I have a confession to make. I’ve been sitting on the recipe for these cookies for a year now. A YEAR! I didn’t mean to keep it a secret from you, I promise. But, the thing is, I created the recipe for my husband and now every time I make these cookies he eats them before I get the chance to take a photo (unless you count a blurred photo of the cookie in his hand with a bite out of it already).

As I said, I created the recipe for Brian. It started, first, after I tried the ever-popular Alton Brown The Chewy. For Brian, no cookie is better than a chewy cookie. So we had high hopes for The Chewy. Then we tried it. And, friends, that cookie? Was not chewy. It was fluffy. It was more chewy than, say, Tollhouse. But compared to some of the other cookies we have made in the past? Chewy it wasn’t.

So I set off on a mission. I started asking “Ok, so if you were to eat the perfect cookie, what would it be? For starters, he said, it would be chocolate chip. With oatmeal. Because oatmeal is, you know, chewy. Beyond that he didn’t really have anything in mind. So I started thinking about all my favorite traditional chocolate chip cookies and decided to start throwing elements of each of them into a cookie recipe and see what happened.

I started adding ingredients in small increments and increasing and altering them by how the dough looked and felt, writing down everything I did along the way on an old scrap envelope (which to this day is hanging on my fridge in lieu of an actual recipe card). Finally, the first taste test. Raw cookie dough, in my opinion, says everything about the cookie itself. So I took a tiny spoonful of it to Brian to test. He took a bite. He closed his eyes. He opened them and fixed me with an intense stare and said “Where’s the bowl? I’m not finished here”.

In that moment, my perfect cookie was born. And with the first batch, at that!

Laura’s Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
printable recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups raw rolled oats
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter and sugars until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat the eggs, one at a time, mixing until incorporated. Mix in the vanilla extract.

In a medium bowl mix the flour, baking soda, salt and rolled oats.

With the mixer on low speed slowly add in the flour ingredients, mixing until just combined.  Gently fold in the nuts & chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake until slightly golden, about 12-13 minutes. Cool on a wire cooling rack.

Source: An Original Laura’s Recipe Collection recipe

Need more of a cookie fix? Try these favorites!
Snickerdoodles
Homemade Samoas
Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Faux-reos (Oreos)

One Year Ago on Laura’s Recipe Collection
Panera Bread French Onion Soup

Two Years Ago on Laura’s Recipe Collection
Homemade Pizza Crust

The inspiration for this recipe comes from one of my husband’s family’s that they’ve had for years and years. It’s a phenomenal cookie recipe, but it uses shortening instead of butter and, like I mentioned, I’m trying to make baby steps towards healthier baking (you know what would be healthier? Not make the cookies in the first place. But that’s just not an option!) so I concocted a chocolate chip cookie recipe on my own, which then morphed into these cookie bars.  They have a very chewy texture from the oats, but also have an almost cakey-brownie-like density. And because they’re oats and fruit, I can justify eating them for breakfast, right?

Cherry Pecan Oatmeal Cookie Bars
printable recipe

Ingredients:
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ unsweetened applesauce
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1¾ cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2½ cups rolled oats
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dried cherries

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350º.

Combine the flour, oats, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer beat together the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Add in the eggs, one at a time, until combined, then mix in vanilla.

Slowly add the flour/oat mixture into the mixing bowl and beat on low speed until just combined. Add in the pecans and dried cherries and beat until just blended.

Lightly coat a 13×9 glass pan with oil, then pour in the batter and spread evenly in the pan.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until lightly golden on the edges.

Source: A Laura’s Recipe Collection original

Chewy Chocolate Cookies
printable recipe

Ingredients:
2 cups + 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups (2½ sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
sanding sugar (I use granulated sugar) for rolling

Directions:
Mix the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt  together in a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy, roughly 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla until combined, then reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add in the flour mixture. Beat until just combined.

Form the dough into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for about an hour until firm.

Preheat the oven to 350°. Shape the dough into 1¼ inch balls and roll each ball in the sanding sugar. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the cookies are set. They will still look a bit gooey when removed from the oven. Cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes then remove from the cookie sheet and cool completely.

Source: Martha Stewart’s Cookies, pg. 75

When I was about 14, I’d say, I made a batch of snickerdoodles using my mom’s recipe. It’s one of the first clear memories I have of baking something completely by myself (although I’m sure I had done it before). It went off without a hitch, or so I thought.

I made the cookies, baked them until they were perfectly golden and beautiful. Then we all grabbed one to taste. Oh sweet fancy Moses, what the heck was wrong with these cookies?!

I went through the recipe again to see what I’d done- chili powder. Turns out, did you know that McCormick’s chili powder and McCormick’s cinnamon looked very much the same back in the day?

