Ginger Molasses Cream Cheese Cookie Bars

I’m getting ready for holiday baking, but I still have a few recipes that I plan to make before I start. This recipe has so many things I like: ginger, molasses, cream cheese, and cinnamon sugar. While the recipe calls for quite a few ingredients, these are baked in an 8” square pan. That tells you that these bars are substantial, and they certainly are!

One oddity of this recipe is that the bars call for a tablespoon of water or orange juice, and then the filling calls for lemon juice. I don’t typically have both orange and lemon juice on hand, and I don’t have the fruits around unless I am doing a lot of baking. Since both quantities are quite small, I just decided to use what I had on hand. I ended up using pineapple/orange/guava (POG) juice. The version we had was 100% juice, and perhaps it added a little extra flavor.

This ginger molasses dough comes together well, although you need to stop the mixer and stir the dough to ensure that there aren’t any floury bits at the bottom of the bowl. The dough doesn’t need to be perfectly divided, and I found that I needed less dough to make the top layer. I baked mine for about 25 minutes, and it seemed done, but once I cut them I realized they could have baked a little longer. None the less, they were still excellent, and I received many compliments about how wonderful they were.

Ginger Molasses Cream Cheese Cookie Bars
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon water/juice
1/4 cup molasses 
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 
1/4 teaspoon salt

8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons sour cream
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla 
Cinnamon sugar

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

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Beat on medium until light. Add the egg, water/juice, and molasses and mix on medium to incorporate. In a separate bowl combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stopping to stir the mixture with a spatula and bring up any dry parts from the bottom of the bowl 

Press half of the dough into the prepared pan, then make the cheesecake filling.

In a medium bowl combine the cream cheese, sugar, sour cream, lemon juice, and vanilla. Whisk until the mixture is smooth. Spoon over the dough base, and then top with the remaining dough. Sprinkle the bars with cinnamon sugar. 

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a knife inserted into the bars comes out clean. It can be a little difficult to tell when these are fully baked. Allow the bars to cool before removing from the pan and cutting into bars. 

Recipe from Wallflour Girl

Chocolate Toffee Cookies

If you know me at all, you know that I was born in Washington State and still live here. When I talk to people and ask if they are local, what I really mean is- did you grow up here? Do you know the local lore and local specialties? Usually I find that folks, even if they have lived here for some time, don’t have those local knowledge and experiences. When I ask people if they are familiar with the candy company Brown & Haley, they usually are not.

Brown & Haley is primarily known for two things: Almond Roca (which most people have heard of) and Mountain Bars (which most people have not). My dad used to stop by the factory on his way home from work and bring us things. A friend’s husband worked there. So many local memories. And there is a Brown & Haley outlet close to where my mom lives.

At the outlet, my husband picked up Almond Roca bits, which are bits of the center of Almond Roca- so a type of toffee bits. I have so many ideas for how I can use them! I found these chocolate cookies rolled in toffee bits and I couldn’t resist! These cookies get a little melty as they bake, but I simply reshaped them when they came out of the oven. These cookies are soft, but the toffee bits provide a lovely crunch. I’m so excited to try these Almond Roca bits in other recipes!

Chocolate Toffee Cookies
14 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 ¾ cup dark brown sugar packed
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk slightly beaten together
1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¾ cup cocoa Dutch processed
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
½ cup mini chocolate chips
Toffee Bits

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

In a small microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Allow the butter to cool 20 minutes before proceeding.

Once the butter is cool, add it to a large mixer bowl. Add the brown sugar and beat on medium until smooth. Add the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk and stir again to combine. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer running on low, add the flour mixture to the dough in increments. 

When the flour mixture has almost disappeared into the dough, stir in the mini chocolate chips. 

Shape the dough into 1-1/2” balls. Place the toffee bits in a bowl and roll each ball of dough in the toffee bits. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 11-12 minutes, until the cookies are soft. When they have just come out of the oven, place a round cookie cutter around the cookie and swirl it around to reshape the cookies. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. 

Recipe from The Monday Box

Honey Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies

I’m really sad that the local farmer’s markets are ending for the year. We don’t buy a lot of things there, but what we have purchased has been great! From time to time, we purchase different types of honey, as there seem to be a lot of apiaries around where we live. Honey varies a lot more than you realize, some of it is very dark and others are light, floral, fruity, what have you. This recipe calls for raw honey, which certainly is what I get at a farmer’s market. If you use grocery store honey, just make sure it is 100% honey with no extra corn syrup.

