Tag Archives: cookies

Maple-Walnut Spice Cookies

How does December get so busy?  Here it is already the 16th and I haven’t had one post since before Thanksgiving.  Where does the time go?  Well, Christmas is already next week (can you believe it?) so in my world that means one thing – Christmas cookies!  This week, that’s all I’ll have for you.  Because I’ve decided that what I love making most of all is cookies.  It’s time I sit down and figure out how in the world I could have my own cookie shop because it would make me so happy.  Anyway, the first cookie I have for you this week is Maple-Walnut Spice Cookies.

Cinnamon, ground ginger, nutmeg and cloves are added to a maple-laced dough making for a spicy little holiday cookie (well, holiday in my book!).  Topped with a simple frosting, also laced with maple syrup, and chopped walnuts, this cookie’s bold, unique flavor may not suit everyone’s palette but for someone looking for a cookie other than simple butter or chocolate chip, this might be for you.  The dough is thick making it easy to roll into small balls of dough for easy baking.  I made mine pretty small, trying to make them close to bite size since you probably wouldn’t want to eat too many of these spicy snacks in one sitting.  If you are looking for a grown-up substitute for gingerbread cookies, try these instead!

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The ingredients:

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Preheat oven to 350°F.  To prepare cookies, lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 6 ingredients (through cloves) in a medium bowl, stirring well with a whisk.

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Place brown sugar and 1/4 cup butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at high speed until light and fluffy (about 4 minutes). Add 2 tablespoons syrup and egg; beat until well blended. Beating at low speed, gradually add flour mixture; beat just until combined.

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Spoon batter evenly into 30 mounds (about 1 tablespoon) 2 inches apart on baking sheets. Bake at 350°F for 14 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

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To prepare frosting, combine powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons syrup, milk, and 2 teaspoons butter, stirring with a whisk until smooth.

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Spread frosting evenly over cooled cookies. Working quickly, sprinkle cookies with nuts.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:  None

Substitutions:  None

Overall Rating:  Love It

Source:  Cooking Light magazine

Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies

Whenever someone claims to have the “Best Ever” recipe for anything, that’s a mighty tall order.  I mean, who do they think they are with all that noise? Well, I can be a sucker for new products (especially when it comes to nut butters) so when I came across this dark chocolate peanut butter in my grocery store recently, I had to give it a try.  Alone it was more peanut buttery than chocolatey which was okay with me.  With an entire jar left, I found this recipe for the “Best Ever” Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies so I put both the chocolate peanut butter and the recipe to the test.

The result was pretty much the best ever peanut butter-oatmeal cookies I’ve had.  No joke.  I mean, look at the pictures of the cookies I made.  Can they get any more perfect looking?  Since the dough was thick, I scooped equal sized amounts into my palm and rolled them in balls which made them perfectly circular when baked.  These cookies are soft and chewy, just the way you expect a cookie to be. I have to say though as far as the dark chocolate peanut butter goes, I didn’t really taste a difference in these cookies so use whatever your favorite peanut butter is. I love peanut butter cookies and I love oatmeal cookies so there’s no surprise that I loved this combination of both.  The recipe also calls for optional chocolate chips which I didn’t use but why not combine 3 kinds of cookies in one recipe if you want? No doubt, they’ll still be the best. Like, ever.

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The ingredients:

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Heat oven to 350 degrees F. In a small bowl combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt, set aside.

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In a large bowl, beat peanut butter and butter with an electric mixture until smooth. Beat in sugars, eggs, and vanilla until blended.

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Beat in flour mixture just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips, if desired.

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Drop by rounded spoonfuls, 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 13 minutes until golden brown.

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Additions:  None

Omissions:

  • Chocolate chips

Substitutions:

  • Dark chocolate peanut butter

Overall Rating:  Love It

Source: Skippy peanut butter website

Chocolate-Cherry Biscotti

I’m back! Well, I’ve been back for over a week and had sooooo much fun in Vegas that I needed many days to recover. Well, not really, but I did need some time to recover but the other days away from my blog were needed to get my life back in order with routine, work, and eating. Before Vegas I hadn’t gone grocery shopping since I was going away and when I got back, I jumped right into work and sleep and never made it to the store so my eating habits consisted of coffee and any Asian chicken salad I could get my hands on. When it comes to sweets, I tend to reach for a small handful of chocolate chips because I’m one of those people who have chocolate chips on hand ALL. THE. TIME. Usually, I have some dried fruit as well, as I like to mix the fruit and chocolate with peanuts. Talk about a yummy little snack. Anyway, this Chocolate-Cherry Biscotti caught my eye because it’s two-thirds of my favorite snack rolled up into one little crunchy dunkable cookie.

Chocolate chips and dried cherries are mixed into a thick cookie dough batter, flattened, baked, cut and baked again to result in these crunchy on the outside but slightly soft on the inside cookies. I’d never made biscotti before as I’m generally not the biggest biscotti fan (too crunchy) but I loooooooved these! Maybe biscotti isn’t supposed to be a little bit soft on the inside but mine turned out that way and I was hooked. The sweet chocolate and tart cherries are a marriage made in cookie heaven. On a side note, I made these on a Saturday while Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close played on the TV in the background and I ended up watching the whole movie without meaning to. Now when I think about these biscotti, I can’t NOT think about that movie. Strange how certain foods will forever remind you of something completely unrelated to food.

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The ingredients:

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Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flours and salt in a bowl; stir well with a whisk. Beat sugar and eggs with a mixer at high speed until thick and pale (about 4 minutes). Add oil and extracts, beating until well-blended. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed just until blended.

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Stir in cherries and chocolate chips.

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Divide dough in half; turn out onto a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Shape each portion into a 10-inch-long roll, and flatten to 1-inch thickness. Bake at 350°F for 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove rolls from the baking sheet; cool 10 minutes on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 325°F.

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Cut each roll diagonally into 20 (1/2-inch) slices. Place slices, cut sides down, on baking sheet. Bake at 325°F for 10 minutes. Turn cookies over, and bake an additional 10 minutes (cookies will be slightly soft in center but will harden as they cool).

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Remove from baking sheet; cool completely on wire rack.

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Additions: None

Omissions: None

Substitutions: None

Overall Rating: Love It

Source: Cooking Light magazine

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