Lovin' From the Oven

Day 6: Oatmeal Toffee & Walnut Cookies (With a hint of Cocoa!)

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This stormy weather has made me quite lazy! All I want to do is drink tea and cuddle up next to my fireplace while watching movies all day long. It was 42 degrees today! …. In Southern California! If it’s gonna get this cold, I wish it would just snow. That’s hopeful wishing on my part. [Now, people that are reading this from around the world must think that I’m crazy to be considering 42 degrees as freezing, you must bear with me because I’m used to 80-90 degree weather on a yearly basis. It’s always sunny in Southern California and hardly ever drops below 65 degrees!]

I’ve finally finished with my Christmas shopping and am quite ecstatic with what I got everyone. I love shopping for others– just the quest of finding a perfect gift to match everyone’s individual personality brings me joy. I hope you guys are done with your holiday shopping as well, seeing as how there’s only only 8 more days for last minute shopping!

Day 6 of my 12 Days of Cookies: Half way there! I decided to do a little twist on the usual Oatmeal Toffee/Oatmeal Raisin cookie. I added a bit of what I had on hand in my kitchen: walnuts & cocoa powder. I used just a bit of Ghiradelli cocoa powder, but would definitely up the ratio the next time I make these. You can hardly taste the amount I put in. Also, don’t over bake these babies! They taste better the next day, believe it or not. By leaving the cookie out overnight, the flavors really get to mix and then get to the perfect consistency. They’re crunchy on the outside, chewy on the inside. I made a half batch and pulsed my oats in the food processor until they were FINELY ground. These were adapted from Martha’s Stewart’s Recipe for her Oatmeal Raisin cookies.

Ingredients

  • 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup toffee bits
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Whisk together oatmeal, flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of stand mixer cream butter and sugars until pale and fluffy (5 mins) and add eggs and vanilla until just combined. Add oat mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in walnuts and toffee.

Scoop onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 10-13 minutes, depending on the size of your cookies. Let cookies cool on sheet for five minutes and transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Day 5: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

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Day 5 of my 12 Days of Cookies: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies. I’m surprised at how many people love this cookie. Everyone that I assumed who doesn’t like macadamia nut cookies, actually do. Maybe it’s because I think most of the people that I know are not nut-lovers. This recipe is my by far my favorite white chocolate macadamia nut recipe, mainly due to the texture. They are sturdy enough that they won’t break when packing them for travel, but remain soft when you bite into them. Give them a shot; there are more white chocolate macadamia nut cookie lovers out there than you think!

Ingredients

  • 2 1/4 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup softened butter
  • 1 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups white chocolate chips
  • 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

– Heat oven to 375*F (190*C).
– In a large bowl, mix flour, baking soda and salt
– In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla.
– Gently stir in flour mixture.
– Fold in the white chocolate and macadamia nuts.
– Drop cookies by rounded tablespoonfuls onto a non stick cookie sheet about 1-inch apart.
– Bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until lightly golden.

Sidenote: Gosh, my visitor count has been going up like crazy recently and I want to thank you guys for visiting! I haven’t hit a thousand different viewers in a day, yet.. My past couple days have been just shy, of about 930, 940. That’s my new goal for myself.. reach 1000 first time visitors in one day. 🙂

Day 4: No Fail Sugar Cookies

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Yay! Finals are done! Time for me to bake all I want… So you can expect a lot of posts for the next three weeks. I have a lot on my agenda.. from buying Christmas gifts for everyone to catching up on my much needed SLEEP! I’ve been sick for the past week. I came home from LA and my mom greeted me with “You’re sick, huh? You look like a dead person. I can tell.” Haha, Thanks, Mom. And the next morning, she said to me after hearing me cough, “You’re going to get water in your lungs and die from pneumonia! Wear a jacket. And pants. You sound like an old man. I’m going to go buy you medicine so you can sleep at night and stop coughing.” She’s so mother-ly, overexaggerating everything and worried all the time. I love her.

I’ve been obsessed with looking at puppies lately. I want one soooo bad. Preferably a german shepherd or a siberian husky. Ahhhhhh they’re so cute. Anyways, back to the cookies…




Day 4 of my 12 Days of Cookies: No fail-sugar cookies. So I knocked down two birds with one stone on day 4 of my cookies. I’m going to my boyfriend’s cousin’s engagement party tonight and baked this for the newly engaged couple (hence the bride & groom cookies). Now, I’ve NEVER had any luck with baking sugar cookies simply because they either turn out flat, lose their shape, taste terribly, or are too crumbly. I discovered this recipe a couple of years ago and I haven’t used another one since. I mean, look at the name of the cookie: No-fail sugar cookies! How can you go wrong with that? This dough stands up to the most complex cookie cutters and always come out perfect. I made them a little thicker than normal so that they would be sturdy enough to stand on a cookie stick for my bouquet. I also halved this recipe because I didn’t need that many cookies. After they were cooled, I decorated them however I wanted.

I haven’t had a lot of experience with piping frosting, so don’t be too harsh! This is actually the first time I’ve piped with royal icing. This royal icing is very forgiving and can be stiff or thin, depending on what you want to do with it. Either add more powdered sugar for a stiffer icing to pipe, or add more water to make it into a thinner consistency to fill in cookies. I halved this recipe as well, and still have a ton leftover.

I used my heart cookie cutter from my Crate & Barrel set I got for Christmas last year from one of my cousins that can be found HERE. It has a cookie cutters that will last you throughout the year.. one for each month! How cute is that!? And it even comes in a cute container, that could be used for cookie storing.

Ingredients

  • 6 cups flour
  • 3 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 cups butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp. vanilla extract or desired flavoring
  • 1 tsp. salt

Directions:
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Mix dry ingredients and add a little at a time to butter mixture. Mix until flour is completely incorporated and the dough comes together.

Chill for 1 to 2 hours

Roll to desired thickness and cut into desired shapes. Bake on ungreased baking sheet at 350
degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until just beginning to turn brown around the edges. This recipe
can make up to 5-dozen 3” cookies.

For the Royal Icing:
6 oz (3/4 cup) of warm water
5 Tablespoons meringue powder
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 kilogram (2.25 lbs.) powdered icing sugar

In mixer bowl, pour in the warm water and the meringue powder. Mix it with a whisk by hand until it is frothy and thickened…about 30 seconds.

Add the cream of tartar and mix for 30 seconds more.

Pour in all the icing sugar at once and place the bowl on the mixer.

Using the paddle attachment on the LOWEST speed, mix slowly for a full 10 minutes. Icing will get thick and creamy.

Cover the bowl with a dampened tea-towel to prevent crusting and drying.

Tint with food colourings or thin the icing with small amounts of warm water to reach the desired consistency.

Ok, I have to add a picture of the love of my life at the moment. I bought myself a little Christmas present and am SO excited! It’s Wilton’s 56 Piece Tip Set. I can pipe all sorts of things now! 🙂

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