Rosemary Shortbread Cookies

So, newsflash muffins.  Us gals, we like a tricked out cookie. 

You know, like one with pretzels, or with peanut butter cups, or bacon.

That old adage “less is more?”  Yeah we kinda don’t subscribe to that when it comes to cookies.  As a very smart friend once pointed out, more is technically more.  Wiser words were never spoken.

So imagine our surprise when we fell in love with such a simple little cookie.  We recently attended our lovely and gorgeous friend’s equally lovely and gorgeous wedding where these unassuming little butter cookies were placed in each welcome bag (sidebar – we REALLY appreciate welcome bags).  

Aside from fitting with the rustic chic theme of the fabulous reception, these crunchy little cookies had us completely smitten.

Us!!  The more is more girls!  A delectable herb laced shortbread!?  We know.  WE KNOW.  We were as shocked as you are.

Plus, this recipe yields cookies a plenty (more! wahoo!).

So while we’re certainly not ready to give up our more is more lifestyle, we certainly will admit that there is a time and a place for less.  Even in cookies.

Rosemary Shortbread Cookies
Makes 50-60 cookies
Adapted from Martha Stewart

Print Recipe

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon rosemary, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg white, beaten
1/2 cup Demerara sugar, sanding sugar or cornmeal

Put butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and blend for a few minutes on medium speed until pale and fluffy.  Mix in whole egg and vanilla extract and stir to combine.  Reduce speed to low and add flour, rosemary, and salt and mix until combined.

Divide the dough in half and shape each half into a log about 1.5 inches in diameter.  Place each log on a large rectangle sheet of parchment and roll up, twisting ends to secure.  Freeze until firm, about 1 hour – or – if you’re making the dough ahead of time, place in the fridge for up to 1 day.

Preheat oven to 375 F.  Unroll each half of dough and brush each log with beaten egg white.  Sprinkle all sides of the roll with Demerara sugar, sanding sugar or cornmeal.  Using a sharp knife, slice into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Space each cookie 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with a silicone mat or parchment.  Bake until edges are golden, about 18 minutes.  Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Store in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Cinnamon Ice Cream

Brace yourself. This might shock you, but we are TERRIBLE at keeping secrets. Whoops. Our bad.

It's just that if something is supposed to be a secret then it's definitely going to be super cool and definitely something we want to tell the world. Like when we broke the news that Tom Wolfe was the surprise guest speaker at graduation. Or when we told Baby Bro how "Labyrinth" ends. Ugh, that was the worst. But, we can't help it. We just get so excited!!!

So you know it's a good secret when we do decide to stay mum. Just sayin'. Lips sealed. Tightly. Ate key. And used super glue.

But we can tell you about our amazing cinnamon ice cream experiment. 

Seriously, cookies, if you haven't made slash mastered ice cream yet you need to get on it. Because once you have the base, you can make SO many different kinds. Cookies and Cream. Ginger. Strawberry. Flank steak. No. Don't make flank steak. Or do. The ice cream world is your oyster once you have the basics down. 

And people are SO impressed by ice cream. They're all "WHAT? YOU MADE ICE CREAM? WHAT?" when the joke's on them because basically it's custard you pour into a machine and freeze. Easy as pie, or rather, easy as ice cream.

The kicker of course is that it tastes divine. Which is NOT a secret.

Cinnamon Ice Cream
Makes 1 quart
Adapted from Gale Gand

Print Recipe

2 cups whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
1 cinnamon stick
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
9 egg yolks
3/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/4 cup cinnamon chips (optional)

Combine milk and cream, vanilla bean, cinnamon stick and ground cinnamon in a medium saucepan and heat until very hot but not boiling. Remove from the heat. 

