I love the taste of chocolate mixed with coffee. In desserts. But not in beverages. That’s right, I don’t care for mocha in beverage form. But I cannot get enough of it in desserts.

Coffee in its various forms (actual coffee/espresso, Kahlua or espresso powder) is probably my favorite flavor to add to chocolate desserts (although peanut butter is hot on coffee’s tail). I’m heavy handed with coffee in any dessert that calls for it and quite frequently I throw a tablespoon of espresso powder into any recipe I make that contains chocolate. In my opinion, the addition of coffee amplifies the chocolate flavor.

So, a couple of weeks ago when we needed a super quick dessert made, this recipe for mocha nut balls was an easy choice. I’d eaten them before at someone else’s house so I knew they were delicious. The cookies themselves are a dark and caffeinated version of the ever popular Mexican wedding cookies. They’re extremely easy to make and as long as you like pecans, coffee and chocolate, you’ll love them. I made the mistake of sharing a few with coworkers and they’ve been asking for more ever since.

The recipe I used is from the Taste of Home website and I think it was originally featured in their print magazine. The only alteration I made was my substitution of 1 1/2 tablespoons espresso powder for the 1 tablespoon of instant coffee granules called for in the recipe. My reason? I prefer espresso over regular coffee.

Mocha Nut Balls

Recipe from Taste of Home

Makes about 50 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup baking cocoa
• 1 tablespoon instant coffee granules (I used espresso powder.)
• 1 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
• Confectioners’ sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325°.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.
3. Combine the flour, cocoa and coffee granules.
4. Gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
5. Stir in pecans.
6. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.
7. Bake at 325° for 14-16 minutes or until firm. Cool on pans for 1-2 minutes before removing to wire racks.
8. Roll warm cookies in confectioners’ sugar.

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Yes, I’ve been on a quest for The Holy Grail of chocolate chip cookie recipes. And I think I might have found it!

Published in Everyday Food magazine last fall, Martha Stewart and company dared to call these “Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies”. Ultimate is indeed a good word for these. They really weren’t falsely advertising the goodness of these cookies!

This is where I admit that I’ve wanted a chocolate chip cookie recipe that tastes like the cookies made from the stupid Pillsbury chocolate chip cookie dough that comes in a plastic tube. Despite my baking abilities and my good intentions to eat less processed food, I have to admit that I like the Pillsbury cookies as they are exactly and precisely how I want chocolate chip cookies to taste. I like them crisp around the edges yet soft, chewy and a touch under-baked. Sadly, Pillsbury always delivers on those qualities.

Fortunately this “Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies” recipe came along and I’ll never have to buy Pillsbury again. And neither should you.

The recipe make a lot of small cookies. When I saw how many cookies this recipe was going to produce, I wisely froze some of the scoops of dough for a future dessert emergency. I left them in the freezer for about 6 weeks and honestly the cookies tasted just as good then as they did when the dough was fresh.

You’ll notice that this calls for both milk and semi-sweet chocolate. I’m not a huge fan of milk chocolate but it works in this recipe. Use both kinds!

The recipe also mentions that you can add a couple of cups of walnuts or pecans to the recipe. I did add walnuts to part of the dough and they were a fantastic addition…if you’re the type to enjoy nuts in your cookies.

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe very slightly adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food magazine

Makes approximately 75 small cookies

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt (I used kosher salt)
• 1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 8 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
3. Using a stand mixer (or hand mixer if you don’t have a stand mixer), beat butter and sugars on medium-high until light and fluffy, 6 minutes.
4. Reduce speed to low and beat in eggs, one at a time. Beat in vanilla. Mix in flour mixture just until incorporated.
5. Fold in chocolate chips and chocolate chunks.
6. Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet with about 2 inches between each scoop of dough.
7. Bake until edges are light golden brown, about 10 minutes if you like your cookies slightly under-baked like I do, rotating sheets halfway through.
8. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool.
9. Bake remaining dough in same manner as directed above. Or if you’ve got more dough than you need, unbaked cookies can be frozen on a baking sheet until firm; store in a resealable plastic bag in the freezer. Bake from frozen in oven preheated to 350 degrees.

