Category: Cookies

Bite Size Desserts
Nuts for Macadamia Shortbread (Cookies for Lahaina)

Nuts for Macadamia Shortbread (Cookies for Lahaina)

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It sucks to feel helpless which is exactly how I felt while watching the coverage of the wildfires in Maui.  In a twisted way, it brought back memories of a family trip to Maui right before COVID to celebrate hubby’s birthday and retirement.  We spent his b-day in Lahaina.  We grabbed shaved ice at Ululani, strolled down Front Street, and took in the majesty and beauty of the ancient Banyan Tree in the heart of town.  We finished the day with a scrumptious dinner at Lahaina Grill and a stroll on the beach.  The stark reality of the devastation in Lahaina jolted me out of my memories and morphed into a voice in my head, “How are you going to help, Deb”.

Today, amid the ruins, that Banyan Tree is struggling to survive.  Arborists are hopeful that the tree will survive, emblematic of the resiliency of the people of Maui.

I resorted to what I do when I am sad or stressed and feeling helpless, I baked.  For a box of homemade goodies, I asked friends and family to donate any amount to either Chef Hui Maui Relief to help feed folks displaced by the fire, and to Hawaii Community Foundation/Maui Strong to provide immediate and long-term resources for recovery.

A Big Mahalo

We raised over 1,500 dollars which was split between the two organizations ❤️❤️❤️.  Thank you for your generosity and for giving me a reason to bake!   👏👏👏.  It is greatly appreciated.

The Box

I wanted the box of cookies to feel connected to Maui.  I turned to cookbooks and blogs written by folks from Hawaii like Top Chef Sheldon Simeon and Alana Kysar. Sheldon has two restaurants on Maui, Tin Roof and Tiffany’s, and recently published his cookbook, Cook Real Hawai’i.  Alana is a blogger and the author of Aloha Kitchen Cookbook.  Her cookbook evokes the islands’ spirit and her Butter Mochi recipe is amazing.  Find these books at Bookshop.org which supports independent bookstores.  I also culled recipes that use my favorite tropical ingredients like pineapple, macadamia nuts, and coconut.  The baked goodies included in my Maui box are on 3Jamigos and can be found via the links below.

Starting at the top right:

Travel Bites

Shortbread is perfect for a box, they travel well, keep longer than drop cookies, and happen to be my favorite kind of cookie.  I found the perfect recipe in Nick Malgeri’s Modern Baker.  Using your food processor for these cookies makes it quick and easy.  This is one bowl (albeit, a food processor bowl) territory.

Process the nuts with the sugar until FINELY ground, add flour and baking powder, pulse to combine, add cold butter, and pulse until the dough is powdery then STOP.  Pour this mass into your prepared pan and press it down with a lightly floured flat glass or your hand.  Use a spray bottle to mist the dough with water which will help the nuts adhere to the dough.

Use either lightly salted or unsalted macadamia nuts.  I bought macadamias at Trader Joe’s, a bag of each, salted and unsalted. I used a 2:1 ratio of salted to unsalted nuts in the cookie and on the top.  Cut the recipe in half and bake in an 8×8 pan as I did…cause I would eat the whole damn pan if given the chance.

Grind nuts by pulsing in a food processor or chopping by hand.  You want the pieces fairly small, but not pulverized. The nuts provide both flavor and texture.  Line the pan with parchment.  The OG recipe calls for lifting the cookies out of the pan using the parchment but that’s pretty hard to do and not crack it.  I let them cool for a couple of minutes and then used a bench scraper to cut the still-warm shortbread into squares before removing them from the pan.  Easy-peasy.

The finished cookie should be crispy.  If they aren’t, return the shortbread to the oven set at 300 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  I love these cookies, sweet, crispy, infused with macadamia nut flavor, and just delightful.

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5 from 1 vote

MACADAMIA SHORTBREAD

Adapted from Nick Malgeri Modern Baker, an easy, delicious Macadamia Shortbread. Buttery, nutty, crispy with a crunchy top of nuts and sugar. Simply divine.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword butter, Crispy, macadamian nuts, Shortbread
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes

Equipment

  • 1 food processor
  • 1 9x13 pan
  • parchment paper to line pan

Ingredients

Shortbread Base

  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100gm
  • 1-1/2 ounces unsalted or lightly salted macadamia nuts, chopped 42gm
  • 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour 270gm
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon-size pieces 170gm

Topping

  • 1/3 cup granulated sugar 67gm
  • 3/4 cup unsalted or lightly salted macadamia nuts, finely chopped 111gm

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 9″x 13″x 2″ baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving a couple of inches hanging over each short side. Butter the lining.
  • Combine 1/2 cup sugar and 1 & 1/2 ounces macadamias, (I use both salted and unsalted nuts in a 2:1 ratio) in a food processor. Pulse until finely ground. Add the flour and baking powder. Pulse until mixed. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture is combined and powdery.
  • Using a lightly floured, flat bottom glass or hands, press the dough firmly into the bottom of the prepared pan. Sprinkle the top of the dough with water. Sprinkle the finely chopped macadamias and then 1/3 cup sugar on top of the dough. Press firmly into the dough.
  • Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cookies are golden and firm.
  • While the cookies are still warm, use the overhanging lining to remove the cookies from the pan onto a cutting board. Cut into squares, using a sharp knife.
  • Let the cookies cool completely. They should become crisp as they cool. If they aren’t crisp after cooling, place them back in the pan and bake for 10-15 minutes at 300°F.
Molasses Snickerdoodles: Walking for Cookies

Molasses Snickerdoodles: Walking for Cookies

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More rain, more gray…will it ever end?  Of course, it will but when?  Last week, the high winds took out our power at home so we escaped to San Francisco for the day.  Luckily, we had a brief, much-welcomed break in the weather and made the most of it.  It was too gorgeous not to take a walk and hit some of the scenic spots in The City.

Polk Gulch-Polk Street

There are a couple of streets that come to mind for me that define life in the city, and Polk Street is one of them. If you haven’t visited this area of the city, put it on your list.  Polk Street stretches from the  Civic Center area near City Hall, the gritty Tenderloin, all the way to the tony Russian Hill area, Aquatic Park, and Fisherman’s Wharf. To walk from Aquatic Park, the northern end of Polk to Civic Center, the southern tip, encapsulates San Francisco.

How can one street be home to Michelin-Starred Restaurants, trendy coffee kiosks, and French Bakeries, but also drug addicts and homeless sleeping in doorways or living in tents?  City life is uncensored and chaotic, where you see Everything, Everywhere, All at Once

We made a beeline for Polk Street which is only 2.5 blocks away…uphill.  The perfect way to start a walk since we’ll inevitably end up at one of the many bakeries on or near Polk.

We stopped at Batter Bakery for a cup of coffee and some cookies.  Known for their cookies, I had a tough time choosing what to try.  As much as I love shortbread, which they have so many permutations, we decided on their Sand Angel and a Sesame Cookie that looked scrumptious.  The Sand Angel had me at first bite.  A molasses cookie with a crispy edge and soft, slightly cakey center, best described as a cross between a Snickerdoodle and Molasses Cookie.  Yummy on the cookie meter, 🍪🍪🍪🍪

Grabbing our coffee and cookies we continued on our walk.  I pointed out spots of interest to the hubster.  Places that were part of my childhood-my elementary school, Victor’s Pizza (still there!), and the corner my favorite dessert cafe, Blum’s occupied (sadly not there).  We passed Bob’s Donuts and Swan’s Oyster Depot, SF icons that have been around for as long as I can remember.

On our walk back we stopped to take a peek at a new neighborhood park, Francisco Park. Built on top of an old reservoir, it’s a nice respite with gorgeous views.  With a community garden, playground, picnic tables and a doggy-run on street level, the park is worth a visit.  Just a note those two highrises, the Fontanas, led to the restrictions on building heights in the city. 😉

So, after a fun day in the city, I returned home with one thing on my mind, Molasses Snickerdoodles.  Adapted from Grandma’s Molasses, it isn’t quite the same as the Batter Bakery cookie, but it’s pretty darn good!

Key points: Beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  This will give this cookie a cakier texture in the middle. If you prefer a less cakey texture and a chewier center, two things, beat only until smooth and creamy, and during baking when the cookie puffs, pull the pan out and bang the sheet on the oven rack. Do this a couple of times.  More on this later.

If the dough seems too soft to work with, chill it for 10 minutes.  A #40 scoop (2 tablespoons) will yield a 2.5-3 inch cookie.  Perfect dunking size.  The dough balls are rolled in a mixture of cinnamon and granulated sugar.  Substitute turbinado or raw sugar for a crunchier finish.

Variations on a Cookie

One dough, two different bakes.  The cookies on the left received Sarah Kieffer’s pan-banging baking treatment.  This means about two-thirds of the way through baking, when the cookies are puffy, rap the pan on the oven rack to deflate the cookies. Repeat this a couple of times.  The result is flatter, chewier cookies with crisp edges.  The cookies on the right were allowed to bake undisturbed, they puffed and fell naturally creating cracks.  This results in cookies that are a little thicker and cakier than the pan-banging cookies.

Enjoy!

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Molasses Snickerdoodles

A rift on Snickerdoodles, adding molasses gives these cookies a nice earthy flavor. Crispy-edged, tender, slightly cakey, cookie.
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Cookie recipe, cookies, Molasses Snickerdoodles
Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Stuff

  • 1 3/4 C. all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 tsp Cream of Tartar
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/8 tsp salt

Creamed Ingredients:

  • 1/2 C. unsalted butter room temperature
  • 3/4 C. granulated sugar
  • 1/4 C. Light or mild Molasses
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Dredge

  • 3 Tbsp. granulated, raw or turbinado sugar
  • 1 tsp Cinnamon

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375° F.
  • In a bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt until well blended. Set aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes.
  • Add molasses and beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  • Add egg and vanilla and mix until smooth.
  • Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until incorporated and no dry flour remains.
  • In a small dish, mix raw sugar together with cocoa powder and cinnamon until well blended.
  • Drop dough by the tablespoonful into sugar mixture, rolling until completely coated. (Dough will be sticky, but the sugar mixture should keep it from sticking to your hands.).
  • Arrange on non-stick or parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving 2 inches of space between cookies. Repeat with remaining dough.
  • Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until cookies are just set on top and bottoms are lightly golden brown.
  • Let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Heartfelt Thumbprint Cookies

Heartfelt Thumbprint Cookies

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Just in time for Valentine’s Day…2024!

Thumbprint cookies with a heart-shaped center.  Do I hear a collective “Awwwww, how cute”? Yes!  I came across these delectable morsels on a fab blog I follow by Catherine Zhang, Desserts with a Hint of Asian Inspiration.  After watching her on Netflix’s Zumbo, an Australian Baking Contest/Show, I went hunting for her blog.  Cute as a button (I can say that I’m a MOM), she looks like a teenybopper but can razzle-dazzle us with her mad “baking skillz” on both her blog and her cookbook, “Mochi, Cakes and Bakes”. Her skills are beyond her years.  Her book is available at all my favorite places.

Thumbs Up Thumbprints

These thumbprints are buttery, tender, and delicious.  She adds powdered sugar which sweetens and tenderizes the cookie and cornstarch which further lowers the protein content of the flour and ensures a tender and slightly crumbly cookie.  I  added a touch of salt to bring out the flavor.  For a hint of citrus, try adding lemon or orange zest to the dough.  Cream the butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy, add the egg yolk and vanilla (be generous), and finally, the flour and cornstarch.  Stir just until combined.  Don’t overmix.  Scrape the sides of the bowl after adding each ingredient.

