A Little Bit Healthy, A Little Bit Sneaky Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I was uber-blog surfing yesterday. 
I would comment on a blog, and then go visit the blog of the person who commented just before me. Leave a comment, visit previous commenter, and on and on and on. It was lots of fun! I stumbled upon a lot of fun running blogs and a LOT of What I Ate Wednesdays (WIAW) posts. Like I said, lots of fun!

In my meanderings, I stumbled upon the blog Eat. Move. Balance. 
Eat whole foods. Move every day. Balance your life. 
Sounds like a great mantra/motto. In exploring that site a little, I found this recipe for some sneaky cookie bars. They sounded so good that I couldn't wait to give them a try! I didn't have all the ingredients, so I had to make a few modifications.

These turned out so delicious! In fact, even Jeff said he liked them. Yes, the entire pan was completely gone in less than 24 hours. Oops!

A Little Bit Healthy, A Little Bit Sneaky Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cup whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup (or 1/2 15.5oz can) chickpeas
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used ones that were dairy, nut and soy free)
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8x8 baking pan.
2. Combine the oats, flour, chickpeas, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a food processor. Process until fine.
3. Transfer to a large bowl. Add the applesauce, vanilla, and sugar. Stir until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
4. Pour into prepared pan, making sure dough is evenly distributed.
5. Bakes for 25 minutes. Allow to cool before cutting into delicious squares.

Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes, it takes me FOREVER to put a post together. Here's a recipe for some cookies I made for my last day student teaching. Yes, I made muffins for the morning classes and cookies for the afternoon. :D The kids were all pretty modest about eating my treats (only taking one each!), so there were lots leftover. Jeff and I both really enjoyed these cookies. Hope you do, too!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 2T cornstarch + 6T water (or 2 eggs)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C).
2. In large bowl, beat shortening, sugar, cornstarch+water, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
3. Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; stir into the butter mixture until well blended. Mix in the chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or just until set. Cool slightly on the cookie sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Nutmeg Cookie Logs

I first made these a couple years ago for Christmas. I was kind of surprised at how well they were received, and these quickly became a holiday favorite. It calls for rum extract, but I think it's somewhat optional. I know that this past Christmas I made them without it, and everyone still seemed to love them.

Yields 5 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

Cookies:

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup margarine or butter, softened
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp rum extract (optional)
• 1 egg
• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp nutmeg

Frosting:

• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 Tbsp margarine or butter, softened
• 3/4 tsp rum extract (optional)
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 2 to 3 Tbsp half-and-half or milk
• Nutmeg

Directions:

1. In large bowl, combine sugar, 1 cup margarine, 2 tsp vanilla, 2 tsp rum extract, and egg. Beat until light and fluffy.

2. Add flour and 1 tsp nutmeg; mix well.  Cover dough with plastic wrap; refrigerate about 45 minutes for easier handling.

3. Heat oven to 350°F. Divide dough into 12 pieces. On floured surface, shape each piece of dough into a long rope, 1/2 inch in diameter and about 15 inches long. Cut into 3-inch lengths; place on ungreased cookie sheets.

4. Bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets; place on wire racks. Cool about 20 minutes or until completely cooled.

5. In small bowl, combine all frosting ingredients except nutmet, adding enough milk for desired spreading consistency. Spread on top and sides of cookies. Sprinkle lightly with nutmeg. Let stand until frosting is set before storing.

And here's another video on making cookies. I don't think this one turned out as well as my first. Oh well. Let me know what you think.

Cream Cheese Candy Cane Cookies

I got this recipe from the Nov 2001 issue of Pillsbury Classic Cookbooks, and I've made these cookies pretty much every year since. It's a relatively quick and easy recipe - as far as cookie recipes go.

Yields 3 dozen.

Ingredients:

• ¼ c butter, softened
• 1 (3-oz) pkg. cream cheese, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 (18.25-oz) white cake mix
• ¼ tsp red gel or paste icing color

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, combine butter, cream cheese and egg; blend well. Add cake mix; mix until well blended. Divide dough in half. Add food color to half of dough; blend well for even red color.

