Filled Fudge Cookies Revisited

I originally published this recipe in December 2010, and recently cooked them again, with a friend. Just for experience, she made them at her house before our baking session, and found that she had some difficulties with the dough.  I could tell immediately that she had overcooked the cookies, but when she described how dry her dough was, I knew that there was probably another problem.  We made them again, using the ingredients she had brought and found that the dough was way too dry.  The culprit seemed to be the flour.  The recipe called for unbleached flour, and that is what she had brought, but it was Gold Metal - Better For Bread, unbleached, and this flour has too much protein in it  for the dough to work (we know this because we made them again with Pillsbury unbleached and it worked fine).  I have changed the recipe to reflect this - it now calls for all-purpose flour - either unbleached or bleached will work fine, and will be less confusing to those who can only find unbleached bread flour.  The other issue was with the 1/2 can of condensed milk.  I, of course, did this by weight, using 7 ounces of the condensed milk - which actually turns out to be more than half of the can - even though the can says that it is 14 ounces.  The recipe now has a more precise measurement for this.  Lastly, we wanted the cookies to look more elegant so we drizzled them with dark and white chocolate.  I don't have a picture of the result, but they really looked wonderful.

This recipe is based upon a 1995 $50,000 Pillsbury Bake-off winner called Fudgy Bonbons.  It was a really good  confection, but not a great one, because the dough was kind of greasy and the filling bland.  The original recipe called for using chocolate chips, which got melted together with some butter and then mixed together with condensed milk and flour.  Because there was not a very large amount of butter, every time I made the cookies, the chocolate mixture seized - that is, it got stiff and grainy very quickly.  The quick fix to this was to melt the chocolate and butter separately, and then to combine the chocolate with the very large quantity of condensed milk, which worked beautifully (as long as the milk is at room temperature!).  I also thought that the dough would be smoother  and less greasy with less butter in it.  In addition to these problems, the original recipe called for using milk chocolate kisses in the center.  So here you had a rather sweet wrapping around a mediocre piece of chocolate candy, rather than having a contrast between the two and a superb chocolate candy center.  The last problem with the bon bons was that, although they tasted good the first day, after that the candy center hardened and then it was more like eating a wrapped candy, rather than a cookie.  All of these objections were easy to fix as you'll see in the following recipe.  In my opinion, I've turned a $50,000 bonbon into a $100,000 cookie!  Love to have your opinions!

Filled Fudge Cookies
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped ( I used Ghirardelli)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
7 ounces (2/3cup) sweetened condensed milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and levelling

30 Dove Promise candies, Caramel or Peanut Butter (or solid)

2 ounces semisweet chocolate, for decorating
2 ounces white chocolate, optional (to get it to melt thinly, you need  white chocolate with more than 31% cocoa butter (more than 15g/40g chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with a rack in the center of the oven.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Place the chocolate in a large microwave-safe bowl, and heat it on medium power (5) for 1-1/2 minutes.  If the chocolate isn't yet melting, heat it for another 30 seconds.  Stir, and see if the mixture needs more heating or if it can rest and continue melting on its own.  Continue, heating, stirring and resting until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Set aside to cool briefly.

Meanwhile, place the butter in a small microwave-safe bowl and heat it on 10 seconds to melt the butter.  Stir the condensed milk and vanilla into the chocolate and  then stir in the melted butter.

Add the flour and stir, and then knead the dough until all of the flour has been incorporated.

     

Keep the dough covered as you are making the cookies, and if it starts to crack a lot as you are making the cookies, drizzle  and knead in a little more condensed milk.

To make the cookies, pull off a small ball of dough, and flatten it in the palm of your hand or on a board until it is a scant 1/8-inch thick.  There are a few different shapes that you can make, and I use them to differentiate cookies that have different fillings.  This time, I used round shapes for cookies filled with solid chocolate ( I didn't like those for the reasons mentioned above), square shapes for the caramel filled cookies and triangles for the peanut butter filled cookies. 

For round or square shapes, set the Dove Promise square in the center of the dough you have just flattened, and then bring the sides up over the dough to encase the chocolate.



Once the dough is encased, you can squeeze and pat it in our hand and use your thumb and forefinger to shape the round.

 

For square shapes, tamp the cookie on its ends.

For triangles, I like to cut the Dove Promises in half.  If using the caramel filled ones, they will need to be frozen first.  I usually start with the same piece of dough as in the above examples, but I square it up on the work board and then turn it so that the pointed side is up.  I put the piece of candy in, wrap the top edges around the candy, estimate the amount of dough needed to finish the wrap, and then cut off the excess dough at the bottom. (When I try to cut it into the triangle shape first, I always seem to end up with too little dough, but you can do it anyway that gets the job done). 

The last thing to do is to seal the final edge, and I usually do that with a decorative rim.

