Lovin' From the Oven

Day 7: White Chocolate Topped Gingerbread Cookies & a Winner

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Day 7 of my 12 days of cookies: White chocolate topped gingerbread cookies. I’m really not a fan of molasses, but these seemed too good not to try. I figured that if anything, the white chocolate on top would distract me for long enough to actually like molasses. Although that wasn’t quite the case, I did get a lot of rave reviews from the work party that I brought them to. One of the girls that hates anything gingerbread was even won over with them. I guess that makes them a winner?
Speaking of winners, I wanted to announce the winner of the last giveaway. It goes to Amanda, who wrote, “Yum yum yum! I love choc chip cookies, but I would also love to try their white choc macadamia nut cookies. Mmmm!” Congratulations! I’ll be emailing you shortly.

This recipe comes from one of my most favorite blogs, Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. I think about 80% of my bookmarks come from her page. She makes the most mouthwatering items! The cookie was sturdy, but soft. The white chocolate on the top added a great touch to balance out the spicy flavor. They kept well for a couple of days in an airtight container.

  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 tsp. ground ginger
  • 1 tsp. cinnamon
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
  • 1/4 salt
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup white chocolate chips
  1. Mix flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, nutmeg and salt in large bowl.
  2. Cream butter and brown sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy.
  3. Add molasses, egg and vanilla; beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.
  4. Preheat oven to 350°F. Shape dough into 1-inch balls and roll in granulated sugar. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.
  5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges of cookies just begin to brown. Immediately press about 5-6 white chocolate chips into center of each cookie. Remove to wire racks; cool completely.

Adapted from McCormick and Company Inc.

Day 6: Carrot Cake Whoopie Pies

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Day 6 of my 12 days of cookies: Carrot cake whoopie pies. I’ve always been a fan of carrot cake, but it’s never been very easy to transport. This is a great alternative! You can pack them and eat them without any utensils. All you need are your bare hands– now that’s my kind of dessert!
I baked these when my little sister had some friends over and they mostly freaked out by the appearance of the cookie. “Carrots?! There’s carrots coming out of your cookie!” Don’t fret your heads, little ones, carrots can be in cookies too. Yes, they may look like tree branches coming out of the sides, but you barely notice them when you eat them. I promise.
The original recipe called for raisins, but in my book, carrot cake is not supposed to have raisins. So I did what any girl would do: I omitted them. They also have oatmeal in the recipe…what the heck? Since when does carrot cake have oatmeal? But I left them in, anyways. They’re good for the structural shape of the cookies. Look at me, I act like I actually know what I’m talking about.
These cookies were a hit with everyone that liked carrot cake. For the others, it’s a little difficult to make someone like a carrot cake cookie if they don’t like carrot cake. Oh well, you can’t win ’em all. Adapted from Fat Girl Trapped in a Skinny Body (makes about 4 dozen cookies or 24 whoopie pies).
  • 1 cup light-brown sugar, packed
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/2 lb (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 2 cups quick cooking oats
  • 1 1/2 cups grated carrots (about 3 large carrots)
  1. In a large bowl, combine sugars and butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well combined.
  2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger; stir to combine. Gradually add flour to butter mixture; mix on a low speed until just blended. Mix in oats and carrots.
  3. Chill dough in refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour.
  4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  5. Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Transfer to oven, and bake until browned, rotating pan halfway through baking to ensure even color, 12 to 15 minutes.
  6. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  7. Sandwich two cookies together with cream cheese frosting spread in between.
As for the cream cheese frosting, I used my trusted recipe that can be found HERE.

Day 5: Chocolate Jumbles

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Day 5 of my 12 days of cookies: So far, so good! I’m still on the right track to finish my list this year and I am ever so determined to do it! Chocolate Jumbles. A dark chocolate, cakey cookie with chopped pecans and white chocolate. You can make them as big or as small as you want. The recipe says it yields 18 cookies, but I managed to make over 4 dozen with the batter by using a small cookie scoop. Instead of making them huge, I baked them into miniature poppables. The recipe also said that you have to flatten them a bit before baking, but since I made mine so tiny, I left them as is.
I took just over 3 dozen cookies to work, thinking no one would want them in my family (my parents aren’t a big fan of chocolate). When I came home, my mom asked me where the rest of the cookies went. I had left a little plate of about 6 cookies on the counter, which seemed to have mysteriously disappeared while I was at work. My mom confessed to eating 4 of them and was asking for more. Um, what? Where is my mom and what have you done with her? Apparently, they reminded her of some cookie she ate back in the day. She wasn’t even phased by the chocolate in it.
I was in a rush taking these pictures because I did it in the morning before work, so I texted my DB asking if he could take some extra shots just in case I didn’t get one that I liked. “Sure,” he said, “but you never like my pictures!” Grateful, I started uploading the pictures when I came home. Curious as to what his shots look like? Notice anything out of the ordinary?
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I was laughing so hard when I saw this. He didn’t even bother flipping an upside down cookie! EVERY picture he took had a flipped cookie. Hahaha.
This recipe came from a beautiful cookbook that I recently received from Tate’s Bake Shop. Not only did they send me a cookbook, they also sent me cookies! Three different kinds!

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The beautiful box it came in..
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and even more boxes!
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Each pack has two individually wrapped packages, each filled with a row of cookies. White chocolate macadamia nut…
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Oatmeal raisin..
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and your classic chocolate chip…
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These cookies were thin and crispy. I’m not usually one to like those kinds of cookies, but I couldn’t stop eating the white chocolate macadamia nut. My dad actually finished all of them. True story. The oatmeal raisin, I could do without… but as for the white chocolate macadamia nut– I’d eat it for dessert every day.
For those of you who want cookies right away, you can use the 15% discount code “cookie” on their website (valid until December 31st) for instant satisfaction. Here’s the recipe for the jumbles to tie you over!
Chocolate Jumbles
By Kathleen King from Tate’s Bake Shop Cookbook, p. 50
  • 2 1/2 cups AP flour
  • 1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup salted butter, softened to room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups firmly packed dark or light brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 cups white chocolate chips or chunks
  • 1 cup pecans, chopped
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease two cookie sheets, or line them with silpat.
  2. In a lage bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Cream the butter and the sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix and scrap down the sides of the bowl.
  4. Add the white chocolate chips and pecans. If the dough is too stiff, wet your hands and finish the mixing by hand. (Don’t worry, it’s not a big sticky mess.)
  5. Using two tablespoons, drop the cookie dough onto the cookie sheets. Use and ice cream scoop if you have one. Wet it with warm water between scoops so the dough falls out easily. Press the dough balls down gently with your fingertips.
  6. Bake the Jumbles for 20 minutes. The cookies will be soft when they come out of the oven. Do not overbake them.
  7. Cool them on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes and remove the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling.

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