Snicker doodles!

Just say it with me... Snicker doodles! It is such a fun name to say! I love it! AND I love snicker doodles. They are similar to a sugar cookie only they are so light and and delicious with that cinnamon sugar outside...YUM that is just all there is to it. I have been craving these for a while and the other night I decided that was it, I was going to make them and Hubby was going to eat them! Well, Ok so I ate them too! I found this great recipe that did not call for any cream of tarter (all the recipes I have ever even seen for snicker doodles usually call for this) and since I did not have any I thought this was the perfect recipe to try out.

Snicker Doodles
Ingredients:
*1 1/3 cups AP flour
*1/4 teaspoon salt
*1 teaspoon baking powder
*1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
*3/4 cup granulated sugar
*1 large egg
*1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 For the coating
*1/5 cup white sugar
*1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line your baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt and then set aside.

In your mixer bowl beat together the butter and sugar until smooth (about 3 minutes.)


Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Add in your flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough.



Shape the dough into a log and cut it into equal pieces.


Form little balls from each piece. A 1" ball will make a 2" cookie after baking.  Now prepare the coating.

Mix together the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl and stir. Easy Peasy!


Then roll each cookie thoroughly in the mixture so it have a good coating on it.


Place cookie balls on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Flatten each cookie gently using the bottom of a glass.

Don't ask what I was thinking when I took this picture and there is a cookie ball blocking me from showing you what is going on! And that is the only shot I got of this process... I am sorry. Hopefully you still get the idea of what I was attempting to show you in my ditz moment!

Here they are all flatened out

Bake for 8 minutes. Once removed from oven leave on cookie sheet for an additional 5 minutes to cool.

Remove and store in an air tight container for up to two weeks. HAHA good luck with that! They will never last that long. The recipe makes about 40 2" cookies.
I enjoyed mine with a nice glass of milk!



These cookies are so light they are dangerous! You could eat so many! They are so cute and almost bite size. I think they would be great to add to any holiday baking basket or even served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream with some cinnamon sprinkled on top of the ice cream! They are wonderful and I think you should all run home and bake them then come back and let me know how you liked them!

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone!!

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The Christmas Baking Has Begun

Well every year I say that I am going to do a wonderful baked good tin to go along with Christmas cards for my co-workers and friends, and can you believe it that every year I never follow through! I will do one batch here and there but nothing like the vision that I create in my head! I told myself I would actually do it this year and I intend to!! My plan is to do a couple different cookie for the next few days and then I can put together tins and freeze any left overs for Santa and Christmas day!

I started out with a recipe I found in Taste of Home Cookies & Bars magazine I picked up on our last Lowes trip.

Double Drizzle Pecan Cookies
1/2 cup butter softened
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups chopped toasted pecans
Carmel Drizzle
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
Chocolate Drizzle
1 ounce semi sweet chocolate
1 tablespoon butter

1. In a large bowl cream the butter and brown sugar till light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

2. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and roll in pecans. Place on ungreased sheet for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

3. in a small saucepan bring brown sugar and cream to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in confectioners sugar. Immediately drizzle over cooled cookies

4. In a mall microwave-safe bowl melt the chocolate and butter, stir until smooth. Drizzle over cookies and let stand until set. Store in air tight container.

Here is the dough balls... rolled in pecans then pressed down slightly


Here are the naked cookies after baking and cooling...


Heating the carmel topping on the stove


The cookies with the carmel topping drizzled over them...


And the finished product... cookies with chocolate and carmel topping!




Tada... the first cookies for the tins are complete! Stay tuned, more to come!

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Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

The other day I was browsing our fellow foodies and I came across Brownie or Die... She had made this recipe from Cooks Illustrated... It was love at first site and I knew I had to make it... So I came home and did just that... So here is the recipe"

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients:
2 1/8 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter (melted)
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cup chocolate chips

First preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Adjust your oven rack to the middle(I left mine where it was at and it worked just fine)Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with foil(I used parchment paper)Spray the lined pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix flour, salt and baking soda together in a bowl and set to the side.