Set the cookies on the prepared cookie sheet and bake them for 4-6 minutes.  DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cookies will be soft and appear shiny, but the bottoms will just be showing signs of being cooked and will look like barely-cooked brownies. Slide the parchment onto a cooling rack and let the cookies cool.  

The cookies aren't that attractive without some sort of decoration, and cookies that don't look great won't be perceived as great, even if they are! I usually just melt the 2 ounces of semisweet chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl for about 1 minute on power 5 or until melted.  I then make a little cone out of a plastic bag, snip off the tip and pipe some horizontal lines on the top to cover up the cookie blemishes. You can repeat the process with the white chocolate.

How long to let the cookies cool is definitely a matter of preference. After about 2 hours, the cookies will be cool, but the centers will still be totally liquid .  I prefer them after about 6 hours when the chocolate has firmed up a bit, but isn't yet hard.  By the next day, the centers will have firmed back to their original state.  You can put them back onto a cookie sheet and set them in a 100 or 200 degree oven for a minute or two to re-soften the centers slightly.

The cookies do freeze, although they are always much better when freshly made. Set the frozen cookies in a 300 degree oven for 5 minutes to defrost the dough and soften the centers.

Makes about 30 cookies

Baby Shower Desserts - Part 2 Onesie Cookies with Fondant Icing

First let me say, that although my roll cookie is fantastic to work with, decorating these cookies, if you do it like this, with all of these variations, takes a LOT of time.  It took me about 10 hours to decorate 65 cookies.  If you are going to making these with kids, stick to the easy decorating - patterned "fabric", tie-dye with or without the 3-D flowers, etc. On the other hand, if you have the time or inclination to make many different ones, these are the cutest things and everyone will love them.  Don't let the fondant icing scare you away - it's homemade marshmallow fondant, which tastes good and is pretty easy to make.

Before you start, you'll need to buy the cookie cutter set.  I wanted the mini cookies (about 2-inches) because I knew that I would be making other desserts.  I bought a set that included the the onesie cookie cutter and a bib cutter (which I didn't use) and 3 texture mats.  If you search on Amazon for 'Onesie cookie cutter", this item will come up - Texture Cookie Cutter Set-Mini.  This will give you the duck, ABC and striped designs.

You also need some food coloring, good brushes (Loew-Cornell) - the pointy one in the middle is the one I used most for painting the detail.  The left-hand brush was used for brushing off excess powdered sugar, and the one on the far right was great for brushing on luster dust for a shimmery look (it's a very inexpensive watercolor  brush that I bought in the supermarket).

nonstick fondant rolling pin

Long rolling pin and Perfect-A-Pie (rings) - Available from http://www.fantes.com/ (nice to have but not required - this will help you to roll the dough and the fondant to a consistant thickness)


Makes 75 Mini Onesie Cookies

Ingredient List

2 packages (10 ounces each) miniature marshmallows
4 pounds powdered sugar
1/2-1 cup solid vegetable shortening (Crisco)
3-1/2 teaspoons vanilla or other flavoring
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
4 cups ( 520 grams) all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups
6-8 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
corn syrup
food coloring
2.5 gallon ziptop bag - not required but very nice for rolling out dough and fondant

--------------------
Ingredients will be repeated for each recipe - they are INCLUDED in the ingredient list, above.

For the Marshmallow Fondant
2 bags (10 ounces each) miniature marshmallows
4-10 tablespoons water, divided
9-1/2 cups powdered sugar divided
2 teaspoons vanilla, or other flavoring, divided

It will probably be too hard to make all of the fondant at once, so use the directions below and make it twice:

Place 10-ounces of marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave 30 seconds on high; stir until mixed well. Continue microwaving 30 seconds more; stir again. Continue until melted (about 2 1/2 minutes).  Stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla.

If you want to make the fondant in a heavy-duty mixer, grease the bowl well with some of the vegetable shortening.  Add 4-1/2 cups of the powdered to the mixer bowl.  Grease a spoon and spoon the melted marshmallow mixture into the greased bowl.  Mix the ingredients together on low until the mixture becomes dough-like.  You can now use a dough hook, or knead the mixture by (greased) hands on a greased countertop, until the mixture is smooth and non-sticky.  Add more water or up to another 1/4 cup of sugar to get the texture the way you want it.  It should not crack, nor should it be overly sticky by the time it is finished.  It should be supple and smooth.  Repeat with the remaining ingredients to have 2 batches of fondant.

If not using a mixer, add about 4 cups of sugar to the marshmallow mixture.  Stir with a greased spoon until shaggy.  Place 1 cup of powdered sugar on a countertop and transfer the mixture to the powdered sugar.  Knead together (with greased hands), adding more water (up to a total of 5 TB per batch) as necessary to get the powdered sugar completely mixed in  and the ball of fondant smooth and supple, but not overly sticky. 

