Knock-Off Girl Scouts' Samoas Cookies

I have had this recipe in my bookmarks for a while and haven't worked up the courage to make them yet.  But I was looking for something a bit more challenging than just your average cookie, so I decided to make these.  I had never made a shortbread type of cookies before and I'll be honest, I had some really frustrating moments.  But overall, the result was fantastic.  I'm pretty proud of my first time at making these, because the next time I attempt these, they will be even better!

Cookie
1 c. butter, softened
1/2 c. sugar (I used Splenda)
2 c. flour
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. vanilla
up to 2 Tbl. milk

Topping
3 c. shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened, I used sweetened)
12 oz. chewy caramels
1/4 tsp. salt
3 Tbl. milk
8 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate

To make the cookies:
1. Preheat oven to 350. 
2. Cream together butter and sugar; mix in flour, baking powder & salt at a low speed.
3. Add vanilla.  Add in milk in 1/2 Tbl. increments--use enough needed to make the dough come together without being sticky.
4. Refrigerate dough (mine was SO STICKY), then roll dough out in a few batches (I did 4) in between pieces of flour and wax paper.  Use a cookie cutter (or a glass) to cut out rounds.  You might want to add flour in order to help dough roll out better, it can be pretty sticky. 
5. Place cut out rounds on greased baking sheet and make a hole in the center.  Reroll dough and use until all dough has been used up.
6.  Bake cookies for 12-15 minutes, until bottoms are very lightly golden brown around edges.
7.  Allow cookies to cool completely

To make the topping:
1. Preheat oven to 300.  Spread coconut evenly on a rimmed baking sheet lined with foil and toast for 20 minutes.  Stir every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden.  It might seem like that's a lot of coconut, but trust me on this.  You'll want it.  Watch the coconut carefully the last 8-5 minutes.  Let cool.
2. Unwrap caramels and microwave with milk and salt.  Cook on high 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir.  When smooth and melted, stir in toasted coconut.  And try not to eat it all, because it's very yummy.
3.  Spread topping on cooled cookies, using 1-3 tsp. per cookie. 
4.  After topping has set up, melt chocolate in a small bowl.  Transfer chocolate to piping bag or a large ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle chocolate onto cookies. 
*the original recipe says to dip cookies 1/2 way and THEN to drizzle, but my cookies were a bit too fragile for this to work.
**also the next time I make these, I think I will quickly dip the cookies into a thinner chocolate mixture before adding the topping, so it will stick to the cookie better.

Makes 3-4 1/2 dozen cookies--I personally got 41 from this batch.

pre-drizzle

post-drizzle

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

I found this recipe and let's just say they are amazing.  I love cream cheese, Oreos and the combination of the two.  They were pretty easy to make, as long as you can restrain from eating the Oreos in the meantime. I made a double batch so I could send some to my family to try, so here is that recipe with my slight alterations.

1 c. (unsalted) butter, softened (I only had salted, worked fine)
8 oz. cream cheese, softened (used low fat)
2 c. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 c. mini chocolate chips
2 c. Oreo cookie crumbs (about 16 cookies, had a little bit left over)

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees, line baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.  I didn't have parchment paper, but used my air-bake cookie sheets or whatever and it worked just fine.
2.  Cream together butter and cream cheese on medium speed until smooth and well-combined.
3.  Add in sugar and vanilla; mix until ingredients are well-combined.  Add the flour and mix on low until it is incorporated.
4.  Stir in the mini chocolate chips with a spatula (I just set the mixer to low and ran it a few times).
5.  Roll dough into 1/2 - 1 inch balls and roll in the cookie crumbs.
6.  Bake 12 - 15 minutes, or until tops are slightly puffy.
7.  Let cool on pan for about 2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool.

This made about 4 dozen decently sized cookies.

little cookies, ready to be tossed with Oreo crumbs

about halfway through

fresh out of the oven

delicious!

Carmelitas

Warning: you will want to consume the entire pan of these, try your best not to.  These are delicious.  And are way too easy to eat.  They are called 'carmelitas' and I found them on a cute blog, and decided to give them a try, with the idea that we'd give some away.  We did give some away, just not as many as I had hoped.  Because we ate most of them.  They are just amazing, oh man.  They're a combination of cookie and bar, and are very rich, but kind of addicting.  They're also pretty simple to make, they just require a lot of time to cool.  I didn't get more than a few pictures, because I was too busy eating them.  Enjoy!

32 caramel squares, unwrapped
1/2 c. heavy cream
3/4 c. butter, melted
3/4 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. flour
1 c. oats
1 tsp. baking soda
6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Combine caramels and cream over low heat until completely melted and smooth.  Set aside.
3.  In a medium bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, oats, baking soda and butter.  Pat half of the mixture in an 8x8" pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.
4.  Remove pan and sprinkle chocolate chips over baked crust.  Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips; sprinkle remaining oats mixture on top of caramel layer.
5.  Return to oven and bake additional 15 - 20 minutes, or until sides are slightly browned.  Remove and let cool completely before cutting.  To make a 9x13" pan, simply double ingredients.

fresh out of the oven

I tried to get a good picture...

...but then I devoured them...

Andes Mint Cookies

I found this recipe on Pinterest the other day, and decided to make them yesterday.  A few of my friends are having birthdays, so I figured I could mail them some and give a few plates away to our friends here, just because!  They were super easy to make (and eat, warm or cooled!), and came out beautiful.  I doubled the recipe and made about 5 1/2 dozen, because it was a bit difficult getting the cookies the size I wanted; they expand quite a bit, so I'd advise making a sheet of small balls and seeing how happy you are with the size.

1 package Devil's Food cake mix
1/2 c. oil
2 eggs
1 package Andes mints

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2.  Mix oil, cake mix and eggs until smooth.  Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet (I used parchment paper, worked perfectly).
3.  Bake 6 - 9 minutes, but more longer than that!  They will be a bit airy and soft, but they'll firm up quite nicely.
4.  Take cookie sheet out of oven, and place a mint on the top of each cookie (it's ok to smush it down a little).  A few minutes later (3 - 5), take a small spatula or spoon and spread the melted mint around the top of the cookie.  Transfer to cooling rack.

So simple and delicious!  Enjoy!

with mint first on cookie

melted mint, yum!

melted and swirly

with flash

look how yummy!

Christmas Treat Boxes (Oreo Truffles, Chocolate Cookie Bark)

This year I made treat boxes for our friends for Christmas.  I made the Oreo truffles that were a hit the year before, and a peppermint crunch variation.  I also made a very simple cookie bark, some covered in semi-sweet chocolate, the other in white chocolate.  I had a fun time making these, I just put on some Christmas music and went about my day, and eating pieces of the goodies here and there.  These recipes are all very simple, and everyone told me how much they loved them.  So here you go, enjoy!

Oreo Truffles

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 package (16 oz.) Oreo cookies (also can use other cookie variations, if desired)

16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate 

optional white chocolate to drizzle

1.  Crush cookies in food processor or blender, or by simply putting them in a bag and pounding on them with a rolling pin.  It worked well enough for me.

2.  Pour into bowl with softened cream cheese and mix until well blended.  Place in fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up before rolling.

3.  Roll mixtures into 48 (1 inch) balls and place in freezer for 30 - 60 minutes.  If the mixture gets to soft while rolling, place bowl in fridge until it becomes more firm.  

4.  Right before removing from freezer, melt chocolate.  Dip each ball into chocolate and place on a wax or parchment paper lined baking sheet.  

5.  Place baking sheet in fridge for 30 - 60 minutes.  Before removing, melt remaining chocolate or white chocolate and melt.  Remove balls from fridge and drizzle chocolate on each ball.  Refrigerate again until ready to serve or package up.

should make at least 48 truffles, depending on size

Peppermint Crunch Oreo Truffles

6 - 10 candy canes, finely chopped, divided (save some for sprinkling on top)

1 package (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened

1 package Oreos

16 oz. semi-sweet chocolate

1.  Follow same directions and fridge/freezer times as above.  Except add in a fair amount of the crushed candy canes with the Oreos and cream cheese.  When you're dipping them in chocolate, sprinkle some of the saved candy canes on top immediately after.

so yummy and pretty!

Chocolate Cookie Bark [I doubled this recipe, and did half with semi-sweet chocolate, half with white chocolate, but feel free to use your own variations, etc.]

1 package Oreos

2 2/3 c. white chocolate chips

2 2/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 tsp. vanilla extract (use with semi-sweet)

1.  Line a 9-inch baking pan with wax paper.  Coat with nonstick spray and set aside.

2.  Take half of the cookies from the package and crush them.  They don't need to be as small as the truffles.

3.  Melt the semi-sweet chips and, once it's cooled a bit, add in extract.  

4.  Add cookies into chocolate and mix until incorporated.  

5.  Pour into prepared pan and spread to a 1/2-inch thickness.  Refrigerate until solid, about 1 hour.

6.  Remove from pan, carefully peel off wax paper, and place on cutting board.  Using a sharp knife, cut into bars or triangles.  

7.  Repeat and use the remaining cookies with the white chocolate chips.

Makes a couple dozen pieces, it depends on the size.

I cut them into bite-sized chunks, more or less

in the cute boxes 

ready to be delivered!

Thick, Soft Christmas Cookies

These cookies are so delicious!  My mom made these almost every Christmas for our family.  I still have fond memories of helping her roll out the dough, cut out shapes and sneaking pieces of excess dough (it's so yummy!).  I decided to make these for my first time for a Christmas party we went to at our friends'.  The original recipe makes about 9 dozen, so I thought maybe to do 3/4 of the recipe.  And then I ended up with like, 100 cookies.  It probably was because my cookie cutters weren't very big.  But, no matter!  Our friends will just enjoy a bunch of cookies for Christmas.

The frosting was always my favorite part, because my mom did several different flavors and colors.  Usually green peppermint trees, red cherry or strawberry bells, yellow lemon stars, etc.  For the party, I did: green peppermint trees, red cherry candy canes, yellow lemon stars, blue/purple/white almond snowflakes!

Cookies
4 eggs
2 c. sugar
1 c. Crisco
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp. baking soda
4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
6 c. flour

1. Mix ingredients in order.  Make sure the batter is light and fluffy before adding the flour.  Also, use the whisk attachment for the ingredients before the flour, then switch to the paddle attachment.  It makes it much easier.
2.  Let dough chill in the fridge for awhile, up to an hour.
3.  On a floured surface, roll out the dough.  Cut with cookie cookies.  Place on cookie sheets (air-cushioned ones are amazing) lined with parchment paper (the best baking tool ever).
4.  Bake at 325-degrees for 8 minutes.  Let cool on pan a few minutes before using a spatula to move to cooling racks.

Frosting
2 c. powdered sugar
1/4 c. butter, melted
2 Tbl. milk
1/2 tsp. peppermint extract (or other flavors)
4 - 5 drops green food coloring (or other colors)

[to do 4 different colors, do about 1/2 c. sugar, 2 Tbl. melted butter, 1/2 Tbl. milk, 1/8 tsp. extract, and 2 drops food coloring]

1.  Blend powdered sugar and butter.
2.  Add other ingredients to taste and color preference.  Also, you will probably need to add a bit of milk every now and then to keep the frosting spreadable.

ready to start frosting!

yum!

double yum!

