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The Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

It’s 9 PM and suddenly I need cookies. So what do I do? Pull up Pinterest and search for some delicious cookies. And I figure, if they’re oatmeal cookies, they’re healthy right? 🙂

But here’s the thing… I haven’t been to the grocery store in a while, so my ingredients are limited and I want cookies NOW. I can’t possibly wait an hour for them to chill in the fridge (which is common with oatmeal cookies)!

So I came across this recipe for the Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies… EVER by Radiant Dust and let me just say, they are the best ever!

Okay, I know I’m not supposed to eat raw egg while pregnant (or ever really), but I did it. The dough smelled AMAZING and I couldn’t help myself! Had I not been pregnant, I may have eaten all of the dough before I baked any cookies.

I had some leftover mini Hershey Kisses from my Peanut Butter Blossoms, so I used those instead of chocolate chips and it was so delicious having big chunks of chocolate mixed into the cookie.

You can feel free to add other types of chips or fruit (like cranberries or raisins), but personally I hate a raisin in a cookie. Especially hidden raisins!
Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

Yields about 30 – 36 cookies. I forgot to count how many it made and plus, we ate some of the dough before baking!

1 c butter, softened

1 c  packed light brown sugar

1/2 c white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 c quick-cooking oats

1 c chocolate chips (I used mini Hershey Kisses)

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. In a large bowl, blend butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth.
  3. Beat in eggs and then stir in vanilla.
  4. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the mixture until blended. Mix in the quick oats, and chocolate chips.
  5. Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto ungreased baking sheets.
  6. Bake for 11-12 minutes (no more than that even if they don’t seem done). Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

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Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms

My husband and I don’t really celebrate Valentine’s Day. We have too many other anniversaries to celebrate. We will usually spend the day together, maybe throw a quick “Happy V-day around.” But nothing out of the ordinary.

However, I wanted to make a special Valentine’s Day treat because… well, I’m pregnant and I need cookies. So really they were for myself and not for my husband! 

I have always loved Peanut Butter Blossom cookies, but they are often hard to eat because of the giant Hershey Kiss in the middle. Do you try and bite into the Kiss or do you just eat the whole thing at once? Either way you are going have issues. You either get chocolate all over your teeth, so this becomes a cookie you only eat in the privacy of your own home or you are stuck eating most of the cookie without any chocolate. Not cool.

So I was ecstatic when I wandered down the baking aisle and found MINI Hershey Kisses!  

My husband dislikes Peanut Butter Blossoms for the exact reasons I pointed out earlier, so he wasn’t too excited when he discovered what I was making. But do not fear my friend! I have a surprise up my sleeve! Actually, three surprises! Three mini Kisses!

It made the cookies so much for enjoyable and I will never make a Peanut Butter Blossom with regular Kisses again!

Now this recipe is extra special. It is made for Valentine’s Day. It is a Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossom and it is beautiful!

You can find the original recipe from I Am Baker. I have changed it slightly, in that, I am not a fancy baker so I have adjusted the recipe to make it a little easier. Also, I don’t have a stand mixer or even a hand mixer (I have no idea where the arms went…) so I mixed everything by hand and it came out perfect!

I did run out of red decorating sugar for the last few cookies, so I used regular white sugar. They don’t have the same kind of dazzle, more like a muted pink, but they looked pretty mixed in with the red cookies.

Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms

Yields about 40 cookies

Ingredients:

1 bag Hershey’s Kisses (or mini Kisses)

½ c (1 stick) butter, room temperature or softened

¾ c peanut butter

1 ⅓ c sugar

1 egg

2 tbsp milk (I use almond cashew milk)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp red food coloring

3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

1 ½ c all purpose flour

pinch of salt

¼ c red decorating sugar

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Mix softened butter, peanut butter and sugar until blended
  3. Add egg, milk, vanilla and red food coloring, mix until light and fluffy
  4. Add cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt, slowly mix until combined
  5. Pour red decorating sugar onto small plate or bowl
  6. Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll ball in sugar until covered
  7. Place on cookie sheet 2 inches apart
  8. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges start to crack
  9. Once cookies are removed from oven place one Hershey’s Kiss (or 3 mini Kisses) into the center of each cookie
  10. Allow cookies to cool and try not eat them all!!
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Wacky Cake

Today’s recipe comes from my mom’s recipe book. This recipe has been in my family forever. I really hope it’s not a “secret family recipe” because I’m about to tell all of you!

This is sort of like a mix between a brownie and a cake. It’s not too sweet, there’s no frosting, but it is so light and moist. It’s super easy, can be made all in one pan if you wish, and will get devoured! This cake is so easy that I have been making it since I was a child. 

This is a great recipe because it can be made ahead. If you are making ahead, make sure you sprinkle the powdered sugar just before serving. Otherwise it gets soaked into the cake, which is delicious, but doesn’t look quite as pretty!

Ingredients:

3 c flour
2 c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
6 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp vanilla
2 tspn vinegar
3 oz oil (I have used both vegetable oil and olive oil)
2 c cold water

Powdered sugar
Directions:

  • Mix all ingredients
  • Add wet ingredients to dry and mix well
  • Pour into oiled baking pan
  • Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 min, until a toothpick comes out clean (or mostly clean)
  • Sprinkle with powdered sugar when cool (or just before serving if making ahead)

 

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