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Pook's Pantry Recipe Blog

A Life in Food by real-life Chef Cheryl Bennett

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Gingerbread Biscotti Recipe

November 9, 2019

There are few flavors that spark the feeling of the holidays like gingerbread. Whether it is a classic gingerbread cake or gingerbread biscotti, that combination of warm spices and the way they fill the house with their delicious aroma gives me all the feels.

slices of gingerbread biscotti on white plate

Biscotti are the perfect option for mailing holiday cookies to far away friends and family. They are sturdy and not prone to breaking. Also, everyone loves getting cookies in the mail.

Post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase through one of the links, I make a few pennies at no extra cost to you. Questions? Please see disclosure for info.

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Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: baking, biscotti, biscotti recipe, Christmas, christmas cookie, cookie, cookie exchange, cookies, Dessert, easy recipe, Food, gingerbread, holidays, how to, recipes

Butter Pecan Biscotti Cookies with Chocolate

December 16, 2018

Butter Pecan Biscotti Cookies are perfect for holiday cookie exchanges and for sharing! One of my favorite ice cream flavors is butter pecan, so I wanted to turn it into a biscotti for giving away as homemade gifts for friends this holiday season.

Butter Pecan Biscotti

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Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: baking, biscotti, butter, Christmas, cookie exchange, cookies, cooking tips, Dessert, easy recipe, Food, gift, Holiday, holidays, homemade, hostess gift, how to, nuts, pecan, recipes

Easy Rum Balls Recipe

November 26, 2018

This easy rum balls recipe is a tasty treat for grown-ups. This no bake recipe comes together in no time and because the flavor develops even more overnight, it’s the perfect make ahead sweet for parties. For an even more decadent treat, try chocolate covered rum balls!

rum ball cut in half on white plate

Easy rum balls recipe in red glass bowl with cut rum ball on white plate

It wouldn’t be Christmas without these old fashioned rum balls.  They are as much a part of our holiday treats as gingerbread and sugar cookies. This recipe makes 5 dozen, so it is great for cookie exchanges and gift-giving.

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Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: baking, Christmas, cookies, Dessert, easy recipe, Food, holidays, how to, make ahead, recipes, rum, rum balls

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti Recipe

December 4, 2017

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti is the perfect homemade gift for friends and family. Studded with sweetened cranberries and pistachios, these crunchy double baked cookies are the perfect holiday treat. Try my Butter Pecan Biscotti too, for more holiday cookie recipes.Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti
This post for Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti is sponsored by Sprout’s Farmers Market.  As always, all opinions, recipes and photos are my own.

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Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: #NationalCookieDay, baking, biscotti, Christmas, cookies, cranberry, cranberry pistachio biscotti, Dessert, holidays, homemade gift, hostess gift, pistachio

Dinner Divas Weekly Menu Plan: Cookie Exchange

December 1, 2017

Cookie Exchange: Week 33
This week on Dinner Divas, we are having a cookie exchange.  It is the time of year when it seems we are all involved in trading cookies with friends and neighbors or bringing cookies to someone’s home.  This week we feature some classic cookie recipes and some unique and different ones, like Butter Pecan Biscotti.

Make sure you are subscribed so you don’t miss a single recipe!

Here’s how it works: Every Friday morning, a new menu plan will show up in your email. It will consist of 5 dinner options, plus 2 extras. Those two extras could be side dishes, dessert, drinks, etc. The Dinner Divas weekly menu plans will feature (mostly) healthy, seasonal foods that don’t take all day to prepare. Getting the weekly menu delivered to your inbox on Friday morning gives you the chance to make your shopping list and get organized for the week ahead. I’d love to hear from you & see your creations! Post a pic using #DinnerDivas and tag @pookspantry! I hope this weekly menu plan provides inspiration and makes life a little easier… one meal at a time.

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Filed Under: Dinner Divas Weekly Menu Plan Tagged With: baking, Christmas, cookie, cookie exchange, cookies, Dessert, holidays

Holiday Recipe Round-Up

December 16, 2015

Holiday Round Up Collage.jpg

The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is usually a blur for most of us, which is why I’ve complied a dozen recipes that could come in handy for this time of the year.  There are cookies, cupcakes, homemade sanding sugar, hot chocolate and an adult beverage or two to enjoy. 

Happy Holidays to you & yours!  Thank you so much for stopping by!

  • https://www.pookspantry.com/cranberry-orange-upside-down-cake/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/lemon-ricotta-cookies/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/from-apples-to-oranges/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/barking-up-the-right-tree/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/peppermint-hot-chocolate-cupcakes/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/catching-snowflakes-on-my-tongue/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/tis-the-season/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/gingerbread-cakes/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/move-over-swiss-miss/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/pour-some-sugar-on-me/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/tom-jerry/
  • https://www.pookspantry.com/my-darling-clementine/

 

Filed Under: Cooking Tips, Desserts, Drinks, Winter Tagged With: baking, beverages, cake, candy, Christmas, cookie, cookies, cooking, cupcake, Cupcakes, drinks, Holiday, holidays, sugar

Coffee Cookies

September 26, 2014

Do you love coffee?  Yeah, me too.  I don’t mean that in a casual  “yeah, I love coffee” kind of way;  I. Love. Coffee.  We’re hot & heavy.  It’s a torrid love affair that has no end in sight.  I once (foolishly) thought I should give up coffee…  Why, you ask?   Well, I thought I should get off caffeine, or rather it should get out of me.   Then, after 3 absolutely miserable weeks,  I had a revelation of sorts.   I don’t really drink (I’m usually a 2 drink max kind of girl), I’ve never had a cigarette in my entire life and I don’t do drugs.  Pretty boring, I know…   So, here’s where I decided that coffee and I are lifelong partners; I don’t do anything else!  Everyone has a vice and dammit, coffee was going to be mine! 

coffee butter cookie 3

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Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: butter, coffee, cookies, Dessert

Glazed Lemon Ricotta Cookies

September 24, 2013

Lemon-Ricotta-Cookies-blog

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

Lemon Ricotta Cookies are one of my all-time favorite treats.  They are perfectly lemony, soft and fluffy cookies with a lemon glaze on top.  If you are a fan of lemon treats, these cookies are for you!

Yeah, I know…  It’s pumpkin this and pumpkin that and here I am talking about lemon.  I’ve never really been one to conform.   Let’s just call it exceptionally early for Christmas.  These are also known as Italian Christmas cookies, although I’m not really sure why one would wait until the holidays to make these.

The search for this cookie became a bit like the “Holy Grail”.  I had never tasted one before (hard to believe, I know) and someone I knew long ago was describing them to me.  She made them sound so incredibly divine that I needed to find them.  Her family was Italian and her Aunt would make them every Christmas.  Apparently, her Aunt was not a fan of sharing recipes so no one knew what exactly was in her cookies, only that they were the best.   That Aunt never shared the recipe with anyone and eventually moved away.  This was a cause for concern because I desperately wanted to duplicate those lemon ricotta cookies.   Whether or not this cookie was anything like hers, I’ll never know…  But, since I had never tried it, there was no pressure…  I just needed a jumping off point.

So, I put out a call on Facebook and my friends came through!  I ended up with a few different recipes, all similar but with slight variations.  Some had baking soda, some baking powder.  I made them both ways and the difference was barely noticeable.

Lemon-Ricotta-Cookies-blog2

My insatiable sweet tooth has been discussed on many occasions.  There are times when it demands something deep, dark & gooey, other times I need a little crunch…  like breaking the blistered sugar crust of a crème brulee.  And then there’s lemon.   While I am most definitely a lover of chocolate,  lemon on occasion has usurped the crown.

There is something about the light, floral sweet & tartness of lemony desserts that I honestly can’t get enough of. If you are not a fan of heavy desserts, these are the cookies for you.  They are the antithesis of a dark, dense, chocolatey treat.  They are light and cakey, lemony without making you pucker and just barely sweet.  The frosting on top is reminiscent of a frosting my brother and I used to put on our Dutch Pancakes.

Here’s the thing… these lemon ricotta cookies are good.  I mean, seriously good.  As in, you may find yourself hoarding them and lying to family members about their disappearance kind of good.  It’s ok, I’ve got your back…  We’ve all been there.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

Ingredients

For the Cookies

  • 3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 3 tbsp. lemon juice
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, 1 cup
  • 2 eggs + 1 yolk
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 15 oz ricotta cheese

For the Glaze

  • 2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 3 - 4 tablespoons lemon juice

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large bowl, combine butter and sugar. Using an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs and yolk, one at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Add ricotta cheese, lemon juice and zest.
  4. Beat to combine.
  5. Stir in dry ingredients until thoroughly incorporated, but do not overmix.
  6. Line baking sheets with nonstick silicone liners or parchment paper. Using a 2 ounce scoop, scoop dough onto baking sheets. Bake for 12 -15 minutes, until edges begin to brown.
  7. Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheet for 15 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack.
  8. Once cookies have completely cooled, glaze...
  9. Mix all ingredients for glaze together and gently spread on top of cookie. Let glaze harden for at least 2 hours.

Notes

Thank you to KJ for sharing her recipe! Gave me a great jumping off point! <3

© Pook's Pantry

Looking for More Cookies?

  • classic Christmas roll out sugar cookies
  • coffee cookies
  • triple chocolate cookies

Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: baking, Christmas, cookie, cookies, easy recipe, frosting, holidays, how to, lemon, recipes, ricotta

Classic Christmas Roll Out Sugar Cookies

December 7, 2011

Roll out sugar cookies are perhaps the very best part of the holiday season.  I get a bit overzealous when deciding how many varieties I can feasibly make.   Others try to be the voice of reason, but nevertheless I get swept up in a cookie frenzy wanting to bring out all the old favorites and at least a few new recipes that look promising. One of my favorites is this easy rum balls recipe.
roll out sugar cookie snowflake with royal icing

The one classic (besides gingerbread) that can’t be left out are sugar cookies.  They are almost everyone’s favorite and decorating them is something everyone can take part in.  I usually gather every last sprinkle, every kind of decoration and all of the luster dust I can find for this particular project, as I tend to get a little “Martha Stewart” during the whole process… …

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Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: baking, Christmas, cookie, cookies, Dessert, holidays, sugar cookies

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Hi there and thanks for stopping by!  I'm Cheryl, Chef by day and Blogger by night!

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