A Valentine Treat.

These cookies make a great Valentine's Day gift - easy, fun to make; simple and oh-so-pretty packaging that my adorable and oh-so-talented sister came up with it!!

RASPBERRY SHORTBREAD SANDWICHES

Yield: Makes 2 dozen sandwiches

INGREDIENTS
1  cup  (1/2 lb.) butter, at room temperature
1/2  cup  granulated sugar
1  teaspoon  vanilla
2 1/2  cups  all-purpose flour
1/8  teaspoon  salt
1/2  cup  raspberry jam
About 1/3 cup powdered sugar


PREPARATION
1. In a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, granulated sugar, and vanilla until smooth. Add flour and salt and mix on low speed until dough comes together in a ball. Transfer to a lightly floured surface.
2. Divide dough in half. With a lightly floured rolling pin, roll each portion to about 1/8 inch thick. With a floured 2- to 3-inch round or star-shaped cutter, cut out cookies. If desired, cut a 1/2-inch circle out of the center of half of the cookies to make a window for the jam filling (see notes). Place cookies 1 inch apart on buttered 12- by 15-inch baking sheets. Gather excess dough into a ball, reroll, and cut out remaining cookies.
3. Bake in a 325° regular or 300° convection oven until edges are just beginning to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. If baking more than one sheet at a time in one oven, switch positions halfway through baking. Transfer cookies to racks to cool completely.
4. Spread the flat side of each of half the cookies (those without holes) with about 1/2 tablespoon jam. Top each with a remaining cookie (with a hole), flat side toward filling. Sprinkle tops of cookies evenly with powdered sugar.

Check out these pictures from Sunset Magazine for other cookie decorating ideas:

For the glaze: mix 1 cup powdered sugar and 2 1/2 tsp milk, dip the cut out cookies in glaze upside-down.


And now for the packaging!

Easy 3-step packaging

MATERIALS

Cellophane, craft paper, red ribbon, paper labels.

Step 1: roll up stacks of cookies in cellophane.

Step 2: wrap up with craft paper. Seal one end with tape. Twist the top and tie with red ribbon.

Step 3 (optional): print out or draw a paper label 1.875" high by 5.5" wide and wrap around center of package.

Please leave a comment if you'd like us to send you a free template of the paper labels featured in this post to print out at home!

Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies

Now I know it's not Christmas time but I just love peppermint and chocolate in a cookie. This recipe I came across in a Martha Stewart magazine:

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
Yield: 6 dozen

1 c AP flour
1/2 c cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 oz (5 Tbsp) butter, soft
3/4 c sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
3/4 tsp peppermint extract
8 large candy canes or 30 peppermint candies, crushed
2 lbs white chocolate

1. Sift flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and yolk until well incorporated. Then add extract.
3. Add dry ingredients just until mixed in. Shape into two discs. Wrap in plastic and chill n the refrigerator at least one hour (up to two days).

4. Roll out to 1/8". Freeze until firm, about 15 minutes.
5. Cut out 2" rounds with cookies butters. Freeze 15 minutes until firm. Repeat with scraps pieces until all dough used.

6. Bake at 325F until dry to the touch about 12 minutes.
7. Let cool. Undecorated cookies can be kept covered for up to 3 days.

8. Sift crushed candy, reserving both dust and large pieces, separately.
9. Melt chocolate over double boiler.
10. Dunk cookies, sprinkle with candy (dust or large pieces).
11. Repeat, refrigerate until set (p to 3 hours).
12. Serve (once decorated) same day.

Cookies

Spritz Cookies and Rings


Shortbread Cookies


Rugelach


Rocher Coco


William Tells (Puff Pastry Sandwich)


Piemontais


Palmiers


Palet Raisins


Madeleines


Linzer Cookies


Langue De Chat


Galletes Bretonnes


French Macaroons


Financiers


Diamonds


Coconut Macaroons


Chocolate Madeleines


Chocolate Chunk Cookies


Checkerboard Cookies


Bowtie/Butterflies


Biscotti


Baton Marechaux


Assortment


Photos courtesy of Amanda Frattali

A Visual Diary

Here are images from my past two weeks in the bakeshop (feel free to ask me for recipes for anything if you see something you like!):


Baguettes

Breadsticks

Pound Cake

Bagels

Zucchini Bread

Apple Turnover

Pinwheel

Raisin Scone

Lemon Buttermilk Cake

Langue de Belle-Mere (Mother in Law's Tongue)

Morning Glory Muffins

Marble Chocolate Pound Cake

Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins

Roulade (Jelly Roll)

Palmiers

A Taste of Christmas in the Summer

I know it's not Christmas but I had a craving for this peppermint goodness so I made the cookies anyway. I've always loved the refreshing smell and taste of the mints. And I always wanted a cookie that embodied it. These peppermint snowballs do just that. Who cares that they have the classic red and white of Christmas. I'll eat them whenever I want!

Peppermint Snowballs

Makes 5 dozen

Ingredients
3 cups powdered sugar - DIVIDED
1 cup butter or margarine (softened)
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup finely crushed peppermint candy - DIVIDED
as needed granulated sugar
2-3 tablespoons skim milk
1 teaspoon baking powder

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. In large mixer bowl, combine the 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, butter or margarine, peppermint extract, vanilla and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2-3 minutes). Reduce speed to low. Add flour, baking powder and salt; Beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1-2 minutes). By hand, stir in 1/2 cup candy.

2. Shape dough into 3/4 inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. Cool completely.

3. GLAZE: In small mixer bowl combine 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar and enough milk for desired glazing consistency. Drizzle cooled cookies with glaze. Immediately sprinkle with the remaining peppermint candy.

Post-weekend double header: Lemon Cookies and Spinach and Sausage Lasagna

I've been browsing the food blogs, sharing and exchanging with friends, and seeing all kinds of wonderful recipes! While my blog itself is not dedicated to just recipes (that's what winums.com is for) I figure since my website isn't up and running yet, I'll put more recipes up on my blog to get the ball rolling. Keep in mind, most of the recipes I've got so far in my collection are ones I've.. uh.. collected.. from magazines, books, internet searches, etc. I try my best to give credit to whoever's recipe it is but some of the recipes have been reused, rewritten, recopied, and sometimes tweaked and I no longer know where they came from.

So for our post-weekend double header:

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon Glaze

I was craving lemon cookies the other day and looked these up. They sounded soooo good so I made them, of course. I really love the texture of the cookies, thanks to ricotta cheese. I think this one's a keeper!

Cookies:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) container ricotta cheese
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
3. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (a heaping tablespoon for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.

Glaze:
Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies into a decorative container.

Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis





They have such a nice twang* to them with the sour lemon-y goodness and the sweet, soft cookies. I love the sweet-sour combo so I made sure to milk my lemons for what they're worth! :p


The Spinach and Sausage Lasagna recipe is just a twist on the regular lasagna recipe, something a roommate of mine came up with back in college. I love lasagna but like most things, the original lasagna recipe didn't have enough oomph for me. I like my food LOADED. So spinach and sausage were added... I prefer to use frozen spinach out of ease and convenience. You however, can tweak your own lasagna.

Spinach and Sausage Lasagna

3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 tsp minced garlic
1 egg
3 cups pasta sauce
1 cup water
9 uncooked lasagna noodles
1 pkg (15 ounces) frozen spinach, thawed
1 pkg Italian sausage, about 6 links, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 tsp black pepper, cracked
pinch of red pepper flakes

Preheat oven to 375° F.

1. Combine 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, egg, Parmesan cheese and garlic, and red and black pepper. Set aside.
2. In a medium pan, cook sausage. Combine cooked sausage with pasta sauce and water.
3. In a 9x13 inch baking dish pour 3/4 cup of sauce mixture. Place a layer of uncooked lasagna cover with 1/2 cup sauce mixture.
3. Layer with half of the spinach, then a layer spreading half of the cheese mixture over the spinach. Repeat layers. Finish with 3 more lasagna strips and cover with remaining sauce.
4. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for one hour. Uncover and top with 1 cup mozzarella cheese during last 15 minutes of baking.

Allow to sit 10 minutes before serving.

Gotta say, I'm looking forward to dinner and dessert tonight!