Pomegranate Chipotle Pretzels

A little sweet with a spicy finish, these pretzels are super fun and really tasty.  They were a crowd pleaser during a recent get-together with friends.  And Dave enjoyed the leftovers for afternoon munchies. The flavors are really interesting, starting out as a sweet, almost candy coated pretzel and then finishing with a flavorful heat that's just a touch spicy, but not overly seasoned and hot.

Buffalo Pretzels

I've been wanting to make flavored pretzels for a while.  I snack on pretzels all the time--more than potato chips and I grew up in a serious potato chip house.  So I finally got around to trying these buffalo flavored pretzels for a recent party.  They are delicious.  A little spicy with a kick of heat at the end, these pretzels are great for snacking with a beer during the game, any game.  Or just while watching TV.

Homemade Seasoning Mixes

It never ceases to amaze me how simple it is to make at home some of the packaged mixes that you pick up a the grocery store.  When I posted the Bacon Ranch Broccoli Slaw last month, I got a few questions about the ranch seasoning mix in the photo, since it was in a mason jar and not a branded package.  So today we're looking at making a couple of my kitchen staples from the other kitchen staples in my pantry: ranch mix and taco seasoning.  These are two things I use all the time, seeing as Dave and I eat Mexican food all.the.time. and I like to use the ranch mix in different crock pot meals or even just stirred into a container of sour cream for an easy veggie dip.  These two versions replicate their store-bought counterparts and serve a couple of purposes.  You likely have all the ingredients in your pantry already, so it's going to be cheaper for you to make them at home than drop a buck or more for one serving of each of these (there's about a 1/4 cup of each mix in a store-bout packet).  And, if you know how to make it at home, there's no need to run to the store when you realize you have all the ingredients for a recipe...except the seasoning packet.  (You've been there.  I have, too.  It sucks.)  And finally, you can control the quality and freshness of the spices and herbs going in, which also lets you tailor it slightly to your taste.  Want a taco seasoning with more kick?  Use a spicy chili powder.  Done and done.

These recipes from Jamie at Self Reliance by Jamie got pinned ages ago, but I had a big jar of both mixes to use up, so I didn't make them until recently.  And on occasion I'll still use Penzey's Taco Seasoning because it's got a slightly different texture and season to it, these are my go to options when a recipe calls for a packet of the stuff.  It's cheaper, it's easy, it's likely fresher, and it's nice to know exactly what's in the packet (and what's not).  You can scale the ingredients to make bigger batches if you tend to use a lot of it.  Just store in an airtight container, label, and be the cook who made the entire dish, including the seasoning, from scratch!

Spice Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

I love cupcakes. I love that they are portable and portion controlled. I love that you can experience a unique and wonderful flavor without being overwhelmed by the idea of an entire layer cake made out of said flavors.  In fact, Dave and I had cupcakes instead of a traditional wedding cake, made of six different flavors and absolutely wonderful.

But I've not tackled the cupcake phenomenon myself for a handful of reasons.  I have trouble with frosting--both in the making and in the decorating.  I've tasted cupcakes so delicious that if I attempted and failed I would be devastated.  And let's face it, cookies are more my schtick.  Cindy just keeps telling me I "haven't applied" myself to cupcakes yet.

Cinnamon Spiced Almonds

My father-in-law loves almonds.  He also loves to shop Costco.  One day, several months ago, he was wandering around Costco and spied a deal on almonds. So the bargain deal made its way into the cart and that was that. Pleased with his purchase, when he got home he dug into his bag of almonds.  And then proceeded to tell my mother-in-law that the giant bag of almonds he got such a deal on tasted terrible.  When my mother-in-law looked at the bag, she asked him where in the store he found them.  Apparently the deal was in the baking aisle.  That's when my mother-in-law explained that they were raw almonds, not the roasted ones he was used to finding in the snack aisle.  And then she packed them into a zip top bag and held them for me when I stopped by a few days later, figuring that I could use them in baking.  Since then, the almonds have had a home in my freezer, and while I've used a few now and then, I really hoped to find a way to use them up in one sweet treat.  After seeing candied almonds in a local store for the holidays, my wheels started turning.  These are excellent, slightly sweet with a little cinnamon and spice to balance the nuttiness of the toasted almonds.  And so super easy to make.  You'll wonder why you've never done it before.

