Red Hots Cookies

My kids love things spicy. Like way too spicy! They think hot sauce is a condiment that should go on everything we eat around here. So I knew these cookies would be a big hit the first time I made them, years ago. It can be a little tricky finding the Red Hots, but I find them from time to time and buy a couple of bags so I have them on hand when we want these cookies. And they look very festive for Valentine's Day!

Red Hots Cookies
1 c. butter, softened
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 c. Red Hots candies

Place candies in a baggie and hit several times with a hammer to break them into pieces. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugars together until creamy, then add eggs and vanilla; stir to combine. Mix in the flour and baking soda, then add the candy and stir until everything is mixed together. Drop teaspoonfuls ( I use a medium cookie scoop) onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until the edges begin to turn golden brown.

Kourabiethes

My son found this recipe in a magazine and come home and made them for us. They were so good! I love that he enjoys baking and trying new recipes!

 

Kourabiethes

Greek Christmas Cookies

1 c. butter

1 c. powdered sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1/4 tsp. almond extract

3 c. flour

1/2 tsp.cinnamon

1 tsp. baking powder

Beat butter and powdered sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, and almond. Add the flour, cinnamon, and baking powder; stir to combine. Roll the dough into small balls. Form into crescent shapes if you want. My son thought that was too much effort so he baked them as is. Bake at 350 degrees 15-20 minutes. Put a little additional powdered sugar in a baggie and shake a few cookies at a time to coat with sugar while still warm. Cool completely.

Cookie Cakes

These are some cookie cakes I made recently for people at work. No, I am not the best decorator there is, I am well aware of my deficiencies, but here they are nonetheless. The cookie recipe is here.

 

Fruit Pizza

Sometimes you want a pizza that is a little healthy. Or that you can at least pretend is a little healthy. Or you simply want a cookie with cream cheese and fruit. Whatever the reason is, this is delicious!

 

Fruit Pizza

1 package refrigerated sugar cookie dough ***

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 Tbsp. sugar

assorted fruit

Roll the cookie dough out on a cookie sheet until it is about 1/4" thick. Bake at 350 degrees about 15 minutes or until the edges are golden and the center is nearly cooked. Allow to cool.

Once the cookie is cool, mix the cream cheese, butter, and sugar together until it is smooth. Spread over the cooled cookie. Alice fruits and add to the top. I used strawberries, kiwi, banana, blueberries, and raspberries, but you can use any fruits you like. If you use bananas either add them right before you serve the fruit pizza or keep them cover tightly with plastic wrap so they don't brown.

*** You can also use your homemade cookie dough, like these if you want to. This time, I was a little lazy and did it the easy way.

Almond Cheesecake Cookies

Long ago, when I was still a teenager, a friend of mine introduced me to the wonders of pudding cookies. Wow - the things you could do with pudding and how it changed cookies! They are a softer cookie and all the flavors gives you so many possibilities with flavors! These cookies use almond flavoring (a favorite of mine!) and cheesecake pudding. Um, YUM! How can you go wrong with this combination?

 

 Almond Cheesecake Cookies

3/4 c. butter, softened

1/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

3.4 oz box instant cheesecake pudding

2 eggs

1 tsp. almond extract

2 1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 bag. vanilla chips

Cream the butter and sugars together in a large bowl. Add the eggs, almond, and pudding and stir. Add the flour and baking soda; stir well until combined. Add the vanilla chips and fold in. Use a cookie scoop to drop balls of dough onto cookie sheets. Bake at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies turn golden brown.

Double Chocolate Banana Cookies

We had some more bananas sitting out that no one ate in time before they turned brown. Normally, I make muffins out of them for our Saturday muffin tradition, but I didn't feel like it. So I made cookies instead. With chocolate. Because chocolate makes everything better. 

 

Double Chocolate Banana Cookies

1 1/4 c. butter, melted

3-4 overripe bananas, mashed (about 2 cups mashed banana) 

2 eggs

2 c. sugar

1 3/4 c. flour

2 c. oats

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking soda

2 c. chocolate chips

Combine the melted butter, banana, eggs, and sugar in a large bowl and mix well. Add in flour, oats, cocoa powder, baking soda, and chocolate chips. Stir to combine. Refrigerate batter for an hour. This is actually important or the batter will spread out too much on the pan and you will have one very large cookie rather than individual ones. Drop chilled dough on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Remove from pan immediately or use parchment paper - they stick if you leave them on too long.

Peppermint Meltaways

Christmas is coming - which means lot of peppermint flavored goodies! Hooray! I love peppermint and I love cookies, so I had to try these as soon as I found the recipe. They are amazing and must be made many, many times. These cookies use cornstarch with the flour which I don't always have around but I bought some to make some Brazilian cookies and never used it all so I happened to have a TON of it still. Perfect way to use it up!

 

Peppermint Meltaways

1 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

1 1/4 c. flour

1/2 c. cornstarch

Cream the butter and powdered sugar. Beat in the extract, then add the flour and cornstarch. Refrigerate 30 minutes so it is easier to handle or use a cookie scoop. Shape the dough into 1 inch balls and place about 2 inches apart on baking sheets. I used parchment paper for mine but you don't have to.  Bake 9-11 minutes at 350 degrees or until the bottoms turn golden brown. Remove and allow to cool.

frosting:

2 Tbsp. butter, softened

2 Tbsp. milk

1/2 tsp. peppermint extract

1 1/2 c. powdered sugar

food coloring - optional

1/2 c. crushed peppermint candy

Cream all ingredients together, except the candy. Add more powdered sugar or milk to get the consistency you want. Spread over the cookies and top with candy.

 

Pumpkin Cookies

After Halloween we cook our pumpkin so we can bake yummy things with it. This year was a little sad. With my work schedule, I only got some of the pumpkin cooked before it molded. Well, you make the most of what you have so we made some pumpkin cookies! Yummy! Who doesn't love a frosted cookie?

 

Pumpkin Cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened

1/2 c. vegetable oil

1/2 c. canned pumpkin - or cooked from your jack-o-lanterns

1 c. sugar

1/2 c. powdered sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

2 eggs

3 1/2 c. flour (you may need a little more of less)

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves)

frosting:

3 c. powdered sugar

4-6 tsp. water

1/2 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

Mix butter, oil, pumpkin, sugars, vanilla, and eggs together in a large bowl, beating well to combine. Add in baking soda, cream of tartar, and pumpkin pie spice. Slowly add in flour a cup at time, mixing well after each addition. Add a little more flour if needed, dough should be stiff. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough onto cookie sheets with a cookie scoop, then flatten dough slightly. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool. 

For frosting: Mix the sugar, water, and pie spice together. Add more water until you get the desired consistency. Frost/ glaze cookies. 

Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

These cookies are amazing. I love caramel. Like, love it. Really, really love it. These cookies are best when warm so if you aren't eating them right out of the oven (which is when you should be eating them!) then heat them up in the microwave for about 5 seconds before you eat them.

 

Caramel Apple Cider Cookies

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. sugar

1 box apple cider drink mix - you need all 10 packets

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. cinnamon

3 c. flour

1 bag caramels

Beat the butter and sugar together. Add in the contents of all 10 apple cider packets and beat until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then add in the vanilla. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon and mix well. Set the mixture aside and unwrap all the caramels and cut them all in half . Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop out the dough and wrap the ball around one of the caramels. Seal the edges so the caramel doesn't leak out. Repeat for each cookie until you run out of dough. Place on parchment paper covered cookie sheets. Yes, you need this. If the caramel does leak out you will not be happy if you don't have the parchment paper under the cookie. Bake at 35 degrees for about 12 minutes, just until the edges of the cookie begin to brown. Allow to cool for two minutes, then remove from the cookie sheet. Again, the parchment paper is great here because you can simply slide the paper off the cookie sheet and let the cookies finish cooling. Or just eat them.

Orange Slice Cookies

I was really skeptical the first time I made these cookies. I mean, I was told they were good, but orange slice candy? That doesn't go in cookies. Except it does. And they are amazingly good!

 

Orange Slice Cookies

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

2 c. oatmeal (I use quick oats)

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 c. orange slice candy

pinch of salt

Cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing well. Add in flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. I slice each piece of candy into 4-5 pieces and dump them into the flour and oats before I mix everything up. The open edges of the candy bits are really sticky so the flour and oats help to keep them separated from each other. I don't measure them out, either. I just add them until it looks good, usually close to the whole bag, minus a few pieces so you can test for quality. You know, someone has to do it. When the layer of candy gets to be more than I can add more pieces without them sticking, I stir a little bit and keep going. When all the candy is added, mix everything together. Drop onto cookie sheets and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown.

Fudge Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is more a process than a recipe. You can find my chocolate chip cookie recipe here and you will need the recipe for these cookies. I like "surprise" cookies - stuffing something in the center that is not expected. Like caramel, etc. These have hot fudge ice cream topping in the center and are SO GOOD! MY husband declared he has a new favorite cookie!

 

Fudge Filled Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 recipe chocolate chip cookie dough

1 jar hot fudge ice cream topping

Using a little cookie scoop, scoop the hot fudge topping and drop teaspoonfuls onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Freeze this for a couple of hours until the hot fudge topping is firm. Make the cookie dough. Wrap the cookie dough around each of the hot fudge topping scoops, covering each scoop completely. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies begin to turn golden brown around the edges. Allow to cool slightly before eating.

Brown Sugar Cookie Bars

Some days just call for a sugar cookie. These are amazing! They are made with browned butter, which gives them a different taste that is amazingly good! Then they are topped with a caramel frosting and sprinkled with salt. Hard to beat that combination!

 

Brown Sugar Cookie Bars

13 Tbsp. butter

2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 c. flour, slightly heaped

dash salt

Place butter in a saucepan over medium heat and melt. Continue to heat, stirring to prevent burning. Butter will boil for several minutes, then begin to change color and turn brown. Remove from heat at this point and allow to cool about 5 minutes. While the butter is cooling, cream the sugars, vanilla, and eggs together in a medium bowl. When the butter is cooled, add to the creamed mixture and stir to combine. Add the flour and salt and stir. Once it is mixed, line a 9x13 inch pan with aluminum foil and spray it with cooking spray. Put the batter in the pan and press the dough into and even layer so it fills the pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Remove and allow to cool.

Caramel frosting

1/2 c. butter

1 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. milk

3 1/2 c. powdered sugar

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the brown sugar. Heat the mixture comes to a boil. Add milk and bring to a boil again. Boil 1-2 minutes. Remove from the heat and add powdered sugar. Spread over cooled cookie bars and sprinkle frosting with coarse salt. Allow to cool completely.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everyone loves a good chocolate chip cookie, especially when they are warm, right out of the oven. And everyone is convinced they make the best ones. Well, this is how I make my version of the best cocolate hip cookies ever. I have made these so often I have the recipe memorized and don't have to look at it anymore. Which freaked out my cousin years ago. I was staying at her house (she lives at home with my aunt) and decided to make them some cookies. So I did. My cousin came in the kitchen with me and was watching as I started throwing stuff in a bowl without a recipe and without measuring some things and freaked out a little. She went and told my aunt I wasn't measuring or using a recipe! I got tattled on! It was pretty funny because my aunt only shrugged and said she was sure I knew what I was doing. Thankfully, I did and the cookies were good!

