Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies, Yum!

 

Rich sticky molasses helps keep these 

incredibly delicious cookies magically 

fresh and chewy for days!

 

I truly love this cookie and so does Bubba ~ it's my favorite ginger cookie.  It’s spicy, loaded with plenty of molasses, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom and allspice, but not too spicy or overwhelming.  The spices fuse and trigger your taste buds, popping that unique gingery molasses flavor.  

 

FESTIVE KISSES CANDY CANE BLOSSOMS

 

Woo hoo!

I’m in full-blown 

Christmas cookie mode now!

 

This is another fabulous cookie for peppermint lovers!

 

CLASSIC PEANUT BUTTER BLOSSOMS

Soft, chewy peanut-buttery cookies, rolled in sugar and topped with a Hershey kiss ~ a cookie both sweet and salty.  In other words, Peanut Butter Blossoms!

Blossom cookies debuted at the ninth Pillsbury Bake-Off and have been a classic Christmas cookie since then. In my way of thinking, they’re a good thing to bake any time of the year!

RASPBERRY WALNUT LINZER BARS

Classic linzer cookies are a real delight, but this easier rendition has all the basic elements in a pan that you can bake, cut into bars and serve! 

A cookie winner for sure, so tasty delicious!

This is an adaptation of Claudia’s Linzer Bars over at What’s Cookin’ Italian Style Cuisine.  She used pistachios, I had a plethora of walnuts on hand and incorporated them.  

Spicy Cardamom and Molasses Ginger Cookies

Tis’ the holly jolly
cookie baking season again!

It’s the molasses here that keeps these cookies fresh and chewy for days, with the generous amount of peppery ginger giving them their tang, and the nice compliment of cardamom adding its zesty, spicy herbal flavor to the cookies.

Cherry-Chocolate Crinkles, woo hoo!!!

Rejoice, 

all you 

chocolate-covered cherry lovers!

These cookies are bursting with bits of cherries and chocolate ~ these are the ultimate Christmas cookie to me, and most likely Bubba too!  

Peppermint Meltaways for Your Cookie Platter

I've always been a fan of peppermint, the aroma of it and the sweet taste, as in these wonderful cookies!

You also might favor the fresh smell of peppermint, but did you know there are some amazing health benefits of it...

'Tis Cookie Season ~~~ Spicy Crinkle Cookies

’Tis the season, bags of flour, sticks of butter and jars of spices on the counters, with cookie tins ready to be packed. 

 
Every year at this time, I make a plethora of Christmas cookies ~ last year the tally was 51 dozen.  Cookies for my family, and cookies to share with neighbors, friends, and more.

Cream Cheese Cut-out Christmas Cookies

From the time Billy and Matt were little boys, this was the cookie they had to have every Christmas, not only for them to eat, but for Santa to enjoy with his glass of milk on Christmas Eve. 

I had no problem baking them; however, there was a catch:  they had to help with the decorating.  Cookie decorating is definitely not my thing.  I use cookie cutters rarely and forget piping bags, I have no patience for them at all.  

 I warned you, ☺ about my cookie decorating, 

but they make up for it in deliciousness!

Santa's, angels, snowmen, candy canes, reindeer, stars, Christmas trees and bells covered the table  ~ plenty of cookies to keep them busy decorating for a good while on a wintry afternoon.  I mixed icing with red and green food coloring, handed them each a knife and we decorated away.  Colored sugar was scattered everywhere, they did a great job, and what a fun mess we made! 

Sadly, those days are long gone, and now this is my go to cut-out cookie recipe.  These cookies are easy to make, although the dough needs to refrigerate for an hour.  Easy to make, delicious to eat, just not so pretty to look at now that I do all the decorating myself...

Cream cheese is the little secret ingredient here that makes these cut-out cookies easy to handle and adds a little tang to complement the sweetness.

I like them rolled out on the thin side and nice and crisp, with just a very slight touch of golden color on the bottom and sides when they come out of the oven.  If you roll them out thicker, they have a softer cookie texture. 

So ~ turn on your favorite Christmas tunes and bake and decorate to your hearts content!

The aroma is wonderful as they bake...

Cream Cheese Cut-out Cookies
Printable recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, room temperature
3 ounces cream cheese
2¼ cups flour
1¼ cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract

Icing:
3 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon almond extract
Milk
Food coloring, optional
Sprinkles

Method for the dough:
Beat butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer on medium speed.
Add half of flour, then sugar, egg, salt and extracts.
Beat on low speed until combined.
Beat in the remaining flour on low speed.
Divide dough in half, cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Roll out dough on lightly floured surface to ¼” thick.
Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.
Arrange on baking sheets.
Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are slightly golden.
Transfer to write rack and cool completely.

Method for the icing:
Beat together sugar, butter and cream cheese in small bowl.
Add extracts.
Stir in milk, 1 teaspoon at a time, until icing is of spreading consistency.
Add food coloring if desired.
Decorate cookies with icing and sprinkles.
Makes about 2 dozen




Enjoy!

Delicious Bars ~ Coconut Chews!

I love coconut—

the more,

the better!

A sweet coconut filling layered on a buttery shortbread crust, spread over all, a tangy orange-lemon frosting…

This is a simple bar to make for any coconut lover, and is one of the best treats for this time of year that I can think of.

They're simple, easy to make, chewy, nice and sweet, and loaded with coconut.

If you have a yen for coconut, you can’t go wrong making these!



Coconut Chews

Ingredients:

¾ cup powdered sugar
¾ cup shortening (half butter, softened)*
1½ cups flour
2 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup chopped walnuts
½ cup flaked coconut

Method:

Heat oven to 350°.
Mix powdered sugar and shortening.
Stir in 1½ cups flour.
Press in ungreased oblong 13” x 9” pan.
Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes.
Mix remaining ingredients.
Spread over baked layer.
Bake 20 minutes, cool.
Frost with Orange-Lemon Frosting, recipe below.
Cut into bars, about 3” x 1”.
Makes 32 cookies

*Use 6 tablespoons shortening, and 6 tablespoons of butter.  
That's 12 tablespoons total to equal 3/4 cup.


Orange-Lemon Frosting

1½ cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter, melted
3 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon lemon juice
Mix all ingredients until smooth and spread over cooled bars.
Printable recipe

Enjoy!

Hallelujah! It's National Cookie Day and Christmas Cookie Season: Brown Butter Thumbprints!

I am of Dutch heritage and 

thank them for more than 

windmills and tulips! 

The English word "cookie" is derived from the Dutch word "koekie" meaning little cake. 

Dutch bakers used to test oven temperatures on small amounts of batter so that they wound not waste the entire cake mix if the temperature wasn't right.  It wasn't long before they discovered that these tiny pieces of cooked batter were actually quite tasty.

Modern Christmas cookies can trace their history to recipes from Medieval Europe biscuits ~ when many of the ingredients we use now, such as ginger, black pepper, cinnamon, almonds and dried fruit were introduced into the west.  

By the 16th century, Christmas biscuits were popular across Europe.  Not until the 17th century, when the Dutch brought them here, did we see the early examples of Christmas cookies in the United States.  Gingerbread cookies were among the popular early American cookies.

I for one, am thrilled this practice carried on, as cookies are my favorite sweet treat!

Cookie Monster busy baking his cookies!

In 1976, Sesame Street included National Cookie Day on its calendar for the first time on November 26.  The Cookie Monster also proclaimed his own National Cookie Day in the 1980 book The Sesame Street Dictionary.
 

Then in 1987, Matt Nader of the Blue Chip Cookie Company out of San Francisco created Cookie Day, celebrating it on today, December 4th.

There is a cookie out there for everyone, and here’s a perfect buttery cookie to add to your Christmas cookie repertoire!

I’ve made thumbprint cookies for many years, and was intrigued when I came across this recipe in the Chicago Tribune for Brown Butter Thumbprints.  

I love that the usual thumbprints are kicked up a notch by using browned butter.  Browning butter adds a new dimension to an already good kitchen staple.  It’s an easy way to change-up a recipe. And the aroma as they’re baking, is magnificent.

Browned butter gives the cookie a nutty caramel flavor that is a perfect complement to blackberry jam.  Choose the jam of your liking, we like blackberry, apricot or is fine also.  

A little cardamom goes a long way; I added one-half teaspoon to the mix; however, if cardamom is new to you, go easy with it, and use a little less for a background note.  It has a distinctive, spicy flavor, maybe a little citrusy, I think it’s great in baked goods and learned about baking with it many years ago from my Swedish MIL.

Allow for additional time when making these, as the butter will have to freeze for a short time.  Then, later, the cookies will have to be refrigerated for a while before baking. 

Give this one a go, bet you'll really like it!

Yield: About 30 cookiesAuthor: Pam

Brown Butter Thumbprints

Here's a perfect buttery cookie to add to your Christmas cookie repertoire!

ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon ground cardamom

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup superfine sugar*
Gold sanding sugar, optional

1 large egg

⅓ to ⅔ cup seedless jam
Frosting, optional

instructions:

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt butter in a small skillet or saucepan over medium heat.

Cook, swirling the pan, until brown flecks appear and the butter smells nutty, about 7 minutes.

Pour into a heatproof bowl.

Freeze, stirring occasionally, until the butter is spreadable, about 35 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk flour, baking powder, cardamom and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.

Beat the browned butter and ½ cup sugar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Beat in the egg until combined.

Reduce the mixer speed until the dough comes together.

Roll dough into 1” balls, then roll in the remaining ¼ cup sugar, or gold sanding sugar.

Arrange about 1½” apart on the prepared baking sheets.

Using the tip of your thumb, make a small indentation in the center of each cookie, without going through bottom of dough; pinching together any large cracks.

Refrigerate until firm, 20 to 30 minutes.

While refrigerating:
Preheat oven to 375°.

Fill each indentation with ½ to 1 teaspoons jam.

Bake until cookies are set and lightly browned on the bottom, about 25 minutes.

Let cool completely on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to wire racks.

Decorate with frosting, if desired.  Add a drop of red or green food coloring to white frosting, if you like variety.

notes:

*I sift regular sugar

I rolled the balls in gold sanding sugar. 

Allow 35-40 minutes freezing time for butter.

Allow 20-30 minutes refrigerator time for dough.

Baking time about 25 minutes.

Enjoy!

XMAS - Mutti's Butter Cookies

These little butter cookies 
are just 
the best!

I'd rather leave the decorating to someone else...

The waft of cinnamon while baking, fills the kitchen with marvelous aroma.

And I wish I were baking them now, as it's -12° here this morning...

This is a simple recipe for these cookies, and I used all 3 cups of flour.

Easy to cutout

Umm, the aroma!

I reworked the dough a couple of times while rolling out and cutting.  It’s the first cookie dough I’ve made that did not crumble and dry out when re-rolling.  It's a magnificent dough to work with!

The Chicago Tribune Holiday Cookies cookbook featured this recipe that won second place for Ivy Risch in the 2009 cookie contest.  

She can trace the recipe back to her missionary grandparents’ years in China and her grandmother’s friendship with Madame Chiang Kai-shek.  

Her grandmother called the cookies “speculatius.”

I say they’re spectacular!  

They truly are spectacularly buttery ~ and delicious!


Mutti’s Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

2½ sticks (1¼cups)  butter, softened
3 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour, divided
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Method:

Combine butter, sugar, eggs and salt in small bowl; stir with wooden spoon until smooth, about 1 minute.
Combine 2¼ cups of the flour and cinnamon in a medium bowl; add to butter mixture, 1 cup at a time, stirring to make a soft, sticky dough.
Sprinkle remaining ¾ cup of the flour on counter; place dough on the flour.
Knead, incorporating more flour just until dough is no longer sticky.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap; refrigerate 1 hour or overnight.
Heat oven to 350°.
Remove dough from refrigerator; cut off a 2” piece.
Re-wrap remaining dough; return to refrigerator.
Roll dough out on lightly floured surface to ⅛” thick.
Cut shapes with cookie cutters.
Transfer cookies to parchment-lined baking sheets; bake until edges turn golden brown, 7 to 8 minutes per batch.
Transfer cookies to wire rack to cool.
Repeat with remaining chilled dough.
Makes 100 cookies.

Printable recipe


Enjoy!

Cookies! Apricot Kolaczski, Kolachke, Kolache or Kolacky

Kolaczski, or whatever you call them, 

are a tradition here, 

as they are in many homes at Christmastime.

Forgot to sift the sugar on top!

There’s a plethora of names for this cookie, all with the same basic ingredients, and a plethora of fillings.  Put simply:  they’re a type of pastry, that holds a dollop of fruit, surrounded by supple dough.

This old recipe is from Helen, a friend of my mother’s in Louisville, whose Polish grandmother made these great cookies. 

I particularly like this recipe because it has a healthy dose of cream cheese, more than most kolaczski recipes.  The dough is what makes them exceptional!

Kolaczski come in many shapes ~ I cut the dough into squares, fold the opposing corners together and pinch the dough to seal the cookie.


Fill these delicious little morsels with a nut filling, pastry filling, jam filling or a cream cheese filling; I use apricot jam.

Dust a little powdered sugar over the cookies when cooled…

They’re perfect tasty little gems!


Apricot Kolaczski

Ingredients:

4 packages (3 ounces each, totaling 12 ounces) cream cheese, room temperature
2 teaspoons sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
4 sticks (2 cups) butter, room temperature
3 cups flour
1½ cups apricot jam, more or less
Confectioner’s sugar

Method:

Beat together butter and cream cheese in bowl of electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
Add flour, 1 cup at a time, until well combined.
Divide dough into thirds; wrap each third in plastic wrap.
Refrigerate at least 4 hours.
Heat oven to 350°.
Remove 1 dough packet from refrigerator, roll to ⅛” to ¼” thickness on a floured surface.
Cut into 2” squares with a pizza cutter or knife.
Fill scantily, ½ teaspoon or less, with jam.  (If you use too much filling, it will run out onto the baking sheet.)
Place on ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake until bottoms are lightly browned, 10 to 15 minutes.
Transfer to wire racks to cool.
Repeat with remaining refrigerated dough.
Generously sprinkle with sifted confectioner’s sugar.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies.
Printable recipe


Enjoy!
  

Sprakling Chewy Ginger Cookies with a Twist

Don’t say I didn’t warn you❣

 

These cookies are chewy and delicious ~ bursting with a warm, surprisingly fiery and pungent flavor!

The taste is almost peppery and that’s why I love these cookies, because the surprise ingredient is just that, pepper!

I always bake some sort of ginger cookie during the Christmas season, and this recipe from Better Homes and Gardens surpasses them all.

For additional spicy flavor, the recipe includes  molasses, dark brown sugar, fresh ginger and pumpkin pie spice.  

Gold sanding sugar sprinkled on top of each cookie gives them a festive look when baked and adds another touch of sweetness.

I think they’re divine ~ they’re addictive ~ and if you like ginger cookies,  I bet you will agree!   


Sparkling Chewy Ginger Cookies
Printable recipe

Ingredients:

1⅓ cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup shortening
2 large eggs
½ cup molasses
4 teaspoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger
3½ cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1⅓ cups gold sanding sugar, or granulated sugar*

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°.
Beat dark brown sugar and shortening in a medium bowl at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy.
Add egg, molasses and finer, beat 30 seconds.
Sift flour with next 4 ingredients in a small bowl.
Add flour mixture to butter mixture, beat at low speed until combined.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Place sanding sugar in a small bowl.
Drop dough by level spoonfuls into sanding sugar, using a 1½” cookie scoop; roll to coat.
Place coated cookies 3” apart on 2 parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until cookies are fragrant and browned around the edges.
Cool on pans for 5 minutes, transfer to wire racks to cool completely.  
Makes 3 dozen

*Gold sanding sugar can be purchased online or purchased wherever specialty cake supplies are sold.


Enjoy!

Peppermint-Candy Sugar Cookies

The scent and flavor of peppermint 
is prominent in my mind 
when I think of Christmas, 

and this little cookie isn’t afraid to flaunt its 
great peppermint taste!

The recipe is adapted from a Better Homes and Gardens Christmas Cookie Cookbook.  It’s a twist on basic sugar cookie dough that is shaped into balls, then rolled in crushed peppermint candy, before baking.

Crush the candy in a plastic bag to avoid having a mess, and bake the cookies on parchment paper-lined cookie sheets, to avoid another mess.  

To make larger cookies:  form rounded tablespoonfuls of dough into balls before rolling in crushed candy; bake for about 14 minutes.

The cookies have a refreshing taste and a festive look.  For an extra holiday kick, I added a little dose of peppermint extract.

They bake into a crisp cookie with a good little crunch ~ they’ll almost melt in your mouth, really!

Peppermint-Candy Sugar Cookies
Printable recipe

Ingredients:

 1½ cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon coarse salt
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon peppermint extract
4 ounces flat round peppermint candies, about 28 discs
2 tablespoons coarse sanding sugar

Method:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
With a mixer on medium speed, beat butter with granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
Beat in egg, vanilla and peppermint extracts until just blended, scraping down sides of bowl.
Reduce spead to low and beat in flour mixture until combined.
Refrigerate dough until firm, about 1 hour.
Meanwhile, place peppermints in a resealable plastic bag and finely crush with a meat mallet.
Transfer to a shallow bowl and mix with sanding sugar.
Form rounded teaspoons of dough into balls.
Roll in crushed-candy mixture to coat.
Place 2” apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.
Bake until edges are starting to brown, about 11 minutes.
Let cool completely on sheets on wire racks.
(Gently break off any bits of melted candy from edges of cookies, if necessary.)
Cookies can be stored in an airtight container, between sheets of waxed or parchment paper up to 1 week.
Makes about 30 cookies.



ENJOY!