Monster Cookies

 

I know, they don't look like much.   But a couple years ago, I won a gift basket in a raffle and it included something called "Monster Cookies" and they were so delicious, I had to figure out how to make them. At the time, I was regularly baking for an assortment of carpenters, plumbers and electricians that were working on my house, so I was always looking for something new to try.   I made a batch of these and presented them to the 2 young electricians that were installing the ceiling fan in my craft room.   One of them said "I can't have them, I'm gluten free!" and I was thrilled to tell him that these cookies are, indeed, gluten free.   Not that they are healthy, or anything.   

Monster Cookies 

1/2 c butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 c creamy peanut butter
1 c brown sugar
3/4 c granulated sugar
1 t honey
1 t vanilla
2 t baking soda
1 t salt
3 eggs
1 c mini M&M's
1 c semi sweet chocolate chips
4 1/2 c old fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars, corn syrup, vanilla, soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl till very creamy, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and mix well.

Stir in M&M's, chocolate chips, and oats till well combined. (Dough will be fairly sticky.) Form tablespoons of dough into balls and place them onto silicone lined or greased cookie sheets. Flatten cookie dough balls with the palm of your hand.

Bake at 350° for 9-10 minutes.

Fresh Raspberry Bars

 

It's been awhile since I posted.  I realize it is now September already, and it's 48 F here at the lakehouse and the air is starting to smell like fall.    July and August got past me, which is unusual, but with all this construction going on, I will have to cut myself some slack.    We finally got our kitchen appliances in, and it took a long while until I could bake anything because the backsplash needed to be installed before the vent hood, which needed the countertops in which were backordered, etc.   I couldn't start baking for the construction crew until early August.  Until then, I'd get them some "bakery" which is how they say it up here...when you buy baked goods instead of making them.   Luckily for me, I was able to start baking right when my raspberries were ripe in early August. 

The first thing I made for them was fresh raspberry bars.  These came out great!  We had a ton of raspberries this year, which was wonderful because the thimbleberries were a bust this year.   Not enough water, I guess.   It has barely rained this summer and there has been many forest fires, even one on Isle Royale.   

Fresh Raspberry Bars

3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups sugar, divided
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup shortening
2 large eggs, beaten
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 cups fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 375F

In a large bowl, combine the flour, 1 cup sugar, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. With your fingers, pinch in the shortening until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in eggs and extract. Press two-thirds of the mixture into a greased 13x9-in. baking dish. In a large bowl, combine cornstarch and remaining sugar; add berries and gently toss. Spoon over crust. Sprinkle with remaining crumb mixture. Bake at 375° for 35-45 minutes or until bubbly and golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator.

I'll try to catch up on my blogging this week to make up for lost time.   Today, we have the usual 3 carpenters here trimming out  and a couple of electricians so I will have to make more baked goods than usual.   

Cowboy Cookies

Way back when the world was a simpler place,  and when Presidential elections weren't as dramatic as they are today, the potential First Ladies engaged in a cookie recipe contest.   In 2000, Laura Bush vied for cookie fame with her Cowboy Cookie recipe vs. Tipper Gore's Gingersnap Cookie.   Of course, the chocolate chip cookie won by a landslide.   It takes a pretty refined palate to appreciate a gingersnap, which most people don't have.   I do love a ginger cookie a lot of the time, but when cowboy cookie recipes started populating my corner of the internet, I had to try my hand at some.   I found a NYT recipe for Laura' Bush's cookie, and I thought I would give it a try.  I modified it a bit because it made a TON of cookies and I like bittersweet chocolate.    The end result is quite possibly the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever made in my life.   This recipe is definitely a keeper.

Cowboy Cookies

1 1/2  cups all-purpose flour
1/2  tablespoon baking powder
1/2  tablespoon baking soda

1/2  tablespoon ground cinnamon
1/2  teaspoon salt
1 1/2  sticks butter, at room temperature
3/4  cups granulated sugar
3/4  cups packed light-brown sugar
2  eggs
1/2  tablespoon vanilla
1 10 oz pkg  Ghirardelli  bittersweet chocolate chips
1 1/2  cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1  cups unsweetened flake coconut
1  cups chopped pecans (8 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl.
In a large bowl, beat butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until smooth and creamy. Gradually beat in sugars, and combine thoroughly.  Add eggs one at a time, beating after each. Beat in vanilla. By hand, stir in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans. For each cookie, drop 1/4 cup dough onto ungreased baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until edges are lightly browned; rotate sheets halfway through. Remove cookies from rack to cool.

