cookies

Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies

December 20, 2011

During some recent shopping trips, I have come across M&M’s holiday flavored candies. I picked up all the varieties I saw and started to look up different recipes that I could use with the M&M’s candies. So far my favorites are the cheery cordials to eat and the mint to bake with, but i’m just getting started.

One of my coworkers makes the most unbelievable chocolate chocolate chip cookies. I decided that I would make something similar but instead of loading it up with chocolate chips I would add in the mint m&m’s. Having made chocolate chocolate chip cookies in the past I decided that could wing it and see how it would come out. The first time worked out well but I did not add any chocolate chips, only the m&m’s and I didn’t feel that was enough so I made them again and added in some chips. Much better! I love the mint and chocolate combo so these cookies are ones I would actually eat. I ate 2- very usual for me!

Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies

*makes 2 dozen 2 1/2″ cookies*

Ingredients

2 1/2 Cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon backing soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
1 9.9 oz bag of mint m&m’s

Process Ingredients

Preheat oven to 375 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Wisk the flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a bowl to combine. Set aside.
Combine the butter and sugars in bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and vanilla extract to the sugar mixture and beat until combined.
Add the dry ingredients to the bowl and mix until a dough as formed.
Once the dough has combined add in the chocolate chips and continue to mix.
Using a spoon, gently mix in the m&m’s until evenly combined.
Scoop the dough out and mix into 1 1/4″ balls by hand.
Place the balls on the cookie sheets with plenty of room to allow spread.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookie sheets from oven when the center of the cookie is still soft to the touch. Let cool and set up for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet prior to removing.

Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

April 5, 2011

I have been stumbling upon posts about cookies inside cookies throughout my Google reader lately. ummm cookies inside cookies? Yep, imagine a cookie inside another cookie- either mixed in or fully enveloped. Simple, delicious, addicting.

Some of the best sounding, looking, and addicting sounding ones have come from the blog Lovin’ From the Oven. She first had a cookie inside a cookie recipe posted last April but then posted another recently in February. After seeing the second recipe, which included an entire oreo inside a chocolate chip cookie, I decided that I would have to go back to the older recipe because the likely hood of me eating 3 cookies would just spell trouble. Having 3 of the Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies would be like having 6 cookies and that would be heart stopping. So I opted for the slightly more figure faltering recipe that just had pieces of Oreo’s incorporated into it.

I’ve made these cookies 4 times now. They are really quick to whip up. You barely even need to break apart the Oreo cookies before adding them into the dough mixer as you stand mixer will do the work for you. The more you mix the smaller the pieces of Oreo that remain, this will result in a more uniform texture cookie that tastes a lot like cookies and cream. If you just mix the cookies until they are combined, which I prefer, they have much more texture and have more pockets of Oreo flavor.

Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

makes 4 doz 2″ cookies

2 sticks softened butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 Tablespoon vanilla

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

25 Oreo Cookies broken into large pieces

2 cups chocolate chips

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Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Cream together the butter and the sugars. Once that mixture is light and fluffy add the eggs, one at a time. When eggs are jsut combined, add in the vanilla. Gently mix until just incorportated.

Add in the sifted dry ingredients slowly until just incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and Oreo pieces. The Oreo’s will break up as the cookie dough is mixed together.

On a non stick baking sheet, spoon out 1 1/2- 1 3/4″ dollops. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown and just set. Remove from oven, let the sheet sit for 1-2 minutes before removing cookie to cool on a cooling rack.

Maple Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

January 23, 2011

I recently went to a new farmer’s market, Somerville Winter Market, and I picked up a bottle of pure maple syrup from Vermont. I just needed something to do with it, besides pancakes and waffles. Luck would have it that I came across a contest that required maple syrup to be incorporated into the recipe.

I bugged Price endlessly about what I should make… something sweet? something savory? make a bread? cake? dinner entree? sandwich? what????? I feel I went a little safe with the oatmeal cookie but it just works so well. A little drizzle of maple syrup works perfectly over a bowl of steaming hot oatmeal. So I went with the “keep-it-simple-stupid” approach when I decided to make a cookie.

These cookies are soft, chewy and studded with crunchy walnuts. The maple flavor is pronounced without being ‘Hey I’m a Maple Cookie!’. The taste reminds me of fall days. It is the perfect kind of cookie to enjoy with a glass of milk or cup of tea.

Maple Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

yields 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teapoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup pure maple syrup
4 cups quick cooking coats
1 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Process

Preheat over to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Cream together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at at time, until combined. Add vanilla extract and maple syrup to butter mixture.
Mix the flour mixture into the wet ingredients. Once the flour is incorporated, add the walnuts and oats and gently mix until combined.
Spoon 1 1/2 inch rounds on to baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes prior to removing from sheet (otherwise they will crumble), let cool on a rack.

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Peanut Butter Cookies

February 12, 2010

My friend Emily asked me what I use for a peanut butter cookie recipe since she wants to try a bacon peanut butter cookie. I think this is genius but what really makes it great is that she has never purchased bacon in her 23 years. Never purchased or cooked meat in fact. She is not a vegetarian but pretty close, except that I have brought her over to the dark side. She tried a big mac after boozy bowling for my 24th birthday. Pretty funny once she spotted a McDonald’s and announced that she wanted a Big Mac so Price had to drive around the block while we ran in. Needless to say Em felt like garbage later.

So back to the peanut butter cookies….. this simple question of “what recipe do you like?” prompted me to yank out several cook books to see what possibilities I had to try compared to my usual recipe. Whenever I have made peanut butter cookies I have used My First Baking Book. My mom got it for me when I was 6 and I have used this book several times even though it is a “kid’s cook book”. To be quite honest I find it hard to believe that kids will be using puff pastry or making eclairs. What 6 year old makes Pate Choux??

This seems to be an easy and pretty standard peanut butter cookies recipe. While going through my cook books I noticed this was pretty close to a few others that I had. I made an addition to it by adding my homemade vanilla extract. I just think that everything should have vanilla extract. Additionally, I made some without chocolate chips and some with.

I’m not a fan of peanut butter cookies. I had 1 with the chocolate chips and it was good. Good texture, good flavor but I really don’t like pb cookies and without a sweet tooth I have had not made it my mission to try to perfect the cookie. Maybe I can work on that now. Either way, Price enjoyed them last night. I brought them into work to see what other’s have to say. Hopefully they will enjoy these and trying different recipes until they have picked the best.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2 sticks of room temperature butter

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 cup of peanut butter

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

2 cups of self rising flour

chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350.

Cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.

One at a time, add the eggs.

Add vanilla and peanut butter until batter is smooth.

Add the self rising flour until just incorporated. If adding chocolate chips add them in now.

Place teaspoon fulls onto a nonstick/greased/silicon lined baking sheet.

Bake for 12-17 minutes. Let cool on a rack and then enjoy with milk.

Neiman Marcus Cookies

January 2, 2010

I think everyone has heard of urban legend involving the Neiman Marcus Cookie recipe. The one where the woman loves the cookie soo much that she asks for the recipe and the waiter tells her it is “two-fifty” for it. Little did she know that snooty patooty waiter ment $250. Shocked and pissed customer tries to argue this charge but loose and as a result shares the recipe. Well, all of this is made up, what else is new? In fact, the cookie recipe is on Neiman Marcus’ website, along with several other recipes for dishes they serve in their cafes.

I figured it would be fitting to this famous cookie since I had to urge to bake and this is a classic cookie- except its one that I never tried before. Always a first time for everything. So I made a double batch of these gems to share with the people that Price work with (hell, people working on New Years Day need a treat!) and his poker cigar buddies.

They were easy to make and produced a nice result. I like cookies that are gooey and chewy, which when I stopped backing were perfectly like that. I even accounted for carry over cooking so they were on the underdone side but when they finished setting up they became fairly crisp. They became cookies that would pair perfectly with a glass of milk. A quick dunk and enjoy. Or in the case of the poker guys… a cold beer and a cookie.

Neiman Marcus Cookies

2 dozen cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

3 tablespoons granulated sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1-3/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 teaspoons instant espresso coffee powder

1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds)

Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the espresso coffee powder and chocolate chips.

Using a 1 ounce scoop or a 2 tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Gently press down on the dough with the back of a spoon to spread out into a 2 inch circle. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie.

Pecan Snowdrops

December 13, 2009

Pecan Snowdrops, more commonly known as Mexican Wedding Cookies, are my favorite Christmas time cookie. They are nutty, buttery, sugary, and bite size! They are as easy to make as they are to eat. I use a great Christmas cookie book, fittingly called The Christmas Cookie Book, by Lou Seibert Pappas. It breaks down different types of cookies into chapters from timeless traditional, family favorites, cookies for gift giving and mailing, and elegant party cookies. These cookies fall under the gift giving and mailing chapter since they can ben stored in an airtight container for 2 weeks, that is if they last that long!

Price and I made a BIG batch (4x the typical recipe) on Friday night for a Cookies Exchange we hosted through our Meetup group. It was a lot of fun, a good break from the madness of finals, and we met a bunch of great people who brought some really great cookies.

Pecan Snowdrops

Makes about 3 dozen

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or toasted, skinned hazelnuts (finely chop the nuts or run the through a food processor)
Powdered sugar for Dusting

Process

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease baking sheets or use nonstick or parchment-lined baking sheets.
Using a stand mixer or a large bowl and a handheld electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, salt, flour and nuts and mix well. Roll the dough into ¾ inch balls between your palms, and place on prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 ½ inches apart.
One sheet at a time, bake the cookies for 15 to 18 minutes, or until light brown. Transfer to rack to cool slightly. Place the still-warm cookies on a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil and heavily dust with powdered sugar shaken through a sieve. Let cool completely.
Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks