Crispy Gingerbread Cookies

Weird. Is what I would use to describe 2015. The past year was full of ups and downs, laughters and cries. As always, I wish this brand new year to be better than the previous and that it brings us nothing but joy. With my finals finally finished and the winter break finally here with a lot of snow, I am pretty sure that this holiday will not only be relaxing but also a refreshing way to welcome new year and the new semester. 

On the other hand, the recipe that I prepared for you, better late than never, the Crispy Gingerbread Cookie recipe is now ready for you as promised before. I do have a Gingerbread Recipe on my blog from previous years, however I can say that this one is the crispiest one ever. Instead of cutting them with "gingerbread men" cookie cutters, I invested in a tiny cookie tree cutter set which comes in various sized star shaped cutters and a hole puncher. So, you can make a tree out of your cookies or tie it with string and hang as decorations. 

I also got these amazing snowflake shaped cookie cutters from Crate and Barrel. I can truly say that these are the most beautiful cookie cutters I have every owned. They look like lace and the cookies come out so pretty that you do not even what to eat the cookies to that they don't lose their shapes. 

Even though Christmas season is over, Gingerbread cookie is still one of my favorites to bake because of its fragrant smell and delicious taste. A nice mug of coffee, a tiny generous piece of Crispy Gingerbread Cookie and a decent book is all you need for during these cold snowy days. With a couple of cookie cutters, this recipe is perfect to share with friends and family. I wish you a fantastic new year and hope you'll like this recipe. 

Cafe Fernando's Almond Cookies

A cup of coffee and some flaky almond cookies with a new book in my hand I am sitting in my balcony trying to ignore screaming kids and enjoying the beautiful weather. Summer is officially here. After coming back from an exhausting volunteering project in İzmir, I can finally relax and have a time of my own. 

A couple of months ago I bought a new cooking book called Cafe Fernando. It is written by the famous food blogger "Cenk Sönmezsoy" who loves San Francisco, baking, chocolate and macarons, just like me. He has won many awards with his blog, book and original recipes. I wish I had found his blog earlier but late is better than never. 

photos from: http://bigumigu.com/haber/tasarim_gozu_olan_kurabiye_ustalari_araniyor_cafefernando 

I tried the first recipe on his book called "Cenk's Home Cookies". In Turkey, every mother or grandmother has their special cookie recipe that they can pass on to their children and grandchildren. We do not have a specific recipe written on a piece but my grandmother always bakes the best cookies by measuring with her eyes and experimenting with different nuts and fruits. And as you can imagine it might be very difficult to follow a recipe where you are asked a handful of sugar and plenty of flour. This is why I chose to try Cafe Fernando's recipe. 

photo from: http://bigumigu.com/haber/tasarim_gozu_olan_kurabiye_ustalari_araniyor_cafefernando

The cookies are so good that you cannot stop eating. It is not to sweet but has a crunchy topping and a flaky texture which is what I love in a cookie. I highly recommend that you try this because it is purely worth your time. It is time to use those almonds that you have bought a couple of months ago and that you couldn't use them because you've spent too much money on. Believe me it is worth it. I hope you'll enjoy. 

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Summer is the time where I get to travel and most importantly visit my summer house in Çanakkale. It is the only time where I get to relax, enjoy the sunshine on the silky sand, read a couple of books of my choice with my sunglasses on and swim in the crystal clear sea. However what I like the most is that I get to visit a small island called "Bozcaada". It is just across where our house is and only takes 45 minutes to get there with the boat. 

The port

Bozcaada is known with its jams, wine, fish, herbs and most importantly its super cold sea. But for me a cold sea is the best after a burning summer day. I can say that warm water is definitely not for me and this is why I love Bozcaada so much. I would love to spend the entire summer there but a lot of people choose to come here during the season and it makes this tiny cute island a disaster because of the traffic, and food problems. Even the hotels are overloaded and you can count yourselves lucky if you have a loaf of bread and a bottle of water. This is why I only go there just before the season starts. 

Ayazma Beach

The classic Bozcaada lunch, roasted eggplants, fried calamari and samphire...

for more photos of Bozcaada

Three weeks ago I went there for the weekend with my entire family; my aunt, my uncle, my grandmother, my grandfather, my cousin, my father and my mother. We visited  Alesta Otel owned by one of our friend who lives in Bozcaada. She invited us for the authentic island breakfast full of jams, pişi and olives. It was spectacular. After the breakfast, we had coffee and some cookie that I baked for her. I had to hide the cookie box on our way to the island because m uncle and my cousin were trying to eat "Just one more". Everyone, even the guests that were staying at the hotel fell in love with the cookies. Later I baked a batch for my Geography class and they also liked the cookies. 

So, I am sharing the recipe for the most amazing "Chocolate Crinkle Cookies":

Note: If you bake these overnight, it will be easier to shape them. They need minimum 5 hours of resting in the refrigerated. 