Nutella Cookies

My family told me they had this recipe for Nutella cookies awhile ago. At first, I was a bit hesitant, because I was unsure of how Nutella would translate in cookie form. They even sent some cookies up when my sister came to visit. I wasn't crazy about them; they tasted more like chocolate in my opinion. But I reasoned that maybe I would like them better if they were super fresh, right from the oven. Then I realized that my parents had given us 2 two-packs of big jars of Nutella, and we had barely gone through one in the past year. So I decided to make these cookies; I had Nutella to spare! This was a classic example of mistaking first impressions, because these cookies were amazing. And they tasted like Nutella, which is what I wanted. They are just yummy; Zak had more than he should've yesterday when I brought some to his work. However, this recipe makes a lot of cookies; probably about 4 dozen. I had a friend over and made her take a ton of them; I gave away at least a dozen, and frozen a fair amount of them as well. But it's worth it, Nutella cookies = brilliant. Enjoy these with a cold glass of milk, mmm.

2 1/2 c. flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

1 c. butter, softened

1 c. packed dark brown sugar (we used light, and they were just fine)

1 c. white sugar

26 oz. Nutella (one large jar)

1 c. chopped hazelnuts (did not use this time [my dad's not a nut person, so I'm always hesitant about putting them in cookies, etc.], but I think they'd be great with them!)

2 large eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

1. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; set aside.

2. In mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy.

3. Mix in Nutella (do not heat it in order to make it easier; it takes some time and it is messy, but heating it will ruin everything (not from experience, just know that)), beat until all incorporated.

4. Add in chopped hazelnuts if you're going that route, then eggs, one at a time, followed by the vanilla. Mix well.

5. Add in flour slowly and/or in three stages, making sure after every addition that it's mixed in well.

6. Chill dough while oven preheats to 350 degrees. Scoop dough into balls and cook for about 10 minutes.

we had enough leftover dough for about 4 cookies, so instead, we just made a giant one

yum!

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I love oatmeal raisin cookies. They are my absolute favorites, which is weird, since I'm such a chocolate fiend. But I could sit down and eat a whole batch of oatmeal raisin cookies if I didn't care about my body. Enjoy these delicious cookies. :)

1 c. shortening

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

2 eggs

1/4 c. milk

2 c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 c. raisins

4 c. Quaker oats

1. Combine shortening, sugars, eggs and beat until creamy.

2. Add flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; beat well.

3. Add milk, then oats and raisins, beat well.

4. Bake at 250 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes OR at 350 degrees for 12- 16 minutes.

*Alternate version that is just as tasty, but not my number 1 favorite: Oatmeal Craisin: Instead of raisins, add 1 c. craisins and 1 c. coconut.

sorry for the blurriness

mmmmm

Snickerdoodles

It seems that I'm always posting dessert recipes. It's not that I'm constantly making desserts, it's just that I'm more prone to take pictures of my 'fancy' desserts and share them. Let me assure you, I do make plenty of dinners in addition to the yummy desserts I've documented.

Let's move on. Last night I had a dream about my grandma's snickerdoodle cookies and couldn't get them out of my head. So I convinced Zak to make some with me on our day off together. He didn't mind at all, and did an excellent job measuring everything. I got to roll out the cookie dough; he's not very fond of getting his hands dirty if he doesn't have to. But it was still fun to bake together. Currently we are waiting for the second batch to come out of the oven and boy, do they smell just like Grandma's! Here is the recipe I used, which is halved from her original recipe.

1/2 c. shortening
3/4 c. sugar
1 egg
1 1/3 c. flour
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt

2 T. sugar2 T. cinnamon

1. Mix together shortening, sugar and egg.
2. Add in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda & salt.
3. Chill dough (optional); roll into balls the size of wlanuts.
4. Roll in cinnamon and sugar mixture.

Bake at 400 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes OR at 250 degrees for 25 - 30 minutes. (Tip: make sure to under-cook them by a minute, otherwise there will be a slight burnt flavor to them.)

