One Recipe Two Cookies

A cookie is described as a thin, sweet small cake.  By definition; a cookie can be any of a variety of hand-held, flour-based sweet cakes, either crisp or soft , crunchy or chewy, variously shaped, filled, and cut .  Whatever is the definition a good cookie is a good cookie and the flavour and texture is the big star.

I am sharing with you a good base Oatmeal cookie which you can take it to another level,
by adding spices, fillings, even the leavening agent can make it soft and chewy or crumbly and crunchy.

Best Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

3 large eggs, beaten

1 cup raisins
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup butter softened “not melted in the microwave”           
1 cup packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar (if you prefer your cookie too sweet use one cup)
1 ¾ - 2 cups all-purpose flour depends on the flour and the humidity
1 ½ - 2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ tsp. each freshly grated nutmeg and all spice
2 teaspoons baking soda
3 cups rolled oats

For the cranberry oatmeal cookies

1 cup cranberry
1 cup toasted chopped cashews or pistachios
1 cup dark chocolate

For the raisin oatmeal cookies

1 cup raisin

1 cup toasted chopped almond , or walnuts/pecans

 Directions:

 1. In two separate bowls soak the raisin and the cranberry in hot water for 1 hour then drain on paper towel.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

3. In a large bowl, cream the soft butter (do not melt the butter in the microwave the cookies will be flat) brown sugar, and white sugar together. Whip the eggs one by one into the batter to get a smooth fluffy texture.

4. Sift together the flour, spices, baking soda and the salt.  Add the oats and stir.  Add the wet ingredients and keep mixing with your hands and don’t use the machine it will over mix the ingredients. Your hands are the best Machine.

5. If you are planning to use the two kinds of cookies divide the batter in two bowls  “otherwise adjust the stuffing ingredients” in one bowl add one cup raisin, and one cup toasted chopped almond.  In the second bowl add one cup cranberry, one cup chocolate and one cup toasted chopped cashews.  Mix well to combine

7. Leave the batter in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

8- Line the baking trays with parchment papers; either use a tablespoon and drop the cookies or use an ice cream scoop , which  I used  2 inch scoop for my cranberry cookies and got large cookies, for the raisin almond cookies I rolled by hand a walnut size balls .

9.  Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 9-10 minutes depends on your oven, keep your eyes as they get dark quickly.

Enjoy.

 

Cranberry, Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

 





Raisin Almond Oatmeal Cookies 

 

Baalback Special Cookies - Baalback Kaak Krass

Dear friends

I will be away from the blogsphere for couple of weeks.... I will be in my kitchen testing new recipes and preparing for two big events I am participating in as a food vendor. Next week we are celebrating the Maple Syrup Festival in Powassan , a near by town twenty minutes from North Bay.. It’s a full day event….this festival attracts more than 6000 visitors every year…. We are praying for a nice warm sunny weather, it’s an outdoor event, with lots of activities, rides to the maple syrup bush, bands and music, competitions, food and maple tasting and lots more...We love to see you if you are in the neighborhood.

On May 2^nd, I am participating in the Spring Craft Show; this is my third year with the show….

I will do my best to come and visit you from time to time… until then I will leave you with this recipe from the Baalback Region….

Mahlab, Mistakeh Gum and Orange Blossom Water are my favourite spices, to use in desserts and cookies, and sweet baking. I use them almost in everything, replacing Vanilla and or any spice... I even use Mahlab in my bread dough its gives the dough a very aromatic perfume smell and flavour.

Many times a recipe calls for the three spices, and I will be in Seventh Heaven…

What are three Lebanese/Mediterranean Spices?

Mahlab or Mahleb

There are many alternative spellings for this spice; mahlab, mahalab, mahleb, mahlebi or mahaleb. All of these names refer to an unusual fragrant spice made from the stones of a small, black cherry tree that grows wild in the Mediterranean region across to Turkey. It was first used for perfumes in the Middle East and Turkey, where it later became popular as a spice for flavouring breads. The world's major producer of Mahlab is now Iran, followed by Turkey and Syria.

Spice Description
Mahleb is the dried kernel of a small cherry stone. It is oval, about 5mm (3/16") long, buff-coloured with a finely wrinkled skin and a cream-coloured interior. The powdered spice is yellowish, similar to the colour to mace. Mahleb is not readily available outside the Middle East, though you may find it in Greek or Middle Eastern markets.
Bouquet: quite sweet with notes of cherry and almond. Some describe it as resembling marzipan.
Flavour: a combination of fragrant rosewater-like sweetness and a nutty and faintly bitter, but not unpleasant aftertaste...

Mastika/Mistakeh Gum

Starts as a semi-transparent sap from lentisk trees (actually evergreen bushes) found only in certain areas of the Greek island of Chios. As resinous granules, it was the original chewing gum, and the name "mastiha" is the root word of "masticate," meaning "to chew."

At the market, look for "mastiha," "mastiki," or "mastic tears" and it might also be available in powdered form

Mastiha is used as a spice in sweets and cooking, as a flavoring for liqueurs, and in soap-making, cosmetics, and toothpaste, among others. Recent evidence of its positive effect on ulcers has resulted in a boom in purchases by large pharmaceutical companies.

Pronunciation: MAHS-TEEKH-HAH

Also Known As: gum mastic

Alternate Spellings: masticha, mastica, mastihi

Examples: To make powdered mastic, use a mortal and pestle to grind the resin. Because the resin can be sticky, grind together with a little sugar or salt (from recipe ingredients). "One drop" of mastic powder means one granule, ground.

Orange flower water (aka orange blossom water) is a clear, perfumed distillation of fresh bitter-orange blossoms.

This essential water has traditionally been used in many French and Mediterranean dessert dishes, but has more recently found its way into Western cuisine.

It has been a traditional ingredient used often in Middle Eastern cooking. In the Arab world, it is frequently added to hard or otherwise bad-tasting drinking water to mask the unpleasant flavor. Orange blossoms are believed to be used in this manner because they are seen as the traditional bridal flower and, therefore, symbolize purity (white, small and delicate).

The Krass means disk in Arabic. They are big cookies around 5 inches in diameter, prepared specially for Easter, and stamped with a traditional Cross Stamp, some even have the special Cross Stamp which represent their Church the Roman Catholic Malakeein, which is the Church of the majority of the Christians in the Baalback Region.

These cookies are crunchy bite, they don’t have lots of levening agent, and the semolina flour gives them the crumbly texture. Some call them Kaak Bi Haleeb- Milk Cookies, but they are known for Krass Kaak Baalback – Cookie Disk from Baalback. I need to mention that the cookies are around 1/2 inch thick.

Recipe for 4 dozens:

1 1/2 kg Firkha (semolina flour #2)
1 1/2 kg AP flour
1000 – 1250 gm sugar (depends on your taste)
1-3 cups milk
1 tbsp nutmeg powder
1 tbsp mahlab powder

1 tsp of ground mistakeh gum
600g butter (if u want them a bit soft put 500g butter + 100g oil)
1 tbsp yeast
3 tbsp orange blossom or 1 tbsp vanilla

Direction:

Melt the butter, take it off the heat and add the sugar and stir so it will start to melt… let it cool before you add it to the flour mix. Add the yeast and spices and mix , when the butter has cooled enough to pour over the flour and the yeast add it and start mixing… add little by little the milk, depends on the flour, some will need more liquid than others. I use only 1 ½ milk, knead well until you get a nice smooth dough... don’t worry if the dough is a bit wet, within a short time the semolina will soak all the liquid… cover and leave it couple of hours to rest before you start cutting and shaping.

These cookies are good for dunking, treat in a lunch box, after school treat, and they look nice wrapped each individually for children parties. You don’t have to use a special stamp to decorate, any cookie stamp will do.

I like to eat them with a piece of cheese for breakfast with a cup of tea or coffee.

for that I use less sugar than the recipe (1250).

