Chocolate covered Marshmallow Cookies – Daring Baker’s Challenge July 2009

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole of Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

This is my first experience at the Daring Baker’s Challenge and am looking forward to more of it.

Mallow experience –

I was very fascinated with the entire process.Though the time mentioned in the original recipe was very reasonable but it took a li’l long for me.I have never used marshmallows in my baking and this was the first time.I had some store bought ones which came handy.I had halved the quantity of the ingredients which means I should have ended up with 24 cookies but I ended up with 36 of them!

Mallows (Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies) Recipe courtesy Gale Gand, from Food Network website
Prep Time: 15 min (cookies only)
Inactive Prep Time: 1 hours or up to 3 days (cookies only)
Cook Time: 10 min (cookies only)
Serves: 36 cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups All purpose flour
¼ cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
6 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 eggs, whisked together
Homemade marshmallows, recipe follows(However I used the store bought ones)
Chocolate glaze, recipe follows

1.In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients.

2.On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy.

3.Add the eggs and mix until combine.

4.Form the dough into a disk, wrap with cling film or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.

5.When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.

6.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

7.Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.

8.Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

9.Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.

10.Line a cookie sheet with parchment or silicon mat.

11.One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.

12.Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Note:If you don’t want to make your own marshmallows,you can cut a large marshmallow in half and place on the cookie base.Heat in a preheated 350-degree oven to slump the marshmallow slightly,it will expand and brown a little. Let cool, then proceed with the chocolate dipping.

Prep Time: 5 min (marshmallows only)
Inactive Prep Time: 2 hours (marshmallows only)
Cook Time: 10-20 min (marshmallows only, includes cooking sugar & whipping marshmallow)
Serves: About 4 dozen cookies at 1 – 1.5 inch
Homemade marshmallows:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup (168.76 grams/5.95oz) sugar
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
2 egg whites,room temperature
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1.In a saucepan,combine the water,corn syrup,and sugar,bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage,or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.

2.Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve.

3.Remove the syrup from the heat,add the gelatin,and mix.

4.Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites.

5.Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff.

6.Transfer to a pastry bag.

Prep Time: 5 min (glaze only)
Inactive Prep Time: N/A
Cook Time: 5-7 min (glaze only)
Serves: Enough to dip about 4 doz. cookies at 1 – 1.5 inch

Chocolate glaze:

12 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

1.Melt the 2 ingredients together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

Verdict –

The cookies even without the chocolate glaze tasted very well.I didn’t use a cookie cutter hence my cookies were quite big in size and the marshmallow on top looked too small.End of the day,I am satisfied with my experience with the mallows.It was tasty and very chocolaty.Since I had used store bought marshmallows,I had to bake it for few mintues.Guess I had left it for a longer time and they turned completely flat.Had to redo it.

I love the Peperridge farm Milano Cookies,was too keen on making them.However due to time constraint I had to choose between the Mallows and the Milano cookies.Chocolate always comes first,hence I decided on the Mallows.Will need to plan ahead of time in the future.Am eagerly looking forward to the other Baker’s post.

Bourbon Biscuits and am back!!!!

Okie…am back,not that I ever left,am back to the blogging world! I thought I would take a moment today to welcome myself back from a long and a wonderful vacation.Am I happy or sad???? Well,I have mixed feelings,feeling bad coz am missing my family,happy coz am back to my space,my sweet home. It was a long long….very long vacation,huh and its over now!

As it is said,”If you come as happy as you leave,you have had a good vacation”.I am thoroughly happy to get back,whatever it is end of the day you really wana get back to your den!. Have you heard this one too – “No one needs a vacation more than the person who just had one”.So am ready,P wat say,eh?

