New Recipe for 2017 #12 - Hazelnut Lace Cookies

I got this recipe from a Betty Crocker booklet called Cookies & Bars that I got in a General Mills box that my darling Aunt Mary sends me every Christmas.

I had made another recipe that day and realized that it didn't make enough food, so I tried this recipe. There is a real sweet spot as far as baking these cookies. Don't bake long enough and you won't be able to get them off the cookie sheet. Bake them too long and they burn. The line between those two is quite thin.

These turned out well. They were delicious, but not my cup of tea.

 A single cookie 

Three cookies

New Recipe for 2017 #11 - Kerry Apple Cake

For the March meeting at work, I decided to make something Irish for St. Patrick's Day. I grabbed the cookbook Best of Irish Home Baking by Biddy White Lennon that I had purchased in Ireland in 2005. Going through the recipes I came across Kerry Apple Cake and gave it a try.

First thing, don't follow the mixing directions. They are hopeless. Mix the sugar, butter, and egg and then put in the flour. I ended up putting in an extra egg to get anything resembling dough. I have a sneaking suspicion that large apples in Ireland are a bit smaller than apples in the U.S. It took awhile to get the apples mixed in. Apple pieces were flying out of my Kitchen Aid mixer left and right -  even with the bowel shield on.

For the topping, the recipe only calls for a 1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon or nutmeg or cloves. I put in 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg plus a bit of cardamon. 

This cake was delicious!

New Recipe for 2017 #10 - Brown Butter Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I got this recipe from the blog She Wears Many Hats.

It is so delicious that I had to get them out of the house before I ate them all. Had to get them out so fast that I didn't have time to take a picture.

They really don't need the pecans, so you can skip that ingredient.

New Recipe for 2017 #9 - Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

This recipe is from the blog Eighteen25. I love chocolate chip cookies, and am always looking out for a new, maybe better recipe.

Alas, these cookies are good, but not any better than the recipe on the back of the bag of Nestle semisweet chocolate chips.

This recipe did teach me to stop watching the funny video on Facebook when the oven timer goes off. The second two pans of cookies ended up darker and harder.

New Recipe for 2017 #8 - Confetti Cake

So I made the Mini Chocolate Pecan Cheesecakes and realized that I did not have enough for the meeting at work. I grabbed The Cookie and Cups Cookbook and looked to see what I could make without having to go to the grocery store. Confetti Cake won.

This is a really good cake. It stays moist in dry Denver - always a plus. The one complaint I have is that it is too sweet. It has 1 1/2 cups of sugar plus the 1/2 cup of sprinkles. In future, I'll cut the sugar to 3/4 cup and will hopefully avoid a diabetic coma.

New Recipe of 2017 #7 - Mini Chocolate Pecan Cheesecakes

I got this recipe from My Baking Addiction. The cheesecakes are made in a standard muffin tin. It says to line the tins with metal baking cups. I used paper ones. They baked up fine, although I think I overbaked the crust just a little bit because my muffin tin was a dark metal. One thing to note is that the recipe only makes 12 cheesecakes. 

This recipe is OK. My favorite cheesecake recipe is still my Aunt Betty's. The ganache recipe she gives did not work for me. The ganache stayed in a liquid form despite spending several hours in the refrigerator. I dumped the whole thing back into the saucepan, heated it up, and poured the hot mixture over another 4 ounces of semisweet chocolate. Then, it finally got solid enough to put on the cheesecakes.

I spread the leftover ganache on Girl Scout Trefoil cookies and sprinkled pecans on top.

New Recipe for 2017 #6: Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies.

This recipe for Orange Chocolate Chip Cookies is from the blog She Wears Many Hats.

These are basically just chocolate chip cookies with orange zest and ginger. You have to chill the dough for at least an hour before baking it. Not sure why. What I do know is that the cookies took over  15 minutes to bake.

The cookies were OK. Nothing to write home about. The addition of orange and ginger may have been better in a chocolate cookie instead of a chocolate chip cookie.