Mini Crisp Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

Mini Crisp Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

Most great cookies taste even better when morphed into a mini version. I made a batch of Crisp Sugar Cookie dough and make half of them into these cute little one-bite cookies, and the other half into Sugar Cookie and Dove Chocolate Sandwiches. Both are awesome, and both will be made again.
I've been blogging so much about sugar cookies lately that this seems to be all I have to say about this particular variation. Enjoy!

Mini Crisp Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened, but cool
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup rainbow nonpareils

Directions:

· Preheat oven to 325°F.

· Cream butter and sugar.

· Add vanilla and egg. 

· Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture.  Mix completely, but take care not to over mix.

· Line a 7x11 inch brownie pan with wax paper or parchment paper. Spread dough evenly into the lined pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
· Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

· After dough is chilled, remove from the refrigerator. Remove dough from pan by the edges of the wax/parchment paper and place on a cutting board. Cut long strips of dough so that you'll be able to cut dough into tiny squares, about 1/2-inch strips. Cut each strip into 1/4 inch slices. (If dough seems to be crumbly, wait about 10 minutes for it to warm up a little bit before completing the cutting.)
· Pour nonpareils onto a plate. Start with just enough to make a single layer on the plate, and be careful when pouring because the little guys bounce off pretty easily.
· Take little dough squares/rectangles one at a time and press gently into the nonpareils. Then place sprinkle side up on parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with more dough squares, leaving about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches between squares. (You can also place several little squares all over the nonpareils and then transfer to the baking sheet--it's faster that way, working in batches, if that makes sense.) Place unbaked dough back the refrigerator between batches--the dough gets too squishy when it warms up to room temperature.

· Bake at 325°F for 12-13 minutes, or until cookies are a light golden brown almost all over.

· Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

Makes about 14 dozen mini cookies

Mini Crisp Sugar Cookie & Dove Chocolate Sandwiches

Mini Crisp Sugar Cookie & Dove Chocolate Sandwiches

Yep. The sugar cookie kick continues. These ones are inspired by Pepperidge Farm Milano Cookies. I'm not saying that these cookies take like the Milanos; they're just sort of along the same lines. My son Ezra wanted to buy a bag of Milanos and I just couldn't bring myself to do it because they were almost $3.00 for a bag. I spent almost that same amount on a bag of Dove Dark Chocolate, and I made these. Actually, I made these and I made some little crisp sugar cookies with sprinkles. All of this is for our church potluck tomorrow, and I made the sprinkled version for the kiddos (and me) and the chocolate sandwich version for the adults. One recipe of dough, two types of cookies. I do that a lot. You know, only put nuts in half the chocolate chip cookies so as to please everyone. It usually keeps people happy. And these cookies are making me happy. I'll definitely be making these again. You should try them too. They're good.

Mini Crisp Sugar Cookie & Dove Chocolate Sandwiches 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened, but cool
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 bag (9.5 ounces) Dove Dark Chocolate Promises, unwrapped 
• 2 tablespoons vegetable/canola oil

Directions:

· Preheat oven to 325°F.

· Cream butter and sugar.

· Add vanilla and egg. 

· Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture.  Mix completely, but take care not to over mix.

· Line a 7x11 inch brownie pan with wax paper or parchment paper. Spread dough evenly into the lined pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1-2 hours.
· Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

· After dough is chilled, remove from the refrigerator. Remove dough from pan by the edges of the wax/parchment paper and place on a cutting board. Cut long strips of dough so that you'll be able to cut dough into tiny squares, about 1/2-inch strips. Cut each strip into 1/4 inch slices. (If dough seems to be crumbly, wait about 10 minutes for it to warm up a little bit before cutting.)

· Place little dough squares about 1 1/2 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 325°F for 12-13 minutes, or until cookies are a light golden brown almost all over.

· Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
· Make two large wax paper or parchment paper pastry cones (see photo below and/or watch How to Fold a Parchment Pastry Cone).
· Melt chocolate and vegetable oil in a double boiler until chocolate is about 3/4 melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until all of the chocolate is melted. Pour melted chocolate into the two pastry cones. 
· Fold top of a cone over to contain the chocolate. Snip a bit off the end (about 1/8 inch) and squeeze a blob of chocolate within 1/8 inch of the edge on the bottom of a cookie. Place chocolate side up on a wax paper lined cookie sheet. Top with another cookie so that the bottoms are both on the inside next to the chocolate. Repeat with remaining cookies, being careful to match cookie sizes as much as possible.
· Allow chocolate to set before serving. Store leftovers in an airtight container.

Makes about 7 dozen cookie sandwiches

Wax paper pastry cone--this is a small one.
You'll want the cones for this recipe
 a bit larger than this.

Cut dough. I ended up with squares and rectangles.
Next time, I'll have to spread the dough more evenly in the pan.

Lego Clone Trooper modeling to demonstrate
the size of these cute little sandwich cookies

Soft Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

Soft Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

Soooo...I guess I'm still on this sugar cookie kick. My sister-in-law and brother-in-law tried my ombre sugar cookies, and said they'd prefer them more soft than crisp. I baked the next pan of ombres a little less time, and they were met with approval. I figured, though, that by using a little cream cheese, I might achieve an even more desirable texture. I like what the cream cheese does to chocolate chunk cookies and snickerdoodles, anyway. We'll see what they say later, but for now, these are a nice soft, buttery sugar cookie. The thing I like about them is that they're not eggy like some soft sugar cookies I've tried. I bet they'll taste good with frosting too.
Anyway, that's all I've got to say about these. 

Soft Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened, but cool
• 2 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup (or so) rainbow nonpareils 

Directions:

· Preheat oven to 325°F.

· Cream butter, cream cheese and sugar.

· Add vanilla and egg. 

· Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture.  Mix completely, but take care not to over mix.
· Divide dough in half and form each half into a log and wrap in parchment or wax paper. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
· Carefully pour enough nonpareils onto a plate to make a single layer. Cut dough into 1/4 inch slices. Press one side of each circle of dough into the sprinkles and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, sprinkle side up.
· Fill the pan up, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between cookies. Bake at 325°F for 12-13 minutes, or until cookies are a light golden brown almost all over.
· Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

Makes about 4-5 dozen cookies

Cheesy Italian Bread

Cheesy Italian Bread

I'm not even sure how I got here today. I mean, I have lots of other things to do this weekend...Oh yeah. I'm a procrastinator. I procrastinate what I should be doing and work on other things. Like Cheesy Italian Bread. 

When I was a kid, growing up in La Palma, California, my mom used to shop at Alpha Beta, which later became Ralphs, which is now closed and empty from what I know. That is sad for so many reasons, but one of the treats my mom would buy on occasion, when she wanted to splurge, was a round loaf of bread that was almost what I would call a cheesy bready geode. The outside was browned, crusty, and partially covered with crusty cheddar cheese. The interior was a cavern, the walls of which were coated in a thick layer of cheddar cheese. We would slice it in about 1 inch slices and toast it. Then butter it. Oh my goodness. Toast with these deep grooves of melty cheddar cheese, all oozing with butter. Yes, this was a rare treat, but we had it often enough that I remember it well. I don't know what ever happened to that bread. We stopped buying it before the store closed. Maybe my mom became more sensible about what she fed us. I doubt that was it though...

At any rate, I'm attempting to do something similar here, with a bread I'm surprised I haven't blogged about yet. The reason I'm not doing the Italian bread on its own is because it's something my gluten-limited son would love, and I just don't have the heart to do that to him. I don't think he'd like all the cheese in this loaf. Somehow that makes me feel better about making it. Plus, I made a fresh batch of his favorite GF French Rolls today to keep him happy.

They seem to have changed this recipe slightly from when I got it from King Arthur Flour, but click here if you're interested in a non-cheese version of this bread--at least until I make it and post it here. That may not be until Max is in college, though, so you probably won't want to wait that long. And if you're into making bread, I'm sure you can figure out how to remove the cheese from this recipe below. Have fun.

Cheesy Italian Bread

     --adapted from KingArthurFlour.com

Ingredients:

Overnight Starter


• 3/4 cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

• 1/2 cup lukewarm water

• 1/8 teaspoon instant yeast



Dough


• 2 teaspoons instant yeast

• 2/3 cup water

• 2 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

• 1 1/4 teaspoons salt



Extras

• a small amount of vegetable or canola oil 
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water

Directions:

1. The Starter: Mix the starter ingredients in a small bowl, cover, and let rest at room temperature overnight. 



2.  Combine the ingredients as above, using a flat beater paddle or beaters, then switch to the dough hook(s) and knead for about 5 minutes; the dough should have formed a ball, but its surface will still be a bit rough. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased bowl or dough-rising bucket, cover the bowl or bucket, and allow the dough to rise for 90 minutes, turning it over and gently deflating it after 45 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 

425°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

4. Transfer the dough to a lightly greased work surface, and press and pull it to a rough 7 inch by 24 inch rectangle. Place shredded cheese evenly down the middle of the rectangle. Fold one of the long sides over the cheese and then wrap the other long side over so you make a sort of log with the dough that now has a cheesy interior. Pinch seams a little to seal the dough. Squeeze, pull, and stretch the log to about three feet. Then fold it in half and twist as much as you can, like a rope. Pinch the end that used to be two ends together to seal. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Cover with a piece of plastic wrap sprayed with non-stick cooking spray. Allow to rise for 60-90 minutes, or until well-puffed.

5. Brush the twisted loaf with the egg white glaze. Bake the bread in a preheated 425°F oven for 25 to 35 minutes. Remove it from the oven and cool it on a wire rack.

Yield: 1 cheesy loaf.

Little Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches (Dipped in Dove Chocolate)

Little Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches

It's Mother's Day weekend, and although I'm not one for celebrating Valentine's Day, my wedding anniversary, or New Year's Eve, I do expect a big deal on Mother's Day. I figure I've earned a celebration on this day, so I like to do it up. When thinking about what I might like to eat, I thought a Coffee Ice Cream Mud Pie would be nice, but I'm about the only person in my house who enjoys coffee ice cream, and an entire mud pie is just about the last thing I need. So I started to think smaller. Eventually I ended up thinking I should just scrape out the center of an Oreo and put a little scoop of coffee ice cream in there, dip the thing in chocolate and nuts and enjoy. So that's what I've done, essentially. I need to let them freeze a little longer before I have another, but the one I did try was fabulous. Just what I was going for. And I didn't even have to bake anything.
The amounts you see below are approximate, as this was one of my experiments that I didn't want to go ALL out on. Yes, I do show some restraint on occasion. I don't know if these will make it to Sunday, but even if they don't, I still have half a container of Haagen-Dazs coffee ice cream in my fridge. Maybe I'll see what else I can create with it later...

Little Oreo Ice Cream Sandwiches (Dipped in Dove Chocolate)

Ingredients:

• 24 Oreos
• 1 pint Haagen-Dazs coffee or vanilla ice cream
• 1 bag (9.5 ounces) Dove Milk Chocolate Promises, unwrapped
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup chopped lightly salted almonds (optional)

Directions:
Allow ice cream to soften slightly. 
Line a baking sheet with wax paper.
Carefully open up the Oreos and scrape out the cream filling and discard it.
Lay Oreo wafers with the inside/bottom side up.
Using a medium sized spring action cookie scoop (I used my Pampered Chef scoop), scoop a level scoop of ice cream and deposit it in the center of an Oreo wafer. Repeat with half the wafers so you have 24 scoops on 24 of the wafers.
Using a spatula or a spoon, slightly flatten the rounded top of each ice cream scoop and then top each one with another Oreo wafer. Press gently to make the sandwich, but be careful not to break the wafer.
Cover and freeze little sandwiches for at least two hours.
In the top of a double boiler, melt the unwrapped Dove chocolate promises with the vegetable oil. Melt the chocolate only about 2/3 of the way, and then stir to finish melting. If there are pieces that remain unmelted after 3-4 minutes of stirring, return to top of double boiler for a few seconds and stir some more to melt completely.
Line another pan with wax or parchment paper. Dip a little ice cream sandwich about halfway into the chocolate, using a silicone spatula to help coat up the sides for better coverage. Dip one side and the edge in the chopped nuts, if desired. Set on the clean wax/parchment paper. Repeat with remaining sandwiches. 
Set the pan in the freezer for another hour or so or as long as you can take it, and then enjoy.
Keep uneaten sandwiches covered and frozen.

Makes 24 little sandwiches

Ombre Sugar Cookies

Ombre Sugar Cookies
My regular camera wouldn't capture the color well.
My iPhone did.

I guess I'm on a sugar cookie roll here. First of all, I really, really like the taste of these cookies. They're one of my current favorites. Secondly, I love using color in my baking when I can. I was going to try making another version of my Colorful Sugar Cookies, and then I thought "ombre." I remember seeing some awesome rainbow cookies on Pinterest a while ago, and decided to use a similar layering method, and make them rectangular. Well, as you can see, my cookies aren't quite rectangular, but they are ombre, and they are delicious. I might try making a lemon flavored one next and use yellow gel food color. Now I just need to figure out who to give these to so that I don't eat them all. Story of my life.

Ombre Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened, but cool
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• gel food color

Directions:

· Prepare a square baking pan by lightly greasing the bottom and sides of the pan (helps the   paper stick) and then placing a piece of wax or parchment paper in the interior. Crease the corners to make it conform to the iside of the pan.

· Cream butter and sugar.

· Add vanilla and egg. 

· Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture.  Mix completely, but take care not to over mix.
· Put in one drop of gel food color and mix completely. Remove 1/3 of the dough to the prepared pan and press with fingers/spread with offset spatula unti you have a flat layer.
· Add two more drops of the same gel food color to the remaining dough and mix completely. Remove half of the remaining dough and spread it over the first layer in the pan.
· Add two more drops of the same gel food color to the last third of the dough and mix completely. Spread the last of the dough over the other layers. Place a layer of plastic wrap on the top of the dough so that it touches the dough.
· Refrigerate pan of dough for at least one hour.
· Preheat oven to 325°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
· Remove pan from the refrigerator, pull dough out using the edges of the paper, and cut dough into four equal strips. Wrap three strips of dough in plastic wrap. You can either refrigerate them if you plan to bake them along with the rest, or you can freeze the strips for baking later.
· Cut the strip of dough into 1/4 inch slices. Place slices about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet. Be sure to place them so the pattern shows.
· Bake at 325°F for 12-13 minutes, or until cookies are puffed and set.
· Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.
· Store uneaten cookies in an airtight container or baggie.

Makes about 80 cookies

Crisp Sugar Cookies

Crisp Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

Crisp Sugar Cookies with Frosting (recipe at the bottom)

Today I was previewing some vocabulary with my kindergarten students. One of the picture cards had these frosted star shaped sugar cookies. They reminded me of these cookies a fellow English teacher made me when I worked at Milwaukie High School in Milwaukie, Oregon. (Yeah, I've been around the teaching block.) On Valentine's Day, I went to my teacher's mailbox and found a heart shaped frosted sugar cookie, wrapped carefully in red cellophane. It made my day. It might have been the best sugar cookie I've ever eaten. I think it was just made from Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookie dough and frosted with canned frosting, but that simple cookie fed not only my tummy that day, it fed my soul. I can't explain it, but it was significant. Maybe it's just the foodie in me. Maybe it was just what I needed at that moment in my life.
At any rate, I decided this morning, as I sat with my sweet kindergarteners, that I would make some frosted sugar cookies. I've used this cookie recipe before to make Colorful Sugar Cookies, but I didn't want to go to all that trouble if I was only going to frost them. Then I thought I might as well make some with sprinkles because, as I've mentioned recently, I have a huge jar of them burning a hole in my cupboard. 
These cookies don't have to be crisp, but today that's how I baked them. If you want them softer, I'd recommend checking on them at 13 minutes. Once they're puffed and starting to brown on the edges, they're probably going to cool down nice and soft. I really do think this recipe turns out cookies that taste like the Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies, which I really like. Like I said, that heart shaped cookie fed my soul. These still do.

Crisp Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened, but cool
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/3 cup (or so) rainbow nonpareils 

Directions:

· Preheat oven to 325°F.

· Cream butter and sugar.

· Add vanilla and egg. 

· Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture.  Mix completely, but take care not to over mix.
· Divide dough in half and form each half into a log and wrap in parchment or wax paper. Refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
· Carefully pour enough nonpareils onto a plate to make a single layer. Cut dough into 1/4 inch slices. Press one side of each circle of dough into the sprinkles and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet, sprinkle side up.
· Fill the pan up, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between cookies. Bake at 325°F for 16-18 minutes, or until cookies are a light golden brown almost all over.
· Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

Makes about 4-5 dozen cookies

Frosting
Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• food coloring

Directions:
In a mixing bowl, cream the butter. Add powdered sugar and stir to incorporate sugar with the butter. Once incorporated, you can beat until creamy. Add vanilla and 1 1/2 tablespoons of cream. Beat until smooth and spreadable. Add more cream if you want it looser. Add food coloring, mix, and then spread as much as you like onto the cookies. If you like a lot of frosting, you may need to make more than this. Sprinkle with nonpareils, if desired.

Use the edge of a sheet pan to smoosh the dough
in the paper so it's an evenly shaped log.

Gluten Free Waffles with Berries and Whipped Cream

Gluten Free Waffles with Berries and Whipped Cream

After deciding to make some gluten free waffles for breakfast this morning, I had the brainstorm to turn them into something like the Shortcake Biscuits with Warm Berries and Whipped Cream that I love so much. I'd made that a week or so ago and I just cleaned the fridge and washed out the container holding the berries. They still smelled so nice and fruity and wonderful, that I wanted to have them again. WAFFLES would be the perfect vehicle to enjoy the berries and cream again, and these waffles are a little bit healthier than the shortcake biscuits. Well, probably a lot healthier. 
Since discovering Better Batter Gluten Free All Purpose Flour, that's been my go-to gf flour, but for these waffles, Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour is better. Bob's GF AP flour has more fiber and protein and it just makes awesome waffles. So that's what I did, and oh, my. I think I've found a new Sunday breakfast favorite. Mmmmm...the warm berries soak into the waffle a little, and the cream adds its sweet creamy dimension to the mix. Very nice. Yes, very nice indeed. I'm also going to consider it a healthy way to enjoy my favorite dessert of Shortcake Biscuits with Berries. Please don't tell me it's not healthy. Let me keep my fantasy. Thanks.

Gluten Free Waffles with Berries and Whipped Cream
  --adapted from Allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

     Waffles:

• 2 cups Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon xanthan gum powder*
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

     Topping:

• 4 cups frozen mixed berries (I used a blueberry, blackberry, raspberry mix)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 2 cups whipped cream
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar (less, if desired)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
Prepare the berries first. 
Place frozen berries in a heavy medium saucepan over medium-high heat. 
Add sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice; stir.
Cook berries until they start to boil. 
Reduce heat to low and simmer for about 5-6 minutes. Blackberries and raspberries will have fallen apart, but most blueberries will remain whole.
Remove from heat and set aside.
Whip cream, sugar and vanilla until stiff peaks form (I put in a lot of sugar for my whipped cream because the waffles and the berries don't have much sugar. If you don't like your food super sweet, you might want to cut the powdered sugar in half). Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Preheat waffle iron.  
In a medium bowl, whisk together the gf flour, xanthan gum, tablespoon of sugar, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat eggs in large bowl with hand beater until fluffy.  
Beat in buttermilk, milk, butter, oil, and vanilla.  
Beat in dry ingredients just until smooth.
Spray preheated waffle iron with non-stick cooking spray.
Pour mix onto hot waffle iron.  
Cook until golden brown.
Place cooked waffle on a plate, scoop on about 1/2 cup of the berries and about 1/2 cup whipped cream.
Eat and enjoy.

Makes about 8 waffles

*Xanthan gum powder gives gluten-free baked products a more "bready" texture.  I accidentally left out the xanthan gum one time, and the batter was markedly more drippy, and the waffles much crisper.  So, if you want light, crisp waffles, leave out the xanthan gum, which is pretty pricey if you're only an occasional gluten-free baker (e.g. $11.99/8 oz. package).