I made these cookies to take to my dentist’s office on Monday. That seems like a strange statement, and a lot of people thought it was when I told them what I was doing with these cookies, but it makes sense, I swear. A few cleanings ago, I was telling my hygienist about these cookies and she was just raving about how good they sounded and let me know that it was actually okay for people to bring in goodies, despite it being a dentist’s office.

So I resolved that I would make cookies for them at some point. Fast forward to a couple of weeks ago. I had a cleaning scheduled and I COMPLETELY forgot about it. Luckily I live close to the office, so when I got a phone call 10 minutes after the appointment was supposed to start, I was able to quickly get over there. She made a couple of comments about how she thought maybe I was busy making cookies. Unfortunately for me, and fortunately for all the employees of my dentist, I needed a cavity filled on Monday. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to make good on my promise.

I decided to make a peanut butter cookie, but knew I didn’t want to make just a classic peanut butter cookie. I plugged “peanut butter cookies” into Google and started scrolling. Originally I had been thinking that I would find something with chocolate chips, but this chocolate peanut butter cookie caught my attention and I was sold.

They received rave reviews from everyone I shared them with, and a lot of recipe requests, but I’m not completely sold on them. I think they need some chocolate chips.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
Source: Amanda’s Cookin’

1/2 cup shortening (or butter flavored shortening)
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
3 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl. Beat with electric mixer at medium speed until well blended. Add egg. Beat just until blended.

Combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Add to creamed mixture at low speed. Mix just until blended.

Drop by heaping teaspoonfuls (using a cookie scoop works great) 2 inches apart onto ungreased baking sheet. Flatten slightly in crisscross pattern with tines of fork.

Bake for 7 to 8 minutes, or until set and just beginning to brown. DO NOT OVERBAKE. Cool 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove cookies to racks to cool completely.

First of all, I should probably apologize that the first recipe that I am posting in the new year is cookies. If you are working hard on your new resolutions, way to go! If you really just need a cookie, well HERE you go! I don’t believe in any sort of diet that does not allow for chocolate so I don’t feel too bad for sharing cookies. When I put these into the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder, I came out with 3 Points+ per cookie. I don’t know about you, but I can save three points for a cookie!

In any case, these cookies are kind of odd for me to share. I made them for Thanksgiving and have been sitting on the recipe ever since for one simple reason– I can’t decide whether or not I liked them. That seems like a strange thing to say about a chocolate chip cookie stuffed with a Hershey kiss, but there was just something about them that kept me from saying, “Oh these are awesome!”

To be fair, I only had a few of them. I had one when they came out of the oven (because you can’t share cookies with others without first tasting them and making sure you didn’t swap salt for sugar or something!) and then I ate the cookies that I set aside for picture taking purposes. The rest of them were eaten by my family at Thanksgiving dinner and the leftovers were polished off by my coworkers the following weekend. I certainly didn’t hear any complaints from any of them!

I would probably try these cookies again, but I would think about using a different cookie recipe to wrap around the kisses. If you make them, or have made them before, I’d love to hear what you think!

Surprise Kiss Cookies
Source: Tasty Kitchen

1 Cup Softened Margarine
1/3 Cup Sugar
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar (packed)
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips Or Mini M&ms
1 9oz. Bag Hershey Kisses

1. Preheat over to 375 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter/margarine, sugars, and vanilla until well blended.
3. Add the flour and blend until smooth.
4. Stir in mini chocolate chips.
5. Mold a scant tablespoon of cookie dough around each unwrapped kiss, covering completely. Shape into balls.
6. Place into un-greased cookie sheet.
7. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set.
8. Cool slightly, move from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

I made these cookies aaaages ago, but I misplaced the recipe about as soon as I did. This is not really a good excuse for not posting them as I obtained the oatmeal cookie recipe from my mother, and theoretically could have asked for it again at any time in the intervening, oh, 8 months or so. No matter, I have finally asked for it again, she provided it, so here we are.

