Alfajores... again!

December is here and many of us have started going through our cookbooks and favorite family recipes as we search for inspiration to let the Holiday baking begin. I personally love this tradition in the U.S. where people bake cookies and other goodies to give as gifts to friends and family. I find it so personal and thoughtful. We don't have this tradition where I am from, but I believe it is one definitely worth starting. There are also people who have a party with friends and family where recipes get exchanged and people spend quality time baking together. That is definitely my idea of a good time. So in the spirit of finding some great recipes, I came across this chocolate covered alfajor recipe here.

I am not sure if you remember, but one of my first posts was about alfajores. My friends know I am crazy about them! I love them so much that I had my in-laws pack about 500 cookies in their bags and take them to Brazil to give away at my wedding. Since we are talking about traditions I thought I would point out that it is a tradition in Brazil to give away a sort of cookie called "Bem Casados" (Happily Married) at weddings for people to take home. So I figured that if we gave alfajores it would be different from most weddings and it would be a way of honoring my hubby's Argentinian roots. Besides, it is a delicious treat and I knew everyone would love it! When they arrived with all the alfajores, I looked at the pile of boxes and agonized over the daunting task of wrapping all those cookies - one by one. Luckily we had a little helper (a.k.a. my adorable nephew Bautis) who was very willing to make our task a lot easier. He made sure there were no cookies left in the boxes and got those bulky boxes out of the way. Literally!

While we managed to keep him entertained playing with the boxes, we wrapped all 500 cookies. I was pretty happy with how they turned out. Here is how we displayed them at the party. 

As you can see my love is not for any alfajor. I am an alfajor snob and as such, I had to get the very best! Havanna should probably not get a hold of this post though, because this recipe kicks butt and they just got themselves some serious competition. ;)

I already have a couple of great alfajor recipes but they are more rustic, homemade like alfajores. Needless to say that my quest to find an Havanna like recipe was still on. But I am happy to announce that I have found it. It is so good that it is worth writing about it not too long after my other recipe and running the risk of you thinking I am boring and repetitive. But I am not worried because given its deliciousness I know that you will love me for the rest of your life if you try to make these for a loved one this Holiday season. As for me, of course I'll keep trying alfajores recipes that come my way, but my anxiety has subsided. *sigh* At least for now.

Chocolate Covered Alfajores:

6 1/2 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tbsp grated orange zest
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cans dulce de leche
11 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

In a large bowl beat the butter, sugar, honey and egg until well combined. Add the orange zest then sift dry ingredients over it. Mix well until you get a firm dough. It might still be a little sticky. Wrap with saran wrap and refrigerate for about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll the dough onto a floured surface until about 0.2 inches thick. Cut the cookies using a 2-inch cookie cutter, or smaller if you would like to make mini cookies. Place them on a baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes. Let them cool.

To assemble the alfajores, once the cookies are cooled, spread dulce de leche on the flat side of the cookie and place another cookie on top making a sandwich (again, flat side to the dulce de leche), squeeze them lightly together then I even out the dulce de leche around it with a knife and dip them in the chocolate, tempered. There are easier methods to temper chocolate if you google it, but I find this one to be the most detailed explanation step by step. With a fork, lift the alfajor out of the chocolate, lightly tap the fork against the bowl to get rid of any excess chocolate and place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and let it cool. It makes about 25 alfajores.

Note: (1.) Photo of wrapped alfafores by Ricardo Sanches. (2.) Photo of Bautis by Carolina Ibarguren.

No Yeast Cinnamon Rolls

It's been a while since my last post. But that does not mean that I have stopped baking. On the contrary, there has been a lot of baking in this household lately, I just lacked the time to sit down and write. I haven't had a lot of free time for things other than hosting and entertaining a couple of very special guests in the past couple of months. Dad has been visiting for almost two months now and we recently had the pleasure of the company of one of my dearest friends. It's been good busy though. No complaints whatsoever! So my plan to keep myself as busy as one possibly can be in anticipation for the reclusiveness of the winter seems to be working. 

