Brown Sugar Apple Cookies

I have been ignoring you.  I'm sorry, you don't need to yell!  Listen up, my little brother is GETTING MARRIED this weekend!  The little brother of Sirious Sips, by the way, whatever happened to those?  Anyway, my focus has been elsewhere.  But yesterday, my focus was on making a scrumptious fall cookie, and you should totally use the word "scrumptious" more often.  No seriously, try saying it out loud, right now.  Scrumptious!  Doesn't it make you feel joyful?  I found this recipe for Brown Sugar Cookies and I thought, why not add some apples?!  Two peeled, diced Honeycrisp apples to be specific.  I also added 1/2 tsp of vanilla to the recipe and a cup of oatmeal.  I had EVERY intention of drizzling caramel on top and sprinkling them with sea salt (Salted Caramel Apple Cookie anyone??) but my focus faltered.  YOU'RE YELLING AT ME AGAIN.  They were delicious on their own.  

Scrumptious!  

Monster Eyeball Cookies

My daughter has been waking up at 5am this week, which is fun, because then we can bond while I'm super grumpy.  She also knows what "Mama, Coffee, HOT" means, so there's that.  And I've had a chance to get my blog posts up on the early side.  Morning Celebration!  Anyways, remember these Mini Candy Corn Sugar Cookies?  I've been pretty obsessed with the recipe since discovering it.  The dough comes together in a matter of minutes (I usually double it), it's easy to work with, it freezes well, and the creative possibilities are endless (think every holiday).  This go around, I added a small amount of green food coloring to the dough before adding the flour, and then topped each baked cookie with eyeball sprinkles.  Jack and I wanted to make faces on a few of them, so we melted chocolate chips and used a plastic baggie with the end snipped off to create silly, scary monsters... 

Ok those aren't scary at all.  Can you believe Halloween is less than a week away?  Good thing my son has 3 costumes he can't decide between!  If you feel like getting festive and domestic this weekend, check out the homemade candy I've made in the past.  And don't forget these Butterfingers!

Weekend!  

Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have I ever told you about how I hate Pumpkin Pie?  I hate it, really I do. 

I haven't even tried a piece since I was probably 9 years old, and I won't try it.  You probably think you can get me to eat a bite, but you're wrong.  I will run away from you and your bite, like a bat out of hell.  But the weird thing is... I like pumpkin bread, and pumpkin bars, and pumpkin ravioli, cheesecake, seeds, cookies, etc.  Just get away from me, Pumpkin Pie.  Get far, far away.

Back to me liking pumpkin other things, like cookies.  I decided to make up a recipe on Thursday and I think I did good.  All the autumn-y pumpkin flavor that I love, in the consistency of a cookie (not pie).  I brown butter all year long, but there's something extra special about the nuttiness the flavor offers in autumn time.  I added chocolate chips, because I do that to everything, but white chocolate chips would also be lovely.  If you only have all-purpose flour, that will be fine, but I love what the combination of bread flour and cake flour does for cookies.  They help to provide a chewy interior with a crackly exterior.  Be warned: this dough is sticky, so it's important to refrigerate it for as long as possible, preferably overnight.  But it will be worth the wait.  Happy Fall Without Pumpkin Pie, everyone!    

Brown Butter Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Makes approx. 2 dozen)

Printable Recipe

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1/2 cup pumpkin puree

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups bread flour

3/4 cup cake flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp all spice

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 pkg. semi-sweet chocolate chips (or white)

In a small pot, brown butter over medium low heat.  This takes some time, but if you turn the heat too high the butter will burn.  Once it's foams, turns brown and starts to smell nutty - it's ready.  Remove from heat and let cool.  In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together both flours, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, all spice, nutmeg and cloves.  Set aside.  In a large bowl, beat together with an electric mixer both sugars with browned butter.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing in between.  Add pumpkin and vanilla and mix until fully combined.  Slowly add in dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Cover and refrigerate overnight (or at least an hour).  When ready to bake, remove dough from fridge and preheat oven to 350.  Place rounded spoonfuls (I use an ice cream scooper) on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes.       

More Pumpkin on SD:

Vegan Pumpkin Muffins

Fried Pumpkin Ravioli

Pumpkin Bread

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares

Pumpkin Seeds

Cookie review-BART & JUDY'S "The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie In the World" ???

are these "THE BEST chocolate chip cookies...

 IN THE WORLD"?

well, i think Bart and Judy have opened a ferocious can of worms with a statement like that.

first let me tell you,  I LOVE THE PACKAGING !  that's what made me buy them, not that it claimed to be the best.  although i must say, curiosity riled the baker in me and i just had to try Bart & Judy's "THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE IN THE WORLD"

how very very clever those two are.

reeling the buyer in with packaging like that.  i wonder if Bart & Judy are friends with "Dr.Bronner", the soap guy with small print all over his products.  the box has all kinds of quotes, philosophies, information, instructions and warnings....AND it's made of 100% recycled paper with a mention on the side..."MADE IN THE USA: THE BEST COUNTRY IN THE WORLD".  the whole experience in kind of fun, very unlike any mass produced store bought cookie...for that reason i thought it was worth the purchase....

the cookies are secondary.

i felt like the kid that gets an expensive gift for x-mas, tosses the gift aside and plays with the box for hours.

as you can see from the photo above...these are tiny teenie cookies.  some smaller than a quarter.

some don't even contain ONE CHIP !

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?

AND i bought the ones with walnuts and pecans.  i'll bet ya anyone with a nut allergy would have no big anaphylactic shock after eating the whole box...there might be one walnut and one pecan somewhere in the box, but i haven't found it yet.

on the back he makes a pretty obvious reference to "Famous Amos"...

i was around for the Famous Amos craze in the 70's.  were you?  Famous Amos was the first big hit phenomenon of the bakery world that i can remember.  when Famous Amos cookies arrived on the scene they were nothing like the prepackaged lame cookie that those little Kellogg's Keebler elves are hocking now a days...these were a pretty darn good cookie.  especially if you could get some hot out of the oven at the flagship store in Los Angeles.  it was a good cookie...small, BUT NOT THAT SMALL, crisp, homemade tasting and it had at least a few chocolate chips in each cookie.  nuts were a good size.  you could actually see them, but even he didn't claim to be the best in the world.

nutritional facts?...
it claims 6 cookies per serving equaling 30 grams for 83 calories.
now...i know many many people who would jump at the chance to have 6 chcocolate chip cookies for 83 calories.  but do you know how pathetic 30 grams is?
don't sneeze or you'll loose 1/2 your serving !

"ecstatic delirium"?...hasn't hit me yet...personal injury?...maybe a paper cut from playing with the box.

after you finally get the box open you see a gold bag reminiscent of Willy Wonka's golden ticket.  the bag comes with warning instructions to let the cookies "decant" for 10 minutes to enjoy their fullest flavor.

who do you know that will open a bag of cookies and wait for 10 minutes before trying one?  

of course i had to try one right away.  then i waited 10 minutes and tried another.  was there a huge difference?...NO.  same small, smaller than a quarter, cookie.  nice flavor, nice crunch, but yet another fun gimmick that sets these cookies apart from the norm.

oh...and i forgot about the "STOP! READ FIRST!...important instructions...it's another note about the "decanting".

 do i really need to be told twice HOW to eat a chocolate chip cookie?...maybe one so small that could get lost between a tooth?  it goes on...then there's another side that is "optional reading".

i will admit i went for the whole deal and entered my "exclusive serial number" on the web site.  i have no idea what that does except give my email address out there for more people to spam me....whatever...it's all in fun.

in conclusion...

don't get me wrong...i DO like the cookie (i like the box better).  this IS a "good" cookie, but it's just so very very small....and general consensus from friends and chefs?..."a good cookie, crunchy, homemade flavor, better than the elves",  but best in the world?...not so much.

on the back of the box, Bart states that this venture is not about the money (good thing).  he just wants to put a smile on your face and make the world a better place with his "great cookie"

well...that he did....he put a smile on my face.  definitely NOT from the best chocolate chip cookie in the world, but maybe just the shear enjoyment and conversational debates i had when sharing the box and tiny little nondescript cookies inside.

