Chocolate-Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

It has been a very long time since I last posted any recipes-5 months!  I've been very busy with my new sweet baby girl, my adorable 2 older girls and our new 5-year-old Shih Tzu doggie, Shamu.  My blog has not been far from my thoughts though.  Today I was in a chocolate chip cookie mood.  Not just any chocolate chip cookie...an ooey gooey chocolate chip cookie.  The only issue? I was out of my staple, I Can't Believe It's Not Butter spread...great.  So what did I do? What I always do, I improvised.  After all, ooey gooey chocolate is always worth an improvisation.  

I wanted to name these I Can't Believe There's Only 1 Tablespoon of Real Butter Chocolate-Peanut Butter Chip Cookies, but for the sake of title space, I shortened it.

 These cookies are crispy on the outside, moist and dense on the inside.  

Makes 2 dozen

The Recipe

1T unsalted butter, melted            2 1/4 c unbleached flour (or all-purpose if you prefer)

3/4 c granulated sugar                  1 t baking soda

3/4 c packed brown sugar             3/4 t salt (I use Real Salt-it contains healthy minerals!)

1 large egg, plus 2 egg whites       1/2 pckg chocolate chips (I use Ghirardelli Bittersweet)  

1 1/2 t vanilla                              1/4 pckg Reese's peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Beat sugars with melted butter, it will resemble moist sand.  Add egg, egg whites and vanilla.  Mix until blended.  

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl; gradually add butter mixture, mixing just until blended.  Add chocolate chips and peanut butter chips, mix until evenly blended.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop and press dough against mixing bowl, compacting it tightly.  Place on cookie sheet that has been lined with sprayed parchment paper.  Bake until cookies start to turn golden on top, take out of oven and let cool on wire rack.

Enjoy!

Coconut "Shortbread" Cookies

These scrumptious cookies were created by making a cookie that had the flavor of a shortbread cookie, made with honey in place of sugar, used oat flour in place of all-purpose flour and real dairy butter for my husband.  He loves cookies, but only when they're wholesome little goodies.  This is how they turned out, pretty good I'd say by the picture below...

He was very happy, and so is the little hand reaching up 

to grab her cookie at the bottom left of the picture.  

A happy family is baking at it's best.

Enjoy!

Makes 2 dozen

The Recipe

2 c unbleached all-purpose flour                              1/2 c butter

2 1/2 c oat flour                                                    1 egg plus 2 egg whites

1/2 t salt                                                               2 t vanilla extract

1 t baking soda                                                      1 t almond extract

1 t baking powder                                                  1/2 c chopped walnuts

1/2 c sugar                                                            1 c raisins

3/4 c honey                                                            1 c shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flours with salt, baking soda and baking powder, mix well.  In a separate medium bowl, combine sugar, honey and butter, mixing well until combined.  Mix flour mixture into butter mixture in two parts, adding walnuts and raisins with the second addition of flour mixture.  Pour shredded coconut into a small bowl.  Scoop cookie dough into balls and drop into shredded coconut.  Coat each cookie dough ball evenly with coconut and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Bake around 10 minutes, or until coconut and bottom edge of each cookie are golden brown.  Cool on a wire rack and watch them disappear!

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

You can easily make your own oat flour by pouring rolled oats into a blender and grinding it.  You can use this two ways: Substitute oat flour for all-purpose flour, or, use half all-purpose flour and half oat flour in any recipe.
Also, try different mixes of your favorite raisins! We love to use Trader Joe's Jumbo Raisin Medley.  It's a combination of seedless golden light raisins, flame raisins, and jumbo raisins.  Delicious!

Almond Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

 Today, I wanted to make my daughter's some yummy cookie dough for a fun after school treat.  I was ready to whip up a batch, and sadly discovered I'm out of vanilla extract...
so, after much thought, my 2 year-old daughter and I decided almond extract would be a wonderful substitute for vanilla.  
I've lightened up the recipe...a girl should be able to eat her cookie dough without all of the guilt, right?
I also made this completely egg-free, making the cookie dough safe to eat.    
Almond extract is the perfect flavoring in this recipe! 

The Recipe

1/2 cup I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Spread       1 cup plus 1 T unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar                                                    1/4 t salt

1/3 cup brown sugar                                          1/2 t baking soda

1/2 t almond extract                                          1/2-1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Combine flour, salt and baking soda together, mix well.

Beat the butters and sugars until well blended, add almond extract.

Add flour mixture to the butter mixture until just combined.  Stir in chocolate chips.

Smart Little Cookie Tip:

This recipe is very versatile.  If you would like to store the cookie dough, place it in a covered container to refrigerate, or, in a freezer safe container or freezer bag and freeze. These also bake beautifully into delicious, soft cookies! Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.
To use this recipe in ice cream, use your favorite sweet cream base and follow your ice cream makers manufacturers instructions.

For the original Homemade Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream recipe,
visit: www.heathersbytes.com/homemade-cookie-dough-ice-cream/

Fabulously Delicious!

Delicious Soft and Chewy Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

 

What day isn't a good day for chocolate and peanut butter? This was my first time making this particular recipe, tweaking the ingredient list a little bit.  I think they turned out really well, and so does the empty cookie plate from our family night last night.  I'll be taking most of them to a church program tonight and hope everyone 

enjoys them as much as my family did.

The Recipe

1 cup unsalted butter                                             1 t vanilla

1 cup crunchy peanut butter                                   2 1/2 cups unbleached 

1 cup white sugar                                                           all-purpose flour                        

1 cup packed brown sugar                                      1 t baking powder 

1 egg                                                                    1/2 t salt

2 egg whites                                                          1 1/2 t baking soda

1 package chocolate chips                                           

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a bowl, sift together flour (I use all-purpose unbleached flour), baking powder, baking soda, and salt (I love to use Redmond Realsalt sea salt, found at Target or your local health food store).  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together butter (I like to use natural and organic unsalted butter, such as Tillamook-found at Walmart, and Archer Farms-found at Target), peanut butter (I use natural Skippy peanut butter) and sugars (for white sugar, I use organic Florida Crystals brand, found at Walmart).  Beat in egg, egg whites and vanilla.  Stir flour mixture into batter mixture.

Scoop into balls with a medium size cookie (or ice cream) scoop and drop onto parchment paper sprayed with cooking spray about 1 inch apart.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until the cookies begin to brown.  Do not over-bake.  Transfer to a wire rack.  

While cookies are cooling, lay out a large piece of parchment paper on top of a large movable surface (I like to use a larger cookie pan or a large pizza pan).  Melt 1 bag milk chocolate chips (I love Ghirardelli), in a medium microwave-safe bowl, in the microwave for 20-30 seconds at a time, stirring in between melting times, until the chocolate is melted and silky smooth.  Working with one cookie at a time, cover the front half of the cookie with melted chocolate using a large spoon, turn and cover half of the bottom of the cookie, scrape off excess on both sides.  Place the finished cookies on the prepared parchment paper.  When the parchment is filled, transfer cookies to the refrigerator so the chocolate will set.  

Smart Little Cookie Tip: 

You might like to chop roasted peanuts or peanut butter chips and sprinkle them on top of the chocolate before the chocolate sets, to make it a bit more scrumptious.  

Voila! And Enjoy!