If you know what colors you want, it's easier to knead it in now, while the fondant is still soft. You might want to wear gloves when kneading in color.  I used a toothpick  to spread a small bit of color onto the fondant, and then kneaded it in, adding more color as necessary.  After you are done, coat the fondant with solid shortening, wrap in plastic and place into a plastic bag.  Let the fondant rest at least overnight.  For longer storage, place it in the refrigerator.  If refrigerated, it will be very firm when you take it out.  It can be softened in the microwave prior to using, but don't overdo it.  Depending on the size of the ball (you may have broken off small balls to color them), it could take a few seconds on power 1 or 2, or up to 10 seconds on power 1 or 2.  Better to under heat than over, because over heated fondant will be too soft to work with, and it will get stale as it cools.  It will keep in the refrigerator for several weeks.

For the cookies
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter – cool room temperature
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg, room temperature

4 cups ( 520 grams) all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups
up to 4 teaspoons room temperature water, if needed

 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with shelves in the bottom and top thirds of the oven. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixer bowl beat together the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla extract on low to medium speed, just until well blended.

Break the egg into a small bowl and fork-whisk until blended. Gradually beat the egg into the butter mixture.

Add the flour, all at once, to the mixer bowl, and beat on low speed until the mixture comes together into a dough. If the dough does not form, add the water a little at a time, using just enough to bring the dough together. Press the dough into a ball, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Cut the dough into 4 pieces and return 3 pieces to the refrigerator.

For a foolproof rolling method, cut open a jumbo zip-top bag so that it is hinged on one long side. Flour the inside of the plastic and place one piece of dough inside.

To roll dough to an even thickness, you can use a pastry board with a dropped bottom or a plastic dough ring that is the exact thickness needed (see picture, above). The rolling pin runs on the edges of the ring, or the pastry board, allowing the dough to be rolled to the exact thickness needed (see Easy Dough Rolling Technique).

Roll the dough to 1/8-inch thick or slightly thinner. Cut out the dough using cookie cutters of your choice. Set the cookies on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for a total of 12 -15 minutes, moving the top cookie sheet to the lower shelf and the bottom sheet to the top after half of the baking time, until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges.  Slide the parchment onto cooling racks, and let cool completely before storing. 
If using the cookies within 2 days, store covered with waxed paper to retain the cookies crispness.  Otherwise, freeze the cookies for up to 3 months.  Defrost them on wire racks, and then place in a storage container, loosely covered with waxed paper.

Decorating
Remove the fondant from the refrigerator  and soften it as directed in the fondant section above.  Cut three sides of a ziptop bag so that you have a hinged piece of large plastic. Sprinkle on a light coating of powdered sugar.  Roll a piece of fondant out between the sheets of plastic to about slightly thicker than 1/16th inch, using the Perfect-A-pie Rings, mentioned above.  You don't want to cut more than 5-10 pieces at a time, because they will dry out, especially if you are piecing together to make stripes, for example.  If using the texture mats, you want to place them on the fondant, roll the nonstick fondant rolling pin over the mat and then use the cookie cutter to cut out the onesie shape.  I like to use the texture mats with the convex side facing up, so that the design in the fondant will be raised not convex.  It's easier to paint the raised designs than try and fill convex ones.  Once you have them cut, brush a light coating of corn syrup onto a cookie and place the fondant on the cookie.  Place the cookies on a cookie sheet and cover them with waxed paper to prevent them from drying out too much.  You'll want to go back and paint these once you have all of the cookies done.

To make patterned onesies like these:

You can make the dominant color and the accent color reversed onesie at the same time.  Roll out the two colors of fondant.  In one of the pieces, cut out the accent pieces. For the ones above, I used a mini-poinsetta cutter, but you could use a star, circle, fruit blossom, or any other tiny cutter that you have or buy.    Place the cut-outs on the other piece of dough, and roll the two together. 

Now you can see that besides the patterned piece of fondant you have just made, you also have the purple piece with the cut-outs removed.  Lift up the purple piece and set it on the unpatterned pink piece. 

You can either roll the two together to make a patterned piece of "fabric" in opposite colors from the one you just made, or you can affix the purple piece with corn syrup, making a onesie with depth. Now use the cutter to cut out the onesie, and affix it to the cookies with a light coating of corn syrup. 

To make this onesie with dots, I cut out the circles from the purple piece and then affixed the purple piece to the cookie.  Then I cut out the white and pink circles, and inserted them into onesie.  If I had tried to roll the circles into the purple piece, they wouldn't remain round, although that probably would have been an interesting pattern, too.

To make wide-striped onesies, you can use the striped onesie texture mat.  Roll out the colors you want to use, and press the texture mat into the main color.  Cut out a onesie and then use a sharp knife to cut the onesie where you want the stripe to be.

