Tuesdays With Dorie~ World Peace Cookies

This is a great recipe because, like so many in this Dorie Greenspan's; Baking from My Home to Yours, it is one that can be broken up in sections over days, even months if you go the freezer route! We try to DO as much as possible every weekend- really SQUEEZE every bit of fun, productivity, relaxing etc. as we can into those precious two days. Sometimes that curbs having 3-5 hours to bust out some fab baked goodness on a weekly basis. I highly recommend this as a SUPER simple cookie dough that is quick to throw together, and can be frozen for up to 2 months, so you can slice & bake anytime!! Love that. Seriously. Also an easy recipe to 1/2 for a smaller crowd, or bake half/freeze half (which is what I did).

This week's TUESDAYS WITH DORIE is the chocolatastic WORLD PEACE COOKIE, chosen by Jessica of COOKBOOK HABIT. Cruise on over to her blog to see these yummy peaceful cookies!!
THANKS JESSICA!!



We loved these cookies, they were awesome flavor and texture wise and would be fun to try some different add-ins with next time~
I will be out of town and miss next week so see ya for some SERIOUS cake the week after next!

Peace out~

Holiday Cranberry Crackers

I discovered these last year when my co-worker Nicole brought them to our office, and posted about them HERE. I can not believe how easy they are to make, store (for holiday cookie plates) and EAT!! They are also fabulous for getting creative and topping them with anything you can think of~



2 packages of Salteen crackers (there are 4 packages in one box)
2 sticks of butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
a package of saltine crackers
1 bag mini dark chocolate chips
Almonds, chopped, crushed or slivered
Crazins

Preheat the oven to 400. Get a cookie sheet out, cover with foil and lay crackers out all over the cookie sheet. Take the butter and brown sugar and melt together in a medium pot over medium heat don't stir until it is all melted!!, now wait for the sugar/butter to caramelize (you will notice big bubbles)- once that happens, remove the pan from the heat and use a spoon to drizzle the caramelly goodness all over the crackers. Then sprinkle the crushed nuts on top.
Bake for 5-7 minutes. Take the crackers out and IMMEDIATELY sprinkle the chocolate chips over them, then transfer off the cookie sheet to cool before the chocolate chips re-harden.

Tuesdays With Dorie~Rugelach

Alllllrightythen. A day late, but OH SO YUMMY!! This is a new favorite recipe/cookie for me and you will see them again at the Holidays, no doubt! The dough can be made ahead and frozen, they were freaking beyond easy and they are DELICIOUS!! I can't wait to try different variations of this sensational cookie! I had never heard of or tried Rugelach before so CHEERS to yet another spectacular discovery via Tuesdays With Dorie.



Head over to Grace's Blog Piggy's Cooking Journal to see a stunning version of these yummy cookies and to get the recipe! Thanks to Grace for a fabulous pick!



Don't miss all the other RUGELACH, visit the TUESDAYS WITH DORIE today!

Tuesdays With Dorie~Lenox Almond Biscotti

WOOOOHOOOO! I super-giant-puffy-heart BISCOTTI!! This makes a fabulous baked gift item, and it is something that you can get creative with in a zillion ways!

We are heading off to Napa for a long weekend - YAY!! - so this is a VERY short post, my apologies! Please head on over to theTUESDAYS WITH DORIE page and scope out everyone's beautiful Biscotti!
BIG HUGE THANKS TO
Gretchen of CANELA AND COMINO for an excellent choice this week! Have a great week everyone!!