I’ve shied away from making Snickerdoodles since, sparing a few times with my mom when Brian and I were first dating (he LOVED snickerdoodles). He’s never once asked me to make them myself though. When I announced this weekend that I was trying a snickerdoodle recipe Brian visibly blanched and protested. “No! No I don’t want snickerdoodles. Make something else. Make… make your chocolate chip cookies!” He wasn’t even around for the Chili-doodle incident and he fears them.

Thankfully these came off perfectly, exactly what I was looking for. I’ll be making them again and again, as soon as I move the chili powder.

Snickerdoodles
print this recipe

Makes about 18 cookies

Ingredients:
2 ¾ C all-purpose flour
2 t. baking powder
½ t. coarse salt
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ C plus 2 T sugar
2 large eggs
2 t. cinnamon

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350°. Line 2 cookie sheet s with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking powder, and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy (about 3 minutes). Beat in the eggs.

Slowly add the flour mixture in with the mixer on low speed.

Mix the sugar and cinnamon together in a small bowl.

Scoop the cookie dough into 1 ¾-inch balls and roll them in the cinnamon-sugar. Place dough balls about 3 inches apart on the cookie sheets as they’ll spread a bit during baking.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, rotating half-way through, until the cookies are golden browned. Remove from the pan and let cool on a wire rack.

Source: Martha Stewart’s Cookies , pg. 82

When I was growing up, my mom would often make cookies (She still does, in fact) and I have vivid memories of walking in the front door and smelling peanut butter cookies baking (odd, since she made chocolate chip considerably more often). More often than not, my mom would surprise me with a little dough ball she’d wrapped and put in the fridge. Because, you know, peanut butter cookie dough is one of the best things EVER.

So, these cookies started off on the right foot when I was mid-way through rolling one of the balls and I hear Brian behind me saying class=”mceItemHidden”> ”Mmmm. Mmmm this dough is amazing. Best peanut butter cookie dough ever.” After he proceeded to eat, oh, a million cookies-worth of dough I baked the rest, then burned my mouth eating one of the cookies almost-directly from the oven. Totally worth it, too.

Ingredients:
1¾ all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup vegetable shortening
1¼ cups packed light brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg
Granulated sugar, for rolling cookies

Pre-heat the oven to 375° then prepare the baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl mix together the flour, salt, and baking soda, then set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, blend together the peanut butter, shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth, then beat in the egg.

With the mixer speed on low, slowly add in the flour mixture until just combined.

Roll each scoop of dough into a ball, then roll around in the granulated sugar in a bowl. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Continue until the cookie sheet is full, then using a fork, make the criss-cross pattern on each cookie.

Bake for 7-8 minutes until the cookies are just starting to brown. Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet before removing to a wire cooling rack. Avoid burning mouth by waiting until cookies are more cool before taking a huge bite. Not that I know this from experience or anything…

Source: Brown Eyed Baker

Let me tell you a story. Once upon a time there was a very pregnant woman and she was constantly hungry due to the fetus sucking the life out of her.

One day, the gigantic pregnant woman was sitting at work, ready to eat her arm off from hunger. Suddenly, her boss walked in carrying an armload of girl scout cookies. And proceeded to be cruel and set them on the empty desk next to her. For an entire day. EVIL.

Finally, the kind boss distributed the cookies to the patiently waiting workers and the humongous pregnant woman devoured half a box of samoas in one breath.

Thankfully, the pregnant woman eventually gave birth, shrank to a slightly less enormous state and found a recipe for said cookies to help restore herself to said enormous state.

While these cookies aren’t exactly the same as a girl scout samoa (obviously) they’re extremely close and delicious. Being that we made them 2 days ago and there are only 2 of the bars left.

Ingredients:

Cookie Base:
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt

Topping
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-oz good-quality chewy caramels
1/4 tsp salt
3 tbsp milk
10 oz. dark or semisweet chocolate (chocolate chips are ok)

Directions:

To make the crust:
Preheat oven to 350° and prepare a 13×9 in pan by spraying lightly with oil.

In a large bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Next add in the vanilla and egg and blend. Gradually, blend in the flour and salt. The mixture will be crumbly.

Press the dough into the pan evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the edges are slightly browned.

Cool the shortbread completely before adding toppings.

To make the topping:

Preheat the oven to 300°.

Toast the coconut on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper until browned, aprox. 20 minutes- stir every 5 minutes.

Unwrap the caramels and place an a microwave-safe bowl. Add in the salt and milk. Heat in the microwave, stirring occasionally, until melted. This will take about 3-4 minutes.

Once the caramel is melted, mix together with the coconut and spread into an even layer over the top of the cookie.

Once the topping is completely cooled, cut the bars into even squares.

Melt the chocolate in the microwave, stirring occasionally. Dip the bottom of each bar into the chocolate, then place onto wax paper. Drizzle additional chocolate over the top of each bar in a pretty samoa pattern

Let cool completely before packaging.

Source: Baking Bites

These cookies have been making their rounds on cooking blogs for a while now. It seems like every time I open my Google reader there’s another The Chewy post. But, I understand why! YUM!

However, Brian and I decided that The Chewy was a bit misleading. We didn’t find them chewy, so much as fluffy. Almost cakey. Perhaps we have different definitions of Chewy than the general public? Either way, they were quite tasty!

Ingredients:

2 sticks unsalted butter
2 1/4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375°

Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside.

Melt the butter, then pour into the bowl of an electric mixer.  Blend the sugars with the butter until smooth.  Mix in the egg and egg yolk, milk and vanilla until well combined.

Slowly mix in the flour ingredients until well mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Chill the batter in the refrigerator, then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets.

Bake for 5 minutes, then rotate the pan 180°. Bake for an additional 9 minutes.

Let cool for a minute or two, then move to a cooling rack.

Source: Alton Brown, Food Network

I finally decided to make them in the first week of being home on my maternity leave. Madeline wasn’t (and still isn’t) keen on being set down for very long (and if we’re being honest, I prefer holding her anyway!) but I was craving cookies/chocolate so I figured these would be a perfect stepping stone into getting back into baking after having a baby! They took all of 10 minutes at most.

Brian always claimed that he didn’t like these cookies, he didn’t like them, didn’t like them. However, when he came home to a batch of these, he tried one and voila! He liked them! LOL

Ingredients:
½ cup (1 stick) butter
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup milk
4 tablespoons cocoa powder
½ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups quick-cooking oats

Directions:
Mix the butter, milk, sugar and cocoa powder together in a medium saucepan and bring to a rolling boil for 1 minute.  Remove from heat.

Stir in the peanut butter and vanilla, then mix in the oats.

Drop spoonfuls (I used my cookie scoop) into wax paper and let cool.

Sources: (I had both sources saved in my google reader. They’re the same recipe) Dinner and Dessert and Brown Eyed Baker

Ingredients:
2 1/4 c. lower-protein unbleached all-purpose flour (like Gold Medal or Pilsbury)
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tso finely ground black pepper
1/4 tsp salt
12 Tbsp. unsalted butter, softened but still cool
1/3 c. packed dark brown sugar
1/3 c. granulated sugar, plus 1/2 c. for rolling
1 large egg yolk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cup molasses

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375°. Place oven rack in the middle position.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (I didn’t do this, just used my trusty airbake pan)

In a bowl mix together flour, spices, baking soda, pepper and salt. Set aside

With an electric mixer, beat togther butter, brown sugar, and 1/3 C of granulated sugar until well light and fluffy. Mix in egg yolk and vanilla until well combined. Add in molasses and blend until well-mixed.

On lowest mixer speed, add in flour combo and mix until just combined, scraping bowl once.

Place 1/2 C sugar in a small, shallow bowl for rolling. Fill another small bowl with cold tap water.

Dip your hands in the water, then scoop out 1 Tbls of dough and roll it into a ball. Drop the ball into the sugar, coating it.

Place each dough ball on the cookie sheet about 2″ apart. Bake for 11 minutes. The cookies will crack on the top when done. Inside the cracks will still look raw. Don’t overbake!

Cool cookies on a baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack.

Source: Good Things Catered

You know what is a beautiful side of pregnancy? Cravings. I haven’t had many of them this time around, so when they strike I think it’s really important that I pay attention to them. So tonight, I suddenly thought to myself “You know what sounds amazing? Peanut butter cookies!” I immediately went to the cupboard to see if I had enough peanut butter to spare for cookies and Hooray! I did

I’ve had this particular recipe saved for quite a while and I’ve really been looking forward to trying it. And let me just say, they were wonderful (I’d know. I ate one. Or twelve. But who’s counting?) They combine my two favorite aspects of peanut butter cookies- the super-soft inside with a slightly golden crispy crunch on the edges. Perfection.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine together eggs, butter, sugar, brown sugar and vanilla and mix until creamy.

Add in flour, baking soda and salt and blend until combined.

Chill dough in the fridge for 15 minutes (I totally forgot this step. Whoops. I MUST get better at reading directions one of these days.)

Scoop out dough and roll into balls by hand. Place each dough ball on a lightly greased cookie sheet, then press down on the tops of balls with a fork to make a criss-cross.

Bake for 7-10 minutes, or until edges are ever-so-slightly golden.  Remove cookie sheet from oven and let the cookies cool for a few minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack.

Then, if you’re me, proceed to eat your weight, plus some other peoples’ weight in cookies. Enjoy!

Source: Amber’s Delectable Delights