Tag: cookies

Chocolate · Cookies · Daily Thoughts · Desserts

German Chocolate Thumbprints

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

At church today our teacher in our Sunday School class was talking about how spoiled his kids were and  told us that “IF” (and believe me he doesn’t) but “IF” he believed in reincarnation, he would want to come back as one of his children. I started to think about that and realized that it would be great to come back as one of our grandchildren. We had lunch today with our 10 yr old grandson and I got him in trouble by handing him a giant Hershey bar as soon as we sat down. Of course he immediately unwrapped it and began to chomp away on it before his dad saw it and fussed at him for eating it before having something “healthy”. I don’t think you can qualify Mexican food as “healthy” but since all Sevy had had all day was donuts and now candy, I guess the Mexican food was a little better than what he had eaten all day. All this to say that when you think about how we Baby Boomers totally spoil our grandkids, it would be great to come back as one of them.  But since we won’t be coming back as anyone or anything, I think I will just go ahead and eat all the chocolate I can now.

Hence the recipe…

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 table shortening

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tables strong coffee (brewed)

1 teas vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tables baking cocoa

1 teas baking powder

1/4 teas salt

Filling:

3/4 cup flaked coconut

3/4 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

1 teas vanilla

4 to 6 tables sweetened condensed milk (Eagle Brand)

Drizzle:

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 tables shortening

Preheat oven to 350.

In a microwave, melt chips and shortening; stir until smooth. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, coffee, vanilla and melted chocolate mixture. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Roll into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets. Using a Thumbie (which you can by on Etsy for $5.00 in the chocolatecastles store), make an indention in the center of each ball. Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes or until firm. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Meanwhile, for filling, in a small bowl, combine the coconut, pecans and vanilla. Stir in enough of the sweetened milk to form a stiff mixture. Fill cooled cookies with filling (about a teas each). Melt chocolate chips and the shortening for the drizzle and then drizzle over the cookies. Store in an airtight container.

Yield: about 4 dozen

Chocolate · Cookies · Desserts

S’More Cookies*

Chocolate Castles3 Comments

2014-09-08 15.43.20

Mr. Smarty Pants made his point that he was tired of running back and forth to get baking items for me when he brought this home this weekend. I put it beside the 25 lb sack of sugar that he made me buy and told him that I had had enough of his smart alec suggestions, that unless I got the desire to make 100 dz hot tamales, he can just march right back to the store and buy my butter flavored Crisco, which I’m sure is much more healthy than the bucket of lard.  So while I wait for him to get back with my Crisco to make these cookies, I don’t want him to know that I am actually using the lard to make pie crusts. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction.  It truly makes great pie crusts but when people comment and tell you that that is the best pie crusts EVER, I just never quite have the nerve to tell them why. When people hear the word “lard” they think immediate heart attack. So it will be my little secret. I just tell them it is an old family recipe.

These cookies are so munchable (is that a word)?

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/4 cup Crisco

1 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs, room temp

1 tables vanilla

\2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 cups firmly packed graham-cracker crumbs

3/4 teas baking powder

3/4 teas baking soda

1/2 teas salt

1 ( 11.5 oz) bag semisweet chocolate chunks

1 1/4 cups marshmallow bits *Jet-puffed Mallow Bits)

1 sleeve (about 9) crackers, broken into small pieces

preheat oven to 375. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine butter and brown sugar. Beat at medium speed with mixer until creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, graham-cracker crumbs, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until well combined. Beat in chocolate chunks and marshmallow bits. Beat in graham crackers, beating just until combined.

Drop cookies by rounded tablespoon , 2″ apart onto prepared baking pan. Garnish tops of cookies with additional marshmallow bits, if desired.

Bake for 10 min or until lightly browned. Let cool on cookie sheet for 2 min before removing to wire racks to completely cool.

Makes about 4 dozen

*taken from Southern Lady, Oct 2013

Dr

t w

Chocolate · Cookies · Desserts

Chocolate Caramel Thumbprints

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

Before leaving Phoenix last Saturday, we stopped at a place called Kneaders to grab a bite, and a sack of cookies, just in case something should happen and we were trapped in the desert for a couple of hours with no chocolate in the car. The chocolate caramel cookie with sea salt called my name and I gladly took one with me. Whoa….a great deep chocolate flavor with melted caramel sprinkled with crushed pecans and sea salt. Why had I not tasted it before leaving the parking lot to where I would have known to buy 2 dozen of them to get us through the desert. I savored each and every bite. I told Randy how great it was, but I was not about to offer him a taste. I wanted the whole cookie to myself. (I reasoned that if he would have wanted one, he should have bought it instead of the boring oatmeal cookie)

Immediately after arriving at home, I began a search for a deep chocolate cookie that I could combine with caramel and sea salt with pecans. Am making them this time using Hershey’s Caramel-filled kisses, but next time I will use Kraft Caramels which I will cut each on in two and place in the indention when the cookies come out of the oven. By George, I think we have it. I found in my Holiday Cookies a deep chocolate thumbprint that I will use as a base…here is the recipe:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teas baking powder

1/4 teas salt

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 teas vanilla

1 egg yolk

bag of Hershey’s Caramel-filled kisses (Have them unwrapped and ready to place on hot cookie)

Sea Salt

Preheat oven to 325. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in medium bowl.. Set aside.

Combine the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Mix at medium speed with mixer until creamy. Add the egg yolk and mix until well blended.

Reduce mixer speed to low and add flour mixture. When flour is completely mixed in with butter mixture, shape dough into 1″ balls.

Place 2″ apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Make indention with Thumbie (which can be purchased from Chocolate Castles for $5 plus s&h) or finger (which will get cookie dough under your fingernails, which in turn will make you wish you had ordered a Thumbie)

Bake in preheated oven 10-11 minutes. Remove from oven and place a caramel kiss in center of indention immediately. As the kiss begins to melt, sprinkle with sea salt and crushed pecans.

Makes approximately 3 dozen

 

Uncategorized

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

Since we have been on the road since feb 5th I have not cooked!  We have been exploring some of our most fav restaurants in each city that we land in!  Today my hubby surprised me and took me to Lubys Cafeteria where we partook of their great turkey and dressing.   I know it sounds like we are turning old, eatting turkey/dressing at a cafeteria but as soon as we finished there we headed over to Sonic for a cherry coke which makes is hip, not old!  We have 2 more fav joints in Dallas before we can honestly say that we have indulged in all of the places we complained about missing while living away the last 3 yrs!  Will update you when we get our bigger clothes bought which wil allow us to complete our restaurant mission. Tomorrow night my sister-in-law has told me to just “make myself at home” cooking whatever I want for dinner.   I personally feel that she is tired of her house smeeling like all the hamburger places we have been bringing home!  But until then I wanted to share something that I just read!

i read that refridgerating your chocolate chip cookie dough for 48 hours results in a much softer center cookie with the edges slightly crisp!  The lady blogged this says she even rolls her dough out and uses cookie cutters adding chocolate chips to the top of the cookie before baking! Will be trying these as soon as we get to Florida this next week.  Our son-in-law, Tim makes a great CC cookie tester! 

Cookies · Desserts · Holiday Fare

Chocolate Thumbprint Rasperry Cookies

Chocolate Castles5 Comments
Chocolate Cream Cheese Thumbprints
Chocolate Cream Cheese Thumbprints

IMG_1642

Two weeks ago, I posted this recipe for a few minutes, but quickly deleted it when I realized that I wasn’t suppose to put it out on the blog before sending out these cookies made from this recipe. I have made these twice now and have taken them to several people and these cookies get lots of ahs and “wow, these are really good”. So wanted to be sure and put it out there again. I won’t be taking it off again, so enjoy with a giant cup of coffee or hot chocolate.

2 cups flour

1 teas baking soda

1/4 teas salt

4 squares unsweetened chocolate

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter

1 pkg (8 oz) softened cream cheese

1 1/4 cups sugar, divided

1 egg, room temp

1 teas vanilla

1/3 cup red raspberry jam

Heat oven to 375. Mix flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. Microwave chocolate and butter in large bowl for 2 minutes; stir until all chocolate is melted. Whisk in cream cheese. Add 1 cup sugar, egg and vanilla; mix well.

Stir in flour mixture. Refrigerate for 15 minutes to 1 hour.

Roll dough into 1″ balls. Coat each ball by rolling in remaining sugar. (I mixed red sugar and white to make them look more festive)

Place 2″ apart on ungreased baking sheet.  Using your Thumbie (remember you can order them from me for $6.00) or your own thumb, make an indention in the center of each ball. Fill each indention with about 1/4 teas jam.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. (because they are chocolate and hard to tell when “lightly browned” I baked them for 9 minutes and they came out perfect.)

Cool completely.

Cookies

March Munchies

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

It is finally here, the time of year when we begin to think about capris, sandals and possibly traveling. It is beyond me how someone might plan a car trip without thinking about what they might snack on for the 500 miles they are cooped up in the car, sometimes with small children or even just a spouse who, like mine, doesn’t like to talk much (and please don’t even go there, I know what you are thinking, “he probably doesn’t ever get a change to say a word”, there I said it for you) and depends on me to carry the conversation for the 8 hour trip. I can do that, I can carry the conversation for hours, but even I need a break from talking and that leads us to Munchies. I brought this recipe home with me from Corpus, where I was staying with a friend of my mom’s, since she lives in a nursing home, I now stay with her friend Jane. Jane loves to cook and is a really great cook. When I would get home from the nursing home at night from visiting my mom, Jane would get up the minute I walked in the door and by the time I sat down on the couch to watch TV with she and her husband, there on the table would be a plate of warm cookies to go with my Dr Pepper. She would take them out of the freezer and nuke them until they were just warm and soft. They had 3 sons, so I get the honors of being treated like their daughter. I told her that before I left, she had to give me the recipe. She called them Cowboy Cookies, but they really are just oatmeal cookies with a flair..here is the recipe. I have made them twice in one week and now Randy thinks that I should have them warm and waiting as soon as Wheel of Fortune starts. They are perfect for taking in the car for munchies. Goes great with that cup of coffee you depend on to keep you awake driving down the road, unless you want a CD of me talking…Will sell you one of those for $12.99..I think you might enjoy the coffee and cookies much more.

1 cup of Crisco shortening

1 cup sugar

1 cup light brown sugar (firmly packed)

2 eggs, at room temp

2 cups flour

1 teas baking soda

1/2 teas baking powder

1/2 teas salt

2 cups oats, quick-cooking or regular, uncooked

1 (6-oz) package semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup shredded coconut or 1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/2 cup raisins (optional) (I actually used crasins)

Cream shortening and sugars and mix well. Add eggs, beat until light and fluffy. Stir in dry ingredients and blend well. Mix in oats, chocolate chips and vanilla.

The dough will be crumbly. Drop by teaspoonful on greased cookie sheets (I used parchment paper so I didn’t need to grease that) and bake at 350 for about 10-12 min.

Chocolate · Desserts

Almond-Oat Lace Cookies*

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment

 

If you read the blog on Monday, you will remember that we went on a Chocolate Tour over the weekend. We even made our hubbies go with us. Because of the awesome chocolate treats that awaited us at each stop, they really got into the Chocolate Tour moment*(see inset picture)At one of the stops, we were served these delicious cookies, half of which were dipped in chocolate. They were wonderful. They were kind enough to give us the recipe, and if they aren’t like my mother in law who would intentionally leave out a very important ingredient and then say, “why sweetie, I don’t know why yours didn’t turn out”, I am trusting them to have given us the correct recipe that will produce the same cookie that we were served. (I was kidding about the mother-in-law).

1/2 cup whole unsalted almonds with skins

2 tables old-fashioned oats

6 tables unsalted butter

6 tables superfine sugar

2 tables packed light brown sugar

1 1/2 teas honey (finally, I thought this recipe was going to be nothing but tables this and tables that)

Oops, here we go again, 1 Table all purpose flour

1/4 teas salt

4 oz bittersweet chocolate, melted

Arrange racks in lower and upper thirds of oven; preheat oven to 350. Line 2 rimless baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

Pulse almonds and oats in a food processor until coarse meal forms. Set aside.

Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add both sugars and honey and whisk until blended and sugar dissolves, 1-2 mins.

Remove from heat. Add nut mixture, flour and salt. Stir until well mixed.

Spoon batter by 2 teas portions onto baking sheet; spacing 2 1/2″ apart. Using your fingertips, pat cookies down to 1/4″ high rounds; push in any jagged edges to form smooth circles.

Bake, rotation sheets after 6 min, until dark golden brown and cookies spread out into a thin layer. (10-12 min)

Frosty Found Rudolph on Chocolate Tour
Frosty Found Rudolph on Chocolate Tour

Slide cookies with parchment paper onto a wire rack and let cool.

Using a pastry brush, brush half of each cookie with melted chocolate. Let stand until the chocolate is set.

This recipe is from the Fawnskin Bed and Breakfast*

Desserts

Snickerdoodles

Chocolate CastlesLeave a comment
Soft, Chewy Snickerdoodles

I know, I know, there are a million zillion recipes out there for these delightful little cookies, but I happened to buy bagged  4.25 lb Gold Medal flour instead of the flour that comes in the paper sack and this recipe was on the back. It is different than the others I have made because of the cream of tartar. This told me immediately that this cookie would be softer and not as crisp as the other snicker doodles I have made, and that made me immediately just go to the kitchen to make them. I just ate 4 of them. There are so soft and delicious and just perfect to leave for Randy when I go out of town to see grandkids. I always use more cinnamon sugar mixture than they call for because I can never get enough cinnamon flavor.

Makes about 5 dz.

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup softened butter (I use 1 stick butter and 1 stick Parkay or you can use 1/2 cup shortening added to the butter) Just end up with 1 cup, whichever mixture you want to use. But if you use all butter, the cookie will tend to be crispier)

2 eggs

1/2 teas vanilla

2  3/4 cup flour (all purpose)

2 teas cream of tartar

1 teas baking soda

1/4 teas salt

1/4 cup sugar added to 2 to 3 tables cinnamon (this is to roll the cookies in before baking them)

Heat oven to 400. Mix the 1 1/2 cups sugar, butter, shortening or margarine and eggs together. Add 1/2 teas vanilla to mixture and beat until creamed well.

Mix the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt together. Add to creamed mixture and using mixer, mix on medium until flour and butter mixture are well blended.  At this point, I cover the bowl and refrigerate for a couple of hours to make handling the dough to form little balls so much easier. You should put about a tables of dough into each ball. Mix the sugar and cinnamon tougher and roll each ball into this. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake about 8-9 minutes, depending upon your oven and size of balls that you made. I like them to be soft and chewy, so I tend to take them out before they feel completely done. Remove them from cookie sheet and place on paper towels you have laid out on the counter. I like the paper towels instead of cooling racks. It keeps the cookies a little softer and not as crisp as they tend to get on cooling racks.