Oatmeal Coconut Pecan Cookies

Every once in awhile I get in a creative baking mood and actually come up with a recipe worth keeping and sharing.  This is one of those recipes.  Perfect for the coconut lovers in the family!

Oatmeal Coconut Pecan Cookies

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup shortening

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 salt

3/4 cup flour

1 cup quick cooking oats

3/4 cup toasted coconut flakes

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Extra sugar for rolling

Directions:

Preheat oven 350 degrees F.

Cream butter, shortening, sugar and brown sugar together. Add in egg and coconut extract; mix well.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together; add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats, coconut, and pecans.

Shape cookie dough into 1 inch balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place 2 inches apart on a large baking sheet. Place on the middle rack in oven and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and let cookies set on baking sheet for 1-2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Shortbread Cookie Bites

 

It doesn't get any better or any easier than a simple shortbread cookie!

Shortbread Cookie Bites

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2 cups flour

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add flour and continue to mix until mixture forms a soft dough (it will be crumbly at first, but keep mixing and it will form a dough). Form dough into a ball with your hands. Roll dough 1/4-inch thick on a surface dusted with flour with a well-dusted rolling pin. Cut into 1" squares (I use a pizza cutter) and place on prepared baking sheets prick centers with a fork (I use a small three prong seafood fork). Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until cookies are pale golden brown. Let cool on baking sheets.

If desired, melt 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips with 1/2 tablespoon shortening and pour into a shallow bowl or saucer; dip the bottom of each cookie into the melted chocolate, scraping off the excess.  Place cookie chocolate side up on parchment paper until chocolate is set. 

Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

You just can't go wrong with chocolate and a little more chocolate!

Dark Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup dark cocoa
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips

Combine first five ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add dark cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt gradually, mixing well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool on cookie sheet for two minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 2 dozen

Christmas Spritz Cookies

These Christmas Spritz Cookies are definitely not on my new low-fat/low-cholesterol diet, but it just wouldn't be Christmas without them!  Thankfully the grandkids will be around to eat them, so I won't be tempted to eat the whole batch myself!

Christmas Spritz Cookies

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Stir in the egg yolk, almond and vanilla extracts.  Gradually blend in the flour and salt.  Fill a cookie press with dough and shoot cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart onto a cookie sheet.  If you like, sprinkle with colored sugar at this time.  Bake for 6-8 minutes at 350 degrees.

Low-Fat Oatmeal Cookies

No one will ever know that these cookies are low-fat!

Low-Fat Oatmeal Cookies

2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup applesauce
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
 2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips or raisins (optional)

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugars.  Beat in the egg, followed by the applesauce and vanilla extract.  Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and oats until just combined.  Add chocolate chips or raisins, if desired.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool on cookie sheet for two minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Spritz Cookies

Spritz cookies are a must at our house for Christmas...mainly because they are my favorite Christmas cookie!

Spritz Cookies

1 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened (no substitutes)
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Sift together the flour and salt; set aside.  In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar.  Stir in the egg yolk, almond extract and vanilla extract.  Gradually blend in the sifted ingredients.  Fill a cookie press with dough and shoot cookies about 1 1/2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  If you like, decorate with sugar or sprinkles at this time.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies just start to turn golden around the edges.

White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

These cookies may very well be my new all time favorite...yum!

White Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 cup molasses
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 package white chocolate chips

In a large bowl, mix shortening brown sugar, egg and molasses until creamy.  Stir in flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger and cloves until mixture is well blended. Stir in white chocolate chips.  Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Blondies

1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, melted butter, peanut butter, egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt just until blended. Spread batter into a greased 9 x 9 pan and top with chocolate chips. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25-30 minutes.

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

 Just like a brownie only in the shape of a cookie!

Chocolate Crackle Cookies

1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

Granulated sugar for rolling

Cream together shortening and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in cocoa powder, baking soda, salt and flour; mix well. Shape into walnut size balls, roll in granulated sugar, and place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350F for 8 to 10 minutes or until tops are slightly cracked and sides are set.

Half The Calories?

No bake cookies are a favorite of mine, but I rarely make them because I will inevitably eat the entire batch myself.  Yesterday it occurred to me that if I cut the recipe in half that the calories would also be cut in half.  Brilliant!  Ok, maybe not so brilliant, but please humor me!

Small Batch No Bake Cookies

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup milk
2 tablespoons cocoa
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium saucepan, combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa. Bring to a boil, and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in peanut butter, oats, and vanilla. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto wax paper. Let cool until hardened. 

Yield: 18 cookies

Grandma's Icebox Cookies

My grandma always put big chunks of walnuts in her icebox cookies and with a cold glass of milk...there wasn't a better treat!  Unfortunately my family refuses to eat breads, cakes or cookies that contain nuts, so I usually choose to omit them when I am baking.  That strategy works fine with most recipes, but these cookies were just a little too bland without the nuts and needed something extra...toffee bits were the answer!

Grandma's Icebox Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
2 cups flour
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or Heath toffee bits)

Cream shortening and brown sugar thoroughly; add egg and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda and cream of tartar.  Add chopped walnuts (or toffee bits if your family refuses to eat nuts like mine does). Turn dough onto lightly floured board and shape into oblong roll about 3 inches in diameter. Wrap the roll with waxed paper and put in icebox overnight, or until thoroughly chilled. When ready to bake, slice cookies 1/4 inch thick, and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

Maple Oatmeal Cookies

Maple syrup and oatmeal together in a cookie...sounds an awful lot like breakfast if you ask me!

