Living the Life

I haven't been blogging for a while, but I'm back! I've baked a lot of American recipes in the last year and a half and started to miss our own local baked goods. For christmas I received a book called Koekje, which translates to English as Cookie. It contains 100 Dutch cookie recipes, 50 are classics and 50 are more contemperary. One of the recipes I made from this book is Nougatientjes or Amsterdamse Koggetjes. I have always known them as nougatientjes. The recipe dates from 1935 when the Dutch Pastry Bakers Association held a contest to come up with a new cookie, it was probably mister Dorssen who won with the Amsterdamse Koggetjes. The catholic and christian bakers were members of different associations and couldn't use the name Amsterdamse Koggetjes, so they baked them as Nougatientjes. Both names are still in use. Ingredients: For the Nougat: 75 grams caster sugar 25 grams water For the Dough: 160 grams white soft sugar 200 grams soft unsalted butter 2 tablespoons...

This weeks recipe was picked by Heather of Randomodity and the Girl . The recipe can be found on her blog or in Dorie Greenspans Baking book. I was looking forward to another round of cookies, these were drop cookies so pretty simple to do, no rolling, no cutting, just spoon them on the baking sheet and that's it. They sounded great, butter, jam, what's not to like? Well they were very, very bland, they lacked taste. It wasn't crunchy, but also not really soft, it tried to be a lot of things, but didn't shine. We all agreed here that this was the recipe we liked least so far. Oh well, there is always butterscotch pudding next week, butter, booze, what's not to like ;-)

This weeks TWD recipe was picked by Ulrike from Küchenlatein , if you want to make it yourself you can find the recipe in Dorie Greenspan's: Baking, From My House To Yours or on Ulrike's Blog. The cookies were very simple to make, I didn't do anything fancy with them, just wanted to see how they would taste without any additions. I went the slice and bake way, but I think I cut them a little too thick. The taste was still great, but next time I will do them a little thinner, probably roll them out and use cookie cutters. Thanks for picking this one Ulrike! We all loved them.

Made it back safely after a fabulous cruise! Our luggage decided to stay away a day longer but apart from that everything was great. This week's Tuesday With Dorie recipe was picked by me! The first guy who joined the group finally got his pick :-) I choose the Linzer Sablés, so far I've enjoyed the European style recipes more than the American, maybe because I'm European and my tastebuds are more used to those treats? Anyway, I love the way they look with the jam peeking out of the little hole. I made mine with raspberry jam which I passed through a sieve, after heating it up, to get rid of the seeds. They were very easy to make and the taste of the cookies comes close to " speculaas ", must be the cloves. I'm pleased with my choice, it's not my favorite recipe but I would make it again. Here is the recipe: When I was a kid, the main street in our neighborhood boasted a bakery every two blocks. We always had freshly made bread from the baker closest to o...

Gretchen of Canela & Comino picked this weeks Tuesday with Dorie recipe, she picked Lenox Almond Biscuits which made me very exited. I know biscotti from my visits to Starbucks when on vacation in the US. I love them and always wanted to give them a try. They weren't hard to make, although I had to double the time for the first bake. I expected that the logs would spread quite a bit, my sheet pan isn't very wide so I bought an extra one. Glad I did because I could never had fit 2 logs on the one sheet pan I have. On one sheet pan I put the biscotti's cut side down, on the other I stood them up as Dorie suggested, it didn't make much of a difference taste wise. I used polenta instead of cornmeal, cornmeal isn't very common on this side of the pond. I'll try to get some next time I make this recipe again. It left a bit of gritty texture. Apart from that I think this is my favorite Dorie recipe so far. Great flavor, nice and crisp, love the almond flavor! Nex...

Last week's recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie were the Traditional Madeleines , but the next recipe in the book is Earl Grey Madeleines. I love Earl Grey tea and not the artificial stuff but the higher quality loose tea leaves. I normally steep it for three minutes and add a splash of milk, how English :-) So I made Dorie's recipe to see if they would be a nice match with my tea. For me they didn't disappoint, my trusty taster liked the traditional ones better, but she's not to crazy about the tea either. I really liked the subtle flavor of the tea coming through, I will definitely make these again!! Earl Grey Madeleines (from Baking: From My House To Yours ): Ingredients: 5 tbsp unsalted butter 2 tbsp Earl Grey tea leaves 3/4 cup flour 1/2 tsp baking powder pinch of salt 1/3 cup sugar grated zest of 1/2 lemon 2 large eggs, 2 tbsp honey 2 tsp vanilla extract powder sugar for dusting Preparation: Melt the butter and add the tea leaves. Stir to combine and allow the tea to...

My sister in law asked when I was making my chocolate chip cookies again. She really likes them and she's not the only one. I love the texture of these cookies, a little crunchy on the outside and nice and chewy in the middle. They are great with a nice glass of milk or a cup of coffee. Ingredients: 1 2/3 cups of flour 3/4 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup butter, roomtemperature 3/4 cup packed brown sugar 1/3 cup white sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2 cups milk chocolate chips Preparation: Preheat your oven to 350 F. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Cream the butter with the brown and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Gradually mix in the sifted ingredients. Sir in the chocolate chips. Drop heaped tablespoons of batter on a sheet pan lined with parchment or a silicon baking mat, leave space around the heaps, they will flatten and get way bigger! Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, Let the cookies cool for 5 minu...