Nutty for Cookies

With my ginormous sweet tooth I love, love, love cookies. The choco-holic in me tends toward chocolate chip cookies, especially MY chocolate chip cookies. My Big Bad Dad aka Mr. Picky Eater on the other hand is a sucker for peanut butter cookies. He doesn't have nearly the sweet tooth that I have, but when there's peanut butter cookies in the house he can't walk by the jar without eating one. I dig the cute little criss-cross pattern that you see on almost all peanut butter cookies, but I don't like that crumbly texture that many peanut butter cookie recipes yield. So, long ago I decided that if they're going to be the much requested cookie around our house I need to find a recipe that suits me. After numerous tries, all of which were edible, some I considered promising even, but most of which weren't worth blogging or making a second time, I found the one. From the tempting dessert cookbook Caprial's Desserts I tried and loved Caprial's mom's peanut butter cookie recipe. The cookies are sweet, soft and chewy. They're totally F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S I tell ya. The only change I made was to add a cup of peanut butter chips, which for us is a must in any peanut butter cookie. I've been making these cookies for some time now, several years probably, and have been meaning to blog them, but slacked off and never did. My apologies for depriving you lovely readers of such delicious cookies. And my thanks to Marco for prodding me for this recipe, thus prompting me to get off my butt and share it with everything. Doubley Peanut Buttery Peanut Butter Cookies 1 cup cold unsalted butter, diced 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 cup peanut butter (NOT natural and I prefer chunky) 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp salt 1 cup peanut butter chips Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease or line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a mixer and beat on high, scraping down the sides of the bowl often, until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. With the mixer on low, add the eggs and vanilla, then add the peanut butter and mix well. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix on low until all ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix just until the dough is smooth. Stir in peanut butter chips. Using a tablespoon or a small ice cream scoop, form the dough into 1/2 inch balls and place on the prepared pan. Flatten dough balls with a fork. Bake just until golden brown about 10 minutes. Let the cookies cool for about 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a rack and let cool completely. Yield: approximately 48 cookies

Snickety Snickerdoodles

I'm a sucker for a good cookie, and I'm always craving the adventure of a new recipe. I remember eating snickerdoodles as a kid, but my experience with them was minimal. Snickerdoodles just weren't a cookie we had around my house. I remember them as buttery, soft and chewy with a wonderful crispness on the outside from the cinnamon sugar that coats them. I've seen the recipe for "Mrs. Sigg's Snickerdoodles" over and over on allrecipes. When I see a recipe with a high rating from a huge number of people I figure it's probably pretty good and worth giving a try. Overall I was pretty happy, they had a nice flavor, but weren't as buttery as I would like. I made an adjustment to the cinnamon sugar mixture. When mixing it looked like there wasn't nearly enough sugar so I doubled the amount and found that was perfect for me. I also refrigerated the dough for about 30 minutes before prepping it for the oven, since I was going to be rolling it in my hands I thought that would be a good idea. Snickety Snickerdoodles 1/2 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup shortening 1 1/2 cups white sugar 2 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons cream of tartar 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 tablespoons white sugar 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls. Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased or parchment lined baking sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets to cooling rack. Makes approximately 48 cookies

Reliving Christmas

It's weird, I don't drink eggnog, don't like it one bit. But last Christmas a friend's wife sent over a big plate of various cookies, most were edible but nothing to die for. Except one cookie really stuck out with me, and that was the Eggnog Cookie. I had never had these before or even heard of them, and when it came time to plan my baking schedule this past Christmas I knew I had to make some Eggnog Cookies. I wasn't able to get the recipe from said friend, so I searched the web and when I came up empty handed I enlisted the help of my friends over on the Bakespace forum, and was given the perfect recipe. The original cookie had icing, but the recipe from Bakespace did not so I figured I could wing it and come up with my own icing, but after baking the cookies and doing a tastetest I nixed the icing idea because the cookies were so good as is. These Eggnog Cookies, are not your average cookie. They're soft and a little cakey, not chewy or crispy at all. Not typically what I go for, but these are great, and I love the hint of spice with that extra boost from the nutmeg sprinkled on top. And if you manage to keep these cookies around for more than a few days you'll be fooled into thinking you just baked them because they keep their freshness well. Don't forget to add these to your "must bake" list for next Christmas! EGGNOG COOKIES 2 ½ c. flour 1 t. baking powder ½ t. cinnamon ½ t. nutmeg 3/4 c. butter 1 1/4 c. sugar ½ c. eggnog 1 t. vanilla 2 egg yolks 1 T. nutmeg, for sprinkling Preheat oven to 300°. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and nutmeg. In another bowl, cream butter and sugar; add eggnog, vanilla and egg yolks. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until just combined. Stir flour mixture into eggnog mixture until uniform. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet; sprinkle cookies lightly with nutmeg. Bake for 23-25 minutes or until bottoms are light brown.

