I came across www.ItalianRecipeBook.com and they offer a lot of interesting recipes to try. I came across their Italian Butter Cookie Recipe and it took me back to visiting neighborhood bakeries. As a child my family purchased baked goods from local bakeries. Old women that worked there would always offer me butter cookies that were delicious. This recipe was pretty good and I hardly changed a thing. I did cut the recipe in half and came out with 21 cookies instead of 40 cookies. I used vanilla extract instead of vanilla powder because I don’t have vanilla powder. I made the cookies the right size but for some reason the timing didn’t work out for me…………..Maybe my oven is to blame? Instead of 14 minutes these cookies took me 14 + 5 + 5 + 10 minutes…….but every time I opened the door this oven looses a lot of heat unlike my last oven so opening the door is time costly………….Maybe you won’t have the same problem? These are small but delicious cookies that aren’t too sweet. You might want to eat more than one? This makes around 10 (if you eat two cookies) or 20 servings if you only eat one cookie a serving. I’ll say 15 servings because sometimes you will only eat one cookie.

Ingredients for around 15 servings

4 ounce unsweetened butter – mostly melted

1/2 cup 10X sugar

1 egg

6 ounce flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Optional toppings such as jimmies, fancy sugars, chocolate chips. cherries, sesame seeds, or nuts

Directions

Mix together everything but the toppings in a medium-large bowl (butter, sugar, egg, flour, vanilla

This mixture goes in a pastry bag with a large star tip.

You make small swirls (20-21) on parchment lined sheet pan(s).

Top the swirls with your choice of toppings.

They go on the middle rack of the oven till lightly browned. (original recipe reads 14 minutes……I did 14 + 5 + 5 + 10……….?

In the end they came out DELICIOUS!

A Special THANKS!!!!!!!! To www.ItalianRecipeCookBook.com so I could do what I got here!

You can find some amazing recipes on www.ItalianRecipeBook.com . I found a recipe there for a pate a choux based pastry called Saint Joseph’s Pastry. It differs some than other recipes I tried but I thought their way of making the pate a choux was explained better. Some things about the recipe did differ from what I got………You also might want to double the pastry cream. I only wanted a small squirt in the center. you might want to split more open than what I did and might want to use more.

I got 24 pastries instead of twelve. I didn’t make them smaller either.

There are two hard things about making them….The original recipe says that this should look not like dough and look more like cream………It tells you to use 4 eggs and only part of the 5th egg if needed………..that is what I did….

I used about 4 1/2 eggs but about doing so I think the pastries would have looked better with 4 eggs.

I think I would have gotten more defined ridges on the pastries but there is another issue…….

IT’S FORKING HARD TO SQUEEZE THIS OUT OF THE PASTRY BAG. Not everyone out there will be able to sqeeze this stuff out with a pastry bag.

The other issue is the pastry cream. It’s good if you want it very thick and not flavored much as written……… but a suggestion of lemon or orange zest is suggested. The next day mine was too thick to use so I added splashes of cream, vanilla, and honey to it.

Ingredients for up to 24 pastries

285ml water

200 grams flour

4 oz sweet butter

4 eggs (up to a 1/2 egg more if you want your dough thinner)

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1 1/3 cup milk

3 egg yolks

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup corn starch

1 oz butter (I used sweet butter)

Splash cream (to thin if desired)

splash vanilla extract (to flavor if desired)

splash honey (to sweeten if desired)

Directions

In a sauce pot bring the water, butter, and salt to a boil. Then reduce to low heat. Add all the flour. Cook on low a few minutes. Take off heat and when the dough is cool add one egg at a time. Here’s the tricky part….You can add up to a 1/2 egg more but dough might get soft and not hold shape well.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

Pipe 3 inch rings onto parchment paper leaving room for rings to expand.

Let this bake till it turns light brown (in my oven 30 minutes) and open the oven door but leave the oven on with the pastries….They need to get harder….They need 5-10 minutes more with the oven door opened.

Repeat until done with dough.

Make the pastry cream.

Mix milk, cream, yolks, sugar, honey, corn starch, and vanilla. Bring to boil and stir well with a whisk. Thin as needed.

Decorate however you want!

I made the puffier ones like eclairs by dipping the top in melted chocolate chips and splitting in half adding pastry cream. Some I swirled a little chocolate its de creme in the center and topped with a cherry.

