The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap - "Party" M&M Cookies

It's that time of year again... *drumroll please* ...............



Yes!  Food Blogger Cookie Swap time!!  I look forward to this every year.  I get some amazing cookies from some seriously good home bakers.  Not to mention doing some good work.  As always, in order to participate, you have to make a donation to Cookies for Kids Cancer which is matched by our brand partners.  This year, we raised an over an astounding SEVEN THOUSAND dollars!  Not bad for a bunch of folks making cookies.  And since I'm such a sharing and giving person (I hear all my friends out there laughing at me ;-) ), my husband and best friend also look forward to cookie swap time.  Because, let's be honest - no one can eat three dozen cookies, no matter how much you spread them out.  The amazingly good cookies I got this year were:

Chocolate Chunk Peppermint Pudding Cookies from The Secret Ingredient [is Love] - the husband's favorite
Toasted Pecan Crackles from Southern Kissed - my favorite
White Chocolate-Cranberry Cookies from My Heavenly Recipes - the bestie's favorite

Usually, I have narrowed down my potential cookies to send within a matter of days but this time, nope.  Not happenin'.  It took me WEEKS to figure out what to bake!  Which is so not like me.  (I blame my crazy, self-employed life.)  I finally settled on baking something from my childhood.  They say scent is one of the strongest ties to memories that you can have.  While I waiting for these babies to bake, I couldn't help but remember all the times I made these - well, "helped" make them.  Really it was just watching my mom and licking all the dough batter off the beaters.  And then eating the cookies.  (It's quality control - the taste of the batter can determine how good the cookies will be and if the batter is bad, the cookie will be bad.  So really I was like the "Quality Supervisor" for my mom's kitchen.)

I'm not quite sure why they are named "Party Cookies" but they taste so good that I don't ask questions.  I'm pretty sure my mom got this recipe off the bag of M&Ms Baking Minis back in the 80s, when I was little.  While my copy of the recipe is nicely printed in Times New Roman on a piece of printer paper, I distinctly remember seeing the original taped to a 3x5 card in my mom's green recipe box (that is older than I am).

I hope everyone enjoyed the cookies I sent them (Justina at Fail Sweetly, Melissa at Persnickety Plates - love the name, btw, and Mary at this tasty life) as much as I enjoyed making them!  And to anyone else who wants to make them, I hope you can start a holiday tradition of cookie baking with your kids just like my mom did with me.

"Party" M&Ms Cookies
adapted slightly from a recipe my mom found somewhere.

1/2 c. Shortening
1/2 c. Butter, Unsalted
1 c. Brown Sugar, packed
1/2 c. Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 1/4 c. All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
1 c. M&Ms Baking Minis

Preheat oven to 375.
Spray cookie sheet with baking spray or line with parchment paper.
Blend shortening, butter, and sugars in a large bowl.
Beat in vanilla and eggs.
In another bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and salt together.
Add flour mixture to sugar-egg mixture and blend well.
Stir in M&Ms.
Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, drop onto a prepared cookie sheet.
Bake at 375 for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown.
Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap - Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cookies

YOU GET A COOKIE!  AND YOU GET A COOKIE!  AND YOU GET A COOKIE!!  That's pretty much what you feel when you have three different batches of cookies shipped to your house.  Yes folks, I once again participated in the 4th Annual Food Blogger Cookie Swap.  Which meant three different people got to feel this way from me and three different people made ME feel this way :)  Isn't Christmas fun?

Christmas is mostly about the cooking baking.  Am I right or am I right?  But Christmas is also about giving back, whether its through donations to a local charity or partaking in a fundraiser.  Which is another reason why I LOVE doing this cookie swap.  Each participant must donate $4 to Cookies to Kid's Cancer in order to have cookies sent to you and then our brand partners, OXO, Dixie Crystals, Brownie Brittle, and California Olive Ranch would MATCH the donations.  This year?  We had 566 participants.  Which meant that IN TOTAL, we raised over $12k for Cookies for Kids Cancer!  How amazing is that??

Now since we all know that calories don't count during the holidays, I got cookies from these amazing bloggers:
Christmas Cake Batter Cookies from Currently Coveting (my husband's favorite)
Cinnamon Pinwheel Bites from Confessions of a Foodie (my favorite - because OMG cinnamon.)
Everything Butterscotch Bars from The Food Driven Life (my bestie's favorite)

These lovely ladies received my no-calorie cookies:
The Spiffy Cookie
from Captain's Daughter to Army Mom
The Skinny Chick Can Bake

We all know that fall is all about pumpkin.  But Christmas is where peppermint reigns!  Once you get past Thanksgiving, all those pumpkin things turn into peppermint.  Peppermint shakes.  Peppermint lattes.  Peppermint pie.  Peppermint cookies.  When I was going over what to bake for the cookie swap with my family and friends, I took a poll and these cookies were the unanimous winner.  I think the peppermint and the fact that it's Christmas time made people biased.  (Next year, I may do something crazy and make piña colada cookies just to shake people up. haha)  Since chocolate is totally acceptable at any moment, any day, any time of the year, these make for the perfect Christmas cookie - chocolate and peppermint!  What could possibly go wrong??

Triple Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
adapted from Andes Mints

2 c. + 2 Tbsp. All Purpose Flour
½ c. Hot Cocoa Mix
½ tsp. Baking Soda
½ tsp. Salt

1 c. Unsalted Butter, melted
1 c. Brown Sugar, firmly packed
½ c. Granulated Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs
1 – 10 oz. package Andes Peppermint Crunch Baking Chips
½ c. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (I used mini chips but full-size works fine)
½ c. White Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, hot cocoa mix, baking soda, and salt.
In a large bowl, use a mixer on medium speed to beat your melted butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla until creamy.
Beat in your eggs, one at a time.
Slowly mix in your flour mixture until well combined.
Stir in your peppermint chips, chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded tablespoons onto a non-stick cookie sheet (or one lined with parchment paper), placing cookies two inches apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Let rest on your baking sheet for a minute and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yields around 48 cookies.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

First of all, I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!  Mine was wonderful. Such good food with such good friends and family.  I had a great dinner with my husband and best friend - it may have only been the three of us but we had a HUGE spread!  Turkey, ham, stuffing, homemade mac and cheese, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce.  But let's be honest - you want to know what desserts we had.  Well, we had pumpkin gooey butter cake, my best friend's unreal pumpkin spice cake with homemade cream cheese frosting, and homemade apple pie (crust and all!).  The food was delicious!  And what's even better?  Leftover Thanksgiving food is always better the next day.

So now that you've been inundated with pumpkin recipes from every. single. blog around...

Chocolate.  Peanut Butter.  One of life's most wonderful combinations.  Was there even a chocolate-peanut butter combination before Reese's came into our lives?  I don't know.  But to whatever person invented this combination, I will forever be in your debt.  Having a bad day?  Give me chocolate and peanut butter (or pizza - that works too).  Husband driving you insane?  Don't reach for that frying pan to beat some sense into him with.  Reach for one of these cookies. Not only will your stomach thank you but so will your husband.  (And tell him if he's nice enough, you may even share them!)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
courtesy of The Deen Bros. Cookbook

2 1/2 c. All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Salt
1 1/4 c. Peanut Butter (I prefer creamy but you can use crunchy)
1 c. Butter, softened
1 1/2 c. Light Brown Sugar, packed
2/3 c. Sugar
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp. Light Corn Syrup
2 tsp. Vanilla
10 oz bag Chocolate Chips (I use milk but semi-sweet'll work too)

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream your peanut butter, butter, and sugars until its nice and fluffy.
Mix in your eggs, one at a time.
Beat in the corn syrup and vanilla.
Slowly mix in your flour, baking soda, and salt until everything is well combined.
Fold in the chocolate chips.
Using a spoon, drop the cookie dough 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown around the edges.
Cool.
Eat and enjoy!

Cookie jar from my favorite cookie company in Savannah, GA.

Decadent Brownies

I think I've said once or twice on here that I love chocolate.  I really, REALLY love chocolate.  If you've had a bad day, nothing cures it more than anything with chocolate.  Truffles.  Reese'e cups.  Hershey's kisses.  Cookies.  But brownies. Brownies are special.  Brownies, to me, are the ultimate chocolate treat.  And the batter?  I've been known to make brownies just to eat the batter.

These brownies are special.  The brownies are what dreams are made of.  They have chocolate chips mixed into the batter.  And they have a frosting.  Chocolate frosting.  Can't you just taste it already?  All that delicious chocolate-ness?  (The picture below doesn't have the chocolate frosting.  I couldn't wait - the brownies were still warm.  Some things in life, you just can't resist.  Warm brownies is one of them.)

And my husband will tell you that you cannot make these brownies without having ice cream to go with it.  Specifically Blue Bell ice cream.  That's just his opinion though, you can use whatever vanilla ice cream you want though :)

Decadent Brownies
from Best Loved Hershey's

Brownies
3/4 c. Cocoa Powder
1/2 tsp. Baking Soda
2/3 c. Butter, melted and divided (if using unsalted butter, please add 1/4 tsp. salt)
1/2 c. Water, boiling
2 c. Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/3 c. All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Vanilla
1 c. Chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.
Stir cocoa and baking soda together in a large bowl, adding 1/3 c. of butter.
Pour in your boiling water and mix until thickened.
Mix in your sugar, eggs, and the final 1/3 c. melted butter until smooth.
Add in the flour, vanilla, and salt (if using) and mix it all together.
Finally, mix in the chocolate chips.
Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
Allow brownies to cool completely before topping them with the frosting below.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
6 Tbsp. Butter, softened.
2 2/3 c. Powdered Sugar
1/2 c. Cocoa Powder
1/3 c. Milk
1 tsp. Vanilla

Beat the butter in a medium bowl.
Add in the powdered sugar and cocoa, alternating it with milk, beating until spreadably smooth (you may need to add more milk to get the right consistency).
Stir in the vanilla.
Spread over cooled brownies.

