ella's white sugar cookies

recipe from annie's eats - makes about 40 cookies

1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 teaspoon vanilla (use clear vanilla)
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups sifted flour

cream butter, add powdered sugar. blend in egg, almond and vanilla extract, salt and flour. chill dough until firm. roll to 1/4" thickness on a well-floured surface. cut with cookie cutters and put on a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet. bake at 375* for 8-10 minutes. the cookies shouldn't brown. frost when cool.

here's a tutorial and recipe i used to decorate the cookies.

chocolate sugar cookies

recipe adapted from annie's eats

this recipe doesn't make very much so i usually double it. you can never have too many chocolate sugar cookies right? i should warn you, the dough is extremely sticky. i have to refrigerate it overnight before it is workable. even then it's still pretty sticky so i use plenty of flour to roll them out and a pastry brush to remove the excess flour so they look nice and clean when baked.


1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup dutch process cocoa powder (i've found hershey's special dark at the grocery store. just make sure it's dutch process and not natural cocoa powder.)
pinch of salt
6 tablespoons (3 oz.) unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

in a small bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder and salt; whisk to blend and set aside. in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugar. beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. blend in the egg and vanilla. with the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated and no streaks remain. for the dough into a disc, wrap tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

preheat the oven to 325*. line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicone baking mat. on a floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thick. cut out shapes and place on baking sheets. bake 8-8 1/2 minutes, just until set. let cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.

i used the glace icing and tutorial to decorate the cookies from out best bites.

irresistible graham cracker cookies

i found this little gem on the back of a box of kroger graham crackers, of all places. notice there are no eggs - i wish i had known about this recipe when i was pregnant and had a serious craving for cookie dough!

1 1/2 cups honey graham cracker crumbs, finely crushed
1/2 cup flour (i used 1/4 cup all-purpose and 1/4 cup whole wheat)
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup flaked coconut (run your knife through a bit so the pieces aren't too big)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. in a medium bowl, mix together graham cracker crumbs, flour and baking powder. in another bowl, beat sweetened condensed milk and butter until smooth. add vanilla extract. add crumb mixture and stir until smooth. add chocolate chips, coconut, and walnuts. cover dough and place in the refrigerator to chill, about 30-60 minutes. drop walnut sized balls of dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or silpat. bake 10 minutes. let cool for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.

makes 4 dozen

ginger snaps

i love this recipe because it uses oil instead of butter and you can use whole wheat flour and no one will know. these are chewy, a little crispy on the edges, and have the perfect amount of spice.

ginger snaps
yields: 4 dozen

1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour (i use 1 c whole wheat and 1 c all-
purpose flour)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper (trust me on this)
1/3 cup white sugar for decoration

preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

in a large bowl, mix together the brown sugar, oil, molasses, and egg. combine the flour, baking soda, salt, cloves, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cayenne pepper; stir into the molasses mixture. roll a tablespoon of dough into a ball. roll each ball in white sugar before placing 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet. use a glass to smash the dough down to 1/4 inch in thickness.

bake for 7 1/2 to 8 minutes in preheated oven. do not over bake. let them sit on the cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. they will firm up as they cool.

chocolate marshmallow cookies

i think i found this recipe while surfing the net a while ago. i just made these amazing cookies for the first time and they are addicting. when you make them, be prepared to have a lot of people ask you for the recipe.

jumbo marshmallows (about 20)
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup milk

make the icing first so you can frost the cookies when warm.

to make the cookies, cream sugar, butter and vanilla. then add the egg and mix well. mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl. add the milk and dry ingredients to the butter/sugar mixture alternating wet and dry. mix until well combined. drop tablespoons of dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 8 min.

while these are cooking cut your marshmallows in half so you have short round marshmallows.

pull cookies out and set 1/2 a marshmallow on top of each cookie, cut side down, and return to the oven for 1 min. i squish the marshmallow down so they sit into the cookie.

once you take the cookies and marshmallows out of the oven, let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire baking rack with wax paper underneath. the next step gets a little messy.

drizzle the icing on the warm cookies.

icing

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 dash salt
2 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

melt the butter with the milk in the microwave then add the vanilla and almond extract. sift dry ingredients together. mix the dry into the wet ingredients. i use a hand held mixer. you should be able to drizzle the icing on the cookies so you might have to add more milk. but i thought the consistency was perfect as is. let the icing set on the cookies a couple of hours before serving.