Cookie Recipes from foodies.com

Cookie Tips and How Tos (Check out Maida Heatter's advice for baking perfect cookies)

Classic Brownies
Editor's Note: In my opinion, this is the quintessential brownie. Cakey, crusty, with the perfect ratio of salt to sweet. Don't omit the walnuts unless you're allergic to them. Follow the recipe exactly - brownie making is an art as well as a science! - Joy

1/2 cup Crisco (NOT butter flavored)
2 ounces (2 squares) unsweetened baking chocolate
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup sifted flour (sift, then measure)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

In a microwave set at 50% power or in a double boiler, melt Crisco and chocolate together (see Tips on melting chocolate). Set aside to cool.

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease well a glass 8" x 8" pan.

In a medium sized bowl, beat eggs until light yellow in color. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in the cooled chocolate mixture. Gently stir the baking powder and salt into the sifted flour and add to the mixture in the bowl. Stir in vanilla and nuts and stir well.

Spread in the greased 8" x 8" pan and bake for 30-35 minutes (for baking hints, see Tips on making brownies). Cool before cutting into squares.

Makes 16 irresistable brownies.

From Terry Blonder Golson's 1,000 Lowfat Recipes, published January 1998 by Macmillan.
Butterscotch Chip Brownies
Makes: 12 servings

Mint chocolate chips could be substitute for the butterscotch chips. Of course, both could be used (and you could throw in a few nuts, too).

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup nonfat sour cream
3 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup quick oats
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose white flour
1/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Coat a 7 x 11 inch or 8 x 8 inch baking pan with nonstick spray.

Whisk together the oil, sugar, sour cream, egg whites, and vanilla. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until all is moist but still lumpy.

Spread the batter into the baking pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the center feels firm to the touch.

Per Serving: Calories 218; Protein 4g; Fat 7g (Saturated 2g); Carbohydrates 36g; Fiber 1 g; Sodium 114mg

Half Sheet Brownies
Cooking for a crowd? Here's the chewy, fudgy variety for a party of chocoholics. If you don't own a heavy duty, restaurant grade half sheet (13" x 18"), go buy one at your local serious gourmet wares or restaurant supply store. Or contact our friends at King Arthur Flour (1-800-827-6836, www.kingarthurflour.com) and request a catalog. A half sheet will fit in most home ovens and you'll come to rely on it for everything from pizza to fish sticks.

12 squares (ounces) unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
6 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon salt
nuts, chocolate chips, M&M's or other treats

Preheat the oven to 350°. Grease a 13" x 18" half sheet heavily, or use a good grade of parchment paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter together (a large Pyrex cup at half power in the microwave works well - see Tips for melting chocolate). Set aside to cool completely.

In a large bowl, beat eggs until light yellow. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Beat in cooled chocolate mixture.

Beat in flour. Add vanilla and salt. Blend well.

Now's the time to have some fun. Choose to make an entire sheet of plain brownies, or divide the batter and beat in treats such as M&Ms, nuts or chocolate chips.

Spread all the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for approximately 25 minutes or until the brownies have a glassy, set look even in the center of the pan.

Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Amaretti Pignoli Cookies
These chewy, tender macaroons are studded with toasted pignoli nuts and fit for a Roman god. Best made in the food processor. Makes approximately 18 cookies.

Preheat the oven to 325° Fahrenheit. Line a heavy gauge cookie sheet (or double up two cheapo cookie sheets) with professional quality parchment paper (or grease the pan well).** Place the pignoli nuts in a soup bowl and set aside.

Using the sharp blade in your food processor, pulse almond paste until uniformly granular. Add sugar and pulse until blended. Through the tube and while pulsing, add the whites of two large eggs. Add flour and pulse until mixed.

If desired, blend in a drop of food coloring at this point. A pale pink or green is very festive for the holidays.

This dough is tricky to handle. Grab two teaspoons. Collect a small rounded teaspoonful of dough right from the food processor bowl. Drop the dough from a height of about 8 or 10 inches into the bowl of pignoli. This will embed the nuts into one side of the ball of dough. Using your fingers, gather and press a few extra nuts into the sides of the ball and quickly flip the cookie onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, raw dough side down.

Place cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake in the center of the oven for 15-18 minutes or until golden. Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet - they will continue to brown slightly as they cool. When the cookies have completely cooled, use a very thin spatula to remove them from the pan.

