Cookie Sleuth

Banoffee Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

2013-05-23T16:18:00.000-07:00

For this recipe using the Hope and Greenwood banoffee buttons, I used the traditional Toll House chocolate chip cookie recipe and used peanut butter chips and the banoffee buttons instead of chocolate chips and nuts. The peanut butter chips were overpowering, so I recommend increasing the buttons to 2/3 cup and decreasing the peanut butter chips to 1/3 cup.

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/8 cup granulated sugar

3/8 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup banoffee buttons

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in banoffee buttons and peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Yields 2 dozen

Banoffee Button Cookies

2013-05-20T16:15:00.000-07:00

When we went to London, we went to the Hope and Greenwood chocolate store. We bought these amazing banoffee buttons. It was hard to not eat them all on their own. If you don't want to pay for shipping from London, just use chocolate chips and banana extract. I made half with nuts and half without. I preferred the ones with nuts due the nice crunch. Come back on later this week to see another recipe I made with these buttons.

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, melted

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup banana buttons

3/4 cup chopped walnuts, if desired

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt butter in a saucepan. While the butter cools, mix together sugar, vanilla, and egg. Add in the melted butter. Gradually mix in flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir in chocolate buttons and nuts.

Bake for 12 minutes.

Yields 2 dozen

San Francisco Cookies... Again

2013-05-16T16:27:00.000-07:00

Yes, I did go a little crazy with cookies in San Francisco... I did a lot of walking to make up for it, though!

Chocolate Lab

After a tasty dinner at the sweet and savory cafe by Recchiuti, I tried the cookie plate (just $5) that included a cocoa nib meringue, cherry shortbread, coconut macaroon dipped in chocolate, mud pie cookie, and a double chocolate cookie. All of them were amazing!

TCHO

I was a little disappointed with the batter cookie ($2.50) I got at TCHO. The cookie looked great with lots of chocolate, dark chocolate disks throughout, and sea salt on top. There was a hint of cinnamon through cookie that I didn't like.

Chocolate Cake Brownies

2013-05-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

This brownie recipe comes together quickly and makes a chocolatey and cakey brownie. It definitely kicked my chocolate craving for the day!

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup light brown sugar

Pinch of salt

2 eggs

1/4 all purpose flour

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8x8 pan with cooking spray.

Melt the butter and chocolate in a small saucepan on low heat. Then add sugar, salt, and vanilla until combined. Allow to cool before beating in the eggs one at a time. Next add in the flour. Pour the batter into the pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Cool before cutting into squares.

Yields 16 brownies

San Francisco Cookies

2013-05-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

A few more reviews from my long weekend in San Francisco...

The Cheeseboard

This unbelievable pizza parlor and cheese shop also has a few cookies. For $2.00 their large chocolate chip cookie was a good value. It had plenty of large chocolate chunks and had an oaty taste due to the wheat germ mixed in. The cookie was good, but not as good as their pizza!

Andronico's

The bakery in this grocery store had an amazing selection. I zeroed in on the chocolate dipped shortbread ($1.99 for a large cookie) and the chocolate chip and snickerdoodle cookies (99 cents each). The shortbread was very buttery, and the chocolate dipped portion really made the cookie. The chocolate chip had plenty of chocolate and was super chewy. The snickerdoodle was just OK.

The Cookie Department
I found Cookie Department cookies at Andronico's, but they are available at random stores throughout the city. I tried the Great Full (vegan sweet potato wellness cookie) and the Chocolate Chip Nookie. Both cookies were good (not amazing), but I like the bonus health factor. At $2.99 each, they are a bit pricey.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2013-05-06T16:24:00.000-07:00

It's always fun to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe, and this recipe created (as the name implies) a thick, chewy cookie.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/8 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions
No need to preheat the oven since the dough needs to be refrigerated.
Sift the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda together into a large bowl. Set aside.
Beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in a bowl with a mixer. Beat in the egg, and then beat in the vanilla. Gradually add the flour mixture and beat until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the dough and refrigerate at least one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Bake about 12 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and let cool 10 minutes on the baking sheets, then transfer to racks to cool completely.
Yields 18 cookies

Berkeley Cookies

2013-05-02T16:25:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago Mr. Sleuth and I took a little spring vacation to San Francisco. We had an amazing long weekend, and of course I tried a lot of cookies along the way.

Cinnaholic

This Berkeley cinnamon roll bakery allows you to create hundreds of kinds of cinnamon rolls with different flavors of frosting and toppings. You can customize your own or pick one of their recommendations. I selected the chocolate chip cookie dough cinnamon bun ($5.50) with vanilla frosting, mini chocolate chips, and chunks of cookie dough. AMAZING! I absolutely will be going back next time I'm there. I bought a cookie ($2) to go, which was soft a full of chocolate chips, a must try as well.

Hopkins Street Bakery

Also in Berkeley, I stopped by this small bakery and tried a giant peppermint chocolate cookie ($1.75) and their signature Freakout cookie (85 cents for a small one). The chocolate base for the peppermint cookie was just OK, but the bright green peppermint chunks were throughout. It's great to satisfy a mint craving, but I won't get it again. The Freakout cookie had pecans, raisins, macadamia nuts, and chocolate chips. There were a few too many raisins in this cookie for me, but the rest was good.

Love at First Bite

This bakery specializes in cupcakes, but there is a small selection of cookies as well. For $2.25 I bought the cowboy cookie (coconut, pecans, chocolate chips), which was soft and slightly underbaked. I was hoping for a bit more chocolate flavor and some crunch from the pecans.

Ritz Thin Mints

2013-04-29T16:23:00.000-07:00

A colleague introduced me to this quick way to make Thin Mint copycats. Don't worry about the cracker taste coming through too much or being too salty. Besides the more crumbly texture, you can't tell a difference between this and the original Thin Mint. I used melted Nestle chocolate and mint chips, but you could also melt chocolate and add a couple of drops of mint extract. My friend used mint chocolate candy melts. Either way, it's dangerous how easy these are to make!

Ingredients

24 Ritz crackers

1 1/2 cups chocolate and mint chips

1 Tablespoon Heavy cream, if necessary

Instructions

Melt chocolate over double boiler. If necessary, use heavy cream to thin out the chocolate. Remove melted chocolate from the heat.

Dip each cracker in the melted chocolate. Place dipped cracker on a cooling rack (with wax paper or parchment underneath) while the chocolate cools and hardens.

Store in the refrigerator or freezer.
Yields 24

Vosges Sugar Cookie Mix

2013-04-25T16:32:00.000-07:00

I love the Vosges Chocolate Chip cookie mix, and for a nice spring treat, I tried the Vosges sugar cookie mix. Unfortunately this was not the delightful spring dessert I was hoping for. The $12 box includes a dry ingredient pouch and sugar crystals plus instructions. The mix is easy (just add two sticks of butter, one egg, and vanilla), but the resulting cookie does not have much flavor. The sugar crystals that come with the mix are a cute decoration, but this cookie still disappoints. I'm glad this wasn't my first experience with Vosges because based on this experience alone, I would not be trying any more of their products.

'lette macarons & Lucca Cafe

2013-04-22T16:22:00.000-07:00

I finally had a chance to try 'lette macarons last week. The best option was the 12 macaron gift box (really cute packaging by the way) for $19.50. Individual macarons are $1.75 each. The passion fruit and rose flavors weren't that great (slightly artificial tasting), but the chocolate, vanilla, and salted caramel were fantastic. Overall the macarons had the perfect cookie to filling ratio, and the cookies were chewy with a slightly crispy outer layer.

Another place I finally got to cross off my list of places I wanted to try was Lucca Cafe. While my dinner was just OK, the cookie I took home was worth going back for. I tried chocolate chip (peanut butter and oatmeal raisin were also available) and was pleased with the soft texture and crispy edges. There was just the right amount of chocolate chips, too. Large, saucer-sized cookies are $1.95 each.

