Sinful Cookies

A fan of chocolate chip cookies?  Oatmeal cookies?  Peanut butter cookies?  Why not combine the three?  That's what Leah and I have done.  These are lovely cookies, adapted (and, of course, improved) from a recipe we found online.  Enjoy!

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375F.

Cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars together.  Add egg and beat until...well until you get tired of beating it, be that ten seconds or ten minutes.  (I don't think it actually matters.)  Add in vanilla.  Sift flour, soda and salt together.  (Once again, I think this is a useless step and usually just add them all at once.)  Add flour mixture and oats to batter and mix well.  Add chocolate chips and hand stir, just until mixed.

Roll dough into balls and put on cookie sheet (I know, duh).  Bake for 8 minutes until edges turn golden brown.  Remove and eat.  (Oh fine, you can cool on a wire rack if you really want to.)

Yield about 3 dozen cookies.  Each is about 125 calories.  Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortcake Cookies

These cookies are divine.  They're not exactly healthy (at all), so the trick here is moderation.  Hahaha.  Easier said than done...

I do think they're about 130 calories a piece though, depending on size.

Cookies


3 cups white flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 cup salted butter, room tempterature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg + 1 egg white
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup sour cream

1. Sift together flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Set aside.
2. Cream butter and sugar.  Beat at medium speed for a couple minutes until light and fluffy.
3. Add egg and egg white to butter/sugar.  Beat until smooth.  Add vanilla and sour cream.  Mix until combined.
4. Add dry ingredients to batter and mix until just combined.  Refrigerate for 2 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 425.  Roll out dough to 1/4" thickness.  Cut in small (2" diameter) circles.  Put cookies on cookie sheet and bake for 8 minutes.  Cookies should be lightly golden with light brown bottoms.
6. Cool completely.

Strawberry Buttercream


1 cup strawberries
1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1. Slice strawberries and puree them.  Put in small saucepan on stove over medium heat.  Reduce to about 50% (about 10 minutes).  Let strawberries cool completely.
2. Beat butter on high speed until very fluffy.  Add vanilla and 1/2 cup powdered sugar.  Beat on high.  Slowly add the remaining cup of powdered sugar, carefully so that you don't make a gigantic mess.  Beat frosting until light and frothy.
3.  Add cooled strawberry puree.  Beat on high until frosting is fluffy.  (You can add milk or powdered sugar to achieve desired consistency.)
4. Frost cooled cookies.

Yum.

Sugar Cookies

I love my old sugar cookie recipe, but they don't hold their shape well. I did a bunch of research, and built my own recipe. I made several batches. With some trial and error, I finally created one with the taste I love that still hold their shape. Just adding flour makes them dry and shortening isn't the same as butter. Too much heat melts the sugar too fast and flattens the cookie, so a high sugar recipe wouldn't work with high temps. (The above picture: The white is my regular recipe with extra flour. The pink is less granulated sugar, temp 400. They look great but I didn't like the flavor as well. The purple was more sugar, soda, cream of tartar and 400 temp. The blue is the recipe below with powdered sugar.)

I traded out the baking powder for some baking soda and cream of tartar. And a friend of mine told me that granulated sugar melts at a different temperature than powdered sugar. She told me it's the granulated sugar that flattens out the cookies, so I traded that straight across. So, see what you think.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

2 eggs

3 tsp. vanilla

3 1/4 cups flour

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:

Cream butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add dry ingredients and mix well. Chill for 1 hour. Roll 1/4 inch thick on floured surface. Cut out shapes. Bake at 350 for 10-12 min. Cool completely. Frost and decorate!

If you want a variation, you could substitute 1 tsp. almond flavoring for the vanilla. Or add keep vanilla and add 1/2 tsp. nutmeg and 1 tsp. cinnamon. (Great variation for the holidays.

Frosting:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 Tblsp. milk
1/4 tsp. vanilla

1 Tblsp. butter

Directions:

Mix until smooth and not too runny.

Chewy Peanut Butter Blossoms

I have a perfectly good peanut butter cookie recipie until I got this from a friend. These cookies are simply divine!!! They are the best peanut butter cookie I've ever had! And they are a MUST try!

Ingredients:

About 48 HERSHEY'S KISSES Brand Milk Chocolates
1/2 cup shortening

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

2 Tblsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

Granulated sugar

Instructions:

1. Heat oven to 375°F. Remove wrappers from chocolate pieces.

2. Beat shortening and peanut butter in large bowl until well blended. Add sugars and beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

3. Shape into 1-inch balls; roll in sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.

4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until very lightly browned (do not overbake). Remove from oven; immediately press chocolate piece in center of each ball. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completley. Store in tightly covered container. About 48 cookies.

Hoilday Treasures

I can't believe that I just found this recipe!! They are so tasty and simple to make! They taste almost like candy! This recipe was hiding in one of my cookbooks for the last eight and a half years. I wonder what other yummy recipes are hiding away! (I only used the chocolate and pecans because I didn't have white chocolate and I don't like it as well. I also used Almond Bark for the candy coating and it worked well.)

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup butter-flavored shortening

1 egg

1 Tblsp. milk

1 tsp. vanilla

1 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2 jars (10 oz. each) maraschino cherries, well drained

Coating:

10 oz. white candy coating, divided

4 Tblsp butter-flavored shortening, divided

8 oz. dark chocolate candy coating (I used almond bark)

Finely chopped pecans

Directions:

In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and shortening. Add the egg, milk and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Form 2 teaspoonfuls of dough into a ball. Flatten ball and place a cherry in the center; roll dough around cherry. Repeat with remaining dough and cherries. Place balls 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 10-12 min. or until set and the edges are lightly browned. Cool 1 min. before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Grate 2 oz. white candy coating; set aside. Melt remaining white chocolate with 2 Tblsp. shortening; melt dark coating with remaining shortening. Dip half the cookies into white coating; lace on waxed paper. Sprinkle with pecans. Dip the remaining cookies in dark coating; place on waxed paper. Sprinkle with grated white coating. Store in a covered container in the refrigerator. Yield: about 4 1/2 dozen.

Darn Good Thumbprint Cookies

This falls into the "I just can't do the same thing as everyone else" category!

Mix together:

• 2/3 c butter (margarine? really -- why bother making cookies to use margarine -- if you are going to blow the diet, use the good stuff!)
• 1/2 c coconut flour
• 1/2 c sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 cup flour

Chill for 1/2 hour or so. This does two things 1) makes it easier to roll the dough and 2) the coconut flour needs a little time to soften. (Bob's Red Mill makes coconut flour.)

Finely smash/chop a cup or two of macadamia nuts.

Make the dough into 1 inch balls. Dip the dough balls as follows:

• 2 lightly beaten egg whites
• 1 cup of smashed/chopped macadamia nuts
• 1/2 cup fine coconut -- not the huge candy pieces -- use really finely shredded macaroon coconut (Bob's Red Mill again for me.)

Place the cookies on the cookie sheets (we can't do this without referring to a certain SNL skit w/ the crazy Alec Baldwin) and make a thumbprint in each one.

Bake at 350 for 10 - 12 minutes. While the cookies are cooling, spoon a bit of jam into each one. They are really good w/ sunshine marmalade or the "Oops I screwed up Carrot Cake Jam" because they both have extra pineapple.

Makes 42 cookies, which is enough to share with two families and still get to eat one after DH snarfs what's left! I was going to post a photo, but someone ate the samples!

Sugar Cookies

INGREDIENTS
1/2 lb butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS
Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs. Add dry ingredients. (I find mine turn out better with an extra 1/4 cup flour. I am not sure if it is the elevation, or what, but you might give that a try.) Refrigerate overnight or for 4-5 hours. Bake at 400 degrees F for 6-9 minutes, until edges are just starting to turn light brown. Do not overcook.

If you double the recipe, use 3 eggs.

Biscotti

INGREDIENTS

• 1/4 cup light olive oil
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 1/2 cup pistachio nuts
• (I like to substitute semi-sweet chocolate chips and slivered almonds for last 2 ingredients)
• 4-6oz white chocolate for melting and dipping (semi-sweet if using chocolate chips and almonds)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.
2. Mix together oil and sugar. Add vanilla, almond extract, and eggs. Combine flour, salt and baking powder; gradually stir into egg mixture. Mix in cranberries and nuts by hand.
3. Divide dough in half. Form two logs (12 long by 2 tall, and maybe 5 wide) on a cookie sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Dough may be sticky;wet hands with cool water to handle dough more easily.
4. Bake for 35 minutes, or until logs are light brown. Remove from oven, and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Reduce oven heat to 275 degrees F.
5. Cut logs on diagonal into 3/4 inch thick slices. Lay on sides on parchment covered cookie sheet. Bake approximately 8-10 minutes on one side, flip to the other side, and bake for another 8-10 minutes, or until dry. Cool.
6. Once cookies are cooled, melt dipping chocolate and put on a plate. Dip bottoms only of biscotti in melted chocolate. Place on cookie sheet and allow chocolate to set up.