Cookie Friday: Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting

I made these for some of my husband's students last week.  I wished I hadn't sent so many away! 

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• Chocolate Whoopie Pies with Cream Cheese Frosting 
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• 1 stick butter or margarine 
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla 
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1tsp.  baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Adapted from a Family Circle recipe.  

 Preheat at 375. Line baking sheets with foil.  Blend the  first five ingredients.  Mix remaining four ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to mixer by the spoonful.   With a melon baller, drop cookies onto cookie sheets with lots of space and bake until just cooked through (about 7-8 minutes.  I tap the center very lightly with my finger if I'm not sure.)  Allow to cool completely. 

Frosting: 

2 Tbs. butter or margarine. 

1 package cream cheese

powdered sugar (1 to 1 1/2 cups) 

food coloring (optional) 

Blend first two ingredients, then add powdered sugar to desired consistency (thick is better than thin, I think.  Otherwise, the cookies can slide).    Frost the bottom of a cooled cookie, then top with a second cookie.  Repeat until all cookies are paired.  

Let me know if you give them a try.  I loved them! 


Shared at skiptomylou.org

Cookie Friday: Cherry Chocolate Chip

This one is really easy,but they are so yummy. The picture doesn't really do them justice, they remind me of little scoops of ice cream.

Mix up the Jello cookies recipe, using cherry Jello.

Add 1 cup of finely chopped chocolate.

Roll into a log, and freeze.

Slice into 1/3 inch rounds and coat in sugar. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

You could use chocolate chips as they come, but I think chopping it makes the cookies smoother, doesn't take very long, and looks pretty. If I had them, I'd chop up some maraschino cherries and add them to really make these cookies something.

Enjoy, let me know if you make them!

shared at Raising Memories, 733 and sweet as sugar

(not) Cookie Friday: Chocolate Bananas

Stinky has been asking for those frozen banana dip packets everytime we'd go to the grocery store. What little was in there seemed like it wasn't worth the price. So, after lunch, we skewered bananas and put them on wax paper in the freezer.

After dinner, we melted 2/3 cup chocolate chips in a glass bowl over boiling water, then dipped and spread the chocolate over.

The frozen bananas cool the chocolate almost instantly, but for good measure, we put them back in the freezer and made a trip to the library. We think these each have about 125 calories.

For what it's worth, frozen banana chunks make teething babies really happy.

Have a beautiful weekend!

Cookie Friday: Brownies, Sunny Side Up

More Easter Fun around here. A friend posted a picture of brownies baked with Cadbury Creme eggs. It had to be tried. It was awesome. I used the mini eggs. Splitting them in half is easier if they've been chilled first, but if they break weirdly, it's okay. They're going to melt anyway.

Plop them face up (sunny side up?) in the batter, then bake.
Voila!

You can use a box mix, but you'll be much happier if you use the brownie recipe here.

Cookie Friday: Not Cookies

My, things got serious around here this week. Let's lighten up with a hefty serving of sugar!

WBH made the popcorn balls and I made the cupcakes. Sure it's past St. Patty's, but no one's saying they have to be green!

Popcorn Balls: In sauce pan over medium heat, heat 2/3 cup corn syrup and 1 package of green jello until dissolved. allow to cool a few minutes. Pop a bowl of popcorn- pour jello mixture over popcorn. stir, and form into balls with greased hands.

While eating them, please enjoy this video about corn syrup.

Cupcakes:
1 stick butter at room temperature
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
2 Tbs milk
1 orange( for use with cupcakes and frosting)
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp baking soda.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and zest orange. Blend butter, sugar and eggs. In separate bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda and half of orange zest. Add half of this mixture to egg/sugar blend. Add milk and squueze in juice from half of orange. Add remaining dry ingredients. Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 12-15 minutes.

Frosting: ( This one is much less exact than the cupcakes. )
1 cup softened butter cut into cubes
4 cups powdered sugar
remaining orange zest
juice from remaining orange half
milk

Blend first three ingredients. Squeeze juice from orange half into frosting and add milk by the tablespoon until desired consistency is reached.

These will have a lot more orange flavor on the second day, so make ahead if possible. Enjoy!

Cookie Friday: Cake Mix Cookies

These are really good when you've got company that surprises you- or if you've just run out of time because you have rambunctious children. Either way, these saved my butt today when I had company for lunch. 3 ingredients make these super simple.

