Bisquick Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our flour was low but we had lots of Bisquick, and google landed me in just the right spot.  Freddie and I haven't been in the kitchen together in quite some time so I was happy to be able to get baking with him today when he asked even though the pantry was lacking.

These are ok.  They'll do in a pinch.  Freddie will be pleased to have one in his lunch at school tomorrow.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1cup packed brown sugar
• 1teaspoon vanilla 
• 1 egg
• 2 cups Bisquick
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Beat butter and sugar until smooth.
2. Mix in egg and vanilla.
3. Mix in Bisquick and then chips
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes at 350 degrees.

Flourless Peanutbutter Cookies

Creating yummy treats in the kitchen is the perfect way to spend a blustery cold afternoon.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup natural peanut butter, smooth or crunchy
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Using a hand or stand mixer, mix the peanut butter, sugar, egg and vanilla on low speed until well combined.
3. Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough 1 1/2-inches apart onto the baking sheet. If you don't have a cookie scoop, drop the dough with a spoon.
4. Flatten the dough balls the tines of a fork, making a cross pattern on the cookies.
5. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until they are golden around the edges. Allow the cookies to rest on the counter for 2 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.

More Sandwiched Cookies

Remember these? I had a box of red velvet mix just waiting to do this.


Never thought about making them for Valentines' Day.

But be warned, red velvet mix is....


...red.

Yummy. Easy. Make them now.

Ingredients:

• 1 Box red velvet cake mix
• 1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 2 Eggs

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mix ingredients until combined. **My butter was "room" temperature, but my room is only about 60 degrees today with it being so cold outside. The cookies didn't turn out as expected and I think it's because I wasn't able to get everything mixed properly with the butter still being a bit too firm.
   
3. Drop spoonfuls of cookie batter onto baking sheet about two inches apart. (I smash them down into patties or else they are very fat!)
   
4. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
5. Cool.

Cream Cheese Filling

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 8 oz. Package cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• 1 1lb. Box of confectioner’s sugar
• 1 tsp Vanilla

Directions:

1. In a mixer, cream butter, cream cheese and vanilla.
2. Gradually add sugar and mix until smooth.

Makes about 12 cookie sandwiches (24 cookies).

Sandwiched Cookies

Think Oreo meets the Little Debbie Oatmeal Creme Pie. Soft, chocolaty cookie with frosting in the middle. They are pretty yummy, and way too easy to not make more often. Sure, had I spent time on uniformity and icing in more accurate proportions they would have taken more time but looked prettier. Pretty is overrated when it comes to food. They taste good. They were easy to make.

(Source: The Crepes of Wrath, as seen on Annie's Eats)

Ingredients: For the cookies:

• 1 package chocolate cake mix (or other flavor of your choice)
• 1 egg, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

For the frosting:

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted
• 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2-3 tbsp. milk

For decorating:

• multi-colored non-pareils, or other sprinkles or candy of your choice

Directions:

1. To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the cake mix, egg and butter. Beat on low speed until just combined and all dry ingredients have been incorporated.
3. Roll the dough into 1- to 1 1/2-inch balls, place on the prepared baking sheets and press down to slightly flatten. (Really flatten them. I made 28, so I ended up with 14 sandwiched cookies.)
   
4. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the cookie sheets.
5. To make the frosting, in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, add the powdered sugar, and beat until incorporated. Add vanilla extract and beat on medium speed until fully incorporated. Add 2 tablespoons of milk and beat on medium-high speed until smooth. If the frosting too thick, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of milk and beat until incorporated.
6. To assemble, pair the cookies based on size on a work surface. Frost the flat side of one cookie from each pair. Place the other cookie of each pair on top of the frosting, flat side down. Lightly press down so that the frosting reaches the edges of the cookies.
7. To decorate, place sprinkles in a small bowl. Dip the sides of each cookie in the sprinkles, pressing down gently and rotating to cover the sides completely.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Now, this is a cookie....


After my last cookie baking session, I did a little baking research and read about unbleached flour use in bread and pastry baking. So I did an little poking around and came across this recipe. It's a good one!


Ingredients:

• 2 cups + 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
• 1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 1 - 1 1/2 cups chips (I used M&Ms)

Directions:

• Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.
• Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.
• Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.
• Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart.
• Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a metal spatula.

I got 16 big, chewy cookies from each of my 2 batches. They are quite yummy and I'll be doing this one again real soon.

Honeymoon Cookies

First things first...I cannot bake cookies. They never look like they are supposed to. I think I make the scoops on the cookie sheet too large, but even when I try to go small, the balls get progressively larger and larger. And then they never are "fat" enough. There's cookie baking research in my future.

Anyway, these taste good, but look silly. I think I'll stick with making "bars." Let me know if you end up with better looking cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla
• 2 cups of flour
• 2-3 cups of "mix ins"

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. With a mixer, mix butter, sugars, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy.
3. Gently pulse in flour, just until mixed
4. Stir in by hand any mix ins you may desire. I used pecans, coconut, and chocolate chips. Other ideas include cranberries, raisins, oatmeal, peppermint patties. I really recommend the coconut because it gives them a chewy texture.
   
5. Roll into balls, place on greased cookie sheet, and bake for 12 minutes or until edges are browned.
   
6. Immediately remove from cookie sheet to cool.
   

Sugar Cookies and Frosting

Lobster or crawfish? You decide...


Smashed pink scorpion maybe? So, I'm not the queen of cookie decorating.... that's a title reserved for Janet (Charlie's mom).

Pretty good sugar cookie recipe, and I like that the frosting is shiny.

Cookies
Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, softened
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
   
2. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
   
3. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt.
   
4. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight).
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
   
6. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick.
   
7. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter.
   
8. Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets.
9. Bake 6 to 8 minutes in preheated oven.
   
10. Cool completely.

Icing
Ingredients:

• 1 cup confectioners' sugar
• 2 teaspoons milk
• 2 teaspoons light corn syrup
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
• assorted food coloring

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, stir together confectioners' sugar and milk until smooth.
   
2. Beat in corn syrup and almond extract until icing is smooth and glossy. If icing is too thick, add more corn syrup.
3. Add food coloring to desired intensity.
   

Easiest Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Charlie commented a few weeks ago that he liked Kim's lemon bars better than mine. Hurrumph! Well, bring me the recipe, I said.

He got the recipe, and it's in a book filled with recipes featuring boxed cake mix as the main ingredient. Really not surprising that the man chooses those with preservatives and 1000 times easier than the bars I made from scratch!

I have to say a cake mix can do amazing things. This is the first recipe of a series of cake mix wonders I'll be trying over the next few weeks, including those lemon bars he so loves!!



Ingredients:

• 1 18.25 ounce package chocolate or yellow cake mix
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Beat first three ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth
2. Add chips and nuts
3. Spoon heaping teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets
4. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes
5. Remove to wire racks to cool

The recipe says it yields 4 1/2 dozen. Evidently my teaspoons were a little too heaping because I only got 2 1/2 dozen, and they are on the chewy gooey side. Obviously I went with the chocolate mix, and I also used 1 cup of nuts. Never too many nuts, you know.

Easy, but it'd be easier if I had a few extra large cookie sheets and a few more wire racks for cooling. Hopefully the Easter bunny gets the hint!

Yummy.

Will do again.

Cowboy Cookies

From the Times Picayune, and they report the dough can be frozen, and cookies sliced and baked from the frozen dough in a jiffy.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 cups oatmeal
• 1 (8-ounce) bag of chocolate chips (or other kind of chips)
• ½ cup chopped pecans (or walnuts, but they won't be as delicious)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease some cookie sheets if they are not nonstick.
3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars until creamy.
4. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until fluffy and light.
5. Add flour, baking soda, salt and baking powder.
6. Stir well.
7. Add oatmeal, nuts, and chocolate chips.
8. Use a teaspoon to drop dough onto cookie sheets.
9. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, then cool on racks.
10. Makes about 8 dozen

I don't know if the Christmas Ale influenced my feelings about this recipe, but I could have eaten the entire bowl of batter. And it's pretty good after baking, too. We have some new neighbors and word has it that they're good cooks. I'm hoping this "welcome to Bordeaux Street" scores us a dinner invite!

Cream Cheese Choclate Chip Cookies

This recipe was torn from Oprah Magazine (hope you weren't turning pages looking for it, Emmy) and credits Carrie Nahabedian.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (3 oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
• 16 Tbsp. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tsp. grated orange zest

DIRECTIONS

• Preheat oven to 350°.
• In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat cream cheese, butter and sugar on high speed until well blended.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla until smooth.
• Reduce speed to low; beat in flour and salt until just combined.
• Stir in chocolate chips and orange zest.
• Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets; space dough about 1 inch apart. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until cookies are lightly browned around the edges.
• With a spatula, transfer to racks to cool completely; store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

I didn't have any orange zest on hand, and I added pecans. I like nuts in my cookies.

The recipe says it makes about 54 cookies, and I got about half that. I suppose my making them too large is one reason why they didn't take 12 minutes to cook and they never really got brown.

Keeping in mind that my mixer bit the dust during step one, I think they turned out rather well, although I still like the recipe on the back of the chocolate chips bag better. I suppose I'll bake those next week, if I get a new mixer!