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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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Peanut Butter Blossoms (with Mini Kisses)

Peanut Butter Blossoms have always been (one) of my favorite cookies. So after I made these Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms, I felt compelled to make a batch of the original just, you know, to compare the two recipes. 🙂

One of my most vivid memories as a child is heading to my great aunt’s house for Christmas. It was always held in the basement where everyone chatted, drank, listened to Christmas music, and played games while I stalked the cookie tray.

As soon as we descended the stairs to the basement, I would lock my eyes on the cookie tray. I would count how many Peanut Butter Blossoms there were and how many times I would need to circle the dessert table to devour them. Being a good child, I didn’t want to eat them all at once. So I had to make frequent trips to the cookie table the entire night to ensure I ate all the Peanut Butter Blossoms I could handle!

As an adult, they are still one of my favorite cookies and I don’t make them very often because, just like when I was a child, I will literally eat them all.

My one complaint about this cookie is that it is hard to eat with a Hershey Kiss in the middle. Do you eat the Kiss first? Do you eat around it and save it for last? Or do you just dig in and hope you don’t have chocolate smeared all over your pearly whites?

I was ecstatic when I found mini Hershey Kisses! Not only is it easier to eat, but you can enjoy some chocolate with every bite because you don’t get to just add one Kiss to each cookie, but three! Three kisses to every cookie!

But here’s what I will say… I still love the original, but after making these Red Velvet Peanut Butter Blossoms, I actually like the Red Velvet cookie better. It seems softer, more decadent and it’s a really beautiful cookie!

Peanut Butter Blossoms (with mini Kisses)

Yields about 48 cookies

Ingredients:

½ c softened butter

¾ c creamy peanut butter

⅓ c sugar

⅓ c brown sugar

1 egg

1 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 ½ c flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

⅓ c sugar for rolling

1 bag of Hershey’s Mini Kisses

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Mix butter and peanut butter in large bowl until blended. Add sugar and sugar, mix until fluffy. Add egg, milk, and vanilla, mix well. Add flour, baking soda, salt and slowly mix into peanut butter mixture. *Side note: best if using a hand or stand mixer, but can be mixed by hand.
  3. Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in additional sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheet. *Side note: if dough is not sticking enough to roll into balls, chill in refrigerator for 5 to 10 minutes.
  4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until lightly browned.
  5. Immediately press 3 mini Hershey Kisses into center of each cookie. Edges will crack.
  6. Allow to cool on wire rack.

 

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Easy Apple Turnovers

If you read my recent recipe for Apple Walnut Spice Muffins, you will know that I have a bunch of Granny Smith apples to get through before they go bad.

Not only did I recently discover that my husband doesn’t enjoy green apples, but I also discovered he has never had a turnover! What?! Crazy talk, I know.

I’m not a huge pastry person. I’m a dessert girl, yes, but not so much into danishes and such. But my husband is, however, we rarely have them in the house.

So when I learned that he had never had a turnover and since I have all these apples just hanging out, I made these Apple Turnovers.

They are so, so easy to make and really delicious!

Eating them warm with a scoop of ice cream on top is like perfection!

I can’t wait to try this recipe with other fillings!

Easy Apple Turnovers

Yields 8 turnovers

Ingredients:

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and sliced thin

2 tbsp butter

1 c brown sugar

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tbsp flour

1 package frozen puff pastry sheets, thawed

1 egg

Optional: White sugar for topping

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Melt butter in large skillet over medium heat, add apples. Cook and stir for about two minutes until apples are getting soft and covered with butter.
  3. Combine brown sugar, cinnamon, and flour. Mix well. Add to apple mixture and stir.
  4. Cook for 3-4 minutes until dry ingredients has become a thick sauce.
  5. Remove from heat and let slightly cool in pan.
  6. Unfold pastry sheet (repair any cracks by pressing back together).
  7. Cut pastry sheets into 4 squares (you will end with 8 squares).
  8. Spoon apple mixture onto center of each square. Fold square over from corner to corner to form a triangle shape. Use a fork to press down and seal edges.
  9. Place turnovers onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
  10. Beat egg in small bowl. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush egg onto the top of each turnover. Sprinkle sugar onto turnovers.
  11. Bake for 25 minutes until lightly browned. Allow to cool before eating (the middle gets very hot!)
  12. Serve with ice cream for a delicious treat!
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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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Easy Cheesy Spanish Rice

I have thing for rice. Or noodles. Whichever. I love them.

Or bread. Or potatoes. Maybe I actually just  have thing for carbs?

My husband thinks I am such a weirdo, but I could literally sit down and eat a whole bowl of rice/noodles and butter. Super unhealthy, but super delicious!

So anytime I can add rice to a meal, I’m all for it! A yummy, easy Spanish rice recipe is perfect for Mexican dishes! This dish is so easy and I almost always have all of the ingredients just sitting in my pantry!

This could probably be made into a complete dish with some beans… hmmm… Maybe that recipe will be coming soon!

Anyway, this dish can be made in about 30 minutes. The most difficult part of this recipe is adding the rice straight to the skillet. I had never done that to rice before and the first time I made this I was really nervous!

But don’t be nervous! It will be okay! Just let the rice cook in the skillet until it is becoming translucent or a little brown, but not burned. It is better to add the vegetable broth early than burn the rice.

You can also choose to make this rice as spicy or mild as you want! I usually prefer on the more mild side, so I usually have mild salsa. But if you like it spicy, add some hot salsa to kick up the flavor!

Quick Cheesy Spanish Rice

Ingredients:

2 tbsp oil

2 tbsp chopped onion

1 ½ c uncooked white rice

2 c vegetable broth

1 c chunky salsa

½ c shredded cheese

Directions:

  1. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cooked until tender, about 5 minutes.
  2. Mix rice into skillet, stirring often.
  3. When rice begins to brown/become translucent (but not burned), stir in vegetable broth and salsa.
  4. Cover and simmer for 20 minutes until liquid has been absorbed and rice is fluffy.
  5. Turn off heat and add cheese. Cover until cheese is melted.
  6. Serve!

 

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Nutella Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Happy World Nutella Day!

For today’s recipe, I decided to take my favorite peanut butter banana bread recipe (since my freezer is overflowing with bananas) and add a little punch of Nutella for World Nutella Day!

I will start by saying that one of the reasons I love this banana bread recipe is because it is mostly healthy and packed with protein.

As a vegetarian, anywhere I can pick up extra protein is a plus to me! There is no oil or butter which is awesome. It uses peanut butter and yogurt to get a nice, rich texture. It’s so yummy! I also really love that you can add delicious walnuts as well! I also have added chocolate chips and a combination of nuts and chocolate in the past.

However, adding Nutella really takes all the healthiness out. BUT it is so fantastic! I love when you use Nutella in recipes, it makes them even softer and delicious!

I always make this in a 13×9 pan because I seem to always have trouble getting the middle cooked in 1 lb bread pan. I also like that it becomes more “cake” like, it is much easier to eat than a large piece of banana bread, and it cooks much faster! You are welcome to make it either way and I have left cooking directions for both below.

Nutella Peanut Butter Banana Bread

Ingredients:

1 ½ c bananas (about 4)
2 eggs
⅓ c plain yogurt
⅔ c peanut butter
1 ⅔ c flour
1 c brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
½ c Nutella

Directions:

  1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, add bananas and mash.
  3. Add eggs, yogurt and peanut butter. Mix until blended.
  4. Add remaining dry ingredients, mix well.
  5. Spread batter evenly into a greased 13×9 pan.*
  6. Heat Nutella in microwave for 20 seconds.
  7. Drip or spoon Nutella on batter.
  8. Use a knife to pull the Nutella evenly through the batter.
  9. Bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean when inserted into the center of the loaf.
  10. Cool for 5 minutes and enjoy!

 

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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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