Category Archives: Cookies

August 27, 2013 · 8:00 am

Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

As much as I fell in love with my Perfect M&M Cookies, it’s possible that I love these more.

A coworker said my Perfect M&M Cookie was “okay.” I definitely appreciate honest feedback, but I wanted to know from him what would have made it amazing. Turns out the problem wasn’t my cookie, it just wasn’t his type of cookie. His type of cookie is peanut butter. So I told him all about my Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies and of course he wanted me to make them soon.

About a week later, he asked me to make him a whole batch of cookies to take with him to a little friend reunion party thing he was going to. He also told me that he was going to claim them as his own. I knew no one would believe him so I didn’t mind. 😉

I knew I wanted to do a peanut butter cookie base, but I wanted to try something different than the Reese’s inside. Ultimately I decided to do M&M’s because 1- he had a criticism for my last M&M cookie, and 2- I liked the fact that the candy would be mixed throughout the cookie and not just in the center. Of course, I had to go with peanut butter M&M’s this time. (I know you’re probably wondering why I didn’t just use Reese’s Pieces… the answer is because I’m not a fan. Besides, peanut butter M&M’s are bigger.)

I followed the cookie dough recipe from my Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies, except I stirred in about 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter M&M’s at the end. I used a cookie scoop to make sure I had uniform sized cookies, and baked at 300* for 15 minutes.

For these cookies, baking at a lower temperature for longer makes them so perfectly soft and chewy. They look a little puffy and under-cooked when they come out of the oven, but as they cool on the cookie sheet they settle and set up.

These cookies are best when eaten within 2 days, but can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week or so.

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Tagged as m&m's, peanut butter

August 13, 2013 · 8:00 am

Perfect M&M Cookies

I found this amazing pin which led to this amazing blog post by Tessa over at Handle the Heat. It’s the first I’ve ever seen her blog, but after poking around a little I will definitely have to spend more time there!

Basically Tessa took the most basic chocolate chip cookie out there (the Nestle Tollhouse Recipe on the package) and made 9 batches of cookies. Each time she changed just 1 different element in the recipe to see what effect it had on the cookies. Very interesting!

After reading through all her notes I decided to create my own modification from the Tollhouse basic recipe with a couple of her variations. I have to say – the result is pretty perfect!!

Perfect M&M Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 1/4 cup flour

2 cups plain M&M’s (or 1 1/2 cups M&M minis)

Directions:

1. Put sugars into large bowl and top with cut up butter. Add vanilla and beat until smooth.

2. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each. Scrape bowl and beater, then turn mixer back on low.

3. Add salt, then baking soda and powder. Slowly add flour until all incorporated.

4. Mix in M&M’s by hand.

5. Refrigerate for at least a couple hours, but better if overnight. This part is torture, but trust me – the flavors meld together and become much richer when it’s given time to rest.

6. Scoop balls about 1 1/2 tbsp , then flatten with palms. Bake at 350* spaced well apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 9-10 minutes.

**The first batch I only baked 2, and checked on them after 8 minutes, then 9 minutes, and again at 10 minutes. I really really didn’t want to over bake them. At 10 minutes they edges were brown, and the center was big and puffy.**

7. Once done baking, let the cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet. The puffy tops will flatten out and since the centers are slightly under baked, this helps them set up. Once they’re cool, they can be moved.

These cookies are slightly crispy on the edges and soft ad perfect in the middle. And how much more fun are M&M’s than boring chocolate chips!? Since I’m not a huge chocolate fan, the ooey-gooey chocolate chips are always so rich I can only handle like one cookie. But since the candy coating surrounds the chocolate, they are just perfect! I wanted to eat the whole pan!

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Tagged as chocolate, m&m's

August 6, 2013 · 8:00 am

What’s It Gonna Bee? [My Baby Shower]

My mommy is AMAZING. She threw a wonderful baby shower for me a couple weeks ago. When trying to find a good and easy theme, I stumbled upon “What’s It Gonna Bee?” on Pinterest. Usually this is used for gender reveal parties, but since hubby and I aren’t finding out the sex of our little one, we thought the theme was perfect.

Here is the invitation:

I made the treats. People were kind of freaking out that I shouldn’t have to make the desserts for my own party, but I feel like it would have been more weird to come to a party for me and there not be Carrie’s Creations cookies!

I fell in love with this photo a while back, and if anyone knows who it belongs to please let me know! I saved the photo from a google search to my phone and the uploaded that to my Pinterest board later… but I have been unable to find it since to give credit to where credit is due.

I was unable to find a cutter in this shape, but I did find this cutter made by Cristin’s Cookies.

I modified the inspiration picture above to fit Cristin’s cutter shape, and I have to say – I think I like it better!

I outlined the whole bee in black, then filled in each section one color at a time.

