cookies

Brown Butter Bourbon Cookies

I know, I know! That bottle of bourbon is almost empty! I should have just taken that last shot before taking the photo… But here we are… Super delicious, ooey gooey brown butter BOURBON cookies! These were a lot of fun to make because there are different steps you need to do and the cookie dough itself was fun to work with. I’m definitely going to be making these for Thanksgiving and Christmas because they have that perfect fall/winter vibe going on. Spices, brown butter and of course bourbon.

So, on to the recipe. Go ahead and start your ovens, get your aprons on and let’s bake!

Tip: Feel free to play around with different spices. All I had on hand when I made these was pumpkin pie spice so that’s what I used but if you have nutmeg and allspice or even cloves, feel free to use that!

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulate sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) of unsalted butter browned and cooled. See Note.
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons bourbon

Note: To brown butter, cut into pieces and put into a small saucepan over medium heat. Allow to melt and then whisk constantly until browned. This will take almost 10 minutes so be patient. As soon as the butter turns brown, remove from heat and continue to whisk until cooled slightly.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, spices and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat both sugars and cooled brown butter. Add in eggs, vanilla and bourbon and beat until combined. Slowly beat in flour mixture until combined.

Scoop the dough onto prepared cookie sheet and bake for 9-12 minutes (depending on how big your cookies are) or until the sides are just beginning to brown. Cool on cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store covered at room temp. Enjoy!

 

Soft White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know I have a couple other recipes for white chocolate chip cookies and squares, but this one is a bit different. Liam loves white chocolate and prefers vanilla over chocolate. Crazy, right?! He is completely satisfied with plain old vanilla when we go get ice cream, too. So we decided to make these cookies today since it’s threatening to storm. I’m glad we did because they are delicious! Yucky weather calls for yummy cookies! So go ahead and get your aprons on and let’s bake….

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (12 oz) bag of white chocolate chips

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Slowly beat in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place about 2 tablespoons of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet, spacing about 3 inches apart. Bake for 11-12 minutes. Allow to cool a bit on the cookie sheet before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Store covered at room temp.

Chewy Oatmeal Banana Cookies

My sister just had a baby!! Ah! I now have 3 nephews, that makes a total of 4 boys in our family. Holy cow. I made these cookies to bring to her as she is laid up in a hospital room. Ugh, definitely not fun. But these will give her energy and is the perfect pick me up snack. I wish I had chocolate chips because those would have been a tasty addition, but I didn’t so here we are! Delicious oatmeal banana cookies! Let’s get to baking…

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 teaspoons corn starch
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups Old Fashioned Oats
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 bananas, mashed
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, cloves, corn starch, baking soda and oats. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together the butter, both sugars, mashed bananas, vanilla and egg until combined. Slowly add in oatmeal/flour mixture and mix until combined. If needed, place in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up the dough.

Drop cookie dough by spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet and bake for about 10 minutes. Allow to cool for a minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Store covered at room temp.

Chocolate Snowflake Cookies

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Single digit temps call for chocolate and cookies, right? Why not pipe a cute snowflake on top to really feel the winter spirit! But in all honesty, I despise winter. Worst season. Full on seasonal depression going on over here. So I baked some delicious cookies and made them pretty with a snowflake and crystal sugar. It helped the blues a little bit, they are very tasty 🙂

So, if you are stuck inside because of the cold and snow, make these! They will not disappoint..

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon molasses
Cookie cutter of choice

For the icing:

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
3 teaspoons milk (+/-)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together butter and sugar until creamy. Beat in egg, vanilla and molasses until combined. The mixture might be a bit lumpy which is ok. Add in the flour mixture in 3 small batches, beating slowly and well before each addition until the dough comes together.

Separate the dough into 2 small balls and wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Roll one of the dough balls on a lightly floured surface to be about 1/8 of an inch thick. Cut with desired cookie shapes and place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are just starting to brown. Allow to cool on a wire rack completely.

To make the icing, just mix all the ingredients together until you reach desired consistency. Pipe onto cooled cookies. Allow to dry before storing and covering.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chunk Sea Salt Cookies

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Happy 2019! It took me 2 weeks but what better way to begin my blogging this year than with a chocolate chip cookie? A chocolate CHUNK and sea salt cookie! So freaking good, so irresistible. Seriously, they should be illegal. But, they’re not so let’s indulge, right? They are the perfect dessert or after school/work snack and they are actually really easy to make. The recipe below makes about 15 cookies and can easily be doubled if need be. So… let’s get started…

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 oz. chopped semi-sweet chocolate (I used Baker’s chocolate)
Coarse sea salt for topping

In a bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together the butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy. Add in egg and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Slowly add in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in chocolate chunks. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate while oven is preheating (or as long as overnight).

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. Drop cookie dough by spoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet. Top each cookie with sea salt using either your fingers or a grinder.

Look how delicious it looks!

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Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Cool for 1 minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container at room temp. Enjoy!

 

M&M Pudding Cookies!

Perfect for Christmas but really, you can use any color M&M’s in these delicious pudding cookies! I found a similar recipe for these on Betty Crocker’s website and thought I would give them a try as part of my Christmas cookie platter! I’m so glad I did. They are so pretty and literally melt in your mouth. Santa is definitely going to eat a whole bunch of these when he visits our house tonight 😉

We have no time! It’s Christmas Eve! Hurry up and make these cookies!

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 box vanilla instant pudding mix
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups M&M’s

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat together butter and both sugars until creamy and smooth. Beat in pudding mix. Beat in eggs, one at a time until combined. Add vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in M&M’s.

Drop on baking sheet by rounded tablespoons. Bake for 9-11 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container in room temp. Enjoy and Merry Christmas!

Butter Cookies

Merry Christmas everyone! Holy cow does time fly as you get older. So many more things to do, stuff to buy, food to make and cookies to bake. Being a kid is so much better 😆 Anyway… here we are, the weekend before and we are starting off with these beauties. Actually I already made rum balls, you can find that recipe here.

These cookies are so pretty and perfect for gift giving because they last longer than chewy cookies. However, your arms and hands will get a work out! Piping this dough is really tough, but so worth it in the end!

Here is how they look before they are baked…

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What you will need:

Cookie sheets lined with parchment paper
Piping bag with big star tip (I used a Wilton 1M)

1 cup unsalted butter at room temp
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1-2 teaspoons milk
Chocolate and sprinkles for decorating (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar and salt until combined. Add in yolks and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Slowly add in flour until just combined, adding milk to reach piping consistency. Dough is thick.

Add dough to piping bag and pipe small circles onto prepared baking sheet. Refrigerate at least 10 minutes so cookies do not spread while baking.

Bake for 12-15 minutes or until just beginning to brown on the edges. Allow to cool for 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Dip in melted chocolate and decorate with sprinkles as desired!

Store in an airtight container either in the fridge or at room temp. Enjoy!

Makes 25-30 cookies

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BISCOFF Cookie Bars!

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Cookie butter…. I didn’t even know it existed!! But boy am I glad this stuff is now in my life 🙂 I saw a recipe that used the stuff and I was like, “what’s that?!” Obviously it sounds amazing, so I thought I would try it! You can find it in your grocery store in the peanut butter aisle. My local Target had it and I was so happy! These cookie bars are the perfect Halloween treat because you can cut them big or small for larger groups or parties, and they aren’t scary! A little drizzle of melted white chocolate and you are good to go. This recipe is so simple and you don’t need a lot of ingredients. So here we go!

What you will need:

13 x 9 inch bake dish sprayed with non-stick spray

1 pouch (17.5 oz) Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup cookie butter (I used Lotus Biscoff)
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 cup white chocolate chips + 3 tablespoons for the drizzle

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, stir together cookie mix, butter, cookie butter, cinnamon and egg until combined. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Spread batter evenly into prepared pan and bake for 18-20 minutes. Allow to cool on a wire rack about 20 minutes before making the drizzle.

In a microwave safe bowl, place 3 tablespoons of white chocolate chips. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir, 20 seconds, stir until melted. Place in a small ziplock bag with a corner cut off and drizzle over cookie bars. Allow to cool before cutting and serving.

Store covered at room temp. Enjoy!

Soft Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

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Kids are going back to school already…. what?! The summer has really flown by, I can’t believe it! Luckily for me, my guy doesn’t start until after Labor Day so we have a couple weeks left. But for those of you who are ready for fall, this recipe is for you!

It’s a super easy cinnamon cookie for a surprise after school snack or one that kids can help with, too. It would even be a perfect Christmas cookie but let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m still in summer mode. So go ahead and get those aprons on! You probably already have these ingredients in your kitchen…

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup unsalted butter almost melted
3/4 cup sugar (+ 1/4 cup for rolling)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon and baking powder. Set aside. In another bowl, beat butter and sugar until smooth. Add in egg until combined. Beat in vanilla. Slowly add in flour mixture, stirring at the end with a spatula so you don’t over-mix.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and put in the fridge for 20 minutes while you preheat the oven.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. In a small bowl, put 1/4 cup of sugar. When dough is chilled, form balls and roll in sugar and then place on prepared cookie sheet. Bake for about 9 minutes. Leave them on the cookie sheet for about 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. This will help them set because they will be very delicate right out of the oven.

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Makes about 2 dozen cookies. Store in an airtight container and enjoy!

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Memorial Day Cutout Cookies

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Happy Memorial Day, everyone! It has definitely been a hot one here in Chicago, with temps over 90 degrees and super sunny blue skies! I am not complaining as summer is life to me. So much fun! But since it has been so hot, we decided to stay in today and of course, do some baking. My son helped make these cookies and they are so easy and best of all… do not need to be refrigerated! Cutouts always take so long because you have to refrigerate the dough before you can roll them out, cut out shapes and decorate. This recipe is fridge free! 🙂

This recipe also only makes several small cookies. The stars we did are very small but the flags were bigger so we only got 4 of those. You can easily double the recipe if need be. But super fun and easy, tastes great and is the perfect thing to do if you want to get out of the heat! So go get those aprons on and let’s celebrate and remember our soldiers.

What you will need:

Cookie sheet
Parchment paper and wax paper

1 cup all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
1/3 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cookie cutouts
Sprinkles

Preheat oven to 375 degrees fahrenheit. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In an other bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy and smooth. Beat in yolk and vanilla until combined. Add the flour and beat until just combined. This may take a while. Once the dough starts to form and come together, form a ball with your hands.

Place the dough ball on a lightly floured piece of parchment paper. Flour the top of the ball and then place a piece of wax paper on top. Roll out the dough to desired thickness. Remove wax paper and cut out into desired shapes. The dough is sticky so I just removed the excess dough and placed the parchment paper directly onto a cookie sheet. Decorate with sprinkles and bake for 6-8 minutes. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack.

Note: Transferring the parchment paper directly to the cookie sheet withe the cookies on it works best but I went through quite a few sheets of parchment paper. You can also try removing the cut outs with a metal spatula but mine were too sticky. Do what works best for you.

Enjoy!