Chocolate Tahini Linzer Cookies
My first cookie on my Cookie Countdown to Christmas, are Linzer cookies!
Usually, Linzer cookies are made from a shortbread-like dough and finished with a jam in the center. But instead, this year I saw a recipe on Bon Appetit for Chocolate- Tahini Linzer cookies that I knew immediately I had to try! As mentioned, Linzer cookies usually have a jam filled center but what intrigued me about these Linzer cookies was the tahini chocolate filling!
For those who are unfamiliar with Tahini, it is toasted grounded sesame seeds. Tahini resembles a loose nut butter, it’s rich, nutty and also savory.
Tahini is mostly known for being used with hummus and many other savory middle eastern dishes. But when used in sweet dishes, tahini helps create a nice balance with the sweetness of the dish, and in this case, it helps balance the sugariness of the cookie and the white chocolate filling.
These cookies may seem a little far from the typical Christmas cookies we are used to, but I promise it is worth trying!
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Whether you like crispy, chewy, or cakey cookies, one should always have their go-to recipe!
Finding the RIGHT chocolate chip cookie recipe can take many tries, for me, from the time I began to bake about four years ago, I only now have found my perfect cookie recipe!
I used to follow the recipes on the back of the morsels chocolate chip bags, and while they are not bad, they certainly aren’t the best. But again, it all depends upon your taste in cookies!
My favorite type of cookie is crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle. After countless attempts, and many packages of butter later, I think I found the perfect cookie recipe.
It’s a salted browned butter chocolate chip cookie!
The browned butter gives these cookies a nutty and caramel flavor. For the chocolate, I only use 60% cacao. I find the semi-sweet too sweet.
Also, I ALWAYS chop my chocolate, even if they are chips. For this recipe, for example, I used Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet morsels and chopped them. Chopping the chocolate allows them to melt into the cookie evenly, giving you more chocolate per cookie and you won’t have whole unmelted chips in the cookies (the worst).
After you give these a try, Im sure they will become a go to!
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
⅓ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1½ cups bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Flaky sea salt
Recipe
In a saucepan, melt the butter stirring the pan occasionally, allow the butter to foam, until it browns, about 5 -7 minutes. Pour into a bowl, and allow it to cool.
In an electric mixer, pour the browned butter into the mixer bowl with the two sugars. Beat them together until all combined.
Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Reduce speed, beat in the flour mixture until all combined.
Fold in the chopped chocolate.
Chill for at least a half hour, overnight preferably.
Preheat to 375 degrees.
Using a cookie scoop, scoop them onto a lined baking tray. Bake until edges are golden brown, around 10-12 minutes. 6 minutes in, or until they begin to puff up, bang the cookie tray and again when the cookies are done to create a crinkle effect.
Finish them with flaky sea salt.
Recipe from Bon Appetit
Mint Milano Cookies
Growing up in a portuguese household, snacks were mainly bread, yogurt, cheese, or whatever your grandma happened to make that day. How I envied my friends and their pantries filled with all those beautiful colored packs of chips, pop tarts and so many kinds of candy.
However, there was one kind of cookie that we always add around the house, Milano cookies, my dads favorite!
Thinking back, I was the lucky one compared to my friends. The chocolate sandwich cookie was my go to treat for an after school snack or dessert. Today, Milano’s have come out with a variety of flavors but my ultimate favorite, aside from the original, are the mint Milano’s! Chocolate and mint are just classic flavors, and sandwiched between two sweet and crispy cookies, is the ultimate treat!
This recipe sends me right back to being a kid sitting at my kitchen table…
It's made with a shortbread dough and a chocolate ganache filling to which I added mint extract to. Join me at my kitchen table, and enjoy the nostalgia!
Salted Walnut Chocolate Blondies
Blondies are having a big moment in my kitchen right now. They are great for a quick sweet treat and also a great portable dessert that serves a crowd! What I like most about these blondies is how versatile they are. I am a fan of both chocolate and nuts in my dessert, but for those who think putting nuts in blondies or brownies is a sin, feel free to omit them. These blondies are a great balance of salty/sweet, the sweetness of the brown sugar and chocolate is cut by the flakey sea salt in and on top of these blondies!
Ingredients
2 cups of all- purpose flour
2 sticks of unsalted butter, melted
2 cups brown sugar
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. coarse sea salt, plus more for garnish
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature
4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped
½ cup of toasted walnuts, chopped
Recipe
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan, and line the pan with parchment leaving an overhang, and butter parchment paper.
Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl and set aside.
In another bowl, whisk the melted butter, and brown sugar until combined. Add the vanilla and eggs. Whisk until combined.
Fold the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Do not overmix.
Fold in the toasted walnuts and chocolate.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Using an offset spatula, smooth the batter into an even layer and sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to completely cool before cutting.