Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

Shortbread cookies with espresso and chocolate in them? Yes, please!  The dough comes together quickly, then you flatten it into a gallon sized zipper bag and stick it in the fridge.  This method is genius!  When you're ready to bake, cut the bag off and slice the dough.  So easy!  I wasn't sure if it would be noticeable, but the cookies actually have a coffee flavor.  I keep a jar of instant espresso in my pantry for those random times I need it for baking.  You could use instant coffee, but the flavor won't be as intense.

I made these cookies for the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap and the Ohio Blogging Association Cookie Swap.  So if you're headed to the OBA party tonight, this is what you have to look forward to from my kitchen.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap exchanges cookies between hundreds of food bloggers around the world.  Last year I participated in the first annual cookie swap with my Chewy Ginger Cookies.  If you want to be notified when 2013 registration is open, sign up here.  Thanks to Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen for hosting.  Almost 600 bloggers participated, and over 20,000 cookies were mailed! Here's the collection of cookies sent: Recipe Round Up Part 1 and Part 2.

This year the GFBCS is raising money for Cookies for Kids' Cancer, and for every dollar donated OXO will match it.  *Update:  We raised over $4,400!*
I sent Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread cookies to A Half Baked Life, A Less Processed Life and This Momma Can Cook.  Out of all those bloggers I thought it was really funny that I got to send cookies to A Half Baked Life because she sent some to me last year.  What are the odds?!

These are the delicious goodies I received:

Thanks for the cookies Urban Sacred Garden (Chocolate Cranberry Shortbread), Addicted to Recipes (Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Cookies) and The Tasty tRuth (Honey Vanillla Coconut Macaroons)!

Espresso Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies

From Baking: From My Home to Yours as seen on Smitten Kitchen

Yield: 42-49 cookies (depending on how much you spread the dough in the bag)

1 Tbsp instant espresso powder
1 Tbsp boiling water
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups flour
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped, or 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips
Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting (optional)

Dissolve the espresso in the boiling water, and set aside to cool to tepid.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and confectioners’ sugar together on medium speed for about 3 minutes, until the mixture is very smooth. Beat in the vanilla and espresso, then reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it disappears into the dough. Don’t work the dough much once the flour is incorporated. Fold in the chopped chocolate with a sturdy rubber spatula.

Using the spatula, transfer the soft, sticky dough to a gallon-size zipper-lock plastic bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that’s 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn’t cause creases. When you get the right size and thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or for up to 2 days.

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Put the plastic bag on a cutting board and slit it open. Turn the firm dough out onto the board (discard the bag) and, using a ruler as a guide and a sharp knife, cut the dough into 1 1/2-inch squares. Transfer the squares to the baking sheets and carefully prick each one twice with a fork, gently pushing the tines through the cookies until they hit the sheet.

Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point. The shortbreads will be very pale–they shouldn’t take on much color. Transfer the cookies to a rack.

If you’d like, dust the cookies with confectioners’ sugar while they are still hot. Cool the cookies to room temperature before serving.

   

Homemade Food Gifts - Cookies

Homemade food can be an inexpensive gift for family, friends, neighbors, the mailman, etc.  This time of year brings out the baking bug in a lot of people.  Whether you make one kind to take to a cookie swap or you go all out with multiple cookie flavors, you might be looking for some recipes to change it up. 

If you fear your recipient may be swimming in treats, you can give them frozen cookie dough balls (or logs if they're slice and bakes). Make sure to include baking instructions and they can have fresh cookies whenever they want.

Today's list is all about cookies, but head over to the next post for other food gift recipes (candy, fudge, infused vodka, cinnamon rolls, and much more).

Cookies

Chewy Ginger Cookies  These are probably my favorite cookie on the list!  They get an extra boost of gingery goodness from the crystallized ginger.

Chocolate Crackles  I've had these cookies every year since I can remember.  They are a family staple and quickly became Kevin's favorite.  I've tried versions without the cake mix, but everyone prefers the family recipe.

Butter Spriz Cookies  A relatively recent addition to my must bake list, these are a traditional spritz cookie.  The cookie press makes fast work and you can cram a lot on a cookie sheet so it's a quick job.

