German Chocolate Cake Fudge

This summer when my husband and I were on holiday, we had some German Chocolate Cake fudge. German Chocolate Cake is one of my favorites and to have it in fudge form was lovely. I knew that I wanted to try making a similar fudge, and I found a couple of different recipes to consider. 

The fudge that I had was a two-tone fudge, with a chocolate nut base topped with a white chocolate, coconut, and pecan topping. I did find that I could piece together a couple of different recipes to make a similar fudge, but I also found recipes like the one below that was more all-in-one. Going with my theme of not-too-difficult recipes, I chose that route.

Ideally, I would make my own coconut pecan frosting, and you can do that if you have the time. This fudge only takes a few minutes to assemble, as you melt things in the microwave then stir in the extras. I use British-style unsweetened desiccated coconut rather than American-style sweetened coconut because I figured this is already sweet enough! This fudge set up beautifully and cut in lovely little squares. This was very easy and very tasty!

German Chocolate Cake Fudge
12 ounces dark chocolate chips
7 ounces coconut pecan frosting
⅓ cup Nutella
½ cup pecans, chopped
1/4 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon salt
Additional coconut

Line a 8” or 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium/large microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips, coconut pecan frosting and the Nutella. Microwave for 1 minute and then stir. Microwave for an additional 30 seconds, stirring again. Continue heating in 30 second increments until the mixture is smooth. 

Add the pecans, ¼ cup coconut, and salt and stir to combine. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with a spatula. Sprinkle with additional coconut. 

Refrigerate until firm, at least several hours. To serve, lift the fudge from the pan and peel away the foil. Cut into squares.

Recipe from Cooking with Janica

Charleston Chewies

While it is spring now and I feel like I should be making something with the flavors of spring, we sure have had a lot of rain lately. We get a day or two that is nice but then the rain returns! I have some clothes that are ready for warmer weather; I do hope that I eventually get a chance to wear them.

Instead of spring I stick with traditional flavors like brown sugar and nuts. I had two different recipes that I was looking at, and asked my husband which to make. His answer was to make the Charleston Chewies as he’s had them before and they are great. Well, ok then! I even had dark brown sugar on hand, which is unusual!

These cookies are different in that you make them in a saucepan. I didn’t use my mixer at all, which is so strange! Melting the brown sugar and butter took care of any hardness that my sugar had, just be careful and don’t splash it all over the counter. My hand got tired mixing everything together as it dough was heavy and thick. They baked up easily and they cut like a dream. They have a great pecan/brown sugar flavor. I wonder how these compare to the cookies my husband had before?

Charleston Chewies
1 cup butter
16 ounces dark brown sugar
3 eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
2-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
Powdered sugar

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Add the brown sugar and stir until the butter and sugar melts together, 1-2 minutes. Remove the pan from the stove and allow the mixture to cool 5-10 minutes.

Once the mixture is slightly cooled, add the eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and stir to incorporate. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and chopped pecans and stir until the dough comes together. The dough will be very thick. Pour the dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top evenly.  

Bake for 25-28 minutes, until the bars begin to brown along the edges. Remove from the oven and allow the bars to cool.

Dust the cookies with powdered sugar before cutting until squares.

Recipe from Pizzazzerie

Cranberry Pecan Christmas Fudge

There are quite a few Christmas fudge recipes that are out there, and sometimes they have similarities and sometimes they are very different. I actually made a Christmas Swirl Fudge last year, but that was a white fudge with red and green swirls. The recipe that I am making this year, also a variation of Christmas Fudge us a two-toned fudge, with a chocolate pecan layer and a white chocolate cranberry layer. It is very different from last year, but also very festive for Christmas.

I was concerned that it may be difficult to make the fudge layers and keep them completely separate, but that was no concern at all. I ended up using my 9” square pan, so the fudge is thinner than had a used a smaller pan. I worried at first, but when I cut the fudge, the pieces looked great, so I need to learn to worry less.

I made one change to the recipe- the original called for a cinnamon and chocolate chips in the chocolate layer, and I just used traditional chocolate chips. I do love cinnamon chips, and probably are festive, but I kept this one simple. I also used dried cranberries from Nuts.com and they were perfectly round! I had never seen that before, but they taste wonderful. My husband deemed this my best fudge of the year, and it is hard to disagree!

Cranberry Pecan Christmas Fudge
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 tablespoons butter, divided
1 can sweetened condensed milk, divided
½ teaspoon salt, divided
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup pecans, toasted and chopped
1 ½ cups white chocolate chips
½ cup dried cranberries

Line a 8" or 9” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter, ¼ teaspoon salt, vanilla, and half of the sweetened condensed milk. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until the mixture is smooth. Add the pecans and stir to combine. Spread the chocolate layer evenly in the bottom of the prepared pan.

In a separate microwave-safe bowl, combine the white chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter, ¼ teaspoon salt, and the remaining half can of sweetened condensed milk. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until the mixture is smooth. Stir in the dried cranberries.

Pour the white chocolate layer on top of the chocolate layer, spreading evenly.

Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight. Once the fudge is chilled, remove the fudge from the pan and cut into 1-inch squares.

Recipe from Midwestern HomeLife

Penuche Fudge

I had planned to make six different varieties of fudge this year, but as I made recipes, and talked to people, I kept adding ideas of recipes that I wanted to make. One that was particularly interesting was brown sugar or penuche fudge. It seemed a lot different that other recipes I made, and the recipes seemed really interesting. I decided I would try this recipe for penuche, a new experience for me!

There are many different recipes online, but I chose this one from Taste of Home. While Taste of Home recipes aren’t terrible extravagant, they do usually work well, and that was what I needed. This fudge is made on the stove with a candy thermometer, but I have done that before, so I wasn’t worried. Once the mixture reaches the temperature, you take it off the heat, add a few ingredients, and let it cool to 110 degrees. This does take some time but leaves it so you can do other things.

I beat the mixture for what seemed like a long time, but I wasn’t sure how thick the fudge should get. It didn’t lose its sheen, after a long time, so I put it in the mixer on low for a bit. I’m not sure if this helped or not, but it seemed to set once I refrigerated the fudge. The fudge is a little soft, but the flavor is great. The brown sugar flavor is very pronounced and the fudge is sweet, but the flavor is fantastic.

Penuche Fudge
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup butter, diced
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans

Line a 9” pan with aluminum foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.

In a large saucepan, combine the brown sugar, sugar, milk, corn syrup, and salt. Over medium heat, bring the mixture to a boil, stirring constantly. Cook, without stirring, until a candy thermometer reaches 234 degrees. Remove from the heat and top with the butter and vanilla. Do not stir.

Allow the mixture to cool, without stirring, until the temperature reaches 110 degrees. Beat the mixture with a wooden spoon until it starts to thicken. Add the pecans and continue beating until the mixture is very thick and starts to lose its sheen. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and refrigerate until set.

Once set, lift the foil from the pan and cut into small squares.

Recipe from Jhana Seidler via Taste of Home

Chocolate Pecan “Fantasy” Fudge

This is the original fudge that my Dad first started making years ago. I knew that this year when I started making fudge, this was one recipe that I was certainly going to make. Let’s be honest, I will likely ALWAYS make this recipe, and that’s ok because it is a wonderful classic. There are many versions of this recipe out there, but I chose to make this one from I am Baker. I think Dad used a slightly different recipe, but this is close to the many recipes he had.

There are some variations even within this one recipe! The first question is the size of pan, and I opted to make a thicker fudge in a 9” square pan. You can also make this in a 9” x 13” pan, but I think that would be really skinny fudge, and that doesn’t feel right! You can use walnuts or other nuts, and I always use pecans. This recipe called for mini marshmallows, or marshmallow fluff, and I used fluff. There is a long dialog on the Internet about marshmallow fluff vs. marshmallow crème, and I used marshmallow fluff, in the straight sided container from Fred Meyer.

Of the fudge recipes I have made, this one is slightly more involved in that you need to use a candy thermometer. I purchased a nice thermometer last year and it makes everything so easy. I was worried about the temperature coming from the pan base, right on the flame, but this one sits off of the pan and I love that. While more complex, this is still quite simple, and the biggest challenge is lots of stirring to get everything together. This fudge is really great, but it’s not Dad’s fudge and I sure miss him!

Chocolate Pecan “Fantasy” Fudge
¾ cups butter
3 cups granulated sugar
⅔ cup evaporated milk
2 cups chocolate chips
7-ounce jar of marshmallow fluff
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla

Line a 9" square or 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large saucepan, mix the butter, sugar, and evaporated milk. Heat on medium and bring the mixture to a boil. Continue heating until the mixture registered 234 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips, stirring until melted. Add the marshmallow fluff, pecans, and vanilla and stir until combined. Spread the fudge evenly into the prepared pan. Refrigerate until set.

Lift the fudge from the pan by the foil and then cut into squares.

Recipe from I Am Baker

Rum Nut Thumbprints

It’s time for holiday baking! Over the next month or so, I have selected 12 different treats to make. This year is a little different, for many reasons, but this year I plan to bake 6 holiday cookies and 6 different types of fudge! I have been declared the fudge maker for the family, and I figured it would be good to share those recipes with everyone.

This first recipe is a Rum Nut Thumbprint cookie. It was originally an Eggnog Thumbprint, but it contains rum and virtually no eggnog. I know that anything with rum or rum flavor paired with nutmeg becomes eggnog, but I don’t think that it is quite that simple. I decided to just call them “rum” since that is obviously there. It still isn’t a strong flavor, but that’s ok.

This dough does need time in the refrigerator, so don’t skip that step! The cookies still aren’t the easiest to shape because the dough is either sticky or too firm. Rolling any cookie in egg whites is quite a messy prospect, but it does help the nuts stick. I carefully made an impression on the top of the cookie, but then refined the impression when the cookies were done baking. I piped the rum filling since that is quick and easy. This recipe made about two dozen cookies, less than expected, but that was ok. The combination of rum, nuts, and the filling all come together to make a lovely cookie!

Rum Nut Thumbprints
¾ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cup flour
2 egg whites, beaten
1 ½ cup finely chopped nuts

¼ cup butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon rum
1-3 teaspoons milk/eggnog

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and nutmeg on medium until light. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and mix on medium to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour. You may need to mix the last bit of flour by hand. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour.

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

Place the whipped egg whites in one bowl and the chopped nuts in another. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls, roll in the egg white and then the chopped nuts. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheet. Make an indentation in the top of each cookie with your thumb or similar tool.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned. If needed, reshape the indentation in the top of each cookie. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the rum filling: in a mixer bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar together on medium. Beat in the rum and 1 teaspoon milk, adding more milk until the filling is of a spreadable consistency.  Spoon or pipe the rum filling into the indentation of each cookie.

Recipe from Better Homes & Gardens

Frosted Graham Cracker Bars

Each summer I try and identify a couple of no-bake recipes that can be made without turning on the oven. I’m never quite sure what to think of no-bake recipes because you typically have to heat or melt ingredients on the stove and that can be worse than the oven. Thankfully I made these when the house wasn’t too warm, so I didn’t mind working with the stove. This recipe did come together very fast, so that was another bonus.

I did halve this recipe, making it in an 8” square pan. That slightly changes the quantity of graham crackers you need, but I found that 9 graham cracker squares fit the pan with little extra room or space between the crackers. The filling comes together fast, as the butter is quite warm and the mixture comes to a boil quickly when you add other ingredients. You technically should use ½ egg so I used the egg yolk. Using a full egg wouldn’t be the end of the world.

I topped the crackers with the filling and added more crackers. The dish is warm at this point so I put it in the refrigerator to cool about 30 minutes before I added the frosting. The frosting is simple but I needed more milk that expected to get it to a spreading consistency. I topped it and let it refrigerate for just over 24 hours. The time softens the crackers and I was worried they would be soggy, but that wasn’t the case at all! You get a sweet cookie with a crunchy filling that people
would never guess were a no-bake cookie.

Frosted Graham Cracker Bars
18 square graham crackers, divided
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
1 egg, beaten
3/4 cup coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs  

1/4 cup butter, room temperature
About 1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
⅛ teaspoon almond extract
About 2 tablespoons milk

Line an 8” pan with foil. Layer the bottom of the pan with graham crackers. You may need to break them apart to make an even layer.

Make the filling: in a medium saucepan, melt the butter. Once the butter is melted, add the sugar, milk, and beaten egg. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium high heat until the mixture boils. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the coconut, pecans, and graham cracker crumbs. Spread the mixture over the graham crackers in the pan. Top the bars with eight additional graham crackers, making another even layer.

Allow the bars to cool for an hour before topping with the frosting.

Make the frosting: in a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, milk, powdered sugar, vanilla, and almond extract on medium until combined. If required, you can add additional powdered sugar to thicken the frosting. Spread the frosting over the bars.

Refrigerate for at least 24 hours, which softens the graham crackers. Once fully refrigerated, cut into bars.

Recipe from Six Sisters’ Stuff

Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

I was looking for something different to bake, and also looking for a recipe that I could adapt to be gluten free. I chose these, although I also realized that I was trying to avoid chocolate, but I seemingly can’t think of too many things at once! The original recipe had caramel bits and chocolate chips, and I thought that using the salted caramel chocolate chips would be perfect.

Making these cookies gluten free wasn’t too hard, as I have a gluten free flour mix that I try to always have on hand. Also, I realized that our nonstick cooking spray for baking was not gluten free, so I had to check ingredients on the other cooking spray I have to be safe. It would be terrible to make something gluten free and then use cooking spray with flour, making the recipe decidedly not free from gluten.

I will say, that these cookies weren’t my greatest triumph. Perhaps if you can’t have gluten you wouldn’t notice much? The chips I used were sweetened with Stevia, and that also added a different flavor. Sometimes items with specialty flavors use artificial extracts and they are never quite right. These cookies had a slight oddness with the first bite, but then it lessened. My husband thinks that they grow on you, and you’re fine after tasting one cookie. I’m not sure. They would be tasty with traditional flour and the original combination of chocolate chips and caramel bits.

Salted Caramel Cookie Bars
½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ cups salted caramel chocolate chips   
1 cup chopped toasted pecans
½- 1 teaspoon kosher salt

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

In a small saucepan, over low heat, melt the butter. Continue cooking over low heat until the butter begins to brown and smell nutty. The butter can burn quickly, so don’t look away. Once browned, transfer the butter to a large mixer bowl and allow to cool for 5 minutes.

Once the butter has cooled slightly, add the sugar and brown sugar and mix on medium to combine. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to incorporate. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour. Stir in the salted caramel chocolate chips and toasted pecans with a spatula.

Press the mixture into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top of the bars begins to turn golden. Once the bars come out of the oven, sprinkle with kosher salt.

Allow to cool before removing the bars from the pan and cutting into squares.

Recipe from Miss in the Kitchen

Italian Cream Cake Cookies

I have been digging through some recipes that I have pinned, and it seems like if I don’t make a recipe soon after I pin it, I forget that it exists and sometimes by the time I go back to check the recipes the links don’t work anymore. This recipe isn’t all that old, but I did pin it a bit ago. I have wanted to make these for a long time, and this week was the right time.

This is a version of a thumbprint cookie, but quite a bit different. This cookie is simple and crumbly, mainly butter, powdered sugar, and flour. You do need to mix them a bit to have the dough come together, but they are affable to shaping. You roll the cookies in chopped pecans and coconut. The dough isn’t super sticky, so you have to work to get that to stick. You’ll have more pecans and coconut than you need, but it’s like frosting: I’d rather have too much than too little.

These are small cookies, but they bake low and slow. They don’t turn golden brown, so you just need to check and see if they are set. You do need to cool the cookies before filling, but that only takes 15 minutes for that to happen. The filling is, again, simple just cream cheese, butter, and powdered sugar. I whipped the filling a lot, so it was the consistency I wanted. Piping the filling is the easiest way to finish these cookies, and they are so petite that to spoon in the filling would be nearly impossible. I love these cookies, so crumbly, but simple and beautiful with the cream cheese filling.

Italian Cream Cake Cookies
1 1/2 cups butter, room temperature
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup flaked coconut

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat the oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and powdered sugar on medium until light. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and cornstarch, stirring until the dough comes together. You may need to do the last bit of shaping with your hands.

Place the pecans and coconut in a small bowl. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and then roll in the pecan/coconut mixture. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Flatten the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand and then make an indentation in each cookie with your thumb or similar tool. Reshape the balls as needed.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until set and barely browned. Allow to cool before making the filling

In a large mixer bowl, bear the cream cheese and butter on medium until combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the powdered sugar and vanilla. If the filling is too stiff, add 1-2 teaspoons of milk to thin. Transfer the mixture into a piping bag and pipe the filling into the indentations of the cooled cookies.

Recipe from Something Swanky

Espresso Toffee Chip Cookies

A couple of years ago, I came across a recipe that called for coffee/espresso chocolate chips. I was sure that I had seen them, but after looking at many stores, I couldn’t locate them again. Perhaps they were only available for a short time, or during the holidays. I forgot about it until about a month ago when my husband and I found espresso chocolate chips. We bought them as I knew I could find a great cookie recipe that used these chips.

I went looking for recipes, and my husband had requested something other than a chocolate cookie. That was reasonable. I knew the chips would have coffee flavor, so I looked for recipes that included coffee in some form. I found this recipe, which espresso powder, and knew it would work. They also contain toffee bits, which I like a lot. I used the toffee bits with chocolate, as that’s all the store carried, but feel free to use the variety that is available to you.

I decided to take these cookies to work, but I couldn’t make them dairy free (toffee contains dairy) and I used regular flour. It’s pretty quiet at work so it’s ok. I didn’t stray from the recipe at all, except in using the toffee that was available to me and using pecans. This recipe makes about 4 dozen cookies, but I did use my larger cookie scoop, so you get a good bite of cookie! These cookies come out of the oven puffy, but then set wonderfully. The coffee flavor is pronounced, with the espresso powder and espresso chips, and even those who don’t drink coffee love these cookies. Just the smell of the coffee is wonderful, so how could you not?

Espresso Toffee Chip Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
2-1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cornstarch
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder
1 cup espresso chocolate chips
1 cup toffee/brickle chips
½ cup chopped pecans

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

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until light. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, salt, and espresso powder. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stopping to scrape the sides of the mixer bowl occasionally. Fold in the espresso chips, toffee chips, and chopped pecans.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, using a medium-sized scoop.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until cookies are baked through. They are puffy when they come out of the oven but set as they cool. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Kitchen Fun with my Three Sons

Nanaimo Thumbprint Cookies

A couple of years ago, my husband and I visited the town of Nanaimo, British Columbia, the home of the Nanaimo Bar. It was a lovely little city to visit, and you could get a Nanaimo cheesecake, a Nanaimo martini, Nanaimo fudge, and any number of other tasty treats. I came across this recipe for Nanaimo thumbprint and it is exactly the type of cookie I enjoy making. I get to bake wonderful cookies and I am reminded of places we have visited.

This version is a baked cookie, which is atypical for a Nanaimo Bar, but many items fair better when they are baked. The filling is a little different, and I think I would likely tweak that in the future. The original recipe had you dip each cookie into the melted chocolate, but only covering half the cookie. While my father has excellent candy-making skills, I don’t and that sounded messy. I ended up drizzling melted chocolate over one side of the cookies and that looked perfect.

For me, the quintessential part of a Nanaimo Bar is the use of custard powder in the filling. I’ve seen recipes where it suggests substituting cook and serve pudding for the custard powder, but I always have this on hand and use it frequently. This filling uses just powdered sugar, but next time I would reduce the amount of powdered sugar and add a few tablespoons of custard powder. That would provide that extra flavor that I am looking for. Don’t get me wrong, these are super tasty, but they’d be just a touch more authentic with custard powder!

Nanaimo Thumbprint Cookies
1 cup flour
½ cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
¾ cup shredded coconut
½ cup finely chopped pecans

⅓ cup butter, room temperature
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups powdered sugar

1 cup chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegetable shortening

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

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt, set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until light. Add the egg and vanilla, mixing on medium to fully combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Fold in the coconut and chopped pecans with a spatula.

Shape the dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the balls slightly with the palm of your hand and then make a thumbprint/indentation in the center of each cookie using the end of a wooden spoon or similar implement.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating the cookie sheet half way through the baking time. Once the cookies come out of the oven, reshape the thumbprint, ensuring that there is room for the filling.

Make the filling: In a mixer bowl beat the butter, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt on low to combine. Add the powdered sugar and beat until the mixture is smooth. Transfer the filling into a piping bag and pipe the filling into the indentation in each cookie.

Make the chocolate drizzle: in a medium bowl combine the chocolate chips and vegetable shortening. Microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, until the mixture is smooth. Drizzle the chocolate over the left half of each cookie. Allow the chocolate to set before serving.  

Recipe from Redpath Sugar

Pecan Crinkle Cookies

I’ve recently added some responsibilities at work, and it has certainly been a big change. I hope that over time I’ll get more used to these roles, but my calendar and timing have altered significantly. I will make dough, refrigerate it, and then plan to bake it later. But sometimes later doesn’t happen, or I will end up baking the cookies a day or two later. It’s just going to be that way for a while.

These cookies called for walnuts, but I use pecans in baking, always. I think they taste better, and we get pecans from a nice farm in Georgia. We usually run out about the time a new crop is available, which is perfect. You could use any sort of nut that you would like in this cookie, and it would add its own unique flavor. I have some cinnamon sugar hazelnuts that I think would be great!

You start with toasting the pecans, and this is a step that you don’t want to skip. Toasting the pecans will make your kitchen smell wonderful but watch carefully so they don’t burn. The dough is very easy to make, and then needs to be chilled for a few hours. I made mine at lunchtime and figured I would get back to it and I didn’t until a day later. Oh well. These cookies do crack while baking, and the main difference is that they are slightly thinner if you flatten the dough before baking. These are very tasty cookies with the flavors of pecans and brown sugar, hard to go wrong with that!

Pecan Crinkle Cookies
1 cup finely chopped pecans, toasted
½ cup butter
1-1/2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2-1/2 cups flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Once the pecans are chopped, toast them in the microwave, stirring frequently. Set aside to cool slightly.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt, mixing until combined. Fold in the chopped, toasted pecans.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours.

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

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape into tablespoon-sized balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are set and have cracked. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Sarah Cool, via 12 Tomatoes

Pineapple Pecan Bars

I don’t bake a lot with pineapple, and that’s really a shame! I don’t really live in an area where I get fresh pineapple very frequently, but I sure do love pineapple! There is nothing better than fresh pineapple. Perhaps I should go to Hawaii where it is more common? I’ve been to Hawaii once, but any change of scenery right now sounds just perfect. I’m hopeful that at some point it will be less stressful to travel.

These bars are not complex, and the only ingredient that I needed to purchase was the crushed pineapple. Some fruits don’t do as well being canned, but I have hardly ever used a different form of pineapple. I also had wanted to use sliced almonds instead of pecans, but I must have used up all of my sliced almonds in other things. The pecans were nice, and I think most any type of nut you have on hand would work.

The bars that I made were quite messy, and I did some thinking to figure out why. I think that I didn’t drain the pineapple sufficiently, which made for a filling that was soft. I knew I had to drain the pineapple as some of the juice went into the glaze, but I think the pineapple wasn’t drained enough. I did refrigerate these bars to cool them, but no amount of refrigeration will make the filling be anything but messy. Sometimes a messy cookie is ok, and these are so tasty that I feel the taste overcomes the messiness.

Pineapple Pecan Bars
½ cup butter, melted
¼ cup sugar
1 ¼ cup flour

2 eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup drained crushed pineapple
½ cup pecans, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons pineapple juice

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

In a small bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, and flour and stir until the mixture comes together. Press into an even layer in the prepared pan.

Bake for 15 minutes, until golden. Allow the crust to cool slightly while you make the filling.

Make the filling: in a large mixer bowl, beat the eggs until uniform. Add the brown sugar, pineapple, pecans, flour, baking powder, and salt and stir until the mixture comes together. Pour over the slightly cooled crust.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the bars are set, and the bars have little movement when the pan is shaken. Cool for one hour.

In a small bowl whisk together the powdered sugar and enough pineapple juice to make a smooth consistency. Pour the glaze over the partially cooled bars and spread into an even layer. Refrigerate the bars before cutting.

Recipe from This Delicious House

Date Nut Bars

I feel like any recipe that uses dates has a hint of the old-fashioned. Dates are a fabulous thing and I have visited a date farm in California, but they don’t seem to be used in recipes all that much. I do see dates in different British recipes, and I had purchased some dates for some fudge I was making. I wanted to use the remaining dates before they got hard, so I decided on these date nut bars.

The original recipe calls these Chinese Chews, and as previously mentioned, they are a classic 1917 recipe from the blogger’s grandmother. I’m not sure if there is any Chinese connection to these cookies, or if that’s just a name that was used, so I am going to call these simply date nut bars. They are very simple, and I made the recipe with one bowl and no mixer. I didn’t want to overwork the dough, so that seemed like a good recommendation from the original baker.

In the original recipe, it goes into quite a lot of detail in how to cut up dates. Dates are about the stickiest thing on earth, and my solution to this is to but chopped dates. They may not stay fresh quite as long, but anything is worth not having to chop dates! I made the dough in the time it took to heat up my lunch, and then they baked for 35 minutes. So easy. These bars are classic, and I feel like dates are forgotten for the most part in the realm of baking. That’s really unfortunate because dates are hard to beat!

Date Nut Bars
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
8 ounces diced, pitted dates
1 cup chopped nuts
Powdered sugar

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

In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter and sugar. Once combined, add the eggs and the vanilla, and whisk to incorporate. Switch to a spatula and add the flour and salt. When the flour is almost fully incorporated, add the diced dates and chopped nuts and stir to combine.

Spread the mixture evenly in the prepared pan. The dough is sticky, and I found that spreading the dough with my damp hands worked best.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until golden and set along the edges. Allow the bars to cool in the pan, and then lift from the pan by the aluminum foil. Peel away the foil and dust the top of the bars with powdered sugar. Cut into squares when completely cool.

Recipe from Cooking with Mamma C

Gluten-Free Cowboy Cookies

I feel like I have gotten quite used to baking dairy-free cookies. There are a couple of recipes that I can’t adapt to dairy free, items with toffee or cream cheese, but even those items are easier and easier to find using dairy alternatives. I need more practice with gluten-free recipes, although I feel like I am learning. So far, I have been focusing on the gluten-free recipes that I find, rather than converting recipes. I feel like that is a good start, and the gluten-free flour blend that is available at the store works well.

Cowboy Cookies are one of my favorites, sort of like a chocolate chip cookie but with extra bits added. These have oats, nuts, coconut, and chocolate chips, but you could certainly add crispy rice cereal, other types of chips, dried fruits, etc. Make sure that you don’t add too many mix-ins for the amount of dough you have! The ingredients listed here reflect slightly more add-ins than the original recipe, but not too many. I think the dough would fare even better if it were chilled, so I suggest chilling the dough if you have time.

Although it may seem like this recipe calls for many specialty items, it isn’t too bad. Oats are naturally gluten-free but may be processed in a plant that handles gluten. I have unsweetened coconut, but if you don’t have that you can use regular sweetened coconut. I try to keep dairy-free chocolate chips on hand but if you only need gluten-free, then any type of chip will work. I find that gluten-free cookies tend to be quite thin, and I do wonder if chilling the dough would help. The recipe specified that this would make 24 cookies, but I made about 40. Perhaps larger cookies would spread less? While they are thin, the cookies have great flavor, and it would be interesting to try these with a different combination of mix-ins.

