Cornmeal Cookies with Jam

 I made a batch of delicious jalapeno jelly. And it was pretty to look at to boot. I love it on cornbread, grilled cheese, cream cheese and hamburgers. Then I got a wild idea... Why not make cornmeal sugar cookies and put some jalapeno jelly on top? 

I did it. And I love them! I love spicy sweet! I love cookies! Yum!!!

3/4 cup softened butter

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup cornmeal

1 1/2 cup flour

Cream butter and sugars in mixer until fluffy. Mix in egg, baking soda, salt and vanilla. Add cornmeal and flour and mix until smooth. 

Scoop into balls and then roll in sugar. Lightly press in center with thumb.

Bake at  350 for 10-14 minutes or until light golden brown on edges. 

Cool 10 minutes on baking tray before removing to cooling rack. 

After they have cooled, top with jelly just before serving. 

Triple Berry Macaroons

In Montana I had huckleberry macaroons made from desiccated coconut. After a bit of research, I made a batch of my caramel toffee macaroons with a combo of flaked and desiccated coconut. They were a bit dry. But I messed with the ratio and the triple berry macaroons are delicious! I never thought I'd say this but I think I like them even better...

1/2 cup condensed milk

1/3 cup triple berry jam

1 egg white

1/4 tsp salt

Mix well in mixer bowl with paddle attachment.

Add:

2 1/2 cups shredded coconut

1 cup desiccated coconut

Mix until well combined.

Pack tightly into a cookie scoop (I used a#60) and drop onto a lightly greased silpat mat.

Bake at 325 for 15-18 minutes or until bottoms and tops begin to turn slightly golden brown. Remove from oven and place baking tray on cooling rack. Let sit 5 minutes. Then remove to rack to cool completely.

Store in zipper bag or airtight container in fridge.

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

Overall I am not a huge fan of cake. But I like some cakes more than others and carrot cake is pretty high on that list. But cookies are my favorite dessert, so how could I not love carrot cake cookies? Turns out, I do... 

2 3/4 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp nutmeg and cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar and brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups finely grated fresh carrots (do not use pre-shredded)

walnuts or pecans (optional)

dark or golden raisins (optional)

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla and carrots. Mix well.

Whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices in small bowl with whisk. Mix into carrot mixture until just combined. 

Fold in nuts and raisins, if desired.

Scoop onto lightly greased parchment paper on baking trays. 

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes, or until edges turn golden and tops look dry. Cool on racks but let sit on trays for 5 minutes before removing to racks to cool completely. 

Sandwich two cookies with your favorite cream cheese frosting recipe. I threw a bit of well-drained and patted dry crushed pineapple into some of my frosting. Delicious! 

Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies

I love spicy chocolate anything! And these cookies perfectly fit that bill... Delicious!

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 eggs

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

grated zest from 1/2 of a large orange

2 1/4 cups flour

Beat sugar, butter, vanilla and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Mix in cream of tartar and baking soda. Mix in cocoa powder, cinnamon, cayenne and orange zest. Mix in flour.

Scoop dough into balls and roll in cinnamon sugar mixture. 

Bake on parchment lined baking sheets at 350 for 9-10 minutes, or until edges are set. Let cool a bit on sheet before removing to racks to cool. 

Raspberry Linzer Bars

 This Christmas I made real raspberry linzer cookies. I rolled the dough, cut them out, layered them with jam. They were adorable, delicious and a lot of work! 

This recipe makes all of that so much simpler and still taste yummy!

1 cup flour

3/8 cup almond flour

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix in large bowl with whisk. 

Cut in 1/2 cup of room temperature butter.

Press 2/3 of dough into an 8" square baking pan lined with parchment paper and sprayed with baking spray.

Spread dough with raspberry jam.

Crumble remaining dough on top of jam layer. 

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes or until base is light golden brown. 

Let cool. Cut into squares and dust with powdered sugar.

Spiced Caramel Apple Cider Doodles

 I really wanted to combine caramel and spiced apple cider into a cookie. I could get the spice and the caramel but the apple part was eluding me. So how would I get that intense apple cider flavor I wanted? Boil down some of our hand-pressed cider into a dark, syrupy goodness. Then combine it with butter, sugar and cream and make caramel. Place on top of a mulling spice snickerdoodle. Yup. That's it...

I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe HERE but only make a half batch for this recipe with a couple of changes.

First... make the snickerdoodles.

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 3/4 cups flour

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 tsp soda

1/4 tsp salt

***************************

1/4 cup sugar

3 tsp cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves & allspice

Heat oven to 400.

Mix butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs thoroughly. Blend flour, cream of tartar, salt, and soda. Stir into butter mixture. Mix well. Shape dough into 1” balls and roll in spiced sugar mixture.

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes. Before removing from pan and while still warm, press an indentation in the top of each cookie. I used my wooden tart shaper from Pampered Chef, but you can be creative.

Then remove and let cool on wire rack. (the cookies in the picture aren't the ones I used for these cookies, so no indentation for caramel... 😊)

Now to make the caramel. And this takes a while. Oh, and prep all your ingredients while you're reducing your cider. You won't have time later...

Reduce 2 cups of cider to 1/4 cup. 

You can't use just any cider for this. It needs to be the real stuff. Not the one you get at the grocery store. This needs to be hand pressed with the sludge at the bottom. Look at your local natural grocer or farmer's market.

Pour 2 cups of cider into a heavy saucepan and turn on a fairly high heat. Not your highest setting but close. And then just let it boil, hard. Stir it every once in a while. This is going to take a bit of time. Like maybe a half an hour. When it starts to get foamy, you know it's getting close. So keep an eye on it, it goes much quicker at this point. Have a heatproof measuring cup for liquids nearby so you can check your amount. 

Ingredients to prep while reducing cider:

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

Mix together in small bowl.

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

scant 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Mix in small bowl

3 Tablespoons of heavy cream

Pour into small glass

4 Tablespoons margarine (I don't use butter because it makes a stickier caramel and I hate caramel that sticks in your teeth)

Cut the margarine into smaller cubes

When your cider is down to 1/4 cup, immediately pour it back into your saucepan and remove from the heat. Stir in sugars, margarine and cream (in that order) and stir until margarine melts. 

Place back on burner and reduce heat just a bit (still med-high). Put a candy thermometer into the pan. Bring the mixture up to 252 degrees that can't be stirred down, while stirring constantly. You don't want it to burn. 😬

Stir in cinnamon and salt.

Carefully pour the caramel into a bowl and stir until it cools and begins to thicken a bit. 

Then carefully fill the centers of the cookies with the caramel. 

Let cool completely before eating. 

5 Spice Pumpkindoodles

I bought Chinese 5-spice this week and discovered that it goes beautifully with pumpkin. I've always wanted to try pumpkin cookies, so I took this opportunity and used my homemade 5-spice pumpkin butter and made snickerdoodles with it. YUM! The warm spicy mix is perfect on sugar cookies warm from the oven...

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup pumpkin butter (see recipe HERE)
2 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
4 tsp Chinese 5-spice
Heat oven to 400.
Mix butter, shortening, sugar, and eggs thoroughly. Blend flour, cream of tartar, salt, and soda. Stir into butter mixture. Mix well. Shape dough into 1” balls and roll in 5-spice sugar (1/4 cup sugar and 4 tsp 5-spice mixed together).

Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes

Ginger Blondies

I have enjoyed blondies (aka Butterscotch Brownies) since I was a kid. But in order to make them taste a bit more like Fall, this time I made them with dark brown sugar and crystallized ginger. Perfection!

1/2 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped crystallized ginger

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9” square baking pan.

Melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract. Mix in flour and salt. Fold in ginger pieces.

Spread into prepared pan. Bake 20 minutes or until set and golden brown.

Cool on wire rack.

Almond Toffee Macaroons

It's hard to imagine that I only started liking coconut at all in the last 8 years or so. I must have been crazy! :)

I made lemon curd today and had 6 egg whites that I didn't just want to throw down the garbage disposal. So I made cookies instead. Yummy coconut cookies with toffee bits I had in my freezer from Christmas and chocolate drizzle...

4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon each of vanilla and almond extract

Beat this until foamy but not white. Don't worry if the sugar isn't totally dissolved.

Mix in 14 ounces of shredded coconut and about 1/2 cup of toffee bits.

Pack tightly into balls (about the size of a walnut) with wet hands to keep them from sticking too much to your hands.

Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Or use a slipat that you've sprayed. These suckers are sticky!

Bake at 325 for 20 minutes or until golden on edges and a bit on top.

Let cool on baking sheet on a wire rack for 20 minutes before removing.

After they have cooled, drizzle them with melted chocolate chips with a bit of coconut oil for stability at room temp.

GF Peanut Butter Cookies

Need a fast and easy GF treat to make? Here's one...

1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350

Mix peanut butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and mix until combined and smooth.

Roll into small balls and place on baking sheet. Dip a fork in water and make criss cross pattern on top of each cookie. Be careful not to make it too flat!

Bake 8-10 minutes, or until set.

Let cool a few minutes before removing to cooling rack.

Eat with a glass of cold milk.

Raisin Spice Bars

Make these quick and easy bars to celebrate National Raisin Spice Bar Day... Very nice with a cup of coffee or tea for a late morning snack.

Pour boiling water over 1/2 cup raisins. Let sit about 10 minutes. Remove 2 Tablespoons of water then drain well.

1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted

2/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons raisin water

Mix together.

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon each: baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cloves and allspice

Stir until smooth.

Add 1 egg and mix well.

Fold in raisins.

Pour into greased 8 or 9" baking pan.

Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes or until top springs back when touched.

Chewy Molasses Bars

February 8th is National Molasses Bar Day. So, in honor of the occasion I went searching for a recipe in my 1963 Betty Crocker Cooky Book. I didn't find one, but I modified a recipe I did find in the Heritage Cookies section.

They turned out amazing! They are just like a molasses-y brownie: chewy, moist, a little spicy and delicious! I'm going to celebrate with a couple of these and a mug of our own hand-pressed spiced apple cider... Mmmm!

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup molasses
2 Tbsp milk
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup raisins
1 tsp vanilla

Cream shortening and sugar. Add eggs, molasses and milk. Mix well. Blend dry ingredients together and add to creamed mixture. Mix well. Stir in raisins and vanilla.

Pour batter into a greased 9" square baking pan.

Bake at 350 for 15-20 or until pick comes out clean.

Let cool on wire rack before cutting.

Coconut & Chocolate Macaroons

It’s hard to believe that once upon a time I HATED coconut! Now I can’t even imagine hating coconut. I LOVE the stuff! I’ve had a craving for real honest-to-goodness coconut macaroons for a while now. This seems funny considering the last time I had one I could hardly even keep it in my mouth…

But today I made a batch. They were perfect! They didn’t spread, they were chewy and moist and covered in dark chocolate… Mmmmm!!!

I will be making these again real soon!

1 14oz bag of sweetened shredded coconut (5 cups)

4 large egg whites

1/2 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon almond extract

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1 Tablespoon shortening

Preheat the oven to 325. Line baking sheet with parchment and spray the parchment with cooking spray. These suckers are sticky!!!

Beat the egg whites, sugar, and extracts with an electric mixer until they are foamy but not white. The sugar might not be completely dissolved, but don’t worry about it.

Stir in the coconut. Mix well.

Pack the mixture into a cookie scoop good and tight. Place on the papered and sprayed baking sheet. You can make them small or a bit larger. But I wouldn’t go bigger than 2 Tablespoons…

Bake for 20 minutes or until the edges start to brown. A bit of the tops will start to brown, too. Don’t overbake them! They will be super dry and icky!

Remove from the oven. Let them cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before removing from the baking sheet. Cool on wire racks.

After the cookies are cool, melt chocolate chips with shortening in microwave. Melt for 1 minute. Stir well. Melt in additional 15 second increments until completely melted and smooth.

Either did the bottoms of the macaroons into the chocolate or drizzle over the tops. Store in the fridge for 3-5 days or freeze for longer storage. But I’m guessing they won’t be around that long…

Healthier (but not too healthy) Chocolate Chip Cookies

To celebrate (or should I say, commiserate) the fact that I got bifocals yesterday, I baked a batch of chocolate chip cookies using a new recipe that I concocted in hopes that it will be healthier for my not-so-young-anymore body but not so healthy that they taste healthy. You know what I mean, right?

This batch wasn’t super healthy since I stuffed half of them with Rolos or chocolate peanut butter and baked them in mini muffin pans. Hey, I was feeling pretty down about the whole bifocal thing! ;o)

I think this just might do the trick…

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup coconut oil, softened

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 scant cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream the butter, coconut oil, sugars and vanilla together with electric mixer. Add egg and mix until well combined.

Stir together dry ingredients in a small bowl. Add to creamed mixture in 3 separate batches, mixing well after each addition.

Stir in chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.

Drop onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake about 10 minutes or until slightly golden and set.

Let cool 5 minutes before removing from baking sheet to cooling rack.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

They are the perfect gluten free cookie because they don’t have any flour at all. It’s hard to imagine that these will actually turn out when you’re making them. But I promise that they do. And with this chocolate peanut butter spread I got from Wal Mart, they are super yummy! You can use plain peanut butter, too but why would you??? ;o)

1 cup chocolate peanut butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir well to combine and the stir in 3/4 cup chocolate chips.

Roll into balls and place on baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for about 12 to 14 minutes or until puffy and set. Let cool a couple of minutes before removing from baking sheet to cool on a wire rack.

Roca Blondies

We are lucky enough to live only about 2 hours from the Almond Roca factory and their factory outlet store in Fife! I am lucky enough that a friend just happened to mention the store on FB a few weeks ago. I am super lucky enough that we got to go to my BIL’s wedding in Tacoma a couple of weeks ago and make a stop at the store on the way. I am extraordinarily lucky that my sweet hubby let me spend way more money than I should have on Roca candy!!! :o)

One of the treats I brought home was a bag of broken up Almond Roca pieces for cooking.

The first thing I tried was making blondies with some of them stirred in… Jackpot!!!

If you are lucky enough to get your hands on some smashed up Almond Roca, give these a whirl…

1/2 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 cup flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup Almond Roca pieces

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9” square baking pan.

Melt butter. Stir in brown sugar, egg, vanilla and almond extract. Mix in flour and salt. Fold in Almond Roca pieces.

Spread into prepared pan. Bake 20 minutes or until set and golden brown.

Cool on wire rack.

Spiced Cookie Butter

I hadn’t ever heard of cookie butter before, until I saw a recipe for it on-line. But now that I have discovered it and realized I can make it myself, I may have opened a Pandora’s box that I was not prepared for. This stuff is pure evil in a jar! And it is sitting right in my fridge, beckoning me every time I walk by. And I can’t eat just one spoonful! It wouldn’t be so bad if I wasn’t already thinking about what flavor to try next… AHHHHH!!!

6.75 oz of any flavor of plain crispy cookies (I used some plain tea biscuits and some ginger snaps)

4 Tablespoons powdered sugar

1 Tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (you could use any spice you like or none at all)

1/4 cup oil (coconut, sweet almond, rice bran…) *I used coconut but it turned into a rock in the fridge. The rice bran was better and I think almond would be nice, too.

3-4 Tablespoons cold water

Place cookies into food processor and pulse until they turn into fine crumbs.

Add sugars, spices and vanilla and pulse until well mixed.

Slowly pour in the oil and mix until well combined.

Then slowly add water (you may not need it all) and pulse until it is sticky but not too thin or wet.

 

   At this point is was still too gritty for me and I wanted my butter to have a smoother texture. So I kept pulsing until the butter was glossy and smooth.

Place in a jar or other airtight container and store in fridge.

You may want to take it out and bring to room temperature before eating. Or if you’re like me, you can just take a spoonful right out of the jar in the fridge every time you walk by… ;o)

Ooey Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

This pie combines my favorite dessert (pie) with my hubby’s favorite dessert (chocolate chip cookies). I think if we were ever to get married again we’d have this instead of cake at the wedding… ;o)

First make up a single pie crust. I used my mom’s pie crust recipe. It turns out great every time!

Line 1 9” pie plate with the rolled out crust.

Then make the cookie filling:

1/2 cup softened butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chocolate chips

Mix butter, sugars and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Add dry ingredients. Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread into pie crust.

Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes or until dark golden brown.

Let cool to room temperature and serve thin slices with a glass of cold milk or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Lemon Lavender Shortbread

I needed another dainty treat to eat while watching Downton Abbey, so I searched my memory banks for things I like to eat when we have tea parties… Lavender shortbread cookies are one of those special little treats that are just what I was hoping for!

I like lemon and lavender paired together, so hence that is what I put in this recipe. I hope you enjoy these with your afternoon tea as much as I do!

1 cup softened butter

1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 Tablespoon dried lavender, rubbed in hand to break up large pieces and release oils

grated zest from 1 lemon

1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat until smooth and creamy.

2 1/4 cups flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix in flour and salt until stiff dough forms.

Mold into rolls and wrap in waxed or parchment paper. Chill in fridge over night.

Remove from fridge for 10 minutes. Slice thin (1/4”).

Bake at 400 for 8-10 minutes. Don’t let the edges brown!

Sugar-Free Breakfast Cookies

3 mashed ripe bananas

1/3 cup applesauce

1/4 cup vanilla rice or almond milk

1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup raisins or dried cranberries

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl.

Drop onto greased baking sheet and flatten slightly. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned and set.

Remove and cool on wire rack.

Store in fridge.

These cookies don’t store well and should be eaten within 1-2 days.

They are really good for breakfast with a bowl of plain or vanilla yogurt!