starbucks doesn't just serve coffee

I'm sure you knew...
that starbucks has other things besides coffee...
which in our-not-so-humble-opinion
          is not the greatest coffee ever....

my Beau, the boy child and I were there a few weeks ago, waiting for the girl child...
just killing some time and we didn't really want to sit for an hour and drink coffee...

so we ordered a cookie....
     .....a giant monstrous cookie!

I'm not a big fan of cookies sold at coffee place...
they're usually dry,
     over cooked,
          lacking flavor
               and horribly overpriced...

well, this one wasn't....
we might not love starbucks coffee...
but HELLO...they got the cookie thing dialed in!
I'm thinking they might want to rethink the whole coffee shop thing and go for a bakery...
except I think that the rest of the world might actually like their coffee...

anyhoo....

we couldn't stop thinking about the amazing oatmeal cookie at starbucks...
we were talking about it for days...
so I did want any self respecting...
(tangent, I just had to sing the R-E-S-P-E-C-T song to spell it)
...any self respecting person would do and googled "starbucks oatmeal cookie recipe'....
and low and behold, we must not have been the first to fall in love with their baked goods!

so here you have it...with a few twists...I doubled the recipe
...I posted the double version, so no need to double this one...
     ...well, you might need to double it, because these don't hang around for long once you make them!!!
I also took out the golden raisins that the recipe called for and replaced them with dark chocolate chips...
added some butter flavor crisco rather than all butter
and of course doubled the vanilla...
so here is my version of starbucks crack outrageous oatmeal cookies

Outrageous Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

3 cups old fashioned oats (not quick cooking)
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup raisins
1  cup dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup dried cherry-cranberries*
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter flavor Crisco
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1.  Preheat oven to 350°F.
2.  In a medium sized bowl blend oats, flour raisins, cranberries, chocolate chips, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
3.  In a large bowl beat butter, Crisco and sugars until light and fluffy. Add eggs, cinnamon, and vanilla; beat until combined.
4.  Gradually add oat mixture to butter mixture; beat until combined.
5.  Form 1/4 cup balls (or use a large cookie scoop) and place 2 inches apart onto two lightly greased baking sheets.
6.  Bake about 12-16 minutes, until cookies are golden brown, but still soft. Cool on sheets before serving.

* I used the cherry cranberries, I buy all my dry fruits in bulk at WinCo and their cran-cherries are usually cheaper than the straight cranberries, sometimes I buy the cran-strawberries....
you could also use dried strawberries or cherries rather than cranberries

special notes...starbucks had extra raisins on top of the cookie and the recipe called for that also, so if you want to mix up extra raisins, cranberries and chocolate chips and sprinkle about 2 tsp on top of each cookie before baking go ahead...

the second time I made these I dumped in too much vanilla (I wasn't actually measuring it, I was just pouring, got bumped and dumped in too much)...so I added a 1/4 cup cocoa...making Chocolate Oatmeal Raisin Cookies...very good also....
second time I also used whole wheat flour...just as good....the cookies were WAY darker with the whole wheat flour and cocoa...

Easy Christmas Cookies VI

I was only going to post 5 recipes for the Easy Christmas Cookie Challenge...
but I made this one yesterday and it was so super easy...
and I'm pretty sure it taste good*...I have a major head cold and can't taste anything right now...

anyways...this post was inspired by a fb friend Nikki...we went to school together, pretty sure almost all 13 years...those early years are foggy for me!...anyways...Nikki said that one of her favorite Christmas cookies are peanut butter cookies with a Hersey Kiss in the middle...
we've all seen them...
we've all eaten them...
but for some crazy reason I've never made them...

so yesterday...
when the whole family was taking their Sunday Afternoon nap
and I had taken some version of a 'non-drowsy' cold med and was so tired, but WIRED I decided to try to bake up a batch of these easy cookies.

you can of course use any peanut butter cookie recipe that you have on hand, probably even use a store bought dough...
but to stick to my challenge I found a peanut butter cookie recipe with less than 5 ingredients....
it also has NO flour...for you gluten free peeps out there!...not sure if peanut butter is gluten free...or Hersey Kisses for that matter...


Hersey Kiss Peanut Butter Cookies
1 c. peanut butter, smooth or crunchy (I used crunchy)
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. sugar
Hersey Kisses (about 2 dozen)

Combine all ingredients except for Kisses. Drop by spoonful into lightly greased cookie sheet, I again used my Pampered Chef mini cookie scoop thing...love it.  Press an unwrapped Hersey Kiss into the middle of your cookie balls. Bake at 350 degrees until done (about 5-7 minutes).  Let cookies cool before taking them off of the cookie sheet, they are pretty crumbly until they're cool...I covered my cookie sheet with a sheet of parchment paper (or wax paper) and then just pulled the sheet off to cool on the counter.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies....and you can put a lot on a cookie sheet because they don't spread during baking.

just had to post the picture again...don't they look so cute...got me thinking that you could make like sugar cookies and use the red and white striped kisses they have out right now and make them look like sleeping elves or something...

*as for taste...like I said, my taste is gone right now because of a lovely head cold...
and when I asked my family how they tasted all of them said...at different times...
"...they taste like peanut butter...."
really, really...so I make a cookie with peanut butter as the base, call it a peanut butter cookie...and it taste like peanut butter...shocking!
they all did eat more than one...so that had to be good!

Easy Christmas Cookies V

Playing Catch up on the Easy Christmas Cookie Recipes...

and so excited that I decided to do this little challenge because of this cookie!

one of my all time favorite cookies...and totally Christmas in my book...
and totally 100% super duper easy!
yet, I have never ever made them, and now I don't know why!

the Macaroon!
wow, and it meets all the the challenge criteria
*Easy-super duper easy...'can't believe how easy'-easy!
*under 5 ingredients
*Christmasy

Coconut Macaroons
5 cups flaked sweetened coconut
3 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
*2/3 cup dark Chocolate Chips or mini Chocolate Chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line baking sheets with wax paper sprayed with cooking spray. Mix all ingredients together in a large bowl (if using mini Chocolate chips add them now, if you want to melt the dark chocolate and drizzle it onto leave them out).

Scoop out 1 inch mounds, I used a mini cookie scoop, Pampered Chef, placed about 1 inch apart, on a lined cookie sheet, these cookies won't change shape or anything since they are just basically egg white and coconut.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until just turning brown. Cool and store in a sealed container between sheets of waxed or parchment paper. The macaroons will keep nicely for several days.

Variations:
*Melt dark Chocolate chips in a plastic bag in microwave, cut off corner and drizzle over the top of baked macaroons...

*Divide the coconut mixture in half, and add the chips to one half, leaving the other half plain.
Makes about 3-4 dozen macaroons.

told you it was easy!  I even cut this recipe in 1/2 (tricky with the 3 egg whites)...because I only had 2 1/2 cups of coconut in my pantry...I just used 2 egg whites...
and I took pictures during the process...if I took pictures it means super duper easy recipe and I have time to snap pictures...
pictures...and math (cutting the recipe in 1/2)...
from beginning to end this took me less than 25 minutes!

Easy Christmas Cookies II

second installment of
Easy Christmas Cookies....
and they aren't cookies...
they're bon bons...
but hey,
they only have 3 ingredients...
and are amazingly simple and YUMMY
AND you don't bake them...
and you can change them up SO many different ways...love them!

Oreo Bon Bons
1 package Oreo's*
1- 8 oz package cream cheese
1-1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate, because it's what I always use...but you can use any sort of chip you want, the mint ones, peanut butter, cinnamon chips...have fun with flavor combos)

now you don't NEED a food processor for this recipe but I would highly recommend it...I made the first 2 steps in less than 3 minutes....
1.  dump entire package of Oreo's into food processor and grind into fine crumbs

2.  add block of cream cheese until fully incorporated into Oreo crumbs and creates a glooby gooey ball

3.  using a small cookie scoop (pampered chef) scoop onto wax paper lined cookie sheet

4.  place in freezer until hard (or you remember that you put them there)
5.  melt chocolate in microwave (have no idea the length...I have a 'melt chocolate' button on mine...and that's the button I push!
6.  roll, dip, somehow coat frozen oreo bon bons with melted chocolate...you will have to lick your fingers...so just wait until the last one is done and you can clean the chocolate all off!

