Brownie Roll-Out Cookies

My daughters told me about these cookies from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.  I bought the cookbook but so far this recipe is all I've made (maybe more than a few times) from the book.  When I get two recommendations for the same cookie in one day I take note.  They're buttery, tender, and chocolate-y with just a hint of vanilla. Don't overcook them; they're best soft.  They're quick to make (for a cut out cookie) and I always have the ingredients in my pantry.  Nothing fancy; just the basics.  I've made ice cream sandwiches with them too. They're perfect for those because they hold together well.

They're a hit at parties and I had an cookie assignment last night so I made a batch.  Someone at the party tasted them and said,  "Oh, I make this recipe. I love these, but yours are better.  Mine are more tough".

Shall I tell you my secret?  When I make cut-out cookies, I keep a bristle pastry brush on the counter.  I brush off excess flour from the bottom and top of the raw cookies before putting them on the baking sheet.  I also brush off excess flour from the underside of the scraps before gathering them together in a ball to re-roll the dough. 

Flour makes cookies tough and the less of it you put into the dough while handling it, the softer your cookie will be.  Chilling helps and gentle handling of the dough is preferable so you don't over-develop the gluten.
A pastry or dough scraper (the white gadget above) makes clean up of our rolling board or counter fast and easy as well).  

I just needed a few dozen for the party so I wrapped a few bags for my freezer from the batch.

Six cookies in a cellophane bag tied with bakery twine were the perfect THANK YOU for a neighbor.

That's pretty good multi-tasking from one batch of cookies.  And not a bad days work, if I may say so.

Here's the recipe directly from Smitten Kitchen blog.

Brownie Roll-Out Cookies*
Recipe from Deb’s mom

3 cups (375 grams) all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (3 grams) salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (225 grams) lightly salted butter, softened (Deb note: I don’t really see “lightly salted” much these days, so I used one stick salted, one stick unsalted)
1 1/2 (300 grams) cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa (approximately 60 grams — weights can vary a bit depending on brand. I use the “good” stuff–Droste, Galler or Valrhona –but I can assure you that my mother only used Hershey’s growing up, so your choice)

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Whisk dry flour, salt and baking powder in bowl and set aside. Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla and cocoa in mixer. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until smooth. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least one hour.

Roll out cookie dough on floured counter. Cut into desired shapes, brushing extra deposits of flour off the top. (It does disappear once baked, though, so don’t overly fret if they go into the oven looking white.) Bake on a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 11 minutes (the former for 1/8-inch thick cookies, the latter for 1/4-inch cookies) until the edges are firm and the centers are slightly soft and puffed.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

* According to my mother’s recipe, they’re called chocolate sugar cookies but I do not feel that it does them justice.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I don't make many cookies... because I eat them and I don't need cookies, believe me.  That was a job that my girls could do from the time they were 8 years old or so and if they wanted cookies they baked them.  Now I have to bake them when I need them and I needed a treat to take to our quilting group.

I love Ina Garten's cookie recipes and this one is my favorite.  I love the chunks of chocolate but you could just add chips.  I used premium dark but milk chocolate is pretty darn good too.
These are soft and slightly sweet.  Use the best quality peanut butter you can, but don't use freshly ground butter or your cookies will spread flat.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ina Garten

½ Lb. unsalted butter at room temperature

1 ½ C. light brown sugar, packed

¾ C. granulated sugar

2 extra-large eggs at room temperature

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 C. good smooth peanut butter

2 ½ C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. Baking powder

1 tsp. kosher salt

1 Lb. good semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or chips)

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla and peanut butter, and mix. Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt and add to the batter, mixing only until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.

Drop the dough on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, using either a 1 ¾-inch ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands, flatten the dough lightly, and then press the times of a wet fork in both directions. Bake for exactly 17 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone). Do not over bake. Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Grandpa's Favorite Raisin Filled Cookies