Hurricane Irene Cookies

2013-04-18T19:08:00.000-07:00

I had such success with the recipe from Kathleen King's Baking for Friends that I had to try this delicious sounding recipe as well. This was a great cookie, but I wasn't as amazed by it as the Chubby Tate's. I used shredded coconut instead of the coconut flakes. I also used mini chocolate chips, but I really should have gone with the regular sized.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 cups whole oats

1 cup salted butter, softened

3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla

2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1 cup pecan pieces, toasted

1/2 cup toffee bits

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare sheet pans with parchment paper or silpat.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda and whole oats. Stir till combined and set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter, brown sugar and sugar with a paddle attachment until just combined.

Add eggs, vanilla and water, and mix until combined. Scrape down bowl.

Add flour mixture from medium bowl and mix until just combined.

While the mixer is running on low speed, add chocolate chips, coconut flakes, pecan pieces and toffee bits. Mix until just blended.

Using a 2-tablespoon ice cream scoop, pan out cookies a few inches apart. They do not spread much.

Bake cookies for 17 minutes; Do not over-bake -- they should be soft.

Cool cookies on the sheet pans or remove to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Yields 52, 2-inch cookies.

M&M Cookie Butter Cookies

2013-04-15T16:55:00.000-07:00

As you all know, M&M cookies are some of my favorite! These are no exception. The cookie butter flavor works well with the chocolate punch from the M&Ms. I will have a hard time not eating spoonfuls of cookie butter with M&Ms on top when I don't have time to make these cookies! I originally made the recipe with less M&Ms, but I recommend using the full 1 1/2 cups to get more chocolate into your cookie.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup cookie butter
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cups M&Ms

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°.
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
Mix the butter and cookie butter until smooth. Add in sugars. Then stir in the egg.
Gradually add in the flour mixture. Stir in M&Ms.
Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown.
Let sit on cookie sheet to cool for 5 minutes. Then move to cooling rack to cool completely.
Yields 3 Dozen

Chubby Tates

2013-04-11T16:41:00.000-07:00

When I bought the gift box from Tate's Bakeshop, I also bought a copy of Kathleen Kings's Baking for Friends cookbook. I knew this was the first recipe I had to try. The result was a thin, chewy, soft cookie with crisp edges. They are so hard to stop eating!

Ingredients
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
12 Tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon light corn syrup
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions
Position the oven racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a large bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter, granulated sugar, and corn syrup with an electric mixer set on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the flour mixture, just until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Using 2 Tablespoons per cookie, drop the dough about 3 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake, rotating the positions of the sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking, until the cookies are lightly browned on the edges, about 18 minutes. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough, on cool baking sheets.
Yields 3 dozen cookies.

Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

2013-04-08T16:52:00.000-07:00

These rich, fudgy brownies tasted better the second day. Do let them cool completely before eating them. They tasted much better at room temperature.

Ingredients
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup peanut butter chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 8x8 pan with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In a saucepan, put in the chocolate and oil and melt together over low heat. Remove from heat and cool.
In a large bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla, and eggs. Add in the chocolate mixture. Gradually add in the flour mixture. Pour into the baking pan. Top with peanut butter chips. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool completely before slicing.

Yields 16 servings

Tate's Bakeshop and Rocq Cafe

2013-04-04T16:29:00.000-07:00

I have been eager to try Tate's Bakeshop cookies and was thrilled to find a discounted gift box plus cookbook through Gilt.com (regularly price at $49.00 through the Tate's website). The gift box came with about 14 cookies each of chocolate chip, white chocolate macadamia nut, and oatmeal raisin flavors plus Kathleen King's book Baking for Friends. While the flavors of all three cookies were excellent, they were too crispy for me. Baking for Friends is a fantastic book with lovely pictures and helpful tips plus stories about each recipe. There are so many recipes I want to try, and I will be sure to share them with you when I do.

