Actual size - 6". I'd like to see you eat all of these in one sitting.

Warning: Long story ahead. If all you want is the recipe for the amazing, colorful cookies pictured above, go ahead & click “continue reading”.

Lisa was one of my closest friends in high school. She was also my first culinary-minded friend. She liked to cook and bake as much as I did. At the time I was a vegetarian while she was a carnivore. But that didn’t stop us from spending many happy afternoons together talking about and trying new recipes. Lisa came by her kitchen skills honestly. Her mom was also a great cook and baker, and had no qualms about letting two teenage girls take over her kitchen. These two ladies introduced me to the joy of the Monster Cookie. Monster Cookies are 6″ diameter, 3/4″ thick peanut butter-oatmeal, chocolate-chip M&M Wonder Cookies.

Fast-forward several years. We graduated high school, lost touch, then got back in touch courtesy of good old Facebook. In the meantime, I forgot about Monster Cookies until the husband and I were discussing cookies one day. I described them to Jared, who thought they sounded amazing. So I began my search for The Monster Cookie Recipe. I found several recipes, but none were exactly right. Either they were missing an ingredient or called for one I didn’t remember going into the recipe.

I eventually quit searching & decided to try to recreate the cookies on my own. One day. In my typical ADHD manner, I got distracted by the tons of other recipes I wanted to try and never got around to Monster Cookies. To be honest, they kind of dropped off my radar until my sister’s second bridal shower. This wasn’t the Tea Party Bridal Shower that I hosted. This one was much less work for me since my sister’s sweet Mother-in-Law and her fiance’s family hosted it. All I had to do was show up! Anyway. When I walked into the shower, I checked out the food and desserts (What can I say? Food is my hobby). And what did I see but… Monster Cookies! Sure, they were smaller than the ones I enjoyed as a teen. But I immediately knew that those cookies with their oatmeal texture and colorful M&Ms were the same cookies that I’d been trying to find a recipe for. I pretty much tackled Ashley’s Mother-in-Law and begged her for the recipe. She said she’d give it to me.

By the end of the shower, I still didn’t have the Monster Cookie recipe. I thought maybe Ashley’s Mother-in-Law forgot about it, and returned to Ohio tired and happy after a wonderful celebration for my sister. Fast forward a few days. I checked my mail and received a letter from Ashley’s Mother-in-Law. Contained in the letter, in her beautiful writing, was the recipe for Monster Cookies! I couldn’t wait to make them. Fortunately, the following weekend’s plans included a Columbus Crew soccer game and tailgate. Our friends had already decided to provide burgers, corn on the cob and a grill. Jared volunteered to bring Cream Cheese Stuffed Jalapeños. This left me with dessert duty and a perfect excuse to make Monster Cookies. Which finally brings me back to the Monster Cookie recipe I’d been searching for.

Monster Cookies

Ingredients
3/4 c. butter
1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. brown sugar
4 eggs
2 c. crunchy peanut butter
2 1/2 tsp. baking soda
4 c. quick oats
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 lb. Plain M&Ms

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Cream butter and sugars. Add peanut butter, then eggs. Stir in baking soda, chocolate chips and M&Ms.
3. Shape dough into large balls by hand, place onto a cookie sheet and flatten. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Let cookie cool on a cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Sugar Cookies: 4th of July Edition!

I’ve spent the last month doing a lot of cooking, baking, bicycling and traveling. This has left me with very little time for blogging (I know, such a tough problem to have).

After being out of town so much, I’m excited that I’m not going anywhere for the long weekend. Instead, I’m planning to stay and play in Columbus. I can finally check out the North Market Farmer’s Market on Saturday. The rest of the weekend includes The Crew soccer game, new recipes, working on my sister’s bridal shower, going to the pool and who knows what else. I’m also planning to update this blog with some things I’ve made recently and try to get into a semi-regular posting schedule.

Until then, I hope that everyone has a fun and relaxing 4th of July Weekend!

By now, everyone knows that I think food should be attractive or, at least, colorful. I feel the same way about cookbooks. They should have lots of pretty, colorful pictures. So I was a happy baker when my aunt gave me a copy of Mary Engelbreit’s Cookies Cookbook. This book is a treasure trove of classic cookie recipes. It’s also full of pictures! In addition to photos of the cookies, every page has whimsical little drawings of butter and eggs or cookie cutters or teacups. While I’m not a huge ME fan; I’d be lying if I didn’t say her illustrations make me smile.

As for the cookie recipes themselves? Every one that I’ve tried so far has turned out great! I especially like this recipe. It’s a twist on a classic gingersnap, in that there is very little “snap” involved. I am not a hard cookie fan. I like my cookies soft and chewy, which is exactly how these turned out. I’m sure you could bake them longer for a crispier cookie. But why would you do that and ruin a perfectly good cookie?

