Easter Basket Cookies

And the Peep-a-palooza continues! Since I had a ton of Peeps leftover from the Peeps krispie squares I posted last week I had to find another way to use them up. Out of nowhere I was struck by a genius idea. I would mix Peeps and mini eggs, two of the great Easter candies, into one fantastic cookie.

Chocolate Mint Crackles

These are one of my favorite holiday cookies. I discovered this chocolate mint concoction in a Better Homes and Gardens "best of" cookie book that I bought at Costco a few years ago.

For those of you familiar with Tim Horton's, I would describe these as tasting like a chocolate glaze timbit if you were to add mint to it. There's almost a cakey texture to the cookie which is what I love about them. They're crisp on the outside and slightly chewy on the inside, full of chocolate, and delicious all around.

Chocolate Mint Crackles
from the Better Homes and Gardens' The Ultimate Cookie Book
makes 36 to 48 cookies

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 6 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon mint extract
• 1 to 2 cups icing sugar for rolling

Stir together dry ingredients and set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt one cup of chocolate chips. Microwave for 30 seconds and stir. Repeat at 30 second intervals until the chips are melted. Set aside.

With a stand mixer (or hand mixer) beat butter until fluffy. Add sugar and mix until combined. Add eggs, vanilla, and mint. Combine the melted chocolate into the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Add the dry ingredients slowly and mix on low speed. When incorporated, add the remaining ½ cup of chocolate chips. The dough gets pretty stiff so I recommend you use a stand mixer if you've got one.

Chill the dough for an hour or more until it firms up a bit. Using a tablespoon scoop (or a spoon) roll dough into balls about 1 inch in diameter. Toss dough balls in icing sugar and place about 2 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheets.

Bake at 350F for about 10 to 12 minutes until the tops are cracked. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

I find the easiest way to coat the cookies in the icing sugar is to put about a cup or so of sugar into a plastic container with a tight fitting lid. Add the dough balls, secure the lid, and shake. You can also just put the sugar into a bowl and toss the dough around with a spoon or your hands until coated.

The finished product is best eaten within a day or two. They don't freeze particulary well because of the icing sugar, but you can make the dough balls in advance and freeze those. Thaw for a few hours in the fridge, roll in sugar, and you're good to go.

Chocolate and mint can be a polarizing combination. Do you love it or loathe it?

(Almost) Wordless Wednesday: The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

A big thank you to the ladies who sent me their cookies as part of the first annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. I look forward to participating again next year!

Oatmeal Chocolate Cookies from Sarah at West Wellington Veggie

Sugar Swirl Cookies from Laura at Food. Love. Happiness.

Toasted Sesame Tahini Cookies from Calantha at piecurious

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap

A few months ago I came across a link for a blogger event that looked like it had the potential to be pretty interesting...

The cookie swap called for bloggers from all across the world to sign up for a holiday cookie exchange. Bloggers were matched up with three other participants in their country. We received the addresses of our matches a few weeks ago and cookies were sent out last week. 

The cookies I decided to send out to my matches (Alyssa, Liliana, and Carole) were Toblerone Shortbreads. There's a bakery here in Ottawa, Simply Biscotti, that makes a sugar/shortbread cookie with a giant Toblerone triangle in it and it's delicious. This was my attempt to recreate that cookie. I thought they would be a nice option that would probably hold up pretty well to being shipped across the country. I used the same shortbread base that I used for the cranberry shortbread last week.

Toblerone Shortbread
adapted from Martha Stewart's Icebox Shortbread
makes 48+ cookies

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 6 Toblerone bars, cut into triangles

With an electric or stand mixer, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth. With mixer on low speed, add flour, mixing just until a dough forms. 

Divide dough in half; place each half on a piece plastic wrap. Gently roll each into a 1 1/2-inch-diameter log about 12 inches long. Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. I sometimes shape my cookies in an empty parchment paper box to make rectangular instead of round cookies which is what I did here.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap logs; with a serrated knife, slice dough 1/4 inch thick Arrange slices, about 1 inch apart, on baking sheets. Bake 6 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and gently press a Toblerone triangle onto the top of each cookie and return to the oven for another 2 minutes until slightly golden at the edges.

Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I thought these turned out really well. The chocolate stayed slightly soft even after the cookies cooled down. Hopefully they survived the the shipping process alright. 

I thought this was a great event. The organizers did a great job and kept us all updated and  the process moving smoothly. I plan on posting later this week about the cookies I received as part of the swap. To those who received my cookies, I hope you liked them! 

If you're interested in updates about next year's cookie swap, you can go here to sign up for the mailing list.

Have you ever tried to recreate a treat from a bakery or restaurant? How did it work out?

Cranberry Shortbread Cookies

It's time. I'm in holiday mode. I know, it's not even December yet but I can't help it! I love Christmas and everything that comes along with it. Last week I received an email asking if I could contribute a holiday recipe for the Kitchissippi Times (my neighborhood paper) and this is what I decided on. A little twist on my favorite, and most popular, Christmas cookie - cranberry shortbread.

Cranberry Shortbread
adapted from Martha Stewart's Icebox Shortbread
makes 48+ cookies

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup icing sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries

With an electric or stand mixer, beat butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth. With mixer on low speed, add flour, mixing just until a dough forms. Stir in cranberries

Divide dough in half; place each half on a piece plastic wrap. Gently roll each into a 1 1/2-inch-diameter log. It will be about 12 inches long. Wrap tightly in the plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, 1 to 1 1/2 hours. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap logs; with a serrated knife, slice dough 1/4 inch thick Arrange slices, about 1 inch apart, on baking sheets.Bake until lightly golden around the edges, 6 to 8 minutes. Cool on baking sheets 1 to 2 minutes; transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Somewhere along the way I came across a super helpful tip. I can't remember where I saw or heard about this trick, but I've been using it for years. When storing a log of cookie dough in the fridge or freezer, put it in an empty paper towel roll that you've cut down the middle. It helps to keep the round shape and prevents the flat side you might get after it rests for awhile.

And here is the final result. Delicious, tender, buttery shortbread. These cookies are dangerous things. Most Christmases I make so many of them that I don't want to eat them. This being my first batch in almost a year, I was all over them. Shortbread is my ultimate Christmas cookie.

There will be at least one more variation of this recipe showing up here in the weeks to come. 

What is your favorite Christmas (or whatever holiday you celebrate) treat?

Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

I ventured out to the 'burbs last weekend and found myself at Sobey's in search of a deal. While I was there I picked up their in store magazine, Inspired, and found this recipe. I'm always looking for cookie recipes with a twist and these seemed to fit the bill - chocolate pretzel cookies. A pretty classic cookie dough full of coconut, oats, chocolate chips and pretzel pieces.

Chocolate Pretzel Cookies
Sobey's Inspired Magazine, Fall 2011
Makes 30 (using a tablespoon sized scoop, I got over 50)

1 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup sugar

1egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup large flake oats (not instant or quick oats)

1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 cup pretzels, broken into pieces
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup puffed rice cereal

• Preheat oven to 375°F. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed, cream together butter and sugars until light and fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, coconut, oats, baking soda and salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture, and mix until combined. Blend in pretzels, chocolate and cereal until just combined.
• Drop rounded tablespoons of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake in centre of oven, 8 min. for chewy cookies, 10 min. for crisp ones. Cool on wire racks.

  
These were really easy to pull together. Really no more difficult than a regular chocolate chip cookie, but a little more interesting. I did alter the recipe slightly. I didn't have any puffed rice cereal so I added an extra half cup of oats. I also added an extra 1/4 cup or so of chocolate chips. Once I put in the half cup it didn't seem like nearly enough for the amount of dough in the bowl so I threw in another handful. Sometimes baking isn't all about following the directions.

I would certainly make these again. The one issue I had was that they were really inconsistent. Some spread out flat and some didn't seem to spread out too much at all. My best guess is that, because of all the stuff in the dough, some didn't have enough dough to keep them together so they spread. Not really sure. They all tasted the same but some just looked ugly. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things. 

Do you have any tricks to make a basic cookie stand out?

The Bake Sale: Cookies

I made two kinds of delicious cookies for my bake sale last week. I started off planning to make just a classic chocolate chip cookie. Then, after thinking about it more, I added an oatmeal cranberry. Kind of along the same lines as adding the loaves. I figured an oatmeal cookie might be more appealing at 7am than a cupcake (no matter how delicious they look). 

My favorite chocolate chip cookie comes from the Joy of Baking site. I'm not sure what it is about this one that makes it different compared to other classics like the famous Tollhouse recipe but I like this one best. It's got good flavor and the cookies stay chewy which is very important to me.

The cookie scoop was a good investment

I had a harder time finding the recipe for the oatmeal cranberry cookies. I knew I wanted to use the classic Quaker recipe but I couldn't find the one I thought I was looking for. The one on the Quaker site just didn't seem quite right. This is actually one of the first cookies I ever remember making. The recipe used to be on the back of the cardboard oatmeal container that we always had in the house. I checked around on a few blogs and I finally found a link back to the Quaker site to the Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin cookie recipe. Since I don't really love raisins, I opted for the more universally appealing dried cranberries instead. 

I'm happy to report that both of these cookies freeze really, really well. I made both batches almost a week before the sale and kept them "fresh" in the freezer until the weekend. Since I had quite a few left I threw them back in the freezer and hoped for the best. They were delicious that day and still delicious today, even after they were refrozen. I might have to take some of them in to the office soon. Now that I've remembered they're there, I might have a hard time keeping my hand out of the freezer. 

Do you have a favorite recipe that freezes (and maybe refreezes) well?

Cookies for Breakfast

I am lazy in the mornings. I don't want to get up any earlier than I have to. This means that I routinely eat my breakfast once I get to the office. It seems more efficient to eat while catching up on my emails instead of taking away from my precious time in bed. A few years ago, Kristen sent me a link to a recipe for breakfast cookies and my life was forever changed. I tried out the recipe right away and fell in love. For quite awhile, these were my go-to option for our "second breakfast". For close to 3 years, Kristen and I would take a mid-morning break and head to the kitchen for a snack. Most often she would have peanut butter and toast and, for a long while, I had a slightly warmed breakfast cookie. 

Delicious goodies

I wouldn't exactly call these things healthy but they are certainly a better option than some. They're full of oats, nuts, and dried fruit and actually have some good staying power in the belly. The recipe came from a Canada.com interview with a chef from Vancouver. The recipe is great as is, but here are the changes I make...

• reduce the sugar to a total of 1 cup - with all of the dried fruit, the cookies are more than sweet enough with less sugar
• mix up the dried fruit - I usually use a dried fruit mix made up of dates, prunes, apricots, apples, peaches, and pears and use a total of 1.5 cups of the assortment. This time I got it at Bulk Barn but they also sell a similar mix at Costco
• add more healthy stuff - I usually add ground flax, use some whole wheat flour, or make some other healthy addition. This time I didn't have any of the good stuff on hand.
• make the cookies smaller - in the past I've always formed the cookies with a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop. This time I decided to make them half the size and they still seem like they'll make a good snack. 
• freeze them - I make a batch of these (38 at the smaller size), wrap them up in plastic wrap and throw them in the freezer. They keep really well. About 15 seconds in the microwave and you're ready to eat. 
  

It's all about the prep work

Ready for the oven

The finished product

I think they cookies turned out great. A good recipe to use as a starting point is as important as the skill (or patience) to execute it. I'm very much looking forward to breakfast tomorrow!

What are your favorite options for a portable breakfast? Do you have any breakfast rituals?

C is for Cookie

By the end of the work day today I had a hankering for cookies. Peanut butter cookies to be exact. For some reason, I've been thinking about these cookies for a few weeks. I last made them a couple of years ago for a birthday celebration at the office. It must have been in one of my daily Martha Stewart emails where I first saw this recipe for Peanut Butter Toffee cookies. How could they be bad? It's a really easy recipe to pull together. I made these tonight in under an hour even accounting for all the pauses for picture taking. A simple peanut butter base with added toffee bits and chocolate chips for good measure. The recipe calls for Skor bars (Heath for any Americans out there) but the chips were a more less expensive option.

First things first...peanut butter

Cookie dough sans goodies

Mmmm...

The finished product

Looks good enough to eat!

I think they turned out quite well. Hopefully my co-workers are ready for some sugar tomorrow.

Do you have any favorite, easy cookie recipes you're willing to pull together on a weeknight?