The Cookie Lover's Cookie

While being indecisive may not be the best attribute, indecision led me to these cookies, and I must say--I am forever grateful.

They're a peanut-butter and oatmeal and chocolate chip concoction that fulfills every cookie dream, and my roommate and I couldn't stop eating them. Go make them right this second, and eat one warm with a cup of tea or some hot chocolate while you swoon; repeat as often as necessary.

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The Cookie Lover's Cookie

makes 12 cookies

1 stick of butter, melted

1/2 cup white granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar; packed

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup oats

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 heaping tbsp peanut butter

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

* * *

Preheat your oven to 350F.

In a bowl, sift together your flour, salt, and baking soda. Toss in your oats, and set it aside.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, egg, and vanilla until its creamy and delicious. Add in your peanut butter, and mix until combined.

Add your dry mixture to your wet mixture in three batches, and keep mixing until everything is combined.

Fold in your chocolate chips.

Take out roughly 1 or 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball.

Place the balls on your cookie sheet, and flatten them just a little. Keep a decent distance between them since the cookies spread out a bit as they bake.

Bake for about 8-10 minutes, until golden brown on the edges but still soft in the middle.

Let them cool for 10 minutes before transferring off the cookie sheet.

Sugar Cookies with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

I used to not be a huge fan of cookies (I know. what?). Given the choice between cookies and say, cheesecake, or pie, I would never choose a cookie. All of this changed in England though, when I discovered Ben's Cookies. They were soft, yet crunchy. Sweet, but kind of salty. I realized I had just been eating sub-par cookies, and after seeing the light, I've now embraced the goodness that is a perfectly made chocolate chip cookie.

I'm still struggling to get on the sugar cookie bandwagon though. Sugar cookies are not part of the European/Balkan dessert repertoire and I always felt like they were missing something. I decided to give them another shot though when my sister and I both needed some sweet treats to bring to friends, and I think I'm starting to come around....the addition of cream cheese frosting certainly didn't hurt things.

* * *

Sugar Cookies

recipe adapted from The Professional Palate ; makes about 3 dozen cookies

3 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, very soft

3/4 tsp baking powder

1 tbsp milk

1/4 tsp salt

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

* * *

In an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, cream together the sugar and butter for a few minutes, until light and fluffy

When combined, add the milk, vanilla & almond extracts, and egg, mix until it all comes together.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add it to your wet ingredients in 3 batches, and beat until combined.

Dump your dough onto a lightly floured surface and mush it all together to combine. Its kind of a sticky dough, so just keep the flour coming on your hands and the work surface so that you can combine it all.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and and refrigerate for an hour or so, just so that its easier to roll out and work with. I separated off about 1/4 of my dough and dyed it red with a few splashes or red food coloring. This was because I bought a lobster cookie cutter in New Hampshire and I've been itching it put it to work.

Once your dough is nice and chilled, grab your rolling pin and roll your dough out. If you like soft cookies, go for about 1/4 inch thickness, even more if you like. If you like them crunchy, go even thinner. I used powdered sugar to flour my surface so that my dough wouldn't get tough from additional flour. I also dunked my cookie cutters into the powdered sugar before I used them so that they wouldn't stick to the dough. The dough gets sticky as it warms up, so try and avoid handling it too much with warm hands so that it will cooperate with you!

Preheat your over to 375

Once your cookies are cut out, put them on cookie sheets with wax paper or no stick spray. Pop the cookie sheets into the freezer for about 5 minutes or so prior to baking. Depending on the thickness of your cookies, they will take about 8 or so minutes to bake. Check on them by sticking a toothpick in the middle to see if it comes out clean. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 10-12 minutes, and let them cool completely on a wire rack prior to frosting.

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

8 ounces cream cheese

4 tbsp butter

1 or 2 tbsp milk

2-4 cups of powdered sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1-2 tsp coconut extract

* * *

In a standing mixer or a bowl with a hand-held mixer, cream together the cream cheese and butter, 1 tbsp of your milk, and vanilla extract.

Slowly add the powdered sugar, about 1 cup at a time and mix together. How much powdered sugar you use depends on how sweet you like your frosting. I ended up adding about 2 1/2 cups (I don't like super sweet frosting), but just add a bit and taste as you go. Add the extra tbsp of milk (or more, if necessary) if your frosting is too thick and you like it runnier. I went with about 1 tbsp.

The coconut extract is also contingent on your taste--I added about 1 1/2 tsp for a great coconut flavor that wasn't overpowering. My suggestion would be to just add 1 tsp, mix it, and give it a taste. If it needs more, add about 1/2 tsp more at a time until you're happy with the flavors.

Grab your sprinkles and your cooled cookies, and get to decorating! My sister was kind enough to handle sprinkle/decoration duties while I frosted. I reserved some of the plain frosting prior to adding the coconut, so some had simple vanilla cream cheese frosting, while others had the coconut. My favorite was definitely the coconut frosting.

This recipe was great because it made so many cookies--my sister and I both had enough to take to our friends and have some leftovers. I ended up marbling the rest of the red dough with the white dough for a few pretty ones that I left frosting-less for those people who don't like frosting. I also ended up having a lobster cookie tragedy--I should have made my dough fatter because they ended up being too brittle and breaking when I took them off the tray (hence the lobster bodies in the bowl). We still ate them though (hence the fact that there is only 1 lobster body in the bowl)--they were too yummy to pass up!

Chocolate Chip Cookies: grown-up style

To say that I have loved chocolate all of my life would be an understatement. I adore chocolate. Growing up overseas, Kinder chocolates were my main source of sustenance, especially Kinder Eggs. I still consider myself a connoisseur of all things Kinder, but as I've gotten older, my chocolate tastes have expanded. Nowadays, nothing makes me quite as happy as dark dark chocolate--especially with a touch of sea salt or some almonds if I'm feeling fancy. I consider it my chocolate maturation--adulthood has taught me about the beauty of 60%+ cacao chocolates, and it definitely ranks up there as one of the best parts of growing up so far.

As such, my baking projects have also expanded to include more of the dark stuff. There isn't really anything about these chocolate chip cookies that makes them "grown up" per se, but to me, the addition of big dark chocolate hunks and sea salt makes them feel more elevated than the break and bakes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies: Grown Up Style

(adapted from Martha Stewart)

2 1/4 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 eggs

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 1/4 cup dark chocolate hunks (I like mine around 70% cacao, but anything above 60% will do)

a few teaspoons of sea salt

* *

Begin by preheating your oven to 350.

In a bowl, whisk together your flour and baking soda and set it aside.

In a separate bowl (or an electric mixer with the paddle attachment), beat together the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until combined and fluffy. I like to beat this together for a few minutes--I haven't experimented enough to know if this is really the case, but I believe that taking the time to get a really light and fluffy base for my cookies is what keeps them so moist post-baking. I might be inferring a relationship here that doesn't exist....but for now I'm convinced that the butter and sugar must be beaten into submission.

Add your salt, vanilla, and the eggs (one at a time) to your butter and sugar pillow, and beat until everything is well mixed.

Add your flour and baking soda mixture into the wet ingredients in three parts, beat until it just comes together.

Fold in both the dark and semi-sweet chocolate. If you're like me and need a taste of dough to make your soul happy, dig right in and prepare to be blown away. Its divine.

Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and drop tablespoon size cookies onto them, about 2 inches apart.

Take you sea salt and sprinkle a baby pinch onto each dough mound. If your dough balls are too round, just push the salt into them with your fingers. The amount varies on your taste buds, but I promise the salt & dark chocolate combo just works.

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes--the edges should be brown, but the tops should still feel mushy when you push down on them. Take them out and let them rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack so that they can cool completely.

Eat at least one while they're warm, because there are few things as heavenly as warm cookies, but the rest will last a week in a tupperware at room temp.

Snapshots

Snapshots of recent weeks:

{early mornings on my parent's sun porch with a big cup of coffee and deep, heavy, complex literature}

{attempting to re-create a Ben's cookie with a recipe from The Londoner--while they were gigantic and delicious, they didn't quite live up to a legendary Ben's. Could anything ever live up to Ben's though? Next time I make it back to England, a visit to Ben's will be necessary within an hour of my arrival.}

I love opening up library books and finding them marked up and dog-eared. It makes me feel like I'm part of a secret book club, especially when I come across an underlined passage that really draws me in too.}

{over-fatigued muscles and aching bodies = being creative at work. moving goals like bosses.}

{A few years ago, my dad planted a bunch of fruit trees in our yard. He's tended to them with so much care and now they're finally bearing fruit. Even though these peaches and pears were juuust shy of being ready for picking, I couldn't help myself.}

{words. From Geneen Roth's "When Food is Love". The psychology major (our should I say, psychology degree holder!) in me is enthralled with her.}

{its everything you expect red velvet ice cream to be and more. heaven.}