Monthly Archives: December 2012

Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies

Like Red Velvet cake and want to make a super simple – and festive – cookie this weekend?  Try these Red Velvet Crinkle Cookies.

With only five ingredients, you can’t get much simpler than this.  Using boxed red velvet cake mix eliminates many ingredients and saves a ton of time.  Not to mention you don’t have to worry about the possibility of ending up with red food coloring in random spots in your kitchen, on your clothes or under your fingernails like you do when making typical red velvet recipes from scratch.  What I love specifically about these cookies is the fact that they add a festive color to your cookie jar and really do mirror the beloved flavor of red velvet.  They do use quite a bit of oil – maybe even a little too much – so they stay moist and always soft.  Any red velvet lover will appreciate you bringing these crinkle cookies to the table.

DSC04179

The ingredients:

DSC04140

In a large bowl, combine cake mix and flour.  Whisk until clumps disappear.

DSC04141

In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake mix, flour, eggs, oil and vanilla extract.  Mix until smooth.

DSC04143

Take about 1 tablespoon of cookie dough and form into a ball.  Roll the ball in powdered sugar until fully coated.  Place cookie dough balls on prepared baking sheet.  Bake in a 350ºF oven for 10 minutes, or until edges are set and cookies begin to crack.

DSC04144

Let cookies sit on baking sheet for 2 minutes.  Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

DSC04178

Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating:  Like It

Source:  Two Peas and Their Pod blog

Chunk Wild Cookies

It’s cookie week!  Christmas is just about a week away and we all want cookies for Christmas, right?  I can’t tell you how many people I talked to the last couple of days who spent their weekend doing the same as me – mixing, stirring, dropping, baking, cooling, cutting and eating cookie after cookie.  My entire dining room table is right now filled with plates of cookies, tins of cookies, boxes of cookies and there are even some cookies in my refrigerator.  This first cookie I’m sharing with you, Chunk Wild Cookies, I first made around Thanksgiving and loved them so much, I made a whole other batch again on Saturday.

Oatmeal and white chocolate chips are blended until ground and mixed into the batter giving every bite a white chocolate-oatmeal undertone.  The addition of peanut butter chips, semisweet chocolate chips, and walnuts make these cookies even more decadent.  If your preference is oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies or chocolate-chip cookies you’ll probably like these which are a combination of all three.  Just be warned, the dough is thick so be prepared to use some elbow grease mixing in all those chips and it makes A LOT.  I used a cookie dough scoop and it made about 4 dozen decent sized cookies.  Make them smaller and the dough will easily give you 5 dozen.  But don’t worry…these are soo good, they’ll all get eaten.

Just a warning – NONE of the cookies I post this week are healthy or lowfat…sorry!

DSC04004

The ingredients:

DSC03995

Beat together the butter, sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

DSC03997

Using a blender or food processor, process the oats with the white chocolate until the oats are finely ground, and the chocolate is mostly ground; a few small chunks are OK.

DSC03998

Add the oats and flour to the butter mixture, then stir in the peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, and chopped walnuts.

DSC04000

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls, 2″ apart, onto the prepared baking sheets.

DSC04002

Bake the cookies in a 375°F heated oven for about 12 minutes, until they’re just set.

DSC04003

Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating:  Love It

Source:  King Arthur Flour website

Chicken Sausage Puffs with Creamy Mustard Dipping Sauce

Have you ever used puff pastry? I haven’t and I’m left wondering how I can call myself a cook now. Not that puff pastry is something I made from scratch or anything. I simply pulled it out of the box and thawed it out. But why was I intimidated? It’s not like I have to puff it up by blowing into it or anything. These Chicken Sausage Puffs with Creamy Mustard Dipping Sauce were so, so simple. I’m now obsessed. I want to make everything with puff pastry. I may never eat regular bread again.

Frozen puff pastry is thawed until pliable and cut into squares before being cutely topped with a little button of chicken sausage. As the pastry cooks in the oven, it puffs up around the sausage and becomes light and buttery. What a perfect appetizer for the holidays or just as a tasty snack. Make this with pork sausage, turkey sausage or vegetarian sausage and I swear you won’t be disappointed.

DSC04041

The ingredients:

DSC04035

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place 1 pastry sheet on a lightly floured work surface; roll into 1 (8- x 12-inch) rectangle. Cut pastry into 24 (2-inch) squares.

DSC04037

Place 1 sausage slice in center of each square, pressing down. Repeat with remaining pastry sheet and sausage.

DSC04038

Arrange puffs on aluminum foil-lined baking sheets, and brush with egg. Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until pastry is puffed and golden.

DSC04039

Meanwhile, stir together mustard and sour cream in a small bowl.

DSC04040

Serve pastries warm, with dipping sauce.

DSC04042

Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions:

  • light sour cream

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Coastal Living Magazine

1 2 3
Blog at WordPress.com.