2. For each cookie, measure 1 tsp white dough and 1 tsp red dough. Roll out each into 4-inch rope. Place ropes side by side. Lightly roll together; twist. Place 2-inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet; shape each to resemble a candy cane.

3. Bake at 350°F for 7 to 9 min or just until edges are golden brown. Immediately remove from cookie sheets.

Check out my first baking video for a demonstration of how I shaped these cookies.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This past Thursday was a rather cool summer evening, so I decided to bake some cookies. I found a recipe for peanut butter cookies and decided to make it my own by adding a little oatmeal and chocolate chips, because honestly, don't those two ingredients make all cookies a little better? Okay, maybe not, but it certainly didn't hurt this recipe.

I brought a couple dozen into work the next day, and everyone said how good they were. When I got home from work, Jeff couldn't help but rave a bit about these delicious cookies!

This recipe is modified from a recipe found in my KitchenAid mixer recipe book.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• ¾ cup creamy peanut butter
• ½ cup shortening
• 1 ¼ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 3 T milk
• 1 T vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¾ tsp salt
• ¾ tsp baking soda
• 1 cup oatmeal
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 375°F. 

Cream together peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk, and vanilla until well blended. Add egg, mixing until well blended. 

Combine flour, salt, and soda in a separate bowl. Gradually add dry ingredients to peanut butter mixture. Stir in oatmeal and chocolate chips.

Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Flatten slightly with a fork in a crisscross pattern.

Bake for 7-8 minutes or until set and lightly browned. 

Yields 3 dozen cookies.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Eggless Sugar Cookie Cutouts

I promised my dad some sugar cookies for Sunday dinner. When I went to start making them, I realized that I didn't have any eggs! I did a little research online and decided to try using plain yogurt as a replacement (which actually was great for me, because happened to have plain yogurt in my fridge that really needed to be used). For each egg, I used 1/4 cup of yogurt. Eggs are also used as leavening, but since there was already baking powder and soda in the recipe, I didn't make any further changes.

I was really pleased with how tasty these cookies turned out! They tasted so good. No one would have even known they were eggless. :) Of course I told everyone. Bragging rights, you know. They weren't quite as fluffy as usual, so next time I might increase the baking powder a bit.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt

Directions:
Beat shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Add yogurt and vanilla.

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to creamed mixture; mix well. Cover and refrigerate for 3 hours or until easy to handle.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4" thickness. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on ungreased cookie sheets, 1" apart.

Bake at 325°F for 9-11 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Frost as desired.

Puffed-Up Chocolate-Chip Cookies

Who doesn't love a good chocolate chip cookie? Some people may prefer to stick to a tried-and-true chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I like to experiment. When I received this recipe for Puffed-Up Chocolate-Chip Cookies from MyRecipes, I couldn't wait to try it out! Plus they are made with applesauce, so they're a little lighter when talking about fat content.

These turned out super good. They were a little more cake-like than most chocolate chip cookies, which made them almost melt in your mouth.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• Cooking spray

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl; stir well with a whisk.

Spoon applesauce into a fine sieve over a bowl; let stand 15 minutes. Discard liquid. Scrape drained applesauce into a large bowl. Add sugar and butter; beat with a mixer at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2 minutes). Beat in vanilla and egg. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed until well-blended. Fold in chips.

Drop by level tablespoons 2 inches apart onto baking sheets coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until almost set. Cool on pan 2 to 3 minutes or until firm. Remove cookies from pan; cool on wire racks.

