Italian Butter Cookies

As long as I can remember I have had a love for these cookies. It's truly closer to an obsession. Like I could eat a lot of them. Especially the chocolate dipped shells and the sandwich ones! When I was little, my Dad took me to this adorable bakery every Sunday after church and let me get four cookies of my choosing. And every week I got some variation of these cookies! It was my special father-daughter date time with Daddy. We would drive home from church while I munched on the cookies and I would just yap on and on about life while my dad just listened. It's still one of my all time favorite memories. The bakery closed many years ago and last month it was knocked down. But even now when I drive by all I think about is driving home from church with my Dad and my cookies.

So after years of searching and trying out recipes, I found a fantastic recipe which is as close as possible to the cookies from this bakery. They are simple butter cookies that start with an almond paste base. You can find them at almost any bakery in NJ or NY, but I have never mastered them myself until recently. And I have the approval of one of my best friends, who is also addicted to these cookies, and  from everyone at the bridal shower of a close friend, so they were a total hit!

The real difference I learned with other recipes and attempts was whether to use butter or shortening. It ends up the recipe I found uses both, butter and shortening, as well as almond paste to make a great mixture of flavor and texture. This cookie is both crumbly but not too dry and just melts in your mouth. Hope you love these as much as I do!

For this month's What's Baking challenge, Nicole, from Seven ate Nine, choose Italian theme and I was thrilled! Being fully Italian and growing up cooking, eating, and loving all things Italian, this is my favorite challenge yet. So I am here to share the best Italian butter cookie recipe I have found! Mangia!



1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup plus 2 tbsp confectioners' sugar (sifted)
4 egg whites
3 oz almond paste
pinch of salt
1 tsp almond extract
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder (optional)

Optional toppings and decorations:
1 cup bittersweet chocolate, chopped and 1/3 cup heavy cream (for making ganache)
sprinkles
maraschino cherries, drained and cut in half
jams

1. In a mixer with paddle attachment, beat just the almond paste on medium high until it becomes soft. (Wish I had the homemade kind, but I just used the canned one) Then add the butter and shortening and continue to cream them all together. *It is important that the butter is room temp

2. Add in the confectioners' sugar while mixing on medium to incorporate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

3. Continue by adding in egg whites and extracts slowly and keep mixing on medium. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

4.  Sift in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) together in the mixer until blended in and stop. If you would like all or part of your dough to be chocolate, add in cocoa powder. I made half of mine chocolate and kept half vanilla.

5. Fit pastry bag with a large star tip and fill with dough. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Begin to pipe star, shells,  or fingers. Try to keep your baking sheets with similar shapes to not alter cooking time, because the thicker and bigger cookies will of course bake slightly longer.
*If making star/rosette shapes cookies, you can add a maraschino cherry to the center of each cookie or cover with sprinkles.

6. Bake cookies in 350 degree oven for 12-15 minutes. Remove from sheets and let completely cool on drying racks.

7. Now onto decorating, the fun part! For the star/rosette cookies they were decorated before baking with sprinkles or a cherry. The fingers are traditionally done with either jam or chocolate ganache filling, but feel free to experiment with your own ideas. I used a raspberry preserve in a ziploc bag with a small cut on the tip to fill the vanilla fingers. Just squeeze the jam in the middle of the flat side of the cookie and then place another flat side down on top to make a sandwich. For the chocolate fingers, I used chocolate ganache. It is made my simply heating whipping cream in microwave for approx. 2-3 minutes until hot then pouring over chopped chocolate. Allow it to sit for 4 minutes then stir until smooth and thick. Using a spoon, I spread the ganache in the middle of the finger cookie and top some of the vanilla finger cookies. The shells are simply dipped in the remaining ganache and then sprinkled. Allow all the cookies with ganache to set fully.

My favorites were the vanilla shells with ganache and sprinkles, vanilla fingers with raspberry jam, chocolate fingers
with chocolate ganache, and chocolate rosettes with maraschino cherries. Enjoy! What are your favorite kinds! If you make a variation of this recipe or try new shapes and toppings, please share them! I love to see new inventions of old favorites. My next project, might be cream cheese (cheesecake like) filling.



Source: Woodland Bakery in Chatham, NJ's website

What's Baking Round-up ~ Bake From Your Heritage

I had the honor of hosting this month's What's Baking Challenge. While trying to choose a theme for the month of March, I thought about what I most frequently blog. I mostly cook and bake dishes that my mother and grandmothers did. So very much of my kitchen experience stems from my family. Environment and genetics both help shape a person to be who they are, and family, as well as heritage, are part of both. All the memories and fun in the kitchen, for me, are almost always shared with my mom. My family is a great part of who I am so I thought, what better challenge than to bake a dish that represents your family and your heritage. So for March, everyone was asked to Bake from their own Heritage. I hope everyone enjoyed sharing little bits of their own history through their recipes here!

Sicilian Cassata Cake

Melissa, from I Was Born To Cook, shared her Sicilian cake, spongy layers filled with cannoli cream

Ostaka

Ammie, from Adventures in my Kitchen, showed off her traditional Swedish cheesecake topped with lingonberry berry preserves

Joe Frogger Cookies

Catherine, from Pursuing Domestic Goddessness, shared crispy cookies from her New England heritage

Reuben Sandwiches

Jade, from The Mess Pot, boasted her Irish fare of glazed corned beef brisket

Sandbakkels

Carrie, from Carrie's Sweet Life, flaunts her Scandinavian confections, filled shortbread cookies

Streuselkuchen

Lindsey, from Our Share of the Harvest, shared a moist, German cake with a nut and sugar crumble topping

Traditional Tourtière

Jill, from JBean Cuisine, exhibts her love for French-Canadian foods with these cute and savory meat pies

Babovka

Heather, from Hezzi-D's Books and Cooks, baked her chocolate and vanilla Slovak pound cake sprinkled with powdered sugar

Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins

Yudith, from Blissfully Delicious, made her Indonesian-style muffins with chocolate chips

Irish Brown Bread

Cara, from The Boys Made Me Do It, shared a traditional and hearty Irish bread.

Anginettes

I made these cookies to celebrate my Italian heritage, a dense cookie with a lemon glaze

Be sure to check April's What's Baking Challenge-Spring Baking hosted by Leanne, from The Martin Family. You can use some light, fruity desserts or tap into the colors of sping! Thanks to everyone who participated! All of your entries look fantastic!

Anginettes

To really know oneself, I feel it's important to know where you came from. Being Italian is as much a part of my past heritage as it is a part of my current lifestyle. Many of the foods I make are Italian because that's the food I grew up learning to cook. I'm proud of my heritage and hope to pass on our family traditions and recipes, along with our love of food, family, and values. It's crucial for younger generations to carry on these traditions and appreciate for culture. So for this month's What's Baking challenge, I choose to Bake from Your Heritage.

There are certain foods that are very always made by my family, because they are recipes passed own through generations. This is one of them. These cookies, anginettes, were made by my Great Aunt Matt long before I was born. They're present at every family party and get-together I can remember. Some relatives in our family have a particular dish that is "their' thing". This was Aunt Matt's cookie. My grandmother has a particular cookie that is hers too, however it's not baked so we'll save that for some other time. Enjoy this favorite Italian cookie, from my home to yours!

Anginettes (Italian Cookies with Lemon Glaze)

2 1/2 pounds flour
1 tbsp baking soda
5 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cup sugar, plus 1 tsp
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
6 eggs, beaten
1 cup whole milk
3/4 cup crisco



1. In a large bow, mix together the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the sugar, vanilla, eggs, and Crisco.

3. Alternately add dry ingredients and milk a little bit each time until batter is smooth and not sticky.

4. Roll dough into 1" balls and drop on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about an inch apart.

5. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 10-15 minutes. Place tray on bottom rack of oven then halfway through baking rotate to top rack and replace with a new filled cookie sheet.

6. Cookies are done when slightly golden brown. Set aside to cool while making lemon glaze.

*Yields about 7-8 dozen one inch round cookies*



Lemon Glaze

3 1/2 -4 lbs confectionery sugar
juice of 5-6 lemons
a few tbsp cold water
sprinkles/nonpareils

1. Mix together the sugar and lemon juice.

2. Add a few drops of cold water, little bits at a time, until the icing is thick an has no lumps.

3. Dip cookies upside down in glaze to coat the cookie tops and place on wax paper to dry.

4. Add sprinkles before the glaze hardens. Enjoy!!

Stay tuned for the full What's Baking Round-up in the next few days!