Fudge Brownie Cookies

The other day, as I was sitting there thinking about chocolate and butter, I thought... if you can make cookies with cake batter, then why can't you make them with brownie mix??  I think brilliant, deep, intellectual thoughts.  So off to the store I went in search of brownie mix.  And then I made deeply rich, chocolaty cookies with a fudgy interior and a crusty, brownie-like exterior.  Did I mention the gooey chocolate chunks?  I'm a genius.    

Fudge Brownie Cookies

Makes 2 dozen

Printable Recipe

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp brewed coffee, cooled

1 3/4 cup fudge brownie mix

1 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 pkg. semi sweet (or dark) chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, whisk together brownie mix, flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  In a larger bowl, mix together butter and brown sugar.  Add egg, vanilla and coffee and mix.  Slowly mix in dry ingredients.  Add chocolate chips and stir.  Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.  Preheat oven to 350.  Place rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased (or parchment lined) baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes.  

...making cookies next to my entire-waffle-eating 10 month-old.

Rice Crispy Treat Cookies

Sometimes I am smart.  I do smart things, like a smart person.  For example, there has been a bag of mini marshmallows I've been trying to get rid of because I can't stop eating them.  How can I get rid of these, I asked myself yesterday.  Ooo, I know!  I'll put them in cookies.  And now, I have a batch of cookies that I can't stop eating.  Problem solved?  No, problem not solved.  I am a smart person.

Oh well, my son and I bonded and I kept him from watching Mike the Knight.  These were his idea, I kid you not.  A chocolate chip cookie with Rice Krispies and marshmallows - a Rice Crispy Treat Cookie if you will!  They are reminiscent of the familiar snack with their gooey crunch.  A bit messy, because I put marshmallows in the dough as well as on top.  You could plop yours on after they've been baked to avoid the mess.  I just love that gooey, melted marshmallow in the cookie as well.    

Also, sorry for the lack of posts this week.  Every day has been "Go.Go.Go" and every night my brain wakes me up around midnight and keeps me up for a few hours with "To-Do List" thoughts.  

Thanks brain!  You're the bestest.  

Rice Crispy Treat Cookies

(Makes approx. 24)

Printable Recipe

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 cups Rice Krispies

1 pkg. chocolate chips

Mini marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl with a mixer, cream together butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla.  Combine.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.  Slowly add to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.  Stir in cereal and chocolate chips.  Add roughly 1 cup of mini marshmallows, if adding to dough.  If not, save until after cookies are baked.  Scoop out cookies onto ungreased baking sheet (or lined with parchment paper).  Bake for 8-10 minutes.  Immediately out of oven, top each cookie with 2 or 3 mini marshmallows.  Let cool.  

More Cake Batter Cookies + Giveaway Winner

Happy Friday!  I have some business with you.  Ready?

1. The winner of the Madhava Giveaway is Amy Ohlson - Amy, please email me : )

Thank you for all the lovely comments and thank you Madhava for the wonderful products!

2. I made more Cake Batter Cookies (above), this time with Funfetti Cake Mix.  YES.

3. You might see a major remodel of this blog come Monday.  I hope you like!

4. I'm eating a cookie for breakfast, dammit.

5. See ya next week!

Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been working on a cookbook as an auction item for my son's preschool.  For someone who gets giddy over both food and organizing projects, it has been a very enjoyable experience, especially discovering what each four-year-old in his class loves to cook and eat.  One little girl, after my own heart, turned in a cookie recipe that stirred my interest because, let's face it, every cookie recipe stirs my interest.  You'd think my bucket list was simply: Bake 797 different kinds of Chocolate Chip Cookies (and I will, oh, I will).  This particular recipe was gluten-free, something I've never tried before, and something a few readers have requested lately.  Don't get used to it, as you know, this is not a blog that meets many dietary needs (but for more gluten-free cooking, see this site).  However, these cookies were delicious.  I would make them any day of the week.  I added oatmeal to mine, which probably isn't gluten-free?  I don't know, but I'm sure they make gluten-free oatmeal if it isn't.  They make gluten-free, dairy-free, environmentally friendly hybrid vehicles.

Gluten-free Chocolate Chip Cookies

(Makes roughly 2 dozen)

Printable Recipe

2 cups brown rice flour (Bob's is a good one)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup organic vegetable shortening (Spectrum's is a good one)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 pkg. chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  In a bowl, whisk together brown rice flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  With a mixer, cream together shortening and both sugars.  Add eggs, one at a time, and then vanilla.  Add flour mixture and combine.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Scoop rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes.  *The key to gluten-free baking is the timing: there is a fine line between under done and burnt to a crisp.  

Outrageous Chocolate Cookies

I will make anything with the words "outrageous" and "chocolate" before it.  Outrageous Chocolate Meatloaf?  I will make it.  On second thought, that sounds revolting and I will NOT make it.  Outrageous Chocolate Cookies?  Ok!  I am a HUGE chocolate freak, the more of it, the better.  So I will keep these cookies bookmarked because I loved them.  SUPER rich.  In fact, do not let your 4 year-old eat one after 6pm if you do not want him to wake up at 1am for an entire hour.  Next time I might add some espresso powder?  Right, that sounds like a terrible idea if I'm worried about sleep, but coffee helps to enhance chocolate flavor even more.  Besides, I have two kids and I've given up on sleep for the next 18 years.  Recipe here.  

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Cookies

Anyone find themselves with a plethora of these lying around...

Or any Easter candy for that matter?  It's a horrific problem with a very easy solution - put them in a cookie.  Crush them, smash them, or throw them in there whole.  Any cookie would do.  Like these, from last year.  Today I decided to make those Peanut Butter Troll Cookies, but this time I browned the butter.  Brown butter + peanut butter is a very good idea.  Sometimes I have very good ideas!  Like that time when I was 12 and I put the neon pink tights under a pair of cut-off jean shorts.  I looked so good - my mom didn't think so - but I looked so good.  This is why I don't have a fashion blog, people.    

Carrot Cake Cookies

It's almost March, it's almost spring, it's almost Easter.  Sorta.  I've got CARROTS on my brain, I've got carrots on my BRAIN, I've got carrots, carrots, CARROTS on my BRAIN!  

You see, I think I had a stroke there for a second.  I just sang a song about carrots, except for I didn't sing it, I wrote it down, so that you could sing it as you read it.  You don't understand how tired I am, people.  It's dangerous for me to be blogging, because I don't know what sort of sentence or song I will come up with next.  So for now, I'm just going to leave you with this recipe.  I loved this cookie.  It felt wonderfully unique and it was very easy to make.  Shortcuts, I'm all about them right now.  And making a cookie with a little help from a bag of cake mix is the best kind of shortcut.  

Carrot Cake Cookies
(Makes approx. 24 cookies)
Printable Recipe

1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cup carrot cake mix
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
White chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Cream butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla, and mix until incorporated.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cake mix, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and mix until just combined.  Stir in white chocolate chips.  Place by rounded spoonful on baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Banana Cookie Bars with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

Carson accuses me of letting bananas go bad.  And by the way, it's possible I've written that exact sentence on this blog before.  Ok so maybe I don't rush to eat them while they're edible.  Maybe I silently rejoice when I see them start to brown and ripen.  Maybe I google banana recipes like it's my job.  It is sort of my job, right?  It's my job.  Let's go with that.  

So I had two ripe bananas, and I found this recipe.  Gosh darnit, it's good.  I don't think you can possibly go wrong pairing bananas with Nutella, and these bars, while slightly dense, resemble a sugar cookie with delicious banana flavor.  You should let your bananas go bad, I think...      

Chewy Reese's Chocolate Cookies

Sometimes, you have to open your cupboard, grab a bag of peanut butter chips, and follow the recipe on the back of the bag.  Because fancy blogs like mine (just go with it) aren't the only place to turn for a good cookie.  And, on an unrelated topic, why is 'cupboard' such a weird word?  Cup board??  Shouldn't it be spelled cubbard?  I'm glad you're here to discuss these sorts of things with.  Anyway, if you don't have a bag of peanut butter chips, you can find the recipe here.  On my fancy blog.  And to fancy things up further, I baked them in a pan and used a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make them festive.  Because I heart you people.  And I especially heart peanut butter and chocolate.  

Thank you fancy bag.