Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Tomorrow is the 100th day of school for my daughter's school district. I was asked to make some cupcakes for her class. When I told my daughter about this, she told me I had to make the cookie cupcakes. My kids just love biting into a cupcake and finding something a little extra on the inside.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cupcakes

Adapted from Allrecipes.com

Make 24 cupcakes

Cookie Dough

You can use your favorite cookie dough recipe, store bought cookie dough, or the recipe below. I like to freeze some balls of dough every time I make cookies so I always have some on hand.

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (I use Kosher)

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract (DIY Vanilla Extract)

1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips 

1. Cream the butter and sugars together, in a large bowl.

2. Beat in 1 egg and vanilla extract to the butter mixture.

3. Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt. Until just combined.

4. Gently mix in the chocolate chips.

5. Roll the cookie dough into tablespoon sized balls, and place them on a plate or cookie sheet (something that will fit in your freezer).

6. Freeze the cookie dough balls for at least 2 hours. I usually let the go over night, or use some I keep frozen.

Cupcake

You can use your favorite cake recipe, or the recipe below. 

1 (18.25 ounce) box yellow cake mix

1 1/3 cups water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

3 eggs 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line cupcake pan with paper liners.

3. Beat 3 eggs in a large bowl.

4. Add cake mix, water, and oil to the eggs; and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes.

5. Fill the prepared cupcake pans, until each cupcake is 2/3 full.

6. Place a frozen cupcake ball on the top of each cupcake.

7. Bake in the preheated oven until a toothpick inserted into the cake portion of the cupcake (NOT the cookie dough ball) comes out clean, about 18-20 minutes.

8. Cool in pans about 5 minutes, before removing from the pans.

9. Allow the cupcakes to cool completely before icing.

Icing

You can use whatever flavor you like. For the ones pictured I used Wilton's Buttercream.

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening (I use butter flavored Crisco)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened (I use unsalted butter)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (Use clear vanilla if you want whiter icing.)

4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted

2 Tablespoons milk, plus more for consistancy

1. In large bowl, cream shortening and butter.
2. Mix in vanilla.
3. Gradually mix in confectioners' sugar, beating well on medium speed. (Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often.
4. Add 2 tablespoons milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy.
5. Add up to 4 more tablespoons of milk, to get the consistency you want.
 
The icing can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, but rewhip it before using.

 I decorated the cupcakes using Ateco tip #849. I topped each cupcake with a fondant "100" I made by cutting fondant with Wilton Fondant Cutters*.

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Potato Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

There was one cookie that I gave on my cookie platters this past Christmas that I didn't get a chance to post before Christmas. They are a simple cookie to make, and they aren't Christmasy; so you can make then year round.

Potato Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from Created By Diane

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt (I used Kosher)

1 cup butter (I used unsalted)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar (I used light)

2 teaspoons vanilla (DIY Vanilla Extract)

2 eggs

2 cups crushed Wavy Lays Potato Chips

1/2 cup Wavy Lays Potato Chips for tops of cookies

2 cups mini chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla together.

3. Mix in flour, baking soda, and salt.

4. Mix in one egg at a time.

5. Stir in chocolate chips, and crushed potato chips.

6. Place a scoop of dough (about 2 tablespoons) on a parchment lined baking sheet.

7. Push a potato chip into the top of each cookie.

8. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

My husband liked these cookies just the way they are, but I think the next time I make them I will try milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet.

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Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Hello, my name is Andrea and I am addicted to candy corn themed items.

I really don't know what my issue is this year but everything I am making turns into a candy corn...LOL

Candy Corn Bread

 Candy Corn Marshmallows

 Candy Corn Sugar Cookie Bars

These cookies are super easy to make. You just have to plan ahead a little bit because you do have to chill the dough.

I needed a lot of cookies for several different Halloween parties; so I doubled the below recipe, and used an 11"x7" pan instead of a 9"x5" bread pan. The doubled recipe gave me almost 350 cookies, that are 1 3/4" long.

Candy Corn Sugar Cookies

Slightly adapted from Sugarbelle

2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened

1 cup confectioners' sugar

1 egg

3 teaspoons Princess Cake & Cookie Emulsion by LorAnn Oils* - (you could use vanilla, DIY Vanilla Extract)

1/4 teaspoon salt (I used Kosher)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups all-purpose flour

Orange food dye - I used AmeriColor Orange*

Yellow sanding sugar

1. Line a 9"x5" loaf pan with plastic wrap or wax paper. 

2. Cream together butter and sugar.

3. Add egg, and flavoring, and whip until light and fluffy.

4. Mix in salt, and baking soda.

5. Mix in flour, until combined.

6. Once the dough in mixed, separate into 3 equal sections. 

7. Dye 1 section of the dough orange. Do not dye the other 2 sections of dough.

8. Flatten 1 section of the white dough into the bottom of prepared pan.

9. Press the orange layer on top of the white layer in the pan. I find that this is best accomplished by flattening smaller section of the dough in your hands and piecing it together in the pan.

10. Press the second section of white dough on top of the orange layer.

11. Cover the dough with plastic wrap, and chill in the refrigerator, preferably overnight.

12. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

13. After chilling remove dough from pan and cut into candy corns.

14. Dip the bottoms of the candy corns into the sanding sugar.

15. Bake on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet for 7-10 minutes.

16. Cool on cookie sheet for 2-3 minutes. Then move to a wire rack to completely cool.

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DIY Candy Eyeballs

If you are looking for an easy way to decorate homemade or store bought items for Halloween, why not try some candy eyeballs?

These eyes are made of royal icing, and are super simple to make. You can make them any color you want, and after they dry you can store them for a very long time. You can also use the royal icing to make any shape you would like. Then use the designs you create, just as you would the edible candy shapes in the cake decorating isle at your local craft store. Only these are a lot cheaper.

If there is one thing I have learned about royal icing, it is that it does not like oils. So whatever bowls, spoons, decorating tips, etc. you plan on using, rinsing them in vinegar and dry them well before using. Always use oil free flavorings, and always use gel food colorings. I prefer to use AmeriColor*food coloring.

Also please note you will want to make these ahead of time because they take 24 hours to dry!

Royal Icing

Recipe adapted from Cook. Play. Explore

2 tablespoons meringue powder

1/4 cup warm water

1/2 lb (2 cups) powdered sugar, sifted

1/4 teaspoon light corn syrup

a few drops of oil free flavoring (optional)

1. Use a stand mixer (using paddle attachment), or an electric mixer on high speed to combine the meringue powder, and water. Beat until foamy.

2. Add the sifted powdered sugar and beat on low speed until it is all combined.

3. Add the corn syrup, and flavoring. Beat on medium/high speed until the icing is glossy and can hold a stiff peak.

4. Cover with plastic wrap and make sure it touches the icing. It can be refrigerated for up to a week, or divide the icing and color it.

Making the Eyeballs

1. I divided my icing into 3 batches (2 larger and 1 smaller).

2. I left 1 larger batch white, dyed the other larger batch with AmeriColor Electric Green*. The small batch I dyed with AmeriColor Super Black*, to use as the pupils of the eyes. You could also just wait until your eyes have dried and draw the pupils on with a food marker*.

3. Place a piece of wax paper on a cookie sheet.

4. Thin your icing with a little water. I do this by using a spray bottle of water and mixing a little in at a time until I get the consistency I want. For this project I wanted the icing to be just runny enough to not leave a peak when I pulled the decorating tip away.

5. Place the icing for your eyeballs in a piping bag or squeeze bottle.  I like these 2oz. squeeze bottles from CK Products*. I didn't use the tips the bottles came with. I used a size 3 Wilton tip for the outer part of the eyeballs, and a size 2 Wilton tip for the pupil.

6. Squeeze out the outer color in whatever size/shape you want. Then top with a dot of black icing. Make the eyes as big or small as you want. Make them single, double, or triple. Make the pupils big or small, just have FUN! And don't worry the black doesn't bleed.

7. Allow to dry completely. 24 hours is a good rule of thumb, but depending on how big you make them it could take longer.

 Store these little guys in an airtight container, in a dry place, and they will keep for years. So do not be afraid to make a lot. I got 4 cookie sheets of eyes out of 1 batch of icing. 

To attach the eyes to something, you can use more royal icing, butter cream icing, or honey.

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Candy Corn Sugar Cookie Bars

This past weekend some of my husband's family came to visit. 

In my world, guest = baking.

I have been all about trying new recipes lately. Some have been good, some have been ok, and some have been great. This recipe falls under the great category, so I just had to share it.

These only have candy corn in their name because of their appearance. 

They taste like an amazing sugar cookie with just the right amount of frosting. 

Not too blah, not too sweet, just right.

