Category: Cookies

• 1 stick (8 ounces) butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• generous pinch salt
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup Heath bar chips
• 2/3 cup coconut, sweetened or unsweetened is OK
• 2/3 cup chopped nuts, pecans or walnuts or almonds (My favorite way to chop the nuts is to put them in a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin. The bags Costco baking nuts come in are perfect, so I now have a collection of heavy plastic bags that I wash & re-use for this purpose)

Directions:

Cream the butter and sugars together in a stand mixer if you have one, or by hand. Add the egg and mix well. Add the vanilla, spices, leavening, and salt and mix lightly, then add the flour and oats, and finally the chips, coconut, and nuts. Mix. I think the chocolate chips & nuts kind of hold the flour down while you mix up the dough, and keep it from flying out of the mixer.

Line a baking sheet with parchment and scoop the dough out with a 2-tablespoon scoop if you have one or other device if you do not. Cover the baking sheet and chill till you’re ready to bake. At this point the dough balls can be frozen for months. Freeze them on the sheet and then once frozen transfer to a plastic bag or other container. You can take them out and bake as many cookies as you want at any given time.

When you’re ready to bake, heat the oven to 375°. Divide the cookies up, about one dozen to a sheet with plenty of room, because they’ll spread. Bake for 8-10 minutes, when they’ll still be a bit squishy in the middle, and cool on the sheets to firm up. Makes 27 large cookies.

Here’s the original recipe, from the Washington Post

• 3 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 sticks (12 ounces) butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups sweetened flaked coconut
• 2 cups chopped pecans

Directions

Position oven racks in the upper and lower thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

Using a stand mixer on medium speed, beat butter until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Gradually add sugars and beat to combine, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating after each one, and the vanilla extract. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture gradually until just combined. Add the chocolate chips, oats, coconut and pecans, mixing until just combined.

For large cookies, drop a hefty 1/4 cup of dough onto the baking sheets for each cookie, spacing 3 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, then rotate sheets top to bottom and front to back. Bake for an additional 8 to 9 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to rack to cool completely. For smaller cookies, use 2 tablespoons dough per cookie and bake for 15 to 18 minutes total, rotating the baking sheets midway through. Store in airtight containers at room temperature for several days. May be frozen.

This recipe is based on the one in  Beranbaum, Rose Levy. 1998. Rose’s Christmas cookies. New York: Morrow., where it is called “Grandmother Schorr’s Moravian Spice Crisps”

• 1 1/3 cups flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/3 cup vegetable shortening (I have had best results with Crisco)
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses (like Grandma’s; not blackstrap)

Combine the dry ingredients – first 5. Cream shortening and sugar, then add molasses. This can be done in a mixer, food processor, or with a wooden spoon. Mix in the dry ingredients until you have a soft dough with no spots of dry flour. Gather the dough into a ball, and either wrap in plastic wrap, or place in a small bowl and cover. Allow the dough to rest at cool room temperature at least overnight or up to 3 days.

Lightly grease several cookie sheets and heat the oven to 325° Divide the dough in half. Roll out the first half as thin as possible – I like to use a floured pastry cloth. Cut into desired shapes using cookie cutters – about 2 1/2 in. to 3 in. is a good size.

Arrange the cookies on sheets and bake 8-10 minutes, until golden brown. Be careful because if they burn they will be bitter. They will still be a bit soft when you take them out of the oven but with crisp as they cool.

Collect the scraps and re-roll and cut once.

For the gingersnaps, gather the remaining dough into a ball or a log, and divide into small cookies – scant tablespoons. Brush the tops with water, and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake on the same trays until deeply cracked.

** If you are a gingersnap lover, you can skip the rolling and cutting and shape all the dough into balls for snaps.

Thanks to Lisbeth, and Molly, for this recipe.

Ingredients:

• Dough:
• 125 g (1 stick plus 1 tablespoon) cold, unsalted, butter
• ⅔ cup granulated sugar
• Pinch of kosher salt
• 2½ cups unbleached flour
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ tsp cardamom
• 1 teaspoon vanilla or vanilla bean paste
• 1 egg
• Coffee ganache filling:
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 4.25 ounces of good dark chocolate, like Scharffen Berger, finely chopped
• 1 shot of brewed espresso (or 2 teaspoons espresso powder dissolved in a shot glass of water)

Assembly:

Make dough:
Combine the butter, sugar, salt, flour, and spices in a food processor. Pulse until the mixture resembles fine meal. Mix the egg and the vanilla, pour the mixture into the food processor on top, and pulse until you have a dough. Form the dough into a disk and wrap in wax paper. Chill it for at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.

Heat the oven to 375°. Line one or two large baking sheets with parchment. Roll out the dough on a floured work surface; don’t make it too thin. Cut the dough into shapes with a 2-3 inch cutter. Cut out a shape from the center of half the cookies – Lisbeth used a moose; I used circles and diamonds, and a few flowers.

Place the cookies on the sheets and bake for 8 – 10 minutes.

Cool completely – about two hours or overnight.

Make coffee ganache filling:

In a saucepan, bring the cream to a boil with the espresso. Add the chopped chocolate and let it rest for a few minutes, then mix until smooth. Cool until it’s thick enough to spread – you can put the pan into a bowl of ice water and stir until the filling is the right consistency, if you are impatient like me.

Optionally, dust the top cookies with cocoa or powdered sugar.  Place a generous smear (2-3 teaspoons) of ganache filling on the underside of the cookies without cutouts, place a cutout cookie on top, press gently, and let set for at least two hours to firm up.

The cookies will keep in a covered container at room temperature for at least a week.

Originally posted – NEW in 2018