In honor of my grandmother’s birthday, I baked this delicious Butterscotch Bars recipe. Continue reading “Butterscotch Bars”
Butterscotch Bars
Family Favorite Gingersnaps
Apparently it’s National Homemade cookie day, so I thought I should do a quick blog post about our favorite fall cookie.
Gingersnaps have been a family favorite forever. 
When the fall weather turns the air cold and I’m not ready to turn the heat on, I like to make a batch of gingersnaps to keep in the cookie jar. They feel hearty enough to almost eat for breakfast, are great for snacks and desserts, and are delicious with ice cream.
When the kids were old enough to eat solid food, but were still getting teeth, I gave them gingersnaps to chew on instead of flavorless teething biscuits. I figured the ginger would soothe their stomachs and since I was making the cookies, I could control what I was feeding my children. Small children covered in brown goo are harder to clean up than children covered in beige goo, but they were happy so I was happy. 
There was a while when I was working at home, that I kept a cookie jar full of cookies. My friend’s son would come over and he knew to just help himself. She would always try to make him be polite and not take more than one or two, but I would catch him sneaking more when he thought no one was looking. Gingersnaps have that power.
I have tried a lot of gingersnap recipes over the years. Some call for whole wheat flour, some call for candied ginger. I tested recipes that make crispy cookies that truly snap and recipes that are toothsome to bite into, but sort of melt in the middle. Candied ginger, fresh ginger, and powdered ginger have all made appearances in my ginger cookies from time to time, but there is nothing quite like the basic off-the-back of a bag of sugar gingersnap recipe.
The Recipe:
For other great cookie recipes check out Birthday Treat Sugar Cookies, Mystery Cookies, and Apple Walnut Cookies.
Birthday Treat Sugar Cookies
I teased these cookies on Facebook and Instagram yesterday, so it seemed mean not to share the recipe today. Continue reading “Birthday Treat Sugar Cookies”
Crispy Spicy Cookies and Seaside Candy Roll
4 days until Christmas…
Christmas flavors. Ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, chocolate, peppermint, and…maple?
Since I know everyone loves when I do my true confessions, the big reason I decided to make the Seaside Candy roll is because it was on the same page as the Crispy Spicy Cookies and the Easy Divinity. As I was making it, I realized how much my friend’s mom would like it. When I was done making it and firmly into the tasting phase, I realized that it was very much like something you would find for sale at Cracker Barrel. (My husband’s family’s natural habitat). For some people it probably does bring back memories of vacations in those beach towns on the East Coast. I’ve never been, so I don’t know. There is something sort of Christmassy about it, though. Pecans and maple and sweetness. 
This is one of those candies that requires no heat. If you are going to use your handy Kitchen Aid, you want to use the paddle attachment until everything comes together. At that point you can switch to the bread hook to knead the candy. 
We had friends over to help decorate the Crispy Spicy Cookies. My darling, patient husband led a 3 year old, 4 year old, and 6 year old in the process while I was out Christmas shopping. I’m only kind of sorry that I missed it. I walked in to the house to see little hands putting the lightly spiced cookies into open mouths. The flavors are gingerbread without molasses. We had a minor issue while making cookies. Someone didn’t really understand the directions and didn’t know to cream the butter and sugar before adding the dry ingredients. It dried the mixture out a lot. We ended up adding a bit of liquid to loosen things up a bit. I don’t think it affected the flavor.
Christmas isn’t Christmas without something like gingerbread. My son is describing gingerbread as “that soft, sweet, spicy deliciousness that tickles the back of your throat.” I keep telling him that I’m not writing about gingerbread right now, but it doesn’t stop him from telling me. 
That’s what these cookies are like. Snuggling with your oldest on the couch, with a Hallmark Christmas movie on, and the tree lit. The smell of cookies in the air and the sound of your middle child reading a bedtime story to his younger sister. Just light perfection. 
Nutmeg Cookie Rolls and Easy Divinity
5 days until Christmas…
Around here, Christmas means eggnog. As soon as it starts appearing in stores, the kids start asking for it. I make it a point to never buy it before December (and I know, I know, I could just make it, I even have a few different recipes for it). But there is something about that thick, rich, creamy nog all scented with nutmeg. It finds its way into my morning coffee. (Not the Martha Stewart version, but there are times where that might be nice.) Someone just told me about eggnog bread. Who was that?
I swear I am not just rambling about eggnog, I actually have a point. Nutmeg cookie rolls. YUM. A nice little stick of a cookie with rum and nutmeg flavors. I was hoping that this recipe would be nutmeg-y enough to be a suitable replacement for the drink and thus save me some room in the refrigerator. The verdict is that it’s just not quite creamy enough. These cookies are crisp and sweet. The nutmeg is sort of a warm afterthought. You can smell it as you bite into them, but it’s not the first flavor in your mouth. I decorated these with melted white chocolate and some red things to make them look festive. I think they kind of look like matches. Whatever.