This recipe came from Sarah and Dulcie at Two Tarts and I really liked how they used a few different spices to create a seasonal sweet flavor to pair with the almonds.  Alternatively, you could include a variety of nuts such as almonds, walnuts or pecans to make a nice selection of flavors.  Packaged up in little bags, these would make great hostess gifts.

Pumpkin Pie Snickerdoodle Blondies

Prepare yourself for a new Thanksgiving dessert.  These will make your forget about the pumpkin pie altogether.  A thick bar consisting of a soft and chewy snickerdoodle base topped with a wonderfully smooth and creamy pumpkin pie filling garnished with cinnamon sugar, one bite and you'll be sold.  The cinnamon in the snickerdoodle base is the perfect bridge to the spiced pumpkin filling.  Dave was sold just by reading the recipe, but once he tasted them, he declared them perfect.  As did I.  In fact, these pimpkin pie snickerdoodle blondies were miles better than I thought they would be.  I'm not a huge fan of pumpkin pie in general, so I anticipated these bars being just okay.  I was wrong and I'm proud to admit it.

Jen at Beantown Baker is a genius for coming up with this winning combination.  I followed her recipe pretty closing, although I did add a teaspoon of cinnamon to the snickerdoodle batter and decreased the brown sugar by a half cup.  Jen also suggests adding a white chocolate & cinnamon topping, but Dave and I agreed to leave them with just the cinnamon sugar.  Either way, you have to try these bars.  Don't be intimidated by the ingredients list.  You're whipping up two batters essentially, but you can use the same bowl for both (I did at Jen's suggestion).  They came together pretty quickly and wherever you celebrate this Thanksgiving, everyone will be thankful for you and these pumpkin pie snickerdoodle blondies.

Pumpkin Spice Cookies

These cookies just taste like fall.  They are little bites of pumpkin flavor, perfectly enhanced with cinnamon and other spices that pumpkin always plays nicely with.  Dave thought they needed more pumpkin, but I think that was because they were pretty fresh out of the oven and needed some time to mingle a little more.  I love the sugar coating, because it made me consider calling these Pumpkindoodles.  If I would have thought to flatten the balls a bit, I probably would have renamed them!

Yet another perfect recipe from Beantown Baker.  I used pumpkin pie spice rather than the individual spices.  But otherwise, I didn't change a thing, although creating flattened versions of this cookie for Pumpkindoodles does sound like a good idea.  Live on the edge and roll them in cinnamon sugar if you're feeling particularly randy.  If you're potlucking Thanksgiving next week or will have a crowd and want an alternative dessert, these are a very festive touch that will be sure to please.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

We're nearing the end of apple season, but their is still a lot of fall flavors left out there.  So, in honor of fall, I'm bringing you a few recipes featuring pumpkin!  It pairs so nicely with different flavors like chocolate and cinnamon, and lends itself to many forms, like bars, bread and cookies.  These bars are fantastic: soft, delicious, sweetly pumpkiny with a bit of chocolate. They are a little cakey in texture, but that certainly isn't a detriment.  I made these when friends came over for dinner.  Dave literally used two hands to eat it, announcing it was fantastic and Cindy's son, Jake, noted, "this is delicious."

This recipe comes from Two Peas & Their Pod and they might be the most adorable bloggers ever.  Like I can't explain.  Just go visit their blog and oogle over all the yummy things they make and how sweet they are.  The recipe is perfect and I didn't change a thing.  It's fairly simple to pull together and you just might have all the ingredients on hand, except maybe the pumpkin.  Unless you're like me and bought five cans of it not knowing why but that you needed it.

Tools of the Cookie Princess: Spices & Ingredients

Last year I posted about how I find good deals on the common ingredients I use to bake. While I still believe that many of your ingredients can be off-brand and you shouldn't be afraid to stock up when something you use goes on sale, I also believe in using the best quality ingredients you can afford for certain things.

While I don't shop the King Arthur Flour catalog regularly, I do know they carry high quality ingredients that often don't compare to the competitor. When I decided to buy the cinnamon oil last month that I used in my Apple Spice Bars, I did so because I knew I wouldn't find the a similar item of the same quality nearby. Splurging occasionally on the ingredients that make a difference to the flavor of a recipe is something that should be encouraged and I hope you treat yourself to something decadent every once and a while.

Apple Spice Bars

A few weeks ago Dave and I went to the King Arthur Flour store in Norwich, Vermont and yes it was everything I imagined and more.  They are undergoing a huge expansion/renovation which instilled an even more compelling urge to visit again for a class.  I had a short list of specialty ingredients I wanted to buy (and a long list of "things I want but shouldn't buy because that would be frivolous").  One of those things was cinnamon oil.  I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do with it--maybe a cinnamon frosting, perhaps in cookies or blondies--but I knew it was apple season and I needed it.  So the next day, after several failed attempts at baking (as in I wanted to make something only to find I was missing a key ingredient, like zucchini for zucchini bars or oats for oatmeal bars), I scampered to the internet and found this delicious treat for a soft, gently sweet bar that combines the right amount of spice to highlight these perfect fresh from the orchard apples (seriously, we picked them off the tree that morning!).

This recipe comes from Beantown Baker (I know I use her a lot, but she really is this awesome).  I made a few minor adjustments related to the spices by adding 1/2 teaspoon of baking spice, and dropping down the vanilla to a teaspoon and the cinnamon to 1 1/2 teaspoons since I used 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon oil.  This cinnamon oil is delicious and tastes exactly like red hot candies.  Use it sparingly--as wonderful as these turned out, the cinnamon flavor increased over time and completely took over the bars by the time we polished them off (not that it was a bad thing, but if that's not what you want, you might be disappointed).  Next time, I would bump up to two teaspoons vanilla and 1/4 teaspoon of the cinnamon oil (noted in the recipe below).  I also should have baked them a little longer--the middle of my pan was a little undercooked, so I'd bring the total bake time to 40 minutes, checking frequently in the last 10 minutes.

Banana Coffee Cake

Did you make the Banana Coffee Cake with Chocolate Chip Streusel that I made a couple weeks ago?  If not, hold on.  I've discovered something awesome.  This coffee cake is moist and flavorful and turned out perfect.  Plus it was easy to make. There is a lightness to this cake that I think comes from the cream cheese.  And while I enjoyed the pecan topping, Dave and I agreed that the chocolate chip streusel paired with this cake would be a winner.  It'd be the lovechild of two good recipes to make a great brunch addition, dessert or snack.

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com and was posted by Georgia Courtney.  I made an addition to the batter, which is good because I also forgot something from the batter.  I added a teaspoon of Penzey's Spices Baking Spice to the batter.  But Georgia's recipe says to put half of the pecan topping into the batter.  Oops.  I forgot to read that bit until I already had the batter in the pan. In hindsight, though, I'm glad that happened because I don't think there would have been enough topping to cover the whole cake if I'd only had half.  Below is the version I used, but play around with the toppings by either adding some to the batter or layering like my previous attempt.  No matter what you try, it'll turn out good.

Gingerbread

Is this the ultimate holiday cookie?  If it isn't flavorwise, it's at least the epitome of the holidays.  Smelling all those spices bake up into a yummy cookie that you get to make into your favorite shapes and even decorate really puts me in the mood for Christmas.  Or in this case, Thanksgiving too.

This recipe came from a director at work who participated in my cookie exchange a few years ago.  I struggled with gingerbread cookies for a while and then I tried her recipe.  It's awesome.  They are crisp, yet still slightly soft. I don't decorate them nearly as beautifully as she does (I just don't have that patience), but the royal icing really pops on these guys.  It's a great mix of spices--I was skeptical of the pepper at first, but it's such a great combination of flavors.  I also wasn't sure about mixing the spices into the wet ingredients, but I did and the cookie speaks for itself.  Maybe that's why I've always had a hard time with other recipes.

 You don't want to roll the dough too thin--give the cookies some heartiness and roll to between 1/8 of an inch and 1/4 of an inch and you'll be fine.  The hard part is picking your cutters.

I have a problem. It's about 18 inches wide, 30 inches long and 12 inches deep and full of cookie cutters:

I had a hard time deciding, but I narrowed it down to two holiday's worth, since the recipe makes so many cookies, although I forgot to include the tree in this photo.

I love these Gingerbread guys from Fred.  They have some of the coolest stuff.

Gingerbread

Ingredients (for cookies):

6 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
4 teaspoons ground ginger
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1 teaspoon finely ground pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups unsulfured molasses

In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and add brown sugar, beating until fluffy and scraping the sides of bowl as necessary.  Mix in spices and salt.  Beat in eggs and molasses until thoroughly combined.  Add the flour mixture slowly and mix on low speed until completely incorporated.  Divide dough into thirds and wrap in plastic (I like to make mine into discs.  This helps create the shape I want when I roll the dough out).  Chill at least one hour or overnight.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. On a well-floured surface, roll out dough to 1/8-1/4 inch thick.

Cut into desired shaped.  Place on an ungreased baking sheet (or a parchment or silicon lined sheet) and chill until firm, about 15 minutes.  Don't skip this step--it will keep the integrity of your shapes and ensure the baking time is accurate.  And yes, I'm embarrassed that I didn't take one photo of the rolled out dough.

Bake for 12-13 minutes.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.  The cookies should be firm in the center, but not darker at the edges.

Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes, then move to complete cooling on rack.  Make sure cookies are completely cooled before decorating.

Royal Icing

Ingredients (for icing):

3 Tablespoons meringue powder (I used Wilton's)
4 cups powdered sugar
6 Tablespoons water

Using an electric mixer, place all ingredients in a bowl and beat until icing forms peaks, anywhere from 7-12 minutes.

Transfer icing to a pastry bag fitted with a writing tip (or tip of your choosing).  You can also put it in a zip top bag and cut off on corner.  Arrange cookies on a wire rack placed on top of waxed paper or your silicon mats.  Royal icing is sturdy, so it shouldn't drip, but better safe than messy.

Decorate with designs of your choosing.  You could also add food coloring to the icing if you want different colors on your finished cookies.

Makes approximately 4 dozen 4 inch cookies or 9 dozen 2-3 inch cookies, depending on the size and shape of your cutters.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

Glazed Lemonade (aka Revamped Soft Lemonade)

 Now this is what I was going for.  It didn't take me long to figure out that the lemonade concentrate wasn't enough flavor for these cookies.  I needed to up the ante with lemon extract and lemon peel.  And just for fun (and to make them a little prettier), I decided a little lemon glaze would be the (literal) icing on the cookie.

The lemon peel is something I picked up from Penzeys Spices on a whim.  I'm glad I did because I usually don't have lemons in the house and would have probably wasted the unused portion.  I mixed the lemon peel with water and added it to the batter and the flavor was just as good as a fresh lemon. I'm looking forward to seeing what else I can use it in.

I was not disappointed.  A nice light but noticeable lemon flavor, a soft cookie, and a hint of sweetness from the glaze.  Hope these make up for the flop I posted earlier!


Glazed Lemonade

Ingredients (for cookies)

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/4 teaspoon dried lemon peel, reconstituted
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
8 ounces frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat well after each addition.  Add lemon extract and lemon peel; mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking soda.  Add flour mixture to creamed mixture alternately with lemonade concentrate, mixing well after each addition.

On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, drop by spoonfuls (I use a small cookie scoop) about 2 inches apart.  Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.  Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes, then move to complete cooling on rack.

Ingredients (for glaze)
 
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2-3 Tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon lemon extract

In small bowl, stir all frosting ingredients together until smooth.  Place a piece of parchment or a silicone mat under a cooking rack.  Using the back of a spoon, spread glaze onto the center of the cookie (it will spread to the edges), and allow to set on cooling rack.  Any glaze that drips off the edges will  fall onto the parchment and not your table or counter, making for easy clean up.  Sprinkle with colored sugar if desired.

For storage, allow glaze to set before packing into airtight containers. If you are going to layer the cookies, I suggest putting one layer in the container and popping it in the freezer for 5 minutes. Then place a piece of wax paper on top and repeat layers.


