Chocolate Chunk Coconut Peant Butter Cookies

Chocolate Chunk Coconut Peanut Butter Cookies

Source: Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies (Random House, 1995 ed.), pg. 136.

Lots of raves for these cookies. I shared them with a committee group and the remainder with some friends. The cookies are crisp and I normally prefer a soft cookie. These are actually a mixture of crisp and soft. I used chocolate chips that I had left over in the cabinet. Maida Heatter says that they are fine but if you use higher quality chocolate, they are even better. I will have to try that next time.

I have no idea what the 1 tablespoon of sour cream does. I thought that was odd but I guess it keeps them from being too dry?

No need to question the ingredients though because these are the bomb!

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate (chopped) (Chips are fine)

1 cup salted peanuts

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups sifted unbleached flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

4 oz. (1 stick) unsalted butter (softened)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter

1 TBS. sour cream

1/2 cup packed dark or light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 packed cup shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325. Line cookie sheets with either parchment or foil.

Pulse the peanuts and the sugar in a food processor about 5 or 6 times until the nuts are in large pieces.

Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

In a mixer, beat the butter and add the vanilla, peanut butter and sour cream. Add the brown sugar and the egg. Add the sifted flour mixture and beat on low speed.

Remove from the mixer and add the peanut mixture, chocolate and coconut. Mix well.

Form the dough into balls. I use a scoop to make it easier. You can use your hands but you will need to wet them often. After forming the balls and placing them about 2" apart on the cookie sheet, use a fork to press them into 1/2" thickness (the fork will need to be wet to avoid sticking).

Bake about 12 minutes (reverse the pans about half-way during baking if you are using two). The cookies are done when they are lightly browned  but the tops will still be soft. They will crisp up when they have cooled. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container.

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Loaf Cake

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Loaf Cake 

Source: Maida Heatter's Book of Great Chocolate Desserts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 2006 ed.), pg. 94.

I spent part of this blustery, snow-showered Sunday baking this for my neighbor who has a birthday tomorrow. This is very similar to a pound cake and is very fine grained. Like most loaf cakes I have tried, it is easy to make and there is nothing unusual about it.

About the baking time - Maida says that it is very long - about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Knowing about her baking times in advance, I questioned this and started checking the cake after one hour. Sure enough, it was done in about 1 hour and 10 minutes. The cake will crack along the top (she says that is expected) so don't be alarmed by that. The cake slices beautifully (not crumbly at all) and tastes wonderful. It is great with milk, tea or coffee.

2 cups sifted all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate

4 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

8 oz. unsalted butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup sugar

5 large eggs, separated

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Butter an 8-cup capacity loaf pan and dust with fine bread crumbs.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside.

Melt both chocolates together in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Set aside to cool slightly.

Cream the butter. Add the vanilla extract and then 1 cup of the sugar (reserving 1/4 cup). Mix thoroughly. Add the egg yolks one at at a time, mixing well. Add the melted chocolate and blend well. On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture, beating until well mixed (scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure it is all incorporated).

In a separate mixer bowl, whip the egg whites until they hold a soft peak. Continue to mix, adding the 1/4 cup of sugar, until a firm peaks are achieved.

Now fold the egg whites into the batter. The batter is very thick so this is a bit awkward at first. Use a wooden spoon to begin and add about 1/3 of the egg whites. When this portion is folded in, add another third and continue. The batter will begin to get lighter. You can use a plastic spatula to add the last of the egg whites. Fold in until the egg whites disappear.

Place the batter into the pan and smooth the top.

Bake until a cake tester comes out dry. Baking times depend on the size of the pan you are using. (The cake baked in 1 hour and 12 minutes for me). Let the cake cool for 15 minutes before carefully removing it. Place it on a cooling rack to cool thoroughly.

After completely cooled, wrap in plastic wrap and let it sit overnight before serving.

Apricot and Walnut Applesauce Cake

Apricot and Walnut Applesauce Cake 

Source: Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.), pg. 100.

I have been wanting to make an applesauce cake for some time now because I had a huge, unopened jar in the refrigerator. Applesauce is something I usually keep on hand because I often use it to replace oil in baking recipes. It is also good for snacking.

Maida has several applesauce cake recipes (I was very tempted by the Chocolate Applesauce Cake in her chocolate book and may try that one next). I chose this one because I had walnuts and apricots that I also needed to use.

This is a very simple cake to make. I love making loaf cakes! Be sure to use a large loaf pan. She recommended one that measures 10.5" x 4.5" x 3". The closest I had was 9" x 5" x 2" and it was fine. The cake is very moist and packed with crisp walnuts and apricots. The cloves give it a holiday-ish flavor and I think this would be a nice Christmas dessert but I would make this anytime.

Keep an eye on it while baking. As with many of her recipes, her baking time of 1 hr., 25-35 minutes would have been too much. Mine was done in 1 hr., 15 minutes.

6 oz. dried apricots

6 oz. (1 1/2 cups) chopped walnuts

2 cups sifted unbleached flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/4 baking powder

1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. ground cloves

1/2 tsp. salt

4 oz. unsalted butter (softened)

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 cups unsweetened applesauce

Preheat oven to 350.

Butter a loaf pan with a 9-cup capacity. Dust with fine bread crumbs.

Cut the apricots into small pieces (about 1/4 inch wide).

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, cloves and salt.

Add 2 or 3 tablespoons of the flour mixture to the apricots and mix with your fingers. Add the walnuts and toss again to coat all the nuts and fruit.

Beat the butter until soft. Add the vanilla and sugar, beating until mixed. Beat in the eggs one at a time. On low speed, add 1/3 of the flour mixture. Add all of the applesauce and then the remaining flour mixture. Beat only until completely mixed. Stir in the apricot and walnut mixture.

Turn into the pan and smooth the top.

Bake 1 hour and 15 minutes or longer, until a tester comes out smooth. (Maida says 1 hour, 25-30 minutes but this would have been way too much in my oven)

Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove carefully and let the cake completely cool before wrapping in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours or overnight before slicing. The cake can be served at room temperature or cold.

Moravian Wafers

Moravian Wafers

Source: Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies (Random House, 1995 ed.), pg. 163.

I remember as a child, I was never enthused with Moravian Wafer cookies but after I would have one (I would not pass up anything related to dessert), I could not stop eating them. I only remember the round ones that came in small tins or cellophane. You don't have to worry about these wafers being perfectly shaped. I was concerned about getting them thin enough. Maida Heatter suggests using a ruler and cutting at every 1/8 inch mark. I just used a long, thin-blade knife and estimated the cuts. Some turned out too thick (although that certainly does not affect the taste of the cookies) but most of them were just right.

The wafers are supposed to be hard and crisp. My first batch were a little soft, even after cooling, so I baked the second batch a few minutes longer. That did make them firmer but they were still somewhat soft. Nevertheless, they are very good and excellent with a cup of coffee!

The dominant ingredient for these is the molasses. Have you noticed that molasses is difficult to find in stores? I did finally locate it in a large local grocery store but a lot of places simply do not carry it. I used Brer Rabbit Molasses.

2 cups sifted unbleached flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. finely ground white pepper

1/2 tsp. dry mustard powder

1 stick (4 oz.) unsalted butter (softened)

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup mild molasses

1 egg yolk

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, pepper and mustard. Set aside.

Beat the butter until soft. Gradually beat in the sugar. Beat in the molasses and the egg yolk.

On low speed, add the flour mixture and beat until mixed. The dough will be very thick.

Cut a piece of plastic wrap about 18 inches long. Spread it on a work surface and spoon the dough down the middle in a strip about 12 inches long. Lift the two long pieces of the wrap, bring the sides together on top of the dough. Press the dough into a strip 12 inches long, 2 3/4 inches wide and 1 1/4 inch high with squared ends (you don't have to be that precise but just get close to those measurements).

I always keep a ruler in the kitchen for matters like this!

Place the wrapped dough on a cookie sheet or long plate and place it in the freezer. Let it freeze for at least 2 hours or you can leave it and bake the cookies later. I actually waited until the following day to make mine.

When ready to bake, remove the dough from the freezer, unwrap and place it on a large cutting board. Use a long knife with a thin blade and carefully cut into slices about 1/8 inch wide. She recommends using a ruler and cut at every 1/8 inch mark. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or foil.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are lightly colored. If you baking them all at once and using two cookie sheets, rotate them middle ways through baking.

Remove from the oven and let stand for a few minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack with a spatula. Store in an airtight container. These cookies make wonderful Christmas gifts!

Apricot Tart

Apricot Tart
Source: Maida Heatter's Pies & Tarts (Andrews & McMeel Publishing, 1997 ed.), pg. 91.

Okay, so I had major difficulties with the crust portion of this recipe (Rich Flan Pastry) and ended up abandoning it altogether and used my go-to crust recipe which is NOT a Maida Heatter recipe. Confessions aside, this is delicious!

The recipe covers 4 1/2 pages in the book and is a bit daunting. However, a lot of it involves the typical details of a Maida Heatter recipe (being very specific about how to do everything), so after you have done many of these tasks a few times, it becomes old hat.

The filling, divine enough to eat as a breakfast treat, can be made days ahead and refrigerated. I made this three days before baking the tart and stored it in the refrigerator.

Filling

12 ounces dried apricots
2 cups water
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
Optional: 1 TBS. rum, cognac or kirsch (I used kirsch)
Optional: 2 TBS thinly sliced toasted almonds (I did not use) 

Soak the apricots overnight in the water.
Place the soaked apricots and water in a heavy saucepan. Add the sugar and mix.
Over high heat, stir the mixture until it comes to a boil.
Reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Uncover, raise the heat to high again. Stir constantly until the mixture begins to thicken and the apricots fall apart. This will take a while (almost 20 minutes for me). You can also slice the apricots as you do it with your spoon.
Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla and almond extracts and the optional liquor and almonds.

Pastry

I will not go into detail about the Rich Flan Pastry recipe. It was too sticky and fragile for me to use it. I thought it was because she says not to refrigerate it - I find that very odd. So, perhaps I handled the pastry too much. Anyway, here is a great pastry recipe that is not only fool-proof but also very delicious. Sorry Maida!

*2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
* 1 tablespoon sugar
* 12 tablespoons (1.5 sticks) cold unsalted butter, diced
* 1/2 cup ice water

Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Pulse for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter and pulse 10 to 12 times, until the butter is in small bits the size of peas. With the motor running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse just until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. When ready to use, roll out on a floured board. Line a pie pan (or tart pan) with half the dough and set aside the remainder to use as a top crust.

Glaze (applied to top of tart before baking)


Beat together:
1 egg yolk
1 tsp water

Apricot Glaze (applied after baking and tart has cooled)

1/4 cup apricot preserves
2 tsp water

Bring the mixture to a boil and brush over the top of the tart.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 375 and butter a 9 1/2 x 3/4 inch flan ring. Place the flan ring on an ungreased cookie sheet. Adjust your oven racks with the bottom rack one third from the bottom and the second rack in the center of the oven.

Spoon the apricot mixture into the pastry shell. Cover with the other half of the pastry. Pinch the two crusts together around the perimeter with your fingers. Cut off the dough that rises over the top of the pan. Cut some slits along the top of the crust. Apply the glaze with a pastry brush. 

The additional dough can be used for decorative strips or other embellishments (I have a little dough cutter that cuts in the shape of leaves - really cute!)

Bake on the bottom rack for 30 minutes at 375. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 and move the tart to the center rack. Bake an additional 20-30 minutes until the top is browned slightly.

After baking, carefully remove the tart from the flan ring and allow to cool.

Brush with apricot glaze. Serve with vanilla ice cream!