Cookies – Page 10 – Bead Yarn & Spatula

Hazelnut Pistachio Butter Cookies

These cookies have been on my baking-to-do-list for a few months now… Ever since a good friend brought be a box of them from her local supermarket down in Virginia. I had one of them and was in heaven. Hazelnuts, pistachios and confectioners’ sugar… How could it not be delicious!?! To create my own version I decided to tweak a recipe for Mexican Wedding Cookies that I had made for Cinco De Mayo last year. Those cookies are made with pecans so I decided to swap those out with an equal amount of hazelnuts and pistachios.

I began by chopping up a 1/2 cup each of hazelnuts and pistachios.

I set the nuts aside and began making the dough for the cookies by creaming together butter and confectioners’ sugar and then adding in vanilla extract.

With the mixer on low speed I added in the flour.

And finally I folded in the hazelnuts and pistachios.

Using a cookie scoop I scooped the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and baked the cookies in a 275 F preheated oven for 35 minutes, until the bottoms were just beginning to brown.

After letting them cool for a few minutes I sprinkled them with confectioners’ sugar.

These cookies are super simple to make but big on taste!

Hazelnut Pistachio Butter Cookies – Adapted from here

Makes 20 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped into small pieces

1/2 cup pistachios, chopped into small pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 275 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until smooth. Beat in the vanilla extract.

3. At low speed gradually add in the flour.

4. Using a spatula, fold in the hazelnut and pistachios.

5. Using a cookie scoop scoop the dough onto the parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 35 minutes.

6. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool for a few minutes before using a sifter to dust them with confectioners’ sugar.

Hold The Chips Add A Kiss Chocolate Chip Cookies

Customarily this cookie is made with a peanut butter cookie base and then topped with a Hershey Kiss pressed into its center, what is commonly known as a Peanut Butter Blossom. But, I decided to switch it up a bit and use a chocolate chip cookie without the chips as the base and then top it with a Hershey Kiss.

To begin I made the dough to one of my favorite chocolate chip cookies. I particularly like these because the ingredients are things I always have on hand and they are simple to make. Sometimes a basic recipe produces the best flavor. To make the dough I whisked the dry ingredients – flour, salt and baking soda – in one bowl and in another I combined butter, dark brown and granulated sugars, vanilla extract and an egg. I then incorporated all of the ingredients until they were combined.

Following that I used a cookie scoop to scoop the dough onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and baked them in a 375 F preheated oven for 12 minutes.

While the cookies were in the oven, I unwrapped the Hershey Kisses and refrigerated them so they wouldn’t be too soft when I placed them on the fresh out of the oven cookies.

Immediately after removing the cookies from the oven I placed a Hershey Kiss in the center of each of them.

I then transferred the cookies to a wire rack so they could cool completely.

These cookies were delicious. You will especially like them if you like the part of a chocolate chip cookie without the chips! It’s definitely the best of both worlds… A delicious cookie with an even better delicious chocolate center!

Hold The Chips Add A Kiss Chocolate Chip Cookies (Adapted from here)

Makes 32 Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

32 unwrapped Hershey Kisses

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, salt and the baking soda and set aside.

3. In a large bowl beat the butter, sugars and vanilla extract with an electric mixer on medium-high speed for 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat until combined.

4. Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture to the egg mixture until combined.

5. Using a cookie scoop (about tablespoon-size mounds) scoop the dough and place on the prepared sheets, 1-2 inches apart. Bake until lightly browned at the edges, approximately 12 minutes.

6. While the cookies are still on the baking sheets press an unwrapped Hershey Kiss into the center of each of them, then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

S’Mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Not that long ago I finally joined Pinterest and while I am no nowhere near being an expert on it, I am getting the gist of it. Maybe with the holiday season just around the corner I’ll utilize it a bit more. Luckily I have friends who are on it who find cool things to share with me and politely hint at me to try, like S’mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies . I’ve actually never had a s’more; mainly because I am not particularly fond of marshmallows. I recall eating them as a child but chances are I ate one too many of them and got my fill. I figured since these marshmallows would melt into the cookie while baking I wouldn’t be bothered by them. And boy was I right!

I began by making the chocolate chip cookie dough.

I then gathered my three ingredients to make s’mores – graham crackers, chocolate and marshmallows.

And a assembled a s’more. I should note that I opted to use mini-marshmallows as opposed to the larger ones which probably explains the lack of marshmallow gooeyness in my cookie. I’m not complaining though!

This is where the messy part began and I’ll spare you those pictures – mainly because I didn’t take any since my hands were covered with cookie dough. Using an ice cream scoop I scooped the dough into the palm of my hand and flattened it. I then placed the s’more on the flattened cookie dough and then placed another ice cream sized scoop of cookie dough on top of the s’more and smoothed the dough to form a decent sized mound. One more thing about those pesky marshmallows, if I had used the larger sized ones it probably would have been easier to shape the cookies since the smaller ones allowed the graham cracker and chocolate to move around a lot while forming the cookie.

I baked the cookies (4 at a time) in a 350 F preheated oven for 15 minutes – they were just beginning to brown and the tops were cracking a bit. I let them cook on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Overall these cookies are amazing! The cookie itself was delicious and I will probably use the recipe the next time I make basic chocolate chip cookies.

But the best part is when you split the cookie in half and you have all that chocolate in the middle… YUM!!!

S’Mores Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes 12 Large Cookies

Ingredients:

2 sticks softened butter

1 Cup granulated sugar

3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla

3 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 Cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

24 graham cracker quarters or 12 full sheets separated at perforations

3 Hershey Bars, broken into rows of 3 bars

12 large marshmallows cut in half lengthwise**

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment or a silpat liner.

2. In a stand or electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, continue to beat until well combined.

3. Place flour, salt and baking soda into a bowl; mix to combine then add slowly to wet ingredients along with the chocolate chips.

4. Layer a graham cracker quarter with 3 Hershey chocolate squares and 2 marshmallow halves. Close with another graham cracker. Top s’more with a large scoop of cookie dough. Place in hands and place another large scoop on bottom then front and back sides as needed. Form dough around s’mores. Will get messy, but stick with it, it does not have to be perfect. S’mores will move around but it’s no big deal. Place large cookies onto prepared baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes or until edges are golden and centers are cooked through. Let cool for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack or serving plate.

Tropical Oatmeal Cookies

I came up with the idea for these cookies a while back and while I am sure there is a recipe somewhere floating around on the internet for them, I decided to take a chance and create my own recipe, albeit with some assistance from a few of my favorite cookie recipes. I really had no idea how they would come out, but, in the end they were delicious and incredibly soft and the add-ins of the white chocolate chips, shredded coconut, crushed pineapple and macadamia nuts complemented one another wonderfully.

To begin I mixed together the dry ingredients – flour, salt and baking soda – and set it aside and then moved on to creaming together butter, sugar and light brown sugar.

I then added in two eggs – one at a time.

And then the vanilla extract.

After adding in the flour mixture – I really did use flour for these cookies even though I don’t have a picture of it – I then added in quick oats.

And finally I folded in my “tropical ingredients:” white chocolate chips, sweetened shredded coconut, crushed pineapple and macadamia nuts.

After folding in all of the add-ins I used a cookie scoop to drop mounds of the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

I baked them in a 325 degrees preheated oven for 11 minutes and then let them cool on the cookie sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

And while you may think these cookies would be on the sweeter side with the sugars, sweetened coconut and white chocolate chips, the measurements of each of the ingredients produced a cookie that was just the right amount of sweetness to satisfy your sweet tooth.

Tropical Oatmeal Cookies

Makes 36 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 cups quick cooking oats

1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut

1/2 cup crushed pineapple

1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 Degrees F.

2. Combine the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda & salt – and set aside

3. Cream together the butter and the sugars on medium speed until creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time and then add in the vanilla extract.

4. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and then the oats.

5. Fold in the white chocolate chips, shredded coconut, pineapple and macadamia nuts.

6. Drop rounded tablespoons (a small cookie scoop) of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 11 minutes.

7. Allow the cookies to cool 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

8. Enjoy!

Easter Eggs

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter weekend. Ideally I would have liked to get this post up yesterday, but time got away from me. Since it is Easter Monday though, I’m not all that late.

I had decided a while back that I wanted to make decorated Easter cookies for the holiday (the decision was easily made after I got this egg cookie cutter from my local craft store.)

As opposed to Valentine’s Day when I used a package mix to make my decorated cookies, this time I was determined to make them from scratch. (While I do enjoy making things from scratch, rolled out cookies are among my least favorite things to make since I inevitably roll them out too thin or too thick which can lead to the baking time to be off which can then lead to a cookie that is inedible. Maybe it’s time to invest in some rolling pin rings.)

I opted to use the Roll-Out Cookie recipe on the back of the cookie cutter packaging since it didn’t require the dough to be refrigerated prior to rolling (I’m all about saving time whenever possible.)

To begin I mixed the flour, baking powder and salt in one bowl.

In the bowl of my stand mixer I beat together butter and sugar until it was light and fluffy and then added in vanilla and almond extracts and an egg.

I then incorporated the flour mixture into the butter mixture one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition.

It wasn’t long before the dough came together, which I then divided into two balls in preparation for rolling.

Once I rolled out my first ball and cut out the cookies I placed them on an ungreased cookie sheet and sprinkled them with Easter themed sprinkles. After baking for about ten minutes in a 350 F preheated oven they were done.

I baked my second batch without sprinkles since I was planning on decorating them with royal icing.

Once the cookies cooled completely I whipped up a small batch of royal icing.

And after some dyeing, dotting and sprinkling my cookies were done.

Along with Easter Egg Cookies I decided to make some actual Easter eggs. I haven’t dyed eggs in quite some time, but after seeing the directions for marbled eggs in a few different magazines this past month I decided I had to try it.

And this is what I ended up with. I really liked how the inside of the shell looked more than anything.

And if you’re curious about Easter Eggs and some fun facts about them check out this article that was in the USA Weekend newspaper magazine this past weekend. Here are a few of my favorites…

-Before those little dissolvable capsules, egg dyes were made from a variety of materials, including onion peels, tree bark, flower petals, and vegetable and fruit juices.

-The PAAS Dye Co. launched its popular product in the 1880s in Newark, N.J. The first packets contained five colors for 5 cents. The company now claims to sell more than 10 million kits annually (no longer just dyes, but also paints, stickers, glitter and more) and says that consumers use them to decorate 180 million eggs.

-Many Easter eggs aren’t actually eggs but are formed from chocolate. In Scotland, a popular treat sold in fish-and-chips shops is deep-fried chocolate eggs.

-“Easter eggs” are found in numerous videogames and movies. That’s a term for an inside joke or hidden message planted by the creator. The term was coined at Atari after a programmer put his name in a hidden room in the game Adventure, released in 1979.

Roll-Out Cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoons almond extract

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 F.

In mixing bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and extracts. Mix flour, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Do not chill dough. Divide dough into 2 balls.

On a floured surface, roll each ball into a circle approximately 12 in. wide and 1/8 in. thick. Dip cookie cutter in flour before each use. Bake cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet 8-11 minutes or until cookies are lightly browned.

Valentine’s Day Treats

Happy Valentine’s Day! Many have coined this day a Hallmark Holiday, for me, I personally believe that we shouldn’t have to designate a specific calendar day to show the one’s we love how much we love and appreciate them (If you’re curious here’s a little history on the origins of the day.) We should take a lesson from my friend’s four-year old daughter who will ask me to call her mom while I am baby-sitting her just so she can tell her that she loves her. I will say though that Valentine’s Day does bring about some delicious treats available in stores. I highly recommend the Heart Shaped Brownie Batter Donut from Dunkin’ Donuts… It’s delicious! Something else that is available in stores… an array of baking items so you can bake up your own delicious treats. I definitely couldn’t resist quite a few of those…

While I would have loved to bake up a batch of sugar cookies from scratch I had to settle on using a bag mix since I was short on time and couldn’t afford to wait the hour or so for my dough to be refrigerated.

After following the mixing directions on the package for cutout cookies I rolled out the dough and used my heart-shaped cookie cutters to cut out cookies and then popped them in a 350 F preheated oven on an ungreased cookie sheet for six minutes. I got a jump start on decorating a few of them by sprinkling sprinkles on them prior to baking. I then let them cool completely before finishing my decorating.

While the cookies cooled I made some cupcakes using Pillsbury’s Valentine’s Day Funfetti Cake Mix. How can you resist the Pillsbury Dough Boy on a Valentine’s Day themed cake mix box!?!? Once they cooled I frosted them using store bought vanilla frosting. I was planning on whipping up a batch of vanilla frosting from scratch, but, after shoveling snow for the umpteenth time this year I just wasn’t in the mood.

I tinted half of the frosting pink and then sprinkled some Valentine’s Day sprinkles on them.

And finally something I did make from scratch… Royal Icing to decorate the cookies.

I used a squeeze bottle to decorate the cookies with icing and then once again used sprinkles to finish decorating them.

And finally my Valentine’s Day treats were done and ready to be shared…

Snickerdoodles

I always thought that Snickerdoodles were a cookie with toffee or something of the sort. I remember having a cookie like that back when I was in college and for some reason I thought that was it. But, not too long ago I had the real thing and was instantly hooked. For those of who are in the dark like I was, Snickerdoodles are essentially sugar cookies that are rolled in cinnamon sugar prior to baking. Recently I picked up Martha Stewart’s Cookies cookbook and one of the first recipes I came across was for Snickerdoodles so of course I had to try it out.

To begin I sifted the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) into one bowl and mixed together my wet ingredients (sugar, butter and eggs) in another bowl.

I then gradually mixed the flour mixture into the sugar mixture and as simple as that the dough came together.

Using a small cookie scoop I shaped the dough into balls and then rolled them in cinnamon sugar and placed them on parchment paper lined cookie sheets.

After baking for 13 minutes (I rotated the sheet at 6 minutes) in a 350 degrees preheated oven my Snickerdoodles were done.

I let them cool on the cookie sheets on wire racks and once they were cool enough I tried one and they were great! A favorite to be baked over and over again!

Snickerdoodles

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. coarse salt

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tbsp. sugar

2 large eggs

3 tsp. ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in the flour mixture.

2. Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into twenty 1 3/4- inch balls; roll in cinnamon sugar. Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

3. Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment paper in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

Sweet & Salty Oatmeal Cookies

Not too long ago I went on a Cupcake Tour in NYC and my favorite treat on the tour wasn’t a cupcake – even though all of them were quite good – but a cookie, a Salted Oat Surprise cookie from Milk & Cookies Bakery to be exact. It was the perfect combination of sweet and salty with white chocolate chips, toffee bits and sea salt. Since then I have wanted to try and create a version of the cookie myself since there isn’t a definitive recipe floating around anywhere. I finally got around to it by tweaking my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe.

First up… I whisked together flour, baking soda, and salt together and set it aside.

Using my stand mixer I creamed together butter, brown sugar and white sugar.

Next I added in two eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Then some vanilla extract.

And then the flour mixture.

And finally the key ingredients to these cookies… old fashioned oats, white chocolate chips and toffee bits.

Once all my ingredients were mixed together well it was time to scoop them out onto my prepared baking sheets (I covered them with parchment paper.) I squeezed two extra cookies onto my second baking sheet so the order was a little wonky but it didn’t alter the baking at all. Before popping them in the oven I sprinkled each cookie with some sea salt to get that salty flavor.

The first batch out of the oven after baking for 11 minutes in a 350 degrees preheated oven.

Final verdict… They didn’t taste exactly like the cookies I had on the tour, but, they were delicious nonetheless!

Salted Oatmeal Cookies*

Yields: 42 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

3 cups old-fashioned oats

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup toffee bits

Sea Salt, for sprinkling on cookies

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and cover baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

Cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Then add in the vanilla extract.

Stir in the flour mixture until just combined and then add in the oats, white chocolate chips and toffee bits.

Using a cookie scoop drop spoonfuls of the dough on to the prepared baking sheets and sprinkle a few flakes of sea salt on each cookie.

Bake for 11 minutes in the preheated oven and allow the cookies to cook for a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

*Adapted from the Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies recipe found on Allrecipes website.

A Key Lime Cookie Miss

So after baking my Key Lime Pie I had quite a few key limes left over and wanted to put them to good use so I decided to bake some Key Lime Spritz cookies. Unfortunately this was one recipe that didn’t work for me for numerous reasons.

The ingredients were basic enough: butter, sugar, salt, baking powder, an egg, key lime zest and juice, and flour.

Two things attracted me to the recipe I followed, it sounded simple enough and it gave me an opportunity to use my Wilton Cookie Press.

I followed the direction to make the dough…

And then it was time to bring out the cookie press – this is where things went downhill.

I filled my cookie press with the dough and was ready to start pressing out cookies in my selected shape.

Instead of dropping cookies onto my cookie sheet this is what happened instead.

Frustrated after numerous tries I turned to my trusted cookie scoop instead.

I scooped the dough and pressed it down to make round cookies.

I baked them for about 7 minutes until the cookies looked firm but weren’t browning.

I didn’t even bother using the rest of the cookie dough… I tried one of the cookies from the first batch and was extremely disappointed. The cookies had no lime flavor whatsoever and the overall taste of it was nothing to rave about. Not sure if it had to do with the recipe itself or just my technique.

Besides the recipe not being all that I was hoping for I was disappointed that my cookie press didn’t work as it should again – yes, this was the second time I had a failed experience using it. At this point I am not sure if I will try for a third time with it. So, has anyone ever had success using a cookie press? And if so, how did you get it to work? Any and all advice is welcome. Thanks!

