Irish Soda Bread Shamrock Cookies

I realize I'm a day late (literally) and a dollar short with this post since St. Patrick's Day was yesterday, but I still wanted to share this delightful, festive cookie recipe with you. For the past few years I've made the traditional Irish soda bread for St. Patty's. I bought buttermilk last week with the intention of making soda bread again this year, but then I all of a sudden had an inkling to try something different.

I thought, I wonder if there's a recipe out there to make Irish soda bread-ish cookies? Why of course there is! I found a few very similar looking recipes online and finally settled on trying one from a site, Grandma's Kitchen.

The cookies were quite easy to make. It is a little time consuming to roll out the dough, but it's not difficult at all. The flavor of these cookies was fantastic! I was honestly pleasantly surprised by how much I liked the taste of these cookies. I did think they'd be good, but I guess maybe I didn't expect to like them quite as much as I really did. They were certainly sweeter than an actual Irish soda bread, as they called for much more sugar than the bread recipes call for. They were almost a cross between a sugar cookie and a shortbread cookie of sorts. It's hard to pinpoint exactly what they tasted like, but the bottom line? They're delicious! I gave many of these cookies away to several friends over the weekend, and they all gave their stamp of approval as well. :)

Ingredients:

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. sugar

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cold

-1/2 cup currants

-1/4 cup buttermilk

-1 egg

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, 3/4 cup of the sugar, baking soda, and salt. Using a box grater, grate the chilled butter into the flour mixture. Stir the mixture with a fork or pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in the currants.

In a small bowl, combine the buttermilk and egg. Add to the flour mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead 5 times. Divide the dough in half, and using a rolling pin, roll one half of the dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Using a 2-inch biscuit cutter or a cookie cutter of your choice, cut out the shapes and place on ungreased cookie sheet (I actually put parchment paper on my cookie sheets). Repeat with the remaining dough to form additional cookies.

If you cut the dough into circles, using a knife, score the top of each cookie with a large "X." Sprinkle the cookies with the remaining 2 Tbsp. of sugar. OR, you do not need to score the cookies if you don't want to (especially if you used other, shaped cookie cutters like I did with the shamrocks). I also chose to sprinkle mine with green colored sprinkles instead of the sugar.

Bake the cookies until lightly browned on the bottoms, about 10 minutes. Transfer cookies to cooling racks to cool completely.

This recipe made about 3 dozen shamrock shaped cookies for me.

No, that's not cheese. :) It's the grated butter! The grater worked so well to break up the butter. I think I'll use this method more often when I'm making scones and other similar items.

Currants!

I couldn't make shamrock shaped cookies on St. Patrick's Day without adding green sprinkles to them!

Oops! Which picture here doesn't belong? These were the green beers that Mike and I drank at home the evening of St. Patrick's Day. It was difficult to make them a really "pretty" shade of green, but you can still tell that we attempted!

I hope you all had a wonderful, festive St. Patrick's Day! This very Irish gal sure did. :)

Cookies & Cream Brownies

I'm pretty sure that my coworkers have a love/hate relationship with me. Once every week or two, I bring in some sort of baked goodie to the lab "just because." I'll bake for coworkers' birthdays and special occasions too (as I've mentioned on the blog multiple times!), but sometimes, just because, I'll make something to bring to work. It really all comes down to the fact that I just love baking and even if I don't have a particular occasion to bake for, you'll still find me in my kitchen baking a delectable batch of cookies, bars, or cupcakes. And then I bring them to work. And that's where the love/hate relationship happens.

When my coworkers see me coming toward them with a big tupperware full of treats in the hours after lunchtime, they love me. They've just finished lunch and are craving something sweet. Don't you worry; it's the Barbershop to the rescue for your afternoon sweets craving! But then, as they're taking that cookie or brownie from the tupperware, they're mumbling "Oh Colleen, why do you do this to us? I'll have to work out longer at the gym tonight." And that's where the "hate" part of the relationship comes into play.

Sorry, guys. I just love to bake and you can't stop me. :)

The two products pictured here went into these cookies and cream brownies - Heads or Tails Oreos and Hershey's Cookies n' Creme Eggs (which are only around at Easter time!).

You may remember these Oreos back when I made Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Cupcakes. I had yet to finish the package of Oreos (I know; what's wrong with me?!), so I decided to chop them up and put them into brownies. Obviously.

And I also just happened to have on hand these delightful little cookies and cream flavored egg-shaped candies. So, again quite obviously, I chopped those up to put in the brownies too. And that's how this new creation of cookies and cream brownies was born!

And then I brought these babies to work.

Uh oh.

Ingredients:

-1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

-1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

-3 large eggs

-1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

-1 cup granulated sugar

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1/4 tsp. baking soda

-10 Oreos, chopped (can be any flavor you'd like)

-24 Hershey's cookies n' creme eggs, divided into two groups (16 eggs and 8 eggs) and chopped

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13 x 9 baking pan. Chop the Oreos into 1/4 to 1/2-inch sized pieces (I usually got about 6 to 8 small pieces out of each Oreo). This should yield approximately 1 cup of chopped Oreo pieces (and make sure to use every last crumb of the Oreos!). Next, chop the first group of 16 Hershey's eggs into pieces. This will be a little trickier, and there's no strict measurement for how big these pieces will or should be. Just chop them however you'd like them! Set those 16 chopped eggs aside (this should equal about 3/4 to 1 cup). Finally, chop the remaining 8 eggs and set aside to sprinkle on top of the brownie batter just before baking.

Melt the 1 cup of chocolate chips and stick of butter over low-medium heat on the stove in a heavy duty saucepan (I use a 2-quart pan with this recipe). Stir the chocolate and butter until smooth. Remove from heat and stir in the eggs. Add the flour and mix well, followed by the sugar. Again, stir well and then add the vanilla and baking soda, mixing well. Next, stir in the chopped Oreos and the group of 16 chopped Hershey's eggs. Spread batter evenly into the prepared pan, and sprinkle with the remaining 8 chopped eggs.

 Bake for 18 - 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely and cut into bars. Makes approximately 24 - 30 bars, depending on the size of the bars that you cut.

Ooey gooey cookies and cream chocolatey brownie deliciousness. :)

The Oreos definitely added a slight crunchy texture to the brownie. And the Hershey's eggs plus the cream filling of the Oreos added that creamyness to truly make these cookies and cream brownies.

Now, tell me your opinion. Is it cream or creme?! I have no idea and feel like I've seen it both ways, so I just went with cream.

Either way, cream or creme, these brownies taste the same (you know, amazingly delicious) and that's all that matters.

:)

Sour Cream Cookies

I think I hear you over there. You're saying to yourself "sour cream cookies?". Yes, sour cream cookies. It's true.

This recipe is a family recipe. Growing up, I remember my mom making sour cream cookies quite often. And she'd make them very similar to how I did here - with sprinkles. Everything's better with sprinkles, right? They just look so pretty and more fun that way. My decision to make sour cream cookies this past week was rather happenstance. I was going through some paperwork (we won't even get into how many piles and piles of paperwork I was going through...), and I came across some printed recipes my grandmother had given me. As I was looking through the recipes, the sour cream cookies caught my eye. I knew that I had some leftover sour cream in the fridge. And honestly, I really don't use sour cream for much; most of the time, if a recipe calls for some sour cream, I often don't end up using what's remaining unless I make a point to. Sour cream isn't really a favorite ingredient of mine, so I tend to forget about it. Oops. Anyway, I was thankful to stumble upon this cookie recipe AND have some sour cream with which to make them! So I almost immediately stopped (seriously, I stopped immediately) organizing my paperwork (who really wants to do that anyway??), and I started making these cookies.

Ingredients:

-1 and 1/2 cups sugar

-1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (1 stick)

-2 eggs (lightly beaten)

-1 cup sour cream

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-2 and 3/4 cups flour

-1/2 tsp. baking powder

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

Instructions:

Mix together the first five ingredients (sugar through vanilla) with an electric mixer. Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and then add to the wet ingredients and combine. You may add nuts or baking chips at this point, if you'd like.

Chill the dough for at least one hour in the fridge. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by spoonfuls (I probably did two to three teaspoons per scoop) on cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 400 degrees (the cookies really shouldn't brown at all - if anything, they will only be very lightly browned on the very outer edges like you see in some of my pictures). Remove, let sit for a couple minutes on cookie sheet, and then cool completely on rack.

I did not add any mix-ins (chocolate chips or anything) to this batch, but you certainly can if you'd like.

So soft, cakey, and fluffy.

I brought some of these cookies in to work to share with my coworkers, and to give you an idea of the unique flavor and texture of sour cream cookies, a few of their impressions were:

"They're like a cross between a cookie and cake."

"They remind me of sponge cake."

"They taste a little like angel food cake."

"They make me think of Madeleines." (a French sponge cake)

This recipes makes a lot of cookies. It made close to 40 for me!

I agree with the impressions my coworkers had of these cookies. I also like to think of them as a fluffier, cakier than usual sugar cookie ("cakier" is a word, right? :)).

No matter what these cookies remind you of, I'm going to guarantee that you'll find them super yummy. Trust me! Sour cream does belong in cookies. ;) 

Trail Mix Cookies

If you read my last post, you know that I recently made some homemade trail mix. Yummm! I've been enjoying it as a snack these last few days. This weekend I needed to make a dessert to bring and enjoy with friends while we watched the Super Bowl. That's when I remembered that my friend Jeanne from Adirondack Baker recently made trail mix cookies. Voila! I decided I'd make some too. 

Jeanne's recipe calls for trail mix, as well as coconut and almonds. I chose not to add the coconut and almonds to my cookies, but you definitely can. That's the beauty of this recipe. The extra ingredients you can add are totally flexible! I also cut the original recipe in half here. So the proportions below are what I used when I made these. This recipe made 20 cookies for me that were about 2.5 to 3 inches in diameter.

Ingredients:

-1 stick butter, melted

-2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 egg

-1 and 1/8 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. salt

-3/4 cup trail mix*

-1/3 cup mini pretzels, crushed

-1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

*I used my own homemade trail mix that was my previous recipe on the blog, but you can use any homemade or store bought mix that you like. Also of note, with mine, I removed the pretzels from the mix and crushed them separately before adding them to the cookie dough. The trail mix itself had whole mini pretzels in it, and I didn't want pretzels of that size in the cookies. :) You can go back to my trail mix post to get other ideas for ingredients you can add to your own trail mix and/or to these cookies!

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Melt butter and pour into a large bowl. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla. Mix completely and let cool for 15 minutes (you add the egg next and don't want to cook the egg!). To the cooled mixture, add the egg and mix well. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the sugar mixture, a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the trail mix and chocolate chips until everything's well combined.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets, and bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until edges are very lightly browned (I baked mine slightly longer than I wanted to, but they still turned out great).

I love the texture of these cookies. Although I cooked them a little longer than I intended, they were still very chewy with only the slightest crisp on the outer edges. Perfection!

Thanks to the Adirondack Baker for such a delicious, unique cookie recipe!

:)

Oatmeal Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love baking cookies. In fact, I think cookies might be my favorite type of dessert to make. Second favorite? Probably cupcakes. Give me either a cookie or a cupcake (or maybe both? :)), and I'm a

happy gal. 

Not sure if you read it or not, but in the Q & A on the Whole Foods blog earlier this week after I won the pecan recipe contest, I was asked the question: "Is there one ingredient you can't live without?" My answer? "Chocolate chips! If you need a dessert in a pinch, you'll have options so long as you have baking staples and chocolate chips on hand." This recipe of oatmeal butterscotch chocolate chip cookies is a perfect example of that.

Ingredients:

-6 oz. unsalted butter, melted

-1 cup packed light brown sugar

-1/2 cup sugar

-2 large eggs

-2 tsp. vanilla

-2 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 tsp. salt

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-3/4 cup quick or regular oats

-approx. 3/4 cup - 1 cup butterscotch chips

-approx. 3/4 cup - 1 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate in this recipe but use your favorite or whatever you have on hand!)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in microwave and allow it to cool slightly. Using a whisk, combine the butters and both sugars together in a large bowl. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture to the sugar and egg mixture and fold until just combined. Fold in the oats, butterscotch chips, and chocolate chips.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by tablespoonful on baking sheet, placing about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10 - 14 minutes. When the edges are slightly brown, remove from oven. Allow the cookies to cool for a couple minutes before removing to cool completely on rack. Makes about 30 cookies.

Hi Mr. Snowman! :)

If you read the recipe closely, you may have recognized that this is the same base recipe as my "award-winning" (it's just fun to say that!) pecan, cranberry, cinnamon chip cookies. I just changed the mix-ins; that's all! Just shows how you can be creative in baking yet still keep things very simple.

I highly recommend these cookies with a nice tall glass of milk or a mug of delicious hot chocolate. Now that's the stuff. ;)

P.S. If you're an email subscriber, I had some technical trouble earlier in the week with the two posts I published on Monday for my baked potato soup and my announcement that I won the Whole Foods recipe contest. Sorry if you missed getting those emails! Please be sure to check them out still!