032412 Surprise Cookies

OMG!!- these are incredibly delicious! A soft chocolate cookie with a gooey marshmallow filling, finished with a nice cocoa frosting - how can a recipe like this go wrong!! A bit time consuming with the double baking and individual cookie frosting....but worth the effort. The trick to prevent the marshmallow from sliding off the cookie during baking is to really press the marshmallow piece into the center of the cookie- almost like making thumbprint cookies. Otherwise, your pan gets sticky - don't forget to use parchment paper. I also used a 1.5" ice cream scooper, instead of the recommended 1.75" - the cookie size was perfect. The picure shows a couple of cookies w/o the frosting. I used peppermint marshmallows from Whole Foods - yummy! Definitely a keeper ....

031812 Iced Hermits

If you don't care for ginger (like me), this recipe isn't for you. However, my mom and foodie friend thoroughly enjoyed these iced hermits! The candied ginger pieces apparently worked very nicely with the molasses. I found the dough very hard to spread in the pan, but it didn't matter as it expanded to the pan edges during baking. My foodie friend liked the icing as well....my mom took almost the entire batch with her to Hawaii to share with her sister...another ginger lover!

031012 Cocoa Shortbread Hearts (Diamonds)

I didn't have a diamond cookie cutter so I used my heart shaped one. This recipe is very easy with minimal clean-up - all the ingredients get thrown into a food processor until a ball of dough is shaped. Little flour is needed on the rolling board and the dough is very pliable. The drizzled white chocolate is a must- adds a nice balance of sweetness!Pretty, too!A keeper of a recipe with a quick bake time!

030412 Rosemary Butter Cookies

This recipe was such a delight to make - crushing the fresh rosemary produced a nice, pleasant aroma. Easy to assemble, slice and bake. I actually made this recipe twice in one week. A foodie friend of mine suggested some lemon zest would add a nice touch to the rosemary. And, it did - I would definitely modify this recipe to include about a tablespoon of fresh lemon zest :) to be added along with the dry ingredients. The baking time was a little much - I reduced the time to 12-15 minutes. The perfect cookie to serve with tea or coffee.