THE FRIDAY NIGHT RECIPE: CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

Happy December to you all my dear bloggers! Another year together, isn’t it amazing? Today I opened my blog page and I got all excited founding the snow falling: I’ve missed it!Last Friday I made a classic recipe for FiestaFriday, the chocolate chip cookies, probably one of my favourite type of biscuits. Here my recipe:

INGREDIENTS: (55-60 cookies)

– Butter 230 gr (room temperature)
– Baking soda 5 gr
– Powdered sugar 200 gr
– Vanilla extract 2 gr
– Eggs 3
– Flour 00, 360 g (sifted)
– Granulated sugar 100 gr
– Dark chocolate chips  300-350 gr
– Cooking salt 10 gr (optional)

PREPARATION:

To start the preparation, the first thing to do is to mingle the butter and the two type of sugar into the mixer. Cut the butter into pieces, then add the powdered sugar and the granulated sugar, and work them till you’ll obtain a smooth, dense and homogeneous mixture. If you don’t own a mixer, you can use the wisks. Add, always into the mixer, the cooking salt, the vanilla extract and the eggs; at this point it’s essential to keep on mixing at least for 5 minutes.
In the meanwhile, sift the flour in a big bowl, and add the baking soda. At this point, you can incorporate the flour to the mixture little by little, helping yourself with a spatula, and mixing until the flour will be totally absorbed.

The final touch is to add the dark chocolate chips, trying to  blend in well. Cover a baking tray with a sheet of wax paper, and put a teaspoon of mixture for each cookie on it. Be careful to maintain separated the small balls of dough. while shaping the cookies. Cook them in pre-heated oven at 180 °C for 15 minutes: the cookies must become soft in the center and golden on the edges. When they’re ready, put them on a grill to cool down.

Buon Appetito! Cris

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THE FRIDAY NIGHT RECIPE: BISCOTTI AL LIMONE

Hello folks!Happy Fiesta Friday to you all!This Friday i thought to bring some Lemon Cookies, was I wrong? I totally love lemon taste, and in the summer I often use it for cookies and cakes: I thing it has a refreshing taste. I found the recipe in Marisa’s blog: her recipe are just fabulous. Here the recipe:

INGREDIENTS: for 25/30 cookies

– 120 gr granulated sugar
– 120 gr soft butter
– 1 egg
– 1 lemon
– 250 gr flour 00
– 1 teaspoon full of baking powder for desserts
– powdered sugar (as needed)

PREPARATION:

In a bowl work with a mixer – or with whisks – the soft butter with the sugar, till you’ll obtain a creamy mixture. After that, sift the flour together with the teaspoon of baking powder for desserts.

Continue to work the mixture with the mixer; in the meanwhile, add the whole egg, the juice of half lemon, the grated peel of a whole lemon, and finally the sifted flour with the baking powder. The final mix obtained will be soft: let it rest in the fridge wrapped in clingfilm for 1 hour.

When the hour has gone, make small ball with the mixture, and put them first in the granulated sugar, and then in the powdered sugar. Set the small balls in a baking tray covered in wax paper. Cook them in the preheated oven at  180°C for 10/15 minutes.

Check often while cooking, the cookies must be taken out when you see that they have “cracks” on the surface. At this moment the lemon cookies will be really soft. You have to let them cool down for a bit before serving.

Buon Appetito!Cris

CHRISTMAS TIPS: FAKE GINGERBREAD MEN

Hello to you all! Ready to welcome the New Year? We’ll spent the New Years’ Eve eating at a friend house, all together. Today I wanna share with you the last recipe of the year! I would have posted it before, for Christmas, but I hadn’t time enough. As you can see, I tried to prepare some kind of “gingerbread men” – only for the shape, after all. –

Basically, you must know that in Italy gingerbread isn’t so wide-spreaded like in America or other countries. For us, also the gingerbread men shape is something “imported”. We have a bunch of different type of cookies, but one of the most used dough for them is the so-called “pasta frolla”(shortcrust pastry).
This year I made the gingerbread men made by cocoa shortcrust pastry instead of gingerbread. I was in doubt for the result, but as you can see they are really pretty. I made decorations with white&red sugar paste, instead of using royal icing. Here the recipe:

INGREDIENTS: (10-12 cookies)

– Flour 00: 300 gr
– Cocoa powder: 30 gr
– Butter: 150 g
– Powdered sugar: 130 gr
– Eggs (yolk): 3

PREPARATION:

To make the shortcrust pastry, first of all sift the flour, the cocoa powder and the powdered sugar. Put all the ingredients in the mixer, together with the cold butter, chopped in cubes. Blend everything till you’ll obtain a sandy-like and floury mixture, then transfer it on a floury pastry board.
Make a well in the centre of the flour (in many blog i’ve read ” make a volcano with the flour” , or “make a whole in the center if the flour”: it’s the same, in Italy we say “fare una fontana”), then pour in the center the 3 egg yolks, and knead powerfully till you’ll have a compact and elastic dough.

Shape a block and wrap it into the plastic wrap, then put it in the fridge for 30 minutes before using it; pasta frolla is a simple preparation really good both for cookies and tarts. If you notice that the dough is a bit too dry, you could add a spoon of egg white, or better a spoon of milk/water.

