Fresh Baked Cookies Anytime

It's so easy to produce fresh baked cookies on a whim if you just take a few minutes to prepare ahead of time.

Make a batch of drop cookies such as chocolate chip, sugar, or gingersnaps as directed in the recipe. Then instead of baking, shape into balls and place on a baking sheet and freeze for 1 hour. Store in plastic bags in the freezer. Be sure to label the bags with the name of the cookie and date. Store for up to 3 months in double-wrapped plastic freezer bags.

Baker's Tip: Also label the bag with the baking instructions (15 min. @ 350 degrees). You won't need to search for the recipe when it's time to bake.

Remove the cookies and let thaw for about fifteen minutes while the oven warms. You may need to add 1 or 2 minutes to the baking time to account for the partially frozen cookies.


Ready for the Freezer















I made these pecan sandies which freeze well and are easy to make.

Pecan Sandies

1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup pecans, medium chopped

Beat butter and sugar together using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and salt. Mix until incorporated. With mixer on low, add flour, beating until just combined. Remove bowl from mixer and add pecans, gently folding them into the dough.

Roll dough into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on two baking sheets. Freeze as directed above or bake immediately. Gently flatten each ball with the bottom of a damp glass (to avoid sticking).

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Bake until cookies are golden brown, 15 - 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.
Transfer to wire racks to cool. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Crispy Cocoa-Walnut Ice Cream Sandwich Cookies

Many of you may be wondering where I've been for the last month or so since my last post back in late January. My life has been consumed by the stressful process of moving. Well, not just moving, but the whole real estate buying process in general. Moving in and of itself is stressful. Add that to a city co-op real estate transaction and it's enough to make anyone start taking Xanax. But all that's behind me and all that's left is unpacking a few boxes and deciding where to hang pictures. The fun stuff.

Needless to say, I haven't had much time to bake and I am going through withdrawals. Kind of like Charlie Sheen these days. Frankly, I'm a little scared to bake in my new oven. It's fairly old and so far the temperature dial is only a mere suggestion of what the inside heat might be. I stress the word MIGHT. Last night I made a meatloaf and set the oven for 350 degrees. About 30 minutes in I checked and the oven thermometer inside was 400! Luckily, I have a window next to the oven so when I do burn something I just open the window and wave the smoke out.

A few weeks before the move I made a special treat for Valentine's Day. Crispy Cocoa-Walnut Cookies admirably served as the outer shell enveloping creamy vanilla ice cream. Topped with chocolate sauce, this dessert was a magnificent ending to a merely average dinner.

Feel free to make these any time of the year. Summer would be an ideal time. Or now. How about right now? Who can resist an ice cream cookie sandwich? No one that I know.

The cookie recipe is courtesy of bon appétit's February issue. The ice cream part was my idea. I substituted walnuts for pecans but you can use any nuts. I think hazelnuts would be an excellent choice.


Crispy Cocoa-Pecan (Walnut) Cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder (scooped, then leveled)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/3 cup (lightly packed) brown sugar
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)
1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chips

Whisk flour, cocoa, baking soda, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Stir butter, brown sugar, sugar, corn syrup, milk, and vanilla in another medium bowl until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture, then nuts. Cover and chill until firm, about 4 hours or overnight.

Position 1 rack in the top third and 1 rack in the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees.

Line 3 large baking sheets with parchment. Measure 2 level tablespoons dough and roll between palms into a ball. Place on prepared baking sheet. Using the palm of your hand, gently press the dough onto the cookie sheet to form a 3-inch diameter disk. Repeat with remaining dough, spacing 5 inches apart.

Bake cookies 8 minutes, reverse sheets. Continue baking until cookies are flat and beginning to darken around the edges, about 10 more minutes. Transfer cookies on parchment paper to rack. Cookies will crisp while they cool.

Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.

Form Ice Cream Sandwiches

Let ice cream soften for 5 minutes or so. Scoop one generous portion of vanilla ice cream onto the bottom of one cookie and then place another cookie on top, pressing gently. Remove any excess ice cream by gently scraping the sides of the cookie with a spatula. Top with melted bittersweet chocolate and serve immediately. Or place on cookie sheet and return sandwiches to the freezer until ice cream has hardened and chocolate has set. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Best eaten within 5 days.

