Pecan Tassies and ~Happy Thanksgiving!~

Hi everyone!!  Sorry for this late post on Thanksgiving...A day after it passed, but here goes!  Happy Thanksgiving everyone.  There are many things I am thankful for.  However, I feel like I don't always appreciate all the things I have.  This is something I have to work on.  The things I am thankful for are the usual: family, friends, house, food, and clothes.

For this year, the things I am especially thankful for is being able to find a fellowship at school that I feel like I fit really well in.  Another thing I'm extremely thankful for is meeting 4 international students who have changed my life.  I've been helping them improve their English, but I have also learned a lot from them too.  Also this year I'm living in an apartment as opposed to the dorms, so I have been cooking for myself.  I'm thankful that I am finally forced to learn how to cook because I never really liked cooking before.  I'm starting to enjoy cooking now too.  You know, the first time I actually cooked in my apartment, I set off the fire alarm.  T_T  To my credit, the alarm was really sensitive...but I can't believe I used Pam on a really hot pot and it just started smoking.  So now, I have started to use regular oil.  I'm also thankful for having a job so I can spend my own money on things I want without having to ask my parents for money.  Most importantly of all, I'm thankful for my readers!  Thanks for your support and advice.  I really do appreciate it. :D

So this year for Thanksgiving, I went over to S's house just like last year.  We had lunch at her house and the food was just delicious.  I really missed her and her family because the last time I saw them was last Thanksgiving.  Unfortunately, S. was extremely busy with her schoolwork so I was only able to see her for 15 seconds...literally... LOL.  I knocked on her day, asked her how she was doing, and then left her alone.  However, I talked to her mom instead.  It was quite funny.  Her mom was like, "I never imagined a day where I would be having a conversation with you like this."  Her mom had seen me grow up, so that's why it was so "weird".  Anyway, I really enjoyed this Thanksgiving lunch with her family and several other families present at the potluck.

I made pecan tassies for the potluck.  They were all polished off. :D  Some people couldn't resist going back for seconds and thirds.  I actually made these pecan tassies the week prior, with one of the international students (J.)  It was quite funny because he had to help me with making the crusts and stuff and I usually bake with my girl friends. XD  I brought the pecan tassies to a potluck too the past week and got rave reviews.  Whenever people say that something I made tastes good, I'm not really sure how I should react because it's not like I created the recipe.  But yea, these tarts are really good.  I ate some and had a very hard time keeping myself from eating more.  Also, even my brother ate them!  (He dislikes nuts.)

These pecan tassies are super time consuming.  They take around 3 hours to make (from the very start to the very end).  I figured out that the best way to make the crust was to make the dough, then just roll the dough into balls, use one end of my rolling pin to squish the dough into the cupcake pan and press the ball into the edges of the pan.  Everything else is super simple.

Pecan Tassies

Black and White Cookies

I always wanted to try making black and white cookies, but I never got the chance to because these cookies are very time consuming.  When I finally made these cookies, I was a little surprised at how cake-like the batter was.  Also, the cookies were easier to make than I thought they would be.  The hard part was frosting the cookies and making the chocolate frosting.  Because of the chocolate frosting, I spent around 3 hours, hands on, making these cookies.

These cookies were pretty good.  You'll like them if you like cake-like cookies.  The only downside of these cookies was that the icing was really sweet...and I put a really thick icing on these cookies when I was trying to make sure the icing looked perfect.  So I guess if I ever make these cookies again, I will spread less icing onto the cookies.  Also, one problem I encountered was the texture of the chocolate icing.  I don't know what I did wrong, but not only was the icing not very pretty, it was also really, really hard to spread.  I spent around half an hour trying to get the icing to the right consistency, but it still ended up different from the white icing.  In the end, I was extremely frustrated and vowed that I would never make these cookies again because icing these cookies was just too time consuming.  We'll see if I keep that vow. XD

I actually made these cookies for my brother because he wanted to bring some treats for his band council.  After he came back from his band activity, he told me that many people enjoyed the cookies.  However, there was one guy who said that my cookie batter was not mixed well enough...  :(  My brother consoled me by saying that the guy who said that was a very critical person, hahaha.

Black and White Cookies
Recipe from Simply Sifted.

Actually I have the hard copy of this recipe in my America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book, but I found the recipe online already so I will just give you the link instead of retyping up the same recipe.

Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Wow, I can't believe it's been a whole month since I last posted a recipe.  I've been so busy with school and work that I kept on making excuses to not write a post.  Actually, I believe the last time I posted was close to the end of my winter quarter and then the weeks passed by so quickly when I was busy writing papers for my final exams.  That period of time was crazy!  It was the first time in my whole life that I wrote soo much!  I had to write a 10 page research paper for my education class and more essays for my writing class.  Now, I'm taking 20 units.  I decided to challenge myself because I felt like I had too much free time, which ironically, I did not use that time to write posts.  :/  Anyway,  here I am making excuses again. I would like to dedicate this post to I.S.  I don't know if you would like your name out on the internet, but yea. :)  Due to your encouragement, I wrote another post.  I'll try to post consistently...

Today, the recipe I'm sharing with you is espresso shortbread, from Annie's Eats.  Honestly, I never drink coffee, but I enjoyed these cookies.  I was too busy during the Crazy Day to taste these cookies, but they smelled good.  They were also really simple to make.  So if you're busy and you don't have enough time for hands-on stuff, make these cookies.  All you have to do is mix up the cookie dough which you can do in a matter of minutes, roll out the dough, and then chill it.  Easy peasy!

The cookies also look very cute and neat because all you have to do is cut them out in squares and then poke holes in them with forks.  


Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread

Oreo Cheesecake

Last week, I stayed at my school for the first weekend because Jason Chen came over to sing at a Taiwanese Festival that a club at my school was holding.  I don't think I'll be staying at school often because it was kind of boring.  Also, my week seemed really long afterward.  I felt like it was Wednesday when it was only Tuesday.  Anyway, I was too tired to start posting any things that I made on the crazy day.  But I don't want to neglect my blog for a long period of time again, so here I am again!

The first recipe I'll be posting is for an Oreo cheesecake.  I got the recipe from the blog Buns in my Oven.  This recipe is definitely a keeper!!  It is a really simple recipe that was not time consuming at all.  This cheesecake does not require a water bath, so you don't need to worry about that.

It  was a really tasty treat.  Simple to make, so you should definitely make it when you are crunched for time.  Also, Oreo lovers, you're in for a big treat!  The cheesecake has Oreo's in the crust and in the filling. :) Yummm.

Oreo Cheesecake

 

The Crazy Day

So every week at church, after service, there is a snack area called Sonlit Terrace. Every week people take turns bringing muffins, croissants and similar items.  Since it was the summer, I decided to sign up for bringing the snacks one day.  It was going to be a great excuse for a baking challenge.   I was so excited! I didn't decide what I wanted to make until a few days before and it was a hard decision.  I ended up with eleven things I wanted to make.

The items I made were:
Oreo cheesecake bites
Oreo cupcakes
Green tea cookies
Lofthouse sugar cookies
Chocolate chip cookies
Espresso shortbread
Double chocolate chip cookies
Funfetti cupcakes
Cheesecake brownies
Glazed lemon cookies
Almond biscotti

I will be Posting each recipe one by one because it would take forever to post all of it at once.  Here is a preview of all the things I made.


All these things took me 11 hours to make.  I was in the kitchen for the whole day baking. It was fun, but tiring.  With my brother's help I was able to frost the cookies and clean up without sleeping too, too late.  After my baking spree was over, I was soo tired that I couldn't fall asleep.


The end product. :)

Giant Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies as a snack that me and my friends could enjoy at my school's senior movie night. All the seniors who wanted to could go to the big gym, get free tacos and enjoy the movie Up. I never watched it before, so I was very excited. The movie was soooo cute! It was just like watching it in a movie theater, except there were echos so I couldn't understand what they were saying sometimes. :/ hahaa

It was the best school night ever because I usually don't hang out with friends on a school night.

Giant Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Lemon Cloud Tea Cookies

I made these cookies for my church youth group counselors as a thank you, because my counselors always help me out when I need help. They're always there for me when I need them and they always spend a lot of time talking to me to see how I'm doing. So these were for TD Valentine's Day and counselors' appreciation night. Luckily, on this Friday I didn't have school and I was able to prepare the presents. I really had fun wrapping the presents and everything, but it took quite a while to wrap the boxes. We were going to put thank you letters for the counselors into the boxes and also give a cup of cookies.

I made these and they weren't anything special. :( I did add a bit too much lemon juice, causing the dough to become overly sticky. Also, I omitted the zest. That must have been a necessity for the cookies because they were a bit bland. I omitted the zest because I didn't have a zester, or so I thought. I actually do have one; I only found out after my mom was looking through her cabinets and found a few things and asked me if I needed them. Then I discovered that we had a zester. All this time, my mom didn't know what it was, so it was just sitting there in the cabinet. Don't you love it when you find out that you had something you wanted all along?

Anyway, most people who made these cookies were happy with the results, so don't be afraid to try this out. I got this recipe from Wendy from Table for 2 or more... and the original recipe is from Joy the Baker.


Lemon Tea Cloud Cookies

Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these cookies on Chinese New Year on a school day. Now that it's second semester, I've been a bit more free these days.

These cookies have the best aroma ever. Mine turned out a but crunchier than how it's supposed to be, but the flavor is really nice. My brother ate one after another. Also, the cookie dough is the fluffiest one ever. If you're a cookie dough lover, I bet you won't be able to resist eating this one! Personally, I don't like eating cookie dough.

You can find the recipe on Brown Eyed Baker. My AFK Family Baking Book has the same exact recipe, the only difference between the two recipes was the directions for shaping the cookies. My book said just to scoop 2 tbsp of dough and shape it into a ball and place it onto the cookie sheet. Only baking one sheet at a time and rotating the sheets halfway through baking. (I forgot to rotate the sheets, but the cookies turned out fine.)


Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Matcha Shortbread

After eyeing these cookies for quite a while, I finally made them on Christmas day. When I saw the recipe on Dodol & Mochi, I knew I wanted to make these cookies one day.

After a while, I inquired my mom to see if we had any green tea powder. She thought for a bit and said no. A few days later, when my mom picked me up from school, she surprised me by saying that she bought some green tea powder for me. I was ecstatic. My mom knows me so well and she always does so many things for me. I have come to take many things for granted, but now that I think about it, I'm so lucky to have such a great mom. Now that I mentioned my mom, it's only fair to mention my dad too. My dad is always so patient and hardworking. Thanks dad and mom!


The cookies were flaky. When you take a bite of it, the cookie gives in with such a nice feel. I don't really know how to describe them... But they also "melt" in your mouth. It's not too sweet and the green tea flavor is wonderful.

I didn't feel like taking out my hand mixer, so I hand mixed the dough. It took a long time to cream the butter and sugar together and then to get the matcha to evenly combine with the rich mixture, but after a while it all came together.

I took pictures of the process, but they disappeared somewhere.

Matcha Shortbread

Sugar Cookies

I've only eaten sugar cookies a few times in my life and the few times I've eaten them were when my friend A. made them.

On Club Day, a club fundraiser event at my school, my friend who is in charge of book club had a bake sale. The cookies included cc cookies and sugar cookies. After lunch, which was when the sale took place, there were still some leftover cookies. I didn't buy any cookies until after school when I saw my friend again. She offered me some cookies and I couldn't resist and bought them. I was so hungry after school that I ate 3 cookies all by myself while waiting for my mom to pick me up from school. I felt terrible....after getting the recipe from my friend, I found out that each cookie had 150 calories and a whole bunch of sugar (obviously). Oh well, what's done is done. So here is the recipe for the addicting cookies, enjoy!

I made these for my dad's coworkers because he was returning to work after taking a short vacation. I started preparing them at around 9 pm and chilled them for a few hours before finishing baking and packaging them at 2 am. Now that was the latest I have ever stayed up till to bake. 0_0 It was totally worth it though!

Sugar Cookies
Recipe from my friend A.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Happy New Year's Eve everyone! It's already the last day of 2010 which also means my winter break is going to end soon. :( This year zoomed by for me. So many things happened: applying to colleges, finishing my SATs, making my own blog, becoming more interested in baking, having my grandparents from Taiwan come and visit, and much, much more. I could mention more, but it would take too much time. I don't exactly have any resolutions for this new year because I end up not following them. Enough of my rambling, I hope everyone has a great year ahead of them.

I made these cookies once before, back when I didn't have a blog. I brought them to a church gathering and I remember this guy being very disappointed when the cookies ran out. I made these again for my youth group Christmas gathering. I got the recipe from allrecipes.com and slightly adapted it to my own tastes.

Actually, here's my review from a year ago:
This cookie is literally the best chocolate chip cookie i have ever made. It looked like it was store bought. all the cc cookies i ever made turned out kind of pale or cakey. these cookies taste nice and chewy. My brother even rated them a 9.6 out of 10 (that is a pretty high rating based on his tastes) You should definitely use this recipe. What I did was use a little lesser white sugar (so that it wouldn't be too sweet), use a little less butter (so it wouldn't be too fatty),and use the same amount of everything else other than the chocolate chips. For the chocolate chips i used about at most a half cup. DO NOT use the full amount of chocolate chips unless you like your cookies being full of chocolate chips. I then used a tablespoon to spoon out the dough onto the baking sheets. Afterward, you should kind of "smush" them so that they are flatter and not round. Otherwise, they will stay round. This cookie was the best cc cookie recipe i ever tried!

I love the easiness of making this cookie. All you have to do is get all the ingredients and quickly mix it together. I didn't feel like using a hand mixer so I just hand mixed the ingredients together to make these cc cookies.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
From allrecipes.com, adaptations are noted in parentheses

Snickerdoodles

I made these snickerdoodles on a school day before winter break for my brother's English class Christmas party. It took me 2 hours to prepare, bake and clean up. I think these cookies are pretty time consuming, but they are worth it. The hardest part is rolling the dough into balls and dipping it into the cinnamon sugar mixture because it's a hassle to keep your hands clean and unsticky.

Snickerdoodles
Slightly Adapted from The America's Test Kitchen Baking Book

Marble Spritz Cookies

I made these marble spritz cookies with my cousin. They are a variation of my pressed sugar cookies.

I got the original recipe from Williams-Sonoma and apparently it was "Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Kitchen Library Series, Cookies & Biscotti, by Kristine Kidd (Time-Life Books, 1993)."

Marble Spritz Cookies
Makes 40-60


12 tbsp (1.5 sticks) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 1/2 to 3 tbsp cocoa powder (for the divided dough)
sprinkles, optional

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl with mixer on high speed so that the mixture is light and fluffy. Add in the egg, vanilla and salt and continue beating the mixture until the ingredients are evenly distributed. Add in the flour by beating it in, stirring it in, or kneading it in. It doesn't matter. I just first beat it in, then knead it so that the dough won't stick on my hands then. Stop when the dough comes together.

Divide the dough in two and add 2 1/2 tbsp to 3 tbsp of cocoa powder into one of the dough. Knead the powder in, add more powder if you want a more chocolaty taste. At one point, you can't add any more or else the dough will be too dry and it will become too difficult to "press it out".

Put the dough into your cookie press however you want to. Put the shape you like onto the press and start pressing out the dough onto a baking sheet. Parchment paper is not needed because the cookie is oily enough not to stick on the pan. Decorate your cookies with sprinkles if you wish to do so. Make sure to press them on so they don't fall off.

Bake the cookies at 375*F for around 10-15 minutes. So that the cookies are slightly golden. Move cookies to wire rack and cool. May be stored in airtight containers for a couple of days.

Note: I prefer not to "marble" the dough before putting it in the press because when it comes out of the press it will look a bit disgusting. So if you have a cookie press, just put the dough in without mixing it.

If you do not have a cookie press, you can still make these cookies. Just shape them with your hands or use cookie cutters.

I also reserved some dough for one flavored cookies.


Inadvertent rainbows. :)


Lots of cookies.


I burned one batch. :( I was washing the dishes and forgot. How sad.


I bought some to marching band camp in cupcake liners, hehe, just like those Danish butter cookies.

Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made them with a friend Friday, but didn't bake it until Saturday morning because I had to leave to go to band camp. I had band camp this whole week from 5-9, a whole 4 hours! Anyway, after I prepared the dough, I just kept the dough in the refrigerator for almost 12 hours. You can make the dough ahead of time and freeze it up to one month or refrigerate up to 3 days. If you choose to freeze the dough, when the time comes to bake it just slice it up and bake for a longer period of time (around a few minutes more). Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days if they last that long. :)

Thin and Crispy CC Cookies
Makes ~48 cookies
Recipe from America's Test Kitchen Baking Book

The cookies will spread during baking, so unless you want them to stick together space them 1 1/2 inch apart. Also, for a very crisp cookie wait until they cool completely before eating them. If you decide to bake all the dough you mixed, make sure to let the baking sheets to cool down before placing the 2nd batch of cookies on the sheets.

Set A
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Set B
12 tbsp (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

Set C
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract

Set D
1 1/2 cups semisweet MINI chocolate chips (I used less than that, maybe around 3/4 cup?)
1 cup walnuts or pecans, toasted and chopped fine (optional) (I only used 1/2 cup of walnuts which I toasted in my toaster oven for a few minutes at 350*F)

Directions

In a medium bowl, whisk together Set A. In a large bowl, cream together Set B with an electric mixer on medium high speed so that it becomes light and fluffy. Then add Set C into the mixture and continue beating, this will only take around 30 seconds. Lastly, mix in Set D until everything is evenly distributed. Now, cover the dough with saran wrap and then refrigerate the dough until it isn't sticky, around 15-20 minutes.


Set A


Set B


Set C


Done mixing. Easy peasy.


Adding the toppings.


Dough on saran wrap after 20 minutes in fridge.

After you do that, take the dough out and divide it into two portions. Put one portion on a piece of plastic wrap and roll it into a roll that is 6 inches long and 2 inches wide. Wrap it as tight as you can with the plastic wrap and then refrigerate it until the dough is firm, this will take around 2 hours. Another option is to store it in the freezer for up to one month until a craving for cookies hits you.


Rolled up into around 6 by 2 inches.


I put it in a cardboard paper towel tube to keep it round. The book gave this advice.

With the oven racks in upper-middle and lower-middle positions, heat the oven to 350*F. Use parchment paper to line 2 baking sheets.

Slice one log of dough after it is firm, into 1/4 inch slices. Place them on the lined baking sheets with enough space between so that they won't bake together. Bake for around 12-17 minutes until the edges are browned. Make sure to carefully watch it because they will burn easily because the cookies are so thin. Also, make sure to switch and rotate the baking sheets halfway into baking.


Roll sliced up into 1/4 inch slices.


Slices placed on baking sheet.

Cool cookies on baking sheets for 3 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely. Go on to bake the rest of the dough if you feel like it.


Cookies cooling on sheet.


Cookies on wire rack after 3 minutes.


Note: Mini chocolate chips should be used instead of regular sized chips because that way it will be easier to slice the cookies.

To keep the cookie dough round while you are slicing it, make sure to rotate the dough from time to time.

If the cookie dough becomes too soft after a while, either refrigerate it again until it becomes firm or just shape them with your fingers. Luckily, this won't happen until you get to slicing the last few cookies.

If the cookie slices are a bit uneven, just use your fingers to press the cookies so that they have an even thickness.

These cookies are really easy to make and won't take up much time. You'll love them if you like crispy cookies. When you first take them out of the oven, they won't be crispy so you need to wait until they cool down.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

So during the summer, I had to take Economics and Government for credits in order to graduate from high school. I didn't enjoy taking Govt, but I did like Econ, especially when we had a project where we had to become entrepreneurs and create our own product. Upon hearing about this project, I wondered if I could bake something and "sell" it. I asked my teacher and he said that I could do it. So the product was chocolate crinkle cookies. I made around 37 of them. They were the size of the circle you make with your pointer finger and thumb. After I presented my project, the cookies were passed around the class and not many people ate them. I was still left with around half the cookies when they were passed back to me. However, out of the people who did eat the cookies, many people were saying that they liked the cookies very much and others even asked for more. :) Personally though, after I tasted a cookie, I thought they were ok, but who knows, you might like them too.

So I got the recipe from joy of baking, you can find it here.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Melt the butter and chocolate chips together.


Add in chocolate mixture to the sugar and eggs.

Keep on mixing.

It will soon become uniform in mixture.

Add in the flour mixture.

Mix and then refrigerate.

Roll into tbsp sized balls and dip in powdered sugar.


Set on parchment paper lined baking sheet.


Note:
I found that coating the cookie with more sugar will let it have a prettier crinkle.

Double Chocolate Cookies

These cookies have a nice flaky skin on the surface and a chewy interior, very nice for parties or any other event. I made them using the recipe from my Williams Sonoma Sweet Treats book.

Double Chocolate Cookies
Recipe from Williams Sonoma Sweet Treats book

Ingredients
8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (Recipe called for bar chocolate, but I didn't have any)
1/3 cup unsalted butter
1/3 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup or less sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature (I used extra large)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips


First, melt the chocolate and butter together in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Let the butter melt and be careful to keep the chocolate from becoming too hot. After the butter melts, turn off the heat and stir with a rubber spatula until the chocolate is totally melted.




Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together.


Stir the sugar and eggs together so that it is uniformly mixed. Add in the chocolate mixture and keep stirring until it all comes together.




Add in half of the flour mixture and stir until there are no traces of flour and continue with the rest of the flour mixture. Add in the chocolate chips and stir again.







The dough needs to be firm, so leave alone for one hour.


Line baking sheets with parchment paper and scoop dough out with a tablespoon after an hour has passed or the dough has firmed up.

The tablespoons of cookie dough should be around 2 inches apart. Flatten the dough with wet fingers so it won't stick to you.



Bake the cookies at 350*F for 15 minutes. If you bake it too long, it will be dry.

Cool cookies on wire rack, around ten minutes.

Bake cookies a sheet at a time.

Makes 24.