To line everything up, I like to place the cut pieces on top of the piece for the stripe and recut everything so that I can make sure that the cuts will line up nicely, and then I place the cookie cutter back onto the onesie and recut it so that I know it's the right size. 

Brush a cookie with corn syrup. Place one piece of fondant on the cookie and press down lightly so that it adheres well ( I usually work from the shirt downwards). Place the second piece on and push it upward so that it nicely abuts the first piece, and then put on the last piece.

In the picture below you can see that I used the texture mat on purple fondant to get the duck.  I cut that piece rougly and then set it on top of the white fondant. Then I used the cookie cutter to cut the onesie through both layers of fondant, and then I cut out the white piece underneath the purple fondant.  Then I attached everything as described above.  You can see that when you do it that way, the onesie looks seamless like the stripe was woven right into the "fabric".

If you want to make a 3-D flower, cut out the shape with a tiny flower cutter (I used a gumpaste fruit flower cutter).  Cup the flowers with your fingers or a wooden skewer, and let the flowers dry for 15 minutes on the skewers.  This will dry them just enough so that they will retain some shape, but they won't be so dry that you wouldn't want to eat them, and they will still be soft enough to reshape them if you have cupped them too much.

If you are very gentle, you won't make a hole in the center, as I've done in the flower, below.

But whether you have a hole or not, you can put a tiny yellow ball of fondant in the middle to finish the flower.  Attach the flowers to the fondant onesie with a dot of corn syrup, after the fondant has been affixed to the cookie.  In the picture below, you can see the 3-D pink flowers and also some flat white flowers.

To make the tie-dyed onesies above, simply put some food coloring on the fondant, but don't knead it in completely.

You can also use luster dust to give the onesies a glittery effect.

At this point you could be done OR you could really punch up the designs by painting accents on the cookies.  For that you need royal icing, which dries hard.

Royal Icing
I use pasteurized egg whites that come in a carton.  Don't follow the conversion chart (amount from carton to equal 3 egg whites), but instead just use the 3-5 tablespoons listed below.  If separating out the whites from pasteurized shell eggs, be very careful not to get any yolk or grease into the whites or they won't whip up.

3-5 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
3-3/4 cups and 1/4 cup powdered sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla or other flavoring
water, as needed

Reserve 1/4 cup sugar and mix together all other ingredients. Beat for 7-10 minutes until the icing holds a strong peak, adding the remaining sugar if necessary.

Keep the bowl of frosting covered with a damp cloth to keep it from drying out.   Divide the frosting into however many bowls of different colors you need.  I used yellow or white (no food coloring) on the ducks, white with a tiny bit of purple in it to accent the white cookies, a few shades of purple for the ABC's and to punch up the purple multi-striped onesies, several shades of pink, etc.  Here you can see that I've painted not only the duck and ABC but also the detail on the onesie.  It really makes a difference!

Pecan and Pistachio Chocolate Chip Fingers

I almost always have cookies in my freezer for emergencies, but I had just gotten back from vacation and found out that I was the only one making dessert for a fundraiser celebration that I recently attended. I had frozen a cake beforemy trip, but didn't have time to make anything else, and my freezer was totally void of cookies. The party was at 7 and it was about 4 when I got this news. I wanted t make a simple dessert but didn't want to make brownies or chocolate chip cookies, both of which could have been done in the time allotted. Most of my cookies need chilling time, so I knew they were out, but I do have a lovely Heath bits cookie in my book, and I thought that would be perfect. The only problem was that I didn't have time to shop for Heath bits and didn't have them in my cupboard. What I did have in my freezer, however, was a small bag of left over baklava filling. I thought this might make a very interesting variation on my original recipe, and I wasn't disappointed. The cookies were crispy, buttery and had an unusual flavor due to the pistachios in the recipe.

2-1/2 sticks butter (10 ounces), room temperature

1 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar

2 large egg yolks, room temperature
3 cups (390 grams) unbleached all purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup mixed nuts, chopped finely by hand or in processor
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate and Cocoa, for dusting

OR

Decorating Glaze

1/4 cup (2 ounces) mini-chocolate chips

1 teaspoon oil

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. with shelves in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar, just until blended. Beat in the vanilla and egg yolks, one at a time until well blended. Beat in the flour, a cup at a time (If you don't have a heavy-duty stand mixer, stir in the flour by hand.).  Stir together the nuts, choclate chips and cinnamon.  Stir this into the dough.

Shaping the cookies:
1. Use your hand to measure the ball size to about 1 inch.

2. Roll the ball in your palms in a circular motion to make it round and smooth.

3. Roll the ball into a log-shape by moving your hands back forth, parallel to each other.

4. Use your palm size to measure the length of the cookie to about 2-1/2-inches long. They will double in width, so go for a thinner, longer shape.

