Oatmeal Cookie Butter Cookies

I am going to ask you to turn your oven on in this post. Yes... these cookies are worth every degree the temperature increases in your house. I promise!

I am a little behind the train on the Biscoff spread/Cookie Butter craze. I have not found the actual Biscoff spread here, just the Trader Joe's Cookie Butter version, but I can tell you that the spread is definitely some addicting stuff. The first jar that made its way into our pantry disappeared via some spoons :)

This cookie recipe comes from the book Cookie Cravings by the cookie genius, Maria, at Two Peas and Their Pod. Maria and I seem to share a similar love of cookies, and this book is definitely on my want list. With the spices in the spread and the cinnamon in the recipe, I could absolutely see these cookies being a great holiday cookie. Nonetheless, my coworkers (as well as my husband and myself) certainly enjoyed them in the middle of July! Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Oatmeal Cookie Butter Cookies
Adapted from Cookie Cravings 

Ingredients:
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup Cookie Butter/Biscoff Spread
1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1/2 pkg. white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter and sugars. Mix until light and fluffy. Add the egg; mix well. Mix in the vanilla. Add the cookie butter and mix until combined. Mix in the flour mixture. Mix in oats and white chocolate chips until combined. If the dough still seems quite sticky, you can add a bit more flour, a couple tablespoons at a time. 

Form the cookie dough into balls and set on the baking sheet. Press down slightly. Bake for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are set and firm around the edges. Do not bake until the cookies are starting to brown. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes. Remove and finish cooling on a wire rack. 

Yield: about 18 cookies

SRC: Sugar Cookie Bars

Well... it's been awhile since I've been on here. I am happy to report that I finished up my residency at the end of June, certificate and all. Hoping that means that I'll be cooking a little more regularly (and I think I'm not the only one). I think the hubs is ready to hand the kitchen back over to me!

What better way to get back into the swing of things that with a SRC reveal day? My blogger for this month was Raina from Connor's Cooking. Raina has a fun variety of recipes from stir-fries to baked oatmeal, and I still want to try many of these! In the end, I ended up listing to my sweet tooth and chose to make her sugar cookie bars. 

This recipe makes a sheet pan of cookies, and it turned out to be the perfect recipe because I have been receiving a few hints that I should bring some treats into work. Even in the sheet pan, the bars end up nice and thick, staying soft throughout. I needed to bake these for about 20-22 minutes, but I am just realizing now that I baked them at 350 rather than 375 degrees. Either way, it works well.

My only suggestion for the future would be to adjust the frosting recipe (possibly adding a little more powdered sugar) as mine tended to get a little bit too soft when kept at room temperature. Then again, it is July in Arizona and refrigerated cookie bars taste pretty good :)

Thanks for a great recipe Raina. I look forward to seeing your posts in the future! 

(Printable Recipe)

Sugar Cookie Bars
Adapted from Connor's Cooking (Originally from www.loveandoliveoil.com)

Ingredients:
Cookies:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda

Frosting:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 tsp. vanilla extract
pinch of salt
4-5 cups powdered sugar
5 Tbsp. milk (I used almond milk)
food coloring, if desired

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing one at a time until well combined. Mix in vanilla. In a separate  bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add to the butter mixture until just combined. Grease a large rimmed baking sheet (10x15-inch) with nonstick spray. Gently spread the dough over the sheet. Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the edges of the bars are just beginning to brown. Place on a wire rack to cool.

While the bars are cooling, beat the butter in a large bowl until smooth and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and salt. Add powdered sugar, 1 cup at a time, alternating with a little milk. Mix until smooth and spreadable, but sturdy. Add a few drops of food coloring if desired. Spread over the cooled cookie bars (only after they are completely cool). Cut and enjoy!

Club: Baked - Speculaas

This week's Club: Baked recipe was co-posted with our sister group, Baked Sunday Mornings. Both of our groups are baking through the book, Baked Explorations, but we are typically on different schedules as the Sunday morning group was established before we began our trip through the book. For fun, this time we decided to join-up on a recipe. More people baking together at one time. Should be fun. I am looking forward to seeing everyone's posts!

As described in the book, these cookies came together really easily for me. I mixed them up before leaving the house to run some errands, and they were ready to roll out and bake when I got back. My dough was a little sticky when rolling it out, but that is the only (minor) complaint that I had. 

These cookies certainly end up on the crunchy side of things. I feel like mine were a little soft when I took them out of the oven, but the y set-up quite a bit as they cool. From the description of the cookies, it sounds like they are meant to be a crunchier cookie. I typically am a chewy cookie gal, but I found myself going back for these again and again. They were right up my husband's alley as he likes his cookies crunchy. I can't write this post without mentioning my beetle cookie cutter. I do actually drive a Beetle and received this cookie cutter as a gift from a 7-yr old family friend. Too cute!

These cookies certainly have that "holiday" type flavor and seem like they would keep really well for some time (not that I would know as ours didn't last very long). Something that I will definitely have to keep in mind for future holiday cookie plates. Be sure to check out the Club: Baked page to see the post from both our group and the Baked Sunday Mornings group. Should be a great round-up!

Lemon Coconut Macaroons

It's December, so that must mean it is cookie time! How about some macaroons? The ones with 2 o's :)

Macarons have been on my list of things to make for some time, but I have never mustered up the guts to try them. It is my understanding that they have quite the reputation for being temperamental. I have a feeling that this kind, with coconut and 2 o's in the name, are a little simpler to make.

The recipe for these comes from The Sweet Melissa Baking Book.  I was a member of the Sweet Melissa Sundays baking club, however the ladies made this recipe before I joined. I made these on a whim one day while looking for a way to use up a partial bag of coconut, and I haven't regretted it. With a short ingredient list, the recipe couldn't be easier, and as long as you like coconut and lemon, I am confident you will enjoy these. I am thinking you could even pass them off as "snowballs" on a Christmas cookie plate. Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Lemon Coconut Macaroons
From The Sweet Melissa Baking Book

Ingredients:
1 (14oz) bag sweetened coconut
zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 cup sugar
2 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (these will tend to stick if you skip this step).

In a large bowl, combine the coconut, lemon juice, and lemon zest and rub together with your hands. Stir in the sugar and mix to combine. Add the egg whites. Use your hands to mix until everything is coated and the egg whites are distributed evenly. 

Form the mixture into approximately 1-ounce balls with your hands or a cookie scoop. Place on the prepared cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. 

The cookie base will keep up to 1 week if you want to make the 'dough' ahead of time. The finished cookies will keep well in a container at room temperature for 3 days. For longer storage, place them in the refrigerator.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bake-Off: NYT vs. Levain Copycat

The chocolate chip cookie. It has to be the ultimate cookie in the minds of a lot of people, and there are enough recipes to match. At last count, I have >50 recipes saved for different chocolate chip cookies, and that doesn't count the couple family recipes that I have sitting in my arsenal. So what's a girl to do? Compare them side by side! 

Since comparing 50+ recipes at one time is not feasible (unless we want to eat chocolate chip cookies and only chocolate chip cookies for the next month!), I have decided that I want to compare the recipes, side by side, tournament style, two at a time and work our way through to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe for us. This is probably going to take me awhile since I like to mix things up, but as I pair up the recipes, I'll send them your way. I have told you before that the hubs and I have a different take on the perfect cookie (he's a crunchy fan, I'm a chewy fan). Given this, I fully realize that I may end this quest with 2 perfect recipes, but 2 has to be better than 50 :)

So which 2 are up first? I started my quest with 2 of the most contended recipes floating around the blogsphere - the New York Times recipe and a Levain bakery copycat recipe. While I have never had an authentic Levain bakery cookie, it is certainly in my bucket list as it seems to be quite the experience. The New York Times recipe speaks for itself. I don't know how many blog posts I have read declaring this the best recipe ever.  Some ground rules to start:

1) I will try to follow recipes as written.
2) That said, I want to use the same kinds of chocolate chips in each so that my tastes aren't swayed by the chocolate.
3) My other exception to following the recipes. Nuts. I will always leave them out.
4) One has to be declared a winner. One by me and one by the hubs.

