Lemon Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

Cliff and I had some friends over last night to hang out. They brought their daughter, and AB had a blast running around the living room playing with her. They were coming just after dinner time, so I wanted to make something sweet we could all have for a nice snack. Cliff was wanting lemon white chocolate chip cookies, which I've made before, and I was very happy to make them. 

Lemon is so fruity and refreshing, which is perfect for this weather. And the white chocolate chips balanced the fruitiness with sweetness. These cookies are perfect with some pink lemonade while you sit on the porch swing. 

Here's what you need:

• 1 C of butter, softened
• 3/4 C of brown sugar
• 1/4 C of granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. of vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. of baking soda
• Juice from 2 lemons
• 3.4 oz package of lemon pudding mix
• 1 lemon's worth of lemon zest
• 3 C of all-purpose flour
• 1 bag of white chocolate chip morsels

Here's what you do:

• Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
• In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat everything except the flour.
• After it's mixed well and is smooth, slowly add your flour about 1/2 C at a time until it's all incorporated.
• Using a wooden spoon, mix in your bag of chocolate chip morsels.
• Put about 1 Tbs of dough onto a cookie sheet, lined with parchment paper, 2 inches apart.
• Bake for 10-12 minutes.

These soft cookies are still just as fresh tasting the next day as they were when I made them. Not too many survived last night, though. But I'm not complaining about that! I hope you enjoy these refreshing cookies when you make them!

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

I have been craving peanut butter cookies for about a week now. I don't usually crave them, it's typically chocolate chip cookies that I want. So I decided to make them and share them with CM's family when they invited us for dinner. I finally got my cookies and didn't feel guilty about making them since they were going to be shared.

Here's what you need:

• 1/2 C butter, softened
• 3/4 C peanut butter
• 3/4 C packed brown sugar
• 1/4 C granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1tsp vanilla
• 1 Tbs milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 C flour 
• 1 bag of any kind of M&Ms (I used white chocolate)

Here's what you do:

• Preheat your oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• In a bowl, mix together the butter, peanut butter, and both sugars with a hand mixer.
• Add the egg, vanilla, milk, salt, and baking soda, then mix until combined.
• Add 1/2 C of flour at a time, until it's all incorporated.
• Make tablespoon-sized balls, then press them flat with your palms.
• Add M&Ms on top.
• Bake for 6-8 minutes.
• Let cool, then enjoy!

These cookies were perfect for my craving. They aren't overly peanut buttery, which is perfect because I don't like an overwhelming peanut butter taste. And the M&Ms melt a little on the inside, so they're a little creamy when you bite into them. Needless to say, they only lasted for 2 days. Even the ones I burned, CM ate them up, claiming they were delicious. I think he was just being polite.

Anyway, let me know how they turned out for you! And be sure to share this recipe with your family and friends!

aspoon baking soda

1 3/4 cups flour

Read more at http://www.crazyforcrust.com/2014/03/slam-dunk-peanut-butter-cookie-reeses-smores/#tw1cudsodXtWglIi.99

Banana Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

I love cookies. They're probably my favorite junk food of all the junk foods. I crave cookies more than anything else. And I know there really doesn't need to be a reason to make cookies, but I'm going to justify this gluttony. So, in honor of CD's 2 month birthday (on the 20th!), I'm making banana cream chocolate chip cookies.

Regular chocolate chip cookies are absolutely delicious, in my opinion. And they definitely are my favorite flavor. I'll eventually get around to sharing my recipe for them on here. But I wanted something just a little different this time. Well, I love banana, so why not banana cream chocolate chip cookies? What a great combination. I feel brilliant.

Here's what you need:

• 1 C of butter softened
• 3/4 C of light brown sugar
• 1/4 C of sugar
• 1 (3.4 oz) package of Instant Banana Cream pudding mix
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 bag of chocolate chips

Here's what you do:

• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Mix the butter, sugars, pudding mix, eggs, baking soda and vanilla in a large bowl with a hand mixer until it's completely blended.
• Slowly mix in the flour until it's all completely blended (no lumps!).
• Stir in as little or as many chocolate chips as you would like. For a regular-sized bag, I use almost the whole bag. 
• Line your baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Use a tablespoon of dough for each cookie and leave a couple of inches between the dough.
• Bake for 7-9 minutes, but keep a watch because they can burn quickly!
• Let them sit on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes before setting them down on a cooling rack or another sheet of parchment.
• Dig in!

These cookies don't last long in my house (mostly because of me), so don't expect them to last long in yours! This recipe should make roughly 28-30 cookies, depending on how much dough you eat.

Be sure to leave me a comment and let me know how they were, and share this with your family and friends!

Strawberry Lemonade Sugar Cookies

It was a rainy, ugly day in Kentucky yesterday. And those kinds of days make me want to do absolutely nothing. I know I'm not the only one. So I decided we'd have the leftover ravioli that I made on Wednesday (when I post things, it's typically going to be the day after I've made it). But, because it's becoming spring, and my sweet tooth was aching, I had to make something special and sugary. I decided to take a nap with this little guy first though.

AB is so sweet when he naps. :)

After we woke up from our nap (I got a full 3 hours!!), I got to baking. I had a couple of lemons in my refrigerator that needed to be used, so I was originally just going to make lemon sugar cookies. Then I thought about the strawberry jello mix I had in the cabinet and decided that strawberry lemonade sugar cookies sounded much more appetizing and more spring-y. 

Here's what you need:

• 3/4 cup of sugar
• 2/3 cup of vegetable oil
• 2 tsp of baking powder
• 2 1/2 tsp of strawberry extract
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• 2 eggs
• Juice from 2 medium-sized lemons
• 3 cups of flour
• 1 Tbs of strawberry Jell-O mix
• 1 Tbs of lemon Jell-O mix

Here's what you do:

• Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and line your pans with parchment paper.
• Mix only the sugar, oil, baking powder, strawberry extract, salt, eggs, and lemon juice with a spoon.
• Stir in the flour slowly.
• The dough may not seem to be your typical "cookie consistency," but it will work, I promise. 

• In a small dish, mix together 1 Tbs of the strawberry Jell-O and 1 Tbs of the lemon Jell-O (if you got the smallest box they sell, it should be 1 Tbs of mix total in the packet). Stir together the two mixes until they've blended.
• Drop 1 Tbs of dough onto the cookie sheets.
• Sprinkle a little bit of the Jell-O mixture on top of each of the cookies.
• Bake at 400 for 7 minutes.
• Let them sit on their pan for about 5 minutes before moving them to some parchment paper or a wire rack.

This recipe yields about 26-28 cookies. And they don't grow much in width, so if you want wider cookies than what I made, just use your spoon and spread the dough out a little more to make them bigger.

Strawberry lemonade is one of CM's favorite flavor combination, so he was really excited when I made these cookies. I actually had to tell him he wasn't allowed to eat any more cookies (aside from the two that he taste-tested), until I could get some photos taken for everyone!

So I really hope that this gloomy weather doesn't get anyone down too much, and that these cookies help you feel a little brighter! Let me know what you think about them, and be sure to share this recipe with your family and friends if you love it!

Homemade Oatmeal Cream Pies

One of CM's most favorite snacks is the Little Debbie Oatmeal Cream Pie. When he was deployed, I think I sent enough of them to own half of the company. Needless to say, when I came across this recipe, I was super excited for him to try it. It isn't a clone of the Little Debbie kind, but he told me he would prefer me making them from now on rather than buying them. So I'll take that.

They're probably the easiest cookie I've ever made. And since I'm just starting out, I didn't even think to take photos of everything as I was making them. I'm almost certain they'll get made again very soon, and I'll be sure to take photos of the actual process.

Here is what you'll need for the cookies:

•      1 cup butter, softened

                               *side note: I never promised these were healthy.

•     3/4 cup brown sugar
•     1/2 cup granulated sugar
•     2 eggs
•     1 teaspoon vanilla
•     1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
•     1 teaspoon baking soda
•     1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
•     1/2 teaspoon salt
•     2 cups old-fashioned, uncooked Quaker Oats (the kind that comes in the big tub, not the instant packets)

Here is what you'll need for the cream:

•     8 ounces cream cheese, softened

                                  *side note: please don't forget to make sure the cream cheese is softened or you run the risk of little tiny cream cheese pellets in your cookies.

•     2 Tablespoons heavy cream 0r milk
•     1 teaspoon vanilla
•     3 cups powdered sugar

Here is how to make your cookies:

• Preheat your oven to 350°.
• Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Beat together the butter and both kinds of sugar until the mixture is creamy.
• Add in your eggs and vanilla, then beat that until it is all combined.
• Add your flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix that until it's all combined.
• Stir in the oats.
• Add rounded tablespoons onto the prepared baking sheets. (I used an actual tablespoon measuring spoon, and they came out into very nice circles)
• Make sure to space the balls apart at least 2 inches apart. (I only put 6 cookies per sheet)
• Bake for 10 to 11 minutes only. Don’t over bake!Let them sit for about 5 or so minutes before transferring them to another surface. They should be firm enough to pick up and move.

Here is how you make your cream:

• Beat the cream cheese with an electric hand-mixer on low until it's creamy.
• Add the heavy cream and vanilla.
• Slowly add the powdered sugar, one cup at a time, until the frosting is smooth.

Here is how you assemble them:

I took a regular spoon and spooned the cream onto one cookie, then smooshed another cookie on top.
Depending on how creamy (and messy) you want them to be, I suggest adding 1-2 tablespoons of cream to each pie.

You can be fancy and use a piping bag if you wish, but that's not how I like to work.

This recipe makes about 14-16 cookies (if you can keep other people away from the freshly baked cookies - I'm looking at you CM!)

It seemed that they were very well enjoyed, and only 4 made it through to the next day. They were still very fresh tasting after only being covered in saran wrap, as well. So let me know what you think when you make them!