Cookies Galore

As the title of my most recent favorite library book is titled; you guessed it, it's all about cookies.

Growing up, I don't remember my mother baking a great deal of cookies.  And as I started experimenting more in my own kitchen, cookies never really came into the mix.  I always had other things I craved; cupcakes... bars... tarts...

Then, a little book tucked away on a top shelf at our local library caught my eye and I decided at that moment that I would venture to master the cookie.  Ok, so maybe not all cookies, but a couple great ones I could steal away and place in my 'family recipe' vault most definitely.

I began with a Honey Lemon cookie which is one of the simplest cookies I've come across but something I'd pay good money for in a bakeshop.  It is, essentially, two honey lemon biscuits sandwiched together with a creamy, tangy frosting.  It's like two ridiculously yummy biscuits squished a lemony cloud of goodness.  'Tis a keeper for sure.

After this initial attempt, I was feeling pretty good about my skillz, so I pulled up my bootstraps and tried my hands at the Maple Glazed Pecan cookies.  I have to admit that I've never been someone that follows recipes to the absolute measure and make flippant changes whenever I see something I'm not crazy about.  And let's face it, Pure Maple Syrup (the good kind) is pricey... so I threw my substitutin' into high gear, whipped out the Rogers Golden Syrup and chucked all caution into the wind and added butterscotch chips too.  What the hell right?  It's just a cookie for Pete's sake!

Dad sneaking dough... they never grow out of it!

What began as a 'what the hell, we'll give it a shot' night of trying two different kinds of cookies; Pecan cookies and White Chocolate Cranberry Macadamia Nut cookies, turned into a surprisingly delicious evening.  The White Chocolate cookies ended up being a bit of a gooey mess on the first batch... but nothing that a hefty handful of oatmeal can't fix.

They look yummy at this point... the finished product wasn't so hot.

I was disappointed with the quality of the White Chocolate cookie recipe, and there are so many other tremendous ones in the book that I'm fine with abandoning it altogether.

The Pecan cookies, on the other hand, came out as little round morsels of butterscotchy heaven that were the victim of a pecan explosion.  Coming from a person who is not a huge fan of caramel or butterscotch, these cookies made me rethink all of my predispositions to the flavor.

Heaven

If I'm being completely honest, as I bit into my first Pecan cookie, I turned to my husband and said, with intermittent moaning that would have given anybody the wrong idea: "these cookies are totally going to put me on the mommy map.  Our kids will win battles with these cookies."  Another one for the family recipe vault fo sho.

Our cute pooch loved them too ;)

Could you resist that cuteness?

And if you're dying for the recipe, I'm not adverse to sharing 'family' secrets *ahem* or library book recipes.  So message me... I'm happy to spread the sweet, sweet cookie love.