Ugly But Good Cookies Recipes

UGLY BUT GOOD COOKIES

Steps:

• Toast the hazelnuts in the oven at 356 degrees F (180 degrees C). Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast until the skins are mostly split and the nuts are light golden brown and fragrant (about 15 minutes).
• Remove from the oven and rub the hazelnuts until the loose skins come off.
• Let them cool completely and pulse in a food processor until coarsely chopped.
• Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Beat the egg white and salt in a bowl with an electric mixer until stiff peaks form.
• Gently fold in the sugar and nuts.
• Spoon the batter on the baking sheet with a teaspoon or a tablespoon (it depends on how big you want your cookies) about 1.5 inches (4 cm) apart.
• Bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack to cool.
• Store the ugly but good cookies in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

UGLY-BUT-GOOD HAZELNUT COOKIES (BRUTTI MA BUONI)

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Roast hazelnuts on a baking sheet until fragrant and lightly toasted, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool briefly, then rub off skins with a clean kitchen towel. Coarsely chop hazelnuts.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat egg whites on medium-low speed until foamy, about 4 minutes. Increase speed to medium-high and gradually add sugar. Beat until meringue is stiff and shiny, 3 to 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla and salt.
• Scrape meringue into a large heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add chopped hazelnuts. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly and scraping bottom of pan to make sure meringue does not burn, until mixture is light brown and pulls away from sides of pan, about 15 minutes. (Mixture will look curdled after first 5 minutes of cooking.)
• Increase oven temperature to 325 degrees. Remove pan from heat and let cool to room temperature. Fold in chocolate.
• Scoop mounds, about 2 tablespoons each, onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart.
• Bake until cookies are crisp on outside but soft and chewy inside, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack and let cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.

UGLY-BUT-GOOD COOKIES

Steps:

• 1 Preheat the oven to 300°F. Grease 2 large baking sheets. 2 In a large bowl, with an electric mixer at medium speed, beat the egg whites and salt until foamy. Increase the speed to high and gradually add the sugar. Beat until soft peaks form when the beaters are lifted. 3 On low speed, mix in the cocoa. Stir in the hazelnuts. 4 Scrape the mixture into a large heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is shiny and smooth, about 5 minutes. Be careful that it does not scorch. 5 Immediately drop the hot batter by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake 30 minutes or until firm and slightly cracked on the surface. 6 While the cookies are still hot, transfer them to a rack to cool, using a thin-blade metal spatula. Store in an airtight container up to 2 weeks. From "1,000 Italian Recipes." Copyright 2004 by Michele Scicolone. Used with permission of the publisher, Wiley Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

UGLY BUT GOOD

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Place almonds on baking sheet, and toast for 10 to 12 minutes, or until fragrant, stirring after 5 minutes of baking. Remove from oven, and let cool completely.
• Reduce oven temperature to 300°F
• Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Combine toasted almonds and sugar in food processor fitted with metal blade, and pulse until coarsely chopped. Place mixture in large bowl.
• Whisk egg whites with salt in separate bowl until stiff. Gently fold into almond mixture, adding vanilla and mini chips.
• Drop batter by tablespoonfuls onto parchment paper, leaving at least 1 inch between mounds.
• Use reverse side of parchment paper for next batch, and new paper for successive batches.
• Bake for 25 minutes, or until lightly browned. Remove from oven, and set aside for 2 minutes. Using a spatula, remove cookies to wire rack to cool.

"UGLY BUT GOOD" HAZELNUT COOKIES

Steps:

• 1. Set racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat to 350°F.
• 2. Whip the egg whites and salt in an electric mixer with the whisk on medium speed until they are white and opaque and beginning to hold their shape. Increase the speed to medium high and whip in the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, continuing to whip the whites until they hold a firm peak. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the ground hazelnuts.
• 3. Scrape the batter into a medium saucepan and place over low heat. Cook, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the mixture is heated through, about 8 minutes.
• 4. Use 2 spoons to form 3/4-inch cookies. Use one spoon to scoop up some batter and the other to scrape it off the first spoon, rounding it somewhat as you do, and drop the cookies onto the prepared pan, spacing them about 1 inch apart from each other in all directions.
• 5. Bake the cookies until they are well colored and slightly firm, about 20 to 25 minutes.
• 6. Cool the cookies on the pan on a rack.
• Storage: Store the cookies in a tin or plastic container with a tight-fitting cover.

"UGLY" COOKIES

Steps:

• Preheat your oven to 375°F.
• Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
• Beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla together in the bowl of your electric mixer until creamy.
• Add eggs to the butter mixture one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Gradually beat in flour mixture (still using electric mixer).
• By hand stir in the chopped candies.
• Place rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
• These will spread a bit and gnarl up where the caramel bits are.
• Be sure to let a cookie sheet cool completely before loading it up with another batch of cookie dough; a hot pan will make the cookies spread too much.
• Cool cookies on the baking sheets on wire racks for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.