Welcome to The Cookie Monster, a blog about the most marvelous, versatile, and beloved bakeable item in the land: The cookie. You may see occassional forays into pies, bars, and other sweet treats, but my main focus is and has always been on the bite sized genius behind my very favorite snack. Happy Baking!

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Toffee Oatmeal Cookies


Happy Sunday blog readers! While it seems that everyone in New England is Battening down the hatches for Hurricane Sandy, aka "Frankenstorm" I decided to ensure that we will have fresh baked goods on hand if it is in fact the end of the world.  I've had a bag of toffee bits in the pantry for a while, so I thought they might be a nice addition to a standard oatmeal cookie.  here's what I came up with.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2/3 cups brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups oats
10 ounce bag of toffee bits




Per the usual process, mix together your butter and sugar, add in your wet ingredients, and lastly your dry ingredients, scraping down the bowl as necessary.  Add in your toffee last.  Some walnuts or even some chopped pecans might be tasty in this also.


Roll your cookies into tablespoon sized balls, and space them out on a parchment lined cookie sheet.  Definitely give these guys room to spread out, and don't skip the parchment.  The toffee makes the final product sticky, and could be tough to get off a bare cookie sheet.

Into the oven at 350F for 12 minutes.


Chewy goodness.  Definitely let these cool off on the cookie sheets for a while before you move them, as they're quite soft right out of the oven.


Delish.  Enjoy!  And to the east coasters, I hope everyone fares well with the impending storm of doom.  I myself am slightly skeptical, but if you are easily frightened, don't turn on the weather channel.  Those guys convinced even pregnant me to take in all the patio furniture.

Happy Baking!

Friday, October 19, 2012

Cinnamon Mini Cupcakes


Hey Folks!  Last night Joe and I went over to our dear friends the Haley's house and of course I brought along some sweet treats.  This week at the grocery store I spotted some "cinnamon chips" which sounded pretty tasty, and I thought they would make a fun little cupcake dessert for our dinner date.  Here's what I came up with:

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
3 eggs, added one at a time
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
2 cups flour
pinch sat
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 cup cinnamon chips

Cinnamon Buttercream:
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2-4 table spoons milk
1 tsp cinnamon


Wednesday night after dinner I enlisted Joe's mixing assistance and we whipped up the batter, butter and sugar first, followed by the eggs and vanilla, and then the dry ingredients.  I meant to get a photo of Joe the magical mixing husband but, I was too busy telling him what to do ;)

Into a 375F degree oven for 15 minutes.


Tada!  Let the cupcakes cool completely, then whip up your buttercream.


Pipe onto cupcakes, and decorate as desired.  I just dotted mine with some extra cinnamon chips.


These were very tasty!  Kind of coffee cake-ish, but definitely fit in for the fall.  And of course buttercream frosting makes anything delicious.

Happy Baking!