Vanilla Lovers Cookie Bars from Brownie Bites

Vanilla Lovers Cookie Bars - made January 18, 2024 from Brownie Bites 

Vanilla Wafer Crust

1 12-ounce box vanilla wafer cookies, crushed

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Blondie layer

1 cup unsalted butter

4 large eggs

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup white chocolate chips

10-12 Golden Oreos, broken into large pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Vanilla wafer crust: mix together melted butter, vanilla and crushed cookies. Press into the bottom of the prepared pan in an even layer, packing together tightly. Bake 10 minutes and let cool.
3. Blondie layer: in a saucepan, melt the butter on low heat. Remove from heat and add the white chocolate chips. Cover and let stand 5 minutes; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Let cool.
4. In another bowl, beat together eggs, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla. Mix with melted white chocolate then stir in flour and salt. Mix until just combined. Pour batter over cooled vanilla wafer crust. Top with Golden Oreo cookie pieces.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until top is golden and a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake.

If you want a break from chocolate (I don't know who does but there are all kinds of people out there), this is a good alternative. I've had this on my pinterest board for awhile but it took me a bit of time to gather the various ingredients as Golden Oreos and vanilla wafers are not my pantry staples. I was also running out of white chocolate.

But the stars finally aligned and I had everything on hand so I finally made these. They turned out pretty well but I think I could've baked them a few minutes more. I did bake them for 30-ish minutes, perhaps a few minutes longer, and the toothpick test came out clean.

But vanilla brownies aren't the same as chocolate brownies in that "a few moist crumbs" don't come out clinging to the toothpick. I could tell I should've baked them longer as the corners and edges had a good fluffy looking texture but the middles were dense and a tad mushy.

Once they're cooled, they set better and firmed up slightly. If they were chocolate, they would've been fudgy. These were vanilla-fudgy. Taste-wise, I liked them. These are a good alternative if you prefer vanilla over chocolate and the Golden Oreos added a nice crunch. I could only find the thin Golden Oreos at the store so that's what I went with to top these and I think they're better than the regular ones.; less filling leakage. 

I still have some Golden Oreo Thins left in the package so I'm going to have to try this recipe again and bake it a little longer. As soon as I get more vanilla wafers and white chocolate.

Crumbl Cookies review #65: Chocolate Waffle Cone (tester)

Crumbl Cookies review #65: Chocolate Waffle Cone (test cookie) - visited January 16, 2024

I'm trying to catch up on my Crumbl test cookie reviews before tomorrow's test cookie comes out so I'm getting this in now rather than later in case I want to get tomorrow's test cookie and need to review that one.

Last week it seemed like all of the test stores were only testing 1 flavor, going by the test map on the Crumbl app. I liked all the elements describing this test cookie so I wasn't mad about it when that's what my tester store offered.

I think this is slightly misnamed in that there aren't chocolate waffle cone pieces in the cookie base. The chocolate is referring to the "melted semisweet chocolate" in the topping, not the waffle pieces in the cookie base. It might be better to call it a chocolate and vanilla waffle cone cookie to refer to the toppings rather than the cookie base. I was hoping by the description that the "vanilla bean mousse" was the same mousse in the skillet cookie that I liked so much. 

But alas, it wasn't the same. Even if Crumbl swears they used the same recipe, I wouldn't believe them as this mousse didn't have much flavor and it had a heavier texture, like it was heavy whipped cream instead of the original mousse. So I'd dock the cookie for that. The melted semisweet topping was more like a solid piece of chewy chocolate and didn't pair well in terms of texture with the mousse. The peanut garnish was good but as you can see from the picture, I didn't get very much of it. Not a big deal though.

My favorite part of this cookie was the base itself. The waffle pieces added a little crunch and the taste was fantastic. It's more dense as befitting a cookie shell so don't look for the fluffy texture of a more traditional Crumbl cookie. I liked the cookie but I'd only get it again if they use the mousse in the skillet cookie. It would also be better if they used a softer chocolate (more like a frosting than a chocolate that has already set), spread it directly over the cookie shell and topped it with a scoop of the vanilla bean mousse then sprinkled the peanuts over it. Otherwise, if they keep this as is, I'm glad I tried it, and I enjoyed the test cookie but likely wouldn't get it again when it hits the regular menu.

