herbiehancock

Even though there's still snow on the ground, the skies in North Central Montana are sunny and bright. So, why not have some sunny lemon cookies to go with the weather! These cookies from Giada are cake-like. The recipe called to put two tablespoons of dough on a parchment lined sheet, but the cookies were so big! On subsequent batches, I only used one tablespoon of dough and they were a better size. Giada also gives us a recipe for a lemon glaze to top these cookies, but my gardener and I like less sweet cookies, so I left it off. I made homemade ricotta to include in these cookies. Ricotta is so easy  to make, there's really no reason to buy the stuff in the plastic tub anymore. I'll have the post up for the ricotta soon. I hope the sun is shining wherever you are! I'm linking this to BSI (Blogger Secret Ingredient) which is hosted this week by Heather of Girlichef . Get the recipe here !

In case you missed the memo, May 15 is National Chocolate Chip Day .  There are a bunch of weird, food-related holidays out there: National Egg Nog Day is December 24. That makes sense.  National Fried Chicken day is July 6. That makes sense, too as I'm sure many people take fried chicken on a picnic in July.  December 7 is National Cotton Candy Day. I don't get that one because cotton candy is usually around in the summer. Enough of that... I didn't make these cookies because it was a chocolate chip holiday. I made them because Donna had them on her blog a few days ago and they looked really good... chock full of chips and bumpy. I don't like flat chocolate chip cookies, which is what I always get when I use the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips. After baking Donna's cookies, I'll never bake another flat chocolate chip cookie again! These are crunchy on the outside and nice and chewy on the inside.  I made a few changes to the recipe and used half whole whea...

Inspired by Greg's Chocolate Marble Cookies , which he adapted from Martha's Checkerboard Cookies , I once again confirmed my dislike for making cookies.  This dough was kind of crumbly, but I love that they went directly into the refrigerator (instead of the oven) for a bit. That way I can clean up the kitchen before slicing and baking them (am I the only one who makes a huge mess while baking?)  I love the spirals and it's a not-too-sweet cookie, if that's what you're looking for. I think these would be pretty stacked, wrapped in wax paper and tied with a red ribbon to give to a teacher, a neighbor, or in my case... my gardener!

Kettle Corn.  Ripe melon wrapped with prosciutto.  Trail mix with nuts and pineapple.  Chocolate covered peanuts.  Honk if you love sweet and salty food! If you honked, you'll love this cookie recipe, modified just a bit, from Bob's blog, Cooking Stuff . A lot of you have probably been to Bob's blog.  Bob cooks a lot of stuff with bacon.  Bob loves bacon.  Did you know that Bob meows?  The real  Bob, that is.  And when Bob talks about noodles, he's not talking about pasta.  Oh, my... even I'm confused and I know what I'm talking about! I'm not much of a baker... too much measuring... too exact.  But lately, I've gotten into making cookies somehow, and that's the least thing I like to bake!   What I hate about making cookies is that it seems like I'm never finished.  Scoop, wait 15 minutes.  Scoop, wait 15 minutes.  Scoop, wait 15 minutes. I'm always glad when I get to the bottom of the bowl of cookie dough....

I saw several versions of these "crackle" cookies pop up on blogs around Christmastime.  It's actually a perfect cookie for a Christmas cookie tray because it looks like these chocolate cookies got caught in a snow storm! Boatwright's Bakery in El Centro, California made and sold a similar cookie, except they were mocha flavored - a combination of chocolate and coffee.  They advertised a lunch deal that included a sandwich, ambrosia, and macaroni salad that we'd get on occasion and I'd shell out a dollar for three of their crackle cookies for dessert. Because I love mocha so much, I modified this recipe to include some instant espresso powder which provided just the flavor I was looking for.  The recipe from Epicurious says that it makes 30 cookies.  I only got 18 cookies, so if you plan to make these you might want to double (or triple) the recipe.   This is a quick, easy recipe and I bet you already have all the ingredients in your pantry.  They would be...

Portuguese Biscoitos, a tender not-too-sweet treat just right for eating in the morning with a cup of coffee or dipping into a glass of red wine in the evening.  If you like a cookie that isn't too sweet, then these are for you! These wreath-shaped cookies start out simply by beating eggs and sugar in a mixer, then adding flour and baking powder, after which some melted butter is added to the mixture until it all magically comes together into an easy to handle, soft dough. The dough is rolled into little balls and then into long rolls, about 5 inches in length. The ends are brought together and pinched closed.  These treats bake at 350 F for 20 minutes or until the bottom of the cookies are a light golden color. I keep these in a bag in the freezer where they stay fresh.  I'll take one or two out in the morning and by the time my coffee is done, the cookies are thawed and ready to eat! My gardener never throws anything out.  As a result, we have quite a collection of...

My gardener and I don't eat a lot of sweets so I never include dessert as part of our meals.   We recently had friends here for a week for deer hunting and after dinner one night one of them said "What's for dessert?" I had to confess that I didn't have dessert, but we sure would have some the next night.  During their stay, I made a pineapple upside-down cake and  a peach cobbler, which they were very happy to have and I was very happy to make.  We do like cookies, though so I decided to make some today.  These cookies are similar to the Neopolitan Cookies I made a while back.  I like this type of cookie because you can mix it up one day, refrigerate it and bake them the next.  Here are the ingredients:  butter, sugar, egg, milk, vanilla, flour, baking powder, dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, red food coloring and grated orange zest.  What's that bottle of vodka doing on the left, you ask?  Oh, it's not vodka, it's my vanilla extrac...

When I was a kid, if there was a half-gallon of Neopolitan ice cream in the freezer, I'd just scoop from the chocolate slice, avoiding the strawberry and vanilla.  People used to yell at me.  I have no idea why. This recipe calls for putting the ingredients, all at once , into the bowl of an electric mixer.  I wondered about this and almost creamed the butter first then added the sugar, egg and so on, but in the end did what the recipe called for.  When I turned the mixer on it was a very dry, crumbly mixture and I thought it would never come together.  But sure enough, after a few minutes it did and made a delicious, easy to handle dough.      Divide the dough into three parts.  I weighed the dough and had 13 ounces for each layer.  Tint one part with red food coloring and add almond flavoring.  Add 1/4 cup cocoa to another part of the dough.  To the last part of dough, add one-half cup chopped almonds.  After lining a lo...

Does anybody remember this Certs commercial? It's a candy mint ! It's a breath mint! No! It's two, two... two mints in one! What do you think about those polka-dot dresses... wow! I wanted to make peanut butter cookies. I wanted to make chocolate chip cookies. So, what we have here are two, two... two cookies in one! A lot of people really love the peanut butter-chocolate flavor combination and these cookies give just a hint of each. I adapted these using the Original Nestle Toll House Cookie Recipe by adding peanut butter and chopped peanuts. I also upped the vanilla from 1 teaspoon to 1 tablespoon and added an additional egg and 3/4 cups of flour. These cookies are crisp on the outside with crunchy peanuts and creamy chocolate in the center. PRINT THE RECIPE

I bought these dried apricots at Trader Joe's - must've been two years ago at least . Got them in Seal Beach, CA and drove them home to Imperial, CA (207 miles). Then, they traveled from California to Montana (1,410 miles). When I opened them today, I was happy to find they were still soft. Good thing because I wanted to make some cookies! The March 2009 issue of Living had a recipe for Oatmeal Cookies with Dried Apricots and White Chocolate . They are very good cookies, but somewhat sweet, so I made the second batch on the small side. They are crisp on the outside and soft on the inside. I think these cookies would travel well. I crack myself up sometimes.

I'm happy to introduce my first guest blogger on 'Karen Cooks', my granddaughter, Kayla. Kayla is very excited for Santa's upcoming visit. She'll be leaving cookies for Santa on Christmas Eve on a special plate. Kayla used Carol's Italian Cookies recipe from Bunny's Warm Oven . Here we go! Hi, my name is Kayla. I'm two-and-one-half years old. We're going to make cookies for Santa! There's a lot of things you have to do when you make cookies. Gramma took the butter out of the refrigerator so it would get a little bit soft, so the first thing you should do is poke your finger right through the foil and make a big hole in the butter. It's a fun thing to do. Next, get out all the stuff you need to make cookies... baking powder, vanilla, flour, sugar... ... and don't forget the eggs. Eggs are fun to crack. First you put the butter and shortening in a bowl and melt it. We used the microwave. Add some sugar. Now crack the eggs and add them...