Beth Cato's Blog, page 55

Bready or Not: Sugar Cookie Bars

Frosted sugar cookies are awesome, but let’s be honest–they are kind of a pain. Individual cookies that need to be frosted individually. It’s time-consuming and messy.

Simplify the process! Make sugar cookie bars. Bake up the whole pan in under 25 minutes. Let it cool. Frost. Slice. EAT.

The cookies are like shortbread in texture, buttery and firm. The frosting layer is just the right thickness and sweetness.

Color the frosting however you wish; I like to use Americolor dyes. And sprinkles. Sprinkles make everything better, right?

The end result is a basic and delicious frosted sugar cookie. They’re easy to pack for a party or potluck, too–stack them in a container with wax paper between the layers!

Modified from Lauren’s Latest.

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Bready or Not: Sugar Cookie Bars





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If you need a lot of frosted sugar cookies in a hurry, this recipe is exactly what you need! Bake up the shortbread-like cookie layer, let it cool, then frost the entire pan before slicing them into bars.

bars
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 Tablespoons milk or half & half
food dye
sprinkles, if desired

Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 9x13 baking dish with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and white sugar until fluffy. Add the egg and both extracts, then the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined.

Evenly compress the dough into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Completely cool.

To make the frosting, beat together the butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, two tablespoons milk, and a few drops of food dye. Add more milk to reach a spreadable consistency. Lift the uncut cookie bar out by the foil, then spread frosting on top. Add sprinkles. Slice bars. Store in a sealed container, stacked between wax paper layers.

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Sunday Quote says Happy Earth Day!

“Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it.”

~ Winston S. Churchill

Bready or Not: Apple Butter Oatmeal Cookies

If you love apples and oatmeal cookies, this unique recipe combines those loves in a delicious new form!

These Apple Butter Oatmeal Cookies are thin and super chewy. Don’t substitute applesauce here. You need real apple butter, homemade or store-bought.

The dough can be finicky to work with. I use well-seasoned stoneware for my cookies, and I was surprised that my first batch completely stuck to the pan. After over a decade of seasoning the stoneware, that almost never happens!

The solution is simple: parchment paper. Keep it on the paper to bake and to cool, allowing the cookies to completely set. That doesn’t take long.

The end result is a thin, chewy oatmeal cookie with a rich apple flavor. I’ve never had anything quite like them!

Modified from Apple Butter Cookies in Best Loved Cookies & Bars by Taste of Home.

 

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Bready or Not: Apple Butter Oatmeal Cookies





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These Apple Butter Oatmeal Cookies require several hours of chill time prior to baking, and the use of parchment paper throughout the baking process. The dough can be sticky and finicky to work with, but the delicious result makes the effort worthwhile!

1/4 cup (half stick) unsalted butter, softened
2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 cup quick oats
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons apple butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup golden raisins

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Beat in the egg, oats, and apple butter.

In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Gradually mix them into the butter mix, followed by the pecans and raisins. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper; note that the paper is a necessity, as this dough is very sticky. Scoop dough by teaspoonful, with lots of space between each dollop to account for spreading.

Bake for 15 minutes or until set. Use parchment paper to lift the cookies onto a rack to cool, and put fresh paper on the cookie sheet. Prepare the next batch. By the time the next cookies are baked, the previous batch should be set and ready to move off the cooling rack.

Pack cookies with parchment or wax paper between layers, as they might stick together.

OM NOM NOM!

Sunday Quote is halfway through April

“Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.”

~Willa Cather

Con or Bust Benefit Auction: Roar of Sky ARC

I don’t have my galleys of Roar of Sky yet, but I’ll get them soon. And someone else out there in the country will get a special copy, too. That’s because I’m donating one of my ARCs (Advance Reader Copies) to raise money for Con or Bust.

Click here to read the auction details, and look at the other great books and items up for offering, too! The auction runs now through Sunday April 22nd.

#SFWAPro

Bready or Not Original: Vanilla Granola Cookies

Vanilla Granola Cookies! Because granola makes everything healthier, right?

The clearance aisle at the grocery store bequeathed me with super-cheap vanilla granola with a close expiration date, so I decided to make cookies with it.

Weirdly enough, there weren’t many granola cookie recipes out there–and certainly none that appealed to me. I decided to greatly modify a couple oatmeal cookie recipes to get what I wanted.

I was most worried about getting the balance of sugar just right, since granola is already sweet on its own. Keep that in mind when you make this, too–granolas vary a lot, so tweak the sugar as necessary!

These cookies have a great, unique texture. I tried not to break up granola clumps too much, and the mix of granola throughout creates sporadic crunchiness in otherwise soft cookies.

Notice the different backdrops for my food pictures? That’s my new Shotbox in action! Most of my new recipes from here on will include at least some pictures from the Shotbox. It’s a cool, collapsible, and portable photo light studio.

I love my Shotbox. (And no, I’m not being paid anything to say that. I bought this during a Kickstarter and I had to wait a long time for the product to arrive. Totally worth the wait.)

 

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Bready or Not Original: Vanilla Granola Cookies





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Try out this recipe with different varieties of vanilla granola! Some granolas can be extra sweet or include more sweet add-ins like dried fruit or chips, so reduce the sugar in the recipe if necessary.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups vanilla granola
1 cup white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the soft butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract and two eggs until the mix is light. Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Gently blend in the granola, trying to not break apart all of the clumps, and the white chocolate chips.

Place tablespoon-sized dollops of dough on the ready sheet, spacing them out to allow for expansion. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes, until the edges are slightly brown and the middle is still soft. Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Cookies keep for days in sealed container at room temperature.

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Sunday Quote will post a Vanilla Granola Cookies recipe on Wednesday

“Don’t spend time beating on a wall, hoping to transform it into a door.”

~ Coco Chanel

Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Bars

Cookie butter makes everything better. This is a maxim of life. It is proven true yet again with these Cookie Butter White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Bars.

Cookie butter is found by the peanut butter in most grocery stores in the US these days. The most popular brands are Biscoff and Speculoos, but Walmart, Kroger, and Sprouts even have their own jars now!

What does cookie butter taste like? Well… rich, buttery cookie dough rendered into peanut butter-like form. That’s the only way to describe it.

In this recipe, the cookie butter flavor amps up the inherent baked-good yumminess of these bars. Add white chocolate and macadamias along with that? Oh yeah.

You end up with a ribbon of cookie butter through the middle and swirls across the top. These effectively acts like a thin frosting, as these otherwise aren’t heavy duty on sweetness.

The bars rise a lot as they bake and end up quite cakey. They hold together well, so you can cut them small, if you want.

I want to mention macadamia nuts again. They are lovely in this recipe, adding a sporadic crunch and buttery flavor that goes oh-so-well with everything else.

 

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Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Bars





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Cookie butter (aka Biscoff spread, Speculoos, and various store brands) creates luscious bars with some macadamia nuts added for crunch! These thick bars will store well at room temperature for as long as a week, if they last that long.

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
2 cups brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs, room temperature
1 Tb vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped
2/3 cup + 1/2 cup creamy cookie butter spread, divided

Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a 9x13 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, cream butter until light and fluffy. Add in both sugars, followed by the eggs one by one, then the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Gradually mix into the wet ingredients until just incorporated.

Spread half of the dough in the bottom of the pan. Mixture will be thick. Use an uneven spatula to spread 2/3 cup cookie butter in an even layer over the dough.

Top with remaining dough and spread to edges. Dollop the 1/2 cup of cookie butter here and there over the top, then use a butter knife to swirl it into the dough.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and the middle passes the toothpick test. Dough will rise a great deal.

Cool completely in pan. Use the foil to lift up bars for easy cutting. Store sliced pieces in a sealed container at room temperature for as long as a week.

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Combined covers of Blood of Earth trilogy

 

#SFWAPro

Sunday Quote isn’t Fooling on this Easter Sunday

“The sound of the language is where it all begins. The test of a sentence is, Does it sound right?”

~ Ursula K. le Guin, Steering the Craft