Neiman Marcus Cookies

I have been wanting to make this cookie for a long time ever since I read about the $250 Neiman Marcus cookie recipe. Legend has it that a mother and daughter asked if they could buy the cookie recipe as it was so good and she was told it's "two-fifty." When she got her credit card statement a month later, it was actually $250, not $2.50 as she thought so she decided that she would share the recipe for free with everyone.  You can read the full story here. 

These cookies were really delicious! I can see why someone would ask to buy the recipe. It's a crispy cookie and had the right balance of chopped nuts, chocolate chips and ground oats. A definite winner and I've had so many compliments about these cookies, I'll have to make them again! 

I'm sending this to my own AlphaBakes which I am hosting this month as the is letter N for Neiman Marcus (and nuts).  Remember to check out my co-host Caroline's blog next month for November's letter.

 blitz oats to a fine powder 

  add chocolate chips and ground mixed nuts

 ready to go in the oven 

 yum! 

Makes a lot of cookies! approximately 70-80 cookies
I adapted the recipe slightly by reducing the sugar and chocolate chip amounts which I've shown here.

300g plain flour
210g rolled oats
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
225g butter
200g light brown sugar
175g caster sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
300g chocolate chips
175g chopped mixed nuts

• Preheat the oven to 180c.
• Blitz the rolled oats in a food processor until it resembles a fine powder. 
• Cream the butter and sugars until smooth.
• Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 
• Mix in the flour, salt, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda.
• Finally stir in the chocolate chips and mixed nuts. 
• Use an ice cream scoop to place a scoop of cookie dough spaced apart on a lined baking tray. 
• Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown.
• The cookies will still be soft but will harden as it cools.
• Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Banana Nut Bread

I'm sure you remember the awesome banana bread loaf pan I bought from America. As I had 3 sad looking bananas sitting on the counter, I thought I'd put them to good use by making banana bread. I decided to use the recipe that accompanied the pan with some minor changes. Sadly, the banana bread was very dry and not very "banana-ey" so I won't be making this again in a hurry or at least without making significant changes.  Interestingly enough the people who don't really like bananas quite liked this bread probably because the banana taste was mild and the texture was fairly dry and solid (It's the mushiness of the banana that tends to put people off) Personally I like a really moist banana bread full of banana flavour. I am still in love with the pan so I'm sure you will see it again and again especially since I love baking with bananas :)

As it's B for bananas, I'm sending this to AlphaBakes hosted by myself this month and co-hosted by Caroline from Caroline Makes on alternate months. If you haven't made your AlphaBakes entry, there's a few days left to enter (25th April) so get baking and blogging!

 Simple recipe - mix wet ingredients and dry ingredients 

 not quite enough to fill to the top

 but it rose a fair bit which required trimming

 I still love the detail on the pan 

Recipe from NordicWare

330g plain flour

120g sugar (this is the reduced amount I used)

3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon (I used 1/2)

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I used 1/2)

70g chopped walnuts, toasted - I used chopped mixed nuts 

3-4 ripe bananas

1/3 cup plain yoghurt

2 eggs, lightly beaten

7 tablespoons butter, melted (I used 1/4 cup vegetable oil)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.
• Stir in the nuts and set aside. 
• Ina small bowl, mix the mashed bananas, yoghurt, eggs, butter and vanilla.
• Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined.
• Spoon the batter into the pan and bake for 55-65 minutes (I recommend checking at 45 minutes)
• Cool for 5 minutes in the pan then turn out to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Posh Brownies

It's Jan and almost everyone is on a health diet of some kind. I've never really been good at that - poor, no self control and all but I thought I would make an effort and *try* to make something a little healthier.  I remember reading about brownies made with mayonnaise which is supposed to be healthier.  I happened to have a jar of extra light mayonnaise so I thought I'd give it a go. The recipe is from Hellmann's and they name it posh brownies so how bad can it be? They state that it's 55% less saturated fat than if prepared with butter. 

It's a fairly simple brownie recipe with the usual suspects and the addition of mayonnaise instead of butter. I overbaked mine slightly so they were a little on the chewy side but I have to say I was quite impressed with these brownies. It's not buttery and fudgy but it still tastes like a brownie. It's fairly moist and light and I like the added crunch of the nuts. I'm not sure if it would taste different if I made it with full fat mayonnaise. Has anyone else tried this recipe?

Anyway at least I can feel virtuous eating these brownies....as long as I don't eat the whole tray!! :) 

I am entering these to bake-along brownies over at Bake for Happy Kids 

 star ingredient - mayonnaise 

 adding the mayo

 ready to go in the oven 

 slightly overbaked! oops 

Recipe from Hellmanns website 

40g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g cocoa powder
140g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
3 eggs
225g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
110g mayonnaise
55g walnuts, finely chopped (I didnt have any so used chopped mixed nuts instead)

• Preheat the oven to 160C.
• Grease and line a 23cm square tin.
• Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.
• Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
• In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar and vanilla essence.
• Add the slightly cooled, melted chocolate into this mixture and mix well.
• Next fold in the flour.
• Add the mayonnaise and chopped nuts.
• Pour into the tin and bake for about 30 - 35 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
• Allow to cool in the tin before slicing. 

Apple, chocolate and nut bundt cake

This month's we should cocoa is hosted by Chele from Chocolate Teapot and she chose apples as the special ingredient. I have been baking quite a lot with apples recently as it's in season but I have never baked them with chocolate so this truly was a challenge for me. It took a while before the idea fully formed in my head. I leafed through some of my cookbooks to get inspiration and came across this nutty apple loaf from the hummingbird bakery cookbook which has chocolate in it. Excellent! I then thought maybe I could make it in my new bundt pan which I have been dying to use. I am so glad that it turned out well and looks really pretty. 

As it's a small tin, I got to make some mini loaves as well. The cake itself was moist due to the apples and the nuts gave it a lovely crunch and texture. The chocolate complemented the flavours but did not overpower. I am definitely making this recipe again and again. 

In case you didn't know, tomorrow November 15th is National Bundt Day. Mary from The Food librarian makes 30 bundt cakes in the month leading up to tomorrow. She has an impressive collection of bundt pans and a vast collection of bundt cake recipes some of which I have tried with good results. I am adding this recipe to her round up for 2011. 

 my new bundt pan 

 mix ingredients together for the cake 

 add chopped apple, chocolate and mixed nuts. 

 filling the bundt pan 

 perhaps a little overdone!

 I love the way it looks :) 

 sprinkling of icing sugar on top 

 you can see the apples and chocolate

 

 mini loaves with the extra batter 

Recipe from the hummingbird bakery cookbook
175g unsalted butter
140g soft light brown sugar
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
2 eggs
140g plain flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g shelled mixed nuts, chopped
50g dark chocolate, chopped
2 eating apples, cored and roughly chopped

• Put the butter, sugar and strawberry jam in a freestanding electric mixer with a paddle attachment and cream until light and fluffy. 
• Add the eggs one at a time. 
• Sift the flour, baking powder and cinnamon in a separate bowl and then beat into the butter mixture. 
• Stir the nuts, chocolate and apples into the mixture by hand. 
• Cover and chill for a few hours or overnight. 
• Preheat the oven to 170C.
• Pour the mixture into a bundt pan (or loaf tin) and bake for about 45-50 minutes. (My small bundt pan only required about 35 minutes to cook)
• A skewer inserted into the centre should come out clean and the sponge should feel firm to touch. 
• Leave to cool slightly in the tin before turning out to a wire rack to cool completely. 
• Dust with icing sugar if required.