August Bakin Friends

We are done with the wonderful month of August and it's time for Bakin' Friends reveal! If you are new here, this group connects bakers (bloggers and non-bloggers alike) and we share our baked goods with one another.  Through our common love for baking, we cultivate friendships across the country via USPS! Each month our leader, Steph of Steph's Bite by Bite, chooses a secret ingredient that we all incorporate into our baked goods. See the past few months here and here.

The secret ingredient for August: PRETZELS! I was lucky to be matched with the wonderful Latane Stacy, a mommy of two beautiful kids. She sent me these butterscotch chocolate chip cookies with pretzels you see below. They are seriously the softest cookies I have ever had and they melt in your mouth. The recipe uses a mixture of cake flour and bread flour and I'm guessing this is responsible for the softness. They are called the BEST cookies by the NY times for a very good reason. So delicious that they only lasted a night; well an our to be exact. That was the saddest part. Thankfully, she included a beautifully handwrittem recipe and I am going to try to replicate her magic cookies. So can you too, I typed it up for you :)

Thank you very much Latane for the AMAZING cookies! They were delicious and a big hit in my house.

If you would like to join this wonderful group (you don't have to be a blogger, you just have to love to bake), you can read all about it here and sign up here.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies with Pretzels
From: Latane Stacy; adapted from NY Times Best Chocolate Chips Cookies
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies

Ingredients
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake flour
1 2/3 cups bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse (kosher) salt
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
about 11 ounces bittersweet chocolate chips, at least 60% cocoa content (she used Ghiraldelli 60% chips)
6 ounces butterscotch chips
2 cups tiny pretzels, chopped

Directions
In a medium bowl, sift together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugars until very light, about 5 minutes on medium.
Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the dry ingredients. Mix until just combined, 5-10 seconds. Mix in chocolate chips and butterscotch chips until incorporated. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate 24-36 hours.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchemnt paper.
Scoop large golf ball sized mounds of dough onto baking sheet. Press pretzels into each mound of dough. Add extra chocolate or butterscotch chips for a more atttractive cookie.
Bake until golden brown, about 17-20 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and allow to cool completely.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

As we speak I am without Internet and cable. It’s been four days and counting.  It’s frustrating to say the least especially when you rush home for the cable guy and he never shows up. Is having cable crucial for survival? NO. But Internet. Yeah, kind of necessary (My sister is rolling her eyes as she reads this in an Internet cafe in Sierra Leone where she pays ~$3 every week to use the internet and read my ramblings on this blog. I love you Alex and I'll bring you a cookie soon!). 

But back to my ramblings. I am not one of those people who would think no Internet is liberating or would go find something in nature to do with my time. I make plans, schedules and not having Internet this week was not one of those. My plan for the week was catch up on my blog reading after being away all last week, do some recipe research (aka pinteresting) and write some posts before we get to another busy weekend. But no, none of that has happened. 

Instead, guess what happened?? Random thoughts. Lots of random thoughts. I won't bore you with all of them. But this thought crossed my mind a few times: “This is the last year of my 20s!” The thought was frightening so I distracted myself by baking some cookies. Not these ones here though.

These oatmeal chocolate chip cookies were made last week for a special friend. To thank her for the wonderful birthday present she sent in the mail. They are particularly chewy and the lack of butter in them makes me smile and reach for more. Oh also, they are not too sweet which makes them perfect for breakfast! I may have had a few with my morning tea, just saying.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: ~15 – 20 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon cinnamon

¼ teaspoon nutmeg

2 tablespoons coconut oil, solid

1 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

1/3 cup apple sauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips

2 cups old-fashioned oats

2 tablespoons flaxseeds

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon, oats and flaxseeds

In another large bowl, mix the coconut oil and the sugar on medium speed. Add the egg, mix until combined. Then add the applesauce and vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture and stir by hand until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Drop tablespoon sized cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet and flatten each cookie slightly. Bake 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are lightly brown on the edges. Cool on baking sheet for three to four minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Adapted from Bakerita

Any plans for the weekend? Other than hoping the cable man shows up for his 6PM appointment tonight, I have one heart-breaking goodbye that I am not looking forward to (one of my dearest friends is moving clear across the country) and a flea market date with the hubby I am excited about. 

