Soft Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

A few months ago, my friend Kerrie shared this recipe for cookies during our Foodie edition of the Girl Behind the Blog. They looked divine so I pinned them for later use. 

Fast forward to this summer when David mentions that his favorite cookies are anything with chocolate chip + nuts. So for the Tuesday night youth Bible study I decided to whip up a batch for everyone to enjoy (the recipe makes 6 dozen). It was one of those days when nothing seemed to be going right and I just needed to bake. 

Y'all.

You don't even understand how good these cookies are. They stay soft for days! No hard cookies here. The chocolate chips stay melty and perfect and the pecans add just the right amount of nutty crunch!

I highly recommend these for the next time: 

• you want to bake
• you have to make something for a bake sale
• you want to do something nice for someone else
• you are in charge of dessert for a party/get together
• you're hungry

Basically, make these cookies, ASAP.

What You'll Need:

(makes six dozen)

4 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 cups unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4oz) packs of instant vanilla pudding
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 cups chocolate chips (I use a mix of semi-sweet chocolate, dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips)
2 cups chopped pecans 

What To Do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease baking sheets and set aside. 

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour and baking soda. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat or whisk the instant vanilla pudding until mixed well. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.

Add the flour mixture and stir together. Finally, add the chocolate chips and pecans/walnuts. Mix slowly.

Spoon out tablespoon sized portions and roll between hands to form balls (like a golf ball). Bake for 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Remove from oven and let sit 10 minutes before removing. Move to a wire rack to completely cool. Store in an airtight container.

Recipe from Kerrie Williams

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

These cupcakes were incredible. Each bite tasted like a different component of chocolate chip cookie dough, of which I'm a huge fan. Be sure you have people to share these with when you make them because it is hard not to eat the whole pan! 

What You'll Need:

For the cupcakes:
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups light brown sugar, packed
4 large eggs
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (semisweet or bittersweet)

For the filling:
4 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
6 tbsp. light brown sugar, packed
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
7 oz. sweetened condensed milk
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

For the frosting:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 1/3 cups confectioners’ sugar
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. salt
2 tbsp. milk
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For garnish:
Tiny chocolate chip cookies
Mini chocolate chips

What To Do:

1.     To make the cupcakes, preheat the oven to 350° F. Line two cupcake pans with paper liners (24 total). In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and brown sugar. Beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

2.     Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Stir together to blend. Add the dry ingredients to the mixer bowl on low speed, alternating with the milk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, mixing each addition just until incorporated. Blend in the vanilla. Fold in the chocolate chips with a spatula.

3.     Divide the batter evenly between the prepared cupcake liners. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan 5-10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

4.     To make the cookie dough filling, combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the mixture has firmed up a bit, about an hour.

5.     To fill the cupcakes, cut a cone-shaped portion out of the center of each cupcake. Fill each hole with a chunk of the chilled cookie dough mixture.

6.     To make the frosting, beat together the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment until creamy. Mix in the confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the flour and salt. Mix in the milk and vanilla extract until smooth and well blended.

7.     Frost the filled cupcakes as desired, sprinkling with mini chocolate chips and topping with mini chocolate chip cookies for decoration.

Recipe from Annie's Eats

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I had a midnight baking craving. 

I didn't have enough chocolate chips to do just chocolate chip cookies

So add in peanut butter and oats

leave them just a little bit underdone

for an ooey-gooey, addictive treat

and if you're like me, this batch will be gone within 24 hours

And with peanut butter and oats, this makes an acceptable breakfast, right?

These go really well with iced coffee ;)

What You'll Need:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 stick (½ cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg
½ cup rolled oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

What To Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. On medium speed, cream together the butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and beat to combine. On low speed, gradually add the flour until just combined. Stir in the oats, and then the chocolate chips.

4. Use a large cookie scoop (3 tablespoons) and drop dough onto prepared baking sheets about 2 inches apart. Or, with floured hands, roll dough into balls and press flat on top. Bake for 10 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly golden. Cool completely on the baking sheet and then store in an airtight container at room temperature.

recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

We've had lots of birthdays in our youth group this month.

And not everyone likes cake.

Jon requested a cookie cake

so I decided to take on the challenge and see if I could measure up to 

the Great American Cookie legacy

The recipe is super simple

and it turned out so tasty!

We didn't have any leftovers!

What You'll Need:

• 1 Stick Butter (Softened)
• 1 Cup Brown Sugar (Packed)
• 1 Egg
• 1 tsp Vanilla
• 1 Cup Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 Cup Chocolate Chips (Semi-sweet)

What To Do:

Cream Butter and Brown Sugar.  Add Egg and Vanilla and Mix.  Add Flour, Baking Powder, and Salt and stir together.  Add Chocolate Chips and stir.  Pour into greased and floured (or greased and sugared) 9-inch round pan.  Bake at 350° for 20-23 minutes.

Pipe messages over the top in decadent chocolate frosting!

Recipe from The Real Housewife

What's your favorite alternative to cake?

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I made these guys for our Thanksgiving luncheon at church.

I had to grab two to take a picture of before they were all gone... 

because they went fast! 

They include my absolute favorite dessert flavor combo-

 Chocolate + Peanut Butter!

And besides the actual peanut butter cups, 

I had all of the ingredients on hand- 

basic ingredients but fantastic outcome. 

Oh and the dough was awesome. 

I probably could have just eaten that.

These would make a great Thanksgiving Day treat,

a definite crowd pleaser! 

What you need:

1½ cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour

6 tbsp. cocoa

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. coarse salt

¾ stick (6 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature

¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. creamy peanut butter

½ cup sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsp. milk

2 cups coarsely chopped peanut butter cups

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.  Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, peanut butter, and sugars.  Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.  Add in the egg, vanilla extract, and milk.  Blend until smooth.  With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated.  Add in 1½ cups of the chopped peanut butter cups and fold in gently with a spatula.

Use a large dough scoop (about 3 tablespoons) to drop rounds of dough onto the baking sheets, spacing 2-3 inches apart.  Gently press a few pieces of the reserved peanut butter cups into the top of each of the dough balls.  Bake 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.  (The cookies may seem too soft immediately after coming out of the oven but they will set as they cool.  You don’t want to overbake them.)  Let cool on the baking sheets about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.  Store in an airtight container.

Recipe from Annie's Eats, originally from King Arthur Flour. 

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

Since fall has officially begun, pumpkin has been EVERYWHERE! 

Pumpkin spice syrup in my coffee (recipe to come)

 Pumpkin in my breakfast muffins

Decorative pumpkins at HEB. Can you see that label? Cinderella Pumpkins!

and Pumpkinators at Hey Cupcake (which I just can't resist)

And since I had all of this wonderful pumpkin puree left in my pantry, I, of course, needed to whip these up for my students. 

I really loved the texture and consistency of these cookies- they stayed thick and soft, which is just the way I like them! 

Here's what you'll need:

For the cookies:
3¾ cups all-purpose flour
1½ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground nutmeg
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
¾ cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract

For the coating:
½ cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. ground ginger
Dash of allspice

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. 

 Blend in the pumpkin puree.  

Beat in the egg and vanilla. 

 With the mixer on low speed add in the dry ingredients until it's just all combined. If you have a $7 mixer from Wal-Mart that you had to run out and buy because you killed your other mixer, you may consider doing this part by hand. Because this dough gets pretty thick.  Cover the dough and refrigerate for about an hour- this will make it much simpler to shape and bake.

Preheat the oven to 350˚ F and grease your baking sheets (unless you use fancy silicone mats or something... in that case, just prep your fancy mats :) )Combine the sugar and spices for the coating in a bowl and mix to blend.  Flour your hands, scoop the dough and roll into a ball.  Keep in mind when forming your dough balls that the cookies will retain the shape you set!

Coat the dough ball in the sugar-spice mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Repeat with the remaining dough to fill the sheets, spacing the dough balls 2-3 inches apart.  Dip the bottom of a flat-bottomed drinking glass in water, then in the sugar-spice mixture, and use the bottom to flatten the dough balls slightly.  Recoat the bottom of the glass in the sugar-spice mixture as needed.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until just set and baked through.  Let them cool completely- I grabbed one right off the hot sheet and ate it... but do as I say and not as I do.   If there are any left once people smell these, store them in an airtight container.

Adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from Recipe Girl .