Transfer the cookies to the prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 2-inches between cookies.

Place the cookie sheets on the two shelves of the oven and bake for a total of 12-14 minutes, switching the pans from top to bottom, etc. after half of the cooking time.

Remove the cookie sheets and slide the parchment onto cooling racks to let the cookies cool for 5 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 275 degrees. When the temperature has come down, slide the parchment paper back on the cookie sheets and bake the cookies for another 10 minutes. Remove and cool, as above for about 5 minutes.

While the cookies are slightly warm, put the ground chocolate/cocoa into a strainer or sugar-shaker, and dust the tops of the cookies with the chocolate mixture.  Let the cookies cool completely before eating.

If you'd like to decorate them as shown in the opening photo, place the chocolate chips and oil in a small microwave-safe container. Micro-cook on medium power (5) for 1 minute. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted.

For this amount of glaze, you'll need a very small piping bag. You can make one out of a plastic storage or zip-top bag. Cut the bag in half, horizontally.

Put the bag into a small glass, and then fill the bag.

Hold the bag closed at the top, with the filled part resting in your palm, and your thumb and index finger holding the top (you can put a rubber band around the top if it is easier). Gently squeeze the filling toward the tip.

Make a very tiny cut in the tip with scissors. Pipe on the decoration.

These cookies keep for several days at room temperature, in a covered container. They may also be frozen in a covered container, with waxed paper between layers. This way you'll be able to defrost each cookie individually. They’ll keep frozen for 3 months. Defrost them at room temperature, uncovered.

Pecan Snowballs

I just got back from my son's wedding, so it will be awhile until I start posting again.  In the meantime, the recipe for my favorite cookies just went up at Frigidaire's recipe section.  To see the recipe, click here.

Slice and Bake Butter Cookies

This recipe is no longer available on the Internet.  To obtain a copy, please purchase Amazing Desserts on cd-rom.

Rugelach

Because this is one of my favorite cookies (pastry, really), I have a version of it in every book I create. Rugelach are flaky cream cheese pastries filled with cinnamon, sugar, nuts, preserves and sometimes chocolate. Homemade ones are usually crescent-shaped, but it’s easier to shape them into logs. Unlike commercial Rugelach, these are never dry.    Rugelach are pretty time consuming to make, and not for the novice baker. But they are well worth the effort you will put into them!

This recipe is no longer available online, but you can find it in all my books.  Click here to order

Ma’amoul or Klaicha

Recently, a friend of mine had an exchange student from Iraq staying with her, and she thought it would be nice to make some familiar food for him. She really didn’t have much time to cook that week, and I remembered that I had a Middle Eastern cookie in my cookbook, Light Jewish Holiday Desserts. My recipe was adapted from a Lebanese Jewish recipe, and not wanting to be an American lout, I thought it would be a good idea to do some Internet research to see if these cookies were also eaten by Iraqis (of any faith). Sure enough, a very similar cookie came up under the name Klaicha or Kleicha. The student was touched that I went to the trouble for him, and all of the guests enjoyed these sweet treats. Like many other recipes, there are regional and familial versions of this cookie, some being so remotely alike that it’s hard to believe it’s called the same thing. In any case, to be most authentic, you’ll probably want to follow the higher fat version (below) using orange flower water instead of orange juice. Since I don’t like orange flower water, I always make them with orange juice. My lower-fat version follows at the end of the recipe.

Makes 25 cookies

Pastry
2 cups (260 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour, fluffed, scooped and leveled into measuring cups
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom, optional
11 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
3 tablespoons orange juice (or 2 teaspoons orange flower water and the remainder water)

Date Filling
8 ounces whole, pitted, dates (about 1/2 cup, packed)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons melted unsalted butter

For the Pastry
Place the flour in a processor bowl. Add the cardamom, if using it. Scatter the butter on top of the flour. Pulse-process until the butter is cut into the flour to resemble coarse meal, about five 3-second bursts.

Sprinkle the orange juice over the flour. Process until the dough forms a ball. It should be very soft and moist.

Remove it from the processor, wrap in plastic wrap, and set aside, at room temperature, for 1 hour.

While the dough is resting, make the date filling. If the dates are very soft, they can be processed without cooking them. Place them in the processor, add the cinnamon, and process until finely chopped. Add the butter, and pulse-process to incorporate (if you continually process instead of pulse-process, the paste gets very soft, and changes to an unpleasant color). If you have miscalculated the moistness of your dates, and feel they need to be softer, remove the metal blade and set the processor bowl in a microwave. Heat on medium-high for up to 2 minutes. Pulse-process again to smooth out the paste. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350°F., with the shelves in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Divide the dough into 30 balls. Press your thumb into the center of each ball to form a cavity. Form the dough into a little “pot” with the sides being about 1/16^th inch thick. If the dough flattens while you are trying to make the pot, knead in a little bit of flour. If the dough is a little too sticky, sprinkle the work table and your hands with a little flour and then work the dough. Fill each pot about three-quarters full with a rounded half-teaspoonful of filling. Press the dough to seal in the filling and then roll the dough between your hands to form a flattened ball.

