Monthly Archives: December 2012
Gingerbread-Peppermint Pinwheels
| December 14, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under cookies, special projects, Winter |
These gingerbread-peppermint pinwheels are by far the easiest of the three cookie recipes I’m sharing this week. They’re also the most suited to be eaten alongside a steamy mug of hot cocoa. The flavor is intense, but it totally works. As Shawn said, “OMG, they taste like Christmas!”
Although they only have two ingredients, perfecting this recipe did give me some trouble – be sure to thoroughly chill these cookies before baking them, or the layers will spread and melt into each other as they bake and ruin the pinwheel effect. An hour in the freezer will suffice, but you can leave them in there longer for even better results. Roll the edges in red sanding sugar will give these cookies a festive sparkle and a sweet crunch!
This recipe makes a lot of cookies, but the recipe can easily be halved or quartered – just keep the dough frozen and bake them as you feel like eating them. (The prepared dough will keep frozen for several months.) Or, bake them all now, and spread some holiday cheer to your friends, family, and coworkers!
(I had a hard time finding the holiday cookie dough flavors – although I hear that it’s readily found at Target and Wal-Mart, the stores around here didn’t carry them. I ended up having the best luck out in the suburbs. For those of you in the Albany area, I’ve seen the dough at both the Niskayuna and Slingerlands Shop Rite.)
Gingerbread-Peppermint Pinwheels
Serves 56
Prep Time: 10 minutes; Total Time: 2 hours 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 roll (30 ounces) Pillsbury Refrigerated GingerbreadCookies
- 1 roll (30 ounces) Pillsbury Refrigerated PeppermintCookies
- Red Sanding Sugar (optional)
Preparation
- Place half the gingerbread dough between two (17×12 inch) sheets of waxed or parchment paper; roll out to 12×17 inch rectangle. Repeat with peppermint dough. Remove top sheet of wax paper from both sheets of dough; invert peppermint dough onto gingerbread dough. Gently press together and trim edges. Remove top sheet of wax paper.
- Starting with one of the long edges, roll dough tightly, jelly-roll style. (If the dough is too sticky to roll, refrigerate for 10 minutes.) Roll in sanding sugar, if using. Wrap tightly. Freeze for 1 hour or until firm. Repeat with remaining dough.
- Heat oven to 350F. Unwrap dough; with sharp knife cut into 1/4-inch slices. On ungreased cookie sheet, place slices 2 inches apart. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until set. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack.
Disclosure: This post was brought to you in partnership with Pillsbury. I was compensated for my time creating this recipe. All opinions are my own.
Orange Sugar Cookies with Burnt Caramel
| December 12, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under cookies, Indulge, Shawn's Favorites, special projects |
The chocolate peppermint ice cream cookie sandwiches that I posted on Monday probably won’t work for your holiday cookie exchanges, but these sugar cookies should more than make up for it. Flavored with a hint of orange zest and infused with caramel that’s slightly burnt – cooked just enough to give it a deep, rich note that balances out its sticky sweetness – these chewy cookies are elegant and sophisticated. They’re the kind of cookies that go better with champagne than with milk.
I’m pretty sure that these were Shawn’s favorite out of the three cookie recipes I developed for Pillsbury. He’s not generally a fan of sweets – unlike me, he can usually eat a cookie or two, enjoy them, and then not have any more – but these were a different story. He actually went back for seconds! These cookies, along with the ice cream sandwiches, are the only baked goods I’ve made in a long time that didn’t either end up getting mostly thrown out or brought in to work.
You can use store bought caramel sauce or dulce de leche if you must, but you really should try making your own. It’s not difficult at all and the subtle bitterness that you can get by cooking it just a touch longer than it needs to be is delicious (just think about the complexity of the burnt sugar on top of a creme brûlée and you’ll know what I mean.) You’ll end up with a good amount of caramel sauce left over; it will keep refrigerated for several weeks and is delicious spooned over ice cream or stirred into hot chocolate.
Also, as I logged in to write this post I noticed that it’s the 500th recipe that I shared here on Healthy. Delicious. 500 – that’s unbelievable! In the new year, I think I’ll have to go through ome of my archives and rework a few of my older recipes – I’m sure there are some great ones hidden in there that I’ve forgotten all about.
Orange Sugar Cookies with Burnt Caramel
Although these cookies are delicious warm from the oven, the caramel topping can be quite sticky until they are fully cooled. Avoid stacking them while they’re warm or they might stick together.
Serves 16
Prep Time: 20 minutes; Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 2 Tablespoons Butter, melted
- 1/4 cup Heavy Cream
- 1 roll (16.5 ounces) Pillsbury Refrigerated Sugar Cookies
- 1/4 cup Flour
- Zest from 1 Orange
Preparation
- Make the caramel sauce: In a large saucepan, heat suagr over medium-high heat. As sugar begins to melt, swirl the pan side to side frequently to help the sugar melt evenly. Continue to cook and swirl until the caramel turns deep amber. Cook 1 minute, or until the sauce begins to smoke; immediately remove from heat. Stir in cream; the mixture will bubble then settle down. Stir in the butter.
- Heat oven to 350F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment.
- In large bowl, crumble cookie dough. Add flour and orange zest; stir until well combined. Divide dough into 16 balls. Arrange dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Use a clean thumb or the back of a spoon to create a small indentation in the center of each cookie; fill each well with 1/4 teaspoon caramel sauce.
- Bake 10 minutes. Brush each cookie lightly with additional caramel sauce and bake 2-4 minutes or until cookies are set and caramel begins to bubble; remove to wire rack and cool.
Disclosure: This post was brought to you in partnership with Pillsbury. I was compensated for my time creating this recipe. All opinions are my own.
Roast Beef, Caramelized Onion + Gruyere Panini
| December 11, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Beef, Lamb, and Pork, Light, Quick Weeknight Meals, Sandwiches, Shawn's Favorites, special projects |
I’m only one post into Cookie Week but let’s take a quick break to talk about this sandwich, which was inspired by the flavors of French onion soup. Yup, that’s right: rare roast beef, soft, caramelized onions, and gooey gruyere cheese all tucked between two pieces of crisp bread. I could eat the panini every day of the week and be a happy camper; Shawn said it’s “even better than a burger.” Served on the side of some potato-leek soup, it was just about perfect.
When trying to come up with some unique ways to use Pillsbury Refrigerated Pizza Dough, I came up with the idea of using it as bread for sandwiches. There are only two of us in the house and we’re generally not big sandwich eaters, so I rarely by bread – we just don’t eat it fast enough and I don’t like the way it tastes after its been refrigerated or frozen. It turns out that pizza dough – especially the artisan variety made with whole grains – was the perfect solution to my bread problem. It keeps in the refrigerator for a long time and bakes up quickly wen you need it, and one tube makes the perfect amount (and we each get a leftover sandwich for lunch the next day!)
I discovered that Pillsbury already has a few recipes on their site that uses the dough this way, so the idea wasn’t as creative as I thought it was, but it’s still a great tip and a method that I’ll be using again!
Roast Beef, Caramelized Onion, and Gruyere Panini
Serves 4
Prep Time: 30 minutes; Total Time: 30 minutes
The roast beef will cook slightly as the sandwiches toast, so ask for the rarest roast beef that the deli has. Save time and help get dinner on the table quickly by caramelizing the onions while you wait for the oven to heat and the bread to bake.
Ingredients
- 1 can (13.8 ounces) Pillsbury Refrigerated Artisan Pizza Crust with Whole Grain
- 1 teaspoon Butter
- 1 Sweet Onion, such as Vidalia, thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons Mustard
- 1 pound cooked Roast Beef (from deli), thinly sliced
- 1 cup Arugula
- 1/3 pound Gruyere Cheese
Preparation
- Heat oven to 375. Spray large cookie sheet with cooking spray. Unroll dough onto sheet and press into 16×11 inch rectangle. Bake 9 to 16 minutes, or until slightly puffed and cooked through; remove from oven. Use sharp knife to cut crust in half lengthwise and crosswise to make 4 rectangles. Cut each rectangle in half crosswise for a total of 8 squares.
- Meanwhile, heat 12-inch skillet oven medium heat until hot. Melt butter in skillet. Add the onions and cook, stirring frequently, 15 to 20 minutes or until soft and golden brown. Spread 4 crust squares with mustard; top with roast beef, caramelized onions, arugula, and gruyere. Top with a second crust square.
- Place 2 sandwiches in skillet. Place smaller skillet or saucepan on sandwiches to flatten slightly; keep skillet on sandwiches while cooking. Cook 1 to 2 minuts on each side or until bread is crisp and fillings are heated. Repeat with remaning sandwiches.
This post was sponsored by Pillsbury and I was compensated by General Mills/Pillsbury for my time creating this recipe. All opinions are my own.
Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches
| December 10, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under cookies, Desserts, Indulge, special projects |
Yup, full on holiday baking mode had commenced. And I’m going to share it all with you this week. Ready for a flurry of posts? I have three great (and easy!) cookie recipes coming up for you today, Wednesday, and Friday. I’ll throw in a panini recipe on Tuesday for good measure. Whew!
Last month, Pillsbury asked me to hep them create several new cookie recipes that start with refrigerated cookie dough. I spent a few days in the kitchen perfecting three recipes and I really can’t pick a favorite, but these chocolate peppermint ice cream cookie sandwiches didn’t last very long at all in our house at all. The ice cream in these means they probably won’t work for your annual cookie swap, but that’s okay – it just means there will be more for you! I made a half batch, and we gobbled up all 4 of sandwiches over the course of a weekend.
Start with refrigerated sugar cookie dough, then make it your own by kneading in cocoa powder. This is a really easy way to doctor up prepared dough – it gives them a nice chocolatey flavor, a gorgeous deep-brown color, and reduces their moisture content to help the cookies keep their shape when you bake them. You’ll end up with thin chocolate wafers that are crisp on the edges and wonderfully chewy in the middle. You know that crackly top you get on a pan of good brownies? These cookies remind me of that.
Now, you can leave them like that and call it a day. No one will complain. But you could also dip half of each cookie into dark or milk chocolate. Or you can do what I did and stuff the cookies with peppermint ice cream to make a cookie sandwich that will give chipwich a run for it’s money. Roll the edges in crushed candy canes, red anding sugar, or (my favorite) peppermint baking chips to make them look all fancy, then freeze them until they’re firm. Try not to eat them all at once!
Chocolate Peppermint Ice Cream Sandwiches
These ice cream cookie sandwches are an easy to make treat the whole family will enjoy! For the neatest looking sandwiches, use the same cookie cutter that you used for the cookies – simply place it on the bottom cookie use it as a mold for the softened ice cream. Remove the cutter carefully before topping the sandwich with a second cookie.
Serves 8
Prep Time: 5 minutes; Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 roll (16.5 ounces) Pillsbury Refrigerated Sugar Cookies
- 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
- 2 cups Reduced Fat Peppermint Ice Cream, softened
- Crushed Candy Canes, Peppermint Baking Chips, or Red Sanding Sugar (optional)
Preparation
- Heat oven to 350.
- In large bowl, crumble cookie dough. Add cocoa powder; stir until combined.
- On a piece of wax paper or parchment paper, roll dough to 1/8 inch thickness. Use a 1 1/2-inch round cookie cutter to cut 16 circles, gathering and re-rolling scraps as needed. Arrange dough pieces on a greased cookie sheet.
- Bake 10-12 minutes or until done; remove to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 20 minutes.
- Place 1/4 cup softened ice cream on each of 8 cookies. Top with a second cookie; press gently to distribute ice cream. Roll edge in crushed candy canes, peppermint baking chips, or sanding sugar. Freeze at last 1 hour before serving.
Disclosure: This post was brought to you in partnership with Pillsbury. I was compensated for my time creating this recipe. All opinions are my own.
Cherry and Eggnog Breakfast Buns + a Giveaway
| December 5, 2012 | Posted by Lauren Keating under Breakfast, Cake and Pastry, Desserts, Fruit, Winter |
Holiday baking time is here! I’ve been craving cinnamon buns like crazy lately, but given that its the season of cookies, cakes, and everything sweet, all of that sugar didn’t seem like the best idea. Instead, I made these cherry and eggnog breakfast buns.
I used a combination of whole wheat pastry flour and bread flour to keep the buns super soft and pillowy while adding a little nutrition. Then, I swapped out the traditional cinnamon-sugar filling for stewed cherries (similar to the ones I used in my mini cherry-almond turnovers). Using eggnog instead of milk in both the buns and the glaze gave these a rich, warm flavor and adding a little extra holiday spirit!
These would be perfect on Christmas morning! Get a head start on breakfast by making them through step 3 the night before, then bake them off in the morning.
Cherry and Eggnog Breakfast Buns
Yields 12
Prep Time: 30 minutes; Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Eggnog is notorious for being laden with calories and fat, but back in October I saw coconut milk nog at the local co-op and I’ve been totally obsessed ever since. This stuff is gooood! And only 90 calories per half cup, which is a huge improvement on even light eggnog.
Starting the buns in a cool oven means a slightly longer cooking time but prevents the outsides of the buns from getting to crusty, resulting in a super soft cinnabon-style bun.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Coconut Milk Nog or Light Eggnog, warmed
- 1 Egg, slightly beaten
- 1/4 cup Butter, melted
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 2 cups Hodgson Mill Best for Bread Flour
- 1-1/2 cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 (1/4 ounce) package Hodgson Mill Active Dry Yeast
- 3/4 pound Frozen Black Cherries
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 1 ounce Pomegranate Juice
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 cup Butter, at room temperature
- 1-1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/4 cup Coconut Milk Nog or Light Eggnog
Preparation
- In bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add eggnog, egg, melted butter, oil, sugar, and salt. Mix until just combined. Add the flour and yeast. Mix on low speed until dough is very smooth and elastic, 10-15 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel; let rise in a warm place 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Add the cherries and sugar to a small saucepan over medium-high heat. After a minutes or two, the cherries with release their juices. Bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the fruit. Add the pomegranate juice and cornstarch to a small bowl or measuring cup. Stir to dissolve. Add to the cherries and boil 2 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Let cool completely.
- Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 9×13 inch rectangle. Spread surface evenly with stewed cherries. Starting with the long side, tightly roll the dough; pinch the seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal slices and arranged in two greased pie plates, leaving space between each bun. Cover with a damp towel and let rise 30 minutes.
- Remove the towels and place pans into cold oven. Turn on to 375F. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through. Cool.
- Use hand mixer to beat together butter, powdered sugar, and eggnog. Frost buns as desired just before serving.
Giveaway:
Enter to win a prize pack worth $25 from Hodgson Mill! Open to US residents only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: I was provided with flour from Hodgson Mill to use in developing this recipe but was not compensated in any other way.
Cherry and Eggnog Breakfast Buns
Yields 12
Prep Time: 30 minutes; Total Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
Eggnog is notorious for being laden with calories and fat, but back in October I saw coconut milk nog at the local co-op and I’ve been totally obsessed ever since. This stuff is gooood! And only 90 calories per half cup, which is a huge improvement on even light eggnog.
Starting the buns in a cool oven means a slightly longer cooking time but prevents the outsides of the buns from getting to crusty, resulting in a super soft cinnabon-style bun.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Coconut Milk Nog or Light Eggnog, warmed
- 1 Egg, slightly beaten
- 1/4 cup Butter, melted
- 1/4 cup Vegetable Oil
- 1/2 cup Sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 2 cups Hodgson Mill Best for Bread Flour
- 1-1/2 cups Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 (1/4 ounce) package Hodgson Mill Active Dry Yeast
- 3/4 pound Frozen Black Cherries
- 1 Tablespoon Sugar
- 1 ounce Pomegranate Juice
- 2 Tablespoons Cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1/4 cup Butter, at room temperature
- 1-1/2 cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/4 cup Coconut Milk Nog or Light Eggnog
Preparation
- In bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, add eggnog, egg, melted butter, oil, sugar, and salt. Mix until just combined. Add the flour and yeast. Mix on low speed until dough is very smooth and elastic, 10-15 minutes. Place dough in a greased bowl and cover with a wet towel; let rise in a warm place 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Meanwhile, prepare the filling: Add the cherries and sugar to a small saucepan over medium-high heat. After a minutes or two, the cherries with release their juices. Bring to a boil and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to break up the fruit. Add the pomegranate juice and cornstarch to a small bowl or measuring cup. Stir to dissolve. Add to the cherries and boil 2 minutes, or until the mixture thickens. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla extract. Let cool completely.
- Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and roll into a 9×13 inch rectangle. Spread surface evenly with stewed cherries. Starting with the long side, tightly roll the dough; pinch the seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal slices and arranged in two greased pie plates, leaving space between each bun. Cover with a damp towel and let rise 30 minutes.
- Remove the towels and place pans into cold oven. Turn on to 375F. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through. Cool.
- Use hand mixer to beat together butter, powdered sugar, and eggnog. Frost buns as desired just before serving.
Giveaway:
Enter to win a prize pack worth $25 from Hodgson Mill! Open to US residents only.
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Disclosure: I was provided with flour from Hodgson Mill to use in developing this recipe but was not compensated in any other way.
Comments