Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'd like to think of these cookies as a little bit healthy - they have coconut oil in place of some of the butter, white whole wheat flour, oats, and dark chocolate.  Can't go wrong with all that, can you?  PLUS, my kids loved them and they lasted less than two days in our house.  Okay, my hubby and I loved them too and may be part of the reason they didn't last very long!

These are a great after school snack.  Or a late evening snack.  Or breakfast on the run....?  Maybe (if you're not opposed to eating cookies for breakfast - which I am not!).  These are easy to put together, particularly if you have a good stand mixer.  

2 c. white whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 c. butter
1/2 c. coconut oil
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 Tbs molasses
1 Tbs milk
2 c. rolled oats
1 pkg dark chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350.

Whisk together the flour, baking powder & baking soda.
Cream together butter and coconut oil until blended completely.  Add in brown sugar and cream mixture until fluffy.
Add eggs, molasses and milk and beat until fully combined.  Beat in oats.  Slowly mix in flour mixture until fully combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Drop by 1/4 cupfuls (I used the large scooper from Pampered Chef) onto ungreased cookie sheet, leaving plenty of room for spreading - I put 6 cookies per tray.  Bake 14-15 minutes until golden and browned around the edges.  Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.  Keep in airtight container to keep soft and chewy!

Back to School, Back to Blogging!

Yes, it's been a while.  A long, long while.  But lots of changes have been occurring, and I'm ready to relaunch this blog!  I have missed it.  I haven't stopped baking and I haven't stopped taking pictures of my food...but I have not been blogging about ANY of it, and if you know me at all, you know I use recipes more as "guidelines" and if I don't write it down right after I change it, I probably won't remember what I changed!  So I am going to do my best to get this back up and running and bring you something yummy to try each week!  Feel free to leave comments, tips, suggestions...or just drop in to say hello!

So our biggest change is that we have moved - from Northern NY (where there are more cows than people) to a city in Wisconsin!  We have stores and restaurants and parks - all within walking distance of our new house!  Our older two kids have started their new school (also within walking distance) and are really enjoying their second grade classes.  For their first day of school, I took a page from my friend Chris's book and made them a Giant Cookie to celebrate!

I got the original recipe from Mel's Kitchen Cafe and of course tweeked to for what I had on hand.

GIANT COOKIE RECIPE 

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup *coconut oil, melted and cooled
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup peanut butter chips (you can use chocolate chips or whatever you want here; I happened to have pb chips so that's what we used!)
Buttercream Frosting

*You can use butter (melted & cooled) instead - I have started substituting coconut oil for butter and oil in recipes with great results!

Cream together sugars and coconut oil.  Add in egg, soda, salt and vanilla; mix well.  Stir in flour until fully combined; fold in chips.

Pat into a circle shape (about 1/2" thick) onto a parchment paper lined pan, or a baking stone.  It will spread while baking, so make sure there is room so it doesn't outgrow the pan!

Bake at 350 for 13-16 minutes until lightly golden.  Let cool COMPLETELY on pan.  Decorate with Buttercream frosting if desired.

Here is the recipe for the frosting I made:
1 (8 oz.) pkg cream cheese
2 sticks butter, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1 lb confectioners sugar, more or less for desired thickness
1 Tbs milk or cream, more or less for desired thickness

Cream together cream cheese and butter until fully combined and fluffy.  Add in vanilla and add confectioners sugar a cup at a time.  Add 1 Tbs of cream.  Beat on high until nice and fluffy (you can adjust the amounts of sugar and cream to get your desired taste and texture).

To decorate, put frosting in gallon size baggie, squeeze into corner, snip off corner and pipe frosting onto cookie.  You can color the frosting with food coloring (paste is recommended).

Kids love the huge cookie (my kids are already asking for one instead of a birthday cake!)...keep it in mind for your next special or fun occasion!

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

Are you ready for these?  I found this recipe over at Brown Eyed Baker.
A word of caution: the dough may not all make it to the oven!  It is delicious itself, and perfectly safe to eat!  I must admit, I only made about 10 cookies, and ate the rest of the dough.  Whoops.  :)

OREO CHEESECAKE COOKIES

1 stick butter, softened

3 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 c. flour

1/2 c. dark chocolate chips

1 c. crushed Oreos

Cream together butter and cream cheese.  Add in sugar and vanilla.

Slowly add in flour, until fully combined.  Fold in chocolate chips.

Roll into 1 1/2" balls, toss in Oreo crumbs.

Place on parchment-lined cookie sheets.

Bake at 375 for 12 minutes until puffed up and the edges are just turning golden.

Countdown to Valentines Day ~ Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

As a tribute to MY Valentine, I'm going to devote the first 14 days of this month to him, showcasing some of his favorite treats (and some that he doesn't even know will become his favorites!).

Day 1 ~ Chocolate Chip Cookies!
He says there is nothing better than a warm, gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie, freshly baked.  With a tall glass of milk, of course.  And I have discovered maybe the most perfect recipe - IF you like soft, sweet and thick cookies!

Yeah, I made that.  

These are actually very easy, and quick.  The texture is PERFECT (to me anyway, and my hubby, and all four of my kids :)) and the taste is amazing!  

Recipe

2 1/3 c. flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 sticks butter
1/4 c. white sugar
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
5 1/4 oz. pkg instant vanilla pudding (if you have two small pkgs, use one whole, and 1/4 c. of the second)
2 eggs, beaten
12 oz. DARK chocolate chips (or you could use plain ol' semi-sweet)

Preheat oven to 350.
In a mixing bowl, combine flour, baking soda, butter, sugars, vanilla and pudding mix (yup, dump it all in).
Beat together until smooth and creamy.
Add in beaten eggs and mix until fully combined.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by Tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 9-10 minutes.

Word of caution -- this is a very thick cookie dough (and really pretty yummy).  They will pretty much stay in the same shape that you put them on the sheet.  So if you're using a cookie scoop, you might want to flatten them slightly with the bottom of a glass before baking.  Unless you want cookies like this:

(which, by the way, are just as tasty and delicious....they just are cookie blobs instead of nice looking cookies:))

Bake them.  Enjoy them.  Make sure you share them!!!