White Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies

White Chocolate... Just saying it makes me want some of these cookies. The combination of score bits and white chocolate make for a killer cookie if you ask me.

I had gotten a big chunk of white chocolate for Easter a while ago an it has just been resting on my desk for the past week or two, so i decided to do something with it. It was probably a good idea because these cookies tasted pretty good and they didn't last very long. 

Yields: 5 dozen
Prep time: 10 minutes 
Bake time: 8 minutes

Ingredients 

• ⅔ cup melted butter
• 2 cups lightly packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons hot water
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 2⅓ cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• White chocolate, chopped (about 80 grams)
• Score bits (about 80 grams)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F and line two sheets with parchment paper.

2. Beat melted butter, brown sugar, eggs, hot water and vanilla until very smooth (2-3 minutes).

3. In a medium bowl combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add all the dry ingredients to the butter, sugar, eggs, water and vanilla. Mix well. Stir in the chocolate and score bits and roll 1 inch balls of dough with 12 cookies per sheet.

4. Bake for 8-9 minutes. 

Smarties vs M&M's

Both of these candies are really delicious but when you make them with cookies is there one that is better to use? Well I was curious to which one works best when baking. 

 

At first I had made these Smartie cookies, and they were really good. But just recently I tried the same recipe but with M&M's. So here's the verdict... Don't get me wrong! I love M&M's, I personally think that they taste better and they also have better colours, but when they were baked they weren't as good as the smarties where. They tasted kind of funny, but the smarties tasted even better then they did on their own!  So next time you can't decide which one to use, now you know. 

35 Calorie Banana Oat Cookies

WOW! These cookies took no-time at all, it only takes two ingredients and they are healthy. One cookies is only 35 calories (without chocolate chips)or 60 calories (with chocolate chips.) I was pleasantly suprised when I took a bite of these, they actually tasted pretty good. 

I was on pinterest one night and I saw these cookies, they popped out to me, I thought "healthy cookies? there's no such thing!" but when you do the math these are like the equivalent of about 2 saltine cracker. Pretty helpful when you are trying to cut back on sweets. Since I started this blog I have been making a lot of desserts and even hough I work-out a couple times a week, I still find it hard sometimes to stay fit. This recipe was a gift sent from the food gods and when ever I get those pesky cookie craving I will make these instead. 

Yields: 12 cookies
Prep time: 5 minutes
total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 ripe bananas
1 cup oats
1/4 cup chocolate chips (optional) 

Directions
1. preheat oven to 350F and line 1 cookies sheet with parchment paper.

2. In a medium bowl mash together all of the ingredients with a fork.

3. Roll into 12 medium sized cookies and bake for 15 minutes. Cool and enjoy.

NOTE: These are good cookies to freeze and grab 2 when your in a hurry.  

Adapted from http://pinterest.com/pin/30399366207289117/

Blondies

Blondies are an interesting treat, they are almost like brownies but blonde. You would think that at first the chocolate element is what makes these bars taste good, but when you try these it will change you opinion completly. Blondies are like very, very chewy cookies that are made into bars and cut into squares. They are probably just as good as any brownie recipe, if anything better. 

I have been making these for the longest time. I was first introduced to the idea of blondies from watching the Nancy Drew movie. This was one of my favourite movies growing up. In one part of the movie Nancy talked about lemon bars and blondies that her friend Hannah had made for her. (How cool that I share a name with this character!) I first experimented with blondies was when I was hanging out with my cousin Olivia. We always have so much fun together in the kitchen, and being a fellow fan of Nancy Drew we made blondies. From then on I love making blondies, as it always reminds me of one of my favourite movies.

Yields: 24 bars
Prep time: 10 minutes
Total time: 40 minutes 


Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla 
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Directions 
1. Preheat oven to 300F and spray a 9 x 13-inch pan with cooking spray.

2. In bowl of electric stand mixer, combine butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Stir on medium for 1 minute. In a separate bowl combine all the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low for 15 seconds. Add in chocolate chip and continue stirring until the ingredients are well combine.

3. Press dough into pan and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool in pan before removing. Cut into 24 squares.

Adapted from KitchenAid Best-Loved Recipes by Lou Weber

Peanut Butter Cookies

If you are looking for a fast cookie that never fails to impress then you have found it. Peanut butter cookies can sometimes be too hard but these ones are just right! 

 This weekend I didn't have as much homework as I usually do, so I planned to meet up with two friends to go to the art gallery! I woke up late and only had an hour to get ready, but I still really wanted to bake something to take along for the drive. Since I only had an hour before they came to pick me up, I decided to try these cookies out. They were super fast and both of my friends ended up asking me for the recipe because they both liked them so much. I am not sure which was better, the cookies or the art show. 

Yields: 4 dozen

Prep time: 10 minutes

Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt 
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. Put the peanut butter and butter in the bowl of your electric mixer. Beat until smooth on medium for about 1 Minute. Stop and scrape bowl. Add the sugars, egg and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and mix for 1 minute. Stop and scrap bowl.

3. Turn the mixer on to stir and add the rest of the dry ingredients into the mixture. Turn back to medium-low and mix for 30 seconds.

4. Roll the cookie dough into 1-inch balls. Place 12 balls on a sheet at a time. Press down the cookies with your thumb or a fork. (I used a fork.)

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown. Remove the cookies from the sheet immediately and let them cool.

This recipe is originally from the KitchenAid Best-Loved Recipes cookbook.