Scottish Shortbread for Molded Cookies from Mary Jane Miller Koch (Stamped Cookies #35)

Scottish Shortbread - made dough January 13, 2024 from Mary Jane Miller Koch (member of Facebook group Molded Cookies of the World - Artisan Bakers and Confections)

2 cups butter (I used Kerrygold butter)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon butter flavoring (I used LorAnn's butter emulsion)

1 teaspoon almond flavoring (I used vanilla extract) 

2 large eggs

5 cups all-purpose flour

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar, butter flavoring and vanilla extract.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing after each addition until incorporated.
3. Stir in flour, 1/2 cup at a time, on low speed, mixing until just combined after each addition.
4. Cover dough and let rest for 30 minutes.
5. Stamp or mold cookies. Refrigerate stamped or molded cookies, covered, for 1 hour then freeze for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space cookies. Bake 12-18 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes then transfer to wire cooling rack to cool completely. 

I love the Facebook group I'm part of called "Molded Cookies of the World". People share their stamped/molded cookie bakes and are very generous with sharing recipes and the creative ideas they have for using their cookie stamps.

Case in point these cookies. One member showed his idea of using the Nordic Ware stamp in the geocast set then stamping out the center with a heart cut out. He used strawberry (or raspberry?) jam as the filling so the centers were ruby red, perfect for Valentine's Day. Since I don't like jams or jellies, I went with my standby of cookie butter. I would never have come up with the idea of doing the heart cutout so I'm grateful when other people share their creativity. I love how these turned out aesthetically.

I'm even more grateful for the recipe as the cookies themselves tasted really good. Sometimes it's tricky to come up with a cookie that keeps the stamped designs faithfully and tastes good. Some of them taste bland because they have so much flour and cornstarch. Not so with this cookie. It's buttery and flavorful, doesn't spread too much and keeps the stamped design. I loved it. You do need to chill it slightly to help with rolling out the dough and stamping out the design. Once I stamped them, I froze the cookies overnight before I baked them, which also keeps the impressions. I used Kerrygold butter as well to enhance the buttery flavor.

Gideon's Bakehouse Copycat Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies from Chelsea's Messy Apron

Gideon's Bakehouse Copycat Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies - made dough January 15, 2024 from Chelsea's Messy Apron

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled 5-10 minutes to room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup cake flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup Heath milk chocolate English toffee baking bits

1. In a medium bowl, combine chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips and toffee bits, stirring until evenly mixed; set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine melted, cooled butter and brown sugar, stirring to combine. Whisk in egg and vanilla bean paste or extract until smooth and well combined.
3. Add in baking soda, baking powder and salt, stirring to combine. Add cake flour and all-purpose flour, mixing until just combined. Fold in 1 3/4 cups of the chocolate chip-toffee bits mixture.
4. Divide dough into 6 large equal portions and roll into balls. Flatten slightly to thick discs. Coat tops and sides (not bottoms) of dough discs with the remaining chocolate chip-toffee bits mixture. You can reserve some to press into cookies after they're baked.
5. Cover and chill dough for at least 1 hour but preferably 24 hours.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Double pan baking sheets and top baking sheet with parchment paper. Evenly space 3 cookie dough balls on 1 sheet to allow room for spread. Bake 15-23 minutes until edges are lightly set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and gently press remaining chocolate chips and toffee bits into any bare spots on the cookies. Let rest on baking sheets for 15 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

I'm back with another copycat recipe for a Gideon's Bakehouse cookie. Only this time, it isn't just chocolate chip but chocolate chip toffee. Same concept where you make big cookies and press a combination of milk chocolate chips, mini semisweet chocolate chips and toffee bits all over the cookie dough balls (except for the bottoms) then bake.

The recipe is supposed to male 6 large cookies but I made 7 out of them with my largest cookie scoop. I did gently press a few extra chips and toffee bits over the top of the test cookie after it baked, to fill in a few gaps.

