Tag Archives: cookies

Scottish Shortbread (Secret Recipe Club)

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I’m going to be perfectly honest about this month’s Secret Recipe Club – I have not done a whole lot of moving around for the better part of three weeks because of my stinky back/hip. Plus I’m, you know, kind of hugely pregnant.

So when I remembered the reveal was two days away … I decided to make something with ingredients I already had so I didn’t have to go to the store. I greatly admire my assigned site, My Hobbie Lobbie. The author, Trisha, lives in India, and there are lots of things I’d like to try, like these Potato Chops. When I’m feeling more active and adventurous.

Making shortbread in the food processor

All that said, I decided to make Scottish Shortbread, which has only a few ingredients: flour, cornstarch, sugar, and butter. I adore shortbread and it’s been a long, long time since I made my own.

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Scottish Shortbread

Scottish Shortbread

Ingredients

  • 1 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 c. cornstarch
  • 1/4 c. sugar (superfine if you have it)
  • 10 T very cold butter, cut into small pieces
  • optional mix-ins: dried fruit, chocolate chips, or melted chocolate for drizzling on top

Instructions

If you are using regular granulated sugar, pulse for 30 seconds or so in a food processor to make more fine.

Combine flour, sugar, and cornstarch in a food processor. (Alternately, you can just whisk together in a bowl and cut in the butter with a pastry blender.) Pulse while dropping cubes of butter through the chute.

When it comes together as a dough, add any mix-ins and pulse a few times.

Dump dough into a floured pie plate. Press down until even. Prick with a fork all over, then score into wedges.

Bake at 325F 35-40 minutes, until golden brown. Let cool in pie plate a few minutes, then remove to a cutting board and cut into wedges. Cool. Drizzle with melted chocolate if desired.

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Honey Peanut Wafer Cookies (Secret Recipe Club)

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Well, it’s after Christmas. After New Year’s. Maybe you ODed on cookies during the holidays … but in my house, there can never be enough cookies. Between my husband, The Cookie Monster, and my son going around saying “another one cookie please?” I make cookies year-round. (Oh, and did I mention the 40 hungry teenaged boys with whom we share this building?)

I was happy to discover this simple recipe on my assigned Secret Recipe Club blog for this month, Tea and Scones. Margaret’s site is full of sweets as well as cooking adventures. She’s a member of a lot of the little cooking blog clubs I’d be too scared to attempt – French Foods with Dorie, Baking with Julia, etc … Apparently I don’t like someone else telling me what to cook. And when. But I’m always impressed with the bloggers who join in on these parties.

Margaret’s Honey Peanut Wafers were part of a Modern Bakers Challenge. These cookies feel slightly healthier than all those Christmas cookies I baked. They aren’t full of butter or chocolate. And peanuts are good for you, right?

I was kind of sad that mine never got crispy (even after two days on the counter). Perhaps I needed a little more flour in my batter or needed to cook them a little longer. In any way, they are still very tasty. I love the deep honey flavor in every bite! Make sure you use a honey you really love. Mine comes from a local farm.

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Honey Peanut Wafer Cookies

Yield: about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 c. all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1/2 c. honey
  • 1 egg
  • 3 T butter, melted
  • 6 oz. honey-roasted peanuts, chopped

Instructions

In a small bowl or mixing cup, whisk together flour and baking soda.

In a larger bowl, combine honey, sugar, and egg, stirring to combine. Add melted butter and stir.

Pour flour mixture into wet ingredients and stir together with a rubber spatula. Fold in chopped peanuts.

Use a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon to scoop batter onto a parchment paper or silpat-lined cookie sheet. (I would NOT try to do this without a liner. I'm not sure your baking sheets would ever recover.)

Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. Slide silpat or parchment paper off sheets and let cookies cool on them. Cookies will harden somewhat as they cool.

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Chocolate Malted Milk Ball Cookies

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I didn’t forget, exactly, that I had to make some kind of dessert to drop off before my kids went to school on Thursday morning. I just didn’t really compute in my pregnant brain that I actually better do it until it was 9 p.m. on Wednesday night, after we got back from church.

Kids in bed. Husband not home. No time to go to the grocery, obviously.

So I scavenged the cupboards and came up with these little cake-mix cookies. Cake-mix cookies are perfect for when you’re in a pinch, and you can add just about anything to them! To these, I chopped up a bunch of leftover Whoppers from Halloween, but you could use any kind of candy you like. I like the malty-ness the Whoppers added as well as the crunchy bite.

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Chocolate Malted Milk Ball Cookies

Yield: 2 to 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 chocolate cake mix
  • 1 stick butter, melted
  • 1 egg
  • 2 T heavy cream or milk (optional)
  • 30 malted milk balls (Whoppers)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350.

Chop your malted milk balls. There are some jobs that I think only a good food chopper can handle. I have this KitchenAid one. For things that roll, a chopper can't be beat!

Mix together cake mix, slightly cooled butter, egg, and cream/milk (if needed or desired for moisture) in a mixing bowl until uniform.

Fold in chopped malted milk balls.

Using a small cookie scoop or by heaping teaspoonfulls, scoop cookies onto a parchment-paper lined baking sheet.

Cook in preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.

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Are you a cake-mix cookie fan?

Lemon Coconut Crinkle Cookies

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I really like citrus. I mean REALLY like it. If I can figure out a way to add citrus to something that’s already good (banana bread? coconut cake?) I’m going to do it.

So, as you’re scoping recipes for Christmas baking or just an easy cookie for a Saturday afternoon, here’s one my fellow coconut-lovers are going to love.

By the way, I did a survey on my Facebook page and only found ONE coconut hater. Why does it seem like everyone I know hates coconut, then?

I’ve really fallen in love with unsweetened coconut, especially this kind from Let’s Do Organic. The shreds are so fine I think it’s much more pleasant to eat than your usual sweetened shredded coconut. This recipe definitely has enough sugar without adding sweetened coconut, too … but if it’s all you can find, go right ahead and use it.

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Lemon Coconut Crinkle Cookies

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

These delicious, citrusy cookies are adapted from the Hershey's website

Ingredients

  • 4 T butter, softened
  • 1 c. sugar
  • juice and zest of one lemon
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 c. flour - I used 1 c. white whole wheat and 1/2 c. all-purpose unbleached
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1 c. unsweetened, flaked coconut
  • powdered sugar

Instructions

With an electric mixer, cream butter, sugar, lemon zest, and eggs together until smooth. Add lemon juice and mix on low for a minute.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.

Add dry ingredients to wet a little at a time with mixer going at medium-low speed until well combined.

Stir in coconut by hand.

Preheat oven to 300F.

Put dough in freezer for 20 minutes (or refrigerate for 1 hour), until dough is malleable and somewhat firm.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in powdered sugar. Place on a greased cookie sheet or one lined with parchment paper. Between batches, return dough to freezer to keep firm.

Bake for about 17 minutes, until edges are set. Remove immediately to wire cooling racks.

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Award-Winning Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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I must admit, I felt a little bit lame picking chocolate chip cookies as my recipe for the Secret Recipe Club this month. Especially since this month my assigned blog was Veronica’s Cornucopia. She had my blog last month and wrote a hysterical post about baking NINE loaves of whole wheat bread and having not one turn out right.

When I saw, though, that these cookies not only had brown butter in them but also won an award at her state fair, I simply HAD to make them. They are a little more labor intensive than a “normal” cookie, but the outcome is well worth it. Mr. V said that while he wasn’t ready to throw out every other chocolate chip cookie recipe ever, these were VERY good. And he’s quite the cookie expert.

I made only a slight variation and used half a bag of chocolate chips and half a bar of very dark chocolate, chopped up. I love the combination!

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Award-Winning Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: about 4 dozen cookies

Award-Winning Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Very slightly adapted from Veronica's Cornucopia

Ingredients

  • 1 c. butter, divided
  • 1/2 c. old-fashioned oatmeal
  • 3/4 c. packed light brown sugar
  • 3/4 c. granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 T vanilla
  • 1/2 tsp. white vinegar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 2 c. unbleached, all-purpose flour
  • 1 c. chopped walnuts or pecans
  • 6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 3-6 oz. dark chocolate chips or small chunks

Instructions

Put one stick of butter aside to soften. Preheat oven to 350F.

In a small nonstick skillet, melt other stick of butter over medium-low heat. Continue cooking until butter is foamy and light golden brown. Pour into a bowl to cool.

Wash skillet out with water and dry. Add 1/2 c. oats and toast over medium heat. Cook about 3 minutes, stirring frequently. Transfer oats to food processor and process until very fine, like flour.

Toast the nuts in the skillet for 4-5 minutes, until they are fragrant. Set aside.

In a large bowl, combine softened butter, brown butter, sugars, salt, vanilla, vinegar, and ground oats. Combine with an electric mixer on low, then turn to high [speed 6 or 7] and let go 3-4 minutes, until mixture is paler in color and fluffy.

With mixer on medium speed, add in eggs, then baking soda. Turn to low and add flour one cup at a time, until just combined.

Stir in chocolate chips/pieces and nuts.

With a tablespoon or small cookie scoop, scoop dough onto parchment-paper lined cookie sheets. Bake 10-11 minutes, until cookies are light golden brown.

Cool cookies for 3 minutes on sheets, then transfer to cool on wire racks.

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Giant Brown Butter Granola Breakfast Cookies

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Don’t you love happy accidents in the kitchen?

I put two sticks of butter in a saucepan the other night to melt for Heavenly Homemaker’s Giant Breakfast Cookies. Then I got involved in putting a child to bed and when I came back, the top of the butter was slightly crystallized. And it smelled PHENOMENAL.

I’ve seen recipes made with brown butter, of course, but I never “got it” until the fragrance of that butter was wafting through my galley kitchen. I knew it was going to make the cookies awesome.

So I started assembling just to discover that not only did I have some very brown butter, I also had no oats. None. Nada.

Not one to be discouraged, I came up with this crazy concoction of granola, more flour, and oat bran to replace the oats. It worked. I love the extra pizzazz the granola adds to these, but you can replace it with old-fashioned oats if you’d like.


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Giant Brown Butter Granola Breakfast Cookies

Yield: about 21 cookies

Browning the butter is worth the time for a wonderful, developed flavor in these cookies. The whole wheat flour, oat bran, and oats will hold you over until lunchtime, and kids love having a cookie for breakfast!

Ingredients

  • 1 c. butter
  • 3/4 c. honey
  • 1 tsp. salt
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • 3/4 c. buttermilk
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 c. whole wheat flour
  • 3/4 c. granola (Any kind; I make Crystal's Lazy Granola with raisins.)
  • 1/4 c. oat bran (optional)
  • 6 oz. chocolate chips (about 1 cup)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Over low heat, melt butter in a saucepan until it is caramel color and smells nutty. This may take 15 minutes+.

In a large bowl, stir together butter, honey, buttermilk, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, vanilla, and buttermilk until well-combined. Add slightly beaten eggs.

Add flour, granola, and oat bran to mixture; stir well. Fold in chocolate chips.

Use an ice cream scoop or large cookie scoop to form cookies; place on greased baking sheets or ones lined with silpats or parchment paper.

Bake about 18 minutes. Let cool on trays 3-4 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool.

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Should we take a vote on whether these qualify as breakfast food or not?

 Added to Sweet Tooth Friday at Alli-n-Son. 

Christmas Baking

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See, I have this problem.

I have this little sister Lola.

Oh wait, maybe I’ve read this book a few too many times in the past week. Ahem. Let me start over.

I have this problem. I REALLY love to bake. You might not think that’s a problem, but it is. Because I am afraid it might turn me into a 600-pound woman who can’t get through her front door.

Thankfully, I have a whole dorm of high-school boys that I send baked goods down to at least once a week. It’s an excellent way to try out recipes.

