So while looking for a a good shortbread recipe, I stumbled across these, a variation on the chocolate butter cookies featured in the holiday baking issue of Cook's Illustrated.

I used to feel sort of BLEH about Cook's Illustrated-- I like gigantic food-porn photos to go with my recipes-- but I have come around. This is a GREAT. MAGAZINE. Their recipes are so well tested and they tell you exactly why you're doing what, and how to sub ingredients, and everything I've made from their recipes so far has come out great.

Anyway. These cookies were given the thumbs-up by everyone in my family, even my dad (who's not a fan of chocolate) and my uncle (who's suspicious of anything I make on the basis that it might contain weird organic hippie ingredients). So if it can please them, you know it's DANG GOOD.

I couldn't really taste the cayenne though, so you might want to experiment with adding more if that's your thang.

I decorated them with some dark chocolate glaze, slivered almonds, and the somewhat dubious "white candy melts" I found in the cupboard-- but they are quite good on their own if you're not feeling motivated to make them look fancy.

Mexican Chocolate Butter Cookies
from Cook's Illustrated magazine

20 T unsalted butter (2.5 sticks), slightly softened (about 65 degrees)
1/2 c Dutch-processed cocoa powder (you can sub regular cocoa powder here and they will still turn out fine)
1 t espresso powder (or instant coffee)
1 c sugar
1/2 t salt
2 large egg yolks
1 T vanilla extract
2.25 c unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 c sliced almonds
1 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t cayenne pepper

1 In a skillet toast the almonds, cinnamon and cayenne until fragrant. Set aside to cool.
2 Melt 4 T of butter. Add the cocoa and espresso and whisk to a paste. Let cool.
3 In a food processor grind the almond mixture until fine. Combine with the flour.
4 Cream remaining butter, sugar, salt and cooled cocoa mixture til well combined and fluffy (about a minute). Add yolks and vanilla and mix until combined. Add flour mixture in 3 additions, scraping bowl after each. When dough forms cohesive ball, divide into 3 disks and refrigerate for about an hour.
5 Roll out chilled dough between 2 sheets of parchment until an even 3/16" thick. Cut into shapes and bake at 375 degrees for about 10-12 minutes (if the dough starts to get sticky and hard to work with, just re-chill it for a bit). The cookies are done when they offer slight resistance when gently pressed. If they start to darken at the edges they're overdone. Let them cool completely before decorating.

Bittersweet Chocolate Glaze
from Cook's Illustrated magazine

4 oz bittersweet chocolate (I used 72% dark chocolate)
4 T unsalted butter
2 T corn syrup
1 t vanilla extract

1 Melt the butter and chocolate together in a double boiler. Whisk in corn syrup and vanilla until smooth. (The corn syrup is there to give it a thinner texture and nice shine. I used brown rice syrup instead which worked fine.)
2 Spread glaze on cookies and allow them to dry for at least 20 minutes. You can marble the icing by topping the glazed cookie with a few drops of white chocolate and dragging a toothpick through while the glaze is still wet.

Why am I obsessed with these? I don't know. Maybe it's because I love miniature food, or maybe it's those peanut butter and jelly things, or maybe it's because the lovely Nicole Lang talks about them all the time and I'm jealous. But at any rate, I've been desperate to try making them FOR EV AH and I finally got my chance on Thanksgiving. Since I was flying in the same day, I didn't have time to do anything fancy. So I went for classic apple pie. And they were freaking delicious. If I do say so myself.

Apple Cinnamon Hand Pies

Pie dough
Pastry flour* 1 lb 4 oz
Butter, cold 14 oz
Water, cold 6 oz
Salt 2 t
Sugar 1 oz (even if you're not making a sweet pie, this will help give the crust a nice color)
*all-purpose works too, but it seems to absorb more water, so you might have to increase the quantity of water a bit.