Makes at least 2 dozen cookies, plus some extras!

so beautiful and round

mmmmmm

Homemade Oreo Cookies

I found this recipe on some blog that looked intriguing. I had never thought about making oreo cookies from scratch before, but after this recipe, I think I will from now on. They taste a little different than the store ones, but in a way that I can't describe. I don't know. They were pretty good and are great with milk. I will say one thing though: make tiny, like dime-sized cookies on the baking sheet, because these things expand like you wouldn't believe. It took a few pans to get them down to the average oreo size. Oh, and this recipe will make something like 50 or so small cookies. We have a ton of them leftover.

Cookie:
1 1/4 c. flour
1/2 c. unsweetend cocoa
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. + 2 Tbl. butter, room temperature
1 egg

1. In a medium-sized bowl, mix flour, cocoa, baking soda and powder, salt and sugar.
2. Beat in the bugger and egg, continue mixing until dough comes together in a mass.
3. Make little balls (dime-sized, seriously) of dough and flatten slightly on hand (they also turn out very thin and crispy), place about 1 inch apart on greased pan.
4. Bake for 8 - 9 minutes at 375 degrees, set on a rack to cool.

Filling:
1/4 c. unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 c. vegetable shortening
2 c. powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste, which is what the blog author used)

1. Place butter and shortening in a mixing bowl, and mix at low speed.
2. Gradually beat in the sugar and vanilla.
3. Turn mixer on high and beat for 2 - 3 minutes until filling is light and fluffy.
4. The blog author talked about using a piping bag or something to place the filling on a cookie; I just took a small spatula and spread it on the bottom cookie and made sure the top cookie was about the same size, and gently pressed them together.

yum! (see the different sizes? yeah, these things get big quick)

Pumpkin Cookies

I LOVE these cookies. They are the perfect autumn cookie and are easy to make. I have a bunch of recipes involving pumpkin I got from my mom, who had compiled them for a church activity years ago. So I used the recipe I grew up knowing and will pass it along to you. Zak requested that I try raisins next time, since it's more of a spice cookie. I told him that I originally signed up for plain chocolate chip cookies to bring to work, so I didn't want to change that completely. They are great with chocolate chips, and I'm sure they'd be great with raisins too!

1/2 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 egg
1 c. pumpkin
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 c. chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees, greased cookie sheet.
2. Cream butter together with sugars.
3. Add in egg, pumpkin and vanilla; beat until smooth.
4. Mix in flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda and baking powder; beat until smooth.
5. Add in chocolate chips.
6. Drop by spoonfuls onto prepared sheet, bake for 8 - 10 minutes.

This makes about 20 cookies, depending on the size of the spoonfuls. I doubled this recipe and had lots for work.

Snickers Surprise Peanut Butter Cookies

My boss made these cookies last week at work and they were so good, I went online after work and looked up a recipe for them. I made a batch to take to Washington for the 4th of July and Zak's grandpa's 70th surprise birthday party. I accidentally burned a few of them (too busy running around cleaning and packing), but they were devoured. They are very simple to make and the chocolate drizzle on top is optional, but I thought it would be a good balance to the big peanut butter taste. I got about 31 or 32 cookies out of this recipe, which is a bit more than it predicted.

Anyways, these were a hit and are very delicious!

1 c. butter, softened
1 c. white sugar
1 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla
1 jar creamy peanut butter (18 ounces)
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 bag mini Snicker's brand candies
1/2 bag chocolate chips, melted, for drizzling on top (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until smooth.
3. Add the eggs, yolk and vanilla; mix until fluffy. Stir in peanut butter.
4. In another bowl, add in flour, baking soda, salt; add to peanut butter mixture.
5. Refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.
6. Form dough into 1-1/2" balls, flatten and wrap around each mini candy bar.
7. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown on edges.
8. Let sit for a minute or two before transferring to a cooling rack.
9. Once cooled, add melted chocolate in drizzles across each cookie.

I put them in the freezer to harden up the chocolate before our drive