Snowflakes

A miracle!! Another cookie cutter recipe that is easy to roll out and transfer to the tray without using tons of flour! It called for using a small star cookie cutter which I didn't have but a quick trip to Compleat Kitchen solved the problem. It was the perfect size since this is a sandwich cookie and two large stars would be too much cookie. The halves are joined using melted sweet chocolate and then topped with a dollop of chocolate with pistachio pieces sprinkled on top. I think the nuts were used for the green color...don't think they added too much to the taste. In fact, it would be great with coconut or even powdered sugar sprinkled on top of the chocolate. No matter what is on top, these are tasty. Guido, Alex and Matt gave them a "thumbs up" already! Also, a huge congratulations to Trish who finished 41st in the Honolulu Marathon on Sunday. I would like to think all the cookies had something to do with it....haha!

Toffee Squares

Looking at the recipe I thought it would be more like a caramel cut or butterscotch brownie with chocolate icing but it not as caramel as I thought. It was very good, and easy, but not the caramel I was expecting. Putting chocolate candies on the warm toffee base and then spreading them as frosting when they melted was a very easy way to frost a bar cookie. These would be very good served with ice cream as a dessert. Also, good luck to Trish on her Honolulu Marathon run on Sunday!!!!

cooky-candies

This recipe is one of the great ones!!! It is easy and fun to make, looks great and is very tasty! It is an oatmeal shortbread that you make into shapes by hand (and it was very easy to do). After baking, they are dipped into melted chocolate and then are to be dipped again into chopped pecans or coconut. I found it was easier to put the cookie on a plate after dipping and then sprinkle the nuts or coconut on top instead of a second dipping. You could get very imaginative with things to sprinkle on top of the chocolate such as candy cane pieces or other xmas candy. It seems as if it has been a while since there has been a recipe hit!!!!

Sorry!

We got home late and I did not get to the store to get items for the next recipes so there are no cookies for tomorrow...so sorry!

Candy Cane Cookies

Very "Christmasy" looking but I would have liked them to have more peppermint flavor. Actually, any peppermint flavor! The recipe for the dough was an almond flavored sugar cookie dough that seemed to be pretty standard. It called for both almond and vanilla flavoring and quite a bit of salt compared to what was used in any other recipe. I could taste the salt in the final product but Guido thought it was fine so I will see what other tasters say. The different component of these cookies is that after baking you sprinkle them with a mixture of ground-up candy canes and sugar. The first batch I followed the directions exactly and spooned it on while the cookies were warm. However, the majority of the mixture did not stick to the cookies. So, on the next batch I put the topping on before baking which was a real mess. The candy cane pieces melted and then hardened after removing the tray from the oven so that there was no time to get the cookies off the tray. They were basically glued to the pan with candy cane! I have a whole bunch of cookies pieces, needless to say! The last batch was done the original way but it meant that the cookies do not have much peppermint taste.

Wonderland Cookies

Another cookie cutter recipe with dough that is hard to cut out and transfer to the pan. That is why some of the cookies look more like starfish instead of Xmas stars and the snowmen need to be on diets. Oh well! They taste like the standard sugar cookie but more "cakey" than crispy. I don't know what makes this recipe different than other sugar cookie recipes but it was as diffucult to handle in Hawaiian humidity as previous ones.

To put you in the Xmas spirit!!!

We spent the day putting up Xmas decorations around the house so I thought a picture would put all blog readers in the holiday spirit! The cookies I made tonight are called Wonderland cookies and we are trying to make the house look like a wonderland!!!! I know that was a reach but I wanted to show-off the house!

Christmas Bells

These are supposed to be bells. I did my best but they look more like hats on wheels....sorry! This is a slice and bake cookie but the main part of the "bell" needed to be shaped after the dough roll had been refrigerated for several hours. Then, an un-tinted section of dough was rolled into a rectangle and formed around the bell-shaped log. The final unit was refrigerated overnight and then I sliced and baked the cookies tonight. Oh, a small bit of dough was reserved to make into tiny balls that were put at the bottom of the bell to make the clapper before baking. Well, Betty, a few too many steps for my taste for cookies that are just average in taste and presentation.

Merry Christmas Cookies

Thanksgiving is over, hope you all had a good one, and so now I am going to start the chapter on Christmas cookies. These cookies are shaped using cookie cutters after rolling out the dough. I have not had great success with this type of cookie in the past but tonight it was cooler so I had great expectations. Whether it was the weather or the huge amount of flour in the dough, it was actually easy to roll, cut and transfer the shapes to the tray. They cooked much faster then the directions called for (about 5 1/2 minutes as opposed to the 8 to 10 called for) so the first batch was a bit too brown. The final step was to ice the cooled cookies and decorate with colored sugar. I used the easy icing recipe called for but I realized that I don't like the taste of this type of icing. I think the plain cookie would be better. Over all, not my favorite cookie but they look festive!

Wheat Flake Nut Drops

First, thanks to Guido for scanning all the recipes in the last two posts. Now, about these cookies, they are easy to make but just "Okay" in the taste department. If it weren't for the nuts they would have been boring. When baking them it was also deceiving as to when they were done. They looked a bit raw but when removing them from the oven and touching them, they were firm and ready to be removed. The fact that the recipe called for two eggs may be why they had tiny holes in the finished product. The funny thing is that the best cereal to use in baking cookies are corn flakes but none of Betty's recipe calls for them. I know they had corn flakes back when she wrote the cookbook!!!

More RECIPES!!!!

RECIPES!!!!

Oatsies

This is a pan cookie of sorts. The base of oatmeal and sugar, basically, is baked until bubbly and then cooled. The cookie is then topped with melted chocolate chips and nuts. Sounds simple but the bottom never really set. After an hour I put the chocolate topping on as it was cool but not really firm and it was getting late. I put it in the refrigerator to hasten the process and when cutting it about an hour later, it still was not really firm. So, I put it back into the fridge for the night and this morning it still was sticky on the bottom. The taste is decent only because it is chocolate and anything chocolate is usually good. Would I make it again, probably not. I know it has been a while since we have posted recipes but will do so this weekend!

Oatmeal Drop Cookies

This cookie is designed to be very easy to make. If it were any good that would be fine. However, I really was unimpressed with the taste and the texture. They were easy, you just mix the ingredients in order and can even do it without a mixer, but they ended up somewhere between crisp and soft and will probably be too soft tomorrow. The recipe included ginger and cinnamon but it wasn't enough or the lack of vanilla was a problem. Anyway, I wouldn't waste my time or ingredients following this recipe.

Crunchy Nut Cookies

Yum! This is a recipe that I would definitely make again. They had a good nutty taste (I used walnuts) and were a nice combination of crispy and chewy....although who knows what they will be tomorrow. The recipe also made quite a few cookies so there were plenty for the UH group as well as the Ahn's next door. They only took about eight minutes to cook so keep an eye on them so they don't over brown. Also, the balls of dough are flattened using a sugar-covered glass bottom and if the nut is too large, you can't flatten them evenly. Use your fingers to flatten the areas the glass can't reach. The little bit of sugar left on the top gives them the crunch in the name!

Peanut thins

This is good recipe for peanut lovers. The dough is rolled out directly on the cookie sheet to make a 12" X 6" rectangle. After baking, the large cookie is iced and topped with chopped peanuts. When completely cooled, it is cut into small pieces. Making the peanuts stick to the icing was more successful with the first cookie and I am not sure why. Maybe its because I let the second cookie cool longer. With or without lots of peanuts on top, the cookies were good.

Another cereal recipe using Coco Puffs. This one also does not require baking but cooking the chocolate mixture that you pour over the cereal and then let it harden into balls. The last recipe that called for this approach was a disaster so I was a bit apprehensive starting this one. First, I cooked the mixture a lot longer than before and it worked this time or maybe the other recipe was just a dud. Anyway, this would be fun for kids to make. When making the mixture into balls, I just put my hands inside baggies with Pam sprayed on them and had no problem with the chocolate stuff sticking to my hands. The other tip is to really, really push the balls together firmly! I then got a bit creative and thought how much fun it would be to put several balls together to make a tree for the holidays. You could buy spice drops and stick them into the tree to look like ornaments or lights. People could then pick balls off the tree to eat...just a thought! I was going to attempt another recipe but then the washer started leaking and after several hours Guido was miraculously able to fix the water injector and save us having to buy a new washer. I am not in the mood to bake anymore today so check the blog tomorrow. Thanks for fixing my washer, Guido!!!!

Cherry Blinks

Sorry, forgot to blog after making these on Thursday! I am still in the cereal section and so used Wheaties for this recipe. Instead of being in the batter, you use the cereal, mashed up, to coat the dough balls before baking. Also, you put half a maraschino cherry in the middle which is what gives it the "cherry" part of its name. The recipe did not make lots of cookies which was fine since these were just okay to me. I probably would not make them again. The funny thing is, the best cereal to make cookies with is cornflakes and there are no recipes for that combination. Tomorrow I move to Coco Puffs.........

