Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

These cookies were suggested by a patron at a bake sale although she called them by their common name, Oatmeal Scotchies. I used the recipe on the bag of chips (using butter and vanilla not margarine and orange peel.) I made bar cookies because I was too lazy to work with sticky oatmeal cookie dough. I've since made them as drop cookies, which I liked much better. More crunch per cookie.

They were very vanilla-y and surprisingly not as sweet as I expected them to be - about the same as oatmeal cookies with raisins in them.

Building Buttercream Skills, Class Three

We could being in any treat for the third class so I made oversized oatmeal cookies. I figured if Little Debbie could add frosting to her cookies (technically creme filling) so could I!

Bunny Baking

I was ambitious this Easter and made a bunny cake, Easter egg cupcakes and assorted Easter-shaped cut-out cookies.

I left the bow tie coconut free. Need help assembling your own bunny cake? Click here for video instructions!

My tia gave me some Easter egg cupcake tins that she bought at a garage sale. This was the first time I used them, and they were cute so I might make them again next year. 

Usually cut-out cookies require frosting and decorating, which I've complained about before. I didn't think I could enlist frosters and decorators like I can at Christmas so I sprinkled them with assorted colored sugar before I popped them in the oven. The decorating was complete as soon as they came off of the baking sheet. And they were still pretty and tasty!

Easter Roll-Out Cookies

I felt like trying a new cut-out cookie recipe for Easter so I took this one off of my box of 101 cookie cutters.

Basic recipe

Tools of the trade

Finished product

The dough was really easy to work with and rolled out very smoothly. The taste of the cookies was different from the usual recipe I use but not better or worse. Actually, it was hard to compare since the last time I made the others was at Christmas. If I use this recipe again I would add more vanilla. The other recipe calls for a tablespoon per batch. That really ramps up the deliciousness.

How To: Cut-Out Cookies

I'm often complimented on how pretty, unbroken and perfect my cut-out cookies look (see previous post for an example.) I decided to document the process the last time I made them, which was at my 6th annual cookie party in December. I'm sure other people do it this way, but this is one tip I learned on my own.

 First roll out the dough on a Silpat, other baking mat or parchment paper.

Second use various cookie cutters to make fun-shaped cookies. Make sure you leave a little room between the shapes.

Third do not move the shaped cookies! Leave the cookies in place and remove the excess dough.

Slide the mat or parchment paper onto a cookie sheet and bake as directed. As soon as you take them out of the oven, slide the entire mat or parchment paper off of the cookie sheet and place on a cooling rack. Wait for the cookies to cool before removing them from the mat or parchment paper. They should retain their shape and be ready to frost to make them even prettier!

I try not to do the last part of the process if I can help it. In fact, Cookie Party started because I love to bake but hate to frost cookies! Other people seem to like it (or at least feign liking it) and show up to frost cookies every year. And every year I am thankful that they do.

Christmas Time is Here

The usual lineup. Grandma KooKoo's Swedish Sugar Cookies on the left. Gingerbread People, Coconut Thumbprints, Chocolate Chip, Pecan Tassies and Kiefels on the right. It looks like someone swiped a Chocolate Chip Cookie before I could snap the picture.

Bug Party

My littlest nephew's 4th birthday had a bug theme. It gave me a chance to wear my sparkly spider t-shirt, ladybug ankle bracelet, and scorpion necklace and ring. It also gave my sisters and me a chance to make fun creepy crawly desserts.

Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes with "The Best Frosting I've Ever Had" and topped with giant plastic bugs.

The frosting was dyed light green, which is a little hard to see in the pictures.

Beautiful butterfly cookies (Grandma Kookoo's Swedish Sugar Cookies.) 

The birthday boy's brother helped decorate these.

Oh, it's a caterpillar! How clever! So cute!

Ladybugs. She don't know I'm a boy.

Decorating Committee

I love love love to bake. I'm not so keen on decorating. I make a million Christmas cookies and try not to decorate any of them. I didn't frost or sprinkle any cut-out cookies this year, but I didn't dodge the decorating bullet completely.

On Christmas Eve night, I was at my grandmother's house and decided to decorate a few of the gingerbread people (and bears) since I was going to give some to my aunt the next morning. She and I talked and watched tv while I decorated and the next thing I knew, all of the cookies were done and it was 3 AM.

The first few were hard, but I got better and more creative as the night wore on. It reminded me of when I would stay up all night writing a paper in college, only instead of typing big words and sharp turns of phrase, I drew fun patterns and hairdos. I have to say, I'm pretty proud of how they look. Maybe piping is my forte.

Cookie Platter

A platter full of Christmas cookies. Missing are some baked after Christmas, which include Snowballs and Almond Poppy Seed Cookies.

From clockwise from left: Gingerbread People, Coconut Thumbprints, Gramma Kookoo's Swedish Sugar Cookies, Chocolate Chip, Butterscotch Cookies and Kiefels in the center. Merry Christmas!

Third Birthday Party

Once again, I provided a second dessert for my godson's birthday party. This year the theme was trains so I made cookies instead of cupcakes. His mom and I decorated the cookies to match the party invitations of crossing signs and trains.

