Harry Potter Week: Butterbeer Cookies

 

Happy Harry Potter week 2016 my fellow nerds! It's the week of the Cursed Child. I feel many mixed feelings about it, but I'm embracing the HP love and going with it. So with that, here is day one - the basics - party food. These butterbeer cookies are a favorite go to from Bake at 350. My brother got me a really cool 3D printed Harry Potter cookie cutter for Christmas so I stepped the cookies up a notch with that bad boy. Feel free to use your favorite sugar cookie for the base if you'd like, the glaze is the real showstopper here.



Butterbeer Sugar Cookies 




3 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar (packed)
2 sticks butter
1 egg
1 tsp butter flavoring
3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract

First things first, preheat your oven to 350.
Whisk the flour, baking powder, set aside.
Cream the sugar and butter.
Add the egg, butter flavoring, and vanilla; mix until well-blended.
Gradually add the flour mixture and beat just until combined, scraping down the bowl, especially the bottom. The dough will be quite thick, you may need to knead in stray bits of flour from the bottom of the bowl by hand.

Roll on a floured surface to about 1/4" and cut into shapes. Place on parchment lined baking sheets and bake for 9-12 minutes, depending on the size of your cutter. Let sit a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack. These cookies may also be rolled into 1 inch balls if you prefer. They are similar to shortbread in the way that they won’t spread much.










Butterbeer Glaze

1 1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1/4 cup evaporated milk
2 TBSP light corn syrup

Place all of the ingredients in a glass or metal bowl and heat over a pot of simmering water (or a double boiler).
Stir occasionally, until melted and smooth.

Put the cooled cookies on a wire rack on a baking sheet. Pour the glaze over the cookies and spread with an offset spatula.

Deeeelish.

Till next time, hope your having a very potter week =)

Maggie

Cookie Season! No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Cookie season is here! Cookies are one of my favorite things about the holidays; I normally spend a week mixing, baking, packing and of course eating, cookies. I like to make huge trays for my family as Christmas gifts. Once my dad's old secretary gave him this epic, epic tray of Mexican cookies for Christmas and I thought it was the most awesome-tasty-beautiful thing ever, so I always strive to make something like that. Honestly, Christmas baking is probably one of the main reasons I became a baker.

Here's last years trays:

Most cookies I make have memories that make me love the cookies even more. These peanut butter cookies bring me back to the sixth grade. That year a new girl moved to town and sat next to me in class. Her name was Jessica and we became friends. Her Mom is one of the best cooks I know, and she made these cookies for us and I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Basically every sleepover after that we had to make these cookies. The crazy part is I really don't like peanut butter, but I would kill for these cookies! So good.



These cookies take less than ten minutes to mix and make, so when you need a fix these are perfect. I almost always already have everything I need in the house so I can whip them up in a flash.


No Bake Peanut Butter Drop Cookies

2 cups quick-cooking oats, uncooked
2/3 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup butter or margarine


Combine oats, peanut butter, coconut, cocoa, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl; set aside.

Combine sugar, milk, and butter in a small saucepan; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour over reserved oat mixture; quickly stir to mix well.

Immediately drop by heaping teaspoonfuls onto waxed paper-lined baking sheets; let cool. Carefully remove from waxed paper to serve.