Chocolate Cupcakes with Bittersweet Glaze

This cupcake is a result of a crazy day!

It all started with my broken pair of eyeglasses. You see, I noticed my glasses were a little bent..okay a lot bent when I went to put them on Sunday morning as I made my way out my driveway. So I tried to bend them back but, snap, the darned thing broke in half on me!
Sooo, quick change of plans. Off to the mall area to find somewhere to get them fixed..oh wait! It's Sunday morning and nothing's open yet!

I found my way over there, somehow... it was all blurry! And I saw that Border's Books was open early. So I wandered in and came across Molly Wizenberg's book, "A Homemade Life".
Since I needed to pass some time before anywhere else opened, I flipped through the book, read a few chapters and saw some interesting recipes and bought myself a present, the book.
It's a sweet book filled with charming stories and some intriguing recipes including this chocolate cupcake.
But I need to explain why I chose this recipe in the first place.
I drove across the highway to go to another store when I noticed a large very brightly colored van in the parking lot. Hmm.. I wondered, what the heck is that? Oh my gosh, it's one of those cupcake trucks !! My first real encounter with one!
I couldn't resist checking it out and, of course, buying a couple to take home and give my official taste test!
I bought a pina colada and a red velvet cupcake.
Well the cupcake company shall remain nameless because I was, as they say, underwhelmed with the taste. All I tasted was sweet.
But I was inspired to try making a pina colada cupcake and after two attempts, I had to move on to another flavor! Both the recipes I tried failed miserably!

So, that's the story. I'm just very relieved this recipe turned out! Oh, and the glasses...couldn't be fixed. Two weeks til I get the new ones! Aghhh!!
This chocolate cupcake is wonderfully moist and it has a nice chocolate flavor. Kris liked the bittersweet glaze but I think I'd prefer a semisweet chocolate glaze instead. Just a matter of preference, I guess. What I do love about a glaze is that I find most cupcakes have way too much frosting and with a glaze like this, it's just enough.

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a small bowl. Set aside.
Heat the coffee and add the semisweet chocolate and let it stand to melt the chocolate.( I found my chocolate didn't all melt but it worked out fine).

In a mixer bowl, beat the egg, then add the oil, yogurt and vanilla.

Gradually pour in the melted chocolate mixture and beat to combine.

Then add the dry ingredients all at once.
Beat that mixture on low speed.

Then spoon the batter into the paper liners.

And bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Let them cool in the pan about 20 minutes, then lift out and cool completely on a wire rack.

While they're cooling, make the glaze simply by melting the bittersweet chocolate in a small heatproof bowl over simmering water.

Once it's all melted and your cupcakes have cooled completely, spoon the glaze on top and gently spread or tilt the cupcake to coat the top of the cupcake.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Bittersweet Glaze ( from "A Homemade Life", by Molly Wizenberg)

Makes 12 regular size

Cupcakes:

1 oz. semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup hot brewed coffee

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. unbleached AP flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 large egg

1/4 cup canola oil

1/2 cup well stirred plain whole milk yogurt ( not low fat or non fat)

1/4 tsp. vanilla

Glaze:

8 ozs. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

Preheat oven to 300. (This oven temp. seemed a little too low for me. I baked mine at about 325). Line muffin pan with paper liners.

1. Put the semisweet chocolate in a small bowl with the hot coffee and let it stand to melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally, til it's smooth.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

3. In a mixing bowl of a standing mixer, beat the egg on medium til pale yellow, about 1 minute.

4. Add the oil, yogurt and vanilla, beating well.

5. Gradually pour in the melted chocolate mixture and beat to thoroughly combine.

6. Add the dry ingredients all at once and beat on low speed til the batter is just combined.

7. Using a rubber spatula, scrape down the sides and bottom to make sure all the flour is incorporated.

8. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin liners.

9. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or til a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

10. Cool the cupcakes in the pan for 20 minutes, then carefully lift them out and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

Glaze:

Melt the bittersweet chocolate in a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water, stirring frequently.

Once it's melted, you can spoon a heapng teaspoonful on top of each cooled cupcake, tilting the cupcake and gently spreading the glaze to the edge. You can add another layer of glaze once the first has cooled.

Keep the cupcakes at room temp. til ready to serve, at least an hour. The glaze will firm up a bit and become matte.

( She says these are even better the second day!).

Black and White Cookies- Brooklyn Style

In her book"Desserts by the Yard", Sherry Yard had these cookies under her chapter entitled "Brooklyn Inspirations". And this larger size is the Brooklyn size!

These delicious cookies have that typical cakelike consistency with a wonderful vanilla and chocolate glaze. My son, Kris, absolutely loved these! They're really quite easy to make, just the glaze can be a bit tricky. The book doesn't give the best description of how thin or thick the glaze should be but you can kind of tell when you begin to spread it on top of the cookie that you need more confectioners' sugar to thicken it or more hot water to thin it.


Begin by sifting the dry ingredients into a medium bowl, then set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar in your mixer bowl for 2 minutes.

Add the egg and vanilla and mix til incorporated, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl.

In 2 to 3 additions, on low speed, add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk.

Beat til the ingredients are all mixed together.

Then, scoop out the batter and place onto the prepared baking sheet. I used my large scoop.

Bake 10 minutes, then rotate pan and bake another 8 to 10 minutes.

While cookies are cooling, make the glaze by combining confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, water and vanilla. Mix til smooth and divide the mixture between 2 bowls.

So you have the vanilla in one bowl...

Then you add the cocoa powder and melted chocolate to the other bowl and make the chocolate glaze.

Both my glazes did need more hot water, adding about 1/2 teaspoon at a time til I got a nice thin but not too runny consistency.

Then scoop up a little bit and begin by spreading one of the flavors on one side , then the other flavor on the other side. ( It was suggested to allow one of the flavors to set before adding the other, but I'm too impatient!). You'll know you have too much glaze on top if it runs down the side too much!

Black and White Cookies Brooklyn Style ( from "Desserts by the Yard" by Sherry Yard)

Makes 24 Large Cookies ( I only got about 18, however!)

Cookies:

1 cup cake flour

1 cup AP flour

1 tsp. baking powder

6 ozs. ( 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1 large egg, room temp.

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup buttermilk

Icing ( or glaze):

2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar, plus more as needed

1 tbsp. light corn syrup, plus more as needed

2 tbsp. hot water, plus more as needed

1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

Preheat oven to 350. Place a rack on the lowest postition of the oven. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Cookies:

1. Sift together cake flour, AP flour and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In large mixer bowl, cream butter and sugar at medium speed til fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of the bowl.

3. Add the egg and vanilla and mix on medium speed til incorporated. Scrape down sides of bowl and paddle.

4. In 1 or 2 additions, beating on low speed, add the flour mixture, alternating with the buttermilk. Beat til all incorporated.

5. Spoon 1/4 to 1/3 cup batter per cookie onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving a couple of inches apart for spreading.

6. Bake one sheet at a time, for 10 minutes, then turn and bake another 8 to 10 minutes.

7. Allow cookie to cool a few minutes on baking sheet, then transfer to wire rack.

Glaze:

1. In a small bowl, combine confectioners' sugar, corn syrup, water and vanilla. Stir together til smooth.

2. Divide between 2 bowls.

3. Melt chocolate either in a microwave safe bowl or using a heatproof bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Stir til smooth.

4. Scrape the melted chocolate along with the cocoa powder into one of the bowls. Add a little more hot water ( up to 2 tablespoons) and up to 1 teaspoon more corn syrup to get a smooth shiny mixture.

5. Brush half of each cookie with chocolate icing and allow to set. ( I used a knife to spread on each cookie and was too impatient to allow to set and it was fine). Then brush with vanilla flavor. Allow to set. ( Pop into the fridge for a quicker set.)

Cookies will keep, stored air tight, for 2 days.

Incredibly Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

I needed to bake something happy today and this cute little cupcake was just perfect.
Cupcakes are like that, don't you think? Happy I mean. Little mini cakes with just the right amount of icing. Perfect for one.
I needed this to be happy today because I found out last night that an old friend, a family friend actually, passed away a few months ago..and I didn't know. We had spent many childhood summers together, she and another longtime friend and I. Our parents were friends and that made us friends. And we three all even went to the same college together. Then, life happens, you go your separate ways, get married, have kids and then it seems everybody just goes in a different direction and you loose touch. The last time I talked to her we kicked around the idea of all getting together in California for a reunion. That would have been fun! Sheila was a high spirited fun loving person who used to love to play practical jokes on everyone and just have a good time. She will be missed.
So happy cupcakes for today..with sprinkles!

This recipe is from Nick Malgieri's book, " The Modern Baker". The title is really "Incredibly Moist Chocolate Cupcakes", and they are!
They are also very quick and easy to throw together and he says that if you want a really intense chocolate experience, to use the chocolate icing recipe that goes with this recipe. But I wanted a contrast, and I wanted my sprinkles to show up against a white icing, so I used his Confectioners' Sugar Icing recipe.

Start by placing chopped unsweetened chocolate in a bowl and pouring boiling water over it.
Let it stand for 2 minutes, then whisk til smooth.

Stir the dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside.

Once the chocolate mixture is whisked to a smooth consistency, add the melted butter, eggs, vanilla and lastly, the sour cream.

Whisk in the flour mixture in 3 additions, whisking til smooth after each.

Spoon the batter into the cups and bake for 20 minutes, or til they are well risen and feel firm when pressed in the center.

Let them cool while you make the icing.

Sift the confectioners' sugar, then ...

Beat the softened butter and 1/2 cup of the confectioners' sugar in your mixer bowl til smooth. Then continue to add the confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time til it's all absorbed.

Add the milk, one tablespoon at a time, then beat in the vanilla.

Increase the speed to medium and beat for 5 minutes, to make it light.

Then frost the cupcakes and decorate.

Incredibly Moist Chocolate Cupcakes ( from "The Modern Baker" by Nick Malgieri)

Makes 18 cupcakes ( I halved the recipe and it made 10)

Cupcakes:

2 cups sugar

1 1/2 cups AP flour ( spooned into measuring cup and leveled)

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

4 ozs. unsweetened chocolate, cut into 1/4" pieces

1 cup boiling water

8 tbsp. ( 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 cup sour cream

Icing:

8 tbsp. ( 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted after measuring

5 tbsp. milk or orange juice

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin cups with paper liners. Set rack to middle of the oven.

1. Stir sugar, flour, baking soda and salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside.

2. Put the cut up chocolate in a large mixing bowl and pour the boiling water over it. Let stand for 2 minutes, then whisk til smooth.

3. Whisk in the butter, then the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition til smooth.

4. Whisk in the vanilla and sour cream.

5. Whisk in the flour and sugar mixture in 3 separate additions, whisking til smooth after each.

6. Spoon the batter into the cups and bake til well risen and deep golden and feel firm when pressed in the center with a fingertip, about 20 minutes.

7. Cool in pan on wire rack 5 minutes, then unmold and cool completely.

Icing:

1. Combine butter and 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar in mixer bowl. Beat on low speed til smooth.

2.Continue adding more confectioners' sugar, 1/2 cup at a time til it's all absorbed. ( The mixture will be dry at the end.)

3. Add the milk, one tablespoon at a time, waiting til it's all incorporated before adding more.

4. Beat in the vanilla. Increase mixer to medium and beat the icing 5 minutes to make it light.

5. Frost cupcakes using an offset spatula. Decorate if desired.

Texas Peach Pecan Bread

One of our local farms was holding its annual Peach Festival this past weekend and we stopped by to visit and sample all things peach! One of the more unusual peach items to sample was Peach Gazpacho. But they also had Peach Salsa and, of course, peach ice cream.
They gave out recipes for all these plus this recipe for Texas Peach Pecan Bread. We love breads like this in our house. They're so good with coffee in the morning or afternoon tea. And another chance to use up some more peaches!

The bread..or really cake.. turned out great. It's moist, having some sour cream in it and the little bit of nutmeg adds a nice flavor. The peaches don't come out at all mushy and the pecans give it that wonderful crunch. And it's easy to make and I'm sure it would freeze very well.
I did make a few slight changes to the original recipe I decreased the amount of sugar and salt.

Begin by mixing the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a mixer bowl, cream the butter and sugar for about 2 minutes, then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add the sour cream and mix well.

Beat in the dry ingredients til just combined, then stir in the chopped peaches and chopped pecans.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes.

Texas Peach Pecan Bread

2 cup sifted AP flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

2/3 tsp. salt ( I used 1/2 tsp.)
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar ( I used 1 1/4 cup and the sweetness was just fine)

4 tbsp. sour cream

1 cup peeled, chopped peaches

1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and lightly flour a 9" x 5" x 3" pan.

1. Mix flour, baking powder, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugar til light, about 2 minutes.

3. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

4. Add sour cream and blend well.

5. Beat in flour mixture til just combined.

6. Stir in the chopped peaches and chopped pecans.

7. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or til tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

8. Allow bread to cool in pan about an hour, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing.

Wrap bread well. I'm sure a bread like this only improves with time!

Buttermilk Berry Muffins

After yesterday's all day, or so it seemed, intense recipe I chose to keep things simple and go back to basics today. Muffins are pretty basic and the only way I could mess things up was if I mixed them too much! Alton Brown's words always come back to me when I make a recipe that should only be mixed by hand ten times! And those words are, " walk away, just drop the spoon and walk away!"
One of the vendors from the Saturday farmer's market loves my fresh blueberry scones and buys them every week. Last Saturday he brought me a pint of beautiful blackberries and said he thought maybe they would work in a scone recipe.
Well this morning I made and froze my usual batches of scones for the upcoming weekend and decided to try a few with the blackberries. I kept one out and test baked it and it really came out fine..so it looks like a certain vendor will be eating blackberry scones this Saturday!

So on to today's post. These muffins come from a wonderful site, " joyofbaking". I love reading the recipes on this site, and there are so many!
Since I had to use the rest of the blackberries up before they went bad, I decided to put them into this muffin recipe, along with a handful of blueberries I had left over. I also chose this one because I had a quart of buttermilk in the fridge still unopened and I wanted to use some of that, too.
The muffins are moist and full of flavor from lots of lemon zest and they're not too sweet. Perfect with the fresh berries and so easy to make. Just the usual wet and dry ingredients gently mixed together, then baked. I made 6 jumbo muffins rather than 12 regular sized and I wound up with more batter than I needed so I made 2 extra regular sized. Must have been those huge blackberries taking up so much room!


Start by combining the dry ingredients and the zest in one bowl and whisking the wet ingredients in another bowl.

Add the berries to the dry and gently fold them in.

Now here comes the important part... using a rubber spatula, fold the wet into the dry and mix only til just combined! Then..yes..you know..stop mixing! You should still see flour and that's okay. Don't overmix!

Scoop the batter into your prepared muffin cups. ( I guess I could have put more into each cup and been fine but I wound up with extra batter and I made 2 regular size muffins with the extra). The recipe says to fill each almost full.

Then bake about 20 minutes or til a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Buttermilk Berry Muffins ( from "joyofbaking" site)


Makes 12 regular or 6 jumbo muffins

2 1/2 cups AP flour

3/4 cup sugar

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

Zest of whole lemon or orange

1 large egg, lightly beaten

3/4 cup buttermilk

2/3 cup safflower or canola oil ( I used canola)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 - 2 cups fresh or frozen berries, (blueberries, raspberries or blackberries)

Preheat oven to 375. Position rack to middle. Spray muffin cups or place liners in each.

1. Whisk the egg, buttermilk, oil and vanilla in a medium bowl.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt and zest.

3. Gently fold the berries into the dry ingredients.

4. With a rubber spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the dry and stir only til just combined. Don't overmix!

5. Fill each cup to almost full and bake about 20 minutes, or til tester comes out clean.

6. Cool 5 minutes in pan, then remove and cool completely on wire rack. Dust with confectioner's sugar if desired.

Orange "Butter" Cake

I had such high hopes for this cake. Not just because it was a lot of work ( and I have the photos to prove it!),but also it sounded so darn good.
Imagine a cake with 2 entire oranges in the batter! Whole oranges, skin and all. Wow, I thought, this has to be great. And despite the name, there's not a drop of butter in it.
The recipe is another from Sherry Yard's book, "Desserts by the Yard". As I've mentioned before, one of my pet peeves with recipes is when there's no photo to accompany the recipe and you just don't know what the heck it will look like..or what it's supposed to look like!

There are many steps to making this cake.
First you boil, on low, 2 oranges for one and a half hours.
You also have to toast the almond flour. Now I didn't have almond flour so I pulsed almonds in the food processor and then toasted them.
You also have to peel and chop fresh ginger...and beat 6 eggs for 10 minutes..and...whew! I'm exhausted just typing it!

I think I did make one mistake that was totally my fault. Because the batter went right to the top of the cake, I thought it might overflow so I put the cake to bake on a sheet pan. Because of this, the very bottom of the cake didn't cook and came out almost like a layer of custard.

Bottom line, the cake did taste very good. The consistency reminded me of a friand, however, but with 2 whole oranges, it did have a great orange flavor. In the book, she says that the cake gets better overnight and it's great sliced and toasted. Hmm... will have to wait til tomorrow!



So you boil on low, 2 whole oranges for one and a half hours.

I made almond flour by pulsing almonds in the food processor til very fine.

After the oranges have cooked, drain them and cut into quarters.

Place them into the food processor which already has the pulsed ginger and some sugar in the work bowl.

In a mixer bowl, add the 6 room temp. eggs and sugar and beat for 10 minutes...

Til tripled in volume and lemon colored.

Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture alternately with the orange mixture.

Then pour the batter into the prepared springform pan.

And bake for 50 to 60 minutes or til the cake springs back when lightly pressed.

Orange "Butter" Cake ( from Desserts by the Yard" Cookbook by Sherry Yard)

2 medium navel oranges, about 1 pound

2 tbsp. peeled and chopped fresh ginger

1 cup sugar

2 cups almond flour, lightly toasted and cooled.*(See notes below)

2 tbsp. cake flour

1 tsp. baking powder

6 large eggs, room temp.

