Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies with Almond Flowers

I saw a picture on Instagram recently that was of a beautifully made cookie. It was a thumbprint cookie that used almonds to make a flower and I immediately knew I would have to make them. This was definitely the weekend of baking. Besides a brief interlude to look a bridesmaids dresses, I spent most of my weekend baking and spending time with my parents and uncles. Not too bad. Much cheaper than going out in my opinion. And, surprising for my age, I'd much rather stay in than go out to a bar or whatnot.

Most thumbprint cookies will use jam and jellies to fill the depression made by your thumb [duh!] but since I'm not a huge fan of jam and jelly and the people in my office seem to enjoy chocolate, I decided to shake things up a bit. I used chocolate instead. They came out just as pretty. I'm really happy with these. My mother said this was always one of her favorite cookies to make as a child. They look delicious! As per usually, I increased the amount of ingredients needed to yield more cookies.

I'm not sure if I'm making anything new for Christmas this year, but if I do, you know I will post it. If I don't, I want to wish everyone and their families and friends a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, Happy Festivus and whatever other holidays you may celebrate like International Dalek Remembrance Day or. Please take the time out of your day to be kind and loving towards one another. Family is the most important thing that you have. Be kind to those you do not know and try to do a good deed for them.

Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies with Almond Flowers

Ingredients:

1 1/4 stick of unsalted butter, divided

1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped

3/4 teaspoon corn syrup

sliced almonds

sugar pearls

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat [Hey! I totally need one of those!] and set aside. If you chose not to use either of the two, you won't have to grease the baking sheet.

In a power of an electric mixer fixed with a paddle attachment, beat together one stick of butter, sugar, salt and vanilla on medium-high speed until smooth [about two minutes]. Beat in the flour, beginning on low speed and increasing to medium-high.

Using a small cookie scoop [I need one of these too!] or heaping teaspoons, roll the dough into balls and place one inch apart on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven and make an indentation into the middle of each cookie. [This is where the whole "thumbprint" cookie comes in, but just use a melon baller or something similar so you don't burn your thumb off.] Return to the over and bake until the cookies are light brown on the edges [between seven and nine minutes]. Remove to a wire rack to cool.

Combine the chocolate, two tablespoons of butter and corn syrup in a small heat-proof bowl. Set over a pot of simmering water, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. When the cookies are cool, fill the thumbprints with the chocolate mixture.

Carefully place five of the sliced in the middle of the chocolate mixture in the shape of a flower and leave enough space in the middle for the pearls as the stigma.

 

M&M Cookies

So I spent most of the day baking and still have some to do. Not that I don't bake like crazy for my office to begin with, but last year during Christmas, I made probably close to 400-plus cookies for everyone. I will be doing four different types of cookie again this year: M&M cookies, raspberry cheesecake cookies, sugar cookies and chocolate thumbprint cookies.

I decided against doing chocolate chip cookies this year, which used to be my staple cookie, but I'll be baking more tomorrow and will end up baking some chocolate chunk cookies because my uncle is up from Delaware and my mom suggested I bake him some stuff to take home. He asked for chocolate chip so chocolate chip he shall get.

Earlier in the week, my mom bought me some red and green mini M&Ms and I decided to make sugar cookies with them to add to my office Christmas cookies. My dad and uncle said they turned out delicious since I let them have one after lunch.

 

M&M Cookies

Ingredients:



1 stick butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

red and green mini M&Ms

 

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

 

Melt the butter in a large mixing bowl for two 20-second increments. Stir in sugar. Once it is slightly cooled [around three minutes], beat in the egg and vanilla.

 

In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Stir this into the butter and sugar mixture. Add the M&Ms and mix together well.

 

Roll the dough into quarter-size balls. Place the cookie balls on a baking sheet, two to three inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

 

 

Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies

Now, when I first started my blog, I had been planning on making raspberry cheesecake cookies for a coworker for her birthday. I was unable to get raspberry chips or find raspberry extract. But while going food shopping about a month ago, with the holidays around the corner, ShopRite must have decided to whip out their "exotic" extracts and I finally found raspberry extract.

This recipe was the other one I was thinking about entering in the cookie contest. But everyone at the office has said to enter my hot chocolate cookies. Guess we'll see when I bring these to work. It looks like I have two different cookies but I just used pink food dye to make them look more raspberry-ish I guess. But that didn't work too well. They look more like red velvet cookies... Oh well. My dad said they still tasted like raspberries so I'll consider that a win. I doubled the recipe, but the recipe below does not reflect that as usual!

 

Raspberry Cheesecake Cookies

 

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup butter, softened [not melted]

1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 package [8 oz] cream cheese, softened

1 tablespoon pure raspberry extract

1 cup fresh raspberries

white chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in one egg and vanilla. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.

Whip the softened cream cheese and one egg until blended and smooth. Add the fresh raspberries and blend together, then stir into the dough. [The addition of the second egg causes the cookies to be more cake-like. Use only one egg if you want less cake-like cookies.] Add preferred amount of white chocolate chips to dough.

Spoon a tablespoon of dough onto baking sheets and bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

 



Hot Chocolate Cookies

So what is better than a cup of hot chocolate in your favorite mug on a cold, snowy winter day watching a movie or reading your favorite book? How about hot chocolate cookies!? Today is another one of my coworker's birthdays. She's a great and wonderful friend and showed me the ropes when I first got hired at the paper. She has been there through thick and thin and listens to my problems and I do the same for her. She's getting married late next year in May and I am lucky enough to get to be her maid-of-honor. [Though I'm turning into Katherine Heigel from "27 Dresses" because that will be my third wedding in the past two years, with another one coming up in July but I don't think I'm going to be part of that one. Depends.]

Anyway, besides getting a bit distracted on the wedding tangent... When hanging out with a friend of my yesterday, we went to Barnes & Noble to get some coffee. As we were leaving, I noticed they had a box with entry sheets on it. Curious, I went over to look and see what it was about. Apparently, Barnes and Noble is doing "The Barnes & Noble Cookie Bake-Off!"

It seems pretty exciting do I decided that I wanted to enter. I have until Jan. 1 to submit a recipe. Here is the deal: 75 recipe winners will each have their submission published in a book tentatively titled "The Barnes & Noble Customer Cookie Book," to be published on or about Nov. 1, 2015 and will receive one complimentary copy of the book. In addition to the above, three finalists will receive a trip to New York City and be paired with a chef for the presentation phase on or about Feb. 9. [That means transportation to and from a hotel of their choosing to the presentation site, two night standard hotel accommodations and a Samsung Galaxy Tab 4 NOOK. One grand prize winner will also receive a check for $2,500 and have a version of their cookie sold at Barnes & Noble's cafes nationwide during the next holiday season.

I want to win. That would be amazing. Even to just get my cookie recipe published in the book would be fantastic. It would be a great recognition of my baking skills. I've been bouncing between these and raspberry or strawberry cheesecake cookies. I took a poll on Facebook and most of my friends said they would like hot chocolate cookies.

Hot Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 1/4 cup flour

3/4 cup hot cocoa mix [4 packages]

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup chocolate chunks

1 cup marshmallows [you can use marshmallow bits too]

Instructions:

Beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Combine the flour, hot cocoa mix, baking soda and baking powder. Gradually beat into butter mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate chunks and marshmallows. Cover and chill for an hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Drop to a tablespoon of dough, two inches apart onto a baking sheet. Bake nine to 11 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. Cool on baking sheet for five minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

They didn't work out completely how I would like because I used real marshmallows and not the freeze dried bits or whatever they are. Next time, I'm going to do that and tweak the recipe a bit more. That was way too much flour and it wasn't really cookie batter. Maybe that kind of dough would make a better cake. Back to the drawing board and raspberry [or strawberry] cheesecake cookies are next!

Red and Green Sugar Cookies

I happen to be a big fan of sugar cookies. I didn't used to be because I'm also really crazy about chocolate and would rather eat a chocolate chip cookie any day. But lately, I've been craving sugar cookies. It could be because my editor's mother made delicious sugar cookies for her birthday party. And I haven't made sugar cookies in awhile.

Because Christmas is coming up, there will most likely be an influx of recipes as I begin my total baking regimen. I did four different types of cookies last year and I think I will do that same this year, but do a different variety. Perhaps I will do six different types. I like to bake enough and there are a few different recipes I would like to try. Though I will still probably do chocolate chip and sugar cookies as well. So many choices. Anyway...

What makes these sugar cookies red and green is the colored sugar I used on the outside. I've had the colored sugar for awhile and I don't use it often enough. Sometimes I use it when I'm making Inside Out Oreos and I put it on top of the white chocolate. But this was easy enough to make and they are super festive and cute! I'm hoping to make these again for Christmas in the office and perhaps for when we go to my aunt's house. 'Tis the season for spending all my money on baking things and not presents for those I love and care about!

Red and Green Sugar Cookies 





Ingredients:



1 stick butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

 

Melt the butter in a large mixing bowl for two 20-second increments. Stir in sugar. Once it is slightly cooled [around three minutes], beat in the egg and vanilla.

 

In a separate bowl, combine the flour and baking powder. Stir this into the butter and sugar mixture.

 

Roll the dough into quarter-size balls and dip in the red or green or both colored sugar. Place the cookie balls on a baking sheet, two to three inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Keep checking them and make sure they aren't burned because burned cookies are unhappy cookies and means an unhappy baker.

 

Fudgy Brownies

There was another birthday in my office last week. One of the reporters turned 23 and I told him I would bake him something, he would just have to give me an idea of what he wanted. After several days of deliberation, he told me he wanted brownies, but not cakey brownies. He wanted fudgy brownies. Now, I'm not 100 percent sure if my normal brownie recipe is more of a cake-like consistency or fudgy. I'm pretty sure they're cakey so I had to look for a new recipe.

So I know that I will have two brownie recipes on this blog but that's okay. It'll give you the chance to make two different kinds. The difference between a fudgy and cakey brownie is the amount of flour used. I'm very excited to serve these at work tomorrow!

 

Fudgy Brownies

 

 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup salted butter

8 ounces coarsely chopped semi-sweet chocolate [I used Ghirardelli]

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons of all purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Instructions:

Melt the butter and chopped chocolate in a medium saucepan on medium heat, stirring constantly for about five minutes. Remove from the heat, pour into a large mixing bowl and allow to cool slightly for around 10 minutes.

 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease the bottom and the sides of an 11by seven pan and set aside.

 

Whisk the granulated and brown sugars into the cooled chocolate and butter mixture. Add the eggs, one at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Whisk in the vanilla. Gently fold in the flour, cocoa powder and salt.

 

Pour batter into the prepared pan and bake around 35 minutes or until the brownies begin to pull away from the edges of the pan. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with only a few crumbs when they are done.

 

Allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan set on a wire cooling rack. Once cooled, cut and serve.