Mistakeh Gum and Mahlab Seeds - check a Middle Easter or Greek Food Store

Daoud Bacha Stew or Kabab Hindi and some cookies

Oatmeal Cranberry Coconut and Walnut Cookies
Melting Moments with citrus flavour

I got the recipe for the Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies from my friend Rosa from Rosa YummyYums

Oatmeal Coconut Cranberry Walnut Cookies

Ingredients
2 1/3 Cups All purpose flour
2 Tsp Baking powder
1 1/2 Tsp Baking soda
1 Tsp Ground cinnamon
1/5 Tsp Ground cloves
A pinch Ground nutmeg
1/2 Tsp Sea salt
3 Cups Quick cooking rolled oats - I used original oats
1 1/2 cups Unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
1 1/2 Cups Light brown sugar
1/3 Cup Granulated sugar
2 Large eggs *** I added three eggs
2 Tsp Pure vanilla extract
1 Cup Grated coconut, unsweetened
1 Cup Walnuts, roasted & chopped coarsely
1 Cup Dried cranberries, chopped coarsely

Mix the butter and the sugar , then add the eggs one by one then the dry ingredients and nuts.

preheat the oven at 375F , bake for 12-15 minutes depend on your oven.

I used an ice cream scoop and got 32 cookies out of this recipe.. Rosa got around 66 cookies, seems she made them smaller.... these are amazing cookies and adding the extra egg kept the cookies soft crumbly and they didn't get hard till the last one...

Daoud Bacha

Lebanon was part of the Ottoman Empire for over 400 years, Daoud Bacha was one of the Mouttasarefieh Leader he was a bad ruler and divided the Country and created a conflict between the Christian Maronite and the Muslim Duruz in Mount Lebanon.

I am not sure if this dish was created in his kitchen, or it was one of his favourite.

Ingredients:

500 gm extra lean grind lamb meat or beef

1 kg of fresh tomatoes chopped

50 gm of toasted pine nuts

2 large onions thinly sliced

1 ½ head of garlic sliced

2 heads of green pepper

½ cup butter of less

Salt, black pepper, Lebanese seven spices

1 cup of beef stock or water,

Tomato juice to be used later

* juice of one lemon or couple spoons of pomegranate molasses (optional)

Preparation:

Grind the meat in a food processor add salt, pepper and seven spices (you can see the recipe in an old posting) using your hand mix the meat thoroughly with the spices to combine, turn them into medium size meat balls.

In a non stick skillet melt the butter and fry the meatballs, in batches, and drain on paper towel. Add the onions and when halfway done add the sliced garlic and the green pepper turn until they welted. Add the chopped tomatoes, pinenuts, and cup of stock or water, and cook for ten minutes, add the meatball and continue cooking until the sauce thickens.

* If you like your stock with a hint of sour you can add the pomegranate molasses or lemon juice stir and cook for extra 5 minutes.

In case the tomatoes are not juicy enough you can add some of the tomato juice, continue cooking until the meats are cooked, and the sauce is thickened. Serve over rice pilaf or burghul pilaf with some of the sauce as well.

Its delicious , simple to prepare . Enjoy.

Walima Challenge - Representing the Moroccan Cuisne

Hello every one, Happy New year to all my friends and readers, hoping that this year will bring us all peace, joy and prosperity.

December Walima Challenge is Representing the Moroccan Cuisines and its hosted by our two lovely and talented friends Touria from http://cuisnetouria.e-monsite.com/accueil.html and Sabah from http://www.sousoukitchen.blogspot.com/

Morocco or the Kingdom of Morocco (Al Mamlaka -Al-Magribiya) translated to the Western Kingdom, is a country located in the north Africa with an area just under 447,000 square kilometres.
Rabat is the capital and Casablanca is the largest city.Morocco has a coat on the Atlantic ocean that reaches past the straight of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean sea. It is bordered by Algeria to the east, Spain to the North and Western Sahara to the south.

Several Arabic and Berber dialects are spoken in Morocco and the population is largely homogenous.The Moroccan Cuisine is one of the diversified cuisines in the world. It is a mix of Berber, Spanish, Moorish, Middle eastern, Mediterranean and African Cuisines.

