Peanut Butter Monster Cookies

If you looked at my picture and thought it looked odd, just know that my husband bought me a DSLR awhile back.  I have been... "experimenting" lately with my photos.  Everything I have to post in the next 2 weeks or so looks kind of crazy but I think I finally have it figured out!

(maybe.)

These cookies are great big fat cookies, for those times when your chocolate cravings make you feel like a raging monster.

Obvs.

Also they are monster-sized.  (We're talking a small-ish monster here, not one of those full-sized giants from Harry Potter or anything. So the appropriate serving size is two instead of five.)

How healthy of us!

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Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chick Fil A has insanely good chocolate chips cookies.  Like, it's weird how good they are.  Sometimes when I'm running errands with my little, we eat them for breakfast.

These ones are a little bit different since they don't have any oatmeal in them, but they are the closest I've found. They crunch when you bite into them, and then they're chewy and gooey and substantial.  I buy bread flour just to use for these cookies because I think it does make a difference, but you can sub regular flour if you want.

It's doubtful I will ever make another chocolate chip cookie recipe again.

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Baby Shower Onesie Sugar Cookies

Found these beauties from months ago lurking in one of my photo folders.  Love my cute new niece and nephew!

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Reese's Pieces Oatmeal Cookies

I decided I really needed to post some oatmeal cookies today since their "healthiness" offsets all those Girl Scout cookies you've been eating.

 I mean, I've been eating. 

(For breakfast, lunch, and dinner actually, but who's counting?)


Seriouslysomebodytakethemaway.

Also since when are Peanut Butter Patties, in fact called "Tagalongs"?  Doesn't "Peanut Butter Patties" make so much more sense?  What the hey is a tagalong anyways??

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Snowball Pecan Cookies {Mexican Wedding Cookies}

I think this is it!  The last Christmas recipe.  Well, there may be a few more, but they are recipes that are appropriate year-round so they don't really count, right? 

I love Mexican wedding cookies.  Or Russian teacakes.  Or whatever their Italian name is.  The point is that they're crumbly, and sweet, and nutty, and I always figured they were hard to make. 

Turns out they're super simple and are so much better homemade.  These are easily the best Snowballs/Mexican wedding cookies/Russian teacakes/Italian wedding cookies I've ever had.

(If these cookies had a personality it's pretty obvious they would be Schitzophrenic.)

My only complain is fingerprints get left in their pretty white powder pretty easily.  I solve this problem by eating all the ones with unsightly prints.

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White Chocolate Peppermint Oreos

The knife block set we got for our wedding conveniently came with a whacker.  You know, one of those long rods that you use to whack things like candy canes or Oreos to crush them?

Okay, so it turns out the "whacker" is actually a knife sharpener.  Yes, I just figured that out today.

Who knew?

Everyone needs a good whacker in their knife set.  Otherwise you couldn't make these babies.

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Terry's Chocolate Orange Cookies

Who is Terry and how did she invent the magical deliciousness that is a chocolate orange?

I know some families always get an orange in the toe of their stocking, but I always get a Terry's chocolate orange.  Santa's definitely got my number.  It just wouldn't be Christmas without that chocolate orange.  So I figured why not chop up a chocolate orange and throw it in a dark chocolate cookie for a Christmas treat this year?

Turns out, it's a delicious idea.


These chocolate cookies are really good but are more of a crisp cookie.   If you like chewy chocolate cookies, you can use a different recipe and just chop up a chocolate orange and substitute it for the chocolate chips in the recipe.

These are magical, magical Christmas cookies.

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Halloween Sugar Cookies

Nom Nom Nom. 

I think my favorite thing about holidays is the sugar cookies that can be adapted for them.  This is the same recipe I used for Firework Sugar Cookies and if you haven't tried it, you need to! They're sweet and satisfying and addictive.

I love this method of piping cookies with regular frosting.  They turn out super cute and it's SO much easier than the royal icing/pipe & flood method.

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White Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal Chews

These would be a great addition to a Christmas cookie plate. The white chocolate really makes them. They have a nice chewy texture from the coconut. Mine came out a bit flat so I upped the flour 1/4 cup in the recipe below. 

Next time I'll try adding some dried cranberry bits too.

Mmmmm.

PS- You can't really taste the coconut, so if you're looking for a coconutty cookie, this isn't it.

