florentines.

I think that I have seen a lot of old movies for a person my age. I owe this to my mother who is a huge TCM devotee. She always has a classic black and white film on at night and over the years I have watched many with her. I have to admit that several of them are ones that I would consider favorites. Breakfast at Tiffany's, Sunday in New York, and Dial M for Murder being my top three.

Last night I went to the showing of Casablanca in the movie theatre for its 70th anniversary with my mother and her friend. It wasn't my first time seeing the film but it was a fun experience watching it on the big screen. There were even adults dressed up like the characters which felt like being at a Harry Potter showing with an older generation. 

So I have to thank my mother for the cultural enrichment that she has given me. Because heaven knows if it wasn't for her I would think the line "Here's looking at you, kid" originated from Sex and the City. 

So this week I made Florentine cookies. I've noticed that cookies make up all my baking posts and I swear I am capable of baking other things. I just really love cookies.

Florentines or "lace cookies" as I like to call them, are crisp, thin cookies sandwiched with a layer of chocolate. This was the first time I ever attempted them and I was surprised just how easy they were. I don't know why but I always assumed that they were much more of a difficult process. But they are so simple you don't even need to use a mixer.

Florentine Cookies  Adapted from Nestle
11 tbs butter
2 cups oats
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup flour
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Line baking sheets with foil.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan; remove from heat.
Stir in oats, sugar, flour, corn syrup, milk, vanilla, and salt. Mix well.
Drop by the teaspoon, about 3 inches apart, onto baking sheets.

Bake 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.
Place foil with baked cookies on wire racks and cool completely.
Peel foil from the cookies.

Microwave chocolate on medium power for 1 minute, stir.
Microwave for 15 second intervals, stirring in between until smooth.
Spread a thin layer of the melted chocolate onto the flat side of a cookie, top with another cookie.
Enjoy!

nutella stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

Time to refill the cookie jar.

It has been empty since my family ate the last batch of cookies within just a few days.
That's what happens when you make them mini and so darn good.

So I took my craving for a chocolate chip cookie, turned it up a notch, and added a dear favorite of mine, Nutella.

As kids, my mom would buy Nutella often and we would eat it on toast as a snack.
I also love it on pretzels, plain rice cakes, and bananas, just to name a few.

Here is how I conquered this task...

First I made a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, this one always works for me (adapted from All Recipes).

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp hot water

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

Cream together the butter and sugars until smooth.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Stir in the vanilla.

Dissolve the baking soda in the hot water.

Add this to the dough, along with the salt.

Stir in flour and chocolate chips.

Drop the dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, about a tablespoon per cookie.

Now with slightly damp hands (dough is a bit sticky), press down to flatten. 

(I kept a wet paper towel handy).

Drop about a teaspoon or so of Nutella in the middle of each cookie. 

You can use a little more, a little less, I eyed it according to the cookie size.

Now use slightly damp hands again to grab enough dough to cover the mound of Nutella.

Flatten the dough with your fingers, place over the Nutella,
and seal together with the bottom of the cookie.

Bake for about 10 minutes until golden brown around the edges.

Allow to cool, for as long as you possibly can.

And enjoy.

black and whites.

Rainy days are meant for staying in and baking.

I hope you will not judge me and agree.

The black and white cookie has always been one of my favorites. I really can't resist when they are fresh from a New York bakery.

The recipe below will make much more than what is shown. Fair warning: once you put them out, they will be devoured. 

So on this rainy day, I made these little ones and they were all that I hoped they would be. Delicious.

I used this recipe from a Newsday article circa 1997. 

Seriously.

Cookie Recipe

2 cups granulated sugar

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

4 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

5 cups cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder 

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix sugar and butter until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, mix until smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Add half of flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir lightly. 

Add milk until just combined. 

Add remaining flour mixture and combine until just mixed. Do not over-mix.

To make my cookies mini-sized, I dropped small scoops of batter (little less than a tbs) on a parchment-lined baking sheet and baked for about 10 minutes. 

For larger cookies, use a soup spoon and bake for 15 minutes. 

You want to bake them just until the edges start to brown. Allow to cool before icing.

Icing Recipe

white glaze-

3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

3/4 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup milk

Combine sugar, vanilla, and milk and mix until smooth.

You can add more milk if the mixture is too thick, 1 tsp at a time, until it is just spreadable.

(You do not want to add too much liquid or the glaze won't set.)

black glaze-

3 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

3/4 tsp vanilla

6 tbs unsweetened sifted cocoa powder

1/2 cup cup milk

Follow the same steps as the white glaze, this time add the sifted cocoa powder and increase the milk to 1/2 cup, again you can add more milk if it is too thick.

Frost the vanilla half of all the cookies first. After frosting the chocolate, make sure to allow the cookies to dry until the glaze sets.

Enjoy!