Halloween, The Recap

With all three of my children covered in fur and having four legs there was no trick-or-treating for us this year. There was also sadly no dressing up simply because I never found just the perfect costumes for my boys, and believe me, I searched. There is also an on-going debate in our house as to whether putting clothing on a dog for any reason other than warmth is appropriate. I say there are certain circumstances where it is suitable, such as they just look to freakin adorable not to dress them up. The Big Bad Dad? He has his feet firmly planted in the belief that dressing up a dog for more than warmth is completely stupid and degrading. Psssh, whateva. So, we were sans costumes and opted not to pass out candy to trick-or-treaters. And before you even think it. NO. I'm not the Grinch who stole Halloween. Having the doorbell ring and opening the door every five seconds would be pure and total chaos in my house. We would have had to lock the kids in their rooms in an effort to keep them from licking the trick-or-treaters to death. And Duncan. Well, let's just say Duncan would have lovingly stolen candy from each and every child who rang our doorbell. I had to get in on the holiday somehow though, and ever being the baker I use every occassion possible to whip up something sweet. I made a batch of chocolate cupcakes with buttercream, and some sugar cookies decorated with royal icing. All of which were old standby recipes, no experiments, but as my Big, Bad Dad says, sometimes ya just gotta leave well enough alone. So that I did. My weeks have been busy, looking back, I can never seem to remember with what, but nonetheless all my projects seem to leave me short on time lately, the cookies and the cupcakes included so they didn't turn out to be my most adorable or my most creative. But they tasted great and still received high praises.

Chewy Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies

So I don't know what it's like where you my dear readers are, but here it's HOT, HOT, HOT. We broke record temps yesterday and it's looking like there's a good chance we will do so again today. It's even mid-afternoon yet and we've already reached 101 degrees. Guess what? With our southern humidity it feels like it's 104, but hey what's another 3 degrees when it's already over 100 right? It's more than I want to deal with! With all this heat and the air conditioners working overtime the last thing I want to do is heat up the oven or turn the stove on, so I thought now would be the perfect time to reach into the archives and share some recipes from the past. Before my illness when I was still doing some freelance writing I tried out a recipe for chewy chocolate, chocolate chip espresso cookies from Short and Sweet: Quick Desserts with Eight Ingredients or Less by Gale Gand.. The cookies great. They were a delicious cross between a cookie and a fudgy brownie. And I loved the fact that the recipe brought together the flavors of chocolate and espresso - two of my faves! I made a few minor changes to the recipe using instant espresso instead of regular finely ground espresso as called for. Gand offers the option of scooping the batter out onto the cookie sheets and freezing before baking, which I did. When opting not to freeze the cookies pre-bake the baking time is decreased to 5 minutes per the original recipe. Unless I wanted to eat my cookies with a spoon the bake time definitely had to be increased. My oven is pretty right on so if you skip the freezing step keep an eye on these yummy little cookies as they are baking. If I closed my eyes while I was eating these, I'd swear I was eating the world's perfect fudgy brownie. Shaped like a cookie of course. If you like chocolate these are a must try. Be warned though, they are not for the faint of heart, so if you can't handle a good serious dose of chocolate use caution. Chewy Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Espresso Cookies 1 3/4 cups plus 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 4 Tbsp unsalted butter 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 1/4 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 2 large eggs 3/4 cup sugar 1 tsp instant espresso powder (original recipe calls for 1 tsp finely ground espresso) 1. Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Melt the 1 3/4 cups chocolate chips and butter together in the microwave for 1 minute, stir and continue microwaving in 1 minute intervals until melted and smooth. 2. In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, mix the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the instant espresso powder and mix, then mix in the chocolate mixture. Mix in the dry ingredients and the remaining 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Let the dough firm up in the refrigerator for 15-30 minutes. 3. Scoop the dough by heaping tablespoon onto a sheet pan and freeze. If you don’t have room in your freezer for a sheet pan, simply scoop the cookies into a smaller pan, then freeze, making sure the cookies do not clump together. 4. When ready to serve, heat the oven to 375 degrees. Without thawing the cookies, arrange them 2 inches apart on a sheet pan that has been generously buttered or is lined with parchment paper. Bake for 7 minutes. Serve warm. *Note: You can also bake the cookies without freezing them, to do this reduce the baking time to 5 minutes.(I found the cookies needed a longer bake time than 5 minutes.)