With all the Christmas decorations coming out, I am just itching to bake. I’m taking suggestions in the comment sections on what I should make (and home addresses, for shipping?!). Here are ten ideas from my readers or recipes that I love!

Hello Dolly bars



Chocolate Chip Almond Cookie Bars

 

Oreo Truffles

 

Pumpkin Cookies

 

Peanut-Butter Ball Cupcakes with PB Cream Cheese Frosting

 

Buckeyes (these are slightly nontraditional, but don’t they look ah-mah-zing?)

 

Andes Mint Cookies

 

Christmas Bark (AKA Saltine Candy or Christmas Crack … Cannot. Stop. Eating.)

 

Eggnog Cookies

 

White Chocolate Cherry Chunkies



Do you have a holiday baking list? Or do you break-and-bake or not at all?

Added to Top Ten Tuesday at OhAmanda.

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Pecan Doodle Cookies

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Do you suffer from grocery amnesia? I can’t count the number of times I’ve gotten halfway through a recipe and went to reach for that ingredient I was sure I had just to find it wasn’t there after all. My short-term memory is just nonexistent, so this is a regular occurrence in my kitchen.

Solutions?

A. Beg Send husband to store to pick up forgotten ingredient(s), while trying to maintain quality of already-cooked recipe.

B. Go to neighbor’s house. This works if you have friendly neighbors with well-stocked cupboards. If you live in a dorm with others who eat in a dining hall and are rarely home during the day anyway? Not so much.

C. Improvise or substitute.

The frequency with which I use Option C is the reason why I can’t direct my husband to just prep a recipe. It’s sad.

I was in the middle of prepping my Secret Recipe Club find for the month when I was forced to pursue Option C. Barb’s Almond Doodle Cookies looked delicious to me. And then I went to grab that bag of sliced almonds I was sure was in the freezer … and alas, it wasn’t there. Anywhere.

So I used pecans.

Fascinating story, right?

Barb’s blog, Mom’s Fridge, is full of monthly menu plans, simple recipes, and COOKIES. I love cookies. I don’t do much normal cooking anymore since we generally eat in the dining hall, but I do bake for us and for the boys who live in our dorm.

These delicious, puffy, sugary cookies will definitely be in my repertoire now. The cinnamon-pecan blend is a little unusual but absolutely mouthwatering.

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Pecan Doodle Cookies

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Pecan Doodle Cookies

Adapted from Mom's Fridge

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c. (1 stick) butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 c. sugar
  • 1 tsp. almond extract (or vanilla)
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
  • 1 c. all-purpose unbleached flour
  • 1 tsp. cream of tartar
  • 1/2 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 1/2 c. finely chopped pecans
  • 1/2 c. sugar mixed with 1 T cinnamon, for rolling

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F.

With a stand mixer, cream butter, sugar, almond extract, and eggs. Add flours, cream of tartar, baking soda, and salt and mix until well-combined. Stir in nuts.

Roll dough into 1-inch balls and then roll in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Bake on greased cookie sheet 12 minutes at 375F (do not flatten balls). Cool on wire racks.

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Obviously Libbie (3) helped with making some of the cookies.

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies

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Remember how I said that I don’t like pumpkin spice lattes? These cookies have convinced me that I need to give them another chance. I still don’t like pumpkin-flavored brewed coffee, but maybe the extra milk and stuff makes it tolerable. Honestly, I’m not sure I’ve ever had one of the Starbucks PSLs; I just haven’t ever liked pumpkin and coffee together.

These cookies change everything!

I was baking some of my regular pumpkin cookies as a treat for my husband, who is having a crazy week at work. I started thinking about these coffee chocolate chip shortbreads I made for Bible study this weekend … and how I had some extra instant coffee hanging around … and how much people like those pumpkin spice lattes …

I couldn’t resist trying out a variation on my regular cookie, even though I knew it might make Mr. V hysterical. (I’ve mentioned his opposition to my changing anything about his mama’s meatloaf recipe, right?) I kept the cookie recipe the same but added some coffee pizzazz to the icing, along with a shot of heavy cream for that “latte” feel.

The result: delicious! Make some. Now. If you don’t have any instant coffee, just put some strong brewed coffee in there and see what happens. I bet it’s still delicious.

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Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies

Yield: about 3 dozen cookies

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 c. flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 c. butter (can sub shortening or use a mixture of the two)
  • 1 c. sugar
  • 1 c. pumpkin puree (not pumpkin pie filling)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
    • Frosting
  • 3 T butter
  • 1/4 c. milk
  • 1/2 c. brown sugar
  • 2 tsp. instant coffee granules
  • 1 c. powdered sugar
  • 1/2 tsp. vanilla
  • 1 T heavy cream

Instructions

Sift the first five ingredients together (flour through salt).

In a separate bowl, cream sugar and butter. Add pumpkin, egg, and vanilla. Beat well.

Add dry ingredients all at once and stir gently to form a smooth batter.

Drop by tablespoons on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I use a small cookie scoop.) Bake 12 to 14 minutes at 350.

Let rest on cookie sheets for a few minutes when they come out of the oven; then transfer to cooling racks and let cool.

Frosting

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Add milk, brown sugar, and coffee granules and bring to a bubble over medium heat. Once bubbling, cook two minutes. Remove from heat and let cool completely. (I transfer to a bowl and refrigerate.)

When cool, stir powdered sugar, vanilla, and heavy cream into the sugar mixture. Spoon or drizzle over cooled cookies.

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Are you a pumpkin spice kinda person?

Added to Tasty Tuesday and Sweet Tooth Friday.

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Cranberry-Citrus Cookies and Care Packages

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A while back, we did a post on ParentLife Online about mailing care packages overseas to active military troops.  It’s one of those things I’ve meant to do for a long time and just never have. The next time I was at the post office, I went ahead and got a flat-rate box and promised myself I WAS going to follow through on something this time!

My thoughts went to a new friend of mine whose husband has been overseas the whole time I’ve known her – and most of her son’s life. Her baby is two days younger than David, and I can’t imagine spending most of that first year on my own. No help with night wakings. No “please take the baby so I can take a 10-minute bath.” It’s all her.

I never hear her complain, though, and she has been nothing but an encouragement to me as our parenting styles are similar. I wanted to bless her family and show our thanks by sending her husband a package. My friend insisted it go to his whole unit, since they don’t all get packages. She is so kind!

I searched the Internet for cookies that would hold up to being mailed overseas during the dead of summer. No chocolate. Nothing soft. I finally found these Cranberry Cookies and modified them slightly. They are chewy, citrusy, and delightful; and from what I heard, the unit in Iraq thought they were pretty darn good, too!

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Cranberry-Citrus Cookies and Care Packages

Yield: about 6 dozen cookies

Cranberry-Citrus Cookies and Care Packages

Adapted from Blisstree.com

Ingredients

  • 1/2 c. butter, softened
  • 1 c. granulated sugar
  • 3/4 c. brown sugar, packed
  • 1/4 c. milk
  • 2 T lemon juice
  • 1 T orange zest (dried or fresh)
  • 1 large egg
  • 3 c. AP or white whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1/4 tsp. baking soda
  • 1 c. chopped pecans
  • 1 to 1-1/2 c. dried cranberries (sweetened is fine, and you can sub any dried fruit you like, although I don’t think raisins would work very well)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 F. Cream butter and sugars with an electric mixer until fluffy and combined. On low speed, mix in lemon juice, orange zest, and egg.

Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add pecans and cranberries and fold to combine well.

Drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes, until edges are brown. Let sit on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to wire cooling racks.

To package for shipping, put cookies in gallon plastic bags. Pop popcorn and cool; then put it in additional plastic bags. Pad the bag of cookies with the bags of popcorn inside a box. Add letters, cards (kid-decorated are fun!), magazines, or toiletries items. Send off!

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Added to Foodie Fridays at Designs by Gollum, Ingredient Spotlight: Citrus, and Sweet Tooth Friday at Alli-N-Son.

I recommend:


 

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