To make the characteristic design in the cookies, you will need a special mold. An alternative is to score the balls with fork, or to use some sort of makeshift mold. I used an egg separator that had a very similar design to the traditional mold. This was floured, and then the dough ball was set in and pressed down lightly.

Flip the ball out of the mold, set on the parchment lined sheets and bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until lightly browned.

Slide the parchment onto cooling racks and let the cookies cool before storing.

VARIATION
To make lower-fat ma-amoul, use the following ingredients and the instructions listed above:

1 -1/8 cups (120 grams) sifted cake flour, lightly sprinkled into a measuring cup
1 cup (120 grams) all-purpose flour, lightly sprinkled into a measuring cup 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, optional
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and cut into 1/2 inch chunks
3 tablespoons corn syrup
3 tablespoons orange juice (or 2 teaspoons orange flower water and the remainder water)

Date Filling
8 ounces whole, pitted, dates (about 1/2 cup, packed)
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons orange juice

Gooey Pecan Tassies – A Larger Pastry

My original tassie recipe was posted in February, and I said that you could also bake them in mini-cheesecake pans, but when I actually did that, there were so many changes that I made to the preparation and the ingredient quantities, that I decided to just do another post.
I like my tassies to taste a bit like pecan pie so I make them with double the amount of corn syrup. I also use a sweeter crust, which has more cream cheese in it than the typical tassie, a small bit of powdered sugar and a little vanilla to enhance the sweetness.

Both my original recipe and this once can now be found on my CD-rom or download: Amazing Desserts - A Photographic Guide to Better Baking.  To see order details, please click on MY Books, above.

Coconut Macaroons – Again!

This is the third post for these recipes - I don't know why the ingredients and most of the instructions were missing from the first and second post - something to do with the code for truncating the post. Hopefully, this try will work .

I'm going to repeat a lot of the information that was in the Passover Macaroon post, assuming that you might not have read that one if you aren't particularly interested in Passover.

For this portion of my series on macaroons, I tested macaroons made with sweetened condensed milk, fat-free condensed milk, Coco Lopez™, and egg whites. I also made one with sweetened condensed milk and beaten egg whites (no flour), and this one was not liked because it was too soft with no "bite". That's good news, because beating egg whites to stiff peak isn't the easiest technique and it made this simple cookie a pain to make. My taste-testers were the members of my mah jong group: Stacy Doline, Nathalie Malter, Ann Del Vecchio and Annette Telljohann, the Telljohann family and the Malter family. The clear cut winner of this batch of macaroons was the one made with condensed milk. Interestingly, those made with Coco Lopez, which were very good when made without flour, were not liked when made with flour – which is fine, because the results from them were very inconsistent anyway (the coconut oil sometimes leaked out).

The recipe most liked by tasters was given to me by Annette Telljohann. When I first researched the recipe, I found almost the exact recipe on the Internet listed as a State Fair winner, but when I went back to see if I could find out the name of the winner, I didn't find the recipe at all! In any case, I've changed the recipe a little so maybe now I can call it mine! The first change I made was to add a little more coconut to the recipe. They were plenty moist, so I knew that the cookie could take it. Why measure out the coconut, when by adding just a tad more, you can use a whole bag. Secondly, I've given instructions on how to make them "kiss-shaped", the traditional shape for macaroons. Then, I changed the baking temperature, or given some leeway in the temperature depending on what you'd like them to be like (I didn't try baking them at 375- a project for next year!). Lastly, the instructions have been fleshed out, so that you have the best possible chance for success. The second favorite is a non-dairy version and was adapted from one of my own recipes. And now, on with the recipes!

Coconut Macaroons
7-ounce bag (2-5/8 cup) sweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup unbleached flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and leveling
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla (very important to use good quality)
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk (fat-free was acceptable, but not preferred)
Semi - or bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. (or 350 if you like them toastier and chewier). Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet. In a bowl, combine the coconut, flour and salt. Stir the vanilla into the condensed milk. Add this to the coconut mixture and stir to combine well.

Drop the mixture by well-rounded tablespoon onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Using slightly damp hands shape the dough into a tear-drop or “kiss” shape.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the macaroons tops are beginning to brown and the cookies are barely firm to the touch.

Slide the parchment onto a cooling rack and let the macaroons cool completely.
If desired, garnish the macaroons with melted chocolate (quick-tempering directions will be in another post – find it under the label "techniques"), either drizzled over them or the bottoms dipped into the chocolate (I like to set them in an egg-crate upside down until dry).

