Martha Monday–Buttered Rum Meltaways

I was intrigued by these cookies.  I’m not sure why, probably because butter is in the title.  I’m not a fan of rum unless it comes in one of those awesome rum cakes you get in Grand Caymen :) But alas I gave them a whirl. 

My goal with this series to was to try different cookies that I would not normally bake and this would be a classic example.  I give you Buttered Rum Meltaways on page 138

Easy/Hard:  Easy, I’ve yet to find one of her cookies that’s been difficult….yet!

Ingredient availability: We’ve always got rum, it’s Rob’s fav.  So if you don’t have a hubby like you’ll have to pick some up.

What I like about this cookie:   I’m not going to lie, not my favourite.  Sorry.  It’s a first in this series too.  I guess because I don’t like rum, that’s what I taste.  However they do have the texture of a shortbread, as there is no leavener in the dough.  There is a strong spice flavour too, I think I’d half the amount.

Baking experience: I like these type of cookies that you have to chill and slice.  Makes for much more uniform cookies.  They baked up quite nicely.

Taste:   Not my bag, sadly.  I had hoped they tasted more like a rum totty :)  i.e. more butter less rum flavour.  Rowan didn’t like them much either, she found the powdered sugar on the outside a bit too much.  The spices smell wonderful, but a bit too much for a cookie.

I never thought I’d find a cookie I didn’t like, especially from Martha.  But there was bound to be one!

They look good though!  I guess off to Rob’s work then :)

Thanks for looking!

Martha Monday–Cashew Caramel Cookies

Happy Martha Monday!

Today’s cookie was chosen by Catherine when she was here last November.  Since she was spot on with the pumpkin spice cookies, I couldn’t deny her choice and because I had all the ingredients in the house.

So I give you Cashew Caramel Cookies from page 73!

Easy/Hard:  I would say medium because you have to make cashew butter but really it’s no harder than making chocolate chip cookies. 

Ingredient availability: Not everyone has cashews in the house, unless you’re me and you have kids who inhale them.  But no worries, you can get them everywhere.  I got mine at Costco.

What I like about this cookie:   It’s a fabulous take on the peanut butter cookie.  If you like cashews you’ll love these cookies.  And really when you drizzle caramel, doesn’t everything taste better ????? 

Baking experience: Again, kind of like making chocolate chip cookies.  Once dough is made, they are like simple drop cookies.

Taste: DELISH!!!!

The recipe yielded 3 dozen cookies, just like it says in the book.  Now that’s a first.  I guess I got the sizing right!

If you think you might want to give these a go, you can find the recipe here.

Thanks for looking!

Martha Monday–Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies

Happy Monday everyone!  I was a little slow on the Martha Monday baking but I got it done.  I chose a cookie I wasn’t sure about but in the end…love it!

Iced Oatmeal Applesauce Cookies on page 77!

If you like oatmeal cookies, you’ll really like these!

Easy/Hard:  Easy, you don’t even have to wait for the butter to soften!

Ingredient availability: I’ve never seen chunky applesauce before unless I made it.  I just used a couple of the kids applesauce cups, naturally sweetened. 

What I like about this cookie:   This is another soft and chewy cookie.  They stand great on their own but are taken to another level with the icing! 

Baking experience: Today was a day off for the girls from school.  They didn’t help, they just ran around me asking when they would be done.  So my experience was loud :)  Not much difficult about the cookie baking, pretty standard stuff!

Taste:   I left out the raisin’s because me no like.  I mean they gross me out, it’s like eating bugs and having bitten (by accident) into a bumble bee, I know from where I speak!  So I’m sure the taste would be different, but without them, they are really really yummy.  Also, there’s maple syrup in the icing.  As a kid from the great white north, I love anything maple!

So if you think you’d like to try these, the recipe can be found on her website here.

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Full Plate Thursday

Martha Monday–Snickerdoodles

Welcome back to Martha Monday! Today I’ve chosen a simple new classic! 
The Snickerdoodle on page 82 of Martha Stewart Cookies :)

I’d never heard of the Snickerdoodle until I moved to the states.  Not sure why, don’t think it’s an American treat.  I mean it’s a sugar cookie that is rolled in cinnamon sugar.  Kind of genius really!

So since this is the first Martha Monday of the year, I went with simple.  Plus I had a great helper :)

Easy/Hard:  If you can turn on your mixer and make little balls, you’re hired!

Ingredient availability: Pretty standard stuff.

What I like about this cookie:   Everything!  Especially the smell. They have a cakey texture and a crisp exterior.  Actually the first batch out of the oven is probably more crispy than most would want because I had a mommy moment and forget they were in :)

Baking experience: I had my trusty sidekick with me, so it made the experience most excellent. The recipe said it made 1 1/2 dozen cookies, so I guess my cookies weren’t as big as hers.  I got 3 and half. They also didn’t spread out as much as she said they would.

Taste: They have cinnamon in them, LOVE!!!

The recipe can be found here on Marthastewart.com

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Tea Party Tuesday

Martha Monday–Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

Happy Martha Monday!  Today’s cookies isn’t technically in her Martha Stewart Cookies book but it is most definitely a Martha Stewart cookie.  She made this cookie on the Today show several years ago, at least I think it was the Today show.  It was so long ago but since then I’ve made this recipe over and over again, especially at this time of the year.

I LOVE THIS COOKIE! and I hope you too!

Easy/Hard:  Easy peasy lemon squeezy (That’s a Rowanism!)

Ingredient availability: You can buy toffee chips now but I prefer using Werther’s candies.

What I like about this cookie:   Everything!

Baking experience: Super easy and all in one bowl!   You then put into plastic wrap and form into a roll.  Then chill and cute into 1/2 inch slices.  Now this makes huge cookies, so I also cut them in half again, for a more manageable size.  Unless you like a big cookies.  Also don’t freak out when you remove them from the oven and they are big and puffy and then go back a few minutes later and they are flat as a pancake.

Taste: OMG so good.  The oatmeal, the chocolate and the toffee make a perfect combination!

Recipe:

• 1 cup unsalted butter softened
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups oats
• 1 cup bittersweet chocolate (chips or coarsely chopped)
• 1 cup toffee pieces (Werthers or packaged toffee bits) I used my Cuisinart to chop them into wee bits
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda

1. Combine butter and sugar and mix until light and fluffy.
2. Add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.
3. Mix in flour and soda until combined.
4. Add chocolate and toffee pieces.  You’ll probably have to scrape down the bowl and mix again.
5. Divide into three equal(ish) portions and form into logs using plastic wrap.
6. Chill for 1/2 hour
7. To bake, cut into 1/2 inch slices (or slice 1/2 inch and then cut in half)
8. Bake at 350 for 8 to 10 minutes
9. Remove from oven when browned and cool on parchment paper.  They will be come apart easily if you remove from pan and put on wire rack too soon.  I leave mine on the pan for 10-15 minutes then transfer to rack that has a piece of parchment on top.  Helps the cookies hold their shape.
10. let cool and enjoy (however, they are damn good when still warm!)

I used these cookies as a part of the gifts for teachers, bus drivers etc.  OH SO YUMMY!

Thanks for looking!

Linking With:
Joy Of Desserts; Mingle Monday; Melt In Your Mouth Monday; Mangia Mondays; Made By You Mondays

Martha Monday– Classic Shortbread

As promised I chose a “Christmassy” cookie, Classic Shortbread on page 109.  My gran use to make it at this time of the year and I sadly never found her recipe in her recipe box, so I gave Martha’s a whirl.

The recipe yields 8 cookies.  Now I don’t know about you, but I prefer my shortbread in smaller pieces than the huge cookies Martha makes.  I kept cutting into pie pieces and got 16 cookies.

There is something about shortbread, so simple and so yummy!

Easy/Hard:  There are 4 steps, so that’s pretty easy. Helps to read them though :)

Ingredient availability: It should all be in your pantry already.

What I like about this cookie:   It’s Christmas.  I mean gingerbread usually is the first thought of a cookie at Christmas but I love shortbread, so for me this is Christmas.

Baking experience: You need to chill this dough.  Then it helps to really read the instructions.(LOL)  You need to press into a fluted tart pan, which I don’t have, so I used a cake pan and used plastic wrap to help remove it from the pan.  It worked well.  I also didn’t prick with wooden skewer.  I know I really should pay attention but alas they turned out pretty good.

Taste: crumbly, sugary goodness!  How’s that?

If you want this recipe, it’s only available in the Martha Stewart Cookies book page 109.

Thanks for looking!

Sharing With:
Joy of Desserts
Mingle Monday
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Mangia Mondays
Made by You Mondays

Martha Monday–Coconut Macaroons

I love coconut.  I love it shredded; sweetened and unsweetened. I love it fresh. I love it savory and I especially love it in a treat!  So today I chose page 62 , in Martha Stewart Cookies Cookbook, Macaroons.

The yield, according to Martha, is 1 1/2 dozen and I got 20 cookies total.  Ten chocolate chunk and ten chocolate chocolate chunk.  I took her recipe and made the chocolate chunk.  Then I halved it and added the extra chocolate to one half.  The smell while baking was awesome!  This was so not the time of the year to try and cut sugar from my diet but a girls got to do what a girls got to do to fit into her jeans!

Easy/Hard:  This is another super easy recipe.  No need for the mixer, just get you hands in and have fun!

Ingredient availability: Just remember it’s unsweetened coconut.

What I like about this cookie:  It’s just simple and for some reason elegant.  When really it’s just coconut, sugar and egg whites.  We only ever had them at Christmas too, which is weird because they aren’t specifically Christmassy, but that’s when Gran made them.

Baking experience: The chocolate chunk were a little hard to get to stay together but the chocolate ones stuck perfectly.  Maybe not as perfectly as Martha’s but still pretty darn close.

Taste: yummm-oooooo!  how’s that?  You are either a lover or hater of the coconut macaroon and I’m definitely a lover.  So is Rob, so they may not last very long.  I took a bit, for testing purposes only, and then watched Rowan take the plate away and inhale this little devil. So that’s a thumbs up from a 3 year old…sorry 3 and a half year old!

If you want the recipe you can get it from the book, page 62 or from Martha’s website.

For the next couple weeks I’ll try to make the cookies that are more on the holiday side.  Until next week, happy Martha Monday!

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Joy of Desserts
Mingle Monday
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Mangia Mondays
Tasty Tuesday
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
Tuesday Tutorials
Get Your Craft On
Handmade Tuesday
Tempt My Tummy Tuesday
Hearth & Soul Blog Hop
Tuesday To Do Party
These Chicks Cook

Martha Monday–Cream-Filled Chocolate Sandwiches

Martha Monday – Cream Filled Chocolate Sandwiches

Today on Martha Monday Abby has chosen a classic cookies…an Oreo by another name.  Catherine chose a great cookie last week with the Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing and had a few ideas for this week’s cookie, but Abby wanted to choose.

So this week’s cookie is a Cream-Filled Chocolate Sandwiches found on page 95 in the Soft and Chewy section.

The yield on this recipe is a little more reasonable at only two and half dozen.  I ended up with about 30 individual chocolate cookies, so only 15 sandwiches.  I used a coffee scoop to size mine, so they are a bit bigger than the suggested 1 1/4” ice cream scoop.

Easy/Hard:  This is another super easy recipe.  You do have to mix together longer to get the dough to come together.

Ingredient availability: There is nothing in this recipe that you can’t get at the local grocery store or that you don’t already have in your pantry.

What I like about this cookie:  It’s simple both in creation and in execution.  The cookie has a crisp outer and a chewy centre.  The cream filling is a simple butter cream and who doesn’t like a buttercream!

Baking experience: Not much to tell here, pretty simple. The girls also wanted to try them out in their easy bake oven and you know it worked out pretty good.  Cooking time there was closer to 15 minutes.

Taste: The chocolate cookie alone is awesome!  I mean, who needs cream centers…oh right me! But to be honest, I liked the cookies on their own.   I used good cocoa powder and I think that’s key.  Don’t skimp out on this for sure!

If you want the recipe you can get it from the book, page 95 or from Martha’s website.

Next Monday I will be sitting in a car as we drive home from visiting friends and family in Tweed and Ottawa, Ontario.  It’s about 16 hours driving, so will miss next week but no worries, I’ll be back on Dec (OMG it’s December already) 5th.

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Tasty Tuesday
Crazy Sweet Tuesday
The Kurtz Corner
Tea Party Tuesday
Hearth & Soul Blog Hop

Martha Monday–Pumpkin Cookies w/ Brown Butter Icing

It’s week two of Martha Monday and I hope you enjoyed last weeks Gingersnap Palmiers.  This week’s cookie was chosen by my awesome friend, Catherine.  Who is also Rob’s sister!  She surprised the girls with a visit from Aunt CC and it’s been go, go, go all weekend. I asked our illustrious guest to choose this week’s cookie and, of course, be a taste tester as well.

After going through the book a few times, she choose the Pumpkin Cookies with Brown Butter Icing on page 197 in the Cakey and Tender section.  As I had just made some chocolate cupcakes for our street party, I had some pumpkin in the fridge, so it was easy to agree and take on this cookie.  I actually had everything required in the recipe in the pantry, yay me!

I was a bit taken off at first because the full recipe yields 6 dozen cookies.  Even if they were the best cookies ever we’d never eat them all and only so many friends would be willing to take them after I pawned off the cupcakes.  So I split the recipe.  This is sometimes tricky, but alas it worked out quite fine.  I got almost 3 dozen.

I’d also never had brown butter icing before and when I first read it I thought it was brown sugar, but nope it’s browned butter.  It was delish.  The brown specks are the browned butter bits.

Easy/Hard:  This is a super easy recipe.  You also don’t have to chill or cut out.  You do, however, require a pastry bag to pipe them.  In a pinch you could pipe them by putting the batter into a large Ziploc bag and cutting the corner.  The hardest part was making sure when you piped the cookies, they were all roughly the same size.  I was close, but by no means perfect.

Ingredient availability: There is nothing in this recipe that you can’t get at the local grocery store.

What I like about this cookie:  I loved the texture.  I’m partial to the more substantial cookie and with this cakey consistency the cookie held up really well. Unless you want to make them bigger, the suggested 1 1/2 inch circles are a perfect size.

Baking experience: Because I had to half the recipe, I wrote down the newer recipe on a piece of paper and wasn’t paying attention and put 3/4 cup evaporated milk and left out the pumpkin.  When in actual fact I needed half of 3/4 cups of milk and 3/4 cup of pumpkin.  Oops, so to make it not too runny, I cut the pumpkin to 1/2 cup.  So that’s really more of a “read the recipe correctly” issue as oppose to a baking issue.  I also halved the icing recipe.  If you want a decent amount of icing on the full cookie, make a full batch as it will keep in the fridge for a while.  The 1 tsp recommendation in the recipe barely covers the cookie in a thin coating so I was more generous with the amounts and then I ran out and didn’t have enough for all my cookies. It’s ok, they are fabulous naked!  When making the icing, be careful not to burn the butter, once it starts to brown, it does so really fast.  Remove from heat and continue to stir until you get a lovely golden brown colour with lots of dark brown specks.

Taste: I’ve never had brown butter icing before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect.  OMG I may put it on anything.  It has a caramel/nutty flavour that makes you want to go back for more.  The cookie itself was light and flavourful and although I left out 1/4 cup pumpkin, the pumpkin flavour came through.  I would definitely  make these again.  The only issue I have is you can’t stack the cookies to store them because the icing is soft. So unless you are having a big party or giving them away, make the half batch.

If you think you’d like the recipe, you can find it here on Martha’s website as well as the book!

So that’s this week’s Martha Monday, I hope you enjoyed!

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Joy of Desserts
Mingle Monday
Melt in Your Mouth Monday
Mangia Mondays
Made by You Monday
Tea Party Tuesday
Get Your Craft On
Handmade Tuesdays
Hearth & Soul Hop

Martha Monday–Gingersnap Palmiers

You may hate her, you may love her but you can’t deny that she helped revolutionize the home food business.  Before all the shows, the magazines, the cookbooks…jail…she was just a very good home based caterer.  She also knows how to market herself and really, that’s all we food bloggers are endeavoring to do.  Ok, well that’s what I’m trying to do.

Now, I love Martha.  Not her personally, I don’t know her but I love her recipes and ideas.  When I need a recipe for something that I need a guaranteed success, I turn to her.  Last week when I was in BJs I found a really awesome cookie cookbook…Martha Stewart Cookies.  In this book are 175 different cookie recipes and I’m going to take you through a few.

So that’s Martha Monday?

For the next little while I’m going to alter from Savory Monday to Martha Monday. I enjoy the savory but sweet is more my thing and I do so love a good cookie. It’s also the day of the week that works with Martha.  So I’m going through the book, front to back, and testing the ones that catch my attention along the way!  I’m going to give you the “skinny” on the cookie!

Our first cookie is Gingersnap Palmiers.  Page 51.

What is a Palmier?

From Epicurious.com: Also called palm leaves , this crispy delicacy is puff pastry dough that is sprinkled with granulated sugar, folded and rolled several times, then cut into thin strips. After baking, these golden brown, caramelized pastries are served with coffee or tea or as a dessert accompaniment.

Martha’s version starts out the same but then is dipped in a molasses/brown sugar/ginger sauce and then baked to a caramelized goodness!

So here’s the 411!

Easy/Hard:  A relatively simple recipe and since there is no dough to make (unless you are really gung-ho) this hits the easy end of the difficulty spectrum.  You just need to start them early if you plan to make them for a reason.  These aren’t a cookie you can make and bake in an hour.

Ingredient availability: You should be able to find frozen puff pastry in most grocery stores freezer section.

What I like about this cookie:  I didn’t have to make any dough!  That’s always a plus, but not-everyone has puff pastry in their freezer.  I had previously bought some for my chicken pot-pies.  I also love ginger and molasses as flavour, so another plus.

Baking experience: Well I didn’t freeze the cookie as long as the recipe required and so they didn’t stay together completely.  The recipe also called for flipping mid-way through the baking experience and that wasn’t going to happen as they started to fall apart as I tried to flip one.  So I just lowered the heat and put them back in the oven.  Once out of the oven the syrup cooled quickly so I had to peel the cookies off the parchment and break them off.

Taste: The molasses and ginger is very strong, I liked it, but I could see where this wouldn’t be a crowd pleaser but you never know!

So that’s my first Martha Monday!  I always enjoying trying her recipes.  Until next week!

Thanks for looking!

Linking with:
Tea Party Tuesday
Get Your Craft On
Kurtz Corner
Handmade Tuesdays
Tempt My Tummy Tuesdays
Tuesdays at the Table
Hearth & Soul Blog Hop
Success U
Sweet Treats Thursday