My Everything Cookies

It's true, I've come out of my blog semi-retirement laziness to share these cookies with you. Because these cookies - they are my everything*. And they have everything in them. No, really, try me.

The look on some people's faces when I listed the things I'd crammed inside these cookies was comical. But one bite, and pretty much everyone I encountered was a convert. So what's in 'em? Well there's chocolate - dark and white. There are potato chips, pretzels, oats, a touch of honey and crushed up cookies. There you have it. 

Five-ingredient peanut butter and chocolate cookies

Sometimes I come across a recipe so simple and so easy that I can't understand why I haven't made it before. This is the case with these cookies. Five ingredients, naturally gluten free, no special techniques or tools needed, and totally delicious and cute looking. What was I waiting for?

Chocolate Dinosaur Brownie Cookies

OK, yours don't have to be dinosaur shaped. But that's what really made them for me. It's been a long time since I've made roll and cut cookies, probably because they're more work than drop cookies and I'm lazy. But they're also more fun than drop or bar cookies, and when my roommate brought me a set of dinosaur and farm animal cookie cutters, and then I came across this recipe for brownie roll out cookies in my new Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, I knew it was meant to be.

 

Trio Cookies

Yes, I have about 50 cookbooks lining my living room wall. No, I don't cook from them all. At least a dozen of them I've never made one recipe from. But I love flipping through them, taking one idea from here, another from there, taking inspiration from a chicken dish and turning it into one with turkey or tofu. But there are some cookbooks that inspire devotion - some that when I turn the page, and see a photo, and say "I must make that" - I mean it. Which is what happened when I got the Gourmet Cookie Book - and found the recipe for these adorable jam trio cookies.

 

Chocolate Gelt Cookies

Sure, Chanuka/Hanukkah is all about the frying, but that doesn't mean the only desserts you can serve all week are dripping with oil. Chocolate gelt - another traditional symbol of the holiday -
are just as cute when part of some cute sugar cookies. And they're less likely to melt in your hands!

Chocolate-Dipped Potato Chip Cookies

I've always had a thing for sweet and salty. That's why chocolate-covered pretzels are one of my favorite snacks - homemade or bought. So when I stumbled across a few recipes lately for cookies filled with crushed potato chips, I knew making them wouldn't be far off. And thank goodness I didn't wait too long.

Blueberry, Lemon and White Chocolate Shortbread

For reasons unbeknownst to me, blueberries are not something widely available in Israel. Or at all. For about the cost of an arm and a leg (or, you know, rent) you can buy some frozen, but I don't think in the year that I've lived here I've ever seen fresh for sale. But when I stumbled across some dried blueberries in the open-air market next to my house (that only cost a leg), and found this recipe at the same time, I knew it was meant to be.

No-bake Oatmeal Coconut Bars

This probably won't come as a groundbreaking statement to most of you, but it is hot. With temperatures passing 90 F almost every day, and without the advanced modern technology of... air conditioning, I'm not jumping to turn the oven on. But, my sweet tooth hasn't waned with the rising temperatures, so no-bake recipes have major appeal. And this bar cookie with oatmeal, coconut and chocolate fits the bill perfectly. 

Cinnamon French Toast Cookies

I suppose I could be called a little schizophrenic when it comes to baking. There's one side of me that likes to take on ridiculously ambitious projects, with tens of complicated ingredients and odd-sounding combinations that make some people think twice before taking a bite. But there's another side that likes to bake simple people-pleasers, and these definitely fall in to that category.

Chocolate Caramel Thumbprints

Do you ever see a picture of a cookie and you just have to have it? Well that's what happened when I spotted these "Sandies by the Sea" in a recent issue of Cook's Country. But I wasn't really happy with any part of the recipe, more just the inspiration, so I set about to create my own, delicious, version.

Mini Jam Pockets

It's winter. How do I know? Well I sleep in socks, I wear a scarf outside every day and I have about 3 hours of sunlight during which to take photos of food. I can see my breath form little clouds as I stand at the bus stop late at night. I go in to stores just for a few-minute respite from the cold on my way to places. It's winter.

Pumpkin Snickerdoodles

I love snickerdoodles. And if you read this blog, you should know that by now. After all, I've made snickerdoodle pie, snickerdoodle blondies, and of course the main event. And I also love pumpkin - as the muffins, pie bars, cheesecakes and cupcakes can attest to. So a recipe that combines the two? Sign me up!

Cinnamon Bun Cookies

I love cinnamon buns. Love them warm out of the oven, covered in sticky icing, the soft, pillowy outside and the gooey inside with bits of cinnamon and sugar ending up all over your fingers. Seriously, cinnamon buns are delicious, but they're a lot of work. Next best thing? Cinnamon bun cookies!

"Jammers" - Giant Streusel Jam Cookies

Sometimes I'll see a recipe in a magazine and it will inspire me to create a certain dish. Sometimes I'll flip through a cookbook looking for inspiration. Often I come across recipes on other food blogs that I either follow or modify for my needs. But for this recipe, all I needed was one photo to convince me to make them. I spotted one image of these cookies, and I was sold.

Red Velvet Whoopie Pies...and a new Life Chapter

Hello, hello. Two things are going on in this post today. First, a recipe for red velvet whoopie pies, for my friend's birthday, and an announcement about a new chapter in my life. Two very exciting things - so stick around!


If you haven't heard of them, whoopie pies are two soft, cakey cookies sandwiched together with frosting. So really, all that is good in the world. And this red velvet version, with cream cheese frosting, makes it so easy to scarf down two or three without skipping a beat. 

Chocolate-Filled Peanut Butter Cookies

One of my favorite cookie recipes on this site are the chocolate peanut butter surprise cookies - a rich, chewy chocolate cookie surrounding a hidden center of creamy peanut butter. A few weeks ago, the idea hit me: why not try them in reverse?

Black and White Cookies

There are a few baked goods that have an iconic, New York status. Cheesecake is one. Another? Black and white cookies. More cake than cookie, this is one confection that brings back childhood memories for me.

Fruity Pillow Cookies

A cookie inside a cookie? Yes please! I didn't say no before, and I certainly wouldn't say no now. Plus these are delightfully colorful, and oh-so fruity. The last time I made cookies with "pillow" in the title was quite an adventure, so I figure these would be the same.

Pink Lemonade Bars

I didn't wear a jacket to work yesterday. I planted my vegetable garden. My bedroom window has been open for a week. Ladies and Gentleman...I think it's spring. And what tastes more like spring than a big glass of lemonade? A big glass of pink lemonade. 

Whole Wheat Chocolate Sandwich Cookies

Is there such a thing as a grown-up cookie? If there is, these cookies certainly qualify. With the extra flavor of whole wheat flour, a toned-down sweetness and the 'adult' taste of semi-sweet chocolate, these cookies would be perfectly at home at an elegant dinner or cocktail party - events I am obviously never invited to.