oat mood

still struggling with my oven.. it's just a small electric oven, a few functions and the habit of overheating. i have to forget about recipe times.. they're not gonna apply except maybe for the first batch of cookies, so i often just look at them and try if they're ready or not :D

anyway.. it's been a long time since i bought these rolled oats. i really like oat, no matter what kind, but i either forget i have it or i just dont have the right ingredients to make something delicious with it.
i love swedish oatmeal cookies, flat, crunchy, dry and just a bit salty.. but i cant manage to find the right recipe, for some reason they never come out crunchy enough for my taste ^^

today's rainy and chilly, i have to study some pretty dull mathematics stuff and i feel like having a cuddling break for merenda.. so here is very nice recipe of soft oatmeal cookies, very good if dipped in warm milk :)

oatmeal cookies

150g sugar
150g butter, melted
150g wheat flour
150g rolled oats
1egg
baking powder
a pinch of salt

beat the egg with the sugar till fluffy, then stir in the butter. sift in flour, baking powder and salt, mixing well. add the oat flakes.
make round cookies, one tablespoon of mixture each. bake in preheated oven at 180°C for about 10-15min.

olive oil and milk

this morning the man stated that he doesnt like the cookies that are currently resting in the cookie box. they're just some average industrial breakfast biscuits, actually not that bad since they're apparently made with real eggs and milk.

still, he's definitely true when he says they dont "suck up" enough milk and coffee when dipped.. so i rummaged in my memory to find some proper recipe.

there's a kind of milk cookie i really like, usually made by bakeries in my region. i havent been able yet to find the exact recipe of those, but i have to say this one gets pretty close.. moreover i like using olive oil in sweet recipes. they came out a bit brownish today since my new oven is still a mystery for me eheh :D
these cookies arent very sweet and they're just perfect for breakfast, to dip in caffelatte or to spread with jam :)

olive oil cookies

300g wheat flour
8g baking powder
80g icing sugar
1egg
50ml olive oil
50ml milk
a few extra tbsp milk
brown sugar

sift the flour with the baking powder and set aside. beat the egg with the icing sugar till fluffy. stir in the olive oil and a half of the flour, mix well. stir in the rest of the flour and the milk.
knead the dough well, then flatten it with a rolling pin and cut rectangles of dough. place the cookies on the oven grid, brush them with a bti of milk and sprinkle brown sugar all over them.
bake for about 12min in preheated oven at 180°C.

gnam!

update and more recipes coming soon! i'm making cookies almost every day so i have many new recipes to upload.. btw i really love these ones.
i used to eat some awesome cookies made by a well-known pastry maker in brescia, and i remember looking for the recipe in vain. then i bumped into the recipe of assabesi cookies which are quite alike.
tried it, personalized it a little bit, and this is the result.. i swear they're just delicious dipped in coffee or warm milk :D

gnam cookies

200g softened butter
135g icing sugar
2 egg yolks
280g wheat flour
8-10g honey
40g dark cocoa powder
flavors vanilla, orange blossom
milk qs

Whip carefully softened butter, sugar and honey. Add yolks one by one, keep whipping. Sift flour and cocoa together, add the butter cream and mix well.
Knead carefully all the ingredients. If the dough would be too stiff or dry, add some milk.
Make little balls of dough (a walnut size) and press them in the center with a finger. Bake in preheat oven (200°C) for about 15minutes.

bread of the elves

i dont even remember where and when i found this recipe.. i was just looking for something weird and i bumped into lembas. i'm all about elves so i tried it at once.. no idea if lotr elves actually used to eat anything like this.. but i have to say it's a delicious cookie :D for sure it's a pretty good mixture.. i tend to keep mine a bit salty, not too sweet, because i like the taste better. today i was in the mood for cookies but not the usual kind, so lembas is what i made!

lembas
the elven bread

110g butter, softened
40g sugar
1tbsp honey
2egg yolks
1pinch salt
250g flour
fresh orange zest, grated
2tbsp ground hazelnut
baking powder qs


beat butter with sugar and honey until fluffy, stir in egg yolks and the rest of ingredients. mix well, when the knead makes crumbs make a ball and let cool in the fridge for about 30min. flatten the dough (about 3mm thick) and cut it in rectangles, place them on a baking tin. bake in preheated oven at 200°C for 10min.

