Mission Accomplished: Chocolate Peppermint Cookies and Snickerdoodles

Hello Nomsters,

Wrapped Up and Ready to Go!

Happy New Year! Hopefully everyone's enjoyed the holiday season and has been ringing in 2011. Regardless of my unpunctual post, I did in fact manage to successfully carry out the Cookie Challenge. I opted to make two different kinds of cookies, the Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (which some of you had the chance to order) and straight up Snickerdoodles. After a morning of present opening and Christmas cooking, I spent my afternoon and evening rolling and baking the cookie dough that I had made the previous night. Spending an afternoon running back and forth from the oven with cookie sheets, I was happy to finally see over six dozen cookies all lined up on my counter. The final touch was packaging. I went and bought little clear bags from Target (in the gift wrap isle) and used typical present wrapping ribbon to add a personal touch to the cookies. The recipe for Chocolate Peppermint Cookies is included and pictures are floating around throughout this post.

Enjoy and look out for more posts and updates on 2011 here soon!

All the best!

The Georgetown Foodie
 
Chocolate Peppermint Cookies (anywhere from 2 dozen (lrg) to 4 dozen (small/med) cookies)
Ingredients:
-1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
-3/4 cup cocoa powder
-2 tsp baking powder
-1 tsp salt
-12 ounces semi sweet chocolate (that's one bag of Toll House Chocolate Chip)
-1/4-1/2 package of Herseys' candy cane kisses (optional, basically any mint chocolate can be used, but the candy cane kisses are a nice touch because the cookies end up having specs of red)
-4 large eggs
-1 Tbsp vanilla extract
-1/2 tsp peppermint extract
-1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (or salted) at room temperature
-1 or 2 Tbsp butter (to be used when double boiling)
-1 1/2 cup packed brown sugar (I used dark, because that's what I usually had in my pantry)
-1/2 cup granulated sugar

For the pink chocolate ribbon:
-1/3 to 1/2 (about 10-20 kisses)
-Microwave


Process:
Cookies:
*Preheat oven to 350f. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment.
-Combine  the flour, cocoa, and baking powder in a bowl and set aside.
-Cream the butter for about 1 minute, add the white and brown sugars and mix well on medium. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing after each to incorporate. Mix in the vanilla extract and peppermint extract
-Double boil to melt the chocolates and then let cool down for about 5 minutes.
-Add the chocolate in a stream and mix well.
-Mix in the dry mixture (flour, salt, etc) and mix until the flour just disappears.
-Allow the batter to sit for about 20 minutes if you plan to bake straight away; however, I like my cookies to be chewy and "chubby," therefore I often transfer the dough to Tupperware that has been lined with saran wrap, and place it in the fridge overnight. If you want to follow my method exactly, see the "Cookie Note" I post in the next day about freezing/rolling cookies.
-If you choose to make the cookies directly after waiting 20mins, then scoop out the batter with a spoon or a small cookie scoop leaving about an inch between each cookie. If you plan to roll cookies, then let sit in fridge until firm and use a a spoon to get chucks that can be rolled into balls for baking.
-Bake for about 10 minutes (or until cookies are slightly cracked on top), let cool on the sheet pan for 10 minutes, and then remove from the tray and finish cooling on a rack.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

Pink Chocolate Ribbon:
-melt down kisses using a small bowl and microwaving in about 20 secon intervals, stirring after each. As the kisses get hotter and melt, they'll help other kisses melt also.
-use a spoon to dab lines back and forth across cookie. Starting at the top of a cookie, dab a bit of chocolate and then stretch to other side of cookie and dab once more. Continue this process until cookie is covered in desired design. 

All Rolled Up (Chocolate Peppermint Cookies)

Snickerdooles

Getting ready for the freezer

 







The Double Boil Method:
Basically, this is the best way to melt chocolate. If there's one thing you need to know about melting chocolate, it's that WATER IS YOUR ENEMY.... hands down, most important rule. Well, that and make sure you don't over cook the chocolate. When in doubt, just melt until almost all is melted, because at that point the heat from the melted chocolate will take care of the rest.
1. Use either two pots or a bowl and a pot and place the smaller on top of the other, fill the bottom pot with enough water to maintain a steady boil, but not too much that it could risk boiling over.
2. Turn on the flame to low/medium, add part of your chocolate and the butter. (I feel as though the butter helps keep the chocolate moist while it melts; however, in most cases of melting chocolate butter is necessary, so you can decide whether to add it or not.).
3. Keep stirring chocolate to help distribute heat evenly, and continue adding chocolate as melt process continues.
4. Continue stirring mixture on and off until chocolate melts, then let cool until ready to combine with other mixture/batter.

Snickerdoodles

The Line Up

Tis the Season! The Cookie Challenge

Peppermint Sandwich Cookie

Hello Nomsters,

It's obviously been a while since my last post, which I must apologize for, no excuse, but maybe I can tempt you with some yummy cookie recipes that are to come!

Mom's English Trifle

Each year around Christmas, my mom and I always say we want to do the whole "Christmas Cookie" thing, whereby we bake around 4-5 different types of delicious cookies, package them in cute little tins, and sent them off to all those that we want to surprise with a bit of holiday cheer. In reality, this Christmas Cookie event has never happened, go figure. But! We always manage to make some sort of dessert, like my mom's English Trifle or my grandmother's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

Chocolate Peppermint Cookie

This year, I've decided to attempt what I'm going to call "The Cookie Challenge." One of my friend's has her annual Holiday Party on the 26th, therefore I will be attempting to make an assortment of cookies for my friends that will be neatly packaged and labeled by the 26th. While this isn't a huge undertaking, finding the time, ingredients, and cleaning up the aftermath isn't exactly Christmas/Holiday cheer (especially for my mom). Therefore, stay tuned! Following my successful packaging of cookies, I will be posting the recipes/tips on the blog! I'm thinking Chocolate Peppermint Cookies, Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip, and maybe something Eggnog? We'll see tomorrow!

Stay tuned!

-GF

Simple Recipes and Common Sense: Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Hello Nomsters,

Happy Thanksgiving break! Of course I'm sure most of you are making the journey home or to some other location to celebrate one of the biggest foodie holidays! As we all await either the traditional turkey, stuffing, sweet potatoes, veggies (the list goes on!) or we get ready to enjoy a tasty dinner out, I figured I would provide you with a new twist on the typical Thanksgiving dessert. Now, this by no means needs to replace pumpkin, sweet potato, or pecan pie, but they are a nice accompaniment to any Thanksgiving food fest!

As promised, I have provided a recipe for Pumpkin Whoopie Pies (with Cream Cheese Frosting) at the end of this post. I made these tasty treats for the first time last week to test them out on some friends at a Thanksgiving party and boy, they did not disappoint! The cake part is a bit moist, but I solved that problem by putting then in the fridge for a bit after assembling them

Pumpkin Spice Cake:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar (light or dark brown works)
2 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (if you don't have enough pumpkin, you can use banana as a nice twist, it gives the cake a nice dimension)
2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 and 2/3 cup all purpose flour

-Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. 
-Melt the butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds, make sure to check on it in 10sec intervals in order to avoid burnt butter,
-Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add eggs, pumpkin, vanilla and mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and mix just until combined.
-Drop in similar sized spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for about 8-12mins, until they look and feel like spongy cookies.
-Let them completely cool down before attempting to assemble them.


Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 stick of butter (softened)
1 8ox package of cream cheese (softened)
1 box of confectioners (powdered) sugar
1 tsp vanilla

(if you have a mixer)
-Cream butter and cream cheese together,
-Add vanilla and mix on low,
-Gradually add confectioner's sugar, making sure to scrape down the sides

(without mixer, prepare to work those wrists)
-Cream butter and cream cheese together with a fork or wooden spoon (this will take a while, so really wait for those ingredients to soften)
-Add vanilla and mix well,
-Add the confectioner's sugar and make sure to mix it really well until it reaches a smooth consistency.

Assembly:
-Take one pumpkin cookie, spoon cream cheese frosting and spread thickly over the surface, add the other half and gently squeeze so that the icing pops out just a little!

Happy Thanksgiving!

-gf

Simple Recipes and Common Sense: Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Hello Nomsters!

Happy November, I know we've been slacking on our blog updates, but with midterms, crazy rallies, and the return of the "McRib" things have been a bit busy.... and for the record, I was kidding about the last reason. Anyway, hopefully everyone is having a splendid Sunday, and to make things just a bit sweeter, here's a recipe for some of the best pancakes ever!

