So maybe I’m on a chocolate mint kick this year.

Okay, who am I kidding, I’ve been on a chocolate mint kick my entire life. I blame it on my dad. When I was a kid, we used to get a peppermint patty every time we went to the gas station. We drove around A LOT, so that’s a lot of patties. Oh delicious.

So is it any surprise that when one of my coworkers brought these cookies in, it was love at first bite? And they were immediately at the top of my cookie list for this year? No, I don’t think so. I will note that these could have been mintier for me, so if I make them again, I’ll add more peppermint. Because can you have too much peppermint?

Soft and Chewy Chocolate Mint Cookies
From Taste of Home Holidays

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

In a microwave or heavy saucepan, melt butter and chocolate; stir until smooth. In a bowl, beat sugars and egg; add buttermilk and peppermint extract. Beat in chocolate mixture.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt; gradually add to sugar mixture. Let stand for 15 minutes or until dough becomes firmer.

Drop by tablespoonfuls 3 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool for 2 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks.

This weekend was the seventh edition of the Ratskellar Holiday Party, our big annual celebration of the holidays, good cheer, and friends.

It’s hard to believe that we’ve lived in this house long enough to have SEVEN holiday parties here. How did that happen? It feels like yesterday that we–committed uptown Baltimore people–moved to Southeast. There are lots of jokes in Baltimore about people who live in Southeast–we don’t like to go north of Orleans or East of President, we would rather DIE than go to Federal Hill, and we think Southeast is the best place to live in the city. The longer we here, the more true these things are. No denying.

But back to the party. The really important thing for you all to know about the Ratskellar party (other than its awesome) is that it’s the impetus for my annual cookie baking bonanza. And this year was no different! There were many, many tasty cookies, many of which I want to share with you. But I want to start off with one so simple, you should really make a batch tonight and share it with your coworkers tomorrow, and they’ll think you’re some kind of candy making genius!

All for about 10 minutes worth of work! Really! Try it please!

Chocolate Peppermint Crunch Bark

Ingredients:
2 bags good semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghiradelli)
1/2 package Famous Chocolate Wafers, crushed
4 crushed candy canes
4 oz white chocolate, melted

Directions:

Place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Using the microwave melt the chips, stopping every 30 seconds to stir the chips. The chips should take about 2 minutes. Once they are mostly melted, stir until smooth. Spread the melted chocolate on a baking sheet lined with foil. Sprinkle the crushed chocolate wafers and candy canes evenly over the chocolate. Place melted white chocolate in a zip top bag, close the bag and snip off one corner. Pipe the white chocolate over the spread chocolate mix.

Refrigerate for one hour, or until chocolate is set. Break apart. Store in an airtight container until you’re ready to serve.

My quest to work through more than my fair share of pumpkin continues.

Did you know there’s a pumpkin shortage AGAIN this year? One more thing to thank all that rain for. I feel like I never really notice when there is a shortage or not because I typically shop at Whole Foods, where they stock pumpkin all year every year. But when the folks at work were talking about it this week I started to get SUPER nervous and I considered buying a whole case of pumpkin on Amazon. And then I stepped back from the edge. At least I know that’s an option, but hopefully one I don’t have to take right away!

I was so excited when I came across this recipe. I love pumpkin everything, but the perfect pumpkin cookie has eluded me. Typically they’re just a bit too cakey for me. These cookies are chewey, but the oatmeal makes it a good, hearty chewey, cutting down on the cake. I took these to the same event where the pie played a staring role and these were a close runner up. So add these to your fall baking lists!

Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from Picky Cook

Ingredients:

2 cups all purpose flour
2 1/3 cups old fashioned oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter – softened
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and salt in a bowl.

Cream butter, honey and sugars using a stand mixer until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla – mix well. The mixture will be a bit chunky at this point, but it will smooth out once you add the dry ingredients.

Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Chill dough for 30 minutes or overnight.

Use a small cookie scoop to place rounded balls of dough on a cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes, or until cookies are light golden brown. Allow to rest on cookie sheet for two minutes after removing from oven, then remove to a cooling rack. Store cookies in an airtight container.

For those of you long time 990 Square readers, you’ll know that I used to be a one kind of chocolate chip cookie girl. I had an allegiance to a recipe, and I stuck with it.

More importantly though, Noel, the chocolate chip cookie fiend that I’m married too, had a favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. And he may have threatened to leave me if I ever made a different type of chocolate chip cookie.

But all over blogland, I kept seeing people rave about other cookie recipes. There were crunchy ones, fat ones, flat ones, and most intriguingly CHEWY ones!

I have always loved a chewy chocolate chip cookie. Me and chips ahoy chewy, yeah, we went way back. And when Pepperidge Farm introduced those chewy big cookies, I nearly bought out a store shelf. I’m not sure what it is about a chewy cookie that is just that much more satisfying for me than it’s crispy counterpart. But it is, and as long as I’m the one doing all of the baking at the Ratskellar, these will be in the rotation sometimes.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Alton Brown

I’m a notorious recipe short cutter. But for this recipe, you must use the bread flour and you must refrigerate the dough. Trust me, I’ve tried.

Ingredients:

8 (1 stick) ounces unsalted butter, melted
12 (1 1/2 cups) ounces bread flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 (2 tablespoons) ounces granulated sugar
8 (1 cup) ounces light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 ounce (1 tablespoon) whole milk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
12 ounces (1 bag) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda onto a paper plate. Pour the butter into your stand mixer’s work bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, whisk together the whole egg, the egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract in a measuring cup. Reduce the mixer speed and slowly add the egg mixture. Mix until thoroughly combined, about 30 seconds.

Using the paper plate as a slide, gradually integrate the dry ingredients, stopping a couple of times to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Once the flour is worked in, drop the speed to “stir” and add the chocolate chips. Chill the dough for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F and place racks in the top third and bottom third of the oven.

Scoop the dough into small balls. Try to keep the dough cold. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

Try not to let this happen to your cookies…It’s so sad, like roadkill.

Much Better!

I told you about my night with Nick Malgieri. Now it’s time to talk about what I baked!

You didn’t think I went to an event with a renowned cookbook author without a baked good, did you? And since it was an event with someone who REALLY knew a lot about baking and would likely not be impressed by some of my usual tricks (whole wheat brownies anyone?) I decided to break out the big guns–The Baked Explorations Cookbook.

I have a confession to make about this cookbook. I love the Baked boys and their first cookbook. But this one, I have a serious love-hate thing going on with. I love the idea of the recipes and I love the results. But the process of actually doing them–well, there’s the hate. They all seem to be more complicated than they need to be, and I’ve found that a few of them have unexpected “surprises” that happen mid-recipe. Nothing that has ever ruined something, but enough that it’s annoying to work with.

Knowing my feeling about this book, I approached my chosen recipe–the Salt and Pepper Sandwich cookies that grace the book’s cover, with a bit of trepidation. Hopefully there wouldn’t be any road blocks, because I had a very tight window to make these cookies! All through the mixing and assembly process, everything seemed fine. The cookies went into the fridge to chill overnight. And then I brought them out, and they were like a rock! I let them warm up on the counter for about an hour–and still a rock! I got desperate. There may have been some beating of the dough with a rolling pin–still solid. Finally, I ending up crumbling the cookie dough into pieces, then mushing it back together and rolling it out. It got the job done, and I was able to cut cookies! And in the end, no one was the wiser!

Salt and Pepper Sandwich Cookies
Adapted from Baked Explorations

So this recipe continued my experience with Baked Explorations, but I have to admit, these cookies were the biggest hit out of the book yet. They were amazing–and earned accolades ranging from “insane” to “fantastic”. Yeah, that’s some cookie. Totally worth the effort!

Ingredients:

For the Cookies:
3 ½ cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp salt
¼ tsp fleur de sel, plus more for decorating
2 tsp white pepper
½ cup dark unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Ghiradelli)
1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
3 oz good-quality dark chocolate (60-72% – I used 70% Ghiradelli), melted

For the Filling:
5 oz vegetable shortening, at room temperature
4 tbsp (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 ¼ cups confectioners’ sugar
½ tsp salt
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp light rum (I was out of rum and used Jack Daniels)

Directions:

To Make Cookies:

In a large bowl, sift together the flour, salt, fleur de sel, white pepper, and cocoa powder, then mix using a whisk.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy – about 3 minutes. Scrape the bowl then add egg yolks, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. Add the vanilla extract and melted chocolate, and beat until uniform in color. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is mixed then add the dry ingredients in two additions.

Shape the dough into two discs, wrap them tightly in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or overnight (this is what I did).

Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Bring all of the dough out of the fridge. Unwrap one disc and break it in half. If your dough is like a rock, let it rest for 30 minutes to an hour or until it can be broken in half. If you can’t roll your dough with a pin at this point (I couldn’t) crumble it into smaller pieces, then reshape pieces into a ball and roll out on a well floured surface. Be sure to flour the top of the dough and the pin too!

Roll the dough to about ¼ inch thickness. Using a 2-inch round cookie cutter, prepare your sandwich tops and bottoms, and transfer them to the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least a 1 ½ inch space. It worked well for me to use a pancake turner to get the cutouts onto the baking sheet. Continue the cookie cutting process with the remaining dough – and extra dough scraps can be re-chilled and rerolled again.

Sprinkle the tops of cookies with a little fleur de sel, then bake them for 10-12 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through the baking time. The tops of the cookies should look a bit dry, and possibly cracked. Place the baking sheets on wire racks to cool for 5 minutes, and then, using a spatula, transfer the cookies to the racks to col completed before filling them.

To Make Filling:

In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the shortening with the butter until it is smooth and lump free. Add the sugar, in 3 parts, mixing each part until just incorporated. Add the salt, vanilla, and rum and beat again for 10 seconds. The filling should be thick but spreadable (like Oreo filling). If it’s too thick, add a drop or two of water, if you like. If, however, your mixture is too thin, feel free to add a few spoons of confectioners’ sugar to achieve the right consistency.

Using a small spoon, or a pastry bag, apply about 2 tablespoons of filling to the flat side of the cookie. Place another cookie, flat side down, on top of the filling and press down slightly to allow the filling to spread all over the center to the outer edges. Repeat until all the cookies are made.

Will you forgive me for sharing 2 brownie recipes in a year that is barely 2 months old? Well, I guess you’ll have to, or you’ll have to click away.

I stumbled on this recipe completely by accident. Last fall–I think it was actually after the Veterans Day 10K–I was in the mood for something sweet and I made a whole wheat brownie recipe from Everyday Food. When two weeks ago I needed something quick to take to our open house weekend at the beach that recipe popped into my head, so I decided to go to Google to look for it.

But when I typed the recipe into Google, I found something totally unexpected–a King Arthur Whole Wheat Brownie recipe! That looked even easier than the Everyday Food version. I practically leaped into the kitchen to start baking, and my relationship with our new favorite brownie recipe was born.

We really enjoyed these. They’re thick and fudgy–all the best parts of a brownie–plus chocolate chips! And not one single person–from the guests at the open house–to the usual suspects who chowed down on these all night long–complained about the whole wheat!

Whole Wheat Brownies
Adapted from King Arthur Flour

The secret to these brownies is my all time favorite flour–white whole wheat. A whole wheat flour so mild, you can use it as a substitute for all purpose in almost anything. Seriously, if there isn’t a bag in your pantry, go get one now!

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups light brown sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional but recommended
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 bag semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9″ x 13″ pan with cooking spray.

In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the mixture to the microwave for another 30 seconds. If it separates, stir it briefly to recombine a bit.

Transfer the mixture to a larger bowl, and stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla. Add the eggs, stirring till smooth.
Then add the flour and chips, again stirring till smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake the brownies for 30 minutes, until a cake tester or sharp knife poked into the center reveals wet crumbs. Remove them from the oven, and cool completely on a rack. Cover and let sit overnight before cutting and serving; This allows the whole wheat flour to disappear into the brownies!

Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house…

Pandora was playing Christmas music–it must be cookie baking time!

This year, thanks to our weekend in Florida, my annual cookiepalooza in preparation for the Ratskellar Christmas Party was seriously condensed. To one day. Yikes! Somehow I survived, and at the end of the day I had four types of cookies, candy, and some of the most amazing brownies ever (but you’ll have to wait until next week to hear about the brownies).

My favorite of this year’s cookies? Snickerdoodles–which are a cookie I always love, but never seem to find time to make in between satisfying everyone else’s annual cookie requests. But this year, I decided to make room for my favorite. Maybe because I’m still punishing training my body for the half marathon . Or maybe just because I wanted to!

Snickerdoodes
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

I like this recipe for snickerdoodles because unlike a lot of recipes, it doesn’t call for cream of tartar, which is something that I typically don’t have. Good thing, because I might need snickerdoodles more than just at Christmas time!

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1 cups (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Put butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Mix in eggs. Reduce speed to low; gradually mix in flour mixture.

Stir together cinnamon and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar in a small bowl. Shape dough into 20 (1 3/4-inch) balls; roll in cinnamon sugar. Space 3 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until edges are golden, 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks. Cookies can be stored between layers of parchment in airtight containers at room temperature up to 3 days.

After a week and a half on the road I was so happy to be home this weekend. A weekend of Christmas decorating and cooking was definitely in order!

Noel was nice enough to come out and visit me one night while I was in West Virginia, so I wanted to do something nice for him this weekend. His choice for Saturday night: A night of drinking beer, making peanut butter cookies and decorating the tree. He let me listen to Christmas carols while we did it, so I was pretty happy too.

Noel has a serious thing for peanut butter, so I was certain I was going to make him peanut butter cookies to kick off my holiday baking. But I was surprised when questioning him about what type of cookie he wanted to discover that soft peanut butter cookies were his favorite. I guess you can learn something new about someone you’ve known forever!

At first I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to fulfill Noel’s request, since soft cookies typically need shortening, and I just don’t do shortening. But I was happy to find a recipe that promised soft cookies with just a bit of shortening, so I decided to give it a try with all butter. The end result was so soft and chewy we were amazed! A sweet taste of honey was an added bonus!

Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
Adapted from Annie’s Eats

Noel–a die hard peanut butter lover–LOVED these cookies. In fact, he said they may steal the number one cookie spot in his heart from my chocolate chip cookies. Now that’s a major development! Bake these for the peanut butter lover in your life this holiday season!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup honey
2 large eggs

Directions:

In a medium mixing bowl, combine the flours, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt; whisk together and set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the shortening, butter, peanut butter and honey. Mix in the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients to the peanut butter mixture and beat just until incorporated.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Use a small cookie scoop (I used a 1 teaspoon scoop) to scoop the dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until slightly puffed and golden. Remove from the oven and let cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

When does pumpkin season peak in your mind?

Is it before Halloween, or do you think it’s properly drawn out until after Thanksgiving? I’ll be honest, I’m on the fence about this one. There is such an onslaught of pumpkin in the food world leading up to Halloween, that I was nervous about sharing this recipe with you all because I was worried you would all be “pumpkined-out”. But I hope you’re not, and that you’re willing to give pumpkin at least one more shot before you ready yourself for the big pumpkin pie finale two weeks from now, because this recipe is worth it.

This is another “ripped from the KAF catalogue” recipe–man do they put some good stuff in that monthly freebie! I had wanted to make whoopie pies for a LONG time, but Noel was pretty anti-whoopie, thanks to childhood experiences with overly sweet pies bought at roadside stands and filled with Crisco icing. But once I said cream cheese and candied ginger, he was on board. I made these for the folks that came to our house for Sunday night football Halloween night–and boy were they ever a hit! No one thought we had reached the pumpkin max!

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies
Adapted from the King Arthur Catalogue

I’ll admit to not typically being a fan of molasses. I think my childhood has something to do with it. My grandmother used to tell people they were “slower than iced molasses” and it wasn’t a good thing!! So I may have grown up biased. But it ROCKED in these cookies! So maybe I’m warming up to it a bit. I hear warm molasses moves faster!

Ingredients:

1/2 cup soft butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 heaping teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
2 large eggs
1 15 oz can pumpkin
2 1/4 cups white whole wheat flour

For the icing:

8 ounce package of cream cheese, soft
4 tablespoons butter, soft
2 cups (or less to taste) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup diced crystallized ginger

Preheat the oven to 375. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Beat together the butter, oil, sugar, molasses, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices. Beat in the eggs one at a time, making sure they are well combined and scrapping the sides. Stir in the pumpkin. Add the flour in two additions, mixing well after each.

Use a 2 tablespoon, tablespoon, or muffin (if you want really big pies) sized scoop (yes I have all three–don’t judge!) to drop the batter onto the baking sheets. Bake cookies until they feel firm–anywhere from 12-18 minutes depending on size. Cool cookies on the sheet 5 minutes, then move to a rack to cool completely.

For icing: Beat cream cheese and butter until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the powdered sugar until fluffy, then add the vanilla and beat 2-3 minutes more. Stir in the ginger.

To assemble: Sandwich each cookie around 1-2 tablespoons of icing. To store, wrap each pie individually in plastic wrap.

These were definitely friend and husband approved!

Half Marathon training may be kicking my butt.

(however, marathon training is also awesome at combating the effects of this.)

Ironically, it’s not the long runs that are getting me. I feel awesome when I get up, eat some breakfast, then go for a long run. Even if I paint for 6 hours after I get back. It’s the weeknight runs that are out to get me. After a 9+ hour day, driving home in rush hour traffic, running 4+ miles is tough. Especially when I decide to do 4 miles at my predicted 10k pace. Owwwweeee! Running outside seems to help some, but a lot of times by the time I get home, I just want to collapse.

But sometimes, the baking bug calls. Or I just plain forget that I volunteered to bring a baked good to the office party du jour. And then I’m happy that I stumbled upon this recipe, which came into my life thanks to an email blast from the folks at Everyday Food. Because this comes together faster than you can finish stretching after a run. If you’re together enough to melt butter in the microwave, you can make this, which is just what I need when I’m dead tired after a mid week workout. And the results are amazing for something this easy. So you can have your run and keep your baking reputation up at the office!

Quick Chocolate Chip Blondies
Adapted from Everyday Food

Martha’s folks did these up for Halloween, but I think they’re too good to come out only in October. So I swapped out the candy topping with chocolate chips, making these something you can make at the last minute with the simplest of pantry staples. And yes, there is a lot of butter in this recipe. But that’s what makes these bars so delicious!

The recipe bellow makes an 8×8 pan of blondies. Double for a 13×9 pan.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1/4-1/2 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously spray an 8×8 pan with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, whisk together butter and sugars until smooth. Whisk in eggs and vanilla. Make sure your butter has cooled some before you add the eggs, or else your eggs will cook! Add flour and salt; stir just until moistened. Transfer batter to prepared pan and smooth top. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the surface of the pan.

Bake until top of cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into 1 inch squares (trust me you’ll need the portion control!)

Enjoy! Having one of these waiting at the end of a run is a perfect was to refuel!