White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

This is a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, but with white chocolate and macadamia nuts.  These white chocolate discs are a nice change because they are larger than regular chocolate chips and are pretty too; you can find them at gourmet food stores. 

Ingredients:
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar 
1 cup butter, softened
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup white chocolate discs or chips 
1 cup macadamia nuts, halved

Directions:
Heat oven to 375.  Combine brown sugar, sugar, butter and eggs and beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and blend well.

Incorporate flour, baking soda and salt, then fold in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Drop dough by large tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (or longer for crisp cookies). Cool  before removing from cookie sheets.  Enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

I decided to revamp the traditional oatmeal cookie by adding dark chocolate chips, and a bit of cocoa powder to the batter.  Kyle said, "You've elevated the oatmeal cookie.  It's elegant."  Yes, that's how he talks... 

Ingredients: 
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar 
3/4 cup granulated sugar 
2 eggs 
2 tsp vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3 cups dry oats
1 tbsp cocoa powder
2 cups dark chocolate chips

Directions:
Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Beat butter and sugars until creamy, then add eggs and vanilla.  Add oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cocoa powder and nutmeg, and mix well.  Mix in dark chocolate chips until just combined.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake 8 to 9 minutes for a chewy cookie or 10 to 11 minutes for a crisp cookie.  Cool completely before serving.  Makes about 2 dozen.

Cocoa Thumbprints

 

Christmas Cookies!  Hooray!

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup sugar, plus 1/2 cup for rolling
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, melted
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Toppings - mini M&Ms, marshmallows, chocolate chips, etc

Directions:
Whisk the flour, one cup sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl.  Add the butter and eggs and stir until combined.  Cover and refrigerate the dough until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Line baking sheet(s) with parchment.  Place the powdered sugar and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in 2 separate bowls.  Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls; roll in the granulated sugar and then in the powdered sugar.  Place 1 inch apart on baking sheet.  Lightly flatten each ball and make a deep indentation in the centers with your thumb.  Place choice of filling in the indentation.

Bake the cookies until puffed and slightly cracked, about 10 minutes.  Let cool before serving.

Tips:  If using larger toppings, such as peanut M&Ms, lightly press down on them after they come out of the oven to ensure that they anchor to the cookie.  I also dusted a little extra powdered sugar over the tops of the cookies when they came out of the oven, as some of it disappeared during the cooking process, and the white/black contrast here is the most striking thing about this cookie.  Enjoy!

Butterfinger Cheesecake Bites

Don't you lay a finger on my Butterfinger...cakes...

Crust:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 tbsp. granulated sugar
2 tbsp. melted butter
1/8 tsp salt

Cake:
8 oz softened cream cheese
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp. heavy cream
1/8 tsp salt

Topping:
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
3 tbsp heavy cream
8 fun size Butterfinger candy bars, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place cookie crumbs, sugar, butter and salt into a bowl; mix to combine. Spoon mixture into bottoms of mini cheesecake or muffin pan and press down to firm the crust. Bake for 5 minutes and remove from oven.

Reduce heat to 300 degrees. Beat cream cheese and peanut butter until smooth. Add sugar, egg, cream and salt until well combined. Evenly spoon batter into crusts (about 3/4 full). Bake for 20-25 minutes or until cheesecake is set.  Let cool for at least an hour.

Melt chocolate chips in the microwave in 30 second intervals until smooth. Stir in cream. If needed, return back to the microwave for 15 seconds or so until smooth. Spoon the chocolate mixture over the cakes, then sprinkle crushed butterfinger over the top.  Let sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Tips:

I like to use the mini cupcake tins that have the outer foil, so that you don't have to use a special pan (or wash extra dishes!).  Those are available in the baking section at the grocery store for like $1 and well worth the time savings.

Try to make the crust on the bottom of these thin - thick enough to hold together, but thin enough that you have a nice proportion of cheesecake to chocolate and crust.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

This is like the easiest recipe in history and is delicious and decadent.  Plus, bonus, they look pretty!  Thank you, almond bark.


1 pkg of almond bark (vanilla or chocolate, either are great with the peanut butter)
1 box of Ritz crackers
1 jar of smooth peanut butter


Directions

Use a knife to spread a generous helping of peanut butter on a Ritz cracker, then add another on top to create a sandwich. Squeeze so that the peanut butter is distributed evenly and wipe off any excess peanut butter that might overflow.  Repeat until all the crackers have been used.

Lay out some wax paper and then follow the directions on the package to melt the almond bark in the microwave.

Using a fork, balance one sandwich on the fork, dip in the melted chocolate until covered and then set on the wax paper.  Allow the sandwiches to harden and then inspect them - some of them may need to be dipped a second time, or you can use a knife to fix any imperfections by spreading just a little bit more chocolate on (sometimes there are fork marks on the bottom, I like to cover those up). 

Tips -  If you are making these around the holidays, you can also add sprinkles to the top when the chocolate is drying, or dye the vanilla bark fun colors.  Enjoy!

Homemade Oreo Cookies

I've been making this recipe for years.  People love them and are always very impressed, but honestly it's one of the easiest recipes around!  They do taste very similar to real Oreos, they are just a little softer.

Recipe:

1 devil's food cake mix
1/2 c. shortening
2 eggs

Mix the above ingredients together. Roll the dough into small balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool cookies.

Frosting:

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Mix all of frosting ingredients until smooth. Frost the backs of the cookies and squeeze together to make sandwich cookies.

Tips:

To help flatten the cookies and make them more oreo-like, tap the baking sheet lightly on the counter right after you remove them from the oven, while they are still hot.

This recipe makes a lot of frosting - I personally like my cookies a little less sweet, so I usually don't use all the frosting.  You can really just judge for yourself how thick you want the cookies to be by adjusting the amount of frosting.  Also, it's easier (and less messy!) to use a pastry bag to squeeze the frosting onto the cookies.  

A variation I have made on this is to stuff them with peanut butter frosting (there is a great recipe for that on this site, under the peanut butter cake posting).

Fortune Cookies

The most fun part of this recipe is writing your own fortunes!  They can be silly, prophetic, ominous, or even dirty, depending on your crowd!  I've posted some examples of fortunes I've written in the party ideas section of this blog - here's the link: Fun Fortunes

These are easy to make, but require a bit of finesse. This recipe only makes about 10 cookies, so you'll probably want to double it if you are making them for an event.

Ingredients:
2 large egg whites
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
8 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 teaspoons water 

Directions:
Write fortunes on pieces of paper that are 3 1/2 inches long and 1/2 inch wide. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Grease 2 9-X-13 inch baking sheets.

In a medium bowl, lightly beat the egg white, vanilla extract, almond extract and vegetable oil until frothy, but not stiff. 

Sift the flour, cornstarch, salt and sugar into a separate bowl. Stir the water into the flour mixture. Add the flour into the egg white mixture and stir until you have a smooth batter. The batter should not be runny, but should drop easily off a wooden spoon.

Note: if you want to dye the fortune cookies, add the food coloring at this point, stirring it into the batter. For example, I used 1/2 teaspoon green food coloring to make green fortune cookies.  You can also flavor them with different types of extract (I've used chocolate and raspberry).


Next, place level tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart. Gently tilt the baking sheet back and forth and from side to side so that each tablespoon of batter forms into a circle 4 inches in diameter.


Bake until the outer 1/2-inch of each cookie turns golden brown and they are easy to remove from the baking sheet with a spatula (14 - 15 minutes).


Working quickly, remove the cookie with a spatula and flip it over in your hand. Place a fortune in the middle of a cookie. To form the fortune cookie shape, fold the cookie in half, then gently pull the edges downward over the rim of a glass, wooden spoon or the edge of a muffin tin. Place the finished cookie in the cup of the muffin tin so that it keeps its shape. Continue with the rest of the cookies.

Tips:  The key to shaping these is working very, very fast, otherwise they become hard before you can even fold them.  It takes a bit of practice but once you have gotten it down, it's pretty simple.  I like to dip one edge of these in either white or regular chocolate, and sometimes add sprinkles to make them a bit fancier.  Enjoy!