Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh Happy Day-- we're talkin' cookies!

Last time we talked I mentioned that I had just made a new chocolate chip cookie batter, but I hadn't baked off any of the cookies yet.  This new cookie recipe is for Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip Cookies!  The recipe actually comes right off the bag of their bittersweet chocolate chips, which are the ones I used. Any chip would be delicious if dark chocolate isn't your thing.  With classic chocolate chip cookies (how many times in can I type out those 3 yummy words in this post?) being my all-time favorite cookie, I was excited to try out a new recipe for them! I do have our favorite double chocolate sea salt chocolate chip cookie recipe the blog, but why not try a new one for fun every so often??

The verdict is that these cookies are deliciously buttery, thin, and chewy, and they are tasty, but we don't think they're "The Ultimate" by our tastes.  Anyone who prefers a thin chocolate chip cookie will probably love these, though!  They really spread out in the pan when baked, even after the dough was refrigerated for 24 hours.  The second time my husband was the one to bake a few, and he made them smaller in size. They turned out better! I think they baked more evenly so I'll make these smaller next time instead of the oversized ones I usually make. I've got to say that we both agreed they have a delicious flavor, and the cookie dough tastes amazing....  it's perhaps some of the best cookie dough I've had! 

This recipe is definitely good enough to share and would be perfect to take a batch to your next potluck, so I hope you'll give them a go!  Thin, buttery cookies are incredible dunked in a tall, frosted glass of milk...  Just sayin!  Let me know what you think.  Happy Baking!!  :)

Ghiradelli Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yields about 4 dozen cookies

2 1/4 c. unsifted flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 c. (2 sticks) real butter, softened

3/4 c. brown sugar, packed

3/4 c. granulated sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 eggs

10 oz. Ghiradelli chocolate chips, I used almost 1 cup more than this!

1 c. pecans or walnuts, optional I opted out this time

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
• Stir flour with baking soda, salt and set side.
• Beat butter with both sugars at medium speed until creamy; turn mixer to low and add vanilla and eggs one at a time. Mix until smooth.
• Gradually blend the dry mixture into creamed mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts (if desired).
• Drop by tablespoons onto parchment lined cookie sheet, or plain ungreased sheet.
• Bake for 9-11 minutes or till golden.  I like to check at 9 minutes, but we like ours on the very chewy side.
• Important: Enjoy every bite!

Christmas in my Kitchen and A Delicious Sugar Cookie Icing Recipe

Today is finally cold again, beautiful outside, and I am definitely in the Christmas spirit and full of cheer!  I spent the afternoon in the kitchen making sugar cookies with delicious creamy icing for our son's Christmas party at school tomorrow.  As I was bustling around the kitchen with the sun streaming in and my Christmas music playing I had a cup of afternoon coffee to sip on and I really, really felt the joy of the Lord! 

The mixer whirred with icing and the aroma of warm sugar cookies fresh from the oven wafted around, when it hit me.....



I am baking Christmas cookies in my "dream" kitchen and back in the old stomping grounds of my hometown! 

The kitchen I've always wanted with plenty of cabinets, an island, subway tile backsplash, a well working oven, a French door fridge that I put to good use.

The kitchen with pretty paned windows of panoramic views that soar past our property.

The kitchen my family will make some of their most cherished memories in over the years!



I've always liked my cozy little bitty kitchens (some much smaller than others) but I've dreamed of one big enough to dance around in and share with my family.  

Here at Christmastime I have some of my favorite things--gingerbread, cookies, and even candies--adorning the counters, windows and sitting on the window seals all around.  I don't even have the time right now to snap pictures of nearly everything, but it feels magical!

Here's my "Cozy drink station" on the antique dry sink!  It's one of my favorite spots in the kitchen right now! 

Chai tea, hot chocolate, French press coffee anyone?

Now let me share something special with you.

See that picture below?  It's a very iconic one of my childhood!  It's me as a little bitty girl baking gingerbread boy cookies at my Grandmother's house.  I was proudly holding up a big dough ball while wearing pjs, an apron and my cabbage patch slippers!  At the time we were living out West and that very morning we were going to fly back after spending the holiday here.  My Grandmother ran around to get everything out for me and her to make gingerbread boys together before I left with my parents for the airport... What a memory I hold dear!!!

 

I've always liked this sweet kitchen tree I put up on the counter every Christmas.  I have some of my favorite ornaments hung on here.  The gingerbread house one is one of the oldest  ornaments I must have bought in our first year of marriage and the copper pot is the newest addition this year from Cracker Barrel.  It's a treat looking for ornaments for this tree, but it looks like in a couple years I'll need to get a bigger tree, because this little one is packed!  :)

As you can tell I'm not a conservative Christmas decorator, especially in the kitchen.  My counters are full (!) but it's cheery and fun to have such whimsical things placed around.  I love it as much as the kids do, but I consider myself a kid at heart. 

Now onto the cookies... Let me tell you about this yummy sugar cookie frosting I'm making!  It's made with butter and cream cheese which lends itself to the best of both worlds of flavor and consistency.  The original recipe calls for vanilla extract, but I added both vanilla and almond because I've always thought the almond flavor in particular is delicious in frosting.  It reminds me of a really good wedding cake!  One of the best parts of this icing is that it comes together quickly and easily!

I just used a bag of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix for the cookies and refrigerated the dough for about 2 hours before rolling it out.  It made the whole process faster, and as a mom of littles that counts for a lot. 

I surprised the kids after they woke up with freshly cooled cookies, frosting and sprinkles to decorate a few cookies for our family.  They were thrilled and had a ball making them over the top full with everything!!  (And of course sneaking in several licks:)  It was really a precious moment and a tradition that I'm passing down from my childhood.

These cookies are scrumptious with a frosty glass of milk and taste better when reading a favorite Christmas book, of course!  Can you tell which cookies the kiddos made?? :)

I just had to pop in and let you in on my little magical moment before it all too quickly passing on to a memory.  I'm all about cherishing the moments that matter!

Happy Baking!!

Creamy Sugar Cookie Icing

1/4 c. butter, softened

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/2 tsp. real vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. almond extract

2 c. powdered sugar

2 tbsp. milk or cream

In a large bowl, mix together the butter and cream cheese until creamed and smooth.  Add the extracts until combined.  Next, put the mixer on low and in intervals add the powdered sugar and milk, ending in the sugar until you get the right consistency.  I wanted mine on the thicker side since I was using it to frost cookies.  Once it's mixed turn up the mixer to med-high and beat it for about a minute to fluff it up! Frost cookies after they are completely cool and let the icing slightly harden before covering cookies or eat them right away!  This will frost about 3 dozen cookies.  Store leftover frosting in a well sealed bag in the fridge for 3 days.

This recipe is one of Santa's favorites!! *wink

Happy Birthday! M&M Cookie Bars

I can't believe tomorrow we'll be celebrating our son's 4th birthday!  

Wow, is time going too fast!  Today he went to mommy's day out/preschool like he does twice a week, and I wanted to take a fun treat for his class to celebrate his birthday!

Here they are at Kylie's party.  She just turned 3!

Sometimes it just hits me.  I can't believe I'm baking treats for our children. What a long time coming, thank you Jesus!  They truly and honestly are two of the most precious little children I know!  

Our son is funny, entertaining, compassionate, he doesn't miss a beat, and he's a handsome little devil!!  

He loves us so much he really does treat his sister so sweet!-- most of the time! ;)

I am so proud that he's our son!!!

Back to our "sweet talk".  

I've always loved chewy m&m cookies from childhood!  I recently found a delicious recipe that I love making and I shared with you last fall.  So I thought I should use those fun primary colored, chocolate  candies in his birthday treats, too! I found this incredibly delicious m&m cookie bar recipe, and now I'm so hooked on these yummy bars!  Just look at how colorful and fun they are.  They're also really chewy, and bars are much faster to bake than a batch of cookies.  

I am so happy that I got to send my precious son to school with these yummy cookie bars to share with his sweet friends!  He was so excited and proud that I made them, and that makes me one happy mommy!!

M&Ms Cookie Bars

Whatmegansmaking.com

2 1/8 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

12 Tbsp. butter ( 1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 12 oz. bag M&Ms, divided

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Adjust the oven rack to lower-middle position.  Grease a 9x13 pan set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda.  Set aside.

In a large bowl. ( I used my stand mixer here.). Whisk together sugars, melted butter until well combined.  Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. And mix well.  Using a spatula or turning your mixer to low, add the dry ingredients slowly until combined. Do not over mix.  Gently stir in 1 c. M&Ms  and pour batter into prepared pan.  Smooth the top with a spatula and sprinkle remaining M&Ms over the top, pressing them in slightly.

Bake 25-30 minutes, until bars are a very light golden brown, slight firm to touch and beginning to pull away from sides of pan.  I would rather take them our too soon than not to have a chewy bar!  Cool completely before cutting.

Note: my brown sugar was too hard to use much of (fail!).  What I had to do this time was use 1/4 c. Brown sugar and 1 1/4 c white sugar and they still turned out chewy and delicious.

Quick Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Happy Sunday!  I hope you're all having a blessed morning and a wonderful time at church or home with your family today.  I can't wait to worship with my whole family since Mr. Cozy is off today!

My peanut butter kiss cookies hit the spot for a quick and delicious treat, that would be just right for a snowy Sunday afternoon or to nibble watching Downton!  These cookies are ones I grew up on, but I slightly enhanced the awesome "3 ingredient peanut butter cookie" that Mom and I usually make.

The original "3 ingredient cookie" calls for 1 c. Sugar, 1 c. Peanut butter, and 1 Egg.  So simple!  In these I added brown sugar to keep them soft, a splash of vanilla, and a little flour, which we usually throw into the 3 ingredient cookie anyways for a smoother texture.

These peanut butter kiss cookies are chewy, rich, and taste like a million bucks!  They're one of those treats I hope our children will remember growing up with, too!

Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

1c. Peanut butter

1/2 c. White sugar

1/2 c. Brown sugar

1 Egg

1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1 heaping Tbsp. Flour (Mom uses self rising, I use all-purpose.  Doesn't matter here.)

Aprox. 18 unwrapped chocolate kids candies (Hershey's)

Preheat oven to 350.

Lightly beat the egg in a small bowl.  Mix together peanut butter with sugars and add egg and vanilla to blend well.  Add the flour and stir to incorporate.

Roll into 1 1/2 in. balls.  Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes.  As soon as you take them out, have the chocolate kisses ready to press in the middle of each.  Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes before digging in! 

Makes about 1 1/2 dozen 

Our Christmas Photos & recipe for Yummy Classic Molasses Cookies

This shouldn't come as a surprise to you, but one of my favorite things about Christmas is the nibbling of cookies, candies, cakes and every wonderful confection the season brings!  It's the one holiday that we all can agree to indulge without guilt, and I think it should be that way!  I mentioned in my earlier post (on my fun Christmas facts) some of my favorite desserts and candies of the season.  They include my mom's peanut butter balls and her fresh coconut cake that we endearingly call, the snowball cake.  Others are my own raspberry linzer Christmas tree cookies and easy toffee cracker candy.  This year I've added two new favorite that will definitely become tradition next year: Martha Washingtons (aka coconut-pecan bonbons) and these super soft and chewy molasses crinkles!

I really can't say enough about how wonderful these cookies are!!!  

They are an old fashioned recipe, which guarantees deliciousness, and a simple one at that!  Ground cinnamon, ginger and cloves, marry with molasses to give one of the most Christmas-y tasting cookies there is!  They're rolled in sugar before being baked to give them a sparkly crinkle finish that I love.  Gingerbread boys are so fun and cute, but these cookies have a similar flavor that is way chewer and--in my humble opinion--more scrumptious!!

Classic Molasses Cookies

Recipe from, The Yummy Life

2 c. All-purpose flour

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground cloves

1 tsp. ground ginger

3/4 c. butter, melted

1 c. plus 1/3 c. white sugar, divided

1 egg, room temp

1/4 c. molasses 

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and ginger; set aside.  In a medium bowl, with a mixer on low speed, blend together the melted butter, 1 cup of sugar, and egg until smooth.  Stir in molasses.  With mixer on low speed gradually add the flour mixture; mix until completely combined.  This is important:  Cover and chill dough in fridge for 1 hour.  I actually refrigerated this dough for about 48.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Roll dough into walnut sized balls, roll each ball into (the 1/3 c.) sugar.  Place 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes until tops are cracked, but the center is still gooey.  I usually take out almost underdone to make cookies very chewy!

Serve these detectable molasses crinkles with a hot cup of frothy French press coffee or any other deeply rich coffee that will stand up to this rich cookie!  We gave my mom a French press for Christmas, so on Christmas Eve we had an extraordinary cup of coffee to accompany molasses crinkles and other treats! 

It was special to sit in the cozy sunroom, sip our coffee from pretty cups, and relax with family in the afternoon before dinner!  Sigh .... I miss Christmas already.

Here are some of Mama's confections!

Here's the snowball cake with fruit salad, and homemade egg nog (sans alcohol). Delicious!!!

.....  Here, take a peek with me at my very favorite Christmas "Sweets".

Over the river and through the woods to Grammy and Grandpapa's house we go!

Happy birthday, Jesus!!

Mom's Christmas Eve Breakfast!  

We all stayed the night and awoke in their cozy country house to a light dusting of snow outside and the smell of biscuits and gravy, country ham, fried apples and cranberries, (and more) wafting from the kitchen.  We loved it!!!  Thank you, Mom!

My Sister Love

Our little beauty.

Our little cowboy!

Praise God!  4 Generations!!

Cousins:)

Our family's tradition of Grandad reading The Christmas story from Luke.

Christmas jammies

My favorite Christmas blessing for the past 12 years. ;) xo

We've had a very joyful year, and it ended with a magical Christmas!!! 

Happy New Year to you and yours, and may you "taste and see that the Lord is good".