This is a request from my husband, who wanted something almond joy-ish. I decided to go with a version of hello dollies. They are also known as magic cookie bars and come in a variety of forms. The basic ingredients always include crushed Graham crackers, butter, condensed milk and coconut. The classic version calls for regular chocolate chips and walnuts. I subbed in almonds for the walnuts and chocolate graham crackers for regular Graham crackers. They are a big gooey sugar rush.

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar or brown sugar (brown sugar makes crust softer)
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1 sleeve Graham crackers, finely crushed
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup flour
• 14 oz can condensed milk
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups sweetened coconut
• 1/2 cup chopped almonds

Directions – preheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper and spray with Pam. cream butter and sugar or brown sugar. Blend in egg and vanilla. Fold in baking powder, Graham cracker crumbs and flour. Press into bottom of pan and bake 5 minutes. Immediately sprinkle with 1 cup of chips, almonds and coconut. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup of chips. Bake 25 minutes. They will be lightly golden in parts on top. Cool 10 minutes. Cool an hour in fridge. Cut.

Store in covered container.

I think I disappointed my people today. I arrived at work empty handed, no treats at all. But I had a reason. The 2 National CFB semifinal games are today and I know that means a potluck, so there is a ton of food. I didn’t think there would room for treats, so I decided to wait until tomorrow, which is gameday for the Buffalo Bills. My guys are already locked into the 5 seed in the AFC, as the top wildcard. Nothing at stake tomorrow, except hoping no one gets hurt. So maybe instead of a Bills win, these are “please God, let everyone stay healthy” treats. I would not play the starters at all. But that is just me. Anyways, these snowball cookies are simple and a huge hit. Dusting them with powderd sugar while warm, makes them sweeter, bc the sugar melts into the cookies.

• Ingredients
• 1 cup butter, soft
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1/2 cup,powdered sugar
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 375. cream butter and vanilla. Blend in powdered sugar. Fold in flour. Mix in chips. Form 2 tbs dough into a ball, slightly flatten. Place on cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners. 5 to 8 minutes. (Bottoms will be light golden) remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with extra powdered sugar. Cool completely and sprinkle with more powdered sugar.

Store in covered container.

Given the magnitude of tomorrow’s game for my beloved Buffalo Bills. I needed to bring in a second treat (to bribe the football gods, if you will). So i present peanut butter cutout football cookie sandwiches with a hersheys chocolate frosting filling. Btw, I forgot what it was like having your team play important games this time of year. I have missed that stress! I got a good dose of it watching the game in Pittsburgh last Sunday night.

• Cookie ingredients
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 3 cups flour (scooped from your flour container into your measuring cup)
• 1 tsp salt

Directions – preheat oven to 350. cream butter and peanut butter. Blend in sugar well. Add egg and vanilla, then dry ingredients. On a floured surface, roll out to desired thickness and cut. On a cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners, stagger cookies (they don’t spread much). Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Cool

• Frosting ingredients
• 2 tbs butter, melted
• 2 tbs baking cocoa
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• Milk
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions – blend butter and cocoa. Mix in powdered sugar. Add 2 tbs of milk. You may need to add more to get desired consistency. Stir in vanilla. Spoon a tbs or 2 between 2 cookies. Store in covered container.

Tomorrow is a huuuuuge matchup for my Bills, so I really had to step up my game day cookies for my ESPN Radio crew! Our opposition is the Patriots! (Cue the Dr Evil laugh from Austin Powers) so, in the spirit of the holiday season and football, I present treat # 1 – chocolate cutout football sandwiches with a buttercream filling, colored green! I also found a chocolate extract to use in this recipe. If you don’t have it, you can always use vanilla

• Cookie ingredients
• 2 1/4 cups flour (scooped from,flour container into measuring cup. Do not pour directly into measuring cup and pack it in)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup baking cocoa
• 1 cup butter (softened)
• 1 cup brown sugar (firmly packed into measuring cup)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp chocolate extract (or vanilla)

Directions -preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and extract., fold in dry ingredients. On floured surface, roll out to desires thickness and cut. I used one of my 2 football cookie cutters.

On. A cookie sheet that has been lined with non stick baking liners, stagger cookies on sheet. They don’t spread too much. Bake 8 – 10 minutes. Cool.

• Filling ingredients
• 2 tbs butter, melted
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• Milk
• Vanilla
• Green food color

Directions – mix butter and powdered sugar together. Add a tbs or two of milk. You may need to add more to get the desired consistency. If you add too much milk, add a little more powdered sugar., stir in vanilla then a few drops of food color. Spoon a tbs or two between 2 cookies. Store in covered container.

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