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Category: Cookies
Brookies
Yesterday I had a meeting to attend and it is one I go to once a month. For some reason I have decided this past year that I cannot go unless I have dessert in my hand to pass around. After asking the friend who leads the meeting what she would like to have me bring for our enjoyment, she told me she wanted brookies. Well, I had never made brookies. It is a brownie and chocolate chip cookie combined. I admit I was in my lazy mood, so I ran to the store, thinking I had seen box mixes of these delicious looking morsels and there on the shelp were two different brands of brookies. One was Betty Crocker and the other was Nestle. I got one of each wanting to do a comparison bake.
After baking both boxes, both Randy and I decided that the Nestle was definitely the winner. The chocolate chip cookie part of the brookie tasted exactly like a homemade chocolate chip cookie. Of course both boxes used a stick of butter, which will always make baked goods taste more like homemade, but the Nestle brand truly was the better brand. I ended up making them in cupcake pans instead of a 8×8 and then topped each one with a dollop of chocolate frosting. The recipe for the frosting is already on the blog. They were devoured and I brought 4 home which I have hidden away. I did make myself share one of them with Randy since he was so sweet to drive me to the store to buy them in the first place. Since today is cold and wind chill is in the 20’s, I am so glad I still have 2 left as a treat to have with hot tea today.
Little Debbie & Little Trudy
2016 is starting off with a bang! We have discovered some very important facts:
- We are now the old people that we use to laugh at. This morning while making Randy some toast, my phone binged with a text. I went to respond and Randy ask me who was texting me so early in the morning. I told him that it was Mandy (our daughter-in-law) and she ask me to take her to Costco so she could get a few things. He looked at me kind of funny and I ask him why. He said (and I quote) “why are you taking Mandy to the hospital?” My response was, (and I quote, in a very loud voice) “you old geezer, I’m not taking her to the hospital, I’m taking her to COSTCO!” We both just died laughing, realizing that we were now the people that we use to laugh about when we would see a cartoon about 2 old people who totally misunderstood the conversation. Hospital-Costco, not really seeing how those two words are even remotely mistaken for the other. His excuse was that he wasn’t able to fall asleep until about 4 a.m. and that he was not deaf, just tired. Yeah, sure….that’s why the TV volume is turned up to 45.
- Now to the second new years finding. I am hooked on Little Debbie anything. At 65 years of age, I had never tried any of the Little Debbie cookies or baked items. I always just thought all those cookies, brownies and little miniature cakes were for folks who never baked or just had them around the house to throw in their kids lunch boxes. Well, during Christmas, Frosty went shopping and brought home a box of Little Debbie Gingerbread cookies. We went through about 5 boxes. Admitting that we even went as far as him dropping me off at a couple of stores for me to run in to see if they had any boxes of them left, we savored the few we had and hid them from the grandkids so they we wouldn’t have to share the few we had left. Are we just the best grandparents or what?
Well, today, we are out running from store to store to buy items for gift bags for a ladies tea on Sunday. We walked down the Little Debbie cookie aisle and Randy begins to tell me how good the oatmeal cream filled cookies are. He reminds me that our friend Gary (to keep your reputation safe, Gary I won’t say your last name as anyone who comes into your courtroom might make fun of you for being in love with Little Debbie Oatmeal Creams) was also talking at dinner the other night about how good those little gems were, so Randy isn’t the only one our age that was in love with Little Debbie. So we put 8 boxes in the basket (we only needed 7 for the gift baskets, but he wanted to be sure we had some for us as it makes watching re-runs on TV not so bad.) When I told him I had homemade chocolate chip cookies and homemade ginger cookies in the freezer that we could take out, he replied, “oh let’s save those for company and just eat these tonight.” I’m keeping the other 7 boxes in the trunk to keep them safe from us.
So my new found fact is that it’s impossible to stay a little size and eat Little Debbie cookies. Just not possible! How can something that comes in a box with an expiration date of February 2016 wrapped in cellophane be so good? My cookies taste stale after 3 days. I hope one day to meet Little Debbie and ask her how she does it.
Would people buy them if they were called, BIG FAT Debbie Oatmeal Creams? Maybe that’s why we only see Little Debbie’s face, who knows what the bottom half looks like?
Simple Ginger Cookies
I have to admit that I bought some Little Debbie Gingerbread men cookies the other day when we were in Phoenix out shopping with some of the grandkids. I have NEVER bought any Little Debbie anything for myself but didn’t have anything at my daughter’s house to make anything. (It is still such a shock to me that other people don’t always just keep items like molasses just in case you might want to make cookies, in the pantry. Or ginger, or cloves, well, you get the picture. I was craving gingerbread cookies, so thus, the Little Debbie. Shocked, they weren’t bad at all, in fact between Frosty and I we ate the entire box of 6 or 8 (but who is counting) in two days. Anyhow, we are home now and found this very simple recipe for ginger cookies. Just made them and they are awesome. Very quick and very easy.
Courtesy of Paula Deen (which tells you that they must be good)
3/4 cup Crisco shortening
1 cup sugar plus more for rolling cookies in
1 large egg, room temp
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups flour
2 teas baking soda
1 teas ground cinnamon
1 teas ground ginger (I used 2 teas)
1/2 teas ground cloves
1/2 teas salt
Preheat oven to 350.
Using electric mixer at low spee, cream the shortening and sugar until well mixed. Add egg and molasses and beat until completely combined. Sift together the flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a seperate bowl. Stir and the add to creamed mixture. Roll dough into 1″ balls and roll in sugar. Place each ball on baking sheet about 1″ apart. If you use a coated cookie pan you will not need to grease the pan. If not, use parchment paper. Flatten the balls slighty with fingertips. Bake about 11 to 12 min. Cool on paper towels.
Pecan Pie Cookies
Perfect for the cookie exchanges which we all love to attend.
*Am using a mini cupcake pan for these
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
3 tables light corn syrup
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans
2 cups flour
1 teas baking powder
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 teas vanilla
Melt 1/4 cup of butter in saucepan, and stir in powdered sugar and corn syrup until sugar isi dissolved.
Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring often and stir in the peans utill well combined. Refrigerate the mixture for 30 min to chill.
Preheat oven to 350. Sift flour and baking powder togetehr in a bowl and set aside.
Beat brown sugar, 3/4 cup butter, egg and vanilla in large bowl with mixer. until creamy, about 2 min.
Gradually beat in the flour mixture until well mixed. Pinch off about 1 tables of dough and roll it into a ball. Press the dough into the bottom of an ungreased cupcake pan cup and use your thumb (or Thumbie if youhave one) to cuper the bottom and up the sides about 1/4 inch. Repeat with the rest of the dough. Fill each little crust with about 1 teas of the prepared pecan filling.
Bake in preheated oven untilthe cookie shells are lightly browned about 10 to 13 minutes. Let the cookie cool in the cupcake pan for 5 min and then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.
*Rodelle Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Have just purchased my first can of Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa and these little gems will be my first recipe using this marvelous cocoa!
Cookies
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup plus 1 tbsp Rodelle Gourmet Baking Cocoa
- 2 tsp kosher salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/3 cups sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 2 tbsp heavy cream
- 2 tsp Rodelle Gourmet Vanilla Extract
- Chocolate and Vanilla Bean Ganache
- 1 cup granulated sugar, set aside in a small bowl
Ganache
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1 Rodelle Vanilla Bean, split and scraped, pod reserved
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened
Directions
Cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Sift flour, cocoa, and salt into a small bowl.
- Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy.
- Reduce speed to medium and add the egg yolks, cream, and vanilla extract. Scrape the sides of the bowl. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined.
- Roll ball using 2 tsp dough for each. Roll the balls into the sugar in the bowl.
- Place 1 inch apart. With a wine bottle cork (or the handle of a wooden spoon), press gently in the center of each ball to create an indentation.
- Bake, rotating sheets half way through, until cookies are set, about 10 minutes.
- Let cool slightly on baking sheets, then transfer to wire rack to cool.
Ganache
- Combine honey, cream, and vanilla seeds and pod in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Cook until the honey dissolves. Remove from heat and let cool for 20 minutes.
- Place chocolate in a food processor. Return cream mixture to a simmer, and then strain through a fine sieve. Discard solids.
- Pour cream mixture over the chocolate and let stand for 1 minute. Process until smooth.
- Add butter and continue to process, scraping down sides occasionally, until butter is incorporated. Let cool for 5 minutes.
Assembly
- Using a spoon, or pastry bag, place a dollop of the ganache into the indent of the cookies.
Honest To Goodness Awesome Oatmeal Cookies (and gluten free no less)
A friend of mine brought us some of these cookies to the luncheon where I took the shrimp salad. I was starving when I got there so before the blessing was said and we began to fill our plates with fruit and shrimp, I saw these little gems and had to have one. After the first bite, I was stuffing the rest of it in my mouth, when Cricket said, “aren’t they delicious? and they are even gluten free?” WHAT???I couldn’t believe it. Seriously, they were some of the best oatmeal chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten and to think that there is no flour in them, well you don’t have to ask me twice to eat 10 of them…and to think they are healthy! Is life good or what? This precious friend who made them brought me my own bag of Trader Joe’s Rolled Oats this morning. I never knew that some oats had gluten in them, did you? So as soon as I post the recipe, I am headed to the kitchen to mix up a batch of the “best little gluten free oatmeal cookies in Texas”
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 teas baking soda
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups Trader Joe’s Rolled Oats
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3 to 4 oz mini chocolate chips (the recipe calls for 6 oz, but Cricket said that she halved that as the 6 oz were to many)
2 eggs, room temp
1/2 cup nuts, such as walnuts or pecans
1 teas vanilla
1 cup peanut butter
Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, combine sugar, brown sugar and butter. Beat until creamy. Add eggs, vanilla and baking soda and mix well. Add peanut butter and mix. Stir in oats, chocolate chips and nuts. Place teaspoon full of dough on a lightly greased baking sheet about 2″ apart. Bake 10-12 minutes until lightly brown around the edges.
Thanks Cricket for sharing this with us. Just another fabulous cookie for me to get addicted to!
Chocolate Toffee Biscotti
Am caterning a luncheon for 6 women this week and I thought I would be great to have a little edible gift for each lady to take home. When I saw these in an 2009 Paula Deen Magazine that I was looking through, this seemed to be the perfect little gift to make them.
Makes about 2 1/2 dz
6 tables butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (light)
2 large eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teas baking soda
1/2 cup toffee bits
1/3 cup toasted and chopped slivered almonds
Preheat oven to 300. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with mixer until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until combined.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa and baking soda. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating until combined. Stir in toffee bits and almonds.
Shape patter into 2 (91/2×3″) logs on prepared baking sheet. Bake for 30 min. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 min. Using a serrated knife, cut dough crosswise into 3/4″ thick slices. Place slices, cut side down, on baking sheet. Bake for 15 min. Turn slices over and bake for 15 min longer. Remove from oven and cool completely on wire rack. Serve with coffee or tea or just sit and nibble on them while watching The Voice!
Chocolate Chip Cookies Ah La TKbakesalot
Because we are still stuck at home because of the weather and I wanted to get in the kitchen and bake. What perfect weather to keep the fireplace going and get the chocolate chips out and get some cookies in the oven.
Because I have had so many friends tell me that they love my chocolate chip cookies. I thought I would post the changes I make to the recipe which is on the back of Nestle’s semi-sweet chocolate chips. I follow the recipe except for two things.
I use half butter and half Crisco shortening.
I only use 1 large egg instead of 2.
Today I used 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and ground up with a food processor, Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate truffle bars. The cookies are amazing.
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup Crisco shortening
3/4 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 teas vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teas baking soda
1/2 teas salt
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips or 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup of grated dark chocolate
1 cup chopped pecans (if desired)
Cream the softened butter and Crisco with both sugars. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Mix flour, baking soda and salt together. Beat in the flour mixture with the creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and pecans (if you are using pecans)
Bake on ungreased cookie sheets in a preheated 375 oven for 9-12 minutes depending on the size of the cookies.
I cool them on paper towels. Then I wrap in waxed paper and freeze while still just a little warm. They freeze beautifully and stay very moist. Or just keep them out and watch them disappear.
Chocolate Cookie Pudding
Being at our daughter’s house last week, I began to look for simple desserts since my son-in-law had informed me before I got there that I was expected to make at least 3 of them while there. This one caught my eye since it would be simple, not many food items to purchase and even the 3 year old would love it. To change it up, feel free to change out the Oreo cookies for Double Delight Oreo Peanut Butter & Chocolate cookies.
1 (5.9 oz) package chocolate instant pudding mix
2 cups milk
1 (3 oz) package cream cheese, softened
1 (8 oz) container Cool Whip
16 double stuffed cream-filled chocolate Oreo cookies, crushed (about 2 cups)
1/4 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Whisk together the chocolate instant pudding mix and 2 cups milk for 2 mins. Cover pudding and chill 5 min.
Stir together cream cheese and Cool Whip; blend well.
Place 1 cup crushed cookies in an 8 cup bowl. Spread half of cream cheese mixture over crushed cookies; sprinkle with half of pecans if using. Spread all of the pudding evenly over top; spread remaining cream cheese mixture evenly over pudding. Sprinkle with remaining cookies and pecans. Chill for about 2-4 hours until ready to serve.
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