To prove to you that I have not stopped baking and that my lack of posts has just been a result of too much fun, I have this cinnamon roll recipe. Let me explain. I baked these to celebrate the Autumnal equinox marking the beginning of the Fall. I love the Fall. If it wasn't for all the leaves we have to pick up, the fall would probably be my favorite season. I find the changing colors of the leaves absolutely beautiful. I could watch the leaves fall off the trees for hours and hours. It's so relaxing! You might be scratching your head right now because today is November 10 and that was on September 22. I know... as I said in the beginning of this post, it's been a while... But the picture is here to prove it. I couldn't have baked these recently because the days are getting shorter and shorter and I don't have that much sunlight early in the morning anymore. I baked these before I went to work. That was my ideal of how to start off the day: a beautiful chilly morning announcing the beginning of the Fall, comfy flannel jammies  (I'll take any opportunity to wear those. If I could I would wear them everywhere!), and a nice cup of coffee to warm me up (And wake me up!) paired with cinnamon rolls fresh out of the oven.

These are my first cinnamon rolls and because I really like cinnamon rolls, I'll definitely try different recipes in the months to come. These turned out pretty tasty and moist. Not to mention that they are extremely easy to make. I prepared them the night before and left them in the fridge overnight. All I had to do was pop them in the oven and they were done in no time. I already have in mind about four other recipes to experiment with. Stay tuned.

Decorated Sugar Cookies - September Daring Baker's Challenge

It's time for the September 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge! This month's challenge was hosted by Mandy of What the Fruitcake?! Mandy challenged everyone to make Decorated Sugar Cookies based on recipes from Peggy Porschen and The Joy of Baking. The theme was September. At first I thought: piece of cake! But then I remembered that I had never made sugar cookies, nor had I ever decorated sugar cookies. So those pretty detailed and intricate cookie designs I had in mind did not seem so easy anymore. But as I began decorating the cookies, I started to get a feel for the icing, the different piping tips, the food coloring, and I felt better about this project despite my mishaps. Now I feel like I know much more about what I am working with and how the ingredients work together and can adjust accordingly next time. Here are a couple of lessons I've learned.

1.) Liquid food coloring can water down your icing very quickly even if you add only a few drops. You might have noticed, but out of kindness did not want to say anything, that it seems like the eye doctor has just instilled pupil dilating drops on the left eye of the poor yellow Pac-Man Ghost. I was bummed when I saw it! I had so many uses for the black icing. Unfortunately, it got too runny.

2.) If you want pretty cookies, you need to plan ahead. Draw your designs on a piece of paper. I realized that by having a very good idea of what I wanted would have helped me deciding the colors I needed beforehand. That way you have all the bags ready before you get started. Maybe that applies to me because I am a visual person. I need to see things!! Ok.. maybe a little too meticulous. But seriously, if you don't have a good idea of what you want the final product to look like and you don't prepare the bags in advance, it can get messy.

You might be asking yourself what my theme was since I have a few different ... and dorky things going on. Well, when I thought of September, I soon thought of "Fall" and "back to school." But I knew that those would probably be common themes this month, so I tried to think of something different. That's when one of my favorite songs came to mind:

Do you Remember the 21st night of September?

Love was changing the mind of pretenders

While chasing the clouds away

Our hearts were ringing

In the key that our souls were singing.

As we danced in the night,

Remember, how the stars stole the night away, yeah yeah yeah.

Hey hey hey,

Ba de ya - say do you remember

Ba de ya - dancing in September

Ba de ya - never was a cloudy day

Ba duda, ba duda, ba duda, badu

Ba duda, ba duda, ba duda, badu

Ba duda, badu, ba duda ...

Do you recognize it? If not, you can listen to September by Earth Wind & Fire here. I love this song! Not to mention their outfits. :) So that's how I decided to go with the 70's theme. Because of this song. So I created a 70's Disco cookie, an LP, some Love & Peace, and bell-bottoms. Then my imagination took me to Atari, Pac-Man, and Star Wars. I also experimented with flowers, but my icing was a little runny and I got an egg sunny side up instead (bottom right). :) I had a lot of fun on this challenge and am sure that beautiful cookies will be part of my repertoire with a little practice.

