Sandy’s Sandies

  (This is 1/2 recipe. Full recipe below.)

From Sandy Rudy

PREP TIME: 35 min COOK TIME: 15 min  YIELD: about 12 6 dozen

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar (100 g)
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar (57 g)
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 large egg, room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour (210 g)
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (1/4 t nutmeg)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cups chopped walnuts/pecans finely chopped (100 g)
• 1/2 package of (8 oz) Heath toffee bits
• Additional sugar

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 5-7 minutes. Beat in the oil, egg, and extract. 

Combine the flours, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in nuts and toffee bits

Shape into 1-in. balls; roll in sugar. Place on ungreased baking sheets and flatten with a fork. 

Bake at 350° for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned.

https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/toffee-almond-sandies/

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar (200 g)
• 1 cup confectioners' sugar (112g)vggg
• 1 cup canola oil
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour (420 g)
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (113 g)b
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped almonds. (Chopped walnuts-190g)
• 1 package (8 ounces) milk chocolate English toffee bits
• Additional sugar

Majek Gingersnaps

    I have another gingersnap recipe that I thought was very good.  Until I tried these.  Much spicer, and much more yummy!  If you find these too spicy, try Sparkling Gingersnaps.

3/4 C melted butter         2 C flour

1 1/2 C sugar 1 t baking soda

5 T molasses 2 t ea. ginger, cloves,

1 egg                                              & cinnamon

Additional sugar or rolling (granulated or turbinado)

Preheat oven to 350°.  Beat together ingredients on the left-hand column until light and creamy.  Add the dry ingredients and mix until combined.

Form into 1-inch balls.  Roll in sugar.  Place on an ungreased cookie sheet 3" apart.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove while puffy.  (It will deflate and flatten as it cools.)  Cool for a few minutes before removing from cookie sheet.

Makes about 3 dozen.

Simply Lemon Bars

For the crust:  

2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt 

1 t grated lemon zest

1 cup unsalted butter (or omit salt)

Lemon layer:

4 large eggs at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon+ grated lemon zest
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/2 cup flour 

1 t baking powder

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting.  

Line a 9 by 13 by 2-inch baking sheet with foil to make a sling.  Preheat oven to 350.

For the crust, mix together flour, sugar, salt, and zest.  Cut in the butter until just mixed. Press it into the greased baking sheet, building up a 1/2-inch edge on all sides, or not. Chill.

Bake the crust for 20 minutes, until very lightly browned. Let cool on a wire rack. Leave the oven on.

For the lemon layer, whisk together the eggs, sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and flour. Pour over the crust and bake for 25 to 30, or about five minutes beyond the point where the filling is set. Let cool to room temperature.

Cut into rectangles and dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Black Bottom Pecan Praline Bars

 I originally saw this recipe on a blog, but the picture of it was very gooey because the baker had to remove it from the oven too soon.  Being a lover of Southern pralines, this recipe was too good to pass up.  

This is Alice Medrich's recipe. Right now I have three of  her cookbooks checked out from the library.   She is considered by some to be the "Queen of Chocolate."  She was one of the cooks instrumental in raising the bar for the kinds of chocolates we are now able to enjoy here in the US.  Her books have a lot of information in them, besides the great recipes.

• Brownie:**         
  10 T unsalted butter, melted
  1 cup + 3 T sugar
  3/4 cup plus 2 T unsweetened cocoa
  1 t vanilla extract
  1/4 t salt
  2 eggs (cold) 
  1/2 C all purpose flour
  Topping: 
  1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled 
  1/2 C all purpose flour  
  1/2 t baking soda
  3/4 C packed brown sugar
  1/2 t salt
  2 egg yolks                
  1 t vanilla extract
  2 1/2 C coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts
  powdered sugar (optional)
  
  Melt the butter for the topping NOW so it has time to cool.
  
  
  Line a 9 ×13 baking pan, bottom and all four sides with foil or parchment and grease well.
  
  
  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  For the brownie: **  Place very warm melted butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a bowl and stir until smooth.  
  
  
  Stir in vanilla and add the eggs one at a time; mix well after each until batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended.
  
  
  Add in the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer; then beat vigorously for 40 strokes.  Spread brownie batter into prepared pan and set aside.
  
  
  For the topping:  Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl and mix well.  Set aside.  In the scraped-out brownie bowl, combine the melted butter with the brown sugar and salt.  Stir in the egg yolks and vanilla, then flour mixture and finally the nuts.
  
