Bacon, Bourbon and Peanut Butter Cookies

Source - http://www.theendlessmeal.com/bacon-bourbon-and-peanut-butter-cookies/

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 strips bacon

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 tablespoons bourbon (or 1 tablespoon vanilla)

1/3 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Mix together with a fork.

Cook the bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 4 to 6 minutes per side. Transfer to a plate. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the drippings and set aside to cool. Crumble the bacon, remove (eat) any chewy bits.

Beat the butter and reserved bacon drippings in a large bowl with a mixer on until smooth, about 1 minute. Beat in the peanut butter until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the granulated and light brown sugar until creamy, about 4 minutes, then add the egg and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, about 2 more minutes.

Add the flour mixture in 2 additions, scraping down the bowl as needed, until just combined.

Stir in bacon and chocolate chips

Form the dough into 1″ balls and arrange 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet.

Bake for about 8 minutes for chewy cookies, 10 for crispier cookies.

Let cookies cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Notes

These cookies freeze well. Roll into balls and freeze on a tray in your freezer. Once the balls are frozen you can put them together in a ziploc bag. Bake from frozen but leave in oven for about 2 extra minutes.

Apple Oatmeal Cookies with Brown Butter Frosting
Source - http://www.laurenslatest.com/apple-oatmeal-cookies-with-brown-butter-frosting/

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
6 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup all purpose flour + 1 tablespoon
1 cup quick cooking rolled oats
1/2 cup peeled, diced apple {I used a fuji}

for the frosting:
1/4 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 tablespoon milk {approximately}
cinnamon, for garnish if desired

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with silicone baking mat or parchment paper and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Stir in egg and vanilla. Slowly incorporate all dry ingredients. Stir in oats and apples. Scoop onto prepared sheet and bake 8-10 minutes or until the edges are golden.

While cookies are baking, place 1/4 cup butter into small saucepan. With heat on medium, melt and brown the butter. Once the butter is a medium brown/amber color remove from heat and pour into a small bowl. Stir in powdered sugar and enough milk to get a spreadable consistency.

Frost warm cookies and sprinkle with more cinnamon, if desired. Serve.

Cornmeal Lime Cookies

Source - http://www.thekitchn.com/dessert-recipe-cornmeal-lime-cookies-170337

Makes 14 to 16 cookies

1 1/2 cups white whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons lime zest (from 2 large limes)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (from 2 large limes)
1 1/3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon lime zest 
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or using hand beaters), cream the butter and sugar together on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the lime zest and vanilla and mix until just combined. Scrape down the bowl. Add the eggs and lime juice and mix to incorporate, about 30 seconds. If your mixture seems to separate at this point, don’t worry. It will come together again when you begin to add the flour.

Slowly add the flour mixture in three stages, mixing to incorporate in between each addition.

Using an ice cream scooper or large tablespoon, scoop out the dough in heaping 1-inch balls and place 2-inches apart on a parchment-lined (or greased) baking sheet. Lightly press down on each ball with the palm of your hand, slightly flattening each into a disk shape.

Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until no longer soft in the middle and ever-so-slightly golden on the edges.

Meanwhile, make the icing: whisk together the powdered sugar, lime zest, and lemon juice until smooth. Once out of the oven, allow cookies to cool completely on a wire rack before icing. Spread glaze over the tops of each cookie. Let sit 1 hour to allow glaze to firm up.

If stored in an airtight container, cookies will remain good for up to 3 days.

Homemade Whippet (Mallows or Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies)

Source - http://sugarforthebrain.com/2012/05/05/homemade-whippet-mallows-or-chocolate-covered-marshmallow-cookies/

Recipe from Daring Bakers July 2009 (see Tartelette’s)
For the Cookies:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 eggs, whisked together

For the marshmallows:
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon powdered gelatin
2 tablespoons cold water
2 egg whites, room temperature
1 whole vanilla bean, split open and seeded

For the chocolate glaze:
12 ounces semisweet chocolate
2 ounces cocoa butter or vegetable oil

Prepare the cookies
In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy. Add the eggs and mix until combine. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface.
** They double in height when you bake them so keep it in mind when you choose the thickness of the dough.
Use a 1 to 1 1/2 inches cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough. Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

Prepare the marshmallows: In a medium saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.

** Here I have 2 little advices if you don’t want to end up like me with a brownish marshmallow (I had to do another batch!).
First: do not stir the mixture. You can stir it when you combine the ingredients, but once it boils do not stir.
Second, use a thermometer (I didn’t have a candy thermometer, but I used my meat thermometer to know the temperature approximately).
Oh and let’s go with another one, if you see your mixture turning slightly brown remove from heat immediately (but normally it won’t happen if you followed the previous advice)!
You can listen to this video from Joy of Baking, it helped me understand what I did wrong the first time!

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix. Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites. Add the vanilla seeds and continue whipping until stiff. Transfer to a pastry bag.

Prepare the chocolate glaze: Melt the chocolate and shortening together in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

To assemble: Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours. Line a cookie sheet with parchment. One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the warm chocolate glaze. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl. Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Nutella Waffle Sandwich Cookies

Source - http://www.justataste.com/2012/04/nutella-waffle-sandwich-cookies/

Yield: 1 dozen sandwich cookies

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 2 min

Ingredients:

Directions:

Piñata Cookies

source - http://www.sheknows.com/food-and-recipes/articles/958083/cinco-de-mayo-pinata-cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1 cup powdered sugar

1 cup butter

2 cups vegetable oil

2 eggs

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon baking soda

5 cups flour

1 tablespoon vanilla

Mini M&M candies

1/2 cup powdered sugar (frosting)

2 teaspoons milk (frosting)

Directions to make piñata sugar cookies:

1

Make the dough

Cream sugars with butter. Beat in eggs. Add oil. Combine dry ingredients together, and then gradually add them to the mixture. Mix in vanilla and almond extract.

2

Color the dough

Split dough into five, even-sized balls and one smaller ball (this will be the black one). Add food coloring to each of the dough balls until desired color is achieved. Gel food coloring gives you more intense colors than liquid.

3

Layer the dough

Use a container the same approximate width of your donkey/burro piñata cookie cutter, and line it with plastic food wrap. Split all of your colored dough balls in half (except the black) and begin layering the dough in the container, starting with the black dough on the bottom. Alternate the colors so that you end up with two layers of each color by the time you’re done.

4

Wait

Cover the layered dough and freeze for four hours or overnight. This is the perfect time to conserve your creative juices for what lies ahead.

5

Bake the cookies

Remove the dough from the container and unwrap from the plastic. Cut slices, approximately 1/4-inch wide. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake them at 350 degrees F for 12 minutes.

6

Cut the cookies

Immediately after you take them out of the oven, use your burro piñata cookie cutter to cut the cookie shapes. Working in sets of three, be sure to cut two burro piñata cookies in one direction and one burro piñata cookie in the opposite direction. (Just flip your cookie cutter over.) That way, when you go to assemble them, the finished cookie will look “pretty” on both sides — because the baked, bottom sides will be hidden.

7

Create the hidden pocket

For the middle cookies in each set, cut off the ears and legs, and cut out the center where the M&Ms will go. I used a small square cutter, and made three cuts to get a narrow rectangle. Try to work quickly, because as the cookies cool, they are more likely to crumble or break. Let them cool on the baking sheet before you move them and remove the excess, outer cookie.

8

Assembling the piñata cookies

To assemble, take the first piñata cookie and lay it upside down so that the baked bottom is facing up. Outline the center of the piñata body with a “frosting glue” mixture of milk and powdered sugar. (I used 1/2 cup of powdered sugar and two teaspoons of milk. If you put it inside a Ziploc bag and cut off a tiny tip of the bag’s corner, you can pipe it onto the cookie easily.)

Put the middle cookie on top of the frosting glue and add the M&Ms to the open center. Put another outline of frosting glue on the middle cookie and place the opposite-cut piñata cookie on top (so that the pretty side is facing out). Let these sit and harden for at least 30 minutes before you stand them upright.

Homemade Lofthouse Cookies

Source - http://www.thegalleygourmet.net/2012/04/happy-easter.html

makes about 5 1/2 dozen

For the Cookies

5 1/2 to 6 cups unbleached all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup (16 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 extra large eggs at room temperature

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups sour cream

For the Frosting

1 cup (16 Tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract

5 cups confectioners’ sugar

4-6 Tablespoons milk

Food coloring

Sprinkles

For the Cookies

In a large bowl whisk 5 1/2 cups of the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. 

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Add the vanilla and eggs; scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.   Mix in the sour cream until well blended.  With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour mixture until a sticky dough forms.  Add up to an additional 1/2 cup of flour to achieve a soft, but still slightly sticky dough.  Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface.  Divide the dough in half and shape into rectangles about 1 1/2 inches thick.  Wrap each rectangle in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Preheat the oven to 425º F.  Lightly flour a sheet of parchment or silicone pastry mat.  Working with one rectangle of dough at a time, roll each out to 1/4 inch thickness.  Using a 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter, cut out the cookies and transfer them to a parchment lined baking sheet.  Reroll scraps and cut out.

Bake for 7 minutes until pale golden.  Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

For the Frosting

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, salt, and vanilla.  With the mixer on low, gradually add the confectioners’ sugar one cup at a time until smooth.  Add the milk one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency.  Add food coloring of your choice.

When the cookies are cool, frost the tops with the frosting and decorate with sprinkles.  Allow the cookies to set out until the frosting has set.  Store in an airtight container between sheets of parchment for several hours or overnight to allow the flavors to develop.  Enjoy!

Source: Adapted from recipesecrets.com via Amateur Suburban Gourmet

Double Nutella Oreo Cookies

Source - http://kirbiecravings.com/2012/04/double-nutella-oreo-cookies.html

ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup Nutella

8 oreo cookies, crushed

directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8 x8 baking pan with parchment paper. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients until dough is formed.

3. Remove half the dough and set aside. Add crushed oreos into the dough remaining in the mixer and mix until oreo cookies are mixed throughout the dough. Remove cookies and cream dough and set aside.

4. Put back in remaining dough and add in 1/2 cup Nutella. Mix on medium speed until Nutella is completely mixed into the dough. Put dough into baking pan. Press down and spread until it evenly covers surface of pan. Place cookies and cream dough on top and do the same.

5. Bake about 20 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the top begins to turn golden. Cool before cutting and serving.

Peanut Butter Bacon Cookies

Source - http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2012/04/peanut-butter-bacon-cookies-recipe.html

Ingredients

yield: makes about 2 dozen cookies, active time 30 minutes, total time 40 minutes

8 slices bacon

1 cup all-natural peanut butter

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons molasses

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking soda

Generous pinch of freshly grated nutmeg

1⁄2 cup coarsely chopped roasted, salted peanuts

Procedures

1 Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and place bacon slices in a single layer. Bake bacon until cooked through and crisp, 12 to 15 minutes. Remove from the oven (keep the oven on), let cool slightly, then transfer to paper towels to cool completely. When cool enough to handle, coarsely chop the bacon and set aside.

2 Line a clean cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

3 In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together the peanut butter, 1 cup of the sugar, and the molasses until thoroughly combined, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, baking soda, and nutmeg, and mix on medium speed for another 2 minutes.

4 Remove the paddle attachment and the bowl and use a wooden spoon to fold in the bacon and peanuts. Roll the dough into large walnut-sized balls and roll in the remaining 1⁄2 cup granulated sugar. Place on lined cookie sheet, and use a fork to make that distinctive peanut butter cookie crisscross pattern. If the cookie dough begins to stick to the fork, dip it in sugar before pressing into cookie. Dough will be a little crumbly, just press together with your fingers as necessary.

5 Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will be crumbly and delicious! Cookies will last up to 5 days in an airtight container in the refrigerator.