Chocolate and Peanut Butter Swirly Cookies

               

CHOCOLATE PEANUT BUTTER SWIRLY ICEBOX COOKIES

When I was little, my mom always made swirly chocolate and vanilla cookies only at Christmas. They were generally given away as gifts and we never got to eat as many as we wanted to. When I became of age, I used my mom's recipe myself, but it was time consuming and I had trouble finding all the ingredients in Istanbul. Then I found these Cooking Light recipes for Icebox Cookies and decided to adapt them a bit to make my own Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirls. Yay!

Following are the original recipes from Cooking Light magazine. I used butter instead of margarine. I used parchment instead of waxed paper. I shape the two batches of dough into rectangular blocks instead of rolls (because it's easier to roll out into a rectangle for making the swirls!) I refrigerate overnight and do the rolling and swirling the next day. Then I refrigerate or freeze the completed swirly rolls to slice and bake when I need them.

CHOCOLATE ICEBOX COOKIES

3/4 C flour

1/4 C unsweetened cocoa

1/4 t baking soda

1/8 t salt

4 T stick margarine or butter, softened (57g)

2/3 C sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 large egg white

2 T turbinado sugar (optional)

1.  Combine the first 4 ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Beat margarine at medium speed of a mixer until light and fluffy.  Gradually add sugar, beating at medium speed until well blended.  Add vanilla and egg white, and beat well.  Add flour mixture and stir until well blended.  Turn dough out onto wax paper and shape into 6 inch log.  Wrap log in wax paper and freeze for 3 hours or until very firm.

2.  Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

3.  Roll log in turbinado sugar. Cut log into 24 (1/4 inch) slices and place slices 1 inch apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 F degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on wire racks.  Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Chocolate Peppermint Variation: Substitute 1 t peppermint extract for the vanilla extract.

CAL: 61 (31% from fat)  FAT: 2.1g PROTEIN 0.8g  CARB: 9.8g  FIBER 0.1g CHOL: 0mg IRON 0.4mg SODIUM: 51mg CALCIUM: 3mg

**Make pinwheels with peanut butter cookies.

PEANUT BUTTER ICEBOX COOKIES

1 C flour

1/4 t baking soda

1/8 t salt

3 T stick margarine or butter, softened (43g)

2 T chunky peanut butter

1/2 C packed brown sugar

1/4 C granulated sugar

1 t vanilla extract

1 large egg white

1.  Combine the first 3 ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Beat margarine and peanut butter at medium speed of a mixer until light and fluffy.  Gradually add sugars, beating at medium speed until well blended.  Add vanilla and egg white, and beat well.  Add flour mixture and stir until well blended.  Turn dough out onto wax paper and shape into 6 inch log.  Wrap log in wax paper and freeze for 3 hours or until very firm.

2.  Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.

3.  Cut log into 24 (1/4 inch) slices and place slices 1 inch apart on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 F degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Remove from pan and cool on wire racks.  Yield: 2 dozen cookies

Chocolate Peanutbutter Variation: Add 1 ounce grated semisweet chocolate to flour mixture

CAL: 69 (31% from fat)  FAT: 2.4g PROTEIN 1.2g  CARB: 10.8g  FIBER 0.2g CHOL: 9mg IRON 0.4mg SODIUM: 53mg CALCIUM: 7mg

Directions for Swirls

After making both batches of dough and chilling them, cut each rectangular block in half. Take a half of each block and roll it out to rectangles that are approximately the same size. The thinner you roll it, the more it will swirl! Put the peanut butter on top of the chocolate, give it one last roll with the rolling pin to stick it together, then roll them up together along the long end to make a roll. Wrap the roll in waxed paper or parchment and put in the fridge or freezer for slicing and baking. Repeat with the other two halves.

Hot Cross Buns

Happy Easter!

Hot Cross Buns

Being abroad means choosing which special traditions you have from your childhood that you will take with you.  This, of course, is always complicated by ingredients, not to mention, whether or not you can actually make the food!  As a child, my mom always bought Hot Cross Buns at a local bakery.  Here in Istanbul, they are not so common, in fact, I have never found them! I have been through several different recipes, and this one, based on the Farm Journals Homemade Bread Cookbook, is my favorite.

HOT CROSS BUNS

2 pkg. dry yeast	½ C sugar
2 tsp cinnamon	¼ t salt
5 ¾ - 6 ¼ C sifted flour	6 T (85g) butter
1 ½ C milk	3 eggs
1 ¼ C currants, raisins, citron or mixture of all three	1/4 t fresh grated nutmeg
1 egg yolk	1 C sifted powdered sugar
2 t water	½ t vanilla extract
	1 T milk

In a large bowl stir together yeast, sugar, cinnamon salt and 2 C flour.  Set aside.

In 2 quart saucepan or glass bowl for microwave, heat 6T butter and 1 ½ C milk until very warm. (120-130F degrees)

With a mixer or by hand, gradually beat milk mixture into yeast mixture until well blended.  Increase speed and beat 2 min more.  Add 3 eggs and 1 ½ C flour.  Increase speed and beat 2 more minutes.

Stir in dried fruit and enough additional flour to make a soft dough.  Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface.  Knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes.

Place in large greased bowl, turning over dough so top is also greased.  Cover with a towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough, cover and let rest 10 minutes.

Divide dough into 24 pieces.  Shape each piece into a ball.  Place balls in greased 13”x9”x2”baking pan.

Cover and let rise until doubled, about 35 minutes.

In a small bowl mix together egg yolk and water.  Brush balls with the egg yolk mixture to get the nice shiny top.

Bake in 375F degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until buns are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped.  Immediately remove from pan to cool on rack.

In small bowl mix powdered sugar, vanilla and milk to make a smooth icing.  Put into a small ziplock bag, and cut a corner off to pipe crosses onto the tops of the cooled buns.