Christmas Cookies

We did our annual Christmas cookie bake session earlier this week. It was a lot of fun & we made dozens of cookies! In total, there were 11 different kinds.

As usual, Dad & W spent the afternoon making pizzelles. This year, they made 3 flavors: anise, almond, & lemon. All of them are crisp & flavorful.

Mom made Russian Tea Cakes (the white balls in the picture above) & Brown Sugar Sandtarts (the colorful cookies on the counter in the top right of the pic above). Both are family recipes that she makes year after year. The Sandtarts take a lot of time because the dough is rolled out & cut into shapes, which then need to be decorated before they are baked. They're totally worth the effort though!

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I mixed up the most varieties, but they were much smaller batches than the pizzelles or sandtarts.

Shown above are Pfeffernusse Cookies (Eat Live Run) (the round ones on the left) & Coconut Horchata Polvorones (Oh Ladycakes) (the flower shaped cut-outs). The Pfeffernusse were super easy to make & they have a nice spice/nut flavor. I wish I had taken them out of the oven just a little sooner because they are a little dry, so next time I would definitely bake them for less time. The Coconut Horchata Polvorones are not at all what I was expecting! They have excellent coconut flavor, but they aren't crispy like I thought they'd be. Instead, they are soft & doughy. Still good, but I wonder if they should bake longer.

I also made 2 kinds of biscotti - Whole Wheat Cranberry Pecan Biscotti (Eat Live Run) & Coffee Biscotti with Chocolate Bits (My Kitchen Affair). Both are good, although I prefer the Cranberry Pecan flavor. I love that flavor combo! I thought the coffee flavor was a bit strong in the Coffee Biscotti. However, if you like chocolate covered espresso beans, you'll love those cookies!

The dark brown cookies in the top center of the above picture are Peanut Butter Gingerbread Chocolate Chunk Cookies (Chocolate Covered Katie). I doubled the batch & was glad I did, because it still only made 2 dozen. By the time we divided them up to give to my aunt & grandma, & then half for each of us, there weren't many left! They're super chewy & mostly taste like pb cookies, but then they have a little kick from the ginger.

Also shown above in the center, are round brown cookies with pink sparkly edges. Those are Speculoos Buttons (Bon Appetit). If you click the link, you'll see that mine turned out looking nothing at all like the ones in their picture (which are gorgeous, by the way). Dad said mine look like sliced bologna or deer sticks, & he's pretty much right. Ugh. But, they taste delicious, so that's what matters! Maybe I should have put forth more effort & iced them, but they were the last batch to come out of the oven & I was tired...excuses, excuses...

I've been compiling cookie recipes for the past several months on my Cookie Bakin' Pinterest board, so there were plenty that I didn't get to. Lots of time for that during the rest of the winter!

Happy baking!

See last year's baking:

Part 1

Part 2

Healthy Spiced Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I seem to have an abundance of cookie recipes on here, but I like to make cookies & W likes to eat cookies, so I'm always trying new ideas. Cookie recipe testing is really just an excuse to eat the dough...and my love for cookie dough is the main reason I bake vegan cookies. No raw egg for me!

Another reason I keep making new variations is because I want to find a fairly healthy cookie recipe that doesn't taste that way. And since some people don't like banana or coconut or oats or need gluten free, etc., I keep baking. It's a real hardship. ;-)

They don't always turn out good enough to post about. I made a batch awhile ago that were kinda gummy & didn't keep well at all. I spared you from those.

This batch was my attempt at a seasonal chocolate chip cookie, hence the spices. We both really liked them. The peanut butter flavor is pretty subtle, as is the banana. They worked great together as a substitute for oil/butter (although I did use just a little) & sugar. Feel free to add more chocolate chips if you want, although I do tend to be heavy handed.

Enjoy!

Healthy Spiced Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 16 small cookies (vegan & gluten free, if using GF oats)

1 ripe banana, peeled & mashed
1.5 T coconut oil, softened
1/4 c natural peanut butter
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
pinch of nutmeg
pinch of ginger
3 T coconut flour
1 c rolled oats (gluten free if needed)
3 T unsweetened almond milk
1/3 c semi sweet chocolate chips (vegan if needed)

Preheat oven to 350. In a medium sized mixing bowl, mix mashed banana, coconut oil, and peanut butter. Add sea salt, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and coconut flour. Stir well. Add oats and almond milk, mixing just to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet. Using a fork, gently flatten balls. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until cookies no longer appear wet and are lightly browned on the edges. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a wire rack. Store in an airtight container for 3-5 days.

Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Macaroons

So these cookies...they're good. I mean reeeeeeally good. I guess they're not technically macaroons, since I added oats, but they're close.

And they're chock full of coconut. Coconut flour, coconut milk, coconut oil, coconut sugar...yessss! It's like someone dissected a coconut & put it back together in cookie form. Plus they added chocolate. What's not to love?

As cookies go, these are also pretty darn healthy. They have minimal sugar, all of which is un-refined. Coconut sugar is actually low-glycemic & full of nutrients (especially trace minerals). So while yes, it's still sugar, it's a much better option than most.

Maybe we can have these for breakfast then! I bet they'd be good crumbled over oatmeal or with a smoothie (like my Berry Boost Smoothie).

If you're gluten-free, you can use gluten-free oats & then you're all set. 

One more thing - the chocolate chips make the cookies. Just do it! 

Coconut Flour Chocolate Chip Macaroons
Adapted from The Lemon Bowl
Makes about 24 cookies
Easily made gluten free

2 eggs

¼ c coconut oil, melted

¼ c coconut sugar

½ c coconut milk (or almond milk)

1 tsp vanilla

¼ tsp salt

1 c coconut flour

1 c rolled oats, gluten free if necessary

⅓ c mini semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 375*F. Coat 2 baking sheets with non-stick spray.

In a large bowl, combine eggs, coconut oil, coconut sugar, coconut milk, vanilla, & salt. Once mixed well, stir in coconut flour, oats, & chocolate chips. Allow batter to sit for 4-5 minutes to thicken.

Use a cookie scoop or round tablespoon measure to scoop out dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until browned. Cookies will be soft, but do not over bake. Remove from oven & allow to cool on baking sheet for about 6 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Christmas Cookie Baking, Part 2

Over the weekend, we did a second cookie baking session. Sure, the first was successful & all, but can you ever really have too many cookies? There are so many delicious recipes out there to try!

In order as you see above, here's what we made.

1. Limoncello Pizzelles - The guys made both pizzelles, as usual. They're trying something new & flavoring them with liquors. To these, they also added lemon zest. It brought out the flavor nicely!

2. Cooking Light's Chocolate-Hazelnut Thumbprints - We loooooove these! It's always nice to have a chocolate cookie in the mix & these are pretty, too.

3. Apricot & Pistachio Biscotti - Usually you find pistachios combined with dried cranberries, so the addition of apricots is refreshing. Another thing I love about biscotti is that it keeps well. Perfect for when you have a lot of cookies around.

4. Joy's Vanilla Almond Orange Cloud Cookies - I never baked with almond paste before, so these were a change. Also, they're flour-free, so they're great for people with gluten allergies. They're chewy inside with a crisp outside. So good!

5. Kahlua Pizzelles - They were a little disappointed in the texture of these - they're not as crisp as usual. We're not sure what happened there, but the I'm not worried. They're still good!

6. Summer's Dirty Snowballs (not pictured) - These were least impressive of all the cookies. Maybe because they're frozen? They look cute, though. I think we'll try ours in banana soft serve, making a kind of blizzard treat.

I hope you're still in the cookie spirit! Happy baking!

Christmas Cookie Baking

Last Saturday we went to my parents' house & baked 6 batches of Christmas cookies!

My mom made the Lime & Ginger Chewies shown above, plus some Spicy Gingerbread Twigs. Both recipes were from the December issue of Better Homes & Gardens. Their cookies recipes for this year are full of variety.

We had some issues with the first batch of the Lime & Ginger Chewies. They spread a lot during baking & we wound up having to cut them apart (hence the squares in the upper right of the pic above). If you make these, space them far apart on the cookie sheet! They really are chewy cookies, which we love. Plus, the lime flavor shines through perfectly without overwhelming the cookies.

The Spicy Gingerbread Twigs are like hard sticks of gingerbread cookie. Much easier to make than rolling & cutting out gingerbread men, but with the same flavor. I'd suggest omitting the cayenne pepper if you're serving them to kids. It adds quite a kick.

I baked 2 kinds of biscotti. The ones pictured above are Anisette Biscotti from BrownEyedBaker.com. I used sambuca for the anisette liquor, & coconut oil instead of vegetable oil.  They're more soft & crumbly than what I think of biscotti as being, but the flavor is sooooo good!

The other biscotti I made was from Eating Well. I made this Double Chocolate Biscotti before a few years ago & it is just as good as I remembered! The traditional Italian biscotti does not have any added oils/fats, but uses eggs instead. This recipe follows that tradition. It has a rich chocolate flavor without being overly sweet.

If you're a huge chocolate fan like me, try dipping these into hot cocoa. It's delicious!!

Dad & Bup made pizzelles. Can you tell we have some Italian background in this family? :-) My grandma gave us this pizzelle iron as a wedding gift. I made pizzelles with it once before the Bup took over that job. He & my dad make a great team.

Dad mixes up the dough & then the Bup cooks them. He has a timing system down pat.

Their first batch was Almond Apricot Brandy flavored & the second was Anise. I'd share the recipes with you, but Dad guards his recipe card with his life. He has so many alterations to the original recipe that you can barely read the card. I'm going to have to copy it down at some point so we can preserve the recipe.

They're hard to tell apart by sight on a cookie platter. We store them in separate tins & label them so we know what we're getting without having to take a bite.

We had pre-dinner drinks to finish off a successful afternoon of cookie baking. This recipe was a new discovery from one of our drink books. It's called Fire & Ice, and is made from equal parts Sambuca, Brandy & Triple Sec.  Our day had an anise theme to it: biscotti, pizzelles, & drinks.

Having tasted these once before, I opted for the small glass. This is a strong drink!

 Here's to a festive & joyous Christmas season full of cookies!

Cheers!

Cherry Walnut Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

The best thing to do during a big storm is bake cookies! The warmth of the oven, plus the comforting smell of them baking, makes for a cozy afternoon.

These cookies are full of natural, healthy ingredients. Spelt flour, oats, cinnamon, cherries, & walnuts all add health benefits. Everyone loves eating a cookie & still feeling like they put something healthy into their body!

Enjoy & stay dry. My thoughts & prayers are with everyone as Hurricane Sandy comes through!

Cherry Walnut Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from Cooking Light
Makes 32-34 cookies

2/3 c (3 oz) spelt flour (or sub white whole wheat flour)
1 1/2 c old-fashioned oats
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
6 T organic butter
2/3 c sucant
1 tsp. vanilla
1 organic egg
1/2 c dried cherries (or sub raisins or dried cranberries)
1/2 c chopped walnuts
1/3 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Mix together flour, oats, baking soda & salt in the bowl of a mixer. Stir to combine.

Melt butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Once melted, watch closely until butter begins to brown. Remove browned butter from heat & add sucanat. Add to flour mixture and beat at medium speed until combined. Add vanilla and egg; beat until blended. Fold in cherries, walnuts, & chocolate. 

Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets. Cookies will only spread slightly. Bake for 12 minutes, then remove from oven & cool on pans for 3 minutes before removing. Finish cooling on wire racks.

Chewy Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookies & milk, anyone?

I've never really been one to dunk my cookies, but occasionally I'm in the mood for a warm cookie with milk. I love almond milk & that's what I buy for us to drink. Neither of us are really the type to sit down with a glass of milk, so we usually use it in cooking, baking, or cereal. Almond Breeze just came out with almond coconut milk, which is delicious.

It's perfect to pair with a chewy cookie!

I actually like eating cookie dough more than baked cookies, so it's a real testament to these cookies that I've eaten so many already.

Ever since I started doing vegan baking, it's extra dangerous for me to bake cookies. The horrors of eating raw eggs scares me off enough that I'd usually eat maybe 1 or 2 bites of dough. Now, with no raw egg, it's free game. For all of you cookie dough lovers, this is great news!

Whether you like the dough or the actual cookies, these are for you. The tart cranberries are perfect paired with the dark chocolate & the chewy texture of the dough really brings it all together.

Enjoy!

Chewy Cranberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from King Arthur Flour
Makes 2 dozen cookies

1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T warm water)
1/3 c coconut oil
3/4 c light brown sugar
2 T orange juice
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/3 c white whole wheat flour
1 c dark chocolate chips
1 c dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350*F. In a small bowl, combine ground flax and water. Set aside to let gel. Beat the coconut oil in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy. Add brown sugar & mix. Once combined, add  orange juice, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, & salt. Mix on low until just combined, then add flax egg. Stri in flour, mixing just until no dry flour shows. Use a wooden spoon to fold in chocolate chips & cranberries. Do not overmix! If your dough is super soft, refrigerate for 30 minutes before baking (optional step, but your cookies will be spread less & be thicker). Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheets, keeping cookies about 2" apart as they will spread. Bake for about 12 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then carefully move to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Cookies

Here you go!

I make you a plate of cookies filled with love.



Tomorrow is Valentine's Day! I don't get into the big spending on flowers & special fancy restaurants, but I do like to send cards, make cookies & wear pink. It's a great time to take a moment to let your family & friends know you love them.

Growing up, Mom & I would always make these cookies for Valentine's Day. If we forgot or didn't have time, they became St. Patrick's Day cookies instead, using our shamrock cutter instead of the heart one. I was in charge of sprinkling them with colored sugar.

I had to search hard for the recipe, as it came out of Mom's old, falling-apart-and-duct-taped-together Betty Crocker cookbook. I bought one of Betty's cookbooks at a rummage sale, but it's not quite as old & didn't have this recipe in it. I couldn't find it on the internet, either!

(By the way, I'm very disappointed in where Betty Crocker is heading. The website is full of recipes made from mixes & packaged items. It's hard to find anything from scratch! Mom's cookbook was the cooking standard of its time. It has recipes & instructions on doing the simple things, like making pie crusts, cakes from scratch, etc.)

Finally, I just copied it from Mom's cookbook. I guess I could've saved myself a lot of time by doing that first...

For the Bup, it was love at first bite. The next time I made them, he suggested icing them. Now we're hooked, & I'm continuing the tradition with a little extra flair!

Since this is so close to Valentine's Day, maybe you'll have to make them for St. Patty's Day! Either way, I hope you'll enjoy these cookies. We love them!

Old-Fashioned Sour Cream Cookies

Adapted from Betty Crocker
Yield: 4 dozen

1/2 c butter (to make lower in fat, substitute with 1/4 c butter + 1/4 c unsweetened applesauce)
1 egg
1 c sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2/3 c unbleached white flour
2 c white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 c sour cream (to make lower in fat, use light)
Decorations:
          colored sugar
          icing
Preheat oven to 450*F. Using an electric mixer, cream together butter, egg, sugar & vanilla. Sift together dry ingredients. Add alternately with sour cream to butter mixture. Roll dough out onto a floured surface to 1/4" thick. Cut out cookies with cookie cutters. Sprinkle with colored sugar, if desired. Bake for 8-10 minutes. (Cookies may still appear pale, but do not bake for longer than 10 minutes unless you want crunchy cookies.)

Icing:
1 cup powdered sugar
1 T almond milk
1 tsp vanilla
1-2 drops red food coloring, if desired

Mix together. Add more milk if necessary, but be aware that ever drop of milk makes a huge difference. The icing should not be too runny or it will run off of the cookies. Ice cookies once they are cool.

Blueberry & Applesauce Cookies

Remember when I told you I had a lot of blueberries? And that I made these? I couldn't stop myself from making them again and sharing my variations. 

I healthified them and veganized them and don't worry, they're still delicious. Moist and cake-like with bursts of juicy berry. Anytime snacks...all the time snacks. Picnic food. Breakfast food. Perfection.

 

Before you rush off to your kitchen to make these, I have a plea. I know you're out there! I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section. Tell me what you like, don't like, want me to change, want me to talk about, questions you might have, thoughts on completely unrelated topics, anything! It would be fun to hear your contributions.

Blueberry & Applesauce Cookies

Adapted from How Sweet Eats

Yield: 2 dozen cookies

4 T coconut oil, melted

1/3 c applesauce

3/4 c light brown sugar

1 flax egg (1 T ground flax + 3 T water)

1 tsp vanilla

1 c white whole wheat flour

3/4 c whole wheat flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 T cinnamon

splash of almond milk, as needed

1 c fresh blueberries

Preheat oven to 375. Mix flax egg and set aside to gel. Using an electric mixer, beat coconut oil, applesauce and sugar until smooth. Add flax egg and vanilla, mixing well until combined. Slowly add flours, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until well blended. If dough seems dry, add in a splash of milk (I used it the first time I made these but didn't need any the second time).  Gently fold in blueberries with a spatula. Spoon on cookie tray into 1" cookies. Dough will only spread slightly while baking. Bake for 12 minutes or until set. Remove from tray and cool on cooling rack. Cookies will be moist, so store in a loosely covered container (not completely airtight).

Blueberry & Applesauce Cookies

Embracing My Foodie Self

It's true. I'm finally going to admit it in writing.

I'm a foodie. And I'm happy about it.

It was officially decided by myself and JillSpillsItAll on the Crossover Post. I'm going to embrace my foodie self!

Dinner is always on my mind. For that matter, so is breakfast.

And lunch.

And dessert.

I just can't help it. I love to cook, bake and eat.

My mom is the same way, so we love to spend the afternoon together. Give us an occasion to bake and we're there. We'll combine it with making dinner for the men in our lives.

 

We made a tea and biscotti basket as a prize for my cousin's bridal shower. While the biscotti was baking, we made dinner: a variation on these bean and bello burgers, grilled asparagus & pineapple slices, portobella mushroom & onion kabobs, and a big salad with strawberries.

For dessert, we had biscotti!

This is Pistachio Cranberry Biscotti after the first bake.

The other flavors were Tuscan Almond & Double Chocolate.

It's so fun to bake with my mom. And it's so fun to be a foodie!

Delving into the healthy eating world has really opened my eyes to so many new types of food. It's really what made me become a foodie. I can't wait to learn more!

Cookies, Wine & Eggrolls

If you like chocolate and you like cookies, you'll like these. Correction: You'll LOVE these. Mom found a recipe for a crunchy chocolate cookie with an added kick. These cookies are full of chocolate. How many recipes do you come across with 1 1/2 cups of cocoa powder in them? The recipe said it would make 3-4 dozen cookies, but she divided the dough into 3 hunks and after 1 was rolled and cut out we already had 3 dozen cookies. So we froze the other 2 hunks for the future.

While Mom was rolling out these hearts of chocolate, I mixed up the dough for a batch of Sante's Hermit Cookies from 101 Cookbooks. They had to chill for an hour so after I mixed them I moved on to Mom's Crunchy Cookies.

The dough is basic but then you add oatmeal, cornflakes (We ad libbed with frosted flakes and then cut back on the sugar. I have a HUGE box of frosted flakes in my cupboard from making Tiger Cookies but we don't eat them as cereal so I'm using them in as many things as I can!), coconut and chocolate chips. In other words, you add everything delicious and lots of it!

Mom's cookies finished about the same time I started putting in the Hermit Cookies.

The Hermit Cookies sort of taste like an oatmeal raisin cookie and I love them. Plus they're little 2-bite cookies, so if I eat 3 that's ok. ...Right? I still haven't iced them like the recipe calls for because I hate storing iced cookies. Plus Mom's mailing a package with some of each cookie to my aunt in Oregon and the icing won't ship well. We're icing them as we go along with a cream cheese icing I can store in the fridge.

The men were working hard on bottling wine in the basement.

Luckily they brought us some samples.

That helped give us the energy to start making dinner!

We made 2 kinds of baked egg rolls. One had cabbage, carrots, celery, onions, grated ginger, water chestnuts and mushrooms in it.

The other was bean sprouts, carrots, onions, grated ginger and baby shrimp. Egg rolls are very complicated. Lots of chopping and then you cook the mixture and add soy sauce and any other preferred seasonings. They you wrap them and bake them for 15 minutes.

And they come out nice and crispy!

*Please note my beautifully painted "new" stove. Bup decided to paint the original cream top and make it black and stainless steel. I love it!

I mixed up some dipping sauces and used our Pampered Chef bamboo bowls we got for Christmas (Thanks Connie!). We had duck sauce, chili lime sauce, soy sauce, and peanut sauce (my favorite).

Oh, did I mention the Chocolate Cranberry Nut Pie Mom made for dessert?

I went to bed tired, happy and well-fed!