 

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. butter

3/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 Tbsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 c. chocolate chips

Almost melt the butter. I use salted butter so I don't add additional salt to this recipe. If you don't use salted butter, you'll want to add about 1/4 tsp. Add is both sugars, vanilla, and eggs. Vanilla is one thing I rarely measure. I know about how much I am pouring in and I put in a little extra to these cookies - hence the 1 Tbsp. It's an approximate measurement. If you don't like so much, use less.  Cream these together. The add flour, baking soda, and chocolate chips and stir to combine. I use a medium cookie scoop to drop onto a cookie sheet. Then bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until they start to turn golden around the edges. Allow to cool 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing and allowing to finish cooling. Or eat them while they are still warm and gooey. Because that is how they are best!

 

No Bake Cookies

Another recipe from my past. I loved to cook even as a kid. We lived in Utah when I got this recipe and in a house without air conditioning. Yes, boys, I grew up without AC. And lived to tell about it! Due to the lack of cooling in the house, my mom was not a fan of me baking during the summer months. I was told 'no' a lot. But then a new family moved in behind us! And there was a girl my age! And she had a no-bake cookie recipe that I was allowed to make in the summer because it didn't involve the oven! So, thank you, Tammy, for sharing your recipe with me.

 

No Bake Cookies - from Tammy Cherry

2 c. sugar

1/4 c. cocoa

1/2 c. milk

1/4 c. butter

1 tsp. vanilla

pinch of salt

1/2 c. peanut butter

3 c. quick oats

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Add cocoa, sugar, milk, and vanilla. Cook until the mixture boils. Remove from heat and cool 1 minute. Add salt, peanut butter, and oats and stir until well combined. Drop by tablespoonfuls on waxed paper or you can use a cookie scoop. Allow to cook and set before eating.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Who doesn't love warm peanut butter cookies? Or cold peanut butter cookies. Unless you're allergic, but that doesn't count because you probably would love them if you could eat them. This recipe is my favorite peanut butter cookie recipe. I have several, but this is my go-to peanut butter cookies. They are delicious!

 

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. peanut butter

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 1/2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

 Mix softened butter, peanut butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla together in a large bowl until they are well blended. Add in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (or use salted butter and skip the salt). Mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls or use a cookie scoop and drop dough onto the cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with fork tines, making a criss-cross pattern on the tops of the cookies. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes or until they are golden brown around the edges.

Almond Flour Cookies

These cookies are different than the traditional cookie - they use honey to hold them together rather than eggs and almond flour rather than wheat flour. The almond flour I use is not as finely ground as all-purpose flour, but they taste good and that is the point of the cookie! They are good alone or try adding in some chocolate chips and/ or coconut to them. So good!

 

Almond Flour Cookies

4 Tbsp. melted coconut oil

6 Tbsp. honey

2 tsp. vanilla

2 c. almond flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

sprinkle of salt

Mix the coconut oil, honey, and vanilla together in a small bowl. This make a small batch of cookies - I get about 15 when I make them - so you don't need a large bowl. Add in the almond flour, baking soda, and salt. Add in a few chocolate chips and a little coconut if you desire. Mix together well. This does not look like traditional cookie dough. It is more grainy looking and the dough separates easily but they turn out just fine when they are baked. I use my cookie scoop and drop the cookies onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Flatten them with the back of a spoon or they will stay in balls. They don't spread out much. Bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes.

Hot Cocoa Cookies

These cookies are amazing! I am a hot cocoa lover so when I came across this recipe, I knew I had to try it out! They lived up to the hype! This recipe is a little more work, but it is so, so worth it! It's a Rachel Ray recipe you can find here. I changed it just a bit because any excuse to use a Hershey chocolate bar in cookies is a good excuse. And I found an excuse for this one!

