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!