Fake Snickerdoodles

Although the title implies that these are snickerdoodles, that’s not actually the case, I guess you could say that is false advertising in that case. Proper snickerdoodles are cookies coated in a cinnamon and sugar, and not actually anything to do with snickers (candies) chocolate bars… So now that I have cleared that little bit up, here is my recipe for the fake Snickerdoodles.

“Snickerdoodles”

2 cups softened butter

2 cups peanut butter

2 cups white caster sugar

2 cups brown caster sugar

4 eggs

4tsps vanilla extract

6 cups plain flour

2tps baking powder

1tsp salt

2 snickers each cut into 12 chunks

½ cup sugar for sprinkling

1. Preheat your oven to 190˚C/375˚F, line two baking sheets with baking paper.
2. Beat in the butter, peanut butter and sugars in a large bowl until well combined and creamy, beat the eggs and the vanilla extract.
3. Mix together the dry ingredients, then add a bit at a time to the butter mixture, until it is well incorporated and you have a smooth dough.
4. Using about a ¼ cup for each cookie, make them into balls forming them around a snicker chunk. Then sprinkle each cookie with sugar
5. Bake until browned a little around the edges, about 12 minutes.
6. Cool slightly and the move to a wire rack.

I like these cookies, even I managed to make a success out of these despite my baking nemesis being ever present still (well at this point in my cooking adventure anyway) these are particularly good for a couple of reasons, the first being they are a fab treat to make with the kids, and they also double up as Christmas tree decorations, but you could omit the sweetie bit and opt for royal icing and use the flood technique to ice them instead. This is a really versatile recipe and one which I have used several times for that reason. You are not limited either, you can use any cutter and design them however you would like.

Christmas Tree Decorations

225g softened butter

140g caster sugar

1 egg yolk, lightly beaten

2tsp vanilla extract

280g plain flour

Pinch salt

1 egg white, lightly beaten

Multi-coloured boiled sweets, crushed in their separate colours

Hundreds and thousands, ribbon to decorate

1. In a large bowl, beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy, then add the egg yolk and vanilla extract. Sift the flour and the salt into the butter mixture and stir until well combined, halve the dough into balls wrap in cling film and chill for about an hour.
2. Preheat your oven to 190˚C/375˚F and line two large cookie sheets with baking paper, unwrap the dough and sandwich between two sheets of baking paper and roll it out, using Christmas themed cutters, cut out your cookies, place them on the cookie sheets spacing them quite far apart.
3. Use a large plain piping nozzle to cut holes in the centre of each cookie, then using a skewer poke smaller hole in the top of each cookie (so you can poke the ribbon through later for hanging) Brush the tops of each cookie with egg white and sprinkle with hundreds and thousands, bake in the oven for about 7 minutes.
4. Remove the cookies from the oven, fill the holes with the boiled sweets and return to the oven for a further 5-8 minutes, or until golden and the sweets have melted and filled the holes. Allow to cool on the cookie sheets then transfer to wire racks, finally add thread the ribbon through the holes.

Thanksgiving Cookies

I am not really sure what it was about this recipe that appealed to me, maybe it was the name? I certainly miss America, it holds good memories for me, it was the place I came into my own and will always be home for me. I guess it was for that reason. I may have also picked it out because of the white chocolate and dried fruit combination. Either way, whether it be because of my deep rooted love affair with the U.S or my penchant for white chocolate and dried fruit, these cookies are definitely scrummy.

Thanksgiving Cookies

225g softened butter

140g caster sugar (super fine)

1 lightly beaten egg yolk

2 tsp orange juice

280g plain flour

Pinch of salt

110g mixed dried fruit (your choice)

25g white chocolate bits

1. Preheat your oven to 190˚C/375˚F. Line two baking sheets with baking paper. Put the butter into a bowl or mixer and beat with the sugar until light and fluffy, slowly add and incorporate the egg yolk and orange juice, then beat well to combine.
2. Sift the flour and salt into the mixture and then add the mixed fruit and white chocolate bits, stirring well to mix all the ingredients together.
3. Using a tablespoon, dollop the dough onto the lined baking sheets, space them quite a bit apart because they will spread, then bake until they are a light golden colour. I like to watch mine to see when they are done, but it should take about 10-15 minutes.
4. They will still be soft slightly when you take them out of the oven at first, so leave them on the baking trays to cool slightly and then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Dutch Caramel Cookies

When I first started this project in 2009, I have no idea where I thought this project was going to go? It started off as a game of sorts. On Thursday nights Glen and I would select three or four cookbooks from the few that I owned back then, in comparison to now, It was two shelves of a 5ft book shelf, now it’s an entire 7ft bookshelf and that’s not even enough, I have spread to other shelves around the house.

Back to my game, we would fan the pages and shout stop, whatever page it landed on is what I would cook, if there was more than one recipe on the page we would take it in turns to choose the recipe and if it was one we had already tried the pages got fanned again, but that was the only time that the pages got re-fanned, whatever it landed on that’s what I had to cook, no exceptions (because sweet/dessert recipes are at the back of books we skipped those pages). Friday I would do my shopping list and then when Glen got home from work we would go shopping, for the ingredients. Then I would set about making my new recipes, then they would get added to my notebook, I had the theory that it would make the recipes we had tried and liked easier to find, which in the beginning it was, except now I am about to start my third notebook and I have tried over 300 recipes now. I really hadn’t expected it to go this far, or for this long. Most things in my life fizzle out, so I had expected this to go the same way, but it hasn’t my need, desire, enthusiasm is still as strong today as it was when I first started nearly 5 years ago. Although I’ll admit with work commitments, leaving me little time these days, my progress is a little slower, but definitely not through choice… I often dream about quitting and becoming a full time housewife, cook, blogger extraordinaire. I am good at that stuff!

This next recipe is from a book Glen got me early last year, and although they are so simple to make I had so much fun doing them.

Dutch Caramel Cookies

125g softened butter

150g caster sugar

150g plain flour

½ tsp baking powder

Caramel

50g caster sugar

1tbsp water

1.       To start with you need to make the caramel, so put the sugar and water into a small saucepan and place over a low heat for a couple of minutes until the sugar has dissolved stirring every now and again, then turn up the heat and bring the mixture to a fast simmer and cook for about 5 minutes or until the sugar caramelises and is a golden brown colour. Do be careful once it starts to turn because it doesn’t take too much to burn it.

2.       Line a baking tray with baking paper and as soon as the sugar has caramelised, pour it onto the baking paper as thinly as possible. Set to one side and leave it to cool… DO NOT TOUCH THE CARAMEL IT WILL BE HOT.

3.       Preheat the oven to 180˚C/350˚F, place your butter and sugar into a large bowl and beat together until light and fluffy, beat in the flour and baking powder, stirring well, until it comes together and forms a ball.

4.       Smash up the caramel into small bits, using a rolling pin or pestle and mortar, they don’t have to be equally sized or be the same shape, just little shards between 3-5mm.

5.       Stir the caramel bits into the cookie dough so that they are equally distributed throughout the dough, then split the dough into about 15 equal pieces and roll them into little balls, place them onto a baking sheet and squish them to about 1cm thickness, try to space them apart because they are going to spread.

6.       Bake the cookies for about 10 minutes so that they are a pale golden colour. Allow them to cool on the cookie tray as they will still be soft, and crumple if you try to move them. Check that they have firmed up and move to a wire rack

Chocolate Orange Cookies

I quite liked these cookies, I love the chocolate and orange combination – biscuits/cookies are my “sweet” weakness so all three together are a little slice of heaven for me. Trying to find recipes that will work for me is always quite difficult any dough like biscuits/cookies that require cut outs has always been a struggle for me as has pastry, this is because my hands are too warm. But slowly I am improving more successes than failures these days.

Chocolate Orange Cookies

1 cup softened butter

¾ cup divided sugar

1 egg

1tsp vanilla extract

2 ½ cups plain flour (all purpose)

½ tsp salt

¼ cup finely grated orange peel

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Cream the butter and ½ cup sugar, in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract, slowly add the flour and salt, mix to combine then put in the fridge for 15 minutes.
2. Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to about a ¼” thickness. Cut with cookie cutters, place them on ungreased baking sheets, about 2” apart, mix together the remaining sugar and orange peel and sprinkle over the cookies.
3. Bake for about 15 minutes, just until the edges begin to brown, at 350˚F/180˚C cool on a wire rack, melt the chocolate and pipe on the cookies to decorate.

Easter Cookies

Drop cookies are easy; I have never really struggled to get them right, in comparison to cut out cookies, which have much firmer dough. I am going to keep trying, I read something recently and I think I maybe over mixing the dough. These ones turned out ok, probably by a sheer matter of fluke than my skill in the kitchen. These are good though, if you get them right, crisp but crumbly, and the raisins and mixed peel add an interesting texture to them – a little chewy. Fluke or not I was really proud when I managed to make these, at the time I didn’t have round cookie cutters (I have now in fact I have lots) so I used a glass, which I dipped in water each time before use, so that my cookie dough didn’t get stuck to the glass, it seemed to work which was a good thing. I actually managed to do a good job with these ones and felt very proud of the end result. The mixed spice gives them a little bit of bite, mixed with the orange and lemon peel; they looked good as well as tasted good. I made them which for all intense and purposes, is small feat I still struggle with dough’s and batters. In truth though, I am getting better. If you omit the fruit and spice, you can use this recipe for the basis of other types of cookies, I have used it and done run out icing. You could cover them in chocolate too, loads of possibilities really. The only constraint in life is your own imagination.

Easter Cookies

225g/8oz Softened butter

140g/5oz caster sugar (super fine) plus extra for sprinkling

1 lightly beaten egg yolk

280g/10oz plain flour

1tsp mixed spice

Pinch salt

1tbsp mixed peel

55g/2oz currants

1 egg white lightly beaten

1. In a large bowl beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then add the egg yolk and beat that in. Sift the flour, salt and spices into the butter, throw in the mixed peel and currants and stir until very well combined. Halve the dough and shape into two balls, wrap them in clingfilm and stick them in the fridge for a minimum of 30 minutes before you use it.
2. Meanwhile preheat your oven to 190˚C/375˚F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Remove the clingfilm, place the dough between two sheets of baking paper and roll out the dough to about ½ cm thick, then using a fluted round cutter(or cutter of your choice), cut out your cookies and place them on the baking sheet making sure that they are spaced apart, as they will spread, when they are too close together they will, join together. Bake them for 7 minutes, remove from the oven brush with the egg white and sprinkle with the sugar. Return to the oven and bake until a nice golden brown colour… a further 5-8 minutes…. Cool on their trays for about 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.
   

Fully Loaded Chunky Cookies

Cookies are great and these, as in cookies, I CAN BAKE. I first made these with my daughter, although she is getting a little old to be baking with her Mummy now. Even so these are REALLY good and REALLY naughty. The original recipe said to use 1 cup each of the different chocolate chips. I half that, I have made this recipe five or six times now, twice according to the recipe, they are great either way, but I find using a little less of the chocolate chips, they bind a little better.

 

 Chunky Cookies

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2½ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/8 tsp salt

½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ cup milk chocolate chips

½ cup white chocolate chips

4 squares bitter chocolate

¾ cup English toffee

½ cup vanilla fudge

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the Vanilla.

2. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, then gradually add to the creamed mixture. Finally stir in remaining ingredients.

3. Drop a tablespoon full of the mixture 3" apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350°F/180°C for 10 or until golden. Cool for 2-3 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 8½ Dozen

 

Chocolate Mint Cookies

These are nice, as with most kitchen mishaps with me, it’s normally due to not reading the recipe all the way through before I begin – lesson you’ve learnt here? Don’t be like me – read it all the way through first. Mine ended up an odd shape because I rolled it into a log first, then chilled it in the fridge. Then I cut them which squashed the dough making them an odd shape…

Do you remember the episode of Friends, it’s Thanksgiving and Monica allows Rachel to make the dessert? Rachel ends up making trifle and Shepherds Pie because the two recipes got stuck together and she was reading and following both recipes, this is sort of what happened to me, because I hadn’t read the recipe first I made the mistake of mixing two cookie recipes together…. Ooops, to be honest silly mistakes like that are the least of my problems when I am baking.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

6 tbsp butter

1 ½ cup brown sugar
2 tbsp water
2 cups semisweet choc chips
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cup flour
1 ½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

For the filling

2 ½ cups icing sugar

¼ cup butter
3 tbsp milk
½ tsp mint extract

1. In a saucepan, add the butter, brown sugar, water and chocolate chips. Stir over a low heat until all the chips have melted. Than allow to cool.
2. In a small mixing bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla together, then add to the cooled chocolate mixture and stir well to combine. Mix together the flour, baking soda and salt; slowly add the chocolate mixture and stir well again to combine. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking trays.
3. Bake at 350˚F (180˚C) for about 10 minutes or until firm. Remove to wire racks to cool.
4. Mix together the filling ingredients until smooth, spread onto half of the cookies and then top with the other remaining cookies.

Chocolate chunky cookies - for kids?

I love chocolate chip cookies, (they’re about the only thing I can bake) I used to make these with my daughter quite regularly – sometimes swapping the type of chocolate we used. They are really easy to make, great for getting the kids involved. Especially the bit when you have to smash up the chocolate, with a rolling pin, all good fun. By adding some flavouring you can easily change the taste slightly, orange and chocolate work really well together, I would sometimes add a few drops of orange flavouring to the cookie dough, a healthier option would be to add a little orange zest perhaps.

 Chocolate Chunk Cookies

2 eggs, beaten
200g butter
300g flour
150g soft light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
½ tsp salt
½ bicarbonate of soda
300g chocolate
1 tsp Vanilla essence

 1. Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Break the chocolate into squares, place them in a freezer bag, put it on a solid surface and with a rolling pin give it a good bash, until it’s broken up into small chunks.

 2. In a bowl, beat the butter with all the sugar until creamy and smooth, gradually beat in the egg.

 3. Beat in the flour, salt, bicarb of soda and vanilla, now stir in the chocolate chunks.

 4. Spoon mounds of the cookie dough onto a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes or until they are golden, take out of the oven and leave for 5 minutes to harden before transferring to a wire rack, to cool.

Chocolate thumb prints

If you want an easy recipe and don’t mind messy fingers, slightly time consuming, possibly a little fiddly, cookie, recipe, then this is perfect. I am one of those people where my mental visual effect is much better than the final result. I do have a mild case of OCD, which makes me hyper critical of everything I do. My opinion is that these could have been aesthetically beautiful, instead I got quirky but tasty. Just a few hints with this one, first there is a chance the thumbprint (you’ll get what I mean later if you don’t already know) will rise during the baking process, if this is the case, gently press down again on the indentation before they have a chance to cool and set – you have to put the caramel into the indentations, before they are totally cool, but if you leave the raised indentations to long you can’t fix it and won’t be able to fill them. Secondly, be careful with the caramel, it really burns if you accidently touch it, and lastly, you can easily split this recipe in half and do two batches, one with and one without nuts – if you are doing a batch without due to a nut allergy, I suggest making the ones without first and making sure they are cooled and sealed away before you start the nutty ones – those pesky nuts get everywhere.

Chocolate & Caramel Thumbprints

1 egg, yolk and white separated into separate bowls, cover and chill until needed

½ cup softened butter

2/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup cocoa powder

¼ tsp salt

16 vanilla caramels

3 tbsp whipping cream

1 ¼ cup finely chopped pecans

½ cup chocolate pieces

1 tsp shortening

1. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with an electric mixer for about 30 seconds, add sugar and beat well, until creamed, beat in egg yolk, milk and vanilla.
2. In another bowl mix together, the flour, cocoa and salt then add to the butter mixture and beat until combined, wrap the dough in cling-film and put in the fridge for 2 hours.
3. Preheat the oven to 350˚F (180˚C). In a small pan melt the caramels with the whipping cream, over a low heat until you have a smooth mixture, then set aside.
4. Beat the egg white slightly, shape the dough into about 36, 1” balls, roll in the egg white and then the pecans to coat. Place the balls about an inch apart on a baking tray, then using your thumb make an indentation in the centre of each cookie.
5. Bake until the edges are firm, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and immediately (and carefully) spoon the caramel mixture into the centre of the cookies, transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.
6. Melt the chocolate and the shortening until the mixture is smooth, then drizzle over the tops of the cookies, leave them to stand until the chocolate has set.