Hope you all have a great weekend!! 

S'more Cookie Bars

Do you ever get fixated on one thing? Like an intense craving for something and that's all you can think about for days? This happened to me recently and the result were these s'more cookie bars. 

I've been craving s'mores since two weeks ago when we visited my in-laws at their camping site for a day. The kids put together a fire pit and there was roasting of marshmallows and making of good ole s'mores. But unfortunately for me on that day, I was fasting and was unable to indulge in the festivities. Bummer right? That's how my fixation with s'mores started and last weekend I settled the score with these bars and boy just looking at them satisfied my s'more craving.

This is an incredibly quick and easy recipe to make. You start with a graham cracker cookie dough that is topped with a layer of  marshmallow creme (or fluff). Top that with hershey chocolate squares and then add a layer of mini marshmallows. Finally, top with the remaining graham cracker dough. Oh and sprinkle some chocolate chips on top too just because you can never have too much chocolate. Such goodness my friends!

You get a soft, chewy graham cracker cookie bar that is filled with ooey gooey melted chocolate and marshmallow and is everything a s'more should be! A lot better in my opinion, but you can be your own judge. Since I am not a fan of camping, I got my campfire treat in my living room without the dragon flies!! If it wasn't so hot outside, I would have turned on the fireplace to set the mood :) (Hmmm, I just might make this again in the winter!)

Whether you are heading up to camp or just a family BBQ, these will be a great hit so bring them along. Just try not to taste them before the party starts because I can't promise how many might make it! 

S'more Cookie Bars
Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1 cup Graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
7 ounces jar of Marshmallow Creme (Marshmallow fluff)
6 (1.55 oz Bars) Hershey's Chocolate bars, unwrapped and cut in squares
1 cup mini marshmallows
1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 x 8" square baking pan with baking spray and set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until well combined, about 3 minutes on medium speed. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined.
Reduce speed to low and stir in flour, graham cracker crumbs and baking powder until just combined.
Divide the dough in half and spread half at the bottom of the pan. Smooth with a rubber spatula. Evenly spread the marshmallow creme over the dough and smooth. Place chocolate squares on top of marshmallow creme. Top chocolate with the cup of mini marshmallows. Top with the remaining half of the dough. Spread with a rubber spatula. It is OK if you can still see the marshmallows. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cookie dough.
Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow cookie bars to cool COMPLETELY in pan before cutting. Otherwise you may end up with some oozy marshmallows (it's not the end of the world).

Brown Butter Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies {Brown Butter Week}

These cookies actually started my obsession with brown butter that manifested into brown butter week. I was testing a few recipes for salted caramel cookies for June Bakin Friends when I came across these. The first batch were too chewy for my taste so I didn't end up sending them to my baking friend. But I kept working on the recipe and I changed a few things and then browned the butter and the second batch gave me these wonderful cookies.

I made them twice to be sure and mailed them to my biggest critique and taste tester in Virginia. She is brutally honest and isn't afraid to hurt my feelings as my husband can sometimes be. She loved them so much that she called me three times in one day, each time with specifics about what she liked. 

I like soft cookies and that's exactly what these are. They are very soft and gooey on the inside and so crisp on the exterior. You will love them too! There is nothing not to like here. Seriously! Brown butter and salted caramel were made for each other because the flavors complement each other perfectly. I know you shouldn't pick favorites, but these are my favorite cookies yet!

This is a great recipe and a perfect way to end brown butter week!! We've had peanut butter brownies, some fluffy peach cupcakes and now these soft salted caramel cookies all loaded with wonderful brown butter. Thanks for putting up with me this week as I went on and on about my new found secret ingredient. You are the best! And I hope you will give some of these recipes a try, especially these cookies! 

