Cookie Swap: Chocolate Ginger Cookies

Want to contribute your favorite cookie recipe to our  Virtual Cookie Swap? Email them on over (with photo, please!) to theavidappetite [at] gmail [dot] com, we'll continue posting them as they roll in!

How is everyone this morning? It's a balmy 25 degrees in NYC but the sun is shining and flurries are falling! I'm just wishing it was more like real snow. Meanwhile, I've got Rockin' Holiday on Pandora and am ready to tackle the day. It also doesn't hurt that my Giants destroyed the Vikings last night - and I actually stayed awake for the whole game. It's a win all around!

Today we're dishing up another delectable cookie swap recipe! When the lovely ladies over at Like Mother Like Daughters, one of my favorite blogs, sent over their recipe for Chocolate Ginger Cookies, I was over the moon with excitement. They look gorgeous (especially with that profesh baker's twine! I need to get me some of that) and I cannot wait to add these to my cookie repetoire this holiday. Here's their note:

Thought we would send along our favorite Christmas cookie...so fun that you're doing this! We really enjoy your blog - looking forward to seeing what everyone submits! -Nancy

Chocolate Ginger Cookies
7 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 ½ cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 ¼ teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 tablespoon crystallized ginger, pulverized or 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
½ cup packed dark brown sugar
¼ unsulfured molasses
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ teaspoons boiling water
¼ cup white sparkling sugar

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and cocoa. In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter and crystallized ginger until whitened, about 4 minutes. Add the brown sugar, and beat until combined. Add molasses, and beat until combined.

In a small bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water. Beat half of the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Beat in the baking soda mixture, then the remaining half of the flour mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Turn dough out onto a piece of wax paper. Pat the dough out to about 1-inch thick, seal with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, 2 hours or more. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls. Roll the balls in sparkling sugar. Bake until the surfaces crack slightly, 9-11 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

So what do you think? Didn't the ladies do an amazing job? I for one cannot wait to add these to my holiday assortment and I love that they changed up the traditional spicy gingerbread by adding a bit of chocolate to the mix! So what I want to know is: Are you a gingerbread fan?  For me, anything spiced in cool weather is tops!

Cookie Swap: Almond Sweets

If you want to try my holiday sweets, be sure to head over to Carrots 'n Cake this morning where you can bid on my - and many more bloggers' - baked goods for a great cause!

It's flurrying here in Manhattan this morning, and there really isn't anything better. This weekend, Shaun and I got our Christmas tree! Though the decorating is still a work in progress, I'm happy to say that it's up and almost fully lit. Though Christmas tree hunting in an urban area isn't quite the Griswold Family Christmas, we still had a blast! For the past three years, we've gotten our trees at 14th Street Garden Center in Jersey City - classically located just outside the Holland Tunnel. We highly recommend this nursery if you live in the area. We got a nice sized tree and snapped up a poinsettia to boot. Here's Shaun scanning the aisles:

Once the tree is completely decorated, I'll share a pic with you! Meanwhile, I got to baking yesterday. Though I'll be baking with my mom (stay tuned for lots of recipes and ideas for holiday baking!), I just couldn't wait to try some out on my own and share a recipe for our virtual cookie swap! After scouring many cookie books and magazines, I chose to start with Almond Sweets, a crumbly Italian cookie ball coated with sweet almond frosting. Oooooh mama.

Though the frosting is very sweet, the cookie is hardly sweet at all, making it the perfect cookie balance. And have I ever told you of my obsession with extracts, particularly almond? I really just cannot get enough of the pure and delightful scents of extracts and Shaun will sometimes find me just sniffing them while I bake. Please don't judge me.

Anyhow, the point is that these sweet treats are delicious and super simple to boot. So try them. Immediately.

Almond Sweets
*Adapted from Better Homes & Gardens 100 Best Cookies
Makes 60 cookies
For the cookies:
3 C all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3 eggs
1/2 C granulated sugar
1/2 C cooking oil
1 tsp vanilla
For the almond icing:
1 C confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp pure almond extract
2 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a mixing bowl with a hand mixer), beat together the eggs, granulated sugar, oil and vanilla.

