Super Amazing Giant Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Rainy Sundays in our house mean one thing - time to bake!! After another busy week, and some sleepless nights with a certain 8 year old, it was nice to come home from church today and have absolutely nothing to do. The hubs headed off to work and the girls and I decided to retry a recipe that completely failed a few weeks ago!

My first attempt at these cookies - FAIL!!

I found this recipe in HGTV Magazine and made a few tweaks to accommodate a few ingredients I didn't have on hand. After following the actual baking directions this time, these cookies turned out soft, chewy and gigantic!! The first time I made these cookies, I just used my regular cookie scoop and placed them "normally" on the cookie sheet for baking. Had I read the full baking instructions, I would have noticed that this recipe makes "big, bakery-size, gooey cookies."

Super Amazing Giant Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe adapted from HGTV Magazine

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups rolled oats

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F and line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Beat the butter and sugar together for two minutes, until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until just incorporated. Scrape the edge of the bowl and mix again to make sure it all comes together.

Add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix until combined. Next, stir in the chocolate chips and rolled oats.

Form the dough into balls of about 4 tbsp each (for me, this meant a heaping scoop of my large cookie scoop). Arrange the dough onto the parchment lined baking sheets approximately 2 inches apart. *** This is the most important step!! These cookies spread out a LOT, so make sure to space them well. I used a large cookie sheet and only had 14 cookies on each sheet.

Bake until the cookies are lightly browned on the edges, approximately 15 minutes. Let cool for for two minutes then remove to baking rack to cool completely.

I hope you all love these cookies as much as the girls and I do!! Thanks for stopping by, I hope I have inspired you today!

Twix Shortbread Cookies

What an amazing week!! Our littles were on spring break for the past two weeks, and while I would like to say that we had a restful relaxing couple of weeks, the total chaos that we did have was a ton of fun!

The girls Irish danced in twelve shows over the course of last week and although we had a wig catasrophe, both girls had a ball dancing their Irish hearts out for people.

This week at work we had our annual Bake Off. Each of the participating bakers had to bring in their favorite recipe, with servings for 100 people, plus 3 judges. I decided to make these yummy cookies I found on Pinterest. I cut them in half so that the public would each get a serving, and then brought full sized cookies for the judges. I ended up making the recipe 3 times to have enough for all the servings I needed, plus a tray for our house!!

Although I didn't win (that honour went to a ridiculously amazing cheesecake) I got a ton of positive feedback on the cookies I brought!

Twix Shortbread Cookies
Recipe adapted from here

Ingredients
2/3 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flour

Toppings:
3/4 cup caramel sauce
6 ounces chocolate wafers, melted

Instructions

To make the cookie layer, preheat the oven to 375F. In the bowl of your mixer, combine 2/3 cup butter, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla. Combine ingredients until the butter is creamy, scraping the edges of the bowl. Add the flour and mix at low speed until well combined. Cover and refrigerate dough for an hour, until firm.

Shape the dough into 1" balls. Place dough 2" apart on cookie sheets. Make an indentation in the cookie balls with the back of a wooden spoon. Bake 8-10 minutes until the edges are start to golden.

Remove from the oven and place cookie sheets on a wire rack to cool completely.

After the cookies have had a chance to cool completely. Put the caramel sauce into a piping bag and lightly pipe caramel into the indentations. While the caramel is settling into the indentations, melt the chocolate wafers using a double boiler.

Using a fork, drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies. Refrigerate for ten minutes, to allow the chocolate to harden over the cookies.

I hope you enjoy this recipe! I know that the cookies I tried to keep at our house were gone in about ten minutes!!

The Dunbar - Chocolate, caramel, pecan and oat bar

Hello my friends!! Today I have a super amazing, ridiculously easy and crazy delicious recipe to share with you! About a year ago I was home in the afternoon and caught an episode of Steven and Chris. For those of you who don't watch, Steven and Chris is a Canadian talk show that focuses on lifestyle, home decor and cooking. It's quite entertaining and the hosts always make me laugh.

On the particular day that I was watching, the hosts had a baker on the show who has a downtown Vancouver bakery called Butter Baked Goods and she was making a glorious looking recipe called the Dunbar. It was a combination of cookie, chocolate, caramel and deliciousness. I was running out the door as the recipe was being presented, so I pvr'd the episode and finally watched it months later.

Fast forward to May and our social committee at work was having a bake off. Participants were asked to bring 100 mini servings of a baked item and they would be served and judged by the people who came to try the baked goods. I can't remember how I placed at the bake off, but my Dunbar's were all gone and I had a ton of people asking me to share the recipe.

The best part about this recipe (I think) is that instead of needing heavy cream and melting caramels, I was able to use a jar of caramel sauce! I found the one I used at Target for only $3.99. The original recipe calls for dulce de leche, but this sauce does the same thing and the recipe turned out fantastic!

I finally made these again over Christmas for a friend's pajama party and actually remembered to take photos so I could share them with all of you!! I hope you enjoy these as much as I did!!

The Dunbar 
Original Recipe from Butter Baked Goods

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/4 large-flake rolled oats
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup pecans, lightly chopped
3/4 cup caramel sauce or dulce de leche

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9x9 square pan with parchment paper. Trust me, don't skip this step, or you will never get your delicious treat out of your pan! And get a piping bag, the kind that you would normally use to ice cupcakes. This isn't totally necessary but will definitely make your life (and caramel application) much much easier.

Cream together butter and sugar, making sure to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure it's all incorporated. Mix in the dry ingredients until well combined. Divide the dough in two and press the first half of the mixture into your parchment lined pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips and pecans over the cookie dough.

Put the caramel sauce into the piping bag. Pipe the caramel sauce over the chocolate chips and pecans. You could try to use a spoon and just scoop it onto the chocolate chips, but from experience, it is gloopy and hard to spread evenly. Take the second half of the cookie dough mixture and sprinkle it over top of the chocolate chip/pecan/caramel mixture. Lightly press down over the caramel mixture.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes, or until golden brown. When it's done, allow to cool in the pan before using the parchment paper edges to lift it out of the pan. Use a long, sharp knife to cut into bars. Make sure to keep the ones at the very edge of the pan for yourself! That part is my favorite!

Thanks so much for stopping by! I hope I have inspired you a little today!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

Hello friends! I hope you all enjoyed my last post, Chocolate Chip Banana Bread with Oats. I certainly had a great time baking them and the girls had a great time eating them! We went through a whole loaf the first day!!

This summer we are trying to do something new each week. We are trying to hit up a new park each and every week, try some new recipes when we can and go on new adventures together. So far we have gone to two new water parks, hit up our local night market for street fare and baked some new goodies together.

I asked Miss A what she would like to bake that we haven't baked before. She was quick to come up with an answer - White Chocolate Macadamia Nut cookies, just like the ones from Subway! So off to my best friend (google!!) to see if I could find someone claiming to make a cookie just like the ones from Subway. I came across the Orgasmic Chef and knew that I needed to try her recipe for no other reason than her website name is amazing!!

This recipe makes a ton of cookies - Miss A had plenty and I brought a whole bunch to work too!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
Adapted from The Orgasmic Chef

Ingredients
3¼ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1½ cups salted butter, softened
1½ cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup white chocolate chip
1¼ cups coarsely chopped macadamia nuts

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine flour and baking soda. In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugars. Add eggs one at a time, then add vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and mix again.

Slowly add the flour mixture and mix well. Stir in the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts gently.

Using a medium cookie scoop, drop cookie batter onto prepared cookie sheets and bake for 13-15 minutes.

Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you like this recipe!!

Peanut Butter Heath Bar Cookies

Hello my friends! Long time, no see! Life has been crazy busy, but lots of fun. I have had so many adventures in the past few months, but unfortunately not a ton of time to chronicle our fun.

I'm back today with another fun recipe for you all. For the eighth straight year, I am hosting a (very strict) cookie exchange. I invite a few of my nearest and dearest and we all bake up 6 dozen cookies. As much as possible, I try to limit the cookie recipe types so we don't end up with five kinds of shortbread (that happened one year!) so we have a big range of cookies. This year the list is shaping up quite nicely. I'll be sure to report in with all the goodies after the party.

Anyhoo, back to today's recipe. I tried a test batch of the recipe today to make sure that these cookies were as amazing as the recipe made them out to be. They are de-lish!

