Cranberry Bars

It may be the first day of Spring today, but there is still snow on the ground outside. As much as I want to eat local asparagus and new potatoes, my farmer's market only have onions and pickles for sale. Instead of being sad about there being no spring produce, I have decided to embrace the end of winter.

There may be no strawberries, but I still have a half bag of frozen cranberries in the freezer! You may think of cranberry and orange as more of a holiday flavor combination, but I really needed these last week when there was snow and hail piling up on my tulips.

The snow is slowly melting and I'm crossing my fingers that my bulbs weathered the storm. Until the snow is all gone, I'm enjoying the last of my favorite winter treats - hearty soups, root vegetables and cranberries.

If you are already enjoying jacket-free days, I'm really jealous of you. You can enjoy all of your fresh springtime produce and I'll finish eating this pan of bars.

One Year Ago: Peanut Butter Fudge
Two Years Ago: Homemade Marshmallow Peeps
Three Years Ago: Potato, Spinach & Asparagus Quiche
Four Years Ago: Momofuku Confetti Cookies
Five Years Ago: Fish with Mango Salsa
Six Years Ago: Filled Meringue Coffee Cake

Strawberry Shortcake Mallomars

I'm so sorry for these lackluster photos. Especially because these cookies were so amazing! Recently I was feeling the winter blues and decided to bring out some springtime flavors. Obviously I don't have any freshly picked spring strawberries, but I do have freshly picked, frozen strawberries!

Now you know that I'm a huge fan of making marshmallows. I could probably make them in my sleep now. I can't believe that I never used strawberries to make a strawberry marshmallow! By simply swapping out the water for pureed strawberries, you too can have these fluffy marshmallows in your life! This is also the perfect time of year to make marshmallows, cool temperatures and low humidity are a candy makers dream conditions!

Not only are these cookies a reminder that spring is only a few weeks away (no matter what that silly groundhog has to say!), but they are perfect for February and Valentine's Day! A mixture of red, pink and white sanding sugar really amps up the holiday theme. I'd recommend topping them with a candy heart and giving them to your favorite person.

One Year Ago: J@H - Fauxritos
Two Years Ago: Parmesan Fries
Three Years Ago: Magnolia's Banana Pudding
Four Years Ago: Homemade Granola
Five Years Ago: Homemade Fondant
Six Years Ago: Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Dulce De Leche Filling

Welcome to Autumn! This morning I had my first hot apple cider, which is what makes the season a reality for me. Apples, pumpkin, cinnamon, cranberries. They all scream Fall to me! I'm sure you've noticed that your Pinterest board is full of pumpkin-flavored recipes. I'm about to add another one to the pile.

Today I'm happy to partner with Dorie Greenspan and OXO to bring you my first Fall-related recipe of the year! Dorie Greenspan is set to release her first ever cookie cookbook this October and several bloggers across the internet are working together to Bake a Difference for Cookies for Kids' Cancer. For each blog post, OXO is donating $100 to the Cookies for Kids' Cancer Foundation, with a possible donation of $100,000!

Today I'm featuring Dorie's Pumpkin whoopie pies with dulce de leche filling. The recipe came together super fast with a few new OXO additions to my kitchen. I used the new On Illuminating Digital Hand Mixer from OXO to make the cookie dough. I haven't owned a hand mixer in probably six years, but this one is so cool! The controls are digital and the mixer has its own light, you can make cookies in the dark! Additionally, the mixer comes with its own on-board storage system for the beaters and the cord wraps neatly around the base. A quick turn of the dough with a spatula and the dough was ready to go.

I quickly scooped out the perfect amount of cookie dough with the 2-tablespoon (medium) cookie scoop. Using a cookie scoop ensures that all of your cookies are the same size and that they bake evenly. I have all three sizes! Side note - the large size is perfect for making cupcakes. The cookie dough for these whoopie pies is a little loose, so using a muffin pan to bake the cookies is the perfect solution. OXO sent along their non-stick Pro 12 Cup Muffin Pan to bake the cookies. This is the most heavy duty muffin pan that I have even owned! It's ceramic-reinforced, two-layer construction with a commercial-grade coating. The cookies popped right out!

