Flour Bakery's Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

Hi everyone! How’s your winter going? Here in the Kansas City area, it. won’t. stop. snowing. I’ve been pretty much snowed in all weekend; therefore, these cookies. Can we talk about them? Let’s talk about them. First, we need to talk about Nutella. I really, REALLY love the hazelnut cocoa spread, but I really hate baking with it. It’s a mess to measure out, it’s sticky, it gets everywhere. I realize these are all first world problems, but if I can find a cookie with the same flavors, but less mess I’ll take it.

So these cookies. They have milk chocolate, and hazelnuts. The hazelnuts aren’t only chopped up and put in the cookie, they’re also ground into a flour, so the hazelnut flavor is truly throughout. They’re satisfyingly crunchy from the nuts, and wonderfully creamy from the milk chocolate.

If you have snow where you are, you should warm your heart, and kitchen up with these bad boys. Here’s hoping spring is on the way!

Also, a little side note, if you’re looking for any web design, or general design work hit up my cousin (Stephanie Edwards) who lovingly designed this blog for me! You can find her website here: Space Car , her Facebook under SpaceCar, or on Instagram under @_spacecar_. She’s seriously the raddest.

Flour Bakery’s Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

• 3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar

• 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 cups whole hazelnuts (divided)

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

• 12 ounces milk chocolate, chopped into 1/2 inch pieces

• Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars until fluffy. About 5 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl

2. Add the eggs one at a time, fully incorporating after each addition. Add the vanilla.

3. In a food processor, pulse about 1/2 cup of the hazelnuts into a fine powder or flour. Once it’s completely ground, stop, or it will turn into a paste. Roughly chop the rest of the heazelnuts.

4. In a separate medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, chopped chocolate, and the chopped and ground hazelnuts.

5. Add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar mixture and mix until just combined.

6. Let the dough rest overnight, or for at least 3-4 hours.

7. The next day, preheat the oven to 350℉.

8. Measure the dough using an ice cream scoop. Place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Press down the balls of cookie dough a little bit, and then sprinkle with flakey sea salt.

9. Bake for 16-18 minutes or until the edges are golden.

10. Let the cookies cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack. Enjoy!

Churro Waffle Sticks with Chocolate Sauce

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It's been a long time, my friends. Much too long. I've missed you, and I hope you've missed me. I'm marking my return in the most beautiful of ways. With waffles. On National Waffle Day. YAS.

If you know me even a little bit, you know that I have a fairly scary obsession with waffles. I celebrate waffle related holidays three times a year: International Waffle Day (March 25th), Galentine's Day (Feb. 15th), and National Waffle Day (August 24th). It's something I take very seriously, and you should too because, well, waffles make things better. They have little pockets to hold in the happiness. They're so delightfully crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.

When I stumbled upon a recipe involving churros in a waffle iron there was simply nothing I could do. It was like God was forcing my hand to make them. PLUS, this recipe involves ganache. You guys already know about my obsession with ganache right?! 

Basically, this is a regular churro dough, or a pâte à choux (AKA cream puff dough). You cook it on a stove, and then cook it a second time either in the oven, oil, or in this case a waffle iron. No raising agent is used, rather a high moisture content creates steam to puff it up. Science. Then these babies are covered in butta (YAS) and then smothered in cinnamon sugar (YAS YAS!). 

If that's not enough to sell you on it then, there's no hope for you. For the rest of you, HAPPY NATIONAL WAFFLE DAY!

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Churro Waffle Sticks with Chocolate Sauce

Batter

• 1/2 cup water
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 large eggs

Topping and Chocolate Sauce

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• 1 teaspoon corn syrup
• Nonstick spray
• 1 tablespoon melted butter

Directions: 

1. For the batter: In a small saucepan, bring water, butter, salt, sugar and cinnamon to a simmer over high heat. 
2. When butter has melted and sugar has dissolved, lower heat to medium, add flour and stir quickly. The batter will come together quickly. Continue cooking for 1 minute.
3. Remove saucepan from heat and let cool 5 minutes before adding eggs. Add eggs one at a time and stir until each is completely incorporated. The batter will be very stiff.
4. For the topping and chocolate sauce: Mix together cinnamon and sugar in a bowl and set aside. In a saucepan over low heat, combine cream, chocolate and corn syrup. Stir frequently until it begins to melt. Remove from heat and stir until completely melted. Set aside.
5. Preheat waffle iron (set to medium if settings are available). Coat both sides of iron with nonstick spray. 
6. Place about 1/4 cup of the batter in lines on the iron. Close iron and cook for about to 5-10 minutes. 
7. When finished, brush with butter and sprinkle with the cinnamon sugar mixture. Serve warm with chocolate sauce. 

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Bonus! Boyfriend enjoying the waffle goodness. 

Texas Sheet Cake

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Well, howdy folks! It has been a hot minute, and I truly apologize for that. I'll give you a quick update as to why it has taken me an era to post again. Since my last post, I have accepted a full-time job at a wonderful company called Applied Measurement Professionals. It has been busy, but incredibly rewarding. I have also signed up to run the Walt Disney World Half Marathon with my stepmother this January 10th (yes, I'm nuts). I'm also raising money for The Leukemia Lymphoma Society to go along with it. If you'd like to help me reach my goal, click HERE. Shameless plugin. You know you love me! In all seriousness, any little bit helps. Let's eliminate blood cancers!

All that being said, I know why you're really here. That cake. More like, THE cake. This cake goes by many names. I call it Texas Sheet Cake, others call it Funeral Cake. No matter what you call it, one thing is for certain; it is delicious.

This cake is one of my father's many claims to fame. He has perfected it from the fudgey icing, down to sifting the dry ingredients three times for the silkiest texture. This cake is simple, but fantastically delicious, and I urge you to try it. I mean, it's chocolate on chocolate with pecans. How can you resist? Just give into the temptation.

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Texas Sheet Cake

by October-19-2014

Ingredients

• 2 cups sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ICING
• 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsley chopped
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375º F, and grease and flour a jelly-roll sheet pan. 2. Sift together the sugar, all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Repeat the sifting process three times. May seem overkill, but trust me, it makes the cake so incredibly silky. 3. in a medium saucepan combine the water, vegetable oil, butter, and cocoa. Bring it to a boil and stir constantly. 4. Once completely combined, pour the hot mixture into the dry ingredients. Stir until just smooth. 5. Whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Then incorporate this mixture into the batter. 6. Pour batter into the sheet pan evenly. Bake for about 20 minutes. 7. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and butter. Once melted, take off heat, and stir in the heavy cream and vanilla. Place the mixture back on the double boiler. Add the powdered sugar, and heat the icing for 10 minutes. Finally, remove from heat, and continue stirring until spreadable. Don't fret if you feel like your icing isn't coming together. Give it time. 8. Spread the icing over the entire cake, and before the icing sets, sprinkle the pecans over the entire cake.

Details

Prep time: 15 mins Cook time: 1 hour Total time: 1 hour 15 mins Yield: 20 servings