1)Moroccan-berber cuisine:The Moroccan Cuisine has been influenced by the native Berber cuisine which differs from one area to an other within North Africa.the principal Berber food is:-couscous-Tajine wich is a very diversified dish-Mechoui or lamb barbecue-Harira which is a famous Moroccan soup during Ramadan.-Bread made with traditional yeast

2)Moroccan-andalusian cuisine:Andalisuian cuisine has also ifluenced Moroccan Cuisine. Moriscos or (Muslim refugees) who were expelled from Spain during the spanish inquisition brought with them their civilisation. the famous Moroccan andalusian dish is Pastille which is a wedding dish made of chicken and almonds. Besides pastille, a lot of Moroccan pastries are based on andalusian pastry such as almond coockies.

3)Moroccan-middle eastern cuisine:As Moriscos, Political refugees left baghdad in the middle ages and settled in Morocco, bringing with them traditional recipes that are now common in Morocco but Forgotten in the middle east. There is a striking similaritiries between 12th centry collection of recipes by Al-Baghdadi and contemporary Moroccan dishes. A signature characteristic is cooking fruit with meat like quince with lamb or apricots with chicken.

4)Moroccan-jewish cuisine:Jewish cuisine has also influnced Moroccan Cuisine. The Mizrahi's style is still well noticed in salad starters Made by marinated olive and vegetable.


Moroccan Cuisine is based on the use of different spices but the most characteristic feature is the use of powder ginger in different tajines. Olive oil is also a characterestic of Moroccan Cuisine as it is the case of all the Mediterranean cuisines.Chicken is the most widely eaten meat in Morocco. The most commonly eaten red meat in Morocco is beef; lamb is preferred as it is the basic ingredient in making tajines. the Moroccan tajine can also be made with fish and vegetables.The most popular drink is green tea with mint which is accompanied with different Moroccan pastry.

COUSCOUS WITH BEEF
Ingredients :
- 1 pound couscous
- 1 pound meat (beef), you can use chicken or lamb.
- 2-3 carrots
- 3 zucchini
- 3 tomatoes
- squash
- 1 big onion
- parsley & coriander
- chickpeas
- 2 Tbs vegetable oil
- 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, 1/2 tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp turmeric, pinch pf saffron- water
optional :- 1/2 tsp smen (butter ghee)
Steps :
Heat the oil at medium temperature, add chopped onion and the meat.After 15 min, add chopped tomatoes, parsley, coriander and the spices, let cook 10 min, add water, let cook 1hour.
To prepare the couscous :
Add some water and fluff it up with your hands, let it soak.
After the meat has cooked 1 hour, place couscous in the steamer pot and let steam 20 min.Remove couscous from the heat, let it cool, add water, fluff it with your hands, add salt and oil, if you want, you can add smen (butter ghee).Put couscous to steam another 20 min.Add carrots to the meat, after 10 min, add zucchini, squash, chickpeas, let cook.To serve, place couscous first, then the meat, the vegetables and the sauce.
If you don't have a couscous pot, you can follow the same steps using a microwave.To make it easy for you, click on the pictures to watch the videos.http://sousoukitchen.blogspot.com/2008/12/couscous-with-beef-couscous-avec-le.html

GHRIBA (THE MOROCCAN FAMOUS COOKIES)
Ingredients :
- 3 3/4 cups flour
- 2 stick melted butter (230 gr)
- 1/4 cup oil
- 1 cup sugar
- a pinch of salt
Steps :
Mix flour, sugar, salt, butter, oil, mix until the mixture becomes sandy.Form small balls, flatten them a little bit, place in a baking sheet.Bake in a preheated oven at 380 F, 20 min.The cookies should keep their white color.
http://sousoukitchen.blogspot.com/2008/12/ghriba_19.htmlMOROCCAN TEAIngrediens :The ingredients depend on the size of the teapot.- handful of fresh mint- 1 1/2 tsp green tea- 4 tsp sugar- boiling waterSteps :Put the green tea into the teapot, add about 1/2 glass of hot water, rinse the tea,pour into glass #1, pour one more time 1/2 cup into glass #2.Pour out cup #2, add the mint, sugar, and glass #1, then fill the pot with boiling water, stir.Bring to boil on stove about 2 min.

whipping the butter and sugar for 10 minutes is the secret to a light cookies

The baked Ghriba

Moroccan Shortbread Cookies

Refreshing fresh Mint Tea

I like to mention that the fresh mint tea, is a refreshing drink winter and summer, also is soothing drink which helps in digestion, or stomachache and taste great.

A Flower Cookies - For Peace

Our friend Rosa of rosas-yummy-yums.blogspot.com is organizing an event called "Pastries For Peace" . Hoping that one day the Muslims and the Jewish will live in peace and harmony.
Anybody can participate. The the deadline is extended till the 15th of December 2009. Just send your links to grandchampatgmxdotch.

Flower Cookies

I saw this recipe at Mona Saboni's blog http://www.l2ma.com/ Mona is a member of the Walima Club, her blog is in Arabic, and full of delicious Middle Eastern Food.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of vegetable oil

1/4 cup of milk

1/2 cup of semolina

1 egg

1/4 cup of unsalted butter
tsp of vanilla

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp of vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

1-2 cups of flour (depends on the flour and the mix, you need enough to make a cookie dough)

Syrup:

1 cup of water

2 cups of sugar

juice of 1/2 of lemon

cinnamon sticks, cloves

Stuffing:

ground walnuts, almonds, pistachios or even Kashta or pastry cream or Marscapone cheese

Preparation:

In a pot prepare the syrup , add the spices , when it starts to boil add the lemon juice and lower the heat , let it simmer for 8 minutes. cool completely before using.

In a food processor or by hand add the wet ingredients stir, then slowly add the semolina flour and mix to combine, add enough flour to make a nice smooth cookie dough... knead by hand to combine. Wrap the dough in a plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for at least one hour or overnight...

On a floured board, knead the dough , roll very thinly, using a round cookie cutter cut 5-6 circles, and stack them one half way on top of the other....Roll from the last circle up gathering the sides , cut in half to get two flowers, try to open the ends as much as you can...to take the shape of a flower. You can stuff them between the layers of the flowers with your desired nuts or cream stuffing... I added the nuts before rolling the circles , making sure each centre has some .


Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 15-18 minutes or until then start to turn light brown, drizzle them with the cool syrup... Let them cool before you move them to a platter.

The cookies are not overly sweet , they have a crumbly texture which I like . delicious, and fit for any party or wedding reception.

Finally the big mystery is solved and the secret is revealed.... Tried and True Levain Chocolate Chips Cookies

Some of you know that I am a vendor at the local farmer's markets, I always prepare and freeze my cookie doughs and sweet bread doughs , this save lots of time, and makes everything ready for baking on the last day.

I wanted to try a nice chocolate chips recipe that I can sell at the market, and remains crunchy and tender and keeps its texture for days to come...
I tried several options, even I changed the recipe by adding 1/4 cup of shortening with 3/4 cup of butter to see if i will get the tenderness with the same crunchy texture. the taste was very nice but they didn't hold its shape. a photo is attached to show you

I updated Lisa Michel's Copycat recipe and played with the ingredients a little, and because of the necessity to prepare several recipes ahead of time . On the baking day, I took the bag out , the dough was still very cold, barely I could shape it into cookie balls, and was baked in a preheated oven at 350F for 18-20 minutes ... the results are awesome cookies, gorgeous color and to top it all the cookies stayed , crunchy and tender (I saved some in a jar for testing)

I doubled the recipe I used because I wanted to keep some to see the texture of the cookies, and the amazing thing, the cookies kept the same taste and same texture for a whole 10 days , i was tasting half a cookie every day to see...nothing change....too bad, I didn't have any more cookies to test!!! haha since when a chocolate chip cookies lasts 10 days ????

My new Chocolate Chips Cookies came out perfect, crumbly, crunchy and at the same time remained tender and didn't turn hard even after 10 days.