1 box of cake mix
2 eggs
1/2 cup oil

Preheat to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients well. Roll 1 1/2 inch balls and bake on greased cookie sheets for around 10 minutes, or until center is firm. Makes a flat-ish, but very chewy cookie. Use canned frosting to make sandwich cookies or eat as sugar cookies.

Easiest Cookie Friday ever? Yep!

Cookie Friday: Oatmeal Raisin (with pudding!) Cookies

(picture coming later)

As I write this, I've just eaten a warm cookie. I can barely type, it's so yummy. Oatmeal raisin cookies are my favorite, and these just take the cake. The pudding adds a great vanilla flavor, and keeps them moist and chewy. Enjoy!

1 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 3.5 oz package of vanilla pudding
1 1/2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups oats
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar, add eggs. Mix in pudding. Hold Raisins aside and mix dry ingredients until a thick dough has formed. Mix in raisins by hand. Drop by 2-in balls on to sprayed cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes.

Let me know if you give them a try, or if you've got other suggestions for spices. I'm going to try to hold back on eating another cookie or ten.

Cookie Friday: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup peanut butter

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup (or 3 preschooler handfuls) chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Mix first four ingredients well, then slowly add in flour and salt. Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Drop by tablespoon onto greased cookie sheets. Makes 2 dozen cookies.

Let me know if you give them a try!

Cookie Friday: Mexican Chocolate Brownie Recipe

I didn't get pictures of these! I'm sorry, but they don't look too different than your typical brownie. Stinky asked to make brownies yesterday, and I'd been contemplating something like this since coming to love Mexican Hot Chocolate. Then he asked to take some to his teacher, and I couldn't deny him that. Anyway, here's my recipe, adapted from one I found on epicurious. Enjoy!

Mexican Chocolate Brownies

1/3 cup butter
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 heaping tsp cinnamon
2 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x9 pan. Melt butter in sauce pan on low, then add chocolate chips. As chocolate melts, mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Crack and wisk eggs in a separate bowl. Wisk in melted chocolate to dry ingredients and then wisk in eggs. Pour into pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a piece of spaghetti poked into the middle comes out clean.

Allow to cool, and enjoy! Let me know if you try them!

Cookie Friday: Boiled Cookies Recipe

There should be a picture here. But my tiny dictator is just about killing me, so there's not. I hope you'll make them anyway. Totally worth it.

These are WBH's favorites, and I enjoy them a lot too, becaue often he's the one making them. "I didn't cook it" is my favorite ingredient. Let me know if you try them!

2 cups sugar
4Tbs. cocoa
1 cube margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp. salt
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Boil the first 5 ingredients for 2 minutes, then add the remaining. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax or freezer paper and let set until cooled.

Cookie Friday: Jello Cookie Recipe

Jello cookies are just plain fun. Now, I've only made them with lime Jello and Strawberry Jello, so those are the only flavors I can vouch for. We took the opportunity to practice letter recognition, so we made cookie sets for our whole family and many friends. Unfortunately, my "r" cookie cutter is missing, so we had to get creative with some names. As always, let me know if you try these out- I imagine these could make some great seasonal treats with the right cookie cutter/jello combination.

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 (3 ounce) package jello
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Cream shortening and sugar. Add jello and eggs until blended, then slowly add dry ingredients. Roll to 1/3-inch and use cookie cutters to get desired shapes.* Bake at 350 degrees for 6-8 minutes, depending on size. Cool on rack and enjoy!

*Alternately, you can ball the dough, roll in sugar and flatten with a glass. Check what the bottom of the glass looks like first, though. I'll tell you why sometime.

As always, please let me know if you make these and how they turn out!

Cookie Friday: Taking the Week Off.

Time has really gotten away from me this week! My sous chef and I will be back next week. Have a great weekend!

Cookie Friday: PW's Oatmeal Krispies

I made Pioneer Woman's Oatmeal Crispies this week- I'll refer you to her site for the recipe. I subbed almonds for the pecans, because that's what we had, and added a little allspice. I wasn't crazy about them at first, but the second day, they were really, really good, and as you can see, Stinky wouldn't leave them alone long enough for a picture.

Happy Friday! Next week, Jello cookies!

Cookie Friday: Kolacky

These babies are addictive. A cream cheese cookie filled with your favorite jam provides a good balance of sweet with a little savory. These go fast in our house.

3 oz. cream cheese
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 cup flour

Jam- I prefer tart jams for this, but I've heard of people using pie filling, too.

Mix first three items together and refrigerate for at least two hours, up to overnight. Roll dough to 1/8 in. thick and cut into circles with 2 1/2 inch biscuit cutter or glass. Pinch dough together at three places, creating triangle shape seen above. Drop jam into the centers of each cookie, half a teaspoon to a teaspoon in each. Place on cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes, until cookies are golden.

If you have trouble getting the corners to stay together, you can try putting them in the freezer for an hour before baking them.

Enjoy, and let me know if you try these out!

Cookie Friday: Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

1/2 cup margarine or butter

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp almond extract

3 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

yellow and red food coloring

Cream butter and sugar together. Add egg and almond extract. Slowly add flour and baking powder. Remove 1/3 of dough. Tint remaining dough yellow- try to refrain from saying "Don't eat the yellow dough!" Remove half of the yellow dough, and add a few drops of red food coloring. blend until dough is desired color of orange.

*hint- make the colors very bright. They fade a little while baking.*

For the shaping tips, I refer you to cakespy's directions at Serious Eats.

Dust both sides in sugar and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Cool on a rack and store in tupperware to prevent drying out.

Cookie Friday: Pumpkins and Everything Cookies

Stinky will eat these, but these are really a hide-them-from-the-kids-they're-so-good-you-want-them-all-for-yourself kind of cookie. We made these for friends over for a movie night, and the plate needed to be refilled before the end of the movie. The chocolate chips can be replaced with raisins, nuts, or left out altogether. Give them a try!

Pumpkins and Everything Cookies

1 cup flour
1 1/4 cup quick oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350. Mix first six ingredients separately, set aside. Mix butter, sugars, egg, vanilla and pumpkin with blender, then add dry ingredients slowly. Manually stir in chocolate chips. Drop 1-2 inch balls onto greased cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes, or until tops are no longer sticky. Move to cooling rack. Makes about 2 dozen.

Cookie Friday: Clov-er Doodles

Snickerdoodles are awesome, I don't know too many people who don't like them. Stinky reacts a little to cinnamon, though, so we have to improvise. For these, I used cloves and ginger (making the clov-er). You don't get the crackling cinnamon exterior, but using the cloves makes them look a little freckled. This particular dough makes a super cake-like cookie. Hope you enjoy, and have a great weekend!

2 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking poweder
1 cup margarine
1 1/2 cups sugar

2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

sugar/spice coating:
1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. ginger

Mix dough and chill for at least two hours, but overnight is best. Roll in sugar-spice mixture and space evenly on the cookie sheet. Press to 1/2-inch thickness with a glass. Bake at 375 until cookies are a golden brown.

Cookie Friday: Flour-Free Peanut Butter cookies

These peanut butter cookies are the best, and the worst. Seriously. They're amazing, but I have no self-control over them (as you can see above, Stinky loves them, too). These are modified from Paula Deen's Magical Peanut Butter Cookies

Flour-Free Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar, plus a little extra
1 egg
1 teaspoon almond flavoring (vanilla is fine, but almond is so much better)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend all ingredients well, and place rounded spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Press a criss-cross pattern into each cookie, and sprinkle some sugar on top. Bake for 12 minutes, allow to cool slightly before removing from pan. Yields 1 dozen.

Edit: It's better to undercook these slightly, than to overcook them. Cooked too long, these get very crunchy and dry.

Cookie Friday: Saucepan Brownies

I started cookie friday a few years ago as a way of celebrating the weekend finally arriving. I fell out of the habit, but I'm tryin to restart the tradition. These are some of my favorites.

I really need to work on my food photos. blah!

Saucepan Brownies

2/3 c flour
1/4 tsp baking soda

a pinch salt
1/2 c. sugar
2Tbs margarine or butter
2 Tbs water
1 bag of chocolate chips (the cheap imitation stuff seems to work the best here, surprisingly)
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla extract (try others. Almond is awesome).
Other brownie fixin's, as desired.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Mix flour, soda , and salt in a small bowl. Mix eggs and vanilla in separate small bowl. Melt butter, sugar, water and half of the chocolate chips in sauce pan over low heat until boiling, stirring frequently. Remove from heat. Add remaining chocolate chips, flour mixture, egg mixture and any fixin's you like. Bake in a greased pan for 40 minutes, or until the brownies start to pull away from the edges.