Cookies Archives - The Midnight Baker

Jelly Bars

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 27 Nov 2022 00:00:25 +0000

Whether you call them jelly bars or Italian butter cookies, they’re delicious by either name.

Jelly Bars Are Easy

Yes, jelly bars are incredibly easy to make despite how they look!

Anyone can get bakery-quality results at home and less expensive too. One thing I was always a sucker for was Italian bakery cookies. I admit that I’m a virtual bottomless pit when it comes to eating them. When I lived in New York City, they were easy to get–I had my fave Italian bakeries–but they are readily available. Where I live now, not so much so I would treat myself a couple of times a year with cookies from a Brooklyn bakery I’d frequent. However, having to pay $30-$40 per pound of cookies plus shipping got too rich for my blood.

This recipe was posted in one of my food groups on Facebook/ I was so glad this member posted it because now I make these in my own kitchen.

Piping Is Easy

Please trust me when I tell you I’m generally a klutz when it comes to using a pastry bag and tips. I won’t decorate a cake since it would be a disaster waiting to happen. However, this simple exercise with the bag and tip was easy. Just lay the tip touching the parchment at a 45-degree angle and squeeze to the desired length. I found about 3-inches to be a pretty good length.

The tip I used was a large star tip. The ones that come in starter decorator sets won’t do since they’re too small. A friend who’s a cake decorator gave me one but this large star tip is the one she gave me. You can also use a large round tip of approximately the same size. The star tip will just make the fancy ridges.

Flavor The Cookies

To keep the flavor neutral to play it safe if you don’t know people’s tastes, then use vanilla.

I’m a freak for anything almond flavored so I use almond extract. Especially if I’m using raspberry jam. The almond-flavored cookie along with the hint of raspberry with a dash of the chocolate is a real taste sensation.

The Recipe

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Jelly Bars

Classic Italian sandwich cookies

Prep Time30

Cook Time16

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: Italian

Keyword: Italian bakery cookies, Italian butter cookies, jelly bars

Servings: 18

Calories: 324kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 cup butter room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar icing sugar in UK
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp vanilla or almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
pinch salt
2 tbs heavy cream

Filling/Decor

1 cup red jam
1 cup chocolate morsels
1/2 cup sprinkles

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
Using a heavy-duty stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla, mixing well.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add gradually to the butter mixture, mixing well.
Add the heavy cream and mix just until incorporated. Add the dough to pastry bag. I used s very large star tip, but a plain round one about 1/2-inch/1.25-cm will do just as well.
Line baking sheets with parchment and pipe dough about 3-inches/7.5-cm long and about 2-inches/5-cm apart.
Bake for 14-16 minutes or until cookies are just beginning to get golden around the edges. Let the cookies cool on the sheet until firm enough to move to cooling racks.
To fill and decorate: Melt chocolate morsels in the microwave for 45 seconds; stir until smooth. They may need 10-15 seconds more if they're not completely melted.
Spread about 1 tablespoon of jam on flat bottom of one cookie. Top with the flat side of a plain cookie.
Dip the tip of each sandwich cookie in the melted chocolate then dip the chocolate part in the sprinkles.
Amount of cookies will vary with how big you want to make them. I got around 1 1/2 dozen sandwiches.

Nutrition

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Molasses Raisin Buns

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 13 Nov 2022 00:00:11 +0000

Molasses raisin buns are an old-fashioned treat. Easy to make and totally delicious.

Molasses Raisin Buns–Old-Time Treat

If you’re looking for a real old-fashioned treat for Christmas, these molasses raisin buns are just what you’re looking for.

They have a real old-fashioned flavor from the molasses. That’s a deep rich flavor which we’ve gotten away from lately. Molasses used to be used so much more years ago and I really don’t know why it seemed to fall out of favor as an ingredient. Sure, it’s used in gingerbread and all, but it was a more common ingredient not so long ago.

For my UK readers, black treacle is almost the same as the US standard molasses, so just substitute that.

Forming The Dough

First thing to know is even though this recipe has four cups of flour, its yield isn’t big. The reason is you form them into balls about the size of a golf ball (maybe a tad larger) so you are not overrun with buns.

The one thing to remember here is the dough is pretty sticky so you’ll want to form the balls with damp hands. The good thing is you can just scoop–I use an ice cream scoop–(affiliate link) them into a standard muffin pan. Do make sure to grease the cups of the muffin pan if you choose to use one. I didn’t–I used a large baking sheet lined with parchment that I sprayed with non-stick spray. Nothing stuck.

