TWD: Brown Sugar - Pecan Shortbread Cookies

This week's TWD was chosen by Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake: creme brulee! A great classic dessert selection but there was a problem. I don't have a torch to make brulee nor did I want to spend money on buying one since I knew it would probably never get used again. There were also instructions for making the brulee under the broiler, but those scared me a bit. Finally, I must confess that I've never had creme brulee...it's just never appealed to me for dessert when we're out since there are always menu options that I'm more familiar with. Based on what I've read about it this week however, I definitely need to try it soon!

Luckily, we were given the option to do one of the past recipes instead of the brulee. I chose these brown sugar-pecan shortbread cookies because (a) they looked easy and (b) generally I really like any cookie with a brown sugar base. These were the very first recipe completed by TWD back when there were only a few members. I ran into a minor problem with my cookies. For some reason, they spread a ton in the oven (i.e. they were essentially one big cookie by the time they finished baking)! It may have been because I hadn't rolled them thin enough, but I'm not sure. In any event, my cookies don't look anywhere near as pretty as the picture in the book. I also wasn't a huge fan of the taste. They were almost too sweet and mine seemed greasy. I suppose 2 sticks of butter will do that, but I've made shortbread in the past, and they didn't seem at all greasy.



I'm glad I tried these because I've been meaning to do so for a while, but I probably won't be making them again anytime soon. The recipe for these shortbread cookies can be found here. Be sure to check out the TWD blogroll if you want to see some fabulous looking creme brulee!

Buffalo Wings

There's really not much "recipe" here so to speak but I've never fried wings before and Shane thought these were delicious so I wanted to post them. I made these two weekends ago for Shane and his friends who were here playing video games. I was a bit nervous as I've never fried anything in my dutch oven but since I didn't intend to eat any of these wings, I didn't feel the need to make a healthier baked version. Fortunately, there weren't any incidents with the oil (aside from the fact that our kitchen smelled the way I imagine the area around the deep fryer at a restaurant must...) It definitely gave me new perspective on eating fried foods. The guys, however, really seemed to enjoy these and polished them off fairly quickly. I imagine I'll make them again at Shane's request!

Buffalo Wings
adapted from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

2-3 lbs chicken wings (separated at joint, tips discarded)
8 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup Frank's Red Hot
canola oil for frying

Pour canola oil into bottom of dutch oven. I had about an inch of oil in mine, which seemed to be plenty. Heat the oil over medium to medium-high heat. You want to get the oil to about 350-375 F.

Drop the chicken wings into the oil carefully. Mine was definitely splattering a bit at this point! I used tongs to drop the wings in and then used the tongs to stir the wings around in the oil as they cooked so they wouldn't stick to the bottom of the pan.



While the chicken was frying, I melted the stick of butter in a saucepan and when it was completely melted, added the cup of Frank's Red Hot. The Pioneer Woman also adds some tabasco sauce to her sauce but I left that out. Set the sauce aside until the wings finish frying.

You want to fry the wings until they are golden and crispy. This took about 20 minutes for me. When I removed the wings from the oil I put them into a glass baking dish lined with paper towels to drain some of the oil. I left them there for a few minutes before moving them to another large bowl.



I poured all of the sauce into the bowl to cover the chicken and then tossed the wings around in the sauce to make sure they were all fully coated. Since that bowl was a mess from all the tossing, I moved the wings to another bowl for serving. I probably could have made a blue cheese or ranch sauce to go with these wings, but I didn't because it was time for the Patriots game :-)

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread

The arrival of fall means many things. To me, one of them is making treats using fall ingredients like apples and pumpkin. Last week I set out to find a pumpkin recipe that would be moderately healthy so I wouldn't feel guilty eating some of it. I settled on this chocolate chip pumpkin bread from Cooking Light because pumpkin and chocolate sounded like a great combination.

This bread is wonderful. It comes together easily (no mixer required) and baked up beautifully. It's incredibly moist and I thought it had a good chocolate to pumpkin ratio. This recipe makes two loaves so I've got a second one in the freezer when the craving strikes!



Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Bread
from Cooking Light

2 cups sugar
2 cups canned pumpkin
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup fat-free vanilla pudding (I used vanilla yogurt)
4 large egg whites
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Combine first 5 ingredients in a large bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, cinnamon, salt, and baking soda in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture, stirring just until moist. Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon batter into 2 (8 x 4-inch) loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350 F for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pans on a wire rack, and remove from pans. Cool completely on wire rack.

Zebra Cake

I'd seen this cake on a few blogs recently (here and here for example) and I really wanted to give it a try....not so much because I wanted to eat it but more because I wanted to see if I could successfully pull off the technique. In fact, the reviews I read regarding the taste of the cake itself were lukewarm, so this cake is all about looks. Late last week I set out to make the cake so Shane could bring it to work with him on Friday.

The zebra look is achieved by alternately dropping vanilla and chocolate batter into the pan, relying on the weight of each layer to push the one below it out. I won't lie - this takes a decent amount of patience. I think I probably spent 20-30 minutes just getting the batter into the pan, but I'd have to say it's worth it. It looked really cool even before it baked up.







When it came out of the oven the top of the cake had maintained the zebra look. I REALLY wanted to see what the inside of the cake looked like, but I didn't want to cut into it before Shane brought it to work. Luckily for me, he took a few pictures of the inside as the folks at work started to dig in (he didn't have the best lighting to work with as you'll see). So cool - I loved how it turned out! Reviews from his coworkers on flavor were good but I definitely think people were more impressed with the look. I'll probably make this cake again, but as some other bloggers suggested, it might be fun to switch up the cake recipe a bit to improve the flavor.



Zebra Cake
from Brown Eyed Baker

4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup milk (low fat is fine)
1 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp almond extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-inch round cake pan with a circle of parchment paper and lightly grease the bottom and sides of the pan.

In a large bowl, mix together eggs and sugar until mixture is light and creamy and the sugar has mostly been dissolved. Stir in milk, vegetable oil, vanilla and almond extracts.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Pour into wet ingredients and whisk to combine. Measure out just over two cups of vanilla batter and place it back in the medium bowl. Sift cocoa powder over the bowl and whisk until fully incorporated.

Put 3 tbsp of vanilla batter into the center of the pan and let it spread slightly on its own. Put 3 tbsp of chocolate batter in the center of the vanilla. It will push out the other batter and, as it sits for a moment, will also spread itself. Alternating spoonfuls of the two batters, repeat the technique until all the batter has been used up.

Bake for 38-42 minutes, until the cake is light gold and a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then turn out the cake and remove the parchment paper. Reinvert on to a wire rack and let cool before slicing.

Frosting - I used the Hershey's Chocolate Frosting recipe that I find to be both really easy and tasty! Recipe can be found here.

TWD: Dimply Plum Cake

This week's TWD was chosen by Michelle of Bake-En: dimply plum cake! This cake is in the breakfast section of Dorie's book and while I'm generally a fan of baked fruit, I was a bit skeptical about plums (or any of the other variations Dorie mentions - peaches, nectarines, etc). I guess when I think about baked fruit the things that come to mind are apples or blueberries or bananas, not plums. Perhaps I'm just not very adventurous. Fortunately, being a part of TWD broadens my horizons by forcing me to try recipes I might otherwise just pass by.

I only made one change to this week's recipe. One of the optional ingredients is cardamom and since I didn't have any I left it out. Reading some of the other girls' entries it looks like I could have played around by adding a pinch of cinnamon so perhaps I'll try that next time. I used the italian prune plums Dorie suggests and couldn't get over how cute they were. I've never noticed them in the grocery store before but I think they were perfect for this cake. I wound up only using 6 instead of the 8 the recipe calls for but after seeing how the cake baked up I definitely could have fit all 8.





This ended up being a really wonderful little cake! I loved the batter.... The brown sugar in the recipe really made it smell and taste wonderful! I definitely would have enjoyed a bit more plum but I really only have myself to blame for that since I did not use all 8 plums. I had my piece when the cake came out of the oven and thought the texture was good, but perhaps a bit crumbly. I'm giving the rest of the cake away today so I'll be curious to hear how the texture has changed since I made it yesterday.



Check out the recipe at Michelle's blog and head over to TWD to see how the other cakes turned out!