1 Chop the butter into chunks and chill it along with the water. You want this to be very cold. Working in a cooler room will help you out too.
2 Sift the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
3 Rub the cold butter into the dry ingredients with your fingers until it is about the size of halved walnuts. You can also use a food processor or a pastry blender for this, but doing it with your hands is so much more FUN
4 Add the cold water in a well. Reserve a little; if the mixture is too dry as you're mixing, add the rest.
5 Mix just until the dough comes together. It will be a little floury and look kinda crappy but don't keep kneading it! Put. the. dough. down.
6 Flatten into a disk, cover in plastic, and chill, at least 30–60 minutes. While it's resting you can make the filling:

Apple filling
Apples, sliced* 2 lbs
Butter 1 oz
Sugar 3 oz

Cold water 2 oz
Cornstarch .75 oz

Sugar 3.5 oz
Salt 1/5 t
Cinnamon 1 1/2 t
Ground ginger 1 t
Nutmeg 1/4 t
Lemon juice 2 t
Butter .25 oz
*some apples are better than others; you want ones that have plenty of acidity and hold their shape well when cooked. I used granny smith and they were perfect. I peeled them, but you don't have to.

1 Sauté the apples in the first quantity of butter until slightly soft. Add the sugar as they cook to draw out the juices.
2 Make a slurry with the cold water and the starch. Add to the apples and bring to a boil. Cook until thickened.
3 Remove from the heat. Taste and add the second quantity of sugar if needed. Add the remaining ingredients and cool. If you fill the pies while the filling is still hot you'll melt the butter and annoy yourself, so just wait.

Forming the pies

1 Once your dough is nice and firm, get it out and knead it just a couple of times to bring it together.
2 Roll it out to about 1/8" thick. Cut circles (mine were about 5" in diameter; I just used a bowl that was handy for tracing purposes).
3 Add a bit of filling in the middle of the circles and fold them in half, sealing the edges with a little water and then pressing them with a fork. Re-rolling this dough will make it kind of tough, but you can use the scraps to make funny-shaped hand pies if you want.
4 Egg wash them and sprinkle with a little coarse sugar if you want.
5 Bake at about 400 degrees until golden brown.

Internet, this is what I've been up to for the past two months:



My "Christmas card" for this year... little boxes full of tasty stuff. It was tough to find a recipe that would taste good, look cute AND ship well, but I think I finally did. They're even vegan.

Vegan Peppermint Brownies
(adapted from Vivacious Vegan)

1/2 cup canola or grapeseed oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup unsweetened soymilk
1 1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
1/2 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

1 Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil an 8-inch square glass pan.
2 In a large bowl whisk together the oil, maple syrup, soy milk, vanilla and peppermint.
3 Combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl.
4 Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and mix until just blended.
5 Spread the batter in the prepared pan. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Vegan Ginger Bars

3/4 cup non-hydrogenated vegan margarine, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg replacer or 2 tbsp mashed silken tofu
1 tbsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
pinch of cardamom
pinch of nutmeg
zest of 1/4 orange
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup molasses
3 tbsp water

1 Preheat oven to 350ºF. Lightly oil an 8-inch glass pan.
2 Cream margarine with sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg replacer and citrus zest.
3 Combine flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a small bowl. Add dry ingredients to margarine mixture and mix until just blended. Mix in molasses and water.
4 Spread in prepared pan. Bake 28-30 minutes or until batter begins to pull away from edges and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Decorating the Bars

I wanted these to look special, so before decorating I cut them into circles with a small biscuit cutter. This also means you get to eat the scraps. Now you know how unbelievably smart I am.

For the peppermint brownies, I spread a little melted chocolate on the top of each one and then covered it in crushed candy canes.

For the ginger bars, I first made candied orange peel (Giada de Laurentiis has a great recipe for it), and glued each piece on with a little dot of (store-bought! shh, don't tell) icing.

See? Easy. and FANCY.

The delicious taste of Christmas in your mouth.