Cinco De Mayo Treats

Happy Cinco De Mayo! In honor of the day I decided to make a Sopapilla Cheesecake and Mexican Wedding Cookies. While it probably would have been more traditional to make Churros or a Tres Leches Cake… I attempted to make Churros in the past and the end result wasn’t all that great and while I have wanted to make a Tres Leches Cake for quite some time, I was already planning on making a Strawberry Shortcake for my dad’s birthday this weekend so I figured one cake per weekend is more than enough. When Sopapilla is made as a dessert it is essentially fried dough with something sweet drizzled on it – a fruit sauce, powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar or honey. I tend to shy away from anything that needs to be fried due to past experiences (i.e. the Churros) so when I came across a cheesecake version I was excited to try it, especially since it sounded super easy and only required six simple ingredients. I actually remember eating something similar to Sopapillas when I was younger – Domplines – which I usually ate with beans. As for the Mexican Wedding Cookies, they are actually known by quite a few different names… Russian Tea Cakes, Italian Wedding Cookies, Butterballs or as they are commonly known as in Spanish Polvorones. Stemming from the Spanish word polvo – meaning powder or dust.

First up were the Mexican Wedding Cookies. I assembled all of my ingredients before I got started: butter, confectioners’ sugar, vanilla extract, flour and pecans.

I started by creaming the butter and sugar together and then adding in the vanilla extract.

I then added in the flour so the dough for the cookies could really come together.

Although I did buy chopped pecans I decided to chop them up a little more to make them a more appropriate size for these bite-sized cookies.

To add in the pecans I folded them in as opposed to mixing them in with the mixer. Now it was time to form the cookies. While these cookies are usually crescent shaped I opted to just form them into small rounds and popped them in a 275 degree F oven for 40 minutes.

Fresh out of the oven. I must say they didn’t look that much different cooked from when they were raw.

After letting them cool for a few minutes it was time to cover them in confectioners’ sugar.

Once I was done with the cookies it was time to start on the Sopapilla Cheesecake. This by far was one of the simplest things I have ever made. It definitely helped that I didn’t make the dough from scratch but used crescent rolls and the filling was simply made with sugar, cream cheese and vanilla extract.

I started off by spraying a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray and pressing one of the two crescent rolls into it. It was quite comical trying to open the crescent rolls. I have never had a hard time unwrapping them but for some reason both of these packages didn’t want to pop open when I unwrapped them. With one of them I had to actually release the pressure in it by making punctures in it with a knife and then the second one just popped open as I was doing something else.

To make the filling I mixed the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla extract until it was smooth.

I then spread the filling over the bottom crescent roll and pressed the second crescent roll over it. Now it was time to add the topping.

I brushed the top with melted butter and sprinkled the cinnamon sugar evenly over it. I must say that while the recipe called for 1/2 cup of sugar that was too much for my taste and probably only used about 1/4 cup.

After baking for 30 minutes in a 350 degrees F oven it was time for it to come out of the oven and it looked and smelled DELISH!

Final verdict… The cookies and cheesecake were declared to be “moreish” by my friends… Definitely a good thing to hear!

Mexican Wedding Cookies

Courtesy Paula Deen

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, plus more for coating baked cookies

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting hands

1 cup pecans, chopped into very small pieces

Directions

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar at low speed until its smooth. Beat in the vanilla. At low speed gradually add the flour. Mix in the pecans with a spatula. With floured hands, take out about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into a crescent. Continue to dust hands with flour as you make more cookies. Place onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 40 minutes. When cool enough to handle but still warm, roll in additional confectioners’ sugar. Cool on wire racks.

Sopapilla Cheesecake

Courtesy Allrecipes

Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 (8 ounce) packaged refrigerated crescent rolls

1/2 cup melted butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon ground sugar

Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9×13 inch baking dish with cooking spray

2. Beat the cream cheese with 1 cup of sugar and the vanilla extract in a bowl until smooth; set aside

3. Unroll the cans of crescent roll dough, and use a rolling pin to shape each sheet into 9×13 rectangles. Press one sheet into the bottom of a 9×13 inch baking dish. Evenly spread the cream cheese mixture into the baking dish, then cover with the remaining piece of crescent dough, and brush with melted butter. Stir together 1/2 cup of sugar with the cinnamon in a small bowl, and sprinkle evenly over the top of the cheesecake.

4. Bake in the preheated oven until the crescent dough has puffed and turned golden brown, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool 10 minutes before serving.

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