Bake or Break

Turtle Cheesecake Thumbprint Cookies

As someone who is a fan of cheesecake, chocolate, nuts, and caramel, it's no surprise that I would enjoy turtle cheesecake. Not the ubiquitous mass-produced kind, but the actual homemade variety. Cheesecake is not that difficult to make, but it is time-consuming. So, for the holidays, I thought it might be a grand idea to take all of those delicious elements and condense them into cookies. Boy, was I right!

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Cowboy Cookies

Some people like cookies that are sweet and delicate. These, my friends, are not those cookies. No, these are big, hearty cookies brimming with all kinds of good stuff - oats, chocolate, toasted pecans, and coconut. Suitable for a cowboy, I suppose. The recipe is adapted from Tate's Bake Shop's newest cookbook, Baking for Friends. The book has lots of good looking cobblers and tarts and such, but I kept coming back to these cookies. Click through for a chance to win a Cookie and Bar Tower from Tate's Bake Shop!

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Dulces

Earlier this month, one of my favorite food bloggers, Anna from Cookie Madness, had her first cookbook published. It's called The Daily Cookie and has a recipe for every day of the year. There's a holiday or recognition day or an anniversary of some big thing every single day. Some have more than one. Anna took a fun approach in her book by finding appropriate cookies for days like National Cookie Day (December 4th) and the anniversary of the founding of ASPCA (April 10th).

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Cranberry Shortbread

Shortbread is one of the finest examples of just a few basic ingredients making something incredibly delicious. I have a bit of a shortbread weakness. It's one of my favorite things to bake. And to eat, too, for that matter. These little cookies aren't too sweet. The cranberries add a bit of sweetness as well as some tartness. They're pretty perfect for an everyday treat and just fabulous for a cookie tray. (Are we already thinking about that?!?)

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Salted Vanilla Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Recently, I was thrilled to receive a copy of Pure Vanilla by Shauna Sever. You may know Shauna from her blog, Piece of Cake, or from her first book, Marshmallow Madness. This book is dedicated to all things vanilla. Despite the connotation that word has taken on over the years, vanilla is anything but boring. I immediately found several recipes I wanted to try, but I kept coming back to these cookies.

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Browned Butter Salty Sugar Cookies

I don't often buy store-bought cookies. All the homemade stuff makes that unnecessary. After we moved last month, however, I stayed out of the kitchen until we could get settled into the new place. During those days, I discovered Brooklyn's own The Good Batch at a local market. On impulse, I bought a package of their Brown Butter Salty cookies. These amazing cookies are a soft shortbread made with browned butter and topped with a pinch of salt. I was hooked immediately. So, I set out to make something similar.

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