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Dark Chocolate Gingersnap Cookies Tutorial

perfect for a white christmas themed party!

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Peppermint Meringues

We’ve all been there. Somewhere in the middle of your ninetieth batch of sugar cookies for your coworkers, and neighbors, and friends, and friends neighbors, you hit a breaking point. You’d just stop baking if it weren’t for the fact that those paper plates covered in red and green plastic wrap are still half fucking empty. You’ve used up all your flour. You are, for the first time since Halloween 1992, tired of eating chocolate. The sink is piled tits-high with sugar-caked bowls, spoons, spatulas, paddles, and whisks. You might just call off Christmas all together— and kitchen-strike until the New Year.

The time has come for meringues.

Meringues look impressive but require basically zero maintenance. No more scoops. No more icing. And they finish cooking while you’re in bed. These pretty puffs of minty fluff practically take make themselves. With a whopping 6 ingredients (and a single bowl), you make dozens of perfectly sweet confections that taste like you languished all night.

While they’re one of our absolute favorite cookies (that happen to be great choices for people on gluten, nut, dairy, and fat restricted diets), there’s one potential bummer to watch out for: because Meringues are basically just sugar, eggs, and air, they don’t do great in humid environments. Instead of being a pleasantly chalky, crunchy treat that tastes like freeze dried cotton candy, they get gummy and weird. Bake them the day before serving and, if it’s above freezing, maybe just double up on Alfajores, instead.

Peppermint Meringues

(can you really list a classic recipe like this as your own? no. but do we have a single definitive source from where this was adapted? also no. this is the result of the infinity that is the history of cooking.)

3 Egg Whites

⅓ cup Granulated Sugar

a Pinch of Salt

a Pinch of Cream of Tartar

½ cup Powdered Sugar

3-5 drops Peppermint Extract (YMMV.)

1 cup well-crushed Red-and-White Peppermint Hard Candies

You will also need a piping bag or gallon zip-top bag

Ready your stand mixer with an impeccably clean bowl and the whisk attachment, or stabilize an impeccably clean bowl on your counter with damp kitchen towel.

Preheat your oven to 200° and line two baking sheets with parchment. Separate 3 eggs from their Whites. Add them to the clean bowl, along with the Granulated Sugar, Salt, and Cream of Tartar. Set your mixer (stand or hand-held, this is not a time for brute strength) to low, and mix until frothy. Kick up the speed to medium-high and continue mixing until you reach soft peaks.

What are soft peaks? Stop mixing with the beaters in your Egg Fluff, remove the beaters by pulling the straight up out of the bowl. Turn them over and look at the tip. If the fluff clings and kind of hold its shape (as opposed to running all over), but is still a little saggy and, well, soft: you’ve got soft peaks.

Once soft peaks are happening, turn your mixer on low. Slowly sift in the Powdered Sugar and add the Peppermint Extract. Flip it back up to medium-high, keep going until you hit stiff peaks.

Stiff peaks hold their shape completely and make a pretty sharp point that stays almost completely upright— even when you jiggle it a little.

Transfer the mixture to your piping bag prepared with your favorite tip— or zip-top bag, and then cut off ¼ inch at the tip of one bottom corner. Pipe into puffs that are about 1” wide at the base and 1” tall. They won’t spread (much, if at all), squeeze them ½” apart. Try to make sure they look like clouds, and not weird white poop. Sprinkle with the Crushed Candies and tuck them into the oven. The Candies turn into a pretty, melty mosaic.

Let the Meringues bake for 2 hours and then kill the oven without even opening the door. Let them hang out for another hour, or up to overnight, to finish cooking. Cool completely before eating or storing. If you try to eat them warm, they will be chewy and weird and make you sad. Trust the recipe: they will be perfect when they’re totally cool.

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Millionaire bars – salted caramel chocolate shortbread 

I love to bake cookies. From a taste perspective it’s hard to beat a warm, chewy chocolate chip cookie. They’re everyone’s favorite but I enjoy going through the motions of creating something that takes a little bit more effort. Usually during the holidays I make Sue’s sugar cookies with buttercream frosting, but you’ve seen those here over and over again. Yesterday I decided a layered cookie bar was in order.

These are some of the best cookies to come out of my kitchen. They’re blissfully rich and sinfully good. The thin, flaky Maldon sea salt on the chocolate gives you a satisfying little crunch before it melts in your mouth. The homemade caramel is buttery. One small cookie with a cup of coffee (or in our case last night, glasses of cold white wine) will make you a happy person. It’s an added bonus that they’re stunningly beautiful.

I found many, many recipes online that are like this one (practically verbatim) but I’ll toss the credit to eatswellwithothers. My daughter Jill and I found a few minor problems which we fixed.

This recipe makes about 70 cookies. A whole plate full went with a daughter to work. That leaves plenty to be divvied up and taken to neighbors this afternoon.

Ingredients

For the shortbread:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

For the caramel:

1 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup sugar

4 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 (14 ounce) cans sweetened condensed milk

For the chocolate:

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1 teaspoon light corn syrup

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Maldon sea salt flakes or other sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

To make the shortbread, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, making sure that paper comes over the sides of the pan. (You’ll be using the paper to lift the finished cookies out of the pan.)  In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, blend in the flour mix until just incorporated. Transfer the dough to the prepared baking pan and press into an even layer. Bake for about 25 to 30 minutes or until golden. Transfer the pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the caramel, combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup and sweetened condensed milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer, stirring constantly. Continue simmering and stirring until the mix turns an amber color and thickens a bit. (I found this takes about 8-10 minutes.) Pour over the shortbread layer and even it out using and offset spatula. Chill cookies in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

For the chocolate layer, in a double boiler, combine the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter over simmering water.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate is fully melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour evenly over the caramel layer and use an offset spatula to smooth it out. Allow to cool for a minute or two and then sprinkle with the sea salt. Chill, covered, until ready to slice or serve.

Take a thin, sharp knife and cut around the long edges of the pan to separate cookies from the pan. Using overhanging parchment paper as handles, gently pull entire sheet of cookies from the pan. Cut cookies into 2-inch bars and then cut bars into 1-inch pieces. Cookies should measure 2 x 1-inches.

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(via Edamame-Chickpea Power Salad)

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(via Chocolate Sack Cookies Recipe - Baked Special - Vegan in the Freezer)

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Pumpkin Cake Roll: For a new kind of pumpkin dessert, try our fluffy, cinnamon-spiced pumpkin cake roll.

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(via Vegan Eats & Treats!: Mommy’s Garlic Noodles)

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Nice little tutorial from Plus3Crochet re how to attach a zipper to your work.  Great tips!

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5 Knitting Tips for Beginners

Knitting has been going in and out of fashion with women for at least a century. Periods where it…

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Chipotle Beer Shrimp Quesadillas

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Farmers Market Risotto

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Blood Orange Mezcal Margarita

3 blood oranges, juiced

3 red navel oranges, juiced

3 limes, juiced

4 oz Mezcal tequila

1 oz agave nectar

ice

salt for rims

In a shaker, add the juices, tequila, agave, and ice. Shake and divide equally between to rimmed glasses. Garnish with a sprig of mint.

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(via Salted caramel cupcakes [Vegan] : TreeHugger)

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The secret is out! How to make the ultimate Pumpkin Smoothie. 

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5 Minute CRISPY Sweet Potato Chips

I was pretty shocked when I discovered this recipe. It’s UHMAZING.

Total Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients:

Sweet potato

Salt (or any other seasoning)

Olive oil spray can

Instructions:

Use a mandolin and slice up your sweet potato (try to find one that has an even girth throughout the entire length of the potato so you have evenly sized chips)

Cut parchment paper the size of your glass plate inside the microwave

Lay the chips in a single layer on the parchment paper

Lightly spray with non-stick spray and salt them

Microwave on 100% power for 2 minutes 30 seconds (Please note: This measurement was for MY microwave, so please be aware of your own) You will know they are done when they start to lightly brown, but do not wait till they entirely brown — that would mean it burnt)

Let the chips cool, and they will turn crispy :)

PROOF OF CRISPY-NESS (didn’t edit the video hehe)

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Hot Spiced Cider: Make apple mugs for your cider this season. 

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No Bake Oreo Cheesecake