Fall Into The Season – White Chocolate Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

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Ahhh Fall.  The crisp air, the changing foliage, the emerging of sweaters and boots from the back of the closet, the warm apple cider, and the integration of pumpkin spice into every consumable good possible.  At least that’s how my autumns were growing up in New England.  In New Orleans, fall comes on a little differently.  The weather stays hot and humid, the trees stay lush and green, people continue to wear shorts and crop tops, all drinks are chilled to cool you down, but at least pumpkin spice is still everywhere you look!  That’s what I love about food trends, they are the great equalizer of all the very different regions of the country!

Yes, fall is here, and no matter what that may look like for you, I’m betting money that you have seen at least one pumpkin flavored item marketed at your face.  So, who am I to buck a trend?  That’s why today I have for you all my DELICIOUS White chocolate pumpkin oatmeal cookies!

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I am particularly proud of these cookies because this is my first recipe that I have developed completely on my own.  I did not follow someone else’s recipe nor did I tweak a previously written recipe.  I took the knowledge that I’ve accumulated thus far in baking and I designed my very own cookie!  The best part?  They were a total success!  Everyone really seemed to enjoy them and I must humbly say, they were very delicious.  Well how could they not be?  They were a beautiful combination of white chocolate and pumpkin in an oatmeal cookie base.

The only notes I have on the recipe is that the dough is a little bit oily because of the pumpkin, so make sure that when you’re forming them to put on the pan you construct them extra carefully into balls.  Otherwise they melt out a little bit before they hit the oven and bake oddly.  This happened to about 5 of my cookies before I figured out that I needed to take more care in shaping them.  Also, take the time to let them cool and firm up a little bit.  I was too anxious to wait and ate 3 straight out of the oven, but the ones I had the next day were much better.  So try your best to be patient!!

White Chocolate Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies

The Ingredients:

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
pinch of salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 cups rolled oats
1 cup white chocolate chips

The Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a mixing bowl combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, and salt and set aside
3. In a separate bowl cream together the butter and the 2 sugars
4. Add the egg, vanilla, and pumpkin to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet until they are all incorporated
5. Mix in the oatmeal and white chocolate chips
6. On a greased cookie sheet form balls of dough and bake for 14 minutes
7. This recipe should yield 3 dozen cookies
8. ENJOY!

More fun with Oreos – Chocolate Chip Oreo Cookie Bars

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Do you have a favorite type of Oreo?  Personally I like the ones that come out around Halloween time with the orange frosting.  They don’t taste any different from the regular ones I don’t think, but for some reason the orange makes it easier to consume an entire package of them…  I also like the double stuffed ones because there is nothing wrong with putting more of that mysterious frosting stuff in my mouth.  I’m not really into the golden ones, or the uh oh oreos.  I know there’s a myriad of other flavors such as mint, peanut butter, birthday cake, and cookie dough!? but I’ve never actually tried those ones.  Let me know if any of them are worthwhile in the comments!

these are undeniably the best
these are undeniably the best

For these cookie bars I used double stuffed oreos.  Like I’ve said countless times, you can never go wrong with double stuffed!  From this endeavor I learned a few things about my new kitchen Including the fact that I have a pretty weak oven.  These had to cook for nearly 40 minutes when the recipe I based them on only had them in for 25! 

Also, because I don’t have an electric mixer I creamed the butter and sugar myself (cue your impressed faces at my powerful muscles) Either way they came out AMAZING and my sorority sisters devoured them at our chapter meeting!

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CHOCOLATE CHIP OREO COOKIE BARS

The Ingredients:

BARS-
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup salted butter
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 cup flour
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
12 crushed oreos
1 cup chocolate chips

TOPPING-
2 crushed oreos
1/4 cup chocolate chips

The Recipe:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees
2. Soften the butter in the microwave then add to the brown sugar in a large bowl.  Cream them together
3. Mix in eggs and vanilla
4. In a separate bowl mix together 1 cup of flour with the baking powder and salt
5. Pour the dry into the wet and mix together
6. Add in the rest of the flour
7. Fold in the oreos and chocolate chips
8. After baking for 15 minutes add the toppings and continue baking for another 10 to 20 minutes (depending on how useful your oven is)
9. ENJOY!

