Life Above the Clouds

Here's another great Pinterest find. These cookies only have four ingredients, and they are super easy to make. No eggs needed! If you use margerine instead of butter, does that mean they're vegan? Except for the cream cheese frosting, which would be such a shame to leave out because it can make anything taste amazing. I forgot the step to flatten the cookies with the bottom of a glass so they look a little funky, but they still tasted amazing! They almost melt in your mouth...no wonder they're called meltaways!

(Inspired by Landee See, Landee Do)

A friend of mine has a grapefruit tree in his backyard and gave me a load of them. What else could I make with grapefruits besides juice? Cookies! These were a little unusual, but a nice combination of tart and sweet. Nice and light and perfect for spring time. The original recipe is for cut-out cookies, but my dough was a little sticky so I just dropped the dough instead.

• Grated zest of 1 Ruby Red grapefruit, plus 1/4 cup freshly squeezed juice
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
• 3/4 cup cake flour (not self-rising)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 2 large egg yolks

1. In a small bowl, combine zest with 1 tablespoon sugar; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together both flours, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and remaining sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Add egg yolks, and beat until combined, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Beat in reserved zest-sugar mixture. Add flour mixture in two batches, alternating with the juice, and beat to combine.
3. Turn out dough onto a piece of plastic wrap, and shape into a 1-inch-thick disk. Wrap in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
5. Bake, rotating sheet halfway through, until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack to cool 5 minutes. Transfer parchment paper and cookies to rack to cool completely.

(Inspired by Martha Stewart)

There's something so inviting about a spicy, chewy molasses cookie. They're extremely easy to make, store well and even freeze well so they're perfect for holiday gift giving. I'm sure I'll be making quite a few batches this season. Here we go...

• 3/4 cup margerine (1 and a half sticks)
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup molasses
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 cup white sugar

1. Cream the margarine and 1 cup sugar. Add egg and stir until smooth. Stir in the molasses.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger.
3. Gradually add dry ingredients into the molasses mixture.
4. Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.
5. Preheat oven to 375° F.
6. Roll dough into tablespoon sized balls and roll them in remaning white sugar.
7. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until tops are cracked.
9. Cool on wire rack.

(Inspired by Allrecipes)

Wowie kazowie these are delicious! They're little clouds of pumpkin cookie (that are so soft I'll almost call it cake) with Nutella swirled throughout. And let's face it, Nutella makes anything better, but it's not too sweet or overwhelming. Yum yum yum! 

Eek it's November, and have you heard? Pumpkin is the new bacon. I'm still easing my way into pumpkin, and with these cookie sandwiches you get the perfect hint of pumpkin with some classic snickerdoodles.

Snickerdoodles

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 and 1/2 c sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla 
• 2 and 3/4 c flour
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 3 tsp cinnamon and 3 tsp white sugar for rolling

Cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy.

Add eggs and vanilla. Mix thoroughly.

Stir dry ingredients together in separate bowl and add to creamed mixture.

Chill for 20-30 min.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Roll into Tablespoon size balls and then toss in the cinnamon/sugar mixture, coating the dough evenly.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned but soft.

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1/3 cup pureed pumpkin
  
• 1/4 c brown sugar
• 1/8 c white sugar
• 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

Beat all ingredients in a medium bowl with an electric mixer until smooth.

Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Spread about 1 tablespoon filling onto the flat side of half the cookies.

Place remaining cookies on top, and gently press on each to squeeze filling to edges

(Inspired by The Stirring Place)

Oh man, I totally dropped the ball and was going to post this last Thursday. Oh well, tomorrow is Halloween so there's still time to make these! Plus, it's National Candy Corn Day so all the better to make these wonderful little sugar cookies. In retrospect, I would have added a little more dye to make the colors more vibrant, but they still turned out great.

2 Sticks Butter, softened
1 c. Sugar
1 Egg
2 T. Lemon Juice
2 t. Lemon Zest
1/8 t. Salt
3 c. Flour
1/2 t. Baking Soda
Red Food Dye
Yellow Food Dye

Combine butter and sugar in a large bowl; beat at medium speed until creamy.

Add egg, lemon juice, lemon zest, and salt. Continue beating until well mixed.

Add flour and baking soda, beat until well mixed. Divide dough into thirds.

Press one-third of the white dough evenly into the bottom of a loaf pan that you have lined with foil, wax, or parchment paper. (I actually don't have a loaf pan so I used a tupperware container that worked just fine.)

Place another one-third of the dough into a bowl and add yellow and red food dye to make orange (refer to the chart on the back of your box). Once it is mixed evenly, press orange dough evenly over white dough.

In another bowl, add the final amount of dough and dye yellow. Press that evenly over the orange dough. Cover and refrigerate until firm (2 hours or overnight is best).

Once chilled, invert your loaf pan and unwrap your dough. Flip it back over and place it on a cutting board. Cut loaf crosswise into 1/4-inch slices using a sharp knife, trimming edges to make even, if necessary.

Cut each slice into 6 wedges.

Place 1-inch apart onto a cookie sheet. Bake for 7-10 minutes in a pre-heated 375 degree oven.

(Inspired by Kathie Cooks via Pinterest)

One of my favorite parts of summer is that it's time for s'mores. Actually I don't even wait for a bonfire because I like to make them right in my microwave. Plus, it's still fun watching the marshmallow blow up. But for something a little more special than nuked marshmallows, check out these s'mores cookies! 

In a medium bowl combine the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, salt, and dash of cinnamon. In a second larger bowl beat together the butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract until creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Slowly beat in the flour mixture until smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips and 1 cup of chopped Hersheys bar. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheet.

Bake for 6 minutes, and remove from the oven. Gently push one piece of Hersheys bar, broken into smaller pieces (I broke mine into threes) and one marshmallow half into each cookies. Return to the oven and bake an additional 3-4 minutes until fully cooked. The marshmallows should brown slightly on top, but if not, set your oven to "broil" for about a minute. Watch your cookies carefully because the tops will brown quickly. I got a little distracted when my phone rang and I ruined a batch.

Cool cookies on a wire rack.

(Inspired by Baked Perfection)

Who doesn't love the combination of salty and sweet? Potato chips were on sale at the grocery store so I decided to try some lime flavored ones. They weren't my favorite, but luckily I watched an episode Unwrapped that featured a company making cookies with potato chip crumbs. What a great idea! There are quite a few potato chip cookie recipes online, but I wanted to use ingredients that highlighted the lime flavor.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup lime flavored potato chip crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 2 large baking sheets. Stir together the flour, baking powder, salt, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in a bowl; set aside. Stir together 1/3 cup sugar, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon in a separate bowl and set aside.

Cream together the butter, 1 cup sugar in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the potato chip crumbs, then the flour mixture 1/2 cup at a time. Form the dough into walnut-sized balls, and roll in the spiced sugar mixture. Arrange onto prepared baking sheets 1 inch apart. Flatten the balls slightly using a decorative cookie stamp or the bottom of a glass.

Bake the cookies in the preheated oven until the edges of the cookies turn golden brown, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on wire racks, then store in an airtight container.

(Inspired by allrecipes)

A little random, I know, but I was looking to make cookies in the shape of an octopus. They turned out to be really cute and extremely easy to make. No cookie cutter required!

• 6 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 4 teaspoons ground ginger
• 4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon finely ground pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup unsulfured molasses
• Royal Icing

In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder; set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add ginger, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and pepper. Beat to combine. Add eggs, and beat to combine, then beat in molasses. Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture, and beat to combine. Divide dough in half, and shape into flattened disks, wrap in plastic, and chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Divide the dough into golf ball sized balls and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to chill for 30 minutes. Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.

Shape each ball into a log. Flatten the log with a spatula until about 1/4 inch thick. Make 4 or 5 slits into the bottom half of the log to make the arms. Shape the arms. Transfer the octopus to the baking sheet.

Bake until edges are golden, about 12 minutes, rotating halfway through.

Decorate cooled cookies with royal icing.

(Inspired by Martha Stewart & Make Life Sweeter)