Sally McKenney's Blog, page 166

Soft-Baked White Chocolate Chip Molasses Cookies.

Soft and chewy brown sugared molasses cookies with lots of sweet white chocolate chips. One of my favorites!

If you know anything about me by now, you know I’m a crazy cookie lady. I mean, you know that I love molasses cookies. Remember these Caramel Molasses Cookies? Yeah, obsessed. Recipe #8 in my Christmas Cookie Palooza is bursting with robust molasses, bright ginger, brown sugar, and oodles of white chocolate.

Oodles. I like that word.

These white chocolate molasses cookies are the complete opposite of any hard, crunchy, crispy gingersnap recipe you are used to. They’re not snappy. Rather, they’re tender, pillow-y, lusciously soft, and chewy to the max. If you like molasses cookies as much as I do, this is a holiday cookie recipe you have to try. Look at all the pretty crinkles!

I’ve made these cookies for you before. Well, kind of. Two years ago I stuffed my soft gingersnap molasses cookies with white chocolate chips, sort of like little thumbprint cookies. I also stuffed them with chocolate chips and butterscotch morsels. The butterscotch variety is molasses cookie insanity! Like, bring-you-to-tears-tasty.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Chocolate-Dipped Almond Biscotti.

This recipe turned me into a biscotti lover. Sweetened with brown sugar, flavored with toasted almonds, and dipped in chocolate puts this crunchy biscotti at the top of my coffee pairing list!

Recipe #7 for my Christmas Cookie Palooza is all about coffee’s cookie bestie.

Up until recently, I’ve turned my nose up on biscotti. Dry, boring, crumbly, crunchy, no. It’s the same way I felt about scones until I discovered just how tender, flaky, crumbly (in a good way!), and flavorful scones can be. Well, my friends, biscotti can be the same way. Maybe not “tender” but definitely enjoyable.

If you’ve got the right recipe, of course.

Biscotti is a traditional Italian cookie where the dough is formed into logs, baked, cooled slightly, and baked again in slices. I’ve learned that Italians use the word “biscotti” to refer to various types of cookies and Americans use the term to describe this particular long, crisp, twice-baked, sophisticated looking cookie. Biscotti’s crunchy texture and its flavor possibilities make it a coffee-pairing favorite.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Monster Cookies.

Soft & chewy peanut butter oatmeal cookies filled with M&Ms and stuffed with a peanut butter cup surprise. No dough chilling, no mixer!

Welcome to recipe #6 in my Christmas Cookie Palooza. And let me tell ya, it’s a winner. Do I say that about every recipe I share? Dessert lover problems.

Not only are we in the middle of a Christmas cookie celebration, today we’re also celebrating Sally’s Baking Addiction’s 3rd birthday. I can’t believe that I’ve been at this for three years! In the past three years I: got engaged, quit my job, started a business, moved 3 times (remember the flood?), wrote a cookbook, met readers, and got married. I started my blog two weeks after my grandmother passed away. She’s to whom my cookbook is dedicated and the main source of my inspiration.

And to all of you? I just want to say hey, thanks for reading my blog. =)

There are three reasons why I made today’s cookies:

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Red Velvet Seven Layer Bars.

There are 7 layers to love in these chewy, gooey, sweet red velvet bars.

These are for real. Just thought I should open with that.

We’re celebrating all things red velvet in Christmas Cookie Palooza recipe #5. These seven layer bars (also called magic bars or even hello dolly bars depending where you live– what do you call them??) are heavenly. The base is a soft, cookie-like red velvet layer. On top of that? A rich, sweet, chewy, gooey, and completely overloaded smorgasbord of toppings.

Go big or go home.

I’ve quickly learned how much you love red velvet after posting these cheesecake swirl brownies. Coming as no surprise, those brownies have a cult following. Another popular recipe of mine? Classic red velvet cupcakes. Red velvet cupcakes that are moist, soft, fluffy, and actually have flavor are few and far between. But that recipe nails it. I love them as much as you do.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Red Velvet Seven Layer Bars. (and a giveaway!)

There are 7 layers to love in these chewy, gooey, sweet red velvet bars.

These are for real. Just thought I should open with that.

We’re celebrating all things red velvet in Christmas Cookie Palooza recipe #5. These seven layer bars (also called magic bars or even hello dolly bars depending where you live– what do you call them??) are heavenly. The base is a soft, cookie-like red velvet layer. On top of that? A rich, sweet, chewy, gooey, and completely overloaded smorgasbord of toppings.

Go big or go home.

I’ve quickly learned how much you love red velvet after posting these cheesecake swirl brownies. Coming as no surprise, those brownies have a cult following. Another popular recipe of mine? Classic red velvet cupcakes. Red velvet cupcakes that are moist, soft, fluffy, and actually have flavor are few and far between. But that recipe nails it. I love them as much as you do.

Continue reading:Red Velvet Seven Layer Bars. (and a giveaway!)

© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Cherry Almond Shortbread Cookies.

Soft and buttery shortbread cookies flavored with cherry and almond, then finished off with sweet white chocolate.

Recipe #4 of my Christmas Cookie Palooza is so pink, it makes our bridesmaid dresses look pale. The cookies get their girly color from maraschino cherry juice and their flavor from butter, almond extract, and cherries. Cherry and almond is a divine combination and these have to be one of my best cookies yet!

Seriously, how can you not smile biting into a cookie like this??

Do you like shortbread cookies? They were never a favorite when I was younger. I’d often turn my nose up to them in favor of something a little more… exciting. Like a chocolate peanut butter sprinkle carmel drizzled candy bar loaded something. But now, I can’t get enough of these tender little cookies. I can now appreciate their simple taste, crumbly texture, and out of control butter flavor.

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Saturday Seven, 10: Holiday Edition.

Welcome back to my Saturday Seven series. We’re three recipes deep in 2014’s Christmas Cookie Palooza, but how about some holiday desserts that (gasp!!) aren’t cookies? Yes, I just typed that.

Growing up, we had a billion holiday traditions. If it wasn’t eating dad’s famous Christmas morning omelets or fixing mom’s apple sausage stuffing– it was baking and eating desserts. A lot of them. To me, Christmas has always been a time to be in the kitchen with family. Making memories, sharing stories, laughing with my sisters, and taste-testing. In fact, I’m pretty confident that the reason this is called the most wonderful time of the year is because it’s the BAKING time of year.

These next 7 special recipes are ones I hope to adopt in our Quinn household. And I’m encouraging you to make them too- there’s a reason we make them every single year!

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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Classic Mint Chocolate Brownies.

Thick and fudgy brownies layered with sweet mint frosting and easy chocolate ganache. The classic mint chocolate combination!

Recipe #3 of the Christmas Cookie Palooza combines the mighty forces of mint and chocolate. I’m aware that brownies aren’t technically cookies but sometimes dessert just doesn’t have to make any sense. Like a recipe using cookie dough and salty pretzels and a dip in chocolate. No sense. But who cares? PS: make those.

I remember making these brownies for a Christmas party years ago. When I was a single lady without a food blog because food blogs were (are?) nerdy and weird. Along with my swirled chocolate covered pretzels (one of the first recipes published on my blog!), these classic mint chocolate brownies disappeared. Shocking.

I decided to make the mint chocolate brownies again this year for three reasons. I mean three people. Me, Kevin, and my friend Katy who is turning 30 this weekend. We are serious mint chocolate lovers and I know you are too. Common, I know you’ve eaten this mint chocolate frosting with a spoon before too. Or is that just me?

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Butter Pecan Cookies.

Buttery, soft ‘n chewy cookies exploding with toasted pecans and brown sugar flavor. 

Welcome to recipe #2 of my Christmas Cookie Palooza! Just like last year, we’re celebrating the holidays with 10 new cookie recipes. Bake one, bake two, heck… bake all ten recipes and join the cookie monster madness.

Maybe it’s just me, but I think butter pecan is an underrated ice cream flavor. Quite often overlooked and running with the “boring” pistachio and rum raisin ice cream crowd. For the record, I love all three of these ice cream flavors! And that’s exactly why I made today’s cookie recipe. They’re salty, they’re sweet, and they’re rich with butter flavor.

Along with pie and more pie, I made these butter pecan cookies for Thanksgiving last week. Baked them on Tuesday and by Thursday, half were gone. And then the entire batch was mysteriously missing on Friday morning.

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Holiday Cut-Out Sugar Cookies with Easy Icing.

Cut-out holiday sugar cookies with crisp edges and soft centers. My icing recipe is so simple, making decorating hassle-free! 

Here we go, everyone! Year number 2 of The Christmas Cookie Palooza. That’s 10 new cookie recipes for your Christmas season. I’ve been a cookie MADWOMAN for the past month in preparation for this festive, cavity inducing celebration.

Make sure your cookie jar is currently empty. Make sure a glass of milk is handy. And make sure you have all the butter in the world because you’ll definitely be needing it. From sprinkles, to mint chocolate, to icing, to gingerbread, to red velvet, to peanut butter– I think you’ll all find a cookie to love. Ready for this?

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© Sally’s Baking Addiction 2012

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