TWD: Chocolate Chunkers!

This week's TWD was chosen by Claudia of Fool for Food: chocolate chunkers! These cookies are a chocolate lover's dream. They're a combination of cocoa powder, chocolate (bittersweet, semisweet, milk and white!!), raisins and nuts. As I mentioned last week when we made the Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops, I'm not generally a fan of chocolate based cookies so I wasn't sure I'd like these. That said, I LOVED the chocolate malted whopper drops, so I thought there was hope.



I made a few minor changes to this recipe. First, I made only half of the original recipe. Too many chocolate cookies = too much temptation at our house if we end up liking them. Also, I didn't use any bittersweet chocolate in the recipe. I substituted semisweet chocolate instead. I also left the nuts out since I really don't like nuts in cookies. I baked these for about 13 minutes which is definitely at the top of the range Dorie recommends, but I wanted to make sure they weren't going to fall apart when I tried to move them to the cooling rack since there's so little dough holding them together.



I nibbled on one cookie fresh from the oven and thought they were ok. I can definitely see myself making them again for company or as an occasional treat, but they won't be a go-to recipe. It was just a bit too much chocolate for me. Shane did however like them more than the chocolate malted whopper drops so I guess it's just a matter of personal preference. Check out Claudia's blog if you're curious about the recipe and head over to TWD to see how the rest of the cookies turned out!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

I've heard about these cookies so many times before. I always assumed, based on the name, that there was something more to them than basic baking ingredients and nuts. So, when I saw them made on Everyday Baking the other day, I was really surprised that they were so basic. I was also motivated to try them since they looked delicious! I decided to search for a different recipe instead of making the ones I saw on Everyday Baking, and settled on this one which is also from Martha Stewart. These cookies are so easy to pull together and they're very tasty! The pecans and almond extract definitely give them a nutty flavor but I didn't think it was overwhelming. I made a half batch which according to the recipe should yield about 3 dozen cookies. I didn't get anywhere near that many so my cookies were definitely larger than 3/4-inch, which probably also accounts for the fact that I struggled to fit some of them into the mini muffin papers...



Mexican Wedding Cookies
from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook

1 cup pecan halves
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In a food processor, combine pecans with 1/4 cup confectioners' sugar; pulse until nuts are finely ground. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar-nut mixture, flour and salt; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in the vanilla and almond extracts. Add the flour mixture, and beat on low speed until the dough just comes together.

Roll dough into 3/4-inch balls; place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until the cookies are pale on top and lightly browned on the bottom (lift with a spatula to check), 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Place remaining 1 cup confectioners' sugar in a shallow bowl, and roll cookies in it to coat completely.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream

It doesn't look pretty, but this ice cream is really good so I wanted to share the recipe. It looks quite rich in the photo but the peanut butter mellows out the chocolate. We'll definitely make it again.



Chocolate Peanut Butter Ice Cream
from The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz

2 cups half and half
1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter

Whisk together the half and half, cocoa powder, sugar and salt in a large sauce pan. Heat the mixture, whisking frequently, until it comes to a full, rolling boil (it will start to foam up). Remove from the heat and whisk in the peanut butter, stirring until thoroughly blended.

Chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Makes about 1 quart.

Eggplant Parmesan

Eggplant parmesan is a meal I'd typically never cook at home for a variety of reasons (mainly because it's a lot of work and I'm the only one who would eat it). However, my mom gave me some eggplant from her garden last week so I wanted to give it a shot! I knew I needed an easy, foolproof recipe so I turned to allrecipes.com. That would also allow me to pick something with good reviews. I chose what seemed to be the most popular eggplant parm recipe and ran with it.

This actually didn't take as long to make as I expected it to. The dredging of the eggplant was the most tedious part of the recipe but really not too bad. And I think the final product was worth the effort! This was just as good as any eggplant parmesan I've ever had in a restaurant. I would have liked the cheese to be a little browner on top but short of sticking it under the broiler, I wasn't sure how to achieve that. Since Shane doesn't eat eggplant, I had plenty of leftovers and was able to get quite a few meals out of this recipe (though I did scale the original recipe down a bit).

Eggplant Parmesan
from Allrecipes.com



3 eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced
2 eggs, beaten
4 cups Italian seasoned bread crumbs
6 cups spaghetti sauce, divided
1 (16 ounce) package mozzarella cheese, shredded and divided
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1/2 teaspoon dried basil

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Dip eggplant slices in egg, then in bread crumbs. Place in a single layer on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 5 minutes on each side.

In a 9x13 inch baking dish spread spaghetti sauce to cover the bottom. Place a layer of eggplant slices in the sauce. Sprinkle with mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses. Repeat with remaining ingredients, ending with the cheeses. Sprinkle basil on top.

Bake in preheated oven for 35 minutes, or until golden brown.

Apple Dumplings

As I mentioned the other day, I am a huge fan of the Pioneer Woman's blog. I was browsing through her recipes a few weeks back and saw one whose ingredients included apples, Pillsbury Crescent Rolls and mountain dew. Anyone who knows me well knows that I have a bit of a mountain dew addiction.... I also happen to love apple desserts and anything made with crescent rolls, so making this recipe was a no brainer. Before making it, however, I verified that I would almost immediately be able to hand the results off to someone else. I didn't trust myself around all of this sugary apple goodness.

As expected, these were amazing! I loved everything about them! The crescent rolls get crispy on the top but the bottoms are soft and delicious. The butter, sugar and mountain dew create a sweet syrup which really works with the crescent rolls and the apples. I quickly ate my one dumpling and wrapped the rest up nice and tight for my mom to bring to work the next day so I wouldn't be tempted. These were yummy like apple pie but without all of the work of homemade pie dough so I'm sure I'll make them again sometime.

PS - It was late when I took these pictures so my lighting is not good and the pictures don't do the recipe justice. Head over to Pioneer Woman's blog to see some great pics if you want.



Apple Dumplings
from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

2 Granny Smith apples
2 cans crescent rolls
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
cinnamon
1 12 oz can of Mountain Dew

Peel and core apples. Cut apples into 8 slices each. Roll each apple slice in a crescent roll. Place in a 9 x 13 buttered pan. Melt butter, then add sugar and barely stir. Add vanilla, stir, and pour over apples. Pour Mountain Dew around the edges of the pan. Sprinkle with cinnamon and bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream, and spoon some of the sweet sauces from the pan over the top.

TWD: Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops!!

This week's TWD was chosen by Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart: chocolate malted whopper drops. They're chocolate cookies filled with chocolate chunks and chocolate covered malted milk balls. This turned out to be a really surprising TWD week for me. I am NOT a fan of chocolate cookies generally speaking. I like chocolate chip cookies and the like, but I usually find anything chocolate based too rich. So, needless to say, I kept my expectations low for these cookies.

When they came out of the oven and had cooled a bit, I brought Shane one to see what he thought. He loves anything chocolate so I thought he'd be a big fan but he was just lukewarm about these. As a result, my expectations were even lower but when I tried one, I was in love! My gosh, these are so delicious!!



I subbed peanut butter whoppers instead of chocolate so my cookies had a hint of peanut butter mixed in with the chocolate. I also subbed milk chocolate chips for bittersweet chocolate chunks and I'm sure that played a part in my enjoyment. These are definitely going to be a go-to cookie in my house and I can't wait to make them again!

Thanks Rachel for choosing this recipe and helping me find a new cookie I love! Check out Rachel's blog for the recipe and as always, head over to TWD to see all of the other cookies that were baked this week!

Blueberry Muffins

Blueberry muffins are my arch-nemesis.....really. You may remember these. I am determined, however, to beat blueberry muffins. Just once, I want to make gorgeous and delicious blueberry muffins in my kitchen. So, when I saw a recipe for blueberry muffins on the Pioneer Woman's website, I knew I had to try it. By the way, if you're not familiar with the Pioneer Woman, I highly recommend you check out her cooking site here. It is without a doubt my favorite food blog to read. Even when I'm not interested in a particular recipe, her gorgeous photos and step-by-step instructions are mesmerizing. But I digress....

I followed the recipe to a T. Or so I thought. I think I may have filled the tins too much as my muffins rose and then sunk in the middle. Most of them were fairly concave and really not terribly attractive. On the plus side they weren't blue. However, they also weren't very tasty. I don't know what happened. All I know is that mine don't look anything like the ones on Pioneer Woman's website. Back to the drawing board on blueberry muffins I suppose.



