Gluten-Free Monster Cookies

A few months ago when my parents came to visit my mom made us a big batch of monster cookies. I couldn't believe how delicious they were... especially because they were flourless! I asked her for the recipe and altered it a bit so that the cookies baked better here in Utah (the altitude is an issue with lots of recipes). For some reason hers came out a tad bit flat and fell apart, not that I minded... I gobbled them up in just a few days! I mean what's not to love about peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips and M&M's?! Some my adjustments included adding quick cooking oats to help "glue" the cookies together, an extra egg yolk to create a thicker/chewier cookie, slightly less butter to prevent them from spreading, and letting the dough chill to allow the oats to absorb some moisture. All of my little tricks worked- they came out looking beautiful and tasting just as good as the ones she made :) I seriously would make these cookies on a daily basis if I could, they're that amazing!!! Happy gluten-free baking!

Gluten-Free Monster Cookies

Ingredients

2¼c. old-fashioned oats*
¼ c. quick cooking oats
½ c. sugar

½ c. brown sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

1/3 c. (¾ of a stick) butter, room temperature

¾ c. creamy peanut butter

1 tsp. baking soda

pinch of salt

¾ tsp. vanilla

½ c. chocolate M&Ms 

½ c. chocolate chips

½ c. peanut butter chips

DIRECTIONS:

1. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat mats, set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter, peanut butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add vanilla. With mixing speed on low, add one egg at a time, mixing until incorporated. 

3. In a medium size mixing bowl, combine oats, baking soda and salt. Whisk together. With mixing speed on low, add dry ingredients, mix until combined. Remove bowl from stand and fold in M&Ms, chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Place dough in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour.

4. Remove dough from refrigerator and allow to stand at room temperature for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop cookies onto the prepared sheets using a standard size scoop, gently pat down to slightly flatten. Place in oven and bake for 10-12 minutes (they will look soft) before removing from oven. Allow to cool on sheets for 3 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
NOTE: DO NOT SKIP parchment or a mat... seriously, it really is a key part to making these cookies bake perfectly! Also be gentle with the cookies when you are transferring them to the rack to cool, they will probably break apart a little, but just push them back together and let them cool for a good hour or so and they'll be firm and sturdy!

*Please make sure that your oats are gluten-free. Bob's Red Mill Oats are gluten-free, Quaker Oats are not guaranteed to be gluten-free.

Life Made Simple family recipe adapted from The Amish Cook's Baking Book | Makes 24 standard size cookies

Peppermint Frosted Brownie Sugar Cookies

On Tuesday I had the opportunity to go to Tatertots & Jello's cookie exchange with my good friend Mandy from Baking with Blondie. I always love getting together with her, especially when it involves food- because we're bound to have lots of fun! Anyway, we had a week or so to come up with a cookie to bring and it took me up until the day before to finally decide on one! I think it had something to do with the ease involved. I desperately needed a dough that I could make, refrigerate and bake once our little one went to bed for the night. These cookies were the perfect solution! The dough came together in a matter of minutes especially since there's no chocolate melting involved (which is always a big time hog). Instead the dough gets all of its rich fudgy goodness from cocoa powder and chopped semi-sweet chocolate. After a few hours of refrigeration I rolled it out, cut the snowflakes and placed them onto a Silpat-lined sheet and then in to the oven to bake. They puffed up beautifully, nice and thick! With only a few minutes of baking time required, they came out smelling incredible and had perfectly crisp edges with a soft chewy inside- just like brownies. I whipped up some peppermint frosting to spread over top and then added peppermint candy cane sprinkles as a finishing touch. They were absolutely delicious... and such a fun little twist on a Christmas classic!

Peppermint Frosted Brownie Sugar Cookies
Ingredients

3 c. all-purpose flour
⅓ c. unsweetened cocoa powder
⅓ c. dutch-process cocoa powder
1½ c. sugar
1 c. (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
2 tbsp. heavy cream
½ tsp. baking power
½ tsp. salt
1½ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. peppermint extract
⅓ c. finely chopped semi-sweet chocolate (I used half of a Ghirardelli baking bar)

Peppermint Frosting:
2 ½ c. powdered sugar
½ c. (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 tbsp. heavy cream
pinch salt
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. peppermint extract
1-2 drops red food coloring

Peppermint candies, baking chips or sprinkles for garnish

DIRECTIONS:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add heavy cream, vanilla and peppermint. With mixing speed on low, add one egg, mix then add the other. 

2. In a medium size mixing bow, whisk together flour, cocoa powders, baking powder, and salt. With mixing speed on low, gradually add the dry ingredients mixing until no flour/cocoa "pockets" remain. Add the chopped chocolate and mix until incorporated. Wrap the dough in plastic and place in the refrigerator to chill for 1 hour.*

3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove dough from refrigerator and roll out on a lightly floured surface to approximately ¼" thick. Cut into desired shapes, place onto a parchment-lined baking sheet for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are firm and the centers are soft and puffy. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

4. While the cookies are cooling, prepare the frosting by beating all of ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment for 2-3 minutes or until light and fluffy. Spread onto cooled cookies and top with desired peppermint garnishes.

*Dough can be made in advance and refrigerated overnight.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Brownie Roll-Out Cookies | Makes 2-4 dozen, depending on cookie cutter size

Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Just when you think I might be done adding more pumpkin recipes to the blog... I post a new one :) I promise the end is near! I have one more left and then I'll move on! Anyway, I felt like making cookies a while back and since I had never tried making pumpkin cookies, I thought I'd give them a try. Now I know there have been a lot of new recipes out there for crisp/chewy pumpkin cookies, however this is not one of them. These are puffy, soft and dare I say cake-like. They're your "traditional" pumpkin cookies. I know not everyone is a fan, but I promise these babies are good! If you're not too wild about the chocolate chip pumpkin combo, you can always ditch them and go the butterscotch route, or even do cinnamon chips instead! Enjoy and happy baking!

Soft Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
2 c. all-purpose flour
¾ c. sugar
¼ c. brown sugar
½ c. vegetable oil
1 egg
1 c. solid-pack pumpkin puree
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. semisweet chocolate chips*

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat mat, set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine sugars, vegetable oil, pumpkin puree and vanilla. Mix on medium for about 1 minute. Add egg, mixing until just combined.
3. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice. With mixing speed on low, gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing until no flour pockets remain. Remove bowl from stand and fold in the chocolate chips by hand.
4. Scoop onto prepared sheets and place in oven to bake for 10-12 minutes or until the tops are firm and light brown in color. Remove from oven and allow to cool on sheets for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
*NOTE: I used 1½ c. regular size chocolate chips and ½ c. mini chocolate chips, however, I realize most people don't have minis on hand so the recipe calls for 2 c. of regular size chips.
Adapted from All Recipes, Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies III | Makes approximately 24 standard size cookies

Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodle Blossoms

A few years back I was on the hunt for Pumpkin Spice Kisses. Unfortunately every Target in the state of Utah was sold out! So the next year when they were back in stock, I picked up a hefty stash of them. One of my favorite ways to use them (aside from snacking on them) is in these snickerdoodle blossoms. The other day while the little one slept I broke out my KitchenAid and whipped up a batch. The dough is soft, buttery, tangy and full of cinnamon flavor with a hint of pumpkin. I like to roll the balls of dough in a cinnamon sugar mixture that has a teaspoon of pumpkin pie spiced mixed in. I think it really compliments the kiss! These blossoms make an excellent treat, perfect for gift giving or for sharing with your family!

Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodle Blossoms
Ingredients
3 c. all-purpose flour
1½ c. granulated sugar
1 c. (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
1 egg
¼ c. pumpkin puree
2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
2 tsp. cinnamon
1½ tsp. vanilla

Pumpkin Spice Coating:
3 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

½ bag Hershey's Pumpkin Spice Kisses

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a Silpat mat.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium-high for 2-3 minutes, until light and fluffy. With mixing speed on low add pumpkin puree, egg then vanilla. Mix until just combined.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, soda, cinnamon, cream of tartar, and salt. With mixing speed on low, slowly add dry ingredients to butter mixture. Mix until combined.
4. Remove bowl from mixer and chill dough for 30 minutes. Once dough is sufficiently chilled, use a standard size cookie scoop to create balls. Roll dough in hands to form balls, then roll into pumpkin spice mixture. Place onto cookie sheet and flatten slightly with the palm of your hand or the bottom of a measuring cup.
5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the sheet half way through the baking process. Cookies should look soft and should have slightly firm edges before removing from the oven (don't over cook them or they will be dry and crumbly). Allow to cool for 2 minutes before pressing a kiss into the center of each cookie.
6. Let cookies cool on sheet for 3 additional minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction, Soft & Thick Snickerdoodles | Makes approximately 3 dozen cookies

Funfetti Sugar Cookies

This week is full of birthdays! It was my Dad's birthday on Wednesday, it's mine today, and it's my Mother-in-law's on Sunday. Not to mention we're awaiting the arrival of our little one, which could be any day now! With that said, I was determined to make some kind of treat to celebrate all of our special days- but mainly mine ;) Since I wasn't really feeling up to making a funfetti cake or cupcakes, I whipped up a quick batch of sugar cookie dough and made these festive little cookies. They're sweet, chewy, tangy, and of course, covered in sprinkles! They just scream happy birthday to me!

Funfetti Sugar Cookies

Ingredients

1 c. all-purpose flour

½ c. cake flour

¾ c. sugar

8 tbsp. (1 stick) butter, room temperature

1 egg

1 tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cream of tartar

1 tsp. cornstarch

2 tsp. vanilla extract

¼ tsp. almond extract

½ c. colorful sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line one baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat, set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine sugar, butter, vanilla and almond extracts. Beat on high until fluffy and light in color, about 2-3 minutes. With mixing speed on low, add egg and mix until just combined.

3. In a medium size mixing bowl, combine flours, baking powder, baking soda, cream of tartar, and cornstarch. Whisk together until combined. With mixing speed on low, gradually add the dry ingredients, mixing until no flour pockets remain. Remove bowl from stand. Fold in sprinkles, if desired, or place dough into the refrigerator to chill for 2 hours.
4. If you chose not to fold in the sprinkles, create balls from the chilled dough and roll in the sprinkles, completely covering the outside. Place on the prepared baking sheet and place in oven to bake for 8-10 minutes. The cookies should be slightly firm around the edges but look under-baked in the center (these are soft cookies and they should not brown). Remove from oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction and Averie Cooks | Makes approximately 12 standard size cookies