Guest Post- Cherry Chocolate Blossoms

Another great recipe from my littlest sister, Katie. She has made these with chocolate kisses and also with Hershey's "cherry jubilee" chocolate kisses. Both are wonderful.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Makes 30-35 cookies.

1 c powdered sugar
2 sticks of butter softened (=1 cup)
2 tsp maraschino cherry liquid
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 c white flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 c maraschino cherries chopped
35 or so milk chocolate kisses

Combine: powdered sugar, butter, cherry liquid, and almond extract. Blend together well.

Mix in: flour and salt.
then stir in cherries.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Immediately top each cookie with chocolate kiss. Press down firmly till set in cookie. Let cool completely.

Guest Post- White Chip Orange Cookies with Cranberries

One of my sisters, Katie, is sharing two cookie recipes with us and let me tell you, these are scrumptious! I love ORANGE flavor. I get tired of the same old traditional Christmas cookies which make these a welcome and fabulous change!

2 1/4 c white flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter softened (=1 cup)
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c packed light brown sugar
1 egg
3 tsp grated orange zest
12 oz package white vanilla chips or white chocolate chips
1/2 c dried cranberries

Sift flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside. Next, cream together butter and both sugars in a large bowl until well mixed and smooth. Add egg and orange zest to butter mixture and mix until incorporated. Then, gradually mix in dry ingredients until batter is smooth. Stir in white morsels and dried cranberries. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 until golden around the edges, about 8 minutes. Be careful not to over-bake them.

You can make an optional glaze using powdered sugar and orange juice and drizzle on the cookies after they have cooled.

Puffed Pastry Cookies

My daughter and I often have friends for tea and sometimes I'm not always prepared with something. I keep lemon curd and puff pastry on hand so that I can quickly roll it into a log and slice it.

Bake them on a cookie sheet till they are brown and crisp (according to package directions) and serve with lemon curd to spread on top of each cookie.

These are so light and butter they melt in your mouth after you take a bite of the crisp cookie. No one will know that this cute little cookie was your standby.

The ones in the picture are small but you can roll as many layers of puff pastry as you like to make bigger cookies.

Healthy Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you don't like whole wheat cookies, you frankly have not tried this one. Need I say more?

Cream together:
2 c softened butter (room temp)
2 c organic sugar
2 c organic brown sugar

Add:
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Grind 5 cups of old fashioned oats in a food processor or blender.

Combine in a bowl:
the ground oats
4 cups of whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda

Slowly start combining the flour mixture into the creamed mixture. This makes a lot so I recommend using a large mixer (mine usually ends up overflowing a bit) or mixing with your hands in a very large bowl.

Add in 2 bags of chocolate chips (I used Ghiradeli milk chocolate in the pictures). Place on ungreased cookie sheet in golf ball sizes about 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 min. Makes 92 cookies!

The oatmeal in these give them a great flavor I can't describe. I often make these at Christmas but they are great any time of year.

Finger Prints On My Cookie Jar

This is basically my cookie jar and I love that it always has these little hand prints all over it. =0) Although it's rarely filled with cookies....but rather homemade granola bars and healthy muffins.

Gingerbread Houses

Okay, this was yesterday's post...goodness things have been a bit crazy around here this week!

I have a friend who makes homemade gingerbread houses in a mold and then constructs them with icing for each cousin in the family to decorate. They are the full size ones and she makes them one at a time in this mold she has. That's love! It's really impressive but I'm not that good. So, here is my version. I can do flat! =0)

I baked up gingerbread cookies using this recipe from my friend (but I changed it up a little). I used a house shaped cookie cutter for them. Then I iced them with this royal icing recipe that I love and quickly passed them to the kids at the table for them to decorate before the icing hardened. They turned out wonderful and tasty! Once they were dry they were easy to stack up and store.

