Chocolate Surprise Cookies

When I saw these cookies on Patsy's blog, I knew these would be perfect to bake up for a cookout we were attending a couple of weeks ago. Our friends were planning to have a bon-fire and we were looking forward to enjoying the evening roasting hot dogs for dinner and then letting the kids toast marshmallows for smores. A couple of my kiddos love the taste of ooey-gooey toasted marshmallow with melted chocolate, but aren't too fond of the graham cracker outside. These cookies looked to be the perfect solution, a chocolate cookie with a marshmallow-y center topped with a fudgy chocolate frosting. Holy yum!! The kids loved the "portability" of these as they ran by the table, grabbed a cookie and continued playing with their friends. The "big" kids (read, our husbands) thought up the brilliant idea of balancing the cookies on the roasting forks and slightly warming the cookies over the fire....oh my..they were so good. Leave it to the men to concoct such a great idea like that! Gotta love em'!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Chocolate Surprise Cookies

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick)unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
12 large marshmallows, cut in half horizontally

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, and beat until well combined. Add reserved flour mixture; mix on low speed until combined.

3. Using a tablespoon or 1 3/4-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto ungreased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake until cookies begin to spread and become firm, 10 to 12 minutes.

4. Remove baking sheets from oven, and place a marshmallow, cut-side down, in the center of each cookie, pressing down slightly. Return to oven, and continue baking until marshmallows begins to melt, 2 to 2 1/2 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

5. Spread about 1 tablespoon of frosting over each marshmallow, starting in the center and continuing outward until marshmallow is covered.

Chocolate Frosting for Surprise Cookies

2 cups confectioners' sugar
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup milk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Place confectioners' sugar in a medium bowl. Whisk in butter and cocoa powder. Add milk and vanilla, and whisk until well combined.

Source: Family Friends and Food originally from Martha Stewart Online

"Pleasing His Chocolate Cravings" with Chocolate Thumbprints

If you read my previous post then you understand the title to this one. As I previously stated, I've been baking special treats to put in my kids' lunches to let them know that I'm thinking of them during the day. My first "special" treat was met with a 75% approval rating, only disappointing our 9 year old son because of the lack of chocolate in the blondies. So to appease his chocolate craving, I searched and found the recipe for these remarkable, delicious cookies. Plus, Marty was headed to a meeting with some men who had requested some baked goods. I was thrilled to make two of my boys happy with one recipe. :)

These were a lot of fun to bake up and filling the centers of the cookies with the peanut butter filling gave me a little creative outlet. The only change I will make to the original recipe is to use mini-chocolate chips instead of regular sized. Using mini chips would allow making the "thumbprints" easier than maneuvering the larger chips.

Oh, did you ask how these tasted? Well, they were irresistible! If you've ever eaten a buckeye (the peanut butter ball covered in chocolate made to resemble a buckeye) then you can imagine the taste of this cookie. The filling was fluffy and creamy and complimented the chocolate cookie perfectly and tasted so similar to the buckeyes my family loves!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Chocolate Thumbprints

Cookies
1/2 Butter Flavor Crisco Stick or 1/2 Cup Butter Flavor Crisco all-vegetable shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg yolk
1 square (1 ounce) unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Peanut Butter Cream Filling
2 tablespoons Butter flavor Crisco Stick or 2 tablespoons Butter Flavor Crisco all-vegetable shortening
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheet with shortening. (I used parchment paper)

For cookies, combine 1/2 cup shortening, granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon milk, vanilla and egg yolk in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add melted chocolate. Mix well.

Combine flour and salt. Add gradually to chocolate mixture at low speed. Mix until blended. Add chocolate chips. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Press thumb gently in center of each cookie.

Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Do not overbake. Press centers again with small measuring spoon. Remove cookies to cooling rack and cool completely.

For peanut butter cream filling, combine 2 tablespoons shortening and peanut butter in medium bowl. Stir with spoon until blended. (I used my hand mixer.) Add confectioners sugar. Stir well. Add 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Fill centers of cookies.

Source: The Great American Cookie Cookbook

Chocolate and Toffee Chip Cookies

Friday night was our kids' piano recital with a small reception following. All the parents are asked to bring cookies to contribute to the reception, well...Friday got away from me (hubby is now home on Fridays and my daily "routine" doesn't exist) and before I knew it, it was 3:00 and I had no idea what I was going to bake for my contribution. Procrastination...No...I just work better under pressure. (That said for my hubby's sake)

I decided to bake my stand-by chocolate chip cookie recipe but threw in a cup of Heath toffee chips to change it up a bit. Me-oh-my....Fabulous! Everyone loved the addition of the toffee. In fact, Marty has commented several times that these are the best cookies I've made-but he's easy to please. :-)

I know this probably isn't exactly a "blog-worthy" recipe, but when you have a simple success with something, don't you want to share it?? I do!

Oh-by the way-I must say how proud I was of how well ALL the kids performed at the recital! We are blessed to have a wonderful piano teacher who shares her passion for music with her students. It was clear to all in attendance that her students share her love of music and that they had worked very hard on their recital pieces. Great job and congratulations to everyone and a huge "THANK YOU" to Miss Shelley for your love, time and dedication in teaching these fabulous kids. We love you!

From the heart of my kitchen to yours may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!
Chocolate and Toffee Chip Cookies

3/4 cup Butter Flavored Crisco
1 1/4 cup Packed brown sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 Egg
1 3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1 cup toffee chips

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

Combine Crisco, brown sugar, milk and vanilla extract. Beat at medium speed. Add egg.

Mix dry ingredients into creamed mixture just until blended.

Stir in both chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Source: Crisco

Cookie Bouquets Debuted

Happy Valentine's Day!! I love (no pun intended) this holiday. I probably like it more now that we have kids-the adorable parties at school, the cute t-shirts to purchase for my girls to wear in pinks and reds, seeing hearts and bright colors everywhere in the midst of dreary Indiana weather and of course it offers another reason to bake cookies and cupcakes to share with classmates, teachers, friends and family.

This year Valentine's Day was even more special. Why? My dear friend, Sarah, and I debuted our new venture with these adorable cookie bouquets. Decadent Dreams Bakery & Catering is officially in business!! We are offering specially made cakes, cupcakes, cookies, bouquets, pastries and much, much more for all occassions. If you can dream it, we can bake it. Exciting news huh?

This was the perfect time to launch our new venture. Who doesn't love heart shaped cookies iced with pinks and reds? Sarah and I had so much fun baking and decorating cookies and putting them together in festive, hand painted pots. We sold several bouquets and received rave reviews from all that purchased one. WHEW!!

Aren't these the cutest darn cookies? I think these are possibly my absolute favorite! Any time my Granny has ever sent me a card or written me a note, however small it is, she ALWAYS puts x's and o's at the bottom. This past summer I pulled into our driveway and noticed something sitting beside one of my flower pots and a note tucked under the pot. Sure enough, Granny had stopped by and brought the kids some goodies and left a note telling us she had missed us and at the bottom of the torn piece of paper was her infamous x's and o's.
These double hearts were alot of fun to plan and ice. I was thinking inside my very conservative box when Sarah suggested we fill each heart with different colors and pipe with the opposite color. I love how they turned out.
A simple pink heart piped with bright red and white lines to form a plaid pattern.
Sometimes simple says it all. We loved this heart cut-out cookie in red with piped white polka-dots. Yes, of course we ate the small heart that was cut out of the middle. :o) It helped give us the additional fuel for the long, late night hours we put in to complete our first orders.

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Another Fun Reason for Decorated Sugar Cookies

Our great friends, Ganesh and Julie, have hosted a Super Bowl party for the last several years. It is always so much fun to watch the big game with many of our friends from church regardless of which teams are vying for the Lombardi trophy. This year we knew the Ghooray's would be going all out with decorations and festivities. You see, they are hard core, die hard Steeler fans. I remember a Sunday a few years back when our Colts were due to play the Steelers in a playoff game that afternoon. That morning at church the majority of our congregation was decked out in Colts' blue. It was an awesome sight with one major eyesore...there sat our friends in the midst of a sea of beautiful blue wearing their Steelers colors of black and gold. UGH! Boy did they get a ton of ribbing before and after services, all in good fun of course...until game time! That afternoon the Steelers knocked our precious Colts out of the play offs. :(

For Christmas this year my Mom gave me these cute cookie cutters in the shape of a football helmet and a pennant. This was the perfect opportunity to put them to use. I wanted to bring something special to the party in celebration of the Steelers making it to the big game.The Steelers' helmets turned out pretty good although I had to call on my friend Sarah at the last minute for some black coloring. Thanks for coming through for me friend. You're a life (game) saver. :o)
I was really concerned about getting the cardinal drawn onto the helmets. They turned out much better than I thought they would. I ran short on time so you can see where some of the black from the mouth guard ran into the white of the helmet. Oh well, they still tasted yummy!
To keep things fair, I made pennants in colors for both teams. My children would have it no other way..they were rooting for Arizona!
These were a huge hit at the party with the adults and the kids couldn't stay away from eating them. Decorated cookies certainly take time and patience to prepare but it's all worthwhile when you see the enjoyment on people's faces when you share them. That's the best feeling for a cook!
For the dough recipe go to December's posts and scroll for sugar cookies.

From the heart of my kitchen to yours, may your experience be fun and the food always flavorful. Enjoy!

Christmas Cookie Bouquets

I have to apologize for not posting for the last few days. This is the kids' last week of school before Christmas break and I've been crazy busy in my kitchen baking treats, dipping pretzels and candy canes and putting together gifts for all the wonderful people who teach, drive and care for my children while they're at school.

I feel compelled to take a moment to acknowledge those individuals who are in my children's lives-I won't mention you by name-but you know who you all are. I send my precious kids to you everyday with complete confidence that they are safe, secure and loved. You are not only teaching them the skills they need to pass a standardized test, you're helping us to nurture respectful, kind, courteous, thoughtful and caring young men and women. Marty and I are so thankful for each of you and feel very blessed that you have been a part of our children's lives. Merry Christmas to all of you!

My largest project for the week has been baking and creating cookie bouquets. I have always admired the creativity behind many fun bouquets I've seen and decided to try my skills at creating Christmas themed bouquets to give as gifts. I started with the Tuesday's with Dorie sugar cookie recipe that was featured a couple of weeks ago. I had such great success with her recipe and loved the addition of lemon zest that gave the cookie a little extra "kick", I knew it was the perfect choice for my bouquets. The glazed icing recipe I found through a link from one of my favorite blogs; The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch. Shelby created absolutely beautiful snowflake cookies on our TWD post and shared the link to Sara's blog. I haven't quite figured out how to link you from my post, but Shelby's blog site is listed under the "Blogs I Follow" feature to the right of my recipe posts. Enjoy her amazing blog!

My two youngest with their teachers' cookie bouquets!
It was Colts' Day at school-hence the blue jerseys instead of holiday wear.

I began by preparing three separate batches of dough not knowing how many cookies I would get out of each. I knew that the cookies would have to be extra thick for them to remain solidly in place on the stick. I certainly didn't want my little ones taking "fragile" cookies onto the morning bus. Can't you just see it now...my little ones walking carefully across the street through slippery snow, taking those huge steps up into the big, yellow bus (by the way-why are those silly steps so darn big and difficult for little legs to climb? Didn't the designer know that there would be small children riding those buses? Ok, sorry-back to my story) and then trying to squeeze their book-bag, winter coat and fragile cookies into the narrow opening of their assigned, dark green bench. Not to mention the other precious riders on the bus, will they leave their hands off the packaged cookies or be so curious they have to touch just one to satisfy their urge? That's a disaster in the making...the poor teachers would have probably ended up with a package of crushed up sugar cookies complete with tears of "I'm Sorry". Not exactly a great "Merry Christmas" gift! I knew those cookies had to be "tough", so, to ensure stability, I ended up rolling the dough to 5/8" which was a perfect thickness to surround the stick and insure that our little cookies wouldn't go anywhere when finished. Because the cookies had to be so thick, each batch of dough yielded one dozen cookies.

Santa's Boot

Christmas Trees

I cut out six different designs for each bouqet, the Santa boot and Christmas tree pictured above as well as an ornament, snowman, gingerbread man, and a present. I wanted the cookies to be a decent size, especially since the base they would be placed in was a medium sized tin, so I chose to use 3 inch cookie cutters. They turned out to be absolutely perfect in size.

Glazing the cookies was fun and fairly simple albeit very time consuming. I really wanted these to be nearly perfect since they were gifts to some very special people. I used thicker icing to pipe around each cookie to make a "well" that would be filled in with the colored icing. I found that this is the best way to insure no run-off drips. After the piped icing dried a little, I went back and "painted" the cookies. Ever since I was a small girl I have loved to sit and color, well, this beats all...I not only got enjoy coloring cookies, but I got to eat the "crayons". Fun stuff!

I thoroughly enjoyed the entire process of my project and can't wait for the next opportunity to create another cookie bouquet. My hope is that all who received this gift enjoys eating these yummy cookies as much as I enjoyed baking and creating them.

Grandma's All-Occasion Sugar Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick plus 2 tablespoons (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temp.

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

lemon zest (optional)-for the most flavor, rub the zest into the sugar before adding it to the butter

Whisk the flour, salt and baking powder together.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter at medium speed for a minute or so, until smooth. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for about 2 minutes, until the mixture is light and pale. Add the egg and yolk and beat for another minute or two; beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and steadily add the flour mixture, mixing only until it has been incorporated-because this dough is best when worked least, you might want to stop the mixer before all the flour is thoroughly blended into the dough and finish the job with a rubber spatula. When mixed, the dough will be soft, creamy and malleable.

Turn the dough out onto a counter and divide it in half. Shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic. The dough must be chilled for at least 2 hours. (Well wrapped, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Roll out dough between sheets of plastic wrap or wax paper to a thickness of 1/4" (5/8" to make cookie bouquet), lifting the plastic or paper and turning the dough over often so that it rolls evenly. Lift off the top sheet of plastic or paper and cut out the cookies. Pull away the excess dough, saving the scraps for rerolling, and carefully lift the cookies onto the baking sheet with a spatula, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between the cookies.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes, rotating the sheet at the midpoint. The cookies should feel firm, but they should not color much, if at all. Remove the pan from the oven and let cool completely before glazing.

Source: Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Glace' Icing

1 lb powdered sugar (about 3 3/4 cups)

1/4 C + 2T Whole milk (low-fat actually works, but use whole if you can)

1/4 C +2T light Corn Syrup

1 t extract (I used almond)

With a whisk, combine sugar and milk until smooth (no lumps!). Then stir in corn syrup and extract.

You will use this same recipe for both glazing and piping. The way it is right now is the consistency you want for glazing. For piping just thicken with more powdered sugar.

Source: Our Best Bites

Candy Cane Cookies

One of my favorite memories of holiday baking is standing on a stool beside my Granny rolling this adorable cookie into the shape of a candy cane. I loved watching the red and white dough blend together in my small hands and never could resist the temptation to nibble dough off my fingers. (Of course, I had to wash my hands every time I licked the dough...Granny was a stickler for cleanliness while cooking.)

Last weekend my girls were begging to bake some holiday cookies and these immediately came to mind. I knew they would both love rolling and forming the cookies as much as I had as a little girl. We shared some great laughs while working side by side in the kitchen and I love to watch my girls as they discover the wonder and enjoyment of baking. These are certainly moments I will treasure.

These cookies are very simple to prepare and so much fun to form into cute little candy canes. The cookies are sprinkled with a mixture of crushed candy cane and sugar when they are hot out of the oven. Yummy! My eldest daughter suggested that next time we make these we should add a little crushed candy cane to the dough, she thought the cookie needed something "more". Oh, my future baker...gotta love it. Enjoy!

Candy Cane Cookies

1 cup margarine

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup confectioner's sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon red food coloring

1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy canes

1/2 cup white sugar for decoration

In a large bowl, cream together sugar and white sugar and confectioner's sugar. Beat in the egg, vanilla and peppermint extracts. Combine the flour and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended. Cover or wrap dough and chill for at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Grease or line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Divide dough into halves. Color one half red by mixing in the food color. Roll a small amount of each dough into 4 inch strips. Roll them together in a twisted rope and curve the end like a cane. Place onto prepared cookie sheets.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. In a small bowl, mix together the crushed candy cane and remaining white sugar. Roll hot cookies in the sugar mixture.

Source: All Recipes

TWD - Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookies

This week for TWD, Ullrike of Kuchenlatein chose Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookie. What a perfect recipe for this time of year! The kids and I love to bake sugar cookies with all kinds of holiday shapes from the Halloween season on through Christmas. It's sort of become our tradition to make the cookies and then enjoy a carpet picnic in front of a crackling fire and devour our yummy, fresh baked goodies while watching a holiday video...usually Charlie Brown. You just can't top Charlie Brown and all the gang! Makes me feel like a kid again! Ok, now on to the cookie of the day.

I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating, I love Dorie's cookbook! She explains everything in great detail and offers many tips and options to creating your own version of any recipe. Fantastic, fun and so many flavorful adaptations.

For these cookies, Dorie offers a variation of either adding lemon or orange zest. I decided to think outside my box and add the lemon zest, and oh, I'm so glad I did. Yummy! I'm already thinking of enjoying an afternoon break with a cup of hot coffee and a cookie...or two...or three. Shhh, don't tell anyone-it'll be our little secret. :)

This time of year a sugar cookie just has to have icing on it in colorful, festive designs, that's half the fun! I had a great time (and alot of comments from my peanut gallery) decorating my cookies. They didn't turn out quite as well as I had hoped, but they're still cute. Enjoy!

Source: Baking From My Home to Yours-Dorie Greenspan

Peppermint Bonbon Cookies

Tis the season to be baking, Fa la la la la..la la la la! I positively, obnoxiously, love the Christmas season! I love the reason behind the season most of all; the celebration of Christ's birth. WOW-that's certainly the best gift any of us can ever receive, our Savior! I also enjoy all the other festivities that transpire over the season; the decorating, music, parties, shopping, and wrapping but most of all I LOVE the baking! There's never another time in the entire year that is so focused on baking. :)

I baked my first "holiday" cookies this past week and shared these with my friend Sarah who has been in the hospital with pre-term labor. I wanted something festive and chocolaty and this recipe was perfect! If you like peppermint, you'll fall in love with these cookies! There is crushed peppermint and chocolate chips in the bonbons. When the cookies come out of the oven, you sprinkle with more peppermint and then I chose to drizzle white chocolate over the cooled cookies. D-E-L-I-S-H! Sarah said Mike ate almost half of the cookies I sent before he arrived at the hospital, so I guess they were a definite hit with him! :)

Add these festive little guys to your holiday baking list and see if they're not a huge hit for your loved ones too! Enjoy!

Peppermint Bonbon Cookies

8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/2 cup finely crushed hard peppermint candies

6 tablespoons granulated sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon peppermint extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels

Additional coarsely crushed hard peppermint candies, divided

Combine first 3 ingredients in a large saucepan; cook over low heat until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and stir in 1/2 cup crushed peppermint and 6 Tbsp. sugar. Let cool 30 minutes.

Add eggs to melted chocolate, 1 at a time, stirring well. Stir in extracts.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; add to chocolate mixture, stirring until combined. Stir in chocolate morsels. Cover and chill dough 2 hours or until firm enough to shape.

Shape dough into 1 1/2" balls; place on parchment paper-lined baking sheets. Bake at 325 degrees for 12 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and cracked on top. Sprinkle coarsely crushed peppermints onto cookies; press candy lightly into cookies. Let cookies cool 5 minutes on baking sheets. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Drizzle with melted white chocolate.

Source: My Recipes

Scrumptious Sugar Gems

I love sugar cookies! Every year, just prior to Halloween, our family sets aside one evening that we bake and decorate sugar cookies in all sorts of fun shapes and sizes and decorate them with LOTS of icing and sprinkles. We then take our goodies to a large blanket on the family room floor, sit in front of a roaring fire and watch "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown". It's been a great tradition to enjoy with the kids through the years! It gives me a fleeting glance at what could be considered a Norman Rockwell moment. I have tried several sugar cookie recipes and they've all been good but not mouth watering, don't need layers of icing for taste good. So, I've continued to search for the "perfect" sugar cookie recipe. Well my blogger friends...I think I've found it!

When I read this recipe on The Sisters Cafe, I bookmarked it and couldn't wait to bake these fabulous cookies. While this isn't a dough you can use to do cookie cut-outs, it's well worth the sacrifice for the taste of this incredible recipe! The dough does not have to be refrigerated after mixing which makes the process a little quicker than most sugar cookie recipes. I have to confess that after suffering through long minutes of divine aroma of the first batch of baking cookies, I nearly burned all my taste buds off tasting a VERY hot cookie. But, ohhhh was it worth it! The cookies had a great thickness to them that makes every bite a heavenly mouthful. The oil and butter combined make for a very soft cookie that is wonderful without icing, but once I tasted them WITH icing....there was no turning back...I was addicted. The icing calls for 2 tsp. flavoring of any kind. I went with almond extract and never regretted it. It was the perfect addition to the perfect sugar cookie! If you plan to do alot of Holiday baking, add this recipe to your list and you'll certainly be thankful you did.

Sugar Gems

Cream together:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup sugar
1 cup oil
1 cup real butter
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Add:
5 cups flour
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. soda

Mix all ingredients well. Roll into golf size balls and place on cookie sheets. Flatten with bottom of glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 350 for 12-14 minutes. Cook and frost with sugar gem frosting.

Sugar Gem Frosting

2-21/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup oil
2 tsp. flavoring (almond, vanilla etc.)
3-4 Tbsp. milk
Coloring if wanted

Mix well and add a little more milk or powdered sugar to get the right consistency.

Source: Melanie @ Sisters Cafe

TWD - Rugelach

This week for Tuesday's With Dorie, Grace of Piggy's Cooking Journal chose Rugelach. I can't begin to tell you how to say it correctly. Ruga what?? Roo-gu-la? Is the "ch" silent or pronounced making the "ch" to sound like a cat coughing up a fur ball? Oh, sorry, not a pretty mental picture for a food blog. Well, I'm not really positive on how it's properly pronounced, but I can absolutely, positively share that this was a fantastically yummy pastry! D-E-L-I-S-H!

The preparation of Rugelach was a little more difficult than I thought it would be. My dough blended together nicely in the food processor, but after refrigeration, did not want to roll out at all. I ended up working the rolling pin too much which caused the dough to warm and stick to the pastry sheet which made it rather difficult to roll the cookie into a crescent shape. But, I persevered and while my first batch looked worse than awful, they tasted divine and before I could get any pictures, my family had eaten all but two. Made for a great lesson of the old adage...Don't judge a cookie by it's cover. Ha! For my second batch, because I still couldn't get the dough to roll out to the circumference called for in the recipe, I decided to cut 8 wedges instead of 16 hoping this might create a nicer looking cookie. A select few of the second batch looked presentable, but the dough didn't seem to hold together properly through the baking process. ???

The Rugelach filling is a combination of raspberry jam, nuts, sugar, cinnamon and semi-sweet chocolate. Although some of my filling ran out of the dough, the flavors were heavenly.

I have to share that I fall further and further in love with my Baking From My Home to Yours cookbook every week. The recipes are thoroughly described, simple to follow and challenge me to expand my baking abilities beyond drop cookies and pan brownies. I'm so thankful that I chose to join Tuesday's With Dorie because it holds me accountable to try something new and exciting every week from this great cookbook. My family is also enjoying the wonderful aromas and delectable tastes of so many new sweet treats.

Thank you Grace for choosing Rugelach for this week! I may never learn how to say it correctly, but I'm determined to bake these again to attain a beautiful cookie that matches it's wonderful flavors!

Once again, blogspot has a mind of its own with the font of my posts...I have tried multiple times to rectify this and have given up. It's readable, it's late and my kids are fighting. Three great reasons to sign off for tonight.

Source: Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

TWD Lenox Almond Biscotti

This week's TWD post was chosen by Gretchen of Canela and Comino (www.CanelayComino.blogspot.com). I had such a great experience with this recipe. I have never tried to bake biscotti before but have salivated over the many different variations I have seen on mulitple blogs. But whenever I decided to bake a batch of cookies, the kids' requests always win out over my desires, so this was a valuable opportunity to try biscotti. My dough was the perfect consistency...sticky to the fingers, and it was fairly simple to make the logs. The almond extract added the perfect touch and smelled wonderful while the cookies baked. Yum! I can never leave good enough alone, so I melted some semi-sweet chocolate and drizzled over the biscotti. I love the presentation it gave the cookies. Thank you Gretchen for choosing Lenox Almond Biscotti for this week, otherwise I would probably continue to postpone trying these and would have missed this pleasurable experience!

Source: Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Autumn is my absolute favorite season. I love how the morning air has a crispness you can practically touch. I love how listening to the breeze rustle the colored leaves makes me long to curl up with a warm blanket and a Karen Kingsbury book ( to have the opportunity to actually sit and read more than a sentence of a book I will either have to administer Benadryl to all the kiddos so they all take naps or scoot them off to my parent's house.....of course I'm kidding about the Benadryl bit) . I also love the way my cooking changes during this season. My crock-pots slowly reappear and replace the grill, comforting meals such as soups, stews and chili appear on our menu again and the kids often arrive home from school to fresh baked muffins or cookies.

One of my all time favorite ingredients to bake with during this time of year is pumpkin. I begin to stock pile this amazing puree in late July. Seems a little obsessive huh??? Well, just after my kiddos were back into school, my pumpkin baking frenzy began. Muffins, breads, cookies and cakes were coming out of the ovens just as fast as they could be consumed. My kids have been in a pumpkin eating glory and no, their skin doesn't have an orange tint to it yet.

These cookies have quickly become a favorite for us. I made them the first time for our family a few weeks ago and resorted back to them today when I was preparing dinner for a friend who took a nasty fall yesterday. I wanted to make her an apple pie, but time got away from me. I remembered sharing these with her when I first baked them and thought they'd be a great treat for her to have this weekend. This recipe comes together so quickly and easily. Everything is mixed in one bowl and you're ready to bake in just minutes. They have a cake-like texture to them and have the perfect balance of pumpkin and chocolate in every bite. The recipe calls for 2 teaspoons of cinnamon and I thought some pumpkin pie spice would add even more flavor. I added 1/2 teaspoon this time and love how it kicked up the taste of cinnamon and spice in this special little cookie.

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cookies

4 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 (16-ounce) can solid pack pumpkin
1 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (I used Mini's)
1 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted)
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (my addition)


In a mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Add pumpkin, oil, eggs, milk and vanilla; beat on medium speed until well mixed. Stir in chocolate ships and nuts. Drip by tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 375 degrees F for 13-14 minutes or until edges just begin to brown. cook for 2 minutes; remove to a wire rack to cool completely.



Source: All Recipes

Brownie Cookies

Last night our oldest daughter (11) asked if she could bake a batch of cookies. Since our pantry has been empty of that sort of sweet for most of the week....a cardinal sin around here, I told her we would bake when I returned home from soccer practice with the boys. She rustled through a couple of cookbooks and found the recipe she wanted to bake and I left for soccer. Well, soccer was running a little long so I called home to have my little baker get all the ingredients out and begin to melt the chocolate and butter on the stove so that it had time to cool before I got home. Let me preface to all you worriers....I'm not a negligent Mom....Marty was home to oversee any cooking taking place. I explained that she needed to get a saucepan out to melt her ingredients. She was trying to verify which pan was a saucepan, "Mom, does it have one or two handles?". "Honey, it has one handle and is the pan I use to heat veggies on the stove". Her again, "What size?" My reply, "The second to the smallest should work fine." "O.k., thanks Mom". Well, soccer ended and as I drove home I was gearing up to bake a batch of chocolaty cookies and experience some quality bonding time with my daughter. I walk into the kitchen and past the stove top and notice something strange. I asked, "Why did you pour the chocolate mixture into that bowl to cool?" "Mom, that's the bowl I used to melt everything. You told me to use the bowl with one handle......" UGH!! She had used the second to the smallest mixing bowl with one handle (actually a ring) to melt the chocolate!!! Thankfully the bowl is metal and our stove top is glass so nothing was harmed during the process. Oh, what a HUGE mess we could have had on our hands. One of my dear friends has a great saying in times such as these, "Remember, you're creating memories Christy." What a wise and wonderful friend.

Now do you want to know how these cookies turned out? My little baker chose a fantastic recipe. In every fudgy, chewy, brownie like bite is a divine taste of double chocolaty, chippy heaven!!! These are a very rich tasting cookie...but check out the reason...4 squares of chocolate, 3 CUPS of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 stick of butter. OH MY...I think my thighs will be screaming for me to hide these cookies from myself!!! I'm already thinking of ways to switch this recipe up by adding vanilla chips or butterscotch or peanut butter. The variations are endless.

So, go make sure you have lots and lots of ice cold milk, bake these yummy cookies and then sit down and have a nice, long argument with your thighs over how many cookies you should or shouldn't be eating!!

Brownie Cookies

1/2 cup butter

4 (1-ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped

3 cups (18 ounces) semisweet chocolate morsels, divided

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups chopped pecans, toasted (I omitted these)

Combine butter, unsweetened chocolate, and 1 1/2 cups chocolate morsels in a large heavy saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until butter and chocolate melt; cool.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; set aside.

Beat eggs, sugar and vanilla at medium speed with an electric mixer. Gradually add dry ingredients to egg mixture, beating well. Add chocolate mixture; beat well. Stir in remaining 1 1/2 cups chocolate morsels and pecans.

Drop by 2 tablespoonfuls 1 inch apart onto parchment paper-lined baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheets; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield: about 2 1/2 dozen.

Source: Southern Living Incredible Cookies