I first tasted this recipe at a family friend's house in New Haven, CT. She had planned on making pancakes, but realized that she didn't have any buttermilk. However, in true foodie fashion, she used yogurt as a substitution. The result was a thick, blueberry-packed pancake that just melts in your mouth. These results were most likely due to the yogurt substitution and the amount of baking powder in the recipe. Ever since I've been playing around with the recipe and different ingredients, but the blueberry are still amazing, especially since when my family makes them we make a compote to accompany the yummy cakes.

I usually make the original blueberry, but this week I opted for bananas/chocolate chip with maple syrup, which yielded delicious results. So if you're in college and haven't already grabbed brunch or are looking for a delicious meal for your family, try your hand at these tasty pancakes.

Banana Chocolate Chip Pancakes

Ingredients:
1 ⅓ cups Flour
3 Tbsp Sugar
2 ½ tsp Baking Powder

¾ tsp Salt
1 ¼ cups Vanilla Yogurt
2 large Eggs
¼ stick Unsalted Butter, melted
2-3 bananas cut into small pieces
As many chocolate chips as you want!
Maple Syrup, for serving

Instructions:

-Whisk first 4 ingredients in a large bowl,
-Whisk yogurt, eggs, and 2 Tbsp. butter in medium bowl; stir in dry ingredients,
-Fold in bananas and chocolate chips,

-Heat large nonstick griddle or skillet over medium hear; brush with butter,
-Drop batter by ⅓ cupfuls onto griddle,
-Cook pancakes until brown, brushing griddle with more butter as needed, about 3 minutes per side,
-Transfer to sheet in over to keep warm. Serve pancakes with maple syrup!

I highly recommend this recipe! The overall process is pretty easy, and the results are amazing, thick, fluffy, pancakes that will have you begging for another.

Also, in delivery news, we'll be tabling in red square soon, and this week's menu offerings are Cinnamon Brown Sugar Muffins and Chocolate Chip Cookies!


Keep on nomming!


-GF

Nightly Noms Menu Update: Say Hello to Halloween!

Hey Georgetowners,

We know you love a good Halloween weekend, and while we won't be providing you with delivery service after you return from your escapades on Halloween night, nothing's going to stop us from bringing you some tasty treats the Wednesday before!


This past week, Nightly Noms featured our newest muffin: Pumpkin Apple (maybe we'll name it "The Charlie Brown", which was a huge hit according to people in the Voice office, so we'll be offering those again for the October 27th delivery. Along with those moist apple-packed muffins, we'll be baking up "Halloween Fudge Browns" which will be festively decorated for the occasion (think candy corn accents)! These thick, over sized brownies are fudgey, gooey, and pair wonderfully with a glass of milk! Take a bite out of them this Wednesday and hopefully they'll appear on the menu more often!

So pregame your candy-filled Halloween weekend with a dose of homemade baked goods!

You know you won't regret it....

Happy Baking!

-Nightly Noms
[p.s. if you would really like us to bake up chocolate chip cookies this week, feel free to voice your opinion via comments, our wall, or email, we'll listen :) ]

NN Update: Falling into Seasonal Favorites

Hello Nomsters!

I hope everyone on Georgetown's campus is enjoying their Thursday night and are getting ready to relax over the lovely three day weekend! I've returned home to Chicago for the break, but I promised a post about the latest tastes that Nightly Noms has been baking up, so here we go!

With the leaves turning and the fall breeze stirring, we've decided to "spice" up our weekly delivery menu a bit. Two weeks ago we offered Chewy Gingersnap cookies and Pumpkin Brown Sugar Muffins (aka Pumpkin Spice). Both items were a hit and we hope that if you have a moment you'll take a bit of time to leave a comment/review either on this blog or at nightlynoms@gmail.com.

Our gingersnaps are a chewy combination of spicy and sweet goodness that is sure to give you a pick me up after a few hours studying in Lau!

The Pumpkin Brown Sugar Muffins we baked up were a moist mix of pumpkin and cinnamon with a sweet brown sugar coating on top. Maybe you aren't craving pumpkin pie yet, but these muffins are definitely a tasty addition to a Pumpkin Spice Latte or cup of coffee!






