Toasted Almond-Honey Ice Box Cookies.

I love ice box cookies, especially in summer.  You make one batch of dough without the worry of having to bake them right away and you've got something you can slice and bake whenever you feel that sweet tooth coming on.  These are the perfect little cookie to accompany anything - coffee, tea, sorbet, ice cream, or ice-cold milk!

Almonds and honey are one of my favorite combinations, but as always, feel free to substitute your favorite nut here.  Pistachios always make a beautiful ice box cookie since their color gets to shine through, though I would recommend lightly toasting and coarsely chopping whatever it is you choose if not sliced almonds.

I used white whole wheat flour in this cookie dough which gave them a lovely ecru color, along with some sparkly turbinado sugar sprinkled on top.

Toasted Almond-Honey Ice Box Cookies
1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup sliced almonds, lightly toasted
Turbinado sugar for sprinkling

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.  In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and honey together until light and fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla extract, mixing well.  Stir in the flour mixture, then the almonds until a dough starts to form, then divide the dough into 2 portions.  Form the dough into logs on wax paper and wrap tightly.  Freeze at least 1 hour, or up to a month.

To bake these cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Unwrap a log of cookie dough and cut into 1/4" slices and place them on the baking sheet.  Sprinkle with turbinado sugar and bake until golden around the edges, 8-12 minutes.

Let cool completely, then store airtight up to 5 days.

By the way, hello August! :) I hope everyone is having an amazing summer, I can't believe it's already halfway over!

White Whole Wheat Apricot Muffins.

One of the biggest side effects of losing weight for me is that now I will basically click the "x" in Firefox if I see a recipe with more than a stick of butter.  This recipe is one of those that make me realize you don't need a lot of butter to make baked goods taste really amazing.  In fact, these muffins taste buttery!  With only 4 tablespoons of butter!  They don't require any silly "health food" ingredients either - real eggs, butter, sugar and flour. There's definitely a time and place for rich coffee cakes and danishes on the brunch and breakfast table, but if you can get rich-tasting goodies without the calories and fat, why not?

I followed the original recipe as-is, only substituting white whole wheat flour for the whole wheat called for.  I loved the apricots here, but next time I'm going to try a mix of dried fruit - dates, cherries, raisins, cranberries, etc.  Have fun!

White Whole Wheat Apricot Muffins
Adapted from Cooking Light
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Finely grated zest of 1 orange
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup buttermilk (I used fat free)
1/4 cup (4 tablespoons, 1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup chopped dried apricots

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. and spray a muffin pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the flours, sugar, zest, baking soda and salt and set aside.  In a smaller bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, butter, extract and egg.  Pour the liquid ingredients into the dry, stirring until almost mixed, then add in the dried apricots and stir just until they're combined.

Spoon the batter into the muffin cups and bake until lightly golden on top, 12-15 minutes.  Cool on a wire rack and store at room temperature, up to 3 days.

Chocolate Cupcakes.

I don't have much to say about 2010, just lots to reflect on and think about.  It was an amazing and emotional year and if 2011 is as good as 2010 was, I think I'm going to explode.

I seem to talk about my love of cupcakes more than I actually make cupcakes or eat them.  I suppose this is mostly because I can't control myself when I'm around a little individual-sized cake with its own portion of frosting and adorable sprinkles.  But you know what?  Just hours from now is a new year and this actually does call for some indulgence, even from me, little miss self-control.  (I lost 90lbs. this year so I'm going to have my cupcake and eat it too.)

I hope everyone is able to indulge a little tonight and have an amazing start to 2011.  Next Saturday I'm flying back to North Carolina for 8 days and I can't wait.  If these cupcakes and a trip to see some of my favorite people aren't a great start to a new year, I truly don't know what is :)

Chocolate Cupcakes
Adapted from Eating Well
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup nonfat buttermilk, sour cream or yogurt
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup strong coffee, still warm (instant or otherwise, doesn't matter)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. F and line your cupcake tins with papers. (I got 36 mini cupcakes out of this batter, you should be able to get 12 regular sized cupcakes or 1 9-inch layer.)

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, white sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and soda and salt and whisk to make sure everything is well mixed.  In a smaller bowl, combine the buttermilk, brown sugar, egg, oil and vanilla extract.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and beat for 2 minutes.  (I did this by hand with a spatula, just make sure everything is very well combined.)  Stir in the coffee until you have a fairly liquid batter.  Divide the batter among the cupcake papers and bake until a toothpick comes out clean, checking after about 8 minutes.

Dust with powdered sugar or frost and decorate as desired.  Devour without guilt because you deserve cupcakes after this year :)

Honey White Wheat Knot Rolls.

September means beginning of major soup weather.  You can (and I do) make soups all year 'round but when you make soups in September through April, no one makes faces or thinks you're crazy.  To go along with steaming bowls of delicious chicken-vegetable gumbo, I made these lovely rolls.  They made a perfect accompaniment to the soup, but the leftover rolls were amazing toasted, spread with butter and jam for breakfast or just re-warmed for a few seconds in the microwave to make them taste freshly baked again.

I used this recipe but used white whole wheat flour instead of regular whole wheat.  The dough was incredibly sticky even after rising so the cloverleaf shape was a no-go, I just did knots instead (and was reminded of my days in culinary school when we had to do 4 dozen knot rolls every day...) Anyway, if you want to do the cloverleaf shape, after forming the dough into 12 pieces, you cut the 12 pieces into 3 each and roll them into little balls, then place into the muffin cups, let rise and bake.  They are adorable, but the knots are much faster and taste just as good.  Had the dough been less sticky, I might have attempted the cloverleafs!

Honey White Wheat Knot Rolls
Adapted from Cooking Light
2 1/4 teaspoons or one package dry yeast
1 cup warm water (about 100 degrees F.)
2 cups bread flour, divided
1 cup white wheat flour (or whole wheat)
3 tablespoons honey
2 1/2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon water
1 large egg

Combine the yeast and warm water in a large bowl, let stand for a few minutes until foamy.

Add 1 1/2 cups bread flour and the white whole wheat flour along with the honey, melted butter and salt.  Stir until a loose dough forms, then turn out onto a floured surface.  Knead the dough, adding the other 1/2 cup bread flour, until it's springy and elastic, about 8-10 minutes.

Place in a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 45 minutes to an hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces (I weighed the dough first, then divided the total weight by 12.  Each piece was about 2 ounces.)  Roll each piece into a 5-6 inch rope, then make a knot and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet or into greased muffin cups.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, about 20 to 30 minutes.

Beat the egg and 1 tablespoon water and brush over the risen rolls.  Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.  Serve warm.