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

1. Place the whole oranges in a medium saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.

2. Meanwhile, place the ginger and 1/4 cup of the sugar in a food processor fitted with the steel blade and pulse til you have a paste.

3. Drain and cut the oranges into quarters. Remove and discard any seeds and allow the oranges to cool.

4. Place the oranges, skin and all, into the food processor with the ginger paste and process til smooth.

5. Place a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat the oven to 375. Spray a 9" springform pan with pan spray and line with parchment. Spray the parchment.

6. Sift together ( I whisked) the almond flour, cake flour and baking powder. Set aside.

7. Combine the eggs and the remaining 3/4 cup of the sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat on medium speed til the eggs have tripled in volume, are thick and lemon colored and form a ribbon when lifted with a spatula, about 10 to 12 minutes.

8. Stir in one third of the pureed oranges.

9. Fold the flour mixture into the eggs in 3 additions, alternating with the remaining orange mixture.

10. Scrape the batter into the cake pan. Tap the pan on your work surface. Swing the pan around on the counter, using the same jerking wrist action you would use to throw a frisbee. This forces the batter up the sides of the pan and prevents a dome from forming in the middle.( I couldn't do this because my batter filled the pan right to the top but I did tap the pan on the work surface).

11. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes. ( Mine took 50 minutes) or til the cake springs back when gently pressed with a finger.

12. Allow to cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes, then remove the springform and allow to cool completely. Dust the top with confectioners' sugar.

*Note: To toast almond flour:

Place in a baking pan and toast in the middle of a 350 oven for 5 to 10 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes. The flour should be golden brown and smell toasty and fragrant.

Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies

I picked up Sherry Yard's book, "Desserts by the Yard" today and, of course, the first recipe I had to try was her chocolate chip cookie. The book is actually filled with beautiful photos of the most spectacular looking desserts, some I'll never try. But they look so darn good!

This cookie recipe has equal amount of white sugar and brown sugar yet the caramel flavor really comes through. She uses all bittersweet chocolate but I used half bittersweet and half semisweet. They came out kind of medium fat in thickness, which I personally love. And although I'm not one to love roll and slice cookies, as I've stated before, I did make some this way and I have to say they were also amazing, although the slicing part was a bit tricky. The big chunks of chocolate kept me from making a clean slice. And these were much smaller than the ones I dropped from tablespoonfuls.

The directions are pretty straightforward.
Whisk (or sift) the flour and baking soda in a small bowl and set aside.
Then cream the butter about 2 minutes, then add both sugars and salt and cream for about a minute.
Next add the egg and vanilla.
Add the flour mixture.
Then the chocolate chunks or chips.


I scooped them onto the parchment lined baking sheet by rounded tablespoonfuls.

And they came out a nice large size, about 3" to 3 1/2" across.

The cookies I rolled and sliced came out much smaller, about 2 1/2" across.

I could see where these would be great to freeze and slice whenever you feel like having a few cookies!

Quintessential Chocolate Chip Cookies ( from "Desserts by the Yard" cookbook by Sherry Yard)

Makes 48 cookies (rolled and sliced), less from the drop method depending on size

1 1/2 cups AP flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

4 oz. ( 1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla

12 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1" pieces ( I used semisweet chips and bittersweet chips)

Preheat oven to 350. Place racks in middle and lower third of the oven. Line sheets with parchment paper.

1. Whisk ( or sift) together flour and baking soda. Set aside.

2. In mixer bowl with paddle attachment, cream butter on medium speed til lemony yellow, about 2 minutes.

3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add both sugars and salt. Continue beating the mixture on medium speed til smooth and lump free, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

4. Add egg and vanilla and beat on low speed for 15 seconds, til the egg is fully incorporated. Don't overbeat. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

5. Add the chocolate chunks or chips and mix in.

6. For the slice and bake:

Remove small handfuls or spoonfuls of one half of the dough and center along the bottom of a sheet of parchment or waxed paper, creating a log about 1 1/2" wide by 12" long. Fold parchment over, creating a sausage. Twist the ends over and wrap in plastic. Repeat with remaining dough. Chill for at least one hour, preferably overnight. ( Can also be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 2 weeks.)

When the dough has chilled, remove it from the paper, and using a serrated knife, slice 1/3 inch thick rounds off the log. Place cookies 2" apart on the prepared sheets.

7. Bake, rotating pans, front to back and top to bottom halfway through baking time. Bake about 12 to 15 minutes.

The cookies will keep up to 3 days at room temp.

For drop cookies, scoop out heaping tablespoonfuls and drop onto sheets, placing 2" apart. Bake as above.