Peanut Butter Heath Bar Cookies

Adapted from a recipe in this book

Ingredients

2/3 cup crunchy peanut butter
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
3 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Heath bar bits (or Skor bits)
3/4 cup + 1/4 cup chocolate chips
1 tsp shortening

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375F. In the bowl of your standing mixer, combine peanut butter, butter, white and brown sugars and mix until creamy and smooth. Beat in egg until combined. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add dry mixture to peanut butter mixture and mix until well incorporated. Add the Heath bar bits and 3/4 cup chocolate chips.

Using a medium cookie scoop, drop onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges of the cookie just begin to brown. Remove from the oven and squish just a little bit with the back of a fork.  Allow to cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes.

At this point, it would make your life much much easier if you shifted all of the cookies onto one cookie sheet, with little to no gap between the cookies. In a small glass bowl, combine remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips and 1 tsp shortening. Microwave in 20 second increments, stirring between each heating. When the mixture is stirred completely smooth, head back to your cookies. Using a fork, lightly drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! They were certainly popular in my house today - half of the batch is gone already!!!



I will hopefully be linking this recipe up to A Bowl Full of Lemons, Delightful Order, Doodles and Stitches and Joyful Homemaking.

LalaLoopsy Birthday Party!

Can you believe it? My little baby bean turned four this week! When asked what theme she would like for her party, she picked her favourite toy of the minute – Lalaloopsy dolls! Over the past year my girls have amassed a fairly large collection of these adorable dollies.

For those of you outside the little girl loop, these super cute dolls is created with a fictional theme, reflecting the day she is born, the fabric she is sewn from, and her pet. 

Google was my friend when designing Miss E's birthday party invitations.  I found a Lalaloopsy image and put the party details into a text box.  I printed out the invite, used double sided tape to attach the invite to cardstock and then glued on some buttons to liven them up a little.

After scouring Pinterest for some ideas, I got straight to work! I used dessert plates, black cardstock and a circle punch and created buttons. I tied them together into a row and used them as the backdrop for the party. 

I created Happy Birthday Eila labels for the water bottles and juice containers, to add a little cute factor to the food and drink table.  We went simple with the food, just fruits, veggies and the kids favorites - cheetos and popcorn twists!

The first day we started planning the party, Miss E picked out her cake. It was super easy to put together. We made this chocolate cake and made marshmallow fondant. I ordered a button candy mold to make the decorative buttons on the sides, and popped a few Mini Lalaloopsies on top of the cake.

I used a button lollipop mold to make these yummy bites for the kids to take home after the party.

A quick and easy Happy Birthday bunting came together with Valentine hearts and printed letters, and printed out pictures of the Lalaloopsy dolls taped to some craft twine became our party decorations.

Check out this cutie playing a fun game of pin the crown on Jewel Sparkles.

 Since the Lalaloopsy dolls slogan is “Sew Magical” I created a gift tag to put on the outside of the goody bags thanking Miss E’s friends “SEW” much for coming to her party. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture of the goody bags.  They were pretty easy to put together.  Candy, candy and more candy filled the bags!!

The kids played games, and did crafts, and had a LOT of sugar and a great time! It looks like this sweet little girl had a really great party!! 

Thanks so much for stopping by to read today. 

I am linking to some of these fun linking parties:

I'm An Organizing Junkie, A Bowl Full of Lemons , Delightful Order , and Joyful Homemaking

White Chocolate Macadamia Crinkle Cookies

Hello all! I am back with another of my test recipes that turned out successfully! When we were in Hawaii, we bought a few packages of macadamia nuts to bring home. I knew that I wanted to make cookies with them, and I found the perfect recipe. 
 
I found the recipe in a Taste of Home specialty cookie magazine. A few tweaks turned this into a pretty delicious batch of cookies, if I do say so myself! I brought a test batch of these cookies to my daughter’s school to let the other moms give me their opinions and they were gone lickety split!

White Chocolate Macadamia Crinkles

Ingredients
1 cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp baking powder
6 ounces baking chocolate, chopped
½ cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts, toasted
½ cup sugar

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil and toast nuts for 10-12 minutes, or until lightly browned. Chop the macadamia nuts as large or small as you wish.
Increase heat in the oven to 400F. 

 
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour and baking powder; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate and nuts. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. 

 
Roll into 1” balls. Roll each ball into the sugar. Place 2” apart on ungreased cookie sheet; flatten slightly. 

 
Bake at 400F for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Enjoy!