Mint Chocolate Chip Clouds

Mint Chocolate Chip Cloud

Hi everyone! HAPPY NEW YEAR! I cannot believe it's already a whole new year! Can you believe it was only a year ago that I started this blog?! A whole year has already passed.  That's craziness! Things to be proud of: starting this blog, graduating college, starting a real job, and traveling a little more than usual. What's my new years resolution you ask? Well there are the cliche ones of losing the stubborn 10 pounds (so hard!), eating healthier (more green smoothies), blogging more than last year, maybe try video blogs for food, and finally doing something that is going to change my life forever (I'm going to keep that a secret for now).  What are your new year's resolutions?

Okay, so I made these cookies a while back, but they are absolutely delicious.  Very few calories per cookie, mostly the calories come just from the chocolate chips! My girl Gina is owner of this recipe and man did she do an amazing job! I took a bunch of these to work and it was an absolute hit.  Since starting to work, it's awesome whenever I have extras of goodies, I just go ahead and bring them to work! Anyways give these a shot, believe me you won't be disappointed!

Ingredients for Cookies

Ingredients (30-35 cookies):

3 large egg whites (room temperature)

1/8 tsp cream of tartar (spice aisle)

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup dark and mint chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Using a mixer (I used my Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Hand Mixer), beat the egg whites and cream of tartar on high until soft picks.  Soft picks are when you pull up the mixer and the mixture stands up slightly.  

3. Slowly add the sugar, 1/8 cup at a time, beating the mixture the whole time.  Then add the vanilla extract.  The sugar should be completely dissolved leaving everything glossy.  

4. Fold in the dark chocolate and mint chips.

5. Drop the mixture by spoonfuls on the cookie sheet.
6. Bake cookies for about 40-45 minutes until the cookies are dry.

7. Cool on wire rack for about 10 minutes.  
8. ENJOY!

Pumpkin Spice Cookies with Cream Cheese Frosting

Pumpkin Spice Cookie with Cream Cheese Frosting

 Hi everyone! I am blogging and look it didn't take me a whole month to do so! Wow, something weird is going on right, I guess it makes sense since it almost HALLOWEEN! So since it's pumpkin season and who doesn't love pumpkins, I thought I would blog about this AMAZING cookie that I made tonight adapted from mybakingaddition.com! It's beyond delicious and sooooo easy to make! Now you can totally leave out the frosting, it still tastes awesome without it, but I prefer my cookies with a tad bit of frosting! And you can also decorate it however you want! I didn't have any sprinkles on hand, so opted with just making my frosting orange! 

Anyways, try this out and see what you think.  I am definitely taking the extra into work tomorrow.  Don't want to keep these cookies around the house or I might end up eating them all! Oh and incase I don't get to blog again before Halloween (let's hope that isn't the case) HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

Ingredients for Cookie

Ingredients (15 BIG cookies): 

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

6 tbsp unsalted butter

1 cup white sugar

1 cup canned pumpking

1 egg

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/4 cup flour

----------Cream Cheese Frosting----------

4 oz light cream cheese

1/2 tbsp butter

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tbsp milk

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream together shortening, butter, sugar, and canned pumpkin.

3. Add in the egg and mix.

4. Sift together the baking soda, cinnamon powder, pumpkin pie spice, nutmeg, salt, and flour.

5. Add in the dry ingredients (step 4) to the wet ingredients (step 3). 

6. Take 1/4 cup of mixture and place on cookie sheet.

7. Bake for about 15 minutes.

8. While cookies are baking, mix the cream cheese, butter, vanilla extract, and milk together until they are well combined.

9. Place frosting in the refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes so frosting hardens (if it's already hard and easy to place on top of cookies, then you can skip this step).

10. Let the cookies cool for about 5-10 minutes before putting the frosting or any other decorations on.  

11. ENJOY!

Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Hey everyone! I know it's been a very, very long time since I have last updated, but here I am trying to get back in the routine of everything! I have officially finished my first whole week of work and let me tell you, it's awesome! Working during the day, getting the evenings completely off to do whatever has really been great. I just love this life so much better than school life!

Anyways, so I made these cookies the other day and it was a complete hit! So many flavors that just blend perfectly with each other. The inspiration of this cookies comes from Giada herself (if you watch the cooking channel, you know who I am talking about).  I made this on the bigger side, just so the center was nice and soft while the edges were nice and crispy.  Yum!

Ingredient for Cookies

Ingredients (26-28 cookies):

1 cup flour

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

8 tbsp butter (I used smart balance)

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and baking soda.

3. Cream together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar.
4. Add in the egg and vanilla extract to the mixture in step 3.

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients from step 2 to the wet ingredients in step 4.  Mix well until everything is moist.
6. Add in the oats, cranberries, and chocolate chips. Mix until everything is incorporated.

7. Drop 2-3 tbsp of mixture (in a ball) on cookie sheet and press down on the top of the ball to flatten slightly.
8. Bake in over for about 15-17 minutes until nice and golden.

9. Cool for about 10 minutes.
10. ENJOY!

Super Soft Sugar Cookies

Super Soft Sugar Cookies

Hi everyone, so my blog as been a little slow this couple weeks just due to the craziness of school and job hunting, but I promise once things start settling down a bit, I will make more creative and fun stuff again.  I just kind of made this for a birthday that I went to a while back.  It was also Veteren's Day hence the blue and red! Anyways, these turned out great and SUPER soft.  Probably the softest sugar cookies I have ever made from scratch!  Give it a try and comment to let me know what you think!  FYI, credit goes to twopeasandtheir.com for this yummy recipe!

Ingredients (make about 2-3 dozen cookies):

3 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

2 small eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup sour cream

-----for buttercream frosting-----

1/2 cup butter

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups powdered sugar

pinch of salt

3 tbsp heavy whipping cream

food coloring (optional)
sprinkles (optional)

Instructions:
1. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer at a medium speed.  The mixture should be fluffy to indicate it is done.
3. Add the eggs one at a time.  Beat until the whole mixture is well combined.
4. Add the vanilla extract and sour cream and beat on low speed until whole mixture is well combined.

5. Slowly add the dry ingredients from step 1 into the wet ingredients in step 4.  Mix on low until the entire mixture is well combined. (As a precaution, the dough does tend to get a bit sticky, but that is how it's suppose to be so don't worry).

6. Flatten dough into a square or rectangles that are about 1.5 inches thick, wrap it in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

7. After at least 2 hours has passed, preheat oven to 425 degrees.
8. Flour a clean surface that you will be handling the dough on.  Roll out the dough with a pin until it's about 1/4 inch thick.
9. Using cookie cutters, make fun shapes.

10. Place cookie on cookie sheet.
11. Bake cookies for about 6-7 minutes.  The cookies should be a nice and golden color, indicating that they are done.
12. Cool cookies for about 30 minutes before you frost them.
13. To make the frosting, cream together the butter and the vanilla extract with a mixer on low.
14. Slowly add in the powdered sugar and pinch of salt until all has been incorporated.
15. Slowly add in the heavy whipping cream. (At this point you would add the food coloring and make sure that the color has been beaten into the entire mixture.)

16. The cookies should be cooled so then you are ready to decorate them however you wish to. The frosting should set in about a few hours making the transportation of the cookies mess-free!
17. ENJOY!

Coconut Clouds

Coconut Clouds

I love coconut in my cookies, but other than that I really am not that big of a fan of it.  These cookies are pretty dang good though.  Inspired by Skinnytaste's To Die For Coconut Cookies, these cookies are the perfect mixture of crunch and softness.  The base of this recipe is very meringue-like so it is super healthy and very fluffy.  No need to feel guilty after eating them!  On a side note, I tried making this my very first time by hand, without an electric mixer, and it's not possible to do.  To form the perfect peaks, you will need an electric mixer.  Hands are just not fast enough to get the right consistency.

One of my friends happens to love these cookies (I brought it to her after my first successful batch), and because she was spending the night at my house, I decided to make this as a special little treat for her.  Hopefully, now that I am posting this she will go and give it a try on her own!

Ingredients (about 24-26 cookies):

3 egg whites

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp lemon juice

1 cup sweetened coconut flakes

2 cups corn flakes (or 3/4 cup corn flake crumbs)

1/8 cup semi-sweet chocolate (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Crush corn flakes with a food processor or a blender.

3. Whip the eggs whites until they are slightly frothy on low with your electric mixer (about 1-2 minutes).

4. Add in sugar and lemon juice to the egg whites.

5. Whip, on medium-high with electric mixer, until hard peaks form (about 9-10 minutes).  The mixture should remind you of meringue.  (On a side note, a peak is basically when you lift up your whisk, the mixture stays risen where the whisk was.)

6. Fold in coconut flakes and crushed corn flakes, making sure to not over mix. 

7. With a spoon, drop cookie mix onto a cookie sheet (lined with wax/parchment paper) by the spoonfuls.

8. Bake for about 18-20 minutes just until they are golden.

9. Let cool for about 10 minutes.

10. Drizzle with chocolate to add a decorative touch. For the drizzle, melt semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave for about 1 minute, making sure to stir every 20 seconds. Take a fork and drizzle the chocolate on top of the cooled cookies.

11. ENJOY!

Kid Approved!

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies!

Ever heard of a PB&J cookie before?  I didn't either until I was roaming around Punchfork and came across these cookies.  I was instantly intrigued at the concept and just had to make them for myself.  I mean who doesn't love PB&J Sandwiches?! I know it's my go to lunch item, or even snack item, when there is nothing else around to eat!

These cookies are VERY peanuty, so be forewarned.  This recipe was adapted from AllRecipes's Uncle Mac's Peanut  Butter and Jelly Cookies, with just one change.  I only had Jiff's Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter so I used that instead, but it ended up, in my opinion, tasting even better because of the pieces of peanuts! Alright, enough with the talk, let's get on with the recipe! 

Ingredients for the Cookies

Ingredients (about 30 small cookies):

1 cup Jiff's Extra Crunch Peanut butter (any peanut butter works)

1 cup white sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Fruit Jelly (I used blackberry, strawberry, and apricot)

Instructions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees. 

2. In a medium bowl, cream together peanut butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract.

All ingredients minus the jelly in a bowl

All ingredients minus the jelly creamed together

3. Roll 2 inch balls and place onto baking sheet.

4. Take the end of a wooden spoon to make a shallow hole on the top of the balls. The hole on top does not have to be very large since when baking, it will become bigger.

5. Put any kind of fruit jelly in the hole.

Jelly filled holes

6. Bake for about 10 minutes and let it cool for about 5 minutes after.

7. ENJOY!

Roasted Coconut White Chocolate Lemon Cookies

Roasted Coconut White Chocolate Lemon Cookies w/ Chocolate Drizzling!

Here I am writing my first blog EVER! Exciting, I know! For my first blog, I thought I would go ahead and bake something quite unique.  I love baking at night when the house is quite and there is nothing there to stress me out.  Usually Friday nights are my "bake nights," but any night can easily be turned into a "bake night."  And especially now after getting my Power Advantage Plus 9-Speed Hand Mixer (highly recommended!), baking has become an obsession!

Okay back to baking these delicious cookies!  This recipe is very much like A La Graham's Lemon, Coconut & White Chocolate Cookies.  Although I made a few modifications, most of the recipe credit must go to A La Graham!

I love setting out all my ingredients to make the cooking process even quicker!

Ingredients (about 20 cookies):

7/8 cup flour (I used whole wheat)

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 stick of butter (1/4 cup), I used slightly less

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 of an egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

zest of 1/2 a lemon

juice from 1/2 a lemon

3/4 cup sweetened coconut flakes

White Chocolate Chips

Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips for drizzling (optional)

I also love having all my measuring units laid out and ready to be used!

Instructions:

1. Preheat Oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line baking sheet with wax paper.

3. Spread out coconut flakes in a very thin layer.

4. Place in oven for about 4-7 minutes making sure to stir very frequently. (If you do not stir, they will burn, but don't worry too much since it gives your cookies a nice crunch if you do).  Just make sure and keep an eye on them!

5. After roasting the coconut flakes, take out the coconut flakes and set aside to cool. Keep oven on at 350 degrees.

6. In a bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. 

My little sister is my helper!

7. Add egg, vanilla extract, lemon zest, and lemon juice. Mix until all well blended.

8. In a separate bowl sift together flour, baking soda, and salt.

9. Slowly add the dry ingredients from step 7, into the bowl with the wet ingredients from step 6.

10. Add roasted coconut flakes and white chocolate (use own discretion on how much you want in your cookies I added about 2 ounces). Mix until everything is well blended.

11. Create 2-3 inch in diameter or about 2 tablespoon balls with mixture. (I just used my hands.)

2-3 inch diameter balls

12. Place cookies on the baking sheet about 2-3 inches apart from each other.  Place in the oven and cook for about 12-14 minutes (should be golden, not brown).  

Cookies in the oven on the cookie sheet!

13. Take out cookies and let them sit for about 5 minutes. 

14. For the drizzle, melt semi-sweet chocolate in the microwave for about 1 minute, making sure to stir every 20 seconds. Take a fork and drizzle the chocolate on top of the cooled cookies.

15. ENJOY!

Unique yet delicious cookies!