Baby Shower Cookies and Cupcakes

After having a great time back in November with Mariapi and Mercedes from "Muy Dulce", I did not hesitate one second to join them again this past weekend.

The theme this time was baby showers. You should have seen the beautiful table presentation that Mariapi and Mercedes prepared with the cuttest cookies and cupcakes!

As always, I had a blast of time hanging around these talented two. They have infinite pacience with us the students. Theach us all little tricks. Make you feel like at home and always with the sweetest smile.

These time there were people from all over Spain. From Mallorca, Sevilla, Cuenca ... go figure!

I am telling you !! M&M Rock!!

So, if you want to see them in action you can do two things:

1. Tune your TV tomorrow 15th Feb. Antena 3 news.

2. Join them in their next course. I will be there!

And to Mariapi and Mercedes: Thank you, Thank you, Thank you!

Chocolate Cookie Baked in a Skillet

I have to admit that these past days I have being having a kind of “blog crisis”. For a moment I started to wonder what I was doing, where I was going and what was my next step.

In me, this is kind of normal. I think this type of thoughts are a result of my professional life. I am always re-assessing. Always making sure that we are on the right track in line with the set objectives.

Maybe everyone has had a “blog crisis” …. I hope. Since I still don´t know where I am going and what is my next step, I went back to the beginning: the therapy.

I have prepared something simple, cozy and comfort. A chocolate cookie baked in a skillet. The recipe is from the Martha´s cookie book. Serve it warm with ice cream and cry!!

I hope you like it!!

Ingredients

Serves 8

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (about 9 ounces) mixed milk- and semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 180º(350 degrees). In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until mixture is light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; mix until they are fully incorporated. Add flour mixture, and beat until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Transfer dough to a 25 cm (10-inch) ovenproof skillet, and press to flatten, covering bottom of pan. Bake until edges are brown and top is golden, 40 to 45 minutes. Don't overbake; it will continue to cook a few minutes out of the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, 15 to 20 minutes. Cut into 8 wedges. Serve warm; top each wedge with a scoop of ice cream.

Cookies for the Three Wise Men

One of my most vivid memories from childhood is “ The Three Wise Men night” or “ Noche de Reyes” in Spanish.

My mother used to prepare cookies and Clementine’s for the wise men and water for the camels. The ritual was fascinating!!!

It was such an excitement that I could hardly go to sleep! But I went to bed looking forward to the next morning.

Funny enough when I woke up I did not go to see the presents. I run to the kitchen to make sure that the wise men had had their cookies and Clementine’s and the camels had drunk their water.

Tonight I am preparing the food and the water like my mother used to do. Tomorrow in the morning I will make sure that the cookies, Clementine’s and water are gone.

I wish you all a great night and that The Three Wise Men brings you many gifts.

Now it is time to go to bed ….

Christmas Sugar & Cranberry Cookies and Happy New Year

So here we are at the end of 2010! Finally a year that has felt like a year and not like 5 minutes!!

Looking back at 2010 I have to say that has been a good year. I have made major changes in my life that have brought me pure joy, what makes me happy and proud.

I am looking at to 2011 with excitement! So many new projects and illusions. I wish you all the best for this New Year and I hope to see you around here.

It is always a pleasure to share my “therapy” with you.

Here you have some of the cookies that I have been giving away to friends. The sugar cookies recipe, I already posted it. The recipe that I am posting now is the delicious cranberry cookies from Martha Stewart.

I hope you like it!

Happy New Year!!!

Ingredients

Makes about 4 dozen

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped dried cranberries (Mercadona)

Directions

Beat butter, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add flour and salt; stir just until combined. Stir in dried cranberries. Divide dough into quarters.

On parchment, shape each portion into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter and 4 inches long. Wrap logs tightly in parchment or plastic. Chill 30 minutes or up to 1 day. (Dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic and frozen up to 1 month.)

Preheat oven to 160º. With a sharp knife, slice dough into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. Rotate log as you cut to keep it from flattening. Place rounds on parchment-lined baking sheets, 1 inch apart.

Bake, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges just begin to turn golden, 20 to 22 minutes. Let cookies cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 weeks.

Marina´s Birthday Cookies

Marina is one of my "horse-friends". We ride together every weekend.

Marina is this sweet nice girl. She always smiles and aproches everyone with the most cheerful attitude.

