Salted Chocolate Cookies

I have a confession, that will probably make you doubt whether I even bake any of this stuff. It’s something my friends constantly question me on.

The thing is: I don’t like sweet things all that much (aside from jelly and ice cream, both of which I could eat until the cows come home). But that is exactly why these cookies are amazing!

They aren’t too sweet, which means you can pair them with super sweet things, or just eat them on their own and enjoy the lack of sweetness. They are adult cookies, like the Champagne of the biscuit world.

Also these are the first recipe that I’ve blogged about from Joy the Baker, which is a blog you should check it, it’s pretty awesome. She lives in California which seems to have a perpetual summer filled with strawberries, cocktails and barbecues. Although I thought the same about Australia. How wrong I was.

Adapted from Joy the Baker

• 1 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract or scraped vanilla beans from 1/8 vanilla pod
• 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons semi sweet chocolate, very finely chopped
• coarse sea salt

1. Sift flour and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Mix in egg yolk and vanilla bean or extract. Gradually add flour mixture; mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
2. Add cocoa powder and chopped chocolate to remaining dough; mix on low-speed until well combined. Turn out chocolate dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Roll into a 10-inch log, about 1-inch wide and 1/2-inch tall.  Wrap the rectangle in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, about 2 hours.
3. Preheat oven to 190 degrees. Cut log into 1/4-inch-thick rounds; space 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. If dough becomes too soft to slice cleanly, return to freezer until firm.  Sprinkle course sea salt onto the chocolate cookies.  Press in lightly with fingertips.
4. Bake until firm to the touch, 10 to 12 minutes. Transfer to wire racks; let cool. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

 

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Halloween Cake Pops

I love Halloween, big time. Every year I am left wondering if I am actually American, I want haunted houses, bobbing for apples, jack-o-lanterns and of course hundreds of trick-or-treat ers.

So I totes made these Cake Pops, it is cake on a stick…it’s just wild!

Kinda like this guy (that’s a Miami Vice costume)!

Anyway this whole shebang is super easy and nobody cares if the cake looks bad/ has a crack in it/bits stick to the pan because you just go ahead and crumble it. Crumble that cake, you can even punch it. I won’t judge.

Then you go ahead and add frosting; it totes makes a dough!

Then roll that dough, roll ( I am fighting the urge to make a rollin’ comment, soz Fred)

Then you dip the fancy lollipop sticks into chocolate, and stick ’em in the dough balls. Like this.

Dip them in chocolate, make sure the chocolate is deep enough! you want to make sure that you don’t have to roll the pop, if the chocolate is too thick add some vegetable oil.

Wait to dry, then go crazy with the icing pens!

Taken from Bakerella!

1 Cake, I split mine up and made 2 different flavours.
1 can frosting I used Betty Crockers vanilla frosting
Wax paper
White Chocolate ( I tried candy melts and they were sickly sweet)(1 lb. pkg.)
Lollipop sticks
Black writing icing

1. After cake is cooked and cooled completely, crumble into large bowl (wrap cake in cling wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours).
2. Mix frosting in gradually until you get a dough like consistency, I found a rubber spatula worked the best
3. Roll mixture into balls on a baking tray covered in the paper and refrigerate
4. Melt chocolate in the microwave per directions on package. (30 sec intervals, stirring in between.)
5. Dip the tip of your lollipop stick in a little of the melted candy coating and insert into the cake balls. (Insert a little less than halfway.)
6. Place them in the freezer for a little while to firm up.
7. Once firm, carefully insert the cake ball into the candy coating by holding the lollipop stick and rotating until covered. Once covered remove and softly tap and rotate until the excess chocolate falls off. Don’t tap too hard or the cake ball will fall off, too.
8. Place in a styrofoam block to dry.
9. Once dry, decorate as you wish!