Hi, there! Remember me? Pink? Fluffy?

It’s been a crazy last few weeks, between preparing Freakin’ Flamingo samples for the swag bags at Eat, Write, Retreat (#EWR11), making more jam (because it seems that everything’s in season right now!), and organizing (and baking for) the National Food Bloggers Bake Sale – Miami, benefiting Share Our Strength.

In the middle of all this, I also decided to join up with The Secret Recipe Club, created by Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin’. This is how it works: Every month, you get to scour the blog of another member of the club (assigned to you by Amanda), and pick out and cook or bake any recipe from that person’s blog. And of course, it’s a Secret. Until the big reveal, that is.

My secret mission, this month, was to select a recipe from Kate’s isn’t everything in the kitchen trial & error? (Great blog name, don’t you think?) So I scoured Kate’s blog, literally from the very beginning, searching for a great Bake Sale cookie. You know – chocolate chip, but not so, well, ordinary. Then, just two weeks ago, Kate posted these Hot Chocolate Cookies. Instead of using cocoa, the recipe calls for using full-sugar hot cocoa mix, which gives the cookies a milder, yet rich and chocolatey depth of flavor.

I didn’t change a thing in this recipe, believe it or not. Kate gives you the choice of which type of chips you feel like using that day, so I used all three – milk chocolate, semi-sweet, and white chocolate chips. ‘Cuz that’s just the kind of girl I am. I used a small scoop, about the size of the large end of a melon baller, and got the full 4 dozen cookies – the perfect amount I was looking for.

The texture was – in my mind – perfect. Crisp and chewy at the same time. As Kate observed in her blog post, they freeze really well, too. And look how pretty they look, all dressed up for the big Bake Sale!

It was really fun, searching through another blogger’s recipe posts for inspiration and a different point of view. Wanna play? Join the Secret Recipe Club here.

Now follow along and see who got who – I can’t wait to see who got me and what they chose to make from my eclectic collection. Will it be a dessert? A main course? A 30-minute family meal? Let’s find out, together!

Hi, there! I’ve finally gotten around to Day 11 of The 12 Days of Cookies project. As a reminder, this is where our little Merry Band of Bakers endeavor(ed) to bake 12 cookies in 12 days from the Bon Appétit’s 2008 Cookie-a-Day collection!

This is also my post for PhotoHunt: Fast. How’s that? Well, I actually timed myself to see just how Fast I could bake this recipe. I needed a drop cookie recipe that can be whipped up quickly (like, so I could go to bed at a reasonable hour!).

White Chocolate, Cranberry, and Macadamia Nut Cookies

Preparation:

Notes:

First, mine spread more than the ones on BA’s site. I don’t know why. Also? 15 minutes was too long to bake these. The first batch came out over-baked. Not burnt, mind you, and still quite edible, but too brown and too crisp. Which might have something to do with their spreading and being thinner than perhaps they ought to have been. They just baked way too Fast! When I took the time down to 10 minutes, I got the softer, chewy texture I was looking for.

Oh. How long did it take me? It took 29 minutes to put this batter together and get the first two trays into the oven. I didn’t do any prep (except for taking the butter out of the fridge to warm) – I did it just like you might do at home, starting with thinking, “Hmm… Think I’ll bake some cookies…” all the way through loading up 2 baking sheets. Do we think that was Fast?

Please visit my partners in holiday baking, below, and see what they’ve got in store for you. And don’t forget to come back tomorrow (maybe!) for the twelfth and final installment!

Andrea of Andrea’s Recipes (honorary member and our founder but not participating this year)
Claire of The Barefoot Kitchen
Courtney of Coco Cooks
Di of Di’s Kitchen Notebook
Judy of No Fear Entertaining
Kelly of Sass & Veracity
Michelle of Big Black Dog
RJ of Flamingo Musings (hey! that’s me!)
Sandy of At the Baker’s Bench
Tiffany of The Nesting Project

Still fresh on our second day of holiday baking and blogging, our intrepid bakers bring you the next offerings in our quest to bake 12 cookies from the 2008 Bon Appétit Holiday Cookie-a-Day collection! (Don’t worry – I won’t be this pithy by Day 12. Or even Day 6.) Again, out of the 31 cookies in the collection, we were each free to choose any 12 recipes to bake and blog about, in any order we choose.

Day 2 of the 12 Days of Cookies begins with a cuppa and these

Holiday Biscotti with Cranberries and Pistachios

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon whole aniseed
• 1 cup dried sweetened cranberries
• 3/4 cup shelled natural unsalted pistachios
• 6 ounces imported white chocolate, chopped

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325°F. Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift first 3 ingredients into medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and sugar in large bowl to blend well. Beat in eggs 1 at a time. Mix in lemon peel, vanilla, and aniseed. Beat in flour mixture just until blended. Stir in cranberries and pistachios (dough will be sticky). Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface. Gather dough together; divide in half. Roll each half into 15-inch-long log (about 1 1/4 inches wide). Carefully transfer logs to 1 prepared baking sheet, spacing 3 inches apart.

Bake logs until almost firm to touch but still pale, about 28 minutes. Cool logs on baking sheet 10 minutes. Maintain oven temperature.

Carefully transfer logs still on parchment to cutting board. Using serrated knife and gentle sawing motion, cut logs crosswise into generous 1/2-inch-thick slices. Place slices, 1 cut side down, on remaining 2 prepared sheets. Bake until firm and pale golden, about 9 minutes per side. Transfer cookies to racks and cool.

Line another baking sheet with waxed paper. Stir white chocolate in top of double boiler over barely simmering water just until smooth. Remove from over water. Dip 1 end of each cookie into melted chocolate, tilting pan if necessary; shake off excess chocolate. Place cookies on prepared sheet. Chill until chocolate is firm, about 30 minutes. (Can be made 5 days ahead. Store airtight between sheets of waxed paper at room temperature.)

Okay. Did I say Yum? No? YUM! It’s been many years since I last made biscotti, and I’ve forgotten how ridiculously easy they are to make. These are delicious! And easy! And they look so freaking elegant, your friends will be impressed! You have to make them! All year-round, not just for the holidays! Seriously!

Notes:

These are really minor points and strictly a matter of personal preference. First, I can’t stand anise in any of its forms. I also don’t like fennel or anything that even remotely tastes like black licorice. Including black licorice. That’s just me. So I replaced the anise seed with a teaspoon of ground cardamom. I think next time I make these – and there will definitely be a next time – I will probably use a teaspoon of almond extract.

Again, this is a really soft dough. I’m resigned to the fact that all of the doughs coming from this Bon Appétit recipe series will be very very soft. But I’m ready for ‘em, now.

Also? I couldn’t find any “imported” white chocolate, not that I looked that hard, so I used good old Baker’s. Kind of snooty to make that distinction, if you ask me. But truth be told, these are so good, you don’t need the white chocolate at all, and I only dipped half of them. These are wonderfully flavorful and dunkable, stark naked.

Did I say Yum?