Stephanie's Slice Of Life

Category: cookies

• 

  Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Shortbread Cookies

  Posted at 9:19 am by StephMo

  Jan 31st

  You will be singing “I’m in the mood for love, simply because you’re near me” when you bite into one of these cookies, because you will be in LOVE with them. These cookies may look like your average sugar cookies, but they will give you a buttery surprise when you bite into one. Since we are approaching Valentine’s Day, what better shape to make them in but hearts! No matter what shape you decide to make them in however, the recipient of these cookies will definitely know you love them!

  You may be wondering what the difference is between a sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie. Sugar cookies are sweeter and crispier, while shortbread cookies are softer and butterier (is that a word?), or should I say more buttery? Regardless of the correct spelling and grammar, they melt in your mouth.

  Ingredients:

  3/4 cup sugar

  1 cup butter – softened

  3 oz. block cream cheese – softened

  1 egg

  1 tsp. peppermint extract

  3 cups flour

  In a large mixing bowl combine sugar, butter, cream cheese, egg, and extract with an electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.

  

  Add flour and beat until mixed. My dough looked like course crumbs as you can see, which I just used my hands to shape together.

  

  Divide the dough into two and wrap with plastic wrap. Put in the refrigerator for about an hour or until it has hardened and is easy to work with.

  

  Roll out the dough on a floured surface until about 1/4″ thick. I used about half of a half of the dough at a time, or a quarter of the total dough. Cut into shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheets.

  

  

  Bake at 375 degrees for about 7 minutes, or until edges are just slightly brown. Remove from cookie sheets immediately and cool on wire racks.

  I did not have any melting chocolate wafers, so I decided to use chocolate chips and butter. Which I have to say was not as easy to work with, it was a little too thick. You can use whichever you prefer.

  For these cookies I melted 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of butter in a small saucepan over low heat while stirring frequently.

  

  Dip half of the cookie in the chocolate and put on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Cool in refrigerator until chocolate is hardened.

  

  Posted in cookies, Recipes | Tagged chocolate dipped shortbread cookies, cookie recipe, food blog, food blogger, heart cookies, peppermint shortbread cookies, shortbread cookie recipe, shortbread cookies
• 

  M & M Cookies

  Posted at 10:21 am by StephMo

  Jan 17th

  For years any time I baked M&M cookies I just used my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe and added M&M’s instead of chocolate chips. They were good, but just good. Then I started looking around and trying other recipes and found this recipe which is great! This recipe uses shortening as opposed to butter, which I must say makes quite a difference.

  These cookies stay plump and soft, which has to do with the shortening. I have been so used to recipes containing butter, but often times they cook too thin for my liking. I am not sure where I found this recipe, but it has been a favorite ever since I did.

  Ingredients:

  1/2 cup sugar

  1 cup packed brown sugar

  1 cup shortening

  2 eggs

  1 1/2 tsps. vanilla

  2 1/2 cups flour

  1 tsp. baking soda

  1 tsp. salt

  1 cup (plus more) M&Ms

  Combine sugars, shortening, eggs, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl, then add to large bowl and mix well. Add 1 cup M&Ms.

  Drop by teaspoonfuls (I like to use cookie scoop) onto baking sheet. Gently add a few M&Ms onto the top of each cookie.

  Bake for 9 to 11 minutes at 350 degrees.

  

  The thing that’s fun about M&Ms is that you can use their Holiday colors, or whatever colors you choose. Except when you take out all of the reds and blues for the 4th of July, make sure you tell your peanut allergic son because he may think the leftovers are Reese’s Pieces and get a little nervous 😦

  

  Posted in cookies, M&M cookies, Recipes | Tagged baking, cookie recipe, cookies, food blog, food blogger, homemade cookies, life blogger, M & M cookies, M&M cookie recipe, M&M cookies, M&Ms, my slice of life, my slice of life blog
• 

  Pizzelles

  Posted at 5:53 pm by StephMo

  Dec 23rd

  For years my neighbor would give us homemade pizzelles at Christmas time. This lovely Italian gentleman would make a batch of vanilla, and a batch of anise flavored. He inspired me to purchase my own pizzelle maker a number of years ago, and since then it has been one of my favorite Holiday activities with my daughter. If you have one collecting dust somewhere in your house, I hope I am inspiring you to dust it off and make a batch. They are not only delicious, but they look so much harder to make than they actually are.

  If you have never made them, be forewarned that you most likely will not be a pro pizzelle baker right away. It definitely takes you a few batches to figure out exactly how much dough is the proper amount, and how long they need to cook. What’s funny with my daughter and I, is that for some reason we always feel the need to switch off right when one of us has finally gotten them right. Maybe it is our subconscious way of keeping a lot for ourselves.