For a more perfectly rounded cookie, try piping the dough. You'll need patience. These cookies keep well in an airtight tin. If left to the air, they will harden in a few days - some people love them that way. The perfect espresso cookie!

*Editor's Note: If buying supermarket grade almond paste, I recommend Odense brand. It comes in a 7 ounce roll. I do not recommend Betty Crocker's. Professional quality almond paste is preferable to grocery store brand. - Joy

**Editor's Note: A note on parchment paper. Don't bother with the supermarket grade paper - you'll be rudely disappointed. Trust me on this one. Last year I had to toss a batch of these gems and I was none too pleased! Get your hands on the professional stuff. Yes, our friends at King Arthur flour carry Rowoco's Parchment Baking Paper - go to their Web site to request a catalogue - Joy

Biscotti with Cherries and Almonds
Life is a bowl of these biscotti and a glass of champagne.

On a floured surface, divide batter in half. Pat each section into a log 14" long and 1 1/2 to 2" wide. Place each log on a separate, lightly greased, heavy duty baking sheet (log will expand during baking). Bake 30 minutes until firm, but only just beginning to color. (For even baking, rotate pans 180 degrees and switch oven racks after 15 minutes). Carefully remove logs and cool on rack.

Reduce oven temperature to 300. When the log feels cool enough to handle, use a long, thin serrated knife to cut biscotti into 1/2 inch slices. Stand slices on their sides on the baking sheet and return to oven and bake an additional 20 minutes. Cookies should be crisp and evenly cooked. They do not brown significantly.

Cool completely before storing. Delicious served with (or dipped in!) wine, champagne or coffee.

Gingerbread Men with Character
Makes about 2 dozen large gingerbread folk.

In a large bowl and with a wooden spoon, cream shortening and sugar. Beat in egg, molasses, and vinegar.

This makes a very stiff dough. Using your hands, lightly press dough into a ball and chill 3 hours or overnight.

Quarter the ball of dough. Shape each section of dough into a large hockey puck and lightly flour both sides. Roll out each "puck" on a lightly floured surface 1/8 to 1/4 inch thick, depending on your preference. Cut out shapes using a cookie cutter.

Place 1 inch apart on a cookie sheet lined with professional grade parchment paper (or lightly greased and floured). Bake at 375°F for 5 to 7 minutes. Cool on the pan until stiff enough to transfer and then remove to a rack.

Gingerful Biscotti
Adapted from the recipe that made Maida Heatter write Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies.

With scissors, cut ginger into thin slivers and then crosswise to make pieces about the size of small green peas; set aside.

Toast the almonds in a shallow pan in a 350 degree Farhenheit oven for 12 to 15 minutes, until lightly colored, stirring once during toasting. Set aside to cool.

Into a large bowl strain or sift together - just to mix - the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, pepper, ground ginger, cinnamon, mustard, cloves, and sugar. Stir in the crystallized ginger, then the nuts. In a small bowl beat the eggs and honey to mix and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until the dry ingredients are completely moistened.

Place two 18 to 20 inch lengths of plastic wrap on a work surface. You will form two strips of dough, one on each piece of plastic wrap. Spoon half of the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls in the middle - down the length - of each piece of plastic wrap, to form strips about 13 inches long. Flatten the tops slightly by dipping a large spoon into water and pressing down on the dough with the wet spoon. Rewet the spoon often.

Lift the two long sides of one piece of plastic wrap, bring the sides together on top of the dough, and, with your hands, press on the plastic wrap to smooth the dough and shape it into an even strip about 13 to 14 inches long, 2 1/2 to 3 1/2 inches wide, and about 3/4 inch thick (no thicker). Shape both strips and place them on a cookie sheet.

Place the cookie sheet with the strips of dough in the freezer for at least an hour or until firm enough to unwrap (or as much longer as you wish).

To bake, adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two large cookie sheets with baking parchment or aluminum foil, shiny side up.

To transfer the strips of dough to the sheets, open the two long sides of plastic wrap on top of one strip of dough and turn the dough upside down onto the lined cookie sheet, placing it diagonally on the sheet. Slowly peel off the plastic wrap. Repeat with the second strip of dough and the second cookie sheet.

Bake for 50 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front to back once during the baking to insure even baking. These will turn quite dark during baking.

Then reduce the temperature to 275 degrees and remove the sheets from the oven. Immediately - carefully and gently - peel the parchment or foil away from the backs of the strips and place them on a large cutting board top down. Slice the strips while they are still hot. Use a pot holder or a folded towel to hold a strip in place. Use a serrated French bread knife. Slice on an angle; the sharper the angle, the longer the cookies, and the more difficult it will be to slice them very thin- but you can do it, and they will be gorgeous. Cut them about 1/4 to 1/3 inch wide.

Place the slices on a cut side, touching each other, on the cookie sheets. Bake at 275 degrees for about 25 minutes.

Reverse the sheets top to bottom and front to back once during baking. Bake just until dry. (You have to cool one to know if it is crisp). Do not overbake.

Pumpkin Tea Cakes with Cream Cheese Frosting
A simple drop cookie that comes out of the oven like a tender little cake. This recipe requires a heavy duty or doubled cookie sheet. For Halloween, tint the frosting orange and stick a candy corn on top of each cake to suggest a plump little pumpkin. (Don't be intimidated by the 1 tablespoon of baking powder - that's correct.)

Chill batter at least 30 minutes but no longer than 1 hour (or baking powder may lose its effectiveness). Spoon by rounded teaspoonfuls onto restaurant grade or doubled-up cookie sheets at least 1 1/2" apart. Bake for approximately 10 minutes at 400 degrees. Cook until evenly baked but not browned. Cool. Frost with Cream Cheese Frosting.

Fanny's Gingersnaps
Sandy's recipe calls for sprinkling sugar on top of the hot-out-of-the-oven cookies rather than the traditional rolling of the uncooked dough balls. The crystals settle into the cracks like a dusting of fine snow. (Hint: Knock the extra sugar off before storing.) Very festive, and a real time saver! If you remember to leave the marg out to soften, you can have these treats in the oven in less than 15 minutes. Makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Cream margarine and sugar. Mix in molasses and egg. Sift dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Roll into 1" balls. Place on lightly greased baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until dough has spread and tops have cracked. Before removing to a cooling rack, sprinkle lightly with sugar.

Susan's Ginger Cookies
These quarter-sized cookies came to Nashville via Jacksonville, Florida. Susan fills holiday gift bags for friends and colleagues with these delicious treats.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugar. Mix in egg and molasses. Sift remaining ingredients together and add. Chill. Roll dough into balls the size of a dime. Roll balls in the extra granulated sugar and bake on a lightly greased cookie sheet 8 - 10 minutes. I slightly undercook mine so that they are chewy (about 7 minutes).

Aunt Elizabeth's Ginger Snaps
Cindy tells us: These festive cookies are made extra special with the addition of a tiny red teaberry in the center. (Remember the flavor of Clark's Teaberry Gum?) I have crossed oceans with my faithful jar of teaberries from The Purity Candy Company in Lewisburg, PA. Christmas wouldn't be the same without these cookies.

Editor's Note: You'll reach the Purity Candy Company at 717-524-0823. Please tell them foodies sent you! - Joy

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream shortening and 2 cups sugar. Add the eggs and beat until fluffy. Mix in the molasses. Combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Add to shortening mixture and beat until smooth.

Roll into small, walnut-sized balls. Roll in a shallow dish of the extra granulated sugar until coated and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet. Put a teaberry in the center of each ball. Press slightly so it won't roll off. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 -15 minutes. (Don't overbake - they should be chewy in the center.)

Gingersnappers
When we use the word "stinky" in our family to describe food like good provolone, coffee, or these marvelous bite-back-at-you cookies, it's the highest order of praise. - Joy

Beat together the shortening and 1 cup of the sugar. Add the egg, and beat until light and fluffy, then add the molasses. Stir and toss together the flours, baking soda, salt, ginger and cinnamon, and add to the first mixture, beating until smooth and blended.

Using a teaspoon, gather up a spoonful of the dough and roll it between the palms of your hands into 1-inch balls. Put the extra sugar into a shallow dish or pie plate and roll the dough balls until coated. Place about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until the cookies have spread and the tops have cracked. The cookies should have ever-so-slightly begun to brown around the edges. The cookies will flatten further when removed from the oven. Let cool on the sheets for one or two minutes. Remove with a thin spatula and cool on a rack.

Very thin, both crisp and chewy. They are delicious (addictive), and with something to drink or vanilla ice cream, there's no stopping. I'm helpless.

