Brutti Ma Buoni Cookies (Ugly but Good)

These are so good. If you like meringues and Nutella and Ferrero Rocher, these are for you. (If you don't like those, you're nuts, but you won't like these.) These are Italian cookies that mean ugly but good, and oh man, they live up to the name, at least the latter half. Mmmm. I brought them into the office and they're a big success. Also, they don't have any butter or flour so are healthier than most other cookie options - but there is a lot of sugar, so not that healthy. This is perfect for if you make cinnamon rolls or ice cream or other egg yolk-heavy recipes and have some extra whites to use! I used the Smitten Kitchen recipe but made it a little bigger and cut back on the chocolate a little.

Makes About 40 cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups sugar, divided
1/3 tsp salt
6 egg whites
8oz semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Mini Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie with Ice Cream

Yum! I want to eat this again right now. It's a big, gooey, melty chocolate chip cookies covered in vanilla ice cream. What's not to love? This serves two in a 5" inch skillet, but there's leftover dough. You can also do ramekins to make individual servings. 

Ingredients:

6 tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

½ cup granulated sugar

½ cup packed dark brown sugar

1 large eff

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ tsp baking soda

½ tsp kosher salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Vanilla ice cream

Snickerdoodles

If you want your house to smell amazing (a la Clueless), bake these. The cinnamon sugary goodness wafts out from the oven and will make anyone in the house come to the kitchen for a sample. Also, you probably have most of these ingredients in your kitchen already. These are simple cookies but they just taste so, so good.  You do need to know about an hour in advance just to be sure your butter and shortening are nice and soft.

Makes about 24 cookies

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

2 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp cream of tarter

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

8 tbsp butter, softened

8 tbsp vegetable shortening (like crisco)

2 large eggs

Buttered Popcorn Cookies

After a great weekend in East Hampton, we came home early because poor Jamie has a terrible cold. While he was downstairs watching football, I needed some projects to keep me busy. Flipping through various cookbooks for a baking recipe, we settled on Smitten Kitchen's buttered popcorn cookies. They're pretty easy to make, and very tasty. The popcorn lightens up the cookies a lot. These would be perfect for a movie night. I'm going to bring some in to work.

Ingredients:

2 tbsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup popcorn kernels

1/4 tsp table salt

1 tbsp butter, melted

1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/4 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350, then make the popcorn. Put oil in the bottom of a large pot and add the kernals. Cover and turn the heat on medium high. Shaking the pot periodically until the popping stops, 5-7 minutes total. Pour in butter and salt, toss, then put in a bowl to cool.