Pumpkin Cookies

I tasted some great, soft pumpkin cookies at Halloween and have had a hankering for them ever since. I grabbed the first recipe I found from Better Homes and Gardens and did not change much, although I used my favourite icing recipe from my favourite sugar cookies.  Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Beat:

• 2 cups butter, softened

Mix in:

• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 15-ounce can pumpkin

Add:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour (plus up to 1 more cup as needed - I found I over-melted my butter and needed to add a bit of flour... they still turned out yummy!). If you need to finish adding flour with a spoon, whatever it takes.

Drop onto cookie sheets - if you want to make them perfectly round go ahead, that's too much work for me and I left mine a bit too sticky to do that anyway. Bake for 10-15 minutes - I made mine quite large, yielding about 50 instead of 60 so I needed to give them about 15 minutes. They should be still soft when they come out so that the surface hardens as they cool.

Frost as desired using the links above (my easy icing is 1 cup icing sugar, 2 tsp milk and 2 tsp light corn syrup).

Cinnamon Snails

A friend gave me this recipe back when we were in high school and didn't really use the world wide web for much. I have no idea where it came from but had a craving the other day and asked my mother to search her house for it. It is quick and easy and they are tasty!

Dough:

• 1.5 cups flour 
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 2 3/4 tsp baking powder
• Dash of salt (approx 1/2 tsp)
• 3/8 cup margarine
• 1/2 cup milk with 1 egg beaten into it (only use about half in the dough)

Filling:

• 3 Tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon

Mix the dry ingredients together. I melted the margarine and mixed it in, then added just enough of the milk/egg mixture to allow the dough to pull together into a mass that was able to be rolled with a rolling pin.  I used just under 1/2 of the mixture, and I ended up with some leftover milk/egg at the end of the recipe so you may wish to just mix the egg with 1/3 or 1/4 cup milk.

Roll the dough into a long rectangle, at least three times as long as it is wide.  I made mine about 18" x 6", and the swirls seemed too small at first but they puffed up while baking.

Spread some of the milk and egg mixture onto the dough and sprinkle liberally and evenly with the topping. Roll into a tight, long log (roll starting from the long side). Cut with a very sharp knife in approximately 3/4" widths. I found that my dough crumbled if I used the dough scraper or even dental floss - I used a filet knife to get a sharp cut. Bake at 350 degrees on parchment paper for about 14 minutes until they have risen and browned - they will harden a bit further after they are removed from the oven and they should be crumbly when eaten.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

This has been my favourite cookie recipe since I was about six years old. These cookies are chewy and soft and yummy and almost healthy because of the oats. You can read my roommate's description of them here at Breakfast Monkey... just in case you don't believe me that they're yummy.  She totally did beg me to make these multiple times a month, whenever we were supposed to be studying.

Beat together:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup margarine
• 1 cup sugar (or slightly less, I tend to only fill my cup about 3/4 full)
• 1 tsp vanilla

Add and mix well:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda

Add and hand-mix:

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1-1.5 cups chocolate chips (I usually use 1 cup chocolate, half cup butterscotch or Reese's or white chocolate chips!)

Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.  Do not let the cookies get brown!  They should come out soft and they will harden when they cool.  This gives them the chewy, melt-in-your mouth texture that is so desirable. 

Peanut Butter Cookies

These were always a favourite growing up. With milk. Or frozen as dough and scooped out piece-by-piece.  The baked cookies just melt in your mouth.

Cream together:

• 1 cup margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs

Add: 

• 2 1/4 cups flour (don't underfill, or you'll end up with very sticky dough)
• 1.5 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup peanut butter

Squish with a fork both ways to get the signature look. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes.  Try not to break them when removing them from the pan... but don't beat yourself up about it... it's all the same in the stomach.

Whipped Shortbread

I first experienced whipped shortbread at a snack table at a funeral.  I nearly asked everyone I saw whether or not they had tried this little piece of heaven... and then I remembered that I'm an adult and I need to restrain myself until a more appropriate time.

A time like Christmas.

Makes about 60 small bite-sized cookies (recipe is easy to halve, double, or increase by 50%):

• 3 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 lb butter (approx 450 grams or 1 cup - half a "pack" here in Canada)

Whip the butter in a stand mixer.  Trust me, you will want a stand mixer or your arm might fall off.

Add the rest.  Leave it whipping in the mixer for anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes, literally.  This needs to fill with air. The dough will look very fluffy and white, somewhat like frosting or like meringue peaks. 

It's as easy as scooping with a fork onto a pan and baking at 350 degrees for up to 20 minutes.  My oven cooks hot - check after 12 minutes or so and ensure the bottoms aren't browning. These need to cook through but over baking will dry them out.

Sometimes I even cook a half recipe (my husband doesn't like shortbread) and that makes 30 small cookies. 

Enjoy with milk!

Sugar Cookies with Icing

These Wilton cookies paired with this yummy icing are just to die for. My co-worker makes these cookies occasionally and she has them down to a science.  Once you start eating them you will seriously not be able to stop.

• 1 cup softened unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract (be careful and don't accidentally overpour like I did... or that batch will have a very strong almond flavour!)

Beat the above ingredients until fluffy. Mix the next few ingredients in a bowl and add them to the wet ingredients 1 cup at a time.  Beat with a mixer and use a spatula when necessary to incorporate everything:

• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Roll a portion of dough out on a floured surface (I found about 1/4 inch to be the right width) as the cookies will rise a little bit but not a ton. Use cookie cutters - flour them if you find your dough too sticky. 

Carefully lift them onto a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees for only about 8 minutes. If the edges start looking brown that's more than enough time!  They should be a nice light yellow without brown spots and they will become a yummy chewy cookie.

Top with icing:

• 1 cup icing sugar
• 2 tsp milk

Mix above together, then add 2 tsp of light corn syrup and mix thoroughly.  Spread plain onto the cookies or use fancy icing skills that I don't have.  This part of the cookie-making is very time-consuming for me and my patience levels do not a beautiful cookie make.  Mine make it to my mouth before anyone sees them anyway.

Ginger Snaps

These are chewy Christmas delights. 

• 3/4 cups butter (I use margarine... my cookies end up a bit flatter but they still taste goooood)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup molasses

Beat above ingredients together. Mix the following dry ingredients together then add slowly to the wet ingredients:

• 2.5 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Pinch of ground cloves and pinch of nutmeg

Form into small balls and roll in white sugar. 

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes on an un-greased cookie sheet.  These need to be slightly underdone so that they will be chewy - they will be very soft when they come out of the oven and that is good. They will harden enough.