Chocolate Mint Cookies  Chocolate and mint are a classic combination.  There are a few brands of mint chips these days, but most are only available this time of year so stock up if you want to make them after the holidays.

Slice and Bake Cookies  You can make many different types of cookies using the same base dough. 

Brown Sugar Shortbread  A variation of traditional shortbread, this recipe uses brown sugar.  It has only three ingredients and they can easily be scaled up to make many more cookies.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies  If you're looking for chocolate and peanut butter without a Hershey Kiss on top, this is a nice alternative.


** I can do your holiday baking and treat making!  Contact me for details. **

Blog Swap: Eat*Drink*Cleveland - Pretzel Crusted Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares

I would like to introduce you to my lovely friend Crystal.  She's one of my favorite people that I've met through blogging.  She writes Eat*Drink*Cleveland and we've swapped interwebs as part of the Ohio Blogging Association's All State Blog Swap.  Check out my post on Crystal's blog today, I have a great list of easy appetizers for all the parties you'll be attending this holiday season.  To check out the list of all the participating blogs, head over to Poise in Parma.


Hello everyone!
My name is Crystal and my blog is Eat*Drink*Cleveland. I'm here on Sarah's blog today as part of the Ohio Blogging Association's 2012 Blog Swap. I write about food and fun in NE Ohio. Restaurants, local festivals, recipes, food events and favorite cocktails are just some of the topics you'll find on my blog. 

I was so happy to find out that Sarah was my blog swap partner! Not only do I love her in real life, but we also have a lot in common including our love of cooking. But I can never follow a recipe exactly ~ I always like to tweak recipes and come up with new ones.

Except for this past Friday - for once I actually followed the recipe! I took the day off and was cooking for my Stella & Dot trunk show later that night. I wanted to try something new so I sent out a Tweet asking for people's favorite things to make for parties. @SarahCLeimbach sent me several recipes but one jumped out at me: Chocolate Chip Bars with a Salty Pretzel Crust from Simply Scratch. I'm a pretzel fiend and absolutely love chocolate chip cookies so I knew I had to try these!

I liked this recipe because they are BAR cookies which means that you don't have to be a slave to the oven every 8-10 minutes.

I didn't like this recipe because you end up losing most of the pretzels ~ they don't stick to the bottom of the bars! The picture on the right below shows all the pretzels that were left behind. I needed to find a way to fix that.

               

They recommended using more butter but I didn't want to add even MORE calories so I decided to turn the crust into a topping - problem solved! Here's my version of the recipe, Pretzel Crusted Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares:

FOR THE TOPPING

• 2-1/2 cups Pretzels, crushed
• 1 cup Toasted Salted Pecans
• 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, melted

FOR THE COOKIE BAR DOUGH

• 3/4 cup Unsalted Butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup Sugar
• 3/4 cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 2 large Eggs
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Vanilla
• 2-1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon Baking Soda
• 3/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1 cup Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13x2 baking pan with parchment paper. This makes it a lot easier to remove the cookies from the pan, trust me!
• Beat butter and sugars at medium speed until creamy. Add eggs and the vanilla, beating just until blended.
• Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl. Whisk until combined and gradually add to the sugar/egg mixture, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down the sides and add the chocolate chips. Gently mix until chips are incorporated. Pour into prepared pan.
• Place pretzels in a food processor. Pulse until almost crushed. Add pecans and pulse until nuts are chopped. You don't want fine crumbs so keep it a little chunky. Once the pretzels and nuts are crushed, combine them with the melted butter and stir. Spread pretzel evenly mixture over the top of your batter. Press gently into the cookie dough.
• Place the pan in your preheated oven and bake for 20-24 minutes, rotating the pan half-way through the cookie time. Remove when the bars are golden and a tester comes out clean.
• When bars have cooled, remove by using the parchment paper and cut into bars.

Do you see how gooey those bars are? I like to under bake my chocolate chip cookies so I did the same with these. 

These were a huge hit and are definitely one of my new favorites. I'll be making them again for sure and hope you like them as much as I do!


Wowzers Crystal, these look great! I prefer bar cookies and blondies for the same reason, and I'm with you on under baking.  Somehow I totally missed these at your party, thanks for sharing the recipe!