Editor's Note: Find Maida's tips for using baking parchment at .Tips & How Tos .

Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment (preferably) or aluminum foil, shiny side up (OK if necessary).

In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until soft, then add the sugar and beat to mix.

Beat in the egg, vinegar, and honey. Then, on low speed, gradually add the dry ingredients; beat until mixed, scraping the bowl frequently with a rubber spatula. Transfer to a small bowl for ease in handling.

Place a length of aluminum foil next to the sink. Use a rounded tablespoon of the dough for each cookie. Place them any which way on the foil. Wet your hands with cold water. Shake them off a bit but do not dry them. Roll the mounds of dough between your wet hands into ball shapes about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wet your hands again frequently.

Place the balls 3 inches apart (these spread) on the lined sheets (I place 8 cookies on a 17 by 14-inch sheet).

Bake two sheets at a time for 12 to 14 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front to back once during baking to insure even browning. When done, the cookies should be colored all over. If they are still pale in the centers, bake a bit longer or just let the cookies stand a bit on the hot sheets. Do not underbake.

When done, if a few are still not quite done in the centers, they can be put back in the oven for a minute or two.

Let cool briefly on the sheets and then, with a metal spatula, transfer to racks to cool.

Reprinted from Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies with kind permission from the author and publisher. Find Random House at www.randomhouse.com or call 1-800-733-3000 for information.

Chocolate Hazelnut Macaroons
16 macaroons
The ultimate and most irresistible nut macaroon--chewy and moist--you can't stop eating them.

I stumbled on these purely by accident. I thought I was making meringues with ground nuts incorporated into the mixture, but they came out macaroons. The ingredients are almost identical; the techniques are different.

Lightly butter a cookie sheet and flour it as follows: Work over the sink. Sift flour along one long side of the sheet, then tilt and tap the sheet to cover the entire surface with the flour (allow excess flour to fall into the sink). Set the sheet aside.

Place 1 cup of the hazelnuts (reserve remaining hazelnuts), the cocoa, and half of the sugar (reserve remaining sugar) in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal chopping blade. Process for 30 to 40 seconds until fine, scraping down the sides once or twice as necessary. Set aside.

In the top of a large double boiler off the heat, beat the egg whites and the almond or vanilla extract until foamy. Stir in the ground-hazelnut mixture and the remaining sugar.

Place over hot water in the bottom of the double boiler on moderate heat and stir and scrape the pan almost constantly for 15 minutes or until the consistency resembles soft mashed potatoes. It is ready when, if you scrape a path in the bottom of the pan with a rubber spatula, it stays clear for a few seconds.

Remove the top of the double boiler. Work quickly before the mixture stiffens. Transfer the mixture to a shallow bowl for ease in handling.

To shape the cookies use two teaspoons (one for picking up with and one for pushing off with) and carefully, neatly, form round drop cookies on the prepared sheet. use a rounded teaspoonful of the dough for each cookie. Place them about an inch apart.

Place one of the remaining hazelnuts on the top of each macaroon, pressing it down gently; only about half of the nut should remain exposed.

Before baking adjust an oven rack to the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Bake the macaroons for about 15 minutes until they feel slightly resistant--or dry but soft--to the touch. Break one open to test it; it should be moist inside. Do not turn off the oven.

With a wide metal spatula transfer the macaroons to a rack. Place the rack over foil or wax paper. The following glaze should be applied immediately while the cookies are hot; therefore it is best to prepare the glaze while the cookies are still baking.

In a small saucepan over moderate heat stir the sugar and water until the mixture comes to a boil.

With a small, soft brush, brush the boiling-hot glaze over the right-out-of-the-oven cookies. Place the rack on the cookie sheet and return to the oven to bake for 1 minute more. Then let cool on the rack.

It is best if these are stored only loosely covered. If they are stored airtight, they become too moist after a few days.

Reprinted from Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever with kind permission from the author and publisher. Find Random House at www.randomhouse.com or call 1-800-733-3000 for information.

Pfeffernüsse
About 30 3 1/2-inch cookies plus a variety of smaller ones
Firm cookies with exotic spices. Great! These are German. They are traditional Christmas cookies, but they are delicious any time at all. The name means "peppernuts." The ingredients include both pepper and nuts, along with many other spices.

The dough must be chilled in the freezer or refrigerator before it can be rolled out, cut, and baked. If you have a very wide, round cookie cutter, use it to cut these--the bigger the better. The baked cookies will last well for weeks.

