Do you have a favorite cookie? I tend to stick to bar cookies, like brownies or blondies (see killer recipe, below), but I also like peanut butter, spice, molasses, snickerdoodles …
You get the idea. I like cookies!
Some of my favorites:
MOCHA WHITE CHOCOLATE CHUNK BROWNIES
(I won $50 in a cookie contest with these. They are truly delicious.)
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons Instant Coffee Powder
- 1 Tablespoon Water
- 2 cups Firmly Packed Brown Sugar
- 1-½ stick Butter, Unsalted
- 2 whole Large Eggs
- 2 Tablespoons Coffee Liqueur (Kahlua)
- 2 cups All-purpose Flour
- 2 teaspoons Baking Powder
- ½ teaspoons Salt
- 5 ounces, weight White Chocolate, Cut Into 3/4″ Pieces
- ¾ cups Coarsely Chopped Pecans, Toasted
- _____
- FOR THE CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE:
- 1 ounce, weight White Chocolate, Melted
- 1 ounce, weight Semi Sweet Chocolate Melted
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 10-inch diameter cake pan. Line the bottom with parchment. If you don’t have a 10″ round, you can use a 9×9″ square pan.
Combine coffee powder and the water in a heavy medium saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat until coffee dissolves. Add sugar and butter and stir until butter melts. Pour into a large bowl and cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally. Add eggs and coffee liqueur to butter mixture and whisk to combine. Sift flour, baking powder and salt into a small bowl. Add to butter mixture and stir to blend. Stir in chocolate pieces and pecans.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until a tester inserted in the center comes out almost clean, about 35 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack. Run a small sharp knife around the sides of the pan to loosen the brownies. Turn out onto a plate; peel off parchment.
Cut into small wedges. Put 1-oz. portions of semi-sweet and white chocolates in small Ziploc bags and melt in hot water. Snip a small bit off the corner of each bag, and drizzle chocolate decoratively on wedges.
You can also leave off the drizzled chocolate, and serve with vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.SPICY MOLASSES COOKIES
Easy and inexpensive to make. Also delicious! A work friend gave these one year to coworkers for Christmas. She packaged them in brown paper lunch sacks, and attached the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Granulated Sugar
- 3/4 cup Crisco
- 1/4 cup Molasses
- 1 egg
- 2 cups A/P Flour
- 1 tsp Cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp Cloves
- 1 tsp Powdered Ginger
- 1/4 tsp Cardamom (if you don’t have this, you can use Allspice)
- 1/4 tsp Salt
- 2-1/2 tsp Baking Soda
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Beat together the sugar, Crisco, molasses and egg.
Combine all dry ingredients, then add to the wet mixture.
Roll dough into walnut-sized balls, and coat with granulated sugar.
Place on an ungreased cookie sheet 1-2″ apart, and bake for 9-11 minutes. Tops should “crack”, but the middle should still be soft.
CHOCOLATE CANDY CANE COOKIES
I have made these for Christmas as giveaways, and although peppermint isn’t my favorite, these have a perfect balance of dark chocolate and sweet peppermint. This is a Pioneer Woman recipe (photos and more detailed instructions at link):
Ingredients
- 2 sticks Salted Butter, Slightly Softened
- 1 cup Powdered (Confectioners) Sugar
- 1 whole Egg
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla
- 2-1/2 cups Flour
- 1/2 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 4 ounces, weight (4 Squares) Almond Bark Or White Baking Chocolate (almond Bark Works Best And Is Cheaper)
- Large Handful Of Red Or Green Peppermints
Preparation
- Cream softened butter with powdered sugar. Add egg and vanilla and mix to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix together until dough comes together. Place plastic wrap on surface of dough and refrigerate for 2 hours.
- In the meantime, unwrap candies and place them in a plastic bag. Beat with a mallet until finely crushed, leaving larger chunks if desired.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Roll cookie dough in walnut-sized pieces and place on a cookie sheet. Gently press balls flat with a plain, smooth surface. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, being careful not to burn. Cookies will remain the same general size and shape after they bake. Remove from oven and place cookies on a cooling rack. Allow them to cool completely.
- Place crushed candies in bowl. Melt almond bark in the microwave. Dip cooled cookies into almond bark, coating half the cookie. Immediately sprinkle crushed peppermints over both sides of the almond bark. Gently set on parchment paper or other nonstick surface and allow to cool before serving.
I’m trying a new recipe this year, courtesy of King Arthur Flour:
MARZIPAN SHORTBREAD COOKIES
Ingredients
- 2 Cups AP flour (8.5 ounces)
- 3/8 tsp salt
- 10 TB soft, unsalted butter
- 4 oz Marzipan (1/3 Cup + 1 TB)
- 1/4 Cup sugar
- 1/2 tsp almond extract
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg yolk
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees
- Have two ungreased baking sheets ready
- Combine flour and salt thoroughly and set aside
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine butter, marzipan, sugar, flavors and egg yolk.
- Beat at medium high speed, until pale and creamy – about a minute.
- Stir in dry ingredients until thoroughly blended.
- Scoop heaping TB size balls of dough and space them about 3″ apart on the ungreased baking sheets.
- Using a cookie stamp, dip it in flour, center it over the dough ball, and press down until the dough is 1/4″ to 3/8″ thick. Remove excess dough around the edges, if necessary. It’s easy to neaten up the edges once the cookies are baked.
- Bake the cookies until they are a light golden brown around the edges. Tops will be pale. Should take 18-22 minutes.
- Remove cookies from the oven, and cool them for a minute or two on the baking sheets, then transfer them to a rack to cool completely.
I haven’t made these yet, but I suppose that if you don’t have cookie stamps you could roll the dough out to 1/4 or 3/8″, then use regular cookie cutters. I have some cheap stamps that I am going to try. According to King Arthur, if cookie stamps aren’t part of your baking toolkit, the balls of dough can be pressed flat using the tines of a fork or the bottom of a glass or measuring cup.
Stella's Place 
Okay I’m hooked. Love cookies. Only make shortbread & spritz cookies at Christmas. Czar loves to eat the shortbread, GGS wants to make spritz cookies so he can use the cookie press & he can sprinkle the greeen & red sugar on them. I send most home with him cause they have 3 other kids, and we don’t need the calories….
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My daughter and grandsons make spritz and sugar cookies. I like both, but never got good results with spritz.
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I love shortbread too. It’s rich, but not overly sweet.
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I made chocolate chip banana bread from scratch yesterday, and today my beagle stole 2 small loaves off the table…shes as big as a house right now.
Im going to made shortbread and dip half in chocolate with sugar sprinkles. And soft gingerbread cookies.
I have a recipe for soup can gingerbread with lemon sauce that my grandma used to make for me, but I cant give it out(ancient secret).
Im going to also make chocolate bark with dried cherries, almonds, and maybe another fruit. I could not find shelled, unsalted pistachios to use.
Maybe peppermint bark with white and dark chocolate too.
It all depends on how much time I get.
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In past years I have made dark chocolate/white chocolate bark with peanuts. Good and easy to do.
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Peanuts are good. Pistachios are great but expensive too.
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I made cookies one year with pistachios and dried cranberries. Tasty and colorful, but I lost the recipe.
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I might borrow your brownie recipe.
I dont think ill do those pb hershey kiss cookie cups this year, too time consuming.
Btw, I went to walmart today looking for made in USA candy canes. Only 1 type out of at least 12 was made here. The Hershey chocolate mint candy canes! I had to call them and ask.
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The mocha brownie recipe is delish and it’s very easy to make. Good choice for Christmas.
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Yeah, feeling this year will be a chrusciki year, gotta get the GGS into it before it’s too late. I can remember my grandmother making these pre-Christmas, heating an iron pot of clarified lard on the honest-to-goodness wood-fired kitchen stove. She wouldn’t part with it so the family had it converted to gas in the early 50s.
https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/11615/chrusciki-i/
BTW, you can sub brandy or flavored rum for the whisky.
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My step-grandmother in Canada had a modern kitchen, but she still a huge enameled coal/wood stove in their sitting room. It heated the house, and she used it for keeping dishes warm. I don’t think she still used it for cooking.
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My grandparent had this huge monster of a wood stove in the kitchen. It had a warming box on the back, a tank for heating hot water, six huge solid plates for pots you could lift off for frying pns, two ovens and an ash container underneath we’d have to clean out.
I was never sure if she was really happy with it being converted to gas but it made life much easier and good cooking wood was getting harder to find.
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Good morning,
I was up with my sweet grand puppies and saw your cookie post. The babies needed to make a quick visit to the great outdoors. – – They were glad to be outside, ice and all. They ran around like it was spring time.
Wanted to post this quick before going back to bed. Baby, it’s coold outside.
This recipe came from the Gail Gand TV show. It was created by Jeannie Eddy. She was the Pastry Chef for the MO Governor. Ms. Eddy submitted the recipe to Ms. Gand for a cookie contest. It is soooo delicious. It makes a perfect 36 cookies every time. I have been making these since about 2006. Everyone always loves these cookies every time I serve them.
Toffee Crunch Cookies
Recipe courtesy Jeannie Eddy (1st Place)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 (10-ounce) bag toffee candy bits
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup sweetened flake coconut
1 cup chopped whole, skinned almonds
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Cream together the butter, sugar and vanilla. Beat the eggs slightly; then add to the butter mixture and mix well. Sift flour, salt and baking soda; then add slowly to the moist ingredients and mix thoroughly. Mix in the toffee bits, oatmeal, coconut and nuts.
Drop dough by the teaspoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes.
I have already picked up the Heath toffee bits and coconut. Now just need the oatmeal.
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Glad to see I’m not the only one with a grand puppy. One of my favorite dogs ever was a beautiful golden retriever named Clyde. My son got him when he was in his twenties and they were inseparable for a decade.
When I think of my son as a young man, I picture him with that dog. Thank you for bringing about a fine memory to me, and apologies to stella for wandering a bit.
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Maybe this year I’ll try this. I really like toffee.
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This stuff I see very easy to make, and delicious too. I slide the pan in the freezer to cool and I usually break it into pieces, put them in a freezer bag and store it in the freezer.
This stuff is so much easier than most of my Christmas treat recipes are, and my family loves it.
https://www.melskitchencafe.com/salted-chocolate-toffee-pretzel-bark/
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Here’s one especially for the children to make.
https://www.number-2-pencil.com/snowman-top-hat-christmas-cookies/
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I love those! So cute!
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If i make any treats this year, it’s going to have to be this. I’ve wanted to try it a long time. Looks simple enough too. Cookie, caramel, chocolate. Why not?
https://sugarspunrun.com/millionaires-shortbread/
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The tricky part is the caramel (if you make your own).
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That brings back sweet memories of Scotland. I had a part-time job at Stephen’s The Baker’s, and they always had it. It’s great with a cup of tea! They also made a really good dark gingerbread loaf.
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Very tempting….
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Why the salt on top?
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It’s good!
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When I saw Menagerie’s recipe for Millionaires Shortbread it made me think of this recipe.
I have a friend who has a million grandchildren. This is one of her sweet treat recipes for the grandbabies. I love it as an adult too. It is one of those recipes that most people keep the ingredients on hand and it is so fast and easy to make you can prepare even after guests arrive unexpectedly.
Saltine Cracker Cookies or Toffee Bark or Toffee Cookies
Prep Time 10 mins Cook Time 5 mins Total Time 15 mins
Servings: Up to 40 cookies
Ingredients
• Saltine crackers – up to 40 crackers – whatever will fit on your pan.
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar packed
• 2 cups Chocolate Chips – Your favorite type. I use Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chocolate
• Optional: 1/2 cup finely chopped toasted pecans or your favorite nuts
• Optional: If no nuts you can decorate for Christmas with sprinkles or crushed peppermint etc.
Instructions:
1. Line a jelly roll pan with aluminum foil – Some people spray foil with PAM. I just use foil.
2. Lay crackers evenly over foil, salted side up.
3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. In a saucepan combine the sugar and the butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Immediately pour over saltines and spread to cover crackers completely.
5. Place in oven for 5 minutes. Remove pan from oven.
6. Sprinkle chocolate chips on top. Return pan to oven for 30 seconds to help melt the chips.
7. Use a spatula or knife to spread melted chocolate evenly.
8. Sprinkle pecans or other toppings on top. Let sit on counter or refrigerator until cool.
9. Break into pieces. I have had pretty good luck breaking into cracker size shapes. Some people break up like you would bark.
10. If there are any leftover store in an air tight container.
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I have wanted a good recipe for SPICY MOLASSES COOKIES. I’m going to try this when things slow down a little. Thanks for this tip.
I would also like a good/tested recipe for ginger cookies. I have a cream cheese/cranberry spread to put on ginger cookies that is delicious. But buying ginger cookies is hit and miss whether they are good or not. It may depend on the ginger itself.
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P. S. Stella meant to say thank you for the tip on the cardamom/allspice. My mother had a recipe calling for cardamom. The last time I priced it, cardamom was $10 for a little bottle. I moved on to another recipe when I saw the price.
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You could also up the amount of cinnamon to compensate. Just be careful about increasing the ginger or cloves, as they are quite powerful.
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I have a grandson who loves penguins. Obsessed with them currently. This is what we are going to try out this afternoon. It looks to be the easiest Christmas treat I’ve ever tried, but I am sure three small and excited children will increase the difficulty.
https://www.eatsamazing.co.uk/fun-food-for-kids/creative-food-tutorials/marshmallow-penguins-fun-food-tutorial
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