Beat in the flour. Once combined, roll the dough into 1 inch balls and place on a greased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12-15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Once cooled, frost 'em!

To make the frosting, mix or whisk together the sugar, extract and milk until completely combined and no lumps. Frost and coat with sprinkles. Note: Since the frosting hardens very quickly, I added sprinkles after every third cookie that I frosted. Any more than that and it was too late! Instead of the sprinkles sticking, they merely bounced off the top of the cookie.

Luckily, since sprinkles are of the utmost importance to me, I learned my lesson quickly so I could end up with treats that look like this:

 

Say it with me...mmmm. So there you have it. My first recipe for the virtual cookie swap! What do you think? Do you already have your bake on this holiday season? If so, what have you been up to? And bonus question: Do you also have a weakness in the kitchen that you'd rather not share with the world (but will anyway, since I told you mine!)?

For more cookie ideas, check out our Cookie Swap page!

Cookie Swap: 7 Layer Italian Rainbow Cookies

On Monday, I’ll be participating in Carrots ‘n Cake’s online bake sale with my chocolate dipped shortbread! Stop on over this Monday to check it out and buy some delicious baked goods for a great cause!

Happy Friday! Whew this week flew by in a flash! I'm super excited today because tonight is Harry Potter and tomorrow is Christmas Tree Time! (Kind of like tee shirt time, but for Christmas trees ;) ) Last night I scoured Nordstrom Rack with my sister Kimberly and got some great sweaters for the cold season. Then, after I pryed Shaun away from the Eagles game (Vick is his fantasy quarterback...) we watched Fringe (ooooh Joshua Jackson...), which has become our favorite show this season (sorry Dexter, we still love you both...just differently)...is anyone watching? I know it's on the verge of getting the ax from Fox (and I will shed a river of tears when it does), but it's really been great TV this season!

photo: fanpop.com

So anyway, back to Friday and yummy things. Today I'm happy to share with you another Cookie Swap recipe that comes from TAA reader and friend, Barbara. When Barbara shared her recipe for rainbow cookies, I was over the moon with excitement. To me, this type of cookie is so special. I remember always loving them as a child. The almond paste give amazing flavor while the texture is almost cake-like. The only bummer about getting these at a bakery? When they come packed in assortment of cookies, somehow there are never enough of these delicious little guys. And since I've been wanting to try making these on my own for some time (you know, so that I have a never-ending supply of them at my disposal), this recipe couldn't have come at a better time!

photo: mangiabennepasta.com

Here's her note:

Here is a good one that I would like to share with you. These cookies have many different names - Italian Wedding cookies, Rainbow cookies, 7 layer cookies. My recipe is pretty good, I compare it to Ferrara's in NYC.

7 Layer Italian Rainbow Cookies
1 8 oz tube/can of almond paste
1 C butter
1 C sugar
4 egg yolks
4 egg whites
2 C all purpose flour, sifted
red and green food coloring
1/4 apricot jam or seedless rasp jam
6 oz semisweet chocolate bits

Preheat to 350, and grease bottom of 13 x9 pans. Line pans with greased wax paper. Using a fork, break up almond filling in bowl. Add butter, sugar and egg yolks, beating until fluffy at medium speed. Mix in flour with wooden spoon. In another bowl (with a mixer), beat egg whites until peaks form and then add it to the almond mixture. Separate batter into 3 bowls and add food coloring to two of the bowls.

Pour into pans and bake for 10-12 minutes until edges are golden brown. Invert onto wire racks and cool. Turn the cakes right side up and spread with jam, layering the cakes together. Set on cutting board, cover with clear wrap and weigh down with a book or something heavy and refrigerate overnite. The next day, melt chocolate and spread on the top and sides of cookies. Let cool and then cut into squares.

Cheers! 
Barbara

So what do you think? Doesn't this sound like a recipe for the record books? I, for one, cannot wait to try them! And for our question of the day: What are your plans for this fabulous weekend ahead?

Psst...want to contribute your favorite cookie recipe to our holiday cookie swap? Send us an email at theavidappetite@gmail.com and we'll do our best to post it in the coming weeks! Meanwhile, if you missed yesterday's recipe, you can check it out here.