Chai Spice Layer Cake with Cinnamon Whipped Cream

For the cake
6 chai tea bags
1/2 cup boiling water
4 oz (8 tbsp, 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar, divided
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup canola or grapeseed oil
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup buttermilk
2 large egg whites, at room temperature
1/2 tsp cream of tartar

For the cream cheese filling
1 block cream cheese
1/2 block silken tofu, drained
Sifted confectioner's sugar, to taste

For the frosting
1 cup heavy cream
2 tbsp confectioner's sugar, sifted
1 tsp cinnamon


To prepare the cake:

-Preheat the oven to 350 F.
-Butter the inside of the cake pan and dust with flour.
-Place the tea bags in a medium bowl. Pour the boiling water over the tea bags and leave to steep for 5 minutes.
-Remove the tea bags and cool the tea in the fridge.
-Cream the butter, brown sugar, and 1/4 cup of the granulated sugar. Add the oil and the cooled tea.
-Sift together the flour, spices, baking soda, and salt.
-Alternately add the dry ingredients with the buttermilk to the butter mixture in 4 stages, starting and ending with dry ingredients.
-Whip the egg whites in a clean, grease-free bowl until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and whip until soft peaks form. Gradually, working on medium-high speed add the rest 1/4 cup sugar, beating well after each addition. Whip until the whites hold glossy and firm, but not stiff, peaks.
-Gently fold the whipped whites into the batter in 3 to 4 stages.
-Transfer the cake batter to the prepared pan. Using a rubber spatula even the top. Bake for 1hr 5 to 1hr 15 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Make the filling

Beat the drained tofu with cream cheese until smooth. Begin adding the sifted powdered sugar, tasting as you go until it's as sweet as you want it.

Make the frosting

Combine cream, sifted powdered sugar, and cinnamon in a chilled mixing bowl. Whisk on medium-high speed until it's a good, spreadable consistency.

Assembly

When the cake has cooled COMPLETELY, cut into two layers with a serrated knife. Spread the cream cheese mixture on top of the first layer, and top with the second layer. Frost with the whipped cream.

Note: I added candied pecans to this cake, which are super easy to make:

Combine 1/2 cup of pecans with 1/3 cup of granulated sugar in a pan over medium heat. Stir over the heat until the sugar melts and coat the pecans. Remove from the heat and cool. After they're cool, they will be easy to break apart. (Don't try to do this until they're COMPLETELY cool, or you will burn the living hell out of your fingers.)

from 101 cookbooks.

no one else seems to think that name is as funny as i do, but that's ok. people just don't get me, man.

really, these cupcakes are the flourless ancho chili cupcakes from vanilla garlic, but i felt a renaming was in order for my own amusement. they are a delicious, gooey cake that's all chocolate and whipped cream (the love), with just a dash of chili powder (the sweat, of course).

they're also wheat-free, which is nice if you, like me, have a friend who can't eat wheat and thus usually misses out on all the good things in life like bread, cake, and chocolate-covered pretzels.

the recipe is pretty straightforward, but a couple tips before you go on:

• to get a nice whip from your egg whites, be sure they're at room temp and your bowl and utensils are squeaky clean. if you mistakenly get a bit of yolk in your whites when you're separating them, just fish it out with a clean spoon or bit of eggshell. start on low speed and gradually bring it up-- patience!


• these cakes will end up with big ol sinkholes in the middle (no flour), but that's ok, that and the crackliness are part of the charm, in my opinion. if it bugs you, you could level off the top and cover the whole shebang with frosting.

love sweat cupcakes

recipe from vanilla garlic

8 oz. semisweet chocolate (i used Ghirardelli, 60% cacao)
3/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
4 eggs, separated, room temperature
2 1/2 tablespoons of ancho chili powder
pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the chocolate with the butter.
Beat the egg yolks with half of the sugar until light and creamy.
Fold in the melted butter and chocolate mixture to the egg mixture. Fold in the ancho chili and the salt.
Beat egg whites until frothy; gradually add the remaining sugar, beating until stiff peaks form.
Fold in the beaten egg whites to the chocolate mixture.
Spoon into cupcake papers. Bake at 350 degrees until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, approximately 30 minutes.

for the whipped cream: stir together 1 cup heavy whipping cream, a couple spoonfuls of superfine sugar, and a dash of vanilla extract. chill the mixture, the bowl, and beaters for at least 30 minutes. whip until fluffy and voluminous! when stiff peaks form, you're done-- taste and make sure there's enough sugar/vanilla.