Chocolate Chocolate Freckles (yield varies by cookie cutter size)
Ingredients
- 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/3 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 7 oz dark chocolate, melted
- Nonpareil sprinkles
- Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder together into a medium-sized bowl.
- Beat the butter, sugar and egg in a bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients, one half at a time.
- Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth - it shouldn't take very long. Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until 1/4 inch thick. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a round cookie cutter (I used a 1 1/2 inch biscuit cutter), cut out as many cookies as you can. Take the leftovers from each round of cutting and knead, roll, and refrigerate to get more cookies. Do this until you can't possibly get any more cookies!
- Bake for about 11 minutes and then cool on a wire rack.
- Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave. Microwave in 15 second bursts, stirring after each time until the chocolate is melted.
- Spread the chocolate over the cookies and sprinkle the nonpareils on top!
Raspberry Tartlets (yields 3 dozen tartlets)
I normally double this recipe because everyone loves these! Another plus - they're super easy to make!
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup butter
- 1 egg, well beaten
- 1 tbsp. milk
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- Raspberry preserves, preferably with seeds!
Directions
- Preheat oven to
- Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg, flour, milk, and vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture and mix until incorporated.
- Line mini-muffin cups with cupcake liners. You can choose not to use the liners, but they are a lot easier to remove this way!
- Add about a tablespoon of batter to each mini-muffin cup. Make a cavity with your finger and fill with raspberry jam (a 1/2 or 1/4 tsp works well).
- Bake 20 - 25 minutes or until lightly browned.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tbs. milk
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- Extra granulated sugar
- 48 Hershey's Kisses (milk chocolate), unwrapped
- Preheat the oven to 375°F
- Mix the shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer until blended.
- Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg, milk and vanilla and mix will.
- Gradually stir in the flour, baking soda and salt to the peanut butter mixture.
- Shape the dough into 1 inch balls. Roll them in granulated sugar and place them 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
- Bake for about 9 minutes or until lightly browned. Once out of the oven, immediately press a chocolate into the center of the cookie. The cookie will crack on the edges.
- Allow cookies to cool on a wire rack.
These cookies were time-consuming, but well-worth it!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter, softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 egg
- 1 tbsp. milk
- 1 tsp. almond extract
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tbsp. fresh grated lemon peel
- 1/3 cup seedless red raspberry spread
For the icing (optional): - 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
- 2 tbsp. lemon juice
- 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted
- Beat the butter for 30 seconds with an electric mixer on medium-high speed.
- Add the sugar, baking powder, and salt and beat until combined, scraping the bowl occasionally.
- Beat in the egg, milk, almond extract and vanilla.
- Beat in the flour and 1 1/2 tsp. of the lemon peel.
- Cover and chill the dough for 2 hours.
- Place the raspberry spread into a small bowl and stir and mash until it breaks up and becomes smooth. Set aside.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to a 12 x 10 inch rectangle. Spread the raspberry spread on the dough to the end of both the short edges and one of the long edges. Leave a 1 inch gap of plain dough on one of the long edges.
- Roll the dough, starting at the long side that has the raspberry spread on it. Pinch the ends to seal
- Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour, turning the dough every 15 minutes.
- While waiting for the dough to chill, preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Slice the dough into 1/2 inch thick slices and place an inch apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for about 14 minutes or until the edges are set and the bottom is slightly browned. Cool on cookie sheets for a minute and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
- For the icing, combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice and remaining lemon peel. Add enough water to get a drizzling consistency. Drizzle over the cookies and then sprinkle with almonds.
Blackberry Lemon Dainties! (yields about 18 sandwiches)
This recipe require lemon curd. You can buy it at the store, but I strongly suggest that you make it. I bought it once at the store and decided to make it the second time I needed it. I will never, ever go back to store bought! I've included the recipe for it at the end of this recipe. Trust me, you won't regret it!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. graed lemon peel
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- Extra granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup blackberry jam
- 3 tbsp. lemon curd
- In a large bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.
- Add the 1/4 cup granulated sugar and salt. Beat until well combined, occasionally scraping the sides of the bowl.
- Beat in the lemon peel and vanilla.
- Beat in the flour, a half cup at a time. If your mixer starts to strain, turn it off and do this by hand!
- Wrap the dough and chill it for an hour.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F while the dough is chilling.
- Shape the dough into 1 inch balls (you will need an even number of them). Place them 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Use the bottom of a glass dipped in the extra granulated sugar to press the cookie into a 1/4 inch thick circle. Use a glass with a patterned bottom for a cookie with a design!
- Bake the cookies for 11 minutes or until the edges or just browned. Transfer to wire racks and allow to cool.
- Spread about a teaspoon of blackberry jam on the flat side of one cookie and a teaspoon of lemon curd on the flat side of another cookie. Gently press the cookies together to form a sandwich. Be careful - these cookies are extremely delicate and crumble easily.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 egg yolks
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 lemons, zested and juiced
- 1/2 stick of butter, cut into pats and chilled
- Bring an inch of water in a medium saucepan up to a simmer.
- Meanwhile, combine the egg yolks and sugar in a metal bowl that fits on the top of the saucepan without touching the water. Mix until smooth, about a minute.
- Measure out 1/3 cup of the lemon juice. If needed, use water to reach 1/3 cup.
- Add the lemon juice and zest to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth.
- Once the water reaches a simmer, reduce heat to low and place metal bowl on top of the saucepan.
- Whisk constantly until the mixture is thickened, about 8 minutes. It will be light yellow and will coat the back of a spoon.
- Remove from heat and whisk in the butter a pat at a time, allowing each one to melt before adding the next. Refrigerate until use.
