Low(er) Fat Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Earlier this week I did something I should have done months ago. I cleaned out my freezer. Why I continually put this task off is beyond me, but it took my fridge making a horrid noise for me to finally to do it. (Alas, the noise did not stop, even with the cleaner freezer.)
What did I find between the freezer burned edamame from Trader Joe’s and super old something wrapped in layers and layers of foil? My homemade applesauce that I had glorious plans to use in cookies and brownies last year. Oh yeah, that applesauce.
I immediately put a container of it in the fridge to defrost and started Googling low-fat oatmeal cookie recipes with applesauce. There are a ton of them! I quickly discovered this four-and-a-half star recipe and decided to give it a shot. I am happy to report these cookies are delicious–moist and chewy inside with a bit crisp on the outside, which to me is the perfect texture for oatmeal cookies. And there is no way you can tell they are missing all that butter! In fact, I think the next time I make them I may replace the two tablespoons of butter with two additional tablespoons of applesauce. Maybe even use some whole wheat flour and see what happens. I know, I live on the edge.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 cup plain unsweetened applesauce
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup chocolate chips
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars. Beat in the egg, followed by the applesauce and the vanilla extract. Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Drop tablespoonfuls of the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, flattening each cookie slightly. Bake for about 10-12 minute Cookies will be light brown at the edges when done.
- Let cool on sheet for 3 or 4 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Yields about two dozen cookies.
Recipe from RecipeZaar.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Candy Cookies
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Last week I asked on Facebook what everyone’s favorite cookies were. My friend Jami suggested a few different recipes, including this chocolate/peanut butter cookie that has not only chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and Reese’s Pieces, but peanut butter cups as well. Hello peanut butter! I couldn’t wait to make these.
Since I’ve been working from home lately, I’ve lost my coworker guinea pigs and am now always looking for opportunities to try new recipes. Fortunately for me, every few weeks, my friends and I have been meeting up at a local bar for a night of pub trivia. Yes, it’s what it sounds like–trivia at a bar. It’s fun, I swear!
Anyway, the last couple of trivia nights I baked cookies and shared them with my team (aptly named, “Don’t toss the cookies”). We’ve even been sharing with the waitress who declared these cookies her favorite thus far (she even liked them more than the brown sugar cookies!). I thought they were good, but not my favorite. The chocolate is pretty subtle, but if you’re a peanut butter fan, these are definitely the cookies for you!
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
1 c. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. peanut butter
3/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. semisweet chocolate chips
1 c. peanut butter chips
1 package mini Reese’s peanut butter cups, frozen and cut into halves (I used Trader Joe’s mini peanut butter cups)
1 c. Reese’s Pieces
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, and baking soda; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and Reese’s Pieces.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Push one peanut butter cup half (I used two mini Trader Joe’s peanut butter cups) into the center of each ball of dough. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Let cool for 1 or 2 minutes on sheet before removing, or they will fall apart.
Yields 3-4 dozen cookies.
Recipe adapted from Cookie Madness via Night Baking.
Chocolate-Caramel Cookie Bars
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As soon as I saw this recipe in the magazine I ripped out the page and pushed it to the top of my recipe list. Chocolate-caramel and a cookie base, what could be bad, right?
Well. I wanted to like these. And I was sure I would like these. But I didn’t. The crust was good but the chocolate caramel was just too sweet for me. WHAT? I know, I can’t believe I said that either. I don’t think I’ve ever referred to anything as too sweet.
Has you tried these? What did you think?
Photos of the process here.
Crust Ingredients
4 1/2 ounces (9 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for parchment
1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon table salt
Chocolate Caramel Ingredients
10 1/2 ounces milk chocolate, chopped (2 cups)
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
3 ounces (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon sea salt, preferably fleur de sel
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make the crust: Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment, leaving an overhang on all sides; butter parchment, excluding overhang. Beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add flour and table salt, and beat until just combined.
- Press dough evenly into pan, and bake until lightly browned, about 30 minutes.
- Make the chocolate caramel: Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Heat granulated sugar and water in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, washing sides of pan with a wet pastry brush to prevent sugar crystals from forming, until amber, 10 to 12 minutes. Remove from heat. Add butter, cream, and table salt. Bring to a boil, stirring until smooth. Pour over chocolate. Let stand for 2 minutes. Stir to combine, and let stand until cool, about 10 minutes.
- Pour mixture over crust. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight. Run a knife around edges; lift parchment to remove whole bar from pan. Sprinkle with sea salt. Trim edges, and cut into 16 bars. Bars can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
Recipe from Martha Stewart Living.
Oatmeal Mini Pieces Cookies
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I discovered these mini Reese’s Pieces at the market last week and immediately decided I had to buy them. I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do with them though, so when I noticed the recipe on the bag I figured I’d give it a try. I’m glad I did–these are cookies E.T. would devour in a heartbeat.
And as much as I wish E.T. could have eaten them, I was pretty satisfied that my new coworkers (yes, I got a job–a two month freelance gig, but it’s a job!) gobbled them up well before lunch. And I can’t blame them. The cookies are the perfect texture–chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and have wonderful flavor and crunch from the Reese’s Pieces. I’ll definitely be making these again!
Ingredients
2/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1 1/3 cups Reese’s pieces (10 oz pkg)
Preparation
- Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheet.
- Cream shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir together flour, baking soda, salt. Add alternately with milk to sugar mixture. Stir in oats and candy pieces.
- Drop by scant 1/4 cupfuls or #16 scoop onto prepared pan. (I used a medium size cookie scoop.)
- Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 10 minutes on cookie sheet. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 1 dozen cookies. (I got about two dozen using the smaller scoop.)
Recipe adapted from bag of mini Reese’s Pieces.
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Don’t forget you can still win free butter!
Milk’s Ooey-Gooey Double-Chocolate Cookies
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There’s an amazing bakery/restaurant a couple of miles from my apartment (and also directly across the street from my former Weight Watchers meeting location, how cruel) called Milk. They serve all sorts of salads and sandwiches, but what they do best are desserts, specifically ice cream treats and cookies. My favorite is their coffee toffee crunch ice cream sandwich–a huge scoop of their homemade coffee toffee crunch ice cream sandwiched between enormous Parisian macarons. And if I ever become successful at making macarons, you better believe I’ll put ice cream between them.
In the meantime, I decided to give another Milk favorite a try. These cookies live up to their name–they’re ooey, gooey, and very, very chocolatey. Unfortunately, mine came out kinda ugly and looking absolutely nothing like the ones at the store or in the picture, but they taste pretty damn good and will satisfy any chocolate craving! I’m not a milk drinker, but these cookies were so rich they were screaming “drink milk!” to me. I also think eating them warm with ice cream would suffice too (you can get them like that at the shop).
Photos of the process here. Also, I doubled the recipe because I’m bringing them to a party.
Ingredients
1/4 pound (4 ounces) unsweetened chocolate
4 tablespoons ( 1/2 stick) butter
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pound bittersweet chocolate (chunks or chips)
Preparation
- In a bowl set over a pot of simmering water, melt the unsweetened chocolate and butter. Remove from the heat and cool slightly.
- In the bowl of a mixer with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a fork, combine the eggs, vanilla and sugar. Mix just until incorporated and set aside.
- Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Add the melted chocolate to the egg mixture and mix just until combined. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and mix just until combined, then stir in the bittersweet chocolate.
- Cover the batter with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to chill thoroughly. Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Divide the dough into 18 portions. Grease your hands (to prevent the dough from sticking) and shape the portions into balls. Place the balls on a greased, parchment-lined sheet pan, leaving 2 to 3 inches between each.
- Bake until the edges of the cookies are just set and the center is still soft, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Place the cookies, still on the parchment, on a rack and cool completely before serving. They will be very soft.
Yields 18 cookies.
Recipe adapted from Milk, via the LA Times.
Chocolate Chip Shortbread
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Hey there! I’m here and still enjoying funemployment (while looking for a job). Since I don’t have my 100+ guinea pigs at an office anymore, I haven’t been trying out new recipes, hence the lack of posts. And in addition to not wanting to eat three dozen cookies by myself, it’s been super hot here and the thought of turning on my oven made me cringe. Fortunately, the weather has cooled down (a tiny bit) and I decided to give a simple recipe a shot.
This shortbread is good, but not spectacular. My favorite is still the brown sugar version I made earlier in the year. Like good shortbread should be, these cookies aren’t very sweet, are chewy, and have crispy ends. However, I feel like they’re missing something–maybe more salt. Disappointing!
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips (I was out of mini chips so I chopped up regular sized ones)
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Beat in vanilla and add flour and salt.
- Stir in chips.
- Divide dough in half.
- Press each half into an ungreased 8 inch round pan.
- Bake 12 minutes or until edges are golden.
- Score each shortbread with sharp knife into 8 even wedges, but do not cut all the way through.
- Leave in pans and cool on racks for 10 minutes.
- Invert onto racks and cool completely.
- Break into wedges.
Recipe from Recipezaar.
Caramel Crunch Bars
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I know it’s a weird thing to say, but I’m not sure how I feel about these bars. You’re probably thinking “shortbread base, chocolate and toffee top, what’s not to like?” and so am I, kinda. But I liken these bars to a so-so date. (Stay with me here.)
Like a so-so date, these bars are nice and sweet and pretty attractive. I could see myself having one and saying, “Eh, that was OK, but I’m not sure I want another.” And I could also see myself eying them on a tray and thinking, “You know, one more wouldn’t be so bad.” Like a date that you’re unsure about. Get it? Come on, I know you single ladies understand what I’m trying to say here.
Update: These were a huge hit and I think even better the second day. Go figure.
Anyway, fortunately for me, these bars are around 1,000,000 points each so the bulk of them are in the freezer while the rest are going with me tomorrow to force feed the girls at my eyebrow place. And finally, Dorie suggests using these to make ice cream sandwiches. I think she may be on to something there.
Base Ingredients
1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. instant espresso powder or finely ground instant coffee (I omitted this)
½ tsp salt
¼ tsp ground cinnamon (I omitted this)
2 sticks (8oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 oz. bittersweet or premium milk chocolate, finely chopped
Topping Ingredients
6 oz. bittersweet or premium milk chocolate, finely chopped
¾ cup Heath toffee bits
Preparation
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9×13 inch baking pan, line the pan with foil and butter the foil. Put the pan on a baking sheet.
To make the base: Whisk together the flour, coffee, salt and cinnamon.
