FAITH DURAND'S BEST CUT-OUT SUGAR COOKIES

Too many sugar cookies look nice but don't have much to recommend them as a dessert. This recipe makes a delicious cookie, and, another plus, the dough is easy to handle, important for a rolled cookie.

Any holiday is an excuse for making sugar cookies ... if you need an excuse. Older children can make and bake the dough. Nearly any child can decorate them.

Faith Durand's  Best  Cut-Out  Sugar  Cookies

2 to 3 dozen

1 cup unsalted butter, softened at room temperature for 1 hour

2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon orange or lemon zest, optional

1  1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 cups flour

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and cream cheese.

2. Beat in granulated sugar. Beat for several minutes or until light-colored and fluffy.

3. Beat in egg, vanilla and almond extracts, and, if using, orange or lemon zest.

4. Beat in baking powder and salt.

5. Gradually add flour until fully incorporated and soft dough is formed.

6. Divide dough in half and wrap flattened balls of dough in plastic wrap. To freeze plastic-wrapped dough, put in freezer bag and freeze up to 1 month. To thaw, leave in refrigerator overnight and then proceed with recipe. If not freezing dough, chill at least 1 hour or as long as overnight.

7. Let chilled dough sit for about 15 minutes at room temperature. Cut cookies out of dough rolled to 1/8" to 1/4" thick and place on ungreased baking sheets about 1" apart. Cookies will rise when baked.

8. Bake in 350°F. oven for about 8 minutes, depending on thickness. Let cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet, then remove to wire rack.

9. Cool completely before icing or decorating, and store in tightly covered container.

NOTE: The dough handles beautifully. The cookies are quite sturdy after baking. They are delicious without the zest. 

Sugar Cookie Decorating Ideas

•    Ice with a sugar glaze; then sandwich with Nutella between two cookies.

•    Glaze with warmed jelly; then sandwich with another cut-out cookie on top. (Valentines' Day hearts)

•    Drizzle with melted chocolate.

•    Ice with royal icing and stick on candy dots for decoration.

•    Use a glaze made from sifted confectioners' sugar and milk. Paint it on with a pastry brush. It's easier than spreading a buttercream frosting and will not cause the cookies to get as soft. These cookies don't need softening.

ALMOND BUTTER CAKE or BARS

These are easy and delicious. They are a riff on a Marion Cunningham recipe. Would be a great dessert to have on hand for drop-in holiday visitors, since it keeps for a week at room temperature and would be delicious served with coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. Also a great recipe for kids to learn baking.

Almond Butter Cake or Bars
Serves 12

¾ cup butter

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoon almond extract

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup almond meal

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon granulated sugar

½ cup sliced almonds

1. Using microwave, melt butter in medium-sized mixing bowl. Let butter cool until it is no longer hot—better yet, don’t let it get hot in the first place.

2. Add the 1 ½ cups granulated sugar and stir until smooth.

3. Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.

4. Add salt, almond extract, and vanilla extract and stir until combined.

5. Add almond meal and stir well.

6. Add all-purpose flour and stir until combined.

7. Pour batter into buttered 9-inch cake pan to make thin cake slices or into buttered 11x7-inch cake pan to make bars that are thinner than cake.

8. Sprinkle cake or bars with 1 tablespoon granulated sugar.

9. Sprinkle sliced almonds over the sugar layer.

10. Bake in 350°F. oven for 30 to 40 minutes. When done, the cake or bars should be light brown on top and a few sticky crumbs should stick to toothpick inserted into center.

11. Let cool at least 30 minutes. However, the cake or bars are better after allowed to sit 12 hours or more. Cut into thin wedges.

12. Leftovers store well if wrapped in foil or sealed in a plastic bag. Can freeze indefinitely.

NOTE: These were good when made in an 8-inch square pan, but they seemed too thick. If 11x7-inch pan doesn’t work well for bars, try a 9-inch square pan. Cake wedges can be served with fresh fruit, such as strawberries or apples. Might try cake wedges with a dollop of whipped cream.

Double Chocolate Cookies

These are my favorite cookies at the moment. They are easy to make, quick to make, and delicious. Not only that, but they keep—and thus ship—well. However, don't even think about compromising on the quality of chocolate you use. That specified is my favorite eating chocolate, and it's perfect for this recipe.



DOUBLE  CHOCOLATE  DROPS  

Makes 32

¾ cup butter
1 cup granulated sugar plus ¼ cup or more for rolling 
2 eggs at room temperature
1 teaspoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
¼ teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
½ cup cocoa 
2 cups all-purpose flour 
3.5-oz. bar Lindt 70% Cocoa Excellence, roughly chopped into ¼- to ½-inch pieces 

In a medium, microwave-safe mixing bowl, melt butter. 

Stir in 1 cup sugar. 

Beat in eggs, one at a time. 

Add baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla and stir well. 

Stir in cocoa. 

Add flour and chopped chocolate and stir until flour no longer shows and chocolate is distributed evenly. 

Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes but not too much longer. 

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls so that each ball has at least one chocolate chunk, which should be covered with dough. 

Put the remaining sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll each ball in sugar to coat. 

Place the balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake in 350°F. oven for 8 minutes. 

Cool the cookies on the baking sheet until firm, about 5 minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a wire rack. 

NOTE: Even on an insulated baking sheet, these take only 8 minutes to bake.

Wendy's Oatmeal Cookies

I like my oatmeal cookies chewy and without raisins. These have no spices and no nuts. They are simple and delicious. Consider making a double batch so that you have plenty to share. By the way, I use insulated baking sheets, so, if you don't, you may have to reduce the baking time by a minute.

Wendy’s Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 3 dozen

1 cup butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup dark brown sugar 
1 egg 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
¼ teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 
2¼ cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Cream butter in medium-large mixing bowl.

2    Gradually stir in granulated sugar and then brown sugar. Beat until light and fluffy.

3    Add egg and beat well.

4    Beat in baking soda, salt, and vanilla.

      Stir in flour just until it can’t be seen.

      Stir in oatmeal, one-half at a time.

      Drop rounded tablespoons of dough on an ungreased baking sheet, flattening dough slightly with palm of hand.

      Bake in 375°F. oven for 9 minutes. Leave cookies on baking sheet for 1 minute before removing to wire rack to cool. Store cookies tightly sealed.

NOTE: Try substituting 2 tablespoons or more whole-wheat flour for an equal amount of the all-purpose flour.

Brown Sugar Brownies (Chocolate)

The last thing I need is another tried-and-true brownie recipe, but I tried this one on Sunday, and the recipe qualified as true and is especially easy to make.

Brown  Sugar  Brownies

Serves 9

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

½ cup butter at room temperature

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 eggs at room temperature

¼ teaspoon salt

½ cup all-purpose flour

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts, optional

Powdered sugar, optional

1. Melt chocolate in a custard cup in the microwave at less than full power.

2. In medium-large mixing bowl, beat butter.

3. Add dark brown sugar and beat well.

4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.

5. Beat in melted but cooled chocolate as well as salt.

6. Remove beaters. Stir in flour and, if desired, walnuts.

7. Spread into greased 8x8x2-inch baking pan.

8. Bake in 325°F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes.

9. Let cool. Dust with sifted powdered sugar if desired. Cut into ninths.

Delicate Nut Crescents

Made these for the first time today. The dough was delicious and so were the cookies, made with toasted pecans. I sprinkled the cookies with powdered sugar, but sometime I want to try my idea of dipping the ends in chocolate.

Try the recipe and see what you think. I'm thinking these would be a good cookie to take to a holiday cookie exchange or to a tea but would not be a good cookie to send in a care package to a college student. Enjoy!

Delicate  Nut  Crescents

Makes about 60

1 cup butter at room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

1 egg at room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla extract or ¼ teaspoon almond extract

¼ teaspoon salt

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup ground pecans, hazelnuts, walnuts, or almonds

Sifted powdered sugar or melted semisweet chocolate

1. In a medium-large mixing bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds.

2. Add the sugar and beat until combined.

3. Beat in the egg, whichever extract goes best with the nuts you are using, and the salt.

4. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer.