My Grandpa lived to be almost 95 years old and was born in 1901 in a log cabin built on his grandfather's homestead.  During the depression he hopped freight trains to California in the winter to work in the orange fields.  In the summer he worked in the sugar beet fields and lumber mills.  He married my grandma, the only woman he ever loved, at the age of 30, was married to her for 55years, and mourned her for 18 long years after her death.  He never remarried, even though he was reportedly the most sought after widower in the county (I'm told he could dance).  He lived his whole life on the same block on his family farm, where he later built a house for my Grandma and Mom, until my mother moved him to my parents house (he was 93 at the time).  He grew berries and a bountiful garden, kept an orchard, and always had 5 or 6 sheep in the pasture between the house.  He won many awards for his beautiful Spencerian penmanship (Grandma always made him sign the birthday cards), but left school to work after the sixth grade.  He was active in his church, was a city councilman, served as the President of his local service chapter of the Lion's Club three times, and only ran into trouble with the law once.  The city cited him for operating a barber shop without a business license, but the charges were dropped once Grandpa explained that his only clients were his four brothers who met at his house every Thursday evening for a get-together and a free trim.  Seems that the local barber felt Grandpa was stiff competition and turned him in.  My Grandpa loved his God, his family, his neighbors, and his country.   His favorite things were fishing, soda pop, The Lawrence Welk Show, buttered/salted popcorn (generally eaten while watching The Lawrence Welk Show), butter rum Lifesavers, and raisins. 

This cookie is not very sweet and a bit time-consuming to make.  Mine don't taste nearly as good as I remember my Grandma's being.  Maybe because she's not here to make them for me and my Grandpa.

Grandpa's Favorite Raisin Filled Cookies

Cookies:

¼ cup of butter flavored shortening

¼ cup of butter, softened

1 cup of granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 Tablespoons of heavy cream

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 ½ cups of all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon of baking soda

½ teaspoon of salt

Raisin Filling:

1 ½ cup of raisins, chopped

½ cup of granulated sugar

½ cup of water

2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

For the dough:

Cream the shortening, butter, and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well. Add the heavy cream and vanilla, blend well. Sift in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir just until the dry ingredients are mixed in. Chill the dough for 1 hour.

Make the filling:

Put all of the ingredients into a saucepan. Cook slowly, stirring constantly until the liquid has thickened and become syrup-like. Cool and set aside until needed to fill the cookies.

Assembly:

Preheat the oven to 375 º F.

Sprinkle some flour onto a pastry board. Roll half of the cookie dough to 1/16- inch thickness. Choose a round cookie cutter, and evenly space filling in 1 Tablespoon amounts across the dough to accommodate the size of your cookie cutter. Roll out the remaining dough to 1/16-inch thickness and carefully and gently lay on top of the first dough.

 Cut out rounds over the dollops of filling and through both layers of dough. Place the cookies on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Gather the scraps and roll again to use all the filling.

Makes: Depends on the size of your cutter.  My three-inch cookie cutter made 2 dozen.

Lime Shortbread Cookies

Remember that popular girl?   She was beautiful and smooth and sophisticated.  You could take her anywhere and she always fit in but at the same time she stood out in the crowd.  She got invited to all the parties.  Everyone wanted to be her.  She even smelled good!  This cookie is THAT GIRL.

It's buttery, shortbread taste is enhanced with a lime zest curd and a sprinkle of powdered sugar.  It's easy to make and you can take it anywhere.  It keeps well covered for several days, but they won't last that long.
They're just perfect for your Holiday Cookie tray, desert buffet, or cookie exchange.

Lime Shortbread Cookies

Makes 2 1/2 to 3 dozen cookies

Filling:

1/3 Cup of granulated sugar
2 Tablespoons of lime juice

1 Tablespoon of grated lime zest

1 large egg

Green food coloring (optional)

Cookies:

½ cup of butter, softened

½ cup of granulated sugar

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 ¼ cup of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of kosher salt

Powdered sugar, for sprinkling on top

Combine all the filling ingredients in a small saucepan. Stir well. Cook over medium-heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture comes to a boil and starts to thicken. Add the food color and stir to blend. Set aside to cool slightly.

Preheat the oven to 325º F.

Cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg yolk and the vanilla and mix well. On low speed, add the flour and salt and mix until crumbly and blended. The mixture will be dry. Gather the dough into 1-inch balls and place on an un-greased cookie sheet. Make an indentation in the center of each and slightly flatten. Spoon filling into each cookie.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the cookies are set but not brown. Cool completely and remove from the cookie sheet. Sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar.

Cherry Bars

 These bars are a variation of a cookie recipe that my mother makes.  I've adapted a few ingredients to suit my taste.  Not overly sweet; they can be made with any fruit pie filling of your choice.  They are especially good with apple pie filling (my Mom's recipe of course).  I didn't have any but I find canned pie fillings are perfectly acceptable in this recipe. These would be a perfect addition to the "tea" tray or your Christmas desert buffet.

Cherry or Berry Bars

8 oz. of butter, room temperature

1 ½ cups of granulated sugar

4 large lightly beaten eggs

2 cups of flour

1 Tablespoon of kosher salt

1 teaspoon of almond extract

1 teaspoon of Buttery Sweet Dough Bakery Emulsion (or substitute vanilla extract)

1 can or cherry or berry pie filling (or use your own home made)

Preheat the oven to350º F. Butter a 17”x12”x1” pan.

Cream the butter and the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time and mix just until blended. Add the extracts.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. Stir into the creamed mixture just until blended. Spread into the prepared pan. Mark the batter into 30 squares by pressing lightly into the top of the batter with a sharp knife.

Spoon 1 tablespoon of fruit filling into the center of each square. Do not press it into the batter (the batter will puff up around the filling as it bakes).

Bake for 35-40 minutes or until the batter is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the middle of the batter comes out clean. Let cool on a wire rack.

Cut into bars and sprinkle with powdered sugar..

Linked to 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies and Hearth 'n Soul.

Soft Molasses Ginger Cookies

Nothing says Christmas to me like Gingerbread.  While I love to look at the Gingerbread Houses, I like my gingerbread best in cookies.  This is my favorite soft ginger cookie.  I originally got it from a Bed and Breakfast cookbook many years ago.  They stay soft and chewy for about a week.  I could eat a whole stack of them (oh wait, I did); good thing the recipe makes so many.  These don't last long at our house.  This recipe actually calls for you to roll the dough balls in cinnamon sugar.  My daughter Erin made these and she omitted that step but they are pretty with the sugar. 

Chewy Ginger Cookies

Makes about 4 dozen

2 cups of granulated sugar

1 ½ cups of butter

2 large eggs

½ cup of molasses

1 ½ tsp. of ground ginger

2 tsp. of cinnamon

1 ½ tsp. of nutmeg (preferably fresh grated)

½ tsp. of salt

3 ½ tsp. of baking soda

5 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour

Granulated sugar to roll cookies in

Preheat to the oven to 350 º F.

Cream together the sugar, butter, eggs, and molasses until fluffy. Set aside.

Sift together the dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Roll small (about the size of a walnut) balls of dough in the sugar, and bake on an un-greased cookie sheet for 8-10 minutes or until crinkled and set.

Cool on a wire rack.

This is my 3rd contribution to 12 weeks of Christmas cookies.  Check out what everyone else did and/or post your own recipe below.
Week 3 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:

2nd Annual 12 Weeks of Christmas Bloghop

Last year's 12 weeks of Christmas Blog Hop was a great success.  So here's the 2nd Annual Hop.  I'm a week late, so I'll be posting 11 weeks of Christmas cookies.  But hey, better late than never, right?

This is my all-time favorite oatmeal cookie and it's not fancy, but it needs to be in on the Christmas cookie list.  It can hold it's own on any cookie try.  To the basic batter, you can add dried sour cherries (like my daughter Abby did), cranberries, dried fruit, raisins, candied fruit, nuts (my favorite is macadamia), or white or dark chocolate chips.  You can add any combination or as many different things as you want.  You might even want to drizzle some icing across them.  I like them just as they are.


This cookie is buttery, soft, and chock full of ingredients.  It's soft but travels well.  It makes a really big batch so there are always plenty to share with the neighbors or to take to your Christmas pot-lucks.


I'll be posting more of our favorite Christmas cookies in the weeks to come and while you're here, click on some of the other members offerings for more great cookies.

Best-Ever Cookies

Makes 4 to 5 dozen

1 C. shortening

1 C. butter

2 C. brown sugar

2 C. granulated sugar

4 large eggs, beaten

3 tsp. of real vanilla extract

4 C. all-purpose flour

5 C. quick oats

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

3 C. any combination of your favorite add-ins (cherries, raisins, chocolate chips, nuts, etc.)

Preheat the oven to 375˚ F.

Cream the fats and sugars. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until mixture is fluffy.

Add the vanilla and mix. Combine the rest of the dry ingredients in a bowl and mix well.

Add dry ingredients to bowl of wet ingredients. Add your selected mix-ins to the top of the dry ingredients. Mix all together, just until blended. Do not over mix.

Bake at 375˚ for 7 – 10 minutes.  Don’t over- cook the cookies as they will be hard later. They should just be brown around the edges and set in the center.

Cool the cookies on the pan for 2 minutes before removing them to a rack to cool.

Week 2 Twelve Weeks of Christmas:



Lemon Zucchini Cookies

When you have extra zucchini from the garden that got away from you, make some of these.  They are soft, and cake-y in texture; not too sweet until you add the glaze.  Erin says they remind her of tea cookies or cakes.  And they are oh, so good.  I made up this recipe because of what I had in the fridge.  If you don't have yogurt you can substitute milk, or even buttermilk.

LorAnn's bakery emulsion is the secret ingredient (well, it used to be secret before I told you).  Have you used this before?  This emulsion has no alcohol so it doesn't lose it's flavor when exposed to heat.  It brings a burst of butter-y, vanilla flavor to the party.  It's a trade secret of commercial bakers; they use it to give cookies and cakes that buttery taste. You can also just substitute an equal amount of vanilla or even lemon extract for it.  Either would be a nice substitute.

The lemon zest gives the cookies a tart kick and the lemon juice icing brings the sweet factor up a notch.  Before you make another loaf of zucchini bread, try these.  I made a batch to see if they would work, and after tasting them, Erin wanted to know if I was making a second batch.  They really are that good. 

Lemon Zucchini Cookies

Cookies:
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons of unbleached all-purpose flour
4 teaspoons of freshly grated lemon zest
½ teaspoon of baking soda
½ tsp. of kosher salt
6 ounces of butter (12 tab.), at room temperature
1 ½ cup of granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup of shredded zucchini (do not squeeze it dry)
1 teaspoon of LorAnn’s Bakery Emulsion
½ cup of vanilla flavored yogurt
¼ cup of milk
(you may wish to substitute ¾ cup of buttermilk in place of the yogurt and milk)

For the glaze:
1 ½ cup of confectioner sugar, sifted
3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners. Preheat the oven to 360º F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, zest, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, combine the yogurt and the milk. Set aside.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter briefly, until creamy. Add the sugar, and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs, and beat well to mix. Add the bakery emulsion and beat briefly again. Mix in the zucchini until blended evenly. Alternately add the flour mixture and the liquid mixture at low speed, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

Drop the dough by level tablespoons (I use a 3-ounce ice cream scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 ½ inches between each cookie. Bake for about 11 minutes. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 1minute; then transfer them to a wire rack.

This post is my entry for Recipe Swap Thursday.  Check out the link and see what everyone else has made this week.  And don't forget to enter the CSN Giveaway if you haven't already done so.  The deadline to enter is September 20th.

Brookie's Cookies

Years ago when our daughter Brooke (we called her Brookie and sometimes we still do) was about 16 years old, we were vacationing in Montana.  We arrived in a beautiful small mountain town around noon to find that there were only 2 restaurants serving lunch.  The one we choose just happened to be next door to a small cookie bakery named Brookie's cookies.  We had a hard time convincing our daughters (especially Brooke) to eat lunch first and then cookies.  For years, whenever Brooke made cookies at home, we teased her about making Brookie's cookies.  Brooke is in Puerto Rico now and she tells us that soft American cookies (think homemade chocolate chip) are a big novelty there.  Hard, store-bought cookies (think English biscuits) are easy to come by but no one bakes the soft kind we are used to.  So Brookie, these cookies are making their way to you in Puerto Rico via snail mail.  Hope you like them.

This recipe comes from Ben's Cookies.  You may know of Ben's.  It's a British company, sort of like a Mrs. Fields cookie store here.  The only store outside of Britain was in Salt Lake City; until last fall when they closed.  The bakery that took over their lease has contined making Ben's soft chocolate chip cookies.  They are wonderfully soft and cakey, and MUCH more affordable to make at home than to buy.  I scoop my cookie dough with a spring scoop (like you would use to scoop ice cream). 

 See the perfectly rounded ball of dough?  Don't flatten the dough ball if you want a thick, chewy cookie.  The scoop also helps me make the cookies uniform in size.  I could just eat the dough raw, it's that good. 

Ben’s Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipe

1 cup butter, softened

½ cup white sugar

1 cup brown

2 large eggs

3 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups of chocolate chunks

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.  Next add the dry ingredients, and mix just until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks. Bake on ungreased cookie sheets for 8-10 minutes at 375º Farenheit or just until the bottoms start to turn golden brown.  For soft cookies,don't overbake as the cookies will continue to cook a bit as they cool on the sheets.  Let them cool for about 2 minutes on the cookie sheet.  Remove to a rack to let cool completely. 

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen 3-inch cookies.

Lemon Buttermilk Cookies

A few weeks ago I bought some buttermilk for a recipe that I never found the time to make.  Sound familiar?  So I froze the buttermilk.  In my fridge were some lemons that also had been there awhile.  I was glad to see several blogs this week that featured a cookie recipe that was originally published in Gourmet magazine.  It got good reviews and as I had all the ingredients and needed a desert for a family egg hunt today, I made a batch.

They are good!  We'll be making these again soon.  They remind me of a cookie I used to make from the Betty Crocker cookbook that had sour cream as an ingredient.  I did make quite a few changes, however.  I love lemon and I felt that they could definitely be more vibrant and have more of a lemon presence.  I substituted lemon juice for the buttermilk in the glaze.   I also felt that the cookie needed more body so I added a bit more flour to the batter and I doubled the lemon zest as well. 

Here is my version.  Happy Easter!

Lemon Buttermilk Cookies  

For the Cookies:

3 C. + 2 Tab. unbleached all-purpose flour

4 tsp. lemon zest (4 lemons)

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. salt

6 oz. unsalted butter (12 Tab.), at room temperature

1 ½ C. granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 C. well-shaken buttermilk

For the glaze:

1 ½ C. confectioner sugar, sifted

3 Tab. fresh lemon juice

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liners. Preheat the oven to 350º F.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, zest, baking soda, and salt.

In a bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter briefly, until creamy. Add the sugar, and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the egg, and beat well to mix. Add the vanilla, and beat briefly again. Mix in the flour mixture and the buttermilk in batches at low speed, beginning and ending with the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

Drop the dough by level tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 ½ inches between each cookie. Bake, 1 sheet at a time, for about 11 minutes per batch. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 1minutes; then transfer them to a wire rack.

For the glaze, whisk together the confectioner sugar, and lemon juice. Brush the glaze onto the cookies and let set.

Makes 5-6 dozen cookies.

Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

I haven't made cookies for a long, long, time.  There 's a good reason why I haven't.


I EAT THEM. 

Well, too many of them, anyway.  So, I seldom make cookies.  When all my girls were at home, they made the cookies when they felt the need for some.  The girls are great bakers and cooks, every one of them.  They do me proud.  With most of them gone around the world (that's a hard one to get used to), it's been a long time since we had homemade cookies around here.


So I made these for old times sake; Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies, with a handful of chopped roasted, salted peanuts thrown in for good measure.  They are one of my favorite recipes.  I use cherries from here (read more about the dried cherries in this previous post).  I also used dark chocolate Guittard chips today.  We ate a few cookies and  froze the rest.  That's the way to stretch a batch! If I put them into freezer bags as soon as they cool and hide them in the corner of the freezer, they last even longer.

Oatmeal Cherry Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 C. butter

1 C. firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 C. granulated sugar

2  large eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

2 C. old-fashioned oats, uncooked

1 C. dried tart cherries

1 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.

Put the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl.  Beat on medium speed 3 to 4 minutes until the mixture is creamy.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add to the creamed mixture and mix just until blended.  Don't overbeat or your cookies will be tough.  Stir in the oats, cherries, and chocolate chips and mix well.

Drop by rounded Tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the cookies are golden brown on the edges.  Let cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet and remove to cool on a wire rack. 

Store in a tightly covered container or freeze after cooling.

Makes about 4 dozen. 

*I portion my cookies with a 1 1/2 Tab. spring loaded ice cream scoop, which is worth using.  It saves a lot of time.   I get about 3 Doz. cookies per batch but your yield will vary depending on how big you make your portions.