SRC - Carrot Cake Cookies

Time for another Secret Recipe Club reveal!  I love getting my blog assignment each month and this month I was assigned the blog Its Yummi.    I know I have said it before but I always go straight to the desserts, and more specifically cupcakes if there are any.  I surprised myself this month though, because I kept looking at and thinking about these  Carrot Cake Cookies.  Usually I don't even consider making a cookie recipe no matter how good it looks as cookies are just not my thing (and by that I mean, I generally cannot make a decent cookie).  I have burnt so many cookies it is ridiculous, I just have zero instincts for baking a decent cookie so I usually avoid them.   

However, around the time I was deciding on my SRC choice I was asked to make cupcakes for a bridal shower, and one of the requested items was my pineapple carrot cake.  Sadly, I have tried but failed before at turning that recipe into cupcakes but I kept thinking that these cookies would be a great alternative if I could actually get them to come out good. Plus, it would give the bridal shower a taste of carrot cake but in cookie form.

They turned out amazing!!   Wow - they came out perfectly - probably the best batch of cookies I've made, and the customer for the bridal shower was thrilled that I threw these in with their cupcake order.   

I was a little concerned as I made them because they were very stiff as the wet and dry ingredients came together, but I stuck with the recipe (okay, I added another tsp of vanilla even though it wasn't needed, but see, no instincts for making a good cookie!) and they baked perfectly.  They were perfectly round, had a lightly crisp bottom and a cake-like texture.   Best of all, they tasted really, really good.  I will definitely be making these cookies again.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp orange zest

1 tsp vanilla extract 

2 cups all purpose flour

2 cups oats

1 cup grated carrots 

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/2 cup flaked coconut

Cream cheese frosting:

1 stick unsalted butter
1 8oz. package cream cheese
Seeds from 1 plumped vanilla bean (vanilla beans plumped in rum for at least 2 weeks)
2 cups icing sugar

Walnut halves for topping

Preheat oven to 350.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and sugars until combined.  Add in the baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Beat until combined.

Add in the eggs, orange zest, vanilla extract and flour, mix until combined.

Take the bowl off the stand mixer and stir in by hand the oats, carrots, coconut and walnuts.

Drop cookie dough by tablespoons about 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 12 minutes.

To make the cream cheese frosting in the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and cream cheese until smooth. Add the vanilla and icing sugar and beat for 3 minutes, until thick and fluffy.

Frost the cooled cookies with the cream cheese frosting and top with a walnut half.

An InLinkz Link-up

Cornflake Marshmallow Cookies

It is no secret that cookies are not my favourite thing.  I don't eat them often and I am not really good at making them either, although if there was any cookie that would change my mind about that it would be these cornflake marshmallow cookies from Momofuku Milk Bar.

These cookies are so fun and so different than a regular chocolate chip cookie.  And that cornflake crunch is amazing straight off the baking tray, even better in the cookies though!

16 tbs butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 cups Cornflake Crunch
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups mini marshmallows

Cornflake crunch
5 cups cornflakes
1/2 cup milk powder
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
9 tbs butter, melted

To make the cornflake crunch, preheat oven to 275.

Place the cornflakes in a large bowl and crush with your hands. Mix in the milk powder, sugar and salt.  Pour in the butter and stir until combined.

Place cornflake mixture on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Bake for 20 minutes, leave to cool.

To make the cookies, put the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together for 2 minutes.  Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for 8 minutes.

Reduce the mixer to low and add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix just until combined.  Add in the cornflake crunch, chocolate chips and marshmallows and mix for just a minute.

Using a third cup measure, portion out the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.  Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Heat oven to 375 and bake chilled cookies for 18 minutes.

Lemon Cookies

A few weeks ago I had a rare day off from daycare, so I decided to spend a few hours baking, something I very rarely get the chance to do these days.  I guess I was in a spring mood because I went the citrus route and made some lemon cookies and an orange pound cake!

1 lemon cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
zest of a lemon
juice of a lemon
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl, mix cake mix, the eggs, oil, lemon juice and zest.

Drop tablespoons of the cookie dough into icing sugar, roll in the sugar until completely covered.  Place on a baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Gingerbread Cookies

Time for another Secret recipe Club reveal. This month I was assigned the blog Secrets from the Cookie Princess  and with a blog name like that of course I had to make a cookie recipe, especially at this time of the year, although I have to admit that I do not make cookies very often as I am just not that good at it.  However, with a recipe from the cookie princess I hoped to have a better result than normal.

As it is almost Christmas I decided to make Colleen's Gingerbread Cookies and as I couldn't find my cookie cutters anywhere I just made round cookies sprinkled with sugar.  I have to say that my kitchen smelled so good while these were baking and they are quite honestly the most delicious gingerbread cookies I have ever had.

6 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
4 tsp ground ginger
4 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp finely ground pepper
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups molasses

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar.  Add in the ginger, cinnamon, cloves and pepper.  Mix in the eggs and molasses.  Slowly add in the flour and mix until the combined.

If you want to make cut out cookies, divide the dough into thirds and wrap in cling film and refrigerate for at least an hour before rolling the dough 1/4 inch thick.  I just broke off small pieces of the dough, rolled into balls that I flattened slightly, placed on a baking sheet and sprinkled with sugar.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

 

Rainbow Swirl Cookies

I was so thrilled that Payton and Parker asked me to make their birthday cakes this year. They were both very specific in what they wanted (especially Parker Kate, who wanted a purple ombre littlest pet shop cake).  Payton however wanted a rainbow cake with turquoise frosting that looked very grown up, the addition of zebra print came after a trip to Michaels where she saw a sheet of Wilton's edible zebra print sugar sheets.  I also knew that I wanted to make these rainbow swirl cookies that I had seen over at Sprinkle Bakes.  The original cookies were red and flavoured with strawberry, I wanted these cookies to match Payton's cake so I coloured them turquoise and used a blue raspberry flavouring. 

2 cups cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup icing sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp raspberry extract
1/2 tsp turquoise food colour
2 tbsp cake flour
Rainbow jumbo sprinkles

In a food processor combine the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and icing sugar, pulse to mix. Add the butter slowly, pulsing until combined. Add in the vanilla and process until the mixture forms a ball.

Divide the dough into 2, put one half back into the processor, add the raspberry flavouring and the turquoise food colour and the 2 tablespoons of flour and mix until combined.

Roll out the vanilla dough and the flavoured dough between wax paper, to form a rectangle around 11 x 8. Place the dough in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

Place the sprinkles into a large dish.  Remove the top sheet of wax paper from both doughs, carefully flip the coloured dough onto the vanilla dough, press together and remove the wax paper from the top.  Trim the edges and roll the dough starting with the long side, once rolled into a log place in the dish containing the sprinkles, roll in the sprinkles until completely covered. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 4 hours. 

When ready to bake, heat oven to 325.  Slice into 1/4 inch rounds and bake on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes.

I also made Payton some zebra print brownies.  Here's a picture of everything together.

 

Her sliced rainbow cake.

Just because I don't want to leave Miss Parker Kate out of this post, here is her littlest pet shop cake and the cookies I made for her.

 

Parker's sliced ombre cake.

 Thank you for asking me to make your cakes, girls.  I hope you liked them!

  Linked to: made in a day, mandatory mooch, mom on time out, two yellow birds, what's cooking, love?, craftionary, tutus and tea parties, i should be mopping the floor,

Christmas Shortbread Bites

These little shortbread squares look so festive, I knew I had to make them as part of our holiday treats this year.

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour 
1/4 cup sugar 
1 stick butter, cold, cut into pieces 
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp red and green sprinkles 

 Preheat oven to 325.

In food processor, pulse flour and sugar until combined. Add butter and vanilla and pulse until dough begins to come together. Place dough in medium bowl. With hand, gently knead in sprinkles until evenly blended and dough forms a ball.

On lightly floured waxed paper, pat dough into 8" by 5" rectangle and freeze for15 minutes. Cut dough into 1/2-inch squares. Place squares, 1/2 inch apart, on large cookie sheet.

Bake cookies 18 to 20 minutes or until lightly browned on bottom.

Triple Chocolate Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies

I found these cookies over at What Megan's Making and I really loved that they have fresh cranberries in them, as most of the cranberry cookie recipes I have seen use the dried cranberries.  There's nothing wrong with dried cranberries in cookies of course, but it was nice to find this recipe when I had a bag of fresh cranberries that I needed to use!

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup oats
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped fresh cranberries
2 ounces white chocolate

Preheat oven to 350.

Line a cookies sheet with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a large bowl, beat butter and both sugars until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add flour mixture and oats and stir until blended. Stir in all chocolate chips and cranberries.

Drop batter by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake for 15 minutes.Leave to cool. Melt the 2 ounces of white chocolate and drizzle over the cooled cookies.

Cranberry Bliss Cookies

I love the cranberry bliss bars from Starbucks, and last year I did make them, but as soon as I saw these cranberry bliss cookies form Gimme Some Oven I knew I had to include them in my holiday baking this year.  The finished cookies are supposed to have a drizzle of white chocolate on them but I was running very low on white chocolate so I skipped that and then I also ran out of the dried cranberries which is why the cranberry topping is so sparse.  Other than that though, these cookies are incredible, definitely my favourite holiday treat I have made this year.

Cookies:
3 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries

Frosting:
1 (8 oz.) bar cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup white chocolate chips, melted
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups icing sugar

Topping:
1 cup dried cranberries, roughly chopped
1/4 cup white chocolate chips, melted
 

Preheat oven to 350.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Fold in the white chocolate chips and cranberries. Cover and refrigerate for an hour.

Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper and drop tablespoons of the dough onto paper.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Leave cookies to cool.

To make the frosting, in the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and melted white chocolate.  Add the vanilla, reduce speed to low and add the icing sugar and beat until smooth.

Spread the frosting on the cookies, top with the chopped cranberries and a drizzle of white chocolate.

Apple Cider Caramel Cookies

I am still trying out recipes for the bake sale, and I have had this cookie recipe from Six Sisters Stuff pinned for a while.  The original recipe calls for whole caramels that you wrap the cookie dough around, but having read the comments from others who have made this, I decided to use caramel bits and mix them through the dough so the whole cookie has caramel rather than just the center.

1 cup unsalted butter, nearly melted
1 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (7.4 ounce) box Alpine spiced apple cider drink mix

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3 cups all purpose flour
1 bag Kraft caramel bits

Preheat oven to 350 and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat together the butter, sugar and salt.  Add in the apple cider mix and beat until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla, followed by the baking soda and baking powder. Add the flour and mix until just combined, stir in the caramel bits.
Using a cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto the lined baking sheets and sprinkle sugar over the top of the cookies. 
Bake 12 to 14 minutes.

Saltine Toffee Cookies

I thought these would make a great addition to our holiday treats this year, and they are so quick and easy to make, and the end result tastes like a dime bar!
The original recipe calls for sprinkling chopped pecans over the top, but I did half with chopped macadamia nuts and half with crumbled heath bar.


1 1/2 sleeves saltine crackers
1 cup butter
1 - cup light brown sugar
1 - 12 oz package chocolate chips
1 - cup chopped nuts or heath bar

1.Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2.Line cookie sheet with saltine crackers in single layer.
3.In a saucepan combine the sugar and the butter. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Immediately pour over saltines and spread t cover crackers completely.
4.Bake at 400 degrees for 5 to 6 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over the top. Let sit for 5 minutes. Spread melted chocolate and top with chopped nuts. Cool completely and break into pieces

S'mores Chocolate Chip Cookies

The hubby has a pot luck lunch at work every tuesday, so I made these for him to take last week.

See the recipe over at Picky Palate

Cherry Almond Coconut Cookies

I am a little obsessed with coconut right now, so when I saw this recipe over at Sugar Duchess I just had to make them, and they are so very good!


1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups flaked coconut
1 jar maraschino cherries, drained and halved

In a large mixing bowl, cream shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in extract. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to the creamed mixture. Stir in coconut.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto lightly greased baking sheets. Place a cherry half in the center of each. Bake at 350 degrees for 12-13 minutes. Immediately remove to wire racks to cool.

Special K Cookies

Last weekend we had a bbq block party in our neighbourhood, and I made a number of desserts, one of which was these special k cookies (I'll be postng all the other recipes soon) I found the recipe for these cookies at Adventures In The Kitchen I didn't have original special k, so I used what I had which was the special k red berries. These cookies are very good and very crunchy!

1 cup flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup butter softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg, beaten
3 cups Special K cereal, crushed

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a large bowl mix butter, sugar and vanilla together, beat in egg

In a separate bowl mix dry ingredients together. Add to the butter mixture along with 2 cups of Special K

Roll into 1 tsp balls and roll the balls into remaining crushed Special K cereal and place on a cookie sheet

Bake until golden brown 8-10 minutes

Coconut Cookies

I made these cookies for a Christmas cookie challenge on a message board I participate in. I used to love the coconut cookies from Sainsburys when I lived in England, but since being in the States I haven't really found that many coconut cookies, so I knew I wanted to try and make some for this challenge.
I got the recipe from www.Allrecipes.com, and I have to say that they are wonderful. I think I will have to send them with DH to work tomorrow just to get them out of the house!

Chewy coconut cookies:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut




Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl and set aside


In a seperate bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar


Add egg and vanilla


Beat until light and fluffy


Slowly add the flour mixture


Stir in the coconut


Place teaspoonfulls on an ungreased cookie sheet (I used the cookie scoop I always use when makng cookies) and bake at 350 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes