Chocolate-Drizzled Shortbread

I loved decorating these cookies. I thought they came out so pretty, and I was able to use a frosting tool that my mom found in a cabinet a few weeks ago while cleaning them. They were fast to make, it only took about thirty minutes plus maybe ten or fifteen minutes to decorate. The recipe made about 1-1/2 dozen…but the cookies are made to be pretty small and thin, that’s the only thing I didn’t like, I would have wanted to make the cookies a little bigger and still be able to have 1-1/2 dozen. Also, because these cookies are shortbread cookies and are suppose to be very soft, when the dough was still raw, it wouldn’t stay stuck together and was hard to handle. But luckily when the cookies came out of the oven they were very good and stayed soft.


Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 tsp. shortening

Directions:
•In mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners’ sugar. Then, beat in vanilla and mix well.
•Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
•Shape into 1 inch balls and place 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets; flatten slightly with a glass dipped in sugar.
•Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove to wire racks to cool.
•For drizzle, melt chocolate and shortening; stir until smooth. Drizzle over cookies.

Chocolate Macadamia Macaroons

Surprisingly, these cookies were very fast and easy to make. When I first read the recipe and saw the picture I thought these were going to take a while to bake, but I was completely wrong, it only took about thirty minutes, and that’s counting the time they are in the oven! I made about 1 and 1/2 dozen cookies, but depending on the size you make them you will either have about 2 dozen or just 1 dozen. If you love coconut, then these will be perfect for you. The cookies have a strong flavor of coconut but are perfectly balanced out with the chocolate.


Ingredients:
2 cups flaked coconut
1/2 finely chopped macadamia nuts
1/3 cup sugar
3 Tbsp. baking cocoa
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
2 egg whites, beaten
1 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla extract
4 squares (1 ounce each) semisweet chocolate

Directions:
•Combine coconut, macadamia nuts, sugar, cocoa, flour and salt.
•Add egg whites, corn syrup, and vanilla; mix well.
•Drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased baking sheets.
•Bake at 325 degrees for 15-20 minutes or until set and dry to touch. Cool for 5minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
•In small bowl, melt chocolate, stir until smooth.
•Dip bottom of each cookie in chocolate. Place on waxed paper, let stand until set.

White Chocolate Chip Macadamia Nut Cookies

This is the perfect cookies for when you are in the mood for something sweet. The recipe took about 45 minutes and makes around two dozen cookies depending on size; I was able to make three dozen. What I liked about this recipe was that the middle of the cookies actually stayed soft. Usually cookies will be soft when you first take them out of the oven and as they cool they become harder, but because this recipe instructed to take cookies out of oven when the middle out the cookie isn’t fully cooked it allowed the cookies to stay soft. As I said in my previous post, if you refrigerate the cookie dough for a while to let it harden a little, you will be able to handle it better and could use cookie cutters on it.

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup butter, melted
1 cup packed light brown sugar
½ cup white sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1½ cups chopped macadamia nuts
2 cups white chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease baking sheets or line with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
3. Beat together the melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the egg, then beat in the egg yolk, then beat in the vanilla.
4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture until just moistened. Stir in the macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips by hand with a rubber spatula.
5. Roll into balls or drop by heaping tablespoons onto baking sheets, and press down on the cookies with your palm a bit to flatten (not too much!).
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges look golden brown and the middles don’t look quite set. Allow to finish cooling on the baking sheet.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies came out really good; I got many compliments from people saying that they really liked them. They took about an hour to make and made about 4 dozen cookies. I thought that was pretty fast for making 4 dozen! The only thing I changed in this recipe was adding less chocolate chips because I like the cookie dough better that the chocolate chips. To put the cookies on the baking sheet I took a spoonful of cookie dough and used the back of another spoon to push the dough onto the baking sheet. I had to use this method because the dough was sticky and not hard enough to handle with your hands, but if you refrigerate the dough for a while it will be easier to work with.


Ingredients:
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/4 t. Kosher salt
3/4 t. baking soda
2 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1 c. sugar
2/3 c. light brown sugar, packed
2 t. vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
12 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt and soda. Give it a stir with a whisk and set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter for 1 minute. Then, add both the sugars and beat for at least 2 more minutes, until mixture is completely smooth. Beat in vanilla extract, and then scrape down sides. Next, add eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition.
4. With mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in 3 portions, mixing well after each addition. Once the final portion is incorporated turn off mixer. Stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.
(At this point dough can be wrapped in plastic and set in the fridge for up to 48 hours. Or, wrap the dough in plastic and an outer layer of aluminum foil and freeze for up to 2 months.)
5. Drop cookie dough by the teaspoonful on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat, bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Cool on wire rack and eat while still warm!