I collect old recipe boxes full of old recipes. One of my more recent boxes had a recipe in it for “Disneyland 40th Anniversary Cookies”. Disneyland’s 40th anniversary would have been July 17, 1995. The recipe card had so many notations on it that it was really difficult to decipher. I did a bit of research, but didn’t find a specific recipe for a 40th anniversary cookie. I did the best I could, but ultimately made my own recipe out of the notes, hence the new name. These cookies have become our new family favorites!
MAGIC KINGDOM COOKIES makes 5 dozen 2 1/2 cups AP flour 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder 1 cup sugar 1 cup packed brown sugar 2 LARGE eggs 1 teaspoon PURE vanilla extract 1 cup butter, melted and cooled 1 cup peanut butter 1 cup quick oats 1 cup ground walnuts 1 cup shredded coconut 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips 1 cup raisins *see note*
Sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla until creamy.
Add walnuts, coconut and flour mixture alternately until all incorporated.
Fold in chocolate chips and Craisins until well blended.
Chill mixture 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350.
Scoop cookies with 1 inch scoop onto parchment lined cookie sheets.
Bake 15 minutes.
Cool on cookie sheets 10 minutes before moving to wax paper to cool completely.
NOTE: I was out out regular raisin so I used Craisins the first time and then golden raisin the next time. The golden raisins are my favorite.
I’ve been weighing ingredients more lately. I guess I’ve been watching too many baking shows that refer to it all being a science – Justin Warner, Damaris Phillips and Christina Tosi! But, I am much happier with most recipes since I’ve begun doing that. SALTED CARAMEL SNICKERDOODLES adapted from Erin Clarkson
SALTED CARAMEL
2 cups (400 grams) fine granualted sugar
2 teaspoons (6 grams) Himalayan Pink Sea Salt
Line a half sheet pan with a silicone mat or lightly grease with non-stick cooking spray.
In a medium sauce pan heat sugar over medium heat, stirring regularly until sugar dissolves. The sugar will clump – don’t worry, it is supposed to! Keep stirring until sugar completely dissolves and turns amber. Continue stirring until completely smooth. As soon as it begins to smoke, remove from heat and pour into prepared pan.
IMMEDIATELY sprinkle with the sea salt
COOL COMPLETELY!
When completely cool, break apart into large chunks.
COOKIES
1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup (100 grams) fine granulated sugar
3/4 cup (150 grams) salted caramel dust (see below)
1/4 cup (55 grams) firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 LARGE egg (50 grams)
1 teaspoon (4 grams) PURE vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups (350 grams) all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon (2.5 grams) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (1.5 grams) sea salt
1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) QUALITY ground cinnamon
Weigh out 200 grams of the salted caramel chunks.
Place in a ziploc bag and break with a rolling pin until you have small semi-uniform size pieces. Set aside.
Place remaining salted caramel chunks into food processor and pulse until you have a finely ground dust. Measure out 150 grams (3/4 cup) of the dust and set aside. Add any remaining dust to your Rolling Sugar Bowl.
In a stand mixer combine butter sugar, caramel dust and brown sugar at high speed until creamy.
Add egg and vanilla beating until combined.
Sift together the flour baking soda and sea salt.
Reduce mixer speed and add flour mixture gradually beating JUST until combined.
Stir in the caramel chunk pieces until evenly distributed.
ROLLING SUGAR
1/4 cup (50 grams) fine granulated sugar
2 teaspoons (2 grams) pumpkin pie spice
Leftover Caramel Dust
In a small bowl combine the sugar, pumpkin pie spice and leftover caramel dust until well blended.
Roll dough into ping pong sized balls.
Roll each ball in the sugar mixture before placing on baking tray 2 inches apart.
Place tray of cookies in freezer 10 minutes before baking.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Bake 10-12 minutes until golden and puffy.
IMMEDIATELY sprinkle with sea salt.
COOL COMPLETELYon pan before transferring to cooling rack.
Store in an airtight container to prevent cookies from becoming sticky and stuck together.
NOTES:
If you are going to freeze dough, roll into balls first and freeze solid on a sheet pan before placing them in a freezer bag.
Make sure to have everything in place and ready before beginning the salted caramel. This process happens quickly and cannot be slowed down. It will burn easily.
Normally I leave these plain, but just for the holiday we added a little cheery icing and sprinkles. MOLASSES CRINKLES
3/4 cup butter, softened to room temperature
1 egg, beaten
4 tablespoons molasses
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon cinnamon
turbinado sugar for dipping
Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and cloves. Set aside.
Cream butter, add sugar gradually until consistently smooth.
Blend in beaten egg and molasses.
Gradually stir flour mixture into creamed mixture.
Chill dough 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Shape dough into small balls and dip tops in turbinado sugar.
Place cookies on WELL greased cookie sheet or silicone mat. DO NOT FLATTEN.
Do you have a recipe that calls for candied citron? Don’t know what it is? Well, it’s not candied lemon or grapefruit peel. Citron is an actual semitropical fruit that’s similar to a lemon but with a thicker skin. To make candied citron, the citron is blanched in water, boiled in sugar syrup, and dried. It lends a mild floral note to fruitcakes and other such confections. While I love candied citron know that you have other options. Each shines in a different way, but they can pretty much be used interchangeably in most recipes, so if you happen to have one kind on hand, try that in your recipe.
Photography by: Chelsea Cavanaugh
ORANGE SLICES (Top Left) – They’re great as a decorative flourish on top of cupcakes. CITRON PEEL (Top Right) – Though the pulp is sour, the candied peel is perfect for baking into stollen or stirring into granola. LEMON RIND (Middle Left) – Finely chop it and mix into muffins and pancakes for a bright flavor. ORANGE PEEL (Middle Right) – Dip pieces in dark chocolate and serve as an after-dinner treat. CITRON SLICES (Bottom Left) – Serve thin slices as part of a holiday cheese plate. CLEMENTINE SLICES (Bottom Right) – You can also garnish cocktails with these.
Candied citrus is available at specialty stores (especially around the holidays) and online at stores like junetaylorjams.com, but you can also easily make your own at home. Either way, store it in an airtight container in a cool, dry place for up to a month.
LEBKUCHEN
Traditional Lebkuchen German Christmas cookies are a form of gingerbread descended from medieval times and taste spicy and nutty in flavor. They were typically a combination of spices, honey, and dried bread crumbs. They are often cut into “sugar” cookie shapes and ornately decorated. I made a super “simple” version this year for hubby since I am unable to make neighbor plates and do my normal holiday baking.
Prep time: 15 minutes.
Cook time: 10-12 minutes.
Makes 12 servings.
COOKIES
½ cup honey
½ cup molasses
¾ cup brown sugar
1 LARGE egg
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon lemon zest
2¾ cup flour, plus flour for dusting
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon each ground cinnamon, cloves, allspice & nutmeg
⅓ cup candied citron, diced (I prefer candied ginger)
⅓ cup hazelnuts, finely chopped
ICING
1 cup sugar
¼ cup milk
½ teaspoon PURE vanilla extract
½ cup confectioners’ sugar
GARNISH
Sliced almonds
Candied citron or ginger
Melted chocolate
In a medium saucepan, bring honey and molasses to a boil.
Remove from heat; stir in brown sugar, egg, lemon juice and zest.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and all spices, and stir in molasses mix, citron and hazelnuts. Cover; chill overnight.
Preheat oven to 350°.
Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
On a floured, hard surface roll out a small amount of chilled dough to ¼-inch thick. If dough is sticky, use more flour.
Cut dough in 2-inch rounds or shapes; transfer to prepared baking sheets.
Bake 10-12 minutes.
Meanwhile, make icing by heating sugar and liquids in a small saucepan (do not boil).
Remove from heat; stir in confectioners’ sugar. If icing crystallizes, reheat and add a touch of water or milk.
Transfer cookies to rack and while still hot, brush with icing and decorate with almonds, citron, ginger or sprinkles; or, let cool completely and drizzle with melted chocolate.
REINDEER NIBBLES
2/3 cup honey
2/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon PURE vanilla extract
4 cups regular oats (uncooked)
1 cup unsalted peanuts, slightly chopped
1 1/2 cups golden raisins
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 cups melted CandyQuick
Preheat oven to 300°.
Whisk together the honey, peanut butter and cinnamon in a small sauce pan over medium heat, stirring constantly until thoroughly heated through. DO NOT BOIL.
Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
In a large bowl pour peanut butter mixture over the oatmeal, stir to combine.
Spread oats in a jelly roll pan sprayed with non-stick cooking spray.
Bake for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally
Return oats to large mixing bowl and stir in peanuts, chocolate chips and raisins.
Spread oat mixture back into jelly roll pan and return to oven.
Turn oven off and let cool in oven for 90 minutes, stirring occasionally and keeping the door closed.
Remove from oven.
Melt CandyQuick in 30 second increments until pourable. Stir after each 30 seconds.
Pour CandQuick over oat mixture and freeze for 1 hour.
Break apart into pieces.
Store in an airtight container.
NOTE: The pieces that are at the bottom make a great granola!
Whether you use homemade or store bought these cookies turn out swoon worthy of any holiday goodie platter. They are sooooo simple, but look and taste sooooo decadent.
GOOEY CARAMEL TOPPED GINGERSNAPS
42 gingersnap cookies, (homemade or store bought)
14 ounces KRAFT caramels
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup + 1/4 cup finely chopped honey roasted peanuts
12 ounces combination of white and dark chocolate
Sprinkles of choice (I like chocolate for the holidays)
Arrange cookies on cooling rack line baking sheet.**
In a microwave melt the caramels with the heavy cream, stirring until smooth.
Stir in peanuts.
Spoon about a teaspoon over each cookie.
Refrigerate until set.
Alternately melt white and dark chocolates.
Coat each cookie halfway with one of the chocolates, return to the rack allowing the excess to drip off.
Sprinkle with sprinkles and/or crushed peanuts.
Refrigerate until set.
NOTE** Was paper or parchment paper works well also.
GINGERSNAPS
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup CRISCO
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup molasses
4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons ginger
1 teaspoons ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
sugar for rolling
Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, ginger, nutmeg and ground cloves. Set aside.
Cream butter and crisco together until smooth.
Add sugar and molasses, blending until smooth.
Add flour mixture gradually until well blended.
Chill dough for at least 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Roll dough into small balls
Roll balls in sugar and place on cookie sheet.
Bake 8 minutes for soft chewy cookies and 12 minutes for crisp cookies.
I have been going through tons and tons of recipes weeding out those that really needed thrown out and those that I still want to make one day. I’ve scanned in the ones I want to keep and tossed a ton too. Along the way I found 11 various recipes for oatmeal cookies. I love my oatmeal raisin cookies, but there was something about each of the other 11 recipes I’d saved that made them special. So instead of trying all 11 recipes I made my own with all the ingredients that drew me to the recipes to begin with. And you know what? According to hubby these are the best cookies ever. I have to agree – the were crunchy and chewy at the same time and every bite was mmmm mmmm good! Hubs was eating the dough straight and even saved some to make a special peanut butter sandwich tomorrow.
SKIPPER CHIPPERS
1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 JUMBO eggs
1 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, chopped fine
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped fine
1 cup golden raisins
1 teaspoon maple extract
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
Cream together the butter and sugar.
Add the maple extract.
Add eggs one at a time, blending well.
Add peanut butter. blending well again.
Add flour mixture gradually until smooth and well blended.
Add oatmeal 1/2 cup at a time until well blended.
Add the walnuts, mixing well.
Add the chocolate chips, mixing well.
Fold in raisins.
Drop by spoon fulls onto parchment lined cookie sheet.
These two recipes are so simple, but yet so flavorful and diverse that they disappear off the plate in a flash. They compliment each other in that you can make both with one box of puff pastry.
PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CLOUDS
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed and rolled thinner
1/3-1/2 cup JIF creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup Ghiradelli milk chocolate chips
sparkling sugar
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Gently roll out Puff pastry on a well floured surface.
Cut pastry in half.
Spread one half with the peanut butter.
Sprinkle with chocolate chips.
Place the other sheet of pastry on top.
Cut into equal pieces.
Crimp and seal the edges of all the clouds with a fork.
Place all the clouds on a parchment sheet covered cookie sheet.
Brush each square with heavy cream and sparkling sugar.
Bake 10-12 minutes until golden.
Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes before serving.
ANGEL WINGS
1 sheet puff pastry, thawed
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup sparkling sugar
Sprinkle one 1/3 cup sugar over your work surface.
Place pastry sheet on top of sugar.
Sprinkle with another 1/3 cup sugar.
Roll pastry into 12×9 rectangle.
Liberally sprinkle with remaining sugar ever couple of rolls.
Trim edges square.
Gently fold long edges in towards center meeting in the middle.
Fold in half as if closing a book.
Cover and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Cut pastry crosswise into 36 slices.
Arrange cut side down on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake 12 minutes.
Turn and sprinkle with the sparkling sugar.
Bake an additional 2 minutes or until golden brown.
MOLASSES CRINKLES
PEANUT BUTTER FUDGE DROPS
REINDEER NIBBLES
