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Matilda
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Confession time... I can't make cookies! Seriously!
I have made cakes for weddings and fudge that is demanded every Christmas, but I can't make cookies! Mine always turn out flat as pancakes or too gooey in the middle or burned. I have read tips and tricks like: use parchment paper, butter only, chill dough before baking or use room temperature eggs.
Nothing I do seems to work.
My children are so deprived! (Actually it is Husband who is the cookie monster around here.)
A friend suggested I try bars instead of cookies so I am looking for some tried and true recipes that have been home tested and cannot fail. If you also happen to have any remedies for my cookie malady or an idiot proof recipe, send them my way as well.
Thanks
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Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11 , 10 , 9 & 5 ) an even split for now
with bookend boys and a double girl sandwich
Waltzing Matilda
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MelissaClaire
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These are so good and easy!
Chocolate Raspberry Crumb Bars
1 cup butter, softened
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups Nestle semi sweet chocolate morsels, diivided
1 can, 14 oz,Nestle condensed milk
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
1/2 cup seedless raspberry jam
Preheat oven tp 350. Grease 13 x 9 baking pan
Beat butter in large bowl until creamy. Beat in flour, sugar and salt until crumbly. Press 1 3/4 cups of mixture onto bottom of prepared pan, reserving the rest, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Microwave 1 cup of morsels and condensed milk for 1 minute. Stir. Spread over hot crust.
Stir nuts into reserved flour mixture and sprinkle over chocolate layer. Drop teaspoonfuls of jam over crumb mixture and sprinkle with remaining morsels.
Bake for 25 to 30 mins and cool in pan. Cut into squares.
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Melissa
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stefoodie
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Is it maybe your oven, Matilda? Try using an oven thermometer.
If your oven is older, you might want to turn your sheets several times while baking to eliminate the effects of "hot spots".
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stef
mom to five
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Matilda
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Stef,
I will try anything, but I am afraid that this curse has haunted me every place we have lived following me from electric to gas ovens. The only common denominator is me! 
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Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11, 10, 9 & 5) an even split for now
with bookend boys and a double girl sandwich
Waltzing Matilda
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JennGM
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Matilda, while I CAN make cookies, I don't like to. It's too much time. I like making bar cookies because it's once in the oven and that's it. No multiple batches. I'm lazy! Bars are also the quickest to make when you have unexpected guests for dinner. Make dinner, the bars are in the oven during the meal, and then there's dessert.
Plus, I'm the type of girl that will always pick brownies over cookies. I like the thicker mouthful than a cookie.
Growing up, my family made these three recipes regularly (and still do). I'm not including the Nestle Toll House Cookie Recipe. Get a bag of chips and follow the directions for bar cookies.
Our family favorite is actually a brownie, but it's called
Indian Nut Bars
Makes a moist, chocolately, chewy inside with slight crunchy crust. Yummy.
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 pound butter
1 cup chopped nuts
4 eggs, beaten
2 teaspoons vanilla
Melt butter and pour into sugar. Stir well and add cocoa and vanilla and stir. Stir in eggs.
Add flour, 1/3 cup at a time, stirring between. Add nuts.
Pour into greased 9x13 inch pan. Bake in 350 degree oven (325 degree for glass pan) for 25 to 30 minutes.
Optional: Cut and roll in confectioners' sugar while still warm.
Coffee Cookie Bars
Great with coffee, and evokes fall and winter thoughts with the spices. Hearty cookie, moist and tasty.
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup shortening
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup hot, strong coffee
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts
Caramel Icing (below)
Cream sugar and shortening until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla.
Sift together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and add alternately with hot coffee to creamed mixture. Stir in raisins and nuts.
Spread dough in greased 13x9x2" pan. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees F) for 25 minutes. While hot, spread with Caramel Icing. Set pan on rack to cool, then cut in 2 x 1" bars. Makes about 4 dozen.
Caramel Icing: Combine 3 tablespoons brown sugar, firmly packed, 3 tablespoons butter and 1 tablespoon dairy half and half, light cream or milk in 1 quart saucepan. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat and gradually add 1 cup sifted confectioners sugar, beating constantly. If icing is not smooth, place over low heat, stirring constantly. If icing is not smooth, place over low heat, stirring constantly, until lumps of sugar disappear. Makes enough to ice cookies baked in a 13x9x2" pan.
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Jennifer G. Miller
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Matilda
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Jenn,
You had me at "coffee"!
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Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11, 10, 9 & 5) an even split for now
with bookend boys and a double girl sandwich
Waltzing Matilda
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Elizabeth
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More coffee for you, Matilda. I'll try to make these as bar cookies this week and update you.
Coffee Bean Cookies
1/2 c butter
1/2 c shortening
3/4 c sugar
3/4 c firmly packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 c chopped almonds, toasted
1 c chocolate-covered espresso beans (Starbucks usually has these. I've gotten them at Target too)
4 (1.4 oz) English toffee candy bars, chopped (about 1 c)
Beat butter and shortening until creamy. Gradually add sugars, beating well. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.
Combine flour and next 3 ingredients; add to butter mixture, beating well.
Stir in chopped almonds, chocolate-covered coffee beans, and chopped English toffee candy bars.
Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-11 minutes. Cook on baking racks.
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Elizabeth Foss is no longer a member of this forum. Discussions now reflect the current management & are not necessarily expressions of her book, *Real Learning*, her current work, or her philosophy. (posted by E. Foss, Jan 2011)
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folklaur
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I have made the ones from Eagle Brand Cond. Milk quite a few times - the kids love it and it is beyond easy. The Magic Bar cookies. Except I don't use nuts, as we don't like nuts, and I will use marshmallows, or butterscotch chips, or something else like that in place of the nuts.
You can really substitute lots of things with this recipe.
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Fuzzy
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Matilda,
Have you tried baking on something other than a baking sheet? Have you tried baking on a piece of stoneware (like Pampered Chef)? That will help in the not burning and baking evenly department. There is also an option to help with bars too. I don't use baking sheets anymore, since things bake/cook better on stones.
Rectangle Baking stone
Cookie Bar pan
Good luck!
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Fuzzy
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aiereis
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If your cookies turn out flat then a couple of possibilities are either the butter might be too soft, or the recipe really needs shortening instead. I have a couple cookie recipes that say either butter or shortening will work, but they always turn out like pancakes when I use the butter. Otherwise, I don't know.
Sometimes the cookies don't look quite done when the timer goes off but if you let them stay in until they do look done they will be overcooked. They will still cook while they rest on the sheet after it comes out. It is good to let them sit for 2-5 minutes before removing them. I agree with some of the others that you probably will have better luck if you try bar cookies. Also, in my experience, cut-out cookies tend to cook more evenly than drop cookies.
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Maria B.
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~No- Bake Cookies~
2 cups sugar
3 T. cocoa
½ cup milk
½ c margarine
½ cup peanut butter
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup pecans
½ cup coconut
3 cup quick oats
Put sugar, cocoa, milk, and butter in a pan and bring to a boil.
Cook 1 min. Remove from heat and quickly add oatmeal,
peanut butter, and vanilla. Add nuts and coconut. Stir well and drop for by teaspoon onto wafted paper. Let sit for 20 minutes.
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Matilda
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Wow. I am making up my grocery list and will tell you which ones survive my kitchen.
No Bake? Seriously, how can I ruin that? Oh wait...
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Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11, 10, 9 & 5) an even split for now
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Waltzing Matilda
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Mary Chris
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Elizabeth wrote:
More coffee for you, Matilda. I'll try to make these as bar cookies this week and update you.
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Those are favorites of mine! Matilda, I'll make sure I try one to give you a second opinion .
Around here, I make the batter and dh cooks the cookies.
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Blessings, Mary Chris Beardsley
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Matilda
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Mary Chris,
Thank you! I wasn't going to admit it, but my husband's cookies have actually turned out better than mine even when he is "experimenting" and I follow the recipe.
Now muffins are another story!
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Charlotte (Matilda)
Mom to four (11, 10, 9 & 5) an even split for now
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Waltzing Matilda
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Tami
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aiereis wrote:
| If your cookies turn out flat then a couple of possibilities are either the butter might be too soft, or the recipe really needs shortening instead. I have a couple cookie recipes that say either butter or shortening will work, but they always turn out like pancakes when I use the butter. |
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I have to ask , what do you all use for shortening? Does this refer to Crisco? I've never used it, and honestly, the sight of it makes me cringe... 
I have always just substituted butter or margarine.
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God bless,
Tami
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become. (Nouwen)
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Mary G
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Tami wrote:
| I have always just substituted butter or margarine. |
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Butter will make cookies more crisp while margarine will make cookies chewy or soft ... that's why recipes call for different oils -- shortening, liquid oil, butter or margarine -- because of the end result. For instance, butterscotch brownies made with shortening are very chewy and almost candy-like while those made with butter are crisp or denser.
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Tami
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Mary G wrote:
| Butter will make cookies more crisp while margarine will make cookies chewy or soft ... that's why recipes call for different oils -- shortening, liquid oil, butter or margarine -- because of the end result. For instance, butterscotch brownies made with shortening are very chewy and almost candy-like while those made with butter are crisp or denser. |
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Thanks, Mary! So all I need to consider is the texture of the end-product?
I've always felt like I was the only one who didn't understand "shortening"
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God bless,
Tami
When we are crushed like grapes, we cannot think of the wine we will become. (Nouwen)
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humanaevitae
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I am from a huge cookie-baking family and my favorite quick chocolate chip cookie recipe is still the one listed on the package of the Toll-House chocolate chips!
+I use a mixer to mix up the softened (room temp) butter, and sugars. Then I add the eggs. Then the vanilla, powder, salt, and flour. Last I hand stir in the chocolate chips. You can make these I promise!
They also freeze well. I make them into the balls (I use a cookie scoop)put them close together on a cookie sheet and stick them in the freezer for a couple of hours until hard. Then dump them into a freezer bag. When you want cookies now! put them on a cookie sheet and bake them in a preheated oven. Hot fresh cookie in 12 minutes!
Maybe you just have higher cookie standards than others? Do you like others cookies?
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aiereis
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Quote:
I have to ask , what do you all use for shortening? Does this refer to Crisco? I've never used it, and honestly, the sight of it makes me cringe...
I have always just substituted butter or margarine. |
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It either refers to Crisco or lard. To be honest, the thought of using either makes me cringe, too. My success using Crisco was when I was in high school and I haven't used it since. My husband doesn't approve of margarine or most types of oils, so I either use butter or light olive oil in all my baking. The results are usually pretty good, but I know that with some things they would be better if I were using a different kind of fat.
--Christina
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asplendidtime
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Matilda wrote:
Jenn,
You had me at "coffee"! |
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Heeheehee!
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Topic: Looking for Never Fail Bar/Cookie Recipes