Bakery bought cake. I like the smokestack made of marshmallows and an ice cream cone.

Batman Cake

This was my littlest nephew's 3rd birthday cake, which was for his Batman-themed party. He dressed as Batman, his brother as Nightwing, and the rest of us as various villains from Batman's rogues gallery. My sister handled the decorating duties. The symbol was made by adding yellow frosting to the chocolate-frosted cake. The cake underneath is Special Birthday Cake, and the chocolate frosting is Mrs. Millman's. The yellow frosting is a simple buttercream (butter, powdered sugar, milk).

Co-dessert bat-shaped cookies. This picture looked better upside-down so that's how I'm posting it.

Almond Poppyseed Cookies

I made these cookies after I got an impromptu invitation for dinner at my friends' house. I looked around my pantry, flipped through some cookbooks and found inspiration. I ran to the store for almonds, but had the rest of the ingredients on hand. I had bought poppy seeds at World Market (a great source for spices and such) a few weeks before but did not have a purpose for them.

The recipe came from a KitchenAid cookbook, and I can't find a link to it online. It seems very similar to this one. They were a soft and slightly puffy cookie with a nice light crunchy exterior. They were similar in taste to an almond poppy seed muffin but with a cookie texture.

Cars n' Trucks

Here are pictures of the cake and cookies from a young boy's birthday party, which had a loose theme of cars.

Double fudge chocolate cake and Mrs. Millman's chocolate frosting.

Grandma Cuckoo's Swedish Cut-Out Cookies

I made the cookies thick and the frosting fluffy, which is hard to see in the pictures. I frosted the cake, but left the decorating to the boy's mother. But, it was my idea to make the cake a road and put some of the cars and trucks cookies on it.

Baseball Cut-Out Cookies

I made these for my oldest nephew's little league fundraiser. They are Grandma Cuckoo's Swedish Sugar Cookies. The frosting is a basic buttercream and the seams are drawn with red sugar. I tried to make them thicker than I do at Christmas, but they were still a pretty thin cookie.

Oatmeal Cookies

I baked these cookies for dessert and served them with mulled cider on Sunday. I made them "Quaker Square style" with no raisins in the cookie dough but with a single raisin on the top of the center of each cookie (placed after the bake). It had been a long time since I baked oatmeal cookies, but I've been meaning to make them since I bought a big canister of oatmeal a few weeks ago. I might experiment with the recipe since they tasted good but flattened out more than I would have liked. Maybe I'll try a different recipe altogether.

Tiger Party

Here's the cake for a baby's first birthday party. The ears are made of cupcakes so the little guy could dig in and make a mess without destroying the main cake. The cake was yellow Special Birthday Cake. The orange and white frosting was Won't Melt Whipped Creme Frosting and the brown was Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting. I frosted the cake white and handed over the decorating duties to the baby's mom. I think she did a great job.

I don't know why I thought we needed cookies in addition to the cake, but these are Swedish Sugar Cookies cut-out in the shape of no. 1 with orange frosting and chocolate sprinkles or "jimmies" to give them a tiger look. You can never have too many sweets at a party!

Peanut Butter Cookies

I thought these cookies looked so cute on the baking sheet, all nice and lined up. I didn't use the Jif recipe this time. I like the Jif recipe better because they have a soft and chewy texture, but these are a safer choice to take to a party because they aren't too soft or too crisp. They held up well throughout the week, too. The first batch I made were so successful that I made another batch a few days later.

Super Bowl Cookies

I was invited to a Super Bowl party that was also a potluck event. Naturally, I brought a dessert. I debated about what to bring, but ultimately I decided to make chocolate chip cookies because I thought I had all of the ingredients in (I didn't and had to run to the store on Sunday morning) and because they're ready in a flash.

I made one batch in a large pan so they would be thin enough to cut with a football cookie cutter after they cooled. I made the other batch with my signature no burnt chocolate chips on the bottom method. I used about a quarter cup of dark brown sugar and half a cup of light brown sugar instead of just a 3/4 cup of light brown sugar in the recipe to make the cookies a little browner.

I was surprised that the footballs were eaten faster than the regular shaped ones. I prefer the regular cookies. Actually, I prefer the edges that were left in the pan after the footballs were cut. I like a crispy cookie.

Cookies, Cookies and More Cookies

This year's cookies include (clockwise from CC Cookies) Chocolate Chip Cookies, Sour Cream Cookies, Kiefels, Gingerbread Cut-Outs, Pecan Tarts, Swedish Sugar Cookies and Rugelach. My grandmother made the Pecan Tarts and the Kiefels. The others were made by me and the gang. I can't link to most of the recipes because they're old and/or not easily available online.

Clockwise from left Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies, Decorated Santa Cut-Out, Kiefels, Coconut Thumbprints, Pecan Tarts. I made the coconut and CC ones, the tarts and Kiefels were still made by my grandmother and the Santa was made by my sister's husband's brother's wife. I just put it in the picture because it's pretty.

Pre-Christmas Baking

I usually make sugar cookies for Christmas, but I had a function to attend that required cookies so I made some a few days earlier. I took two dozen of them (colored red and green) to the event and made these with the leftover dough. They're blue because it was the first day of Hanukkah.