Super Soft M & M Cookies

so i recently learned that my husband loves cookies. like really really love cookies. he seriously rivals the cookie monster.

so i set out to make the softest, chewiest, yummiest m & m cookie i could find and boy did i succeed. so much so, that husband ate an entire batch of cookies in a 24 hour period. these are that good. they have a secret ingredient in them too, and you know how much i love secret ingredients. it's CREAM CHEESE. who knew?

i officially never have to bake him a birthday cake again. these cookies will suffice.

and i have bright eyed baker to thank for the recipe. find it here!

Santa Approved Sugar Cookies

i realize i may be a little late in the game posting a christmas cookie recipe the day before christmas eve, seeing as every other food blogger out there has been giving you cookie recipe after cookie recipe since halloween.

but. this is the best christmas cookie recipe out there for santa. i promise you. especially because the frosting to cookie ratio is easily 2:1. that's two parts frosting, one part cookie, in case you were confused.

my family has been making this frosted sugar cookie recipe for thanksgiving and christmas since i can remember. we look forward to these all.year.long. no joke.

they're pretty simple and easy to throw together and they look so festive with their red and green frosting and sprinkles, that if you need just one more cookie recipe, you know, for the jolly fat guy in the big red suit....you should make these.

merry christmas!

Mom's Sugar Cookies
makes about 48 smallish cookies

1.5 c granulated sugar
1 c butter
1 egg
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
1.5 tsp baking powder
2.25 - 2.5 c flour, plus more for later

preheat oven to 325.

cream together the sugar, butter and eggs. add in the vanilla, milk and baking powder. slowly add the flour. the dough will be slightly sticky.

roll the dough into one inch balls. in a small bowl, pour your additional flour and using a the bottom of a glass, dip the glass in flour and flatten out the balls of cookie dough.

bake for about 9 - 10 minutes. the cookies may not look done on top, but the bottoms will be brown.

Buttercream Frosting

3.5 c powdered sugar
3/4 c butter
1.5 tsp vanilla
3-4 tsp milk
green and red food coloring
green and red sprinkles

cream together about 1.5 cups of the powdered sugar with the butter, add the vanilla. slowly alternate between adding additional powdered sugar and milk until your frosting is the correct consistency.

divide your frosting into two bowls. put 1-2 drops of green food coloring in one of the bowls and the same amount of red food coloring in the other bowl. mix together till you get the color green and red you want. i prefer mine on the lighter side, because the sprinkles are darker in color.

frost and top with sprinkles!

these cookies freeze really well, so you can definitely make a double batch for thanksgiving and they will last till christmas!

Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookie Bars!

i have a confession to make. i'm an impulsive baker. it's true and now that i've said it and it's out in the open, i feel so much better. :)


i don't know how it happens, i'll be sitting on my couch, reading, watching tv, blogging, or doing whatever and then the urge will strike. i have to bake cookies right now! it happens more often when i'm perusing pinterest, which is where i found these amazingly delicious sugar cookie bar recipes i'm about to share with you....so really it's pinterest's fault. not mine.

anyways, i'm sure you've seen these on pinterest too. they're all over the place. those pretty pink sugar cookie bars, staring you in the face, begging you to make them. well i finally did, randomly on a wednesday night while husband was at school (see i was home alone and bored which is never good for an impulsive baking addict) and they were so delicious.

they're not as pretty as some others on the internet, but they sure did taste good!

but i started them and then i realized i didn't have all the ingredients. and there was no way i was running to safeway on a wednesday night in my pajamas. so i improvised. i was out of vanilla extract (probably from all the other random baking i've done) so i added my own secret ingredient...BOURBON! bourbon went into the cookies and bourbon went in to the frosting and it was delicious!

i also ran out of all purpose flour so i substituted one cup of whole wheat flour, which wasn't bad, but i don't recommend doing unless you run out of flour halfway through making sugar cookie bars too. that being said, i didn't include the whole wheat flour substitution into the recipe below, but you're darn right i included the bourbon substitute. vanilla schmanilla ....bourbon is where it's at ladies and gents!

happy  baking!

ps...i bet if you had a christmas tree cookie cutter and some green food coloring, you could make some pretty cute and pretty delicious christmas tree cookies with this recipe. i may or may not have that planned for my christmas cookie baking binge i'll be starting on in the near future.

Secret Ingredient Sugar Cookie Bars

3/4 cup butter, softened to cool room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon bourbon (SECRET INGREDIENT!!)
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Frosting:
8 tablespoons butter, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons milk or cream
1/2 teaspoon bourbon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, granulated sugar and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and bourbon and mix for 1-2 minutes. Mix in the flour, baking powder and salt. 

Lightly grease a 9X13-inch baking pan. Press the mixture into the pan.

Bake for 10-13 minutes. The bars shouldn't have any color around the edges and barely be set in the middle. Let the bars cool completely before frosting.

For the frosting, cream together the butter and powdered sugar until smooth. Add in the bourbon and mix. Add the milk or cream and mix until the frosting is light and fluffy. Add food coloring, if desired.

Best Ever Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

the weekend is for baking. and i baked a lot this weekend. which is why i'm starting out this monday with a recipe for literally the best peanut butter cookies i've ever tasted in  my entire life. you should definitely go make these as soon as physicall possibly. that is all.

oh yeah...happy  monday!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c butter, softened
3/4 c peanut butter
1/2 c white sugar
1/2 c packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp milk
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter and sugars for 2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and vanilla.

Gradually add in the flour mixture on low speed.

Place spoonfuls on a cookie sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes (cookies will not spread much at all).

Smitten Kitchen's Carrot Cake Cupcakes

i am learning that when it comes to desserts, my husband likes two things...no LOVES two things. cookies and carrot cake. if i can find a way to turn carrot cake into a cookie, i think he might marry me all over again. i'm working on it ;0)

i had some spare time on my hands this past weekend (read: it was Sunday, which meant husband was watching football) and we had all the ingredients on hand for carrot cake (thanks CSA basket and your never ending supply of carrots) so i whipped up a batch of carrot cake cupcakes for husband to take to work with him (so i didn't eat them all myself).

they were delicious. but of course they were because i used the recipe from smitten kitchen, and well everything i make from her is mouth wateringly good. i skipped out on the nuts and raisins (i'm not a big fan of nuts or dried fruit in my desserts) and made a simple cream cheese frosting instead of the maple cream cheese frosting (only because i think cream cheese frosting is sweet enough on its own).

husband came home with rave reviews from his co-workers (score one for the home team!) and i may or may not have scored a back massage out of the deal. :)

head on over to smitten kitchen for the recipe!

Vegan Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

 i embarked on a 21 day cleanse no more than 10 days ago when right in the middle of it i had a craving for chocolate chip cookies. let me tell you. it is the worst feeling in the world when you're supposed to be all "i'm only eating vegan food" and your body's like "psych! give me sugar." i had to remedy this situation immediately.

so i perused my list of "allowed ingredients" on the cleanse and then i did what any normal, sane person would do. i scowered the internet for a cookie recipe that could be made from said allowed ingredients. and you know what....internet did not let me down. i found a vegan dark chocolate chip cookie recipe from the detoxinista and armed with all "healthy" ingredients i got to baking. immediately.

and you know what happened. my idea of a yummy chocolate chip cookie was completely blown away. these are so good! i like them better than normal chocolate chip cookies and they don't have any icky ingredients like butter (who am i kidding i love butter...but you know, the cleanse is screwing with mind) in them. score one for the internet. score one for the detoxinista. and score two points for me for not breaking my cleanse and still getting to eat chocolate chip cookies.

so even if you're not on a cleanse...you should still go make these.

Vegan Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
taken from detoxinista 

2 c almond meal

1/4 c coconut oil, softened

3 tbsp pure maple syrup

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 c dark chocolate chips 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Combine almond meal, baking soda and salt. Add coconut oil, vanilla and maple syrup and stir well. Once combined well stir in the dark chocolate. 

Spoon cookie dough onto a cookie sheet and bake for 8-9 minutes. 

Enjoy!!