How the cookie really crumbles

Perhaps you might call me a connoisseur of cookies, or maybe I'm just picky? Either way I know what I like and I often have very specific expectations when it comes to cookies, especially chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies! Over the last few months I've experimented with several chocolate chip cookie recipes. And thought I'd found the one with when I tested out the Alton Brown recipe known as "The Chewy". Well, as fate would have it - yes I believe in fate, even when it comes to food! I stumbled upon a recipe on allrecipes.com, the ratings were pretty darn high with stellar reviews, so I just had to see if this cookie lived up to all the hype, and believe me, it did! Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie 2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted 1 cup packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 1 tablespoon vanilla extract 1 egg 1 egg yolk 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely These cookies tout themselves as being "the pinniacle of perfection!," and as the type of cookie that you will find in bakeries and specialty shops. I agree 100%! I've made multiple batches and been so happy with each batch that I now keep a container of the unbaked dough in my freezer.

They call her the Queen of Hearts

Love is in the air.. Nope, it has nothing, and I mean nothin' to do with a man. It's all about the cookies. "Cookies?" you ask. Yes, colorful, sugary, heart-shaped ones to be exact. With a name like "No Fail Sugar Cookies" I had my doubts. But they are everything the name claims them to be and more. I've got a drawer FULL of under-used cookie cutters and I just ordered some new ones, so expect more great things outta this recipe, which can be found at KitchenGifts.com. When you try this recipe, I HIGHLY recommend that you follow her hints about dividing the dough into about 3-4 parts and rolling each part between wax paper before chilling. It's so not nearly as messy and it's so much easier. No-Fail Sugar Cookies 6 cups flour 3 tsp. baking powder 2 cups butter 2 cups sugar 2 eggs 2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring (I like almond myself) 1 tsp. salt Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together. Chill for 1 to 2 hours (or see Hint below) Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe can make up to 5-dozen 3” cookies. HINT: Rolling Out Dough Without the Mess -- Rather than wait for your cookie dough to chill, take the freshly made dough and place a glob between two sheets of parchment paper. Roll it out to the desired thickness then place the dough and paper on a cookie sheet and pop it into the refrigerator. Continue rolling out your dough between sheets of paper until you have used it all. By the time you are finished, the first batch will be completely chilled and ready to cut. Reroll leftover dough and repeat the process! An added bonus is that you are not adding any additional flour to your cookies. The cookies are decorated with Royal Icing. Royal Icing 3 3/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 3 T meringue powder 6 T warm water Beat 4 to 5 minutes. By hand, stir in optional flavorings and desired tints.

The Christmas Cookie Craze Continues

I find myself craving these cookies..I mean really craving them. I've always been a gingerbread lover. But these cookies are over the top good to me. Just the perfect amount of spices and the texture is amazing, soft and chewy. They almost seem to melt in your mouth. One thing that intrigues me about this recipe is that it contains NO butter. None. Zero. Zilch. Not a single ounce. I've never tried sub'ing butter for the oil, I figured why risk ruining a wonderful thing? Curiousity hasn't gotten the best of me with this recipe, and I'm determined that it never will. The dough is formed into balls and half is dipped in sugar so they come out having these yummy little sugary sweet crunchies on top. Unfortunately when using just plain white granulated sugar those crunchies don't show up in the finished product, so this year I purchased what Wilton calls Sparkling Sugars, which is basically just sanding sugar. I'm not sure where this recipe actually originated. It was given to me by my boss at the time, titled "Angela's Gingersnaps", Angela being his wife's name. So possibly she developed or perfected the recipe. If so she came up with one hell of a cookie and my praises go out to her. Angela's Gingersnaps 1 1/3 c. oil(I used canola) 2 eggs 2 c. sugar 1/2 c molasses 4 c. all-purpose flour \ 3 tsp. baking soda \ 2 tsp. cinnamon \ sift together 2 tsp. ginger / 1 tsp. salt / Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and salt, set aside. Mix together oil, eggs, sugar and molasses just until combined. Add flour mixure and stir until all ingredients are incorporated. Roll dough into small balls, about 1 tsp each. Dip 1/2 of each ball into sugar and place sugar side up on cookie sheet. Space several eachs apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

Look Gram - I BOILED cookies!!

Growing up I could always tell when it was getting close to Christmas because my grandmother would whip up a batch or two of her famous oatmeal cookies. They are outta this world and not like anything else I've ever tasted. I would venture to say that MOST people reading this probably have never had a cookie quite like this. They're BOILED not baked. Yes I said boiled!!! They are outta this world, simple with few ingredients...a very unassuming, unsophisticated cookie, but gosh I could eat myself sick with these cookies. And yanno what?? Tummy ache and all I would still be the happiest thing you've ever seen...they are that delicious! The cookies cotain no flour, the base is peanut butter and oatmeal, and seems extremely simple...well if you have the knack for making these it really is simple. I've always been the baker in my family and I tried for years and years to make these cookies, always failing miserably. They would always taste fine, but the consistancy was always totally wrong. It's SO totally unexplainable. But last year I finally beat my struggles & knock on wood I got the hang of it 'cause I've done 2 batches this year & both came out. The chocolate batch was a little off, a tad bit soft, but they hardened into those delicious little cookies I remember from my childhood. So I challenge you, no better yet I encourage you to try these cookies out & let me know how you do. I would love to know if you enjoy these cookies as much as my family does. Boiled Cookies 2 c sugar 1 stick butter/margarine 1/4 c cocoa(optional) 1/2 c milk 1 tsp vanilla 1/2 c peanut butter 2 1/2 c oatmeal 1 c nuts(optional) Mix and boil sugar, butter/margarine, cocoa & milk for 1 minute. Remove from heat, add vanilla, peanut butter, oatmeal & nuts. Mix well. Spoon by spoonfuls onto wax paper. *Work quickly as mixture will start to thicken in a hurry. I've tried both quick-cook and old fashioned oatmeal with these cookies and been sucessful & unsucessful with both. So I guess it's a toss up. I used old fashioned this year.

