White Chocolate Snickerdoodle Cookies

I am in heaven with these cookies!!! White chocolate with Snickerdoodles?!?!? Definitely a win! Love both by themselves, separately and together? Let's just say that I would have eaten them all if I didn't give them away.

Here is what you need.
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3.4 oz. package white chocolate instant pudding mix
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups white chocolate chips
Coating:
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 c. cinnamon sugar for rolling

1)Preheat oven to 350º. Prepare baking sheets lined with parchment paper. (I just lightly sprayed my pan)
2)In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars.
3)Add eggs first, and mix in, then add remaining ingredients (reserving the cinnamon and sugar for coating). Mix well.
4)Scoop out with a cookie scooper and roll the dough ball in the cinnamon sugar, coating completely.
5)Place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
6)Bake for approximately 10 minutes, until slightly golden and just set in the middle. Let cool on baking sheet.

Enjoy!
Recipe from Something Swanky

Cinnamon Roll Cookies

This another recipe thanks to Pinterest, and I thank Bakers Royale for the recipe and photo.  As usual, I cooked them my own way according to my time schedule. 

Here is what you need:
Cookies:

2 cups of flour, plus 2 tablespoons flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon, plus 1 tablespoon for divided use

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup butter, softened, plus 3 tablespoon for divided use

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup light brown sugar, plus ½ cup for divided use

1 egg yolk

¼ cup applesauce

1 tablespoon of light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

For the filling:
1 tbsp cinnamon, divided
3 tbsp butter, divided
1/2 cup brown sugar, divided
For the glaze

1/2 cup powdered sugar

2-3 tablespoon of milk

1. Place ½ cup butter, granulated sugar and ¼ cup of brown sugar in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment and beat until light in color. Add in egg yolk, applesauce, light corn syrup and vanilla and beat to combine. Turn off mixer.
2. Using a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon, fold in flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon until just combined. Dough may have some flour streaking. Do not over mix. Divide dough in half and wrap in waxed paper and refrigerate for 30 minutes. (give or take a few minutes)
3. Mix the filling ingredients except butter. Place remaining 1 tablespoon of cinnamon and ½ cup of brown sugar in a bowl and whisk to combine. Now divide cinnamon and brown sugar mixture in two; one for each portion of halved dough. Set aside. (um, I don't do this.  After I roll the dough, I just spread/sprinkle the filling stuff over the top)
4. Remove one wrapped dough. Dough will sticky so place it between two large pieces of wax paper and roll out dough to 1/4inch thickness. Using a pastry brush spread 1 1/2 tablespoon of softened butter on dough. Then sprinkle half of the cinnamon and sugar mixture on top and gently press it into dough. Roll up dough, beginning with long side. Place roll seam side down on plastic wrap and cover tightly. Repeat this once more with remaining dough and 11/2 tablespoon of butter, along with remaining cinnamon and brown sugar mixture. Place both rolled doughs back in refrigerator for 30-45 minutes. (yeah, I didn't do this either.  I skipped and went directly to step 5)
5. Remove chilled roll and cut into ½ inch slices.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.  (I just left them on the pan and then once cooled, I drizzled the glaze directly over the top)

For the glaze: Just mix the milk and powdered sugar until well combined.  Drizzle over cooled cookies.

Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Say what?!?!? Yummy!!!!!

I have had pumpkin cookies, pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter/oatmeal/chocolate chip cookies, BUT I had never even thought of adding oatmeal to a pumpkin cookie!  Maybe I am just a bit slow on the uptake on this one.  I am stoked I came across this recipe.  New favorite for me :)

Here is what you need.

1 Cup wheat flour

1/2 Cup white flour

3/4 Cup sugar

1/4 Cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp nutmeg

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1/2 Cup butter, softened

1 Egg

1 Cup canned pumpkin

1 3/4 Cup rolled oats

1 1/4 Cup chocolate chips

 

Preheat oven 375 degrees.

1) Stir together the flours, sugars, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.

2) Add in the butter until the mixture is crumbly.

