Cookies

Cookies are one of the nicer desserts: You can whip up a batch, have plenty to enjoy, plenty to share, and save some for another day. With that in mind, here are six cookie recipes, including Chocapocalypse Cookies and Dirty Chai Earthquake Cookies. Enjoy!

LEMON BUTTER COOKIES

This is from Diana Rattray on The Spruce Eats. Diana wrote, “These lemon butter cookies are delicious little snowballs full of vibrant lemon flavor. Fresh finely grated lemon zest and lemon juice flavor the cookies perfectly, and the powdered sugar coating makes them extra special. I add chopped walnuts to the cookies but they may be made with chopped pecans or no nuts at all.

“Bake these easy lemon butter cookies for a special occasion or family treat. They're perfect for a party or holiday. Bake them for Easter or a spring or summer event.

“The recipe is easily scaled up for a party or bake sale event. See the tips and variations for a few more ideas and tips for freezing cookies.”

Total: 30 mins; Prep: 15 mins; Cook: 15 mins; Yield: 2 to 3 Dozen (24 servings)

To view this yummy, lemony recipe online, click here.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (8 ounces)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter (unsalted, softened)

2/3 cup sugar (granulated)

2 teaspoon lemon peel (finely grated)

1 large egg

3 tablespoons lemon juice (fresh)

1/2 cup walnuts (finely chopped)

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Directions

Heat the oven to 350 F.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease the pan lightly.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Blend thoroughly with a spoon or whisk. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream the butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 4 to 5 minutes.

Beat the egg and lemon zest into the creamed mixture, and then add the lemon juice.

Gradually stir the flour mixture into the first mixture until well blended.

Fold in the chopped walnuts.

With floured hands, shape the dough into small balls and arrange on the prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart. The cookies will spread just slightly.

Bake the lemon cookies for about 12 to 16 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned on the bottoms.

Remove the cookies from the baking sheet to a rack and let them cool.

Using a mesh sieve or sifter, sprinkle the cooled cookies with confectioners' sugar.

Makes about 2 to 3 dozen cookies.

Tips and Variations

If you'll be freezing the cookies, omit the powdered sugar coating. Put the cookies in containers separated with sheets of wax paper and freeze for up to 4 months. Defrost the cookies and place them on a rack. Sift powdered sugar over them.

Omit the chopped walnuts or replace them with chopped pecans or toasted coconut.

Add a teaspoon of dried ground lavender flowers to the flour mixture.

If you are using salted butter, reduce the salt slightly to a scant 1/2 teaspoon.

DIRTY CHAI EARTHQUAKE COOKIES

This comes from Susan Spungen at The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Susan wrote, “In case you’re wondering about the name of this cakey, chewy-edged cookie, which nearly explodes through its sugary crust, it’s a nod to a coffee bar creation in which a shot of espresso tops off a cup of masala chai, the Indian spiced tea. It’s right at home on a traditional holiday cookie plate, thanks to its festive cinnamon, cardamom, ginger and cloves. Feel free to add a little freshly grated nutmeg, if you’re so inclined. A strong coffee flavor adds nuance; black pepper lends a spicy kick; and malted milk powder, browned butter and brown sugar all contribute toasty warm notes to this craveable treat.”

Time: 45 minutes, plus chilling; Yield: 2 dozen cookies.

This was featured in “12 Stunning Cookies That Will Impress Everyone You Know,” and can be viewed online at https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020652-dirty-chai-earthquake-cookies.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon finely ground espresso (not instant espresso) or finely ground coffee

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter (1 stick)

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons malted milk powder, such as Carnation brand

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom

1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon finely ground black pepper

2 large eggs

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract or paste

1/4 cup granulated sugar, for rolling

1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted, for rolling

Preparation

Put espresso or coffee in a small metal bowl. Put butter in a small saucepan, and cook over medium-high heat, swirling and stirring occasionally with a rubber spatula, until nutty brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the butter to the bowl with the espresso and stir to combine. Set aside to cool, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the rest of the cookie.

Combine the flour, malted milk powder, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine thoroughly and set aside.

Combine eggs and light brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until well combined and slightly paler, about 3 minutes, scraping bowl as needed.

Add the vanilla and the butter mixture, then mix on low speed until combined. Add the flour mixture, then mix again on low until combined. Transfer dough to a resealable glass or plastic container, and chill thoroughly, at least 2 hours and up to 3 days.

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Put granulated sugar and confectioners’ sugar into two separate bowls. Use a small cookie scoop to portion dough into heaping tablespoons (about 25 grams each). Roll into smooth balls and drop a few at a time into the bowl of granulated sugar, rolling to coat. Transfer to the bowl with the confectioners’ sugar. Roll gently, coating well, then transfer to a parchment- or silicone mat-lined baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between cookies. Place in freezer until firm, about 10 minutes.

Bake until cookies are golden underneath but still quite tender (they will firm up as they cool), 12 to 14 minutes. Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheets and transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for 1 week.

OATMEAL CRANBERRY COOKIES

This is from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list.

1/2 Pound Unsalted Butter (2 Sticks)

1 1/4 Cups Brown Sugar

1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar

2 Large Eggs

2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract

2 Tablespoons Milk

2 Cups Rolled Oats

2 Cups All-Purpose Flour

1 Teaspoon Baking Soda

1 Teaspoon Cinnamon

1 Teaspoon Salt

2 Cups Dried Cranberries

Directions

Cream butter and sugars until fluffy, beat in eggs, vanilla and milk. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt. Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and stir until combined. Stir in cranberries. Divide dough in half, roll into a log about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Refrigerate until firm. Heat oven to 350 degrees F, slice logs into cookies, bake on parchment lined cookie sheets leaving 1 1/2 inches between cookies. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack.

CHOCAPOCALYPSE COOKIES

This is from Alton Brown of the Food Network's show, Good Eats. Total Time: 2 hr 30 min; Prep: 45 min; Inactive: 1 hr 15 min; Cook: 30 min; Yield: 55 cookies; Level: Intermediate

To view this online, go to http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/chocapocalypse-cookie-recipe.print.html?oc=linkback

Ingredients

6 ounces 54-percent bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped

1 3/4 ounces all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

6 ounces light brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ounces 70-percent bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 ounces 40-percent milk chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 ounces cocoa nibs

Directions

Place the 54-percent bittersweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate in a medium glass mixing bowl and microwave on high for two 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval. If still not smooth, heat for 10 additional seconds at a time and stir until smooth. Set aside to cool to 90 degrees F, approximately 15 minutes.

Whisk the flour, baking powder and salt together, transfer to a paper plate and set aside.

Put the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium speed until combined and looks like wet sand, about 2 minutes.

Whisk the eggs and vanilla together in a small bowl. Turn the mixer on low speed and slowly add the egg mixture until fully incorporated. Pour in the melted chocolate and mix to combine. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl.

With the mixer on low speed, add the flour mixture and mix until integrated. Add the 70-percent bittersweet chocolate, 40-percent milk chocolate and the cocoa nibs and mix until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 45 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Scoop the dough using a 1 1/4-inch-diameter disher or ice cream scoop onto parchment-lined half-sheet pans, placing 2 inches apart, 12 cookies per pan. Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, rotating after 5 minutes. Do not over-bake; the cookies may look wet and doughy.

Cool the cookies on the pan for 2 minutes, then transfer on the parchment paper to a cooling rack to cool completely.

PERFECT BLACK AND WHITE COOKIES

This is from Melissa Clark at The New York Times cooking e-newsletter. Melissa wrote, “Tender, moist and scented with vanilla, almond and lemon, these classic confections popular all over the Midwest and the state of New York are more cake than cookie, with a fine crumb and velvet texture from the sour cream in the batter. Even better, they are glazed with both vanilla and chocolate, so you don’t have to pick favorites. These are best eaten within 24 hours of baking, when the cake is at its softest and the glaze at its snappiest. But if you store them in an airtight container at room temperature, they’ll be good for a few days longer.”

Yield: 12 to 14 cookies; Time: 1 hour, plus cooling

To view this online, go to https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1020254-perfect-black-and-white-cookies.

Ingredients

For the Cookies:

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup sour cream or whole-milk yogurt

1/3 cup whole milk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoonsgranulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

For the Glaze:

2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar

Boiling water, as needed

1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Pinch of fine sea salt

2 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled

2 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

Preparation

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Arrange racks in top and bottom thirds, and line two rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, sea salt and baking soda. In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, milk, vanilla, lemon zest and almond extract.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in eggs, one at a time, until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Reduce speed to low and beat in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/3 of the sour cream mixture. Repeat until both mixtures are incorporated, scraping sides of bowl as necessary. (Mixture will be the consistency of thick poundcake batter.)

Dollop heaping 1/4-cup scoops of batter onto prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. (You should have 12 to 14 cookies.) Bake for 6 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets. Continue to bake until the cookies have firmed up and spring back when lightly pressed in the center, 6 to 9 minutes. (They’ll brown only on the bottoms.) Take care not to overbake, or they will dry out.

Transfer baking sheets to wire racks and let cool for 15 minutes, then transfer cookies directly to racks to cool completely.

While the cookies cool, make the glaze: Place the confectioners’ sugar in a medium bowl and whisk in 3 tablespoons boiling water, the corn syrup, vanilla and salt. Continue to whisk, adding more boiling water as needed, until you have a thick yet spreadable frosting that is the texture of hot fudge sauce. (Too thick is preferable to too thin.) Flip each cookie over and spoon glaze over half of its flat side, spreading to edges with the back of the spoon. Place on wire rack to set. You will have vanilla frosting left over.

Whisk melted chocolate into vanilla frosting, then whisk in cocoa and enough room temperature water to make a thick yet spreadable glaze. Glaze the bare half of each cookie. Let glaze set for at least 1 to 2 hours before serving.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE COOKIES

This is from the infamous long-since-forgotten emailing list. Prep: 15 min.

This begins, “This recipe serves 12 people. Due to the nature of this recipe, it adjusts the number of servings in multiples of 12 only.”

Ingredients

1-1/2 cups unsalted butter

3 cups sugar

1/4 cup plus 2 Tbs. cocoa powder

3/4 cup milk

4 cups quick oatmeal

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups walnuts, chopped

1 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

Combine butter, sugar & cocoa in heavy saucepan over medium heat. Stir until butter is melted & mixture is combined. Stir in milk. Increase heat to high & bring to boil. Let boil 1-1/2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat & stir in remaining ingredients until mixed thoroughly. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper. Set aside to dry completely.