Tuesdays With Dorie ~ Chococlate Chunksters

OHHHHHH BOY! These cookies are FAN-FREAKIN-TASTIC!!! I am head over heels for CHUNKSTERS!! This weeks installment of TUESDAYS WITH DORIE is a superb cookie brought to all of us by CLAUDIA of FOOL FOR FOOD. I have not been a super frequent visitor of Claudia's AWESOME blog, but I will be from now on!! One of the reasons I have been SO freaking busy lately is that I am finally learning a language other than English (I know I am WAY behind most of you people, but hey, always better late than never!)In my business we work with MANY different folks that speak German as their first, second or third language. Not to mention my dear brother and his wife also speak German!! My sis-in-law is from Germany, and they've recently started a food blog of their own, check it out~ Confusion in the Kitchen



Ok, so for the actual Dorie Recipe, you'll have to buy the book or visit Claudia's blog~ Here is the cookie I made because there were two HELLNAW items in this for me ( I do not do raisins OR white Chocolate, ever, period.)

I used:

1/3 c flour
1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder
HEAPING 1/4 tsp baking powder
6 oz semi sweet chocolate chopped
3 T butter cut into 3 pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract
6oz semi sweet chocolate chunks (store bought)
6oz Toffee bits
1 1/2 cups chopped roasted salted peanuts
1 cup moist dried tart cherries

Then I pretty much followed Dorie's instructions, EXCEPT I spaced out and was not paying attention and added the dry ingredients to the mixer BEFORE the melted chocolate mix, but no harm no foul there~

Nate and I decided this brownie-esque cookie is complex in flavor and bottom line; totally delightful. I took them to work and they were gone pretty quickly, I think I'll be working these into the Holiday Cookie Baking rotation, the cherries, toffee and loads of chocolate worked so well together!

Tuesdays with Dorie~ Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops

I'm going to post this one ON TIME, so as not to continue getting more and more behind! This weeks selection for TUESDAYS WITH DORIE comes from Rachel of Confessions of a Tangerine Tart. When I saw the title of the recipe she chose, my jaw dropped. This sounded INCREDIBLE!

I can safely say I've never made a cookie with Whoppers in it, or using Malted Milk powder...I don't think I perfected this recipe this time around, I need to make it another time or two to figure out a few things. My cookies came out a bit flatter than I had hoped, and am not sure why...The photo in Dorie's book is stunning and they are big, thick, fat cookies. So, I'll try these again soon after I visit all the other TWD'er's blogs and get an idea of what I may have done to have big flat pancakey whopper cookies. They were DELICIOUS flat Whopper cookies, so that was good news.



Head on over to Rachel's blog to get the recipe and check out the TWD Blogroll for more awesome Malted Drops! I'll be right back with belated TWD editions (Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream and Granola Grabbers! New computer in full effect!)...

Peanut Butter Blossoms

I know these are a pretty popular recipe, and although my version is a little "less homemade" than the usual, these are my favorite cookie to make every year because people flip out over them. I've made these "the hard" way following a few other recipes- but the end result is just not the same, so I stick with this recipe, my mom passed it along to me from a friend of hers so I am not 100% on the original source. I loved making these with my mom & my sister when I was growing up and will always, ALWAYS make these for the Holidays, because they are so simple and delicious!!



Peanut Butter Blossoms
3/4 C smooth peanut butter
2 C Bisquick baking mix
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
A bag o' Hershey kisses

FIRST: unwrap all the Kisses, pre-heat the oven to 375 and line a cookie sheet with foil (spray with non-stick spray).

I recommend using a stand mixer for these cookies, it is much easier, use the paddle attachment~ In the bowl of an electric stand mixer (or in a large bow using a hand mixer) combine the Bisquick, peanut butter, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla.
Pour about 1/3 of a cup of sugar on a plate (I like sprinkling in some colored sugar too). Roll the dough into walnut (or slightly smaller) sized balls and roll in sugar.
Line up on the cookie sheet about 1 inch apart and bake for 6-8 minutes. Do not over bake or they will be dry. The minute you pull them out of the oven, while on the cookie sheet, squish a KISS into each ball. Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 3-5 minutes before moving to wire wracks to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Lemon Thumb Print Cookies

I love making these for several reasons...one; the light lemony cookie and color fruit preserves look awesome plated up with the other peanut-buttery, chocolaty, gingerbready cookies...two; I LOVE CHEESECAKE and these are kind of like a little cheesecake cookie!...three; they are really fun to make (the dough freezes beautifully too!)
This year (and most years) I filled them with Raspberry and Apricot preserves, but they could be filled with any fruit preserve...when shopping for groceries for our holiday party I saw fig and cranberry preserves and would love to try either of those with these cookies (maybe next year!)...



