Sweetnicks

Food and Life

Recipe: Overloaded Monster Cookies

· Narrative

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Today has been three shades of exhausting.

But the very best kind.

The kind that starts with an awards ceremony in the morning, and ends with a graduation party at night. (Both Nick)

Complete with a disco ball and neon headpieces.

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That being said, getting this recipe to you is the only thing standing between me and my pillow … so let’s go.

The past two weeks saw a flurry of activity in my kitchen. Namely the baking kind. I made two separate jumbo cookie recipes to give out to friends, and to the kids at the bus stop, as part of a last week of school hurrah.

If you like the sweet and salty combo (me! me!), then this one’s for you.

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Big chunks of chocolate.

Small bits of salty pretzels.

A bit of coconut to give the cookie a nice chew.

Pretty much makes for an awesome cookie.

Mix everything in one bowl to make it simple.

I made this batch into half super size cookies, and half normal size.

You know.

To make e-v-e-r-y-b-o-d-y happy.

Tomorrow? Nick’s graduation!
Friday? Madeline’s graduation!

Hurrah!

*A thousand thanks to all of you who bought bracelets from Nick – he’s sold 28 so far, amassing a small fortune to donate to the animal shelter. xoxo

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Recipe: Alice’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Alice's Chocolate Chip Cookie-001
When Madeline got into my car after school on Friday, she started telling me that she wanted to make some chocolate chip cookies to bring in for her teachers “tomorrow.”

Which is all sorts of awesome, of course.

Except that “tomorrow,” was, in fact, Saturday.

So now, “tomorrow” is tomorrow. Tuesday. And these big, fat, chocolate-y babies are going in with her.

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I’ve made this recipe a few times over the last few months. The first time I made them, Nick ate most of them himself. A couple in his lunchbox. A couple after dinner.

And before you know it, poof.

In his defense, only half the batch were normal size, and the other half, which were giant size, had been quickly smuggled away and given as care packages during the holidays.

So he only ate half of what we had left by himself.

For the most part, this recipe might not be unlike other chocolate chip cookie recipes. I think the biggest differences are that it calls for dark brown sugar and sea salt. And you know I put in a smidge extra when it came to the sea salt.

Natch.

When I’m scooping the dough onto the cookie sheets, I do half of the batch with a large ice cream scoop, and the other half with a normal size. The giant ones are perfect treats for delivering to neighbors, friends, and in this case, teachers.

And by doing this, we’re doing good deeds, and leaving ourselves with only half a batch.

So, you know, half the guilt, right?

Make ’em. Share them.

Amen.

*PS and, of course, if you vary the sizes, you’ll need to adjust the cooking times and pay close attention.

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Recipe: Lofthouse-Style Cookies

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Lofthouse Cookie - First Bite
This has been one of those weeks at the office where we are all, nearly literally, crawling to Friday.

That we were all supremely disappointed to find out that it was only Wednesday.

That a liquid lunch sounded like just the thing to take the edge off.

Except that it’s generally frowned upon.

The type of week that can only be saved by nearly three sticks of butter.

And a quick count to see just how many hours are left until Friday.

Have you heard of Lofthouse cookies?  Funny.  Every person that tried these had never heard of them before.  I thought they were a little more widely known than that.

They are the giant, frosted, soft sugar cookies you can find in plastic clamshells at your local grocery store or Wal-Mart.  Lofthouse got its start in 1994, and as it gained in popularity, it had added more items to its line, including gingerbread kits.

I found a copycat recipe for the cookies last week and, of course, pinned it to my cookies board on Pinterest.

Monday night, despite a very full day of work, school, CCD, and scouts, the recipe got made.  Nick was out of the house for 12 and a half hours.  Cookies make things like that better.

The recipe is super simple to make, and I even followed the directions enough to allow for an hour of dough chilling.  Truth be told, I usually skip that step.

No patience whatsoever.

Especially with primadonna recipes.

Let alone primadonna people.

The recipe said 24 cookies.  I eeked out 22.  I also needed to let mine cook for a good 6-8 minutes past the suggested cooking time.

But they were good.

Sweet.  Without being too sweet.  Big.  Almost too big.

Teacher's Cookies
We wrapped up a single cookie for three of the kids’ teachers.  A plate full of them went into work.  And a few more went to neighbors.

Just a few left at home for us.

Which is perfect.

When you want to eat your troubles away or give away a sweet treat just because.

Lofthouse-Style Cookies.  You can grab the recipe right here.

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Recipe: Peanut Butter and Honey Cookies

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Peanut Butter and Honey Cookies

Although I don’t have a big sweet tooth, every once in awhile, something comes along that is just too hard to resist. A few specific cookies.  Reese’s Peanut Butter Big Cups.  Hershey’s Cherry Cordial Kisses.  Cadbury Creme Eggs.  And when that happens, I need to get it out of the house … fast … lest I eat more than my fair share. For me, these Peanut Butter and Honey cookies were a surprising hit and fell into this category. Although the dough smelled amazing when I was mixing it (yes, I might have snuck a bite or two), for whatever reason, I didn’t have high hopes for the finished product. I was wrong. Terribly wrong.

You know those thin Florentine lace type cookies? The cookie reminds me a bit of those, in terms of texture and crispness. A thin cookie, a nice crisp on the outside, slightly chewy on the inside.  The taste is instantly peanut buttery with hints of honey. So good that you’ll find yourself reaching for another and another and another. These would even be great crumbled up over a little vanilla bean ice cream too. I had four a few, and then packaged the rest up and divided them amongst a few recipients, saving just a few for the cookie jar. This is one of those cookies that just had to get out of the house. And quick.

Project 365
February 23, 2010, Photo #53

Chocolate Decadence

“Mom, why is there chocolate all over the counter?” Yeah, I was in a bit of a hurry tonight when ladling out the chocolate for these little desserts. One of my favorite Cooking Light desserts, these were the perfect sweet treat when The Neighbors came over for dinner tonight. Recipe tomorrow. This is one of those make-this-right-away-you-won’t-be-sorry ones. Don’t miss it.

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Christmas Baking: Snickerdoodles

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Slightly crispy, slightly sweet, but full on deliciousness, Snickerdoodles are a cookie jar favorite that you’ll find yourself making again and again.

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It took me well over thirty years for me to discover Snickerdoodles (or as one of the little boys from carpool very cutely calls them “snickledoodles”).  There’s this little bookstore about 45 minutes away that has wonderful book events.  We haven’t been there in awhile, but when my mom and I head out there, we always save a little time to stop at a local bakery in town first.  Their cookies are crazy expensive, but we always leave with a little bundle to feast on on our way home.  So there was where I first discovered … and fell in love with … Snickerdoodles.  And, surprisingly, as much as I love them, I’ve never made them.  Until now.

I used the below recipe, which was originally from an issue of Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies, but which Patsy from Family, Friends and Food took to another level by adding cinnamon chips.  Cinnamon chips are a rare find in this part of the country.  In fact, so far I have yet to see them in New Jersey, though I recently heard they might be available at Kings grocery store, so I will have to check it out.  Over the summer, we made a weekend trip to Hershey Park and while shopping in their store, I stocked up on cinnamon chips in a big way….

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