Another new cookie recipe

The urge to bake struck me on Sunday afternoon but I didn't have any entire bag of anything sweet. I had partial bags of chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, coconut, and macadamia nuts. I remembered a yummy looking cookie recipe that called for coconut and with a bit of searching I found the original recipe I was looking for. Wow these cookies were delicious. One of my new favorites. I ate a few and took some to work and sent the rest to work with Tyler. That's a first, he's always resistant to take food to work, I think it's because he's shy and is worried the cookies will attract attention. I think he probably dropped the bag of cookies in the break room and ran, but there were none left at the end of the day so I presume they were a hit!



Coconut Nut Chipsters (original recipe from BakingBlonde's blog)

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 egg
1 2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup White Chocolate Chips
1 1/3 cup Coconut (lightly toasting is optional)
1 cup macadamia nut pieces (or other fave nut)

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Whisk to combine. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, sugars and vanilla until light and creamy. Beat in egg. Slowly add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Gently fold in chips, coconut and nuts by hand just until combined.

Refrigerate dough for about 30 minutes to keep cookies from spreading. Form dough into balls using medium scoop and place on parchment lined baking sheets. Flatten dough balls with a fork.

Bake for 8-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on sheets for 2 minutes and transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.

cranberry hooty-whats?

You can't hide from it, Christmas will be here sooner than you think. I love the Christmas season, the baking, the buying, the family, the giving. It's all great. I plan on giving cookies and other baked goods to friends and co-workers this holiday season. I haven't figured out exactly what I'll make yet but I'm trying out some new recipes. One idea I really like is the "cookie in the jar" mixes you can put together. I already knew that they looked great, but I wanted to make sure they actually tasted good before handing them out to everyone I know! I'm glad I gave them a try because there were some things that needed tweaking. Also, Tyler loved them and I think these will replace the other cranberry white-chocolate cookie recipe I have used in the past.



Cranberry Hootycreeks (from allrecipes.com)

Ingredients

• 1 cup + 2 T all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

1. Layer the ingredients in a 1 quart or 1 liter jar, in the order listed.
2. Attach a tag with the following instructions: Cranberry Hootycreeks
   1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
   2. In a medium bowl, beat together 1/2 cup softened butter, 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of vanilla until fluffy (Thanks to the advice of an allrecipes.com reviewer, I found out it takes 5-7 minutes in the electric mixer to get the butter, eggs, and vanilla to become fluffy). Add the entire jar of ingredients, and mix together by hand until well blended (If dough is dry and crumbly, sprinkle with a bit of water so it sticks together better, I also refrigerated the dough about 30 minutes before baking). Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.
   3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until edges start to brown. Cool on baking sheets, or remove to cool on wire racks.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies (depending on how much dough you eat!)

More butter please...

It's strange to think that a year ago I could NOT make a batch of cookies from scratch without seriously screwing them up, getting frustrated, and pitching them into the trash can. I have learned several tricks of the trade and feel much more confident now. By the holidays I will have many cookie recipes under my belt (and uh..literally as well I suppose, heh). I'm working my way up to Tyler's favorite cookie recipe, to be revealed at a later date (probably in December). These cookies don't look like Amber's, but they taste great. This was a "recipe of the week" ages ago, but I bookmarked them from Amber's blog because I loved her presentation. A word to the wise, although the cookies taste great the dough basically just tastes like butter, not so good for snacking on!

Buttery Pecan Cookies
(Source: www.williams-sonoma.com)

These buttery cookies are very easy to make. Just roll the dough into a log, slice and bake.

16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup chopped pecans

In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla. Using an electric mixer, beat the mixture on medium speed until it is smooth. Turn off the mixer a few times so you can scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the flour and nuts. Continue mixing until the dough looks like moist pebbles, then turn off the mixer. (Note, I think I overmixed the dough until it was creamy, which may explain why my cookies came out so thin and crispy, not thick like Amber's).

Gently squeeze the dough together with your hands. When the dough comes together in a mass, place it on a large piece of plastic wrap. Using your hands, shape it into a log 10 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the log in the plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 3 hours.

Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line 3 baking sheets with aluminum foil.

Unwrap the dough and place it on a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut the log into slices 1/4 inch thick. Arrange the slices about 1 inch apart on the foil-lined baking sheets.

Place 1 baking sheet in the oven and bake the cookies until their edges are golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes. Using oven mitts, remove the baking sheet from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the second and then the third baking sheets.

Lift the cooled cookies off the baking sheets with your fingers. Store the cookies in an airtight container. Makes about 40 cookies.

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma The Kid's Cookbook, by Abigail Johnson Dodge (Time-Life Books, 2000).

Update #1

Time for some updates! I have been cooking and baking the last week but just haven't been updating much. I tried a couple of recipes from a fellow food blogger that I want to rave about! Amber has so many creative and "down-to-earth" recipes. I'm going to try her homemade pretzel recipe this week, can't wait!

I was out of brown sugar but craving cookies with oatmeal in them and found this recipe for no-bake cookies on Amber's blog. So easy to make but beware, they are SERIOUSLY addictive. We got about 3 dozen cookies out of this recipe and they were gone faster than any cookies I've ever made before. I've posted the recipe here with the changes I made, I used chunky peanut butter and added some coconut, delish! Check out Amber's original recipe for other recommendations on add ins.



No Bake Cookies (from Amber's Delectable Delights)

Ingredients:
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup milk
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
3 cups quick cooking oats
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup flaked coconut

Directions:

1. Line 2 large baking sheets with wax paper, parchment paper, or alum. foil and set aside.
2. Combine sugar, butter, milk, and cocoa in large saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until mixture comes to a rolling boil. Remove from heat and cool 1 minute.
3. Add peanut butter and stir until melted. Add oats, vanilla, peanuts and coconut (if desired) and mix well.
4. Quickly drop mixture by heaping tablespoons onto lined cookie sheets.
5. Place in refrigerator until set. Once set remove cookies from sheet and place in air tight container in a cool, dry place.

Chocolate fix

This week definitely called for chocolate, thanks to Peabody for discovering and sharing this fantastic recipe from recipezar! I think I prefer them over the mint brownies I usually make, not quite so rich, just the right balance of chocolate and mint!

Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
Andes mints candies, broken in half

Heat oven to 350°F.
Over low heat, combine butter, sugar and water.
Heat until melted and add chocolate chips until partly melted.
Remove from heat and stir.
Pour into large mixing bowl.
Let stand 10 minutes to cool slightly.
Beat in eggs one at a time on high speed.
Reduce mixer to low speed and add flour, salt and baking soda.
Beat until well-blended.
Chill one hour (dough is almost liquid before chilling but hardens and is easy to shape after chilling).
Roll into balls, place two inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Place an Andes Mint half on top.
Allow to melt slightly and spread with a spoon.

Tyler's new favorite cookie...

I made these cookies a week or so ago and although they tasted alright, they looked terrible. I hadn't yet figured out the temperature issues with my oven so I think the problem was that the temp was too high. I have since learned how to work with my unruly oven and the second batch I made yesterday turned out much tastier (and prettier!) Thanks to Amber for sharing this recipe, originally from Cooking Light.



Sweet and Salty Peanut Chocolate Chunk Cookies
(Source: Cookinglight.com)

1/3 cup coarsely chopped unsalted, dry-roasted peanuts
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon coarse sea salt
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place nuts in a small baking pan. Bake at 350° for 8 minutes or until lightly toasted; cool.

Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda, stirring well with a whisk.

Place sugars and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 2 minutes). Add vanilla and egg; beat until combined. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed until well blended. Stir in peanuts, chocolate chips, and salt.

Drop dough by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on pans 5 minutes. Remove cookies from pans; cool completely on wire racks.

I doubled the original recipe and got about 3 dozen cookies.

Baking the day away

If you like cookies with fruit in them and like more "cake-like" cookies I think you will like these! I actually am not a big fan of cakey cookies but these taste so yummy I don't even mind the consistency. I altered the original recipe so they would not be too sweet. Since I used Craisins that are already sweetened I used less white sugar in the actual dough. I rolled them in sugar for a bit of extra sweetness to balance out the orange flavor. I think they turned out just right, not too orangey, not too sweet. My altered recipe is posted below.



Orange Cranberry Cakey Cookies (adapted from an allrecipes recipe)

INGREDIENTS

• 1/2 cup white sugar for dough plus another 1/2 cup set aside for topping
  
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 2 egg
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons orange juice
• 1 teaspoon orange extract
• 2 teaspoons grated orange zest
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups dried cranberries for dough plus another 1/2 cup set aside for topping
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease cookie sheets, or line with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the white sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Stir in the egg, orange juice, orange extract, and orange zest. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; mix into the orange mixture. Stir in the dried cranberries. Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop and shape each cookie, then roll it in white sugar and stick 3-4 dried cranberries on the top, place 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are starting to brown. Cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Separation anxiety...

Looks we won't be cooking or baking much for the next 3-4 weeks. Unless you count grilling hot dogs on the Foreman grill...yeah. We are leaving for our much belated honeymoon to Maine soon where we will dine on lobster and blueberry pancakes and anything else we feel like indulging in. I had hopes of going to Eminger Berries and trying a cheesecake or tiramisu stuffed strawberry but it appears the store has closed down. The website is gone, her phone is disconnected, and word on the street is she has charged customers but not fulfilled orders for the last month. Very strange indeed.

After our trip we will return to D.C. for a few very short days before we pack up and move back to Kansas City where we can have some great bbq, mmmmmm. The bbq in D.C. is not impressive, but every other type of food is amazing, I will miss it all so much! Hopefully there are greener pastures ahead, even if the Indian food isn't quite as good. Maybe I'll post some pics of our vacation food when we return ;) I'll let you know what I think of lobster, I've never tried it before.

Tried this cookie recipe out at our last game night with some of Tyler's co-workers. They proved to be a hit! I'm pretty sure this recipe originated with Joelen, but I snagged the recipe off of Amber's blog. Sorry for the shadow, maybe I was leaning in to grab one ;)

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies (or "pudding cookies")

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup butter, softened

3/4 cups packed brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix (or any kind of instant pudding you like)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips.Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

I got about 3 dozen cookies... and probably ate a couple more in dough alone ;) What can I say? I love cookie dough.

More cookies...

I played around with this recipe yesterday and today and now I'll share it with you :) I originally got the recipe from allrecipes.com but tweaked it a bit.



White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries (if using unsweetened dried cranberries increase white sugar to 1/2 cup)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking soda; stir into the sugar mixture. Mix in the white chocolate chips and cranberries. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. For best results, take them out while they are still doughy. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 18 cookies if using a medium sized scoop (love my Pampered Chef cookie scoop!)

Love.These.Cookies.

I discovered this recipe about a month ago. Not much to say about them except that they are so delicious! I'm taking them to work tomorrow to share the yumminess. This recipe makes 3-4 dozen cookies if you don't eat too much of the dough!



White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (made by Julia)

INGREDIENTS

• 1 cup butter, softened
  
• 1-1/2 cups white sugar
• 2 eggs (at room temp)
  
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 oz white chocolate chips
  
• 5 oz. chopped macadamia nuts
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugar. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the creamed mixture. Finally, stir in the white chocolate and nuts. Drop cookies by heaping teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, until lightly browned. Cool on wire racks. When cool, store in an airtight container.

Chocolate time

I needed a dessert for game night but I didn't want to have to buy any ingredients since we are trying to tighten our grocery budget. These cookies can be made with ingredients most people have in their pantry all the time. They are perfect for satisfying any chocolate craving! My mom made them for us growing up, one of my favorites!



Chewy Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups softened butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream butter & sugar in large mixing bowl, add eggs and vanilla, blend well.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt, blend into creamed mix.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Cool until set 1 minute, cool completely on wire rack.

Makes 4 1/2 dozen cookies

Rough Day. Need Cookies

The oh so popular Big Fat Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
(made by Julia)

Recipe from www.allrecipes.com

I like to refrigerate the dough for about 30 minutes before I bake the first batch.

To keep the cookies from getting all puffy I slam the cookie sheet down on the stove top a couple of times when I remove them from the oven. It releases the air and they flatten out.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon. Drop cookie dough 1/4 cup at a time onto the prepared cookie sheets. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.
4. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.