Martha Stewart's Cowboy Cookies

Texture, texture, and more texture. This cookie is full of them.
So the other day I made the long walk to the mailbox and saw that my Martha Stewart magazine had arrived. The first thing I always do is flip to the last page to look at the Cookie of the Month. Cowboy Cookie? So not Martha. I ripped it out of the mag and put it in my file. This week she did a segment on her show on how to make this cookie. The first thing she did was turn her nose up at the name. I’m not surprised. I can’t believe she didn’t rename it. *Someone’s slipping.* Anyhoo, once I saw her make it with her guest on the show it got moved out of the file and put front and center for Friday’s Cookie.
Like a lot of Martha’s cookies, it turned out flat. When she makes them they are not flat. When the average person makes them they turn out flat and a lot of people complain about this problem. Her reason is always that people do not have fresh baking powder which is true for some. I can assure you that mine is fresh. I use buckets of the stuff and it does not have time to expire in my pantry. The picture of the cookie in her magazine is misleading to me. Her cookie looks very fluffy and full of flour, when really it is more of a praline, buttery, cookie. I don’t know what makes the difference. I personally prefer a buttery cookie over a flour cookie. Yum. I did make only a half of a batch which was a wrong decision because these are so tasty I wish I had more to share with others.

Cowboy Cookies
from Martha Stewart

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into 1/4-inch chunks (1 cup)
3 ounces (3/4 cup) pecan halves
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat baking sheets with cooking spray, line with parchment, and spray parchment. Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder into a medium bowl.
Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium-high until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
Reduce speed to low, and slowly add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Beat in oats, chocolate, pecans, and coconut until combined. (Dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop or a small spoon, drop dough onto baking sheets, spacing 3 inches apart.
Bake until edges of cookies begin to brown, 11 to 13 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to wire rack, and let cool for 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks. Let cool. (Cookies can be stored up to 3 days.)

Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookies

The Ear Infection Fairy came to visit us for the first time ever this week which is funny cause I didn’t think she had our new address. Hmmm. All is better now because we quickly sent her packing. Didn’t want her to take up residence in our spare bedroom. You know, the room where we keep all the “spare.” This little girl, RD, at church told me that once when I was taking a tour of her house. So cute.
So, Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookies, interesting. I found this recipe over at Picky Palate. This lady really loves to take two recipes and put them together. She has some unbelievable combinations. Found a few other cookie recipes I will have to try from her blog.
Pretty straight forward recipe. The 6 tablespoon thing is always a little annoying to me. Too much for a ¼ cup, not enough for ½ cup, almost but not really 1/3 of a cup. Okay, the broken pieces of Oreos thing. How big of a piece? Well, I broke mine up into about 6 pieces each. Then I debated for about 30 seconds. I decided to pour them into the bowl and throw caution to the wind, so unlike me. The pieces were fine because they are OREOS people, they fell into a million pieces in the batter. No need to fear. Finally, the parchment/silpat thing. I just baked mine on my regular old cookie sheet lined with foil, no need for cooking spray.
Now that we got that out of the way, what do they taste like? Glad you asked. Okay, so imagine if you will, a bowl of Cookies 'n Cream ice cream in one hand and a Chocolate Chip Cookie in the other hand. Now eat them at the same time. There you go, if you had this cookie and a glass of milk then you would have what I just described. A very thin, chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie with Oreos as an add-in. If you are a fan of Oreos, go for these. If you have ever found yourself twisting the top off of an Oreo and enjoying it, this is for you. If you have a package of Oreos in your kitchen right now, make these.

Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookies from Picky Palate
1 stick softened butter

6 Tablespoons sugar

6 Tablespoons brown sugar

1 egg

½ teaspoon vanilla

1 ¼ Cup flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

8 broken pieces Oreo Cookies

1 Cup chocolate chips
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream butter, and sugars until well combined. Add egg and vanilla until mixed well.
2. Place flour, baking soda and salt into a large bowl, stir to combine. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients then stir in oreos and chocolate chips until just combined.
3. With a medium cookie scoop, scoop onto a parchment or silpat lined baking sheet. Bake for 7-9 minutes or until cooked, but still soft. Let cool on baking sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Yields 3 dozen.

Trisha Yearwood’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I was growing up my Mimi would only bake during the summer on special occasions like say for example, my birthday. Very special. Heating up the oven made the house too hot. I have learned this fact more than ever this summer. In our new house the kitchen is in the center which makes the whole house hot instead of just one end. I guess you could say the kitchen is the center of our home. Isn’t that sweet? Anyhoo, so I have been limiting my baking a bit if you hadn’t noticed.
I recently bought a copy of Trisha Yearwood’s new cookbook, Georgia Cooking in an Oklahoma Kitchen. I saw her promote the book on several morning talk shows and thought it might be worth a try. I love Southern cooking.
I thought I would start off with something simple out of the book today because we are going out of town for the weekend. I’m very excited about leaving. We have not been away since 07-07-07, easy to remember. But, oddly enough we have lived in three houses since that time which was hardly a vacation. I’m never moving again. Wait let me think, yes, I’m never moving again.
The cookies were very straight forward. I did have to think for a second on how they noted the amount of butter. I tried to simplify it when I copied the recipe. I used my trusty scoop to drop the cookies and mine took 10 minutes to bake. They did not spread like I thought they would so I was able to fit a lot on a pan. The cookie I tried had that sweet/salty thing going on. The salt really brings out the chocolate. They differ from your standard Toll-house recipe in that there is less of a caramely brown sugar taste and more chocolate flavor. They are chewy once they cool. The chewiness can depend on how much you work your batter.

Give these a whirl. You never know, they might just become your favorite chocolate chip cookie.

Trisha Yearwood’s Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 cup butter (10 2/3 tablespoons), room temperature

¾ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 large egg, room temperature

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ¾ cups sifted all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1 cup (6-ounce package) semisweet chocolate chips

Place the oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F.
Using the electric mixer, beat the butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla together until smooth.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together and, with the beater running, slowly add to the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop the batter by teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Carefully remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool. Store in an airtight container. Yields 3-4 dozen.

Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Soft, but not chewy, crispy, thin, caramelized, gooey, or crunchy. It is hard to describe. The vanilla pudding makes this cookie so interesting. Kind of like nutmeg makes people say, “what is that in a dish.” Well, that is what all those TV chefs lead you to believe. It has a hint of vanilla, but not vanilla extract flavor. They are heavy in weight from all the chips and nuts, but airy when you take a bite. I think this might go to the top of my list of chocolate chip cookies. Wow. Did I really say that? Maybe it is the paint fumes. No, they are really good if you like a chunky, soft chocolate chip cookie. If you are a thin crisper, move on. Not the cookie for you.
When I noticed that the recipe made 72, I decided to cut the ingredients down and only make 1/4 of a batch. I was able to make 18 medium sized cookies that baked for 14 minutes. I do not keep walnuts on hand because they are not my favorite nut so I used pecans. Oh and if you only want to make a ¼ of a batch like me; a half of a package of vanilla pudding is a heaping ¼ of a cup. And yes, I was wasteful and threw the rest of the package away. I know, I know, I should have used it to make BabyGirl some pudding.


Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
by Allrecipes.com on Yahoo Foods
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.
Yield: 72 servings

Chocolate Chip Cookie Tart

I have not been baking for Sunday School lately due to our big move. Last night, late, I decided to change my non-baking streak by making something for the class. I came across this recipe from Taste of Home a few months ago and stuck it in my file for when I needed something easy. However, I have the ability to make things more difficult than necessary most of the time which to me can be a blessing or a curse.
The original recipe calls for a tube of cookie dough which you know me and ready-made cookie dough. *Powdered Egg Alert* No thanks. So I used my 2 cup chocolate chip cookie dough recipe and proceeded as written. It was a little tricky to get it smooth in the pan because I put a piece of round parchment in the bottom. My pan, I don’t know if they all this way, has tall textured bumps in the bottom and everything sticks even though it is non-stick. However, the parchment in the bottom is an excellent solution as an insurance policy for easy removal. The cookie does spread out while baking and seeks an even level.
Let’s talk taste. Honestly, I didn’t try it. How awful is that? I did not cut it at home and was not hungry for a cookie that early in the morning. But, no need to fear my husband told me all about it. It is your basic chocolate chip cookie with a smooth cream cheese frosting, more of a filling. The peanut butter does not shine through it just aids in the smooth texture. The melted chocolate adds a crunch. Chocolate chips have a hardening agent in them to keep their shape. They will melt well but once they cool off they return to being hard. Everyone in class seemed to enjoy this recipe. Some got more than one piece and one person took the rest home with them. I think you could call it a winner!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Tart

