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Dana was getting inspired by Thanksgiving and wanted to make a nice treat for my son’s class. So, she decided to make some Turkey Sugar Cookies. That alone sounds good, but Dana added my son’s favorite candy to the mix. Yep, Candy corns to form the turkey feathers. These cookies are quick, easy and super delicious! Plus, they look amazing! Super cute Thanksgiving Cookies that are perfect for any Thanksgiving Table.
My family loves to eat cookies. Some of our favorite cookies are pressed cookies. They are easy to make, equal in size and consistent in quality. They are basically the easiest cookies in the world to cook the same repeatedly. In order to make these we had to pick up a cookie press. After looking at various reviews online we decided to pick up an Oxo Cookie Press. Next since it is Valentines day we decided to make some Valentines cookies. This was easy as a few of the various cookie cutters included with the Oxo cookie press were hearts, flowers and teddy bears. Perfect for Valentines Day! The go to dough for these cookies, is Dana’s Mother’s recipe. Thanks for letting me reprint this Jane.
My wife Dana is a great baker. She also has a great eye for design. So I have to put it out there, these cookies are all her. My hands are not steady enough and my decorating ideas are not good enough to make these cookies. However, she was happy to share them with all of you. So a big thank you to Dana! How awesome do these cookies look? By the way, these sugar cookies are perfection. They are not too sweet, thus allowing you to coat them in super sweet royal icing. Plus, they hold up great without overly rising. Therefore, your cutouts look exactly as they should.
Dana and I picked up a copy of the Better Homes and Gardens Very Merry Cookies Cookbook. It has opened our minds to tons of different Christmas Cookies. The cookie that Liam has been hounding us for, is a Gingerbread Man Cookie. We decided to try out the recipe and it was delicious! A must try.
I love Christmas Cookies. They are delicious and fun to eat. My favorite cookie is the humble sugar cookie. However, you can turn that humble cookie into an extraordinary cookie by using royal icing. This simple icing uses meringue powder as a base to form a strong and delicate icing that can hold together a gingerbread house or add whiskers to a Santa cookie. I love it!
I have been under the weather for the past couple of days and Dana wanted to cheer me up. So she made some of the tastiest cookies around. S’more cookies. Yep, that campfire favorite is now a tasty cookie. The chocolate, graham cracker and marshmallow works great as a tasty cookie. They were so delicious, that I am feeling much better. Thanks for the treat Dana!
S’more Cookies
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter with white and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Then add the eggs one at a time mix thoroughly after each egg. Next add the vanilla. Mix until combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon to combine. Turn the mixer to low speed and then slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixer.
Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallows in by hand.
Chill dough in refrigerator for at least 1 hour to overnight.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line cookies sheets with a silpat or parchment paper.
Lay out graham crackers side by side on the pans as close as possible. Dana used 18 -24 graham cracker squares on each pan. Basically cover the cookie sheet with graham crackers.
Place about 1 tablespoon of dough on each graham cracker and press down slightly with fingertips.
Bake for 5 minutes then remove from oven to press Hershey’s bar pieces on to the top. We placed a single Hershey rectangle on each cookie. At this time you might want to also add a couple more mini marshmallows too.
Bake for an additional 7-9 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden brown.
Remove to a wire rack to cool.
This recipe was adapted from http://www.icecreambeforedinner.com/2011/04/smores-cookies.html via http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/06/smores-cookies.html
The next cookie that Dana made for our Christmas Cookie tins was a nice Apricot Thumbprint cookie. The Apricot jam accented the sugar cookie nicely. Just like the other cookies, I could not keep these out of my mouth.
Apricot Thumbprints
In a large bowl combine butter with sugar, eggs, vanilla and almond extract. Using and electric mixer, beat on high speed until light and fluffy.
In another bowl combine the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt).
Turn the mixer to low and gradually stir into the butter mixture. Once the dry ingredients are incorporated, increase the speed to medium and beat until well blended.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.
Set oven to 400°F.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (do not grease cookie sheets, use parchment paper only).
Roll the dough into tablespoon sized balls and place on the cookie sheet.
Make a well in each ball with your thumb or teaspoon, and then fill the well with apricot jam.
Bake 8 Mins at 400 degrees.
Cool on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
The third cookie that Dana made for our Christmas cookie tins was soft molasses cookies. These are soft and chewy with just a hint of spice. The perfect treat on a cold night. We ate a ton of these. Not sure how any were left to give away.
Soft Molasses Cookies
Cream together the shortening and brown sugar with an electric mixer or stand mixer. You could do this by hand, but I would warn against it.
Add in the egg and molasses and thoroughly mix.
In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Turn the mixer to low speed and then slowly add the dry ingredients and stir until combined.
Put the dough into a ball and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Place the dough in the refrigerator and chill till firm (at least 2 hours).
Once the dough has been chilled for a couple of hours, it is time to make the cookies.
Preheat oven to 350 degree Fahrenheit.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator and Roll it into tablespoon sized balls.
Roll the balls in granulated white sugar.
Place on lightly greased or parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake at 350° for 9-10 minutes.
Leave on sheet one minute until set. Then remove to a cooling rack to allow them to cool completely.
Adapted from http://www.food.com/recipe/soft-molasses-cookies-63981
This was the second cookie that Dana made for our Christmas cookie tins. I love snickerdoodles and could not even think of a way to improve on them. However, Dana found a way. She used browned butter instead of regular butter. The brown butter gave the already amazing cookies, a great rich flavor. These are my new favorite cookies.
Brown Butter Snickerdoodles
Melt the butter and then after a minute or two the butter will begin to foam. After a couple more minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom and edges of the saucepan. Keep on whisking until the butter starts to emit a nutty aroma. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the butter to a separate bowl to prevent burning. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes.
With an electric or stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until fluffy. Then turn the mixer to low-speed and gently beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and cinnamon. Then Slowly add the dry ingredients into the mixer. The easiest way is to turn the mixer on to low-speed and then add 1/2 cup of the dry mixture at a time.
Chill your dough for at least 2 hours to allow the fat to congeal before cooking. If you cook it right away the melted butter will cause you to have extremely flat cookies.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
In a small bowl mix 1/4 cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons cinnamon.
Portion the dough into 2 tsp balls and then roll in the sugar mixture. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, roughly 2 inches apart. They will spread out as they cook.
Bake the cookies 8-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. Remove the pans from the oven and cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Repeat with remaining dough.
Recipe adapted from http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2012/10/brown-butter-snickerdoodle-cookies/
For the next couple of posts I am handing the reigns over to my wife Dana! She was in a Christmas cookie kind of mood and we decided to have a Christmas Cookie Marathon. Dana is a great baker and here is her first recipe. Fudge Crinkles. I have never had these before, but they are like little chocolate pillows of awesomeness! Dana blew me out of the water with these.
Fudge Crinkles
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl, stir the cake mix, oil and eggs by hand until a dough forms. This is a temperamental dough so you do not want to use a mixer.
Coat your hands in confectioners sugar and then shape the dough into 1 inch balls. You may have to dust your hands a few times. The dough is really wet, so keep lots of confectioners sugar on stand-by.
After the dough balls are formed, roll them in even more confectioners’ sugar. This gives them that sweet snowflake look that you see in the main picture.
Then place the sugar coated cookie balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Roughly 2-3 inches apart.
Bake at 350 degrees for 8 – 10 minutes or until the center of the cookie just starts to set.
Let the cookies cool on the pan for 1-2 minutes and then move the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.
I love Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are chewy and delicious. Plus, they seem as if they are a tad bit healthier as they contain oatmeal. Not sure of the overall health benefits, but they are delicious!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies – Adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of you mixer add the softened butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract. Mix the ingredients until light and fluffy.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
Set the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture to the whipped butter.
Then add the oats and mix.
Finally add the chocolate chips and mix.
Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
Portion the dough into 1tbs portions and space them about 2 inches apart. Bake them for 10-12 minutes or until they are lightly browned around the edges.
Remove from the oven and let cool on the cookie sheet.
These are the best Oatmeal Cookies that I have ever made. They did not last long enough for Dana to try them. Looks like I might have to make them again.
I made one batch of these cookies and immediately had to make another. Dana and I loved them! They were delicious. We are dark chocolate fans so they hit the spot. If you wish, you can use standard cocoa and semi-sweet chips if you are not a fan of the decadent dark chocolate.
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
In a large bowl or the bowl of a mixer add the shortening and the granulated and brown sugars. Mix on high until the mixture is light and airy. Then add the cocoa powder. Mix.
Slowly add each egg one at a time. Make sure to fully mix the egg in before add the next egg.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking powder into a medium bowl.
Turn your mixer on low and slowly add the flour mixture.
Once the dough is all combined mix the dark chocolate chips in by hand.
Form the dough into 18 portions. Using two cookie sheets, place 9 portions on each cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 15-18 minutes or until the edges start to darken and the tops solidify.
Once cooked remove the pans from the oven and let cool for a minute before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Eat and Enjoy!
I am a huge fan of caramel. I can not get enough of it. So I decided to create a caramel pecan cookie. I modified a standard cookie recipe to include dark brown sugar. The added molasses in the dark brown sugar enhanced the caramel and pecan flavor. These were some of most delicious cookies that I have ever made.
Caramel Pecan Cookies
I could not find caramel bits so I bought kraft caramels and cut them into tiny cubes. Then I dusted them in a tsp of flour to keep them from sticking together. This also allowed them to be even distributed throughout the dough.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Place the butter, sugar, dark brown sugar and vanilla extract into a large bowl or the bowl of your mixer. Mix on medium until the mixture the is light and fluffy.
Add the eggs one at a time. Make sure to fully incorporate each egg into the mixture before adding the next one.
Gradually add the flour, salt and baking soda to the mixture.
Beat until combined.
Stir in the caramel pieces and the crushed pecans.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment or a silpat and then place 1 tablespoon sized portions onto the baking sheet.
Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.
When golden brown, remove from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes. If you have a wire rack, remove the cookies to the rack to fully cool. If you do not have a wire rack allow the cookies to fully cool on the cookie sheet.
These were delicious and did not last long in the house. These are a must make cookie.