Kitchie Coo

I learned this from a friend of mine, Taren, who is a Pampered Chef consultant and always has great tips and tricks for cutting down your time in the kitchen.  So here goes...

Favourite Colour – Blue, any shade

Favourite Animal – Dog

Favourite Number – 8

Favourite Non-Alcoholic Drink – Seltzer Water

Prefer Facebook or Twitter – Facebook, I still don't totally "get" Twitter.

My Passion – Being in the kitchen, especially baking

Prefer Getting or Giving Presents – Ah crap, I love em both.

Favourite Pattern – I don't get it...Is chocolate chip cookie a pattern?

Favourite Day of the Week – Friday, its the beginning of my weekend and I know I have a nice long weekend ahead of me every Friday morning when I wake up.

Favourite Flower – It so happens to be gerbera daisies which is the flower pictured in the award badge.  Nice.

I am passing this cute little award package on to the following bloggers: Neshanne at Oishii Treats, Anna at Crunchy Creamy Sweet, Rachel at My Naturally Frugal Family, Amy at Gastronome Tart, Kim at Treats & Trinkets, Jessica at A Kitchen Addiction, Tammi at Momma's Meals, Kyleen at Sixteen Beans, Aylin at Glow Kitchen, and Stephanie at Eat. Drink. Love.

Hello friends...I am tired.  Please excuse my absence this past week.  I am in the midst of planning Run for the Luck of It, a 5k and 7-mile foot race I organize for the St. Patrick's Day holiday.  As always, it is all-consuming.  Fun, but all-consuming.

Which is why it comes at a perfect time that Sofie over at The German Foodie has chosen to feature me in one of her posts this week.  Each week Sofie chooses a blogger she follows and admires and does a write-up of them.  I am honored to take this spot this week!!  Thank you Sofie for your kind words.

Sofie is a German living in the U.S. and she shares some amazing German recipes on her food blog.  And, lots of bread recipes to boot.  If you know me, you know one of the quickest ways to my heart is through a good hunk of bread.  Sofie is witty, intelligent, an excellent photographer and an amazing baker and cook.  Please check her blog out at The German Foodie and see for yourself what a great space she has created.

So, I promise you, I have not fallen off the face of the earth.  I am just wearing my "Race Director" hat this week rather than my "Blogger" hat.  I will be back...it will just be after I collapse next Saturday afternoon in a heap of exhaustion and race director glory (or at least I hope!).  Until then...Top 'O the mornin', afternoon and evenin' to ya!

I am a winner!  Literally.  January has been a very lucky month for me.  I won TWO giveaways from fellow bloggers and I couldn't be happier with my loot!


I won this gorgeous calender from Chellie at Art From My Table.  It is a calendar with her beautiful photos and also a new recipe each month. It tickles me to know that one of my fellow bloggers will be hangin' (literally) in my kitchen with me all year long while I am cooking.  Go check her blog out...she's got great recipes and a beautiful outlook on life.

Secondly I won this cute be a good cookie spatula from Janet at Food Beautiful.  OXO sent this to her and is part of their Cookies for Kids' Cancer program that fights pediatric cancer through local bake sales. This year OXO will donate up to $100,000 to support research for new therapies.  Now, if that's not a worthy cause, I don't know what is.  Great giveaway Janet, and a great way to raise awareness for this great cause.  Another cool thing about Janet is that she was my "cookie fairy" during the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap this past December.  Someone dropped out so she baked an extra batch of cookies just for me!  So, I know first hand just how fabulous her baking is!

And last but not least...I WON AN AWARD!!  Anna over at Crunchy Creamy Sweet gave me the Liebster Award!  Anna is one of the sweetest most darling bloggers I have the pleasure of knowing (and I really love her name!).  I am honored that she picked me.  Thank you, you wonderful woman!  Go check out her blog, she's got great recipes and is so much fun to read.  Plus, she leaves me the sweetest comments that always make my day.


I am so excited I am grinning from ear to ear!  This is awarded by fellow bloggers to recognize up and coming blogs.  I am up-and-coming?  Hooray!  Let's keep scurrying down that path together, shall we?

**Update!  I was awarded the Liebster again by the lovely Amalia over at Cake to Crumb!  Amalia has great recipes, is very creative and I would love to pick all her creations off the page and eat them immediately.  I am so honored to be picked by two wonderful bloggers for this award.  My day has been made again.  Thanks Amalia!!**

So, now it is my honor to award the Liebster to five of my favorite up and coming bloggers.  Lucky me!  These ladies are all fabulous bloggers, recipe creators and chefs.  I am honored to pass this award on to them.

