Chocolate-Dipped Pistachio Sandwich Cookies

 

I'd like to share my favorite sandwich cookie memory with you.  It is of my mom and I sitting at the oak table in our kitchen eating Oreos and drinking milk.  I was less than 12½ years old, and it was back when my parents used pastel-colored cloth placemats because the kitchen table was still new, and we lived in a town that had a dairy where you could buy milk in glass bottles.  My mom didn't like the Oreo crème filling, and I did, so she used a butter knife to gently remove the filling in one piece from her cookies and helped me transfer it to my cookies so all of mine were Double Stuf.  That put my mom at the top of my list of people to eat Oreos with; she still tops that list.
   
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Toasted Coconut Cups with Sea Salt

My first real job was working behind the counter in a chocolate shop.  I spent my afternoons, weekends, and summers working there during high school.  I weighed out candy, counted change, and packed countless heart-shaped boxes for Valentine’s day.  When I started, I was required to wear a skirt and a white apron with lots of lace.  Despite the dress code and the apron, the candy shop was an ideal place to work, and I managed at some point to try everything in the candy cases.  Dark chocolate coconut cups were my favorite item in the store, and these candies are inspired by my time there. 

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Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

Loaded. Oatmeal. Cookies.  Three words, five dozen tasty cookies.  Just a little bit of prep work and a few minutes of baking separates you from oatmeal cookie bliss. The chocolate, cherries, and pecans are the focus of these cookies.  The other ingredients pull them together like team players celebrating after a last minute winning goal.  And really, who wants a plain oatmeal cookie anyway?  These are hearty and satisfying in a way that only oatmeal cookies can be.  So, pull out your mixer, and give them a try!
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Chewy Sugar Cookies

Can I be honest?  These cookies are my obsession of the cookie season.  I've made them twice in the past two weeks.  They are chewy, crunchy, addictive, and the cookie equivalent of a session beer.  As a result, I wouldn't recommend sitting down and watching episodes of Season 2 of 30 Rock on Netflix with a full cookie tin of these, because you just might eat them all.  I would,  however, suggest adding them to your "cookies to try" list.

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Baby Black-and-White Cookies

You don't have to be in New York City to enjoy these black and whites!  These cookies have a hint of lemon and are sure to be a hit.  They are tiny and can be eaten in just one or two bites.  If you're taking them somewhere, make sure that you leave enough time for the icing to dry before you pack them up.

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Chocolate Mint Shortbreads

Do you like mint and chocolate together?  Me too.  I wanted a bar cookie that was chocolaty, minty, and surprised your mouth all at the same time.  This recipe is the result of my efforts.  These are not brownies.  They are delicate and crumbly and minty and you get to use a hammer to make them.  Why wouldn't you want to try them?

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Apple Squares

I've always loved squares.  In fact, when I brought these to a friend's house last week, I had the pleasure of eating one of these apple squares while drinking coffee out of a square mug.  Ok, I'm lying.  I drank the coffee out of the square coffee mug after I ate the apple square.  They were so good that I couldn't wait for the coffee to brew.  Did I mention that the square mug was pink?  I loved that mug, but I love these apple squares more. 

I found this recipe a few years ago when I was trolling through my grandmother's recipe box.  I really love these apple squares, not only because they taste good, but because when I got the recipe, my grandmother told me about how she pulls the handles off her rolling pin to roll out the dough in the pan.  If you were there to hear her story, you would like this recipe too, just for that reason.  Since you weren't there, you will just have to stick with the fact that they taste great and feed a lot more people than a standard apple pie. 
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