Grandma’s Split-Second Cookies
My title does not lie—these cookies are near and dear to me because the recipe comes from my grandmother. A while ago she wrote down several of her go-to recipes for me in a little journal—the first time she had shared most of these recipes, and now I am sharing this one with you.
These are my absolute favorites of my grandmother’s cookies, and I had never made them myself—I’d been waiting until the right moment. Which was a few weeks ago.
My Grandma must have the magic touch, because hers come out looking way more perfect, and I think they taste better too. But, these were still delicious and a definite crowd pleaser!
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Recipe
(About 50 1/2 inch cookies)
- 2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- About 1/3 cup jam/preserves
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Stir together the flour, baking powder and sugar. In a separate bowl, blend the butter, egg and vanilla. Gradually mix them all together (grandma doesn’t specify wet to dry or dry into wet).
- Place the dough on a lightly floured board, and divide it into 4 parts.
- Shape each part into a roll about 13 inches long and 3/4-inch thick. Place on an ungreased bake sheet 4 inches apart and at least 2 inches from the edge of the pan.
- Use a knife handle to make a lengthwise depression about 1/2 inch deep down the center of each roll. Fill the depression with jam (Grandma uses raspberry preserves but of course you can use any. I used orange marmalade and strawberry).
- Bake until brown, about 15-20 minutes. Cut into bars while warm.
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Irish Scones, or, Scones.
Many apologies for never, ever, ever blogging here guys. I was eating SUPER healthy all fall and winter and not baking at all, basically. I’ve decided to just post what I’m baking when I actually am, but readers are still welcome to submit “assignments” even if I don’t share recipes ahead of time.
A few weeks ago I finally entered the ranks of ultimate domesticity with my KITCHEN AID MIXER purchase.
(Excuse overgrown bangs and other general awkward things going on here.)
I made cupcakes right away, but then didn’t use it for a few weeks until last night. In honor of this week’s Irish celebrations (I live in Boston and it gets a little wild here), I’m cooking a ton of Irish food this weekend, and kickstarted it all with scones. This recipe is based off of the Oatmeal Scones recipe in The Commonsense Kitchen, but I modified it and think it came off well!
Irish Oatmeal Scones
- 1 cup king arthur whole wheat flour
- 1 cup trader joe’s white wholewheat flour
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup steel cut Irish oats (mine are from TJ’s), plus more for rolling later
- 1 1/2 sticks butter, chopped into thick slices(could sub vegan spread or oil I think to make vegan)
- 1/2 cup dried bing cherries*
- 1/2 cup golden raisins*
- 1/2 cup buttermilk (someone want to try with almond milk and report back?)
Instructions
Heat oven to 425 F. Combine the dry ingredients and then either mix in butter by hands or with a mixer until coarse and mealy. Add in the dried fruit and then the buttermilk and mix until combined. If your dough is dry you can add more buttermilk sprinkle by sprinkle, but mine didn’t need any extra.
Scatter some oats on a cutting board and break the dough into 2 large balls. Flatten them one at a time to 1 inch or so thickness, slicing each disc into 4 or 6 wedges. Place the scones an inch apart on an ungreased pan and bake for 12-14 minutes. The outside will brown nicely but the inside will be moist and awesome. Make sure you let them rest on the pan for a few minutes and don’t try to move them right after taking them out of the oven.
Orange Cardamom Cookies
I love these cookies! They are so light and buttery. The warm flavor and delicate texture are made for each other. I particularly like that these are not overly sweet.
I followed the recipe exactly and didn’t run into any problems. They’d probably be excellent with other citrus zest/spice combos (lemon and ginger maybe?) as well.
Thanks for the great recipe!
blog comments powered by DisqusAssignment 6: Zucchini Bread
Inevitably in the fall I have to make at least one batch of zucchini bread. My mom had her own garden for years and used to grow mammoth sized zucchinis… we had baskets and basketfuls so she used to make tons of breads, muffins, and quiches with them, roast them, and still have dozens to give to neighbors.
I decided just to look for a recipe online and pulled this recipe from allrecipes.com. I really love this website because you can see all the comments from users who have made modifications to the original recipe. So, without further ado, here’s the version I made last week in all its veggie glory. The bread turned out really moist, and it made enough for two mini loaves and 12 muffins. I still have some left as well as 6 muffins frozen!
Also, this recipe is a super easy one to modify to be vegan—simply use egg substitutes instead of real eggs et voila!
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Ingredients
- 1.5 cups Trader Joe’s Whole Wheat White Flour
- 1.5 cups Whole Wheat Flour
- 1 dash of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon nutmeg
- 3 eggs
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup organic unsweetened apple sauce
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups grated zucchini
Directions
- Grease and flour two 8 x 4 inch pans (or pans of your choosing). Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
- Sift flour, salt, baking powder, soda, nutmeg and cinnamon together in a bowl.
- Beat eggs, oil, apple sauce, vanilla, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add sifted ingredients to the creamed mixture, and beat well. Stir in zucchini and nuts until well combined. Pour batter into prepared pans.
- Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, or until tester inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on rack for 20 minutes. Remove bread from pan, and completely cool.
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Anyway, I’m changing things up about from how I was doing the blog last year—I may still post assignments before I do them myself, but obviously I’ve already completed this one. So, get your posts in whenever you can or whenever you bake and I’m sure we’d all love to see what you come up with—you can already see what I made!
XO,
Sara
blog comments powered by DisqusPerfect for Tea Time - Assignment 3
I have never made scones before and I was really impressed with this recipe since I already had all of the ingredients lying around my kitchen. Not only did the maple smell amazing baking, it tasted just as good.I followed the advice to add a very heaped tablespoon of the baking powder and I used buttermilk. I do not have a biscuit cutter so I used a circle shaped cookie cutter to shape my scones.
The scones came out great and went perfect with a cup of tea. (As you can see in the picture I spilled a bit too much egg on one of the scones) I would make these again if I was having people over and would serve it with tea and other finger snacks.
-Katie.
blog comments powered by DisqusFirst Time Not a Charm: Assignment 3
I just joined Baking Club and was delighted to determine that I had all of the ingredients for these scones already in my kitchen. Since I have never made scones before (I’m more a cookie, quickbread, and occasional cake baker), I was excited to try them.
I pretty much followed the recipe as written, using the old-fashioned oats. I did not have a biscuit cutter but since my 1/4 cup measure was about the right size, I used that.
Overall, I’d say the scones were okay. They were a bit dry, and, while my husband would point out that scones typically are, I think mine were a bit too much so for my taste. It may be due my caution in making sure the dough was “not sticky.” The scones crumble very easily. However, all is not lost; they were improved by a little butter spread on them!
I’m not sure whether I’ll make them again or not. If I do, I’d add a little more milk to make the dough a little wetter than it was this time.
blog comments powered by DisqusSmells Like Heaven: Assignment 3
I spent the first part of a lazy Saturday morning baking this week’s assignment, and it is an AMAZING recipe. These are honestly some of the best scones I have ever had. Ever. My husband loved them, and our whole apartment now smells delicious to boot.
I didn’t really make many modifications to the recipe this go round—though I did use old fashioned, not quick cook oats, as the purveyor of Smitten Kitchen used herself. I also didn’t use a biscuit cutter to shape them, and just made little mounds with my hands, so the scones are not uniform in size really.
The scones have this marvelously rich flavor… it comes in stages. You get the oatyness, and then a buttery bit, and then finally a sweet maple kick at the end.
We buttered ours (well, technically we used vegan spread) and they were divine that way. I tried a couple bites with some strawberry preserves, which is definitely yummy but does overpower the natural flavors in the scone, so I wouldn’t recommend it for more than a bit or two if you really want to experience the full scone flavor (something I never expected to write, that).
