Homemade Tagalongs

Last week I made homemade samoas. Now it's only fitting that I make my 2nd favorite kind of girl scout cookies this week. Tagalongs are the peanut butter patties covered in chocolate with a cookie crunch. This cookie will be less involved then the samoas. Tagalongs use the same shortbread cookie base as the samoas so you could make both cookies in the same day if you wanted to.

Shortbread cookie:

1 cup  unsalted butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups  flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
In the bowl of a mixer combine the butter and sugar and beat till light and fluffy- about 3min. In a different bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Once the butter/sugar is ready add the flour in 4 parts making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Once all the flour is in, add the milk and vanilla. Mix till combined (not very long)- At this point the cookie dough is made and needs to be chilled in the fridge for about 1 hour. Once the dough is chilled it will be ready to roll out to 1/4 inch thick and cut out. All you need is 1 large round cookie cutter. Bake them at 350 for 10-12 min. turning half way through. I got 3 1/2 dozen cookies. 


Peanut Butter Filling:
8oz peanut butter- creamy
1 cup powdered suagr
1-2 TBS milk
In a large bowl combine the peanut butter and sugar together. This will take some muschle - so if you have a electric mixter just toss it all in there, and beat with a paddle. If the mixer is too dry add a little milk as needed to make it plyable and easy to work with. 

2 cups dark chocolate chips - (or milk if you prefer)

Assembly:
Once the peanut butter filling is made I bet your cookies have cooled. I found the easiest way to get the fillling on the cookie was using a pastry bag (if you don't have one you can use a plastic baggie and cut a smallish hole in the tip) and just pipe a small mound of filling and press down with your fingers. Now melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave. The easiest way to dip the cookies would be to dunk in and completely cover and fish out with a fork  and let the excess chocolate drip off. Then set back on the sheet pan coveed with parchment, wax paper or even plastic wrap. After all the cookies are dipped let them dry and enjoy. 

Homemade Samoas

  I always thought of Girl Scout cookies of magical and mysterious cookies that nobody could make. But not anymore, I have cracked the code! Beginning with the hardest cookie to make in my opinion Samoas. In my world there are really only 3 kinds of girl scout cookies- Samoas, Tagalongs, and Thin Mints. I know it's really easy to just buy some cookies from the lovely girls scouts. But what happens when the cookies are all gone?  Now with a little preparation and a little time you too can make your own samoas!
Lets get started this one has a ton of steps-

Shortbread cookie:
1 cup  unsalted butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups  flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 TBS milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
In the bowl of a mixer combine the butter and sugar and beat till light and fluffy- about 3min. In a different bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Once the butter/sugar is ready add the flour in 4 parts making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl between each addition. Once all the flour is in, add the milk and vanilla. Mix till combined (not very long)- At this point the cookie dough is made and needs to be chilled in the fridge for about 1 hour. Once the dough is chilled it will be ready to roll out to 1/4 inch thick and cut out. All you need is 1 large round cookie cutter and 1 smaller round cookie cutter. I didn't have a small one - but I did have a small heart- it worked out just fine. Bake them at 350 for 10-12 min. turning half way through. I got 3 1/2 dozen cookies. 

Caramely Coconuty Topping:
3 cups sweetened coconut shredded
15 oz store-bought or Homemade Caramel
3 TBS milk
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate 
If you are making the caramel try out this recipe Homemade Caramels. I did just because I had everything I needed, and I like to make things way harder then they are supposed to be. The only thing I didn't have was the heavy cream (kinda important in caramel) so I made my own heavy cream. Might I add probably not the best idea, but it worked out alright. 
To toast the coconut preheat the oven to 350 and spread it along a cookie sheet, bake for about 10 min turning half way. Coconut burns really easy so watch it.  If you bought caramels then melt them in the microwave or double boiler, add the milk and toasted coconut- if it's too thick add a little more milk.
 How to assemble:
Now that the cookies are baked and cooled, while the caramel coconut filling is still warm pour into a plastic bag and cut a smallish hole, big enough to let the coconut through but not too big that it's hard to control. and now pipe the topping in a circle shape onto the cookie. Once you have done a whole tray go back through and with a spoon flatten the topping out to the edges, it should begin to cool by this time.

The finishing touches:  Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave or double boiler, and dip each cookie in only covering the bottom half of the cookie. With a spoon drizzle the tops of the cookie with chocolate stripes. WOW! now that was a handful ! let the chocolate dry on the cookies and enjoy!

Ranger Cookies

Ranger cookies have been around since the 1950's. I heard of them them a few years back when I was working at a small bakery. They had made them in the past, but had been taken out of the rotation  Anyways I put them out of my head till a few days ago when I was brainstorming for cookie Thursday. Turns out that there is a ton of stuff in ranger cookies including oats, coconut, chocolate and cereal. For the kiddos they are great with a glass of milk, for the adults maybe a cup of coffee would complement them well. These cookies are easy to assemble and this batch makes about 4 dozen medium sized cookies.

Ranger Cookies:

1 cup  butter soft
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
2  eggs
2 cups Flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup  rolled oats 
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup  chocolate chunks
3 cups  rice cereal - I used rice chex

In a large bowl combine flour, baking soda, baking powder. In the bowl of a electric mixer combine the butter, sugars, vanilla and salt. Beat on medium speed for about 3 min, then add the eggs one at a time. Once everything is incorperated scrape down the sides. Add the flour mix and combine. Then add the oats, coconut, chocolate chunks and rice chex and lightly mix. Preheat the oven to 350 and line baking pans with parchment or lightly spray. Scoop the cookies into mounded tablespoons and lightly flatten. Then bake for 10-14 min till light brown around the edges. Let the cookies cool for a few and enjoy! They are so yummy! 

Pecan Melt Cookies

Mixer Surgery

I was lucky that I made cookies for cookie Thursday before my mixer broke down. It was mixing fine until it wasn't. That is how fast it takes for a gear to break. That turned into another project called- lets try and figure out whats wrong with the mixer... hours later I learned that it was a $5 gear that I needed to replace. I was so happy that I didn't have to get a new mixer. In a way I'm glad that I took the whole thing apart, cause now I know the inner workings of my mixer.
Now on with the yummy pecan chocolate cookies. This original recipe came from Martha Stewart and used walnuts only. But I saw potental in changing the nuts and adding chocolate. I also used half whole wheat flour and half white flour. They still turned out great. If you don't have pecans you could use almonds, hazelnuts or even walnuts. Let's get on with Cookie Thursday!

This dough has no eggs in it so it's safe to eat raw. 

Pecan Melt Cookies:
Adapted from Martha Stewart's- cream cheese walnut cookies
6oz cream cheese (not whipped) at room temp
2 cups (4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp
1 1/4 tsp salt
2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
 2 TBS vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips, chopped
1 1/2 cups pecan pieces toasted and chopped fine
1 cup pecan pieces chopped fine

Combine the flours, and salt. Set aside. Cream butter and cream cheese in a electric mixer for 2 min till light and fluffy. Mix in the sugar and the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and slowly add the flour/salt. Mix to combine don't overmix. Then fold in the toasted pecans (cooled) and chocolate pieces.

Take the dough out of the bowl and divide into 2 logs, rolling in parchment paper or plastic wrap. Freeze till firm about 30 min.  While the dough is chilling preheat the oven to 350. Unwrap 1 log and roll in 1/2 cup of the remaining pecans and repeat with the other log. Cut the log into 1/4 inch thick rounds, and arrange on a cookie sheet with parchment. they don't spread much so they can be fairly close to each other.  Bake the cookies for 15-19 min  until golden around the edge (don't forget to rotate the pan half way through- ALWAYS do this with cookies) This makes about 4 dozen cookies. I only baked 1 log and I am saving the other log for later. Since we have cookies every week I try and not have too many around.

Meatballs

Grandpa and Lukas  June 2011

My Grandpa used to make meatballs for Oma soup, and frankly it was my favorite part as a kid. One day my Grandpa was making a bunch of meatballs for the freezer and had just gotten a vacuum sealer. He was excited to have them all ready for when he wanted to make Oma soup. So he got them all rolled out and ready to seal, he pressed the button and SMASH! all the meatballs turned to mush! Ha silly Grandpa didn't think about it completely destroying his perfectly shaped meatballs. He had to start all over again and first freeze then vacuum seal. Yet this is only 1 of the many funny stories about my grandpa. He was an AMAZING cook, and I know that's where I get my passion for food.
I'm not sure if there was an official recipe that my Grandpa used, but mine is pretty close. I use meatballs in many different dishes from spicy BBQ meatballs, spaghetti, soup and sandwiches.  I like to make medium ones, but small or big ones are good too. For soup I suggest smaller so it can be picked up with a spoon. And maybe later I can get the recipe for Oma soup from my Dad fast Erny and share it.


Meatballs:
2 pounds ground beef/ pork/or turkey
3/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup dried basil
3 TBS dried oregano
3 TBS dried onion
3 TBS garlic pepper
3 TBS dill weed
2 TBS worcestershire sauce
2 eggs
1-3 TBS red pepper flakes- optional
2 tsp salt

Combine everything in a big bowl. Mix together with your hands till well mixed. if it seems too wet add more breadcrumbs. Sometimes I mix beef and pork together and turkey meatballs are great too!  Now this makes alot of little meatballs- I got about 60 meduim ones, depending on how lean the meat is they might shrink. I try and buy 93/7 or at least 90/10 ground beef, and mine don't really shrink. There are a couple ways of cooking the meatballs. I favor the oven get them browned up before I add them to my sauce or soup. Bake them at 350 for 15-20 min (depends on size). But if you are out of time they can be put directly into sauce or soup. Just be careful so they don't stick to the bottom, and over stirring can cause them to break.  I hope you enjoy the meatballs in whatever you decide to put them in.