Chocolate by itself isn’t always easy to dress-up for holidays, but by combining white chocolate chips with dried fruit you can get a yummy, creative treat for a festive red, white and blue cookie!

Patriotic Red, White and Blue Cookies
adapted from allrecipes.com

2/3 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cups dried cranberries
3/4 cup dried blueberries
2/3 cup white chocolate chips

~ Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

~ In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Combine oats, flour, salt, and baking soda; stir into butter mixture one cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.

~ Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in preheated oven, or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

[image: flickr]

Doubletree Hotels are offering the “sweet treat” of a complimentary, freshly-baked chocolate chip cookie to anyone who visits any of its 200+ locations on Canada Day, July 1, and Independence Day, July 4th.

Walk into any Doubletree hotel between 12:01 a.m. and 11:59 p.m. on Wednesday, July 1 at Canadian Doubletree hotels and Saturday, July 4 at U.S. Doubletree locations to receive a delicious, warm chocolate chip cookie to commemorate each country’s holiday. You don’t need to be a guest and you don’t need to purchase anything. Sweet!

“Our `Free Cookies on the First and Fourth’ promotion is a fun way to celebrate patriotism and satisfy chocolate cravings across Canada and the United States, without even needing to be a guest,” said Mary Beth Parks, vice president of marketing for Doubletree Hotels. “We’re expecting to give out thousands of cookies to our guests and our communities this Canada Day and Independence Day – certainly more likely than any bakery or cookie company will sell on these special days!”

As always, the offer is good while supplies last and is limited to one cookie per person.

[image: flickr]

My family and I love pecan sandies cookies. The kids pretty much like any cookie, and I like that they’re not too sweet and sugary, but still pretty tasty.

Once in a while I like to add a little more sweetness, though, and this recipe works really well with some added mini chocolate chips, or a drizzle of melted chocolate on top after they’re done baking. This also works well with chopped almonds instead of the pecans, and taste even better when the vanilla extract is replaced with almond extract.

Chocolate Pecan Sandies
adapted from allrecipes.com

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped pecans
1 cup chopped chocolate or mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup white sugar for decoration

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, vegetable oil, 1 cup white sugar and confectioners’ sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the pecans. Roll dough into 1 inch balls and roll each ball in remaining white sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Remove from cookie sheets to cool on wire racks.

[image: flickr]

My husband loves these cookies - I think it might be the combination of sour cream and the fact that they don’t require a lot of preparation beforehand!

As well as adding chopped nuts, using a pudding mix with toffee or caramel bits, or even a vanilla pudding make a great surprise treat too!

Father’s Day Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from loveyoufather

1 box chocolate cake mix (18 oz)
1 box instant chocolate pudding mix (4 serving size)
1 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
Chopped walnuts (optional)

Turn the oven on to 350 degrees. Grease a cookie sheet or cover with parchment paper. Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir until just moistened and no big lumps remain. Drop by rounded spoonfuls about two inches apart on the cookie sheet. Bake for 16-18 minutes.

[image: flickr]

I mentioned over at Food & Nutrition that today is National Peanut Butter cookie day, and one of my favorite variations on popular treat is, of course, adding chocolate!

Personally, I think peanut butter baking morsels are one the best baking creations ever. Instead of trying to add regular peanut butter to kick up a recipe, you can just add some chips for a perfectly balanced taste. And really, mixing them up with some regular chocolate chips make for a quick satisfying snack, too! (I’m not the only one who’s done that, right?)

Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
from allrecipes.com

1 1/2 cups butter, melted
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt; gradually stir into the butter mixture. Mix in peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Cool for 1 minute before placing on wire racks to cool completely.

[image: flickr]

After watching yesterday’s video of the chocolate covered corn flakes, I got a craving. Sadly, we have no corn flakes in the cupboard (yet!) so my mind wandered to the next closest thing: chocolate peanut butter no-bake cookies!

I’ve loved no-bake cookies since I was a kid, especially because we always had everything we needed. As a teenager, I discovered no-bake cookies with peanut butter and there was no looking back!

Chocolate Peanut Butter No-Bake Cookies

2 cups sugar
4 Tb cocoa
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup peanut butter
1 Tb vanilla
3 cups oatmeal

In a heavy saucepan bring to a boil sugar, cocoa, butter and milk. Let boil for one minute and add peanut butter, vanilla and oatmeal. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto waxed paper or aluminum foil until cooled and hardened.

These are good with chunky or creamy peanut butter, and I let mine sit in the pan for just a few minutes after everything’s mixed so it hardens a bit before I scoop it out. If it’s too hot it’ll spread out quite a bit and won’t hold much of a shape.

Cinco de Mayo is only five days away, and though it really isn’t a US holiday it’s a good excuse to kick back and relax anyway!

This recipe for chocolate chip Mexican wedding cakes comes from Nestle is a fun twist on the standard cookies usually rolled in powdered sugar, and transport and store easily if you plan to take them to a picnic or other get-together.

Chocolate Chip Mexican Wedding Cakes

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup finely chopped nuts
2 teaspoons to 2 1/2 ground cinnamon
1 (12-ounce) package Nestle Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels, divided

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Beat butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Beat in vanilla extract. Gradually beat in flour, nuts and cinnamon. Stir in 1½ cups of the morsels. Roll dough into 1-inch balls; place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until set and light golden brown on bottom. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Microwave remaining morsels in a heavy-duty plastic bag on HIGH (100%) power for 30 seconds; knead. Microwave at 10- to 20-second intervals, kneading until smooth. Cut a tiny corner from bag; squeeze to drizzle over cookies. Chill cookies for about 5 minutes or until chocolate is set. Store at room temperature in airtight containers. Makes 54 cookies.

[image: sxc]

I don’t know that we’d ever have enough Cadbury Mini Eggs leftover from Easter to make these cookies, but if I hid some away from the husband and kids specifically so I could try them out, I might get away with it!

This recipe is from Dawn of Dawn’s Recipes, who has an amazing collection of recipes. These cookies used chopped Cadbury Mini Eggs (the dark chocolate variety would be yummy in these too!) and macadamia nuts:

Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies with Macadamia Nuts
from Dawn’s Recipes

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
10 ounces (about 1 1/2 cups) Cadbury mini eggs, broken into large chunks
1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Directions:
Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine mini egg pieces and macadamia nuts. Set aside.

Cream butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy (a couple minutes). Beat in eggs one at a time, and vanilla.

Alternatively mix in the mini egg mixture and the flour mixture, a third at a time, until well blended. Chill cookie dough for about an hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. On cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, spoon out the cookie dough in small 1-inch diameter balls. Place dough balls 3 inches away from each other on the cookie sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.

[image: flickr]

St. Patrick’s Day is tomorrow and because there aren’t many sweet — and especially chocolaty! — treats associated with the holiday you have to get a little creative if you want to make something to have after the corned beef and cabbage!

White chocolate frosting couldn’t be easier to make, and there are several variation. Pick one that’s easiest for you, or, if you’re like me, one that you happen to have the ingredients on hand for!

Each recipe can easily be tinted with just a bit of green food coloring (I prefer the gel).

White Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

6 oz. white baking chocolate, chopped
1/4 ccup heavy cream
1 cup butter
1 cup powdered sugar

Stir white chocolate and whipping cream in a double boiler until melted and smooth. Cool. Add butter and sugar, beat on high until light and fluffy. Makes about 3 cups. Keeps well in refrigerator.

…..

White Chocolate Frosting

3 egg yolks, beaten
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted
4 oz. white chocolate, grated

Combine first 4 ingredients in top of a double boiler; bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to low; cook until thickened, stirring constantly. Add chocolate; stirring until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth.

[image: flickr]

I have one word: YAY!

I love Mother’s Cookies; they’re as much a part of my childhood memories as almost anything else. From the pink and white frosted circus animals to the bags of “odds and ends,” as my husband and I call them, there was something for everyone. Read more