Ginger Krinkles
Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1/4 c. dark molasses
2 c. all-purpose flour
1 c. granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground ginger
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp. vanilla extract
additional granulated sugar, for coating

Directions
1. Melt butter with molasses in a large saucepan. Let cool. Transfer to a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer.
2. In a large-sized mixing bowl, combine flour, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg.
3. Whisk eggs and vanilla into the butter and molasses mixture. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (Overnight is ok).
4. Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. Coat each ball generously with confectioners sugar and place on a baking sheet, being sure to leave 3 inches of space between balls. Bake for 14 minutes, until cookies are slightly firm around the edges. Cool partially on baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Enjoy!

My Thoughts & Suggestions

• This is a pretty self-explanatory recipe. That being said, I did deviate slightly from the recipe in the book. The recipe originally called for only one teaspoon of cinnamon and 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. I doubled those amounts, knowing that the husband and I prefer our food on the spicy side.
• The only other change I made was to coat the cookies in granulated sugar instead of using powdered. I did this for a couple reasons. First of all, I liked the look of granulated sugar on these cookies. Also, I found that the slight crunchiness of the granulated sugar crystals added a little extra texture to the cookies.

Recipe Source: Adapted from Mary Engelbreit’s Cookies Cookbook by Mary Engelbreit Ink.

Why should Christmas get to have all the sugar cookie fun?

For the longest time, I thought of sugar cookies as Christmas cookies. I had really only ever made or decorated them at Christmas with my family. But the first time I made them on my own, it was for a Halloween party. I had purchased 101 cookie cutters a couple months earlier and didn’t want to wait another couple months to play with them. Halloween was a perfect excuse.

Then I remembered something. I hated nearly all of the sugar cookies I had eaten. They were always too bland, too sweet, and/or too hard. It seems that people are either fans of crunchy cookies or soft cookies. I am a soft cookie fan. With few exceptions, if I want something crunchy, I’ll have a cracker or a chip. So here is my go-to recipe for a soft, buttery and not-too-sweet sugar cookie. The cookie is good by itself and a perfect canvas for buttercream frosting decorations and colorful sprinkles.

Soft & Buttery Sugar Cookies
Makes approximately 3 dozen, 3-4″ cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt

Directions
1. Sift flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar. Add egg, then vanilla and almond extracts. Add dry flour mixture and mix until just combined. Cover and refrigerate for at least an hour.
3. Preheat oven to 375°. On a floured surface, roll cookie dough to about 1/8 inch. Cut into desired shapes. Bake until bottoms are lightly browned, approximately 8 minutes.
4. Let cool completely, then decorate with buttercream frosting. Enjoy!

My sugar cookie setup in my teeny apartment kitchen

My thoughts & suggestions:

• This recipe uses very simple ingredients, and you can really taste all of them in the cookies. For this reason, I strongly recommend using the exact ingredients called for – no imitation vanilla or almond extracts, and certainly no margarine. Yes, extracts can get expensive. But you use so little of them in most recipes that it’s completely worth it to shell out a few extra dollars.
• The dough and frosting are both a little picky. If the dough gets too warm or soft, it gets sticky and doesn’t take cookie cutter shapes as nicely. If the frosting gets too warm, it will not pipe very precisely. Try to keep both as cool as possible. I like to work with the dough in small batches and keep the remainder in the refrigerator.

Recipe Source: I’ve been told these cookies taste exactly like the ones my great grandma used to make. While I’d love to be able to credit her, I originally found this recipe on Talk of Tomatoes. With the exception of doubling the amount almond extract called for, I still follow it to the letter.

Blank Canvas

I have a confession. I am the owner of a box of 101 Wilton cookie cutters, most of which I have never used. I make cutout sugar cookies every year for Christmas. I did Halloween ones for a party one year. But I’ve never really thought to do cookies for Easter or any other holiday, probably because I usually come across a million other creative ideas for Easter desserts.

For the past few years, the ladies in my family have spent the day before Easter at my Grandma, Honey’s, house decorating cupcakes. We try to make our Easter cupcakes fun and creative. One year we made gumdrops into tulips. Another, we arranged the cupcakes to look like bunnies hopping across a garden. This year, I decided to break out all the Easter/Springtime cookie cutters and make a huge batch of sugar cookies to decorate alongside the cupcakes. Today, I will be passing a pleasant afternoon in the kitchen with my Mom, Sister, Grandma, Aunts & Cousins, getting hopped up on sugar and caffeine and making pretty things to eat.

Tomorrow, I am going to church with my husband, then having Easter dinner at my aunt’s house. I am really looking forward to everything. I hope that whatever you are doing this weekend, that you have a great weekend and a Happy Easter.

Yes there are only 1.5 cookies in this picture. That's because we ate the rest. They were delicious.

After all of the holiday baking was done, I promised my husband I would bake him anything he wanted. His request? Chocolate-chip cookies. My immediate response was to harass him about his “boring” taste in baked goods. Then he specified that he wanted ridiculously big, thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies. Since my usual recipe yields a smaller, chewy cookie of normal thickness, his request made the project a little more interesting. Still, I initially hadn’t planned to blog the cookies, which is why there are only two in the picture. The rest were gone by the time I decided to write about them. This is because they were very good cookies. And chocolate-chip cookies are a classic, definitely something that should be included in any food blog.

