Category: Desserts (Page 14 of 21)

Chocolate Mint Cookies

May 19, 2015 / Jenny / 8 Comments

I put together this chocolate mint cookie recipe out of my love for chocolate and the desire to use our fragrant, plentiful mint that is flourishing in our garden right now. The contrast between the deep, rich flavor of the cocoa powder and the light, refreshing mint is pure pleasure. With a relatively small amount of ingredients, these cookies are so easy to make. In addition to the basic sugar cookie ingredients, I added cocoa powder and finely chopped fresh mint. (The mint we have in our garden is spearmint, but peppermint would work just as well. And chopping the stuff releases such a fresh fragrance!) What I also like about this recipe is that the sugar is all brown sugar, which also deepens the flavor. The cookies come out moist and tasty–a decadent, yet refreshing treat.

With the mint and other plants thriving, the past few days I have been overwhelmed by a sense of gratitude for this place, this verdant corner of the earth. The spring rains have softened everything to a lush, velvety green, and the air is singing with birds and frogs. It also really helps that there aren’t many mosquitoes out yet. My husband and son went fishing with our neighbors and their son the other night. The walk to the lake near our house is very wet, through dark, thick mud and bright green foliage and undergrowth. The journey is not an easy one at this time of year. But when they got there, they took their boots off and let their bare feet sink into the cool water. They sat on the shore and looked out at the calm lake. After such a busy, over-scheduled week, it felt so refreshing to do something unstructured and unhurried. My son caught and released two fish. He and my husband returned smiling and covered in mud. On the back of my son’s shirt were three or four perfectly shaped little muddy handprints, where his neighbor friend had patted him on the back. It is a good life when you can work hard, and then go fishing and eat chocolate mint cookies. Happy Spring!

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Servings: 24 cookies
Time: about 15 minutes preparation, 24 minutes baking time
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Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup natural unsweetened cocoa
2 tablespoons fresh mint, finely chopped

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Wash and finely chop the fresh mint. Cream the butter and the sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Add the egg and the vanilla, and stir again to mix well. In a small mixing bowl, thoroughly combine the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture, and stir well until combined. Stir in the mint. Drop by a rounded spoon onto a baking sheet, leaving a couple of inches of space around each ball of dough. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 12 minutes. Let them sit on the baking sheet a couple of minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. Enjoy!

Orange Chocolate Tea Cookies

April 23, 2015 / Jenny / 17 Comments

Times like these call for a hot cup of tea. Lulled into a false sense of spring fever by the warm weather last week, we are now plunged back into winter weather with a bitter wind and even snow. I am pretty sure by next week things will feel like spring again, but for now, we need to cope with this sudden blast of cold. Hot tea is the most soothing and comforting drink I know, and tea tastes even better with cookies. I wanted to make some cookies with a fruity flavor, but also with dark chocolate (since dark chocolate is good for us), and I have always loved the combination of orange and chocolate. I built this recipe based on basic sugar cookie ingredients, and just added some orange zest, dark chocolate chips, and almonds. The cookies are lightly sweet with a subtle orange flavor, and the unmistakable taste of dark chocolate.

A cup of tea and a plate of cookies signals comfort and quiet joy to me. A pot of tea and a plate of cookies shared with a friend or family member invites intimate conversation and trust. We are urged to slow down and wait for the tea to cool to a temperature we can drink. We sit quietly and breathe in the aroma of the tea and let the steam warm our faces. The warm liquid soothes our busy minds and allows us to think more clearly. To drink tea and share cookies with someone is to slow down and savor the present moment with them. To be present with someone or even to be present with oneself is a great gift. We are able to hold the moment as it passes into the next, enveloped in a comforting glow of warmth, no matter what is going on in the outside world. That, to me, is the beauty of cookies and a cup of tea.

Orange Chocolate Tea Cookies

Servings: about 36 to 42 cookies, depending on size
Time: approximately 45 minutes
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Ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, softened
1 and 1/2 cups of unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 cup of sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons of orange zest
1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips
1/4 cup of slivered almonds (optional)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grate the peel of an orange for your orange zest. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter with a wooden spoon. Add half of the flour, and all of the sugar, egg, baking soda, vanilla, and orange zest. Stir until well combined. Add the rest of the flour and stir again, incorporating the dry ingredients into the moist batter. Stir in the dark chocolate chips and the slivered almonds until well combined. Drop the batter by a rounded teaspoon onto a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. (I like to made these cookies on the small side, to made them perfect to go with tea.) Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are firm, yet soft, and lightly golden. (The orange zest will make them lighter in color.) Repeat until all the batter is baked. Enjoy!

Lemon Drop Cookies

March 6, 2015 / Dragonfly Home Recipes / 21 Comments

These cookies are moist and subtly sweet with that uplifting zing that lemons give. Sometimes I wonder, when I crave lemons, why lemons are so appealing when their juice alone is quite bitter and sour. But many of us love lemon-flavored food and drinks. There is something so bright and cleansing about lemon juice. When I was a young girl, I had a picture in my room of a basket of pretty lemons, and it said, “When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.” I have heard that quoted countless times since then, and other similar quotes as well. And yet, there is a lot to it. Lemon juice alone is not so easy to drink (except for maybe a few, like my husband), but when mixed with enough sugar, the resulting drink is one of the most refreshing I have ever tasted. The bittersweet quality gives lemonade more complexity and substance than a syrupy-sweet drink. The same goes for these cookies. They are sweet, but with a hint of powerful flavor from the lemon juice and rind. When difficult things happen to us, it is human nature to be drawn into sadness of it. We often feel like we are the only ones to experience such a difficulty. It is hard to take the high road and keep a philosophical viewpoint. Maybe that’s why symbols of making good out of bad are so powerful: lemonade out of lemons; the phoenix rising from the flames. Lemons are a beautiful, bright yellow color, and to me, symbolize the beautiful complexity and bittersweet aspect of life. This cookie recipe is easy and fairly quick to make. The cream cheese and bit of butter keep the cookies moist, and the sugar and lemon flavors balance each other nicely. Because the weather forecasters are calling for above-freezing temperatures next week, I took a couple of the photos in the snow and ice, since we may not have it much longer! With it being Friday, I am celebrating Fiesta Friday with the talented bloggers at The Novice Gardener, co-hosted this week by Caroline at Caroline’s Cooking and Elaine at Foodbod. I hope you all have a great weekend!

Lemon Drop Cookies

Servings: about 36 cookies
Time: approximately 45 minutes
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Ingredients:

2 tablespoons of butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup of cream cheese, also at room temperature
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
2 eggs
the grated rind of a lemon
1 cup of sugar
1 and 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
powdered sugar to sprinkle on top

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, cream cheese, lemon juice, eggs, lemon rind, and sugar until smooth (you may use an electric mixer if you prefer, but it is not necessary if you stir vigorously!). Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir well until completely combined.

Drop the batter by rounded teaspoonfuls onto baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake in your preheated oven for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden/brown and firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Repeat until all the batter is used. Store the cookies in the refrigerator between layers of wax paper. Enjoy!