Interesting cookie recipe for someone who doesn't bake

[Anonymous]

I cook all the time, and I'm pretty good at it, but I haven't got into baking. So it needs to be something not too complicated.

I need a recipe for a baking get-together. A recipe that isn't just chocolate chip, peanut butter, or oatmeal cranberry/butterscotch/etc.

I recall having a cardamom cookie somewhere; maybe something like that? Or maybe even a simple lemon sugar cookie?

[Anonymous]

Shortbread cookies are pretty straightforward:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Lemon-Lime-Basil-Shortbread-Cookies-366434

(You could leave out the basil if you want.)

This recipe has cardamon and rosewater (it's also Gluten Free):
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rose-Water-Shortbread-Cookies-51169140

[Anonymous]

I think your two requirements may be at odds but here is my best suggestion:

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/buried-cherry-cookies/

I used to bake these in high school a lot - so they are not toooo hard. And they are unique and delicious.

[Anonymous]

Coconut macaroons (egg white, sugar, vanilla, coconut). you can even dip them in chocolate if you want. I use the Bittman recipe online and it's simple. Note that you will get a little sticky. Bake on tinfoil or parchment and let them cool before you pull them off. While shaping keep rinsing your fingers to make things easier. Smitten Kitchen also has a rasberry macaroon recipe.

[Anonymous]

both of these are a little different and are pretty easy.
http://www.food.com/recipe/ricciarelli-traditional-italian-almond-cookies-398143

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/lemon-ricotta-cookies-with-lemon-glaze-recipe/index.html

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:both of these are a little different and are pretty easy.
http://www.food.com/recipe/ricciarelli-traditional-italian-almond-cookies-398143

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/lemon-ricotta-cookies-with-lemon-glaze-recipe/index.html

I should add that my 8 year old daughter has made these herself (I supervise the mixer parts and put the baking sheets into the oven). Not too complicated.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Thanks for all the suggestions. Should I mention I don't have a mixer? People mixed cookies for hundreds of years without them, right?

[Anonymous]

I think you'll be fine without a mixer. You needed an upper body workout, right?

A good friend of mine bakes regularly and doesn't use a mixer.

[Anonymous]

if you have no mixer I'd try a large whisk in a large bowl for the wet ingredients

and definitely invest in some parchment paper for baking! you can even just get a roll at the grocery store and cut it for your sheet pan (I'm lazy and buy precut sheets).

[Anonymous]

Lacy oat cookies! Basically, butter, sugar and oats, you drop and bake and they're delicious.

http://www.food.com/recipe/lacy-oatmeal-crisp-cookies-239768

If you want to get fancy, you can gently roll them when warm and make pirouettes!

[Anonymous]

Have you ever tried cake-mix cookies? This might be a fun way to learn to bake! And there are dozens of recipes on line for all kinds of different flavors... here's one of them...

Ingredients

•1 pkg. Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix
•1/3 cup vegetable oil
•2 eggs
•1 tbsp. lemon juice
•1 cup powdered sugar
•2 tbsp. lemon juice
•1 tsp. lemon zest

1.Mix cake mix, oil, eggs, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice together. Dough will be very stiff.

2.Drop dough on ungreased cookie sheet.

3.Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes.

4.While cookies are baking, make glaze: mix powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and lemon zest together in small bowl.

5.Let cookies cool for 1 minute, then top with glaze.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks for all the suggestions. Should I mention I don't have a mixer? People mixed cookies for hundreds of years without them, right?

You may want to invest in a cheap handmixer (15 bucks). I have had the same one for 20 years.

[Anonymous]

OP if you have a cake mix of just about any type you can make cookies with that. I've made butter pecan cake mix cookies, and cherry chip cake mix cookies, people raved about them at the party and no clue they were from a cake mix.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Have you ever tried cake-mix cookies? This might be a fun way to learn to bake! And there are dozens of recipes on line for all kinds of different flavors... here's one of them...

Ingredients

•1 pkg. Duncan Hines Lemon Supreme cake mix
•1/3 cup vegetable oil
•2 eggs
•1 tbsp. lemon juice
•1 cup powdered sugar
•2 tbsp. lemon juice
•1 tsp. lemon zest

1.Mix cake mix, oil, eggs, and 1 tablespoon lemon juice together. Dough will be very stiff.

I looooove cake mix cookies. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm..... darn you low-carb diet.

2.Drop dough on ungreased cookie sheet.

3.Bake at 350 degrees F for 12-14 minutes.

4.While cookies are baking, make glaze: mix powdered sugar, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and lemon zest together in small bowl.

5.Let cookies cool for 1 minute, then top with glaze.

[Anonymous]

Chocolate chip cookies are incredibly easy.

Here's a recipe for Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies that comes with a video demonstration on how you don't need a mixer to make cookies. If you don't want to be all triple chocolate fancy or if like me you find white chocolate disgusting, you can just make it with a cup of semisweet chocolate chips.

http://allrecipes.com/video/336/triple-chocolate-chip-cookies/detail.aspx?prop24=RR_RelatedVideo

The thing about baking is that it's less an art like cooking and more like chemistry. You'll want to follow the directions exactly until you understand the formula, and check on your cookies early and often. Pull them up when the edges just start to brown.