I have been in total cookie baking mode since making my gingerbread cookies. My second holiday baking adventure began when I started searching for the perfect shortbread recipe. I have always been a huge fan of shortbread. In the past I have had some success with the recipe that I always use to use. My old recipe was good but not spectacular.

I found a new recipe at allrecipes.com, for shortbread logs that sounded delightful. It was super basic, and I had all the ingredients on hand, so I set out to give it a whirl. This was my first time ever baking short bread cookies with real butter! The cookies turned out to be AMAZING! They are dangerously addicting, and I attribute a large part of the amazing factor to the butter (instead of margarine).

If you have never made shortbread cookies using real butter, I recommend you give it a try. Seriously, you won’t be sorry.

To see the recipe head over to allrecipes.com.

I wonder what my next holiday baking adventure will entail…

It’s time to start the holiday baking! Since setting up my Christmas tree at the Festival of Tree’s last weekend, I have been in a Christmasy mood. I had a major desire to kick off my holiday baking with making some gingerbread. I spent a lot of time online looking for a recipe that appealed to me. In previous years I always used cookbook recipes, but I was never very satisfied with them.

I found a fabulous recipe for gingerbread at allrecipes.com that is by far the best gingerbread I have ever made, and maybe ever eaten. The cookies are super soft (even a couple days after baking), and have that traditional ginger molasses flavor.

Before choosing to use this recipe, I read all of the comments about it. One particular comment taught me a new baking technique that I am so grateful to have learned. I have always had trouble making cut-out cookies. They often stuck to what ever surface I rolled dough out on (even with refrigerating the dough). One of the commenter’s recommended using parchment paper on the surface where the dough is rolled out on, as well as on top of the dough (use cookie cutters through the parchment paper). I followed the commenter’s suggestions and was blown away with how easy it was to make cut out cookies. I have a new appreciation for cut-out cookies!

To check out the recipe head over to allrecipes.com

I can’t wait to start my next holiday baking adventure.

Do you have a favorite gingerbread recipe?

It’s December already! I can’t believe it. It seems like it was just January a couple months ago. Christmas is just around the corner. That means it  is time to start the festive baking.
Our family has quite a few holiday recipes that we have made year after year, and they are always very popular.

One of my ultimate favorite Christmas delight is for black and white cookies. I made these cookies a couple days ago, and they have been a huge hit as usual. The recipe comes from the  Oetker German Home Baking cookbook by August Oeker Bielefeld (page 65). This recipe is one that wouldn’t dare morph in any way shape or form. I follow it to the book. I doubled it since it is so popular. Here is the recipe (the doubled version)

Black and White Cookies

Light Pastry
18 oz  all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
11 oz white sugar
3 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 tsp rum extract
2 eggs
9 oz butter or margarine (I always use margarine)

Dark Pastry
2 level tbsp cocoa
1 level tbsp white sugar
1 tbsp milk

For brushing
Egg white (if desired I usually don’t do this, but it works too).

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl combine the flour, and baking powder. Make a well in the centre and pour in the sugar, vanilla extract, rum extract, and egg. Mix to form a thick paste. Cut in the margarine. Knead the dough to form a soft (possibly sticky ball of dough. Break the ball in half. Set one half of the dough in a separate bowl.
In one bowl of dough add the cocoa, sugar, and milk.. Knead until a dark chocolate dough forms. If the dough seems quite sticky cover it, and refrigerate it for about 30 minutes.

Cutting the formed cookie rolls (this is my mom's hand, she assisted with assembly of the cookies)

Form the dough into the following patterns:

For a pinwheel pattern: roll out two rectangles that are about the same size (one light and one dark). Lay the two rectangles on top of each other (if you find they don’t stick together well, then brush with egg white). Roll up the dough.

For a checkerboard pattern: roll out two snake like rolls of each color dough. Stick all the rolls together alternating colors. Pat the combined roll down on each side to  make it more like a square.

Cut the formed rolls into equal sized cookies on a cutting board with a very sharp knife. Place on cookie sheets. Bake in the preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are just starting to change to a very light color gold/brown.

Enjoy.

]]> http://www.lisaopolis.com/a-family-tradition-black-and-white-cookies/feed/ 1 http://www.lisaopolis.com/pecan-cookies-for-nut-lovers-only/ http://www.lisaopolis.com/pecan-cookies-for-nut-lovers-only/#comments Mon, 30 Nov 2009 19:17:09 +0000 Lisa http://www.lisaopolis.com/?p=574

Last night I was in the mood for baking. I picked a random recipe from the Magnificent Cookies Cookbook by Kathryn L. Ramsay. I chose the pecan cookies recipes, and set to work baking. Since so many recipes from this cook book that I have tried have ended up too crumbly or dry, I decided to add an extra egg to this recipe.  I used ground pecans in the cookies rather then pecan chunks that the recipe called for (only because there were not enough pecans left). I did however place a full or part of a pecan on top of each cookie before baking. This turned out to be a nice touch both in taste and appearance.

The cookies turned out really well. They have a lovely almond flavor, and the pecan on the top is a tasty bonus. The cookies are soft, jus the way I like them. The only crunch in the cookie is the pecan on top.

Here is my adapted recipe.

Pecan Cookies

1 cup olive oil margarine
½ cup not packed brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
2 extra large eggs
1 tsp pure almond extract
3 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 cup ground pecans
about 30-40 pecans (shelled) whole or pecan pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl add the margarine, and sugars. Cream. Add the eggs, and almond extract. Cream until blended. Add all the remaining ingredients (except the whole pecans or pecan pieces). Beat until smooth.  Form cookies by making balls and flattening them. Add pecans to the top of each cookie before baking. Bake for about 13 minutes in the preheated oven. Enjoy.

The cookies before baking

–Soft chocolatey goodness–

That is the only way I can describe the cookies that I made recently. They were the perfect soft texture that I yearn for in every cookie. The chocolate glaze really took these cookies to a whole new level of greatness.

The recipe that I used came from the Magnificent Cookies Cookbook by Katheryn L. Ramsay. I changed the recipe quite a bit to suit my needs. I reduced the sugar in half only using ½ cup brown sugar and using no white sugar (when the recipe called for ½ cup white sugar as well). However I did use semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of the unsweetened chocolate that the recipe said to use. I thought that the chocolate chips would make up for the reduced sugar. The reduction was okay, since the cookies did turn out to be amazing, however I would add a little bit more sugar next time I make them (perhaps ¼ cup white sugar).

I added 1 tsp kahlua to this recipe which was not called for. I think it was a great addition, and next time I make these cookies I’ll probably add at least 2 tsp because I think increasing the intensity of that flavor will make these cookies to die for.

Here my adapted recipe

Double Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
2 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup olive oil margarine
½ cup not packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp kahlua
2 cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
½ cup skim milk

Glaze
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp milk

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Melt margarine, and 2 oz chocolate chips in a large sauce pan on low heat. When everything is melted and blended remove from heat. Stir in the sugar. Add the egg, vanilla extract, and kahlua and mix well. In a large bowl add the four, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Mix well. Add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture and blend until smooth. The dough will be fairly thin (compared to many kinds of cookie dough) and smooth and shiny. Drop by tablespoon onto cookie sheets. Bake for about 12 minutes. Cool on rack.

The cookies before baking

The cookies after baking

Glaze

While the cookies are cooling melt the 3 oz chocolate chips, and the tbsp margarine in the sauce pan you used to make the chocolate mixture. Melt until smooth and blended. Remove from heat and add the tbsp milk. Stir vigorously for about 2 minutes. Spread the glaze on your cooled cookies. Let it set, and enjoy.

The finished cookie. Yum

I followed this recipe to the book.

The cookies tasted very yummy, but there were some issues with them. I suspected there would be problems with them once they were in the dough stage right before baking. The dough was way too crumbly. It stuck together (just barely), enough to roll the cookies into balls. However when I tried to use to thimble on them (as instructed) the cookies really crumbled when pressed. Consequently I ended up pressing the cookies lightly with my fingers instead, but that didn’t create enough of an indent to insert the jam properly after baking. I think using more egg and maybe more margarine too would solve this issue.

I’m not going to post the recipe yet, because this recipe does need some modifying. I will make this recipe again one day, since I love the taste, I just need to work on the texture.

Here is a photo.
Note the cookies should be twice as flat but because of the crumbliness I was not able to flatten them more

Lately I have been reading the Magnificent Cookies Cookbook by Kathryn L. Ramsay. I had my eye on the Giant Oatmeal Cookie recipe (on page 18) for quite some time. Two days ago I finally gave it a go.

I was a little hesitant to try this recipe because it seemed like it would make a massive mountain of cookie dough, and also the instructions say to bake 5 cookies at a time. If I was to make 5 cookies at a time I would be making cookies for hours, even if they are massive. The recipe says it makes 20 giant cookies.

I was intrigued by this recipe since it says to line the cookie sheets with aluminum foil (dull side up). I had never done this before when making cookies so I thought it would be interesting to try it and see what kind of result it produces.

I decided to start with making 5 giant cookies.

My 5 giant oatmeal raison cookies turned out very well. I used the aluminum foil on the cookie sheet as the recipe instructed. The cookies turned out nice and soft (just the way I like them) and slightly golden. Even once the cookies were totally cooled they remained soft.

1/2 of a giant cookie

the bottom of the giant cookie

For the remaining mountain of cookie dough I made small to medium sized cookies on an unlined non-stick cookie sheet. These cookies turned out much less soft, and more brown on the bottom.

top of small cookie

bottom of small cookie

I am not sure if the difference in the softness of the cookies was related to the size of the cookies or the aluminum foil lining the pan vs. not lining the pan.

Does anyone know what the purpose of lining a cookie sheet with aluminum foil is?

