Chocolate Chip Banana Cookies w/ Peanut Butter Swirl
Like the name, this cookie is a mouthful. The batter was unreal, delicious. Think: Ben and Jerry’s Chunky Monkey. The jury is still out on the baked version of this cookie…it is different. Overall excellent consistency, texture and pretty darn good taste. Maybe you should give it a try?
Ingredients:
1 Ripe Banana
1 Egg
1 1/2 sticks Butter
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 cup Granulated Sugar
1 1/2 teas. Vanilla
2 1/2 cups Flour
1 teas. baking Soda
1 teas. Salt
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
Peanut Butter Truffle Swirl: 1 cup Peanut Butter + 1 cup Powdered Sugar
Directions:
Before starting these cookies, make your peanut butter truffles by creaming together the peanut butter and powdered sugar. Roll this out on plastic wrap and place in the freezer to harden.
While the truffles are chilling…preheat the oven to 350 Degrees. In an electric mixer cream butter and sugar. Add your egg, banana and vanilla until well combined. Gradually add in flour, soda and salt. When the dry ingredients are incorporated, turn off mixer and stir in chocolate chips by hand.
Remove the “truffles” from the freezer. Slice, chop or break it up into nickle or dime sized bits and drop into cookie batter. Stir this around gently to leave some peanut butter chunks intact. Dollop large spoonfuls onto a silpat lined baking sheet and flatten with a fork. Bake these suckers for 10-12 minutes until just golden at the edges. ENJOY!
Adapted from Martha Stewart.
Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Coconut Cookies
A little twist on traditional. Think oatmeal macaroon. Bake them. Eat them. Love them.
Ingredients:
1 cup Butter (room temperature)
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 teas Baking Soda
1 teas Salt
3 cups Oats (old-fashioned rolled)
1 - 7 oz. package Sweetened Shredded Coconut
1 cup Raisins (regular or golden)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and beat until well combined. Mix in flour, baking soda and salt. Add oats and coconut. Drop by large tablespoonful on a lined cookie sheet, and bake from 12-15 minutes until lightly golden around the edges. ENJOY!
Recipe adapted from Treats.
Healthy Breakfast Cookies
Guest post from my sis: Well, I will start off by saying this is not the typical cookie prototype. No sugar, no flour and no eggs! The recipe is simple and the outcome is a healthy, filling breakfast “cookie” that I promise will not disappoint.
Ingredients:
1.5 cups oats
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
Handful of dried cranberries
3 ripe bananas
dash or two of cinnamon
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together and drop large spoonfuls onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake them for 25 minutes at 350 degrees.
I hope to experiment with all types of dried fruit and ingredients - get creative and ENJOY!
Recipe credit to Lorean Serko. Thanks sis!
Chewy Chocolate Cookies
For those who are baking-challenged. No, seriously. I saw this idea on Pinterest, and needed a quick batch of cookies for a weekend meeting. They are not unique, fancy or otherwise special cookies, but boy are they good. The best part is…not one knows the difference!
Ingredients:
1 Box Devil’s Food Cake Mix
2 Eggs
1/2 cup Oil*
Powdered Sugar (optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 and grease a baking sheet (or use a silicone mat). Whip the cake mix, eggs and oil (or water) together. If the dough is too sticky (mine was), place in the fridge for a few minutes before dolloping large tablespoons into powdered sugar, coating evenly. You can also add chocolate chips, coconut, nuts etc. Bake them for 8-12 minutes (until barely set). ENJOY!
*I substituted water to make them a BIT healthier and they came out great.
Next up: Chocolate Brownie Macaroons.
Petite Biscoff “Scones” w/ Maple Glaze
It is about time I relaxed with some late night baking. Inspired by my new found obsession with Biscoff Spread…I was inspired to make petite scones. They are more like cookies than traditional scones…and with the Biscoff. Butter. Maple Glaze. YUM.
Ingredients
2 cups Flour
3 tablespoons Sugar
3 tablespoons Brown Sugar (Packed)
2 teas. Baking Powder
1/2 teas. Salt
6 tablespoons Unsalted Butter (very cold and cut into bits)
1/4 cup Sour Cream
2 T. Heavy Cream
1 large egg (mine was cold)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup Biscoff spread (plus 2T)
Maple glaze
1/8 cup Real Maple Syrup
1 tablespoon Butter
1/2 Cup Powdered Sugar
Directions: Preheat your oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, both sugars, baking powder and salt. Add the cut up butter over flour mixture and chop with a pastry chopper until mixture is crumbly. In a small mixing bowl, whisk sour cream, cream, egg and vanilla until smooth. Whisk in the Biscoff spread. Add sour cream mixture to flour mixture until large dough clumps form. Transfer mixture onto a lightly floured surface (my dough happened to be very cold and not too sticky, so I was able to get away without a floured surface) and shape into “mounds”, each about 5 inches in diameter. Cut each “mound” (I say mound because that is exactly what it is…a mound), into 8 triangles so that you have 16 petite scone pieces. Arrange on a large baking sheet and silpat, and bake these suckers for about 15 - 20 minutes until lightly brown and firm. Let them cool before moving on to the glaze!
To glaze, melt butter and maple syrup over low heat or in the microwave (careful!), and whisk in powdered sugar. Pour over scones while the glaze is hot. ENJOY!
Recipe inspired by Cookie Madness.
Maple glaze adapted from Martha Stewart.
Biscoff Oatmeal Cookies
Ever flown Delta Airlines? If you have, you may know their tasty in flight treat: Biscoff Cookies! They are a crispy, caramel flavored Belgian cookie reminiscent of a graham cracker. Little did I know…they make Biscoff Spread. It is the consistency of smooth Jiff Peanut Butter, and tastes like a delicious caramel graham cracker: what a great innovation! On toast, heaven. In cookies? Even better.
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup Flour (plus 2 tablespoons of flour)
1/2 teas. Baking Soda
1 teas. Cinnamon
1/8 teas. Salt
1/2 cup Butter
1/2 cup Biscoff Spread
1/2 cup White Sugar
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 teas. Vanilla
Directions: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. In an electric mixer, beat butter, Biscoff spread, sugar, and brown sugar until smooth and creamy. Add the egg and vanilla extra and beat until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended. 
Chill the dough 30 minutes in the refrigerator. When the dough is cold, form the cookie dough into rounded tablespoons and place them 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are golden and just firm around the edges. ENJOY!
NOTE: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then remove with a spatula onto a cooling rack. They are very fragile when first out of the oven…so be careful! Also, Biscoff spread is hard to find! I found this at Cost Plus World Market… I have yet to see it in a grocery store here!
Recipe courtesy of Two Peas and Their Pod.
Gooey Butter Cookies
Pinterest strikes again. I found this fabulous recipe on pinterest, and had to try it! Serve these cold out of the fridge…mmmmm butter. You know you want to!
Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups Flour
4 teas. Baking Powder
1 1/2 teas. Salt
1 pound Cream Cheese (16 oz)
2 sticks Unsalted Butter
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped (optional—I did not add this)
3 cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teas. Vanilla
Confectioner’s sugar for rolling and dusting
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350. Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt, and set aside. I never do this…oh well! With an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese, butter, vanilla bean seeds, and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Slowly incorporate the flour mixture, and chill for at least 30 minutes. Scoop roughly 1-ounce balls and toss in the confectioner’s sugar. Place on a baking sheet, lined with parchment or silpat, a couple of inches apart. Bake until they spread and puff slightly, about 12-16 minutes. They will be really soft in the center.
Cool to room temperature. Dust with more confectioner’s sugar before serving, and chill. Serve these cookies straight out of the fridge, they are excellent cold. ENJOY!
Recipe courtesy of Lottie and Doof.
Prune Rugelach
Brace yourself. There will be steps…and hours of waiting. Worth. Every. Second. I make a lot of my cookies out of the Martha Stewart Cookie Cookbook (it has pictures and that means even more motivation to bake) and this is one of the best Martha has to offer. Just be patient, prepare everything the day before and you will be happily rewarded! Happy Hanukkah!
Rugelach Dough:
2 sticks Butter (unsalted, cold, cut into small pieces)
8 ounces Cream Cheese (at room temp)
½ teas. Course Salt
2 cups Flour (plus bit more for work surface)
Rugelach Filling:
1 cup Granulated Sugar
1 ½ cups Bread Crumbs
1 cup Pitted Prunes
½ cup Brandy
Rugelach Topping:
3 tablespoons Granulated Sugar
½ teas. Cinnamon
1 Egg (beaten)
STEP ONE:
Day Before: Place prunes in the ½ cup of brandy in a small airtight container and soak overnight.
STEP TWO:
In another bowl (using your hands—do it) mix butter, cream cheese and salt until WELL combined. Martha’s original recipe says to do this until “crumbly”...screeeeehhh...crumbly? Butter and cream cheese? Nope. Just make sure all the chunks of butter are mixed into the cream cheese. I would describe this as “crackly” looking. Yes. That is a technical term. Moving on! Add the flour and mix until just combine. Do not over mix, it keeps the crust very flaky. You will need to use your hands to form into a ball and turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide in half, shape each half into a disk and wrap each disk in plastic. Refrigerate until cold, about 4 hours or up to overnight.
STEP THREE:
After the prunes have soaked, drain (retaining 3 tablespoons of brandy) and place into a food processor with ½ cup sugar and ½ cup of bread crumbs. Blend until you have a prune paste like the photo to the left!
STEP FOUR:
In another bowl, combine remaining sugar (1/2 cup) and breadcrumbs (1 cup). Now it is time to get the topping ready! In a mug beat your egg and in a small ramekin mix cinnamon and 3 tablespoons sugar. If you are already thinking this sounds like a lot of dishes and mess…you are correct. Sir.
STEP FIVE:
TIME TO ASSEMBLE! Take one disk of dough out of the fridge and roll until about ?” thick (about a 12” in diameter circle). 
Trim the excess for a nice uniform shape. Brush beaten egg in a 1-inch border around circle. Put half the prune filling in center, and spread out to beaten egg border. Sprinkle 1/2 of the sugar/breadcrumb mixture over filling. Cut circle into 16 wedges. Starting at outside edge of each wedge, roll up into a crescent shape. Space 1 inch apart on a baking sheet lined with silpat or parchment paper. Brush with beaten egg, and sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar mixture. Repeat with remaining disk and filling. Refrigerate Rugelach until cold, about 2 hours.
STEP SIX:
When the Rugelach are cold place in a 325 degree oven, and bake until golden brown and cooked through, which is about 40 minutes. After all that work…do not forget to ENJOY! These are well worth it.
Variation: I had some extra dough this go round…so I blended pecans, dates and brandy in my food processor and sprinkled on a bit of brown sugar. I spread this across the remaining dough and rolled it up like a nut roll (carefully tucking in both ends) and sprinkling cinnamon sugar on top. I baked this to snack on while the Rugelach were chilling. Excellent, excellent idea…if I don’t say so myself!!
