Weekend Cooking: Sugar, Sugar
After Kimberly Reiner became known in her town for her fudge, a neighbor asked if she could sell it in her gift shop and, before she knew it, her fudge became one of Oprah’s “Favorite Things” and she was appearing on shows like The Rachael Ray Show and The Martha Stewart Show.
Reiner’s fudge recipe had been passed down in her family and as she traveled the country, people told her stories of their own family recipes. To Reiner, the stories became just as important as the recipes and she came up with the idea for a cookbook. She enlisted the help of Jenna Sanz-Agero and Sugar, Sugar was born.
Sugar, Sugar is such a fun cookbook! Told in an informal, conversational style, it is full of great stories and even better recipes. Recipes are divided into cakes, pies, cookies, bars and candies. There are also cake pan volumes and tips for switching pan sizes, something I’ve never seen in a cookbook before. Many of the recipes include tips from Reiner and Sanz-Agero, the “Sugar Mommas.”
This cookbook is beautiful too. It’s printed on thick, glossy paper and has beautiful photos. There’s even room for you to write notes after you’ve tried the recipes. My only quibble with the cookbook is that not every recipe is pictured.
Carl was in the mood for a chocolate dessert, so I pulled out Sugar, Sugar and told him to pick something out. He chose Chocolate Cloud Cookies and they were absolutely wonderful! We will definitely make them again. I prefer baking over cooking, but don’t bake much these days because we only eat a little bit of what I create and end up giving or throwing the rest away. That was not the case with these cookies – they were gone within two days.
Believe me when I say you’re going to want Sugar, Sugar before you start your holiday baking!
Chocolate Cloud Cookies
½ cup whole milk
½ teaspoon baking soda
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 warm batch Kossuth Cake Chocolate Frosting
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or use nonstick cooking spray). In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and baking soda until all lumps are dissolved. Set aside. In large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
Place the sugar and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat on medium speed until creamy. Reduce the speed to low and add the egg and vanilla. Add the melted chocolate and mix until smooth. Add half the flour mixture and blend. Slowly incorporate the milk mixture. Add the second half of the flour mixture and blend until smooth.
Drop the dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto the baking sheet, leaving at least 1 inch between cookies. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies spring back when touched. Make the frosting while the cookies bake. Remove the cookies from the oven and cool for 1 minute.
Lift the edges of the parchment paper and transfer the entire sheet of cookies (still on the paper) to a wire rack. If you did not bake the cookies on parchment paper, place wax paper on the rack to keep the frosting from dripping all over, and transfer the cookies individually. While the cookies are still warm, drizzle a teaspoon of the chocolate frosting on each and use the back of a spoon to spread the icing around. We like to keep some of the underlying cookie exposed because it is so unusual. Let cool until the frosting sets.
Kossuth Cake Chocolate Frosting
2½ ounces bittersweet chocolate
¼ (½ stick) butter
2 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons hot water, or more as needed
2 egg yolks, beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
Place the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler (or in a metal bowl nestled in a saucepan of boiling water) over medium heat, stirring regularly. When the chocolate is melted, stir in the sugar. Add the hot water, 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until smooth. Remove from the heat and gently mix in the egg yolks, vanilla, and salt, stirring after each addition. Blend with a handheld electric mixer on low speed (or by hand) for 1 minutes, or until the frosting is smooth. If the frosting is too thick to pour, add more hot water, a little at a time, to achieve a consistency that allows for drizzling.
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Oh my. I’m surprised these cookies lasted two days! They look wonderful. I love drop cookies (I’m too lazy to roll and cut).
This sounds amazing if a little dangerous to have around!
I wish I had one right now to go with my coffee. This sounds like a great addition to any cookbook collection.
The chocolate cloud cookies sound great – but are they chewy or crunchy? And ugh – now I’ll be singing that stupid song Sugar, Sugar all day!
They’re kind of “cake-y,” if that makes sense. They’re very light and almost melt in your mouth.
Great review. I also reviewed this one today (sorry!) I’m not a big chocolate fan so I doubt we would eat a full batch of those cookies, but I’d love to try one or two! They look beautiful too!
Since my daughter went off to college, I found myself baking less. Just this morning as I was cleaning out one of my kitchen cabinets, I said to myself that I have to start baking again because I do really enjoy it so much. This book sounds like a wonderful find to re-start my baking!
