White Chocolate and Cherry Cookies.

I will have to ask you all to ignore the "healthy baking" at the top of this blog for this post. In fact, from now until after Christmas there might be more "comfort and traditional" rather than healthy and "good for you"...Hey, it's that time of year, let's indulge a bit, right? Right.
These cookies are more like the typical chocolate chip cookie, with lots of butter and sugar. I got the basic recipe in a magazine but changed the flavors a bit.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
Grated zest of 1 orange
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cacao powder, sifted
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
3/4-1 cup dried cherries

In a large bowl, start by creaming the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and orange zest.
In another bowl mix the flour, baking soda, salt, and gradually add to the butter mixture in 3-4 batches and mix well. Fold in the cherries and white cocolate chips with a spatula.
Roll into balls (or drop heap teaspoonfulls if you don't like getting your hands dirty...) about 1 inch diameter, and place on an oiled cookie sheet, about 2 inches appart.
Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are golden but the middle is still soft-ish. They will continue to bake for a bit even when out of the oven. Cool on the sheet for 4-5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.



Enjoy with a nice cup of tea, or a glass of milk...

Peanut Butter Cookies

I have to admit I've never been the biggest fan of peanut butter. I eat it on toasts that's it. When I buy a jar at the grocery store it usually lasts a long time!
I was never a huge fan of peanut flavor either, like in sauces and all. And as much as I love chocolate, the two together was never my thing. Reese's PB cups don't do anything for me. Sorry...BUT. Peanut butter cookies I like. They're so smooth and sweet and salty. The downfall of them is the amount of fat that's in there. I remember when I'd go visit my grandma she'd keep them a cookie box lined with paper towel that would get drenched in oil. The traditional recipes call for commercial peanut butter AND shortening. Not good.
SO when I found this recipe in Sarah Philips' "Healthy Oven" I had to try it. And I have to admit, they're amazing. And the fat amount is a lot less than grandma's cookies. Plus by using natural peanut butter it assures you there's NO shortening in here! (because we all know commercial PB is loaded with that shtuff...)
Today I thought I'd get over this whole "pb and chocolate" non-sense and add some chocolate on those cookies. It works nice. I admit, they go together quite nicely...but I still won't eat Reese's cups. Not when I can have these!!:



Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 TBSP unsalted butter at room temperature.
1 egg
1 TBSP light corn syrup
1 TBSP vanilla extract

3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (for dipping)...(optional but recommended!!)

Preheat the oven at 350F and set the rack in the middle.
Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
In another bowl, using a mixer or a spatula (spatula in my case...my grandma never had a mixer...),beat the peanut butter, sugars and butter until well mixed. Add in the egg, corn syrup and vanilla.
Add the flour mixture in 2 batches.
*You'll notice the dough will not come together quite nicely in a big ball, but don't worry. That's ok...
Roll the "dough" into little balls, about 1 teaspoon worth for each ball. Place on an oiled cookie sheet, about 1 inch appart. With a fork, press on the dough balls to create that cute peanut butter cookie pattern we all know and love...



Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool them on the sheet for a minute and transfer to a rack.
*If you need to make 2 batches I suggest you get the littl' balls ready while the first batch is in the oven...saves time...just saying..!



Now. To take it to the next level, melt some chocolate in the micro-wave and dip each cooled cookie until the top in coated. As I said you can skip this step but why would you??



Don't they look so cute?

White Chocolate, Fruit and Walnut Oatmeal Cookies.

It's been a while since I made cookies...and I chose the first really hot day to turn on the oven and bake some. Oh well, ...I can handle the heat...
These cookies are really nice. I took the basic recipe in the "healthy oven" book, so they're somewhat "healthier" than the usual chocolate-nut-fruit cookie. They each have about 80 calories but they taste like they're 200 calories each, they're so nice and sweet and soft. Nice way to induldge...



Ingredients:

Dry:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup quick oats
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

Wet:
6TBSP unsalted butter at room temperature(today it was almost melted...)
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 egg
1 TBSP vanilla

1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried fruit mix(apricots and cranberries were used here)
1/3 cup chopped nuts(i used walnuts...)

Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar with a mixer or by hand with a rubber spatula until nice and creamy.
Add egg and vanilla and mix until all is smooth.
Add the flour to the butter mix, in 3 parts, and with the last part throw in the fruits, nuts, and chocolate chips. Mix until combined but without overmixing.
Drop heaping teaspoonfuls on an oiled baking sheet, 1 inch appart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes(mine took 10...)
Cool on the sheet for a minute before transfering to a tray and cool completely.
This will give you about 2-3 dozen cookies.

I find the white chocolate chips is a nice twist on the oh-so-popular regular chocolate and the apricots come out nicely too!



Have a glass of milk on the side and pretend it's Christmas...

Cocoa-Orange Snap Cookies.

I love baking cookies. I love eating them too! With a cup of coffee or tea it's pretty hard to beat. I rarely buy them in the grocery store because a)i love baking and b)commercial cookies can have stuff in them that don't belong in food...
This recipe is also from Sarah Philips' "Healthy Oven", each cookie as approximately 50 calories. Not bad...I tweaked it a bit by adding orange zest, because orange and chocolate go together so well, and I also I'm fascinated with citrus zest.



These cookies take a bit of thinking ahead because they need to chill in the fridge for a while.
So here's the recipe: it'll give you about 30 cookies.

1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch of salt

1 cup sugar(plus 2TBSP for dipping)
6 TBSP unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 TBSP light corn syrup
1 TBSP vanilla

zest of one orange(keep 1/2 tsp for dipping)

-In a bowl, mix flour, sift in cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside
-In another bowl, beat sugar and butter until it starts looking like breadcrumbs(with a hand mixer is better, and quicker!!)
-Add egg, corn syrup and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the zest and mix lightly.
-Stir in the flour mixture, in 2 batches.
-Transfer to a sheet of wax paper and shape the dough into a log, about 1 1/2-2 inch in diameter. Wrap tight and put it in the fridge for at least 2 hours.
.......
-Turn oven on at 375F, set rack in middle, oil spray a cookie sheet.
-On a small plate, mix 1-2 TBSP or so of sugar with the one half-teaspoon of zest. Mix it well, take time to crush it good so the oil gets out and the sugar becomes a little yellow.
-Cut the dough into 1/2 inch rounds, dip one side in the sugar/zest mix, put on the sheet sugar side UP(obviously...).
-Bake for 10-12 minutes.
-Let stand 5-8 minutes on tray before transfering to a cooling rack.



The cookies might seem underdone after 10 minutes but keep in mind they will keep baking for a bit once out of the oven. They're snap cookies so they'll get hard. Perfect for dunking in tea, or milk, etc.



Note to self...: try not to eat the whole stack...