A Cookie Index

 

Cut Out Sugar Cookies

I watch shows on Food Network, where home cooks compete against professional pastry chefs. And I think, "I could never do that." 

For one thing, I'd just get too nervous.

For another, I would not do well under time constraints.

 

But I do enjoy baking - whether it's for harvest snack bags with cookies packaged two by two or whether it's for fancy occasions like bridal showers. And in this case, a very special rehearsal dinner.

 

We hosted the dinner at The Dogwood Gardens in Peculiar, Mo. (If you ever find yourself needing an event space in Peculiar, I highly recommend it.)

 

 

Besides the frosted sugar cookies (top photo), I made 11 more treats. 

 

I made this key and framed it, then put it on the serving table so people could see what they were choosing.

 

 

 

 I did the same for the cream cheese candies.

 

 

 

We decided to have Brent's and Susan's rehearsal dinner meal catered by Jack Stack BBQ. (Please refer back to my list of caveats earlier in this post. I would have been a nervous wreck to try and cater a meal for 53 at a location 4 1/2 to 5 hours away from home). 

 

 

But the rehearsal dinner venue gave us the flexibility to bring in our own desserts. (Some venues - like their wedding venue - require approved caterers. I'm not one. We did sneak in the cream cheese candies on the wedding cake table though.)

 

So it was a pleasure to provide this labor of love for Brent & Susan. 

 

 

Thankfully, I could start on the project in advance. So I did several baking days and stashed them in the freezer. 

 

 

I got the cookies and candies crammed in my own freezers. But we had to borrow freezer space at the church to store the three kinds of snack mix I made for welcome bags.  

The welcome bags went to each guest who'd made reservations in the wedding block. Included were two bags of homemade snack mix - one sweet and one savory. The Ladd family helped me assemble them. Susan's mom provided the lavender cookies, made with lavender from a farm near Manhattan.

(When I was taking photos of the things in bags, I missed getting my sticker in the shot. Susan purchased a variety of Kansas City-themed stickers to put in the hotel guest bags. She chose this one for us because of the wheat featured!)

Here are the links to all the kinds of cookies I made for the rehearsal dinner:

Spiced Capacchino Cookies

These cookies have espresso powder for that coffee flavor. They're rolled in cinnamon-sugar before baking to make the "spiced" part of the spiced capacchino flavor. I used cookies and cream Hershey's Kisses for the center candy.

 

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Basic Cookie Dough with Mix-Ins

(M & M Cookies and Pretzel-Peanut Butter Cookies)

 

When I make cookies for harvest, Core meals or some other time I need a lot of cookies, I usually triple a basic cookie recipe and then divide it into five or six parts. I then add different mix-ins to each of those parts. It gives you a variety of cookies without all the work.

 

A year ago or so, I picked up several packages of Nestle's Morsels and More Spring Easter Basket. They were on sale after Easter, so I stuck them in the freezer for future baking.

 

The mix-ins include pretzels, as well as pastel chocolate shapes and mini peanut butter chips. Brent tasted them and really liked them, and he requested them for the rehearsal dinner. I had a partial package left, so I supplemented with some pretzel balls I'd gotten from Glenn's Bulk Foods and some peanut butter chips. To "dress them up," I melted blue candy melts, drizzled it over the cookies and topped with heart sprinkles. 

 

While I was making those, I also did some with mini M & Ms for some variety and a different color.

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Meltaway Lime Shortbread Cookies

These shortbread-based cookies have cornstarch, which gives them their "meltaway" characteristics. The lime zest gives a fresh and summery taste.

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Surprise Middle (Rolo) Cookies

 

Who can resist a chocolate-covered caramel Rolo candy hidden in the middle of a chocolatey cookie? 

 

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Raspberry Thumbprints

Kinley got a purple ribbon at the Shawnee County Fair with Raspberry Thumbprint cookies last summer. The shortbread cookie base is flavored with a little almond extract and a thumbprint-sized dollop of raspberry jam.The recipe is from Sally's Baking Addiction.

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Chocolate Pistachio Shortbread Cookies

Jill first made these cookies and shared the recipe, also from Sally's Baking Addiction. This was one of the two kinds of cookies that were completely gone at the end of the rehearsal diner night. The salty-sweet combo is a hit!

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Aloha Tropical Bars 

Bar cookies are easy, and these are particularly tasty with macademia nuts, dried pineapple, coconut and white chocolate chips. 

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Coconut Macaroons 

This time, I used Brach's Confetti Cake Stars because I wanted a pastel topper. 

I've also used regular chocolate stars and colored candy melts as the center decoration.

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Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

These cookies stuffed with a miniature Reece's peanut butter cup were also gone by the end of the night. Chocolate & PB: Always a popular combo!

Pretzel Bites

You can use different candy melt discs and different colored M & Ms to have these pretzel bites fit any occasion. This time, I used blue candy melts as the base, since that was Brent's and Susan's wedding colors, and then topped them with pastel M & Ms that I bought during Easter and stashed in the freezer. 

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I also served extra snack mixes at the rehearsal dinner. There was a little down time between the rehearsal at The Barn at Riverbend and our arrival at Dogwood Gardens, where we hosted the rehearsal dinner. This gave time for people to visit, grab a drink and some snack mix.

Link to the Snack Mix Up is HERE.

 Link to the Churro Snack Mix is HERE.

I also did traditional Chex Mix, but I didn't get a photo of it. (I don't think I've ever posted a blog with that recipe, but I use something similar to the recipe on the box. I do substitute Quaker Oat Squares for part of the Chex cereal because my family likes the salty-sweet combo. I also use bagel chips that I purchase at Glenn's Bulk Foods. 

NOTE:  There will be photos from the official wedding photographer at some point. Brent & Susan have decided to wait until they have all the photos before they make their selections and post any photos to social media. So I will be patient.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I have made a lot of cookies in my life. Honestly, they're one of my favorite things to make. They have been, since I was a kid using my Mom's Sunbeam mixer to make chocolate chip treats. (We'd make oatmeal raisin - on occasion - for my Dad, but chocolate chip was the Moore girls' favorite.)

I've made hundreds of cookies for bridal showers and baby showers. I've made cookies and stuck them two-by-two like Noah's Ark in plastic bags and stashed them in the freezer until it was time to grab a few for meals in the field. I've made them for church dinners and PTO soup suppers and a jillion other reasons.

So cookies were the dessert of choice when we were talking about what to serve for Brent's and Susan's rehearsal dinner. With the venue some 5 hours away from home, we decided to have the meal itself catered. But a cookie table for dessert was a way I could still make it personal for them, their friends and family.

Last summer, I made a big assortment of cookies for a bridal shower at church. I used some of my favorites from that baking marathon. But I also tried to think of others in my vast repertoire.  

I used to make Peanut Butter Cup cookies using a cake mix for the cookie part. They were easy - and tasty - but I wanted a homemade dough for this special event. I found a recipe on a blog, Two Peas and Their Pod. 

And it didn't disappoint. Well, it didn't disappoint for anyone but Randy. I rarely make peanut butter "stuff" unless I'm taking it somewhere else, since it's not Randy's favorite.

If you don't have similar aversions, I highly recommend the recipe. If you try it, let me know what you think!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

From Two Peas and Their Pod blog

40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 large egg (at room temperature)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon milk (at room temperature)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 24-cup mini muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray. This recipe makes about 40 cookies, so if you have two muffin pans, grease them both. This will speed up the process. (I didn't have 24-cup mini muffin pans, but I had multiple 12-cup pans. If you have them, prepare enough of them to make about 40 cookies.)

 

Place the unwrapped peanut butter cups in the freezer until you are ready to use them. 

 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter, sugars, and peanut butter together until fluffy and smooth, about 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk until well mixed. Add the flour mixture; mix until just combined.

 

Roll the cookie dough into balls, 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie. (I used a cookie scoop.) The dough will be a little sticky; if it is too sticky, you can chill it in the fridge for 20 minutes. Place each ball into prepared muffin pans.

 

Bake for 8-10 minutes; don't overbake. Remove from oven. The centers will collapse a little. Remove the peanut butter cups from the oven and press a peanut butter cup into each cookie. Place the pan in the refrigerator for 15-20 minutes so the cookies can cool. This will keep the peanut butter cups from melting and it will make the easier to remove from the pan.

 

When the cookies are completely cool, remove them from the pan and place on a cooling rack.

The recipe author suggested using smooth peanut butter, so I did. (I usually prefer chunky). They said it makes it easier to remove the cookies from the pan.