Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 3, 2018

Chocolate Chip Coconut Cookie Bars: Hello Dolly Bars


Seriously, what could be easier than making cookie bars where you literally just pour one ingredient on top of the other in a glass baking dish and then bake? Nothing! These are the ultimate best and SO easy to make. I guarantee rave reviews every time. 

Now these are nothing new. Sometimes called Hello Dolly bars, sometimes called Magic Bars, some people call them cookies - but no, they're really cookie bars, since you cut them after they bake and cool, as you would with a pan of brownies. 

My best friend Nikki introduced me to these many years ago, and the recipe that I use comes from her mom. I just made a batch for Nikki's New Years Eve party and figured while I was making them, I'd take some action shots so I could share the recipe here with you. 

They are simple to make, use only six ingredients, take only a few minutes to assemble, and 20 to 30 minutes to bake. Easy! 

You will need:
Glass baking dish (I use my 13" by 9" glass baking dish that I make my brownies in)

  • 1 stick of butter
  • 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts (or pecans)
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1 cup flaked sweetened coconut
  • 1 can sweetened condensed milk 


  

  



Here's how you do it:

1. Preheat oven to 350° degrees Fahrenheit. 

2. Unwrap your butter and place it in the baking dish and place in oven while it is preheating to melt the butter, about 4 or 5  minutes, and be sure to keep an eye on it! 




3. While butter is melting and oven is preheating, assemble your other ingredients. Measure 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs. You can buy them in a box as crumbs or you can make your own by simply putting a few graham crackers into a food storage bag and then crushing them with a rolling pin on top of a cutting board as shown below.





4. Once butter is melted, use pot holders to carefully remove hot pan with melted butter from oven and set on stove top or other heat-proof surface. 

5. Make sure butter has coated the entire bottom of the pan, and then add your 1 cup of gram cracker crumbs to the butter. Mix if needed to saturate all of the cracker crumbs with butter. Gently press the butter/crumb mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan, creating a crust. 

6. Top with the chopped nuts. I use walnuts. Some folks like to use pecans. Use whichever you prefer.



Now your pan will look something like this. I added a few extra chopped nuts for a little more coverage. 


7. Now cover the nuts with the chocolate chips. Do not pack the chocolate chips down into the pan, just sprinkle them on top!


8. Next, cover the chocolate chips with your 1 cup of coconut. Yum. Once again, do not pack the coconut down into the pan, just sprinkle on top of the chocolate chips, creating a nice even layer of coconut. You do not want to pack it down tightly because then in the next step, the sweetened condensed milk will not be able to soak down into the layers. And yes, I put extra coconut on it because OMG YES.


9. Open the can of sweetened condensed milk and give it a gentle stir with a spoon. I've found that the mixture gets kind of dense and settles from sitting in the can so it's best to give it a mix before you use it to break up any lumps or thickness. 


10. Once you've given it a stir, pour the sweetened condensed milk atop the coconut. It should soak down into the coconut and layers below. It should look like this:


11. Bake in preheated 350° oven, for about 20 to 30 minutes, watching carefully so that the coconut does not burn, but instead turns a nice golden brown color. The one shown below is perfectly toasted! 


12. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Once completely cool, cut into bars or squares. 


How easy is that?



What do you think?
What are your favorite cookie bars?


Have a great week!
 Laura




Article, images, and designs copyright ©Laura Beth Love for Dishfunctional Designs™ 2018
all rights reserved

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Perfect Elephant Ear Pastry Cookies (to die for!)


In yesterday's blog post I included a photo of these amazing Elephant Ear cookies that I made during last weekend's snowstorm. I promised you the recipe, so here it is. It's funny how I've gotten into the habit of grabbing my phone to snap photos while I bake and cook. "Wait! don't eat that yet! I have to take a picture of it first!" is something that my daughters are getting used to hearing. Hehe. 


Before you start:

*I highly recommend baking these cookies on parchment paper covered cookie sheets. It eliminates a lot of the mess and once you take them out of the oven they just slide right off of the parchment paper!*This is a yeast dough that you will need to refrigerate for two hours before you bake the cookies.*One last word of advice. If there are more than two or three people in your household, you may want to double this recipe. These cookies are just THAT good! 

Here's what you will need:

1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
2 1/4 cups flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk, scalded and then cooled to lukewarm temperature (scalded means heated to just below boiling when tiny bubbles begin to appear around the edge of the milk)
1 egg yolk
2 Tablespoons of butter, melted
1 1/2 cups of sugar
2 Tablespoons cinnamon
(Optional - 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans)


Directions:

Heat the 1/4 cup of water in a glass measuring cup. Dissolve the package of active dry yeast in the water, mix well until the yeast is dissolved, and then set aside for five minutes to allow the yeast to activate.

In a mixer combine these ingredients:

2 1/4 cups flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
Mix until you have the consistency of course crumbs.

In a glass measuring cup, mix together the lukewarm scalded milk and egg yolk. Then add the yeast and water mixture to the milk and egg yolk and mix well. 

Now add the milk/egg yolk and yeast/water mixture to your flour mixture and mix well until all ingredients are combined and you have a soft dough. If the dough is too sticky you can add one or two tablespoons of flour, but the dough should be soft and not stiff. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours. 


Roll the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Shape into a 20x10 inch rectangle.


Brush the top of the dough with two tablespoons of melted butter



Mix together the 1 1/2 cups of sugar and 2 tablespoons of cinnamon. Sprinkle about a half cup of the cinnamon sugar mixture onto the dough. 

Starting at the long end of the dough, roll the dough into a long log shape. Pinch the edges closed but do not seal the edges tightly.

Place the roll onto a cutting board and slice into one-inch slices. I slice about 18-20 rounds from my dough.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Sprinkle some of the remaining cinnamon sugar mixture onto a piece of waxed paper and place a slice on top. 

Roll the slice with your rolling pin until it is a long oblong shape. I usually roll mine once or twice and then flip it over and roll it once more on the reverse side. 

Carefully place the rolled slice onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet. Repeat this process with the remaining rolls of dough. Sprinkle the tops with additional cinnamon sugar if desired.(Note: If you are adding chopped walnuts or pecans to your cookies, now is the time to do so. Sprinkle the nuts on top of the cookies and gently press them into the dough with your fingers.)

Bake the cookies in a 400 degree F oven for 10-12 minutes until they are light golden brown and the cinnamon sugar melts. Remove from oven and slide the parchment from the cookie sheet and allow them to cool on a tabletop or on wire cooling racks.

Yum :) Enjoy!


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I hope you enjoy these amazing cookies. If you try this recipe, be sure to stop back and leave a comment and let me know how you like them! 

Enjoy your weekend! 

- Laura


Images and recipe copyright Laura Beth Love. For personal use only. 
Not for commercial use without express permissions.



   


My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns





Wednesday, February 25, 2015

Easy Frosted Ricotta Cookies


These frosted ricotta cookies are so easy to make and are one of my family's favorite cookies!
Cake-like yet dense and rich, they are a nice change from crumbly or crispy type cookies. 

Match your decorative sugar sprinkles to the holiday and you have a cookie for all seasons. 
You can also substitute flavored extract (try lemon, or almond) in place of the vanilla.  

Ingredients

Cookies
1/2 c. butter

1 c. sugar
1 T. vanilla
2 c. ricotta cheese
1 egg
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
2 c. flour

Frosting

2 T. butter, softened
2 c. powered sugar
1 t. vanilla
2 T. milk
Decorative colored sugar sprinkles (optional)

Instructions for cookies

Preheat oven to 350 F. 
Grease cookie sheets (I use solid Crisco).
Cream together the butter, sugar, and vanilla until mixture is creamy and fluffy.

Add the egg and mix well.
Add the ricotta cheese and mix well.
Add the baking soda, salt and flour, mixing well.
Optional: refrigerating the dough for 1-2 hours will make it less sticky and easier to 
work with.
Drop dough by rounded spoonfuls (teaspoon or tablespoon depending on the size 
cookies you prefer) onto greased cookie sheet, about two inches apart. 
Bake cookies for 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown. 
Tops of cookies do not brown so watch them closely while they are baking. 
Once finished baking, remove from cookie sheets and cool on a wire rack. 
Prepare frosting while cookies are cooling. 
Note: do not frost cookies until they are completely cooled! 

Instructions for frosting

In an electric mixer  or by hand, cream the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and milk until smooth and creamy. 
Add a little more milk or powdered sugar if necessary until your frosting is a spreadable.
Frost the cookies and then sprinkle with decorative sugar sprinkles. 
Store in an air tight container.  

This cookie dough is sticky but should not be wet. Drop dough by rounded spoonfuls (teaspoon or tablespoon depending on the size 
cookies you prefer) onto greased cookie sheet, about two inches apart. 


Cool cookies completely before frosting



Prepare frosting while cookies are cooling



We mixed up a batch of teal icing too. We simply added a few drops of teal food coloring.




Add sprinkles immediately after frosting so that they stick.




What do you think? What's your favorite cookie?




I hope you have a great week 
Love, Laura


My broken china jewelry is always available for purchase at https://www.etsy.com/shop/dishfunctionldesigns




Monday, November 3, 2014

Easy Homemade Holiday Thin Mint Cookies



These easy no-bake cookies are perfect for the holidays and are a homemade replica
of Girl Scout Thin Mints cookies! All you need are Ritz crackers, bittersweet chocolate
(or semi-sweet), peppermint extract (make sure you use peppermint extract and not 
peppermint oil), and vegetable oil. 


















Ingredients
Ritz crackers 20-25
Bittersweet chocolate 6oz
Peppermint extract (not oil) 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon (per 6 oz of chocolate) 
1/4 teaspoon vegetable oil
Holiday cookie sprinkles (optional)

Other Supplies Needed
cookie sheet with lip on edge (such as jelly roll pan)
wax paper or parchment paper
double boiler
two forks


Directions
1. Line cookie sheet with wax or parchment paper.
2. Melt chocolate in double boiler, stirring until smooth.
3. Stir in vegetable oil and peppermint extract.
4. Place a Ritz cracker into the chocolate and use a fork to flip the cracker, coating it on 
both sides and on the edges with chocolate. This is easiest to do with two forks. 
5. Use a fork to lift the cookie out of the chocolate and while holding it above the chocolate, 
allow excess chocolate to drip from the cookie and back into the double boiler.
6. Carefully slide the cookie from the fork onto the wax paper covered pan.
7. Sprinkle with holiday cookie sprinkles (optional).
8. Place in refrigerator to set. 

Note: if you do not have a double boiler you can melt your chocolate in a microwave in a 
microwave safe bowl. Place chocolate in bowl and microwave for 20 seconds and then stop 
and stir. Repeat until chocolate is melted. Be careful not to overcook.





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Article copyright Laura Beth Love 2021 and may not be republished in print or other media without express written permission from the author. For any link updates or corrections leave correct info in comment area.