Bready or Not Original: Soft Maple Sugar Cookies
Soft Maple Sugar Cookies! That’s right, this recipe combines two of the best things ever for an original treat.
It has been way too long since I offered up a maple-flavored treat. These are so good, they make up for that lapse in a major way.
These are soft, chewy cookies. Maple flavor is built into the dough, and the drizzle of glaze adds a touch more.
I wish I could say how long these cookies will keep, but I don’t know. They stayed delicious for at least one full day, then they went to my husband’s work and were goooooooone.
You’ll have to bake them yourself and see how long they last!
Bready or Not Original: Soft Maple Sugar Cookies
Equipment
- teaspoon scoop
- parchment paper
Ingredients
Dough
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened 1 stick
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 3 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon maple flavor
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
Glaze
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter half stick
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar plus more is needed for thickness
- 1/4 cup half & half or milk
- 3 Tablespoons maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 300-degrees. In a large bowl, beat together butter and shortening. Add both sugars, maple syrup, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt. Beat for about 2 minutes, scraping bottle of bowl often. Add egg yolks one at a time, followed by vanilla extract and maple flavor. Mix in flour until just combined.
- Use a scoop or spoon to dollop dough onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet, spacing out to account for spread. Bake for 11 to 16 minutes. Let set on cookie sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to completely cool.
- Once all cookies are baked and cooled, move them back to the parchment-covered pan, close together, before mixing glaze.
- In a small bowl, melt butter in microwave. Add the confectioners' sugar to bowl, followed by half & half and maple syrup. Stir. Add more sugar, if needed, to form a thick consistency. Drizzle all over cookies. Let set for 30 minutes to 1 hour before moving to sealed containers.
OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Granola Bars [Gluten Free]
These delicious White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Granola Bars are perfect for breakfasts and snacks–and they are packed with protein and gluten-free, too!
![Bready or Not Original: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Granola Bars [Gluten Free]](https://www.bethcato.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Wh-Choc-Mac-Nut-Granola-Breakfast-Bars-GF8_sm.jpg)
I love making no-bake batch breakfast recipes in the summer. No need to turn on the oven and heat up my kitchen! Or to fuss with making something every day!
![Bready or Not Original: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Granola Bars [Gluten Free]](https://www.bethcato.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Wh-Choc-Mac-Nut-Granola-Breakfast-Bars-GF3_sm.jpg)
This recipe is even better because it is SO GOOD. I made it numerous times to experiment with ingredients and amounts. I prefer it with cashew butter and almond flour as it gives it a very cookie dough taste, but use what you have.
![Bready or Not Original: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Granola Bars [Gluten Free]](https://www.bethcato.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Wh-Choc-Mac-Nut-Granola-Breakfast-Bars-GF7_sm.jpg)
To make this gluten-free, be sure to use GF quick oats from a place like Bob’s Red Mill. Also, DON’T use old fashioned/rolled oats. They are too dense. The time I tried that kind, I had to add a lot more nut butter and honey to make the mixture stick together.
![Bready or Not Original: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Granola Bars [Gluten Free]](https://www.bethcato.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Wh-Choc-Mac-Nut-Granola-Breakfast-Bars-GF10_sm.jpg)
Make these on the weekend and your breakfasts are ready for the week! Just grab a bar from the fridge, eat, and enjoy!
![Bready or Not Original: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Granola Bars [Gluten Free]](https://www.bethcato.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Wh-Choc-Mac-Nut-Granola-Breakfast-Bars-GF6_sm.jpg)
Bready or Not Original: White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Granola Bars [Gluten Free]
Ingredients
- 2 cups quick oats
- 1 cup almond flour or oat flour
- 1/4 cup macadamia nuts chopped
- 1 cup cashew butter or almond butter
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- Line a 9x9 or 8x8 square pan with foil and apply nonstick spray. Set aside.
- In a bowl, measure out the quick oats, almond flour, and macadamia nuts. Also set aside.
- Place the cashew butter, honey, and salt in a large pot on the stove. Bring the temperature to medium, stirring everything until it is melted and combined. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.
- Pour the dry ingredients into the wet and stir until fully incorporated. Dump the mix into the prepared pan. Use a piece of waxed paper and a heavy glass to compress the contents into an even layer. Sprinkle white chocolate chips across the top and quickly press in by hand, as they will soften fast on the warm dough.