3) Stir in egg and pumpkin. Then add the oats and chocolate chips.

4) Drop by spoons onto a sprayed or lined cookie sheet.

5) Bake 10-12 minutes.

 

Notes: I LOVE these as they are, but next time I am definitely going to mess with the spices some more...I am a spice-type-of-person.  I also think that you could either use all wheat flour or all white flour--I am not sure as I didn't do either of those options. Also, my first pan did not really spread out, so on my next 2 pans, I smashed the cookie balls just a little. :)



Lemon Cookies

I LOVE lemon.  I am always looking for new lemon recipes.  This one is a very fast, simple, and basic lemon cookie recipe.  They taste SO yummy, too.

Here is what you need:

1/2 Cup Butter, softened

1 Cup Sugar

1 Egg

1 tsp lemon zest

1 Tbsp lemon juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/8 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 Cup flour

1/2 Cup powdered sugar

1) Preheat oven to 350 and spray/grease cookie sheets.

2) Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add the egg, lemon zest, and lemon juice.  Whip it together.  Add the dry ingredients except the powdered sugar.  Mix until moist.

3) Put the powdered sugar on a plate or platter.  Form the dough into balls (I used a tablespoon cookie drop) and roll each dough in the powdered sugar.  Place on a cookie sheet.

4) Bake for 9-11 minutes until the bottoms are just starting to brown.

Like I said, I used the tablespoon cookie dropper and ended up with 20 cookies.  I would definitely double the recipe if I use that scoop again.  I also did not actually measure the lemon zest or juice.  I LOVE lemon, so when I make them again and choose not to measure, I will be adding more zest and juice.  I do not know if what the recipe calls for is sufficient.

Gingerbread Softies

If you like gingerbread or ginger snaps or anything ginger, this cookies are fabulous! If you do not like ginger, then I guarantee that you won't like this cookie.

I stole this recipe from a friend's post on facebook. The outside of the cookie is firm and the inside is so soft and full of flavor. So, another huge plus...SOFT. I really do not like hard cookies.

Here is what you need.
-2 Cups Sugar, plus more for dipping
-1 1/2 Cups Shortening
-2 Eggs
-1/2 Cup Molasses
-4 Cups Flour
-4 tsp Baking Soda
-2 tsp cinnamon
-2 tsp ginger
-1/2 tsp ground cloves
-1/2 tsp salt

1) Cream together sugar and shortening. Add eggs and beat until the mixture is thick. Add molasses and stir until well combined.
2) Sift together (I just dumped them into my mixer) the dry ingredients and them to the creamed molasses mixture. Mix until well blended.
3) Shape into 1'' balls and roll around in some sugar. Place on a greased cookie sheet.
4) Bake at 350 for 7-10 minutes. Remove them before they start to brown. (I baked mine for only the 7 minutes and they are the perfect softness, in my opinion.)

Enjoy!

Carrot Cookies

Carrots and LOTS of them is what I was faced with recently. We decided to pull ALL of our carrots from the garden at once. We ended up with about 500 or 600 carrots. I was faced with the dilemma of what to do with them. Dale doesn't liked cooked carrots, so canning them was not an option. So, I froze some for soups and stews. I gave some away. However, I still had a lot of carrots. I turned to my trusty cook books and Internet, and decided to try this cookie recipe.

Supposedly you bake the cookies, make frosting, and then sandwich them together like an oreo. For me though, that was WAY too much sugar. I did end up just frosting the tops of the cookies (in the picture), but I think next time I am going to either drizzle the frosting in a "s" or "z" form or leave it off completely. I just really liked the cookie itself. So, after you bake them, taste them and decide for yourself which way you prefer.

Here is what you need:
6 Tbsp veg oil
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1 Egg
1/4 Cup sour cream
1/4 tsp vanilla
3/4 Cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 Cup shredded/grated carrots
1/4 Cup coconut, optional

~frosting~
3 Tbsp soft butter
5 oz cream cheese
2/3 Cup powdered sugar
splash vanilla or orange extract
splash of milk (maybe depending on if your frosting is too thick)

1) Mix oil, brown sugar, egg, sour cream, and vanilla.
2) Add in flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger and mix until well blended.
3) Add in carrots and coconut.
4) Drop by 1 Tbsp drops onto a greased cookie. Bake 14-18 minutes or until brown.
5) Cool.
6) Mix frosting ingredients and frost/sandwich the cooled cookies.

*Notes: I doubled the recipe. I had to add a little bit more flour then what was called for. I had WAY too much frosting by doubling, so next time I will double the cookies and keep the frosting single recipe, if I even use the frosting. I only had to bake my cookies 12 minutes...14 was too long and made them too brown. I added a bit more cinnamon...base it on your own taste buds. :)

Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Anyone who either grows zucchini or lives by someone that grows zucchini knows that there is always WAY too much zucchini to try to eat. The stuff multiplies with a blink of an eye (so it seems). So, I am always looking for new recipes to try that use zucchini. One of my friends sent me this recipe for a zucchini cookie. So, of course, I had to give it a try.

Here is what you need.

2 sticks butter or margarine, softened
1/2 Cup brown sugar
1/4 Cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 Eggs
2 Cups shredded zucchini
2 Cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 Cup oats
1/2 Cup chocolate chips
1/2 Cup chopped walnuts, optional

1) Preheat oven 350 degrees. Mix butter and sugars. Add vanilla and eggs. Mix well. Add zucchini and mix until well blended.
2) Add the flour and baking soda until well mixed. Add in the oats, chocolate chips, and nuts (if using). Mix everything well. (I left the nuts out. I had to had a little bit more flours and more chocolate chips to compensate for no nuts.)
3) Spray a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. Drop dough by tablespoons about 2 inches apart.
4) Bake 15 minutes. Cool.

Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Cookies

These cookies are super easy to make, super yummy to eat, and super fast to whip out. The biggest disadvantage to them is that they are really a non-spreading cooking. So, my pictures are fairly accurate...mine only turn out about the size of half dollars. BUT I like them that way because they are fewer calories and more of a snack size for RJ (at least that is why I tell myself to make them smaller). The size and quantity of your cookie will depend on how you complete step 3 and 4 below. Here is what you need.


1/2 Cup shortening
3 oz cream cheese, softened
1/3 Cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp orange, lemon, vanilla, or almond extract (I have used all but almond, and have liked them each time)
1 1/2 Cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
-chocolate chips or pieces to melt for topping, optional

1) Cream shortening and cream cheese until soft and blended.
2) Add sugar and mix until light and fluffy. Add egg yolk and extract. Beat together and then add flour and salt. Mix. (If batter is crumbly and won't form a ball, add a little milk. You don't want it too moist though).
3) Make dough into small balls. (Mine are usually ping pong to golf ball size). Place on greased cookie sheet.
4) With hands or a bottom of a glass, flatten cookies.
5) bake at 400 degrees about 6-8 minutes.

Optional: Melt chocolate and spread onto the cookies. I only do this if I am making them for other people as I am not a big chocolate fan, but they are good with or without chocolate.

Notes: When I flatten my cookies they are usually about 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick and take about 8 minutes to bake. Doing this usually yields about 15 cookies for me for a single batch. If you want more cookies, make smaller balls, flatten thinner, or double the recipe. To make larger diameter cookies, make bigger balls and flatten thinner. Be sure to adjust baking time, if needed. When baked, the tops do not brown, so be careful to not overcook them.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

The other night for Family Home Evening I made these no-bake peanut butter cookies. They took me a total of 5 minutes to make...seriously. So, if you LOVE peanut butter, I highly recommend these cookies.1/2 Cup Sugar

1/2 Cup light corn syrup

1 Cup peanut butter (crunchy or smooth)

2 Cups rice crispies cereal

Heat sugar and syrup in a saucepan until smooth and boiling. Stir constantly. Remove from heat and mix in peanut butter. Stir until mixture is smooth. Add the rice crispies and stir (again). Drop by tablespoons onto wax paper and let cool.

Enjoy!