Baileys & Chocolate Chip Cookies...

yes they are as good as they sound!

I found this recipe on Batter & Beat's blog through Foodgawker.com. Foodgawker.com is a great place to find recipes and great food blogs to follow. As soon as I saw this recipe I knew I had to make it. I substituted the generic brand of Baileys and it worked out perfectly. The house smelled WONDERFUL while these cookies baked, it seriously should be the next Fabreeze candle sent.


Baileys Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from RecipeZaar


1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup Baileys Mint Chocolate Irish Cream
2-1/4 cups cake flour (sift before measuring) (I used regular flour and the cookies weren't as puffy but still delicious)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 pkg. (6 oz.) bittersweet chocolate chips (Used Milk Chocolate chips since I already had them)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375º F.In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until smooth. Add egg, vanilla and Baileys; blend well. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; add to mixture a little at a time, until thoroughly blended. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts.Drop by the spoonful onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.


My cookies didn't spread as well, and perhaps that is due to the different type of flour used. I smooshed my batter down a bit once it was on the pan or else you'll have a bunch of ball shaped cookies to eat. But that being said... shape didn't matter, these cookies are wonderful.

NYE cookies

Our friends Jen and Charlie had a bunch of people over to celebrate NYE. I told them I would bring a few things to munch on, but these were the only things I got a picture of :) These are very thin and crispy cookies. I wasn't sure how they would go over at the party, but they were gone by the end of the night, so either people were too drunk to realize they didn't like them or they liked them :) The cookies are delicate and have a hint of orange flavor. I liked that they were unique and I plan to make them again soon!

Florentine Cookies

Adapted from The Food Network.

Made vegan and without corn syrup.Yields 3-4 dozen

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups sliced almonds

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tbsp finely grated orange zest (from one small orange)

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 cup sugar

2 tbsp non-dairy milk- I used regular milk

2 tbsp brown rice syrup or light corn syrup- I used light corn syrup

5 tbsp nonhydrogenated margarine- I used regular butter

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3 oz. semisweet vegan chocolate- Once again, I used regular chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and make sure you have a rack in the center of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone mat.2. Pulse the almonds in the food processor until very finely chopped, but don’t let them form a paste. In a mixing bowl, stir together almonds, flour, and zest.3. Put the milk, sugar, and margarine in a saucepan on medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Sugar should dissolve fully. Let the mixture boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add vanilla.4. Pour the sugar mixture over the almond mixture and stir until combined. Set aside for 30 minutes, until cool enough to handle.5. Using a teaspoon or half-tablespoon measure, spoon rounded balls of dough onto a cookie sheet. Leave plenty of space between each cookie, making 6 cookies per sheet.6. Bake for 10 minutes, rotating half way through to ensure even baking. Remove from the oven when cookies have fully spread and are slightly golden. Cool on the pan for 3-5 minutes, until they are firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack, using a thin offset spatula. Repeat with the remaining batter.7. Put the chocolate in a microwave safe bowl, and microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring between each burst, until fully melted. Using a knife, drizzle the baked cookies with chocolate. Let the chocolate set up before serving.

Note: Store refrigerated in an airtight container, for up to 1 week.

Lemon Curd!!



I have been eyeballing the lemon flavored liqueur, Limoncello for about a year now. I really didn't know what I would use it for so I waited... and then I saw this recipe! I'm not a huge fan of lemon flavored desserts, but I though why not... it is a spring flavor and spring is upon us. I found a recipe on a food blog (www.locallemons.com) that looked good so I printed it up and tried it out! The recipe for the lemon curd was SOOOOO easy to make. When I think of curd, I think of cottage cheese, but I can tell you that there is no cottage cheese like substance with this lemon curd. It is sweet, slightly tangy and kind of addicting. I need to find another use for this lemon curd!!:)


Limoncello Thumbprint Cookies Lemon Curd

(adapted from Fine Cooking, found on http://www.locallemons.com/):



3 oz. (6 Tbs.) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

2/3 cup limoncello

1 tablespoon grated lemon zest


In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer, about 2 min. Slowly add the eggs and yolks. Beat for 1 min. Mix in the lemon juice. The mixture will look curdled, but it will smooth out as it cooks.


In a medium, heavy-based saucepan, cook the mixture over low heat until it looks smooth. (The curdled appearance disappears as the butter in the mixture melts.) Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens, about 15 min. It should leave a path on the back of a spoon and will read 170°F on a thermometer. Don’t let the mixture boil.

I used a recipe for the thumbprint cookies, but they turned out very crumbly (the dough was before it was baked.) I tried making a few but they broke apart really easy. I ended up melting about a half of stick of butter, added it to the batter and then mixed it up. It helped tremendously but I still wasn't happy with the cookie.


YUM

Smores Cookies

These cookies are delicious but they are REALLY sugary. Like, I would take my time eating a cookie for fear it would put me into a diabetic coma. I made them for our Christmas with Jim's family and I made a batch for the football guys and for people at work. We didn't have many leftovers, which I take as a good sign! The dough is a little more dry but if you scoop out a 1/4 cup (which makes for a larger cookie) and roll it a little in your hands then it works out just fine! I love the marshmallow in the cookie, it stays nice and gooey in the cookie. On the first batch of cookies I used milk chocolate chips but for the 2nd batch I ran out of those chips so I used white chocolate chips, and they were just as good!

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (Honestly I would probably only go with 1.5 cups next time because there are a lot of chocolate chips packed into each cookie)
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
2 Hershey bars, chopped

Directions Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

• Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
• Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
• In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
• Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.
• Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
• Stir in the chocolate chips and graham cracker crumbs
• Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets.
• Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
• Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven, remove from oven.
• Push 3 to 4 marshmallows and a piece of a hershey's bar into each cookie.
• Return to oven and bake for 3 more minutes.
• Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
  
  

Cookie recipe was found at http://lindseyskitchen85.blogspot.com

A cookie that is going to be in my current rotation


I have about 20 different food blogs that I look at and I found this recipe on beacheats.blogspot.com. It sounds like a lot, but I keep them in my favorites and check them out about once a week. I love them all because they are all different enough to give me new ideas and recipes to test out my culinary skills. This cookie was damn tasty and is more flaky than gooey. I don't think I was very successful in rolling the cookies while keeping the cinnamon/sugar/nut mix in the middle. Since most of my filling stayed on my cutting board, I ended up making a simple frosting and adding that to the cookies to help give it a little more sweetness. :o) If you have some time and a lot of counter space, I highly suggest you try making this cookie!



Hungarian Horns:

dough:
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1 cup of butter, chilled and cut into cubes
2/3 cup sour cream (do not use low or non-fat)
1 egg yolk

Whisk the sour cream and egg yolk together in a small bowl until well-combined. Reserve.Combine the flour and chilled butter cubes in the bowl of your food processor and pulse to combine, as if making a pie crust, until the butter cubes have reduced to the size of peas and a sandy texture has formed. (Alternately, you may cut the butter into the flour using a pastry cutter or two forks - but I prefer the food processor.)Place the butter and flour mixture in a large mixing bowl and to it add the sour cream and egg yolk mixture. Mix well, first with a spoon and then your hands, until the dough begins to come together. It will be soft and a bit sticky, but continue packing it together with your hands to form a ball of dough, working quickly to ensure the ingredients are well-combined. Wrap the ball of dough in plastic and chill in the fridge overnight.

filling:

1/2 cup of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
one egg white, lightly beaten

Combine the sugar, nuts and cinnamon in a small bowl, cover and reserve until its time to bake. (The egg white will be used to brush the cookies prior to baking, so reserve it as well.)To bake the Horns:Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees and remove @ 3 tbsp. of the sugar/nut/cinnamon mixture to a smaller bowl and reserve.Divide the dough into 3 equal parts. One at a time, roll each piece of dough out, on a floured surface, into a 12 inch round circle. Spread the dough with 1/3 of the remaining sugar/nut mixture and press the filling lightly into the dough. Using a sharp knife, cut the circle of dough into four equal quarters, then cut each quarter into four equal triangles. (See photo below.) Roll each triangle from the wide end to the point to form the horn and bend it slightly to form a crescent shape. Repeat with the remaining triangles until all the cookies have been formed.Place the rolled cookies on a large, un-greased cookie sheet, brush each horn with the beaten egg white and top with a sprinkle of the reserved cinnamon sugar and bake at 375 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes or until light golden brown. Repeat the process with the remaining dough.The horns will puff a bit as they bake, so leave a bit of room between them as you place them on the sheet. This recipe will yield 48 cookies.