1 tube (18 ounces) refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough

OR, make your own cookie dough (2 cups):
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
¼ c + 2 tab granulated sugar
¼ c + 2 tabs packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels

Topping:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon butter or margarine, softened
2 cups confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips, melted
Directions: Press cookie dough onto the bottom of an ungreased 9-in. springform pan. Bake at 350° for 20-24 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, peanut butter and butter until smooth. Beat in confectioners' sugar. Remove sides of springform pan; place crust on a serving plate. Spread cream cheese mixture over crust to within 1/2 in. of edge. Drizzle with melted chocolate. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until set. Yield: 10-12 servings

Chocolate Chip Milky Way Cookies

It is no secret that my mother is not into cooking or baking. However, people hand her recipes from time-to-time. I don’t know if they are just trying to be nice or she gets in the wrong line when they are handing them out or they really do not know her very well. When she receives a recipe it is typically on a 8 ½ x 11 sheet of copy paper that she quickly folds up and writes these words on the back, “Give to Kelli.” Then you guessed it, she gives it to me. I then unfold the recipes and quickly scan them to see if they are any good. Today’s recipe was one that I scanned but was not so sure about. I think I have had it for several years so obviously it was not high on my list. I rewrote it in a couple of ways to allow for choices. The recipe looks intimidating at first. Read the entire thing and then make a decision. There really are not that many ingredients in it. It just appears that way because of all the options. The only thing I know about this cookie is that it won first place in some kind of contest. My mother did not find out any details, and the distributor of the copied sheet cut off this important information.
A few things to note: You must first decide if you are going to make your own chocolate chip cookies or use a tube of cookie dough. Check. Then you must decide if you want nuts in your cookies. Check. The final decision is if you want any toppings on your frosting and if so, what kind. It is a make it your way kind of cookie.
So what the heck do they taste like? I see why he/she won first place. Oh, my, goodness this frosting is so incredibly yummy. It has to be the smoothest chocolate caramel sauce ever. When the bars were melting, I was so afraid it was going to be grainy, like a terrible fudge. Let me tell you, I make terrible fudge. I make the best toffee ever and the worst fudge ever. I’m a complex person you see.
Brownies, *lightbulb moment* this milky way frosting should go on top of brownies. Oh, I’m so excited. Glad I had that thought.

Chocolate Chip Milky Way Cookies
Ingredients:
1 tube (18 ounces) refrigerated (ready made) chocolate chip cookie dough
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

OR, make your own cookie dough (2 cups):
1 1/8 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened
¼ c + 2 tab granulated sugar
¼ c + 2 tabs packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

1 cup chopped pecans (optional)

Frosting:
2 Milky Way original candy bars, unwrapped and chopped
¼ cup unsalted butter
1 tab milk
1 cup powdered sugar

Toppings:
½ cup toffee bits
½ cup of chopped pecans
1 Milky Way original candy bar, unwrapped and chopped

Preheat oven to 350. Either break up a tube of cookie dough and add 1 cup of pecans (optional) or mix together flour through pecans. If you mix your own dough, chill it for 30 minutes.
Shape dough into 20 balls. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cooksheets and bake for 10-15 minutes. Cool completely on wire racks.
Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine 2 chopped candy bars and butter. Cook over low heat, stirring frequently, until melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Add milk and powdered sugar. Beat until smooth.
Frost cooled cookies with warm Milky Way mixture. Immediately sprinkle toffee bits, chopped pecans, or chopped candy bar frosting if desired. Press lightly into frosting. Makes 20 cookies.