Cookies!
As noted in a recent post, I has been a-baking. My family gave lunch at church today, which is a big deal. (The way my church does it, we have morning service, lunch together, and then afternoon service. Families in the church take turns giving lunch, and we have enough people on the list that my family does it about once a year, so always around Christmas time.)
I made many, many cookies. At least eight dozen of each variety. Here's the tray, before we added sandwich fixings:
DELICIOUS COOKIES!
From top to bottom we have date pinwheels, chocolate double-delights, a candy-cane cookie, peanut butter balls (one chocolate, one vanilla), two Russian tea cakes, some holiday pretzel treats (waffle pretzel with a Hershey's hug melted on top and an M&M), and a sour cream twist. I made everything except the last two. And the doughnuts. Meijer made those, and my mom made the sour cream twists and the pretzel things, though I really wanted to do the sour cream twists because those are my favorite. It was a lot though, so I'm glad she helped me.
I made at least eight dozen of each variety, except the candy-cane cookies, of which I only made about four dozen, but there's a story behind that. Most of them are family recipes passed down through generations. And I couldn't find the chocolate double-delight cookies anywhere online, so apparently they are kind of unique to my family. So I thought maybe someone on my flist would like to try them, because they are AWESOME.
So here are instructions and notes with CRAPPY CELL PHONE AND WEBCAM PICCIES YAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!
Chocolate Double-Delights (AKA Hamburger Cookies)
Making these things is a two- or even three-day event in my house, usually. But that might just be because we quadruple the recipe every friggin' time, I dunno. One day to make the cookies, the next to do the filling, and then a lot of times they should be left to set overnight because otherwise the filling will squosh all over the place when you try to eat them. Somebody at our church called them "hamburger cookies," because they kinda look like little burgers, so we call them that sometimes too.
The cookies are kinda like a fudgy brownie, and the filling has a hint of mint, so if you like chocolate and mint you're pretty much good to go with these.
They were a hit at church today, yay.
The recipe:
Preheat oven to 350.
1 1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 c. butter
Melt together over medium heat, being sure to incorporate fully. It will look and smell like caramel.
Add:
4 T. water
6 oz. chocolate morsels
If you double the recipe you'll use exactly one bag of chocolate chips. It's nice that way. Let the mixture cool considerably, then add:
2 eggs (beaten)
The mixture will look pretty fudgy now. It should be smooth and thick (and probably still warm). Transfer to a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix:
3 c. sifted flour (we always forget to sift, though)
1/4 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
Gradually add dry ingredients to chocolate mixture. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes. I ended up using my hands. I always end up using my hands. Just grabbing a handful of dough and breaking into little balls to put them on the sheets. It's fun. We use those air-bake sheets (never burn anything, I swear), and I like to use a sheet of parchment paper instead of grease.
My family usually does a lot bigger than teaspoonfulls--we like MONSTER cookies. But this year I made them quite a bit smaller, and they seemed to go faster at church. There you just want to nibble, anyway, so you can try lots of different treats. I have no idea how many cookies I got out of that quadruple batch. It was a shit ton.
As the cookies cool, pair them up and set them aside, keeping the pairs together. I put flat side to flat side so they make little UFOs. Do NOT let your family members eat any or they'll mess up your carefully ordered cookie-couples. >:(
Cream filling:
1 c. sifted powdered sugar (we always forget to sift)
1/3 c. butter (softened)
1/8 t. salt
1/4 t. peppermint extract
Beat until fluffy. Gradually add, alternately:
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk or light cream (milk works fine)
We split our (quadruple) batch of cream filling in two and colored half green and half red. You have to use a LOT of red food coloring to make it look more red than pink. About a tablespoon for one batch, I think. So I used almost as much green food coloring, too, so the saturation would match. (LOL NERD.)
My little sisters, C and H, helped me for awhile before they got bored:
SO cute omg.
Now, this is cream filling, not frosting, so don't just scrape a little covering over the cookie and think that'll be enough. You gotta GLOP it. Glop it GOOD.
GLOP IT THICK, MAI BABIES.
And that's about it. Let 'em set until the filling hardens a little, share 'em around, and listen to the compliments start rolling in.
Don't you wish you could take a bite of this big, thick, moist, delicious chocolate-mint mofo RIGHT NOW?
Just a reminder--use the highest quality of ingredients you can. You don't get good cookies out of bad ingredients. And for pity's sake, USE BUTTER. Margarine is for pansies. You don't want to be a pansy, do you? That's what I thought.
Baking the cookies just one sheet at a time, instead of the three or four my family likes to do, will give you a lot more control and consistency. I'm pretty sure one reason my cookies turned out so uniformly excellent (as opposed to the uneven results of previous years) is that I just took my time. Baking is fun! Don't rush it.
And that closes this episode of "Maychorian Lectures You About Proper Use of the Kitchen."
I really hope you guys enjoy these cookies, if you do try the recipe! They're family favorites and if I could I would send a plateful to each and every one of you right this instant.
I made many, many cookies. At least eight dozen of each variety. Here's the tray, before we added sandwich fixings:
DELICIOUS COOKIES!
From top to bottom we have date pinwheels, chocolate double-delights, a candy-cane cookie, peanut butter balls (one chocolate, one vanilla), two Russian tea cakes, some holiday pretzel treats (waffle pretzel with a Hershey's hug melted on top and an M&M), and a sour cream twist. I made everything except the last two. And the doughnuts. Meijer made those, and my mom made the sour cream twists and the pretzel things, though I really wanted to do the sour cream twists because those are my favorite. It was a lot though, so I'm glad she helped me.
I made at least eight dozen of each variety, except the candy-cane cookies, of which I only made about four dozen, but there's a story behind that. Most of them are family recipes passed down through generations. And I couldn't find the chocolate double-delight cookies anywhere online, so apparently they are kind of unique to my family. So I thought maybe someone on my flist would like to try them, because they are AWESOME.
So here are instructions and notes with CRAPPY CELL PHONE AND WEBCAM PICCIES YAAAAAAAYYYYY!!!!
Chocolate Double-Delights (AKA Hamburger Cookies)
Making these things is a two- or even three-day event in my house, usually. But that might just be because we quadruple the recipe every friggin' time, I dunno. One day to make the cookies, the next to do the filling, and then a lot of times they should be left to set overnight because otherwise the filling will squosh all over the place when you try to eat them. Somebody at our church called them "hamburger cookies," because they kinda look like little burgers, so we call them that sometimes too.
The cookies are kinda like a fudgy brownie, and the filling has a hint of mint, so if you like chocolate and mint you're pretty much good to go with these.
They were a hit at church today, yay.
The recipe:
Preheat oven to 350.
1 1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 c. butter
Melt together over medium heat, being sure to incorporate fully. It will look and smell like caramel.
Add:
4 T. water
6 oz. chocolate morsels
If you double the recipe you'll use exactly one bag of chocolate chips. It's nice that way. Let the mixture cool considerably, then add:
2 eggs (beaten)
The mixture will look pretty fudgy now. It should be smooth and thick (and probably still warm). Transfer to a bowl. In a separate bowl, mix:
3 c. sifted flour (we always forget to sift, though)
1/4 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
Gradually add dry ingredients to chocolate mixture. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto greased cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes. I ended up using my hands. I always end up using my hands. Just grabbing a handful of dough and breaking into little balls to put them on the sheets. It's fun. We use those air-bake sheets (never burn anything, I swear), and I like to use a sheet of parchment paper instead of grease.
My family usually does a lot bigger than teaspoonfulls--we like MONSTER cookies. But this year I made them quite a bit smaller, and they seemed to go faster at church. There you just want to nibble, anyway, so you can try lots of different treats. I have no idea how many cookies I got out of that quadruple batch. It was a shit ton.
As the cookies cool, pair them up and set them aside, keeping the pairs together. I put flat side to flat side so they make little UFOs. Do NOT let your family members eat any or they'll mess up your carefully ordered cookie-couples. >:(
Cream filling:
1 c. sifted powdered sugar (we always forget to sift)
1/3 c. butter (softened)
1/8 t. salt
1/4 t. peppermint extract
Beat until fluffy. Gradually add, alternately:
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. milk or light cream (milk works fine)
We split our (quadruple) batch of cream filling in two and colored half green and half red. You have to use a LOT of red food coloring to make it look more red than pink. About a tablespoon for one batch, I think. So I used almost as much green food coloring, too, so the saturation would match. (LOL NERD.)
My little sisters, C and H, helped me for awhile before they got bored:
SO cute omg.
Now, this is cream filling, not frosting, so don't just scrape a little covering over the cookie and think that'll be enough. You gotta GLOP it. Glop it GOOD.
GLOP IT THICK, MAI BABIES.
And that's about it. Let 'em set until the filling hardens a little, share 'em around, and listen to the compliments start rolling in.
Don't you wish you could take a bite of this big, thick, moist, delicious chocolate-mint mofo RIGHT NOW?
Just a reminder--use the highest quality of ingredients you can. You don't get good cookies out of bad ingredients. And for pity's sake, USE BUTTER. Margarine is for pansies. You don't want to be a pansy, do you? That's what I thought.
Baking the cookies just one sheet at a time, instead of the three or four my family likes to do, will give you a lot more control and consistency. I'm pretty sure one reason my cookies turned out so uniformly excellent (as opposed to the uneven results of previous years) is that I just took my time. Baking is fun! Don't rush it.
And that closes this episode of "Maychorian Lectures You About Proper Use of the Kitchen."
I really hope you guys enjoy these cookies, if you do try the recipe! They're family favorites and if I could I would send a plateful to each and every one of you right this instant.