Fortune Cookies

My husband LOVES a good Chinese buffet.  Shoot, he loves a bad Chinese buffet, if it has at least one dish he loves.  Me?  Meh.  I like sweet and sour sauce and that's about it.  The rest I tolerate out of love.  However?  The best part about "Chinese" food for me is the fortune cookie that you get with the bill!

I know, fortune cookies aren't Chinese.  However, I think we've associated the two together for enough years (much the way we believe our pizza comes from Italy and our fries come from France) that it's just kind of tolerated in that, "you're a big dumb American" kind of way.

I've always wanted to try to make them, so when I found this recipe I knew I was in it to win it.  For the record, though, these are very soft and doughy, not crispy/crunchy.  (You've been forewarned.)
Ingredients:

3 egg whites

3/4 C white sugar

1/2 C butter, melted and cooled

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp almond extract

1 C flour

2 T water

Directions:

1. Write out your fortunes and cut them on small strips.  Preheat the oven to 375.

2. Separate the eggs

3. Whip egg whites and sugar until frothy.
4. Stir in butter, vanilla, almond, water, and flour.  It should turn into a pancake batter like consistency.
5. Grease a cookie sheet (lined for ease)
6. Spoon batter into circles on the sheet, about 3 inches across.
7. Bake until the edges only begin to brown (about 4-5 minutes)
8. Immediately remove from oven, place the fortune in the middle.  Fold in half to make a half circle.  Then, pull the two edges together, making the straight edge of your half circle meet at it's 'corners'.

9. Place the finished product in a muffin tin to help retain the shape while they cool.  Give them a good hour+.

Please note - you have to work as soon as they come out of the oven.  You have to work quickly to not burn your fingertips or to crack the dough.  It's a quick process, so I didn't cook more than 6 at a time, and I had someone to help me.  I'd take 6 out, put 6 in, and that way we were constantly moving.  It's not easy, but it's certainly fun, and I'd recommend it for any small, special occasion.

Potato Chip Cookies

A's favorite method to crush the chips 

I know I've mentioned the potato chip cookies before.  However, some people have asked me for the recipe, and I realized I never really wrote about them.

They're my favorite recipe from my grandma, and I will always remember stealing them from her re-purposed Danish Cookie tin every time she made them.  I'm sure she knew it was me, but it was nice of her to let me get away with it just the same!

 Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus 1/2 cup more for coating (I have also used the Splenda blend)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3/4 cup potato chips, crushed
1/4 cup pecans, chopped (optional)

For my assistant A's birthday, I found a great sifter on Amazon.
She fell in love almost immediately.

We're weird that way...

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. 

2. Cream the butter and 1/2 cup sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer on high speed. 

3. Lower to medium speed and add the vanilla. Add the flour and cinnamon to the butter mixture. Beat on low speed until incorporated. Fold in the potato chips and pecans.
4. Form into approximately 1 1/2-inch balls. 

5. Dredge in the remaining sugar.
6. Place on parchment or foil-lined baking sheets,
1-2 inches apart.
7. Bake until golden brown around the edges, about 11 to 13 minutes. 

8. Let cool on sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks 

These cookies have a great shelf life, and the also last well in the freezer.

As far as taste goes, they're fairly comparable to Sandies.

I always go for a kettle crisp chip or a sturdier chip, that way they're more likely to maintain their crispness throughout the baking process.

Definitely one of my favorite (non-chocolate) cookies, and people always do a double take when you call them potato chip cookies.  They really don't believe that they're in there.  They're more likely to call them a toffee cookie than admit there might be a potato chip cookie.

I guess we're all weird that way.  :)

S'mores Cookie Bars

"More s'mores!"  You seemingly exclaim at me as I sit to write this post.

"Of course," I reply, calmly.  "It's summer, is it not?!"

There really is an entire conversation that I'm participating in that goes along these lines.

Unfortunately, I'm the only one talking.

On both sides of the conversation.

sometimes you run out of chocolate bars and make due with the chips from the cupboard...

 I can't help it.  I just love s'mores.  I have about 5 more recipes that are vaguely s'morish that I want to still try.  Maybe I'll space them out.  Maybe tomorrow I'll make another one.  There's no way to know for sure what I'm capable of.

Here's my original recipe from Crepes of Wrath, who, of course gets bonus credits for the reference.

The nice thing about this recipe is that there's really not much to it, other than the assembly.

 Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs (about 8 graham crackers - I just crushed mine in a zip lock bag)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 king-sized milk chocolate bars +
2 (7 oz) jars of marshmallow Fluff (not melted marshmallows because they harden when cooled)

1. Preheat your oven to 350, and grease your container.  I used a disposable half pan (11.75"x9.5").

2. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt. Add to butter mixture and mix at a low speed until combined. Divide dough in half and press half of dough into an even layer on the bottom of the prepared pan. (Don’t worry if it seems thin; the baking powder will allow it to rise.)

4. Place chocolate bars in a single layer over dough, then spread the marshmallow Fluff over the chocolate bars. Finally, top the Fluff with the remaining dough by forming the dough into sheets with the palm of your hands and laying it down. When you get tired of just palming the dough into flat sheets, just spread the rest of the dough sprinkles over your gaps and press it down.  It doesn't have to be perfect, it'll rise and do it's own thing once you start baking it.

5. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Let it cool before cutting.  Or don't, it'll just be crumbly/flaky if it's still warm.

so melt in your mouth, buttery, and gooey...AMAZING!

Fudgy Peanut Butter Bites

 This is such an easy "cheater" dessert.  If you love the chocolate and peanut butter combo, you might just be thanking me with this one (and it's feasibly done within 15 minutes!)  Of course, you could make it more from scratch, but half the fun is how easy this is.

My ingredient list:
1 pkg. peanut butter cookie dough (I could only find it with chocolate chips, but who hates those?!)
1 C sweetened condensed milk
1 C semi sweet chocolate chips
1/4 C of chopped peanuts (more or less, optional)

My cookies were pre-cut into 24 squares.  I chopped each in half and dropped the half into a Pam sprayed mini muffin pan.

Bake at 350 for 9 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned and the cookie is firm.

The great thing is that in the oven, your squares become circles and puff.  Once you take them out, they cave to make the perfect little cups.

Cool for a minute or so before removing from the pan.

While they are cooling, this is the perfect opportunity to make your fudgy filling.

Fill a 2 C (or more) microwaveable measuring cup with 1 cup of sweetened, condensed milk and 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Microwave from about 1 minute, stopping halfway to stir.  Once the chips are completely melted, stir the mixture and place a dollop in each cookie cup.

Move quickly when filling the cookie cups because your fudge will set fairly firm as soon as it cools.  I would try to do the filling all in one setting so you don't have to reheat the fudge and compromise it's makeup.

I wasn't going to chop any peanuts to put on top, but the cookies seemed so plain, and I really wanted people to realize that there were peanuts in the cookies, so I quickly chopped some lightly salted peanuts and sprinkled them on top.  I lightly pressed some into the fudge so that they wouldn't just keep rolling off.

I had a hard time convincing people that I made them myself.  And I really {kind of} did, so I totally deserve the credit.  As does BHG for the original recipe that I only vaguely modified.

Taste of Sweetness Saturday: Pistachio Thumbprint Cookies

Have I ever mentioned how much I LOVE HOLIDAYS?  Doesn't matter which one, or why we're celebrating, but themed food is (obviously) something I adore, and it reminds me of my family and happy times together.  My family's big holiday together is Thanksgiving, which makes me cry being 2000 miles away from them on the big day.  My mother's (huge-ish) family all comes together and makes miraculous food!  The one holiday that my mother does in a big bad way, however, is Christmas.  There is cooking and baking galore, parties, get-togethers, and gorge-athons to melt my heart.  My folks are coming to California to join me this year, and I'm so excited.  So... as part of my preparation, I'll be sharing my favorite cookie recipes that I've taken from my mom, from friends, family, random websites, etc., because if there's one thing I love to do during the fall and winter, it's bake!

