Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies - made dough October 19, 2022 from Love and Olive Oil 

1 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (230 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup (175 grams) light brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup dark chocolate, coarsely chopped, reserving a handful

sea salt for topping, optional

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together olive oil, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well blended. Add egg and egg yolk and beat on high speed for 30-60 seconds until smooth. Beat in vanilla.
3. Add dry ingredients and beat on low speed until just combined. Fold in chocolate chunks, reserving a small amount.
4. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls and flatten slightly. Evenly space on baking sheets and bake 9-11 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Press reserved chocolate chunks gently over baked cookies. Let rest on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.

In case you're a regular baker and haven't been living under a rock, you might have noticed by now how expensive butter's gotten lately. I'm in the "life is better with butter" camp so it's a little cringey when even Costco has their 4-pack for just under $15. Not too long ago, it seems, it was under $9.

Most bakers online seem to be trying the switch to Crisco or margarine. You gotta do what you gotta do but I haven't gone that far yet. But I did find this recipe that uses olive oil instead of butter and I decided to give it a try. Even though the triple digit temps of summer has passed, at least where I live, it never hurts to have a repertoire of non-butter recipes when sending care packages to the Middle East for deployed troops.

I'm happy to say this recipe turned out pretty well. Not greasy or oily and it doesn't have any weird after taste. Butter still delivers a softer cookie but this is a pretty decent substitute. I didn't have a block of chocolate to chop into chunks so I went with chocolate chips and it was still fine.

I did use a baking blend olive oil but I think this would be fine with regular extra virgin olive oil. The dough gets stiff so it's best to portion into dough balls first then chill. As you can see, it didn't spread much so form the dough into thick discs rather than round dough balls if you want a more uniform cookie.

Best Blondies from Rock Recipes

Best Blondies - made October 5, 2022 from Rock Recipes

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm

1 3/4 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar

3 large eggs

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine melted butter, dark brown sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Mix on lowest speed for 10 minutes or until brown sugar is completely incorporated into mixture.
4. Fold in dry ingredients until no flour streaks remain. Pour into an even layer in prepared pan. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

I usually put caveats around anything labeled "best" since, as I've said before, everyone's idea of the best of anything will differ from person to person. But I have to tell you, this is the best (to me) blondie I've ever made or tasted. True dat. Texture was soft like a fudge brownie and the brown sugar-caramel-butterscotch flavor was amazing. Amazing, I tell you. The only thing I didn't do was mix everything for 10 minutes. I did beat the brown sugar and melted butter together for 7 minutes then added the rest of the ingredients for the remaining 3 minutes. Reason is, if you beat anything with eggs in it for that long (10 minutes). it'll create a meringue-like texture for the topping which will flake and get that crackly crust. Some people like that in their brownies. Me, not so much. But the point of mixing for so long is to make sure the brown sugar melts into the batter so I did beat just the brown sugar and butter for awhile to ensure that. Did I mention this was amazing?? 

Banana Toffee Snack Cake from Just About Baked

Banana Toffee Snack Cake - made October 1, 2022, modified from Just About Baked

1/2 cup canola oil

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup sour cream

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

scant 1 cup mashed overripe banana

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup toffee bits

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream together oil and dark brown sugar until well combined and no sugar lumps remain. Add sour cream, eggs, vanilla and mashed bananas, mixing until combined.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 
4. Add to wet ingredients and mix to combine. Add half of the toffee bits to the batter and pour into an even layer in prepared pan. Smooth top and sprinkle with remaining toffee bits.
5. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 30-35 minutes.

I rarely make cakes these days, mostly because they don't ship as well as cookies and brownies, even if vacuum sealed and my family and I can't finish off a whole cake, even an 8-inch one. But, since I was doing an in-person volunteer event for Soldiers Angels at the Women Marines Convention in town, I decided to whip up this easy snack cake to bring in to share with the attendees who stopped by the Soldiers Angels table.

When I say this is an easy cake, I really mean it's easy to put together. I modified it to make it even easier as I didn't have oat flour and didn't want to trouble pulverizing rolled oats in my food processor to make oat flour so I went with all-purpose flour. I also didn't have yogurt as the original recipe called for so I used sour cream which I did happen to have, albeit it I had bought it for another recipe.

I loved the texture of this cake. The pictures say it all, this was firm but also fluffy and had a nice cakey texture. Surprisingly, it wasn't that sweet (hence your typical Asian parent will like it just fine - ask me how I know). If anything, I think I would increase the mashed banana to a full cup and add more toffee bits to make it a little sweeter but that's me.

Triple Chocolate Fudge Cookies

Triple Chocolate Fudge Cookies - made dough September 25, 2022 from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar, firmly packed

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 large egg

1/2 cup white chocolate chunks

1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks 

1. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and baking soda.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add salt and vanilla extract, mixing to combine. Add egg and mix until just combined.
3. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Do not overbeat. Fold in white chocolate and bittersweet chocolate chunks.
4. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space dough balls and bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Do not overbake.
6. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes. Using a small metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack to cool completely.

Back to my baking books for this recipe. While I know I can't possibly make all the recipes in all the baking books I have (unless I live to be 304), I really am trying to use them more often. Or else, what's the point of keeping them?

I'm glad I tried this one as it was really, really good. Not too rich or overwhelmingly chocolatey but just right, whether you're a chocoholic or not.

I went with milk chocolate chips instead of bittersweet and I thought it paired well with both the white chocolate chunks and the chocolate cookie itself to lend a good balance between chocolate and sweet.

The dough was easy to handle, not too dry or too sticky. Of course I froze the dough balls first and baked from frozen dough like I always do to minimize the spread. These weren't too thick or too thin.

Time the bake and remember that chocolate sets as it cools so err on the side of underbaking to get a nice fudgy texture.

Cake Batter Monster Cookies from Beyond Frosting

Cake Batter Monster Cookies - made dough October 3, 2022 from Beyond Frosting 

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cold and sliced into tablespoons

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup (110 grams) light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (35 grams) vanilla cake mix, dry

1 cup (80 grams) rolled oats

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup white chocolate chips

1/2 cup M & Ms

1/4 cup sprinkles

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until creamy, about 1 minute. Add granulated sugar and brown sugar, beating until well combined, 2-3 minutes.
2. Add egg and vanilla extract, mixing until combined.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, dry cake mix, oats, baking soda and salt. Add in two additions to butter mixture, mixing on low speed after each addition, until combined. Do not overmix.
4. Fold in white chocolate chips, M&Ms and sprinkles.
5. Portion into golf-ball-size dough balls and flatten slightly to thick discs. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment. Evenly space dough discs on baking sheets. Bake 12-15 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw or shiny. Do not overbake. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

These were the last of the Halloween-ized cookies I made and I'm rushing to post before everyone's Halloween baking is done. I feel like I'm in retail and by the time I bake them, mail them, blog about them and post them, the season is past and I should be working on Valentine's by now. (Don't worry, I'm not).

The original recipe had these as monster sandwich cookies with vanilla filling but since I was mailing these, I skipped the filling and kept them as plain single cookies. Although "plain" is relative as you can see they're quite busy with sprinkles.

I was trying to use up the last of my monster mash sprinkles and get just two more care packages out to a deployed service man (and a servicewoman) early enough so they'd receive the boxes before Halloween. Plus, let's be honest, I didn't want leftover monster mash sprinkles sitting in my pantry until next Halloween.

So I might've been a little generous with the sprinkles so I could empty the container. These aren't traditional monster cookies in that they don't contain peanut butter but they do have oats, white chocolate chips, M&Ms and, of course, sprinkles. I think they came out okay. They're a bit sweet and you don't really get a strong cake batter flavor so they seemed more like funfetti cookies. I think they'd be good kid cookies as they're bright and colorful and most kids don't share my dislike of sprinkles.

Nutella Crumble Bars from Lemons and Zest

Nutella Crumble Bars - made October 3, 2022 from Lemons and Zest

1 1/2 cups oats

1 1/2 cups flour

1 cup butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup Nutella

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine oats, flour, melted butter, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and vanilla. Stir together until combined.
3. Press 2/3 of the mixture into the bottom of prepared pan. Spread Nutella evenly over bottom layer. Crumble remaining dough over the Nutella. Bake 25 minutes or until top is lightly golden. Remove from oven and cool completely.