White Chocolate-Oatmeal-Raisin Cookies

A few weeks ago, I signed up for a Cookie Countdown through My Recipes.com. Each day I receive an email with a link to a delicious new cookie recipe to try. The countdown began on November 1st, and you can easily click on their interactive calendar to see what recipes were sent out previously. Each recipe was originally published in a magazine, and today's recipe was orginially from Christmas with Southern Living, Oxmoor House, DECEMBER 2006. These cookies turned out to be quite delicious; although, it did take eating a few for them to really grow on me. Now that I've eaten nearly the entire batch on my own, I can confidently say that they are yummy and slightly addicting. They have a unique flavor and are relatively light and crispy. Warning: It is hard not to have a few crumbs fall while eating these.

Click here for a Printable Recipe.

Yield: about 2 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened (I used 1/2 c shortening + 2 Tbsp unsalted butter)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon fiori di sicilia or orange extract (see note) (I used orange extract)
• 1 cup uncooked regular oats
• 8 ounces white chocolate, chopped, divided (about 2 cups)
• 1/2 cup raisins or golden raisins

Preparation

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium bowl.

Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugars, beating well. Beat in egg and orange flavoring just until combined. Add flour mixture and oats; stir until blended. Stir in 1 cup white chocolate and raisins. Cover and chill dough 1 hour, if desired.

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. I did not line my cookie sheets with parchment paper; I just used regular ungreased cookie sheets. Drop batter by heaping tablespoonfuls, 3" apart, onto prepared baking sheets.

Bake at 350° for 13 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool on baking sheets 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

After cookies have completely cooled, melt remaining 1 cup white chocolate. Spread melted chocolate over approximately half of each cookie.

Note: Order fiori di sicilia from bakerscatalogue.com or call 800-827-6836. It's very affordable, and a small vial will perfume your kitchen for a long time.

Spicy Surprise Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from the back of Ziploc(R) box. It has intrigued me for more than a year. Cayenne pepper in chocolate chip cookies?? I cut out the recipe, knowing someday I'd give it a try. Well, someday finally came. These have a very unique flavor that I feel really complements the chocolate chips. I did make a couple of changes to the recipe, which I'll note in parentheses in the recipe below. You can choose which to make.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (I used 1 cup shortening)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (I used 2 1/2 cups of flour blend which consists of 2 parts white flour, 2 parts wheat flour, 1 part wheat germ, and 1 part ground flaxseed in place of the flours in this recipe)
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375F.
Combine butter, brown sugar, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and light.

In a separate bowl, stir together flour baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and cayenne pepper.

Gradually mix into butter mixture. Beat just until combined and smooth.
Fold in chocolate chips until combined. Scoop cookies into 2-inch balls and place on cookie sheets.

Bake until lightly golden, about 10 minutes.

Let cool slightly, then remove from cookie sheets and transfer to a wire rack to cool further.

I found it relatively easy to overbake these cookies. They may not look done, but if the edges are golden brown they are. They will flatten as they cool.

Denise's Holiday Cookies

I LOVED these cookies when I was growing up. My older sister would make them during the holidays, and they were so tasty. I had some leftover Halloween plain M&Ms, and these cookies sounded so yummy that I thought it would be a perfect way to use up the plain M&Ms plaguing my cupboards. I wasn't sure that Jeff would like them, so I was surprised to find them on the coffee table this morning when I woke up. Husband approved!

Click here for Printable Recipe.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 c Shortening
• 3/4 c Sugar
• 3/4 c Brown Sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 3/4 c Flour
• 1 tsp soda
• 3/4 tsp Salt
• 2 c Coconut
• 1/2 bag of Holiday M & M's (I used Halloween)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cream shortening, sugar and brown sugar.

Add eggs and vanilla.

Sift dry ingredients together and add. (I just added the dry ingredients directly to the mixture, to save on washing yet another bowl). Add coconut and M&Ms.

Spoon dough on to baking sheets. You can use two regular teaspoons, or I prefer using a scoop like the one shown in the picture below.

Bake at 350°F  for 10-12 min. The recipe I got from my sister didn't have a temperature on it, so I guess at 350°F. Her recipe indicated a baking time of 15-25 minutes, but my cookies were quite done in 10.

