by Rachel Sally

Specific


Well y’all, this has been a long week of speculoos-related goods.  

A long and delicious week.
I’m ready to share some other stuff, though, so this is the last Biscoff post… for a while, anyways.


These little bars are brunettes- not blondies.
That’s because they have too much going on and I cannot possibly describe all of that in a single title.
Thus, brunettes.  They’ve got speculoos and all the accompanying spices, brown butter, maple, white chocolate, butterscotch, and a sinful glaze.
They’re just a little darker and more complex than any run of the mill bar cookie.
They’re a good way to end this lovely week.

Biscoff Brunettes
cookie portion adapted from Picky Palate
ingredients:
for the cookies:
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup speculoos spread (make your own!)
2 eggs
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup granulated sugar
(optional) 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
for the glaze:
2 tablespoons butter, browned
2 tablespoons maple syrup
big pinch sea salt
3 tablespoons confectioners sugar
directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease an 8×8 pan.
Brown the butter in a heavy bottomed pan.
Once it is browned, stir in the chips and maple syrup and continue stirring until they melt.
Add in the salt and speculoos spread and mix until all in combined.
Beating quickly, add in the eggs; continue mixing very quickly so they don’t scramble.
Add in the flour, sugar, and baking powder and mix to combine.
Finally, stir in the white chocolate chips.
Pour into pan and bake for 25-30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
Right after you take the cookies out of the oven, whisk all of the glaze ingredients together.
Pour over hot bars and allow to cool.
Slice and enjoy!
by Rachel Sally

Spectrum

Remember how I said that people like to shove cookie butter into every dessert imaginable?
 
Well then, this swap of cookie butter for peanut butter should come as no surprise to you.
Cookie butter cups!  
The only problem with these is that the cookie butter mixture for the middle has to be formed into little patties- if it were more liquid and pourable, the little cups would have even tops, just like the peanut butter cups we all know and love.
A lumpy top is but a small price to pay for these.
 
The dark chocolate combines with the spices to give two or three perfectly creamy and balanced bites from each confection. (and then you reach for another… and another…)
Bonus?  They’re super quick and easy to make.
(I tempered my chocolate, which takes a bit longer, but feel free to add a teaspoon of shortening and a teaspoon of corn syrup to melted chocolate to make an approximation!)
This is a peanut butter cup.  This is a peanut butter cup on drugs…

 

Speculoos Cups
makes about 9
adapted from the Little Kitchen
ingredients:
1/4 cup speculoos spread (make your own!)
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
pinch of salt
1/4 cup powdered sugar
about 2 cups dark chocolate, tempered (or see approximation above)
directions:
Put cookie butter and butter in microwave and heat in 30 second bursts until melted.
Stir in salt and powdered sugar until a thick paste forms.
Set out 9 cupcake liners and drop about a teaspoon of chocolate into the bottom of each.
Form small patties of speculoos mixture and nestle them into the chocolate.
Finish each cup by filling it with chocolate until the patty is covered.
Allow to set by placing in the freezer or fridge, then unwrap and enjoy!

by Rachel Sally

Speckled

Part III.  Gird your loins.
Here’s an easy fix for any (and all) cravings.
Puppy chow/muddy buddies are a classic childhood treat.
I remember making these when I was in elementary school.
Melt (peanut butter), chocolate, butter, add Chex, finish with a heaping pile of confectioner’s sugar.
They couldn’t be easier.  Really.
In this case, I’ve swapped the peanut butter for cookie butter.
Now, these little guys are sweetly spiced, but still crunchy, sweet, and very addictive.
It’s important not to zone out around puppy chow- before you know it, the whole batch is gone! 
And then you have to make more…
Rather than going with all semi-sweet chocolate, I swapped half for milk and half for white chocolate.
The milkiness of this combination really plays off of the deep brown sugar in the cookie butter.
They’re divine and so simple to make!
More good news?  I have an even easier cookie butter recipe coming stat.
Two more recipes, and I think my speculoos reserve will be all used up!