These are exactly what the title says they are: bar cookies, Nutella in the middle, sandwiched between an oatmeal crumble layer.

They're also quite good, especially if you like Nutella and oatmeal. Most recipes put oatmeal together with peanut butter or chocolate but Nutella works well in these bars too. Plus they were easy to Halloween-ize with the Halloween mix of M&Ms.

Be warned to take the "crumble" part of the title seriously as the oatmeal does make them more of a crumbly texture. I liked the heartiness from using old-fashioned oats and they cut the sweetness from the Nutella and the M&Ms.

All in all, a quick and easy bar cookie you can make. You can omit the M&Ms and keep them plain or garnish them in the holiday colors of your choice for a little pizzazz.

Drop Sugar Cookies from Sally's Baking Addiction

Drop-Style Sugar Cookies - made dough October 2, 2022 from Sally's Baking Addiction 

1 1/2 cups (188 grams) all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup sprinkles

1. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until creamed, about 1 minute. Add the egg and vanilla extract; beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl to keep mixture even textured.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients; mix on low until combined. Beat in 1/2 cup of sprinkles. Portion into golf-ball-size balls and dip tops into remaining sprinkles. Cover and chill for several hours or overnight.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space dough balls and bake for 12-13 minutes, until edges are golden brown and middles no longer look raw. Cool on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

I used a different set of Halloween sprinkles for these drop sugar cookies. The original one from Sally's Baking Addiction made them Christmas-themed with red and green sprinkles. I had already done something with black and orange sprinkles so I mixed it up with this "monster mash" set of green and purple sprinkles with white skull and black spider sprinkles.

You have to peer a little closely to make out the white skulls and black spider shapes but I promise they're there. I liked the sugar cookies themselves but - you guessed it - given I'm not a sprinkles fan, I think these cookies would've been better without them. I didn't care for the crunch or the slightly messy look they gave to the cookies, particularly the sprinkles that bled their colors into the dough. But they all went in as part of Halloween care packages so at least I kept on theme.

Peanut Butter Monster Cookies from Kroll’s Korner

Peanut Butter Monster Cookies - made dough September 24, 2022 from Kroll's Korner 

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup cake flour

1 teaspoon cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup mini M&Ms

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 heaping cup quick oats

1/2 cup chopped peanuts

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
2. Whisk together flour, cake flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Add in the creamy peanut butter, then egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract, mixing briefly after each addition to combine.
4. Add the dry ingredients on low speed in two additions, mixing until just combined after each addition. Mix in the M&Ms, chocolate chips, oats and chopped peanuts until just combined.
5. Form dough into 6 large dough balls and place on a cookie sheet. Flatten each dough ball slightly and press a few M&Ms on top. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until tops of cookies are golden brown. Cool on baking sheet for 15 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Continuing with the Halloween theme by using Halloween add ins, in this case, Halloween mix of M&Ms. The original recipe called for making these behemoth cookies and normally I'd do at least one big one and make the rest normal sized. But since I didn't feel like eating a huge peanut butter cookie, I made them all small. These don't spread so make them as big or small and as thick or thin as you want the final product to be. It's a good peanut butter and oatmeal cookie and keeping them thick ensures they're less likely to crumble in mailing. I didn't have peanuts on hand so I didn't include them. Instead I just added more chocolate chips and M&Ms.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Bars

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Bars - made September 25, 2022 from Inquiring Chef 

1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup old-fashioned oats

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup M&Ms

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together melted butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla extract until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix to combine. Stir in oats. Fold in chocolate chip sand M&Ms.
4. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Press in additional chips and M&Ms on top if desired. Bake 24-28 minutes or until edges are set and golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely before cutting and serving.

This is an easy, straightforward bar cookie that's not only perfect for mailing in care packages but also lends itself well to any holiday or theme you need, just by virtue of what kind of M&Ms you add in.

These went into Halloween care packages so it was easy to use the M&M Halloween mix. Flavor-wise, they're made hearty by the oats and the chocolate adds a nice touch. If you're mailing these, bake on the lower end of the recommended time to keep them soft and moist. The toothpick test doesn't work as well after 20 minutes because the oats aren't going to be raw batter on the toothpick. I only baked these for 24 minutes and they were fine.