I love that you could make them for any occasion and just change the colors to suit it.

Sugar Cookie Bars
Recipe adapted from Cookies & Cups

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons flavoring (I used Princess Cake & Cookie Emulsion by LorAnn Oils* - this stuff is amazing! but you could use almond, vanilla, lemon, whatever floats your boat.)
5 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt, I used Kosher
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
orange and yellow food coloring (or whatever colors suit your needs) - (I used AmeriColor Yellow & Orange*)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Line a 9"x13" baking dish with foil, and spray light with cooking spray. Set aside.
3. Cream the butter and sugar together.  (I did all the mixing in my stand mixer, but you could do it by hand with a lot of elbow grease.)
4. Add eggs and flavoring. Mix until combined.
5. Add flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix until combined.
6. Divide the batter in half and color half orange and half yellow.
7. Spread the orange layer in the prepared pan.
8. Layer the yellow dough on top of the orange dough. I found this was easier when I took small sections the yellow dough and flattened it in my hand and pieced it together in the pan until all the orange is covered.

9. Bake for 20-25 minutes. Until very slightly browned on the top.
10. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

Frosting - You probably won't need this entire amount of icing.

1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup butter flavored vegetable shortening
4 cups powdered sugar
2 Tablespoons milk
1 Tablespoon vanilla (DIY Vanilla Extract)
white food coloring if you want a true white color - I like AmeriColor Soft White Paste*

1. Beat the butter and shortening together until smooth.
2. Slowly beat in the powered sugar, vanilla, and milk.
3. Beat on medium until fluffy and smooth.
4. Using the foil, remove the bars from the pan.
5. Spread the frosting on the cooled bars.
6. Cut into triangle shaped bars.

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Banana Nutella Bread

Once again I found myself starring at some very sad looking bananas on my kitchen counter. I was extremely tempted to make more banana bread with vanilla brown butter glaze, but I decided to try something new.

This bread to a real treat. It is super moist and has tons of banana and Nutella goodness!!

I used whole wheat flour because that is what I had on hand. Plus, it makes me feel a little better about all the Nutella..LOL.

Banana Nutella Bread

recipe from Chef In Training

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt (I used Kosher)

1/4 cup butter, softened (I used unsalted)

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cup mashed banana - about 3 medium bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla (DIY Vanilla Extract)

1/3 cup milk (I used fat free)

3/4 heaping cup of Nutella (I used 1 cup)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Prepare 8x4" loaf pan with non stick spray.

3. In a medium bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt together.

4. In a large bowl cream butter and sugar together, with an electric mixer.

5. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. 

6. Add banana, milk, and vanilla. Mix until blended.

7. Add flour mixture to your banana mixture, and stir until just blended.

8. Place Nutella into a small microwave safe dish. Microwave the Nutella for 15 seconds.

9. Add 1 cup of your prepared batter to the Nutella and mix well.

10. Alternate spooning the Nutella batter and plain batter into the prepared loaf pan.

11. Swirl the batters with a knife.

12. Bake for 50-60 minutes. It will seem a little undercooked, but that is ok.

13. Cool for at least 15 minutes in pan, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.

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Homemade Whole Wheat "Goldfish" Crackers ~ Halloween Style

Today it was my turn to supply the snack for my daughter's kindergarten class.

I had a very hard time trying to decide what to take in. Since it is October, I thought I would put a Halloween twist on one of my kids' favorite snacks...Goldfish crackers.

These little guys are a tasty snack, plus you can coordinate them to any theme you want. The cookie cutters I used are bat and ghost from the Wilton Halloween mini cookie cutter 6 piece set*.

In the recipe I list sharp cheddar cheese, but I used extra sharp because I sent my husband to the store and that is what he bought. I personally think sharp would be more kid friendly. You can use any flavor or combination of cheeses you would like. Make sure that it is 8 ounces by weight, not by sticking it in a measuring cup.
 

Whole Wheat "Goldfish" Crackers

Recipe adapted from Cooking With Jax

8 oz (weighed) sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

1 cup whole wheat flour, plus more for dusting

1/2 teaspoon salt - optional (I used kosher)

4 Tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

2 Tablespoons ice-cold water

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. Place the shredded cheese, flour, and salt in food processor and blend until combined. 

3. Add butter and blend until the butter in mixed in, and the mixture looks crumbly.

 

4. Add ice-cold water to the mixture and blend until the dough forms a ball.

5. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 20 minutes.

6. Place a section of the chilled dough on a lightly floured surface and roll to 1/8 inch thick. I found by breaking the big ball of dough into smaller sections it was easier for me to achieve the thickness I wanted. These little guys puff up nicely, so don't worry about how thin you are rolling them. If you make them thicker you will have to bake them longer, and make sure to be consistent in how thick you make them.

7. Cut the dough with a cookie cutter, or the wide end of an icing tip.

8. Place the cut shapes on the parchment paper lined baking sheets.

9. If you want to "decorate" the crackers, make the marks in the crackers bigger than you want them to be. When they bake the marks with become smaller. I used the thicker end of a wooden skewer, not the pointy end.

10. Bake for 10-15 minutes. (Remember depending on the thickness of your dough and the size of the cookie cutter you used you may need to adjust baking times.) The crackers are done once the bottom of your crackers are lightly browned, and the tops do not look really wet.

I was able to get a little over 200 bats and ghosts out of one batch. Your number will depend on how thick you roll the dough and the size of your cookie cutter.

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Apple Pie Cookies

Today was "Apple Crunch Day" in my daughter's class.

They asked the parents to donate apple snacks, so the kids could see all the different things apples could be made into. 

Of course, I could not pass up the chance to try out a new recipe. To me there is nothing better than getting to try a new recipe and give it away; because I get to taste it, but it doesn't sit in my kitchen tempting me to eat it. Trust me, these little delectable bites will keep you coming back for more!

These apple pie cookies are amazingly addictive! I am so glad I had to send these to school with my daughter because otherwise I am pretty sure they would have disappear in 1 day. This recipe made 40 bite-sized treats of apply goodness. I sent 30 to school with my daughter and the other 10 disappeared almost immediately.

When I first saw this recipe on Pinterest, I thought these little guys looks labor intensive. To my surprise, they were super easy to make. The recipe is from Food Pusher, and let me just say that everything on her site looks amazing and I can't wait to make more of her yummy goodies.

Apple Pie Cookies

recipe slightly adapted from Food Pusher

Crust

(You could use store-bought refrigerated pie crust, or your favorite pie crust recipe.)

1 1/4 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I used bleached)

1/2 teaspoon salt (I used Kosher)

4 tablespoons butter (I used unsalted)

3 tablespoon Crisco (I used buttered flavored)

3 tablespoons ice cold water

flour for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Fill a cup or bowl with ice water. (This will give your ice a chance to melt a little.)

3. In a medium-sized bowl, mix flour and salt. 

4. Cut the butter into flour, and then cut in the Crisco until well blended. (I used a pastry blender* to do this.)

5. Add ice cold water (from the cup or bowl you filled earlier) and mix with pastry blender*. Then use your hands to work the dough into a ball.

6. Flour a square sheet of wax paper or baking mat*, place dough ball in the middle, lightly flour the ball. Roll dough out to a thickness of about 1/8”. 

7. Using a 2” round circle cutter*, cut out as many circles as you can. Collect dough scraps and roll and cut more circles until you use all the dough.

8. Carefully place circles on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet and place them in the freezer until needed. 

Topping

 

1 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup Unbleached All-Purpose Flour (I used bleached)

3/4 cup oatmeal (quick or old-fashioned) (I used old-fashioned)

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon   

1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder 

1/2 cup butter, cut into chunks (I used unsalted)

21oz can apple pie filling roughly chopped, or your favorite apple pie filling (I took a knife and cut the apples while still in the can.)

powdered sugar for garnish (optional)

1. In a large bowl, mix all of the dry topping ingredients with a fork. Add butter chunks and mix with a pastry blender* until all the butter is incorporated and the mixture forms crumbles.

2. Take your cookie sheet of dough circles out of the freezer and place about a tablespoon of the chopped apples onto each circle, and spread it out.

3. Place about a 1/2 tablespoon of the oatmeal mixture on the top of the chopped apples. 

4. Bake at 375 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned. 

5. Remove from oven, and transfer the cookies to a cooling rack. 

6. Prior to serving you can shake a little powdered sugar over cookies.

Notes: 

-I had a little of the chopped apples left over, so you could use a smaller can.

-Food Pusher mixes the topping mixture in with her apples, plus sprinkles some on the top. I just put the topping mixture on top because I wanted more room for the apples. I had about 1/2 the "topping" mixture left over, but I still recommend making the full amount because it is delicious on ice cream, oatmeal, etc.  

  

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