5. Stir in the remaining flour and the ground nuts with a wooden spoon. Do not chill the dough.

6. Shape dough into short cigars, maybe ½ inch in diameter and two inches long. Curve into tight crescents as you place on ungreased baking sheets about an inch apart. Even without leavening, cookies will expand during baking.

7. Bake in 375°F oven for about 8 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned. Remove cookies from pans and cool on a rack.

8. When cookies are cool, either sift powdered sugar over them or dip one or both ends of each cookie in melted chocolate and allow chocolate to set completely while cookies rest on rack or waxed paper.

NOTE: Rich, shortbread-like cookies. Dough handles beautifully. May want to toast ground nuts. However, if you do, stir constantly over dry heat and take care not to burn them; burning can happen in a blink of an eye and make the nuts unusable in cookie dough. Allow toasted ground nuts to cool completely before adding to dough.

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

So you probably know, I joined the The Secret Recipe Club.   It is a secret blog assignment, where you are set off into another foodie's blog alone, and no one else is supposed to know.  Someone else all together gets to peruse your blog.  We'll all find out who had which blog on the same day and time.

Without further ado, my assignment for the Secret Recipe Club this month was:

The Novice Housewife

Shortly after I started looking at Shumaila's blog, it was an clear contest between Toasted Coconut Ice Cream and Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I fully intend on making the Toasted Coconut Ice Cream this week, but between canning and a weekend trip, I decided to make the cookies.  And take them with us on our trip, of course!

They are delicious.  I didn't have patience to brown the butter, but I did melt it for quite a while.  I also used two kinds of chocolate chips.  I can't tell you how many the recipe made, because everyone was eating them straight out of the oven!

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter
1cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt
2 cups semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips/chunks (I used a mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate)
sea salt, for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 F. Line baking trays with parchment paper.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, whisking frequently. Whisk till the butter turns a little light brown. Takes about 5- 8 mins. Let cool to room temperature.

Add melted butter to both sugars in a mixing bowl and stir until smooth.  Stir in the eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and kosher salt. Add the dry ingredient to the sugar-butter mix until just combined.  Let cool completely.

Once completely cool, fold chocolate chips in the batter. Scoop 2 tablespoon-size portions onto the tray and flatten slightly. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Bake for 8-10 minutes and remove from the oven. Cool on tray a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

White Chocolate Almond Chunk Cookies

Splurged by buying a $2.99 used cookbook from a thrift store last Saturday. The cookbook is With Love & Butter: Favorite Recipes from Holly B's Bakery on Lopez Island. Tried the first recipe, which confirmed what I thought: No reason for buyer's remorse, since this recipe alone is worth the purchase price. Below is the slightly modified recipe along with a note from me.

WHITE  CHOCOLATE  ALMOND  CHUNK  COOKIES

Makes 5 dozen

1 cup butter at room temperature

1 cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups quick (1-minute) oatmeal

1 1/2 cups whole natural almonds

1 ½ to 2 cups white chocolate chips

½ to 1 cup dried cranberries, optional

1. In large mixing bowl, cream together butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar.

2. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.

3. Mix in baking powder, baking soda, salt, and vanilla.

4. Add flour to mixing bowl.

5. In a large food processor fitted with the steel knife blade, powder the oatmeal. Empty oat powder into mixing bowl.

6. Mix in flour and oat powder until barely incorporated.

7. Reassemble the food processor without washing. Add the almonds and pulse until roughly chopped. Empty chopped almonds into mixing bowl.

8. Add white chocolate chips and, if desired, dried cranberries to mixing bowl. Stir by hand until combined.

9. Drop by rounded tablespoon on parchment-covered cookie sheet, spacing them 1 inch apart. Slightly flatten each cookie with the palm of your hand.

10. Bake in a 375°F oven on the topmost rack for 4 minutes. Rotate the pan and then continue to bake 3 to 5 minutes. The centers of the cookies should be soft but not gooey. Don’t overbake or even medium-bake. Rather, underbake slightly.

11. Cool completely and then store in an airtight container.

NOTE: Using an insulated baking sheet spread with parchment paper, I put the oven rack on the second position from the top and baked the cookies a bit longer than suggested. 

Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies

Wow is time flying by! I thought I was all set for Taste & Create, having finished my Stracoto with Shiitake Mushrooms a few days early. Then I noticed that I was getting a few hits on my blog from A Whisk & A Prayer...hmmm. The name sounded familiar, and I remembered perusing that blog...OMG! My Stracoto entry was from LAST MONTH!! Ack!

Let's get on with it, the deadline is approaching!

My partner for THIS month's Taste & Create is Liz from A Whisk and A Prayer. Taste & Create is a fabulously fun food blog event, created by the lovely Nicole of For the Love of Food. Participants are randomly paired off to choose and create a dish from their partner's blog. (If you'd like to learn more about T&C, go here!) And here we are. Liz chose to make my Yoghurt Coffee Cake...

I needed a dessert for dinner for cowboys tonight anyway, and had something chocolate in mind. I told Number One about Liz' Black Bean Brownies, but after a lively discussion about how "just" adding beans to something doesn't make that something "healthy" and him saying "Don't make brownies with beans in them"...I decided on a different course.

I noticed Liz' recipe for Mexican Hot Cocoa Dream Cookies, savory chocolate gems filled with...marshmallow fluff! YUM. (and I assume that's where the "Dream" part comes in)

Sadly, I'm almost completely out of marshmallow fluff myself, because someone has been eating it with a spoon. Ahem. So anyway, because we're having cowboys over for dinner, it just wouldn't be right to only have a few with fluff and the rest plain. That is not to say I won't personally sneak a couple cookies filled with fluff before everyone else arrives...I'm just being honest, here, sorry cowboys, maybe next time!

So, this time they're not exactly a "Dream," but I'm sure they'll be good.

Right in the middle of making these cookies, I realized with shock that our Abuelita Mexican Hot Chocolate Mix is GONE!! We have the Abuelita tablets (very very hard and must be mixed with hot milk), but no powdered mix. I was already committed <>ingredients up to the flour in the bowl<> to making a double batch of cookies, so I powered through it. Some of you may remember that I live 35 miles from the nearest town, so "running to the store" is ALWAYS out.

I added 5 packets (about 1 cup) of Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate Mix with mini Marshmallows (of course). I also threw in some cinnamon, nutmeg and a dash of cloves to make up for my sad lack of Abuelita. (see amounts below) I also substituted bittersweet chocolate chips for the semi-sweet. I have to say that I actually liked the taste of the dough (unlike Liz and the girl she got the recipe from). I am quite hopeful for these at-this-stage-experimental cookies! *After a test pan of 6 cookies, I decided to line the pan with parchment paper to prevent sticking. Also, these really spread so be sure to space them apart on the parchment. *I am sure the hot chocolate mix, which Liz originally substituted for baking cocoa, messed with the consistency--these might need some adjustments to compensate, but I don't have time right now*

The cookies are mildly spicy and pretty good after they've cooled down, although they do bake up thin. I decided to bake them smaller and turn them into ice cream sandwiches. I think I baked each batch right around 13 minutes, they weren't very golden, and still a bit soft, so that means when cool they are still chewy with just a bit of crunch around the edges.

As ice cream sandwiches, these cookies are AMAZING. Yum. The spices, the bittersweet chocolate, the ice cream, all complement each other perfectly. Not bad for an experimental emergency substitution!

I ran out of time to try one with fluff before everyone arrived, but there's always tomorrow!




Mexican Hot Cocoa Cookies

3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup butter, softened
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
Scant 1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup Abuelita Mexican Hot Chocolate Mix OR 5 packets Swiss Miss Hot Chocolate Mix with Marshmallows + 1-1/2 teaspoon cinnamon + 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg + 2 to 4 dashes cloves
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup vanilla or white chocolate chips
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, beat the oil, butter & sugars until well blended. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat after each one. Beat in vanilla.

Combine the flour, hot chocolate mix, & baking powder. Gradually add to oil mixture & mix well. Stir in chips. Drop by rounded tablespoons 2 inches apart onto a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes or until edges barely begin to brown. Cool for 1 minute before removing cookies from pans to wire racks.

Taste & Create: Coconut Curry Peanut Butter Cookies

So what do you do when your Taste & Create entry is late Late LATE, (and you're the host this NOW LAST month!!) and you simply can't find the time to make the delicious meal of Mushroom Soup and Gougeres with Gruyere? (even though there is no gruyere to be found for almost a hundred miles)

Well, you briefly (albeit seriously) consider a quick fix like Taco Dip for Dinner because you happen to have most of the ingredients, but then when your husband, who happens to be in town 35 miles away at the nearest grocery store, DOESN'T GET THE TEXT about adding avocados to the shopping list...you go back to you partner's blog and start from scratch.

My partner this month is Stef, of Iron Stef. Not only does she have the best blog name, she has some great recipes. It's hard to narrow down. Well, for me it's not that hard because I just don't have access to the groceries required for many of Stef's recipes, unless I plan ahead for about a month and beg anyone who's going to the next state to please please please pick up some (fill in the blank).

However, since I was past the Taste & Create deadline already, I knew I couldn't even wait until Wednesday when we'll be driving to a pretty big town with a decent grocery store. I had to make something, and quick.

I decided on these simple, yet intriguing cookies: Coconut Curry Peanut Butter Cookies.

For those of you who don't know, Taste & Create is a fabulous food blog event in which participating bloggers are paired off to create a recipe from each other's blog. It was created by my lovely friend Nicole of For the Love of Food. It is really, really fun, and it can be as quick or complicated as you'd like it to be. There are many participants from all over the world, and the pairing is truly random, so you never know who your partner will be! I've had partners from Kuwait, India, South Africa, France, and all over the United States! If you'd like to sign up for next month, be sure to visit the How it Works page--deadline to sign up each month is on the 8th!

So back to the recipe. I was wondering just what the heck coconut powder is, and what I could possibly substitute for it. Then I remembered one of my T&C partners from India, and how I had to order some spices for her recipe, and how I tacked on a bunch of treats (sugar-coated fennel seeds, jaggery) to my order that I love but never get to buy or that sounded interesting. On a hunch, I checked the place in the pantry where I have all the Indian treats stashed, and what do you know? I had a little packet of...coconut powder!! These cookies were meant to be!

Did I tell you Steph found this recipe on twitter? Short recipe indeed!

UPDATE> Meant to be? Except. They just didn't work! The mixture was so crumbly, it wouldn't hold together. I put one little pile on a cookie sheet, tried to mash it together, and pressing coconut on top almost did it in! I baked it, and it just crumbled. Hmph.

The mixture seemed quite dry, so first I added some oil from the top of the natural peanut butter. A little better, but still crumbly. I added another egg, and then I could shape them (gently) and even press them down (gently) and add coconut (gently).

I baked them for about 10 minutes, and they looked like cookies! I let them rest on the pan for a minute or two, then removed them to a rack to cool. You know what, they taste like cookies! They are still a bit crumbly, but they'll do. I'll sure eat them. You can't really taste the curry, just a little bit of heat on the back of your throat (which would confuse you if you didn't know about the curry). I love the coconut with the peanut butter. Although they're easy, and pretty good, I can't say that I'll make them again...but you might find me adding curry powder and coconut to a tried and true peanut butter cookie recipe!


So here's the recipe, the way I made them. You can find Steph's original version (and the story about the twitter) here.

Coconut Curry Peanut Butter Cookies

-1 cup peanut butter (+ extra oil if needed)
-1 cup sugar
-2 eggs
-1/2 teaspoon curry powder
-2 Tablespoons coconut powder
-sweetened coconut for topping

Stir everything except the sweetened coconut together, roll the dough into small balls (about 1 inch diameter), flatten on a cookie sheet. Press a pinch of sweetened coconut into the top of each. Bake at 350ºF until set, about 8 to 10 minutes or so.