Category: Cookies and Bars

Breakfast · Cookies and Bars · Health

No Bake Energy Cups

cathysmahaLeave a comment

Peanut butter, oat and chocolate are a winning combination and I love having these in the frig for a quick snack or healthier dessert. I’ve made similar cups or bites but never with chocolate topping. Yum! I forgot to add the flaky sea salt, which would have been delicious, but I enjoyed them nonetheless.

No Bake Energy Cups

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 3/4 cup crunchy natural peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk (I used regular milk)
  • 3 T. chia seeds
  • 2 tsp. honey
  • 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (53% cacao)
  • 1 T. unrefined coconut oil
  • 3/4 tsp. flaky sea salt (I forgot this step!)
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Line the cups of a 24 cup mini muffin tin with silicone or paper liners.
  2. Combine the oats, peanut butter, almond milk, chia seeds, honey, vanilla and salt in a large bowl; stir to mix well. Divide the mixture among the prepared cups, about 1 heaping tablespoon each; firmly press the mixture into the cup bottoms.
  3. Combine chocolate chips and coconut oil in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high until the oil is melted and the chocolate chips have softened, 45 to 60 seconds. Stir until the chocolate chips are completely melted and incorporated into the oil.
  4. Spoon a scant teaspoon of the melted chocolate mixture over the oat mixture in each cup, spreading to cover the entire surface. Refrigerate, uncovered, until the chocolate layer is beginning to set (the surface will begin to lose its shine and become dull) 10-15 minutes. Sprinkle with the flaky sea salt; refrigerate, uncovered, until chilled and the layers are fully set, about 1 hour.

Recipe from EatingWell

Cookies and Bars · Holidays

Soft Gingerbread Cookies

cathysmahaLeave a comment

My daughter, Megan, has been making soft Gingerbread Cookies for years to give to neighbors and friends. This is her go-to recipe and it never disappoints. The family eagerly awaits her gingerbread making day! Decorate to your liking with icing and enjoy.

Soft Gingerbread Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 cup butter flavor shortening
  • 1 1 ⁄ 4 cups sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 cup molasses
  • 1/3 cup hot water
  • 1 teaspoon whole cloves
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 ⁄ teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ginger
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon
  • 4 cups flour
  • raisins (optional)
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Place cloves in hot water; set aside.
  2. Cream shortening and sugar.
  3. Add egg and beat.
  4. Add molasses, beat.
  5. Remove cloves from water, discard cloves.
  6. Add clove water, beat. *Dough will look “curdled”.
  7. Add rest of ingredients, except the last 4 cups flour, and beat. Gradually beat in last 4 cups flour.
  8. Chill dough.
  9. Roll out to 1/2″ thick or slightly less.
  10. Cut into shapes.
  11. Decorate with raisins if desired.
  12. Place carefully on ungreased cookie sheet.
  13. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes. Do not over bake.

Recipe from recipes.com

Cookies and Bars · Czech Heritage and Dishes

No Bake Christmas Honey Balls (Czech Medovníkové koule)

cathysmahaLeave a comment

Czech Honey Balls remind me of a very rich cake pop, only better. I like the cookie dough as well and could easily just eat it as a cookie, vs. crumbled in this yummy honey ball. My family is divided about this cookie. One half loves it and says it’s one of the best cookies they’ve ever had. The other half doesn’t like the texture…what? I just want to give honest feedback here. Just know my grandsons will eat every one I make and any you have leftover.

No Bake Christmas Honey Balls (Czech Medovníkové koule)

INGREDIENTS:
  • Honey dough:
    • 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (230 g)
    • ½ cup powdered sugar (60 g)
    • 1 egg
    • 1 teaspoon baking soda
    • 2 Tablespoons honey liquid (I heated in microwave for 20 seconds)
    • ⅓ stick unsalted butter (40 g) softened at room temperature
  • To finish:
    • 1 stick unsalted butter (110 g) softened at room temperature
    • ⅔ cup caramelized sweet condensed milk (200 g) Dulce de Leche or make your own with 1 can sweet condensed milk (see recipe below).
DIRECTIONS:
  1. If you are making your own caramelized sweet condensed milk, it’s so easy. Remove the label from the can and place, unopened, in a large pot of water. Bring to a boil. Simmer for 3 hrs. Remove from the water and cool. Ta-da you have caramel!
  2. Mix the flour with the baking soda and put the floury mixture in a bowl. Add the eggs, softened butter, liquid honey, and powdered sugar. First, mix the wet ingredients with the flour using a fork, then work into a soft dough with your hands.
  3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge to rest for an hour.
  4. Roll the rested honey dough into sheets about 1/2 inch (1 cm) thick. The shape doesn’t matter too much, as the dough will be crushed into crumbs when baked. When rolling out the dough, I recommend dusting the work surface lightly with flour to prevent the dough from sticking.
  5. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and place the honey dough sheets on it. Preheat the oven to 320°F (160°C). Place the baking tray in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes.
  6. Once baked, take off the parchment paper with the honey dough sheets and put them on a wire rack to cool. If you let the baked dough cool on the tray, it’s fine, but in that case, I recommend placing the tray in a cool spot.
  7. Once the sheets of dough have cooled, break them into crumbs. You can do this by hand or by placing the pieces of dough in a food processor and pulsing them a few times until they turn into small crumbs. Alternatively, you can grate the dough using a hand grater.
  8. Set aside about half a cup of the crumbs to coat the balls. Combine the remaining crumbs with the caramelized milk and softened butter. Start by mashing them together with a fork, then use your hands to form a soft dough.
  9. Cover the soft dough with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for about an hour to firm up.
  10. Scoop equal-sized portions of the dough, roll each into a ball using your hands, and coat them by rolling in the reserved crumbs.

Recipe slightly adapted from CooklikeCzechs.com

Cookies and Bars · Family

Golden Carrot Cookies

cathysmaha1 Comment

My Mother gave me the Betty Crocker Cooky Book for Christmas 1967, when I was 14 years old. I have used this book for a ‘few years’ and for the first time I noticed how Cooky was spelled. I have always spelled these delights as cookie but Merriam Webster says it can be cooky or cookie.

Golden Carrot Cookies are like a carrot cake in a cookie with a delightful orange glaze on top. While some of the children and grandchildren were hesitant to try carrot cookys, they all agreed they were good. 

If you ever see this Cooky Book at a garage sale or Goodwill, it’s worth adding to your collection!

Golden Carrot Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 cup shortening (part butter or margarine)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup mashed cooked carrots
  • 2 cups Gold Medal flour
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 3/4 cup shredded coconut
  • Orange Butter Icing:
    • 2 tbsp. soft butter
    • 1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar
    • 1 1/2 tbsp. orange juice
    • 2 tsp. grated orange rind
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Mix shortening, sugar, eggs and carrots.
  3. Measure flour by dipping method or by sifting. Blend flour, baking powder, and salt into shortening mixture. Mix in coconut.
  4. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls about 2″ apart on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until no imprint remains when touched lightly. Frost cooled cookies with Icing. Makes 4 dozen.

Recipe from Betty Crocker’s COOKY BOOK Copyright 1963

Cookies and Bars · Family Favorites

Clementine Butter Cookies

cathysmahaLeave a comment

Clementine Butter cookies are amazing, or as one family member said, ‘these are addictive’. I didn’t even use the orange liquer! I decided to roll the rough into balls then flatten them (vs. rolling them out and using a cookie cutter). Either way, these cookies are worth making. They were gone in a couple of days with kids, grandkids, etc.

Clementine Butter Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
  • 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon table salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons grated clementine zest (about 3)
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon orange extract
  • For the glaze:
    • 1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
    • small pinch table salt
    • 1 tablespoons orange liqueur (I used more clementine juice)
    • 1 tablespoon half and half
    • 1–2 tablespoons juice from clementine
DIRECTIONS:
  1. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, baking powder and cinnamon; set aside.
  2. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the sugar butter and zest on medium speed until well blended, about two minutes. Add the egg yolks one at a time, mixing until well blended after each addition. Add vanilla extract and orange extract and mix until well blended. Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until little moist clumps form, about one minute.
  3. Divide dough into two equal piles and form dough into smooth balls. Using your hands, knead dough into a disk and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes or up to three days ahead.
  4. When ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line cookie sheet(s) with parchment paper or silicone baking sheet.
  5. Working with one disk at a time, roll the dough on a well floured surface to about 1/4-inch thick. Using cookie cutter of your choice (I used a 2-inch circle), cut out shapes. Arrange them about 1-inch apart on the cookie sheets. Re-roll and cut out dough scraps until you’ve used all the dough.
  6. Bake the cookies in preheated oven about 10 minutes until the edges are golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the sheet about 5 minutes and then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
  7. While cookies are cooling, prepare glaze by combining powdered sugar, salt, orange liqueur, half and half and 1 tablespoon of clementine juice. Add more clementine juice, if necessary, to make a nice spreading consistency.
  8. Top each cookie with about 1 teaspoon of the glaze, using the bottom of a spoon to spread the glaze to sides of cookies. Let cookies sit at room temperature for at least an hour until glaze is set. Serve cookies immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 or 4 days.

Recipe from MountainMommaCooks

Breakfast · Cookies and Bars

Banana Breakfast Cookies

cathysmahaLeave a comment

There is nothing easier for breakfast that an oatmeal breakfast cake (like Maple Pumpkin Oatmeal Breakfast Bars or Breakfast Cake) or these Banana Breakfast Cookies. The recipe made 9 cookies. I froze 4, refrigerated 4 and, of course, ate one just to be sure they were delicious!

Banana Breakfast Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 1/2 cup oats
  • 1/2 cup peanut butter
  • 2 over ripe bananas
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional +2T. for topping)
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a sheet pan with parchment paper, and set aside.
  2. In a mixing bowl combine oats, mashed bananas, peanut butter, cinnamon, and salt. Mix together with rubber spatula and add ½ cup chocolate chips. Mix again.
  3. Divide the dough into seven cookies and place them in the parchment paper pan. Press down on the cookies to make a cookie shape and about ½ inch thick. Top cookies with extra chocolate chips if desired.
  4. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool before serving. Enjoy!

Recipe from Kitchenfunwithmythreesons

Cookies and Bars

5-Ingredient Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies

cathysmahaLeave a comment

These delicious cheesecake thumbprint cookies are so delicious. Daughter, Megan, found this recipe and used apricot vs. the suggested raspberry jam. Any jam would work and for the chocolate lover, a few of those as well. One last bit of sugar before the New Year diets begin!

5-Ingredient Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
  • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 8 tablespoons salted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup + 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 cup + 3 tablespoons flour
  • 1/4 cup preserves (raspberry, strawberry, apricot or bits of chocolate)
DIRECTIONS:
  1. In the body of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy, scraping down the sides as needed.
  2. Add the sugar and beat well.
  3. Add in flour, a small bit at a time, beating in on low speed, just until incorporated.
  4. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for at least 45 minutes and up to two hours.
  5. 30 minutes prior to baking, preheat oven to 375 degrees (F).
  6. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
  7. Using a cookie scoop, scoop out 1 tablespoon sized balls of dough, roll them into rounds, and place on the cookie sheet. Lightly press your thumb in the center of each round. Fill each indentation with 1/2 teaspoon of jam.
  8. Place pan in the oven to bake for 11 to 12 minutes or until just golden at the edges. They will still be very soft when you remove them from the oven–that’s a good thing!
  9. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 full minutes, then very carefully transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe from bakerbynature

Cookies and Bars · Holidays

Easy Sugar Cookies & Sugar Cookie Frosting

cathysmahaLeave a comment

Everyone loves a frosted sugar cookie for the holidays. Daughter, Megan, made several batches for her daughter’s December birthday party and to give to neighbors. They rolled out and cut beautifully. They are perfect for Santa’s visit on Christmas Eve. Yummo!

Easy Sugar Cookies & Sugar Cookie Frosting

INGREDIENTS:
  • Sugar Cookies
    • 1 cup unsalted butter softened (226g)
    • 1 cup granulated sugar (200g)
    • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract (see note)
    • 1 large egg
    • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (Plain flour) (315g)
    • ¾ teaspoon baking powder
    • ¾ teaspoon table salt
  • Sugar Cookie Frosting
    • 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted (375g) (weigh before sifting)
    • 3-4 Tablespoons milk (I use whole milk, but any kind will work)
    • 2 Tablespoons light corn syrup (see note)
    • ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
    • Gel food coloring optional
    • Additional candies and sprinkles for decorating optional
DIRECTIONS:

Sugar Cookies

  1. Combine butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl and use an electric hand mixer) and beat until creamy and well-combined.
  2. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until completely combined.
  3. In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.
  4. Gradually stir dry ingredients into wet until dough is smooth and completely combined.
  5. Lay out a large piece of plastic wrap and transfer approximately half of the dough onto the wrap (dough will be quite sticky at this point, that’s OK!).
  6. Cover dough with clear wrap or wax paper and mold into a flat disk. Wrap tightly. Repeat with remaining cookie dough in another piece of clear wrap. Transfer dough to refrigerator and chill for at least 2-3 hours and up to 5 days.
  7. Once dough has finished chilling, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper (alternatively bake cookies directly on an ungreased baking sheet). Set aside.
  8. Generously dust a clean surface with flour and place one chilled cookie dough disk onto the surface. Lightly flour the dough and roll out to ⅛” (for thinner, crispier cookies) or ¼” (for thicker, softer cookies). Add additional flour as needed both on top of and beneath the dough so that it doesn’t stick. Note: if dough is cracking as you roll it, let it sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes to soften before attempting again.
  9. Use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and use a spatula to transfer shapes to prepared baking sheet, spacing at least 1″ apart. If you are not intending to decorate your cookies with icing, you can decorate them with sanding sugar at this point before you bake them. 
  10. Bake on 350F (175C) for 8-10 minutes (this is for cookies that are approximately 3″ [7.6cm]; note that smaller cookies will need less time and larger cookies will need more), or until edges just begin to turn lightly golden brown.
  11. Allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet before decorating.
  12. Easy Sugar Cookie Icing; Combine powdered sugar, 2 Tablespoons of milk, corn syrup, and vanilla extract in a medium-sized bowl and stir until combined. If frosting is too thick, add more milk, about a teaspoon at a time, until the frosting is thick but pipeable. If you accidentally add too much milk, add powdered sugar until desired texture is reached.  
    • If coloring the frosting, divide into bowls and color as desired at this point.
    • Transfer frosting to a piping bag with a piping tip (I used Wilton 5), or place in a Ziploc bag and snip a small piece of the corner off (not as neat, but this will still work, just take care that the frosting isn’t so thick that it breaks open the seam of the bag when you are squeezing).  
    • Pipe frosting on cookies and decorate with decorative candies, if desired.
    • Allow frosting to harden before enjoying, stacking, or storing (this took several hours for me and may vary for you depending on the consistency of your frosting).

Recipe from SugarSpunRun

Cookies and Bars

Crave’s Rockstar Cookie Recipe

cathysmaha3 Comments

These cookies are amazing! I’m not familiar with Crave’s cookies, but this recipe was intriguing with the addition of crushed pretzels. I’ve never made cookies this big but follow the recipe for the best results. I baked for the full 15 minutes and would stop at 13 minutes next time. They do continue to book on the sheet and you don’t want them to cook too long and dry out. Make sure you let them rest for the full 20 minutes to set up. Then grab a glass of milk or a cup of coffee and enjoy!

Crave’s Rockstar Cookie Recipe

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks
  • 3/4 cup crushed pretzels
  • 3/4 cup toffee bits
  • 1 cup salted butter
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • sea salt for garnish
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°.
  2. Measure out the milk chocolate chips, semi sweet chunks, pretzels and toffee bits into a bowl. Set aside.
  3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth, light in color and fluffy. This will take a few mintues.
  4. Scrape the sides of the bowl and mix in the egg add vanilla.
  5. Once completely combined, stop the mixer and add in the flour, baking soda and salt.
  6. Start mixing slowly, once the flour mixture is about half way incorporated into the dough, pour the chocolate chips, pretzels and toffee bits into the mixer and allow everything to mix together.
  7. Stop the mixer as soon as the flour is completely incorporated. Avoid over mixing.
  8. Measure out the dough into generous 1/3 cup portions or weigh out 6 oz of cookie dough for each cookie. Loosely gather the dough together in a tall ‘ball’ leaving the top jagged, for texture. Avoid packing the dough together tightly.
  9. Repeat this with all of the cookie dough.
  10. Bake at 350° for 13-15 minutes, or until the cookie dough has spread and the edges are turning golden brown.
  11. Immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, use the back of a metal spoon and push the edges of the cookie towards the center, creating a perfect circle.
  12. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 20 minutes.*
  13. Serve warm.

*The cookies will continue to bake on the hot pan, so it is okay if the center of the cookies still look slightly underbaked when you take them out of the oven.

Recipe from CookingwithKarli

Cookies and Bars

Cookies n Creme Cookies

cathysmahaLeave a comment

Daughter, Megan, made the Cookies n Creme Cookies for our June garage as well as the Chocolate Chip Cookies on Steroids that I posted last week. These were also out of this world and sold well, of course who wouldn’t buy from 4 adorable grandchildren who were yelling on the street corner to buy cookies and lemonade!

Cookies n Creme Cookies

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 cup COLD butter
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1 package Oreo Cookies and Cream pudding mix
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 10-15 Oreo cookies, crushed to consistency of crumbs and chunks
DIRECTIONS:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 Fahrenheit.
  2. Place cold butter and sugars in mixer and beat until smooth.
  3. Add eggs, vanilla and Oreo Cookies and Cream Pudding Mix. Beat until fluffy.
  4. In a separate bowl combine flour, white chocolate chips, baking soda, and Oreo cookies.
  5. Slow mixer and slowly add flour mixture until just combined.
  6. Bake until slightly brown on the top. Let them cool to reach their max potential.
  7. Optional: top with additional crushed Oreo cookies

Recipe from Emily