Father's Day Savory Gouda Biscotti

 

Thank you, Dad...

Thank you for instilling in us the love of old cars, cold beer, the jalapeno and stove-popped popcorn.

Thank you for...

• making pancakes for breakfast,
• climbing the stairs to wake me for school in the mornings, even climbing them twice most mornings when I asked for "5 more minutes,"
• leaving the light on in the hall.

 

Thanks for forgiving me when...

• I backed the car into the side of the house,
• I rear-ended your car with mine when following you home from the mall,
• I "cleaned" your entire car with Windex....paint and all.

 

{I have no idea why Texas women have a reputation for BIG hair.} 

I love that you...

• will hop in the car and drive 10 hours spur of the moment,
• accompanied us to every concert we attended in high school {and I'm sorry about all of my screaming at Rick Springfield},
• are always the life of the party and ready for a laugh.

 

Thanks Dad, for...

• being at every swim meet, not just to watch, but to set-up, tear-down and time every race,
• coaching Molly's soccer team,
• chaperoning all those choir trips...

...and looking like you were having fun doing it all. :)

Thanks for getting us through when Mom died.

So much more to thank you for, but you get the idea.  We love you.  Happy Father's Day.  These biscotti are for you.

When I saw this recipe in Food & Wine, I immediately thought of my dad who loves Gouda cheese...although, normally on a Ritz cracker. :)

Gouda Biscotti (ie: cookies for beer)
{adapted from Food & Wine magazine}

2 & 1/4 tsp. instant yeast (active dry is what the original recipe calls for. Click here for more info/instructions.)
3/4 c. plus 2 TBSP warm water, divided
1 TBSP sugar
2 & 3/4 c. all-purpose flour, divided, plus more for dusting
8 oz. Gouda , grated
1/2 c. walnuts, finely chopped
1/8 tsp cayenne
1 teaspoon kosher salt
6 TBSP unsalted butter, softened

In a medium bowl, combine the instant yeast with 1/2 cup of the warm water, sugar and 3/4 cup of the flour. Cover and let stand about 30 minutes; it will rise and be spongy.  (If using regular yeast packets, please refer to the original recipe.)

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the remaining 2 cups of flour with the Gouda, walnuts and salt. Make a well in the center and add the yeast mixture with the remaining 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons water.  Stir in the softened butter until a dough is formed.
 
Dump the dough  and any loose bits onto a lightly floured work surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.  Divide into thirds (a bench scraper is great for this). Using your hands and a rolling pin, form each piece into a log, about 8-9" long and about 1" high.

Place on the parchment lined sheet.  Cover with lightly damp paper towels and then plastic wrap.  Let rise 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.

Remove the plastic wrap and paper towels and bake the logs for about 35 minutes, until they are golden and puffed. Place the baking sheet on a cooling rack and let cool for 20 minutes.

{You could stop here and call this Gouda cheese bread.  How do I know? Because the 3 of us ate the ends off of all three pieces.}

Meanwhile, reduce the oven temp. to 300 and put racks on the lower and upper thirds of the oven (use your oven mitts!). Line another baking sheet with parchment.

Using a serrated knife, slice the logs on a diagonal 1/3 to 1/2 inch thick. Place cut pieces on 2 baking sheets and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until golden and crisp.  Flip the biscotti halfway through and shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back.

Transfer the biscotti to a rack and let cool completely before serving.  Serve with an ice cold beer....iced tea is ok, too. Heck, I even ate 2 of these for breakfast with orange juice.

{Printable labels from Martha Stewart.}

What would you thank your dad for?

Hot Diggety Dog, it's Beer-thirty!

Desserts for Dudes

Dudes need cookies, too! And why not beer and hot dog cookies? I think these are perfect for summer and a really fun treat for Father's Day!

I've played around with black outlining before and really love the way it looks. The cookies just look so crisp, or whimsical, or something! Anyway, I like it.

A hint for using black icing, use AmeriColor Super Black food coloring. You don't need a lot and it doesn't have the "off-taste" that some other colors have.

Last week, I had the pleasure to meet Jennifer, the cookie maker at Frost Bake Shoppe. Her cookies are absolutely darling and she uses black outlining quite a bit (here's her Flickr stream). Her hint, let the black outline dry for 3 hours before filling to ensure no bleeding into the flood icing.

To decorate the beer cookies:

• With black royal icing, use a #3 tip to pipe the outline of the mug, handle and foam (AmeriColor Super Black). {I used a #3 because really wanted the outline to stand out here.}
• Let dry at least 1 hour.
• Thin white and gold royal icing with water to the consistency of thick syrup (AmeriColor Bright White and Gold). Reserve some un-thinned white icing.
  
• Cover with a damp dish towel and let sit several minute.
• Stir with a rubber spatula to pop any air bubbles that have risen to the surface; transfer to a squeeze bottle when ready to use.
• Fill in the mug of beer in gold, using a toothpick to guide the icing into the corners. (A video of this technique is available at University of Cookie.)
• Fill in the handle and foam with white.
• Let sit at least one hour.
• With a #1 or 2 tip, add a squiggle for the foam detail in white.
• With the #3 tip, add the mug detailing in black.
• Let dry overnight.

There are several way to make the foamy top of the beer....a star tip, curlicues...but this squiggle is my new favorite.

