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Handy Manny Sugar Cookies!

Are cookies more fun than cake for birthdays? Maybe!

Cookie Promotion!

Promotion time! Want some free treats to arrive straight to you in the post? The Boho Kitchen wants to build up some reviews. In order to do this, we're offering to send you a free treat in exchange for a review here on the site! To participate, send The Boho Kitchen an email at bohokitchen@gmail.com with your name and... address. Ireland only (any further and I don't think I could guarantee freshness!), offer ends May 21st, 2010.

My kitchen to your postbox!
this:

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Easter

I hope everyone had a nice Easter with their families, or perhaps a non-religious regular relaxing long weekend. Either way, I want to share a few pictures of the nearly half-inch thick sugar cookies decorated for Easter with royal icing I made as gifts. They are tender and buttery. These make great party favors! More information under 'What We Offer' if you are interested for your next event.

No Fail Sugar Cookies

I haven't gotten any good pictures this year, but I have my amazing spread from last year captured. I hope I'll have time with two little ones to get them iced (I use homemade royal icing), I'm baking up a batch tomorrow, I think. I've been piping a lot over the last year, so I'm hoping they turn out even nicer this year.



No Fail Sugar Cookies
from Lovin' From The Oven

I found this recipe last year and I have to say, she's nailed it as "no fail". I remember, no offense to my own mom, the sugar cookies we made every year for Christmas and well, the memory isn't good. Always fun to decorate, never the first cookie I wanted to eat. I'd scoff down the chocolate chip cookies or the spritz. But these, guys these are delicious. Kind of a shortbread/butter cookie taste. Let's just say I've already made one batch and they didn't last long enough to get iced.

Ingredients

6 cups flour
3 tsp. baking powder
2 cups butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt

Directions
Simple.

Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Sift dry ingredients.
Add slowly to butter mixture.

Chill for at least 1-2 hours.

Roll to 1/4-1/2 inch thick, and cut your shapes.

Bake at 180C/350F for 8 to 10 minutes. You'll get 4-5 dozen cookies, depending on how big you cut them.

Ginger Molasses Cookies

Firstly, I have to apologize. I haven't posted anything in a long time-- but I'll admit, I've been busy baking up a new baby girl. We welcome Harper Jamie into the world Halloween 2009 :) at our own home (I had a planned home birth).
I've got my birth story posted on my personal blog: The Crunchy, Contrary Yank
I'll resist the urge to spam this blog with pictures of my beautiful baby girl (and her big sister of course).

Now, to the good stuff that you all actually care about-- baked goods!


Ginger Molasses Cookies
adapted from bakingbites.com
These are everything that ginger cookies should be -- soft, chewy, cracked, spicy... and delicious with a hot cuppa. Not the best picture I've ever taken, but I'm pretty sure you can see that delicious combination of sugars crystallized on the outside of that perfectly cracked cookie. These taste of Christmas. And, here in Ireland, the weather has turned and now we face 6 months or so of cold, wet weather. To beat this, I need delicious, soul warming food to keep my spirits up.

Ingredients
1/4 cup shortening (you can omit this and use 1/4 cup butter (thats 1/2 cups total) instead, but they just don't crack as well.
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup molasses
2 tbsp honey
1/4-1/2 tsp vanilla (okay, I admit, its not in the original recipe but I just can't make cookies without a little touch of vanilla. I didn't measure, like I said, I just added "a touch" ;) )
1 large egg (I used 2 medium sized eggs)
2 1/3 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon (I love cinnamon so I'm always generous here)
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cardamon
1/2 tsp ground black pepper (I know, its strange, but they taste great!)
1/2 tsp salt

spare sugar, for rolling in (I used white sugar, demerera sugar, and a sparkly clear sugar sprinkle I have for cake decorating-- you can just use all white sugar, but adding in a coarse sugar with it just makes them look cool)

Directions
Preheat your oven to 175C/350F-- I think this is really important for these cookies.

Cream together butter (and shortening) and sugar.
Add in molasses, honey, vanilla, and egg(s). Beat until creamy.
Sift together flour, baking soda, spices, and salt.
Add flour to butter mixture, slowly.

Roll your dough into 1 inch sized balls, and then roll them in your bowl of mixed sugars. Place on greased baking sheet (I use some baking/parchment paper).

Bake for 10 minutes, then keep an eye on them. I like soft and chewy cookies, so I take them out at 10 minutes. If you leave them in a few extra minutes they will likely go crunchy-- I always do half of them a little over cooked because Cormac likes crunchy cookies (bah!).

Let the cool on the sheet for a few minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
As always, shove several in your mouth and enjoy. These are particular good with a cup of coffee. nom nom.

You can get about 3 dozen cookies out of this recipe.

Soft-Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from fellow expat Laura English Painter's recipe!



1 1/4 cup plain flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (if you use salted butter leave this out)

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (I was low so I threw in a few tbsp of cashew butter)
1/2 cup sugar (I used half splenda, so we can all get cancer)
1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla (I'm known to be quite generous with vanilla when it comes to cookies)

optional:
Maybe, 1/2 cup chocolate chips? More? Whatever you'd like.

Directions

Preheat oven to 190C/375F

1. Sift flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
2. Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars.
3. Add egg and vanilla to creamed mixture.
4. Throw in your chocolate chips now (I just crushed up a bit of a left over dark chocolate bar)
5. Slowly add the flour mixture.

I used a small scoop to make the perfect small cookies. Just remember these make better small cookies, so don't be too generous when scooping on to your pan.

Bake for 6 minutes (mine needed 7, could be my oven).
Take then out of the oven and leave to cool for 1 minute on the pan. Then move to cooling rack.

I think these are best the next day. They will seem as though they are not done on the inside. If you leave them, they will be like soft bake the once they are entirely cooled!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

I came across this recipe when I messed up another recipe. After some other personal tweaking, its my go-to cookie recipe. Not only are they delicious, with a subtle crunch on the outside and perfect chewiness in the center, but they look darn pretty.




Chocolate Chip Cookies
3½ cups flour (add up to an extra cup towards the end, more flour, the thicker they will be without compromising taste).
3 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

225g (1 cup) melted butter
1½ cups caster sugar
1½ cup light brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F.
Line a baking sheet with baking parchment.
Preparation
In a bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and salt. Set apart.
In a large bowl or mixer, mix the butter and sugars, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla and mix well.

Slowly add in the flour mixture.

Fold in the chocolate chips.

Form balls (¼ cup approx.) of dough and press them slightly between you hands. Place on the lined baking sheet (I put 6-9 cookies on one baking sheet). I use a large cookie scoop.
Bake for 15 minutes, or until the edges are very lightly colored.
Cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack. I found they were best after completely cooling, but who can wait that long!