NuM NuM

Cranberry, White Chocolate, Oatmeal Cookie

Recipe from Nigella Lawson

Makes 40 1-1/2” cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 stick plus 1 tablespoon soft unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup pecans, roughly chopped
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips, roughly chopped

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Measure out the flour, baking powder, salt and rolled oats into a bowl.

Put the butter and sugars into another bowl and beat together until creamy — this is obviously easier with an electric mixer of some kind, but you just need to put some muscle into otherwise — then beat in the egg and vanilla.

Beat in the flour, baking powder, salt and oat mixture and then fold in the cranberries, chopped pecans and chocolate chips.

Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into a ball with your hands, (I use a small cookie scoop) and then place them on a lined or greased baking sheet and squish the dough balls down with a fork. You may need two baking sheets or be prepared to make these in two batches.

Cook for 9-11 minutes; when ready, the cookies will be tinged a pale gold, but be too soft to lift immediately off the tray, so leave the tray on a cool surface and let them harden for about 5 minutes. (I like to make them extra crispy around the edges so I keep them in a bit longer until the bottoms are a golden brown then take them out of the oven and leave them on the tray for 5 minutes longer) Remove with a spatula or whatever to cool fully on a wire rack.

Is there anyone out there who can resist the combination of peanut butter and chocolate? There's a reason why they're a classic pair and these cookies are the epitome of why they go hand in hand together. It's no wonder I've been seeing these little guys everywhere on the Internet lately - because they're fan-freaking-tastic! They're also more manageable to eat now that I figured out how to eat them properly. It was a bit of a challenge at first due to the shape of the Hershey's kiss - until I figured out my plan of attack! Take a tiny nibble off the tip of the chocolate and then proceed to chomp from all angles. Either way you eat it, these will definitely be a crowd pleaser and disappear fast! Start your holiday baking off right and make these PBB's.


Peanut Butter Blossoms
Recipe from Hershey's
Makes about 4 dozen

Ingredients:
48 Hershey's kisses, unwrapped
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375. Remove wrappers from chocolates.

Beat shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl until well blended. Add 1/3 cup sugar and brown sugar; beat until fluffy. Add egg, milk and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls (I used my small cookie scoop from Pampered Chef and got exactly 48 cookies). Roll in sugar; place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Run the bottom of a Hershey kiss along warm baking sheet and immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of each cookie; cookie will crack around edges. They will make a cute "tssss" noise :) Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

My friend recently had a baby so I made some oatmeal raisin cookies and took them to her house. I guess these should really be called "oatmeal chewies" since they're almost like a chewy granola bar - okay, maybe not that extreme, but since there's a higher ratio of oatmeal to flour, it's really more like oatmeal and currants held together with sugar and everyone's favorite friend: butter.

When it comes to cookies, everyone has their own personal preference. Some like 'em crispy, chewy, soft, crumbly - the combinations are endless! So if you can imagine, trying to find an oatmeal raisin cookie recipe on the Internet was a feat in itself. If you're like me and fall under the crispy chewy category - then these are right up your alley. These were nice and crispy around the edges, soft, chewy and crunchy in the middle, and had the perfect hint of cinnamon to them. I love chewy cookies so these had all the right textures and flavors goin' on! While they were tasty and satisfied my craving, I think I'll still be on the look out for a chewy, crispy, cookie-ish recipe. Does anyone have an "end all be all" oatmeal raisin cookie recipe that fulfills the chewy, crispy, cookie criteria? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Bueller? :)


Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Recipe from Oatmeal Cookie Blog
Makes about a dozen cookies

Creamables
1/4 cup butter = 2 oz butter
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoons dark brown sugar

Wet Ingredients
1/2 an egg = (measure 1 1/2 tbs of one large beaten egg)
3/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoons milk

Dry Ingredients
1 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup + 2 tbs currants*
1/4 cup flour
3/4 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 350º.
2. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
3. In a small bowl, combine the wet ingredients and whisk together until smooth.
4. Add the combined wet ingredients to the creamables. Mix together until well incorporated.
5. In a large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed.
6. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
7. Shape dough into balls--about a heaping tablespoon each.
8. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets. Refrigerate dough for about an hour so set up more and not spread out thin
9. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 3 minutes. Place cookies on wire racks to cool.

*If you're using raisins the original recipe calls for an additional two tablespoons of raisins
**I kept my cookie dough in the fridge for a couple days so mine took about 17-20 minutes to cook.

WARNING: There is a high amount of butter and sugar and I've learned that consuming raw cookie dough is highly addicting. Please proceed at your own risk.

Since I didn't start cooking until a few years ago I never really baked anything when I was younger. I had never heard of the concept of eating raw cookie dough nor fought with my sister over who got to lick the mixing spoon from making brownies. Er, maybe Koreans don't do that? Until...today!! This Korean ate raw cookie dough - and she liked it! Thank goodness I left most of the dough in the bowl and there was just a little left on the paddle of the mixer or else it could have gotten a little ugly around here.

Since I love all things salty and sweet I knew I had to make these cookies. I'd seen these monstrous cookies all over the Internet on various blogs and people were raving about how good they were. They take a bit of time to make but the recipe is fairly simple. The most difficult part is waiting for the dough to set before you can make them and pop them in your mouth. They're called compost cookies because you basically throw whatever scraps you have lying around your kitchen into them OR if you're like me, you deliberately go out seeking ingredients to put in them. I put a combo of Munchos potato chips, pretzels, wheat thins, chocolate and peanut butter chips, and a Heath bar.

I was a bit disappointed with the cookies considering all the rave around them but the pizookie and raw cookie dough were sublime. For some reason the cookies didn't have as strong of a salty sweet taste as I would have liked. Most of the flavors kinda got lost and I couldn't distinguish one flavor from the other. Perhaps I needed to use more of a salty potato chip rather then a wheat thin...boooo! Oh well, at least the pizookie made up for it. I think since you bake the pizookie until it's just underdone the sweetness comes through much more then when it's fully cooked. The contrast of the hot cookie and the cold ice cream was soooo goooood. But then again, that combo would be good with any cookie recipe I suppose not just these. Well, if you don't try this particular recipe at least you'll know how to turn your favorite cookie into a pizookie.


Momofuku's Compost Cookies
Adapted from here
Yield: 15 6oz cookies

1 cup Butter
1 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Light Brown Sugar
1 tbs corn syrup (I omitted this)
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 Large Eggs
1 3/4 cups AP Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Baking Soda
2 tsp Kosher Salt
1 1/2 cups Your favorite baking ingredients!
(I used 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter chips, one Heath bar)
1 1/2 cups Your favorite snack foods (chips, pretzels, etc)
(I used 3/4 cup pretzels, 1/4 cup Munchos, 1/2 cup wheat thins)

DIRECTIONS:
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars and corn syrup on medium high for 2-3 minutes until fluffy and pale yellow in color. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On a lower speed, add eggs and vanilla to incorporate. Increase mixing speed to medium-high and start a timer for 10 minutes. During this time the sugar granules will fully dissolve, the mixture will become an almost pale white color and your creamed mixture will double in size.

When time is up, on a lower speed, add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix 45-60 sec just until your dough comes together and all remnants of dry ingredients have incorporated. Do not walk away from your mixer during this time or you will risk over mixing the dough. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula.

On same low speed, add in the hodgepodge of your favorite baking ingredients and mix for 30-45 sec until they evenly mix into the dough. Add in your favorite snack foods last, paddling again on low speed until they are just incorporated.

Using a 6oz ice cream scoop, portion cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheetpan.

Wrap scooped cookie dough tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 1 hour or up to 1 week.

DO NOT BAKE your cookies from room temperature or they will not hold their shape.

Heat the conventional oven to 400F. (350F in a convection oven)

When the oven reads 400F, arrange your chilled cookie dough balls on a parchment or silpat-lined sheetpan a minimum of 4" apart in any direction.

Bake 9-11 min. While in the oven, the cookies will puff, crackle and spread.

At 9 min the cookies should be browned on the edges and just beginning to brown towards the center. Leave the cookies in the oven for the additional minutes if these colors don't match up and your cookies stills seem pale and doughy on the surface.

Cool the cookies completely on the sheet pan before transferring to a plate or an airtight container or tin for storage. At room temp, cookies will keep fresh 5 days. In the freezer, cookies will keep fresh 1 month.