So, here's my take on the cookies:

The New York Times recipe calls for chocolate disks. I looked really hard for these but all that I could find was unsweetened chocolate disks from Trader Joe's which weren't going to work. I ended up using a mix of bittersweet chips and milk chocolate chips in here to match the chips called for in the Levain recipe. If you've heard of this recipe, you know that it calls for a significant chill time (24 hours) in the refrigerator. This is torture for anyone who loves cookie dough :) I didn't try baking cookies at different chill times, but I have heard from other bloggers who have tried this that the chill time really does make a difference  in developing depth in the flavors. The resulting cookies were large and did develop the texture difference referred to in the recipe - crunchy around the edges and chewy in the middle. One definite plus, they stayed soft for a couple of days as we ate through the batch.

(Printable Recipe)

The New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from The New York Times July 8, 2008

Ingredients:
2 cups, minus 2 Tbsp. (8-1/2 oz) cake flour
1-2/3 cups (8-1/2 oz) bread flour
1-1/4 tsp. baking soda
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1-1/2 tsp. coarse salt
2-1/2 sticks (1-1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1-1/4 cups (10 oz) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. (8 oz) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. natural vanilla extract
1-1/4 lbs. bittersweet & milk chocolate chips, mixed
sea salt (optional)

Combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.

Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined, 5-10 seconds. Drop in chocolate chips and incorporate. Press plastic wrap against the dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Set aside. Scoop 3-1/2 ounce mounds of dough (size of generous golf balls) onto the baking sheet, making sure to turn any chocolate pieces that are poking up to make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
______________________________________________________________________

The Levain copycat recipe is also one that makes huge cookies. I used the same mix of bittersweet and milk chocolate chips in these to eliminate the chocolate as a variable. The cookies get definite points for being a quick recipe. There are some times where you just want a chocolate cookie recipe right now. The cookies were notably thicker that the New York Times recipe and were softer throughout with the outer edge being less crunchy. I loved the use of dark brown sugar in these as I loved the depth of the flavor that it added. Of note, there is not vanilla. Lisa, the creator of this copycat recipe states that these are best the day that they are made, and I agree. They tended to get drier than the NYT recipe after storing for a couple of days.

(Printable Recipe)

Levain Bakery Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cubed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2-3/4 to 3-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
2 cups bittersweet & milk chocolate chips, mixed
1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped (I omitted these)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

In the bowl of a electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until well incorporated. Add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until just combined. Gently fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Transfer dough to a clean work surface and gently mix by hand to ensure even distribution of the ingredients. Divide into 12 equal portions of about 4 oz each. Place each on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or a silpat and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until very lightly browned, taking care not to overbake. Let cool on a wire rack.
______________________________________________________________________

Well, so which one was our choice. I have to say that both recipes were phenomenal. I was expecting to make two recipes and have a clear favorite, but I can truly tell you that it was a hard choice. In the end, the NYT recipe won over both my hubs and I. Him for the crunchy edge. Me for many things including the depth of flavor and better storage. My biggest downside of these is the chill time required. It is certainly not a recipe that can fulfill a chocolate chip cookie craving but is great if you are planning ahead to make them.
I definitely wouldn't turn down one of these Levain copycat cookies if someone offered me one, but I think for now, the NYT recipe is on to the next round :) Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Preztel Cookies

Wow. I cannot believe that it has been over a month since I last posted a new dessert recipe! I have talked before about how I consider myself more of a baker than a cook, so I am thinking it is about time I get some sweets up on here! 

One of the wonderful things about being a food blogger is this huge community of great cooks and bakers with delicious food ideas. One of the downsides that I've heard discussed before is that it's really hard to come up with an original idea! I came up with the idea of using Trader Joe's chocolate-covered, peanut butter-filled pretzel bites in cookies after wandering across them in the store several months ago. I have made pretzel-chocolate chip cookie bars and pretzel m&m cookies previously and know that I love the sweet-salty combination that results. As you may have guessed, it turns out my idea was not that original as the Blue Eyed Bakers posted the exact same cookies this spring. I guess great minds think alike? Not being one to re-invent the wheel, I used their recipe, so the credit for these beauties is completely theirs.

The cookies turned out as good as they sound. I actually wasn't impressed by the chocolate covered, peanut butter-filled pretzels alone (of course I had to try one), but in the cookies, they were great. I love how the salt from the crushed pretzels adds another dimension to baked goods. If you don't have a Trader Joe's nearby, you may be able to get similar results with chopped Reese's and coarsely crushed normal pretzels - it's the salt that counts :) Enjoy!

