English Toffee

This is my mom's recipe that she has made for years. She makes it every Christmas and gives and it is just a part of my childhood. I love English Toffee because it has that almost burnt flavor and it is crisp and just slightly sticks in your teeth (if you make it right). Candy can be tricky because you have to know about the different stages. Soft ball, hard ball, hard crack, etc. A good definition of all of these stages can be found here. Toffee is cooked to a higher temperature so that it reaches the hard-crack stage. If you don't have a candy thermometer, which I didn't have until this year, you can test your candy by dripping a little of the mixture into a cup of cold water. When it is crunchy it is ready.

My original recipe looks like this

1 pound butter

2 cups sugar

2 Tbls. water

Cook over high heat.

Color of a new penny

Pour in pan.

Melt chocolate, pour over toffee. Nuts.

I think I will give a little more instruction here.

English Toffee

1 pound butter (I use salted)

2 cups granulated sugar

2 Tbls water

1 pound milk chocolate, chopped

1 cup finely chopped almonds (I used roasted salted and my mom always uses smoked)

Line a large rimmed cookie sheet with foil and set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over med. low heat. When melted, add the sugar and water. Turn the heat to med. high and stir until sugar dissolves. The mixture will begin to bubble. Continue to stir until it reaches hard crack stage (305F on a candy thermometer). It really is about the color of a new penny.

Immediately remove from heat and our into prepared cookie sheet and spread evenly with a wooden spoon.

In a microwave, melt the chocolate in 30 second increments until it is fully melted. Pour over the toffee mixture and spread to cover evenly. Sprinkle with the chopped almonds.

Let stand until it is completely cooled. Break into pieces.

Homemade Oreos

Now how can you replicate an Oreo? When I was first married we used to buy Oreos and the entire bag would be gone in two days. They have that delicious crunchy chocolate cookie on the outside and the super fattening and sugar filled frosting in the center. I am a twist and lick person myself, but I also love dunking them in an ice cold glass of milk and then you get to drink the milk when you are finished with the little pieces of chocolate cookie floating around. So yummm...

I don't eat Oreos like I used to, but I still love them. This homemade version is a really great recipe. I thought the mixing process was odd for a cookie. You put it together backwards by adding the wet ingredients last and there is no "creaming" of the butter and sugar. This makes for a sandy textured cookie, crisp on the outside, but slightly chewy in the center. The frosting is really good too. Very vanilla tasting. This cookie is definitely hard to resist. A definite winner for a Christmas cookie.

Homemade Oreos

Makes 25 to 30 sandwich cookies

For the chocolate wafers:

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

½ cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 to 1½ cups sugar*

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) room-temperature, unsalted butter

1 large egg

For the filling:

¼ cup (½ stick) room-temperature, unsalted butter

¼ cup vegetable shortening

2 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Set rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat to 375 degrees.

In a food processor, or bowl of an electric mixer, (I used a mixer)thoroughly mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt, and sugar.

While pulsing, or on low speed, add the butter, and then the egg. Continue processing or mixing until dough comes together in a mass.

Take rounded teaspoons of batter and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet approximately 2 inches apart. With moistened hands, slightly flatten the dough. Bake for 9 minutes, rotating once for even baking. Set baking sheets on a rack to cool.

To make the cream, place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and at low speed, gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla. Turn the mixer on high and beat for 2-3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.

To assemble the cookies, put the frosting in a large ziploc bag and cut off a 1/2 inch tip from the corner. Pipe about 1 teaspoon of filling onto the bottom side of one cookie. Place another cookie, equal in size to the first, on top of the cream. Lightly press, to work the filling evenly to the outsides of the cookie. Continue this process until all the cookies have been sandwiched with cream.

*These are really good small so be careful about sizing your balls of dough.

Caramel Candy Bars

I have been baking, just nothing new. I have a few favorites that people request which also make great holiday cookies. I came across this recipe because I was looking for a way to use up a 14oz bag of Kraft Caramels that I had in the cupboard. This was easy to make and was very delicious. I didn't use the nuts because not everyone likes nuts and I was sending these off to school with my husband. I was surprised at how well these bars held together because the dough was so crumbly. Nice and rich and overall a great recipe.

Caramel Candy Bars

1 bag (14oz) caramels

1/3 cup milk

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 cups quick cooking or old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts or dry roasted peanuts

Heat oven to 350F. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick spray

Heat caramels and milk in 2 quart saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently, until smooth

Stir together, flour, oats, brown sugar, baking soda, salt and egg in large bowl. Stir in butter with fork (I usd my hands) until mixture is crumbly. Press half of the crumbly mix in the pan.

Bake 10 minutes. Remove from the oven sprinkle chocolate chips and nuts over the baked layer then drizzle with the melted caramel. Sprinkle with remaining crumbly mixture. Gently pat together. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 30 minutes. Loosen edges from sides of the pan; cool completely.

Giant Ultra Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

When my husband took a bite of these he immediately said, "Mmmm. These-are-so-good," with extreme empahasis on each word. I really think these are his new favorite. Even though chocolate chip cookies are such a basic kind of a cookie, it is still fun to try new recipes because they all come out so different. The special little addition in these is an extra egg yolk. The added fat gives them a great chew and that is how I love my chocolate chip cookies. CHEWY! I used these adorble little striped Christmas white chocolate chips. They were delicious as are chocolate chips I am sure. The butter is melted and so I just whipped the whole thing by hand. No electric appliances necessary. If you love chewy cookies you should really give these a try and they would make a great Christmas treat for friends and neighbors.

Giant Ultra Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 c plus 2 Tablespoons flour, spooned and leveled

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3/4 c butter, melted and cooled to warm

1 c brown sugar

1/2 white sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 c chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk together the dry ingredients and set aside.

In a mixing bowl whisk the melted butter and sugars by hand. About 2 minutes.

Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.

Add the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon until it still has some flour streaks. Add the chocolate chips and stir until just incorporated.

Scoop into scant 1/4 cups and bake on prepared baking sheet for 15-17 minutes.

*I only put 4 on a pan at once. They need room to spread. Yields 18 giant cookies.

*Another note: I also like to use salted butter when I make chocolate chip cookies. I think they taste better a little saltier.

Pumpkin Crumble Bars

Here is my other pumpkin recipe and I'm sure that more will follow. I still haven't made pumpkin bread yet this year and it is one of my husband's favorites. These were de-licious. The filling is moist and custard-like, like a pumpkin pie, but I didn't think they were as spicy as the pumpkin pie that I make. Once again a crumble topping which I love. I think that I mostly love crumble toppings because I get to eat the crumbs that are left behind after I put the treats on a plate to serve. The recipes doesn't call for anything fancy, but the treats definitely look like a little extra effort was made to create them.

Pumpkin Crumble Bars

For the base and the topping:

1 1/2 c quick oats

1 1/4 c flour

3/4 c brown sugar

1/2 c chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 c butter, room temperature

Filling:

2 c pumpkin puree (You will need a large can)

2/3 c milk

1/3 c brown sugar

1 egg

1 Tablespoon pumpkin pie spice

[or 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 3/4 tsp ginger, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp allspice]

Preheat oven to 375F and lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Combine the ingredients for the base. Beat until crumbly. Reserve 1 1/2 c of the crumb mixture for the topping. Press the remaining mixture into the greased 9x13 baking dish.

Bake at 375F for 10 minutes.

Prepare the filling. Beat ingredients until well blended. Spread over crust; sprinkle with the remaining crumb mixture. Bake for 25 minutes at 375F. Cool and cut into bars.

New Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies

While sorting through some old magazines, I came across this recipe from Cottage Living. It looked good and I wanted to make something new and I had all of the ingredients. This was a really great cookie. At first I thought they were going to be dry, but I was careful not to over bake them and they turned out soft. The cookies themselves are not overly sweet which is great because they are sandwiched with frosting. They have just the slightest hint of cinnamon to deepen the flavor and I will certainly make these again.

New Old-Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies

1 1/4 cups butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

3 cups oats, rolled or quick

Preheat oven to 375F.

Beat butter and sugars with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add egg and vanilla, beating well.

Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl and whisk together. Add to the butter mixture. Add oats; stir well. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto baking sheets lined with parchment papre. Bake at 375F for 9-11 minutes. Cool on pan 2 to 3 minutes. Remove cookies from pan and cool on wire racks.

Spread 1 tablespoon cream filling over bottom side of half of the cookies. Top with remaining cookies, right side up.

Cream Filling

1/2 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1 to 2 tablespoons whipping cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat ingredients together until combined and light and fluffy.

World Peace Cookies

I don't know what to say about these cookies except that they are probably the best cookie I have ever eaten. They are not your typical chewy, crispy, or cakey cookie. They are a sable which is a French cookie and the name means sandy. They are crumbly, yet chewy at the same time and you slice and bake them. This gives them that uniform quality. The recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan and I am dying to get her new cookbook Baking: From My Home to Yours. These cookies are also known as Korova Cookies. My sister was visiting this weekend and we decided to try the recipe out.