Mix the sugar and egg yolks in a large bowl. Slowly add some of the warmed cream mixture to the sugar and egg yolks whisking briskly to temper the eggs. Gradually add the remaining cream mixture, whisking until all combined. Return the new cream and egg mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens (but does NOT scramble the eggs) and the back of the spoon is coated. It will resemble a very thin milk shake and take 3-5 minutes. Pour the custard into a clean bowl through a seive to get out the vanilla bean, cinnamon stick and any potentially cooked egg-y bits. Cover tightly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight. 

Finally, pour the cooled custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according the manufacturer's instructions, adding the cinnamon chips if you chose towards the end of the cycle. 

Raisin Almond Butter Bread

Hey hey cookies!  Look at that – it’s Wednesday night!  We made it through the mid week slump.  Give yourself a pat on the back.  That was hard…touch and go even…but what’s that right around the corner?     

Thursday!  And we all know Thursday is basically Friday.  You know, because once it’s Friday people just kinda check out and countdown til the full on weekend.  Not US of course, no no, we stay focused, head in the game, nose to the grindstone right through Friday evening.  But some people…we hear…you know…don’t. 

And what can we thank for getting us more than halfway through the work week?  Carbs!  Yes you know carbs, like for energy!  And endurance. 

You know, for all that focusing we’ve been doing.  Er, we mean, will continue to do right the way through Friday.

 

Ok, so maaaaybe our focus will wean ever so slightly, but that just means we’ll have to eat some more delicious, almond butter-y bread (slathered with extra almond butter of course for all those good, helpful fats of course).

Sigh.  Friday doesn’t seem so far away… 

Raisin Almond Butter Bread
Makes 1 loaf
Adapted from My Bread: The Revolutionary No-Work, No-Knead Method

Print Recipe

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons bread flour
2 tablespoons flour
1 1/3 cups golden raisins
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon instant or other active dry yeast
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons cool water
3 tablespoons unsalted smooth almond butter
3 tablespoons roughly chopped almonds
Additional flour for dusting

In a medium bowl, stir together the flours, raisins, salt, and yeast.  Blend the water and almond butter in a blender.  Add to the flour mixture and, using a wooden spoon or your hand, mix until you have a wet, sticky dough without any lumps.  Cover the bowl and let sit at room temperature until the surface is dotted with bubbles and the dough is more than doubled in size, 12 to 18 hours (we let ours go for the full 18 hours).

When the first rise is complete, generously dust a work surface with flour.  Use a rubber spatula to scrape the dough out of the bowl in one piece.  Using lightly floured hands or a bowl scraper, lift the edges of the dough in toward the center.  Nudge and tuck in the edges of the dough to make it round.

Place a tea towel on your work surface and dust it with flour and 2 tablespoons of the chopped almonds.  Gently place the dough on the almonds, seam side down.  Sprinkle the top of the dough with the remaining chopped almonds and a light dusting of flour.  Fold the ends of the tea towel loosely over the dough to cover it and place it in a warm, draft-free spot to rise for 1 to 2 hours.  The dough is ready when it is almost doubled.  If you gently poke it with your finger, it should hold the impression.  If it springs back, let it rise for another 15 minutes.

Half an hour before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 475 F, with a rack in the lower third, and place a covered 4 1/2 to 5 1/2-quart heavy pot in the center of the rack.

Using pot holders, carefully remove the preheated pot from the oven and uncover it.  Unfold the tea towel and quickly but gently invert the dough into the pot, seam side up. Cover the pot and bake for 45 minutes.

If bread is dark golden after 45 minutes, remove from oven.  If not, remove the lid and continue baking until the bread is a deep chestnut color but not burnt, about 10 minutes more.  Use a heatproof spatula or pot holders to carefully lift the bread out of the pot and place it on a rack to cool thoroughly.

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cups

Wait, seriously?  Seriously?!  No.  SERIOUSLY??

How...how...HOW have we not posted homemade peanut butter cups yet?!

Wait.  We feel like we need to apologize to you.  We feel like we've been bad baking bloggers. 

It's not like we don't make candy.  Like a lot.  Peppermint patties, Fererro Rocher truffles, Almond Joys, caramels, barks, brittles!  We make candy!

And yet, we haven't made peanut butter cups!?

Well that changes right now. 

We made you peanut butter cups.  Crunchy ones.  With a salty chocolate top.

Hopefully you'll forgive us...

Crunchy Peanut Butter Cups
Makes 8

Print Recipe

1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk
Sea salt

Line a  muffin tin with papers (you could also use a mini muffin tin if you prefer).

In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter & peanut butter together for 45 seconds.  Stir until smooth.  Add graham cracker crumbs and sugar and mix to combine.  Distribute mixture evenly between the prepared muffin cups.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes to set peanut butter layer.

After the peanut butter has chilled, combine chocolate and milk in a microwave safe bowl and heat in 25 second intervals until chocolate is just melted.  Stir until smooth.  Distribute chocolate evenly over the top of the peanut butter layer.  Sprinkle with sea salt and chill until firm, at least 30 minutes.  Store covered in the fridge.

Blackberry, Lemon & Thyme Muffins

So, most of the time we're sweats (fancy sweats, we mean) and ponytail girls. We eat mac n' cheese, the occasional burrito from Chipotle and drink beer. We like diners and hot dogs. We're happy to have chocolate cookies for dessert. That's our philosophy after all, baking doesn't have to be hard or scary. We're low maintenance, you know?

(Cue the boyfriend/husband's collective eye roll and complete disbelief).

But sometimes we like to get glam. Put on our sequins and jewels (though we prefer the word 'bling') and the highest heels we have (and then take cabs because our feet hurt) and go all out spendy at a chic restaurant. We order the second cheapest bottle of wine, instead of the very cheapest. We have appetizers AND the weird bombe dessert (whatever a bombe is). Fun times. 

And then other times, we want to get dressed up and fancified but really we also just want pizza or french fries or cheeseburgers. We don't care about the stares. We don't care about wearing 6" heels and diamonds (fake but LARGE) at Cleary's in Boston or the Knickerbocker in New York. We just want our burgers and we want to look good eating them. Leave us alone. Let us be. We're HUNGRY.

That's what these muffins are. Fancy and sophisticated (thyme, oooooo) but still just delicious muffins. 

PS- We adjusted the crumb topping from the recipe we baked so your muffins will look slightly different from our pics. But trust us, they will be AMAZING.

Blackberry, Lemon & Thyme Muffins
Makes 18 Muffins
Adapted from Bon Appetit

Print Recipe

For the Crumble:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour 
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold

For the Muffins:
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1 1/2 cups fresh (or frozen, thawed, drained) blackberries (about 1/2 pint)
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme

First, make the topping. Combine all crumble dry ingredients and then cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs using your hands. Chill for at least 1 hour. DO AHEAD: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and keep chilled.

To make the muffins; preheat oven to 325° Fahrenheit.  Line standard 12-muffin tin with paper liners. In a medium bowl, whisk 1 cup all-purpose flour and next 4 ingredients. Set aside. Using an electric mixer, beat butter until pale and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and continue to beat until well incorporated, 2-3 minutes longer. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Continue beating until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the buttermilk and lemon zest, gradually beating into the butter mixture. Finally, add the dry ingredients and beat until just blended (do not overmix).

Toss blackberries and thyme with 2 tablespoons flour in another small bowl; fold into batter, gently crushing berries slightly to release some juices. Divide the batter between prepared muffin pans (remember the recipe makes 18 so you will have to make another batch, we filled the muffin holes about 3/4 full). Top each muffin with 1-2 rounded tablespoons of crumble.

Bake until tops are golden brown and a tester comes out mostly clean when inserted in the center, about 30-40 minutes for standard-size muffins. Let cool in pan at least 20 minutes, then transfer muffins to a wire rack to cool. Serve warm or at room temperature.