Baking Monday – Black and White Cookies

Look to the cookie!!!

I've never tried a black and white cookie before, and in fact had never even heard of one before Seinfeld. Summer seemed to be a good time to make a batch and give them a try.



You might find these facts about black and white cookies interesting. The observations that were my takeaways are that these are a very soft, cake-like cookie, with a bit of lemon flavoring. This recipe is great, though I should have thinned out the icing more for that nice smooth surface. And even though I used my trusty cookie scoop for these, most turned out a little wonky (these are the best of the bunch).

They are certainly not the prettiest to look at, but they sure are good. Hopefully they will not result in any Seinfeldian symptoms over here!

Baking Monday – Double Chocolate Cookies

Okay, get ready. Big announcement today!

This is THE best chocolate cookie EVER. Seriously. These cookies were SO good that I ate five the day they were baked (plus the equivalent of two more when they were still dough). You must know: chocolate chips are just fine and lovely, but I have a special affection for chocolate chunks. My very favorite ice cream is double chocolate with chocolate chunks, which is not easy to find. (There's only one ice cream stand by us that has it, and it's amazing! Ben & Jerry's New York Superfudge Chunk is also delightful.) I had chocolate chunks on the brain and picked up a bag of at the grocery store, then had to search for just the right chocolatey recipe in which to use them.

No unusual ingredients or techniques, but everything came together to make the best cookie I've had in a long time! I cut back slightly on the butter (eliminated the two tablespoons), and of course used chunks instead of chips. Make sure to bake these until set. They turned out soft and shortbread-like with an amazing chocolate flavor. The recipe also makes a bunch ... about five dozen when mini-scooped. These were so good that I made them TWICE in one week. Enjoy!!

Baking Monday – Brown Sugar Shortbread

Today's cookie comes from the Mrs. Fields recipe book, which is full of great sweets. The original recipe has these dipped in chocolate. I'm usually all about the extra chocolate, but these looked so simple and delicious all on their own, they didn't need any extra dressing up. The brown sugar adds a different twist to shortbread, a flavor that's not immediately identifiable. These are a simple crispy-chewy treat.

Baking Monday – Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Really, you can't go wrong with Mrs. Fields ... everything I've made from that cookie book has been terrific.



These cookies get a swirly pattern from adding melted chocolate to the dough as the very last step. I cut the butter down to 1.5 sticks and replaced half of the milk chocolate chips with peanut butter chips.

Plain peanut butter cookies are kind of blah IMHO, so I loved the chippy addition to these. Super peanut-butter yum! This recipe would halve easily, but why would you want to? Makes about 60 cookies.

Mrs. Fields Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

6 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

1.5 sticks butter, softened

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup peanut butter chips

• Preheat oven to 300.

• Melt chocolate chips, set aside to cool.

• Mix sugars and butter until well combined.

• Add peanut butter and mix until smooth.

• Add eggs and vanilla and mix until just combined.

• Add flour, baking soda and salt, mix until combined.

• Stir in chips.

• Pour in melted chocolate and mix partially with a spoon until marbleized.

• Drop in 1 tbsp mounds and bake for 20 minutes, until set but still soft.

Theo's Video Game Birthday

Plus ... my new toy!

We had a party with our family and friends last week to celebrate Jeff and Theo's birthday. Theo made a trip to a local retro-arcade with a few friends one day after school as a birthday treat, so I decided to use the outing as inspiration for favors and decor at the party. I made wrappers for Hershey bars and ...



... teething biscuits for the little ones. See those Space Invader aliens up above? Those were made with my new favorite toy!! I've been electronic cutting everything I can think of, it's so fun!!

Theo chose ice cream bars and cookies for dessert ... they're pixels, can't you tell! #easiestcookiesever.

He and his friends had a GREAT time at the arcade. They played for an hour and we all went to Sonic for dinner afterwards. Theo has asked me about a dozen times when they can all do it again.

Oh, I also sent cookies into the classroom on his actual birthday (it's his last year for school birthday treats!) and he requested the same recipe as last year. However, he didn't want to do Star Wars two years in a row, so he chose the message cookie cutters this time ... and the message, of course.

I think we'll be having a lot more fun with these cutters as the kids get older! 

It's Cookie Time!

Cookie Time! Cookie Time! (I think that Dora and I need to watch Troop Beverly Hills soon.)

Girl Scout cookies are in this week, and Dora usually includes a little thank you tag with her cookie orders.



I worked up this little happy scout today:



She's wearing Crocs, as that seems to be the official footwear of Dora's troop. I put them onto tags that we'll include with our cookie orders. Would you like to use them, too? Here you go!



Download Girl Scout thank you tag here.

And for the visually impaired ...



Download Girl Scout with glasses thank you tag here.

And for all the smart cookies ...



Download cookie thank you tag here.