Caramel Cornmeal Cookies

Hey everyone!

I've got another cornmeal cookie recipe for you today. It used the same recipe for inspiration as the Lime Cornmeal Cookies I posted a few weeks ago, just a few more tweaks. That was very closely based on this recipe here from The Kitchn. Below, I'll list the changes that my fiancé J made when making these cookies.

Your ingredient arsenal!

Start by creaming your butter, sugar, and caramel sauce.

And here is the soaked cornmeal, the dry ingredients, and the creamed butter, sugar, and caramel with the eggs and vanilla added.

Mix in the eggs and vanilla, then the dry ingredients and cornmeal.

Until you have a beautiful dough like this!

Then they come out looking a lot like the lime cornmeal cookies but minus the lime zest and a little darker in color.

Caramel Cornmeal Cookies (changes to this recipe)
-take out all lime!
-soak the cornmeal in 1/4 cup liquid until absorbed
-add 1/4 cup caramel sauce when you cream the butter and sugars
-use all purpose flour instead of white whole wheat
-glaze on these is optional- but if you make it just whip up a little batch of confectioner's sugar icing/glaze with the 10x sugar, butter, and caramel sauce!

Savor it!
love, rue

Lime Cornmeal Cookies

Hey everyone!

I am so sorry that it has been so long! As I said in my last post, I have been incredibly busy, so much so that I'm not sure that I'll be returning to a regular posting schedule yet, but here is one recipe for you at the very least. My now fiancé J made these cookies according to the linked recipe below with only one change which I'll outline, which is why I can't post the recipe directly- it belongs to someone else!

The recipe is here at The Kitchn called Cornmeal Lime Cookies.
The change that my fiancé J made was that he soaked the cornmeal in 1/4 cup of liquid until it was absorbed, which made for chewier cookies which stayed together better.
Let me show you some pics!

Here is your arsenal- fairly straightforward cookies except for the cornmeal and limes!

And here is everyone ready to be mixed- zest of limes, dry ingredients, butter and sugar for creaming, and soaked cornmeal (and don't forget the lime for juice!).

Cream your butter and sugar, beat in the lime zest and juice, then beat in the eggs and vanilla.

Then mix in your cornmeal and dry ingredients.

Bake on a nonstick sheet!

And while they cool, make a glaze of lime juice, lime zest, and confectioner's sugar.

Here's your easy glaze!

And here are your cookies right out of the oven...

And here they are all done and glazed- yum!

Savor it!
love, rue

Skillet Cookie

Hey there everyone,

This post is more of an idea than a recipe- because you can really take this concept, and apply it to your favorite cookie- however you like it! I started with the base for my Perfected Chocolate Chip Cookies, then added in whatever I felt like each time I made a cookie. These were inspired by an awesome find at Goodwill about a month ago where I found a 5-inch cast iron skillet- the perfect size for massive indulgence, or the perfect size for 2 to share. Just butter the skillet well, load it up with the dough (only fill 1/2-2/3 of the way full), set your oven to whatever temperature your cookie recipe says, and bake! It takes me about twice as long to cook a skillet cookie that is 5 inches as regular cookies- between 17-20 minutes or so. Just make sure you have a tall glass of milk to accompany this!

Your easy arsenal- skillet, butter, dough, and add-ins. I have some of the nuts separate because I like more than the BF does :)

Load up your buttered skillet.

Bake, then enjoy this thing of beauty- don't be deceived, it's super gooey and delish in the center, with crispy edges all around. Yumm!

Savor it! and give it a try!
love, rue

Caramel Filled Cookie Cups

Hey there everyone,

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, if you're in the tradition of celebrating it! Here's a super simple recipe that could turn into all kinds of creative and wow-worthy holiday desserts- fill these with whip cream, no-bake cheesecake filling, fruit, chocolate, the list goes on!! Like last week, these start with my favorite cookie base (from my Perfected Chocolate Chip Cookies). And, please, it goes without saying they're just delicious all by themselves! Let's go!

Your cookie base, chocolate chips, and caramels.

And here's a picture of how I did the process, basically.

Ending up with this beautiful tray! Half have chocolate chips, half are sprinkled with sea salt.

And here's what they look like right out of the oven- just brown around the edges, and puffy in the middle.

Let them cool, and they'll fall in a little, leaving you with a little cookie cup to fill with whatever you like (or nothing at all)!

Caramel Filled Cookie Cups
-1 cup (2 sticks) butter)
-3/4 cup white sugar
-1 cup brown sugar
-2 eggs
-1 tablespoon vanilla
-1/4 cup caramel sauce
-3 3/4 cups flour
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-24 (approx.) small pieces of caramel.
-optional: mini chocolate chips, sea salt
Grease a mini-muffin tin.
Cream butter and sugars. Stir in eggs, vanilla, and caramel sauce.
Add flour, salt, and baking soda and stir well.
Using a cookie scoop or spoon, get medium sized balls, form around the caramel bits, and place in your mini-muffin tin. Sprinkle with chocolate chips or salt (or other) if you desire.
Bake at 350 F for about 8-10 minutes, until just starting to brown, or 11-12 if you like your cookies a little crispy.