Thick & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 1 dozen cookies

Ingredients
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
3 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
12 oz. chocolate chips
1 c. chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Cream butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl, being careful not to overbeat. Add egg and vanilla and beat lightly.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Slowly add to sugar and butter mixture. Add chocolate chips and walnuts.
4. Scoop 1/4 c. portions of dough onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake at 350º for 18-22 minutes.

My thoughts:
In spite of my initial resistance, I was very happy that I made these cookies. They were great out of the oven with a warm glass of milk, and still good a few days later. As you can see from this pic, they were also as thick as my hand. In the future, I plan to play with this recipe more – maybe add some oatmeal or M&Ms. Then again, maybe I’ll just let a classic remain a classic.

What does the holiday season mean, if not food? OK. Actually, it means a lot of other things. But this is a food blog, not a metaphysical, philosophical, or even particularly domestic one. Back in early November, I had intended to blog all of my holiday food adventures. Then I got super busy with work and family commitments. I still did a lot of baking and cooking. I just didn’t have time to upload the pictures, type out the recipes and make it all look pretty.

Now it is January. Christmas is over. But since Christmas is such an important time when it comes to food and food-related traditions, I’d like to record some of what I’ve been up to the last few weeks before moving on to 2010′s culinary experiences.

There are a lot of Christmas traditions that I love. But my favorite is Cookie Weekend. My mom, sister, aunts and cousins take over my grandma, Honey’s, kitchen. Everyone brings different recipes and baking supplies. We then spend the whole day making and decorating cookies and candies. Here are a few of the things we made that day, with links to the recipes that I used:

• Pea Blossoms – These are the classic peanut butter cookies with a Hershey’s kiss in the center. To me, they are the quintessential Christmas cookie. I think it’s because my mom only ever made them at Christmas.
• Taffy – For years, my sister wanted to make taffy. Everyone always denied her due to the mess and complication involved. This year, I decided we were going to make taffy. I gave her the recipe and a candy thermometer. She did the rest!
• Hard Cinnamon Candy – We decided this couldn’t be that much different than making taffy. It was super easy. In the process of making this candy and the taffy, we all got a lesson in the stages that sugar goes through when it cooks.



• Sugar Cookies (pictured above) – After all of the other cookies are done, everyone sits around the kitchen table and decorates sugar cookies. We make some pretty and others silly. I love decorating them so much that I actually made an additional 200 cookies on my own and gave them to my employees. The recipe I linked to is the sugar cookie recipe I’ve been using for several years. The first time I made these cookies, my aunt said that they tasted just like my great-grandma’s sugar cookies. I never did get to meet Great-Grandma; but I understand that she was quite the cook and baker. Needless to say, this was one of the best compliments my aunt could have paid me. These cookies are soft, buttery, and not-too-sweet. They stand up perfectly to buttercream frosting (see my last post for the recipe).

This is just a sampling of the good things we made that day. There were also snickerdoodles, truffles, chocolate overload cookies, and probably some other things I am forgetting. Like I said, Cookie Weekend is one of my favorite holiday traditions. It is an excuse to get together with a lot of great women, bake, laugh, and OD on sugar and coffee. What could be better in the midst of all the holiday stress and chaos?

It’s practically a law that Thanksgiving desserts involve pumpkin. I believe that they should also involve chocolate, and that the combination of pumpkin and chocolate isn’t given nearly enough respect. In my family, my grandma, aka Honey, cooks most of the Thanksgiving feast. Several of the ladies in my family provide desserts. I had planned to make a chocolate pumpkin pie. Then I found a recipe for pumpkin chocolate chip cookies at A Tasteful Garden. These are the most wonderfully moist, cakelike cookies you will ever taste. Because they weren’t decadent enough on their own, I decided to sandwich two cookies together and add cream cheese frosting to the center.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Whoopie Pies
Makes approx. 2 dozen mini pies

Cookie Ingredients
2 cups. fresh roasted pumpkin
1/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. milk
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
1.5 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Frosting Ingredients
8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 stick butter, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
a dash of cinnamon & nutmeg

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine pumpkin, sugars, egg and oil.
3. In another bowl, mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Dissolve baking soda in milk and add to the mixture. Add this mixture to the pumpkin and combine well. Add vanilla and chocolate chips.
4. Drop onto a greased cookie sheet by half teaspoons and bake until lightly browned, about 9 minutes.
5. While cookies are cooling, combine frosting ingredients using a stand mixer.
6. Make whoopie pies by spreading frosting on the flat side of half of the cookies. Top with another cookie and press together lightly.

My thoughts:
1. This cookie dough spreads a lot. Be sure to leave ample space between cookies on the cookie sheet. The first time I made these, they were too big. I backed off on the size the second time I made them, and christened them mini whoopie pies.
2. Normally, cream cheese frosting calls for 2 cups of powdered sugar. The cookies are so rich that it would be overwhelming if the frosting was that sweet.

Recipe Source: A Tasteful Garden