Just Melt With Me

I am addicted. I had never had a meltaway cookie before I made these beauties but they truly are a great recipe to have in your back pocket around the holidays. The cookies have a crunch when you bite in to them, but due to the use of corn starch just seem to dissolve right on your tongue. Another nice feature of these cookies is the subtle taste of citrus lingering in the background, in this case, grapefruit. (The foreground is dominated by the powdered sugar, as it should be) Feel free to use whatever citrus juice and zest you have on hand and seeing as it is after all the holidays, I feel confident that everyone will have a gift basket or two to work through. 

Another great element of these cookies is their "slice-and-bake" feature. The recipe requires you to chill the dough in log form for an hour or so, which works out great if you want to slice about 5 or 40 for the night and then put the remainder back in the fridge. Last night I removed one of the two logs and sliced them up and by nights end they had disappeared. I think because of their bite size I would take two or three in my hand just for a trip upstairs!

I hope you put these cookies to use this holiday and enjoy the season!

Grapefruit Meltaway Cookies--

1 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temp

1/3 cup confectioners sugar, plus extra for coating

Zest of one grapefruit

2 to 3 tablespoons of Grapefruit juice (juice half of a fruit and then reduce over med-high heat) 

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 and 3/4 cup plus 2 TBS flour

2 TBS cornstarch 

1/4 tsp salt

Procedure - 

Cream the butter and the sugar until fluffy. Add in the zest, juice, and vanilla and combine. Whisk flour, salt, and cornstarch and then slowly add into the butter mixture. Role dough into 1 to 1.5 inch diameter logs and rap in either saran wrap or parchment paper. Chill logs at least one hour. Once dough is firm, slice logs into 1/4 inch rounds and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes or until a light brown color. Remove from the oven and let cool for about 5 minutes. While the cookies are still worm, fill a zip top bag with confectioners sugar and toss the cookies in the sugar to coat.

These can be stored for a few weeks if kept in a sealed container. 

Home in the Kitchen: Apple Cookie Crisp

I'm not sure if this has been done before. If it has, I'm sorry. 

My sister loves apple crisp, and I wanted to put my own spin on the old time classic. After scouring the Internet for a oatmeal cookie recipe that A) I had all the ingredients for and B) was easy, I decided I would smother my simply apple mix with a crunchy cookie top. 

Most of the crisps I have eaten or made in the past have had a nice topping, but it is usually not consistent or super crunchy. I wanted to for go the topping, and go straight for a 'top.' I figured a nice cookie would yield that crunchy bite I was looking for. Excited about the prospect of a new discovery, I set off to find a cookie recipe that would work. Most oatmeal cookies have tons of goodies in them, (its like new thing now, I think) but for my topping I wanted only two things to make the crunch happen: Oats and granola. 

Below is the recipe for my version of apple crisp with a crunch cookie top and simple simple apples underneath. Enjoy.

Apple Cookie Crisp

For the top:

-adapted from Food Network Kitchens

1 c AP flour 

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

3/4 c. room temp. butter (1.5 sticks)

1/2 c. sugar 

3/4 c. packed brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

2 c. rolled oats (not instant)

1 c. granola (any type or brand you like)

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside. 

Beat white sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Mix in brown sugar. Add eggs in one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla. Once wet ingredients are well combined, slowly add the dry ingredients on to the wet. Once homogeneous, stir in oats and granola. Chill batter for at least 30 min. for best results

For the apples:

Cut 3 to 4 large peeled apples into slices. Squeeze the juice of one half of a lemon over the apples, followed by 1/2 c of sugar, 2 tbs. of brown sugar and 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon. Make sure all of the slices are well coated and place them in the bottom of a baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 degrees. After 20 minutes, remove from oven and spread cookie dough over the apples. Return to oven and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Let cool for 5-10 for a harder crust.