Biscoff Muddy Buddies
adapted from Chex
ingredients:
9 cups Rice Chex or other Chex cereal
2 ounces (1/4 cup, 4 tablespoons) butter
1/2 cup biscoff spread (make your own!)
2 milk chocolate bars, coarsely chopped, or about 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
enough white chocolate chips to make 1 cup of chocolate when combined with the roughly chopped milk chocolate (chop the milk chocolate and add it to a 1 cup measure, then fill to the top with white chocolate chips) (approximately 1/2 cup)
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
directions:
Brown the butter in a heavy bottomed saucepan.
Add in the speculoos spread and the chocolate and stir to melt and combine.
Pour mixture over the cereal and stir very well until every piece is coated- this will take a little while, maybe 3 or 4 minutes, gently folding with a spatula, as the mixture is very thick.
Place 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in the bottom of a gallon ziplock bag.
Add in 1/2 of the coated cereal, then add another 1/2 cup powdered sugar over the cereal.  
Add the rest of the cereal, and put the last 1/2 cup powdered sugar over that.
Zip the bag and gently toss around so that all of the cereal is coated with powdered sugar.

by Rachel Sally

Spectacular

Just the name of this dessert gives me the goosebumps… Hello, lover.
This should be a sin.
This probably is a sin.
Gooey.  Biscoff.  Butter.  Cake.
Wait.  I went even further.
Gooey.  Biscoff.  Brown Butter.  Cake.
Good Lord have mercy on my poor, poor soul.
 
Speculoos cookie butter is blended into cream cheese and eggs, augmented with sugar, and poured over a brown butter cake base, then baked until barely set.
 
When you cut into this (first you have to endure the agony of a multiple-hour cooling period), the filling oozes and sticks to the knife and by Jove, you know you’re in for a treat.
It’s subtly spicy, and so creamy.
It’s decadent and delicious.
I packaged this up and sent it with my mom to her office.  
In her words, people “freaked out.”
It’s called a gooey butter cake, for Pete’s sake, what do you expect?

This was part II of the speculoos series on this here blog.
There’s still more to come.
Praise Yeezus.

P.S. I graduate today… If all goes well, I’ll post about that soon enough.  Weird.
Gooey Biscoff Brown Butter Cake
adapted from Bake Your Day, via Confessions of a Cookbook Queen
ingredients:
for the cake base:
2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 egg
1/2 cup (4 ounces, 8 tablespoons) butter, browned
2 tablespoons milk
splash vanilla extract
for the gooey layer:
8 ounces cream cheese
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup Biscoff (make your own!)
16 ounces powdered sugar
directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease a 9×13 inch pan.
Make the cake base: whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together, then add in the butter, milk, vanilla, and egg.
Whisk very well to combine, then press into the bottom of the prepared pan.
Make the gooey Biscoff layer: beat cream cheese on high until softened and fluffy.  
Add both the eggs in and beat on high until mixture is lightened in color and homogeneous.
Beat in the Biscoff and vanilla.
Mix in the powdered sugar, making sure that everything is combined and there are no lumps.
Pour over the cake base in your pan and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the top is puffed and shiny and the edges are set.  
The interior of the cake will continue to cook, so it should still be jiggly when you pull it out of the oven.
Allow to cool completely before cutting into the cake.
by Rachel Sally

Speculative

These cookies are wholly counterproductive.
Welcome to the first installation of uses for your homemade speculoos spread (other than ravaging it with a spoon).
Basically, we made cookies to make cookies.
Oh, my lyfe.
 
These cookies are similar to peanut butter cookies, but they use cookie butter (can we just appreciate that for a minute?) in lieu of the traditional nut butter.
They’re big and soft and they make perfect sandwich cookies when pressed together with some dark chocolate ganache.
I’m telling you, these are not gingersnaps.  
Stop trying to make them gingersnaps in your head.  
They’re not.  I did it too.  Trust me. 
They’re more like lightly spiced peanut butter cookies.
Make them and you will appreciate this sentiment.
You will also be annoyed that you had to make cookies, grind them up, and then make cookies again.  It’s worth it my dear.
 
(Also, any excuse to pull out my Swedish pearl sugar is worth it.  
Let me just say how obsessed I am with this stuff.  It’s like sprinkles.  Addictive.
I actually prefer it over the larger, coarser Belgian pearl sugar, but you could theoretically coat these in the Belgian stuff, although it will add a lot more sweetness and crunch.  
You could also sub regular or turbinado sugar, but you’ll get less crunch.
 
I’m starting to think you could also coat these in sprinkles and then you’d have sprinkle Biscoff cookies and whaaa that’s a trap I’m getting out okay bye.)

 

Biscoff Cookies
adapted from Baking Bites
makes 6 large sandwich cookies
ingredients:
4 ounces (8 tablespoons, 1/2 cup) butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
pinch each cinnamon, ground cloves, and ginger
scant 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup Biscoff (make your own!)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
swedish pearl sugar, or turbinado sugar, for rolling
for the ganache:
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
2 tablespoons heavy cream
directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
Beat butter on high until fluffy and soft, about 1 minute.  
Add in the sugars, spices, and the salt and beat on high until all of sugar is dissolved and mixture is very light in color and shiny and not-gritty in texture, about 3 minutes.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the egg and vanilla extract.  
Beat for 3 more minutes.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the Biscoff and beat for 1 minute.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the flour, baking soda, and baking powder.
Mix just until homogeneous, about 1 minute.
Using a large cookie scoop, or an ice cream scoop, scoop out 12 cookies. 
Gently roll them in the pearl sugar, making sure to coat all parts of the cookie.
Bake for 9-10 minutes, until puffy.  
They will look very underdone and will still be extremely soft in the middle; they will look somewhat uncooked in the very center.
Allow to cool on the sheet pans; the cookies will decompress and retain their softness, but the residual heat will ensure that they are not raw.
Once cooled, make the ganache.
Microwave the chocolate chips and cream together until the chips are mostly melted; do this in 30 second bursts.  
Stir to combine and finish melting the chocolate.
Spread between two cookies and sandwich them!

by Rachel Sally

Specialty

Have you spent much time on the (food) blogosphere in the past, oh, say, year?

If you answered yes, you can pretty much skip down to the recipe.

Because you’ll want to make it.  I just know it.
Ready?  
Okay, I made some Biscoff spread.
AKA speculoos spread, AKA cookie butter.
But… I made it from scratch.
Starting with the cookies.

Speculoos (speculaas) cookies are lightly spiced, buttery, brown sugar cookies that are typically found in Belgium, Germany, and the Netherlands, where they are important while celebrating Sinterklaas’ (Sint Nikolaas, St. Nicholas) feast.
They’re tinged with nutmeg, cinnamon, pepper, cloves, ginger, and cardamom, but much less so than other gingerbread cookies.
The brown sugar really shines through the gentle spices.

Speculoos spread is basically ground up cookies with oil.  
And people love that s&!#.
Obsessive love.  To the extent that Trader Joe’s speculoos nearly went extinct.
Probably because people shove this stuff in EVERYTHING.
Pies, cookies, brownies, candies, their mouths.
Basically, spread it on bread or crackers or cookies or a spoon, then
eat.

Obviously, I had to make some myself.
(By the way, you can’t taste the peanuts or nutella at all; the tahini adds a certain richness and spiciness that is very difficult to pinpoint or detect.  These three spreads keep the cookie butter emulsified with a proper texture.)
Then, I had to stick it in EVERYTHING.
Look out ahead, because everything in the foreseeable future is speculoos-related.
Yum.

 

Faux-Speculoos Spread
cookie portion from Eat the Love
ingredients:
for the cookies:
1/2 cup (1 stick or 113 g) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons (75 g) white granulated sugar
3/4 cup (165 g) packed dark brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 3/4 cup (235 g) all purpose flour
to assemble spread:
pinch of cinnamon and cloves
scant 1/4 cup (50 g) coconut oil
6 tablespoons canola oil
1/4 cup half and half
2 tablespoons nutella
2 tablespoons peanut butter
1/3 cup tahini
directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream butter on high until softened and fluffy.  Add in the sugars, baking soda, salt, and spices, and cream for at least 3 minutes, until fluffy, lightened in color, shiny, and completely smooth.
Scrape the sides of the bowl and add in the egg.
Beat on high until fully combined and fluffy, 2 more minutes.
Scrape the sides of the bowl. 
Add in the flour and mix until homogeneous, about 1 more minute.
Pinch off balls of dough and flatten them- they’re going to be crushed up, so don’t bother making them perfectly evenly sized or shaped.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden and fragrant.
Remove from oven and let cool completely.
Place all cookies into a food processor and process with extra cinnamon and cloves until finely pulverized.
Add the coconut oil, half and half, and canola oil, and process until mixture is wet.
Add in the nut butters and nutella and process until mixture is a very smooth paste.
Store in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
by Rachel Sally

Pitter Pater

Happy Father’s Day!
Especially to my wonderful father, who is currently in London. 
(I know.  He missed out on father’s day.  I shouldn’t be baking him anything!!)
Shout out to you, Pops!
Father’s day seems to be about doing classic flavors in a new way… 
Last year was an Elvis cake, based on the famous friend banana and peanut butter sandwiches that the King loved.
This year, I made knockoff Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pies.  You know, the ones you remember from your childhood.  Soft, squidgy, filled with marshmallow and only slightly spicy.
My dad loves soft, chewy oatmeal cookies, and I know he likes OCPs.
When I found Stella of BraveTart’s recipe, I knew I had to make them.
The cookies aren’t exactly intuitive in the making, but once you bite into one, you know exactly what they’re supposed to be.  They taste amazingly similar to the store-bought, factory-processed cookies, but fresher and better, and slightly more complex as well.
I had to ship these internationally to my dad, and I’m just hoping that they get to him on time, before he leaves to come back to America.
If they don’t, it’s his loss, right?  That’s what you get for ditching your kid on Father’s Day.
Just kidding.  I love you, Daddy, and miss you even more.  
I hope you like the cookies.
Head here for the full Oatmeal Creme Pie recipe: these are dead ringers for the real deal OCPs.
The ingredients list is a little strange and involved, but it’s totally worth it.
Also, be sure to take your cookies out after exactly 8 minutes: they should be completely puffy and really soft- practically not baked at all, just warmed.  Once you take them out of the oven, they will fall and become very chewy and soft, just the way they should be.
by Rachel Sally

Narco(leptic)

I am a chronic napper.
 
The last two or so weeks have afforded me extremely little sleep: although the majority of my finals were a month ago, during AP week, I have had final projects, presentations, and the odd final test in the past two weeks.
What this has resulted in is that any time I get remotely warm or comfortable, I fall asleep.
I can’t make it through one whole T.V. show.  
I’m constantly yawning.
The bags under my eyes are as droopy as Charlie’s.
Today, I fell asleep.  One hour after having woken up.
As in, I woke up, ate breakfast, went upstairs to change out of my pajamas, and fell asleep.
I mean, whatever.  
It’s summer, now.  I’m going to let my poor sleepy little brain live its life.
I don’t mind all too much.
It’s rainy and dreary outside- just how I love it.  
All I want to do is sit inside and nap under a fluffy blanket while watching LOTR.
Good lord that sounds good.
 