The recipe calls for a salt called fleur de sel, which is supposedly expensive and I have no clue where you would buy it in Bakersfield. Next time I will have to find it online. I hear the recipe is also that much better if you use dutch processed cocoa powder, but I also could not find that. This cookie is all about the ingredients. Use real vanilla extract (I used an awesome Mexican vanilla), a good quality cocoa powder, fine sea salt (if you can't get fleur de sel), great tasting bittersweet chocolate, and a nice tasting butter. I wouldn't bother trying these cookies without great ingredients. When I tasted them they actually tasted expensive--I don't know if you get what I mean. So now I have joined the numbers of people who are also in love with these cookies.

World Peace/Korova Cookies

1 1/4 cups all purpose Flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder or dutch processed

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 Tbls) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 tsp fleur de sel or 1/4 tsp fine sea salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into small bits

Makes about 36 cookies.

In a small bowl, sift the flour, cocoa, and baking soda together.

In a large bowl, beat the butter until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt, and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.

Pour the flour into the the creamed mixture and stir very slowly. At this point it is importnat to just get it combined. The dough will be dry and maybe a little crumbly--for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible. Add the chocolate pieces and stir in just until incorporated.

Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one have at a time, gently shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen up to 2 months.)

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Working with a sharp knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. ( The rounds are likely to crack as you are cutting them--don't worry, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Place the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them. They don't spread much.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes. It was the perfect time in my oven. Let them cool for a few minutes on the sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. They will be really delicate until they are cooled.

White Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookies

My sister discovered this recipe last Christmas and it has become one of my favorites. I have never been much of a white chocolate fan. I guess I am a dark chocolate snob, but after making these cookies I have completely change my ways and I now love white chocolate. It just hast to be paired with the right ingredients. It goes so well with the pecans and the craisins in these cookies. Instead of white chocolate chips I used a Ghiradelli white chocolate bar chopped up. Something about a large chocolate bar looks pretty to me...I must be weird. This is a great recipe that I encourage you to try.

White Chocolate Chip Craisin Cookies

3 c flour

1 tsp soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 c unsalted butter

1 c brown sugar

3/4 c sugar

2 eggs

1 Tbls vanilla

1c crasins

1 1/2 c white chocolate chips

1 c pecans, chopped (You could substitute another kind)

Preheat oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

Slowly add the flour mixtures to the cream mixture. Stir until almost incorporated. Add the crasins, white chocolate, and pecans. Mix until everything is just together.

Roll into heaping spoonfuls and bake at 350F. The time varies. I made heaping tablespoonfuls and baked for 11 min. The recipe calls for huge cookies that you bake for 15 min. So you may want to watch the first batch, depending on how large you make them.

Cranberry Orange (Almond) Cookies

Another fabulous cookie recipe. I actually think these would be a great flavor at Christmas time. (A little hard to think about Christmas when it is only May). The orange zest adds just the right amount of orange flavoring. They are nice and buttery and just a little crumbly. The almonds were my own addition to the recipe because I have a friend who gave me a bunch. The toasted flavor gets spread throughout the cookie and because they are ground so finely, you are never actually biting into a nut but the flavor is there. You could also leave them out, but I think it was a succesful experiment and will definitely be making these again.

Cranberry Orange (Almond) Cookies

2c flour

1 1/2 tsp powder

1/4 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 c butter

1 c sugar

1 egg

zest of one orange (1Tbls)

3/4 c toasted ground almonds (optional)

3/4 c dried cranberries

Toast 3/4 c whole almonds in the oven at 400F for 5 min. Toss then put them back in the oven for another 5 min. This enhances the flavor of the nuts. Let cool and then grind nuts into a powder in a food processor. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and orange zest. Gradually add the flour mix and the almonds. Stir until just incorporated. Stir in the cranberries. Drop dough into rounded tablespoonfuls on baking sheet and then flatten tops. Bake for 9-12 min. until edges are golden brown.

Jam Thumbprints

I love these cookies. My mom always made them at Christmas time, but they would taste great any time of year. Last February I went to Washington, DC and I bought some plum jam at Mt. Vernon. When I got home I was trying to think about what to make and I thought, "This would taste great in jam thumbprints." I actually made these cookies a while ago before this blog was going, but I happened to take a picture, so I'm posting it now. If you claim to not be a nut fan and you try to make these without nuts, I don't think they will taste as good. The nuts make these cookies what they are. Just chop them really fine. I am always looking for ways to use ingredients I already have so I drizzled the tops with melted white chocolate-I highly recommend it.

Jam Thumbprints

1/2 c butter

1/2 c brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg yolk

1 c flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg white

1 c chopped nuts (I used almonds. Pecans or walnuts would also be great)

Jam-Raspberry, plum, apricot, strawberry...

Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla. Add the egg yolk and beat until fluffy. Add flour and salt; mixing well.

Shape into 3/4" balls; dip in slightly beaten egg whites, then roll in finely chopped nuts.

Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Press down center of each with thumb.

Bake at 350F for 15 min. Cool slightly then fill prints with 1/4 tsp each of jam. (You may have to push the centers in a little more before putting the jam in.)

Black-Bottom Coconut Bars

These are awesome. They don't taste too sweet, which I like. There is just enough chocolate and they aren't super gooey. They are the perfect little bite of chocolate and coconut. They are easy to make too. I found this recipe from the Martha Stewart website. A lot of the cookie recipes on there are great.

Black-Bottom Coconut Bars

For the Chocolate Base

1/2 c unsalted butter

1/2 c sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1/4 c unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 c flour

For the Coconut Topping

2 eggs

3/4 c sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 c flour

1 package (7oz) sweetened coconut; 1/2 cup reserved for sprinkling

1. For chocolate base: Preheat oven to 375F. Line a 9 inch square baking pan with foil, leave a slight overhang; grease the bottom and sides of the foil (not overhang).

2. Place butter in a large microwave-safe bowl; melt in microwave. Add sugar and salt; whisk to combine. Whisk in egg, then cocoa and flour until smooth. Spread batter in prepared pan. (It will be a thin layer).

3. Bake just until sides begin to pull away from the edges of the pan, 10-15 minutes (do not overbake). Let cool slightly while preparing the coconut topping. Keep oven on.

4. For coconut topping: In a medium bowl, whisk eggs with sugar and vanilla. Gently mix in flour and coconut (except 1/2 c reserved for sprinkling).

5. Drop mounds of mixture over chocolate base; spread and pat in gently and evenly with moistened fingers. Sprinkle with reserved 1/2 c coconut.

6. Bake until golden and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs, 25-30 min. Cool completely in pan. Lift cake from pan, peel off foil, and cut into 24 bars. Store in an airtight container 3 to 4 days.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Cookies

I can't remember where I got this recipe from, but I love it. I made these for Joey's students. They are testing this week and we thought it would be fun to have a little homemade "brain food." One student commented, "Your wife needs to open her own bakery. Her cookies are so good." Too much work. Making cookies in mass quantities just doesn't really appeal to me. These are a very good chocolate cookie if you want to use cocoa powder and don't want to fuss with melting chocolate. I have made these plain and used them for ice cream sandwiches, put in Reese's Pieces...they would also be good with peanut butter chips. Once I even sandwiched marshmallow creme between them (Very good, by the way). They make a lot of cookies. I made them with a medium sized ice cream scoop and got 46 cookies. Luckily they were leaving the house so I wouldn't eat them all. This time I made them with white chocolate chips-About 2 cups.

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Cookies (Sorry, no fancy name)

1 1/4 c butter, softened

2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

3 c flour

3/4 c cocoa

1 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c milk

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, soda, and salt.

Alternately add the flour mixture and milk to the creamed mixture.

Add in chips, nuts, etc. if desired.

Roll into balls and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 11-15 min. Cool on wire racks.

Note: The dough should be pretty sticky and not dry. The cookies spread, so give them room.

Lime Meltaways

I know. Enough with the citrus themed desserts! Don't be fooled by the humble appearance of these little cookies. They have become one of Joey's favorites. They are just small enough to pop in your mouth and they sort of melt. They are not a soft, chewy cookie--more flakey I guess you could say. The lime gives them a little zip. I think they make a perfect little cookie when you are in the mood for something different.

I still have a roll of dough of these in the freezer. You can fit a ton on the pan because they don't spread.

Lime Meltaways

12 Tbls butter, room temperature

1 c powdered sugar, divided into 1/3 and 2/3

Grated zest of 2 limes

2 Tbls lime juice (About 2 limes)

1 Tbls vanilla

1 3/4, plus 2 Tbls Flour

2 Tbls Cornstarch

1/4 tsp salt

Cream butter and 1/3 c of the powdered sugar until fluffy. Add lime zest, juice, and vanilla. Beat until fluffy.

In medium bowl whisk flour, cornstarch, and salt. Add to the butter mixture. Beat low until combined.

Roll dough into 2 1 1/4 " logs. Wrap in wax paper and chill at least 1 hour.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment . Place remainig 2/3 c powdered sugar in a resealable plastick bag. Slice dough into 1/8" rounds. Place rounds on baking sheets 1"apart. Bake about 13-15 min or until barely golden. While still warm, toss in the sugar to coat then cool on wire racks.

*The dough itself is not very sweet so don't be alarmed. They taste just right with the powdered sugar coating them. You can also store these in the freezer if you don't want to bake them right away and slice them frozen.