Cornmeal Lime Cookies

Difficulty: easy
Time consuming: no

Cinco de Mayo was almost a month ago, and was the perfect reason to make cornmeal lime cookies with a sweet lime glaze.  I meant to get these posted the week of Cinco, but then the number of IEP's and ETR's I had to write for school EXPLODED and unfortunately, posting was put on the back burner.  So sorry, y'all. Anyways, I first read about the recipe in the book Flour.  It sounded unusual but had a really intriguing description.  The cookie is soft and cake like, and just a little bit chewy.  The edges are crispy.  The lime flavor is tangy and front stage, but not over powering.

For a "margarita"-style cookie, substitute tequila for the water in the glaze.  Tequila and I have not gotten along since I was 19 and studying abroad in London.  A friend of mine was hitting on this middle age British man who kept buying us shots of tequila.  To say that was a bad night would be an understatement.  But really, if you don't hate tequila or if you like margaritas, that subtle change in the glaze is just enough to make the cookie a little more festive.

I brought these cookies to share with some teachers I saw on Cinco while we practiced for this awesome flashmob we did at Prom (I know, the coolest chaperones, lol) and they were devoured.  The little cookies got mad praises.  The link to the FlashMob video goes to Facebook, so you'll have to be logged in to see it.

Ingredients
cookies
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon course salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons lime zest (from 2-4 limes)
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

glaze
1 cup powdered sugar
juice from 1 lime
zest from 1 small lime
+/- 1 teaspoon water or tequila

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

2.  In a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together.  Add the lime zest and mix to combine.  Add eggs one at a time, scraping down the bowl as necessary.

3.  Add the flour mixture to the stand mixer and mix until just combined.  (Note: my dough was pretty sticky at this time, but I just let it be)

4.  Roll cookie dough into 1" balls (I used my 1-tablespoon-sized cookie scoop) and place 1-2" apart on baking sheet.  Gently press each ball with the palm of your hand to flatten slightly.

5.  Bake for 16-20 minutes, until the bottoms are golden and mottled brown, and the tops are still pale.  DO NOT OVER BAKE.  Let cool on the sheet pan for 15 minutes (this helps maintain a chewier texture), then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

6.  In a small bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, lime zest, and lime juice.  Add water or tequila 1 teaspoon at a time until you reach a consistency you want (for me this was only 1 teaspoon of water).  The glaze should be thin enough to spread over the cookies.

7.  Place a spoonful of glaze over the cookies and let it run down the sides.  (Note: I put wax paper under my cooling rack and glazed the cookies on that).  Let the glaze harden before serving (I gave it about 1 hour)

Cookies taste great day of, but can be stored in an airtight container for a few days (if they even last that long).

From Completely Delicous

Pumpkin Pull-Apart Bread

Time consuming: yes.
Difficulty: hard.

Pumpkin | Part 2

This bread is so good, words can't describe how happy I was it turned out. I've never made a yeast bread before so that's partially why I was excited it turned out but also why I thought it was difficult to make. This bread is like an amazing fusion of pumpkin pie flavors and a cinnamon roll.

I first saw this recipe on Pinterest, then my Cooks Illustrated did an article on a pumpkin quick bread and I knew I had to make this for my school's monthly special Ed team meeting.

This recipe, although tasty, had a lot of down time between steps. While preparing this recipe I: did the dishes, wrote an IEP, skimmed through a new cookbook from the library, made chili, and watched tv and tooled around on Pinterest.  So be warned, have things to do.

The recipe

Ingredients
3/4 cup + 3 tablespoons canned pumpkin
2 oz cream cheese
1/8 cup milk

2 tablespoons butter, unsalted, melted
1/2 cup milk
1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoon) active dry yeast
1/4 cup white sugar
2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt

1 cup white sugar
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons butter, unsalted, melted
  
2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons milk
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 - 3 teaspoons spiced or white rum, depending on how strong you want it to taste OR 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Heat pumpkin puree in a saucepan stirring constantly to cook the puree and caramelize the sugars in the pumpkin, about 6-8 minutes over medium heat. Remove from heat. Add cubes of cream cheese and stir until melted and incorporated. Add milk and mix until combined. Set aside to cool (the fridge is fine).

2. Mix 2 tablespoons melted butter with warmed milk (microwave is fine). When mixture is around 100-110 degrees (check using a candy thermometer) mix into the bowl of your stand mixer with sugar and yeast - stir quickly to combine,then let sit for about10 minutes so the yeast can activate. It will look frothy and bubbly and smell like bread.

3. Add cooled (but not cold) pumpkin mixture, salt, and 1 cup of flour. Stir until combined. Add remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time. Knead for about 6 minutes (using a kitchen aid mixer on speed 2 and the dough hook). If after 6 minutes the dough is still wet or sticky, continue to knead adding 1 tablespoon of bread flour at a time until the dough is only slightly sticky and smooth.

4. Transfer dough to a greased bowl, cover with a damp towel, and leave in warm place to rise until about doubled in size (about 60-90 minutes). Because I live in Ohio and the weather is temperamental in the fall, it was particularly cool in my kitchen so I heated a small cup of water in the microwave, moved it to the back corner of the microwave, and set my bread bowl in to rise. **Do NOT turn on your microwave - just keep the door closed. If your kitchen is "normal" you can just leave it on the counter to rise.

5. While the dough is rising, melt 2 tablespoons of butter (if you haven't already) in a small bowl and mix with the sugar and spices to form a paste. Set aside. while you're waiting, prepare the pan. Grease and flour a 9"x5" loaf pan and set aside.

5. Once 90 minutes have passed or your dough has doubled in size, deflate the dough (aka punch it down) and turn onto a flour surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 12"x20" but don't stress if you can't eyeball measurements and end up with a rectangle 24"x16". If the dough becomes challengingly tough to roll, cover with a damp cloth and let rest for a few minutes then keep going.

7. Once your dough is rectangular, spread with the butter/sugar/spice mixture and evenly coat. Use your hands to press the mixture into the dough.

8. Cut dough into 3 long strips (if you rolled your dough out right you'd now have 3 strips each measuring 4"x20"). Stack the strips and cut in half so that the strips are now 10" long. Cut each 10" strip into thirds. Stack the strips so they stand vertically in the loaf pan. Put pan in a warm place, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise for 45 minutes. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

9. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until deep golden brown. While it's baking, prepare the glaze.

10. Combine all glaze ingredients (2 tablespoons butter, brown sugar, milk, powdered sugar, rum/vanilla) in a sauce pan and heat until combined and sugar has dissolved.

11.  After the loaf has baked, let cool for about 5-10 minutes.  Run a knife around the loaf and turn onto a plate, then carefully turn right side up.  Pour glaze over loaf, pull apart, and enjoy!  Alternatively you can glaze the loaf while it's still in the pan.



Inspired and slightly altered from Sunny Side Up