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Peanut Butter Marshmallow M&M Cookies

It's finally Fall!

This is ironic since I'm not even posting a Fall recipe, but I have been doing lots of Fall baking and have some yummy recipes to share with you soon.

Last weekend I put out all the Fall Bath and Body Works soap and wallflowers, and picked a great big pumpkin from the garden to harvest.   We might've also put out every Halloween decoration we own, even though it's only September.

It finally looks and smells like Fall inside the house, and I'm nothing short of giddy about it.

Before Halloween sneaks up, I wanted to share another great recipe you can use to get rid of some of your extra Halloween candy.

Seriously when I made these I used the last 10 packages of plain M&M's we got from Mickey's Trick or Treat party last year.  Candy at the dollar store is at least 3 years old so I figured we probably wouldn't drop dead or anything.  So far, assumptions confirmed.

These cookies are soft and gooey and delicious. They are great out of the oven or even a few days later.  They will stay soft and the marshmallow won't firm up much. You can use peanut butter M&M's if you want in place of plain.

I've looked EVERYWHERE for green/purple/black Halloween peanut butter M&Ms, but no luck.  How cute would those be for October?  Eek!

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Peanut Butter Butterfinger Crumble Cookies

Want to meet one of my new favorite cookies?

Crumbly.  Peanut Buttery. Butterfinger-y. 


Delicious.


Also, it's a great way to use up some of that Halloween candy that you'll be rolling in pretty soon.

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Chocolate-dipped Butterfinger Oreos

My husband and I are slightly obsessed with Disneyland.  We're one of those families that will go every single year if we can. We last went about a year ago and promised ourselves we'd wait until our littlest guy was 40 inches to go again.  Well, he's 35 inches, a little runt for his age, and I'm really not sure we can wait that long.  Do they sell child-sized stilts?

These Oreos are an attempt to bring a little Disneyland magic into our home even though they have nothing to do with Disney except they look like they belong there because everything at Disney is freaking delicious.

You caught me.

I really only go for the food.

Also I found out today that the Arby's symbol is NOT an ice cream cone with a bite taken out of it.  It is in fact a cowboy hat.

WHAT!!

Since my entire world has just been shattered I pretty much feel justified in eating lots of these.  Seeing ice cream cones instead of hats probably says all kinds of deep psychological things about me that I don't want to know.

Have a happy weekend friends!

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Peanut Butter Flipz Cookies {Basic PB Cookies}

You know what Flipz are right?  Those chocolate covered pretzels that come in a shiny blue bag.  And claim to have like 8 servings but really only have about 1 1/2.

Does anybody remember when they had a chocolate covered GRAHAM cracker version?  Those ones were really to die for.

Last week the kids and I decided to put Flipz on top of peanut butter cookies, which turned out to be a brilliant idea.  Pop them on while the cookies are hot and they will melt in to the cookie a bit.

The peanut butter cookie recipe we used is my oldest recipe.  I have had for AGES, (seriously since I was like 10) and have adapted it several times.  This is the only recipe we ever make for basic PB cookies and can be done lots of ways-

Add a Flipz chocolate pretzel after baking and drizzle with melted peanut butter chips:

 

Add some M&M's after baking:

 

Roll in sugar and criss-cross with a fork or wire cooling rack:

 

Or add a Hershey's kiss or mini Reese's cup after baking:

 However you make them, they are delicious.  If I ever have a child with a peanut allergy I will probably cry a river (like the Nile river, not some dinky river).  I might have to go on vacations just to eat thai peanut noodles and peanut butter cookies and peanut butter shakes...  Major props to those of you who live with peanut allergies in your family.

Have a great weekend!

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Firework Sugar Cookies {Pipeable Sugar Cookie Frosting}

These aren't the cookies I said I was going to post for you today.  But while it's still July I thought I'd better hurry and post the ones we made for the Fourth.  I used my basic sugar cookie and frosting recipe and just piped designs on. This frosting is thicker than royal icing (it's basically buttercream) and tastes wayyy better, but also dries hard enough to gently stack the cookies after 12 hours or so.  This cookie/icing recipe is great for any holiday or themed cookie. You will probably see it a lot around here.  Someday I plan to experiment with using lemon or almond extract in place of the vanilla in the frosting.

In other news, Target should totally have a childcare station like Ikea to leave your kids at while you shop.  I would basically live there.  More than I do already I mean.

