Nutella Cookies. 'Nough said.

Dear Nutella Cookies,

You look amazing and I have had a thing for you for a while now. I think about you all the time and I wanted to say, "Nutella Cookies, you complete me."

xoxo,
Cathy

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup Nutella
2 tablespoon chocolate syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375.

2. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and brown sugar. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt. Mix in eggs, chocolate syrup and vanilla. 

3. Fold in chocolate chips.

4. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop tablespoonfuls of dough about 1 1/2 to 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-11 minutes.
5. I also highly recommend watching this video while cookies are in the oven:

Chocolate + Bacon = Awesome

I once heard on the Food Network that baking has trends. Well let me tell you something Food Network: there are two ingredients that never go out of style...BACON and CHOCOLATE. Put them together and you have the best darned cupcake on the planet.

Servings: 12 cupcakes  Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
8-10 pieces of crumbled bacon, divided
1 dark chocolate or devil's food cake mix*, prepared as per the instructions on back of the box with exception of substituting chilled coffee for water
3/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
9oz dark chocolate chips, divided

Directions:
Explained in the video

*I like using Betty Crocker's or Pillsbury's Dark Chocolate or Devil's Food Cake mix for this recipe

It's been a while... Well I'm back with Mini Oreo Cupcakes

Many times when people take something great and make a spinoff or a sequel, it ends up failing miserably. (Take note, people involved in the making of Star Wars: Episode XII)

But this. This is not the case. Today, we're going to take an Oreo and transform it into something magical. This is the stuff that makes your tastebuds happy.

And the frosting. Don't get me started on the frosting. It tastes like the center of an Oreo...and that's because it's actually made out of the center of an Oreo. Hungry yet? Good.

Servings: 36 mini cupcakes Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cocoa powder

1 cup hot water

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 cup butter (divided)

2 large eggs

3 tsp vanilla extract (divided)

1 package of mini Oreos

Cream center from 1 package of Double Stuf Oreos

1 box of powdered sugar

1/4 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly stir in water. Add eggs and 2 tsp of vanilla extract. Stir in 1/2 cup of butter.

3. Line mini cupcake tin and place a mini Oreo at the bottom of each liner. Pour cupcake mix into tin, about 3/4 of the way up. Bake for 9-12 minutes.

4. Combine cream center of Double Stuf Oreos and 1 cup of room temperature butter. Mix in 1 tsp of vanilla extract and salt. Slowly stir in box of powdered sugar, one cup at a time.

5. After cupcakes have cooled, frost and decorate with remaining mini Oreos or left over cookie bits from the package of Double Stuf.

Semi-Homemade: Sugar Cookies with a Cream Cheese Frosting

Today we are going to cheat a little. On our diet and on our recipe.

We're using a cake mix to make these cookies. Some say it's cheating, but if it's wrong then I don't want to be right.

Personally, I don't think there is anything wrong with using a pre-made mix every once in a while, especially if it can produce something as delicious as this.

Plus, the cream cheese frosting is from scratch so you can still pass them off as semi-homemade.

Servings: 12 cookies   Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 box of vanilla cake mix

3/4 cup butter, softened and divided

1 large egg

2 oz light cream cheese

1 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1.5 oz sprinkles

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. Mix together cake mix, 1/2 cup butter and egg until smooth.

3. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and drop tbsp sized balls of dough about 2 inches apart.

4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges start to brown. Let cool on rack.

5. For frosting, mix together 1/4 cup butter, cream cheese. Slowly stir in powdered sugar and vanilla extract. Let chill for 20 minutes.
6. Once cookies have cooled and frosting is slightly chilled, sandwich a dollop of frosting between two cookies. Immediately roll sides of sandwiched cookie in bowl of sprinkles.

Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies (Maybe Vegan)

The best part of making cookies is eating some of the dough. If you're like me, sometimes you "forget" to turn on the oven all together.

But moms across the globe preach to never eat raw dough, since salmonella is the worst. SO, here is a recipe for eggless banana chocolate chip cookies.

No eggs AND no butter. You can eat the dough, pretty much guilt-free. Also, if you swap out regular chocolate chips for vegan or carob chips, you can make vegan banana chocolate chip cookies! (don't be scared to try if you're not a vegan)

Servings: 12 cookies   Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large banana, mashed

1/3 cup applesauce

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cup flour

1/2 tbsp water

pinch of salt

6 oz chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together sugar, brown sugar, banana, applesauce, vanilla extract, baking soda and water until smooth. Stir in flour and salt. Add chocolate chips.

3. Line baking sheet with parchment paper and drop large spoonfuls of dough about 2 inches apart.

4. Bake for about 10 minutes or until edges start to brown.

5. Congratulate yourself if you actually made cookies and had enough willpower to not eat all the dough. YOU DID IT!!