Here are the recipes again:

Gingerbread Cookies
½ c butter
½ c sugar
½ c molasses
¼ c water
2 ½ c all purpose flour
¾ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp ginger
¼ tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp all spice

Cream butter and sugar together.
Blend in molasses, water, flour, salt, soda, ginger, nutmeg, and all spice.
Cover and chill 2-3 hours.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Roll dough ¼ inch thick on lightly floured cutting board. (Wood works best if you have it.)
Cut with gingerbread boy cutter.
Place on ungreased baking sheet.
Bake 10-12 minutes.
Immediately remove from baking sheet. Let cool completely before frosting.


Royal Icing
2 egg whites
2 tsp lemon juice
2 c sifted powder sugar


Give the egg whites a good beating with your mixer for about 30 seconds with the lemon juice and then add the sifted powdered sugar. Mix till smooth and shiny. Start frosting. You want to frost right away because this frosting will not keep and will begin to harden. Let cookies dry completely and then store in an airtight container.


And don't forget to buy lots of fun little candies and sprinkles to decorate them with.

Answering Questions- spreadable butter

Can you bake with the spreadable butter?

I made cookies with this butter and I'm not happy with the results. They melted down to thin cookies like those made with margarine (I don't like cookies made with margarine...just butter ones). They also were crispy on the edges (got dark on the edges) and were super crumbly. They just didn't want to hold together.

So, there's the baking test that some were asking about concerning the healthier butter mix.

Baby Jesus in the Manger Cookies

These no bake cookies are right up every kid's alley (or at least the ones that are NOT allergic to peanuts!). I made these years ago when my little ones were just toddlers and it was so much fun to do with them. It was even more fun this time since they are older and could really help more. The key to these is to work quickly. It's the perfect cookie to make with little helpers who can place the little baby Jesus marshmallows into the mangers as you drop the haystacks.

2 12oz bags of dry chow mein noodles
1 jar (16 oz) peanut butter (I use creamy but you can use chunky if you want)
2 bags (12 oz) butterscotch chips

Prepare 4 cookie sheets (or lots of plates) covered with foil or parchment paper or wax paper. Pour noodles into a large bowl. Melt the peanut butter and butterscotch chips together in a pot on the stove. Stir continually as to not burn it (like I did with the first batch!). Pour the melted pb/butterscotch mixture over the noodles and toss with salad tongs till WELL mixed and coated. Working quickly, use two spoons to drop the coated noodles onto the cookies sheets in little mounds. Using the back of a spoon, press down the center a bit. Have kids quickly place mini marshmallows end to end to look like baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes. Let the cookies sit out till dry.

NO- these are not healthy! =0)

Variations:
- these are really yummy and can be made for a more sophisticated group (i.e. instead of children) by omitting the marshmallows.
- make a chocolate version by either dipping halfway in chocolate after they have hardened OR drizzle chocolate on them OR use one package butterscotch chips and 1 package chocolate chips when melting the peanut butter mixture.
- make these as bird nests for a bird nest themed baby shower by using candy coated almonds as eggs instead of the marshmallows.

95 Theses Nut Bars

For Reformation Day today, my kids and I baked this nutty bars recipe into the shape of 95s in honor of Martin Luther's 95 Theses that he nailed on the door on October 31st, 1517. These are not only VERY healthy but yummy too! My kiddos opted to leave the nuts off.

2 sticks of softened butter (1 cup)
1 c honey
2 c whole wheat flour
2 c wheat germ
chopped nuts (optional)

Mix together till it forms a sticky dough. Turn out onto a well floured counter. Using extra flour and a rolling pin, roll out the dough to 1 inch thick. Use floured cookie cutters to cut shapes. Or you can let the kids shape it with their hands into their own shapes. You can also just bake it as one flat rectangle and then cut it in bars after it cools. Sprinkle with chopped nuts before baking. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 min.

Happy Reformation Day!

