Check out these awesome recipes form the Kohl’s Cares “Crazy About Cookies” Cookbook by Krystina Castella. You can enter to win the cookbook along with an Eric Carle Gift Pack here.
photo courtesy Sterling Publishing
Chunky Candy Cookies
Type of cookie: Drop
- 12 large cookies
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2⁄3 cup cocoa powder
- 11⁄2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
- 3⁄4 cup (11⁄2 sticks) butter
- 9 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1⁄3 cup light brown sugar
- 11⁄3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup walnut halves
- 6 ounces white chocolate chips
- 3⁄4 cup raisins
- 1⁄4 cup coarsely crushed toffee
Chunky Candy Cookies are a chocolate candy bar lover’s version of happiness. Extra large and packed with chocolate, nuts, raisins, toffee, and caramel, they are chocolaty and chewy at the same time. Try substituting some of the ingredients with your favorite candies.
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Butter 2 cookie sheets.
2. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
3. Stir the butter and chocolate in a double boiler over simmering water until melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla; set aside.
4. Beat the eggs and sugars in a bowl until creamy. Beat in the melted chocolate mixture.
5. Gradually add the flour mixture until just blended.
6. Stir in the chocolate chips, nuts, white chocolate, raisins, and toffee.
7. Drop 2-tablespoon mounds of dough on the cookie sheets 2 inches apart, and flatten slightly. Bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until slightly cracked on top. Transfer to a rack to cool.
photo courtesy Sterling Publishing
Lemon Champagne Buttercream Cookies
Type of cookie: Drop
18 cookies
Cookies
- 11⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 2⁄3 cup butter, softened
- 11⁄4 cups granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Champagne Buttercream Icing
- 3⁄4 cup vegetable shortening
- 3⁄4 cup (11⁄2 sticks) butter, softened
- 3 tablespoons champagne, or more if needed
- 41⁄2 cups confectioners’ sugar
- Food coloring
Long after the food is gone, memories from the time spent with friends remain. I have a very good memory when it comes to details about what I made or ate on specific occasions. These cookies were one of the first recipes I ever created and the first buttercream flowers that I ever piped, for a tea party more then twenty years ago. They may look fancy, but they are simple to make, and a perfect recipe for a beginning baker and decorator.
1. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Prepare a cooling rack with parchment underneath.
2. Combine the flour and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. Beat the butter and sugar until creamy. Stir in the lemon juice.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until incorporated. Shape the dough into balls about 11⁄2 inches in diameter. Place the balls on the cookie sheets 2 inches apart, flattening the bottoms. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 300°F.
6. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned. Transfer to a rack to cool.
7. Dip the cookies in the Lemon Icing and place them on the rack, allowing the icing to drip to the parchment below. Let sit for 30 minutes to dry.
8. Make the champagne buttercream icing: Beat the shortening and butter until smooth. Beat in the champagne. Slowly add the confectioners’ sugar. If necessary, add additional champagne to make the frosting piping consistency.
9. Divide the buttercream among different bowls and add food coloring to each as desired.
10. Decorate the cookies as desired.
To Make a Rose
Using a flat tip, first pipe a dot as the base. Starting at the center, add petals that stand straight up, making a circle around the center in overlapping segments as you go. To make different shaped roses, vary the size of the segments, making them small in the center and larger toward the perimeter.
To Make a Pansy
Using a flat tip, first pipe a dot as the base. Use a flat tip and make the petals flush with the surface of the base. Add dots to the center.
To Make Leaves for the Rose and Pansy
Using green icing and a flat tip, radiate the frosting from the flower. The leaves can surround the entire flower or you can add just a few.
Variation
Hazelnut Buttercream Cookies: Replace the lemon juice in the cookie dough with 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. Add 1 cup ground hazelnuts to the dry ingredients. Replace the lemon juice in the icing with warm water and add 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Add 1⁄4 cup ground hazelnuts to the buttercream.