I am hesitant when I bake with honey as it can burn very quickly. This recipe also bakes at a slightly higher temperature, 375 degrees rather than 350 degrees. Once you creamed the butter with the honey, I didn’t worry as the honey incorporated into the dough so beautifully. My cookies didn’t spread or burn, which was lovely. I even flattened the cookies slightly with the palm of my hand, as they didn’t change shape as they baked.

The original blogger must have made huge cookies! I made a half recipe, which yielded 2 dozen cookies. She had made 14 cookies with twice the ingredients listed here. While mine are more than a third of the size, I nearly baked mine as long as the original recipe. I started checking at 9 minutes, and 10-11 was perfect for me. These cookies have great flavor, sweet with little melty bits of chocolate. They are cakey, and just a little bit chewy due to the oats in the dough.

Honey Oat Chocolate Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup raw honey
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup oats
1-1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
3/4 cup chocolate chips 

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

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and honey. Beat on medium for 2 minutes until the mixture lightens. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again on medium to combine. Stop the mixer and add the oats, flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Mix on low until the flour almost disappears into the dough. Stir in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

Using a 1-tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, and flatten the cookies slightly. I fit 12 cookies per baking sheet.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies begin to brown along the edges. The cookies will continue to firm up after they are removed from the oven. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from The Cook’s Treat

Almond Frangipane Brownies

My friend sent me this recipe originally, and I knew that I would make it this summer. I even took the time to write it down on a notepad, which is my process when I actually bake. It is difficult to take a computer into the kitchen, so I take the notepad. In a quick glance I can see which ingredients are used and when, which makes things a lot easier.

Well, as it is October, you can tell that I didn’t quite get these baked this summer. I did still have my notepad with the recipe, and while I couldn’t remember exactly what I had at home, I was pretty sure that I didn’t have the six eggs that I needed, so I picked those up. I was just about 15-20 grams shy of the amount of butter I needed, but I figured that was close enough.

While these brownies look like they have a lot of ingredients, it isn’t that bad. I already had almond flour on hand, which I suppose is the most uncommon ingredient. You need a fair amount of butter and eggs, so keep that in mind. You par-bake the brownie layer then top with almond frangipane. I didn’t remove them from the pan until a day or so after baking and you couldn’t tell; they seemed as though they were fresh from the oven. These bars are so rich and delicate, and really worth the time it takes to make them. 

Almond Frangipane Brownies
140 grams butter, cut in pieces 
85 grams dark chocolate, chopped
3 eggs
120 grams sugar
120 grams brown sugar
60 grams flour
30 grams cocoa powder
1⁄4 teaspoon salt

220 grams butter, room temperature
220 grams powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 eggs
220 grams ground almonds
30 grams cornstarch
1⁄8 teaspoon salt
Sliced/Flaked almonds

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

In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter and dark chocolate. Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring frequently, until the mixture is melted and smooth. Allow to cool slightly. 

In a large mixer bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat for several minutes until the mixture lightens. Stop the mixer and add the melted chocolate mixture. Beat on medium to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. 

Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared pan and bake the brownies for 25 minutes. Once the brownies come out of the oven, leave the oven on. 

While the brownies bake, make the almond frangipane layer: in a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and almond extract. Beat on medium until well combined. Add the eggs and mix again on medium until incorporated. Stir in the ground almonds, cornstarch, and salt. 

Once the brownies are out of the oven, spread the almond frangipane layer over the brownie base. Sprinkle the top with sliced/flaked almonds.

Bake for an additional 30-35 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Allow the bars to cool completely before removing from the pan and cutting into squares.

Recipe from Ash Baber

Peach Cobbler Cookies

I recently went to a bridal shower, and I came home with some peach preserves. While I could certainly spread the preserves on toast, it is so much more interesting to find a recipe to use. I looked at a couple of different recipes, and chose this one. Originally, you used fresh peaches to make your own peach filling, but I figured that I’d save some time and use the peach preserves I had. Making a thumbprint cookie with preserves was much easier, so I was happy about that.

These are a fairly standard thumbprint cookie, but the main difference is that once you shape the cookies, you roll them in cinnamon sugar. I think that is a good combination with the peach preserves. The original recipe had you fill the thumbprints before baking, and then top up with additional filling (if needed) once they were baked. I don’t generally like a thumbprint with a baked jam filling, so I just baked the cookies and filled the thumbprints with preserves later.

This made about 3 dozen (larger) cookies. I didn’t quite have enough peach preserves, so the last few were filled with raspberry preserves. The glaze provides a sweet finishing touch to the cookies. These cookies turned out so well, and I think they were picture perfect. I sent a photo to the bride-to-be who thought they looked great! These were fun to make and a good way to celebrate an upcoming wedding.

Peach Cobbler Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 ¼ cups sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar 
1 egg + 1 yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla 
3 cups flour 
2 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
Cinnamon Sugar

Peach preserves

1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream/milk
¼ teaspoon vanilla 

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. Mix on medium until light. Mix in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, cornstarch, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir until the flour disappears into the dough; do not over mix.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls. Roll in cinnamon sugar and place on the prepared baking sheet. Using you thumb or other implement, create an indentation in each cookies. 

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until set. Reshape the indentations if needed. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, fill each cookie with peach preserves.

Finally, make the glaze: whisk together the powdered sugar, heavy cream, and vanilla until glazing consistency. Drizzle over the cooled cookies. Allow the glaze to set before serving the cookies.

Recipe from Kroll’s Korner

Pistachio Spread Butter Bars

This recipe includes one of those unusual items that I see at the store and know that I can use them in a recipe. I have a couple of spreads/preserves like this, and I have recipes for about 50% of the items. I was going to make one, but then their website wasn’t working. I had in mind a couple of recipes for the pistachio spread. Brownies with pistachio cream? That would be good, but I took this recipe, which had called for raspberry preserves and used the pistachio cream.

I was first thinking brownies as the pistachio spread was displayed near other “Dubai Chocolate” items. This spread is mainly pistachio. But does include kataifi, which are crunch pastry bits. I am not sure how something so small makes such a difference, but it does. The recipe I used had specified raspberry preserves, but since the recipe already included pistachios, using the pistachio spread seemed logical.

I had made a variation of these butter bars, which are shortbread bar cookies with some sort of filling. This is half a recipe, as I didn’t have enough flour to make a full batch. You bake half of the dough plain, then add the pistachio cream and the remaining dough with pistachios mixed in. These are certainly rich, so you will want to cut them into small pieces. These looked fabulous and tasted even better.

Pistachio Spread Butter Bars
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon Vanilla extract
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon salt

1/2 cup pistachios, chopped
7-ounce jar pistachio spread with kataifi

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with aluminum foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and powdered sugar for several minutes until fluffy. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and salt. Divide the dough into two halves.

Press half of the dough into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes. The base will start to look golden. Cool for 15 minutes before proceeding.

While the base is baking, mix the chopped pistachios into the other half of the dough. Refrigerate this dough until needed. 

Once the base has cooled for 15 minutes, top with the pistachio spread. With the remaining pistachio dough, crumble on top of the pistachio spread. Press down slightly. 

Bake for an additional 20-25 minutes, until the top is golden. Allow the bars to cool for at least an hour before removing them from the pan and cutting. 

Recipe based on the one from XO & so

Cornmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

You know that if I make any sort of chocolate chip cookie, there is likely a story behind it. It’s hard to find chocolate chip cookies that are different enough to post on the blog. I got a message from my husband saying that his coworker had a cookie recipe suggestion: these cornmeal chocolate chip cookies. I looked at the reddit post and the recipe was baked on a cookie from A Pinch of Yum. That’s a great blog so I thought I would give it a try.

Cornmeal is an interesting thing. It can be coarse or finely ground. I have course cornmeal that I have used when I made pizza, but I didn’t think it would work in this recipe. I do have other cornmeal, but I don’t think it was very fresh. I didn’t need very much, so I was happy that I was able to find finely-ground cornmeal in the bulk section of the local organic grocery. 

You do want to measure everything really accurately, and pay attention to the mixing times, as not over mixing is critical. This is a hands-on recipe, but the chips mixed in easily. The original recipe said you’d make 9 or 12 really big cookies. That seemed crazy big and I ended up making 16 cookies. I still think they are pretty big! The cornmeal is noticeable and gives the cookies a bit of a crunchy texture, but it isn’t too much. I wouldn’t normally look to reddit for recipes, but this one turned out very well!

Cornmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies 
½ cup butter
1/2 cup sugar 
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup flour 
3/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt 
3/4 cup chocolate chips

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

Microwave the butter until nearly melted, just under a minute. Transfer the (almost) melted butter to a large mixer bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar and mix in medium until creamy. Add the vanilla and egg and mix on low for about 15 seconds. It won’t likely be fully incorporated.

Add the flour, cornmeal, baking soda, and salt. Mix on low until crumbly. Remove from the mixer and press the crumbles together. Add the chips and mix them in by hand.

Shape into 1-3/4” balls and place 8 cookies on each baking sheet. 

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until they start to turn golden along the edges. The cookies will be puffy and look underbaked. They will firm up on the baking sheet as they start to cool. Leave the cookies on the baking sheet for at least 30 minutes. 

Recipe adapted from Pinch of Yum and reddit