Leanne at Around the Table: Loving Food in RI and Beyond...
Missy at Cooking for Two
Aimee at Bargain Bites
Mama F at Doggie at the Dinner Table
Amy at Oh, Bite It!

Okay, now its your turn ladies!  I can't wait to see who you pass this award on to!!

Goodness!!  This swap was so much fun to participate in!! The 1st annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap  was hosted by Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil and Julie of The Little Kitchen.  Their Facebook Page said they had 625 participants.  Wow. 

The premise of this swap was easy.  Each person makes 3 dozen cookies and sends them to the three other bloggers that were assigned to them.  In exchange each person receives 3 dozen cookies from three other bloggers.  What a great way to unite bloggers around the world!  Everyday we get to see the creations our fellow bloggers make, and salivating, wish we could pick that food off the computer screen and eat it.  This swap made blogging come alive.  Blogging in tangible, edible form.  We get to taste each others creations.  Wow. 

All the cookies I received were unbelievable. They were also all cookies that I had never made myself and I am so excited to get my hands on the recipes. Beautiful gorgeous absolutely delicious cookies!!!

The day I received my first package from Shari at My Judy the Foodie, I was so stoked.  Because, who doesn't like to having cookies delivered right to their door?  These cookies were sugar cookie-like with thick chocolate frosting on the top.  Divinity in a cookie.



My second cookies to arrive were these babies sent by Meghan of Stir and Scribble.  They were out of this world.  Chocolate sandwich cookies with peppermint cream.  I wanted to scream they were so good.


I met the FedEx man at the door Friday morning to get my third box from Janet of Food Beautiful.  I ripped into them within seconds of closing the door and found double espresso chocolate cookies.  Janet, do you know how much I love espresso?  How chocolate and coffee are maybe one of my favorite combos in the whole wide world?  These were unreal. 


I kinda feel spoiled rotten. 

So, are you curious what I sent out the door?  Cardamom Butter Cookies.  Yes, Cardamom.  With espresso and chocolate drizzles.  These were the most delightful cookie I have ever had the pleasure of baking.  I had so much fun!  And knowing that three fellow bloggers I have never met were going to be eating them made this process even better.  These cookies were filled to the brim with joy and love from me. 


I will be honest, it was a little stressful finding the perfect cookie to send my fellow blogger friends.  I mean, that's what we do...what if they aren't good enough?  Especially since I got one of my very favorite bloggers Scarletta Bakes as one of my recipients!  This was intimidating, but exciting.  I was up for the challenge.  Then I came across this recipe and my fears were no more. 


I'm not gonna, lie...these cookies are time consuming.  But, they are worth every minute of your time.  They will impress people with their complex mix of spices and flavors.  Plus they're so pretty!  You can't go wrong.


I hope my recipients love eating them as much as I loved making them.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Cardamom Butter Cookies with Chocolate & Espresso Drizzles
Adapted from Gourmet


Makes about 4 dozen


PRINT THIS RECIPE!!


Cookies

• 3 (420 grams) cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Espresso and Chocolate Drizzles

• 1 teaspoon instant-espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 cup (110 grams) powdered sugar
• 3 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate, melted

To make the cookies, whisk together flour and next 5 ingredients (through allspice) in a bowl.  Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer at medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Beat in eggs and vanilla. Reduce to low speed and add flour mixture until just combined.

Form dough into 2 (12-inch) logs, about 1 1/2 inches in diameter, on their own sheet of plastic wrap. Use the plastic wrap and your hands to help guide the dough and roll, press, and square off sides of logs. Chill logs in refrigerator on a baking sheet until slightly firm, about 1 hour.  Smooth logs with plastic wrap and a hard flat sided object (I used a cookbook) to square off the cookie. Chill logs on baking sheet until firm, about 1 hour (or up to 5 days).

Adjust racks to the upper and lower thirds of the oven.  Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cut dough into 1/4" thick slices from one log and place onto 2 large ungreased baking sheets, 1 inch apart.  Rewrap remaining dough and put back in refrigerator.

Bake cookies, rotating halfway through, until edges are golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes total. Cool on sheets 3 minutes, then transfer to racks to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

To make drizzles, whisk espresso powder, vanilla, and 1 1/2 tablespoons milk until espresso powder is dissolved.  Add powdered sugar and enough additional milk to make a thick pourable icing. Spoon into a sealable plastic bag and snip off a very small (about 1/8") bottom corner, when ready to use.

Spoon melted chocolate into another plastic bag and snip off bottom corner, when ready to use.

Drizzle espresso icing and chocolate over each cookie with a back and forth motion.  Allow drizzles to set on cookies until dry, about 2 hours and...

Eat it!!