Cookie Hacks

Kudos to the cookie baker, chef, or whomever who had that 💡 moment while scooping out cookie dough, THIS would be so much easier if I used an ice cream scoop.   My cookies will be round and all the same size!  For these thumbprints I used a #50 ice cream scoop (~0.68 ounce or 1.25 tablespoon) which made approximately 12-14 cookies about 2.5 inches in diameter.  Each scoop of dough weighed about 25-27 grams.

Catherine’s thumbprints call for making a cherry jam for the cookie centers.  I opted to use one of the many jams I have, a luscious strawberry jam from my favorite farmer’s market vendor, Live Earth Farm.  Depending on the consistency of your jam, you might have to heat and reduce the jam to thicken it.  This is what I did with their strawberry jam, worked like a charm.

To fill each cookie, use a squeeze bottle.  Put the jam in a squeeze bottle topped with a large bore cap.  I save the honey caps from Trader Joe’s, they work like a charm.

View these hacks on my IG reel under 3jamigos bakes.

Modern Old Inventions to Make it Simple

So, the tweak to this thumbprint cookie is using your thumb and pressing the center of your cookie dough TWICE, in the shape of a V to make the heart.  Two things, it’s a little cumbersome and she must have tiny thumbs, I had to use my pointer finger.

So there I was in my kitchen…

Enter Wes from the garage, his mancave, into the kitchen.

Wes: Whatcha doing?

Me: Making thumbprints with a heart in the middle, it’s a bit more work, but hey, it’s Valentine’s Day.

Wes:  Hmmm, I could make a heart shape stamp, would that make it easier?

Me: YES…back to the garage for you!

A few hours later…

Ooh, I LOVE my ❤️ shaped cookie stamp!  It does make it easier, but you can totally make these with your own little digits!  And, the cookies will be so cute.

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Heart Thumbprints

Customizing thumbprint cookies for Valentine’s Day! Use strawberry or raspberry jam and 2 thumbprints in the shape of a V. A delicious, very cute cookie !
Course cookies, desserts
Cuisine cookies
Keyword cookies, strawberry jam, thumbprints, valentine, valentine's day
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 12 minutes

Ingredients

CHERRY JAM: But feel free to substitute your favorite red jam, like strawberry or raspberry!

  • 150 g Whole cherries approx. 1 cup
  • 50 g 1/4 cup Sugar
  • 1 tsp Lemon juice

COOKIE

Creamed Mixture

  • 115 g Unsalted butter (1/2 cup) room temperature 68 degrees, shuld not be soft and melty
  • 60 g powdered sugar (1/2 cup)
  • 1 Egg yolk
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract

The Dry Stuff

  • 140 g All purpose flour (3/4 cup + 2 tbsp)
  • 15 g Cornstarch (2 tbsp)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 Tsp lemon or orange zest, OPTIONAL finely grated

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350F

CHERRY JAM

  • Finely chop cherries
  • Combine cherries, sugar and lemon juice in a small saucepan
  • Heat over medium heat for 8-10 minutes until thickened. Cool

COOKIE

  • Combine flour and cornstarch in a bowl. Set aside.
  • Cream butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy
  • Add egg yolk and vanilla extract, beat until well mixed.
  • Add flour mixture and stir until combined.
  • Use a #50 scoop to form 12-14 balls. If dough is sticky, chill for 10 minutes before scooping. Remove from fridge and roll into smooth balls. This is essential, a smooth surface, or you will have cracks in your finsihed cookie. Create a heart shape in the center of each ball using two thumbprints (I used my pointer finger) pressed in a V shape. Chill for 10-15 minutes.
  • Fill the thumbprint with cooled cherry jam or jam of your choice*
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.

Notes

Weigh dough and divide by 12.  Use this as your guide.  Each dough ball will weigh approximately 25 grams.  Each baked cookie will be approximately 2 inches in diameter.
*Use jam of choice.  I like raspberry or strawberry for Valentine's Day.  The jam should be fairly thick so it doesn't run too much.  If need be, heat jam and reduce to thicken it.
The recipe can be doubled
Gochujang Caramel Cookies Sweet & Spicy-Winner, Winner from Eric Kim-mer

Gochujang Caramel Cookies Sweet & Spicy-Winner, Winner from Eric Kim-mer

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My favorite cookie this past holiday season was Eric Kim’s Gochujang Caramel Cookie.   I worked my way to writing about it by posting my two other favorite new cookies for the season first, Sue Li’s Orange, Pistachio, and Chocolate Shortbread and Rose’s Almond Crescents. Yep, just like the ones your Grandma, Abuela, Oma, or Nonna probably made.

Back to Eric’s holiday cookie for the New York Times.  His first holiday cookie, a couple of years ago was a homemade version of the Lofthouse Grocery Store Cookie.  A cakey, vanilla-forward cookie topped with real buttercream flavored with freeze-dried berries and finished with a generous amount of sprinkles.  So damn good.  Last year’s M&M Cookie, a kid favorite, is a buttery, chewy cookie, dotted with M&M’s, a precursor to this year’s cookie.

Sweet & Spicy

His Gochujang Caramel Cookie is a bold stroke of genius and gumption.  Gochujang is a fermented spicy chili paste with a touch of sweetness, a mainstay of Korean cooking.  But in a cookie?  It works! Ribbons of Gochujang enveloped in a buttery, chewy, vanilla-forward cookie. Butter and brown sugar are mixed into the Gochujang paste to mellow the chili which helps caramelize it while baking.   The trickiest part when making these is to not overmix the Gochujang butter into the cookie dough so you see the orange-colored swirls of Gochujang in the cookie. Not only do they taste fabulous, but they are visually stunning.

Easy Peasy

The key to making these is having soft butter.  Leave the butter at room temperature for at least an hour before. The butter should be soft but not melty.  Although he recommends making these by hand you can use a mixer.  Remember the golden rule-don’t overmix!  If you use a mixer,  stick to the stir and the low-speed setting.

Watch Eric make these cookies for NYTcooking HERE.

Spicy Pearls of Wisdom- Gochujang Paste is made of chili flakes for heat, glutinous rice for sweetness, and fermented soybeans for flavor.  It is a cornerstone of Korean cooking.  I use the mild paste for the cookies as it does come in various heat levels.  You can find it in most Asian grocery stores or TJ has small tubs of Gochujang made in Korea (full transparency, I haven’t tried it).

Here’s the Hard Part

The tricky part is combining the gochujang butter with the cookie dough.  Eric calls for chilling the cookie dough for a couple of minutes so it is denser than the paste.  The goal is to have streaks of the orange-red paste running through the lighter vanilla dough.  Bites vary in spiciness and sweetness if you don’t blend too much (upping the interest factor).  Spread plops of the paste on the dough and run a small spatula through it to drag the paste into the dough.  NOT TOO MUCH since when you scoop out the dough this will further blend it.  Use a cookie scoop to form balls of dough.  A #40 scoop will give you approximately 18 cookies about 3 inches in diameter with crisp edges and a chewy center.  Reduce baking time to 9-11 minutes.  These are a bit smaller than Eric’s cookie cause I don’t need to eat a 5+ inch cookie and trust me I would, lol.

Cookie Hack

The cookies spread quite a bit so allow lots of space on your cookie sheet for each cute dough ball.  This also allows room around the cookie to use my jar hack/cookie cutter to shape the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.  The chili paste will spread more than the cookie itself creating a funny-shaped cookie.  Take a cup or a bowl just a little bit bigger than the cookie, place it over the cookie and swirl the cup and cookie.  This “rounds” the cookie out.

Spicy Tip Number 2? Or is it 3?

Have friends and fam that are spice-adverse?  Tell them to pick the cookie that has the least amount of orange!

I adore this cookie for its flavor, texture, and uniqueness!

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Gochujang Caramel Cookies

From Eric Kim and NYTcooking, my favorite cookie this past year! Gochujang Caramel Cookies
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine Asian-American, Korean-American
Keyword gochujang, Gochujang Caramel Cookie, holiday cookies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 11 minutes

Ingredients

Gochujang Butter

  • 1 tablespoon unsalted butter very soft
  • 2 tablespoons packed dark brown sugar
  • 1 tablespoon gochujang paste heaping

Creamed Mixture

  • 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
  • 1 large egg at room temperature
  • ½ teaspoon coarse kosher salt (Morton's) or ¾ teaspoon if using Diamond Crystal
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Dry Stuff

  • ½ teaspoon baking soda
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour 185 grams

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon butter, the brown sugar and gochujang until smooth. Set aside for later, at room temperature.
  • In a large bowl, by hand, whisk together the remaining 7 tablespoons butter, the granulated sugar, egg, salt, cinnamon and vanilla until smooth, about 1 minute. Switch to a flexible spatula and stir in the baking soda. Add the flour and gently stir to combine. Place this large bowl in the refrigerator until the dough is less sticky but still soft and pliable, 15 to 20 minutes.
  • While the dough is chilling, heat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 large sheet pans with parchment.
  • Remove the dough from the refrigerator. In 3 to 4 separately spaced out blobs, spoon the gochujang mixture over the cookie dough. Moving in long circular strokes, swirl the gochujang mixture into the cookie dough so you have streaks of orange-red rippled throughout the beige. Be sure not to overmix at this stage, as you want wide, distinct strips of gochujang.
  • Use an ice cream scoop to plop out ¼-cup rounds spaced at least 3 inches apart on the sheet pans. (You should get 4 to 5 cookies per pan.) Bake until lightly golden at the edges and dry and set in the center, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. Let cool completely on the sheet pan; the cookies will flatten slightly and continue cooking as they cool. *See post for making smaller cookies. I used a #40 scoop which is just shy of an ounce. 1/4 cup is 2 ounces for comparison.
  • The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days.

Notes

Mixing this dough by hand is highly recommended for the most defined crinkles and the chewiest texture.
NCOTB #3 Almond Crescents Old School New

NCOTB #3 Almond Crescents Old School New

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A couple of months ago I reviewed Rose Levy Beranbaum’s new book, The Cookie Bible for Net Gallery.  Long a fan of hers I was excited to take a peek at her latest work, it did not disappoint.  My favorite book is Rose’s Christmas Cookie Book, the bible of Christmas Cookies.  Her attention to detail and explanation of ingredients and techniques guarantee success for even the most novice baker.

The Cookie Leap

Rose’s Christmas Cookies expanded my cookie-verse.  I went from baking chocolate chip cookies (a damn good one though) to making spritz, cut-outs, and crescent cookies-fancy-schmancy festive cookies.  Every Christmas, Rose’s Christmas Cookies is front and center on my kitchen counter.

One of my favorites from this book is Rose’s Crescents.  The fact that there are so many variants is indicative of their deliciousness and universal appeal.  Austrian Viennese Crescents, Mexican Wedding Cookies, Greek Kourabiedes, and Snowballs-all start with ground nuts, flour, sugar, and butter mixed together and baked into a buttery, blissful bite. Rose tweaked hers, instead of rolling the cookies in powdered sugar, they are rolled in a mixture of superfine sugar and cinnamon.  Sublime.

Here’s the Good Part

She includes directions on how to make certain recipes in a food processor.  Not all cookies can be made in a processor but the ones you can, simplify the process and shorten the time.  No more waiting for the butter to come to room temp.  It is essentially a one-bowl recipe, how great is that?

The Food Process

Place almonds and sugar in a food processor bowl and process until almonds are very finely ground.  Cut butter into pieces and with the motor running, add butter and process until smooth and creamy.  Scrape down the sides and add flour and salt and pulse to incorporate the flour.  Remove the dough from the processor and gather it into a disc.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour until firm.

I use a #50 or #60 ice cream scoop (1 tablespoon plus of dough). Roll dough into a cylinder about 2.5-3 inches long.  The dough softens quickly so work fast, use your fingers to roll as your palm has more heat.  As you roll the dough into cylinders, put a bit more pressure on the ends to taper them.  Pinch the ends to fine-tune the shape into points.

I have also made these smaller using a #70 scoop when I want dainty little tea cookies.

I love these cookies.  Don’t wait until the holidays to make them!

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Rose's Crescents

Buttery, tender, melt-in-your-mouth cookies, Almond Crescents from Rose's Christmas Cookies.
Course cookies, desserts, holiday dish
Cuisine American
Keyword almond, cinnamon sugar, holiday cookies, Rose's Crescents
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 16 minutes

Ingredients

The Creamed Mixture

  • 1 c. Unsalted Butter 8 ounces or 227 grams
  • ⅓ c. Sugar 2.25 ounces or 66 grams
  • ⅔ c. Sliced Blanched Almonds 2 ounces or 56 grams

The Dry Ingredients

  • 1⅔ c. All Purpose Flour (prefer Gold Medal or Pillsbury AP flour) 8.25 ounces or 235 grams See notes regarding flour
  • ¼ tsp. Salt

Topping:

  • ½ c. Sugar 100 grams
  • ½ tsp. Cinnamon

Instructions

  • Pre-heat oven to 325º.
  • Place almonds and sugar in food processor or blender and process until nuts are finely ground; set aside. See notes in post for making in food processor.
  • Cream butter in large mixing bowl. Add almond mixture; beat until light and fluffy. Gradually mix in flour and salt until well blended.
  • Shape dough into a large flat disk; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate 1 hour or until firm.
  • For topping, combine sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl; set aside.
  • Work with one-fourth of the dough at a time; refrigerate remaining dough. Shape dough into ¾ inch balls; roll each into a 3-inch log. Place on unbuttered cookie sheet 1 inch apart. Shape into crescents.
  • Bake 14 to 16 minutes or until set but not brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes. While still warm, remove cookies from cookie sheets. Dip into cinnamon sugar turning gently to coat. Finish cooling on wire racks.

Notes

So, why did I specify Gold Medal Flour.  Rose's Christmas Cookies was first published in 1990.  At the time, King Arthur Flour and other Small Company Mills were not widely known.  The standard, easy to get flour was Gold Medal or Pillsbury Flour, bleached all-purpose flour.  The protein content of which is slightly lower than King Arthur or Central Milling.  This can impact your cookies in terms of tenderness and spread.
For cookie recipes I have that date back quite a few years, I use Gold Medal Flour.  If you have Rose's newest book, she will specify the flour to use.  Recipes these days, I check to see what the author has specified first.  More than likely I'll use King Arthur (that's what I normally have in my kitchen) but during the holidays I always have a stash of Gold Medal too!
NCOTB #2 Orange, Pistachio and Chocolate Shortbread (New Cookies on the Block)

NCOTB #2 Orange, Pistachio and Chocolate Shortbread (New Cookies on the Block)

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Yay, the Twelve Seven Eight Days of Christmas Cookies!

The best-laid plans of mice and me…sometimes need a tweak.  Actually, not to pat myself on the back or anything, I think I did pretty “good”.  In between holiday baking we took a quick trip to Seattle. Four days of eating, walking, visiting the Space Needle and the Chihuly Garden and Glass, and watching the Forty-Niners beat the Seahawks!  I still managed to bake 8 days of Christmas cookies!

Our holiday cookie box is a mix of old and new cookies.  The tried and true include Scottish Shortbread, Jan Hagel’s (my mom’s favorite), Pecan Tartlets, and the mandatory jam-filled cookie, Dorie’s Jammers (the perfect choice).

The NCOTB (new cookies on the block, a nod to all you boy band fans) include a couple from this year’s New York Times Holiday Cookies.  My favorite of the bunch is Eric Kim’s Gochujang Caramel Cookies (I’ve made three batches already).  Crispy edges, chewy center, buttery with a sweet kick from the Gochujang paste, it’s different and delightful. My other favorite (can you have two favorites?) is Sue Li’s Orange, Pistachio, and Chocolate Shortbread.  Buttery shortbread studded with candied orange peel, green pistachios, and dark chocolate for a visually fun and tasty cookie.

Cookie Caveat

But, the first time I read through the recipe and NOTES (ALWAYS read the notes, foodies are not shy about sharing their opinion of a dish) it became clear that there were a couple of hitches in the recipe.  My OCD-Sherlockian-Watson persona took over.  I poured over the comments and scrutinized the measurements and directions (occupatinal hazard, I’m a pediatric pharmacist).

My dear NYTCooking – Something is afoot, there are discrepancies in the volumes and weights for this recipe, where are your editors? LOL. 3 cups of flour is not 419 grams.  3/4 cup of granulated sugar is not 175 grams.  So, I set about to modify the recipe as best I could:

  • I used 375 grams of King Arthur AP Flour aligning with std measurements for a cup since there were quite a few comments that the dough was too dry & crumbly.
  • Sue Li commented once to use 175 grams of sugar, so that’s what I used.  If there is wiggle room it would be with the sugar, use 150 grams for a not-as-sweet cookie.
  • The butter is also off, I opted to go by weight not volume.
  • I added 1 tsp vanilla, which couldn’t hurt plus added a bit more moisture.

The dough came together nicely.  Do not overmix, once it starts to clump, stop and gather together.

The 8-hour chilling time in the original recipe allows the flour to absorb moisture and hold together.  The modifications result in a nice, moist dough.  You may not need an 8-hour chill time.  The dough needs to be solid enough to slice and still hold its shape.

See how “purdy” the orange, green, and brown specks are?!

The finished cookie was buttery, with a fine crumb texture, with the candied orange, pistachios, and chocolate taking it over the holiday top.  Luckily I squirreled away some dough in the freezer (the beauty of slice-and-bake cookies) that will be lovely on New Year’s Eve with a glass of bubbly!

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5 from 1 vote

Orange, Pistachio and Chocolate Shortbread

From NYTcooking, a buttery shortbread studded with candied orange, pistachios, and chocolate perfect for the holidays!
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Dark chocolate, orange, pistachios, Shortbread
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Chilling Time 8 hours

Ingredients

Flour Mixture

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour (375 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt such as Diamond Crystal or 1/2 t table salt

Butter Mixture

  • 1-1/4 cups unsalted butter (284 grams) at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar (175gms) 175gms =
  • 1 large egg yolk

Add-Ins

  • 1/2 cup candied orange peel (76 grams) roughly chopped
  • 1/2 cup shelled unsalted pistachios (76 grams) roughly chopped
  • 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate coarsely chopped

Instructions

  • Whisk together flour and salt in a medium bowl. Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Using an electric mixer (fitted with the paddle attachment if using a stand mixer), beat at medium-high speed until the mixture is pale in color, about 2 minutes, periodically scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula (don't skip this, it makes a difference). Add egg yolk and blend until combined.
  • Add flour mixture and mix on low until combined. If there are dried bits of flour left around the bowl, use a rubber spatula to smoosh them in with the dough. Add orange peel, pistachios and chopped chocolate, fold in with a rubber spatula. (The dough will be crumbly (although with the modifications, less so). If necessary, use the electric mixer to add the mix-ins, or work them in with your hands until fully incorporated.)
  • To form the cookies, line an 8 by 8-inch baking pan with plastic wrap and leave a generous amount of overhang on all sides. Transfer the dough to the prepared pan and press firmly to flatten in an even layer. Cover with plastic wrap and chill dough for 8 hours or overnight before baking.
  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
  • Using the plastic wrap overhang, remove the dough from the pan and cut the square into three equal rectangles. It's going to be tough to get out of the pan but just be patient and pull gently on the plastic to gradually remove from pan.
  • Cut each rectangle crosswise into roughly 1⁄3-inch-thick slices and lay them flat on the prepared baking sheets, about 3⁄4-inch apart. (If the dough crumbles when slicing, simply push the mixture together to reform the cookie.) Bake until lightly golden on the bottom but still blonde on the edges, 15 to 17 minutes.
  • Remove from the oven, allow cookies to cool on the sheets. The cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Yet Another Peanut Butter Cookie, Soft and Chewy

Yet Another Peanut Butter Cookie, Soft and Chewy

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Peanuttttt, peanut butter….cookie!  If asked what my favorite cookies are, Shortbread, Snickerdoodles, and Thumbprints immediately come to mind.  Peanut Butter Cookies would not make the cut and yet a quick search of 3Jamigos will reveal more than a few recipes for peanut butter cookies.  This leads to my 🤦🏻‍♀️ forehead slap moment  “I LOVE peanut butter cookies, they should be on my fav list.” Life’s little epiphanies.

The other night our postcard posse reconvened to write cards for Reverend Warnock in Georgia.  How he is in a run-off with Hershel Walker is beyond me and beyond the scope of this blog.  I made a half-hearted promise to keep this site apolitical.  Just food, friends, and fluff.  So in the immortal words of Forest Gump… “that’s all I have to say about that.”

For our postcard session against He who shall not be named, my friend’s daughter, Avery, of Kentucky Butter Cake fame, dropped off some just baked Peanut Butter Cookies for our crew.  I’m sure in solidarity and because she loves to bake (and she is darn good at it).

One Bite…

and I knew there was going to be yet another peanut butter cookie recipe on 3Jamigos.  Yep, Avery’s PB Cookies were tender, chewy in the center, super peanut buttery, sweet, and salty, and just darn delicious.  I got on the horn (ok, I texted) faster than you can say Mr. Planter’s Peanuts and asked “can I PLEASEEE have the recipe”.

Lucky Her Mom Likes Me

Voila’ the recipe showed up in my text message, lickity-split.  Adapted from a very cute blog Dessert Now Dinner Later, the recipe for Thick and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies is easy and does not require chilling before baking.  You can have a batch of these bad boys done in less than an hour.

I use King Arthur flour which has a higher protein than GM or Pillsbury.  Feel free to bake off a test cookie, if it spreads too much, add a bit of flour.

Cream the butter and sugar for 1-2 minutes until it is well blended and smooth looking, not fluffy.

Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla.  If you like more texture, feel free to use chunky peanut butter.  Beat until well combined.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed just until combined with no remaining traces of flour.  Do not overbeat as this will toughen the cookie.

Use a #40 scoop (approximately 1.6 tablespoons) and place the dough on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Bake one sheet at a time.  Cause that’s how I roll or row actually, lol.  The final cookies will be just shy of 3 inches in diameter.

The cookies on top were baked for 12 minutes.  The cookies on the bottom with sprinkles, about 11 minutes.

This would be a lovely holiday cookie to gift or for Santa along with an ice-cold glass of milk or a hot toddy (don’t tell the kids).

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Peanut Butter Cookies

A thick but tender Peanut Butter Cookie that is delicious and easy to make!
Course cookies, Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword Dessert Now, Dinner Later, easy recipe, peanut butter, Peanut Butter Cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Dry Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients to Cream together

  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 cup light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter or chunky if you like I use Skippy Natural Style peanut butter
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Options

  • chocolate chips or sprinkles, raw sugar, Maldon Salt

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lined cookie sheets with parchment or silpat. (note silpats retain heat, check cookies a minute or two earlier.
  • In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, using a whisk.
  • Cream the butter and sugars together in the bowl of a stand mixer for 1-2 minutes until well combined. Batter should be smooth and creamy not fluffy which would give you cakey cookies. Use the paddle attachment.
  • Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix well and scrape the bowl.
  • Add flour mixture to the butter mixture all at once and mix on low speed just until incorporated.
  • Scoop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 to 12 minutes or until just set*.
  • Allow cookies to cool slightly on the sheet for approximately 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. Store cookies in an airtight container.

Notes

For softer, chewier cookies, bake approximately 10 minutes, +/- 30 seconds.  The cookies will not color much and the top may still have some sheen.  The cookies will continue to bake outside the oven.  
For a denser, cookie that's a bit crumbly (in a good way), bake for 12 minutes.  The cookies will have some color on top and the edge.  The bottoms will be a bit darker.
Feel free to embellish. Add mini-chocolate chips to dough or add sprinkles.  I use a blend of dark chocolate sprinkles, Demerara Sugar or raw sugar, and a sprinkle of Maldon Salt.
Ritz Cookies (Crackers in Your Cookies?)

Ritz Cookies (Crackers in Your Cookies?)

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Cracker for crackers like me?  I love crackers, the perfect vehicle for dips, spreads, and cheese…it is the ultimate edible utensil.  Taking its place as the number one cracker in my book is Ritz Crackers.  Buttery, golden, flaky rounds that go with everything.

When I find a recipe that uses crackers…I’m all there, Babee.  I know it’s gonna be good, especially if it calls for Ritz Crackers.  One of my favorite desserts is the Atlantic Beach Pie, a delicious, easy, Lemon Pie with a whipped cream top instead of meringue and a Ritz Cracker crust, a play on salty and sweet.

On the main dish front, I love Eric Kim’s Ritzy Cheddar Chicken Breasts, chicken breasts coated in a sour cream-mustard mixture, and rolled in crushed Ritz Crackers and cheddar cheese, think Shake and Bake but WAY better.

DUH

So, when I came across a recipe from Christina Tosi of Milk Bar fame, for a Ritz Cookie, little alarms went off in my head.  GOTTA MAKE THESE ASAP.  Tosi is known for her delicious, quirky desserts like Crack Pie, Compost Cookies, and my personal favorite, Corn Cookies.  I immediately headed to the kitchen to make a batch.

These cookies are pretty darn easy to make.  It calls for butter, granulated sugar, flour, egg, milk powder, and Ritz Crackers. The recipe is on Christina Tosi’s website and as such is pretty casually written, I’ve added some details to hopefully clarify some of the steps.  Let’s get started.

Puttin In the Ritz

I use King Arthur’s AP flour in this recipe.  Doing a deep dive, ok, a Google search, Christina Tosi uses bread flour for cookies. Bread flour has a higher protein content which probably slows down cookie spread.  Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.  Break up Ritz Crackers into pieces, not too small.

Though the type of butter is not specified, I used unsalted butter which worked fine.  If you want a pronounced sweet-salty vibe, start with salted butter instead, or sprinkle Fleur de Sel or your choice of finishing salt on the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.  Beat butter and sugar until combined and smooth not fluffy.

Add the egg (I might add a touch of vanilla next time too-1 tsp), and beat well.  Add dry mix and blend on low speed just until combined.  Once the flour is added, don’t beat too much.  You don’t want tough cookies.

Add the Ritz Crackers!  Note how big the pieces are.

On low speed, stir until the crackers are mixed into the dough.  This breaks the larger pieces into smaller ones which is what you want.  You don’t want cracker dust.  Refrigerate dough for 30 minutes, this helps a bit with excessive spread.

Using a 2-tablespoon scoop, form dough balls, and place on a parchment-lined sheet.  Word of caution, they spread quite a bit so space at 2-3 inches apart.  I also tried a 3-tablespoon scoop, interestingly enough it didn’t spread that much more than the 2-tablespoon scoop and formed a thicker cookie.

To create round cookies, as soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, quickly shape each cookie with a spatula or cover each with a  glass cup and swirl the cookie around.  Voila’ round cookie.  Cookies on the left were made with a 3-tablespoon scoop while the ones on the right were with a 2-tablespoon scoop.  Thinner cookies were a bit chewier.

Bake Time

The original recipe calls for 1/4 cup or 4-tablespoon scoop, 10-12 minutes.  These still took about 11 minutes despite less dough.  The bottoms were definitely a toasty brown, the edges crispy, and the center chewy and sturdy. Start checking early, as they color quickly. Remove when there is still a hint of sheen on the top of the cookie.  The cookies will continue to cook out of the oven.

Enjoy!

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5 from 1 vote

Ritz Cracker Cookie by Christina Tosi

A buttery, crispy-edged, sweet-salty, chewy-centered cookie, thanks to Ritz Crackers!
Course cookies, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Keyword Chewy Toasted Sesame Cookies, christina tosi, cookies, Crispy, Ritz Crackers, sweet-salty
Prep Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

Creamed Mixture

  • 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup) at room temperature
  • 1-3/4 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg

Dry Ingredients

  • 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup nonfat milk powder
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda

The Star

  • 2-1/2 cups or 1 sleeve + 5 Ritz crackers Break crackers into big pieces, once added to batter they will breakdown a bit more. Do not crush.

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 375°F.
  • Combine flour, milk powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a small bowl. Set aside.
  • Combine the butter and sugar in the bowl, on medium speed, mixing until smooth about 1 -2 minutes. Add the egg, beat again until well combined.
  • Add flour mixture and beat on low speed just until it is blended. Do not overbeat.
  • Add the crackers and mix until fully incorporated. You want your crackers to break down into smaller pieces as you mix, but not to cracker dust stage. There should be small pieces of crackers in the dough.
  • Scoop dough on a greased baking sheet (or use parchment paper) 2 to 3 inches apart. The recipe calls for a 1/4 inch scoop which makes HUGE cookies and about 18 cookies. Use a 2-tablespoon or 4-tablespoon scoop which yields 24-36 cookies. You should have twice the number of cookies.
  • Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are a deep golden brown and the center a paler golden brown. The dough spreads quite a bit. Chilling the dough helps a bit, but my quick fix to rounding the cookies-as soon as the cookies come out of the oven. Use a spatula to push the edges to shape the cookies into circles. Conversely, use a glass slightly larger than the cookie, place over the cookie and swirl the cookie to round out the shape.
  • Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool. Enjoy!
Rowing for Coconut & Jam Oat Bars

Rowing for Coconut & Jam Oat Bars

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About this time of year, I wax nostalgic about one of my passions (not food this time), rowing.  Say what?  Yes, rowing.  I started rowing, gosh too many years ago to count, and it changed my life.  Instead of trudging toward a sedentary, middle-aged lifestyle, it became my sport and form of exercise.

Spending early morning hours on the water (trust me, I am not a morning person) watching the sunrise, the first rays of light hitting the ripples of water made by the boat, it’s magical.  Beyond that (there’s more?), I have made lifelong friends, found a community, and experienced the camaraderie created by competition, joy, and pain.  #Crewlife

Rock Star Regatta

Boston annually hosts the largest regatta (rowing competition) in the world, the Head of the Charles.  Every October, collegiate, high school, Masters (anyone out of school) converge for the regatta.  Imagine the Boston Marathon but with a bunch of really tall people, wearing spandex (lol) in boats on the Charles.  We row as hard as we can for 5km.  All the while navigating through boats, under bridges (5), and around turns.  Throngs of spectators line the bridges and banks of the Charles to watch and root their rowers on.  It’s exhilarating, I haven’t raced there in a while and I miss it.

Side Trip Fun

If you go that far to race for twenty minutes, you might as well take advantage of being there.  We began taking side trips after Head of the Charles. One year we went to Vermont to find pie, visit King Arthur Flour, and tour Ben and Jerry’s.  Another year found us in Martha’s Vineyard.  The crowds of summer long gone, we wandered the island taking in the cool, crisp, fall weather, foliage colors, and FOOD!  We stopped at 7aFoods for pastries and coffee which I highly recommend.  Finally, a stop at  Morning Glory Farm to roam their pumpkin patch and eat more pie, the Buttermilk Pie was a standout.

The 7AFoods Oat and Fruit Bars were dreamy-a buttery crust topped with blueberry preserves, dried fruits, oat, and a delicious crumble. I asked for the recipe which they graciously sent BUT I have yet to try as it makes two full sheets of bars!  So I searched for a simpler, smaller recipe that would satisfy my 7AFoods bar craving.  Luckily, I found a delightful, easy-to-make Raspberry Coconut Oat Bar cookie from One Girl Cookies that did the trick.

So, I made a batch of these delicious bars while watching this year’s Head of the Charles Regatta.  Sigh, maybe next year I’ll be rowing instead of baking.

Finally, Notes on the One Girl Cookies Raspberry Coconut Oat Bar

These bars are easy to make.  The base crust and crumble are from the same dough.  The dough starts with cold butter, eliminating the time to soften butter, and can be made in a mixer or by hand.  Yep, that easy.  Use a mixer, add the flour, sugars, salt, and butter (diced into little pieces) and mix until it forms a crumble, then add coconut and oatmeal.  Use a pastry blender to cut butter into flour and sugar mixture.  This is much like making pie dough.  Do not blend until it forms a single mass as that would result in a tough crust.  As it bakes, the bits of butter in the dough melt and create steam that makes a tender, flaky crust.

NACL Note

The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon of salt.  It is intentionally salt-forward, a play on the salty and sweet vibe.  If you use a really sweet jam, I would leave the amount of salt.  If you are salt sensitive, try 3/4 teaspoon instead.  You do need some salt as a flavor booster.

Reserve 3/4 to 1 cup of the crumble mixture.  Press the remaining dough into a 9×13 baking pan that has been lined with parchment.  The recipe calls for baking the crust for 14 minutes, it took a couple of minutes more for the edges to brown for me.  Spread preserves over the cooled crust.  I have used blueberry, mixed berry, and apricot, it’s your choice. The base crust is pretty thin so a thin layer of jam is all that is needed.  I might sprinkle the jam layer with dried fruit and sliced almonds before adding the crumble next time.

Before adding the crumble, squeeze the crumble mixture so there are some bigger crumbs, it looks nicer.

With Blueberry Lichi Jam!

With apricot cherry preserves!

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JAMMY COCONUT OAT BARS

Jam & Coconut Oat Bars, a buttery shortbread base topped with preserves and a coconut oatmeal crumble. Adapted from One Girl Cookies.
Course bar cookies, cookies, desserts
Cuisine American
Keyword bar cookies, Jammy Coconut Oat Bars, One Girl Cookies
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Resting Time 10 minutes

Ingredients

All About the Dough

  • 1-1/4 cups (150g) all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup (150g) packed light brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
  • 12 tablespoons (170g) unsalted butter, cold and cut into small pieces
  • 1 teaspoon salt Very salt forward, decrease to 3/4 tsp. if desired

Add to Dough Crumble

  • 3/4 cup (85g) unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1-1/2 cups (148g) old-fashioned rolled oats

The Finish

  • 1/2 cup raspberry preserves or use your favorite preserves

Optional Adds

  • 1/4-1/3 cup diced dried fruit that compliments the preserves you use
  • 1/4-1/3 cup sliced almonds or chopped nuts of your choice

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 350°F.
  • Spread the coconut on a baking sheet. Toast 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool. Keep your eye on it as coconut will brown quickly
  • Grease a 9"x 13"x 2" baking pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper.
  • In an electric mixer on low speed, mix the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and salt until combined. Add the butter and continue mixing until the dough begins to come together. Stir in the coconut and oats.
  • Remove 3/4-1 cup of the crust dough. Set aside. If adding optional ingredients remove 3/4 cup of crumble.
  • Pour the remaining dough to pan. Press evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan, I use a flat bottom cup to press dough into pan. Bake 14-17 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. The crust should be golden brown around the edges. Allow the crust to cool for 10 minutes.
  • Spread the preserves evenly over the crust, leaving a scant 1/2-inch border. If you are adding nuts or dried fruit, sprinkle on preserves now then crumble the reserved dough over the top. Bake 7 minutes, or until the preserves are bubbly. Cool completely in pan.
  • Run a knife around the edges of the bars. Place a baking sheet on top of the pan and flip the pan over to release the bars. Peel the parchment paper off. Then flip again. Using a sharp knife, cut the bars into squares, which in a 9x13 won't be exactly squared, lol.