Here is the recipe I used adapted from the Magnificent Cookies Cookbook (page 18).
My only modification was with the sugar. I used  1.5 cups of brown sugar instead of one cup of white sugar and one cup of brown sugar (I eliminated the white sugar).

Oatmeal Raison Cookies

1 cup olive oil margarine
1 ½ cup not packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp ground allspice
1 ½ tsp ground cloves
1 ½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp nutmeg
3 cups baking oatmeal
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with aluminum foil (dull side up).

In a large bowl add the margarine, brown sugar, and eggs. Beat until smooth. Add all the remaining ingredients (except raisins). and beat until smooth. Add the raisins, and blend until they evenly distributed in the dough. If making the giant cookies use an ice cream scoop and place 5 cookies on your pre lined cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Remove from the oven and place the foil (with the cookies) onto a cooking rack.

Overall I am happy with the way my cookies turned out but I prefer the giant ones to the smaller ones because they are softer.

Do you have a favorite oatmeal raisin cookie recipe?

]]> http://www.lisaopolis.com/oatmeal-raisin-cookies/feed/ 0 http://www.lisaopolis.com/gingersnaps-galore/ http://www.lisaopolis.com/gingersnaps-galore/#comments Sat, 24 Oct 2009 00:26:01 +0000 Lisa http://www.lisaopolis.com/?p=467

This afternoon it was rainy and cold out. I had planned to plant some blueberry bushes outside but the weather just was a bit too chilly for that. Instead I decided to bake some cookies. I made my favorite recipe for gingersnaps. I found the recipe in: Magnificent Cookies Cookbook by Kathryn L. Ramsay (page 30).

This is one of the only recipes I don’t morph (well almost). I made one change to the recipe I used 1 cup of non packed brown sugar instead of one cup of firmly packed brown sugar. I also changed the baking temperature and time from 325 degrees F to 350 degrees F. I baked my cookies at 350 F for 7 to 8 minutes instead of the 12-14 minutes that the recipe calls for. I think the hotter baking temperature for a shorter period of time resulted in softer cookies (just the way I like them).

Here is the recipe.

Gingersnaps

½ cup Butter (I used olive oil margarine)
1 cup Brown Sugar
1 large Egg
¼ cup molasses
2 cups all purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground allspice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream the margarine with an electric mixer. Add the brown sugar, molasses, and egg, and beat until smooth. Add the flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice beat until a soft dough forums. Knead the dough until it is a smooth ball. Transfer the dough to a cookie sheet by the teaspoonful. Bake in your preheated oven for 7 to 8 minutes. Let cookies sit once out of the oven for a few minutes on the cookie sheet (cover them with a towel to maintain their softness.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk or beverage of your choice.

Lately I have been in the spring cleaning mood. I had been thinking about cleaning out one of the cupboards (the cookie/cracker treat cupboard) for quite awhile. There were a few small Halloween size boxes of Smarties from Halloween and a few Hershey’s Kisses that had been in the cupboard for a least a year. Since no one in our house likes to waste anything unless it is moldy or otherwise compromised, I decided to search for a recipe to turn the Smarties, and Kisses into some cookies.

I found a recipe on this website www.cooksrecipes.com/cookie/super_smarties_cookies_recipe.html.

I modified the recipe only slightly. I added some rum extract for extra flavor, I also used more vanilla extract then the recipe indicated. With the smarties I cut each one in half (since I don’t like big chunks and I had very few smarties), I also used Hershey’s chocolate kisses. I cut the kisses into small pieces. I used a total of 1 cup of smarties combine with kisses.

The cookies turned out very well. The are soft, and a little bit chewy from the oatmeal (in a good way). They also have a small amount of crunch from the smarties. The combined textures make a very delightful cookie.

Here is my modified recipe:

Kiss Smartie Cookies

1 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 cup olive oil margarine

¾ white granulated sugar

½ cup lightly packed brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp rum extract

3 large eggs

2 cups rolled oats

Smarties (desired amount)

Kisses (desired amount)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl combine the margerine, vanilla and rum extracts, and eggs. Beat well. Add the sugars and beat well. Add the flour, salt and baking soda. Beat until smooth. Now prepare the smarties and kisses (cut to desired size). Add the oats and the smarties/kisses mixture. Blend. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 12-13 minutes in your preheated oven. Enjoy.

This recipe makes about 50 medium sized cookies.

Tonight I was in the baking mood. However I didn’t have much energy or ambition, so I decided to defrost some cookie dough. I made my favorite cookie dough; English Bay Double Chocolate Chip Cookie dough into wonderful cookies.

I baked these cookies for 14 minutes. They turned out soft, but slightly crunchy on the bottom. I prefer my cookies very soft. The container says to bake them for 10-15 minutes. Consequently I think next time I will bake them for 12 minutes.

Despite the cookies not being ultra soft, they were still an exquisite treat for the taste buds.

I had my cookie with a small glass of skim milk.

I would recommend this cookie dough to all chocolate lovers! It is a must try.