maple pecan cookies

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce
½ cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup old-fashioned oatmeal, uncooked
½ cup chopped pecans, toasted

Maple Pecan Frosting

2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1½ cups powdered sugar
⅓ cup chopped pecans, toasted

Preheat to 350.
Toast the pecans.
Beat the butter, applesauce and sugar in a large bowl by hand or with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy.
Pour the syrup into the mixture, and beat until incorporated.
In another large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, then gradually beat this into the butter mixture.
On a low sweet, mix in the oats and chopped pecans until just mixed.
Spoon out dough into rounded tablespoon sized cookies.

Bake 20 minutes or until cookies are golden brown.

While the cookies are baking, combine the cream cheese and butter for the frosting, creaming them together. Then add the maple syrup.
Sprinkle in the powdered sugar, stirring until well-mixed.
Set aside until the cookies have cooled completely.

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from the speckled palate

healthier chocolate chip cookie dough bites

yes, this is a recipe for dough. just dough. no need to cook. did i mention it’s gluten-free, vegan, and free of refined sugar outside of the chocolate chips? also it’s ready in five minutes.

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6 T oat flour (or you can use 1.6 oz of oats and pulverize in your food processor)
6 Medjool dates, pitted
1-2 Tbsp unsalted pastured butter or coconut oil
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
a handful of chocolate chips
a pinch of powdered dessicated coconut (opt.)

If using oat flour, dump all of the ingredients except for the chocolate chips into a food processor and process until the mixture is smooth and forms a ball (this takes a while). Then add the chocolate.

If using regular rolled oats, add these to a small food processor first, pulverize them so you get something resembling oat flour, and then add the dates, butter, and vanilla and process.
After you have a ball of smooth dough, fold in the chocolate chips.

If using a large food processor, you may have to double the recipe in order to get the blades to reach it.

Don’t cook them! Just roll into balls and enjoy.

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adapted from a recipe from feastie

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edit jan 19

Incredibly rich. Incredibly sweet from the chocolate chips and dates. Does not taste gluten-free at all – just tastes like oatmeal chocolate-chip cookie dough. Couldn’t be easier. Highly recommended.

brown butter snickerdoodle cookies

using every ounce of self-control to not make these cookies for dinner

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 c buckwheat flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar (don’t skip this! see below)
½ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon of salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter 1 stick butter
1¼ cup 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt
For rolling mixture:
¼ cup sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Instructions

Whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for a few minutes.
Mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat just until combined.
Chill your dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator (important!), or place in freezer for 10 minutes if you are super eager, although I cannot promise the same results if you do this. Fridge is always best!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F 325. Once dough is chilled measure about 1½ tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough ball very thinly into the palm of your hand. Meanwhile mix ¼ cup sugar and the 2 teaspoons cinnamon in a bowl. Roll balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and flatten with your hand. (Really only the tops need to be flattened a bit!)
Bake the cookies 8-11 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Bake longer if you like crispier cookies. Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.

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adapted from ambitious kitchen

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they did not shrink very much. tamp them down if you like ‘em flat. if you make giant puffy cookies, they will bake up raw and doughy in the middle and crunchy on the bottom. i changed the temp to 325 to reflect this. 350 would work for those of you who prefer small cookies.

the yogurt added a nice sourness that the cream of tartar (which i didn’t add) would have also added. with the butter cut down by a half, they don’t have that shortbready sugar cookie texture. it’s hard to explain. the ousides are biscuit-y crunchy, but a little more caramelized. the insides are raw cookie dough.

next day texture:
sort of strange. crumbly. not the best. wonder if it was the lack of cream of tartar that did it? the flavor is so good that i don’t mind about the strange texture. i’ll definitely be making these again – maybe i’ll actually get some cream of tartar for next time.

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update several months later:

turns out the cream of tartar is completely necessary. i made them today exactly as specified, cream of tartar included. they came out completely differently than the crumbly-cake biscuits they become without it. this time, they were picture-perfect, crackly-centered, crispy-edged, squishy-centered sour cinnamon snickerdoodles! these cookies are highly, highly, highly, highly recommended.

gingerbread cookies

it rained for the first time in a long time. and it rained all morning. and it sat waiting all afternoon. and now at 11pm, it’s raining old ladies and sticks. the humidity broke enough that i remembered it won’t be 102 forever. made me crave autumn. i’m looking forward to sleeping in on rainy weekends and long hikes and bike trips. also, cookies.

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(adapted from) these gingerbread cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour (i used a mixture of apf, coconut powder, buckwheat flour, whole wheat flour, and oat flour)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 teaspoons vanilla
a few pinches of freshly ground pepper
a few pinches of fennel
a pinch of nutmeg
a dash of anise extract
a pinch of cayenne
1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

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In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves until well blended.

Separately, beat butter, brown sugar, and egg until well blended. Add molasses, vanilla, and lemon zest and continue to mix until well blended.

Gradually stir in dry ingredients until blended and smooth.

let stand at room temperature for at least 2 hours or up to 8 hours.

Grease sheets and roll dough to a scant 1/4-inch thick.

375, 7-10 minutes

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dough’s pretty good. it’s resting now. i used blackstrap; the dough mostly tastes of molasses.

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cookies are definitely hearty! i didn’t measure the spices, and didn’t put enough cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, or clove. the molasses is really overwhelming, and makes them really heavy. the best ones are undercooked, and a little doughy in the middle. good winter recipe. not my favorite. i like how gingery they are, though, and how little butter they require.

eggless crunchy dark chocolate cookies

apparently, i haven’t posted these scottish ‘biscuits’ until now. they were a go-to cookie recipe for a long time when i lived with vegans. chocolatey is probably my least favorite taste in the cookie sphere, but it’s nice to break up the flow of chewy cinnamon cookies every once in a while. perfection is monotonous.

i’ve made these cookies for many a vegan, and the typical response is, “give me the recipe”.

people swear there are walnuts in this recipe. there are no nuts at all. the secret?

RAW STEEL-CUT OATS.

i know it sounds weird, but the nutty crunch in the finished cookies is awesome. you will probably find yourself adding steel-cut oats to all kinds of baked goods once you try this.

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eggless crunchy dark chocolate cookies

3/4 cup all purpose flour (a pinch of powdered coconut is great in there, too)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature (works well vegan, too; use something with a buttery flavor.)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons steel-cut oats
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

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don’t overbeat. chill a few mins before baking. grease cookie sheet. ~ tablespoon-sized dough balls; press the tops down. 350. bake until tops crack – check em at 9 mins.

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maple oatmeal cookies

less than 3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
less than 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup raisins
pinch of powdered coconut
generous sprinkle of cinnamon and allspice

just like it sounds, at 350.

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the batter’s wet – really wet – so i added just two handfuls of extra oats. they came out dry. so i’d say go with it, even though it’s wet.

i liked them overall. very buttery, very oatmealy, very salty, can’t taste the maple well or the coconut at all. i’d recommend cutting the butter and salt (reflected in the recipe as “less than…”). maybe not my favorite oatmeal cookie recipe, but not bad for a random “well, oven’s on anyway, may as well throw in some cookies” recipe.

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modified from this.

jeremy’s butternut squash cookies

he invented a butternut squash cookie recipe! they are an amazing half-banana-bread half-snickerdoodle masterpiece!

i tried them this week, and loved them! thanks, jeremy!

* 1/2 – 3/4 cup butternut squash puree (he used this recipe, but of course you could just mash up some baked squash.)
* 1 1/2 – 1 2/3 sticks softened butter
* 1 1/2 cups white sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
* 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 tablespoons white sugar
* 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter, shortening, 1 1/2 cups sugar, the eggs and the vanilla. Add squash. Blend in the flour, cream of tartar, soda and salt. Shape dough by rounded spoonfuls into balls.
3. Mix the 2 tablespoons sugar and the cinnamon. Roll balls of dough in mixture. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until set but not too hard. Remove immediately from baking sheets.

molasses spice cookies

double-shot! two recipes for the same cookie.

and bonus: health benefits of blackstrap molasses!

molasses spice cookies

2-1/3 cups (580 mL) all-purpose flour

2 tsp (10 mL) baking soda

1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt

2 tsp (10 mL) ground ginger

1/2 tsp (2 mL) cinnamon

1/4 tsp (1 mL) each: allspice, finely ground black pepper

3/4 cup (180 mL) unsalted butter (at room temperature)

1 cup (250 mL) packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup (125 mL) fancy-grade molasses

1 large egg

Granulated sugar for rolling

In medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir in ginger, cinnamon, allspice and pepper.

In large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. On low speed add molasses then egg. Slow add dry mix until just blended. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours.

Grease sheets.

Form heaping 1 tbsp (15 mL) into balls. Roll balls in sugar and place on trays 3 inches (7.5 cm) apart. Flatten with bottom of glass to form 2-inch (5-cm) rounds. Bake in batches in preheated 350F (180C) oven until no longer puffy and set in middle, 10 to 12 minutes.

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mar-mar stew-stew’s chewy molasses spice cookies

* 2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
* 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
* 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
* 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
* 1/2 teaspoon salt
* 1 1/2 cups sugar
* 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
* 1 large egg
* 1/4 cup molasses

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. In a shallow bowl, place 1/2 cup sugar; set aside.
2. With an electric mixer, beat butter and remaining cup of sugar until combined. Beat in egg and then molasses until combined. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in dry ingredients, just until a dough forms.
3. Pinch off and roll dough into balls, each equal to 1 tablespoon. Roll balls in reserved sugar to coat.
4. Arrange balls on baking sheets, about 3 inches apart. Bake, one sheet at a time, until edges of cookies are just firm, 10 to 15 minutes (cookies can be baked two sheets at a time, but they will not crackle uniformly). Cool 1 minute on baking sheets; transfer to racks to cool completely.

{oh mar-mar, you and your electric devices}

snickerdoodles

1 2/3 c flour
1/2 t nutmeg
3/4 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/2 c butter
1/3 c sugar
1 egg
1 t vanilla

roll ‘em in + 2 T sugar + 1 T cinnamon

grease cookie sheets, bake at 350 for 15 min.

notes:

approximating ingredients (no measuring cups or spoons right now,) i accidentally added a bit too much flour. noticed it immediately in the texture of the dough, but it was too late.

THEY BECAME DELICIOUS, FLAKY, PERFECT SNICKERDOODLE BISCUITS.

amazing! i’m definitely going to try to write a recipe for this awesome discovery once i have some way of measuring ingredients.

gluten-free snickerdoodles

½ cup shortening (we subbed butter and they were great)
¾ cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup potato starch
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon xanthan gum
½ teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons water

Cinnamon-Sugar Mixture:

2 tablespoons sugar mixed with
½ teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 . In a large bowl, cream together shortening and sugar. Add egg and vanilla flavoring. Mix well. Add potato starch, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, xanthan gum, salt, and water. Mix well to eliminate any lumps in the dough. Dough will be sticky. Lightly oil hands or spray them with nonstick spray to better handle dough. Shape into small balls, using a slightly-rounded teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Roll in sugar/cinnamon mixture.

Place on lightly greased baking sheet and press each ball to even thickness of about 1/3 inch. Bake for 10-12 minutes. A single cookie should be removed at the shortest-baking time to test for doneness. Browning is not a good indicator for these cookies.

we got this recipe from a site for people with celiac’s. we didn’t believe it was possible to make a delicious gluten-free cookie without some absurd combination of flours. this came out crispy and amazing. i’m not gluten-free and i loved them. our resident GF taste-testers yelled with joy when they tasted them.