The holidays are here: SHF/IMBB Cookie Swap

I know Christmas is the season of giving. It's not about the presents & what cool gifts we get. But Lord forgive me for saying this, Christmas is also the season of eating. Then again, what season isn't a season of eating for a food obsessed person like me? lol So I started my holiday baking brainstorming sessions well before Thanksgiving, as a matter of fact, I think I started as soon as the first Christmas editions of my favorite magazines hit the stands. So far this year, I've bought 2 "special interest publications" from BH&G, a Christmas edition Family Circle & the infamous Martha Stewart "Holiday Cookies" issue. Believe me, I've got my eye on a few more..lol Do you think I will ever end up baking even a fourth of the yummy items in these magazines?? NO!! As a matter of fact, for the most part, I'll probably stick to my usual holiday cookies. But it's fun to daydream about all those yummy smells & delicious flavors. MmMmMmm, my mouth is watering just thinking about it. lol Of course, we've established my obvious obsession with food and baking. So you know I was thrilled when I read that this month's edition of Sugar High Friday is a joint project between Jennifer over at Domestic Goddess, and Alberto over at Il Forno. They came up with a WONDERFUL idea for this month's SHF/IMBB - a virtual cookie swap!! Isn't that fantastic?? It gives everyone a great excuse to get a jump on their holiday cookie baking, testing out new recipes a few weeks in advance. Not to mention the swap is a fantastic way to get new holiday cookie recipes, with reveiws to go along with them. For those of us in the US, the swap has fallen on a pretty hectic week for many of us - Thanksgiving!! It hasn't been too crazy for me, but the fact of the matter is, we have TONS upon TONS of leftovers and mulitple batches of cookies would just go to waste for us right now. So for the actual cookie swap I have only baked 1 new recipe. BUT!!! I'm including my recipe for the best homemade chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted. I LOVE chocolate, pretty obvious from previous posts right?? Yes!! lol And I LOVE marshmellow stuffed inside most anything chocolate, so I found the perfect recipe for me as I was flipping the pages of MS's Holiday cookies magazine. There they were on pg. 89 in all their "cakey and tender" glory - Surprise Cookies. Ohmygosh!! These cookies are divine!! And I'm soooo proud they came out looking JUST LIKE MARTHA's!!! My only complaint?? You can't really taste the marshmellow. Would I make them again?? In a heartbeat!! Surprise Cookies ~ makes 2 1/2 dozen For the cookies: 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder(not Dutch-process) 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/2 tsp coarse salt 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1 cup granulated sugar 1 large egg 1/2 whole milk 1 tsp vanilla extract About 15 marshmellows halved crosswise For the frosting: 3 cups confectioners' sugar 6 Tbsp (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, softened 1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder(not Dutch-process) 1/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp whole milk 3/4 tsp vanilla extract 1. Make cookies: Preheat over to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda & salt into medium bowl; set aside. Put butter & sugar into bowl of an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Mix on medium high speed until pale & fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low; mix in egg, milk & vanilla. Mix in flour mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, until combined. 2. Using a 1 3/4 inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until firm, 8-10 minutes. Immediately press a marshmellow half on top of each cookie. Bake until marshmellows begin to melt, 2 minutes more. Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks. 3. Make frosting: Put confectioners' sugar in medium bowl; set aside. Melt butter with cocoa powder in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occassionally. Add butter mixture to confectioners' sugar. Whisk in milk and vanilla. Spread about 1 Tbsp of frosting on top of each cookie to cover marshmellow. Let stand until set, about 10 minutes. Cookies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days. Now..on to the best homemade chocolate chip cookies ever!! Move over Mrs. Fields here I come..using your recipe..lol I know we've all seen those copcat recipes right?? Well, I think this one really is because when I eat one of these cookies fresh from the oven, if I close my eyes I swear I'm standing in the middle of the mall foodcourt loaded down with arms full of shopping bags. Ahhh heaven isn't it? lol Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe