Chocolate Brownie Bites and Thumpbrints

Over the weekend I made a couple batches of cookies to stay on track with my daily cookie bake. I made a batch of Thumbprint cookies with Raspberry and Apricot filled centers.  I had to make an extra batch of the cookies because the family keeps eating them all.  I also made some Pecan Snowballs which I almost forgot I made!  I've made so many different types of cookies I am begging to forget what I already made!

I love the different flavors of each type of cookie.  What I've found is that most of them start out with pretty much the same basic ingrediets.  One thing for sure is that in most of the cookie recipes I've tried they all seem to start out with the butter and sugar creamed together.   Thank God for my stand up mixer.

I've created a conflict in my daily cookie baking endevour.  I have learned to crochet.  I just finished my first scarf.  I was going to try to make it as a gift, and I may still give it away, but I will say I have some practicing to do.  I crocheted an infinity scarf for my sister.  It has some flaws but that's what makes it look handmade.   I love handmade gifts.  I especially love the ones you can wear and can eat.  A homemade scarf and some homemade cookies sounds just about right.

Happy Baking!

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies

Tonight I made a double batch of my favorite butter cookie from Land O'Lakes but decided to fill them with chocolate instead of a fruit.  Since I was using chocolate as a filling I eliminated the almond extract because I wasn't sure I'd like that combination.  The cookie is very buttery and combines well with the chocolate centers.  I found a recipe for a chocolate thumbprint cookie on The Brown Eyed Baker blog.  While I didn't use the cookie recipe I did use the chocolate filling recipe.  My filling came out a little runny but it was still very good and not too sweet.  I still plan to make another batch of thumbprints with fruit filling in them.  I love this cookie because it's just so versatile and can be filled with any filling.  My favorite is apricot so that's going to be the next batch.  I doubled this evenings batch becuase I was planning on splitting it in two with half chocolate filled and the other half apricot. 

I think I love baking cookies because it's almost instant gratification.  With a few ingredients you can create a beautiful, tasty creation in a couple of hours. 

Happy Baking!

Strawberry Lemonade Cookies

Today's cookie is Strawberry Cookies with Pink Lemonade Icing.  I used a strawberry cake mix I had in the cupboard.   I found the recipe on Table For Two blog.  Instead of cream cheese icing I used some royal icing and mixed in some lemonade drink mix.  The cookies are crispy on the outside and cakey inside.  They passed the Dear Son taste test.  He said they were his favorite so far and he's not very easy to please.  Can you believe a 20 year old guy is a cookie critic?! 

Well, I recommend these cookies.  They're going to make another appearance on Valentines day.




Happy Baking!

Little Elf Hat Cookies

Tonight I made little Elf Hat Cookies that I found on The Barefoot Baker's Blog through Pinterest.  The were really fun to make.  I made the dough last night and cut them out this evening. 
I had leftover royal icing which I used for the trim and pom on the top.  So cute!   I dipped some in sugar and left some of them plain.  I think the next time I make these I'll add a little almond or orange extract.  I'm definitely going to do this for Halloween next year, they'll make adorable witches hats. 

A very very fun cookie baking project and very versatile. 

Happy Baking!

 

 

 



Cookie Baking Back-up

I'm backed up on my cookie baking blog!  So far I've got Gingerbread cookies, buckeyes, raspberry thumbprints and decorated sugar cookies.   My daughter and I baked over the weekend and had a lot of fun decorating our gingerbread cookies.  It's amazing the conversations you can get into while decorating.  One of our topics was what it must feel like in Heaven.  Pretty deep convo for a day of cookie decorating.   We decided that no matter where we are later in life and she is married and in her own home, we want to make sure we get together to bake cookies.

Cookie baking came to a stall when my dear son the duck hunter came home with his catch and wanted to cook them immediately.  Rather than fight with him in the kitchen and deal with his mess, my daughter just waited patiently while he cooked up the duck and ate it for dinner.  He pan fried the breasts with some olive oil and butter.  They were pretty good and sort of tasted like steak.  He has only begun hunting so we're not very good at cooking or roasting them.  I tend to over cook them.  The pan fried method seemed to produce a much more tender and juicier meat. 

But back to baking.  We baked our gingerbread cookies and some sugar cookies.  I didn't like the sugar cookie recipe too much.  The cookies were too crispy to me.  My daughter liked them and wanted them to be crispy.  We didn't decorate them right away.  They just went right into the freezer.  Unfortunately, that's just a little too close for comfort and the family has been eating them all.  I think we'll have to bake up another batch.  Tonight I used the leftover royal icing to decorate them.  I think I need a little help because they're a littly "jenky" as my daughter would say.  I'm not sure what recipe she pulled up from the internet but I won't post it becuase I didn't like them. 

Lastly, I made my favorite cookie, a cookie I make every year.  Raspberry Almond Thumpbrint Cookies.  The recipe can be found on the Land O'Lakes website here.  I use canned raspberry pie filling.  I used some leftover royal icing to glaze the tops on this batch.  My next batch will be Apricot.

 Peanut Butter Buckeyes.  So good.

 A yearly must have cookie. 

 The Reindeer are my favorite.

 These are not my best work but I do like the snowflakes.

Happy Baking!