I’ll definitely be making this recipe again and again and again! Once you’ve baked yours, submit you photos and opinion here.
Love,
Sara
blog comments powered by DisqusAssignment 3: Maple Syrup and Oat Scones
Cruising around to find our third assignment, I went over to one of everyone’s favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen. And boy do these scones look awesome!
So, let’s hop to it!
(Photo by Deb Perelman, author of Smitten Kitchen)
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Maple Syrup and Oat Scones
Adapted from Breakfast Lunch, Tea: The Many Little Meals of Rose Bakery
These maple syrup scones have oats, whole wheat flour and maple syrup but are just barely sweet yet not at all gritty with healthfulness. I think it’s the substantial amount of butter within. Of interest, most of my favorite scones have heavy cream in them; this one does not but it has nearly the same amount of butterfat due to the higher amount of butter.
About the weights: In this recipe, they’re provided by the book’s author, not me. They differ from what I’d measure in my own cups and spoons but you can feel safe following them just the same, as they work — I did.
Yield: The book suggests 10 to 12 but I made mine (ruler-measured! yes, I’m ocd!) their suggested size and only got 8.
1 3/4 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour, plus extra for dusting surface
1/2 cup (80 grams) whole wheat flour
1/2 cup (35 grams) rolled oats (I used quick-cooking)
1 very heaped tablespoon baking powder (I only slightly heaped; wish I’d heaped more!)
1 very heaped tablespoon superfine (caster) or granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
Scant 3/4 cup (160 grams) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup milk or buttermilk
1 egg, beaten (for glaze)
Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C). Butter a baking tray, or, if you’re me and your baking sheets are in horrendous condition, line them with un-buttered parchment paper.
Whisk the flours, oats, baking powder, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. With a pastry blender or your fingertips, work the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. In a small dish, combine the milk and syrup, then add these liquid ingredients to the butter-flour mixture. By hand or with a rubber spatula, bring everything together to form a softish dough. If it feels too dry, add a little more milk but not enough that the dough is sticky. “The dough should not be stick at all,” the book admonishes.
On a lightly floured surface, pat or roll the dough out until it is 1 1/4 inches (3 cm) tall. Using a 2-inch (5-cm) cutter, cut the dough into rounds and place them on the prepared tray so that they almost touch. Glaze the tops with beaten egg and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the scones are lightly golden. The scones will stick together, so pull them gently apart when they’ve cooled a bit — pull-apart scones!
Serve warm.
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Giddyup! Due date is April 9.
Love,
Sara
blog comments powered by DisqusGot Butter? Assignment 2.
I finally got around to making the oatmeal-coconut cookie bars tonight, and BOY are they buttery!
I didn’t really make any modifications to the recipe, other than instead of buttering the pan I just sprayed it with olive oil. I don’t think doing that effected anything negatively at all.
I grabbed my pan out of the oven at the perfect time. Just slightly browned on top.
I think this recipe is honestly a bit too rich for me. I ate one bar by itself, and am yet to try it with some ice cream as the recipe suggests. I think that with ice cream the butteryness would perhaps be balanced out a bit somehow, and if it is then I would like these a whole lot more.
As is, if I were to make these again, I’d definitely add some raisins, apricots or dried cherries to give them more pizzazz. But like I said, they’re just so rich I’m not sure I’ll be up for another round of these suckers.
—Sara
blog comments powered by DisqusTwo Sisters in the Kitchen: Assignment 2
I printed off this recipe to make and my sister stopped by my place, saw it, and insisted we had to make it together. My sister is just learning how to cook and it was such a simple recipe for her. We did not make any changes to the recipe. It came out so good, I will make it again soon. My fiance is so impressed he wants me to start making it as snacks for him.
The only mistake we made was only waiting 1 hour before eating the cookie bars. We just couldn’t resist. This caused them to fall apart. The next day what was left stayed together perfectly fine, so I would recommend letting it sit like the directions said to.
—Two Sisters
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