UPDATE:  I made these bars last night and they are goo-ood!  Make sure you really press the pretzel and pecan mixture down into the dough so it's sticks really well.  It'll seem like too much topping, but the dough will puff up a bit and will be the perfect ratio once it's done baking.

Brown Sugar Shortbread

 

Hunger Games Week:

Every day this week, I'm going to post a recipe that was inspired by food mentioned in The Hunger Games  trilogy.  In anticipation of the the movie, Cleveland's Plain Dealer hosted a Hunger Games recipe contest.  The recipes had to be original, and we were allowed 50 words of description and one photo. 

I submitted six recipes, I've already revealed Creamy Mushroom Soup, Goat Cheese Wrapped in Basil, District 12 Ration Grain Biscuits and the contest winning Roast Groosling with Sweet Roots.  (Check out the other winning recipes here.)  The recipe below is what I submitted for Shortbread Cookies (contest category: Wild Card Dishes). 

 

Mr. Mellark gave Katniss some cookies before leaving.  I imagined that they were something that would travel well, a sturdy cookie like shortbread.  It's really too bad Katniss threw them away because for such a simple looking cookie, the brown sugar lends a nice flavor.

Mr. Mellark's Shortbread Cookies

Original Recipe

Yield:  about 18 cookies

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened

1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream the brown sugar and butter on medium-high for 2 minutes.  Slowly add the flour and mix on low until combined.  Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet.  Flatten the dough so they are about 1/4 inch thick.  Bake for 15-20 minutes or until lightly golden.  Remove cookies from the baking sheets and place on a cooling rack.

Snickerdoodle Blondies

I first told you about these Snickerdoodle Blondies in a recipe roundup in 2009.  I made them again to go with the other cookies I sent with Kevin to the conference.  A week or so later, I made these again to mail off in a care package.

This recipe is more cakey than other blondies, but they're still dense and durable.  They make a great portable dessert to throw in with your lunch.  I love bar cookies in general because they are quicker than scooping out individual cookies, and they travel really well.  If you're in the mood for a quick cinnamon treat, try these Snickerdoodle Blondies!


Snickerdoodle Blondies
Adapted from The Biscuit Pusher

1 cup (two sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup loosely packed light brown sugar
3 oz. mascarpone cheese (I used softened cream cheese)
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
3/4 tsp cream of tarter
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
2 cups all-purpose flour

Cinnamon Sugar (for coating):
1/3 cup sugar
1 heaping Tbsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.

Insert foil (with edges overhanging) in a 9 x 13 inch pan and butter the foil. Sprinkle a little bit of the cinnamon sugar into the pan and move it around to make sure that the bottom and sides are coated. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cream of tarter.

Using an stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat for three minutes. Scrape down the bowl.  Add the mascarpone cheese and beat until fully incorporated.  Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.  Add the vanilla and beat for another 30 seconds.  On low speed, gradually add the flour mixture. Mix until fully incorporated.

Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan. This will be hard as it is a thick batter. Wet a spatula a little and press the batter into the pan, and even out the top.  Sprinkle more cinnamon sugar on top of the batter.  Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.  Cut into squares and serve.

(I ended up having to bake these for about 30 minutes before they were done.  Every oven is different, so make sure you start checking before the specified time and continue to check until the blondies are done.)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Kevin (and a bunch of his friends) attend an annual nerd conference, and I always bake something to send along.  In past years, I've made Blondies and Chocolate Mint Cookies .  They really loved the mint cookies.  I didn't want to repeat recipe, but the guys were requesting them, so I compromised.  I used half of the cake mix to make Chocolate Mint Cookies and the other half to experiment with a chocolate and peanut butter version.  I started with the original Chocolate Crackle recipe and subbed peanut butter for the oil, added peanut butter chips and increased the water due to the moisture lost by removing the oil. 