 

Hot Cocoa Cookies

1/2 c. butter

2 c. chocolate chips

1 1/4 c. brown sugar

3 eggs

1 1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. flour

1/4 c. cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

1 large Hershey bar

30 large marshmallows

First off, I freeze my large Hershey bar. Not the King Size one, the bigger one. I think it's a pound size. Something like that. Melt the butter and the chocolate chips in a pot over low heat. Once it is melted, allow it to cool about 15 minutes.  OK, so Rachel Ray gives more complicated directions that probably make these cookies even better, but I am going to admit to doing it the easier way that uses a few less dishes. I'm not a big fan of washing dishes. So once the butter/ chocolate mixture is cooled, mix the sugar, eggs, and vanilla in right in the pot. Then I add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir some more. I use a cookie scoop and scoop the dough onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. Bake about 12 minutes at 325 degrees. The cookies will be slightly undone. While the cookies are baking, take the chocolate bar out of the freezer. Break 3/4 of it into rectangles along the scored lines. It does not break well frozen, but that's ok. Do the best you can. Then cut each rectangle into thirds. Grate the remainder of the chocolate bar. Cut the marshmallows in half and top the cut part with a piece of the chocolate. When you take the tray of cookies out of the oven, quickly turn a marshmallow upside down onto each cookies, chocolate side down. Return to the oven about 4 more minutes or until the marshmallows are soft and large and turning golden. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with the grated chocolate. You can slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheet so you can reuse the cookie sheet for the rest of the dough. Allow to cool before removing from the parchment paper.

Lemon Cake Mix Cookies

These were requested by a friend at work. Actually, she asked me to make something lemon for her because she loves lemon. I thought and thought of what would be yummy but not too terrible because she has also recently lost a bunch of weight. So, I thought maybe a pound cake, but it didn't seem quite right, but nothing else sounded better. Then, it came to me as I was falling asleep! Cake mix cookies! I could totally do cake mix cookies! I don't make them a ton, but one of my favorite cookies is a cake mix cookie and lemon cookies with white chocolate suddenly were perfect! I baked these a touch too long so they were a little crunchy on the outside, but still soft on the inside.

 

Lemon Cake Mix Cookies

1 box lemon cake mix

2 eggs

1/2 c. oil

1 c. white chocolate chips

Mix all ingredients together in a medium bowl.  Drop onto cookie sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Andes Mint Cookies

I've wondered for a long time why we eat mint at Christmas. Anyone know? I love mint, don't get me wrong, but how did it become so associated with Christmas time? It was not one of the gifts the wise men brought. Well, whatever the reason is, I love mint, especially at Christmas. However it came to be, I must have mint treats at Christmas. This was one of the Christmas cookies I made this year and am just now getting around to posting here. The boys love them, too, mainly because it uses Andes mints and they love those. They all offered to help out with the extras. Wasn't that so good of them? Part of their Christmas service, I am sure.

 

Andes Mint Cookies

1 c. butter, softened

1 1/2 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

2/3 c. cocoa

3/4 tsp. baking soda

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla together. Stir in the flour, cocoa, and baking soda, Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes. Immediately on taking the cookies out of the oven, put an unwrapped Andes mint on top of each cookie and allow to soften, about 5 minutes. Spread with a knife to swirl around the top of the cookie and allow to finish cooling.

 

Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

  Sarah, a friend of mine made these for me years ago, a recipe her sister used to make them. Holy cow! They were AMAZING! I only wish I made them as well as these two do! They are still pretty good when I make them, just not quite as good as they do. Knowing someone else makes them better that I do doesn't stop me from eating them!

 

Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies- adapted from Stephanie Fordham

1 1/2 c. shortening

2 2/3 c. packed brown sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

2 1/4 c. flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. nutmeg

4 c. old fashioned oats

filling

3/4 c. shortening

3 c. powdered sugar

1 7 oz. jar marshmallow creme

2-3 Tbsp. milk

Cream the shortening and brown sugar together. I have been told that it is important to use shortening in this recipe and not butter. I didn't question the authority - I use shortening. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each one. Add vanilla and stir. Add the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and nutmeg and mix well. Stir in oats. Drop onto lightly greased cookie sheet (I always forget to grease it and they come off ok). Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees or until golden brown. 

To make the filling: Cream the shortening, powdered sugar, and marshmallow creme together. Add enough milk to make it spreadable. Spread filling one the bottom of one cookie and top with another. Enjoy!

This recipe makes a fair amount of large cookies so it might be good to have someone to share them with - like me!