Red Velvet Chocolate Chip Cookies

Birthdays are a time for celebration.  Not just with family and friends, but with coworkers too.  Each month, we celebrate at least 2 birthdays, if not more!  To keep it fair, each person brings the birthday dessert for the birthday after their own.  My birthday girl loves red velvet cake.  Last year, I attempted my first cake of its kind.  This year, I decided to try something different: Red Velvet Cookies.  Oh my.  They were delicious!  Thank you Sally's Baking Addiction for such a fantastic recipe!

Ingredients:

3 cups + 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

4 teaspoons vanilla extract

4 teaspoons red food coloring - This is the approximate amount I ended up using.  They weren't really red, though, so twice as much may be necessary.

1 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus a few extra for topping

Directions:

Mix flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl and set aside.

Beat butter in a stand mixer (or using a handheld mixer) until creamy.  Beat in brown and white sugar until combined.  Add eggs, milk and vanilla extract followed by the food coloring.  Once well combined, add dry ingredients.  Turn mixer on to slower speed and beat until soft dough is formed.  Add food coloring if you choose, then beat in chocolate chips.

Once dough is complete, cover your mixing bowl with foil and refrigerate for at least an hour. 

Next, preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Scoop 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoon of dough and mold into a ball.  Place balls on to cookie sheet covered with parchment paper with approximately an inch between each cookie.  The cookies will not spread a whole lot.  Bake for 10-11 minutes and remove from oven.

With a spoon, gently flatten the cookie to form a semi-crinkled cookie.  Add a few chocolate chips to the top of each cookie.  Let cool for 3-4 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.

These cookies were a total hit at the office!  And there were none left!  Hope you like them as much as I did!

Chocolate-Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

Hey all!  I hope you each had a wonderful Christmas holiday with friends and family.  We're recuperating quite well from the travel, food, and bustle of activity.  We were blessed to spend Christmas Eve with my family and Christmas Day with my husband's family enjoying each other's company, opening gifts and eating delicious food.  I have a few recipes from our Christmas breakfast to share with you in the coming weeks, but wanted to share a delicious cookie recipe with you today: Chocolate-Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies.  This recipe is adapted from Ocean Spray's online recipes.

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cup brown sugar, Splenda
4 large eggs
3 cups old-fashioned oats
3 cups flour
2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon milk
1 5-ounce package dried cranberries
3/4 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Using a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy.  Add eggs and mix well.  In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.  Slowly add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition.  Finally, add milk and mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

Drop by  rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Bake for 8-11 minutes or until golden brown.  Then cool on wire rack.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

These cookies were a hit at work and at home!  My husband loved them and couldn't be more excited about leftovers from the office!

Coming soon!
Cranberry Clementine Muffins
Breakfast Casserole
Layer Biscuits

Chocolate Peppermint Meringues

Hi everyone!  Hope you're having a great weekend so far!  Just thought I'd stop by and share a quick recipe if you're in need of a last minute holiday treat.  I made these for my work Christmas party last week and they were delicious!  Without further ado: Chocolate Peppermint Meringues (adapted from Joyofbaking.com).

Ingredients:
6 egg whites
2 cups granulated sugar - I chose to use Splenda
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/3 cup crushed candy canes
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Put egg whites into stand-up mixer and whisk until small bubbles form.  Add sugar and mix until stiff peaks form.  Add cocoa powder and vanilla and mix well.  Fold in crushed candy canes and mini chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into piping bag and pipe onto parchment paper lined cookie trays.  Place in preheated oven for 1 minutes and then turn oven off.  Leave in oven with door closed for 3 hours or until cookie is crisp.

Yum yum!

Candy Corn Cookies

Two days before Halloween, my coworkers decided we should have a fun Halloween celebration full of candy, snacks, and other sweets.  Unfortunately, I was pressed for time between a salon appointment and working late that I felt like my last resort was going to be to purchase something un-festive.  Don't get me wrong; there's absolutely nothing wrong with store-bought items, but I enjoy baking and creating things at home.  In comes Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix and an adaptation of this recipe.

Ingredients:
2 pouches Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
2/3 cup margarine, melted
2 eggs
Red and Yellow food gel

Directions:
Following the directions on the package, prepare the sugar cookie dough.  Once complete, divide the dough into three sections.  Add yellow food gel to one section and mix well.  Add yellow and red food gel to the second section and mix well.

Next, line a loaf pan with waxed paper, making sure the paper extends over the edges of the pan.  Spread the non-dyed dough into the bottom of the pan.  Gently press the orange dough on top, followed by the yellow dough.  Place the loaf pan into the refrigerator for 1 1/2 to 2 hours or until firm.

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Remove the dough from the pan and cut into quarter inch slices.  Next cut each slice into 5 wedges.  On an ungreased cookie sheet, place cookies approximately 1 inch apart.  Bake 7 to 9 minutes until edges are very light golden brown.  Cool and store in an air tight container.

Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hi, everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend!  We've kept things pretty low-key this weekend. We visited my grandparents, did some grocery shopping saw Jurassic Park in Imax 3D and made cookies with our brand new Kitchenaid Mixer.  That's right - our Kitchenaid Mixer.  I seriously have some of the best co-workers.  Ever.  They surprised with me a wonderful bridal shower last week and this wonderful gift.  I.  Love.  It. 

So as a way to thank them for their wondefulness and genoristy, I decided to make delicious Double Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I searched the Hershey's Kitchens website and found Hershey's "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Chip Cookies.  No changes this time round, just ditched the nuts.
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks margarine, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 package chocolate chips (11.5 oz)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl on medium speed of mixer until creamy.  Add eggs and beat well.  Gradually add flour mixture, beating well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Drop by teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets (I used a melon baller to scoop the cookies). 

Bake 8-10 minutes or until set.  Cool slightly, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies.

 

(Love the Wilton stackable cookie sheets!)

 

Oatmeal Banana Cookies

We woke up to several inches of snow and cold this morning.  Who wants to get out in that?!  Not me!  I want to stay where its nice and warm and where I can cuddle up with this precious little guy.

 

To start off our day in, I made Oatmeal Banana Cookies inspired by The Burlap Bag's Two Ingredient Cookies.  I added a few extras ingredients and they turned out a winner!

 

Ingredients:

2 large bananas, mashed

1 cup quick oats

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup chocolate chips

cinnamon-sugar mixture

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix mashed bananas, oats, vanilla and chocolate chips together until all ingredients are wet.  Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or grease a cookie sheet) and scoop mixture into individual cookies on sheet.  Sprinkle with cinnamon-sugar.  Bake for 12-15 minutes.

 

We made 12 cookies with our mixture.