Funfetti Pudding Mix Cookies from Cooking Classy

Funfetti Pudding Mix Cookies - made dough May12, 2023 from Cooking Classy 

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon almond extract

1 3.5-ounce package instant vanilla pudding mix

2/3 cup sprinkles, plus more for topping

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (postpone this step if not planning to bake cookies right away). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until well combined and fluffy. Mix in egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and almond extract.
4. Mix in vanilla pudding mix.
5. On low speed, add the dry ingredients in 2-3 additions, mixing after each addition until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in sprinkles
6. Portion dough into golf-ball-size balls and evenly space on prepared baking sheets. You can also chill or freeze the dough balls at this point if you don't plan on baking right away. Just cover and chill until firm then place in freezer bags to freeze.
7. Bake cookies in preheated oven for 9-10 minutes. Gently press additional sprinkles on top if desired. Let rest on baking sheets for several minutes then transfer to wire cooling rack to cool completely.

These did not turn out as well visually as I had hoped. But that was user error on my part as I used the wrong sprinkles. Wrong sprinkles means the ones that can't withstand high heat during baking and melt or bleed into the dough.

The sprinkles I used are really meant for just garnishing on top of frosted baked goods. Oops. I had bought them to add to cookies for a Memorial Day care package going out to a deployed military service member as part of my volunteer work with Soldiers Angels. I sent them anyway and hoped they cared more about taste than appearance.

Taste-wise, these are still pretty good. They did spread more than I had hoped even though I froze the dough and baked from frozen dough. Without the sprinkles, they're a nice sugar cookie. If you're going to use sprinkles, make sure you use the right ones. 

Rolo Chocolate Chip Blondies From Averie Cooks

Rolo Chocolate Chip Blondies - made May 15, 2023 from Averie Cooks

1/2 stick butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

30-36 Rolo candies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 8 x 8-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Whisk together melted butter and brown sugar until combined. Add egg, vanilla extract and salt; whisk to combine. Add flour and stir together until combined.
3. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Spread half the batter evenly over bottom of prepared pan. Line unwrapped Rolos in a 5 x 5 formation. Gently spread remaining batter over Rolos, trying to cover completely. 
5. Bake 22-27 minutes or until edges are set. Remove from oven and gently press remaining Rolos, chopped in half, over top of hot blondies. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.

I'm not usually a blondie fan. In general, they seem like chocolate chip cookies in bar form and I'd rather have chocolate chip cookies in cookie form with their crisp edges and chewy middles. This Rolo version from Averie Cooks changed my mind. These were excellent and were more like a "fudgy" blondie with rolos.

The original recipe says to use 36 Rolos and line them in a 6 x 6 formation over half the batter then cover with the rest of the batter. You can see I only managed a 5 x 5 formation, partly because I only had 31 Rolos and partly because I didn't line them up very well, very closely or in a straight pattern. The great thing about this recipe though is that doesn't matter. No one's going to judge your Rolo placement on these, I promise.

Additionally, there wasn't enough batter to completely cover the Rolos and that's okay too. I probably used more than half of the batter for the bottom layer because I didn't want the Rolos to sink too easily to the bottom. Hence why I didn't have enough batter to cover the Rolos completely. Again, totally okay. This isn't a test; it's a blondie.

Rather than try to stuff the remaining 6 Rolos inside the blondie, I chose to chop them in half and, as soon as I took the pan out of the oven, sprinkled the chopped Rolos over the top of the blondie and let the residual heat melt them into the tops. 

As mentioned, these were delicious. I loved the flavor and the texture as well as the addition of the Rolos to give these an extra caramel kick. When baking with Rolos, I do recommend you cover the Rolos inside the blondie as much as possible (it's okay if the chocolate peeks through the batter as long as the caramel doesn't) and only top with the garnish after the blondies come out of the oven. Then you won't have any caramel part of the Rolos exposed during baking which would make the caramel too chewy and hard once cooled.

Crumbl Cookies review #38 - Lemon Cheesecake

Crumbl Cookies review #38 - Lemon Cheesecake, visited May 10, 2023

I missed my goal of trying to publish this the week it was available so I'm playing catch up today.

I got a 4-pack last week (yes, the frozen pieces of Crumbl cookies in my freezer are stacking up nicely) since last week's line up included one of my favorites: Pink Velvet. I got 2 of those plus a Hazelnut Mudslide but I've already reviewed those so the only new-to-me flavor I got was the Lemon Cheesecake. I had waited to go on Wednesday as that's supposed to be when my store has the test cookie but last week they didn't do a test cookie for some reason so I got the Hazelnut Mudslide in its place. Although I probably could've gotten a third Pink Velvet and I woudn't have been sorry about it.

Before I get into the review of the Lemon Cheesecake, look at the perfection of that 4-pack. I have to reiterate how consistently nice of a job the Sparks, NV Crumbl does with its cookies, both in appearance and the bake itself.

Now on to the Lemon Cheesecake. At first I wasn't going to get this at all since I don't like the tang of cheesecake. But several of the online fan reviews I read bemoaned the fact that it didn't taste like cheesecake at all so my taste buds perked up and I decided to try it. I'm glad I did as this was delicious.

Look at that perfect cookie texture - dense and chewy. The "cheesecake" topping, in fact, did not taste like cheesecake but was more like their normal cream cheese frosting. Sometimes I find Crumbl's frosting a little overwhelming but this one worked really well because of the tart lemon curd on top. It was delicious and perfectly offset the sweetness of the frosting. I enjoyed this one a lot and would definitely get it again. Oh, this was supposed to be served chilled but I don't like chilled cookies so I let it come to room temperature before I ate it and it was perfect.

Crumbl Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies from Binge-Worthy Bites

Crumbl Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough May 12, 2023 from Binge-Worthy Bites

1 1/2 cups salted butter

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

3 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup milk powder

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light and no lumps remain. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat for 5 minutes on medium speed, scraping down the sides and bottom occasionally to keep mixture even textured.
2. Add vanilla and corn syrup and mix for another 3 minutes.
3. Add one egg and mix until well combined. Add second egg and mix again until well combined.
4. Add baking soda, baking powder and cornstarch, mixing until combined.
5. Add milk powder and mix until combined.
6. Add flour in 3-4 additions, mixing on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in milk chocolate chips.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Portion dough into baseball-sized dough balls, cover and chill while oven is preheating.
9. Evenly space 4 dough balls on prepared sheets. Bake for 9 minutes then rotate pan. Bake another 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

It's National Chocolate Chip Day (May 15)! And nothing epitomizes chocolate chips than their starring role in a chocolate chip cookie (thanks, Ruth Wakefield, for that accidental and brilliant use of chopped chocolate)

Chocolate chip cookies are the most popular items in military care packages to deployed troops so I make them for almost every package I send out. And thanks to pinterest, I'll never run out of recipes to try for making them. I'm really glad I tried this one because it was excellent. The pictures are just from the test cookie as I haven't baked the rest of the batch off yet for care packages.

But what a test cookie it was. Crisp edges, molten chocolate, chewy middles, caramelized brown sugar flavor. This recipe has a couple more ingredients not in your typical chocolate chip cookie recipe (corn syrup and milk powder) but if you can, I highly recommend going the little extra mile to make the recipe as is. This could be my new go-to favorite in the foreseeable future. Considering the dozens, if not hundreds, of recipes just for chocolate chip cookies that I've tried over decades, that's saying something.

Thick Oreo-Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies from One Happy Bite

Thick Oreo-Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough May 7, 2023 from One Happy Bite

1 cup unsalted butter, cold

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup crushed Oreos (about 10 Oreo cookies)

15 Oreo cookies

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together cold butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined, 2-3 minutes.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed until just combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed to keep mixture even textured. Add vanilla extract and beat until pale and creamy.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 2-3 additions, mixing on low speed after each addition until just combined. Stir in crushed Oreos and white chocolate chips, mixing on low speed until evenly distributed.
4. Cover and chill dough for 15-30 minutes. Then scoop out dough, flattening to discs. Place a whole Oreo in the center of one disc and cover with another, sealing the edges by rolling into a tall ball, completely encasing the Oreo. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and chill rolled cookies for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space 6 dough balls per sheet, at least 2 inches apart. Bake 12-14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

So...it's been awhile since I've posted a new recipe that I've tried out. Not coincidentally, it's also been awhile since I've been able to bake anything. First I was sick and I don't bake when I'm sick. Second, I had an international trip so I was out of the country for a couple of weeks. Then, 4 days after I got back, I moved. Three weeks later, I've finally gotten an internet connection, got my furniture in place, got my stuff moved up and have unpacked (almost) everything.

Just as importantly, I also had enough time to organize all my baking stuff and (sort of) remember where I put everything in my new kitchen. And finally I was able to go grocery shopping and stock up on baking ingredients again.

Work didn't stop while all this was going on and I'm working on a significant project so I also had to fit in cookie dough-making time into my schedule. But the stars finally aligned and I'm back in business. Or at least volunteering as these went into a care package for a deployed service member on a Navy ship somewhere.

You've heard me say I love Oreos and don't tend to favor cookies and cream sort of cookies, despite my partiality for the Oreos that go into them. I have to admit though, I liked these cookies more than I expected.

The dough was a dream to work with, not too soft or sticky and not dry or crumbly. So it was easy to flatten pieces of dough into discs and press them around a whole Oreo cookie for the "stuffing".

I also tested out my new oven for the first time when baking these cookies. So far so good, although, as usual, I didn't time the cookies but just went by how they looked. The recipe says to bake at 375 degrees and I suggest going with that if you want uniformly thicker cookies. I baked the first baking sheet at 350 and they spread a bit more, particularly at the edges. The higher temp had less spread and the Oreo stuffing didn't look like such a lump. Overall, not a bad recipe to christen my new kitchen with. Not bad at all.

I liked how the second sheet turned out at 375 as they didn't spread as much and didn't have thinner edges. Regardless of the baking temp, these were delicious. The Oreo softens in the middle so it's a consistently chewy-soft texture and the flavor was also really good.

Crumbl Cookies review #37 - Dulce de Leche, Cake Batter, Maple Oatmeal and Peanut Butter Milk

Crumbl Cookies review #37 - Dulce de Leche, Maple Oatmeal, Cake Batter and Peanut Butter Milk

I'm still trying to get into some sort of rhythm where I publish my review of Crumbl cookies in the week they're actually available. I'm getting this under the wire as tomorrow is the last day of this week's lineup.

I am thrilled, probably to a weird, unhealthy blood-sugar-level degree of thrill, that, with my recent move (more on that later), my closest and only Crumbl near me is a tester store. Tester stores are specific Crumbl locations that do a test cookie almost every Wednesday where they do a new cookie that isn't available nationwide yet as the cookies are - well - still being tested, both by the store in making them and the customers in eating them.

Which now changes my whole game plan on when I go to Crumbl. Because if I'm going to get any particular flavors, I might as well go on Wednesday in case the tester cookie interests me.

Dulce de Leche

The flavor that interested me this week in the regular lineup was Dulce de Leche. I love dulce de leche and caramel in all forms. I knew I would like this cookie and I did. The little caramel dollop on top looks pretty but it's best spread more evenly on top of the dulce de leche frosting so you can get the full flavor of it paired with the dulce de leche and the cookie.

Dulce de Leche inside

I'm glad to be near the Sparks store again as they do cookies much better and more consistently in terms of texture, not too long in the warmer and not overbaked. The cinnamon cookie base was excellent and the dulce de leche was fantastic. This one's a keeper for me.

Maple Oatmeal

The second cookie I wanted to try was the Maple Oatmeal. I'm not a big fan of maple flavor but I love Crumbl's Iced Oatmeal and had hoped this would be something similar. It was and it wasn't. The cookie itself is very similar to Crumbl's Iced Oatmeal so I enjoyed that part. And the glaze was similar to the iced oatmeal in that it wasn't a heavy frosting but an (all-encompassing) glaze. But unlike the Iced Oatmeal where the glaze was soft or softly set, the glaze on the Maple Oatmeal was much firmer, almost like a penuche frosting. You can see from the picture where it breaks in pieces. It wasn't my favorite. Cookie was really good but penuche-like frosting isn't my thing. Too sweet.

Maple Oatmeal inside

Cake Batter

I've tried a copycat recipe of the Crumbl Cake Batter cookie before but it doesn't come close to the real thing. I loved the Crumbl Cake Batter cookie. It's like my beloved vanilla sugar (not to be confused with the pink sugar which I don't care for) but with a little more brown sugar flavor. Or cake batter flavor? Whichever it is, it's excellent. Again, taste and texture were on point.

Cake Batter inside

Peanut Butter Milk ft Reese's Puffs (tester cookie)

To round off the 4-pack I got this week, we get to the tester cookie. At the Sparks location this week (Wednesday), it was the Peanut Butter Milk featuring Reese's Puffs. By all accounts, I would've skipped this cookie because you know me and peanut butter aren't bffs. But it was a tester cookie, the chocolate cookie was promised to be made with milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate and I talked myself into trying it out with an open mind.

The cookie itself was pretty good. I liked that the chocolate wasn't overwhelming or too rich and the texture was a nice cross between fudgy but not too fudgy and still cookie-textured, not cakey or too mushy. But, you guessed it, the peanut butter frosting wasn't for me. The frosting wasn't too thick (thankfully) and peanut butter lovers would probably like it. But, because I'm not a big peanut butter fan, I didn't love it. Hence why I don't normally get peanut butter cookies. I tried it, I didn't care for it, no need to get this again when it hits the national roster. Texture was fine so it was really just the flavor for me. And I've never been a fan of cereal on top of their cookies. Cereals stale too quickly and don't freeze at all well. I had a piece of this to taste it then plucked the Reese's puffs off, divided it into another 3 pieces and wrapped each piece for the freezer.