Fruit-Flavored Puffs

I am still in the family section and these recipes seem to all use some kind of cereal. This one called for "fruit-flavored corn puffs" and I had to improvise as I couldn't find Fruit Loops. I found Captain Crunch with Crunch Berries and so figured that the crunch berry part would suffice. Of course, that meant digging thru the box and separating the different types of cereal. What I wouldn't do for this challenge!!! Anyway, these are really just oatmeal cookies with cereal thrown in which gives them an interesting crunch and taste as well as making them more colorful. The cookies are very thin and crisp so you need to keep a close eye on them while cooking to get them out before getting too brown. Also, make sure to take them off the tray immediately or they will stick. They harden while cooling so don't worry if they seem undercooked. Now I have Cheerios and Captain Crunch to eat for breakfast!!

Molasses Cereal Patties

There is no picture, there are no patties.....this one did not work! I think it is supposed to be similar to rice krispie treats but using cheerios and a syrup that you cook with molasses and various other things. However, either I didn't cook it long enough or its just too humid in Hawaii for these to harden. I think it is the former since I even put the bowl of "glop" (that's what it looked like!) into the fridge and it never firmed to the point I could make it into patties. I thought about just eating the stuff straight from the bowl but it really wasn't that good..it's a no-bake recipe by the way. So, it is in the garbage and we are on to another recipe! The only good thing is that I had to buy Cheerios and I love Cheerios but would never buy them just to eat. So I have some good breakfasts coming up! The other funny thing is that Betty never uses a brand name (this was written in the 60's) of the cereals so you have to figure out what kind of cereal she is talking about. The descriptions sound so funny and I know Cheerios were around in the 1960's. I remember eating them as a child. Happy Veteran's Day everyone!!

Golden Carrot Cookies

For cookies, these are pretty healthy! The cookie part uses 1 cup of mashed carrots and not very much sugar. They are more like little carrot muffins, soft and easy to eat without icing. The recipe calls for them to be iced with orange icing and that gave them a real "tang" and made them sweeter. They are similar to the Orange Drop cookies from a while ago. I used fresh-squeezed orange juice in the frosting and also used raw carrots instead of the bagged mini-carrots as sometimes those have a "plastic" aftertaste. The only drawback is that they will get very soft by tomorrow with Hawaii's weather!

Alice's Oatmeal Rounds

This was a much better cookie night! Alice knows her cookies...these were easy and tasty! Very crisp and using a sugar-coated glass bottom to flatten the dough gave them a crunchy top. They actually tasted like an oatmeal /snickerdoodle combo cookie. I hope they are as good tomorrow so the UH gang and Bob and Trish get the full effect!

Malted Milk Rounds

I don't know how this recipe ever made it into the cookbook. It was a nightmare to make and was not exceptionally tasty after all the work. I really would like to have a word with Betty Crocker right now after having a frustrating evening! The first challenge was finding malted milk powder. It took four stores and, as usual, found it at Times which is where I never expect to find anything. The dough had to refrigerate all night, which I did, but it still was so hard to roll out and cut with a cookie cutter that I had to resort to alternate means. Even adding quite a bit of flour, it still was impossible to do according to the directions. So, I put teaspoons on the cookie sheet and then flattened them with the back of a glass dipped in flour. The resultant shape was not round but I really didn't care. They also did not take as long to bake, probably because they were a bit thinner than rolled-out cookies. Also, the recipe called for an ungreased sheet. Yeah, right! After scraping the first batch off the tray, I then washed it off and did all the following trays on greased sheets. The final component of these cookies was to ice them with malted milk icing. The recipe looked like it was going to make way more than I thought I would need so I only made 1/2 the recipe. This gave a nice spot of icing for almost all the cookies. The icing dressed the cookies up but I think made them too sweet--even Guido agreed with that conclusion!!! It took so long to make them that it was too late to bring them down to Alex so hopefully I will see Alex tomorrow before he leaves so the UH people will get some. OK..glad this night is over!!!

No cookies tonight!

Just to let the early blog-checkers know that I am not baking tonight! The cookies dough is made but needs to be refrigerated overnight and I didn't get home early enough to chill it and bake it. They also need to be rolled out(ugh!) and then iced so it will be a two-night job. So, look forward to Thursday. Also, I am so happy about Kirk getting into TWO med schools today ( Commonwealth and Tulane) that its hard to focus!!! Congrats Kirk!!!!