Place the macaroons in the refrigerator for 5 minutes to firm up the chocolate. After the cookies are cool and decorated, place them in a plastic bag (at room temperature) until ready to serve. You can make them 1 day ahead. You can freeze them for 3 months. Freeze them in a single layer until solid and then you can transfer them to a bag or container.
Makes 10-12 macaroons
__________________________________

Dairy-free Coconut Macaroons
Macaroons made with egg whites are a bit easier to make because they brown up better and it is easy to tell when they are done. They didn't come in first on taste tests but I think with the changes I've made, they would be neck-and-neck with the dairy macaroons. Vanilla is a critical ingredient, even more so than with the dairy ones, so use the best vanilla you can find. I use Niellsen-Massy. It's very expensive, but so worth it.

2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 cup unbleached flour, measured by fluffing, scooping and leveling
3 large egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey
7 ounce bag (2-5/8 cups) sweetened coconut

1. PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 350°F, with an oven shelf in the middle of the oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Put the sugar and flour in a food processor bowl. Pulse-process for 10 seconds to grind the sugar a little more finely. Add the egg whites, vanilla, and honey. Process until everything is well mixed. Place the coconut in a bowl and stir in the egg mixture.

3. Drop the mixture by well-rounded tablespoon onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Using slightly damp hands, shape the dough into a tear-drop or “kiss” shape.

4. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the macaroons tops are beginning to brown and the cookies are barely firm to the touch. Slide the parchment onto a cooling rack. Decorate with chocolate, if desired, using the directions above.

Store as directed above

Macaroons - The Final Story on Passover Coconut Macaroons

I've now made 16 batches of macaroons and have consumed 6 bites and 8 Benydryl. But I have a conclusion! Well, several actually. You'll want to discard the recipes I originally posted - the new ones are much better than the first batches. I'll post Passover recipes here, and will follow up with the flour macaroons after Passover. This way you'll be able to find the recipe you need without having to scroll through too many pages. There were basically 5 recipes that I tested: a dairy version, using sweetened condensed milk, or fat-free condensed milk, another dairy recipe using half condensed mik and half Coco Lopez and two pareve versions using egg white and honey. This time around, I decorated all of the macaroons by dipping the bottoms in melted chocolate, to ensure that it wasn't the chocolate that was skewing the previous results.

Thank you to my taste-testers, Hadassah of Charlotte, my mah jong group: Stacy Doline, Nathalie Malter, Ann Del Vecchio and Annette Telljohann and also the Telljohann family. The recipe that got top marks from everyone was the one using the Coco Lopez, HOWEVER, I made this recipe 4 times, and 2 out of the four times, the coconut oil seeped out of the cookies making for a big puddle around each cookie and causing the cookies to spread out and flatten. I suspect that either the cans are not consistent in fat/liquid ratio, or the manner in which the coconut is stirred/whisked affected the way the Coco Lopez was incorporated into the batter. I find it sad to say that you should not use this recipe, but failures are demoralizing, and I don't wish that on anyone. The ones made using half condensed milk and half Coco Lopez were the only ones that tasters hated - in fact they spit them out! And now, on to the recipes!

The recipe most liked by tasters was given to me by Annette Telljohann. When I first researched the recipe, I found almost the exact recipe on the Internet listed as a State Fair winner, but when I went back to see if I could find out the name of the winner, I didn't find the recipe at all! In any case, I've adapted it for Passover by using matzo cake meal and potato starch instead of flour. I also added 2 tablespoons more coconut so that you can use a 7-ounce bag of coconut, instead of having to measure it out. I shaped mine into large kisses - the typical shape for macaroons, and I've fleshed out the directions to ensure your success.

Kosher-style Passover Dairy Macaroons
7-ounce bag (2-5/8 cup) sweetened coconut flakes
1/4 cup matzo cake meal (DO NOT USE MATZO MEAL)
1 tablespoon potato starch
Pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

Semi- or bittersweet chocolate, chopped finely

First let me show you why you should use matzo cake meal and NOT matzo meal:
The left side is the matzo meal, which is like crushed crackers, and the right side is the matzo cake meal - looking and acting more like flour.


1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. (or 350 if you like them toastier and chewier. Place a piece of parchment paper on a baking sheet.

2. In a bowl, combine the coconut, matzo cake meal, potato starch and salt. Stir the vanilla into the condensed milk . Add this to the coconut mixture and stir to combine well.
3. Drop the mixture by well-rounded tablespoon onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Using slightly damp hands, shape the dough into a tear-drop or “kiss” shape.


4. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the macaroons tops are beginning to brown and the cookies are barely firm to the touch.