Sand Dollar Cookies

Aren't these cute? My daughter checked out some fairy, mermaid, and princess cookbooks from the library and we made a few of the recipes. She insisted that I post them on the recipe blog so that when she is a mom she will know how to make them with her daughter. We made these while we were camping so instead of making the cookie dough from scratch with this recipe I resorted to store bought refrigerated dough.

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The only other thing you need is cinnamon sugar (combine 1/4 c sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon together) and slivered almonds. Sprinkle the unbaked cookies with the sugar mixture and top with five slivered almonds each in a star pattern. Bake according to recipe directions or label.

Healthy Cookie

1 cup butter, melted

¾ cup honey

2 eggs

1 t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. baking soda

1 t. vanilla

½ cup buttermilk or milk

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 cups whole rolled oats

1/2 cup raisins or chocolate chips

Mix butter, honey, eggs, salt, cinnamon, soda, vanilla and buttermilk. Stir in flour and oats. Fold in raisins or chocolate chips. Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes. Allow cookies to cool 3-4 minutes on cookie sheet before removing cookies to cool on a wire rack.

Variations~

~don't have buttermilk? Mix 1/2 cup milk with 1/2 tbsp lemon juice. Let sit for about 5 min. then use.

~omit raisins or chocolate chips.

~add 1 cup of chocolate chips to make it sweeter.

~butter a glass 9x13 pan and smooth batter into pan. Bake till center comes out clean. Once cooled, cut into bars.

~you can freeze the cookies or bars for easy snack on the go or breakfast on the go.

Oatmeal Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I adapted this recipe from Deceptively Delicious. This is what I came up with and my kids loved them. Oh ya, my kids are eating zucchini whether they like it or not! Sorry the picture stinks!

1 c whole wheat flour

1 c old fashioned oats

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar

6 tbs butter

1/2 c banana mashed (about 1 banana)

1/2 c zucchini puree (about 1-2 small zucchinis)

1 large egg white

1/2 to 1 c chocolate chips

Beat egg and sugar together then add the remaining ingredients. Drop onto baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Bake 350 degree oven for 12-15 min. Let the cookies cool till firm and then move to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Dipped Macaroons

I wanted to post one more recipe before I take a break till next week....these are super easy and I've been making them for years. I've seen really complicated recipes for these with long lists of ingredients but I still make them this simple unhealthy way, hee hee. Enjoy and I'll see you here next week!

1 bag shredded coconut (5 1/3 cup)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla

Mix the above together and drop by spoon fulls onto a parchment covered cookie sheet. You can make them as small or as large as you like. Bake at 350 degrees till golden brown (about 15 min.). Dip in chocolate once completely cooled. I use candy melts brand chocolates for dipping.

Banana Nuggets

A friend from church (Susanne) gave me this recipe for her favorite childhood cookies. I'm going to try making them with whole wheat flour but if anyone beats me to it, let me know how they turned out. This version is really yummy!

1 1/2 c flour

1 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp cinnamon

3/4 c butter

1 egg

1 c mashed ripe bananas

1 3/4 c old fashioned oats

6 oz package semi sweet chocolate chips (or more)

Combine flour, soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. In another bowl mix sugar and butter; add egg and bananas. Combine all ingredients, adding oats and chips. Drop by teaspoons onto baking sheets. Bake approx. 8 min. at 350 degrees.

Sugar Cookies from Scratch

2/3 c butter

2 c white flour

1 egg

3/4 c sugar

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla

dash of salt

Beat butter with electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add about half of the flour, the egg, sugar, milk, baking powder, vanilla, and salt. Beat till thoroughly combined. Beat in remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Cover, chill for 3 hours. (If you are in a hurry and want to make these right away, just add a little more flour until the dough is easy to handle instead of refrigerating.) Refrigerate one half while working with the first half.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to about a 1/4 of an inch thick. Most recipes tell you even thinner but I like thick sugar cookies otherwise they are falling apart too easily especially in little hands. Dipping cookie cutters first into flour cut out desired shapes. Use a BBQ spatula to transport them to cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 375 for 7-8 min till the centers have puffed up and the edges are firm. If you cook them till lightly browned they will be too hard....you want them to stay the same color and not change color. Cool on a rack. Cool completely before frosting (a few hours).

If using medium to large cutters, this recipe makes approx. 2 doz.

Royal Icing

Sorry these pictures aren't so great. They don't do the cookies justice. I've always wanted to get that glossy finish that professional cookies have with their frosting but I've never had success with the many frostings I've tried. In fact, I've painfully piped frostings giving me a cramp in my hand just to have that neat look and still it doesn't look glossy when it dries. Maybe I'm just clueless and never thought to ask anyone but I finally discovered royal icing. It dries all the way with a nice glossy finish and it's so easy to spread. I spread these cookies with just a butter knife. No piping! Hurray! They dried beautifully with a nice glossy finish. So, the next time you are making Christmas cookies, cookies for a baby shower, cookies for a birthday party, or cookies on a rainy day, give this recipe a try.

2 egg whites
2 tsp lemon juice
2 c sifted powder sugar


Give the egg whites a good beating with your mixer for about 30 seconds with the lemon juice and then add the sifted powdered sugar. Mix till smooth and shiny. Start frosting. You want to frost right away because this frosting will not keep and will begin to harden. Let cookies dry completely and then store in an airtight container.

Notes:
-You can add food coloring to tint the frosting if you like.
-The best thing about frosting with this frosting is that once it's completely dry you can stack the cookies without them smearing or sticking! =0)

Biscotti - Nutty Biscotti

My last biscotti recipe for this series. Hope you enjoyed it!

1/4 c softened butter
2 large eggs
1 egg white
3/4 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 slivered or ground almonds
3/4 c milk chocolate chips

Cream first 5 ingredients together in large bowl until smooth. Add flour, baking soda, salt and nuts. Mix well. Turn out onto lightly floured surface. Knead 6 times. Place on greased baking sheet. Shape into 16 inch long log, 1 inch thick. Bake 350 degrees for 30 min. Cool on wire rack for 10-15 min. Reduce oven temp to 275 degrees. Cut in 1/2 inch long slices. Arrange cut side down on same baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 min. Turn slices over. Turn off oven. Let stand in oven for 30 min. until crisp. Once cooled, dip in 3/4 c melted milk chocolate chips. Place on waxed paper. Makes about 24 biscotti.

Biscotti from scratch- Chocolate Almond

I got this recipe from a friend (Linda) years ago. It's one of my favorite recipes and I make it often for Christmas. Sorry no pictures for this one but trust me it's easy and wonderful!


Ingredients:
1 1/2 c white flour
1/3 c unsweetened cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
6 tbs softened butter
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
1/2 c chopped slivered almonds
1/2 c mini semisweet chocolate chips
1 square (1 oz) white chocolate melted (or you can use melting chocolates)


Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In small bowl, stir first 3 ingredients; set aside. In mixer at high speed, cream butter and sugar till fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in vanilla; at low speed. Stir in flour mixture until just combined; fold in nuts and chips.


On a large foil lined cookie sheet, spoon dough to form a loaf that is about 9" long by 5" wide. Bake 18-20 min. or until top springs back when lightly touched.


Remove sheet to rack to cool for 15 min. Reduce oven to 300 degrees. Cut loaf crosswise into 1" slices. Place cut side up on cookie sheet. Bake 15 min. then turn off oven. Turn cookies over to the other cut side and leave in oven for 15 more min. Remove and cool on rack. Drizzle with white chocolate.

