Chocolate Koulouria

The traditional Greek koulouria cookies are just made with white flour, but I figured why not chocolate.  So here is the result and they are delicious dipped in a hot cup of coffee.  Enjoy!
  
Chocolate Koulouria
Preheat oven to 350 degees
Grease 2-3 cookie sheets
Makes a big batch of cookies.   Recipe can be cut in half.

1 pound unsalted butter
3 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. almond extract
rind of one orange grated
10 large eggs, beaten
1 jigger whiskey

Sift all dry ingredients
4 teaspoons baking powder
10 cups flour
2 cups cocoa powder

Glaze:
2 cups powder sugar
1/2 tsp. powder egg white
Add water to get a medium/thin consistency
Chocolate Sprinkles
 
Melt butter and cool.  Beat with sugar until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and almond extract.  Add orange rind.  Beat until incorporated.  Add eggs, whiskey  beat well.  Continue beating until all are blended well.  Add sifted flour/cocoa one cup at a time being careful to blend thoroughly.  Knead well and make a 5 inch rope and twist.  Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees for about 15 minutes.  Cool completely.   Make Glaze in a bowl and mix ingrediets for glaze with a whisk until desired consistency is reached.  Dip top half of cookie in glaze and sprinkle with sprinkles.

Special note:  If dough is too sticky add a little  extra flour just until dough is not sticky and you can roll into ropes and twist.  Be prepared to make extra glaze if needed.

Rainbow Cookies

This recipe was originally posted in my old blog Soap Mom's Kitchen.  I found a copy of it, so here it is.  Unfortunately, some of the pics were damaged.

This is definitely my number one requested cookie by my family and friends for the holidays. This recipe is on my blog for all my nieces and friends to make and enjoy throughout the years.  I must tell you this is a time consuming cookie to make and does require some experience in baking to make them without a hitch. There are a few steps involved and I would consider this an advance cookie to make. Read the assembly instructions a few times to make a mental note on the procedure. Once you master it and are comfortable, I think you will be making it all the time. They are wonderful. Keep them in a sealed container and they will stay fresh for about a week. They also make a wonderful gift.

Special Note: If trying this cookie for the first time you can leave out the almond paste. It takes a little practice to make this cookie. I recommend not using almond paste, because it can be pricey until you are comfortable with this cookie. The almond paste does add another dimension of flavor/moistness and I highly recommend using it. Also, you can substitute apricot jam or do one layer apricot and one layer raspberry.  This recipe is scaled down from a professional baker's recipe. This recipe requires a kitchen scale.

Recipe:

3 silpat lined halfsize sheet pans (Must use silpat this is crucial no parchment)

Food coloring: green, red and yellow

1 Large jar of Raspberry seedless jam

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Food Scale

1 pound unsalted butter, softened (Must be Room Temperature)

1 pound sugar

8 ounces almond paste, not marzipan

(if not using almond paste add 2 teaspoons of almond extract)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 pound eggs (must be room temperature)

1 pound cake flour

I jar of seedless raspberry jam or apricot/must be completely smooth and seedless
Food Colors (red, yellow, green)

Add almond paste to mixer and beat until smooth and creamy. Add butter and sugar beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs slowly to incorporate, mix well. Add extracts.  Add cake flour slowly and beat until very well incorporated.

Divide batter into 3 separate bowls in equal amounts. Add food coloring of different colors to each one. The traditional colors are red, green and yellow. Add enough food coloring to achieve desired color hue.

Pour each color onto a prepared pan lined with a silpat (Must use silpat). Level out with an offset spatula and tap on counter to level out. Bake each cake for about 8 to 12 minutes. When you touch the top with your finger it should be slightly moist and make a slight dent. You do not want to over bake and get a dry cake that would be hard to handle.  This part is tricky and crucial to success. BECAREFUL.  To keep from drying out between baking  each layers, the cake that is cooling should be covered with a tea towel. 

When cakes have cooled, lift one cake that is on silpat and place on a large cutting board covered in parchment or foil slightly bigger than the cake itself for easy lifting to fridge. Peel off the silpat. 

Take your jar of seedless raspberry preserve and pour into a bowl. Smooth out with a wooden-spoon. Place a thin layer of jam on the first layer and level off with a offset spatula.

Lift another cake layer while holding on to the silpat and gently place cake side down on jam layer. Pull off silpat and add another layer of jam. Add the remaining cake layer on top.  

