Cake Boss Black And White Cookies, Take Two

Wow  I didn't realize how ugly this picture was until now.  Oh well, they tasted awesome.  And I only know this because I may have eaten about 40 of them.

 So way back last year, I got to meet he Cake Boss, not a huge meeting, just a "thanks for watching"  sort of thing at a book signing.  It was neat because Pork Chop got to give him a few treats and he was really excited to meet a celebrity.  Anyway, we got a book and I poured over it for things to make.  And the first thing I made were these black and white cookies.  That was before Christmas last year.  And ever since then I have wanted to make them again.

 Once you taste these you will understand, they are like sugar pillows covered in a sugar blanket.  Which if you try not to think of actually eating a pillow or a blanket, is really yummy.  I made them the way the Cake Boss said at first.  And they were great, but they were huge.  And in being huge I could only eat one, and even then it was a stretch, those were sure some big cookies.

These are them, they were still big, I used my smaller cookie scoop and they still turned out big.

  At the time I swore to myself that I would make them again, and make them smaller and that I would not get sick eating them.  I kept two of those promises.  Bet you cannot guess which ones.

  So I did exactly like I did last time, except this time Pork Chop was not having any of it.  He was all "I don't want to help!"  And I was all "well I don't want your help!"  And he was all "fine!"  and I was all "Fine!"  And that really didn't happen.  I just asked him if he wanted to help and he said "No thank you."  But that does not make for good blog reading, so you pick the story you like best.

So this time, I tried to again spread the icing, but again it globbed up so I just dribbled it on, worked great.  And on my word, I never once licked the icing bowl.  Oh but I so wanted to!

  So here is the last post with the recipe I used.  The only difference was that I doubled the batch.  I got a butt load of cookies.  And that translates to I forgot to count.  But I has so many I think people at work were sick of them buy the end of the week.  Also I left them out in a box and they still seemed nice and soft about 4 days later.  But if you are normal they won't last that long.  My friends at work are on a summer schedule and as such it is too hot to eat too many.  Or at least that is what I tell myself.

  I cannot tell you how much I love these, seriously as soon as I ate the last one I was wanting to make more.  To preserve the somewhat enlarged butt I have going on, I won't. For now at least.

Cake Boss Cookie - Brownie Walnut Bites

They are way bigger than what Buddy made!

  Firstly I just wanted to say happy new years!  We had a nice night, we went out to city hall for some outdoor skating. Then we came home and watched the TV specials and ate yummy stuff.  We stayed up late, and I am so tired.  Hubby is trying to fix the kitchen sink and I have about 100 cookies to bake today. So it should be a sort of busy day, but I plan to do it all in my PJ's so you know, it could be worse.  So here is my first post for the year, since last year my most viewed post was a cake boss one, I did another one. So enjoy, and I look forward to a year full of yummies I can share.  Oh and I need to win the lottery, so you know, I am being realistic about my new year.


 So I made Cake Boss Cookies a while back.  They were the most tasty cookie I have had in a long time.  I think mine looked ugly, but seriously I have thought about making them again every day since. I plan to try and make mini ones this year.  You know mini makes them less calories and makes for a good new years resolution right?

  Anyway when I first got the new cake boss book, this recipe for Brownie Walnut Bites was what jumped out at me.  I loved the fact that they had very few ingredients and that they looked somewhat easy.  The only problem being that Hubby cannot be in the house when I bake with nuts, the smell bothers him.  He is allergic, which is good and bad.  Good because I get to eat all the things I make with nuts without sharing.  Bad because he could die, you know because I need him around to take out the garbage and stuff. So I cannot use nuts while he is home.  So when I had a free evening and Hubby took my son with him to a party, I was so excited!  I had plans people, and they involved baking with nuts.  I know, my life is boring. You don't have to tell me.

All ready to go! Please ignore the double lemon juice thingies, I will learn to photo shop one day.  Not today obviously.

  So for my Hubby free evening I had plans to make these cookies, Nutella fudge and to wrap Christmas gifts.    This was also the day I worked my first shift at my new part time job, after watching my son play hockey.  I was up late, and I was tired.  So the pictures are bad, no worse than usual I guess.  But at least I have an excuse right.


Brownie Walnut Bites
From Baking with the Boss

Set oven to 325 (I did it at 300 since I have a convection oven)

-3 extra large egg whites
-1/2 TSP lemon juice
-1 1/2 cups icing sugar
-1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
-1 1/2 cups walnut halves

Whip egg whites and lemon juice for 2 minutes on low, then on high for 5 minutes until still peaks form.
Sift dry ingredients and fold into the egg whites.
Fold in the walnut and mix until they are all covered.
Place spoonfuls on parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake for 12-18 minutes, until the bottoms pull away from the paper.

  So to start I got set up with all my ingredients, which was not much.  A few eggs, sugar, lemon juice, walnuts and cocoa powder.  I also put my mixing bowl in the sink, filled it with hot water and some white vinegar.  I put my whip attachment and spatula in and let them sit while I got everything measured.  When you are working with egg whites, you need a grease free bowl and whisk or you may not be able to get your eggs to whisk up as they should.

I may have over beat the egg whites, maybe just a little.

  So I followed what Buddy said and got my lemon juice and egg whites going. I just set the timer and let them go.  Now my egg whites did not get stiff peaks, I think I may have gone a minute too long as they were all stuck in my whisk, but I was not going to try again so I went ahead and carried on.

Right about here I was ready to give up, it looked just wrong.

