Chocolate Swirls

These Chocolate Swirls are not as tasty as the Marble Cookies were that I made for the holidays.  They're not bad, they taste fine, but I'm not crazy about the consistency of them.  They seem a little chewier than they ought to be. 

CHOCOLATE SWIRLS

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).


In large bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in cream cheese, egg, and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; mix into creamed mixture to form a soft dough. Fold in the melted chocolate until the dough is just marbled. Do not over mix. Drop dough by heaping teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are light golden brown. Cool completely before storing.

PERSONAL NOTES:

I used a mini ice cream scooper (the size about 1 tbls) to scoop the batter onto the cookies sheet.  It's just easier.  I highly recommend investing in one of these; they come in mighty handy.

Cookie Experiment: Oreo Cheesecake Truffle Cookies

Yes, I do sometimes sit around wondering how to improve my favorite cookie recipes. Or even the ones that aren't my favorite to make them better in general. But this recipe here brings together 2 of the better cookies from this past holiday season. Oreo Cheesecake Cookies and Cookie Balls. It's not all that complicated. I literally brought the two together to create:

OREO CHEESECAKE TRUFFLE COOKIES

INGREDIENTS (For the Oreo Cheesecake Cookies):

½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup Oreo cookie crumbs

DIRECTIONS:

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and well-combined.

Add the sugar and vanilla extract and mix until the ingredients are well-combined. Add the flour and mix on low until the flour is incorporated.

Scoop the cookies into about 1½ to 2″ balls and then roll in the cookie crumbs. Place the cookie balls on the baking sheet.



OREO TRUFFLE INGREDIENTS:

1 (16 ounce) package Oreo cookies , crushed

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese , softened

DIRECTIONS:

Using a blender or hand held mixer, mix Oreos and cream cheese together.  Chill for one hour.

To combine cookies and truffles...

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Scoop 1 tbls cookie dough and scoop 1 tsp Oreo truffle mix.  Place the truffle mix in the middle of the cookie dough and roll so truffle mix is completely covered.  Place the Oreo cookie crumbs in a small bowl. Roll dough in the Oreo cookie crumbs and place on cookie sheet. 

Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the tops are slightly puffed. Cool on the pan for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

YUM!!!

Italian Lemon (Jeanettes) Cookies

Finally!  Here's the recipe and directions for everyone's favorite holiday cookie.

This recipe was given to me by a little old Italian woman who has since passed away.  When she taught me, she literally took me by the hand and walked me through the whole process.  What a sweet woman.  After all these years I felt it was time to share the recipe.  I don't see any reason why not.  It's a family recipe; shouldn't it be shared?

ITALIAN LEMON (JEANETTES) COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:

5-6 CUPS flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 CUP sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp lemon extract

½ pound butter (2 sticks)

1 tsp salt

6 eggs

Icing: 1 cup Confectioner’s sugar, 2 tbls milk, ½ tsp lemon extract

Makes 6 dozen

DIRECTIONS:

1… Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2… Mix together the dry ingredients.  Make a “well” in the center and add butter and eggs to the center.  KNEAD the dough until smooth.  Continue adding small bits of flour until batter comes away clean from your hands.

3… Take tablespoon-sized portions of dough and roll them out (to about 4 1/2" - 5" pieces) and twist them. 

4...Place them on a cookie sheet.

5… Bake approximately 8 minutes. Cookies are done when the bottoms are golden brown and the tops just start to turn.

Once they've cooled completely, mix the confectioner sugar/milk/lemon extract in a small bowl.  Turn the cookies upside down and dip them in the icing.  Place them on wax paper to harden.

Then enjoy them!!!

Ghastly Meringues

When I saw these in Food Network Magazine recently (October issue) I knew I had to try them out. I'd never actually made meringue cookies before but figured it would be easy enough.

It was!  They only take about 5 minutes to whip up (literally) and another 5 to pipe the shapes onto the cookie sheet.  It's the baking that takes a while.  And frankly, I'm not sure if it's because they're still a little warm, but my ghosts aren't completely solid the whole way through.  So, as the recipe says "bake until dry, 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes" - you should do it!

Anyhow, here's the recipe:

GHASTLY MERINGUES

INGREDIENTS:

3 large egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar in a large bowl with a mixer on medium speed until frothy.  Beat in the sugar; increase the mixer speed to high and beat until stiff peaks form, 5-6 minutes.

2. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a large round tip.  Pipe 8-10 swirls on the prepared baking sheet.  Bake until dry, 1 hour to 1 hour, 15 minutes.  Transfer the baking sheet to a rack and let cool completely.

3. Put the chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl; microwave on 50 % power until melted, about 1 minute, stirring halfway.  Transfer the melted chocolate to a zip-top bag and snipa corner. Pipe the chocolate on the meringues to look like eyes.


NOTES:

Keep the meringues in the oven for the time specified!  My batch made closer to 16 cookies (about 40 calories per cookie).  I guess the piping tip was smaller than what the folks at Food Network used.

But they are yummy!