Coconut Cream Cookies

I am so tired of the cold weather. Come on Spring! and Summer!! *insert amazing story of fun times and such...enough blabbing on to food* 

I am such a big big fan of simple recipes. Although I love newer recipes sometimes I feel they are overly complicated just for s&g. Delicious food does not have to be complicated! Here's a great example:

I had the sudden urge to bake goodies and a quick search found this interesting sounding recipe. I don't think I've made cookies with this much cream.

Naturally cream was the one ingredient I had to go out and buy. Can't remember why I had coconut.

Didn't feel like busting out the standing mixer. The hand mixer is doing a great job! 

Still mixing...

I had to grab a spoon to mix in the flour mixture. I tried the hand mixer...not my best idea. 

I missed a step here. The coconut was supposed to go on top and rolled into the dough. Opps. the dough was very sticky and I had to add a fair amount of extra flour.

My cheap set of round cutters does an amazing job. Even with a bent handle. I can't even remember how that happened. 

Cookies!

Just realized I forgot the coconut topping so I just added it now. Should work out just fine!

Aren't they cute?! They puffed up nicely and smell heavenly...yum! There is no time on the recipe so I started with 10 minutes. 12 minutes browned the bottom nicely. 15 was too much. Not burnt but just a touch too brown on the bottom.

My kitchen smells sooooooo good! I like to bake because I like to eat desserts but I love how it just makes the whole house smell welcoming and warm. 

These were super easy to put together and bake. Adding the cream made the dough stickier than I'm used to handling but not too difficult to figure out. These were light and fluffy with a delicate flavor. A little too delicate in my opinion but my co-workers loved them. I had to make another batch!

My Rating: Not bad but not flavorful. I won't make these again for myself.

Dylan and Friend Rating: "These are so delicious. I can't stop snacking on them" "Can you make a dozen just for me?"

Three Layer Cookie

During the Holidays I like to makes dozens and dozens of cookies for friends and co-workers. It's my gift for everyone. I set them out and then have to listen to everyone complain about their weight as they are stuffing their faces. That's why I make the cookies small, people! Don't blame me for your lack of control. But do tell me which one was your favorite... Ha Ha Ha I actually think that complaining about your weight has become a part of polite society. It reminds me of when you tell someone they didn't need to get you a gift even though you really (really) wanted one. Pretending they don't want goodies...whatever. Just take a plateful! Planet Fitness is open 24 hours.

I got a little tired after baking 10 different cookies so I had to try something a little different. Technically these are listed as cookies but they are bars. Wisconsin Power and Light Company providing another great cooking pamphlet, Festive Traditions 1969!

The only thing I didn't have was the orange juice. This looks like a great recipe looked a little time consuming since it has to cool between all the layers. Looks like a great day to wrap presents!

 I tried to separate ingredients by layers but my kitchen is too small!

 The first layer was very powdery. Not feeling really confidant about this...

 I had to increase the baking time time but it eventually browned up nicely! Now to wrap presents and wait for it to cool.

What a delicious group of ingredients! Nothing bad can come of this.

Looks like pecan pie going in...

 ...Smells like pecan pie coming out! I was concerned about the 'soft' corners on the left but we are going to hope for the best. And more presents while cooling.

The top layer is basically an icing. It was very thin going on so I stuck it in the fridge to harden. Worked like a charm! My sweetie came over for dinner so these became the dessert and I may have forgotten to get a picture before we dug in. Oops.

These are sooooo sweet! It's hard to tell but I cut these into tiny little bars, maybe an inch long.

Lovely layers! Can you feel the sugar?!

These were fantastic! and super sweet! The bottom layer was similar to a sugar cookie, the middle was like pecan pie, and the top layer was icing. I wasn't certain how the combination of flavors would fit together. But pecans, coconut, oj, and walnuts work well together! Neat.
Depending on your oven, you may have to adjust the baking time for the bottom layer. I am still learning how to use a gas oven. I would also recommend adjusting the top layer for a thicker icing. After being cooled the top layer stayed together nicely and softened up perfectly after sitting out for a few minutes. Soft but not runny.

My Rating: Wonderful! Will make again.

Friends and Family Rating: "Sweet. Different. But delicious." "Tastes almost like pecan pie!"

Candied Cherry Macaroons

Busy times means less time to bake and share. Sorry for such a long delay!
Here is a bright cookie for the Holidays! I wanted something a little different since I figured that everyone would be getting a ton of chocolate in December. This is from the fantastic Christmas Cookies booklet from the Wisconsin Gas & Electric Company.

 Just in case you didn't realize, macrons and macaroons are very different cookies. Both delicious! But very different. Macrons are meringue based and come a a variety of colors and flavors. Macaroons are coconut based and a lot easier to make.

I happened to decide to make these just before all the candied fruits came out in the stores for all us crazy people who like making fruit cakes. Luckily I found a wonderful recipe online. Easy and cheap! And they ended up being a lot tastier than the store brand. Image that.

 Super simple ingredients. Can't beat 4!

 I didn't have to bring out the standing mixer for this one.

 It will take a little bit of arm muscles to make sure everything is mixed well together and the coconut doesn't still together.

 These are sticky little things so I recommend using spoons and not your hands to drop the cookies.

 Since these won't bake up you have to keep an eye on the coconut. It will burn!

 These looked beautiful and surprisingly festive!

Despite looking a little crisp, these were very soft and chewy and they had almost a sticky texture to them. And very sweet! I liked them! Easy to put together and cheerful. You can use store bought candied cherries but I would recommend making them yourself. It was easy and they taste amazingly different. I would almost bet that everyone who says they hate candied fruit has never had homemade ones. 

My Rating: Good but sweet. Love the color!

Friends & Family Rating: I don't know...no one said anything but they only lasted 3 days. 

Wheaties Nougat Bars

A friend was telling me about a dessert he remembered from childhood. It was a type of no-bake cookie with flaked cereal. I don't think this was it but it was as close as I could get. 

Betty Crocker provided me with this snack recommended for after a midnight supper and promises it is "also delightful with ice cream."

I should have placed the bowl of wheat bran flakes towards the front to make it look healthier.

I used a make shift double boiler. It was not fun. I would recommend just using a regular pot and not bothering with trying to use a double boiler.

So thick! And so difficult to mix! I definitely got a nice arm workout.

There is so much stuff in this mix that I was concerned it would not stay together. I have my doubts about this one. I don't think there is enough marshmallows to make bars, a delicious crumble but not a bar.

Add a nice chocolate layer to hide the bran flakes.

It is really difficult to let it sit and cool. With cookies you can sneak a warm one and no one knows! Kinda hard to do that with a bar.

This little bars are dense! You will need a very sharp knife to cut them. I like the rough edges of the sides better than the cut centers.

This was suppose to make 32 bars. I did not make quite that many but it was close. These are so full of stuff that you will want to make them bite-sized.

All in all not bad. They are not my favorite but I was surprised on how good they were. I do not like whole wheat bran stuff (I am a fan of mushy white bread) but the cereal gave the bars a nice heartiness to them. The chocolate was amazing! Without the top layer these bars would be in the trash. Don't add too thick of a layer or it will overwhelm all the other parts but you must add a nice layer of good quality chocolate. I used dark. So good.

My Rating: Not bad but I probably won't make again.

Friends and Family Rating: "These are pretty good." "Do the Wheaties make them healthy?"

Peco Drops

I am back to wandering through Wisconsin Gas and Electric's Christmas Cookies pamphlet. I had never heard of Peco Cookies and the ingredients sounded interesting. A quick Internet search brought me zero information of these. They either weren't popular or just forgotten.

I'm guessing that the 'Peco' is a combination of peanut (from peanut butter) and coconut. 

An intriguing combination of ingredients.

I love coconut but am not a fan of graham crackers. This will be interesting.

This makes a thick dough.

Looking good so far...

These baked up nicely but looked a bit dry.

 I wasn't certain what to expect from this recipe but was pleasantly surprised. They were delicious! Although they looked dry they were nice, chewy and moist and did not taste like graham crackers at all. Bonus! They are fairly dense but have a great flavor. They must have just been forgotten with time.

My Rating: Yum! I'll keep it.

Friends and Family Rating: "Yummy!" "These are great."