31 Days of Cookies . Day 16. Box Lunch Cookie

Yesterday I spent the day at a beautiful country club. It was benefit event for the Family Services Agency, and I had a table to sell some Rufflewood items to aide in the benefit. Since I would be gone all day, I knew I wouldn't have time to get a blog post done.

Each vendor was given a box lunch. Look what was included in our lunch!

A cookie is always a welcome addition to a box lunch, don't you think?

31 Days of Cookies . Day 10. Specialty's

A great little cafe in the SF Bay Area is Specialty's. They put together some great sandwiches (the Waldorf Chicken Salad is my favorite) and salads and soups. But you really must top off your lunch with one of their fabulous cookies.

When I was working near one of their shops, I signed up for the Warm Cookie Alert.  My office mate was also a cookie fanatic, but we showed great restraint  (most days) when I got emails telling me what type of cookie had just come out of their ovens.

But every now and then, we gave in. One of us would just happen to have to run an errand in the vicinity of Specialty's (or maybe we just planned a late lunch and "needed" to head over that way), and  pick up a couple warm cookies. I mean, if you're going to buy a cookie, make it a great one!

If you're a Specialty's cookie fan, let me know in the comments which is your favorite.

If you're ever near one of their stores, stop in and enjoy a cookie!


 

31 Days of Cookies . Day 9 . Blondies

Yesterday got a little crazy so I missed getting my post up. But I'm back with a really good one.

Someone asked me the other day what a blondie is. Hmmm... how do you describe it? Sort of like a vanilla brownie with chocolate chips, maybe? I don't make them often, and have a couple recipes that I like, but here's a new one...

I got this from RealSimple.com, and of course I made some changes. The most notable being that I used chocolate chips instead of mini peanut butter cups. I had none in the house, and didn't want to wait to make them. I bet they are delicious!

RealSimple.com

Their instructions said to butter the pan, then put 2 pieces of buttered parchment in the pan criss-crossed. The recipe has so much butter, I didn't think it was really necessary. And it wasn't. I put one piece of parchment just to make it easier to take out of the pan and cut with a longer knife. But I did butter the sides that didn't have parchment paper, just to be sure...

I expected the dough to be like brownie batter, but it was actually pretty stiff. More like cookie dough, so I had to spread it in the pan.

Don't they look so good just out of the oven? I had a hard time waiting for them to cool to have a taste!

They are yummy! Get the recipe here and enjoy!

31 Days of Cookies . Day 6. A Tray of Cookies

Some craziness (in a fun way) around the City this weekend.

- The Blue Angels will be flying over the Bay on Saturday and Sunday. An amazing show. If you ever have the opportunity, go see them!

- The SF Giants made the playoffs and they will be playing at home at AT&T Park.

- The 49ers have a home game at Candlestick Park.

- The America's Cup sailing race is on the Bay.

- Cal has a home game in Berkeley

- Stanford is playing at home in Palo Alto.

Lots of fun stuff—and today I'm having a yard sale with my neighbors, so no time to bake... but I'll be providing a tray of cookies to munch while we sell.

I'll be taking Sundays off, so enjoy your Saturday and see you on Monday with more cookie goodness.

31 Days of Cookies . Day 5. Cookie Balls

These little nuggets have so many names, and I think every culture has their own version of them. So I'm just calling them cookie balls. I grew up calling them Russian Tea Cakes, I've eaten them as Mexican Wedding Cakes, and the Greeks have their own version (that I can't spell or pronounce... kourambiethes? You try saying that!) that are crescent-shaped.

No matter what you call them, you must include "delicious" in the title. Here's how to make them.

Ingredients:
1 C butter (2 sticks)
2 1/4 C sifted flour
1/2 C powdered sugar (plus more for later)
1/4 t salt
1 t vanilla
3/4 C chopped nuts

Mix the butter, flour, powdered sugar and salt in a bowl.
Add the vanilla and chopped nuts.
The dough will seem very dry and crumbly, so get your hands in there and kind of knead it a little till it starts to come together.
Pinch or scoop off pieces and roll into balls a little smaller than an inch or so.
Place on a cookie sheet. These don't grow much (if at all) so you can fit a lot pretty close together.
Bake 14-17 minutes at 400°
Let cool a bit and roll in powdered sugar.

So easy to just pop in your mouth! But beware... you may have tell-tale powdered sugar down the front of you.

31 Days of Cookies . Day 4. Magic Cookie Bars

Bar cookies are fun to make because you just spread stuff in a pan and bake. No rolling, flattening, scooping. Just cut them in squares after they've cooled. Plus you can bake them all at once rather than in batches.

Today I made Magic Cookie Bars. Several years ago I made these All. The. Time. But it's been awhile and I didn't realize how sketchy my recipe was. (Like... a 3 oz can of coconut? I didn't know coconut ever came in a can.) So I did a little guessing with this one, but it came out fine, so I'll tell you just what I did.

Ingredients:
1 cube butter
1 1/2 C graham cracker crumbs
1 can Sweetened Condensed Milk (NOT evaporated milk. They come in the same size can and are right next to each other on the grocery store shelf)
1 C chopped nuts
1/2 C shredded coconut
1/2 of a 12 oz. bag of chocolate chips

Melt the butter in a 9x13" pan (or similar)

Roll the graham crackers between the folds of a sheet of waxed paper with a rolling pin. Recognize this cute rolling pin? I'm making these at Kate's while babysitting napping Maggie (and the Blue Angels are practicing for Fleet Week overhead. Thundering loudness! Can't believe she's still asleep!)

Put the crumbs in the butter, stir and press down to make a crust.

Then mix the nuts, chocolate chips, and coconut in a bowl and spread over the crust.
Bake at 350° for a half hour or so. (Again, the sketchy recipe. Gave no baking time, but a half hour seemed about right. I'm really so accurate when I bake... or not.)

We were kind of anxious, so we cut them while they were still a bit hot. Messy, but delicious!