Raisins Or Not

Originally, these molasses buns contained no raisins. I add them because they give them a very interesting flavor.

Funny given the molasses and all, these are not overly sweet. Of course the raisins add a touch of sweetness, but they are still not sugary. They’re excellent for dunking if you have any left over the next day

The Recipe

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Molasses Raisin Buns

Old-fashioned flavor

Prep Time15

Cook Time30

Course: Breakfast, Brunch, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: molasses buns, molasses cookies with raisins

Servings: 15 (varies)

Calories: 359kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 cup molasses
1 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup butter
4 cups flour
1 cup raisins

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Combine milk, egg, molasses, cinnamon and baking soda.
Stir well. Add sugar and butter.
Mix well and warm mixture in microwave for 40 seconds.
Add flour and mix well. Form into balls and place in rows in a greased baking dish.
Bake at 350 degrees for 25 – 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted
into the center comes out clean.
Can also be made in muffins pans

Nutrition

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Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 08 Oct 2022 23:00:06 +0000

Chewy peanut butter brownies will satisfy an peanut butter lover.

Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies–YUM!

Let me start by saying that I am a huge peanut butter fanatic. I love the stuff so much that I eat it straight from the jar with a spoon. So when I saw these chewy peanut butter brownies, I knew I had to make them.

All I can say is they are really very good. Surprisingly, they’re not too sweet either. That was something I appreciated since most of these types of food are a little heavy on the sugar. The amounts in the recipe are just right.

Peanut Butter

Since the flavor depends upon it, use a good-tasting peanut butter. This can be your favorite brand and it doesn’t have to cost a fortune. For my taste, the best one is Walmart’s house label. It has a rich, deep peanutty taste that beats the more expensive brand in my opinion.

A honey roasted variety would work well here too. As far as crunchy peanut butter goes, it would probably be OK to use although I have never tried it. If. you use it and get good results, please let me know so I can list it as an option.

Like Chocolate?

OK I know–who doesn’t. However you can dress up these brownies by drizzling some melted chocolate on top. You could really get bold and top them with chocolate frosting.

Personally, I think the drizzle would work best here. That way there’s no overkill with flavor. Chocolate is strong so it may mask the peanutty taste.

The drizzle I’d use is a simple ganache. That’s about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of heavy cream where you just nuke and stir. The best part is whatever is left over hardens to a great bark-like texture. I spread the leftover on wax paper and just let it solidify. Delicious!

The Recipe

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Chewy Peanut Butter Brownies

For peanut butter lovers

Prep Time10

Cook Time35

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: brownies that don't have chocolate, peanut butter brownies

Servings: 9

Calories: 315kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup unsalted butter softened
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Grease a 9 x 9-inch baking pan. Set aside
In a medium bowl, cream the peanut butter and butter. Gradually add the sugars, beating until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs, beating well after each. Blend in the vanilla.
Mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir into the peanut butter mixture, blending well.
Turn into prepared pan, making an even layer.
Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool and cut into 9 portions.

Nutrition

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Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

Judith Hannemann — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 23:00:41 +0000

These buttery and delicious chocolate dipped shortbread cookies will become a favorite.

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies–YUM!

You won’t find too many people who don’t like shortbread cookies. And we all know how well received chocolate is. In fact the only people I know that don’t eat it have an allergy.

These cookies are just awesome. They’re big and thick and buttery. That’s everything you want in a shortbread cookie. Now dipping the ends in a good dark chocolate really makes them go over the edge. Since these chocolate dipped shortbread cookies are large and thick, there’s not much guilt as one will probably satisfy.

Use A Good Chocolate

You’ll want to use a high-grade chocolate here. Semi sweet or dark is the way to go. I prefer dark and used a 60 per cent cacao variety. That level provides a nice but subtle bitterness that offsets the sweetness of the shortbread cookie. If you prefer a bolder bitterness, then go with 70 per cent cacao. It’s all a matter of personal taste.

I prefer to use a European chocolate because it’s silkier. That’s because it’s conched for much longer than we do in the US. Remember that Europeans are really, and I mean really are into their chocolate delights so they produce a superior product. There are good American varieties but do stay away from “bargain” brands. As an aside, Aldi has fantastic chocolate–I think it’s Belgian–so don’t overlook it.

Unsalted Butter?

Yes. It’s necessary for the best texture.

Unsalted butter produces a velvety smooth texture. Years ago my mom experimented with using salted butter. The shortbread was delicious but it had a grainy texture. It’s a textural thing; the taste is not affected. Most cooks/bakers I know always bake and cook with unsalted butter so I’m sure most have it on hand in the fridge.

The Recipe

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Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

Decadent and delicious

Prep Time20

Cook Time25

Chill Time30

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: chocolate shortbread cookies, giant shortbread cookies

Servings: 20

Calories: 290kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

3/4 lb unsalted butter 3 sticks,at room temperature
1 cup sugar plus extra for sprinkling
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 to 7 ounces very good semisweet chocolate finely chopped

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 F/180C.
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix together the butter and 1 cup of sugar until they are just combined. Add the vanilla.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and salt, then add them to the butter-and-sugar mixture. Mix on low speed until the dough starts to come together. Dump onto a surface dusted with flour and shape into a flat disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes.
Roll the dough 1/2-inch thick and cut with a 3 by 1-inch finger-shaped cutter. Place the cookies on an ungreased baking sheet and sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Allow to cool to room temperature.
When the cookies are cool, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Put 3 ounces of the chocolate in a glass bowl and microwave on high power for 30 seconds. (Don't trust your microwave timer; time it with your watch.) Stir with a wooden spoon. Continue to heat and stir in 30-second increments until the chocolate is just melted. Add the remaining chocolate and allow it to sit at room temperature, stirring often, until it's completely smooth. Stir vigorously until the chocolate is smooth and slightly cooled; stirring makes it glossier.
Drizzle 1/2 of each cookie with just enough chocolate to coat it.

Nutrition

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Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 17 May 2022 23:00:02 +0000

Nothing beats classic peanut butter cookies. So easy to make too.

Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

Since these cookies are so easy to make, you’ll definitely make them often.

The key here is to use a top-quality peanut butter because that’s the main flavor here. Creamy peanut butter is the standard for use, but I’ve also tried these with chunky peanut butter and they are very good too.

Classic peanut butter cookies bake up in no time at all. I usually bake mine for about 6 minutes because I like them a bit on the chewy side–which works pretty well even now right after dental surgery!

Easy Mix

The reason these are so easy and mix beautifully is that there’s no softening of anything here.

These cookies use vegetable shortening which is at room temperature already so there’s no waiting for any ingredient to come up to the ambient temperature.

Honestly I’m not one much for vegetable shortening, but it works here because it really lets the flavor of the peanut butter shine through. It’s the traditional kind–not the butter-flavored one. That stuff is nasty!

Don’t worry about the egg. That you can use straight out of the refrigerator with no consequences but it you’d like to have it at room temperature, just drop it in a bowl of warm water (it’s still in it’s shell FYI) while you measure out everything else.

Now And Later

I rarely bake the entire yield with these because they are so quick cooking you can make them fresh when you want them.

The dough keeps well. I’ve kept it for at least two weeks in the fridge without any bad effects. So I make what I want and save the rest of the dough for later.

If you do small batches, they’d probably be good made in the air fryer. I haven’t tried this yet but I would make sure to use the parchment liners and maybe a small rack on top in case they fly around. I’d go with the same temperature as the oven but I’d check these for doneness after about 4 minutes.

The Recipe

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Classic Peanut Butter Cookies

Easy and delicious

Prep Time10

Cook Time7

Course: cookies, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: classic peanut butter cookies, peanut butter cookies using crisco, traditional peanut butter cookies

Servings: 18

Calories: 179kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Heat oven to 375F/190C. Combine peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended. Drop by rounded measuring tablespoonfuls of dough 2-inches apart onto greased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in a crisscross pattern with tines of a fork.
Bake one baking sheet at a time for 6 to 8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to cooling rack to cool completely.

Nutrition

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Copycat Girl Scout DoSiDos

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 06 Feb 2022 00:00:18 +0000

DoSiDos are a perennial Girl Scout cookie favorite. This is the best copycat version you’ll find.

Best Copycat Girl Scout DoSiDos

i’ve tried a lot of copycat recipes for these perennially favorite Girl Scout cookies, but none have come as close to this one.

There’s something for everyone in these cookies. If you like oatmeal, check, it’s in here. If you like coconut, check, it’s also in here. As a side note if you’re not fond of coconut, it can be left out. Last but not least is the creamy peanut butter filling. It’s absolutely wonderful!

These aren’t formed in the usual peanut butter cookie way so leave the fork in the drawer.

Shaping

Unlike the usual shaping of traditional peanut butter cookies, with these you don’t press them down in a cross-hatch with a fork,

These cookies are actually drop cookies and you can just drop them on the cookie sheet and let ‘er rip, as they say. However, if you want consistent sizes, you’ll want to go the extra step of rolling them into small balls. The issue, besides aesthetics, is that they are sandwich cookies so you want them all to be pretty much the same size,

I actually measured out the dough using a standard measuring tablespoon–and leveling it off. This made balls about the size of a hazelnut and that worked out very well as far as consistency in size went. I didn’t want humungous cookies. If you do, then make the balls a little bigger. Remember the yield is actually half because you use two cookies to make one–if that makes sense,

Filling

This is crazy delicious so you have to stop yourself from “taste testing” before the cookies are filled.

The caution here is that it makes quite a bit so you may have some left over. I did and I wasn’t cheap with filling the cookies either. Granted I didn’t measure the amount I put on; I just eyeballed it but I would say it was about 1 1/2 tablespoons if I had to guess.

A pastry bag with a 1/2-inch round tip works pretty well for distributing the filling, but I just dropped it on with a spoon, placed the other cookie on top and squeezed the middle. Worked for me and I had less to wash up.

The Recipe

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Copycat DoSiDos

Best copycat of the beloved Girl Scout peanut butter cookie

Prep Time25

Cook Time12

Chill Time30

Course: Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: copycat dosidos, copycat girl scout cookie recipes, peanut butter sandwich cookies

Servings: 16

Calories: 465kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 cup sugar
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter softened
2 eggs
2 tbs milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 3/4 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup sweetened coconut

Peanut Butter Filling:

3 cups confectioners sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Set aside.
In a large bowl, beat butter, brown sugar, peanut butter and butter until creamy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, coconut and oats in another bowl; mix well. Add this to the peanut butter mixture, beating at low speed until well blended. Chill for 30 minutes.
Drop by level tablespoon onto prepared sheets spacing 2-inches/5 cm apart. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are beginning to get golden brown. Cool on sheets 2 minutes then remove to wire rack to cool completely.
Beat all filling ingredients together until the mixture is creamy. You may have to add a drop or 2 more milk to get the proper consistency--it should be like a soft frosting.
Place about 1-2 tablespoons of filling on half the cookies (on the side that's flat that was the down side on the sheet) then top with another cookie and press so the filling shows around the edges.
Yield varies but I got 32 sandwich cookies.

Notes

Confectioner's sugar is icing sugar in UK/EU

Nutrition

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Congo Bars

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 06 Apr 2021 23:00:44 +0000

Try these gooey congo bars with glass of milk and you’re in heaven.

Delicious Congo Bars

I can’t say enough how delicious these congo bars are.

Recently, someone in one of my cooking groups posted pics of these that they had just made and I wanted to dive into that photo!

The name is pretty curious since I doubt that they’re a popular cookie in the Congo. One day I’ll make it a point to find out–they may be popular there but I don’t know.

Regardless, these are some awesome bar cookies. They’re easy to make which is a definite plus for me.

Not A Typo

I know you looked twice at the amount of brown sugar in this recipe. Nope, it’s not a typo; there is that much brown sugar in these.

That’s what gives them that marvelous caramel-like flavor. Until I made these, I thought they were just another iteration of toll house bar cookies. They are, but then again, they are not.

The brown sugar also accounts for the chewiness of these cookies. That’s the first thing you notice at first bite. Then comes that blast of chocolate caramel flavor. It’s quite heady and very addictive.

Storage

How you store these cookies is very important.

They must be stored in a container that is as air-tight as possible. Otherwise they will dry out and won’t taste as good as they did the day they were baked. The flavor will suffer and that is something I discovered first hand with these.

However, warming them up a bit in the microwave will revitalize them considerably. I would recommend you do that even if your container is pretty sturdy. The chocolate chips will harden upon cooling and that does change the texture as well. Heating them up the next day will soften up the chocolate and make them much better.

The Recipe

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Congo Bars

Oooey and gooey bar cookies

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bar cookies with chocolate chips, cocolate chip bar cookies, congo bars, easy chocolate bar cookies

Servings: 12

Calories: 521kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2/3 cup unsalted butter melted and slightly cooled
2 1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C.
Spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with non-stick spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt; set aside.
Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment,beat the butter and sugar together. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each.
Add the vanilla then slowly add the dry ingredients until mixed in but don't overmix.
Fold in the chocolate chips by hand then spread the batter in the prepared pan evenly.
Bake for 25 minutes. Cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting bars into the size of your choice

Nutrition

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Chewy Cranberry Orange Cookies

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 06 Dec 2020 00:00:53 +0000

These chewy cranberry orange cookies are so addictive, you can’t stop at just one.

Cranberry Orange Cookies

You love the flavors in the quick bread and now enjoy the same cranberry orange flavor in a cookie!

Cranberry and orange are one of my favorite flavor combinations. It lends itself to a lot of dishes–sweet and savory. If you love the bread of the same flavor, you’ll flip for these cookies.

The basic batter can be used for any multitude of flavors and/or add-ins. That’s a real timesaver at holiday time. One basic batter, many different cookies. You can’t beat that.

And yes, they’re eggless.

The Secret Of Chewy

It’s not much of a secret once you know it! You can make any cookie chewy by doing just one thing: adding a teaspoon of cornstarch to every cup of flour called for. That’s it in a nutshell.

I like chewy cookies–always have–but especially now that my teeth are failing me. Crispy and dense is an accident waiting to happen (at least right now for me), so I love using this little trick with my cookies.

Since you can make any multitude of flavors just using this basic batter, anything you want to not have the chewy texture, merely leave the cornstarch out of the batter. It’ll work.

Better With Age

As if being delicious and easy wasn’t enough, these cookies get better as they sit.

Naturally, that’s because the essential oils in the orange zest need to mellow to get great flavor. So try very hard not to eat all of them the first day. That’s going to be hard, but trust me on this one. They’ll be better the day after. They’re also a good keeper as long as they’re stored air-tight. My best guess is they’ll last about a month stored that way. As I said, it’s a guess because I’ve never had these hanging around that long. In a couple of days, they’re usually solid gone!

The Recipe

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Chewy Cranberry Orange Cookies

Delicious and addictive cranberry orange cookies everyone will love

Prep Time20

Cook Time12

Course: cookies, Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: cookies for Santa, cookies that store well, cranberries in cookies, soft chewy cookies with fruit

Servings: 12

Calories: 358kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter softened
8 oz cream cheese softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbs grated orange zest
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp corn starch
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries i.e. Craisins

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven. To 350F/180C. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment
Beat cream cheese, butter and sugars until smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla and orange zest, beat to combine.
Mix the flour, salt, soda and corn starch and add to the cream cheese mixture, mixing until just combined. Do not overmix.
Fold in the dried cranberries.
Drop by heaping tablespoonful onto prepared sheets, spacing about 1-in/2.5cm apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until edges just begin to become golden brown. Leave on the sheets for about a minute, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
Makes about 18-24 cookies.

Notes

For UK readers--light brown sugar is light muscovado sugar in UK

Video

Nutrition

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Bourbon Pecan Pie Brownies

Judith Hannemann — Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:00:26 +0000

A touch or bourbon makes these pecan pie brownies extra special.

Brownies: America’s Favorite

Who doesn’t love brownies? They are a national favorite since there’s so many ways to make them. The ways range from simple to gourmet.

These bourbon pecan pie brownies come in somewhere in between. The base is as simple as you can get. In fact, the base is so simple it’s a mix. So as a result, there’s no work there.

It’s the topping that’s the interesting part of these brownies. It consists of a luscious pecan pie concoction to which you add a tad of bourbon. The liquor, of course, may be left out if you don’t appreciate the taste or are going to serve it to the kiddos.

The Basic Brownie

As stated, the brownie itself is from a mix. There’s plenty of varieties in these mixes now, so choose what you like. Just make sure the mix is also for the 13 x 9-inch size because that’s the size pan you’ll be using to make these. Remember you also need the ingredients that the box calls for.

Alternatively, you can make your own from-scratch brownies. Brownies are not difficult to make and you likely have all the necessary ingredients on hand. The only caveat is that with your own recipe, as for the box mix, there must be enough to make the 13 x 9-inch size.

Pecan Pie Topping

Here is where I’d say to use the high-quality ingredients. The topping is the major flavor for these brownies.

I usually lightly toast pecans, but here it’s not necessary. In fact since they are so expensive, I’d opt for buying pieces or chopped pecans. First of all, it will save time and I find they’re generally cheaper than the ones sold whole. Whole doesn’t do much here, unlike the pie where they’re decorative. Here, the topping is cooked so whole are bound to be broken just from the cooking process.

The bourbon is optional. If you’re serving this treat to grown-ups, it’s an interesting taste. However, kiddos may not appreciate the taste; the alcohol is evaporated in the cooking so no worries there. It’s just a taste that young children as a rule do not appreciate.

The Recipe

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Pecan Pie Brownies

Brownies for grown ups

Prep Time20

Cook Time45

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bourbon brownies, gourmet brownies with liquor, pecan pie brownies

Servings: 12

Calories: 362kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

1 box brownie mix 13 x 9 size plus ingredients stated on box

PECAN PIE FILLING:

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
4 eggs
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs bourbon
2 cups pecans roughly chopped

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven according to brownie package instructions.
Whisk together the sugar, corn syrup, eggs, butter, bourbon and vanilla in a small saucepan. Place on the stove top over medium high heat and begin to cook, stirring continuously.
Mix brownies according to package instructions.
Pour brownie batter into a greased 13x9 inch pan and place in oven to bake for 20 minutes. * see note about cooking time below
As the brownies bake the filling in the saucepan should have thicken enough to coat your spoon (about 15 minutes). Stir the pecans into the mixture and continue to cook for 2-3 minutes until the mixture reaches the consistency of runny oatmeal. You want it to be loose enough to pour over the brownies but not liquid.
When the brownies have finished pre-baking remove them from the oven and pour the pecan pie filling over them spreading it out to cover the brownies completely.
Place them back in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the filling only jiggles slightly in the middle when you move the pan.
Let cool to room temperature before cutting.

Nutrition

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Linzer Tart Bars

Judith Hannemann — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 23:00:54 +0000

Love linzer tarts but not the work involved in making them? Here’s linzer tart bars.

Linzer Tarts Made Easy

Linzer tarts are one of my favorite cookies and I often make them for the holidays.

However, they are fussy and time consuming to make which is why I limit myself to making the real deal only at holiday times.

Then I found out I could enjoy these wonderfully flavored cookies more often and without all the work since these are easy bar cookies!

I got this recipe from someone who posts in a cooking group I belong to. The members there are all seasoned home cooks and if one of them says something is good, then it is.

And these linzer tart bars sure are!

Jam

The traditional jam to use in linzer tarts is raspberry, so I kept to that. However, it will taste good with anything you use so don’t buy anything special.

The only thing I would advise if you are not using raspberry for the filling is to omit the almond extract. Where almond pairs wonderfully with raspberry, it doesn’t seem to pair well with other standard fruit flavors. Of course, that’s just my opinion and if you like it, use it!

Now, if you do use raspberry, go for the seedless variety jam. Those seeds are something else if they get caught in dental work–I used to think this was funny; until I got some of my own “dental work.” So it safest to go seedless.

Use Butter

While it might be tempting from an economy standpoint to substitute in this recipe, it will only work–and taste good–with butter.

Butter is where they primary flavor for these linzer bars comes from. Plus they need to solidify after they cool. Using margarine, or worse yet, “spreads,” result in an oily cookie that may not even set up; especially the spreads because they contain a lot more water than margarine or butter.

The Recipe

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Linzer Tart Bars

Easy take on an old classic

Prep Time15

Cook Time25

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy linzer tarts, holiday cookies, linzer tart bar cookies

Servings: 9

Calories: 403kcal

Author: Judith Hannemann

Ingredients

2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1-1/2 cup butter room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
pinch of salt

Filling

1 1/2 cups raspberry preserves seedless preferred
1 tsp almond extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Lightly spray bottom and sides of a 9-inch/23cm
In a large bowl, stir together all ingredients except preserves and almond extract until combined.
Reserve 1/2 of the mixture for topping. Press mixture into prepared pan.
Bake 20 minutes.
Meanwhile microwave the preserves and almond extract in the microwave for 1 minute.
Stir until completely combined.
Take out bottom layer out of the oven.
Spread with preserves and sprinkle with crumb mixture.
Bake 20-25 minutes until golden brown. Cool completely.

Nutrition

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