The dough was easy to handle as it wasn't too sticky or dry. I did chill them overnight first to "age" then froze them. I baked the cookie from frozen dough so it took a little longer and fortunately, I remembered to double pan it this time. By double pan, I mean I put one baking sheet upside on the oven rack and placed the baking sheet with the dough ball on top of it (right side up). That worked well to bake the cookie more evenly throughout without the bottom getting too brown or baked.

Flavor-wise and texture-wise, this cookie was fantastic. I ate half the test cookie when it was lukewarm and it was perfect as the edges had cooled to a slight crispness and the middle was dense and chewy without being mushy. Plus the chips were still melty and the toffee bits had cooled to give it both crunch and a little sweetness. I didn't think I liked cookies covered in chocolate chips but when some of the chips are milk chocolate and you toss toffee bits in there, turns out I like it just fine.

Crumbl Copycat Waffle Cookies from Cooking with Karli & Crumbl Waffle Cookie revisited

Crumbl Copycat Waffle Cookies - made dough January 10, 2024 from Cooking with Karli 

1 1/2 cups salted butter, softened (add 3/4 teaspoon salt if using unsalted)

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

Vanilla buttercream

1/2 cup salted butter, softened

3 cups powdered suar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

milk to thin as needed

maple syrup for topping

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
3. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl; add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
4. Add the flour and baking powder and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
5. Portion dough into 1/3 cup dough balls. Flatten slightly into thick discs. Evenly space on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Using a wooden chopstick, press impressions into each cookie to make waffle marks (3 grooves horizontal and 3 grooves vertical).
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw or wet. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
7. Make buttercream: cream butter until smooth. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time, mixing until completely before adding more. Add in vanilla and splash of milk, mixing until buttercream is desired texture. Thin with additional milk if needed. Place a small scoop of buttercream over warm cookies and drizzle with maple syrup if desired. Serve warm.

If it seems all I've been doing lately is going to Crumbl and reviewing Crumbl cookies, you'd be half right. I actually have still been baking for my volunteer work with Soldiers Angels but mostly tried and true recipes I've made before and already blogged about so I had nothing new to post. Until this tie in with trying out a copycat recipe for the Crumbl waffle cookie. I've tried the real thing from Crumbl but had made the mistake of pouring the syrup over the cookie so all I could taste was syrup so I had to try it again last week (see review below). I've also tried the copycat recipe from Lifestyle of a Foodie and it was fantastic.

Cooking with Karli Crumbl waffle copycat

Cooking with Karli also has a lot of Crumbl copycat recipes and I decided to try this one since the waffle cookie was on the Crumbl menu last week and I could do a real-time comparison of this copycat recipe with the real thing. But first, in comparison to the copycat recipe from Lifestyle of a Foodie, I have to give the nod to Lifestyle's. The dough from Cooking with Karli was more sticky, even after I added all the flour and you can see the impressions didn't hold as well. Flavor-wise, I also preferred Lifestyle of a Foodie's recipe as it had more brown-sugar-caramel overtones. 

Inside pic of Cooking with Karli Crumbl waffle copycat

I also had to bake Cooking with Karli's recipe longer as the middles looked unbaked (not just underdone which I prefer) but the bottoms were fully baked. So the texture wasn't as underdone and soft as I would've preferred. The funny thing though, in terms of flavor, this matched the OG Crumbl waffle cookie more closely. So the "fix" might be to just underbake it rather than waiting for the middles to not look raw, which is what I usually do.

I did try the Crumbl waffle cookie again since last time I ruined it by pouring the syrup over it before trying the cookie itself and all I could taste was syrup.

I didn't make that mistake again and this time just spread the dollop of buttercream more evenly over the cookie (and also spread some of it over the copycat cookie).

Crumbl waffle cookie

The OG Crumb waffle cookie was fabulous. It's basically a brown sugar cookie, which I love, and the texture was perfect, chewy denseness glory. The only waffle-y thing about it were the hashmarks but that doesn't matter. I loved this cookie. Lesson learned: don't pour the syrup over the cookie. It's better without.

Inside of Crumbl waffle cookie without the syrup

Crumbl Cookies review #64: Confetti Milkshake

Crumbl Cookies review #64: Confetti Milkshake - visited January 6, 2024

I went back to Crumbl a few days after I got the Lemon Mallow Sandwich test cookie and yes, indeed got a 6-pack. But before anyone gets all judgy, I was going to my first quilting class and wanted to bring some treats. I initially meant to bake my own cookies to bring but alas, discovered at the last minute that I didn't have one of the special quilting tools the instructor had asked us to bring and I had to hotfoot it to the local quilting supply store the morning of the class. That took up my baking time; hence the fallback to get a 6-pack at Crumbl for the 9 people coming to class. 

Display picture was from when I went to get the lemon mallow tester

Not knowing who liked what, I got one of each flavor of the week. I've blogged about most of them before so the link to the review is in each cookie's caption.

Mallow Sandwich ft Oreo

Skillet Cookie

Milk Chocolate

Blueberry Muffin

Except for Blueberry Muffin. I know I've had this before but apparently didn't write about it like I thought I had. I did not try it again, thinking I didn't need to for my blog, but I was wrong. Oops. I'm not a blueberries-in-my-cookies fan so I didn't love this one, hence why I didn't feel the need to try it again when I bought it for the group.

Galaxy Brownie

I hadn't had the Confetti Milkshake before though so I did try a piece of that during the class. I loved almost everything about it. Loved the flavor, loved the cookie texture and even liked the frosting. I like pretty much all of Crumbl's sugar cookie type cookies - and by sugar cookies I mean anything non-chocolate, non-peanut butter and anything vanilla-based. That includes cake batter flavor. The only thing I didn't care for in this cookie were the sprinkles that made up the confetti in the name. I don't like sprinkles so the crunch just interfered with the texture of the cookie. I'm glad I tried it though and if there was a way for me to have this cookie without the "confetti", I'd get it again.

Inside shot of the Confetti Milkshake

Crumbl Cookies review #63: Mallow Sandwich ft Oreo and Lemon Mallow Cupcake (tester)

Crumbl Cookies review #63: Chocolate Mallow ft Oreo and Lemon Mallow Cupcake (tester) - visited January 3, 2023

Mallow Sandwich ft Oreo

There's a lot of hype about the Mallow Sandwich featuring Oreo and I thought I'd reviewed it before but I don't see it in a search of my blog posts so maybe I haven't. I think I've had it before though so maybe the other time was just a taste of someone else's as I normally blog what I bought for myself.

In any case, for me, the Mallow Sandwich ft Oreo lives up to its hype. I've always liked their cookies with an Oreo or black cocoa base (less rich) and the brownies in the filling are quite good. If I had to quibble about anything, it'd be the filling. It's not cream cheese which I know a lot of people object to (I'm not one of them) but more of a fluffy marshmallow (but not rubbery marshmallow) filling. I don't love it but I don't mind it.

Some people complained online about how skimpy their stores filled their sandwich cookies but you can see from the pictures that's a problem the Sparks, NV store does not have. They fill quite generously and always do these types of cookies right. So the Chocolate Mallow ft Oreo is good and, as always, a sandwich cookie gives much better value as a $4-$5-ish dollar cookie.

And of course, we come to the tester of last week. When the possible test flavors were posted on the app, I had hoped my store would do either the German Chocolate Cake or the Lemon Mallow Cupcake. Fortunately, they did the latter.

Lemon Mallow Cupcake (tester)

The cookie is supposed to be served chilled, probably because of the whipped cream topping but I let it come to room temperature (of course).

Hence why you can see the lemon glaze on top looks a bit runny. Because it was. I loved the cookie base on this one with its signature Crumbl cookie texture and sugar cookie (sans almond extract) flavor. I'm not a fan of whipped cream but what knocked this cookie down the preference list for me was the lemon glaze. It wasn't lemony enough. Instead, I tasted something more artificial than lemon. Not even lemon extract but just something artificial. Lemon extract would at least have given it some lemon punch. This would've been better with lemon curd atop it or, barring that, more actual lemon flavor in that glaze. I think this tester was an attempt to be cute and pretty but my taste buds would've preferred just the cookie base, a light vanilla glaze instead of whipped cream and lemon curd on top. No need for the squiggle of white chocolate either but that's me.