Few bloggers thought I disappeared, few kept checking on me…felt nice with all responses.Thanks a lot for stopping by my blog even in my absence. To kick off,I decided to make something sweet, which is actually both P’s & my favourite – Bourbon Biscuits.Does it ring a bell??? Yeah this is the one which is like a sandwich biscuit consisting of two thin dark chocolate biscuits with a chocolate cream filling.This one was one of my all time fav as a kid,I remember licking the cream inside first and then have the biscuit. It surely is a hit amongst kids.The chocolaty color makes this all the more appealing:)

This is P’s cousins recipe, I believe she learnt baking before her wedding and his Aunt collated all the recipes n gave it to me during my visit this year.I did change a li’l as per requirement.

Ingredients –

All Purpose Flour/Maida – 1 cup
Sugar – 1/3 cup
Butter – ¼ cup
Baking Soda – 1/4tsp
Honey – 1tsp(optional)
Baking Powder – 1 tsp
Cocoa – 3 tsp
Vanilla Essence – 2tsp
Cold milk – 3-4 tbsp

For Filling(Butter icing)-

Butter – 1/4cup
Icing Sugar – 1/3 cup
Cocoa – 1 tsp
Vanilla Essence – a few drops

Method:

Beat the butter and sugar till light and fluffy. Add essence,honey and Baking Soda and blend well.Sieve the Flour with Cocoa and baking powder.Mix the Flour to the creamed mixture and form a soft dough.Add cold milk to this dough.Roll out the prepared dough on a board(You may use a li’l flour for dusting) and cut with a biscuit cutter(I cudn’t find mine,hence used a knife to cut into rectangles).Prick on top of the cut shapes with a toothpick and sprinkle sugar.Place on a greased and floured baking tray and bake at 355F for 8-10mins.Cool it for 2mins before using the filling.

For the filling:

Mix all the filling ingredients to a smooth paste.Sandwich the biscuits with this chocolate butter icing.

Brown is one of my fav colors too,hence this recipe perfectly fits in for FIC:Favourite.So here it goes to Curry Leaf who is hosting this event originally started by Harini of Tongueticklers.

Except for the baking,which is less than 10min this one is an easy stuff to make.So off it goes to 15 minutes cooking,hosted by Mahima of the Indian Vegetarian Kitchen.

I have missed alot of awards,i did see messages from alot of them about the same.Am yet to check and accept,however would like to thank each and every individual for having thought about me & passing it to me.Thanks a bunch!

Scandinavian Pecan Cookies

I wanted to bake some cookies that was easy and found this “Scandinavian Pecan Cookies”. I had picked this book “Taste of Home” few months back and took the recipe from there. While making it, I added few ingredients and also increased the quantity as per my choice .

Scandinavia is in Europe,Northern Europe to be precise.Denmark,Sweden & Norway are a part of Scandinavia.Heard about “Danish cookies”???? Yes – they are world famous.Danes are internationally known for their Pastries,cookies etc. We had my husband’s relative visiting us few months back, the things he mentioned about Norway totally surprised us.I believe they only have few hours of sunlight(might be during winter not sure though) which means complete darkness otherwise. Huh…even here the sunsets by 16:45hrs,but definitely better than Norway. I landed here during Summer and I remember Sun used to set only after 2100hrs.I was zapped! . In India, I have read about the four seasons in the books but never got to see them . The best thing about this place is I get to see all the four seasons distinctively .Of all the seasons “Fall” is beautiful.

Anyways coming to this, I made the Pecan cookies yesterday.I ran out of Pecans in between,so I also used cashewnuts to coat few cookies.

Ingredients:-

All Purpose flour/Maida – 2 cups
Brown Sugar – 1 cup
Egg – 1 separated
Butter – 1 cup (softened)
Pecans – 1 cup( finely chopped)
Vanilla Essence – 1 tsp
Cardamon Powder – a pinch(optional)

Method :

1.Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.Add Vanilla essence and Egg yolk.Beat well.
2.Add the flour,cardamon and mix well.
3.Shape into small balls,flatten a li’l and dip them onto the egg white(beat it before use) and roll in pecans.
4.Bake at 375F for about 10-12mins or until edges are slightly brown.
5.Cool it well before use.

Once done,it might appear to be soft,allow it to cool and you’ll see the difference.