Here Comes the Cookie

Love seems to be in the air in 2011. A few of my friends and family members have either just got engaged or just got married. My eldest cousin got engaged in February, one of my close high school friends got married last month, and one of my old co-workers also got married last month. Several old friends, classmates, and acquaintances on Facebook have also announced they were planning weddings this year.When my second cousin got engaged this past weekend, I decided to look for a recipe that would be wedding themed. Apparently, the recipe has been staring me in the face for several months. I love making my own frosting so I go through A LOT of powdered sugar. On the back of the 2lb C&H powdered sugar bag is a recipe for Mexican Wedding cookies.

According  to http://www.ehow.com/: "The ingredients of a wedding cookie traditionally are the richest butters, sugars and oils to signify blessings for a rich and full married life. The powdered sugars are said to have at one time represented purity." These cookies are also known as Italian Wedding cookies or Russian teacakes.

I didn't follow the recipe on the back of the powdered sugar bag because it said it makes 5 dozen cookies. Yikes, I didn't think I need that many cookies, especially since it was my first time making them. I looked all over the Internet and the majority of recipes have the same ingredients and preparation...all very easy. Since this cookie has everything that isn't good for me, I made a variation of several recipes using ingredients that would cut back on the fat but not the flavor.

Mexican (or Italian) Wedding Cookies

3/4 cup butter or 3/4 margarine, unsalted, room temperature (I used Smart Balance 50/50 butter blend)

1/2 cup powdered sugar + 1/2 cup for dusting

(to make your own: 3/4 cup Splenda granular, 2 tbsp cornstarch. Grind in blender to fine texture. Makes 1 cup of powdered sugar) 

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup almonds, ground (this is traditional but you can also use pecans)

1 tbsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted

Preheat oven to 325F.

Cream butter in bowl. Slowly blend in powdered sugar and salt. Mix in almonds and vanilla.

Slowly add sifted flour and mix well until dough forms. Place in fridge for 5 minutes.

Scoop 1 tsp balls onto a greased cookie sheet. (Can also be formed into crescents)

Bake for 18-20 minutes. Do not brown.

Allow cookies to cool before rolling in powdered sugar (if rolled before cooling, the powdered sugar will become moist and make the outside doughy). Makes about 40 cookies.

I was a little worried that my choice in butter would affect the taste because this is pretty much a butter cookie and usually the real thing tastes the best. The Smart Balance butter blend was surprisingly good. According to the box, it has 28% less saturated fat, a good source of vitamin E and Omega-3, and no trans fats (I might be using this for more recipes in the future). I took a bite of the cookie and my reaction was, "wow, that was damn good." It's buttery and sweet but it's also light. The Mister kind

of gave me an odd look when I had that reaction...then I gave him one. He said the same exact words I did. At first I thought he was playing with me and imitating me (one of his favorite past times) but he said he wasn't kidding. It's good to know I can still surprise him with my baking even after almost 4 years of marriage :)

As wedding season continues, I want to congratulate a few people.

Newlyweds Tara and Andrew

Newlyweds Amy and Tyler

Recently engaged Kristeen and Aramis

Recently engaged Katherine and Joey

.....And to anyone else that is entering into a long life of married bliss!

Blog dedicated to my groom and best friend, Scott Babb <3

Biscotti on the Brain

Do you ever feel like the universe is trying to tell you something?

After a long day at my regular 9-5, the last thing that has been on my mind is baking. Or so I thought. A couple of weeks ago, I had my first real cake order which was quite a learning experience and a little stressful to be honest with you. So after I completed that order, I wanted to take a little break. Apparently my brain had other ideas because for the next 3 nights, I dreamt about baking. It wasn't one of my normal baked items either...it was biscotti. Then I started to notice the biscotti in the coffee shops. Then in the cookie aisle in the grocery store. Hm, biscotti would be really good with this coffee....but of course I can't have it because it has tons of sugar. Okay okay fine, I'll make my own.

One of the first times I tried biscotti was when my mom was in culinary school. I use to watch her make it and it always seemed so complicated to me so I've never tried making my own. When I finally gave into my subconscious, I went in search for a pretty basic recipe because I didn't know what I was doing. Biscotti is out of my realm of cake products. There are a lot of recipes for biscotti on the Internet and most have your basic items....some kind of nut and some kind of dried fruit. So among the hundreds of recipes on the Internet, one stood out: Oreo Biscotti

Let me go on a slight tangent here. When I got diagnosed with diabetes, I looked high and low for items that would satisfy my sweet tooth. Most of the time, I was really disappointed because most sugar free items taste a little off. Oreo cookies are the exception. I must say that sugar free Oreos are BETTER than the real thing. They taste just like regular Oreos but for some reason they are crisper therefore making them taste fresher....like they haven't been sitting on the grocery store shelf forever. When I found the Oreo biscotti recipe, I was all over it.

Oreo Biscotti

1 cup Splenda

1/3 cup  butter or margarine, soften to room temperature

3 eggs

2 tsp.  vanilla

3 cups flour

1-1/2 tsp.  baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

16   OREO Cookies, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups)

1 cup of Hershey's sugar free chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix sugar, butter, eggs and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Sift flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 portions...mixing after adding each portion. Stir in chopped cookies. Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 9x3-inch loaf on lightly greased baking sheet with floured hands.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown and toothpick inserted in centers comes out clean. Remove from oven; cool 10 minutes. Cut each loaf diagonally into 16 (1/2-inch-thick) slices. Place slices, cut sides up, on same baking sheet. Bake an additional 10 to 12 minutes on each side or until lightly toasted on both sides. Cool completely on wire rack.

Melt chocolate chips. Dip half or drizzle chocolate onto cooled biscotti. Place on wax or parchment paper to dry. Store in air tight container.

                                                                                          Source: http://www.kraftrecipes.com/

So here's my advice on working with this recipe cause I ran into a few speed bumps.

1)Obviously, I changed a couple of the ingredients to be a little more diabetic friendly.

2) The original recipe says to melt the butter....don't melt the butter. Butter should be soft when you are baking and still creamy when you are mixing in the sugar. The butter shouldn't melt into the dough until you are actually baking it. I don't know if this is technically correct because I'm not "professionally trained" but I know from experience.

3) The dough is going to be dry. I had the hardest time trying to make it into a loaf. If your biscotti loaf looks lumpy, it's OK. I promise it will come together...just be patient with it. In the end, it will be worth it.

4) Tip for the chocolate. I did not have a microwave safe bowl deep enough to dip my biscotti in so I took my angled spatula, dipped it in the chocolate, and spread it along the bottom side of the biscotti. This helped get a thin, even coating of chocolate that doesn't overpower the rest of the biscotti.

Final product with a cup of strong coffee :)

Speaking of coffee to go with your yummy biscotti, I wanted to make a quick mention of an awesome coffee place in the Mission Valley area called Cuppa Cuppa (http://www.cuppacuppa.com/). I work in the area and discovered this place about 4 years ago when I didn't feel like driving to one of the 4 Starbucks in the area, wait in line, and be late for work. Cuppa Cuppa is a drive thru espresso bar that specializes in local coffee(slogan is "Be Independent, Drink Local"), baked items, and fruit smoothies. The staff is super nice, really fast, and you can tell they appreciate your business. The coffee is incredible and strong. My usual orders are a sugar free vanilla latte or a chai latte and just like the sugar free Oreos, I cannot tell the difference. They always have special drinks up on their bulletin board and sometimes they correspond with the holidays (ie The Irishman, Peeps Mocha). The cost is about the same as the chain coffee shops but here, you know you are going to get a consistantly good cup of coffee. Don't forget to get your punch card if you become a regular.  Try it out...I promise you'll like it.

My current punch card with the doggy bone hole punches. Three more to go!!
Address and hours listed.