Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had some leftover pumpkin after I made pumpkin rolls for Thanksgiving, and my mind instantly went to this recipe. I went to my blog to find it and couldn't believe I didn't have it on here yet. Jadi made these for me a couple of years ago and I've been in love with them ever since. These cookies are moist, soft, and cake-like, and the combination of pumpkin, cinnamon, and chocolate is so good. I'm just glad there's more leftover pumpkin in the fridge.

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I always use butter in my baking, so this would be 1 stick of butter)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp milk
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil (or butter), vanilla and egg. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, and salt. Dissolve the baking soda with the milk and stir in. Add flour mixture to the pumpkin mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 for approximately 10 minutes or until golden brown and firm. (I only baked these for a little over 8 minutes.)

Seriously, these are fabulous. Thanks for yet another wonderful recipe, Jadi!

Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

I got this recipe from Jadi's blog and have made these several times. (It might also be on the back of the Reese's peanut butter chips bag, I can't remember.) These are yummy and a fun variation if you're tired of plain old chocolate chip (though that rarely happens for me). As far as favorite peanut butter and chocolate cookies go, I also LOVE Peanut Butter Cup Cookies and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) Reese's peanut butter chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. Do not overbake--cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling. Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Thanks, Jadi!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

This is yet another fabulous recipe from Jadi's blog. If you like peanut butter with chocolate, you'll love these. The candy gets all melty and gooey, so they're totally delicious hot out of the oven, but are equally as yummy once they've cooled. You can either bake these in a mini-muffin tin or on a cookie sheet. I don't have a mini-muffin tin, so I just used a cookie sheet and loved how they turned out. Click here for the original recipe on Jadi's blog and you can see what they look like if you use the tin.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp milk
30-40 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups, frozen and unwrapped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sift together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.

Cream together the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well.

Shape into 30-40 balls and place each ball into a mini-muffin pan or onto a cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for approximately 8 minutes (I think I did 7 or 7 1/2 minutes). Be careful not to over bake. They should be a very light golden color. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and then carefully remove from pan.

Wonderful with a cold glass of milk! Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

My friend Karey told me about her sister-in-law Lara's recipe blog, and I've been in love with it ever since. If you've never been to Recipe Shoebox, check it out! Lara updates regularly, and she includes a wide variety of family-friendly, healthy, and delicious recipes. One day recently I wanted to bake, but wanted something different than our usual chocolate chip. I'm not crazy about plain peanut butter cookies, but I found Lara's Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, and we all loved them. Thanks, Lara! Click here for Lara's post of this recipe.

1 cup butter
1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy, depending on on personal preference)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips

Beat butter, peanut butter, sugars, and vanilla until creamy. Beat in egg. Gradually beat in dry ingredients. Stir in morsels. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 6-8 minutes.

(Bonny's note: This dough also refridgerates well if you want to bake small quanitites at a time.)

No Bake Cookies

I learned how to make these cookies at a church activity when I was a teenager, and I've been making them ever since. They are so easy to make and really yummy.

1 stick of butter
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk
2 c. sugar
1 Tbsp. vanilla
1/2 c. peanut butter
2 1/2 to 3 c. oats (depending on how dry you want the cookie. I prefer using 2 1/2 cups.)

Mix butter, cocoa, milk and sugar into a large pot, stirring frequently. Bring to a boil and boil for one minute without stirring. Take the mixture off of the heat and add the peanut butter, vanilla, and oats. Spoon out onto wax paper. The cookies take about 15-30 minutes to set. Enjoy!

Cookie Tips

I have been doing a couple of things differently with my cookies lately, and they've been turning out consistently better. So here are some tips for chocolate chip:

Soften your butter at room temperature rather than melting it in the microwave. If you need to pop it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds just to get it a little softer it seems to work fine, but going from frozen to melted in a minute (something I was doing) does not give you the best results. (With cookie bars this doesn't seem to matter as much. You can microwave your butter and the bars are fine.)

Add almost three cups of flour. Not quite 3, as I think that's too much, but closer to 3 c than 2 1/2. At 2 1/2 your cookies will probably not have enough and be too flat.

To spruce up your chocolate chip recipe, add M&M's, mini M&M's, or peanut butter chips to your regular semisweet chips.

Dough refrigerates well. I've been making a batch of dough, only baking one tray, and then doing another tray each day for the next several days. That way we have fresh, warm cookies whenever we want them instead of a huge batch sitting around getting stale on the counter. You can let the dough thaw on the counter for 15-30 minutes and it should be good to go. I roll my dough into balls with my hands to get a nice round cookie.

Pull the cookies out of the oven just before they look done to you, and let them finish baking for a few minutes on the cookie sheet.

Anyway, those are just some thoughts. It's a process, perfecting cookies, and a yummy one at that!

Click here for my chocolate chip cookie recipe. Happy baking!

Ice Cream Sandwich Suggestion

I have always made chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches with a vanilla-based ice cream. Maybe vanilla, maybe chocolate chip cookie dough, or cookies n' cream...something like that. But the other day all I had was mint chocolate chip so we used that, and they were SO GOOD! I like to look at another recipe blog called Stephanie's Kitchen, and she does a lot with chocolate and mint. I am usually not a fan of mint, but I loved these little ice cream sandwiches (and so did Grayson). These are to die for when the cookies are still warm and gooey right out of the oven.

Chocolate Chip Ice Cream Sandwiches

Grayson and I made chocolate chip cookies today, so we made ice cream sandwiches with them (I love serving these as a dessert). I think these are best when the cookies are still warm, and I used chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. Yum.

Mini Ritz Cookies

I got this YUMMY recipe from Jadi's blog. She used Ritz crackers, spread peanut butter between them, and dipped them in chocolate. I made a minor change by using peanut butter Ritz Bits (the little ones), and dipping them in chocolate. This is soooo easy and the result is awesome. I'm sure the full size ones are great and can't wait to make those, but I also really like the mini version. They're a great bite-sized treat. It goes without saying that the kids loved them, too.

1 package Ritz Bits peanut butter crackers

Milk chocolate chips

White chocolate chips

A little bit of vegetable oil

Melt about 1/2 an 8 oz bag of milk chocolate chips, 1/4 of an 8 oz bag of white chocolate chips, and about 1 tsp of vegetable oil in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Dip peanut butter crackers in chocolate until covered. Use a fork to remove them from the chocolate. Put wax paper on a cookie sheet and place the chocolate covered crackers on the wax paper. Place cookie sheet in the fridge for 10 to 20 minutes so chocolate can harden. Enjoy!

Peppermint Meltaways

This recipe was on the cover of this December's "Simple and Delicious" magazine and I was excited to try it as soon as I saw it. I didn't follow the recipe exactly because I couldn't find peppermint extract at either of the two stores I tried, so I used mint extract since it lists peppermint oil as an ingredient. I used probably half what the recipe calls for in the cookie dough itself, then none at all in the frosting. I wasn't crazy about the mint extract taste, and think the cookies would taste better if the recipe was followed exactly. I also think you really need to like peppermint to enjoy these cookies. I'm not a huge peppermint fan, but thought the cookies were very pretty and festive looking, and I enjoyed the melt-in-your-mouth texture.

Cookie Dough:
1 c butter, softened
1/2 c confectioners' sugar
1/2 tsp peppermint extract
1-1/4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c cornstarch

Frosting:
2 tbsp butter, softened
1-1/2 c confectioners' sugar
2 tbsp milk
1/4 tsp peppermint extract
2 to 3 dops red food coloring, optional
1/2 c crushed peppermint candies

In a small mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.

Shape into 1 inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutesor until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

In a small mixing bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners' sugar, milk, extract, and food coloring if desired; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies; sprinkle with crushed candies. Store in an airtight container. Makes 3 1/2 dozen.

My Dad's Chocolate Chip Cookies

My dad makes (no bias, of course) the best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. Here's the recipe and Dad's technique.

2 sticks (1 c) butter, softened
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 1/2 to 3 cups flour
3 c (or 1.5 12 oz bags) chocolate chips

I use a Kitchen Aid, but you can also hand mix of course. Cream together butter and sugars for several minutes. If you are hand mixing, you would whip until you see air bubbles. I don't usually get this with the Kitchen Aid, but you want to mix this for a while so you get enough air in the mix.

Add eggs. Mix only until blended completely. Add vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Mix only until blended. Add flour, and mix only until blended. Depending on how melted the butter was, you might need closer to 3 c flour. Add chips and mix.

Spoon onto greased cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until edges are golden brown. I prefer to leave the center a little underdone and let them sit on the cookie sheet for a few minutes after I pull them out of the oven.

For cookie bars:
Spread entire batch of dough into greased 9 x 13 glass pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until edges and top are golden brown. When you first pull this out the middle will probably still be underdone, but if you let it rest for at least 20-30 minutes it will firm up.

Serve with milk or ice cream and enjoy!