5. Slide the parchment onto a cooling rack and let the macaroons cool completely.
6. If desired, garnish the macaroons with melted chocolate(quick-tempering directions will be in a new post - Tempering Chocolate), either drizzled over them or the bottoms dipped into the chocolate (I like to set them in an egg-crate to dry).

6. Place the macaroons in the refrigerator for 5 minutes to firm up the chocolate. After the cookies are cool and decorated, place them in a plastic bag (at room temperature) until ready to serve . You can make them 1 day ahead. You can freeze them for 3 months. Freeze them on a tray first so that each one is frozen individually, and then you can put them in a bag or container in the freezer. This way you can take out however many you want to defrost and they won't all be stuck together. Makes 10-12 macaroons

Penny’s Passover Vanilla Macaroons (Pareve-non-dairy)
I adapted this recipe from my Cocoa Macaroon recipe in Amazing Passover Desserts. On the first run-through (previously posted) it was my least favorite version, but it came in second with taste-testers. After several more rounds of changing and testing, it ran neck-and-neck with the dairy version, above. In addition, I think it's easier to tell when these are done baking. They come out nicely shaped with bits of toasted coconut. You DO need vanilla, so if you don't use regular vanilla and cannot find Passover vanilla, use vanilla sugar or vanilla bean. Some packaged vanilla sugar is extra-strength, so check the package for the amount to use. 2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons matzo cake meal
2 tablespoons potato starch
3 large egg whites
1 teaspoon Passover vanilla extract
1/4 cup honey
7 ounce bag (2-5/8 cups) sweetened coconut

1. PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 350°F, with an oven shelf in the middle of the oven. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

2. Put the sugar, coconut, matzo meal and potato starch in a food processor bowl. Pulse-process for 10 seconds to grind the sugar a little more finely. Add the egg whites, vanilla, and honey. Process until everything is well mixed. Place the coconut in a bowl and stir in the egg mixture.

3. Drop the mixture by well-rounded tablespoon onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Using slightly damp hands, shape the dough into a tear-drop or “kiss” shape.
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes until the macaroons tops are beginning to brown and the cookies are barely firm to the touch. Slide the parchment onto a cooling rack. Decorate with chocolate, if desired, using the directions above.

Fudgy Coconut Macaroons (Pareve-non-dairy)
Since doing all of the work on the vanilla macaroons, I'm wondering if the technique employed in the recipe above, might make an even better Cocoa macaroon. I think I'm done for this year, but maybe next year I'll have to try that out...
The following recipe is from my CD-rom, Amazing Passover Desserts. While experimenting with lower fat recipes, I developed this one which I think is more fudgy and delicious than my recipe originally published in Passover Desserts.

Coconut has a tendency to either fluff, or pack when it is measured in cups. Because of this, the moistness of the cookies will change every time you make them, unless the coconut is weighed and remains constant. I like these macaroons on the underdone side so that they are slightly fudgy in the middle. The timing is crucial, and you will have to experiment to see how long to cook them in your oven. Macaroons can be made with or without potato starch or matzo cake meal. Those made with neither will be moist and soft, but it will be easier to either under or over-bake them. Those with potato starch will be slightly firmer, and those with matzo cake meal will be slightly chewier, my personal preference. If you’d like to make them with sweetened coconut use the above recipe, substituting cocoa for the potato starch.

9 ounces unsweetened coconut (about 3-1/2 cups, lightly packed)(if using sweet coconut, see the recipe above using cocoa instead of potato starch)
1/4 cup Passover cocoa (Dutch-process if you can find it)
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons matzo cake meal, or potato starch, optional

4 large egg whites, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon Passover vanilla extract or water
1/4 cup honey

1. PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 325°F, with oven shelves in the middle and lower third of the oven. Place parchment paper on 2 cookie sheets.

2. Put the coconut, cocoa, sugar, and matzo meal (if using), in a food processor bowl. Pulse-process until the coconut is finely ground, about 10 to 20 seconds. Add the egg whites, vanilla, and honey. Process until everything is well mixed, 10 to 20 seconds.

3. Use a pastry bag with an extra large star tip (6-8B) or cut a 1-inch hole in the end of a pastry bag. Onto the parchment lined sheets, pipe out mounds that are 1-1/2-inches in diameter and 1-1/2-inches high. With your fingers, shape the tip to a point to make the traditional "kiss" shaped macaroon. Alternatively the batter can be spooned onto the sheets using a tablespoon.

4. BAKE for 13-15 minutes or until the crust dulls, switching the positions of the cookie sheets after 7 minutes.

TIPS
Buy coconut and Passover extracts at: http://www.kosher.com/
Buy Passover cocoa at: http://www.aviglatt.com/


BUY MY ENTIRE COLLECTION OF AMAZING PASSOVER DESSERTS, 
$5.00