Whisk melted butter and sugars in a bowl until combined.


Add the egg, the egg yolk and vanilla until well blended.


Using a rubber spatula fold in the dry ingredients. Then fold in the chocolate chips. DO NOT OVER MIX
Put the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with spatula..


Here it is baking... I needed to take a peak...


Bake until top is a light golden brown and the sides slightly pull away from the pan. About 27 minutes... Let it cool to room temperature then cut into 2 inch squares and serve.


I did not wait till room temp I just waited for about 5 minutes until they were cooled... Then Jason and I had one with a glass of milk. You know it is good when Jason mumbles as his mouth is over flowing with cookie bar... " Ohh yeah... Oh yeah you gotta make these again..." As if the whole pan in front of his face was not enough!!


Then today ( the next day) I decided to turn it into the base for a cookie sundae... I heated the cookie bar then placed a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream ontop ( blue bell)... I then dressed it up with melted caramel and hot fudge... what do you think???




Mmmm take a bite!!


All I can say is WOW... It is for sure a keeper at our house...

Sinfully Yours,

Heather

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Dunkable Brownies

I had wanted to bake something this week and I was not sure what... Then Amber said she would come over and she was in the mood for chocolate... and it hit me Dunkable Brownies!!! They are the best! My mom used to make them and I love them... So we went to the store, got the ingredients and got to cooking!! Here is the recipe and pics...

Dunkable Brownies
Ingredients:

-6 squares (6oz) Semi sweet chocolate
-4 squares (4oz) Unsweetened chocolate
-6 tablespoons ( 3/4 stick) butter
-3 Eggs
- 1 Cup flour
- 1 1/4 Cup sugar
- 1/4 Teaspoon salt
- 2 Teaspoons Vanilla
-1 Teaspoon baking powder
-2 Cups of toasted chopped walnuts ( or nut of your choice)

The first thing you want to do is preheat the oven to 325 degrees... Then line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper and toast the walnuts... I usually stick mine in as the oven is preheating and by the time it is preheated the nuts are toasted... this time I left them in too long and burned all the walnuts!! I tried one and it tasted like burnt popcorn :O(

I was sooo disapointed and then realized that I had pecans... And that is the nuts that Oklahoma is known for... heck I have a HUGE pecan tree in my backyard... So I decided to use the Pecans and call these Okie Dunkable Brownies!! After the nut of your choice is toasted take them off the cookie sheet and set them to the side until later.

Place all the butter and chocolate in a microwaveable bowl and microwave until melted. It takes about 2 minutes depending on your microwave but you want do this in 30 second intervals taking it out and stiring each time so that the chocolate does not burn...

I made a double batch so my pictures may look like more ingredients then yours...



Once your chocolate and butter is all melted it should be smooth with no chunks like this....



Once melted place all in a mixing bowl and add the sugar. Next mix in the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla. In a seperate bowl mix the baking powder, salt and flour. Slowly mix the flour mixture into the wet mixture...



Once the flour and the batter is all mixed together fold in your toasted nuts...

The mixture will be much more wet lookin then normal cookie dough and that is alright! That is how it should look... Because it is a brownie cookie! I lined my cookie sheets with parchment paer and placed the dough on the sheet leaving a litle room for them to spread... They seem to puff up more then they spread so once you see how they cook you will realize how many you can put on each sheet. Bake for about 12 mintues... DO NOT OVER BAKE they are not supposed to be dry inside they are supposed to have a brownie consisancy... So pull them out a few minutes early if you think they look done!

Look they look like little terds ready to bake!! Ha ha



I had to take a peak while they were baking... Mmmmmm Yum Yum



Tada... the finished product...







I hope you all are having a wonderful weekend!!

Sinfully Yours,

Heather

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