- Set pan in fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Use foil to lift square onto a cutting board. Slice into desired sizes. They keep in the fridge, in a sealed container, for as long as a week, and as long as a month in the freezer. If stacking, place wax paper between the layers.
OM NOM NOM!
Forthcoming anthologies to preorder
This is a rough time for the publishing industry and authors, period. Many bookstores are closed or operating in different ways. New releases are not getting much attention. Readers have other priorities for their time and money. Authors are struggling to focus, promote, and write. The actual publishing process is in a bad way, with warehouses closed because of sickness and paper imports from China greatly curtailed.
I want to highlight four forthcoming anthologies that have preorder links available. If you can’t budget to buy new books, you can always request your local library to carry them. And always, reviews on places like Amazon and Goodreads are a huge help.
First up, on May 26th, Swashbuckling Cats: Nine Lives on the Seven Seas is released by Tyche Books. PIRATE CATS. This is an anthology all about PIRATE CATS. How awesome is that?! A release day party will be held on Facebook. Find out about that here and participate in the event for a chance to win door prizes.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Magic of Cats will be released in print and ebook on July 7th, 2020. (Release was pushed back a month.) I’ve had stories in a lot of Chicken Soup cat books, but this will be my first story about my ‘new’ cats–with this one all about my brilliant ginger trickster, Finn.
Also out on July 7th: The Book of Dragons will be a beautiful, fully-illustrated (by Rovina Cai!) hardcover release from Harper Voyager, edited by Jonathan Strahan. I’ve already read it in galley form, and let me tell you the blunt truth: this is one of the most solid anthologies released in recent years. It includes my first solicited poem, “Make Me a Dragon.” I wrote it while very angry. I am betting a lot of people will relate to the mood.
On October 20th, Titan Books will release the Escape Pod Science Fiction Anthology. The table of contents for this book blows me away. I’m still stupefied that I was invited to take part. My story is very much a signature Beth Cato kind of thing, science fiction with a dose of fantasy plus a cantankerous felizard (that’s part feline, part lizard) that threatens to steal the show.
#SFWAPro
Read MoreBready or Not Original: Cookie Butter and Jelly Bars
Cookie butter and Jelly Bars! These things are soft and chewy, creating a whole casserole dish-worth of luscious goodies.
As often as I’ve advocated for cookie butter on Bready or Not, it seems people are always discovering it for the first time. Lucky you! It’s essentially pulverized cookies in spreadable form.
You can find generic versions or Biscoff brand at places like Walmart, Target, and Sprouts, and Trader Joe’s is famous for their Speculoos jars.
In these bars, cookie butter adds incredible softness and amps up the cookie flavor. That’s right, it has this weird ability to make cookies taste more like cookies.
Use whatever jelly or jam or preserves you want. Try not to spread it to the very edge, as it can be very sticky on the foil, even if it’s well-greased.
Bready or Not Original: Cookie Butter and Jelly Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups white sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 2 cups creamy cookie butter
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 13 ounce jelly or preserves or jam, about 1 1/2 cups
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13x9 baking pan with foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- In a big bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, scraping bottom of bowl as necessary. Follow up with the eggs, vanilla, and cookie butter, until blended.
- Gradually mix in the flour and baking powder.
- Spread about 2/3 of the batter in the prepared pan. Spread the jelly but not quite to the edges. Dollop the remaining dough all over the top.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the surface is golden and not jiggly, with the middle passing the toothpick test.
- Cool completely at room temperature or in the fridge. Use foil to lift contents onto a cutting board to parcel into bars. Store in a sealed container with waxed paper or parchment paper between the layers, either in the fridge or on the counter.
OM NOM NOM!
New publications to start off May
The publishing industry slogs onward, rejecting works with as much fervor as ever… with the occasional acceptance offered for variety. Plenty of things are still being published, too. Here is my latest:
Podcast:
– “Clouds Gleam Across Her Eyes” (reprint) was read by Tina Connolly at Toasted Cake as part of the Run of Hope
Poetry
– “The Girl Who Survived” in Mirror Dance
– “he scores” co-written with Rhonda Parrish in Star*Line 43.2
– watch me awkwardly read my previously-published “Wayfaring King” in Cuttlefish Poetry Reading, Episode 2 over on YouTube
#SFWAPro
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