Kouing-Aman

• 1 3/4 cups room temperature mineral water
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fleur de sel (sea salt)
• 1 pound (4 sticks) plus 2 tablespoons high-fat unsalted butter, chilled, plus more melted butter for tart rings
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon firmly packed fresh yeast
• 3 cups sugar, plus more for rolling

Directions

1. In a small bowl, combine mineral water and salt. Let stand until salt has dissolved. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the dough hook, combine flour and the melted butter on low speed. Add water-and-salt mixture, and continue to mix until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add yeast, and mix for 1 minute more.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch the dough down, wrap in plastic, and place on a baking sheet. Chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator.
4. Meanwhile, on a Silpat (a French nonstick baking mat) or parchment paper, roll the remaining 1 pound butter into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Wrap in parchment paper, and return to refrigerator until chilled, about 30 minutes. Remove the chilled dough from the refrigerator. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to an 18-inch square. Center the chilled butter rectangle on the dough so that each side of the butter faces a corner of the dough. Fold the corners of the dough over the butter to enclose. Seal the edges by pinching them together. Roll the dough into a 24-by-8-inch rectangle. Fold the dough into thirds, aligning the edges carefully and brushing off any excess flour. (The object is to ensure that the butter is distributed evenly throughout so that the pastry will puff evenly when baked.) Wrap the dough in plastic, and chill for 20 minutes; this completes one turn.
5. Repeat process once, then repeat process twice, dusting the work surface and the dough with sugar, and using 1 1/2 cups for each turn. You will now have completed four turns.
6. Using a pastry brush, brush 15 ring molds (3 1/2 by 3/4 inches) with melted butter. Transfer to prepared baking sheets, and set aside. Remove dough from refrigerator. On a lightly sugared surface, roll the dough into a 1/2-inch-thick rectangle. Cut into 15 squares (4 1/4 inches). Fold up the corners of one square toward the center; repeat process. Lightly press to adhere. Turn square over, and gently coat with sugar. Invert, and place in a prepared ring mold. Repeat with remaining squares.
7. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Let rise in a warm place until puffed, 30 to 40 minutes. Bake until golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Immediately remove ring molds, and place on a wire rack until completely cooled.

Avalanche Bars

(I stole this image from the blog that I got the recipe from!)

Avalanche Bars

12 oz bag of White Chocolate Chips

1/4 cup creamy peanut butter

3 cups Rice Krispies, or “Puffed Rice” if you’re buying generic

1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips + 2 Tbsp for garnish.

Lightly grease a 9×9 pan (or 8×8 if you prefer thicker bars)

1. In microwave-safe bowl dump in white chips and heat on med power for 1 minute. Stir and continue in 30 second increments until chips are melted.

2. Combine the peanut butter with the melted chips

3. Add the krispies.

4. Let cool approx 15 – 20 minutes stirring every 5 minutes or so to help cool.

5. Add the marshmallows and the mini chocolate chips and stir to combine.

6. Dump mixture into the prepared pan and spread evenly, pressing lightly with the back of your spoon, but do not compact too much, otherwise they will get hard.

7. Press the remaining chocolate chips into the top for garnish.
When the bars are completely cooled cut into squares and enjoy!

**I doubled the recipe for our recipe club night and made it in a 9x13" pan**

Peppermint Swirl Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1 tablespoon red food coloring.( I highly recommend the gel variety. You can buy it at any craft store. It is much brighter and you can use less)
• Powdered sugar, for rolling out dough
• 3 tablespoons milk
• DIRECTIONS
• Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.
• Cream butter and sugar together in another large bowl. Add egg, vanilla, milk and beat until incorporated. Gradually add the dry mixture, beating until combined. Remove half of the mixture from the bowl. Add red food coloring,and peppermint extract, beating until fully combined. You may have to knead the colored dough a bit to get it mixed thoroughly. On a sheet of waxed paper, roll out dough to form a large rectangle, about 1/4-inch thick. Repeat this step with the other half of uncolored dough with no food coloring.
• Now very carefully, slide the red dough on top of the white dough and slide the parchment paper out. Trim edges if uneven and patch if necessary. Roll dough into a log, creating a swirl effect. NOTE: do not worry if the dough starts to tear a little when you are rolling it. This is normal. Simply mend it with your fingers as you go along.
• 
  
• Now place a generous amount of sprinkles in a shallow dish and roll the cookie dough log firmly over the sprinkles until they stick and its covered. Wrap tightly with saran wrap and place the dough back in the refrigerator and let chill for 2 hours.
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
• Slice the dough into 1/2-inch slices and place on a parchment lined sheet tray about 1-inch apart. Bake fo2 10-15 minuets depending on how thick you sliced the cookies.

Peppermint-pinwheels.html  Here is the link to the blog, showing step by step photos.

