Great cookies for the Holidays. Chocolatey and not too sweet. Delicious quick recipe with few ingredients. Easy to put together for unexpected guests. Chocolate shortbread keeps well but let me warn you, they’ll go fast. You can also personalize by adding your favorite nuts, candy bits or mini chips. Amazing without any addition, my preference. The cocoa used makes a difference. So, use a cocoa product you love. No skimping is my thought.
Sandies, Russian Tea Cakes and Mexican Wedding Cakes are pretty much the same cookie recipe. I love taking this family favorite cookie and tweaking it a bit to match the mood. Today I’m into pumpkins! It was easy to change this cookie into a Fall Pumpkin Spice Cookie. I switched out the vanilla extract with a bit of dark rum for that extra special Holiday Season treat. I hope you’ll enjoy this change-up!
Not too sweet, rich and creamy dessert. There’s added sugar … less than 4 tablespoons for the entire 16 bars. Swerve (a sugar substitute) can easily be used in place of the two tablespoons of white sugar. It seems I can taste a sweetener no matter how good. (Yes, even in See’s Candies no sugar chocolates.) So, I opted in for the less than one teaspoon of real sugar per square instead. The recipe still remains an excellent ketogenic diet dessert. The crust is nuts! Walnuts to be exact but pecans work equally well. You have to like nuts to appreciate this recipe. Pistachios are another choice.
Great Grandma Gindes said my New York cheesecake was almost as good as hers! A compliment like that I’ll take any day! If she was here today I believe she’d say these are equally delicious.
Fudgy Brownies are a must for me now and then. Actually, more often! Once into the Ketogenic Diet I had to have Brownies and here they are. These are no sugar, no gluten, low carb. So, with that said I give this recipe a solid B (4 Star) when comparing it to this recipe with real sugar. That’s where the scale drops a bit. I used Swerve (Here’s a little information, Sweeteners.) Swerve is one of the newer sweeteners and claims are made it causes less stomach upset, tastes more like the real thing and can be used in baking like sugar 1:1. I found there isn’t an aftertaste as with other sweeteners but there is, I guess you’d call, a texture difference from the real thing. It’s hard to describe … like cold tiny bubbles of sweetness dissolving on your tongue. I thought pop rocks but that’s a little exaggerated.
With all this said the recipe is worth a try and you can decide for yourself if it’s a keeper. When using the best unsweetened baking chocolate not much else matters when it comes to brownies.
Next up this week-end is (Ketogenic) Hamburger Cheese Bake with Spaghetti Squash Noodles. 5 Star!
These are great anytime! Just as the name implies this is a cross between a biscuit and a cookie. Have it with your breakfast coffee, afternoon tea or after dinner Port. The right amount of sweetness. Play with the flavor a bit by adding anisette or lemon zest. Or for a very subtle taste add brandy. Hope you enjoy this Portuguese pantry recipe. I love it!
Craving Red Velvet? Here’s a deliciously easy fix! My first recommendation is to use your very best unsweetened cocoa. I used Guittard Cocoa Rouge Cocoa Powder for its great taste and red cocoa color. It can be purchased at Amazon.com if you have difficulty finding it. Great for brownies too!
World Market too
The taste of Red Velvet the easy way!
Dinner isn’t complete without dessert! (in my opinion) Dessert can be as simple as fresh fruit, a special coffee, or digestif. But I have to admit I love cake and cookies, all with coffee, best. So, when I was watching Andie McDowell’s party for her new boyfriend in Love After Love I was focused on the red velvet cake at the end of the table. (The party went south pretty quickly. How many noticed the cake?) It looked deliciously homemade just like the result I had with Cook’s Illustrated’s Red Velvet Cake Recipe. Some times a cake is too much … so the reason for this cookie. Soon!
About the movie, Andie’s son (actor O’Dowd) was less than likable (3 out of 5 stars).
Here are a few of my favorite cookies until the Red Velvet appear next:
Chocolate Chippers
Cranberry Oatmeal
Cheesecake Bars
Raisin Bars
Peanut Butter
Fig Bars
For more click on category COOKIES
Kolacky
Almondina
Gingerbread
Cookie Cakes
Motivated by the Brookster. Didn’t even know about The Brookster or Baked until my recent trip to Tribeca. The cookie was amazing. Thought about recreating it, two of my favorite cookies baked together. Weeks went by and I hadn’t made any cookies at all … unusual since I love homemade cookies right from the oven. I began feeling cookie deprived, craving my favorites. Why not bake my three favorites together. Know it will work! And here it is, a three layer cookie bar!
Take a tour of Baked while I put together the Triple Layer Cookie Bar recipe.
Brookster
Filling this recycled tin with delicious Oatmeal Cookies for the family … A great little hostess gift for my daughter’s cookie monsters. These are hearty but light cookies that happily satisfy the sweet tooth. Butter rich, loaded with nuts and dried cranberries, Oatmeal Cookies are a delicious treat. Give this recipe a try. You’ll love it!
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