Lisa Michele Copycat Chocolate Chips recipe was outstanding , but get hard the second day

I even tried adding 1/4 cup of shortening and 3/4 butter but it did come out nice looking

A Week of Baking in Photos - Part III

I didn't have any Matcha powder (green Tea), I used one envelope of good quality green tea.

I divided the mix intro four flavours, I wanted to experiment. I added 1 1/2 tbsp of cocoa powder to get the chocolate flavours, and I baked it in the same temperature at 325F for 18minutes... the chocolate cookies cracked. Later I discovered that chocolate macaroons are different and needs different recipe and oven temp.... Live and learn

For the original recipe i sprinkled some cracked caramel on top and in the frosting

Oh I forgot to mention that I used a spoon to mold my macaroons, I was lazy to fill three pastry bags

For the pink macaroons I tried to add a design on top with different color.
the frosting was white chocolate and rasberry

I always wanted to try making macaroons. but didn't find the time to do it, or at the last minute the recipe will be changed to something else...

Until one day I decided this is the day. It was stormy outside and we did get snow, yes, it snowed in April, I had my bulbs out and the crocus were ready to open. when the white snow covered them again.... I was so mad, I was so looking forward to Spring and to see my flowers and the green around me... enough white powder.... I had more than two meters of snow on my lawn . The closer to go by the Lake the snow still hard there , the lakes are still frozen and you can walk on the lake.

I always admired Helene's (Tartelette) Macaroons. When I spotted her step by step recipe at the Dessert Magazine, I decided to try it see the result.... Here are some step by step photos.

It's snowing outside, by the early evening everything was covered with 10 cms of snow

Lebanese Easter Cookies

"These cookies are made in my mom's home village - Baalbek, in Lebanon, a week before Easter. They are such a hit, everyone asks for the recipe.

Ingredients:

recipe makes around 100 cookies

600 gm unbleached all purpose flour
1400 gm semolina
700 gm sweet butter preferable if half butter and half ghee or all clarified butter
350 gm sugar (you can add more)
½ tsp freshly ground nutmeg
¾ tsp Mahlab (available at Middle Eastern stores)
½ tsp cloves
1 tbsp. cinnamon
¾ tsp cardamom
¾ tsp all spice
½ tsp black pepper
1 ½ tbsp. commercial yeast
warm water for kneading use little bit at a time

½ cup of black sesame seeds – optional
½ cup of rose water + orange blossoms

Directions:
1.In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in sugar ,continue stirring to dissolve sugar. Do not boil. Add the flavored water mix.

2.Measure flours and spices in a large bowl. Add the warm melted butter mix
Stirring well so that the flour mix soaks the butter, knead with both hands.
Rest for 30 minutes, the mix will be crumbly. Warm the water and start kneading to make a soft pliable dough. At this time you can wash the black sesame seeds and add them to the cookies, or to half of the mix. Or leave without. Rest the dough at least two hours i prefer overnight covered with plastic wrap on the table . .
3.Prepare 5 baking sheets set aside. On a cutting board or large plate, cut the dough into walnut size balls, and roll each into a rope and make wreath-shape cookies pinching the ends together. You can use a cookie cutter if you prefer. Rest the cookie on the baking sheets leaving small space between them. Cover with clean towels and leave on the table till the next day.

For Klisha Cookies

same dough, add extra tbsp of black pepper and one tsp all spice, and two tbsp dry yeast.

Leave the dough in the bowl to double. knead again and leave it till morning. the more it rises and you work on it, the spongier it will become. The next day knead again, then rest for 30 minutes then start cutting them into small walnut size balls and shaping them. You can bake them right away

4-Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake cookies in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes.

These cookies are good any time; they have a nice crunch, not too sweet, serve them with coffee or tea, or snaks. We also eat them with Halloumi cheese

Enjoy

Add butter mix and spices to the flours

Add the butter mixture and mix well to coat the flours with the butter

Add the warm water and knead well to get a pliable dough, dont worry if its wet, it will dry soon.

wreath shape cookies

flower cookies

Butterflies cookies sprinkled with black sesame seeds - kulungi

If you like to use tweezers, go ahead and let your imagination work