Biscotti - Flavor Combinations

As part of the biscotti series I want to give you a list of combination ideas for the cake mix method. I'll be posting a biscotti recipe from scratch next...but I might take the next two days off. =0)

Cake Mix Flavors (these are all Pillsbury and Betty Crocker flavors)
Devils Food
Spice
Vanilla
Chocolate Fudge
Triple Chocolate Fudge
Milk Chocolate
Red Velvet
German Chocolate
Banana
Dark Chocolate
Golden Butter
Chocolate Butter
Pineapple
Strawberry
Butter Pecan

Batter Mix Ins
Crushed Heath Bar
Chopped nuts of any type
Semi sweet chocolate chips
Milk chocolate chips
Peanut butter chips
Butterscotch chips
Mint chips
Chopped peppermint or candy cane
Chopped candy bar
Shredded coconut
Mini marshmallows
Mini M&Ms
Chopped chocolate bar
Chopped toffee bits
Chopped chocolate covered coffee beans
Instant coffee (dissolve it in a few tbsp of warm water first)
Imitation Flavors (like almond extract, orange extract, mint extract, lemon extract, etc.)
Cinnamon

Dip Ins
Shaved chocolate bar
Chopped dried fruit
Chopped dried candied fruits
Crushed Heath Bar
Chopped nuts of any type
Semi sweet chocolate chips
Milk chocolate chips
Peanut butter chips
Butterscotch chips
Mint chips
Chopped peppermint or candy cane
Chopped candy bar
Shredded coconut
Mini marshmallows
Mini M&Ms
Chopped chocolate bar
Chopped toffee bits
Chopped chocolate covered coffee beans

A Few Combinations to try:

Hot Chocolate - milk chocolate cake mix, chocolate chips and marshmallows mixed in, dipped in milk chocolate and dipped in marshmallows.

Christmas Peppermint - red velvet cake mix, 1 tsp mint extract mixed in, dipped in white chocolate and dipped in chopped candy cane.

Java Mocha - Triple chocolate fudge cake mix, 2 tbsp instant coffee (or 1 tbsp instant espresso) and chocolate chips mixed in, dipped in dark chocolate and chopped chocolate covered coffee beans.

Hawaiian Island - Pineapple cake mix, 1/2 c shredded coconut mixed in, dipped in milk chocolate and toasted shredded coconut. (If you are thinking that pineapple and chocolate don't go together, then you've never had the chocolate dipped pineapple at the Dole Plantation in Hawaii. Just trust me on this one)

The ones in this picture are triple chocolate dipped in milk chocolate dipped in chopped chocolate chips and the other ones are yellow cake mixed with shredded coconut and almond extract dipped in white chocolate dipped in toasted coconut.

Biscotti - Chocolate Dipping

I love to chocolate dip things and biscotti would be one of my favorites to do. The best technique I have found is to use Candy Melts by Wilton. They have an incredible high temp level for melting...meaning they will stay melted even at high temperatures instead of turning chalky like chocolate chips. You don't have to mix anything into them to get the right consistency, they stay melted for a longggggggggg period of time without re-heating allowing you to work slowly if you need to, and they have a GREAT taste. They are a rich, yet smooth tasting chocolate. I buy mine at Walmart in the craft section...at my store they are by the wedding cake and candy making stuff. They come in several colors with coordinating flavors.

As you can see in this picture, these candy melts have been in my pantry awhile or were exposed to cold weather while in route to the store and yet they still melt beautifully! (in the picture I used a mix of dark chocolate and milk chocolate).

You can melt the candy melts in your microwave a little at a time and stirring regularly. OR for biscotti, I like to melt them over the burner on low heat in a wide skillet so that I can dip the whole biscotti in flat sides down. As soon as it's melted take the chocolate off the heat and it will stay melted.

Then start dipping. Like I said above, I like to dip the cut sides down so that you get some chocolate with every dip and bite. But you could certainly dip just the ends or drizzle chocolate across the tops.

Lay them chocolate side down on wax paper. This will give your chocolate sides a nice flat/pressed look.

Once they've cooled completely, peel them off of the wax paper and store them in a sealed container or ziplock bag.

If you want to add a step to the process, after dipping them in chocolate, dip them in a plate of your favorite chopped nuts or candy.