*I used a 1/4 cup measuring cup and got HUGE cookies. Baked at 400F for 15 minutes


For pizookies
Adapted from here
2″ ramekins (or other small baking dish)
Vanilla Ice Cream
Preheat oven to 375° F (350° for convection ovens)

1. Fill ramekins 1/2 way deep with raw cookie dough. Place ramekins on sheet pan and put in middle rack of oven. Bake 15-18 min., or until top starts to turn golden brown. (remember you want them slightly undercooked, but not too doughy, basically still a little soft when you touch them)

2. Remove from oven and place each ramekin on a napkin (this allows you to hold the hot dish as you eat your dessert delight.) Top with a couple scoops of ice cream.

*Mine took 16 minutes

After a HORRIBLE night of cooking last night...I thought I'd never be able to make a good meal ever again. BUT, I redeemed myself and now I feel much better :) These cookies were goooood. All my favorite combinations wrapped into a cookie. The Chocolate chip oatmeal peanut butter cookies have the perfect combination of texture and thickness. They are crispy on the bottom, with a little bit of sweetness, chewy and nummy all over. This recipe is from all recipes and I followed it to a T, except I halved the recipe. They're pretty good for you too b/c they only have 95 calories each. Therefore, in my mind if you skip breakfast then you can have two :D My cookies took about 13 minutes to cook. I was watching them like a hawk the last few minutes to make sure they didn't burn. I've learned the trick to baking cookies. As soon as the edges look set, take those suckers out and let them finish cooking on the sheet pan for about 3-5 minutes. I let mine sit for 3 minutes and they were perfect.

Now for the salty, chewy cookies...these are GREAT b/c you only get a hint of the salty flavor so it really brings out the sweetness in the cookie. It's a completely different cookie b/c these bake up to be pretty flat. I did not add the entire one cup of oats and just eyeballed it b/c one cup seemed like too much. Next time however I will bake a thicker cookie and use a little more then a tablespoonful for each cookie.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from all recipes
Makes 24 cookies

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons brown sugar (packed)
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons peanut butter
• 1/2 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar and peanut butter until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, wheat flour, baking soda and salt; stir into the peanut butter mixture. Finally, mix in the oats and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded table spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.



DCist’s Salty Oats – CHEWY SALTY COOKIES
Adapted from here

1/2 cup plus plus 2 tbs all purpose flour
1/4 cup rice flour-white or brown (I did not have this so I substituted with an equal amount of cake flour)
6 tbs (3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup large raisins or if using golden raisins cut into small pieces
Salt, for sprinkling (I used sea salt)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together rice flour and all purpose flour. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream butter for 30-60 seconds to soften. Add brown and white sugars, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Cream until mixture is very well blended. Add in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low speed, beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats and raisins.
Drop dough, using a little cookie dough scooper on to prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle cookies with salt, giving each cookie a light, but even, coating.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, (COOK FOR 12-14 MINUTES IF WANT BIGGER COOKIE USING 1/4 CUP MEASURING SPOON) until the edges are golden brown. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing.
Makes about 10 huge cookies.

Since Christmas is tomorrow I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies for Santa :) Alright, I'm not that much of a dweeb. I really made these for lobster's grandparents. But since I was baking the cookies anyway, I took the opportunity for a cute photo-op too.

These cookies are gargantuan!!! Gargantuan and yummy. To get the full effect of how large these cookies really are, I will show you:


**I told you they were LARGA!!

Although they are frighteningly large, they taste GOOD!! The recipe is from cook's illustrated and they took about 13 minutes to cook. The edges were set but the middle of the cookie still looked raw so when I took them out of the oven I left them on the baking sheet for another five more minutes. The end result were crispy edges and a soft gooey middle of yummyness. If you like a crispy cookie, I would suggest cooking them until only one inch of the middle looks raw.

Since I like my cookies to be of a normal size, I saved half of the batter and put it in the fridge to cook for later. I used one heaping tablespoon for measurement and I enjoyed the consistency of the cookie much more. Hope you likey!!

Cook's Illustrated Chocolate Chip Cookies - 8 GARGANTUAN cookies
¾ plus 2 tbs cup all-purpose flour
1/4 t baking soda
7 T unsalted butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
¼ plus 2 tbs cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 t table salt
1 t vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup plus 2 tbs semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips or chunks (I used dark)
¼ cup plus 2 tbs chopped pecans or walnuts

Whisk flour, baking soda together and set aside. Heat 5 tablespoons of butter in skillet. Cook while swirling pan constantly until butter is dark brown and nutty. You'll see little brown specks throughout. Remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl, Add remaining 2 T of butter and stir until completely melted. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg. Whisk until mixture is smooth with no lumps remaining. Let mixture stand for 3 mins, then whisk for 30 secs. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth and shiny. Using spatula or wood spoon add flours mix until just combined, about 1 min. Add chocolate chips and nuts. This recipe makes 8 large cookies. With ice cream scoop, scoop 8 mounds of dough on to baking sheet lined with parchment paper or silicone pad. Bake at 350 for 10-14 minutes.

My sister and mom came over the other night for a girl's night in. We ate ribs, made by lobster (mom's favorite) and watched a movie. I also made these crinkles for dessert. They tasted pretty good but would have been GREAT if they were just a bit sweeter. I've seen these cookies floating around the internet and I knew I had to make them b/c they're so irresistibly cute...although mine looks rather lonely since he's just by himself. Since I have an obsession with all things cute and little, these fit the bill. I had never eaten one before and the best way I can describe them is that they're a cross between a soft cookie and a brownie. All in all, I would make these again but with an overflowing half cup of sugar.


Chocolate Crinkles
Adapted from here

4 tablespoons

(56 grams) unsalted butter
8 ounces (225 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Topping:

1 cup (110 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

In a stainless steel bowl, over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and set aside.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy. (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) At this point beat in the vanilla extract and then stir in the melted chocolate mixture.

In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (3-4 hours or overnight).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, and set aside.

Place the confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. With lightly greased hands, roll a small amount of chilled dough to form a 1 inch (2.54 cm) diameter ball. Place the ball of dough into the confectioners sugar and roll the ball in the sugar until it is completely coated and no chocolate shows through. Gently lift the sugar-covered ball, tapping off excess sugar, and place on prepared baking sheet. Continue forming cookies, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart on baking sheets. (If you find the dough getting too soft for rolling into balls, return to the refrigerator and let chill until firm.)

Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked. (They were still good for the next few days after)

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

WOW these are good!!! Hence the exclamation points! These are stop what your doing, run to the grocery store and buy all the ingredients and make this kind of good. For Christmas, I'm baking cookies for lobster's grandparents so I've been looking for recipes online. This one is from Cook's Illustrated, so you know it has to be good. I've also been on the hunt for a chocolate chip recipe, but there's about a bajillion on the internet so I'll have to do a little more research for that one. If the chocolate chip cookies are as good as this one I'll be blogging about it very soon.

This is the first time I've ever made ginger cookies from scratch. Needless to say, there is no longer a reason to buy them from the store EVER AGAIN...EVERRRRR!!! These cookies had the right amount of spicy kick to them and the texture was phenomenal. Soft and chewy on the inside and a little crispy on the outside...nummmmmmmm. I was enjoying them so much I almost forgot to take a picture. Hence the half eaten cookie :)

Since there's just two of us, I always end up making half the recipe and giving away most of them. Slowly but surely I am making those around me mirror the physique of Santa Claus. Hey, I'm only looking out for their best interest. It's been a cold winter so everyone could use a bit of extra insulation.

I halved the recipe which made 11 cookies, minus the one in my tummy. ENJOY!!!

Soft & Chewy Molasses Spice Cookies
from Cook's Illustrated
Full version here

2.5 tbs sugar, plus 1/4 cup for rolling
1cup plus 2 tbs all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 teaspoons ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2.5 tbs packed dark brown sugar
1/2 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup molasses, light or dark

Center a rack in the oven and preheat oven to 375 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 1/2 cup sugar for dipping in a shallow, wide bowl.

Whisk flour, baking soda, spices, and salt in medium bowl until thoroughly combined; set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, beat butter with brown and granulated sugars at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium-low and add yolk and vanilla; increase speed to medium and beat until incorporated, about 20 seconds. Reduce speed to medium-low and add molasses; beat until fully incorporated, about 20 seconds, scraping bottom and sides of bowl once with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to lowest setting; add flour mixture and beat until just incorporated, about 30 seconds, scraping bowl down once. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no pockets of flour remain at bottom. Dough will be soft.

Using tablespoon measure, scoop heaping tablespoon of dough and roll between palms into 1 1/2-inch ball. Roll ball in sugar to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart. Repeat with remaining dough. Bake 1 sheet at a time until cookies are browned, still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), about 11 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake if you want the cookies to be soft and chewy.

Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes, then use wide metal spatula to transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely

**I baked two cookie sheets at the same time so mine took about 13 minutes. I checked the cookies often the last two minutes and pulled them out just as the edges were a little set.