Butter Toffee Sugar Cookies

As fall slowly begins, I’m starting to find all these recipes that I want to make, now that the weather isn’t quite so warm. I had a big meeting at work and wanted to bring something. What to bring? I find that I often have the best success with things that are simple but tasty. These cookies came up and they were just what I was looking for. 

These cookies have a very rich dough- lots of butter and egg yolks! They are similar to a sugar cookie, but easier as you don’t have to roll them out. These call for toffee bits, which I have mentioned can be tricky to find. Stores usually stock one of the two versions: with or without chocolate. I tried one store and they didn’t have any! Thankfully the second store I went to had the non-chocolate toffee bits that I needed.

These came together in just a couple of minutes, which was exactly what I wanted. The original posted noted that the dough could be crumbly, but it wasn’t. Don’t worry about forming perfect rounds of dough, as they bake into nice, crinkly cookie rounds. While these cookies may be simple, they are super tasty. They are soft like a sugar cookie, but also very buttery. These are absolutely addictive, and it was good that I packed them away to take them to work or I would have kept eating them! 

Butter Toffee Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1¼ cups sugar
3 egg yolks
1½ teaspoons vanilla 
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2½ cups flour
8 ounces toffee bits
Additional sugar

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

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar. Mix on medium until light. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and stir to combine. Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until incorporated. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour. The dough may be crumbly. Fold in the toffee bits with a spatula.

Shape the dough into 1-1/2” mounds. Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 12-16 minutes, until golden brown along the edges. Remove the cookies from the oven and sprinkle with additional sugar. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from The Café Sucre Farine

Muesli Cookies

My husband and I were recently visiting a farmstand in a local agricultural area. All I really wanted was some home-grown, fresh off the vine tomatoes. Thankfully they had those, but they also had many other interesting items. We picked up some hazelnut muesli, as I often have granola at breakfast and this would be similar. Well, my husband had other ideas: to use the muesli in a cookie.

That sounded great to me, and he sent a couple of different recipes. I chose this recipe, which gave you options. You could use muesli that you had on hand, or you could add typical muesli ingredients (oats, nuts, dried fruits) separately. I used the pre-made muesli but knew that the cookies would differ a lot based on which ingredients you chose to use.

These came together fast, and using the muesli I had there was less measuring. They don’t change shape much once baked, so some batches I flattened slightly and others I didn’t. They did come out of the oven looking a little plain, but they tasted really good. Not overly sweet, with great flavor from the hazelnut muesli. The only change I would make is that the pre-made muesli didn’t have as much dried fruit, so I would likely add some additional dried cranberries or cherries.

Muesli Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/8 cups muesli

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

In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until well combined. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Finally, add the muesli and stir on low to evenly incorporate into the dough.

Shape the dough into 1 tablespoon balls. Place them on the prepared baking sheet. Flatten the cookies slightly with the palm of your hand if desired.

Bake for 11-13 minutes, until the cookies are set and the edges begin to brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Luci's Morsels

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My husband and I watch some random stuff on YouTube, and one night we ended up watching this video about a bakery, housed in a picturesque baking in Sweden, in the snow. It was so lovely. My husband noticed they had a cookbook, which soon arrived at our home. I went through and there were many interesting recipes. Some ingredients are a little different, but I can adapt.

My husband always wants chocolate chip cookies, and this was the recipe he chose from the book. I have browned butter before, and it called for dark sugar beet sugar, or suggested molasses. I couldn’t get the lid off our molasses, so I used golden syrup. It was such a small amount, so I figured it was ok. The recipe also called for spelt flour, and thankfully my local organic market had spelt flour in the bulk section, so I was able to buy a very small amount. I made mine smaller, as the recipe had a yield of 12 cookies and I made 27.

I didn’t quite refrigerate these as I was supposed to. I read the recipe (ok, maybe I skimmed the recipe) and read to refrigerate the dough overnight. I did that but then realized that you chilled the dough for an hour and then shape the cookies and refrigerate those overnight. I figured I would be fine and it worked out with no issue. These cookies come out of the oven looking pretty perfect, and they are a wonderful combination of crispy but also gooey. My husband can’t stop saying how great these cookies are! I agree completely. 

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
160 grams butter
125 grams brown sugar
70 grams sugar
10 grams molasses/golden syrup
1 egg
180 grams flour
20 grams spelt flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
150 grams dark chocolate, chopped

In a small bowl, heat the butter over medium heat, swirling the pan occasionally. Cook the butter until it is lightly browned and smells nutty. Transfer the browned butter to a small dish and allow to cool for 30 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the browned butter, brown sugar, sugar, and molasses. Beat on medium for a minute to combine. Add the egg and beat the mixture until smooth. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, spelt flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour in two portions, mixing until just combined. Remove the bowl from the mixer and fold in the chopped chocolate.

