Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies

In preparation for the cookie swap, Sunday afternoon, LaDawna, Catherine and I worked on their offerings.  Since we didn't get started until late, we only got one batch of each of theirs complete before the end of the night.  They weren't around on Monday to make a second batch, and I felt like it was too intensive to do by myself, and well, I wasn't motivated.  LaDawna found this recipe instead and it didn't seem too difficult.  I doubled it and HOLY YUM, the cookie dough with just the oreos was fan-flippin-tastic!  I added the chocolate chips, and SLURP!  These are delicious! 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup white sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 20 oreos, crushed

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
2. Grease cookie sheets or line with parchment paper.
3. Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
4. In a medium bowl, cream together the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar until well blended.
5. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and egg yolk until light and creamy.
6. Mix in the sifted ingredients until just blended.
7. Add in the crushed oreos, beating on low speed for just a few seconds to break up the oreos in the dough.
8. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand using a wooden spoon.
9. Using a small scoop, drop cookie dough onto the prepared cookie sheets.
10. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are lightly toasted.
11. Cool on baking sheets for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Adapted from Sugar Cooking blog

Cinnamon Walnut Crescent Cookies

Ho ho ho!  It's time for the 3rd Annual Cookie Swap at my friend Martha's.  I had no idea what to whip up for my confectionary offering this year, so I started surfing Pinterest.  I probably searched for over a week, not finding anything that I wanted to do.  I considered the Red Velvet Cream Cheese Cookies I posted here, but it seemed a bit time consuming with having to freeze the balls of cream cheese ahead of time.  I ended up finding this recipe.  Granted, it was probably just as time consuming, considering you need to chill the sour cream dough, but this recipe really intrigued me, as it looked like the cookies that my SIL's mother used to send to me at Christmas.  I LOVED those cookies.  It's been a few years, so I don't know if they taste exactly the same, but ... YUMALICIOUS -- these are good! 

Sour Cream Dough:

• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 cup (4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into tablespoon-size pieces
• 1 ½ cup sour cream
• 2 large egg, separated
• 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 

DIRECTIONS

1. Stir the dry ingredients together in a large bowl, and cut in the butter with a fork or pastry blender until it resembles small peas.
   (I actually put all of these ingredients into my Kitchen Aid mixer and blended together that way – pretty easy)
2. Add the sour cream, egg yolk (save the white), and vanilla extract together in another bowl, blending just until combined.
   (Avoid over-mixing; a few small butter lumps are just fine.)
3. Divide the dough into five equal portions, and flatten each portion into a disk.
4. Wrap tightly in wax paper or plastic wrap, and chill 2 to 3 hours, or until the dough is quite firm.

Cinnamon-Walnut Filling:

• 1 ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 ½ cup walnut halves, toasted and cooled
• 2 tsp.ground cinnamon 

DIRECTIONS

1. Place the sugar, walnuts, and cinnamon in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and process until the nuts are finely ground, but not pasty.
2. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F
3. Line two or more cookie sheets with parchment paper
   
   Roll the dough:
4. Work with one disk of dough at a time. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-inch circle, about 1/16 inch thick.
5. Trim the dough to a uniform 12-inch circle using a cake pan or plate as your cutting guide.
6. Sprinkle the top of the dough with about 2/3 cup of the filling, covering the surface as evenly as possible.
7. Gently press the filling into the dough.
   Cut and shape the crescents:
8. With a sharp knife or pastry wheel, cut the circle into 16 wedges.
   (I also cut the wedges BEFORE sprinkling the filling, and it worked out well.  So cutting them before or after adding the filling is fine)
9. Starting at the widest end, roll up each wedge into a crescent.
   (Don’t worry if some filling falls out – I kept rolling each crescent over the filling to add a little to the outside of each cookie)
10. Place the crescents loose ends facing down on the prepared cookie sheets.
     
11. Repeat steps with the remaining disks of dough.
12. With the scraps, create another disk of dough and chill for 2-3 hours to make a 6^th batch of cookies.
13. Whisk the reserved egg white until frothy, and brush it evenly on top of each cookie.
14. Bake 15 to 17 minutes, or until lightly browned on the top and bottom.

Yields: 80-96 cookies

(Original Recipe was half of this, but since I was making for a cookie swap, I needed to double it to what I show above)

Adapted from Julia M Usher’s blog

Hot Cocoa Cookies

In preparation for Martha's 2nd Annual Cookie Swap, LaDawna came over to my house for us to work together to make our cookies.  I had chosen the Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies, but she wasn't quite sure what she should make for her contribution.  Similar to what I did for my cookies, I let my fingers search google to see what we could come up with.  Somehow, we got our minds fixed on fluff, so I searched and found this Hot Cocoa Cookies recipe.  In regards to the fact that they are a cocoa based cookie, they were similar to mine, however these have fluff and marshmallows in them, and had ooey-gooey sweet consistency that was exactly like their name -- hot cocoa in a cookie!  These are definitely cookies we want to make again.

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¼ cup marshmallow fluff
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup mini marshmallows

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy.
3. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix until combined. Stir in marshmallow fluff.
4. Fold in chocolate chips and marshmallows.
5. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
6. Remove, and roll into 1 ½” balls.
7. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes. Make sure cookies are fully cooked, because they will be very sticky from the marshmallows.
8. Allow cookies to cool completely, even sticking them in the fridge for 15 minutes before removing from the baking sheet with a spatula. Be patient and gently remove cookies – let sit another 30 minutes.

Adapted from:

http://www.howsweeteats.com/2010/11/hot-cocoa-cookies/

Triple Chocolate Oreo Chunk Cookies

My friend Martha hosted her 2nd Annual Cookie Swap for a combination of our friends and her friends.  There were over 20 different types of cookies represented this year.  The weekend before, I started searching the internet for a different kind of cookie -- different from what I have ever made before, and different from what the other ladies would be bringing.  I googled "oreo", since I had them on my mind.  I'm not sure if I thought that I would try making a homemade Oreo, or what, but I came across this recipe that called for crunched up Oreos, plus white chocolate -- two of my favorites.  With Catherine and LaDawna's help the weekend before, we made up this delicious cookie.

• 2½ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ¼ tsp. salt
• ¾ cup cocoa
• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped white chocolate (or chips)
• 1 cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate (or chips)
• 1 cup chopped Oreo cookies

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375°. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Set aside. 
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside. 
3. With a mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugars together until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time. Next, add in vanilla extract. Mix until blended well, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. 
4. Slowly add the flour mixture and mix just until the flour disappears. Stir in the chocolate and Oreos. Drop cookie dough by scant ¼ cups onto the baking sheet. 
5. Bake cookies for 8-10 minutes. Don’t over bake – if the cookies are set around the outside but still soft in the middle, they’re ready to come out. Remove from the oven and let sit on baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Move to a cooling rack and cool completely.

NOTE:  Recipe called for dutch processed cocoa, but I used regular Hershey’s.  I’m not sure if it made a difference or not.

Adapted from:  

http://www.browneyedbaker.com/2011/09/01/triple-chocolate-oreo-chunk-cookies/

Thin Mints

A couple weeks back, my friend Martha hosted her 2nd Annual Cookie Swap.  My other friend, Tasha, brought these Thin Mints to share, but not to swap.  Everyone raved about them and insisted that they tasted as good as the Girl Scout Thin Mints.  Unfortunately, I'm not a fan of Thin Mints in general (or really, just mint), so I didn't partake, but I was so intrigued that I figured I had to make them.  I made them, first, for the NSOD Holiday Showcase bake sale.  But, I only had semi-sweet chocolate chips.  I was so confused why I was having such a hard time dipping them.  All of my other friends who were making them were saying that it only took them 20 minutes and it was super easy.  I was going well over an hour, and they were a pain in the bleep.  Since I had tons of Ritz crackers left, and if I didn't start to use them I'd eat them, I decided to give them another try, but this time buying the dark chocolate.  Let me say, I really think that made all the difference.  They were so much easier to make!  And Jim gave this batch a thumbs up, whereas the first round was just "eh".  I couldn't understand why everyone else making them was raving over them, and these were just "ok".  It had to be the dark chocolate.  Now, Jim is saying he can't stay away from these.

• 1 sleeve Ritz crackers (may need a few more)
• 1½ tsp. peppermint extract
• (1) 12 oz. package dark chocolate chips
• 1 tsp. Crisco

DIRECTIONS

1. Melt the entire package of chocolate chips in the microwave with one teaspoon of Crisco -- about 2 minutes at about 80% power, stopping every 30 seconds to stir for even consistency.
2. When fully melted, stir in peppermint extract.
3. Dip the Ritz crackers in the melted peppermint chocolate until all of the chocolate is gone.
4. Place on wax paper and put in the freezer to set up.

Makes about 1 - 1½ sleeves worth of Ritz crackers

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

Feast of Christmas Even, this year, was going to be a smaller affair than past years.  Knowing we were having only about 10 people, we weren't going overboard with the food.  I made the traditional Beast, mashed potatoes, corn casserole, and green beans for the main meal.  Knowing that no one would really be looking for a big dessert, we went in search of something that would be a nice closure to our feast, but wouldn't send everyone over the edge.  A few days ago, Catherine found this recipe, for Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies, on another blog. She knows that red velvet is a hit with us all, so she thought it would be an interesting recipe to try as a cookie.  I had seen a similar recipe a couple months back, but was afraid it was "cheating" to use a cake mix as one of the ingredients, but since Catherine seemed excited to make them, we went and bought the ingredients.  Last night, on Christmas Eve's Eve, she made the dough and put it in the fridge to chill, as the directions stated... and then promptly fell asleep for the night.  I made the cream cheese balls before I went to bed, and put them in the freezer so they would be ready for us to prepare during the day today.  These were definitely a hit, and something I think I will call dibbs on for next year's cookie swap.  Catherine even plans to take a couple to her dad's tonight so that Santa has a sweet treat when he comes down the chimney.  Merry Christmas 2011 everyone!

Cookies

• 1 box red velvet cake mix
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Cheesecake Filling

• 4 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature 
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla

White Chocolate Drizzle

• 1 ½ cups white chocolate chips, melted

DIRECTIONS

1. To make cookies, in a large bowl combine cake mix and flour, whisking until clumps disappear.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix together cake mix, flour, eggs, oil and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.
3. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap. The dough will be oily.
4. Refrigerate for at least two hours.
5. To make the cheesecake filling, using a mixer, combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.
6. Using a teaspoon, scoop out cheesecake filling into teaspoon balls.
   (I used a Pampered Chef small scoop)
7. Place plate in the freezer and freeze for at least two hours.  
8. Preheat oven to 350°. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
9. To assemble the cookies, take about a 1-2 Tbsp. handful of red velvet cookie dough and flatten in your hands.
10. Cut each cheesecake filling ball in half.  Place one-half of cheesecake filling in the center of each flattened cookie dough and wrap the cookie dough around the filling.  Completely wrap the cookie dough around the filling before baking so it doesn't leak.
11. Gently roll into a ball and place on prepared baking sheet. Only bake 6 cookies at a time. The cookies are will spread.
12. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until the cookies begin to crackle.
13. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. Remove from baking sheet to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.  
14. Melt the white chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl or over a double-boiler.
    (We microwaved for approximately 2 minutes at 80% power, stirring after every 30 seconds)
15. Drizzle the white chocolate over the cooled cookies.
16. Let the cookies set until the chocolate hardens. Serve and enjoy!

Note:  If you are going to store the cookies for more than a day, you may want to keep them in the refrigerator.

Adapted from: http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/red-velvet-cheesecake-cookies/

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday was my brother-in-law, Joey's, birthday.  He and Caroline drove out from Syracuse today, and every time he knows he's going to see Catherine, he asks her what kind of cookies she's going to make him.  As they were driving towards us, Catherine told me she had to make the cookies for Uncle Joey.  When I was on the phone with Caroline, we asked if he had any requests, and he said chocolate chip are always a favorite.  Since we've made those so many times before, we decided to add a twist.  Having just come back from Hershey Park in Pennsylvania, we saw the recipe online for these cookies, we thought they would be PERFECT -- and they were!

• 2¼ cups flour
• 1/3 cup Hershey's cocoa
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• ½ tsp. salt
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups Hershey's Special Dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips
  (we used Toll House (oops) semi-sweet)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt and set aside
3. Beat butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl on medium until creamy.
4. Add eggs, and beat well.
5. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well
6. Stir in chocolate chips.  (Add 1 cup of chopped nuts, if desired).
7. Drop by rounded teaspoons on to an ungreased cookie sheet.  (We used a Pampered Chef small scoop)
8. Bake 8 minutes or until set.
9. Cool slightly and remove from cookie sheet to a wire rack.

Chunky Chocolate Drop Cookies

We call these quadruple chocolate cookies. Catherine bought me a book all about cookies, and we've always just looked at the cookbook, like a picture book, but had never tried one. One day, a couple weeks ago, she talked me into making one of the recipes, and this was it. It's made me realize we need to try more recipes!

• 6 oz. semisweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 oz. white chocolate, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
• ½ cup milk chocolate, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
  
  Optional - 1 cup pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

DIRECTIONSPreheat oven to 325 degrees
Grease two large baking sheets.
In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the semisweet chocolate chips and unsalted butter, stirring until smooth.Remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.

In a large mixing bowl, with an electric mixer, beat the eggs and sugars for 2-3 minutes, until pale and creamy.
Add vanilla extract.
Gradually pour in the melted chocolate mixture, beating until well blended.

Beat in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt until just blended.
Stir in chocolate chips, white and milk chocolate pieces, and nuts (if used).

Drop by the teaspoon (or tablespoon for larger cookies) on to the prepared baking sheets.
Bake 8-10 minutes, until the tops are shiny and cracked and the edges look crisp.
Do not overbake or the cookies will become fragile.

Remove the baking sheets to a wire rack to cool for 2 minutes, then transfer cookies to the rack to cool.

Variation:
We did not have white chocolate when we made these, so we added 2 more ounces of the milk chocolate pieces, and 2 more ounces of semisweet chocolate chips.
We didn't use the nuts...

We also added powdered sugar to the tops of the cookies. Incredibly delicious!