Cardamom Honey Cutouts

13-1/2 oz. (3 cups) unbleached all-purpose flour; more for rolling 
1 tsp. ground cardamom 
1/2 tsp. table salt 
1/4 tsp. baking soda 
8 oz. (1 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature 
3/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/4 cup honey 
1 large egg 
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 

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In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, cardamom, salt, and baking soda. Whisk until well blended.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until well blended and slightly fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the bowl and the beater. Add the honey, egg, and vanilla. Continue mixing on medium speed until well blended, about 1 minute. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until the dough is well blended and comes together in moist clumps, 30 to 60 seconds.
Divide the dough roughly in half. On a piece of plastic wrap, shape each dough half into a smooth 5-inch disk. Wrap well in the plastic. Refrigerate until chilled and firm enough to roll out, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.

Bake the cookies:
Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350ºF. Line two or more cookie sheets with parchment or nonstick baking liners. Working with one disk at a time, roll the dough on a floured work surface to about 3/16 inch thick. Dust with additional flour as needed. Choose one or more cookie cutters of any shape that are about 2-1/2 inches wide and cut out shapes. Arrange the cookies about 1 inch apart on the lined cookie sheets. Gather the scraps and gently press together. Re-roll and cut. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Bake one sheet at a time until the cookies’ edges develop a 1/4-inchwide light-brown rim, 11 to 13 minutes (rotate the sheet halfway through baking for even browning). Let the cookies cool on the sheet for about 10 minutes and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.

The plastic-wrapped dough may be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for 1 month. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before proceeding with the recipe.

Spicy Caramel Bacon Popcorn

2 cups brown sugar
2 sticks of butter
1/2 cup karo syrup (dark or light)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. chipotle powder
1 pound of smokey bacon, cooked and crumbled
3 Tab. bacon grease (optional)
5-6 quarts popped popcorn  (24 cups of popped popcorn)
1 cup salted peanuts (optional)

Cook bacon, crumble pieces, SAVE 3 TAB of grease.  Sprinkle bacon pieces and peanuts over popped popcorn.  Mix together, and put aside.
Stir together brown sugar, butter, karo, and bacon grease.  Bring to a boil and boil for 3 mins.  Remove from heat and add baking soda, salt, vanilla and chipotle powder.  Pour over popcorn mixture.  Stir to coat.  Bake at 250 degrees for 1 hour, stirring every 15 mins.  ( I baked mine for 45 mins)

The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been on the hunt for a new chocolate chip cookie recipe and this one is my new fav!! if you like salted chocolate, sprinkle a little sea salt on top after baking!

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
*I only used all purpose flour for my recipe*

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds chocolate chips
*I've been loving the ghirardelli mini's or milk chocolate chips*



Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl and set aside.

Using a mixer with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy – about 5 minutes. Add eggs. Stir in vanilla. Reduce to low speed and add dry ingredients slowly, mixing until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 24-36 hours (DON"T SKIP THIS STEP). Another thing I like to do is scoop cookies into balls, put on a cookie sheet and freeze until hard. Then put in a ziplok container or baggie to keep in the freezer to have ready for a quick and easy treat.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350.

Drop spoonfuls of dough onto baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Peanut Butter Popcorn by Melanie Whiteside

Servings: 4        Prep Time: 15 mins      Total Time:  20 mins

Ingredients:
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
6 cups popped popcorn

Directions:
In small pan melt together corn syrup and sugar over medium heat until sugar is dissolved.  Add peanut butter and melt.  Be careful not to boil mixture too much, the peanut butter will start to burn.  Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.  Carefully stir into popped corn.  (Honestly this is just enough for Mom and you can make a second batch for the rest of the family!)

Mango Coconut Bars by Melissa Jensen

Yield: one 8" x 8" square pan bars

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

ingredients:

for the coconut crust

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened finely shredded coconut
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

for the mango filling

one 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks
3/4 cup mango juice (you can use mango puree as well)

for the topping

1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons coconut milk
1/2 cup coconut, toasted (you can use large flake or shredded!)

directions:

for the coconut crust

preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

line an 8" x 8" pan with parchment paper, allowing the paper to drape over two sides of the pan. set aside.

in a medium bowl, combine the flour, coconut, sugar and salt. whisk to combine.

add the melted butter, and using a rubber spatula, mix until crumbly.

press the crust into the prepared pan firmly.

bake the crust at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes, or until very lightly golden brown.

remove from the oven and set aside.

for the filling

in a medium bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk, egg yolks and mango juice. whisk until thoroughly combined.

when the crust comes out of the oven, pour the filling directly over it while still hot.

return the pan to the oven and bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes, or until the filling is set and only slightly jiggly in the center.

remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire baking rack.

for the topping

combine the whipping cream and confectioners' sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. using the whisk attachment, whip on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 2 minutes.

add the coconut milk, and whip another 30 seconds until firm peaks form.

you can also use a hand mixer or whip by hand, but it will take a bit longer.

spread the whipped cream on top of mango bars evenly, and sprinkle the toasted coconut on top.

cover the top of the pan with foil or plastic wrap, and allow to chill in the fridge for 1-2 hours until the whipped cream is firm.

remove from the fridge and pull the bars out of the pan using the parchment paper.

cut into equal squares and serve.

the mango coconut bars will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

a food + words original