 
Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

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

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and shape into 1-1/2” balls. Place the dough on the prepared baking sheet and press down slightly (so that the dough balls stay in place).

Bake for 12-13 minutes, until golden along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe from Cookies & Crumbs by Kaja Hengstenberg

Mediterranean Cookies

I came across this recipe and I was very interested. I don’t find too many recipes with dates, and this recipe combined dates, coconut, and nuts, which sounded amazing. I cut this recipe in half, since the quantities listed here made a lot of cookies. Even a half recipe made about 3 dozen cookies.

This recipe called for walnuts, which makes sense as that is what you’d find in the Mediterranean, but I prefer pecans. Just use what you have! Coconut also varies a lot, as there is sweetened and unsweetened, larger and smaller shreds. I use unsweetened coconut, that is shredded very small. This is what is found in the UK, and I find that since it is dry to start with, it lasts longer.

These came together easily and I was really happy with how they looked when they came out of the oven. I let them cool and ate one, and something was…off. Something tasted stale. The oats? The nuts? The dates? I am quite sure the dates were too old. I remade them with newer dates and that made all the difference! With the proper ingredients, these cookies were lovely, and I even forgot to top them with a dusting of powdered sugar!

Mediterranean Cookies
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts/pecans)
1 cup flaked coconut
8 ounces chopped dates
Powdered sugar

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until smooth. Add the vanilla, olive oil, and eggs and mix to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and oats. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flout/oat mixture and stir until combined.

Switch to a spatula and fold in the chopped nuts, coconut, and chopped dates, stirring until the ingredients are incorporated evenly throughout the dough. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 15 minutes.

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

Shape the dough into 1-1/2” balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until browned along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Dust with powdered sugar before serving.

Recipe from South Your Mouth

Aggression Cookies

I came across these cookies, and I had a good laugh. Aggression cookies? How interesting. With a little research, I discovered that the idea of aggression cookies came from humorist Erma Bombeck, and this and similar recipes have been circulating for quite some time. The idea is that you simply add all the ingredients in a bowl, and then mash them together with your hands, thus getting out all of your aggression. 

This cookie is an oat cookie flavored with cinnamon and nutmeg. I have seen variations with added chocolate chips or dried fruit, but the base recipe is the same. I looked through the possible add-ins that I had in my kitchen, and I decided I would use crystallized ginger. Adding raisins or dried fruit can be troubling to some, and chocolate chips didn’t catch my fancy. Oats and ginger are a great combination anyway!

Unlike the advertised recipe, I didn’t use my hands to mix the dough as I made it in my mixer. I did find, however, that as I was shaping the cookies, I needed to knead the dough with my hands to keep it together, so the aggression idea works! These baked up well, spread just a little, which meant I shaped them as they came out of the oven. I baked the batches for slightly different times, and with these cookies it didn’t seem to make much of a difference. I loved the ease of these cookies and will have them in mind when I have a particularly bad day.

Aggression Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla 
2 cups rolled oats
½ cup diced crystallized ginger

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

Place all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using a mixer or clean hands, mix/knead the dough until the dough comes together and no loose oats or flour remains.

Shape the dough into 1-1/2” balls and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the cookies slightly. Allow room between the cookies for the cookies to spread. 

Bake for about 10 minutes, until they are golden along the edges. The cookies will likely be misshapen; place a round cookie cutter around each cookie and swirl the cookie cutter around to shape the cookie. Allow the cookies to set on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes to allow them to set fully.

Recipe from Southern Recipes

Blueberry Muffin-Top Cookies

I got this cookbook a while ago, and as soon as I got it, I looked through and marked recipes that I was interested in making. There are lots and lots of recipes that I marked! The author of this book is Australian, which I know means that there will be a few differences in the recipes, but they aren’t too difficult to navigate. All of the recipes list weight measurements, and I tend to use those already. The book calls for vanilla paste and hazelnuts, so I stocked up on those.

I decided to make these Blueberry Muffin-Top cookies first. I made only one small change. The recipe called for fresh blueberries, but I know that the blueberries I get at the store are giant, and I knew that wouldn’t work for this recipe. I suppose I could find huckleberries (although not easily) but the easiest substitute was wild blueberries, which are small, but also frozen. Thankfully, since so many people make fruit smoothies nowadays, frozen wild blueberries are easy to find. 

I made up the dough, and the first batch, with very frozen berries, turned out great. As the berries warmed, the dough became increasing blue. It didn’t impact the taste at all, but they did get messy! I also used too many frozen berries, but that’s ok. You bake these cookies for a few minutes then add the crumb topping and finish baking. These came out great, although they looked different depending on the batch. No matter, the taste is excellent and they do taste a lot like a (skinny) blueberry muffin. I can’t wait to make more recipes from this book!

Blueberry Muffin-Top Cookies
210 grams flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
160 grams butter, room temperature
125 grams brown sugar
100 grams sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla paste
Zest of 1 lemon
170 grams wild blueberries

110 grams flour
50 grams sugar
45 grams brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
70 grams butter, very soft

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

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the 160 grams of butter, brown sugar, sugar, egg, vanilla paste, and lemon zest. Beat on medium until combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in the blueberries with a spatula.

Make the crumb topping: combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, and salt. Add the butter and mix with your fingertips until the mixture resembles crumbs. Set aside.

Shape the cookies into 30-gram portions and place on the prepared baking sheet. I placed 8 cookies per baking sheet, in case they spread. Bake for 5 minutes.
 
Remove the cookies after 5 minutes and sprinkle the cookies with the crumb topping. Bake for 10 additional minutes, until browned along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Some of My Best Friends are Cookies by Emelia Jackson

Coffee Thumbprint Cookies

I had a work function and wanted to bring a cookie that highlighted a different flavor. I wasn’t too sure what that would actually be, but I was hopeful! I looked through recipes that I had already saved and came across these coffee cookies. That seemed interesting and didn’t call for anything too unusual. Coffee is very popular at work, although we also drink a lot of tea. 

These cookies are coffee-flavored and then are filled with caramel. The original recipe called for instant coffee, and I had instant espresso powder, which was stronger. After some searching, I decided that I would use two tablespoons of espresso powder instead of four tablespoons of instant coffee, and that was good. You can use any type of soft caramel, and I had some caramel bits on hand that I figured would work. It was nice to not have to unwrap a bunch of caramels!

These cookies came together will little issue, but I did add about 2 extra tablespoons of flour as the dough seemed soft. My kitchen is also warm, so I refrigerated the dough while the oven heated. I had no issues baking the cookies, and the caramel bits melted smoothly. The only issue I had, and this was minimal, is that you have to move quickly when filling the cookies with caramel. The caramel sets so fast, and by the time I filled the last couple of cookies, the caramel was very thick. These cookies have a strong coffee flavor, with just a hint of sweetness from the caramel.

Coffee Thumbprint Cookies
½ cup butter, room temperature
¼ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
2 cups flour
¼ teaspoon salt
Additional sugar
5 ounces chewy caramels
2 tablespoons evaporated milk

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 combined. Stir in the egg yolk and vanilla. Dissolve the espresso powder in 2 tablespoons of hot water, then add the coffee to the butter mixture. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and salt.

Shape the dough into balls (about 20 grams each) and roll in sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheets and make a thumbprint/indentation in each cookie. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set and then reshape the thumbprints/indentations in 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 filling: in a microwave-safe bowl, combine the caramels and evaporated milk. Heat in 30-second implements, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth. Fill the thumbprints/indentations with the caramel. Allow the caramel to set before serving.

Recipe from Simply Bake

Crispy Oatmeal Cookies with Blueberries

I had already been baking, but I wasn’t happy with how the cookies I had made turned out. I knew that I needed to make a different recipe, but I was also fairly short on time. I do have a well-stocked kitchen, but sometimes even that isn’t sufficient. Thankfully, I was able to select this recipe, and while I made a few edits, it worked perfectly.

This cookie originally called for dried cherries. I’m pretty sure that I had those on hand, but I needed a small amount and I came across freeze-dried blueberries first, and used those. Later when I was typing up the recipe, I realized that I should have added nuts to the cookies, but I didn’t see that in the recipe at all. I guess that happens when you are working quickly! 

These cookies are thin and crispy, but not too thin! I think that the maple syrup in the dough helps them remain a little chewy, and the butter helps with the crispness. The blueberries are very small and they don’t add a lot of flavor. You could use whatever dried or freeze-dried fruit that you have on hand. The cinnamon oat flavor and the texture of these cookies is the real winner. I think you could use this as a base for just about anything, and it would turn out wonderfully. 

Crispy Oatmeal Cookies with Blueberries
1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar 
2 tablespoons cup maple syrup
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/4 cup freeze-dried blueberries

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

In a large mixer bowl, combine the oats, sugar, brown sugar, and maple syrup. Stir on low to mix. Add the butter, egg, and vanilla to the oats, and mix on medium until the mixture is well combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Mix until the four almost disappears into the dough. 

Switch to a spatula and fold in the freeze-dried blueberries.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, using about 1-1/2 tablespoons of dough per cookie. The cookies may spread so don’t place too many on each baking pan.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies look set and begin to brown along the edges. Allow the cookies to set on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe based on Red Wine Dragons

Lemon Blackberry Cookies

I was chatting with my friend the other day and she mentioned that she wanted to find a fool-proof recipe she could make that included blackberries, lemon, and mint. This fascinated me, and the last time that I searched for a recipe to fit a flavor profile, it was so enjoyable. I started searching and there are many blackberry and lemon recipes, and I also found a mint glaze that could be incorporated. I found quite a few recipes and wanted to give them a try.

These cookies do not contain mint, but I could have added a mint glaze. I don’t always want mint in my desserts; it works sometimes and sometimes it doesn’t. Blackberries are in season right now, so I picked up a small package at the grocery store. This recipe originally called for partially thawed blackberries, so I did the opposite. I washed the blackberries, cut them in half, and then placed them in the freezer for a while. They were nearly completely frozen by the time I made the cookies. 

I made these cookies smaller than the original recipe, as the yield was 14 cookies and my batch made about three dozen. The cookies varied from batch to batch. I could tell at first the blackberries were frozen, so the berries were distinct. Later batches the berries were cold but not frozen, and the blackberries were more swirled through the dough. I liked both, but the ones with the swirled were better and looked more interesting. I loved doing the research to find this recipe, and am so pleased with the results. 

Lemon Blackberry Cookies
1 cup butter, melted and cooled
1 1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
Zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg + 1 yolk
2-3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup blackberries, frozen

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

In a large mixer bowl, beat the room temperature melted butter, sugar, and brown sugar for 2 minutes. The mixture will become very creamy. Add the lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk and mix until combined. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. When the dough almost disappears from the dough, remove from the mixer. 

Add the frozen blackberries to the dough and fold in with a spatula. 

Using a medium cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoon), scoop the dough in rounds onto the prepared baking sheet, about 8 cookies per sheet. Flatten the dough slightly with the palm of your hand. Refrigerate the cookies and cookie sheet for 10 minutes. (Between batches, refrigerate the dough so it doesn’t get too warm.)

Bake for 14-16 minutes until lightly golden along he edges. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe from Stephanie’s Sweet Treats

Blackberry Lemon Meltaway Cookies

I have had this recipe saved for a long time- the cookies looked so perfect for when the weather starts getting nice. It’s a fairly simple butter cookie topped with an icing made from homemade strawberry syrup and lemon juice. The original recipe has you cook down fresh strawberries to make a syrup, which isn’t that hard, but I wasn’t looking forward to standing in front of the stove.

I remembered that I had some Blackberry Syrup in the refrigerator that we have used as a dessert sauce on a few occasions. I had purchased the syrup from Bateman Acres at a local farmer’s market. I figured that the blackberry syrup would work perfectly in place of the strawberry syrup. I did add some lemon juice to the icing, because it adds brightness that is always welcome. 

I made these cookies fairly small, but that seemed to work well. I shaped the cookies and then chilled them for about 10 minutes before baking. I’m not sure that was necessary, as the cookies don’t have any leavening and don’t change much while baking. The icing, with the blackberry syrup is fantastic. You do have to make the icing thick, but I still had a  couple of dribbles that I tidied up, but otherwise the icing stayed put. These are so tasty, the cookie just melts in your mouth and the icing adds the perfect touch of sweetness.

Blackberry Lemon Meltaway Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
½ cup powdered sugar
½ cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla 
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups flour
Additional sugar

2 ½ tablespoons blackberry syrup
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 ⅓ cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

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

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter until light. Add the powdered sugar and mix to combine. Add the cornstarch, vanilla, and salt. Stir until smooth. With the mixer on low, gradually add the flour. Mix until the dough comes together; the dough may be crumbly. 

Roll the dough into 1 tablespoon balls, then roll the balls in additional sugar. Flatten the cookies to about ½” with the bottom of a glass dipped in sugar. 

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until barely golden. Remove from oven and cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a cooking rack to cool completely.

