thecookieblogger.com

“i wish we could put up some of the christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month.” (harlan miller)

it may be impossible to ‘jar’ that christmas spirit, but I think the christmas spirit can indeed be captured in one easy word — cookies! now, of course you knew i was going to say that! but it’s completely true! baking throughout the year carries the christmas spirit all the way through the dreary days of winter, the damp days of spring, the dog days of summer and the delicious days of autumn, leading up to the delightful days of the winter holidays… baking cookies and passing them around throughout the year – to friends, to family, to co-workers, to local food shelters — sharing your bounty, sharing the goodness, sharing your kindness through the simple act of baking is a wonderful way to keep the christmas spirit alive the whole year through.

happy christmas and may the spirit live within you all the days of the year.

it’s that time of year again, and if your kitchen looks anything like mine, you’ve got stacks of containers filled with your cookie treasures! piles of almond snowballs and eggnog cookies and pizzelles and brownies are waiting their turn as i layer cookie upon cookie onto each individual tray. and shortly, each tray will be wrapped up tightly and ready for ‘operation: cookie drop’!

the smiles on cookie recipient’s faces are worth the pounds of butter, the hours of oven time, the endless whirls of the kitchenaid mixer, and yes, even the tinge of lower back pain. (yes, i am getting a bit older, aren’t i?!) because there’s nothing quite like giving cookies to our friends, our co-workers, our family – the people that make up the quilt of our lives! so, happy ‘operation: cookie drop day’, from my overstuffed cookie kitchen to yours! enjoy!

these brownies are delicious yet very rich, so beware the temptation to cut huge squares of these! a small square goes a very long way! and these can only be made more delicious by adding either a ganache or mascarpone frosting! today, i’ve frosted these with a simple ganache frosting and sprinkled them with mini semi-sweet chocolate chips! absolutely delicious!

yum yum yummy brownies
ingredients:
8 tablespoons unsweetened butter, softened to room temperature
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup baker’s sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
pinch of salt

instructions:
1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease 9 x 9 baking pan and set aside.
2. create a double boiler in a saucepan over low heat. combine butter and chocolate, stirring constantly until melted.
3. add the sugar and eggs, stirring until well-combined.
4. stir in vanilla extract.
5. stir in flour.
6. when all ingredients are well-combined, pour into prepared baking pan.
7. bake brownies for 18-20 minutes until brownies are set. be careful not to overbake these — a toothpick inserted into the center of these brownies will come out clean at about 18 minutes.
8. remove from oven and completely cool before frosting or cutting into small squares.
enjoy!
yield:24 small brownies

we all love blondies, but add some creamy peanut butter along with semi-sweet chocolate chips, and you’ve taken these blondies to a whole new level! these travel well, so wrap them individually and send them along in a lunchbox to delight your favorite student! these are extraordinary brownies! let me know what you think!

peanut butter chocolate chip blondie bars
ingredients:
1 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup baker’s sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons lightly packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

instructions:
1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. lightly grease 13 x 9 baking pan.
2. sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and set aside
3. cream the butter, peanut butter, the sugars and the vanilla until pale in color and fluffy, approximately 1 1/2 to 2 minutes.
4. beat eggs into creamed butter mixture one at a time until they are completely incorporated.
5. add dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix with spatula until dry ingredients are fully incorporated into creamed mixture. scrape the bowl often.
6. stir in the chocolate chips until they are well-distributed in the batter.
7. spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.
8. bake blondie bars until edges are golden brown and center is slightly puffy, approximately 25 minutes. do not overbake. remove from oven.
9. let cool on wire rack approximately 20 minutes. carefully cut bars while still warm.
enjoy!
yield:20 bars

i can finally say that it feels like fall – and that makes me very happy! though i don’t get as generous a showing of fall foliage here in seattle as i did back on the east coast, there are some color changes. and the scent of the evening air — a mixture of wood-burning stoves and fresh, chilled air — is one of my all-time favorites scents! better than any perfume in the world. add the delicious smells of home-baked cookies to that mix, and it’s positively heaven!

to welcome true fall weather today, i’ve decided to bake another version of oatmeal cookies. these are hearty, due in part to the generous quantity of old-fashioned oats and the whole wheat flour. and though there are no nuts in this recipe, the cookie has a decidedly nutty flavor, probably because of the whole wheat flour.

these are best eaten the first day, but warm up nicely in the microwave to soften them up a bit on day two. pair them with a nice cup of cocoa, and i’d say you have a perfect duo to welcome fall!

chewy oatmeal rounds
ingredients:
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup shortening (i use plain crisco)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour (or white whole wheat flour for a less nutty taste)
1 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (do not using quick cooking or instant)

instructions:
1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. cream both sugars, the shortening and the butter in your mixing bowl until fluffy, creamy and light.
3. add vanilla and eggs to sugar mixture until completely combined.
4. add both flours and the baking powder and mix just until combined.
5. by hand, stir in the oats.
6. refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes to give the sugar time to combine well in the dough.
7. drop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls, approximately 1 1/2″ apart on your prepared baking sheets.
8. bake for 12-14 minutes until cookies are set and golden brown. remove from oven.
9. let cookies sit on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
enjoy!
yield: approximately 28 cookies

who doesn’t love the combo of chocolate and peanut butter, especially in a cookie? these cookies are very tasty, very satisfying and quite easy to make! in this version, i used creamy peanut butter since that was what i had in my pantry, but chunky peanut butter works just as well! and though i love all-natural peanut butter when i’m making a pb&j sandwich, it really doesn’t work in baking, causing the cookie dough to be too thin and the cookies to spread and burn. so avoid all-natural peanut butter for baking!

choco nutters
ingredients:
1 1/4 cups baker’s sugar
1/2 cup shortening (i use crisco)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened double dutch cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup 2% milk (whole milk works fine too, just don’t use fat-free!)
1/4 teaspoon of double dutch cocoa for dipping your fork to prevent sticking!

instructions:
1. preheat oven to 400 degrees. line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. in your mixer bowl, cream together sugar, shortening and peanut butter until creamy, fluffy and light.
3. in a second bowl, combine your dry ingredients.
4. starting with the dry ingredients mixture, in three steps, alternate adding the dry ingredients and the milk to the creamed sugar mixture.
5. drop dough onto prepared baking sheets, approximately 1 1/2″ apart (they will spread a little). flatten with your fork, using a criss-cross pattern. (you may need to dip your fork in a little bit of cocoa powder to prevent the fork from sticking)
6. bake for approximately 7-9 minutes. cookies should be set, and bottoms should be light brown.
enjoy!
yield: approximately 40 cookies.

i’ve spent a lot of time in the nutmeg state… i got my undergrad degree at fairfield u. (yea, stags!) and did my first year of master’s work at uconn (go huskies!) throughout my professional theatre career, i worked at a number of connecticut theatres, and even took some shows through a few road houses in the state. and then finally, while working in nyc, i spent a number of years living in a lovely duplex in fairfield. as you can tell, i’ve got lots of roots in the nutmeg state, so it’s only fitting that i include a cookie recipe that has the wonderful and intriguing flavor of nutmeg laced throughout it…

a version of this recipe was given to me by a neighbor in fairfield – over the years i’ve played around with it, making inevitable changes trying to perfect the texture and the taste. i think i’ve got a pretty darn good bar cookie here – it definitely borders on a cake, and would work well served up with a squirt of freshly whipped cream!

nutmeg spice bars
ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup baker’s sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup buttermilk

instructions:
1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. butter and line with buttered parchment paper a 13×9 pan.
2. in a small bowl, whisk the flour, nutmeg, baking soda and salt together and set aside.
3. in your mixer bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. add the egg to the butter mixture, beating until well combined.
5. add half the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. mix on low speed just until combined.
6. add the buttermilk to the butter mixture, beating until well-incorporated and smooth.
7. add the remaining dry ingredients, beating just until well-combined.
8. spoon into your prepared pan, making sure batter is smooth on top.
9. bake for 30 minutes, until batter has turned light golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
10. remove from oven and cool in pan for approximately 20 minutes. then, using the parchment ‘swing’, remove from the pan, placing on wire rack to cool completely.
11. once it is completely cool, using the parchment ‘swing’, place on cutting board and carefully remove parchment from bottom and sides of ‘sheet cake’. cut into 24″ square bars.
enjoy!
yield: 24″ square bars.

with september fast approaching, i can almost smell the excitement in the air. school’s getting ready to begin, and it was always my favorite time of year! i especially loved the ‘pre-school’ shopping. for clothes? no, of course not. my favorite shopping had to do with new erasers and pencil boxes and notebooks and binders. to this day, i still love the look of a brand new notebook and the smell of a freshly sharpened pencil!

a new school year also meant that i’d have a new lunchbox. my favorite being my original vinyl barbie lunchbox.

it was just the right size to fit my thermos of juice, my tuna fish sandwich, a piece of fruit and two cookies. these chocolate sugar cookies were perfect lunchbox cookies because they were the perfect size to fit in the lunchbox without getting squished, they held up well and were always in one piece when they arrived at school, and, well, they were chocolate. what more could i ask for?

i wish i still had that lunchbox. forget the fact that it would probably be worth a pretty penny on ebay, it would be delightful to use it to carry my lunch of juice, tuna sandwich and some fruit even today! and please don’t forget the cookies!

chocolate sugar cookies
ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon dutch-processed cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups baker’s sugar
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (I used plain, unflavored crisco)
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

instructions
1. preheat oven to 375 degrees. line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. melt vegetable shortening in a small saucepan over low heat. allow to cool.
3. whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt and instant espresso powder together in a medium bowl.
4. cream together butter and sugar in your mixer bowl until mixture is creamy, fluffy and very pale, about 3-4 minutes.
5. add melted shortening into the butter mixture, mixing until smooth.
6. add egg and vanilla, mixing until creamy and well-combined.
7. with your mixer on its lowest speed, add the flour mixture in two increments, mixing just until combined. do not overmix or the cookies will be tough.
8. using your #40 scoop, drop rounded scoops of dough approximately 3 inches apart (see photo). the dough must be spaced well, as these cookies spread while baking!

9. bake until edges are firm, 19 – 20 minutes. remove from oven.
10. let cookies sit on baking sheet for 3-4 minutes, then transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.
enjoy!
yield: 24 cookies

when i was a young girl, my grandma would take me to her favorite chinese restaurant in parkchester. she always ordered chow mein. and though i don’t remember one bit what i used to eat for the main course, i remember vividly the anticipation i felt for dessert. always one scoop of chocolate ice cream, served with the most delicious almond cookie ever. well, for those of you who remember those savory almond cookies, this recipe will make you very happy. these are easy to make, and just as good as i remember them!

almond cookies
ingredients:
1 (1/2 lb.) cup lard (substitute plain crisco shortening if you can’t find lard)
1/2 cup baker’s sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 dozen whole blanched almonds*
small bowl of flour for flattening dough
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons cool water

*if you can find them, purchase whole blanched almonds. if they are not available, get whole almonds and blanch them yourself!

instructions:
1. preheat oven to 350 degrees. line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. in your mixer bowl, beat the lard with both sugars until creamy and smooth.
3. add egg and almond extract until well-blended.
4. stir flour, salt and baking powder into the creamed mixture until well-combined.
5. with your #40 scoop, place scoop of dough about 2 inches apart on your prepared baking sheets. dip the bottom of a flat glass into a bit of flour, then press dough until it is flat and about 2 inches around.
6. press one blanched almond into each flattened scoop of dough.
7. in a small bowl, combine the yolk and water until well combined, then, with your pastry brush, gently brush the yolk mixture over the top of each cookie.
8. bake for 11 minutes, until cookies are lightly browned. remove from oven and let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet.
9. remove cookies from baking sheet and transfer to wire rack to cool completely.
enjoy!
yield:32 cookies

did you feel the need for a little chocolate today? because this cookie packs a chocolate punch like no other! the combination of chocolate cookie dough and lots of chocolate chips makes this a rich, gooey, chewy cookie that will satisfy even the biggest chocoholic! they are delicious while still warm, and heat up nicely for about 10 seconds in the microwave on the second day. but if your house is anything like mine, they won’t last ’til the second day!

chocolate chocolate chip cookies
ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1/2 cup baker’s sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

instructions:
1. preheat oven to 325 degrees. line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. beat butter and both sugars together in your mixing bowl until smooth and creamy.
3. add the egg and vanilla and beat for about 30 seconds until completely incorporated into the butter mixture.
4. add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt, mixing on low speed just until incorporated into butter mixture.
5. by hand, stir in the chocolate chips.
6. with your #40 scoop, place scoops of cookie dough on your prepared baking sheets, approximately 2 inches apart. flatten down just a bit with your fingertips.
7. bake for 11 minutes – cookies will be set, but still quite soft.
8. remove from oven and let rest on baking sheet for 5 minutes.
9. remove cookies from baking sheet, transferring them to wire rack to cool completely.
enjoy!
yield: approximately 48 cookies.