Super easy, spur-of-the-moment cookies!

I've managed to bake a bunch of things since my last post, but have been such a lazy bum recently and haven't gotten around to posting them yet! However, I did make these cookies today that I thought turned out really well, and were a quick way to satisfy my need for freshly-baked cookies!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

yield: around 15 small cookies

1 c. smooth peanut butter

1/4 c. sugar

1/4 c. dark brown sugar

dash of vanilla (probably around 1/2 tsp.)

1/3 c. quick-cooking oats

1 tbsp. honey

1/3 c. m&ms (or chocolate chunks/chips)

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, mix together all ingredients (except for m&ms) until well-mixed. Fold in m&ms.
3. Drop in tablespoon-sized balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten them out to about 1/2" thick.
4. Bake for 15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.

These cookies were really tasty, and perfect for an easy, yummy, after-work snack!

xoxo

Red White and Blue Treats

After spending this morning watching the men's Wimbledon final and seeing Roger Federer win his 15th Grand Slam and regain his #1 spot in the rankings, I figured I would post the desserts I made for yesterday's 4th of July BBQ my family went to! I wanted to try something new and, of course, make it red/white/blue...so I decided to make red velvet sandwich cookies/whoopie pies with white and blue cream cheese frosting! I found a recipe for red velvet sandwich cookies that looked kind of cakey, so I decided to try them out! I filled the cookies from that recipe with a simple cream cheese frosting, and I think they worked out pretty well!

Patriotic Red Velvet Sandwich Cookies

yield: around 18 sandwich cookies

for the cookies:

1 1/3 c. flour

2 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

2/3 c. unsweetened applesauce

1 tbsp. skim milk

1 c. sugar

1/4 c. butter, softened

1 tsp. vanilla

2 egg whites

red food coloring (the amount depends on how red you want them to be)

for the cream cheese filling:

1/4 c. butter

4 oz. neufchatel

2 tsp. vanilla

2 c. confectioner's sugar (may need more)

food coloring (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 375F and line a baking sheet with a silpat (or parchment paper).
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a mixer, cream together the butter and the sugar, then beat in the egg whites. Once combined, fold in the applesauce, milk, vanilla, and food coloring.
4. Using teaspoons, drop the batter onto the lined baking sheet making sure that the cookies are about 2 inches away from one another. Bake for 10 minutes.
5. Allow to cool for a couple minutes on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.
6. To make the frosting, cream the butter and cheese in a mixer, add vanilla and food coloring (if you want it), then slowly add the confectioner's sugar until it gets to the desired consistency. When I made these cookies, I divided the frosting into 2 batches and dyed half of it blue!
7. Once the frosting is done and the cookies are cool, sandwich every 2 cookies together with cream cheese frosting.

I liked these cookies a lot, but expected them to be a bit more cakey...they still tasted great though and looked very festive! I also put them in a red/blue basket (thanks Aunt Mary!), which I lined with red and blue napkins...overkill? I think not...

I was also kind of worried that they would not appeal as much to the chocolate-lovers in the crowd (and the little kids), so I made a batch of my lower-cholesterol chocolate chip cookies as well. I upped their patriotic factor by omitting the chocolate chips and instead using red and blue M&M's! The only hard part about this was sorting through 2 enormous bags of M&M's to pick out all the red and blue ones...so we now have a huge jar in my house full of orange, yellow, green, and brown M&M's!

These were also served in a red/blue/star-covered basket (thanks again Aunt Mary!)...and yes, I realize I get way too into holidays...but I love 'em!

Happy belated 4th and congrats to Federer on his 6th Wimbledon victory!

Elvis-y Oatmeal Cookies

The other day while I was at the grocery I thought to pick up a bag of reese's peanut butter chips! So I was trying to think of a recipe to use them for, and came across this recipe for banana oatmeal chocolate chip cookies which I thought would be really good with peanut butter chips and also a great way to use a banana I had that was turning speckled! Well, here is the slightly altered recipe, with the addition of peanut butter and different sugar composition since I ran out of granulated sugar!

Peanut Butter Banana Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

yield: around 22 large cookies

1 1/4 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

sprinkle of cinnamon

sprinkle of ground nutmeg

5 tbsp. butter, softened

2 tbsp. peanut butter

1/4 c. sugar

3/4 c. light brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. oats (I used quick, but I think rolled would be better)

1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chunks

1/2 c. peanut butter chips

2 bananas, roughly mashed

1. In a small bowl mix together the flour, baking soda, salt, nutmeg and cinnamon together and set aside.
2. In your mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter, and sugars until completely blended.
3. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended.
4. On low speed add the flour mixture until it is just incorporated.
5. Mix in the oatmeal, chocolate chunks, and peanut butter chips until evenly distributed.
6. Add the mashed banana and mix until evenly distributed.
7. Wrap the cookie dough in clingfilm, and refrigerate for 12-36 hours.
8. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F, and cook for 15 minutes on a silpat or greased baking sheet!

These cookies are quite rich, but so tasty and chewy! But then again...I love anything with a combination of peanut butter, chocolate, and banana (best sandwich ever: whole wheat bread, peanut butter, banana slices, and mini chocolate chips...it's even better when it's grilled)!

Happy Eating!

Update: these cookies got really soft and smooshy really fast in my cookie jar, so I made a peanut butter-chocolate marshmallow filling (using fluff, confectioner's sugar, skim milk, cocoa powder, and some peanut butter), and turned them into whoopie pies! They were soooo good and refrigerated really well!

Dark Chocolate Goodness

So, I admit...I've been a bit lazy about posting/baking recently because I have been completely wrapped up in watching Wimbledon! We also have a plethora of baked goods in the house right now that are getting finished, so I don't think we have room for any more at the moment! However, I do have a batch of cookie dough I just made chilling in the fridge right now to cook tomorrow and am so excited for it! For now, though, an older recipe which I found a while ago that is soooo good and satisfies even the most intense chocolate cravings:

Double Chocolate Cherry Cookies

yield: about 16 cookies

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1/4 c. butter

1/2 tbsp. ghiradelli mocha hot chocolate mix (or instant coffee)

1 1/2 tbsp. cocoa powder

just under 3/4 c. sugar

1 egg

1/2 c. flour

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 c. semisweet chocolate, chopped into chunks

1/4 c. dried cherries, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. Melt unsweetened chocolate, butter, mocha, and 2 tbsp. semisweet chocolate in the microwave for 40 secs, stir, then for 15 secs more.
3. Beat eggs and sugar in a bowl - stop when mixture is thick, creamy, and lemon-colored.
4. Add chocolate mixture to the egg mixture.
5. Sift flour and baking soda over liquid mixture. Add vanilla and cocoa powder, and mix until well-combined.
6. Fold in semisweet chocolate chunks and dried cherries.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until tops are puffed and cracked.

These cookies are reeeeeeally rich and great for any dark chocolate lover! They are even better after the dough is refrigerated for 12-36 hours, as it yields a denser, fudgier cookie!

Enjoy!

A Day of Boredom and Baking

A couple days ago my family finished the banana-cherry bread I made the other day, so I decided that I needed to make a new one. This time, though, I used a cup of diced mango instead of the cherries, lime juice instead of lemon juice, and 1/4 c. light brown sugar and 1/4 c. granulated sugar instead of the 1/2 c. granulated sugar. I think it turned out even better than the last attempt!

Later today, though, I decided that what I really wanted for dessert was chocolate chip cookies...so I made some! I used the recipe for Cholesterol-Free Chocolate Chip Cookies from the Mrs. Field's cookie book, which only uses egg whites and 1 stick of butter, as opposed to the usual eggs and 2 sticks of butter in most recipes! It also uses some honey, which I think made the texture really nice! The recipe called for 2 c. of semisweet chocolate chips, but instead I put in about 1 c. milk chocolate chips, 1/2 c. semisweet chunks, and 1/2 c. butterscotch chips, and they were sooooo tasty!

Sorry that there is no recipe, but with the modifications I mentioned, you should be able to transform any chocolate chip cookie recipe into a slightly lower cholesterol version!

Enjoy!

Loaded Oatmeal Cookies

When I was at school and thinking of things I wanted to bake when I got home, I started brainstorming what kind of cookies I wanted to try out and came up with this recipe. It was the first recipe I made when I got home, and I really liked how they turned out!

Cranberry, Almond, White Chocolate, Oatmeal Cookies

yield: around 20 cookies

1/2 c. butter, softened

2/3 c. light brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/3 tsp. salt

1 1/2 c. rolled oats

3/4 c. dried cranberries

1/3 c. slivered almonds

1/2 c. white chocolate, coarsely chopped

1. Cream butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth.
2. In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Stir into butter mixture.
3. Stir in oats, cranberries, almonds, and chopped white chocolate.
4. Mold dough into a log, wrap in clingfilm, and refrigerate dough 12-36 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 350F
6. Bake for roughly 10 minutes. Cool cookies on the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.

Notes: I experimented with chilling the dough for only 12 hrs., then chilling the rest for 36 hrs. and found that the cookies that were left to chill for 36 hrs. were denser and had a much better texture to them. Chilling the dough for longer also softened up the oats a bit, which I think yielded a better cookie!

xoxo