Reese's Cookies

At first glance you see a sugar cookie, but then you take a bite, and you get a sneaky suspicion that something wonderful has snuck its way into the middle of your cookie (see above). Like a mini Reese's peanut butter cup...

I made A LOT of cookies this past holiday, but these Reese's cookies are probably my favorite of the lot. Soft sugar cookies, gooey chocolate peanut butter center....uh, hello!

I came across this fabulous idea on With Style and Grace, and I had to give it a try. I tested out the recipe both with Reese's Peanut Butter Cups and with York Peppermint Patties. I'll definitely keep experimenting with different kinds of candy...Rolos anyone? I'm excited to hear what your great ideas are.

Whether you've still got loot leftover from Halloween , or you're in the mood to surprise someone mid-bite - these are a fun cookie to bake. Think of all the candy variations there are to explore.

But seriously, who can go wrong with a peanut butter chocolate combo? Happy baking!

Reeses Cookies
Recipe from With Style And Grace - originally Picky Palate

Ingredients
2 sticks (1 cup) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips (optional - I left them out)
Reeses Peanut Butter cups

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line your baking sheets(s) with parchment paper and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until well combined. Add eggs – one at a time and then vanilla, mix until well combined.

Mix together flour, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Carefully add the dry ingredients to the wet. Mix in the chocolate chips if using. Take one scoop of cookie dough, place Reeses peanut butter cup on top and then take a second scoop of cookie dough and place on top of the Reeses. Press the cookie dough together, sealing the edges and then carefully mold into a ball.

Bake 9-13 minutes. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Enjoy!

Rugelach

The holidays may be over, but this Hanukkah cookie never gets old.  Allow me to introduce you to the oh-so-delicious, cinnamon dream - rugelach. 

Rugelach are crescent shaped cookies made from a cream cheese-based dough. The name, rugelach, is Yiddish. The root of the word rugelach means something like "twist" or "little corners" - which is fitting for these little treats.

I made these cookies for this year's family Hanukkah dinner. This is my first attempt at making rugelach, but I've enjoyed them growing up. Mom has made these through the years for Hanukkah and other Jewish holidays and celebrations.

Rugelach are great as an evening dessert, but are just as fitting for a weekend morning with a cup of coffee, the newspaper, and PJs.

It's fairly simple to make a batch, just make sure you keep the dough chilled. If the dough gets too soft, just stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes and try again.

Enjoy!

Rugelach

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

2 cups flour

3/4 cups sugar, divided

1/2 cup seedless raisins, chopped

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup walnuts, finely chopped

Directions

In a mixing bowl or food processor, cream butter and cream cheese together. Knead in flour a little at a time until dough holds together in a soft ball. Do not overwork the dough. 

Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Mix together 1/2 cup of the sugar, raisins, cinnamon, and walnuts in a bowl. Set aside.

Working on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll one ball of dough into a large round as thin as possible. If dough is sticky, dust with a little flour. 

Using a pizza cutter, cut each round into 16 pie-shaped wedges. 

Sprinkle each wedge with a bit of the raising mixture. 

Beginning at the wide edge of each piece of dough, roll up dough toward the point. Curve rolls into little crescents and place them, point-side down, on parchment lined baking sheets. 

Carefully sprinkle each cookie with a small amount of the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, then repeat process with second ball of dough. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden.

Pink Cookies

I spent a lot of time with Gram and Mom as a little girl. We’d watch soap operas like As The World Turns together, and I’d tag along on shopping excursions in my pink leggings, turtlenecks, and big head bows.

Often times, we'd visit Nordstrom - the land of twirl-worthy piano music and a sea of clothing. I used to love hopping from clothes rack to clothes rack hiding in the center of the display as ladies perused the season’s latest fashions. I swear no one could see or hear me despite my audible giggles and little, mary jane shoes poking out from under the hanging sleeves and pant legs.

I could stay entertained clothes rack hopping for hours. But the best part of our trips to Nordstrom was the pink cookies. Hands down.

When I treat myself to coffee at the Nordstrom Espresso Bar now and again, I always eye the pink cookies and feel a sense of nostalgia overcome me. They remind me of being a kid. When coffee and clothes from Nordstrom were of no interest to me at all. When I did not know how to tell time, drive a car, or pay a bill. When nap time and coloring books were the center of my world. My, how times have changed.

You Seattlites out there know there is something special about these cookies. There is nothing like them. You can sink your teeth in to the pink circle with ease. They're creamy, buttery, soft, and, hello, pink. I like that. What could be better?

Pink Cookies
Adapted from All Recipes

Ingredients

1 cup organic butter
2 cups white sugar
4 organic, cage-free eggs
3/4 cup organic whole milk
6 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

In a large bowl or mixing stand, cream the organic butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time, mix well. Stir in the milk and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.Gradually stir the flour mixture into the creamed mixture until everything is well blended.

Form dough into a ball and cut into two pieces. Wrap each half with saran wrap. Place both pieces of dough in the freezer for approximately one hour.

Pull the chilled dough out of the freezer and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cut parchment paper and layout over a cookie sheet.

Take each half of chilled dough and roll it out on a lightly floured surface to approximatley 1/2 inch thick. Take the largest round cookie cutter you have (these cookies are meant to be fairly large) and cut out circles from the dough. A clean tuna can works well too, if you do not have a circular cookie cutter.

Place circled cut-outs 1-2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. The tops of the cookies should spring back to the touch like a cake. Cool completely on wire racks before frosting.

Pink Frosting

Ingredients
2/3 cup butter, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
6 drops red food coloring

Directions
In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, confectioners' sugar, and milk until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and food coloring. Spread over cookies.

Hamantashen

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

When I was younger, my favorite Jewish holiday was not Hanukkah. It was Purim.

Purim is a festival that commemorates the liberation of the Jewish people living throughout the ancient Persian Empire (stolen from Google definition search results – uh huh!).

Traditionally, kids dress up as one of the biblical figures in the Purim story and go to synagogue in their costumes. Queen Esther, King Ahasuerus, Mordechai, and Haman are the usual characters that frequent the temple.

I remember I would dress up as Queen Esther or Queen Vashti. Mom would put bright red lipstick on me and I would get to wear gauds of costume jewelry. I assume any six-year-old girl would find such an occasion exciting. I can still picture the gold coined necklace, iridescent beads, and the large clip-on earrings that hung like weights from my little ears.

Aside from the jewels and makeup, there are always baked treats that certainly make Purim festivities complete. Hamantashen (המן־טאַש; HOM-EN-TASH-EN).

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Hamantaschen are three-cornered cookies filled with jam or poppy seed paste. Their shape is sculpted after the three-cornered hat claimed to be worn by the holiday’s villain, Haman.

I don’t celebrate or dress up anymore, but I stumbled on a hamentashen recipe at Smitten Kitchen, and realized Purim is on March 19th this year. I had to revisit these treats. They bring back so many memories of being a little kid, and who doesn’t want to be a little kid again? (Remember? Little kid status = frequent nap times + shameless sugar consumption + no bills. Um, yes please!).

I have not made hamantashen since my Sunday school days, when they’d take us on a ‘field-trip’ to the synagogue’s kitchen (note: 15 feet away from our classroom) and let us shape our cookies with the dough that had been labored on by some kind Jewish mother. 

Fast forward almost fifteen years later, and my hamentashen took a lot more effort! Exhibit A is below:

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Unfortunately, my hamentashen exploded like jam bombs in the oven. Apricot, raspberry, and blueberry puddles decorated my cookie tray. The outcome? A colorful mess and deliciously, disfigured cookie pancakes. They don’t come close to resembling Haman’s hat.

Anyway, baking blunders aside, these are fun little cookies. They just might entice me to get my butt to synagogue this year to see all the giggles, costumes and jewels. Why I ever gave up my favorite holiday baffles me.

But…I’m definitely going to have to make a second attempt in the kitchen.

Hamantashen

From Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3 ounces cream cheese at room temperature

3 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1 1/3 cups plus 4 teaspoons flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

Various jams – I used raspberry, blueberry, and apricot.

Directions:

Cream butter and cream cheese together until smooth. Add sugar and mix for one minute longer, then egg, vanilla extract, orange zest and salt, mixing until combined. Finally, add the flour. The mixture should come together and be a tad sticky. If it feels too wet, add an additional tablespoon of flour.

Form dough into a disc, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F.

To form the hamantashen, roll out the dough on a well-floured surface until it is about 1/4-inch thick. Using a round cookie cutter (3 inches is traditional, but very large; I used one that was 2 1/2 inches), cut the dough into circles. Spoon a teaspoon of you filling of choice in the center. Fold the dough in from three sides and firmly crimp the corners and give them a little twist to ensure they stay closed. Leave the filling mostly open in the center. Bake on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Cool on racks.

Yields about 22 2-inch cookies.

Photo by Rachel Dedrickson

Cut It Out

Dear Foodies,

Up until we reached the high school era, my Mom and Aunt Julie would gather the cousins together for Hanukkah cookie decorating. We made the standard menorah, Star of David, and Jewish “chai” symbol (make sure you really use the back of your throat to get the right sound). The once a year Hanukkah cookies took a lot of work.... Let me rephrase that. They were a lot of work for my Mom and Aunt.  Us kids got to do the fun part – the frosting and sprinkling and making a total mess (and not having to clean it up).

Although, thinking about it now, my Mom and Aunt did reserve one of the best creative steps for making cut-out cookies to themselves. They chose the cookie shape.

In my opinion, cut-out sugar cookies are a hassle. What makes them fun is that they are the one exception to the whole “do not play with your food” rule. You can customize a sugar cookie by shape, color, topping, etc. Cut-out sugar cookies are a baker’s blank canvas.

I’ve been looking around for cookie cutters of my own, and they are remarkably difficult to find in unique shapes. Here are a few I’ve found that I’d love to give a test drive:

Beverly Hsu Helvetica Cookie Cutters

Victor Trading Company Silhouette Cookie Cutter

Williams-Sonoma Message-In-A-Cookie Cutters

Where do you find out-of-the-ordinary cookie cutters? I'm dying to know! I might have to look in to making my own cookie cutters. Can't wait to hear all of your tips!