You can't go wrong with this one! At least I think so :o)

This is one of the best cookies I have had in a long long time. Friend made these and they were so light, soft and so tasty!

Walnut brownie cookies

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup walnut pieces or halves
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Confectioners' sugar, for coating

In the top of a double boiler, melt together the butter and chocolate over very low heat. Remove the inner pan and allow the mixture to partially cool, then stir it until smooth.

In a bowl, beat the sugar and eggs with an electric mixer at high speed until light and airy, about 4 to 5 minutes. Blend in the vanilla extract and partially cooled chocolate. Chop the walnuts very fine (a food processor works well for this) and stir them into the chocolate mixture.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture half at a time, until the dough is evenly mixed - it will be quite soft. Cover and refrigerate the dough for 3 to 4 hours.

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease 2 large cookie sheets or line them with parchment paper. Put about 1 cup of Confectioners' sugar in a small bowl. Now shape the dough into 1-1/2-inch-thick balls. Generously coat each one with confectioners' sugar and place it on a baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches between cookies. Bake the cookies on the center rack, 1 sheet at a time, for about 13 minutes. When done, the cookies will have puffed and will feel very soft to the touch. Do not overbake.

Cool the cookies on the sheet for 15 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack and let them cool thoroughly. TIP: To lengthen the shelf life of these cookies, refrigerate them for 1 to 2 hours, then wrap them individually in plastic wrap. Makes 24 to 30 cookies.{{!gwi}}

Glenda those look and sound amazing.....Thank you!

nicole, they are super delicious!

nicole, here is another, my friend made and it is so pretty and so good. She entered it in a cookie contest and disappointed that she only placed second.

Here is a link that might be useful: pistachio cranberry icebox cookie

This post was edited by glenda_al on Fri, Feb 14, 14 at 11:51

What cookies did you decide to bake?

I haven't actually made anything yet. I'm baking tomorrow. They need to be sweet and gooey.

Every year I've entered chocolate chip or ordinary peanut butter and every year an oatmeal and cherry something or other exotic mix no one has ever heard of wins.......

We have a chef on our team who has never won either.....she's still trying to decide and checking baking sites for ideasl......

Glenda: I DID purchase 2 glass cups like the one shown in your picture. I liked the presentation for use with blackberries I brought yesterday for the fruit pot luck....very pretty with a silver sugar spoon!!!!!

good luck!

In my mind, there's a huge difference between "sweet and gooey" and "gorgeous but not worth the effort to make every day"!

For gorgeous with a lot of effort, I'd probably think along the lines of a Linzer cookie with homemade raspberry jam/jelly.

Sweet and gooey cookies are effortless.... and if it doesn't have to be an actual "cookie", I might go with Hello Dollies, though I usually omit the butterscotch chips and I put the coconut as the top layer and pour the sweetened condensed milk over all. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Hello Dolly cookie bars

Another gorgeous cookie that's extra effort: Florentines.
They're even prettier if you cut them into triangles. :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Florentines

Don't forget that presentation makes a huge difference! You're going for "eye candy" too! :)

Use a nice plate/platter, preferably plain white or clear glass, with a paper doily underliner. Many cookies (like Glenda's) look special if you place each cookie into a small paper muffin-cup liner. Sometimes you can add a special 'garnish' to the platter -- it could be something as simple as adding some Hershey's Kisses, still in their pretty foil... or something a bit fancier, like candied orange peel or brazil nuts that have been half-dipped in chocolate. Your garnish should emphasize or complement the ingredients used in the cookies being presented. :)

Not that this is as fancy as it could be, but it shows both my Florentine Triangles and my Hello Dollies on my favorite cookie plate. lol!

This post was edited by party_music50 on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 7:44

Party_Music, your dish of treats look amazing. Those Florentines are over the top!

I make Butter tart squares regularly. Here is a picture.
A shortbread crust, with raisins, butter, walnuts, coconut.

This post was edited by jasdip on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 9:27

Years ago I used to make a creme wafers recipe from my 1970s Betty Crocker cookbook - melt-in-your-mouth wafer cookies. It would be perfect for this time of year with a pink filling.

They are not gooey, but they are delicious.

I made Glenda's Pistachio Cranberry Icebox Cookies last Christmas and they were wonderful. But they are not gooey either - it's a more sophisticated choice.

Here is a link that might be useful: Creme wafers

I can vouch for the cranberry/pistachio cookies Glenda posted. I made them when she posted them before and they're fantastic AND pretty!

These are actually easy but they're gooey and good

Pecan Pie Bars

3 C. A.P. flour
2 C. sugar, divided
1/4 tsp salt
1 C. (2 sticks) butter + 3 T.
5 eggs, lightly beaten
1 1/2 C. light or dark corn syrup (I use half and Halfâ¦that's half light and half dark)
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
3 C. chopped pecans

Preheat oven 350. Grease bottom and sides 12 x 18 pan. Line with parchment paper. In large bowl combine flour, 1/2 C. sugar and salt. With pastry blender cut in 1 C. butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press firmly and evenly in pan. Bake 15 - 20 minutes. In large bowl mix together eggs, corn syrup 1 1/2 C. sugar, 3 T. butter (melted) and vanilla. Stir in pecans. Spread on hot crust. Bake 25 - 27 min. or until set. Cool completely. Cut in bars. Freezes beautifully, makes a lot. DH's favorite.

This post was edited by georgysmom on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 13:48

nicole, the walnut brownies are kinda sorta gooey in the center. More like a fudge brownies.

Want pictures, please!

This post was edited by glenda_al on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 12:04

I'm going to be baking cookies today too.

One of my very favorites.

Peanut butter cookies made with super chunky peanut butter with about 1/2 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg added. It really makes the peanut taste POP.

When they are done baking, I melt chocolate chips and brush the melted semi dark chocolate on the BOTTOM of the cookies.

These are really amazing cookies. You take a bite and your mouth explodes in a wonderful blend of individual flavors that go so well together.

Use your favorite peanut butter cookie recipe with the additions.

I'm out of REAL butter, so a trip to the store is in order. I have raisins, coconut and pecans....all fresh on hand and a ghirardelli bar of dark chocolate .....will see what happens and YOU KNOW I'll post pictures.

I'm not sure we're allowed to put the cookies on anything other than a white paper plate....per last years rules.......I will start out with a nice cup or platter tho.....:0) We have over 100 employees who "could" be entering, I expect stiff competition.....

I was going to suggest something with a tuile batter....the possibilities are endless as far as shapes and embellishments go.

I like to make rolled cookies with one end dipped in melted chocolate. Or form them into cones and fill them with yummies like nuts, chocolate chips, chopped dried fruit. Decorate the cone with edible gold glitter or gold dust. Or make pretty leaves or flower petals!

Tuile cookies don't qualify as gooey, though.

Where do you work that conducts such contests?

I've converted a lot of my cookie recipes to make in mini-muffin tins. I find that they look so much more special and refined than just a flat cookie.

Also you can use a regular cookie dough and then make an indent in the center and put lots of different gooey stuff in the center, and maybe drizzle chocolate over them.

A sprinkling of few grains of simple sea salt can also transform a cookie.

Jean, I love the idea of adding freshly ground nutmeg in peanut butter cookies. Can't wait to try it.

Ohhh, knock their socks off with whoopee pie cookies! I just bake a regular cake mix in a sheet pan. When it's done and cool, use a round (or any shape) cookie cutter to cut them out.

Spread one cookie with your favorite frosting OR you can use jam, put another cookie on top and frost with your favorite frosting. These things are DELICIOUS and so easy to make.

Did I mention the prize?

$150 for the team with the most participants and $50 to the winning baker.

party_music50......that's a beautiful platter of sweets! WOW! That's a winner!

Jasdip....they look delicious!

The chocolate chip cookies lose every year. The judges are looking for "unusual". A bar cut to look like a cookie is sort of cheating....but it's got an edginess to it maybe....I'm giving it a try.

rhizo......I'm comfortably retired from the computer industry. This is my "something to do job" & medical insurance. I work in a call center. It's monotonous, so they do "something" almost every week to "entertain" us. We have young people working there, but the majority are people who were layed off and ended up, not by choice, getting a job there, out of their comfort zone. Lots of people with college degrees. The company will even pay for your college degree while working there.

Kayjones....Megan is a chef(culinary degree), owns her own catering business on the side. She suggested making those.

Here's what I have so far. I made carrot delights(in 1956 they won a cooking contest, my sisters favorite) and pecan bars made in a jelly roll pan, then cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter when cooled. Murraysmoms recipe)

This post was edited by nicole__ on Sun, Feb 16, 14 at 17:46

Your cookies look great. Everyone in my family loves forgotten meringues. So easy to make, egg whites, sugar, vanilla, chocolate chips, I add crushed candy cane or peppermint with the chocolate chips, also good without the candy, add nuts or white chocolate chips. You can even colour them but I like them white. Whip them up, drop onto a cookies sheet, preheat the oven, pop the cookies in to dry overnight.

If you want the measurements let me know. Everyone's cookies look great. The white cookies on my plate are the meringues, ignore the rest haha

rhizo_1 - thank you for mentioning tuiles. I had never heard of them, so I looked it up and now am dying to make some.

You are welcome, graywings. Try to find a tutorial on line....they aren't hard to make but require a specific technique. Pronounced ' too EEL ', in case you were wondering. :-)

Did we ever hear or see the results? I'd love to know what cookies were rated 'the best'!

Party_music50.....no. They listed the 6 winners(day crew had 3 winners, night crew had 3 winners). They DID NOT list what won or the recipes. I do know that 3 of the 6 winners had co-workers bake their entry for them. :0)

That doesn't seem right. I guess I wouldn't mind if a coworker used my recipe and baked for me because technically it is the recipe that is being judged.
But, they don't say Jane won first place with her cranberry delight cookie? You have to remember who baked what?
Also, unless a family secret, recipes are meant to be shared.

geez. It sounds a little 'fixed' and makes me wonder how you know that the cookies weren't baked by the winners. Drama in the workplace. LOL!

PS: I love to make up new cookies! A recent favorite is to make peanut butter cookies with brickle chips. :)

This post was edited by party_music50 on Sat, Feb 22, 14 at 16:54

We could only enter "1" cookie. I baked an entry for a co-worker as did others. Two people sitting near me said their entry didn't win, but the one they "gave away" DID. :0)

They also accepted store bought cookie dough cookies that you took home & baked.

They had the idea that participation would bring everyone together and give us all something to "talk about".

Every year they have THIS same contest, as well as a salsa contest, pie baking and chili cook off.

Nicole, sounds like a lot of fun!