Peanut Butter Chocolate Hearts

Posted on February 8, 2013 by Sweets

Fact: Heart-shaped cookie cutters make everything infinitely more adorable. Everyone at work cooed when I brought these in.

It’s amazing how much I accomplished this weekend without a computer (or a sense of security) to distract me. I mean, I went DOMESTIC on my apartment. Seriously. So much laundry and cleaning and clearing and organizing and planning and shaking out the bad juju. The place is gleaming. I polished wood furniture. I hung pictures. I tidied my desk (a little). I cleaned out the fridge. When 7:00 p.m. rolled around Sunday night, I looked at my shining, spotless, never-been-cleaner kitchen, and I immediately wanted to mess it up.

I confess I also wanted to use my heart-shaped cookie cutter. Just because I hate manufactured/mandatory seasonal displays of affection doesn’t mean I’m immune to cute.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 egg
2 c. all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
2 tbsp. unsalted butter
pinch of flaky sea salt

1 cookie cutter, shape of your choosing. Pick one towards the smaller end of the size spectrum, otherwise you’ll wind up with A LOT of cookie.

For the cookies:

Beat butter in an electric mixer until smooth, light, and creamy, about three minutes. Add the peanut butter and beat until smooth, then add the sugars. Beat the mixture for about 2-3 minutes until well-combined, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl (is there anything that smells better than brown sugar and peanut butter combined? Well, yes, but not in this moment). Add the egg and mix until combined.

Set a sifter on tip of the mixing bowl and measure the dry ingredients into it. Sift the dry ingredients into the wet, and mix on low speed until combined. Dump the dough out onto a sheet of parchment paper or plastic wrap, gather into a loose ball (it will be very crumbly), flatten into a thick disc, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line 2-3 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Lightly flour your work surface and break out the rolling pin.

You know it.

Unwrap the chilled dough and place on floured work surface. Deb, in her book, tells you that the dough will be crumbly, and you’ll be all “psh, I am an EXCELLENT baker, I got this,” and then the dough will crumble all over the place, just like Deb said it would, and you will be humbled. I actually recommend using your fingers to press the dough out and then using the rolling pin towards the end to smooth and level things out. You want the dough to be about 1/4 inch thick. Cut out cookies and transfer them carefully to the prepared cookie sheets. An offset spatula or dull knife will help with this process, although there will still be some crumbling. Just press the cookie back into shape, and the oven will fix everything.

Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes, until the tops are set and the edges are ever-so-lightly browned. Allow to cool while preparing the filling.

For the chocolate peanut-butter ganache filling:

In a double boiler or a heat-proof bowl set over simmering water, combine the butter, peanut butter, chopped chocolate, and sea salt. Stir over heat until chocolate and butter are completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove from heat and let cool until thickened and spreadable. I confess that I got bored/impatient and used the refrigerator to hurry things along, but you must keep an eye on it so that it doesn’t solidify.

Assemble the cookies:

Transfer the cooled ganache to a pastry bag, or do as Sweets did and use a ziplock bag with one of the bottom corners snipped off. Pipe a generous teaspoon (or more, depending on the size of your cookies; I probably used about a tablespoon for each of mine) onto one cookie, top with a second cookie. Repeat. Allow cookies to sit at room temperature about 30 minutes until set.

Share with a loved one, receive pledge of eternal devotion.

I am always single around Valentine’s Day. Always. 28 years of single Valentine’s Days. Fellas, behold what you’re missing.

This is a cookie that is full of delightful contradictions. It’s tender yet sturdy, light yet rich. The flavors are classic and nostalgic, the execution refined. My lingerie pick is perhaps unexpected, yet it perfectly captures the cookie’s many moods, and it’s so, so appropriate for Valentine’s Day. Behold, from Dottie’s Delights:

Bricolage Longline Bra, Garter Belt, and Knickers, Long Sheer Dressing Robe. All by Dottie’s Delights. Bra ($225) 32-34 A-D, Garter Belt ($125) and Knicker ($85) XS-XL, Robe ($170) One Size.

Sophisticated, elegant, retro, and sexy as hell. I will have a robe like that one day, as God is my witness.

Sugar and Spice Cookies

Posted on October 15, 2012 by Sweets

I’m so predictable when it comes to my baking. As soon as the temperatures drop below sixty all I can think about is all of the delicious, warm, comforting things I didn’t want to bake when it was hot out. Sweet potatoes, roasted root vegetables, homemade pizzas, biscuits, rolls, bread, pumpkin, and, most of all, anything involving the spices many North Americans associate with Fall and Winter desserts: cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves. One of the things you learn in a lot of acting schools is the idea of sense memory, which I’m about to explain appallingly badly because I can’t be bothered to dig up any of my old notes (yep, I kept all of my notebooks and papers, in case the Hamlet paper I wrote when I was 15 changes the course of English Renaissance scholarship). The idea is that sensory experiences are strongly linked to memories, and if we can identify a personal sensory experience that links to a strong emotional memory, then we can engage that sensory experience in performance and take any given moment to a deep, powerful place. Of all of our senses, smell has the strongest ties to memory, hands-down.