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!!!! To www.ItalianRecipeBook.com so I could come up with what I got here.

This Italian Sesame Cookie Recipe is based on www.ItalianRecipeBook.com ‘s recipe for Italian Sesame Cookies. Maybe due to using a different brand of flour than what the recipe writer used I had different results and my dough was so dry I couldn’t make cookies out of it. I cut the recipe in half too because it made far more cookies than I can even give away. Then to half of the recipe – I added more butter, a Tablespoon of water, a whole lemon zest instead of a half and maybe due to my oven I had to bake the cookies 25 degrees F higher to make them come out. In the end I wound up with delicious not-too-sweet cookies. I made about 34 cookies (with 1/2 of the original recipe) I can see eating one or two cookies for a serving……so I’ll estimate about 20 servings.

Ingredients for around 20 servings

1 3/4 cup flour

4oz unsalted butter – room temperature and slightly melted

1 Tablespoon water

1/4 cup + 1 Tablespoon sugar

1 egg

1 lemon – just the zest

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

pinch of sea salt

1/2 cup sesame seeds

Directions

Set Oven to 375 degrees F.

Line a baking sheet or sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl mix together all the ingredients except for the sesame seeds. (flour, butter, water, sugar, egg, zest, baking powder, salt)

The dough gets rolled into small logs (something between a pen size and your pinky. Make each log almost as long as your thumb. Dip the log in water and sprinkle and roll in sesame seeds. Space some on baking sheet and Repeat till done.

The baking sheet goes on the middle rack till lightly browned. Ovens do differ some. In my oven this took 25 minutes.

Italian Sesame Cookies

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!!! To www.ItalianRecipeBook.com for sharing their Italian Sesame Cookie Recipe so I could come up with what I got here!

I made pizza a few times before here but I usually don’t measure and tried to explain what I do the best that I can. I always made two pizzas at a time because it is just about as easy to make two as one and then you have leftover pizza for at least another time or times. Home made pizzas are made different than Pizzeria Pizzas…….The home oven just doesn’t get that hot and is electric or gas……For a home made pizza you can add olive oil to the dough and cook the crust first at the highest heat that you can. The second baking should be done on a stone to try to get a crisp crust. Serving size is always impossible to determine. I don’t know if you want one slice or four slices……So that means between 16 servings and 4 servings depending on if everyone eats one slice or 4 slices……….I’ll rough guesstimate……I’ll say the two pizzas will be at least 6 servings.

Ingredients for at least 6 servings

2 cups 110 degree F water

1 Packet yeast – 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 Tablespoon sugar

Directions

This goes in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

You wait (up to an hour) till you have a nice thick foamy top.

Then you add

16 ounces flour (today I used all purpose)

1 Tablespoon sea salt (I prefer course sea salt)

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and let it sit at least an hour.

Then you add another 16 ounces of flour. Knead and knead and knead forever……or at least 6 minutes.

You won’t use all the flour but will use most of it. some the dough will sit in and you cover your dough ball bowl with plastic wrap again and leave it alone for a few hours. I start my dough between 7 and 8 am and use the dough between 1 and 2pm.

Preheat your oven for as high as it goes……….(Mine goes to 550 degrees F)

My pizza pan and my pizza stone can’t handle 550 degrees so I use a baking sheet that I first spray lightly with nonstick spray to avoid sticking……Then I spray with olive oil….and sprinkle the sheet tray with semolina.

The dough gets sandwiched between parchment paper and plastic wrap. I roll it with a rolling pin. Then peel the plastic wrap off and flop the dough over the pan and peel the parchment paper off.

Pat the dough to fit better in the pan…….Place on a middle rack for 7-8 minutes or until lightly brown on the ends.

If you have a pizza stone….You can leave the oven door open to cool off the oven a bit and when it’s down to around 300 degrees you can put your pizza stone in and heat it up to around 450 degrees (to PREFERABLY MANUFACTURES DIRECTIONS) for about an hour and top the dough to your liking till melted….maybe only 5 minutes…not much more.

ENJOY!!!!!

(below is pizza with fresh mozzarella cheeses, pesto, sauce, tomato, basil

A few other pizzas I did.

Have Fun!!!

Enjoy!!!

I’m so proud of myself…..I came up with a tasty apple pie filling and kicked it up a notch with something maybe nobody already thought of before……..yuzu kosho…..That amazing wonderfully mostly citrus-ee…..a little heat and more….condament. It really makes apple filling pop if you got the flavors just right……First I pre-baked a nice thin crust. I made the filling. I made a walnut crumb topping and then I put them all together and baked it off. I make very thin crusts on pies. If you are not a fan of a thin crust then you are welcome to double the crust recipe but timing will differ. Depending on serving size this make around 8 servings.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

3 1/2 lbs green apples – peeled, cored, cut in small wedges

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

3 Tablespoons corn starch

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 lemon – just the fresh juice for the filling******** and save the zest for the walnut crumb topping********

2 Tablespoons sweet butter – cut into small cubes like small peas

1 teaspoon yuzu kosho

1 cup flour – for crust

1/4 cup canola oil – for crust

1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar – for crust

1/6 cup water – for crust

1/4 teaspoon baking powder – for crust

3 1/2 Tablespoons cold butter – grated – for topping

1/2 cup walnuts lightly crushed – for topping

1 yolk – for topping

1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest – for topping

1/4 teaspoon lemon extract – for topping

1/2 cup flour – for topping’

3 Tablespoons corn meal – for topping

1/4 teaspoon sea salt – for topping

1/6 cup sugar – for topping

1 1/2 Tablespoons brown sugar – for topping

non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Make the filling. In a large bowl mix together the apples, sugars, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt, lemon juice, butter, and yuzu kosho. Pour this mixture into shallow pan or pans and cover with foil. This goes in the oven for about an hour or until cooked.

Make the crust.

In a medium bowl combine the flour, oil, vinegar, salt, water, and baking powder. Roll this out very thin and place in a sprayed 8-9 inch pie pan. (I roll mine on parchment paper with plastic wrap over the dough to get it very thin) This gets pre-baked in the oven for 15 minutes.

Make the topping – In a medium bowl combine the butter, walnuts, yolk, lemon zest, extract, flour, corn meal, salt, sugars. Dump this on a baking sheet and bake it about 25 minutes.

To. pastry shell add the apple filling. Top the filling with the walnut crumble put this back in the oven for around 20 minutes.

ENJOY!!!!!!

I had some lemons to use and I was thinking lemon cookie. I came across an Italian Lemon Cookie Recipe that I had to completely change the recipe but I tried to shape the cookies similar to the original recipe. I think the recipe I read had typos (like 4 cups of flour for 20 cookies doesn’t make sense) and there wasn’t enough lemon in the recipe to taste lemon either (typo?). Made some other changes and came out with something really different. These cookies came out extra light, very lemony, and not too sweet. Servings are very hard to determine here. I made 40 small but very light cookies. I think you might eat up to four as a serving. So that means you will get between 40-10 servings….40 if you only eat one……(you are NOT going to do that)…….10 servings if you eat 4……I think around 15 servings is realistic…….

Ingredients for around 15 servings

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 cup sweet butter – melted

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg – beaten

1/4 cup milk

1 lemon – juice and zest

1 teaspoon lemon extract

non stick spray

1 cup 10X sugar (for glaze)

2 lemons for zest and only one lemon for the juice (for glaze)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and spray a cookie sheet with non stick spray.

In a large mixing bowl combine the flour, baking powder, salt, butter, sugar, egg, milk, juice and zest of one lemon, and lemon extract. Hand mix with a FORK till combined. Roll logs that are ever so slightly thinner than your pinky. Or you can be more precise and divide the dough into 4 and get 10 cuts out of each quarter……….Each 10th gets rolled into a log close to your pinky size and you want each log to be about 4 inches long. You roll it into a fancy knot.

Have fun with this……it’s not brain surgery.

They go on your sprayed cookie sheet.

Into your preheated 350 degree oven on your middle rack till slightly browned and cooked……Ovens do indeed DIFFER………In my Whirlpool oven mine took 17 and 18 minutes………Your oven may differ.

While your cookies are baking mix up the glaze in a small bowl…..It’s just a cup of 10X, zest of two lemons and juice of one lemon. Mix well with a FORK.

Dip the cookie tops into the glaze.

Use all the glaze.

For some reason my one dog feels the need to guard the cookies.

The Cookies really are FORKING DELICIOUS!