Homemade Gourmet Cookie Collection

When I was growing up my mom had big parties all the time. She made food for two days and bought an assortment of fancy foods (brie, special crackers, pate) to serve to her guests. One of those items was the box of assorted cookies from Pepperidge Farm. You know the ones. The box is full of paper liners and fancy little cookies in all shapes and sizes. I LOVED THOSE!!! It was such a treat to eat the left overs and I still consider Milanos my favorite store bought cookie ever.
A group of friends and I did a cookie exchange a couple of years ago and one gal gave me a great recipe for shortbread cookies with chocolate chips in them. They are so fabulous and when I made them last week I kept thinking that they tasted a lot like the Milanos.
So I thought what if I changed these up and rolled the dough out and sandwiched them with chocolate truffle sauce? Maybe I could make my own Milanos. Then as I worked on them I thought that I could also make more of the varieties of cookies and create my own gourmet cookie collection.

Here is what I came up with.

Shortbread Cookie Recipe

1 1/2 c. butter, softened to room temperature
1 c. sugar
2 eggs
4 t. vanilla
1 t. salt
4 1/4 c. flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy. Gradually add sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing completely after each addition. Add vanilla. Add dry ingredients. This will make a soft dough. Shape into two balls and roll each out separately. Roll to 1/8 inch thickness. Use cookie cutters to cut shapes. Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes. Remove from oven. Let cool on pan for 2-3 minutes and remove to cooling rack. Cool completely before topping.

Chocolate Truffle Sauce

3/4 c. whipping cream
2 T. butter
12 oz. bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Heat cream and butter until the butter is completely melted, careful not to boil the cream. remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Let stand for 1 minute and whisk until smooth. Let cool for about 30 minutes before using to decorate cookies.

To decorate:

For one type I frosted the cookies with the truffle sauce and then sandwiched another cookie on top.

For the next one I frosted and them topped with chopped pecans.

The last one I pulled some of the truffle sauce and flavored it with orange extract. I then frosted the cookie.

Tips:

-If you are going to sandwich the cookies make sure you turn some of your cookies over before baking to ensure the can be flipped over. You want the pretty side to be up on both sides.
-You can use any type of flavoring to flavor the chocolate. I used orange, but mint, raspberry or blueberry would be delicious too!
-I used pecans because I love them, but you could also use peanuts, or almonds and even cashews.
-Use a small bite size cookie cutter. The ones I used were larger which resulted in a larger cookie. (Someone told me this was good because it meant they only ate one instead of more than one!)
-I think I am going to try topping them with a little caramel and them frosting them. Yummy! Also I am going to try the dough in my cookie press.

Thanks Jenn for the amazing recipe! And for letting me use it to make these wonderful cookies!

Cheesy Bruschetta

I also wanted to have a savory treat at the Scentsy show. I had an idea of what I wanted but could not find a recipe. So I experimented. A little of this, a little of that and the resulting food could be disaterous or turn out pretty good. This time it turned out good. Lucky me since I was serving them to guests.

Cheesy Bruschetta

1-2 loafs French bread
3/4 c. small curd cottage cheese
2 c. shredded mozzarella cheese
3/4 c. parmesan cheese
1/2 c. mayonaise
1 T. lemon juice
1/2 t. garlic powder
2-3 green onions
Olive oil

Slice bread on the diagonal to 1/2-3/4 inch pieces. Lay the peices flat on baking sheet. Brush lightly with olive oil. Place under broiler to lighly brown. Watch closely so you do not burn the bread! Remove and set to cool slightly.
In a bowl combine cottage cheese, mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, mayonaise, lemon juice and garlic powder. Slice green onions and add to cheese mixture. Scoop small amounts on to the bread, spread and return to oven broiler. Broil until cheese starts to bubble. Remove and serve hot.

Tips-

-Don't toast both sides of the bread, it gets too hard to bite.
-If you do not like tangy flavors, omit the lemon juice.
-If you do not like the onions you can omit those as well.
-A little paprika sprinkled on top would give it color too.
-Play with this one. Make it your own. And let me know how it turns out!