Bonus Recipe - Homemade Applesauce

Cookies aren't the only thing I like to bake/cook.  Occasionally, I hope to bring you other recipes I come across or ones my family loves. 

This weekend was the first weekend of pick-your-own apples at a local orchard.  After an awesome lunch at Hot Dog Johnny's, we headed over to the orchards to take Sydney and Violet on their very first apple picking excursion. 

We picked about 10 pounds of beautiful Gala apples.  The girls couldn't wait to get into them and ate two on the car ride home.  Once home, I was left with the predicament of finding something to do with all those apples.  I decided to make one of the girls' favorite things - applesauce.

After peeling and slicing the ten pounds of apples, I threw them in a pot with a little water and a few pieces of lemon peel and brought the mixture to a boil. 

Once the apples were tender, I pureed them in a blender with just a little of the cooking liquid.  I returned the pureed apples to the pot and added sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and the juice of half a lemon.  I allowed the mixture to simmer for about 15 minutes and let it cool.  Sydney at a bowl warm with a pat of butter.  It was delicious and so fresh tasting.  I think she really liked seeing the whole process - picking the apples, cooking them and then eating the final product.  I could see a sense of pride in her as she ate the applesauce and talked about how she picked them herself (with a little help from Violet, of course). 

Homemade Applesauce

10 lbs apples, peeled, cored and sliced

1/2 - 1 cup sugar

1 tbsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1 lemon

Place apples in a large pot and add enough water to just come up to the top of the apples - do not cover. Using a vegetable peeler, peel four pieces of lemon rind and place in the pot with the apples. Bring to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the apples are tender.  About 15 minutes.

Working in batches, transfer the cooked apples to a blender and puree until smooth (be sure to remove the lemon peel).  I used a slotted spoon to transfer the apples and added just a small amount of the cooking liquid to puree.  Transfer the puree to a bowl.  Once all the apples are pureed, discard the remaining cooking liquid and return the applesauce to the pot.  Return the pot to the heat and stir in sugar, to taste (I only needed about 3/4 cup sugar for my apples), cinnamon and nutmeg.  Juice half the lemon and add that to the pot as well.  Simmer for 15-20 minutes.  Serve warm with a pat of butter or some cream or refrigerate. 

The next time I make this, I think I will cook the apples with a stick or two of cinnamon to really impart the cinnamon flavor. 

Cookie #51 - New Mexico Bizcochito

Yet another cookie that I may add to my Christmas cookie repertoire!

The first time I ever heard of bizcochito was in a Food Network special that featured Santa Fe Biscochitos, a small company that sells the traditional cookie.  Bizcochito is a thin, crisp cookie flavored with anise and cinnamon.  Traditionally, they're served at special occasions, like weddings and christenings, or at religious holidays, like Christmas.  They're very seldom known outside of New Mexico and it's a damn shame because these are some good cookies. 

This was the first time I had worked with anise seed.  I have used star anise in the past to flavor things like mulled wine, but never the actual seeds.  I must say the seeds themselves are quite deceptive.  You must grind the seeds first and then sift them to remove the hulls.  For every tablespoon of anise seed you probably get about a teaspoon of actual ground anise.  Allow me to give you a visual:

This is what you get:

And this is what you waste:

I was able to find anise seed relatively inexpensively at my grocery store - about $3 for a package.  The flavor the ground anise brings to the cookie is so worth it. 

Then there's the cinnamon sugar topping.  The recipe says to wet the cookie dough before sprinkling on the cinnamon sugar.  With my first batch, I used a pastry brush and brushed each individual cookie and sprinkle the cinnamon sugar on top.  When I finished the first sheet of cookies, I looked at the huge ball of dough I still had to roll and cut and knew that wasn't the way to go.  So, I got out my squirt bottle I use to moisten the oven when making pastry and filled it with water.  Then I got out my small sieve I use for powdered sugar dusting.  I misted the cookies and went over them with the sieve full of cinnamon sugar.  Easy peasy! 

I cut my cookies into star shapes because that was the first cookie cutter I grabbed.  Traditionally, the cookies are cut into a fleur-de-lis.  I didn't have such a cutter and my search of local retailers came up empty handed.  I didn't have time to order one online, but if you desire, you can do so from Sur La Table.

When rolling out the cookies, the recipe I used called for the dough to be rolled out to 1/2" thick.  I initially thought that was a bit thick for a cookie that is described as "thin and crispy."  I rolled the next batch slightly thinner at 1/4" and they were perfect. 

New Mexico Bizcochito

6 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

2/3 cup sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons ground anise seeds (grind whole seeds in a spice mill and sift)

2 2/3 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Cinnamon topping:

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter, shortening and sugar together until light.  Add egg, egg yolk and anise seed; mix until well combined. 

Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Gently fold the flour into the butter mixture until just combined.  Do not over mix and do not beat the dough.  Divide the dough into four portions and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.  Flatten into disks and place in refrigerator for at least 45 minutes.

While the dough is chilling, stir together the cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar.  Set aside.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Roll out dough in small portions on a lightly floured work surface. Be sure to keep unused portions of dough chilled until you're ready to roll them.  Cut out cookies with your cutter of choice and place on parchment lined baking sheets about 1" apart.  (If your kitchen is particularly warm, you may want to chill the dough for a few minutes before placing in the oven.)

Using a spray bottle, moisten the cookies with water and top them with the cinnamon sugar mixture.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until they are lightly golden.  Allow to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. 

Apparently these cookies will keep very well if tightly covered - several weeks even.  However, once you taste them, I can assure you they won't last that long!

Cookie #12 - Cinnamon Toast Crunch

While researching cereal-themed cookies, I came across this great recipe at Maple <3 Spice, a vegan food blog.  These cookies were just so stinking adorable, I knew I had to adapt them for this experiment.  Sure, I could've gone the vegan route, but hey, I like me some butter.  Some real, delicious, fatty butter.  Yum. 
So, I made some adjustments and topped the shortbread with a crunchy cinnamon topping and sweet drizzle to mimic the cereal. 
The worst part of these cookies is that fact that they take THIRTY MINUTES to bake and the smell of cinnamon goodness wafts through the house calling to you......  You have to be patient.  Trust me.  It's worth it. 

Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cookies

1/2 cup butter

1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
2 tbsp cornstarch
1 cup AP flour

Topping: 
2 tbsp turbinado sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

Glaze:
1/2 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp milk

Cream butter and sugar.  Add egg yolk.  Sift together cornstarch and flour, add to butter/sugar/egg.  Form the dough into a log.  Shape the log so it's rounded on one side and straight on the other three.  Using a chopstick (or unsharpened pencil like I did) make two indents on either side of the log towards to rounded top.  Chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Slice the cookies into 1/4" slices and place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 30 minutes or until edges are slightly browned.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Whisk powdered sugar and milk together into a thin glaze.  After the cookies cool, drizzle with glaze. 

The picture posted was taken right before baking.  I chilled the dough really well after slicing and before baking and they did not spread at all.  They retained their sliced bread shape perfectly.