coconut oatmeal chocolate chip cookies

There are some days when any old cookie will satisfy my sweet craving....and then there are some days when any old cookie will definitely not cut it.  

I got hit by a craving for coconut and oatmeal, together, in a cookie, asap.  I knew I wouldn't be satisfied until I bit into a hearty oatmeal cookie, decked out with chocolate chips (duh), and toasted coconut would somehow be involved.  An hour and a half later.... (after much research and deliberation) these babies were born!

The original recipe comes from the most gorgeous food blog ever called krew!melko (which google tells me is blood and milk)...and it just happens to be in polish.  So yeah, some things don't always translate quite right, but I'm in love with it anyways.  I tweaked her recipe a bit, and am so so pleased with the end result.  And my craving was 100% satisfied!

Ugh...the toasted coconut along the edges was absolute perfection.  

Let it be known that it took a lot of restraint not to break off all the crunchy bits from other cookies and eat them... oh dear.

coconut oatmeal chocolate cookies

adapted from: krew!mleko

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter (softened)

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups quick cooking oatmeal

1 1/2 cups shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional....but not really)

Directions: 

1)  In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

2)  Add the egg and vanilla, and mix well.

3)  Slowly add in flour, baking powder, oatmeal and coconut, and beat until thoroughly mixed.  The dough will be super thick and delicious.  

4)  Finally, stir in chocolate chips.

5)  Place dough in balls on a cookie sheet, and lightly press them down to flatten them.

6)  Bake at 350 for 11-12 minutes.  

I loved the crunchiness of the coconut along the edges, the chewiness of the middle, and the fact that they aren't too sweet.  So for those of you who aren't super duper into sweet things, this is the cookie for you!

Next time I'll definitely be adding in some chopped pecans...I think they'd just be the cherry on top of these hearty, delicious cookies!

p.s.  ♥ kelsey

tasty tuesday: salted caramel pretzel cookies

Are you ready for a recipe that will change your life?
I think I made these cookies about 3 times the very first week I discovered/created this recipe!

The pretzels are what really make these cookies special.  

The salty sweet combination of pretzels and chocolate makes me want to do the happy dance!

Throw in some toffee bits, and I am 100% sold.

So you may be saying "But Jordyn, pretzels in my cookies?  I thought pretzels were just for munching on while drinking beer, or even better, diet Dr. Pepper!"

(Was anyone else thinking that, or just me?  I'm pretty sure Dr. Pepper and pretzels is the superior pretzel/carbonated beverage combo!)

If you are a little hesitant to put pretzels in your cookies, you are not alone.  But I must ask you to trust me on this one.  I promise you will not be sorry.

Salted Caramel Pretzel Cookies

inspired by this recipe on Sugar Cooking

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter at room temperature

1/2 cup of tightly packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup of granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. of salt

1/4 tsp. of baking soda
1 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips*

1/2 cup SKOR toffee bits

1/2 cup broken up pretzel piece (plus extra for the top)

Preztel Salt or Sea Salt

*you may be able to tell that in the photos I used regular sized chocolate chip, and I used a whole cup.  I found that this made the cookies have trouble sticking together, there were too many goodies, and not enough dough.  So the next time I made them I substituted the whole cup of chocolate chips for 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips, it worked like a charm!

Directions:

1) In a large bowl, mix together the butter and both sugars.
2) Add in your eggs and vanilla, and mix until nice and fluffy.
3) Mix in the salt and baking soda.
4) Add in the flour.
5) Stir in the chocolate chips, toffee bits, and pretzels
6) Scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet (using a silpat on your cookie sheet is best!).
7) Press more pretzel pieces onto the tops of your cookies if you so desire.
8) Sprinkle pretzel salt or grind sea salt on top of the cookies as well.
9) Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Toffee bits always make an awesome addition to chocolate chip cookies.  There is just something about the way they caramelize that adds something special.

In this case the combination of toffee, chocolate, and pretzel create a little piece of cookie heaven!

Adding extra pieces of pretzels on top of the cookie really lets your taste tester (cough cough, or you know, you) know what they are getting into.  It screams "I'm a pretzel cookies, and you should probably eat the heck out of me!!!"
  It is the perfect way to complete these cookies, and guarantees that everybody will get a piece of crunchy pretzel in their cookie!

Please, if you like the salty/sweet combination you MUST try these cookies.  Everyone around you will thank you.  They are definitely my new go to cookie recipe.  I even have friends from school requesting them before class!

Also big thanks to Kelsey who took all these amazing photos!!

p.s. ♥ jordyn

chocolate mint patty cookies

These cookies come from the very creative mind of Miss Jordyn!  She is a pro at melding recipes, and coming up with new ideas in the kitchen.  This time, she took her famous

triple chocolate cookie

 recipe and wrapped it around mint patties.

Rich and chocolatey, these decadent cookies are best saved for special occasions....like Christmas!  They are also quite finicky, and we don't recommend them for beginner bakers!

We love drizzling these cookies in white chocolate, and then sprinkling with red and green sprinkles for Christmas.  It'd be fun to mix up the colours of the sprinkles for different occasions, and we've also used crushed up candy canes!

Chocolate Mint Patty Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup butter

1 cup Sugar

3/4 cup Brown Sugar (packed)

2 Eggs

1 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder

1 3/4 cup Flour

2 tsp Baking Soda

Mint Patties (we used pearsons)

Directions:

1) Place mint patties in the freezer.

2) In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and eggs.

3) Mix in cocoa powder, flour and baking soda.

4) Take a few mint patties out of the freezer, and start molding cookie dough around each one.  You want as little cookie dough as possible around the mint patties....otherwise your cookies will be too wide and flat and have a bulge in the middle.

5) Continue taking out a few mint patties at a time, and forming cookies until you have a complete pan.

6) Stick your pan of cookies back into the freezer, and repeat the process.

7) Once you have another pan of cookies complete, place your first pan into your oven and bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes.

8) Repeat until cookie dough is used up.

9) If you want, you can drizzle with white chocolate and decorate with sprinkles!

*The key of these cookies is to keep the mint patties as frozen as possible before baking, as well as placing the cookies in the freezer for a bit before going into the oven.  Otherwise all your minty-goodness will leak out.*

These cookies are truly not for the faint of heart.  I'm going to give it to you straight....These bad boys are tricky.  They take a VERY long time.  And they might even kick you in the shins.  Sometimes they WILL (not might....they will) turn out like this:

But that's okay, because you'll get the hang of it.  And these cookies are definitely worth the effort!

For the white chocolate drizzle, I melted a few white chocolate wafers, and used a small ziplock bag with a small cut in one corner to drizzle it on.

And sprinkles if you want, and you're done!

One of my favorite things about Christmas baking is that your house smells amazing all the time!  These cookies don't disappoint, and will fill your house with delightful minty chocolate goodness.

p.s.

 ♥ kelsey

tasty tuesday: mom's chocolate chip cookies

Jordyn and I definitely got our love for cooking and baking from our mom, and we are so blessed to have been encouraged to help in the kitchen from a young age.  We were (and still are) always free to experiment in the kitchen, no matter how many mistakes or giant messes we make...and we are so thankful!

Now, this recipe is an absolute classic in our house....and there are almost always a few kicking around, whether it be in the cupboard, or in the freezer.  Chocolate chip cookies are my dad's all-time favorite, which is the reason for their abundance!

This recipe is the brain child of our mom, who combined and modified 2 different recipes until she had her own creation that she was happy with!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups Butter (or margarine) - at room temperature!

1 1/2 cups Sugar

1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar

3 Eggs

2 tsp Vanilla

2 tsp Baking Soda

4 1/2 cups Flour

2 heaping cups of Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1) In a large bowl, mix together the butter and both sugars.

2)  Add in your eggs and vanilla, and mix until nice and fluffy.

3)  Gradually add in the flour and baking soda.

4)  Stir in the chocolate chips.

5)  Scoop the dough onto a cookie sheet (using a silpat on your cookie sheet is best!).

6)  Bake at 375 degrees for 10-11 minutes.

Jordyn and I love using a scoop when putting the dough onto our pan.  It makes the job nice and easy, and helps keep the size your cookies uniform!

Another tip is to always pull your cookies out a little bit before you think they're done.  Cookies tend to bake a little after you pull them out of the oven, and will set as they cool.  

In my opinion, there are two ways to enjoy these cookies.  Either warm out of the oven, or cold out of the freezer.  I don't know why, but I'm a sucker for frozen cookies!

Now, go ahead and make these cookies!  They taste like home, and are perfect when paired with a glass of milk.

p.s.

 ♥ kelsey