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the sugars and beat for another three minutes or until the mixture is light and creamy. Beat in the vanilla and turn off the mixer. Add all the dry ingredients, cover the stand mixer with a kitchen towel (so you and your kitchen don’t get showered in flour) and pulse the mixer on and off at low speed about 5 times, at which point a peek at the bowl should reveal that it’s safe to turn the mixer to low and mix, uncovered, just until the dry ingredients are almost incorporated. Add the chopped chocolate and mix only until the dry ingredients disappear. If the chocolate isn’t evenly mixed, finish the job by hand with a spatula. You’ll have a very heavy, very sticky dough. Scrape the dough into the buttered pan and, with the spatula and your fingertips, cajole it into a thin, even layer. (I cajoled using an offset spatula.)
Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the base is bubbly – so bubbly that you can almost hear it percolating – and puckery. It will look as though it is struggling to pull away from the side of the pan. Transfer the pan to a rack and turn off the oven.
To make the topping: Scatter the chocolate evenly over the top of the hot base and pop the pan back into the oven for 2 to 3 minutes, until the chocolate is soft. Remove from oven and immediately spread chocolate over bars, using offset spatula or the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the toffee bits over the chocolate and press them down lightly with your fingertips (again, I used the offset spatula because hot desserts and my fingers do not get along well). Place the baking pan on a rack to cool to room temperature.
If, by the time the bars are cool, the chocolate has not set, refrigerate them briefly to firm the chocolate.
Carefully lift out of the pan, using foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. Trim the edges if they seem a bit thick. Cut about 54 bars, each about 2 inches by 1 inch, taking care not to cut through the foil.
Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
Whoopie Pies*
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It’s official, I’m back to counting points (if you don’t know points are, consider yourself lucky). But have no fear, I will still be making yummy treats, I just won’t be eating any as many of them, and I hope to find some tasty lower fat/calorie recipes as well. Speaking of lower fat, I first saw this recipe about six years ago when I did WW for the first time, but wasn’t as into baking back then so I never tried it. Fortunately, the recipe was just a Google search away.
These cookies were simple to make, quite good, and have a nice mild chocolate flavor (and not at all bad for two points!). And while marshmallow fluff adds a little bit of sweetness, it also caused a whole lot of problems. First, I was using my small cookie scoop to scoop the fluff on the cookies when the scoop broke. The spring popped out, it made a horrible noise, and it ended up in a few pieces. Who knew fluff was so sticky and stiff? Secondly, after adding the fluff and sandwiching the cookies, they all started to tilt (they aren’t flat after all), causing the fluff to leak out, thus making a huge mess and some ugly looking cookies. (I know WW chose fluff to help keep the fat and calorie count down, but there must be another option that won’t spread and leak. Any suggestions?)
*I understand these are not true Whoopie Pies. They are simply a Weight Watchers version of them. If you have an issue with the name, complain to Weight Watchers, not me. Thanks in advance.
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 egg white
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk (I used buttermilk because that’s all I had in the house)
3/4 cup marshmallow cream
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
- With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the sugar, shortening and egg white in a medium bowl until fluffy and well blended (about 2 minutes).
- Stir in the flour mixture, then add the milk until just blended.
- Drop the dough (it will be a cross between cake batter and cookie dough in consistency) by spoonfuls onto large, ungreased baking sheets (I used Silpats), making 36 cookies.
- Bake until top springs back when lightly touched (5-7 minutes).
- Cool completely on the sheets on a rack.
- Spoon 2 tsp. marshmallow fluff and spread on the bottoms of half of the cookies.
- Top with remaining cookies.
Yields 18 cookies (I got 15). Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Lemon Meltaways
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I had never heard of meltaways until I read about them on my friend Jami’s blog. They sounded so light and delicious and I was all set to make her recipe until I measured out my flour and had just barely 1 1/4 cups. So off to the Internet I went, and I came across this recipe which was super easy to make.
The cookies are so light that they really do melt in your mouth. But the flavor? Just didn’t do it for me, and I found them to be really bland. I brought them into the office today and while they weren’t a hit with everyone, they did seem to attract quite a following. It seems people either love or hate these cookies. Me? I’m a hater.
Cookie Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
Frosting Ingredients
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup LAND O LAKES® Butter, softened
1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon peel
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Preparation
Combine all cookie ingredients in large bowl. Beat at low speed, scraping bowl often, until well mixed.
Divide dough in half. Shape each half into 8×1-inch log. Wrap each in plastic food wrap. Refrigerate until firm (1 to 2 hours).
Heat oven to 350°F. Cut each log into 1/4-inch slices with sharp knife. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until set. (Cookies will not brown.) Cool completely.
Combine all frosting ingredients in small bowl. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often, until fluffy. Frost cooled cookies.
Recipe from Land O’Lakes.
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In other cookie news, Aunt Helen’s Mandelbrot recipe won a Hallmark Magazine Cookie Contest, and I got some really fun prizes!
Oatmeal Caramel Bars
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Have you ever read reviews of a five-star recipe that everyone is raving about it and then gotten excited to make it, because you know it’s going to be spectacular and your coworkers will just love it? OK good, I thought you have. But have you ever made the five-star recipe that everyone is raving about only to be incredibly disappointed and left wondering HUH? This is one of those recipes.
I took the bulk of the reviewers suggestions and implemented them only to find the end result very eh. The cookie is an ooey, gooey mess of oatmeal, too much chocolate (I know, I never thought I would utter those words either), and a thin layer of caramel. Disappointing. And I’m guessing there will be some left at the end of the workday tomorrow.
Ingredients
32 individually wrapped caramels, unwrapped
6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 cup all-purpose flour
2 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9×13 inch baking pan lined with foil or parchment paper. In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt together the caramels and heavy cream, stirring occasionally until smooth.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Stir in the melted butter until well blended (I used my hands). Press half of the mixture into the bottom of pan. Reserve the rest.
- Bake the crust for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Pour the caramel mixture over the top and then crumble the remaining crust mixture over everything (I used my hands to pat the mixture down).
- Return to the oven and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until the top is lightly toasted (you may want to check it around 15 minutes). Cool then cut into squares.
Recipe adapted from Allrecipes.
Caramel Fleur de Sel Macarons
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I’ve done a lot of reading about macarons and the one common theme on every food blog is that making them is hard. And yet, I still stupidly attempted them. Let’s just say I now understand why these cookies are $1.75 each–they are a huge pain to make.
I had a few different problems–cracked tops, air bubbles, no feet, and a runny filling. What I learned: The cracked tops were remedied by doubling up the baking sheets. The air bubbles could be prevented by tapping the baking sheet on the counter before letting the piped macarons rest. The no feet issue I have no idea how to solve, as some of my macarons had feet and some didn’t, and they all came from the same batter. The runny filling I attribute to lousy weighing by my cheap kitchen scale I bought years ago when I was actually weighing food and counting points. (Some of you know what points are, right?)
While these taste good, the frustration just wasn’t worth it. I think it’s safe to say the next time I have a craving for macarons, I will drive myself the three miles to Paulette in Beverly Hills.
Caramel Fleur de Sel Filling Ingredients
200 g sugar
¼ cup water
2 tbs. corn syrup
1 vanilla pod (I used two teaspoons vanilla extract)
200 g cream
5 g fleur de sel
140 g unsalted butter, chilled and cut into cubes
Macaron Ingredients
1 cup blanched almond meal
1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar
3 egg whites from large eggs.
1/4 cup white sugar
Preparation
Sieve almond meal & confectioners sugar together.
Beat egg whites until foamy on medium. Slowly add sugar, and turn to high. Beat until stiff peaks form.
Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Mix well, until batter becomes fluid (lava like–slow moving, but moving nonetheless). Use a HUGE piping tip, and pipe onto parchment lined baking sheet. The batter should spread out to another third of its size. Also, any peaks from piping should very slowly fall back into the shape. If it stays a peak, you didn’t stir it enough.
Let the cookie sheets sit out for at least 45 minutes, as this forms the crust.
Bake at 325 for about 12-14 minutes. The macarons should be able to be removed from the paper. If they stick, something went wrong. (I experienced this on two of the four baking sheets.)
Fleur de Sel Caramel filling recipe from Veronica’s Test Kitchen.
Macaron recipe from Jess.
Chocolate Roll-Out Cookies
For the past couple of years, I’ve used this sugar cookie recipe to make Valentine’s Day cookies. This year, I wanted to make some for the chocolate lovers too.
I found this recipe on Epicurious and heeded the warnings in the reviews regarding the dough so I was ready for a battle. And what a battle it was! I took the dough out of the fridge and after 30 minutes it was still rock hard. I let it sit for about 30 minutes more and then it was at least slightly pliable. I had to work it with my hands to get it close to roll-able, and even then I had to roll it out between two sheets of plastic wrap so it wouldn’t stick to the rolling pin.
The flavor is not intensely chocolaty, but it definitely satisfies. And I rolled the dough thin enough so the cookies have a nice exterior crunch. Flavor wise, these are good. But I’m not sure if the flavor outweighs the pain they were to roll out. We’ll see what my guinea pigs say when I bring them into work tomorrow.
Ingredients
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Sprinkles or other sugar decorations (optional)
Royal Icing (optional)
Preparation
Sift first 5 ingredients and cinnamon, if desired, into medium bowl. Stir chocolate in metal bowl set over saucepan of simmering water until melted and smooth. Set aside. Using electric mixer, beat butter in large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar and beat until mixture is pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and beat in vanilla and chocolate. Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball and flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic and chill until firm, at least 4 hours. DO AHEAD: Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled. Let stand at room temperature 30 minutes before rolling out.
Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using waxed paper prevents you from adding too much flour, which will make the cookies tough.
Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies. Cold dough is much easier to work with. If it gets warm as you’re cutting out the cookies, place the dough—waxed paper and all—in the freezer for about 5 minutes.
Use an offset spatula to peel away the excess dough and transfer the cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired.
Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and slightly darker around edges, about 9 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 12 minutes for larger cookies. Line baking sheets with fresh parchment as needed. Cool completely on rack. Decorate cookies with royal icing if desired. DO AHEAD: Cookies can be made 4 days ahead. Store between sheets of waxed paper in airtight containers.
Recipe from Epicurious.
Brown Sugar Shortbread
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As some of you may know, I’m losing my job at the end of March. (Anyone want to hire a writer? I use my coworkers as recipe testers!) My company was acquired, a bunch of us were given termination dates, blah blah blah. Needless to say, everyone at the office has been super stressed. And when you’re stressed, you crave sweets. Right?
Right. And that’s where this recipe comes in. Brown sugar, butter, flour, and salt–it can’t get much easier than that. And we all know anything that has brown sugar and butter as the first two ingredients can only be delicious. And to make these even better, they are chewy on the inside, crispy on the ends, rich, and have just a hint of salt.
