cookies

Caramel Coconut Brownie Cookies

June 25, 2012 · 21 comments

Happy Monday, folks! I hope you had a lovely weekend. Mine was (not surprisingly) food focused, including a lunch with my aunt and uncle who were in New York visiting from Florida, as well as strawberry picking with my mom yesterday. I know I said you were in for some blueberry recipes here soon, but now you’re in for strawberries as well! But first…

I had a chance to clean through the “closet” of my blog this weekend, updating my Recipe Index, and in the process I found a bunch of drafted recipes from earlier this spring that I somehow forgot to share! What can I say, between e-booking, a vacation in Florida last month, planning a trip to Europe, and other life things, my brain has been a bit scattered.

But that’s beside the point, and not nearly as interesting as this recipe I dug up, caramel coconut brownie cookies!

I made these cookies back in May, when I made Rolo Brownie Bites. I guess I was on a caramel brownie kick.

If you were a Little Debbie addict growing up like I was, you might remember Star Crunch snacks? Well, the flavor of these cookies are spot-on with a Star Crunch (if you’re not a Little Debbie connoisseur, they’re also very similar in flavor to a Samoas Girl Scout cookie).

The cookies are a cinch to make, and are dense and super chewy from the caramel bits. I actually think two of ‘em with a little ice cream between would make the perfect summer ice cream sandwich, so I might need to bake up another batch of ‘em soon!

Caramel Coconut Brownie Cookies

Starting with a boxed brownie mix, you’ll have these chewy, gooey caramel coconut brownie cookies in and out of the oven in no time. If you can’t find caramel baking bits, just chop regular soft caramel candies into small pieces instead.

Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 12 minutes

1 boxed fudge brownie mix
1 large egg
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tablespoons water
1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup caramel baking bits (Kraft makes these, they’re usually in the baking aisle)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, stir the brownie mix, egg, oil, and water until mixed. Stir in the coconut and caramel baking bits.

Drop the cookie dough by rounded tablespoon onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are baked through.

{ 21 comments }

Raspberry M&M Peanut Butter Cookies

May 7, 2012 · 26 comments

I don’t know about you, but when I’m walking through the candy aisle at the store — please tell me you always walk through this aisle of happiness — my eyes are always peeled for a bag of candy I haven’t seen before. You know, the bags that say “New!” or “Limited Edition!”

And of course, whenever I find said bags of candy, I immediately put them in my shopping basket and begin brainstorming ways I can incorporate them into a fun baking project.

I found these Raspberry Dark Chocolate M&Ms back in March and somehow, they didn’t manage to make their way into a batch of cookies until just last week! In my defense, Easter candy was distracting me. But anyway…

These may not be the prettiest cookies on Earth, but what they lack in looks they make up for in taste. The peanut butter cookie dough uses only peanut butter, raspberry Greek yogurt, sugar, and an egg… which means you get a dense, fudge-like peanut butter cookie with just a hint of raspberry flavor. Stir in the raspberry M&Ms and you’ve got one delicious peanut butter cookie.

Raspberry M&M Peanut Butter Cookies

Simple raspberry-flavored peanut butter cookies with Raspberry Dark Chocolate M&Ms. If you can’t find the limited edition M&Ms, you can substitute your favorite flavor.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 15 minutes

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 6-ounce container raspberry Greek yogurt
1 large egg
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup Raspberry Dark Chocolate M&Ms

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the peanut butter, yogurt, sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in the M&Ms. Drop the cookie dough by rounded tablespoon onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool 10 minutes before removing from cookie sheets.

{ 26 comments }

Banana Pudding Cookies

April 19, 2012 · 17 comments

If you could only eat one dessert the rest of your life, what would it be?

If you’re anything like me you’re wondering, does cookies ‘n cream ice cream topped with funfetti cake, pumpkin pie (+cool whip), chocolate chip cookies, and strawberry shortcake count as one dessert if I fit it all in one bowl?

My real answer would actually be… banana pudding! Might seem strange, but hear me out…

I probably went my first 23 years or so of life without banana pudding. But when I worked in NYC a few years ago, I walked down to Magnolia Bakery one night after work to get one of their famous cupcakes. When I got there, the banana pudding caught my eye and before I knew it, I ate an entire container of pudding (and 1 1/2 cupcakes) for dinner.

Surprisingly, the sugar coma that followed didn’t make me loathe banana pudding… it made me love it even more! Rich vanilla custard-like pudding mixed with chunks of banana and soft vanilla wafer pieces… it doesn’t get much better.

Now, whenever I’m in NYC, I always get banana pudding from Magnolia. And I’ve even made some at-home versions. And just recently, I took it even further and transformed my favorite dessert into a cookie… banana pudding cookies!

These super-soft vanilla cookies have pieces of banana and wafer cookie in every bite. They really are banana pudding in cookie form, which makes me think… maybe I should make a big batch of banana pudding and stir the cookies right in! :)

Banana Pudding Cookies

Banana pudding in cookie form — a soft vanilla cookie with banana and vanilla wafer pieces throughout. If you don’t have vanilla wafers, you can substitute graham cracker pieces.

Makes 3 dozen cookies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes per cookie sheet

1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package vanilla instant pudding mix
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large banana, chopped
1 cup chopped vanilla wafers

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugars, and pudding mix with an electric mixer on medium speed until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth.

In a separate bowl, stir the flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until blended. Stir in the banana and vanilla wafers.

Drop the cookie dough by rounded tablespoon onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Allow to cool on the cookie sheets 5 minutes before removing to cool completely.

{ 17 comments }

SweeTart Lemon Cookies

March 19, 2012 · 9 comments

2012… the year of the mild winter, and now, the skipped over spring?! Somehow, in just a few weeks, we’ve gone straight from high temperatures in the 20′s and 30′s to temps reaching the mid 70′s daily. June in March? A beach and some palm trees would but nice but yeah, I’ll take that.

The only bad thing about unseasonably warm temperatures is that all of the fun spring flavors I usually crave seem like they’ve been skipped over, the main one being lemon. I’m not sure why, but every spring I can’t get enough lemony flavor in everything I eat. Spring or no spring, I took matters into my own hands and made these spring-like SweeTart Lemon Cookies.

The idea for these cookies actually derived from Cookie March Madness, not spring flavors. As you may (or may not) know, we’re now down to the “Sweet 16″ in the NCAA basketball tournament (and Syracuse is still in it, woo!). So while I thought of making a 16-ingredient cookie, or a sweet potato cookie, I couldn’t help but grab a bag of Easter-themed SweeTarts at the store the other day… SweeTart 16 cookies.

A lemon cake mix makes these cookies suuuper lemony. I added diet lemon-lime soda instead of oil/butter, crossed my fingers as the cookie dough went into the oven, and out came soft, chewy cookies with a flavor that somewhat reminds me of Fruit Loops or Trix cereal! Pop some SweeTarts on top of the cookies, and you’ll feel like a kid again in no time.

SweeTart Lemon Cookies

Lemon cake mix and diet lemon-lime soda make for a soft cookie with an tart, citrus flavor.

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 10 minutes

1 boxed lemon cake mix
1/3 cup diet lemon lime soda
2 large eggs
SweetTarts candies

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, stir the cake mix, soda, and eggs until mixed well. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoon onto the prepared cookie sheets. Bake 10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Immediately press 3 to 4 SweeTart candies into the cookies. Allow the cookies to cool 5 minutes before removing from the cookie sheets to cool completely.

Nutrition Information (per cookie): 110 calories, 2g fat (1g saturated, 0g trans), 160mg sodium, 18g carbohydrate (0g fiber, 14g sugar), 1g protein

{ 9 comments }

{I Bleed Orange} Blood Orange Chobani Cookies

January 16, 2012

Close runner-up to the above cookie recipe names: ”Let’s CHO Orange” Cookies. I mention my interest in Syracuse basketball occasionally here on the blog, but probably do a poor job of conveying just how interested I am… basically, like 99% of Central NY natives, Syracuse basketball pretty much runs straight through my veins. I bleed orange. In [...]

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