Cookies - Double-Post Thursday

Besides being Diabetic Thursday, it's also Double-Post Thursday. Today's double post deals with cookies. (I know; first post, diabetic food, followed by cookies. Seems counterintuitive, but that's beside the point.)

Is there anything to make a house smell good than the scent of cookies baking?

Maybe not. If you're like me, you may have pleasant memories associated with homemade cookies, whether it's from holidays, after school snacks, or any other good memories.

Here are six yummy cookie recipes to help you through the day, including Choc-Peanut Frozen Cookies and Snowball Meringue Cookies. Enjoy!

SUGAR COOKIES

This absolutely yummy treat comes from Grace Parisi on the Today show’s website. It begins, “It's cookie swap season — but unlike gingerbread cookies, sugar cookies are perfect all year round, so bookmark this recipe for your next baby shower, Halloween, Valentine's day, or — my favorite — July 9, which is National Sugar Cookie Day!

“Cookies, rolled and cut into holiday shapes then festively decorated, are essential around the holidays. And these cookies in particular are fantastically delicious and easy to bake. Plus, decorating them is a snap and the whole family can involved.

“Simply choose from three simple decorations to make them your own, brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with sugar before baking, glaze with white icing (use a squeeze bottle for easy handling) or glaze with a mix of white and colored icings.

“Make-ahead tip: These cookies can be stored between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container for up to one week.”

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened (8 ounces)

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs, separated

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling

2 teaspoons lemon juice

3 cups confectioners' sugar

Sanding sugar, sprinkles, nonpareils for decorating

Preparation

Make the dough.

In a standing electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter with the sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg yolks, vanilla and salt and beat until combined. Add the flour and beat on low speed until moistened. Divide the dough into 3 discs, wrap them each in plastic and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.

Roll out and stamp the dough.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 3 baking sheets with parchment. Working with one disc of dough at a time, on a floured surface, roll the dough 1/4-inch thick. Stamp out as many cookies as possible.

Time to bake!

Transfer the cookies to a baking sheet, and spread them out about 1-inch apart. Gather the scraps and re-roll to make more cookies. Bake the cookies in the center of the oven until lightly browned, 12 to 14 minutes. Let them cool slightly, then transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough, re-rolling the scraps.

Make the glaze.

In a bowl, whisk the egg whites until frothy. Add the lemon juice and confectioners' sugar until smooth. Spread the white glaze over the cookies, covering them completely and let them dry.

Let's decorate!

Transfer the remaining glaze to a piping bag or a squeeze bottle with a tiny tip and pipe designs all over the cookies. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if desired. Let the cookies dry completely, then transfer them to platters to serve.

How to make alternative decorations:

1. Lightly brush the unbaked cookies with a mixture of 2 egg yolks combined with 2 tablespoons of water. Let the egg wash dry slightly, then sprinkle with sanding sugar. Bake the cookies as directed above.

2. Divide the glaze into bowls and add food coloring to each. Glaze the cookies with one solid color then pipe dots or lines onto the wet glaze. Let the cookies dry completely before serving.

FRUITY COOKIES

From an old Weight Watchers' email. This begins, “If you're in a hurry, grab two of these, a piece of fruit and a small container of fat-free milk for a healthy, energy packed breakfast-to-go.”

POINTS® Value: 1; Servings: 12; Preparation Time: 15 min; Cooking Time: 10 min; Level of Difficulty: Easy

Ingredients

1 cup white self-rising flour

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground nutmeg

1 Tbsp unpacked brown sugar

6 pieces dried apricot halves, chopped

1/4 cup dried apple(s), chopped

3/4 oz raisins

1 tsp olive oil

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/4 cup fat-free skim milk

Ingredients

Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Coat a nonstick baking sheet with cooking spray. Sift dry ingredients into a bowl and stir in dried fruit. Stir in oil, eggs and milk until well-combined. Place tablespoons of mixture onto baking sheet and bake in oven for about 10 minutes.

CHOC-PEANUT FROZEN COOKIES

From an old Weight Watchers' email.

POINTS® Value: 1; Servings: 16; Preparation Time: 5 min; Cooking Time: 10 min; Level of Difficulty: Easy

This recipe begins, “ If you love dark chocolate, you're bound to love these: a decadent way to cool off on a hot summer day.”

Ingredients

1/4 cup fat-free skim milk

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa, powder

2 Tbsp sugar

1/4 cup chunky peanut butter

1 cup uncooked old fashioned oats

2 tsp canola oil

Directions

Mix milk, cocoa powder and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat. Bring to boil, then remove from heat. Add peanut butter and stir into mix until melted. Stir in oatmeal and oil. Drop 16 spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Freeze for at least four hours; they are better the day after you make them. Yields one cookie per serving.

