The One: "Healthy" Cookies

That little devil Pinterest has managed to convince me that there is such a thing as a "healthy" cookie.  I've tried several recipes that have made this claim, but haven't been much of a fan so far.  Today we had two bananas sitting around that were about to be overripe, so I decided to mush them up and add in a few other ingredients and hope for the best.  These actually turned out really good (they even got Colin's seal of approval!) and I'll definitely be making them again.

1 cup old fashioned oats
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
2 ripe bananas
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional, or could be substituted with raisins)
1-2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350.  Peel and mash bananas in a large bowl.  Add in all other ingredients and mix.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then drop by tablespoonfuls onto baking sheet.  Bake for 15-20 minutes, until lightly browned. 

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

I brought these for our cookie exchange that we had at work today and they were quite a hit. They were really yummy and something about the "mini" thing makes for a fun presentation. I got tons of compliments on them, and lucky for me they were also super quick and easy to make. Perfect!

Mini Oreo Cheesecakes

Makes 12

12 Oreos
8 oz. cream cheese (I used light and it worked out just fine)
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
Mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Line muffin tins with liners. Put an Oreo in the bottom of each liner. Mix together the cream cheese and sugar. Add in the egg and mix well. Pour cheesecake mixture over each Oreo (so that each one is about 2/3 full). Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from muffin tin and let cool slightly. Sprinkle with a few mini chocolate chips.

Source: sparkpeople.com

Lime Meltaways

We recently had an unprecedented FOUR straight snowdays--and these were legitimate snowdays where the roads really were terrible and we were pretty much trapped in our house. I had to do something to entertain myself, so I spent a lot of time cooking and baking (and then eating, and eating some more!). These were one of my snowday treats and I think they're perfect because they even kind of look "snowy"!

12 tablespoons ( 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup powdered sugar
zest of 2 limes
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
2 tablespoons corn starch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup powdered sugar

Cream the butter with the powdered sugar. Beat in the lime zest, lime juice and vanilla. Mix the flour, cornstarch and salt in a large bowl. Beat the dry ingredients into the wet (it took a while for this to really start to resemble dough). Roll the dough out into a 1 1/4 inch log. Wrap in plastic and let chill in the fridge for at least an hour. Preheat the oven to 350. Slice the dough into 1/4 inch thick slices and place them onto a baking sheet, 1 inch apart from each other. Bake until just lightly golden brown, about 12-15 minutes. Let cool on a wire rack for 4 minutes. Dredge the cookies in powdered sugar to coat.

Source: closetcooking.com

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I can't remember which blog I found this recipe on, but the full name is actually THE BEST Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars, so I had pretty high expectations going into it. Earning the title of "Best" is pretty serious business, but these were definitely good! I made a few changes based on what ingredients I had on hand, so next time I'll probably try the standard version just for the sake of comparison.

2 cups plus 2 T. all-purpose flour (I used about half whole wheat flour)
1/2 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
12 T. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used white chocolate chips)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (I added these because I thought they would go well with my other changes)

Preheat oven to 350 and prepare an 8x8 baking dish. In a medium bowl, combine dry ingredients and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in chips (and nuts, if using). Pour into baking dish and lightly pat to even out mixture in pan. Place in oven and bake for about 30 minutes or until light golden brown and outer edges start to harden, yet center is still soft and puffy. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars.

Very Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mom had us over for dinner recently and served some delicious homemade ice cream sandwiches for dessert. Colin talked about those ice cream sandwiches for days! After many mentions of how awesome those ice cream sandwiches were, he moved passed the hinting phase and asked (possibly even begged) me to make some. We already had Blue Bell vanilla ice cream, so I just googled for an easy chocolate chip cookie recipe that would work with the ingredients I had on hand. This was the one I came across and the cookies were both very easy and very delicious. They also made perfect little ice cream sandwiches!

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup walnuts, chopped (these were optional but I included them)
12 oz. chocolate chips

Mix wet ingredients and sugars. Sift in dry ingredients, add walnuts and chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoons onto a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes.

Source: Cooks.com

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

In my opinion, you simply can't go wrong with a peanut butter cookie. This particular cookie is basically 2 peanut butter cookies with a creamy peanut butter filling in the middle--pure cookie deliciousness! I know it sounds like it could possibly PB overload, but I'm sure that if you like peanut butter cookies, you will like this one too!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

For PB filling:
6 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup confectioners sugar

Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in the center of the oven. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
For the cookies: In the bowl of your electric mixer, cream butter, peanut butter, and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the peanut butter mixture and beat until incorporated. Put 1 tablespoon of dough on cookie sheet, leaving about 2 inches between mounds of dough. Press the dough flat with the back of a fork that has been dipped in granulated sugar. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges. Cool completely on a wire rack.
For the filling: In the bowl of your electric mixer, beat the softened cream cheese, peanut butter, vanilla and sugar until smooth.
To assemble: Take 1 cookie, spread about 1 tablespoon of the filling on the flat side, then top with another cookie, flat side down, to make a sandwich. If not serving right away, cover and store in the fridge. Bring to room temperature before serving. Makes about 18 sandwich cookies.

More Cookies!

Man, you would think that all we've been eating lately is desserts based on my recent posts! I'm still catching up on all of the holiday goodies I made, so I'll be continuing the trend for now.
Per usual, we spent days negotiating and scheduling to find a way to spend time with our many families here in town (Colin's mom and stepdad, my mom and stepdad, and my dad) for Christmas. I decided to bring a tin with a variety of cookies to each of our parents and came up with several tasty ones. I wanted the cookies to be a little something different--a standard chocolate chip just wouldn't do! Here are the ones I went with (even though there are so many yummy cookie options out there I could barely narrow it down!):

Macadamia Butter Cookies

2/3 cup macadamia nuts
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries, chopped
1 tablespoon granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Place nuts in a food processor; process until smooth (about 2 minutes), scraping sides of bowl once. Combine macadamia butter, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, and brown sugar in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed. Add vanilla and egg; beat well. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, salt and nutmeg, stirring with a whisk. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture; beat at low speed just until combined (mixture will be very thick). Stir in cranberries. Chill 10 minutes. Divide chilled dough into 30 equal portions into a ball. Place 1 tablespoon granulated sugar in a small bowl. Lightly press each ball into sugar; place each ball, sugar side up, on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Gently press the top of each cookie with a fork. Dip fork in water; gently press top of each cookie again to make a criss-cross pattern. Place 15 cookies on each of 2 baking sheets. Bake cookies, 1 baking sheet at a time for 9 minutes or until golden. Remove cookies from pan; cool on a wire rack. Repeat procedure with remaining cookies. Yield: 30 cookies

Source: Cooking Light

Mexican Chocolate Cookies

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate (60% cacao), coarsely chopped
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
Dash of black pepper
Dash of ground red pepper
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350. Place chocolate in a small glass bowl; microwave on high 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool to room temperature. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 5 ingredients (through ground red pepper); still well with a whisk. Combine sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add egg; beat well. Add cooled chocolate and vanilla; beat just until blended. Add flour mixture; beat just until blended. Drop dough by level tablespoons 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake at 35o for 10 minutes or until almost set. Remove from oven. Cool on pans 2 minutes or until set. Remove from pans; cool completely on a wire rack. Yield: 32 cookies

Source: Cooking Light

Spicy Oatmeal Crisps

3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon grated whole nutmeg (I just used ground nutmeg)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (optional)
1 cup packed brown sugar
5 tablespoons butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour and next 7 ingredients (through pepper) in a medium bowl. Place sugar, butter and vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffly. Add egg; beat well. Stir in flour mixture and oats. Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake for 12 minutes or until crisp. Cool on pans 2-3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pan; cool on wire racks. Yield: 24 cookies

Source: Cooking Light

Festive Peanut Butter Blossoms

1 pouch Betty Crocker peanut butter cookie dough mix
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
1 egg
Sugar
36 Hershey's Kisses, unwrapped
Holiday sprinkles

Heat oven to 375. In a medium bowl, stir cookie mix, oil, water and egg until dough forms. Shape dough into 36 1-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-12 minutes or until light golden brown. Immediately press 1 kiss in center of each cookie. Add sprinkles or additional decorations as desired. Remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely, about 20 minues. Yield: 36 cookies

Source: Bettycrocker.com

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yet another variation on basic chocolate chip cookies--when you start with such a delicious basic, it's hard to go wrong!

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 (12 oz.) bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Beat the butter with a wooden spoon until smooth and creamy. Add both sugars and beat until homogeneous. Stir in vanilla and egg and mix well. Add flour, baking soda and salt and give the bowl a few good stirs. Add the oats and chocolate chips and mix until well distributed. Bake on wax-paper lined baking sheets until just set and browning on the edges, 10-12 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheet about 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are a yummy twist on the basic chocolate chip cookie. I mean, really, who doesn't like chocolate with peanut butter?!

1 cup smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4-1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375. In a large bowl, cream together peanut butter, butter and both sugars until well blended. Beat in the egg, milk and vanilla one at a time. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into creamed mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll tablespoons of dough into balls. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

Source: delishfood.wordpress.com