Now, divinity. I’m sure if you read through cookbooks the way I do, you have seen recipes for divinity, but you may not know what it is. Imagine if meringue cookies and marshmallow fluff had a baby. Divinity is light fluffy clouds of vanilla flavor. They have a bit of a brittleness about them like the crunch of your feet on grass after the first frost. But instead of being cold, it’s warm and gentle. It’s not exactly sticky, but it’s kind of got the memory of being sticky. Nuts are optional here. I figured I had enough nutty things on my cookie tray and more would just make it unbalanced. 
Ok, so if you’ve made it through making butterscotch and anise candy, you may already know that making candy can be hard. Molten sugar is HOT! And sticky. And it will burn the crap out of you if you let it touch your skin. Cold water will harden the candy and help with the burn, but you need to act quickly. Anything that is over 200 degrees is going to hurt. Sticky things are worse. BE CAREFUL when pouring the hot syrup into the egg whites. Pouring slowly will lessen the chances of hot liquid splattering up at you. Scrape down the sides as necessary. When it is time to spoon out the warm candy, work quickly. It gets harder to scoop as it cools.
Brownie Cordial Cookies and Anise Candy
6 days until Christmas…
Growing up we went to a church that had a phenomenal Christmas bazaar every year. There were certain things that could not be missed. In the tearoom, you could sit and drink hot cider and eat a selection of Christmas cookies and cream puffs stuffed with chicken salad. There were the baked beans. Sadly that recipe didn’t make it into the church cookbook. I’ve been attempted to recreate the beans. My mom had the recipe at one point, but it might’ve gotten lost in a move. The beans were that good. 
You could tell it was time for the bazaar weeks ahead of time. The familiar fragrances of the church, the incense, Murphy’s oil soap, old wood, and beeswax, would start to become entwined with the smell of sugar and anise. 
At the bazaar, a cut glass punch bowl would be piled high with baggies full of jewel-like red and green candies. My siblings and I would always make sure that my mom bought at least one bag. There were a few years where I would bring my own money to secure my own bag. Anise is one of those flavors that not everyone likes. I get it. But it takes me back to those days of helping in the tearoom, exploring all the goodies, conversations in the kitchen with the “old” church ladies. And the color is so pretty and this anise flavor isn’t very strong. It’s more of the suggestion of anise than a powerful anise flavor. 
Since those days I have helped 2 churches start their Christmas bazaars. One turned into an event with a fancy wine and cheese night and silent auction. The other is an amalgamation of sewn crafts, canned food, lefsa, fresh bread, herb butters. I was the official bread maker for years. 
Ok, enough of the sentimental drivel and let’s get to cookies.
Chocolate, cherries, coconut. They are soft and chewy and vaguely taste like the cherry cordials that my husband insists on every year, but grown up and better. I considered breaking into my stash of brandied cherries that I made earlier this summer to experiment with, but realized that these cookies should be more child friendly. (Which is the same reason I didn’t put brandied apples in my apple pie, although that was tempting also.) The recipe does not call for any decoration or frosting, but I had melted chocolate leftover from decorating the Real Orange cookies and thought it might look pretty and add a touch of class to the chunky brown cookies. They provide a nice foundation to my cookie plates and create a nice balance of flavors and textures. (And aren’t they pretty?)
Real Orange Cookies and Butterscotch Candy
7 days before Christmas…
In the winter, it’s very important to get your vitamin C. You don’t want scurvy.
These real orange cookies are nothing short of amazing. They have a bright sunshiny flavor. They are crisper than I expected them to be, but in a welcome way. We decided to dress them up with a drizzle of white and dark chocolate. (Apologies to those friends who got plates before these were decorated. You are welcome to come over and get the decorated ones)
Butterscotch is my grandma’s favorite candy. In honor of her, I made this recipe. I tried coating it in some cornstarch and powdered sugar to keep it from sticking, but it clumped up and sort of looks terrible. It doesn’t affect the taste. The edges of it are very brittle, but the middle feels like the brown sugar didn’t dissolve all the way. But it doesn’t really matter. This is my husband’s top pick of candy. (Don’t tell him he’s like my grandma.) 
Seriously, look at the orange rind in that cookie. Don’t you just want to take a bite?
Butterscotch
2 cups sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 cup butter
2 T vinegar
¼ cup boiling water
1/8 tsp salt
Boil ingredients together to hard-crack stage (290°). Turn into greased pans. Mark candy into squares when partly cold.
Unbaked Cookies
For a long time I sucked at making Rice Krispie Treats.
It wasn’t that I couldn’t melt the marshmallows and butter. It wasn’t that I couldn’t stir everything together. Putting those suckers in the pan defeated me. I felt incompetent in a way that was ridiculous. I could make gorgeous loaves of bread, I could cook gourmet meals, but the humble Rice Krispie Treat defeated me.