That's probably why they don't do it.

Can you imagine all those moms??

(I say this is a good idea but then I have visions of mean bully kids throwing cherry slurpees and super salty popcorn all over my poor innocent kids and the Target dog, Bullseye attacking their pants because they accidentally left some string cheese and meat stick in their pockets.  So probably I'd just keep them with me anyways and bring an absurd amount of snacks to keep them in the cart.)

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Stars n Stripes Mini Fruit Pizzas

Do you know what's ironic?   

Making patriotic treats for the entire month of June and then not having the slightest clue what to make for the actual 4th of July.

Seriously.

Apple pie? Hand-dipped ice cream cones? Red white and blue cheesecake parfaits? Strawberry ice cream? There's too many choices! 

Maybe we'll just go to Chuck-a-Rama.

(kidding).

In other news, my parents are back in their house after the wildfire and it is completely undamaged and un-looted.  They are feeling very blessed!  Thank you for your thoughts and prayers for them and the firefighters. 



Recently I have seen so many variations of fruit pizza on Pinterest and it reminded me I've never posted my fruit pizza recipe. It is a favorite for Valentine's day and summer dessert around here.  The best part is you can make the crust/cookies in advance and it takes all of 10 minutes to put together day-of.  To do something different, I thought I'd make these minis so they are easy for single-serving.  (Plus then you don't ruin the pretty picture by slicing it up.)  Also fruit is healthy so you can eat these for breakfast. The bad news for me is we've already demolished all of ours so we can't eat them tomorrow.  Bummm-er.

Hope everyone has a lovely Fourth of July this year.  Have fun celebrating with family and friends and honoring this wonderful country & those who died to create it.  Don't forget to eat lots of red, white, and blue treats and reenact the American Revolution.

Wait, your family doesn't do that?

Oh.  

Mine either...

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Palm Tree Sugar Cookies

Since I had some dough left over from from the dinosaur fossil sugar cookies, and since my mom left a box of malted milk balls in my fridge (darn you mom!), these seemed like a good way to greet summer. 

Also, hanging out at the park in 50 degree weather.

Nothing says summer like wearing a hoodie.

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Dinosaur Fossil Sugar Cookies (Basic Sugar Cookie Recipe)

Boys are weird.  I have lots of evidence to back this claim up but the most relevant is that they enjoy eating cookies with reptile footprints in them.

Weeeeeeeeiiiird.

This is a great basic sugar cookie recipe. The cookies don't spread much so they are perfect to use with cookie cutters and they taste great with or without frosting.

Dinosaur footprints are, of course, optional. 

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Jungle Animal Chocolate-dipped Oreos

Have you seen these new jungle animal Mother's cookies?  I am in LOVE with them!  I squealed in delight when I saw them in the store.  Yes, I am apparently 13 years old.  I squeal when I'm excited.

It's so fun thinking of ways to bake with new products.  I decided to make some chocolate-dipped Oreos and top them with jungle animals. The weird thing is these were REALLY good.  I would make these again just for my husband and I-  no kids needed.

Oreo + Mother's cookie = something magical

I wish they would come out with a red, white, and blue version for Independence day.  How fun would those be?

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Triple Oreo Pudding Cookies

These gooey cookies have Oreo pudding, Oreo chunks, Hershey's white chocolate Cookies n'cream chunks, and semisweet chocolate chips mixed into the batter.  I am lucky enough to still have my mother close by, alive and well, but if I was visiting her this memorial day I would probably scatter a few of these on her grave.

(She has forbidden me to leave gaudy wreaths or tacky ribbons when she's dead- instead favoring funky lawn decor, chocolate, or things that would be fun for kids to steal.)

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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (with Coconut)

Brown butter is quite the craze lately and it's easy to see why.  It turns plain butter into a caramelly/toffee tasting substance which is SO yummy to cook with.  These cookies were really delicious but I couldn't help but think how much yummier they would be if they morphed with my new favorite cookie recipe-  Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

This brown butter cookie is SUCH a great base but I think it could be even better if you added the mix-ins from the cookie above. If you want to do this I wrote the step into the recipe for you, but you'll need 3/4 cup broken pretzels, 3/4 cup peanut butter chips, and 1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips.

There is coconut in this recipe but you can't really taste it.  It is more of a texture thing.  You can omit it if you want or replace it with oats.

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