Tahini Shortbread Cookies

A recipe for Tahini Cookies in this month's issue of Bon Appetit caught my eye.

"These are your grown-up peanut butter cookies. The tahini lends a creamy, earthly flavor." 

Sold. Plus, I had a can of tahini in the pantry. Boom.

And, I actually had a reason to bake, as if a reason is necessary. Icing on the cake. Oops, wrong dessert. Anyhow, my friend Megan invited my family over for dinner to celebrate her husband Steve's birthday.

Bon Appetit reported these cookies were inspired by the Tahini Shortbread Cookies at a Cambridge, Mass. restaurant called Mamaleh's.

Indeed, these are cookies for adults. Not too sweet. Not even so pretty. Rich and melt in your mouth. Exactly like shortbread. "They're ugly, but so good," I announced upon arriving at the dinner party. And because I'm a fab friend and lacking in self control, I left all of the uneaten cookies with Megan and Steve. That was on Saturday. Here is the text exchange with Megan the following Tuesday:

Megan: "Even though I just had oral surgery 2 hours ago, I am still eating those cookies you made. They are too (freaking) good to let pain stand in the way."

Me: *Laughing/crying emoji* "Glad they held up and are being devoured."

Megan: "They still taste just as good as day 1....for future reference. Make-ahead potential is very high."

Me: "That's gtk for when I blog them."

There you go, dear readers. My pal Megan and I doing the hard research and reporting for you.

XOXO,
Amy

Tahini Shortbread Cookies
From Bon Appetit

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup tahini
1/8 to 1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together the flour, baking power and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, mix together the butter, sugar and honey in a large bowl until light and fluffy, about three minutes. Mix in tahini, then add dry ingredients in two or three batches. Beat until thoroughly combined. Batter will be slightly sticky.

Place 1/8 cup of toasted sesames in a small bowl or on a small plate. You can always add more if you run out. (I didn't need the 1/4 cup that Bon Appetit called for.) Scoop out heaping tablespoons of dough (about one ounce) and roll into balls. Dip tops of balls in sesame seeds and place on very lightly sprayed cookie sheet, spacing cookie balls about two inches apart. Take a spatula and gently press the balls to very slightly flatten. (I learned to do this after the first batch of cookies came out of the oven pretty much still looking like dough balls.)

Bake cookies until golden brown, about 13 to 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire cooling racks. Cookies will firm up as they cool.

Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls

Have you ever been to the restaurant chain Texas Roadhouse? When the first one opened in my hometown (hey, Buffalo!!), our family headed over to check it out. It was a hit for our family with three kids because they gave us peanuts to eat while we waited for our food, and we could throw the peanut shells on the floor. Yes, you heard me right. Peanut shells straight on the floor. It was the best ever.

Until you started eating the Texas Roadhouse rolls. Then you realized that the rolls were even better than the thrill of peanut throwing.

Soft, tender, buttery, with a touch of sweetness, these rolls were the stuff my carb-loving dreams were made of. You could imagine how thrilled I was when a couple decades later (geez, I'm old) I stumbled across a copycat recipe for Texas Roadhouse Rolls.

You know what? They were even better than I remembered.

Get to your kitchen post haste. Bake up a batch of Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls. Schmear them with honey butter and eat four or twelve in one sitting. Then bask in the glory of homemade rolls. You're welcome.

Let's get cooking!
Erin

P.S. This recipe has a lot of instructions, but don't be daunted! At the bottom of the post, I documented the baking process with some lousy cell phone pics to (hopefully) help remove the fear factor.

Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls
From Like Mother Like Daughter
Makes about 3 dozen rolls

2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup warm (110 degrees) water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup honey
About 8 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons salt
Oil for greasing the bowl
Extra butter for brushing tops of rolls
Honey Butter for serving, recipe below

**SEE BELOW THE RECIPE FOR STEP-BY-STEP PHOTOS.**

Heat milk in a small saucepan. As soon as little bubbles form and milk starts to simmer, remove from the heat. Set aside to cool until milk is just warm (about 110 degrees.)

Meanwhile combine water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let the mixture rest until the yeast gets bubbly and frothy, about 5 minutes. Add remaining sugar, honey, 3 1/2 cups flour, and warm milk to the yeast mixture. Mix together on low until combined, about 2 minutes. Stir in eggs, butter, and salt. At this point, your dough will be quite runny.

