Category Archives: recipes

baking, recipes

Thin Mints

Last night, a dream came true. I made Thin Mints. The recipe is adapted from one at 101 Cookbooks. Her recipe is “all-natural.” I don’t keep organic powdered sugar on hand (or organic much of anything else, for that matter), so my cookies weren’t all-natural. They were, nonetheless, quite good. So good, in fact, that one of my co-workers dubbed me The Queen. Of cookies, I guess.

The cookies are scary-easy to make. The most difficult part was coating the wafers, and that was more mind-numbing than difficult. They have to be coated one at a time, and it just takes a while. Because the recipe makes something like 48 cookies.

Here’s the non-all-natural Thin Mints recipe.

Homemade, Unnatural Thin Mints
8 ounces butter, room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cocoa powder
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
1 pound semi-sweet chocolate chips, chopped
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Preheat your oven to 350. Racks in the middle zone.

Make the cookie dough: In a mixer cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cream some more, scraping the sides of the bowl a couple times if necessary. Stir in the vanilla extract and then the salt and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter is smooth and creamy, sort of like a thick frosting. Add the whole wheat pastry flour and mix just until the batter is no longer dusty looking, it might still be a bit crumbly, and that’s o.k. You don’t want to over mix and end up with tough cookies.

Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and kneed it just once or twice to bring it together into once nice, smooth mass. Place the ball of dough into a large plastic bag and flatten it into a disk roughly 3/4-inch thick. Place the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill.

Rollout and bake: Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin, remember how thin Thin Mints are? That’s how thin you need your dough, about 1/8-inch. You can either roll it out between two sheets of plastic, or dust your counter and rolling pin with a bit of flour and do it that way. Stamp out cookies using a 1 1/2-inch cutter (this time I used one with a fluted edge, I’ve done hearts and other shapes in the past). Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a baking rack if you’ve got one.

Make the peppermint coating:
While the cookies are in the oven you can get the coating ready. I use a makeshift double boiler to melt chocolate (a metal pan over a saucepan of gently simmering water), but I know many people who swear by melting chocolate in the microwave. Slowly melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally until it is glossy and smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract. If you think the chocolate needs a bit more peppermint kick, add more extract a drop or two at a time – but don’t go overboard.

Finishing the cookies: You are going to coat the cookies one at a time and then gently set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet to set. Drop one cookie into the chocolate and (using a fork) carefully make sure it gets fully coated. Lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan to drain any extra chocolate off the cookie. You are after a thin, even coating of chocolate. Place on the aforementioned prepared baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set.

Make 3 or 4 dozen cookies.

Recipe from 101 Cookbooks, mostly.

Weight Watchers beware: These little babies are 2 Points each.

Eating, recipes

Sesame noodles

Here’s Phoebe’s recipe for sesame noodles, complete with Phoebe notes. We had this with a vegetable stir-fry, but I think it would make a great stand-alone dish for lunch or a light dinner.

Sesame Noodles
1 pound of pasta of your choice (I use whole-wheat pasta, usually spagetti or linguini)
1 bunch of green onions, chopped on the diagonal (they’re prettier that way)
1 red pepper, sliced into thin strips
3-4 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 cup peanut butter (I use chunky, but you can use creamy if you prefer)
1/4 cup Sesame seeds
6 tablespoon soy sauce (Tamari soy is particularly nice for this)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
1 1/2 inch piece of fresh ginger, minced
Pinch of brown sugar
3-4 tablespoons water
Toast the sesame seeds in a pan, stirring frequently

In a bowl combine half of the sesame seeds (reserve the other half for the noodles), peanut butter, soy sauce, fish sauce, rice wine vinegar, ginger, brown sugar and water. Mix until creamy. Set aside.

Drain cooked pasta and put in large mixing bowl. While the pasta is still hot, add sesame oil, then green onions and red peppers. Toss together with sauce. Add remaining sesame seeds. Serve hot or cold.

This is especially good when it has had a few hours in the fridge for the flavors to marry. For a heartier variation, you can marinate some tofu in sesame oil, soy sauce ginger and OJ, lightly bread and fry it, and toss it in at the last minute with the sesame seeds.

Eating, recipes

Sugar high

I finally got to make Martha Stewart’s recipe for Homemade Marshmallows. A word of advice: When Martha orders “an electric mixer with whisk attachment,” you ought to use the whisk attachment. I didn’t, and it was a nightmare of “Ghostbusters” proportions. The marshmallow goo was relentless in climbing the poor little mixer’s beaters. It was supposed to triple its volume. Ha. I have to let them air-dry overnight, so I won’t have a final prognosis until morning.

While I was being attacked by the marshmallows, Phoebe was preparing a batch of sweet, gentle truffles from her Vegetarian Times magazine.

Homemade Marshmallows
Makes about 40


Smore!
Originally uploaded by nichole_e.

2 1/2 tablespoons unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Combine gelatin and 1/2 cup cold water in the bowl of an electric mixer with whisk attachment. Let stand 30 minutes.

Combine granulated sugar, corn syrup, salt, and 1/2 cup water in a small heavy saucepan; place over low heat, and stir until sugar has dissolved. Wash down sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to dissolve sugar crystals.

Clip on a candy thermometer; raise heat to high. Cook syrup without stirring until it reaches 244 degrees (firm-ball stage). Immediately remove pan from heat.

With mixer on low speed, slowly and carefully pour syrup into the softened gelatin. Increase speed to high; beat until mixture is very thick and white and has almost tripled in volume, about 15 minutes. Add vanilla; beat to incorporate.

Generously dust an 8-by-12-inch glass baking pan with confectioners’ sugar. Pour marshmallow mixture into pan. Dust top with confectioners’ sugar; wet your hands, and pat it to smooth. Dust with confectioners’ sugar; let stand overnight, uncovered, to dry out. Turn out onto a board; cut marshmallows with a dry hot knife into 1 1/2-inch squares, and dust with more confectioners’ sugar.

Update: Marshmallows! So good! Especially with graham cracker crumbs and chocolate sprinkles!

Decadent Dairy-Free Chocolate Truffles
6 ounces high quality dark chocolate (60% cocoa), finely chopped
1/4 cup walnut, almond or canola oil
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 cup coconut

Place chocolate, oil and 1/3 cup water in microwave-safe bowl. Heat on high in microwave 1 minute. Stir; heat 1 minute more, or until chocolate has melted. Whisk until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap and chill 6 hours or overnight.

Place cocoa and coconut on separate plates. Shape truffle mixture by heaping teaspoonsful into small, 3/4-inch balls. Roll in cocoa or coconut. Chill until ready to serve.