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I love flipping through magazines in search of recipes. Over the years I’ve become pretty selective about which ones I actually clip and file for later. Despite my selectivity, the vast majority of the recipes I clip are never made. Then there are the recipes that look so delicious that I make them before they’re ever clipped from the magazine.

These Peanut Butter Cup Cookies were one of those recipes. As soon as I saw these in the latest issue of Real Simple, I knew they would be made. Quickly. Like 2 days later…which was as soon as I could actually justify making another dessert. This recipe was not one that would linger in the binder for years without ever being made. This was a recipe capable of cutting in front of all the other recipes that have been patiently waiting in line for months (or even years).

If you like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups (and I do), these are for you. The dough in these cookies is secondary to the Reese’s Cups and I’m okay with that. They’re super easy to make. The hardest part is chopping the Reese’s Cups. If you’re not really a fan of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups or peanut butter, you probably won’t enjoy these as much as I did.

I made only a few modifications to the original recipe. I added a little bit of peanut butter to the dough and I used regular sized Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups instead of mini ones. I prefer the peanut butter to chocolate ratio in the regular sized Reese’s Cups. But if you like the smaller ones better, use them.

This recipe uses a LOT of Reese’s Cups and that could get expensive…but Halloween is approaching and you should be able to find a jumbo-sized bag of them on sale soon!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Adapted from recipe in Real Simple magazine, October 2009.

Makes about 30 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• about 16 regular-sized Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a large bowl.
4. Beat the butter and sugars until creamy with an electric mixer. Add the egg, vanilla and peanut butter and beat to combine.
5. Gradually add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated.
6. Fold in the chopped peanut butter cups.
7. Drop tablespoon-size balls of dough 2 inches apart onto the parchment lined cookie sheets.
8. Bake until light brown around the edges, about 10-12 minutes.
9. Transfer to baking rack and cool.
10. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

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These molasses spice cookies are a favorite here. They’re also very popular with almost everyone else I’ve let have them. One of my old coworkers is pretty much obsessed with them. I made her a batch because she helped us move. Somehow or another, she made the batch of cookies last for more than a week. She loves them so much that she didn’t want her supply to run out.

Just last night, we were visiting some of the boyfriend’s family and the first thing his uncle asked was “Did you bring any of those cookies?” He tried some at Christmas and found out that 2 of his children had some last week. I must remember to bring him some the next time we visit. If I don’t, I might not be welcome back.

The recipe for these cookies is from Baking Illustrated and I really didn’t change a thing. They’re spicy but not too spicy. They’re chewy and gingery and wonderful. While I do like regular crunchy gingersnaps, I much prefer this chewy version.

The only thing you need to be careful of with these cookies is that you don’t overbake them. They should still look a little raw in the cracks that form while they bake. If you’re in doubt, take them out. They’re way better underbaked than they are overbaked. Trust me on this…I learned it the hard way. The hard, dry cookie way.

Molasses Spice Cookies

Recipe from Baking Illustrated

Preparation time: 30 minutes. Makes 18 large cookies.

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper (or grease lightly).
2. Mix together flour, baking soda, salt, and spices together in a bowl and set aside.
3. Using a mixer, cream the butter on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add the brown sugar and 1/3 cup granulated sugar. Beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes with mixer set at medium speed.
5. Add egg, vanilla extract, and molasses. Beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with a rubber spatula.
6. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
7. Place remaining 1/3 cup of granulated sugar in a shallow bowl. Working with 2 Tbsp of dough each time, roll dough into 1 3/4 inch balls. Roll balls in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets, spacing them 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart.
8. Bake until the outer edges of the cookies begin to set and centers are soft and puffy, about 10 minutes. Cool cookies on sheets for 2 to 3 minutes before transferring them to cooling racks .

Note: do not overcook. The centers of the cookies should be somewhat soft and spongy when you take them out of the oven, otherwise they will end up hard and dry.

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Many months ago, I wanted to bake chewy sugar cookies but all of the recipes I had required chilling the dough for some obscenely long period of time. I wanted cookies then…not 12 plus hours in the future.

After a little perusing of Food Blog Search, I found a recipe that didn’t require chilling and yielded chewy cookies. Bingo! The recipe can be found on the Fallen Souffle blog. I’m not sure of its original source as she didn’t list it in her post.

These are perfect. They’re quick and easy. I honestly had the first sheet of them out of the oven in about 20 minutes with the assistance of my Kitchenaid stand mixer. If you need something sweet and homemade in a hurry, these will do the trick. They certainly worked for me last Friday night when we were out of dessert and desperate for a quick sugar fix.

I’ve made these cookies at least 7 or 8 times now in various different ways. It’s really easy to add different flavors to the dough. I’ve made them plain and rolled in sugar. I’ve made a triple ginger variety with fresh, powdered and crystallized ginger. I’ve also added almond extract and crushed almonds. The favorite in our house are the lemon ones pictured today. They have lemon extract and dried lemon peel from Penzeys in them.

Side note: I’m kind of obsessed with Penzeys and I’m really obsessed with this dried lemon peel. If you don’t know what Penzeys is, you should. And if you are in the know about Penzeys, buy some dried lemon peel. You might love it as much as I do.

Soft and Chewy Sugar Cookies

Recipe from the Fallen Souffle blog

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 – 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract (depending on how lemony you want them to be!)
• 1 tablespoon dried lemon peel
• 1/2 cup sugar for rolling cookies

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
3. Using a mixer, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth and very fluffy.
4. Beat in egg, vanilla extract, lemon extract and lemon peel.
5. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients.
6. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and roll in sugar. Place on lined cookie sheets about 1 1/2 inches apart.
7. Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly browned.
8. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks.

One more thing: If you don’t already do this, store your cookies in a conainer with some pieces of bread. Any mildly flavored bread will do. The cookies will suck the moisture out of the bread. The cookies will be soft. And wonderful. I only learned this trick a year or two ago and I now swear by it. If you want soft cookies, you must use the bread.

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So, I posted a picture of these oatmeal sandwich cookies here months ago as a Wordless Wednesday post. The picture was popular and requests (or demands) were made for the recipe. I intended to post the recipe but I goofed and didn’t have a legible copy of it and the cookbook had been returned to the library. I apologized for this and got a little grief from some of my readers for it.

Fast forward to now. The book was finally available at the library. The recipe is posted below and I’m very very very sorry for the delay.

These cookies are pretty similar to Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pies. If you enjoyed those as a kid, bake these cookies. If you never had them, bake these cookies…as long as you like oatmeal.

I baked these again tonight and made a slight change to the recipe that I didn’t make the first time I made them. The filling recipe calls for 1/2 cup vegetable shortening. The first time I made these, we could definitely tell that there was shortening in the filling. I’ve got no problems with shortening but I don’t really want to taste it in my food. So when I made the filling today, I used 1/4 cup shortening and 1/4 cup margarine. This did the trick…it didn’t alter the texture of the filling at all but it did eliminate the Crisco taste in the filling. Please note that I did not change the amount of butter in the filling!

The only other change I made to the recipe is that I made smaller cookies.

The recipe below is the original recipe as originally printed in The All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett. I have added a few parenthetical notes about the recipe.

“Old-Timey” Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

From The All-American Cookie Book by Nancy Baggett

Ingredients

Cookies:

• 2 2/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• generous 1 3/4 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 2/3 cup vegetable shortening
• 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Filling:

• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 2/3 cup (1 stick, plus 2 2/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening (See my substitution suggestion in the text above.)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 jar (1 1/3 cups) marshmallow creme (Marshmallow fluff!!)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease several baking sheets or coat with nonstick spray. (I used sheets of parchment paper instead.)
2. In a medium bowl, thoroughly stir together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on high speed, beat together the brown sugar, butter, shortening, and corn syrup until well blended and lightened, about 1 1/2 minutes.
4. Add the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla, and beat until very light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
5. Beat in half of the flour mixture.
6. Beat or stir in the remaining flour mixture and the oats until evenly incorporated.
7. Drop the dough onto the baking sheets using a 1/8-cup measure or coffee scoop, spacing about 3 inches apart. Using a lightly greased hand, pat down the cookies just slightly. (I used a cookie scoop for this and made slightly smaller cookies.)
8. Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, in the middle of the oven for 9 to 12 minutes, or until lightly browned and barely firm when lightly pressed in the centers. Reverse the sheet from front to back halfway through to ensure even browning.
9. Transfer the sheet to a wire rack and let stand until the cookies firm up slightly, about 2 minutes. Using a spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks. Let stand until completely cooled. (Because I used parchment paper, the spatula wasn’t necessary as the cookies could easily be lifted off the parchment.)
10. In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat together the powdered sugar, butter, shortening, corn syrup, vanilla and salt until well blended and fluffy. Add the marshmallow creme and beat until well blended and smooth.
11. Place half of the cookies underside up. Spoon a generous 2 tablespoons filling in the center of each cookie. Spread the filling to within 1/2 inch of the edge. Cover each with a second cookie of about the same size. Gently press down so the filling almost extends to the edges. (Be generous with the filling. You will have enough.)
12. Store in individual plastic bags in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or freeze for up to 1 month. Let come to room temperature before serving. (Individual plastic bags seems really wasteful to me…a large plastic container in the fridge worked for me.)

Recipe note as printed in cookbook: Dough that is too warm may yield cookies that spread too much. If the baked cookies on your first sheet are more than about 3 1/4 inches across, refrigerate the remaining dough for a few minutes before continuing. This will produce slightly sturdier, more compact rounds, which are better suited for sandwiches.

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Since I’ve written a couple of blog posts about the trifles I’ve made with homemade ladyfingers, I figured it was time to post the only ladyfingers recipe I’ve ever used.

I’ve never bought pre-made ladyfingers at the store so I really can’t tell you how much better they are. But I assume they’re better. In my opinion, pretty much everything tastes better homemade.

I’ve made them from scratch for the last 5 or 6 years. They require very basic ingredients and are really easy to make as long as you own a good electric mixer.

If you’re nervous about using a pastry bag, don’t be. If you’re using this in a trifle, they don’t have to be all that pretty…they just need to taste good. If you don’t own a pastry bag, that’s okay too. Use a Ziploc as instructed in the recipe below.

I own a pastry bag and tips but for this particular recipe, I’ve started using the pastry tip in a Ziploc. All of the batter fits in a single Ziploc and doesn’t squirt out the top as it often does when using a real pastry bag.

I’d like to give the proper source for this recipe but I can’t. I copied it from a magazine or printed it from the internet years ago and didn’t write down the source at the time. I kinda-sorta-maybe think it was Epicurious. Maybe. All I know is that I happened upon this recipe and thought I’d give it a try. Little did I know that it would turn out to be a fantastic ladyfingers recipe that I would use again and again and again.

Use these in any recipe calling for ladyfingers or sponge-cake cookies. I use them in trifles instead of the heavy pound cakes often prescribed. If you want to make tiramisu at home, make it with these. See the trifles I made with them here and here. And the tiramisu I made here.

Ladyfingers

(Sponge-Cake Cookies)

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 4 large eggs, separated, at room temperature
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour and salt. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the egg whites on high speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in 1/4 cup of sugar and continue beating until the whites will hold a 2-inch peak. Transfer beaten whites to a large bowl.
4. In the same bowl used to beat the whites (the bowl does not need to be washed first), beat the egg yolks and the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar on high-speed until very thick and light-colored, about 5 minutes.
5. Fold 1/4 of the yolk mixture into the whites. When almost incorporated, fold the rest of the yolk mixture into the whites.
6. Fold the flour into the mixture.
7. Prepare a pastry bag with a fairly large plain tip (about 1/4-inch) or place the batter in a large plastic freezer bag and cut off one corner so that the hole is 1/4 inch in diameter. Pipe the ladyfingers onto the prepared cookie sheet in strips about 5 inches long and 1 inch apart.
8. Bake about 10 minutes, rotating the sheet front to back halfway through the baking time. When done, the ladyfingers should be golden brown. Remove the ladyfingers, still on the parchment, to a wire rack.
9. Pipe remaining batter onto a fresh sheet of parchment, slide onto cookie sheet, and bake.
10. When all cookies are baked and cooled, remove them from the parchment and store in an airtight container.

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For more Wordless Wednesday posts and information, go here.

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For more Wordless Wednesday posts and information, go here.

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