Cream Cheese Lemon Thumb Print Cookies
Makes: between 6 & 6 1/2 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups/ 3 sticks softened butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 8oz pkg softened, room temp cream cheese
2 eggs
2 1/2 T lemon juice
Zest of one lemon
4 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
Apricot and Raspberry preserves

Cream the sugar, butter and cream cheese in a large bowl until smooth. Beat in the eggs, and then fold in the lemon juice and lemon zest. In a large bowl sift the flour and baking powder together and slowly add to the cream cheese and lemon mixture until all is well combined. Cover & chill out in the fridge for at least an hour.
Pre-heat the oven to 350 and roll the dough into walnut sized balls, place 3 inches apart on a cookie sheet covered in foil & sprayed with non-stick spray. Use your thumb to make a crater for the preserves in the center of each cookie- spoon in about 1/2-1 tsp of preserves to each cookie. Bake 12-15 minutes or until cookies start to turn golden brown, let them cool 3-5 minutes on the cookie sheet before moving to wire racks to cool completely.

Gingerbread Cookies

I like my gingerbread cookies soft and these have been my go-to Holiday Gingerbread Cookie for years (both to give and to eat!) I love when people make little gingerbread men-cookies, but I realized this year that I don't have any cookie cutters! That is another reason this recipe is perfect for me, because it does not involve any rolling or cookie-cutting.

I've haven't made cookie cutter cookies since I lived at my parents house. My mom makes AWESOME cookie-cutter cookies with a fabulous "old-school-family sugar cookie recipe ;)" that I have never made on my own (due to the lack of cutters). Well, I am resolving to get some cookie cutters so next year there will be gingerbread people decorated with some icing and hopefully gingerbread wiener dogs if I can find a cookie cutter that looks like that! And, I will also add Mom's Holiday Cookie Cutter Sugar Cookies and home made colored frosting to this growing blog for Christmas 2008....

Anyhow, on to MY non-cookie-cutter-Holiday Gingerbread Cookies...these can be made a little more as a "Gingerbread all-year-round cookie" by using a bit less cinnamon, 2T less molasses and add 1 T of lemon zest- decorate with a lemon icing.



These are my contribution to Susan's EAT CHRISTMAS COOKIES BLOGGING EVENT that she is hosting over on her blog Food Blogga



Check out all the amazing entries by clicking HERE

Holiday Gingerbread Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen
(dough freezes well! 6-8 weeks)

3/4 Cup butter, softened
1 Cup sugar
1 large egg
1 T room temp water
1/2 Cup molasses
2 1/2 Cups flour
2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
pinch of salt
Extra sugar (like 1/4 cup for rolling)

Pre heat the oven to 350 degrees.
Beat the softened butter and 1 cup sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg and mix well, add the molasses and water. In a large bowl combine flour, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and salt. Sift the flour mixture into the butter, sugar, molasses mixture (if using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment) to mix until well combined.
Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, then roll in the extra sugar. Place on a greased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart and press each with the back of a big spoon to squish down a bit.
Bake 8-10 minutes and let cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes before removing to cool completely on wire racks.

Cinnamon Hazelnut Biscotti

I am an espresso gal- I have a freaking AWESOME lil'machine at my casa that helps me make my favorite Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf mocha lattes at HOME every day! It's this NESPRESSOthat I could not live with out!! I do make the mocha-latte every day, but I do NOT get the pleasure of enjoying it with a delicious home made biscotti every morning~!! That's why I love making these as a special holiday treat! Not to mention (as I mention it) they are gorgeous and ship very nicely!!
This recipe is a basic biscotti recipe that can be doctored up in all kinds of ways! Instead of hazelnuts you can add ALMONDS (another fave of mine), dried cranberries, golden raisins, mini chocolate chips- WHATEVER you LOVE!!