Gluten-Free Cowboy Cookies
½ cup vegan butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/4 cup gluten-free oats
1-1/4 cups gluten-free flour blend
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup chopped pecans
½ cup dairy-free chocolate chips

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

In a large mixer bowl, beat the melted butter and brown sugar on medium until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla, mixing until smooth. Stop the mixer and add the oats, gluten-free flour blend, and coconut. Stir on low for about 30 seconds. Add the pecans and chocolate chips and stir on low until the mixture forms a soft dough.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, using a 1-1/4” scoop.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. The cookies may seem slightly under baked when removed from the oven but will set as they cool.

Recipe from Fearless Dining

Coconut Cherry Drops

I had the greatest plan to make these cookies early and take them to work on Valentine’s Day. Well, that didn’t happen, which is too bad as these are the perfect Valentine’s cookie. I know that some folks don’t care for maraschino cherries, but in a month where I am baking with berries or cherries, it seems wrong to not use them in a recipe. For the record, I like maraschino cherries and am happy to use them at any time.

I realized that these cookies have the same coconut and cherry combination as last week’s cookies, but they are very different. The original recipe called for walnuts, but I prefer pecans, and I have those on hand. I wonder if there are regional differences in the preference between walnuts and pecans? Maybe it is just easier to find walnuts at the store, I’m not sure.

These cookies are easy to make and draining and drying the cherries takes the most effort. I was curious about the baking temperature, as cookies often bake at 350 degrees. I baked one tray at 375 and another at 350. While 375 is a different temperature, it worked better for these cookies. At the lower temperature, the cookies spread more and browned too much along the edges. These cookies have nice nooks and crannies, with the pecans, coconuts, and cherries, but overall the cookies remain soft.

Coconut Cherry Drops
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup maraschino cherries, dried and chopped

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

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again to incorporate. With the mixer running on low, add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the coconut, pecans, and maraschino cherries with a spatula.

Scoop the dough by tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden around the edges. The cookies will set as they cool. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for five minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Mother Thyme

Wilderness Place Lodge Cookies

Although it has been a short week, it’s been very busy. All of a sudden, I realized that I needed to bake some cookies this week! I looked through the recipes that I had pinned, and I decided to make these cookies, Wilderness Place Lodge Cookies. They are the “throw in whatever you have in your cupboard” cookies and that is never bad. These are a cross between a chocolate chip cookie and an oatmeal raisin cookie, with chopped pecans and coconut added in for good measure.

The only variation I made to this recipe was that I used maple pecan crumbles rather than chopped walnuts. I don’t care for walnuts, and we buy beautiful pecans from a farm in Georgia. I had about a cup of their maple pecan crumbles, and I figured that adding maple to these cookies would be ok. Of course, that makes them even more of a fall cookie, but that’s ok with me.

Believe it or not, the ingredients that I list here is half of a full batch. I should have known that would still make a lot of cookies, given that half the recipe still has 4-1/2 cups of flour/oats. My recipe still made five dozen cookies, which is a lot to have in your home! These are such tasty cookies, with the flavors of chocolate and maple, plus the crunch of the oats and coconut. These were quick to make (although maybe I would make a quarter recipe) and such a great cookie.

Wilderness Place Lodge Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup raisins
½ cup coconut

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 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and then stir in the vanilla. Add the flour, salt, and baking soda to the dough and mix on low until the dough starts to come together. Stop the mixer and add the oats, chocolate chips, chopped pecans, raisins, and coconut. Stir until the dough comes together completely. You may need to mix with a spatula at the end, as the dough may be difficult to mix with the mixer.

Drop the dough by tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 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 Kim Brittain via All Recipes

Pecan Cinnamon Cookies

I have to say that making cookies for today ended up being quite the challenge. I had planned all of my holiday baking a long time ago. While things change and recipes get switched about, I try to keep close to my original schedule. I had planned to make a cookie version of Stollen for today but looking at the recipe it would take two days to complete. The recipe also called for you to roll out dough to a certain sized rectangle. That never works well for me.

I decided to make a traditional German cookie, a cinnamon star or zimtsterne. The recipe was not complex, but it was so sticky, and I added a lot of extra powdered sugar. They looked ok when they went into the oven but came misshapen and strangely puffed. While they looked terrible, they were tasty, but not something to put on the blog. On to another plan…

This recipe is very similar to a Russian Teacake/Mexican Wedding Cake, which is one of my favorite cookies. This version is slightly different, in the addition of cinnamon. I used pecans instead of walnuts as I have those on hand and prefer the flavor. The dough is easy to make, although they had you chop the nuts with the flour and spices in a food processor. I didn’t want to wash the food processor, so I chopped the nuts separately. These cookies taste very similar to my favorite Russian Teacake, but I thought the cinnamon added a good seasonal flavor.

Pecan Cinnamon Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups + 2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups pecans, finely chopped
Powdered sugar

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

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until creamy. Stir in the egg and vanilla on medium to combine. Add the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and finely chopped pecans. Stir on low until the dough comes together.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, forming rounds. Flatten the dough slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set and barely beginning to brown along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack. Cool completely.

Once cool, place about 1 cup powdered sugar in a large ziplock bag. Place 3-4 cookies in the bag and shake to fully coat each cookie. Repeat with the remaining cookies.

Recipe from belle vie

Triple Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Next up in my menagerie of holiday cookies is this recipe for triple chocolate cranberry cookies. It’s hard to go wrong with cranberries this time of year, and I fondly remember the time my husband and I visited a cranberry bog when we were on holiday. Cranberries don’t grow everywhere, but they do grow here in Washington State. They are wonderful in recipes, and it’s a classic to pair them with white chocolate chips.

I planned to take these to work, as we are wrapping up the quarter. Several of my colleagues have dietary needs, so I decided to bake these cookies with no dairy (except eggs) and no gluten. I used vegan butter and used dairy free chocolate and white chocolate chips. I found Kosher and dairy free white chocolate chips under the King David label, which are a great find. As this recipe only called for ½ cup flour, it was very easy to use the gluten-free flour mixture that I have for that small amount.

This recipe makes a lot of cookies! I ended up making 4-1/2 dozen, which is the largest batch I have made in a long time. I melted the chocolate and butter in the microwave, but you could also do this in a double boiler. Letting the cookies stand before baking was fine, as it took that long to heat the oven. Rotating the baking sheet half-way through the time is the biggest challenge, if you can call it that! These cookies a very fudgy, but that is balanced by the white chocolate and pecans. You can’t taste the cranberries all that much, but you do occasionally get that nice chewy bite.

Triple Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup butter or vegan butter
1/2 cup flour or gluten-free flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1 cup dried cranberries

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

In a medium microwaveable bowl, combine the chocolate chips, unsweetened chocolate, and butter. Microwave in 30 second increments, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and espresso powder on medium for four minutes, until thick and pale. Add the melted chocolate mixture and stir on low to combine. Stop the mixer half-way through this process to scrape down the sides of the bowl, as this will help incorporate the chocolate. With the mixer running on low, add the flour and mix for 30 seconds. Fold in the white chocolate chips, pecans, and cranberries with a spatula. Allow the mixture to rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.

Scoop the dough onto the baking sheets, using about 1-1/2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie.

Bake for 14-16 minutes, rotating the baking sheet half-way through the baking time. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Bobbie Lloyd, The Magnolia Bakery via People Magazine

Rugelach Bars

Happy Hanukkah to those who celebrate! Hanukkah ends Monday night, so I wanted to post these cookies in advance of the end of the celebration. They do take a little more time, with the chilling of the dough, so it is best not to rush them. I have made rugelach several times, and it honestly can be filled with anything that you’d like, but I kept fairly traditional here, just substituting dried pluots for the dried apricots. I wanted to try something different!

I made the crust for the bars a day in advance. The dough was so crumbly that I wanted to provide lots of time in the refrigerator for it to come together. As I struggle rolling dough out to a specified size, I did a combination of rolling and pressing to get the dough into the pan. Chilling the dough didn’t help at all with the fact that the dough was completely falling apart. Thankfully the filling was no problem and for the top crust I just pieced it together as well as I could. There was no way that I was going to be able to roll it out into any sort of shape.

These get very bubbly while baking, but firm up as they cool. I imagine that if the top crust was more cohesive, then that would be less noticeable, but I will never know! Once baked, the bars are nicely browned on top, but you can see that the top crust isn’t perfect. That’s fine because I did the best I can! I think they look nice, and the filling is wonderful with the chocolate, dried fruit, and nuts. Rugelach can be quite messy to make, but these bars are a little easier.

Rugelach Bars
12 tablespoons butter, cut in pieces
8 ounces cream cheese
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup pecans, toasted
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
3/4 cup dried apricots, finely chopped
Zest of one orange
3 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons butter, melted

1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water
Additional sugar

In a large mixer bowl, mix the cold butter and cream cheese until soft, but the butter will remain chunky. Add the flour and salt and mix on low until the mixture begins to come together. Remove the dough from the mixer and divide in two halves. Shape each half into a rectangle and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight.

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

In a food processor, pulse the toasted pecans and chocolate chips until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and add the sugar, cinnamon, dried apricots, orange zest, corn syrup, and melted butter. Stir with a spatula and set aside.

Shape half of the dough into a rectangle approximately 9” x 13”, approximately the size of your baking pan. Place the dough in the prepared pan, adjusting as needed. Spread the dough with the chocolate/nut filling. Roll the second piece of dough into another 9”x 13” rectangle and place on top of the filling. Mix the egg yolk and water and brush the top of the bars with this mixture and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 35 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before cutting into bars. 

Recipe from Joy of Baking