Add additional flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough separates from the sides of the bowl. (I added an additional 4 1/2 cups flour at this point, for a total of 8 cups.) The dough will still be pretty sticky, but it will pull away from the sides of the bowl as the mixer spins. Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured counter. Knead dough for 5 minutes. If the dough starts to get sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time. (I added about 3 additional tablespoons of flour as I kneaded the dough.)

Place dough in an oiled bowl. Turn the dough so the top and sides are coated with the oil. Loosely cover bowl with greased plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise in a warm place until it's doubled in size, about 1 hour. (I like to turn my oven on for a minute, then turn it off and allow the dough to rise in the OFF oven. I also experimented with allowing the dough to rise in the laundry room while I was drying some clothes. The dough rose more quickly in the briefly warmed oven.)

Punch down the dough for about 30 seconds. Lightly flour your counter and use a rolling pin to roll dough into a rectangle about 1/2" thick. Fold rectangle in half so it's 1" thick. Pinch edges and roll them under so the two halves are sealed.

Use a pizza cutter to cut dough into 2" squares. Place rolls on greased or parchment-lined baking sheets and cover with greased plastic wrap. Allow rolls to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Rub the tops of warm rolls with butter. (I like to peel back the wrapper from a stick of butter and just use the whole stick to spread on top of the rolls.) Serve warm with Honey Butter.

Honey Butter

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup honey
1/8 teaspoon salt

Whisk together all of the ingredients. Store in the fridge if you're not serving right away.


Instructions for Copycat Texas Roadhouse Rolls WITH PICTURES

2 cups milk (I used 2%)
1/2 cup warm (110 degrees) water
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup honey
About 8 cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons salt
Oil for greasing the bowl
Extra butter for brushing tops of rolls
Honey Butter for serving

Heat milk in a small saucepan. As soon as little bubbles form and milk starts to simmer, remove from the heat. Set aside to cool until milk is just warm (about 110 degrees.)

Meanwhile combine water, yeast, and 1 tablespoon sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let the mixture rest until the yeast gets bubbly and frothy, about 5 minutes. (See picture below.)

Add remaining sugar, honey, 3 1/2 cups flour, and warm milk to the yeast mixture. Mix together on low until combined, about 2 minutes. Stir in eggs, butter, and salt. At this point, your dough will be quite runny. (See picture below.)

Add additional flour 1/2 cup at a time until dough separates from the sides of the bowl. (I added an additional 4 1/2 cups flour at this point, for a total of 8 cups.) The dough will still be pretty sticky, but it will pull away from the sides of the bowl as the mixer spins. (See picture below.) Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured counter. Knead dough for 5 minutes. If the dough starts to get sticky, add additional flour 1 tablespoon at a time. (I added about 3 additional tablespoons of flour as I kneaded the dough. See picture below.)

Place dough in an oiled bowl. Turn the dough so the top and sides are coated with the oil. Loosely cover bowl with greased plastic wrap. (See before picture below.)

Allow dough to rise in a warm place until it's doubled in size, about 1 hour. (I like to turn my oven on for a minute, then turn it off and allow the dough to rise in the OFF oven. I also experimented with allowing the dough to rise in the laundry room while I was drying some clothes. The dough rose more quickly in the briefly warmed oven. See after-rise picture below. The dough is big and puffy!)

Punch down the dough for about 30 seconds. Lightly flour your counter and use a rolling pin to roll dough into a rectangle about 1/2" thick. Fold rectangle in half so it's 1" thick. Pinch edges and roll them under so the two halves are sealed. Use a pizza cutter to cut dough into 2" squares. (See picture below.)

Place rolls on greased or parchment-lined baking sheets and cover with greased plastic wrap. Allow rolls to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (See picture below.)

Meanwhile preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake rolls until golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Rub the tops of warm rolls with butter. (I like to peel back the wrapper from a stick of butter and just use the whole stick to spread on top of the rolls. See picture below.) Serve warm with Honey Butter.

French Yogurt Cake

I've read about yogurt cake in beaucoup French books and memoirs. In Pamela Druckerman's Bringing Up Bébé: One American Mother Discovers the Wisdom of French Parenting, par exemple. And more recently in Elizabeth Bard's Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes. Both books make me a teensy bit wistful that I didn't pick up and move to the City of Light while in my 20s.

Anyhow, yogurt cake is a popular treat in France. It's often the first cake that les enfants learn to make and I can see why. No electric mixer needed. Most ingredients are always on hand. It's quick to put together, which means you don't have to wait long -- just a little over an hour really --- until you devour your slice. Of course, Mom or Dad should handle the lemon zesting.

