Because yesterday was National Chocolate Chip Day… and because back in the day, I used to celebrate “Chocolate Chip Thursday” here on the blog… and because I truly believe the world can never have enough chocolate chip cookie recipes… I made these cookies, just for you.

I really consider it a life mission of mine to perfect the chocolate chip cookie.  I know, I’ve got some really serious life ambitions.

I already have some favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes — Levain Bakery copycat cookies, chocolate chip cookies with greek yogurt, and triple chocolate chip cookies, to name a few — but I have a feeling my latest recipe is going to rank right up there.  Just look at the doughy insides!

So what’s different about this chocolate chip cookie recipe?  Only granulated sugar is used (no brown sugar).  Extra cornstarch.  And only egg yolks (no egg whites).  I’ll explain…

About the sugar situation… Funny thing is, that actually happened by accident — I started making these, and realized I was out of brown sugar.  What I didn’t realize was that these would end up being awesome without the brown sugar!

Since brown sugar tends to lend a softer cookie, I made up for the lack of brown sugar in this recipe by increasing the amount of cornstarch — which helps soften the cookie’s interior — to two teaspoons.

Another “weird” thing going on with this recipe is the use of only egg yolks.  Again, I came about this by accident, sort of.  See,  I often bake in “mini” batches when experimenting, so I didn’t want to use an entire egg in the small little batch I first made with these cookies.  So I only added an egg yolk… and the results were amazing!  It’s amazing (to me…) the results you can get when you just experiment a little bit.

As I do with most cookie doughs, I chilled the dough for a few hours before baking the cookies.  I can’t stress enough how much of a fan I am of chilling dough before baking it.  Not only does it break up the baking process, it also helps you get those thick, doughy cookies that still have those crisp edges you love!

Did you know May 15th is National Chocolate Chip Day?  Sometimes I think we have a few too many “food days” but if there is a day I’m okay with keeping, it’s a day to celebrate the chocolate chip (side note: I think we still need a greek yogurt day, I should work on that).

I’m sure I’m not the only one who remembers one of the first things they ever baked was a chocolate chip cookie (the recipe on the back of the Toll House package, obviously).  Over the years, I like to think my skills in the kitchen have improved, and my tastes have certainly evolved, but you still just can’t beat the nostalgia of a chocolate chip.  Know what I mean?

I actually *do* have a new chocolate chip cookie recipe in the works, but I’m saving that for another day (soon!).  But today, to honor the day of the chocolate chip, I thought I’d sort through all of my recipes and put together a round-up of some of my favorites involving chocolate chips.  Enjoy!

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies.  Want to know a trick to “doughy” cookies?  Make ‘em really big.  And add cornstarch — it thickens up the dough, which means it doesn’t spread as much.  Less spread = thick, soft, doughy cookie.

Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies.  Similar recipe as my Levain Bakery copycat cookie recipe, but with three types of chocolate: dark, semisweet, and milk.  3x the chocolate!

Chocolate Chip Cake Cookies.  As if chocolate chip cookies aren’t enough on their own, this recipe involves Greek yogurt, which makes for a fluffy, cake-like chocolate chip cookie.  Highly recommended, especially with some ice cream sandwiched between two!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Granola.  What makes a cup of yogurt better?  Crunchy, sweet granola that tastes just like a chocolate chip cookie, obviously.

Monster Cookies.  Okay, there’s a lot more than chocolate chips involved in these gems, but that’s not such a bad thing, right?  Next time I make them, I think I’ll try to use as many different types of chocolate chips as I can — making them even more “monster”-like.

Oatmeal Sunflower Seed Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.  Soft, chewy oatmeal cookie bars, with sweet chocolate chips and salty sunflower seeds mixed into the batter.  The stir-in options for these bars are endless.

Mint Chocolate Chip Funfetti Cookies.  I know mint is most popular around the holidays, but if you’re anything like me, you’re able to enjoy the mint + chocolate combo any time of year.  Especially when cake mix is involved!

