double chocolate coconut cookies

a little white,
a little dark,
would you like a little walnut
with the coconut?

overall rating: pending
ease to make: 5

dump everything in and bake! how easy could it get? fortunately, everything in these is pretty non-exotic and is probably somewhere in your pantry or freezer. although i havn't tasted these, i think martha likes butter too much. these come off the pan and just don't look right. i think they would be best with 1/2 c less butter....

ezra likes them anyway

Cookie Taster of the Week: my Dad!

actually several weeks ago my dad was cookie taster of the week....and rightly so. my mom has given up sweets for lent and the poor guy needed come sweets! andi and ez to the rescue!

(my dad on the right, playing happy hands club with us)

Milk Chocolate cookies---4.4

These cookies were delicious and also chocolate--2 great features. However , even though they had great flavor, they lacked the gooey goodness of a true quad choc cookie. They were moist enough to not need to wash them down, a definite plus.

Sweet cardamon crackers---4.2

For a non chocolate cookie (cracker) these were great. The pronunciation is tough but eating them is a breeze. They have a distinct flavor that I was not familiar with, but I could sit around and eat them all day. Good cookie.

Milk Chocolate Cookies

chocolate
inside of chocolate
inside of chocolate
need i say more?

overall rating: 3.92

ease to make: 3.5
clean up: 4

so there is cocoa, and melted milk chocolate, and milk chocolate chips. the only downfall is a bunch of dishes that no one likes doing. but then again, what's new with that?

for some reason these wern't as chewy as i might have liked them to be but they still had an addictive property for people that caused them to quickly disappear.

from the cookie testers.....

The chocolate cookie was my favorite of the two. The body of the cookie was an awesome chewy brownie like texture though noticeably less sweet with sweet chocolate chunks for contrast and good overall balance 4.5/5.

the cholcolate i am dubbing "Pyroclastic obsidian chocolatelove dream" Super nice chocolate quality. Pyroclastic because there is an airiness in it, obsidian because the bottom is smooth and harder.. the rest of the description is obvious. I'd bake 2 minutes less and remove immediately from pan if going for a more overall chewy sensation..... but what do i know? i'm only a taster. 4.5

Sweet Cardamom Crackers

not called a "cookie"
but crackers are considered healthier.
eat as many as you like
and be happy!

overall rating: 4.43ease to make: 3.7
clean up: 5

so i hav'nt blogged for a long time and i'm real sorry. sometimes life gets in the way of the more important things, like making cookies. anyway, these little crackers are the most interesting blend of ingredients and are a real crowd pleaser.

i have 2 new cookie tasters who write rave reviews:

perfectly balanced in the sugar/sweetness, chewiness, flavor/theme categories. I have a personal affinity towards cardamom, coconut and pistasch.... so i'll give this a 4.76 because i could eat a dumptruck load of them and not feel ill. In fact these may be a welcome alternative to nasty pretend heathly energy bars.

The white cookie was really tasty. Zingy but not as bold as the lemon poppy and not too sweet. 4/5 is my rating.

Cookie Taster of the Week: Beezer & Dusty

beezer schnitzel is my younger sister and newly engaged to dusty. she is working on her bs in mechanical engineering and eventually wants to go biomedical (yes, she's smart and helps me with ochem). beezer and dusty have signed up to be cookie tasters of the week on different weeks and i have decided to let it slide because they're college kids and it's fun to get stuff in the mail when you're in school (well, it's always fun to get stuff in the mail anytime when it's not a bill).
modeling the cookies, their kitty, phyllis
M&M Cookies: 2.8
They were very soft in the middle, which was great. M&M's are always delicious, but I think that chocolate chips might have been just as good if not a little better in them (I can't believe I just said that). I agree with you about Martha's love of coarse salt. I don't see why she thinks it is so amazing. It definitely made the cookies taste salty. If I wanted salty, Martha, I would eat potato chips and not cookies. It was a good try, but your angel cookies, Mom's top secret recipe, and Chelsie's chocolate chip cookie recipe beat Martha hands down.

Peanut Butter Cookies: 3.2
These cookies did not travel very well. They were a little dry and very crumbled when they got here. Other than that, they tasted pretty good. I haven't had a peanut butter cookie in quite a while, and I forgot how delicious they are. Maybe I should have drizzled some chocolate on them too...

Cakey Chocolate Chip

when you crave that
"cake batter"
from cold stone,
try this instead.

overall rating 2.6
ease to make: 5
clean up: 5

another failure. i have a million better chocolate chip cookie recipes, and i'm sure your grandma's, or mom's, or someone's is more fool-proof than this one. i even used m&m's to make them extra pretty (and they were), and the batter really did look like a cake. unfortunately they came out awful.... martha suggests course salt in these and i couldn't disagree with her more. furthermore, these actually stuck to my little mat things i cook on (ya know, to avoid greasing the pan)....

the end. i 'm too frustrated to talk about them anymore

Peanut Butter Cookies

with an added crunch
these cookies
are appreciated
by everyone
(even the dog)

overall rating: 4.0

ease to make: 4
clean up: 5
frustration with martha: 5

i can't figure out what happened to these. i have secret words for martha in my head when i do everything exactly as she says and my results look like pathetic ufo's that have skylights in them. this was an awful week for cookie making. aside from being sick and not even wanting to look at even the inkling of the kitchen..... 2 crappy cookies. ok so these pb cookies should be at the bottom of your pb cookie making list. this dough requires only 1 1/4 c of flour..... but it looks like it could use 2 more cups. so its really thin.... and then you add in some peanuts and are supposed to flatten them out and put your little fork marks in them . this doesn't happen either because the dough is so thin yo'ure basically pressing your fork into this hard chunk of peanut. oooh, and they don't ship.....just fyi.
grrrrrrrr

ok, so that was a bit harsh for a cookie review blog. seriously am frustrated

Lemon-Poppy Seed Crisps

like a hard lemon poppy seed muffin,
still, probably not
the cookie to eat
if you have a drug test at work
the very next day

overall rating: 4.2
ease to make: 4
clean-up: 3.6

actually, i think at work we figured out that you'd have to eat 2 T of poppy seed to be positive for your drug test. these cookies only have 1 T, so you could technically eat the entire batch at one time and be just fine.
first, let me start off by saying that i've never been a lemon fan, so i'm very biased against these. after gathering all the lemon zest (you'll need 2 large lemons), and squeezing them to make 1/4c juice to make the lemon butter, walking into my house smelled like i was being engulfed in lemon scented cleaning agents. never the less, people loved these little things. they are easy to make and are rather pungent. you make the batter, roll it in sugar and excess lemon zest and sprinkle with additional poppy seeds. a few did complain of the salt in them, but martha uses course salt people! i'm sorry! they're gourmet! and then people did like the salt in them. i can't win with everyone. enjoy!

Chocolate Pistachio Biscotti

traditionally a hard twice baked cookie,
this delicious gem
not necessarily to be dunked in coffee
because of its chewy center
(maybe its just the way i made them?)

overall rating: 4.62

ease to make: 3.8
clean up: 5

ok folks. if you are looking for a gorgeous cookie to make this is it! no joke. beautiful. and if dallas hadn't stole my camera for a week i would have taken pics of every single step because the whole process was simply beautiful. the pistachios together....gorgeous. the pistachios wrapped up in a chocolate blanket, breathtaking beauty. maybe i just love the way pistachios look..... but only for so long. shelling an entire cup of them was painfully slow and you can't eat but maybe 2 of them because it takes almost the entire bag to make a cup.

also, i'm wondering how martha did hers. of course, her picture shows perfectly cut biscotti but when i cut mine the pistachios wouldn't cut and it ended up looking more like a jigsaw puzzle than a cookie by the end. if i were to make these again i think i would turn off the oven after the first baking, let them cool entirely, THEN cut and bake again.

and if you are beezer (my sister who i gave the cookbook to for Christmas) and don't like pistachios, leave them out and just put more chocolate chips in! i think you'd like them a lot!

Cookie Taster of the Week: Doug!

doug is one of dallas' older brothers who shares the same passions as dallas. activities they both enjoy: talking about nerd things, riding bikes, jeeping, camping, being outside preferably in the mountains....etc.

we are currently waiting for cookie reviews to come back from doug!........
waiting...... waiting......

Dear Nook-ers,

I have to apologize in advance (see blogging blonde for details). Due to the hectic school schedule I have this semester, the cookie project will be retarded at about 1/3 its usual pace. I'm so, so sorry you cookie tasters of the week. Instead of the sample platter box you'll just get a larger portion of the cookie of the week. I simply cannot do it all. So plan for 1-2 cookies every 10 days but this is not going to be an action packed roller coaster anymore (or was it ever? maybe it just feels that way from my raisin fingers from doing so many dishes).

love,
andi
& ez

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

thin and sweet
like every female
aspires to be.
(unless you plain like cookies
and then who cares?
life tastes good!)

overall rating: 4.5

ease to make: 4
cleanup: 5

so the rating for this is a real approximate guess. these cookies didn't last long enough to get them to any of our usual tasters. it's not that it didn't make a big enough batch, just that dallas (and ezra! bad ezra!) liked them a little too well.... he gave them a 5 but i cant' give anything a 5 based solely off of one rating so i had to compensate. ez really did snarf these down (don't worry, we took out the raisins) at speeds where it would be impossible to actually taste what you are eating. at any rate, the picture above is the last cookie standing that i had to literally peel away from the boys in order to not have to make the entire batch over again, just for the stupid pic. (please, please don't judge this poor cookie. it was literally the ugliest in the batch, hence why it was the last one, but it's all that i had!)

this cookie, although has extra fiber in it from the wheat germ (that i couldn't find anywhere, where is this stuff hiding at in the store? i substituted with wheat flax, or something like that), it could really use some thickness. maybe for those of you who like thin cookies you'd like this, but in our house if they're not small cakes they've got to go.
dallas still loved them,
obviously.

Dark Chocolate with (sour) Cherries

the most delicious mess
of chocolate
in the entire world
(certain of it)

overall rating: 4.93
ease to make: 5
clean up: 5

ladies and gents we have a new cookie winner. people went googliy over these. they checked the bowl to make sure they wern't all gone before they got another... this is THE cookie. actually the recipe calls for sour cherries but i have no idea where these are so i used dried cherries and it worked just fine

this dough was the most tempting to eat (and after all the rave reviews i broke down and ate one that was stale, and by golly they were right. it was worth all the bloating and headache and exhausted feeling that accompanied it!). it's this deep deep brown dough that looks like one giant truffle. mmmmmm..... yes. you need to make these. even if you bought the entire book for this one recipe, it would be worth it.

Cappuccino-Chocolate Bites

small as a button
with delicious insides
is the perfect solution
to your afternoon caffeine
craving

overall rating : 4.6

ease to make: 3
clean up: 3

as much as i love coffee these were pretty annoying to make. they are adorable so if you're looking for that perfect cookie that looks like it should go in the pre-made 100 calorie packs (it would never qualify, even if it was the only cookie in that pack) this is it. let me tell you why this one annoyed me. i hate reading ahead and so i don't. so when i get to parts in the recipe saying "refrig dough for 30 min" and then "refrig middle mixture for at least 4 hours or overnight" i get very cranky. dear martha: if you make this book over put prep time on these recipes! actually, you could hire me and i'd do it for you. anyway, you do have to roll these cookies out to 1/8", which went better this time and use a skinny shot glass to make the most perfect size in the world. for real, it's worth it. my innerds on these didn't turn out like the picture but thats ok, dallas still ate them, one cookie/bite at a time!

on a real exciting note i did splurge $5.99 on a small sifter. if you don't have one of these in your kitchen i would really recommend one. for example, the tops of these need dusted with powdered sugar and cocoa powder, both which come out in clumps if you don't use a sifter. plus, martha uses cocoa all the time and it really does make a difference. go splurge!