With my Christmas cookie exchange coming up, I had originally planned to make the same cookies I made last year - sugar cookies and Pfeffernüsse - but then I came across a few recipes on epicurious that sounded yummy, so chose three to try out. I made the first one today: Hazelnut butter chocolate chip cookies. I'm not sure the cookies are worth the $12 jar of hazelnut butter; peanut butter probably would have worked just fine. I also don't think they are as good as these peanut butter cookies. I may use the other half of the jar of hazelnut butter and follow the peanut butter recipe to see what I think. They weren't bad. I just didn't feel they were stellar. Also, I halved the chocolate chip amount; 2 cups seemed over the top.
I also made a make-ahead appetizer. I took my Cook's Illustrated Make Ahead Meals magazine to work to loan to my pregnant friend Janice, who is prepping for arrival of baby. Whilst flipping through the book before I gave it to her, I came across a recipe for make-ahead stuffed mushrooms. These can't be frozen, but can be refrigerated, so they're one- or two-days ahead cooking. I thought that sounded like a good thing to make with Shannon visiting this week (her third trip to Ottawa this year!).
I already have an a-maze-ing stuffed mushroom recipe, but it is labour-intensive and I don't know how it would do if prepped in advance - probably fine. My keeper recipe is a cream cheese-stuffed mushroom, whereas this recipe is a goat cheese-stuffed mushroom, which I thought might also be healthier. In any case, I didn't love the Cook's Illustrated recipe, but I did think it was good; in fact, I enjoyed them more the second day than I did the first, so, I'll share:
Make-ahead Goat cheese-stuffed Mushrooms
1 slice high-quality white sandwich bread, quartered
6 tbsps extra virgin olive oil, divided
9 medium garlic cloves, minced or pressed through a garlic press (about 3 tbsps), divided
table salt and freshly ground black pepper
24 (1 1/2- to 2-inch-wide) white mushroom caps, cleaned (stems removed and discarded)
4 ounces goat cheese, softened
1 tsp minced fresh thyme leaves, or 1/4 tsp dried
Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300°F. Pulse bread in food processor to coarse crumbs, about 6 pulses. Toss crumbs with 1 tbsp oil, 1 tbsp garlic, 1/8 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper. Spread crumbs on rimmed baking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned and dry, about 20 minutes; transfer to bowl and set aside to cool.
Increase oven temperature to 450°F. Mix 4 more tbsps oil with remaining 2 tbsps garlic, 1/4 tsp salt and 1/8 tsp pepper, then toss with mushroom caps. Lay caps, gill side down, on foil- or parchment-lined baking sheet. Roast mushrooms until they release their juices, about 20 minutes. Flip caps over and continue to roast until liquid has evaporated completely and mushrooms are brown all over, about 10 minutes longer. Remove mushrooms from oven, flip gill side down, and set aside to drain any excess moisture.
Line second baking sheet with foil or parchment; set aside. Mix goat cheese, thyme and remaining 1 tbsp oil together until smooth, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Transfer cheese mixture to small zip-lock bag and snip off bottom corner of bag using scissors. Pipe about 1 tsp of goat cheese mixture into each mushroom cap and top with bread crumbs. Transfer stuffed mushrooms to prepared baking sheet.
TO STORE: Wrap baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days.
TO SERVE: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 450°F. Unwrap mushrooms and bake until mushrooms and filling are hot and crumbs are crisp, about 10 minutes.
Makes 24 mushrooms.
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| We especially liked the crumbly topping; I'm going to try adding this to my cream cheese stuffed mushrooms, the next time I make them! |
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