Samoa Cookie Bars

It's Girl Scout cookie season again, and while I still haven't been asked by any Girl Scouts if I'd like to buy them, I may not need them for my Samoa fix this year.  While you know coconut isn't my first love, Samoas have always been one of my most favorite Girl Scout cookies (right up there with Thin Mints).  Coconut wrapped in caramel topping a shortbread cookie and drizzled with dark chocolate is a decadent and delicious treat.   And baked up into these bars, this version is a nice replica.  Even though these bars don't have chocolate on the bottom, the extra drizzle on top maintains the chocolate to coconut/caramel to shortbread ratio.  If those purple boxes of cookies are calling your name every time you see a Girl Scout, do yourself a favor and make these bars.  Compare and you'll see these are just as good as their namesake--and you can make them year round.

Cookie Butter Cream Bars

Remember that Speculoos Cookie Butter I got from Rinnie for last month's Foodie Pen Pals?  Well, how cool is it that I found a recipe to use it in for my Secret Recipe Club assignment!  Two worlds collide! But first, let's discuss these bars.  A sweet, creamy and delicious filling made from cookie butter tops a flaky shortbread crust gently seasoned to mimic the filling.  These are a wonderful treat and made for a lovely dessert.  Madaline and Ernie weren't familiar with cookie butter, but Ernie declared these a win.  There could be a little more flavor intensity from the cookie butter, but it's still a lovely flavor.  And the over all consistency reminded me of pumpkin pie made with a double crust.  These would be an ideal dessert for the holiday season.

So yes, it's Secret Recipe Club time, again.  By now, you probably know what that means.  Each Monday a group of bloggers post a recipe they've made from another blogger's repertoire.  Nobody knows who's featuring their blog until that day and it's a fun chance to visit new blogs and try something different. Visit some of the other bloggers in my group by checking out the blog hop at the bottom of this post.  To learn more about Secret Recipe Club, click here.

Lime Cranberry Squares

A slightly tart filling atop a crunchy shortbread studded with cranberries, these are a nice twist on the typical citrus bar.  The combination of cranberries and lime is an underused flavor in desserts, and I happened to make these twice in a week, once for a work meeting and the second batch for Cindy's birthday/a celebration treat for Jessie's arrival (since I didn't get a chance to see Cindy for her birthday).  The sweet and tart flavors are a nice addition to the shortbread, which is simple except for the unique addition of cranberries.

Whenever I need a quick bar dessert with a little different flavor, I've found that my Christmas Cookies book has a ton of easy recipes that are traditional enough that they seem like new takes on regular recipe.  My alteration to these bars was that instead of using pecans in the shortbread, I swapped them out for the cranberries.  Also, since I don't have a 12 x 8 inch pan, I used a 13 x 9 and scaled the cooking time back a touch.  And it totally worked.  Two bowls, a whisk and a pastry blender are the tools you'll need to create these simple yet very flavorful bars.

White Chocolate Cherry Shortbread

These will certainly get you in the holiday spirit.  Aren't they pretty?  Add to that a sweet, flavorful shortbread and you've got a winner.  The shortbread gets a little softness to it's texture from the sweet cherries and the white chocolate is a nice accent.  These lovelies will look great on Santa's plate and even better, you're holiday guests will like the fruit and chocolate combination.

I found this recipe at Better Recipes (formerly Mixing Bowl), posted by judyjellybean.  They were easy to make and make a lot!  These would be a good for a cookie exchange.  After baking, I started dipping the cookies in melted chocolate and nonpareils, but ran out of chocolate (because I didn't read the recipe and only bought one package).  When Dave taste-tested, he said not to worry about dipping the rest.  Since the cookie already has white chocolate in it, he felt the addition dipping overpowered the cookie without adding anything, and then you couldn't enjoy the cherry flavor.  What can I say?  The man knows cookies.  Make your own choice, I left mine half with and half without.

Fruit-Filled Thimbles

I love these because I've made them in so many flavors.  I've used apricot preserves, lemon curd, raspberry preserves, and strawberry jam. I imagine orange marmalade would work as well, or any sort of sturdy, jellied fruit.  Perhaps even a pie filling.  These are a delicious shortbread style cookie that provides a great base to present the fruit flavors.  It's a softer version of shortbread. You could also experiment with extract and jam combinations for a really great treat.

Another recipe from the Capital Cookies cookbook, this one comes from Connecticut, submitted by Mary Mullen who shared these cookies with her church.  The only adjustment I've made is to the process, kneading the flour in by hand to get the dough to form without being crumbly (a common occurrence with shortbread).

Fruit-Filled Thimbles

Ingredients:

1 stick butter, softened
1 stick margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 1/2 cups sifted flour
fruit jam or preserves of your choosing (I made this batch with apricot preserves and raspberry jam)

Cream butter and margarine together.  Gradually add the sugar, beating until light and fluffy, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.  Add egg yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition.  Add vanilla and combine.

If using a stand mixer, switch to your dough hook attachment and add flour, stirring just until flour is gently mixed in. If doing this with a hand mixer, add the flour and stir as much of the flour as you can with a wooden spoon.  When it starts to look crumbly, stop.

Start kneading the dough with your hands, working it until the flour is incorporated and you have a slightly soft dough.  It will be a slightly crumbly, but should come together easily if you make a small ball.

Shape dough into 1 inch balls.  On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, arrange balls about 2 inches apart. With the tip of your middle finger, gently make an indentation on the top of each cooking, being careful not to press to hard and cause the cookie to split. If it does, just reshape it into a ball and try again.

Fill the indentation with jam.

Bake at 350 degrees F until just browned, about 15 minutes.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.

Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly on pans and then move to wire rack to complete cooling.

Makes 5 1/2 dozen.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess