Nutella cookies

Whoops, sorry about the hiatus. This summer will bring lots of baking excitement. For now, though, Nutella cookies. I felt like this was in my mind for a reason, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. I came home from a crazy night at work, pumped up on adrenaline, so what else would I do at 1am but bake cookies. It was the logical thing to do, really. I dug in my pantry for something to concoct and I came across the Nutella. Score! You can't go wrong with Nutella.

1/2c. Butter

1/2c. Granulated sugar

1/2c. Brown sugar

1/2c. Nutella

1 Egg

1 Tsp. Vanilla

1 3/4c. Flour

1 Tsp. Baking soda

1/2 Tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Cream butter and sugars together in a bowl with stand mixer or hand mixer until light and fluffy. Add Nutella, egg and vanilla, continue mixing until fully incorporated. Slowly add the flour, baking soda and salt to the dough and continue mixing until combined.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats and scoop teaspoon sized balls.

Bake for approximately 12 minutes.

I later discovered where this inspiration came from. A friend had mentioned making Nutella cookies on facebook a while back (it must have stuck in my mind as an awesome idea). Her recipe is here. I will have to try this one (it has MORE Nutella in it, which could never be a bad thing).

Toffee and chocolate graham crackers

This recipe starts out from the amazing Deb over at the Smitten Kitchen that she adapted fromNancy Silverton’s Pastries from the La Brea Bakery, and 101 Cookbooks. And of course I, then adapted to suit to fit my needs.

2 1/2 c. + 2Tbs Flour

1 c. Dark brown sugar, lightly packed

1tsp Baking soda

3/4 tsp. Kosher or coarse sea salt

7 Tbs Butter, cut into 1 inch cubes and frozen

1/3 c. Mild honey

5 Tbs. Milk (preferably whole milk)

2 Tbs. Vanilla extract

8 oz Chocolate covered toffee bits (such as Heath) divided 6 oz and 2 oz.

In your handy dandy mixer, combine the flour, sugar and baking soda. Begin adding butter a little at a time until the consistency of slightly moistened sand (Smitten kitchen says 'coarse meal' but I try not to copy too much- She also says you can use a food processor).

In a separate bowl, whisk together the honey, milk and vanilla. Slowly add to the dry ingredients in the bowl of your mixer and mix until dough comes together. It will be very dense and sticky. Begin adding the 6oz. of toffee bits and mix into the dough.

Lay out some plastic wrap and lightly flour it. Dump out the dough and form into a rectangle about 1 inch thick. Chill in the refrigerator for at least two hours or overnight. But again, I am impatient and cannot handle such a wait so I wrap it and put it in the freezer until it is firm.

Rolling the cookies:

Divide the dough in half and return one half to the fridge while you work with the other. Sprinkle your work surface with flour and begin to roll out the dough until approximately 1/8 inch thick. Cut the dough into your standard graham cracker rectangles, I used a pizza cutter because Santa didn't bring me a pastry cutter this Christmas. Transfer your rectangles to a parchment or silicone mat lined cookie sheet. Repeat with second half of dough and again with any scraps that remain after cutting your dough.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Before you put the sheets in the oven sprinkle the remaining toffee bits over the top and gently press into the cookies. To decorate, use a skewer and poke holes over the top and draw a line down the middle (just like the graham crackers you would buy).

Bake for 15-25 minutes until browned and slightly firm.

It was inevitable, do you want to know what I did next? It would have been blasphemy if I hadn't. S'mores, baby.

Chai spice cookies

Ahh the spice of life. Complex, spicy and sweet all at the same time.

1 1/2 Sticks Butter

1/2 c. Sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 c/ Flour

1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

1/2 tsp Ground cloves

3/4 tsp. Ground Cardamom

Sugar sprinkle:

1/2 c. Confectioner's sugar

1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Cardamom

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Cream butter with a mixer. Slowly add the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and continue beating until combined. Begin adding the dry ingredients and continue mixing until combined well. Scrape dough out of the bowl and into some plastic wrap and form into a ball/mound/lump (whatever you want) and chill for about 30 minutes.

Flour your work surface and roll out dough to a thickness of approximately 1/4 inch. Use a cookie cutter of your choosing and lay cookies on a parchment or silicone mat lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Let sit on the sheet for about a minute to set after they are taken out of the oven. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

For the sugar sprinkle, mix the sugar and the spices together and with a wire mesh sieve or a sifter, sprinkle over top of the cookies while they are just slightly warm.

Cinnamon roll cookies

Because, in life, things can spiral out of control. But with a cookie, there is an end in sight.

1/2 c. Butter

1 c. Sugar

1 egg

4 oz. cream cheese

1 Tbs. Milk

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. Flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

Filling

2 Tbs. Butter, divided

1/2 c. sugar

1 -2 Tbs. Cinnamon

Beat the butter and cream cheese together until light and fluffy. Slowly add the sugar and continue beating. Add egg, when combined, add milk and vanilla.

Begin adding dry ingredients slowly and continue mixing until dough comes together. It will be sticky.

Dump the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a nice square mound. Wrap in the plastic and chill for 2 hours. Or, if you are impatient like me, put it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.

After chilling, flour your counter, and roll out your dough, keeping it in its rectangular shape until it is approximately 1/4 inch thick.

Spread the top of the dough with 1 Tbs of the butter. Mix together the cinnamon and sugar and generously spread it over the dough, reserving approximately 3-4 Tbs for later.

Begin rolling the the dough into a log, starting on the long edge. Wrap in plastic again and chill for another 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Cut into 1/4 inch rounds and place on a parchment or silicone mat line cookie sheet and sprinkle remaining cinnamon sugar over each cookie and bake for about 14 minutes. They will not brown very much, if they do, they will be a bit too dry. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Going nuts!

Sorry to everyone who isn't really a fan of nuts. I promise to make this all worthwhile for you. The upcoming recipes will be nut-free. If I'm feeling adventurous, I'll even go gluten free.

The cookie that started it all

These are the cookies that I created when I was, oh, three (?) in my Grandparent's kitchen. It was a kitchen filled endlessly with every baking essential (and non-essential) that you could possibly imagine. Instead of going to daycare, when my parents worked, I got to go to Grandma and Grandpa care, a luxury that I get to have now that I have my own little one. While on these adventures, I got to explore and play in the kitchen with my Grandma. There was always a project that needed to be baked, and I was there to measure ingredients and operate the mixer.

Ez- bake ovens are for sissies, I had the real thing.

So, here was the beginning. Digging through the cupboards for ingredients and climbing up on the bookshelf filled with cookbooks for the jar of nuts, these are the cookies that emerged.

Butterscotch cashew cookies

2 1/4 cups Flour

1/2 tsp. Baking soda

1 3/4 sticks (14 Tbs) Unsalted Butter, room temperature

3/4 cup Granulated sugar

1/4 cup Brown sugar, packed

2 tsp Vanilla extract

2 Eggs

8 oz. Butterscotch chips

1 - 1 1/2 cups Salted Cashews, yes, SALTED!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

Sift flour and baking soda together in a small bowl, set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a regular bowl, if using a hand mixer) beat butter until light and fluffy, add sugars and continue beating. Add vanilla and eggs, one by one. Slowly add flour mixture while beating. Once the dough has come together add the chips and nuts until just folded into the dough.

Scoop spoonfuls of dough onto parchment lined or silicone mat lined cookie sheets and bake for 12-14 minutes until beautifully browned and puffy.

Let sit on the cookie sheet for about a minute before transferring to a wire rack.

Make sure to eat one before they are completely cooled. These are far too delicious to pass up when the are warm.

*Disclaimer, I take no responsibility for you burning your mouth if you choose to eat them while they are entirely too hot.

Mama's Margarita Cookie

The laundry is piled and staring at me to be put away.

The floor is begging to be mopped.

The poor babe is cutting the final edges of two molars.

No matter how much I try to keep up with cleaning and organizing, there are always five more projects waiting for me.

So I find myself at an impasse. Do I tackle the tasks, or do I sit down with a margarita (Margarita cookie, that is)?

The answer, my friends, is cookie. ALWAYS COOKIE.

My plan was to make these for Cinco de Mayo, but I could wait no longer.

Mama's Margarita Cookie

1/2 c. Butter

1 c. Sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. Vanilla

1 1/2 c. Flour

1 1/2 tsp. Baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. Lime zest

Juice of that lime you just zested

Green sugar

Tequila glaze

1/2 c. Powdered Sugar

1 Tbs. Tequila of your choosing

1 1/2-2 Tbs Lime juice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F

Beat butter until light, add sugar and continue beating. Add egg and vanilla and lime juice. Once the mixture is thoroughly combined, begin adding the remaining dry ingredients slowly. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally, continue mixing until dough comes together.

Cut two sheets of waxed paper. Divide dough in half and roll into "logs" 2" in diameter. Refrigerate until firm (2-4 hours) or if you are impatient, like me and want your cookies sooner, freeze for 1 hour, or so.

Remove dough from your chosen vessel of chilling and roll the logs in the green sugar. Cut into 1/2 inch rounds. Place on parchment lined or silicone mat lined cookie sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes.

Transfer to wire rack, when completely cooled drizzle the glaze over the cookies.