And finally, for this past week's delivery Nightly Noms baked up our well-known Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins and our latest seasonal addition: Pumpkin Snickerdoodles. Regardless of being a baker, foodie, eater, or just random enjoyer of baked goods, Snickerdoodles are a fun cookie because of the name itself, not to mention the overall taste of warm, chewy, cinnamon-sugar covered Snickerdoodles is delicious. Adding pumpkin to the mix seemed like a fun alteration and ended up making more than one person say "nom nom."


Anywho, I hope you've enjoyed this quick update on the NN menu, we'll likely be offering these new Noms well into the month of November, along with adding others that we've been tweaking on in the test kitchen and of course the usual favorites!

Remember, we're here to improve your "foodie experience," so feel free to email us requests and questions. And while you're procrastinating on Facebook, we'd really really appreciate if you'd invite your friends to "like" us.

All the best and Happy Baking!

-The Georgetown Foodie

Simple Recipes and Common Sense: Baked Asiago Chicken-Mushroom Orzo

Hello my foodie friends,

With midterms around the corner, fall sports in full swing, and every club imaginable having events, there's barely enough time to eat a meal let alone "learn" how to cook. So here I am to provide you with a "college friendly" recipe that can require as many or as few ingredients that you have and that'll be sure to satisfy your craving for a home cooked meal.

I tested out a new recipe with my flatmates this week. We had decided we wanted to make dinner, but rather than run to Safeway, I rummage around to see what I had for ingredients already. Among random spices and noodle cups, we had some veggies, pasta, chicken, and cheese. Therefore I'm providing you with my recipe for a simple baked pasta dish, but honestly, you can substitute the type of vegetable, pasta, meat, etc based on what's available. Hence the reason this recipe is "college friendly" so be creative!

Baked Asiago Chicken-Mushroom Orzo

STEP 1: Chicken Prep (NOTE: make sure when you handle chicken you wash (scrub!) your hands, knife, cutting board, etc with soap and waterafter since you are handling raw meat).
-Chicken breast tenders (chopped into small pieces)
-Dash of Cayenne pepper (optional)
-Dash of salt
-Dash of pepper

1. Rinse chicken under cold water and pat dry with paper towels,
2. Chop chicken into small pieces and place into a bowl,
3. Add a bit of cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you want), salt/pepper to chicken and mix to make sure all pieces have some seasoning,
4. Heat frying pan to high/medium heat, add 1/8 stick of butter (or 1-2Tbs Olive Oil), add chicken and cook thoroughly (until chicken is slightly browned on the outside and no longer pink on the inside)
5. once chicken is cooked, turn off burner and set aside.

STEP 2: Pasta Prep
(roughly 3-6 servings depending on how hungry you are)
-1 cup orzo pasta
-1/4-1/2 cup of diced Asiago cheese (or some other cheese you like)
-pinch of salt (for boiling water)

1. Bring a few cups of water to a boil, while waiting for the boiling point add your salt,
2. Pour orz0 (or your choice of pasta) into boiling water and let boil for 9-11 minutes, until cooked to al dente (a.k.a. slightly chewy).
3. Once pasta is cooked, strain the water, (if you don't have a colander, you can use the pot lid by covering most of the pot but leaving just enough open to let water out but keep pasta in),
4. Add a little olive oil to pasta (so that it doesn't stick to the pot) and set aside.

STEP 3: Mushroom Mix
3 cups chopped mushrooms (about a small package, I used white mushrooms)
1/4 stick butter
2 Tbs breadcrumbs (optional)
Dash of salt
Dash of pepper

1. dice mushrooms into small pieces
2. heat up a frying pan to medium heat, melt 1/4 butter and add mushrooms,
3. Saute mushrooms until most of the butter is absorbed, then cut heat to low, add salt/pepper to taste,
4. add bread crumbs, set aside.

Bringing it all together! Congrats, the worst is over :) However, if you don't want to bake the dish, you can just mix everything together add some cheese and enjoy!
Final Steps
-Oven safe dish
-Pasta, Chicken, and Mushroom mix
-Cheese

1. Set oven @ 350
2. place pasta in the oven safe dish, add chicken and mix, then add mushrooms and mix,
3. Mix some of your diced or shredded cheese into the pasta dish and sprinkle remaining on top
4. Bake for 10-15 minutes (checking every 5 minutes, you want the cheese to be melted!)

To add a veggie as a side, steam your favorite or grab some frozen veggies and put them in the microwave for a quick zap.

All the best and hope this has you saying "nom nom nom."

-The Georgetown Foodie