Strawberry Tart

I can't go to Whole Foods thinking it will be a really quick trip to the store when I need to grab an item or two. I simply can't. There is something about that place that makes me lose any sense of purpose and I start wandering completely awestruck by their wonderful product selection. I have tried taking a grocery list thinking that it would make me control myself and not want to buy the entire store. It did not work. I've tried to time myself. That did not work either. I always take much longer than I should and leave with more items than I should. Do you feel that way in certain stores as well? I remember when I took marketing classes in college and we learned about product placement and other tactics stores use to make you buy things that you don't really need. And here I am. Falling in the same trap despite my awareness of what they are doing to their vulnerable shoppers. I admit I'm a total sucker for Whole Foods. And Target. And HomeGoods. And Ann Taylor. And White House Black Market. And Pottery Barn. Hummm... I suppose my weakness goes beyond groceries. 

At the Whole Foods store by my house one of the entrances leads you right to the bakery. Why do they have to be so cruel? So every time I visit, I have to stop by, look at all the breads, cookies, and other tasty treats they often have in that section. But most important, I have to stare at their beautiful display of freshly made desserts and cakes. I often eat them with my eyes, drool a bit, then kick myself for the gratuitous torture. I tell myself I am skipping that section next time. But you know how that goes... hahaha. So this last visit they had some beautiful fruit tarts and I decided to make one. I have never made a fruit tart before, but this will for sure become a common dessert at our house. It is a nice summery treat! Pretty easy to make, refreshingly tasty and healthy. Did I just say healthy? I would like to keep believing that. Despite all the butter and sugar, there is a ton of fruit. That's healthy in my books. :)

Healthy Dog Treats

I happen to be the lucky owner of the two most loving and entertaining weimaraners: Titus Pullo and Lucius Vorenus. I personally think they are gorgeous dogs with their elegant and athletic appearance. They are also extremely smart. Sometimes too smart for their own good. True hunters, let me tell you. We never went hunting with them. At least not officially. But they often bring prizes from the backyard. Mostly birds. But squirrels, baby ducks and bunnies are also highly desirable. The dogs just haven't been able to catch them. Yet.

They mistakenly think that I appreciate seeing a dead bird hanging out of their mouths. But that is not really my thing. The interesting part is that they are very "delicate" with their preys. No bloodshed involved. Just excessive licking. The truth of the matter is that if we did not take the birds away, they would literally lick them until they disappeared. Poor babies. It always breaks my heart when they proudly bring me a gift, but I guess that's part of the cycle of life. I've actually seen them hunting and I must confess it is pretty amazing. They silently observe the pray, start approaching it very slowly. Then they get close to the ground and crawl toward it in a very slow motion. Wait for the right moment and go for it. It's a gracious and calculated movement.

So because I love my doggies and they are soooo nice to us, I decided to make them some healthy treats. A co-worker got this recipe from his vet and was kind enough to share it. There are a couple of ingredients that you will most likely not have in your pantry. But once you make the trip to the store, it is pretty easy to prepare. My dogs loved the treats! I asked them a few times what their thoughts were, but all they would do was stare at me and give me their paws as a way of demanding some more. Look at them concentrated on the treat.

Weimaraners are pretty stubborn, so they don't ask, they demand. I am not kidding! They are amazing dogs, but you need to train them early, otherwise they will take over the house. Even if you train them, they will never give up trying. Anyway, back to the treats....

Not knowing how reliable their verdict was, I decided to try the cookies myself. Because I knew all the ingredients that went into the bowl, I did not mind trying it. I knew there were no gross ingredients in there. It turns out that it was not bad at all considering we are talking dog food. ;) I'll definitely make these again. Aren't all the shapes cute? I'm sure Titus and Lucius did not care for that level of detail, but I thought they were super cute.