Brown Butter, Sea Salt, Pecan Cookies

Posted on May 22, 2012 by sweetsimplestuff

This gallery contains 6 photos.

I love the nutty flavor of brown butter. I love sweets with sea salt. I love pecans. I love these cookies … I hope you love them too! They are yummy, easy peasy and made because I neeeeeeded them … … Continue reading →

Butterfly Cookies – 3D, Glittery and Simple to make

Posted on May 14, 2012 by sweetsimplestuff

This gallery contains 13 photos.

I volunteered to make some little cookies for a baby shower/tea … it was a family event … just butterfly, heart and flower cookies for about 40 people. Since this was a girly event … I’d make Butterfly Cookies – … Continue reading →

Peanut Butter, Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Posted on April 21, 2012 by sweetsimplestuff

This gallery contains 4 photos.

First, let me apologize for the length of the name of this cookie … I just wanted to describe the cookie … hence the long name. Second, I must apologize for my absence in the blogging world … we have … Continue reading →

Peppermint, Chocolate and Marshmallows …

Posted on December 21, 2011 by sweetsimplestuff

This gallery contains 8 photos.

Peppermint S’mores and Peppermint Marshmallow Pops Are you done with all your holiday baking? I’m not … I am still baking, melting, mixing, etc. This is a quick and easy treat. I am going to pack up about six pops … Continue reading →

Gingerbread Men

Posted on December 18, 2011 by sweetsimplestuff

This gallery contains 4 photos.

A while back I shared my new marshmallow finds. This is what I did with the gingerbread men. In the next day or so, I will show you what I did with the peppermint ones! Wouldn’t these gingerbread men be … Continue reading →

Decorate cookies … fast and easy

Posted on December 16, 2011 by sweetsimplestuff

This gallery contains 6 photos.

These are my decorated cookies. Every year I have wonderful plans to make cookies with very detailed decorations … well, those plans flew out the window … as usual. But I’m OK with that … I don’t have what I … Continue reading →

Pumpkindoodle Cookies

Posted on November 9, 2011 by sweetsimplestuff

It’s November and I just realized that I haven’t made anything with pumpkin! I have thought about pumpkin, a lot … cut recipes out of magazines … printed recipes from other blogs … gone thru old recipes … even bought two pie pumpkins … but I still had not baked anything pumpkin! So, I finally did it … and actually came up with a new creation. I hope you enjoy it.

Before I started to make these cookies, I had decided to call them Pumpkin Pie Cookies. Then as soon as I started rolling the dough into balls, then rolling them in sugar with spices … I realized how much they remind me of making Snickerdoodles … and they became Pumpkindoodles!

I will take this time to apologize for the photos … I started this project in the day … and continued at night … I bake better than I take pics … someday I’ll take better pics … someday I’ll get a “big girl” camera … maybe I should learn to use what I have.

First, make the cookie dough –

Have you tried vanilla bean paste? I think that it adds something special … a richer deeper vanilla flavor … and little flecks of color …

Cream together the butter, vanilla and sugar … see how thick and rich the vanilla paste is … don’t worry if you don’t have the paste, vanilla extract also works well …

It will look like this …

Mix in the flour and salt …

Cover and set aside …

Now, make the pumpkin filling …

Mix cream cheese, pumpkin, sugar and pumpkin pie spice …

Mix until well combined …

Set it aside …

Mix up more sugar and pumpkin pie spice to roll the cookies in …

Start the assembly line … roll the cookie dough in balls, about the size of a walnut … then flatten slightly … and dip it in the sugar mixture …

Lay the cookie dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet …

Make a well in the center of the cookie … I used my knuckle … I guess they could be “knuckle print” cookies, not “thumb print” cookies … sorry, I couldn’t resist …

I put the filling in a plastic zip top bag … snipped the corner off … and squeezed the filling into the cookies …

Bake the cookies … cool the cookies … consume the cookies … yum!

P.S. The cookie dough may seem familiar … it is 1/2 recipe of my favorite Shortbread Cookies.

Pumpkindoodles

Cookies

1 cup butter (2 sticks) softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla (paste or extract)
2-1/4 cups unbleached flour (or all-purpose)

Filling

4 ounces (1/2 block) cream cheese softened
1 cup canned pumpkin
1-1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 cup granulated sugar

Sugar Mixture

1/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Make the cookie dough – Cream together the butter, vanilla and sugar. Add the flour and salt. Mix until blended. The dough will be stiff.

Make the filling – Cream together the cream cheese, pumpkin, spice and sugar.

Make the sugar mixture – In a small bowl, mix the sugar and spice.

Roll the cookie dough in balls about the size of a walnut (1″ to 1-1/4″), flatten slightly. Roll the dough in the sugar mixture and place on parchment paper lined baking sheet. Make a well in the cookie dough and fill with pumpkin filling (spoon it or pipe it in the well). Bake at 375°F for 11-13 minutes or until lightly golden on edges of the cookie. Cool completely. Makes about 36 cookies. Store in a covered container, not airtight.

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Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt

Posted on September 13, 2011 by sweetsimplestuff

Do you like sweet and salty? Then you will enjoy these cookies. I made my favorite shortbread cookies … added some dark chocolate … then sprinkled a little sea salt on top.

If you would like step-by-step photos to make the shortbread cookie dough click here.

Make the cookie dough, roll and cut … (This cutter is about 3″ … can you tell that it has had a long hard life and probably got smashed in a drawer at some point?)

Bake and cool the cookies. Melt the chocolate and pour into a squeeze bottle, disposable decorating bag or even a heavy weight Ziploc type bag, and snip off a corner …

Squeeze the chocolate on the cookie …

Since this was the first time that I made these cookies, I used both fine and coarse sea salt. I do prefer using the coarse salt … because it was easier for me to control and I like the look. Sprinkle some salt on the melted chocolate …

Here is the recipe …

Shortbread Cookies with Dark Chocolate and Sea Salt

1 pound of butter (4 sticks)

2 cups powdered sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 1/2 cups unbleached flour (or all-purpose)

1 cup melted dark chocolate

Sea Salt (I prefer coarse)

Cream together the butter, vanilla and sugar. Add the flour and salt. Mix until blended. Dough will be stiff. If the dough is too soft, cover and refrigerate the dough for a few minutes. At this point, the dough could be wrapped well and saved for future use. It keeps for weeks in the fridge. When you are ready to use it, remove from fridge and set it out until it softens enough to roll.

Roll the dough, on a lightly floured surface or between sheets of plastic wrap or parchment, to about 1/4 thick (or a little thinner). Cut into desired shapes. place on an ungreased cookie sheet, parchment paper or silicone baking mat.

Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. Cool, drizzle chocolate on top and sprinkle with sea salt.

Makes about 3 dozen 3″ cookies.

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No-Bake Peanut Butter Butterscotch Crisp Cookies

Posted on September 6, 2011 by sweetsimplestuff

I found this recipe last week on Brown Eyed Baker. I thought that I had everything in my pantry to make them … well, I had to make a slight change because I didn’t have enough peanuts. But the good news is … this is a very versatile recipe. Make changes to fit your needs … the original recipe from Smuckers called for chow mein noodles … but Rice Krispies are in this version. I may use some Cheerios in my next batch!

I did store these in the fridge because of the heat. Here is my slightly adapted recipe …

No-Bake Peanut Butter Butterscotch Crisp Cookies

1 3/4 cups peanut butter (creamy, chunky or a combo)

1 – 12 oz. package butterscotch chips

1 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped salted peanuts

3 1/2 cups Rice Krispies cereal

1. Line two baking sheets with waxed paper or parchment paper, set aside.

2. In a medium-large saucepan combine the peanut butter, butterscotch chips and white chocolate chips over low heat, stirring occasionally until completely melted and smooth.

3. Stir in the peanuts and Rice Krispies cereal. Drop mounds onto the lined baking sheets. Chill until set (freezer 5 minutes or refrigerator about 30 minutes). Store in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator.

Remember to enter my Cupcake Bracelet Giveaway. The deadline is Thursday, September 8, midnight!

Cookies for the Queen of Hearts

Posted on August 17, 2011 by sweetsimplestuff

These shortbread cookies were made for a bridal tea with an “Alice in Wonderland” theme. My niece, Brittney, is going to be a bridesmaid in a wedding and therefore helped organize a shower. She wanted to make cookies … so “The Queen of Hearts” crown was our project.

We made my favorite shortbread cookies … for the recipe and directions click on “Cupcake Shortbread Cookies” on the right hand side of this screen.

After the cookies were baked and cooled we started decorating with royal icing. I haven’t used royal icing in some time so I referred to http://www.sweetsugarbelle.com. She has wonderful recipes and directions for royal icing.