Tag: white chocolate chips

Categories
Cookies Dessert

Chewy cookies can be a real ‘raspberry’ in blue

Raspberry white chocolate cookies feature fresh raspberries in a soft, chewy cookie, with plenty of white chocolate chips to take these to a whole new level of delicious.
Raspberry white chocolate cookies feature fresh raspberries in a soft, chewy cookie, with plenty of white chocolate chips to take these to a whole new level of delicious.

“They have some gross cookies over here,” a gentleman said into his cell phone at a Hesston event we held this weekend, making sure to say it just loud enough for me to hear.

Luckily, he was joking. Or at least I think he was.

The cookies, made with lots of fresh raspberries ended up with a little bit of a strange, green-blue hue from the fruit juice spreading throughout the dough, and he teased that I was trying to give away moldy cookies. I guess that’s what I get for using fresh fruit instead of buying something fake or freeze-dried.

But, darn it, they were far from gross. Instead, they were downright delicious, and I ended up being very happy I doubled the recipe, since my first Tupperware container emptied out extremely quickly. Plus, doubling let me use a full bag of white chocolate chips and a full 12-ounce container of raspberries. I always appreciate not having random bits and pieces of ingredients sitting around after trying a new recipe.

If you want to give these “gross” cookies a try, the recipe comes from the blog “Erhardt Seat” by Caitlyn Erhardt. You can find the original at https://erhardtseat.com/raspberry-white-chocolate-cookies/. I doubled the vanilla, added a few extra chocolate chips and added some salt in my version.

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Raspberry White Chocolate Cookies

Raspberry white chocolate cookies feature fresh raspberries in a soft, chewy cookie, with plenty of white chocolate chips to take these to a whole new level of delicious.
Course Dessert
Keyword brown sugar, fresh raspberries, raspberry, soft cookies, vanilla, white chocolate chips

Ingredients

  • 8 tablespoons butter room temperature
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 egg
  • 1 3/4 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup white chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup raspberries chopped

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a couple baking sheets by spraying them with cooking spray or lining them with parchment paper.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars until the mixture is light and fluffy.
  • Beat in the vanilla and egg until they are well combined.
  • Beat in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Once the dough is smooth, carefully fold in the white chocolate chips and raspberries, trying not to squish them too much.
  • Using a one- to one-and-one-half-inch cookie scoop, scoop the dough into about ping-pong-ball-sized mounds onto the prepared cookie sheets, placing them about two inches apart.
  • Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until the tops of the cookies are starting to turn golden brown. Let the cookies cool almost completely before storing them in an airtight container.

Like I said, these were fantastic. Joey hates raspberries as a general rule, and even he really enjoyed these. The fruit and the white chocolate paired great together, and the cookies were soft and chewy, just how I like them.

I suppose another benefit, if you want to keep these all to yourself, is if yours turn a little bluish, too, you can just sadly tell your family how disappointed you are that the cookies went bad, and you’ll have to dispose of them before anyone accidentally eats one.

I won’t spoil your secret, but there is a guy in Hesston who might.

This piece first appeared in print on Oct. 12, 2023.

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
Dessert

Sorry, everyone: I must ‘confetti’ that I’ve done it again

Confetti blondies take a confetti cake mix, combined with sprinkles and a few other ingredients to make chewy, tasty bars.
Confetti blondies take a confetti cake mix, combined with sprinkles and a few other ingredients to make chewy, tasty bars.

Holiday-themed recipes are sometimes hard for me—specifically when it comes to this column.

As I see recipes start to pop up online for fun holiday treats, the responsible thing would be to make them weeks in advance to give everyone reading this the time to get the ingredients and make it for their holiday get-togethers.

But, of course, I rarely think about it in time, and I normally end up publishing a great holiday dish after the fact. For Easter this year, I decided I wasn’t going to make anything themed. My family get-together isn’t until next weekend, and I already have the ingredients for some pies that look fantastic. (Coming soon!)

Then we were graciously invited to spend Easter with some good friends’ family, so I quickly looked for a dessert to take.

The one I landed on ended up looking very Easter-y, with pastel sprinkles shaped like eggs strewn through it, but the good news is you can make these bars for any holiday theme—just customize your sprinkles (and maybe even your cake mix) to match. And if you have nothing in particular to celebrate, you can make these anyway with your favorite colors. Plus, they’re easy and quick, too.

This recipe comes from the blog “Crayons and Cravings” by Jaclyn Anne Shimmel. You can find the original post at https://crayonsandcravings.com/cake-batter-blondies/. I left this recipe alone, since it was so simple.

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Confetti Blondies

Confetti blondies take a confetti cake mix, combined with sprinkles and a few other ingredients to make chewy, tasty bars.
Course Dessert
Keyword blondies, cake mix, confetti cake, cookie bars, sprinkles, sweetened condensed milk, white chocolate chips

Ingredients

  • 2 15.25- ounce boxes confetti style cake mix
  • 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter or margarine softened
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
  • 1 to 1 1/4 cups sprinkles divided
  • 1 cup sweetened condensed milk

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a nine-by-13-inch baking pan by lining it with parchment paper, and set it aside.
  • In a large mixing bowl, beat the cake mix, butter and eggs until the mixture is smooth. Stir in about half of the sprinkles.
  • Spread about two-thirds of the batter into your prepared cake pan. It will be thick, so it may be easiest to spread it out with your hands.
  • Sprinkle in the chocolate chips and the rest of the sprinkles.
  • Pour the sweetened condensed milk over top of the batter in the pan, leaving about an inch uncovered around the edges.
  • Drop the remaining batter evenly over the top by the spoonful, and gently press it down to kind of make a top crust (it doesn’t need to be perfect).
  • Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Let the blondies cool completely, and then use the parchment to remove them from the pan for slicing. Store in an airtight container.

These were chewy and flavorful, and I came home with less than half of a pan, so I guess you could say they were a hit. Also, if you’re looking for a smaller dessert, you’ll notice this is super easy to cut in half.

And, truth be told, these blondies were a cute addition to the Easter dessert table, so I guess I have to admit that I once again gave you a great holiday recipe a bit too late.

Maybe someday I’ll finally get my calendar synced to my kitchen exploits—but I wouldn’t hold your breath.

This piece first appeared in print on April 21, 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

There’s no ‘matcha’ for tea-flavored cookies

White chocolate chip and cashew matcha cookies have the subtle taste of tea, along with the sweetness of chocolate and the crunch of nuts.
White chocolate chip and cashew matcha cookies have the subtle taste of tea, along with the sweetness of chocolate and the crunch of nuts.

It seems like everyone has an extravagant friend. 

The person in your life who likes the finer things, the fancier stuff, the flashy side of life.

I have a few, but one who truly fits this description recently looked at me and said, “You know what’s delicious? White chocolate chip matcha cookies.”

Challenge accepted.

If you’re not familiar with matcha, it’s a green powder made from tea leaves. It’s purported to be a healthier tea option, since it uses the whole leaf instead of just steeping them, and while it’s popular in places like Japan, it’s also become more and more available in the States, especially at coffee shops and smoothie bars.

It has a very earthy flavor, one the author of this recipe described as kind of like grass, but I’d say it really just smells and tastes like green tea. It does, however, make a great addition to some white chocolate chip cookies.

This recipe comes from Zainab Moughal, who writes the blog “Bake with Zainab.” You can find the original post at https://bakewithzainab.wixsite.com/bakewithzainab/post/matcha-cashew-white-chocolate-nyc-cookies. I added extra vanilla, chocolate chips and matcha in my version.

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White Chocolate Chip and Cashew Matcha Cookies

White chocolate chip and cashew matcha cookies have the subtle taste of tea, along with the sweetness of chocolate and the crunch of nuts.
Course Dessert
Keyword cashews, cookies, matcha, vanilla, white chocolate chips

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup butter
  • 1 egg
  • 2 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 3/4 cups flour
  • 2 heaping teaspoons matcha powder
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup chopped cashews
  • 11 ounces white chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Cream together the brown sugar, sugar and butter for a few minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
  • Beat in the flour, matcha powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt until the mixture is smooth, and then fold in the cashews and white chocolate chips.
  • Scoop the batter with a 1-1/2-inch cookie scoop (or about the size of a ping pong ball) and place onto a baking sheet—no need to space them very far.
  • Freeze the cookies on the baking sheet for one hour.
  • Preheat the oven to 395 and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the frozen dough at least two inches apart and bake for nine minutes or until the tops are starting to brown.
  • Let the cookies cool, and then store them in an airtight container.

These didn’t have a really strong matcha flavor, but it was there in the background. If you wanted it to stick out more, you could decrease the chocolate chips or leave them out altogether. I thought they were really good, though. They’d be great with a hot cup of tea.

And I made sure to bag some up for my friend, figuring he would be able to tell me if I managed to accomplish his vision for a good matcha cookie.

I’m sure the fact that I see green powdered tea as a fancy addition to my baking is a sign that I need to get out more. Either that, or I need to live a little and ask for that additional charge at the coffee shop every once in awhile. I think my friend would probably agree with both.

This piece first appeared in print on Sept. 16, 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.

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