Care Package Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies

Do you remember this old TV commercial?




I never understood why 1970s teen heart throb Robby Benson (I'm really wanting to watch the movie Ice Castles right now) was walking around eating peanut butter straight out of the jar when he runs into Donny Most (aka Ralph Malph from Happy Days) and they invented Reese's Peanut Butter Cups.   Whatever.   It's a great combination of flavors!

I was looking for a recipe for cookies to send to my son for a finals week care package.   I hit our monthly library used book sale and found a book I wanted to buy

:

I love the old Taste of Home magazine, before it started taking advertising in December, 2007.   This is an end of an era.   Some guy from Nebraska submitted a recipe for peanut butter cookies with peanut butter swirled chips.   I am not even  sure if those are made anymore, so I took some liberties and devised this adaption:

Bittersweet Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies 

1 c. butter

1 c. creamy peanut butter

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 t. vanilla

2 t baking soda

1/2 t. salt
2-1/4 c. all-purpose flour

1 10 oz. package Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks. Yield: about 4 dozen.

My son ate every single one of these cookies.....not including the ones I sampled prior to sending.   These are really delicious.   Now I am off to find Ice Castles on Netflix....

Prom Cookies 2016

Even though I no longer have any kids at Dexter High School (my nest is empty) I was asked to make prom cookies again this year.   I enlisted my friends Julie and Jen to help; both of their sons are seniors this year.  The theme was "Candyland".

  
I'm not a great designer of cookies, but I do a pretty good job of execution.  I keep a Pinterest board of cookie decorating ideas and when I see something I like, I pin it there to try later.  For these cookies, I adapted an idea I saw for peppermint candy cookies.  Since I got a late start, I didn't have the chance to order a cutter so I just went with round cutters.   A drinking or shot glass could also be used in lieu of a cutter, too.   I tried to capture the prom committee colors as best I could with colors I had on hand.   It's a good time to share a lesson I learned last year when making high school graduation cookies: the purple and maroon colors often are finicky for reasons I don't fully understand.   Our high school colors are maroon and gold, and I found out the hard way that maroon color seems to change the royal icing texture in unexpected ways.   I asked my friend Heather who decorates cookies and cakes professionally at her lovely cake boutique in Ann Arbor Sweet Heather Ann and she told me this is common and so she very often will hesitate to take on requests for purple colored wedding cakes.    She recommended I use Americolor soft gel pastes for best results.  Nothing I have ever tried equals the coloring strength of these amazing colors. They can be found locally here at Baker's Nook in Saline.  

So I was nervous about the purple, but it came out just fine.  We made about 100 cookies this year using this recipe - my tried and true best tasting sugar cookie recipe I've ever found in an old Taste of Home magazine.   The ingredients are relatively inexpensive and it has an excellent texture for rolling out and cutting.  The flavor is superb on its own, or flavor oils can be added.  Last Christmas, I added anise flavor and it was delicious.   We piped out the outline and white lines with Wilton #2 tip and flooded with a ketchup bottle.

I was happy to stay home last night instead of chaperoning the prom; It was 34 degrees F and it snowed this morning.   Insane!  But the cookies looked good in Candyland.

Happy Easter Cookies

I wanted to try out making cookies in the shape of Jesus for church things and why not try it out for Easter?  I made these with a gingerbread woman cutter.  I had some spare icing left, so I decorated some butterflies.   I tried a different recipe than I usually use, and it's one I won't use again for cutout cookies.  It was from Maida Heatter's great cookie cookbook Brand New Book of Great Cookies.   It was a tasty cookie but difficult to roll out.    Instead, I'll stick to this tried and true recipe.   Also click on that link to learn more about technique. Happy Easter everyone!  

Vanilla Macarons Filled with Dark Chocolate Cream

The good people of Uncommon Goods reached out to me to see if I would be interested in reviewing one of their products, and so I visited their site to see what they had to offer.   I hadn't ever heard of the company before, but was really impressed when I learned that they are an online retailer that offers products that feature unique designs and handcrafted gifts.  They run all our operations out of the historic Brooklyn Army Terminal, including where the even the lowest-paid seasonal worker starts at 50% above the minimum wage.   They also make it their mission to support and provide a platform for artists and designers.

I selected a macaron making kit, and was thrilled when my box arrived from Brooklyn a couple days later....

Uncommon Goods  donates $1 for every shipment to one of their non profits of your choice, like American Forests the oldest American conservation organization.  This non profit has planted 45 million trees since 1990.   As the mother of a forestry major, I think this is great!  Now it was time to get cooking....

I had heard macarons were hard to make, but some places in this town charge $2 each for them and my thrifty soul was crying out to give it a try, The kit had a silicone mat and something they call a "Decomax" which is a silicone container with decorating tips, similar to a pastry bag. This looked interesting as it appeared to be easy to fill.  It has a big opening on the side and it can sit on it's own on the counter.   I looked at the recipe booklet that came with my kit; it has recipes in 6 languages, unfortunately English clearly isn't their forte so I had to translate it a little....i.e. "icing sugar" is confectioners sugar..etc.  I tried to find some ground almonds at Buschs and Meijer, but no luck.  I think Bob's Red Mill makes it, but it wasn't that hard to make my own.    I bought a 6 oz bag of slivered almonds and processed them on high in my food processor until they were ground fine, about a minute.     Here's how I translated their recipe into something better suited for American cooks:

Vanilla Macarons Filled with Dark chocolate Cream

1 1/4 c. powdered sugar
3/4 c. ground almonds
3 egg whites
1 pinch salt
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 t. vanilla

Filling:
1 c. Ghirardelli 60% cocoa chips
3 T. half and half

Using a fine mesh strainer, strain the powdered sugar into a bowl to remove lumps.  Add almonds and mix well.   Using a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites, while adding  the salt and the granulated sugar until obtaining a thick meringue. Add half of the powdered sugar/almonds and fold in....then add the vanilla sugar and the sugar/almonds and fold in gently until well combined,

Put the silicone mat on a cookie sheet.  Fill the Decomax fitted with the large round tip and make circles in the size indicated by the inner circles on the mat.  (I learned this the hard way because the instructions didn't indicate which circle I should use.  When macarons rest before making, they expand....

I had to clean them up a bit before I put them in the oven with a spoon.  Note to self: use inner circle next time!  I'd also suggest tapping the sheet on the counter to remove any air bubbles,  When the batter expands, it won't spill over and each macaroon will be the perfect size and shape. Allow to rest between 30-35 minutes at room temperature. Bake in a preheated oven at 300 F for 20-25 minutes until firm to touch. Repeat the process with the rest of the batter.  I noticed some of mine stuck to the mat, I think next time I will spray it with a little non stick spray just to insure easy removal.

To make the filling, put the chips and the half and half in a microwave safe plastic bowl (plastic doesn't hold heat like glass....I learned this in my candymaking class with Tammy's Tastings) and heat in 10 second increments on high in the microwave until the chips are melted.  Add more cream to make it spreadable if needed,  Allow to rest at room temperature . Fill the macaroons with the chocolate cream.  I used an offset icing knife to fill them.

Voila!  Macarons...

It really wasn't difficult at all.   I found the Decomax a little tough to use compared to a pastry bag....you press it with your thumbs and it is hard to get it fully empty, but the convenience of filling it and it can be washed in the dishwasher make up for it.   It has other large tips that could be used for cake decorating or filling deviled eggs.   I think it might come in handy for other recipes in my future....anything that doesn't require fine detail. I did a quick tally of my cost to make these macarons:

The tray makes 24 cookies...there was some excess meringue that yielded about 30 total, but for my estimate lets assume I made 24.  Also, the bag of almonds made more than 3/4 c. but I'll assume I used it all:

Almonds $6.99
3 Eggs $1.00
Powdered sugar $.20
Granulated sugar $.20
Chocolate chips $2.50
Half and half $.20

Total is $11.09 or 46 cents per cookie

Guess I'll be making these at home from now on!  Also, I am glad I found out about Uncommon Goods just in time for Christmas shopping.  I really like their selection and their mission.   Great items for the kitchen, too!

2016 Prom Cookies: Dark Chocolate Cutouts

My nest is almost empty.   Actually, I know this isn't really true, because as I have been told repeatedly by many and have read about the millennial generation, my nest won't really be empty for quite some time.    I guess it's more accurate to say my days of school parental involvement are almost over.   My son will be graduating from high school two weeks from today...my last volunteer gig is only fitting; it will be my fifth and final time working the band uniform turn in at the high school after the Dexter Memorial Day Parade.   My last days as a prom volunteer are now complete.   I was a field chaperon at Michigan Stadium last night....

Eddie and Morgan

I also made cookies for this year's prom (theme: Masquerade).  My friends Lori and Julie helped me,  I wanted to try a dark chocolate cutout cookie recipe, since the prom colors were deep purple, silver and black.  

I found a Martha Stewart recipe that looked interesting, but way too big of a hassle with sifting, freezing of the dough, etc.  I decided to adapt it to make it easier.   

Dark Chocolate Cutouts

(makes about 2 dozen large 4 inch cutout cookies)

3 c all ­purpose flour

1 1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 t salt

3 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3 c confectioners' sugar

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat together butter and sugar with a

mixer until pale and fluffy. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time, and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour mixture. Divide dough in half. Form each half into a disk, and wrap each in plastic wrap.

Refrigerate until firm but still pliable, about 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Working with 1 disk of dough at a time, roll out to 1/4­inch thickness on

lightly floured parchment.  Cut into shapes with cookie cutters, rerolling scraps as needed.  Bake until

crisp, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating once Let cookies cool for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Making cookies like this is a 3 day affair: one day to bake, and two days to decorate with royal icing.  I used Wilton #4 tip for flooding and piping, and check out my post from last year's prom about the recipe and technique for royal icing.  

I really loved this recipe!  It went very well with my favorite cutout recipe for cream cheese cutouts (see last year's prom cookies recipe).   As usual, my friend Marcia did an excellent job with the dessert table....

So, this is probably my last prom volunteering gig, but I still have a graduation party to work on, so my baking days aren't quite over yet.  I had some leftover dough and icing that I have put in the freezer to see how it holds up.    Stay tuned!

Jewel Cookies

I hate to be "bah humbug" and all but Christmas cookies are very often not as good as they look. Years ago, I used to sit next to a gal at work that baked a ton of cookies for everyone during the holidays, and gave us all beautifully wrapped plates of them. She spent days on it - and the cookies looked fantastic, but tasted really bland and had a tough texture. I bit into one that was so bad, I actually had to fake blowing my nose so I could spit it out into a Kleenex! I tried to put them out by the coffee pot at work - engineers are notorious for eating any free food they can get their hands on, but even these beauties were left uneaten. When she wasn't looking, I threw most of them out in a garbage can on the other end of the building. Like Santa does each Christmas eve, I left a couple cookies on the plate with a few crumbs so that she thought that her cookies were well received. She had spent so much time on them.

A recipe for a cookie that's often featured in Christmas cookie platters - the "jewel" or "thumbprint" cookie is a frequent Christmas cookie offender. I've had many terrible versions of this cookie - tough dough, rancid nuts, fluorescent red and green maraschino cherries placed in the centers (a sin committed by yours truly in junior high). But done right, these cookies are sublime! Did you preserve some raspberry jam last summer? Now's the time to crack open a jar and make this cookie. Strawberry jam would work well it it, too. I got this recipe years ago out of Martha Stewart Living, but a tweaked it to make it better.

Jewel Cookies


3 sticks unsalted butter
1 c light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs, separated
2 t vanilla extract
1/4 t salt
2 2/3 c flour
2 c roasted pecans, finely chopped
1/2 c tart jelly - I prefer currant jelly

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cream butter and sugar. Beat in egg yolks, vanilla, salt, and then flour. Shape into 1 inch balls. Brush each ball with beaten egg whites, then roll in chopped pecans and place 2 to 3 inches apart on baking sheets. Press center of each ball with your thumb, and fill with 1/2 teaspoon jam. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until just golden around edges. Cool on a rack.

Makes about 2 dozen

Thanksgiving Cookies

This year, I've really been getting into making decorated cookies.   The latest in my collection are these Thanksgiving themed ones....I bought a pumpkin cutter for Halloween and never got around to making any, so I wanted to try it out.  A cookie project like this takes 3 days - one to bake the cookies and let them cool, one to decorate and let them dry, and then they are ready on the third day.

I wanted an autumnal flavor, so I tried a Dorie Greenspan recipe from a 2007 vintage Bon Appetit.   Speaking of BA, have you checked it out lately? I have been finding it very inspiring and I love my recent subscription.    I thought the recipe sounded unusual because of the dry mustard....they came out delicious and perfectly spiced.  I used dark molasses instead of light and amped up some of the spices a little.  This recipe is definitely a keeper for me!  It made a nice crisp cookie which is critical for iced cookies like these.

Spice Roll Out Cookies
makes about 2 dozen

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup dark molasses
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, allspice, nutmeg, mustard, and cloves into large bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter in another large bowl at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add brown sugar; beat 1 minute. Add molasses; beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg; beat until well blended, about 1 minute. Reduce speed to low; beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture; beat on low speed just to blend. Gather dough into ball; divide in half. Form each half into ball; flatten into disk. Wrap disks separately in plastic; chill until firm, at least 4 hours. I left mine in the fridge for 4 days until I had time to roll them out and bake.

Position rack in center of oven; preheat to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with 1 disk at a time, roll out dough between 2 sheets of waxed paper to 1/8-inch thickness for smaller (2-inch) cookies and 1/4-inch thickness for larger (3- to 4-inch) cookies. Using decorative cookie cutters, cut out cookies and transfer to prepared sheets, spacing 1 inch apart.. Gather scraps, roll out dough, and cut more cookies, repeating until all dough is used. If not icing cookies, decorate with sprinkles or other sugar toppings, if desired. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are firm on top and slightly darker around edges, about 8 minutes for smaller cookies and up to 12 minutes for larger cookies. Cool completely on rack. Line baking sheets with fresh parchment as needed.

I have written very often on this blog about decorating with royal icing.   To get the recipe and technique, check out this blog post.  I had some brown left over from making footballs in early November that I kept in a plastic container in the fridge.  Royal icing is supposed to be good for a couple of weeks just sitting on the counter - but I put it in the fridge for good measure.   I had to add a little water to get it to the right consistency.  I used a Wilton #2 tip for the piping, and I flooded the pumpkin sections at different times to get the 3D affect.   To make the turkey tail feathers,  I piped 3 lines and used a toothpick in a figure 8 pattern.   I can't wait to try that same pattern with my Christmas tree cutter this year.    I made these cookies last week and froze them in a plastic container - to thaw them, keep them in the container and bring them up to room temp so the icing won't separate.

Autumn Leaves

I'm not sure how it happened, but I never got around to taking all my vacation this year, so I have to great fortune of realizing I can take long weekends almost until the end of 2014.  I think it was because I changed jobs midyear and we didn't really have any big summer vacations planned with trying to get Jane off to college and all of Eddie's ankle surgeries.  So, now I can practice what retirement can feel like!    I had the day off on Friday so I decided to take on a cookie decorating project.

I signed up to make 4 dozen cookies for my church music program's fall concert.  I was inspired by the beautiful fall colors we have this year.

Off Dan Hoey Road in Dexter

St. Joseph Cemetery, Dexter

Greenook Lake in Loch Alpine, my subdivision

My favorite sugar cookie recipe is this one for cream cheese cutouts - it makes a very tender rich cookie that can hold up to the royal icing. but I wanted to upscale it to use an entire brick of cream cheese.    When I did, I ended up with about 10 dozen 2 inch cookies, which was more than I intended!   

Cream Cheese Cutouts 

(makes about 10 dozen)

Cream Cheese Cutouts

2  3/4 cup butter, softened
8 oz cream cheese, softened
2  3/4 cup sugar
3/4  teaspoon salt
3 egg
1 T vanilla extract
6 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, cream cheese, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla, using the paddle attachment.  Gradually beat in flour. Refrigerate, covered, 1-2 hours or until firm enough to roll. Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets on parchment. Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on pans 1 minute. Remove to wire racks to cool completely

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm water

5 T meringue powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

2.25 lbs powdered sugar

Directions:

In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds. Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more. Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.  Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy. Add just drops of water at a time to make the icing runnier.  If you add too much water at a time it’s more difficult to thicken it with icing sugar than it is to add water to it.  To make sure the icing is the right consistency for flooding, try the “10 second rule”.  Drag a butter knife through the surface of the icing and count to 10.  If the icing surface becomes smooth in anywhere between 5-10 seconds, then the icing is ready to use.  If it takes longer than approximately 10 seconds, the icing is too thick.  Slowly add more water.  If the icing surface smooths over in less than 5-10 seconds, it is too runny.  Mix the icing longer or slowly add more sifted icing sugar to thicken it.

Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying.    The best website I've found about how to do the decorating is this one....after some practice, I got the hang of it.    I used a Wilton #3 tip this time and gel paste colors.  

autumn leaves

Prom Cookies

Tonight, it's Dexter High School's prom.   For the first time in history, it will be held outside of the school.   The venue is the U of M Football Stadium, which is pretty exciting!  I signed up to the a chaperon, and I get to monitor the students when they tour the football field and the locker rooms.   I figure I will never have the chance to be on the the football field in my life, so I am going to check it out!  The theme for the prom is "Under the Stars" and so we were asked to make star shaped cookies and decorate them in blue, white and silver, which are the prom colors this year.

I had a bunch of cream cheese in the fridge so I looked around the internet for  a cookie recipe that used it and I found this one on Taste of Home's website.   Boy, I sure miss the the old style TOH magazine that featured family style recipes from home cooks and no advertising.  That magazine has totally sold out and has become nothing but a marketing opportunity for food companies.  I am always buying vintage TOH cookbooks whenever I can find them at garage sales.

Old School TOH

I'm betting this recipe came from the old days, when all of their recipes were winners! You can trust recipes made from women with hair like that!   I modified it to use my stand mixer, but the recipe was originally written to be mixed by hand.   Here's how I made them:

Cream Cheese Cutouts
1 cup butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, cream cheese, sugar and salt until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla, using the paddle attachment.  Gradually beat in flour. Refrigerate, covered, 1-2 hours or until firm enough to roll. Preheat oven to 375°. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to 1/8-in. thickness. Cut with floured cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake 7-8 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on pans 1 minute. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.  Makes about 2 dozen large or 4 dozen small cookies.

The challenging part of making these cookies is actually getting the icing the right texture for this type of decorating, called "flooding".   You can use a icing bag with a Wilton #3 tip, but what I have found works perfect for large cookies like these (2 inch diameter) is a plastic mustard and ketchup squeeze bottle....like this: 

They are easier to fill than an icing bag.  Note that for more delicate cookies or for smaller dots, I'd use the icing bag and a smaller gage tip.  

Royal Icing Recipe

Ingredients:

3/4 cup warm water

5 T meringue powder

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

2.25 lbs powdered sugar

Directions:

In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds. Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more. Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.  Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy. Add just drops of water at a time to make the icing runnier.  If you add too much water at a time it’s more difficult to thicken it with icing sugar than it is to add water to it.  To make sure the icing is the right consistency for flooding, try the “10 second rule”.  Drag a butter knife through the surface of the icing and count to 10.  If the icing surface becomes smooth in anywhere between 5-10 seconds, then the icing is ready to use.  If it takes longer than approximately 10 seconds, the icing is too thick.  Slowly add more water.  If the icing surface smooths over in less than 5-10 seconds, it is too runny.  Mix the icing longer or slowly add more sifted icing sugar to thicken it.

Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying.    The best website I've found about how to do the decorating is this one....after some practice, I got the hang of it.  Give yourself at least a couple days to make cookies like this, because they need to dry overnight.   Happy baking!

Great Harvest Trek Bars my way

In Dexter, we have a great coffee shop called The Foggy Bottom, or at our house, we call it "The Foggy" or just plain and simple "Froggy" for short.   They have something called a Yeti Bar that I love to get for breakfast, and I set out to figure out the recipe for myself.   I asked the coffee shop and they said that they get it from a bakery, so they didn't know the recipe.  After much googling, I found a copycat recipe for something called a "Trek Bar" at the Great Harvest Bread Company that had many of the ingredients, but the recipe wasn't quite right.  I've never sampled the Great Harvest bars, but the recipe I found needed to be jazzed up a little.   I customized it a bit - I added some cinnamon and salt to the mixture, and replaced the dried cranberries with dried cherries because we live in Michigan.   These bars are fantastic!    

Trek Bars (aka Yeti Bars)

2 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats

1 c. honey

1 c. natural peanut butter

1 t. kosher salt

1 T. cinnamon

1/4 c. chocolate chips

1/4 c. dried cranberries (or  dried cherries)

1/4 c. wheat bran

1/4 c. oat bran

1/4 c. flax meal

1/4 c. millet

1/4 c. sesame seeds

1/4 c. sunflower seeds

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9″ x 13″ baking pan.

In a large bowl, combine oats, honey,peanut butter, cinnamon and salt and mix well. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.  Use your hands! Pack the mixture tightly and evenly into the baking pan and cook for 15 minutes, until nicely toasted or golden brown.

Triple Ginger Cookies

It's a lovely sunny day today...39 degrees and I've got spring fever.   I've bought my seed starting supplies, and after this very long winter, my mind is all about gardening.   I can't wait to plant moonflower and Mexican sunflower again, and I've got 3 kinds of blight resistant tomatoes recommended by Mother Earth News.  But the fact is that it's going to be below zero again on Monday....spring fever notwithstanding.

I know this time of year, we want to think of spring foods - I saw asparagus for sale at the supermarket.   But for a moment, consider ginger cookies.  Yes, I know they sound like Christmas cookies, but ginger cookies will warm you up right now.   These cookies, which I first heard about on The Splendid Table, are wonderful.    I made them last fall in the shape of footballs and piped some stitching on them for a tailgate party,  but they are great just the way they are.

Triple Ginger Cookies
makes about 30 cookies

3/4 c butter
1 c packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 c molasses
2 1/4 c flour
2 t ground ginger
2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 1/2 T minced fresh ginger root
1/2 c chopped crystallized ginger

In a mixer fitted with a paddle, cream the butter and brown sugar together. Beat in the egg and molasses. Combine the flour, ground ginger, baking soda and salt. Stir into the molasses mixture. Add the fresh and crystallized gingers. Cover and chill for at least 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Shape the dough into 1" balls and place about 2" apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes and cool on wire racks. These cookies freeze well.

These cookies will sooth your winter weary soul!  They would be outstanding also made into a tropical ice cream sandwich with a scoop of coconut ice cream.

The Anti Christmas Cookie

Here's a cookie recipe that doesn't taste anything like Christmas - it tastes like a pina colada. Because it's different than the usual fare, I guarantee it will be snatched up first off of your holiday cookie tray. This recipe made me a finalist in the 2006 Detroit Free Press Holiday Cookie Contest.

Key Lime Bars

3/4 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter softened
2 cups quick OR old fashioned oats, uncooked
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup fresh key lime juice
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1 (3 1/2-ounce) jar macadamia nuts, chopped (about 3/4 cup)

Heat oven to 350ºF. Lightly spray 13 x 9-inch metal baking pan with cooking spray.
In large bowl, beat sugar and butter until creamy. Add combined oats, flour and salt; mix until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup oat mixture for topping; Press remaining oat mixture onto bottom of baking pan. Bake 10 minutes. Transfer to wire rack

In same bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, sour cream, lime juice, mix well. Pour evenly over crust. In medium bowl, combine reserved oat mixture with coconut and nuts; mix well. Sprinkle evenly over filling, patting gently.

Bake 30 to 34 minutes or until topping is light golden brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars. Store tightly covered in refrigerator.

Makes 32 bars.