chocolate-stuffed toffee chip cookies.

I "liked" the How Sweet It Is page on Facebook when I found Jessica's blog a few months ago. Every weekday morning when I wake up, there is always a link to her new blog post with a picture that makes my mouth water. (Seriously, even dinner foods look good at 8am when she's behind the camera)

So... I get a lot of inspiration from her. Not sure what I want to bake today? Oh, hey, Jessica just posted a to-die-for cookie. That'll do. 

So these cookies... Jessica claims they are the best cookie that she has ever created. Coming from someone who has made so so so so many delicious cookies (don't believe me? Click that link and see her "cookie" recipe page) that always get rave reviews, I knew these had to be fantastic.

Luckily for me, I already had all of the ingredients in the pantry (leftover Toffee chips from toffee chocolate chip snickerdoodles and a bag of chocolate chunks I picked up one day because they were on sale)!

I was originally planning on making double fudge oreo cookies today with Halloween Oreos, but uh... I'm out of cocoa powder. So I had to nix that plan and go with these. I'm so glad I did, because they are absolutely delicious. And fun to make!

I do have to say they are my favorite cookie I have tried from Jessica's blog, and I have tried quite a few (all being scrumptious, of course). The toffee chips give it the perfect chewy crunch and the chocolate chunks in the middle are all melty and dreamy. The brown butter that goes into the batter doesn't suck either.

Please, I beg you... just make them. Please? I promise you won't be dissapointed. Oh, and if you don't happen to have chocolate chunks.. just chop up a chocolate bar! (I'm sure you have one leftover from Halloween, don't you?)

Chocolate-stuffed Toffee Chip Cookies

Recipe from How Sweet It Is

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) unsalted butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt 

1 cup toffee chips

chocolate chunks, baking squares, or chocolate bars cut into pieces (I put 3 chunks into each cookie)

Heat a small saucepan over medium-low heat and add butter. Whisk until butter melts, then continue to stir and whisk just until tiny brown bits appear at the bottom of the pan. Remove from heat immediately as the butter can burn very quickly. Set aside and let cool for about 10-15 minutes, until the butter comes to room temperature.

Once butter has cooled, add to a large bowl. Whisk together with sugars until smooth, then add in the egg and egg yolk. Mix again until combined, then add in vanilla extract and mix. Add in flour, baking and soda and salt, and mix with a spoon until a dough forms. The dough may be crumbly but continue to mix – even using your hands if needed – until it comes together. Fold in toffee chips.

Roll about 1 tablespoons of dough into a ball, then press some chocolate (your choice) into the middle. Top with an additional 1 tablespoons of dough, and seal the sides, rolling the dough into ball. Place on a baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 11-12 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden. Let cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then gently remove with a spatula to a cooling rack.

You deserve these cookies. And a big glass of milk.

mini oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookies.

Isn't everything better in the mini version? Think about it: sliders, donut holes, miniature dachshunds, mini skirts, mini m&m's..... you get the idea.

Well, these cookies are the perfect little cookie to gobble up in one bite. I, however, still like to bite mine in half... just to see the cute little oreo inside.

And isn't the idea of a cookie inside a cookie just mouth-watering? It's like a..... a cannibal cookie. Is that politically correct? But that's what it is. It's like a chocolate chip cookie ate a mini oreo.

My friend Melissa (hi Melissa!), has been wanting to bake with me for a while. Well, last night we were finally able to! It worked out perfectly. I would scoop the cookie dough onto each side of the oreo and she would smoosh it all together so that it would surround the oreo! We made a great team, and the boys enjoyed eating the results!

I got a little frisky and added a Hershey's Nugget with Toffee to one of them :X

Not only were these cookies fun to make, but they are super yummy! I can't wait to stuff cookies with lots of different things... like brownies, mini candy bars, other kinds of cookies, and more! Jenny over at Picky Palate provides plenty of inspiration. She is the master of cookie-stuffing!

Mini Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe from Picky Palate

2 sticks butter (softened)

3/4 cup light brown sugar (packed)

1 cup sugar

2 large eggs

1 tbs vanilla

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

10 oz bag chocolate chips (I used mini, and I only used about half of a 12 oz bag)

Mini oreo's... I bought two snack-sized bags. It was plenty!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer until well combined. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until well combined. In a separate bowl, mix flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing after each addition, until all the ingredients are combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Using either a teaspoon or a melon baller, put one scoop of dough on the top and one scoop of dough on the bottom of each oreo. Like this:

Seal the edges together by pressing the cookie dough together on the sides. You may need to add a little more dough to enclose the entire cookie. Place onto the baking sheet and bake cookies 8-10 minutes.