With the cookies baked, the dulce de leche filling was incredibly easy to whip up. Just five ingredients and you've got tasty filling in under five minutes. After filling the cookies with the frosting, I may have eaten a good portion of the leftover frosting...

If you too want to get into the Autumnal spirit, head to the store and pickup some pumpkin puree and frozen cranberries. Your house will be smelling of cinnamon in no time! Get yourself a pumpkin spice latte, throw on your fuzzy pants and get ready for the cooler temperatures!

Tailgating Time! - Ice Cream Pizza

Are you ready for some TAILGATING!?!???!!  Personally, I'm not really a football fan. I'm pretty sure my apathetic feelings for football come from being a child in Buffalo during the 1990's. While I don't really care for the sport, I'm all about tailgating. Actually, you can convince me to attend any sporting event as long as you promise me food.

Want me to attend a baseball game? Buy me a salty soft pretzel. Your favorite team playing a hockey game tonight? Get me some nachos and I'll watch happily. Football? Invite me to your tailgate party and I'll dress in your team colors.

Over the next two weeks I am teaming up with Perry's Ice Cream to celebrate the beginning of football season with ice cream and tailgating treats! While ice cream might not be the most common tailgating treat, Buffalo fans are used to freezing temperatures and snow! Perry's created their newest flavor - Sundae at the Ralph - with vanilla ice cream, peanut butter footballs, chocolate swirls and red and blue sprinkles! It's so Buffalo.

Watching the game from home? You can prepare this ice cream pizza for your friends and let them choose their own toppings. Not in the WNY region and can't get your hands on Perry's? Simply use your favorite brand of vanilla ice cream and sprinkle on some candies in your teams colors.

Not a Buffalonian and wondering why it's called "Sundae at the Ralph"? Well, The Ralph is our football stadium! Or at least it was until about a week ago, when it turned into New Era Field. I don't know how I feel about the change...

Disclaimer - As a member of Perry's Ice Cream "Inside Scoopers" team, I receive samples of seasonal ice cream flavors. I receive no other compensation for recipe development and posts. I only work with brands that I love and as a hometown Buffalo girl, Perry's is in my blood!

One Year Ago: Homemade Snickers Bars
Two Years Ago: Watermelon Mallomars
Three Years Ago: Faux Fudge Rounds
Four Years Ago: Homemade Coconut milk & chili sauce
Five Years Ago: Congo Bars
Six Years Ago: Peanut Butter Pancakes

J@H - Moon Pies

Continuing with my quest to finish my 2015 challenge, I bring you Homemade Moon Pies!

Now, I'm not really sure what part of the country you find moon pies. I feel like they are not a nationwide snack. I managed to locate one at my local Foodtown and was able to taste test the original.

What Did I think? Blech, not terribly impressive. To be perfectly honest, it wasn't at all what I was expecting. The only version of the Moon Pie that I could locate was a vanilla, double-decker version. Thankfully I only bought one, rather than an entire box, because they would have all gone to waste.

Making a homemade version of this treat was going to be easy. Bake some graham cracker rounds, fill them with marshmallow and cover them in chocolate. That was right up my alley, I'm old hat at making marshmallows and I love coating things in chocolate. I went to my favorite vanilla marshmallow recipe and made a small change to my graham cracker recipe. The whole thing came together pretty quickly.

These homemade Moon Pies were so much tastier than the store-bought version. The recipe made about 24 sandwich cookies. I ate about half of them without the chocolate coating and shared the completed cookies with my friends. They were amazing both ways! You should definitely think about making your own moon pies before picking them up at the store.


