Tag: party cookies

Funfetti Raspberry Palmiers

Aaaahhhh!!!! You guys!!! I can’t believe that it’s 2017 and I have been blogging since January 19th, 2011 when I posted this chicken breast with port wine cherry sauce. It’s crazy how much has changed since that very first blog post!

First up, I gotta give myself a big pat on the back. I have NEVER started a hobby that I actually stuck to until THIS. ALL. HAPPENED. And for 6 whole years I posted once to twice a week without EVER. TAKING. A. BREAK. I even birthed two beautiful children along the way (thanks to my amazing blogger friends who filled in with some guest posts during that time!). What is it about blogging that just stuck?

I’ll tell you. Honestly, when this blog started, I had just had my third kid, and I had always worked for a few hours a day because I like to keep busy. It was time to move on so my husband suggested that I start a blog (he came up with the name!) and the rest is history! I wasn’t a big cook back in the day and honestly my photography was TERRIBLE. But the spark was lit. I got so much amazing feedback, and I just wanted to keep sharing. I went to culinary school along the way, took a photography class, and just kept honing my skills. Like a flower in bloom, my passion for cooking blossomed into something beautiful. I feel truly blessed to absolutely LOVE what I do.

Of course like every human being, I get sick of cooking sometimes. And once in a while, I’m just so not in the mood of photo editing or writing, but I always come back. Because the passion is a fire that burns that you just can’t extinguish! And for that I have YOU to thank – my readers! You are the fuel to my blogging fire. Your comments, emails, messages and photos are what keep me going. They make me want to continue to share and push myself to create amazing things.

Of course when my first blogoversary came, I never imagined I’d celebrate many more, but each year I posted a little something to mark the date of my first post. I didn’t have a specific theme, but when my funfetti cake went viral on my 4th blogoversary, I decided I would stick to the funfetti theme from then on. My friend Melinda always goes red velvet for her Blogoversary and I loved the idea.

Last year, I continued the funfetti theme with some homemade pecan turtles because they’re pretty much my favorite candy, and because I really wanted to challenge myself to make homemade caramel for the first time! It took a couple of tries but my no-corn-syrup caramel recipe has been a huge hit ever since!

This year, I needed something easy because I’ve got a 5 month old who loves my attention, so I came up with these stunners! With Valentines Day ahead, as well as Purim not too far off (ducking now!), I thought these would be the perfect little bite to show my LOVE and APPRECIATION to you all for making BIB what it is today.

Palmiers, also known as elephant ears, are a French pastry that’s traditionally made with puff pastry and sugar. The puff pastry is covered in sugar, folded in layers and sliced thin. The sugars caramelize during baking and you’re left with a buttery cookie that’s crispy from the sugar and oh so pretty!

I decided to ditch the sugar in favor of sprinkles and fill the dough with raspberry jam to resemble hearts. The jam ends up caramelizing under the cookie, and the sprinkles add a nice crunch, so these make a great variation on the original. Plus they are super beautiful and versatile!

Thank you so much for following and making BIB the success that it is today. To many more Blogoversary’s to come!

Funfetti Raspberry Palmiers

1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
1/2 cup sprinkles or nonpareils
1/3 cup raspberry jam

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Place the puff pastry on your work surface and unfold. Spread the nonpareils out onto it and press it into the dough using your hands, or cover with a sheet of parchment paper and press down with a rolling pin. Gently fold the dough and flip it over (if it has become too warm and hard to flip, refrigerate it until it becomes firm again). Spread the raspberry jam over the other side of the pastry and fold each side over twice so that both sides meet in the middle (see animated photo above). Fold the pastry closed so that it is a single strip and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Slice the pastry into 1/4″ thick slices and spread out on a baking sheet a few inches apart (you may need to bake in batches). Bake until the cookies are puffed, but not browned, about 20 minutes. Cool completely before serving.

VARIATION: Try a different flavor jam for other colors and flavors.

 

Related Posts:

5th Blogoversary} Funfetti Pecan Turtles
4th Blogoversary} Funfetti Cake
2nd Blogoversary} BBQ Brisket
1st Blogoversary} Mulled Wine

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Chocolate Olive Oil Crinkle Gelt Cookies

I don’t think I’ve ever been so excited about a post before. I mean, have you seen these cookies? If you think they look gorgeous in the picture, JUST. WAIT. TILL. YOU. MAKE. THEM.

My excitement over baked goods needs some explaining, I know. You see, as I’ve mentioned many times on my blog, I’m not the biggest baker. But I had this epiphany one night. I was thinking about crinkle cookies, and how you get those beautiful cracks in the cookie when it bakes. Traditionally, crinkle cookies are rolled in confectionary sugar, so they result in a beautiful zebra-like design. I figured, if I spray the cookies with edible gold spray paint, they’ll kind of look like a crumpled up foil wrapper from those chocolate Chanukah gelt coins. Am I right?

I thought about this one night last week and I was so excited, I couldn’t sleep. First thing the next morning, I ran to the store to collect my ingredients. My friends over at Colavita had recently sent me a few samples of their amazing olive oil, and I knew I had to incorporate it into the recipe. After all, isn’t it the miracle of olive oil that we celebrate on Chanukah? Luckily, Colavita included their 100% GREEK olive oil, and that just put it over the top. Olive oil and chocolate make a wonderful combination, so I set out developing a recipe for fudgy and delicious crinkle cookies. A few hours and a messy kitchen later, I hit the jackpot. To intensify the chocolate flavor without having to melt down chocolate over a double-boiler (I’m always looking for the easy way out, aren’t I?), I added some coffee and used dutch process cocoa powder. The result is a chewy, intensely-flavored chocolate cookie that’s reminiscent of brownies, but oh so much prettier!

To round out my Hanukkah cookie theme, I topped the cookies off with some real chocolate gelt coins. They’ve gone a long way since the waxy variety that used to be available. Nowadays, some of the chocolate gelt is made from real Belgian dark chocolate. So tell me, does it get any better than fudgy chocolate cookies topped with real dark chocolate?

In my special kosher package from Colavita, I received 4 bottles of their amazing premium world selection first cold pressed extra virgin olive oils, including:

Colavita 100% Argentinian Fruity
Colavita 100% Greek Classic
Colavita 100% Californian Mild
Colavita Private Selection 100% Italian

To celebrate Chanukah and these delicious cookies, Colavita is giving away free olive oil samples to one of my readers!

To enter the giveaway, and to get into the Hanukkah spirit, leave a comment letting me know your favorite deep fried foods! Also, if you don’t already follow me on facebook, like the BIB page here. Winner will be chosen at random at 11:00 PM Wednesday, December 12th.

Colavita is also generously offering a 25% discount to all my readers in honor of Hanukkah. Use coupon code BIB25 at checkout. Off expires 1/31/13.

Chanukah Greek Olive Oil Crinkle Cookies

2 cups flour
1 cup dutch process cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup Colavita 100% Greek olive oil
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp instant coffee dissolved in 1/4 cup water
Wilton gold color mist food spray
chocolate Chanukah gelt coins

Method:

In a bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, combine the olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and coffee. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir well to combine. If any lumps remain, stir the mixture with a hand-mixer until all the ingredients are well incorporated. Place the dough in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.

Roll 1 heaping tablespoon of batter into a ball and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Make sure to roll the batter quickly (otherwise the heat of your hands will make it sticky). Repeat with remaining batter.

Spray the cookies with gold spray paint and bake at 350 degrees for approximately 12 minutes. Set aside to cool.

While the cookies are still a little warm (but not too hot that they will melt the chocolate), press chocolate coins into the center of each cookie.

VARIATION: Spray the cookies with silver color mist and top with milk chocolate coins. If you prefer not to use color mist, you can roll the cookies in turbinado or powdered sugar instead.

NOTE: If you do not have Colavita 100% Greek olive oil, you may substitute with any other olive oil.

YIELDS: 3 dozen cookies


1 year ago: chanukah cookies
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