Art Festival Cookies

I'm catering a lunch at an arts festival this Saturday at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral and cookies are on the menu.

At first I thought I'd just make chocolate chip since they're crowd pleasing and quick to whip up. But in the end, I decided I should also offer another choice and come up with a cookie that's "artsy" and celebratory.

Decorated cookies, which I consider my art, were an obvious choice except that they're not easy to make in large quantities unless you do something really basic.

So I decided to go for round cookies decorated in an few bright colors. I love how these turned out, they are simple yet high impact and will be a colorful addition to my menu.

When you are just adding a base coat to a cookie, it's important that you keep the icing clean and neat and avoid smudges and smears. The secret is to use 15 second icing for the outline and flooding — That's icing that settles back into place in 15 seconds after you draw a line through it with the back of a spoon. This consistency is important when you are working on a small cookie and want the icing to settle and be smooth yet be stiff enough to not run out and over the edges of your cookies.

Once you get the hang of outlining and flooding, it goes very quickly. I was able to decorate 100 cookies in two hours — That's just 1 minute and 20 seconds per cookie!

Here's more information on the arts festival which is free and open to everyone. The Trinity Arts Commission has worked very hard putting together a special event that celebrates a variety of art mediums and offers something for all ages.  There will even be two performances of the play "A Wrinkle in Time."

If you would like to partake in the noon lunch, tickets cost $7.50 and can be purchased at the festival. I hope to see you there!

Trinity Arts Festival 

"A Wrinkle in Time"
Trinity Episcopal Cathedral (147 NW 19th Ave, Portland, OR)

SATURDAY SPECTACULAR

May 16 - 10:00 a.m.- 9:00 p.m.

Free admission to all events.

Childcare available 10-12 and 1-5:30 in the nursery.

All Day

CAULDRON ~ multimedia installation

IF YOU FELT THE SAME ~ multimedia installation

ARTISTS AMONG US ~ 15th Anniversary Exhibition

YOUTH ART EXHIBIT

MOVING OUTSIDE ~ outdoor fiber art exhibit

LIVE PAINTING DEMONSTRATIONS

ICON WRITING DEMONSTRATION

10:00 a.m.

AMAZING PORTAL ~ puppet theater (children/youth)

11:00 a.m.

SYMBOLS, STORIES, SELF, AND STARDUST ~ ceramic arts

COSTUME MAKING ~ workshop (children/youth)

RED DOOR READERS ~ readings

11:30 a.m.

YOUTH CHOIR PERFORMANCE ~ brief concert

12:00 p.m.

LUNCH ($7.50/person, Kempton Hall)

1:00-4:00 p.m.

ORGAN WITHOUT STOPS ~ marathon concert

DROP-IN ARTS & CRAFTS ~ kids

1:00 p.m.

MOVE! DANCE! PLAY! SING! ~ participatory session for kids

BOOK DISCUSSION ~ Book of Creation, John Philip Newell

LIFT UP YOUR VOICE & SING ~ beginning voice class

TIME & MULTIMEDIA ART ~ panel discussion

PLAYFUL INTUITIVE PAINTING ~ workshop

TRANSPARENT SNOW GLOBE COLUMN ~ interactive installation

2:00 p.m.

MOVE! DANCE! PLAY! SING! ~ participatory session for kids

WRITING HISTORICAL FICTION ~ presentation

SONGWRITING AS TRUTH-TELLING ~ participatory workshop

THE HERO'S JOURNEY IN SCI-FI & FANTASY ~ presentation

3:00 p.m.

SACRED DANCE & LABYRINTH WALK ~ guided session

UNLIMITED: A DOCUMENTARY ~ screening

INSPIRATIONAL FIBER WALL HANGINGS ~ discussion

4:00-5:30 p.m. & 7:00-8:30 p.m.

A WRINKLE IN TIME ~ dramatic adaptation by John Glore

And, here's how to make Colorful Cookies:

Sugar Cookie Cutouts
Makes about 4 dozen 2-inch cookies

1 cup unsalted butter (at room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

 In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugar until blended, then beat on high speed until creamy. Add egg, vanilla and almond extract and beat until well blended. Add flour and salt; beat on low speed until combined, then on medium speed until well blended. Divide dough into two equal portions. Place dough between sheets of plastic wrap. Press evenly into a disk and chill until dough is firm, at least 20 minutes. Working with one portion of dough at a time (keep remaining chilled), peel off plastic wrap and roll on a floured board until 1/4 inch thick. Cut with floured cutters and transfer onto bare baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees (325 for convection) for 7 to 9 minutes or until firm to the touch and slightly darker brown around edges. Cool on wire racks.

I used a small 1.5-inch round cutter to cut the cookies. When I make small sized cookies I'm careful not to roll the dough to thin since I want the cookie to be satisfying and perfectly balanced with the sweet icing. I aim for 1/4-inch.

Royal Icing
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons meringue powder
6 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Food coloring

In a large bowl combine meringue powder, water and lemon juice and stir until meringue powder is dissolved. Add powdered sugar and with an electric mixer on low speed, beat until evenly moistened. Then beat on high speed until stiff, glossy peaks form. Divide and tint as desired and add water a few drops at a time to get desired consistency.

