Chocolate Susan's

The other day as I was looking at many recipes that I wanted to try, I stumbled on this one. It's actually from a Martha Stewart recipe and was posted by my friend Mel. She has some great photos on her blog if you want to make these. I made them the other night and they are FANTASTIC! I highly recommend them. They do taste a bit different from the ones you can buy in the Safeway Bakery, but oh man, they are great in their own way. Double Yum!

Ingredients:

Cookie Base:
2 sticks butter
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups flour

Chocolate center:
1 cup chocolate chips
6 T butter
2 tsp. corn syrup

Directions:
Cream the butter and powdered sugar. Then mix in the vanilla and salt. Add the flour and mix just until it starts to separate from the bowl (it's a shortbread type cookie). Form the dough into small balls, place them on a cookie sheet and make a "thumbprint" in the center of it. I used the back of teaspoon to make my thumbprint. You are going to be filling this with chocolate later, so you want a good-sized indentation. Bake the cookies for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Once I pulled the cookies out, I redid the thumbprints with the back of my teaspoon to make them a bit deeper. Then, cool the cookies completely before putting the chocolate mixture in the middle.

To make the chocolate, put all the ingredients in a glass bowl and set up a "double boiler" with a saucepan. Continually stir the mixture until it has all incorporated and becomes smooth. Let the chocolate rest for about 5 minutes to thicken up before spooning into the center of the cookies.

These cookies tasted great before the chocolate cooled, but they were even better the next day when the chocolate had completely cooled and it tasted "fudgy." These are awesome cookies and I will be making them again....SOON!

Family Christmas Cookies

These cookies have been in my family since I was born (so for awhile) and they are phenomenal. If you have the patience to make them (I usually make them over a period of a few days), you won't regret it! I look forward to making them every year and they are fabulous. So...here's the recipe:

Cookie
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbsp. evaporated milk
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups sifted flour

Cream the butter and gradually add the powdered sugar (it really is important to use a sifter for these cookies--I've done it both ways and trust me on this one). Cream well. Add vanilla, evaporated milk and salt. Mix well. Blend in the flour and mix. Roll the dough, half at a time into about 1/8 inch thickness (sometimes I like them a bit thicker) and use a star-shaped cookie cutter to cut them out. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake at 325 degrees for 12-15 minutes (you really have to watch them so they don't brown). Cool and at this point you can freeze them (it's easier to make them when they are frozen). I usually 7 times this recipe to make like 200-250 cookies so I can give them away for Christmas, but one batch would probably make about 25 cookies (I don't really know since I've never made 1 batch of them :) ).

FYI: On the topping I usually make half of what I do for my cookie recipe. So...if I was going to double my cookie recipe, I would half my topping and only make 1 recipe of the topping. It does make awesome ice cream topping too (so save those leftovers) :)

Caramel Topping
1/2 lb. Kraft caramels (this can be fun for kids to do--unwrap all the caramels)
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 cup chopped pecans

Combine caramels and evaporated milk in a double boiler stirring occasionally (I actually do this in the microwave using my crock pot cause it saves lots of time--you just have to make sure to stop it every-so-often and stir, stir, stir). Add butter and powder sugar. Mix well and then add in the pecans and mix. You might need to heat this up again every-so-often depending on how many cookies you have and how workable you need the topping :)

Chocolate Topping
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup evaporated milk
2 Tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate pieces with evaporated milk over low heat (once again, I use the microwave). Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla and powdered sugar.

Assembly
After everything has been made (and the toppings do refrigerate well), lay out all your cookies. Take a small spoon and put a dollop of carmel on the center of each cookie. Then put a dollop of chocolate on top of the caramel (smaller than the caramel) and then put a whole pecan on top of the caramel. Let the cookies set and then go caroling and bring them to friends--or stop yourself from eating 10 of them at once. They are SO yummy and they freeze well too! Usually after we take cookies to all of our friends we have some left over that we freeze and get to eat throughout the season. YUMMERS! So...if you want an amazing cookie and decide to take the time to make them, you definitely won't regret it! They are fabulous :)

Cake Mix Cookies

This recipe is extremely easy and delicious! 

1 package of cake mix

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

optional: you can add chocolate chips, mint flavoring, nuts, or any other add-in. 

Mix all togher, bake in balls on a cookiesheet @ 375 F for 6-8 minutes

(Homemade oreo: use chocolate cake mix and put white frosting between two!) 

Gomma's Delish Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Another favorite cookie recipe from Gomma are these amazing almond oatmeal cookies. They are super simple to make and super yummy :) Thanks Goms for another great family recipe! PS. If you like marzipan or anything with that flavor--this cookie is right up your alley and if you don't give it to me and I'll eat it! Yummers.

Ingredients
3/4 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp. almond extract (or a little more if you really like it)
About 1 cup oats

Directions
Cream together the margarine and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the egg and the almond extract. Add the flour and mix until well blended. Spread out the oats on a plate and roll the dough into little balls. Roll the balls in the oats (completely coat them) and set them on a cookie sheet (ungreased). Bake at 350 degrees until they're done. I would probably say 10 minutes, but just check on them and you'll be able to tell (they've got to look baby's bottom too, or they're not as good).

These are phenomenal cookies and definitely should not be overlooked. I love them because you can make them small and then freeze the leftovers. They also taste "lighter" than a regular heavy-duty chocolate chipper. If you love marzipan, this is the cookie for you :)

Best Ginger Cookies EVER

My mom and I were flying back for Ukraine and chatting on the plane. For some reason it came up that Gomma used to cook all the time and make the best ginger cookies (and almond cookies and bread, etc...). So, we decided to search for the recipe when we got back to the good old USA. We ended up not being able to find this recipe, but Gomma told us as much as she could remember from the recipe and then I pieced parts of it together from a recipe online and viola--the best ginger cookies ever came to be. These are absolutely fabulous and if you like chewy, gingery goodness--this one's for you.

Ingredients
1 cup molasses
1 cup crisco (not butter)
1 cup brown sugar (you might want a bit more brown sugar)
1/4 cup hot water
2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ginger (maybe a bit more)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
4 cups flour

Directions
Start by heating up the molasses and crisco together in a saucepan. Stir constantly until the crisco is completely mixed in the the molasses and it becomes the same color and consistency. Then take off the heat and mix in a separate bowl the brown sugar, hot water and baking soda. Then add the molasses mixture to the bowl. Add the salt, ginger and cinnamon stirring to incorporate everything. Then add the flower and stir, stir, stir!

Get out a piece of wax paper and put a mound of dough in the middle of the paper. Spread it out and roll it up in the paper (so it makes a log shape). Refrigerate for a few hours. Once the dough is chilled, slice it and put it on ungreased cookie sheets. I've also dipped the top of the cookies in sugar before putting them on the cookie sheets and I think I liked them better like that, but they are good either way. Bake in the oven on 350 degrees for about 8 minutes. Let them sit for a minute and you have amazing ginger cookies. You can also freeze the dough for a month or two if you need to.

This is really an awesome recipe and it was so fun to make one of Gomma's old recipes (and come up with the proportions too). Yummers!

Mom's Frosting

My mom always made the best frosting for cakes, cookies, you name it. I consider her to be a frosting guru. She loves eating it and I think this is why she makes the best frosting --light, airy and oh so sugary :) Now if you're watching the pounds, this would probably not be for you, but it sure is good and is the way I learned to make frosting--a little of this, a little of that and you really have to taste it to know if it's good.

Also NOTE: This is not ICING. This is thick, airy, wonderful FROSTING. So...here goes:

Ingredients
Crisco (you need to eyeball it--the quantity of frosting you want to end up with is how much Crisco you need)
Powder Sugar (lots of it)
Milk (a few teaspoons)
Vanilla (to taste)
Almond Extract (if you're making these amazing cookies or want an almond flavor to your cake, cookies or whatever)
Food Coloring

Directions
I use a hand mixer for most of my cooking (so much less clean-up and it takes less space than a gorgeous big one--and it's a lot less expensive), but you can do this just as well in one of those big fancy mixers that I'm sure some of you out there have (maybe you got one for your wedding or something--or splurged) anyway, get out your mixer and a tall mixing bowl. Put in a big blop of Crisco (you want abotu as much Crisco as you want frosting--this will make the base of the frosting). Then add powdered sugar--lots and lots and lots of it. Mix, mix, mix and add some milk, vanilla, almond etc... to taste. You really have to keep tasting it to see if it needs more sugar, less sugar (add more crisco) or whatever and eventually you end up with a very light, airy and wonderfully, wonderful white frosting. I always take out about half of my frosting and color it, leaving the rest white (you can always add more color to white but you can't take the color out of bright pink for instance). And there you go. Have fun frosting your cookies, or cakes or whatever you want to frost and you will be happy, very happy :)

Sugar Cookies

Okay, these are "the bomb" sugar cookies. You know how sugar cookies are sometimes hard and break easily, well if you bake these suckers right, you have the most amazing soft sugar cookie that is my absolute favorite. I'm typing these up now because I've had the recipe on a 1/4 sheet of green paper for about 4 years and I wanted it accessible online. I always make these cookies for Valentines Day and I made them for Halloween. You can do them for almost any holiday and they are really fabulous :)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups powder sugar
1 cup margarine
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (this is the key ingredient in these--oh so yummy)

2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar (also a key ingredient--it makes the cookies almost milky looking)

Directions
Mix together the powder sugar, margarine, egg, vanilla and almond. After those are combined, add the flour, baking soda and cream of tartar. Mix again and then refrigerate them for a couple hours.

Pull the dough out, flour a hard surface and roll out the dough (be careful of getting too much flour into the mixture--you don't want TOUGH cookies). Then cut them out with a cute heart, pumpkin or any other fun shaped cookie cutter. Put them on a greased baking sheet and bake for 7-8 minutes at 375 degrees. You want to take them out just before they brown and they're perfect). Let them cool before frosting...and enjoy the yummy goodness of the most amazing sugar cookie ever :)



(Okay, I know the fortune cookies look good too, but unfortunately those are store-bought. Please turn your attention to the beautiful heart-shaped cookie with pink and white frosting--amazing goodness!)

Goat Milk Bars

These are pretty much the greatest Bar Cookie of all-time. It's one of those easy family recipes passed down and was actually renamed by my mom. She named them "Goat Milk Bars," because my dad was eating them so quickly that she wanted to make him stop and think about what he was eating instead of just inhale them. Needless to say, it didn't work, but Goat Milk Bars did become a family favorite.

Ingredients
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
6-ounce package of chocolate chips

Directions:
Blend together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla and beat well. Stir in flour 1 cup at a time. Mix it (looks kind of crumbly, but is really soft) and push it in a 9 X 13 pan.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cover with 6-ounce package of chocolate chips. Let melt and spread over. Eat when cool.

Wow...this recipe is way YUM and it doesn't take long to make, it just takes long to cool!