I was really happy with the way these turned out, and I love how they puffed up.  They're a soft, peanut buttery, chocolate cookie!  Got milk?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from the original Chocolate Crackles
Yield:  6 dozen cookies

1 (18.25 oz) devil's food cake mix
1 cup PB
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1/4 cup water
1 (10 oz) package PB chips (I used mini chips, just because that's what was in the pantry)

Preheat oven to 375.  Combine all ingredients except chips in a bowl.  Mix with a wooden spoon until well blended.  Add the peanut butter chips and stir until combined.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Place on greased baking sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Slice and Bake Cookies

Each year I try a few new recipes for my Christmas cookie packages.  This year I did peppermint bark and slice and bake cookies.  I tried two variations of slice and bakes: orange cranberry and lemon poppy seed.  Everyone's favorite was the orange cranberry.  I would definitely make the orange cranberry version again because I love that combination.  If I made lemon poppy seed again, I would use the zest of one more lemon and mix in only 2 or 3 tablespoons of poppy seeds.  There are many flavor variations for this recipe, and I look forward to experimenting.  If you want to try some savory slice and bake options check out these recipes (also from Dorie). 

I love the concept of slice and bakes, it's so easy.  Make the dough one night, then slice and bake the cookies on another night.  Slicing the dough makes really quick work, and you'll have a tons of cookies ready in no time.  Honestly, the hardest part  is making a round log.  It turned out to be a pain in the butt, so don't worry too much about it, just get a semi-uniform log and be done with it.

Slice-and-Bake Cookies
Adapted loosely from Dorie Greenspan as seen on Smitten Kitchen

Yield: about 4 dozen cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2/3 cup confectioners sugar, sifted
2 large egg yolks, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
1 teaspoons vanilla or almond extract
2 cups (280 grams) all-purpose flour

Options:

Mix in grated zest of 2 oranges and 1/2 cup dried cranberries (I finely chopped them)

Mix in grated zest of 2 lemons; coat with or mix in 1/4 cup poppy seeds (I thought it needed the zest of 1 more lemon, and 2 or 3 Tbsp should do it for the poppy seeds.)

Mix in grated zest of 2 limes; coat with 1/4 cup cornmeal

Mix in 1/2 cup chopped dried apricots; coat with or mix in 1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios

Mix in 1/2 cup mini chocolate or peanut-butter chips

Mix in 1/4 cup finely chopped candied ginger; coat with or mix in 1/4 cup sesame seeds

Swap 1/4 cup of flour for unsweetened cocoa

Swap 1/2 to 1 cup of flour for ground almonds, pecans, hazelnuts or walnuts

Put the butter in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat at medium speed until it is smooth. Add the sifted confectioners’ sugar and beat again until the mixture is smooth and silky. Beat in the egg yolks, followed by the salt and vanilla and any dried fruits, zest, nuts or seeds. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the flour, beating just until it disappears. It is better to underbeat than overbeat at this point; if the flour isn’t fully incorporated, that’s okay just blend in whatever remaining flour needs blending with a rubber spatula. Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and divide it in half. Wrap each piece of dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Working on a smooth surface, form each piece of dough into a log that is about 1 to 1 1/4 inches thick. (Get the thickness right, and the length you end up with will be fine.) Wrap the logs in plastic and chill for 2 hours. (The dough can be wrapped airtight and kept refrigerated for up to 3 days or stored in the freezer for up to 1 month.)  I rolled each dough log with wax paper and put them in a zip lock bag.

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

While the oven is preheating, roll cookie logs in any coatings of your choice. Then, using a sharp slender knife, slice each log into cookies about 1/3 inch thick. (You can make the cookies thicker if you’d like; just bake them longer.) Place the cookies on the lined baking sheets, leaving about 1/2 inch space between them.

Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes, or until they are set but not browned. Transfer the cookies to cooling racks to cool to room temperature.

Do ahead: Packed airtight, the cookies will keep for about 5 days at room temperature, or in the freezer for a month. Unbaked logs can be frozen for longer.

Chewy Ginger Cookies

When it comes to cookies, I prefer soft and chewy over crunchy. So when I saw ginger cookies (not crunchy ginger snaps) at a bake sale, I had to try them. It was love at first bite: gingery, spicy, chewy, moist, and I love the pieces of candied ginger in them.  I asked around to see who brought them so I could get the recipe, and luckily they sent it to me. I've been making these cookies every Christmas season since I first tasted them.

I recently baked the Chewy Ginger cookies for the 1st Annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap (set up by Julie of The Little Kitchen and Lindsay of Love and Olive Oil).  Everyone was assigned three food bloggers to send one dozen cookies, and they would receive cookies from three different bloggers.  With over 22,000 cookies sent around the world, this is quite possibly the largest cookie swap ever!

I received Mostaccioli (Italian Chocolate Spice Cookies) from Justine at A Half Baked Life, Lavender Shortbread Cookies from Ellie at White and Dorky Chef and Cardamom and Sesame Cookies from Joanna at Meatless Most Days.   I loved that all of these cookies were different than anything I've tried before.  Ellie suggested pairing the Lavender Shortbread with tea and it was a great combo.  It was a fun coincidence that Justine sent me a traditional Italian cookie without knowing that I had just been to Italy.  The Cardamom Sesame Cookies tasted like they could be Chinese.  All of the cookies were delicious, and I definitely see myself making them at some point.

  

Over 620 bloggers participated so it took two roundup posts to showcase them all:  Part 1 and Part 2.  There is also a Facebook page devoted to the cookie swap.

If you're a food blogger (or will be by next fall) and want to participate in the 2nd annual cookie swap, you can sign up here for notifications about next year's swap.


Chewy Ginger Cookies
Adapted from The Ginger People via a coworker
Yield: 4 dozen cookies

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups (+ 1/4 cup flour to stir into the chopped crystallized ginger)
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz crystallized (or candied) ginger, chopped
Turbinado Sugar, for rolling (~ 1 cup)

Preheat the oven to 375F. In a mixing bowl, combine the butter, sugar, molasses and egg. Beat well.  In a separate bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. Then gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture and mix until combined. Stir in the floured crystallized ginger. Cover the mixing bowl tightly with foil or plastic wrap, and chill the dough for at least 1 hour. Form the dough into 1-inch balls and roll in sugar. Place on a greased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes. If you prefer crunchier cookies, just bake them a little longer.


Recipe Notes:

- Crystallized/candied ginger can usually be found in the bulk section or wherever the dried fruit and nuts are in your grocery store.
- Turbinado sugar is similar to sugar in the raw
- Regular sugar can be substituted for the turbinado sugar
- The ginger can be difficult to chop if your knife isn't sharp.  Pull out that sharpening steel that came with your knife block.  If you're not sure how to use it, check this out.
- Sometimes the candied ginger will stick to the knife. If this happens, just clean off the knife, and grease it with a little butter.
- Try to keep the dough as cool as possible.  I usually stick the filled cookie sheets in the fridge until that batch is ready to go into the oven.

Chocolate Crackles

Chocolate Crackles have been a family favorite at Christmas.  For some reason we never made them during other parts of the year and I'm not sure why because they are awesome.  Growing up they were always my favorite Christmas cookie and once Kevin tried them they were instantly one of his favorites too.  Just for the record, I do make these cookies during other parts of the year.

Last year I did a taste test of three different Chocolate Crackle recipes: the original (found below), and two that did not use a cake mix.  The original was the clear winner.  I'm still on the hunt for a good alternative that doesn't use a cake mix, but for now and anytime I need something quick, I'm sure I'll turn to this family favorite. 

This recipe is easy to adapt by adding a package of flavored chips such as mint chips for Chocolate Mint Cookies and peanut butter chips would be nice too.

Chocolate Crackles

Adapted from my Gram's recipe

Yield: about 3 dozen

1 package Devil's Food cake mix

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup shortening OR vegetable oil

Confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 375.  Combine all ingredients in a bowl.  Mix with a spoon until well blended.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll into confectioners' sugar.  Place dough balls on baking sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Make sure you don't over bake them, you're looking for a moist, almost fudgy texture in the middle.

Butter Spritz Cookies

Last year I acquired my Great Aunt Geral's cookie press.  I hadn't used it all year so I was determined to give it a try for Christmas.  Looking at the assortment of dies that came along with the press, the Christmas tree was the obvious choice.

Take a look at some of these options though:  dog, camel, butterfly, clover, spade?  What would you ever use a camel for?!  Where are the Christmas dies I would have thought were included with the cookie press like the wreath and the snowflake?  At least the heart and clover give me an excuse to whip up some spritz cookies for other holidays.  I think the two oddball tips in the top left are for frosting.

I was a little nervous to try spritz cookies because of the bad experience using a different cookie press a few years ago.  I am happy to report that I didn't have any trouble this time around.  I don't know if it was the cookie press, the recipe, the temperature of the dough or having perfect conditions all around, but getting the dough out of the press and onto the baking sheet was a breeze. And there was minimal dough pushed behind the inside plate (which was the major problem I had when I tried that other cookie press).

When I was making these cookies, Kevin said he didn't like spritz cookies, but it turns out he likes these ones.  He can't keep his hands off them!  It turns out that these are my dad's favorite Christmas cookie (they remind him of his childhood).  I had no idea!  Needless to say spritz cookies will be added to my holiday must-bake list.

Butter Spritz Cookies

Adapted from Emily at Sugar Plum

Yield: Emily says 4 dozen, but I got about 6 dozen small cookies

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature (this is very important!)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

Food coloring

Colored sugar or sprinkles (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350.  In a medium sized mixing bowl, whisk together flour and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, using a mixer on medium speed, beat butter, sugar and vanilla extract until creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in egg and desired amount of food coloring until combined. Reduce mixer speed to low and beat in flour mixture until just combined.

Put on your die of choice, then fill the cookie press with dough.  Form* the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Sprinkle your garnish on the cookies if using.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until set. Cool 1-2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

* The cookie press I have uses a method where you turn the knob at the end, other types of presses use a trigger method.  For my particular model, I had to turn the knob about a quarter turn, then lift up for smaller cookies.  It seems that most cookies presses available today are the trigger type.  Use one crank for smaller cookies and 2-3 cranks for larger cookies.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

I hope everyone has at least started their Christmas baking by now.  I love this time of year because it gives me an excuse to try a bunch of new cookie and candy recipes (mixed in with some holiday standbys).  I always have these high hopes of making a ton of different things, but I run out of time to actually make everything.  

I'd been looking for Nestle's Mint Chips all season and when I finally found them I bought three bags.  I didn't really know what I was going to do with them.  Kevin has been craving Chocolate Crackles, but I decided against them because I needed to make them closer to Christmas so the confectioner's sugar wouldn't dissolve.  The Chocolate Mint Cookies are an adaptation of my Gram's Chocolate Crackle recipe.  These cookies are ridiculously quick and easy, and have the classic combination of chocolate and mint.  These are so good, I can guarantee you won't be sorry if you try them.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Adapted from my Gram's recipe

Yield: About 4-5 dozen cookies

1 package Devil's Food cake mix

1 Tbsp water

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 (10 oz) package mint chips

Preheat oven to 375.  Combine all ingredients except chips in a bowl.  Mix with a wooden spoon until well blended.  Add the mint and chocolate chips and stir until combined.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Place on greased baking sheets.  Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Sugar Cookie Bars

Since some people don't like pumpkin so I felt like I needed to have a non-pumpkin dessert option at our Beer and Chili party.  I wanted something quick so I was thinking bar cookies.  That's when I thought of these sugar cookie bars.  After they were frosted I wanted to cut them into pumpkin shapes with a cookie cutter, but the cookies ended up being a little too thick to do that.  So after cutting two pumpkins, I switched to rectangles.  These cookies were quick and easy to bang out on the day of the party, and they turned out really tasty.  So if you're craving that cut-out cookie flavor, but don't want to spend all day rolling out the dough and frosting them, try this recipe!
Since I already had pumpkin cupcakes, I only made a half batch of this recipe and baked it in a 9x13 baking pan.
Sugar Cookie Bars

From The Repressed Pastry Chef via Beantown Baker
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

5 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp soda

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream butter and sugar until fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Add vanilla & mix well.

In a separate bowl combine flour, salt & soda & stir with a whisk to combine. Add to wet mixture and mix just until combined.

Spread dough on a greased 11x17 jelly roll pan.

Bake for 10-15 min, until light golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool completely and frost.

Buttercream Frosting

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature

1 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp milk

4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

In large bowl, mix the butter, vanilla and milk with an electric mixer until fluffy. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.  Keep mixing until all of the sugar is incorporated.