Blueberry Muffins
from The Pioneer Woman Cooks

3 cups minus 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
Heavy pinch of salt
Dash of Nutmeg
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1 generous cup plain, unflavored yogurt
2 cups fresh blueberries
Vanilla Extract
Softened Butter, for muffin tins
Turbinado sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 385 F.

In a large bowl sift flour, baking soda, nutmeg, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In another large bowl whisk together sugar, oil, cap-ful of vanilla, egg, and yogurt. Add the dry ingredients and stir to a count of 10.

Add blueberries, reserving 1/2 cup, to mixture and stir 3 times.

Add mixture to well-buttered muffin pans. Sprinkle remaining berries on top and press down lightly. Sprinkle turbinado sugar over top. (Brown sugar can be used instead.)

Bake 20 to 25 minutes and allow to cool completely.

Pita Bread

We don't generally buy bread at the grocery store because we won't eat it before it goes bad. That means that when I have an urge for bread or a sandwich I either ignore it or make homemade bread. I'd seen this recipe for pita bread on several blogs recently so when I decided I wanted bread the other day, this was the first thing that popped into my mind. These pitas were surprisingly easy to make though I did have problems with some of mine not puffing properly. They were still delicious and since I wasn't making sandwiches with these, I didn't mind that they weren't nice and puffy. I made mine on the reverse side of a cookie sheet so maybe that was the problem? Next time I'll try using a baking stone and perhaps have better luck!

Pita Bread
from Brown Eyed Baker

3 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
1 packet yeast
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups water, roughly at room temperature
2 tablespoons olive oil, vegetable oil, butter, or shortening (I used olive oil)

Mix the yeast in with the flour, salt, and sugar. Add the olive oil and 1 1/4 cup water and stir together with a wooden spoon. All of the ingredients should form a ball. If some of the flour will not stick to the ball, add more water.

Once all of the ingredients form a ball, place the ball on a work surface, such as a cutting board, and knead the dough for approximately 10 minutes. If you are using an electric mixer, mix it at low speed for 10 minutes.

When you are done kneading the dough, place it in a bowl that has been lightly coated with oil. Form a ball out of the dough and place it into the bowl, rolling the ball of dough around in the bowl so that it has a light coat of oil on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and set aside to rise until it has doubled in size, approximately 90 minutes.

When it has doubled in size, punch the dough down to release some of the trapped gases and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball, cover the balls with a damp kitchen towel, and let them rest for 20 minutes. This step allows the dough to relax so that it’ll be easier to shape.

While the dough is resting, preheat the oven to 450 degrees. If you have a baking stone, put it in the oven to preheat as well. If you do not have a baking stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and place it on the middle rack of the oven while you are preheating the oven. This will be the surface on which you bake your pitas.

After the dough has relaxed for 20 minutes, spread a light coating of flour on a work surface and place one of the balls of dough there. Sprinkle a little bit of flour on top of the dough and use a rolling pin or your hands to stretch and flatten the dough. You should be able to roll it out to between 1/8 and 1/4 inch thick - 6 inches in diameter. If the dough does not stretch sufficiently you can cover it with the damp towel and let it rest 5 to 10 minutes before trying again.

Place discs on a lightly greased baking sheet and let rise, uncovered, until barely doubled in thickness, about 30-45 minutes.

Open the oven and place as many pitas as you can fit on the hot baking surface. They should be baked through and puffy after 3 minutes. If you want your pitas to be crispy and brown you can bake them for an additional 3 to 5 minutes.

Butter Cake Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Cupcakes...yum. I love cupcakes. They're so easy to transport (compared to a layer cake anyway) and they're so much more likely to get eaten at our house than a cake. I made these weeks ago but am just now getting around to posting them. As I flipped through my Cupcakes cookbook, everything looked so tasty but I only had basic ingredients on hand so I went with the butter cake cupcakes. I'm not sure I get the name as these really don't have that much more butter than a number of other cupcake recipes I've seen or tried. For the frosting, I used the Hershey's recipe that has yielded great results for me and so many others. The cupcakes were absolutely delicious! They were slightly richer than a typical yellow cupcake and had a nice tender texture thanks to the cake flour. Can't wait to make them again!



Butter Cake Cupcakes
from Cupcakes by Elinor Klivans

1 1/4 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whole milk

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 12 muffin tin cups with paper cupcake liners.

Sift the cake flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add the vanilla and beat for 2 more minutes. On low speed, add the flour mixture in 3 additions and the milk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with the flour mixture and mixing just until the flour is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Fill each paper liner with 1/4 cup batter, to about 1/2 inch below the top of the liner. Bake just until the tops feel firm and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 22 minutes. Cool the cupcakes for 10 minutes in the pan on a wire rack before removing the cupcakes from the pan to cool completely on the wire rack.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

Pesto Palmiers

I'd seen these on Annie's blog a few weeks ago and made a mental note to give them a try sometime. See, I had a sheet of puff pastry that's been sitting in my freezer for a while and my basil plant is completely overgrown so this recipe helped me to solve both of those problems. We were having a cookout this weekend so I decided to give the recipe a shot and serve these as appetizers.

I thought for sure I'd have trouble folding the puff pastry like the recipe recommends but it ended up being less difficult than I expected. I think a bigger problem was that my pesto was too watery. I made these at the last minute and was sort of rushed. As a result, my puff pastry was really wet and the palmiers were soggy and had trouble not flopping over on the cookie sheet as they baked. Additionally, there was a ton of liquid on the baking sheet as these cooked. So much in fact that I was worried these were never going to puff up or turn brown. In the end, they didn't brown too much but they did puff up some so I took them out of the oven after about 8 minutes on each side.

These were yummy! Not terribly surprising since they're made from puff pastry and it's hard to go wrong with puff pastry. I was disappointed in their appearance but I think that was my fault so I'm looking forward to making them again with better pesto. I also think it would be fun to experiment with the filling as I suspect these would be good with other fillings besides pesto.

Pesto Palmiers
from Annie's Eats

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed

¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese, optional

½-3/4 cup pesto

1 egg

1 tbsp. water

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Lay puff pastry out onto parchment paper. Roll out into a 12×12” square. Lift up one side of the puff pastry, sprinkle grated Parmesan onto the parchment paper, and replace the puff pastry; repeat with the other side. Using a spatula, spread the pesto within ½ - inch of each side of the pastry. Using your spatula, make three indentations on the top edge of the dough at 3 inches, 6 inches and 9 inches to divide the sheet into quarters.

Fold the left and right edges of the puff pastry halfway to the center of the dough (to the closest quarter-mark indentation). Fold the sides to the middle again until they are almost touching. Fold the two halves together like a book. (I found these pictures helpful)

Cut into half-inch slices and place onto parchment-lined baking sheet. Whisk the egg and water together and brush over the palmiers. Bake for 8 minutes, flip and bake for 6-8 more minutes. Palmiers are best the day of baking.

TWD: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

This week's TWD was chosen by Stefany of Proceed with Caution: chunky peanut butter and oatmeal chocolate chipsters. I was really excited about these cookies since they combine peanut butter, oatmeal and chocolate. It's like 3 great cookies rolled into one!!



These cookies take some time to put together as Dorie recommends refrigerating the cookie dough for at least 2 hours before baking (to help achieve evenly shaped cookies). I cheated a bit and only refrigerated the dough for about an hour. Also, the recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate but I subbed milk chocolate since I had a bag of chips sitting around. Plus, I like milk chocolate a lot more than either bittersweet or semisweet.

When these came out of the oven I couldn't wait to try them. I was making the cookies for a cookout we were having the next day but I allowed myself to eat the ones that broke during the move from the cookie sheet to the cooling rack. Luckily, there were a few of them :-) I thought these were amazing! I loved the combination of flavors, especially the hint of cinnamon and nutmeg. Everyone at the cookout seemed to enjoy the cookies too as there were very few left at the end of the day!



Thanks Stefany for choosing these delicious treats! If you'd like to try them, the recipe can be found on Stefany's blog and, as always, check out TWD to see the rest of the cookies that were made!