Blueberry, Peach & Basil Crisp

when i was a kid, i was determined that when i grew up and could "eat whatever i want whenever i wanted" i had dreams of eating giant slices of chocolate cake for breakfast. topped with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream of course.

now that i'm an adult, and well, could do just that, it doesn't sound as appealing. well that and of course the fact that they don't tell you when you grow up, you'll no longer have the metabolism of an eleven year old. damn.

but you know what does sound appealing? a perfectly baked and bubbling blueberry peach and basil crisp served with a heaping scoop of vanilla ice cream (hey...some things don't change). and i can justify it for breakfast because (a) it's got fruit in it (b) it's got oatmeal in it and (c) i'm an adult so i can do what i want. ;0)

so when i made this for dessert this past weekend, i knew exactly what i was having for breakfast come monday morning.

blueberry, peach & basil crisp

3 peaches, peeled and chopped into 1 in squares
1 pint blueberries
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp sugar (if you like it sweeter double this)
1 small handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped

1 c oatmeal
1/2 c brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 c all purpose flour
1 stick butter, room temp

vanilla ice cream
more basil for topping

preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

in a bowl, toss together your peaches, blueberries, basil, lemon juice and sugar and set aside. lightly butter and flour a 9x9 baking pan. pour your fruit mixture into the baking pan.

in another small bowl, mix together your oatmeal, brown sugar, cinnamon and flour. using your fingers combine the butter with your dry ingredients until the mixture is slightly crumbly. distribute evenly on top of your fruit mixture.

bake in the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the fruit is bubbling and the crisp on top is slightly browned.

serve immediately with vanilla ice cream and a few pieces of basil on top.

enjoy!

Avocado Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

say what?!?!

yup! that's right! i put avocados in my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. 

but why?!?! why ruin a perfectly good batch of delicious oatmeal chocolate chip cookies by putting avocados in them?!?! 

no i'm not crazy. and no it's not some weird pregnancy craving (and no i'm not pregnant!) 

but apparently putting avocados in everything is a thing. don't believe me? check out my avocado egg salad here,  or this recipe for avocado goat cheese crostini (side note: i'm dying to try this!)

see told you.

it's a thing. 

so when i saw this recipe for avocado oatmeal chocolate chip cookies on eat. live. run i first thought.....gross! who would put avocados in their cookies? but as much as i tried, i couldn't shake it. 

i had to try them myself. 

i'm so glad i did. 

they really make the cookies so light and fluffy and delicious. 

and just plain good.

so go make these, i promise you'll thank me later ;0)

get the recipe here!

Slutty Brownies

have you guys heard of slutty brownies?

oh my god!

so good. 

so so so so very good. 

slutty brownies have rocked my world.

get ready because they'll rock your world too.

it's a chocolate chip cookie topped with oreos and then covered in a fudgy brownie mixture that you bake all together to turn into the most delicious brownie you'll ever eat in your entire life.

mind blown.

i made husband take them to work with him, because you can't just keep slutty brownies in the house.

you eat them.

and that can be very very dangerous.

check out the recipe over at What's Gaby Cooking!

Strawberry Mojitos

i don't know about you, but i could sure go for a summertime cocktail (or two) right about now.

and i'll take a side of summertime with it too.

lucky for me, it's 80 degrees in the pdx right now, and it's the weekend.

so, i'd love it if you'd join me for one of my favorite summertime cocktails...

strawberry mojitos!!!

husband, my MIL (mother in law) and I went strawberry pickin' this weekend.

and as soon as we got home,

i whipped up some homemade strawberry mojitos!

they were delicious!

check out the recipe below and you can enjoy one too ;)

hurry up! the weekend's not over yet!

Strawberry Mojitos
Makes one large mojito

4 strawberries, hulled
6 mint leaves
2 tsp agave nectar
2 tsp fresh squeezed lime juice
2 oz white rum
Club Soda, as needed
Ice

In a cocktail shaker, muddle together the mint leaves, strawberries and agave nectar. Add in lime juice and rum. Shake well.

Fill a pint glass with ice and pour in the contents of the cocktail shaker. Top off with club soda and serve.

Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cookie Dough Bites

I have a confession to make. 

I could eat cookie dough by the spoonful. 

I know! I know! 

The eggs! Salmonella! I'm going to get food poisoning! 

All that said and done...I've been eating cookie dough batter for as long as I can remember, and I'm still here...BUT

I know it's not good for you. 

So, here's a little oatmeal cookie dough batter that's (a) eggless and (b) delicious! 

You can eat it by the spoonful....or live dangerously, roll it into little cookie dough balls and dip those bad boys in melted chocolate. 

Holy Yum. 

These are perfect for a girl's night, fun with the kiddos or (if dipped in chocolate) could even be dressed up for a fun party dessert! 

Oatmeal Cookie Dough Bites

1 cup flour
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, room temp
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
6 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup rolled oats
water (add small amounts until the dough is proper consistency)

Combine all ingredients except for the water in a bowl. The mixture will be crumbly. Gradually begin adding small amounts of water until dough reaches desired consistency.

If you want to get crazy, melt some chocolate chips and dip these in chocolate to make chocolate covered oatmeal cookie dough bites....mouthwatering good!

Store in the fridge or freezer if you can make it last that long!

Honey Mustard Champagne Vinaigrette

I've been on kind of a salad kick lately.

I haven't posted any recipes really, because really, who can't make a salad? Throw together your favorite ingredients and serve over a bed of greens and you're good to go right? 

No? Maybe I'll post a few of my favorite salad recipes up here in the near future. 

We'll see. 

But you know what is super easy to make at home with a few key ingredients that you probably aready have in your pantry and out of sheer laziness you buy it instead?

Salad Dressing. 

Or better yet, this salad dressing. 

It's so good. 

You might not ever buy salad dressing again. 

And you'll have me to thank for it.

Your Welcome. :) 

PS. Serve this dressing over some mixed baby greens, tomatoes and green onions along side this beauty this weekend and everyone will love you come Easter morning . ;) 

Honey Mustard Champagne Vinaigrette 

• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 c champagne vinegar
• 2 tbsp honey
• 2 or 3 dashes hot sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl and whisk together. Drizzle over your favorite salad. 

This makes about 3/4 of a cup of salad dressing. You can store it in an air tight concealer and refrigerate for about a week. Shake well before using again.

Enjoy! 

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

I have a secret to share. 

I love cupcakes. Like, really really really love cupcakes. 

I loved cupcakes before it was cool to love cupcakes. 

Happy National Margarita Day!

Happy Friday ya'll!

Did you know that today is National Margarita Day? Well now you know! Every February 22nd from here on out you'll be prepared. 

You can thank me later ;)

Homemade Mint Oreo's

I told you I'd be back with another sweet treat!

I love Oreo's. Well, really I love the frosting inside of Oreo's. I totally twist my Oreo's apart, scrape out the frosting on the inside, and then eat the crunchy chocolate cookie sides one after the other. 

What? You don't? 

Kitchen Musings...

A little Saturday morning kitchen musings. I promise I'll post a real recipe on Monday ;) 

I've been reading a lot of blogs lately, about food mostly. Are you surprised?



And I stumbled upon the Sprouted Kitchen. It's safe to say I've fallen in love with this site.

It is beautiful.

But there is one thing, in particular, that really resonated with me.

Valentine's Day Dessert Ideas

Are you looking for some Valentine's treat ideas? 

I've got you covered. 

I'm convinced the way to a boys heart is through their stomachs. But, more importantly, I'm convinced that a way to a boy's heart is with peanut butter and chocolate. Put those two magical ingredients together, and I promise girls, the boys will come a knockin'. 

Power Breakfast Smoothies

You guys the green monster, KALE, is back! And it's all husband's fault! 

Both husband and I are really working on getting healthy. 

WHAT?!?! 

You wouldn't think so by some of my posts lately, but it's true. And if you look closely, we are incorporating healthier, more filling, good-for-you foods into our every day lives. Sweet potatoes and whole wheat flour in that AMAZING Foccacia Bread. Muffins full of fruit and whole wheat flour. Grilled Chicken Burgers. See...healthy! It just goes to show, that being healthy doesn't mean you have to eat boring foods at all. If anything, I think it really has enhanced my relationship with food and forced me to venture out in new and exciting ways. I LOVE that.

iFoodagraphy

Here it is...January's iFoodagraphy post. There were some pretty good eats this month that I'm super excited to share with you! 

First, there was a New Year's Eve dinner at Noble Rot. Simply put, it was AMAZING. I had the butternut squash grilled panini. Mouthwatering good. And the perfect way to end 2012 and ring in 2013. 

(Sorry this picture is a little dark!)

Black and Blue Streusel Muffins

So I know I promised a hummus recipe this week, but then I decided that making muffins would be more fun :) So I did! But I also thought I'd be posting this on Wednesday this week, and now it's Friday (FINALLY) and this is the perfect recipe to start off your weekend.