Welcome to The Cookie Monster, a blog about the most marvelous, versatile, and beloved bakeable item in the land: The cookie. You may see occassional forays into pies, bars, and other sweet treats, but my main focus is and has always been on the bite sized genius behind my very favorite snack. Happy Baking!

Monday, May 21, 2012

White Chocolate Coconut Biscotti


Happy Monday!  This weekend I whipped up some biscotti with the remnants of my baking supplies (I have to reload this with).  I came up with another tasty biscotti combination, and this one is sweet, sweet sweet.  Definitely more of a dessert than a breakfast food....

Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
dash salt
1 1.2 teaspoons baking powder
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons almond extract
6 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cups shredded coconut
5 ounces white chocolate, melted


Mix together your dry ingredients, then make a well in the middle of the flour and add in your egg yolks and eggs.  Also add in your extract.  Mix until the flour is moistened.  Then add in your melted butter and mix until combined.  Finally, add in the shredded coconut.


Yum.  Now form the dough into 2 logs.  It will be very crumbly, so your have to knead it a bit to get it in the shape you want.


Then its into the oven at 325F for about 25 minutes. Let cool.

Then slice.....

Place the slices on their side on your baking sheets and bake for 10 minutes.  Flip and repeat.

After the slices had cooled complete, I melted down some white chocolate and transferred it into a plastic bag. 


Then I snipped off the corner of the bag, and drizzled the chocolate over the biscottis....


I let these little babies chill in the fridge for a half hour or so to harden up the chocolate. 


And we're done!  Pretty happy with these!  Obviously I'm slightly obsessed with biscotti.  This weekend I'll switch things up a bit for our memorial day festivities with some classics and hopefully a sweet treat that I NEVER make, but often crave: Blondie Bars.  Yum. Stay tuned.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

A New Oven, and a Thank You!


Big news straight out of my kitchen!  Thanks to the huge generosity of Joe's Auntie Debbie, we are the proud owners of a much newer, much nicer Oven!  Woohoo!  And you know what that means, dear blog friends: More, bigger, and better cookies.


Ta-da!  For the maiden voyage, I thought it was only fitting to make some Thank You cookies for Auntie Deb.  I went for some classic chocolate chip cookies, which I don't make often enough, I think.


Using my Go To Chip-Cookie recipe, I whipped up a batch, and admired them, as they baked, through the little viewing window....wow....this is a big step up from our 1970's clunker of yesteryear....

oooooh, ahhhhh


A new era of cookie baking has begun! 


Thanks Auntie Debbie!


Monday, May 14, 2012

A Fun Announcement, Cookie Monster Style!


Well, faithful readers, we've kept it quiet for as long as we could: Joe and I are expecting our first baby!!!  On or around Thanksgiving Day of this year we are planning to welcome another cookie-sampler to our family, and we couldn't be happier!

Back in Early April, I put together some little Easter baskets for our Moms to break the good news, and of course I had to include some baby themed cookies (I couldn't help myself).


Using the same sugar cookie dough that I baked in my Easter Strawberry Tart, I rolled out and cut some cute little onesie cookies with a cookie cutter I actually bought when my cousin announced she was pregnant in December (who knew I'd need it for myself!).


I only had Blue gel food coloring to dye my Royal Icing, which has led some to believe I am hoping for a boy (No Comment).


Hehehe, I had way too much fun making these. I decided to add the Due Date for a little personalized touch.

Then into the baskets they went with a little ribbon and plastic wrap and a baby book to keep them company....

We are so Excited to finally share the news with more than just a few people.  Hopefully I will continue to keep up with the baking (several of my recent posts were the results of odd pregnant lady cravings).

Happy Baking!