“Mega” sized Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt.  I’m convinced a sprinkle of sea salt makes anything taste better, all desserts included.  I think I need to combine this recipe with my Levain Bakery copycat recipe.

What’s your favorite way to enjoy chocolate chips?  I’m not going to lie, for me these days, I love stirring dark chocolate chips  into greek yogurt.  This should be no surprise to many of you.  But chocolate chip cookies are a close, close second!

Lately I’ve really embraced from-scratch baking.  In the past, a recipe of mine involving the word “cake” was likely accompanied by a boxed cake mix.  Don’t get me wrong, sometimes you just can’t beat boxed cake mix creations… but I’ve been trying to challenge that.

One of my latest “no boxed mix required” creations are these red velvet cake cookies.  Yes, cookies that taste like red velvet cake.  And they have the soft-baked texture of a cake as well.  Who wants one?

As many of my favorite soft-baked cookie recipes do, these cookies involve greek yogurt.  By creaming softened butter with plain nonfat Chobani greek yogurt, the cookies bake up soft and moist, just like the best cakes do.  As an added bonus, using part greek yogurt in place of an all-butter recipe ups the nutrition situation in the cookies.

If I haven’t already sent you running to the kitchen to whip up these cookies, I’ll leave you with one last bite of awesomeness.  The whole recipe comes together in one bowl.  That’s right — you just mix the wet ingredients, and then gently fold in the dry ingredients to the same bowl.  Less cleanup, more simplicity, and these soft, rich cookies to enjoy afterward!

If you’re anything like me and ever find yourself with a few overripe bananas on the counter, two words probably come to mind: banana bread.  Don’t get me wrong, I do love banana bread (this is one of my favorites), but sometimes it’s just sort of… typical.  There must be something better to do with overripe bananas, you know? 

And that is where these scones come in.  My sister had just been talking about scones the other day, so when I spotted a couple browned bananas on the counter, I knew what to do…

I made strawberry banana scones.

Between the mashed banana and greek yogurt (vanilla CHO), these scones are nice and moist.  I’d rather not have much to do with that dry scone business. 

I don’t make scones very often, but every time I do, I’m reminded how simple they really are to make.  The dough for this recipe comes together so easily — the most strenuous part is cutting in cold butter, but if you’ve ever made any sort of pastry, you probably know the drill.

I made this particular scone using gluten free flours, but you could also prepare these scones with regular all-purpose flour (I’ve included instructions for both in the recipe). 

One thing I’ve learned about making scones — as is the case with lots of biscuit and muffin recipes — is to mix the dough only until it is just combined.  You don’t want to over-mix the dough or else you’ll end up with hockey puck scones.  Who wants a hockey puck scone when you can have a soft, fluffy scone with crisp edges?  Not me!

As I was grabbing the butter to cut into the scone dough, I noticed a few lone strawberries in the fridge, and decided to toss them into the dough.  Mmm, such a good decision!  With berry season upon us, I foresee several berry-filled scones and breakfast treats being enjoyed.

If you’d like, you could drizzle a simple glaze over the baked scones (powdered sugar + milk), however I opted to leave the glaze for another day.  I liked the rustic, simple finish of the scones on their own!

Good Monday morning!  How was your weekend?  Mine was spent shopping — outlet malling and Trader Joe’s-ing, among other locations — and enjoying the wonderful weather May has brought to the Northeast.  I left Florida late last week to visit New York for a week, and I’m nearly positive I must’ve packed Florida’s sunshine in my suitcase — it’s been in the 70′s and completely sunny everyday so far, which isn’t very normal in Central New York any time of year!

Anyway, despite the weather and my shopping adventures, I’ve found some time to bake quite a bit in the past few days as well.  On Friday, I was playing around with some random ingredients and ended up with these amazing chocolate peanut butter cookies. 