Monkey-Faced Cookies

Sorry that I didn't post last night...I headed to bed after finishing the cookies as I was tired! Thanks for the vote of support for the executive decision, Kristen!! I look forward to the help when you get home. About these cookies, they are the first in the "family cookie" section and are supposed to be great fun for kids as you put 3 raisins on each cookie and they are supposed to look like faces when they bake. After looking at one tray, I decided to just put the 3 raisins in the middle of each blob of dough and not to try and make them look like eyes and mouth and they came out looking better. You can look at the picture and decide! As for the taste, they are a crisp molasses cookie. Not the best molasses cookie I've ever tasted but I like anything molasses...will see how crisp they are today after a rainy night. One word of advice, the directions say to let them stay on the ungreased tray for a minute before removing but they firmed up so fast that they were hard to get off so I took them off immediately. The whole thing about the raisins making faces seemed kind of silly but it was fun to look at them in the end...kids would have fun doing this!

Wunder-bar Cookies

Since I didn't bake last night as it was Halloween, I decided to bake two kinds of cookies today. Also, the Lemon Snowdrops did not make many cookies so this way there will be enough cookies for the UH group! These cute, little cookies are easy to make and easy to eat. Nothing exceptional about them but a good addition to a tray of cookies. I just wished they had brought the Phillies a bit more luck! Tomorrow is another day and hopefully they put the Yankees in their place! I have also made an executive decision and will work around the next chapter which is holiday cookies. I will make the cookies for the appropriate day( for example, St. Patrick cookies on St. Paddy's day!) but don't want to be making Easter cookies in November! There are quite a lot of Christmas cookies so I will start on them after Thanksgiving to stay with the season!

Lemon Snowdrop Cookies

These are pretty, tasty cookies with a nice lemony flavor in the filling. The cookies are really just shortbread but the filling gives it the "tanginess." The filling actually looks and tastes like the filling in lemon-filled donuts. The recipe for the filling actually made much more than I used so you could either use more filling per cookie or double the cookie part of the recipe and make more cookies overall.

Brazilian Coffee Cookies

I like hot coffee to drink but I really don't like it in other things such as ice cream or cookies. So, these cookies are not my favorite. They are really strongly flavored and I am afraid Guido my never get to sleep tonight after eating a few of them! This may be a substitute for Red Bull!!!!! The cookies were easy to make but you have to flatten them with the back of a glass so it required some refrigeration after making the dough. I also think I would make them smaller the next time as the flavor is pretty intense. The recipe called for using an ungreased baking sheet but I greased it a bit and thank goodness I did as it was a bit hard to get them off the tray. Make sure you don't wait before removing them as it gets harder the longer they sit. As for texture, they are thin and crispy much like a gingersnap. These might be great cookies for when you are on call or pulling an all-nighter!!

Coconut Butter Balls

First, the name makes me laugh and think of turkeys running around coated in white stuff! Getting serious, I was very excited about these cookies as I love coconut. My feelings about coconut are the polar opposite of dates. However, I was a bit disappointed with these cookies. They required the extra step of rolling the dough in egg batter first and then coconut which got a bit messy. It also required a lot more coconut than specified in the recipe. It was in the baking that it got interesting. The recipe called for 15 to 18 minutes of baking time. I kept a close eye on them so that the coconut did not get too brown but when I felt they couldn't brown any more, which was right before the 15 minute mark, there still seemed to be another minutes or so that the cookies needed in the oven to be completely cooked. Guido liked them that little bit undercooked but I am not so sure. I am looking for feedback from the tasters. Just a note on previous cookies, the pecan spice were a huge hit at UH--they smelled and tasted like Xmas! Also, there was a mix of opinions on the peanut butter but generally they were positive.

Russian Tea Cakes

These are also known as Mexican wedding cakes and Cyndi Uyehara makes the best I have ever tasted. These are almost as good as hers but I think I cooked them a bit too long. The second tray I tried to keep an eye on but the top doesn't brown so you think the bottom is fine. You really want them to not brown at all. Oh well, they still taste alright! Another suggestion is to put a dishtowel under the cooling racks so when you put them to cool after rolling them in powdered sugar, the excess sugar is easily cleaned up by folding up the towel and rinsing it in the sink. This is a classic Xmas cookie!!! Oh, one other thing, when you roll them into balls to cook, make sure the dough is packed tightly together otherwise they will fall apart when rolling them in sugar later on.

Date Oatmeal Cookies

I really hate to work with dates. They just look so weird and are not fun to chop up. I also don't like how they taste. However, I am doing this challenge without altering any of the recipes so I used the dates that were called for. If I were to do it over, and not on the challenge, I would substitute cranberries for the dates. The cookie itself is crisp and not too sweet. You can eat quite a few in a sitting (Guido's comment). They are a bit unusual to make in that you roll the dough in a ball and then flatten them with the back of a flour-dipped glass. You were supposed to chill the dough and I probably didn't chill it long enough as it stuck to the glass even with the flour. Once again, I did not cook them for as long as noted probably because I made them a bit smaller. Overall, probably not my favorite cookie but that could be due to the date issue!