Red Velvet Cookies

Being back home for so long, I thought it'd be nice to bake some cookies for everyone at my job here! I didn't want to make anything too difficult or too time consuming though, so I baked one of my old recipes: Cake mix cookies.
This time, I went for red velvet cake! With cream cheese frosting, these were a very decadent little dessert.

...Hm. My brain is a little on the tired side, so that's all I can think to say about these!
I can say though, that you can either roll these out and cut them into shapes, or drop them onto the pan by 1/2 tbsp full. What I did was scoop them with the 1/2 tbsp, then roll that into a nice ball.

Then I used the back of a spoon and pressed them down so they were about 1/4" thick.
Red Velvet Cookie Recipe

• One box red velvet cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 c vegetable oil

Preparation

• Beat together cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil. Scrape sides/bottom of bowl often, until everything is incorporated.
• Roll into a log and wrap with cling wrap, and refrigerate for an hour.
• Cut slices to bake, or roll out and cut out shapes, or scoop dough with a 1/2tbsp spoon.. however you want to form these, do it!
• Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just beginning to firm.
• Cool completely, then frost with cream cheese frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting Recipe

• 2 - 8oz packages cream cheese, softened
• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 4 cups powdered sugar

Preparation

• Cream together cream cheese and butter.
• Beat in vanilla, and then gradually add in powdered sugar.
• Note: I like my cream cheese frosting less sweet than some, so add powdered sugar to taste.
• Frost cookies!

Spritz Cookies

Phew! Finals are over, I'm waiting for grades to be posted, and it's so close to Christmas that I'm frolicking everywhere.

And I thought, what better treat to make to celebrate the holidays than spritz cookies??

I Googled "Best spritz cookie recipe" and this is the one I found. Now, I like mine more buttery and sweet, and these are a little more tangy, so there's your warning. They're still delicious, but in a different way.
I got my roommate to help me, too! She bought me the spritz gun (as I so lovingly call it) for my birthday, but I haven't used it until now. It's so fun! This recipe is made for use with a cookie press (gun) and it makes a looot of cookies.
I did three different designs, and used three different sprinkle colors. The trees got green, the roundish ones got blue, and the.. diamond ones..? got red! Very festive.

The recipe online said to cook them for 10-12 minutes, but when I cooked by first batch for 10, it burned. I was so sad! I burnt a whole tray of trees. So I suggest starting at 6 minutes, and then going from there.

Best. Roommates. Ever.

Spritz Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup butter-flavored shortening
• 1- 3oz package cream cheese, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 2 1/2 c all-purpose flour
• Sprinkles for looks

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• In a medium bowl, cream together shortening, cream cheese, and sugar.
• Beat in egg yolk, vanilla, and orange zest. Beat until light and fluffy.
• Beat in salt and cinnamon, then gradually add flour. Mix until well-combined.
• Choose the design you want, fill the tube of the cookie press, and form your cookies on an ungreased, un-parchment-papered cookie sheet.
• Sprinkle with sprinkles (Crazy!) before putting in oven.
• Bake 6-8 minutes, removing when edges just begin to turn golden brown.
• Remove from pan as soon as you can, letting them cool on a cooling rack instead.

Reverse Chocolate Chip Cookies

Alright, so these might have another name, but I prefer the one I gave them. Today I made chocolate cookies, with white chocolate chips!
(Arg, stupid picture rotating! There HAS to be a way to fix it..) I had the same issue today that I always have with chocolate cookies, no matter what: I can never tell when they're done. I may or may not have also burned a pan...but I can't tell. Sad, right? The ones I ate were tasty, though! But then, I also like white chocolate.
I know I should've baked yesterday, but there was too much going on! I had to enroll for my classes today too, and skipped today's class to make sure I got my next semester lined up correctly, so I baked while I waited! ..I'm a good student, I swear.

The only suggestion I have is that, if you know a tip to tell when a chocolate cookie is done, use it. And possibly share it with me. Otherwise, they were delicious. Enjoy!

Reverse Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

• 6 oz milk chocolate (chips probably work-- I used Hershey's Bliss squares because it was all I had)
• 1 c butter, softened
• 1/2 c sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/3 c unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 c flour
• 6 oz white chocolate chips

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 375
• Melt the milk chocolate (microwave for 30 seconds, stir, then heat in 10 second increments until done) and set aside to cool.
• Cream together butter, sugar, and vanilla until well mixed.
• Add eggs one at a time, beating together between each.
• Add the melted, cooled chocolate. Beat on low.
• Add in cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, and beat well.
• Gradually add in flour.
• Once well combined, stir in the white chocolate chips.
• Shape dough into 1" balls, and drop onto baking sheet.
• Bake for 8-10 minutes.
• Leave on the pan for 1-2 minutes to set, then transfer to wire rack to cool.

Lemon Poppyseed Cookies

I got another new cookbook! This one is just called The Cookie Bible and it has amaaazing recipes in it. I already marked about a dozen pages that I want to try straight away.
The first recipe I tried is called HUNGARIAN Lemon Poppyseed Cookies. I'm not really sure what makes them Hungarian, but that doesn't really matter, does it?

Whoever tested this recipe didn't record it right though, I don't think. It says to measure them by 'heaping teaspoons', and then says to bake for 11-12 minutes, which overcooked them. It also says that it makes 2 dozen cookies, and it made a little more than 3 dozen for me. So I'm going to adjust the recipe for you! For this recipe, you'll need just one lemon, too.

Maaan, these things are great. I'm taking them to my writing group, but I want to keep them all for myself. But then, I'm addicted to anything lemon, so that's why!

Lemon Poppyseed Cookie Recipe

• 2/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 (1 stick) butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp grated lemon peel
• 1 1/4 c all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp poppyseeds

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Beat granulated sugar and butter until creamy.
• Beat in egg and lemon peel.
• Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl. Add gradually to first mixture.
• Beat in poppyseeds on low speed until fully combined.
• Drop by teaspoon full, 2" apart on a baking sheet-- cookies will spread.
• Bake 7-9 minutes, until edges are lightly browned.
• Let cool 1 minute on sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Lemon Glaze Recipe

• 1 c powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp lemon juice

Preparation

• Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice.
• Blend until fully mixed.
• Put into a small zip-loc bag, and cut off a small corner. Drizzle over cooled cookies.

No Bake Cookies

Happy Labor Day!

In the spirit of Labor Day, and being off work, I decided to put the least amount of effort possible into baking. Well that, and I wanted to make something quick and fool-proof to take to my writing group tonight (as a reward for the people who show up on a holiday!)

Not wanting to go to the store, I decided to bake with what I had around the house, and wound up re-discovering no bake cookies! I haven't made them for yeaaars.
Mine ALWAYS seem to come out a little crumbly, but I boiled them for a little less time than normal. I added more oats than I meant to though, so that defeated the purpose!

Afraid that they'd be dry, I melted some peanut butter and drizzled it over them. Super cute!

Now, Wilton's makes this thing called Peanut Butter Drizzle Icing, and I found it on sale (discontinued, I believe) so I bought it awhile ago. It tastes...funky. Like a bad peanut butter icing. After reading the ingredients list, I'm convinced that it's sugar, chemically altered to taste like peanut butter.
So, even if you see something like this, I suggest just taking the 45 seconds extra to melt the peanut butter.

No Bake Cookie Recipe

• 1 3/4 c white sugar
• 1/2 c milk
• 1/2 c (1 stick) butter
• 4 T cocoa powder
• 3/4 c peanut butter (I prefer creamy)
• 3 cups quick oats

Preparation

• Line two cookie sheets with waxed paper; set aside.
• Combine sugar, milk, butter, and cocoa powder in medium sauce pan over high heat. Stir often to combine.
• Bring to a rolling boil. Once it begins to boil, heat one minute longer, stirring often still.
• Remove from heat. Add peanut butter and stir until melted/combined.
• Stir in 2 1/2 c oats, then slowly add in the rest of the oats, or enough to get the consistency you desire.
• Drop immediately onto the waxed paper, in whatever size you prefer. Leave to cool.

Optional Peanut Butter Drizzle

• Melt about 1/2 c peanut butter on 50% heat in the microwave for 45 seconds, stirring halfway through.
• Pour into a Zip-Loc bag. Snip off a small corner of the bag.
• Drizzle!

Nutella Cupcakes

Here's recipe number two for the day: Nutella cupcakes! And trust me, they are full of chocolate-hazelnutty goodness.

These could be REALLY good, but with the way we made them they were very bland. The recipe says to make the cake mix, then drop a teaspoon of Nutella in and swirl them. This was an epic fail! The Nutella was waaay too thick to swirl.


A better thing to do, in my opinion, is add Nutella to the batter after it's mixed up but before pouring. It comes out to be half a cup of Nutella. (1 tsp x 24 cupcakes = 24 tsp. 48 tsp = 1 cup. So 24 tsp = 1/2 cup. Math!) But since I didn't actually make them this way myself, you should judge for yourself if they're bland, or if they need more.

So! We tested out three different kinds: Cupcake with frosting. Cupcake with a thin Nutella layer, and frosting. Cupcake with thin Nutella layer and no frosting. We wound up deciding that the Nutella layer really made the cupcake better, with or without frosting.


For the frosting, mom whipped up a yummy Nutella buttercream. (I TOLD you it was chocolate-hazelnutty!)

Nutella Cupcake Recipe

• One package yellow cake mix
• 1 1/4 c water
• 1/3 c vegetable oil
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 c Nutella

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Blend together cake mix, water, oil, and eggs as per box instructions.
• Beat in Nutella.
• Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Nutella Buttercream Recipe

• One bag (2 pounds) of powdered sugar
• 11 tbsp (one stick + 3 tsp) butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 cup Nutella, to start

Preparation

• Combine powdered sugar, butter, vanilla, salt, and half of milk.
• Add in Nutella and beat together, adding more milk until you get the consistency you like. Add more Nutella as neccessary.
• Frost/pipe onto cupcakes.

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Two-for-one experiment today! Mom's been wanting to learn how to pipe frosting, so we figured we'd try a couple of different cupcake recipes.

The first one we tried: Cookie dough cupcakes!
They sound deliiicious. But they and the Nutella cupcakes were both "eh" for me. But I'm posting them anyway!

These involve making chocolate chip cookie dough, rolling it into balls, and freezing them. One of the two of us (hint, not me. ;) decided that they wanted to buy a roll of pre-made cookie dough instead of making it from scratch. It was alright, but personally I think the brown sugar was waaay too understated.
After you mix the batter and put it in the cupcake papers, you drop in one of the frozen cookie balls. Trust me when I say to drop it in and LEAVE IT. I pressed the ball down into the batter (it still sticks out even when it touches the bottom), and as it baked it melted down. All of the cookie was on the bottom, which split the cupcake into this half-cookie, half-cupcake weird thing.

For the frosting, we made a chocolate buttercream.
It was extra thick so mom could test her piping skillz, which really overwhelmed the cupcake itself (which was a little bland anyway). But in general I'd say thinner would be great-- using it as a glaze would be amazing.
Cookie Dough Cupcake Recipe:

Cookie Recipe

• One tube of pre-made chocolate chip cookie dough
• OR
• Cookie recipe here: http://adventureswithmarzipan.blogspot.com/2010/05/cookies-au-creme.html

Preparation

• After getting your dough, roll into balls about the size of a teaspoon. Put in the freezer for one to two hours.

Cupcake Recipe

• One package of yellow cake mix
• 1 1/4 c water
• 1/3 c vegetable oil
• 3 eggs

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Combine the mix, water, oil, and eggs as per box instructions. (Lazy, right?)
• Line a cupcake tin with 24 cupcake papers.
• Drop a frozen dough ball into each cup, in the center. Do NOT push down.
• Bake for 20-24 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean.

Chocolate Buttercream Recipe (doubled for piping)

• One bag (two pounds) of powdered sugar
• 11 tbsp (one stick + 3 tbsp) butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 c milk
• 1 1/4 c cocoa

Preparation

• Using a spoon, mix together powdered sugar and cocoa.
• Add in butter, vanilla, salt, and half of milk. Blend together.
• Slowly add milk until getting the consistency you like.
• Frost/pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Fourth of July Cookies

Wow, I am totally dense!

I've been so scatterbrained this last week that I forgot to update my blog.

Well, this is going to be a short post anyway. This was my last weekend working at my job (because my new job starts soon!) and I thought it'd be nice to give my co-workers one last taste of the treats that started it all: The sugar cookies mom and I have been making for so many years!
So that means that they're beautiful and delicious, but that there won't be a recipe this week.

But there are still pictures! I even cut them into stars for the holiday.

My concern now is that, if I keep baking every Friday, who am I going to feed them to??

(For the co-workers that are reading this, I think road trips are in order for you guys to come get some goodies. ;)

Chocolate-dipped Orange Cookies

What a busy week this has been! I was offered the opportunity to make treats for a WEDDING! Now granted, they're being served at the tail-end of the reception, after the cake has been served, but still! The woman (whose son is getting married) said she'd take pictures of the treats on display at the wedding and send them to me, so hopefully I'll get those and be able to post them here, too!

I decided to make three different treats. I made my Cinnamon Pinwheels, Cookies au Creme, and a new recipe: Cake mix cookies! Specifically, chocolate-dipped orange cookies.
I got the recipe from a friend of mine, Nikki (who is amazing in the kitchen). The recipe is reaaally simple. I did an orange cookie, half-dipped in chocolate. I wanted something with a little extra sass, that was also unusual, for people to "ooh" and "ahh" at at the wedding. I think I succeeded with these!

Everybody that I fed these to as samples LOVED them. Not one person thought they were less than amazing!

The great thing about the recipe is that you can use ANY boxed cake mix. Because I couldn't find an actual box of orange cake mix, I used white cake mix and added 4tsp of orange extract. Yummm!

I also used a box of strawberry (See below!) but it had that artificial-strawberry flavor. I've come to the conclusion that strawberry cookies should not exist.

Now, the first time I made these I used my KitchenAid. I also rolled out the dough and cut it into shapes, which probably had to do with why I didn't add any extra flour to the dough itself.

The second time (when I made a batch for work) I used a hand held mixer, and I had to add a LOT of flour to get it to be a good texture. When I scooped them, I used a 1/2 tablespoon measuring spoon to get them the same size.

Cake Mix Cookie Recipe:

• One box cake mix (any flavor)
• Two eggs
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• Flour (Not sure how much-- it varies)
• 4tsp orange extract (if you go for the orange cookies)
• One bag chocolate chips, melted (you pick what sort!)

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 300
• Beat together the cake mix, eggs, and vegetable oil.
• If needed, add enough flour to get it to a cookie dough-like consistency.
• Either roll out and cut cookies into shapes, or drop onto cookie sheet.
• If dropping onto cookie sheet, press down so they're about 1/4" thick. They don't seem to spread at all, or VERY little.
• Bake for 9-12 minutes, or until just firm to the touch.
• Leave to cool on the cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
• Serve plain, or dip in melted chocolate-- or drizzle with melted chocolate.

Note: I used milk chocolate for the orange cookies, and dark chocolate for the strawberry. Try mixing it up!

Sugar-Free Cookies (with Jell-O)

Recently, there's been a little scare in the family having to do with diabetes/pre-diabetes/what all of that means.

So, to show that I'm here to support my family, I decided to bake up something sugarless. I settled for one that embraces a slightly less usual ingredient.
There are a lot of recipes that are sugar-free, but use Splenda or Equal in place of the sugar. And don't get me wrong, those recipes sounded fine, but I wanted to find something a little more unusual/special to make, to show that being diabetic/pre-diabetic doesn't mean not having choices.

When I found this recipe, I was really intrigued. It cuts out sugar substitutes all together, and instead calls for one new ingredient: A package of sugar-free Jell-O! Any flavor! Not the gigantic box, just the regular-- and you have a lot of choices.

The two I picked were orange, and strawberry banana. I also bought a package of raspberry, which I think I'm going to turn into gelatin for myself. :D

The best things about using Jell-O in the recipe:
1) It turns the dough the same color as the flavor! The orange was...orange (duh.) And the strawberry banana came out this really pretty pink.

2) The dough smells SO GOOD. You'll want to eat it right out of the bowl (leave out the egg, and you can, no risk!)

The things that could be improved on:
1) The consistency within the cookie was odd. The outside was dry and really made me thirsty, while the inside was soft and weirldy flaky.

2) The flavor was..off, somehow. Tangy and attacked my whole mouth, but really flour-y too. Maybe it was just from rolling out the dough onto a floured surface, with a floured rolling pin.

But the cookies don't spread much at all, so you can pack a lot onto a tray and cut down on how long you're waiting to bake. Rolling them out also gives you the ability to cut them into cute shapes!


Sugar-Free Cookie Recipe

• 3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 package sugar-free Jell-O (small package, any flavor)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 3/4 cups flour

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 350
• Cream together the butter and Jell-O powder.
• Add in egg and vanilla, beat.
• Beat in baking powder, then flour bit by bit. Incorporate well.
• Roll dough out onto floured surface until relatively thin (1/4"? That's a guess)
• Cut out desired shapes, and place on a cookie sheet.
• Bake for 6-8 minutes, until slightly firm to the touch. (Cookies will not brown)

Final say:

The orange ones went over well. The strawberry banana smelled good and were pretty, but the flavor wasn't as pleasing. It's so easy to make the dough though, that you could experiment with various flavors-- just make sure the packages of Jell-O say "Sugar Free" or you defeat the purpose!

(Original recipe found here)

Triple Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

In theory, this recipe sounds DELICIOUS. But because of three things I did, they came out just slightly less tasty. But still good!

The three main chocolates are:
Dark chocolate, which creates the actual cookie yumness.
Milk chocolate chips
White chocolate chips

The first mistake, which accounts for two errors in the cookies, was following this recipe exactly. First was adding the full amount of flour. It calls for 1 1/4 cups. I suggest sticking to 1 at the most, or maybe a little less.

Second was adding the full amount of macadamia nuts. It was an overload for the cookies! It calls for a cup of macadamia halves-- I suggest 1/2 cup of macadamia quarters (which you'll cut yourself, since they come halved) then judging further from there.

The third was my inability to tell when chocolate cookies are done. I mean, it's hard to tell when a cookie is brown on the edges when the entire dough is brown.. So two of my three trays ended up slightly overcooked.

With the dark chocolate, the recipe calls for 11oz of at least 70% cacao.
The problem with this is that a 3.5oz bar of 72% costs $4.69 at my store.

So, not wanting to totally bland-up my cookies, I bought one bar of the expensive stuff, then two bars of the Hershey's Special Dark bars (4.25oz each) to get what I needed.

Everything else seemed to be contributing to a perfect cookie recipe! Since you have to leave them on the pan to firm up anyway, I think cooking them for an even 12 minutes, then taking them out, will be perfect.

Triple Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Recipe:

• 3oz milk chocolate chips
• 3oz white chocolate chips
• 11oz dark chocolate (min. 70% cocao)
• 7tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature, diced
• 1tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup self-rising flour
• 1/2 cup macadamia nut quarters (or halves, halved)

Preparation

• Preheat the oven to 350
• Put the two types of chocolate chips in a bowl together, and mix.
• Take one of the chocolate bars (if you did what I did, one of the Hershey Special Dark bars) and break apart all of the squares except three (these three will be melted with the other chocolate.)
• Take the individual squares, break in half again, then mix in with the chocolate chips.
• In a separate, microwave safe bowl, break apart the rest of the chocolate.
• Heat until melted.
• In a third, large bowl, pour the melted chocolate in with the butter. Mix well.
• Add the brown sugar and vanilla extract. Mix.
• Add half of the flour, beat together, then add the rest and beat.
• Use a spoon to mix in the milk, white, and dark chocolate chips/chunks.
• Mix in the macadamia nuts.
• Scoop by tablespoon onto a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
• Heat 12 minutes, then remove from oven.
• Allow to cool on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Lemon Cookies

Well, this was a coincidence! I was in the mood for something lemon so I decided to make lemon cookies. When I went to the store to buy the ingredients I needed, a bright yellow sign greeted me: The sign for Alex's Lemonade Stand.

Each year the foundation sets up a stand outside of the grocery store where I work (among other places) and sells cups of lemonade to raise money for childhood cancer. Check out the site!

Back to the topic at hand, I made lemon cookies! They came out much more cakey than I expected them to, but they were still good.

They didn't spread as much as I thought they would, either. I used a tablespoon (measuring spoon) to scoop the dough. After doing this, I suggest flattening them down some, because they do rise a little but they don't spread, so flattening them will make them more even.

Another reason to flatten them: It makes the cookie more round. In the pictures you can tell the difference between the ones I pressed, and the ones that I simply lumped-- they're the ones that came out more jagged. Having them flat adds a little extra to the presentation.

The cookie recipe is from one recipe online, and the icing recipe is from another. Both were found on Cooks.com but I tweaked both of them so much that I couldn't find the originals later!
Lemon Cookie Recipe

• Cookie Recipe
• 1 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. shortening
• 1 egg
• 1/4 c. lemon juice
• 1/2 lemon rind, grated
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 1/2 c. flour
• 1/4 c. milk
• Icing Recipe
• 1 c. powdered sugar
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp milk (with a little extra on-hand to get the right consistency)

Preparation

• Cream sugar and shortening.
• Add the egg and beat until fluffy.
• Add lemon juice and grated rind, beat together.
• Beat in baking soda and baking powder.
• Mix in the flour, alternating with the milk.
• Chill for 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350°
• Use a tablespoon to scoop the dough (against the side of the bowl to flatten it) and drop onto a cookie sheet. Flatten with your fingers slightly.
• Bake 12-15 minutes. Let cool.
• Blend together the powdered sugar and lemon juice.
• Slowly add milk until you get a proper consistency for icing.
• Drizzle over the cookies.

Proof that I put effort into the display pictures I take. (;

Oreo Balls

I've got a loooong work week starting tomorrow. Everyone is taking days off at once, so there's really only a couple of us who are available to work all of the shifts.


Because I KNOW I won't want to bake anything after working 9-5 tomorrow, I thought I'd make something tonight. So I spent the entire day making oreo balls!

They're messy to prepare, but are sooo worth it. Plus you only need three ingredients, so it's easy to do these from memory. Everybody at work loooves these, too.

Note: Using different food colorings in the Almond Bark can instantly make these festive little goodies! Always use a gel-based food coloring though-- the liquid food colorings make the Almond Bark "seize up" and you'll have to get a new package. You could either color all of it, or dip the oreo balls in plain white Almond Bark, then color the leftover and drizzle it over.

Oreo Balls Recipe

• One package Oreos (plain/original)
• One package cream cheese
• One package white Almond Bark

Preparation

• Leave the cream cheese out to soften/get to room temperature.
• Put the Oreos in a large Zip-Loc back (The freezer bag/gallon bag is what I use.)
• Seal out the air, then use a rolling pin to crush the Oreos as best you can. When you think they're crushed enough, keep crushing for another minute or two because larger chunks are harder to blend.
• Put the Oreos and cream cheese in a large bowl and blend together until you get a smooth, well incorporated mixture.
• Put the mixture in the fridge for half an hour to help it firm up.
• Cover a cookie sheet with wax paper. Roll the mixture into 1" balls, and put on the cookie sheet.
• Put back in the fridge for an hour.


• Chop up the Almond Bark and heat until it's melted. (Heat for a minute, then stir every 20 seconds.)
• Prepare a second cookie sheet with wax paper, for the dipped balls.
• Taking 4-5 balls from the fridge at a time, drop one at a time into the Almond Bark. Use a toothpick to lift it out, and once it's evenly coated shake off the excess A.B., then put on the wax paper to let it set. (You'll want to have a second toothpick on hand; use it to put extra A.B. over the toothpick hole in the Oreo Ball.)
• Once they're all coated, put the new pan in the fridge to let them firm up and chill. Then serve!
  
  

Cookies au Creme

Originally I planned to make mini-chocolate chip cookie sandwiches, but I decided that they were still too big to be minis, so I came up with something else instead: Cookies au creme! French for cookies with cream! (Clever, right?)

As far as I'm aware, I didn't see these anywhere before I decided to make them, so the recipe is an old chocolate chip cookie recipe I had, and the frosting recipe is the same one mom and I use for frosting regular sugar cookies.

My mini-cookies!

These cookies are mini, complete with mini chocolate chips! To get them small, I used a melon baller-- the larger scoop if you have one with two sizes. Or, from what I gathered from looking, they're about the size of a teaspoon (a measuring spoon, not an actual spoon.)

To keep them from spreading out, I added about 1/4 cup extra flour to the recipe, maybe a little more.
I also cooked them on parchment paper-- NEVER grease a pan if you don't want the cookies to spread!
For the frosting I used regular buttercream-- the recipe is actually on the back of the C&H brand powdered sugar bags. It should be a little more thick than the frosing used to frost cookies, but not too much.. when it holds its own, but can also be manipulated easily, then it's probably a good consistency.

For the design I used a star tip nozzle with a piping bag, and went in a spiral. Then I topped with more mini-chocolate chips! But be sure to sprinkle the chips on as you go, because as the frosting sets, the chips begin to bounce off of it if you drop them on too late.

I didn't actually count, but I'd estimate that I made about 70 mini-cookies. By the time I'd frosted 30, I was exhausted (and bored) so I left the rest plain, for milk-dipping.

It's time-consuming to make each little cookie, to bake, then to prep the frosting and frost, but they're worth it!
Cookies au Creme Recipe

Cookie:

• 2 sticks of butter, softened
• 3/4 cups brown sugar
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 12-oz bag of semi-sweet MINI-chocolate chips

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 375
• Blend together the butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time.
• Beat in salt and baking soda.
• Beat in flour, bit by bit, until fully incorporated.
• Use a spoon to mix in about 3/4 of the chips.
• Cover a few baking sheets with parchment paper.
• Using a melon baller (or teaspoon), scoop out leveled-off spoonfuls of dough. (I used a butter knife to get it out from the scoop.)
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown.
• Leave on the pan for a minute or two, then scoop onto wire racks to cool.

Frosting:

• ++This recipe is doubled from what's on the back of the bag++
• 2 lbs powdered sugar
• 11 tbsp butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup milk (estimation-- I keep about 3/4 a cup on hand and eyeball it)

Preparation

• Blend together the butter, vanilla, and salt.
• Beat in the powdered sugar, a third at a time (to cut down on a possible mess) until all blended, adding milk as you go.
• If too stiff, add a little extra milk. If too runny, add in more powdered sugar.
• Put the frosting in a piping bag with the star nozzle already inserted.
• Frost the cookies, flat-side up, by going around the cookie in a spiral.
• Sprinkle with extra chips!

Rock Chalk Jayhawk Cookies

This really hasn't been my two weeks! I got over my sickness, but I've been sooo ridiculously stressed from my finals (and the papers I have to write!) that I didn't even remember to update my blog until today. So there's going to be a double post.

My lil bro's dorm has the most awesome RA ever. She arranges all sorts of activities to make them feel like they really do have a home away from home. For their last big bang their entire floor had a picnic, and they had one request-- Jayhawk cookies.

L5 stands for his dorm and floor!

I don't know what's in the cookies that makes them so great, but everybody loves them.

So mom and I made Jayhawk cookies. It took us FOUR hours to frost FOUR dozen cookies.

And it was worth it!

Here they go marching one by one hoorah, hoorah...

No recipe (sorry kids, it's a secret ;) but you can enjoy the pictures!

Chocolate Chip(ish) Cookies

I haven't made cookies in awhile, so I decided to go with a simple recipe with a few variations. I made two types of cookies: White chocolate chip cookies, and cinnamon chip cookies.

Both were tasty! My favorite, however, are the cookies I made with a bit of leftover dough-- Chocolate chipless cookies. I love crisp cookies, and I feel like the chocolate takes away from that slighty, so I made three cookies without any sort of chip.

I didn't measure the chips, but I'd estimate that I used about 2 ounces (or between a fourth and a fifth of a bag) on each type. I pretty much just poured and stirred until they looked good.

This recipe I got online, but here it's posted again!

Chocolate Chip(ish) Cookie Recipe

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 large eggs
• Chocolate chips (or white chocolate, or cinnamon)
• You'll either need a full package of whichever type you choose, or 4-5 oz of different types
  

Preparation

• Preheat oven to 375°
• Beat together the: Butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla, until creamy.
• Beat in eggs, one at a time.
• Beat in the baking soda and salt.
• Beat in the flour, bit by bit until it's all blended in.
• FOR ONE TYPE OF COOKIE
• Stir in the chips
• FOR TWO TYPES OF COOKIE
• Split dough into two different bowls, and stir in the chips
• Drop by tablespoons onto a parchment paper covered cookie sheet
• Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden
• For softer cookies, transfer directly to a wire rack
• For crispier cookies, leave on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool
  

Here you can see the two different types!