Your finished product- easy to store, and easy to eat!! Enjoy!

Savor it!
love, rue

S'more's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey there everyone, here's a great and easy fall recipe.

I used my caramel chocolate chip cookies recipe as the template for this and made my add-ins chocolate chips and miniature marshmallows to make S'more's Cookies! This idea's been in my head for a while and I finally got myself into the kitchen to do it. Good s'more's flavor without a campfire or anything- though as you know, a really good s'more is amazing! Let me show you!

Your arsenal: basic cookie ingredients, and mini marshmallows.

Mix up your cookie dough standard, then add in your chocolate chips and marshmallows.

And stir well. It can help to refrigerate your marshmallows ahead of time so they are a little harder and stir in better.

And form into balls on your cookie sheets- see those marshmallows on the sides of a few? Try not to let that happen and pat a little dough around the marshmallow so it stays in the cookie!

S'more’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
-1 cup (2 sticks) butter)
-3/4 cup white sugar
-1 cup brown sugar
-2 eggs
-1 tablespoon vanilla
-1/4 cup caramel sauce
-3 3/4 cups flour
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-3/4 cup chocolate chips
-1 1/2 cups mini marshmallows
Line a baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.
Cream butter and sugars. Stir in eggs, vanilla, and caramel sauce.
Add flour, salt, and baking soda and stir well.
Add in your chocolate chips and mini marshmallows and your dough is ready!
Bake at 350 F for about 10 minutes, until just starting to brown, or 11-12 if you like your cookies a little crispy. These work best if you form the cookie dough balls with the marshmallows not on the outside- doesn’t hurt anything, the dough just can’t do anything to keep the marshmallow in if it starts to melt off the side.

And here's your finished product- they aren't all this pretty, but I get to choose which pictures  go up, so these are all lovely- but don't be disheartened by a misshapen or imperfect cookie- I had a few of those, and what do you know, they tasted just as good!!!

Savor it!
love, rue

Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls/Bars

Hi everyone!

I've been making these ever since I was a little kid sticking my fingers in the dough for a taste. They are super simple, and the hardest part is rolling them into balls and dipping them (not hard, just time consuming), but you can also skip that and make them into squares instead. These are super delicious and definitely top a Reese cup, and these would be great to make with kids too, if you need the helpful hands for rolling! This recipe can also be scaled up or down to make a larger or smaller batch very easily. Let's get started!

Ingredients for the dough- put it all in a bowl, and mix well.

Your finished PB mixture

The finished bars with chocolate on top- delish!

Peanut Butter Balls/Bars
-1 pound peanut butter
-1/3 pound butter, softened
-1 pound confectioner's sugar
-1 scant cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
-1 scant cup milk chocolate chips
-1 tablespoon paraffin wax
Mix together peanut butter, butter, and confectioner's sugar. You can try using a spoon or fork, but I have only ever been able to get results by mixing with my hands (wash first!).
Roll peanut butter mixture into 3/4 inch (approx.) balls. Chill.
Melt chocolates and paraffin together, either over a double boiler, or in 30 second increments in the microwave, stirring well.
-Either dip peanut butter balls in chocolate and lay on baking sheets, chill, then store in a tin, or
-Press peanut butter mixture into greased and/or parchment lined pan (size is your choice, depending on the thickness you like), then pour chocolate mixture over top. Chill, and break into pieces.

Finished chocolate peanut butter bar pieces

Savor it!
love, rue

Spice Cookies (Moravian)

Hi there!

This is a kind of cookies not too many people have heard of. It's very simple and molasses and spice heavy, and came to my family through the Mennonite and Pennsylvania Dutch traditions. You mix up the dough super stiff, then roll out paper thin. Bake for just a few minutes so they don't burn, and you have perfect spice cookies. My sister is the best roller of these cookies in our family- it's not a job I enjoy, but these are a traditional Christmas cookie for us, so we do it anyway! Thanks to my mom and sister for the aid in making this post.

Mix up the wet ingredients, then add in the dry.

Mix well, then add even more flour- this is too sticky still!

Add flour and mix well until you get a dough like this- pretty much impossible to stir more flour in!

Roll dough out paper thin and use cookie cutters of your choosing.

Spice Cookies
-2 cups molasses
-2 cups white sugar
-1 cup butter, softened
-2 teaspoons baking soda + 6 tablespoons warm water
-1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
-1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
-1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
-1 teaspoon ground ginger
-flour until very stiff (around 4-5 cups)
Cream butter and sugars. Stir in molasses and baking soda/water mixture.
Add in all dry ingredients and mix well. Add flour and stir in until you can't add any more- make the dough very very stiff- these are to be rolled paper thin!
Chill dough for several hours.
Roll out dough on a floured surface until it is paper thin, about 1/16th of an inch.
Cut out with cookie cutters of your choice then bake on ungreased cookie sheets at 350 F until edges are just starting to brown- check after 4-5 minutes.

Finished spice cookies- thin, crispy, beautiful, and delicious.

Savor it!
love, rue

Peanut Butter Butterscotch No-Bake Treats

Hey everyone,

These are super delicious. And even better, super easy. There's no big story to go along with these, other than the fact that I think they'd be even more phenomenal if you dipped the bottoms in chocolate after they set. These taste a lot like Butterfingers, and I bet even more so with the chocolate! Yumm! Let's go.

Put your peanut butter and butterscotch chips in a microwaveable bowl.

Melt, and mix well.

Then add in your peanuts and rice krispies.

Stir well!

Peanut Butter Butterscotch No Bake Treats
-1- 11oz bag butterscotch chips
-1 cup peanut butter
-1 cup peanuts, chopped- I used toffee peanuts
-4 cups rice krispies cereal
Melt together the butterscotch chips and peanut butter- I did it in the microwave and it took about a minute to a minute and a half. Stir together well.
Stir in peanuts and cereal.
Drop by the spoonful onto parchment or wax paper. Let set.
Refrigerate if you plan on keeping them for more than a day or two.
Optional: melt chocolate chips and dip the bottoms of the treats in chocolate, refrigerate.

Drop by the spoonful (I used my cookie scoop) onto wax paper, done!

Savor it!
love, rue

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hola!

I have a huge collection of cookie recipes, but I look at them so often and have made most of them at least once that every once in a while I need to do a new search online and find some new recipes. That's what I did a few weeks back and when I came across this recipe, I just knew this is what I had been waiting for. Yeah, I found other good recipes that I can't wait to try, but I had to try these first! Peanut butter, pretzels, chocolate chips, and sea salt all in one cookie? Why didn't I think of this? Alas, I did not (I was inspired by this recipe), but either way, I got a great new cookie recipe. These are sweet, salty, just a little chewy, with a little crunch- perfection! Enough talk! Let's go!

Cream together butters and sugars.

Then add in your eggs and vanilla (I only made a 1/2 batch, that's why only 1 egg!)

Add in your chocolate chips and crushed pretzels.

Here's the finished dough- beautiful and almost impossible to resist trying!

Scoop onto your baking sheets (shout out to Dare, thanks for the Silpat for my bday!), and sprinkle with sea salt.

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies (recipe mostly from The Cooking Actress)
-1/2 cup butter
-1 cup peanut butter
-3/4 cup brown sugar
-1/2 cup white sugar
-2 eggs
-1 teaspoon vanilla
-1 cup flour
-1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
-1/8 teaspoon salt
-2/3 cup chocolate chips
-1 cup crushed pretzels (I used my mini-cuisinart)
-sea salt for sprinkling
Cream butters and sugars together. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix well.
Add in dry ingredients, and stir well. Mix in pretzels and chocolate chips.
Chill dough for 2 hours or up to overnight.
Scoop onto a baking sheet (silpat or parchment paper ideal), and sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake at 350 F for 10-14 minutes or until the edges start to brown.

And the beautiful finished cookies!

Savor it!
love, rue

Chewy Coconut Macaroons

Hey everyone!

I know I've posted about macaroons in the past (always the coconut kind, not the French kind), but these have a different recipe and you can whip them up in a matter of minutes, so what's not to love? These are chewy and sweet and delicious. Let's get to it!

Here's your short and sweet arsenal- 5 ingredients with the optional vanilla!

Add all the dry ingredients (everything except the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla) together and mix well.

Pour over the sweetened condensed milk, and vanilla if using, and stir together well.

You'll end up with a thick coconut heavy mixture that's pretty easy to shape into balls and bake.

Here are some of the macaroons fresh out of the oven- just starting to brown on top!

Chewy Coconut Macaroons
(note: I did not do this, but if you're feeling chocolate, melt some chocolate chips in the microwave and dip the tops or bottoms of the macaroons for an extra decadent treat)
-2/3 cup flour
-5 1/3 (average package size) flaked or shredded coconut (sweetened)
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-1 (14 oz.) can sweetened condensed milk
-1-2 teaspoons vanilla (optional)
Mix together dry ingredients, then mix in the sweetened condensed milk and vanilla if using. It may be easiest to use your hands at this point- the mixture gets pretty thick.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or foil (I recommend parchment if you have the option).
Bake at 350 F for 12-15 minutes, until starting to brown on the tops.

The finished macaroons! Chewy and sweet with the barest of crunches on the top- these are great!

Savor it!
love, rue