Category: Cookies

Peppermint Snowballs

peppermint snowballs

 

 

 

 

 

Peppermint is a wonderful flavor often associated with winter, and these cookies, found in a delightful Christmas cookie magazine, have been on my list to bake for the past several weeks. Sometimes, you can tweak a recipe and make it better; other times, what you add or omit affects the finished product in what I wouldn’t necessarily call a bad way, but in an unexpected, less than desirable way.

Hoping for intense peppermint flavor, I added more crushed peppermint candies than recommended. At the time, I didn’t think about how they increased quantity of candy (essentially, melting sugar, which turns to liquid) would affect the dough, and it certainly did. Rather than turning out button-like as Russian Tea Cakes do, these were flat, and took longer to bake. The cookies still taste good, but next time, I’ll stick closer to the recipe and incorporate 1/2 teaspoon of peppermint extract, then decrease the vanilla to 1/2 teaspoon as well.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 2/3 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies (20 candies)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups flower
  • 1 cup powdered sugar, for rolling

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a mixing bowl, beat butter on medium speed for 30 seconds.

Add the 2/3 cup powdered sugar, crushed peppermints, vanilla, and salt; beat until well combined.

Add flour, one cup at a time, beating until combined.

Using a one-inch cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll into balls, then place at least one inch apart on baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are golden brown.

Remove from oven, let stand on baking sheets for 5 minutes.

Roll in powdered sugar and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Sugar Cut-Out Tips

 

 

 

 

 

For a long time, sugar cookies were my nemesis. I loved how they looked, but didn’t really love to make them, because I always had trouble getting the right consistency in my dough. The following tips may help you reach sugar cookie nirvana:

  • Softened/room temperature butter should be the texture of ice cream, not peanut butter. It should hold some of its shape, but not be too soft.
  • Flour incorporation takes a few minutes. The dough will go through a crumb-like stage and then change to a more cohesive dough that pulls away from the side of the mixer. When it pulls away, it’s done.
  • If your dough is too crumbly, even after a few minutes of mixing, go ahead and add another teaspoon of vanilla extract or water. Take care not to add too much water; your dough needs to be stiff enough to roll out, so if you end up adding more liquid (or your butter was really, really soft) add another tablespoon of flour to help stabilize the dough.
  • Place your dough in large  Ziploc bags or between sheets of waxed paper and roll it slightly before chilling.
  • Chill your dough for about 30 minutes; I’ve found that this gives enough time to make rolling easier, but isn’t so long that your dough is hard.
  • Remove your dough from the fridge and let it sit out for a few minutes before you roll it.
  • If you have trouble with breakage when transferring your cut cookies to the baking sheet, keep the cookie cutter in place once you’ve cut your shape, then slide an offset spatula beneath the cookie and move the whole thing, cutter and all, to the baking sheet and then remove the cutter.
  • Chill your cut-outs for 5-10 minutes before baking.
  • Different shapes = different baking times, so bake one shape at a time. For example, if you’re baking moons and stars, bake all of the moons on one sheet and all of the stars on another to ensure even baking.

Turkey Sugar Cut-Outs

 

 

 

 

 

Several Thanksgivings ago, in our tiny kitchen in DC, I made sugar cut-outs in the shape of turkeys, pumpkins, maple leaves, and acorns. Rolling out sugar cookie dough in a galley-style kitchen is next to impossible, but the little dining table we had in our living room worked very well. Decorating sugar cookies is a fun endeavor, and because I had colored sugar that year, I decided to embellish the turkeys so that both toms and hens were on the platter.

When the cookies arrived at Aunt Liz’s house, they were a big hit. My cousin-in-law, Robb, first called the turkeys “anatomically correct,” but we later agreed that “gender specific” was a more appropriate term. Either way, I now make these turkeys every year.

Ingredients

  • 1 recipe sugar cut-outs
  • 1 recipe Zella’s icing
  • Brown gel food coloring
  • Miniature chocolate chips, for turkey eyes
  • Colored sugar sprinkles, for tom feathers

Preparation

Bake and cool sugar cut-outs.

Prepare icing; add enough brown food coloring to reach your desired turkey color.

Frost turkeys with a small offset spatula or butter knife, using a swirling motion to make feather patterns.

Press a miniature chocolate chip onto each turkey for the eye.

For the toms: starting on the outside of the feather end, use a teaspoon to sprinkle on a generous amount of colored sugar; repeat with two additional colors. Gently press the sugar into the icing with your finger, then lift the cookie and shake off any excess.

Allow icing to set before storing; store between sheets of parchment or waxed paper.

Chocolate Sugar Cookies

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Veteran’s Day! As I baked these treats, which taste like an amazing combination of a sugar cookie and a dark chocolate brownie, I thought about the care packages that members of the US military receive from their families. Then, I thought about all of the veterans I’ve known—men, mostly, in my family and among my friends—and how profoundly grateful I am to have known them.

