Tag: cookies

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Cookies Dessert

‘Micro’save yourself some time baking fresh cookies

Strangely enough, this chocolate chip cookie was made in the microwave. It comes together easily and is a good way to enjoy a sweet treat without making dozens of cookies.
Strangely enough, this chocolate chip cookie was made in the microwave. It comes together easily and is a good way to enjoy a sweet treat without making dozens of cookies.

When I was little, my dad would wake up early every morning, pack his lunchbox and head out for work.

I probably wouldn’t have cared at all about what was in that black plastic box if it weren’t for the Tupperware bowl of sandwich cookies in the pantry. Dad would normally toss a couple into the lunchbox for a sweet ending to what I’m assuming was a meal of a bologna sandwich.

For me, the bowl represented a clandestine mission to sneak a treat every once in awhile. This worked out well for me until my younger sister discovered my scheme, and I had to include her in my raids in exchange for her silence.

To her credit, she never ratted me out—on purpose—but her method of eating any chocolate cookie usually ended with a ring of crumbs around her mouth that Mom astutely noticed every time. In later years, we’d get away with sneaking a cookie or two when we’d come home from school to enjoy while we completed homework assignments.

This week, my mind was blown when I realized we could have gotten away with an even tastier snack if only we had known that you can bake a chocolate chip cookie in the microwave.

The recipe I tried out this week came from an online video from John Nonny of “The Pun Guys.” You can find him on Facebook at facebook.com/johnnonnyofficial/. I added extra milk and a dash of salt in my version.

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Microwave Cookie

Strangely enough, this chocolate chip cookie was made in the microwave. It comes together easily and is a good way to enjoy a sweet treat without making dozens of cookies.
Course Dessert
Keyword baking for one, chocolate chips, cookies, easy cookie, microwave cooking, single-serve dessert

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon milk
  • 4 tablespoons flour
  • dash of salt
  • 1-2 tablespoons chocolate chips

Instructions

  • In a small bowl, melt the butter. Mix in the brown sugar until it is well incorporated, and add in the milk, flour and salt. Continue mixing until the mixture comes together into a dough. It should be Play-Doh consistency—not dry and crumbly but also not too sticky to handle. If the dough won’t come together, mix in just tiny splash of milk until it does. If it is too sticky, mix in just a tiny bit of flour until you can roll it in your hands.
  • Once you reach the desired consistency, fold in the chocolate chips.
  • Place the dough onto a small piece of parchment paper on a microwave-safe plate and press it down into a circle until it is about one-half inch thick.
  • Place in the microwave and cook on high for one minute. Allow the cookie to cool a bit before enjoying.

Was this the best cookie I have ever had? Nope. I can definitely make vastly superior batches in the oven.

However, it was a pretty darn good cookie overall, and between mixing and “baking,” I was able to accomplish it in under five minutes. I’m definitely going to keep that in mind the next time I am craving something sweet but don’t want to bake an entire batch of a dessert.

I also thought this recipe would be great for kids to help make when Santa comes in a few months. This would be the perfect type of cookie to dip in a glass of milk.

Overall, I’m glad my sister and I didn’t know that we could make cookies with only our microwave. I’m sure we would have gotten in even more trouble. I mean, if the kid couldn’t keep cookie crumbs off her face, who knows what would have happened with gooey chocolate chips. (Sorry, Sis.)

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 6, 2022.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Cookies Dessert

Combo cookies will be your next crowning achievement

Crownie pinwheels combine store-bought cookie dough with a boxed brownie mix to create pretty, chocolatey cookies.
Crownie pinwheels combine store-bought cookie dough with a boxed brownie mix to create pretty, chocolatey cookies.

I have become completely susceptible to online cooking demos.

If I am scrolling through Pinterest or Facebook, I will inevitably find myself watching someone chopping up veggies or mixing up some kind of batter. Even if the recipe doesn’t particularly appeal to me, I find the process of watching someone cook completely fascinating.

It’s either that or videos of pets doing ridiculous things.

This past week, one of those recipe videos spoke to me, because it looked both delicious and easy, taking pre-made cookie dough and a box mix to create something new.

These “crownies”—half cookie, half brownie—were just as good as they looked, so I’m sharing the extremely simple recipe with you this week.

This comes from the website “So Yummy.” You can find the original post at https://soyummy.com/recipe/crownie-pinwheels/. I didn’t change any of the ingredients, but I did clarify some directions a bit.

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Crownie Pinwheels

Crownie pinwheels combine store-bought cookie dough with a boxed brownie mix to create pretty, chocolatey cookies.
Course Dessert
Keyword brownies, chocolate, cookies, crownies, swirl

Ingredients

  • 16- ounce package chocolate chip cookie dough
  • 10- ounce package fudgey brownie mix prepared

Instructions

  • Place the cookie dough between two sheets of waxed paper or parchment paper and roll it out until it is the same thickness as the chocolate chips. Try to keep it in as much of a rectangle or square as you can.
  • Spread a thick layer of the brownie dough evenly over the dough, going all the way to the edges except on the top one inch. You probably won’t use the entire batch of brownies for this step.
  • Carefully roll the dough, starting from the bottom. You’ll likely have some of the brownie batter squish out a little.
  • Once you complete the roll, gently press to seal the roll, wrap it in the waxed/parchment paper, and place it in the freezer for at least 30 minutes so it sets up.
  • Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  • Unwrap the roll and slice it into about 1/4-inch slices. Place them two inches apart on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
  • Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown.
  • Let the cookies cool for a few minutes before transferring to an airtight container.

I bought an 18-ounce brownie mix for my cookies, and I ended up having a ton of batter left over. I just sprayed a mini-cupcake tin with cooking spray and made mini brownie bites while my cookies were in the freezer. Win-win.

In hindsight, I wish I would have just bought a second package of cookie dough and made a second roll. I got about two dozen cookies out of the single package.

These were really good. They spread out into thin, pretty cookies that looked a lot more impressive than they should have, considering I really didn’t have to put in much effort to make them.

In the long run, my love of cooking videos is probably a good thing—it makes my suggested posts on social media a lot more positive, and every once in awhile, we end up with something delicious in the house.

This piece first appeared in print on May 20, 2021.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Cookies Dessert

Baking Mom’s cookies makes me a chip off the old block

Sometimes all you want is a classic, delicious chocolate chip cookie, just like Mom used to make.
Sometimes all you want is a classic, delicious chocolate chip cookie, just like Mom used to make.

Every time it was our family’s turn to bring snacks for any event—youth group, school functions, you name it—my friends would immediately ask, “Is your mom going to make cookies?”

When my sister or I would announce that we needed to bring something yummy to share, Mom didn’t need to ask us what we wanted her to whip up. The default was her chocolate chip cookies, and we rarely brought any home at the end of the evening.

She would sometimes shake her head in disbelief when people would ask for her secret recipe, saying she just got it off the back of a bag of chocolate chips at some point, but though she’ll probably still deny it, there was always something special about those cookies.

Last week, I needed to make cookies for an event, and rather than do my normal thing and try out a new recipe, I pulled out my recipe box and decided to make Mom’s chocolate chip cookies.

As in the days of my childhood, they were the first cookies to disappear from the snack table.

I don’t have an official source for you for these cookies other than to say that the recipe once appeared on a chocolate chip bag somewhere, but if I know my mother as well as I think I do, I’m guessing the vanilla was doubled at some point in its history.

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes all you want is a classic, delicious chocolate chip cookie, just like Mom used to make.
Course Dessert
Keyword chocolate chips, cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup shortening
  • 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/2 teaspoon water
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 375.
  • Beat together the shortening, sugars, vanilla, water and eggs until well combined. Beat the flour, baking soda and salt into the mix, and then mix in the chocolate chips.
  • Drop by the spoonful about two inches apart on a baking sheet.
  • Bake for eight to 10 minutes or until the cookies are lightly browned. Let them cool for a bit and then transfer them to a sealed container while still a little warm to keep them a little chewier.

There’s nothing Earth-shattering about these cookies, but they are definitely one of the tastes of my childhood. It’s funny that those cookies were the background for so many of my favorite memories growing up—spending time with friends in the church fellowship hall, dipping them in milk with my sister, sharing them with classmates between taking final exams in high school.

It was nice to share a batch with some of my adult friends, too. It’s amazing how relationships can form around something as simple as a chocolate chip cookie.

This piece first appeared in print on June 28, 2018.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

Categories
Cookies Dessert

It’s time to sprinkle in some sugar cookies

If you want a quick cookie recipe that holds its shape, look no further than these sugar cookies.
If you want a quick cookie recipe that holds its shape, look no further than these sugar cookies.

I have a bad habit of skipping over steps in recipes when I look over them, trying to decide whether or not I should give them a try.

More than once, I’ve started baking something, only to realize halfway through that I have to stop and chill an ingredient for an hour or overnight before moving on to the next step.

You’d think after doing this on multiple occasions that I’d be more careful, but I never seem to learn my lesson.

That’s one of the reasons the recipe I’m sharing with you this week was so attractive to me. In all capital letters, right in the recipe, the author noted, “Do not chill the dough.”

Excellent.

That meant I could quickly mix up these cookies, pop them in the oven and be enjoying fresh sugar cookies in no time.

I found this recipe on the blog “In Katrina’s Kitchen.” You can find it at http://www.inkatrinaskitchen.com/best-sugar-cookie-recipe-ever/. I doubled the vanilla in my version.

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Sugar Cookies

If you want a quick cookie recipe that holds its shape, look no further than these sugar cookies.
Course Dessert
Keyword cookies, sugar cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3 cups all-purpose flour

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  • Cream the butter and sugar together for several minutes until it’s smooth and creamy.
  • Beat in the vanilla, almond and egg.
  • Mix in the rest of the ingredients.
  • Pull out about a softball-sized portion of dough and roll it out to about one-quarter inch in thickness. Use a cookie cutter to cut out your desired shape and transfer them to a baking sheet—about one-inch apart.
  • Continue cutting out shapes with the rest of the dough.
  • Bake each batch of cookies for about 8 minutes or until the cookies look like they’re just set around the edges. Let them cool completely before icing and store in an air-tight container.

If you don’t have almond extract, you could toss in even more vanilla if you wanted, but I highly recommend including it. It adds just a little something extra to the flavor of these cookies, which is nice since sugar cookies can easily end up in the bland category.

These also held their shape really nicely. I just used my biscuit cutter to make boring round cookies, but if you have some fun shapes, this is a good recipe to try them out on.

And it’s good because there are no hidden steps or long processes to go through. You just mix them up and start baking, which is my kind of recipe.

This piece first appeared in print on March 15, 2018.

Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.

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