One Year Ago: Girl Scout Samoa Cookies
Two Years Ago: Cookie Dough Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes
Three Years Ago: Cherry Kuchen Bars
Four Years Ago: Cherry-Coconut Bagels
Five Years Ago: Cherry Turkish Taffy

Greta Bars

This year for Christmas I asked for only one cookbook. If you've seen my collection, then you know that this is a strange occurrence. I love getting new cookbooks and spending my weekends reading through them. Whether it's to get new ideas for dinner, gain blogging inspiration or to just look at the pretty pictures, I have a massive collection of cookbooks.

The cookbook I requested this year was Milkbar Life, by Christina Tosi. I already own her original cookbook and have baked my way through a good portion of it. I have also taken three of her baking classes in Brooklyn and fell in love with her food attitude. Milkbar Life promised simpler recipes with delicious results. 

Christina didn't lie.

I decided to break in the cookbook by trying out The Greta. A classic sugar cookie bar from her mothers kitchen, these cookies are heaven. Just barely under-baked and covered in a serious amount of sprinkles, this pan of cookies quickly disappeared from my kitchen.

While I probably won't try every single recipe in the book (Hanky-pankies on page 24? No, thanks), many of the recipes are classic, grandma approved recipes. I think the boyfriend will be a big fan of this book, the food isn't fancy or pretentious.

Now excuse me while I go finish off the last of these cookies...

One Year Ago: Sauteed Chicken and Pears
Two Years Ago: Chocolate Heart Sandwich Cookies
Three Years Ago: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Yogurt Popsicles
Four Years Ago: Poffertjes: Cheese Pancakes
Five Years Ago: Orange Chiffon Cupcakes

Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2015

It's been a busy year around the Wilde household. I've barely had enough time to cook real food, with next to no time to spend in the kitchen making something fun. I made sure to make time this season to participate in the annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap.

 

This year I decided to make a classic Christmas treat in mallomar form! Each year for Christmas, my mom buys my dad a box of cherry cordials. I always sneak one (or two) from the box and they always remind me of the holidays. 

Cherry-vanilla marshmallow sits on top of a crisp chocolate cookie. Covered in milk chocolate and topped with a candied cherry, these cookies taste just like the cordial candy, but without the liquid candy center. This recipe may sound daunting, but it's actually very straightforward. If you've never made marshmallow before, don't worry, it's much easier than it looks. The most difficult thing is piping the marshmallow onto the cookies. It takes a few practice pipes before you get the right technique.

If you are looking for one more cookie to add to your tray or bring to a cookie swap, give these a try! They look really impressive and taste even better!

One Year Ago: Candy Cane Mallomars
Two Years Ago: Gingerbread Mallomen
Three Years Ago: Pinata Cookies
Four Years Ago: Peppermint Mallomars
Five Years Ago: Browned Butter Spritz Cookies

OXO Good Cookie - No-Bake Cookies

Today I am partnering with Oxo and this blog post is dedicated to Cookies for Kids Cancer. In my professional life I work in oncology research and see the impact that cancer has on not only the patient, but all the people in their circle. The organization Cookies for Kids Cancer raises funds for research to develop new, improved treatments for pediatric cancer. As a researcher, I could spend this entire post talking about the genetic drivers of pediatric cancer, but instead we are going to discuss how cookies can help.

The OXO Good Cookies program is partnering up with bloggers this month to raise awareness about pediatric cancers. For each blog post, OXO donates $100 to Cookies for Kids Cancer! In addition to this, OXO has brought out a special line of bakeware to help support the cause. Look for OXO products with the Cookies for Kids Cancer logo. For each item purchased, they will donate $0.25 to the cause. Specifically, you can get this adorable cookie spatula! For this recipe I used their non-stick half sheet pan, medium cookie scoop and cookie spatula.

I was happy to join the cause this month and create a blog post about cookies. There was only one problem - my oven. Since we bought our house last year, the oven has been acting up. Specifically, the controller board for the oven has been randomly shutting off. This first happened just before Thanksgiving last year. We were able to fiddle with it and it would turn back on, until last month it finally died. What to do? Make no-bake cookies!

These cookies take about five minutes to make, especially with use of the cookie dough scoop. There are just three steps - 1. Bring sugar syrup to a boil  2. Stir in oats and flavors 3. Scoop out cookies.

Seriously, it's that easy. Once that's done you just need to walk away for 30 minutes! These are the easiest cookies to make, especially when you have no oven!

Be sure to get involved in aiding research for pediatric cancer. You can either buy OXO products, donate directly to the fund or even host a cookie sway of your own! Every cent helps with research in the field and those cents add up to improved survival for the patients.

One Year Ago: Rigatoni with Pepperoni, mozzarella & arugula
Two Years Ago: Dulce de Leche cookies
Three Years Ago: Apple Pie Ice Cream Topping
Four Years Ago: Caramel Brownies
Five Years Ago: Thin Mint Ice Cream

Disclaimer - OXO provided me with a set of bakeware to use in this blog post.

• Cookies for Kids' Cancer is a recognized 501c(3) public charity duly incorporated under the laws of the state of New Jersey. Your donations are tax deductible to the fullest extent allowable by law. 100% of proceeds raised by Cookies for Kids' Cancer fund pediatric cancer research.
• OXO will be donating $100 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer for each blog post dedicated to this campaign in October (up to our $100,000 commitment*.)
• *In 2015, OXO will donate up to $100,000 to Cookies for Kids' Cancer through product proceeds, bake sale matches and other fundraising efforts

Pumpkin Mallomars

With the return of the fall weather, something else is returning to our lives - Mallomars! Mallomars are too delicate and meltable to ship to grocery stores in the summer, so we always see the return of these sweet treats right around Labor day. Seeing them on the grocery store shelves made me want to whip up another batch myself.

If you've been a long time reader of WITK, you may remember that I made pumpkin mallomars several years ago. I think it was three years ago... Feel free to go back into the archives and check those out too, they're totally different from these pumpkin mallomars. The old recipe has a pumpkin marshmallo, vanilla cookie and they're coated in white chocolate.

Rather than getting fancy with the marshmallow, I stayed super traditional with a vanilla marshmallow. Where the pumpkin comes in is the cookie! A pumpkin cut-out cookie? How did I not think of this years ago? Adding pumpkin to a cookie recipe is so much easier than trying to balance the flavors and texture of a candy. These cookies came out of the oven smelling like Fall and so delectable, even without the marshmallow topping.

The marshmallow on top really brings these cookies to a whole new level. Actually, they taste just like pumpkin pie. Seriously! The delicate flavors of the pumpkin cookie and vanilla marshmallow taste just like you popped some vanilla whipped cream on top of your pumpkin pie.

Of course these aren't exactly like a traditional mallomar. Most importantly, they aren't covered in chocolate. I coated my first few mallomar recipes in chocolate. I came to realize that the chocolate flavor was covering up the mild flavors I was infusing into the marshmallow or cookie. Therefore, we will call these "Naked Mallomars" from here on out.

Also, don't let the homemade marshmallow scare you off. Personally I've made marshmallows at least two dozen times. It gets easier and easier each time you put a batch together. This vanilla recipe is simple, quick and takes no more than 15-20 minutes to go from ingredients to piping bag. Have marshmallow questions? Leave them in the comment section and I'll try to be of assistance!

One Year Ago: Watermelon Mallomars
Two Years Ago: Pumpkin-frosted, caramel-filled, vanilla cupcakes
Three Years Ago:Ramen Vegetable Soup
Four Years Ago: Pomegranate Ice Cream
Five Years Ago: Apple cake with Brown sugar icing

Tahini Cookies

Some items should really be sold in much smaller containers. For example, chicken bullion cubes, fancy vinegar and cornmeal. Generally, you need just a tablespoon for the recipe and are left with a near-full container of the ingredient. Tahini is another ingredient that always languishes in my pantry until it reaches its expiration date.

Thanks to Cooking Light Magazine, my tahini now has more purpose! I recently noticed a new section in the magazine called the "Use it Up Challenge." The May 2015 (I'm a little behind in reading magazines!) ingredient was tahini! While all of the recipes sounded fantastic, I'm making the orange-tahini vinaigrette next, these tahini cookies fit the bill for my Sunday plans.

