60 in 60: Day 34-Checkerboard Cookies

Continuing the blog posts that should have been posted a week ago, are delicious cookies that I originally made on September 25th.

Checkerboard Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/3 Cups AP Flour

1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1/8 Tsp Salt

2/3 Cup Butter, Softened

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

2 Tbsp Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

Beat the butter, sugar, and vanilla together.

Add flour, baking powder, and salt.

Divide the dough in half.

Knead the cocoa powder into one half.

Wrap both halves in parchment paper (Read: plastic wrap) and stick in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Cut each half into thirds and form them into logs.

Pick the easiest way you can think of and make a checkerboard out of the logs.

The book says to form some sort of a lattice pattern by placing the logs on top of each other. I cut the logs and placed the pieces next to each other. The book also said to stick the pieces together with egg whites, but my dough was sticky enough to not need the egg whites.

Cook on greased cookie sheets for 10-15 minutes at 375.

Over cook because you were on the NaNoWriMo forums.

These were delicious and A LOT easier then they looked at first.

Book Yield: 20

My Yield: 21

60 in 60: Day 33-Coconut Lime Cookies

Sorry it's been so long since posting. I kinda took a few days off of baking to play Sims 2. I made these cookies on September 24th. They're a bit of work, but totally worth it if you like lime and coconut.

Coconut Lime Cookies

Ingredients:

2 1/4 Cups AP Flour

1/2 Tsp Salt

1 Cup Butter (Softened)

1 Cup Sugar

2 Large Eggs, Lightly Beaten

1 Finely Grated Zest of Lime

1 Tbsp Freshly Squeezed Lime Juice

1/2 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 Tsp Almond Extract

1 Cup Shredded Coconut

Beat the butter and sugar together in a medium bowl.

Beat the eggs in until they are just blended.

Add the lime zest, vanilla, lime juice, and almond extract.

Mix in dry ingredients and 3/4 cup of coconut to form a stiff dough.

Divide the dough in half and form each half into logs.

Wrap in plastic wrap (or parchment paper, like me) and flatten slightly to form oblongs.

Put dough in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Butter your cookie sheets.

Slice dough 1/4 inch thick and place on the cookie sheets.

Sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

Let cool completely on racks.

If you feel bad for wasting the extra lime juice you can put it over the cookies right before you bake them, but that makes the cookies REALLY SUPER DE DUPER lime-y.

Book Yield:36

My Yield: 40

60 in 60: Day 24- Orange Ladyfingers

When I think of ladyfingers, I think of my gran. Not because she ever made them (she's more of a cake kind of baker), but because I imagine that ladyfingers are one of the cookies that ladies ate at fancy tea parties playing bridge. Or, in my gran's case: at bars, playing euchre. Either way, they're spongey, yet delicious.

We're in the Golden Book again.

Orange Ladyfingers

Ingredients:

1/3 c flour

1/8 t salt

2 eggs

1/3 c caster sugar (I used regular, because I was assured it would be fine)

Finely grated zest of orange.

First, zest that orange!

Beat together eggs, sugar, and orange zest until thick.

I added food coloring here to give it the orange color.

Fold in dry ingredients with large rubber spatula.

Fit pastry bag with 1/2 inch star tip.

Squeeze out 2 inch lines.

LAUGH BECAUSE IT AIN'T HAPPENING, BOB!

Bake at 375 for around 5 minutes.

Enjoy with a shot of freshly squeezed orange juice from your zested orange.

Book Yield: 20

My Yield: Um, I'm not really sure. They all sorta RAN TOGETHER.

60 in 60: Day 24-Mint Spritzers

I used to like mint, I love chocolate, I'm down with mint chocolate.

This recipe is found in my Golden Book of Cookies.

Mint Spritzers

Ingredients:

1 c flour

1/8 t salt

1/2 c butter

1/3 c sugar

1/2 egg (YES A HALF AN EGG)

1/2 t vanilla

1/2 t mint extract

Hershey Kisses

I almost doubled this recipe, because it only called for half an egg, but the yield said 30, so I didn't. Stupid yield. Stupid half an egg.

Beat butter, sugar, egg, vanilla, and mint together.

Add dry ingredients and food coloring, if you so desire.

(I added 5 drops green, 2 yellow.)

Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Get out your cookie press (I used a pastry bag) and insert the clover shaped design.

Put those cookies on a greased oven sheet.

Heat oven to 400 and bake until the edges of the cookies are brown.

Quickly put the kisses on top of the cookies.

Let cool on the sheets until firm, then transfer to wire racks.

Even though the dough kinda tasted like toothpaste, (I never bought mint toothpaste, my boyfriend uses it. Now I associate the taste/smell of mint with toothpaste.) the cookies turned out really good if you let them sit for a bit before eating them.

Book Yield: 30

My Yield: 15, barely.

60 in 60: Day 24- Yogurt Stackers

This is my last recipe from the internets for awhile. A few weeks ago I got the "Golden Book of Cookies" and I picked a good two dozen recipes from that. It's a really nice book, with some fun recipes. A few of the instructions leave you going "whaaaa?" but other than that, I enjoyed looking through it and am really looking forward to baking from it.

You can find this recipe here.

Yogurt Stackers

Ingredients:

Cookies:

1 c sugar

1/2 c butter

1/2 c shortening

1/2 c plain yogurt

1 egg

3 c flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

1/4 t salt

1/3 c preserves

Frosting:

1 c powdered sugar

2 t yogurt

1 t butter

1/4 t vanilla*

*not pictured, pretend it's the apple.

Beat together sugar, butter, and shortening.

Add yogurt and egg.

Add flour, powder, soda, and salt.

Put in fridge for 2 hours, preheat the oven to 375, roll out the dough and cut with a biscuit cutter.

Make sure the number of cookies you have is divisible by three, we're making sammiches!

Bake 6-8 minutes.

Let cool on cookie sheet.

Make frosting by mixing all ingredients together.

Frost 1/3 of your cookies.

Place second third on top, like so:

Put preserves on the 2nd third of cookies, and add the last third on top.

Like thus:

EAT!

A bit dry, but yummy.

Yield: 10 stackers (30 cookies)

60 in 60: Day 21- Pink Lemonade Cookies

I have come up with a semi-solution to the problem with my over-flowing freezer: The local college community out reach/volunteer program is having a bake sale to help with LiveStrong Days the first weekend in October. I'm going to donate some cookies to them, so if you'd like to taste some of my cookies and help a good cause at the same time, come out to the bake sale that weekend. I'll post more details as I know them.

Today's cookie recipe can be found at mom-mom.com.

Pink Lemonade Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies:

1/2 c butter

1/2 c sugar

1/2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1 egg

1/3 c pink lemonade concentrate- thawed

1 3/4 flour

Frosting:

2 t butter

2 c powdered sugar

2 t pink lemonade

5 t water

Cookies:

Beat the sugar, butter, powder, and soda together.

Add the egg and lemonade.

Add flour (my mixer did all this for me, no need to break out the wooden spoon).

Put the cookies in the oven for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Frosting:

Add all the frosting ingredients together and beat. You may need to add more water to get the right consistency of frosting.

Let the cookies cool and then frost.

With your leftover lemonade concentrate, make a quart or so of pink lemonade to go along with your cookies. Enjoy!

These cookies were really good, but the frosting was too sweet for my taste.

Yield: 27 tiny cookies

60 in 60: Day 21-Craisy Oatmeal Cookies

These are the cookies I made with the help of my boyfriend, Friday night. I had planned on posting them Saturday, but it was a long day and by the time we got home and had dinner, it was nearly midnight and I just passed out watching Psych.

Today we have a recipe from someone I met while working at the SAC, Guy Fieri. He came off as "potential to be a dick" to me, but I got his autograph anyway. (I lost it since then, it was on the back of my badge holder and it rubbed of from constant use.) You can find his recipe at the Food Network site, or you can just click here.

Craisy Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

2 c flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 c butter

1 1/4 c dark brown sugar

1 T honey

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 c coconut

3/4 c craisins (dried cranberries)

2 c oats

1/2 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped

Sift together flour, soda, powder, cinnamon, and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream butter and sugar together.

Add the honey and vanilla to the mix.

Then, one at a time, add the eggs.

Add the coconut, craisins, oats, and rosemary.

Fold in dry ingredients.

(Like always, it'll look like there is way too much dry, but with some work, the wet will overpower all.)

Drop cookies on to a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake in the oven, which you must have turned on, at 350 degrees for 13-15 minutes.

Let the cookies sit for five minutes before transferring them to wire rack.

These cookies were delicious, and not that hard to make. I couldn't really taste the rosemary in them, so if you wanted, you could probably leave that out.

Guy's Yield: 25 cookies

My Yield: 36 cookies