These chocolate macarons are rich, fudgy and delicious! They’re made with a tasty almond shell and filled with decadent 2-ingredient chocolate ganache.
I’ve often found macarons to be a bit of an elusive dessert, because they take such a long time to make and are fairly temperamental. You have to let the shells dry before putting them in the oven so that the cookies can rise and gain “feet” (the bumpy, crackly layer you see in the middle of the cookie).
However, I’ve tried to make this recipe as simple as possible. You whip the egg whites, then add the dry ingredients. Pipe the cookies, let sit, then bake. You make the ganache with just two ingredients, and you frost the inside of the cookie and make a sandwich. Simple stuff. But the result? Exquisite! (more…)
Happy Valentine’s Day! Are you still in need of some Valentine gifts? Look no further! You can have these cookies ready to go in about half an hour
I’ve tried out more chocolate cookie recipes than I can count, and these are some of the best I’ve made in a long time! Baked at a high temperature, these cookies are crisp on the outside and magically rich and fudgy on the inside. (more…)
When someone requests a French dessert, I normally reach for my madeleine recipe before any other. They require relatively few and simple ingredients, they bake quickly, and they are a melt-in-your-mouth kind of amazing!
You can call a madeleine a cookie for its size and shape, but it’s really much more like a cake. They’re soft and spongey on the inside with just the slightest bit of crispiness on the outside (think muffin tops). The flavor is light and buttery with just a hint of almond. View below for step-by-step photos and the full recipe: (more…)
Sugar cookies, when made right, are amazing and beautiful and colorful, but they take foreverrrrr to make. Especially if you are making a big batch and you want to decorate each one individually.
These, at least, were my thoughts Thursday night at 10 when I realized that I hadn’t made the cookies that I promised for my brother’s Valentine’s Day party at school the next day.
I had to quickly think of something else I could make that was equally as amazing, beautiful, colorful (and delicious) as my regular sugar cookie recipe, so I jumped on making sugar cookie bars. (more…)
In my house, the back-to-school season means a lot of things. It means checking off every item of the endless lists of mandatory supplies. It means going shopping for new jeans, hoping they’ll last at least the first semester. It means cleaning up the house, because we all know that if it doesn’t get cleaned during the summer, there’s no way anyone will have time during the school year.
But, along with all the boring stuff, it means baking. Cookies for back-to-school cookouts, brownies for the first club meetings, and cupcakes for everything else. Plus, everyone needs something nice to pack in their lunch sacks, right? Other than just the regular overly-sweet and super artificial prepackaged snacks.
Cookies, of course, are the standard item. They’re the easiest to package, easiest to make, easiest to store. And if you don’t have a classic oatmeal chocolate chip recipe in your repertoire, you need to add this one to it right now. (more…)
Earlier this summer we gained new neighbors, but our street’s pretty quiet and my family and I hadn’t had a chance to meet the new kids on the block until this past week. Luckily for this family, I’m a baker and every time anyone new moves in nearby, they’re greeted with some kind of fresh pastry delivered to their doorstep.
These neighbors really lucked out with these chocolate crinkle cookies. They’re similar to brownie cookies, with their slightly crunchy exterior and soft and fudgy center, but they’ve also got a coating of powdered sugar baked into them. This amazing concoction is adapted from a recipe from the book Cookie Love.
Though the book is based on one of the most basic things you can bake, cookies are also one of the most versatile and adaptable pastries out there. They can be as simple as a three-ingredient shortbread, or as complex as Cookie Love’s cover photo of spiced double-chocolate cookies (and even more complex if you decide to make the marshmallows from scratch). (more…)
If you’ve never heard of them tuiles are light French pastries (basically cookies) that have a distinct curved shape. They’re pretty easy to make with only six ingredients and they taste great with ice cream or a large glass of milk.
Since these cookies aren’t very familiar to many, below I have some step-by-step pictures, showing exactly what kind of texture the batter should be. Along with the recipe, I have another cookbook review to share! This book is called French Roots by Jean-Pierre Moullé and Denise Lurton Moullé. As always, scroll to the bottom of the post to view the recipe.
At first I was a bit disappointed when I received this book. Immediately, when I opened the package that was mailed to me, I plunged through the pages, as I do with all cookbooks, marking down the recipes that I’ll put on my long list of things to make. When flipping through this book though, everything looked very plain and somewhat uninviting. (more…)
Peanut butter cookies are the classic American cookie, but there are so many different varieties out there. Just on my blog I have GF Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies, Crunchy Peanut Butter Cookies, and Peanut Butter Blossoms. Each type of cookie is different, in its ingredients and texture, and this is another variety of peanut butter cookies to add to the list: Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies.
These cookies spread quite a bit, allowing the outer edge to cook more than the inside, giving the cookie its distinctive texture: crunchy on the outside, soft on the inside. (more…)
Bizcochuelos are anise-based cookies that taste great with a cup of coffee or tea. They’re traditional Mexican treats that are typically made around the holidays, but I make these year-round because they’re so light and delicious!
They’re very thin, small, crunchy cookies that are great for snacking on and they’re perfect for dunking in milk.
Spiced very lightly, they’ve got a touch of cinnamon and not a hint of blandness! (more…)
I’ve often found macarons to be a bit of an elusive dessert, because they take such a long time to make and are fairly temperamental. You have to let the shells dry before putting them in the oven so that the cookies can rise and gain “feet” (the bumpy, crackly layer you see in the middle of the cookie).
Cookies, of course, are the standard item. They’re the easiest to package, easiest to make, easiest to store. And if you don’t have a classic oatmeal chocolate chip recipe in your repertoire, you need to add this one to it right now. 
