Gingerbread Men

This is my first time making these Gingerbread Men.  I have made ginger cookies and cakes before, but never these.  I thought it would be fun to decorate them and then eat them with a nice cup of coffee.

Have your children help you to decorate these cookies, they will have a lot of fun. 

Thumbprint Cookies

Thumbprint Cookies are perfect for the holidays.  I've made these a couple of times before and they are a hit.  I have made them with coconut too and they are delicious.  I used raspberry preserves for these, but you can use any kind of jam or preserves you like.

These cookies are fun to make.  If you have children have them help you make the indentation with their thumbs and add the jam.  This is a great way to include your children in what you are doing and spent time with them.

Oatmeal Craisin Cookies with Chocolate and Coconut

If you love oatmeal, cranberries, chocolate chips and coconut, why not make a cookie with everything in the mix.  I love, love these cookies, specially the coconut. You can see the cranberries and the coconuts in the cookies.

Eat them right out of the oven when the chocolate chips are still melted.  These are really delicious, highly recommend this recipe.

Ingredients

3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all fashioned oats

1/2 cup shredded coconut 

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup dried cranberries-Craisins

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F
Line baking sheet with parchment paper

In a medium bowl mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir to mix, set aside.  In your mixing bowl combine the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar, beat on med-high until smooth.  Beat in the egg and vanilla until incorporated. Add in the oats coconut, chocolate chips and cranberries, mix well.

Drop scoops of dough, about 1 tablespoon into the prepare baking sheet about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 12 minutes until set and golden, rotating the pans halfway through baking. Let cool on pan for about 2 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely. 

Source: Very Culinary.com

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

My favorite cookies are Oatmeal Raisin Cookies and my husband's favorite cookies are Peanut Butter.  So, today I decided to make him some Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies.  He is going to be a happy husband. 

These are really easy to make.  Make these ahead of time this holiday and enjoy them with your family.

The cookies have a nice soft, but crunchy texture and the filling is super creamy.  Just Perfect!!

Cookie Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup peanut butter, creamy or chunky

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

Peanut Butter Filling Ingredients

4 tbsp of unsalted butter

1/4 cup confectioners sugar

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp salt

For the Cookies

Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F

Place oven rack in the center and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of your mixer beat together the butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine.  In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add to the peanut butter mixture and beat to combine.

Take one tablespoon of batter and place on cookie sheet 2 inches between each cookie mount.  Press the dough with the back of the fork that has been dipped in granulated sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are light brown around the edges.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

For the Filling

Beat all ingredients in your mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium until smooth.  

To Assemble

Take one peanut butter cookie and spread about 1 tbsp of the filling onto the flat side of the cookie. Top with a second cookie, flat side down to make a sandwich. If not serving right away, cover and refrigerate.

Source: Joy of Baking and Martha Stewart.com

Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans

During the holidays I like to bake lots of cookies.  Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pecans is one of our favorite.  During the holidays when we are just hanging out, playing board games I like to bake a batch.  Double the recipe because these will go really fast.

I like to add pecans, but you can add walnuts or just omit the nuts completely.

The cookies are soft but firm.  The addition of the pecans makes the cookies even better.  Enjoy with a nice cup of milk. 

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups unsifted flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups Ghirardelli milk chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans-optional

Preheat oven to 375 Degrees F

Stir flour with baking soda and salt; set aside.  Beat butter with sugar and brown sugar at medium speed until creamy.  add vanilla and eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed until incorporated.

Gradually blend dry mixture into creamed mixture.  Stir in chocolate chips and nuts.  Drop by tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.

Source: Ghirardelli.com

Simple Scottish Shortbread

While driving to an appointment today I was just amazed at the beauty of Fall.  The trees have these bright orange and yellow colors that are just so beautiful.  I love taking photos of my little boy Cayman (dog) and I want to take him to a park to take pictures of him while playing and running around with the leaves. 

Not only are the trees all changing colors, but the temperature seems to be dropping even more now.  Today, even though the sun was out, it felt colder.

I came home wanting to have some hot chocolate, but I needed some cookies to go with it.  I made these Simple Scottish Shortbread cookies.  When I found the recipe, on this weeks book selection, Big Book of Home Cooking, I knew these would be perfect.  Simple and super easy to put together and bake.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I went to sleep last night and woke up thinking about these cookies.  Oatmeal Raisin cookies are just great.  Ever since I was a little girl I loved eating oatmeal. I guess that's why I love these cookies so much.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter room temperature

1 cup light or dark brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp of baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup dark raisins

Preheat oven at 350 degrees F
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.  Bake in the center oven rack.
In your mixing bowl beat the white and brown sugar until smooth and creamy.  Add the eggs one at at time mixing well after each addition.  Mix in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl add the flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until well incorporated. Stir in the oats and raisins.

Drop about two tablespoons of dough into a the prepared baking sheets.  Flatten the cookie slightly.  Bake cookies for about 10-14 minutes or until the edge of the cookies are nice and golden brown but still soft in the center. Cool on a wire rack.

Source: Joy of Baking

Peanut Butter Cookies

This is a classic Peanut Butter Cookie with the criss cross fork marks.  This classic Peanut Butter Cookie will have you pouring a giant glass of milk for dunking.  Easy and delicious..here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated white sugar

1 large egg

1tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup peanut butter smooth or crunchy

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degree F
In your mixing bowl, beat together the butter and the white and brown sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the peanut butter.  Beat in the eggs and vanilla until well incorporated.

In another bowl mix together the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture.  Mix well and then fold in the chopped peanuts.

Roll the batter into 1 inch balls and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.  Then using a fork press down and make a crisscross pattern on the cookie.   Bake cookies for about 10-12 minutes until the edges are lightly brown .  Place on wire rack to cool.

Makes about 40 cookies
Source: Joy of Baking

Chocolate Chip Cookies

For years I have been baking cookies for my nephews and specially my cookie monster husband.  Chocolate chip cookies go perfect with a nice cold glass of milk..at least that's how I like to eat them.  I have been making this recipe for years.

The recipe is pretty straight forward and I guarantee you, this will be your go to recipe for years to come.  I baked a mixed of different cookies, about 300  for the Cancer Center and they all went within a couple of hours.  People were coming to me saying how delicious they were.  Here is one of the recipes.

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup walnuts or pecans (optional)

Preheat oven at 375 degree F

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the butter until creamy and smooth.  Add the white and brown sugar and beat until fluffy.  Beat in eggs one at a time, making sure they are well mixed.  Scrape the side of the bowl and add the vanilla, mix well.

In another bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt.  Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture.  Mix well then add the chocolate chips and the nuts.  Mix until well incorporated.  Use an ice cream scooper, for these I used a medium size, but if you want to make a lot of cookies use a small one.  If you don't have one then drop about two tablespoons of dough into a the prepared baking sheets and bake cookies for about 10-14 minutes or until the edge of the cookies are nice and golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack. Enjoy!!

Makes about 4 dozen small cookies