Use the gingerbread man mold to shape the cookies and put them on a baking tray. Cook them for maximum 10 minutes at 180 °C. Let them cool down before starting the decoration. I used sugar paste to make the eyes and the mouths, and the remaining butter cream of the cupcakes to make some buttons. I gifted the cookies to my relatives wrapped in transparent pastry bags.

That’s all! I wish you a wonderful Happy New Year 2015! And Happy Fiesta Friday to my talented blog-friends!Cris

C IS FOR .. COOKIES! (OF COURSE!)

Hello! For All Saints’ Day I made this simply recipe, (I had so few time that it was impossible to make some cute Halloween cookies…) that i found on Cakemania. (www.cakemania.it) These cookies are really fast to make and so good to eat, you have to try them! Here the recipe:

INGREDIENTS:
(FOR 10 COOKIES)
– 300gr flour
– 200gr cold butter
– 100gr granulated sugar
– 1 egg yolk
– 100gr apricot jam/100 gr nutella (but you can use every kind of jam or chocolate)

PREPARATION:
Put all the ingredients – except jam – in the mixer and activate it at low speed. You’ll obtain a consistent mixture. Knead the mixture till it’ll become compact. Make a circle with the mixture (two fingers height), roll it up in the plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for at least half-hour. In the meantime, switch up the oven at 180° C and cover a baking tray with a piece of paper. Take out the mixture of the fridge; cover in flour the working plan  and spread out the mixture till it joins a 5 mm height.
Cut the cookies with two round cookie cutter (the bigger 9-10 cm diameter; the smaller 3 cm diameter); every cookie is made by a “BELOW” part (on this part you’ll spread the nutella or the jam) and an “ABOVE” part. (which you’ll put on the top)

Put the “ABOVE” and the “BELOW” parts in the oven and cook them till they become golden on the top. (about 10 minutes)
Let the mixture cool down and after, put together the two parts of the cookies spreading in the middle a teaspoon of nutella/apricot jam.

Buon Appetito!

SOMETHING SWEET! (AGAIN)

CLASSIC CUPCAKES – Dosi per circa 10-15 cupcakes

INGREDIENTI:

125 gr. di burro a temperatura ambiente
1 bustina di vanillina
165 gr. di zucchero semolato
150 gr. di farina
1 cucchiaino di lievito per dolci (se non si utilizza già una farina autolievitante)
3 uova
60 ml di latte
scorza di limone grattugiata (facoltativo)

PREPARAZIONE:

Preriscaldare il forno a 180°. Amalgamare bene tutti gli ingredienti con il mixer:  iniziare a mescolare zucchero e burro a temperatura ambiente, aggiungere la farina, la vanillina ed il lievito, completare con uova e latte. Continuare a mixare gli ingredienti finché  il composto non diventa una crema soffice e di color giallo pastello.
Dividere il composto e versarlo in una teglia per muffin o nei pirottini. Cuocere i cupcakes in forno per circa 20 minuti: una volta che sono dorati tiralli fuori, lasciarli raffreddare e decorarli a piacimento.

Glassa al burro al cacao: con le fruste elettriche amalgamare 200 grammi di zucchero a velo setacciato con 100 grammi di burro a temperatura ambiente. Se si vuole ottenere una glassa aromatizzata aggiungere il cacao (come in questo caso) o, per le glasse colorate, il colorante alimentare. Amalgamare tutto con le fruste fin quando non si sarà formata una crema omogenea. Mettere la glassa all’interno di una tasca da pasticcere e decorare i cupcakes  (una volta raffreddati altrimenti la glassa si scioglie).

LET’S COOK … COOKIES!

Oggi mi è venuta voglia di fare un’infornata di biscotti, e dato che il blog è “neo-nato” ho pensato che sarebbe stato carino inaugurarlo condividendo un dolcetto insieme.. sfortunatamente non si possono assaggiare, ma la ricetta è davvero facile e veloce da replicare!

FROLLINI AL CIOCCOLATO

INGREDIENTI:

115 gr di burro ammorbidito;  60 gr di zucchero a velo setacciato; 125 gr di farina 00; 1 cucchiaio di cacao amaro: 100 gr di cioccolato fondente fuso freddo (per la copertura) – in alternativa al cioccolato a volte uso la nutella.

PREPARAZIONE:

Preriscaldare il forno a 180°, ed imburrare la/le teglie; Montare prima il burro e lo zucchero, ottenendo un composto leggero e morbido; Setacciare la farina ed il cacao ed aggiungerli al composto di burro e zucchero; Lavorare il tutto finchè non avrà una consistenza liscia e morbida.

Suddividere il ricavato in 15 palline di cioccolato (per biscotti grandi come quelli in foto, diametro 7-8 cm circa – 30 se avete degli stampini per biscotti piccoli), appiattitele a formare i biscotti (rotondi o di altre forme) e disponete i biscotti ricavati su una teglia foderata di carta forno; Mettere in forno caldo per 15 minuti (controllateli spesso affinchè non si brucino intorno o sotto) Lasciare intiepidire i biscotti e lasciateli a raffreddare su una gratella. Intingere metà biscotto nel cioccolato fuso (o spalmarlo con la nutella, se non avete tempo di sciogliere il cioccolato) e farlo rassodare prima di servire.