Fourth of July Cookies

Well, our cookies are dry, so I thought I'd post a few photos to show you how pretty they turned out!

The final product!

Close-up of Jill's favorite cookie.

Close-up of a fireworks design.

I loved how this one turned out that Luke made!

Edible Stars and Stripes forever!

Red, White & Blue Fun!

Anybody who knows me well, knows that I LOVE the Fourth of July holiday.  I think it's my favorite... I love all things red, white, and blue!  Last night Jill, Luke and I decided to make some treats to take to Montana where we're going to celebrate the fourth with my brother and his wife.  I knew the perfect treat would be my iced sugar cookies.  I love these cookies.  It's a recipe that I found in my Bon Appetit magazine years ago.  It's called Christmas Cutouts with Vanilla Icing.  Anyway, they are the perfect cookie because after they air dry for a day you can stack them which makes them perfect for the long road trip to Missoula!

Jill icing the red, white, and blue stars.

Luke making a fireworks display!

Luke getting creative with his designs.

This feathery look was Jill's favorite!

Now all we have to do is wait to let them dry...

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Eleven)

Okay, this is another super simple cookie, but they are soooooo delicious and easy to make that I had to whip out a batch for Santa!  I got this recipe from a fellow drama mama when we were working the concessions booth during the KLHS run of the production of Phantom of the Opera this past spring.  Her m&m cookies were so popular that we made her keep bringing them each night.  They were a huge seller!  Since the spring, I have probably made these cookies at least six or seven times!

m&m Cookies

1c shortening

1c brown sugar

½ c sugar

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 ¼ c flour

1 tsp soda

1 tsp salt

1 bag of m&m’s (recipe said 1 ½ cups but I used a lot more!) 

Blend shortening  & sugars.  Beat in vanilla & eggs.  Mix dry ingredients together.  Add sugar & egg mixture.  Stir in ½ c m&m’s.  Decorate with rest.  So here is the trick – you literally cover the entire blop of dough with m&m’s.  It looks like you could just put 5 or so on top and it will be fine, but the cookies spread when they cook so they look way better if you just cover them with the M&M’s.   Bake 375 degrees.  Normal size cookies I only do for about 8 or 9 minutes – we like them soft!  If you want them really big use ¼ cup of dough per cookie – the batch will only make about 12 or so this way.  If you make them smaller like I did the recipe will yield about 4 dozen.



Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Ten)

Well, I told you that I had to get caught up on my cookies, so today in addition to making the swirl cookies, I through together another super simple favorite of mine.  I know that most everyone knows about these little gems already and I guess technically they aren't really a cookie, but I had to include them anyway!  I don't even know if they have a name!  I just call them the-pretzel-kiss-m&m treats!  Place a Hershey Kiss on top of a pretzel.  Put them in the oven @ 250 for about 4 minutes.  If you can squish an m&m all the way into the kiss then they're the right consistency.  Take them out of the oven and you're ready to go! 



Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Nine)

Colorful Swirl Cookies

These cookies were really fun to make.  I've never made anything like these before and I have to say, they took some time.  Definitely not a simple drop cookie!  Anyway, they weren't necessarily difficult to make, just time consuming.  The process was really fun though.  Taste-wise I would have to say that they were good... not fantastic, just good.  The recipe is from Our Italian Kitchen and I found them on Pinterest.  I just thought they screamed 'Christmas'.  The recipe says that you could play around with the flavors by adding different extracts.  I would definitely make these again because I enjoyed the process and the outcome, but I think I would make them red and green next time and try a tiny bit of peppermint extract.

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Eight)

Toffee Bits Cookies

These cookies were pretty good and very simple to whip up.  Not sure that they are a 'do-over', but still they were good.  I would've liked more of a toffee taste to them and the recipe didn't call for chocolate chips, but I thought they needed a little something so I added a half of a bag of Nestle Mini Chocolate Chips.  I got the recipe off of the Hershey's Heath Bar website.  The recipe is linked onto the cookie title if you'd like to check it out. 

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Seven)

Chocolate Mint Cookies

These cookies were yummy!  They were given the thumbs up by everyone in my family, so I would definitely make them again.  They recipe called for decorating them with the chocolate drizzle, but I happened to have crushed candy canes on hand so I thought I'd try that as well.  I like how they both turned out equally well. 

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 squares (one ounce each) unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Peppermint Frosting

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 tablespoons milk

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Chocolate Glaze

1/4 cup butter

2 tablespoons corn syrup

6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 375.  Mix sugar, butter, vanilla, egg and unsweetened chocolate.  Stir in flour and salt.    The dough is extremely soft, so I rolled them in sugar before I dropped the dough by rounded teaspoonsfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.  Flatten each cookie with greased bottom of glass dipped in sugar.  Bake until set, about 8 minutes.  Cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.  Once cool, frost with Peppermint Frosting and then drizzle with chocolate glaze.





Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Six)

Raspberry Almond Thumbprints

These cookies are amazing!  Probably one of my faves of all time.  This is another recipe from my good friend, Miss Gina.  She made these at my Cookie Exchange about seven years ago (surprisingly she didn't win that year... I think she was robbed!) and I've made them every Christmas since... Yum!  Another plus is that they could not be any easier to make.  Quick and few ingredients.  It's a Land O'Lakes Butter recipe.  Enjoy!

1 cup butter, softened

2/3 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

2 cups flour

1/2 cup raspberry jam (I use seedless)

1 cup powdered sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

2 to 3 teaspoons water 

1.  Combine first 3 ingredients in a large bowl.  Beat until creamy.  Add flour; beat until well mixed.  Cover and refrigerate until firm (at least one hour).

2.  Heat oven to 350.  Shape dough into 1 inch balls.  Place 2" apart onto ungreased cookie sheets (I always use my Silpat... love them!!).  Make indentation in center of each cookie with thumb.  Fill with 1/4 teaspoon jam... do not be tempted to use more than 1/4 teaspoon... they'll spill over and be a mess!

3.  Bake for 14 to 18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.  Let stand one minute; remove from cookie sheet and cool completely.

4.  Meanwhile, whisk powdered sugar, 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract and enough water for desired glazing consistency until smooth.  Drizzle over cooled cookies.



Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Five)

Faux Turtles

Well, I've had a few busy days in a row at work, so I'm a little behind in my cookie posts. I'm playing 'catch up', so I'm going to give you an easy one today. They are so, so delicious and make a really easy neighbor gift. All you need for this recipe is a bag of Rolos candies, pretzels (I use the square shaped ones) and pecan halves. Place the pretzels on your cookie sheet. Put a rolo on top and pop them in the oven for about five minutes on 250 degrees. Once out of the oven push a pecan on top of the Rolo and chill in the fridge for a few minutes before you enjoy!

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Four)

Salted Caramel Butter Bars

This recipe came to me from my great friend, Gina.  She just won my cookie party with this bar.  My husband LOVED them and since last week when he first tried the cookie, he's asked me to make it at least five times!  I finally got around to it today and I have to say they were quite easy to put together.  I also have to say there are F-O-U-R sticks of butter in this recipe!  It's definitely a do-over!  Yum!  Click on the recipe title to get the recipe link.  You'll love them.

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Three)

Caramel Crunch Bars

These cookies/bars were very easy to make and very delicious.  I used to make the single layer version of this many, many times a few years ago.  My sisters and I call the single layer version "Christmas Crack" because once you take one bite we couldn't stop eating it!  We also had another name for it... White Trash Toffee because it does taste like toffee, but it's made with saltine crackers!  Anyway, these caramel crunch bars are similar to our Christmas Crack, but they're made with three layers of Club Crackers.  I would definitely say that this recipe is worth trying at least once.  They were yummy and they yield a ton of pieces.

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day Two)

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

I had a Bunco Party/Cookie Exchange last week and I wanted to try something that I typically wouldn't make.  I got this recipe on Pinterest (have I mentioned how much I LOVE Pinterest?!!).  The actual photo on Pinterest looked quite different and way prettier than mine ended up turning out, but I have to say I thought they were delicious!  I've never made a shortbread cookie before, so I wasn't used to the dry texture of the dough.  I also misread the amount of shortening I was supposed to add to the white chocolate coating.  Rather than adding two teaspoons, I added two tablespoons, so the consistency of my white chocolate wasn't as thick as it should've been.  Once I realized my mistake I wasn't about to waste all that good white chocolate and start over, so I just went with what I already had.  Bottom line is Luke, my little guy, absolutely loved them and I enjoyed the flavor as well.  I think that these are a re-do and I would recommend for anyone to try them!  If you'd like to try this recipe click on the name of the cookie and it will take you to the Better Homes and Garden Website.

Twelve Days of Christmas Cookies (Day One)

I'm going to attempt to make a new and different cookie for the Twelve Day Countdown to Christmas.  I'm actually cheating just a little here because the first three I tried last week.  Anyway, I will give you the recipe along with my honest opinion/review of each cookie/sweet that I make.  Enjoy!

Lemon Drop Cookies

I love all things lemon, so I couldn't wait to try these cookies!  I found the recipe on Pinterest and if you click on the name of the cookie (above) it will take you to the blog, 'See Jane Cook' which has the recipe posted.  I loved these cookies so much that I baked them for my fourteenth annual cookie exchange!  I hate to say this, but I knew they wouldn't be the winning cookie, but I loved them and that's all that mattered!  :)  These cookies actually have a bag of those candy lemon drops (ground up, of course) in them which I thought was quite unique!  You should have heard the noise when I turned on the Quisinart... yikes, it was crazy loud!  The lemon taste is very subtle and I love how they were a bit crispy and a tiny bit chewy at the same time.  I think the only thing that I changed is instead of adding just lemon juice to the icing, I cut the tartness with a bit of milk and a little lemon zest.  I would definitely make these again.  This is a perfect cookie to enjoy with a hot cup of tea!  



Watermelon Granita

I love Granita!  In case you don't know what that is, it's an Italian frozen dessert that's similar to a sorbet.  I've always wanted to try to make my own and, with some inspiration from my Bon Apetit magazine, today seemed like the perfect day.

WATERMELON GRANITA 

4 cups (1 3/4 lb.) cubed seedless watermelon

1/2 cup sugar

1 Tablespoon fresh lime juice

Puree all ingredients in a blender until smooth. 

Pour into a 9x9x2 metal baking pan. 

Freeze mixture for one hour.

Stir, mashing any frozen parts wit hthe back of a fork.

Cover and freeze mixture until firm, about 2 hours.

Using a fork, scrape granita vigorously to form icy flakes. 

Can be made 3 days ahead.

Cover tightly with foil and keep frozen.

Give it a quick scrape before serving.

From everything I've read about making Granita, it's all about the timing.  As soon as you put your base in the freezer, set a timer for 60 minutes.  If you don't do this, you will forget, resulting in a solid block that's tough to scrape.  After the first hour, the liquid will become slushy; mash down any big chunks.  Two hours later, scrape the entire surface until it's as flaky as shaved ice.  If you forgot to set your timer this time, all is not lost.  Start scraping, and scraping... and scraping...

Watermelon Granita!  Can't wait to try my next fruity flavor!