Everyone has a recipe for Hershey’s kiss cookies, but I wanted to make these extra Valentines-y. So I made up a cocoa cookie and melted a special V-Day raspberry kiss right into the cookie, then used a heart cutter to cut them out after baking.

They came out tasty and adorable. I’m sure they’d look great wrapped up in a big red heart box, but mine will never get there, I’ll just keep them all for myself…

ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup Valrhona cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 sticks (1 cup) butter
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
raspberry Hershey’s kisses, unwrapped

Aren’t these raspberry kisses adorable? I love the stripes!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and the vanilla until combined.

Add in the flour mixture until the dough is formed.

Make small round balls of dough and place them on the prepped baking sheet.

Press an unwrapped raspberry kiss into the dough. The kiss will get a little melty and bake right into the cookie. Bake for 10 minutes.

When you take them out of the oven use a small cookie cutter and cut a heart shape right around the melty kiss. Let them cool for a bit on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Will there be extra cutter remnants? Of course, but just bag ‘em up and eat them, or grind them up for a nice cookie crust later.

These are the cutest little valentines and the heart shape makes them extra sweet. I even made some with regular chocolate kisses for all the chocolate lovers out there!

The new Droids and Aliens cutters came out and I was drawn to the Jawas. I was always fascinated with how the hoods covered them entirely and how deeply inset their faces seemed to be – what exactly was behind those beady yellow eyes? I knew I wanted to capture that same idea when using the cookie cutters.

I was going to a Merry Sithmas party believe it or not, and one of the guests (Autumn, for whom who I made the Game of Thrones cupcakes) had a lot of food allergies. She is always left out when it came to desserts and seeing as how she LOVES Star Wars as much as I do, I decided to come up with a totally Vegan cookie and cupcake combo.

Vegan chocolate cookie ingredients:
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder (I prefer Valrhona)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

edible sugar pearls
Vegan Chocolate cupcakes (recipe here)
Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter frosting (recipe here)

In a bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer stir together the vegetable oil and the sugar until combined. Add the flour mixture and the water.

It will be crumbly, but knead it together and roll it into a ball and flatten to a disc. Wrap it in plastic wrap and keep in the fridge until you are ready to use.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prep baking sheets with silpats. Once the dough has chilled, roll it out onto a floured board. Using the cookie cutter, cut out the Jawas.

Use a paring knife to cut out the ‘face’ part of the Jawa, leaving an empty hole in the cookie.

Transfer the cookies to the prepped baking sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

Frost the cupcakes and place the Jawa cookie on top. Add the sugar pearls for eyes.

Now you have a very sneaky little Vegan Jawa!

Merry SITHmas and Happy HOTHidays! Tis the season to celebrate and decorate and what better way to do it than with cookies! Cookie ornaments are an old fashioned treat and whether you use them to decorate or just eat, they are a lot of fun to make – especially when Star Wars is involved!

The Yoda cookie cutter is from Williams Sonoma, and I like them because they always leave exact imprints. I’ve used their other cutters for Captain America mini hand pies, Hulk cookie ice cream sandwiches, and the faces always come out perfectly.

I originally made these Yoda cookies in oreo form for my Ultimate Star Wars party. I decided to change it up just slightly so they would make nice edible decorations.

ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon matcha (green tea powder)
2 teaspoons of lemon zest
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg

Powdered green tea, aka matcha, is what gives Yoda his striking green color. It has great flavor and the best part is you don’t even need food coloring. You can find matcha in Japanese markets or online.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, matcha and lemon zest. To me, the lemon just adds a little something, almost undetectable, yet adds so much flavor. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg.

Slowly add in the flour until it is incorporated. The dough will form quickly, and when it starts to pull away from the bowl, it’s done!

Split the dough into two and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until you are ready to use.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.

Start rolling out the dough. I use powdered sugar instead of flour so it doesn’t get that dough-y taste and the sugar adds a slight sweetness. Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick.

Use your cutter to cut out the yoda shapes, place them on the silpat lined baking sheet. For the loop, use a small round cutter – or I just used a coupler, approx 3/4″ – 1″ round.

Make a hole in the center using a straw, then cut the whole thing in half so you get two rainbow shapes.

Take one of the halves and press it to the top of Yoda’s head. This will bake together and attach itself, but still leave a hole that goes all the way through.

Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

Once cooled, loop a ribbon through the hole. Now you’re ready to decorate your tree!

Ahh, the king of comfort foods, wrapped up in a sweet cookie.

ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1-1/2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3-1/2 cups all purpose flour
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
peanut butter
jelly

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and peanut butter until combined. Add the sugars – then the eggs and vanilla.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda – add that to the mixture until fully combined. It will almost start to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Take a Tablespoonful of dough and flatten it out in your hand. Add a small spoonful of jelly.

Ok, ok – I used jam – not the same as jelly but fresh off the local strawberry tour, so I couldn’t resist. Also Peanut Butter + Jam doesn’t have the same ring to it. Pinch the edges together, fully closing up around the jelly.

Place on the prepped pan and bake for 10-12 minutes. Let cool on the pan – if you move them when they are warm, they may break. Once they’ve set, let them cool on a wire rack.

A sandwich in a cookie. I suppose you could eat these for lunch. Tho I wouldn’t advise it…

Peanut butter cookies are great. Chocolate chip cookies, also great. But sometimes you want that little extra oompf. I love anything tiny and I bought a pound of these mini peanut butter cups from bulk bin candy. They add the perfect peanut butter chocolate taste – and will make your day a whole lot better, I promise.

ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
2 cups mini peanut butter cups

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla.

Carefully add in the flour mixture until just combined. Fold in the mini peanut butter cups.

Drop by Tablespoonfuls onto the prepped sheets. Leaving a good 2-3 inches between each one.

Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven – let cool on a wire rack.

We got to tour the set, SIT IN THE OFFICE CHAIRS, meet the cast and crew – and more importantly, sit at Pam’s desk. (that’s a big deal.)

When we visited the set all those years ago, I remember Nanette bringing cookies with her. They were soft cookies, almost cake-like, very tender chocolate chip cookies. I wondered what made them that way and she said, “pudding.” Huh. A pudding cookie. The cast and crew ate them, and I even heard Mindy Kaling (Kelly) really liked them.

For some reason I’ve never asked her for the recipe, but I always remember that day and those cookies. It’s years later now and the show has changed and we’ve changed. Instead of being a down the freeway Nanette is moving far away to another state.

To great cookies, great friends – and a great new life.

(“Dunder Mifflin, this is Pam” I mean Nanette. That’s Nanette.)

ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 small box (3.4 ounces) Vanilla Pudding
12 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prep baking sheets with silpats.

In a bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and vanilla pudding.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar, until combined.

Add the eggs and the vanilla.

Add the flour-pudding mixture until the dough is completely combined. Then stir in the chocolate chips.

Form small balls (you can just use your hands, the dough is workable) and place them 2 inches apart on the prepped sheet. I got 48 total.

Bake for 10-12 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on wire rack.

Normally I’m a crispy-cookie kinda gal, but the soft texture of these can’t be beat!

When the I got the Marvel cookie cutters the first obvious cookie recipe that came to mind, with Hulk being green and all, was of course my matcha (green tea) sugar cookie recipe. If it was good enough for Yoda it was good enough for Hulk. But Hulk has a slight temper and I thought spicing them up would be a good bet.

Then I filled the cookies with a smooth homemade Milk Chocolate ice cream. Such a delicious combo it might even keep Bruce Banner calm as can be.

ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg
pinch of salt
1 Tablespoon matcha (green tea powder)
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 egg

Milk Chocolate Ice Cream (recipe here)

Matcha is a fine, concetrated green tea powder. You can find it in asian markets, the asian section of your grocery store, or online.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, salt and matcha. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until combined. Add the egg and the lemon juice.

Slowly add in the flour until it is incorporated. The dough will form quickly, and when it starts to pull away from the bowl, it’s done!

Split the dough into two and wrap in plastic wrap. Chill until you are ready to use.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Prep baking sheets with silpats.

Start rolling out the dough. I use powdered sugar instead of flour so it doesn’t get that dough-y taste and the sugar adds a slight sweetness. Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thick. The best things about these cutters is they don’t stick!

Use your cutter to cut out the shapes and transfer onto the silpat lined baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.

When the cookies are cooled, scoop the Milk Chocolate Ice Cream on one side (face down) of the cookie. Then press the other cookie on top to make a sandwich. Keep in the freezer until you are ready to serve!

People always ask me for quick ways to decorate cupcakes. Since I know not everyone has the time to roll out fondant and form perfect little figures, a trick I do a lot is using cookies as toppers. I took plain Hello Kitty cookies and fancied them up with sprinkles and icing. The decor is still cute and totally edible!

ingredients:
Hello Kitty Italian Cookies
large red heart quins
small red heart quins
yellow sprinkles
black frosting
frosted cupcakes

I happened to find these new Hello Kitty cookies imported from Italy of all places! They are almost like a biscuit, and have a really nice shape and profile.

All on their own they are adorable, but I thought I’d fancy ‘em up a bit using heart quins, sprinkles and piping. Turning large red heart quins on their side and placing a tinier heart quin in the center makes for a nice colorful bow. I used a yellow sprinkle for her distinctive nose (I tried to find the most oval-y shaped ones since I’m very particular about everything looking just so).

Using black frosting and a #2 tip, I carefully piped over Hello Kitty’s most prominent facial features: the eyes and whiskers.

I let these set overnight and then placed them on top of the cupcakes right before serving.

This is an easy way to make a distinctive, cute cupcake with minimal work!

This is one of those old skool recipes you’d find in a Hawaii church cookbook. Yaki means ‘to cook’ and manju is a sweet Japanese confection, like mochi but it uses regular flour instead, so there’s no chew. It’s more cake or in this case, cookie-like.

This recipe comes in handy when you don’t have butter. It uses very few ingredients and comes together rather quickly. This is one of O.G.’s FAVES.

ingredients:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch of salt
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup cold water
1 cup an (sweetened red bean)

I prefer smooth red bean for these cookies. An aka red bean is sweet and can be found in Japanese markets in cans and bags.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, prep a baking sheet with a silpat.

In a the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar and salt, adding the oil and water slowly.

Mix until combined and the dough starts to pull away.

Shape dough into small balls and then flatten it out. Add a Tablespoon of the an filling in the center.

To close, pinch the edges together, roll back into a ball and flatten slightly.

Place them on the prepped cookie sheet and bake for 30 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack.

A simple, crumbly-crisp cookie filled with delicious sweet an. Perfect with afternoon tea!

Back in the day the Kid used to be allergic to chocolate. I refer to that as the Dark Ages.

During that time I came up with a lot of vanilla-y, maple-y recipes. It got to so I didn’t even miss chocolate. Uh. Yeah right. Anyway – this was one of those recipes from back then, but I still like making it. It’s a nice flavorful cookie, perfect with a cup of tea.

ingredients:
1 stick butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter with both sugars, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the egg,vanilla and maple syrup. Carefully add the flour mixture until just combined.

Getting the child-labor in on the action is always a plus. Stir in the oats. The beauty of this is you can add chocolate chips, raisins, cranberries – what have you, but I do kinda like them plain.

Drop dough by tablespoons and flatten slightly. Bake until slightly brown but soft in center, 12 to 15 minutes, depending on your oven. Let cool on a wire rack.