Anzac Biscuits

This week I am bringing you a very special recipe, given to me by my future father-in-law, that is full of sugar, stories and sweetness. Being a fellow craftsman in the kitchen I knew his recipe would be a keeper, but what I didn't know was that the story behind these cookies would be a recipe of wisdom in itself.

The Anzac biscuit might be a mystery to us Americans, but it's history to those with roots in Australia and New Zealand. This treat dates back to 1915 when the wives of soldiers in World War I made these cookies for their husbands to take on the road with them for sustenance (to read more about the meaning of Anzac Day and the story behind these treats, click here). What once started out as simple biscuit whose only function was a long shelf life, has now crossed generations to remain a sweet staple that not only tastes good but also delivers a piece of the past with every crunchy bite.

This biscuit is chock full of everything we love in the average cookie - oatmeal, coconut, butter and sugar - so read up, bake up and eat up this special new treat.

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats (not the instant variety)

1 cup flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup coconut

1 tablespoon golden syrup (this ingredient is a bit hard to find...you can check your local grocery, order it over the internet or substitute it with light corn syrup and molasses in a 2 to 1 ratio)

1/2 cup butter

2 tablespoons boiling water

1 teaspoon baking soda

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees

1. In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, sugar and coconut together - set aside

2. In a small sauce pan, melt butter and golden syrup together

3. While the butter mixture is melting, mix together boiling water and baking soda in a separate bowl

4. When butter mixture is melted, add the baking soda mixture and stir

5. Combine wet mixture with the dry ingredients by slowly pouring over the top of the dry mixture

6. Stir together with fork

7. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto greased or parchment lined cookie sheets about two inches apart (cookies will spread almost flat)

8. Bake in oven at 300 degrees for 15-20 minutes

9. Cool on tray for a few minutes, then remove to cooling racks until transferring to air tight containers

Belated Bunny Easter Cupcakes!

When all the painted eggs have been found and eaten and the only thing left is half empty box of Peeps, all you need is a good batch of Easter themed cupcakes to keep the spirit stretched out just a few days longer.

This year, my family decided to have our big Easter celebration one day late...and who wouldn't want an extra day of celebration! I knew that we all secretly wanted to share in the sweets, festivities and bunny themed everything for just one more day. To be able to crack those plastic eggs, revealing the secrets inside and wearing our perfectly pink bunny ears just one more hour was so worth it. Celebrating Easter on a Monday to us, just meant we had a whole 24 hours of additional bunny time, and for my family, that is something to celebrate!

The evening began at my aunts house where we gathered for champagne, hugs, food, and most of all, dessert. Easter is one of those special holidays centered almost entirely around sweets and I knew I had to make a holiday themed cupcake that would knock the whiskers right off the Easter bunny! So, I set to work in my kitchen whipping up a magical blend of vanilla, coconut and leftover Peeps.

These cupcakes may look like a decorators dream, but they are so easy to make. Simply whip up a batch of your favorite vanilla cupcakes and buttercream frosting. While the cupcakes are baking, toss shredded coconut and green food coloring into a Ziploc bag and shake away! Once you frost the cooled cupcakes with the fresh batch of buttercream, simply press the green colored coconut onto the surface and top with your favorite themed Peep. 

So easy a bunny could do it!

The Truth About Nutmeg...

If there is one thing I have learned along my journey of baking, it is that freshly ground nutmeg is king and anything less is just a waste of culinary goodness. It will give your cakes, breads, and puddings a taste that leaves your guests wondering "what is that?!".  So go ahead, soak up the compliments of your secret ingredient and read on to find out why a little extra elbow grease will lead you to some beautiful baking.

As with most herbs and spices, fresh always reigns supreme. However, I am a realist here too and know that a) fresh ingredients are more expensive and b) you never actually end up using them all, thus wasting most of what you bought in the first place. Also, fresh herbs and spices always mean a little more work than just dipping into that small glass jar. That is why, in reality, I am with you on the dried, jarred ingredients...that is except nutmeg!

The joy of nutmeg is that when you buy it whole, the "seeds" actually come in a jar (similar to very large nuts). This means that there is no expiration date and no worries about not using up all that you paid for. The whole nutmeg can be pulled out as needed and gently grated on a microplane zester to add the greatest depth to all your dishes and any remaining seed that goes unused can simply be placed back in the jar! 

The flavor compared to jarred nutmeg is worlds away. This is because the essential oils contained in the whole seeds dry out in pre-ground nutmeg and little real flavor is left, leaving much to be desired in your dessert. I can promise you that once you begin to grate the seeds and start to smell these flavorful oils coming out of the freshly ground nutmeg, you will be converted.

So go ahead, kick your spices up a notch. Once you grind, you'll never go back!

Operation Chocolate Chip Cookies

This month of Operation Baking Gals fell right around the heartfelt day of Valentines and Team KelseyKakes took full advantage of sending all our love to the troops overseas. I had such a wonderful group this month stretching all the way from Alaska to New York City...that's a lot of baking mileage! These chefs went above and beyond for our sponsored troop of the month, Bryan Tull. 

SGT Tull is a broadcast journalist in the Army Reserves. His unit's primary mission is to work directly with members of the international media who visit Iraq to get the real story for audiences around the world. His unit also has a daily blog - Blogs Over Baghdad - that I encourage everyone to read, it will truly touch your heart. His job of maintaining the integrity of journalism is such an important one, as we all know that the information we have access to is a priceless tool for understanding what is really happening in our world. He is protecting our freedom of press and freedom of speech...and for that, we bake!

I was so inspired by SGT Tull and caught up in the moment of Valentines, that I decided what better a treat than to bake up the largest, most yummy batch of my famous chocolate chip cookies...with a lovely twist of red and white M&M's to replace the chocolate chips of course! These cookies are perfect for shipping to a troop or a crush because they contain a secret ingredient of instant vanilla pudding. Why pudding mix you ask? Well, adding instant pudding mix to your cookie dough prevents the delicious bites from getting stale and hard during shipping. These cookies will stay soft for weeks on end and remain perfect with every nibble to come.

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup butter (at room temperature)

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 package (3.4 oz.) instant pudding (I like vanilla)

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used valentines M&M's for this recipe)

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Recipe

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

2. In a medium bowl, sift together flour and baking soda - set aside

3. Using a stand mixer (or similar) cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar for about 2-3 minutes

4. Beat instant pudding mix 

5. Gradually stir in eggs and vanilla 

6. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and blend until just combined

7. Using a spatula, hand stir in chocolate chips and nuts

8. Drop cookies by rounded spoonful on baking sheet lined with parchment (or an ungreased cookie sheet)

9. Bake for 10-12 minutes...they will look undone, but set up once removed from the oven

*TIP: You can really make these cookies you own by changing the pudding mix flavor or your add-in ingredients. Have fun with it! 

Love is in the Air

Honing in on the latest trend of "staycations", my fiance and I decided to put on our PJ's and make valentines dinner at home! Not quite willing to sacrifice the sweet tastes of a great restaurant, I set off to begin the menu planning. After all, this was my chance to bring romance into the kitchen and add a little bit of loving flare to everything I touched.

We started the evening with a romantic roll...heart shaped biscuits! These are very easy to make and if you can keep a secret, your guests will even think they are homemade. 

First, start with a store bought canister of buttermilk biscuits (I like the Pillsbury reduced fat variety), pop open the casing and separate each biscuit out onto your cutting board. Then, using a small heart shaped cookie cutter, go ahead and press into each biscuit and pop out the heart shaped dough. Place the little hearts on a well greased cookie sheet and bake as directed...easy!

Next up, my honey was in charge of the main meal cooking (since I am a baker by nature and a sorry excuse for a dinner chef!) and whipped up his seductive staple: roast chicken and root vegetables...yum. I won't spill his trade secrets to the perfectly crisp skin and utterly scrumptious veggies with rosemary essence, but you can trust me that this course was oh so good.

As the evening dwindled on and we let our indulgent tummy's settle a bit, I smiled knowing that I had saved the best for last, dessert.  When I was thinking about what the most romantic sweet could be for our finale, I had one dish that seemed just right - chocolate covered strawberries. Not only are these incredibly easy, but they are also incredibly lovely when paired with a glass of bubbling champagne.

What is this easy trick of a dessert you ask? Shhh, its all in your microwave! Simply buy your favorite melting chocolate (I like to use Bakers semi-sweet because the bitterness of the chocolate is the perfect balance to a nice ripe strawberry) and place it in the microwave for 30 seconds at a time, stirring in between until melted. Once your chocolate is nice and smooth, take your washed and fully dried strawberries and dunk away, making sure to brush off excess chocolate on the side of the bowl before placing on a cookie sheet lined with foil. After you have dipped all your strawberries, place them in the refrigerator until set (about 30 minutes). If you feel like going the extra mile, go ahead and melt some white chocolate too and drizzle over your chocolate after it has set! The are so delicious, so easy, and so romantic that you are sure to make your loved one smile with sweet delight.

So go ahead and order some romance in! It's not hard, easy even, to bring everything you love about date night right to your living room. As they say...home is where the heart is, and I agree!

Super Bowl Cupcakes

These cupcakes speak for themselves...touchdown in the sugar zone!

While most people count down for the Super Bowl with six packs and a bowl of wings, KelseyKakes hits the kitchen loaded with football fueled inspiration. Now I must admit, I am no expert in the sporting arena, but I am an expert of my oven and when Haydn and I decided to throw a Super Bowl party I knew exactly where I would be useful...in the kitchen! With the seven layer dip down and some pizza on order, I set to the bigger task at hand - cupcakes themed to match the biggest day of football all year. 

Seeing as we were not rooting for a particular team this year, I decided that these cute little cakes would get some masculine love with frosting colored like grass and yard lines thinly piped with white buttercream frosting. But what would a Super Bowl cupcake be without the footballs?! These small pieces were made by hand rolling chocolate and adding laces stitched with frosting. Stick them on the 40 yard line and you've got yourself a first down!

So go ahead and get baking, there is no event to big or too small, too girly or too manly, cupcakes take the cake no matter what the occasion!

*TIP - to pipe on the frosting evenly and thinly, simply cut a small hole in the bottom tip of a Ziploc bag filled with frosting and pipe away!*

She's One Tough Cookie!

There really is some goodness in giving, and I don't mean the confectionery kind. As you know, each month I work with Operation Baking Gals to organize women from all over the country who fire up their ovens to bake, pack and ship goodies to our troops overseas. I have found unbelievable joy in this process and each month it gets even bigger and better with January increasing the momentum. That's because this month I had the utter joy of being honored by my company (Grey New York) as Giver of the Month for my baking effort with OBG. But the true icing on the cake was the full size posters were hung on every one of our 38 floors raising awareness and praise for the great work we do.

WOW, what an honor.

You see, December was our holiday round of baking so I knew we had to go above and beyond our own personal call of duty to really make this holiday away from home as comforting as we could for our soldiers...this meant more cookies than we ever thought possible! When faced with this mission I knew I had to recruit even more than my current on-line network of chefs, so I set out to transform my companies annual cookie exchange into a major bake session for the troops. And boy did they bake. In total Team KelseyKakes sent a whopping 85 pounds of cookies, bars and treats all the way across the world and into the hands of the men and women who we should thank most during the holidays. They work to keep us safe and in turn its our job to keep them well loved, plenty fed, and endlessly supported.

I feel so blessed to be recognized by my company for our efforts on behalf of Operation Baking Gals and a BIG thanks goes out to all the bakers who make Team KelseyKakes such a sweet success each and every month, it is truly humbling.

*To find out how to get involved in Operation Baking Gals please visit www.bakinggals.com or feel free to email me and join team KelseyKakes at kelseypm@hotmail.com*