(Printable Recipes)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies
From Blue Eyed Bakers

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 large eggs
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups chocolate-covered, peanut butter-filled pretzels, coarsely crushed

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a mixer, cream the butter for 2 minutes, until fluffy. Add the sugars and mix for 2 minutes more. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Add the peanut butter and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix only until just incorporated. Fold in the pretzel pieces and chocolate chips. 

Roll the dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on a prepared baking sheet (lined with parchment, silpat, or cooking spray). Flatten slightly with your hands or a spatula, and bake 8-12 minutes or until cookies are just set and beginning to brown on the edge. Do not overbake. Transfer cookies to a rack to cool completely.

Club: Baked - Chocolate Mint Thumbprint Cookies

Mother nature was against me last night. I was on track to get these cookies finished and photographed before I lost my daylight, and instead we got a monsoon that made it dark about 45 minutes before the sun usually sets. I am really not being dramatic calling it a monsoon either. You should see how hard it rains when it finally decides to down here!

Weather aside, this is our next recipe for Club: Baked hosted by Jamie of Random Acts of Food. I am a cookie girl, so I was excited to see how the first cookie recipe in the book panned out. Overall, I think the process of putting these together went quite smooth. I used 72% dark chocolate and white chocolate that I picked up from Trader Joes and the Andes mint pieces (baking isle) for the mint chocolate. I did opt to use my standard cocoa instead of Dutch processed cocoa, as I really don't bake with chocolate that much. My only problem was trying to press a "thumbprint" in the cookies without causing them to crack. It is harder than it sounds! Even with a few cracks, my cookies all held the white chocolate ganache without leaking :) 

My makeshift double-boiler set up.

Halving the recipe left me with 14 cookies (I've noticed my yields have been quite different than the listed yields in the recipes). I didn't try one as I am much for most chocolate goodies, but I can tell you that my husband wouldn't even share a bite of his :) The rest of them are headed to work today with him. Thanks to Jamie for hosting and be sure to stop by the Club: Baked page to check out the round-up!

Cookie Carnival: Wild Blue Energy Chews

It's time for the Cookie Carnival again! As a refresher, it's a monthly group hosted by Tami at Tami's Kitchen Table Talk. Tami scours the recipes and comes up with two cookie recipes for the members to make throughout the month. I really like this group for a lot of reasons:

1) Tami always seems to find recipes I'd never run across on my own. 
2) There is no pressure to bake.With that, there is no due date (with the exception of the end of the month). You can bake them and post them at any time throughout the month.
3) Cookies! They may be my favorite type of dessert!

This month, I chose to make the wild blue energy chews since I had another group making a chocolate-based cookie in the same time frame. It is a Betty Crocker sponsored recipe and starts with their oatmeal cookie mix. While I usually try to avoid using mixes, it certainly does make these quick. I was done from start to finish in about 30 minutes! The resulting cookies were good. I underbaked mine just a tad because oatmeal cookies HAVE to be a little bit chewy. We've recently found that we really enjoy dried blueberries, and the combination of them with the almonds and wheat germ really do give these a "healthier" vibe. One deviation that I had from the published recipe was the yield. The website claims this should make 30 cookies. If you've ever seen one of those packages, they aren't very big. I never really measure my dough balls, but I finished with 18 cookies that are probably 1-1/2-inch in diameter. It's really not a big deal, but I have no idea how you would get 30 cookies. They would be cookie bites!

Would I make them again? Sure, but I think I'll substitute a from-scratch oatmeal cookie recipe. Thanks Tami for another great pick! Be sure to stop by her blog in the next few days to catch the cookie round-up!

(Printable Recipe)

 Wild Blue Energy Chews
From Betty Crocker

Ingredients:
1 pkg. Betty Crocker oatmeal cookie mix
1/4 toasted wheat germ
3 Tbsp. butter, softened
3 Tbsp. canola oil
3 Tbsp. water
1 egg white
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir cookie mix, wheat germ, butter, oil, water, and the egg white until soft dough forms. Stir in blueberries, almonds and chocolate chips. Roll dough into teaspoonful balls and set on the cookie sheet. Flatten the balls slightly with your hands or a spatula.

Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from the cookie sheet to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. 

