Sugar Cookies - Make Your Cookies Vanish

Is it your turn to bring refreshments for your mystery book club - which just happens to be reading a culinary mystery? "One Tough Cookie" by Diane Mott Davidson surely calls for a cookie treat - although hopefully not a tough one! The versatile sugar cookie will give you a chance to show your fellow mystery-lovers that you have just as many tasty talents as Goldy Schultz, the catering, mystery-solving heroine of " One Tough Cookie!"

You don't have to be a detective to find over a million and a half results for a "sugar cookie recipe" search on the Internet. You can add yummy ingredients like lemon, sour cream or chocolate or, using cookie cutters, bake them into any shape that fits your needs (I'll bet you could even find a cookie cutter or two related to books!) There's even a National Sugar Cookie Day (July 9) - I'll bet that was a mystery to you until now! One thing that isn't mysterious about sugar cookie recipes - they all contain butter (or margarine), sugar and flour in some combination. Sugar cookies made with margarine have a much longer shelf-life (up to 30 days) than butter-based dough (only about 7 days). Let's face it though - offer your cookies to women already hungry from reading about Goldy Schultz's appetizing creations and shelf life won't be important anyway! Once you've chosen your recipe, roll out the dough and cut into shapes. Now, your decorating skills have a chance to shine! Colorful toppings for the tasty sugar cookie include spectacular fondant, royal icing and glazes. Any of these will make a cookie so grand that Goldy just might decide to steal your recipe! To really impress your friends with an eye-catching cookie, try using fondant. It's quick and easy to roll and then cut to custom tailor a colorful coat for your cookies. Here's some tips for a sugar cookie even Goldy would be proud to serve. Fondant can be purchased ready-made or you can make your own at home. Either type can easily be colored. You can do this one of two ways: If you're making the fondant from scratch and you want the whole batch to be one color, you can add the food coloring with the water when mixing the recipe. If you're using ready-made fondant or you want to color one batch several different colors, add a fine stripe of gel paste color to a lump of fondant and knead in the color. Specialty food colors should be available at your local baking supply store, but if not, they are easily ordered online. Once the fondant is mixed and colored, it's one of the easiest and quickest ways to decorate your cookies. Simply roll the fondant out to the desired thickness and cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Trim to fit cookie and gently lay onto face of cookie. Certain types of fondant will stick to the cookie without any help, but if you find the fondant is slipping about, brush the surface of the cookie with a little vanilla extract or piping gel. For a textured effect, try using an embossed fondant roller on the fondant before you cut it out. For an even more dazzling effect, add some pearl luster dust for shimmer - this really makes the embossing stand out. One final sugar cookie hint, especially useful if you are prone to cookie baking emergencies! Why not make extra dough and save it for a time when you're in a rush to product a culinary delight. Wrap leftover dough in plastic wrap, and seal it in a zip-top bag. The dough can stay frozen for up to two months. Just allow for defrosting time before you use it - usually overnight in the refrigerator will do. Maybe you should write a culinary mystery yourself. Call it "The Case of the Vanishing Sugar Cookie!" because once the group tastes these beautifully decorated sweet treats, there won't be even one left!

No Bake, Easy to Decorate Cookies

It's July and temperatures are soaring, but your mom nevertheless volunteered you to provide homemade cookies for her Salsa dancing group. What to do when you need cookies, but it's too dang hot out to turn on your oven? Why, make a batch of no-bake cookies, of course. These cookies are also ideal when you have more cookies to make than you have time to bake.

Some no-bake cookies require stovetop cooking while others require only mixing ingredients and forming into shapes (great for that summertime Salsa event.)

Birthday Cakes Delivered

While eggs aren't used in no-bake cookies, a binder of some sort is needed to keep the cookies from becoming cookie crumbs. Peanut butter, oatmeal, marshmallows, corn syrup and chocolate are some often used ingredients for this purpose.

No bake cookies are smooth, crunchy or a little of both. Add crunch with chow mein noodles, nuts, crackers, cereal and actual cookie crumbs.

This recipe is perfect for your bird-watching group or other spring-time event.

Easter Bird Nest Cookies

Ingredients:

4 cups chow mein noodles

3 cups miniature marshmallows

3 tablespoons butter or margarine

Miniature jelly beans or other egg shaped candies.

Directions:

Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper. Pour crunchy noodles into large bowl. Over medium heat, melt butter or margarine and marshmallows, stirring until smooth. Pour marshmallow mixture over noodles, and mix until noodles are well coated.

To form the cookies, first rub some butter or margarine on your hands because things can get sticky. Form noodle mixture into six round balls. Place balls on waxed paper lined cookie sheet. Pressing with back of a teaspoon on each ball, make a hollow indentation, so the cookie forms a nest shape.

Set cookies aside until they're firm. Then fill centers with the candies. There you have it, birds nests complete with eggs!

Chocolate Orange Layer Cookies

Are you creating cookies for your son's circus-themed birthday party or your daughter's graduation from dog-groomers school? You can use cookie cutters to create shaped no-bake cookies. This recipe yields 100 miniature cookies.

Ingredients

Chocolate Layers

12 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening

Orange Filling

7.5 ounces marshmallow cream

5 cups confectioners' sugar

1/4 cup grated orange rind

2 teaspoons orange extract

1/8 teaspoon salt

White baking chocolate for garnish, optional

Directions

Bottom Chocolate Layer:

Prepare two 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 x 1 inch jelly-roll pans: Line one pan with aluminum foil, and line the second pan with waxed paper, taping the waxed paper to the bottom of the inside of the pan.

Melt 1 cup chocolate and 2 tablespoons shortening in double boiler over hot, but not boiling, water. Stir while heating until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth.

Pour mixture into foil lined pan, spreading evenly with metal spatula. Refrigerate this until firm (about 20 minutes). Once firm, invert the chocolate onto the waxed paper, and peel off the foil. Refrigerate.

Orange Filling:

Combine marshmallow cream, 4 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar, orange rind and extract, and salt in medium-size bowl. Stir with wooden spoon until a thick mass forms. Then knead mixture with hands until ingredients are fully incorporated.

Lightly dust work surface with confectioners' sugar. Turn marshmallow mixture out onto prepared surface. Knead for about 2 to 3 minutes or until smooth. Lightly dust waxed paper and rolling pin with remaining confectioners' sugar. Roll filling out to 1/8-to1/4-inch thickness so that it fills the jelly-roll pan.

Remove sheet of chocolate from refrigerator. Let stand about 5 minutes or long enough to soften. Carefully invert filling on top of chocolate; peel off waxed paper. Return to refrigerator and chill about 15 minutes.

Top chocolate layer:

Melt together remaining chocolate and shortening in boiler over hot, not boiling water, until smooth. Remove filling from refrigerator. Pour chocolate over top, smoothing over entire surface with long thin metal spatula. Return to refrigerator and chill 15 to 20 minutes or until firm enough to cut.

Using mini cookie cutters, cut into shapes. Or cut into 1-inch squares.

To decorate cookies, melt white chocolate and drizzle over tops.

If you're interested in learning more intricate forms of decorating cookies with fondant, glazes and more, you can find classes, books and videos on the subject, such as the "Cookie Decorating Made Easy" Video Books. Here's what one reader had to say:

"Hi Michael! I bought your cookie video books on Friday and made cookies with my kids on Saturday. It was the funnest time and the cookies turned out beautifully. .........This is the coolest thing I've bought on the internet since your Cake Decorating video books!"

Chris B.

Las Vegas, NV

One more advantage to no-bake cookies: Remember years ago when you were allowed to lick the bowl when your mom made cookie dough? Since this recipe has no raw eggs, it's ok for your own kids (or you!) to lick the bowl.

No Bake, Easy to Decorate Cookies

Samantha Mitchell, Co-Author Cookie Decorating Made Easy! Vol. 1 & 2 The World's First Cookie Decorating Video Books. For more cookie decorating tips, along with instructional videos, delivered right to your inbox, sign up for our free newsletter at http://www.CookiesMadeEasy.com