Chocolate Pound Cake

I love chocolate.  I only know a handful of people who don't love chocolate and I honestly think they have something wrong with their brains.  How does someone NOT love chocolate?  Studies have proven that chocolate releases the exact same endorphins that are released when someone is in love.  So when I say I'm in love with chocolate, it's actually true!  This is the reasoning I have when I say people who don't love chocolate have something wrong with their brains.  I mean, how exactly do those endorphins go off and someone not immediately fall in love chocolate?  It seems biologically impossible.

I also love pound cake.  When I was little, my grandmother (God rest her soul) made the BEST vanilla pound cake.  It had this crunchy top and really soft inside.  And the proper way to eat it was from the bottom to the top because you wanted to save that crunchy top for last.  My dad and I used to argue over which one of us would eat the last piece.  So pound cake has always had a special place in my heart.  So it was only logical that I would make something that includes two things that I love - chocolate and pound cake.

Chocolate Pound Cake
courtesy of King Arthur Flour

8 Tbsp. Butter, softened (salted - if using unsalted, add 3/4 tsp. salt)
1 1/2 c. Sugar
2 tsp. Vanilla
1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
2/3 c. Cocoa Powder
3 Eggs
1 1/4 c. All Purpose Flour
3/4 c. Milk (skim)

Preheat the oven to 350.
Spray a 9 x 5 loaf pan with a cooking spray mixed with flour (like Pillsbury).
Mix the butter, sugar, salt (if using), vanilla, baking powder, and cocoa in a medium sized bowl, using a mixer.  (It's okay if the mixture looks clumpy!)
Now add your eggs one at a time, making sure its well incorporated before adding the next one.
Add half of the flour to your cocoa mixture with your mixer on low speed.
Next, add in all of your milk.
Add in the rest of the flour, mixing on low speed until your mixture is smooth.
Taste your batter and make sure tastes good.  (Okay, that may just be what I do!)
Pour the batter into your prepared pan.
Bake for 60 to 70 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.  (The top of the cake may look damp - that's okay, it's done.)
Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes and then let it finish cooling on the rack.
Slice and enjoy!
(Make sure to wrap the cake nice and tight when its finished cooling.)

Chocolate Chip - Oatmeal Cookies

When Ryan and I got married almost three years ago, we stayed at the DoubleTree Hotel the night before and the night of our wedding.  (Gaaaaa!  It's been almost three years!)  At the DoubleTree, when you arrive, they give you these really yummy chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies.  They're big and chewy and delicious and big.  Did I mention they're big?  I'd take a dozen home if I could but my waistline miiiiight not appreciate that too much.  I've been trying and trying to find a cookie that is almost as good as they ones I got at the hotel.  I know it won't be EXACTLY like it.  I'm pretty certain that it has a pound of butter in each cookie, it's so moist.  I have finally found a cookie that comes pretty darn close and I wanted to share it with all of you.  You should feel so special! :-)  Every time I ate one of these cookies, it took me back to my special day with my husband, who traveled 1200 miles to be with me all those years ago.  Yeah, I'm pretty darn lucky :-)

Chocolate Chip-Oatmeal Cookies
courtesy of Nestle All Time Favorite Cookie and Baking Recipes

1 3/4 c. All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 1/4 c. Light Brown Sugar, packed
1 c. (2 sticks) Butter, salted, softened
1/2 c. Sugar
2 Eggs, large
2 Tbsp. Milk (I used skim but use whatever you have on hand)
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 1/2 c. Quick Cooking Oats (feel free to use old fashioned if you've got it)
2 c. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (12 oz. bag)

Preheat the oven to 375.
In one bowl, combine the flour and baking soda and set aside.
Using a mixer, beat both of the sugars and butter together until creamy.
Next, add in the eggs, milk, and vanilla to the sugar-butter mixture and mix well.
Gradually add in the flour mixture until everything is well combined.
Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.  (This is going to make a thick batter so it might be tough to incorporate everything but keep trying because it will come together.)
Drop by the tablespoonfuls (or using that wonderous cookie scoop I tell everyone to get) onto your baking sheet.
Bake for 9 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 12 to 13 minutes for crispy cookies.  (Chewy is the way to go for me.)
Let cool for one minutes before moving to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap - Black and White Biscotti

This was my entry into The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap!

In order to participate, the blogger has to use a recipe they haven't posted on their blog before.  They could've made it a hundred times but as long as it wasn't on the blog, it was fair game.  Yeah, I have some cookies that I haven't posted yet but I wanted to do something new and different.  A brand new recipe!  Yay!  I do cookies all the time but I rarely make biscotti, which technically fall under the umbrella term of "cookie".  I've only made them a couple of times before and they have always turned out great.  And they are especially good cookies to ship, which I had to do with three people.  Biscotti in Italian literally means "twice baked".  Twice baking the biscotti dries it out which makes it a great cookie to dip into your morning coffee (or in my case, mug after mug of milk).  I'll be posting pictures of the cookies I received along with links to their blogs in a future post.

So why black and white?  Well, like I said.  I wanted to do something a little different.  Making cookies is pretty simple and I wanted to do something not-so-simple yet memorable.  I had thougth and thought about what to make.  Do I simply alter an existing recipe which I know works or do I think out of the box?  When I came across this recipe on the KAF website, I knew that was the recipe.   The world was suddenly right.  Birds chirped on my fingertips while deer and rabbits hopped around me.  Okay, well, maybe not quite that dramatic ;)  But I knew that this was the recipe I was meant to post.  Yes, that recipe was created just for me (completely disregard the fact that this recipe was developed back in 2009 and lots of other people have made it). 

I hope that the folks who received these cookies all enjoyed them.  And if any of you out there decide to take on this recipe, I hope you enjoy them too :) 

(My family and friends know I am a huge Seinfeld fan, so every time I mentioned these cookies, my husband and best friend would say, "Look to the cookie.")

 
Black and White Biscotti
adapted slightly from King Arthur Flour

6 Tbsp. Butter, salted
2/3 c. Sugar
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
2 c. All-Purpose Flour
2 Tbsp. Cocoa Powder
1/4 c. Mini Chocolate Chips
1 Packet of Sugar in the Raw (or 1 Tbsp.)

1.  Preheat oven to 350.
2.  Grease a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper.
3.  In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugar, baking powder, and vanilla.
4.  Add in the eggs (it may look a little funky - that's okay.).
5.  Stir in the flour and mix well.  The dough will be sticky.
6.  Divide the dough in half, placing one half on the cookie sheet and leaving the other in the bowl.
7.  Now for the the first fun part - you need to spread the dough into a log of about 14" x 2 1/2".  You'll need to wet your fingers with cold water in order to help this process otherwise you'll end up with sticky fingers (which is all well and good if you're five-years-old.)
8.  Put the pan into the freezer.
9.  In the remaining dough, mix in the cocoa powder.
10. Fold in the mini chocolate chips.
11. Remove the vanilla dough from the freezer and repeat Step 7 (the second fun part!).
12. Gently press the Sugar in the Raw onto the biscotti dough.
13. Bake for 25 minutes.
14. Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 to 25 minutes.  (Or however long - it doesn't really matter.)
15. Using a serrated knife, slice the biscotti to about 3/4" thick.
16. Stand the biscotti on the pan and bake for another 30 to 40 minutes.  They'll feel a little soft in the center but will continue to dry out as they cool.
17. Enjoy!

Biscoff Blondies

I found something wonderful... Biscoff Spread.  Yes, as in a spread made from the wonderful Biscoff cookies.  If you've never had a Biscoff cookies, I demand you go out and find a box and eat them.  Right now.  Not ten minutes from now - RIGHT NOW!

Okay, did you go get some?  Good.  Now you know what I'm talking about.  So just imagine a spread made in that same flavor.  Yes, it is just as good as it sounds.  All rich and decadent and delicious (and to think it isn't even chocolate!).... yum.  It's one of those, "Make you wanna slap yo momma" good things!  Now, Biscoff has both creamy and crunchy spread.  Crunchy?  Yes - as in the crunchy bits are the Biscoff cookies themselves!!  I haven't found the crunchy in stores but I have heard of this legend on other blogs and they say it is just as good as the creamy.  I cannot imagine anything being better than the creamy but I won't know until I try it!

