Sunday Is Cookie Day! 🌞

Sour Cherry and Walnut Chocolate Hermits

Sour Intensely chocolate, with dried pitted sour cherries (raisins can
be substituted) and walnuts and a shiny white glaze. Delicious
— almost like devil’s food cake.

32 Huge Cookies

6 ounces (1 1/2 cups) walnuts
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 ounce semisweet chocolate
2 1/2 cups sifted unbleached flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons powdered espresso (I use Medaglia D’Oro.)
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 packed cups light brown sugar
2 eggs graded “large”
1/2, cup sour cream
1 tablespoon brandy, prepared coffee, or water
4 ounces (1 cup) dried pitted sour cherries

Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat
oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with baking
parchment or aluminum foil, shiny side up, and set aside.
Break the walnuts into medium-sized pieces; set aside.

Place both chocolates in the top part of a small double
boiler over warm water on moderate heat, and stir
occasionally until melted. Remove the top part of the double
boiler and set aside. Sift together the flour, baking soda,
espresso, cocoa, and salt; set aside.In the large bowl of an
electric mixer beat the butter until soft. Add the vanilla, then
the sugar, and beat until mixed. Beat in the melted chocolate,
then the eggs, sour cream, and brandy, coffee, or water. Add
the sifted dry ingredients and beat on low speed to mix.
Remove the bowl from the mixer. Stir in the sour cherries and the
nuts.

Use a heaping tablespoon of the dough for each cookie. Place the
mounds 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets.

First, place only one sheet of cookies in the oven on the lower rack.
(Set the timer for 13 minutes.) While that first sheet of cookies is bak-
ing, prepare the glaze.

GLAZE

3/4 cup strained confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 1/2 tablespoons (or a bit more) heavy or light cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt

In a small bowl beat the above ingredients until smooth. The glaze
should be the consistency of mayonnaise; add a bit more cream if nec-
essary. Cover the glaze when you are not using it.

Each sheet of cookies should bake for about 13 minutes.

When the first sheet is half-baked, reverse it front to back and move
it to the top rack. At the same time, place another sheet of cookies on
the lower rack.

Bake until the cookies spring back when gently pressed with a fin-
gertip. Do not overbake. Watch them, and test them carefully.

As soon as a sheet of cookies is baked, remove it from the oven
and place a generous dab (maybe ’4 teaspoon) of the glaze on the top
of each cookie. As the heat melts the glaze, use a pastry brush to
spread it. Then, with a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a
rack to cool.

Continue baking and glazing the cookies.
When the glaze has dried (it dries quickly), the cookies can be
stored in an airtight container, two together, bottoms together

From "Maida Heatter's Brand New Book of Great Cookies"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/547864.Maida_Heatter_s_Brand_New_Book_of_Great_Cookies

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Cookie Butter

What is cookie butter, and how have you lived without it?
By Laurel Randolph


Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 0 mins
Chill: 2 hrs
Total: 2 hrs 10 mins
Servings: 16 servings
Yield: 2 cups


Sure, chocolate spread and nut butter are great, but let's talk
about the glory of cookie butter. This sweet and smooth goodness
takes the spiced flavor of cookies and delivers it in creamy,
spreadable form. While you can find it in various supermarkets,
it's incredibly easy to make at home with the help of a food processor.
Simply process crumbled cookies into a fine powder, then add boiling
water. This dissolves the sugar and turns the crumbs into a smooth paste.
Coconut oil or butter make it spreadable and creamy, and a little honey
helps perk up the flavor.

Tips for Terrific Cookie Butter

Fine & Smooth - For super smooth cookie butter, make sure to process
long enough to ensure the cookie crumbs are very fine.

Thicker - Refined coconut oil produces a slightly thicker spread after
chilling than butter, but either work well in this recipe.

Chill - Be sure to chill before serving. This allows the coconut oil or
butter to set up, making the mixture spreadable.

Make Less - It's easy to halve this recipe if you'd like to make one cup.



Ingredients

8 ounces Biscoff or speculoos cookies
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup refined coconut oil, or cubed unsalted butter
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch kosher salt



Steps to Make It

Gather the ingredients.

Break 8 ounces of cookies up with your hands and place them into a food processor.

Pulse a few times, then process on high until the cookies are fine crumbs.

Add 1 cup boiling water to the ground cookies and pulse a few times to combine.
Scrape down the sides of the processor bowl with a rubber spatula.

Add 1/4 cup coconut oil or cubed butter, 2 tablespoons honey, 1/4 teaspoon
cinnamon, and 1 pinch of salt. Process until smooth and creamy, stopping once
or twice to scrape down the sides of the bowl, making sure the mixture is well
combined.

Transfer the cookie butter to a pint jar or 2 half-pint jars, with lids. Let chill for
at least 1 hour, preferably 2 hours, before serving.

How to Store

In the Fridge- Homemade cookie butter will keep in an airtight container in the
fridge for a week.

Don't Freeze- We don't recommend freezing cookie butter, since defrosting
often breaks the emulsion, causing the oil to separate.

Feeling Adventurous? Try This:

Spice up this cookie butter by adding more ground cinnamon, allspice,
nutmeg, and/or clove.

Add a splash of vanilla or a little almond extract.

Swap the honey for molasses for a richer flavor.

While speculoos cookies are the most traditional for cookie butter, any
dry, crunchy cookie that crumbles easily can be used. Gingersnaps are an
especially good option, but crunchy sugar cookies and chocolate cookies
will also work. Avoid chewy or moist cookies and cookies with chocolate
chips or a filling.

From https://www.thespruceeats.com/cookie-butter-4846503


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Light As Air* Cookies

These are most unusual. They are extremely simple, plain,
and light, wonderful _ with tea or alongside a fruit, custard,
or ice cream dessert. Children adore them—everyone does.

30 COOKIES

2 eggs graded “large”
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 3/4 cups sifted unbleached flour

Adjust an oven rack to the middle of the oven and preheat oven to
375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with baking parchment or with alu-
minum foil, shiny side up; set aside.
In the small bowl of an electric mixer beat the eggs, vanilla, and
sugar at high speed for a few minutes until the mixture is pale and
thick enough to form a ribbon when the beaters are raised. Then, on
low speed, add the baking powder and the flour and beat only until
incorporated.

Transfer the mixture to a smaller bowl for ease in handling.
Use a rounded tablespoonful of the batter for each cookie. Keep the
shapes neat and round, not ragged. Place the cookies 1% to 2 inches
apart.

All the batter should be shaped immediately, even though some of
the sheets will stand and wait since these are baked only x sheet at a
time. (If you let the batter remain in the bowl for a while it will
thicken too much to be formed into neat shapes.) If you don’t have
enough cookie sheets (probably 3), shape the cookies anyway, on
parchment or foil placed on any work surface. Then, right before
baking, slide a cookie sheet under the parchment or foil.

Bake one sheet at a time for 11 minutes, reversing the sheet front
to back once during baking to ensure even baking. When done, the
cookies will be dry and firm on the tops but will be as soft as soft
macaroons inside. When done, the cookies will be a pale, pale sandy
color.

With a wide metal spatula transfer the cookies to racks to cool.
Store in an airtight container. If you serve them within a day or
two, they will have a divine, moist texture inside. After a few days
they become more crisp. They are popular both ways, but I like them
very fresh.

Note: If you let these stand on the cookiesheet for 2 to 3 hours
before baking, something strange takes place—a firm crust forms on
the tops of the cookies. Then, during baking, as the cookies rise a lit-
tle, this firm crust slides off slightly to one side. It doesn’t affect the
taste, but the cookies become very exotic looking. They look as
though they were made of two different doughs. It’s fascinating. I
think no one will be able to guess how you did it.

Cookies that have waited for 2 or 3 hours before baking should be
baked for only 9 or ro minutes.

From "Maida Heatter's Brand New Book of Great Cookies"
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/547864.Maida_Heatter_s_Brand_New_Book_of_Great_Cookies


Sweet! Except for the sour cherries!