7.  stick back in freezer to harden...serve these to impress people...but to properly impress them you should probably wipe the chocolate off your chin (thankful the girl child told me I had some on my chin...and neck!)

*(I used the Mint Creme Oreo's on this batch, I have also used the Trader Joe's Candy Cane Joe Joe's before...AMAZING!)

 

The boy child (on the right...looking hopped up on chocolate) and his good friend, Isaac, enjoying the bon bons...and various other goodies...after their music recital on Monday night!

Easy Christmas Cookies I

I am going to try to post an easy Christmas cookie recipe each day this week...

and by 'easy Christmas cookie' I mean

*under 5 ingredients
*the kids can help...if you want them too
*they are fast
*they 'taste' like Christmas without loads of work
*they fall close to the 'cookie' classification...I might have a gray line....

and what's the point of an easy recipe if no one loves it,
so my family has put themselves out there and tried everyone of these recipes...

the first recipe I just found on a recipe exchange just this past week

Dark Chocolate Chip Shortbread Bars (so this is a 'bar' but it's also a cookie)
2 cups butter* (4 sticks) softened
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar
4 cups flour
1-2 cups dark chocolate chips

preheat oven to 350
cut butter into powdered sugar slowly adding flour a little at a time.  just work at it slowly, it will eventually incorporate all the flour (and you just might have made a flour/butter mess all over yourself and the floor!)...it will mix together nicely after all the flour is in and about 2 minutes of mixing.
add the chocolate chips...(and nuts if your family likes)
spray a cookie sheet and spread the dough evenly into the pan, poke with a fork very generously so that the dough will not rise.
bake for 18-30 minutes (yeah, crazy difference, I put mine in for 20 and it was just a bit too long, but the recipe I had called for 30-35 minutes....so just keep an eye on yours), until slightly turning brown, (not burned like mine!)...
cut bars while still warm on cookie sheet using a pizza cutter.  let cool completely on sheet before you remove.

made these last night...so yummy...and these may...or may not be the only ones left!!!

*yes, 2 cups of butter...yikes...but ignore how bad this is for you, and enjoy that you make them once a year!
    

could i feed them cookies for breakfast?

YES...
Yes...
yes I can...

I NEEDED to make some cookies for a meeting at my house...
a meeting of triathletes...
and I was thinking just regular ol' cookies aren't the best thing to serve triathletes...
hmmm...so I got to thinking...
I have a few bags of shredded zucchini in the freezer (like a few 100 bags)
and then thought some more...
what if I added oatmeal to it?
...hmmm this is sounding healthier and healthier and more like something that should be served to triathletes!
so I hopped onto the world wide web and goggled "zucchini oatmeal cookies"
and thru the magic of the internet I found a few 1000 different recipes for zucchini oatmeal cookies

they turned out so very yummy and even better than serving them at my triathletes meeting was giving them to the kids for breakfast the next morning...
hey don't judge me...they had both oatmeal (a morning food) and zucchini (a veggie) in them...that is totally a breakfast cookie!


Zucchini Oatmeal Cookies
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
3 tsp. vanilla
3 cups flour (whole wheat or white)
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups zucchini, grated
3 1/2 c. oatmeal
2 cups dark chocolate chips (optional raisins would also be good)

Beat shortening, butter and sugar together well. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Mix dry ingredients together and add creamed mixture. Stir in zucchini, oatmeal, raisins and nuts. Drop onto greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes.

blog edit...
just FYI...these cookies are so thick that they hardly change shape when you bake them....I'm totally okay with that, makes them nice and chewy...but you can squash them down if you'd like!

I made these again and served them at book club...I also put in dried cranberries, along with dark chocolate chips and raisins...they were loaded and YUMMY!

So Good it Might Not be Real

Made this cookies 2 weeks ago when I was in need of some chocolate...
my kids started calling them the Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies...pretty much sums them up.
BLOG WARNING
if you make these you may eat the entire batch all by yourself and then feel slightly nauseous!
not that I would have done that, I totally have will power...


Peanut Butter Brownie Cookies
1 package chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup peanut butter (creamy or crunchy)
2 eggs
2 Tbs milk
1 cup mix ins (choose one or a mixture of any of theses, semi sweet chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, Reese's peanut butter pieces, peanut butter chips, chopped peanuts)

Preheat over to 350, grease cookie sheet.
Combine cake mix, peanut butter, eggs, & milk in large mixing bowl, beat on low until blended, stir in mix ins.
Drop  by rounded spoonful onto baking sheet and bake for 7-9 minutes.
Serve with milk...

so, um, I have no picture of these cookies because we ate them all REALLY fast!..
I made mine with Devil's Food Cake mix, dark chocolate chips as the mix in and creamy peanut butter....

Not Apple Pie...But All American

the Snicker-doodle

okay, so it may not even be All American...

but that's okay...it's what we ate as we watched the fireworks from our roof...

WARNING Nerd Tangent...

 was curious so I looked it up on Wikipedia...

The Joy of Cooking claims that snickerdoodles are probably German in origin, and that the name is a corruption of the German word Schneckennudeln, which means "snail noodles." A different author suggests that the word "snicker" comes from the Dutch word snekrad, or the German word Schnecke, which both describe a snail-like shape. Yet another theory suggests that the name has no particular meaning or purpose and is simply a whimsically named cookie that originated from a New England tradition of fanciful cookie names. There is also a series of tall tales about a hero named "Snickerdoodle" from the early 1900s which may be related to the name of the cookie.

So, since we had Snickerdoodles for the 4th of July I'm going to choose the New England origin and stick with it!

I grew up not really liking sugar cookies or Snickerdoodles...

then I realized as an adult it was because my mom made them for my dad, and my dad thinks they should be thin and crispy...

well, I have know this about the sugar cookies for a good 12 years now...

but only within the last month did I discover that I LOVE the Snickerdoodle!...

I thought they were hard little rocks of a cookie that crumbled more like a biscuit than a cookie...

...not large, chewy, moist cinnamon sugary deliciousness that they were meant to be...

okay, it might also be the recipe...all the recipes that I looked at tell you to make a small 1 inch ball of dough...I went for the 2-3 inch ball of dough...and we have a WINNER...these are going to be a new staple in our home!

Melt in Your Mouth Snickerdoodles

1 cup butter softened

2 cups sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp cream of tarter

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

3 cups flour

sugar and cinnamon  for rolling (about 1/4 cup sugar and 2 tsp cinnamon)

In a medium mixing bowl beat butter for 30 sec.  Add 2 cups sugar, baking soda and cream of tater.  Beat until combined, scraping sides of bowl.  Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined.  Beat in flour (take your time with the flour and add 1/2 cups at a time).  Cover and chill (at least 1 hour).

Preheat oven to 375.  Combine sugar and cinnamon for rolling.  Shape dough into 2-3 inch balls and roll in sugar-cinnamon mixture to coat.  Place 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Back for 10-11  minutes, until the edges are golden and the tops begin to crackle. (EDIT...a friend just made these and said she needed to cook hers a little longer...go with look over time.)

Serve with milk or coffee...so very very yummy...also VERY good with Java Chip ice cream!...

might be making some ice cream sandwiches later...

but I will have to make another batch of cookies because this is all that's left

This recipe is exactly what I made, I doubled the one in the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook and added more vanilla...and the other major change I made was the size of the dough balls...I more than doubled the size, their recipe said that it would make 36 cookies so doubling should make 72 (I can add!)...when I doubled it but also doubled the size of the cookies I was counting on having the 3 dozen for the one recipe...I only ended up with 2 dozen cookies...so I might be doing a double batch of this recipe and hoping for 4 dozen...

Healthy? Maybe...Maybe Not...

Okay, so maybe cookies aren't healthy...

maybe they're not good for my  hips...

but we all know that there good for our heart...

...and good for your family,

I love to bake with both kids standing next to me...

...sometimes...

when they're not fighting...

and saying,

"my turn"

"let me do it"

"can I do it now?"

"but she already had her turn"

"can I taste that"

"can I have a bite"

....

but no, really, I do have fun with the kids in the kitchen, and they both really like to help me...just got a little sidetracked there (shocking)...

anyways...

here is a healthier version of cookies then the regular old one...they might not be a carrot, but it's better than a twinkie, both in health and taste!

The Better for you Cookie

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter (this can't be helped...you NEED butter for a good cookie)

1 1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 Tbs low fat milk (see healthy?)

2 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 cups quick oats

1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (dark chocolate is good for your heart!)

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 375.  Beat butter & sugars until creamy.  Add eggs, milk & vanilla, beat well.  Mix in flour, oats, soda & salt.  Stir in chocolate ships, raisins and cranberries.  Drop by teaspoon full onto un-greased cookie sheet.  Bake 9-10 minutes....

enjoy.

My kids, husband and I all gobble these up.  I like to mix up a batch, bake up a sheet and then refrigerate the rest, baking a sheet every few nights.

Cake Mixes Can do That???

a really fast recipe...just made some tonight with the kids...

I think similar versions are in the Cake Mix Doctor and all over the internet...but this recipe was given to me by my friend Heather Jordan...

Have to LOVE a recipe that has 3 ingredients, one step, and uses one bowl and one spoon!

Cake Mix Cookies
1 box cake mix any flavor (we like Devils Food*, Funfetti, or Lemon**)
2 eggs
1/2 oil

1.  Mix together and place spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet. Preheat oven @ 350, bake for 6-9 minutes...

*If using any chocolate cake mix stir in chocolate chips, or m&m's, or 1/2 tsp mint extract, or peanut butter chips...or anything that's good with chocolate!

**Roll the Lemon cookies in sugar before baking for a very decadent treat!  or dust with powder sugar when they come out and are still warm.

Options...make the cookies a little larger than normal and place a popsicle stick into the bottom of dough before baking, then dip in melted chocolate when the "pop-cookies" have cooled...great treat for a kids party!

Now, feed each kid one cookie and send them off to bed so you can finish the rest by yourself because you have worked-out great all week long...
And No, eating all the cookies wouldn't make your trips to the Y pointless...
just the opposite in fact
...it would have made them VERY useful...
because without the trips to the Y there is no way you could justify eating 2 dozen chocolate cookies all by yourself...
and is it really all by myself if Agatha Christie is in bed with me and my cookies???

Almost ChambersMade...

My sister joined us for Christmas this year...and she brought with her a bar cookie that I will never be able to make...
we might have actually banned them from the Chambers household...
Beau and I were responsible for eating almost an entire 9x13 pan full of them....

So they might not be ChambersMade...but they were ChambersConsumed!

7 Layer Cookies
2 sticks butter
3 cups graham crackers; crumbled
2 cans Eagle brand sweetened condensed milk
2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 cups coconut
2 cup chopped pecans (walnuts or almonds can be used)
2 cup butterscotch chips (can be omitted)

Grease 9x13 pan (or line with foil and grease foil)
Melt butter in a cake pan. Sprinkle crumbs over butter and pour Eagle brand condensed milk over the crumbs. Top with remaining ingredients in the order given and press down firmly.

Bake 25 minutes or until lightly brown at 350 degrees.
If pan was lined with foil, grab sides of foil and pull out of pan for easy cutting/serving of cookie.

The Perfected Molasses Cookie

My husband is slowly taking over my kitchen...he started with making the perfect eggs...
and then became the gravy maker in the family...
next he mastered chili...
and now...now his crowing glory...

so much so that he wanted it included in the annual Christmas letter...
The ChambersMade "original"  Molasses Cookie...
...now this isn't the crunchy, dry, molasses cookie you're thinking of...
this is moist, melt-in-your-mouth, sugar coated bliss... 

The Perfect Molasses Cookie
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup softened butter (my original recipe called for butter flavored Crisco)
8 Tbs molassed
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice (original recipe called for ginger)
2 tsp cinnamon
5 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
4 cups flour

Preheat oven to 350.  Mix all ingredients in list order.  chill dough 1-2 hours.  Roll into small balls (the Pampered Chef small cookie scoop is what we use) and roll into sugar.  Bake for 6-8 minutes. (and he insists that this is part of the secret...) Drop the pan on the counter top when you remove from the oven so the cookies flatten out (not upside down...just drop the pan rather than setting it nicely on the counter...)...

Enjoy!