Cookie Press Rating: 4 cookies (out of 5)

Caramel Pecan Cookies

Last week's entry for Brownie Squares yielded some interesting comments from readers. My friend Lisa said, "This looks so good I may get the apron out tonight." And my friend Myra said, "OMG! These look incredible!! :-)." I love that Myra included a smiley face with her comment.

Today I think I'll share another recipe using the same butter cookie base but adding caramel and pecans on the top. If you like sweet and gooey caramel, these cookies are TDF (to die for). I've made them every year for the past five years. I shared the recipe with my mom and she has been known to make them throughout the year.

If you have never made caramel before it's not too difficult but you do need to pay attention to what you're doing so that you don't burn yourself or your house down. Caramel is made by melting sugar, adding heavy cream, cooking until the caramel is smooth, and finally adding butter, vanilla, and salt. Be careful when adding the cream, as the melted sugar will bubble and steam vigorously. Make sure to use a 3 quart saucepan to avoid a catastrophic boil over.

Basic Butter Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.

Beat together butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 - 4 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Grease a 9 x 13 inch metal baking pan, then line with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on both ends. Then grease foil.

Press dough evenly into bottom of baking pan, using plastic wrap or wax paper on top to keep dough from sticking to your fingers. Chill until firm, about 20 minutes.

As crust chills, preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake crust until golden brown, about 20 - 25 minutes. Do not over bake. Remove from oven and cool on wire rack for 20 minutes. Leave oven on.

While crust cools, make the caramel topping.


Caramel Pecan Topping

1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter cut into bits
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups pecans, toasted, cooled, and coarsely chopped

Make topping while crust cools:
Cook sugar in a 3 quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar is melted to a deep golden caramel. Be careful not to burn. Tilt pan and carefully pour in cream. Sugar will harden and steam vigorously so be careful. Place back on burner and continue cooking over moderately low heat, stirring, until caramel is smooth. Increase heat as needed if caramel is not yet smooth after 2 - 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla, salt, and pecans.

Immediately spread topping over cooled crust and bake until bubbling, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack for about 2 hours.

Lift cookies out of pan by gently loosening and lifting the foil. Place on large cutting board and remove foil. Run a knife (chef's knife works well) under hot water then wipe dry. Cut into 2-inch triangles, diamonds, or squares.

Cookies keep layered in wax paper in airtight containers for up to 1 week. They also freeze well for 2 - 3 weeks.

Cookie press rating: 5 cookies (out of 5)

Flourless Double-Chocolate Pecan Cookies

A friend of mine recently asked if I've tried any gluten-free baking. "No," I quickly replied. It has always been my feeling that good tasting cookies require flour in the same way that sports cars require leather seats. Sure, you could take away the flour or change seat coverings, but why would you want to?

Shortly after that conversation I found a recipe for Double Chocolate Pecan Cookies which required no flour. It was kismet. I had to try the recipe. Much to my surprise the cookies were absolutely delicious. A crispy outside housed a moist and chewy inside bursting with deep chocolate flavor and an ever so faint salty taste. The pecans add some crunch and texture to the cookie. I'm a now on the gluten-free band wagon.

These cookies spread when baking so be sure to leave 3 inches between each when you spoon them onto parchment-lined baking sheets. After you add the egg whites you may think they will never blend into the dry ingredients. They will. Keep stirring.

I experimented with some leftover dough by baking it in a small ramekin. It required about 15 minutes more baking time, but came out looking and tasting great. Topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, it's a new take on the molten chocolate cakes that were so popular a few years ago and are still found on many restaurant dessert menus. I sprayed the ramekin with non-stick spray which didn't work. I suggest you serve it in the ramekin and let your guests scoop it out themselves as they devour it and tell you what a great baker you are. Fill the ramekin only two-thirds full to avoid a mess in your oven.

I tried the recipe a second time and added 3/4 cup of mini-marshmallows to the dough. This is a must if you like sweet and gooey cookies.

This recipe is from Everyday Food magazine.

Flourless Double-Chocolate Pecan Cookies

3 cups confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder (I use Droste)
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (or walnuts)
4 large egg whites, room temperature

Variation: 3/4 cup mini-marshmallows

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar, cocoa, and salt. Sir in the chocolate and pecans. Add egg whites and stir just until incorporated. Do not overmix. Add mini-marshmallows if using.

Drop dough by 1/4 cupfuls, 3 inches apart, onto parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until cookie tops are dry and cracked slightly, about 25 minutes. Rotate sheets halfway through baking time. Transfer sheets to wire racks and let cookies cool completely. Cookies keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container. Makes approximately 12 cookies.

Variation Using 3 Inch Ramekin














Variation With Mini-Marshmallows













Cookie Press Rating: 4 cookies (out of 5)

By the way, I'm still sticking to my belief that sports cars require leather seats and nobody will change my mind about that.

Pecan Biscotti

I don't know about you, but I like to dip crunchy cookies into tea or milk and then gobble them down just before they start to disintegrate and fall to the bottom of my cup. Most often the cookie that fits the bill is biscotti. If you like to improvise when you bake, you'll like making biscotti. Once you get the wet and dry ingredients mixed, feel free to add various kinds of nuts, chocolate chips, dried cranberries and extracts. As my mother always says, "whatever floats your boat." I wouldn't go hog wild by adding many varieties of nuts or flavorings in a single batch. Remember when you mixed too many paint colors in elementary school and ended up with an ugly brown? That's what will happen here. You'll have too many competing flavors and a cookie that will be ready for the trash can.

Biscotti literally means twice cooked in Italian and that's exactly what you do. It's easiest to make biscotti using a food processor. If you don't have one you could always use one of those pesky Bed, Bath & Beyond 20% off coupons that clog your mailbox. Head over to the Beyond department and treat yourself.

If you don't want to invest in a food processor, you can still make biscotti. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until well mixed and then add the wet ingredients.

This recipe for pecan biscotti is adapted from the book, got milk? the cookie book, by Peggy Cullen. This book has great photos and many wonderful cookie recipes. It also provides the basics of cookie making and troubleshooting tips in an easy and fun format.

Pecan Biscotti

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup plus 1 t sugar
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
3/4 t cinnamon
1/2 stick cold, unsalted butter
2 large eggs
1 t vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups toasted pecans (toast on a baking sheet in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes, shaking pan once or twice)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease lightly with butter.

In a food processor fitted with a steel blade, combine flour with 1 cup of sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pulse about five times to blend the dry ingredients. Cut butter into small cubes and add to dry ingredients. Pulse 10 to 15 times in one second intervals until butter pieces are very small, but still visible.

In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs and vanilla. Pour over the dry ingredients. Pulse a few more times to blend. Scrape the sides and bottom of bowl with a rubber spatula. Add 1 1/2 cups toasted pecans (whole or pieces) and pulse about three to five more times. Tip: don't chop the nuts too finely or they will disappear in the dough and you want some large pieces to remain. Dough should be moist and even in color.

Turn dough out onto table and gather into one ball, making sure to moisten any dry spots by using the heel of your hand to mix dough. Divide dough into two equal parts.

Form each into a 12 inch log. Transfer logs to the prepared baking sheet, leaving ample room for each to spread as they bake. Flatten logs so each is about 2 inches wide. Sprinkle logs with a mixture of cinnamon sugar (1/4 t cinnamon and 1 t granulated sugar).


Baked logs


Cut log


Back in the oven

Bake for 30 minutes. Log should begin to turn golden. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 5 - 10 minutes. Leave oven on.

Transfer logs to a cutting board. Using a large, sharp knife (a chef's knife works well), cut each log crosswise on a diagonal, each piece 1/2 inch thick. It's important not to let the logs cool too much or it will be impossible to cut the cookies without major crumbling. Arrange cookies cut side up on the baking sheets and bake 7 to 10 minutes, until the cookies begin to brown slightly. Do not overbake. Remove from oven and let cool completely and harden on baking sheet.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.


Cookie Press Review

I'm a huge fan of these crunchy, cinnamony, pecany, cookies. Full of flavor, I could eat them by the dozen (and have!). These are adult cookies. I doubt kids would find them too satisfying since they are not overly sweet.

Cookie press rating: 4 cookies (out of five)