I confess.

I bought a bag of that granulated brown sugar (Domino’s calls it Brownulated, or something like that). Anyway, I used that instead of packed light brown sugar in a few recipes with varying degrees of success. But yesterday, as I blended, stirred, dropped and baked double chocolate chip cookies, I realized that the fake brown sugar wasn’t doing the recipe justice.

You can see the little brown granules in the baked cookies!

Okay, so no more short cuts for me. I swear.

Jelly Thumbprint Cookies

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
jelly, jam or fruit preserves

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, brown sugar and eggs. Add vanilla, salt and cinnamon. Mix on low as you slowly add the flour spoonful by spoonful

Using a cookie scoop (about 1 tbsp size), scoop out dough and place on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment.

Dip your thumb into flour, then press into a ball. Repeat until all the cookies have thumbprints in the center. Fill the hole with your choice of jelly, jam or preserve.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown around the edges and on the bottom.

Let cool on wire racks.

Devour.

More Delicious Cookie Recipes:

• Connecticut Spice Cookies
• Blueberry White Chocolate Cookies
• Cranberry Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookies

It’s almost time for me to start baking. Christmas is 11 days away and I have dozens of cookies to create. I am not the best baker, honestly, but for some reason I just love baking Christmas cookies.

Maybe it’s a sickness. I just like to see mounds of sweets piled high for the holidays. And I love to fill tins with my creations and give them away. Of course I always consume way too many before they are given away but that’s just a part of cooking, right?

Of course since I am still breastfeeding, much to my family’s horror, there will be no peanut butter cookies, no peanut butter chocolate cookies, no peanut butter at all. I tear up just thinking about it. When I can have peanut butter again though, I will be sure to make some of the peanut butter chocolate cookies from the Friends Cookbook. They are just so good.

But I have recently discovered a fantastic recipe for jelly cookies. The cookie itself is nice and buttery. It melts in your mouth. I’ll have to post that here soon. I guess when you can’t have peanut butter you can at least have jelly. I guess. Okay, so it’s not the same.

Anyway, this year I am sticking to cookies. I used to make tons of fudge in all different varieties, but it’s tedious and so much went to waste anyway. So Will and I will craft the aforementioned jelly cookies, chocolate chip cookies, Heath Bar chip cookies, and sugar cookies.

Now I just have to find a good recipe for sugar cookies. The Joy of Cooking recipe I used to use is just too cinnamon-y for me.

Low and behold, after purchasing two tins of hot cocoa from Williams-Sonoma – peppermint and chocolate – I discovered chocolate, real chocolate, inside. And you heat it in milk and stir, stir, stir. So I guess my instinct was pretty good on more than one level.

Easter Bunny Hot Chocolate
serves two

2 cups milk
the ears of a jumbo hollow Easter bunny

Heat milk on stove set at medium-low until warm, but not boiling.

Break bunny ears into pieces and sprinkle into milk.

Stir constantly for 5-10 minutes until chocolate and milk are completely blended.

I am obsessed with flavor. And by flavor I mean poignant, memorable, recognizable aromas and tastes. I don’t know why, but everything I make has to “sing,” as an editor of mine always says.

I’ve noticed that there are a few things in my spice cabinet that get pulled out a lot. And it’s those spices that I use in different quantities with varying pairings to make all sorts of dishes.

First, there is my French Sea Salt. I bought it at Williams-Sonoma a few months ago and it’s from “the island of Ré, off France’s Atlantic coast,” according to the little blurb on WS’s website. Nice big chucks of salt add a great flavor to just about everything. I use it instead of table salt, almost on a daily basis. Sea salt is great in dishes like Roasted Red Pepper and Artichoke Crostini, Balsamic Tomato, Corn and Cucumber Panzanella and Balsamic Roasted Green Beans.

Secondly, there is my McCormick Barbecue Seasoning. It’s a powder form and virtually calorie free. But it tastes great. I love adding it to stir-fry or rice. But then, I am a barbecue junkie. I have no less than three varieties of the bottled version in my house at any given time.

Trader Joe’s Dried Basil is another favorite of mine. I use it mostly in sauces, but lately have found myself sprinkling it on meats and pastas too. I am thinking that I might create a little herb garden in my kitchen so I can use the fresh version more often, though. How hard could a little herb garden be to maintain?

See also All About Basil.

My husband loves beef. Sirloin, filet, ground, flank, stew, tips – it doesn’t matter as long as it’s red and juicy. There was a time during our courtship where I allowed him to do the majority of the cooking. Adhering to his love, it was sirloin strip steaks all the time served in two varieties – barbecue or teriyaki glazed.

Once I started to cook more and eventually began experimenting, he learned that thick cuts aren’t the only beef that makes for a hearty and delicious meal. As my guinea pig, he’s tried a wide variety of simple and complex meals with all sorts of cuts that he wouldn’t look twice at before.

See also Red Wine Marinated Flank Steak.

One cut that I particularly like is a thin cut, usually about six to eight inches long and four inches wide. In my local supermarkets, it’s labeled for bracciole. I layer various ingredients onto it and then roll it up, securing with two wooden toothpicks or cooking string. Then it’s cooked in a 350 degree oven for roughly 20 minutes, until cooked through. The results are always tasty.

Here are a few ideas:

Beef Bleu
Serves 1

1 strip bracciole beef
½ slice ham
1 slice Swiss cheese
Italian herbs
allspice
salt
pepper

Lay beef flat on a greased cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.

Sprinkle evenly with Italian herbs, allspice, salt and pepper.

Layer Swiss cheese and ham on top of beef.

Roll up and secure with two wooden toothpicks or cooking string.

Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until cooked through.

Pesto Beef
Serves 1

1 strip braccioli beef
1 tsp pesto
1 slice Swiss cheese
salt

Lay beef flat on a greased cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.

Sprinkle evenly with salt.

Spread pesto on top of beef and top with Swiss slice.

Roll up and secure with two wooden toothpicks or cooking string.

Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until cooked through.

Pepperoni Beef
Serves 1

1 strip braccioli beef
1 slice Swiss cheese
3 slices deli pepperoni

Lay beef flat on a greased cookie sheet or jelly roll pan.

Layer Swiss cheese and pepperoni slices on top of beef.

Roll up and secure with two wooden toothpicks or cooking string.

Cook at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until cooked through.

See also: Mozzarella Basil Beef Roll-ups