Upon regaining consciousness, we unanimously agreed...BEST COOKIE EVER!

First things first - I owe Giada de Laurentiis an apology for calling her cooking "antiseptic Italian" in the previous blog post.  This recipe came from her cooking show and it is OUTSTANDING!  She began the segment by claiming anytime she makes these for a party, the guests devour them - I believe her!  

My ears perked-up when Giada mentioned using orange zest (I adore citrus!) and I was curious about the cornmeal. The cornmeal gives the cookie a fantastic crunchy texture which perfectly compliments the luxuriously smooth orange creme filling.

Anything more I could say will fall short of how scrumptious these beauties are.

So, without further adieu....Presenting the greatest cookie recipe ever....

THE ITALIAN CHOCOLATE SANDWICH COOKIE !!!       

http://www.cookingchanneltv.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/italian-chocolate-sandwich-cookie.html

A couple of suggestions that aren't included in the recipe:

 - Roll out dough between plastic wrap. 
 - Roll out dough in small amounts at a time.
 - Dough MUST remain cold to work with effectively.
 - Slide a fork under cut-out cookie to lift from dough.
 - Don't be tempted to use a larger cookie cutter than 1 3/4". 
 - I used a Sil-Pat on top of air-bake baking sheet.  
 - Recipe calls for baking time to be 15 minutes.  I pulled cookies out at 12 minutes.  Just keep an eye on this.
 - Fill cookies when they are cool.  
 - The "Filling" recipe portion is not enough to accommodate the whole cookie recipe.  I baked half the dough and almost used all the filling.  

They do require a little effort, but they're worth it!  


           

Our sweet Becca "Bunny" was a mere fourteen years old the last time I posted to the Hooah Hill Blog Page.  It's hard to believe, but she just turned seventeen this week and per her request, I made her a gluten-free cake.  It came out so good I thought, "Gee, this would be great for the blog!"   Life's hardships have settled down a bit, so maybe it's time to start blogging again.   

Bun doesn't suffer from ciliac disease, but she tries to make very healthy food choices with her diet.  She claims her body feels better choosing gluten-free foods whenever possible.  

This request haunted me as the clock ticked closer to the big day.  Part of our family tradition is to embrace any and all celebratory days by preparing the best meal humanly possible!  So a gluten-free "cake" posed a definite challenge.  I found a possible candidate from the site mygluten-freekitchen.com for a "Flourless Chocolate Cake"(Original recipe from Martha Stewart).  Oh sure! A flourless cake - sounded like a contradiction of terms to me! Between us...I had a box of Betty Crocker Brownies on hand in the event of mission failure. 

This recipe may fall under the classification of "Cake", but I would definitely say its closest relative is the "Brownie". Once it has cooled to room temperature, it eats like decadent chocolate mousse.  A very appealing light and creamy texture.  Once refrigerated, it takes on more of a dense fudge brownie identity.  I prefer it as the mousse, but the family seems to equally enjoy the fudge brownie experience with a dollop of vanilla ice cream.

I have no five-star or four-fork food judging system...my verdict is either free-for-life or off-with-your-head. 
Translation: I will either make it again or I will not.   

I will make this "Flourless Chocolate Cake" again!   

 
Flourless Chocolate Cake {Gluten-free}
 
Recipe from: Michelle @ MyGluten-freeKitchen.com; original recipe from Martha Stewart
Recipe type: Dessert
Serves: 8

Ingredients

• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, plus more for pan
• 8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped (I used chocolate chips)
• 6 large eggs, separated
• ½ cup sugar
• Sweetened vanilla whipped cream, for serving

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 275°. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9″ springform pan. Set aside.
2. Place butter and chocolate in a large, microwaveable bowl and microwave in 30-second increments, stirring after each 30 seconds, until completely melted. Let cool slightly. Whisk in egg yolks.
3. In medium or large bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, and continue beating until glossy stiff peaks form. Whisk ¼ of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture; then gently fold in remaining egg whites.
4. Pour batter into the prepared pan, and smooth the top with a rubber spatula. Bake until the cake pulls away from the sides of the pan and is set in the center, 45-50 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack; remove sides of pan. Serve at room temperature with sweetened vanilla whipped cream.

Notes
Dairy-free adjustment: Use a dairy-free, buttery flavored substitute like Earth Balance sticks in this recipe.  

 

Most people look forward to eating out, however that is not the case with us.  We love dining in, especially this time of year with the garden kickin' it into full gear.  Picked our first peppers, and what better to go with them are some onions and sausage.  Made some "Cosi" rolls for sandwiches.  Ok, a Cosi roll really doesn't exist, but that's what we call them.  Why, you ask.  Well, when we lived in Queen's NY, I would take the girls into Manhattan for dance class a few times a week.  There were these chain sandwich shops, called "Cosi" we would eat at alot.  Similar to Atlanta or Panera Bread.  But with one HUGE difference.  They would bake the bread for the sandwiches in each shop.  When the employees weren't making you your sandwich, they were throwing bread in the oven.  Of course, how could I not quiz these people about what they were doing!   They made these flat loaves of bread.  Not flatbread, but flat loaves.  The bread was incredible and made for a wonderful sandwich.  It was like the size of a normal slice of sandwich bread, but tasted like a grinder roll.  Very cool.  Use  your normal sandwich bread recipe that you like, (this was a 2 lb. recipe) form like you are making bagettes, place on a cornmealed baking sheet, and squish the doe flat.  I brush with an egg wash (careful not to let any drip or it will stick) sprinkle with kosher salt and poppy seeds.  (The salt on top of the bread is fantastic!)     Give it a shot.  Don't depair, give it a few tries, it's worth it!