Baking these cookies is an instant mood booster. The sweet scent of the molasses and spices automatically takes me to childhood memories: Christmas, Thanksgiving, learning to bake from my mother, making cookies with schoolfriends. I’ve made these so often that once I pull out the recipe each Fall, I can pretty much coast by on memory for the rest of the season. These are classic, simple cookies, adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (my mom’s has a fading red plaid cover, each section separated by a yellow tab. I think her edition is from the 1970s or 1980s). I love them in their simplest form, but I’m also not afraid to try to mix things up, so I present to you my adapted version.

So, look, these cookies call for shortening. Shortening is one of those ingredients that I use but kind of wish I didn’t have to. It has absolutely zero flavor, and it’s super-processed and kind of weird and white and gunky and — ew. That being said, it makes baked things fluffy like nothing else. These cookies are in the gingersnap family, but they’re soft and tender and chewy, and that’s thanks in part to shortening. You can substitute butter if you want, but you’ll lose some of the chew and get a crisper, snappier cookie.

I’m not sure why I have so much whole wheat flour in my pantry right now, because I think I’ve baked with it twice in my life. I decided to take it out for a spin with these cookies. Whole wheat flour has well-known health benefits (more fiber, protein, etc. than white flour), but it can mess with your baking if you’re not careful– the flavor can overwhelm milder ingredients, the texture can toughen a cookie or cake, and the final product can dry out quickly. To counterract some of these problems, I cut the whole wheat flour with some all-purpose flour, I definitely used shortening (instead of butter), and I added an egg for more moisture.

I also upped the ante, flavor-wise. Kicking up the ginger helps, and I expanded on the original recipe’s three spices to add two of my favorites: nutmeg and cardamom. These two spices improve everything from basic crème brûlée and cheesecakes to quiches and macaroni and cheese. As long as you have a hefty kick of ginger and cinnamon, feel free to use any other spice you love and have on hand. I also found a stash of crystallized ginger in my pantry. Crystallized ginger is very sweet and quite spicy, so I reduced the amount of sugar in the cookies to compensate. If you leave the crystallized ginger out, increase the brown sugar to 2 cups.

Molasses Spice Cookies
adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook

1 1/2 c. vegetable shortening
1 3/4 c. dark brown sugar, packed
3 eggs
1/2 c. molasses
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 c. crystallized ginger, finely chopped
1 c. all-purpose flour
3 c. whole wheat flour
4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
5 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp. ground cardamom

about 1/2 – 3/4 c. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Sift together the flours, salt, baking soda, and spices onto a piece of waxed paper; set aside.

Making these cookies just makes me feel so damned domestic. Never mind that the laundry pile is taking over my room and I think some of the dust bunnies are sentient.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the shortening, brown sugar, eggs, molasses, and vanilla. Beat on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes until well-mixed and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the crystallized ginger and beat for about 30 seconds until incorporated. With the mixer running on low, using the waxed paper as a funnel, slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter, mixing until just combined. Use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl and make sure that all the dry ingredients have been incorporated.

Pour the granulated sugar into a small bowl. Roll out a blob of dough, about 1 heaping tablespoon, into a ball using your hands. Drop the ball into the sugar, turning to coat, and then place on the prepared cookie sheet. Space the cookies evenly, about two inches apart. Bake cookies for 12-13 minutes until the centers are set and the edges are just starting to deepen in color. If you prefer a crisper, snappier cookie, increase the bake time by a few minutes. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet or transfer to a plate. These go so perfectly with coffee and tea, and I have been known to have one with bourbon or whisky.

Chamomile tea, because I walk on the wild side.

Knowing that refrigerator time works miracles for chocolate chip cookies, I experimented to see if allowing the dough to rest in the refrigerator made any noticeable differences to the finished product. The batch made right away was pretty good– tender and moist, but I wanted to see if some time in the refrigerator would maybe make them a bit denser and chewier, or even help soften some of the aggressiveness of the whole wheat flavor. Did it? Honestly, not noticeably. The whole wheat flavor mellowed a bit and the ginger stood out a bit more, but the first batch and the second batch seemed evenly matched, texture-wise. If you’re not a fan of whole wheat flour, a rest in the fridge will help your dough, but if you don’t care then carry on!

* * * * *

Since ginger cookies are both sassy and sweet, I paired them with Freya’s new Carys style, available in a longline or balconette bra.

“Carys” longline bra. Available in sizes 30 D-G, 32-38 C-G. Pictured with matching short, sizes XS-XL.