Double Coconut M&M Cookies

I have been on a bit of a self-proclaimed cookie-roll this spring. I LOVE making cookies if you can't tell from the stack of cookie recipes in my archives, but I've branched out a little more this spring to include ones that go a little beyond your standard line-up of chocolate chip, peanut butter, snickerdoodles, and sugar cookies. In mixing it up a little, I have ran across some great recipes including these and these that I know we'll make again and again.

These cookies were actually an idea that I had brewing for awhile coming from a mix of things including a coconut-chocolate chip cookie recipe in Cooking Light, the new coconut m&m's and my husband's love of all things coconut. Ever have one of those recipes that you make and then wonder why you waited so long. That was these. I had really wanted to make them for St. Patrick's Day given the green color of the M&M's, but I obviously missed that one :) 

As a note, I found a couple of large bags of the coconut M&M's that were out around Easter. I'm not sure if they typically sell the large bags or not, but you could easily buy a couple of the single-serving bags to make up enough M&M's for the cookies. The coconut M&M's are a bit larger than the standard milk chocolate ones, so I gave them a rough chop before I added them to the dough. I feel like I am always saying that recipes were good, but these were. I snuck some into a tupperware container that I was returning to a friend. They later asked for the recipe, so these weren't just a hit at our house :) Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Double Coconut M&M Cookies
Adapted from Cooking Light

Ingredients:
1 cup shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup (4.5 oz) all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/8 tsp. salt
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup coconut M&M's (white pkg), roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Arrange coconut in a single layer on a baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 7 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring once. Set aside to cool.

Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl; stir with a whisk until blended. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl. Beat with a mixer on medium speed until well blended. Beat in the vanilla and the egg. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until just combined. Stir in toasted coconut and crush M&M's.

Roll the dough into balls and place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray or a silicone mat. Press down on the dough balls lightly to flatten. Bake for 10 minutes or until cookies just begin to brown. Remove from the pan and cool completely on wire racks.

I am linking these to Sweet Tooth Friday.

Chewy Coconut-Lime Sugar Cookies

We have quite the ongoing cookie debate at our house. See I am amongst the chewy cookie lovers. I have even been known to purposely underbake my cookies just a little bit to keep that doughy texture in the middle. My husband likes his crispy with biscotti being a type of cookie that he really enjoys. Typically I end up compromising by making some chewy and some crispy cookies when I bake a batch, but these cookies landed squarely in my camp. Sugar cookies are one of those varieties that HAVE to be chewy :)

In reality, this is a recipe I found in Cook's Illustrated that was developed to create the perfect chewy texture for a sugar cookie. The ingredients are a little different from your typical cookie line-up including cream cheese and vegetable oil. I was intrigued and decided to make this version of the cookies to please my coconut-loving husband. 

The promise of a cookie with a soft, chewy center and a crackly-crisp top was spot-on. To me, the coconut-lime version made them seem really summery. Even my crispy-cookie husband enjoyed these, and I know that both the normal version and coconut-lime version are cookies that I will be keeping in my arsenal for quite some time. Enjoy!

(Printable Recipe)

Chewy Coconut-Lime Sugar Cookies
From Nov/Dec 2010 Cook's Illustrated

Ingredients:
2-1/4 cups (11-1/4 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut 

1/2 tsp. table salt
1-1/2 cups (10-1/2 oz) sugar, plus 1/3 cup for rolling
2 oz. cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces 
1 tsp. finely grated lime zest
6 Tbsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted and still warm
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
1 Tbsp. milk
1 Tbsp. lime juice

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, coconut, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

Place 1-1/2 cups sugar, cream cheese, and lime zest in a large bowl. Place remaining 1/3 cup sugar in shallow baking dish or pie plate and set aside. Pour warm butter over sugar and cream cheese and whisk to combine (some small lumps of cream cheese will remain but will smooth out later). Whisk in oil until incorporated. Add egg, milk, and lime juice; continue to whisk until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix with rubber spatula until soft homogeneous dough forms. 

The final dough will be slightly softer than most cookie dough. For the best results, handle the dough as briefly as possible when shaping the cookies. Overworking the dough will result in flatter cookies. Divide dough into 24 equal pieces, about 2 tablespoons each. Using hands, roll dough into balls. Working in batches, roll balls in reserved sugar to coat and evenly space on prepared baking sheet, 12 dough balls per sheet. Using the bottom of a drinking glass, flatten dough balls until 2 inches in diameter. Sprinkle tops evenly with 4 teaspoons sugar, remaining in shallow dish (2 teaspoons per cookie sheet), discard any remaining sugar. 

Bake, 1 tray at a time, until edges are set and just beginning to brown, 11 to 13 minutes, rotating the tray after 7 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets for 5 minutes. Using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature. 

I am linking these to Sweet Tooth Fridays
Sweets for Saturday and Melt in Your Mouth Mondays:


 

April Cookie Carnival: Toasted Coconut Shortbread with Pineapple Topping

It's been a few days since I promised my last strawberry ice cream recipe, but I promise it is still in the plans! Since today is actually the first day of May, my calculations indicate that I have ran out of time to post my goodies from the April Cookie Carnival. We've had quite a busy week culminating with running the Arizona location of the muddy Warrior Dash today. If you are waiting for the ice cream, I promise it will make it up here in a couple of days after I finally get all the dirt cleaned off my body and running clothes! :)

We had some friends over yesterday for the first barbecue in our newly finished backyard, and these cookies turned out to be the dessert hit of the party! This is particularly impressive in my book because the other option was a no-fail caramel brownie :) I have to admit that the coconut-pineapple combination in these proved to be pretty awesome!

While the end result was worth it, I struggled a little with the recipe. After pulsing the dough in my food processor, there was no way it was going to hold together enough to form a cohesive ball of dough. Did anyone else have trouble with crumbly dough? I tried to avoid it, but ended up needing to add 2-3 tsp. milk to the dough to get it to hold together. After this, it cooperated much better. My other complaint is that my yield was much lower than the recipe indicated. I used a coffee cup to cut my circles and ended up with a total of 12 spheres. I don't feel that my coffee cup was that big, so they must have used a really small cookie cutter to end up with 12 sandwich cookies in the test recipe. Since I wanted to have 10-12 servings of each dessert option for people to choose from, we ended up eating them open-sided and added the topping immediately before eating our individual servings. Despite my troubles, I feel like I could now make these rather quickly in the future. I will certainly keep them in mind because they were really enjoyed by our guests! Enjoy! 

(Printable Recipe)

Toasted Coconut Shortbread with Pineapple Topping
Adapted from Anna Olson's recipe on Food Network Canada

Ingredients:
Shortbread:
1/2 cup sweetened coconut, finely shred
1 cup and 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, unsalted, room temperature
2-3 tsp. milk, if needed

Pineapple Cream Topping:
1/2 cup (4 oz) cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
2/3 cup whipping cream, whipped to soft peaks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread coconut on a baking tray and toast for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown, stirring once. Watch it closely so it does not burn. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Add butter in pieces and pulse just until dough is crumbly. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and sprinkle toasted coconut over the dough. Work it into the dough until the dough comes together. May add milk as needed to bring the dough together. Dust work surface again and roll out dough into a rectangle about 1/8-inch thick, and cut into circles using a 3-inch glass or round cookie cutter. Use a spatula to lift cookies onto a parchment-lined baking tray and bake for 10-12 minutes, just until the edges of the cookies begin to brown. Cool cookies on the pan for 5 minutes before removing the cookies to wire racks to cool completely. 

For the pineapple topping, beat whipped cream with an electronic mixer until soft peaks have formed. Set aside. Beat cream cheese until soft and fluffy. Beat in icing sugar and vanilla. Stir in pineapple and fold in whipping cream. Chill until ready to serve. To plate, place a cookie on a plate and spoon or pipe about 2 tablespoons of pineapple cream onto the cookie. 

March Cookie Carnival: Chocolate Brownie Oatmeal Cookies

Our Cookie Carnival recipes this month were both loaded with a special ingredient -- chocolate! Both Chocolate Mint Sandwiches and Chocolate Brownie Oatmeal Cookies were on the March menu. While this thought might be pure bliss for many, I usually shy away from chocolate-based desserts. Don't get me wrong, I love things like chocolate chip cookies, but if given the choice between chocolate and vanilla, I will go for the vanilla every single time. Oddly enough, several days ago, my husband decided that he was craving brownies to go along with his ice cream, thus we decided to give these cookies a go (see below for his cookie-ice cream creation). 

