Lovin' From the Oven

Valentine’s Day M&M Cookies

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Happy Valentine’s Day! I made a little box of goods for my boyfriend (which I still have yet to give him, so hopefully he doesn’t see this before then) filled with cookies and miniature heart cakes. How cute are these M&M’s? I love that M&M’s come in different colors for every holiday season. It makes themed baking so easy! I had a busy baking day today; I baked 4 different types of cookies (3 dozen of each), a cake, brownies, AND truffles! So I’m a bit exhausted and a bit sleep deprived. I had midterms this past week and had about 15 hours of sleep total for those 5 nights. Eeeek! But I was so relieved to be done with tests and finally have time to bake again, so I went a bit overboard. Oh well! Everything turned out cute, that’s all that matters.

These cookies are ok. There’s something a bit off about them, but I haven’t quite bit my finger on it. I prefer the Nestle Tollhouse recipe over this one, along with my ultimate favorite CCC recipe. It seems that even though I’ve found my favorite CCC recipe, I can’t but help and try new ones. Why? I have no idea. Well, enjoy!

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup valentine’s m&m’s

directions
1. Adjust an oven rack to lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
2. In a large bowl, beat the melted butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined.
3. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until combined. Mix in the chips until incorporated.
4. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough into even balls and lay them on the baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Stud the dough with the m&m’s.
5. Bake the cookies until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, about 16 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Oh yeah! I managed to do a little blog-makeover the other day that seriously took me FOREVER redoing my gadgets and what not. What do you think?

Cookie Dough Cupcakes

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These were made in celebration of my dad’s birthday two days ago– Happy Birthday Dad! I originally baked a brown sugar cupcake, but those didn’t turn out so great for me… probably because I didn’t have brown sugar on hand and made my own by creating a mixture of white sugar & molasses. So after disposing a batch of failure cupcakes into the trash can, I decided just to go with a simple french vanilla based cupcake instead.

I was planning to put cookie dough in the middle of the cupcake, but in order to do that, you have to use well-frozen cookie dough so that it doesn’t cook all the way while baking inside the cake batter. Since I didn’t have time to freeze the cookie dough, I just left my cupcakes the way they were and focused on the frosting. The next time that I attempt these (there will definitely be a next time, if not a third and a fourth), I’ll make sure to have enough time to freeze the cookie dough in advance. Cookie dough inside the cupcake would have been a welcomed addition! The frosting itself was very rich and decadent. It’s EXTREMELY sweet before mixing in the eggless cookie dough. I couldn’t stop eating the eggless cookie dough batter that you mix into the frosting. It’s so addicting! PLUS, it’s okay for you to eat because it’s eggless! Double points.

Have I mentioned how much I hate piping frosting? I swear I’m terrible at it and always make the biggest mess while doing so. I envy the talented pipers out there! This frosting was a bit frustrating because the mini chocolate chips would get stuck in the tip, causing my frosting to go all over the place. I’d have to use a toothpick to unjam my tip every now and then. I wouldn’t waste time piping frosting onto cupcakes if they weren’t so gosh darn cute. Curse the cuteness (but not really because we all know how everyone’s a sucker for a good lookin’ cupcake)!

Brown Sugar Cupcakes

(Recipe from Cupcake Bakeshop. Makes about 12 cupcakes)

  • 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 3/4 cup light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Beat butter on high until soft, about 30 seconds.
  3. Add sugar. Beat on medium-high until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add eggs one at a time, beat for 30 seconds after each.
  5. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl.
  6. Measure out milk and vanilla together.
  7. Add about a fourth of the flour to the butter/sugar mixture and beat to combine.
  8. Add about one third the milk/vanilla mixture and beat until combined.
  9. Repeat above, alternating flour and milk and ending with the flour mixture.
  10. Place previously prepared frozen cookie dough ball (mine were fairly big) into cup liners, then fill about half to three-quarters full of cupcake batter.
  11. Bake for 20-22 minutes until golden and the cake springs back when lightly touched. (Testing by using a toothpick would be insufficient because of the gooey cookie dough in the center).

Cookie Dough Frosting

(Recipe from The Cupcake Review. Makes enough to frost 12 cupcakes.)

  • 1-3/4 cups confectioners sugar
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 tablespoon milk
  • Eggless cookie dough (recipe below)
  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine 1-1/4 cups confectioners’ sugar, unsalted butter, salt, and vanilla, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula as necessary.
  2. Add milk and continue mixing until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, as necessary. With the mixer running, slowly add remaining 1/2 cup confectioners sugar, mix until well combined.
  3. At this point you can mix in the eggless cookie dough. Mix in enough cookie dough to suit your taste. Any cookie dough leftover you can gladly eat! There are no eggs in it so it is safe. Yum!

Eggless Cookie Dough

(Recipe from How To Eat A Cupcake)

  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
  • 2 teaspoons water
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1/3 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)
  1. Cream the butter and brown sugar in a small bowl. Add water and vanilla and mix well. Add flour and salt and stir to combine. Stir in mini chocolate chips (optional).
  2. Store in refrigerator until ready to use.

Guittard’s Polka Dot Cookies

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Superbowl schmooperbowl. Football never really interested me, but how could I pass up the event of getting together and eating buffalo wings, 7 layer dip, and some barbeque? I couldn’t! Everyone knows that I’m a sucker for guacamole. I was at Cost Plus Word Market yesterday, one of my new found favorite stores, and came across Guittard’s mint chocolate chips! I’ve been looking for mint chocolate chips for quite some time now, and was ecstatic to come across them. I immediately bought a bag and made the recipe on the back to bring with me to a superbowl party today.

These cookies were soft, chewy, and mint/chocolatey. To be completely honest, I’m not really a fan of these mint chips after trying them and baking with them; I’d much prefer working with a bag of Andes mint. I do like that this recipe uses the same method of making the chocolate cookie as my favorite Andes mint cookies do, though. These cookies were good, but not GREAT, despite what the boys at the superbowl party said (they raved how they were better than Girl Scout thin mints). In my opinion, I’d take a thin mint over this cookie anyday. Mmmmm.. girl scout cookies.. Too bad they only sell ’em a couple months of the year AND they’ve downsized all their boxes. Worst ever.

2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (do not sift)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups (12 oz) Guittard Green Mint Chips

Preheat oven to 350F

In top of double boiler over low heat, melt semi-sweet chips and butter, stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla until light. Blend in melted chocolate, then dry ingredients. Stir in green mint chips and chill for 10-15 minutes or until stiff. Drop by well-round teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes, cookies will be soft in centers but will harden as they cool.

Microwave instructions: Heat semisweet chips in a small bowl at medium power (50% or level 5) for 2-3 minutes, stirring well after each minute until smooth.

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