Big Fat Pumpkin Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil or corn oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup canned pumpkin puree

Cream Cheese Frosting:
4 ounces room temperature cream cheese, regular or low fat
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup confectioners' (powdered or icing) sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Steps:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and place oven rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, sift or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, ground ginger, ground cloves, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar until light and smooth (about 2 minutes). Beat in the oil, vanilla extract, and pumpkin puree. Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Using 1/4 cup of batter (can use a small ice cream scoop or measuring cup) place small mounds of batter onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart.

Bake for about 15 - 18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a cookie comes out clean. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting: Beat the cream cheese and butter until soft and creamy. Beat in the confectioners' sugar and vanilla until the frosting is soft and creamy.

Makes about 18 cookies.

C. Copeland and www.joyofbaking.com

Peppermint Bark Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
1 cup of butter
3/4 cup of brown sugar
3/4 cup of white granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups of all-purpose flour
3/4 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
Pinch of salt
cup of peppermint bark, broken into little chip size pieces

Steps
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

2. Cream the butter and sugars together for about two minutes at medium speed or until well incorporated and light in color.

3. Add the egg and the vanilla extract until well incorporated, about a minute. Be sure to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl halfway through.

4. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Add to the butter mixture slowly, and beating at medium speed, stopping once all of it is incorporated (do not overmix).

5. Fold in the peppermint bark chips.

6. Take small spoonfuls of the dough and roll into one inch sized balls and place onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for -12 minutes. Let cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies.

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Maple Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup of dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon of maple syrup (Grade B)
2 cups of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of chopped walnuts

Steps
1. Cream the butter and sugar together at medium speed for three minutes or until light and fluffy.

2. Add the vanilla extract and egg and mix until well incorporated. Add the maple syrup and mix until well incorporated.

3. In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until just incorporated. Fold in the walnuts. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for thirty minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Drop spoonfuls of the cookie, about 1 inch balls, onto cookies sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for a minute or two before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 3 dozen.

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Neiman Marcus Cookies

Ingredients
2 cups butter
4 cups flour
2 tsp. soda
2 cups sugar
5 cups blended oatmeal (measure oatmeal and blend in a blender to a fine powder.)
24 oz. chocolate chips
2 cups brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 - 8 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
3 cups chopped nuts (your choice, but we liked pecans best)

Steps
Cream the butter and both sugars.
Add eggs and vanilla; mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda.
Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar and nuts.
Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 112 cookies.

Recipe may be halved.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup unsweetened hazelnut paste or peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise, pulp scraped out
2 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into 1/4-inch pieces or larger
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional).

Steps
1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars. Add the hazelnut paste, beating until smooth. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla bean pulp, scraping down the bowl as needed.

2. In another bowl, sift together the flour, the baking soda and the salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, and combine at low speed until the dough comes together. Mix in the chocolate pieces and, if desired, the nuts. Drop heaping tablespoons of the dough 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets, flattening them slightly by hand.

3. Bake until lightly browned, 9 to 12 minutes. Cool the cookie sheets on a wire rack before removing the cookies. Yields 4 dozen cookies.

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Sugar Cookies II

Ingredients
Cookie:
1 1/2 cups sifted confectioners sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Icing:
2 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/4 cup milk
Food coloring

Steps
1. Cream butter for 2 minutes, add sugar and beat for an additional 2 minutes. Add egg, vanilla and almond extract, beat until light and fluffy. Combine dry ingredients and add to batter, stirring to blend.

2. Divide dough in half, form 2 balls. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

3. Using a rolling pin, roll out dough (about 1/2 of one dough ball at a time) on a lightly floured surface to about 1/8" thickness. Dip cookie cutters into flour; cut out shapes. Place cookies on silpat lined or lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375°F for 7-8 minutes.

4. To make icing, combine sugar, almond extract and just enough milk (about 1/4 cup) to make the frosting the consistency of thin glue. Pour icing into shallow bowls wide enough for dipping cookies. Add food coloring.

5. To decorate, dip the topside of each cookie into the icing. Remove quickly and let icing drip of excess back into the icing bowl. Let dry. Pour additional colored frosting into pastry piping, or use a plastic sandwich bag with the tip of one corner nicked off. Gently squeeze frosting on to cookies in whatever patterns you choose. Makes 2-3 dozen.

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Sugar Cookies

Ingredients
Cookies:
3 cups flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup soft butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
3 tbsp cream
1 tsp vanilla (can substitute almond extract)

Icing
1/3 cup Crisco (transfat-free) or a 1/3 cup of softened butter
1 pound of confectioner’s sugar
About 1/4 cup of milk
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Steps
1. Sift dry ingredients (use a real sifter), cut in butter and add other ingredients. Blend thoroughly; chill for several hours.

2. Break off a piece of dough the size of an orange and pat it flat in your hand. Using a rolling pin, roll on dough on floured board (best to use a 2/1 ration of flour/sugar - 4 Tbsp flour mixed with 2 Tbsp sugar) or between wax paper. (It helps if you flour both sides of the dough.) Roll out to about a 1/4 inch thickness. Cut out and put on silpat-lined or ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 5-8 minutes at 400 F. Remove the cookies from the oven as soon as you see them turning color at the base of the cookie. Let cool completely.

3. Mix icing ingredients together until smooth. Separate into different bowls, add food coloring to achieve various colors. Spread on cookies with a butter knife, use cake decorating piping equipment to add decorative accents. If you want the sprinkle type decorating candies to stick, brush the cookie with clear Karo syrup and then sprinkle. Yields 5 dozen cookies.

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Russian Tea Cakes

Ingredients
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Steps
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, cream butter and vanilla until smooth. Combine the 6 tablespoons confectioners' sugar and flour; stir into the butter mixture until just blended. Mix in the chopped walnuts. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. When cool, roll in remaining confectioners' sugar. I also like to roll mine in the sugar a second time. Yields 3 dozen.

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