Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies - Make and Freeze Recipe

I needed something for the cub scout family picnic and I chose these and two other cookie recipes that I did not photograph and of course the cookies are all gone.  They were a peanut butter Snickers cookie and a mascarpone Oreo cookie. All of which were a big hit.  It seems that I'm always rushing to get things baked and get everyone ready to go places. I thought that this make and freeze recipe will help the busy baker and really make "whipping up some cookies" a real breeze.

The title from the original recipe is 'Award Winning' and boy they sure live up to that title.  I love baking and trying new recipes so when I saw this recipe and it said freeze the cookie balls, I thought why haven't I been doing this all along.  

recipe from that winsome girl blog

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies - Make and Freeze Recipe


Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups unsalted butter (I used cold butter cut into pieces)
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 (3.4oz) packages vanilla instant pudding mix
4 large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips ( I used 3 cups semisweet and 1 cup white chips)


Directions
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda and set aside.


In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in the vanilla pudding mix until well blended, followed by the eggs and vanilla extract.  Blend in the flour mixture slowly, just until incorporated  Finally, by hand, stir in the chocolate chips until everything is evenly combined and no flour remains at the bottom of the bowl.


Using a cookie scoop (I suggest a 1 1/2 tablespoon scoop) for even portions, scoop the cookies and place them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.


At this point you can freeze the cookies until solid, then store them in a plastic freezer bag for later use.  To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F.  Bake 10-12 minutes if fresh or 12-14 minutes if frozen, just until edges are golden brown.


~Michelle

Chocolate Raspberry Puff Pastry

Since I was helping out in the retail part of a friend's bakery recently and seeing all of the pastries and delicious desserts, I was wondering if I could make something with pastry dough. I did not have time to actually make pastry dough from scratch, although it is on the list of things to try. Here is a recipe that I'm going to try one day. 

I did use the Pepperidge Farm frozen pastry sheets for this recipe.

Recipe from Pepperidge Farm

I only made half of the package and I used raspberry jam.  I totally had a hard time rolling it out and then folding it up. :)  I guess this takes some serious practice.  They tasted pretty good. I will have to use more filling and just make sure that it is sealed up tightly so they don't leak out. I enjoyed them for breakfast with a cup of Tim Hortons Strawberry Shortcake coffee.

~Michelle

Yummy Rice Krispie Treats

 recipe from Mini Baker (great recipe)
I have made many rice krispie treats in my baking history, but these taste so good and are so addicting.  I cut mine into bite sized pieces so my coworkers could just pop one into their mouths.  It turns out that the treats are so tasty that everyone just popped more that one.


Mini Baker cut her treats so beautifully.  I placed mine into the freezer for a bit to set the chocolate topping so when I was cutting the squares they crunched a bit and didn't slice as perfectly as I would have liked.
Also, next time I make these I'm not going to add the caramel on the top. Too sticky.  I stacked them for the picture and they just stuck to the wax paper. I put them into the freezer again so I could take them in the car and they wouldn't be so sticky when I got to work. They were pretty sticky anyway.

 The chocolate and Nutella layer was divine.  Nice and thick and it set up beautifully. That was a big hit here at the station.

 ~Michelle

Classic Cookie: Snickerdoodle

I made a little snack for the cub scout fishing derby. I made the Coffee Creamer Chocolate Chip cookies and I also went with a classic choice, the snickerdoodle.  Really this is a traditional recipe and I did not come home with any cookies. The cookies are soft and chewy if you remove them from the cookie sheet after 1-3 minutes. They are also a little flat. I might try another recipe that has a little brown sugar just to see how the flavors are different.  ~Bake some snickerdoodles today.  The recipe uses basic pantry ingredients so they are wonderful when you don't have any chocolate chips and want to bake cookies. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar, divided
1 cup butter chilled and sliced into tablespoons
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons ground cinnamon


Directions

In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups sugar, the sliced butter and eggs.  Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until light and fluffy. About 3 minutes.  Add flour, cream of tartar, baking soda, nutmeg and salt.  Beat at low speed until soft dough forms.
Cover with plastic wrap. Chill 1 to 2 hours, or until firm.

Heat oven, to 375F.  In small bowl, combine cinnamon and remaining 2 Tablespoons sugar.  Shape dough into 1-inch balls.  Roll balls in cinnamon mixture.  Place balls 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown.

Let cool for 1-3 minutes before removing from cookie sheets.  Cool completely before storing.

recipe from Cookies! a cookie lover's collection

~Michelle

Baking Sheets

What kind of baking sheets do you use?  


Whenever I follow a recipe and it says, "butter the cookie sheet", I never do.  Why? you ask. It is because I have been using insulated, air bake, baking sheets for so many years now that I never butter or use parchment paper or any of that prepare the cookie sheets. 
In fact, I have had these same sheets for so long and never have had to replace them.  They clean so easily and don't get that brown/burned look either.


I'm actually afraid that if I return to regular non-stick sheets or the metal kind with parchment or silpat liners that my baked goods will not turn out the way that I like them.


I'm almost a little superstitious about it.


I want to try silpat or parchment liners but what if the cookies don't come out right.  It always seems that I am baking for an occasion and I don't have time to mess it up. :) So, I guess if it isn't broke don't fix it. Bake on.

~Michelle

Loving the New Nail Polish

For whatever reason my nails only seem to grow in the summer months.  I tend to go crazy and paint them often and buy way too many nail polishes too.  I saw a girl wearing a shade of turquoise and decided to try a shade for myself.  I grabbed these wet n wild colors from my local CVS because I didn't want to spend $8 on a color and hate it.  That happens to me sometimes.  Turns out that I LOVE the color.  I added the clear sparkle over top because I felt like the sparkle would look better on me than just the matte polish. FUN

wet n wild colors: 218A I Need a Refresh-Mint and 469 Wild Shine

~Michelle