Makes 6 dozen.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip

Searching for a fall flavored cookie, I thought pumpkin would be a good way to go. I think these would make a great addition to a Thanksgiving dessert buffet.  The whole kitchen smelled like pumpkin pie when these were baking, but the consistency was like a soft pumpkin bread, dotted with white chocolate.  Dave disagreed with the white chocolate addition, saying the flavors didn't meld together; it was just like tasting pumpkin, and then a little white chocolate here and there.  I though the white chocolate added a different level of sweetness, but agreed that the flavors weren't married.

I found this recipe on Mixingbowl.com as well, posted by chefnina, who sourced it to Cook'n recipe archives.  Her recipe called for semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I wanted thought the white chocolate would feature against the pumpkin a little stronger.  It also called for nuts, which I omitted to keep the focus more on the pumpkin. 

Pumpkin White Chocolate Chip

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 Tablespoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1 12-ounce bag white chocolate chips

Beat butter, then add sugars and cream together, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.  Add the eggs, pumpkin and vanilla, mixing until thoroughly incorporated, continuing to scrape sides of bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and ginger.  Add to pumpkin mixture and mix thoroughly.  Stir in white chocolate chips.  The dough will be very moist, almost like a thick pudding.

On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, drop by spoonfuls (I use a small cookie scoop) about 2 inches apart.

Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 12-14 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.

Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes, then move to complete cooling on rack.

Makes 7 1/2 dozen.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

Snickerdoodles

Is there really a more fun cookie name?  It's just the best.  And it's absolutely one of my must-have holiday cookies.  I'm not sure why, but that cinnamony flavor reminds me of winter, and the best part about winter is the holidays (and the cookies).

I found this recipe in the Penzey's Spices catalog several years ago.  I love Penzey's spices.  The quality is great, the prices are very good, and the flavors are amazing.  Plus, they have wonderful recipes showcasing various spices and how to incorporate new flavors into your meals in each of their catalogs and on their website.   I made very minor changes to how I combine the ingredients, and they are perfect every time.

Sinckerdoodles

3 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
cinnamon sugar for rolling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Combine flour, baking powder, cream of tartar, and cinnamon in a medium bowl and set aside.  Cream butter, then add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with an electric mixer.  Add eggs, milk and vanilla, beating slowly after each addition, then beating well and scraping the bowl occasionally.  Gradually add the flour mixture, beating until combined.  Scrape the bowl to ensure all the flour is incorporated. 

This is a soft dough, so you may want to refrigerate it to make it easier to work with, but it's not necessary.  Because I often am making two (or more) recipes simultaneously, I have chilled it for 30 minutes to an hour and it's fine.  But I've also started baking it right away and still have been successful.  If you're making these is a warmer climate, it would probably be a good idea to chill the dough for a short time.

Form the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in cinnamon sugar.  Place on an ungreased or parchment/silicone lined cookie sheet.  Flatten with the bottom of a glass.

The flattening part is important.  Once I accidentally popped my cookie sheets it the oven without flattening (I simply forgot that step in my haste to get the sheets in the oven) and got Snickerballs.  The dough doesn't spread that much and while the Snickerballs were tasty, the texture was off.  I also have found that I prefer a certain type of glass.  I had been using a regular drinking glass, but though the cookies were getting too flat, and then too crispy in the oven.  So last year I switched to a standard shot glass, like this:

I forgot to take my own picture, so I borrowed this one
from http://www.crystalimagesinc.com/shotglass1.html

But I noticed that if I pressed too hard, I got the ring from the bottom of the glass as well as the imprint of "Made in the USA" on my cookies.  While this mostly baked out when the cookies puffed a bit, I wanted something different.  This year I spotted the perfect tool in the cabinet. 

It's called an over-under glass, and no, I didn't steal it.  Dave and I got them when we ordered from a certain shot menu at Dave & Buster's.  We haven't actually used them to make said shots at home, but they really are the perfect tool for flattening cookies!

Bake for 12 minutes, or until edges start to crack and turn lightly golden.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.  Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes, then move to complete cooling on rack.

Makes 7 1/2 dozen.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess