Apple Pie Cookies

   Fall is here! With the change in weather also means the flooding of apples at my house! And with these apples comes Applesauce-making time! But what about the extra apples that don't get applesauce-ed? Well, if they aren't eaten they get cooked into foods or desserts. Mostly pies, but this time I have a cookie recipe that uses apples!


   This recipe was found through Pinterest, which sent me to Redbook to find this recipe. Now, I don't have any powdered sugar to make the icing, nor do I like icing my cookies, so I left it off. I also left out the cherries and walnuts, but the cookies taste amazing all the same. They are wonderfully light and fluffy, plus the perfect balance of cinnamon and apples. Try this recipe out if you have a chance!

First things first, the apples. While you butter sits on the counter to soften you can be cutting up both the apples called for in the recipe. Now, I don't have a box grater so the smaller apples you see on the left are just chopped into small pieces. On the right they are slightly bigger, and this is just to help incorporate the whole apple flavor into the cookies.

   After you create the dough you have to mix the apples in. The dough will be pretty thick, but that is okay. That is exactly what you want for these cookies. Then you just stir in all the apples until everything is well incorporated.

   The last thing you do before the baking process is to drop dough by the spoonfuls onto your prepared cookie sheet. Either non-stick spray or parchment paper works fine for that. Plop it in the oven for 10-12 minutes, then viola they are done! You can eat them warm or wait until they are cooled off. Either way, they are amazing!

RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS:

2 Apples:Peeled, cored, and quartered

2 1/3 cups Flour

1 1/2 tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1/2 tsp Baking Soda

1/4 tsp Salt

1/8 tsp Ground Cloves

1/8 tsp Ground Nutmeg

1 1/4 cups Brown Sugar, packed

3/4 cups Butter or Margarine, softened

2 Large Eggs

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease baking sheets with non-stick spray, or line with parchment paper. Chop up one apple into small pieces, leave the other  one alone. Set aside.

2.  In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cloves, and nutmeg. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, blend the brown sugar with the butter. Then, beat in the eggs one at a time, until well blended. Then stir in the flour mixture, the dough will be thick. Stir in both the apples.

4. Drop dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2-inches apart. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until the edges have started to brown and the top has set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

   Enjoy! Both warm or not these cookies taste fabulous!! Store in an air-tight container for up to three days(if the family doesn't eat them right away)

Try this recipe? Tell me how it went below in the comments!

Scraps Cookies

   Alright, so these cookies definitely have many names. The can be called Garbage Cookies or Everything but the kitchen sink, as well as a 'nicer' and 'cleaner' name, Scrap Cookies. They get their name from there ingredients, which really can be anything. I mean, this is the cookie where you can put in any leftover ingredients from previous baking jobs, and it will still taste fabulous! There is definitely no set recipe for this past the actual dough preparation, so go ahead and be creative!


   I originally received this recipe through a client of mine. Over the summer I catered for the first leg of her daughters Bat Mitzpha, and she provided the recipes. I also prepared lemon bars, carmelita bars, and my favorite, M&M cookies. All were fabulous, and the job ended well! Now these recipes sit in my notebook, waiting to again be picked up and shared to the goodness of the world. Hang on people, you will see them soon!

These are the ingredients I blended into my batter. As you can see, I have: pretzels, oats, coconut, craisins, assorted nuts, and chocolate chips. You can also add in Rice Krispies cereal for a bit of crunch, or a specific nut if you only like certain kinds. And each of these ingredients are easily removable as well, especially since not everyone always like whats in a certain cookie. It's also easy to mix in any other items you can find laying around the kitchen, waiting to be used, so be creative! Oooh you can even make a Candy Scraps cookie with little candy pieces  I might have to try that for Halloween, so be on the lookout for a recipe!

Then, after you combine the ingredients with the dough, drop them onto an un-greased baking sheet. You can roll them into balls if you like, these are one of the cookies that actually holds their shape while baking. Either way, these cookies will come out fluffy and full of flavor once out of the oven. Mmmmm, they are best right out of the oven, when everything is still gooey and falling apart! Yum!

RECIPE:

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup Shortening (or Margarine)

1 cup Brown Sugar

2 Eggs

1 tsp Vanilla

2 cups Flour

1 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Baking Powder

1 tsp Salt

2 cups Oatmeal

1 cup Coconut, shredded

1/4 cup Assorted Nuts

12 oz bag Chocolate Chips

1 cup Craisins

1/4 cup Pretzels

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the shortening, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, mix up the remaining ingredients. Then combine with the dough and mix until everything is well incorporated.

4. Drop balls of prepared dough onto an un-greased baking pan, then cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the edges have a golden brown color. Cool and enjoy!

Try this recipe? Tell me how it went down below in the comments!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

   I am definitely liking my caramel this week!! Although this time, instead of Hershey's kisses, I used caramel topping. You know, the caramel stuff you put on top of ice cream to make some caramel sundaes? Yeah, that's what I used in this recipe, since I didn't have any caramel chips and heavy cream on hand. I have to admit, it still tasted pretty good though! I sold these bars at school for $1 apiece, and even the students enjoyed them! They may not look like much at first, but that first bite will take you to a whole new realm of flavor. The salt balances well with the chocolate and caramel, as long as you don't go too overboard on it.

   This recipe is adapted from Blahnik Baker, which takes absolutely amazing pictures and always  has good recipes to try! I discovered this site through Pinterest, and it is absolutely gorgeous. Maybe some day my blog will look as good as that, but that itself is its own dream. For now, focus on school! But I took this recipe and followed it pretty closely up until the caramel part. I used Caramel topping (Smackers brand) instead of the caramel chips and heavy cream. The end results look different, but they still taste amazing!

So I mixed the dough, then placed half of it in this Pam-sprayed 8x8 pan. Then I poured some of the Caramel topping on the top and spread it with a spatula. Make sure it is an even coat, but you can add as much or as little caramel as you want. After you are done pouring the caramel, sprinkle your salt over the top. Table salt works fine if you don't have sea salt for this part.

This is what my pan looked like after I placed the remainder of the cookie dough over the caramel. You can try to spread it around with a spatula,  not push down too hard or the caramel will integrate with the cookie dough. I also sprinkle this layer with salt, so that there will be the saltiness throughout each bar.

Just stick them in the oven for 30 minutes, and you're done! You can see that the caramel did integrate with the cookie dough a little bit, but that was probably because I put a lot of salt on it. Either way, they taste amazing and have a cool marble look to it. They are easiest to cut after a few hours when they have cooled a bit, or if you are super excited to eat them (as I was), then you just need to grad a fork, it's going to be goey!

Recipe:

Adapted from Blahnik Baker

INGREDIENTS:

2 1/8 cups Flour

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda

3/4 cup Butter, melted and cooled

1 cup Light Brown Sugar

1/2 cup Sugar

1 large Egg, room temperature

1 large Egg Yolk, room temperature

2 teaspoons Vanilla

2 cups Chocolate Chips

Smackers Caramel Dessert Topping

Sea Salt, preferred, for sprinkling (table salt works fine too)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8x8 pan or line with parchment paper(leaving an overhang). If using parchment paper, spray that with nonstick spray as well.

2. In a large bowl, which together flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

3. In another large bowl combine the butter with both sugars until combined. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Slowly stir in the cry ingredients until just combined. The stir in the chocolate chips.

4. Pour half of the batter in your prepared pan. Cover with a layer of Caramel sauce, then sprinkle the salt over that. Then, drop the remaining cookie dough over the top of the caramel and smooth with a spatula. Sprinkle with salt again.

5. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a the edges are a light brown color and peel away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely before cutting.

Try this recipe? Tell me how it went down below in the comments!

Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

   Fall is almost upon us! And with this new season comes the flood of pumpkin recipes, sweatshirts, and (yes) even yoga pants. This is definitely the best time of the year to bake since there are soo many different recipes, and baking is also the quickest way to warm up the house!!

   So with this fall season, I wanted to try some different recipes. And I have definitely had a hankering for caramel lately, so I visited Pinterest and found this Milky Way Salted Caramel Cookie recipe! So, of course, I was super excited and went down to the store to get some candy, and guess what. Guess what. They were completely out. All of Walmart was out of the Caramel Milky way, and I was thinking what now? Now I dont have a fancy smartphone so I couldn't just look for a recipe to create, and I really didn't want to go back to Walmart again, then BING! An Idea came to me! Why can't I buy Hershey's Caramel Kisses and bake them inside my Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe? So that is what I did, and here is my wonderful journey to a happy tummy!

Yay for Caramel Kisses!! I saw these candies and came up with the recipe immediately  And I sure was glad I did, they turned out amazing! So first this first is that you are going to want to create the basic chocolate chip cookie batter, which you can find here.

Then you will take the dough from the basic recipe and roll into little balls encasing the kisses. It is fairly easy to do, and if the dough isn't cooperating, just add some more flour to it. Not a lot, but enough to make the dough tangible. It always comes out different fr me, so there is definitely no set measurements for extra flour. Make sure they are covered all the way, although the tip can stick out a little bit, it isn't a big deal.

See! All closed into it's own little ball. Drop onto ungreased pans about 2 inches apart, they will spread but not too much. The more baking soda you put into the basic recipe, the more it will spread.

Then when they are all covered and ready to bake, stick them in the oven!! They bake for the same time as a normal chocolate chip recipe. And if you happen to look in the oven periodically and see that the cookie looks flat while the Hershey stands tall, don't worry; it will all even out in it's own time.

Recipe:

INGREDIENTS

Prepared cookie dough~ I use this recipe

1 package Caramel Hershey Kisses

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Take prepared cookie dough and roll in a ball, encasing the Caramel Kiss completely.

2. Drop onto un-greased cookie sheet, and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are a light brown.

That's It!

Try this recipe? Tell me how it went down below in the comments!

Snickerdoodle Cupcakes

   First things first, Happy suicide prevention week! This week goes to those that have committed suicide at my school as well as everyone else that has tried (and/or succeeded  in suicide. Even though times may be rough, just know that there will always be someone out there that loves you. And if you don't believe that, then I love you. I love everyone, there is no doubt about it! And if anyone ever needs someone to talk to, then I am here to help you bake up a batch and listen to your troubles. Here's to a good week, and hopefully (we can only wish) that you will not commit suicide. We all love you, I love you. Please be safe ♡

 


   Now, on to the baking! This last weekend I was searching around on Pinterest for a new recipe to try. Not just new to this blog, but new to me too. I have always been a softy when it came to Snickerdoodles, but there was just too many weird ingredients in it that I didn't have at home. And then I found this recipe from a blog called Lil' Luna, which is too easy not to try! It was quite a quick one too.

   And since I sell these at school, I bakes them in cupcake tins instead of a cake pan. I also doubled the recipe found on the site, which made 2 dozen cupcakes. And boy did they sell fast! The original recipe called them Snickerdoodle Blondies, but they work well as cupcakes too. The thing about blondies is that they are soft and gooey  which many may not like that kind of texture. I definitely do, and so do my buyers! Either way, this is definitely a recipe to try, and a good one to add to the recipe book as well!

  

 Alright, so you should know the basics of baking by now. Have to mix it all up in a bowl! First the butter and sugar; then the egg, salt, and vanilla; and ending with the flour and cinnamon.

Then pour into prepared muffin tins(or two 8x8 pans) and sprinkle with your prepared cinnamon-sugar. Bake it! The muffins needed to be cooked 20-25 minutes, while the bars need to be cooked 25-30 minutes.

These are done as soon as the toothpick comes out clean. Then you can cool down and eat them! They are definitely amazing, and if they somehow manage to last longer than the first day, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature.

Recipe:

Adapted from Lil' Luna

INGREDIENTS

2 cups Sugar
1 cup Butter, soft
2 Egg
1 tsp. Salt

4 tsp. Vanilla

2 cups Flour

3 tsp. Cinnamon

   Topping: 2 Tbsp. Sugar

                   2 tsp. Cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350. Prepare muffin tins with cooking spray or paper liners. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until smooth.

2. Beat in the eggs, salt, and vanilla. Stir in the flour and cinnamon until well incorporated.

3. Pour mix into prepared muffin tins, then cook for 20-25 minutes. Makes 2 dozen cupcakes.

*Note: The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup cinnamon chips. I didn't have any, so I substituted that for the cinnamon. You could easily swap the cinnamon out for 1 cup cinnamon chips.

Try this recipe? Tell me how it went down below in the comments!

Easy Sugar Cookies, the Old Fashioned Way

   Back to school yet again! This week I came with Sugar Cookies, which actually sold pretty quickly! They do also look like little snowballs, hence the nickname. This picture here was the first time I made these, right around the holiday season. And the nice thing about these cookies is that you can top them with any type of candies, I just used sugar on these. Peppermint would be good for the holidays, and I will have another recipe for that! But that is waay in the future, and right now we are in the present. And the present tastes good with these cookies!!
   I found this recipe in the old Betty Crocker cookbook one day, and decided to try it. And oh my goodness how simple, yet delicious they were! I just had to share them with the family, which scarfed them down in one sitting. It makes about 2 dozen cookies, which goes fast when you are in a family of 8; the three dogs included! I just can't get over how simple they are as well, something that can definitely be made quickly, for a sweet craving or a last minute bake sale.

Alright, so mixing everything up to the butter should make the dough look crumbly like this. It doesn't have to be perfect, you just have to make sure the butter is well incorporated.

Then you will mix in the egg,vanilla, and milk. Mix well! This will make the batter look more dough-y, while giving off that wonderful sugar cookie smell that makes you want to eat just the batter! But don't worry, the cookies will taste even better!

And since this is an older recipe, of course you have the choice on whether or not to roll the dough and make shapes. If not, just refrigerate it for 15 minutes, then roll into little balls by hand! Too bad I don't have any cookie-cutter shapes, or I would totally make them! Not really sure how that would work out either, I have definitely never made cookies into any shape other than a circle. That's basic, and I like basic.

Yay for baking time! Just remember that whatever shape your cookies are before baking, they will be that same shape (just fluffier) after you pull them out of the oven. I like to sprinkle a little sugar on top, mostly for texture but also for presentation! Then just stick the pan in the oven and viola you have yourself some wonderful little snowball sugar cookies!!!

Recipe:

3 cups Flour

1 1/2 teaspoon Baking Powder

1 cup Sugar

1/2 teaspoon Salt

1 cup Butter

1 Egg, lightly beaten

2 teaspoons Vanilla

3 tablespoons Milk

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and grease a baking sheet.

2. In a large bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt.

3. Cut up butter into chunks and drop into flour mixture. Mix until crumbly.

4. With a fork, stir in the egg, vanilla, and milk until well incorporated.

     ***If you aren't rolling the dough, chill for 15 minutes, then skip to step 6

5. On a flour-ed surface roll out your dough to 1/4 inch thick. Cut into desired shapes.

6. Place dough on prepared baking sheet. Bake 6-8 minutes, or until the edges have a light brown color. Cool and enjoy!

Try this recipe? Tell me how it went down below!