One of my favorite veterans was Francis Kruhm, our landlord in Sunshine, MD. Mike and I lived there before our move into DC while he was on active duty with the Maryland Army National Guard. Mr. Kruhm served in the Army during World War II, and was part of the invasion at Anzio, Italy in 1944.  The Kruhms were friends of my Aunt Liz’s in-laws, the Brighams, and they had a tiny apartment on the side of their house that they rented to us for an extraordinarily low rate.

About a week after we moved in, Mr. Kruhm gave me a service banner to hang in the front window. He had a full-sized flagpole in the front yard and raised the stars and stripes every single day. Mr. Kruhm was an active member of the VFW and an impressive gardener; I would often come home to find bags of corn, tomatoes, and zucchini on my porch. Even after we moved to DC and later, back to Pittsburgh, I sent Mr. Kruhm a Christmas card every year, and he sent us one in return. He passed away not long ago, another member of the Greatest Generation who surely made it into heaven.

I wish to sincerely thank all of the member of the US military, as well as their families, for their bravery and sacrifice. I am truly grateful to be a citizen of this amazing nation, and to the men and women who fought for our freedoms.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup shortening, melted and cooled
  • 1 egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and butter; beat until fluffy.

Add shortening and beat well.

Add egg and vanilla and beat until creamy.

Add flour mixture in two batches, beating until combined after each.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, drop onto baking sheets about two inches apart.

Bake for 18 minutes.

Cool on a wire rack.

 

 

Great Pumpkin Sugar Cut-Outs

 

 

 

 

 

One of my favorite things about Halloween is “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!” I admire Linus for his dedication, waiting all night in the pumpkin patch, even if all that came was a beagle.

The Great Pumpkin inspired me to bake these rather large sugar cut-outs, and that’s one of the things that I love about sugar cookies–the endless creative possibilities. Pick your cutter, whip up your icing, and you’re making edible art.

To make these cookies, you will need:

  • 1 recipe sugar cut-outs
  • 1 recipe Zella’s icing
  • Yellow, red, and green liquid food coloring (or orange and green gel food coloring)
  • 1 large pumpkin cookie cutter (mine is 3 3/4 inches)

Preparation

Bake and cool sugar cut-outs.

Prepare icing; reserve a small portion of icing to tint green for pumpkin stems.

Combine yellow and red food coloring until you reach the desired orange tint.

Frost with orange first, using a small offset spatula or butter knife and a back-and-forth vertical swirling motion to create the pumpkin ridges.

Frost stems, using a small dab of green frosting.

Allow frosting to harden before storing; store at room temperature in an airtight container between layers of waxed paper for up to four days.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies I

This time of year, I wonder about the first colonial woman who, at a loss for traditional British baking ingredients, thought to cut up a pumpkin, roast it, scrape out its flesh, and mix it with sugar and spices for pumpkin pie. Whoever she was, I applaud her ingenuity. Without her, we might not have canned pumpkin. And without canned pumpkin, we probably wouldn’t have pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.

As these baked, I told Mike that someone should make a pumpkin chocolate chip cookie-scented candle, because they filled our house with a sweet, spicy aroma that was not unlike something you’d inhale at the Yankee Candle shop. Fortunately, these cookies taste as good as they smell.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 15 ounces pumpkin
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line several baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars.

Add pumpkin, eggs, and vanilla; mix well.

Slowly add flour mixture and beat until well combined.

Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, drop scoops of dough about two inches apart on the baking sheet.

Bake 18 minutes, until edges are lightly browned.

Cool for 5 minutes on baking sheet, then cool completely on a wire rack.

Peanut Butter Molasses Cookies

 

 

 

 

 

Mary Janes were among my favorite penny candy, along with Bit O’ Honey and Tootsie Rolls.  The corner store in my neighborhood, which closed in my early teens, had shelves of penny candy and small paper bags that eager children could fill to their heart’s delight.

These cookies are modeled on the Mary Jane, featuring peanut butter, molasses, and dark brown sugar.  While you could certainly use light brown sugar, dark brown sugar has a higher quantity of molasses in it and will yield a richer flavor; you could also use crunchy, rather than smooth, peanut butter for another dimension of texture.

Ingredients

  • 2 2/3 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 3/4 cups dark brown sugar
  • 12 tablespoons butter
  • 1/4 cup shortening
  • 2/3 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
  • 2 eggs
  • About 1 cup unsalted peanuts, coarsely chopped

Preparation

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together dark brown sugar, butter, shortening, peanut butter, and molasses until very well combined and fluffy, about two minutes.

Add eggs and beat well, about two minutes.

Add one-half of the flour mixture and beat until combined.

Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until combined.

Cover and chill dough at least one hour or until firm and easy to handle.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Line several baking sheets with foil and spray very lightly with cooking spray. (Note: I do not re-spray sheets after they have baked, as I find that there is enough residual spray left on the sheets so the cookies do not stick.)

Using a one-inch cookie scoop, scoop very generous portions of dough and roll into balls; dip one-half of each ball in chopped peanuts, pressing lightly to embed the nuts in the dough.

Place on the baking sheet about two inches apart and bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven; cool cookies on the baking sheet on a wire rack for two to three minutes, then remove cookies and cool completely on another rack.

Snickerdoodles

 

 

 

 

 

Snickerdoodle is an awesome word.  No one can say for certain from where it came; some food historians believe that these cinnamon-sugar treats originated in Germany and are derived from the word schneckennudeln, which is a cinnamon sweet roll, while others maintain that they came from New England, where some enterprising baker made up the word because it sounded fun.

Regardless of their origin, snickerdoodles are easy to make.  Essentially a soft sugar cookie rolled in cinnamon and sugar before baking, these bakery staples will fill your kitchen with the warm, comforting aroma of cinnamon.  As I prefer soft cookies, I recommend baking these for 10-11 minutes only, until they are just golden brown at the edges; any longer and you’ll have more of a crunchy, snap-like cookie.

Ingredients

For the dough:

  • 1/2 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups flour

For the cinnamon-sugar coating:

  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, baking soda, and cream of tartar.

Add egg and vanilla and beat well.

Add flour and beat well, until a soft dough forms.

Cover and chill dough for one hour; remove dough while oven is pre-heating to soften just slightly.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl, combine sugar and cinnamon for coating.

Using a one-inch cookie scoop, scoop out dough and roll into balls, then roll in cinnamon-sugar mix.

Place on cookie sheet about two inches apart; bake for 10-11 minutes until edges are just golden brown.

Cool for 2-3 minutes on cookie sheets, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

S’mores Thumbprint Cookies

 

 

 

 

 

Happy National S’more Day!  When I think of s’mores, I think of camping.  And though I’ve never been camping (because I’m a woman who appreciates electricity, plumbing, and a barrier between myself and bugs) I certainly enjoy campfires, because campfires provide the perfect opportunity to make s’mores.

The first printed recipe for s’mores can be found in a Girl Scout publication from the 1920s.  I consider the forward-thinking individual who thought to combine graham crackers, toasted marshmallows, and chocolate to be a genius on par with the likes of H.B. Reese, pioneer of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, and Milton Hershey, creator of the iconic Hershey’s chocolate bar.

Just a few tips for preparation here: you’ll need about 8 full sheets of graham crackers to make one cup of crumbs.  I processed mine in a food processor, but you could easily produce crumbs by placing the crackers in a large zip-top bag and crushing them with a rolling pin or mallet.  The dough is very stiff, so you’ll want to scrape the sides of your mixing bowl several times to make sure all of the crumbs are incorporated.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/3 cups flour
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • About 1 1/4 cup miniature marshmallows
  • 3 to 4 full-size Hershey’s bars, broken into individual rectangles

Preparation  

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Line several baking sheets with foil or parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine graham cracker crumbs, salt, and flour; set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar.

Add egg and vanilla and beat well.

Add flour mixture and beat until a stiff dough forms.

Using a one-inch cookie scoop, scoop dough and roll into balls.  Place about two inches apart on cookie sheets and press a thumbprint in the center of each.

Bake for 10 minutes, remove from oven, and place two or three miniature marshmallows in each indentation.

Return to the oven and bake two more minutes; remove from oven and immediately press one Hershey’s rectangle on top.

Allow chocolate to sit for a few minutes, then spread chocolate with the tip of a knife.

Allow to cool completely and for chocolate to harden before storing.

Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies

 

 

 

 

 

Mike and I have been married for 12 years, and together for nearly 16.  We met at a frat party on the first night back for the fall semester at Frostburg State University in 1996 and have been together ever since, joking that we got married by default because it simply didn’t occur to us to look for anyone else.

Our tastes in food are drastically different, precipitating a number of challenges in the kitchen.  Mike will eat almost anything and seems to have a particular fondness for foods that make me gag, like sauerkraut, for example.  He also loves vegetables (even Brussels sprouts), puts condiments on everything, and enjoys chunky tomato sauce, chunky applesauce, and yogurt with fruit in it.  I would be perfectly happy eating peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the rest of my life, I peel apples and peaches because I don’t like the skin, I believe the only accoutrements a sandwich or burger needs are cheese and well-done bacon, and I prefer my sauces and yogurts chunk-free.  Perhaps the greatest divide in our relationship is his fondness for raisins, as I cannot understand why shriveled grapes are appetizing.

Mike has three favorite cookies: chocolate chip, pecan rugelach, and these iced oatmeal applesauce cookies.  He’s had a busy week so far and will have an even busier weekend, so there are for him.

Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup chunky applesauce
  • 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
  • 1 1/4 cups flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup raisins

For the icing

  • 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 2-3 tablespoons water

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line several sheets with parchment paper or foil.

In a mixing bowl, combine butter and sugars; beat on low speed until well-blended.

Add egg and applesauce; beat until very well-blended, about two minutes.

Add oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; beat on low speed until combined.

Add raisins and stir by hand to incorporate.

Using a two-inch cookie scoop, drop cookies onto baking sheets about two inches apart; you should have six cookies per sheet.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until golden brown.

Remove from oven and cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Combine powdered sugar, vanilla, and one tablespoon water.  Add additional tablespoons water, one at a time, until you reach a smooth, drizzly consistency.

Channel your inner Jackson Pollock and drizzle icing over cookies.  Allow icing to set before storing.