Oreo Frosting Cookies

Yay, this is my first post back on WordPress!  I liked Tumblr, but I really missed WordPress.

Anyway, I hope you all had a fabulous Halloween and were able to eat tons of candy.  We, as usual, bought a bunch of candy knowing we wouldn’t have very many Trick-or-Treaters.  We did end up having more kids than usual, but we also still have plenty of candy left over.  Win-win!

I made some awesome “frosting” cookies a few years back.  They’re just regular sugar cookies with frosting in the dough.  Well, I thought I’d kick those up a notch (because more sugar is the only thing that can make sugar better) and add Oreos to the mix.  They turned out amaaazing.  You’ll have to try them for yourself!  You could really add anything you want to these.  They would be great for all of that extra Halloween candy, if that’s even a thing.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup frosting of choice (I used white chocolate frosting)
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup white chocolate, melted
1/2 cup crushed Oreos

Directions:

1. Heat oven to 350. Grease a cookie sheet or line with a Silpat.
2. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. In a separate bowl, mix the frosting, egg, vanilla, and sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes.
4. Add the wet mixture to the dry and stir until well combined. Once combined, slowly drizzle in melted chocolate while mixing.
5. Then, add your Oreos and mix with a spatula…don’t over-mix.
6. Drop cookies by large tablespoon fulls onto prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until edges of cookies are lightly browned.

S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies

As the summer winds down and the weather gets cooler (HA!), fire pits start to sound a little more bearable than the did a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, it’s still freakin’ hot here (in the 90s-100s), so I’d rather bake s’more than make them on a burning hot fire on a burning hot day.

Plus, who would pick a regular s’more over a cookie s’more?!

I used my standard chocolate chip recipe and added marshmallows and graham crackers, and this is what happened…

S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very soft
1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups (11 5/8 ounces) All-Purpose Flour

1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) chocolate chips
2 1/2 cups (5 1/4 ounces) mini marshmallows

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Place the very soft butter in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, salt, vanilla, and stir well.
3. Add the egg and stir until well blended.
4. Add the baking soda and flour, mixing until blended.
5. Stir in the chips, graham cracker crumbs, and marshmallows.
6. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough onto light-colored baking sheets.
7. Flatten into disks, using gentle pressure from your fingers.
8. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned; the tops shouldn’t brown, they should still be slightly gooey.
9. Remove the cookies from the oven, let them rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then slide them onto a rack to cool completely.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway!

Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I spend a lot of time trying to come up with new and creative recipes.

But ya know what, sometimes I just want a simple chocolate chip cookie.

That’s what these are.  Simple chocolate chip cookies in a pan.

What’s your go to chocolate chip cookie recipe?

Simple Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Adapted from:King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very soft
• 1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) packed brown sugar
• 3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 3/4 cups (11 5/8 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Place the very soft butter in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, salt, vanilla, and stir well.
3. Add the egg and stir until well blended.
4. Add the baking soda and flour, mixing until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips.
5. Place dough in a well oiled 9×13 inch pan (smaller for thicker cookies) and spread out evenly.
6. Bake for about 20 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned.
7. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool.  Cut into squares and enjoy!

Cookie Dough Filled Chocolate Bread

What’s your favorite dessert?

Because, whatever it is, I guarantee this will be your new favorite.  I can’t tell you how good this bread is.  Honestly, it shouldn’t be called bread because it’s more like brownies and cookie dough.

The cookie dough part stays gooey because there’s no baking powder/soda or eggs.  The bread part is fudge-like.  Just try it…I promise you’ll like it.  I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves.

But really, what is your favorite dessert?

Cookie Dough Filled Chocolate Bread

Adapted from: Kavita’s Kitchen and Mrs. Regueiro’s Plate

Ingredients:

For the bread:

• ¾ cup flour
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup sour cream
• 1/8 cup olive oil
• ¼ cup chocolate chips
• Dash of salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ tsp baking powder
• 1/8 tsp baking soda
• ¼ cup milk
• ¼ cup cocoa powder

For the cookie dough:

• ½ stick butter
• ¼ cup sugar
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons cream
• ½ tsp vanilla
• ¾ cup flour
• Dash of salt
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda in a mixing bowl.
3. Add in sour cream and olive oil and stir them together.
4. Add in the rest of the liquids and fold in with the dry ingredients until it forms a smooth consistency.
5. Add in the chocolate chips.
6. Grease a bread pan and pour half of the in the mixture into it.
7. Prepare the cookie dough mixture. Cream together the sugar and the butters in the bowl of the stand mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 to 3 minutes.
8. Mix in the heavy cream and vanilla, and combine.
9. Add the flour and salt and mix on low speed until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips.
10. Spread on top of the first half of the chocolate bread batter.
11. Top cookie dough with the other half of the bread batter.
12. Bake in the preheated oven for an 40-45 minutes or until a tester inserted comes out clean.

Nutella No-Bake Cookies

When I was a kid, I used to love when my mom would make no-bake cookies.  She rarely ever made them, so they were an awesome treat when she did.  Since she rarely made them, I thought they were some magical treat that was really hard to make.

I didn’t realize how easy they were to make until the first time I made them on my own.  Even though they still tasted great, it kind of ruined the “magical, really hard to make” feeling I had for them as a kid.

Which is why I had to switch them up to make them taste better.  Adding Nutella shouldn’t make that big of a difference, but it really did.  When you add Nutella, they kind of taste like fudge.  Fudgy oatmeal cookies that take 10 minutes to make… what gets better than that?  The magic was back for me after I made these!

What was your magical treat as a kid?

Nutella No-Bake Cookies
Adapted from: Food Network 

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 4 tablespoons cocoa
• 1 stick butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 cup Nutella
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 cups oatmeal

Directions

1. In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil, the sugar, cocoa, butter and milk.
2. Let boil for 1 minute then add Nutella, vanilla and oatmeal.
3. On a non-stick surface, drop mixture by the teaspoonfuls, until cooled and hardened.

Rice Krispie Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

My friend’s uncle drives a cereal truck, so anytime he gets cereal, everyone I live with gets it, too.

This time, we got Rice Krispies, so I wanted to do something creative with them.  (Don’t worry, I’ve also made rice krispie treats twice now.)

I found a recipe for Rice Krispie Chocolate Chip Cookies, used it, and took it to another level.  They turned out really good.  I wasn’t sure what to expect, but they tasted like brownies covered with crunchy chocolate chip cookies.  Weird, huh? 😉  My brains not doing so well with descriptions right now, I think it’s because I just finished FINALS!! Yay!!!

What’s your favorite recipe for Rice Krispies?

Rice Krispie Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

Adapted from: Rice Krispies and  All Recipes

Ingredients:

Cookies:

• 1 stick butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• ½ tsp baking soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 egg
• 1 cup rice krispies
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Brownies:

• ½ cup oil
• ¾ cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• ½ cup flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp baking powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. First, make the cookie dough.  In large electric mixer bowl, beat together margarine and sugar until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat well.
3. Mix  flour, baking soda and salt into butter mixture  until combined. Stir in rice krispies and chocolate chips. Set aside.
4. Then, make brownies.  In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, and sugar. Beat in eggs.
5. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended.
6. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.  Drop cookie mixture evenly over the top of the brownie batter.
7. Bake in preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Pumpkin Spice Pudding Cookies

Hey all.Thank you for the comments and feedback about the layout.  I think I’m going to keep it like this, at least for a while.I hope you’re having an awesome Halloween.  What are your costumes, if you celebrate? I dressed up as a “Bloody  Baker” and I passed out cookies.  

Our college had a “Fright Night” and all the people decorate their hall.  The first floor was the least scary and gradually got scarier all the way to the fourth floor.  I live on the fourth floor and our hall was so scary.  There were a couple of children that cried… it was that scary.Did any of your guys’ children, if you have any, take advantage of the Scary Face pancake at iHop? I did… we had a great waitress who didn’t care and I was so pumped.  Isn’t it cute?

In the spirit of Halloween, I made some Halloween cookies.  They’re pumpkin spice and they turned out a different texture than most pudding cookies I’ve made before.  They’re a puffier cookie, but they’re moist. They don’t look very appealing because of their orange color, but they’re tasty.  They aren’t too sweet so the chocolate glaze and the Hershey’s Kiss on top are perfect last touches.

Pumpkin Spice Pudding Cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft 
1/2 cup packed brown sugar 
1/4 cup granulated sugar 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 egg 
1/4 teaspoon baking soda 
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour 
1 packet (4.2 oz) Pumpkin Spice Pudding 
24 Pumpkin Spice Hershey’s Kisses


Glaze:
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/4 tablespoons milk or heavy cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Place the very soft butter in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, salt, vanilla, and stir well. Add the egg and stir until well blended. Add the baking soda, flour, and Pumpkin Spice pudding, mixing until blended. 
3. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough onto light-colored baking sheets. Flatten into disks, using gentle pressure from your fingers.
4. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned; the tops shouldn’t brown, they should still be slightly gooey. Remove the cookies from the oven.
5. Press the Pumpkin Spice Hershey’s Kisses into each cookie while the cookies are still warm.
6. Slide the cookies onto a rack to cool completely. 
7. Make the glaze by warming the milk until it starts to bubble; either by stove or by microwave.  Add the chocolate chips until they are melted.
8. Mix together until the consistency is smooth.  Drizzle over cookies.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Halloween is right around the corner and I have no idea what I want to be.

I was reading Joy’s blog today and all I could think the whole time was, “Thank GOD.”

Her post was all about how slutty costumes are no bueno and I couldn’t agree more.

Living in the dorms, it’s almost impossible to get away from slutty costumes.  I just have absolutely no desire.  I mean it’s your one night of the year to be whatever you want.  Why would you pick something slutty?  I just don’t get it.

First of all, they’re just not cool. And they’re completely unoriginal.  And weird.  I saw a “sexy Spongebob” costume. Isn’t that just stupid?  Why would you want to turn completely innocent things, sexy?

So, if you want to be something unique for Halloween, don’t dress slutty.

I’m done ranting, now on to things that are actually cool.  Cookies.

I am obsessed with Starbucks’ Salted Caramel Frappuccino.  It’s amazing.  It’s fall in a cup.  I had to make it in cookie form, which is a bad idea if you don’t want to be on sugar overload because that’s exactly what happened to me.  These are amazing!  The only problem I had with them was that they stuck to the well oiled pan, so I definitely suggest using parchment paper.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies


Ingredients:


1 cup (2 sticks, 8 ounces) unsalted butter, very soft
1 cup (7 1/2 ounces) packed brown sugar
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon almond extract
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 3/4 cups (11 5/8 ounces) All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups (9 ounces) chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups chopped caramels
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt


Directions:

1. Place the very soft butter in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, salt, vanilla, and stir well. Add the egg and stir until well blended. Add the baking soda and flour, mixing until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and caramels.
2. Scoop rounded teaspoons of dough onto light-colored baking sheets. Flatten into disks, using gentle pressure from your fingers.  You can also flatten with the bottom of a cup or something.  Sprinkle a little pinch of salt on each of the cookies.
3. Bake the cookies in a preheated 375°F oven for 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned; the tops shouldn’t brown, they should still be slightly gooey. Remove the cookies from the oven, let them rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then slide them onto a rack to cool completely.  

Oreo Pudding Cookies with Cookies ‘n’ Cream Hershey’s Chocolate!

I really, really want a VitaMix!!

And now we all have a chance to win one for free!!

To celebrate the success of the world’s first Flaxmilk, Flax USA is
giving away a Vitamix Machine to one of their lucky Facebook fans! You
could bring home the same power and performance, in a blender,
experienced by chefs and restaurants around the globe and start making
smoothies, soups, frozen desserts and more.  Just “like” Flax USA on
facebook to enter!

http://www.facebook.com/flaxusa?v=app_181335378572390&rest=1


I also made some delicious cookies that I’m excited to share with you guys!  These cookies can be best described as “Oreo cookies that have the texture of a chocolate chip cookies.” So basically better Oreo’s.  I used my standard chocolate chip cookie recipe and decreased the amount of flour by a little bit and it made the most amazing cookies.  They’re pretty chewy on the inside and the outsides are semi-crunchy.  The best 
part is the bites with the Cookies and Cream Hershey’s Chocolate in them.  These are so good! 

Oreo Pudding Cookies with Cookies and Cream Hershey’s 
Chocolate

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, very soft
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
1 packet (4.2 oz) Oreo Cookies ‘n’ Cream Pudding
1 bar Cookies ‘n’ Cream Hershey’s Chocolate, crushed
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Place the very soft butter in a medium-large mixing bowl. Add the sugars, salt, vanilla, and stir well. Add the egg and stir until well blended. Add the baking soda, flour, and Oreo pudding, mixing until blended. Stir in the chips and crushed Hershey’s bar.
3. Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough onto light-colored baking sheets. Flatten into disks, using gentle pressure from your fingers.
4. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until the bottoms and edges are lightly browned; the tops shouldn’t brown, they should still be slightly gooey. Remove the cookies from the oven, let them rest on the pan for 5 minutes, then slide them onto a rack to cool completely. 

You Know You’re a Baker When… (Vanilla Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies)

…Your kitchen floor is covered with flour, sugar, etc.
…Bakeries are a must on vacation.
…When you have to do a fundraiser, “Bake Sale” is your first idea.
…You bake your own birthday cake.
…Along with regular milk, you also have heavy cream and buttermilk in the fridge.
…Flour and sugar are at the top of your packing list when moving (to college…or wherever).
…You have a ‘paintbrush’ in your kitchen utensils drawer.
…You have way too many aprons.
…You walk past the baked goods/packaged cookies at the store.
…Baking at 10 p.m. is the norm.
…Your friends know who Joy is.
…You’re happy your bananas have gone bad.  Or neighbors give you their overripe bananas.
…You can make cookies out of egg whites.

All of these “You know you’re from ____ when…” groups started popping up on Facebook that saidand I was looking through them and I saw one that said   “You know you’re a baker when you have sourdough on your pajamas”.  Then I thought, “I don’t do that, but…” and started thinking of all of the things I do do…and there you have it; my “You know you’re a baker when…” list.  

I know there are a bunch more… continue the list in the comments!

Vanilla Chocolate Chip Meringue Cookies
Emeril

Ingredients

• 2 large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2/3 cup superfine granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips or finely chopped semisweet chocolate

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites until foamy.
3. Add the cream of tartar and beat until fluffy but not at all dry. (Be careful not to over beat.)
4. Add the sugar gradually, about 3 tablespoons at a time. When 1/2 of the sugar has been added, add the vanilla extract. Continue beating and adding remaining sugar in batches, until all of the sugar is dissolved and the meringue is very shiny and tight.
5. Gently fold in the chocolate chips.
6. Working one teaspoon at a time, push a teaspoonful of meringue from the tip of 1 teaspoon with the back of another teaspoon onto the lined baking sheets, leaving 1-inch of space between cookies.
7. Place baking sheets in the preheated oven and turn the oven off. Leave the cookies (undisturbed) in the oven for at least 2 hours and up to overnight, or until cookies are crisp and dry.