Cookies

Oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chip, thumbprints, sugar...Is there anyone who doesn't have a favorite freshly baked cookie? And with the holidays approaching waaay too soon, it never hurts to try out a few new cookie recipes to send out. Enjoy!

SAVORY OATMEAL COOKIES

One of my favorite emailing lists comes from TheKitchn. This, as well as its sibling site, Apartment Therapy, make for all sorts of interesting reading. If you're not currently on their emailing lists, I highly recommend signing up. I'll wait...(sound of toe tapping....)...YES! I meant now! Oh, (siiiiigh) you can do it later. But please do. I think you'll enjoy them.

Anyway, this recipe makes 16 to 20 cookies, and can be viewed online (as well as Sara Kate Gillingham's delightful description/back story on these) here.

1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/4 cup warm water

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup lightly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg, beaten

1 cup sifted unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary

1/4 teaspoon freshly-cracked black pepper

1 cup freshly-grated Parmesan cheese

Flakey sea salt such as Maldon or fleur de sel

Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment or Silpat.

Place the oats in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle the water over them.

In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, brown sugar, and egg. Pour this mixture over the oats, stir to combine, and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, combine the flour, fine sea salt, baking soda, rosemary, and black pepper. Whisk to combine well. Stir in the Parmesan.

Gradually sprinkle the flour mixture over the oat mixture, stirring until combined.

Form tablespoon-sized scoops of dough and evenly space on the baking sheet. Flatten each piece of dough to about 1/4-inch thick. Use your hands to form an even disk. Sprinkle a pinch of salt on top of each.

Bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until the edges are slightly darkened. Transfer to a cooling rack. Serve with soft cheese, or alone, stuffed into coat pockets, as a mid-day snack.

PEANUT BUTTER COOKIES







This was one of my grandmother's recipes, along with the oatmeal cookie recipe that follows. You can find them in my e-cookbook, Off The Wall Cooking.

1/2 C butter

1/2 C peanut butter

1/2 C sugar

1 egg, well beaten

1 1/4 C flour

3/4 tsp. soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

Cream butter & peanut butter together. Add sugar gradually & cream thoroughly. Add egg. Sift flour once before measuring. Sift flour, soda, baking powder & salt together & add to creamed mixture. Chill dough well, then form into balls the size of walnuts. Place balls on lightly greased baking sheet. Flatten with fork dipped in flour, making criss-cross pattern. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

GRANDMA'S OATMEAL COOKIES



Another one of my grandmother's recipes. When it came to baking, cookies were her specialty. You can also find these in my e-cookbook, Off the Wall Cooking

1 C flour

1 C brown sugar

3 C quick cooking oatmeal (NOT the instant oats!)

1 C butter or margarine

1/4 C boiling water

1 1/2 tsp. baking soda

Mix flour & brown sugar. Add oatmeal; stir. Melt butter; add to dry ingredients. Mix baking soda into boiling water; add to other ingredients, stirring well. Place batter into loaf pan, lined with aluminum foil & place in freeze for several hours. Slice & bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes.

Oatmeal Cookie dough, taken from the freezer; showing first cuts before baking



Then cut down the center, like so:



Placed on parchment paper-covered baking sheet, for easier handling



SNOWBALL MERINGUE COOKIES

This recipe was sent in an email from a friend. It's a Weight Watchers'recipe; at the time that it was sent, the cookies were each 2 PointsPlus per serving (one cookie per serving). Very yummy.

cooking spray

1 tsp flour

4 large egg whites

1 C sugar

1/2 C mini chocolate chips

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Cook large baking sheet with cooking spray; coat with a light dusting of 1 tsp all purpose flour and shake off excess.

In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and beat until stiff, glossy peaks form; gently fold in mini chocolate chips and vanilla extract.

Drop mixture by heaping tablespoons onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart, making 24 cookies

Bake until lightly golden and no longer sticky on the surface, about 1 hour. Turn oven off and let cookies sit in oven for 1 hour. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

CHOCOLATE-COVERED CHERRY COOKIES

This cookie recipe by Nikki Haney: Blogger, The Tolerant Vegan, was posted on http://www.onegreenplanet.org/, along with other vegan cookies. These are holiday cookies, but there's no need to wait for a holiday to whip up a batch of them. And if you want to see all the cookie recipes on the email list, go to http://www.onegreenplanet.org/vegan-food/our-top-10-holiday-vegan-cookie-recipes/. Even if you're not a vegan, I have a feeling that you'll find something on here to make your cookie-lover happy.

(makes about 24 cookies)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread

1 cup refined sugar

1/2 ripe banana, mashed

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

24 dark morello cherries in syrup

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup non-dairy vanilla milk

3 teaspoons morello cherry juice, from jar

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

Place the Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread and refined sugar in a large bowl. Mix on low-medium speed until fluffy. Add in the mashed banana and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda.

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing on medium speed until fully combined. The cookie batter will be pretty thick.

Scoop the batter onto a baking pan and make a thumbprint in the center of each cookie. Scoop the cherries out of their jar and place one cherry in each thumbprint.

In a small pot over low heat, melt the chocolate chips and non-dairy milk, stirring constantly. Once melted, remove from heat and stir in the cherry juice. Spoon 1 teaspoon of the melted chocolate over top of each cookie.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven, spoon another teaspoon of chocolate over each cookie and allow them to cool to room temperature.

SANDWICH COOKIES

Another cookie recipe from One Green Planet.

Ingredients

Cookies1 1/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 cup organic cane sugar

3/4 cup Earth Balance, room temperature

Ener-G Egg Replacer for one egg (1 1/2 teaspoons egg replacer mixed with 2 tablespoons water)

Filling

1/2 cup Earth Balance, room temperature

2 cups confectioner’s sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla paste (or vanilla extract)

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a bowl mix flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Add the butter and Ener-G egg replacer. Mix until well blended dough.

For mini sandwiches, drop by teaspoons onto lined baking sheet. For bigger sandwiches, drop by tablespoons onto lined baking sheet. Use hand to flatten cookies. Bake cookies for 8-9 minutes. Cool on a rack.

While cookies are cooling, beat together softened Earth Balance and confectioner’s sugar at low speed. Add vanilla and mix at higher speed for about 2 minutes. Use a pastry bag and a small star or drop flower tip and pipe icing onto one cookie, and top with another cookie. Enjoy!