cookie carnival :: july (a bar!)

for july's cookie carnival we'll be making Blackberry Bars! for info on joining up, click here.

happy baking!

cookie carnival :: june (you had your say)

well folks, it's decided! the majority vote for SNICKERDOODLES! so, that's what we shall make. Carnivalers, check your inboxes for the recipe and off we go!

i expect that some will bow out this month as some of you felt strongly about NOT doing the doodles. so, to you i say, see you in july.......i hope!

and we'll do the macaroons and double chocolate ones eventually!

cookie carnival :: may

it's taken me a couple days to get it decided, but here's the scoop for May's Cookie Carnival. . . we'll be baking up some BLUEBERRY DROP COOKIES. yum!

the round-up for May will be SATURDAY, MAY 31st. if you are interested in joining us cookie freaks, we'd love to have you, of course! send me and email and i'll get you the recipe. kate (AT) thecleanplateclub (DOT) net.

happy baking, everyone!

cookie carnival :: april round-up!

it's time!

The Cookie for April was a lovely, delicate little thing called a Vanilla Bean Thin. i have to say, i really enjoyed this cookie a LOT. however, it's possible i enjoyed the dough even more. so very tasty. i'm a sucker for just about anything that includes vanilla bean. i'm not a big fan of cheesecake, but my good friends makes a kick-ass one vanilla bean cheesecake and when that gets served, i'm ALL over it.

some folks had a little trouble with crumbly dough. i was afraid i'd run into that, but i really didn't. these cookies were pretty easy for me to make. and they tasted so good with english breakfast tea. or a bit of coffee. or just plain milk.

i had my son in the kitchen whipping these up with me, of course, and he had a ball. i chose this recipe so that he could roll and cut. he gets so proud when he brings out his little rolling pin along side mine. we have fun together getting all doughy.

so, without further ado, here's the recipe, the photos and links to all the other carnivalers posts!

VANILLA BEAN THINS

Gourmet Magazine Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Ingredients
1 fresh (moist) vanilla bean, split lengthwise
3/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 stick (1/2 cup) plus 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg yolk

Special equipment:
a 2-inch cookie cutter (we used a fluted diamond-shaped one)

Preparation
Make vanilla sugar:
Scrape vanilla seeds from pod with tip of a knife into confectioners sugar. Halve pods crosswise and bury in sugar. Cover tightly and let stand at least 24 hours and up to 1 month.

Make cookies:
Discard pods and transfer vanilla sugar to a food processor. Add flour, salt, and baking powder and pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse just until mixture is in pea-size lumps. Add yolk and pulse just until a dough forms. Gather dough into 2 balls, then flatten into 2 (5-inch) disks and chill, each disk wrapped well in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 325.

Roll out 1 disk (keep the other chilled) to less than 1/8 inch thick on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin. Cut out shapes with floured cookie cutter and chill scraps. Arrange cookies 1/2 inch apart on a buttered large baking sheet. Make more cookies with remaining dough, rerolling scraps (but only once).

Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until edges are pale golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Cooks' notes:
::Dough can be chilled up to 2 days.
::Cookies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper, in an airtight container at room temperature 1 week.

first in the round-up is kitty at boring history girl. she's a funny one. she battled the crumbly dough and ended up the winner. you go, kitty!

next is megan at megan's cookin'. she went a different way and cut her cookies with a knife as opposed to using a cutter. and they look elegant!

on to mari with her jaw-dropping-awesome photography. (this is hers with the cookies tumbling from the jar). i've been a lurker on her blog for a while, and i love what she does, so i was all flattered that she wanted to join up with the carnival. check her post here.

then there's megan of my baking adventures. she also battled the crumbly dough, but persevered and made a great-looking batch of cookies. go megan!

last, but by no means least is sihan from walking in the rain, who battled mother nature to get these cookies made! that's right. carnivaling cooks don't let anything get them down. read about it here. and check out some more beautiful photography. . . here's sihan's cookie photo.

thanks to everyone who participated this month! i hope we continue to grow and maybe get everyone who's signed up to bake in the same month. it would be so fun!

stay tuned for a little something different for the May Carnival!

cookie carnival :: april!

it's carnival time!
so, this month's cookies are VANILLA BEAN THINS! a simple, elegant cookie. and it's a good one to do with kids who can roll and cut dough.

the posting date for the round-up will be APRIL 28th. carnivalers, there's an email on the way to you and those not yet involved if you'd like to join, here's how it works:

:: send an email to kate{AT}thecleanplateclub{DOT}net, please put "cookie carnival" in the subject line. and i'll email you the recipe of the month.

:: when you've made your batch of cookies and posted about it, email me the direct link to your post and i'll include you in the round-up on the specified day the end of the month. please include a picture if you can and i'll put that up as well.

:: i will send you an email every month with the recipe for that month. you are in no way obligated to participate every month, but this way you can if you want to. you can also email me to unsubscribe at any time.

sweet!

cookie carnival :: march

it's carnival time!
so, this month's cookies are RASPBERRY SWIRL! yum. the posting date for the round-up will be MARCH 24th. happy baking, everyone!

if you are looking to join up, we'd love to have you! here's how it works:

:: send an email to kate{AT}thecleanplateclub{DOT}net, please put "cookie carnival" in the subject line. and i'll email you the recipe of the month.

:: when you've made your batch of cookies and posted about it, email me the direct link to your post and i'll include you in the round-up on the specified day the end of the month. please include a picture if you can and i'll put that up as well.

:: i will send you an email every month with the recipe for that month. you are in no way obligated to participate every month, but this way you can if you want to. you can also email me to unsubscribe at any time.

sweet!

february cookie carnival :: peanut butter & chocolate sandwich cookies!

the carnival has come to town for it's first ever visit! i'm feeling so lame for not having put this post up first thing this morning, but you know how it is. things happen. for me, a 5 month old baby with a nasty cold happened. crank-key.

onto the cookies! i decided to start with this recipe because my husband loves the peanut butter chocolate combo and i wanted to do something fun for him. also, it was easy and the cookies looked so amazing. . . in my head. the actual cookies didn't turn out as picture perfect as i'd hoped. i think this is because i chose to use natural peanut butter rather than the regular old hydrogenated kind. there is so much sugar in the cookies that i couldn't bare to use sugary pb as well. the result was tasty, but i bit. . . bulky. and i made them a little bigger than they should have been. but like i said, they tasted WONDERFUL, and that's really more important. as ever, i had my son involved. he loved scooping the dough. turns out this is much more fun, even, if you have dump truck spoon! well, of course!

i'm thrilled that KitchenNut participated in the carnival. she's got a post up on her blog today with the results of her cookie carnivaling. and you should visit her blog anyway, cause it's great.

also joining me this month was tiffany from Lattes and Life. check out her entry here. and here is a photo of her efforts. she took some great pictures and i have to say her cookies look damm near perfect. go tiffany!

and finally sari over at The Geek Inside joined up. . . .at least i think she did. she hasn't posted yet, so we'll see! thanks, ladies, for joining me in this new blog event!

peanut butter and chocolate sandwich cookies
from fine cooking magazine makes about 30 sandwich cookies or 60 single cookies

for the cookies: 2 1/2 cups smooth peanut butter, at room temperature 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar 1 tsp. baking soda 2 large eggs 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

for the chocolate filling: 10 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 2 cups) 4 oz. (8 tbs.) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

make the cookies: 1. position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. line cookie sheets with parchment paper. 2. in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or in a large bowl with hand mixer) beat the peanut butter, brown sugar and baking soda on medium speed until well blended, about a minute. add the eggs and vanilla and mix on low speed until just blended, about 30 seconds. 3. shape level tablespoonfuls of the dough into balls about 1" in diameter. arrange the balls 1 1/2" apart on the prepared baking sheets. do not press down. bake one sheet at a time until the cookies are puffed and crackled, but still moist-looking, about 11 minutes. cool cookies for about 10 minutes, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

make the filling: 1. melt the chocolate and the butter in the microwave or in a medium heat-proof bowl set in a skillet with 1" of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth. remove from heat, set aside until cool and slightly thickened, 20-30 minutes.



assemble the sandwiches: 1. turn half of the cooled cookies over so they are flat side up. spoon 2 tsp. of the chocolate filling onto the center of each cookie. top with remaining cookies, flat side down. press gently on each cookie to spread the filling almost to the edge. set on the rack until filling is firm, 20-30 minutes.

if you are interested in joining up for March--email me! kate(at)thecleanplateclub(dot)(net).

join the carnival!

it's time to celebrate the cookie. dontcha think?

i've decided to start a cookie carnival! every month i'll be making a checking out a new cookie recipe and testing it in my kitchen (and my mouth). i'd love for you to join in the fun. the more the merrier for this experiment!

here is how it works:

:: send an email to kate{AT}thecleanplateclub{DOT}net, please put "cookie carnival" in the subject line. and i'll email you the recipe of the month.

:: when you've made your batch of cookies and posted about it, email me the direct link to your post and i'll include you in the round-up on the specified day the end of the month. please include a picture if you can and i'll put that up as well.

sound like fun? i hope so! let the cookie baking and mouth watering begin!