 Over a double boiler on very gentle heat melt 2 large bags of chocolate chips, until smooth.  Be careful not to overheat the chocolate or let steam from the double boiler get into chocolate.  Your chocolate will seize and you will have to throw it out.

Smooth a thin layer of chocolate like picture below, and use a metal pastry comb to make traditional zigzag design.

Ready for the first chocolate layer to go into the fridge to harden. Cake must be on a sturdy board to place into fridge. 

When chocolate on one side is completely cool and completely hard, you must use a second large board covered in parchment or foil (can use a cookie sheet turned upside down instead of a hard board) and flip over like you would a cake to a plate.  Cover that side with melted chocolate and using offset spatula smooth out evenly and use pastry comb doing a zigzag design.  Place in fridge to harden chocolate.

When both sides of the cookie are covered in chocolate and harden, using a very sharp large chef's knife  trim sides and keep for a snack and cut your little rectangles. You can heat the knife under hot water and wipe dry before cutting.  You want to get the cleanest cuts possible.  Keep in a tight sealed container to stay moist and fresh for about a week.

Old Fashion Sugar Shortbreads

I don't know about you, but I love butter cookies.  Actually, I love anything with butter.  You just can't beat the rich smell and taste of butter. These short-breads are as good as it gets when it comes to buttery shortbread cookies.  This recipe is traditional and nothing fancy, but they sure taste fancy.  I love the crunch and texture from the sugar topping. You just need a cup of English Tea.

Old Fashion Sugar Shortbread

Makes about 24 short-breads depending on how big you cut them.

2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup corn starch
1/2 cup sugar, plus extra for sprinkling on top
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

pinch salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 8 x 8 or 9 x 9  inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper.  Make sure you have 2 inches hanging from two sides of the pan, to pull out short-breads once they are completely cool in pan.   

Whisk the flour, corn starch, salt and sugar. Pour in the cooled melted butter and mix with a wooden spoon. Add a little more cornstarch if needed to have a stiff dough, similar to play dough.  Press evenly and firmly into prepared pan. 

Bake for 45 minutes or until the shortbread is golden. Cut immediately into bars while shortbread is hot and sprinkle with lots of extra sugar while they are still hot.  Let cool completely before removing from pan.

Mama's Soft Chewy Chocolate Granola Bars

We love Granola Bars but we love them soft and chewy, not hard and crunchy.  These are fantastic and kid friendly.  Sure you can add dried fruits, seeds, nuts and use plain rice cereal, but we love everything chocolate in this household so we do it our way.  Your kids and family will love them.  I make a batch every week, they are great for breakfast, a snack on the go and wonderful as pick me up right after a work out.  Enjoy!

Mama's Soft Chewy Chocolate Granola Bars
Kid approved
Top rated recipe in Mama's House
No Baking!

 Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter or Coconut Oil

1/4 cup  honey

1/4 cup  real maple syrup or agave nectar

2/3 cup light brown sugar

3 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

2 cups chocolate rice crispy cereal 

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or mini chips 

1/3 cup roughly chopped walnuts

Assembly:

Line a 9" x 13" baking pan with aluminum foil. Spray with Pam. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together oats, chocolate rice cereal, cinnamon, nuts and chocolate chips.

Place butter, honey, maple syrup and brown sugar in a medium saucepan.

Heat until melted and sugar is not grainy but thoroughly dissolved.

Pour the butter/syrup mixture over the oats/cereal mixture. Mix with a large spoon until everything is well coated.

Using a rubber spatula put into prepared pan.  Using  plastic gloves or wrapping your hand in cling wrap press mixture into pan.  Press firmly and uniformly until it is well compacted.  Add more chips and nuts on top if desired.  Press those in as well.  

Place in fridge for 2 hours until very firm.  Lift the entire block of granola slab and cut into bars.  Bars can be wrapped up in cling wrap or little plastic bags.  Can be stored in airtight container for up to 2 weeks, if they last that long.  

Mama's Famous Corn Dogs

When my daughter's school-mates come to hang out, this is their favorite thing to eat.  It is like my signature dish with the kids.  I once made 60 of these corn dogs for 9 kids and they ate them all.  I always make these for super bowl parties.  They are always a hit.  They are really super easy to put together, but you do have to fry.  They are well worth it.  Enjoy!

Mama's Famous Corn Dogs
fryer
bamboo skewers
kid friendly
Level:  easy-moderate

Dry Ingredients:
1 cup yellow corn flour
1 cup all purpose flour
pinch salt
1/4 cup sugar plus 1 Tablespoon additional
4 teaspoons baking powder


Wet Ingredients:
1 egg
1 cup milk plus 1 more cup in reserve too thin out batter


1 quart  oil for frying
2 packages of Nathan's Skinless frankfurters cut in half
Bamboo skewers ( Are usually sold in Asian markets)
Condiments: spicy mustard, honey mustard, ketchup, buffalo sauce

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.  In a 1 cup measuring cup add 1 cup milk plus egg, mix well.  Add wet and dry together and mix until you get a pancake batter consistency.  Pour another glass of milk and put to side in reserve.  As your batter starts to thicken up you may need to add a little extra milk to adjust the consistency of batter.  It should not be too thick like muffin batter nor to thin like a crepe batter.  Once you do this a few times you will get the batter right.  Think pancake batter.

Each hot dog should be dried with a paper towel.  Having a dry dog will help the batter to stick to the hot dog.  Each hot dog is cut in half and a 5 inch bamboo skewer is inserted. 

Use a hot oil thermometer keep your oil consistently at 360 degrees.  If it is too hot the corn dogs will get overly brown and the batter will not cook properly.  You need steady, consistent temperature to get the best result.  Frying is an art! 

Dip each dog in batter and let extra drain back into batter bowl.  Place dog carefully into hot oil.  Can add up to 3 to 4 dogs at a time, depending on the your pot or fryer.  Cook for approx. 3 minutes and turn as you go.  Place on paper towel and serve with spicy mustard!  Enjoy. 

Creamy Dreamy Crumb Bars

Creamy Dreamy Crumb Bars are simple to make and quite delicious.  I received this recipe from a recent cookie swap. 

Creamy  Dreamy Crumb Bars

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Crust and topping

1/2 c unsalted butter, melted, cooled to room temperature

1/2 c light brown sugar

1 and 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Filling:

1 c sour cream

2 oz. cream cheese room temperature

3/4 c granulated sugar

2 Tbsp all-purpose flour

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

Assembly:

Grease an 8" square pan with Pam. Grease sides and bottom. Set aside.

Crust and Crumb Topping:

In a bowl, combine together flour, brown sugar, soda, baking powder and salt. Add melted butter and mix until dough forms a crumb mixture.

Remove 3/4 cup of the mixture for the topping.

Press the remaining dough into greased pan. Set aside.

Filling:

Put filling ingredients in a  bowl of a stand mixer and mix until combined.

Pour over crust.

Sprinkle evenly with the topping mixture.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the topping is golden brown.

Cool in pan. Place in fridge for 45 minutes.  Remove and Cut into squares.

Refrigerate leftover bars.

Optional:  Can add fruit preserves in filling or fresh blueberries, raspberries or mini chocolate chips.

Bunch of Almond Biscotti

This is my base recipe which I do many variations on. Today, I had almonds on hand. I often dip the bottoms in chocolate, but I had no chocolate. These biscottis are amazing when dunked in coffee, especially espresso. If I am having a dinner party and the theme is Italian, I would serve one biscotti cookie in a glass of sweet Italian wine, as shown in picture. It is delicious. Serve with fresh fruit and Italian cheeses and you will impress your guest.  This recipe has been in my family for as long as I can remember; Enjoy!

Recipe

Preheat oven to 350 degrees/ spray 3 half sheet pans with spray release

The recipe can be halved/ This recipe makes a Big Bunch of Biscotti

6 eggs

1cup oil

2 cups sugar

2 tsp. almond extract

1tsp. vanilla extract

6 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1T. baking powder

1tsp. salt

1tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. clove

1/4 tsp. ginger

11/2 tsp. anise seeds

1/2 cup almonds

In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, add room temperature eggs, oil, sugar and beat until well incorporated, add extracts. In another bowl, add flour, salt, baking powder and spices, whisk to incorporate ingredients. Add to liquids to combine, add almonds. Slightly oil your hands and spray 3 half size sheet pans. Shape into 2 long logs and 1half size log. Flatten with the palm of your hand to about 3 inches in width. •.

Bake at 350 degrees for 22 - 25 minutes. Remove from oven let cool to room temperature about 1 hour +. Slice your cool loaves with a serrated knife on the diagonal. Flip them on their sides and bake for an additional 15 minutes, then turn oven off, and leave in the hot oven for 10 more minutes until golden brown.

Cool.