Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

November 28, 2014 by Mackenzie

Happy day-after Thanksgiving! How was your holiday? Mine was fantastic – I am back in Seattle and am so happy to be with my family and friends. We had a full house – family and friends from Spokane, California, New York, Indonesia… quite the holiday!

We tried a couple of new recipes this year – the Dutch Apple Pie from Dieter’s Downfall was my personal favorite! And Smitten Kitchen’s Pumpkin Pie with Pecan Praline Sauce was to die for! Then we did all of our standards – my stepdad’s stuffing, my aunt’s mashed potatoes, these lightened up sweet potatoes… One of my favorite appetizers is my Rosemary Roasted Cashews – we only make them for the holidays because they are so addicting!

Are you ready to switch gears to Christmas? Already there? Well, today I’m diving into Christmas cookies! These Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies are probably my favorite Christmas cookies of all time! I’ve been making them with my aunt since I was little and always know it is the holidays when we make these cookies!

I’m participating in a Christmas cookies roundup with some fellow bloggers! Check out their posts after the recipe for some more holiday favorites!

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Recipe Type: Cookies

Cuisine: Christmas cookies, dessert

Author: Mackenzie

Serves: 36 cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup turbinado sugar (or regular)
36 chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Instructions

In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with a hand mixer), beat the butter until creamy and smooth. Add the peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Beat in the milk. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to the peanut butter mixture and beat until incorporated. Cover and chill the batter for about an hour, or until firm enough to handle.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Pour the turbinado sugar into a small bowl.
Roll the batter into 1-inch round balls and roll each ball in the sugar until thoroughly coated in sugar. Place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches apart.
Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned. Immediately upon removing the cookies from the oven, place an unwrapped Chocolate Kiss into the center of each cookie – pressing down gently until the cookie just starts to crack. Allow to cool completely on a wire wrack.

An InLinkz Link-up

Pumpkin Spice Biscotti

October 11, 2014 by Mackenzie

So… I quit my job. And it’s been GREAT! I can’t believe what I’ve been missing. I started working at Nordstrom exactly a year ago – and I loved it. The job pays well and it was a fun distraction from the stress of school. But when I started back up again this school year, I started to lose my mind. I was stretched so thin with 19.5 credits of classes, writing my thesis, working as a Teaching Assistant and working at Nordstrom. And then trying to enjoy my senior year and hang out with friends. And then I missed a whole week of class while I was in New York at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting (all my pictures are posted here! So many famous people!) I was so stressed all the time, barely slept and was sacrificing valuable job-searching time as well.

Two weeks ago I finally decided to call it quits. I was sad to leave my co-workers, worried about no longer having a paycheck (still am!), and bummed that I was losing my discount 😉 but after last weekend of freedom and looking forward to many more – I am SO glad I quit. I’ve caught up on schoolwork, worked on my thesis, am blogging, went to the grocery store… I mean, I’m finally doing life stuff! It feels so good.

So in the spirit of celebrating… I baked biscotti! I had a little leftover pumpkin after making these Pumpkin Millet Muffins last week and for some reason, pumpkin biscotti just wouldn’t leave my mind! So – I set to work last night and made these Pumpkin Spice Biscotti. Oh my goodness, they are absolutely amazing. I used some of the [amazon text=Pumpkin Spice Oil&asin=http://www.amazon.com/Lorann-Oils-Pumpkin-Emulsion-4oz/dp/B00BR25W9E] that I got from LorAnn and that you can get on Amazon (see this post about Earl Grey Tea Shortbread for another use for LorAnn Oils!) and gosh, they turned out good! I dipped them in white chocolate (that I had brought back from Madagascar!) and now have a delicious plate of treats!

Pumpkin Spice Biscotti

Recipe Type: Cookie, Dessert

Author: Mackenzie

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 45 mins

Total time: 1 hour 5 mins

Serves: 16

Ingredients

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon pumpkin spice emulsion (optional but highly recommended!)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
white chocolate for dipping

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the pumpkin, butter, eggs, vanilla, and pumpkin spice emulsion. Beat until combined.
In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients: flours, sugars, baking powder, salt, and spices. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir to combine.
Divide dough in two and on a floured surface, roll each half into a 9x3inch (roughly) log. Place both logs on a cookie sheet fitted with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until edges are golden brown.
Let cool for 15 minutes and drop oven temperature to 300 degrees. When logs are cool, use a serrated knife to cut them into one inch strips. Turn pieces on their side and return to baking sheet. Bake for 10-15 minutes until dry and crisp. Remove from sheet and let cool on a wire rack.
Once cool, melt white chocolate in a double boiler. Dip biscotti in melted chocolate and return to wire rack to harden.

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

September 24, 2014 by Mackenzie

*This is a sponsored post written by me, on behalf of LorAnn Oils. All opinions are 100% my own!*

Eeek!! I’ve just had a phenomenal week in New York at the Clinton Global Initiative Annual Meeting! I can’t wait to tell you all about it – but that needs a whole blog post in itself! I’ll try and get it up in the next few days!

But today, I am super excited to share this recipe with you! I’m participating in the Online Blog Conference this month and through that, got the opportunity to work with LorAnn Oils. LorAnn Oils makes flavorings, essential oils and fragrances to add to recipes or DIYs. I am so excited to be partnering with them for this post!

LorAnn let me choose 3 oils or bakery emulsions and I chose the Pumpkin Spice Emulsion, Lavender Oil and Bergamot Oil!

What is Bergamot Oil you ask? Yeah, I had no idea either 🙂 Libby suggested I pick that one and I had to ask her what it was! Bergamot is from the rind of a Bergamot orange, so it has the faint scent of oranges. It is also the flavoring in Earl Grey Tea. Hence, these cookies…

I love shortbread. I mean, who doesn’t? When I received the oils, I thought of 100 different ways to use the pumpkin spice emulsion and almost as many for the lavender oil! But I had just made lavender ice cream so thought it was time for something different! Tea and shortbread seem to go well together, so why not flavor the shortbread with the Bergamot Oil?

The cookies turned out wonderfully! The Bergamot added a slight orange undertone to the cookie and also made them smell delicious. I enjoyed these with a steaming mug of Earl Grey Tea and was one happy girl!

Thanks LorAnn for the oils! I can’t wait to try out the other flavors soon! If you want to buy your own flavors – check them out on Amazon! Click the banner to go straight to the options!

[amazon template=banner easy&asin=http://www.amazon.com/LorAnn-Candy-Flavoring-Oils-FLAVORS/dp/B006LP53QY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8%26qid=1412890527%26sr=8-1%26keywords=lorann+oils]

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies

Recipe Type: dessert, cookies

Author: Mackenzie

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 45 mins

Serves: 24 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
4 drops of Bergamot oil
2 cups flour
Dipping chocolate (+2 drops Bergamot oil if desired)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the Bergamot oil and mix. Add the flour and stir until combined.
Gently roll out dough and cut out using cookie cutters. Transfer to a cookie sheet covered with a silicone baking mat. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
When cookies have cooled, melt chocolate and mix in two drops of Bergamot oil. Dip the cookies in the chocolate and lay on a cookie rack to dry.

There are also 40+ other bloggers participating in this LorAnn Recipe Roundup! Check them out below!

Strawberry Fudge from The Stylish Nest

Pumpkin Spice Latte French Macarons from Rickabamboo

Amaretto Cookies from The Blonde in the Apron

No Soda Root Beer Cupcakes and Frosting

Coffee Donuts from the First Year Blog

Pumpkin Spice Brownie Cookies from Flippin’ Delicious

Pumpkin Spice Latte Cake from The Frugal Foodie Mama

Sink Freshening Tabs in a Snap from Christina, Plain and Simple

Marshmallow Cookies with Princess Cake Frosting from Mom’s Busy Helper

White Chocolate Key Lime Shortbread from It Bakes Me Happy

Toasted Coconut Hot Chocolate from Delightful E Made

Pumpkin Spice Protein Smoothie from Nel’s Nook

Cinnamon Spice Cake with Caramel Frosting from Hezzi-D’s Book and Cooks

Almond Cake Cookies with Cinnamon Spice Glaze from Mom’s Test Kitchen

Soft Pumpkin Spice Cookies from Love Bakes Good Cakes

Princess Sand Tarts from Diary of a Recipe Collector

Baked Pumpkin Donuts with Cinnamon Glaze from Deliciously Sprinkled

Pumpkin Cheesecake Mousse from Confessions of a Cooking Diva

Purple People Eater Popcorn Balls from Seven Alive

Green Apple High Hat Cupcakes from Pint Sized Baker

Pumpkin Pie Pudding Parfait from Fearlessly Creative Mamas

Mango Butter Cake from Clark’s Condensed

‎Pistachio Lemon cake from Self Proclaimed Foodie

Apple Crumb Coffee Cake from Healthy Delicious

Chocolate Chip Horchata Zucchini Bread from Plate to Gate

Key Lime Cookies from Cooking with Curls

Key Lime Margarita Cookies from Lori’s Culinary Adventures

Chocolate Irish Cream Bundt Cake from Lynsey Lou’s

Earl Grey Shortbread Cookies from Never Skip Dessert

‎Maple Pumpkin Bread Pudding with Salted Maple Caramel Sauce from the Paisley Barn

Pumpkin Cinnamon Cream Puffs from That’s my Home

Citrus Body Scrub from Melissa’s Cuisine

Pumpkin Spiced Tres Leches Cake from Flavor Mosaic

Salted Caramel Meringue Cookies from The Bitter Side of Sweet

Pumpkin Toffee from Eazy Peazy Meals

Movie Theater Pops from KC Bakes

from I Love my Disorganized Life

Maple Bacon Fruit Dip from Renee’s Kitchen Adventures

Maple Macadamia Nut Bread Pudding from Awesome on $20 a Day

Pumpkin Spice Caramel Corn Snacks from Grumpy’s Honey Bunch

Cranberry Cheesecake Bites from Lady Behind the Curtain

Pumpkin French Macarons from Sweet and Savory by Shinee

Caramelized Apple Spice Cake from The Freshman Cook

My Top 7 Favorite Christmas Cookies

December 5, 2013 by Mackenzie

Well, it’s been a week since Thanksgiving, the weather has turned bitterly cold, (we’re expecting our first real snow this afternoon!) and my taste buds are asking for peppermint flavored things! I’d say it’s officially the Christmas season.

To kick things off for Christmas on Never Skip Dessert, I’m pulling out some of last year’s hit Christmas cookie recipes! These are some of my favorite recipes and I will be making many batches of them in the coming weeks! (Click the cookie name or photo to go straight to the recipe! I also apologize for the poor quality of most of these photos – I’ll take new ones when I make them again this year!)

First, the ever-classic – Sugar Cookies

Next, we’ve got my personal favorite – Candy Cane Cookies

Third, always a crowd pleaser – Spritz Cookies!

Fourth, for the peanut butter-chocolate lovers out there – Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Next we’ve got another classic – Gingerbread Men and Women!

For the coffee lovers – mocha cookies 🙂

And last but not least, one of my favorite holiday treats – peppermint bark!

I hope you try some of these out and if you do – be sure to leave me a comment and tell me how they were!

Lemon Crinkle Cookies

September 27, 2013 by Mackenzie

I made these cookies a couple of weeks ago and LOVED them! I’ve been on a lemon kick lately, and when I was asked to bring cookies for a meeting – I knew I wanted to try something with lemons. These are super easy to throw together and melt-in-you-mouth delicious!
They definitely don’t qualify as part of my effort for “clean eating” but they are a really good treat when you do want to break away 😉

Lemon Crinkle Cookies
Recipe from LDSLiving
Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cups butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a cookie sheet or use a silicone mat.

2. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla, egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice and mix well. Add the salt, baking powder, baking soda and flour and mix together until just combined.

3. Put the powdered sugar in a small bowl. Using a spoon or ice cream scoop, gather a spoonful of dough (just a bit smaller than a golf ball size), roll it into a ball and then roll it in the powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet and continue until all the dough is used. Press the cookies down just a bit so that they will flatten nicely and bake for 9-11 minutes or until the bottoms just begin to brown and the cookies look matte (not shiny on top). Let cool for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.

Christmas Cookies #6: Mocha Cookies

December 23, 2012 by Mackenzie

Chocolate and espresso beans together in a cookie… yes please! This was the sixth cookie recipe we tried during our Christmas cookie craziness and it was a new recipe for both of us – and we loved it!

Mocha Cookies

Recipe from Fine Cooking

Ingredients:

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup plus 2 tsp. unsweetened natural cocoa powder
1/2 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp baking soda
7 tbsp unsalted butter, slightly softened
1.5 tbsp whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped coarsely
1/4 tsp finely ground coffee beans, plus 28 whole beans
1/4 cup turbinado sugar

Directions:

In a food processor, combine the flour, cocoa, sugar, salt, and baking soda. Pulse several times to mix thoroughly. Cut the butter into about 12 chunks and add them to the bowl. Pulse several times. Combine the milk and vanilla in a small cup. With the processor running, add the milk mixture and continue to process until the dough clumps around the blade or the sides of the bowl. Add the coffee and chocolate and mix thoroughly.Transfer the dough to a large bowl or cutting board and knead with your hands a few times to make sure the dough is evenly blended.

Shape dough into a log about 14 inches long and 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Wrap in waxed paper and refridgerate until firm, one hour or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Put the turbinado sugar in a small bowl. Slice dough into 1/2 inch slices. Coat both sides with sugar and arrange 1 1/2 inches apart on the lined sheets. Press a coffee bean into the center of each cookie. Bake until the cookies puff and show very faint cracks on the surface, 9 to 10 minutes. Let cookies cool on a rack.

Mackenzie

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