For the sake of ordering and delivery time, today I am featuring my favorite sites from which you can order a treat (and most have all levels of financial commitment).  In no particular order…

Fat Witch Babies–Fat Witch is a great bakery in Chelsea.  I have been ordering her babies (a small petite bite-size brownie) for several years prior to making NY my home.   Each are $1.50 and you can put together a lovely assortment and ship for right around $20.

Good Karmal–Enjoy the most delicious candy caramel with a Valentine’s sample for only $10.  Each piece of caramel is wrapped in a “fortune” inscribed with a quote of wise words from sages ranging from Gandhi to Maya Angelou.

Zoe’s Chocolates–Zoe’s offers their heavenly traditional chocolates in several special packages for the lover in you.  Lot’s of choices for less than $20.

Cookie Sandwich Company–These sandwich cookies are truly the size of sliders.  They are sandwiches!  I have been able to soften the hardest individuals with these cookies.  They have a special cookie for Valentine’s with a strawberry filling.  You cannot go wrong here.

I would be overjoyed to be the recipient of any of these specialty items.  You will feel the same sending them.  Get off the site now and go place your orders in order to get the most reasonable shipping charges.

xo–me

This is a public recipe that has floated around the Internet for a few years.  I thought I should add it to my cookie collection here on Hey Amy! because it is rich and delicious and well, I like it!

Ingredients:

2 c. butter
4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
2 c. sugar
5 c. blended oatmeal
24 oz. chocolate chips
2 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
18 oz. Hershey Bar (grated)
4 eggs
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. chopped nuts (optional and your choice)

Preheat oven to 375.  Place oatmeal in blender and blend to a fine powder.  Cream the butter and both sugars.  Add eggs and vanilla, mix together with flour, oatmeal, salt, baking powder, and soda.  Add chocolate chips, Hershey Bar and nuts.  Roll into balls and place two inches apart on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes.

I will add some of Nany’s best cookie recipes and bake my heart out today.  Hope you choose to join me in your kitchen.

xo–me

The last of my recipes this week around snow is the Snowball Crunch.  It’s another simple recipe that you can do with the kids when they have a snow day from school.  Big thanks to Aunt Barb for the great recipes!

Ingredients:

1 c. softened butter
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/4 c. sugar
1/4. powdered sugar
1 c. chopped pecans (or not, I don’t care for nuts in sweets)
2 c. sifted flour

Preheat oven to 300.  Mix butter, vanilla, and sugar until creamy.  Add nuts and flour.  Pinch off dough and roll into ping pong ball-sized snowballs.  Bake for 35 minutes until golden brown.  While still warm, roll in powdered sugar.  Begin ‘throwing’ them in your mouth!

xo–me

This recipe comes from Nany as well as my Pennsylvania Dutch cookbook.  Moravian Sand Tarts have been made in hundreds of families for many, many generations in PA.  Why don’t you add it to your collection of recipes in your family?

Ingredients:

2 c. butter (what recipe isn’t good that starts with this much butter???)
2 1/2 c. powdered sugar
3 eggs
4 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
chopped pecans
red & green decorative sugar
egg white

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream together butter and sugar.  Beat in eggs, one at a time.  Beat very well after each addition.  Sift together flour, and baking soda in separate bowl then stir into butter mixture.  Refrigerate until dough is stiff.  About an hour.  Roll out dough until it is very thin on a floured surface.  Yes get out your rolling pin!  You can do this.  Cut into shapes (this is the fun part) with your assortment of Christmas cookie cutters.  Sprinkle with pecans on some and the decorative sugar on others.  Brush each cookie with some egg white.  Bake for 10 minutes.

These cookies remain fresh for over a week if sealed in a container.  Plus the recipe makes a lot so your elves should be happily satisfied.

xo–me

I also love putting these cookies on my cooking plate.  Just like the candy cane cookies stand out because of their color,  these tend to add a different texture because of their shape.

Ingredients:

1 c. butter
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1 lb. plus 3/4 c. 10x sugar, divided
1 c. flaked coconut
1 c. mini chocolate chips
2 c. quick cooking oats, uncooked
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

Combine butter, peanut butter, 1 lb. sugar, coconut, chocolate chips, oats and vanilla extract.  Shape mixture into walnut sized balls.  Roll in 3/4 c. powdered sugar.  Store in refrigerator.

Some times I roll them in a combination of powdered sugar and Hershey’s cocoa powder.  Yum!

xo–me

When I was a little girl, these cookies wowed me every time Nany or my Great Aunt Helen would make them.  I never was able to grasp that they weren’t a hard candy like candy canes.  I always bit into them thinking they would crunch when they would really be soft and delicious.  Imagine my eight-year-old mind being delighted to see these treats on the cookie plate.  One summer I begged Nany to make them so I could help and learn (as well as be able to eat them!).  The humidity and heat of the summer did not allow the dough to shape properly and they were a mess.  There is a reason these are only made at Christmas.

Finally I will say that these cookies are perfect for an old-fashioned cookie exchange.  If you are not planning to attend one this year, get on the phone tonight with your girlfriends and arrange one.  It is a quick way to get a lovely assortment of cookies for your guests this month.

Ingredients:

1 c. shortening
1 c. sifted 10x sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour, sifted
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. red food coloring (sometimes more depending on the richness of the red)
1/2 c. crushed peppermint candy
1/2 c. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375.  Mix shortening, sugar, egg, almond extract and vanilla thoroughly.  Mix flour and salt; stir into shortening mixture.  Divide dough in half.  Blend food coloring into one half.  Mix well so no streaks are visible.

Roll a 4 inch strip from each color.  For smooth even strips, roll them back an forth on lightly floured board.  Place strips side by side, pressing lightly together and twist like a rope.  For best results, complete cookies one at a time–if all dough of one color is shaped first, strips become too dry to twist.   I even cover the bowl when twisting.  Place on ungreased baking sheet.  Curve top down to form hook of cane.   Bake for 9 minutes until lightly browned.  While still warm, remove from baking sheet and sprinkle with mixture of crushed peppermint and sugar.

The punch of red makes these look gorgeous on a cookie plate and the sprinkling of peppermint and sugar make them sparkle!

xo–me

This recipe has been floating around from backyard BBQ to BBQ for many years.  It is one of my favorites because I serve it in a children’s plastic pail and scoop it with the attached shovel.  We always feel like we are really eating dirt.  Just like when we were 5.  I present it today for your convenience in case you misplaced it or the recipe card got wet.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened
1 c. powdered sugar
1 8-oz. package cream cheese, softened
1 package Oreo cookies, crushed
2 small boxes vanilla instant pudding
1 12-oz. container Cool Whip
3 c. milk

Mix butter, powdered sugar and cream cheese well.  Add crushed Oreo cookies.  Set aside.  Combine pudding, Cool Whip, and milk.  Grab your pail (yes, a plastic bucket you got at Target) and put in a layer of cookie mixture.  Next add a layer of pudding mixture.  Alternate between the two until you reach the top.  End with cookie mixture because it is dark like dirt.  Remember, we are eating dirt!  Chill until ready to serve.  Put shovel in mixture before serving.  Feeds 10 if they overate at the BBQ.

Miss Leta of Danville, CA is master in the kitchen.  I have never had a baked good or dessert from her that didn’t keep me returning with my plate, agreeing to take some home (please twist my arm) or sneaking to get “just one more!”  Last time I visited she had made thee most moist and chewy orange cookies.  They were heavenly with just a touch of orange.  Now I love orange but when it comes to sweets, I can be a purist about my chocolate.  I was floored I loved them so much.  She shared the recipe (they are called White Chip Orange Dream Cookies) and I am ashamed to say I have yet to make them!  I thought about them today and determined that they would be a perfect way to return to sweets at the end of Lent.  Because they follow the traditional Toll House recipe, I suggest you create the dough and refrigerate it overnight.  Your cookies will be chewier, fluffier, and richer.  I will be dreaming of these cookies and cakes and pies and chocolates and whoopie pies and ice cream and peanut butter cups until Sunday morning.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 c. Swans Down Cake Flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. unsalted butter, soft
1/2 c. granulated sugar (I use baker’s sugar)
1/2 c. packed light brown sugar
1 egg
3 tsp. grated orange peel (recipe calls for 2 but Leta says 3 is best)
2 c. (12 ounce package) Nestle Toll House Premier White Morsels

Preheat oven to 350.  Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl.  Beat butter granulated and brown sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy.  Beat in egg and orange peel.  Gradually beat in flour mixture.  Stir in morsels.  Drop dough by rounded teaspoon onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until edges are light golden brown (I am currently salivating on to the laptop).  Let stand for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.  Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies (more if you don’t eat the dough while waiting for the cookies to bake).

My love of baking began long before I realized. A few years ago my mother started a recipe box for me. She invited those I loved to fill out the index cards with their precious stories of yummy creations. I had love for each but one made me realize how long I have been in love with the kitchen. My dear Mommie had saved a recipe I brought home from school in the first grade. No Bake Cookies. I recall making this recipe for years as a young girl. I was proud of it then and I am proud of it today.

Ingredients:

1 stick butter
2 c. sugar
3 Tbs. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. peanut butter
3 c. oatmeal

Mix butter, sugar, cocoa, and milk over low heat for 2 minutes. Remove. Add vanilla, peanut butter and oatmeal. Stir thoroughly. Drop spoonfuls onto wax paper and allow to cool. Eat up!