Have a great weekend :)

Brown Butter Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: About 20 cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, browned and cooled to room temperature

1¼ cup packed light brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg and 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

¼ cup homemade salted caramel sauce (I used this recipe)

Sea salt for sprinkling

Directions:

To brown butter: Cut butter into pieces and melt in a saucepan over medium heat. Start to whisk constantly once the butter begins to foam. When the butter starts turning brown, fragrant and you see brown bits at the bottom of the pan, remove from heat. Transfer to a mixing bowl and allow to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare two cookie sheets lined with wax or parchment paper.

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

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the cooled butter and sugars on medium speed until well combined, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla and beat until combined. Add in half of the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Add the rest of the flour and mix well. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand and stir until combined.

Using a small cookie scoop or tablespoon, scoop one tablespoon of dough, press the center with your thumb and fill with about 1 teaspoon of caramel sauce. Place another scoop of dough on top and press together to seal the caramel sauce inside. Place on cookie sheets.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for about two minutes and sprinkle cookies with sea salt. Transfer to cooling rack.

Adapted from Bakingdom

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Before we get to these amazing salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars, I have a housekeeping item to address. At the end of last week,  I received a few emails from readers that were unable to access the recipe for these strawberry lemonade cupcakes. After several Google searches, I found out that internet explorer users sometimes can't see text after page breaks in blogger. So it's been a long frustrating weekend of emailing back and forth with my website designer (who is the best ever!) and it seems as if the issue has been resolved after re-installing my template. However, if you are still having trouble getting to any recipe, please let me know or consider using another browser. Thank you!!

But enough of my woes, let's talk about these salted caramel chocolate chip cookie bars. Or ooey-gooey bars of goodness as I call them. The softest chocolate chip cookie is sandwiched with melted salted caramel that oozes out of every side. Goodness!

They are also very easy to make. Simply make the best chocolate chip cookie dough, spread half at the bottom of an 8'x 8' baking pan, pour lots of caramel on, sprinkle with some sea salt and top with the rest of the cookie dough. Easy enough right? The soft cookies and warm caramel make this a delicious treat with the perfect combination of sweet and salty. You need to try it and if you love chocolate and caramel, you will LOVE this!

Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

Adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

Ingredients:
2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, room temperature
1 large egg yolk, room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips
6 ounces caramel candy squares, unwrapped
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Sea salt, for sprinkling over caramel and bars

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 8' X 8' baking pan with parchment paper (or foil) leaving overhang. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or medium bowl), beat the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined about 1 minute. Then stir in the chocolate chips for additional one minute.
4. Combine the caramels and heavy cream in a medium microwave safe bowl and melt in a microwave. Stir every 30 seconds until caramels are melted. This will take about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave.
5. Add half of the cookie dough to the prepared pan. Press gently and smooth the top with a spatula. Drizzle/pour the hot caramel sauce over the cookie dough and sprinkle with sea salt. Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel. Spread the dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle again with sea salt.
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

Enjoy!!!

Reese's Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies {May Bakin' Friends}

I found a new way to share my baked goods (like these peanut butter marshmallow cookies) and make new friends. I joined a fun group called Bakin' Friends, created and hosted by Steph of Steph's Bite of Bite. This group brings together bakers, bloggers, foodies or just anyone who loves sweets. Each month, you get matched with a Bakin friend at the beginning of the month and you bake goodies with a secret ingredient and send out to one another by the 16th of the month. Then, on the last day of the month, you post about what you received. What a great idea right?

My Bakin Friend was Maya of Chumpkin Butter. We had a great time emailing back and forth getting to know each other and bonded over our love for spicy Thai food. This is definitely my favorite part of the group. Unfortunately, Maya has had the most incredibly busy month with finals and some silly post office mix ups which lead to delayed shipment and Maya was unable to send her goods to me before today. Poor girl has baked three times already (I am so sorry). I can't wait to receive them this weekend, and I'm sure they will be delicious :)

UPDATE!!