When I think of Marina there are two things that comes to my mind: hearts and horses. Hearts because Marina LOVES sending me hearts through Facebook (if you are on FC you know what I´am talking about). And horses because we have the same passion. Marina´s horse is this handsome white big boy. As sweet as the owner!

So for Marina´s 14th birthday the theme of the cookies was easy, right?

The recipe for the cookies is from Williams Sonoma. This time is in Spanish for my "non- baking" spanish friends.

I hope you like them!

GALLETAS DE AZUCAR
Ingredientes
390gr de harina
2,5 gr de sal (media cucharita)
185gr de mantequilla a temperatutra ambiente
250gr de azucar
1 huevo a temperatura ambiente
7,5 ml de extracto de vainilla (una cucharita y media)
Direcciones
Sobre un bol pequeño pasar por el ceazo la harina y la sal. En otro bol batir la
mantequilla con una batidora a velocidad alta durante dos minutos. Reducir la
velocidad a media añadir lentamente el azucar. Parar de vez en cuando para rebeñar
los lados. Añadir el huevo y la vainilla y batir durante otro minuto.
Parar la baridora y añadir la mitad de la harina. Batir a velocidad media hasta que casi
toda la harina se ha absorvido. Añadir el resto de la harina y continuar batiendo hasta
que la harina ha sido absorvida y la masa se despega de las paredes del bol, 2 a 3
minutos.
Dividir la masa en dos partes.. Envolver la masa en film transparente y en forma de
disco. Refrigerar la masa durante dos horas hasta dos dias. Sacar la masa de la nevera
y dejar reposar durante 5 minutos. En una superficie enharinada y con la ayuda de un
rodillo estender la masa hasta conseguir un grosor de 4,5 a 6 mm.
Precalentarel horno a 180º. Preparar varias bandejas con papel vegetal.
Enharinar los moldes de las galletas antes de cortar la masa. Preparar las galletas en
la bandeja y refrigerar durante 20 min. Hornear durante 10-12 min o hasta doradas.
Dejar las galletas enfriar en una rejilla durante 5 minutos.

Rose Cream Sandwiches and Snow

A couple of weeks ago I was in London. Among the many great things I did having merienda at Ladurée was the greatest .... by far!

I already told you about my passion for Ladurée and pretty desserts. This time, with a cafe au lait in a beautiful china, I had a "Religieouse a la Rose" .

The floral bouquet mix with the raspberry from the "Religiouse" was such an experience! I could not take the rose flavour out of my mind, so after Ladurée I went to Fortnum & Mason to buy Rose water.

With rose flavor in the back of my mind, I started to look for the perfect treat. I found a rose cream cookie recipe from Johnny Miller. Perfect!!

I bake my cookies while it was crazy snowing. Next morning, the sun was shining, the air was freezing and an immaculate “white frosting” covered the landscape.

I went to my parents where, to my surprise, there were still roses blooming. So there you go! Rose Cream Sandwiches displayed with roses on snow.

The textures of the cookies delicate like the snow. The cream is silky like the rose petals.

I hope you like it!!

Serves 2 ½ dozen cookies

Ingredients

Cookies

1 ¾ cups plus 2 tablespoons all- purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

¼ teaspoon salt

200 gr softened butter

1/3 cup confectioners´sugar, plus more for dusting

1 ½ tablespoon rose water

Cream Filling

4 ounces cream cheese softened

¼ cup confectioner´s sugar

¾ teaspoon rose water

1 ½ teaspoons milk

Directions

Whisk to combine flour, cornstarch, and salt in a bowl. In a separate bowl beat butter and confectioner´s sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add rose water and mix until combined. Reduce the speed to low and add flour mixture; mix until just combined. Divided the dough in half, and shape into disks. Wrap each in plastic, and chill minimum 1 hour.

Preheat the oven at 180º. Roll 1 disk of dough to ½ cm thickness; chill 15 minutes. Cut 4cm rounds from dough, and place 2 cm apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake , rotating sheets halfway through, until barely golden, about 14 min. Let cool completely.

For the Rose Water Cream Filling stir together the cream cheese and sugar. Then add the rose water and milk. The filling can be refrigerated in an airtight container up to 3 days.

Lemon Cookie Squares

Last Sunday after our ritual brunch at “Le Pain Quotidien”, my friend Claudio and myself went for a lovely walk to the Alfred Bertrand Park in Geneva.

Claudio was telling me about the bake sale that took place few weeks ago at his work (my former work) to raise funds for breast cancer. Bake sales at my former work are just sunning. The decoration and props are amazing, making the treats look even more beautiful. What to expect from one the best fashion companies in the world?!!

I started to think about bake sales and how “sweet “ they are. I love the tables full of treats, very nicely displayed, with cute packaging. Nothing like homemade baking to indulge yourself! And they are always to raise money for a good reason!!

At all the bake sales you can find the classic: chocolate chips cookies, raspberry muffins, vanilla cupcakes …. But there is one thing that you will always see: Lemon cookie squares.

Lemon squares are EASY to bake and very tasty. This is the reason, in my humble opinion, that a bake sale is not a real bake sale if they don´t have lemon squares ;-)

I hope you like them!

Serves two dozen 5cm squares

FOR THE CRUST

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

200gr unsalted butter, frozen

3/4 cup confectioner's sugar, plus more for dusting

3/4 teaspoon salt

FOR THE FILLING

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup whole milk

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 4 lemons)

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 180º. Butter a 20-by-30-cm (aprox) glass baking dish; line dish with waxed paper.

To make the crust grate butter on a cheese grater with large holes. In a separate large bowl, whisk together flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt. Add butter; stir with a wooden spoon until combined and mixture looks crumbly.

Transfer mixture to baking dish; press evenly onto bottom with your hands. Chill crust in freezer 15 minutes. Bake until slightly golden, 16 to 18 minutes.

Meanwhile, make filling: In bowl whisk together eggs, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. Stir in lemon juice and milk.

Remove crust from the oven and pour filling mixture over hot crust. Reduce oven temperature to 160º and bake until filling is set and edges are slightly golden brown, about 18 minutes.

Remove dish from the oven. Let cool completely on a wire rack.

Grip paper; lift out dessert, and set on cutting board. With a sieve, dust with confectioners' sugar. Cut into squares.

Las Galletas de Alex - Alex Cookies

Ya os he hablado en otras ocasiones sobre la familia de mi amiga Silvia en Ginebra. Los Domingos por la tarde en casa de Silvia y Steve eran mi “terapia familiar” , casi siempre endulzadas por algo recién salido del horno!

Las galletas estaban en los puestos mas altos del ranking de los Ritchey-Pedret. Tanto que en uno de los viajes de la familia a US, Alex me compro de los regalos mas especiales. Alex me regalo unos moldes de galletas con una sencilla finalidad: que le hiciera galletas.

Esta es la receta de las galletas de Alex. Espero que os guste!

I already spoke to you about my friend Silvia family in Geneva. Sunday afternoon at Silvia and Steve were my “family therapy”, almost always sweeten with something from my oven!!

Cookies were in the highest position of the Ritchey-Pedret family. So in one of the family trips to the US, Alex got me one of the most special gifts. Alex got me cookie cutters with a very simple goal: for me to bake her more cookies.

This is Alex cookies recipe. I hope you like it!

Ingredients

Serves 3 dozens

1 cup unsalted butter

1 ½ cups sugar

1 egg

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla Extract

2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 400ºF. In mixing bowl, cream butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Mix flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing alter each addition.

Divide the dough into 2 balls. On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle of 30 cm wide and 3 cm thick. Dip the cookie cutters in flour before each use.

Bake cookies 6-7 min. Let them cool.

___________________________________

Ingredientes

Hace 3 docenas

1 taza mantequilla

1 ½ taza azúcar

1 huevo

1 ½ cucharita de extracto de vainilla

2 ¾ tazas de harina

2 cucharitas de levadura

1 cucharita de sal

Direcciones

Precalentar el horno a 200º. En un recipiente mezclar la mantequilla y el azúcar hasta que la mantequilla este ligera y “hueca”. Añadir el huevo y la vainilla. Seguir batiendo. En otro recipiente mezclar la harina, levadura y sal. Añadir a la mezcla de mantequilla de taza en taza. Mezclar en cada añadidura.

Dividir la masa en dos partes. En una superficie con enharinada, trabajar la masa hasta conseguir un circulo de 30 cm de diámetro y 3 cm de espesor. Enharinar los moldes de las galletas antes de cortar la masa. Hornear las galletas durante 6 – 7 min. Dejar enfriar.