Our verdict: the cookies on their own were just okay. Of course, they were good when served straight out of the oven with ice cream, but the ones that I baked separately as traditional cookies were a little eh. They weren't bad, but they also are not a cookie that I will be moving to my "make again" list. To be completely fair, I did change the recipe by increasing the butter-cream cheese ratio because I was a little short on the amount of cream cheese called for in the recipe, however I don't think this would have greatly affected the taste. 

 You win some, you lose some, and I think that my experience with these cookies is more personal taste than anything else. Check out the others' results after the 1st of April on Tami's blog. I've seen a couple other bloggers, including Tami, that have made these cookies and really enjoyed them! 

(Printable Recipe)

Chocolate Brownie Oatmeal Cookie
From QuakerOats.com

Ingredients:
1 pkg. (8oz) cream cheese
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 cups oats (quick or old fashioned)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
powdered sugar (optional)

In a large bowl, combine flour and baking soda; set aside. In a separate large bowl, beat cream cheese, butter, and sugars until creamy. Add in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add vanilla; beat well. Add melted chocolate; mix well. Stir in the flour and baking soda mixture. Add oats and nuts (if using). Stir until just incorporated. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place cookies 3 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until cookies are almost set. Centers should still be moist. Do not overbake. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets. Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with powdered sugar, if desired. Store tightly covered.

Yield: 6 dozen

Blueberry and Cream Cookies

Before you pass these by as being a weird flavor of cookies, give me a second and take a look. I am going to tell you right up front that the worst part of these cookies is the wait time. The positive aspects of a relatively short preparation time is one of the things that I love about making cookies. You can get a craving and go from nothing to a batch of freshly baked cookies in a little more than an hour. These cookies definitely do not work that way, but coming from one inpatient cook to another, the wait is worth it.

The recipe for these babies comes from an article about the pastry chef Christina Tosi from the Momofuku Milk Bar in New York City in the September 2010 issue of Bon Appetit. I will admit that I, too, thought the idea of a blueberry and cream cookie was a little odd. However, I was intrigued by her recipe for a crumble-like ingredient that she calls "milk crumbs." The recipe uses powdered milk to make a crumb that is then incorporated into many of her recipes. I was hooked. I happened to have some powdered milk in the pantry from anther recipe, and I wanted to know how "milk crumbs" would taste.

So, how do they taste? Sweet and almost a little bit salty (in a good way).  In fact, if you cook like I do, make a little bit extra to assure you have enough to "sample." They really do give a "dairy" flavor to the cookies that is a little bit hard to put your finger on. My husband who turned his nose up at the name of the recipe has hinted that these may be his new favorite cookie. They really are delicious. The only complaint about these cookies is that they bake-up quite crispy. The recipe is written to bake the cookies at 375 degrees which is higher than where I always bake my cookies (at 350). It is nice to have a little bit of crunch around the edges, but I may try to bake these at a lower temperature next time to see if I can get a little more chewy texture in the center. I'm quite sure there will be a next time. 

To note, I halved both the milk crumb and cookie recipes and ended up with 18 large cookies.

(Printable Recipe)

Blueberry and Cream Cookies
From Momofuku Milk Bar as printed in Sept. 2010 issue of Bon Appetit

Ingredients:
Milk Crumbs (makes about 2 cups):
3/4 c. nonfat dry milk powder
1/2 c. all-purpose flour
3 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 tsp. coarse Kosher salt
6 Tbsp. (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, melted

Cookies:
2 c. (4 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1-1/2 c. sugar
1-1/2 c. plus 2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
1/2 c. plus 2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
2 large eggs
5-1/4 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. coarse Kosher salt
1-1/2 c. (full recipe) milk crumbs
1-1/2 c. dried blueberries

For the milk crumbs, preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the milk powder, flour, sugar, cornstarch, and coarse salt in a medium bowl; toss to mix evenly. Add butter; stir with fork until cluster form. Spread mixture evenly on prepared sheet. Bake until crumbs are dry and crumbly, but still pale, about 10 minutes. Cool completely on the sheet. Can be made about 1 week ahead and stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

For the cookies, combine butter, both sugars, and corn syrup in a large bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high speed until fluffy and pale, occasionally scraping down sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes. Add eggs; bet on medium-high speed until mixture is very pale and sugar is completely dissolved, about 10 minutes. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; beat on low speed until just blended, occasionally scraping down sides of the bowl. Add milk crumbs; mix on low speed until just incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer. Stir in blueberries just until evenly distributed (dough may be sticky).

Using a 1/4-cup ice cream scoop for each cookie, drop dough onto 2 large rimmed baking sheets. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Can be made 2 days ahead. Keep chilled until baking time.

Preheat to 375 degrees F. Line 2 (18x12-inch) rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Transfer 6-chilled dough scoops to each sheet, spacing at least 4 inches apart (cookies will spread). Bake cookies until golden, about 20-22 minutes. Repeat with remaining chilled dough, cooling and relining sheets between batches. Transfer cookies to racks. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

I'm linking these to Sweet Tooth Friday and Sweets for a Saturday!

Top Chef: Just Desserts Chocolate Chip Cookie

Well, it's Fat Tuesday. What I don't have is a New Orleans-inspired recipe, but what I do have to share today is a GREAT recipe for any of you that may be giving up chocolate or (gasp) sweets for the next several weeks. To all of you - you have one more night. This recipe is absolutely doable. Bake them!

This chocolate chip cookie recipe is one of many that I have saved including a couple Alton Brown recipes, the Levain Bakery cookie, and the New York Times chocolate chip cookies among others (I really should have a chocolate chip cookie bake-off to determine our favorite). I think I may have originally chosen this recipe so that I could use my new kitchen scale. However, I have already made them twice - once as a batch of cookie dough that my husband could keep in the freezer while I was still gone and the second time as one of the first three things I made in my kitchen after returning home. In reality, I had one cookie the first time when I mixed up the dough for him over Christmas break and was thinking about these babies for 2 months until I could make them again. 

This recipe results in a TON of large, slightly chewy cookies studded with a fair amount of chocolate. Don't let the initial amount of butter scare you. The yield from this recipe is huge, so you may want to half the recipe for a more manageable number of cookies. The recipe is different from other chocolate chip cookie recipes that I've tried in that you melt the butter, it has a lot more egg yolks than usual, it lists the ingredients by weight, and there's a hefty amount of salt in the recipe. I added vanilla because I always do. The sugar ratio is also severely weighted towards brown sugar which gives them a nice caramel flavor after they are baked. That flavor combined with the salt in the dough might be one of my favorite things about these cookies. It's that perfect sweet-salty combo.

My biggest (and only) complaint is that these cookies baked up rather flat on my second go-round. The first time we baked the balls of dough straight out of the freezer, and the cookies seemed to retain their height a little better than when I baked the fresh dough the second time. I would be curious to see if some time in the refrigerator would help this? Either way, I've got a lot more chocolate chip cookie recipes to try although these may be the last ones I ever make if it was up to my husband =)

I've linked this post up to Sweets for Saturday! Check out all the goodies over there. Yum!

(Printable Recipe)

Top Chef: Just Desserts Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Eric Wolitzky's recipe on bravotv.com

Ingredients:
1-1/2 c. butter (3 sticks)
200 gm granulated sugar (1 cup)
400 gm brown sugar (2 very tightly packed cups)
21 ounces of flour (4-2/3 cup)
1 Tbsp. baking soda
1-3/4 tsp. table salt (recipe calls for 1 Tbsp. Kosher salt)
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
1 tsp. vanilla
21 ounces chocolate, chopped into chunks (I used chips - it's what we had)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Melt the butter on the stove in a small saucepan. Allow to cool slightly. Beat sugars and melted butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix well after each addition. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt with a whisk. Mix in by hand until just combined. Mix in chocolate chips or chunks. 

Roll dough into desired sized balls and press down slightly on the baking sheet. We liked these as larger cookies (at least tablespoon-sized balls of dough). Bake for approximately 14 minutes or until golden brown (less time if making smaller cookies). Allow to cool on the pan for a few minutes then cool completely on a wire rack. 

If desired, the dough can be frozen after rolling it into balls. Place the balls of dough on a cookie sheet so that they are not touching and freeze until solid. Store the balls of dough in a freezer-style ziploc bag until ready to use. They can be baked directly from the freezer. I do not know how long they will keep. My husband's supply lasted only a couple of weeks =)