Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

These chocolate chip cookies are based off of the base recipe for the Snow Day Cookies I made a couple months ago.  The secret ingredient: cornstarch.  The other secret: under baking them.  

Baking them for the recommended time is about 8-9 minutes.  When you check on them at that time, you want them to not be "firm", but at a spot where you may question to bake another minute or two.  But, if you want them really soft, then take them out of oven and let them sit on the cookie sheet for several minutes to cool (about 10 or so).  Once they are cooled, I transfer them to the freezer and keep them in the freezer.  Then, when you want a cookie, just pull it out of the freezer and it will be ready to eat - it won't be so hard that it seems frozen, or that you want to let it sit out for several minutes to soften up.  Another piece of advice: when baking cookies, do not place uncooked dough on hot/warm baking sheets.  It's best to invest in a couple baking sheets and rotate between each batch. 

For more information on how to bake soft cookies, head over to Sally's Baking Addiction and read up!

Soft & Chewy
Chocolate Chip Cookies
{Original Recipe: Sally's Baking Addiction}

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups flour

2 tsp cornstarch

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

Using a mixer {either hand held or stand}, cream together butter and sugars on medium speed until fluffy and light in color. Mix in egg and vanilla. 

In a separate bowl, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt.  On low speed, slowly mix into wet ingredients.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Then, chill your dough for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Once dough is chilled, drop 1 Tbsp sized ball of dough onto baking sheet.  The dough may be sticky to work with.  Bake for 8-9 minutes.  After baking time is completed, let cookies cool on baking sheet for several minutes - then, if desired, transfer to freezer to store.  

{May be stored out of freezer, as well}

Enjoy!!!

Snow Day Cookies

I have been wanting to make these cookies for awhile because the base for these cookies are a little different than most.  The recipe uses corn starch, which I guess creates the thickness and fluffiness of these cookies.  They are also super soft and chewy - which I read is created by the higher ratio of brown sugar to white sugar (who knew?).  Anyways, they are really good and I am anxious to use this base for different types of cookies now!  

These were the perfect cookies to make today because it was snowing this afternoon (and the cookies have Snocaps in them!).  Snocaps are not a candy that I have ever bought.  I couldn't even tell you the last time I had one.  So, when I went to the store to go purchase them, I couldn't find them.  I tried Target, Wal-Mart, & Hy-Vee.  I mentioned something to my dad about it and was able to find some at Walgreens (thanks Dad!).  If you do not have all the baking chips that are listed in the recipe, feel free to use whatever you have on hand - anything will work!  I used dark chocolate, semi-sweet, and white chocolate (hence, the name triple choco-chip). 

Snocap Triple Choco-Chip Cookies
{Adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction}

3/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 c. dark brown sugar (light brown sugar works too, but dark is preferred)

1/4 c. sugar (I used baking splenda)

1 large egg, room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla

2 c. flour

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt (I only used 1/4 tsp)

1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 c. dark chocolate chips

1/4 c. white chocolate chips

1/2 c. Snocaps

In a large bowl, mix together (with a stand mixer or hand mixer) butter and sugars, until well combined and fluffy on medium speed.  Then, mix in egg and vanilla. 

In small separate bowl, add flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Simply stir ingredients together. 

Slowly add in flour mixture to large bowl with butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla - mix together on slow speed until well combined.  Then, stir in chocolate chips and snocaps. 

Refrigerate dough for minimum of 30 minutes -- you can refrigerate dough for up to 3 days.  I wrapped mine up in that press-n-seal wrap and let it chill for about 2 hours.  

When ready to bake cookies, preheat oven to 350ºF.  Use parchment paper or a baking sheet to bake cookies on.  Scoop about 1.5 Tbsp of dough onto sheet for each cookie (slightly flatten out -- just a little bit, though!)  

Bake for 8 minutes.  They may appear slightly under cooked, but do not let them crisp at all!  I just let mine sit on the baking sheet once out of the oven for a couple minutes then remove to cool. 

The recipe states - Do not drop dough onto warm cookie sheets to bake.  Make sure the cookie sheets are completely cooled before baking. 

Enjoy!!!

Impress Your Honey: Easy Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

While grocery shopping a couple days ago, I stumbled upon a limited edition Pillsbury cookie dough - Red Velvet.  I am not one who loves to make cookies from cookie dough.  I would rather put in the extra elbow grease and bake them from scratch.  However, I picked up a roll of the dough to try out.  Also, my sister is a huge fan of red velvet desserts - it's her favorite - so, I knew she would be excited to try these out.  These whoopie pies are so easy to make!  Like I said, the dough is a premade dough and the icing that I used in the center is also Pillsbury.  While they may look a little fancy, they are the easiest things to make!

The only ingredients you need: 

Red Velvet Cookie Dough & Easy Frost Icing

Impress Your Honey:

Red Velvet Cookie Whoopie Pies

1 pkg of Red Velvet Cookie Dough

1 can of Easy Frost Icing

Bake cookies according to package. 

Once cooled, fill the center with icing and sandwich two cookies together.

Optional: Decorate with sprinkles, sugar crystals, etc. 

Enjoy!!!

Christmas Cookies & Candy {2012}

Christmas Cookies & Candy {2012}

I'm so excited to write this post!  Last year, I made a whole bunch of cookies and candy and when I tried to remember everything I baked, I had a hard time.  Now I will have all of it documented and can look back next year on what I made!  It will help me to decide which ones I should make again and which ones I should omit -- which will allow me to try new recipes! 

I will share each recipe with you - so beware, this is a long post.  In the following picture I have numbered all the candy and cookies so you can correlate the number to the recipe (in case there was any confusion). 

{1}

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These are made from cake batter, surprise! They are perfect for Christmas Cookie making because of the convenience.

1 box Devil's Food Cake mix

1/4 c. canola oil

2 eggs

Powdered sugar to roll 

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine cake mix, canola oil, and eggs in a large mixing bowl.  Mix together with spoon (batter will get a bit thick and greasy). 

Pour powdered sugar in small bowl.  Roll dough to form balls, then roll into powdered sugar.  Place on cookie sheet.

Bake for approx 12 minutes. 

These are good to keep in the freezer! 

{2}

Cake Batter Fudge

2 c. + 2 Tbsp yellow or white cake mix

2 c. powdered sugar

1/2 c (1 stick) salted butter, cut into 4 pieces

1/4 c milk

2/3 c white chocolate chips

1/2 c rainbow sprinkles

Spray 8x8 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Mix together cake mix and powdered sugar in a large bowl.  Add mix and butter (do not stir them in) and microwave for 2 minutes.  Once done, immediately begin mixing everything together - the batter will be very thick.  

Fold in white chocolate chips and sprinkles, stir gently (you do not wan the sprinkles to leak their color into the fudge).  Spoon the mixture into baking pan, level out the top.  Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.  Cut into squares.  Store in fridge.
{3}

Sweet & Salty Chocolate Cups

1.5 c. peanuts

1.5 c. chocolate chips

1.5 c. butterscotch chips

1 bag of Lays potato chips, crushed

Melt the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips in a large bowl in the microwave, about 2 minutes.

Mix in the chips and peanuts to the melted mixture.  Keep mixing until all combined.  

Scoop by large spoonful into cupcake liners (place liners on a large baking sheet, it will be easier to transfer to refrigerator or freezer to cool)- you can use either small or large, it doesn't matter.  I used a mixture of both.  Place in fridge, or freezer, until cooled.  Store in refrigerator until ready to eat. 

{4}

White Chocolate Peanut & Chip Bark

1 package of white chocolate almond bark

1 container of peanuts (cocktail)

1 bag of Baked! Ruffles, lightly crushed

Melt almond bark (either on stove top or in microwavable bowl).  Once melted, stir in peanuts and chips.  The amount is to your liking!

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Pour onto parchment paper and place in refrigerator until cooled and hardened.  Then, break apart in pieces.  Store in fridge. 

{5}

White Chocolate Peanut & M&M Bark

1 package of white chocolate almond bark

1 container of cocktail peanuts

1 bag of M&Ms

Melt almond bark (either on stove top or in microwavable bowl).  Once melted, stir in peanuts and M&Ms.  The amount is to your liking!

Line baking sheet with parchment paper.  Pour onto parchment paper and place in refrigerator until cooled and hardened.  Then, break apart in pieces.  Store in fridge. 

{6}

Fudge

1 1/2 c. sugar

2/3 c. evaporated milk

2 Tbsp butter (or margarine)

1/4 tsp salt

2 c. mini marshmallows

1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp vanilla extract

Line 8x8 baking pan with foil. 

Combine: sugar, evaporated milk, butter, and salt in a medium-sized sauce pan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.  Boil, stirring constantly (or else it will scorch), for 4-5 minutes.  Then, remove from heat.

Stir in marshmallows, chocolate chips, vanilla (and other add ins you may like, such as walnuts).  Stir vigorously for 1 minute, or until everything is smooth and well combined.  Pour into lined baking pan and refrigerate for 2 hours, or until firm.  Lift from pan (using the foil) and cut into desired pieces.  Remove foil.  Store in fridge. 

*I added some M&Ms that I had left over to the tops of half of the pan.

{7}

Minty M&M Pretzel Bites

1 bag of mini pretzels

1 bag of Wilton's peppermint candy (I find them at Wal Mart during the holiday season, I cannot find the peppermint kind anywhere else throughout the year)

1 bag of M&Ms

Preheat oven to 325ºF.

Line baking sheet with foil.  Arrange pretzels on baking sheet and top each pretzel with a candy.  Place in oven for 3-5 minutes, until the candy starts to melt (don't let it melt all the way, otherwise it will seep through the pretzel).  Take out of oven, press M&M into top.

Slide foil off of baking sheet and let cool for at least 1-2 hours.  Store in air-tight container in fridge. 

{8}

Snickerdoodles

Here is another cake mix cookie! Similar to the Chocolate Crinkles!

1 package white cake mix (or yellow works great, too!)

1/4 c. oil

2 eggs

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

For rolling:

1/4 c. sugar

2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Line baking sheet with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, oil, eggs, and nutmeg - with a wooden spoon.  (Once again, the mixture will be thick and may be a little greasy feeling.)

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon.

Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and then roll in the sugar-cinnamon mixture to coat.  

Place on baking sheets and bake for 10-12 minutes.  Do not over bake. 

Remove from oven and cool. 

Again, I find these cookies are great to store in the freezer.  Once you are ready for one, grab one from the freezer and it will soften up in just a couple minutes!

{9}

Christmas Magic Bars

1/2 c. butter, melted

1 1/2 c. graham cracker crumbs

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/3 c. flaked coconut

1 c. M&M, holiday version

Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Coat 9x13 baking pan with Pam (non-stick cooking spray)

Combine the graham cracker crumbs and butter - press into the bottom of pan.  Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over the crumb mixture.  Then, layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut, and M&Ms.  Press down firmly.  Bake 25 minutes, or until lightly browned.  Cut into bars.  Store in air-tight container (at room temp or in fridge).

Hope you enjoy all these recipes!!!

{Best Ever} Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Before I started nursing school, I had to take a couple prerequisite courses - one of them being physiology.  Physiology was by far my favorite course.  I love understanding how and why everything works the way that it does.  I think another reason I loved the course so much was because of my amazing teacher.  She was so good at teaching the course and was able to teach to us so that it made sense to us (versus just memorizing material for an exam).  

Before each exam we had a study review in class.  At each review, she would bring homemade chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.  Everyone begged her for the recipe, but she said she wasn't going to give it out until the end of the course on the last review session (incentive for everyone to attend!).  She kept her promise and shared the recipe with us.  She got the original recipe from when one of her children attended some sort of summer camp.  She told us that she got the recipe, made it at home, and it tasted nothing like what she had tried.  She said she had contacted the people about the recipe and they gave her very detailed step by step instructions on how they put together the recipe.  From what she told us, she said that it is very important to mix this recipe by hand (no kitchen aid, no blender, etc) - just a good old fashion baking spoon!  

I don't have a picture of these cookies at this time.  I just really wanted to get this recipe saved somewhere so I don't lose it.  I still have it written down on the back of one of my review sheets - and there is vanilla, flour, etc. all over it! 

{Best Ever} Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

1 c. margarine (2 sticks), room temperature (I use Fleishmann)

1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar

2 eggs

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla (do not use imitation)

2 c. old fashioned oats

1.5 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I like to use the chunks by Nestle)

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Mix together (not with mixer): margarine, sugar, and brown sugar - until well mixed.

Add in eggs and mix together.

Next, add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.  Mix together until well combined. 

Lastly, mix in vanilla, oats, and chocolate chips. 

Drop mixture by spoonfuls onto baking sheet and bake for 8-12 minutes.  Take out of oven before fully "cooked" - you still want it a little gooey.  Let cool for a couple minutes on baking sheet, then transfer onto foil and place in freezer. 

I usually keep mine in the freezer and eat them cold.  But that's just my preference! 

Enjoy!!!