Vanilla Button Cookies - Just for Fun!

These are little vanilla cream cheese button cookies. They're adorable and I had too much fun with these button cookies! My favorite thing was when my children asked if they could help me to make another "button"-) These cookies are perfect for baby shower or birthday party, holiday gifts and just for fun.



Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• assorted colors of paste food coloring

Directions:

In a bowl cream butter, cream cheese and sugar until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat until smooth.

In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to the creamed mixture. Stir till soft dough forms. Divide dough into two parts. Tint each with a different food color. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).



Remove from refrigerator, one color at a time and on a lightly floured surface, roll dough until just over 1/8" thick.

Cut 2-inch rounds with round cutter. Next on each round, just in from the edge, mark with a smaller round cutter, approximately 1.5 inches diameter, pressing slightly,  but not pushing through. Run a metal spatula underneath the dough, to make sure it is not sticking to the table, sprinkle with flour underneath as necessary.

With top of a small #3 piping tip (or with straw) cut 2 or 4 holes in the centre of each cookie so it resembles a button, make sure to push down to the counter so the small pieces fall out.



Lift dough with metal spatula onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a sil-pat, collect scraps and repeat.

Follow the same method with another color, being sure to clean your work surface between each.
Refrigerate buttons for 15 minutes before baking.

Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes.

Transfer to a cooling rack and eat with a perfect cup of tea.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Flax, Chia and Hemp Seeds - It can't be better than this

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies with Flax, Chia and Hemp Seeds - It can't be better than this. These are protein-packing cookies, with just enough sweet, and wonderful combination of healthy seeds.
Adapted from Namely Marly

 

Ingredients:

• ½ cup peanut butter
• ½ cup coconut oil
• 1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 Tbsp corn starch
• 3 Tbsp soy milk or water, cold
• 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
• 1 ½ cups flour
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1 Tbsp hemp seeds (hemp Seeds can be purchased at most health food stores, I bought my at Vitacost)
• 1 Tbsp flax seeds
• 1 cup chocolate chips, dairy-free

Tip: Make these cookies gluten-free by using 1 cup brown rice flour and 1/2 cup buckwheat flour.

Fact: Long recognized as an excellent source of nutrition and energy, hemp foods have been used by humans for over 12,000 years all around the world, and continue to be one of the top-rated superfoods.

Directions:

Heat your oven to 350F.

 

In a large bowl combine the peanut butter, coconut oil, sugar, and vanilla.

 

In a separate small bowl combine the ground flax seed, corn starch, and soy milk (or water). The corn starch will want to get kind of clumpy. Stir it up a bit to keep that from happening. Then add the vinegar, let it sit for just a second or two and pour it into the peanut butter mixture. Stir well.

 

In a separate bowl mix the dry ingredients: flour, oatmeal, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir until combined. Add the chia, hemp, and give the dry ingredients another little stir.

 

 

Now stir together the dry and the wet ingredients. If the mixture seems a little bit too dry, feel free to add another tablespoon of soy milk (or water). Then add the chocolate chips and stir everything one last time.

 

Make 1 – 1 1/2 inch balls and placed them and inch or so apart on a baking pan. Bake anywhere from 10 – 12 minutes depending on your desired crunchiness.

 

Note: The cookies come out of the oven on the puffy side, but just wait a minute or so and they’ll deflate. After they cooled they were the perfect cookies – crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside.

  

Vanilla Almond Half-Moons or Vanillekipferl, Austrian Cookies

Vanilla Almond Half-Moons or Vanillekipferl, Austrian Cookies

You must make them! They are magical.
These melt-in-your mouth buttery cookies are simple to make and delicious for any occasion. Great for a mid-afternoon get-together or a light, after-dinner dessert.
It’s basically a crescent-shaped vanilla almond biscuit, dusted with lots and lots of vanilla icing sugar.
They are in fact made the same way you’d make a shortbread or shortcrust pastry. All the ingredients are mixed together, the dough formed into logs, wrapped in clingfilm and chilled in the fridge for an hour or so. Once the dough has firmed up, you cut slices off, and mould them into crescents. Once they’re baked, dust them with a generous helping of vanilla icing sugar so that they get their snow-dusted look.