French kids use the same 8 ounce yogurt cup to measure the sugar and flour. I couldn't find 8 ounce yogurt cups, so I bought a 24 ounce container, so Lucy, Penny and I could make this cake multiple times.

I adore this cake. It's quick. Simple. Sweet, but not too sweet. No icing required. Tastes even better the next day.

XOXO,
Amy

French Yogurt Cake
From Lunch in Paris: A Love Story with Recipes by Elizabeth Bard

1 cup plain, whole milk yogurt
1 cup sugar
A large pinch of sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Zest of one lemon
One 16-ounce can apricots, drained and quartered (Note: My store had 8-ounce cans only, so I got two of those.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Lightly butter a 10-inch round cake pan and line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, salt and vanilla, stirring or whisking until smooth. Add oil in a steady stream, while whisking to combine. Add eggs one by one, whisking to combine after each one.

In smaller bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add flour mixture little by little to the yogurt mixture, whisking along the way to combine. Stir in lemon zest. Pour cake mixture into prepared cake  pan. Top with chopped apricots.

Bake on center rack for 45 minutes, until golden brown and slightly risen; a toothpick inserted in the center should  come out clean.

Lift cake by parchment paper and place on wire rack to cool.

This cake is even better the second day -- provided it sticks around that long. It gets more moist as it sits.

Elizabeth Bard points out in her book that this cake is a "blank canvas" that you can  make  your own based on the fruits you like or have in your fridge at the time. Try fresh raspberries or pears sprinkled with brown sugar, she suggests.

My girls enjoyed this cake. They ate it several mornings for breakfast -- with a banana on the side, so no judgment. But they didn't love the apricots and asked that next time I try peaches instead, so that's what I did the second time around. I used canned peaches (in juices, not syrup), drained and chopped. I sprinkled some cinnamon over the peaches as I would when making a peach cobbler.

Verdict: The girls preferred the cake with peaches; I liked the apricot version better.

Bottom  line: This is a great go-to dessert for any day of the week. I plan to make it beaucoup times.

Sugar Cookies

I love sugar cookies. Not the labor-intensive ones that you roll out, cut out and ice and that look pretty but are kinda dry and bland. Correction: I love my sugar cookies. Loaded with butter. Falling apart in your mouth.

I mostly make these cookies at Christmas, decorating them with red and green sugar. But sometimes when I need a quick dessert and don't want to run to the store for special ingredients, these cookies are the answer. I always have all of the ingredients on hand.

I recently whipped up my sugar cookies for an impromptu grill-out dinner party Chez George. I doubled the recipe so I'd have enough to take to a dinner party where we were the guests.

By the way, these cookies freeze nicely, too. FYI in case you are like me and you like to get a lot of baking done for the holidays or teacher gifts.

XOXO,
Amy

Sugar Cookies
Yields 5 dozen

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Colored sugar sprinkles

Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla.

In separate bowl, mix all of the dry ingredients, except the sugar sprinkles. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar-egg mixture and combine.

Place the cookie dough in freezer for an hour or fridge for a couple hours or overnight.

After the cookie dough  has hardened a little, remove from fridge or freezer and shape into tablespoon-sized balls. Place balls on ungreased cookie sheets. Pour colored sugars onto individual plates. Take a glass and rub butter on the bottom or tap it onto the cookie dough to get it greasy enough to transfer the sugar sprinkles to the cookie balls. Dip the glass into a plate of colored sugar and then tap down gently on a cookie ball, flattening it just a little. Repeat. Use a different glass for each colored sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for about eight minutes. The cookies should not turn brown and you want to barely see any brown at the bottom.

The cookies will seem soft when you remove them from the oven--and they are kinda fragile, so be careful. Transfer cookies to wire racks. Eat a few immediately--worth it!

Strawberry Shortcake

My daughters and I have an Easter tradition. Lucy and Penny can pick any dessert and I will make it. They chose crème brûlée last year -- giving me the excuse to buy a kitchen torch and ramekins -- and raspberry tart the year before that and cheesecake the year before that.

This year, I asked them to pretty please pick something quick and easy and that didn't require crazy equipment or hard-to-find ingredients as we'd be spending the holiday at my parents' house. At one point, one of them mentioned strawberry shortcake. Perfect!

I've made this strawberry shortcake since then, whipping it up for a casual dinner party Chez George. And I am pretty sure I will be making it a few more times between now and the end of summer. 