  Here is the recipe that I use and enjoy:

  1 3/4 cups flour

  2 tsps. baking powder

  3 large eggs

  3/4 cup sugar

  1/2 cup butter, melted

  1 tbsp. vanilla extract

  Combine flour and baking powder in a small bowl. Place eggs and sugar in a medium bowl and beat with a hand mixer on medium speed for 1 minute until thickened.

  

  On low speed, add the melted butter and vanilla in a steady stream and mix just until combined. Add the flour mixture just until combined.

  Spray both sides of pizzelle mixer with cooking spray. Heat on medium setting.

  Scoop about a tbsp. of dough in the center of each pizzelle mold and cook until lightly brown. With my pizzelle maker set at a 3, we found that 55 seconds was the perfect amount of cooking time. It may take you a few batches to get them how you want them.

  

  Remove the pizzelles with a plastic spatula and cool on a wire rack.

  

  When cool you can sift confectioners sugar on each cookie. If you want to step it up a notch, dip one side in melted chocolate and let set on a wax paper lined cookie sheet.

  

  Buon Natale! Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays! Or happy eating!

  Posted in cookies, Recipes | Tagged christmas cookies, cookie recipe, food blog, food blogger, holiday baking, holiday cookie recipe, holiday cookies, italian cookie recipe, italian cookies, pizzelle, pizzelle recipe, pizzelles
• 

  Coconut Macaroons

  Posted at 7:39 pm by StephMo

  Dec 21st

  In my opinion, coconut and chocolate are one of the world’s best combinations. When I was younger I used to love Mounds and Almond Joy bars. Do you remember the commercial “Sometimes you feel like a nut, sometimes you don’t. Almond Joy’s got nuts, Mounds don’t”? I might be dating myself a little, regardless I still love the combination.

  These macaroons not only combine coconut and chocolate, but are one of the easiest things to put together. If you are looking for an impressive and delicious dessert, here it is!

  Ingredients:

  2 (7 oz) packages of flaked coconut

  1 (14 oz) can of sweetened condensed milk

  2 tsps. vanilla extract

  1 cup mini chocolate chips

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine sweetened condensed milk and vanilla in a medium bowl. Add coconut and combine well. Add 1 cup of mini chocolate chips and mix well.

  

  

  I use a cookie scoop and drop onto a very well greased aluminum foil lined cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly browned around edges.

  

  

  Once cooked these are very difficult to remove from the cookie sheet without falling apart. I try to at least loosen them from the aluminum foil with a spatula until I can transfer them to a cooling rack.

  Some will fall apart, which of course means you have to eat them!

  Posted in cookies, Recipes | Tagged baking, coconut and chocolate, coconut chocolate chip macaroons, coconut macaroon recipe, coconut macaroons, coconut recipe, food blog, food blogger, macaroon recipe, macaroons
• 

  Childhood Candy Cane Cookies

  Posted at 3:34 pm by StephMo

  Dec 13th

  I can vividly remember getting so excited for these candy cane cookies as a child. My mother would make them every year out of her Betty Crocker cookbook, and they were such a treat! Years ago I decided to make my own and found a Betty Crocker recipe on-line that I assumed were the cookies of my childhood, well they weren’t. It appears that Betty has made a few versions over the years, but the ones I remember as a child are still my favorite.

  The original recipe calls for almond extract, which due to nut allergies I no longer use in any recipes. I have made these with just using more vanilla, and I have also made these with substituting peppermint extract for the almond. While they are both very good, my family is down the middle with which version they prefer, so I alternate the versions I make so that it is fair to everyone.

  Candy Cane Cookie Recipe:

  1/2 cup butter softened

  1/2 cup shortening

  1 cup confectioners sugar

  1 egg

  1 1/2 tsps. almond extract (I either use peppermint or vanilla)

  1 tsp. vanilla

  2 1/2 cups flour

  1 tsp. salt

  1/2 tsp. red food color

  1/2 cup crushed peppermint candy

  1/2 cup sugar

  Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine butter, shortening, confectioners sugar, egg, and flavoring. Blend in flour and salt. Divide dough in half and mix red food coloring into one half.

  

  Shape teaspoonfuls of dough into balls and then roll on a floured board into 4 inch ropes. Place a white and a red rope side by side and twist together.

  

  

  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and curve top to form a cane. Bake for 9 minutes or until set and very light brown.

  Mix peppermint candy and sugar and immediately sprinkle on cookies when out of the oven. Let cool on cookie sheets for a few minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

  

  I love that my fond childhood memories have now become my children’s memories!

  Posted in cookies, Recipes | Tagged baking, baking blog, betty crocker candy cane cookies, candy cane cookies, christmas cookies, cookie recipe, cookies, food blog, food blogger, holiday cookies, my slice of life
• 

  Oh Brownie Tree, Oh Brownie Tree – Cute Brownie Recipe

  Posted at 8:46 am by StephMo

  Dec 13th

  These brownie trees are so festive and fun! I saw a picture of something similar and decided to add these to my holiday goodies this year. Although my children are older, this could be a perfect activity with little ones as well. With a simple extra step you can turn your plain brownies into an impressive holiday treat! And if you have better cutting skills than I do, they will look even more impressive.

  

  As with all my brownies, I use the Baker’s One Bowl Brownie recipe. I have posted about this recipe in other blog posts, and am sure I will post about it again. It’s incredibly easy, and it’s my favorite. Here is the link to the recipe:

  https://www.myfoodandfamily.com/recipe/054515/bakers-one-bowl-brownies

  Once the brownies have cooled completely, it is time to start cutting. If you use an 8″ pan cut them in half horizontally, then make the triangle slices to form the trees. I used a 9″ x 13″ pan to yield more brownies which made it a little more difficult to cut into similar sized shapes.

  

  As you can see my trees cracked somewhat and don’t have the smoothest edges. I’ve mentioned before that I must not have been paying attention in Kindergarten the day they showed us how to make circles, well I also must not have been paying attention the day we went over straight lines either. I probably should have tried to cut them into perfect squares and then would have ended up with the perfect triangles I needed 😉

  

  Once the brownies are cut and laid out, melt some white chocolate and fill a decorating container with a fine tip. Gently squeeze the chocolate on to the brownies and add sprinkles before the chocolate hardens. You could add green food coloring to your chocolate, or you could even use mint chocolate melting wafers. Today I just used Ghiradelli white chocolate chips that I had in the house.

  

  And that is it! Your adorable brownie trees are ready!

  Posted in cookies, Recipes | Tagged baking blog, brownie recipe, brownie tree recipe, brownies, food blog, food blogger, holiday treats, life blogger, my slice of life blog, one bowl brownies
• 

  Not Every Italian Likes Anise, So Make Lemon Anginetti Cookies!

  Posted at 3:12 pm by StephMo

  Dec 9th

  Every year my mother along with many other Italians, make their Italian Anise Cookies around the holidays. They always looked so good, and I always wished I liked them. I really wanted to like them, and every few years I would try one to see if maybe my aversion to anise flavoring had dissipated. I do have some Italian blood in me so I should like them, right? Wrong. So years ago I decided to stop trying, and to find a similar looking Italian cookie without that awful anise taste.

  I tried a few different recipes before I found a fantastic recipe for Anginetti, or Italian Lemon Drop Cookies. I am not even sure where I found this recipe, but it has been a Christmas staple cookie every year since. The cookie itself has a very subtle lemon taste, and the icing looks like the regular white icing on the anise cookies, but has lemon extract. Yum.

  This dough gets very sticky, and I have found over the years that they look better if you roll the dough into balls in your hands as opposed to using a cookie scoop or dropping them by teaspoonfuls.

  Anginetti Recipe:

  1/2 cup sugar

  1/4 cup vegetable shortening

  3 large eggs

  1 1/2 tsps. lemon extract

  2 cups flour

  1 1/2 tsps. baking powder

  1/8 tsp. salt

  Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together sugar and shortening. Add eggs and lemon extract and beat well. Add flour, baking powder, and salt. Mix well. Drop dough onto a slightly greased cookie sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Bake for about 12-15 minutes, or until firm and lightly brown. Allow to cool completely on wire racks.

  Once the cookies are cooled, I prefer to dip the cookies upside down into the icing as opposed to frosting them. The cookies look nicer this way.

  Icing Recipe:

  3 cups confectioners sugar

  1/4 cup water

  1 tsp. lemon extract

  Combine all ingredients and mix until smooth. If too loose, add more confectioners sugar. If too stiff, add more water in tiny increments.

  Before the icing sets completely, I add some holiday sprinkles on top.

  Your fellow anise hating cookie lovers will thank you. #saynotoanise 😉

  Posted in cookies, holiday treats, Recipes | Tagged anginetti, anginetti recipe, cookie recipe, food blog, food blogger, holiday baking, holiday cookies, italian lemon cookie recipe, lemon drop cookies
• 

  I'm Melting! Adorable Melted Snowmen Cookies

  Posted at 12:47 pm by StephMo

  Dec 6th

  These melting snowmen cookies bring instant smiles to children and adults. They actually make me giggle, but I am easily amused. I am not going to lie though, they are a pain in the neck to make, but the reaction you get from them is worth it. When you are about to make these cookies set yourself out a chunk of time, put on some music, and pour yourself a large cup of coffee because you are in it for the long haul. I’m exaggerating slightly, but they are time consuming.

  I found this recipe on-line years ago, but after many different attempts at making these I have settled on a slightly different version. If you look you on-line you will see that people do these all different ways. However, I think mine are the best 😉

  I know I have said before that I always make my cookies from scratch, but these are my one exception. If this recipe was the only cookie I was making I may be tempted to make a homemade sugar cookie, but I make so many different varieties around the holidays that I just cut corners on this one. They take so long to put together and they are more about the cuteness than about the taste anyway.

  So the first thing I do is cut open the roll of Pillsbury Sugar Cookie dough and bake the cookies. Once they are done they need to cool completely before decorating. The good thing about this recipe is that you can bake the cookies hours or even a day before and decorate them when you are ready.

  You will need a bag of large marshmallows for the heads. They look better if you cut off one end of the marshmallow. Since I hate to waste food, I usually munch on the ends that aren’t needed. Or you could save them and put them in hot chocolate? I prefer to just eat them.

  

  Once those are done you will need orange sprinkles long enough to be the carrot nose. If you can’t find just orange sprinkles, you will need to fish through a container of colored sprinkles which is what I typically end up doing. Even though I have seen multicolored carrots before, I haven’t yet gotten to the point where my snowmen have had purple and yellow noses. All you need to do is push the orange sprinkle into the marshmallow far enough until it stays.

  When I first tried making these cookies I used black decorator’s gel for the eyes and mouth. Personally I find that it is not only easier to use a food marker, but I think it looks better. By food marker I do not mean a Sharpie, they sell edible markers at craft stores. I like to make a circle for the mouth to give it a “oh no I’m melting” look. You could make a smiley face, but I’m pretty sure that snowmen would not be too happy about melting. Frosty never seemed to be anyway.

  

  Now it’s time to make the melting snow. The first year I made these cookies I used a store bought icing. The next year I purchased a different icing that didn’t work well, and instead of running out to the store I decided to just make my own icing instead. That is what I have continued to do since then.

  Icing Recipe:

  Mix together 1 cup of confectioners sugar and 2 tsps. milk until smooth. Beat in 2 tsps. of corn syrup until it looks smooth and glossy. If it is too thick, add a little more corn syrup.

  I use a spoon to drop some icing onto one side of the cookie, and then tilt the cookie while turning it so that it looks like melted snow. I also like to let a little run off of the sides. Make sure to stick on the marshmallow heads before the icing sets, the icing acts as a glue to hold the heads in place. Make sure the icing really sets before you finish decorating.

  

  Originally I also tried using black gel for the arms but had difficulty with those as well, and decided to just use the food markers. I am not really sure why I seem to have so much difficulty with such things, maybe it’s just me. If you are more skilled than I am with decorator’s frosting or gel, you may decide to use that instead. If you decide to use the food markers, you have to use a very light touch because it cracks through the icing.

  The last step is using gel to make a scarf. Then let the smiles and giggles begin!

  

  

  Posted in cookies, holiday treats, Recipes | Tagged blog, blogger, cookie recipe, food blog, food blogger, holiday cookies, melting snowmen cookie recipe, melting snowmen cookies, snowman cookie, snowmen cookies
• 

  Koulourakia – Say That Three Times Fast

  Posted at 1:19 pm by StephMo

  Nov 14th

  This is hands down one of my favorite cookie recipes! My grandmother used to make these on occasion, but I never liked them because typically they are a hard, dry cookie. Years ago I found this recipe, and these are melt in your mouth good! What could be better than a soft vanilla butter cookie?

  I make these every year for Christmas, but Kouourakia is a traditional Greek Easter cookie. Sometimes I make them for Easter as well. Sometimes I just make them for the heck of it! If you prefer a crispier cookie, cook them for the recommended length of time on the recipe. Since I don’t like crispy cookies, I only bake them for about 10-11 minutes until the bottoms are brown. Trust me, although a little time consuming, this recipe is worth it and everyone that tries them will love them.

  https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/koulourakia-butter-cookie-braids/10581/

  If the dough is really difficult to work with and keeps sticking to your fingers, just refrigerate it first. I often split the dough in half so that the half I am not working with can stay in the refrigerator until I am ready for it.

  

  Take a little dough (the recipe states walnut size), make it into a ball in your hands, then roll it along the cutting board with the palm of your hand until it makes a long roll. Then I shape them into S’s and braids. You can put them fairly close together on the cookie sheet as they don’t increase much in size. Then be prepared to not be able to stop eating them once you start. So good!

  

  Posted in cookies, holiday treats, Recipes | Tagged butter cookies, cookie recipe, cookies, easter cookies, koulourakia, koulourakia recipe

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