So, speaking of summer:  (Graduation is exactly one week from now… Trippy mane!)
You can expect posts to randomly appear at strange times, like 3 in the afternoon, when normal people would generally be working or doing productive things.
You can expect things to be extra sassy, once Ithaca heats up (still waiting for that to happen…).
You can expect no-fuss, no-bake things like this fudge.
5 ingredients.  2 minutes to make, 2 hours to chill 
(or 1 hour if you stick it in the freezer.  Plus then you get frozen fudge.  Ooooh have mercy.).
This stuff is like crack.  
Creamy with just a touch of chew.
Sweet but punctuated with crunchy, sour, fruity raspberry bits and the occasional salt grain.
Delectably stretchy and alarmingly available (like I said, 5 ingredients, 2 minutes…).
 
All I can think about is new adaptations to this easy little fudge recipe.
Namely, coffee and chocolate.
I mean, that’s all that I can think about lately anyways.  Coffee.
(And chocolate, always.  Always on my mind.)

 

Swirled Raspberry Fudge
ingredients:
9 ounces white chocolate
3 ounces dark chocolate
3/4 cup sweetened condensed milk (you may need a couple more tablespoons, depending on your chocolate)
3/4 ounce crushed freeze-dried raspberries
two big pinches sea salt
directions:
Place the white chocolate in a microwave safe bowl with a pinch of sea salt and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk.
Do the same with the dark chocolate, but with 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk.
Melt each on high until the chocolate is mostly melted and the sweetened condensed milk is hot and bubbly.
Stir each together swiftly to melt the rest of the chocolate.
Layer 1/3 of the white chocolate in the bottom of a 12×6 (you could use an 8×8 as well, for thicker fudge) pan that has been lightly greased.
Sprinkle some of the crushed raspberries on top.
Dollop some of the dark chocolate on top of the raspberries (if it has already hardened, you can stir in up to 3 more tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk).  
Repeat, layering white chocolate, raspberries, and dark chocolate.
Finally, dollop the remaining white chocolate and any remaining dark chocolate on top.
Swirl the whole mixture together very, very well with a fork.  
Don’t be worried about messing it up or getting it too marbled.  Just swirl.
Refrigerate until set, or freeze, if you’re impatient like me!

by Rachel Sally

The Last Stretch

I know I’ve been a negligent blogger.
I will be back on Thursday…
 
Here.  Have some links to feel included.
I’m watching this (and all the others in the series).  OMG.  
“Disguising itself as a small teddybear undergoing a colonoscopy…“
I’m listening to these guys.  
I’m tent-stalking.  (I think I want the Marmot Limelight 3P 3-season… any suggestions?)
And… Watch this until I can come back and give you some sugar… See what I did there?!
 
Oh… and P.S. here’s some photos of my pup and me… being puppies.  I meant to add these to this, but I figured I had enough extraneous photos on that post.
Please ignore my hairdos.


by Rachel Sally

Protips

Dirty little kitchen secrets shortcuts.
I never bother to sift.
(Except for royal icing, when lumps will cause certain failure and imminent disaster.)
Heck, I rarely even bother to combine the dry ingredients before adding them to the wet.
As long as everything is evenly distributed, it’ll all work out just swell.
Or temper eggs.
The idea behind tempering eggs is to ensure even heating of the eggs, preventing the proteins from clumping together and scrambling.
An immersion blender solves this issue very nicely.  
As long as the eggs are well blended into all the other ingredients and you bring them all up to temperature at the same time, blending constantly to ensure even heating, your eggs will not scramble.
I’m positive about this.  A lot of these tricks are just time-savers for evenly distributing ingredients and heat; traditional methods are equally effective, but often take longer and are fussier.  
I don’t like fuss.
 
I taste (constantly) as I go.
No explanation necessary.  Ahem.
 
