Chocolate Peanut Butter Buddy Bars

These are super easy to make and I can't stop saying the name.

Combine in a  mixer:

1 cup peanut butter (9 1/2 oz)
6 tbsp butter
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vnilla
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
1 cup flour

Pat dough into a greased 9X13 pan and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.  When it comes out of the oven sprinkle over the top:

1 bag (11 oz) chocolate chips

Concentrate on the borders because it's easier to pull the melted chocolate in than out.  Let it sit for 10 minutes to soften, and then smooth the melted chocolate with a palette knife.  Let cool and serve.  Bon appetit!

Gingersnaps

These are one of the few cookies that I make that don't have any chocolate in them.  The spice mix screams 'Christmas' and they always turn out well. 

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 soda

5 tsp ginger
2 cinnamon
1/4 cloves
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup molassas
orange/lemon zest
2 tsp juice

Oven to 350.

Whisk flour, soda, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Add in molassas, zest, and juice
Work in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 13 minutes

Nutella Cookies

I've been making these for years and they're always very popular.  Nutella is super messy to work with so be forewarned. 

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
26.5 oz jar nutella
1 tsp vanilla

Oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and then nutella
Mix in the dry ingredients
Roll in sugar
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake 12 minutes

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

 
I only ever make these at Christmas because they're kind of a lot of work.  Unwrapping kisses is time consuming and each cookie must be rolled in sugar before it goes on the baking sheet.  Still, I couldn't imagine Christmas without them.  On cookie baking day, I'm always relieved when I'm finished making these.  The peanut butter cookie recipe comes from Joy of Cooking.

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Hershey Kisses

Oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and peanut butter
Mix in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Roll in sugar
Bake 12 minutes
Top with kiss as soon as they come out of the oven.
*Don't unwrap too many kisses as once because unwrapped kisses are basically useless except for these cookies.

Chocolate Cherry Almond Cookies

2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
3/4 soda
1/4 salt
1 cup mini choc chips
8 oz dried cherries
6 oz slivered almonts


Oven to 350.

Whisk flour, cocoa and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Mix in the chocolate chips and then the cherries and finally the almonds.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 10 minutes

Paula Deen's Fruitcake Drop Cookies

These are bite sized fruitcakes.  I changed the fruit inside from what Paula suggested to use what I had and I was really pleased with the results.  Don't make these if you don't like fruitcake because they end up being really expensive to make. 

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
16 oz fancy fruitcake mix
4 oz chopped dried apricots
2 oz golden raisins
2 oz currants
16oz chopped pecans

 Oven to 300

Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt, vanilla and cinnamon
Slowly add flour
Add nuts and fruit
Bake 25 minutes

M&M Cookies

 
I made these a couple of times this year with varying degrees of success.  The M&M's don't melt, obviously, and that can cause the cookies to spread unevenly if you aren't careful.  I got the best results when I creamed the sugar and butter together very carefully with the butter being very soft.  Also, be careful when scooping them out on the cookie sheet and make sure that they're even and as round as possible.

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 2.6 bag M&M

Heat oven to 375.

Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Stir in M&M's by hand or they will break.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 13 minutes

Cookie Bonanza II - The Temple of Snacks

I've baked another round of Christmas Cookies.  Because nothing exceeds like excess.
 

Fruitcake Drop Cookies

This is based on a Paula Deen recipe but I changed the fruits to suit what I had.  I was a little troubled that there's no leavening in it but they turned out like I wanted them to so I it wasn't an error in the original recipe.  The end product is fruitcake bites and will be popular with people who like fruitcake.

1 1/2 cup sugar
1 stick butter
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups flour
16 oz fancy fruitcake mix
4 oz chopped dried apricots
2 oz golden raisins
2 oz currants
16oz chopped pecans

Oven to 300

Cream butter and sugar.
Add eggs(one at a time), salt, vanilla and cinnamon.
Slowly add flour and mix well.
Fold in fruit and pecans.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for 23 to 25 minutes.


Nutella Cookies

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
26.5 oz jar nutella
1 tsp vanilla

Oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and then nutella
Mix in the dry ingredients
Roll in sugar
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake 12 minutes

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
recipe from Joy of Cookin'

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Hershey Kisses

Oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and peanut butter
Mix in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Roll in sugar
Bake 12 minutes
Top with kiss as soon as they come out of the oven.
*Don't unwrap too many kisses as once because unwrapped kisses are basically useless except for these cookies.


Gingersnaps
recipe from Joy of Cookin'

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 soda

5 tsp ginger
2 cinnamon
1/4 cloves
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup molassas
orange/lemon zest
2 tsp juice

Oven to 350.

Whisk flour, soda, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Add in molassas, zest, and juice
Work in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 13 minutes

Chocolate-Cherry-Almond Cookies

2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
3/4 soda
1/4 salt
1 cup mini choc chips
8 oz dried cherries
6 oz slivered almonts


Oven to 350.

Whisk flour, cocoa and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Mix in the chocolate chips and then the cherries and finally the almonds.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 10 minutes
 
Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip-Walnut-Raisin-Currant Cookies

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder
2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups oats
1/2 cup golden raisins
1/2 cup currants
1/2 bag butterscotch chips
3/4 - 1 cup walnuts

Oven to 350

Whisk in a bowl flour, soda and baking powder
Cream together butter and sugar
Add salt, eggs(one at a time) and vanilla
Slowly add oats, raising, currants, butterscotch chips and walnuts
Place in golf ball sized amounts on a lined cookie sheet and bake 12-14 minutes.

Christmas Cookie Bonanza

Behold the output of my first run of Christmas cookies.  I adopted a very assembly line process for these and managed to make a surprising amount of cookies without completely destroying the kitchen.  Which completely floored Mr. Poe who had been expecting to arrive home to a horrifying dystopian kitchen.

Here's all of it laid out on the dining room table:

Here are some hints to avoiding bakocolypse:

1) Clean as you go
2) Use a scoop to scoop batter out.  It allows you to keep at least one hand clean the entire time and that really has an impact on the amount of mess you make.  Also, you end up with uniform cookies that are all done at the same time.
3) Schedule your time.  If you're planning on cooking all day, start out with something easy and then move on to cookies that get rolled in sugar because those are the most work.  When you start getting worn out, put cakes in the oven.
4) I use the double shelled cookie trays with silpat mats.  They're easier to deal with and produce superior output.
I'll cover the cakes and the candy in another entry.  Here are the recipes for all of the cookies that are pictured above.  Most of the cookie recipes are just variation on the Toll House recipes and none of these are hard to make.  Keep an eye on baking times.  I'm using the timing for my oven and my oven is terrible.  Keep an eye on yours and don't over bake.  I've tried to note where I got the recipes.


Toll House Cookie
recipe from the chocolate chip bag

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
12 oz package choc chips

Heat oven to 375.

Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugarsAdd eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Add chocolate chips
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 11 minutes


Chocolate Mint M&M Cookies

2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup cocoa
3/4 soda
1/4 salt
9.9 oz bag of mint M&M's

Heat oven to 350.

Whisk flour, cocoa and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Mix in the M&M's by hand or they will get broken.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 10 minutes


Gingersnaps
recipe from Joy of Cookin'

3 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 baking powder
1/2 soda

5 tsp ginger
2 cinnamon
1/4 cloves
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup molassas
orange/lemon zest
2 tsp juice

Heat oven to 350. 

Whisk flour, soda, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Add in molassas, zest, and juice
Work in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 13 minutes


Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies
recipe from Joy of Cookin'

3 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
2/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla

Hershey Kisses

Heat oven to 375

Whisk flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside
Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), vanilla, and peanut butter
Mix in the dry ingredients
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake 12 minutes
Top with kiss as soon as they come out of the oven.


Walnut Cookies

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup brown sugar1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 cup choc chips
1 10 oz bag finely diced walnuts

Heat oven to 375.

Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugars
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Add nuts and chocolate.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 12 minutes


M&M Cookies

I wasn't crazy about the way these turned out.  I thought they spread too much.  I'm gonna look for a better recipe.

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp soda
1 tsp salt
2 sticks butter
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 large eggs
1 2.6 bag M&M

Heat oven to 375.

Whisk flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside
 Cream butter and sugar
Add eggs (one at a time), salt and vanilla
Work in the dry ingredients
Stir in M&M's by hand or they will break.
Drop onto baking sheets
Bake about 12 minutes



Nut Bars
recipe from old Joy of Cookin'

For the base:

1 stick butter
1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
 pinch salt

1 1/4 cup cups flour

For the topping:

4 egg whites
stir in
8 oz bag walnuts
1 cup brown sugar
1 /2 tsp cinammon

Heat oven to 350

Cream  butter with 1/4 cup brown sugar.
Mix in egg, salt, vanilla
Mix in flour
Pat into greased 9 X 13 pan
Bake 15 minutes

In heavy saucepan over medium heat, beat egg whites until they start to froth
Stir in nuts, sugar, cinammon.
Continue stirring until mixture dries out a little and starts to leave the side of the pan.
Spoon mixture over the base above
Bake 15 minutes longer.
Cool and cut.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe is based on one from the Joy of Cooking.  I increased the amount of chocolate chips by 50% because one cup of chocolate chips seemed a little austere and we like to assume that we've won the war here on Joseph's cooking blog.  My cookies took a lot longer to cook than the recipe indicated--  about 20 minutes-- and I'm not sure if that was because of my terrible oven or that I made them a lot larger than the recipe said I should.  Feel free to make these pretty big.  They don't spread as much as regular chocolate chip cookies do because of the oatmeal.


Heat oven 350

Whisk in a bowl:

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp baking powder

Cream together:

2 sticks butter (1 cup)
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt

Add:

2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla

Slowly add:

3 1/2 cups oats
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
3/4 - 1 cup walnuts

Place in golf ball sized amounts on a lined cookie sheet and bake 12-14 minutes or much more.  They're done when they start to firm up in the center.  Remove to drying rack when cool.  Makes 4 dozen.

bon appetit!

Wartime Edition Chocolate Chip Cookies

 This recipe first appeared in the Joy of Cooking in 1943.  It made a ration friendly batch that only needed one stick of butter.  Click here to read more about food rationing in the US during World War 2.  I've doubled the recipe so that it makes a larger quantity because if you're going to the trouble to bake cookies you might as well bake a bunch.  This can also be made in a 13x9 inch pan and then cut into bars.  It's very similar to the tollhouse cookie recipe from the back of the chocolate chip bag except that it has one cup instead of 3/4 cup of both white and brown sugar and three instead of two teaspoons of vanilla.   I've changed the recipe by upping the nuts from 1 1/2 cups to 2 because the bags of nuts that we get come in 2 cup portions and that way I don't end with 1/2 cup of nuts left over.  You could certainly use fewer on none as you like without the world coming to an end.  The original recipe calls for a bake time of 8-10 minutes but I find that isn't enough and prefer 11-13.  It might be my oven or maybe the dual layer cookie sheets I use so keep an eye on the first batch to see if your timing is different.  This recipe makes around six dozen cookies.  These are the cookies that helped our boys send the Axis packing.

Preheat oven to 375

Add to a bowl and whisk until combined:

2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda

Set aside.
 
Cream together:

2 sticks butter room temperaturified
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar

When well blended add:

1/2 tsp salt
3 tsp vanilla
2 eggs

Slowly add the dry mixture to the wet and then fold in:

2 cups chocolate chips
2 cups walnuts or pecans

Drop by heaping teaspoons onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets and bake about eleven minutes.  Let cool 5-10 minutes and then move to a rack, tea towel, or paper towels.

Bon appetit!