Servings: About 30
Prep Time: 10 minutes, plus one hour’s chilling
Cook Time: 10-15 Min

Ingredients:

• 300g flour
• 150g ground almonds
• 175g butter, cut into small cubes
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 100g sugar
• 1 packet vanilla sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• confectioners' sugar and vanilla sugar for rolling and dusting

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix all the ingredients to a short-crust dough, wrap and refrigerate until firm for one hour. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Pinch off tablespoons of dough and roll into short ropes. Bend into crescent moon shapes on baking sheets, leaving about two inches between cookies.



Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned. Mix confectioners' sugar and vanilla sugar together, then toss the hot cookies in the mix. Carefully roll warm cookies in the vanilla sugar.
You can store the cookies in a sealed tin for several days.

Happy New Year, my dear readers!

Molded Gingerbread Cookies with Clear Sugar Glaze

I love Springerle cookies, they are so beautiful and delicious, white or painted  they are perfect for holidays. But I like to try this year something different using Springerle molds.

Here is one very good recipe of Molded Gingerbread Cookies with Clear Sugar Glaze from House on the Hill.
They can be printed with Springerle molds. Be sure to choose a deeply and boldly carved design, one without really fine details.You’ll make the non springerle lovers very happy!
You can easily adjust the spices. For instance, if you are not a fan of cloves, leave them out. Crazy about ginger? Then add an extra ½ to 1 teaspoon.
If you use all molasses (instead of molasses and dark corn syrup) add the extra flour as the all molasses version is stickier.

Ingredients for the flour mixture:

•  3 cups plus 4 tablespoons unbleached flour
•  3/4 teaspoon baking soda
•  1/2 cup sugar
•  1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
•  1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
•  2 teaspoons ground ginger
•  1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
•  1/2 teaspoon salt

Ingredients for the liquid mixture:

•  1/2 cup vegetable oil
•  1/2 cup molasses (you may use 1 cup molasses and no dark corn syrup if you prefer)
•  1/2 cup dark corn syrup
•  2 tablespoons water

Ingredients for the clear sugar glaze:

• 2 1/2 cups powered sugar
• 2 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon light corn syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla if desired
• food coloring if desired 

Direction for the clear sugar glaze:

Combine sugar, water, butter corn syrup and vanilla in a small bowl and mix until powered sugar is moistened. Beat at medium speed until smooth, adding additional water if necessary. Tint with food color.

Direction for the gingerbread cookies:
Combine the flour mixture and the liquid mixture together either by hand or in a heavy standard mixer using the flat blade (not the whisk). Mix until the dough holds together, adding 1 or 2 tablespoons of water only if necessary to bind the dough. Knead the dough into a solid mass and place into a tightly sealed zipper bag. Let the dough rest for 1 hour or refrigerate overnight.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough with a plain rolling pin about ½ to 5/8 inch thick, depending on the depth of your cookie mold. Using a pastry brush, flour the surface of your cookie mold. Press firmly onto the flat surface of the dough and then lift the mold straight up. Re-flour the mold for every pressing.



Cut and place the cookies on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Let cookies dry for 8 — 12 hours.
Bake at 300 degrees for 12 minutes. Large cookies will need 14-15 minutes.
If desired, glaze the gingerbread cookies as soon as they come out of the oven and before you remove them to a cooling rack.
If needed, soften cookies with slices of apple on firm bread (rye) for a day or two. Keeps well.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies with Lemon and Cranberry Glaze

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 (8-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
• 2 Tbs.lemon juice
• 1 zest from one lemon

For glaze:

• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 2 Tbs.lemon juice
• 2 Tbs. cranberry juice
• sprinkles for decoration

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375F.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop the dough by level tablespoons, about 2 inches apart, onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges (cookies will be soft). Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the wire rack for 20 minutes.
When cookies are cool, prepare glaze. Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice, and cranberry juice in a small bowl and stir until smooth. Spoon about 1/2-teaspoon onto each cookie and use the back of the spoon to gently spread. Sprinkle with sprinkles. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours. Pack the cookies into a decorative container.

