Shamrock Cookies

Happy St. Patrick's day!!

While I was on the roll of making cookies, I thought I should use my new shamrock cookie cutter and what better time to use it than for St. Patrick's day. These were fun, I made them for K's class and instead of frosting them I just pushed a few shamrock goodies into the dough before baking.

Again I used my cookie cutter cookie recipe and it worked perfectly. I added some green food coloring (paste) and they held there color perfectly while baking. I am sure the kids will get a kick out of them too.

I had some extra dough left, so I went ahead and made the extras. These will be going to Mom's office today.



These I topped with some royal icing and then used green sanding sugar on top. This whole giving up cookies and chocolate for Lent is really killing me right now....I want a cookie!!

Baby Buggy Cookies

I made these for C's teacher Mrs. D's baby shower today. They are super cute and really fun to do.

I used my standby cookie cutter cookie recipe which I love so much and then used royal icing for the decor. I outlined them, then flooded them. After they were set we (Mom helped with the decorations) went back and piped wheels, and her name.

Blueberry Bars

K has been asking for blueberry cookies and while they sound good I didn't have a recipe for one. I started browsing cookbooks, and I found this recipe for blueberry bars. I showed it to him and he thought they were good, so that is what brought us to this. I made more than a few changes to the recipe, they were good, and not overly sweet. They would make a great breakfast bar, instead of the cookie/bar they are meant to be. You could change out the blueberry mixture for jam which would make it sweeter.

I love the slight sweetness that the blueberries give along with the surprise of a whole blueberry here and there. This really makes me long for summer.

Blueberry Bars

Adapted from Martha Stewart

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup almonds

3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter , cold, cut into pieces

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

4 cups blueberries 

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons honey

3 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup honey

4 tablespoons (1/2 of 1 stick) unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 325 degrees line a baking sheet with a silicone mat.

First:

In a medium saucepan add 3 cups blueberries, 1/4 cup brown sugar and 2 tablespoons honey. These can either be frozen or fresh blueberries either will work. Cook over medium high heat until they start to bubble then turn down to medium/medium low and continue to cook and stir occasionally until think and syrupy.  (I let mine cook for about 45 minutes or so, then turned off the heat and let them sit until I was ready for them)  

Second:

I used a 9 x 9 pan but you could easily use a 9 x 13 if you wanted thinner bars

Process almonds in a food processor until finely ground. Add flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt; pulse to combine. Add butter; process until mixture resembles coarse meal.

Lightly beat egg, egg yolk, and vanilla in a small bowl. With processor running, add egg mixture; process just until clumps form. Pat dough into bottom of dish; refrigerate until firm and cold, about 30 minutes.

Third: While the dough is in the refrigerator

Put oats in a medium bowl and set aside. In a small sauce pan combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/3 cup honey and 4 tablespoons of butter. Stir until sugar is melted and everything is well combined. Pour mixture over oats and stir well. Then spread on sheet pan and bake in oven stirring every 10 minutes for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

Let cool on baking sheet until ready to use.

Fourth:

Increase heat in oven to 350 degrees. Prick dough all over with a fork. Bake until edges are golden, about 25 minutes.

Spread blueberry mixture over crust then sprinkle with the remaining blueberries. Top with granola mixture and bake for another 25-30 minutes until blueberries are bubbly and the topping is a golden brown. Let cool on rack then slice.

You will have extra granola and you can store it in an airtight container. It would be really good on yogurt.

Enjoy!!

The Perfect Snickerdoodle

I have been working on this off and on now for a year. It has been strenuous, but I do it because it is important work, and while it has been long hard hours (hahahaha) it has been worth it, every second. For now I can give you the perfect snickerdoodle.

Besides my Mom's chocolate chip cookies, these are probably my favorite, though I think I have said that a few times now.....are you counting my favorites? I'm not which is probably a good thing.

These are light, and perfect. Crisp on the edge with a soft chewy center...these ruin my diet, completely.

Perfect Snickerdoodles
Makes 3 dozen with a small scoop
Cookies
1 stick unsalted butter-room temperature
1 cups sugar
1 eggs
1 1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Pinch of salt

Coating
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line baking sheets baking mats or parchment paper; set aside.

Combine flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

In your mixing bowl cream butter and sugar add in egg mix until combined. Add in dry ingredients and mix well.

In a small bowl add sugar and cinnamon for coating. scoop out balls, roll slightly then roll around in coating, place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart, these like to spread.

Bake for 8 minutes, you don't want your cookies to brown. Let cool on pans for 1 minutes then transfer to a cooling rack to finish.

This can easily be doubled if you need more cookies.


Enjoy!!

Goodies in the Mail......Cookie Cutters

I was so excited when I got the mail yesterday, my cookie cutters had arrived. I had ordered a few last week, as I am helping mom with a baby shower next month, and needed a cookie cutter, and few other supplies too. Then while shopping there were a few others that I just couldn't resist.

My box of goodies.......

This is what the box held



A baby carriage

A Tractor....I couldn't believe I didn't have this one yet.

A Shamrock, how fun.

A Trout, I thought this one would be perfect for fishing season.



A candy writing pen, I have wanted to try one of these for a long time and figured, now would be a good time to try it.

Then of course I had to get some sanding sugar, fortunately they had an 18 pack so I didn't have to choose which colors, instead it has all of the most popular ones.

 

Then as a added bonus they sent me these.......mini shamrocks. I love them.

Now with all my new goodies, I have no reason not to make some cookies...those will be coming up soon.

Cookie Party.....rescheduled

Today I had planned on posting all the fun we had at the cookie decorating party Tuesday night. It got cancelled. Monday morning I woke up to a sick M, which okay it is only Monday maybe it was just a one time thing, he was good all day Monday and then Monday night Hubby came down with it too. Now K has it too, I am just wondering when C and I will fall. So sorry that I don't have anything fun for you today, we are rescheduling for next Tuesday, I am just praying they get over this quickly, we are expecting 30ish people to the house on Saturday.

I will leave you with a snippet of what I am giving the girls at the party.

The perfect sugar cookie

First thing you should know, I was never a fan of sugar cookies, that is until I met this cookie, and this is still the only sugar cookie I will eat. I found it when Hubby and I were first married in a cookbook that I can't remember anymore. It has all the right qualities to it that I never found in a sugar cookie before. All the other ones were to dry, crumbly, or the taste was off. I like balance and this cookie has it, a nice buttery texture and just enough sweetness. The bonus is that since it isn't horribly sweet it takes frosting perfectly. I have been making this cookie for 11+ years now and that says a lot.

It is very adaptable, so if you wanted to play around with extracts and/or add zests it would take it just fine. The batch I made last night I added vanilla bean caviar to it. I just love those little black flecks.

Cookie Cutter Cookies
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs one at a time then add in vanilla. If you want to add in anything else this would be the time. Add in flour and mix until combined. Turn out and make into a disk giving the dough a couple of good kneads as you do. You want it to be smooth. Then wrap in plastic and place in the fridge for at least 30 min*.

When you are ready to make cookies preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment or silpats. If you have let it sit for more than the 30 minutes it will take about 5 minutes before the dough relax enough to roll. The butter gets pretty hard sitting for long periods of time. If not then flour your work surface and roll our dough.

Roll out dough to about 1/4" thickness (mine are never perfect) and cut out. Bake for about 10 minutes. This will depend on how large your cookie cutter is. The smaller the cutter the shorter the bake time and vise versa. If you are using a convection oven it will take about 14 min. Remember to turn your baking sheets and rotate if baking more than once batch at a time.

If the dough starts to get too soft, put it back in the refrigerator for 10 minutes until it firms up again. When you get ready to remake your dough into a ball for the next rolling dust off as much flour as you can, this helps with the texture of the cookie. I get as many rolls out of this dough as I can and my last roll cookies look and taste just as good as the first roll does.

This recipe doubles and triples beautifully. I am sure if your mixer was big enough you could just keep going.

*I have left it in the refrigerator for a week before and they still turn out perfectly

Enjoy!!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

My mom gave me this recipe who she received from one of her co-workers moms. I know it gets complicated sometimes. But the good part is these are wonderful cookies!! They are flour less, and when I made mine I left out the chocolate chips. I am a purist with some things and for me the cookies were great without the them.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
makes 3 dozen

1 stick unsalted butter-room temp
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 tea baking soda
1 tea salt
1 tea vanilla
3 eggs
4 cups oatmeal
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350

Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time until mix in then add vanilla. Add all dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips in the end if you choose.

