What happens when you spend an afternoon eating cookies?

This video, that's what! Gimme Jimmy's in New Jersey recently sent me some of their cookies to sample and review and I decided this would be a great opportunity to put a few more miles on my Flipcam. Ever wondered what I look like eating? Watch this - mystery solved!


Gimmee Jimmy's Cookie Review: The attack of the mall cookie! from Mary Ann Porch on Vimeo.

Technology! Cookies! Together as one!

For those cookie eating nerds out there, I dedicate this Vimeo find to you.  You're welcome.


Adobe Photoshop Cook from Lait Noir on Vimeo.

Sometimes you just have to bake some cookies

I've been in a baking funk lately. It's been a combination of a somewhat new (and inferior) kitchen and just lack of time, but I won't lie and say my inspiration hasn't been at a dribble too.

This past weekend, I caught a cold and couldn't go out for Halloween. I was bummed as a good friend of mine was throwing her annual Halloween party, and instead of having a great time with friends and dressing up as a Day of the Dead doll, I was lying on the couch watching So I Married an Axe Murderer and wondering what my life would have been like if I had been my age now in 1993 and when exactly Mike Meyers became NOT funny.

After I wrapped up Axe Murderer, I found myself bored. I wasn't tired as I had been sleeping all day. I didn't feel like getting online and playing around on Facebook, so I was left with few options. I went into the kitchen and began what has become my routine the past two months - opening the fridge with the brief hope that somehow it has filled itself magically with ingredients so I could whip up a sweet feast. What did I have? Two onions, half a stick of unsalted butter and black truffle butter. A feast I did not have.

Before meandering back into my bedroom, I remembered the peanut butter and jelly I had bought a couple of weeks earlier. I had bought these household mainstays with the idea of making a cookie recipe I had seen in Martha Stewart Living. I was craving some sweets, so making these comfort cookies became my mission for the night.


To call this recipe a "mission" is a bit dramatic. Time-wise, these bad boys took me less than an hour to make, and that includes bake time.

Even though I'm still getting over this cold, I have to believe that the chicken noodle soup and PB&J cookie combo is what's really speeding along the healing process.


Peanut Butter & Jelly Thumbprint Cookies
Makes 40

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar, plus more for rolling
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup raspberry jam

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Beat peanut butter and butter with a mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add sugars, and beat until pale and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, and beat until incorporated. Reduce speed to low. Add dry ingredients, and mix until combined.

Scoop level tablespoons of dough, and form into balls. Roll each ball in granulated sugar, and transfer to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing about 2 inches apart.
Bake until cookies are puffy, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven, and make indentations in centers by pressing with the handle end of a wooden spoon. Return to oven, and bake until edges are golden, 6 to 7 minutes more. Transfer sheets to wire racks, and let cool completely.

Heat jam in a small saucepan, stirring, until loosened, about 30 seconds. Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon into each indentation. Cookies can be stored in a single layer for up to 1 week.

Milk delivery coming to Manhattan

The Village Voice is reporting that home milk delivery is coming to New York, as long as you live on the island of Manhattan:

Matt Marone and Frank Acosta will deliver a five dollar quart of organic milk in a glass bottle to your door, as long as your door is in Manhattan ($5 delivery charge, $15 minimum order). Acosta and Marone say the steep price Manhattan Milk charges is justified because they contract with Amish farmers for organic, rBST-free milk from free-range cows. They also deliver brand-name organic juice, dairy and eggs at a slightly less steep markup.

Marone, who also owns a milk delivery company in Westchester, plans to expand milkman service to Brooklyn next. Staten Island, go figure, is already getting it from someone else.

I'll be more excited once the milk man hits Brooklyn, but I am thrilled to see that a tradition like this is becoming popular once again. Finally, I won't have to go farther than my front stoop for my all-time favorite cookie accessory.

Baking Unplugged: Two amazing cookie recipes

When I was in Portland, Oregon, in March I had the privilege of meeting Nicole Rees, a wonderfully talented cookbook author and all around cool woman. She sent me a copy of her latest cookbook, Baking Unplugged, and over the last two nights I've tried out two of her oatmeal cookie recipes - Soft Oatmeal Cookies with Walnuts and Dried Cherries and Chewy Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips.