Of course, I could go buy a box of them, but they just don’t really taste the same, do they? And then the variations, the Scotcheroos, the cornflake treats that we would get on our platters of Christmas cookies…I loved them all, but I sucked at making them.
I finally figured a few things out and got better at making them, but the stupid green cornflake wreaths still defeat me. Usually I just make those into bars and then add a ton of sprinkles. They are delicious, even if they aren’t what I originally intended to make.
Anyway, all of this is to say that when approaching a recipe involving Rice Krispies, even these Unbaked Cookies, I get still get a bit of the old anxiety. It’s stupid and I know it. 
The recipe for Unbaked Cookies is vague as to how to form these cookies after everything is mixed together. I decided to make balls, it wasn’t a great choice because when they were cold, they were hard to bite into. I think we all had damage to the roofs of our mouths because of them. That didn’t deter us from eating them or even making a variation of the recipe soon after. The variation just got pressed into a pan and cut into squares. 
Ah, so now you are wondering what sort of variation I did. Of course. I used pretzels instead of the cereal. I added toffee pieces. It was exactly the sort of snack I needed. I may not have done a lot of sharing. 
Because this recipe just looks like a ball of beige, I decided to take some outdoor pictures featuring some of my garden art. Enjoy.
The Recipe: 
Unbaked Cookies
Boil 1/2 cup of corn syrup and 1/2 cup of sugar together. Remove from heat when it comes to a boil. Add 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1/2 tsp maple flavoring, 3/4 salted peanuts and 3 cups Rice Krispies. Mix together and pat into an 8×8 square pan.
Apple Walnut Cookies
It’s the time of the year for the Festive Fall Bucket List.
The time of the year when moms like me start to cringe about all of those moms that have more time, energy, and money who enthusiastically put on their mom uniforms and with their PSL (that’s code for Pumpkin Spice Latte) in one hand and their camera or phone in the other hand, pack their kids into their perfectly clean vans or SUVs and head out to do ALL the fall things. Every weekend is a corn maze, an apple orchard, or a pumpkin patch. There are hikes in the woods to collect leaves to make the perfect wreath for the front door.
And then there is me.
I love fall, I really do. I manage to get the kids out to a corn maze or a pumpkin patch or an orchard once before Halloween. We usually meet my brother’s family and do something apple and pumpkin-y. (We need to do something more corn or pumpkin-y this year, though, I don’t need/want more apples.) But I don’t have time to spend every weekend that way. Planned fun isn’t always fun anyway. Sometimes it’s those spontaneous moments, the random stops, and even the car trip there that are the most fun moments. 
As I was raking apples from under the trees the other day, I realized that I am very much in the ant portion of my life. You know the fable of the ant and the grasshopper? The ants spend all summer (and probably fall) collecting food and storing it away while the grasshopper spent all summer playing in the grass and doing silly things. When winter hit, the ants had food, the grasshopper had none, the ants invited the grasshopper in to share what they had.
This is where I could start to lecture about enabling grasshoppers, but I’ll refrain. My point is that I am very aware that this is the part of my life where I need to be putting in the time and effort. And I’m good with that.
When I was growing up, we used to go to the Bayfield Apple Fest. I remember watching the apple peeling contest one year. When I peel apples now, I think of that. I try to see if I can get the peel off in one single ribbon. When I dawdle, I try to make it as long and thin as possible. I’m in a contest with no one but myself, but I compete anyway.
I peeled and chopped my way through 3 apples before I had enough to make these cookies. I had spotted this recipe a while back and wasn’t sure I’d ever get around to making it this year, but I’d had enough of making applesauce for a while and was ready for something different. It was time to have some cookies in the house again because it had been a while. After they were completed, I nearly cursed myself for waiting so long. I tucked 2 dozen into the freezer for later consumption.
These apple walnut cookies are autumnal and amazing. They are soft and spicy and sweet. I thought that the large amount of clove may be overwhelming and slightly numbing, but it wasn’t. The cinnamon was warm and perfect. I used some orange salt that I made last year instead of regular salt.
This is the sort of cookie you want with you on fall adventures. If you want a healthier cookie, this is one that could stand up to the addition of whole wheat flour without detracting from the overall texture of the cookie. Substitute another nut if you don’t like walnuts. However, mom suggested toasting the walnuts for a few minutes before adding them and I think it made a big difference. If you are like my kids and don’t like raisins, I think you could leave them out without affecting the quality of the cookie. These cookies would be excellent dipped in a brown butter frosting.
Because there are no real instructions on how to make these, as with most cookies, sift the dry ingredients together. Beat the fat and the sugar, add the eggs. Alternate additions of the dry ingredients and the milk. Fold in the apples, raisins, and walnuts at the end. I found that in my oven 11-14 minutes at 400° wasn’t quite right. I had better success with 14 minutes at 375°.
Update: I froze some of these apple walnut cookies and pulled them out of the freezer a few months later. They were still amazing!
The Recipe:
