Snickerdoodles and

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 12-16 minutes (cookies), 15-20 minutes (cake)

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: BraveTart Cookbook

I have actually never had Snickerdoodles before but I love cinnamon things, so I was sure I would like these. I did.

I decided to try to make the cookie version and the cake version (Snip Doodles) at the same time by using half the recipe for cookies and half for the cake. I have gotten myself in trouble before by doing this kind of thing, but I went ahead anyway.

I made the full cookie batter, weighing my mixer bowl before I started. I weighed it again with the cookie batter, and then used half of it for cookies. Then I added the milk for the cake. For the cake you are supposed to alternate adding the milk and flour to the rest of the batter, and that was impossible since the flour was already incorporated. Mixing all the milk in at the end was a little tricky because the cookie batter was already thick and I didn't want to beat it too hard. I mixed carefully until it wasn't too lumpy and hoped for the best.

It worked fine. I cooked the snip doodles in a 1/4 sheet pan. I cooked that first at 350, since the cookies needed 400° to start. I rolled the cookies in the cinnamon sugar while the cake was cooking and baked those when the cake was done.

Overall I liked the cookies better because of the more crispy edges, but the cake was nice also. I think I undercooked the cake a bit and overcooked the cookies. My cookies ended up quite crispy once they cooled and I lost the chewy center.

I would definitely make the cookies again, but will probably not do the cake. I ended up using the cake to make some cinnamon croutons which was a very good idea! I cubed the cake and cooked in some butter on the stovetop and then sprinkled with more cinnamon sugar. It is a fun topping for ice cream.

Gingersnaps

Prep Time: 17 min
Chill Time: 1 hour
Roll Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 27-30 minutes per sheet

Grade: B

Make Again: No

Recipe Source: America's Test Kitchen TV (Season 13)
Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (November 2011)

These are a good crispy gingersnap cookie, but they have a lot of bite, so are not for everyone. I liked the flavor, but the picky eater did not. I won't make them again because I prefer chewy ginger or molasses cookies and I have good recipes for those already.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies (Makeover)

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 10 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: No

Recipe Source: Comfort Food Makeovers

I give this recipe an A, but I probably won't make these again. They are easy to make and taste great. However, they are very sweet, and lower in fat. If I am going to have a cookie, I don't care about the fat. If I eat just mostly sugar, it will not do anything to curb my hunger, but a little more fat in a cookie will help. Not that I eat cookies to curb my hunger, but when I just eat mostly sugar-y things, my appetite is stimulated more than anything.

Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Chill Time: 60 minutes  
Bake Time: 12 minutes
Cool Time: 30 minutes
Filling Time: 10 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: D.I.Y. Cookbook

This is ATK's take on Oreo cookies. Oreos are the only store bought cookies I really like, so I was excited to try this recipe. It really isn't hard, but it takes time because of the chilling of the dough, and assembling the cookies. But less than 30 minutes of work total.

The one unusual ingredient is Black cocoa (which you can get at kingarthurflour.com). You also need Dutch processed cocoa (which is not unusual.) The black cocoa is what makes them really dark. I did purchase the cocoa, but the recipe only uses 1/4 cup, so I will have to make more of these.

These really do taste like oreo's but better. The filling was a bit different, definitely in consistency, but the cookie part was right on in flavor. I really enjoyed these.

Mine are not all that pretty. Cutting them evening wasn't too easy, and I was sloppy with the filling. But they ended up fine and of course, the taste was not altered in any way.

Note: There is different chocolate sandwich cookie recipe available on http://www.americastestkitchenfeed.com/ but that is a different recipe than the one in the book. I will probably try that one sometime as well.

Popcorn Cookies (from Smitten Kitchen)

Prep Time: 24 minutes
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

Grade: C

Make Again: No

Recipe Source: Smitten Kitchen Cookbook

I only read one blog, and that is Smitten Kitchen. I enjoy her writing and the food looks good. But I have never really tried a lot of her recipes before. So I decided to get the book from the library before I buy.

The first recipe I wanted to try was popcorn cookies. Such a clever idea and part of the reason I enjoy reading her blog. She is a creative cook, but not overly fussy.

These take a bit longer because you need to make the popcorn first. But it is otherwise a simple recipe.

The first cookie I ate (still quite warm) was good. Not amazing or anything, but good. The soft dough with the popcorn was good, and slightly reminded me of caramel corn. But the cooled cookies were not as good. I ended up not liking the texture of the popcorn with the cookie. I tried some again today, and my feelings are still lukewarm on them. No need to eat a cookie if doesn't taste great I think.

I am not ruling out the cookbook based on one recipe. I will definitely be trying some more before I fully judge. Regardless, it is an enjoyable easy read. (If you like reading cookbooks!)

Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (September 2008)

I am not a fan of raisins, but I had some dried blueberries that are about to get too old, so I tried those and that was a delicious combination. I am now interested in the idea of substituting these blueberries in anything that calls for raisins.

I should have used parchment paper, the bottoms were getting too dark, before they were cooked through. (When will I learn.)

They ended up a little flat, even though I did not forget the baking soda. They were still delicious and very chewy. Overall, these are just as good as the other Oatmeal cookie recipes that I love. The King Arthur Flour recipe and the recipe from the Best Light Recipe.

Oatmeal Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 12-14 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour (Website)

This recipe is pretty similar to the one you will find on Quaker Oats containers. The main differences are replacing half of the butter with shortening, more cinnamon and 1t of vinegar added. These are really good. They are different than my other favorite oatmeal cookie from the Best Light Recipe, which have a butterscotch flavor to them. The texture on these is really good. They are crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. I've already made these a few times over the past two years, and I will continue to make them again.

This last time I tried an experiment of one pan with parchment and one without. There was a huge difference! The pan without the parchment, although lighter, ended up almost burning the bottoms of my cookies. From now on, if it tells me to use the paper, I will.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep Time: 12 minutes
Bake Time: 12 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur Flour

I haven't made chocolate chip cookies in a long time, and this recipe was highlighted as a favorite on the KA's Baker's Banter Blog so I decided to try it. They were quite good, but I felt a little disappointed in their looks, since they didn't spread much. Probably because of the way I measured my flour, which is always different than KA's method, and results in too much. (I forgot this fact when I made these.)

But they still tasted great. A nice crispy crust with soft interior. I think that is because they use shortening and butter, instead of just butter.

Who knows if/when I will make again, because there are too many good cookie recipes, but the recipe is definitely one to keep.

Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies

Prep Time: 15 min
Bake Time: 9 minutes
Frost Time: 5 minutes

Grade: ??
Make Again: ??
Recipe Source: Everyday Food (December 2011)

The online version of the recipe is not available yet.

These are not bad cookies, but I felt they were a little dry, and my first thought was I wouldn't make them again. I really love chocolate mint so like the taste of them overall, but I didn't love the texture. Everyday Food has come up with lots of great mint recipes so this doesn't really fill a gap in the recipe collection.

However, the picky eater did really like them and gave them an A+. This was after they were frozen and defrosted. I liked them when I ate them later also, so I may end up using this recipe again after all. 

The Espresso Snowcaps recipe that I reviewed a few years ago is a similar chocolate cookie for the holidays, and I really love that one, so that might be my first choice most years, but this one may come into rotation again in the future.

Candy-corn sugar cookies

Prep Time: 12 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (October 2004)

These are cute little cookies that are simple to make, and very good. There are very, very sweet though, so good for a tiny dessert, but not satisfying any hunger.

The recipe says to use a teaspoon for each cookie and you should get 36 cookies. I tried, but the dough was a bit dry, and hard to get out of the teaspoon, so I used my cookie scoop instead, making sure it was level. I think that is 2t or a little more instead. So, I got 16 cookies out of the recipe. They were still small and cute, just not as tiny.

There is a chocolate version of the recipe also where you switch out 1/4 c. or flour with cocoa. I will probably try that also, since I have the candy corns now, and didn't use very many for these cookies.

Chewy Sugar Cookies

Prep Time: 22 minutes
Cook Time: 11-13 minutes per pan

Grade: A
Make Again: Yes
Recipe Source: America's Test Kitchen TV (Season 11)
Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (November 2010)


I wrote a post about this yesterday, and it isn't here anymore. :-( So, I am going to keep this short and sweet. These are very, very good. Nice and chewy, even when not warm anymore.
I had already opened some cream cheese, so this helped use up some of the open package. I didn't sprinkle the extra sugar on top at the end, and didn't miss is.

There is a video on the ATK TV show link, and you can get the recipe their also.

Hermits

Prep Time: 25 minutes (10 of it waiting for butter to cool)
Cool Time: 90 minutes 
Bake Time: 20 minutes
Cool/Icing Time: 30 minutes 

Grade: B

Make Again: probably not

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (October 2008)

I have two complaints about how this recipe was written.  1) It starts off saying to preheat the oven to 350 in step 1.  Then by step 4 (or something like that) it tells you to wrap dough and stick in refrigerator for 1 1/2 hours!  That is a long preheat.  2)  They tell you to put dough in 10" logs, but don't tell you how wide or how tall the dough should be.  One measurement is not enough.  I need two.  I had to guess.  I made my bars about 1/2" high which seems fine.

These are good, but a little more effort than many other spice cookies that I love.  I hate raisins so I tried them with chopped dates, which I do like.  That worked out well.  I love the ginger in them also.  Again, these are just fine, but if I was craving a spicy cookie, I think I would choose this or this.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Prep Time: 13 minutes
Cool Time: 30 minutes
Roll Time: 10 minutes
Bake Time: 10-11 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (January 2009)
Recipe: America's Test Kitchen TV Show (Season 10)

This recipe is available during 2010 at the America's Test Kitchen TV show website (along with video). Print it out now if interested, because it will probably be gone by 2011.

These are very good, with an intense chocolate flavor. My nephew enjoyed licking the bowl, but he didn't really like the final cookie because it tasted too rich for him. That wasn't a problem for me.

They are simple, but since you need to roll them, take a little longer than regular drop cookies. I would definitely make again, but who knows if I will, since I have lots of good chocolate cookie recipes.

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 9-14 minutes per pan

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes


Recipe Source: America's Test Kitchen TV (Season 10)
Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (May 2009)

I did make these once when the recipe came out, but didn't get to post about it. I almost didn't try it. How many different ways can you make chocolate chip cookies? And CI had already perfected the recipe, I thought.

However, this is a little different. You need to brown your butter first. And then the mixing is done in stages, letting the wet ingredients sit for a bit in between beatings. That does make it take longer. But it is easy work, and I have said before, I like to have those breaks for cleaning my kitchen, so I didn't mind the extra time. Another difference is using dark brown sugar, and more salt than normal. Some might not like the saltiness - these have a hint of the sweet-salty thing going for them when you use the full teaspoon. I used a very scant teaspoon myself - maybe closer to 3/4 t.

I chose to make these smaller. The recipe makes 16 large cookies, but I made 32 regular sized cookies instead. They are quite rich. Not that I didn't eat more than one when I made them!

The flavor does end up quite good. The browned butter adds a richness (and the fact that there is a lot of it!) These are more adult chocolate chip cookies, but I've served them to kids and they liked them too.

Vanilla Biscotti

Total Time: 90 minutes

Grade: B+

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur's Flour Baker's Banter

This is a nice simple recipe that only takes a while because you are baking twice (as you would with any Biscotti recipe.) It is very good. The recipe is very flexible and you can add other flavors or add-ins to the dough.

Chocolate Snowcaps

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cool Time: 45 minutes
Roll Time:10-15 minutes
Bake Time: 12-14 minutes per sheet

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Everyday Food (December 2003)

I like these cookies, but they are messy to eat sometimes. There is a strong chocolate flavor with both cocoa and melted chocolate. These are supposed to be Espresso Snowcaps, but I cut the espresso powder by 75% so I use just enough to enhance the chocolate flavor, but not taste like it.

Magic in the Middle Cookies

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: King Arthur's Flour

I can't pass up a good peanut butter and chocolate recipe, so I tried this one from the most recent blog entry at Baker's Banter. These were really delicious. I think they will be better warm, so I froze them after cooled and will defrost in the microwave when I want one.

I don't have the KA scoops, so I had to guess. I do have a cookie scoop, but I don't know the number. I do know it holds exactly 1 Tablespoon of water, but I gather this is not really what the recipe is referring to when it says to use a Tablespoon scoop. (Looking at the scoops for sale, it says that they hold more than 1T and more than 1t.

So I used a real teaspoon to measure my filling. I could tell early on I was going to get a lot more than 26 balls, so I started to allow the teaspooon to be heaping. I assumed I might have the same issue with the Tablespoon scoop, so I didn't level those off, I had them heap too. That worked, I got a similar # of balls from the filling and dough, even though I didn't level as the recipe called for. I ended up with enough for 31-32 cookies, instead of the 26.

These are more work than many cookies, because of the rolling the two balls together then rolling in sugar. But they are very good and I will definitely make these again because they are different than the usual cookies most people make.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Prep Time: 18 minutes
Chill Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Source: Cook's Country (December 2006)

These are really delicious cookies. However, the dough was not scoopable after chilling. I wonder if it is because I used chocolate chips instead of a bar semi-sweet chocolate. The other thing I did different was to use Andes little chip/chunks, instead of putting one on top for frosting. I will do that in the future though, because these will be great Christmas cookies, and worth the effort.

The prep time included waiting for the melted butter/sugar/chocolate mixture to cool, so this is really a pretty easy recipe. Putting mints on top will make it take a little longer.

Thin and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 10 minutes (per sheet)

Grade: B+

Make Again: No

Recipe Source: Cook's Illustrated (January 2008)
Recipe: America's Test Kitchen TV Show  (Season 10)

Note: Recipe link to the TV Show is for the salty version. The one I tried didn't have the salt sprinkled on top. 

Yes, these are pretty tasty, but I think I prefer the chewy kind, so probably won't make these again.

Molasses Spice Cookies

Prep Time: 21 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes (per sheet)
Cool Time: 5 minutes (on pan)

Grade: A

Make Again: Yes

Recipe Sources:
~ Cook's Illustrated (Jan 2002)
~ The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook
~ Baking Illustrated

The prep time includes rolling all cookies in sugar. I get more than 22 cookies from this recipe, because I like them a little smaller (and then just eat more!) I'm not sure what is better, this one or the Everyday foods Ginger cookie recipe. I really like spicy cookies.