Since this recipe made two pans, I added a teaspoon of wattleseed to the second half. This gave the shortbread a slightly nutty flavor, and cut down on the sweetness a bit (not that it needs any cutting down.)
Photos of the process here.
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Note from the LA Times: This recipe makes enough dough for 2 pans of cookies, so you can try a pan of each variety if you’d like. Because they’re baked in pans, the wedge cookies will retain more moisture, giving the cookies a chewy texture. Conversely, the bar cookies will be crisp because they are baked on an open, flat sheet.
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar (I used dark because that’s all I had)
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour
Preparation
Heat the oven to 325 degrees. In a stand mixer or medium bowl with electric beaters, beat the butter, sugar and salt until creamy, about 2 minutes, being careful not to overmix. Gradually beat in the flour, working in the last one-half cup with your hands if necessary (the dough will be stiff). Divide the dough in half.
- To make chewy wedge-shaped cookies, butter 2 (8-inch) metal cake pans and line with parchment. Butter the parchment and press each half of the dough into a pan. Smooth the top with the bottom of a buttered measuring cup. Prick the dough with a fork in a decorative concentric circle pattern. Refrigerate the pans, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
- To make crispy bar cookies, shape each dough half into a 10-by-4-inch rectangle on a lightly floured board. Run a blunt knife or your fingers along the edges to straighten them (it doesn’t have to be perfect). Carefully lift each rectangle onto a buttered baking sheet, lifting both edges with your hands. With a blunt knife, score each one once lengthwise without cutting all the way through. Score crosswise 11 times to make 24 rectangles. Prick each one several times with a fork. Refrigerate the sheets, uncovered, for 30 minutes.
Bake both the wedge and bar shortbread until lightly brown along the edges, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove and cool for 5 minutes, then slice the shortbread while still warm (if the cookies are allowed to cool before slicing, they will crumble). Unmold the wedge shortbread by running a knife around the edge of the pan to loosen the cookies from the sides. Gently flip the pan over, then slice the shortbread into 12 wedges. Slice the bar cookies all the way through the scored marks before moving to a cooling rack.
Recipe from the LA Times.
Brown Sugar Cookies
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I think I’m in love. With a cookie.
It may not be the most handsome cookie around, but the taste makes up for what it’s lacking in looks. Imagine: chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and a rich and caramely flavor in every bite. My coworkers are going to love me (and their sugar high) tomorrow.
Perhaps someone well versed in the science of baking can tell me what the browned butter does to the cookie. Aside from the obvious, adding amazing flavor. And also, why is the salt added with the brown sugar rather than with the rest of the dry ingredients?
Just a note: My butter took around six minutes to brown, so don’t worry if three minutes go by and you’re wondering if you screwed up; you didn’t.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (about 1 3/4 ounces)
2 cups packed dark brown sugar (14 ounces)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Preparation
Heat 10 tablespoons of the butter in a pan over medium-high heat until melted. Continue to cook the butter until it is browned a dark golden color and smells nutty, about 1 to 3 minutes. Transfer the browned butter to a bowl and stir the rest of the butter into the hot butter until it melts- let this rest for 15 min.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a baking dish, mix granulated sugar and a ¼ cup of the brown sugar until combined well; set this mixture aside to roll dough balls in.
Mix flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl. Add 1 ¾ cup brown sugar and salt to cooled butter and mix until there are no lumps. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla to butter mixture and mix well, then add flour and mix until just combined.
Roll dough into balls about 1 ½ inches in diameter, and roll balls in brown sugar and white sugar mixture. Place balls about 2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake sheets one at a time until cookies are puffy and lightly browned, about 12- 14 minutes. (It says the cookies will look slightly raw between some of the cracks and seem underdone, but be careful not to over bake.) Cool on sheet for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool.
Recipe from Cook’s Illustrated via South in Your Mouth.
Peanut Butter Crispy Bars
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Every now and then I try a recipe and the result is so good that I need to immediately wrap it up in four layers and stick it in the back of the freezer, all in an attempt to not eat the entire pan while standing at my counter. Not that I would ever think of doing such a thing. Never. These bars are that good. They have a candied crisped rice base (think Rice Krispie treats but flatter and denser) with a peanut butter/chocolate center, and are finished with a dark chocolate top layer. Yes, they are drool worthy.
However, I did run into a few problems: The base ended up really hard in some places and really soft in others which I suspect was a result of me not working fast enough getting it into the pan, although I thought I was doing it rather quickly. This made cutting them difficult because it was difficult to get the knife through those parts. Any advice? The other issue I ran into was the chocolate began to melt a little as I cut them, which made for a really ugly cut. I think the next time I will use tempered chocolate for the top layer.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients for the crispy crust
1 3/4 cups crisped rice cereal
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Ingredients for the milk chocolate peanut butter layer
5 ounces good-quality milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup creamy peanut butter
Ingredients for the chocolate icing
3 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72% cocoa), coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon light corn syrup
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
Preparation
Make the crispy crust
Lightly spray a paper towel with nonstick cooking spray and use it to rub the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan.
Put the cereal in a large bowl and set aside.
Pour 1/4 cup water into a small saucepan. Gently add the sugar and corn syrup (do not let any sugar or syrup get on the sides of the pan) and use a small wooden spoon to stir the mixture until just combined. Put a candy thermometer in the saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat and bring to a boil; cook until the mixture reaches the soft ball stage, 235 degrees F.
Remove from the heat, stir in the butter, and pour the mixture over the cereal. Working quickly, stir until the cereal is thoroughly coated, then pour it into the prepared pan. Using your hands, press the mixture into the bottom of the pan (do not press up the sides). Let the crust cool to room temperature while you make the next layer.
Make the milk chocolate peanut butter layer
In a large nonreactive metal bowl, stir together the chocolate and the peanut butter. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for about 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the mixture over the cooled crust. Put the pan in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the top layer hardens.
Make the chocolate icing
In a large nonreactive metal bowl, combine the chocolate, corn syrup, and butter.
Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is completely smooth. Remove the bowl from the pan and stir for 30 seconds to cool slightly. Pour the mixture over the chilled milk chocolate peanut butter layer and spread into an even layer. Put the pan into the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the topping hardens.
Cut into 9 (Nine? They are nuts! You can easily get 18 from this) squares and serve. The bars can be stored in the refrigerator, covered tightly, for up to 4 days.
Recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking.
Oatmeal Cream Pies
I think I had my first Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie when I was in junior high. My mom never bought them for us, but they were sold at school and I developed a slight addiction. (As well as to Nutty Bars and those chewy cookies with rice cereal, whatever they were called–Star something.) Anyway, The cookie was chewy and soft and the filling was super sweet and gooey and when you’re 12-years-old, what could possibly be better than that?
Well, you may remember last year when I made these, I was hoping they’d taste like the Little Debbies. And they didn’t. At all. However, I’m happy to report that my 34-year-old self is pretty damn thrilled to finally have a recipe that does. The taste, texture, and gooey-ness are all exactly as I had remembered. They’re just not as pretty.
Two recipe notes: 1. Can anyone explain to me why the recipe calls for dissolving salt into hot water when making the filling? 2. I used a small scoop and my cookies were done in seven minutes.
One totally unrelated note: Nosh With Me is now on Twitter.
Photos of the process here.
Cookie Ingredients
1 cup margarine
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 cups quick oats
Cream Filling Ingredients
2 teaspoons very hot water
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 (7 ounce) jar marshmallow cream
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation
- In large bowl, cream margarine, sugars, molasses, vanilla, and eggs.
- Combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.
- Add to the creamed mixture; mix in the oats.
- Drop dough by TBS on ungreased sheets. (I used a small cookie scoop.)
- Bake at 350 degrees F.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes,or until just starting to brown around the edges.
- They will look moist; don’t overcook.
- While the cookies bake prepare the filling.
- In small bowl, dissolve the salt in the hot water.
- Allow this to cool.
- Combine marshmallow cream, shortning, powdered sugar, and vanilla in med bowl; mix on hi until fluffy.
- Add the cooled salt water and mix well.
- Spread filling on flat side of one cookie, press 2nd cookie on top.
Recipe from Recipe Zaar.
Peanut Butter Squares
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Chocolate and peanut butter–the two great tastes that always taste great together, right? Wrong. I know, I know, you didn’t think it was possible. Neither did I, until I made these. But they’re terrible. I mean, really, really terrible. The peanut butter base is mushy and gritty and the overall texture is just ick.
After I got over my initial disappointment, I Googled the recipe and found rave reviews which totally surprised me. Have you made these? What did you think?
Photos of the process here.
Base Ingredients
Scant 1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
scant 1/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
Topping Ingredients
7 ounces milk chocolate
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
Preparation
- Stir all the ingredients for the base together until smooth.
- I use the paddle attachments to my mixer, which my children love operating, but a bowl and a wooden spoon will do the job just as well.
- You will find, either way, that some of the dark brown sugar stays in rubbly but very small, lumps, but don’t worry about that.
- Press the sandy mixture into a 9-inch square brownie pan and make the surface as even as possible.
- To make the topping, melt the chocolates and butter together (in a microwave for ease, for a minute or two on medium) and spread the base.
- Put the pan in the refrigerator to set. When the chocolate has hardened, cut into small squares because, more-ish as it undeniably is, it is also very rich.
Makes approximately 48.
Recipe from How to Be Domestic Goddess via WCHS.
Gingerbread Men
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Growing up, gingerbread men cookies were something we occasionally bought at a bakery, but never made at home. Perhaps it’s because they’re associated with Christmas, and well, being Jewish, we don’t celebrate Christmas, or maybe it’s just because my mom was not much a cut out cookie kind of person. (Except for a sugar cookie recipe that I must copy next time I’m in town, that I believe came from Aunt Helen–she of mandelbrot fame.)
Anyway, on to the cookie. The original recipe calls for margarine, which I never have in my house, so I used butter. Also, I swapped out half of the regular sugar for brown sugar as I wanted a slightly chewier cookie, and I’m happy with the texture. And although the title of the original recipe calls them spicy, they aren’t. In fact, they’re just right and oh so delicious!
If you’re looking for photos of the process, sorry, there aren’t any. This recipe has molasses in it, and as we know, I hate the smell of molasses and had to work super fast and not take pictures as to not gag for longer than I had to. Seriously, it’s that gross.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg yolk
2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
Preparation
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth. Stir in molasses and egg yolk. Combine the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, and nutmeg; blend into the molasses mixture until smooth. Cover, and chill for at least one hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into desired shapes with cookie cutters. Place cookies 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. (Mine barely spread so I think 2 inches is very generous.)
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until firm. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks. Frost or decorate when cool.
Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
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So, there are chocolate chip cookies, then there are these chocolate chip cookies. Throw away your other recipes, because you won’t need them after trying this one. Seriously. This is the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever made, and my coworkers seem to agree. After bringing them into work, I received an email from one of my favorite guinea pigs which said, “OMG, those cookies are good!” in 72-inch purple and pink font. Point taken.
These cookies are crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, 
have a rich caramely flavor because of the brown sugar, and the sea salt sprinkled on top is just the perfect addition. And even though they are the size of your head, you still get chocolate in every bite thanks to the fèves (chocolate discs). Because I’m not a fan of dark chocolate (and not ashamed to admit so), I used milk chocolate ones, which I found at Surfas, my local commercial kitchen supply store. (Just search fèves on their website.) These specific chocolates are kinda pricey, so you could always just use the largest chocolate chips you can find and they will still taste just as good.
And finally, just a note that I used all-purpose flour in place of the bread flour.
Ingredients
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt
Preparation
- Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
- Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
- Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.
Yields 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.
Recipe from The New York Times, via Smitten Kitchen.
Aunt Helen’s Mandelbrot
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Use a wooden spoon and lots of elbow grease were the words of advice I received from Aunt Helen when she heard I was going to make her mandelbrot recipe. Do not use a 
mixer, she reminded me. So with wooden spoon and mixing bowl at the ready, I made mandelbrot. However, before I give you the recipe, here are two important bits of history:
1. My grandma Freda (my mom’s mom) died before I was born and I am named after her. (In Judaism, you name babies after people who are deceased, as a way of keeping their memory alive.) Anyway, my grandma’s sister, Helen, was very close to my mom, and consequently, was like a grandmother to my sister and me. We’d celebrate holidays together, and every year on our birthdays, Aunt Helen would give us a batch of her homemade mandelbrot (with nuts for my parents, with chocolate chips for my sister and me). When I was 11, we moved out to California and Aunt Helen continued to bake the mandelbrot, shipping it to us across the country. Sure, there were a lot of crumbs, but it was always still delicious. To this day, Aunt Helen still mails us mandelbrot on our birthdays.
Of course, this recipe was passed down to my mom, and now, to me. The only difference between their batches and mine is theirs have a lot more burned pieces, although I do believe that’s by choice.
2. Mandelbrot (aka mandelbrodt or mandel bread) is a twice baked cookie made with oil. In Yiddish, mandel means almond (or according to Aunt Helen, nut) and brot means bread. Traditionally, it is made with nuts and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar. I however, prefer it sans nuts and with chocolate chips. It’s often described as Jewish biscotti but to me, it’s a lot thicker and crumbles quite easily. And there’s no right or wrong time to eat mandelbrot–I’ve been known to have a few pieces for breakfast while other people enjoy dunking it in coffee for dessert.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup oil
3 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips
Preparation
- Mix eggs and sugar with a wooden spoon. Add vanilla and mix.
- Mix the flour, salt, and baking together. Add to the egg mixture, alternating with the oil, four times.
- Add chocolate chips and mix. Batter will be stiff. (She’s not kidding, it’s stiff!)
- Refrigerate overnight, or at least three hours. (Aunt Helen recommended overnight.)
- Roll into four logs, approximately 1 1/2″ in diameter.
- Bake at 350 for 35-45 minutes, remove from oven, and immediately slice into 1″ pieces. (Both my mom and Aunt Helen said it’s very important to not let the logs cool because they will crack when you slice them.)
- Place cookies on their side on cookie sheet and bake 10-15 minutes more.
Recipe from Aunt Helen.
Tarantula Cookies
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These cookies are the biggest pain the butt ever. EVER EVER EVER. And it’s quite safe to say I will never make them again. Not only am I unhappy with the way they turned out (UGLY), they took forever and were super messy. And as an added bonus, I’m pretty sure I’ll be finding jimmies and broken spider limbs all over my kitchen for the next month. I’m bringing them into the office tomorrow, so I’ll let you know my coworkers’ reactions.
Happy Halloween!
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugaar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 bag (8 ounces) thin, short pretzel sticks
1 large bag (11 1/2 ounces) milk chocolate chips
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Chocolate sprinkles
Small red candies
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until well blended.
- Gradually add the flour mixture and cocoa powder. Beat to form a smooth dough.
- Roll a tablespoon-sized ball of dough, and place it on a baking sheet. Arrange eight pretzel sticks around the ball like spokes on a wheel. Press the tips of the pretzel sticks firmly into the dough ball. Continue with the rest of the pretzels and dough.
- Bake until cookies start to brown around edges, about 7-10 minutes.
- Lift the cookies from the baking sheets with a spatula, and place on wire cooling racks. Let cool completely. Place the racks on sheets of aluminium foil or waxed paper.
- In a double boiler (or the microwave), melt the chocolate chips with vegetable oil.
- Pour the melted chocolate over each cookie. Coat with chocolate sprinkles. Press in two red candy eyes on the front of the head. Eeek!
Recipe from Epicurious.
M&M Cookies
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Did you miss me? I still can’t believe it’s been a month since I’ve posted a recipe here, especially considering I’ve been baking like a crazy person lately. Unfortunately it was just tried and true recipes as I didn’t want to experiment for Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur break-the-fast desserts. Speaking of Rosh Hashana, my mom bought a Costco-sized bag of M&Ms to fill candy dishes with when we had 40 (!!) people for dinner at our house for the holiday. Fortunately for me, there was a ton of candy left and I took it home so I could make these cookies.
As a kid, I always loved the chewy, buttery M&M cookies from the bakery. While these do not live up to my childhood memories, they are good nonetheless and I know my coworkers will gobble them up in no time tomorrow.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups candy-coated milk chocolate pieces
Preparation
- In a large bowl, mix sugar, eggs, shortening, and vanilla thoroughly. Add flour, salt, and baking soda to creamed mixture. Blend well. Add 3/4 cup of M&M candies.
- Drop dough by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet. Slightly push a few candies on top of each dough ball with remaining candies.
- Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 9 to 11 minutes, to your liking.
Recipe adapted from All Recipes.
Burger Bites
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At least once a week, someone will email or ask me if I have any easy recipes they can do with their kids. Because really, who better to ask than a 34-year-old single woman with no children, right?
But I digress. Here is that recipe. The thing to keep in mind while making these is DON’T WASTE TIME. If you don’t follow Jenn’s instructions precisely, the buns won’t stick to the burgers. (Er, the Nilla Wafers won’t stick to the peppermint patties.) You’ve been warned.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
1 bag peppermint patties
1 box Nilla Wafers
1/2 cup shredded coconut
2 drops green food coloring
sesame seeds
water
Preparation
First put 24 Nilla Wafers “round side” down, on a cookie sheet. Then top them with a peppermint patty. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Set aside 24 more Nilla Wafers to act as the top of the “bun.”
Put your coconut in a bowl with a sealed lid, or a ziplock bag works fine too. Add the food coloring and couple of drops of water while you’re at it. Seal the container and shake til you get a nice “tinting” of green – looks like lettuce, get it?
Now put your topped Nilla Wafer/open faced patties in the oven for only about 1-1/2 minutes, check them to see that they are glossy and not totally melted – just “melty.”
Take them out of the oven and IMMEDIATELY top with tinted coconut.
Then IMMEDIATELY put the burger “tops” on, pushing a bit to secure them to the patty. I can’t stress this step enough. You have to act quickly and not let the chocolate melt, or there will be no stickage. There’s a lot of IMMEDIATELY goin’ on here, and for good reason, once this thing cools you are outta luck. Work quickly, it’s only to your benefit.
Now here’s where the burger really takes shape. Get a small bowl of water and brush a few drops of water on the top of the bun. (Or use clean fingers.) Then sprinkle with sesame seeds. Now these things REALLY LOOK like burgers.
Recipe from my friend and fellow blogger, Jenn.
Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars
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Wow.
That one word basically sums up these brownies. They are amazing and gooey and crunchy and moist and could easily translate to, “I’m sorry I was a shmuck,” “I love you,” “Will you marry me,” “I think you’re cool and can’t wait until our next date,” or in this case, “I obviously like my coworkers.” Who knew brownies could be so expressive?
Keep in mind, the deliciousness does come at a price–these are a bit time consuming and dirty a lot of bowls, but they are so worth it in the end! What could be better than a brownie topped with marshmallows topped with melted peanut butter and chocolate with Rice Krispies mixed in?
Brownie Ingredients
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Topping Ingredients
7 ounces mini marshmallows
1 ½ cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup Jif peanut butter
1 TBSP unsalted butter
1 ½ cups Rice Krispies
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
In a medium saucepan, melt the chocolate, butter, and ¾ cup of the semisweet chocolate chips on medium heat. Stir occasionally while melting. Set aside and cool for 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, place the eggs and whisk thoroughly. Add in the sugar and vanilla. Stir the melted ingredients into the egg mixture, mixing well. Stir in the dry sifted ingredients and mix well. Fold in the remaining ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and even with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the corner of the pan comes out with moist crumbs.
Remove the brownies from the oven, and immediately sprinkle the marshmallows over them. Return the pan to the oven for 3 more minutes.
While the brownies are baking, place the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat, add the cereal,and mix well. Allow this to cool for 3 minutes or so.
Spread the mixture evenly over the marshmallow layer. Refrigerate until chilled before cutting.
Makes 12 3×3-inch bars. (I cut them a lot smaller and easily got a few dozen bars.)
Recipe from Culinary Concoctions.
Chocolate Chip Cupcakes/Muffins/Cookies
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I would probably call these “Blondies with Chocolate Chips” but who am I to change a recipe title? Don’t let the name fool you–aside from the fact they are baked in cupcake tins, they are nothing like a cupcake–they are buttery and chewy like a blondie. And they are quite delicious. So much in fact, one of my coworkers said these may be his new favorite and ranked them up there with cake balls. I know!
As you can see from the picture, mine are ugly. I omitted the nuts in the topping so I was left with a goopy chocolate chip mixture (which tastes delicious just looks sort of blah). Also, I was out of mini chips so I had to use regular size and I think they are entirely too large for the petite size of the cupcake/muffin/cookie. All that aside, I’d still eat them. In fact, I uh, may have had a few.
Photos of the process here.
Cupcake Ingedients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cupcake Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Line miniature muffin pans and coat with cooking spray.
Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add vanilla extract and mix well. Add egg and beat until blended.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture, mixing just until combined.
Spoon about 1 & 1/2 teaspoons batter into each muffin cup. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Topping Ingredients
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping Preparation
Beat brown sugar, egg, and salt until blended. Stir in chocolate chips, pecans, and vanilla.
After cupcakes have been baked, spoon topping mixture over each cupcake. Bake for 8-10 more minutes.
Makes about 3 dozen cupcakes.
Recipe from Bake or Break.
Salted Oatmeal Cookies
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My mom is hosting a baby shower on Sunday 
(and a bridal shower tomorrow–two different women and tons of baking for us!) and these cookies are the soon-to-be mom’s favorite. She first told me about them months ago, saying she ate them all the time while living in Virginia but hasn’t seen them out here in California.
Thanks to Google, I found a recipe based on the bakery’s secret cookie. These are so good–easy to make, sweet and salty, and crispy on the outside and chewy (thanks to the brown sugar) on the inside. A near perfect cookie. Why just near perfect? Because if I were baking these for myself, you better believe I’d add chocolate chips.
Ingredients
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
Sea salt, for sprinkling
Preparation
In the large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter for a few minutes on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the sugars, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon, beating until the mixture is well blended. Reduce the speed to medium and add the eggs and vanilla extract, mixing until well incorporated. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour and oats, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary and mixing just until they are incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill the dough for at least an hour before baking.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Form the dough into golf ball-size balls and place about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Sprinkle sea salt generously on top of each ball of dough, as you would sugar. Bake 1 sheet at a time for 15 minutes or until the cookies are puffed and beginning to turn golden, being careful not to overbake. (The cookies should have a tender interior.) Transfer the cookies, still on the parchment paper, to a wire rack to cool completely.
Yields 18 cookies. (I made mine smaller and got about three dozen cookies.)
Recipe from The Washington Post.
Chocolate Surprise Cookies
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Remember Mallomars? These cookies remind me a little of them, 
except instead of a graham cracker base, they have a chocolate cookie base which is crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The marshmallow in the middle is a nice gooey surprise, and the chocolate frosting adds to their richness.
Just some notes: The dough is very thick and fudge-like. I used non-fat milk because that’s what I had in the house and it worked just fine. I originally used a 1 3/4″ cookie scoop but decided on a smaller scoop midway through because my cookies didn’t spread much, they just puffed up. Also, I had a ton of frosting leftover!
Photos of the process here.
Cookie Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
About 15 large marshmallows, halved crosswise (cut in half horizontally)
Frosting Ingredients
3 cups confectioners’ sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole milk
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Make cookies: Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add reserved flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined.
- Using a tablespoon or 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, about 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies begin to spread and become firm, 8 to 10 minutes.
- Remove baking sheets from oven, and place a marshmallow, cut-side down, in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Return to oven, and continue baking until marshmallows begins to melt, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
- Make frosting: Put confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl. Melt butter with the cocoa powder in a saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally. Add butter mixture to the confectioners’ sugar. Whisk in the milk and vanilla.
- Spread about 1 tablespoon of frosting over each marshmallow, starting in the center and continuing outward until marshmallow is covered. Let stand until set, about 10 minutes, Cookies can be stored in single layers in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.
Recipe from The Cookbook Junkie.
Flourless Chocolate-Walnut Cookies
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Quick note: Tuesdays With Dorie will resume in a couple weeks, once Passover has ended!
It used to be that if I were to show up to a Passover seder without chocolate chips meringues, I would be forced to sing the Four Questions, in Hebrew, by myself. OK not really, but trust me, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight. Then a few years ago I brought matzo brittle (in addition to the meringues and other Passover desserts), and that too, became a holiday must-have. Well, this year I do believe I have found a third recipe that will now be included in every Passover seder, thanks to Deb!
Hmm, I suppose I should have begun this post by explaining that many Passover desserts elicit the following response: It’s good (for a Passover cookie/brownie/cake). Well, I’m happy to report that with these cookies, I heard, These are sooo good! Everyone who tasted them went back for seconds, and said they were oh so yummy! Then again, I guess that’s what happens when you take a regular, flourless recipe and just make it for Passover, go figure.
This cookie is thick, chewy, and slightly crunchy, thanks to the nuts. We made three batches–two with pecans and one with walnuts, and they were all a huge hit. I should note I used regular cocoa powder, not Dutch-process.
Update: For those of you having problems with the cookies being too thin and runny, I noticed this comment from someone in Payard’s test kitchen. The suggestion is to not add all the egg whites at once–begin with two egg whites and check the consistency, it should be brownie batter like, and scoop-able. If it’s still too thick, then add more egg whites.
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups walnut halves
3 cups confectioners’ sugar*
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 large egg whites, at room temperature
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
*Passover Confectioner’s Sugar
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
1 tablespoon potato starch
Pulse in a food processor or blender. Makes 1 cup Passover confectioners’ sugar.
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350. Spread the walnut halves on a large-rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for about 9 minutes, until they are golden and fragrant.
- Let cool slightly, then transfer the walnut halves to a work surface and coarsely chop them. Position two racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and lower temperature to 320. Line two large-rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk (or combine in an electric mixer on low speed) the confectioners’ sugar with the cocoa powder and salt followed by the chopped walnuts. While whisking (or once you change the speed to medium), add the egg whites and vanilla extract and beat just until the batter is moistened (do not overbeat or it will stiffen).
- Spoon the batter onto the baking sheets in 12 evenly spaced mounds, and bake for 14 to 16 minutes, until the tops are glossy and lightly cracked; shift the pans from front to back and top to bottom halfway through to ensure even baking. Slide the parchment paper (with the cookies) onto 2 wire racks. Let cookies cool completely, and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Recipe from New York Magazine via Deb.
Hamantaschen II
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I almost didn’t write this post because my Hamantaschen are so ugly. 
In fact, they’re even uglier than last year’s which I didn’t think was possible. And you wouldn’t know it from looking at my photos, but Hamantaschen are triangular shaped cookies, representative of Purim’s villain Haman’s triangular ears/pocket/hat depending on whom you ask. I think in Hebrew school we learned it was either Haman’s hat (remember the song?) or ears, but really–triangular ears?
Anyway, Hamantaschen are soft cookies, traditionally with a poppy seed filling, but we grew up eating apricot ones, hence my apricot filling. I used the same apricot filling recipe (yum!) from last year but decided to give this new dough recipe a shot, and it’s good! However, I ran into one weird problem–I baked some on parchment and some on Silpats. The ones on parchment tended to open more and the ones on Silpats stayed sealed. Weird, huh?
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine
1 1/4 cups sugar + a pinch for the egg wash
3 eggs + 1 for the egg wash
1/4 cup orange juice or milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Approximately 4 to 4 1/2 cups of flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
Fruit preserves. (Not jam.) You can also use Nutella.
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening, butter and sugar together. Add the eggs and blend until smooth. If the mixture is too hard to blend or seems curdled, add about 1 tbs of flour to bind it.
Stir in the orange juice or milk and the vanilla. Fold in 4 cups of flour, salt and baking powder. Mix to make a firm but soft dough. Cover and let the dough rest for 10 minutes to give the flour time to absorb all the moisture. If the dough is too sticky to handle after ten minutes have passed, add extra flour up to 1/2 cup. The dough will be sticky when it’s ready, but you should be able to handle it without it getting stuck to your fingers.
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 flattened discs and work with one portion at a time. Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured board to a thickness of 1/8 inch. Use a 3-inch cookie or biscuit cutter and cut as many rounds as you can.
In a small bowl mix 1 egg, 1 tablespoon of water and a pinch of sugar to make an egg glaze. Brush the rounds with the wash, then fill each with a generous 1/2 teaspoonful of your desired filling. Fold 3 sides of each circle together, creating triangles. I like to leave a little space in the center so you can see what the filling is (plus it looks pretty), but you can also seal your hamantaschen completely.
Brush the cookies with additional egg wash. If desired, sprinkle with regular or coarse sugar, and bake in the center of the preheated oven until golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes. Cool on the baking sheets.
Tips
Bake your hamantaschen in the upper third of the oven – usually the bottom part of the oven is too hot and may also cause premature bottom-browning. If you want to use leftover scraps to make more cookies, only roll them out once more because a lean dough like this one can only be rolled a couple times before becoming really tough.
This dough can be frozen for about 2 months or refrigerated (wrapped well in plastic) for one to three days. Just give it time to warm up before rolling it out. You can also freeze or refrigerate the filled triangles before baking. If you do this, just bake them without defrosting.
More photos here.
My notes
- I used orange juice rather than milk.
- I skipped the egg wash.
- Mine baked in about 15 minutes.
- I used a regular old glass rather than a cookie cutter and got about four dozen cookies.
Recipe from A Treasury of Jewish Holiday Baking by Marcy Goldman via Baking and Books.
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In other news, what do you think of the site redesign? The amazingly talented Maria designed the header image and I think it’s just adorable!
Please bear with me as I work out the kinks of the new template and let me know if you notice anything funky. I’m currently trying to figure out why the live comment preview works in IE but not Firefox, so if you’re familiar with Wordpress, now would be a great time to show off your expertise!
Happy Valentine’s Day
I know, I’m a little early with the valentine cookies. But since I have no valentine this year (waah), I made cookies to share with my coworkers. And trust me when I say they’re not complaining they get to start stuffing their bellies a day early.
I used my favorite sugar cookie and powdered sugar glaze recipes. Also, notice the cute X and O cookie cutters? I was cleaning out my cupboards and came across them–they were a gift from my mom last year which I almost forgot about! Unfortunately, I couldn’t do too many Xs and Os because they are huge and I would have ended up with only about a dozen cookies.
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And finally, totally unrelated, but if you got here via an article in your local newspaper (hi Judi, I tried to email you but it was returned), would you please send me a link or tell me the name of the paper?
Snickery Squares
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I suppose I should preface this by saying that this recipe reminded me that while I love caramel, I’m just not a fan of dulce de leche. I know, I know, the pictures look amazing (well, not my photography, but the actual end product). Delicious shortbread, gooey goodness, caramelized nuts, and chocolate all together, the perfect combination! Alas, I’m just not into it. I can’t help but to think dulce de leche is just missing something. Or maybe I’m just used to Snickers bars and their thick, almost too sweet, caramel. Sigh.
(Yes, this was a long process.)
But instead of talking about what I didn’t like, let me tell you about what I did like. The shortbread is a perfect base, and a recipe I know I will use again. The peanuts were my first foray into caramelizing nuts, and while it was stressful (flashbacks of my disastrous peanut brittle/hot sugar blister incident came to mind), it was well worth it. I’ve worked with enough hot sugar now to know a) wear long sleeves, b) use a long spoon/silicone spatula, and c) not dip my finger in a tiny glob of yummy looking caramel that hasn’t yet cooled completely. Come on, like you’ve never done that. Or uh, thought about it.
Anyway, back to the squares. While they’re not my all time favorite, they’re good–thick, oozing of dulce de leche, and not sickeningly sweet. The true test of course, is how long these remain on the counter at my office tomorrow. I’m guessing they’ll be gone well before lunch.
Ingredients
For the Crust
1 cup all-purpose flour
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons confectioners’ sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces and chilled
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
For the topping
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
½ stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature
For the filling
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons water
1 ½ cups salted peanuts
about 1 ½ cups store-bought dulce de leche
Preparation
Getting Ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch square pan and put it on a baking sheet.
To make the crust: Toss the flour, sugar, confectioners’ sugar and salt into a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Toss in the pieces of cold butter and pulse about 12 times, until the mixture looks like coarse meal. Pour the yolk over the ingredients and pulse until the dough forms clumps and curds – stop before the dough comes together in a ball.
Turn the dough into the buttered pan and gently press it evenly across the bottom of the pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork and slide the sheet into the oven.
Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it takes on just a little color around the edges. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool to room temperature before filling.
To make the filling: Have a parchment – or, better yet, a silicone mat-lined baking sheet at the ready, as well as a long-handled wooden spoon (you’ll be cooking sugar that will climb to over 300 degrees F, so you’ll want to keep as far away from it as possible) and a medium (about 2-quart) heavy-bottomed sauce pan.
Put the sugar and water in the saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Keeping the heat fairly high, continue to cook the sugar, without stirring, until it just starts to color. (If sugar splatters onto the sides of the saucepan, wash down the splatters with a pastry brush dipped in cold water.) Toss in the peanuts and immediately start stirring. Keep stirring, to coat the peanuts with the sugar. Within a few minutes, they will be covered with sugar and turn white – keep stirring until the sugar turns back into caramel. When the peanuts are coated with a nice deep amber caramel, remove the pan from the heat and turn the nuts out onto the baking sheet, using the wooden spoon to spread them out as best you can. Cool the nuts to room temperature.
When they are cool enough to handle, separate the nuts or break them into small pieces. Divide the nuts in half. Keep half of the nuts whole or in biggish pieces for the filling, and finely chop the other half for the topping.
Spread the dulce de leche over the shortbread base and sprinkle over the whole candied nuts or the big pieces.
To make the topping: Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water or in a microwave oven, using a low power setting. Remove the chocolate from the heat and gently stir in the butter, stirring until it is fully blended into the chocolate.
Pour the chocolate over the dulce de leche, smoothing it with a long metal icing spatula, then sprinkle over the finely chopped candied peanuts. Slide the pan into the refrigerator to set the topping, about 20 minutes; if you’d like to serve the squares cold, keep them refrigerated for at least 3 hours before cutting.
Cut into 16 bars, each roughly 2 ½ inches on a side.
My notes:
- I used semi-sweet chocolate.
- I had a really hard time cutting these after refrigerating for only 20 minutes, so I stuck them in the freezer for a few which made them much easier to cut.
Recipe from Baking: From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
Double Delicious Cookie Bars
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I admit it, the first time I tried this recipe, it failed. And I mean failed. The crust didn’t work, the entire thing was completely stuck to the tin foil, and it was a big gooey mess. Not one to admit defeat so quickly–especially when it comes to a recipe with a mere five ingredients–I gave it another go, this time using a glass dish and no foil. And it worked!
These bars are gooey and sweet and were a hit at the office. Make sure you cut them into tiny squares because a little goes a long way!
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
1 (14-ounce) can EAGLE BRAND Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk)
1 cup (6 ounces) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup (6 ounces) peanut butter-flavored chips
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350ºF (325ºF for glass dish). In small bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs and butter; mix well. Press crumb mixture firmly on bottom of 13X9-inch baking pan.
Pour EAGLE BRAND® evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with remaining ingredients; press down firmly with fork.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Cut into bars. Store leftovers covered at room temperature.
My Notes
I used chocolate graham crackers as Jennifer did over here. And chip wise, I used caramel swirl and chocolate chip, but you can use whatever you have in your pantry.
Recipe from Eagle Brand via Bake or Break.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Apparently January is the month of peanut butter and chocolate over here at Nosh With Me. And why not, since that is one of the best flavor combinations around, right? These cookies are chewy in the center and crisp on the outside which in my opinion, makes for the perfect texture. And the extra sugar on the outside adds a nice touch.
I didn’t have any peanut butter chips in the house, so I replaced them with chocolate chips. While the cookie was good, I think the peanut butter chips would have definitely enhanced the flavor and I recommend using them. Fear not, even sans peanut butter chips, these are being gobbled up by coworkers as I write this.
It should also be noted that I just now discovered my camera has a macro setting (duh?) and now I can take somewhat close up pictures that won’t end up blurry. Speaking of photos, I’m kind of digging the one large photo with a link to the process photos. What do you think? Do you like it or do you prefer the old format? (Photos of the baking process here.)
Ingredients
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature
¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon (for sprinkling) sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup peanut butter chips
½ cup chocolate chips
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, combine the flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and the peanut butter together until fluffy. Add the sugars and beat until smooth. Add the egg and mix well. Add the milk and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat thoroughly. Stir in the chips. Place sprinkling sugar on a plate. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls into the sugar, then onto ungreased cookie sheets, leaving several inches between for expansion. Using a fork, lightly indent with a crissscross pattern (I used the back of a palette knife to keep it smooth on top), but do not overly flatten cookies. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Do not overbake. Cookies may appear to be underdone, but they are not.
Cool the cookies on the sheets for 1 minute, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
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In other food news, I’ve adopted a food blogger! Kristin at Dine and Dish thought up the brilliant idea and I decided I’d give it a whirl. So, without further ado, let me introduce Paula at Half Baked. Not only does everything on her blog look delicious, her photographs are beautiful as well. Stop by her blog and say hello!
Snickerdoodles (Mrs. Sigg’s)
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I don’t know who Mrs. Sigg is, but she sure has a good snickerdoodle recipe. Slightly crunchy on the outside and nice and chewy on the inside, these are the perfect kind of cookie! This recipe is pretty damn similar to the other snickerdoodle recipe I tried, but this one calls for cream of tartar (which I apparently mistakenly thought would make them puff up more. They didn’t.)
These were so easy to make that as soon as I put the first cookie sheet in the oven, I wished I had doubled the recipe. I know my coworkers and my eyebrow girl are going to inhale these tomorrow! And my family will get to enjoy them on Friday (yep, I’m bringing them down to San Diego).
Ingredients
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
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Preparation
- 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 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.
Recipe from Allrecipes.
Halloween Finger Cookies
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I’ve been seeing these scary finger cookies all over the Internet and knew I had to bring them into the office. The cookie itself tastes like a cross between a sugar and a butter cookies. Not too sweet, yet not bland either.
By the second cookie sheet, I realized I needed to make the fingers a little skinnier, otherwise I’m pretty happy with the way they turned out. I’ll probably be making these again next year.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract and 1 teaspoon almond extract)
Almond slices
Red decorating gel
Preparation
Preheat oven to 325° F. Combine dry ingredients. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.
In a large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla, beat in dry ingredients. Cover and refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
Working with one-quarter of the dough at a time and keeping remaining dough refrigerated, roll heaping teaspoons full of dough into finger shape for each cookie. Press an almond firmly into one end for nail. Squeeze in center to create a knuckle shape and use a paring knife make slashes in several places to form knuckle.
Place cookies on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes or until pale golden. Let cool for three minutes. If desired, lift up almond and squeeze red decorator gel onto nail bed and press almond back in place so gel oozes out from underneath. (I skipped this part.)
Remove from cookie sheet and let cool on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough.
Yields 3-4 dozen.
Notes
- You can paint the nails by using some red food coloring that’s been diluted with water and brushing it on with a clean artist’s brush. Or, you can do what I did and color frosting red and dilute it with water, then dip the bottom of the finger in it.
- Awesome step by step instructions for creating finger shapes here.
Recipe from Fabulous Foods.
Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies
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When I came across this recipe, I was hoping they would be like the Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies. Sadly, they’re not. And they’re just OK, definitely nothing special. The cookie is sort of blah and the icing is way too sweet–and I’m someone who loves all things sweet.
I’m going to bring them into the office tomorrow so I’ll you know what my guinea pigs say. Update: Huge hit with the coworkers. Maybe I’m just picky.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
Cookies
3/4 cup butter flavor Crisco, plus additional for greasing
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 cups quick oats, uncooked
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Icing
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup butter flavor Crisco
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Preparation
- Heat oven to 350 F. Grease baking sheets.
- For cookies, combine shortening, brown sugar, milk, egg and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.
- Combine oats, flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix into creamed mixture at low speed just until blended.
- Drop rounded measuring tablespoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart onto prepared baking sheets.
- Bake one sheet at a time at 350 for 0 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to foil to cool completely.
- For frosting, combine confectioner’s sugar, shortening, and vanilla in medium bowl. Beat at low speed, adding enough milk for good spreading consistency. Spread on bottoms of half the cookies. Top with remaining cookies.
Makes about 16 sandwich cookies.
My notes:
- I ended up with more than 16 sandwiches since I used a smaller cookie scoop.
- I flattened the tops of the cookies after scooping them, in an attempt to get a flatter cookie.
Recipe from The Baking Bible.
Peanut Butter Cookies
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I was in the mood to bake, but wanted to make something easy so I decided to give this recipe a whirl. I followed other reviewers’ advice and added vanilla as well as more peanut butter, but I just don’t get all the rave reviews. To me, these were good, but nothing special. Then again, I’m not a huge peanut butter cookie fan and the real test will be when I bring the cookies into the office tomorrow.
Also, I noticed the tops of most of the cookies look cracked, and the nice criss-cross pattern didn’t show. I’m thinking it may be because I made the cookies smaller (and therefore flatter), but really, I have no clue. Any ideas?
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
1 cup unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups crunchy peanut butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
Preparation
- Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir into batter. Put batter in refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Roll into 1 inch balls, (optional–roll in sugar), and put on baking sheets. Flatten each ball with a fork, making a criss-cross pattern. Bake in a preheated 375 degrees F oven for about 10 minutes or until cookies begin to brown. Do not over-bake.
Makes about four dozen cookies.
My notes:
- I didn’t have any crunchy peanut butter at home so I used creamy.
- I rolled some of the cookies in sugar after shaping them into balls.
- I used a small cookie scoop so I got way more than four dozen cookies.
Original recipe from All Recipes.
Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters
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I’m sad to report that this is the first Dorie recipe that wasn’t a huge hit. Don’t get me wrong, these cookies are good. They’re just not great. I brought them into the office and they lasted three days which is usually unheard of with my coworkers.
