The White Ramekins

food & photography

Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies

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Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies paired with a glass of milk are probably the most comforting dessert, I could imagine. Just sitting on my couch and nibbling on to chewy chocolate chip cookies and reading through my most cherished cookbooks for hours is one thing which I can do without worrying about the world outside. It’s not just me who is bitten by this cookie bug alone. But my friends, family and workmates cherish these sweet nibbles as equally as I do. Everyone deserves such comforting food. Don’t ya !

Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies 1

One of my colleagues, who is really fond of cookies, is leaving the organization in a couple of days. Whenever we crossed our ways at work, I remembered him enjoying these munchies. And he was so generous and supportive that when last time we had a bake sale for charity at office, he was standing at my shack to help me sell them off. Such are the small nice gestures people make towards each other, which become the part of those forever cherished memories.

Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies 3

I really wanted to bake him some cookies. So today early morning, when rest of the world was still asleep and it was raining super cats and dogs, I kicked my butt hard and I was whipping the batter in my kitchen. Untimely rains during this departing winter season…geez, I hate such untoward gimmicks which weather Gods play at me sometimes. Because it was dreary and you know, not at all perfect for the photography. But it wasn’t that bad either; my pantry was well stocked up. And I was all set to rock the kitchen.

Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies 2

And I did not forget that it is World Nutella Day today. So I wrapped up some Nutella within the cookies dough balls, just to commemorate this sweet day and to make it bit more sweeter and chocolate-y.

Chocolate Chip Nutella Cookies 4

Recipe minimally adapted from Anise Eats {yields 2 dozen cookies}

Ingredients

1/2 cup Nutella
150 gm salted butter
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1¼ tsp baking soda
1 cup Demerara sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2½ tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp yogurt
1 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  2. Fill the nutella spread into a piping bag fitted with round tip nozzle and pipe small dollops of spread onto parchment paper, about 1 – 1 1/2 tsp each.
  3. Place the tray in fridge to let nutella drops be firm for about 1 hour.
  4. Place the butter into a saucepan and heat it on a low heat and keep whisking until the butter starts to brown. Remove from heat and let cool.
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda and keep aside.
  6. Now whisk the sugar into butter until smooth. Beat in eggs to incorporate well.
  7. Add vanilla and yogurt into the butter and sugar mixture and mix well.
  8. Now add flour and chocolate chips to the above mixture and mix well to make a smooth dough.
  9. Cover the bowl with cling film and let rest in fridge for about 30 minutes.
  10. Preheat the oven at 180 Celsius. Line baking tray with parchment paper or silicon mat. Use a medium dough scoop (about 2 tablespoons) to scoop a portion of cookie dough. You can do it with hands if you don’t have the scoop.
  11.  Press an indentation into the center of the dough ball to create a bowl shape.  Place a dollop of the frozen Nutella in the indentation and pinch together the edges of the cookie dough over the top to completely seal it in the center.
  12. Place the shaped cookies on the prepared baking sheets, 2-3 inches apart.  Bake until the cookies are golden brown and set, rotating the pans halfway through, about 14 minutes total.
  13. Let sit a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Be sure to replace the remaining Nutella dollops in the freezer while waiting for cookies to bake.  It softens fairly quickly otherwise.

Now grab some cookies and glass full of milk and enjoy them with your friends and family !!!

Nutella Eclairs…Pâte à Choux for Daring Bakers

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This time Daring Bakers gave us the chance to be more indulgent. A chance to experience the smooth and velvety creaminess filled into melt-in-the-mouth pate choux. And also a chance to dare to bake these small delicacies in your own home kitchens. The challenge was to bake something fun out of choux pastry.

Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!

Initially I was terrified by the challenge, as I had never heard about choux pastry before, forget about baking Swans out of it. But then I got to know more about choux pastry and the recipes you could try out with it. Eclairs seemed to me the most delectable and a relatively easier thing to do. The difficult part was to get the choux pastry right. For that I resorted to a recipe from Martha Stewart. For the filling I made creme patisserie, which kind of added a new dimension to the subtle flavor of choux pastry. Instead of chocolate glaze as in a classic eclairs recipe, I chose to use Nutella for the extra bit of creaminess and the richness. And to give the end product a bit more of color appeal, I topped them with chopped pistachio nuts. And I couldn’t believe myself that such things could be done in your own home kitchen too.

Ingredients

Pâte à Choux

100 gm butter
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
4 large eggs, plus 1 large egg white

Crème Patisserie

6 egg yolks
1 egg
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
3 cups milk
3 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp pure vanilla extract

Instructions

For choux pastry:

  1. Bring butter, sugar, salt, and 1 cup water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat.
  2. Using a wooden spoon, quickly stir in flour. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture pulls away from sides and a film forms on bottom of pan, about 3 minutes.
  3. Transfer to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on low speed until slightly cooled, about 1 minute.
  4. Raise speed to medium; add whole eggs, 1 at a time, until a soft peak forms when batter is touched with your finger. If peak does not form, lightly beat remaining egg white, and mix it into batter a little at a time until it does.
  5. Preheat oven to 220 C/425 F. With a rack in the center. Line two unrimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
  6. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a 1/2-inch tip with pate a choux batter; pipe out oblong shapes, about 3 1/2 inches long and 1 inch wide, onto prepared baking sheets at 2-inch intervals.
  7. Gently run a fork dipped in water along each top, making straight lines to ensure even rising.
  8. Cover one baking sheet with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and place in refrigerator.
  9. Transfer the second sheet to the oven. Bake 10 minutes; reduce oven temperature to 180 C/350 F. Bake until golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes more.
  10. Turn off oven; prop door open slightly to let steam escape. Allow eclairs to dry in oven until centers are damp but no wet dough remain (test by cutting into the center of one), about 15 minutes.
  11. Transfer to a wire rack to cool slightly. Raise heat back to 425 degrees and repeat process with remaining batch.
  12. Insert a skewer into one end, and move it around to expand opening for cream; set aside.

For pastry cream:

  1. Prepare an ice bath; set aside. In a medium bowl, combine egg yolks, egg, and 2 tablespoons sugar. Add cornstarch and flour; whisk until smooth and pale yellow. Set aside.
  2. In a medium saucepan, combine milk and remaining 3/4 cup sugar. Stir over medium-high heat until milk begins to steam.
  3. Whisking constantly, add half the hot milk to the egg-yolk mixture. Stir until smooth; add combined mixture back to remaining hot milk in the pan.
  4. Bring mixture to a boil, whisking rapidly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and vanilla. Strain through a fine sieve into a medium bowl.
  5. Place over ice bath and let stand, stirring frequently, until cool.

Assembly:

  1. Pipe cooled pastry cream into holed choux pastry.
  2. Spread over nutella as much as you like and sprinkle with chopped pistachio nuts.

Nutella S’Mores

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It was almost two months ago, when I came across Daring Bakers challenge on the web. I found the idea of existence of such a community very interesting, where bakers of any experience {amateurs or veterans} all over the world get the chance to learn about new recipes, tips and tricks and also to challenge themselves for a new dare to bake challenge every month.

Considering my experience in baking and also my blog being quite fledgling, I was hesitating a bit to join this community. But then considering the benefits of being a member of such a forum, I applied for the registration on their site. Being busy in my everyday life, I had completely forgotten about that. But then one fine morning, when I was checking my regular emails, I found this pretty one in my inbox that I was now a member of the club and my blog was their on their blogroll.

So out of the part one of their challenge for this month, I decided to bake some graham crackers at home this weekend. They were really crisp and had the beautiful aroma of cinnamon. I couldn’t let them go vanished so easily over tea time. Instead the wanting more self of mine craved for adding some more colors to the life. And then began the search for recipes calling for the Graham Crackers. I came across some wonderful recipes about fruit pies, cheesecakes etc. But actually I wanted a recipe which was quick and simple to put in.

Then came these beautiful S’more sandwiches lusciously filled with toasted marshmallows and melted gooey chocolate. It wasn’t as simple as I had thought it to be. I didn’t have marshmallow at home. Hmmm…and then began one more search. Search for recipes for homemade marshmallow or at least a similar stuff. Most of them called for overnight’s time for setting up and I was being more and more restless. So I decided to create something which wouldn’t test me for patience.

This was the most simple recipe of Marshamllow Fluff and was within my skill level. I am sorry for not posting the recipe for Graham Crackers this time, as I can’t reveal the recipe before 27th of this month {a rule from Daring Bakers}. But I could not resist myself from posting up the pics here. The combined taste of  luscious nutella and snowy marshmallow fluff sandwiched between wholesome homemade graham crackers, was simply divine and out of this world.