Stuffed Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

These cupcakes were simply delightful! They were were a perfect flavor combo! For this month's What's Baking challenge, hosted by Dunne from With a Cherry on Top, we were asked to share something Baked with Love. February is one of my favorite months. Not only is it Valentine's Day, but it's also our anniversary! I first made these cupcakes for one of my best friends, Stephanie's birthday, last year and then again for our anniversary recently. I loved the recipe both times I made it and I'll be sure to find another excuse to make them in the future.




Cupcakes:
2 1/2 cup cake flour
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs, room temp
1 1/2 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp gel food color, approx. (Wilton Red)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp white distilled vinegar

Filling:
10 oz cream cheese
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp lemon juice

Frosting:
12 oz cream cheese
12 oz butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 cup confectioner's sugar


(Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes)

1. In a medium bowl, sift together all of the dry ingredients for the cupcakes: flour, sugar, baking soda, cocoa, and salt. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs, oil, buttermilk, food coloring, vanilla, and vinegar until smooth.

3. Slowly add in the dry mix and blend for a minute or two until fully incorporated.

4. Fill cupcake pan with liners about 2/3 full. Bake on 350 for 20-22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcake comes out clean. Remove from pans and let fully cool.

5. While the cupcakes are cooling, prepare your filling and frosting. In a mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and cinnamon just until well blended. Spoon filling into a pastry bag with no tip, just a coupler or a large round tip and set in refrigerator.

6. Now for the frosting, start by beating the butter, cream cheese, and vanilla together. Add the sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy. Fill another pastry bag with the frosting using any tip you desire to decorate your cupcakes; I used a Wilton star tip. Store in refrigerator until ready. Both the frosting and the filling can be made in advance to save time, just twist the tops of your pastry bags so they are closed.

8. Once the cupcakes are cooled, it's time to make a hole for the filling. Using a small paring knife, cut a cone shaped piece of cake from the top center of the cupcake. Be sure to cut only partially into the cupcake and not all the way down to the bottom. Discard the cones or eat them while you decorate.

9. Using your pastry bag with filling, begin to squeeze filling into each cupcake's cavity just until it reaches the top.

10. Take your other pastry bag full of frosting and begin to ice the cupcakes by making concentric circles starting on the outer edge and working your way inward and up. These cupcakes are best stored in the refrigerator until it's time for your event. Hope you enjoy your cupcakes!

Source: Apple a Day, another great foodie blog

Hello, 2011! I resolve to....

As a new year comes and an old one goes, it's time to look forward to what will be in 2011. The age-old tradition of making resolutions coincides with the changing of years. In fitting with this tradition, I'd like to make a New Year's resolution to try to cook/bake new things in the kitchen. This year I will be turning 25, a quarter of a century old! And for my resolution/bucket list of 2011, I will be making a 25 by 25 Bucketlist Challenge. Time to get started on building my cooking repertoire.

1. Creative Homemade Pasta (ravioli, tortellini, trottole)
2. Sfogliatelle and Lobster Tails
3. Cannoli
4. Rustic Semolina Bread
5. Chocolate Torte
6. How to properly temper chocolate
7. Homemade chewy caramels
8. Spumoni Ice Cream (at request of Hubby)
9. Biscuits
10. Cinnamon Rolls
11. 3 Tier decorated cake
12. Soft Pretzels
13. Potato Gnocchi
14. Sweet and Sour Chicken
15. Bagels
16. Napoleons
17. S'Mores Milkshake
18. Tiramisu Cheesecake
19. Herbed Butter
20. Molten Lava Chocolate Cakes
21. Rissoto and Polenta dishes
22. Panna Cotta and Zabaglione
23. Tartufo (attempted once and failed :( must try again)
24. Doughnuts (Fried and Baked)
25. Crostada


Other Goals for 2011:
1. Own a home
2. Continue working with decorating cookies, cakes, etc
3. Spend time with family and friends
4. Improve photography
5. Learn to sew and knit
6. Travel More


These cooking and baking goals are hopefully going to be accomplished by my 25th birthday! If not, at least during my 25th year... Here's to much learning and new challenges in the new year!

Here's a free printable year calendar for 2011 to help organize you in the upcoming year. Courtesy of Julia's Poppies Design