Normally, this is the part of the blog entry where I would share the recipes, but because these cookies might be some of the most delicious I've ever tasted, I want you all to go out and buy Nicole's book, so I'm not sharing! I am a huge proponent of Baking Unplugged because all of the recipes are gadget-free, meaning you don't have to own a fancy schmancy mixer or high tech oven to get these amazing results.

You can purchase her book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and many other retail outlets. I highly suggest you check it out!

Sunday is National Tangible Karma Day - spread the love with some baked goods.

I learned this evening that Sunday is National Tangible Karma Day. Honestly, I went seeking a food-related holiday and this is what I came up with instead. However, I think food can easily be put to good use for this particular event. Bake some muffins or cookies, whip up some macaroons or bake a cake - you get the idea, and surprise someone with your abilities by presenting them an unexpected culinary gift. I'm telling you, people love this kind of thing. Once, while leaving an ATM machine, a homeless man asked me for money. I told him I couldn't break a $20 but I could give him a brownie (I was on my way to a party and had a plate full of book club brownies with me at the time - I don't normally carry baked goods around with me on a casual basis). He said he would take the brownie, but I could tell my his tone he was disappointed I wasn't giving him cash, but after one bite, he smiled and said it was the best donation he'd received all night.

Now don't get me started why begging outside of an ATM when people will only have large bills is a mistake...

Whoopie for...well, whoopie cakes/pies/sandwiches/cookies!

The New York Times' food section features a terrific piece on the invasion of the whoopie, a strange combination of cake, cookie, sandwich and pie...and that really depends on how you look at it.

According to some food historians, the whoopie pie originated in Pennsylvania, where they were baked by Amish women and put in farmers’ lunchboxes. Tired from a morning’s work, the farmers purportedly would shout “Whoopie!” if they discovered one of the desserts in their lunch pails. As someone who has yelled out in delight from discovering a sweet treat, I can identify.

I had never heard of whoopie pies until I moved to the Northeast, so as the New York Times mentions, a lot of people haven't heard about this concoction. I suggest you educate yourself and read up on this class dessert/snack that defies all boundaries we set for it - you can't pigeon-hole this thing!

Today is National Oatmeal Cookie Day!

I think that Foodimentary's Facts and Fun blog is probably one of my favorite blogs out there. I feel like every time I read a post, the information will come back some day in an ultimate Trivial Pursuit show down. You might think that no one will ever ask you what day is National Oatmeal Cookie Day, but if you read Foodimentary and learned that March 18th is indeed dedicated to this wonderful treat, you'll be thanking me for suggesting you hop on over to that blog.

And yes, today is National Oatmeal Cookie Day! Enjoy the "healthier" cookie option today!

Recipe of the Day - Clover Sugar Cookies (Irishmen: Don't worry, I haven't forgotten you!)

Even though today was dedicated to Easter recipes (as mentioned, I wanted to give you all plenty of time to try out these different recipes before the actual holiday), I haven't forgotten one of the most celebrated events of the year: St. Patrick's Day.

Honestly, when I (and I would venture to day the entire rest of the world) think of St. Patrick's Day, I don't really think of food. I think of green beer, crowded pubs and every bar in New York City playing the Pogues, U2, or the Cranberries. But for those of you that are thinking ahead and understand the importance of lining your stomach prior to an all-out booze fest, today's Recipe of the Day is for you - Clover Sugar Cookies.

I am willing to GUARANTEE that if you whip up these bad boys and pass them out to your fellow revelers next Tuesday, you will be the hit of the party and will probably score some free beer. If you happen to undertake this challenge, be sure to e-mail me your photos at puffandchoux@gmail.com - I'd love to post photos of some crazy Irishmen indulging in your baked goods!

Luck of the Irish Clover Cookies Recipe

Equipment:
Electric Mixer
Sifter
3-inch cookie cutter round
Clover template
Cookie sheet
Parchment paper
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Cooking rack

Ingredients:
4 cups sifted all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Green sanding sugar


Sift together flour, salt, and baking powder into a large bowl; set aside. Combine butter and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment; cream on high speed until fluffy. Beat in eggs.

Reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture in two additions, mixing until well combined. Mix in vanilla. Divide dough in half, and cover with plastic wrap; refrigerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll out 1 piece of dough on a lightly floured work surface 1/8 inch thick. With a 3-inch cookie cutter, cut out 25 rounds. Working with 1 round at a time, place clover stencil on top; sprinkle surface with sanding sugar.

Arrange rounds on parchment- or nonstick baking mat-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate until firm, about 15 minutes, or until ready to bake. Repeat process with remaining dough.

Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges just start to brown, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

This recipe makes 50 cookies.

Recipe of the Day - Cajun Macaroons

As mentioned in the previous post, we're celebrating Gourmet's almost seven decades of cookie recipes with one of the first cookie recipes to be included in the magazine. In the February 1941 issue, the editors decided to include a special Mardi Gras menu from Louisiana, including a recipe for Cajun Macaroons. Described as "crisp and chewy, with a subtle almond scent" are French-style, but not in the traditional macaron style I typically focus on with this blog.

So, let's tip our hats to Louisiana and warm up our ovens for today's Recipe of the Day!

Gourmet's Cajun Macaroons

Equipment:
Wooden spoon
Various sized mixing bowls
Cookie sheet(s)
Parchment paper
Pastry bag (optional, for cooking shaping)
Flour sifter
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Spatula
Cooling Rack

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. almond paste
3 egg whites
1/2 cup sifted pastry flour
1/2 cup fine granulated sugar
1/2 cup of powered sugar

Work 1/2 lb. almond paste with a wooden spoon until it is smooth. Add 3 slightly beaten egg whites and blend thoroughly. Add 1/2 cup sifted pastry flour, resifted with 1/2 cup fine granulated sugar and 1/2 cup powdered sugar. Cover a cookie sheet or sheets with bond paper. The cooky mixture may be dropped from the tip of a teaspoon and shaped on the paper, or may be pressed through a cooky press, or shaped with a pastry bag and tube. Bake in a slow oven (300°F.) about 30 minutes. The cakes may be removed from the paper by means of a spatula while still warm.

Variations: Finely chopped or ground candied fruits may be added to the mixture before baking. Or the tops of the macaroons may be decorated before baking by placing in the center of each a nut half, a raisin (seedless, black or white), or a bit of candied fruit–such as a bit of angelica–cut fancifully, or by sprinkling with finely chopped nut meats. The cakes may be decorated after baking by dainty frosting designs formed with the help of a cake decorator or a pastry tube.

Recipe yields 4 dozen 1 1/2 inches in diameter.

These should be baked a few days in advance. They will keep several months when kept in a closed tin in a cool, dry place.

Gourmet Magazine's favorite cookies from the past 67 years

Gourmet Magazine's website has decided to cobble together their favorite cookie recipes for the past 67 years. The feature does a fantastic job of showing how our cooking methods have changed in the past seven decades and more importantly, includes some wonderful recipes that still produce treats we all love.

Check it out here.

And in honor of Gourmet, we've included their first cookie recipe as the Recipe of the Day today!

Chocolate...and lots of it

After perusing the March issue of Food & Wine while I jetted across North America yesterday, I thought I would check out what the magazine's web site had to offer after landing. And boy I'm glad I did! I found a whole smorgasbord of chocolate-themed recipes as part of their Menu of the Week in the Entertaining section. Highlighted recipes include:

Milk-Chocolate Pots de Crème
Milk-Chocolate Cookies with Malted Cream
Milk-Chocolate Tart with Pretzel Crust
Silky Chocolate Mousse with Peanut Butter Crunch
Milk-Chocolate-Frosted Layer Cake
Warm Double-Chocolate Brownie Cakes
Milk-Chocolate-Chip Cookies
Warm Milk-Chocolate Croissant-Bread Pudding

I'll definitely be whipping up the milk-chocolate tart with pretzel crust as well as the milk-chocolate chip cookies when I get back to New York.

Trying out one of these recipes? Tell me about it in the comments section!