Maple Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 cup real maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick oats

In a mixing bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar until fluffy.  Beat in the egg, syrup, and vanilla until well mixed.  Combine flour, baking powder and salt.  Add flour mixture to the creamed mixture.  Stir in oats.  Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool on cookie sheet for two minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Cookies For Santa

Peppermint Shortbread

1/2 cup butter (no substitutes)
1/4 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 cup flour
1/4 cup crushed peppermint candy canes
 -----------------------------------------
1 cup white chocolate melting candy
1/4 cup crushed peppermint candy canes

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Stir in vanilla and peppermint extract. Mix in the flour, and then crushed candy canes.

Shape dough into 2 x 1/2 inch logs. Place logs 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes in preheated oven, or until firm. Let cookies cool completely before removing from pan.
Melt the white chocolate over a double boiler, stirring frequently until smooth. Dip one end of each cookie into the chocolate and sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Place onto waxed paper until set.

Grandma's Sugar Cookies

My grandma made the best sugar cookies, but her recipe makes close to a million cookies. Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it makes a LOT of cookies! I've always said that I was going to downsize the recipe, but never got around to it until just recently. This scaled down recipe made 2 dozen 3" cookies and they are just like grandma's (minus the raisin that she always added to the center of each cookie).

Grandma's Sugar Cookies

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups flour

In a large bowl cream the shortening and the sugar. Add the egg, vanilla, and milk. In a medium bowl mix the dry ingredients with a wire whisk. Add the dry ingredients to the large bowl. Mix until well combined. Wrap the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 3 hours or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll the dough (half at a time) to 1/4" thick. With floured cookie cutter, cut into shapes. Place cookies 1/2 inch apart on lightly greased cookie sheets. Sprinkle with sugar and if desired, add a raisin to the center of each cookie. Bake 8 minutes or until very light brown at the edges. Let stand on cookie sheets for two minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Carrot Cake Cookies

These cookies are just like mini carrot cakes! Mmm!

Carrot Cake Cookies

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
3/4 cup shredded carrots
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper. In a large bowl, cream together butter, shortening and brown sugar. Beat in the eggs and then stir in the pineapple and carrots. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into carrot mixture. Mix in the walnuts if desired. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until bottoms begin to brown and cookies are set. Allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Drizzle with cream cheese glaze.

Cream Cheese Glaze

2 tablespoons cream cheese, softened
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons milk

Mix ingredients together until smooth. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Glazed Pineapple Cookies

These soft cake like cookies were one of my grandma's specialties.

Glazed Pineapple Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (8 ounce) can crushed pineapple (reserve 2 tablespoons of the juice for glaze)
2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

Pineapple Glaze

1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons pineapple juice

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together shortening and brown sugar. Add the egg, beat well, then stir in vanilla and pineapple with juice. (Reserve 2 tablespoons of the juice for glaze.) Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir into the creamed mixture. Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheet and bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove cookies to racks to cool.

To glaze cookies, mix 1 cup of confectioners sugar with the 2 tablespoons of reserved pineapple juice in a small bowl. Dip tops of cooled cookies into the glaze. Allow glaze to set up before storing in an airtight container.

Peach Crumble Bars

I spent the day sewing with my quilty friends yesterday and took these bars along for us to snack on. They must have been a hit, because everyone requested the recipe!

Peach Crumble Bars

Crumb Mixture:
1 1/4 cups flour
1 1/4 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla

Filling:
1 jar (10 ounces) preserves (I used peach, but any flavor will work well in this recipe.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. For crumb mixture, in a large mixing bowl combine all crumb mixture ingredients and mix until all ingredients are combined and crumbly. Reserve 1 cup crumb mixture; press remaining mixture into the bottom of a 9x13-inch pan. Spread preserves to within 1/2 inch from the edge of unbaked crumb mixture. (Warming the preserves in the microwave for 30 seconds makes it easier to spread.) Sprinkle the reserved crumb mixture over the preseves. Bake for 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely. Cut into bars.

Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

You have probably noticed that most of my cookie recipes make small batches of cookies. There was a time when I had two growing boys in the house and I couldn't keep the cookie jar full, but now that it's just the two of us again those "big batch" recipes aren't very practical. I've slowly been reworking my recipes to better suit a smaller family, but I have always been afraid to tamper with my chocolate chip cookie recipe...until now. I really wanted to make chocolate chip cookies for my Christmas cookie platter, but I didn't want to make 6+ dozen chocolate chip cookies, so out of necessity I came up with the following recipe. I believe it's a keeper!

Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 egg
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Combine first five ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix well. Add flour, baking soda and salt gradually, mixing well after each addition. Stir in chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 10 minutes or until light brown. Cool on cookie sheet for two minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 2 dozen

(To jazz up your plain chocolate chip cookies for the holiday just press a few red and green M&M's into the top of each unbaked cookie!)

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

The Christmas cookie baking has begun! These are a new addition to the cookie plate this year, but I'm sure they will be a standard from now on!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
miniature peanut butter cups, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside. Cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Add the flour mixture and mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into and ungreased mini muffin pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into the center of each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.

Chocolate Chunk Blondies

Just a little something to hold you over until Thursday's big feast!

Chocolate Chunk Blondies

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chunks

In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, melted butter, egg and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt just until blended. Add chocolate chunks. Spread batter into a greased 9 x 9 pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.