 When I put the icing sugar and cocoa in and started to fold them in, I thought I had ruined them.  The stuff would not mix in, and then I got frustrated and mixed a bit harder.  And it all came together.  But I if I had more patience I would have had a fluffier mix.  Oh well, I will never learn.  Anyway I added the walnuts and folded them in until they were all covered.



A little better but I over mixed them, as usual, and they really deflated.

  Then I took two table spoons and scooped out a spoon full and then used the other to push the dough off.  I did not get nice cookies, just sort of puddles but you know, they all taste the same. Maybe next time I will use my ice cream scooper thingy, it might be better.


I could not get a nice shape, so they turned into puddles.




They set up nicely when they were baked.

  I baked them for 12 minutes then checked and thought I needed another 3 minutes.  They were a bit over cooked I thought, but they still had nice chewy centers so not too bad.



I am very happy with how they looked.




The picture is horrible, but you can sort of see how chewy the inside was.


 I think they are nice and light, not heavy like a brownie.  I have not found anything else in the book I want to try yet, so we will see.  I have a tonne of other cook books to look through, oh and I scored a cake mix book.  Right up my alley, all recipes start with a cake mix.  Remember if you have to crack an egg, it is home made!

 So thanks so much to all my readers and my followers, I really get a little thrill when I see a new follower and comments, I get giddy.  I am a dork I know:)  I hope this year brings me some great things to share, maybe a new big kitchen aid ( a girl can dream) and you know, a happy healthy family.  But you know where my priorities are, I can admit it. Happy new years all.

Cake Boss Cookies - Week 11 of the 12 Weeks of cookies

The one on the bottom left is the best one I made.

   So we are getting so close to Christmas that I am going to be so busy making cake balls that I wanted to try a few new recipes before then.  Don't get me wrong I love making cake pops and balls, but I wanted to try new things on this blog and share, so that is what I am going to do today.

  A few weeks back we went and saw Cake Boss, you can check out the pics there.  We got his new baking book, and there are a lot of good things in it, but a lot I cannot see myself doing. Only because a lot of them have nuts, and with Hubby being allergic, I cannot bake with them when he is home.  It bothers him.  So fine, for him I will put off the nut stuff.

  I looked for something simple, but different and I set myself on these Black and White cookies.

Black and White cookies
From Baking with the Cake Boss, by Buddy Valastro

3/4 cup plus 2 TBSP Sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2 extra large eggs  ( I always use extra large eggs)
1/2 cup milk
1/4 TSP pure vanilla extract
1/8 TSP fresh lemon juice
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 TSP baking powder
1/4 TSP salt
1/4 cup water
2 cups icing sugar
2 TBSP semisweet chocolate chips or 1/2 ounce semisweet chocolate chopped

My son helped measure out everything so he wanted to be in the picture.

And without the boy.

Pre heat oven to 340 degrees ( 315 if you have a convection oven)

-cream butter and sugar
-add, one egg at a time, mixing for one minute between each egg
-add milk, vanilla and lemon juice and mix until just incorporated
-sift together both flours, baking powder, and salt
-add the dry ingredients to the wet until the mixture is smooth and fully absorbed

The batter was like water before I added the flour, I had to double check I had not messed up.  I hadn't I just had to be patient.  I am not patient, be forewarned.

-scoop the mix onto parchment lined cookie sheets, 1/4 cup of mix at a time, leaving a few inches for them to spread

I only got 11 cookies, but I think my scoop was a bit too big.

-bake until light golden brown, about 18 minutes

Not perfectly round, but what can you do.

-as soon as the cookies are firm enough to move with a spatula, move to a cooling rack, cookies will continue to bake if you leave them on the cookie sheet
-once fully cooled, but them on a plate and into the freezer while you make the icing, at least 10 minutes, they must be firm so they do not break when you frost them

Frosting
-use a double boiler or a bowl on top of  a pot of hot water and bring the 1/4 cup of water to a boil
-when water in the top of the double boiler is boiling whisk in the powdered sugar
-mix until uniform and smooth

See this it too thick, I got impatient and added a bunch more icing sugar, and it was too thick to work with .  Follow what the recipe says, it works better.

-working one cookie at a time, take a butter knife or a spatula and spread the icing over half of the cookie

Okay so I tried to spread on the icing, and that was a fail, so just dribble it along the top and it will run all over the cookie and run off.

-if the icing gets thick or clumpy put it back over heat and whisk until smooth again
-once all cookies are half iced put the double boiler back on the heat and mix the chocolate into the remaining icing

So what I would do is mix the icing right before each cookie and  drizzle the cookie.  The icing set really quickly.

-ice the other half of the cookies, and let them dry, which takes very little time

These are the better ones, sad I know.

Those ones on the left I tried to spread the frosting.  Letting the frosting drizzle down was much better.

  They keep up to 3 days in an air tight container, but since you only get 12 cookies, they will not last that long.

  And I had planned to keep these all for myself, but I ate one and had to lay down, the amount of sugar made me sick, very sick.  I have to really learn to stop that, silly me.  So I packed them up for work, I kept one for me to eat over the next few days.

All packed up for work, so I don't make myself sick again.  Sigh they are so good.

  I also think if I want to make them again, which I will, I will make them with a small cookie scoop and make them much smaller.

  I found the actual cookie to be like a nice thick lady finger cookie, not too sweet at all, but the icing, oh that icing sure packs a sugar punch.  So good!

  Give them a try, I mean they are Cake Boss cookies after all, they have to be good.  And these are big, so they would be perfect wrapped up with a nice gift tag.

  And to make a gift tag, I will get a little crafty again, but just a little.

  I used my shape punch and just cut out some pattern paper and wrote on it.  Then punched a hole in it and tied it on with curling ribbon.  Very simple and home made all the way.