I don’t know if it’s because I’m on a diet (sort of) and haven’t been eating the junk food like I used to, or if I’m just hungry (actually, when am I NOT hungry?), or what, but I saw these cookies on Family Fun and my mouth started drooling.
Can’t you just SMELL these??
Umbrella Cookies
Here’s a sweet activity to brighten up a rainy day — bake a batch of these cookie pops, then let your kids decorate them with a rainbow of frosting colors.
Ingredients
Sugar cookie dough, store-bought or try our Easy Sugar Cookie Dough
Cookie sticks (available at craft supply stores)
Frosting
Food coloring
Tube of white icing
Bendable straws
Instructions
Roll out the cookie dough into a 1/4-inch-thick disk. Use a plastic cup or round cookie cutter to cut out dough circles.
With a knife, cut each circle in half, then scallop the straight edge. Cut raindrop shapes from the dough scraps.
Lay cookie sticks on an ungreased cookie sheet and gently press a half-circle of dough on top of each. Place the raindrops on the sheet and bake the cookies according to the recipe directions.
Once the cookies have cooled, frost them. Pipe on icing lines and make vertical grooves by dragging a toothpick up to make one groove and down for the next.
For a special presentation, add a colorful handle by trimming a bendable straw and sliding it over the stick.
Lucky Pennies
Delicious bite-sized cookies are sure to make you feel luck or at least really happy.
Ingredients
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg
Granulated sugar (for coating cookies)
Instructions
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. In a separate large bowl, use a wooden spoon to cream the butter and brown sugar until smooth.
Stir in the molasses and egg and mix until well blended. Gradually stir in the flour mixture until combined.
Cover the dough and refrigerate it for at least 1 to 2 hours or until firm enough to roll into balls. Heat the oven to 375.
Use a tiny spoon (we used one from a child’s tea set) to scoop the dough out of the bowl, then roll it with your fingertips into balls that are about 1/2 inch in diameter. Roll the balls in a shallow bowl of granulated sugar.
Place the balls on an ungreased baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between the cookies. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes or until the cookies are crinkled and set.
Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes. Using a metal spatula, transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat until all the dough is used.
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 1 month and at room temperature for up to 1 week. Makes about 10 dozen Lucky Pennies.
KIDS’ STEPS: Kids can mix up the dough, shape it into balls, and roll the balls in sugar.
Pinwheel Cookies
What would Christmas be without home-baked treats? These fetching pinwheel cookies, with their swirls of light and dark doughs, are doubly appealing and look great wrapped as a gift! The dough needs to chill awhile before you bake it, but the final product is well worth the wait.
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Instructions
Using a wooden spoon, cream the butter until it’s smooth (see tip below.) Stir in the sugars and vanilla extract until they’re evenly blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture one third at a time, stirring after each addition, until the dough is evenly blended.
Set aside half of the cookie dough. Add the cocoa powder to the remaining dough and stir until it is fully incorporated.
Divide the chocolate dough in half. Place each half on a large piece of plastic wrap, pat it into a 1/2-inch-thick square, and then wrap it in the plastic. Repeat the process for the vanilla dough. Refrigerate the 4 squares until firm, about 1 to 2 hours.
Unwrap one piece of the chilled vanilla dough, leaving it on the plastic. Cover it with a second piece of plastic wrap, then roll it into a rectangle measuring about 9 by 7 inches. If the dough gets too soft and difficult to roll, slide it onto a baking sheet and refrigerate it until it’s firm again, about 5 to 10 minutes. Unwrap a piece of the chocolate dough, cover it with another piece of plastic, and roll it into an 8- by 7-inch rectangle.
Remove the top piece of plastic wrap from both rolled doughs and invert the chocolate dough on top of the vanilla dough, lining up 3 sides and leaving about 1 inch of vanilla dough exposed on one side. Starting at the opposite side, lift the vanilla dough by the plastic wrap underneath it and snugly roll up both layers into a log, peeling away the plastic wrap as you go. Wrap the log in the plastic and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. Repeat the process with the 2 other pieces of dough.
Heat the oven to 350º. Line 2 shiny, heavy baking sheets with parchment paper. Unwrap one of the logs and slice it into 1/4-inch-thick rounds. (See tip below for a safe, kid-friendly way to slice dough.) Arrange the slices on the parchment about 1 inch apart and bake them for about 13 minutes. When done, they’ll still be a little soft to the touch — the cookies will have a better texture if you don’t let their edges brown.
Leave the cookies on the sheet for 1 minute, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool. Slice and bake the second log as the first. Makes about 4 dozen cookies.
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Peanut Butter Buttons
Besides regular peanut butter, this recipe also calls for peanut butter chips, which make the dough lighter and smoother. Stringing the licorice laces through the holes is a particularly fun job for kids. This recipe comes from the kitchen of Kathy Farrell-Kingsley, whose cookbooks include “The Woman’s Day Cookbook” and “The Woman’s Day Dessert Cookbook”
Ingredients
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter (not natural)
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups flour
Red licorice strings (optional)
Instructions
Heat the oven to 375°. Microwave the peanut butter chips at medium heat for 1 minute. Stir the chips. If they’re still not melted, microwave them for another minute, then stir them until smooth.
In a large bowl, beat together the melted chips, peanut butter, butter, and both sugars with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until smooth and fluffy. Blend in the egg, vanilla extract, and salt. Gradually beat in the flour on low speed until a firm dough forms.
Working with half the batch at a time, roll out the dough to a 1/4-inch thickness on a flour-dusted surface, using a lightly floured rolling pin. Cut out cookies with a 3-inch round biscuit cutter and transfer them to ungreased baking sheets. Reroll the dough scraps for additional cookies.
Press the bottom of a small drinking glass into the center of each cookie to create a circular indentation. Then use the end of a drinking straw to cut four buttonholes in each cookie (twisting the straw a quarter turn each time will lift the dough from the hole).
Bake the cookies until set and slightly golden on the bottom, about 8 to 10 minutes. Let them cool on the sheets for 1 minute, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
For a fun finishing touch, lace licorice string through the holes in each cookie. Starting from the back, thread a piece of licorice through the holes, crisscrossing it in front of the cookie. Trim the ends to about 1/2 inch long, leaving them loose at the back. Makes about 32 cookies.
Zookies (Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies)
What do you get when you cross a zucchini and a cookie? Happy children. Squash your child’s sweet tooth with a delicious zookie.
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 small zucchini, shredded
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup butterscotch chips
Instructions
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat well. Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together and mix into a wet mixture.
Add the shredded zucchini, oatmeal, raisins, coconut (if desired), and butterscotch chips and mix thoroughly. Drop the dough by the teaspoonful into greased cookie sheets.
Bake at 350 for 12 to 14 minutes. Makes 50 cookies.
Hoot Owl Treats
A wise choice for cookie-lovers. For generations, kids have been getting a hoot out of these sweet owl treats. They’re great to make for a bake sale or school party.
Ingredients
3/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 ounces baking chocolate, melted
Chocolate chips
Whole roasted cashews
Instructions
In a mixing bowl combine cream the butter and sugars. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt.
Add the dry mixture to the liquid mixture and beat until combined. Now put a third of the dough into another bowl and mix in the melted chocolate. Wrap both doughs in waxed paper and chill them for 2 hours.
With clean hands, shape the chocolate dough into two 8-inch-long ropes. On a lightly floured surface, roll the plain dough into two 8- by 4-inch rectangles.
Wrap each chocolate rope in plain dough (this makes a log with a chocolate center). Wrap the dough with plastic and chill it until firm, about 1 hour.
Heat the oven to 350º F. Cut each dough log into 3/8-inch slices. Arrange pairs of slices side by side on an ungreased cookie sheet, gently squeezing them together to create an owl face. Pinch the upper corners to form ears. Press chocolate chip eyes (tip down) and cashew beaks into the dough, as shown.
Bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes. Leave them on the cookie sheet a couple of minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack, as they will be fragile when warm. Makes about 20 cookies.
To find more classic cookie recipes, click here.
(No. Family Fun does not pay me to brag about their awesome stuff. I think it’s cool, I’m passing it on to you. End of story).
ENJOY!
Write From Karen 