Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Cookies

INGREDIENTS: 


* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 1 tsp baking soda
* 1 tsp cinnamon
* 1/2 tsp salt
* 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
* 1/2 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup brown sugar
* 2 eggs
* 2 tsp vanilla extract
* 3 cups oats
* 1 cup chocolate chips
* 1 cup dried cherries




HOW TO MAKE: 


Heat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a separate bowl, beat together sugars and butter until light and fluffy. Add in eggs one at a time. Add in vanilla. Add flour mixture to liquid mixture and beat until mixed. Fold in oats, chocolate chips and cherries. Drop slightly rounded pieces of the dough (about 1 inch big) onto cookie sheets and bake 12-15 minutes or until slightly golden on the edges. Let cool before transferring to a wire rack or plate. 


Makes about 3 dozen. 




This recipe is so good! You can easily make them your own by adding your favorite type of chocolate, dried fruit and even some nuts to the mixture. I didn't have very many chocolate chips so I added nuts instead. It was still very good. Enjoy! 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

* 2 cups flour

* 1 tsp baking soda

* 1/2 tsp salt

* 1 stick unsalted butter, melted

* 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

* 1/2 cup sugar

* 2 eggs

* 1 tsp vanilla extract

* 12 oz chocolate chunks

HOW TO MAKE:

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a separate bowl, beat together butter and peanut butter until smooth. Add in both sugars until mixed. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until smooth. Add in flour mixture a little at a time until combined. Stir in chocolate chunks. Scoop out 1-inch round cookie dough and place on cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until browned. Cool on wire rack. Makes about 2 dozen.

These are so delicious!!! Just the perfect amount of sweetness. So easy to make. For the chocolate chunks, I just went to Winco and bought the huge chocolate chunks and chopped that up to make the chunks for the cookies. Much cheaper than buying the bag of chocolate chunks from the grocery store. Enjoy!

Blueberry and Cranberry Cinnamon Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

-1 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1/2 cup dried blueberries
- 1/2 cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup chopped, unsalted peanuts


HOW TO:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place butter and sugar in large bowl. Beat til fluffy. Add egg yolk and vanilla. Mix. Add dry ingredients. Mix well. Pour in dried fruit and stir til combined.

Pour nuts into shallow bowl. Form golf size pieces of dough and roll in chopped nuts. Place on cookie sheet and flatten slightly.

Bake in oven 12 minutes or til lightly browned. Let cool 10 minutes then transfer to plate or wire rack to cool completely.


**These are super easy to make and very good. I made half with nuts and half without but it tastes good either way. Just depends on people's preferences and allergies. :) Enjoy!!**

Cookie Brittle

INGREDIENTS:

-1 cup butter, softened
-1 cup sugar
-1 tsp vanilla
-2 cups flour
-pinch of salt
-1 cup milk chocolate chips
-1 cup pecans, chopped
-1 cup almonds, chopped

HOW TO:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease 15 x 10 in pan. In bowl, combine butter and sugar til fluffy. Stir in vanilla. Next, add flour and salt and beat til combined. Mix in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and both nuts. Press dough into pan evenly and bake for 20-25 minutes or until browned. Let cool. Melt the remaining chocolate and drizzle over cookie brittle. Let it harden then break cookie into irregular pieces.

**This is so easy to make and so cheap!! The only thing different that I did was use parchment paper in place of greasing the pan. That way, when the cookie cools, you can just lift out the cookie and cut the pieces with a knife. It makes it so much easier. Enjoy!!**

Smiley Face Cookies

INGREDIENTS:

-3/4 cup butter, softened
-1/2 cup brown sugar
-1 egg
-1 tbsp honey
-2 cups flour
-1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Decorating Supplies:

-1 cup confectioners' sugar
-1/2 tsp water (depending how thick you want the frosting)
-sprinkles for hair
-gum drops
-tube of decorating icing

HOW TO:

Beat butter and sugar together in bowl until fluffy. Add egg and honey. Beat til combined. Add flour and cinnamon and mix to form soft dough. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll out dough to about 1/4 in thickness. Use a 2 1/2 inch cookie cutter and cut out about 20 cookies. Bake on cookie sheet for 10 minutes. Let cool then transfer to plate or wire rack to cool completely.

To decorate, add confectioners' sugar and water in bowl. Add enough water to make a thick frosting. Spread cookies with a thin layer of frosting then use sprinkles for hair and gumdrop for the nose. Let it set then draw in the eyes and mouth with the icing. Let it harden.


**This recipe is so much fun to make and decorate. I didn't have a cookie cutter so I just used my smallest cup to cut out the cookies. The cookies are surprisingly soft and you can really taste the cinnamon. I used chocolate chips for the eyes instead cuz I didn't get enough decorating icing. This would even be an excellent party treat for kids to decorate themselves. Just get different types of sprinkles and icing for them to use. Enjoy!!**

Chocolate Temptations

INGREDIENTS:

-5 1/2 tbsp butter

-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

-1 tsp strong coffee

-2 eggs

-3/4 cup brown sugar

-1 1/3 cup flour

-1/4 tsp baking powder

-pinch of salt

-2 tsp almond extract

-1/2 cup hazelnuts, chopped

-1/2 cup cashews, chopped

-2 oz. white chocolate

HOW TO:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1 cup chocolate, butter and coffee in bowl. Microwave until melted. In a separate bowl, beat eggs until fluffy. Gradually add brown sugar. Add chocolate mixture to eggs. Stir til combined. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Add 1/4 cup chocolate chips and almond extract. Stir in nuts.

Place golf size spoonfuls of dough onto greased cookie sheet. Shape into a ball to stay round after baking. Bake for 16 minutes. Cool on wire rack. When cookies are completely cooled, melt the white chocolate and drizzle over cookies then melt the rest of the chocolate chips (along with some crisco) and drizzle over cookies as well. Let it harden.

Makes about 30 cookies.

**So this recipe was interesting. Although it baked well and was easy to prepare, if you want a stronger coffee flavor, add at least 1 more tsp of coffee to the mix. Also, if you want more of a dough texture and not so many nuts, add 1/2 the amount of nuts listed. Or, use only one kind of nut. I personally like almonds or cashews in my cookies. The hazelnut is a little bitter. The cookies look really chocolatey and sweet but they're actually not that sweet at all. If you're like me and like more of a rich, chocolate flavor, either add more chocolate chips (to the 1/4 cup) or add some sugar to the brown sugar. Otherwise, they're very easy and so much fun to decorate. Enjoy!!!**

Orange and Chocolate Lady Fingers

INGREDIENTS:

-1 cup butter, melted

-3/4 cup sugar

-zest of 1 large orange

-1 egg white

-2 tbsp orange juice

-2 cups flour

-1 tsp ground ginger

-pinch of salt

-1/2 cup semisweet chocolate (can use chocolate chips)

HOW TO:

Place butter, sugar and orange zest in large bowl. Beat til light and fluffy. Beat in egg white and orange juice. Mix flour, ginger and salt together then add to wet ingredients. Dough will be very wet. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator for 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Unwrap dough and roll into rectangle between two sheets of parchment paper. Rectangle should be about 14 x 10 in and pretty thin. Cut dough into 4 x 3/4 in strips and place on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Let cool for 5 minutes then transfer to racks to cool completely.

When cookies are completely cooled, dip in melted chocolate diagonally to coat halfway. Place on parchment paper to cool completely.

**This recipe is super easy and cheap. Not too sweet but you can really taste the orange flavor. The dough seemed too wet when I made it, but don't worry, this is how it's supposed to be. When melting chocolate, don't over heat or you will burn it. If you use chocolate chips, place in bowl and microwave with about 1 tbsp of crisco to help it melt easier. Microwave for 1 minute (depending how strong your microwave is) then stir and repeat until fully melted. Instead of dipping the cookies, I found it much easier to use a spoon to put the chocolate on the cookies. Lightly tapping the cookie to get excess chocolate off really helps the chocolate to look smooth as well. Enjoy!!**