Sugardoodles

It's a sugar cookie. No, it's a snickerdoodle. It's neither! It's both!

It's a sugardoodle!

I've been making these for a long time now, and I've been holding out on you. Grown-ups can be so cruel.

What these cookies are (besides one of my favorite cookies, ever) is a sugar cookie/snickerdoodle hybrid (I guess you already sussed that one out, huh?). And it's really so good, if I haven't already told you that. My memory fails.

They're really good. Sugary but not too sweet, cinnamon-y without being overbearing, just crisp enough around the edges and soft and chewy inside.

They're really good. You should make them.


Sugardoodles
(makes about 4 dozen)

1 1/3 c unsalted  butter

1 1/2 c  sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

3 1/2 c flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3 Tbsp sugar

1 Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat you oven to 350 degrees (f) and parchment a baking sheet(s).

Cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating each one well before adding the next. Mix in vanilla. Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together, then mix with the wet ingredients. In a separate, smaller bowl, mix together the 3 Tbsp of sugar and cinnamon.

Measure out 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough, roll into the cinnamon/sugar mixture, place on baking sheet and bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to set on sheet for a minute before removing to a wire rack to cool.

These will stay soft and chewy and perfect for about 5 days in an airtight container of some sort. They'll keep much longer, but won't taste as good after 5 days.

Sour Cherry and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I'm going to tell you a secret. If you add fruit and oatmeal to anything, anything, even if it contains two whole sticks of butter and nearly two cups of sugar, you can then call it healthy and feel very good about yourself and your superior self control.

Or, you can pretend, at least.

So maybe they're not exactly healthy, though they do have some healthy components. But who cares? These cookies are mighty tasty, and that's all me and my taste buds need to know.




Sour Cherry and Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
(makes about 2 1/2 dozen)

1 c (2 sticks) unsalted butter (softened)
1 c light or dark brown sugar (packed)
1/2 c white sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3 c old fashioned rolled oats
1 c dried sour cherries (chopped)
3/4 c chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli dark chocolate)

Preheat your oven to 350 (f) and line your baking skeet(s) with parchment paper.

Cream together the butter and sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, incorporating well after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg. Combine the wet and dry ingredients, then stir in the rolled oats. Finally, mix in the cherries and chocolate chips.

Drop by 1 1/2 tablespoonfulls onto the baking sheet and cook 10-12 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to set up on the cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool.


Notes: You can, of course, customize this recipe until the cows come home (and if you've never had cows, that could be a lot of customizing). Add nuts, peanut butter chips, different fruit, coconut, you name it. You can also easily increase the amount of fruit added.

Roundup: Perfect Pancakes, Chocolate Cookies, and Homemade Ice Creams

Where have I gone to? Did I disappear? Of course not. Who would be writing this? Silly.

It's been one of those weeks. You know, those weeks, where everything conspires to trip you up. If it wasn't tornadoes it was Boy Scout mayhem, and if it wasn't Boy Scout Mayhem it was the appearance of a moderately inconvenient cold. Oh, week, what is up with you?

None of this derailed me from my typical baking/cooking path, but it did limit my endeavors to those that were of the simpler variety. While simple is delicious and nothing went screwy on me, it was just nothing to really write about.

Except for the pancakes.

Oh, my little thimblekins, I did perfect my pancake recipe. You'll thank me, you will. They are light and fluffy and moist and delicious and perfect. All true. I don't have a picture of them, but you will make them and you will see the light and you won't care one bit about pictures.


The Scone Gunman's Killer Aim Pancakes
(Makes about 9 pancakes)

1 3/4 c flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 Tbsp unsalted butter (melted)
1 1/4 c milk
2 eggs

Preheat a non-stick pan or griddle for at least 5 minutes over medium heat before you put the pancakes on.

In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, then whisk in the remaining ingredients and mix until smooth (but don't over-mix). Drop by the 1/4 to 1/2 cupful (I use an ice cream scoop) into the preheated pan and cook until golden brown on both sides.

Tip: pancakes are ready to flip when they get bubbles on the top and are just set around the edges.

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In other news, we got an ice cream maker, which tickles me pink. My first go at it I made mint chocolate chunk, which is fantastic, even though very basic. My second go was a simple but very rich chocolate ice cream. This one isn't lasting very long, I'm afraid. Yesterday I made chocolate cookies (this recipe, sans chips and walnuts, and my god are they soft!)so I could make chocolate chocolate ice cream sandwiches.

They are awfully good.

Locked and Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookies

Like everyone else out there, I've been on the hunt for "The Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie" since birth (or thereabouts). One cookie will have a trait I love, but lack something in a different department, and another cookie will have that very thing but lack some other crucial trait. What's a girl to do?

Frankenstein her own recipe, of course.

Naturally, there is no one universal "perfect cookie". Maybe you like yours thin and crisp, while your best friend likes hers fat and chewy. I like mine loaded with chocolate chips, while others are more conservative with the chips.

These cookies lean more toward the soft, chewy side, and certainly aren't shy with the chocolate. I also add what I consider to be the game-stopper: cinnamon. Just enough to give it a spicy mystery, but not so much that it screams "Hey, there's cinnamon here!". Because cookies can do that.


The Scone Gunman's Locked and Loaded Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Makes 4 dozen)

1 c butter (softened)
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c white sugar
2 eggs (at room temperature)
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 c flour (sifted)
1 tsp baking soda
1 heaping tsp kosher salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 c (about 1 bag) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 (f). Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes with a hand mixer). Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add the vanilla. Sift in flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until just incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips.

Drop by the tablespoonful onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake 8-10 minutes, until the edges are just golden brown. Remove from the oven and let sit on the sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool.

Chocolate-Covered Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches

You see those? They're better than they look. No, really. They're the sort of thing that you'd steal from the plate of your small child when she isn't looking.

Not that I did that.

Oats, chocolate, peanut butter. If there were a key lime pie shoved in there somewhere I'd be in heaven.


Chocolate-covered oatmeal peanut butter sandwich cookies
(makes about 2 dozen sandwiches, adapted from this)

Cookies:
1 1/2 c. AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 c butter (2 sticks, softened)
1 c peanut butter (I used creamy, but crunchy would work)
1 c white sugar
1 c  brown sugar (light or dark, packed)
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 c  quick cooking oats

Filling:
6 Tbsp butter (softened)
2 cup confectioner's (powdered) sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (crunchy here might affect the end result)
5 Tbsp heavy cream

Chocolate:
12oz semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (typically one whole bag. I like Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips)
3 Tbsp shortening (like Crisco. I really hate using it, but it's important for the chocolate to set. Butter won't work, unfortunately).

Make the cookies: Preheat oven to 350. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt (sifting insures they're fully mixed together). In a separate bowl cream the butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, incorporating each one thoroughly. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat. Add the oats and mix thoroughly. Drop by the tablespoon onto a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten to about 1/4"with a spatula (make sure to flatten, otherwise they won't make very good sandwich bases).

Cook for about 10 minutes (they may not look done, but take them out). Let them sit on the sheet for about 5 minutes (they will finish cooking by sitting on the hot sheet) and then transfer them to a wire cooling rack (no cooling rack= soggy bottoms).

Make the filling: Beat all the ingredients together. That's all. Neat, right?

Make the chocolate:
Using a double boiler to melt the chocolate and shortening, stirring well. Set aside to cool to room temperature.

Assembling your cookies:
Make sure your cookies are completely cooled, or your filing will just melt.

Use a tablespoon to put a glob of the filling in the center of a cookie (remember, the bottoms of the cookies should face the inside). Place a cookie on top and gently smoosh down. This will distribute the filling more evenly than spreading the filling will. You could also use a pastry bag.

Use a pastry bag (or a Ziploc with a small snip of corner cut off) to pipe the chocolate on top. Alternately, you could just dip one half of the cookie or the entire top in the chocolate.

Enjoy!

Strawberry Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies

There's a lot of talk come Spring about what everyone loves this time of year, be it strawberries, or just lighter, fruitier fare in general (and I'm guilty of it). What's lost in the shuffle are those things that are perfectly fantastic any time of year. Like chocolate chip cookies, cheesecake, blueberry muffins.

Or shortbread.

Shortbread is brilliant because, if done right, it's rich and still has the ability to melt in your mouth. It's also incredibly versatile. Extracts can be added (orange and lemon are favorites of mine), as can cocoa powder to satisfy the chocolate lovers. Shortbread also makes the perfect vehicle for jam, in the form of thumbprint cookies.

At any given time my pantry is packed with a variety of jams and preserves that are waiting go be marched to their deaths...um, glories, inside one baked good or another. I used three different flavors in this most recent batch: strawberry, raspberry, and blackberry. Any jam/preserve will work. In fact, I've got an imported quince jam that's practically begging for consumption.

Just you wait, quince.


Shortbread Thumbprint Cookies
(makes 5 dozen cookies)

2 c unsalted butter (softened)
1 c confectioner's sugar
4 c flour
1 tsp kosher salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
Jam (or jams) of your choice

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees (f).

Use your handheld mixer to cream the butter and the sugar until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes). Add the vanilla extract and salt. Switch to a whisk, and slowly add the flour by hand (if you over-mix it, the shortbread will be tough).

Roll the dough into 1/2 tablespoon balls and place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Use your thumb (hence, the name) to make an impression in each ball. Spoon your jam into the wells, and then bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are just slightly golden and the jam bubbles.

Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to sit on the sheet for 3-5 minutes before removing them to cool on a wire rack.

Tip: don't eat these before they've cooled completely, or you'll burn the holy hell out of your mouth. I hear.

5 dozen cookies may sound like a lot, but these aren't big, and they're so light it feels like you haven't eaten anything. They go very quickly.

Chocolate Covered Chocolate Chip Cookies

Don't mind if I do.

Earlier this morning I was working on my latest recipe (which I'm hoping is going to rock harder than Hendrix), one that has a ganache layer (yes, layers.Mmm...). I had some leftover ganache, and I just happened to notice that I had some chocolate chip cookies leftover from the day before yesterday.

A light bulb went off. A big, wide-assed light bulb. I had to combine their powers. Wonder Twin powers, activate!

Thus, these chocolate-covered chocolate chip cookies were born into my loving arms. I promptly ate them.

I have about a million and one chocolate chip cookie recipes. It's one of those things that, I swear, there is no one holy grail recipe for. One day I want a fat, chewy cookie, and the next I was something wafer-thin and crisp. My most recent favorite recipe for these is Melanie's Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies, which you can find at The Sisters Cafe blog.

But there really is no wrong cookie for a chocolate bath. You can use whatever recipe tickles your biscuit. However, I am particular about my ganache, so I'm including my recipe, which I've tweaked to my pleasure over time.


Fantastico Chocolate Ganache
(coats a hell of a lot of cookies)

Slightly more than 3/4 bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like Ghiradelli for this)
1 c heavy cream
1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt (table salt will be too salty)

Make it: Put the chocolate chips in a bowl and set aside. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat until it just boils (if you let it keep boiling and it will boil over quickly. Don't leave it). Immediately pour it over the chocolate chips in the bowl and whisk until smooth and creamy. Let it cool for a bit, until it's just somewhat warmer than room temperature.

Now you're free to drown your cookies, which haven't done anything to you, you cruel bastard. You can pop the cookies into the freezer for 10-15 minutes so they'll set up quickly. I like to keep mine in the fridge after this to keep the ganache nice and firm.