No Bake Cookies / Candy - Buckeyes

These were a holiday tradition when my kids were growing up.

Buckeyes


Commonly known as Peanut Butter Balls. Recipe can easily be halved or quartered. Paraffin wax can be omitted but it will be a little more difficult to dip the balls without it.

2 lbs. Peanut butter
1 pound butter
3 pounds powdered sugar
two 12-ounce packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Use a high quality chocolate.
1/2 of one bar of paraffin wax
toothpicks for dipping

waxed paper


Place wax paper onto cookie sheets and set aside. Cream peanut butter and butter until combined. Add sugar a little at a time. Make sure it is mixed well. Roll peanut butter mixture into approximately 400 1-inch diameter balls. Insert one tooth pick into each small peanut butter ball. Set all of them aside. Melt chocolate and paraffin (parafin helps the chocolate become shiny when it cools) in a double boiler. Be careful not to over-heat the chocolate. Dip the ball into the chocolate so as to ALMOST cover the entire ball. Leave small portion of ball uncoated. Let cool on waxed paper. Store in a cool place.


Note: This recipe makes 400 cookies. Halve or quarter the recipe if you can't eat that many!

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup pureed cooked pumpkin
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt

Icing:

1/2 cup brown sugar
¼ cup milk
3 tablespoons butter
1 cup powdered sugar
3/4 teaspoon of vanilla


Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl. Add pumpkin and egg and beat well. In a separate large bowl, sift together remaining dry ingredients. Add to pumpkin mixture, beating well to blend.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and flatten into cookie shapes. Place on parchment-covered backing sheet
and bake until light golden, 9 to 11 minutes. Remove and cool.

Icing:

Combine brown sugar, milk, and butter in a small saucepan; bring to a boil and remove from heat. Whisk in sugar and vanilla until smooth. When cookies are slightly cooled, generously glaze the icing over the tops and allow to cool completely before serving.

Incredible Chocolate Chip Cookies - From NY Times

Total Time to Make: 45 minutes (for 16-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling


2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
OR 1 ¼ lbs Chocolate Chips

Sea salt.

1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. (I did not sprinkle with salt because the dough already tasted pretty salty.) Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

American Flag Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon salt
Decorating icing and/or colored sugars

In a large bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and extracts. Combine the flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Cut with floured 2- to 3-in. cookie cutters. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Sprinkle with colored sugars as desired.

Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely. Decorate with icing and additional sugars if desired. Makes 120 Cookies - Prep: 1-1/4 hours + chilling Bake: 10 min./batch + cooling

Lemon Bars

Crust:
1 c flour
1/4 c sifted powdered sugar
1/2 c butter
1/4 tsp butter flavoring



Combine by cutting with a pastry cutter or a fork until crumbly. pat into a 9" square greased pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 min. Cool.

Filling:

3/4 c sugar
1/4 c flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, beaten
2Tbls lemon juice
1/4 tsp lemon flavoring

Combine sugar, flour and bkg powder. Add beaten eggs and mix well. Add remaininig ingredients mixing well and spread on top of crust. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 min.



Cool and sprinkle the top with powedered sugar.

Cut into desired sized squares.

Sugar Cookies (crisp)

1 c white sugar
1 c shortening (white, not butter flavored)
2 eggs - beaten
2 T milk
3 cups flour
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp soda

cream sugar & shortening, add eggs and mix well. Add milk and vanilla. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar and soda and add to creamed mixture. Beat well.

You can chill this and roll them out and use cookie cutters, or you can make a round log, chill well and slice. Bake at 350 degrees for about 8 - 10 min each. Be sure you watch them close so you do not overbake them.

Frosted Pumpkin-Pecan Cookies

1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine -- softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup canned pumpkin
1 egg
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350º. Beat brown sugar, butter and shortening in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in pumpkin and egg. Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in pecans.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet; flatten slightly. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until no indentation remains when touched lightly in center. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.
Frost with Spiced Frosting.

SPICED FROSTING
3 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter or margarine -- softened
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons milk (3 to 4 tablespoons)

Mix all ingredients until smooth and spreadable. Set aside or make while cookies are baking.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 stick butter - must be real butter!

1/2 cup shortening

2 eggs

3/4 c white sugar

3/4 c brown sugar

1 tblsp vanilla

1 tsp bkg powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 to 2 cups chopped walnuts (if desired)

Thoroughly mix on high till smooth and light. Slowly add 2 and 1/2 cups flour. Mix well and add 1 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts if desired.

Now comes the secret to perfect cookies. Make walnut sized balls of the dough, it will be a soft dough, and place on a plate or pie pan and freeze for about half an hour before baking. This will ensure that your cookies are uniform and bake perfectly!!

Bake in a 350 degree preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

When they are light golden they are done.

Hand Made Chocolate Confections

Nothing is better than hand made chocolate confections! Yummm. I found a site that has the most scruptious looking edibles!


Corina's Confections

Here you will find Cookies, Brownies, Chocolate Covered Pretzels, Favors for that special occassion, Theme Tins, Cookie Club and you can even purchase Gift Cards!