a pastry tip, cut out and discard the centers from 34 cookies, making top halves.

Bake until golden brown, about 12 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through baking time. Transfer cookies to a wire rack, and let cool completely.

TO MAKE THE CARAMEL: Put sugar in a small heavy saucepan and add enough water just to cover sugar (it will resemble wet sand). Place over medium-high heat and cook, without stirring, but occasionally swirling the pan to ensure even cooking, until mixture starts to bubble and edges begin to turn amber, about 7-10 minutes. Watching carefully to prevent overcooking, continue cooking until mixture turns a deep amber, 3-5 minutes more. Remove from heat and very carefully add butter (it may spatter). Carefully add cream and swirl pan until evenly mixed.

TO ASSEMBLE THE COOKIES: Spoon or pipe about 1/2 teaspoon caramel in the center of each of the bottom halves, and sandwich both halves together. Drizzle remaining caramel over the tops of the cookies. Let the caramel set at least 2 hours, and up to overnight. Store the assembled cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

I already know what you’re thinking. “Another chocolate chip cookie recipe?” And normally, I would agree with you…but…I promise you, these cookies are a step above your average ‘chip cookie.’ Despite my assurances of these cookies’ superiority, I’m know a few of you are still a bit skeptical, “Seriously, you have a food blog and the best you can come up with is chocolate chip cookies?” In my defense, let me say that these cookies are really really good.  

The peanut butter, honey and relatively low amount of flour really gives the finished product a tender, creamy texture.Ok, now that I have done my best to redeem my culinary bona fides by laying out my case for these cookies – I will admit one thing. Normally, I HATE peanut butter cookies. Why would you go through the work of baking cookies and not add chocolate? I mean, is that even legal? In my mind, ovens could easily have been invented for no other purpose then turning hard, cold chocolate into soft, warm, creamy gooeyness that gets smudged all over your fingers. So, as I came across this recipe thumbing through my new copy of ‘Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone,’ I was intrigued. I thought to myself, “Eureka! Have I found another way to feed my addiction to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups?” Will these cookies be the ‘nicotine patch’ that will wean me off said addiction? Possibly. I’ll let you know in a later post. Until then, back to the cookies.

This is going to be a relatively wet dough for cookies. So, if you are looking for clump cookies, this is not the recipe. And whatever you do, DO NOT OVER MIX THE DOUGH – unless you are a fan of cookies that are tough and crumbly (that sounds like a made up word). Oh, one last word on keeping these cookies tender. Although the recipe calls for 12 minutes in a 350F oven, take note that if you are using a convection oven they probably won’t need to bake that long.

CHOCOLATE CHUNK PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES

Adapted from Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone 

I’ve made a slight change in the amount of vanilla and chocolate. I’ve increased them both.

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

8 tbl unsalted butter (room temperature)

2 tbl honey

1 large egg

2 tsp pure vanilla extract

6 oz semisweet chocolate (chopped into large chunks)

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line 2 large heavy duty baking sheets with aluminum foil.

Mix the flour, baking soda and the salt in a medium bowl. Using an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, honey egg and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended. Stir the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture in two additions. Stir in the shoppes chocolate.

Scoop about 2 tablespoonsful of dough for each cookie onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 12 minutes (shorter time if using a convection oven), or until the cookies puff and begin to brown on top but are still soft to the touch.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Then use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack.