Category Archives: Cookies

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Blueberry Crumb Bars

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DAY 2: Blueberry Crumb Bars

A delicious fruity bar cookie that can be made from fresh or frozen blueberries. Like blueberry pie in a streusel topped cookie bar.

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RECIPE:

Blueberry Crumb Bars

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4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp lemon zest
½ cup granulated sugar
4 tsp cornstarch
scant ½ cup granulated sugar
scant ½ cup brown sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground ginger
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) cold butter
1 egg
¾ cup chopped walnuts, optional

Preheat the oven to 375°F.  Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan (or spray with baking Pam, the kind with flour).

In a medium bowl, combine the blueberries, lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir together ½ cup granulated sugar and 4 tsp cornstarch; stir into blueberries. Set aside.

In a separate medium bowl, combine scant ½ cup each of granulated sugar and brown sugar.  Stir in flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg.  Cut in cold butter with a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture is crumbly.  Whisk one egg in a small bowl and stir into the flour mixture.

Press about 2/3 of the flour mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.  Spread the blueberry mixture over the crust.  Optional: Stir chopped walnuts into remaining flour mixture. Sprinkle mixture over the blueberries.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40-45 minutes, or until the top is light brown and blueberries are bubbly.  Let the bars cool on a rack and then place in the fridge to chill. This will make the bars easier to cut and remove from the pan. Cut into squares.

Makes about 36 squares

Recipe adapted from Cookin’ Canuck

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Christmas Cherry Cookies

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DAY 1: Welcome to the Third Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies: Twelve days of cookies and treats that are perfect for sharing with family and friends.

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The first cookie up this year is an easy-to-make dough full of the colors of Christmas. These cookies were always on Mom’s list of treats to bake for Christmas when I was a kid.

The dough is a shortbread dough that is filled with red and green candied cherries and pecans.

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Roll the dough into a log and it can be stored in the fridge or freezer until you are ready to bake.

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Use a sharp knife to slice dough into rounds that are about 3/8” thick.

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For Twenty-Four more cookie ideas, click the links below for the two previous Christmas Cookie events:

First Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies

Second Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies

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RECIPE:

Christmas Cherry Cookies

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1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 ½ cups flour
1 cup pecan halves
2 cups red and green candied cherries, halved

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Cream butter and sugar; blend in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour; add pecans and cherries. Chill dough for 1-2 hours. Shape into logs with about 2” diameter. Roll in waxed paper or plastic wrap. Chill 3 hours. Cut into slices about 3/8” thick and bake for 13-15 minutes. Do not let cookies brown.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Soccer Ball Cookies

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We are in the thick of soccer season around here. What could be more fun than soccer ball cookies to celebrate a hard-fought victory!

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I used my favorite Sugar Cookie recipe for the cookies and Royal Icing to make the soccer ball faces. Start with thick royal icing in a pastry bag with a writing tip. Pipe a circle of white icing around the edge of the cookie.

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Using a thinned royal icing, flood the cookie with white icing. A plastic squeeze bottle is the easiest way to flood the cookie, then use a toothpick to spread the icing to the edges of the cookie. Let the icing dry for several hours, or until dry.

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I am very artistically challenged, and had a hard time freehanding a symmetrical pentagon. So I printed one off of the computer, then cut out the pentagon. Using a toothpick, I traced the pentagon in the center of the cookie.

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Using thick black royal icing, pipe lines to form the pentagon and then from each corner of the pentagon to the edge of the cookie.

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Draw a small triangle at the edge of each line. I am obviously no professional here (notice the lopsided geometric shapes), but nine-year-olds are pretty forgiving when they have a soccer ball cookie in hand!

041811 044-1Use thinned black royal icing to fill in the pentagon and triangles. Let dry completely.

For a more professional look (completely flat, without raised black lines), pipe the black lines on the naked cookie (and fill with black icing), then complete the edge of the circle with stiff white lines and flood each individual section with thinned white icing. I made them all completely white first because I was planning on doing some with baseball/softball lines and was hoping to save some time.

For mouth-dropping professional work-of-art cookies,
visit Bridget at Bake at 350. She is truly an artist!

