Granola Cookies

I originally named these "oatmeal chocolate cherry coconut cookies" but whew, that's a mouthful -  and they actually are more like granola so I changed their name! These aren't an overly sweet cookie and I dare say they taste almost healthy haha... perfect with a big glass of milk!

I wore my "baking is cheaper than therapy" t-shirt that my sis got me to tap class the other day and one of the ladies asked if I like to bake....um, indeed I do ;). She wondered what my favorite thing to bake is and I had to think about it because I like to bake most everything - it usually ends up that I get in a phase though and make the same type of thing over and over and right now it's cookies. So I thought I'd make the tap ladies some cookies since Erica showed interest!

I love the show Fixer Upper and the host Joanna Gaines frequently has large thick cookies on her counter - for all I know they are a plastic prop haha but I've been wanting to make some really big ones like that. Normally I make them small - I think it's so having a couple makes me feel less guilty than eating one big one! I based this recipe on a few different ones I saw online, I think it's a fairly standard recipe but I wanted to add chocolate, cranberries, and coconut - and skip the raisins (I'm not a raisin lover).

Click here for where I got the base recipe. My changes: omit the raisins and walnuts, used coarse salt, added 2 teaspoons of cornstarch, and didn't chill the dough. I read that if you add cornstarch you don't have to refrigerate the dough, I've never heard that before so wanted to try it. I added 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips, 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut, and 1/2 cup dried cranberries. Also used my big muffin scoop but had to flatten them down some to get them to bake through. This made 12 big cookies.

ingredients:

1/2 cup (1 stick, 4 oz, or 115 grams) butter, at room temp
2/3 cup (125 grams) light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup (95 grams) flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1 1/2 cups (120 grams) rolled oats
3/4 cup (120 grams) raisins
1/2 cup (65 grams) walnuts, chopped (optional)

directions:

Cream butter, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla in a large bowl. 

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt.

Stir dry ingredients into butte/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, raisins, and walnuts.

Chill the dough for an hour, up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degF. Using a large muffin scoop, portion dough onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Roll dough with your hand and flatten a little bit. 

Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the edges are golden, but the centers look a bit underdone. Overbaking them will result in less chewy cookies.

Recipe from Smitten Kitchen

Chocolate Chip Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

I made these to take to my sisters house Monday for the Fourth - pretty easy although I'll warn you they're a little messy to make - especially on a warm day :). 

First I made small chocolate chip cookies using my small cookie scoop (about 1 tablespoon). After they're completely cool match up the cookies into roughly the same size pairs so the sandwich will be pretty similar on both sides. Let a tub of vanilla ice cream sit on the counter until it gets soft (not too soft though, that's when the messy part really starts happening!), then spoon some onto one side of the matched pair and top with the second cookie, press lightly to spread the ice cream. I then take a small knife and fill in ice cream around the edges of the cookies so the ice cream fills up the entire space between them - since it's July 4th I rolled the edges in patriotic sprinkles but any other time of year I just leave them plain. Put in the freezer until they are solid, then wrap each sandwich individually in wax or freezer paper and tape shut with a piece of masking tape (or you could be really cute and use patterned washi tape!) - I actually like how old fashioned it looks to have them folded up in white paper and sealed with masking tape, it's cute.

Nutella Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these (along with pumpkin roll) for my niece's birthday at her request. She found the recipe on Pinterest from the "ambitious kitchen". While making them I was thinking how much work they were and I should have known that a recipe from someone called the ambitious kitchen was going to be challenging but didn't think they were going to be anything special...and then I ate one. I take back that they were too much work, it's totally worth it! Once I figured out how to roll the dough around the nutella it wasn't hard at all,  really - you need to try these cookies.

rolling the dough around nutella

The time consuming part is rolling the dough around the nutella so the nutella doesn't leak out, I followed her directions and then added little bits of dough to any places on the dough balls that I thought might leak and it turned out great - didn't have any that lost it's filling. The final touch is sprinkling coarse salt on top after baking...OMG delish.

a different step for me was browning the butter
before adding it to the dough - browning adds
an almost nutty flavor and smells so good!