This time of year, I love to make various cutout cookies and today I am am opting for gingerbread men. You can also turn them upside down and make them into reindeer. Because of severe decorating skills deficiency, I made them into cookie sandwiches. I used a simple buttercream frosting and colored it green. I used recipe from Bouchon bakery, in NYC. Like with a lot of gingerbread recipes, it can be hard to work with. I added 2 tbs water (I,may add 2 more next time). You have to mix it quite a bit and I even used my hands to blend it at the end.

Ingredients

• 6 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp cloves
• 3/4 cup butter (softened)
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 1 cup molasses
• 2 eggs
• 2-4 tbs water
• 1 tbs vanilla

Directions – cream butter and brown sugar. Add molasses. Mix in eggs, vanilla and water. Stir in dry ingredients. Dough will be very stiff. Cover and chill. Take out about an hour before you want to bake them. Preheat oven to 350. Roll dough out on floured surface and cut. Stagger on cookie sheets lined with nonstick baking liners. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Filling ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• Milk
• Vanilla
• Food color

Blend butter and powdered sugar. Add milk, a tbs at a time. You may need to add more powdered sugar and/or milk to get the consistency you want. Stir in vanilla. Mix in food color. Spread a tbs or two between cookies.

Store in covered container.

Another chocolate chip cookie recipe? Yes, I know, but I have 2 huge bags of chocolate chips to use up, so here comes another ccc recipe.

This is the classic Nestle Tollhouse cookie, probably one of the first cookies most people bake. I did make some changes. I had no time for the butter to soften – so I opted for butter Crisco. You could also grate the butter with a cheese grater if you don’t value your knuckles or use regular Crisco. I also used more brown sugar because I wanted a puffier cookie and added a little more flour for the same reason.

Couple of notes on baking in general – make sure your baking soda is fresh. I actually buy a new box every month. I want puffy cookies. I also let my oven preheat for 20 minutes for all my baked goods. One of the LG techs gave me that tip because I felt our oven was off. He gave me long explanation, but the gist is – preheating for 20 minutes gets the temperature just right. I have found my treats come out great that way.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter Crisco (or softened butter or regular Crisco)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 2 1/2 cups flour (scooped from flour container into measuring cup)
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups chocolate chips (or milk chocolate, dark chocolate or white chocolate chips, or a combo)

Directions – mix Crisco, brown sugar and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Fold in chips., scoop put 2 tbs dough and form into tall mounds. Chill at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375. Bake 8-10 minutes. They will have light golden patches on top. They may seem too gushy, but will firm up after they cool.

Store in covered container.

The Bills won on Thursday and thus. are off tomorrow, which I thought meant I had a Sunday off from baking for work. Well, Bobby, one of the ESPN Radio hosts/football analyst and I were talking this morning about the Bills, as well as what I had brought in treat-wise and then he asked “what are you bringing in tomorrow?” Uh oh… He did say he thought the Bills will be 11-5, and make the playoffs.. Perhaps even win wildcard weekend. I could not discard potential good karma. I needed a plan then.. So my hubby suggested chocolate chip cookies. I tweaked a recipe and like how they turned out. I’ve learned you can change sweetening ingredients or change ratios of brown and white sugar, or change what fats you use. Instead of sugar, this recipe uses corn syrup. And since I made them after Mass, and wanted to speed up my process, I grated the butter with a cheese grater because it had no time to soften to room temperature, and because I didn’t have time to chill the dough, I added cornstarch to keep the cookies soft and puffy.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter (softened)
• 3/4 Brown sugar
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups flour (scooped from flour container into measuring cup)
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1-2 cups chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 350. cream butter and brown sugar. Blend in corn syrup, egg and vanilla. Stir in baking soda and salt. Fold in flour and cornstarch. Mix in chips. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out dough and form into mounds (you may want to flour your hands to make it easier). Stagger on cookie sheets lined with nonstick baking liners. Bake 8 to 10 minutes (lightly golden on bottom). Cool on sheet 10 minutes. Remove to cool completely.

Store in covered container.

Ingredients

• 1 brownie mix
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1/4 cup water

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray donut pan w non-stick baking spray. Scoop batter into a large Ziploc bag. Cut out a small part of a corner of bag and squeeze dough into donut pan. Fill each 2/3 full. Bake 10 to 13 minutes.

The holidays are here and thus begins my holiday baking season. I also need to bake on NFL game day to ensure a Bills win. Cutout cookies are my favorite and although my decorating skills are subpar at best, people enjoy what I bake. Recently i found new extracts , like cookies n cream and chocolate, so i bought some. I used the cookies n cream first. I just basically took a sugar cookie recipe and instead of using vanilla, I used the cookies n cream. I also added crushed dark chocolate Oreos. I topped them with a homemade oreo filling and melted chocolate chips. Thanksgiving is Thursday, so I used my turkey, pumpkin, football and football helmet cookie cutters. Cookie ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tbs cream cheese (I used neufactel)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp cookies n cream extract
• 2 1/2 -3 cups flour (scooped from flour container into measuring cup)
• 1 tsp salt
• 6 Oreos finely crushed

Directions – cream butter, cream cheese and sugar. Add egg and extract. Fold in 2 1/2 cups flour and salt. Add more flour if dough seems too sticky., cover and chill overnight in fridge. Preheat oven to 350. Roll and cut. Stagger on cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners.Bake 9 minutes. (I made thick cookies). Cool completely.Oreo cookie filling ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 2 tbs sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tbs water
• 6 finely crushed Oreos

Directions – cream shortening, sugar, and powdered sugar. Add vanilla and water. You can add more powderd sugar or water to get the consistency you want. Fold in Oreos., place a blob on top of each cookie. Top with melted chocolate. (I microwaved 2 cups of,chocolate chips w 1 tbs shortening in 30 second increments until I could stir mixture smooth.), store in covered container.

I wanted something different and simple to make, and I had some oreos that are expiring soon so I thought of making some pies.

I figure mini pies would be easiest to eat, so I used cupcake liners. Some have a peanut butter cup filling with a milk chocolate topping, others have caramel with a dark chocolate topping. I am a little concerned the caramel ones may be a little gushy, but I am hoping some time in the freezer will help. Maybe people at work will still eat them 🙂

Oreo crust ingredients

• 1 bag Oreos, finely crushed in food processor
• 8 tbs butter, melted

Combine and press into cupcake liners that have been sprayed with butter spray. Freeze 10 minutes.

Peanut butter topping

• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• Milk

Directions – in a microwave safe bowl, melt butter, peanut butter and brown sugar. Add powdered sugar. Add a tbs or two of milk if you think it is too dry. Press a tbs or two on top of crust.

Top with melted milk chocolate.

Store in covered container.

Caramel topping ingredients

• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 8 tbs butter
• 1/4 cup heavy cream

Cook and stir brown sugar and butter over low-medium heat, until it begins,to bubble. Cook and stir 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add cream. Stir smooth. Cool 15 minutes. Pour a tbs or 2 over crust in cupcake liners.

Freeze 10 minutes. Top with melted chocolate.

Store in covered container in fridge

My beloved Buffalo Bills have 3 losses this season. There are only 3 Sundays i have not baked. So clearly, there is a correlation between a Buffalo win and my baking. I can not be responsible for another loss, so even though I am exhausted, I made a treat for tomorrow – no bake peanut butter bars. They are usually made with crushed Graham crackers, but I opted for Ritz crackers.

You could also probably use chocolate graham crackers or nilla wafers or a similar cookie too. I have 3 huge bags of nestle chocolate chips, so I used that for my topping. #GOBILLS!

Bar ingredients

• 2 sleeves Ritz crackers, finely crushed
• 10 tbs butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 cups powdered sugar

Directions –melt butter and peanut butter in microwave for 30 seconds. Stir smooth. Add remaining ingredients. Press into 8×8 or 9×9 pan lined with foil and sprayed with cooking spray.

Topping – microwave 2 cups chocolate chips and 1 tbs shortening for 45 seconds. Stir smooth. (You may need to do another 20 seconds). Pour on top and smooth out.

Put in fridge for an hour. Cut. Store in covered container.

A nice little fall dessert – carrot cake, pumpkin cookies. I added some chocolate chips because I have 3 huuuuuge bags of nestle chips (thanks to Bjs, which keeps sending me baking coupons. You should see all the flour, sugar, and powdered sugar I have too). This is simple – I used a carrot cake mix, some canned pumpkin (not the pumpkin pie filling). You probably could use a white or yellow or spice cake mix too. I cheated on the frosting and used a can that I bought at walmart (time crunch today).

Ingredients

• Carrot cake mix
• 3/4 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – combine cake mix, puree, egg and butter. Fold in chips. Cover and chill at least a few hours. Preheat oven to 350. On a baking sheet lined with nonstick baking liners, ccoop out 1/4 cups of dough and stagger them on sheet. Bake 12 to 15 minutes. They will be lightly golden on bottom. They may be seem a little undercooked but will continue to cook on sheet once removed from oven.

Let cool. Frost with cream cheese or vanilla frosting.

Store in covered container.

I was anticipating having a ton of Halloween candy left over and what I would bake with it. We had over 300 candies – Reese’s pb cups,snickers, Hershey bars, smarties and charms blow pops (the last two items were for kids with food allergies). We had 3 pb cups leftover. We must have had 125 to 150 kids. Each got a piece of chocolate candy and a smarties or a sucker. I mean, I can’t do anything with a sucker or smarties package, so they needed to be given out. I think my favorite costume was a little Ghostbusters. There were also 2 Ralph the Rex kids, and to watch them try to walk was hilarious. Gracie did great. I gave out candy and Rob held her by the collar. All the kids loved her, except one little girl,who ran off the porch,when Gracie ran to the door and sat (she did not bark)

This treat combines a cake mix and cookie mix and is frosted with a texas sheet cake frosting and a few pieces have some cut up pb cups. You can use any flavor cake mix and any flavor cookie mix.

Ingredients

• 1 cake mix (I used chocolate)
• 1 cookie mix (I used chocolate chocolate chip)
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 3 eggs
• 1 tbs vanilla

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Mix cake mix, cookie mix, eggs, melted butter and vanilla. Press into 9×13 pan sprayes with baking spray. I used this wilton’s spray and it is awesome!

My other sprays were letting me down with cakes and brownies sticking to the pan. This wilton’s spray rocks! Press dough into prepared pan.

Bake 22 to 27 minutes. After bars are done, immediately start making the frosting.

Ingredients

• 4 tbs Milk
• 4,tbs baking cocoa
• 3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 stick butter

Directions – melt butter. Add cocoa and 1 tbs milk. Cook and stir and bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Add powdered sugar and remaining 3 tbs of milk. Pour over warm bars. Top with cut up candy or crushed cookies. Frosting should be set after an hour.

Cut and store in covered container.

Halloween is less than a week away! I believe we have over 200 candy bars and I am nervous that may not be enough! So I probably in a panic, will buy at least another 2 bags. I can always bake with some of the leftovers, right? In addition to Reeses on cups, Hershey bars and snickers, we also have gluten free and peanut free options – and charms blow pops!

Today’s treat is another orange colored cookie ode to Halloween – orange velvet cookies. Basically I tweaked a red velvet cookie recipe and colored it orange and topped each with orange frosting. This recipe makes a TON of cookies, so you might want to cut it in half

Ingredients –

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tbs water
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 5 1/2 cups plus 1/3 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp salt
• Orange food coloring

Directions – cream butter, oil, sugar and powdered sugar. Add water and eggs. Mix in food coloring. Fold in dry ingredients. Scoop out 2 tbs of dough and roll into balls, then roll in sugar. Slightly flatten. Chill a few hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350. Stagger on cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. They will be a little mushy on top,and light golden on bottom.

Cool on sheet 10 minutes. Cool completely.

Frosting ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 3 -4 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbs milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Orange food coloring

Directions

Cream butter and 3 cups powdered sugar. Add milk and vanilla. Blend in food coloring. You may need more powdered sugar or milk, depending on the consistency you want.

Frost cookies and store in covered container.