All for myself – Single Serve Microwave Oatmeal Cookie

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Hello again everybody!  Let me tell you something, I have been busy busy busy since I returned to school.  I forgot how easily my life can become so hectic!  Between the hours of classes, homework, extracurriculars, work, and attempts at socializing I have found that baking has really been placed on the back burner. 

pictured: me prioritizing my social life #SINS
pictured: me prioritizing my social life #SINS

A secondary challenge is that I am surrounded by a bunch of sorority girls who have too much self control and won’t eat my baked goods quickly enough!  I ended up eating about 1/2 of the Oreo bars I made and struggled to find other people willing to eat them.  People are way too body conscious here and it’s kind of bumming me out.  I’m far less motivated to bake when I know that nobody will eat my creations!  However, after I got home from work and dinner last night I decided enough was enough!  If nobody wanted to eat batches and batches of amazing cookies than I would simply focus on myself.  Thus, my single serving oatmeal cookie was produced!

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This cookie takes about five minutes total to assemble and bake.  You can’t really tell from the pictures but after cooling for about three minutes, the cookie just popped right out of the bowl and I could hold it like a real cookie!!  It was so cute and awesome.  Actually, just baking it was really cute.  I’m used to using cups and cups of flour and sugar for my large scale baking endeavors but this simply required small teaspoons of ingredients!  It was adorable and really fun.  The end result was surprisingly good.  The cookie was a little but chewy, but it still reminded me very much of an Oatmeal cookie.  Given that it was cooked in the microwave I was fairly impressed with the outcome.  I ended up making two of them for myself (darn my oatmeal cookie addiction!) but they were the perfect night snack and a good way to practice portion control (if you’re into that kind of thing).  Another thing I thought of after the fact is that these would be SO much better if some chocolate chips were thrown in them!  Next time! (AKA every night ever)

ONE SERVING MICROWAVE OATMEAL COOKIE

The Ingredients:

1/4 cup oats
1 egg white
2 tsp brown sugar
2 tsp all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp baking powder
Cinnamon (as desired)
Chocolate Chips (technically optional but let’s be realistic… they’re never optional)

The Method:

1. Combine all of the ingredients in one (microwave safe) bowl and mix together well until a consistent dough forms
2. Scrape the dough from the sides of the bowl and form into a flat cookie shape on the bottom
3. Microwave on high for 45 seconds
4. Allow to cool for a few minutes
5. Pop the cookie out of the bowl and enjoy!

The ultimate cookie – Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

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All throughout my childhood I HATED mint chocolate chip ice cream.  I’m not sure why, perhaps it was the sickening green color or the bite of the mint flavoring – but I was simply not a fan.  I always preferred the big chunks of chocolate chip cookie dough or the sweetness of strawberry cheesecake.  However, as I grew up my tastes shifted and in my late teens I discovered a new found love for all things mint chocolate! 

the face of pure love
the face of pure love

That’s why, when I stumbled upon this recipe idea I knew I simply had to try it!  Mint chocolate chip cookies!  What a treat!  And I must say in all honesty that out of everything I have made so far, these cookies are one hundred percent my favorite.  The recipe called for a lot of butter and less sugar than I was expecting.  The result was an extremely creamy texture that makes you want to go back for seconds, thirds, and maybe even sevenths or eighths!

I won't tell ;)
I won’t tell 😉

I probably accidentally used too much green food coloring and so my cookies came out EXTREMELY green – but that in no way effected the delicious sweet mint flavor (and it gave me a good idea for a St. Patricks day treat!)

I made 33 cookies with the recipe (probably would have made 36 if I could have stopped myself from eating the dough!)  Less than 5 hours later there are only 10 left!  My dad literally licked the bowl of dough clean. 

I would say this was another enormous success.

MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

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The ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
green food coloring

The method:

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Mix flour, baking soda and salt in medium bowl. Set aside.
3. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs, food color and peppermint extract; mix well.
5. Gradually beat in flour mixture on low speed until well mixed.
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Drop by heaping tablespoons about 1 inch apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
8. Bake 10 minutes