GREEK EASTER COOKIES

YUM, YUM, YUM! These are similar to Mexican wedding cakes ( snowballs) but with brandy and clove. The dough was easier to work with after refrigerating it for about 15 minutes but I was still able to do the first tray without that extra help. Next time I would double this recipe as it did not make enough, I hope Alex leaves a few for UH! Happy Easter to everyone!

ORANGE NUT GINGER BARS

These are probably the best of the adapted gingerbread mix recipes. Basically, you add orange zest and nuts to the mix and then top the baked bars with orange icing. I think it really is the orange icing that makes the difference. Every recipe that has used this icing has been a hit...or maybe I just love anything orange! This would be an easy breakfast treat.

GINGER OATMEAL COOKIES

Another adaptation from a mix which is very quick and easy. It added oatmeal, raisins and nuts and used applesauce as the liquid ingredient. These cookies were tastier than yesterdays but we will have to wait and see how they respond to Hawaii's humid conditions.Enjoy!

GINGERSNAPS

This section adapts gingerbread mix like the previous section did with brownie mix. The first recipe was very easy ( it took about 1 minute to adapt the mix) but the resulting cookies were just okay. At least the mix was on sale at Safeway!

UPSIDEDOWN BROWNIES

I actually made these last night but forgot to blog, maybe because I was a bit frustrated with the end result. This brownie adaptation was just an oatmeal cookie layer with the brownie batter poured on top and then baked. The directions said to immediately flip the pan so that the oatmeal was the topping. I followed the directions, even though I had hesitations as brownies take a bit to firm while cooling, and realized that I should have followed my instincts. The brownies slid off the plate and then broke apart when I tried to put them back together. Oh well, they were tasty ( but not my favorite) but the only good looking brownie was the one for the picture!

PEPPERMINT BROWNIES

These are for Trish who loves all things mint! I also am a mint lover so I am enjoying these very easy, delicious brownies. Basically, you bake the brownies according to directions and then put peppermint patties on the hot brownies and return them to the oven for a few minutes. When the candies are soft, take a knife and spread them until they cover the whole pan. I kept the pan on the oven door while spreading them out so they didn't harden too fast. Also, use more mints than you think. Hot brownies always break apart until they cool so the less you have to touch the top the better.

BROWNIE DELIGHTS

These really are delightful and tasty! This time instead of adding toppings after the brownies are baked , a meringue is made and placed on the dough which is then baked together. All of these recipes depend on a good basic packaged brownie mix and I bought the Safeway brand on sale but would probably buy Duncan Hines next time...especially for the recipes I like. Hope everyone enjoys them.

BROWNIE CONFECTIONS

This chapter is all about the many ways to adapt fudge brownie mix. This recipe calls for adding two layer of icing to the baked brownies. The first is a cooked icing which is then topped with a chocolate icing. The hardest part was waiting for the brownies to cool so that the icing could begin. The first cooked icing hardens quite quickly so just be ready to spread it as soon as you take it off the heat. Otherwise, they were good!

ST. PATRICK'S DAY COOKIES

Happy St. Paddy's Day!!!! I went back to the holiday chapter to make these shamrock cookies in honor of the holiday. They were basically a sugar cookie flavored with peppermint instead of vanilla or almond. Instead of rolling the dough out and using cookie cutters, the shamrocks were shaped by making four dough balls, pressing them into clover shape and then adding the stem. A bit labor-intensive but I learned quickly to make the balls bigger so the project went faster. You can see from the picture how the size progression went. Anyway, it was fun and would be a good project to do with kids. Oh...also put green decorator sugar on them Hope everyone gets a green beer today!

Chocolate Wafer Cookies

Easy but not a typical cookie...more of a chocolate hard biscuit. These are pan cookies that the recipe gave a set bake time for of 15 minutes. I kept an eye on them but it was hard to test them for "doneness" as they were so thin. So, I pulled them out a minute early but it wasn't early enough as the cookies in the middle were fine but the ones on the perimeter were overdone. The directions also caution to immediately cut and remove them from the pan and that was the truth! I had trouble getting the last few off the pan but was able to, thank goodness, as those were the best ones. These would be good with tea or coffee....or ice cream!

CHOCOLATE ORANGE PUFFS

These are bite-sized cream puffs stuffed with chocolate/nut/orange filling. The recipe seemed a bit intimidating but it ended up being much easier than I expected. In fact, the filling made much more than the cream puff part so I made a second batch to finish it up! They were so easy that I started thinking of all the things they could be filled with. I also made the filling part too difficult by trying to inject the puffs using a 10cc syringe. Well, the filling was too thick and I ended up having to push the plunger too hard to get it out and got it everywhere but in the puff. So, I ended up just slicing the top off with a thin, sharp knife and spooning the filling in with a baby spoon. As for the filling, I liked the chocolate part but would leave the nuts out next time. Also, they need to be refrigerated and so when tasting them tonight, they lose some of their crispness after being cooled and filled....try to serve them immediately if possible.

ALMOND BUTTER COOKIES

These are even better than the cookies from yesterday and definitely better than the the almond cookies from several days ago. If you like thin, crisp cookies then you will love these. After putting a very small amount of dough on the cookie tray, you pound the dough with the back of a glass dipped in sugar until it is wafer-thin. Keep the thickness consistent or you will have the cookies coming done at different times. I baked one batch longer to see if there was difference in crispness or flavor but I felt that taking them out when they were barely brown at the edge was the best. The recipe also made a lot of cookies which was good since they are good!

CHOCOLATE LOGS

YUUUUUUUUM! These are little brownie cookies. After making the dough, you shape it into a rectangle on a cookie sheet and then refrigerate until you can easily cut it ( about an hour) and transfer them to another cookie sheet. I made them a bit smaller than called for to make as many as possible as Alex has several friends visiting. I let them bake the minimum amount but keep an eye on them because you don't want to over bake them--they do harden while they cool. Enjoy!!!

EASY CHINESE ALMOND COOKIES

Hmmmmm...the almond cookies that I did previously were better. These are a sliced refrigerator cookie also but these are not "almondy" enough and a little too salty. I may just be sensitive to salt so will see what others say. Anyway, you don't use a mixer for this dough, just knead all the ingredients together. Keep an eye on the cookies while in the oven as they brown very quickly at the end. It is better to under cook them than overcook them!

CHOCOLATE OATMEAL REFRIGERATOR COOKIES

I made the dough last night as it needed to refrigerate all night and I wanted to be done before 24 came on. Things happen so fast on that show that I can't bake cookies and focus at the same time! These are a crunchy , chocolaty cookie that is quite good. The directions say to cut them very thin but I gave up and made them thicker since it was more important to keep them uniform.....cutting them an 1/8th of an inch was just too difficult. Anyway, they seem to come out fine. Hope you all enjoy them!!!!

CHOCOLATE PEPPERMINT COOKIES

We are eating these while watching the Academy Awards and really enjoying them. I don't know if its the amount of wine we are having or if they are really good but boy oh boy, they are going very fast!!!! The recipe made only about 25 cookies since it takes two cookies and peppermint filling to make the final product. So, there is a good chance that UH may not get any tomorrow as Alex did not get very many tonight! The one suggestion I would have is to thin the peppermint filling as it was too thick, hardened too fast and there was barely enough.

Delta Bars

These butterscotch bars are very tasty but not very pretty. They are a cookie base with a baked meringue topping that cracks very easily so they are hard to cut nicely. They were very good with ice cream also. Are they good enough to make again? We shall see what the testers think tomorrow!

Cinnamon Coffee Bars

The coffee flavor is not very strong in these bars even though I made the 1/2 cup of coffee VERY strong. The cinnamon was not overpowering either. All in all, it was a good bar that was very good warm. I have a feeling they will be a great breakfast treat but not an exceptional dessert to bring to a potluck. Also, there is a thin icing on top that was a nice addition but the 1/2 recipe that was called for was almost not enough....I really had to stretch to get the whole thing covered!

ESSIE'S COOKIES

I don't know who Essie is but her cookies sure are good! These are a bit like a small, crisp snickerdoodle. The recipe says to use a small cookie cutter and the only small one I had was a heart ...no other reason why I used hearts. The dough was easy to handle and didn't require much chilling before being able to work with it. The cookies didn't rise very much so you can put many on a tray but keep an eye on them so you don't overcook them. Keep them bite-sized so you can just pop them in your mouth! Enjoy!!!

Glazed Oatmeal Brownies

I was excited to have something in the chocolate realm and with chocolate chips in the recipe, these qualify. They are also glazed with an orange topping that gave them an interesting taste mixed with the chocolate and oatmeal. My complaint was that they did not hold together very well. I initially thought it was the attempt to cut them when they were still warm ( I was attempting to give Guido a warm brownie with ice cream!) but even when I waited until they were warm it was hard to cut them and they did not stay in a nice square. As for the taste, Guido felt it was too many flavors in one item. We will see what the others say!

Butterscotch Shortbread

The picture may look great but these cookies are not! They don't taste like butterscotch and they are too salty. I followed the recipe exactly but questioned the amount of salt ( one tsp vs the 1/4 or 1/2 tsp that is usually in recipes) but the intent of the blog is to follow the recipes as written. They were easy to roll and cut out but I made small cookies so they needed to be watched and removed from the oven earlier than noted...about 3 or 4 minutes early! These may be okay with tea but I would not make them again.