Sour Cream Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup peanut butter chips

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in egg, sour cream and vanilla. Combine dry ingredients; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in chips.
• Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until set. Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. Yield: about 3 dozen.

Sugar Cookies

I found this cookie recipe online. It's from Kneaders Bakery. I found the icing recipe on allrecipes, but had to change it a bit. You may need to add additional milk or corn syrup to get it to the right consistency. When it dries it stays shiny and bright.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups butter

2 ¼ cups sugar
4 large eggs

1 cup milk
7 ¾ cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

½ tsp lemon extract

½ tsp salt

¼ tsp nutmeg

1 Tbsp honey
1. Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.

2. Add eggs, then milk. Scrape the sides of the bowl often.

3. Stir in remaining ingredients. Dough will be soft and sticky.

4. Place dough on well floured pastry cloth or workspace.

5. Knead in just enough flour to make dough workable. Dough will be very soft. It is best to knead with a rolling motion so you have a smooth surface and you will not get cracks on the tops of your cookies.

6. Gently roll out to 3/8 inch thick.

7. Cut into desired shapes and place on baking sheet lined with parchment.

8. Bake at 325 for 10-12 minutes or until just the edges barely start to change colors. Makes approx. 4 dozen.

Sugar cookie icing:

Ingredients
1 cup confectioners' sugar
4 teaspoons milk
4 teaspoons light corn syrup
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (or try lemon or vanilla)
assorted food coloring
Directions
In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup or milk. Divide into separate bowls, and add food colorings to each to desired intensity. Dip cookies, or paint them with a brush.

Witch Finger Cookies

The kids had a lot of fun making these. Spencer got real creative making warts and rings for the fingers. A bit labor intensive if you make these yourself, so be sure to let the kids do most the work! Also, these will puff up quite a bit while baking, so make sure to shape them smaller than you want for the finished product.
INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup whole almonds* (I blanched mine, see below)
1 (.75 ounce) tube red decorating gel
DIRECTIONS
Combine the butter, sugar, egg, almond extract, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl. Beat together with an electric mixer; gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt, continually beating; refrigerate 20 to 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Remove dough from refrigerator in small amounts. Scoop 1 heaping teaspoon at a time and roll the dough into a thin finger-shaped cookie. Press one almond into one end of each cookie to give the appearance of a long fingernail. Squeeze cookie near the tip and again near the center of each to give the impression of knuckles. You can also cut into the dough with a sharp knife at the same points to help give a more finger-like appearance. Arrange the shaped cookies on an ungreased baking sheets.
Bake in the preheated oven until the cookies are slightly golden in color, 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove the almond from the end of each cookie; squeeze a small amount of red decorating gel into the cavity; replace the almond to cause the gel to ooze out around the tip of the cookie.
Let cool completely.
*To blanch almonds, pour boiling water over the almonds, enough to cover them. Let stand for one minute (don't over do it), then rinse with cold water. Skins should peel right off.

Lemon Snowball Cookies

Just a light, lemon cookie. The dough needs to be refrigerated at least an hour, so plan ahead if you're going to make these. When baking, make sure they're browned enough on the bottom, or they won't be as crisp.
INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup butter (no substitutes), softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon grated lemon peel
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup finely chopped almonds
confectioners' sugar
DIRECTIONS
In a mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar and egg until well blended. Add lemon juice and peel. Combine flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Add almonds. Cover and refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Roll into 1-in. balls. Place on ungreased baking sheets.
Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned (cookies will not brown on top). Remove immediately to wire racks; cool for 5 minutes, then roll in confectioners' sugar.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

This may well be the most unhealthy thing I've posted so far. But it's good. It's a quick to fix crowd pleaser. And you'd be wise to only make them for a crowd, lest you eat them all yourself.
INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup butter, melted
2 cups powdered sugar
Topping
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
1/4 cup peanut butter
DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, confectioners' sugar, peanut butter and melted butter. Press firmly into the bottom of a 9x13 inch pan. Melt chocolate chips and peanut butter over a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring occasionally. Spread melted chocolate over the crumb crust. Chill for about 20 minutes, then cut into bars, then chill until ready to serve.

Waffle Cookies

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My mom frequently made these while I was growing up. They were my favorite cookie. They're more like a brownie, actually. Each batch makes about 20.
INGREDIENTS
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
6 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
GLAZE:
I'm not really sure the exact amounts for this, but here's a general idea of what I do-
Melt about 2 tablespoons of butter, add a few heaping tablespoons of cocoa and a tablespoon of water. Stir in powdered sugar until you reach the desired consistency, probably 1-1 1/2 cups. Add about 1/2 teaspoon of mint extract if you want, more if that's not strong enough. If you get it too thick, you can add milk or water until you get it right.
DIRECTIONS
In a medium bowl, mix the sugar and butter together. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Then mix in the flour, cocoa, and walnuts. Preheat the waffle iron. I prefer to use a shallow iron, which are almost impossible to find anymore. I've never tried it on the Belgian type.


Drop dough by heaping tablespoons around the waffle iron. Close the lid and cook for 1 1/2 minutes. It may take more or less time depending on the individual waffle iron. Carefully remove to rack to cool.
When cookies are cool, dip them into a chocolate glaze, then let sit until glaze is set.