  
  Drop spoonfuls on top of the brownie layer; it will spread and cover the brownies during baking.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is completely brown and cracked.  Rotate pan front to back halfway through baking time to ensure even baking.
  
  
  Let cool completely on wire rack, then remove by lifting the ends of the foil and removing from pan.  Cut into 24-36 bars.  
  
  
  Dust on powdered sugar, if desired.  May be kept in airtight container for 2-3 days.
  
  
  ** (Or use 1 pkg brownie mix for 9” square pan)  
  
  

Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-your-mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich, pp. 178-9.
Bittersweet, Recipes and Tales from a Life in Chocolate, by Alice Medrich, p. 98

Chocolate Thumbprints

L olallieberry jam, C orange marmalade, R chocolate chips

I made several changes to a recipe to suit my chocolate-loving husband, as well as reducing the sugar slightly and simplifying the steps.

2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa 
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temp
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup coarse or powdered sugar for rolling
1/2 cup orange marmalade, berry jam, OR 1 cup chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to beat 1 cup each butter and sugar on until light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla; beat to combine. Lower mixer speed and gradually add flour mixture. Beat to combine.

Place 1/2 cup coarse sugar in a pie pan. Roll dough into 1-inch balls, then roll in sugar to coat. Place balls, 1 inch apart, on parchment-lined baking sheets. Using your thumb or back of a spoon, press a 1/4-inch indentation into the top of each cookie. Spoon 1/2 teaspoon jam or 5-6 chocolate chips* into each indentation.  

Bake until cookies are just set but still look moist, 12-15 minutes.  Let cool on wire racks.

Makes about 4 dozen.

Note:  *Chocolate chips will retain their shape, so after removing from oven, flatten with a knife.  Once cool, place in refrigerator for half an hour or more until the chocolate has set.

Dulce Berry Bars

    These bars are my decadent creation from a recipe I came across.  If you like dulce de leche, you will probably LOVE these bars.  The condensed milk carmelizes as it bakes.  You can use any flavor of jam.  If you happen not to be a fan of chocolate, you could use butterscotch or peanut butter chips instead.

        2 C (240 g) all-purpose flour

1/2 C (106 g) packed brown sugar

1 C (225 g) butter, slightly softened

1/2 C (57 g) chopped pecans (or other nuts)

1 can (14 oz or 400g) sweetened condensed milk*

1 C chocolate chips

1/2+ C berry jam or other flavor

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Line a 9 x 13” baking pan with heavy-duty foil or parchment paper that covers the entire pan including the sides, to make a sling for easy removal.  Butter or spray with oil.

(The gooey condensed milk, which makes this so yummy, can stick to the foil if it is NOT greased well.  You want to be able to pull the entire piece of foil out.  Try not to make too many folds in the corners, or the cookie may get stuck in the folds and be hard to remove.)

Combine flour and brown sugar.  Cut in the butter until crumbly.  Press about 3 C of the crumb mixture into the buttered pan.  Reserve the rest.

Bake until golden, 10-15 minutes.   Remove from oven.  

Meanwhile, add the pecans to the reserved crumbs and set aside.

Pour the [1] condensed milk over the hot crust.  

Sprinkle with [2] chocolate chips.

Spread the [3] crumbs evenly over the chocolate chips.  

Spoon dollops of [4] jam over the crumb mixture.

Return to the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes until the center is set and the condensed milk has carmelized and is at least golden or slightly darker in color.  

Cool on rack, then remove from pan using the foil sling. Cut into bars as desired. (I like to cut the bars about 1 1/2" by 2 1/2" but any size will do. (5 long rows by 6))

*I recently found 7 oz. cans at Grocery Outlet to make 1/2 recipe in an 8” square pan.

PDQ Peanut Butter Cookies

Use only 3 ingredients to make those quick tasty cookies!
Add rice crispies to give it extra crunch! Recipe from my friend, Cheryl.

1 cup peanut butter or almond butter*
1 cup sugar or less
1 egg
1 cup rice crispies (optional)

YES, that's right. NO flour!
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare two pans by lining with parchment or lightly greasing.

Mix all ingredients together. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet.  Flatten slightly with spoon or fork.  *If using almond butter, put into the freezer for about 15 minutes to firm up. 

Bake for 8-14 minutes. ( Depends on how flat you make them. Shorter time for flatter cookies.) Makes about 20.

Joan's Krispie Chocolate Chip Cookies

      A shift mate of Tom's at the aquarium makes cupcakes each week for his shift.  She is baking her way through the Martha Stewart Cupcake cookbook.  On many occasions, I have been the recipient of some of her culinary treats.  (She also works on my shift, but the cupcakes are always for Tom's shift.)  Well, one week she made these cookies instead of cupcakes.  Yum!  And there was something that made them very crisp.  She shared the recipe with me and I'm sharing it with you. (See additional baking notes at the bottom.)

     Besides being crispy, they are not overly sweet, so that is also good.  My next try will be to add rice krispies to my other chocolate chip cookie recipe with the melted butter.  (http://eileensmontereykitchen.blogspot.com/2011/05/5-cs-crispy-crunchy-chocolate-chip.html)

Cream together:

1 stick butter

½ C white sugar

½ C brown sugar       

Then add:

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

Sift together into the batter; mix in:

1 C + 2Tbsp flour

½ tsp each: salt, baking soda, baking powder

Stir in:

2 C rice krispies (Place in a baggie and HAND crush, slightly)

½-3/4 C chocolate chips

½-3/4 C toasted walnuts, chopped

Drop by generous tablespoonfuls on parchment-lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 350 for 13-17 minutes.  Makes about 2 dozen.*

*Joan’s directions say to bake at 325 for 13-14 minutes.  I set my convection oven inadvertently to 375 (which heats to 350) and it took about 15-18 minutes to bake.  Maybe they were too big.  The recipe card said it makes 15-18, but I had 29 cookies.

Sparkling Gingersnaps

One of the PTA parents brought these cookies to a teacher workshop.   We all had to have the recipe!  Sometimes I make half the recipe; other times I freeze what I don't want to bake for another time.

4 cups flour                                         2 cups sugar

1 T baking soda                                    ½ cup butter

2 t cinnamon                                         1 cup shortening

1 t EACH: salt, ginger,                          ½ cup molasses

            and allspice                              2 eggs

      additional sugar for rolling (about ½ cup)

Combine dry ingredients in left-hand column; set aside.  Beat together ingredients in right-hand column until light and creamy.  Add dry ingredients.  At this point you can refrigerate to make handling easier or not.

            Form into 1-inch balls.  Roll in sugar.  Bake on ungreased cookie sheet for 10-13 minutes at 350 degrees.  Cool slightly before removing from cookie sheet.

                                                                                    Makes 5-7 dozen

*Dough may be frozen for 2-3 weeks.  Defrost in refrigerator for 2-4 hours or until soft enough to handle.  Or cookies may be frozen.  Or make half the recipe.         

5 Cs-- Crispy Crunchy Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is THE chocolate chip cookie recipe I've dreamed of.  One that produces a crisp, crunchy cookie but not too thin with buttery goodness!  It was among my clipped recipes from Sunset Magazine, December 1995.  I finally got around to baking it.  

If you like this type of cookie, this may become your favorite!  In a limited taste test several years ago, we found that the chocolate chips we liked best were Hershey's Special Dark mildly sweet chocolate chips.  We have not tried too many of the higher % chocolate chips.  I'm sure we would like those too, since we are fans of dark chocolate.  AND this recipe does not have any eggs in it.  It is not forgotten in the ingredient list.

1 cup ( ½ lb.) butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour (7 oz)       

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼  teaspoon salt

¾  cup firmly packed brown sugar (5 5/8 oz)

½  cup granulated sugar (3 1/2 oz)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup semisweet/dark chocolate chips*

1/2 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans or walnuts (nutty flavor is better when hand chopped very coarsely)
1 cup Rice Krispies, slightly crushed (optional)

·         1.  Melt butter and cool to room temperature; set aside.

·         2.  In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

·         3.  In a large bowl, with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla until well blended and smooth; scraping down sides of bowl as needed.

·         4.   Stir flour into butter mixture until well incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips, nuts, and Rice Krispies.

·         5. Dough will be crumbly; pinch into 1-tablespoon lumps, flatten slightly, and place about 2 inches apart, onto sheets of parchment paper placed on cookie sheets.

·         6. Bake in a 325° oven.  Bake until cookies are an even golden brown, 15-18 minutes.  [I checked for doneness by touching lightly.  The color doesn’t change much.]  If baking more than one pan at a time, switch pan positions halfway through baking, and rotate back to front.

·         7. Let cookies cool on pan for about 3 minutes, then with a wide spatula, transfer cookies to racks to cool completely. (Or pull parchment with cookies onto cooling rack.

         * Our favorite chips are Hershey's Special Dark or Guittard 60%.

      Makes about 4 dozen.

       Original recipe link

         (I've increased the recipe by half.)