 

A Glimpse at Recipes of The Past: Lumberjack Cookies

I have a small but very treasured collection of cooking books. I have Russian cooking books with recipes prepared for the Czarist family and recipes cooked for the French Aristocracy, as well as a collection of recipe books that I bought here in America, dating back to our American ancestors.
Why do I like these old books so much?
Firstly, the illustrations found in these books are a rare sight indeed nowadays, because each illustration is beautifully drawn in detail, giving insight to a modern-day person of the dedicated and personal atmosphere that emanated from that time period.
Secondly, each recipe in these books has its own story. It’s not just a list of ingredients thrown into a pot and boiled---it’s an entire experience beginning from the detailing of the recipe’s origination to its eventual passage from generation to generation. This is why I have decided to begin a column on this blog dedicated to posting and discussing recipes taken from these books. There’s something very sentimental about making history come back to life.
Feel free to add to our historical recipe collection.



From "Favorite New England Recipes" 1972

Lumberjack Cookies
Lumbering is a unique occupation and projects a day-to-day life unlike any other. In the upper reaches of the rivers, when spring freshets deepen the water enough to float the logs, men of a particularly courageous breed shepherd the raw wood down the rivers, sometimes for hundreds of miles, to the sawmills. They spend many days on the logs and on a raft with a shanty on it that brings up the rear. In the shanty is a man at whom the others characteristically jeer but deeply value - the cook.



One morning early in this century, such a log drive was moving along the Muskegon past a riverside farm, when a dignified little woman marched to the water's edge and waved to them. She wished to parley with the lumberjack cook. Just why is explained by Mrs.Paul V.Bretz of St.Paul, Minnesota. "The great lumbering industry of Michigan was beginning to wane, but there was still some lumbering along the Mu. When the logs where being floated down the river to the mills, there was always a cook shanty on a raft following the log drive. It was a great treat for children to have a meal with the lumberjacks on this river raft. They could look forward to fried salt pork, boiled potatoes, boiled beans, hot breads, cookies, and strong black coffee. Good hearty fare.
"These were molasses cookies and so good that my husband prevailed upon his mother to go to the river and learn the recipe from the cook. We always called them 'Lumberjack Cookies,' and here is the recipe:"

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup molasses
• 1 cup sour milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ginger, vanilla, and mace (or nutmeg) to taste
• flour enough to make a soft dough

Directions:
Drop by tablespoons on a lightly greased cookie sheet and bake in a moderate oven (350F) until done, about 10 minutes.

Crunchy Sesame Seed Cookies

IMPORTANT Note: The WINNER of Box of Tea Forte with porcelain tea cup ensemble, and Pear and Vanilla Jam is Penny Hayes Snyder. Penny, send over your mailing address to cooking [at] melangery [dot] com and I'll send the gift right away. CONGRATULATIONS!

Cookie time. -)
Awesome cookies, very crunchy, very light, addictive, a little hard, so you need to make them thin.

Ingredients:

•  1tbsp black sesame seeds or chia seeds
•  1 tbsp white sesame seeds
•  1 tbsp flax seeds
•  ¼ cup raw sugar
•  2¼ cups all-purpose flour
•  1 tsp cream of tartar
•  1 tsp baking soda
•  ¼ tsp salt
•  1 stick (8 tbsp) unsalted butter, very soft
•  1 cup granulated sugar
•  1 large egg
•  2 tsp bourbon

Direction:
Center the oven rack and preheat the oven to 375F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix the seeds and coarse sugar in a shallow bowl and set aside.
Combine the flour, cream of tartar, baking soda,and salt in a medium bowl and whisk thoroughly.
With a spoon in a medium bowl or with a mixer, mix the butter with the granulated sugar until smooth and well blended but not fluffy. Add the egg and bourbon and mix until smooth. Add the flour mixture and mix until completely incorporated.



Using a small ice cream scoop (or just a tablespoon), measure out the dough and roll into 1-inch balls. Press each ball into the seed mixture on both sides, flattening the ball to about 1/2-inch thick. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet spacing them 2 inches apart.



Bake the cookies, in batches, for about 14 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned, rotating the baking sheet from front to back halfway through the baking time to ensure even baking. Set the baking sheet or just the parchment on rack to cool. Cool completely before stacking or storing. May be kept in an air-tight container for at least 2 weeks.

How To Paint Springerle Cookies

There are two different techniques to paint the Springerle Cookies. One is BEFORE baking, and another AFTER baking. I like AFTER technique better, the colors don't run while baking.

Equipment Needed

• Soft brushes, narrow to medium widths
• Food coloring, including white (the edible version of white-out!). –or– Luster Dusts
• Plastic palette
• Triple Sec or Vodka to make the coloring dry fast and to dilute the color.
• Paper towel
• Mug of water

BEFORE baking technique:

• make Springerle Dough (find recipe here)
• mold Springerle Cookies
• dry Springerle Cookies
• paint Springerle Cookies
• bake Springerle Cookies 

 

Paint cookies after drying overnight but BEFORE baking. Use paste food colors available in cake decorating shops. Mix 1 egg yolk with 1/4 teaspoon of cold water and mix well with a fork. Divide this into as many small containers as you wish to have colors. To these containers (you may use plastic bottle caps) add some paste food colors and mix with toothpicks.

Keep in mind that the yolk is yellow and will change the hue of the paste colors. The colors also change slightly as the cookies bake. Use narrow artist's paintbrushes that are new or are only used for working with food.

AFTER baking technique:

• make Springerle Dough (find recepie here)
• mold Springerle Cookies
• dry Springerle Cookies
• bake Springerle Cookies
• paint Springerle Cookies

Use diluted colors (10 drops or more of Triple Sec or Vodka to one drop food coloring). The alcohol will evaporate in your palette rapidly so add more from time to time. Stir with a tooth pick or your brush.
If using Luster Dusts, put about 1/16 teaspoon in a palette well. Add 6-10 drops Triple Sec or Vodka. Stir with a tooth pick or your brush. Luster dusts are not water-soluble, so don’t substitute water.
To make pastel shades, mix your colors with white.
Rinse your brush between colors and blot with a paper towel.
Don’t paint the whole cookie; just do highlights (the raised portions) because the eye will naturally fill in the details. Think of what you’re doing as an impressionist painting.
When you make a mistake, use white food coloring full strength to cover.
If you don’t like your paint job, destroy the evidence: Eat the cookie!
Get children involved in painting. They love it!
Have fun!

Banana-Oatmeal Power Cookies

Those big tasty cookies are just what you will need for a good start of your busy day. They're filled with flaked coconut, oats, raisins, walnuts, flax seeds, sunflower seeds, bananas; all of the essential vitamins you will need to keep going until lunch time. Those cookies make a delicious and healthy snack for anyone. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 6 Tbs. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 very ripe banana, mashed
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup dry cranberries
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 2 tbs. flax seeds
• 2 tbs. sunflower seeds

Directions:

Preheat an oven to 325°F. Lightly grease 1 or 2 baking sheets or line each with a Silpat nonstick liner.

In a bowl, stir together the flour, coconut, oats, baking soda, flax seeds, salt and cinnamon. In a large bowl, cream the brown sugar and butter with a wooden spoon until fluffy. Add the banana and egg and beat with a fork until blended. Stir in the flour mixture, about 1/2 cup at a time, then stir in the raisins,  sunflower seeds,  dry cranberries and walnuts.

Spoon the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet(s), spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake until golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes, switching pan positions halfway through baking if 2 pans were used.

Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet(s) on a wire rack for about 5 minutes. Transfer the cookies to the rack and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Makes about 12 cookies.

Healthy cookie with chia seeds

Adapted from ohsheglows.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole grain spelt flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp fine grain sea salt
• 1.5 tsp pumpkin pie spice (OR: 1 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg, 1/4 tsp ginger)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• Chia/flax egg: 1 tbsp ground chia seeds + 3 tbsp water OR 1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water, mixed and set aside for 5 mins
• 1/2 cup regular oats
• 1 cup shredded or grated carrots (approx 2 medium)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1/4 cup toasted, chopped walnuts

Directions: Preheat oven to 350F. In a small bowl, mix the chia/flax egg and set aside. In a large sized bowl whisk together all of the dry ingredients. Using a food processor or grater, process/grate the carrots. In a medium sized bowl mix together the wet ingredients (carrots, vanilla, oil, maple syrup, and chia/flax egg). Add wet to dry and mix until just incorporated. Stir in the walnuts and raisins. Scoop mixture onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or greased with oil. Sprinkle with nuts. Bake for 25 minutes at 350F.
Nutritional info: (Per cookie, Approx) 265 kcals, 9 grams fat, 1 gram sat. fat, 5 grams fibre, 4.4 grams protein, 61% vitamin A, 10% iron, 59 mg calcium, 180 mg potassium.