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.
