carrot-almond-chocolate shortbread

Carrot shortbread. Yeah, that's right. I won't take all the credit for this idea, though, as it originated from a conversation about carrot cake with chocolate icing, which led to baby carrots dipped in chocolate frosting. Which sounds disgusting, but I have this idea that originated from someone else a long time ago about carrots tasting a bit like raw coconut, the sweetness and the crunch.

Before I begin, I grated these carrots normally, then ran them over with a knife to get the strands more finely chopped. I'm not sure how else to finely grate carrots unless you spend two hours doing so, or use some blade in a food processor, though this was easier.

At first I was thinking of creating a regular carrot cake type recipe, although that idea never appealed to me because I figured it would end up tasting a bit like a pumpkin cookie. I also wanted to come up with something a bit more unique, and since I've been on somewhat of a shortbread cookie roll, I stuck with that theme.

My to requirements for these cookies was to include carrots and chocolate chips. Next up was adding a few different ingredients to make it different than a regular cookie. Maybe ground ginger and toasted almonds processed to a floury powder aren't quite unique, so I added orange. Because clearly adding the flavor of orange to recipes is something I don't often do.

The dough came out with buttery, with a special sweetness from the carrots and subtle flavors from the ground almonds, ginger, and orange. At first I wasn't sure about the taste paired with chocolate, but it wasn't disgusting. I figured if the cookies came out like crap, some wild creature outside would thank me.

As per usual, I divided the dough in half, rolled into a log, and refrigerated overnight. The day I baked it I sprinkled sanding sugar on a platter and rolled the log in it to coat the outside before slicing. I love doing this because it's pretty and adds more flavor to the cookie.

Throughout this process I wasn't really sure what exactly to expect. However, it came out much better than I initially expected (everything I make is, by default, delicious). It had the sandy shortbread texture with a smoothness in flavor that almost tastes like a mascaropone cheese in a way, but it's probably just the combination of sweetness from the carrots and the flavor of the ground almonds. The orange comes through to brighten the taste of the cookie, though the ginger remains mostly undetectable. There is just enough chocolate to enhance without overpowering. While the texture was sandy, these were soft cookies instead of being crisp like many shortbread.


This was probably the best cookie I've had in 2010, and if you want to experience the best cookie to-date of 2010, follow the recipe and make your own.

---

Print this recipe

carrot-almond-chocolate shortbread
Recipe by Christina Provo

ingredients ~

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
grated rind of 1 orange
1 cup finely grated carrot
1 egg, room temperature
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup toasted almonds slivers, ground to a fine powder
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons mini semisweet chocolate chips
sanding sugar, or granulated sugar

directions ~

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, ground almonds, and ginger; set aside.


2. Beat butter with confectioners' sugar in large bowl for 2 minutes. Add salt, vanilla, and orange rind and beat until combined. next, add grated carrots and beat for another minute. Beat in egg until combined. Blend in half of flour mixture. Using a sturdy spatula or a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour until a few traces of flour remain. mix in chocolate chips just until combined.


3. Divide dough in half and roll each portion into a 1 1/2 inch wide log on a sheet of plastic wrap. refrigerate until firm, or overnight.


4. Preheat oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place extra sugar on a platter. Roll one log at a time in the sugar to coat the outside. Slice into 1/4 inch slices and place 1/2 inch apart on prepared sheet. Bake for 13 minutes; cookies will be firm to the touch and bottoms will be golden brown. Remove from oven and let rest on sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

i want s'mores cookies

There's this s'mores cookie that's been up on the foodie blog world for a while now, but I never seem to have all the ingredients needed at one time, like graham crackers (the crumbs are mixed into cookie dough) and Hershey bars for the top. The cookie is probably the best creation since that lady created the chocolate chip cookie, and there's nothing that says summer like a burnt marshmallow sandwich!

My idea to create a spin-off version was to modify a homemade graham cracker recipe, add chocolate chips, then freeze the mini mallows as per the directions in the regular recipe and top the cookies with them two minutes before the cookies are finished baking. The recipe I based mine from, found on Smitten Kitchen, calls for the butter to be cut into the flour mixture, which I didn't do for whatever reason, but might try next time just because dedicated readers know how much I hate waiting for butter to come to room temperature. In fact, total truth, I softened the butter in the microwave on medium power for 15 second. (Ha. I typed "minutes" first.)

By using some whole wheat flour in place of the white flour, I hoped the graham cracker flavor would stand out more, though since I used white whole wheat the flavor was more subdued than it might have been had I used regular whole wheat. The cookie mostly tasted like a chocolate chip cookie with a bit more depth of flavor with marshmallows on top.

For the shape, I divided the dough in half and shaped them into square logs, chilled, and cut into slices. The cookies looked more like a graham cracker, even if they don't really mimic the flavor.

---

Print this recipe

s'mores cookies
Recipe by Christina Provo

ingredients ~

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg, room temperature
4 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
mini marshmallows (I honestly have no idea how many I used, but I do know that I used 5 marshmallows per cookie, so just use half the bag at first)

directions ~

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, and salt; set aside. Whisk the espresso powder with the milk in a small bowl until completely dissolved.


2. In a large bowl, beat the butter with the brown sugar for 3 minutes on medium speed. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until combined. Pour in the espresso-milk mixture and blend until mixed. Stir in half the flour mixture; stir in the remaining flour until a few traces of flour remain, then add the chocolate chips and stir to combine.


3. Divide the dough in half equally. Place one half on a sheet of wax paper and press into a square log, about 2-inches wide (and what might be 12-inches long, but I really didn't pay attention). Refrigerate logs until firm, or freeze if you can't wait.


4. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350° and place half a bag of marshmallows in a bowl and place in the freezer.


5. When ready to bake, slice log into uniform slices, about 1/4-inch thick. Turn the log after each slice to help maintain the shape. Place about 1 1/2-inches apart of a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove sheet from oven and quickly press 5 marshmallows on the tops of each cookie. Bake for an additional 2 minutes.


6. Remove from oven and place on a cooling rack and cool for 3-5 minutes; transfer cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

pecan sandies

I know I'm not the only person who likes to recreate homemade versions of classics. When I saw the recipe for a simple version on Brown Eyed Baker, adapted from a Martha Stewart recipe, it looked very simple and quick, the type of cookie you could bake up in your sleep.

To further simplify the process, I divided the dough into logs to refrigerate until firm. Once ready, you can either roll the logs in sugar before slicing, or go ahead slice into uniform sizes. Although I doubled the recipe, I still got more than two dozen cookies, which was a great thing because these were the most light, buttery, and crispy cookies with a delightful caramel flavor coupled with the flavor of toasted pecans and walnuts.

Unlike a pecan sandy, these didn't have the characteristic sandy texture, being more like a shortbread. But otherwise these were a delicious snackable cookie that I'd almost want to hoard for myself.

Recipe after jump

---

pecan sandies
From Martha Stewart

Makes about a dozen cookies

ingredients ~
½ cup (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped

directions ~

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.


2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract and salt until combined. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour, beating just until combined. Fold in the pecans.


3. Roll the dough into 1½-inch balls (I used a medium-size cookie scoop) and place on baking sheet 2 inches apart. With the dampened bottom of a glass, lightly flatten each ball.**


4. Bake until cookies are golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Transfer to a wire rack and cool. Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

**My mods were to roll the dough into a 10-12-inch log, about 1 1/2-inches in diameter. Use a sliced paper towel tube to keep the shape. Once chilled, I sliced the log into slices a bit bigger than 1/4-inch and baked as directed.