Make the icing: in a medium bowl whisk together the blackberry syrup and lemon juice. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and stir until the icing is smooth but thick. Spread the icing on the cooled cookies. Allow the icing to set before serving.

Recipe from The Café Sucre Farine

Baklava Cookies

I really like all of the flavors in baklava, but it’s never quite right. I get a piece and I’m so excited, but then I can’t finish it because it’s usually dry. I’m not quite sure what I can do to overcome that, but this cookie with the flavors of baklava might be just the thing. 

This cookie starts with a cake mix base, which is a nice time saver. That in itself should help from the dryness I associate with baklava. You can use any nuts that you have on hand. Walnuts and pistachios are traditional, but I don’t usually have walnuts on hand. I used pistachios, almonds, and pecans. Not traditional, but more to my tastes! 

You partially bake these cookies, then make an indentation and fill it, then finish baking. That’s a slightly different technique that I am used to, but it makes sense as the indentation usually disappears while baking, and the filling doesn’t need much extra time in the oven. These were all that I dreamed of, without being dry! A nice soft cookie topped with a flavorful filling!

Baklava Cookies
1 box vanilla cake mix
2 eggs
⅓ cup vegetable oil

¼ cup melted butter
1 cup assorted nuts, chopped
⅓ cup packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon honey
½ teaspoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons honey
½ cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon lemon juice
½-1 tablespoon warm water

Heat the oven to 350°. Line two baking sheets with silicon baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the cake mix, eggs, and oil on medium until combined. The dough will be thick. In a separate bowl, mix together the melted butter, chopped nuts, brown sugar, 1 tablespoon honey, and cinnamon. 

Scoop the dough into the prepared baking sheets, using about 1 tablespoon per cookie. 

Bake for 9 minutes and then remove from the oven. Make an indentation in the cookies with a tart tamper or similar tool. Fill the indentation with the baklava nut filling. 

Bake for an additional 2-3 minutes. 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 bowl whisk together the 2 tablespoons honey, powdered sugar, lemon juice and half of the water.  Add additional water if the glaze is too thick. Drizzle over the cookies and allow the glaze to set.

Recipe from Practically Homemade

Peanut Butter and Jelly and Nutella Cookies

At work, my friend recently moved from a temporary position to a permanent one, which is reason to celebrate! We all have the favorites that we love to eat, and one day I noticed that she was having peanut butter and jelly. She corrected me and said it was peanut butter and jelly and Nutella. I knew immediately that I wanted to recreate those three items together in a cookie. 

I found a couple of PB&J recipes that I felt I could alter to include Nutella as well. I chose the recipe you see below, but I made a ganache with Nutella, instead of using peanut butter ganache. I also used the Nutella ganache as a drizzle to finish the cookies. I had thought about adding chopped hazelnuts to garnish as well, but perhaps that would have been too much.

These cookies are quite large, and they are a little fussy. The dough is sticky, but I could work with that. The cookies came out of the oven really flat, so I had to shape them a bit (using this method). Make sure the ganache cools a bit before using it, or it will be too runny. I used seedless raspberry jam, but you have lots of options, and heating the jam slightly helps a lot. These cookies, while huge and a bit delicate, are fantastic. They were so enjoyed and I had several people come to me and say they were just the best!!

Peanut Butter and Jelly and Nutella Cookies
1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup + 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 egg + 1 yolk at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter 

1 cup Nutella
¾ cup heavy cream
Raspberry Jam

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, then add the eggs and vanilla. Mix again on medium to combine. Mix in the peanut butter. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, until the soft dough comes together. 

Separate the dough into 24 portions. Shape each portion into a flattened bowl, and then make an indentation in each cookies. The dough is quite sticky, so it may help to wet your hands or use nonstick spray . Place on a parchment covered plate or baking sheet and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
Place 6 cookies on each baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes, until set.

Once the cookies come out of the oven, reshape the cookies as needed, and press the center of the cookies to make a deeper indentation. Allow the cookies to set and cool. 

Make the ganache: place the Nutella in a medium bowl. Heat the heavy cream until almost boiling. Pour the hot cream over the Nutella and allow it to sit for two minutes. Slowly whisk the mixture until the ganache is smooth and shiny. Allow to cool slightly before assembling the cookies. 

Assemble the cookies: fill the indentation in the cookie with the cooled Nutella ganache, and then top with a dallop of raspberry jam (heated to make it more viscous). Abstractly drizzle some additional Nutella ganache to finish the cookies. 

Recipe inspired by In Bloom Bakery
Ganache recipe from Sugar & Sparrow

Pearl Sugar Cookies

I had planned the cookies for this week, but it’s been a bit of a strange week, and I ended up not having enough time to make that particular recipe. That left me to look through recipes that I have bookmarked, and look at some blogs for recipes, to find a recipe that I could make. I didn’t want to go to the store, so that limited my options somewhat. I keep a well-stocked kitchen, but I don’t have fresh lemons and oranges, and I don’t exactly know if I have things like toffee chips.

I have been trying to avoid Pinterest, since it is the bastion of AI, but I went there and on the homepage was this recipe. It was a simple sugar cookie, but with the addition of Belgian Sugar Pearls. These are large, abstract, sugar clusters, about ¼” across. I had purchased these for a different recipe, and I knew that I had some remaining. This recipe contained standard ingredients, so I jotted down the recipe, and I was good to go!

Since I wasn’t taking these cookies anywhere, I halved the recipe that you see here, which made just under two dozen cookies. These cookies are simple, and the only challenge is stirring in the Belgian Sugar Pearls. They seem to want to bounce or something, so I had to carefully add them to the dough with a spatula. These cookies do look a little plain when they come out of the oven, not as crinkly as expected, but that was ok. These cookies have such a classic sugar cookie flavor, but you occasionally get a crunchy bite of the sugar pearl. These are just fantastic!

Pearl Sugar Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup Belgian Sugar Pearls
Additional sugar

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

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until light. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the Belgian Sugar Pearls with a spatula.

Shape the dough into 1-1/2” balls and roll the balls in additional sugar.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned along the edges. Allow the cookie to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Great Taste Buds

Sicilian Pistachio Cookies

I had recently purchased a lemon for some recipe that I ended up not using, so I knew that there was some cookie out there that I could make. I had found this recipe a while ago, but when organizing recipes, I moved it up as something that I did not want to forget about. This uses lemon and is also gluten free, which I try to do once in a while. I find that the best gluten free recipes are the ones that use ground nuts or almond paste rather than completely relying on gluten-free flour mixture. 

I had everything on hand, although I wanted to double the recipe so I picked up additional pistachios. This recipe originally called for raw pistachios, and those are hard to find. I ended up using lightly salted pistachios, and I think they were good for this recipe. They sell pistachios in an astounding number of flavor varieties, which are interesting but probably not the best choice for this recipe. 

I almost doubled the recipe, although I was a little shy of the amount of pistachios I needed. Since you use the same amount of sugar and pistachios, this wasn’t much of a problem and I adjusted. While I have gluten in my kitchen, I do my best to reduce the chance of cross contamination. I use (disposable) parchment and I have separate measuring cup for gluten free recipes. These cookies are light as a feather and have a lovely crunch. Don’t be tempted to bake them for “one more minute” or they will get too browned on the bottom.

Sicilian Pistachio Cookies
150 grams pistachio nuts
150g grams sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Zest of 1 lemon
1 egg white
Powdered sugar

Place the pistachios in a food processor with 2 tablespoons sugar. Pulse until the mixture becomes a fine powder. Add the remaining sugar and process to mix. Transfer the mix to a large bowl. Add the lemon juice and zest and the egg white. Stir until it becomes a paste. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Shape the dough into 1” balls. Roll the balls in powdered sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets. Don’t crowd the cookies or make them too big as they do spread while baking.

Bake for 10 minutes. Allow them to cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack.

Recipe from Cuisine Fiend

Cherry Marzipan White Chocolate Cookies

My husband and I had a weekend away, and one of the things we did was visit the Pike Place Market. There are usually lots of people, but it is fun to look at the vendors and the items they offer. We stopped at the Woodring Northwest booth, which offer honey and preserves and other interesting things. They had White Chocolate Marzipan spread, and I was fascinated. It is similar to Nutella, and I wanted to use it in some cookie recipe.

This recipe was found by my husband, and I thought that it would be a good starting point. Instead of adding the white chocolate marzipan spread instead of other ingredients, I was inspired by a cookie where you added a swirl of Nutella, so that was my goal. I did use dried cherries, and I didn’t add sliced almonds, as I didn’t seem to have any on hand. I really need to sort through my baking ingredients!

The dough is very thick, so I mixed the spread into the dough. I figured that the dough would be different with the addition of the spread, so I wanted to chill the dough before baking. I made the dough, refrigerated it during the day and then baked them up. The cookies are thinner and a little lacy, but I didn’t have any significant issues with the dough. The spread adds a nice marzipan flavor, even without added almonds. I liked the dried cherries and think that there should be more cherry things in the world. These are great, and it was fun to find a workable recipe and try something new. 