Trust me, you'll need that extra-tall glass of milk for these babies.

toffee chocolate chip snickerdoodles.

Sometimes items at the store just kind of... speak to me. Like I'll see donuts and decide I want fish for dinner. You know, normal things. Well, I was walking through Walmart yesterday and I saw these:

And I remembered seeing a recipe that Jessica from How Sweet It Is posted last week that used them. So into the cart they went, along with the 47 cans of spaghettios (okay, 4) for D. He can (and does) eat them every day. I've seen him get up at 9am and eat a can of spaghettios. We need to invest in stock.

Aaannnyyywaayysss.. these cookies turned out super delicious!  D says they are his second favorite that I have made. (Right behind Double Fudge Oreo Crunch Cookies!) So that's a big deal. They're that good.

Plus it was so exciting to use toffee chips! I get excited over silly things. Like looking at produce. And when Criminal Minds/Grey's Anatomy/Modern Family/The Middle/Big Bang Theory are new on the DVR. You know, the important stuff.

I also brought these cookies with me to work. I'm not sure if the people at my work like me because I keep bringing them cookies or hate me because... I keep bringing them cookies. Hey, a cookie a day keeps the doctor away, right? Right.

And just to round out this already random post, let me just tell you that I got two fillings today. Half of my mouth was numb for like 5 hours. THAT was fun. I had all of these snickerdoodles teeming with toffee pieces and mini chocolate chips just sitting on my counter begging me to eat them.... and I couldn't. Well, I COULD.. but I wouldn't have been able to taste it with half of my mouth. And where's the fun in that?

Toffee Chocolate Chip Snickerdoodles

Recipe from How Sweet It Is

makes 16-20 cookies

1/2 cup butter (at room temperature)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tablespoons milk (I only needed 1 tbs)

1/3 cup chocolate chips (I used mini!)

1/2 cup toffee chips/pieces/bits

for dipping:

1/4 cup sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla, mix well to combine. Mix in flour, baking powder, salt, and 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon. Mix until the dough comes together. Add milk. If the dough is still crumbly, add more milk 1 tbs at a time until the dough comes together. Fold in the chocolate chips and toffee chips. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the sugar and cinnamon to roll the cookies in. Remove dough from fridge. Roll into 1 to 1.5 inch balls. Roll in cinnamon sugar mixture and place on ungreased baking sheet 1-2" apart. Bake 8-10 minutes.

chocolate covered cherry cookies.

Let me tell you a story. One time when I was little (around 9 or 10), I remember going to the drug store with my parents and my little brother. It was after we had went out to dinner. A lot of times, we would go to the drug store and we would all get our favorite candy bar. (I always got either a Carmello or Mallow Cups. Um, yum.)

But this particular time, I specifically remember that we bought chocolate covered cherries. When we got home, my mom and dad sat in the dining room watching TV and my brother and I went into the living room to watch the VHS we had just rented. (VHS? Rented? Throwback.)


What did we rent, you ask? I remember it was You're Invited to Mary Kate & Ashley's Sleepover. Don't judge me, I liked them all and had them all on VHS back in the day. (Read: I may or may not have still watched Holiday in the Sun and Passport to Paris and When in Rome and all of the others well into my high school years. Okay, honestly I would totally watch one now. As in tonight. I'll have to check Netflix.)

ANYWAYS. That night, my brother and I opened the box of chocolate covered cherries and put them on the counter between the kitchen and the living room. For the rest of the night, we watched Mary Kate & Ashley (he may deny this part), played Chutes and Ladders (he may deny this part as well), and ate most of the box of chocolate covered cherries. Ok, I don't even know if he LIKED chocolate covered cherries. I just remember that I ate them that night.


Why is it that something as trivial as a drug store dessert can bring back a night that happened so long ago so vividly? So weird. I will never be able to eat a chocolate covered cherry without thinking of Mary Kate & Ashley or Chutes and Ladders. Whodathunkit.

Really, none of that has to do with these cookies (except that they have both chocolate and a cherry in them). Which are fantastic, by the way. D's mom made them around Christmas time last year and I fell in love with them.

With one bite, they immediately jumped into my top 5 favorite Christmas cookies of all time. Since my family always makes quite a lengthy list of cookies every year, that is quite a big deal. 

Make them. I implore you. They will complete you.


Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

recipe from Allrecipes.com

 1/2 cup butter (at room temperature)

1 cup sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1 (10 oz) jar maraschino cherries (strained, reserve cherry juice)

4 tsp cherry juice (from above)

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

With an electric mixer (bowl or hand-held), beat together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla and beat well. Add the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and mix until smooth. Roll into 1-inch balls and place onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Using the end of a kitchen utensil (I used the end of a whisk) or your thumb, make an indent into each cookie large enough to place a cherry. Place a cherry in each indentation. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes.

While the cookies are baking, combine the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and cherry juice in a sauce pan. Heat over low to medium heat stirring constantly until smooth. When the cookies come out of the oven, spoon about a tablespoon of the melted chocolate onto the top of each cookie (so that the cherry is completely covered). If you felt like being fancy, you could drizzle the chocolate over the cookies instead of spooning it over them... but who doesn't love more chocolate? That's what I thought.

slight variation.

Hey guys!

Remember when I made Double Fudge Oreo Crunch Cookies in July? Well, I made them again. Why? Because D loved them. And everyone at my work loved them. (As in, asked for the recipe) I also have a class full of hungry friends to feed tonight.

Another reason I made them again is because the ingredients are so easy! The only thing I need to pick up that I don't always have on hand is oreos.

So what did I do differently this time? I drizzled peanut butter over the top. Lets just say it was one of my better ideas. :)

It was my first drizzling experience, but I think they turned out pretty! I was honestly just doing the whole "peanut butter drizzle" thing for aesthetic reasons, but holy moly- it adds the perfect little taste of peanut butter.

I am going to make these cookies again in October- for Halloween- with the Halloween Oreos (with the orange filling). I'm excited! (Is that dorky of me?) Ooooh and then in December for Christmas maybe I could use red/green filled oreos! (Do they make those?) Sorry. Cute cookies get me worked up.


Double Fudge Oreo Crunch Cookies with Peanut Butter Drizzle(cookie recipe from How Sweet It Is)

makes about 30 cookies

1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I used Semi-sweet)
1 cup chopped oreos (I just cut them into small pieces with a sharp knife)

For peanut butter drizzle: 1/4 cup peanut butter

Cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and mix until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips and oreos. Refrigerate dough for 2-4 hours or more. (I refrigerated mine overnight and it was fine!) When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees, roll into balls and set on baking sheet.

Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. When cookies come out of the oven, remove from baking sheet and put onto a cookie cooling rack with paper towels underneath. Heat peanut butter up in a microwave safe dish until liquidy. Using a fork, drizzle peanut butter over cookies. :)




Soo.. guess what I had for lunch?  A leftover hamburger roll with a piece of cheese and spicy mustard, some pringles, and a pickle. Clearly I spent more time this morning focusing on cookies than I did on making lunch. Priorities, people.

no bake cookies.

I have trouble calling these cookies "cookies". There are a couple other "cookies" that my family has always made for Christmas that don't require baking. But at least they don't try to pretend that they're cookies by having "cookie" in the title. They're called nutclusters and haystacks. I just feel like cookies should be baked!

But hey, these cookie impostors taste darn good and require zero to little effort. I'll let them slide- this time. 

These cookies are D's absolute favorite. I actually already had a recipe for no bake's that I got from my sister a while back, but I decided to get D's mom's recipe since he loves them so much. 

Last week my other sister sent me a picture of no bake cookies that she had just made. They made me really, really want to make them. And to be honest, I was never the biggest fan. I know, I know. Chocolate, butter, peanut butter, vanilla, sugar.....what's not to like? Well, I don't know. I guess I was crazy. 

Because since I made them last night, I can't stop thinking about them! You know those pieces of oatmeal that break off the cookie when you're putting them into the container? I snatched those up like I was the grinch stealing every last crumb from all those poor little Whos.

Make.Them.Now. You'll be happy you did. 

No Bake Cookies  

(D's Mom's Recipe)

1/4 lb (1 stick) margarine

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 cups sugar

1/2 cup milk

3 cups rolled or old fashioned oats

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

In a large bowl, combine oats, salt, peanut butter, and vanilla. Set aside. 

Bring the margarine, cocoa powder, sugar, and milk in a pot to a boil. As soon as you see bubbles around the edges, boil for one minute. Pour over the oat mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined. Drop by spoonfuls onto wax paper. You can make them as big or as small as you want!

hot cocoa cookies.

