snickerdoodles

So, as of today I am four recipes delinquent in two baking groups. I am posting today in large part because tomorrow I would have to add another recipe to my delinquency list and I think that might make me freak out and stay up all night baking and blogging. I did actually make the molasses cookies (which I refuse to taste because I can't convince myself that I don't hate molasses), and they, along with the All In One Holiday Bundt Cake, and a hopefully fantastic apple pie will be the featured desserts on Thursday. I suppose I will take pictures of the aforementioned later this week, blog about them at some point, and hopefully feel better about myself.

Snickerdoodles. A few years ago I decided that instead of baking every new snickerdoodle recipe I came across (they are, by the way, my favorite kind of cookie by far), I would spend several weeks using all the reputable recipes I had and create the best snickerdoodle recipe. (I actually did the same thing with a few other cookie recipes including oatmeal raisin, chocolate chip, and peanut butter cookies. My sister, Ryan, loves peanut butter cookies above all others, and even though I don't care for them at all, for her birthday a few years ago I worked for a few weeks to create the best recipe based on criteria from her. She deemed them the best she had ever tasted, I was a happy girl, and I make them on her birthday every year. Right after her birthday this year, though, she started dating Adam, who is awesome and works for the victorious Raiders (how often can I say that, Adam?). Adam has a deadly nut allergy, and that apparently means that my sister can no longer eat peanuts because, in her words "I could kill him." So, by her next birthday in June I will need to develop something new that can replace Ryan's Birthday Cookies for my beautiful little sister. I was actually thinking about replacing the peanut butter with nutella, but obviously there's the hazelnut issue. But still. Those hypothetical cookies need to be baked.)

Anyway, these snickerdoodles are fantastic. I've reduced the butter a few times (1.5 sticks instead of 2), and they're fine that way, definitely crispier, but I think the full two sticks is perfect. They're great on their own, of course, but they're heavenly as ice cream sandwiches. Add some nutella, as well. Trust me.



Snickerdoodles
Makes about 30 cookies
2.75 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter at room temperature
1.5 cups sugar, plus 3 tablespoons
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.

Beat together the butter and the 1.5 cups sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture and blend until smooth.

Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll the dough, by hand, into 1 1/2-inch balls. Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar. Place the balls evenly on unlined cookie sheets. Bake until light brown, but still moist in the center, about 10 minutes. Cool on a rack.

cherry fudge brownie torte (twd)

I just think this week's recipe is absolutely beautiful! So much so that I actually felt like I had to put some effort into making it as pretty as possible for the photo shoot, hence the cherry sauce. Everyone seemed to love this, as intense and rich as it was, but I have to say that I enjoyed the mousse topping much more than the torte itself.

I didn't have any kirsch but I didn't substitute anything for it, and I don't think the torte was really missing any additional flavor due to my omission. I would have liked to ignite the alcohol, though. Next time.

Thanks to April of Short + Rose for choosing this week's recipe. You can find the full recipe on her blog or on pages 284-285 of Baking From My Home To Yours.

sweet potato muffins (twd)

Well, after eight weeks, our house guests are gone, and I have to say we were very sad to see them go. I may have wrote that Nicholas' brother, a fourth-year medical student at USC, moved in with us in late August in order to participate in a four-week internship at Stanford. Then his girlfriend, also a fourth-year medical student, arrived a few weeks later to participate in her own four-week internship. It was sometimes chaotic and always fun. This was the last TWD recipe I made while they were with us and I sent them off on their drive south with a container full.

As you can see I actually made muffins, not biscuits. I couldn't find canned whole sweet potatoes in syrup so I used sweet potato puree. Needless to say, they are not completely interchangeable and my "dough" was much more like "batter." So I spooned them into a muffin tin and all was well.

I didn't love these but Nicholas, Dustin and Sabina did. Thanks to Erin of Prudence Pennywise for choosing this week's recipe. Check out her blog for the recipe or find it on page 26 of Baking From My Home To Yours.

pumpkin patch cupcakes (mscc)

Two weeks ago Nicholas decided to clean the oven, a decision I supported wholeheartedly as the burning smell coming from the oven most nights was not so nice. During the course of the extensive cleaning, there was a loud bang, followed by some quiet obscenities, which peaked my interest. It turns out that a screw/hinge/spring chose that moment to give out and our oven door is currently attached by one less part. For my purposes, this means that the oven door is opened slightly at all times and consequently baking disasters have ensued over the last few weeks.

Case in point: Pumpkin Patch Cupcakes. So wonderful in theory as I love pumpkin. But after 30 minutes of additional baking time to finally get them to bake in the middle and compensate for the slightly open door, they were pretty dry. The tops were great, though, and we devoured them.

Thanks to the lovely and talented Kim from What the Whisk for choosing this month's recipe. You can find the recipe on page 236 of Martha Stewart's Cupcakes or on Kim's blog.

allspice crumb muffins (twd)

I made these several months ago, back when I was studying for the Nevada Bar Exam and was constantly creating distractions for myself. I procrastinated a little more by photographing the muffins, however I stopped short of actually writing this post. At this point the only thing I really remember about these (and Nicholas concurs) is that the amount of butter really overwhelms the muffins. If I do make these again, and I might because the combination of spices and streusel topping is tempting, I will definitely reduce the butter,

Thanks to Kayte of Grandma’s Kitchen Table for choosing this week's recipe. You can find the recipe on her blog or on pages 16-17 in Baking From My Home To Yours