Cherry Marzipan White Chocolate Cookies
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cherries, chopped
2/3 cup white chocolate marzipan spread

In a large mixer bowl, add the butter, sugar, and brown sugar; beat on medium until combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and almond extract.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and oats. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture to the dough. Stir in the dried cherries and white chocolate chips.

Drop spoonfuls of white chocolate marzipan spread onto the dough and mix/swirl the spread into the dough. It won’t be fully incorporated, but that’s ok. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours.

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

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Shape the dough into 1-1/4” mounds on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, until browned along the edges. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Lovely Little Kitchen. Additional inspiration from Creations by Kara

Berry Cheesecake Cookies

For different occasions, I do try and pick a recipe that is fitting for the holiday. It is nearly Valentine’s Day, not something that we typically celebrate much, but still, it is nice to make something appropriate. I came up with the idea of berries and cream cheese. I had one recipe saved, but when I looked more carefully, I feared that it was one of those AI recipes. I had no faith that the cookies would look like the image, so I looked for a new recipe. 

This recipe had similar elements and was posted by a known blogger several years ago, so I wasn’t worried. Is that what AI has done? It makes me trust nothing that is current, as so much can be created. It is so frustrating. These cookies start with a cake mix, then contain freeze-dried berries and cream cheese, which were elements from the original recipe I had found. 

These come together quickly, and the dough is fairly thick. I was worried that I would crush the freeze-dried berries too much, but they held up well. I couldn’t find freeze-dried raspberries, so I used a berry mixture. I think I liked it more, as it gave the cookies some variations in colors. These are soft, so it can be difficult to gauge that they are baked, so I did bake mine on the longer side. They remain soft, which is ok. The cream cheese gives these a hint of cheesecake flavor, and the fruit adds bites of sweetness.

Berry Cheesecake Cookies
1 vanilla cake mix
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1.25 ounces freeze dried berries/raspberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

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

In a large mixer bowl, combine the cake mix, cream cheese, butter, egg, and vanilla. Beat on medium until well combined. Stir in the freeze dried berries and white chocolate chips with a spatula. While the berries will break somewhat, be gentle so that they don’t completely turn into powder.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” mounds. Flatten the top of each cookie slightly with the palm of your hand. 

Bake for 9-12 minutes, until set. The cookies will look undone, but will continue to set as they cool. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe from Practically Homemade

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

Spiced Hot Cocoa Cookies

It’s becoming harder and harder to choose recipes on the web, as so many things that I come across are made with AI. I suppose that some AI recipes will work, but I’m not really interested in that. Now when I look online, I choose recipes that are a couple of years old or come from a blog that I am familiar with. I also have been using recipes from well-known companies, such as this one from King Arthur Baking.

They sent out a “top recipes” email recently and there were quite a few that looked great! While I believe some cookies were meant as Christmas cookies, they didn’t necessarily scream the holidays. This recipe is certainly wintery, but it certainly is winter! I had some large marshmallows on hand and wanted to use them before they went stale.

I followed this recipe exactly, using both the whisk and beater attachment for my mixer. I had a bit of chocolate hodge podge, but it measured 170 grams, so all was good. The dough is very similar to brownie batter when I put it in the refrigerator, and I was glad to refrigerate it overnight. It was still soft but workable at that point. Partially baking them, topping them with marshmallows, and finishing the baking was easy. I toasted the marshmallows with my kitchen torch and that worked, but I had to be careful not to set the cookies on fire. These cookies are soft and gooey, and so very tasty.

Spiced Hot Cocoa Cookies
170 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped
85 grams butter, cut in pieces
90 grams flour
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
132 grams sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla 
10 marshmallows, halved crosswise

Melt the bittersweet chocolate and butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl, heating in 30 second increments, stirring frequently. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  

Using a mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the sugar and eggs. Whip at medium speed about 5-6 minutes, until the mixture is pale and ribbons into the bowl when the whisk is lifted. Add the melted chocolate mixture and vanilla and whisk until combined, about 1 minute.

Change to the mixer’s flat beater and stir in the flour mixture, about 30 seconds. Use a spatula to stir in any remaining bits. Cover the dough and refrigerate the dough for 2 hours or overnight.

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

Shape dough into 1-1/2 tablespoon balls (each about 28 grams) and place on the prepared baking sheets. 

Bake for 8-9 minutes. The cookies will puff but will be soft and underbaked. Remove the cookies from the oven and press 1/2 a marshmallow into each cookie, flattening and slightly cracking the cookie.

Bake for an additional 3-5 minutes, until the cookies are set and the marshmallows are puffed. Broil the marshmallows with a kitchen torch.

Recipe from King Arthur Baking

Fruity Oat Breakfast Cookies

I hope that you are enjoying the new year! I need to get organized and find recipes for all of the different ingredients that I have picked up recently, but I’ll be honest I am not that quick. I did get two kitchen cupboards swapped so I am very happy about that. I will no longer try and get all my baking pans out of a cupboard with a tiny 10” wide door. Now items that I use infrequently are in that awkward cupboard. 

We still have a lot of treats from the holidays around, so I decided to look in a different direction. I have been getting emails from a few baking sites, including Eating Well, for which I used to have a subscription. These are called breakfast cookies and with oats and dried fruit they are less decadent. I did make some changes, so they aren’t as healthy, but still in the right direction.

These called for cashew butter, but I ended up using peanut butter that I already had on hand. My store didn’t have lemons, so I substituted an orange. Instead of ½ cup flour and ½ cup whole wheat flour, I used 1 cup of all-purpose flour. I find dried blueberries to be a little grainy, so I used dried mixed fruit instead. Choose what you like, the recipe is flexible! So, my cookies aren’t quite as healthy as they could be, but they are lovely and not too sweet. They are a good way to start the new year.

Fruity Oat Breakfast Cookies
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup nut butter (cashew, almond, etc.)
1 egg
Zest of 1 orange
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 tablespoon vanilla 
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup dried fruit (cherries, cranberries, etc.)
2/3 cup chopped pecans

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

In a large mixer bowl, combine the brown sugar, butter and nut butter and beat on medium until light. Add the egg, orange juice and zest, and vanilla, mixing again on medium to combine. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the oat mixture to the butter/brown sugar mixture. Mix until just combined. Folk in the dried fruit and chopped pecans. 

Shape the dough into 1-1/2” mounds on the prepared baking sheets and gently flatten the cookies with the palm of your hand. 

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, rotating the baking sheets half-way through the cooking time. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.  

Recipe from Eating Well

Chocolate Ginger Marble Cookies

I’ve already planned out my baking for post-Thanksgiving and December, but there is a little time left for posting before the busy season begins. When I had looked at my mom’s Better Homes & Gardens magazine, I found several recipes that I wanted to try. One I made at the end of October, and this ginger/chocolate cookie was the other one that I couldn’t wait to make. I was intrigued by the swirly-ness of the cookies.

This recipe is a little more time-consuming than some of the other recipes I make. You make a dough, then divide it into two halves. One half is the chocolate half, and the other is the spiced half. I was happy that the candied ginger was a part of the base cookie recipe! I used a little less chocolate than was specified, since I decided to grate the chocolate bar and that was very tiring! Grating the chocolate distributes it within the dough better, so I knew that the flavor wouldn’t be impacted that much.

The original recipe had you shape each half of the dough into rectangles, then cutting each into 30 pieces. I simply weighed the dough and figured out how much each piece should weigh. Yes, this takes some time, but it worked better for me. You then pair up a piece of each type of dough, smoosh it together, pinch it into two, turn and stick it back together, then roll them into a ball. It sounds like a lot, but it was fun to shape the cookies and then see how they looked after baking. These turned out great! They have a good ginger flavor, but I would add even more ginger next time.

Chocolate Ginger Marble Cookies
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup finely chopped candied ginger
2 teaspoons ground ginger
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
Sugar

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

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir in the candied ginger. In a separate bowl, combine the ginger, cinnamon, and cloves. 

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the egg and vanilla; mix again to combine. With the mixer running on low, add the flour mixture and stir until combined.

Divide the dough in halves. Add the spice mixture to one half of the dough. Mix the cocoa powder and chocolate to the other half of the dough. Weigh each piece of dough and divide each into 30 even pieces or shape each piece of dough into a rectangle approximately 5” x 6” rectangle and cut into 30 pieces.

Combine one piece of spiced dough and one piece of chocolate dough together and pinch and roll the dough to make a marble effect. Roll the dough in sugar and place on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten the cookies with the bottom of a glass coated in sugar, until the cookies are about 1-3/4” across.

Bake for 10-13 minutes, until the cookie begins to brown on the bottom. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Better Homes & Gardens, October 2025