In addition to the cookie favors, I made cupcakes. Lemonade Cupcakes to be exact – some of my favorite, and they fit with the warm weather (hottttt weather actually) and the yellow theme.

Here is my inspiration picture, also found through google searching, and also without proper credit.

I had a hard time finding little bees for the tops. I eventually stumbled upon these sugar bees at Layer Cake Shop, and they were perfect! I piped the frosting using a basic round tip to mimic the hive look, without overdoing it on the frosting.

Here are a couple of the other details from the party:

(this shirt I made/wore)

(my fingernails that my bestie did for me)

(the table centerpieces I made)

(the drink table)

(the fruit salad a family friend made – her sex vote is girl btw, haha…)

(some of the other foods served, and the little tags I made.. they’re hard to see but each tag has a little bee on it similar to the centerpieces)

(and one of the games we played… everyone got to make their guess, and we will just have to wait and see who gets the closest!)

It was a great shower and thank you to Mommy, Sandy, and Ann for helping out!!

4 Comments

Filed under Cakes, Cookies

Tagged as black, buttercream, cookie favors, icing, lemon, sugar cookies, yellow

July 25, 2013 · 8:00 am

Cowgirl Cookies

These cookies were made for a very good friend of mine. We’ve known each other since 1st or 2nd grade. A couple years ago I “introduced” her to a coworker of mine, and they are set to be married in September!

(I’m hoping I can make it to the wedding, it’s 4 days before my due date! Either this baby needs to come pretty early or on time or late for me to be able to make it. Luckily it’s in town so even if I’m still carrying baby I should be able to make it!)

Anyway, these cookies were for her cowgirl themed bridal shower. The wedding colors are orange and deep royal purple.

Here is a pic of the invitation:

I liked the brown, so I decided to go with that for my accent color on the boots.

There are three kinds of flowers going to be used for the wedding: orange gerbera daisies, orange roses, and (my favorite!) tiger lilies. Unfortunately I don’t have a cutter for a tiger lily, and my only rose cutter included a stem and leaf and I didn’t want to have to mix green as well… so I went with the ever easy, ever stunning gerbera daisy.

Instead of outlining the whole flower ahead of time and filling each section individually, I decided to do the whole thing, then add the outlines afterward. I did every other petal, then came back and added the remaining petals. I used a boo boo stick (a toothpick would work) to smooth together the touching petals, then added the yellow center at the end.

I love how simple and fun these turned out to be!

For the party I also made cupcakes. The bride requested chocolate and funfetti cupcakes. I frosting the chocolate cupcakes (recipe here) with bright orange roses.

The funfetti cupcakes were frosted in a bright purple swirl. I used a brand-new homemade recipe, which will be in the next post!

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Tagged as brown, buttercream, cowboy, flowers, icing, orange, purple, sugar cookies

July 9, 2013 · 8:00 am

Funfetti Oreo Surprise Cookies

My brother is away in the military. He’s been gone for almost 5 months now, and I am missing him like crazy! Before he left he lived with me. We are very close! My parents went to visit him, so I had to bake him up something yummy to send with them since I couldn’t go along.

I had a hard time coming up with something. Not because he’s picky (he loves anything with sugar in it), but because it had to travel well. They weren’t flying, so it didn’t need to be packed up necessarily, but it couldn’t be something that had to be refrigerated, or something that could melt (and when it’s 110 degrees here that’s nearly everything). Also, he’s not that into sugar cookies so I didn’t want to go there.

Somehow I arrived at the idea for these cookies, and I knew he would love them!

Funfetti Oreo Surprise Cookies – makes about 20 large cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks salted butter (3/4 cup)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking powder

scant 1/2 tsp salt

2 cups + 2 tbsp flour

1 cup dry funfetti cake mix

1/4 cup jimmies (the long sprinkles)

1 pack regular (aka Double Stuf) oreos

Directions:

1. Cream together butter and sugar. (I like to cut my butter up into chunks first so that I don’t have to wait for it to come to room temperature.)

2. Add eggs and vanilla and beat to combine. Scrape bowl if necessary.

3. Keeping mixer on low speed, add salt and baking powder. Slowly add flour then dry funfetti cake mix.

4. I kneaded my extra sprinkles in by hand, but I guess you can do it with the mixer. It might just chop them up a bit instead of leaving large sprinkle pieces.

5. Grab about a 2 tbsp size ball of the dough. Flatten it in your palm, then place an oreo in the center. Shape the dough around the oreo, making sure to cover it completely. It helped to kind of roll it around in my hand to smooth it out and to make sure it was totally covered.

6. Space about 2″ apart on baking sheet, and bake for 15-20 minutes at 350* or until edges start to turn golden. Cookies will be super puffed up, but will flatten a little as they cool. Wait 5-10 minutes to move them to a cooling rack so they can set up.

He loved them. 🙂

Next time, I’m going to try to find those little mini oreos so I can make mini versions!

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Tagged as easy cookies, funfetti, oreos, sprinkles

June 18, 2013 · 8:00 am

Little Lady Baby Shower Cookies

A photographer friend of mine wanted some cookie favors for her sister’s baby shower. It’s going to be a girl, and the theme was “Little Lady.”

Here’s the invite, isn’t it adorable?!

Anyway, her and I agreed to do a “service swap” and she will be doing my maternity photos in a few weeks when I feel good and BIG. 🙂

We decided to do chevron on some onesies, and pair them each with a perfect little pink bow. I’m obsessed with my little bow cutter!

I debated how to do the chevron design, because I wanted it clean and not a ton of outlining throughout. Especially since I outlined in pink. I decided the best route would be to go with a stencil.

Unfortunately, I could not find a stencil! If I had planned ahead I would have just ordered one online, but seeing as chevron is so “in” right now, I thought I wouldn’t have a problem finding one.

I ended up buying stencil templates and making my own. I found a pattern online and printed it out, and my wonderful husband cut it for me with an x-acto knife.

Then I just laid it across the cookies and sprayed it with Wilton color mist. Since the stripes had to be grey, I used black color mist and just did a light coat. (Obviously if you have an airbrush that would be better.)

Turned out better than I thought! The key was to spray exactly downward, and not at an angle – otherwise the spray snuck under the stencil and the design got a little blurry.

Here are a couple that I sprayed a little too much and got too dark…

And these are the last 2 that I did… the spray was running out and it started to get blotchy and messy on my poor cookies. Luckily I had made extras, so these were eaten. 1 can of color mist will cover about 50 3″ cookies like this. I’d say if you are doing exactly 50, opt for the 2nd can. You don’t want to end up with this at the end!

Here are all the cookies bagged up and ready to go for the party!

**A few other tips if you’re going to try this:

– Either do it outside or clear a large space. The mist gets everywhere. I’ve done it outside and it was windy and that wasn’t ideal either. Pick your battle I guess.

– Every 2-3 sets of cookies, wash and dry off the platter and stencil. You don’t want leftover smudging the next cookie.

– Make extras so you can test in the beginning, throw out any blotchy ones at the end, and play around with different shades of mist.

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Tagged as baby shower, bow, buttercream, chevron, cookie favors, grey, icing, onesie, pink, sugar cookies

June 7, 2013 · 8:00 am

Thank You Cookies

I was given free reign to make some simple Thank You cookies for someone. I had been craving summertime, so I went with bright & cheery summer colors.

This is another new font I’ve tried lately. I like it because it’s cute and easy without being too cutesy. If that makes sense.

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Tagged as buttercream, icing, orange, sugar cookies, yellow

June 4, 2013 · 8:00 am

Oaty Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

I offered to bring dessert to a family BBQ a couple weeks ago, but when it came time to make it I didn’t have much on hand, and didn’t have a ton of time. I searched the internet for ideas and came across this recipe for Granola Blondies by the ever amazing Shelly of Cookies and Cups. I used the idea as a basis for my bars, but none of my fix-ins are the same because I had to use what I had in the pantry!

I wasn’t sure what to call my version, so I settled on a wordy thrown together name that just encompasses everything they represented.

Oaty Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars – adapted from Cookies & Cups

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) salted butter

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

1 cup chocolate chips

Don’t all of the fix-ins look amazing together??

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*.

2. Line 9×9 pan with foil for easy removal. Spray foil lightly with non-stick spray.

3. Beat together butter and brown sugar until fluffy and creamy. Add eggs and vanilla, and scrape sides if necessary.

4. Add salt and baking powder. Slowly add flour until all incorporated. Mix in the fix-ins by hand.

5. Spread into the foil-lined pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until edges start to turn golden. Let cool completely before cutting. (You can put in the fridge to cool faster.)

I didn’t have time to let these cool and set up enough, so they were very very gooey when I cut into them.

Still amazingly tasty, but not the cutest pictures or the cleanest fingers. 🙂

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Tagged as chocolate, oats, walnuts

May 31, 2013 · 8:00 am

Graduation Cookies 2013

These high school graduation cookies were made for Jayla. School colors were purple, black, and white. I tried to do less black and more of the other two colors because sometimes too much black icing scares people. 🙂

I have been practicing using different fonts lately. This is one of my favorites. 🙂

Since I do everything freehand, this post by Lizy B helped me a lot!

Do you follow me on facebook, instagram, twitter, and pinterest?

For anyone who has missed it on Instagram, here is a little pregnancy update. 🙂 The pup likes to be in all my photos!

The turquoise wall behind me is the baby’s room. We’re not finding out the sex, so we wanted a bright neutral color that we can add to later. All of the furniture will be white.

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Tagged as buttercream, graduation, icing, purple, sugar cookies