One of my favorite cookies is a sugar cookie, and I like them soft and thick and smothered with buttercream frosting.

For me, this is the perfect cookie.

Ingredients

4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream

Preparing Dough

1. Sift the flour, then measure out four cups. Measure the flour by spooning into the measuring cup and leveling with a knife. Don’t scoop the flour up with the measuring cup.

2. Sift four more times (yes, four) with the baking powder, soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the fats until smooth.

4. Add sugar gradually, creaming well.

5. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until fluffy.

6. Add approximately 1/3 of the flour mixture, mix until smooth.

7. Add approximately 1/2 of the sour cream, mix until smooth.

8. Continue to add and mix flour and sour cream, alternately, ending with flour.

9. Cover bowl and refrigerate dough for several hours, or until firm enough to shape. I usually leave mine overnight.

Shaping and Baking Cookies

This dough is very soft, even when chilled, and can be difficult to work with if you aren’t relatively patient. Work with small amounts at a time with plenty of flour, and keep the remaining dough in the fridge between batches. It’s a little tricky, but the end result is so worth it.

1. When ready to shape and bake cookies, grease cookie sheets and preheat oven to 425 degrees (yes, 425 degrees).

2. Working in small batches, pat the dough out with your hands. Use a rolling pin to smooth the top if necessary. You want the dough fairly thick; a generous 1/4″ is what I use.

3. Cut with cookie cutters of your choice, but try to use cutters at least 3″ across or bigger.

4. Place on prepared cookie sheets and bake 6-8 minutes, or until just set.

5. Let cool completely on wire rack before frosting.

Of course, you could sprinkle them with sugar before baking, but for me, the true treat is eating these cookies with a thick layer of my favorite buttercream frosting.

Let me know if you try it!

Best,

Don’t let their fancy ways fool you, peanut butter kisses are one of the easiest cookies to make, and one I always include in my holiday cookie collection. The trick to the best looking cookies is to roll the balls of dough much smaller than you would think and underbaking slightly to compensate and preserve chewiness.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter (one stick)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour (all-purpose wheat or white spelt)
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
chocolate kisses, unwrapped (about 48–I use Hershey’s brand).

Method

1. Before you do anything else, unwrap the number of chocolate kisses you will be using. If you bake all of the dough from this recipe, you should have about 48 cookies.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars.
4. Add egg, peanut butter and vanilla. Mix thoroughly. Tip: Swirl the egg around the 1/2 cup measuring cup before measuring the peanut butter and the peanut butter won’t stick to the measuring cup
5. In a small bowl, measure out flour, baking soda and salt. Stir, then add to egg mixture. Tip: Don’t scoop the flour out of the bag or canister with the measuring cup, you will pack the flour down and get too much. Use a spoon to fluff the flour then scoop it gently into the measuring cup.
6. When the dough is thoroughly combined, roll into small balls (about 1″ diameter) and place evenly on cookie sheet. Tips: I usually do just a few at first to make sure I have the size down. Once I know the size to get the right cookie to chocolate ratio, I go into mass production. I also do not recommend using a non-stick pan–the dark coating can cause cookies to burn.
7. Bake in the oven 10 minutes, or until just set.
8. Remove and place entire cookie sheet and cookies on cooking rack. While cookies are still warm, press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie.
9. Gently remove to cooling rack and let cool completely. Tip: The kisses will melt while sitting on the hot cookie, but will retain their signature shape as long as they aren’t moved or touched. Make sure you let them cool completely!
I love these, and the peanut butter kiss is a classic that no Christmas cookie collection should be without.
Enjoy!

The flavors of chocolate and toffee are a natural combination which inspired these decadent brownies. I call them Chocolate Hazelnut Toffee Brownies, although you could call them anything you want. My husband calls them, “mmmmmmmmm…..” The important thing is that the preparation method creates a crispy English Toffee crust on the top of the brownie that I find to be delictable. And the best part? They couldn’t be easier. I hope you like ‘em!

Ingredients

* One batch of English Toffee (I recommend my recipe, although any will do). You’ll need about a cup or so of broken up pieces.
* Your favorite brownie recipe (I recommend a double batch of my Super Fudgy Small-Batch Brownies). You want enough to fill a 9″ x 9″ pan. I used a 9″ cake pan so I could cut the brownies in cake shaped slices.
* Whipped Cream (lots). If you want to make yours from scratch (it’s really easy), check out my tutorial How to Make Whipped Cream.

Method

1. Prepare your toffee by breaking it into small pieces and setting aside.
2. Make your favorite brownies the way you usually do.
3. Five minutes before the brownies are done, take them out of the oven just long enough to sprinkle the toffee bits on top.
4. Put the brownies back in the oven for the remaining five minutes. The toffee will melt and form a golden crust.
5. Remove and cool completely (or at least mostly). The toffee will cut fine if it’s cooled, but it’ll gum up the whole works if it’s still hot.
6. Slather with whipped cream and enjoy!
Let me know if you try them, or if you know of any brilliant brownie recipes to share. If there’s one thing I love, it’s brownies!
Best!

This recipe was invited to be a part of the Dozen Dazzling Delicious Desserts, sponsored by Holly Holderman of Lake House Dry Goods. Thank you, Holly!

I know the idea of making an extra-small quantity of something as delicious as brownies seems counter-intuitive, but really, it makes perfect sense. Unless you have the metabolism of a shrew, you probably don’t want to eat a whole pan of brownies before they get dried out, so a smaller batch is better. Or, if you’re like me and have the metabolism of a rhino but still can’t physically stop yourself from eating a whole pan of brownies, then a small batch may save your life… uh… hips.
Anyway, here’s my famous super-fudgy brownie recipe. We have made them with both wheat flour and spelt, and both work. Also, the nuts are theoretically optional, but I find that the batter gets too thin without the extra bulk. I use the food processor to cut them extra fine so they just blend into the texture of the brownie. If you don’t like nuts, you might try oatmeal or something else to get the same volume.
Updated: If you’re feeling frisky, you can also make these with Roasted Hazelnuts, then add English Toffee and Whipped Cream and have the mega-decadent Hazelnut Toffee Brownies. Oh, yeah.

Ingredients

3 Tablespoons butter plus additional butter for greasing the pan
1 1/2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour (I use spelt, but you can use regular unbleached wheat as well)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2. Prepare your pan. You will need a regular bread loaf pan and a small amount of foil. Butter the bottom and sides of the pan, and then carefully fit a long strip of foil onto the bottom of the pan. It needs to be as wrinkle-free as you can make it. Make sure the strip is long enough to extend up the ends of the pan; these will serve as handles to pull the brownie out of the pan later. Then, butter the foil as well. You do need to butter both so that if the batter leaks around the foil it won’t stick.

3. In a medium-sized, microwave safe bowl, put the 3 T of butter and the baking chocolate.

4. Microwave the chocolate and butter in 20-30 second bursts, stirring in between bursts, until the chocolate is almost completely melted. Stir to melt the last small lumps.

5. Using a wooden spoon, beat in the sugar, egg, vanilla, flour and salt, one ingredient at a time.
6. Stir in most of the nuts (or nut substitute) and spread into the loaf pan.
7. Sprinkle the rest of the nuts on top of the batter.
8. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, 20-25 minutes, or longer if you prefer drier brownies.
9. Remove from the oven, lift the brownies onto a cooling rack, and let cool completely.
10. When cool (or as cool as you can stand waiting for), carefully peel the foil from the bottom of the brownies, cut and serve.
Enjoy… and try not to eat them all in one sitting. Not that I know what that’s like. Ahem.