CHOCOLATE CHERRY OATMEAL COOKIES

From an old Weight Watchers' email. This begins, “Moist and chewy, chocolate and cherries make these cookies sinfully rich. Make the cookie dough ahead of time, freeze it and then bake anytime for that fresh-out-of-the-oven taste.”

POINTS® Value: 2; Servings: 36; Preparation Time: 15 min; Cooking Time: 12 min; Level of Difficulty: Moderate

Ingredients

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp table salt

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal

1/2 cup dried cherries

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in a small bowl; set aside.

Place room temperature butter into bowl of a mixer and mix with a paddle attachment until smooth, or beat with an electric mixer. Slowly pour granulated sugar in an even stream into butter and mix on high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Pour in brown sugar, mix until incorporated and then scrape mixture down from sides of bowl.

Slowly beat in each egg one at a time until incorporated. Slowly beat in flour mixture until incorporated. Scrape mixture down from sides of bowl and stir in oatmeal and then dried cherries. (Note: Freeze dough at this point or continue to step 6 for baking.)

Scoop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough onto a nonstick sheet pan, a pan lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are set. Cool completely. Either serve cookies or stack between sheets of waxed paper in an air-tight container and freeze for up to two weeks before serving. Yields about 1 cookie per serving.

THE SPICIEST GINGERBREAD COOKIES EVER

This recipe from The Food Network Kitchen begins, “This gingerbread cookie is super-spicy from the very first bite. Molasses makes it chewy and white sugar rounds out the spices. Cayenne, allspice and a hefty dose of black pepper result in a complex, lingering heat that is surprising and pleasant.” Total Time: 5 hr 20 min; Prep: 1 hr 10 min; Inactive: 3 hr 40 min; Cook: 30 min; Yield: Eighteen 4-inch gingerbread people; Level: Intermediate

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/the-spiciest-gingerbread-cookies-ever.html?oc=linkback

Ingredients

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting and rolling (see Cook's Note)

3 tablespoons ground ginger

1 tablespoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon fine salt

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter cut into 1-inch pieces, at room temperature

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup molasses

1 large egg

2 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup meringue powder (egg white powder)

Cinnamon candies, such as Red Hots, chocolate chips, raisins or other candies for decorating

Directions

Make the cookies: Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, black pepper, salt, baking soda, allspice, nutmeg, cayenne, and baking powder in a medium bowl.

Beat the butter and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes (scrape down the sides of the bowl, as needed). Beat in the molasses until combined, then the egg (the mixture will look curdled). Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until the dough comes together. Divide the dough in 2 pieces, flatten each half into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours or up to overnight.

Position 2 racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Keeping one disk refrigerated, roll the other disk on a well-floured work surface to 1/4 inch thick, sprinkling flour on and under the dough as needed and sliding a spatula underneath every so often to prevent sticking (If the dough looks crackly or breaks apart, press it back together from the outside edge in). Using cookie cutters, cut out gingerbread shapes as close together as possible. Pull away the extra dough around each shape then use a small offset spatula to transfer the shapes to the prepared cookie sheets, spacing them 1 inch apart. Reroll the scraps and cut out more cookies. Freeze the cookies until firm, about 15 minutes.

Bake the cookies, rotating the baking sheets from top to bottom and from front to back halfway through cooking, until they are slightly firm to the touch but not browned at the edges, about 12 minutes. Repeat the rolling, cutting and baking with the remaining dough disk.

Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer them to a cooling rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes (The cookies will continue to firm as they cool).

Make the icing: Combine the confectioners' sugar, meringue powder and 3 tablespoons water in a large bowl and beat with an electric mixer on low speed until the frosting thickens, trying not to incorporate too much air. (The icing should be pure white and thick, but not fluffy and bubbly.)

Scrape the icing into a resealable plastic bag and snip the corner to the desired size. Pipe the icing onto the cookies to decorate, as desired, sticking the candy onto the icing while it is still wet. Let the cookies stand at room temperature until the icing hardens, at least 1 hour.

Special equipment: a small offset spatula

SNOWBALL MERINGUE COOKIES

These are from Weight Watchers. They're worth 2 PointsPlus per serving (1 cookie per serving).

cooking spray

1 tsp all purpose flour

4 large egg whites

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F.

Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray; coat with a light dusting of 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 over for 1 hour. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.