First toast the nuts in a shallow pan in the middle of a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes, until they are only lightly toasted. Cool the nuts.

Place the nuts and 1/4 cup of the flour (reserve the remaining 3 3/4 cups flour) in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal chopping blade. Pulse the machine three or four times until the nuts are chopped medium-fine. Then process for about 5 seconds until the nuts are in pieces about the size of grains of uncooked rice. Set aside.

Sift together the reserved 3 3/4 cups flour with the salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, ginger, mustard, mace, and cardamom; set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until soft. Add the sugar and beat until thoroughly mixed. Beat in the honey. Reserve about 2 tablespoons of the water and add the rest to the mixing bowl, beating to mix. It will look curdled, but it's OK.

In a small cup stir the reserved 2 tablespoons water with the baking soda until the soda is dissolved; add to the bowl and mix.

Then, on low speed gradually beat in the sifted dry ingredients. Finally, beat in the chopped nuts.

Spread out three large pieces of plastic wrap or wax paper. Divide the dough onto the plastic wrap or paper, wrap, and then flatten each package to about a 1-inch thickness.

Place the packages in the freezer for about 1 hour (no longer) or in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours (or as much longer as you wish).

To bake, adjust two racks to divide the oven in thirds and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment or aluminum foil, shiny side up, and set aside.

Flour a pastry cloth and a rolling pin. Unwrap a piece of the dough. Cut it in half. Work with one half, rewrapping the other half and placing it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.

Place the dough on the floured cloth. If it is very firm pound it a bit with the rolling pin. Turn the dough upside down occasionally while you work with it, and re-flour the pastry cloth and the rolling pin as necessary. Roll out the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness.

Using a large, round cookie cutter (mine is 3 1/2 in diameter), start to cut the cookies on the outer edge(not in the middle) of the dough, and cut them touching each other.

Place the cookies about an inch apart on the lined sheets. It might be necessary to use a metal spatula to transfer the cookies from the pastry cloth to the sheets.

Use a smaller cutter to cut cookies from any of the scraps that are large enough. Press any other scraps together, re-wrap, and re-chill.

Bake for about 18 minutes, reversing the sheets top to bottom and front to back once during baking. Bake until the cookies are golden.

If the cookies on the lower rack start to darken too much around the edges, slide another cookie sheet under them--the double sheet will protect the bottoms.

Reprinted fromxMaida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies with kind permission from the author and publisher.

Pennsylvania Dutch Chocolate Cookies
About 15 huge or 36 medium-sized cookies
This is one of only very few chocolate recipes that are traditional for Christmas. It is customary to serve these after dark on Christmas Eve. They are plain, intensely chocolate, crisp wafers. (Divine anytime.)

Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line cookie sheets with baking-pan liner paper or aluminum foil, shiny side up; or, if you wish, these can be baked on unlined and unbuttered sheets--they will not stick. Set aside.

Sift together both flours, the baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and cocoa and set aside.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter until soft. Beat in the vanilla and 2 cups of sugar. Then beat in the egg and water. On low speed gradually add the sifted dry ingredients, scraping the bowl with a rubber spatula as necessary and beating until incorporated.

Turn the mixture out onto a large board or countertop and knead until perfectly smooth. Then work with half of the dough at a time.

On a lightly floured pastry cloth, with a floured rolling pin roll out the dough just a bit. Then, to flour both sides, turn the dough upside down and roll the dough until it is 1/4 inch thick (no thinner).

Traditionally these are cut with a very large plain round cutter about 5 inches in diameter. These are indeed gorgeous when large, but make them any size or shape you want.

Cut out the cookies, first cutting right up against the edge of the rolled dough, and cut them just touching each other. Use a wide metal spatula to transfer them to the cookie sheets, placing them about 1 inch apart. If the cookies are 5 inches wide, place only three or four on each sheet.

Reflour the cloth only slightly before rolling the second half of the dough. Reserve the scraps from both halves of the dough, knead them together, and reroll. Do not incorporate any more flour than necessary.

Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, reversing the sheets, top to bottom and front to back, once during baking to ensure even baking. Do not overbake; these are so dark that they can burn and you wouldn't know it by looking. They will not feel firm to the touch when they are done, but they will become firm when they cool.

Reprinted from Maida Heatter's Best Dessert Book Ever with kind permission from the author and publisher.