Using 15 second icing and a #2 tip, outline and fill in the cookie.

Use a skewer or scribe tool to manipulate the icing, evenly distribute it and fill in any gaps. Give the cookie a gentle shake to help the icing settle and that's all there is to it. Let the cookies dry completely before packaging or serving. This takes about 6 to 8 hours.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I find it hard to eat just one of these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are chewy, chocolatey and one of my favorites.

The secret to making these is to use premium dark chocolate chips (I used Callebaut Belgian dark chocolate chips but I also like Fred Meyer Private Selection Dark Chocolate Chunks) and a hearty dose of sea salt which in my opinion makes just about every sweet so much better.

This is a quick recipe to make and something I often find myself throwing together last minute.


Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes 4 dozen cookies)

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4  teaspoon sea salt
4 3/4 cups old fashioned oatmeal
2 cups dark chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl cream together the shortening, butter, sugars and vanilla.  Add the eggs, baking soda and salt. Mix well. Add the flour and mix again. Finally stir in the oatmeal and chocolate chips.

Scoop 1-inch balls and place 1-inch apart on lightly greased or parchment-lined sheetpans. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.

Let the cookies cool a bit on the sheetpan before transferring them to cooling racks.

Happy Pi Day!

It's Pi Day and this year it's extra special because we get to add two more digits to the equation (3.1415) and that won't happen for another hundred years!

It's really not too late make homemade pie to celebrate that wonderful, always the same, more than a trillion digit number that's the ratio of every circle's circumference to its diameter.

The record for memorizing digits of Pi certified by Guinness Book of World Records is 67,890 digits, recited in China by Lu Chao in 24 hours and 4 minutes on November 20, 2005. Now that's very impressive but not necessary, knowing the first five digits will suffice. There's even a handy symbol too — π, which is the Greek symbol for the letter "p" which was taken from the Greek word for "perimeter." 

Now back to the pie part of Pi Day, this chocolate cream pie is so simple to make and a family favorite. It can be made in 30 minutes and then just needs to chill in the fridge for a couple hours before serving. 

Here's the recipe:
Chocolate Cream Pie
(makes 1 9-inch pie)

First, make and bake a 9-inch pie crust. I used my favorite shortening crust recipe.

Pie Crust: 
1 1/2 cups flour
2 /3 cups vegetable shortening
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and sugar. Add Crisco and using your fingers, break it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs with some large pieces remaining.

Add the water, just a few tablespoons at a time until the dough is moist enough to pull together into a ball. Roll out on a floured surface for the bottom crust.

Place the dough in a pie pan and crimp the edges. Bake for 5 minutes and then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 20 to 25 minutes or until the crust is set and golden brown.

Filling:

1 2/3 cups water

3 tablespoons cornstarch
5 tablespoons cocoa
1 (14 ounce) can eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks, beaten
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

In a medium-sized saucepan, use a whisk to mix the water and cornstarch and cocoa until smooth.

Stir in Eagle Brand milk and the three egg yolks.

Cook the mixture over medium heat, whisking constantly until it becomes thick. Remove from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla.

Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes before pouring into the baked pie shell. 

Let the pie cool at room temperature for 15 minutes before transferring to the refrigerator. Let the pie cool completely before slicing and serving.

Walnutty Chocolate Chip Cookies

I enjoy making fancy decorated cookies but truth be told, there really isn't anything that tastes better than chocolate chip — Especially when they're served warm with a glass of cold milk.

This recipe is my version of the classic Tollhouse recipe with walnuts.

My tweaks to the original are to use dark chocolate chips, heartier doses of vanilla and sea salt and use shortening in addition to unsalted butter. The butter adds flavor and the shortening adds chewiness and softness to the cookie, which is the way I like them. I think you'll like them too.

Here's the recipe:

Walnutty Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes about 5 dozen 2-inch cookies)

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3 1/2 cups flour
3 cups dark chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, whip together the butter, shortening, sugars and vanilla until light and creamy. Add the eggs and mix until well-combined.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add this to the butter/egg mixture and mix until well-combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and waltnuts.

The finished cookie dough ready to be scooped.

Use a 1-inch scoop or teaspoon to scoop balls of dough and place them 2-inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake the cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or until they are golden brown just around the edges. Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes on the sheetpans before transferring them to a baker's rack to cool completely.

Valentine's Day Macarons

I want to share with you these cute Valentine's Day Macarons that I made for Inga Dubay and Barbara Getty's Handwriting Workshop held today at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral.

I made them by whipping up a batch of salted caramel mini macarons and then once the macaron shells had baked and cooled, I drew on little hearts using a pink AmeriColor edible ink pen. It was so easy to do and now I can't stop thinking of other designs I want to attempt. I have a feeling green clovers for St. Patrick's day will be up next but I'm getting ahead of myself.  

Happy Valentine's Day!

Here's how I made them:

I made a batch of salted caramel macarons.

After baking, I sorted the shells into pairs and drew a heart on one of them using a pink edible ink pen.

Then I added the salted caramel filling and put the cookies together.

Cookies plated and ready to be served at the handwriting workshop. All of them were enjoyed but the macarons were gobbled up first. I heard one boy tell his mom "the macarons were gone in 5 minutes." Next year I'll remember to make more.