Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend Ashley (the one who we had the birdy baby shower for) just had her baby last week! The sweetest little boy named Brayden :) Whenever I go to visit them I try to bring some treats with me. This week request was peanut butter! I looked around and came across this recipe for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies. It got rave reviews from mama Ashley and everyone else I gave extra cookies too.
When it comes to cookies I LOVE soft baked cookies. I'll eat crunchy ones, but they have to be dipped in milk to soften them up. This recipe makes a very soft cookie that is still soft the next day (if you have any left). They also don't spread very much so you can fit a lot on one pan ;-) Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe modified from All Recipes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I subbed 1 cup whole wheat flour for o ne of the cups of all-purpose flour)
  
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped semisweet chocolate (I used Nestle's new semi-sweet/white chocolate swirl chips)
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the corn syrup, water, and vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chunks. Drop by 1/4 cupfuls 3 inches apar t onto ungreased baking sheets (I used my small cookie scoop which drops them in tablespoon fulls, which I baked for about 9 minutes).
3. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Allow cookies to cool for 1 minute on the cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

   

baking is my therapy

I was feeling a little blue the other day... schools about to start up again, its cold, and sometimes ya just get bummed out. For some, it's retail* therapy that makes them feel better but for me, it's baking. It always makes me feel happy and accomplished (well... as long as the recipe turns out ;-) .

(*For those of you who prefer retail therapy, check out my giveaway this week!)

So I decided to make cookies. But what kind? Yes, my favorite is oatmeal chocolate chip, but I wanted to try something different. I've been wanting to try making these cookies from Momofuku Milk Bar in New York. I've heard about this place on blogs and on the food channel and what not. So I found the recipe for "copycat" cornflake, marshmallow and chocolate chip cookies at The Cookbook Chronicles that I decided to try out. As you know I love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and these cookies have some of those ingredients so I was sold.

Copycat Momofuku Cornflake Marshmallow cookies

Makes 20 cookies
The Cookbook Chronicles

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 ¼ cup packed dark brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp kosher salt (plus more for sprinkling)

3/4 cup oatmeal

1 1/4 cup lightly crushed cornflakes (= about 1 1/2 cup cornflakes before crushing)

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips*

about 3/4 cup mini marshmallows

*The chocolate chips in the original Momofuku Milk bar cookie are minis, though substitute with regular-sized chips if you prefer

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, and beat until combined.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and beat on low speed, just so the dry ingredients become incorporated. With a wooden spoon, mix in the oatmeal, crushed cornflakes, and chocolate chips.

(If you have time and would like the cookies to spread a little less, refrigerate the dough for two hours.)

On a parchment-lined baking sheet, scoop up and roll the dough into golf ball-sized spheres. (Six will fit comfortably on one pan–give them room to spread!) Lightly press down 4 mini marshmallows in the center of each ball of dough. Sprinkle tops with a touch more salt. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Be sure to leave enough space on the cookie sheet !

Bake for 9-10 minutes. The cookies will still look soft in the middle when you take them out of the oven. Allow them to cool directly on the tray for a few minutes before moving them onto a platter.

How cute are those plates?!

Outcome: I did the recipe exactly as followed ( as well as putting them in the fridge, but only for about an hour). I watched them bake and they rose beautifully in the oven, but when they cooled they fell... so very flat. I did not let this discourage me because they tasted great and were still chewy (even the next day). BTW - I hate crunchy cookies! Soft please ;-) Maybe I will try to change up the baking soda/powder ration next time? Anyways, I really liked this recipe. I love the salty and sweet combo. I hope to try a real Momofuku cookie soon. Hey, you know what these cookies reminded me of? The Tony the Tiger Cookies my mom used to bake when I was a kid. Such good memories... I'm happy now :) ~Cara Lee

My Favorite Cookies

My absolute favorite cookies in the world are oatmeal chocolate chip. Sometimes when I need my fix I get the $1 oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from Potbelly's. Just recently I found these oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with pecans from Elevation Burger which are made with organic eggs and butter. Loved the pecans in there! So I decided to make my own cookies this week. One of my last attempts was not so successful.... but I think I have found my "go to" recipe for now! Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Coconut and Pecans
Recipe Modified from All Recipes
Makes about 30 mini cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup flaked coconut

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar. Beat in egg, then stir in vanilla. In separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Gently mix in the quick oats, pecans, coconut and chocolate chips. (Important not to over mix cookie dough). Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto un-greased baking sheets. (I used a small cookie scoop).
3. Bake for 10-12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy with a cold glass of milk :)

For the rest of the week I have to prepare a cake and cupcakes for my BF's neice's birthday. Tinkerbell... so extra girly :) Happy hump day and have a good week! ~Cara Lee

Christmas Spirit

I'm finally feeling "Christmas Spirit" this year with only 3 more days til actual Christmas. County schools were canceled, so my friend (who's a teacher) and I finished up our shopping and baked cookies all day. We baked sugar cookies with royal icing and two kinds of drop cookies. I'm not a cookie connoisseur BUT I believe I am the queen of adding different things into batches (anything from different nuts, chocolates, whatever I can find) and calling it your own. We did a chocolate cookie with mint chocolate chips and then a peanut butter cookie with peanut butter chips and Christmas m&ms. I have NOT been able to stop eating them!! *Cookie tip: put a piece of plain bread in with your cookies to keep them soft :-)

If you're looking for some cookie recipes:

Alton Brown's Sugar Cookies
(good for more delicate sugar cookies but I definitely recommend adding either vanilla or almond extract. I also added some fresh vanilla bean to ours. Let them cool on the pan before removing them)

Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
(I modified it by adding the mint chocolate chips to half the batch. The other half I chopped up Hershey's candy cane kisses and topped those off with peppermint sugar)

Peanut Butter Cookies
(I modified these by using the Christmas color M&Ms instead of the chocolate chips)

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone had a wonderful thanksgiving! I celebrated with my cran-orange cupcakes and pumpkin cupcakes. Also make turkey cookies with my little cousins :)

Cupcake cookies

So I decided to change it up a little and make cookies this week. I've always liked those Cookie Bouquet kind of artsy cookies, so I figured I would attempt to make these! I'm too poor right now to afford a baking class so google has been my BEST baking teacher. So keeping with my love of cupcakes, I really wanted to make cupcake shaped cookies - I've seen these before w/ some really cute designs, but I didn't have the cookie cutter shape, and I did not want to wait. I googled around my area for bakery supplies places, but no luck. I thought of Williams and Sonomoa, but they didn't have any.. then I remembered this store Sur La Table had a bunch of random cooking things - I had been in there a few times but never got anything or paid much attention. (It is now my new favorite store by the way!!) I looked it up online and sure enough they had the cupcake shaped cookie cutter I wanted. I called up the closest one and they had it :) Made my day!

So, for the sugar cookie I decided to stick to one of my favorite cookie recipes from Alton Brown. It's perfect for keeping the shape of the cookie cutter you choose. I would recommend adding either vanilla or almond extract (my fave) to the batter.

For icing, I looked up how to make royal icing and how to use it to color in and make designs. I'm not comfortable yet working with eggs and icing and I found an alternative which is to use meringue powder as substitute. It worked great by the way - at least I think it did, I didn't have anything to compare it to since it was my first time. Some tips about the royal icing: I added some almond extract, but I wish I had added some more for flavor. When I was researching stuff about royal icing, I read to keep it covered with a damp paper towel to avoid it hardening so fast - that helped out SO much! I also filled Ziploc baggies with the different colored royal icings - I'm the queen of improvising if I don't have a tool around or an icing bag. All you do is cut the corner a bit, when you are ready for it.

It was a long process - going to get the cookie cutters, making the dough, letting it chill, cutting them out, baking them, letting them cool, making the icing, icing them, decorating them, letting the icing harden, and finally wrapping them up for my friends. But it was worth it! And I learned a lot. The dough can be made ahead of time, the cookies keep for a few days in an air tight container and you can frost them when you are ready. I'm hoping to make some cookie favors my my aunt's engagement party in a few months, so I need the practice.

I'm to go bake with one of my best friends Ash... I'll post all about it next time. <3 Cara Lee