I received my package from Maya today after work! It made my day and put a smile on my face after this not-so good week. She made the most moist cookies I have EVER had in my life. They are almond butter marshmallow cookie-wiches (Grain-free). Yeah, that's right they are super healthy, crunchy and have coconut, cranberries and raisins in them. I am in love.  Thank you very much Maya. I am going to remake these so I can share with my husband...they might not have survived by the time he got home :0

_______________________________________________________________________________
As an alternative, I'm sharing with you instead what I mailed out. I was matched with Christine of Christine's Kitchen. All I will say is, that girl is my twin from another mother living in California (move closer!!). I baked her these Reese's peanut butter marshmallow cookies since the secret ingredient of the month was marshmallow.

These cookies are moist and chewy with chunks of peanut butter bites. If you are a peanut butter fan, then you need to make these cookies because you will love them. They are delicious to say the least!! And I was very happy to hear that Christine enjoyed them as well.

Chocolate Espresso Macarons

I hope you guys had a wonderful memorial day weekend. Summer is officially here and it is time to fire up the grill, bake pies and eat frozen desserts. However, I'm starting my summer with some macarons! Chocolate espresso macarons.

I am in love with these tiny cookies and I can tell our relationship is just the beginning to a very long one (I am planning our wedding already :P). This is my second time making macarons since this first try here.  I think I love making them because you can see a progression since the last time. If you haven't tried these cookies yet, you really should because they are full of delicious crunchiness.

I was at Barnes & Nobles a few weeks ago picking up some summer reads when I found a book called "Macarons & More" on cleareance for $2.99 and you know I had to pick it up!! I adapted this recipe from their double dark chocolate macarons by adding a teaspoon of espresso powder to the cookie recipe for a little kick and filled the sandwiches with chocolate buttercream.  

There is a good dose of chocolate in these and after 24 hours refrigerated they are chewy, crunchy and soft on the inside. Very decadent!

The possibilities of flavors and colors are endless with macarons so expect to see some summer flavors soon!

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies {Gluten-Free, Vegan}

I made these cookies last week for one of my best friends. She found out a few weeks ago that she needs to start a vegan diet for health reasons. Despite being an avid meat lover, she is also a sweet junkie. Like seriously, she can't complete a meal without sweets. She can probably live without the meat but she will definitely not be able to live without her desserts. And that's where these cookies come in.

I figured the least I could do to support her is learn how to make healthier desserts to show her that all isn't lost. These cookies are vegan and gluten-free. I got the recipe from a new friend's blog!!

Her name is Iris and she is the wonderful creator and writer of The Daily Dietribe. She happens to be the sister of one of my college mates and I stumbled onto her blog on Facebook! She shares her gluten-free lifestyle over on her blog with lots of easy yummy recipes. If you are starting out or thinking about starting a gluten-free diet, please check out her blog. She has lots of resources there to help with the journey and she has two books as well; The Essential Gluten-Free Baking Guide Part 1 & 2.

Ok, back to the cookies. My favorite cookie is a white chocolate macadamia cookie. I have it most times at our weekly seminar series. Always makes the boring science talks enjoyable :). These homemade version were a million times better.  I used this basic gluten-free recipe from The Daily Dietribe that is customizable...isn't that cool?  They were so deliciously soft and moist. It was very hard to keep my husband away from them for a few days before I could take my pictures and put them in the mail.

I was very happy with how easy and good they were. I hope my friend loves them when she receives her package tomorrow!!