I used a medium cookie scoop and I got 12 per cookie sheet. They don't spread very much but give them space so they cook properly.

Bake for 14-16 min then let sit for 5 before transferring to cooling rack.

ENJOY!!

Grandma's Date Filled Cookies

These are probably my most favorite cookie. They are just sweet enough and they have a bit of a savory character to them too. That is not why they are my favorite though. When I make these I am transported back to my Great Grandma's kitchen. To these sitting on the counter waiting for us when we came over. Grandma would make these at all times of the year, but they always reminded me of Christmas, and they remind me of her too....



You want to start the filling while making the dough

Date Filled Cookies
By My Great Grandma
Cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter*
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup warm water
1 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 cup flour*

Preheat oven to 325 degrees line baking sheets with parchment or silpat

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and water then mix in baking soda, salt and flour. Mix until combined.

Now you can either roll out the dough and use a smaller round cutter on the cookies or you can use a small cookie scoop. I use a scoop it is faster. Once balls of dough are on the cookie sheet, use the bottom of a glass or measuring up dipped in flour and slightly flatten cookies. Then using your knuckle make a small imprint in the center of the cookie. Add date mixture about 3/4 of a teaspoon each, and bake for 10 min or until the edges are just barely golden brown. Let the cookies sit for a few minutes and then move to a cooling rack.

These cookies spread a bit so give them some room to grow. I can get 13 small cookies on one sheet pan.

*Note: Grandma's recipe called for shortening, also if you use a cookie scoop then add another 1/4 cup of flour.

Filling:
2 cups pitted dates
1 cup water

Combine in a sauce pan over medium heat until mixture becomes hot then reduce to low/medium low until mixture becomes a paste, stirring often. Set aside until ready for cookies.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

You can substitute chocolate chips for the raisins, but then you can't feel as good about eating them for breakfast.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Adapted from Quaker Oatmeal

1 cup unsalted butter room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups raisins*

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, line a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.

In a seperate bowl combine flour, cinnamon, and soda.

Cream butter and sugars, add in eggs one at a time then vanilla. Add in flour mixture and beat on low until just combined, then add in oats and raisins. Using medium cookie scoop, scoop out dough and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Enjoy!!

Carrot Cake Cookies

**This is a revisit from a prevous post**

Another recipe from Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. I found this one knowing I would have to try it one day and today being such a rainy blustery day I thought what the heck it is the perfect day for baking cookies. These unlike so many other recipes that I use I didn't alter this one and they were perfect. If you like carrot cake you will love these cookies. Give them a try I will guarantee they won't last long.

Carrot Cake Cookies
By Martha Stewart

1 cup unsalted butter softened
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ginger
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots
1 cup raisins

In a separate bowl combine flour, soda, powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger set aside.

In a mixer beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy about 3 minutes, add eggs and vanilla mix well. Add in flour mixture and mix until well combined. Add in oats, carrots and raisins, mix until just combined. Put in another bowl and chill for at least 1 hour.

Line cookie sheet with either parchment or silpat and using the smallest cookie scoop (1 tablespoon) make balls and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes and then put on cooling rack until completely cooled.

Filling~

8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup powdered sugar*
1 teaspoon vanilla

Bring cream cheese and butter to room temperature, mix together in a bowl until smooth. Add in vanilla and powered sugar beat until smooth.

* Add more if needed.

Spread about 2 teaspoons of filling on flat side of cookie, and sandwich together. Repeat and enjoy.

A note about cookie week

There is a good chance....about 100% that I will revisit some of my old cookie posts . Sorry, but I have been trying really hard to not gain weight and this cookie week thing was not my best thought out plan obviously, the temptation is just too much for me right now. So, I hope you don't get grumpy, but they are classics revisited and maybe something new for you too.

Hazelnut Cherry Biscotti

I never thought I would like biscotti. I thought it was just for people who drink coffee. Plus who wants a hard cookie that might break your tooth, nope not me. I prefer my cookies soft/chewy/crispy/cakey, really any way that you can make them I will eat them except hard, I don't like hard. If I was blue I could be the cookie monster. Well then I found these. They are just a bit crispy on the outside, but the inside is soft and chewy and oh so marvelous. You really must try them. These are not allowed to be in my house, because well I will eat them all. As it is before I got around to posting this I already ate 3 of them, not so good for the diet here. What are you doing to me??? Oh yeah this was my idea....sorry about that. On to the cookie.