I think part of the reason they weren’t gobbled up is that they’re crispy. People seem to enjoy the chewy, soft cookies more. And, these had a lot going on–peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate chips!
Ingredients
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (I omitted this)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup chunky peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips or chunks
Preparation
Adjust the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper, Silpat baking mats, or foil. In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, spices, baking soda, and salt just to blend.
With an electric mixer (preferably a stand mixer fitted with a paddle), beat the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients slowly, beating only until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips. (At this point, the dough can be covered and refrigerated for up to 1 day.)
If the dough is at room temperature, drop rounded tablespoonsful two inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. If the dough has been refrigerated, scoop it out by rounded teaspoonfuls and roll the balls between your palms. Place them 2″ apart on the sheets. Press the balls gently with the heal of your hand until they are about 1/2″ thick. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies are golden and just firm around the edges.
Lift the cookies onto wire racks with a wide metal spatula – they will firm as they cool. Repeat until all the dough has been used.
Makes about 60 cookies.
Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
Sablés
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These cookies are buttery and shortbread-ish. And delicious. Have I mentioned how much I love Dorie recipes? Unfortunately, it appears I am not a talented log roller, as these cookies came out a little angled and squared rather than round. Fortunately the funky shape does not affect their amazing taste!
Ingredients
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably fine sea salt
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature (plus 1 large egg yolk, for brushing the logs)
2 cups all-purpose flour
Decorating (coarse) sugar
Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and salt and beat until well blended, about 1 minute. The mixture should be smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in two of the egg yolks, again beating until the mixture is homogeneous.
Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and the counter from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple more times; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. (If most of the flour is incorporated but you’ve still got some in the bottom of the bowl, use a rubber spatula to work the rest of the flour into the dough.) The dough will not clean the sides of the bowl, nor will it come together in a ball — and it shouldn’t. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you’re aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy (rather than smooth) dough. Pinch it, and it will feel a little like Play-Doh.
Scrape the dough out onto a smooth work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long: it’s easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the plastic to help form the log. Wrap the logs well and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours, preferably longer. (The dough can be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)
Getting Ready to Bake
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
Remove a log of dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and place it on a piece of parchment or wax paper. Whisk the remaining egg yolk until it is smooth, and brush some of the yolk all over the sides of the dough — this is the glue — then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with decorating sugar.
Trim the ends of the roll if they’re ragged, and slice the log into 1/3-inch-thick cookies. (You can make these as thick as 1/2 inch or as thin as — but no thinner than — 1/4 inch.) Place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving an inch of space between them.
Bake one sheet at a time for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the midway point. When properly baked, the cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top; they may feel tender when you touch the top gently, and that’s fine. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest a minute or two before carefully lifting them onto a rack with a wide metal spatula to cool to room temperature.
Repeat with the remaining log of dough, making sure the baking sheets are cool before you bake the second batch.
Makes about 50 cookies.
Serving
Serve these with anything from lemonade to espresso.
Storing
The cookies will keep in a tin at room temperature for about 5 days. If you do not sprinkle the sables with sugar, they can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months. Because the sugar will melt in the freezer, the decorated cookies are not suitable for freezing.
My Notes
- I used Turbinado (Sugar in the Raw) sugar.
- I put the first batch in for 17 minutes as the recipe says and the cookies came out really dark. The rest of them I baked for about 14 minutes.
Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
World Peace Cookies
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I know, I know. Everyone else made these months and months ago. I’m late to the party as usual. But better late than never, right? In this case, most definitely!
I knew these cookies would be good before I even took the first batch out of the oven. The sliced dough tasted awesome, my kitchen smelled amazing delicious, and the finished product is out of this world–chocolatey with a bit of salt. Mmmm. If you’re looking for a really easy-to-make yet outstanding chocolate cookie recipe, I highly recommend this one.
And in case you were wondering why they are called World Peace Cookies, according to the cookbook, Dorie’s neighbor said that a daily dose of these cookies “is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness.” And I concur.
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
Preparation
- Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.
- Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.
- Turn off the mixer. Pour in the dry ingredients, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.
- Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)
Getting Ready to Bake
- Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
- Using a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them.
- Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.
Makes about 36 cookies.
Storage
Packed airtight, cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days; they can be frozen for up to 2 months.
My note: I was too lazy to cut up chocolate so I used mini chips instead.
Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.
Hamantaschen
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Hamantaschen are cookies, traditionally filled with poppy seeds, eaten for Purim. I hate poppy seeds, and since I was the one making them, I made an apricot (also a popular flavor) filling. If you don’t want to make a filling, just use store-bought preserves. Anyway, they’re in the shape of a triangle, which symbolizes (the Purim bad guy) Haman’s triangular hat or his triangular ears. Hey, I’m just passing along the info…I didn’t make it up.
Anyway, this was a near disaster, and two recipes in the making. The first one I tried was a pareve (non-dairy/non-meat) recipe. Looking at the recipe, I thought it was missing some wet ingredients (orange juice or oil perhaps), but then again, who am I to second guess? I made the dough in the morning, stuck it in the fridge as the recipe says, went out for the day, then came home late afternoon to shape and bake the hamantaschen. The dough was so dry it just crumbled. Thinking I did something wrong, I tried the recipe again and ended up with the same result. So frustrating.
Back to the Internet, and I found this recipe. It’s just okay, not wow! or anything, probably because it reminds me too much of sugar cookie dough. And it’s heavy. The apricot filling is delicious though.
Filling Ingredients
1/4 lb. dried apricots
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
Filling Preparation
Cover apricots with 1/2 cup water. Cook over low heat in covered pan for 15 minutes. Mash and add sugar while hot, then add 2 tablespoons water.
Dough Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup oil
1/2 cup butter
3 eggs
4 cups flour
1/2 cup orange juice
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
Dough Preparation
Cream sugar, oil and margarine. Add eggs and juice and mix well. Blend with dry ingredients and roll into a ball. Refrigerate dough one hour.
Divide dough into four parts. Roll out each piece very thin (approximately 1/8 inch) on a floured board. With the rim of a cup or glass (depending on desired size) cut into the dough to make circles. Place 1/2 to 2/3 teaspoon of filling in the middle of each circle. With your finger, put water around rim of circle.
To shape into triangle, lift up right and left sides, leaving the bottom side down, and bring both sides to meet at center, above the filling. Lift bottom side up to center to meet other two sides.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place on greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 20 minutes.
Yields 4 dozen Hamantaschen.
Original hamantaschen recipe from Jewish Recipes. I altered it slightly.
Apricot filling recipe from jewishfood-list.com.
Oatmeal Scotchies
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I don’t know how to explain my feelings about these cookies without sounding like a crazy person, but here goes.
The scotchies are chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside, and actually look like the picture in the cookbook. The problem? The smell. If I don’t like the smell of something, I can’t eat it. Take for example, gingerbread cookies. If they smell anything like molasses, I can’t go near them–the smell of molasses makes me totally nauseous. And while making these cookies, I learned the same goes for butterscotch. As soon as I opened the bag, I knew I was in trouble, and I was counting the minutes until the last batch would be done. My kitchen smelled so bad!
However, I know I’m weird, and most likely no one else feels the same way about the smell of butterscotch. So, I will bring these into work and let my coworker guinea pigs tell me what they think about the taste, then will report back.
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange (I used vanilla)
3 cups quick or old-fashioned oats
1 2/3 cups (11-ounce package) butterscotch flavored morsels
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375.
- Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and morsels. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake for 7 to 8 minutes for chewy cookies or 9 to 10 minutes for crspy cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
Recipe from The Baking Bible.
Oatmeal Toffee Bars
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I’m back! The tonsillectomy went well, recovery is going well, and I’m heading back to LA tomorrow to get back to my normal life (sans Strep!). Thanks for the kind comments, and now back to regular yummy blogging…
While recovering from my tonsillectomy, my sister and I visited Barnes and Noble where I found this cookbook, The Baking Bible, on the clearance rack. The recipes are all very simple, and look oh-so-good.
While these are very good and were a huge hit with the girls at my dad’s office, they look nothing like the picture. I think they added toffee bits to the top after the pan came out of the oven instead of before. I may try it that way next time.
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter or margarine, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups (8-ounce package) Heath Bits ‘O Brickle Toffee Bits, divided
3 cups quick-cooking or regular rolled oats
Preparation
- Heat oven to 350 F. Grease 13X9X2-inch baking pan.
- Beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to butter mixture, beating until well blended. Set aside 1/4 cup toffee bits. Stir remaining toffee bits and oats into batter (batter will be stiff). Spread batter into prepared pan, sprinkle reserved 1/4 cup toffee bits over surface.
- Bake 25 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cook completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
Makes about 36 bars.
Recipe from The Baking Bible.
Snickerdoodles
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Because my tonsillectomy is Tuesday and I’m not allowed to get sick before the surgery, I’m stuck home most of the weekend, not allowed to attend any of the parties I was invited to. Yeah, it sucks. Since I already did four loads of laundry and scrubbed my shower, and still had much of the day left, I decided to try yet another new recipe.
These are good. Really, really good. And also, really, really big. You could easily make them half the size and get a few dozen cookies out of the recipe.
Ingredients
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/2 cup shortening
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 3 tablespoons
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
Preparation
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a bowl.
With a handheld or standing mixer, beat together the shortening and butter. Add the 1 1/2 cups sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture and blend until smooth.
Mix the 3 tablespoons sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl. Roll the dough, by hand, into 1 1/2-inch balls. Roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar. Flatten the balls into 1/2-inch thick disks, spacing them evenly on unlined cookie sheets. Bake until light brown, but still moist in the center, about 12 minutes. Cool on a rack.
Yields 20 cookies.
Recipe from the Food Network.
Notes: I used regular salt. And I had a ton of the cinnamon-sugar mixture leftover.
Molasses Cookies
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I’ve been seeing molasses cookies all over the Internet lately, so when I came across this Cooking Light version, I knew I had to give it a try.
They’re good, but not amazing. As a side note, I can’t stand the smell of molasses, and my whole apartment smelled like it while the cookies were in the oven. Anyway, these are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.
Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 cup molasses
1 large egg
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 10 ounces)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup granulated sugar
Cooking spray
Preparation
Combine brown sugar and shortening in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy. Add molasses and egg; beat well. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through salt), stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed just until blended. Cover and freeze 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Place water in a small bowl. Place granulated sugar in another small bowl. Lightly coat hands with cooking spray. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Dip one side of each ball in water; dip wet side in sugar. Place balls, sugar side up, 1 inch apart, on baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 8 minutes. Remove from pans; cool on wire racks.
Yields 4 dozen.
Recipe from Cooking Light.
Original Nestle Toll House Chocolate Chip Pan Cookie
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I was in the mood to bake, but not to scoop dozens of cookies. Fortunately, I remembered this random Very Best Baking brochure thing I got in the mail. It has very simple recipes, including this Toll House original which I haven’t made in years.
Baking these in a pan, rather than scooping out balls of dough, made this recipe super fast and easy. They’re good cookies, but a little too greasy for my taste.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 (12 ounce) package Nestle Toll House Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 10×15 inch jelly roll pan.
- Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels and nuts. Spread into greased 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack, then cut into bars.
Notes
- I do not have (nor do I know exactly what) a jelly-roll pan is, so I used a regular 15 x 9 Pyrex glass baking dish.
- I used milk chocolate chips
Cinnamon-Sugar Cookies
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After stepping on the scale, I decided it was time to start making desserts that don’t call for Crisco as an ingredient. So, when I ran across this low-fat cookie recipe, I decided I must try it. I mean, how can you go wrong with cinnamon and sugar?
The cookie is light, crunchy, and delicious. And, my apartment smelled so good while they were in the oven! I will definitely be making these again.
Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup cake flour (about 4 ounces)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 3 1/3 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Preparation
Place granulated sugar and butter in a bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 3 minutes). Add corn syrup, vanilla, and egg; beat 3 minutes or until well blended.
Lightly spoon cake flour and all-purpose flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; stir until just combined. Wrap in plastic wrap; chill 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Combine turbinado sugar and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a small bowl. Shape dough into 48 balls, about 1 teaspoon each. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 375° for 12 minutes or until golden on bottom. Cool on wire racks.
Yield: 48 cookies
Notes:
- Turbinado sugar is commonly known by the brand name Sugar In The Raw.
- After rolling the dough in the sugar mixture, I pressed the ball down with my palm to flatten it a bit.
- For a chewier cookie, reduce the baking time by a couple of minutes.
Recipe from Cooking Light.
Sugar Cookies with Powdered Sugar Glaze
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This is the first and only sugar cookie recipe I’ve ever used. I found it a few years ago and have been in love with it ever since. The cookie is not super sweet, so the glaze is a very nice addition while not overpowering.
I made these for tomorrow’s Yom Kippur break-the-fast. They look so cute and taste delicious.
Cookie Ingredients
1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Cookie Preparation
- In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
- Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely.
Makes about a gazillion five dozen.
Glaze Ingredients
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon butter, sofened
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla, if desired
food coloring
Glaze Preparation
- Combine powdered sugar, water, butter, corn syrup, and vanilla in a small bowl and mix until powdered sugar is moistened.
- Beat at medium speed until smooth, adding additional water if necessary.
- Tint with food coloring.
My notes:
- I separate the dough into three separate pieces of plastic wrap before it goes in the fridge. The dough gets sticky and hard to work with if it’s out of the fridge for a long time. So this way, I only have a third of it to roll out at once, leaving the remainder keeping cool in the fridge.
Cookie recipe from All Recipes. Glaze recipe is from who knows where–it was handwritten on a piece of scrap paper a few years ago and has the vanilla stains to show for it.
Oatmeal Bars with Chocolate Icing
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I got back into town early and decided to bake. But I didn’t want to scoop cookies or frost cupcakes so I decided upon a nice and easy bar cookie. I simply Googled “oatmeal bars” and came up with this one.
These are okay. Nothing special and a little boring. I probably won’t be making them again.
Ingredients
1 cup butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup rolled oats
6 ounces milk chocolate bars or morsels
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Preparation
Cream 1 cup butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks. Add flour and rolled oats and mix well. Spread in a greased and floured 13×9x2-inch baking pan. Bake at 350° for 20 minutes.
Melt chocolate bars or morsels with the 2 tablespoons of butter. Spread over cooled cookie layer; sprinkle with chopped nuts. Cut into 1 1/2-inch squares.
Makes 48 cookies.
Notes: I omitted the nuts. Also, I used my hands to spread the batter into the baking pan–it was really thin.
Recipe from about.com.
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
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A soft peanut butter cookie with a miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup inside. These are delicious and so simple to make. I’m mailing them to my sister in New York, so let’s hope they don’t melt or get squished.
If you can’t eat peanut butter cookies, use your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and a Hershey’s Kiss instead.
Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
- Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
- Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy.
- Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.
- Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
- Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.
Makes 40 cookies.
Notes: I use a small cookie scoop to measure the dough. Also, I put the muffin tins in the fridge for about 10 minutes after I push the peanut butter cups into the cookie; this way they cool faster and the chocolate doesn’t melt.
Recipe from All Recipes.
Chocolate Crinkles
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I don’t think I’ve eaten these since I was a kid. But they looked so cute, and I wanted to try a new recipe to take with me to a Labor Day BBQ. Chewy and delicious!
As a side note, this was the first time I used my Silpat for cookies and ohmygod, I’m in love.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Preparation
- Mix oil, chocolate, granulated sugar and vanilla in large bowl. Mix in eggs, one at a time. Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours.
- Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease cookie sheet.
- Drop dough by teaspoonfuls into powdered sugar; roll around to coat. Shape into balls. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet.
- Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until almost no imprint remains when touched lightly in center. Remove from cookie sheet. Cool on wire rack.
Notes:
- I put the dough back in the fridge between batches because it was getting really sticky.
- I dusted my hands with powdered sugar when rolling the balls; they didn’t stick to my hands that way.
- The recipe on the Betty Crocker site says this yields six dozen; I only got four dozen.
Recipe from Betty Crocker.
Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
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I saw this recipe a while ago and decided I must try it–it had five stars and tons of reviews, and I’m a sucker for those huge chewy bakery style chocolate cookies. Although the cookies are good and the title lives up to its name–they are in fact big, fat, and chewy–this recipe won’t be replacing my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Ingredients
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 (I used milk chocolate chips)
Preparation
- 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.
Notes:
These cookies are huge. I used a three tablespoon scoop (a little less than 1/4 cup) and ended up with only 15 cookies. I also had an issues with the chips separating from the batter so while the first batch was in the oven, I stuck the batter in the fridge and that seemed to solve the problem.
Recipe from All Recipes.
Homemade Oreos
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These are so good! Larger and a little thicker than storebought Oreos, the cookie is nice and crunchy and the filling so delicious
Cookies
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) room- temperature, unsalted butter
1 large egg
Vanilla-Cream Filling
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable shortening
2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Preparation
Set two racks in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.
In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar. While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.
To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
To assemble the cookies, in a pastry bag with a 1/2 inch, round tip, pipe teaspoon-size blobs of cream into the center of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.
Makes 30 sandwich cookies.
Notes:
- The recipe says it yields 30 cookies, but I only got 24.
- I added water to the filling, because it wasn’t getting fluffy enough.
- I bought the Dutch process cocoa at Gelson’s because the regular grocery stores didn’t carry it. And it was with the hot cocoas, not in the baking aisle.
- The cookies spread. A lot.
Recipe from Daily Specials.
Chocolate Chip Meringues
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Another Passover favorite. I believe this recipe is from my mom’s old Hadassah cookbook.
Ingredients
2 egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup chocolate chips
Preparation
Combine eggs whites, vanilla, and salt. Beat until stiff but not dry.
Beat in sugar until mixture is stiff and satiny.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet.
Bake at 300 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Makes three to four dozen.
Notes:
- I use mini chocolate chips.
- Instead of greasing a cookie sheet, I use parchment paper. After taking them out of the oven, I slide the parchment off the cookie sheet and let the meringues cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container.
Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
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I was in the mood to bake, but didn’t want to potchki. So, I found a recipe for chewy chocolate chip oatmeal cookies and decided to give it a whirl. So easy. So good. I omitted the nuts and instead added extra chocolate chips. They are perfect–crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside, and have a wonderful texture.
Recipe
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.
Note: I omitted the nuts and added extra chocolate chips.
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pinwheel Cookies
A crisp peanut butter cookie with a swirl of chocolate inside.
I was going to make my dad mini chocolate cupcakes with chocolate fudge frosting, but at the last minute he changed his mind and wanted an old childhood favorite, peanut butter chocolate pinwheel cookies. My grandma used to make them for my dad when he was a kid, and they’re still his favorite to this day.
Recipe
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cups flour
1 egg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
6 oz chocolate chips
Cream sugars, shortening, and peanut butter. Add egg, flour, and dry ingredients.
Melt chocolate.
Roll out dough 1/4″ thick on waxed paper.
Spread melted chocolate over dough.
Roll dough up like a jellyroll. Refrigerate roll 15 minutes. Slice.
Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.
Recipe from my Grandma Faye.
Toffee Chip Cookies
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Sweet and chewy. So delicious.
Cookies
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 (10 ounce) package Skor English toffee bits (English toffee bits)
- Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Stir together flour, baking soda and salt.
- In a large mixer bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla until well blended.
- Add eggs and blend thoroughly.
- Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.
- Stir in toffee bits.
- Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet (I used ungreased parchment paper).
- Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until lightly browned.
- Cool slightly, remove from the cookie sheet to a wire rack.
- Cool completely.
Makes four dozen cookies.
Recipe from bag of Skor chips.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
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This recipe uses packets of vanilla pudding mix which gives them a sweet and delicious taste. Nice and chewy, these are always gobbled up by my coworkers in no time.
Cookies
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture.
Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.
Makes six dozen cookies.
Recipe from All Recipes.
Zabar’s Black and White Cookies
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Jewish deli cookies. So. Damn. Good.
Cookies
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 lb unsalted butter, softened (2 sticks)
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon lemon extract
2 1/2 cups cake flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
- Preheat the oven to 375.
- Butter two baking sheets and set aside.
- To make the cookies: In a large mixing bowl, combine the sugar and butter.
- Mix with mixer or hand until fluffy.
- Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla and lemon extracts and mix until smooth.
- In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking powder, and salt and stir until mixed.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet in batches, stirring well to combine.
- Using a soup spoon or ice cream scoop, drop spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake until the edges begin to brown, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Allow to cool completely.
Makes two dozen cookies.
Frosting
4 cups confectioners’ sugar
1/3-1/2 cup boiling water
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate
- Place the confectioners’ sugar in a large bowl.
- Gradually add enough of the boiling water to the sugar, stirring constantly, until mixture is thick and spreadable.
- Remove half of the frosting to the top half of a double boiler set over simmering water and add the chocolate.
- Warm the mixture, stirring, until the chocolate is melted and the frosting is smooth.
- Remove from the heat.
- With a brush, coat half the cookie with chocolate frosting and the other half with white frosting.
Note:
The chocolate frosting was a little too thick, so I thinned it out with water, adding about a quarter teaspoon at a time while stirring.
Recipe from Recipe Zaar.
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