Chocolate chip pudding cookies

I love finding new ideas on old favorites! And, this recipe was no exception! By adding pudding to your cookies you get a nice very chewy, soft inside but crispy outside thick cookie! A while ago, I used banana pudding and also added a bit of rum. It was perfect for the holiday season! So try your favorite pudding flavors and see what great variations you can make! 

Today, I decided to use the vanilla pudding and the cookies were just delicious!

Enjoy!



Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 pkg. (4 serving size) instant vanilla, butterscotch or chocolate pudding mix

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 large egg

1 large egg white

2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350° F. 

Mix flour and pudding mix in small bowl. Beat butter in large mixing bowl on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in brown sugar and baking soda until well combined. Beat in egg and egg white. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels. Drop dough by rounded teaspoon 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheets. 

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set. Cool on baking sheets 2 to 3 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.


Pinwheel cookies

I’ve always wanted to make these cookies, but have a love/hate relationship with rolling dough. This year I found a simple solution. When rolling between wax paper dampen the counter space first then lay the sheets over it. The damp counter will prevent the wax paper from moving and bunching while rolling. No muss no fuss! Excellent recipe that you can adapt with your own favorite flavors and colors!

Enjoy!

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Ingredients:
2 cups Flour
½ teaspoons Baking Powder
¼ teaspoons Salt
⅔ cups Powdered Sugar
¼ cups Granulated Sugar
2-½ sticks Butter, Cut Into Chunks
1 teaspoon Vanilla
½ teaspoons Gel Food Coloring Of Your Choice
½ teaspoons Any Desired Extracts (optional)
1-½ cup Colored Sprinkles, In Your Choice Of Colors

Directions:
In a stand mixer, combine flour, baking powder, salt, and sugars with paddle on medium until well blended.
Add butter in, gradually, and continue mixing. Add in vanilla extract. At this point, your dough will form a ball on your paddle.
Remove your dough ball and divide into two equal parts. Return one portion back into the mixer and add the food coloring and any extra extracts; you’ll keep the other portion of dough plain. I used Wilton gel food coloring in leaf green and vanilla extract for this batch. You could coordinate your colors and flavors, for example green food coloring matched with a mint extract or yellow with a lemon extract, etc. Mix until the color is spread out evenly.
Roll out each portion of your dough, between two sheets of wax paper until it reaches about 11 x 9 inches and is 1/4 inch thick. Slide both sheets onto a cookie sheet and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
When firm, remove the top sheets of wax paper from both. Brush the uncolored vanilla dough lightly with water using a pastry brush. Then flip the colored dough onto the vanilla uncolored dough so they are stacked atop each other and even. Press the edges lightly with your fingertips to seal them together. Using a small paring knife, trim the edges of the dough to make straight, even lines.
Pour out sprinkles onto a large platter and set aside. Be sure your dough is still cold, but flexible. Once it’s ready, begin rolling the long side of dough into a swirl, jelly-roll style. Now, don’t get nervous if the outer layer of uncolored dough tears a bit. It’s no problem, just pinch and pat those tears and voila, then just keep rolling.
Now gently lift your dough log onto the sprinkles and roll away. Cover the log completely with your sprinkles. Wrap the colorfully decorated log in plastic wrap twice. Depending on when you want to bake the cookies, either place the wrapped dough into refrigerator for about 3-4 hours or you can put it the freezer and keep it there for up to 2 months. (If freezing, give yourself time for the dough to defrost in the fridge overnight before cutting.)
Slice your dough into 1/4-1/8 inch slices and bake on parchment lined baking sheets. Bake at 350F for 15-17 minutes until edges are slightly golden. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then move them to a cookie rack to finish cooling.


Avocado chocolate chocolate chip cookies

When I first started seeing recipes like this, I was totally tuned off. Avocado in my cookie? No thanks. But I gave in and decided to try it. Honestly, they are delicious, chocolaty, and NOT AT ALL avocado-y tasting. I was shocked. Easy to make, not so bad for you and delicious!

Enjoy!

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Ingredients:
100 g. avocado flesh
½ cup coconut sugar—-I used half regular sugar, half stevia
1 egg
½ cup dark cocoa powder
50 g. dark chocolate chunks-good dark chocolate is best here. Darker the better I say 🙂
1 tbsp. water
½ tsp. baking soda

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350° F.
In a bowl using a hand mixer, mix together avocado and coconut sugar until smooth. Add in the egg.
Mix in the cocoa powder and chocolate chunks. In a small bowl or glass dissolve the baking soda in water and add to the dough. Mix well.
Using two spoons place dollops of cookie dough in a baking sheet with parchment paper. The cookie won’t spread as much as usual cookies when baking, so make sure to flatten them out a bit with the back of the spoon.
Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the cookies don’t stick as much to the paper as they did before baking.
Cool down. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to an week.

Notes from the original baker:

The cookies are best cold – and even better when they have been in the fridge over night.
* 100 g. avocado flesh equals ¾ cup
** You can sub ⅓ cup not-so-runny honey for the coconut sugar


The Original Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites Recipe (aka Chickpea Cookies)

Odd name, but delicious cookie! These cookies were very easy to make and honestly, very tasty. Even my husband enjoyed them and he normally won’t touch recipes like this. They taste great, are doughy and chocolatey. I did grind some of the chocolate chips to make them more chocolate peanut butter chocolate chip cookies but you don’t have to grind the chips. I just wanted a deeper chocolate taste which created a darker cookie!

These are grain free, gluten free, vegan and dairy free if you use the correct ingredients for your needs. And they come together very quickly!

Enjoy!

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Ingredients:
1¼ cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter, SunButter Natural or almond butter – room temperature 2 (don’t use regular bp it makes them way too oily.)
¼ cup (80 grams) honey (many have used agave and maple syrup with success!)
1 teaspoon baking powder
a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn’t have salt in it
½ cup (90 grams) chocolate chips (use vegan and dairy-free chocolate chips, if needed) you can also use cocoa nibs

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they’re combined.
Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.
With wet hands, form into 1½” balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don’t do much rising.
Bake for about 10 minutes. The dough balls will still be very soft when you take them out of the oven. They will not set like normal cookies.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature (or in the fridge) for up to 1 week.


Clean eating honey almond cookies

As all my readers know, I love cookies with my morning coffee. Even better if the cookies aren’t too bad for you, healthy almost 😉
These cookies were not only great with my morning coffee, but easy to make and clean ingredients most have on hand!

Definitely make this recipe from Gracious Pantry!

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Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups ground almonds
3/4 cup honey (I used agave)
4 egg whites

Directions:
In a large mixing bowl, beat egg whites until stiff peaks form.

In a second bowl mix almonds and honey or agave.

Scoop nut mixture into the egg whites and fold until well mixed. Do not over mix. The moment mixture is combined, stop mixing.

Using a regular teaspoon (not a measuring teaspoon), scoop small clumps onto round edible wafers, or directly onto parchment paper.

Place in oven on lowest shelf at 350 for 10-15 minutes. Should be lightly brown when done.


Cake mix cookies

Need a quick and easy dessert? These are it. I had another dessert I had planned to bring to our Easter party, but that one flopped big time. So, I had to find another quick and easy dessert and these came to mind. Not sure who’s recipe it is, but it’s everywhere online!!

Enjoy!

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Ingredients:
One cake mix
1 stick butter softened
1 egg

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients at low speed until dry ingredients are moistened and dough is thoroughly mixed. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls 2″ apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake at 350 for 9-12 minutes. Cool two minutes on cookie sheets, then remove to wire racks to cool.
If using chocolate cake mix, add 2 tbsp water along with egg. You can stir in chocolate chips, coated candy pieces, chopped nuts, or oatmeal. Frost the cookies, using canned frosting, or make sandwich cookies by spreading frosting between two cookies. These Cake Mix Cookies should be stored tightly covered at room temperature so they stay soft.
***I topped each cookie with a white chocolate piece to add just a bit more fun and flavor. I added them right as the cookies came out if the oven.***


Low carb gluten free maple walnut biscottis

Yes more biscotti!! I love this recipe. This recipe came out perfectly! Tastes great, great texture, crunchy, and was easy to make!!! I followed the recipe exactly!

Enjoy!

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Ingredients:
2 cups almond flour
1/4 cup granulated erythritol
1/4 cup Stevia in the Raw
OR additional erythritol
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/4 cup toasted walnut oil
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3/4 tsp maple extract
1/2 cup walnut baking pieces, toasted

Glaze:
1/4 cup powdered erythritol
1 1/2 tbsp almond milk
1/2 tsp maple extract

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk together almond flour, granulated erythritol, Stevia in the Raw and xanthan gum. In a medium bowl, stir together walnut oil, egg, and maple extract. Add walnut oil mixture to almond flour mixture and stir until dough comes together. Stir in walnut baking pieces.
Turn dough out onto baking sheet and form into low, flat log, 10 x 4 inches. Bake 25 minutes, or until lightly browned and firm to the touch. Remove from oven and let cool 30 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 250F.
With a sharp knife, gently cut into 15 even slices. Place slices back onto baking sheet cut-side down and bake for 15 minutes, then flip each slice and continue to bake for another 15 minutes. Turn off oven and let sit inside until cool.
For the glaze, whisk together the powdered erythritol with the almond milk and maple extract. Drizzle over cooled biscotti and let set 30 minutes.


Double chocolate lower carb gluten free cookies

I found this recipe in the latest Clean Eating Mag and adapted to our needs. I love how dark chocolaty these are! Just one is enough to satisfy your chocolate cravings!!
I swapped out the flours and sugars and cut out the nuts and cherries. These were great and easy to make. Check out Clean eating Mag march 2012 for the original recipe, my recipe is below!

Enjoy!

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Ingredients:
3/4 cup almond flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp each of baking powder and baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
Pinch of salt
4 oz very dark chocolate chopped & melted (80% cocoa or greater)
4 tbsp butter at room temp
1/3 cup stevia in the raw-I ended up only using a 1/4-1/2 cup and plenty sweet
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350
Cream together sugar and butter for 2-3 minutes. Mean while in another bowl mix flour thru salt. Set side. Once sugar and butter are light and fluffy, add in the egg and vanilla. Mix well. Add in melted chocolate. With mixer on low, slowly add flour mixture a bit at a time, scraping down sides as you mix.
Form 1-2 tbsp balls of dough and place in parchment lined cookie sheet. Press down slightly.
Bake 8-12 minutes or until cookies begin to crack. Remove from oven and cool on sheet 10 mins. Then remove and cool completely.


Sugar Cookie Biscotti

As my readers know I love biscotti. I love them with a cup of freshly brewed coffee, I love how easy they are to make and I love how many different flavors you can make as biscotti. But I love buttery, almond flavored sugar cookies at the holidays even more. But sugar cookies, the cut out kind, are a pain to make sometimes. So I decided to take my favorite basic biscotti recipe, use almond extract in the batter instead of any other addins, and top with an almond glaze. I used this recipe with almond extract, about a tsp to tsp and a half, then topped with a half cup to a cup of powdered sugar mixed with a tsp to tbsp of water (add a bit at time to get a glaze consistency), add in a small bit of almond extract and mix well. Dye if desired and drizzle on cookies. I do find that with sugar cookies they are best made a few days ahead. The almond and butter flavors deepen and are oh so good. The same is with these biscottis. Make them a few days in advance and then they are perfect!

ENJOY and HAPPY HOLIDAYS!


Grand Marnier Biscotti

As you know, I love love love biscotti. So when I stumbled upon this site of different biscotti recipes, I know I had to try many of them. The first? The Grand Marnier Biscotti. They came out great and I was even surprised how easy making candied orange peels are. I used a food network recipe. Check it out!
This recipe does suggest dipping in chocolate after, but I omitted this time and they were just fine! Great actually!

ENJOY!

Ingredients:
1/3 cup butter, room
temperature
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking
soda
2 eggs
2-1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup candied orange peel
1 tablespoon dried orange peel
1 tablespoon Grand Marnier
Approx. 1 cup dark  chocolate, melted

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375-degrees F. Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar until light. Add all the remaining ingredients, except the chocolate.
Divide the dough into 2 sections.  Shape the dough into slightly flattened logs about 3-inches wide.
Place logs about 3-inches apart on baking sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes. .  Do Not Shut Off Oven! Remove from oven  and place baking sheet in a wire rack to cool 15 minutes. Reduce the oven  temperature to 325 degrees.
Transfer each log to a cutting board. Using a serrated knife, cut diagonally into 1/2-inch slices. Place the slices cut  side down on the baking sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes, turning biscotti over  once during time. Cool on wire rack.
Once the biscotti are cooled, dip the  bottoms into the melted chocolate and allow to harden.