Cinnamon Coffee Crinkles

It’s been a busy week, and I had planned to make these cookies much earlier and share them with others, but that didn’t happen. In hindsight, I guess that is ok since this recipe made about 25 cookies and that perhaps isn’t enough to share. I could have, but then there are fewer at home to enjoy! Not having cookies at home is a sad prospect.

These cookies aren’t difficult and are quick to make. The original recipe mentions that the dough is sticky, and it sure was! The suggestion was to chill the dough for 30 minutes, which seemed an awfully short time, but when I checked the dough after about half an hour, it had firmed up nicely. You could chill the cookies longer and I think you would be good.

A while back, I was choosing a recipe to make, and this was one of the contenders at the time. While I didn’t make these at that time, I did remember the part about rolling the dough in sugar. I rolled those cookies in the two sugars, and I did with these as well! A little more sugar is a good thing. These lovely cookies are perfectly crinkled and have a lovely coffee/brown sugar flavor. I’m not too sad that there aren’t as many to share…

Cinnamon Coffee Crinkles
1 ½ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 teaspoon vanilla 
½ cup butter, melted
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
Sugar and Powdered Sugar (for rolling)

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a separate bowl, dissolve the instant espresso powder into the vanilla.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the melted butter and brown sugar on medium until smooth. Stir in the egg and espresso/vanilla mixture. Beat to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring just until the dough comes together.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

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

Shape the dough into 1-1/2” rounds. Roll in sugar and then roll a second time in the powdered sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. The cookies will be crinkled. Allow the coolies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Bean Leaf Cup

Cinnamon Apple Bars

It’s fall and I am so excited to have many recipes to make and a cooler house to bake in! Work is starting back, and despite all the stress of work, a sweet treat is always appreciated. This week, I had a big meeting with colleagues, some who aren’t aware of all of the baking I do. I brought these cookies, and they were a big hit! 

I love baking with apples, and my husband had purchased some cinnamon dried apples to use in recipes. I had used these before, and used up all of them very quickly, so I was happy to have more. They can be used (in most recipes) in the place of fresh apples. Sometimes I have fresh apples, sometimes I don’t This recipe also gave options to use for the additional chips: cinnamon, caramel, toffee, etc. I used cinnamon chips since the apples I used also contained cinnamon.

I did bake these on what turned out to be a warm day, but they were quick to assemble and baked up in under 25 minutes. The dough is sticky, and it isn’t the easiest thing to spread in the pan but do your best. These were a dream to cut, and the flavors are fantastic! The dried cinnamon apples give the bars some chewiness, and the combination of brown sugar and cinnamon is fantastic. These are so easy, and it would be fun to try different fruit and chip varieties.

Cinnamon Apple Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla 
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup diced cinnamon apples
1/2 cup cinnamon chips

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

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar until light. Add the beaten eggs and vanilla and mix to combine. With the mixer running on low, add the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Using a spatula, fold in the cinnamon apples and cinnamon chips.

Spread the dough as evenly as possible in the prepared pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top of the bars look set. Allow to cool before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.

Recipe from Closet Cooking

Brownie Brittle

This week I needed to make something fairly quickly, so I started looking through all of the recipes I have saved. I had one recipe that I wanted to make, but it makes quite a few cookies so I will wait to make those. Bar cookies are usually quick to make, but I like to let them chill for a while before cutting them into bars, so those were off the table. I came across these brittle cookies, and they looked perfect.

I have made a brownie cookie that is similar to this recipe, so I figured that these would also be successful. Those cookies were gluten free, but these cookies have ½ cup flour, so a little bit different. Gluten-free cookies are often sticky, and the original blogger noted that these should be crispy. Mine came out of the oven a tiny bit sticky, but I figured that it would lessen as they cool.

The brittle did become firmer as they cooled, but I wouldn’t call them crispy. The edges are crispy, but the edges tend to fly across the kitchen when I cut them. I topped my brittle with chocolate and peanut butter chips, as I didn’t want to chop nuts. You can honestly top these with anything you’d like, which I love! I cut my brittle with a pizza cutter and that worked great! This makes some very tasty cookie in a short amount of time!

Brownie Brittle
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder 
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy. Beat in the sugar and mix well to combine. Add the oil and vanilla and beat to combine. With the mixer running on low, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Spread the brownie batter on the parchment paper. Using a metal spatula, spread the batter thinly; when I was finished the batter was about 9”x 12”. Top the batter evenly with the chocolate and peanut butter chips.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until set and firm, but not too dry. Allow the brittle to cool before cutting into random pieces.

Recipe from Princess Pinky Girl

Grapefruit Cookies with Grapefruit Glaze

It’s starting to feel like fall, but I am still catching up with baking. I had no idea what I wanted to bake this week, as I am not yet fully back at work and I want to make the time off last as long as possible! My husband went looking and homed in on grapefruit. He sent me two recipes, and I combined them to make these cookies. 

My husband lived in Florida for a while when he was growing up, and I hope these cookies make him think of the good times there. When we visited Florida (some time ago), we went to an orange grove, which was an amazing experience. They grew all sorts of citrus, and many species/varieties of each type of fruit. Did you know that some orange trees have thorns? I didn’t!

Since I didn’t want to roll out cookies, I made the first recipe when you shape the dough into balls and bake them. The original recipe said you could refrigerate the dough, I didn’t really, and this is a step that you don’t want to skip. Mine also spread a lot, so you don’t want to make them too large. The glaze was great, and it does still spread a little no matter how thick you make the glaze! These cookies have a refreshing grapefruit flavor, tart but still sweet, and just a little bit unexpected.

Grapefruit Cookies with Grapefruit Glaze
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons grapefruit juice
1 tablespoon grapefruit zest
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Pinch of ground ginger
Additional sugar

2 cups powdered sugar
2 tbsp grapefruit juice
1-2 tablespoons heavy cream 
Grapefruit zest

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light. Add the egg and vanilla and stir to combine. Mix in the grapefruit juice and zest. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, salt, and ginger. The dough will be soft. Refrigerate the dough for an hour to firm up the dough.

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

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape them into 1 tablespoon balls. Roll in additional sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. The cookies will not be browned. Reshape the cookies into circles if required. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, grapefruit juice and 1 tablespoon heavy cream. Continuing to whisk, add additional heavy cream until the glaze is thick, but still spreadable. Spoon a small amount of glaze on each cookie and spread it around. (The glaze will continue to spread as the cookies sit.) Top the cookies with grapefruit zest to garnish. Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Cookie recipe from Homesick Texan and glaze recipe from Desserts for Life

Spiced Caramel Pear Cookie Cups

A friend of mine recently brought me some really interesting preserves. While most folks would likely just have the preserves with their morning toast, my first thought was “what type of cookies can I make?” Since this spiced caramel pear preserves were something special, I wanted that to be the highlight of the cookie. Cookie cups were the perfect solution, just needed to find the right base.

This cookie base was originally part of a lemon curd-based cookie cup. The jar of preserves I had was small and I thought that it would make about 24 cookies. I knew I had other preserves on hand if needed. Well, this recipe made nearly 4 dozen cookies, and I used lots of different preserves! The cookies were perfect and will likely be the base for many cookies to come.

The base is so simple, make the dough, shape into balls, place in mini muffin cups, and bake. You don’t even need to make an indentation until after the cookies come out of the oven, which is very convenient. I let them cool a bit in the pan and then they came out, no problem at all! I did not need to worry about them being fussy. The spiced caramel pear preserves were the icing on the cake, sweet with interesting notes of pear, spices, and a subtle caramel flavor.

Spiced Caramel Pear Cookie Cups
1 cup butter, room temperature
1¼ cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Spiced Caramel Pear Preserves

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium until light. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until the dough comes together.

Shape the dough into 1” balls and place in the prepared mini muffin tin.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden. Once the cookies come out of the oven, make an indentation in each cookie with a tart tamper or similar tool. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and then remove the cookie cups from the mini muffin pan.

Once the cookie cups are cool, fill each with a small amount of caramel pear jam. 

Cookie recipe from Six Sisters’ Stuff

Graham Cookies with Cinnamon Glaze

A little while ago, I made chocolate chip cookies with graham cracker crumbs. That turned out to be a wonderful addition, and it made me think of what other recipes I could try with graham cracker crumbs. I typically have the crumbs in the cupboard, so I am ready to go whenever I find the right recipe. I have found a couple of recipes, some that I pinned and then disappeared, and this one, which is a lovely graham cookie.

I made these up, very simple and came out perfectly round. I did think that they looked a little plain, so I tried to figure out what I could do. In that situation, my most common response is to add a glaze. Since these cookies were already flavored with brown sugar and cinnamon, I decided to make a cinnamon glaze. That ended up being a good choice.

The glaze makes a tasty, but somewhat plain, cookie and makes it more delicious. Without the glaze, the cookies don’t have a distinct flavor- the brown sugar and cinnamon are subtle. The glaze helps bring out the cinnamon flavor, and it was simple to put together. Perhaps the glaze could have been thicker, but it worked fine just as it is. 

Graham Cookies with Cinnamon Glaze
135 grams flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
113 grams butter, room temperature
150 grams brown sugar
1 egg 
1 teaspoon vanilla 

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3-4 tablespoons milk

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, cornstarch, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until light, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes before proceeding. 

Scoop the dough into the baking sheet and roll them into 1-1/4” balls.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing toa wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and about 2 tablespoons milk. Continue whisking, adding additional milk as needed, until the glaze is of the desired consistency. Dip the cookies halfway in the glaze and place on a wire rack to allow the glaze to set.

Recipe from Fresh April Flours

Coffee Toffee Brownies

I have been planning to make these brownies for some time, I even planned ahead and purchased heavy cream. I don’t always have that on hand and I wanted to be prepared. I finally got around to making these, and I am so glad that I did. It was certainly warm in the house when I made them, but they are so tasty that they are worth it!

I followed the recipe as written, but in creating this blog post, I realize that I should have added ½ cup of powdered sugar with the cocoa powder and flour. I write the recipe in a notebook so I don’t have to bring my laptop into the kitchen. I just skipped it, apparently. In eating the brownies, they aren’t lacking sweetness so I am not worried. You can taste the coffee somewhat, but it isn’t overpowering. The main thing is that you don’t want to over bake these.

I was slightly worried that I had over baked the brownies, as the knife came out clean after baking 28 minutes. But they are the perfect level of fudginess, topped with chocolate ganache. They are wonderfully decadent. The toffee chips on top add a touch of crunch, which juxtaposes the richness of the brownie. I can imagine topping these brownies with lots of different ingredients!

Coffee Toffee Brownies
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla 
⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup flour
¾ cup chocolate chips
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons espresso powder

¾ cup chocolate chips
¼ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla 
About ⅓ cup toffee bits

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

In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and sugar, stir momentarily with a whisk. Allow the mixture to set for 5 minutes, to help the sugar start to dissolve. After 5 minutes, whisk strongly for about 30 seconds. Add the eggs, water, and vanilla and whisk again for 30 seconds. At this point, you will want to switch to a spatula.

Add the cocoa powder, flour, chocolate chips, salt, and espresso powder to the bowl and stir with a spatula until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is shiny. Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing the top as much as possible.

Bake for 28-30 minutes, until a knife inserted in the brownies comes out almost clean. There may be some fudginess, but there shouldn’t be raw batter. Allow to begin cooling while making the ganache.

In a small microwaveable bowl, combine the chocolate chips, heavy cream, and vanilla. Microwave, stirring every 20 seconds, until the mixture is smooth. I find that you need to heat the mixture briefly, then the chips melt and the ganache comes together as you stir. Top the brownies with the ganache and then sprinkle with toffee chips.

Refrigerate for several hours before cutting.

Recipe from Celebrating Sweets