Here is the recipe:

White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies (Vegan, Gluten-free)
Yield: About 12-16 cookies

Source: Adapted from The Daily Dietribe

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups gluten-free flour
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons applesauce
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup white chocolate chips
1/3 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350^oF.  Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt.
3. Add the oil and applesauce and mix to combine with a rubber spatula. Add the vanilla extract.  Mix until completely combined, about 1 minute.
4. Fold in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.
5. Roll the dough into balls (size of your choice; I like cookies on the bigger side) and flatten slightly. Place on prepared cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
7. Cool on cookie sheet for a 2-3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
8. Allow cookies to completely cool (or not!) before indulging. 

Now go make some cookies!!

Macarons {April Kitchen Challenge}

I can barely ice a cake smooth or pipe a buttercream rose and yet I am attempting to make macarons. I've never had a macaron and I've never made a macaron. But they made it to my baking 'bucket list' a few months ago when I came across these gorgeous tiffany blue macarons.

So when Lindsay from Love and Olive Oil announced her April Kitchen Challenge was to make macarons, it seemed like a great idea to give them a try now. Why wait till later?? Little did I know!

I jumped into the literature of macarons not knowing anything about what it takes to make a macaron. A common theme that was immediately clear was that making macarons is an extremely difficult task. Second, there are lots of different schools of thoughts about how to make a successful batch of macarons. A very 'superstitious' ritual if I must say. 

I started off with Brave Tart, as Lindsay suggested, and she has several great posts on all you need to know about macaroons. I learned almost everything from handling meringue to macaronage on her blog.

Most macaron recipes call for a food scale and since I wasn't about to buy one just yet, I had to look for a recipe that did not require a scale. I adapted a recipe from Sprinkle Bakes for the ingredients but I followed the instructions from Bravetart's macarons.  Thanks to her mythbuster article, I was able to go into this project prepared.

Making macarons starts with whipping up egg whites and sugar to make a stable meringue. Then sifting together almond flour and powdered sugar for the dry ingredients. The most crucial stage is  folding the dry ingredients into the meringue, the process of macaronage, which deflates the meringue. With proper macaronage you should have a ribbon-like mixture that can hold up to piping and maintain its shape. The batter is piped onto parchment paper in 11/2 inch circles, given a solid tap on a counter and baked for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven temperature. Sounds simple enough right??

Yeah, it's not. It took three batches. The first batch failed period. The second batch (pictured in cream) were 'oval' not circular and they baked somewhat crooked. The third batch (pink) turned out circular and much better. However, they still baked crooked...the shells were falling off. After three batches, my macarons were not perfect but that is ok. I did not expect to get perfect cafe-quality macarons on my first try. But with practice and good techniques I'll make close to perfect macarons one day.

It was great fun to jump into this project and not knowing much about macarons or how to make them. Thanks to Lindsay for inspiring this bold step. Now I'm looking forward to the next challenge she has in store. If you have not checked out her blog, do so NOW! It's amazing.

I have more macarons to experiment with and they might just show up on a certain dessert table I'm planning for an upcoming shower :)

Holiday Baking

The holiday season is upon us...Merry Christmas! This is our first married Christmas together and I love our Christmas tree.

Being an avid fan of Pinterest, I had a lot of ideas for what my holiday baking list should entail but I kept it simple. I started with some simple sugar cookies from Better Homes and Gardens and these gingerbread cookies. I followed the recipes as close as possible and the cookies turned out great.

I attempted to decorate the cookies as well and I spent a lot of time watching videos and reading blogs on how-to decorate cookies. I went simple again, using a standard royal icing recipe (below) and made two different consistencies (piping and flooding) for each color and took a shot at it.

Can I say not bad for the first time???  I was very proud of them being my first take on decorating cookies. I will definitely need to practice more in the future. 

Finally, I made these peppermint bark brownies and some peanut butter chocolate balls for my husband. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures before I packaged them up.

I sent holiday treat bags to my new in-laws, friends and family. I was very happy they all enjoyed the sweets!

Now I have to decide what to make tomorrow for Christmas dinner at my sister-in-law's.

Happy Holidays again!