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!

Pecan Spice Cookies

Take a bite of these cookies and they make you feel like holiday time! The spices in the name are all the typical pumpkin pie spices mixed into a brown sugar-based dough. The pecans are an added bonus with the extra crunch. They are chewy more than crunchy but we shall see how they survive the humid night! I also had to watch them and take them out closer to the 9 and 1/2 minute mark but they do need to stay in until they are browned on top a bit. Overall, I think this is a winner!

Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are YUMMY! The peanut butter flavor is just right and the texture is perfect! I will have to see whether they keep their crispness overnight but tonight they are perfect. I used smooth peanut butter which I think is preferable to the change in texture that crunchy PB would give the cookies. Also, the cookies were done in about 7-8minutes not the 10-12 minutes that the recipes called for. So, keep an eye on them to see how they do in your oven. Pecan spice cookies tomorrow while I watch the football games!!

Chocolate Crinkles

Very pretty cookies with their white sugar dusting and cracked tops. They tasted like soft, light brownies with a bit of crunch on the top. I think they could have used more chocolate taste but Guido thought they were fine. I will have to see what the other tasters have to say! As for making the cookies, they took about 13 minutes to cook which is about a minute longer than was called for. The recipe also said to chill the dough several hours or overnight. I didn't have lots of time so I put the dough in the freezer for about an hour and that seemed to do the trick. It would be too sticky to work with otherwise. We are working late tomorrow so probably won't have time to do another recipe so I won't be blogging until Sat or Sun. Happy TGIF!

Snickerdoodles

Everyone probably remembers this classic favorite! I have made these many times and it is really hard to mess them up. The cream of tartar in the recipe gives the cookies that special "tang". Also, the recipe made enough for Alex to bring in to UH...unless he ate them all tonight!!!! The only suggestion I have is to make extra of the cinnamon/sugar mix as I ran out 2/3 of the way through the baking.

Recipes!!!

Viennese Shortbread Cookies

I remember making these cookies years ago when we first got the cookbook. I remember them being great and they still are. However, back then we drank instant coffee and now we only make drip coffee. Why does that matter, you ask? Well, to make the mocha filling you need some instant coffee mixed with a small amount of water. My attempt to be creative and substitute very strong coffee made from beans, didn't make the mocha flavor as intense as I remembered it. These cookies required more planning as you had two cookies with the filling between so you had to make sure the cookies were equal size and it was difficult to make the cookie press end the dough at the correct mark. They were all too long and I had to cut them into similar sized "logs". The recipe also did not make very many cookies ( again, sorry UH people!). My final thought: good but not worth all the extra work! I am interested to see what other tasters think.

Lemon Cheese Pressed Cookies

I love lemon flavored anything so I like these cookies. They are more of a cake texture so if you prefer the crisper cookies, this might not be for you! If I had some yellow food coloring I would have added it to make the cookies look more interesting. I don't think these will be as popular as the chinese almond cookies ( they were a HUGE hit!!!!) but a nice addition to your morning tea. Oh, the cheese in the title is cream cheese so it is a sweet cookie.

Spritz Cookies

We made so many of these cookies years ago so it was fun to make them again. The dough is easy to tint for holidays colors but I just opted to put colored sugar on them. I also suggest keeping them small as they don't look as pretty when the shape is distorted. As for taste, they are not too sweet, sort of like a shortbread. They also do not spread while cooking so you can fit many on one tray. With the electric press it takes a few cookies to get the hang of how long to push the trigger to get a uniform size. Just take off the rejects and use the dough in the next filling of the press. This is a classic!!!!

Cookie Press History

Pressed cookies obviously require some kind of cookie press. Fortunately, we have a whole museum of them! When the kids were little we bought an electric press and used it until it broke. Guido's Mom had made lots of pressed cookies when he was growing up (using the old metal press you had to crank by hand) and so making this type of cookie brought back many memories. Over the years, he bought several models of the crank-type that he found at the White Elephant booth at Punahou Carnival. He then found a used electric one at Goodwill so I was very prepared when this day arrived!!! I took pictures of all the different presses for you to see. Each press has its own set of discs to push the dough through so there are lots of shapes available to make!

Chinese Almond Cookies

I found a really, good rolled cookie recipe!!! These are delicately almond flavored and had the perfect amount of crispiness to them. Again, who knows what they will taste like tomorrow with the humidity but right now they are delicious. This is another recipe that does not require a mixer. You use your hands to blend the ingredients and it is critical that the butter is very soft, that point before it is liquid. Also, I needed to refrigerate it for a short time but too much made it difficult to roll out. The recipe actually did not ask for it to be chilled at all. If you note the sliced almond pieces decorating the cookies, it is bit of a mistake as it was supposed to be a full, blanched almond but I couldn't find any so sliced almonds worked just as well. I think it was more fun to decorate with the pieces! The recipe made enough cookies so that I gave some to the Ahns, plenty for Alex and the UH group (although he can't eat them all this weekend!!!!) and also for us, Bob, Trish and Margie I am tired.....but thank goodness it was not too hot and humid . Happy TGIF!!! One more thing, I did not baked them for as long as the recipe called for (10-12 minutes) but found that 9 seemed to be better. You want the edges just slightly brown.

Scotch Shortbread

My first disaster!!!! I baked the cookies for 20 minutes, according to the directions, but after checking them at the 18 minute mark, they were burned!!!! The directions actually said that they would not brown but they sure were brown!!! For the second batch I baked them for 9 minutes which seemed to be about right. These are rolled cookies and you can cut them into shapes but I really prefer shortbread to be in bar form. This also makes them thicker which I think is better. Taste was alright but I would look for another recipe to make them as bars. You could actually just take this dough and form it in the bottom of a glass bottom pan and bake it as bars. One unusual thing, the dough is mixed by hand! Only one more recipe to roll out...yeah!!!

Moravian Ginger Cookies

I think that I really, really don't like making rolled cookies! I have not found a recipe yet in this group that is as good as the orange drop, dream bars or butterscotch brownies. There are still a few more to go before we move on to spritz cookies but I am not holding my breath! Again, the recipe did not make very many cookies so there were not enough for the UH people. These ginger cookies have a lot of molasses in them so they have the texture of ginger snaps but not as much of the bite. Actually, they have too much molasses and could do with more ginger! To sum up, these are OK but not great! On to shortbread tomorrow night...

Filled Cookies comments

Trish had a good suggestion after tasting these this morning. The criticism I had was about the filling and if you substituted a good berry jam, these would be really wonderful! Even the apricot/nut filling from the previous filled cookies would be great. Though you put filling on the entire bottom cookie, it is too thin and doesn't stay in place to give enough flavor until you hit the middle. A thicker jam would solve that problem! Thanks for the suggestion, Trish!

Filled Cookies

The hot, humid weather is to return tomorrow so I was glad to get these made tonight. I have one more recipe that requires the dough to be rolled out but hopefully it is not as hard to work with as the sugar cookie dough. As with the previous filled cookie recipe, two circles of dough are required for each cookie so there were not enough finished cookies for the tasters at UH.....so sorry! I also had to make them thicker than the recipe called for to be able to transfer them to the cookie sheet so there was a lot of extra filling left. I would only make 1/2 the filling recipe next time. The filling was a mix of maraschino cherries and orange juice as the main components. The orange juice helped to cut the sweetness of the cherries but I would actually add some orange pulp or even some more cherries as I felt the filling was too thin and could not put as much as I wanted before it ran off the bottom cookie. The cookies also took a bit longer to bake than the recipe called for but that could be because they were thicker. The taste test: very good and would be especially good with tea. Guido especially liked the crispness of the cookies. I hope they are still crisp tomorrow!!

Mary's Sugar Cookies

The good news is that the trade winds are back so it was much nicer to be baking without the excessive heat and humidity. The bad news is that the Red Sox are out of post-season play. Oh well, there is always next year! This recipe is similar to the previous recipe but calls for powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar and a bit of almond flavoring in addition to the vanilla. Whether it was the weather or the recipe, this dough was easier to roll and transfer to the baking sheet. Each cookie was supposed to be 1/16th of an inch but there was no way to make them that thin. I did the best I could which was about 1/8th to 1/4 inch thick. They had to cook a bit longer also and I found that keeping them in until more of the cookie was golden brown than just the edges was also helpful to keep them on the crunchy side. Of the two kinds of sugar cookies, both Guido and I liked this recipe the best---more flavor!

Ethel's Sugar Cookies

This is the first of the rolled cookie section. Having made this type of cookie many times during holiday time (the only kind for kids to decorate!) I knew what was in store with the very, very hot and humid weather we are having. Making the dough was easy but rolling it out, cutting out shapes and transferring them to the cookie sheet was much more challenging. I had to use a lot of flour on the counter and the rolling pin to keep the dough from sticking. Even with that, it was hard to get the cookies up and onto the baking sheet. Oh well...I have a feeling this will not be my favorite time of this challenge! Guido says the cookies are good but I find them a bit boring.

Refrigerator Filled Cookies

The last of the refrigerator cookies!!! This recipe does not make very many cookies because there are two pieces of dough required per cookie. The recipe also doesn't make very much dough to begin with! So, there will not be enough cookies for the UH people to taste and for that I am very sorry especially since Guido says these are very, very good. They are filled with an apricot/walnut filling and have a moderately crispy texture which is perfect. However, it is very hot and humid here so they will get soft very quickly. Oh well......the joys of baking in Hawaii! Thanks to Guido for scanning all the recipes in the previous post!

Recipes!

Peanut Butter Honey Cookies

After making several types of refrigerator cookies that called for the dough to be shaped into a roll before slicing and baking, this recipe directed the dough to be shaped into a "strip". Of course the flavor is the same no matter the shape, I followed the recipe exactly and spent the extra time to make the "strip". After so many round cookies I guess it was time for a change! As for taste, Guido liked that there all the flavors were well-blended while fI felt there should have been a stronger honey taste to warrant being in the name of the cookie. I am looking forward to other taster's opinions. They were not as crisp as the Ginger Almond cookies but not as soft as many that succumb to Hawaii's humidity.. we shall see what they taste like tomorrow!

Oatmeal Coconut CRISPIES

I incorrectly titled the previous post! Tasting the cookies this morning, they are more chewy than crispy...maybe due to Hawaii's humidity!

Oatmeal Coconut Crinkles

Continuing with refrigerator cookies....making the dough is easy and baking is very easy, since all you do is slice and bake, the only challenge is to shape the dough into a log before refrigerating. I have found that it is easiest to put the dough, still in the mixing bowl, into the fridge for about 2 hours and then scrape it onto wax paper. Fold the wax paper closed and then roll the dough on a hard surface until it is a uniform shape. You want to make sure the ends are not too tapered so they are the same size when slicing for cooking. Hope that makes sense!!! Anyway, the cookies are delicious. They have a nice crisp texture with a great taste if you like coconut and oatmeal! I thought I may have over-cooked them but they need to look browner than just around the edges. I am looking forward to comments from the tasters!

Vanilla Refrigerator Cookies

The name sounds boring and I did not have much hope for these cookies but they were next in line so they were baked! They were easy to make and bake and were decent to eat but not my favorite. Guido thought they were good but I feel they were boring. Hopefully I will get few more comments from other tasters before passing final judgement. I made the original recipe but the variations may be better by adding chocolate or cinnamon or even sprinkling sugar on top. This is a weekend so I will be making another recipe tonight and baking them while watching football. The Red Sox have made the playoffs so I can relax on that front.

Ginger Almond Cookies

Just a comment...these are really better cold!

GINGER ALMOND COOKIES

Delicious cookies that taste different, but each good,both cold and warm. This recipe does not use eggs so if you are ever looking for a recipe for someone allergic , this is a good one! I made the dough and made it into two rolls to chill overnight. I woke up very early this morning and so baked one roll this morning and the other after coming home tonight. I gave samples to Trish and Bob this morning and it was Bob's favorite cookie so far and got a big "thumbs up" from Trish. Both want more tomorrow! They also retain their crispness even with Hawaii's humidity. The almond bits make them a pretty cookie also. It is late...off to bed!