Cowboy Cookies III

SUBMITTED BY: Bonnie Smith

"These are yummy. If you can manage to get them to cook just the right way, they aren't crunchy, but soft and the tiniest bit chewy, and melt in your mouth!"

 Original recipe yield:
5 dozen

PREP TIME  15 Min
COOK TIME  10 Min
READY IN  1 Hr 

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
 
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease baking sheets. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Gradually stir in the sifted ingredients. Stir in the rolled oats and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing.

Moist Fruitcake Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
3 pounds mixed dried fruit*
1/2 cup bourbon, rum, or brandy OR apple or cranberry juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional)
1/4 teaspoon butter rum flavor (optional)
1 3/4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

*Use your favorite combination of dried and/or candied fruits. I used dried cranberries, apricots, dates, and golden raisins, and thought the mixture could have been a bit sweeter; next time, I think I'd add some candied cherries. Since dried fruit measures about 3 cups per pound, you'll want to use about 9 cups of dried fruit.

Also, if you use a high percentage of sticky, candied fruit, reserve 1/2 cup of the flour when you're adding it to the batter, and toss the fruit with that 1/2 cup of flour before stirring it in; this will help it mix in more easily.

In a large bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, and salt till smooth. Add the eggs, and beat till smooth and creamy. Add the liquor or juice and mix, scraping the sides of the bowl. The batter will appear curdled; that's OK.

Add the spices, espresso powder and butter rum flavor (if you're using them), and the flour. Mix till smooth, then add the fruit; the batter will be very stiff. Refrigerate overnight.

Next day, remove the dough from the refrigerator, and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, or a spoon, scoop out balls of dough about the size of a ping pong ball; again, the dough is very stiff, so you'll need to use your muscles here. Place them on lightly greased or parchment-lined baking sheets. Dip a flat-bottomed glass in confectioners' sugar, and flatten each ball of dough to about 1/2-inch thick.

Bake the cookies in a preheated 325°F oven for 15 minutes; the cookies will be set, but still moist. Remove them from the oven, and cool them on a rack. Yield: 5 1/2 dozen 2-inch cookies. 
www.BakingCircle.com

Thin Mint Recipe - homemade and all-natural

Chocolate Wafers:
8 ounces organic butter, room temperature
1 cup organic powdered sugar, (I use Wholesome Sweeteners brand)
1 teaspoon natural vanilla extract
1 cup cocoa powder (I use Dagoba's cacao powder)
3/4 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

Chocolate Peppermint Coating:
1 pound good quality semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1/4 teaspoon plus a couple drops of natural peppermint extract (I use Flavorganics brand, avail. at Whole Foods)

Preheat your oven to 350. Racks in the middle zone.

Make the cookie dough: In a mixer cream the butter until it is light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and cream some more, scraping the sides of the bowl a couple times if necessary. Stir in the vanilla extract and then the salt and cocoa powder. Mix until the cocoa powder is integrated and the batter is smooth and creamy, sort of like a thick frosting. Add the whole wheat pastry flour and mix just until the batter is no longer dusty looking, it might still be a bit crumbly, and that's o.k. You don't want to over mix and end up with tough cookies.

Turn the dough out onto a counter, gather it into a ball, and kneed it just once or twice to bring it together into once nice, smooth mass. Place the ball of dough into a large plastic bag and flatten it into a disk roughly 3/4-inch thick. Place the dough in the freezer for 20 minutes to chill.

Rollout and bake: Remove the dough from the freezer and roll it out really thin, remember how thin Thin Mints are? That's how thin you need your dough, about 1/8-inch. You can either roll it out between two sheets of plastic, or dust your counter and rolling pin with a bit of flour and do it that way. Stamp out cookies using a 1 1/2-inch cutter (this time I used one with a fluted edge, I've done hearts and other shapes in the past). Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow them to cool completely on a baking rack if you've got one.

Make the peppermint coating:
While the cookies are in the oven you can get the coating ready. I use a makeshift double boiler to melt chocolate (a metal pan over a saucepan of gently simmering water), but I know many people who swear by melting chocolate in the microwave. Slowly melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally until it is glossy and smooth. Stir in the peppermint extract. If you think the chocolate needs a bit more peppermint kick, add more extract a drop or two at a time - but don't go overboard.

Finishing the cookies: You are going to coat the cookies one at a time and then gently set them on a parchment-lined baking sheet to set. Drop one cookie into the chocolate and (using a fork) carefully make sure it gets fully coated. Lift the cookie out of the chocolate with the fork and bang the fork on the side of the pan to drain any extra chocolate off the cookie. You are after a thin, even coating of chocolate. Place on the aforementioned prepared baking sheet, and repeat for the rest of the cookies. Place the cookies in the refrigerator or freezer to set. They will set at room temperature, it just takes much longer, and I prefer them straight out of the freezer anyways ;)

Make 3 or 4 dozen cookies.

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