Birds Nest Cookies

This is a new cookie we made for Santa last year, but in my never ending list of things to do, I never posted this recipe. My delay actually works out because these make great Easter cookies. To be honest, they are not my favorite, but they are so easy to make. If you have little ones, they'll have fun helping, and the best part is that their fingers get dirty from forming the nests so they'll just like being able to lick their fingers when they're done.

The recipe calls for a mix of chocolate chips and butterscotch chips. I think the reason I don't like these are the butterscotch chips - they just don't taste natural. Perhaps I need to find a better butterscotch chip. But there's no reason why you couldn't make these with just chocolate or white chocolate chips. White chocolate would make a pretty cookie for Easter and spring time. And then fill with pastel M&Ms or little foiled eggs - pretty!

Ingredients:
1 bag of chocolate chips (11 ounces)
1 bag of butterscotch chips (11 ounces)
1/4 tsp vanilla
1 bag chow mein noodles (12 ounces)
candy for decorating/filling

Directions:
Melt chocolate and butterscotch chips in double boiler and stir until smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Stir in chow mein noodles until completely coated. Drop coated noodles onto parchment of wax paper. Make a little "well" with a spoon or your fingers in the center and add candy of your choice. The chocolate set ups fast so you need to work quickly.

"H" is for Hazelnut Shortbread Cookies

Our weekly recipes have become something some of our local businesses here in Cape Charles, Virginia look forward to each week. We usually have more than enough for the students and teachers at the school we make them for, and we don't need to eat all the "left overs" ourselves, so we bring them around town. Some ask, "what are you making next week?"

When it came to planning for the letter "H", we tossed around a few ideas and then the owner of brown dog ice cream (who is always first stop for our leftovers deliveries) offered us hazelnuts from her shop. Sure! We can do something with hazelnuts. 

Well, who knew that hazelnuts need to be husked. Apparently a lot of people because there are plenty of articles online about the "best" way to do it. Not sure if there is a best way, but I will tell you that there is no easy way. So the process to make these cookies took quite a long time. If you want to make these, find hazelnuts that are already husked, or don't wait until 11 pm to make them like we did because it will take a lot longer.

 
Ingredients:

• 3 cup all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cup (3 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cup finely ground, husked, toasted hazelnuts
• 3 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 8 ounces milk chocolate, chopped
• 2/3 cup coarsely chopped husked toasted hazelnuts

Preparation:

Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl until smooth. Beat in 1/2 cup finely ground hazelnuts and vanilla. Beat in flour mixture until just combined. 

Shape dough by tablespoonfuls into 3-inch-long logs onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake 325°F until light golden brown around edges, about 20 minutes. Cool on baking sheet 5 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool cookies completely. 

Chocolate Topping:

Stir milk chocolate in top of double boiler over barely simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Place 1/3 cup coarsely chopped hazelnuts in small bowl. Dip 1 end of cookie into melted chocolate, then into coarsely chopped hazelnuts. Return to rack. Repeat with remaining cookies. Let stand until chocolate is set, about 1 hour. (Cookies can be made 2 days ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.) 

We scooped our cookies and dropped about a teaspoonful of chocolate on the top, then sprinkled the chopped nuts. 

"G" is for Gingersnaps

Greg will usually look at a recipe and then start changing it. Drives me insane because he just seems to wing it and things always turn out pretty darn good. For this recipe, he takes no credit. It comes from "Cookies Unlimited" by Nick Malgieri, page 194, published in 2000. Chef Malgieri takes no credit either, but received the recipe from the winner of a baking contest he judged. Greg's gotten rave reviews when he bakes these so it's no wonder these were the winning entry.  


The Good Cook's Gingersnaps

Ingredients:
2 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
12 Tbs unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks)
1 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup for finishing
1 large egg
1/4 cup molasses


Directions:
Combine flour, baking soda, salt and spices in bowl and mix together. In electric mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter and 1 cup sugar on medium speed for about 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Add egg and mix. Lower speed and beat in half the dry ingredients, then molasses. Scrape down sides of bowl and beater. Add remaining dry ingredients and mix. Remove bowl from mixer, scrape and do one final mix of dough by hand.

Place remaining 1/2 cup sugar in small, shallow bowl. Use small ice cream scoop to make 1-inch balls of dough. Round out balls of dough by rolling in your hands, and then roll each dough ball in sugar. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes until cookies have spread, colored and surface crackles slightly. Cookies should be firm to touch. Slide paper from cookie sheet onto cooling rack, but leave cookies on paper for 5 more minutes before removing. Cookies will crisp up as they cool. If you try to pull them off immediately, they usually stick to the paper.

We recommend using a coarser sugar for rolling so that you can actually see the sugar after they've baked. If you use a extra fine or even just regular sugar, it soaks right in.

Okay, Greg couldn't resist making an adjustment, but that doesn't mean it's his recipe. He adds 1/4 tsp vanilla when he adds the egg. Greg likes adding vanilla to lots of things, but that's a whole other blog post in itself.