Cookie and Muffin recipes

[Tikva]

After seeing all the Christmas decoration, cookies & gingerbread displayed at the local supermarket, I thought I should loose no more time and start looking for your favorite recipes.

The don't have to be Christmas-only goods!
Actually I could use one for really good chocolate chip cookies.

Sorry, can't find the one for my favorite "Vanillekipferl" right now. So let's start with my favorite cake/muffin receipe. Maybe someone even knows how to translate "Gewuerzkuchen"?

Gewuerzkuchen
(direct translation: spice cake)
Makes about 24 muffins or 1 cake
Calories: never mind, way too many!

Ingredients:
250 g margarine or butter
6 eggs
250 g sugar
1 pck. vanilla sugar (or about 1 teaspoon of vanilla flavor)
(1 cup milk if necessary)
400 g white flour
1 pck. backing soda
3 tablespoons of dark cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
2 small pinches of powdered cloves
1 pinch of salt

Preparation:
Seperate the eggs carefully.
Mix butter very well, then add 1 egg yolk at a time while stirring thoroughly. Slowly add sugar and vanilla flavor. When the mass is creamy, add spices and sifted cocoa powder. Stir well.
Mix flour with baking soda. Beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until stiff. Now mix the flour with the butter/sugar/egg mass. Fold in the beaten white of eggs. If the dough is too viscous add a bit of milk.

Bake in preheated oven at 175°C for about 50 minutes (if it's a cake), or 20 minutes if they're muffins.

Of course you can replace some of the eggs with milk to lower the calories. Just replace the weight of the egg by the same amount of liquid.

Enjoy!

P.S.: This particular receipe has been tasted a great many times on all too eager friends, colleagues, two weddings and my very choosy boyfriend. - There haven't been any complaints so far.

[Bloomfield]

1 pck. vanilla sugar (or about 1 teaspoon of vanilla flavor)

I've never seen Vanilliezucker (Dr. Oetker's Vanillin, hehe) in the U.S., but as you say substitute 1 tsp vanilla flavor for it.

[djm]

Gewuerzkuchen = Spice Cake.

djm

[Tikva]

I have only seen vanilla sugar once in the U.S. and it was damn expensive. That's why I wrote to use vanilla aroma instead.

Maybe you don't have it because you're clever enough not to use a product that is actually made of grinded wood / could be considered a waste product of paper manufacture?

Don't believe me? Search "vanillin" on Wikipedia.

P.S.: There are various ways to make your own vanilla sugar without cutting down entire forests - just google for them.

[dwest]

We use to make pfferneuse with lard, great with an afternoon coffee. There were times when the whole family would go completely silent 'cause everybody would be concentrating on dipping their cookies, at the same time. My favorite cookies were Hermits with raisins, currants and dates, evidently I am addicted to nutmeg.
PS we have vanilla sugar in the house all the time, and the orchid growing up a piece of tree fern bark.

[Flyingcursor]

The best cookie ever invented is the Toll House cookie:

Some recipes call for a cup of chopped nuts. That is an abomination unto me. You can substitute the chocolate "morsels" for M&Ms but it's not quite the same.

For a real treat, substitute unsweetened baking chocolate for the "morsels". Sweet and bitter at the same time.

They should be soft and chewy so don't overbake. If they're overbaked they'll be crispy. Crispy Toll House cookies are an abomination unto me.

Raisens, dried cranberries or fruits of any type are strictly forbidden. This is an abomination unto me.
====================================
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

COMBINE flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

[Tikva]

Some recipes call for a cup of chopped nuts. That is an abomination unto me. [...] They should be soft and chewy so don't overbake. If they're overbaked they'll be crispy. Crispy Toll House cookies are an abomination unto me.

Flyingcursor, looks like we have very much in common when it comes to cookies. In my country chewy cookies are not available, but I do love them madly ever since I have tasted my first one in 2001. The same goes for muffins.

Chopped nuts? Yuck! The only nuts I accept in baked goods are almonds, macadamia nuts or cashews. All of which need to be ground to microscopical size - no matter what the recipe says.

Yumm, yumm. Folks, I'm gone shopping! After that, look for me in my kitchen.

[dwest]

I like using almond and hazelnut flours for cakes and torts, but few things compare to going on a century ride and pigging out on a slice of pecan pie, full of nuts, at the end.

[Tikva]

I like using almond and hazelnut flours for cakes and torts, but few things compare to going on a century ride and pigging out on a slice of pecan pie, full of nuts, at the end.

Pecan pie? Sounds interesting. Peacans don't taste as strongly of nuts as hazelnuts or walnuts, do they?

Mmh, could you post that one? Please?

[dwest]

Pecan Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup light corn syrup or replace with my favorite, maple syrup.
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp molasses, exclude if using maple syrup
2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter, or 1 cup milk, or light cream
2 Tbsp unbleached white flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
pinch of salt if you aren't hypertensive, but the sugar will get you in the end anyway.
1 9-inch pie shell

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread pecans along the bottom of the pie shell. Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over pecans. The pecans will rise to the surface of the pie.
2. Bake at 375°F for 45-50 minutes until the filling has set. About 20 minutes cover the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil to prevent the crust edges from burning.
3. Remove from oven and let cool completely.

Go for long bike ride, come home eat pie, feel massive sugar rush, then crash.

[Flyingcursor]

Some recipes call for a cup of chopped nuts. That is an abomination unto me. [...] They should be soft and chewy so don't overbake. If they're overbaked they'll be crispy. Crispy Toll House cookies are an abomination unto me.

Flyingcursor, looks like we have very much in common when it comes to cookies. In my country chewy cookies are not available, but I do love them madly ever since I have tasted my first one in 2001. The same goes for muffins.

Chopped nuts? Yuck! The only nuts I accept in baked goods are almonds, macadamia nuts or cashews. All of which need to be ground to microscopical size - no matter what the recipe says.

Yumm, yumm. Folks, I'm gone shopping! After that, look for me in my kitchen.

Unfortunately, I am unable to indulge in cookies until I've lost more weight. Then I'll celebrate.

[I.D.10-t]

Soon I hope to try Mark Bittman's recipe for Pecan Pie. He is not a fan of corn syrup and has worked around it. Although the maple syrup sounds like an even better idea. I wonder if honey would work...

[Coffee]

I think honey could work.
And for the love of all that is good and holy, it's 'puh-con,' not 'pee-can.'
The former is a tasty drupe that goes good in a pie. The latter is something we kept by our beds before the invention of indoor plumbing.

[dwest]

Soon I hope to try Mark Bittman's recipe for Pecan Pie. He is not a fan of corn syrup and has worked around it. Although the maple syrup sounds like an even better idea. I wonder if honey would work...

All those beekeeper nuts, I was/am one, will say yes, I say it depends on the nectar source for the bees and you need to heat the honey while mixing in the other ingredients. Now a cinnamon,nutmeg mead will go with pecan pie.

[dwest]

And for the love of all that is good and holy, it's 'puh-con,' not 'pee-can.'
The former is a tasty drupe that goes good in a pie. The latter is something we kept by our beds before the invention of indoor plumbing.

That would be a thunder pot, used loong after indoor plumbing was invented