These Cookies are My Jam

This is just a quick post to brag that I have made THE BEST COOKIES EVER. I know I made this claim once before, but this tops it.

Following Thanksgiving I had a stash of leftover hazelnuts -- which, by the way, are really expensive -- and in an effort to put them to use, I checked out this new site Gojee.com. It's not the first site to offer recipe search based on available ingredients, but it is certainly the prettiest I've seen. All the photos are huge and beautiful and made me instantly very hungry.

My search led me swiftly to this recipe for Hazelnut Rosemary Jam Cookies. And, since I had leftover rosemary in the house too, I didn't even have to get out of my pajamas to go to the store for ingredients. For the jam I used two of my mom's homemade preserves, which I always have stockpiled -- raspberry rhubarb and pear. The cookies were super easy to make and turned out perfectly. Seriously, just look at my snapshot above and compare it to Gojee. Pretty good, right? The rosemary gave them a really unique and dare I say fancy flavor. I may even whip up another batch of these to impress my in-laws at Christmas this year.

While I'm bragging, I might as well show off my pumpkin pie that I made for Thanksgiving. Joy of Cooking pie + Bobby Flay's graham cracker crust and some homemade maple whipped cream. So good!

Channeling Frustration Into Baked Goods

Call it cabin fever, or call it misplaced frustration, but I have been baking up a storm. I have all these long-term projects inching forward, but held up by finances or time or energy or whatever. The beauty of baking is you can set out to make something, and a few hours later it's done, it's beautiful and it's delicious.

When you're feeling bad about not accomplishing more, baking cookies is not only satisfying to complete, but very comforting to eat. And eat. And eat.

Thankfully this weekend is sunny and warmer, and I got out of the house on my bike to burn off some calories and keep away from the oven.

Shown above: Lemon Cherry Scones adapted from the Baked cookbook. Macaroons from the Joy Of Cooking, but I took 'em up a notch (bam!) and dipped them in melted chocolate.

I Just Made The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Look at this cookie! Its circumference is perfect, the chocolate chips are evenly distributed, and yes, it was delicious. Finally after several failed holiday dessert attempts, I at least get this old classic right. Thank you, once again, Baked cookbook.

Bigger Balls

What can I say... I got lazy near the end.

You may also be wondering why I've been writing so much this past year about desserts and baked goods. No, I've not given up on balanced meals. I just happen to have scored a husband-to-be who is an amazing cook and totally kicks my ass in the kitchen. And I'm no slouch, so that's really saying something. Meanwhile, he leaves the baking to me so I'm happy to be in charge of cookies and pies from now on.

Baking aside, expect wedding D.I.Y. ideas coming down the Home Sweet Homewrecker pipeline soon as we're planning one heck of a hands-on celebration!

Christmas Balls!

Happy Holidays everyone! I wanted to share with you my favorite Christmas cookie recipe -- Christmas Balls. Of course I can't talk about delicious Christmas balls without channeling the SNL sketch with Alec Baldwin showing off his Schweddy Balls on NPR. Trust me, bake these balls and you won't be able to wait to get them in your mouth too!

Christmas Balls

• 1 c. butter 2 t. vanilla
• 1/3 c. sugar
• 2 t. water or milk
• 2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 c. chopped pecans (chop 'em pretty small)
• thin confectioners frosting (about 3/4 c. powdered sugar + 1-2 T. milk)
• coconut or colored sugar

Cream butter and vanilla; add sugar, creaming the mixture until light and fluffy. Blend in water. Stir in flour, mixing well. Add pecans. Shape in 1" balls. Bake 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheet in 325 degree oven. Bake 20 min. or until firm to the touch. Cool before removing from pan. Frost with conf. frosting and coat with coconut or with red and green colored sugar.

I decided to bake Christmas Balls yesterday when the first blizzard of the season had me holed up indoors, relishing wearing my jammies all day. Turned out I had all the necessary ingredients for balls except for 1 cup of pecans. Rats! I tore apart the cabinet looking for some kind of nutty stand-in, and luckily I came across the remains of a stash of "Culinary Touch" nut mixes sent my way by the fine folks at Fisher Nuts. These blends, intended to "add delicious flavor to any dessert or meal" were about to do just that. Fisher's pecan, cranberry, orange blend seemed like it would work, and perhaps even improve my balls.

Whatta you know, the touch of cranberry and orange made my favorite Christmas cookies even more delicious. Didn't even think it was possible! It took me awhile to find a use for the Fishers Culinary Touch blend, and this was the perfect occasion.

Cookie Chaos

How could I not link to this: The Cookie Chaos Set

Rock and Roll Recipe Radio - Episode 3

It's a special Christmas episode of Rock and Roll Recipe Radio, and I am joined in the kitchen by my friend Anna. She makes the hot toddys while I mix the cookie dough, we both lick the mixers, and I handle the balls. I mean shaping the cookies into balls. Here's the holiday playlist:

The Wedding Present - Step Into Christmas
Smoking Popes - O Holy Night
The Raveonettes - The Christmas Song
The Flaming Lips - Christmas at the Zoo
The Waitresses - Christmas Wrapping
Coldplay - Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

Rock and Roll Recipe Radio - Episode 3 - Dark Chocolate/White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies