Buttery Lingonberry Jam Cookies -- Tuesdays with Dorie

Thank you to Heather of Randomosity and the Girl who chose Buttery Jam Cookies as our TWD treat of the week! These were wonderful and probably our family favorite cookie that we've tried so far in Dorie's book. I baked at 350 (my standard for cookies) instead of 375 and decided to roll the cookies into little balls and then flatted them a little before baking. I did my first sheet as a drop cookie and they looked more like jagged drop biscuits and didn't spread at all. You can see in the picture below the ones on the left were the rolled ones. They were really easy to roll so that was a plus.

Here is a shot of the bottoms, which ended up nicely browned even though the top of the cookie was rather pale. Some powdered sugar really dressed these little gems up.

I used lingonberry jam -- a favorite of mine that I first had in Sweden years ago, and now I must have in my pantry or fridge at all times :)

I know that of all the TWD cookies we've tried so far these will probably be made most often since they are easy and the flavor is wonderful, I love the fruity sweetness from the jam and you can't really put your finger on the ginger but it gives it a little kick. Can't wait to try another batch with a different jam!

Ricotta Pancakes with Roasted Apples -- Tyler Florence Fridays

This week for Tyler Florence Fridays I tried Tyler's Ricotta Pancakes with Roasted Golden Delicious Apples and Roasted Prosciutto. I left out the prosciutto, of course ;)

Ricotta Pancakes with Roasted Apples

4 Golden Delicious apples
1/2 stick butter, melted
1/4 cup maple syrup

For the pancakes

2 cups ricotta
4 large eggs, separated
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch salt
Butter, for cooking
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting, optional
1 cup maple syrup, warmed on stove-top

For the topping:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Cut each apple into thirds, remove the cheeks and discard the core. Slice each piece into 4 and toss with butter and maple syrup in a large bowl. Transfer to a roasting pan and place in the oven. Roast the apples until they are fork-tender and slightly caramelized on the top, about 30 to 45 minutes depending on ripeness of the fruit.

here are the apples before roasting

Combine the ricotta, egg yolks, buttermilk, lemon juice, and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Sift the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together into the ricotta mixture and stir until fully combined. In a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form and then gently fold into the batter.


Heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat and add a little butter (I did the pancakes on a griddle). Cook 2 to 3 pancakes at a time using a 6-ounce ladle or measuring cup to pour the batter into the pan. The trick to perfect round pancakes to carefully pour all the batter in the same spot and let it roll out to a complete circle. Cook the pancakes on 1 side until they set.


When small bubbles appear on the uncooked surface, flip the pancakes and cook until golden on both sides, about 6 minutes. Keep the pancakes on a plate set at the back of the stove under a dry towel to keep warm while you make the rest. To serve, lay the pancakes on a plate and dust with confectioners' sugar. Serve with roasted apples and warm maple syrup.


We are big pancake fans in this family! I love to try new recipes for pancakes, but my kids and husband have a favorite recipe I make and are not quite as enthuastic as I am about trying new recipes. These pancakes were okay, I liked them, not a favorite, but my husband and the kids weren't impressed. I'd say these are more souffle-ish grown-up style pancakes that my family just wasn't expecting. Oh-well. The apples were nice but didn't get browned or caramelized a little like I'd expected even though I baked them the entire time. All in all it was a nice dish that was a touch more work than the average pancake breakfast.

All-Occasion Sugar Cookie Bars for Tuesdays with Dorie -- and -- Orange Rum Pizzelles for Pizzelle Party Week

Holiday baking is now in full swing! What fun! This week for Tuesdays with Dorie we took a chance with "Grandma’s All-Occasion Sugar Cookies" picked by Ulrike of Küchenlatein -- you can visit her website for the recipe or find it in Dorie's book, Baking From My Home To Yours.

I made these twice, the first time around I had planned to use these as out cut-out Christmastime cookies, complete with frosting and sprinkles and lots of cute shapes. We did a trial run with a few shapes...


and found that they were really difficult to roll out, even after chilling. Totally impossible to roll, cut, and transfer to a baking sheet, so I tried to roll them out on the cookie sheet and then pull the excess dough up around them and just bake the shapes. Didn't really work out that well. So for the rest of the dough I figured I'd do the 'roll and slice' method -- then continue with the frosting and sprinkles, for the kids. Here they are after baking, we taste tested one and they taste nice but are not the kind of cookies I imagined they'd be. I love thick, soft, chewy sugar cookies and these were more dense, crunchy sugar cookies. We didn't end up frosting them, but between my husband and the kids this small batch of cookies lasted barely more than a day -- yikes! I would call these more 'butter cookies' than 'sugar cookies' -- almost like a shortbread.


Which brings me to my second batch of these cookies -- I hadn't had a chance to try my new 12 Days Of Christmas shortbread pan (by Chicago Metallic), and thought these would be perfect to give it a go. The recipe as written made just enough to fit into the pan, but the shapes didn't turn out too well, probably because I had a tough time smooshing the cookie dough down in there...



Good news is that the pan performed beautifully and released the cookies with no problem. I can't wait to try this pan again with an actual shortbread recipe :)



What I ended up with were sugar cookie bars and they ended up being amazing! Go figure -- we thought these turned out much better than the cookies from the same dough. The only change I made to the recipe the second time around was to add a whole second egg, rather than just a second egg yolk.

Aren't the delicious looking?

That's all for TWD this week, but I do have another cookie to share, yesterday I started Pizzelle Party Week here at Nummy Kitchen, and today I have a recipe for...

Orange Rum Pizzelles

3 eggs

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons rum

2 teaspoons grated orange peel

1/2 cup melted and cooled butter

Juice of one orange -- about 1/4 cup

Sift together flour and baking powder in small bowl. In medium bowl whisk together eggs and sugar. Add cooled melted butter, rum, orange juice and zest. Slowly whisk in flour. Drop by tablespoons onto pizzelle iron and bake for about 30 seconds -- depending on your pizzelle maker.

Love that orange zest!

The pizzelle maker I'm sharing today is a Salton Holiday Pizzelle maker from the late 1990s. It makes two pizzelles at a time and each has two different holiday designs, a santa face and a Christmas tree, and holly berries and a deer. The pizzelle designs are also available on a pizzelle maker made by Windmere, they are the exact same plates on the inside, but the Windmere pizzelle press is white and the Salton model is black.

Yes, that's Jimmy Buffett's Christmas Island CD off to the left side :) My husband loves to laugh at me as I dance around the house to Christmas music from October - January. Sometimes I have to break out a Christmas CD in July because I miss the holidays but don't tell anyone.

Happy Holiday Baking!

Mickey Mouse Cookie Baker -- Pizzelle Party Week

Time for a special "Maker Monday" where I share about an unnecessary but fun small kitchen appliance :) I thought this would be the perfect week to do some posts about pizzelles, thin Italian cookies. Pizzelles are usually baked on a special waffle iron type maker, or sometimes on pizzelle irons that you can cook over the stove. They are very popular around Christmastime and long ago in Italy many families had special pizzelle irons with their family crest on them and they could make batches of these cookies to pass on to friends for the holidays. Pizzelle cookies can be flavored many different ways, but I think that anise is the most traditional and popular. I will try out a new pizzelle recipe every day this week, so preheat your pizzelle irons and get ready to have some fun in the kitchen!

The first pizzelle iron I have to share is the Villaware Mickey Cookie Baker. This one is a favorite of my 2 year old, who was Mickey Mouse for Halloween and loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. We made "Original Mickey Cookies" which is just a traditional pizzelle recipe that makes a small batch (30 cookies) and is a great base recipe to play with.

Original Mickey Cookies

3 eggs
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon pure anise extract
1/2 cup butter, margarine - melted - or oil
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla

Beat eggs and sugar. Add cool melted butter or margarine, and vanilla and anise. Sift flour and baking powder and add to egg mixture. Batter will be stuff enough to be dropped by soon. Batter can be refrigerated to be used at a later time.

Recipe courtesy of Villaware Mickey Cookie Baker Recipe & Instruction Booklet.

Check back tomorrow for Tuesdays with Dorie and another fun pizzelle maker and recipe!

My Kitchen My World -- Ethiopia

This week My Kitchen My World got to try some Ethiopian cuisine, thank you Elra and Lauren. I had heard quite a bit about Ethiopian food but never had any. I made an amazing bread that we all loved, Ethiopian Honey Bread Aka Yemarina Yewotet Dabo. The directions are very vague so I just went with the ingredient list and found my own way with the baking and rising, I ended up baking it for 30 minutes at 350 and it was perfect! The spices were lovely and the honey made it just a touch sweet. I was debating the coriander amount, one tablespoon of any spice seems like way too much, but I had it on hand and thought, well, what if it really makes this recipe, so I went with the whole tablespoon and was not disappointed or overwhelmed with the coriander in the finished loaf. The kids, my mom, my husband, and myself all loved this bread -- a very rare occurrence around here, since we are a house of picky eaters. I can tell that this will be a new family favorite bread.

I also made an Ethiopian lentil dish, Berbere Stew, which was delicious. I loved that it had the spice mixture for berbere since pre-blended is not something I can find around here. The only spice I was missing was fenugreek, and I hadn't heard about that since I was taking it as a supplement a year and a half ago. While I was taking it as a supplement I had no idea it was also a spice.

I really enjoy the spices and flavors of both of these recipes and can't wait to try some more Ethiopian foods! I am really close to ordering some teff flour so I can make injera which sounds like something I'd really enjoy. What a fun MKMW pick :)

Szechwan Eggplant Stir-Fry -- Tyler Florence Fridays

I can't believe I haven't posted since Tuesday and here it is Friday already, wow! The older I get the faster time seems to go by, especially around the holidays. I hope everyone is having a wonderful December and having lots of fun in the kitchen :) Time for a Tyler Florence recipe for Tyler Florence Fridays -- this week I chose a quick Chinese style dish --

Szechwan Eggplant Stir-Fry courtesy Tyler Florence and JoAnn Cianciulli.

5 Asian eggplants, about 2 pounds (I used two medium sized regular eggplants)
3 tablespoons peanut oil (used vegetable oil)
1 tablespoon dark sesame oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 green onions, white and green parts, sliced on a diagonal
1-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and minced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 fresh red chile, sliced (used a little chili sauce instead)
1/2 cup chicken broth (used vegetable broth)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
1 tablespoon light brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
Thai holy basil and fresh cilantro leaves, for garnish

Cut the eggplants in 1/2 lengthwise and then slice crosswise into wedges, no more than 1-inch wide.

Heat a wok or large skillet over medium-high flame and add the oils; tilt the pan to coat all sides. When you see a slight smoke, add a layer of eggplant, stir-fry until seared and sticky, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the eggplant to a side platter and cook the remaining eggplant in same manner, adding more oil, if needed.

After all the eggplant is out of the pan, add the green onions, ginger, garlic, and chile; stir-fry for a minute until fragrant. Add the broth. In a small bowl, mix the soy sauce, vinegar, sugar, and cornstarch until the sugar and cornstarch are dissolved. Pour the soy sauce mixture into the wok and cook another minute, until the sauce has thickened. Put the eggplant back in the pan, tossing quickly, until the sauce is absorbed. Garnish with sesame seeds, Thai basil, and cilantro and serve.

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Even though I made some substitutions and skipped a couple hard to find ingredients this still turned out really tasty. I am a big eggplant fan so I knew I would love this. I made it for a quick lunch and was wishing I had made some noodles or rice to go with, I feel kind of silly that I didn't looking back, since the eggplants have such a strong flavor, oh-well. I loved the sauce and think it would be great with any kind of veggie stir fry. Can't wait to try this one again with Asian eggplants if I can ever find them. I've been thinking of starting a garden next spring and if that ever happens, I plan to grow a few varities of eggplants, and Asian will be one of them.

Thank you to Natashya, Deb, and Megan, for hosting this wonderful group! I can't wait to see what Tyler recipes everyone else has tried this week :)

Linzer Sables -- Tuesdays with Dorie

The kiddos and I made these last night, these cookies were fun, easy, beautiful, and delicious! Even super picky husband loved them :) I used blackberry jam that we bought at an orchard this past fall and it went perfectly with the almonds. Thank you, Noskos, of Living the Life -- who picked Dorie's Linzer Sables as out first recipe of December!

I think I didn't get my almonds ground quite as finely as they should have been, but that turned out to be fine in the end and gave a nice nutty texture.

These were easy to roll and cut, and transferred nicely to the baking pans. Seems like that is usually the trickiest part of cut out cookies. I kept the baking temperature at 350, I rarely go any higher than that with cookies and was glad I didn't go up to 375. They were perfectly baked, just slightly browned around the edges at about 10 minutes.

I did not heat the jam at all, I just stirred in a touch of water, and that seemed to work well for me.

These cookies were such a special treat, I love how delicate they look, how easily they went together, and how after baking they were sturdy enough to spread on some jam and not break. I would love to try these again with pecans in the dough and peach preserves. There are so many possible variations and these could be easily personalized with your favorite nuts and fruit spread. For the recipe, please visit Noskos of Living the Life -- or find it in Dorie's Baking From My Home To Yours. Happy holiday baking :)