Maple Cookies

My attempt to rid my kitchen of the insane amount of cookies by sending some with John to work back fired as he didn't bring enough and in order to keep friends, he jokingly asked me to bake some more. I obliged. 

Last year around this time I found a recipe for Maple Cookies on www.allrecipes.com that was submitted by a guy named Craig Gund. I have no idea who Craig is but he has given me John's favorite cookie! I have made them multiple times and they keep getting better as I am fine tuning the recipe...so, due to a very popular demand here is the recipe!

1 cup butter, softened 

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup real maple syrup (the better the quality the better the cookie, also I normally add a little bit more and if you do you will just need to increase the flour accordingly- see note below on flour)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoons salt

4 cups all-purpose flour (I start with 4 cups and then slowly add flour 1/2 cup at a time until the dough is sticky but manageable, I have found that it normally takes another 1 1/2 cups to get to that point however sometimes it takes more depending on the maple syrup)

2 cups of granulated sugar for decoration

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare baking sheets. I use parchment paper on my baking sheets, I have made these with greased cookie sheets and they end up very flat and mushy and have found that parchment paper covered sheets yield a nicer cookie (pretty much the case with most cookies).
2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar. Add the egg, syrup and vanilla. Mix until well blended.
3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Add to syrup mixture slowly and stir into mixture until well blended.
4. Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in sugar.
5. Place on cookies sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes and cool on wire rack.

Chocolate Crinkles

Let the Christmas baking begin...here is a childhood favorite that I attempted for the first time. I got a stamp of approval from my sister Shannon when she said they looked and tasted like my mom's! Here they are from the "Company's Coming Cookies," cookbook.

1/4 cup of butter or magarine, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

3 eggs

3 tsp vanilla

4 x 1 oz unsweetened chocolate squares, melted

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup icing (confectioner's) sugar

1. Cream butter and sugar together. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Mix in vanilla and chocolate.
2. Stir flour, baking powder and salt together. Add and mix well. Shape into 1 inch balls.
3. Roll balls in icing sugar. Coat well. Arrange on greased baking sheet. Bake in 350 degrees Fahrenheit oven for 8-12 minutes. Cookies will be soft. 

Pumpkin Cookies

I guess by blogging about baking it has given me the baking bug and I suppose the 6 empty Christmas cookie tins in my kitchen have also given me reason to start some baking. Since it is not too far from Thanksgiving I decided to do one more pumpkin based dessert...Pumpkin Cookies. I did a variation (mostly adding more spices as I love cinnamon) of "Company's Coming" Pumpkin Cookies from their Cookies Cook Book.

1/2 cup butter softened

1 1/4 cup of brown sugar, packed

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

1 cup Canned Pumpkin (I ended up adding a little over a cup)

2 cups all purpose flour

4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon (I added about 1 tsp)

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cloves

1/4 tsp ginger

1 cup of raisins or chocolate chips (being a chocolate lover, I do chocolate chips)

1 cup of chopped nuts

1. Cream butter and sugar together well. Beat in eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and pumpkin.
2. Stir remaining ingredients in a separate bowl and add slowly. Mix well. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto greased pan. Bake in 375 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes until lightly browned

Makes about 5 1/2 dozen.