Biscoff spread can be a little difficult to find but I don't recommend substituting regular peanut butter spread simply because the Biscoff flavors this so much and I think you'd really have to do some amp-ing up of flavors to achieve good results.  If you find the Biscoff spread, by all means, have at this recipe.  You won't regret it!!  (Side note:  You can purchase it on Amazon.  This might be a bad idea, knowing I don't have to search for this and we might end up with cases on this stockpiled like I'm awaiting the end of the world.... )

Biscoff Blondies
courtesy of Two Peas and Their Pod

1/4 c. Butter (salted.  If using unsalted, add 1/4 tsp. salt)
1 c. Brown Sugar, light
1/4 c. Biscoff Spread, creamy
1 egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 1/4 c. All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/8 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 c. White Chocolate Chips

1.   Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2.   Grease an 8x8 pan and wait for it be filled with Biscoff goodness.
3.   Melt the butter and brown sugar in a medium saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly until smooth.
4.   Remove from the heat, and stir in the Biscoff Spread, stir until creamily combined.
5.   Allow the mixture to cool.
6.   In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.
7.   Add the egg to the cooled Biscoff mixture and combine.
8.   Add the vanilla extract and stir to combine.
9.   Pour your Biscoff mixture into your dry ingredients and stir until smooth.
10. Fold in white chocolate chips.
11. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan, spreading the batter evenly to the edges of the pan.
12. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden and a toothpick comes out clean.
13. Cool on a wire rack until ready to serve.

Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can see the "?" above your head as you read that title.  "Um, vanilla pudding?  In cookies?"  I can feel your doubt - I'm hurt.  Would I ever lead you astray by giving you a bad recipe?  No, not me.  Unless I choose to follow along in King Arthur Flour's footsteps and post an April Fool's Day post of all my recipes that just didn't stand up to my high expectations.  Like my attempt at pumpkin pie bread.  I honestly think that bread could have been classified as a lethal weapon, it was so hard.  Maybe I should've kept it around for my husband irritates me.  I could hit him with it...........  *shakes head* Okay, I'm back with you now.

There are many things in life that are distracting.  My dog is a good example.  She moves and I notice it.  She breathes funny and I'm suddenly on alert (although I'm sure that's more my vet training kicking in).  Another thing I find distracting?  Books of any and all kinds.  I love books.  When Ryan and I moved into our new house all those months ago, the majority of our boxes contained clothes and books.  (I think the clothes boxes only edged out the book boxes by a few.)  My husband got the bright idea to get me an e-reader a couple of years ago and I've amounted over 200 books on it.  I told you I liked to read.  So on the note about liking to read... I love, love cooking blogs!  Probably because I love to cook.  Combining my love of cooking with my love of reading - happy Jamie!  I find myself reading blogs sometimes all day, wasting paper on printing tons of recipes when I already have tons of recipe books. Yeah, cooking blogs are super distracting.  You can look at all the pretty pictures and all the stories for hours on end.  I'm not joking, I've done it before.  Many times.

While on the subject of cooking blogs, I do have my favorites.  In case you haven't noticed, on the right hand side of your screen, if you scroll down far enough, you'll find my favorite cooking blogs.  They all have great recipes.  You cannot go wrong with those blogs.  Some of them, I like simply because I'm amazed by the creativity of them (Sweetapolita and Bake at 350 are simply droolworthy) yet they all have very easy to create recipes.  Although I could never decorate cookies the way Bridget at Bake at 350 does.  My hands just wouldn't cooperate.  I'm lucky if I get a smooth spread on my sheet cakes for crying out loud!

(And, hey, if you don't take my word that putting pudding into cookies can be a good thing, go to your local grocery store and find a box of Betty Crocker Super Moist Cake Mix and look down at the bottom of the front of the box.  It says, "Pudding is still in the mix!"  So it's not just me... or the people who made the recipe.)

Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies

courtesy of Two Peas and Their Pod

1 c. Butter, room temp
1/4 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Brown Sugar
3.4 oz. package Vanilla Instant Pudding Mix
2 Eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 1/4 c. All-Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 c. Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Blend together butter and sugars until creamy.
Next, mix in pudding, eggs, and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda.
Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture and stir until combined.
Mix in chocolate chips.
Taste cookie dough - realize how yummy it is.
Drop cookie mix by the tablespoon (again, cookie scoop works great here) onto a cookie sheet.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden.
Let cool on a cooling rack.

My husband is from Texas so I have no idea why I bought this mug.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Continuing with our cartoon theme, today's post is brought to you by the movie Up.  If you've never seen it, I demand you go find it without delay!  It is such a good movie.  The beginning will make you cry though.  (Do I need to tell you again how much I hate to cry?  We went through that already.)  You already know that I'm a fan of taking movie quotes and making them my own and here's today's!

It's like Cookies but BARS!

(You can see the video clip here.  YouTube doesn't want to share this clip.  Not exactly sure why but oh well.  We'll carry on anyway.)
http://youtu.be/EezqrxUYcMA?t=52s

Another reason why I love this movie?  Dug.  I love this dog.  It makes me want to get a blonde male dog just so I can name it Dug.  But the husband doesn't want to get another dog just yet so I've settled for having a cookie jar that looks like Dug that I call... you got it!  Dug :)  (I have a habit of naming inanimate objects - cars, cookie jars, etc.)

The recipe for these cookie bars is the exact same as the basic chocolate chip cookie that I posted the other day.  I'm going to repost the recipe here with the directions adjusted so you can make the cookies into bars. (Like I said, "it's like cookies but BARS.")

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

courtesy of All Time Favorite Cookie and Baking Recipes

2 1/4 c. All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 sticks Butter (salted.  If using unsalted, add 1 tsp. salt)
3/4 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Packed Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 c. Chocolate Chips (1/2 of a 12 oz. package)

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix together butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, and making sure to beat well after each addition.
Toss in your flour and baking soda.
Stir in your chocolate chips.
Resist the urge to eat the entire mixture of chocolate chip cookie dough.
Press cookie dough into a greased 9x13 pan.

Cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.  (My cookies took 20 minutes.)

(Ryan bought me that mug when he went to NYC a few years ago.  Ain't he sweet?)

Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Everyone needs a good recipe for chocolate chip cookies in their recipe box.  This is my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  I have tried to make other recipes but this is the one I always, always come back to.  And I think you will too.

Now, scroll to the bottom and see the picture that goes with the recipe.  I'll wait.  *waiting... taps fingers on keyboard*  Okay, back with me now?  Did you see the mug?  Do you see the beautiful dog that's on said mug?  That is my beautiful little girl, Liz.  I've had her since she was only six weeks old.  I picked her out when she was two weeks old.  I remember holding her as a baby and hearing her sigh against my chest and my heart was lost.  Gone.  My heart was no longer in my body but now lived in a little runt of a puppy with a big white star on her chest (yep, five pointed star, the top point of which stretches all the way up to her chin).  I knew when she was two weeks old that she was going to come home with me.  No ifs, ands, or buts about it.  Except for that little problem of convincing my father.  My mom already loved her - she was the one who drove me out to see the puppies after all.  Of course, conspiring is just one of those things that all women do well.  Its in our genes I think...  Under the pretense of "just wanting to go see the puppies", we managed to drag my father out to where Liz and her brothers and sisters were at.  Dad was steadfast, "We are NOT coming home with a puppy."  "Sure" was my response.  I knew better.  I went to find my puppy (yes, I was already calling her "mine") and off we went in search of my dad.  When I found him, I was holding Liz to my chest and I said, "Isn't she cute?  Don't you want to hold her?"  Despite his protests, I managed to get Liz in his hands and then he said, "We're coming home with a puppy, aren't we?"  She turned 11 years old in August and she's still my little baby.  And certainly a mommy's girl.  It drives Ryan insane when he asks her to do something and won't do it but the moment mommy says to do it, away she goes.  Yep, mommy's baby.

Anyway, back to the mug!  There is a lovely story about that mug.  Back when Ryan and I were still dating and he still lived in Texas, he sent me two of the sweetest gifts I've ever gotten - a dog bowl with Liz's picture on it (which currently houses all her cookies) and this mug.  And I love them.  Even five years later, I still look at them and smile :-) (He must have somehow known that the keys to my heart lived in a little black and white mutt.... no clue where he would've gotten that idea.)

Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies
courtesy of All Time Favorite Cookie and Baking Recipes

2 1/4 c. All Purpose Flour
1 tsp. Baking Soda
2 sticks Butter (salted.  If using unsalted, add 1 tsp. salt)
3/4 c. Sugar
3/4 c. Packed Brown Sugar
1 tsp. Vanilla
2 Eggs
1 c. Chocolate Chips (1/2 of a 12 oz. package)

Preheat oven to 375.
Mix together butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy.
Add eggs, one at a time, and making sure to beat well after each addition.
Throw in (not literally, of course - no messes in my kitchen.) your flour and baking soda.
Stir in your chocolate chips.
Resist the urge to eat the entire mixture of chocolate chip cookie dough.
Drop by tablespoonfuls (wow, that's a word according to spell check.) onto a baking sheet.  (I have mentioned before cookie scoops are wonderful things - for stuff like cookies!)
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. (I go for 9 - I like my cookies chewy, extra chewy.)
Cool for two minutes and allow to finish cooling on a wire rack.

Gaye's Chocolate Pie

Every once in a while, someone comes along who holds a special spot in your heart, no matter what happens to you or them.  For me, one of those special someones is a black lab named Bubba (my husband will argue that I'd fall for any black lab I came into contact with but I digress).  When I first began working for my vet many, many years ago, I came across many dogs but there was just something special about Bubba.  He was always happy go lucky... unless he was in one of the exam rooms (but few dogs are ever happy in an exam room)!!  He didn't even need a leash when he came in the office.  He would just walk right back to the kennel because that's where he knew he was supposed to go.  During his final year, he required a permanent catheter to be placed into his bladder which had to be cleaned three times a day.  His mom would ask me to come over and clean his catheter when she would go out of town.  Bubba and I grew very close during our time together.  I held his head when he was finally put to sleep after fighting a long battle with his illness.  I even still have the earring he ripped out of my ear many years ago when I was trying to keep him still for a nail trim (did I mention I can still see the scar he gave me when one of his freshly trimmed toe nails scratched my arm?).  It reminds me of him every time I wear it.  I still miss him terribly and I know that I'll see him again one day...

Bubba and I before his decline

Okay!  Food time.  (After we've all grabbed a tissue, that is.)  Bubba's mom was named Gaye.  She was a truly great woman!  Anyone who ever brought us food this good was alright in our book.  She would bring us homecooked desserts to the office sometimes.  During one of those visits, she brought this pie.  I begged and pleaded (okay, I asked maybe twice) for her to give me the recipe - it was just so good!!  I'm so glad she did because this has become one of my favorite pie recipes ever.  It's so simple and easy to make.  A good recipe to have in your cookbook anytime you realize its Sunday morning and you need to make a dessert for that afternoon.

Gaye's Chocolate Pie
courtesy of Bubba's mom, Gaye

Uncooked Regular Pie Shell
1 Stick of Butter, Melted
2 Squares of Baker's Chocolate (unsweetened)
1 c. Sugar
2 Eggs, Beaten
1 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat your oven to 350 - please put a cookie sheet into your oven to preheat along with your oven.
Melt chocolate in microwave.
Combine all ingredients (tempering your eggs first.  How do you do that?  Add a little bit of melted butter or chocolate to your beaten eggs to bring them up to temperature without making scrambled eggs).
Pour into pie crust.
Put your filled pie onto the preheated cookie sheet and put back into the oven.
Cook for 25-30 minutes or until the center of the pie is firm.

Now, you may be asking, "Why on earth would you preheat your cookie sheet?"  Because you are cooking a filled pie, preheating the cookie sheet allows the pie crust at the bottom to cook properly.  If you do not preheat the cookie sheet, there is no guarantee that the bottom of your pie crust will cook.  So let's just play it safe and preheat the cookie sheet, shall we?

Peanut Butter S'mores Bars

I have something terrible to admit to everyone.  I had my first s'more when I was 25 years old.  I'm 26 now.  My best friend, Erin, was making them in her oven and gave me one.  I've been hooked ever since!  I wanted to find a s'more in bar form.  The marshmallow and chocolate were just a little too messy for me (Erin calls me the world's cleanest cook - I cannot stand a mess while I cook or eat!).  Off I went on a google search for a s'mores bar.  I found quite a few of them, some better than others.  This particular recipe intrigued me simply because I love peanut butter.  Anything with peanut butter is worth trying in my book.  Ryan wasn't too crazy about this recipe but I sure was!

Peanut Butter S'mores Bars
courtesy of myrecipes.com

1 c. Brown Sugar
1/2 c. Peanut Butter (I used creamy but you can use crunchy if that's your cup of tea)
2 T. Butter
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Egg Whites
1 1/2 c. Self-Rising Flour
1 Jar of Marshmallow Creme
2/3 c. Chocolate Chips (I used mini choc chips!)
Cooking Spray

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine the first five ingredients (through egg whites) in a bowl and beat until combined.
Stir in your flour.
Press into a 9x13 pan that's been coated with cooking spray.
Top with marshmallow creme and sprinkle with the chocolate chips.
Bake for 20 to 22 minutes or until the base of the s'more is done!
(Note:  I had a bit of trouble with the center of these.  You may want to par-bake the peanut butter crust for a few minutes before adding the marshmallow creme.  The marshmallow creme prevented the center from cooking completely.  If you do that, remember to reduce your remaining cooking time!)

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

Reese's got it right - chocolate and peanut butter just go together.  Like peas and carrots.  Like Forrest Gump and Jenny (that's for you, Ruth Ann!).  Honestly, those two things are perfect for one other.  There really is nothing more that can be said about these cookies except that they are delicious!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
courtesy of Nestle Toll House All-Time Favorite Cookie and Baking Recipes


2 1/4 c. All Purpose Flour
2/3 c. Baking Cocoa
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 c. Butter, softened (I use salted butter.  If you only have unsalted, add 1/4 tsp. salt)
3/4 c. Sugar
2/3 c. Brown Sugar, packed
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 Eggs
Peanut Butter Chips (I'm going to let you use your own judgment here.  I think the original measurement of an entire package is way too much so I usually use 1/2 the bag but you can add as much or as little as you like!)

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda in a bowl.
Beat butter, both sugars, and vanilla until creamy.
Add eggs to the butter mixture, beating well after each addition.
Gradually beat into flour mixture.
Stir in your peanut butter chips.
Measure out your cookies and place onto an ungreased baking sheet.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until centers are set (I usually go for 8 minutes but I like my cookies really soft!).
Let stand on the cookie sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely.

Nice picture, huh?  Yep, looks nice.  Want to see what happened just moments before?

Yep.  That's my husband's hand.  He couldn't wait for me to finish taking my picture before reaching for a warm cookie (okay, who can resist a warm cookie?).  Once he got his cookie, I was able to take my nice, lovely picture!

Post edited to add the following:

Join the Virtual Cookie Recipe Exchange with Flour On My Face  Prizes donated by King Arthur Flour, St Martins Press / Robin L. Olson and Garnish.

Lady Brownies

Tuesday was Valentine's Day which meant CHOCOLATE!  But Tuesday had another meaning for me.  It was also my husband's birthday.  So now, it's story time.  Many people have heard the old adage - the way to a man's heart is through his stomach.  Well, it's an old adage for a reason - it works.  The very first time I met my husband, I made him my homemade spaghetti.  And, yes, it was awesome.  However, the first dessert I made for him didn't show up for another two months and it was these brownies (actually, I tell a lie - I think I had strawberry pie at the ready when he came the first time but the first time I made something from scratch at his apartment were these brownies).  Ryan found out very early on that Paula Deen was my favorite Food Network chef (still is).  So he wasn't surprised when I arrived at his apartment with my cookbook handy.  I had made these brownies previously for my best friend and they're some of my favorites!  Now, it wasn't until years later and Ryan and I had moved in together, when he said something to me that I found rather interesting... "You said these are Paula Deen brownies, right?"  I nodded.  To this he said, "So where's the butter?"  *cue confused look*  So I checked and rechecked the recipe.  Sure enough - no butter!  It must have been a misprint or something because Ryan and I found is so strange that Paula Deen (the woman who has FRIED butter y'all) would have a sweets recipe that did not include butter!  Misprint or no, these brownies work!  Give these butter-less brownies a shot and I promise, you won't miss the butter (I never did)!

Lady Brownies
(recipe from The Lady and Sons Savannah Cookbook)

2 c. Sugar
1 c. Canola Oil
4 eggs
6 Tbsp. Cocoa (Ghiradelli)
1 tsp. Vanilla Bean Paste
1 1/2 c. Self-Rising Flour (Market Pantry - Target brand {I'm out of KAF SR flour})
1 c. Chopped Nuts (optional - I'm not the biggest fan of nuts in brownies so I left them out of mine)

Preheat oven to 325.
Combine sugar, oil, eggs, cocoa, and vanilla bean paste in a bowl using a mixer!  (Please, please use a mixer - this batter is very heavy and it will give your arm a workout if you mix by hand.)
Add flour and mix.
Pour into a greased 13x9 inch baking dish.
Bake for 50 to 55 minutes.
 

Calories - 265 per serving (16 servings total)

Cake-Pan Cupcakes

Everyone needs a go-to recipe for chocolate cake.  This is mine!  The original recipe is actually called Cake-Pan Cake but I prefer these as cupcakes.  The cake supposed to be mixed directly in the cake pan itself and put in the oven.  Great - no clean up!  Well, except that if you make this in the cake pan, it sticks - a lot.  Not that that issue cannot be remedied by a bit of icing or ice cream on the dish to cover up your mistake.  To avoid this problem, I mix everything in a bowl and rely on the wonders of cooking spray to keep everything from sticking.  All I can find about this recipe is it was a wartime cake.  Now, I'm guessing WWII but I'm not certain but we'll keep calm and carry on with the recipe.

Cake-Pan Cake Cupcakes
(from kingarthurflour.com)
 
1 1/2 c. All Purpose Flour (King Arthur Flour)
1 c. Sugar
1/4 c. Cocoa (Ghiradelli)
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Vanilla (Neilson-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste)
1 Tbsp. White Vinegar
1/3 c. Canola Oil (or Vegetable Oil)
1 c. Water (you could also use coffee or milk)

Preheat oven to 350.
Combine flour and the next 4 ingredients in a bowl with a whisk.
Make 3 small indentations in the mixture.
Pour vanilla into one hole, vinegar into another, and the oil in the last hole.
Pour the water/coffee/milk directly over the ingredients.
Combine until well blended.
Pour into either an 8- or 9-inch cake pan or standard 12 cup muffin tin that's been sprayed with cooking spray.  (Note:  If you're using an 8-inch cake pan, make sure it's at least 2" deep.)
Bake for 30-35 minutes (regardless of whether you're baking the cake or cupcakes).

This cake is great either by itself with some ice cream or with some icing!

Calories - 130 per cupcake (without icing)

Note:  If you're like me, you enjoy eating the cake batter just as much as you enjoy the finished product.  I would not recommend eating this batter.  The vinegar causes the batter to have a strange taste but I can promise you that after the baking is finished, this will be your go-to cupcake!!