They come together a lot like a peanut butter cookie recipe, but the flavor is completely different. If you like tahini (which if you have it in your house, I'm assuming you do), you'll love these cookies. The whole recipe comes together in about an hour - from ingredients to baked cookies.

The recipe also makes a completely realistic number of cookies - 24. Even though this recipe comes from Cooking Light, I wouldn't consider it to be healthy or low fat. The recipe includes refined sugar and butter. Enjoy them for the flavor and try not to eat all of them in one sitting!

What ingredients sits in your pantry month after month? I'd love to start my own version of CL - Us it Up Challenge and help everyone use up those weird ingredients!

One Year Ago: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Bars
Two Years Ago: Vanilla Ice Cream with Roasted Cherry Swirl
Three Years Ago: Simple Arugula Salad
Four Years Ago: Oatmeal Pancakes
Four Years Ago: Chocolate Buttercream & Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

Ice Cream Week - Grasshopper Sandwiches

It's day two of ice cream week! Today we're enjoying ice cream sandwiches, made with the biggest, richest cookies around, filled with ice cream, which is filled with more cookies! Ice cream sandwich Inception!

Summertime is ice cream sandwich time. Who wants to be tied to a bowl and spoon? With these bad boys, you're free to leave the house, roam the world and still eat ice cream. So perfect.

These particular ice cream sandwiches might be the perfect thing to share with a friend. The cookies are enormous and putting two of them together gives you something the size of a baseball. I decided to pair Perry's Grasshopper Pie with these rich cookies. The mint flavor of the ice cream is smooth and not overpowering. There are also crushed cookie pieces and fudge swirls throughout. The combination is totally decadent.

I only made up a few sandwiches with the Grasshopper pie flavor. I'm thinking these cookies would also be amazing with the Cocoa-Nut Bliss flavor - coconut ice cream with chocolate covered almond, fudge pieces and shredded coconut. What would you sandwich between these chocolate cookies???

Disclaimer -  As a member of their Inside Scoopers team, Perry's Ice Cream supplied me with a bunch of their new Escapes flavors. All opinions are my own. I'm only so happy to support this hometown brand because I grew up eating Perry's and they make a damn delicious ice cream!

Two Years Ago: Celebration Cake
Three Years Ago: Cinnamon Roll Cupcakes
Four Years Ago: Cream of Asparagus Soup

J@H - Oreo Cookies

I'm a little behind on my Junk at Home challenge - I blame going on vacation, followed directly by a work conference. Luckily, I'm coming back with an amazing recipe! Homemade Oreos!!!

Yes, this recipe requires all of those exclamation marks.

I fed a few of these to the boyfriend and he described them as such... "they taste like Oreos, but without that stale, crumbly, crunchy part. The filling is dead on."

I can't take credit for the filling. I looked at a bunch of different recipes for Oreo fillings online and I decided to go with the one that sounded the least healthy and most unnatural. Just because these cookies are homemade, doesn't mean that they are healthy. 

At all.

There is a whole bunch of shortening in these cookies, but there is also Greek yogurt, so you know, it totally evens out. 

Seriously though, you should probably share these cookies with your friends and family. Limit yourself to one, two tops, and enjoy twisting open the cookies and eating the unnaturally white cookie filling.

One Year Ago: Quiche with Sweet Peppers and Sausage
Two Years Ago: Raspberry Macarons
Three Years Ago: Chocolate Malt Marshmallows
Four Years Ago: Maple Mousse

Junk @ Home 2015 - Girl Scout Samoas (aka Caramel delights)

Call them Samoas, call them Caramel delights, whatever you choose to call them and wherever you live in America, they are delicious. I just wrote that they are devilious. Yeah, that's totally (not) a real word and it applies to these cookies. Because they make you want to eat the entire box! So devilious...

Anyways...

I added these cookies to my Junk at Home challenge because they were highly requested during my oh-so-official poll in December. People love Girl Scout cookies and they want access to them year round.

I hate to tell people, for fear that they will blame me when they gain forty pounds, but two varieties of Girl Scout cookies are available year round. Thin Mints and Samoas.

The same factory that produces Samoas and Thin Mints, also produces a Keebler-branded version of each cookie - the Grasshopper and the Coconut Dream. They are the exact same cookie. You can buy these any time you want, so long as you are at a grocery store. But if it's Girl Scout cookie season, be sure to buy from those cuties. Yes, even though they cost like $85 a box now. (Price of cookies when little Vicki sold cookies? $2.25/box. True story.)

Since you can buy the legit, original cookie anywhere, anytime, and there are dozens of recipes on other food blogs, I didn't want to make just any Samoa cookie. I made them a little bit more tasty, with more chocolate. And salted caramel. Enjoy.

One Year Ago: Whole Wheat Pasta with Sausage and Leeks
Two Years Ago: Chipotle Copycat Recipes

Three Years Ago: Chocolate-Peppermint Marshmallows

Four Years Ago: Homemade Butterfinger Bars

Dark Chocolate, Salted Caramel Samoas

A Wilde Original

For the Cookies

1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup natural cocoa powder
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Cream butter with sugar until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add vanilla extract. Beat to combine. Sift in cocoa powder and all-purpose flour. Mix until smooth. Lay out a long sheet of plastic wrap. Pour dough onto plastic wrap and fold over. Roll out dough to 1/4-inch thick. Place on a baking sheet and set in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Take dough from the fridge and stamp out donut-shaped cookies (using either a donut stamp or two circular cookie cutters. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. Once baked, remove from the oven and let cool for 2 minutes on the pan. Carefully remove from pan and let cool completely on a wire cookie rack

For the Caramel topping

2 cups caramels, unwrapped (one entire bag of  Kraft Brand Caramels)
3 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups shredded coconut

Place caramels, heavy cream, kosher salt and vanilla in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir caramels until they are all melted and the mixture is smooth.  Using a spoon, coat the tops of the cookies with a thin layer of caramel.

Add coconut to the remaining caramel in the saucepan and stir to distribute. Use a spoon (and probably your fingers) spread coconut-caramel mixture over the cookies. Place cookies in the fridge to set up the caramel.

For the chocolate

1 cup dark chocolate chips

While the caramel is setting up in the fridge, melt chocolate using your preferred method. Easiest option is to place chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, pop in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring in between each 30 seconds.

Dip the bottoms of the cookies in melted chocolate, place cookies on wax paper. Once cookies are all dunked in chocolate, pour remaining melted chocolate in a squeezey bottle. Pipe stripes over your cookies. Place in the fridge to harden the chocolate.

Share with your friends.

Candy Cane Mallomars

It's that time of year again!

I have had very little time to bake cookies this year. In addition to moving house recently, the oven in said new house keeps breaking. Basically, we need a new controller board for the oven. The oven keeps powering off at random times. For that reason, I wound up sending my cookies out two days late. Sorry cookie matches!!!

I held strong to tradition and made a holiday mallomar for the cookie swap. This year I went with the classic flavor of candy canes and added a little visual flair with some red and white. Not only is there peppermint flavoring in the marshmallow, I crushed up a whole box of candy canes and added them to the marshmallow. Sweet and crunchy!

Many thanks go out to Lindsay and Julie for organizing the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. Not only were there packages of cookies flying all over the world, we also partnered with Cookies for Kid's Cancer and raised money for a good cause.

Since I wasn't able to cook a ton of cookies for the holidays this year, I don't have a bunch of fun new cookie recipes for you. I'm very, very sad about this. Luckily, you can drop by the GFBCS round-ups and see an amazing selection of cookies. Or, you can give these mallomars a try!

One Year Ago: Gingerbread Mallomen
Two Years Ago: Triple Peanut butter and chocolate cookies
Three Years Ago: Peppermint & Chocolate Mallomars
Four Years Ago: Banana Whoopie Pies

Wilde Cookies

I put together a pinterest board with all of the cookies that have come out of the Wilde Kitchen! Still need some ideas for holiday cookies? Take a look! Can you believe that I have 76 cookie recipe at WITK?  So much sugar.

Watermelon Mallow Cookies

I can't believe that it's September! I totally meant to post these cookies weeks and weeks ago. Why? Watermelon screams summer. Watermelon does not say "pumpkin spice latte," "cozy sweaters" or "chilly evenings." Sorry, I have a good reason! I'll be sharing more on that later. For now...

Check out these cute cookies!  So adorable!

I had this image in my mind at the beginning of the summer. I was dreaming of a watermelon mallomar with cute black seeds and bright green cookie. After two weeks of searching for candy coated seeds, I gave up and stopped by my favorite NYC baking shop and picked up these black sugar pearls. And hot pink sanding sugar. So Pink!

These cookies are just a new take on my traditional mallomar cookie. Now, I know they aren't a true mallomar, since they aren't coated in chocolate (FYI, I can't wait until the classic mallomars hit the grocery shelves soon!!!). I decided last year that I didn't like to coat my flavored cookies in chocolate. Why? They just taste like chocolate! The flavor of the marshmallow is so subtle, the chocolate flavor just overpowers the marshmallowy flavor.

So, if you aren't sick of summer yet (if you are... seriously? Summer is awesome), give these cookies a try! You will most likely need to pick up some things at the store or online (i.e. - Watermelon candy oil, pink sanding sugar, bright green food coloring & black sugar pearls). Have fun making these, they're super fun!

Once Year Ago: Sour Apple Fruit Chews
Two Years Ago: Homemade Coconut milk & Thai Chili Sauce
Three Years Ago: Italian Sweet & Sour Chicken
Four Years Ago: Chilled Asparagus Salad

Watermelon Mallomars

A Wilde Original

Warning, these cookies will make your entire house smell like watermelon. But not real watermelon. Candy watermelon! If you don't like the flavor of a watermelon Jolly Rancher, these cookies might not be for you. I was toying with the idea of making the marshmallow out of watermelon juice, but didn't think the flavor would be powerful enough to shine through the sugar. Maybe that's a plan for next summer!

Almond Cookies

I used the French almond sugar cookie recipe that I always use for mallomars. Follow the recipe in this link and just add some green food coloring at the end of the dough mixing. Roll it out just like in that recipe and you're good to go! Let the cookies cool before adding the marshmallow and decorating.

Watermelon marshmallow

Adapted from Marshmallows

For the gelatin bloom
1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons cold water
1 dram watermelon candy oil (Use the concentrated stuff)
3 tablespoons unflavored gelatin (I use Knox powdered gelatin)

For the sugar syrup
3/4 cup water
1 1/4 cups corn syrup
pinch kosher salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

For the mallomars
1 cup small hot pink sanding sugar

In a small bowl, whisk together water and birthday cake flavoring.  Add gelatin and whisk until smooth.  Let sit while you prepare the sugar syrup.

In a 4-quart pot, combine all four ingredients for the sugar syrup.  Bring to a boil and cover with a lid.  Let boil for 2 minutes (this will wash down any sugar crystals from the walls of the pot).  Uncover the pot and clip on your candy thermometer.  Heat to 250 F.  Remove from heat and add bloomed gelatin.  Whisk until the gelatin is incorporated.

Pour mixture into the bowl of your stand mixer and turn it up!  Beat the sugar mixture on high for 10 minutes, until bright white and fluffy.  Transfer marshmallow batter to a piping bag with a 1-cm tip.

Pipe blobs of marshmallow onto the cooled cookie rounds.  Let marshmallow set for 30 minutes. Add three or four black sugar pearls and dunk in sanding sugar.  Be sure all the marshmallow is coated in sugar, this will keep them from sticking to each other.  Revel in your work, they are so adorable!!!