Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

There is something so wonderful about a warm cookie fresh out of the oven with a glass of cold milk.  Some lucky people around the country already get to start celebrating fall with it's crisp coolness and changing colors.  We are still experiencing 90+ degree weather.  So to help my mourning of fall, I decided to bake these up and pretend that it was fall.  Hopefully this will bring in the season of pumpkin and cranberries with full force.  I'm ready for it.  Remember that the sugars in the cookies continue to bake outside of the oven while cooling, so take them out when they first start to turn golden.  That way they won't get over cooked and you will have a perfectly baked cookie.  Enjoy!

Cranberry White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

1 cup butter, room temperature         

1 cup brown sugar                           

1 cup sugar                                       

2 eggs                                               

2 Tablespoons vanilla                                 

3 cups flour              

1 tsp baking soda

2 cups chopped white chocolate

2 cups dried cranberries

6 oz macadamia nut pieces (or walnuts, chopped)

Preheat oven to 375*.  In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, & white sugar until smooth.  Beat in the eggs & vanilla.  Combine the flour & baking soda in small bowl.  Stir into the sugar mixture.  Fold in the white chocolate chunks, cranberries, & macadamia nuts (or walnuts).  Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets (lined with silpat).  Bake for 8-10 minutes in preheated oven.  For best results, take them out when they are slightly golden.  Cookies continue to bake when out of the oven.  Allow cookies to cool for 3-5 minutes before transferring to wire rack.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Strawberry Tart

Every year I take my kids strawberry picking.  There is nothing quite like being in the strawberry fields with juice dripping down your chin because you can't get enough of that taste.  According to my son he thinks the warm strawberries taste like strawberry pie.  They certainly can stand on their own with juicy sweetness! The taste is incomparable to any store bought strawberry.  They most definitely melt in your mouth.  For whatever the reason, I find great satisfaction in hand choosing every single strawberry in my basket and making sure it is the absolute best.  Now the ones my two year old picks is another story.  Since you are picking them at their peak, you better eat them fast because they won't last long.  This tart is one of our favorites to make after we have our baskets full.  It does take quite a few strawberries that are all relatively the same size, so having more on hand than the recipe calls for is ideal.  Now go get out in those fields and experience your own strawberry pie! Enjoy!

Strawberry Tart

Crust:

1 ¼ cups flour, spooned and leveled

1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into small pieces

1/3 cup sugar 

1/4 tsp salt  

Filling:

8 oz cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup sugar

2 lbs strawberries, hulled and halved

1/8 cup apple jelly or red currant jelly

Crust:  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  In a food processor, blend flour, butter, sugar, and salt until moist crumbs form when you pinch it together.  Transfer dough to a 9” round tart pan with a removable bottom.  With floured fingers, compress dough evenly into pan and up sides.  Dip a dry-measuring cup in flour, and use it to press dough firmly into bottom and against sides of pan.  Freeze crust until firm, 10-15 minutes.  Using a fork, prick crust all over.  Bake until golden, 20-25 min, pressing down gently once or twice with a spoon during baking if crust puffs up.  Cool completely in pan. (Note- Make sure you DO NOT over bake the crust.  It will get very crispy, which will be difficult to eat with the delicate strawberries.  Just make sure to take it out when it's golden.)

Filling:  In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, mix cream cheese and sugar until smooth. Spread mixture evenly in bottom of cooled baked crust (still in tart pan).  Starting from the outside of the circle, arrange strawberry halves, stemmed side down, in tight concentric circles on cream cheese (alternate cut strawberry side with each circle).  In a small saucepan, heat jelly on med-low until liquefied.  With a pastry brush gently brush strawberries with jelly and let set at least 20 minutes.  Chill in pan at least 1 hour (and up to 6 hours). Remove from pan just before serving.

Serves 8

*Adapted from Everyday Food

Meyer Lemon Pudding

It is lemon time here in California.  I have never had citrus so readily at my fingertips in my adult life and I love it!  When we first moved to California I set out to make everything lemon that I possibly could.  I was in heaven.  I was so used to spending a small fortune on lemons on the East Coast, so making my own lemon curd was out of the question.  But all of a sudden I had a lemon tree at my disposal.  And not just any lemon tree, a Meyer lemon tree.  A very superior lemon in my opinion.  The peel is soft and easily squeezable.  It doesn't have a thick skin, so what you see is what you get.  It is sweeter as it is a bit of a mix between a true lemon and possibly a mandarin or orange.  For those of you not surrounded by lemon surplus, this pudding is still very much worth the effort of finding a Meyer lemon.  It is called a pudding, but is more firm, almost like a panna cotta.  The lemon mixed with the fruit on top is simply a delight in your mouth.  Enjoy!

Meyer Lemon Pudding

2 1/4 cups heavy whipping cream                                 1 tsp pure vanilla

3/4 cup plus 1 tsp sugar, divided                                   2 tsp Meyer lemon zest

6 Tblsp fresh Meyer lemon juice (about 3-4 lemons)     Fresh blueberries, raspberries, & blackberries

Bring the cream and 3/4 cup of the sugar to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly, adjusting the heat as needed to prevent the mixture from boiling over.  Remove from heat.  Stir in the lemon juice and vanilla, and cool for 10 minutes.  Stir the mixture again and divide among six 1/2 cup ramekins, custard cups, demitasse cups or other small serving pieces.  Cover and chill the puddings until set, at least 4 hours or overnight.  Mix the remaining teaspoon of sugar with the lemon zest in a small bowl.  Sprinkle over the puddings and serve with mixed fresh berries on top.

Serves 6 

*Adapted from a Junior League of Houston recipe.

Gingerbread Men

Some years ago, my mother-in-law gave my kids The Gingerbread Baby book by Jan Brett along with a gingerbread cookie cutter and darling crocheted gingerbread men.  They were so excited to create their own gingerbread men, but admittedly I had never made them before myself.  Together we discovered this recipe, which seems to be the perfect amount of ginger, molasses and cinnamon creating a soft cookie.  The lemon icing gives it the perfect sweetness rounding it all out.  We've been making them ever since!

Gingerbread Men

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp fresh ground nutmeg
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup water
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a medium bowl sift together the flour, salt, baking soda, nutmeg, ginger, cloves and cinnamon. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in molasses, water and vanilla, then gradually add in flour mixture until a smooth dough forms. Divide dough into two or three pieces (dough will be quite soft), cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, until firm. Preheat oven to 375F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to just under 1/4 inch thickness. Use a 2-3 inch gingerbread man cookie cutter to cut dough. Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-12 minutes, depending on size of cookie cutter. Cookies should be slightly firm to the touch at the edges. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

When cookies are cool, decorate with lemon icing.

Lemon Icing

2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tbsp tsp lemon juice

In a small bowl, whisk powdered sugar and lemon juice. Add enough lemon juice to make the icing thick enough to squeeze out a piping bag, but not too runny where is will slide right off the cookie.  Start with 1-2 tbsp and add more if necessary. Scrape into piping bag with a fine tip or a ziploc bag with a corner cut off and pipe onto cooled cookies. Allow to set for at least 30 minutes, until firm, before storing cookies in an airtight container.

Chocolate Chocolate-chip Coconut Nut Cookies

There is nothing quite like pulling cookies out of the oven and eating them as soon as they are cooled long enough so they don't get mashed.  The melted chocolate chips, the crunchy exterior and gooey interior.  This cookie recipe is no exception.  They quickly get devoured by my crunchy nut loving family.  If you love chunk in cookie, you will love these!  The better the cocoa powder the richer the cookie.

Chocolate Chocolate-chip Coconut Nut Cookies

2 cups flour                                                               2 XL eggs, at room temp

1 tsp baking soda                                                     1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 tsp salt                                                                    2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup butter, room temp                                         1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

2/3 cup packed brown sugar                                  1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

2/3 cup granulated sugar                                        1/2 to 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350*.  Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat.  Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar on medium speed, about 2 minutes.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl from time to time as you work.  With the mixer running, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well until each egg is fully incorporated.  Add the vanilla and beat well until combined.  Turn the mixer to low speed and gradually add the cocoa powder and the flour mixture.  Mix gently until just combined.  Fold in the coconut, nuts, and chocolate chips.

Drop the batter by a heaping tablespoon onto the prepared baking sheets 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-11 minutes, until the edges are firm and the centers lose their shine.  Make sure not to over bake.  The sugars in the cookies continue baking after you take it out of the oven.  Cool on the sheet about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cookie rack and continue to cool.

Makes about 36 cookies

*Adapted from Cheryl Rules' recipe.