I had not heard about Rocq Cafe macarons until a deal came through for them on Groupon. Of course when I went I used my Groupon deal ($9 for one dozen), I bought a dozen more since there were so many fun flavors to choose from (lavender, peach mango, red velvet, etc), and they are only $1.60 each. My favorite was the chocolate- deep dark chocolate flavor. Yum! Some of the fruit flavors tasted artificial, but all of the macarons had a great texture and cookie to filling ratio. They are not to the level of the ones I had from Laduree in Paris, but they are a great local substitute. Be sure to eat these on the day you get them. The ones I saved for the next day were dry.

Giant Oat Bars

2013-04-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

I found this Betty Crocker recipe and made a few changes to create these great not too sweet bars that are a perfect morning snack.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons margarine, softened
3/4 cups sugar
1/6 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups Cheerios cereal

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugar until blended. Beat in oil, vanilla and eggs until well mixed. Gradually add in flour, oats, baking soda and salt until dough forms. Stir in cereal.
Press dough into an 8x8 baking pan.
Bake 11 minutes or until light brown. Cool completely before slicing.
Yields 16 bars

White Chocolate Caramel Layer Bars

2013-03-28T16:28:00.000-07:00

These bars are fairly quick to make despite the extra step of baking the base before adding the caramel layer. They're very sweet and would also be good with dark chocolate chips instead of white.

Ingredients
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
15 caramel squares, melted
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray.
In a small bowl, mix together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In another bowl, cream together the margarine and brown sugar. Add in the egg.
Gradually add in the flour mixture.
Press half of the dough into the bottom of the loaf pan. Bake for 8 minutes. While the base is baking, stir in the white chocolate chips to the remaining dough.
Remove the base from the oven. Pour in the melted caramel. Press the remaining dough on top. Put the pan back into the oven and bake for another 8 minutes until golden.
Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Yields 12 pieces.

Queen's Bakery & Gypsy Den

2013-03-25T17:13:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I headed over to Queen's Bakery in Costa Mesa. I tried one of their beautiful Easter cookies ($3.95 each). The cookies are beautifully decorated and would make a lovely gift. Plus they taste great! An added bonus was the friendliness of the staff. They were excited about their products and created an atmosphere where you want to be one of the "regulars" and ask for "the usual".

Also this weekend I had breakfast at Gypsy Den and purchased a chocolate chip cookie for an afternoon snack. The chocolate chip cookie ($2.25) was super soft and full of chocolate chips. I'll get another one or maybe even try one of their vegan nut cookies the next time I go back for the blueberry pancakes.

Bakeshop Cookies

2013-03-21T17:11:00.000-07:00

This delicious cookie was inspired by a recipe I found on the Hershey's website after my visit to the Hershey store in Chicago. These perfectly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside cookies tasted fresh a couple of days after baking. Next time I will add in more of the dark chocolate, though.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1 dark chocolate bar (4 ounces, cut into chunks)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
Cream butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and vanilla in large bowl until thoroughly blended. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually stir in the flour mixture.
Mix in the white chocolate chips and chocolate bar chunks.
Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on cookie sheet and move to wire rack to cool completely.
Yields 2 dozen cookies.

Cookie Butter Toffee Bars

2013-03-18T16:46:00.000-07:00

This recipe produced soft chewy bars that weren't overly sweet and melt in your mouth. These make your kitchen smell amazing!

Ingredients
1 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup cookie butter (I used Trader Joe's brand)
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup toffee pieces

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Stir together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.
Cream together butter, cookie butter, and sugars. Add in egg and vanilla extract.
Gradually mix in flour mixture. Stir in toffee pieces.
Press dough into an 8x8 pan.
Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool completely in the pan before slicing.
Yields 16 servings.

Triple Chocolate Cookies

2013-03-14T16:31:00.000-07:00

I intended to bring these into work for a mid-week treat, but they were so good that I kept most of them for myself. They are very close to Specialty's black and white cookies. Next time I try this recipe, I will make big balls of dough and refrigerate before baking so I can more closely mimic the Specialty's cookies.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup margarine, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
Cream together butter and sugars. Add egg and vanilla extract and mix well. Stir in both kinds of chocolate chips.
Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheets.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Cool on a wire rack.
Yields 2 dozen

Chloe's Corner & Newman's Own Chocolate Chip Cookies

2013-03-11T16:48:00.000-07:00

Chloe's Corner
Last week I was visiting Phoenix, and the unanimous recommendation for lunch downtown was Chloe's Corner (www.chloescorneraz.com). Not only did I have a great lunch here, but I also picked up a snack for later. Cookies are only $1.25 each and are filling. I tried the Triple Chocolate Chip (buttery, white chocolate, dark chocolate, and semi-sweet chocolate chips) and Toffee Chocolate Chip (chewy, gooey toffee with a few chocolate chips). What a find! It is worth a visit the next time I'm in Phoenix.

Newman's Own Chocolate Chip Cookies
I've had many Newman's Own products (pasta sauce, salad dressing), so I was very excited to see Newman's Own Chocolate Chip cookies at my local Gelson's grocery store. Priced at $3.59 for 30 two-bite sized cookies, the price was about what I expected for such a great quality product. The cookies themselves were crispy and had large chocolate chunks. I ate 2/3 of the bag in one sitting and definitely could have kept going. If I trust myself with a whole bag, I will be getting them again. For more details, visit their website: http://www.newmansownorganics.com/food_frcookies.html.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies

2013-03-07T17:17:00.000-08:00

About this time of year, I start hankering for spring. Now sunny Southern CA is always comfortable, but there is a feeling that comes along with spring that I relish. Even though fall is my favorite season, the transition out of winter and into spring is rejuvenating. What better way to welcome spring (and use up 1/2 of a container of ricotta cheese) than to make lemon ricotta cookies. I found this recipe of Giada DeLaurentis and made a couple of adjustments. I was short on time and did not do the glaze suggested, but it would have made for a much nicer presentation.

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 stick margarine, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 of a 15-ounce container ricotta cheese (I used part skim)
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Instructions
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
In the large bowl combine the butter and the sugar. Using an electric mixer beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, beating until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Beat to combine. Stir in the dry ingredients.
Line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Spoon the dough (about 2 tablespoons for each cookie) onto the baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, until slightly golden at the edges. Remove from the oven and let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 20 minutes.
Yields 3 dozen cookies

Thin Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

2013-03-04T16:43:00.000-08:00

As if you need another excuse to buy extra Girl Scout Thin Mints this year, this recipe will have you stocking your freezer with them! Sometimes the easiest recipes are the best, and this is certainly easy and produces a delicious snack in record time. I typically like my Thin Mints plain and at room temperature, but this may now be my favorite way to enjoy them.

Ingredients

1/2 tube of refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

18 Thin Mints, broken into small pieces

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, use a large spoon to break apart the cookie dough. Stir in 3/4 of the Thin Mint pieces.

Form dough into tablespoon sized balls and drop two inches apart onto cookie sheets. Top the cookies with the remaining Thin Mint pieces.

Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Yields 12 cookies

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

2013-02-28T16:32:00.000-08:00

I love oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but I have never tried making chocolate oatmeal cookies. This recipe came together easily and had the great chew of an oatmeal cookie and a nice chocolate flavor, but it was missing some crunch. Next time I make this, I will add some mini chocolate chips for added texture and more of a chocolate flavor.

Ingredients
1/2 cup margarine, softened
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats

Directions
Preheat oven to 350F.
Beat margarine and sugars until light and fluffy. Blend in egg
In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, and oats.Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter and sugar, and mix until just combined.
Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 11 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool for 1-2 minutes on the pan and then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
Yields 2 dozen cookies