My guys thought these were very cool.....I hope yours do, too!

I'm linking these up to TidyMom's I'm Lovin' It weekly linky party! Lots of great ideas there....

Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

Or more precisely....

Oatmeal Raisin & Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches with Vanilla-Cinnamon Ice Cream.

whew.

My dad's favorite cookie is Oatmeal Raisin. He doesn't want Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies or Oatmeal Cranberry cookies or Oatmeal Toffee cookies or Oatmeal Chocolate Cranberry Toffee cookies.

You may have guessed that I have tried.

I can't help myself...I like to mix it up a little. So, when he came to visit a few weeks ago, I made Oatmeal Raisin cookies. I also made a few Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies and set a few of each kind of cookie aside to make ice cream sandwiches.

First, I needed ice cream. I thought Vanilla Cinnamon would go really well with the Oatmeal Cookies. This recipe is a modified version of French Vanilla from the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream & Dessert Book.

Vanilla-Cinnamon Ice Cream

2 pasteurized eggs
3/4 c. sugar
2 c. heavy cream
1 c. whole milk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 TBSP cinnamon

Whisk the eggs in a large bowl for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Gradually whisk in the sugar. Whisk 1 minute more after adding all of the sugar.

Add the cream, milk, vanilla and cinnamon; whisk until blended.

Transfer mixture to an ice cream maker and follow the manufacturer's instructions. The ice cream will be quite soft after mixing.

Scoop into a freezer-safe container and freeze several hours until firm.

The cookie recipe is from The King Arthur Flour's Cookie Companion (this book is a goldmine of cookie recipes!). I made the full recipe, omitting the nuts...then halved the dough, added raisins to one half and chocolate chips to the other.

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
{adapted from the King Arthur Flour's Cookie Companion}

1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/2 c. shortening
1/2 c. sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. almond extract
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. cloves
1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
1 tsp. coarse salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 egg
6 TBSP light corn syrup
2 TBSP milk
3 c. old-fashioned oats
1 & 1/2 c. flour
1/2 c. raisins
1/2 c. mini chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a food processor, pulse the oats to make them smaller and thinner, but don't grind them to bits. :) Set aside.

Cream together the butter, shortening, sugars, extracts, spices, salt & baking soda until smooth. Beat in the egg, scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in the corn syrup and milk. Stir in the oats and flour.

Remove half the dough to another bowl. Stir in raisins to one bowl of dough and chocolate chip to the other.

Drop the dough by the rounded tablespoon onto the prepared sheets. Bake for 11 minutes, until they are a light golden brown. Let sit on the baking sheet for 1 minute, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Making the ice cream sandwiches is pretty self-explanatory. :)

{If you are a good blogger, you will iron the dishtowel for the picture. I am not a good blogger.}

After a few hours in the freezer, the ice cream has hardened up enough to scoop...

Scoop out the hardened ice cream on the flat side of one cookie, top with another and press.

If desired, and you know it is around here, roll the sides of the oatmeal chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches in mini chocolate chips.

Wrap in plastic wrap and freeze.

{Want to know a secret? My dad didn't eat ONE ice cream sandwich...only the plain ol' Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. I told you, he only wants the cookies. One of these days, I'll learn.}

What is your dad's favorite dessert?

Viva Italia!

One of my favorite customers (ok....it was my sister) ordered these cookies for her father-in-law for Father's Day. He loves his Italian heritage...and when you come from the land of prosciutto, parmesan and amaretto, what's not to love?!?

We put our heads together trying to come up with "Italian" cookies. What did we came up with? Flags and pizza. :)

If you have an Italy lover in your life, you might want to consider making these flag cookies. They are really cute and a great cookie if you're just starting with flooding cookies:

1. Using a #2 tip, outline the flag in white royal icing and divide into 3 sections. Reserve some of this icing for detail.
   
2. Thin red, white and green icings with water until they reach the consistency of a thick syrup. Cover with a damp dish towel. Let sit several minutes.
3. Run a rubber spatula through the icings and transfer to squeeze bottles.
4. Fill in the sections of the flag, using a toothpick to guide into corners.
5. Let dry at least one hour.
6. If desired, switch the tip on the un-thinned white icing to a #1 and write "viva italia" across the flags.
   

Ciao Bella! ;)

Remember to enter the patriotic pancake pan giveaway!!! The winner will be chosen tomorrow (Tuesday)!

Happy Birthday, Dad!!!

My dad's birthday is today....happy birthday, Dad!!! He came to visit over the weekend and we had some friends over to celebrate. Here are the cookies from his party...

I was so afraid he would step off the plane with his goatee shaved off, but he didn't...whew!

After seeing Laura's post (she's the owner of A Dozen Eggs and makes perfect cookies) about using flood icing on top of dried flood icing, I thought I would try it for these.

I really liked the way it added some dimension to the cookies. I outlined and filled the face and the shirt and let that dry for about 2 hours. Then I outlined the hair, goatee and button onto the semi-dry flood icing. Then, the hair, etc. were filled in with flood icing.

After drying overnight, I added the nose and lettering with a food coloring pen (AmeriColor Gourmet Writers.)

We had such a fun time! I think I am still suffering from a margarita, cake, cookie, tamale, queso, empanada overload!!! Happy Birthday, Dad!!! We love you!