My head has been around Mexican cookies for a while. I recently made some Mexican Sugar Cookies and took them to work. The recipe was created by a Mexican woman. They seemed to me like cookies someone really might find in Mexico. I didn’t like them. They were too dry and not sweet enough for my taste. Having lived in Mexico for two years, I am familiar with Mexican taste in such treats. I was pretty sure any “Mexican” cookies would have to be adjusted for an American taste for me to like them.

Debra, one of my blog followers, sent me Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies. That recipe was almost identical to the Snickerdoodle recipe I got from Peg, a nurse I worked with in Alabama twenty-five years ago. Here is what I came up with when I kind of messed around with them all. Try them with and without the cocoa.

Here they are with cocoa as the recipe is written.

Source:

Peg the Nurse, Debra the Badtadmd.com Fan and Tad

Yield:

48

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all purpose flour*

½  cup unsweetened cocoa powder*

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon anise seeds, ground**

1 pinch chipotle chile powder

½ cup butter, at room temperature

½ cup shortening

1 ½ cup brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

½ cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons cinnamon

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds of oven.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour cocoa powder, cream of tartar, baking soda, salt, ground anise and chile powder. Set aside.

In large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, shortening and brown sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until smooth.

With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture and beat until combined.

In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar, and cinnamon.

Using a two-tablespoon scoop, form balls of dough. Roll each in cinnamon-sugar mixture and place on parchment-line baking sheets.

Bake until cookies are set in center and begin to crack, about 10 minutes, rotating sheets half way through. (I switch the locations of the sheets on the racks and rotate them 180 degrees as well.)

Remove to wire racks to cool.

Notes:

* Non-chocolate variation: substitute 1/4 cup flour for the cocoa. Several people liked these better. Here is what they look like:

** I have a stone mortar and pestle I use to grind the seeds. You can use a blender but you will probably need to grind a larger amount.

Basically the same base as Tad’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies but loaded with what I call “floaties.” Chocolate chips, toffee chips, oatmeal, dried cherries. Rather than roll, refrigerate and cut, I just scooped them with a 2 tablespoon scooper. Because they are so loaded, they are a challenge to stir and scoop but you can do it!

Recipe By:

allrecipes.com

 Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 cups unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cup brown sugar

1 ½  cup white sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 cups rolled oats

2 cups dried cherries

2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips

16 ounces toffee baking bits

 Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Grease cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper.

3. Sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.

4. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until smooth.

5. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

6. Gradually stir in flour mixture.

7. Mix in oats, cherries, chocolate chips and toffee bits until evenly distributed.

8. Divide the dough in to 3 portions and form them into logs, about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate or freeze until firm.

9. Slice dough logs into 3/4 inch thick slices. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on prepared cookie sheets.

10. Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

My wife had a few minutes down time so she went online to find some weird cookie recipes for us to try. When she presented me with this one, my first response was negative. I have not liked any of the chocolate with bacon I have eaten. Why would bacon make cookies good?

I was pleasantly surprised with how tasty these are. The tastes meld well together and they are not very bacony for how much bacon and bacon fat they have in them. They have a good texture. The pinch of chipotle is just right. This is a good cookie.

Only bake as many as you want to eat today because I have never made a cookie that went over-the-hill so fast. You will not want to eat them the next day!

Here, unflattened, you can see the peanuts, chocolate chips and, if you look closely, little bits of bacon.

Here it is flattened.

Nice looking cookie!

Source:

Internet search

Yield:

24

Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Pinch of chipotle or ancho chile powder

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

5 strips bacon (1/3 pound)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

½ cup creamy peanut butter

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup roughly chopped honey- roasted peanuts

1/3 cup bittersweet or semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, chile powder and salt in a large bowl. Set aside.

Cook bacon in a large skillet over medium heat until crisp, about 4 to 6 minutes per side.* Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate. Reserve 2 tablespoons of the drippings and set aside to cool. Crumble the bacon, discarding any chewy bits.

Beat the butter and reserved bacon drippings in a large bowl with a mixer on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute.

Beat in the peanut butter until combined, about 1 minute.

Beat in the sugars until creamy, about 4 minutes.

Add egg and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy, about 2 more minutes.

Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture in 2 additions. Mix just until combined, scraping down the bowl as needed.

Stir in peanuts and all but 2 tablespoons each of the chocolate chips and bacon.**

Form the dough into 12 balls and arrange 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Flatten with your fingers.*** (The cookies will not spread in the oven.) Press the reserved bacon and chocolate chips into tops.

Bake until golden, 12 to 14 minutes. Let the cookies cool 2 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Notes:

* Years ago, while helping cook at our church girls’ camp, I learned from Alex to bake bacon. Here is how to do it:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Line a jelly roll pan with a sheet of baking parchment with the edges hanging over the pan.

Place bacon evenly on parchment.

Bake about ten minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and flip the strips of bacon.

Put back in the oven. Watch it closely and take it out when it is cooked the way you like it, usually about ten more minutes for me. I like my bacon cooked until it is not rubbery but is still chewy like meat. I think bacon cooked until                    crumbly tastes terrible. For these cookies, I cooked the bacon perfectly then cut it into very small pieced with a French chef knife. Delicious.

Best part: throw the paper away and put the pan back in the cupboard.

** I skipped this step and put all of the bacon and chips in the dough.

*** Rather than press with fingers, I used my buttered-and-sugared glass method: Butter the bottom of a glass then dip into sugar. Flatten the dough ball with bottom of glass until desired thickness. Redip the glass before pressing each next cookie.

These are a very simple cookie to make. They are moist and fruity with all those raisins.

Recipe By:

Home-Tested Cookie Recipes and around the Internet

Yield:

40

 Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 ½ cups sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 large eggs

3 ½  cups all-purpose flour

1 ½  teaspoons cream of tartar

1 ½  teaspoons baking soda

15 ounces golden raisins

 Directions:

1. Heat Oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add lemon juice and eggs. Mix well.

3. Combine dry ingredients. Gradually mix into butter mixture.

4. Stir in raisins.

5. Form into 2-tablespoon balls.

6. Flatten with bottom of drinking glass that has been buttered and sugared.

7.  Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned.

I don’t drink coffee and have never been a real fan of the flavor. As I have matured, I have been developing a taste for it, especially if it is subtle and, of course, combined with chocolate. When I first saw this recipe, I thought, “1/3 of a cup of instant coffee? That is a lot!”

When I mixed these up and tasted the dough, I thought, “I am not going to like these because they are too strongly flavored of coffee.” But, the cookies are really good. They are dense and firm but moist.

Be careful not to over-toast your almonds or that toasted nut taste will overshadow the coffee and chocolate balance.

Ingredients:

¾ cup blanched slivered almonds

1/3 cup instant coffee granules

2 tablespoons hot water

2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, softened

1 ¼ cups white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

 Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. Toast almonds in oven for 5-10 minutes or until brown.

3. Dissolve coffee in 2 tablespoons hot water. Set aside.

4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

5. Beat butter and sugar in an electric mixer at a medium to high speed until fluffy.

6. Stir coffee, vanilla and eggs into butter mixture. Mix well.

7. Reduce speed to low and slowly pour flour mixture into the butter mixture. Mix just until combined.

8. Fold in chocolate chips and almonds.

9. Drop dough by 2 tablespoon cookie scoop onto an ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheet.

10. Bake about 10 minutes.

I had trouble making the dough balls if the dough was a bit too soft. If any of the marshmallows are on the surface, they will melt and spread out on the baking sheet, caramelizing. That makes for a fund chew and taste but they are not so pretty as when the frozen marshmallow can be kept inside the ball.

Source:

Mrs. Fields Best Ever Cookie Book

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1 cup granulated sugar, packed

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup salted butter, softened

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

12 ounces mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

8 ounces mini marshmallows, frozen

Directions:

1) Heat oven to 350 degrees. Until you are ready to assemble the cookies, leave the marshmallows in the freezer. They’re way easier to work with frozen.

2) In a medium sized bowl, combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Set aside.

3) Using electric mixer blend butter and sugars, scraping down the sides of the bowl.

4) Add eggs and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.

5) Add flour mixture and chocolate chips. Blend at low speed until combined. Batter will be very stiff.

6) Gather 4 or 5 frozen marshmallows in the palm of your hand and cover them with a heaping tablespoon of dough. Wrap the dough around the marshmallows, completely encasing them and making a 2-inch-diameter dough ball.

7) Place balls on ungreased cookie sheets, 2 inches apart (I use parchment.)

8) Bake 10-12 minutes. Cool on sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to a cool, flat surface.

I found this recipe in a cookbook my sister-in-law, Cathy, sent us for Christmas. It is called Calico Cooking from the Calico Corners fabric stores. I am not sure why a fabric store makes a cookbook but…

When I Googled the recipe, I found it all over the web including at epicurius.com.

I am too lazy to roll out logs, refrigerate and cut them. I took the unrefrigerated dough, scooped it onto the baking sheets with a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop. I then buttered the bottom of a glass, dipped it in sugar and gently flattened each dough ball to the prescribed ¼ inch thickness, redipping in sugar before flattening each subsequent ball. I also skipped the powdered sugar because it is a mess.

These cookies are firm but not dry. I wonder if some coconut flavoring, in addition to the vanilla and lemon flavoring, would have been good.

Yield:

4 dozen small cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

½ cup sugar

1 ½ tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon lemon extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut, toasted and cooled

Confectioners’ sugar for dusting

In a bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter with the sugar until the mixture is light and fluffy.

Beat zest, vanilla, and lemon extract.

Add flour, baking powder and salt. Beat until it forms a dough.

Stir in coconut.

Chill dough for 1 hour, or until it is firm enough to handle.

Divide the dough in half. On a sheet of wax paper, form each half into an 8-inch log. Chill the logs, wrapped in the wax paper, for at least 4 hours or overnight.

Heat the oven to 300°F.

Cut the logs into ¼-inch-thick slices with a sharp knife.

Arrange the slices 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake the cookies in the middle of the oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until they are pale golden.

Transfer them to racks and sprinkle them generously with some of the confectioners’ sugar.

Let the cookies cool then dust them lightly with the remaining confectioners’ sugar.

I got this recipe from a Quaker Oats advertisement in a magazine. If you do a Google search, you will see it is all over the Internet. They are very buttery and need be cooked until they are more brown than I would normally bake a cookie because they are soft. I don’t really like butterscotch chips but these are very good. With all the oats, no wonder Quaker is promoting them!

Yield:

40

 Ingredients:

1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 cup butter, softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract or grated peel of 1 orange

3 cups oats

11 ounces butterscotch chips

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375° F.

2. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in small bowl. Set aside.

3. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract in large mixing bowl.

4. Gradually beat in flour mixture.

5. Stir in oats and chips.

6. Drop 2 tablespoon balls onto ungreased baking sheets. (I always use parchment.)

7. BAKE for 9 to 10 minutes. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Notes: I have not tried the orange zest version which really might be tasty. They would probably be wonderful with chocolate rather than butterscotch chips. I don’t make bars so I have not tried the bar version which follow:

BAR VARIATION:

Grease 15 x 10-inch jelly-roll pan. Prepare dough as above. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Makes 4 dozen bars.

These are easy to make and come out rich and moist but firm. With all of the kinds of M&Ms available, you could make then with any you like and they would be different and interesting. When I fist saw this recipe in the newspaper, it was at Christmas time and they were supposed to be made with Holiday M&Ms.

Recipe By: Family Circle

Yield: 5 to 6 dozen

Ingredients:

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

¾ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

¼ cup hot coffee or water

1 ½ cups M&Ms

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

3. Using an electric mixer, beat butter until smooth and creamy.

4. Add both sugars. Beat until light and fluffy.

5. Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix in vanilla.

6. With mixer on low speed, mix in flour mixture.

7. Stir in coffee.

8. Fold in M&M’s.

9. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets. Press a couple of M&M’s into the top of each little mound of dough.

10. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes or until set. Cool briefly on baking sheets. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

Notes:

For Christmas cookies, use red and green M&Ms.

I made these cookies with Lucky Charms left over after Christmas. Our son-in-law, Austin, loves them and we bought them for him for a Christmas treat. I think they are disgusting.  I can’t even imagine putting them in a bowl, pouring milk over them and eating them. But they were fun in the cookies.

Here is a nice round ball scooped out with a cookie scoop and a tasty red “marshmallow” showing.

Here one is flattened. The recipe calls for using a fork but I just flattened them with my fingers.

Here is a cooked one showing all of the wonderful, artificial colors that make Lucky Charms so magically delicious!

Recipe By:

Mercury News

Yield:

24

Ingredients:

½ cup butter, softened

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup oats

1 ½ cups dry cereal such as cornflakes, Product 19 or Special K

 Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. Cream together butter and sugars. Beat in egg and vanilla.

4. Add flour mixture. Stir until combined.

5. Add oats and dry cereal to the dough. Mix well.

6. Drop by two tablespoonfuls onto parchment-covered cookie sheet, pressing down with a fork.

7. Bake 9 to 12 minutes until just browning around the edges.

8. Cool on a cookie rack.

 Notes:

Submitted to Mercury News by Carolyn Gutierrez. I am sure she would not approve of using Lucky Charms!