Decorating Cookies

Now that you have these wonderful and lovely cookies, you may want to decorate them.  But you may not want to spend all day doing that.  Here are a couple of easy ways to finish them off.


Pretty Pink Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups confectioners sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-2 drops of red food coloring
• red decorating sugar (optional)

Directions:

Mix the ingredients together, using enough milk to make a relatively thin glaze.

I like to have glaze over the entire cookie, so I dip the bottoms in first and let them dry on a rack.

Then, dip them from the top and sprinkle with red sugar if desired.

Let these cookies dry, and you'll have delicious and beautiful treats!

Gold Bricks

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup butterscotch chips
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon shortening

Directions:

Melt the chips over a double boiler.

When the chips are about half melted, add the corn syrup and shortening.

This is a reasonably thick covering, so I only dip the tops into the melted "gold" mixture.  Once they have cooled and the "gold" has set, I like to outline the the design on the top using a toothpick.  Just makes it show up a little bit better.   Beautiful!  And so yummy.

How do you like to decorate cookies?

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Sugar Cookies for a Form Pan

Last year, in the after-Valentines's-Day sales, I got the cutest cookie pan.   Apparently I got the only one, because I've scoured the internet and cannot find a picture of it to show you. 

 And of course neglected to take a picture of mine. 

Anyway, I knew that I needed the right cookie recipe to use with this pan. It has great details, but often you will find cookies don't like to conform to the pan details very well. And those that do, often don't have great flavor. I think this recipe fits both requirements - pretty AND tastes good!

Sugar Cookies for Shaped Pans

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 
• 1/2 teaspoon  Almond Extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly spray pan cavities with cooking spray.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg and extracts; mix well. Combine flour and salt; add to butter mixture. Beat until well blended.

Press dough into cavities, filling 2/3 full.  This is important - too full (or not full enough) and the cookies won't be shaped properly.

Bake 9-10 minutes or until light brown around edges.

Cool in pan 5 minutes. Turn pan over; lightly tap pan to remove cookies. Cool completely on cooling grid.  Decorate with frosting or otherwise as desired.

You can see that just the very edges are brown.  Perfect!

These are very tender when they are just removed from the oven, so it is important to let them sit for a few minutes prior to removing them from the pan.  That will help them keep their shape and make decorating easier.

Tomorrow I'll show you an easy way to turn these cookies into showstoppers!

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Almond Crescent Cookies

Just after Christmas, I found a great deal on boxes of Classic Sugar Cookie mix.  25 cents each!  I used one of those, with some almonds and powdered sugar to make some delicious treats today.



Almond Crescent Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box sugar cookie mix
• 1/2 cup butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds
• Confectioners sugar to decorate

Directions:

In a stand mixer, blend the cookie mix, butter, eggs, almond extract and almonds until thoroughly mixed.

Carefully shape spoonfuls of dough into a crescent shape and coat with confectioners sugar.  Place on a silpat-covered baking sheet.  Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and dust with additional confectioners sugar.

Yum!

They are quite sweet, but deliciously addictive.  They don't take long to make, so it won't be too difficult to make a second batch when these go quickly!

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Cake Mix Crinkle Cookies

I love cookies.  Growing up, we didn't always have dessert, but when we did, it was often cookies.  Always three.  I think three must be some sort of magic number, at least when it comes to cookies.

I had to make a baked good for The Girl's water polo sleepover, and I immediately thought of cookies.  I had plans to make some sugar cookies, decorated in a water polo theme, but found myself with only about 90 minutes to make them and get her to the the sleepover.

Something fast?  Cake mix cookies?  Something that doesn't look fast?  Hmm...  I thought if I rolled them in powdered sugar, they would look a bit fancier.  What do you think?



Cake Mix Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box any flavor Duncan Hines cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter
• Confectioners sugar for rolling

Directions:

Using a stand mixer, mix the butter and cake mix together.  Add the eggs and mix until blended.   {once it was mixed I added some sprinkles for a little color}


Spread confectioners sugar onto a piece of parchment paper.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto the parchment paper and roll into balls.  The dough will be soft, so work gently.

Place the balls onto a silpat-lined cookie sheet and press down slightly.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

They are done when the cookies are just set and the edges are golden brown.  You will need to be careful as you remove the cookies from the cookie sheet - they will be quite soft.

Don't worry - when they cool, they are crisp on the outside and tender on the inside.

And look - beautiful, uniform cookies.  Like you baked all day.

No one needs to know your secret!

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Cinnamon Angel Cookies

I don't think it is any secret that I love cookies.  My mom always had cookies for dessert.  And three was the correct number of cookies to have for dessert.  To this day, I don't feel like dinner is complete without a cookie.

I wanted cookies last night, but didn't necessarily want to go to all the trouble of baking them from scratch.  I had a box of angel food cake mix and decided to try to make cinnamon cookies with it.  Here's what I did:


Cinnamon Angel Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box angel food cake mix
• 1/2 cup water
• 3 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup flour

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 375degress F.
2.  Combine cake mix and water.
3.  Drop cookies by rounded teaspoonful onto silpat covered baking sheet.
4.  Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are set and the edges golden. Remove from oven; cool completely.

These are delicious!  They taste wondefully cinnamon-y and a bit like a snickerdoodle.  And they came together in a flash.  So worth a try!

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Cookie Time: Peanut Butter Blossoms

Time to get started on those Christmas cookies!  I bake lots of cookies to give as gifts to friends and co-workers this time of year, and it is always a challenge to properly plan the baking and packaging of all of it.

I don't have a lot of free time this time of the year (I am sure I am not unique here either).  I can't bake them all at one time, so I bake them in stages.  These Peanut Butter Blossoms store really well, so I like to bake these first.

{unfortunately, these are also some of our favorites... and they tend not to last long even though they store well.... unless I hide them well}

Here's how I make these classic holiday favorites:




Peanut Butter Blossoms

Ingredients:

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup chunky peanut butter
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 2 teaspoon vanilla
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• candy kisses

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Cream sugars, butter and peanut butter. Beat in eggs, milk, and vanilla. Sift flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to peanut butter mixture and mix well.
3. Roll into balls and roll in sugar. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8 to 10 minutes. Take cookies out and press candy kisses in the center of each cookie and bake for another 1 to 2 minutes. Cool on wire rack.
4. Makes about 4 dozen

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Angel Cookies Meet Devil Cookies

I'm officially in love with these cookies.    Super-sweet, and chock full of white chocolate chips, they taste a little bit like cake with the frosting on the inside.

I took a batch of these to a potluck at work today.  Along with a batch of my favorite jalapeno chocolate cookies, Fired Up Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Angel Cookies meet Devil Cookies.  A delightful match!



Angel Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 box white cake mix
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 2 eggs
• 1 bag white chocolate chips

Directions:

Using a stand mixer, mix the butter and cake mix together.  Add the eggs and mix until blended.  Add the white chocolate chips and mix until blended.


I used a "funfetti" mix - you can see the color sprinkles in the batter here.

Drop by spoonful onto silpat-lined cookie sheets.

Bake at 350 F for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the edges are just golden brown.

Perfection!

Here's a quick tip:  When baking, be careful to drop the cookies in the same sized pieces, and shape them as close to the same shape as possible.  This will produce much more uniform cookies!

Serve along with the batch of Devil Cookies (Fired Up Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies).  Your guests will love the blend of sweet and spicy.  If your cookies make it that far.

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Candy Apple Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint cookies are wonderful shortbread cookies with a dab of jam or jelly for a little flavor delight.  And they can be modified quite easily to give you whatever flavor you would like.

The easiest way to get the flavor you would like is simply to use that kind of jam.  But what if you can't find the right kind of jam?  Then you might want to add something to the cookie itself.  Maybe you'd like chocolate raspberry thumbprint cookies - add cocoa to the shortbread cookie dough and use raspberry jam.  Or try something really creative - savory thumbprint cookies... cut back on the sugar in the dough, add a bit of extra butter and fill with cheese or perhaps a bit of habanero peach ketchup!

I took a basic shortbread recipe and modified it so that I would have a great vehicle for my Apple Cinnamon Jelly.  Give these a try - I think you'll like them!


Candy Apple Thumbprint Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons butter, softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 apple, peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
• Apple Cinnamon Jelly

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together flour,  baking powder, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar together until fluffy, then add vanilla, grated apple and walnuts and mix on low to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix until combined.Cover with plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll the dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. If using nuts, dip the balls into the egg whites then roll them into the nuts until covered. Place the balls on parchment lined cookie sheets.  Press down with your thumb to make a small well in the center of the cookie. Do not press too hard or the cookie will fall apart. Fill with 1/2 teaspoon of jelly.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until slightly firm, and slightly browned at the edges.

Allow to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet to firm up before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Buttery shortbread cookies, with moist apples and candy cinnamon topping.  They remind me of a candy apple in a cookie.  One of these a day might be just what the doctor ordered!

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