Day 24: Cream Cheese Pretzels

After playing in chocolate all day with yesterday's Hot Cocoa cookies, today I felt the need for something a little lighter and now that is officially Christmas time, something that looks, well...Christmasy. Orange Cream Cheese Cookies sounded perfect. This is actually called a "molding dough", meaning it is perfect for shaping or cut outs since the dough does not spread at all. Not a fan of orange? You can use any flavor you prefer. This is also a great cookie to make with kids, real easy and fun to mold. I chose to do pretzel shapes because I thought they would be cute and I am just not feeling very creative at the moment.
Put your electric mixer away for this one and break out the wooden spoon:

• 3 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 c butter, softened
• 1/2 c firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 t vanilla or orange extract, or whatever you would like

Combine all ingredients in large bowl. Stir by hand until well blended. Add:

• 1 2/3 c all-purpose flour

Stir until dough forms a ball. Knead dough on floured surface, about a minute or two, until dough is smooth and pliable and not sticky. Roll, shape , mold....whatever.
Bake at 350 until edges are light brown 10-15 minutes or 15-22 minutes for thicker cookies.

For sparkling pretzels:

Pour colored sugar onto waxed paper. Roll about a tablespoon of dough into a 4" rope between your hands. Finish rolling rope on colored sugar until about 10" and shape into pretzels.

Day 20: A Great Cookie Day Thanks to Rachael Ray

Yes! Rachael comes through again-oh, didn't you know, we are on a first name basis now. The foundation of trust between has been built, a mutual respect if you will. Okay so it's not mutual, she has no idea who I am after all.
I have been dying to make this Coconut Snowflakes since I bought the magazine last month. Not only do the cookies feature two things I love, coconut and lemon, but I also just happen to have this particular snowflake cookie cutter. Warning: Rachael does say offer a substitute cookie cutter, use your imagination. Another warning: she says to bake these for 20 minutes. Do yourself a favor and check them after 12 minutes. At 18 minutes I burned a pan, and nearly destroyed my relationship with Rach.

When spreading the filling on the cookie I say go for it! One measly teaspoon just doesn't seem to be enough. I also got a little creative and opted to not line the two cookies up exactly when sandwiching them. I know, I am a wild woman.
My husband thought that the two cookies sandwiched together were a little dry. Since I still have half the dough to bake I may try not sandwiching them and sprinkling the coconut right on top of the filling. Once again...crazy, wild, I know.

Day 15: Tic Tac Toe Cookies

I found the recipe for these Tic Tac Toe cookies right in my own refrigerator, staring me in the face for months. It comes from the back of a bottle of Heinz Ketchup, that's right...a cookie recipe from Heinz's ketchup. My son Steven eats everything with ketchup, my nephew Cameron had to have it at our Thanksgiving dinner...so for them, for my own curiosity, I had to give this recipe a try.
Basically this is a peanut butter cookie recipe. I imagined the good people in the marketing department at Heinz sat around one day and discussed ways to sell more ketchup. Someone mentions cookies as a joke, but then for lack of a better idea, they run with it. Since there is no way possible anyone can come up with a good cookie recipe with ketchup in it, the team, now weary and wanting to go home for the day, decides to just add ketchup to a peanut butter cookie recipe. Peanut Butter cookies: Good. Ketchup: Good. Peanut Butter cookies made with ketchup???
After mixing the dough, my husband and I both stared and sniffed at it, then nervously tasted it. He said, "Are we going to bake it or dip french fries in it?" I said, bake it. He said "oh, because it tastes like buffalo a@#". My oldest son Patrick wouldn't even taste the dough, he sniffed it and said it smelled "disgusting".
The dough also seemed way to wet and sticky to bake. the recipe says to press each cookie with the back of a fork in a cross pattern. I suggest spraying your fork with cooking spray, then dipping in flour before trying to press the fork onto the cookie. Better yet-don't make them at all.
If you have been following this blog, I hope you have found some cookies you would like to make, or have even already made. This time I took a bullet for you...do not make this cookie.


at least they look good

 My son, the ketchup lover, after tasting these said, "that was a mean trick by Heinz".

HOWEVER.....

I did make a back up cookie, well sort of. You know those outrageously delicious Magic Cookie Bars on the back of the condensed milk cans??? The ooey gooey chocolatey ones? Yeah those!! My grandma always called them "Hello Dollies", I'm calling these "How You Doin'?Dollies"! I took some of my chocolate chip cookie dough made with pecans and pressed it into a lightly greased 10X10 square cake pan. Top it with sweetened coconut, more pecans and then more chocolate chips. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the pan and bake a t 350 for about 30 minutes. YUM!!!

And on the 13th Day She Baked

About 5 days into this self imposed challenge I realized I started way too early. There is no way I am going to be able to make cookies every day. don't get me wrong, I am not quitting, just modifying my rules a little. Hey, it's my game, my rules...right? I decided that after every 12th day, I would bake what I have made so far and find homes for my cookies. Of course the 13th day would just have to fall on Thanksgiving when I have million other things to do, but I got up early, started a little last night and got it done. So here you have it: Days one through twelve. Ta Da!! These are going to my brother in laws house for Thanksgiving and I think one plate will go home with my Grandma. There is still more to bake, but I get a little bit stingy with my dough, saving it for I don't know what...just saving it. I will work through this issue by the end of the day I promise, finish baking the dough I have...except maybe the sugar cookies and the gingerbread...and the chocolate peppermint cookies...and just maybe the Russian Teacakes...

Thank you for indulging me and have a Happy Thanksgiving!!

Day 9: Apricot Cheesecake Pockets...Sabotage??

   After yesterday's Martha Stewart rant, I decided to give Rachael Ray a shot today. This recipe is from the December 2011 issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray. I do not have a link for the recipe and just didn't feel like typing the whole thing up, besides it's...you guessed it....wrong. I will give Rachael the benefit of the doubt and assume it was a typo. The recipe is supposed to yeild 2 dozen cookies. The dough is rolled to 1/4 inch thickness and cut with a 4" round cookie cutter. I carefully measure everything, I got 12 cookies. Also 1/4 inch is way to thick for a cookie that is folded in half. If I make these again I will roll them out to 1/8 inch thickness.

I think I am more proud of this picture

   I want to believe Rachael Ray is not out to sabotage all of us the way Martha is. I have 4 more cookies recipes from the magazine I want to try. And really other than the thickness issue, this recipe did work out really well and the cookies are delicious.
UPDATE: Here is the recipe. Again, I would not roll the dough as thick as the recipe states.

Day 7: Buttery Gingerbread Santas

Confession, I hate any kind of ginger based cookie! The only reason I ever even tried this recipe was because I wanted to make a gingerbread house, and I fell in love with them, must have been the butter!! It's always the butter. The recipe comes from a cookbook I bought when my kids were little and I still had Christmas visions of granduer. Those visions were met by reality, but still I dust it off every November and plan to make most of the recipes in it. This is typically the only one that gets done.

Today I will only be making the dough, I just do not have time to decorate them in the anal retentive, painstaking manor I enjoy. Once I do though, I will certainly post pictures of the decorated cookies. For now though, here is a picture of my boys when they were little and cute making their Christmas Cookies...enjoy and happy baking!!