 
I microwave pretty much everything and I never use a double boiler.  Ever.
Admittedly, ye of much patience and time to spare may prefer bain maries because they ensure even heating, but I prefer things done quickly and efficiently.  
You can insure even, slow heating yourself, by whisking, or better yet, blending, constantly and vigilantly.  
I make my curds, crème pâtissière, and crème anglaise (for ice cream) this way.  
I melt (and temper) my chocolate in the microwave; for ganache, I don’t even bother adding the cream to the chocolate afterwards.  I microwave them all together.  It’s faster.
(I will admit that for tempering, if you are not experienced and/or do not feel comfortable with chocolate, you should try tempering on a stove top first, so that you can constantly monitor the temperature of the chocolate.  Once you get the hang of it, ‘nuke it!)
 
I sling salt like cowboys do guns in Westerns.
A pinch in my book is approximately 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt.
I never measure salt, I’ll admit it.  That’s what tasting is for!
Too often I find that recipes call for a measly amount of salt, too small to have an impact on the flavor.  Salt brings out and heightens flavors, especially sugar.
 

 

I eyeball things; I always add more vanilla and citrus zest than is called for.  

Again, just like salt, these additions heighten flavor.  
I rarely strain zest out of curds and batters and whatever because a) I like the texture and b) the rind contains a ton of the essential oils that give flavor, which is why we used it in the first place.  Why take that out?! 
Oh, and c) it’s less work.  Right.
 
Whenever I use melted butter, I brown it.
Um, duh.  No explanation necessary.
 
I indiscriminately swap yogurt, sour cream, and buttermilk; 
I even use milk with a little acid added, whether in the form of a baking powder swap or a touch of lemon juice.
Baking powder is baking soda with tartaric acid added, so if you add acid in the form of buttermilk or yogurt or sour cream in place of milk, switch some of the baking powder in the recipe to baking soda, which reacts with the acid.
 


I bake by weight 95% of the time.

This is one of the most important things; people’s measurements of cups and pinches and all sorts of things vary wildly, depending on how they measure them.  
Volume is not the best way to bake, especially not when precision is called for.
 
I very rarely soften butter.  
In fact, the only time when I do is for meringue buttercreams.
See the next shortcut for an explanation.
No matter what a recipe calls for, I cream my butter for a minimum of 5 minutes.  
This means that starting with cold butter is no problem.  Just beat it on high for 30 seconds before adding the sugar to cream.  
Easy peasy, and no pesky waiting.
(This especially applies for cookies, which I beat for a minimum of 10.  
I learned this trick from Christina Tosi.)
 
I temper my chocolate.
Tempering chocolate frees you from needing to use shortening or other fats and/or corn syrup in your candies.
The result is a cleaner, deeper, and richer taste: one of chocolate alone.
Granted, tempering chocolate takes (minimally, once you’ve got the hang of it) longer than candy melts, but it is way more flavorful and, in truth, healthier.
Candy melts= paraffin wax.  Yes, wax.  
Um… I’ll pass on those traditional cake-pops.

Even better? Cookie dough pops.  Om nom nom.
There’s nothing better than raw cookie dough.  Except raw cookie dough that’s safe to eat and is covered in more chocolate.
One last protip?  Stick these in the freezer (if you’ve tempered your chocolate, this won’t create any ugly blooms) and you have heaven on a stick.

Cookie Dough Truffles
ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick, 8 tablespoons, 4 ounces)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup tightly packed brown sugar
heaping 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons milk
splash vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2-3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
bittersweet chocolate chips, tempered, for coating
popsicle sticks
directions:
Beat butter in the bowl of a stand mixer until fluffy and softened, about 2 minutes.
Add in the sugars and beat for 3 more minutes, until very fluffy, shiny, and not gritty.
Scrape the sides of the bowl.
Add in the milk, salt, and vanilla, and beat for 2 more minutes.
Add in the flour and mix on medium low until homogeneous.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Roll into balls, dip popsicle sticks in a little bit of chocolate, and stick into the balls.
Freeze until solid, dip into tempered chocolate and allow to set.
Enjoy!