These are a very soft oatmeal cookie. You could use semi-sweet chocolate chips, or butterscotch chips… But I had bought a bag of dark chocolate chips at the grocery store and was stumped about how to use them. I, of course, took the question to facebook and the overwhelming response was “Oatmeal Cookies.” Now, I know there are a lot of oatmeal cookie recipes out there, but as soon as I decided that I was going to make them, I knew these were the only ones that would do.

I took them to work, and to roller derby practice, and they received rave reviews all around. So next time I buy a bag of dark chocolate chips when they are on sale, I know exactly what I’ll be making with them.

Oatmeal Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Mom’s recipe box

1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup sour milk
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cup flour
2 cup oatmeal
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 12 oz. bag chocolate chips

Cream together the first 3 ingredients, then stir in the following three ingredients. Add the flour and oatmeal, one cup at a time, alternating each one. Stir in the cinnamon, followed by the chocolate chips. Bake 10-12 minutes.

Note: When I first made these, I was really nervous because the dough was a whole lot “stickier” than a traditional cookie dough. They turned out perfectly though!

Or as one of my friends called them, “Inception Cookies.” Cause they are cookies within a cookie. See?

Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies blew up all over the blogosphere awhile back when Jenny at Picky Palate posted the original giant cookie way back in January. Having been on Weight Watchers for quite some time at that point, and not really being able to justify what was essentially three cookies in one, I never made them.

Recently, however, she posted a new version of the cookie… with MINI oreos. I was sold! They were a little time consuming, as any stuffed cookie tends to be, but not particularly difficult. I had some trouble with the dough sticking to my fingers, but a damp paper towel to wipe them off every couple of cookies was good enough to solve that problem.

Jenny recommends using a melon baller to place a scoop of cookie dough on top and bottom of the oreo, but this was NOT working for me. What I did was use my usual cookie scoop and then just pushed the oreo into the center of the dough. Then I pinched the dough closed around it and rolled into a ball.

As usual, these cookies received rave reviews from everyone I shared them with… in this case, a couple of my coworkers and a roller derby viewing party!

Mini Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Picky Palate

2 sticks softened butter
3/4 Cup packed light brown sugar
1 Cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
10 oz bag chocolate chips (I used mini chocolate chips!)
1 bag mini Oreo cookies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer cream butter and sugars until well combined. Add in eggs and vanilla until well combined.

2. In a separate bowl mix the flour, salt and baking soda. Slowly add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips until just combined. Using a melon baller, or teaspoon, take one scoop of cookie dough and place on top of a mini Oreo Cookie. Take another scoop of dough and place on bottom of Oreo Cookie. Seal edges together by pressing and cupping in hand until Oreo Cookie is enclosed with dough. Place onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake cookies 8-10 minutes or until cookies are baked to your liking. Let cool for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

Stop. Before you do anything else, go get your grocery list and add two things to it: Kraft caramels, and apple cider mix. You probably have all the other ingredients on hand already, and you are going to want to make these cookies as soon as possible. It didn’t take me long to get these cookies from bookmarked to baked, and I’m so glad I did.

I may or may not have eaten these cookies for breakfast with a steaming glass of hot chocolate every day until they were gone. I shared them with a couple of my coworkers, and the derby girls, and they received rave reviews all around. Accompanied by a few threats of bodily harm if I was not forthcoming with the recipe.

They were easier than you’d expect a stuffed cookie to be (I’d never made anything like that before) and not particularly time consuming. They were delicious and smelled heavenly! I will definitely be adding these to the make-again list. And I probably won’t wait all that long to do it!

Make them. Make them now.

Caramel Apple Cookies
Source: Scrambled Henfruit

1 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 box (7.4 oz) Alpine Spiced Apple Cider Instant Original Drink mix -not sugar free- all 10 packets
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 cups all purpose flour
1 bag Kraft Caramels (14 oz)

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line cookie sheets with parchment. (Don’t skip the parchment– you’ll be glad it’s there if some of the caramel leaks!) In a small bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder and cinnamon.
With your mixer, cream together butter, sugar, salt and all 10 packages of apple cider drink mix powder, until light and fluffy.Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add vanilla and mix well. Gradually add flour mixture to butter/egg mixture. Mix until just combined.

Refrigerate for about an hour. When you are ready to bake, unwrap your caramels.

Scoop out cookie dough ball about the size of a walnut. (I used a rounded cookie scoop-full. My scoop holds about a Tablespoon.) Flatten the ball of dough slightly in the palm of your hand. Press the unwrapped caramel into the center of your dough and seal the dough around it, covering it completely. Place on parchment covered cookie sheets 2 inches apart.

Bake 12-14 minutes, or until very lightly browned around the edges. Please don’t over-bake! Once the cookies are done, slide the parchment off of the baking sheet right out onto the counter. Allow cookies to partially cool on the parchment. When cookies are cool enough to be firm but still slightly warm, carefully twist off of parchment and allow to finish cooling upside down (either on the parchment or on a rack.) If you forget about them and they cool too much and stick to your parchment, put them into the freezer for a few minutes and they’ll pop right off.
Store in an airtight container.

What was that sound? Everything screeching to a halt?

Yes, you heard me. Me, the queen of posting recipes a year after I make them (hello, recipe unblogged from last Christmas)… I made these cookies yesterday, and I am posting them today. That should tell you how good they were! It’s basically a chocolate chip cookie with Nutella mixed into the batter. You know what Nutella is, right? That delicious chocolate hazelnut spread? I was introduced to it in Germany, and have been in loooove ever since.

These came together really quickly, and were very well received by everyone. I had to take the leftovers to work for my coworkers… not because I particularly felt like sharing, but because I would have sat here and seriously finished off every single last cookie. Let’s not wait any longer… let’s make some cookies!

You’ll need: Flour, baking soda, salt, butter, sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, chocolate chips and, of course, Nutella!

In a bowl, add 2 cups of flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

Whisk to combine, and set aside.

In a large bowl, add 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter.

To that, add 1 cup of sugar

and 1/2 cup of brown sugar.

Mix on medium speed until light and creamy.

Add 2 eggs

And 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla.

Mix until fully incorporated.

At a low speed, add flour mixture, a little at a time.

And mix until just combined.

Add 1/4 cup of delicious Nutella

Mix until fully incorporated.

Stir in 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. I’ll be honest, this is more like 1.75 or 2 cups of chocolate chips. Hey, if 1 1/2 is good, 2 is better, right?

Chill for 5-10 minutes.

Scoop out dough 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 for 9-11 minutes. Cool on the pan for 2 minutes.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely. And then eat one. Or two. Seriously, these cookies were awesome! Part of me wishes I would have made two batches! I am definitely contemplating the merits of adding Nutella to other kinds of cookie batter, it turned out so well with this one.

Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
Source: Macaroni and Cheesecake

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup Nutella
1-1/2 cups chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cover baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Add flour, baking soda & salt to a large bowl and whisk together, set aside.
In the bowl of stand mixer, on medium speed, mix together the butter, sugar & brown sugar until light & creamy. Mix in the eggs & vanilla until fully incorporated. Change the mixer to low & add the flour mixture a little at a time until just combined.
Add in nutella and mix until fully incorporated.
Remove bowl from stand mixer and stir in chocolate chips.
Chill dough for 5-10 minutes.
Using a small cookie scoop, scoop out dough balls & place on baking sheet 2 inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet about 2 minutes until set and then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely. Eat immediately or store in a airtight container. Enjoy!

Before Christmas I had bought a bag of chopped macadamia nuts and a bag of white chips, so I did a quick Google search for White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies, found a recipe labeled “The Best White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookie Recipe” and said OK! Good enough for me!

And they were. Quite delicious little cookies, they were a big hit with my family at Christmas and an even bigger hit with my coworkers last week. This recipe came out to nearly three dozen cookies using my cookie scoop so there are plenty to share!

Let’s get started.

You’ll need: Butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, eggs, flour, baking soda, white chocolate chips, and macadamia nuts

In a large bowl, add 1 cup of softened butter

1 cup of sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons of vanilla

and 1/2 teaspoon of salt.

Using an electric mixer, beat until creamy.

{{At this point there should be pictures of adding eggs, but I forgot to TAKE those pictures, sorry!}}

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

In a smaller bowl, add 2 1/2 cups flour

and 1 teaspoon of baking soda.

Give it a quick stir to combine and then…

Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture…

… until well blended.

Add the white chocolate chips. The recipe calls for 10oz, but I saw no reason not to add the entire 12 oz bag.

And 1 cup of macadamia nuts. (And did you know there is no ‘e’ anywhere in the word macadamia? Cause I keep trying to put one in there, and my spell check keeps yelling at me!)

Stir those in until they are well distributed.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until set.

Let cool for a couple minutes, and then remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Then enjoy! And for the sake of your hips, please share with others. They’ll love you for it. (Your hips and your friends!)

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Source: Whipped

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking soda
10 ounces white chocolate (chips or bars cut in chunks)
1 cup macadamia nuts, chopped into chunks

Directions:

Heat oven to 375 F. In large bowl, beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt with electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs, beat well. Stir together flour, and the baking soda; gradually add to butter mixture,beating until well blended. Stir in white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. (Edges are golden brown and center is set.) Cool slightly, remove from cookie sheet to wire rack to cool completely.

I found this recipe on the back of the bag of toffee chips. Let’s get started!

You’ll need: Flour, brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, milk, vanilla, egg, baking soda, salt, and chocolate covered toffee chips

Start with 1/2 cup of shortening. Do yourself a favor and buy the handy little sticks of shortening– MUCH easier for recipes. I didn’t have any, and I was trying to use up this little container of Crisco.

Follow the shortening with 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

3 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Beat until well blended

Add one egg. Clearly, I broke mine while adding it to the bowl.

Beat in the egg until just blended

In a separate bowl, combine 1 1/2 cups flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

and 3/4 teaspoon salt

Stir with a whisk to combine

Gradually add to peanut butter mixture

Continue until all of the flour mixture has been combined with the peanut butter mixture.

Add the bag of toffee chips. The recipe indicates to use part of the bag, and sprinkle the cookies with the remaining chips, but that’s just more work. So I added them all to the dough and called it good.

Go ahead and stir those in.

Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet

Bake at 375 for 7-8 minutes or until set. Don’t over bake them– they’ll be hard as a rock if you do!

Cool for two minutes, then remove to a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!

Heath Bits Peanut Butter Cookies

1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cup Heath milk chocolate toffee bits, divided

Heat oven to 375.
Beat shortening, peanut butter, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Add egg; beat just until blended. Combine flour, baking soda, salt; gradually beat into peanut butter mixture. Stir in 1 cup toffee bits; reserve remainder for topping.
Drop by heaping teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet; top each with reserved toffee bits. Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until set. Do not overbake. Cool 2 minutes. Remove to wire rack. Cool completely.

Well, in any case, I’m posting them now, so that’s got to count for something! I love this cookie. Peanut butter + chocolate = love. Even though I do occasionally make them at other times of year, I tend to think of these as Christmas cookies. I make them almost every year at this time, and that’s when I remember making them with my mom when I was younger. (My job was to unwrap all the kisses before she got the hot cookies out of the oven. I probably ate as many as made it onto cookies.)

Super simple to make, and really good- I don’t know why I don’t make them more often!

You’ll need: Flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, brown sugar, shortening, peanut butter, egg, milk, vanilla, Hershey Kisses.

In a large bowl, add 1 3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 egg

2 Tablespoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine until dough forms. Not quite there yet…

There we go. Shape the dough into balls.

Then roll those dough balls in granulated sugar. I find it easiest to pour some sugar onto a small plate.

Place sugar coated dough balls onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

While the cookies are in the oven, unwrap your Hershey kisses. (Or you can unwrap them before you get started… but I tend to do them as I go as I don’t want to unwrap more kisses than I end up with cookies.)

When the cookies are done, take them out of the oven…

… and IMMEDIATELY press a Hershey Kiss into the center of each cookie. You’ll have to leave the cookies in a single layer wherever you put them when you take them off the pan until they are completely cool. Until they’re cool, the chocolate on the kisses stays melted (I wanted to say melty, but Firefox says that’s not a word) and you’ll just end up smearing the chocolate around everywhere.

Enjoy!

Peanut Blossom Cookies

1 3/4 cup flour
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. crisco shortening
1/2 c. peanut butter
1 egg
2 T. milk
1 t. vanilla

Combine until dough forms. Shape into balls and roll in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 375. Top each cookie with a kiss. Press firmly.

Take this recipe here. It is in fact a Christmas cookie recipe, and I am posting it a week before Christmas! But don’t be fooled. I am not that prepared. I am still making my grocery lists for this year’s baking. I made THESE particular Christmas cookies LAST year. Probably on the 23rd because that’s the earliest baking I did last Christmas.

So just in case you’re like me and still planning your Christmas baking for this weekend or next week, I present you: Coconut Fudge Cups! These were really good, but they felt really labor intensive. Could be because I was trying to take pictures at the same time, triple checking the recipe, and anticipating many many more hours of baking ahead of me. The resulting cookies were worth it though as I will (hopefully) be making these again this year. I might even go crazy and make more than one batch!

Then again, I might be so tired from grocery store list making that I don’t make anything at all.

You’ll need: Butter or margarine, cream cheese, flour, powdered sugar, unsweetened baking cocoa, vanilla, sugar, coconut, egg, {chocolate chips, whipping cream, green/red food coloring}- optional for garnish

In a large bowl, place 1/4 cup butter or margarine

Add 3 ounces of cream cheese

Beat together with an electric mixer on medium speed.

Add 3/4 cup flour

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa

and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Stir to combine.

Roll the dough into 24 one inch balls and place into ungreased mini muffin cups.

Press the dough into bottom and up the sides of each cup and set aside.

For the filling, combine 2/3 cup of granulated sugar

2/3 cup of coconut

1/3 cup cocoa

2 Tablespoons of softened butter or margarine

and one egg.

Mix until the filling is spreadable.

Spoon about 2 teaspoons of filing into each cup.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes, or until almost no indentation remains when filling is touched lightly. Cool slightly.

Remove to wire cooling rack. If you’d like, you can be done at this point. Or you can continue on and add the garnish.

Put 1/4 cup of coconut into a small resealable bag, and add a few drops of red or green food coloring.

Shake the bag to distribute the color.

Meanwhile, put 1/4 cup chocolate chips into a small microwavable container.

Add 2 teaspoons of whipping cream. Microwave on high for 30 seconds, and stir until smooth.

Frost the top of the coconut cups with the chocolate, and sprinkle on the red or green coconut.

Enjoy!

Coconut Fudge Cups
Source: ? I made these a year ago and can’t find which holiday baking magazine I took them out of… I want to say Betty Crocker, but could be wrong.

Cookie Ingredients
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 (3 oz.) pkg cream cheese, softened.
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1/4 c. powdered sugar
2 T. unsweetened baking cocoa
1/2 t. vanilla

Coconut Fudge Filling
2/3 c. granulated sugar
2/3 c. flaked coconut
1/3 c. unsweetened baking cocoa
2 T. butter or margarine, softened
1 egg

Garnish, if desired
1/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips
2 t. whipping cream
1/2 c. flaked coconut
green and red food coloring

Heat oven to 350. In large bowl, beat butter and cream cheese with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in remaining cookie ingredients.
Shape dough into 24 1-inch balls. Press 1 ball into bottom and up side of each of 24 ungreased mini muffin cups. Mix filling ingredients until spreadable. Spoon about 2 teaspoons filling into each cup.
Bake 18 to 20 minutes or until almost no indentation remains when filling is touched lightly. Cool slightly; carefully remove muffin cups to cooling rack.
In 1 cup microwaveable cup, microwave chocolate chips and whipping cream on high 30 seconds, stir until smooth. Frost tops of fudge cups with chocolate.
In small resealable plastic bag, toss 1/4 cup coconut with red food color, or green food color. Garnish each fudge cup with red or green coconut.