Here is the recipe as pictured- but don't be afraid to mix in any of the above or anything that sounds delicious to you!

3/4 c softened butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
3/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 c flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup chopped hazelnuts (I used the food processor for mine)

Pre-heat oven to 350 & line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar with an electric mixer. Beat the eggs in one at a time and add vanilla & almond extracts. In a large bowl combine flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking powder and salt- slowly sift & mix the flour mixture into the egg, butter, sugar mix. Fold in the hazelnuts using a large spoon or spatula.

Split dough in half and roll into two even logs- as pictured here...



Then flatten out the logs to about a 1/3 of an inch thickness...



Bake at 350 for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown, then, when cool enough, slice into biscotti slices, I used my santoku knife and it was a breeze!



Bake again for 17-10 minutes on each side, flipping once





Melt some chocolate chips,( if desired) I used one small bag of nestle semi-sweet chips in a small saucepan (held over a large saucepan of simmering water) and drizzled some and dipped some so they all had good chocolaty goodness coverage!

It's FREEZING in here!! Freezing Cookie Dough...

Well, it really has been quite cold (as we Southern Californians say, it's been in the dangerously low 60s!!) Seriously though, last night was in the 40s and the heater in our apartment has been on the fritz for over a month now so we've been wearing extra layers and even socks to bed!
Every year I look forward to doing my holiday baking, my family is scattered all over America, from Columbus, to Denver, to Portland, to Atlanta...and I like to ship them all the plate of cookies I wish I could just walk over and hand out.

This year I am making and shipping most of my usual goodies;
A jar of Mocha Mix
Chocolate covered cinnamon hazelnut biscotti
Peanut Butter Blossoms
Ginger cookies
Lemon cream cheese thumb-prints with apricot and raspberry preserves

Because my schedule is TIGHT and we are hosting a holiday party here on the 15th (and my kitchen is teeny-weenie) I needed to make my dough ahead and freeze it for as much of the above as possible.

Not all dough is able to do this, but for the PB Blossoms, Thumb prints and Ginger cookies this is what I did.
Read more tips on freezing HERE or HERE

Here are the "supplies" you will need.



A clean odor-free freezer is #1, I cleaned out mine and added 2 Arm n Hammer Baking Powder Fridge and Freezer deodorizers one week before freezing my dough.



Saran wrap
Glad press & seal
1-gallon sized freezer bags
A sharpie marker to label & date the bags
(the Glad-ware pictured was used to ship the cookies :)

First make a single or double batch of the dough you wish to freeze.
If it is a double batch divide it in half and make 2 balls



Place 2 pieces of saran wrap forming a + on a clean flat surface.
Place the loaf-shaped ball of dough on the saran. Fold the top and bottom pieces in and wrap the side pieces around (kind of like wrapping up a burrito).
Repeat this exact process with the Press N' Seal. You can double zip lock bag it at this point if you'd like, single is usually fine.







Label the bag with type of dough and date.

Place wrapped up dough in bag and freeze for future use.




The night before baking with the frozen dough, move it into the refrigerator and thaw by refrigerating for about 12 hours or until thawed all the way through.

Follow baking instructions for each cookie individually.

The BBFCCCC's

Oh ya, I HAD to try it! The BBFCCCC's (as in Best, Big, Fat, Chewy, Chocolate Chip Cookies)
All Recipes BBFCCCC link
This recipe has a zillion fab reviews on All Recipes and I needed to find out what all the hype was about.
Well, it was all about these excellent cookies!!





INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini chips for mine)

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

They came out spectacular! Nate loved them and I took two to work today and they received rave reviews!! I'll still make my ole reliable Chocolate Chip Cookies, but this is a great tried and true recipe that really is fantastic!