RECIPE:

Royal Icing

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4 Tbs meringue powder
scant ½ cup water
1 lb powdered sugar
½ – 1 tsp light corn syrup
few drops clear extract (optional)
gel paste food colorings

Combine the meringue powder and water. With the paddle attachment of an electric mixer, beat until combined and foamy. Sift in the powdered sugar and beat on low to combine. (Do NOT skip the sifting!)

Add in the corn syrup and extract if desired. Increase speed to med-high/high and beat for about 5 minutes, just until the icing is glossy and stiff peaks form. (You should be able to remove the beater from the mixer and hold up and jiggle without the peak falling.) Do not overbeat.

To store for later use: cover with plastic wrap touching the icing and refrigerate.

To use immediately: divide icing into bowls for different colors. Tint using gel paste food colorings.

This “stiff” icing is perfect for outlining, building gingerbread houses and monogramming. To fill in your cookies, first tint with food coloring and then add water to your icing a teaspoon at a time, stirring with a rubber spatula, until it is the consistency of syrup. This technique of filling a cookie with thinned icing is called “flooding.”

YIELD: This recipe will cover 2-3 dozen 3.5” cookies in 2 colors

Recipe from Bake at 350

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Baking & Board Games: A Perfect Snow Day

View Snow Day Baking

Baking and Board Games:
What better way to spend a mid-week, school-canceled SNOW DAY!

View Snow Day Monopoly

With a little sledding, snow-fort making and hot chocolate sipping added to keep things balanced.

View SnowDayJan2011

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080610 022-1Raspberry Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins (recipe below)
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021910 095Our Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe HERE)

RECIPE:

Raspberry Chocolate Oatmeal Muffins

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**Prep Note: the oats need to soak in the milk for 1 hour before adding the rest of the ingredients.

1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 Tbs white vinegar or lemon juice)
1 cup rolled oats
1 large egg, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
½ cup butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup raspberries or mixed berries (fresh or frozen)
½ cup dark chocolate chunks or chips

Combine buttermilk and oats in a large bowl and let stand for one hour. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners.

Stir the egg into the oat and milk mixture; add brown sugar and sugar; mix to combine. Stir in melted butter. In a small bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, & spices. Gently fold into batter, taking care not to over mix. Gently stir in raspberries and chocolate.

Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake until light brown and tops spring back when gently touched, about 15 minutes (they will take slightly longer if using frozen berries).

Cool on a wire rack.

Recipe from Aimée at Simple Bites

NoEmptyChairs.me

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Even More Christmas Cookies

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If you are still looking for more Christmas cookies, here are some other great ideas for giving (and keeping).

Swedish Peppar KaKar:
(a soft mild gingerbread; even more fun when you make them tiny)

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Mint Oreo Cookies:
(super easy: start with a cake mix)

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Christmas Chocolate Chip Cookies:
(soft, chewy cookies all dressed up for Christmas)

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Cherry Nut Mudslides:
(a great cookie for more discriminating tastes)

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Snickerdoodles:
(as much fun to eat as to say)

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Raspberry Almond Linzer Cookies:
(my favorite cookies ever)

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Peanut Butter Kisses:
(try using some of the fancy Kisses flavors)

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Chocolate Rolo and Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies:
(two very different cookies from one easy dough)

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Russian Tea Cakes:
(these are the kids’ favorites-they are suckers for a little colored sugar)

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Chocolate Caramel Thumbprints:
(Santa’s favorite indulgence)

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Sugar Cookies:
(soft and slightly sweet; the anchor of any respectable Christmas cookie tray)

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2010 Twelve (More) Days of Christmas Cookies Recap

Here is a recap of our Second Annual Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies. For me, I am off to the gym to try and burn off a few of these calories.

Happy Baking!

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DAY 1: Raspberry Crumb Bars

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DAY 2: Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

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DAY 3: Chocolate Nutella Cookies

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DAY 4: Glazed Lemon Poppy Seed Cookies

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DAY 5: Almond Macaroon Brownies

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DAY 6: Trail Mix Cookies

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DAY 7: Cream Cheese Cut-Out Cookies

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DAY 8: Chocolate Revel Bars

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DAY 9: Chocolate Peanut Butter Swirl Cookies

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DAY 10: Caramel Pecan Bars

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DAY 11: Turtle Pretzel Snaps

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DAY 12: Coconut Macaroons

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