As if chocolate peanut butter cookies don’t already sound appealing enough by name alone, these cookies involve only four ingredients!  Yay, for simplicity.  That’s right — all that stands between you and these cookies is peanut butter, unsweetened cocoa powder, sugar, and an egg.  And I suppose a mixing bowl and an oven, but you know.

Not surprisingly, the minimal amount of ingredients in these cookies mean the dough comes together in an instant.  I mixed all four ingredients at once in one bowl, and then swirled in extra peanut butter at the very end because, well, I don’t think you can ever have too much peanut butter in a cookie.

The cookies bake up with soft, deep chocolatey centers and crisp edges, with extra bursts of peanut butter from the swirl.  I found the cookies to be a bit more ‘crumbly’ than normal straight out of the oven, so I allowed them to sit on the cookie sheets to cool a bit longer (10-15 minutes) than usual before removing.

If you’re looking for a quick, simple (gluten free!) and delicious cookie recipe, this recipe is definitely worth a try!

Get ready, you guys.  I’ve been on a bit of a cookie baking spree lately.  There are worse things in life, we all know this.

So far this morning I’ve already whipped up two different cookie doughs (it’s not even 8am yet!) and I’ve got plans to keep going. #ThingsIDoOnVacation.

Anyway… the batch of cookies I’m sharing here today is actually one I made last week.  I wanted to make a simple peanut butter cookie, but then I saw that I had half a stick of butter sitting the fridge, all by its lonesome.  Call me crazy, but I’m pretty sure it said, “browned butter time!” to me.

Thus, “simple” peanut butter cookies became just slightly more complex (but so much better!) with the addition of browned butter.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, browned butter makes everything better.

After easily whipping up the cookie dough, I allowed it to chill overnight.  This is something I frequently do but often forget to mention here on the blog (I did talk about it last week with my lemon cranberry white chocolate chip cookies though).  Why?  Well, chilling the dough allows the flavors to “mesh.”  Plus, I think breaking up baking into separate quick parts (like mixing the dough one day, and baking the cookies another day) makes baking a breeze. 

I made the cookies large, rolling the dough into about two-inch rounds before baking, then pressing down on the cookies slightly to flatten a bit.  But if you’d like a smaller cookie, just form the cookie dough into smaller rounds.  Either way, you can’t beat the chewy texture and nutty, caramel-like flavor!

Happy Monday!  I hope your weekend was as laid back and leisurely as mine was.  Honestly, I don’t think I’ve had a weekend so full of nothingness (read: no school work!) since December.  I’m enjoying a brief break from grad school while I can.  I cannot tell you how good it feels to have time to read blogs, go for long runs, enjoy some sun, etc.

Another thing I seem to be doing more of while my work pace has slowed… brainstorming new recipes to try (so obvious, I know).  Really though, it’s so nice to be able to redirect my creative energies toward recipes for a change.  Be on the lookout for some good ones to come!  Beginning with these blueberry corn muffins.

There’s really nothing too crazy about this recipe, just two of my favorite muffins rolled into one.  I fell in love with corn muffins back in college, and blueberry muffins are, well, just a classic that I’ve enjoyed forever (haven’t we all?).  It only seemed right to team the two up and see what happened…

Good things, that’s what happened.

The muffins are crumbly yet moist, and subtly sweet, just like you’d expect with a regular corn muffin.  But then, just about every bite, you’re greeted with the fresh, sweet burst of juicy blueberry.  I guess I ought to “team up” recipes more often!

Today, I’m interrupting my usual dessert/breakfast/snack recipes for a recipe that’s a bit different.  You know, shakin’ things up a little.  It’s Thursday, and as of today I’m officially done with semester two of my doctoral program!, and I’d say that’s reason enough for a little, funkiness.

I’ve been taunting some of you on Instagram (@lbbakes) over the past few weeks with this amazing Italian sausage, so I thought I’d round up those Instagrammed photos and share the recipe.  It’s meatless, and vegan.  And it’s virtually gluten free.**

I should clarify: I don’t follow a vegetarian, vegan, or gluten free diet.  Although I do believe it’s been over a month since I last ate meat, if you put a burger in front me, I’ll eat it.  Especially if there’s feta cheese involved.  Anyway.  I also definitely don’t follow a vegan diet (my life diet revolves around yogurt!) nor a gluten free diet.

But let me tell you, you’re not going to miss any meat, dairy, or gluten in this recipe.  In my opinion, when it comes to sausage, it’s alllll in the spices.  Specifically, the bold, aromatic flavor of crushed fennel seeds, and sweet and smokiness of paprika.

One thing to note: since there’s no casing involved with this recipe, you’re not going to get the same ‘snap’ you’d get with regular sausage.  I don’t know about you, but I’ll take natural ingredients and simplicity over that any day.

True to my baking and cooking motto, there’s nothing complex about preparing this recipe.  I’d say the most troublesome task is crushing the fennel seeds.  If you have a spice grinder, you’re golden.  I used a rolling pin and my upper body strength (thanks, swimming!).

So far, I’ve enjoyed it as a simple sandwich/wrap, in baked penne, stir fry, and even chopped up in omelets!  I really think the options are endless here.  I can’t wait to make other versions of this recipe!

**Not all Worcestershire sauce is not gluten free, so if you are making this recipe gluten free, be sure yours is.

When life hands me lemons… I make lemonade cookies.

I had a lemon overstaying its welcome on my kitchen counter last weekend, which, obviously for me, meant it was time to bake something with lemon.  Whenever I bake with lemon, I’m reminded how much freshness it brings to a recipe.  Need to do it more often!

I came *this close* to baking a lemon quick bread with my spare lemon, but when I realized it’d been forever since I baked a batch of cookies, cookies won.

I had been meaning to bake cranberry + white chocolate chip cookies for some time, and figured adding lemon zest wouldn’t hurt.  Not only did it not hurt, but I’d go so far to say I may never bake “regular” cranberry white chocolate cookies again!

Lemon zest + dried cranberries + white chocolate chips = perfection.  Really, it’s the perfect collision of tart, tangy, and sweet, all in a dense, chewy cookie.

The cookie dough itself comes together in minutes, which I know you all love (me too!).  I chilled my dough overnight before baking the cookies, which I really recommend in order to let the flavors mesh.  Especially in this recipe, with the lemon zest involved.  That said, if you’re in a pinch and need to bake the cookies immediately after prepping the dough, no sweat — they’ll still be great!

I don’t know about you, but I keep forgetting it’s only April.  Maybe it’s the near 90-degree days here in Florida lately, or the fact that it will be “summer” according to my grad school in just three weeks, or the fact that all I want to eat for dinner is salad and ice cream (a sure sign of summer, for me).  All signs are pointing to June/July in my world!

In an effort to “remind” myself it’s still spring, I’m sharing a recipe with one of my favorite springtime ingredients — carrots!  I’ve been grabbing carrots from the farmer’s market lately, since I seem to snack on carrots every day.  But after last weekend’s loot was a bit excessive, I was forced (yes, forced) to bake a batch of carrot muffins.

Since I’m obsessed with all-things coconut, I used coconut oil in the recipe, as well as some unsweetened shredded coconut.  The coconut oil added flavor and moisture to the muffins while the shredded coconut joined the shredded carrots in providing lots of texture (while also helping in the moistness department).

A note on the coconut oil: if yours is solid (which happens quite easily in cooler temperatures) just place it in a microwave-safe bowl for 20-30 seconds until its melted, and then allow it to cool a few minutes before adding to the muffin batter.

Not surprisingly, I also used greek yogurt in the muffins.  Pineapple Chobani, to be specific.  Don’t even ask me why or how, of all flavors, a pineapple Chobani yogurt found its way into this recipe.  Maybe it was because I’ve already used the banana, pear, and vanilla flavors in muffin recipes.  I sure am glad I chose pineapple in this recipe — it adds to the subtle “tropical” flavor of the muffin with the coconut.