USVI-On-Line

CG: So kind of you to help with the moving, especially this time of year! Enjoy your baking! Hey, if you wanna see your pic on my desktop, PM me your email!

Lindy: "This should be done AFTER the cookies are baked though." So you've figured out that you need to be verrrrry specific with me, huh? I promise, I won't decorate the unbaked cookies. I'll figure some decorative touch out. Glad I don't have to use a walnut LOL.

So far I've made my toffee and oatmeal cookies, chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter/oatmeal cookies and dark chocolate with white chocolate chip cookies.

The thing around my house, is even though I have a note on these large tins (Do NOT Eat!). People are sneaking them...lol

Wasn't me!

Connie, your toffee cookies are on my list for this weekend.
I keep my baked cookies in the trunk of my car. Yes. I am THAT serious about them not being eaten! I leave about 1/2 dozen of each type out as I bake them (and bring Blaine another 3-4 out of each type), but then they get locked away in my trunk until I decide that it's occasion enough to get them out!

Ah man! I may have figured out how to freeze cookie dough but keeping the cookies in my car might save me from having to make a gazillion of them! As Homer Simpson says....DOH!!! Hahahaha!!

Today I made Connie's Toffee Oatmeal cookies and the Starlight Mint cookies and they are all formed and in the freezer. I made the Salted Nut Bars and they're cut up and in Tupperware in the fridge. I think I'd like them better with some chocolate chips added, but that's just me. Tomorrow I'm going to try the Oreo/Cream Cheese ones, but those don't seem like they'd be mailable (I have to mail most of what I'm making).

On the Starlight Mint ones, I ended up cutting the Andes mints in half. Using the whole thing make the cookies really big!

Cookie update

We are becoming addicted to the Salted Nut Bars just the way they are!

I baked 6 of Connie's Oatmeal Toffee cookies and 6 of the Starlight Mint cookies (damn, I like this freezing thing!). I made Connie's cookies with the coconut

Concensus: 2 die 4 - all of them!

I should have probably put the whole Andes mint in the cookie, with the 2 halves stacked, but they're super yummy, regardless!

Thanks for the hint about cutting the mint in 1/2. I'll do that. I'm learning from your experience

Lindy wrote:Ah man! I may have figured out how to freeze cookie dough but keeping the cookies in my car might save me from having to make a gazillion of them! As Homer Simpson says....DOH!!! Hahahaha!!

LOL...yep! You have to want a cookie pretty bad, to find mom's car keys, trudge through the snow to her trunk, unwrap carefully so she never catches on, then wait for them to thaw.....
It hasn't happened yet!

Disclaimer: I haven't gone through all four pages and I am more of a cook than a baker, but there is one recipe I die for. They are Toffee (really caramel) Bars that my Irish friend makes. She will NOT disclose her family's secret recipe, but I found a very similar recipe in a gourmet magazine and she assures me I am extremely close. Here it is:

Chocolate Caramel Slice:

INGREDIENTS:
Crust
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1 tablespoon ice water
1 large egg yolk

Toppings
1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, diced
2 tablespoons golden syrup (such as Lyle's Golden Syrup - I think this is important, can be found at Whole Foods or wherever British foods are sold) or dark corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons whipping cream
Flaked sea salt (such as Maldon)

COOKING:
For crust:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 11x7x2-inch metal baking pan. Blend first 4 ingredients in processor. Add butter. Using on/off turns, blend until coarse meal forms. Add 1 tablespoon ice water and egg yolk. Blend until moist clumps form. Press dough onto bottom of pan; pierce all over with fork. Bake until golden, piercing if crust bubbles, about 20 minutes. Cool completely.

For toppings:
Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves, butter melts, and mixture comes to boil. Attach candy thermometer to side of pan. Boil gently until caramel is thick and temperature registers 225°F, whisking constantly, about 6 minutes. Pour caramel evenly over crust; cool 15 minutes to set.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate with cream in microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring occasionally. Spread chocolate over warm caramel; sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, at least 1 hour. DO AHEAD Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Cut dessert lengthwise into 4 strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 5 or 6 slices. Transfer to platter and serve.

CG - I'm glad that you liked freezing the cookie dough. Please let Minde know if you notice anything different with your cookies after they have been frozen - you can be my unbiased judge.

Salted Nut Bars....I need to figure a way to hide them from myself! They ARE addicting and that's why an acquaintance dubbed them Mortal Sin on a Plate.
If you like that salty/sweet combination the Cran-crackles are along the same line only they have just a little sweet/tart mixed in from the dried cranberries. The pretzel crust is really yummy too.

I wound up using Andes for my Starlight Mints too so I had a couple bags of mint choc chips left. I made up the recipe on the back of the bag for Double Choc mint cookies. It's basically a very chocolaty cookie with the mint choc chips in them. Once I bake them I'm going to put a little white chocolate and some crushed candy canes on top. I figure that will be visually attractive for the church cookie sale on Saturday. My ovens are going to be smoking the next 2 days!!

I forgot to mention that before I baked the Starlight Mints ones, I smooshed the cookie tops in Turbinado Sugar. They came out looking really nice. I'm thinking you could do the same thing with crushed candy canes, or red or green sugar. A lot of options with those cookies. Maybe a mint Hershey Kiss on top? If you did the kiss, would you put it on before or after baking?

Ok... today I made the Oreo Cookie & Cream Cheese ... uh... I'll call them truffles instead of cookies. These things are DANGEROUS! They seem to be way easier than what I've heard about the Bailey's truffles, and I'm thinking you could probably add some Bailey's to this recipe if you took out some of the cookie filling. Waaay rich! Soooo good!

I also made the Coffee Toffee Bars. They're really good, but next time I think I'd increase the coffee and substitute vanilla for the almond extract. In the first place, I'm not a big almond flavor/marzipan fan, and the almond flavor really takes over the flavor of the cookies. For the topping I used a whole pkg. of chocolate chips and about 1/3 bag of butterscotch (what was left over from the Salted Nut Bars).

I deem today a success! And my house smells realllly gooood!

Certainly sounds like a success! I'll be back at it tomorrow

I made the cran-crackle bars last night, and they were yummy with my coffee this morning!
I don't use my food processor, so I just crushed the pretzels well with the rolling pin. 2 3/4 cups of any crushed pretzels will work (easier for me to measure crumbs than little pretzels). I used 1/2 white chips and 1/2 dark chips.
I'm working on the mint cookies now!
Here's the cran-crackle bars:

Phew!! Church cookie sale done for another year - 6 trays with sugar cookies, nut bars, cran-crackel, choc mint chips, starlight mint, mocha ribbons, molasses cookie (the really soft chewy kind - yum!), Sicilian cookies, peanut butter sandwich cookies and biscotti. I ran out of time for the raspberry treasures and the pistachio thumbprints but that's OK because I'll do trays for friends later after I make the miniature cheesecakes.

My husband made me go with his this time to drop them off. The last two years I sent him because it's HIS church(I'm not Catholic). I guess he gets the third degree wondering who the crazy woman is who is does all those cookies. I think it's a windfall for their fundraiser because they were very happy to see all the trays come in again this year. I also try to do something a little different that all of the peanut butter kisses that I saw. I like those, but it seems like EVERYONE makes them so who'd want to buy more?

Minde - I like your picture idea. Gotta figure out how to do that one of these days. Yours looked like they turned out great!