cookies – Simply Delicious: The Cookbook Project

14-28: “Hot Love”

Jamie Martin Group 14: Hot Desserts, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods February 15, 2023February 15, 2023chocolate, chocolate curls, cookies, dessert, easy, fairly expensive, fruit, garnish, grated, hot desserts, ice cream, liqueur, macaroons, orange juice, party food, raspberries, raspberry liqueur, raspberry sauce, shortbread, simmered, soft peaks, untested, Valentine's Day, vegetarian, whipped, whipping cream

I’m a day late, but had intended to post 14-28: “Hot Love” for Valentine’s Day, because how could you not? Apologies for procrastinating on it, but at least it’s there for Valentine’s Day 2024 (and beyond).

This one used to make me giggle every time I looked at the card as a kid–it felt cheesy to me even back then (but also sort of intriguing in that “is this what grown-ups do?” kind of way). I pretty much still feel the same way about it (grown-up question and all).

What is the plate in the picture above resting on (besides a book)? A cabinet on its side? A locked trunk? What’s in the box!?

Can you tell I’m not much of a romantic?

17-20: Macadamia Chip Cookies

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 27, 2016August 31, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, chocolate, chocolate chips, chopped, cookies, dessert, easy, eggs, fairly expensive, gift ideas, holiday baking, macadamia nuts, nuts, party food, semisweet, snacks, untested, vanilla chips, vegetarian, white chocolate, XMAS 16

I went pretty cookie-heavy last year when I baked for the holidays, so this year (XMAS 16) I only included one cookie recipe: 17-20: Macadamia Chip Cookies. These ones got pretty rave reviews as well (17-42: Luscious Lemon Bars received the most accolades this year), and I definitely found myself sneaking a few before I packed up and shipped off everyone’s treat packages. 🎁

Simply Delicious is right about one thing: these cookies do make a great gift, and they ship well. Macadamia nuts are a smooth, mild nut that most people won’t be offended by, and the combination of white and semisweet chocolate are the best of both worlds.

17-24: Crispy Oatmeal Cookies

Adam Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods July 26, 2016November 8, 2020à la mode, all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, butter, chocolate, cinnamon, cookies, crispy, dark chocolate, double boiler, egg-free, ginger, granulated sugar, ice cream, maple syrup, melted, milk, oatmeal, parchment paper, party food, sifted, snacks, untested, vegetarian, wax paper

I made 17-24: Crispy Oatmeal Cookies for a family get together and they went over very well. I didn’t serve mine in such an elaborate manner as shown on the card below, but they got a good reception because I dipped them in dark chocolate that I melted on a double boiler. 🍫

We didn’t have an ice cream on hand, but these cookies make a great dessert all on their own. 🍪

17-27: Nut Cookies

Adam Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods June 30, 2016November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, brown sugar, butter, cookies, creamed, creamy, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, hazelnuts, parchment paper, party food, rye flour, snacks, untested, vegetarian

17-27: Nut Cookies are tremendous. My mother certainly never baked cookies like this. She is into the traditional chocolate chip variety only. 🍪

This was my first time baking with rye flour, which we had left over from when Jamie made 17-37: Holiday Cookies. 🌰

17-55: Scottish Shortbread

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods May 17, 2016November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, almond extract, anise, baked goods, butter, coconut, cookie cutters, cookie press, cookies, creamed, dough, easy, egg-free, flavorings, food coloring, gift ideas, grated, inexpensive, lemons, Mother's Day, oranges, party food, powdered sugar, rum, Scottish, shortbread, snacks, untested, vanilla extract, vegetarian, walnuts, zested

Here’s another good cookie press recipe. It’s a long way away from the holiday season, and cookie cutters/presses tend to get a bit dusty during the spring & summer months. I had a bunch of shapes for the press that weren’t holiday-related, so I decided to get creative with some colors & flavor extracts and use 17-55: Scottish Shortbread to play with the press.

Theirs look really thick–mine came out thinner since I used the press. These would probably work well with differently-shaped cookie cutters too, not just rounds. As I learned, they also work well with food coloring and flavor extracts.

