by Maria DiRico
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix the flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together in a large bowl and set aside.
In another large bowl, beat the butter, vanilla, and eggs together well.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, stirring each addition to incorporate into the batter.
Gently mix the chocolate chips into the dough. Chill for about 10–15 minutes. This helps make the dough more manageable.
Take about two or three tablespoons of the dough, roll it into a ball about the size of a golf ball, and place the ball into one of the molds in the cookie shot glass pan. Push down the dough with the metal insert, making sure the dough is pretty even all the way around. Leave the metal insert in place and trim the excess dough from the sides of the insert, then remove the insert. Repeat with the rest of the molds. (As an alternative to pushing down into the ball of dough, you can try building a cup by putting a flat disk of dough on the bottom of the cup, building up the sides with more dough, and placing the metal insert into the dough, pressing a bit to seal.)
Bake the cookie cups around 15 minutes. Remove the cookie cups from the oven. While they’re warm, you can gently trim any excess dough from around the edges of each cookie—or not. Let the cookies cool. Extract them from the mold and repeat until you’ve used up all the dough.
Melt the wafers in the microwave, following the melting directions on the package. When the cookie cups have cooled, use a small spatula or a new, clean brush to coat the inside of each cookie with the melted chocolate. Check for holes while you’re doing this! You may need to add extra chocolate to seal the hole . . . or just eat that cookie. Let the chocolate cool and harden.
When the cookies have cooled, add the liquor or liqueur of your choice.
Serving: makes approximately 18.
Note: Melting wafers are available at craft stores like Michaels. They come in different colors, so you can play with coating the cookie cups with the colors that are the theme of your event. You can even coat the cookie cups with blue or pink for a baby gender reveal party and fill them with milk to hide the color.
Second Note: You can try making cookie cups with other recipes, like sugar cookies or snickerdoodles. Feel free to experiment.
Third Note: If you don’t want to invest in a cookie shot glass pan, there are ways around that to create a cookie cup. You can make a rolled cookie and form it like a cup over a muffin tin. Do an Internet search for “cookie cups” or “cookie shot glasses” and you’ll find an array of possibilities.
SPINACH PIE (SPANIKOPITA)
Ingredients
4 eggs
2 garlic cloves, minced
½ tsp. kosher salt
2 shallots, chopped
2 bunches green onions, chopped
10 oz. crumbled feta cheese (I like to use Trader Joe’s Fat Free Feta)
16 oz. frozen spinach, thawed and drained*
8 oz. phyllo dough, thawed (the sheets that are approx. 9” x 13” in size)
½ cup olive oil
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease the bottom and sides of a 9” x 13” baking dish.
In a medium to large bowl, beat the eggs with the salt and garlic. Add the shallots and green onions. Stir well to combine. Add the feta cheese and stir to combine. Do the same with the spinach until all the ingredients except for the olive oil and phyllo dough have been mixed together.
Layer two sheets of phyllo dough on the bottom of the baking dish. Brush the top sheet with olive oil. Repeat until you’ve layered eight sheets of phyllo dough. Spread the spinach and feta mixture evenly over the phyllo dough base. Cover with two sheets of phyllo dough, then brush the top sheet with olive oil. Repeat until you’ve used up the sheets of phyllo dough.
Bake uncovered for 1 hour, or until the top of the pie is brownish gold and crisp.
Serves 4 or 8, depending on the size of the pieces.
*To drain the spinach, I line a strainer with paper towel, spoon the spinach into it, and press down with the back of a large spoon. Once the spinach has drained, I transfer it to the egg and feta cheese mixture.
GREEK FARINA CAKE
Ingredients for the Cake
1 cup flour
¼ tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. double-acting baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
6 eggs
¾ cup regular, uncooked farina
Ingredients for the Syrup
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
1½ tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. orange zest
¼ cup honey
Optional
Whipped cream
Crushed pistachio nuts
Instructions for the Cake
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
Cream the butter with an electric mixer. Slowly add the sugar, then add the eggs one at a time at slow speed, making sure to beat well after adding each egg. While running the mixer on medium speed, slowly add the flour mixture, and then the farina. Mix well until all the ingredients are thoroughly combined.
Pour batter into an 8” x 8” baking pan and bake for 35–40 minutes, until a toothpick inserted to test it comes out clean.
Instructions for the Syrup
While the cake is baking, combine the water, sugar, vanilla, orange zest, and honey in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. You can simmer it for the duration of the cake’s baking time. If you turn the heat off, make sure to heat up the syrup again before using it to finish the cake.
Instructions for Finishing the Cake
While the cake is hot, poke about a dozen holes in it. Ladle the hot sauce onto the cake, waiting for one ladle of syrup to absorb before adding another. (You can use all the syrup or half of it, saving the other half for future use.) When the cake has cooled completely, cut it into sixteen squares. As an option, you can add a spoonful of whipped cream to each piece, and sprinkle with the pistachio nuts.
Serves 16.
PARTY PLANNING TIP
Planning a large party? Instead of numbering the tables, personalize them. In Here Comes the Body, John Grazio does this to comic effect by marking each table with a different Playboy centerfold. You can create an equally unique table arrangement without making a risqué choice, of course! I attended a friend’s wedding where tables were labeled with the names of cities that were meaningful to the couple, and each table was populated with friends and relatives from those cities. The couple also decorated the tables with evocative centerpieces. My husband and I were seated at “Hollywood,” where a recreation of the iconic Hollywood sign rose from the center of the flower arrangement.
Adding a creative twist to your seating arrangement will help create a truly memorable event.