Remember I said that this blog would be about my trials and tribulations in the kitchen and also my biking adventures? (Of course not limited to those things, but you get the point). Well folks, I have a tribulation to share with you.

I made these cookies because on Jessica's blog (how sweet it is - check it out!) they looked so delicious! Her pictures are always amazing. These cookies just looked delicious- and I had everything I needed to make them except mini-marshmallows, so it seemed like a no brainer. 

They're called hot cocoa cookies. Here's the recipe. <---- Don't those pictures look TO DIE FOR? Well, I did everything as the recipe stated. I left the butter out to get to room temperature, I refrigerated the dough once made, etc. 

I rolled them into balls and put them onto the cookie sheet as the recipe stated. On the first batch, I sprayed the sheet with cooking spray just because she mentioned that they are VERY sticky (because of the marshmallows and marshmallow fluff).

I put them in the oven, and when they came out...well lets just say I had to cut them into shapes that slightly resembled cookies. I wish I had taken a picture of that first batch before I cut them. They were all smooshed together! Is there anything worse than peeking into the oven and seeing all your hard work melted together in one big blob? I didn't think so.

So on the next batch, I put the cookies farther apart and didn't spray the sheet. I thought maybe the spray was slippery and allowing the cookies to slide and spread out more easily? Well, this batch came out better... they were round and cookie shaped and didn't smoosh together, but they still got really flat.

See? flat cookies.

These cookies did come off the baking sheet better, because I put them in the fridge for like 20 minutes and let them COMPLETELY cool. 

After being disappointed by how they looked, I tried one. They are so gooey and chocolatey and marshmallow-y and delicious! They are so good that I would risk disappointment again just to make them. As you take a bite, you try to pull the cookie away from your mouth but sometimes you get a string of marshmallow goodness. They are slightly difficult to hold without them falling apart, but who cares!? They taste like a cup of hot cocoa in a cookie!

look at that marshmallow fluff goodness

So I guess what I'm trying to say is that this cookie was kind of a tribulation. They aren't pretty, but they taste pretty darn good! :) Maybe I will add a little more flour if I make them again?

Guess what I'm making later today? I'll give you a hint: There are four delicious, perfectly ripe peaches from the farmers market sitting in my kitchen begging to be made into something yummy! Stay tuned, and have a great Sunday!

double fudge oreo crunch cookies.

Yesterday I baked more cookies. Two days in a row! Let's hope that D doesn't get sick of eating yummy baked goods anytime soon. All I know is... I'm going through A LOT of butter. There is so much butter in baked goods! 

They're called "Double Fudge Oreo Crunch Cookies". They were super delicious. I think I liked them even better than the ones I made the day before (Giant Rainbow Cookies). D ate 7 of them! :O Here's the recipe!

Oh! And my brother Brandon came to visit yesterday! :) We played You Don't Know Jack. It was fun. 

For dinner, I made fish sticks out of some Swai filets and parmesan roasted potato wedges. Recipes here and here. They both turned out really yummy. I cooked the potato wedges on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, just because I thought it would make clean-up easier, but they stuck to it really bad. Next time I would either spray it with cooking spray or just nix the aluminum foil.

My mom sent my brother with a bowl full of fresh blueberries that my grandma probably got up at 5am to pick. I remember going with her when I was little, and we always HAD to get there that early to "beat out all the other people". I guess grandma knows best. So today I am going to make blueberry muffins with the fresh blueberries. :)

new cookie, new blog.

Hello there, blogging world. I decided to create a blog because, well, why not? I'm not quite sure exactly what I am going to blog about exactly, but I'm sure I'll figure it out as I go along. 

Yesterday I found a blog written by a girl named Jessica- it's called "How Sweet It Is". A friend actually posted a link to one of the recipes in her blog on facebook. I immediately became obsessed with looking at all the recipes she has posted and the funny tidbits she has to go along with them.

So, today I decided to make one of the recipes from her blog. They're called "Giant Rainbow Cookies" and they are absolutely delicious. I had a lot of fun making them. 

I'm mostly making this blog for myself, to look back on in the future and see all the awesome things I did/baked/ate/conquered. It's also a very creative outlet for me when I'm procrastinating! (Which I do far too often, as you'll learn) Other than that, I know I'll have at least one faithful follower, my boyfriend. I shall refer to him as "D". 

I'm hoping to learn more about blogging and all the logistics, but I am fairly proud of myself that I managed to create a hyperlink and add a picture to this post. Here's to a new cookie, a new blog, and a new thing to do with my time!