Treats I've Made Lately

Although life has been crazy busy lately, I have been baking! I just haven't had a chance to blog about the treats I've made. Today I thought I'd share links to a few things that I've made but just haven't photographed or written about them... Just haven't had time! But writing a blog post like this allows me to still share some awesome goodies with you, so here goes. :)

As for baking, I've made these cookies lately...

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies from Sally's Baking Addiction

(photo source)

Oh my goodness, are these good! I've made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies before, but this may be my new favorite recipe for this fall goodie. They are soft and chewy but not cakey like pumpkin chocolate chip cookies often are. A perfect fall treat.

I also made another batch (a double one!) of Sugardoodles (original recipe from Averie Cooks). Once again, they were a huuuge hit!

And I've also been on a no-bake kick! Within the past few weeks, I've made the following three no-bake recipes.

Cinnamon Oatmeal Date Bars from Averie Cooks

(photo source)

Guess what? These bars are healthy! There's no added sugar. The ingredients for the base are simply oats, dates, peanut butter, agave nectar (or honey), vanilla extract, and cinnamon. And then the topping is just chocolate and milk (melted together). A no-guilt goodie! Love it. I have plans to make these again very soon.

Chocolate Cranberry Energy Bites from My Blessed Life

(photo source)

I've actually made these awesome little energy bites twice now but still haven't blogged about them. Whether they get their own blog post or not, it's about time I shared with you that these chocolate cranberry energy bites from My Blessed Life are awesome. A great sweet treat that again, is on the healthier side! What's not to love?

Chocolate Oatmeal Cookie Balls 

I posted this recipe on my blog last year, and the original is from Taste and Tell. These could not be any easier! The ingredients aren't quite as healthy as the previous two treats (there's a whole stick of butter in these guys :)), but they are soooo delicious! The next time you're in a pinch and need to make something quickly, remember these chocolate oatmeal cookie balls. You'll be glad you did.

Thanks for letting me pop in to share a few recipes with you! Hopefully my next post will be sooner than a week and a half away...can't believe it's been that long since my last post! Oops. :)

Enjoy Life's Decadent Soft Baked Bars: A Review

I recently had the pleasure of receiving Enjoy Life Decadent Soft Baked Bars in the mail to try. What a fun treat! You may remember that I've previously reviewed other Enjoy Life products on the blog (Plentils, Chocolate Mega Chunks, Granola, Not Nuts, and Crunchy Cookies - which were all wonderful!), so when Enjoy Life recently contacted me to see if I was interested in trying their newest product, their Decadent Soft Baked Bars, I was more than happy to oblige!

What a fun, colorful package to receive, don't you think?!

One of the great features of Enjoy Life products is that they are free from the 8 common allergens (wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, eggs, soy, fish, and shellfish). What I've liked about all the Enjoy Life products I've received is not only their delicious taste, but that that products are labeled very clearly! It's very easy to tell what you're getting with these products. It is not difficult to decipher the labels or ingredients list with their products, and I love that. Aaand, these bars are free of GMO's (Genetically Modified Organisms), which is something the hubs and I have been paying attention to a lot more lately. So I was glad to see the Non-GMO Project verified symbol on the box of these bars!

After snapping a few photos of the Decadent Soft Baked Bars, I dug right in to try the different flavors!

Each of the four different bar flavors has either a white or dark drizzle on them. That little drizzle in and of itself is a great reason to enjoy these bars. ;) And the bars are all soft (as the name suggests, of course), chewy, and slightly dense - enough to make them feel like a substantial snack or dessert. They're not light and airy as if there's nothing to them. I'm not a fan of bars like that!

The Cinnamon Bun flavor was delicious! It's like a condensed version of a freshly baked cinnamon bun...but much neater to eat. :) And healthier too! I love that the Cinnamon Bun flavor contains quinoa, cinnamon, and apple as ingredients.

The S'mores flavor was also fantastic! It actually reminded me of a brownie, which is always a good thing in my eyes. And this flavor even combines Enjoy Life's Vanilla Honey Graham Crunchy Cookies as an ingredient in it - neat!

Although I didn't snap any photos of the Cherry Cobbler or Chocolate SunButter, I have tried them, don't you worry. The Cherry Cobbler is a great mixture of sweet and tart and is topped with that delicious white drizzle like the Cinnamon Bun flavor. And the Chocolate SunButter is great (possibly my favorite flavor actually!) because the sunbutter gives it almost a peanut butter-y flavor.

Enjoy Life products are wonderful for the friends and family in your life who may have any of the common allergies! Definitely keep them in mind the next time you're looking for a treat that's gluten-free and free of many other allergens as well. You can find a list of store locations that carry Enjoy Life products on their website.

These new Decadent Soft Baked Bars are a great addition to the overall line of Enjoy Life products. They're a perfect on-the-go, portable snack, great for a road trip or to enjoy as fuel on a hike. I've found the bars to be a satisfying little snack in between meals too. And I've even enjoyed one as dessert a time or two! These bars satisfy the sweet tooth but don't contain too much sugar like a lot of desserts, so they're a nice, low-guilt dessert option. :)

Thank you so much to Enjoy Life Foods for giving me the opportunity to try another one of their great products!

Chocolate and Cinnamon Chip Cookie Butter Cookies

I have a new favorite cookie. Since I made these a couple weeks ago, I've thought about them every day. I'm not joking. They're that good.

This fantastic recipe is from Buttercream Fanatic, a blog I started following just a few months ago. If you haven't yet checked out Buttercream Fanatic, I highly recommend that you do!! So many delicious recipes.

K, back to the cookies. Have you heard of cookie butter? Or perhaps Biscoff? Speculoos? If you haven't, then you neeeed to go out and buy some. This stuff is the best. It's like a gingerbread, cinnamon flavored "butter" - it has the consistency of peanut butter but doesn't taste like it. Let's just say that if it was acceptable, I would eat the stuff by the handful. 

When we were in Belgium on our honeymoon, coffee was always served with a little speculoos cookie or biscuit. I became obsessed with speculoos! We even had speculoos gelato a couple times. Sooo good. If you're not yet familiar with the flavor, you gotta get some! :)

These cookies could probably also be made with peanut butter in place of the Biscoff/speculoos/cookie butter. Buuuut, I don't think you should do that. Stick to the cookie butter!

Ingredients:

-3/4 cup Biscoff spread or cookie butter (e.g., from Trader Joe's)

-1/2 cup butter, softened

-1/4 cup white sugar (plus more for rolling)

-1/2 cup light brown sugar

-1 large egg

-1 tsp. vanilla

-3/4 tsp. baking soda

-1/2 tsp. baking powder

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 and 3/4 cups flour

-1/4 cup chocolate chips

-1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray two cookie sheets with cooking spray or line with parchment paper or a silpat. In a large mixing bowl, cream the Biscoff/cookie butter and butter for a minute or two. Add both sugars and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and mix until incorporated. Add the flour and mix until just combined. Finally, fold in the chocolate and cinnamon chips.

Scoop cookie dough into 1 to 2-inch balls (whatever your preference; I made mine smaller), and roll in white sugar (either the whole cookie or just the top half; I rolled the whole cookie). Place on cookie sheet about 2 inches apart, and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the bottoms are lightly golden brown (the tops won't brown much). The cookies should be puffed and cracked on top. Let sit on cookie sheet for a couple minutes before removing to cool completely on rack.

Depending on the size of your cookies, this recipe yields about 24 to 30 cookies. Store in airtight container for up to a week.

 Isn't this a fun kitchen towel? :)

I made these cookies for our frisbee team's end-of-the-season party. Boy, were they a hit! I think people's reactions to this cookie were some of the most positive I've had in a while. There was a lot of excitement surrounding these cookies!!!

As I said before, I've been thinking of these cookies every day since I made them.

They. Are. That. Good.

Never heard of Biscoff spread or cookie butter? Have no fear! I bet it's in your nearby grocery store. It's actually pretty available, so you should probably look for it on your next trip to the store. :)

And then...MAKE THESE COOKIES!!

You'll be SO glad you did.

Sugardoodles

Sugardoodles! How fun do they sound? Super fun, right? Thought so. ;)

These cookies are like a cross between sugar cookies and snickerdoodles (hence, the name). They are very vanilla-y and incredibly soft and chewy. This excellent recipe is from Averie Cooks. Averie always has wonderful recipes! I think her cookie recipes might be my favorite though. And this particular recipe is a total keeper. 

I made these for a party we hosted for our ultimate frisbee team. The recipe made about 18 cookies, and they were gone in no time at all. They practically vanished into thin air! Although Averie calls for making the balls of cookie dough a little bit larger (a scant 1/4 cup of dough per cookie), I made mine a bit smaller. That's how I got 18 cookies out of the recipe. If you make them bigger, obviously you'll get fewer cookies. :) The recipe comes together very easily. The only catch is that it is a recipe where the cookie dough needs to be chilled before baking, for at least 3 hours. So be sure to factor that time in if you make these!

The other point to note is that this recipe calls for some all-purpose flour and some bread flour. Averie shares that the bread flour makes the cookies chewy and helps them rise. You may substitute all-purpose flour for the bread flour, but keep in mind that the cookies won't rise as well or be quite as chewy.

Ingredients:

-1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

-1/2 cup granulated sugar

-1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

-1 large egg

-2 Tbsp. cream or milk

-1 and 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-3/4 cup bread flour

-1 tsp. baking soda

-1/4 tsp. salt

Instructions:

In the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment or with an electric mixer, beat the butter 1 to 2 minutes on low speed until smooth. Add the sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well-combined. Add the egg, cream or milk, and vanilla extract, beating on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the flours, baking soda, and salt, and mix until just combined. Refrigerate dough in an airtight container for at least 3 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper, a silpat mat, or cooking spray. Form dough into 1 and 1/2-inch balls, and place on baking sheet, at least 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until cookies are lightly golden and the edges are set. The centers may be slightly underdone, and that's okay. They will firm up a little bit as they cool. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to cool on cooling racks completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

I didn't take many photos of these cookies because I was in a bit of a rush when I made them (we were hosting a party and I made the cookies just in the nick of time). So, I was only able to snap a few quick pics!

As I said earlier, these cookies disappeared very quickly!

Loved these cookies. And I know you will too!

No-Bake Oreo Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

You can never have enough no-bake recipes, in my opinion! I love no-bake treats. They're perfect for the hot days of summer or for those days (year round!) when you're short on time in the kitchen. 

And today's no-bake recipe is a particularly fun one. I have for you Oreo stuffed chocolate chip cookie dough bites! Yes, that's right. There's a whole lot of goodness going on in these little guys. We've got a yummy cookie dough outside (and don't worry; the cookie dough is eggless and safe to eat ;)) wrapped around a bite-sized piece of Oreo. Helloooo delicious!

The original recipe is from Picky Palate. I modified it only slightly; the recipe calls for mini chocolate chips, but I didn't have them on hand so I used regular-sized chocolate chips. I actually do think I'd prefer to use mini ones though! Next time. I just didn't want to make a trip to the store to buy mini chips since I already had regular ones on hand.

Ingredients:

-1 stick unsalted butter, softened

-1/2 cup granulated sugar

-1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 cup all-purpose flour

-1/4 tsp. salt

-3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 1 cup mini chocolate chips)

-regular-sized Oreos, cut into 1/4th's (or, mini Oreos)

Instructions:

Mix the butter and both sugars together with an electric mixer. Beat on medium high for 2 to 3 minutes or until mixture is light and fluffy. Add vanilla, beating until well combined. Add flour and salt, and mix well. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips. Line counter top or a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop cookie dough by 1-inch rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment. Press center of dough down with your fingertip to make an indent for the Oreo piece/mini Oreo. Place Oreo on dough, and then top with a bit more dough, enough to cover the Oreo. Roll dough to form a ball around the Oreo so that it's fully concealed. Store in airtight container in fridge. Serve cold or at room temperature. Makes about 12 to 14 bites.

This recipe is totally flexible too in terms of what filling you use! I used only Oreos because I just wanted to keep it simple. However, there are so many other possibilities... You could try other candy like Reese's peanut butter cups or Butterfinger or York Peppermint Patty (oooooh). Or, as is suggested in the original recipe post, you could even put a bite-sized piece of brownie in there! Or maybe even a dollop of Nutella?! Oh boy.

One of my coworkers called these "little bombs of awesomeness." I'd have to agree!

These cookie dough bites are so fun. A perfect treat for any occasion!

Hope everyone's having a great week - happy Thursday!

Blueberry Muffins

I wish I had a more exciting title for this post other than just "blueberry muffins." But alas, I don't. I used a recipe from Sally's Baking Addiction for Sparkling Jumbo Blueberry Muffins. But since I didn't make mine jumbo-sized, and I didn't add sugar on top to make them sparkling, I'm down to just blueberry muffins. No sparkling or jumbo here.

However, there is a whole lot of deliciousness here! Don't let the simple name of blueberry muffins fool you. These are some darn good blueberry muffins!!

A while back I had purchased a lot of organic blueberries (i.e., 5 pints) when they were on sale at Whole Foods. And I froze most of them! And those frozen berries were perfect to use in this recipe. All in all, this recipe is very simple and comes together in no time! 

One very important tip for this recipe involves oven temperature...and it works! So listen carefully. In her recipe, Sally recommends that you start baking the muffins at a higher temperature (425 degrees Fahrenheit) for 5 minutes, after which you turn the oven temp down to 375 degrees for the remainder of the baking time. The result? Higher muffin tops! They are much more dome-like. In the initial higher temperatures, the muffins rise up quickly and will remain taller than if you baked them at a lower temperature the entire time. Who knew?! What a great tip. Thanks, Sally! I totally noticed that the tops of these muffins were higher than other muffin recipes I've made too.

Another tip is that you do not need to toss the blueberries in flour before adding them to the batter. Many recipes suggest that you do that so the blueberries don't sink down to the bottom. However, this batter is so thick that the blueberries won't sink. And it's true! My blueberries were evenly dispersed throughout the muffins without having to toss them in flour first.

Also, one small change I made to the recipe was to replace one of the cups of all-purpose flour with one cup of white whole wheat flour. The recipe below is written as the original is (with the 3 cups AP flour) but feel free to change it up, if you'd like. Oh, and the four teaspoons of baking powder you see in the recipe? Not a typo! You really add four teaspoons. :) And no, there's not an overwhelming taste of baking powder in the muffins at all, so don't worry.

If you have a jumbo muffin tin, definitely use it for this recipe! I did not though, so I just used my standard muffin tin. You could also make mini ones, if you'd like.

Ingredients:

-3 cups all-purpose flour

-4 tsp. baking powder

-1 tsp. salt

-1 tsp. ground cinnamon

-2 eggs, room temperature preferred

-1 cup sugar

-1 cup milk (I used 1% but you could use skim, almond, soy, etc.), room temp preferred

-1/2 cup canola oil

-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 and 1/4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

-coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Spray muffin tin with non-stick cooking spray or line with paper liners. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon; set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar together until combined. Mix in milk, oil, and vanilla. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix everything by hand until it's well-combined, being very careful not to overmix. The batter will be thick and somewhat lumpy. Fold in the blueberries.

Pour batter into prepared muffin tin, filling cups all the way to the top. If using, sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake at 425 degrees for 5 minutes, then turn oven temperature down to 375 degrees. Continue to bake for 15 to 20 minutes (the time will vary greatly depending on whether you're making mini, regular, or jumbo muffins: 15 - 20 more minutes is for regular sized, 25 more minutes is for jumbo, and for minis, bake them at 375 degrees the entire time for 12 - 13 minutes).

When the muffins are done baking, the tops should be a light golden brown with some cracks in them. Let sit in muffin tin for 10 minutes before removing to cool on cooling rack completely. Or, enjoy the muffins warm, right out of the oven....

For me, this recipe made 18 regular sized muffins.

These muffins were definitely bursting with blueberries! The one and a quarter cups of blueberries was the perfect amount. Not too few, but not too many. And the flavor and texture of these muffins were also fantastic. Tons of berry flavor (as you'd expect :)), slightly sweet, and soft and airy. Everything you want in a muffin!

These muffins are best enjoyed with friends and family on a lazy Saturday morning.

Just so you know. ;)

Chocolate Peanut Butter Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

If there was ever a perfect match made in heaven, it's chocolate and peanut butter. And this cookie recipe is one of the easiest, yummiest ways I've found to combine these two favorite flavors.

You may have noticed that I called this recipe "chocolate peanut butter peanut butter chip cookies." Nope, it wasn't a typo! The reason I decided to put peanut butter in the name twice is that not only are peanut butter chips in the cookies, but there's peanut butter in the cookie dough as well! Double the peanut butter, double the fun. :)

The texture of these cookies is soft and chewy, which is, in my opinion, the best possible texture of a cookie. Every now and then I do enjoy a little crunch to my cookies, but if I could only choose one cookie texture to eat for the rest of my life, it would absolutely be soft and chewy. And these cookies fit that bill.

And they are also so easy to put together! They do require the use of an electric mixer, but I had the ingredients whipped up in just 10 minutes (minus the time it took for the butter to soften, of course ;)). But you know what method I've found works great if you do need to soften butter quickly? If you don't have time to plan ahead and leave your butter out to soften (or, you simply forget to do it ahead of time - I've definitely been guilty of that!), try microwaving it on low power (or on defrost). For one stick of butter, on low power, you can have your butter softened (and not anywhere near melted, which we don't want) in 10 seconds. So easy!

The recipe for these wonderful cookies is based on a recipe from King Arthur Flour. And when I made these cookies, it was my first time ever using Dutch-process cocoa powder! I've never used it before. In the past, I've just never bought it, so I've avoided using recipes that call for it. But, recently, on a trip that my mom and sister made to King Arthur Flour in Vermont, they nicely picked up some Dutch-process cocoa powder for me, so now I don't have any excuses to skip over recipes that call for it!

Ingredients:

-1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

-1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1/2 cup granulated sugar

-1/2 cup brown sugar

-1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

-1/4 cup smooth peanut butter

-1 tsp. vanilla extract

-1 large egg

-2 Tbsp. water

-1 and 1/2 cups peanut butter chips

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Lightly grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In another bowl, beat together both sugars, butter, and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla, egg, and water; then stir in the dry ingredients, blending well. Stir in the peanut butter chips.

Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheets. If desired, flatten each cookie with the bottom of a glass until the cookie is 1/2-inch thick. Bake for 7 to 9 minutes, or until cookies are set and you can smell the chocolate. Remove from oven, let sit on cookie sheets for a couple minutes, and then cool completely on a cooling rack. Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

The original recipe actually calls for mini peanut butter cups instead of peanut butter chips. I didn't have the peanut butter cups on hand, so I just substituted the chips. These would be awesome with the pb cups though!

If you read through the recipe, you may have noticed that it says to flatten the cookies a bit before baking. I actually forgot to do that with the first batch that went into the oven, but I did flatten the second batch. Both turned out great! The ones I flattened slightly were, of course, slightly flatter. If you make this recipe, I'd recommend trying whichever you prefer - slightly flatter cookies or slightly rounder cookies. Either way, the flavor and texture remains the same - wonderful!

The amount of peanut butter chips in this recipe was perfect, I thought. Not too many and not too few. This recipe has a perfect dough to chip ratio. :)

You are going to loooove these cookies.

:)

I've Been Away From the Kitchen...

....because we've been on our honeymoon for the past two weeks! Although I've had a few posts the past couple weeks, I have not been in the kitchen at all! We've been away in France and Belgium on our honeymoon. :) And now we're back after having the time of our lives! Seriously. We had such an amazing time.

We saw beautiful sights in Paris...

Ate some of the best ice cream we've ever had....

Admired the quaintness and charm of cities in Belgium...

Enjoyed delicious Belgian waffles...

 
Ate many a Belgian frite (and yes, with the mayo - it's good!!)...

Drank Belgian beers in beautiful places...

Watched a dance festival in Grand Place in Brussels...

Drank beers in Belgian beer cafes with some of the best beer selections in the world...

Toured very, very, very old breweries...

Enjoyed many delicious meals (those Belgians are real foodies!!)...

Found ourselves in awe of so much beautiful architecture...

Visited ancient abbey ruins...

Tasted heavenly Belgian chocolates...

Ate even more ice cream....

And pretty much, just had the time of our lives! ♥

Now that we're back, not only will I be back in our own kitchen, but I can also return to reading all my favorite blogs and commenting on them. I only have about 350 unread blog posts in Bloglovin' to catch up on.... ;)

I missed my blog world friends and am happy to be back! Talk with you more next week!