Cookie Dough Pops!

It started out as harmless chocolate chip cookie dough. 

 But after I made a batch of plain chocolate chip cookies...

 I added toasted pecans to half and baked some more.

 But I still had all this tasty cookie dough left. So, I froze half the dough to bake up another time...

And with the rest of the dough? I made cookie dough pops! I rolled the dough into balls and put sticks in each one.

 Then I melted some milk chocolate and let it cool.

 Then each tasty pop got a dip in the chocolate goodness.

 Glorious

 I rolled some in crushed pecans and popped them in the refrigerator.

 These were awesome! It doesn't get better than yummy cookie dough dipped in chocolate!

Enjoy!

* If you're concerned about raw eggs, use an egg-free cookie dough. Or eat these in moderation (if you can!)

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1 1/3 cup butter flavored Crisco (I substituted a portion of this w/ butter)

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla 

1/2 tsp molasses

4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl; set aside. In a large bowl, beat crisco until fluffy. Add sugars and beat until smooth. Add eggs, beating after each one. Add vanilla and molasses. Add the dry mixture and mix until just combined. Stir in semi-sweet chocolate chips. Spoon large tablespoon-size balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 degrees for 11-12 minutes.

Or make cookie dough pop!

Oatmeal White Chocolate Cherry Cookies

The full description: Oatmeal White Chocolate Cherry Cookies with a Cinnamon Glaze.  That's a mouth full!

These cookies are just scrumptious! They're soft, spicy and packed with cherries and white chocolate. It's a great combination of flavors. The cinnamon glaze was my four year old daughters idea. No matter what I'm baking, her first question is always, Are you going to frost that?. So I thought, why not? I decided to make a cinnamon glaze that I drizzled over the top and that was the perfect final touch. 


I brought these to a few different gathering and everyone loved them! Got many comments on the cinnamon glaze. Sometimes it's advantageous to have a kids perspective! 


This is a great cookie. Enjoy responsibly.


Oatmeal White Chocolate Cherry Cookies
1 cup butter, softened

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup dried cherries

1 cup white chocolate chips 

Heat oven to 350°F.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats, cherries and chocolate; mix well.

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack.Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Cinnamon Glaze
For the glaze I just whisked together powdered sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and milk. I made different sized batches of cookies for each party I took them too, so I eyeballed the amounts.

Chewy Coconut Cookies

After coming down from my sugar high at cooking club (Mai Tai's, Blue Hawaiians, Mango Smoothies, Coconut Cake, Pineapple Cheesecake...) I was actually craving sugar again! I really am a bake-a-holic. I wanted to make something sweet, but more importantly something quick and easy (I wasn't in the mood to be in the kitchen all day). I chose these chewy coconut cookies and they were delicious! They're the type of treat you keep going back in the kitchen for.

They're crisp and buttery on the outside and chewy and soft in the middle. They have a nice coconut flavor and are perfectly sweet. The shredded coconut throughout gives them a nice texture. Luckily I froze half of the dough, so next time I crave something sweet I can just pop the dough balls in the oven!

Chewy Coconut Cookies
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon coconut extract (opt. I added it and liked the sweeter flavor)
1 1/3 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.) Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
In a medium bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg, coconut extract and vanilla until light and fluffy. Gradually blend in the flour mixture, then mix in the coconut. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 8 to 10* minutes in the preheated oven, or until lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks.

*Mine took about 10 minutes to bake and came out perfectly browned on the outside.

inspired and adapted from allrecipes.com

Coconut-Almond-Crusted Brownies

These chocolate brownies are fudgy and rich and are topped with a delicious mixture of flaked coconut, chopped almonds and chocolate chips. I also used butterscotch chips because the ladies I was making them for like that flavor. The topping also has a pinch of salt in it which gives these brownies a nice sweet and salty flavor. 

These brownies are pure deliciousness!

Coconut-Almond-Crusted Brownies
adapted from Gourmet, 1996 - Inspired by this tasty blog

For topping
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
3/4 cup almonds (or pecans, walnuts), chopped
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4-1/2 c. mini-chocolate chips (I also used butterscotch)
For brownie layer
1 1/4 sticks (10 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 large eggs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
More mini-chocolate chips, to taste

Preheat oven to 350°F. and butter and flour an 8- or 9-inch square baking pan, knocking out excess flour.

Make topping:
In a bowl stir together topping ingredients EXCEPT chocolate chips until combined well. When topping has cooled, add chocolate chips.

Make brownie layer
In a 1 1/2-quart saucepan melt butter over moderately low heat--or melt butter in large glass bowl in microwave. Remove pan from heat and stir in sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well with a wooden spoon after each addition. Into a bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt and stir into butter mixture until just combined well.

Spread batter evenly in pan, sprinkle with additional mini chocolate chips and topping. Bake brownies in middle of oven 30 to 35 minutes, or until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering to it. Cover with foil for last 15 minutes. DON'T overcook. They will seem a little gooey due to the melted chocolate pieces and the topping will be browned. Cool brownies completely in pan on a rack before cutting into small squares. Brownies keep, layered between sheets of wax paper in an airtight container at cool room temperature, 5 days.

These are excellent served hot with a scoop of high-quality vanilla bean ice cream.

Sugar Cookie Pie

These are fun and very tasty little cookie pies!

In small oven proof dishes, fresh fruit is topped with sugar cookie dough and then baked into a delicious fruit cookie pie. These are very quick and easy to make.

I tried strawberries, blueberries and mixed berries. I used both fresh fruit and frozen fruit, but the frozen fruit turned out runnier than the fresh. It was still good though.

The fruit gets a sprinkling of brown sugar to balance out the tart flavor.

Then yummy sugar cookie dough is placed on top and then baked until golden brown.

I tried some sprinkled with sanding sugar for decoration and crunch. If you're using a tart berry, like raspberries, it's a nice touch. If you have a sweeter fruit like blueberries or pears, it might be a tad too sweet.

Here they are out of the oven in all their baked fruit and sugar cookie goodness. Yum!

Sugar Cookie Pie

Sugar Cookie Dough:

1/2 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar cream

1 egg

3/4 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 flour

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp soda

Filling:

Fresh raspberries or strawberries (or fruit of your choice)

Brown Sugar

For the dough: Cream together butter and sugar. Add egg and vanilla. Stir in dry ingredients. Form dough into balls and flatten into disks to fit on top of the fruit. (The disk size depends on what size baking dish(es) you're going to use. I made mine in individual baking dishes. You can also make this in a 9x9 pan).

Pat raspberries into the bottom of your baking dish. You'll want to smash them slightly. Sprinkle with brown sugar. Top with dough. Bake for 10 minutes at 450.

* If you want to use strawberries or bulky fruit, cut them into slices and layer them.

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I dug into a cookie pie fresh out of the oven, and it was so good. All the fruit variations turned out tasty. I think strawberry was my favorite.

Graham Cracker Surprises

What quick treat can you make when you have a toddler, a new baby and only one free hand? Graham Cracker Sandwich Cookies of course!

We had some graham crackers sitting in the cupboard just begging to be frosted and devoured. But alas, we didn't have any frosting. Solution?? Make some simple vanilla buttercream. I took some butter out the refrigerator, let it warm up a bit, then whipped it with some powdered sugar, vanilla, almond extract and a splash of milk.

And since it was for my toddler, some sprinkles were added for fun!

* Chocolate or fudge frosting is extremely delicious too!!! If you're making your own buttercream, just add cocoa powder for a chocolate version