This version reminds me of the strawberry shortcake my mom used to make, using Bisquick for the cake. At some point, I want to mix in a few basil leaves with the strawberries. My favorite Charlotte restaurant serves this amazing strawberry cake with basil gelato. Mmmmm...I'm going to be thinking about that cake for a while now.

Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this delish classic.

XOXO,
Amy

Strawberry Shortcake

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

Yields 1 8-inch round cake

2-3 pounds fresh strawberries

1/3 cup white sugar

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 tablespoons white sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 egg

2/3 cup milk

1 cup whipped heavy cream, sweetened to your liking

Place a metal bowl in the freezer. You will use this bowl at the end to make your whipped cream.

Trim and slice strawberries and toss them with 1/3 cup of white sugar. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Grease an 8-inch round cake pan.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, 2 tablespoons white sugar and the salt. Slice the softened butter into the dry mixture and use a pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly. (Note: My mom and I don't have pastry cutters, so I used a potato masher, which worked just fine.)

Press batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool partially until you are ready to serve.

Prepare the whipped cream. Pour the cream into the chilled bowl, add about 2 tablespoons sugar. Set mixer to medium and whip cream for a minute or two before upping the speed. Mix until soft peaks form and it looks like the consistency of what come out of the Reddi-Wip can. (Note: Erin uses powdered sugar and vanilla extract. She also has instructions for ensuring you don't end up making butter. Click here.)

Cut cake into wedges and plate. Top with strawberries and some of their juices and the whipped cream. You can also garnish with fresh mint or basil.

No Sugar Banana Bread

I recently had dates on hand for a cookie recipe that I never made. I lost track of the recipe, so I thought I'd experiment with my sister-in-law's tried-and-true banana bread. Note that I decided to try this while the kids were out at the park with their dad, so they wouldn't see me chopping dates and skipping the white sugar. Genius, I know.

I was afraid the bread wouldn't be sweet enough with  just the dates, so I did add in a little honey. I also decided to use butter instead of Crisco, because that seems healthier. I used up some whole wheat flour. I tossed in some chocolate chips as a little treat since we we're being good by using dates. I would have added chopped walnuts, but I didn't have any on hand. I had pecans in the pantry, but Penny -- who had returned from the park, never the wiser about the dates -- vetoed the pecans.

Guess what? Lucy and Penny gobbled up this bread and begged for seconds. Lucy commented on liking the texture better. This bread is indeed more moist than the original we'd been making for years. (Ssssh, don't tell Aunt Jennie.) Penny commented on the chocolate chips, which was not at all surprising. Thing is this bread would be super yummy -- and truly no sugar -- without the chips and that's how I plan to make it next time.


XOXO,
Amy

No Sugar Banana Bread
2 cups flour (I used up the remaining 1 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour I had; the rest was all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup packed dates, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup butter, melted
Honey, just shy of 1/4 cup
2 eggs
1 cup mashed bananas (about 2 or 3)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 cup (or less) chocolate chips (optional)
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Stir together the first four dry ingredients and set aside.

In large bowl, mix dates and melted butter on medium to medium high speed. Add the honey, eggs, bananas and lemon juice--mix until combined and the dates are no longer lumpy. Sift in dry ingredients, little by little.

Pour mixture into greased loaf pan. Bake at 350 for 60-65 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool on wire rack for 10 minutes before removing from pan.

Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Years ago, I picked up a bag of Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips. The next time I needed to make chocolate chip cookies, I used the recipe on the back of the bag. The husband couldn't get enough of them. So this has been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe ever since.

Although I'm typically more of a dark chocolate gal, I always use the Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips for these cookies. It gives them a simple sweetness that I just love. But feel free to use your favorite chips...or even a combo. Hmmm, I might have to try that out next time. Milk and dark chocolate chips in one cookie? Yes, please!

Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies
From Ghirardelli

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs
1 (11.5 ounce) bag milk chocolate chips (about 2 cups) - I use Ghirardelli brand.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy and light-colored. Add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, mixing at low speed until combined. Gradually add dry ingredients to the wet and mix at low speed until everything is incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper (for easy clean-up!) or mist with non-stick cooking spray. I usually make pretty big cookies, so I drop golf ball-sized dollops of dough onto my cookie sheet, making sure to leave plenty of room for the cookies to spread out.

Bake about 12-14 minutes, or until golden brown. (If you use about a tablespoon of dough per cookie, they'll need to bake about 9-11 minutes.) If you're baking two trays of cookies at once, rotate the baking sheets halfway through so they cook evenly.