Imagine this...Holiday baking is beginning with a cookie exchange at work. All the planning and shopping have been done. You turn on your oven and...Nothing Happens! Do you panic, scream, or break down in tears? I didn't do any of these. Curious now? Want to find out what I did? Then read on.
Christmas is two weeks away, money is tight or nonexistent, and the oven in my cooking stove is resting in peace. So what was my solution to the cookie exchange issue? No, I didn't buy any cookies or make no bake cookies. Maybe I'm just a little bit crazy, but I used my toaster oven. Yes, you heard me right. I used my
toaster oven.
Toaster Oven Baking Tips
- Watch the first batch of cookies closely and lower the baking temperature up to twenty five degrees. Lowering the temperature will increase your baking time.
- Cookies under the top baking element will brown first.
- Keep rolled cookies about one quarter inch thick.
- Dropped cookies should be flattened to one quarter inch.
- Cool the cooking tray between batches by placing it in the freezer compartment of your refrigerator. It just needs to be room temperature, not frosty.
I have been thinking about buying a larger,
convection toaster oven and after baking three dozen cookies, nine at a time, a new oven is on the Christmas list!
The cookie exchange was a huge success. Taste-testing different types of cookies is a delicious way to find new recipes. These recipes range from sweet to tart; lemony to chocolate; and chewy to airy. I recommend making the Chocolate Cookie Balls because they are highly addictive and easily made. However, you need to make a double batch because the first one will not make it out of your house.
Spice Apple Drops
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Butter, Softened 2/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
2/3 Cup Packed Brown Sugar 1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Baking Soda 1/2 tsp Ground Nutmeg
1/8 Ground Cloves 1 Egg
1/4 Cup Apple juice or apple Cider 2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
1 Cup Chopped walnuts 1 Cup peeled, finely chopped apples
1 recipe "Apple Frosting
Directions:
Preheat Oven to 375 F. In a large bowl beat butter with electric mixer for
30 seconds. Add sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg, and cloves.
Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in egg and apple
juice until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as possible with mixer.
Using a wooden spoon, stir in remaining flour, apples, and walnuts. Drop dough by teaspoons, 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on
cookie sheets for 1 minute. Frost with Apple Frosting.
Apple Frosting:
In a large bowl beat 4 cups of powdered sugar; 1/4 cup
butter, softened, 1 tsp vanilla, and enough apple juice (3-4 tablespoons) with
an electric mixer to make frosting a spreading consistency.
To Store: Layer unfrosted cookies between sheets of waxed paper in an
airtight container; cover. Store in the refrigerator up to 3 days or freeze for
up to 3 months.
Cranberry Hootycreek Cookies
Ingredients
Directions
- Combine flour, baking soda and salt.
- Cream butter, then add sugars, eggs & vanilla.
- Mix in flour
- Drop by spoonfuls on greased cookie sheet.
- Bake at 350 for 8-10 min.
- Makes 3 doz. cookies
Spiral Cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups unsifted cake flour
½
|
teaspoon baking powder
|
¼
|
teaspoon salt
|
⅔
|
cup unsifted powdered sugar
|
¼
|
cup granulated sugar
|
2½
|
sticks unsalted butter
|
1
|
teaspoon vanilla
|
|
|
½
|
teaspoon(or more) food coloring
|
2
|
tablespoon unsifted cake flour
|
1½
|
cups sprinkles
|
Directions:
Combine the flour, baking powder, salt and sugars in a food
processor and process briefly to mix. Add the butter in pieces; process with
on/off bursts until the mixture has the consistency of cornmeal. Add the vanilla
and process until the mixture just forms a ball.
Divide the dough into 2 equal portions then return one of
the portions to the food processor. Add the strawberry extract, food coloring,
and the extra tablespoons of flour to the processor and process until just
incorporated.
Roll out each portion of dough between sheets of waxed
paper. You want a rectangle about 11 × 8½ inches by ⅛ inch thick. Leave the
dough between the sheets of waxed paper and slide onto a baking sheet.
Refrigerate until firm, for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
Remove dough pieces from refrigerator. Pour the nonpareil
decors into a shallow rectangular dish (such as a 9 × 13-inch pan.
Peel off the top sheet of waxed paper from both doughs.
Brush the vanilla dough very lightly with water. Using the waxed paper, lift the
strawberry dough and flip it onto the vanilla dough so they are stacked. Press
with your fingertips to seal the two doughs together. Remove the top sheet of
waxed paper and trim the edges even.
When the dough is just pliable (but still cold), roll up
the dough(begin with the long side) like a jellyroll. As you begin to roll,
gently curl the edge with your fingertips so you don’t get any air pockets as
you roll dough into a log. As you roll, the vanilla portion may want to tear,
pinch tears together as they happen and keep rolling.
After forming the dough into a log, throw away the waxed
paper. Gently lift the log on top of the nonpareil decors in the dish and roll
until the log is completely coated with decors. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and
refrigerate until firm enough to slice (from 4 hours to a week, or freeze for up
to 2 months; defrost in the refrigerator overnight before slicing).
Heat oven to 325°. To bake, slice the log into ⅛- to
¼-inch-thick cookies and bake on parchment-lined baking sheets for 15 to 17
minutes, until the cookies are no longer shiny on top and the bottoms of the
vanilla portion are golden.
Chocolate Cookie Balls
Ingredients:
1. One
Package of cream cheese, at room temperature
2. One
Package chocolate creme filled cookies
3. White Chocolate
specifically for melting.
4. Sprinkles, Candy
Sugar, Magic Shell for decorating.
Makes about two
dozen cookie balls.
Directions:
1. First dump cookies into a
food processor or a bowl. Blend/crush your cookies until they become a nice powder.
2. Then add one package of
cream cheese; blend or mix in until it forms a paste.
3. Use a spoon and pick up
a small amount of the paste then roll it into a ball. Place the ball on a pan.
You can make the balls as big or small as you want.
4. Put the balls in the
freezer for about 30 minutes or so.
5. Melt your white
chocolate; make sure it’s specifically made for melting. Put in the microwave
for about 15 - 30 seconds.
6. Once the Oreo balls are
frozen remove them from the freezer and start covering them in white chocolate.
Use a spoon to drizzle over the Oreo Balls. You can put the Oreo Balls in mini
cupcake liners so there isn’t such a mess.
7. Decorate the covered
Oreo Balls with sprinkles or make a crisscross pattern with magic shell.
8. Put them back into the
freeze let them sit for about 15 - 30 minutes.
Cranberry Bars
Makes 16 servings. Per Serving: Cal. 146.7
Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup
flour
1/3 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/4 cups Fresh or Frozen
Cranberries
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease
an 8-inch baking pan.
2. Beat eggs in a medium mixing bowl until thick.
Gradually add sugar, beating until thoroughly blended. Stir in flour and melted
butter; blend well. Add cranberries and walnuts, mixing gently just
until combined. Spread evenly in pan.
3. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or
until golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool and cut into bars.
Lemon Cookies
Ingredients:
Directions:
Preheat oven 375.
Cake mix in bowl, stir in eggs, oil, lemon extract until well blended.
Drop tsp size ball of dough and roll in confectioners sugar.
Ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake 6-9 minutes in preheated oven.
About 3 dozen.
Super easy and can make from beginning to end in less than 30
minutes!
Chewy Ginger Cookies
Ingredients:3/4 cup
shortening1-1/4 cups sugar, divided1 egg1/4 cup molasses1 teaspoon vanilla extract2 cups
all-purpose flour1 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 teaspoon ground
ginger1 teaspoon baking soda1/2
teaspoon salt1/2 teaspoon ground clovesDirections:
In a large bowl, cream shortening and 1 cup sugar until light and
fluffy. Beat in the egg, molasses and vanilla. Combine dry
ingredients; add to creamed mixture and mix well. Roll into 1-in. balls; roll in remaining
sugar. Place 1-1/2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Remove to wire racks. Store in an airtight container.
Yield: about 4 dozen.
Meringue Kisses
Ingredients:
3 egg whites
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
Pinch Salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Red and Green food coloring-optional
30-40 milk chocolate kisses
Directions:
Place egg whites in a bowl; let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.
Beat egg whites until foamy. Sprinkle with cream of tartar and salt; beat
until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar and vanilla, beat until stiff peaks
form, about 5-8 minutes. If desired, divide batter in half and fold in red and
green food coloring.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 1- 1/2 inches apart onto lightly greased
baking sheet ( I use cooking spray). Press a chocolate kiss into the center of
each cookie and cover it with meringue using a knife.
Bake at 275 degrees for 30-35 minutes or until firm to the touch.
Immediately remove to a wire rack to cool. Store in airtight container. Makes
30-40 cookies....
Sallee's Holly Leaf Cookies
I used my favorite rolled cookie and icing
recipes. Toaster oven baking time was nine minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
I was trying a new, color flow technique with my icing. The piped on outline worked well, however I don't think my icing was thin enough to "flow". I had to spread it with a toothpick and it was drying fairly quickly. Next time these cookies will be solid green with white outlines or white with green outlines. Plus, I would like to add two or three
red hot candies for berries, but this was the end product from my toaster oven adventure and I am perfectly happy with my first holly leaf cookie experience.
Happy Baking and Merry Christmas!
