Spiced Caramel Pear Cookie Cups

A friend of mine recently brought me some really interesting preserves. While most folks would likely just have the preserves with their morning toast, my first thought was “what type of cookies can I make?” Since this spiced caramel pear preserves were something special, I wanted that to be the highlight of the cookie. Cookie cups were the perfect solution, just needed to find the right base.

This cookie base was originally part of a lemon curd-based cookie cup. The jar of preserves I had was small and I thought that it would make about 24 cookies. I knew I had other preserves on hand if needed. Well, this recipe made nearly 4 dozen cookies, and I used lots of different preserves! The cookies were perfect and will likely be the base for many cookies to come.

The base is so simple, make the dough, shape into balls, place in mini muffin cups, and bake. You don’t even need to make an indentation until after the cookies come out of the oven, which is very convenient. I let them cool a bit in the pan and then they came out, no problem at all! I did not need to worry about them being fussy. The spiced caramel pear preserves were the icing on the cake, sweet with interesting notes of pear, spices, and a subtle caramel flavor.

Spiced Caramel Pear Cookie Cups
1 cup butter, room temperature
1¼ cups sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2¾ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
Spiced Caramel Pear Preserves

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and sugar and beat on medium until light. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until the dough comes together.

Shape the dough into 1” balls and place in the prepared mini muffin tin.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until golden. Once the cookies come out of the oven, make an indentation in each cookie with a tart tamper or similar tool. Allow to cool for 10 minutes and then remove the cookie cups from the mini muffin pan.

Once the cookie cups are cool, fill each with a small amount of caramel pear jam. 

Cookie recipe from Six Sisters’ Stuff

Graham Cookies with Cinnamon Glaze

A little while ago, I made chocolate chip cookies with graham cracker crumbs. That turned out to be a wonderful addition, and it made me think of what other recipes I could try with graham cracker crumbs. I typically have the crumbs in the cupboard, so I am ready to go whenever I find the right recipe. I have found a couple of recipes, some that I pinned and then disappeared, and this one, which is a lovely graham cookie.

I made these up, very simple and came out perfectly round. I did think that they looked a little plain, so I tried to figure out what I could do. In that situation, my most common response is to add a glaze. Since these cookies were already flavored with brown sugar and cinnamon, I decided to make a cinnamon glaze. That ended up being a good choice.

The glaze makes a tasty, but somewhat plain, cookie and makes it more delicious. Without the glaze, the cookies don’t have a distinct flavor- the brown sugar and cinnamon are subtle. The glaze helps bring out the cinnamon flavor, and it was simple to put together. Perhaps the glaze could have been thicker, but it worked fine just as it is. 

Graham Cookies with Cinnamon Glaze
135 grams flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
113 grams butter, room temperature
150 grams brown sugar
1 egg 
1 teaspoon vanilla 

1-1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3-4 tablespoons milk

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, graham cracker crumbs, cornstarch, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and brown sugar on medium until light, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix again to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes before proceeding. 

Scoop the dough into the baking sheet and roll them into 1-1/4” balls.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, until set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing toa wire rack to cool completely.

Once the cookies are cool, make the glaze: in a medium bowl, whisk together the powdered sugar, cinnamon, and about 2 tablespoons milk. Continue whisking, adding additional milk as needed, until the glaze is of the desired consistency. Dip the cookies halfway in the glaze and place on a wire rack to allow the glaze to set.

Recipe from Fresh April Flours

Coffee Toffee Brownies

I have been planning to make these brownies for some time, I even planned ahead and purchased heavy cream. I don’t always have that on hand and I wanted to be prepared. I finally got around to making these, and I am so glad that I did. It was certainly warm in the house when I made them, but they are so tasty that they are worth it!

I followed the recipe as written, but in creating this blog post, I realize that I should have added ½ cup of powdered sugar with the cocoa powder and flour. I write the recipe in a notebook so I don’t have to bring my laptop into the kitchen. I just skipped it, apparently. In eating the brownies, they aren’t lacking sweetness so I am not worried. You can taste the coffee somewhat, but it isn’t overpowering. The main thing is that you don’t want to over bake these.

I was slightly worried that I had over baked the brownies, as the knife came out clean after baking 28 minutes. But they are the perfect level of fudginess, topped with chocolate ganache. They are wonderfully decadent. The toffee chips on top add a touch of crunch, which juxtaposes the richness of the brownie. I can imagine topping these brownies with lots of different ingredients!

Coffee Toffee Brownies
½ cup butter, melted
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 tablespoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla 
⅔ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¾ cup flour
¾ cup chocolate chips
½ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoons espresso powder

¾ cup chocolate chips
¼ cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla 
About ⅓ cup toffee bits

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, combine the melted butter and sugar, stir momentarily with a whisk. Allow the mixture to set for 5 minutes, to help the sugar start to dissolve. After 5 minutes, whisk strongly for about 30 seconds. Add the eggs, water, and vanilla and whisk again for 30 seconds. At this point, you will want to switch to a spatula.

Add the cocoa powder, flour, chocolate chips, salt, and espresso powder to the bowl and stir with a spatula until all the ingredients are incorporated and the mixture is shiny. Spread the batter in the prepared pan, smoothing the top as much as possible.

Bake for 28-30 minutes, until a knife inserted in the brownies comes out almost clean. There may be some fudginess, but there shouldn’t be raw batter. Allow to begin cooling while making the ganache.

In a small microwaveable bowl, combine the chocolate chips, heavy cream, and vanilla. Microwave, stirring every 20 seconds, until the mixture is smooth. I find that you need to heat the mixture briefly, then the chips melt and the ganache comes together as you stir. Top the brownies with the ganache and then sprinkle with toffee chips.

Refrigerate for several hours before cutting.

Recipe from Celebrating Sweets

Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies were made by my husband, and he doesn’t bake as much as he’d like, so I wanted to highlight these great cookies that he made. They had a cookie extravaganza recently with his colleagues, and these were his choice. People made all sorts of different cookie flavors, but sometimes you just want a classic. This is a classic that can’t be beat!

My husband shared the nuances of making this cookie, but he didn’t change much from the original. The quantities are listed in grams because he said that was an easier measure, and I completely agree. Peanut butter cookies can get dry if there is too much flour, and weighing the ingredients helps. He also noted that he used the Hawaiian sea salt instead of plain salt. The original recipe said to sprinkle the cookies with additional salt, and that step seemed unnecessary.

One thing that I thought was unusual was that these cookies don’t need to be chilled. They are typically too sticky to bake right away, but there was no issue with these. They baked up perfectly and started out puffy but flattened as they cooled. They were soft and they remained soft even after a couple of days! This is a great recipe and my husband is excited to make these again with different mix-ins.

Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup (256 g) smooth peanut butter 
16 tablespoons (226 g) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1 1/3 cup (293 g) packed dark brown sugar 
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/4 cups (304 g) flour 
Additional sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (or silicone baking mats).

In a large mixer bowl, combine the peanut butter, butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium for 5 minutes, until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix for another minute. 

With the mixer running on low, add the flour, beating for about 20-30 seconds. Do not over mix.

Using a 1 tablespoon scoop, scoop the dough into balls. Roll each dough ball in additional sugar. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will still be soft, but that is what you want. They will be puffy but will deflate as they cool. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe from Displaced Housewife 

Lemon Blueberry Cookies

I think if I were to capture the flavor that best summarizes summer, it would be blueberries or some other type of fruit. We had blueberry bushes at the house that I lived in until I was 6 years old. I don’t remember a lot, but I do know that I like blueberries a lot. Baking with fruit of any type is challenging, but there are options.

For this recipe, the solution was to use freeze-dried blueberries. While this was once an unusual ingredient, freeze-dried fruit isn’t too difficult to find. There must be some sort of shortage as I went to get blueberries, and everything was stocked except the freeze-dried blueberries. I had wanted to make them sooner, but I just kept my eyes open until I was able to find them in stock at the store.

Using freeze-dried fruit removes the extra moisture you get with fresh fruit, but they still have great flavor. The blueberries are enhanced by lemon zest, that is combined with the sugars and allowed to infuse in order to strengthen the flavor. These cookies are soft, and remain soft after baking, so you must be careful not to use too much flour and to not bake them too long. If all goes to plan, you will get lovely soft cookies with the wonderful flavors of lemon and blueberry.

Lemon Blueberry Cookies
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
Zest of one lemon (2 tablespoons)
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/4 cups (280 grams) flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup freeze dried blueberries, chopped
Additional sugar

In a large mixer bowl, combine the sugar, brown sugar, and lemon zest. Mix the ingredients with your fingers to evenly distribute the zest. Allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes. 

Add the butter and mix on medium until light. Add the egg and vanilla and stir until incorporated. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture. In order to avoid over mixing, stop the mixer when a few streaks of flour remain.

Using a spatula, carefully fold the blueberries into the dough. Do not over mix. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator. Shape the dough into 1-1/4” balls and roll the balls in sugar. Place the cookies onto the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10minutes, until the cookies start to turn golden brown. Be careful not to over bake the cookies, they should still be soft. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Browned Butter Blondie

Pistachio Cookies

When I was choosing cookies to bake for this week, I was looking at two different recipes. Both used pretty classic ingredients, which I had on hand. When I bake, I usually get all of the ingredients out on the counter, so they are there and ready to go. That helps also to discover that I don’t really have a necessary ingredient. For this week, I got out items for these cookies, but also some items only used in the other cookies I was considering. Hmmm.

In getting out the ingredients, I was sure that I had a new bag of pistachios. I got through baking spurts with them, and I thought I had used up my supply and bought more. I guess I hadn’t. I did have just enough left for the ½ cup used in this recipe, but that squashed my idea of adding extra pistachios to this recipe. I was so flustered that I forgot to chop the nuts, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. 

Thankfully I had recently purchased pistachio pudding mix, so these would be subtly flavored with pistachio. They came together quickly, and I didn’t need to refrigerate the dough, despite the warmth of my kitchen. I thought that I had to roll these in sugar before baking, and I did, but that was actually part of the other recipe I was considering. It helped make lovely, rounded cookies, so no worries. As expected, these have a subtle, buttery pistachio flavor. They are just wonderful. 

Pistachio Cookies
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 & 1/4 cups flour
3.4 ounce box pistachio instant pudding
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pistachios
Additional sugar, if desired

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, pistachio pudding mix, baking soda, and salt. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until the flour almost disappears. Add the white chocolate chips and the pistachios and stir on low, just until the dough comes together. 

Scoop the dough into 1-1/4” balls. (If desired, roll the balls in additional sugar before baking.) Place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time. Bake until the cookies are light and golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from BellyFull

Nutella Crumb Bars

Summer is great and I have time, and I want to bake, but then the house is warm, and it really drains all the energy that I have. Sometimes I will go to work, as even my office with big sunny windows (but with air conditioning) is more comfortable that home. At least we have portable air conditioners at home, which helps somewhat. It makes me long for rainy weather, which makes my California friends shake their heads. What can I say?

When I do go to work, I can take treats for folks, which I love to do. Sometimes there is enough for everyone to share, and other times I just bring in a couple of treats for different individuals. I had these bars on my radar for a while. I regularly have all of the ingredients on hand, although I will say I get a bit nervous when my butter supply is low! I also checked my Nutella supply, and I was good.

While the house is warm, I hoped that having the oven on for a short while would be ok, and it was. I think I get warm when I am up and about, doing things. I baked these in the morning, and that helped a lot. These cookies have a shortbread base, you par-bake that and then top with Nutella and a crumb topping. There are several steps, but they are all very simple. I refrigerated the bars before cutting, and I would advise you not to skip that step. These bars are a bit crumbly, with the perfect flavor of Nutella shining through.

Nutella Crumb Bars
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 1/2 cup flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup Nutella
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter, melted

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light. Stir in the vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, cornstarch, and salt. Mix until the dough forms, which may be a bit crumbly. Press the dough into the prepared pan.

Bake the base for 20-25 minutes, until set. Remove the pan from the oven but keep the oven at temperature.

Spread the Nutella (carefully) over the partially based base. 

Make the crumb topping: in a medium bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, sugar, and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Add the melted butter and mix until the topping looks like wet sand. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the Nutella. 

Bake for 15-18 additional minutes, until golden. 

Cool the bars completely before cutting them into bars. I placed the bars in the refrigerator in order to make sure that the bars were as cool as possible.

Recipe from Just So Tasty