snickerdoodles

i love to make (and eat) cookies so i'm always looking for some new recipe to try.. i like sugar cookies a lot so today i decided i was going to make snickerdoodles :D
for some reason in the past i was not very fond of cinnamon.. i didnt like it unless it was accompanied by apple cooked in some way. lately i kinda discovered the pleasure of this spice and these cookies are just a good cinnamon flavored recipe.

i have to say that, to roll cookies before baking, i used a mix of sugar, freshly ground cinnamon and nomu sugar. that's one of the best spiced sugars ever to me.. it's a mix of vanilla sugar (some of it powdered, some very thin and some in crystals), cinnamon, cloves, ginger and allspice. it's awesome to rub fruit like peaches and apples before grilling them.
i was so glad when i found this jar of nomu's.. otherwise i have to make this mix by myself eheheh i love to add a bit of ground nutmeg too, it's one of my fav spices and i like the match with cinnamon.

snickerdoodles

100g sugar (+2tbsp)
1tsp baking powder
75g butter (softened)
1egg
200g flour
1pinch salt
1pinch nutmeg
2tsp ground cinnamon

mix cinnamon, 2tbsp sugar and nutmeg. set aside.
beat butter and sugar, add the egg and mix till fluffy. sift flour, baking powder and salt, then add gradually to the butter mixture. make small balls with dough, flatten them a bit and roll in cinnamon sugar.
bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 10-12min.

almond paste pt.1

this is the first trial with almond paste.. looking forward to make the true paste alle mandorle (wonderful pastries made of almonds, sugar and vanilla) i decided to use the ready made almond paste i bought in sicily. actually it would be perfect to be flattened in a sheet, cut and make very sweet confectionery or coating, but i dont like too much that kind of stuff.. besides i dont even like too much marzipan. so i tried something and what came out is some delicious sort of amaretti :)

almond paste amaretti


25og ready made almond paste (almonds, sugar, glucose, vanilla flavor)
10tbsp corn starch
1egg
50g ground almonds

soften the almond paste and mix it with the egg. add corn starch spoon by spoon stirring well. make small balls of mixture, roll them in the ground almons and place on a baking tin.
bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 10-15min.

inciminati cookies

i have to say these cookies filled my kitchen with an amazing perfume.. i love to enter a bakery and smell the awesome flavor of freshly baked bread :)
we found them for breakfast everyday in our b&b in agrigento.. the man loves them and recalls his grandma used to make this kind of cookies for the kids. i have to admit mine dont look exactly like those we ate there because i used a little bit more baking powder and a little bit less sesame seeds.. but the taste is just the same, besides i love the look of small bread rolls they got.

first recipe from sicily then.. cookies with sesame seeds! down there sesame is widely used, i like it quite but i tried not to spread too many seeds on these cookies, in order to highlight all the different flavors.. i specially love the aroma of lemon zest when the cookies are still warm :)


inciminati


250g wheat flour
80g sugar
100g butter, softened
100ml milk
2eggs
lemon zest
baking powder
sesame

beat flour, baking powder and sugar with butter. add lemon zest, one egg and milk stirring well. knead the dough, make a ball and let rest for about 15-20min.
make small cylinders with the dough (size of a finger), spread them with beaten egg and then sesame seeds. place the cookies on a baking tin and bake in preheated oven at 180°C for 15min.

carpets and cookies

well today i threw my 2 ikea carpets in the washing machine, same exact way i did the last 4 times.. i wonder why the bright yellow one this time came like this O_o
i suppose now i prefer to have green bubbly carpets in my bathroom LOL

i'd like to thank all those who sent me some valentine.. i'm way too bad at festivities but i appreciate when friends spend a thought and some nice words for me :)

this evening headache finally left me! in the last days i was out a lot and this very windy and moist weather slaps my sinuses and make me feel like i've been hit in the skull with a shovel :P

i made these wondrous cookies today.. it was an experiment but it turned out definitely good! so here is the recipe :D they're quite quick to make and the result has been appreciated by those who ate them today.. i guess it's the magic of coffee + chocolate ^^

coffee and almond cookies (makes 20)

1/2cup softened butter
1/4cup powdered sugar
2tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1tsp vanilla or hazelnut flavor
1cupflour
1/2cup ground almonds
1tbsp ground coffee
1tbsp ground dark chocolate

preheat oven at 165°C

beat butter, powdered sugar and cocoa powder in a mixing bowl with a mixer until combined. beat in vanilla flavor and ground coffee. stir in flour, ground almonds and chocolate.
shape dough into small balls and slightly flatten them. place the cookies on ungreased cookie sheets and bake in preheated oven for about 15min. let cookies cool on wire racks.