Cookies Cookies COOKIES !

I love cookies. Who doesn't? I don't think i'd trust a person that doesnt like cookies.

My family got invited to a dinner party the other night, and since it was a nice,

casual dinner, i thought i'd go with a casual dessert.

I decided on these Oreo Chunk chocolate chip cookies from Cookie Madness.

And Martha Stewarts Oatmeal Raisin cookies from her cookie book.

BOTH these cookies were amazing, and everyone at the party totally DEVOURED

them. If you're looking for easy cookie recipes, these are them for sure.

Oreo Chunk Chocolate Chip Cookies

from Cookie Madness

6 oz butter, softened

1/2 cup plus 2 tblsp granulated sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tblsp light brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla 

1 large egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cream of tartar

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

6-8 oreos, broken into thirds or fourths

 pre-heat oven to 350.

cream butter and both sugars, Beat in the vanilla and egg. Add soda, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar, and beat well to ensure the baking powder is well-distributed. Add the flour and stir until it's absorbed. Stir in the chocolate chips and cookies.

Using heaping tablespoon, drop cookies 2 inches apart onto cookie sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

from Martha Stewarts Cookies

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup plus 2 tblsp all purpose flour

1/2 cup toasted wheat germ

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup(2 sticks) butter, room temp.

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cup raisins

1. preheat oven to 350.Stir together oats, flour, wheat germ, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl.

2. put butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 min. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. add oat mixture; mix until just combined. mix in raisins.

3. using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper, spacing 2 inches apart. Flatten slightly.

4. bake until golden and just set, about 14 minutes, rotating halfway through. let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 min. let cool completely.

ENJOY!

TWD: Devils Food White-Out Cake

This weeks Tuesdays with Dorie was chosen by Stephanie of Confessions of a City Eater. 

I was insanely excited when I saw that we would be making the mouth watering cake that is the cover of the book!

The cake itself was not hard to put together, although, for some reason my layers didn't rise that high? Dorie says after the layers are cool, to cut them horizontally to make 4 layers. If I sliced those 2 cakes, the layers would be almost paper thin!

So I made another batch, and made 2 more layers...making the mistake of NOT slicing them horizontally. So while assembling the cake, the 3 layers were pretty thick. And like the picture, I piled on the frosting.

Well, while frosting the rest of the cake, I sort of ran out of frosting, so my mom suggested pushing the cake down, and using the frosting from the middle of the cake, to frost the rest of it.

...BAD IDEA. Although it worked at the time...when I sliced it, there was barely any frosting left on inside of the cake. 

That little incident on the side, it still turned out great! Next time i'll make sure to slice the cakes like the recipe says.

Valentines Treats

Sadly, I have no valentine. But luckily, my girlfriends and I had a MUCH better night.

I threw a little party at my house including dinner, and I of course supplied the desserts!

I made Dorie Greenspans chocolate cupcakes, and I also made Red velvet cupcakes as well.

Those got DEVOURED quite fast.

I also whipped up a batch of Martha Stewart's Oreo cookies from her Cookie book.

I tinted the creme filling pink in honor of Valentines Day !

These were a BIG hit. Whenever I make them, they always go FAST. And they definitely did.

Cream-filled Chocolate Sandwiches

from Martha Stewarts Cookie book

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup unsweetened dutch cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups sugar, plus more for flattening cookies

10 tblsp butter, room temp

1 large egg. room temp

Vanilla creme(recipe follows)

1. preheat oven to 375 F. Into a bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream sugar and butter until light and fluffy, about 2 min. Add egg; beat to combine. with mixer on low speed, gradually add flour mixture; continue beating until dough it well combined.

3.using a 1 1/4inch ice cream scoop, drop dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart. dip bottom of a glass in sugar; press to flatten cookies about 1/8 inch thick.

4. Transfer to oven and bake until cookies are firm, 10-12 minutes. rotating sheets halfway through. transfer baking sheets to wire rack to cool completely.

5. Place cream filling in a pastry bag. Place 1 tblsp filling onto flat side of half the cookies. place remaining cookies on top, and gently press on each to squeeze filling to edges.

Vanilla cream filling

1/2 cup butter, room temp

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening, room temp.

3 1/2 cups confectioners sugar

1 tblsp vanilla extract

With an electric mixer, cream butter and shortening until well combined. on low speed, gradually add confectioners sugar and continue beating until light and fluffy, about 2 min. add vanilla and beat to combine. set aside at room temp until ready to use.

Hope everyone had a great Valentines day!

Wordless..Friday ?

Nothing to say really...

Dad took this picture of me the other day...

Makin some Banana Cream Pie.

...Yep, SUPER attractive.

NOT..haha.

Have a wonderful friday!

Peabody's Snickerdoodle Blondies !

I was looking through some of my favorite food blogs the other day, when I stumbled onto Peabody's wonderful blog.

The first thing I did when I saw this recipe was drop my mouth open in amazement. I've NEVER seen SNICKERDOODLE BLONDIES before. I knew I had to try them, and soon.

It's one of my dance team members birthday tomorrow, so these will be for her.

But you better bet I had my share before packaging them away!

I HIGHLY recommend trying these. Peabody says to serve them warm with ice cream...YUM! I just warmed mine up a little, and ate them that way. But next time, I will for sure be putting ice cream on top!

Snickerdoodle Blondies

2 sticks butter, at room temp.

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar

3 ounces Mascarpone cheese

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of salt

3/4 tsp cream of tartar

1/4 tsp fresh grated nutmeg

2 cups all-purpose flour

Cinnamon sugar for coating (about 1/3 cup)

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 9x13 inch pan. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar and move pan around to make sure the bottom and sides are coated. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cream of tartar.

Using a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars. beat for 3 minutes. scrape down bowl.

Add mascarpone cheese and beat until fully incorporated. Add eggs, one at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition.

Add vanilla, beat another 30 seconds.

On low speed add the flour mixture. Mix until fully incorporated.

Spread mixture into pan. Even out with spatula.

Sprinkle more cinnamon sugar on top.

Bake 20-25 minutes. Remove from oven let cool on wire rack. Cut into squares.

ENJOY!