Recipe: Krusczyki

For Mother's Day, my step-mom put in a special request for an angel food cake. I was happy to oblige. Unfortunately, it left me with a lot of left-over egg yolks.

I scoured the Internet for a delicious way to use up the egg yolks. Most of the recipes I found were for sponge cake or something that would be baked in the same type of pan as the angel food cake. Now, that wouldn't work for me because, well, I had an angel food cake in that pan!

I was delighted for find this recipe for Krusczyki on Allrecipes.com (posted by SHARONA669). I'd never heard of it before, and there was no picture to go along with the recipe, but I thought I'd take a gamble.

Here's the recipe:

Ingredients:

• 14 egg yolks
• 1 pint sour cream
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter
• 8 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups shortening
• 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar for decoration

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix together all ingredients except shortening and confectioners' sugar. Stir into a ball, then turn dough out onto a floured surface . Knead dough for 1/2 hour. If you have a mixer with a dough hook attachment, mix for about 15 minutes.
2. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
3. On a floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4 to 1/8 inch thickness. Cut into strips that are 3 inches long and 1 inch wide. In the center of each strip, cut a 1 inch slit, lengthwise.
   
   Pull one end of the strip through the slit to form a bow.
   
   (This is my interpretation of making a "bow". They kind of look like little bow ties, right?)
4. In a frying pan or an electric skillet, melt shortening and heat to about 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). in a frying pan this would be on medium high heat.
5. Place cookies in hot oil. Cook on both sides until lightly browned then remove to a paper towel.
6. Dust finished cookies with confectioners sugar.

I brought these over for Mother's Day brunch. Everyone loved them!! They are not a real sweet cookie but are more like a little doughnut. I was surprised at how well they were received.

Cookies NEED eggs

Jeff asked me to bake some cookies after dinner last night. I had found a recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies on my friend's family recipe blog, and he agreed that they sounded delicious.

So, I mixed them all up, and popped the first dozen in the oven. Then I started to clean up and realized there was no egg shell on my counter.

Ooops! I had forgotten to add the egg.

While the first dozen was baking, I had already put the next dozen on the pan--ready to put in the oven. After a minute or so of hemming and hawing (is it OK to mix in the egg after the chocolate chips have been stirred in? what effect will no egg have? will the egg mix properly after the fact?), I decided to toss the dough of the 12 uncooked cookies back in the bowl, and go ahead and try to still mix in the forgotten egg.

Turns out, cookies really do need eggs. The first dozen tasted OK, but they didn't stick together very well.



And they didn't flatten as they should have.


We were left with very thick, dry, crumbly cookies.

Thankfully the remaining 2 1/2 dozen were delicious! Moist, chewy! I love the flavor combination of the peanut butter and chocolate chips.

If you're wondering what an egg exactly does in cookies, check out this website that I found this morning. It answers this very question plus gives more great information about the egg.

P.S. Is forgetting eggs a pattern? I also forgot eggs when making pancakes back in 2006. Perhaps since it was more than two years ago, it's not a pattern. Let's hope.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I had some bananas in our freezer that I needed to use before our move. Individual snacks move much more quickly in our home, so I found this recipe for banana oatmeal cookies. These turned out wonderfully; although, I did need to decrease the cooking time to around 9-10 min. If you have overripe bananas, this is an excellent recipe!


Banana Oatmeal Cookies III

Submitted by: JoAnn Bork Rated: 4 out of 5 by 12 members
Prep Time: 15 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes
Ready In: 45 Minutes Yields: 36 servings

"These are delicious moist cookies which freeze very well and a great way to use those overripe bananas."

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 cup shortening
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 cup mashed ripe bananas
• 1 3/4 cups rolled oats
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Cut in shortening until almost no lumps remain. Stir in the egg and bananas; mix well. Finally, stir in the oats and walnuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are browned. Remove from pans immediately to cool on wire racks.

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2005 Allrecipes.com
Printed from Allrecipes.com 7/23/2006