First Cookies of the Season

Last night I had the honor of baking the first Christmas cookies of the season!  At work today we had a Mexican and Italian themed holiday luncheon.  I sign up to bring a dessert, so I decided to bring Mexican Wedding Cookies!  Have you had these cookies before?  They are so easy to make and quite delicious.  Plus, they look like little snowballs...how Christmasy!  I have been making them at Christmas time for the past few years and they are always a hit.  As usual, I used whole wheat flour and I did not have enough pecans, so I used almonds too.  I didn't get to try one (there were too many other goodies to eat), but they were all gone by the end of the day...so they must have been good.  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients.

 

Hot cookie being rolled in powered sugar.

 

Finished.

Mexican Wedding Cookies

by Paula Deen

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands

1 cup pecans, chopped into very small pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until it is smooth.
3. Beat in the vanilla.
4. At low speed gradually add the flour.
5. Mix in the pecans with a spatula.
6. With floured hands, take out about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into a crescent. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies.
7. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes.
8. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in additional confectioners' sugar. Cool on wire racks.

So Long Circus Animals, Taffy Sandwiches and Flaky Flix...

I came across some incredibly sad news today!  Thanks to one of my favorite Foodie Blogs, Cookie Madness, I found out that Mother's Cookies is closing down!!

Here is a link to the bad news.

How can Mother's Cookies close down?!  Didn't EVERYONE eats these cookies as a kid?!  What will the world be like without Circus Animals or Parade Cookies?! 

Jeremy and my mother-in-law might find it hard to go on without Fudge Flaky Flix!

 

And my dad, my father-in-law and I will be going through serious Taffy Sandwich Cookie withdrawals. 

 Oh, the horror, the horror!!  Hurry!!  Before it's too late.  Run to the nearest grocery store and stock up on your favorites during these sad times...

Blue Ribbon Almond Roca Cookies

I've said this before and I'll say it again...I LOVE COOKIES!  I'm a huge fan of any and all types of cookies.  A few months ago, I got to talking with my friend, Kayla, about toffee and Almond Roca.  I mentioned that I had a great recipe for Almond Roca Cookies and that I would make her some.  Well, life got in the way and I got busy, but since I'm not one to tease about cookies, I finally got around to making them the other night and they did not disappoint! 

This is a Food Network recipe from one of Emeril's holiday shows a few years ago.  On the show he had some of the viewers best cookie recipes and once I saw this one I just had to make them.

These cookies are really easy to through together and the only trouble I had was finding toffee bits!  Has anyone else run into this problem?!  I went to 3 grocery stores and they did not carry them.  Then, I went to Wal-Mart and they were all out!  The closest I could find was a mix of toffee bits and milk chocolate pieces.  Maybe toffee bits are just more of a holiday item?

Anyway, I highly recommend these cookies for those of you who like Almond Roca!  They are delicious, covered in almonds and then drizzled with chocolate.  Yum!  As usual, I used whole wheat flour and subbed egg whites.  I personally like to leave these cookies in the frig so that the chocolate stays nice and firm, while the cookies have a cool, crisp texture, but they are great at room temperature too.

Enjoy! (Glad you liked them, Kayla!)

Dough balls, rolled in almonds and ready to hit the oven.

 

Cooled cookies.

Melting the chocolate.

Finished cookies!

Blue Ribbon Almond Roca Cookies

Recipe courtesy Lynn Scully, Rancho Santa Fe, California

Makes approximately 4 dozen

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 package toffee bits
• 1 cup coarsely ground almonds
• 4 ounces milk chocolate
• 1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend sugars together on medium speed. Add butter and mix to form a grainy paste. Add eggs and vanilla and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy. At low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and then the toffee bits. Mix until just blended; do not over-mix.

Place ground nuts in a small bowl. Using hands, roll balls of dough into 1 to 1 1/2-inch balls, then roll in the ground nuts. Place on cookie sheets several inches apart. Bake approximately 22 minutes and then transfer cookies to a cooling rack.

Melt the chocolate with the vegetable oil in a double boiler or in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Drizzle melted chocolate over cooled cookies. Place cookies on a cookie sheet and place in freezer or refrigerator until chocolate is firmly set.

A Chance to Bake

Well, in my brief return home this weekend I asked Jeremy if he wanted me to bake him some cookies or just buy him some.  Luckily for me (and my love for baking), he said he'd rather me to bake him some!  Yay!  So, I decided to make him some "Oh My D-Lux Chocolate Chip Cookies."  I've made him these multiple times before and he's rather fond of them, so he's enjoying a few as right now, as I type.

I found this recipe on Recipezaar and they are very tasty.  They include cereal, shredded coconut, nuts and of course, chocolate chips!  The combination of all the chunky ingredients creates a delicious and great texture for the cookie.  I used Corn Flakes, instead of Rice Krispies, left out the nuts (didn't have any) and subbed 1/4 cup of applesauce for 1 egg, since I forgot to buy more at the store earlier.  I also used Smart Balance 50/50 Butter Blend and I've decided that I don't like using this for baking!  As my cookies cooled, I noticed that they got really crispy (as did some cookies that I had previously made with this butter), instead of staying nice and soft (a general result of real butter).  Has anyone else used this Smart Balance butter and found the same result?  Oh well, the cookies are definitely still edible!

These lip smacking treats are easy to throw together and hard to stop eating!  I think I've already had four! :)  Enjoy!

 

Ingredients.

 

Mixing everything together with my PINK mixer.

 

Finished cookies!

Oh My D-Lux Chocolate Chip Cookies

by Recipezaar

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups firmly packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 cups Rice Krispies

1-2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Cream butter and add sugar, beating at low speed until light and fluffy.

3. Add eggs and vanilla and beat well.

4. Combine flour and baking powder and add to creamed mixture until well combined.

5. Stir in remaining ingredients.

6. Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls (or roll into 1 inch balls) onto baking sheets.

7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

8. Cool on wire racks.

Oreo and Kit Kat Cookies!!

Alright, here is our first post for August...can you believe it's August already?  Where has the time gone?   Sorry for the lack of blogging, I'll try to pick it up.   

As you all know, I love baking and I love cookies!  However, I'm not a huge fan of store bought packaged cookies (besides Oreo's and Mother's Taffy cookies)...I like homemade one or freshly baked ones from store. 

Tonight I decided to make some cookies as a treat for Jerm and me.  A few weeks ago, I made Picky Palate's Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies (one of my favorite foodie blogs) .  Oh my gosh, they were so good.  We still had all the ingredients, therefore I decided to make them again.  As I pulled things together, I realized that I didn't have chocolate chips...but I did have 2 Kit Kat bars...hmmm.  Kit Kat's AND Oreo's in a cookie?!  Sign me up for that!  So, I just subbed the chopped up Kit Kat bars for the chocolate chips.  Of course, they turned out delicious...but honestly, what wouldn't be delicious with Oreo's and Kit Kat's?

Ingredients

Chopping up the Kit Kat bars

Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookies

by Jenny of Picky Palate

1 stick softened butter
6 Tablespoons sugar
6 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 ¼ Cup flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
8 broken pieces Oreo Cookies
1 Cup chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla until mixed well.

2. Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl, stir to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients then stir in oreos and chocolate chips until just combined.

3. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until cooked, but still soft. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

 

Yummy, yum, yum!