Chocolate Chip

Chocolate Chip & Dried Tart Cherry Cookies

/ Jodi / 57 Comments

Chocolate Chip and Dried Tart Cherry Cookies.

I have shared many versions of cookies here at The CreativeLifeinBetween.

In fact, in some homes (very few indeed), I am known as the Cookie Queen.

And it seems no matter what kind I make, the all-time favorite is the Chocolate Chip Cookie.

I often change it up a little, but when I add dried tart cherries, I know I am going to make at least one guy smile ( who happens to be my youngest son).

So this week, I made a batch that I hope will bring a smile to our busy family as we prepare for exciting days and years ahead.

New homes – growing families – lots of love.


Here is how I make them.

Chocolate Chip and Dried Tart Cherry Cookies

Ingredients:

4 sticks (1 lb.) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
5 cups all purpose flour
1 12-oz bags Nestle Chocolate Chunk Morsels (or your favorite)
8-oz  Dried Tart Cherries (I used Trader Joe’s)

Directions:

With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until completely incorporated. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat until light and fluffy. Add baking soda and salt, and mix another minute. Gradually add flour and beat until well incorporated, but do not overbeat.

Fold in chocolate chunk morsels and dried cherries.  Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. With your hands, form a cookie dough ball about 1-1/2 inches in diameter.  Place on baking stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Allow to cool on baking stone for 5-6 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

Cheers  & Hugs,
Jodi

Jodi’s Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

/ Jodi / 65 Comments

Jodi’s Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Wedding cookie baking continues; and I think if my son Nick had his way, the wedding cookie table would be completely covered with chocolate chip cookies.

I often vary this basic chocolate chip cookie recipe up by substituting a portion of the chocolate chips with dried tart cherries (Nick’s current fave) or half the chocolate chips with peanut butter chips, or making them with white chocolate chips and dried blueberries, or half chocolate chips and half chopped Girl Scout Thin Mint cookies, but this is my classic, stand-by best ever chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I made three batches for the upcoming wedding.

A couple tips for those that ask how I make these: always refrigerate the dough for at least a few hours before baking, roll dough into large balls, bake on baking stones (no greater investment for baking!), electric convection ovens are the best for baking cookies.

Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

4 sticks (1 lb.) butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
5 cups all purpose flour
2 12-oz bags Nestle Chocolate Chunk Morsels (or your favorite)

Directions:

With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until completely incorporated. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat until light and fluffy. Add baking soda and salt, and mix another minute. Gradually add flour and beat until well incorporated, but do not overbeat.

Fold in chocolate chunk morsels.  Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. With your hands, form a cookie dough ball about 1-1/2 inches in diameter.  Place on baking stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Allow to cool on baking stone for 5-6 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Happy Baking!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Girl Scout Thin Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

/ Jodi / 16 Comments

Girl Scout Thin Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies 1
It is Girl Scout cookie time around here!  Thin Mints are a perennial favorite for many – right?!  Well – this “Kitchenista” (as my sweet blogging friend, Laura has dubbed me) is not satisfied with just a regular ole’ Thin Mint Cookie.

So last year I decided to try chunking them up in my Jodi’s Almost Famous Chocolate Chip Cookie dough, and POW!  Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!  Nick (my son) awarded these his ALL-TIME FAVORITE version of my chocolate chip cookies.

Girl Scout Thin Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a box or two and make them for him again this year.  After all, his birthday is coming up very soon, and for me, any excuse will do to bring a smile to my guys’ faces and bellies.   🙂

Girl Scout Thin Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies 2

Hope you’ll give them a try!  If you do, let me know what you think.

Girl Scout Thin Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Servings: 5 dozen large cookies
  • Print

Ingredients:

1 lb (4 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 bag Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks (or Chips)
1 sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies – crushed into chunks, but not pulverized

Mix softened butter and sugars with mixer until well blended. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until creamy. Add dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) until well incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips and thin mint chunks.

Refrigerate dough for several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Shape dough into 1 1/2 – 2 Tbsp balls and flatten slightly. Bake on baking stone for 8-9 minutes. Let cool on stone for approximately 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Cookies freeze well in Ziploc bags (and Nick actually prefers to eat them straight out of the freezer).

