cookies Archives - A Calculated Whisk

Lemon Vanilla Slice and Bake Cookies

December 20, 2017 By Becky 12 Comments

This post is sponsored by Rodelle.

These lemon vanilla slice and bake cookies are the perfect grain-free treat to share with family and friends this holiday season or anytime! Their buttery crumb and bright lemon flavor will have you coming back for bite after bite.

I’m here with one more delicious cookie recipe to tide you over until after Christmas! These grain-free lemon vanilla slice and bake cookies are so fun to make and eat. They’re packed with both lemony and sugar-cookie flavor thanks to Rodelle‘s lemon extract and vanilla bean paste along with plenty of fresh lemon zest, and have a wonderfully tender shortbread-like texture. A simple glaze made with fresh lemon juice tops them off and provides an ideal counterpart to the buttery cookie.

Gluten-free Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprints

December 4, 2017 By Becky 38 Comments

This post is sponsored by Pamela’s Products.

These gluten-free chocolate peppermint thumbprints are festive, delicious, and a snap to make with just one flour!

Happy cookie season! As soon as Thanksgiving is over, baking cookies is pretty much all I want to do, and these gluten-free chocolate peppermint thumbprints are going to be happening over and over again this year and for many years to come. The pairing of a buttery cookie and a rich chocolate ganache, both with just the right amount of peppermint flavor, is really hard to resist. That’s what’s so special about thumbprints–the combination of textures leads to such a satisfying chew.
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Chocolate Peppermint Sandwich Cookies

December 5, 2016 By Becky 8 Comments

These festive, grain-free chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies are just the thing for gifting, cookie swapping, and plain old snacking from now until the new year.

Looking for an adorable, two-bite cookie to enjoy and share this holiday season? I got you covered. I took a look at the cutest cookies from my archives, 2013’s sparkling sandwich cookies, and gave them a chocolate peppermint upgrade. The resulting chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies pack a lot of joy and holiday cheer into one tiny, almost-spherical package.

The cookie base here is super simple, made with just almond flour, Rodelle‘s baking cocoa and vanilla extract, butter, honey, and a touch of salt and baking soda. Rodelle’s cocoa has a rich aroma and great depth of flavor that makes it my very favorite cocoa for baking (and for turning the occasional morning coffee into a makeshift mocha). I also like to add a tiny bit of espresso powder to further deepen the chocolate flavor, but you can leave that out if you prefer.

There are no eggs in sight and of course no grains either, which make these cookies ideal for sharing with friends and family with food allergies and sensitivities. (Interested in a dairy-free version? The cookies should work with coconut oil instead of butter, and you could try sustainably-sourced palm shortening or vegan butter in the frosting.)

Lemon Olive Oil Cookies

May 23, 2016 By Becky 25 Comments

These lemon olive oil cookies come together quickly and are free of gluten, grains, and dairy. The olive oil won’t assert its flavor in the finished cookies, but helps produce a tender, delicate crumb.

It’s Monday, but these lemon olive oil cookies can help ease the pain. They’re bright, chewy, and irresistible. They’re delicious right out of the oven or the next morning, when they fit right in at breakfast by masquerading as extra-tasty mini scones. They’re good with or without the glaze; you can make them with Meyer or regular lemons. The only way to go wrong with these cookies would be to not make them at all.

This is one of those cookie recipes where you basically just stir all the ingredients together in a bowl. You can even use a fork. The hardest part by far is zesting and juicing the lemons, and I find that fun. The smell of the lemon oils released from the peel is reward enough for me. (Wait, I take that back. I actually also need there to be cookies. Cookies are the best reward!)

When I make these without the glaze, I roll the balls of dough in a little raw sugar before baking them to give the outsides a little extra texture. If you’re planning to glaze them, you can skip that step.