I ended up using these for Mother’s Day gifts, and made a mix of three colors/shapes to bag up and mail/hand out. 💐

17-67: Coconut Crescents

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 25, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, breakfast, butter, Christmas, coconut, cookie cutters, cookies, crescents, dessert, dough, eggs, fairly easy, filling, gift ideas, granulated sugar, grated, holiday baking, inexpensive, kneaded, lemons, melted, milk, oranges, pastry, powdered sugar, proofed, salt, snacks, untested, vegetarian, XMAS 15, yeast, zested

Merry Christmas! 🌲 Or if it’s not Christmas when you’re reading this, hope you’re having a nice day. 😃 The final component of my holiday assortment this year was 17-67: Coconut Crescents, and since they turned out somewhat nicely (unlike some of the other components), I thought it best to end this holiday baking burst on a high note.

I included these in my assortment to vary some texture (not all cookies) and to make at least one that used a yeast dough. These can be really versatile–just swap coconut for something else like a strawberry filling or sprinkle something like brown sugar on top.

17-31: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 24, 2015September 13, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, chocolate, Christmas, Christmas Eve, cocoa powder, cookies, creamed, easy, eggs, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, Glendale apt, holiday baking, oatmeal, oatmeal raisin, orange juice, pecans, raisins, revisited, rolled oats, salt, snacks, unsweetened, vanilla extract, vegetarian, walnuts, XMAS 15

The only chocolate-containing component in my holiday baked goods assortment, 17-31: Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies are honestly pretty good any time of year. So if you’re reading this at some other time of year besides Christmas Eve, don’t feel like you can’t make these.

I found a way to mess these up as well (seems like this year I had a hard time with some things that should have been really easy), but I’ve made them before previously to this, and both times (then and now) they’re still definitely very edible and good.

17-52: Apricot Macaroons

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 23, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, almond paste, apricots, baked goods, butter, chilled, Christmas, cookies, egg whites, fairly easy, fairly inexpensive, gift ideas, granulated sugar, holiday baking, jam/jelly/preserves, macaroons, parchment paper, pastry bag, untested, vegetarian, XMAS 15

This recipe is another Simply Delicious “take” on something that already largely exists in a slightly different form. These aren’t really these kind of macaroons (the Passover kind). They’re not these kind of macarons (the French kind) either.

17-52: Apricot Macaroons were part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

Mine were a horror show compared to the picture on the card–I blame poor tools (my pastry bag blew its side out early on, rendering it useless and me bagless) even though any chef knows that’s a cop-out. I also blame exhaustion–these were the last ones I made of all of the recipes.

17-61: Vanilla Chip Cookies

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 22, 2015November 8, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking soda, brown sugar, butter, chocolate chips, Christmas, coconut, cookies, creamed, easy, eggs, fail, fairly expensive, gift ideas, golden raisins, granulated sugar, holiday baking, macadamia nuts, salt, shredded, sifted, untested, vanilla chips, vanilla extract, vegetarian, white chocolate, XMAS 15

I had high hopes for these. They sounded great. And to be honest, it still might have been my fault these went badly. 17-61: Vanilla Chip Cookies were part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

Maybe I overworked them. Maybe my dough was too warm. Maybe it was my oven or my pans. Something just didn’t work out here. After the jump, I’ll show you what happened.

17-37: Holiday Cookies

Jamie Martin Group 17: Baked Goods, Section 3: Desserts & Baked Goods December 20, 2015September 13, 2020all-purpose flour, baked goods, baking powder, butter, chilled, Christmas, college, cookie cutters, cookie press, cookies, creamed, crispy, dessert, egg-free, fairly easy, gift ideas, granulated sugar, holiday baking, inexpensive, revisited, rye flour, snacks, vegetarian, XMAS 15

Hopefully I haven’t caught you too late for this year’s batch of holiday baking. If so, keep this one around for next year–17-37: Holiday Cookies is a great butter cookie recipe for using cutters or presses. This is part of my big batch of assorted baked goods that I made as gifts for people this year–you can find the others linked at the end of this entry.

I got a new cookie press for Christmas last year, and finally got to test it out this year. This cookie press is AWESOME–so much easier than the old stubborn buggers from the past.

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