Friday, July 10, 2009

Rainy Day Cookies


The weather has been poor all week, kind of on the cool side, windy and rainy. Today seemed to be the worst weather of all, so bad,in fact, that we did not want to leave our house. So what do you do on rainy summer days? Normally on rainy days you will find me in my kitchen, with the smells of chocolate and spicy cinnamon surrounding me and wafting through the entire house, enticing the children and warming and soothing my soul.

There is something about the comfort of baking yummy treats that soothes me like nothing else - the mixing, the pouring, the sweet and spicy smells, it warmth coming from the oven, and the way everyone in the house, even the dogs, start to gravitate towards the kitchen.

Today I made two stand by favorites - Double Chocolate Espresso Fudge Ice Cream Sandwiches and Snickerdoodles. We to cheer up our cranky moods and the second to bring comfort and calm (honestly, I have a cookie every feeling under the sun and will take almost any opportunity to bake up a batch!).

Double Chocolate Espresso Fudge Ice Cream Sandwhiches:

1 ¼ cup Margarine
2 cups Sugar
2 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs

1 ½ tsp Instant espresso powder
¾ cup Cocoa, shifted
2 cup Flour
1 tsp Baking soda
½ tsp Salt
1 – 2 cups Chocolate chips (semi-sweet or dark)

Vanilla ice cream


Cream together margarine and sugar. Add vanilla and eggs and mix well, until fluffy. Add dry ingredients and chocolate chips and mix together until incorporated. Drop onto cookie sheets and bake at 350 F for 8 minutes (or until the outsides are done and the center is just about set – do not over bake your cookies if you want them chewy, if you want them crispy cook for an additional 2 minutes).

Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheet for 2 – 3 minutes before removing them and let them sit for an additional 5 minutes. In the mean time, grab the ice cream from the freezer.

Take two warm cookies and put a scoop of ice cream in between. Eat some place that is easy to clean, the warm cookies starts to melt and soften the ice cream - yummy!


This is guaranteed to cheer up just about anyone and is a good celebration cookie as well (I often make these to celebrate the kids first day back at school – but I make them while they are gone, while I dance gleefully to loud music around my kitchen!)!
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Snickerdoodles

½ cup Butter
½ cup Shortening
1 ½ cup Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs

2 ½ cup Flour
2 tsp Cream of tartar
1 tsp Baking soda
¼ tsp Salt

Topping:
2 tbsp Cinnamon
2 tbsp Sugar

Cream together butter, shortening and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add dry ingredients and mix until well incorporated.


Form into small balls and roll in the sugar and cinnamon mixture. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 400 F for 8 – 10 minutes.



These are best enjoyed with a cup of tea, guaranteed to sooth frazzled nerves and help bring you a sense of calm.
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Related Posts:
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Enjoy,
Christine
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9 comments:

  1. Both recipes sound delicious and the ice cream sandwiches would last about a minute in my house:)
    Joyce

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  2. Super Post!! I love snickerdoodles... and the ice cream sandwiches are rally making me hungry!!

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  3. Boy, Christine, here I am before 8:00 a.m., craving cookies! Oh, those look so delicious. Thanks for these recipes. This has been a banner week for cookie recipes, and that's something I can cook! Love it!

    Happy Foodie Friday...

    XO,

    Sheila :-)

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  4. Now you've got me thinking about one thing, and one thing only:

    snickerdoodlessnickerdoodlessnickerdoodlessnickerdoodles

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  5. Oh, my but these look good. Your pictures and your recipe are wonderful. Have a good day.

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  6. Beautiful cookies! Have you ever tried lining your cookie sheets with parchment paper when baking cookies? This one tip, given to me years ago, really changed my cookie baking life forever!

    Wish I could reach in and grab a snickerdoodle. Haven't had one in ages.

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  7. These look wonderful...I happen to just love coffee or espresso in anything, and especially with chocolate.

    I love your "I will..." list. I get up before my husband, too. We both work (no kids yet, only dogs) but it makes all of the difference in our lives when I have taken care of me before the hustle of the day begins.

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  8. It has been a LONG time since I've done any non-essential baking. Pretty hot here, but I'd heat up my oven for some of those! :)

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  9. Man, those look good! If I weren't trying to lose some weight, I'd go whip up a batch for myself. I have zero willpower when it comes to cookies.

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