Celebration Cookie Cake

Today we are celebrating 7 years!

Chocolate Hearts

I wasn't planning on making anything for Valentine's Day, but I decided to try out a variation on my cutout cookie recipe this weekend.  Since we are only a few days away from February 14th, I thought why not use a heart shaped cookie cutter.

Loganberry Mallomars

It's time for more marshmallow fun!  This time it's a Buffalo-themed marshmallow.  Don't worry, I'm not making you chicken wing flavored marshmallow, that might be a little weird.  Today I'm introducing you to Loganberry!

I have lived in several different places around the United States and have only ever seen Loganberry in Western New York.  Is it a unique item to the Buffalo region?  Do you have Loganberry soda in your town?  When I asked some of my coworkers, they asked if it was the stuff you can get at Ikea.  No, that's lingonberry. Surprisingly, this soda is bottled by PepsiCo.  Though since it's a WNY drink, I suppose I should call it "pop".

Loganberry soda is a completely impossible flavor to explain.  It's incredibly sweet and tastes like some sort of berry.  According to the smidge of internet research I did, a loganberry is an actual berry that was cultivated in California in the 1880's.  It's a cross between a raspberry and a blackberry.  Californians hated it, but it found success as a soda at the Crystal Beach resort in Buffalo. I visited Crystal Beach as a child and have a photograph of my mom and I riding these umbrella gondolas over the beach.  Crystal Beach closed years ago, but loganberry lives on.

I wanted to celebrate my hometown and create a mallomar that incorporates one of it's most unique flavors. In one of my BuffaloFoods.com purchases, I bought a case of Loganberry soda (along with so many of my favorite hometown foods!). I wasn't sure what I was going to do with the soda, I just knew I wasn't going to be drinking it.  It's sooooo sweet!

To use the Loganberry soda, I poured six cans of the soda into a wide pan and boiled it, for about thirty minutes, until I had 2 cups of syrup.  I used the syrup as the flavor base for my marshmallows.  The finished marshmallows have that distinct Loganberry flavor that I wanted.  My only problem with these?  The Loganberry is made with high fructose corn syrup.  These marshmallows are a combination of sucrose, glucose and fructose.  But seriously, they are sugar bombs any way you make them.  I ate a whole bunch and didn't regret a single pink marshmallow!

One Year Ago: Yogurt Protein Smoothie
Two Years Ago: Tart au Chocolate au Lait
Three Years Ago: Buttermilk Cornbread

Almond Cookies

A Wilde Original

1 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, beat together butter, powdered sugar and salt until smooth.  Add almond flour and vanilla and beat until combined.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the edges.  Add egg and combine.  Finally, add flour slowly until completely mixed.

Scrape batter out of the bowl and onto a large piece of plastic wrap.  Fold over plastic wrap and press dough out a little.  Using a rolling pin, roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness.  Place dough sheet on a baking sheet and set in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.

Remove dough sheet from the fridge and peel back the top layer of plastic wrap. Stamp out 2-inch circles with a cookie or biscuit cutter.  Place dough circles on a baking sheet and chill for 30 minutes.  Collect dough scraps and re-roll between the plastic wrap.  Chill if necessary and continue stamping out 2-inch circles.

Preheat oven to 350 F and bake cookies for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet on a wire rack.  Remove from the baking sheet and allow cookies to cool completely before adding marshmallow.

Loganberry Marshmallows

A Wilde Original

6 cans loganberry soda

4 tablespoons powdered gelatin

1/2 cup water
3/4 cup corn syrup
1 1/2 cups sugar

Pour loganberry soda into a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat.  Bring to a boil and cook until reduced to 2 cups.

Combine gelatin with 1 1/4 cups loganberry concentrate in the bowl of your stand mixer.  Let bloom while you prepare the marshmallow syrup.

Combine 3/4 cup loganberry concentrate, water, corn syrup and sugar in a 4-quart pot.  Clip on candy thermometer and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Do not stir the sugar solution while it boils.  Let the temperature rise to 250 ºF.  Remove from the heat.

Using the whip attachment, turn on the stand mixer to low speed.  Slowly stream in sugar syrup.  Once all of the syrup is added, increase the speed to medium-high and beat for 5 minutes.  Increase speed to high and whip for another 5 minutes.  The marshmallow batter should be fluffy, shiny and pink.  If your marshmallow batter has reached soft peak stage, transfer some of the batter to a piping bag (or ziploc bag).

To Assemble Mallomars

Almond cookie rounds
Loganberry marshmallow in a piping bag with a 1-cm round tip
Pink sanding sugar

Pipe blogs of marshmallow on top of your cookie rounds.  Let set for 15 minutes.  Pour sanding sugar into a bowl.  Dip marshmallow topped cookies into sanding sugar, coat all of the marshmallow so it's not sticky anymore!  Enjoy!

Cookies for Monday

Sometimes you need something really simple and delicious.  Comfort food.  When it comes to comfort food dessert, nothing is more classic than chocolate chip cookies.  The boyfriend and I like to whip up a batch for Saturday night and turn on a movie.  

I may or may not have eaten a few spoonfuls of the raw cookie dough before it made its way into the oven.  I'm not feeling guilty about it, this dough is delicious.  Rather than using straight all-purpose flour, I swapped out half for rice flour.  The rice flour gives these cookies a really soft texture.  They are crispy on the edges and soft in the middle, my kind of cookie.

I would totally recommend using this cookie dough as a base for using up any of your excess chocolate chips.  Toss in whatever you have in your pantry.  Milk chocolate, peanut butter, butterscotch?  Toss them all in, this dough is the perfect base for anything you want to throw in there!

Half of these cookies will be making their way to work today.  One of my new coworkers has made it very clear that he love love loves chocolate chip cookies.  A new coworker always needs to make a good impression!

One Year Ago: Ginger-Curry Crackers & Whole Wheat Crackers
Two Years Ago: Boysenberry Buckle Muffins
Three Years Ago: Fruit Salsa

Wilde Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup rice flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, cold
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Whisk together flours, baking soda & salt in a medium bowl.  In a large bowl, cream together butter and shortening, scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.  Add sugars and vanilla and cream until fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined.  Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.  Pour in flour mixture and turn mixer on low.  Beat just until the flour is absorbed.  Add chocolate chips and mix by hand until chips are evenly distributed.  Cover bowl in plastic wrap and set in the fridge for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 ºF.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat sheets.  Scoop out 1 tablespoon cookie dough and roll into a ball.  Bake cookies for 11 minutes, or until they are browned around the edges.  Remove from the oven and let cool for 1 minute on the baking sheet.  Remove from the sheet and allow to cool completely on a wire rack.  (Or eat them hot, so good)

CTB 2014 - Momofuku Milk Corn Cookies

It's time to get started on this 2014 challenge of mine!  The first cookbook in line?  Milk by Christina Tosi.  Why did I decide to go with this recipe first?  I really wanted cookies.

Cookie Week - Amazing oatmeal cookies

I thought I would end cookie week with something slightly healthy. We're not talking applesauce and yogurt replacing all the butter.  No no no, it's not that time of year.  Yet.  I'm talking about healthy and delicious additions to these cookies.

Cooke Week - Peanut Butter Sandwiches

I can't have a cookie week without including peanut butter and chocolate. It is one of my most favorite flavor combinations ever. When my mom and I made cookies for Christmas, I would inevitably pick at least two or three PB&C recipes for us to make. Then I would promptly eat all of them. I can't make peanut butter blossoms because I will wind up downing the entire batch.

Cookie Week - Gingerbread Mallomen

Happy Holidays! It's time once again for the Great Food Blogger Cookie swap! The cookie swap is organized by Lindsay, of Love & Olive Oil, and Julie, of The Little Kitchen and gives food bloggers a chance to swap cookies, share stories and help out. I'm so lucky to be a part of this little food blogging community of ours. 

Cookie Week - Red Velvet Brownies

Cookie week continues! Hopefully the boyfriends coworkers don't get too sick of cookies. I've been sending him to work with lots and lots of them. Well, most of them, these red velvet brownies didn't leave the house. Call me a sucker for cream cheese frosting, because you couldn't pry these from my hands.

Cookie Week - Almond Spiral Cookies

It's my favorite time of year and the best week to be here at WITK!  It's cookie week! I stocked up on butter, sugar and sprinkles and baked all weekend. When I was younger and still living at home, my mom, brother and I would spend an entire weekend making Christmas cookies. 

There were Russian tea cakes, butterscotch chip cookies, Mexican wedding cakes, cherry thumbprints, black forest drops, iced cut out cookies and so many more. I think we wound up with over a dozen different types of cookies each year. The cookies wound up on trays and dessert plates. They were taken to school and work. Everyone got to share the indulgence and we all wound up a few pounds heavier. 

Since I moved away from home over ten years ago now, I haven't really done a major cookie weekend. Even my mom has pared down her cookie baking because she retired last year. This year I decided to do a cookie baking weekend with the boyfriend and send all the treats to work with him!

Today we're starting off with a take on my classic almond sugar cookie. I went with a simple green and white color scheme because I had green sugar crystals in my pantry. Yeah, I'm real creative. Stay tuned all week for more cookies. So many cookies!

One Year Ago: Acorn Squash & Sausage Bake
Two Years Ago: Thai Chicken Curry
Three Years Ago: Dark Chocolate Hearts

Almond Spiral Cookies

A Wilde Original

1 stick butter, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup almond flour
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
Green food coloring
1/4 cup green sanding sugar

In a large bowl, beat together butter, powdered sugar and salt until smooth.  Add almond flour and almond extract and beat until combined.  Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the edges.  Add egg and combine.  Finally, add flour slowly until completely mixed.

Scrape half of the batter out of the bowl and onto a large piece of plastic wrap.  Fold over plastic wrap and roll out dough to 1/8-inch thickness, about 6x10 inches.  Transfer to a baking sheet and chill dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.  To the remaining dough, add enough green food coloring to achieve your desired color. Mix until evenly colored. Scrape batter out of the bowl and onto a large piece of plastic wrap and roll out to 1/8-inch thickness, about the same size as the white dough. Place in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Remove dough from the fridge and peel back plastic from the top of each piece of dough. Flip one piece onto the top of the other, gently press together.  Allow dough to warm slightly, until you can bend the dough.  Peel the top piece of plastic wrap from the dough.  Using the bottom piece of plastic wrap, begin rolling the dough into a 10-inch long cigar.  Be sure to press the dough together as you roll to make sure you have no gaps in the spiral.  Wrap the dough log in the plastic wrap and pop it in the fridge for another 30 minutes.

Pour green sanding sugar onto a flat plate.  Remove dough log from the fridge and roll in sugar crystals, gently press into the dough. Re-wrap in the plastic wrap and place in the freezer for 30 minutes.  Once dough is solid, remove from the freezer and slice into 1/4-inch medallions.  Place on a parchment (or silpat) lined baking sheet and place in the fridge until the oven is heated.

Preheat oven to 350 F and bake cookies for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet on a wire rack.

Cranberry-Orange Mallomars

Happy Thanksgiving week! I'm so ready for the holiday season. During my unemployed hours I've been preparing lots and lots of recipes for you! I'm most excited to share this first cookie recipe of the season with you. This cranberry-orange mallomar is sweet and tart and tastes just like christmas!

Dulce de Leche Cookies

Has fall made an appearance in your neighborhood?  I stepped outside yesterday for my morning run and was shocked by the chill in the air.  It took me about a mile before I wasn't huddled inside of my hoodie.

Nutella Sandwich Cookies

First, don't forget to enter to win my Fall picnic giveaway!  I'm raffling off a handmade picnic blanket made by my very talented mom!

I can't believe how long I've been holding onto this recipe.  Especially since it has basically six ingredients and they are things that I always have in my pantry.  ALWAYS.

Cookie Dough-Stuffed French Toast

While I have gotten bored with most of the things the unemployment bring, there is one thing I think I'll never tire of.  Breakfast for lunch.

Faux Fudge Rounds

This past weekend I was discussing the good old days of back to school with boyfriend and his parents (aka - the in laws).  We all came to the conclusion that I'm a big huge nerd and nobody likes me.  Why?  Because I loved, LOVED, going back to school in September.

Cookie Dough Layer Cake

Happy Birthday Boyfriend!

Peach Melba Linzer Bars

I am totally in love with these bars.  

I've never made a Linzer bar before, but I will definitely be making them again.  They are so stinkin' good!  The reason why they are so delicious?  Toasted hazelnuts.  Amazing.

These bars were a lot of work to make.  Between roasting and skinning the hazelnuts, preparing the dough and rolling out and filling the pastry, it probably took half the day to complete this dessert.  It was so worth it.  I refused to share any of these bars with anyone else.  So. Good.

The major delicious part of this dessert is the hazelnut dough.  You can totally fill the pastry with your favorite jam.  I went with a combination of raspberry and peach, a little take on the peach melba.  Since this treat is filled with jam, rather than fresh fruit, you can make it at any time of the year.  I plan on making it again in the winter, with jam made from this summers farmers market fruits.

Nutella Thumbprints

I'm starving!  Seriously.  I'm only a few hours from my wisdom tooth extraction and I'm not allowed to have anything to eat within six hours of the surgery.  Since my appointment is at 1:00, that means I either had to wake up at 5:00am and have breakfast, or I hold out until after I regain sanity tonight.  I opted to sleep in until 7:00, so I'm going to be no fun to be around today.

These cookies are sitting on the counter in my kitchen, taunting me with their delicious combination of crumbly cookie and crunchy nut coating.  Why didn't I eat more of these yesterday?

See you all on Thursday, when I will be four teeth shorter!

Wilde Week #20

1. Did you stop by this week and have some cake?  WITK celebrated it's third birthday this year and we feasted on Milky Way Cake!  So good.

2. I finally made it to NY Cake & Bake this week and I was in sprinkle heaven!  I had to hold myself back from buying the entire aisle.  I want a rainbow of sanding sugars in my pantry and sprinkles for each holiday.

3. Did you know that J Crew only puts things on sale once they run out of my size?  I desperately wanted these seahorse shorts, it just wasn't in the cards.

4. If you were wondering, I totally bought the flowered jeans from last week!  I'm wearing them right now as I write this post.  They make me very happy, especially since they were 50% off, plus another 50% off.

5. Heading to NYC?  Want delicious brunch?  Go to Tartine in the West Village.  I went there with a friend this week and they make an amazing (and huge) apple pancake.

6. It's summertime in NYC and that means the Union Square Greenmarket is full of local eats.  While I was tempted by the bright snapdragons and bunches of sweet pea blossoms, I went home with a basket full of Santa Rosa plums.  I didn't bake them into anything, I just ate them.  What can't you resist putting in your basket when you head to the farmers market?

7. Any other thirty somethings having a great summer watching Pretty Little Liars?  Total guilty pleasure TV.

8. I posted these blackberry rice krispy treats on facebook yesterday and promised you a recipe.  Guess what, it's so simple!  Just use this...  Blackberry Flavor Fountain (from LorAnn Oils!).  They have a whole bunch of different flavors - bubble gum, cake batter, mango.  I got mine at a local specialty store, but you can totally order the syrup from their website or Amazon.

Black Raspberry Rice Krispy Treats

3 tablespoons butter

1 - 10 ounce package marshmallows

6 cups Rice Krispy Cereal

1 tablespoon Black raspberry flavoring

Lightly coat a 9x13-inch pan in cooking spray.  Wipe out the excess with a paper towel.

In a large pot, melt butter over low heat.  Add marshmallows and stir to coat in butter.  Stirring occasionally, let marshmallows melt completely.  Add black raspberry flavoring and stir until combined.  Add cereal and stir to coat.  Pour into the prepared pan and press into an even layer.  Let sit for at least an hour before cutting into squares.

Wilde Away

What does someone do when they've been laid off?  They go on vacation!  No wait, that doesn't seem like the normal thing to do.  Nonetheless, boyfriend and I are not in country right now, we are in Morocco!  In a way it's a good time to go on vacation.  It gets the mind off of the fact that I don't have anywhere to go in the morning.

Boyfriend and I are currently in the Sahara desert, riding camels around.  We got to spend the night in a Berber camp in the desert, where I saw the stars for the first time in a long time.  We have spent the past few days in Marrakech and will be moving on to Agadir tomorrow morning, where we will learn how to surf!  I'm very excited and totally frightened for my life.  The ocean is scary and I'm hoping we're surfing little baby waves.  On giant surf boards.  While wearing floaties.

Until I come back, enjoy these uh-mazing strawberry bars.  I made them just before we left, you know, in all my unemployed free time.  I really enjoyed them hot with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.  For breakfast.  Don't judge.

Disclaimer: OXO was nice enough to send me some fun fruit-related products as a part of their blogger outreach program, including the strawberry huller you see in the first image.  I used the huller to remove the hulls of the strawberries.  You can use a paring knife just as well, I like tools.