Grain-free Spiced Shortbread

December 23, 2015 By Becky 9 Comments

This grain-free shortbread is easy to make in just one bowl without getting out the mixer. The cookies are addictively crunchy around the edges and chewy in the middle, and their subtly spiced flavor is perfect for the holidays.

My mom sent our Christmas presents down early and told us we didn’t have to wait until the big day to open them. Mine was a copy of Ruth Reichl’s newest book, My Kitchen Year: 136 Recipes that Saved My Life, which centers around what Reichl cooked after the sudden closure of Gourmet magazine.

I was only about 3 pages in when I felt tears welling up in my eyes. When Ben asked what was wrong, at the time I had to admit that I was crying over the end of a magazine that I had subscribed to for just under 12 months, during its very last year in 2009.

In retrospect, it probably wasn’t just that. There’s something about the holidays that brings my natural tendency toward nostalgia right to the surface. I think I was really crying because change is hard, and the book reminded me of that fact in a sudden and poignant way. I love being here in Chattanooga, but wish I could simultaneously be in Massachusetts and see my family for the holidays.

Reichl says in her book that “when you pay attention, cooking becomes a kind of meditation.” That’s definitely how it feels for me whenever I can manage not to rush.

Salted Chocolate Chip Hazelnut Cookies

February 3, 2015 By Becky 16 Comments

I’ve had four snow days in the past two weeks. Luckily, I’ve spent my extra time off pursuing an admirable goal: baking the ultimate grain-free chocolate chip cookie.

My quest began when I saw these soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies on Alexandra’s Kitchen. Alexandra’s blog is one of my favorites. Everything she makes is mouthwatering, and I love her detailed tips and stunning, perfectly lit photographs. Basically, I’m a huge fan.

I had to have those cookies.

With a caveat, of course: I wanted them to be paleo-friendly and grain-free.

I’ve made paleo cookies before and thoroughly enjoyed them, but they weren’t the kind of cookies that could blow regular, gluten-containing cookies out of the water. They didn’t have the holy grail: the perfect combination of crunch and chewiness.

I set out to find some grain-free cookies that fit the bill–cookies that were crisp around the edges, but chewy and a tiny bit underbaked in the center.

Chewy Molasses Cookies

December 25, 2014 By Becky 5 Comments

Is it too late for a Christmas cookie?

If it is, I understand. I hope you’ll consider this as you’re choosing a Boxing Day, New Year’s Eve, or random January afternoon cookie. Chewy grain-free molasses cookies work anytime.

Normally I don’t love cookies unless there’s chocolate or caramel involved, but I’ve made an exception here. There’s something about the rich flavor of molasses in a chewy cookie with a hint of crunch from a coating of sparkling sugar that I can really get into.

Almond Butter Thumbprints with Salted Caramel

October 27, 2014 By Becky 44 Comments

My mom, my boyfriend, and I are really grateful to Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories for introducing us to these amazing cookies. I know it’s a bit hard to believe because this was a pretty big batch, but we ate them all between the three of us. I was not interested in sharing with anyone else because they were too good.

Even though they’re paleo cookies made with almond butter, they taste very similar to traditional peanut butter cookies, and the crumbly, buttery cookie and creamy salted caramel are an unbeatable team.

Salted Nutella Cookies + Cuina Baking Mat Giveaway

March 13, 2014 By Becky 32 Comments

Disclosure: I received this product as part of an advertorial.

Ever since a friend of mine brought over some amazing nutella brownies a couple weeks ago, I’ve been dying to make a dessert of my own with the addictive chocolate hazelnut spread. With a little research, I discovered that you don’t have to add many things to nutella to make a delicious brownie batter or cookie dough. You can even make gluten-free nutella brownies with just three ingredients. However, I decided to make cookies–I was craving something that was both chewy and crunchy, and wanted another chance to use my Cuina silicone baking mat.

I was almost all set to make these cookies–I just needed a jar of nutella. So, in case you were wondering, here is how to spend most of your day on a desperate search for chocolate hazelnut spread:

1. Wake up and tell your boyfriend he can take the car to work, since it’s your spring break and all you really have to do all day is make cookies.

2. After he leaves, immediately regret your decision when you remember you need to go out and buy nutella for the cookies.

3. Eat some leftover bacon & sweet potato chili with a fried egg on top for breakfast, while wondering if there’s any way to get nutella delivered to your home. You decide there probably isn’t.

Sparkling Sandwich Cookies (Vegan, Gluten-free, Paleo)

December 30, 2013 By Becky 9 Comments

I subscribed to Gourmet Magazine when it was still being published, and looked forward to getting it every month. The cover photographs were always stunning, but the December 2008 cover really stuck with me. The theme was cookies, and eight different gorgeous recipes were featured on the cover in different parts of the country. I got the one with these glittering lemon sandwich cookies on it, and now, five years later, I finally got around to making my own version.

These sparkling cookies are vegan, paleo, gluten-free, and perfect for New Year’s Eve. They’re also the most adorable cookies I’ve ever laid eyes on. The cookies are richly flavored thanks to the almond flour and lemon zest, and the sugar coating provides the perfect amount of crunch. I was planning to make the lemon filling from Gourmet’s recipe, but I got lazy, and instead pulled out jars of raspberry jam and dulce de leche. The tiniest amount sticks the cookies together, and provides the extra bit of sweetness that makes these sandwiches irresistible. Also, they kind of look like miniature hamburgers! How can you say no to that?

Lemon Sugar Cookies (Vegan, Nut-free)

November 30, 2013 By Becky 2 Comments

I was invited to a Hanukah party last night, and needed to bring a dessert that was nut-free and vegan. I wanted to bring a traditional Hanukah dessert, but soon realized I didn’t know of any. I guess I never really made it past the mountains of latkes at my family’s Hanukah celebrations. A quick search revealed that oily, fried foods like jelly-filled doughnuts are often eaten at Hanukah, but I wasn’t about to fry up a big pile of donuts to be eaten hours later. I also don’t really like jelly-filled desserts; I feel that jelly belongs at breakfast. Since I had dreidel and Star of David cookie cutters, I decided Hanukah sugar cookies would have to be traditional enough. I also got out my snowman and snowflake cookie cutters, since winter is almost here.

My next task was to find a great vegan cookie recipe. Since the cookies had to be nut-free, I soon realized it would be very hard to make them gluten-free as well. So, these cookies are a total gluten bomb. I promise to be back with more gluten-free eats very soon!

Caramel-Stuffed Snickerdoodles (Paleo, Gluten free)

September 2, 2013 By Becky Leave a Comment

Some people go crazy for snickerdoodles, but I’m not usually one of them. Snickerdoodles have a lot of cinnamon, which is nice, but they don’t have chocolate, caramel, or fruit. Usually I require one of those three things in order to truly fall in love with a dessert. Several weeks ago it occurred to me that snickerdoodles could be stuffed with caramel, and ever since I’ve been eager to try it. I’m not the first one to try stuffing caramel inside a snickerdoodle, but I think I’m the first to try a paleo and gluten free version.

I made this honey caramel yesterday to drizzle on top of an apple honey cake that I’m working on for Rosh Hashanah. The cake was delicious, but it still needs a little work. I had half of the honey caramel left (it wouldn’t all fit on top of the apple cake!) so I decided I needed to make the snickerdoodles.

These are easy to make (no creaming!) and fun to eat. Before the photo shoot, I tried two cookies, one straight from the oven and one after they’d cooled. (As a food blogger, I have to do these things. You know, for science.) Then, after I took my pictures, I had to eat all the cookies that had suffered casualties (been broken open) during the shoot. I had to drink all the milk, too, because it would have been really hard to pour it back in the carton without a funnel. The things I do for this blog! Anyway, it was a fabulous snack and I think you should make some today.