Soft Coconut Cookies

It's impossible to find semisweet chocolate here so instead of making chocolate chip cookies, I tried a new recipe for soft coconut cookies. I used to make macaroons when I was younger but find them too sweet now. This one was a nice touch of coconut without being overwhelmingly sweet nor chewy. I baked them 3 trays for different lengths and lightly browned looks the best. Made 39 cookies.
To try: One reviewer suggested using just 1 c sugar (instead of both sugars) and juice+zest of one lime.

• 
  2.5 c coconut (2 c for toasting, 1/2 c plain)
  
• 2.5 c flour (used 2 c Dutch bread flour, 1/2 c German flour)
• 1 t baking soda
• 3/4 t salt
• 185 g butter, room temp (original was 225 g/1 c, but Dutch butter is weird, so reduced it)
• scant 3/4 c brown sugar (mostly donkere, but with a touch of light)
• 3/4 c sugar (Dutch fine)
• 2 eggs
• 1.5-2 t vanilla

1. Spread 2 cups of coconut in pan over induction heat 5, stirring constantly until golden brown. Be careful not to burn. Immediately transfer to bowl to cool.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, soda and salt.
3. In large bowl, beat the butter and sugars for 3 minutes.
4. Beat in eggs, one at a time.
5. Stir in vanilla.
6. Add flour mixture until just combined.
7. Add toasted coconut and mix until just combined. Do not overmix.
8. Place plain coconut in bowl (can be chopped up further). Roll dough into small balls and dip one side in coconut.
9. Place on parchment lined cookie sheet. 
10. Press down cookies since they will not spread very much in oven (thus, there is no need to refrigerate the dough either). 
11. Bake for 9-12 min at 175-180C until just beginning to brown at edges (or slightly less). 
12. Cool on wire rack.
13. Store in airtight container.

Ginger Molasses Cookies - soft and chewy

Despite the weird Dutch ingredients, these actually turned out soft and chewy even though they spread flat. In North America this might make a thicker cookie as it's meant to be. A bit too much clove for my taste, but otherwise good. This makes a very large amount of cookies, which is fine if you have people to share with. If not, might be good to cut the recipe in half. Mine all spread very quickly in the baking process but rose, and then deflated when taken out of the oven. I tried adding more flour to reduce spread but it was hard to mix in once it was chilled.

• 1.5 c butter, room temperature
• 1 c sugar (Dutch fine)
• 1 c brown sugar (Dutch basterd suiker - lichte and donkere mixed)
• 1/2 c unsulfured molasses
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 4.5 c (639 g) flour, or more
• 4 t baking soda (yes this is a lot)
• 1 T ginger
• 2 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t cloves (reduced from 1 t)
• 1 t salt
• dip: sugar (Dutch regular, bigger than fijn)

1. In a medium bowl sift the flour, soda, spices and salt.
2. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugars.
3. Mix in the eggs one at a time and then the molasses.
4. Gradually add in the flour mixture until it is combined. If it is too sticky, add more flour.
5. Cover tightly and rest in fridge for at least 2 hours.
6. Preheat oven to 350F/175C. 
7. Roll into small balls, about 1" diameter. Roll in sugar and place on parchment lined baking tray. Chill until oven is ready.
8. Bake for 8-10 min until the cookies start to crack on top (mine never cracked, so just baked before they were fully cooked). Cool on tray for 4-5 min, then transfer to rack. (Or if overbaked, transfer right away).
9. Can be kept on counter in sealed container for 4 days or frozen for 3 months.

Gingerbread House

I've bought a kit the past few times we've put together gingerbread houses but with so much extra time at home I figured I'd try making them from scratch. This is a multi-day project. Day 1 make the dough. Day 2 bake the shapes. Day 3+ build and decorate. This was enough to make 4 small houses and 3 cookie people.

12/25/21 Day 1 made half batch of dough (did not have allspice so used nutmeg instead, forgot to add the lemon zest). Day 2 cut shapes for 2 houses and 2 people and 1 snowman, baked - overcooked first batch again - lowered temperature for next batch and was just right. Adjusting below as I recall the first time the first batch burned as well. Made mortar using 1 egg white, 1.5 c powdered sugar, and 1/8 t cream of tartar. Kids and I assembled and decorated. Ate cookies for dessert. 
Jan '23 Made 3 houses and cookies. Used something labeled as blackstrap molasses, but it did not come out as awful as the internet said it would for not being regular molasses. It came from the UK.

• 6.5-7 c flour
• 1 heaping T ginger
  
• 1 heaping T cinnamon
• 2 dashes of allspice
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 1/4 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 2 sticks butter, room temp (1 cup = 227 g)
• 1.25 c dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 c molasses
• 1 lemon's zest
• Icing: 2 room temperature egg whites, 3 c confectioner's sugar, 1/2 t cream of tartar
• Decorations: candy, sprinkles, chocolate chips, shredded coconut, nuts, wafers

1. In a side bowl, combine the flour, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, soda, powder and salt.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar (at least 5 min).
3. Add eggs, 1 at a time. Add molasses.
4. Add half the flour mixture and mix until combined. Add half the remaining and combine again. Add the remainder. Sprinkle zest in and stir, adding more flour to reduce stickiness until the right consistency.
5. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

Day 2

1. Cut the dough into thirds (or halves or quarters, depending on the size of your house). Roll each piece to 1/4" thick (no more than 1/3" thick), between 2 pieces of parchment (or parchment and the plastic wrap). 
2. Use a template and cut out two of each: sides, front, roof. Place on parchment paper on cookie sheet. [I explored several templates and decided to try a medium-small size]
3. Bake at 350 for 17-20 min until done 325F/160C for 15-18 min until done.
4. Transfer the parchment paper to a cooling rack. If the shapes have spread or have uneven sides, slice them right away while still soft. Continue to cool on rack. 
5. Repeat with remaining pieces for each house. Roll out any remaining dough into cookies and bake for slightly less (house pieces bake for longer to ensure they are nice and sturdy). 
6. Store on flat surface, separated by parchment paper to continue to dry out overnight.

Day 3 (or 4, 5, 6)

1. Make the mortar icing.
1. Whip 2 egg whites until foamy. Add 1/2 t cream of tartar. Continue to mix for 30 sec.
2. Add in 3 c powdered sugar, a little bit at a time.
3. Once sugar is incorporated, turn mixer to high and beat until thick and icing holds its shape (3-5 min).
4. Store covered.
2. If you don't have a tray that isn't needed for a week+, then wrap a piece of cardboard in aluminum foil as a base.
3. Brace yourself and then assemble the pieces using the icing on the tray/base.
4. Decorate with candy and sprinkles (or do this on a later day).   

Snickerdoodles

Key ingredient is cream of tartar. If you don't have it, make another cookie! These turn out very soft. Lost my original recipe but these turned out fantastic.

• 1 c butter, softened
• 1.5 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 t vanilla
• 2.75 c flour
• 1.5 t cream of tartar
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 t salt

Dip

• 1/4 c sugar
• 1.5 T cinnamon

1. Cream butter and sugar for 5 minutes.
2. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. Add dry ingredients and stir until just combined.
4. optional: Chill for 15-20 min.
5. Preheat oven to 350. Combine dip ingredients.
6. Roll dough into small balls and roll in dip. Place on parchment lined paper. Take each ball and roll AGAIN with a spoon, scooping dip on top and pressing down lightly with spoon.
7. Bake for 9-10 min. Err on the side of shorter to ensure soft cookie.
8. Cool on tray for 2 min before moving to cooling rack.
9. Store any leftover dip in small jar.

Strawberry Cookies

XBD wanted to make strawberry cookies specifically, not strawberry muffins. We made muffins first but then he wanted to make strawberry muffin cookies - putting a cookie on top of a muffin. It didn't come to that but we enjoyed these cookies and shared with neighbors at the playground.

• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 2 T lemon juice
• 1 3/4 c flour
• pinch of salt
• 1.5 t baking powder
• 1 c fresh strawberries, chopped

1. In a large bowl, mix the sugar and butter.
2. Add the egg, vanilla and lemon juice and mix until combined.
3. In separate bowl, combine flour, salt and powder. Combine dry ingredients with wet.
4. Fold in the strawberries until just combined.
5. Place on parchment lined sheet.
6. Optional: sprinkle with sugar
7. Bake for 15-18 min.
8. Cool completely and enjoy. Keep leftovers in airtight container in fridge.

Chocolate Mint Thumbprint Cookies

These were fun to make.

12/24/20 Still fun to make. MM did not care for them because the mint was not strong enough for him. This time I also couldn't find the confectioners sugar, so put some granulated sugar in a food processor for a while to substitute. It did not get nearly as fine, but it cut it down in size a bit.

• 
  1 c + 2.5 T flour
  
• 1/4 c cocoa
• 3/4 c butter, softened
• 1/2 c confectioners sugar
• 1.5 t vanilla
• 1/4 t salt

Filling

• 3/4 c semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 T butter
• 1/4 t peppermint extract

1. Sift the flour and cocoa together in small bowl.
2. In large bowl, beat the sugar and butter together.
3. Beat in the vanilla and salt.
4. Stir in the flour mixture.
5. Chill until firm, about 40-60 min.
6. Preheat oven to 350F. 
7. Make 1" balls and place about 2" apart. 
8. Using your thumb, pinky or circular wooden handle, make a deep well, almost to the bottom of the cookie.
9. Bake one sheet at a tme 8-9 min until tops of cookies look dry.
10. Redefine the indentation.
11. Let cool on the sheet for 5 min, then transfer to wire rack.
12. FILLING: Heat the chocolate and butter in double boiler (heat proof bowl over simmering water) until almost melted - about 2-4 min. Remove from heat and stir in mint. Cool (stir every 30-40 min). Fill piping bag and fill in cookies.
13. Store in airtight container up to 1 day at room temperature.

Cocoa Cookies with Raspberry Filling

This was annoyingly time consuming to make. I used the star shape and the elephant shapes for the bases. The holes were the mini star, the baby elephant, or a handcut circle.

• 3/4 c butter, softened
• 1 c sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 1/4 c flour
• 1/3 c cocoa
• 1/2 t powder
• pinch salt
• raspberry jam (~12 t)

1. Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy.
2. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
3. Combine the flour, cocoa, powder and salt. Add to wet mixture in 2 additions.
4. Divide the dough in half. Flatten into discs. Wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate for 1-24 hours.
5. Roll out each disc to 1/4" thickness in between wax sheets.
6. Using large (2") cutter, cut 24 cookies. Using smaller cutter, cut out 1/2" hole. With remaining dough, cut out another 24 cookies, but without the hole.
7. Place 1 inch apart on parchment lined sheets.
8. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 min.
9. Bake 2 sheets at a time, top and bottom thirds at 350. Rotate and switch halfway through. Bake about 12 minutes.
10. Once cooled, spread ~1/2 t jam on bottom cookie and top with holed cookie.

Cinnamon Swirl Cookies

Made this a few times. First time dough was too dry and hard to roll. Next time reduced the flour and the dough was moist, easy to roll and cookie did not fall apart.

12/24/20 This is still a family favorite - it is a nice texture and flavor, especially once you've stuffed yourself with chocolate chip cookies all year long.
Dec '22: Yum
12/20/23: Made for class party. Leftovers enjoyed by AO. Accidentally combined sugar-cinnamon with the melted butter which made it harder to spread.

• 
  2 c flour, plus extra as needed
  
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/4 t salt
• 3/4 c butter, softened
• 2/3 c sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 t vanilla
• 2 T butter, melted
• 1/4 c sugar + 1 T cinnamon

1. Combine flour to salt in bowl.
2. Beat butter for 1 min until creamy. Beat in sugar until creamed and smooth (2 min).
3. Add the egg and vainlla and beat another 1 min.
4. Add dry ingredients to bowl. If dough is too soft, add 1 T of flour until better consistency for rolling.
5. Divide the dough in half. Roll each into 9x7" rectangle, to about 1/4" thick. Spread 1 T butter. Spread half sugar-cinnamon mixture.
6. Roll into 9" log. Smooth out any cracks.
7. Chill for 2 hours, covered loosely in plastic wrap. (Chill up to 2 days, or freeze up to 3 months)
8. Slice into 1/2" slices and place on parchment lined cookie sheets.
9. Bake at 350F for 10-11 min until lightly browned on the sides.
10. Remove from oven and cool on sheet for 5 min, then remove to finish cooling.

Zucchini Cookie Sandwiches

everybody enjoyed these at a potluck today (along with a chicken salad). I cut the filling down to be less sweet and also only enough to sandwich some of the cookies. Inspired by marthastewart, but adjusted to reduce the amount of filling and sugar/butter ratio to cream cheese in said filling.

• 1 c flour
• 1 1/4 t cinnamon
• dash of cloves
• dash of nutmeg
• 1/2 t soda
• 1/2 t powder
• 1/4 t coarse salt
• 1 1/4 sticks butter, room temp; divided
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1/2 c brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 t vanilla
• 1 c finely grated zucchini (1 zuc)
• 1 c rolled oats
• 1/2 c chopped walnuts
• 4 oz cream cheese
• 1/4 c confectioners sugar, sifted

1. Combine flour, spices, rising agents and salt into a small bowl.
2. Mix 1 stick of butter and the sugars.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla.
4. Combine in flour mixture.
5. Mix in zucchini, oats and walnuts.
6. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. 
7. Drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until edges are golden, about 17 minutes.
8. Let cool on wire rack.
9. For sandwich filling, combine 1/4 stick butter, cream cheese and the sifted icing sugar. Spread filling on a cookie and sandwich with another. Repeat. Refrigerate cookies.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Made these a couple days ago with E&E. They turned out a little too sweet and flat. I added more flour to subsequent batches and chilled the dough, which helped thicken and soften them up. Made another batch today and they came out nice and thick and soft.
6/12/22 Made for XBD class as birthday treat. Made 45 small cookies, perfectly soft.

