Spumoni Cookies

This is not your ordinary cookie. When you look at the top five most popular cookies, you get chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, oatmeal, and sugar cookies—nothing remotely similar to spumoni cookies. And you won’t find them on long lists of cookie flavors. These are very special cookies—the kind you might bake for your closest friend, for a special occasion, or to impress the recipient.

Many years ago, when we lived in New Orleans, there was favorite local ice cream place in the French Quarter called Angelo Brocato’s Italian Ice Cream Parlor on Ursulines Street. It was here that I first tasted spumoni ice cream: a brightly-colored ice cream with chocolate, pistachios, dried fruit, and lemons. To this day, spumoni ice cream is a favorite of mine.  Alas, Brocato’s has moved uptown, but back then it was the coolest place, with slowly turning ceiling fans, tile floors, and rows of apothecary jars. In these cookies, I tried to recreate that taste sensation. The recipe specifies maraschino cherries because Alex loves them, but chopped dried cherries taste just as good, even if they are not brightly colored and festive. I began my recipe development with Almond Cloud Cookies from King Arthur’s website so you’ll notice some resemblance, but these cookies contain less sugar, less almond paste, and lots of interesting flavor add-ins.

The batter looks so pretty!

(Makes 20 cookies)

Ingredients:

8 ounces almond paste

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

2 large egg whites, room temperature

2 teaspoons Amaretto (or almond extract)

½ cup cacao nibs

½ cup chopped pistachios

12 maraschino cherries, chopped and blotted dry (or ½ cup chopped dried cherries)

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a food processor, blend the almond paste, sugar, salt, and egg whites until the mixture is a smooth paste.

3. By hand, stir in the nibs, nuts, cherries, and lemon zest.

4. Scoop the dough into 1-inch balls and press down slightly with dampened fingers to flatten the tops.

5. Bake the cookies for 35 minutes, until they're brown around the edges. Allow to set for 5 minutes before transferring the cookies to a cooling rack.

Just in Time for St. Patrick's Day: Chocolate Chai Bourbon Truffles

Raw pumpkin seeds make these truffles mighty festive.

About 80% of Vermont’s roads are dirt and gravel. They make for a lovely way of life and a great place to bike and walk most of the year. But in mud season the roads we have bumped and slid over all winter turn to gnarly, deeply rutted mud. Some seasons it has been so bad that cars have been known to sink in so far that the driver gets stuck and is so deeply embedded that he or she can’t get their car door open. Mud season in Vermont usually comes around the time of St. Patrick’s Day. It is literally a bittersweet time since the weather that produces impossible to navigate mud also brings maple syrup season. What better way to celebrate St.Patrick’s Day than with these green studded truffles sweetened with just Vermont maple syrup and dates. They are vegan, nut-free, and a snap to whip up.

Ingredients:

1/3 cup raw pumpkin seeds, finely chopped

1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

10 medjool dates, pitted

3 tablespoons maple syrup

2 tablespoons coconut oil

¾ cup shredded unsweetened coconut

1/8 cup bourbon

¼ cup cocoa powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon ground ginger

¼ teaspoon cardamom

¼ teaspoon finely ground fresh black pepper

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse the pumpkin seeds until finely chopped and set aside in a separate bowl.

2. Hand chop the crystallized ginger and set aside.

3. In the food processor, combine the rest of the ingredients and blend until smooth, about 2 minutes on high.

4. Place the mixture in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to allow the truffle mixture to thicken somewhat.
5. Using a damp teaspoon, scoop out about 1-inch diameter balls of the truffle mixture, drop them in the pumpkin seeds, and roll them around until covered. Dampen the spoon as necessary to prevent sticking. Place the truffles on a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze for 1 hour or until set.

Marble Cheesecake Brownies

Makes 16 Brownies

For years, I was intimidated by coconut flour. In fact, I bought a package, and it sat unopened in my pantry for over six months. Coconut flour is very fibrous, about 36% fiber, which makes it a very different ingredient than other flours. A number of home bakers have suggested that it is hard to work with and produces dry baked goods. Once I started working with it and understanding its properties, I learned to love it. I love the natural sweetness and the tenderness it imparts in bake goods. And, contrary to what others have reported, I find it makes very moist baked goods if you utilize its absorptive qualities.

Coconut flour is dried and milled coconut meat, and it is a byproduct of pressing coconut meat during coconut milk production. It is a beige flour, high in fiber, low in carbohydrates, and 14% fat. Since coconut flour is over 1/3 fiber, it absorbs three to four times the amount of liquid of low fiber flours such as rice flour and tapioca starch. To compensate for this, you must either work with lesser amounts of coconut flour or increase the liquids in a recipe accordingly. For light baked goods, it requires generally twice the amount of eggs you would normally use.

Coconut goes extremely well with cream, so I developed these cheesecake brownies with a few simple ingredients around the coconut flour. In this recipe, the only flour is ½ cup of coconut, flour although the cocoa powder also performs as a flour. Unlike most brownie recipes, this one uses oil, which acts as another source of liquid to counterbalance the absorptive qualities of the coconut flour. The only leavening agent, and also a source of liquid, is the eggs. These are good-looking, moist brownies, for which the cheesecake filling intensifies the dark chocolate notes. It should be noted that the brownies without the cheesecake layer are dairy-free.

Ingredients:
1 cup (200g) sugar
½ cup (100g) canola
½ cup (50g) cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
½ cup (56g) coconut flour
Cheese cake filling:
1, 8 oz  package cream cheese, room temperature
1 large egg
1/3 cup (75g) sugar

Directions:
1. Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Grease the sides and bottom of a 8x8 or 9x9 baking pan (I used coconut oil.) After greasing the sides of the pan, line the pan with parchment paper, allowing a flap to extend over two sides.

2. By hand, blend the sugar, oil, cocoa, eggs, and vanilla. Then using a hand mixer, mix on high speed until the batter is thick and thoroughly blended.

3. Gradually add the coconut flour until the coconut flour is fully blended. The batter will thicken as the coconut absorbs the liquid. Let the batter sit for 10 minutes to maximize its absorption.

4. Spoon ¾ of the batter into the baking pan. Use a spatula, to spread the brownie batter to an even thickness. Set aside.

5. Prepare the cheese cake filling: Using a clean hand mixer, whip the cream cheese, egg, and sugar until it is smooth and whipped-cream like.

6. Spoon the filling over the brownie batter and carefully spread it until it is smoothed across the top. Spoon the remaining 1/4 of the batter over the cheesecake filling in small dollops. Use a butter knife to create a marbled effect on the top by dragging the knife through the brownie mix and cheesecake filling.

7. Bake the brownies for 40 minutes or until the center springs back when pressed.

8. Allow the brownies to cool fully, lift them out by their parchment paper handles, and place on a cutting board to cut. Store in the refrigerator or freeze.