Peanut Butter Cookies

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Pb Heaven. 

I owed some sweets to my brother in law Keenan. He LOVES peanut butter and requested these classic peanut butter cookies! 

These are simple and a favorite among most families but I have never made them! They are easy to make and delicious 

Recipe

2 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

2 eggs

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

  1. Cream the butter, sugar, eggs and peanut butter in a bowl. 
  2. Combine all the dry ingredients - flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder and add to the wet mixture
  3. Refrigerate for 3 hours or more if you can!
  4. Oven should be preheated to 375 (my oven is hot so I did 350) Roll dough balls to desired size and make a cross fork pattern on each by pressing the prongs of the fork onto the cookie. I didn't flatten mine very much because I like thicker cookies :)
  5. Bake for 8-10 min or until they begin to brown
  6. Chow down!

Tips 

  1. Because this recipe has a lot of sugar already I used a "natural" peanut butter with very little sugar. I would suggest doing this unless you want uber sweet cookies
  2. The butter melts quickly in these so make sure to refrigerate until the dough is pretty stiff, otherwise you'll get flat cookies. 

Do you have a favorite peanut butter cookie recipe? If so please SHARE :) 

Coconut Chocolate chip cookies- My OWN Recipe!

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Recipe by me!

My step father's mom is an excellent cook AND baker. Grandmere makes a MEAN rhubarb pie. One summer day she asked me if I wanted to help her make rhubarb pie for dessert that night and I've been hooked on baking ever since. It's such an amazing process, like a chemistry experiment and it brings so much joy to the people I share it with. 

I've always wanted to make up my own recipes but never knew where to start. There are so many recipes that I've made over and over again where I don't even need to look at the proportions because I know them by heart. I decided to start small with a twist on chocolate chip cookies!

Directions: 

  • Preheat oven to 375 F
  • Put the chocolate chips and coconut aside to use at the end
  • Combine all the dry ingredients in a  small bowl
  • Cream the butter and sugar in a larger bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla
  • Beat in the dry mixture into the larger bowl
  • Add chocolate chips and coconut
  • Place tablespoon size or a bit larger balls on the baking sheet a few inches apart
  • Bake for 7-9 minutes or until golden brown
These have a slight coconut taste, not overly saturated. 

These have a slight coconut taste, not overly saturated. 

 

 

 

The cutest superbowl sweet treats

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Football shaped brookies. 

Oh my. Do you ever have trouble choosing between cookies and brownies? Brookies are here to save the day! 

Check out yet another amazing recipe from A Cozy Kitchen! Am I a fan girl? Kinda. Yes. 

After putting a mound of batter on the parchment paper I simply took my fingers and shaped it into a football. Not to worry, the batter isn't as solid as you'd like but even if the shape looks messy they still come out pretty well!

I let these cool completely before taking some store bought icing (I know shame on me) and made little football designs. 

These are super rich, sweet and delicious!

The Superbowl wouldn't be complete without plenty of beer! Flying Dog is a local MD brewery and they just keep knocking it out of the park with their new beers! These two were exceptionally good.

Send me a comment with your favorite superbowl treat or drink!

Chai Spice Snicker doodles

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Chai Spice. 

Move over pumpkin spice....Chai spice is here to take over! 

If you're a fan of chai tea or anything with spices ...you're in for a treat! I'm a huge fan of A cozy Kitchen and her recipes! I saw this recipe for chai snicker doodles and I had to try it!

I substituted some of these ingredients but Ill give you the original recipe. These turned out delicious and spicy! These were wonderful with tea. 

When this is baking your whole house fills up with the smell of cardamom, cloves and cinnamon! 

Tip: keep an eye on these so they don't burn. If you like cookies to be chewy, I would take them out a minute or two early! 

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 ounces cream cheese, softened
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and warm
  • 1/3 cup vegetable oil
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tablespoons milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
pinch of cardamom

Bake these babies:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, allspice and pepper.

In the bowl of your electric mixer, add the sugar, cream cheese and butter. Beat until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Beat in the oil. Add the egg, milk and vanilla extract untiled combined and smooth. Add the flour in two additions.

Mix together the topping ingredients (sugar, cinnamon, cardamom). Roll the dough into balls and roll in the topping then place on the baking sheet. Flatten the cookies then sprinkle  some of the toppings on each cookie. 

Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes.  

GF Chocolate Crinkles

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Let me start of by saying that I am fortunate enough to not have a dietary restriction such as gluten intolerance but some do! I went to a Christmas party on Saturday and the host cannot have gluten so I decided to look up a recipe for a gluten free holiday cookie. 

Apparently Betty Crocker has a whole line of gluten free products and recipes. Before you judge, take a look at these bad boys...

Check out the recipe: 

  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used apple sauce)
  • 4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, melted, cooled
  • 2 cups granulated sugar (I used packed dark brown sugar)
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 1/2 cups Bisquick™ Gluten Free mix
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350. Normally I like to bake completely from scratch and am against boxed mixes but because this was an experiment I followed the recipe. I got the Bisquick Gluten Free mix from target, it was a bit pricey although there is a promo code now where if you spend $10 you get $3 off! 

You start off by mixing the apple sauce, sugar, vanilla and melted baking chocolate together. Then mix in the eggs one at a time making sure it is evenly distributed. Pour in the mix and make sure you scrape the bottom so there isn't any mix left. The recipe says to refrigerate for at least 3 hours, I only had an hour and it was fine. I would suggest longer because it will make the powdered sugar  step easier. 

Next take a teaspoon or tablespoon and roll little balls dunking them in powdered sugar. I poured powdered sugar in a bowl and this made it easy to cover it completely. Place on a baking dish that is oiled in some way or on parchment paper. Bake 10-12 minutes. This time will depend on how big you made the cookies.  

Let these cool before you try them! I would say that these are good however they are a bit cakey and I know that's not everyone's cup of tea. Enjoy!

* The Best Cookies *

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Pecans & Mini Chocolate Chips & Egg less, edible batter

 

Are you looking for a simple cookie recipe? This is my personal favorite. These are technically pecan sandies with chocolate chips but are much softer as opposed to the classic shortbread consistency of pecan sandies! Below is the recipe I used which I adopted from here

  • 1 cup butter softened
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • pinch of salt
  • 1 cup chopped pecans
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Basically you add all these ingredients together and bake at 350 for 12-15 minutes but I have a few suggestions.

  1. Cream the sugar first because it makes for a more even tasting cookie 
  2. One cup of pecans & one cup of mini chocolate chips is an estimate. I usually pour some, mix it in and keep pouring until I think the batter is pecan and chocolate chip filled 
  3. TASTE THE BATTER! There are no eggs and therefore no risk! 

P.s. When I made this batch I tried a sprinkle of cinnamon in the batter and if you're into that I would suggest it, great hint of flavor!