Hazelnut Cherry Biscotti
Found in the Williams and Sonoma Baking Cookbook

1/2 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cup flour
1 cup chopped hazelnuts
1/2 cup chopped dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat

Cream butter and sugar, add eggs and vanilla. Then mix in flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. When all that is combined stir in hazelnuts and cherries.

Divide batter in half and form two logs on baking sheet, about 3-4" wide. Bake for 25-30 min until the edges are just starting to brown. Then let sit for 10-15 minutes until cool enough to handle. Cut into slices and then put them cut side down on baking sheet and bake for another 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cool on rack.

Beware you might lose all control with these cookies, the best part is you can have them for breakfast and not feel guilty.

Enjoy!!

Cookie Week

There is this rumor going around that it is cookie week. At least from what I've seen it's true. Well I had planned on doing some baking and sharing some recipes this week, but yesterday was a bust with a migraine and Monday is Monday. So, I am a few days behind and while I would love to start cookie week next week that is just not going to happen, so we are going to start it tomorrow, and it will go to next thursday. I will have something yummy for you each day, so be prepared to get out those stretchy pants.

Copper Cookie Cutters

I started collecting copper cookie cutters when Hubby and I first got married. It wasn't until this year that I really considered it a collection. It was always just something that I loved, and so when I saw a new one that I thought I should have I would get it. They aren't that expensive so I never thought to much about it. Well now it has become a bit of a obsession. My mom helps to fuel it by buying me ones that she knows I have looked at, but just haven't bought yet. Then the other day I was browsing on line and found more of the copper cookie cutters than I ever know what to do with, so I started a wish list, not so much for other people, but mostly for me so when I have a few extra dollars I don't have to spend hours searching for them.

Here is my list that I have so far and it is always looking to be expanded.
large tree
small tree
large star
small star
spider
penguin
snowflake
snowman
pumpkin
large gingerbread man
small gingerbread man
turkey
maple leaf
oak leaf

As you can tell it started out with fall and Christmas and now I am expanding to the rest of the holidays and to just animals in general. I have many other cookie cutters, but these are just the copper ones that I have so far. The boys love cookie cutter cookies and they love to help make them. It is a great way for us to spend a few hours together in the kitchen.

** By the way I do use all of them; that is one of my things. If I am not going to use it then I probably won't buy it.

Here is my recipe for cookie cutter cookies. I have used it for years and it is my favorite. I don't like regular sugar cookies and these aren't as sweet as many that you get. They are better with frosting too.

Cookie Cutter Cookies
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 cup flour

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla mix until combined. Add in flour and salt mix until well combined. Then wrap tightly with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Roll out to 1/4" and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes*

*Cooking time varies on the size of the cookie. The larger ones take 12-15 the smaller ones around 10.

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing

These are straight out of the Martha Stewart's Cookies cookbook. They are wonderful and very cake like. Perfect for this time of year. Sorry I don't have a picture they were all gone by the time I thought about it.

Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing
By Martha Stewart's Cookies

Cookies
2 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cup kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/3 teaspoon ginger
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 stick unsalted butter room temperature
2 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup pumpkin
3/4 cup evaporated milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Icing
4 cups powdered sugar
10 tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
1/4 cup evaporated milk
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cookies:
Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl and set aside. Beat butter and brown sugar until lighter and fluffy. Mix in the eggs mix well. Add pumpkin, evaporated milk, and vanilla and mix until blended. Add in flour mixture and mix until combined.

Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop out 12 cookies per sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes, until they just spring back when touched. Cool for a few minutes then transfer to rack to finish cooling.

Icing:
Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it begins to brown, swirling pan occasionally. Meanwhile put powdered sugar into bowl, when butter is browned immediately add to powdered sugar, add evaporated milk and vanilla. Mix well until no lumps remain. If it is to thick add more evaporated milk. Spread icing on cookies using an offset spatula.

These cookies should not be stacked and will keep for two or three days.

Makes 5 dozen.

Enjoy!!