OREO Cookie Balls

I have seen this recipe make rounds in the blogsphere a number of times; and I've always wanted to make it but never really had the right occasion. I'm starting to bake all of my cookies for the tins I hand out to clients & friends at this time of the year and thought they would be PERFECT to go in.

The first part is really easy, but I will warn you that the dipping in chocolate part can be tricky. I had my sister Tracey, a baking expert with me, and it was still a lot of work! Make sure you have parchment-paper lined baking trays for the balls to chill on and for the extra chocolate to drip off.

We did two variations: OREO, and peanut butter. Just substitute a box of cookies to change the flavour, everything else can stay the same!

Ingredients:
1 pkg (350g) OREO cookies, finely crushed (save 1 tbsp for decoration)
1 pkg (250g) cream cheese, softened (leave out at least a few hours)
1 pkg (8 squares) Bakers semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Directions:
1. Mix cookie crumbs and cream cheese until well blended.
2. Form into small balls (about 1") Should make about 35-45.
3. Place balls in fridge for 1 hour to firm/chill.
4. Melt chocolate squares as directed on package (in microwave)
5. Dip balls in chocolate, place on baking tray lined with parchment paper. Decorate with some reserved crumbs or sprinkles.  Place in fridge for at least 1 hour - preferably 2.

Source: Kraft Canada

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

•        Everyone has an opinion on the 'best' type of cookie - crunchy vs. chewy, undercooked or overdone, etc. I like ALL cookies - I don't discriminate! However, I had a friend who specifically requested 'chewy' oatmeal cookies, so here they are! THere are two tricks: 1) slightly undercook (they will look not done when you take out of oven, thats ok!) and 2) don't completely 'flatten' the cookies on the baking pan - leave them a bit 'higher'.

        If you need a CHEWY oatmeal cookie recipe, this is it! I've already been asked to make them again for an upcoming potluck. I added some chocolate chips to half the batter for some variety and it was excellent too! I'm not sure I would add raisins, or else you'd also have to add more cinnamon & some nutmeg (and you can already find an oatmeal-raisin cookie on this blog). Enjoy!

Please excuse the horrendous photo, I took it with my blackberry - the cookies were getting eaten too fast for a good photo!!!

• 
  
• Ingredients:
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla 
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 
  
• Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into balls about the size of a small lime, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. Lightly flatten each cookie with a fork.
3. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Note: For half the batter, I added 3/4 cup chocolate chips and they were also delicious! I also substituted 1 cup of rice flour for 1 cup of the white flour and it also worked out well - I have a friend who has an intolerance to gluten (she can have small amounts) so I wanted to make these as gluten-friendly as possible. However, if I had taken out ALL the white flour I would have had to make several additional modifications and I didn't want to do that!

Source: Adapted from "Soft Oatmeal Cookies" from AllRecipes.

Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Cookies

         I am one of those people who bakes what is humorously referred to as "funeral food" - you know - food you send to someone when they have suffered the loss of a loved one. So the recipe must be good and something that just about everyone would enjoy. Cue the oatmeal chocolate chip cookies!
         I have a few recipes for cookies on this site, but this one is very easy & just about fail proof, so I highly recommend it for situations like funerals. And to my friend "S"; I do hope you enjoyed your cookies even though you received them under terrible circumstances. XOXO.

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F 
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. 
3. Place dough in fridge for 1 hour to chill (overnight is also fine)
4. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
5. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Do not overbake! Cookies may not look completely done, but please remove them from the oven at 12 minutes! 

* Makes 3 dozen cookies*

Source: Adapted from "Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie" from Allrecipes

Nutritional Information: 145 calories per medium cookie, or 3 Weight Watchers points

Grandma's Ginger Snaps

         Many of you have had Grandma's Lemon Loaf, and know that it is the best lemon loaf recipe in existence. Well, this recipe for ginger snaps is another one of those. Every time I share the cookies, I get asked for the recipe. It is really, really good. 
         There are a few ways you can do the white sugar on top - before or after they bake. I would experiment and do a tray each way and decide what you (and your oven) likes best. I strongly encourage no substitutions unless you are an expert baker.
          I used these cookies in my Cookie Tins at Christmas - I handed out about 25 tins, and was asked for this recipe from a record 14 people!! I actually quadrupled the recipe and it worked fine. I found the best method for getting perfect cookies involved rolling the dough into a "log"; putting it in the fridge overnight and cutting into perfect circles in the morning by slicing 1/4" pieces from the log. I sprinkled with sugar before I baked, and added a tiny bit after. 

Ingredients:
3/4 Cup Crisco shortening
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 cup white sugar
1 egg, well beaten
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
4 tbsp molasses
White sugar for dusting - about 1/3 cup


Directions:
1. In a large bowl sift together flour, soda, and spices.
2. In a medium bowl, cream sugar with Crisco. Add egg and molasses and mix well. 
3. Mix wet & dry ingredients until well-blended. 
4. Form into a log and wrap tightly with saran wrap
5. Put dough into fridge all night or at least 4 hours until baking.
6. Spray a non-stick cookie pan with Pam and cut cookies about 1/8".
7. Sprinkle lightly with sugar - if you have trouble getting the sugar to stick, lightly indent cookies with a fork.
8. Bake at 350 F approx 9 minutes.


When you remove the cookies from the oven, dust with more white sugar. 

Winner: Worlds Best Chocolate Chip Cookie!!

       Well folks, the moment has arrived!! It has been a tough competition, but we have a winner for the worlds best chocolate-chip cookie recipe. I received 10 entries....I almost had to join a gym to finish the contest!
       Kristen N (Krisdi78 on the Nest) sent the recipe for the famous "Neiman-Marcus" cookies - there is an old wive's tale floating around that this recipe cost $250! A quick google search showed the rumour to be false, but wherever they came from, they are truly the BEST chocolate chip cookie in the world.
       I made some of the cookies with nuts, and some without - they were tasty either way. I also threw some white chocolate-chips into some of the cookies, which I highly recommend.  They are slightly more time-consuming than some cookies since you have to blend the oatmeal & chop some of the chocolate, but it is well worth the extra few minutes. Thank you so much to Kristen for sharing, and congrats on the win!
        I'm going to make a separate page tab with all of the recipes submitted, because they were all really, really good. So keep an eye for that in the coming weeks.

NEIMAN-MARCUS COOKIES (Recipe may be halved)

5 cups blended oatmeal

4 cups flour
2 cups butter

2 cups brown sugar
2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp. Vanilla

1 tsp. Salt

2 tsp. Baking powder
2 tsp. Baking Soda
1 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)24 oz. Chocolate chips
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice)

Measure oatmeal, and blend in a blender to a fine powder. Cream the
butter and both sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with
flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda . Add chocolate chips,Hershey bar, and nuts. Roll into balls, and place two inches apart on
a cookie Sheet. Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees.
Makes 112 cookies.


Enjoy the cookies, they really are good.

Runner up: Oatmeal Chocolate-Chip Cookies

The world's best chocolate chip cookie contest was SO much fun!! My husband and classmates loved all of the experimenting and baking....we had 10 recipes submitted!!

This recipe was sent to me from a fellow blogger named Alyssa in Florida, who found my blog from the website 20SomethingBloggers. It is a great website for - you guessed it! - 20-29 year-old bloggers. I first heard about the website at an event called Ignite Waterloo.

• It was a very close call, but this is the runner up, 2nd place :) I will post the grand-prize winner tomorrow!! The grand prize winner gets to do a guest blog on the website and of course gets bragging rights forever :) Alyssa got the recipe from an old Betty Crocker cookbook, and I have seen it on the website AllRecipes - it truly is a classic oatmeal chocolate-chip cookie.

• Ingredients:
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups old-fashioned oats
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

• Directions:

1. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
2. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-13 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Linzer Cookies

When I was in high school, I worked at a wonderful bakery called Ragueneau. The pastry chef, Joseph, made the most amazing Linzer Cookies - but they were so complicated and time consuming to make, they were not made very often, and when they were, customers would quickly grab them up. I have been trying for years to find a duplicate somewhere - I have searched Stratford and Woodstock to no avail. So, armed with my new baking abilities, and absolute love for these cookies, I decided to try and make them. I didn't notice until midway through the recipe that there was a huge warning: "for expert bakers only." But I was halfway through already so I carried on! Well, I must be an "expert baker" because they turned out phenomenally!! I shared with a few girlfriends who even sent me photos of them enjoying the cookies. So, here is the recipe, in original form: but I do warn - it IS hard, and takes several hours to make. But if I can do it, anybody can! Have fun!!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/4 cup sugar, divided

2 eggs, separated

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup ground almonds

1 cup raspberry preserves

confectioners sugar

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter. Gradually add 2/3 cup sugar, beating until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Shape dough into a ball; cover and refrigerate for 30-45 minutes or until firm.
On a surface dusted with confectioners' sugar, roll half of the dough to 1/8-in. thickness; cut with a floured 2-1/2-in. round cookie cutter. Repeat with remaining dough, using a floured 2-1/2-in. doughnut cutter so the center is cut out of each cookie. I also used 2 heart-shaped cutters, one large, one small to make heart-shaped ones.
Beat egg whites until frothy. Combine almonds and remaining sugar. Brush each cookie with egg white and sprinkle with the almond mixture. Place on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees F for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
Spread 2 teaspoons of raspberry preserves over the plain side of solid cookies. Place cookies with centers cut out, almond side up, on top of the preserves, making a sandwich.

Source: www.allrecipes.com

Whipped Shortbread Cookies

When I was a kid, my grandmother would make the most amazing whipped shortbread cookies. Until recently, I did NOT have the skills to try them myself - shortbread are quite delicate & fussy. However, with my new culinary skills and abundance of free time, I though I would try them. I adapted a recipe from my Grandma Kay and they turned out beautifully!

Ingredients:

1 cup butter (NOT margarine)

1/4 cup corn starch

1/2 cup icing sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

Directions: Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl. Beat for 10 minutes with an electric mixer (do NOT cut back on the time). Drop by small spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 F for 9-11 minutes - the bottoms will be a golden brown. Do not overbake.

Ranger Cookies

This recipe is a family favourite that pleases even the most discerning cookie fan! Serve with coffee or a cold glass of milk to warm up even the worst winters' day.

• Ingredients:
• 1 cup butter or margarine
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup Corn Flakes
• 1 cup coconut
• 
  
• Directions:

1. Cream butter with white & brown sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla.
2. Mix together dry ingredients and stir into wet mix. Place by heaping spoonfuls on an ungreased baking sheet & slightly flatten with fork.
3. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 8-10 minutes.