• 1 3/4 sticks butter (scant 1 cup), softened
• 7/8 c brown sugar (scant 1 cup)
• scant 1/2 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1.5 c flour
• 1 t soda
• 1 t cinnamon
• 1/2 t cloves
• 1/2 t nutmeg
• 1/4 t ginger
• 1/2 t salt
• 3 c rolled oats
• 1 c raisins

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and spices.
2. In a large bowl, combine butter and sugars.
3. Add eggs and vanilla.
4. Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients.
5. Fold in oats, followed by raisins.
6. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake 10-15 minutes at 180C (mini oven middle rack). 

Notes
If cookie comes out too crisp, add flour or oats, lower the cooking rack, lower the temperature, or refrigerate the dough.

Cocoa Chocolate Chip Mint Cookies

Mmmm, delicious. C gave me her bottle of peppermint extract to experiment for a while. First on the list, mint cookies! I just made the first batch and they are deliciously soft, chocolaty and minty. After cooling they are still soft and taste like mint-chocolate chip ice cream (my favorite) in cookie form. Divine.

• scant 3/4 c butter (<1.5 stick), room temp
• 1/2 c sugar, scant
• 1/2 c brown sugar, scant
• 1 egg
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 t peppermint extract
• 1 3/4 c flour
• 1/4 c cocoa (I used Hintz)
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/4 t salt
• 1 c Hershey's really mildly sweet dark chocolate chips

1. Mash butter. Add sugars. Combine until creamy.
2. Add egg. Mix thoroughly.
3. In small bowl, combine flour, cocoa (sift if chunky), soda and salt.
4. Add extracts to wet mixture and mix.
5. Add flour mixture to wet mixture and stir until just combined.
6. Dump in chips and mix until spread evenly.
7. Drop spoonfuls of dough on non-greased cookie sheet.
8. Bake 180C for 8-15 minutes, depending on your oven and level of crispiness desired.

Notes

• The original called for greasing the sheet. I only greased half the sheet the first batch, and there wasn't a difference, so might as well skip this extra step.
• These cookies supposedly get very crispy if baked for too long. I like mine soft, so planned on baking 9 min. However, the mini-oven I use often doesn't seem to finish as quickly as a full sized oven, so the first batch I left in for 15 minutes. Second batch I started at above middle. They are incredibly soft out of the oven, and then later the outside crisps up a little bit.
• I made this again 2 days later, and the cookies came out flat. I eyeballed the butter both times - the first time was less than 3/4 c and the second time was probably a bit over 3/4 c. Definitely go with less butter for a thicker cookie.
• 6/10/10 Doubled the recipe.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe produces a thick and soft cookie. I modified the original recipe by reducing the sugar and butter. The *ed items have been reduced from the original.

• 1/2-3/4 c packed brown sugar*
• 1/2 c granulated sugar*
• 1 c butter, softened (not melted) (227 g)
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• 3/4 t salt
• 3/4 t baking soda
• 12 oz semisweet chocolate chips (1.5 c)
  
• optional: 1 c chopped walnuts or 1/2 c plumped craisins

1. Beat sugars and butter in large bowl on medium speed until fluffy, about 5 min. Beat in vanilla and eggs; beat in flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon on low speed. Stir in chocolate and nuts/craisins.
2. Drop dough by large spoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Flatten slightly if you want a final smooth look.
3. Bake at 375F/190C until edges are light brown, 11-14 minutes. Cool on grocery bags or paper towels (to soak up excess grease).
4. Makes 20-40 cookies, depending on size.

Going Beyond

• Add a dash of cinnamon with the dry ingredients for a spin on the flavor.
• Use almond extract instead of vanilla.
• Make the dough a day ahead and refrigerate until ready to bake.
  
• Freeze the cookies and then scoop vanilla or chocolate ice cream in between two cookies to make ice cream sandwiches. Use more sugar and butter or higher heat to get flatter cookies better for sandwiching.