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Apricot Chocolate Chip Cookies

/ Jodi / 28 Comments

apricot chocolate chip cookies

Apricot and semi-sweet or dark chocolate is such a yummy combination, so I thought I’d try it in a cookie – as a twist to my “almost famous” chocolate chips cookies.

apricot chocolate chip cookie

and it’s a winner according to my guys.

apricot chocolate chip cookie batter

I snipped a half pound of dried apricots into the batter.

apricot chocolate chip cookies on rack

and tweaked up my original chocolate chip recipe by exchanging vanilla extract with half almond and half orange extract (though I think vanilla might be yummy too) and used 1/2 a bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to allow the apricot to be the “star” of the cookie.

apricot chocolate chip cookies plate

The balance of flavors seemed just right.

Hope you’ll give them a try.

And can you believe it is the last day of January 2015 already!?!?  We are hunkering down for a snow storm here in Mars this weekend, and of course, the Super Bowl, so we will be set with some sweet treats if “needed.”  🙂

How about you?  What’s happening in your part of the world this weekend?

Have a good one!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

And here is the recipe.  Enjoy!

Jodi's Apricot Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Servings: 2 dozen large cookies
  • Difficulty: Easy
  • Print

1 cup butter, softenedapricot chocolate chip cookies plate
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. orange extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) dried apricots, snipped into small chunks
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) Nestle’s Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Blend softened butter with granulated and brown sugar with mixer until well incorporated. Add in almond and orange extract and eggs and mix on medium-high speed until creamy. Add in flour, baking soda, and salt on low speed until incorporated. Fold in apricots and chocolate chips.

Chill dough for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll dough into golf ball sized balls and flatten slightly.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes.

I think I will share this recipe with my friends over at Fiesta Friday for the Anniversary Party, because every party needs cookies – right?!  Check it out for lots of awesome recipes by some amazing foodie bloggers!

Apricot Kolaches & Christmas Cookie Baking

/ Jodi / 14 Comments

I finally got around to some Christmas cookie baking this weekend, and the highlight for my gang is the Apricot Kolaches.

apricot kolaches

Mine are not quite as perfect and beautiful as Grandma used to make, but they are getting thumbs ups around here.  Apricot Kolaches are a traditional Polish tender cream cheese pastry cookie with a sweet-tart apricot filling.  Grandma was 100% Polish, and her cooking and baking were like none other!

apricot kolaches 3

I remember Grandma painstakingly measuring each 2 inch by 2 inch square so that every singly one looked exactly the same.  I don’t have nearly the patience, but I smile remembering those days in the kitchen with her.  I can also now relate to the aching back and feet she had at the end of the day after rolling, cutting, filling, folding, baking, cooling, packing up…  And I wish I had a young Jodi to rub my feet and massage my legs with Jergen’s cherry almond lotion like I did for Grandma in the evening after an all-day baking session.

apricot kolaches 2

But the joy on Marty’s and Nick’s faces and the “Mmmmm’s” that escape their lips between bites make it all worth it!

(and then I have to hurry up and freeze some or they would be gone quicker than it takes me to clean up the dishes!)

I also made some of my Jodi’s Almost Famous Chocolate Chip Cookies – a perennial favorite around here…

chocolate chip christmas cookies

…as well as some with dried blueberries and white chocolate chips using the same recipe (another of Marty’s faves).

And it wouldn’t be Christmas without some Peanut Butter Blossoms…

peanut butter cup cookies

And gotta have some Pittsburgh Thumbprint cookies too.  I made a batch with chocolate fudge and another with colorful sprinkles and green icing centers.

chocolate pittsburgh thumbprints

Here is the recipe I use for the Apricot Kolaches.

(The Chocolate Chips and Pittsburgh Thumbprints can be found by following the links to previous posts.)

apricot kolache making

APRICOT KOLACHES

2 8-oz blocks of cream cheese, softened
2 cups (4 sticks) butter, softened
5 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups apricot preserves or apricot filling (I use Baker’s)
1 Egg, beaten
Confectioner’s (Powdered) Sugar, for dusting

Beat cream cheese and butter on medium-high speed of stand mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Turn mixer on low, and gradually mix in the flour until a smooth dough forms.

Knead dough on lightly floured work surface, and gently form a ball.  Divide dough into fourths, flatten, and wrap each in plastic wrap.  Refrigerate at least 4 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Line cookie sheet or baking stone with parchment paper.  Working with one piece of dough at a time (after bringing back to room temperature from refrigeration), roll out to approximately 1/8 inch thick rectangle.  Trim edges and cut dough into 2 inch squares.

Spoon about 1/2 teaspoon of apricot filling into the center of each square.

Fold one corner into the center, dab with the beaten egg, then bring the opposite corner into the center and press firmly to seal.

Place on parchment-lined cookie sheet, and bake for approximately 10 minutes.

Dust with confectioner’s sugar and cool on wire rack.

These cookies freeze well, and thaw quickly.

This recipe makes about a million ….  or at least feels like it when you are making them!  🙂
I hope you and your family will try these and enjoy them as much as we do.

Cheers & Sweet Hugs,
Jodi

Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookies

/ Jodi / 5 Comments

Who can resist Sea Salt Caramels mixed with Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks??!!??

And baked into a warm, crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside homemade cookie!

Sea Salt Caramel Royal Chocolate Chip Cookies Close

I saw these new yummy Brach’s Sea Salt Caramel Royals at the store recently and thought they might make a nice addition to my basic “almost famous” chocolate chip cookies for a little change up.

Sea Salt Caramel Royal Chocolate Chip Cookies Caramels

So I chopped up a bag of these amazing little bites of heaven and substituted them for half of the chocolate chunks in my cookies.  The only tricky thing about these is that the melted caramel makes the cookies a bit tricky to remove from you baking sheets (stones), so I recommend letting them cool almost completely on the sheet before removing.

salted caramel chocolate chunk cookies mix

Two thumbs up from the guys in the McKinney house (and if Mikey had an opposable thumb, he’d give one too).

Sea Salt Caramel Royal Chocolate Chip Cookies Plated with milk

Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Mix together:

1 lb softened butter (YEPPERS – you heard me right – I did say O N E   P O U N D – 4 sticks – 2 cups – – – don’t get too shook up – recipe makes A LOT!)
1-1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1-1/2 cups white sugar
2-3 tsp vanilla (just pour some in)
4 eggs

Then add:

5 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

Mix well, then fold in:

1 12-oz bag Nestle Semi Sweet Chocolate Chunks
1 10-oz bag Brach’s Sea Salt Caramel Royals, chopped

Chill for several hours.

Drop by heaping tablespoons on baking stone, and bake at 375 for 9-11 min.

Sea Salt Caramel Royal Chocolate Chip Cookies Plated

ENJOY!

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Peanut Butter & Chocolate Chunk Cookie Bars

/ Jodi / 5 Comments

Peanut butter chocolate chunk cookie bars

Does the name just say it ALL?!?!?

PEANUT BUTTER & CHOCOLATE CHUNK Cookie Bars

Oh My!!!!    I first saw this simple recipe on the AverieCooks Blog.  Have you seen Averie’s blog yet?  It’s one of my faves.   I think she could take a picture of a piece of cardboard, and I would want to eat it!

Oh #AverieSunshine – I think you are my hero! (Check out her amazing BLOG here.)    I can only aspire to be like Averie Sunshine (sigh).

 I wonder if it would help if I had a cooler name…??!!  

Maybe I could use Marty’s “pet” name for me……  Do you think Gertrude PIA Wisenheimer has a cool ring to it??!!??  (and if you are wondering… PIA is an acronym for Pain in A$$). 

I guess that’s what I get for calling him Merv.  🙂

IMG_9346

Anyway – We were going to a barbeque picnic Saturday – one of those parties where everyone brings something to share.  (with our buddies from John’s Bar btw)
Marty suggested I make a dessert.   Seems I’m always the dessert lady.
Too bad I don’t L O V E baking!

So I remember these amazing looking cookie bars from AverieCooks, and decided that is what I was making.

But I had to somehow “Jodi – ize” them.   Hmmm…. ????  What could make a peanut butter chocolate chunk cookie bar any better??  I know!  A sprinkling of Peanut Butter M&Ms on top!  Am I a genius or what??!!

IMG_9336

This recipe is seriously so easy and basic.  You probably have all the ingredients on hand already (if your pantry looks anything like mine).  You really don’t even need a mixer, and they only take a few minutes to mix together and 20 minutes to bake.

IMG_9311Note how I measure my peanut butter….  teeheehee!

So here’s the recipe:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp vanilla
1 Heaping cup creamy peanut butter
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
Pinch of salt  (did you know a pinch is 6 shakes?  Trivial Pursuit Question!)
1 Bag Nestle Semi Sweet Chocolate Chunks

Garnish:  1 cup (ish) Peanut Butter M&Ms

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 13×9 baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray.

Mix butter, egg, sugars, vanilla.

Stir in the peanut butter.

Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and stir until just incorporated.

Stir in chocolate.

Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing it lightly with a spatula.

Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until center is just set and golden.  (Underbaking is always better!)

Bars will firm up more in pan as they cool.

ENJOY!

IMG_9344Let me know if you make them and how you like them.

IMG_9340Cheers and Hugs,

Jodi