First up - from my mom - Chocolate Pistachio Thumbprints!  Be forewarned, this recipe takes a sizeable chunk out of your day, but it's extremely worth it in the long run!

Cookie Ingredients:

1/3C Powdered Sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 3 1/2 oz pkg. Instant pistachio pudding mix, 2 C flour, 3/4 C finely chopped nuts, 1 C softened butter, 3/4 tsp almond extract, 1 egg, and 1/2 C semi-sweet chocolate chips.

To start, heat your oven to 350 and lightly grease your cookie sheets.

Next, cream together the powdered sugar, margarine/butter, vanilla and almond extracts, pudding mix, and egg until well blended.  Then, by hand, stir in flour and chocolate chips until well blended. 

Shape dough into 1 inch balls, and roll in the nuts.  Then, place 2 inches a part on your cookie sheet an place a thumbprint to indent the center of each cookie.  Bake 10-14 minutes, or until the edges start to turn a light golden brown.  Let cool one minute before removing from the cookie sheet.

 

Filing ingredients: 1 1/2 C powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, 2 T softened margarine/butter, and 1 to 3 T of milk.

As the cookies are cooling, combine all filling ingredients in a small bowl and mix until smooth.  Then, place a scant teaspoonful of the filling into each cooled cookie thumbprint.  Be careful not to overflow!

Glaze ingredients: 1/2 C chocolate chips and 2 tsp shortening.

Melt the glaze ingredients together in the microwave or in a small saucepan over low heat.  Then, drizzle about 1/2 tsp of chocolate glaze over each of your cookies.  Allow your filling and glaze to set completely before storing your cookies, otherwise you'll have to store them side by side, and not stacked with wax paper.

Happy Thanksgiving!

This idea is completely stolen.  Completely.  Yes, I find recipes all the time, but really?  This one goes back to when I was a kid.    My aunt does Thanksgiving better than anyone I've ever met.  I hate missing it.  EVER.  That's why today is awful when I'm so far away.

However?  Making this craft at work the other day brought me back to my childhood.  With 7 siblings, my mom's side of the family has a huge Thanksgiving feast.  More turkeys, bread rolls, and pies than you could every hope to count or eat in one sitting.  That's why three to four hours later we're at it again.  And it ROCKS.  Seriously.  What I remember from being little, however, is making turkeys out of cookies the night before.  I remember my aunts working hard to prep for Thanksgiving dinner and us kids needing something to do.  So one of them came up with this, or found it from somewhere.  Regardless, it has stuck with me through the decades, and when I was looking for a craft project, it's the first thing that went through my head.  I just Googled the rest to figure out how I could recreate the memories...

Enough shmoop.  On with the scoop!

First, you'll need some ingredients:

per bird...
Oreo cookies (2)
Chocolate Frosting (<1 tsp)
Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (1)
Caramel Candy Corn (1)
Standard Candy Corns (4-6)
White Sprinkles (2)

First, you'll need to flatten one edge of one of your Oreos as well as as one edge of your PB cup.  this isn't strictly necessary, however it'll help your process.

Next, place a dab of frosting on those flattened edges to adhere them to your base Oreo. Then, use a dab under the caramel candy corn for your head/beak.

 Next up comes the feathers.  You can scoop some frosting into the cookie to help them stick, or you can ever so gently push the tips of the corns into the Oreo filling.  The Oreo cracks extremely easy, so you need to be careful with this step.

Then, a little frosting to adhere your sprinkles, and use that dab that's left on your finger for the pupils (as one 6 year old told me yesterday!).

You can also use orange frosting for feet or legs, but I didn't want to buy for such a small group of turkeys!

Also?  Just when you think you have it figured out?  Someone goes and shows you up.  I received this from one of our vendors within hours of making my turkeys.  Unbelievable!!

Super cute though, right?  Just use a ginger snap, peanut butter cookie, jelly beans, a full sized PB cup, candy corns, black sprinkles, and white frosting.  This seems to be way more time consuming than the ones I made, but I was making mine with children 6 and under.  We're far more basic!!