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Posts from the ‘Cookies’ category

Eggnog Cookies

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These cookies are very cakey and taste strongly of eggnog 🙂 They’re great and festive for the holidays!

Ingredients:

  • ¾ cup softened butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • ½ cup brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • ⅔ cup eggnog (store-bought)
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • ½ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ¾ tsp nutmeg
  • 3 cups flour

Frosting:

  • 6 tbs prepared eggnog
  • 2½ cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tsp. nutmeg

Directions:

  • Cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, eggnog, and vanilla, and mix well.
  • Add salt, soda, and nutmeg and mix well. Add flour and mix until combined. It should form a very soft dough.
  • Drop spoonfuls onto a lined baking sheet. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes, until lightly brown. Let cool before frosting.
  • For frosting, combine all ingredients, mixing until smooth. Frost cooled cookies, and store between layers of wax paper or parchment paper.

Cranberry Pistachio Shortbread

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I’m sorry it has been SO long since posting anything! I have still been transitioning to California and finally moved into my new apartment last week. I am now again traveling for work and for the holidays. I’ve hardly been in a single place for more than a week for the past few months! It’s sad to have not had time or  place to cook during the holidays. Hopefully by the new year I’ll be back to regular cooking/posting. In the meantime I’ll post some delicious cookie recipes I made last Christmas 🙂

These shortbread cookies are great! I love the salty pistachios with the sweet cookie.

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Ingredients:

  • 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 2/3 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup unsalted pistachios, coarsely chopped
  • 1 cup dried cranberries, coarsely chopped (can use dried cherries)

Directions:

  • In a large bowl whisk the flour with the salt. 
  • In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter until smooth (about 1 minute). Add the sugar and beat until smooth and creamy (about 2 minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Gently stir in the flour mixture just until incorporated. Fold in the chopped pistachios and dried cranberries. (Make sure that the nuts and cranberries are evenly distributed throughout the dough.)
  • Divide the dough in half. Smooth and shape each half of the dough into an evenly shaped rectangle that is about 8 inches long and 2.5 inches wide. Then wrap the shaped logs in plastic wrap or parchment or wax paper, and place in the refrigerator to chill for at least three hours, or up to three days. (The logs can also be frozen for about two months. If freezing, it is best to defrost the logs in the refrigerator overnight before slicing and baking.)
  • Preheat oven to 325 degrees F with the rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Using a sharp knife, slice the logs into 1/4 – 1/3 inch (.5 cm) thick cookies.Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Bake for about 15 -20 minutes, or until the cookies are just beginning to brown around the edges. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
  • Makes about 48 shortbread cookies.

Recipe from JoyofBaking

Chocolate Reese’s Cookies

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I made these cookies to bring into work on Halloween. People were raving about how delicious they were. They are extremely soft and peanut buttery. I realize it’s a bit cheating to make cookies using a cake mix, but hey it makes great cookies!

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Ingredients:

  • 1 dark chocolate cake mix
  • 1 stick of butter (1/2 cup), melted
  • 1 egg
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 3/4 cup peanut butter chips
  • 1 cup mini Reese’s Pieces
  • 1 cup Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup minis

Directions:

  • Beat together the cake mix, butter, and egg until a soft dough forms. Add the softened cream cheese and mix again until completely combined.
  • Stir in the peanut butter chips, Reese’s Pieces, and Reese’s peanut butter cups.
  • Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes.
  • Roll the dough into 24 balls. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for ~12 minutes. Do not over bake. Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies rest on the hot cookie sheet for 2 minutes before removing to cool the rest of the way. Store in a tightly sealed container on the counter.

Recipe adapted from InsideBruCrewLife

Giant Cookie

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This was another treat I brought into the office for Halloween. This giant cookie recipe makes a great base that can be decorated with all kinds of other toppings as desired. The office loved it 🙂

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Ingredients:

  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2/3 cup light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 cups chocolate chips, divided (milk or semi-sweet, or a combination)
  • 1 teaspoon shortening (Crisco)
  • Candy Corn or other candy or sprinkles for decoration

Directions:

  • Line a 9” round cake pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
  • Pour melted butter into a bowl. While still hot, add both sugars and mix on low until combined. Let sit to cool for a few minutes.
  • Turn mixer on low. Add egg and mix completely. Mix in vanilla extract. Add baking soda, salt, and flour and mix until combined. Stir in 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.
  • Press into prepared pan. Chill for 1-2 hours.
  • Preheat oven to 350°. Bake for about 20 minutes. The top will start to get golden, but it will still look a bit jiggly in the center. Cool completely.
  • When ready to top, melt remaining 1 cup chocolate chips with shortening (about 45-60 seconds in the microwave).
  • Spread over the top of the cookie. Add candy corn in desired pattern. Chill to set.

Recipe from CrazyforCrust

Black Forest Chocolate Cookies

I haven’t posted a new recipe and quite a while and I expect it will be a while until I post a new one unfortunately. The reason is that I am moving to California in a month and since I am going out of the country soon for a long vacation, I have been packing up a lot of my apt. including a lot of my kitchen. Once I move I hope to be back to cooking and posting regularly 🙂

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I didn’t manage to take a very good picture of these before we devoured them but they were amazing! I love the combination of chocolate and cherry and these cookies were very chocolatey. They are soft and packed with chocolate and cherry bits.

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 16 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), coarsely chopped
  • 10 tbs unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 tbs pure vanilla extract
  • 1-2 cups (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1-2 cups (6 ounces) white chocolate chips
  • 1-2 cups (6 ounces) dried cherries
  • Maraschino cherries to put on top (I used 1 large jar and I was only enough for about 2/3 of the cookies)

Directions:

  • Mix the flour, baking powder, and salt together into a medium bowl and set aside.
  • In a large nonreactive metal bowl, combine the dark chocolate and butter,. Set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and cook, stirring with a rubber spatula, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.
  • In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the eggs and sugars on high speed until the mixture is pale and thick, about 5 minutes.
  • Add the cooled chocolate mixture and the vanilla and beat until just combined.
  • Add the flour mixture and mix on low until just combined, about 10 seconds. Do not overmix.
  • Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and dried cherries.The dough will look very loose, but it will harden in the refrigerator. Refrigerate for 6 hours or overnight.(I froze the dough for about 30 min because I wanted to make them that day)
  • Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Drop the dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Push down in the center with your thumb to make a small well in the cookie. Place one maraschino cherry on top of each cookie.
  • Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the tops of the cookies are set and begin to show a few cracks.
  • Remove from the oven and let cool slightly before removing from the pans. The cookies are very soft and might break apart if you move them while they’re too hot still. They hold up fine once they’re cooled though.

Recipe Adapted from Serious Eats

Soft Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I’m definitely more of a soft cookie lover. I’m always excited to try out new chocolate chip cookie recipes and this one was definitely a winner. Each cookie is packed with tons of chocolate chips and turned out very soft. 

 

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Ingredients:

  • 1 cup unsalted butter (two sticks), softened
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 3.5-4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

  • Cream together the butter, sugar, vanilla, and lemon juice. Add the eggs and mix until smooth.
  • In a small bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix, being careful not to overmix. Add in the chocolate chips and walnuts and mix until both are evenly distributed throughout the cookie dough. Don’t overmix
  • Scoop large balls of cookie dough (~3 tbs) and place onto a baking sheet.
  • Place the baking sheet in the freezer and freeze the dough for 30 min (or longer until ready to bake)
  • Preheat oven to 350 F. Bake cookies for 14-16 minutes or until desired doneness. I took them out after 14 minutes when they still looked underdone. 

Jell-O Cookies

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Did you know you can make and flavor cookies using jell-o packets? This recipe makes some pretty basic sugar cookies in the flavor of your choice 🙂 This would probably be a fun thing to do with kids as well. Naturally, I tried out a ton of different flavors. They all seemed to work pretty well! The grape ones didn’t have very much color at all so I added a little bit, but the other ones turn out pretty colorful on their own. If you want them more vibrant of course you can always add more food coloring to the other flavors as well. You can also roll these in sugar or more of the jell-o mix before baking to give them a different look.

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Ingredients:
  • 3/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 package (3 ounces) Jell-O gelatin, flavor of choice
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla or lemon extract
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • Food coloring (optional)
  • Granulated sugar for sprinkling
 Directions:
  • Preheat oven to 400 F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  • With an electric mixer, beat together butter, sugar and gelatin until soft and creamy. Add eggs, vanilla or lemon extract and if desired, food coloring, and continue beating until smooth and fluffy.
  • In a separate bowl, mix together flour, salt, and baking powder and gradually add to the wet ingredients beating well after each addition. The dough will be very soft but not sticky.
  • Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls and then roll in granulated sugar or gelatin. Place balls 2-inches apart on baking sheet and flatten with the bottom of a bowl or cup to about 3/8-inch thickness.
  • Bake for 6-8 minutes making sure not to overcook the cookies.

Recipe from Bakerette

Lavender Almond Meltaway Cookies

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I love meltaway cookies. I decided I wanted these to be purple and that lavender would be a good accompanying flavor. These turned out great! Definitely give them a try if you like meltaway cookies. I’ll post my other favorite, cherry pistachio, at some point soon.

Ingredients:

  • ›2 cups all purpose flour
  • ›1/2 tsp baking powder
  • ›2 tbs lavender tea leaves
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • ›3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • ›1 large egg
  • 2 tsp almond extract
  • Optional: ¼ tsp lavender extract
  • Optional: purple gel food color

Icing:

  • ›1 cup powdered sugar
  • ›1 tablespoon milk
  • ›2 teaspoons almond extract

Directions:

  • Preheat oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Set aside.
  • In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, tea, and salt. Set aside.
  • With a mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and almond extract, mixing until combined. Add flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time, mixing until completely combined.
  • Roll 1 tablespoon of dough into small circles and then press with hands (or with the bottom of a cup) into a disk shape. Place on prepared baking sheet.
  • Bake for 8 minutes. The cookies will not look browned or cooked, but they are! Remove from oven and let cookies rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

To Ice:

  • In a small bowl, whisk together powdered sugar, milk and almond extract – until smooth.
  • Using a spoon, smooth icing onto the top of each cookie and let set for 10 minutes, or until hardened. Store in the fridge, let come to room temperature when ready to serve.

Banana Chocolate Walnut Cookies

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Last post for the night! I had some extra ripe bananas to use up and I wanted to try something other than waiting to use them in banana bread. I found this banana cookie recipe and I’m glad I did because they were extremely delicious. The cookies turn out pretty cakey.  I especially like the cookies that were almost underdone and had a gooey texture. Next time you have a few spare bananas be sure to try this recipe out! 

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Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup of sugar
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • 1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 ½ large bananas)
  • 1 teaspoon of baking soda
  • 2 cups of flour
  • pinch of salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground mace or nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
  • 1 cup of chopped walnuts
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:

  • Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  • In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which in turn will give the cookies their lift and rise.
  • Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt, and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined.
  • Fold into the batter the pecans or chocolate chips if using. Drop in dollops onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

Recipe from Simply Recipes

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

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Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 tbs loose Earl Grey tea leaves
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

Directions:

  • In a food processor, pulse together the flour, tea, and salt, until the tea is just spotted throughout the flour. Add the confectioners’ sugar, vanilla, and butter. Pulse together just until a dough is formed. Place dough on a sheet of plastic wrap, and roll into a log, about 2 1/2-inches in diameter. I flattened the edges to form a square log shape. Chill in refrigerator for 30 minutes.
  • Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  • Slice the log into 1/3-inch thick disks. Place on parchment or silpat lined baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake until the edges are just brown, about 12 minutes.

Recipe adapted from Food Network