Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies

Ham is a staple at any and all of our family's gatherings for Easter. I have 101 uses for leftover ham, but Easter candy is trickier. I could just hang onto it, especially if I clear out the leftover Halloween candy. Or I could put it to good use so that I’m not still sprinkling cupcakes and ice cream with pastel-colored eggs come September.

Luckily, Easter has my favorite candy of any holiday (and I celebrate many a candy holiday). Cadbury Mini Eggs are one of my ultimate weaknesses, and they’re showcased wonderfully in these cookies.

Chopping the eggs is an arduous process. You could also put them in a bag and smash them, although you might lose some of the pretty shells. You could also substitute M&Ms, chocolate chips or any other similar candy that you have on hand.

Now, does anyone have any good recipes for a bunch of half-eaten chocolate bunnies?

Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies
Makes about 4 dozen

½ cup butter-flavored shortening
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons baking cocoa
2½ cups flour
1 10-ounce bag Cadbury Mini Eggs
½ cup milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Chop Mini Eggs in halves or thirds, or bang on them in a resealable bag until they’re crumbled.

I feel strongly about preserving the integrity of my Mini Eggs, so I’m a chopper. Although I have to eat every third egg just to keep up my strength.

3. Cream together the shortening, butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla, and combine.

4. Stir in baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder, and then stir in flour. Gently fold in candies and chocolate chips.

5. Drop heaping teaspoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheets and gently shape the cookies.

6. Bake 8-10 minutes and cool on cooling racks.

Double-Chocolate Cookies

Jack has developed a taste for Ghirardelli dark chocolate as of late, especially the dark chocolate and caramel squares with sea salt.

He clearly has excellent taste for a 2-year-old. Don't even get me started on how he ate all my $18-per-pound Widman's Chippers over the holidays.

So we decided to make some dark chocolate cookies. With extra chocolate, naturally. They were delicious. And so rich that even I could eat only one at a time.

Double-Chocolate Cookies
Makes about 3 dozen

1 11.5-ounce bag bittersweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup flour
1 12-ounce bag semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a small saucepan, melt together bittersweet chips and butter until smooth. Let cool slightly.

3. In a mixing bowl, combine sugar and eggs. Stir in chocolate mixture. Add baking powder, salt, and flour, and mix until well combined. Stir in semisweet chips.

4. Drop cookies into balls on baking sheets and flatten slightly.

5. Bake about 12-14 minutes, until cookies are shiny on the outside, but still soft on the inside.

6. Let sit on baking sheets 2-3 minutes before moving to cooling racks.

Peanut Butter Cup Shortbread

I pulled this recipe out of one of my cooking magazines a few years ago, and it's been sitting around in my "recipes I'd really like to try" stack for a while. (It may have been
a Better Homes & Gardens holiday special, but I can't be sure.) Anyway, my holdup was that it looked pretty labor intensive, and I couldn't find a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter anywhere.

Four years later, I still haven't had much luck on the cookie cutter front. But a few weeks ago, I was at a craft store and I wandered into the clay aisle. I had never before been to the clay aisle. I'm still not even sure what it's for. But they DID have a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter.

It's a flower. But flowers can be holiday-ish, too, right? If they're drizzled in chocolate?

Peanut Butter Cup Shortbread
Makes 3-4 dozen

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour, plus more for rolling
3 ounces finely chopped peanut butter cups
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1 teaspoon shortening

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat butter on medium-high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. Beat until combined, and then beat in flour.

3. Add peanut butter cups, and gently knead the dough until it clings together.

4. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough to about 1/2-inch thick. Using a floured 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter, cut out pieces and place them 1 inch apart on cookie sheets.

5. Bake about 20 minutes, or until bottoms are just starting to brown. Cool completely on cooling racks placed over waxed paper.

6. Combine chocolate chips and shortening in a small saucepan over low heat. Cook and stir until chocolate melts.

7. Drizzle shortbread with chocolate, or use a pastry bag. (Or a Ziploc bag with the corner snipped off, in my case.)

8. Let chocolate harden before serving.

Mint Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I made these cookies for my sister-in-law, who loves chocolate and mint, to hopefully cheer her up after a hard week. They're like basic chocolate chip cookies, but you add a bit of mint extract and swap in chopped Andes mints and chocolate chunks for the chocolate chips.

You can substitute a 17.5-ounce sugar cookie mix, if you're crunched for time. You can also add a few drops of green food coloring, if you want to emphasize that these are indeed no ordinary chocolate chip cookies. (I only had green paste food coloring, and I didn't want my dough to turn Play-Doh green.)

Mint Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup butter-flavored shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4-1/2 teaspoon mint extract, depending on how strong you want the mint flavor to be
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2-3 cups flour
1 cup Andes mints baking pieces
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Combine brown sugar and shortening, and then stir in vanilla, mint extract, and eggs. Add baking soda, salt, and flour, and mix until well combined. Stir in Andes pieces and chocolate chunks.

3. Form dough into balls and flatten slightly, and place on baking sheets.

4. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are just starting to turn golden. Cool slightly before serving.

Rudolph Cookies

I made these simple cookies for Jack to take to daycare recently, and they were a huge hit. They're quick, they're easy, they're super-cute, and they taste good. And they have red noses. What more do you need?

To make these even easier, go ahead and substitute a 17.5-ounce package of peanut butter cookie mix for the peanut butter, brown sugar, and egg.

Rudolph Cookies
Makes 24

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons sugar
24 red M&Ms
48 chocolate chips
24 pretzel sticks, cut in fourths

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Combine peanut butter and brown sugar. Add egg and mix thoroughly.

3. Divide dough into 24 balls and place on baking sheets.

4. Dip a glass in sugar and flatten each dough ball to about 1/2-inch thick.

5. Slightly pinch in the bottoms of each cookie to form the chins on the Rudolph faces.

6. Add the M&Ms as the noses, and the chocolate chips for the eyes. Poke 4 pretzel pieces into the tops to form the antlers.

7. Bake 9-11 minutes, or until edges just begin to brown. Let sit on cookie sheet until cookies are sturdy enough to be moved to cooling racks.

8. Let cool completely before serving.

Ghirardelli Thumbprints

I found a recipe similar to this one in a Betty Crocker cookbook, and thought it would be the perfect use for one of my weaknesses: Dark chocolate and caramel Ghirardelli squares, preferably salted.

Alas, I could not find my salted caramel squares, so I had to add my own salt. Which wasn't exactly a hardship.

Alas alas, I also had to skip the nuts again. I didn't really miss them.

Alas alas alas, I should call these Square Peg Cookies. Unless you have square thumbs, candy squares don't fit so well in thumbprint cookies. So they don't look perfect. They're "artisan."

Ghirardelli Thumbprints
Makes about 3 dozen cookies

3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup finely chopped cashews
9 Ghirardelli squares with caramel filling, unwrapped and cut in quarters

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Beat butter and powdered sugar until creamy. Add vanilla and egg and beat until mixed. Beat in flour, baking powder, and salt, until dough forms.

I loved how silky the dough was with the powdered sugar instead of granulated sugar. That's all. Thanks for letting me share.

3. Stir in cashews. (Again, I skipped this part.)

4. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheets, at least 2 inches apart.

5. Press thumb in the center of each cookie to make an indentation, but don't push all the way to the bottom.

6. Bake 7-9 minutes. Quickly remake the indentations with the handle of a wooden spoon, if necessary.

I found this necessary. I also didn't think to use a wooden spoon, so I used to my thumb. Not my finest moment.

7. Move cookies to cooling rack, and add one piece of chocolate to each thumbprint. Let stand 3 minutes to melt.

8. If desired, use the tip of a knife to swirl the melted chocolate and caramel together. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Rogue Recipes: Cocoa Kisses

I started my holiday baking recently, but I'm trying to do it in small snippets because it's tough to find an entire day to devote to the cause. And I was really, really excited to try this Hershey's recipe because I've been drooling over the photo for months. Chocolate kisses, wrapped in a chocolate shortbread dough, baked in perfect little balls, and then rolled in powdered sugar.

Perfect, right?

Except this is one recipe that did not turn out at all as planned. I think there was just way too much butter in the dough for this to ever work out.

Disclaimer: I can't eat nuts at the moment, so I didn't include the pecans in the dough. Would this have made all the difference? I think someone should give it a try!

Cocoa Kisses
Makes about 4 dozen cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa
1 cup finely chopped pecans
About 4 dozen Hershey's kisses, unwrapped
Powdered sugar for rolling/sprinkling

1. Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla until creamy. Stir together flour and cocoa,and gradually add to butter mixture, beating until blended.

2. Add pecans, beating until blended. (This is the step I skipped; instead, I added a bit more flour.)

3. Cover and refrigerate dough about 1 hour, or until firm enough to handle.

4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

5. Take 1: Mold a scant tablespoon of dough around each Hershey's kiss, covering completely. Shape into balls and place on a cookie sheet.

6. Take 1: Bake 10-12 minutes, or until set. Now, at the 10-minute mark, I peeked into my oven and was horrified to discover that instead of cookie balls, I had beach hats. (Some of which I sprinkled with powdered sugar, which then looked like sand.)

5. Take 2: Roll tablespoons of dough into balls. Place balls in a mini muffin tin and flatten to create a crust. Add a Hershey's kiss to each.

6. Take 2: Bake 8-10 minutes, or until set. Now, I had little Hershey's kiss tartlets, with slightly browned tips on the kisses.

Both tasted great, but neither was ideal in looks. I had to hurry up and eat most of them so no one else would see them.

Let me know if you try these and get a better result!

Fudgy No-Bake Cookies

These no-bake cookies are a long-standing favorite in the hubby's family, and I remember my mom making them when we were younger, too. This is my mother-in-law's recipe, which we eat most frequently when my sister-in-law, Patti, makes them for us.

We really appreciate that. We're not usually the people to whom others bring food, so when they do, we're thrilled. (Like two days after we returned home from the hospital with the little man, and Patti brought over pans of bars and tins of these cookies.) And she's surprised us with them from time to time since then.

This was my first attempt at making these cookies. I think I need a little more practice.

Fudgy No-Bake Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups quick-cooking oatmeal

1. Combine sugar, shortening, cocoa, and milk in a saucepan. Stir together over medium-low to medium heat, until mixture begins to boil. Let mixture continue at a low boil for 4 minutes, without stirring.

2. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and oatmeal.

3. Scoop teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper.

The hubby says I should have heaped the cookies more. I'm such a noob.

4. Let set before serving.

Witches' Broomstick Cookies

I've never been much of a Halloween person, but I have to admit that having the little man around makes it a lot more fun. He doesn't quite get the whole concept just yet, but he's very excited about the pumpkins and other decorations, brings home loads of Halloween crafts from daycare each week, and has been practicing his trick-or-treating (or maybe just conning me into giving him extra candy).

We set out to make some Halloween-themed cookies over the weekend, and decided to make our take on a Betty Crocker recipe for these adorable little broomsticks. It's Betty's technique, but my cookies. The original recipe called for more of a basic shortbread-type of cookie. But my longtime love for Ben & Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream has lead me to associate chocolate and pretzels with peanut butter. So peanut butter cookies were a must.

The cookie batter is the same that I use for my not-quite-world-famous peanut blossoms, and with three ingredients, it comes together quite easily. (Although, for some reason, the little man needed two rolling pins, two spatulas, a bench scraper, a pastry brush, and an ice cream scoop. I didn't ask.) The rest of the process is admittedly more time-consuming, but worth the extra steps.

Witches' Broomstick Cookies
Makes 20

1 cup cream peanut butter (preferably Skippy)
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
10 pretzel rods, broken in half
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 teaspoons shortening
1/3 cup butterscotch chips or orange candy melts
1/2 teaspoon shortening

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Combine peanut butter and brown sugar until creamy, and then mix in egg until well combined.

3. Divide dough into 20 pieces and roll them into balls. (I apologize for the lack of photos. The little man was attacking my cookies with the aforementioned pastry brush, so I was in a hurry.)

4. Place pretzel rods on two cookie sheets. Press a ball of dough onto the cut end of each pretzel round. Press dough with the tines of a fork to look like bristles.

As much as a cookie can look like bristles, that is.

5. Bake 10 minutes. Let cookies sit on pans for about 15-20 minutes before removing to a cooling rack. (You need them to firm up so they can support themselves when you hold the pretzels.)

6. Transfer cookies to waxed paper.

7. In a small saucepan, heat chocolate chips and 2 teaspoons shortening over low heat, stirring frequently, until thoroughly melted.

8. Spoon chocolate over the top half of the cookie and the lower half-inch or so of the pretzel rod.

9. In a microwave-safe bowl, combine butterscotch chips or candy melts and 1/2 teaspoon shortening. Heat until melted, about 1 minute, stirring every 30 seconds.

10. Place mixture in a resealable bag and snip off a tiny bit of one corner to use as a piping bag. Drizzle over chocolate mixture.

11. Let set before moving to serving tray or container.

Chewy Peanut Butter-Chocolate Cookies

I saw this recipe while flipping through a magazine, and it looked like a great, quick dessert option. The hubby loves chocolate cookies, the little man loves peanut butter, and I ... thought it needed some chocolate chips.

I was right. I usually am.

Just kidding.

Except when it comes to chocolate chips. Then I usually AM right.

This recipe comes together incredibly quickly, but I would highly recommend using a stand mixer. I figured the mixture would be too crumbly to stir by hand, so I tried a good-quality hand mixer ... and it just didn't quite cut the mustard. So I switched to the stand mixer, and voila!

You can omit the chocolate chips. Or add more. Or add something else, like peanut butter chips. Or peanuts. Go crazy! (Or go nuts. I'm flexible.)

Chewy Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

1 box devil's food cake mix
4 oz. cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Place cake mix, cream cheese, peanut butter, and egg in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer on low speed 2 minutes. Beat on medium speed an additional 2 minutes.

3. Stir in chocolate chips.

You should probably also test some of the batter, in the name of quality control.

4. Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls and place on cookie sheets. Flatten with your hands or with a fork dipped in sugar. (With the chocolate chips in the batter, it's sort of easier to use your hands.)

5. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool on cookies sheets for a few minutes before removing to cooling racks.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

It's my birthday. Have a cookie.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
(Recipe adapted from Real Simple)
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen

1 stick butter, softened
3/4 c. dark brown sugar (can substitute light brown sugar)
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1 1/2 c. flour
12 oz. miniature peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped (I added some milk chocolate chips, because someone had been sneaking my peanut butter cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream together butter and sugars, and then mix in the egg and vanilla extract. Stir in the baking soda, salt, and flour. Gently fold in the peanut butter cups.

3. Place tablespoonfuls of dough on an ungreased cookie sheet. (I always shape the dough into semi-flat disks, just to give the cookies a head start.)

4. Bake 10-12 minutes until golden, and let cool on the pan for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

Flourless Monster Cookies

The hubby and I were talking this weekend about some of the most enjoyable freedoms of adulthood. For example, we can buy what we want. Go to bed when we want. Get haircuts when we want. And make cookies for supper.

I've had a monster craving for monster cookies lately, and I have a handful of recipes that I want to try. I chose this version because it was the only recipe that made a smaller batch. Meaning the other recipes would require some math on my part. And I just wasn't in a math mood.

(By the way, if you happened to send this recipe to me, can you let me know so I can give you the proper credit? It's like the recipe fairy left it under my pillow.)

These cookies are flourless, so they get their substance primarily from the peanut butter and oatmeal. I like to pretend they're healthier that way. Even with the chocolate chips and M&Ms.

Flourless Monster Cookies
Makes 30

2 eggs
1 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. baking soda
1/3 c. butter, softened
1 c. creamy peanut butter
1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. rolled oats (not quick-cooking)
2/3 c. chocolate chips
2/3 c. M&Ms

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add remaining ingredients in order, mixing well.

3. Use an ice cream or cookie scoop to place dough on ungreased baking sheets. (My cookie scoop is quite a bit smaller than an ice cream scoop, and I like it that way. So these are sort of mini-monster cookies.)

I also sort of squash my cookies down before I put them in the oven. I don't know that it makes a difference, but I like to give my cookies a head start in life.

4. Bake 12-15 minutes, and let cool on racks.

Ricotta Cheese Sugar Cookies

Anyone who knows me knows that I don't celebrate Valentine's Day. And yet, this afternoon found me in the kitchen, dutifully spreading pink glaze on cookies and dusting them with red sprinkles.

The hubby has strep throat, so he's had a pretty crappy weekend. Jack got hives a few days ago and has a cold, so his hasn't been a party, either. (And yet that smile, it's always there.) What cheers everyone up more than cookies?

So while the hubby was napping, the little man helped me in the kitchen. And by "helped," I mean, he threw his measuring spoons everywhere, including into the batter while the mixer was going. (One day I'll explain to him that you're supposed to dump the ingredients off the spoons.)

This is an adaptation of a recipe found in the most unlikely of places: the novel I was reading last week. It was Summer by the Sea by Susan Wiggs (I love escapist fiction). I think more authors should do this. I'm all about multitasking.

Ricotta Cheese Sugar Cookies
Makes 3-4 dozen

1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
1 16-oz. container whole-milk ricotta cheese
2 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
4 c. flour

Glaze
1 1/2 c. powdered sugar
A few drops almond extract (optional)
2-4 Tbsp. milk, half-and-half, or cream
Sprinkles or colored sugar, for decorating

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Using a mixer, combine butter and sugar until well blended. Mix in ricotta, eggs, and vanilla. Add baking soda and salt. Then mix in flour.

The dough will have the texture of mashed potatoes that have been sitting out too long. In fact, it looks like that, too. But it tastes very different, I assure you.

3. Drop teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 12-14 minutes, until cookies are golden on the bottom but still very light on top. Remove from pans and place on cooling racks.

5. In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and almond extract. (When you just need a few drops of almond extract, pour them into the bottle's cap, first -- that way you won't accidentally spill too much into the glaze.) Add milk, starting with 1 Tbsp., until glaze has desired consistency.
6. Drizzle glaze over cookies and top with sprinkles or colored sugar.