Green Tea White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm about to barf out a whole bunch of recipes for y'all. Here's what I made yesterday for some special friends! I'm obsessed with the green tea powder I bought from Amazon, so here's another way I used it. White chocolate x Green Tea is a great combo, lemme just say! These cookies are dense and chewy, they have the perfect green tea flavor. :) 

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 tablespoons green tea powder (matcha)
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 large egg yolk
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chips

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and green tea powder. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together butter, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. Stop the mixer and use a spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla  extract, and beat on medium speed until mixture is fluffy, about 1-2 minutes.

3. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and beat on low speed until just combined. Fold in the white chocolate chunks or chips with a spatula. Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 45 minutes.

4. Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

5. Scoop heaping tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto the prepared baking pans, spacing them about 1 1/2-2 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven for about 12 minutes, until edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven, and allow cookies to cool on pans for about 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe and all credit goes to The Blissful Baker

Pumpkin Pie Cookies

IT'S FALL! I walked into Trader Joe's (my fav store ever) the other day, and pumpkin everywhere! Seriously, the best. So, here's the first of many fall recipes that will be coming up on my blog. I've slowly started to give up on studying for midterms, hence why I'm baking. I need motivation! Anyways, you guys will benefit from this. This recipe is so stinkin' easy, and perfectly pumpkin-y. One thing, I just realized that I put too much whipping cream and not enough sugar when I made this. That's why it was harder for me to put the filling in, because it kept spilling out. So make sure you follow the recipe exactly. Enjoy!!! 

Yours should look a little thicker and more orange than mine. I used too much whipping cream! I adjusted it in the recipe though, so don't worry!

Ingredients

2 boxes of Betty Crocker Pie Crust dry mix or Refrigerated Pie crust (Roll out dough)
1 cup pumpkin puree (canned or homemade)
1 egg
¼ cup heavy cream
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. pumpkin pie spice

optional: 1/4 sugar + 1/2 tsp cinnamon, egg wash

Method

Preheat your oven to 350° F
To prepare the filling, combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and beat on low speed until combined. Set aside.
Roll out dough into a large flat piece. If it's cold, it would be better and easier to work with.
Using a 3-inch round or pumpkin-shaped cutter, cut shapes out of the pie dough. Place these on the parchment paper, evenly spaced. Use a small paring knife to cut out eyes and a mouth.
Spoon about two teaspoons of filling into the center of each bottom pie crust. The more filling you get in there, the better!
Place each top crust on top of the pumpkin-topped bottom shapes. Press down the edges with something thin (I used a fork to make and seal the crimped edges).
Brush with an egg wash and sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar.
Bake for 10-14 minutes, or until the filling is set. Cool on a wire rack.

Adapted from Building Buttercream

Even youths shall faint and be weary,

    and young men shall fall exhausted;but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;

    they shall mount up with wings like eagles;

they shall run and not be weary;

    they shall walk and not faint. 

{Isaiah 40:30-31}

Mint Milk Chocolate Pretzel Cookies

Milk chocolate pretzels are the best ever. Especially the ones from Trader Joe's. These cookies were made for a couple of friends, and they are the perfect combination of mint & chocolate. Plus, they have a CRUNCH FACTOR. 

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened 
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups crushed milk chocolate pretzels
• 1 cup Andes Baking chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 F.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.

In a large bowl, cream butter. Then add brown sugar and granulated sugar. Next mix in the egg and vanilla until well blended. 

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, constarch, baking soda, and salt.

Add dry ingredients into sugar/butter mixture and mix until incorporated. 

Add in pretzels and Andes chips and fold. 

Scoop 2 tbls of dough onto cookie sheet, try to get the pretzels onto the top of the cookie for better presentation. Bake at 350 F for 9-11 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are browned. Cool and enjoy! 

Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Kit Kat Chocolate Chip Cookies

OK so these are like really good...so don't make these if you're on a diet! Thank God I had to bring these to a potluck, or else I would have stuffed them all down my mouth and would be in regret right now. The only special thing about these are that I made them in a whoopie pan, so they're like GIANT. But other than that, brown butter makes them super nutty & delicious. If you're wondering why & how I've been baking so much, it's mainly because I'm procrastinating on work, need baking therapy after every lab session, and am having too much fun in my new apartment. God is good though, and provides us with the rest we need. For that, I am thankful! He sustains me more than I will ever know or imagine. Anyways, enjoy the recipe :)

Got this on Amazon!

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cups mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 bag mini Kit Kats

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and spray a whoopie pan with nonstick spray or line a pan with parchment.
2. Place butter into a small saucepan over medium heat. Swirl and heat until deep golden brown. Remove heat and let cool for 5 minutes. [This is important, because you don't want to cook your egg in the next step, if the butter is too hot!]
3. Place browned butter and little bits from the pan into a stand mixer along with the brown and granulated sugar. Beat to combine then add egg and vanilla beating to combine. Add  flour, pudding mix, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips. Mix on low until just combined.
4. With a medium cookie scoop, place 2 tablespoons of dough into whoopie pan or onto pan. Gently press 2-3 mini kit kats into each cookie and bake for 10 minutes, until baked through. Remove and let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. 

Sea Salt Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Lazy Sundays call for baking! Here's my version of Picky Palate's Salted Brown Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Instead of dark chocolate, I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, and I also used Celtic Sea Salt instead of Fleur de Sel. These turned out to have the perfect balance of sweet with a touch of salty. The hardest part of this recipe is making the brown butter. Basically, brown butter is toasting butter in a saucepan without burning it. It gives recipes a different, more nutty flavor. It seems complicated, but it just takes a watchful eye! 

The lineup, minus the brown sugar!

To make brown butter, melt butter on med-high heat for about 5 minutes until you see a golden brown color like this. You'll also see little brown specks if you look closely. This is the color you want, no darker!

Scoop about 2 tbls of dough on a cookie sheet. Then, add a sprinkle of sea salt to each cookie. 

 

Ingredients

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon corn starch
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• Aprox. 2-3 teaspoons sea salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper.
2. Place butter into a small saucepan over medium heat. Swirl and heat until deep golden brown. Remove heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
3. Place browned butter and little bits from the pan into a stand mixer along with the brown and granulated sugar. Beat to combine then add egg and vanilla beating to combine. Add  flour, pudding mix, baking soda, corn starch, salt and chocolate chips. Mix on low until just combined.
4. With a medium cookie scoop, place 2 tablespoons of dough onto prepared baking sheet about 1 inch apart. Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of sea salt and bake for 10 minutes, until baked through. Remove and let cool on baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Serve and enjoy.