The soft brown color and whimsical print give this set a sweet, retro touch, while the flirty lace and half-cup/cleavage-rocking shape bring the spice. I really, really, really, really wish Freya would expand their longline styles past G cups. I think if I say it enough times maybe someone will listen to me. Women in the G+ cup size spectrum would benefit so much from the deeper band (5-7 hooks on most longline styles), both in terms of comfort and support. Plus I just think longline bras are sexy.

The balconette bra, available in sizes 28 D-J, 30-36 D-K, 38 D-J. Pictured with matching Brazilian brief, sizes XS-XL.

Slap a longline band on this cup shape and you’d have a longline bra up to a K-cup. Says I. One day some designer/pattern-maker is going to smack me upside the head with their construction knowledge and why all the things I suggest aren’t possible, and I will be humbled. Till then: longline balconette bras! Sweets wants one!

Carys is available at Bare Necessities, Bloomingdales (holy pants, Bloomingdales is carrying Freya and Fantasie now!), Figleaves, ASOS, and Nordstrom, among others.

Pretty Darned Great Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted on August 19, 2012 by Sweets

I never thought I’d post a recipe for chocolate chip cookies. Everybody everywhere makes chocolate chip cookies. Everyone has their favorite recipe, their secret trick, their family’s classic. Heated debates will start between chewy vs. crispy camps and nuts vs. no-nuts supporters (chewy, obviously, and I go back and forth on nuts). The New York Times interviewed some of the major players in the baking world and declared that they’d found the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe. So I figured the chocolate chip cookie thing had been done to death.

Good grief. It weighed more than Gus.

But you see, I bought a seriously huge bag of chocolate chips at Costco that I thought at the time would be a solid investment, and then I got them home and remembered that chocolate chips are my Kryptonite and they were going to destroy me unless I used up as many of them as I could. I’ve been pretty good about actually putting them in food instead of straight into my mouth, and I’m going to use the tail-end of the bag to make a batch of Deb’s fudge pops here soon. This weekend, though, was the first weekend in a while I haven’t been lying in bed sick in some way or other, the temperature has dropped and it is lovely and breezy and slightly overcast, and my apartment is slowly getting cleaner, and what could possibly be more cozy and domestic than chocolate chip cookies? I usually just crank out the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag, but I felt slightly more industrious, so I did my internet research, chose a little of this recipe and a little of that one, made some lucky mistakes, and somehow produced what might be the best chocolate chip cookies I, Sweets, have ever made. I wouldn’t go so far as to say that they’re the ULTIMATE ones, but I did find some simple little tweaks that take a classic recipe to levels of Dang, These Are Pretty Darned Good. Continue reading →

Chocolate Crack (um, Crack-Up, rather) Cookies

Posted on July 22, 2012 by Sweets

My lingerie and lady-business posts vastly outnumber my recipes at this point, but even so, the recipes are embarrassingly choco-centric. I can’t help it, chocolate is my drug of choice. This recipe is another oldie-but-goodie from Death by Chocolate Cookies, and I’ve been making it since I was in middle school. These cookies are so, so good and appealingly simple: you stir your ingredients together, chill the dough while you’re doing other things (painting your nails and watching Captain America being my preference), put them in the oven, and through the magic of baking, the outside morphs into a craggy, crackled chocolate landscape. They’re also very tender, chewy, and addictive, and I’ll note that they don’t travel particularly well. No matter how carefully I’ve packed them in the past, they tend to arrive at their destination sadly beyond repair. They do freeze well, if you’re one of those weird people for whom batches of cookies linger longer than a few days, but be sure to seal the container tightly.

Chocolate Crack(-up) Cookies
adapted, barely, from Death by Chocolate Cookies by Marcel Desaulniers

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 c. granulated sugar
1/2 c. vegetable oil
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. confectioner’s sugar

Continue reading →

Compliments, and also Recommended Reading: Be Less Crazy About Your Body by Megan Dietz

Posted on July 7, 2012 by Sweets

Lady Mary recently recommended (in response to Fighting) a short book called Be Less Crazy About Your Body. It’s by a hilarious writer named Megan Dietz, and the Kindle version is only $2.99, and Kindle books cost pretend money anyway (wheeeee credit card bill!), so I bought that sucker right up. I love pretty much everything about it. It took me fewer than two commutes to finish, and I was nodding in recognition the whole time. She has lots of stories, wisecracks, examples, and helpful tips for, as the title says, being less crazy about our bodies. Because y’all? We’re kind of crazy about our bodies.

I’m not talking about body-focused people like athletes who are training or conditioning, or unhealthy eaters (sigh, hello, my name is Sweets, and sometimes I eat dessert for breakfast) who decide to make healthier eating choices. I’m talking about when we accept the crazy thoughts our brains churn out as absolute and unyielding truths, and then lock those crazy thoughts into a pattern of permanence.

Like, here’s an example. For some reason it’s socially acceptable, nay, expected, for women to talk shit about their bodies. Now, if we’re Ladies, we know not to shit-talk other women’s bodies (if you can’t say something nice, etc., which logically we should apply to ourselves, but we never do). So we decide the only alternative is to talk shit about our own bodies. It becomes a security blanket, a crutch, a social lubricant as appealing as any alcoholic beverage. Meeting new ladies in a group? Want to tell one of them you like her dress/hair/shoes? Be sure to add “I wish I had your/I hate my” so everyone is reassured that you don’t actually feel good about yourself. Then the other party is free to respond “What, are you kidding me? I need to lose 1000 pounds and my hair is gross.” As Megan says, “Girls, girls, don’t fight, you’re both revolting.” Continue reading →

Chocolate-Chip Rum Bars, for Dad

Posted on June 14, 2012 by Sweets

The sweet tooth gene is pretty strong in my family. Mom taught me how to bake, and Dad taught me that Reese’s cups are some of the greatest inventions in the world. Dad is a fan of the classic desserts: chocolate chip cookies, pecan pie and coconut cake, just to name a few. I remember being in the first grade and sitting at the kitchen table in a puddle of frustration with a math worksheet in front of me. I had been having trouble with double-digit subtraction, apparently, and Dad went to the pantry, got a bag of chocolate chips, sat down next to me, poured some out onto the table, and used them as incentive/visual aids. They worked. Perhaps too well: chocolate chips only enter my apartment if a specific recipe requires them, because they don’t linger once the bag is opened.

In honor of Dad and his mathematical genius, I’m sending these chocolate chip bars to him for Father’s Day this weekend. The recipe is adapted from about three different sources, but mostly from my lovely friend Mary Frances, who introduced these dangerously addictive beauties in her blog. Thanks to Deb at SmittenKitchen and her hundreds of commenters, I discovered that you can pretty much put whatever the heck you want in there. Dad gets chocolate chips, pecans, coconut, and rum (one of our cats used to slink into the living room and take sips of Dad’s rum-and-diet-coke when he wasn’t watching). Happy Father’s Day, Daddy! Thanks for your continuing ignorance of my underwear blog.

Chocolate Chip Rum Bars

Continue reading →

Cherry (or Peanut) M&M Cookies

Posted on May 5, 2012 by Sweets

With the exception of substituting my personal crack, Cherry M&Ms, for peanut M&Ms, this recipe comes directly from the first cookbook I ever bought myself. It was at a book fair in the gym of my elementary school, and I believe I was in the fourth or fifth grade. It’s called Death by Chocolate Cookies by Marcel Desaulniers, whose restaurant The Trellis in Colonial Williamsburg had recently seduced my taste buds on an extra-special grown-up dinner out. I stalked this book for the entirety of the fair, defying anyone to purchase it before I’d had time to go home and check my savings bank. It’s such a ridiculously decadent book, and it’s totally nonchalant and open about its decadence. I read it and re-read it like a novel growing up, and I learned a lot about ingredients and baking techniques from the excellent cook’s notes. I also learned how to be a chocolate snob, to the extent that Mom still calls me in a panic from the grocery store to make sure she’s purchasing chocolate with the appropriate percentage of cacao solids. You’re welcome Mom! I’m a treasure.

I don’t know why Cherry M&Ms appeared a few years ago, disappeared and were gone forever in spite of a trip to the nightmare that is M&M World in Times Square, where the staff claimed they’d never heard of cherry ones, only for them to reappear suddenly as limited edition holiday offerings for Christmas and Valentine’s Day this year. I DO know that I had to force myself not to buy 100 bags of them, because I would have eaten all 100 bags at once. They are artificially flavored horrors, and they are magnificent. Up the ante by adding them to MASSIVE chocolate cookies? Don’t mind if I do.

2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
6 oz. semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 c. Cherry (or, fine, if you have to, Peanut) M&Ms

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, and line several cookie sheets with parchment paper (never waxed paper. Y’all know this, right? As a wee child, I didn’t. Waxed paper + heat = nothing good). Sift the dry ingredients into a large bowl and set aside. Melt chocolate in a double boiler over low heat, or use the lazy person method and melt it in a Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until melted and being careful not to let it burn. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugars on medium for 3-4 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Add the eggs and vanilla, and beat for an additional 2 minutes until well combined. Pour in the melted chocolate and mix for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again. Slowly incorporate the sifted dry ingredients. Dump in the M&Ms and stir gently until combined (dough will be very stiff). Use 3 heaping tbsp. of dough per cookie, place 6 on each cookie sheet, and bake for 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool 30 minutes before devouring.

Sweet Nothings

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