Oatmeal Cookies

Taking a bite from a spicy and cinnamon flavoured cookie in the chilly winter days is definitely the cure as a mood booster. I have been extremely stressful with all the school work and testa. I find it almost impossible to cook. But I also believe that cooking and especially baking are stress relieving activities. Winter is the most wonderful time of the year to bake. That is why I have been baking recently rather than cooking. 

As a person who does not love sweet things very much, I do have some sweet cravings from time to time. One of my favorite sweet foods to snack on are cookies. My ultimate favorite is the Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe which has become a family classic nowadays. After baking the chocolate chip recipe for many years, I was eventually bored after a certain time. When I was going through my recipe book in order to find something new and different to bake, I bumped into a recipe from 4-5 years ago. 

This recipe is from my 6th grande English teacher. She is an amazing person and she was an inspiration to me. I was interested cooking before 6th grade but I started the real deal that year. Our English teacher used to bring cookies to our class that were very different from the cookies that my mom used to bake. They were soft and chewy and I fell in love with them since most of the cookies that my mom baked were crunchy and hard.

I waited to get a bite from my English teacher's various types of cookies every time she walked into the class with a large box. And every single one of those cookies were beyond amazing. They were not traditional cookies that we have here in Turkey and that is why I found them very interesting and unique. I had those types of cookies in Starbucks and in some cafés but being able to cook them at my own oven was fantastic. 

This oatmeal cookie recipe is delicious and has a very important significance to me. Every time I bake these cookies, I remember 6th grade and our English lessons with cookies. That is why I want to thank my English teacher for the recipes and for being an inspiration to me that made me start cooking and baking for real. 
Here is the recipe for the Oatmeal Cookies, I hope you'll enjoy:

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Spoiler alert!: This post does not contain April Fools Jokes. Sorry. 

Sometimes in the middle of the night you crave for something chewy, something sweet and rich. Or maybe you just want to have something to eat while you are enjoying your ice-cold milk before you go to sleep. Or maybe you want to prepare something for Santa. I can count all the options but this would take a while. 

The first time I tasted these cookies was when I was in middle school. Our English teacher would bake cookies for us. She was American and she always surprised us with amazing tasting cookies. So one day I went to her and asked her to give me the recipe. That day, I was brightened with the name of "Nestlé Toll House". 

I like these cookies as a gift and they are also good if you are baking for friends. You get approximately 60 cookies. Which is a lot. So, if you are not baking for a crowd then you should use the half of the ingredients. I am not saying that you should though. Every single person who tasted these begged for another one, so I recommend that you go for the full batch. These cookies are definitely worth sharing. 

Gingerbread Cookies

Nothing makes me happier than my food being appreciated. 

This week was the first time that I've baked for my classmates. I know it is a little bit late. I should have introduced my cooking way earlier. However the busy schedule and all the cramming did not give me a chance to bake for them. Since Christmas time is baking time for me, I wanted to bake them something this week, before the Christmas Break. So, I baked them these cookies. Lots of people were a little bit shy to taste gingerbread because of the word "ginger" in it. They said they didn't want. However when I opened the box, the smell of the cookies made them surrender. It was obvious that they couldn't resist. Many people asked for a second one however all of them were gone by the end of the second period. I also gave some to my teachers. Since most of them are American, I thought that they wouldn't like it because I was sure that they had the original and a way more delicious gingerbread bookie back at their homes. However all of my teachers liked them. One of my teachers even said that "This smells like my mom's cookies." 
I like giving these small treats to people. I know that they are waiting me to bake for them again. Be patient. I will eventually bake again. Sometime at least. Since the finals are ahead I cannot give any promises. But I am going to bake for you someday in the future again. 

Anyways, lets go back to the recipe. Almost every family has a gingerbread cookie or house baking rituals. However, this was my first time baking a gingerbread cookie. Before I decided to bake this recipe, I wanted to bake something different. And something special. I was bored of baking sugar cookies every year. As I said, I wasn't sure how the cookies were going to taste. However, the outcome was very good. They turned out to be yummier that I thought. I was really amazed with all the flavours; the ginger, the cinnamon, the cloves... 
When I was measuring from the recipe, I thought that the spices would be too much and the cookies might get to spicy. They were spicy but at the right level. It was perfect.

I like them when they are freshly baked, when you can still feel the warmth in your moth when you bite it. However it is also easy to pack and give as gifts. 

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know it's been a while since my last post but I was very busy cramming for tests. Sorry for that. I am know enjoying my break and I wanted to share you my new and final version of "Peanut Butter Cookies" recipe. 

I love baking and one of my favorite is baking cookies. The first cookie I baked was Nestle's Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies which is awesome but I was a little bit bored of the same flavour so I decided to give this recipe a try. Normally, I don't like to use peanut butter because as you know it is not very healthy. But as I said, I was bored baking the same cookies every time. So I went online and found a classic Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe. I've been adding, removing and changing the amounts of the ingredients and here is the final version: