Nutella Biscotti

So here’s the deal. I really like biscotti. I just forget how much I like it until I’m eating it. It’s a strange thing. I made a batch of peanut butter biscotti for a potluck at work and was like “oh yeah, these are good.”

As a result, when a certain special someone said she wanted to bake something one Sunday afternoon I decided that I needed more biscotti and seeing as I had some Nutella to use up, it was a perfect fit.

White Chocolate Pumpkin Cookies

One of my closest friends has been going through a lot of stuff recently. It would be pretty accurate to say that she's been jerked around by life. I suppose that there are times that we all go through this, feeling like we are being treated unfairly, but in this case it's absolutely true, at least from my perspective. It's frustrating to watch someone who is so caring and generous get constantly pummelled. Don't get me wrong, she has a lot of good things in her life, but she has always worked hard for her luck, sometimes, you really shouldn't have to.

Anyway, a few weeks ago (pre Austin) she received some bad news (which subsequently turned into okay news, that went right back to bad news, and then aggravating news). To try and cheer her up a bit, I decided to surprise her with some cookies before she got home from work. I figured, it's the least I could do. She's a big fan of pumpkin, which gave me a good opening to start looking for a new pumpkin cookie recipe.

Nutella Pecan Cookies

I have a confession to make. I don't really like Nutella. You can add it to the list of things that make me a bad Italian. The idea of it never appealed to me as a kid. In fact, I don't even think I actually tried it until I was an adult. Occasionally, I will eat it on toast as a "dessert" but it's not my favourite. As a result, I never have it around, which means I never bake with it. However, a few months ago my friend with the Ferrero connection handed me two jars out of the blue. I managed to make it through one (with a little help) purely on sandwiches and toast, but the other jar's expiry date was quickly approaching and it would go to waste if I couldn't figure out a way to use it. When I found a recipe that used an entire jar from one of my favourite blogs, I had to give it a try.

Swedish Strips

I am such a bad blogger. It has been a month since Christmas (wow that long?) and I still haven't completed posting my Christmas recipes. If the reason were that I had baked such an incredible amount of food that it was impossible to record, it might be acceptable; but as you can see, it has been weeks since my last post, so we both know what really happened *eye-roll*

The recipe today is one that I have been searching for for a long while. A few years ago my mother told me about a jam cookie with walnuts that she was in love when she was younger, and that my grandmother loved too. Unfortunately the exact recipe had been lost over time though my mother swore it was called "Swedish Something." I had been looking for it ever since, but the only recipes I found were closer to thumbprint cookies than what she was describing. Then, a few days before Christmas, my mother drops "Swedish Strips" on me, and a couple of minutes later I had a recipe and a plan.

Crispy Coconut White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I really don't bake "Christmas" recipes, well except snickerdoodle blondies, and I guess gingerbread now; in general the things I like for Christmas are the same things I like the rest of the year. This is a good thing because it would make me sad to only make these cookies once a year. Everyone was absolutely ecstatic with how they turned out (even coconut naysayers), I mean my brother went as far as to say that they "won Christmas" which is a pretty bold and flattering statement (that kid eats a lot). I honestly wasn't expecting that much out of the cookies and was amazed at how they turned out myself.

Gingerbread Men and Ladies

This recipe comes from my cousin, who makes the best Gingerbread cookies I've ever had. The recipe apparently originated from the Betty Crocker cookbook, but I'm going to pretend that she came up with it herself :).

Before this past weekend I had never made gingerbread cookies before. Never. I just kind of expect them to be around during Christmas and so never think to make them (until it's too late) and though I would still enjoy them in June, I'm not sure others would.

Here's another confession, I don't think I have ever used molasses in anything, and as a result, don't know a thing about it. This recipe called for "dark molasses," which does not exist at my grocery store. In fact, I'm not entirely sure what it is. Some quick googling couldn't resolve my issue either. It seems that no company makes any product called "dark molasses." So, as I was staring at Fancy and Cooking Molasses in the baking aisle, I figured that the recipe must be leaning towards the cooking molasses. After all, it has a "more robust flavour." I should also note that I bought these ingredients the week before I actually made the cookies and never actually checked if I had made the right decision (that's just how I roll).

Chocolate Chip Cookies

It seems like the more I try to focus on my blog the more distracted I get. I made these cookies a few weekends ago, but decided to sideline it in favour of my mother's birthday cake. And then I got distracted by work, shiny objects, and now games. You're not going to care, but I am going to tell you anyways, that Darksiders 2 came out on Tuesday; a game I have been excited for since its announcement. I bring this up for two reasons: first, because I wish I were playing it right now; and second because a review for the game has garnered some ill will towards the reviewer.

Italian-Style Chocolate Biscotti

This isn't at all what I was expecting to bake this past weekend. I had plenty of ideas but hadn't accounted for my extreme laziness come Saturday afternoon. With nearly zero food in my house, including baking supplies, I managed to convince myself to not go to the grocery store. I still felt like baking, only now it needed to be something that required only the most basic of ingredients.

What's so wonderful about biscotti (to me) is how simple the ingredients are (or should be), making it the perfect recipe for not only my weekend situation but any situation. I don't need or want my biscotti fancy. I just want the cookie. I don't add chocolate chips, or nuts, or dried fruit, or whatever. I suppose I'm this way about a lot of things, but it is especially true with biscotti. I have four versions here and all of them focus on only one flavour.

Shortening Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

It occurred to me last weekend that I don't have a proper oatmeal raisin cookie listed here (is it oatmeal raisin or raisin oatmeal?). And it has been an exceptionally long time since I've made them. So under the guise of wanting to bring cookies into work, I went looking for a new recipe. However, I couldn't just bring an untested recipe into work. I have a reputation to uphold. So I made sure to test it out on my family first.

Italian-Style Peanut Butter Biscotti

As far as non meal items go, there are only two things that I know, for a fact, my grandmother enjoys: peanut butter and biscotti. That's it, peanut butter and biscotti (no complaints here). So when I wanted to bake something for her birthday celebration, I did what needed to be done.

Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookies

If you haven't noticed, I've been on a bit of a cookie tear lately. Well, as much of a tear as someone who bakes only once a week can be on. This is the third cookie recipe in the last few weeks, and I'm going to have to put a stop to it. It's way too easy to just eat cookies all day. Go into the kitchen, take a cookie; go into the kitchen take a cookie ("You know, I put a dollar in, I got a car. I put a dollar in, I got a car").

I wasn't a huge cookie person when I was younger, at least not packaged cookies. I mean, don't get me wrong, I loved cookies, but it wasn't my go to. This has changed drastically over the last year. It seems I have developed a never ending cookie craving. I fear one day soon, I will sprout blue hair and my eyes will swell to googly proportions. As it happens, this craving has actually caused me to evolve a taste for cookies that I never liked when I was a kid. Oreos for example, which I now enjoy and despised up until this past year. I will even go so far as to say that I like Vanilla Oreos better. If you're counting, that's two things I didn't like as a child.

Fast fact: Canadian Oreos are made with coconut oil. As a result, they differ in flavour from the American version.

Ivy's Honey Peanut Cookies

I'd like to thank everyone for reading my small tribute to Ivy last week. She was a special dog and simply knowing that people were reading about her made me feel a bit better. These cookies are inspired by Ivy and will give me another chance to regale you with a few more stories. Ivy was a dog that loved to eat, and my mother loved to feed her :). We used to joke in high school that Ivy was fed better then some of my friends (true story). Though, by far her two favourite meals were soup stock chicken and pasta. The sounds Ivy made when eating either meal was reminiscent of the scene in Jurassic Park where they lower the cow into the raptor pen.

Crispy Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

Sometimes when you start on a recipe you just know it's going to be good. This is one of those recipes. However, what you never know is just how good. In the case of these cookies, absolutely, positively fantastic.

Now, my problem with most cookie recipes is really just MY problem. Nowadays, I rarely plan what to bake most weekends and typically rely on a last minute decision brought on by a fit of inspiration (*cough* desperation *cough*). So by the time I decide on cookies I don't have the softened butter required for most recipes. Which is just one of the things that makes this recipe so great. It relies on oil. And even better, you don't need a mixer. How awesome is that? Pretty awesome, let me tell you. This means that these cookies are exceptionally easy and quick to make. In fact, you should probably be baking them right now.

Peanut Butter Chip World Peace Cookies

World Peace Cookies might be one of the first recipes I ever bookmarked. I remember reading the description, reading the ingredients and just drooling. They sounded so good, so decadent. For some reason though I never made them. I would come across the recipe in my bookmarks every so often proclaim "ohhh yeeeaaah" and then promptly forget about it. But I had to make something chocolate for christmas (special request from my aunt) and I didn't feel like making brownies again. It was finally time for world peace.

Maple Shortbread

For the second year in a row my Christmas maple dessert turned out not at all as I expected. When it happened last year, I stayed calm. This year it lead to the baking equivalent of a hissy fit.

I was on a mission to make something packed with maple flavour so the less ingredients the better. Shortbread was the perfect solution especially after my brother proclaiming his love for it. And with only three ingredients, how difficult could it be? (I'm like the "I'll be right back" guy in horror movies).

Classic Shortbread

This past weekend was a cookie weekend. I knew that much going into it. It's the Christmas season and to me (to everyone?) cookies and Christmas belong together. Maybe it's the Santa Claus thing or that they're so easy to share; maybe it's that they both begin with "c;" and just maybe it's that scene in A Muppet Family Christmas when Animal sees Cookie Monster for the first time; but whatever the reason, when I think Christmas, I think cookies. And when it comes to Christmas cookies, I absolutely love shortbread. Nothing beats a simple, traditional, well baked shortbread. Flavour, texture, it's impossible to resist. However, on this weekend shortbread wasn't even on my radar. It took my brother's suggestion that I bake it for Christmas Day before I realized that a) I had never made shortbread b) I should make shortbread c) forget Christmas I'm making shortbread :).

Dark Chocolate Cereal Drops

This is another lazy recipe. Sorry, I've been extremely busy this weekend. You see there is this place, it's called Hyrule. Hyrule's past is being threatened by a great evil and it's up to me to destroy it. You can see my dilemma. There are lives at stake here.

Yes I'm talking about a video game, this one specifically. Needless to say I spent a significant portion of the last two days playing (*cough* fifteen hours.... *cough* so far *cough*). And it was in the middle of my quest when I set the controller down for a second and decided that I needed to make something to post. I also had a serious chocolate craving. So this is what I came up with. Not pretty, but tasty.

Simple Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

I had no plans to bake or post anything this weekend and ended up doing both. It has been a rough couple of weeks and I felt too wiped to do anything, let alone bake. But somehow this afternoon I found myself needing to occupy some time while visiting my parents and the first thing that came to mind was cookies. Though baking anything at my parents place is a little bit more difficult than you might imagine.

You see when I moved out I took everything with me. Granted, it was all mine to begin with :). I remember how befuddled my mother was realizing that she would have to buy flour for the first time in years or discovering she had no sugar for coffee. But if there is one thing my mother always has on hand, it's peanut butter. She's as much of a peanut butter fiend as I. As a result, I figured the simplest most crowd pleasing thing I could bake with limited supplies was a batch of peanut butter cookies.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Zucchini Cookies

During my weekend at the cottage my grandmother had made some fantastic breaded zucchini the night before I arrived. It was so good. Perfectly seasoned, lightly battered, and the zucchini itself was actually sweet. I could eat that zucchini everyday for the rest of my life. So when my grandmother offered the sibling zucchini for me to take home I couldn't resist. She warned me that it was a rather large but I wasn't prepared for what I would find. There's a good chance that this zucchini originated at the top of a beanstalk (was the Giant's garden made of clouds or something?).

Coconut Macaroons

So here's a bit of a confession, previous to my baking ventures I had no idea what a macaroon was. In fact my only point of reference that it was any type of cookie was from of an Everybody Loves Raymond episode. It's the one where Debra has the cookie tin that she swears she gave back to Marie. At one point Ray and Robert are reminiscing about the cookies they had eaten out of it, and Ray says “macaroons” and Robert replies “aaah...the macaroons” in that way that Brad Garet says things. Hilarious. In fact whenever I say macaroons I hear his voice in my head. You can only imagine how unnerving that is. On the show they were probably talking about macarons (french macaroons, with the filling) and not these coconut macaroons, but still the voice haunts me.