Now that Dave is retiring, I imagine we’ll have loads of baked goods in the house. He loves to bake all the things that we shouldn’t eat – but of course we do. The only real problem is that when he bakes, he invariably uses everything in the kitchen and I’m the one who has to clean up.
This really sounds like a fun book. In case you don’t get back to Booking Mama, I’ll tell you what I told her. If you like cookbooks that tell origins of recipes you may enjoy Heirloom Baking With The Brass Sisters. I wrote about it in the early days of my blog:
http://lettersfromahillfarm.blogspot.com/2007/03/cookbook-reportheirloom-baking-with.html
Those cookies are gorgeous! I’m going to look out for this book for sure – I love to bake!
I’m printing this out to try them. They look so yummy!
Yuuuum, those look so good.
I my heavens, those cookies, they look so good…I see them in my near future!
I also bake very little, though it’s one of my favorite things to do. I just can’t have all that sugary goodness around tempting me, so unless I can get the kids to eat it or give it away, I rarely bake anymore. The exception is Christmas, when Melissa and I get in the kitchen and bake about 15 different kinds of cookies to giveaway. These chocolate cloud cookies sound like they might make their way on to my list this year! Great review and recipe, Kathy!
These look AMAZING.
PS I just realized we both follow Hooked on Houses
Now cooking with sugar is something I am not terrible at. I love desserts!
Those cookies look wonderful! I don’t think they would have lasted two hours here let alone two days.
i’m drooling!!! those cookies look so delish and it’s a bonus that the dough doesn’t need to be refrigerated or anything. (i’m impatient when i’m hankering for cookies!) the cookbook sounds great and i love reiner’s story–talk about a dream come true. hope you had a nice weekend.
This sounds awesome. I love pictures too and hate it when they leave any of the recipe photos out! I want to make sure that my finished result at least resembles theirs just a bit
Those cookies look spectacular!
Oh man these look good. And as I told you, I am seriously grumpy today, so I think I need some chocolate. I’m highly annoyed with my schedule. I just want to say screw it all and do nothing but read and bake cookies.
I’m all about drop cookies — I’ve already printed this recipe out! Thanks, Kathy!
Thanks for the (dangerous) recipes ! I like a lot cookbook with stories !
Those cookies look amazing! What a delicious sounding cookbook!
This book sounds amazing!
Oh my gosh…. anything chocolate…..mmmmmm
Wow, this sounds like a cookbook for me! I love to bake and the holidays are a fun time to try out new recipes.
Those look YUMMY!
I was just thinking that it would be fun to have a new cookbook or two for holiday baking. Based on the look of those cookies, I’d say this is a good one to try.
Thank you so much for this lovely review. I’m so glad you noticed the photos so that I have an excuse to tell you that we also hate it when cookbooks don’t have photos of EVERY recipe. The sad truth is that publishing costs a lot and there isn’t always a budget to pay a photographer to shoot that many photos nor to pay for the extra pages in the book to print them. BUT the Sugar Mommas thought of that in advance and we made sure to take photos of EVERYTHING we tested, which means EVERY recipe in the book!! We are working on compiling them and will have them all posted on our website at http://www.SugarSugarRecipes.com shortly after the book’s official release later this month. So if ever you feel like making something that is not depicted in the book, don’t fret! Drop on by the website and you’ll find it there (and possibly even a video demonstration of us making it)!
Happy Baking!! ~Momma Jenna
those cookies look amazing! i’m bookmarking this page so i can try out the recipe later.
Those cookies look sensational.
Those cookies look incredible! I love anything chocolate. I prefer cooking over baking but cookies are one thing I can’t turn down.
can you send one over about now? along with a hot coffee? is that asking too much?!? =]
This is the second review I’ve seen for this. I need to pick it up. I just love desserts!
Huge chocolate fan here, and I’m practically drooling over Carl’s choice! Yum! I’ll be tempted to make this same recipe; thanks for sharing it.
Oh I definately want to try making these!
Yummy! I want those chocolate cloud cookies!
I don’t know if I’m happy or relieved that my library doesn’t have this one. haha! It sounds wonderful, I have a feeling I’ll be looking at it at a bookstore soon.