Mapledoodles

My favorite cookie to make is the snickerdoodle, as that is the first memory I have of baking. Over the years, there have been times when anything with cinnamon sugar is deemed a snickerdoodle variation. I’m glad that is no longer the case, as there was some creative imagining happening. This recipe was true to a snickerdoodle, just with some added maple sugar and a glaze.

The dough comes together as quickly as a traditional snickerdoodle. This recipe suggested that you refrigerate the dough 30 minutes. I don’t usually refrigerate snickerdoodle dough, but I went ahead and did so. My dough was in the refrigerator for about an hour, since there was a kitty on my lap and I couldn’t disturb her! The dough was well chilled but still pliable. In classic snickerdoodle form, the dough is rolled in a maple sugar mixture before baking.

There are some ingredients that I use in baking that I need to watch more carefully, and maple sugar is one of those things. Maple sugar burns a little more readily, so you have to be careful not to bake these too long. A couple of cookies got darker around the edges, but not too bad. The glaze covers any and everything, so that’s a nice step that adds a touch of sweetness. These have a fantastic maple flavor- clear maple flavor without being overwhelming.

Mapledoodles
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup maple sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon maple flavor
2 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup maple sugar
1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
3+ tablespoons heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon maple flavor

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, maple sugar, sugar, cream of tartar, and salt until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating between each addition. Stir in the maple flavoring. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and baking soda, stirring until the dough comes together. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats. 

In a small bowl, combine the maple sugar and sugar. Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and roll the balls in the maple sugar mixture. Place on the prepared baking sheets. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Make the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, maple syrup, heavy cream, and maple flavor until it becomes a thick glaze. If the glaze is too thick, add additional heavy cream. Drizzle the glaze randomly over the cooled cookies. Allow the glaze to set before serving the cookies. 

Recipe from King Arthur Baking

Candy Cookies with Maple

One of my favorite candy companies is https://www.purdys.com/ Purdys Chocolates, and using a hedgehog as their mascot makes me like them even more! The biggest issue is that they are in Canada, and I am not. I try to get there when I can, and they do ship to the states, but it’s not the easiest candy to acquire. I follow them on social media and they recently posted a cookie recipe that called for two of their chocolates: Sweet Georgia Browns and their Blond Maple Bar. While I hope to get to Canada this summer, I needed to figure out how to make them sooner.

Since I had weights, I knew I could find something. I went to the Puyallup Farmer’s Market and bought chocolate caramel clusters from Amy’s Decadent Chocolates. At home I had picked up some chocolate/caramel smores square, since I had never seen such a thing before. While not a maple candy bar, it would work. They very subtle maple flavor was still there with the presence of maple syrup.

Different stages of chilling is a critical part of this recipe. Once you have chopped up the candy, refrigerate it so it’s cold. This was especially critical since the chocolate/caramel square got caramel everywhere! I made the dough and then chilled it again. I ended up with lovely, puffy cookies, with few blowouts from melting chocolates. The cookies are soft and cakey, with a subtle maple flavor. I need to check out what other recipes Purdys has!

Candy Cookies with Maple
85 grams Purdys Maple Candy Bar, chopped
2 chocolate caramel clusters (34 grams each), chopped
½ cup butter, melted
¼ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup maple syrup
1 egg
1-1/2 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Chop the Maple Candy bar and the chocolate caramel clusters into pieces. Put the chocolates on a plate and refrigerate while you make the dough.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Mix on medium until the mixture comes together. Add the egg and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chilled chopped chocolate with a spatula.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 24 balls, each weighing about 30 grams. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 9-13 minutes, until the cookies are puffy and golden brown around the edges. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe from Purdys Chocolate

Maple Pumpkin Butter Bars

It's been rainy and dreary recently in the Seattle area, so while I was at first hesitant to make a cookie with so many flavors of fall, it just seemed appropriate. I had planned to make these last fall and I simply ran out of time. I had already scouted out some pumpkin butter, as it isn’t the easiest thing to find, and I was ready. Maple and pumpkin flavors in February? I figured it wasn’t too much of a problem.

While I am not the biggest fan of the texture of pumpkin puree, I have used a few varieties of fruit butter and I prefer that texture. It isn’t quite so heavy, and I prefer that. Initially, I was worried that I might not be able to find pumpkin butter, but one of the local jam/preserves vendors had it and I was thrilled. If you are unable to find pumpkin butter, feel free to use another type of fruit butter. Pumpkin puree nay work, but the texture of the bars would be different.

I have found that when I get home from work, I either get lots and lots of things done, or I sit on the sofa and get little accomplished. I wanted to get things done so I made these bars as soon as I got home. They mix together quickly, as long as you have the ingredients on hand. The original recipe had you brown the butter, but I skipped that. I also simplified the glaze, making a powdered sugar/maple syrup glaze which worked beautifully. These are typically what I would make in the fall, but these are so good that they are enjoyable any time of year.

Maple Pumpkin Butter Bars
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup pumpkin butter
1/4 cup maple syrup
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup powdered sugar
 3 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
3-4 tablespoons milk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, pumpkin butter, maple syrup, eggs and vanilla. Beat on medium until the ingredients come together. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. One the flour almost disappears from the dough, remove the bowl from the mixer. Fold in the white chocolate chips by hand and ensure that the dough is cohesive.

Spread the dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top as best you can.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the bars are set and begin to brown along the edges. Remove the bars from the oven and allow the bars to cool before adding the glaze.

Once cool, take the bars from the pan and remove the foil. Make the glaze: in a small bowl combine the powdered sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. Whisk to start combining the ingredients. Continue whisking and add the milk, one tablespoon at a time, adding additional milk until the glaze is thick but smooth. Drizzle the glaze over the bars. Allow the glaze to set before cutting the bars into squares.

Recipe from Half-Baked Harvest

Maple Cinnamon Mummy Cookies

I have been saving these cookies to make for Halloween and the time finally arrived! While these cookies could be made without candy eyes and simply look like a maple cinnamon cookie with a drizzled glaze, why would you not go that extra step to celebrate the holiday? I will be honest that I bought candy eyes some time ago and then realized that package was quite small, prompting me to make am 8 pm dash to the local store to find more. I do plan, it just isn’t always quite enough.

These cookies come together quickly, a spiced cookie with maple syrup. I used some bourbon-barrel aged maple syrup as we had some and my husband thought that would taste great. You can use whatever maple syrup you have, but do make sure it isn’t pancake syrup. That is a completely different ingredient. You can also use heavy cream, milk, or half and half for the glaze. The type of milk you use will impact the fluidity of the glaze, but you can adapt to that.

This recipe made a fairly big batch of cookies, so I experimented a little. I flattened some cookies and not others, and the ones that I didn’t flatten looked better in the end. The recipe I give here for the glaze is double the original, and I could have used more glaze. I made about 1-1/2 recipes of the glaze and still ran out. I’d rather have too much glaze than too little. These cookies are quite sweet, but that’s to be expected with the maple and the glaze and the candy eyes!

Maple Cinnamon Mummy Cookies
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
1½ cups packed brown sugar
⅓ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon maple extract
1 egg
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
5-6 tablespoons heavy cream
Candy eyes

In a large mixer bowl, combine the melted butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla ad maple extract. Mix on medium until the mixture comes together. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Mix just until the dough comes together evenly. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into balls, about 1-1/4” in diameter. Place them on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until slightly puffy but set. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Once the cookies are cooled, make the glaze: in a medium bowl, combine the powdered sugar, vanilla and 4 tablespoons heavy cream. Using a small whisk, beat the mixture until a glaze forms, adding additional heavy cream as needed to reach drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the cookies and add candy eyes if desired. Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Recipe from Cooking with Carlee

Maple Glazed Apple Blondies

It’s fall and I love baking with apples. We have a good quantity of maple syrup at home, too, so I try to find recipes that include both. I have had these bars pinned for a while, and finally I can make them! I don’t always have apples on hand, but I was able to get a couple of apples that I knew I could use for this exact recipe.

The original recipe calls for a 7” x 11” pan, and I don’t think I have a pan that size. I’m in the middle of moving some cupboards around in the kitchen, so I’ll be honest that I didn’t look very much. When I don’t have the specific pan, I find a different pan that has roughly the same area, so a 9” square pan was close. Despite using a slightly larger pan, I was surprised that these cookies were as thick as they were.

These blondies are very cake-like, but that’s ok. Somehow the soft, cakey texture makes these taste that much better! When you are shaping the blondies, it is quite challenging to spread the dough. I used my hands (somewhat damp hands), and even that was a challenge as the dough is so sticky. Perhaps the dough needed to be refrigerated a short time to make it less sticky, but I didn’t have time to do that. I think that these are just about the best cookies for fall that I have made in a long time!

Maple Glazed Apple Blondies
2 large apples, peeled and finely chopped
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
About 1 cup powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

Make the apple filling: in a medium saucepan, combine the apples, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, and cinnamon. Cook on medium-low for 4-5 minutes. Remove from the heat and cool for 10 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, and cinnamon.

Divide the dough into halves; press half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan, using your hands to ensure even coverage. Top with the apple filling. Top the bars with the remaining dough, piecing the dough together to create a full top layer.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the bars are golden and test clean with a cake tester. Allow the bars to cool before making the glaze.

Make the glaze: in a small microwaveable bowl, combine the butter, maple syrup, vanilla, and cinnamon, microwaving and stirring until the butter is melted. Remove from the microwave and whisk in about ¾ cup powdered sugar. Allow the glaze to set and thicken for about 10 minutes. If the glaze is still too thin, whisk in additional powdered sugar. Top the bars with the maple glaze, spreading the glaze evenly. Allow the glaze to completely set before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.

Recipe from A Latte Food

Maple Molasses Cookies

We have a fairly large quantity of maple syrup in the house, and it is finally the season to find maple recipes! I’m not 100% back at work yet, but I will be before you know it thus it is time for fall baking. I have so many ideas, more ideas than there are weeks in the fall, but I will make it work somehow.

While I have made a couple different maple cookies, I am still finding new recipes to try. I wanted to make something with molasses, and I initially was going to use that recipe. It contained oats, that I wanted to use, but I need to do some editing as it was created for high altitude, plus I want to incorporate maple syrup in addition to maple extract. That will come soon!

These don’t contain oats, but do contain molasses, ginger, and nutmeg, so my house smelled amazing while these were baking. I used slightly less than 1 teaspoon maple extract, but fairly close. The maple flavor increases as they age, although I don’t think mine will last long! I made my own icing recipe, since I just wanted powdered sugar and maple syrup. I did need to add some milk or it would have been too thick. These are a perfect fall cookie, with the flavors of home and just a hint of sweetness.

Maple Molasses Cookies
2-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ cup butter, room temperature
¼ cup sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
¼ cup molasses
1 teaspoon maple extract

1 ½ cups powdered sugar
About 2 tablespoons milk
About 2 tablespoons maple syrup

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, ginger, and nutmeg; set aside.  In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the egg and mix again on medium. Stir in the molasses and maple extract, mixing until all of the ingredients are incorporated.

With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring just until the dough comes together. If needed, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.

Scoop the dough into the prepared baking sheet, using about 1-1/2 tablespoons dough per cookie.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the bottom begins to brown but are still puffy. The cookies will deflate slightly as they cool. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, drizzle with icing: in a medium bowl combine the powdered sugar and a tablespoon of milk and a tablespoon of maple syrup. Whisk until the icing comes together, adding more milk and maple syrup as needed. The maple syrup adds flavor, but is thick so the milk helps thin the icing as needed. Drizzle the icing over the cooled cookies and allow the icing to set before serving.

Recipe from But First We Brunch

Browned Butter Apple Blondies

On the weekends when my husband and I are running errands, we occasionally go down this road that parallels the highway. Once in a while, there is a vendor there selling honey crisp apples. They sell large bags and they are so reasonably priced. Luckily, when we traveled that way most recently the apple seller was there and we picked up some apples, which will inevitably be turned in to apple crisp, apple pie, and cookies.

I love baking with apples but they can be difficult due to their high moisture content. There are different ways to handle this, but for these cookies it wasn’t too bad. While they were baking the topping got really bubbly, but that’s not too bad. This recipe also calls for apple butter. Sometimes I have that on hand, but I don’t right now. You could substitute any number of things, such as different preserves. I ended up using some mincemeat, since that is like a spiced applesauce. It worked just fine.

The base of these blondies is quite thin, and you wonder how it will even cover the base of the pan! I was able to make it work without too much difficulty, and then covered that layer with a good quantity of cinnamon sugar apples. Be careful with the brown sugar and cinnamon quantities, as you divide them and use them in different applications. These bars, with their maple glaze, are a perfect combination of the flavors of fall.

This lovely plate is a Native Northwest Transforming Eagle plate, which I purchased from my favorite Native-owned coffee shop: Beaver Tales Coffee

Browned Butter Apple Blondies
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup apple butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups  flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped apples

3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium heat. Allow the butter to brown, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter is light brown and smells toasted. Remove from the heat and stir in the apple butter and 1 cup brown sugar. Allow to cool slightly.

Transfer the cooled mixture to a large mixer bowl. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt, stirring until the dough comes together. Spread the dough into the prepared pan.

In a separate bowl, mix the chopped apple with ½ cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon. Spread the apples on top of the dough.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until set and the dough is golden brown. Cool before glazing.

Make the glaze: place the butter in a small saucepan. Cooking on medium low until browned and smells nutty. Remove from the heat and whisk in the maple syrup, powdered sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Drizzle over the cooled cookies. Allow the glaze to set before cutting into bars.

Recipe from Half-Baked Harvest

Maple Cinnamon Cookies

I have to say that I get so overwhelmed with ideas for fall baking. What should I make? There are so many flavors that I love, but I also want to find something interesting and different. I have a couple of recipes marked and ready to go, but none of them seemed to be what I wanted to make. I did some searching and came across these maple cookies. I have done a few maple items, and really you can’t get a better fall flavor than maple.

These cookies use a different method than I am used to, but I discovered when I was writing up the recipe that it had even more differences that I didn’t follow! I make so many cookies that sometimes when I am baking, I go on autopilot. This recipe has you mix the ingredients in a different way, mixing the flour into the dough right away. It also had you cut the butter into the mixture like you would with pastry, but I missed that and just softened the butter and added it in. Oops.

Thankfully, not following the original directions with the butter turned out fine, and the cookies were lovely. One of the things that drew me to this recipe was that you brush the cookies with maple syrup before baking, and that gives the cookies a nice sheen and finish. With the different mixing method, the cookies are textured similar to a scone, denser than a traditional cookie. They are not overly sweet, which can be a challenge with maple syrup, and go perfectly with a cup of tea.

Maple Cinnamon Cookies  
2 cups flour
½ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup maple syrup divided
1 egg
1 teaspoon maple flavoring
Cinnamon sugar, for topping

In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon, butter, and salt. Beat on medium until the dough starts to come together. Add ¼ cup maple syrup, egg, and maple flavoring and stir on medium until combined. The dough will be sticky. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 1-1/2” balls. Roll the balls in cinnamon sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the cookies with the tines of a fork and then brush the cookies with the remaining maple syrup.

Bake for 13-17 minutes, until golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from The Gracious Wife

Apple Cinnamon Syrup Cookies

I’m calling it: it’s fall in my book so I will likely be making all of those great fall recipes that I have been collecting. One flavor of fall is maple, which I love but you do have to be careful that it isn’t too sweet. This recipe originally called for maple syrup- the real stuff not what you put on pancakes. I love Mrs. Butterworth’s but that isn’t the right ingredient to use here.

I had maple syrup, but I also had apple cinnamon syrup that my friend gave me. I looked at the ingredients, and they looked usable: apple juice, cinnamon, and (ok) sugar. I decided that I would substitute the apple syrup for the maple syrup and hoped that the cookies wouldn’t get too melted along the edges. That did happen to a couple of cookies, but not too bad.

I didn’t quite have the quantity of syrup I needed, so I ended up making 40% of the original recipe. That wasn’t too hard, and I ended up making 25 cookies. They come together quickly, but with the apple cinnamon syrup they don’t keep the impression of the fork times all that well. I imagine that is because of the added sugar in the syrup, but it may have been the same had I used maple syrup. The cookies are really interesting- if you know they have apple cinnamon syrup, you taste that. If you don’t know, then you are left thinking “What is in these?” Either way, they are very tasty.

Apple Cinnamon Syrup Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup apple cinnamon (or maple) syrup
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Granulated sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the syrup, egg, and vanilla and mix on medium to incorporate. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Do not over mix.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and roll in sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly with the tines of a fork.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies look set and dry. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Craig Gund via All Recipes

Maple Pecan Bourbon Bars

It’s almost time for Christmas cookies, but here’s one more recipe for the Christmas posts come in earnest next week. I had pinned this recipe a while ago, as maple and brown sugar are classic fall flavors. I was going to make them, but then I didn’t have enough maple syrup. I replaced that and then I was waiting for our annual shipment of pecans that we order from Georgia. They are fresh from the farm and can’t be beat! I waited a little and finally had all of the right ingredients.

The original recipe called for walnuts, but I much prefer pecans so that’s what I used in this recipe. I feel that the two can be interchanged with little difficulty. This may seem like a lot of ingredients for an 8” square pan, but it works out. There is a shortbread crust topped with a maple/pecan pie topping. I’ve gotten so used to cutting recipes in half that it seemed like it such a big recipe, but in the end it wasn’t.

These come together very easily, and my house smelled divine while they were baking. I think in the future I would use a larger piece of foil to line the pan. A little bit of the maple syrup mixture got behind the foil and that was sticky and made it a challenge to get the bars out of the pan. Thankfully, my pan has a separate bottom, which helped tremendously. The bars are a little sticky when you cut them, but they taste like little maple pecan pies!

Maple Pecan Bourbon Bars
¾ cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 cup pure maple syrup
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square baking pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the flour and salt and mix on low until the dough comes together. Press the dough into the prepared baking pan.

Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and set aside while you prepare the filling. (Leave the oven on.)

In a large mixer bowl, combine the maple syrup, brown sugar, bourbon, eggs, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir on low to combine. Add the chopped pecans and stir to incorporate. Pour the filling over the warm crust.

Bake for about 35 minutes, until golden. Allow the bars to cool for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the pan to help loosen the bars, and then place on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, remove from the pan, remove the foil, and cut into bars.

Recipe from Sweet Recipeas

Maple Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

I’ve had these cookies marked for a little while now, and when I was looking through my recipes, I was wondering why I would pin an oatmeal raisin cookie, even one with maple glaze. I was reading through the recipe and I was thinking that I could change it up a little bit. In terms of dried fruits, we have a good variety on hand. We have lots of dried cranberries, so I thought I would try those. I could have used brandy to soak the cranberries, but I looked and noticed we had cranberry liqueur that we purchased last year while on holiday.

Since I am trying to make small batches, I ended up making half of this recipe. The original yield was two dozen cookies, so I figured that half would be perfect. I should have paid closer attention to the amount of flour and oats used, because halving the recipe still made two dozen cookies. I suppose that’s better than 4 dozen, but still a lot. I did make the full amount of glaze.

 The cookie itself is quite traditional, with the exception of soaking the fruit in alcohol. If you don’t drink alcohol, you could skip that step, but it does add an interesting flavor. The maple glaze makes these cookies unusual. It is a bit tricky to know when these are baked, as I made mine smaller than the original. At 8 minutes they weren’t done, at 10 they were perhaps too done, but they were good. I needed the entire amount of glaze to top my two dozen cookies. The glaze sets very quickly, so don’t take your time topping the cookies! I spooned on the glaze and then used a brush to smooth it out. The cookies are soft, and the glaze adds a nice bit of sweetness. They aren’t your typical oatmeal cookie, but that’s what I was looking for!

Maple Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
3/4 cup cranberry liqueur/brandy
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 cup pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar

Slightly warm the cranberry liqueur and then remove from the heat. Combine the warmed liqueur and dried cranberries in a bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit for at least 30 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix on medium to combine. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking soda, and cinnamon. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. When almost combined, drain the dried cranberries and add them to the dough. Mix on low until incorporated.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 2” balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the dough balls slightly with the palm of your hand.  

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, until lightly browned. The cookies may look under baked but will set as they cool. Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the maple syrup and butter. Once melted, remove from the heat and whisk in the powdered sugar. Top each of the cookies with a small amount of glaze.

Recipe from https://iambaker.net/maple-oatmeal-raisin-cookies/

Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies

 I really love fall baking and I think I am just going to transition to the flavors of fall no matter what the calendar says! Our weather has been much cooler, but that’s primarily due to the massive amounts of smoke that is polluting our air. I’m sure the sun wants to come out, but it is trapped behind all of the smoke. We’re doing what we can: closing the windows and not running any fans to move the air. It’s not hot but it’s stuffy and I am certainly looking forward to fresh air.

In preparation for fall baking I had planned a recipe to make and I was all set to go- and then I realized that I didn’t have enough maple syrup. I don’t get to the store very frequently and I suppose I could have run out and got some maple syrup, but I chose to find a different recipe. This recipe called for the same flavors, maple and pecan, so I thought I would give it a try. This recipe also called for oats and coconut, which I like very much. It’s not a bar cookie like the original plan, but that’s ok.

Like other recipes I have made, this one calls for browned butter. While browned butter isn’t difficult, it takes just a second to go from browned to burnt so watch that carefully. In making this dough, it is fairly crumbly, although it was fine to shape into cookies. I would perhaps add an egg, just to help the dough come together. This recipe doesn’t call for eggs, which is slightly unusual, so adding one would be ok. It’s amazing how an egg or egg yolk can improve the dough. While I ended up making these as I had the ingredients, they are FANTASTIC! They are super crunchy with pieces of pecan, oats, and coconut. I will certainly make them again!

Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies
1½ cups old-fashioned oats
1⅓ cup flour
½ cup shredded coconut
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon, optional
½ cup butter
5 tablespoons maple syrup
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons boiling water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, coconut, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon; set aside.

Place the butter in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook on low until the butter melts and begins to brown. Once golden brown, remove the butter from the heat and transfer the browned butter to a large mixer bowl. Add the maple syrup to the mixer bowl and mix on medium to combine. Dissolve the baking soda in the boiling water and then stir it into the butter mixture. The mixture may become slightly foamy; add the vanilla and stir on medium to incorporate.

With the mixer running on low, gradually add the oat/flour mixture, beating until the mixture almost comes together. Add the toasted pecans and stir on low to incorporate. The dough may be slightly crumbly but will shape into cookies with no issue.

Shape the dough into 2 tablespoon rounds and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until lightly golden. Do not over bake or the cookies will be dry. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Foodtasia

French Toast Cookies

During January I make cookies that are a little less decadent, as it’s nice to have a break from the richness of the holidays. I had pinned this recipe a while ago, and it seemed like a good recipe to make this week. I will say that these cookies look plain, but they are very tasty and my house smelled wonderful while they were baking.

This recipe is a standard sugar cookie/snickerdoodle recipe, but there are a couple of differences. The main one is the use of corn syrup. I don’t know that I have used corn syrup in a recipe before, but I can see how it would make the cookies chewy. I only had artificial maple extract, so I used that. It’s hard to find natural extract and my store didn’t have any so I went with what I had. Maple extract is not maple syrup, so don’t substitute. They won’t taste like French toast if you use maple syrup.

When I made the dough, it was on the dry side, and I wondered if I should have used an entire egg rather than an egg yolk. My recipe made 26 cookies, which is a moderate batch for me. A couple of the cookies spread along the edge, so perhaps they weren’t mixed properly. As they cooled they weren’t as crinkly as I’d hoped, but they have a little crinkle. I think they taste wonderful, despite looking plain, although my husband says they would be better without the sparkling sugar that I used for the covering. 

French Toast Cookies

1/2 cup butter/vegan butter, room temperature

1/3 cup sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg yolk

1/2 cup light corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons maple extract

2 1/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

Additional sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg yolk, corn syrup, vanilla and maple extract and beat again on medium until well mixed. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Blend until combined but do not over mix.

Shape the balls into 1-1/4” balls and then roll in additional sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set and lightly browned. Allow the coolies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Accidental Happy Baker