Snowball Cookies. Oldfashioned, and Delicious!

Snowball Cookies, just like your grandmother use to make, and they are surprisingly easy and quick to make, and sure to bring big smiles to many faces!

Ingredients:
1 cup Butter,softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups finely chopped pecans
Powdered sugar for rolling.

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar in medium bowl until creamy. Add vanilla; beat until well mixed.
Add flour and pecans; beat at low speed, scraping bowl occasionally, until well mixed.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place 1 inch apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 16-18 minutes or until very lightly browned. Cool 5 minutes; roll in powdered sugar while still warm and again when cool.

Be sure to let me know if you tried these, and how they turned out for you.

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies Non-Alcoholic for Saint Patrick's Day!

Looking forward to Saint Patrick's Day, but minus the alcohol? Then I have a great recipe for you!

Baileys® Irish Cream Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies
I happen to be of Irish decent, but unlike the typical stereotype, I do not drink. It's kind of funny about stereotypes, they are never true for everyone involved.
You want to celebrate your Irish heritage with your sober friends, and leave the hangovers to the wannabe's, here is a delicious way to treat your guest who can manage to socialize without the aid of the Devil's Nectar. No hangover happening here!

Double Fudge Irish Cream Cookies
I have substituted the Baileys® Irish Cream for Baileys® Irish Cream Coffee Creamer. I assure you that your guest will love these. They are soft, and chewy, and wonderful in every way. Let's get started.
Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

2 2/3 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 packet instant coffee powder
8 tablespoons of Baileys® Irish Cream Coffee Creamer
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add in Bailey’s one tablespoon at a time. Add flour, cocoa powder, instant coffee, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Drop by teaspoon fulls on to baking sheet.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes.

These are proof that you certainly don't need alcohol to have a good time with your friends, and family. They are so good you may even wish to make them on days that it's not Saint Patrick's Day!

A Fantastic M & M Toffee Bark Recipe

It's the perfect treat for any holiday, but especially at Christmas time. The bark is graham cracker based mixed with a layer of hard and brittle toffee, a layer of peanut butter, then a layer chocolate and an extra special layer of M&M's® and red and green sprinkles for the topping. You cannot fail with this extra special treat. Your friends and family will eat this up in no time at all. You may have to make more.

We begin by buttering the pan, or cooking spray if you prefer. Add 1 cup each of butter and brown sugar to a pot, and bring to a boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Next you layer the bottom of the pan with Graham Crackers, and pour in your boiled butter/brown sugar mixture. Bake for 4 minutes at 400 F.

Remove from oven and add 3/4 cup of peanut butter. You can spread it with a spatula, but as you can see...I did not. I'll leave that up to you. Place back into the oven for a minute, until the peanut butter is melted (about 1 minute).

Remove from oven and layer your chocolate on top (2 cups, and I used milk chocolate chips), and place back in oven until melted. This will probably take a minute or two. When the chocolate is melted you can then spread it out with a spatula.

When you are finished spreading the chocolate, sprinkle the M % M candies over the top, and add red and green sprinkles...just for fun. Cool at room temperature, then transfer to the refrigerator to chill completely. Once it is chilled completely you will be able to break the toffee bark into pieces. Then it's time to enjoy your work!

Wonderful Gooey Butter Cookies

Gooey Butter Cookies

A clever twist on Gooey Butter Cake is making it into cookies. Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add cake mix, and stir until well blended. Roll into 1inch balls and roll the balls in the confectioners' sugar. Place 1 inch apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

Alternate Recipe that I used.
Ingredients:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
1 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon fine salt
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Instructions:
In a medium bowl, add the cream cheese and butter. Beat together with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 30 seconds.
Slowly add the sugar to the cream cheese mixture while continuously beating. Beat the sugar into the cream cheese mixture until light and fluffy, 1 minute.
Next, add the vanilla, whole egg, and egg yolk. Beat until combined.
In a separate small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add this to the cream cheese mixture in three increments, beating in between each addition.
Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes. This should not be optional.
Preheat the oven to 325-degrees, and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Have the powdered sugar ready in a shallow bowl nearby.
Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dough, roll it in your hands to form a ball. Roll the dough into the powdered sugar before placing them evenly on the baking sheet.
Bake for 14 minutes. Keeping a close eye on these cookies, they should not brown in the oven. The top of the cookies will be puffed and slightly wet.
I think, no matter the recipe, you will be very pleased with these cookies. As will your guest.

Johnnies Salty Peanut Cookies

Johnnies Salty Peanut Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup Rice Krispies®
2 cups oatmeal
1 cup salted peanuts
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder

Directions:
Combine sugar, and shortening, blend until creamy. Add the eggs,and vanilla.
In a separate bowl add the remaining ingredients; mix well.
Combine both bowls, and mix. Drop by spoonfuls onto cookie sheet, flatten slightly.
Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.

Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Cookies

Sweet potatoes are thought to be one of the oldest consumed vegetables, dating back thousands of years ago in areas across Central and South America. Today there are many advantages to eating and cooking with various types of sweet potatoes.

1. They are inexpensive.
2. They last a long a time in your refrigerator.
3. They are extremely versatile in recipes.
4. They are packed with important nutrients too, and we are going to use that to our tasty benefit now! Let's get started.

Old Fashioned Sweet Potato Cookies
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 Cans Sweet Potato, drained
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon,
nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of
butter and white sugar. Add Sweet Potato, egg, and 1
teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until
creamy. Mix in dry ingredients.
Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven.

Orange Creamsicle Cookies

Perfect for summer, you will want to try these Orange Creamsicle Cookies. just the refreshing touch you need for those hot summer days.

Orange Creamsicle Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/4 cup orange juice
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tablespoon orange zest
2 cups white chocolate chips
Instructions:
Preheat your oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl cream together your butter and sugars.
Stir in your vanilla and eggs until well mixed. Stir in your orange juice.
In separate bowl combine your flour, baking soda, salt and orange zest.
Stir in your white chocolate chips.
Allow your dough to chill for an hour before scooping out teaspoonfuls of dough. Drop your cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet.
Bake for about 9 minutes until cookies are golden.
Allow to cool for several minutes on your cookie sheet, before removing to a cookie rack to cool completely.

The Chips Ahoy! Cookie Recipe...A copycat that's Great!

Home Made Chips Ahoy, anyone!

Chips Ahoy! debuted in 1963, and has been a favorite of many a cookie lover since that day, but times are tough, and you may be sitting at home right now thinking "I would really like some Chips Ahoy! Cookies", but being the part of the 99%, you just can't afford them. Not to fear, you may have just what it takes, in your home right now, to enjoy this homemade version of that exact Chips Ahoy! recipe.
Why not get into the kitchen, start baking, and at least you can feel like the 1%. After making these you will wonder why you haven't done this all of your life.
Let's start.
Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoons salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable shortening (Crisco)
3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg white
1 tablespoons warm water (if needed)
6 ounces semisweet mini chocolate chips
Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.
Use an electric mixer to mix the two sugars and shortening. When creamy add the vanilla, salt, and egg white.
Add the flour 1/2 cup at a time adding a tablespoon of warm water as necessary to mix the flour. Note: don't exceed 2 tablespoons of water, this will make a firm dough.
Mix in chocolate chips. Roll into 2-inch balls and press down to make flat. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 36 good size cookies.
When they are done you will have a hard time believing that you have just created these. This may have just become my "go to" chocolate chip cookie from now on.

Easy Old Fashioned Valentine Treats

Two simple recipes for Valentines Day treats that are sure to please you, and yours.
Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 eggs
2 cups peanut butter chips
1 cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Hershey Kisses
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.
Mix flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, and vanilla with an electric mixer until well blended. Beat in both sugars. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Stir in half of the dry ingredients into the mixture. Add eggs one at a time, blending well after each addition. Mix in remaining ingredients. Stir in peanut butter chips.
For each cookie, roll 1 heaping tablespoon full of dough into 1 3/4 inch diameter ball. Arrange balls 2 1/2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Flatten slightly.
Bake cookies until dry on top, about 15 minutes.
Place an unwrapped Hershey Kiss on each cookie. Let cool, and enjoy!

Chocolate Crinkles
Ingredients:
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
Directions:
In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough into one inch balls. I like to use a number 50 size scoop. Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.
Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Lithuanian Apple Cookies

The flaky, buttery dough is wrapped around the cinnamon/sugar-covered apple slices.

Ingredients
FOR THE APPLES:
Ingredients

FOR THE APPLES:
4 Medium Apples, Peeled, Cored And Cut Into Thick Slices, About 6 Slices Per Apple
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon

FOR THE DOUGH:
2 cups Flour
2 Tablespoons Sugar
1/4 teaspoons Salt 1 1/2 Sticks of Butter Cut Into Half-inch Cubes
8 ounces, weight Farmer's Cheese, Cold
You can choose to cut the dough into long strips, or circles. It's up to you.
2 Tablespoons Sour Cream

FOR COATING THE COOKIES:
1 whole Egg White Lightly Beaten
1/3 cups Sugar
Instructions:
Prepare the apples. In a medium bowl mix the apple slices, sugar and some cinnamon, enough to cover the apples. Set aside while you prepare the dough.
Preheat the oven to 200ºC (about 400ºF). Line a baking sheet with Silpat or parchment.
To prepare the dough, in a food processor pulse flour, sugar and salt to combine. Add cubed butter, cheese and sour cream and pulse until all ingredients come together and form a ball.

Take the dough out of the food processor (I used a blender)and place it onto a floured surface. If it looks like it is too sticky to roll with the rolling pin, add a small amount of flour and knead with your hands until it looks like it can be rolled with the rolling pin.
When the dough is ready, cut about a quarter of the dough and roll it into a long narrow rectangle. Then cut it into long strips about 2 cm wide (or circles). Take one strip and wrap it around the apple slices in an overlapping manner, covering all of the apple slice with the strip. If the strip is too short, add a piece of another strip. Pinch the ends of the cookie so that there are no holes.
Dip one side of the cookie into the egg white, then into the sugar, and place it on the baking sheet, sugary side facing up. Continue with the rest of the cookies. Bake until the cookies are deep golden brown, about 25 minutes. Don’t try to eat them straight from the oven; let them cool a bit before serving because the apple inside will be hot.

I cannot tell you just how good these simple treats really are. You really have to try these out!

Imperial Cookies, a tastey, spicey, and vintage treat.

Imperial Cookies
From The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book 1896 This book is a 19th-century general reference cookbook which is still available both in reprint and in updated form. It was particularly notable for a more rigorous approach to recipe writing than had been common up to that point.
In the preface Farmer states:
It is my wish that it may not only be looked upon as a compilation of tried and tested recipes, but that it may awaken an interest through its condensed scientific knowledge which will lead to deeper thought and broader study of what to eat.
Farmer's 1896 compilation became the best-selling cookbook of the era.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1/2 teaspoon grated *nutmeg
In 2007, that period of American culinary history was recreated in an elaborate dinner using the Victorian cooking methods outlined in this book. The extensive preparations and the ultimate results were described in a book entitled Fannie's Last Supper by Christopher Kimball,and an American public television program of the same name was broadcast in 2010.

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, and mix well, add milk, and lemon extract, blend.
In separate bowl mix flour, baking powder, and nutmeg.
Add flour mixture to butter/sugar mixture, and mix well.
Line cookie sheet with aluminum foil, and drop cookie batter by small teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 - 15 minutes until golden brown.
*Note: If you like you can substitute Allspice for Nutmeg.

Facsimiles of the original book are still in print. Heavily revised successor books, later re-titled The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, have also been published, the most recent being the thirteenth edition by author Marion Cunningham, originally issued in 1990 and then reissued in 1996 for the 100th anniversary of the original book.

An old English (Samhain) Halloween Treat

Remembrance Cookies, a Samhain cookie recipe.

Samhain (pronounced / sah-win/ SOW-in, is a Gaelic festival marking the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. Traditionally, is celebrated from sunset on 31 October to sunset on 1 November, which is about halfway between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasadh. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man.

Remembering ancestors on Halloween.
November 1 marked the end of summer and the harvest and the beginning of the dark, cold winter, a time of year that was often associated with human death. Celts believed that on the night before the new year, the boundary between the worlds of the living and the dead became blurred. On the night of October 31 they celebrated Samhain, when it was believed that the ghosts of the dead returned to earth. Samhain was often celebrated similarly to a festival of the dead and was very influential to Halloween traditions such as trick-or-treating and wearing costumes. Still honored by Wiccans and witches today.

Remembrance Cookies can be made on Hallow's Eve. They can be shaped like people and the herb rosemary is added to the dough as a symbol of remembrance. Some of the cookies are eaten while telling stories or attributes of special ancestors, reminding us that we still have access to their strengths--or perhaps a predisposition to their weaknesses. The rest of the cookies are left outside by a bonfire as an offering.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup butter
1 egg 2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 1/2 Tablespoons chopped rosemary
Heat oven 375 degrees. In a large bowl, beat sugar, butter, egg, vanilla, almond extract, and rosemary until creamy. In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Fold flour mixture into sugar mixture. Beat until dough forms and refrigerate for three hours. Divide dough into halves. Roll out one portion to 3/16 of an inch on a floured surface. Cut out with gingerbread women or men cutters and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. Repeat rolling and cutting with second portion. Bake for 5-7 minutes.

The History of the Peanut Butter Cookie

The First Peanut Butter Cookie
(Peanut Cookie) Recipe Below

As we have all heard, George Washington Carver (1864-1943), an American agricultural extension educator, from Alabama's Tuskegee Institute, was the most well known promoter of the peanut as a replacement for the cotton crop, which had been heavily damaged by the boll weevil. He compiled 105 peanut recipes from various cookbooks, agricultural bulletins and other sources. In his 1916 Research Bulletin called How to Grow the Peanut and 105 Ways of Preparing it for Human Consumption, he included three recipes for peanut cookies calling for crushed/chopped peanuts as an ingredient. It was not until the early 1920s that peanut butter was listed as an ingredient in the cookies.

The first to patent peanut butter was Marcellus Gilmore Edson in 1884. John Harvey Kellogg later patented a "Process of Preparing Nut Meal" in 1895 and served peanut butter to the patients at his Battle Creek Sanitarium.
The first peanut butter cookies recipe, by Mrs. Rorer’s New Cook Book (1902, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania), suggested rolled peanut butter ball. Later a recipe for patterned Peanut Butter ball, which instructs the cook to roll the dough into balls and press them down with the tines of a fork, was published in 1933 edition of Pillsbury's Balanced Recipes.
The New England Kitchen Magazine (Vol. 3 No. 4, July 1895, pp 184-185) printed an article titled “An American Delicacy”. It gave a short history of the early use of peanuts and popular uses, but peanut butter was not mentioned. The idea of nut butter, peanut butter being one of the various nuts used to make nut butter had emerged about ten years earlier but was not yet publicly available. Nut butter was used in commercial candy making. What was found in the article was a recipe that was the precursor of the Peanut Butter Cookie.

The 1895 recipe is, as follows:
Peanut Cookies
1 tablespoon of butter
Pound or chop one cupful of peanuts
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt.
Mix the ingredients, and bake at 350 F. until golden brown.
The ingredient list with the exception of a higher amount of peanuts is similar to the early peanut cookies which used peanut butter. The article listed a U.S. Department of Agriculture pamphlet Farmers Bulletin, No. 25 and Miss Juliet Corson as two early contributors to uses of peanuts. So it is unknown who developed the “Peanut Cookies” recipe listed in the New England Kitchen Magazine article.