Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chunks

Hey all you chocolate and peanut butter lovers out there.....you need this recipe!

My husband, Ben made some of these cookies the other day, and then somehow a few days later, we needed to make them again :)

The reason I like this recipe so much is that the cookies come out so soft. The second reason is obvious - you take a good peanut butter cookie, and then add the best ingredient in the world: CHOCOLATE. You really can't go wrong, can you?

Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Chunks

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/3 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chunky peanut butter (abt 9 oz)
1 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp
1/4 cup honey
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
5 oz semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

Mix flour, oats, baking soda, and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat peanut butter, brown sugar, butter, honey, egg, and vanilla in large bowl until well blended. Stir dry ingredients into peanut butter mixture in 2 additions. Stir in chopped chocolate. Cover and refrigerate until dough is firm and no longer sticky, abt 30 min.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter 2 heavy large baking sheets. With hands, roll 1 heaping tablespoonful of dough for each cookie into 1 3/4-inch-diameter ball. Arrange cookies on prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. Bake cookies until puffed, beginning to brown on top and still very soft to touch, about 13 minutes. Cool cookies on baking sheets 5 minutes. Using metal spatula, transfer cookies to rack and cool completely. Makes 27 cookies.

Can I say it again? YUM!

LU's Petit Ecolier (Little Schoolboy) Biscuits

So, when I was in WalMart the other day, I found these european biscuits, translation, chocolate covered cookies of deliciousness (made in France). They brought back some good memories of my friend, Dorothee Cannon, who always had a good supply at church and often helped soothe my cravings.

I just love them! They even have a cute little french schoolboy impression (hence, the name petit ecolier) on the top in the chocolate coating. Who can resist that! They come in milk chocolate and dark chocolate.

These are just a good all-around snack cookie. It's like when you're craving something but you don't know quite what..... these will often do the trick, or at least hold you over in the meanwhile :)

Ben's Cookies!

Oh my, oh my, oh my. So, I have some wonderful chocolate secrets to tell that I've discovered in the last little while. First....... Ben's Cookies!

I first heard of Ben's Cookies about 2 years ago when I was shopping at the Gateway Mall in SLC, Utah with a friend. It was a freezing winter's day, and she suggested we go in for a bite. Little did I know what I was in for. Basically, I found myself gazing at some of the biggest, chewiest, gooeist, chocolatiest cookies known to mankind. I think that day I tried the Orange Chocolate, and it was delish! It was still warm, fresh from the oven, and had a huge melty chocolate chunk in the middle.

Well, that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship. I've been back several times, and honestly, each time I have been thoroughly satisfied. Some of my other fav's include the White Chocolate Cranberry and the Triple Chocolate Chunk. I could go on and on......

Well, last week, I was in the mood for a Ben's, but I live about an hour away from the shop, so I decided I'd better try to find a good duplicate recipe online. I did find a pretty good one and I've made a few tweaks to it. So give it a try!

BEN'S CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

2 1/4 cups bread flour

1/2-1 tsp salt (to your preference)

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter (2 cubes) - melted over low heat

1/4 cup caster sugar (caster sugar is superfine sugar - almost powder - I didn't have any the other day so I just used the normal granulated)

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp milk

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup chocolate chips or chunks!! (chunks preferred - more comments on this later)

1 cup toasted nuts (optional)

Directions:

In a medium sized mixing bowl, stir together dry ingredients (flour, salt, soda). Set aside.

Pour melted butter into a large mixing bowl. Add both caster and brown sugar; cream on medium speed. Slowly add in eggs, milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined.

Slowly mix in dry ingredients (1/3 at a time to avoid spillage). Stir in chocolate chunks and nuts.

Chill the dough for at least an hour.

Scoop onto baking sheets - use an ice cream scoop if you'd like - you'll want about that size (6 cookies per sheet).

Bake at 375 F for about 14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Rotate the baking sheet half way through for even browning. Remove cookies immediately from baking sheet to cooling rack when you take out. But don't let them cool for too long! They are best warm! (Even though you can reheat for 15 seconds to rewarm). This recipe makes 18 cookies.

So, the first time I made these (yes, I've already made them twice in the past week), I had a big Hershey's Milk Chocolate Symphony Bar that was just sitting around, so I chopped it up and used that instead of chips. See, one of the things that makes Ben's cookies soooo good is that they use these incredibly huge chocolate melts and/or chocolate chunks in all of their cookies. So especially when the cookies are still warm, you bite in and it's all melty and chocolately goodness. I wanted to try to achieve that result. This turned out pretty well although the chocolate didn't stay gooey long enough.

The second time, I had some Green and Black's brand Mint Dark Chocolate, although only part of a bar. I chopped that up and supplemented with normal chocolate chips it was pretty good. However, I am still in search of the perfect chocolates to use in these cookies that will melt but still hold their shape, if that makes sense. I will keep you updated when I find them!

This is obviously just a basic recipe, but you can do lots of variations! Go to the Ben's website to see some of their flavors, and you'll get the idea. http://www.benscookies.com

So, it was interesting because the other day when I was on my cookie search I realized that, at least from what I could tell, the Ben's SLC Cookie Shop is the only one in the United States! (In fact, it's not even listed on their website). They were actually started in the UK and have about 8 shops there, and a smattering in Saudi Arabia - interesting. Who knew! The story is that a student from Utah getting his MBA at Oxford ran into the shop there, and couldn't get enough of it. He pitched the idea to put a shop in Salt Lake City and also in Orem, Utah. Well, doesn't look like the Orem one happened, but the Salt Lake shop is there. The plan was to grow it over time.... I'm not really sure what the status is on shop growth, but am currently inquiring. Anyway, go try the real deal sometime. You'll be glad you did!

UPDATE Mar 2010: These cookies are a hit! I'm officially never going back to any other recipe. Only change I've had to make is baking for exactly 13 minutes (I'm at 4500 altitude so I'm sure that varies the baking time a little). The fun part is once you get the basic recipe down, you can do a lot of different varieties. I'm still working on chocolate dough since the cocoa powder changes the consistency a little. Anyway, I've recently made big chocolate melts out of chocolate chips to put in the centers. The newest try is white chocolate cranberry - really tasty! 

More chocolate on the way....

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

So, what do you do with the rest of that HUGE can of pumpkin after you make the cream cheese roll and there's still a ton left? Cookies, of course! I've tried a few recipes and this one is definitely the winner!

2 ½ cups flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

¾ tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

¼ tsp ground cloves

Pinch of nutmeg

½ cup butter, room temperature

1 cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

½ tsp vanilla extract

1 cup pumpkin puree

1 cup chocolate chips or raisins

12-1 cup pecans or walnuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Whisk together flour, leavening, salt, and spices. In a large bowl, cream the butter with the sugars. Beat in egg, then vanilla, then pumpkin. Add flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans, if using. Drop by tablespoons and bake for 12-14 minutes. Bake until lightly browned at the edges, but not dark. Remove to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 3 ½ dozen.

Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies

I love Andes Mints. They are the minty chocolate mint of mints! Anyway, I love putting them in baking stuff. I remember making brownies a long time ago with my zesty friend, Colleen, and having the brilliant idea to chop up the mints and add them to the batter (this was before they starting selling baking chips), and man, they were gooooooood. Well, I decided to try some cookies this time - also excellent! And my husband topped it off by whipping up some cream cheese frosting (which basically makes anything better).

Andes Mint Cookies

So, this is recipe is a basic cookie with the chips. Nothing fancy, but very tasty. I altered it to a chocolate cookie dough by decreasing the flour by approx 1/3 cup and adding in 3-4 tbsp cocoa powder.


1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 (10 oz) package Andes Mint baking chips (I never use quite as much as a recipe calls for, because I like to snack on them plain as well)
2 2/3 cups all purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350. Blend butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla, and eggs until all ingredients are well mixed. Add baking chips and mix in. Add in flour until well blended. (Chill dough if needed). Take a spoonful of dough - make a ball and then slightly flatten with a cup on a baking sheet. Cook for 8-10 minutes.

Tip: I pushed a few chips in the top of each cookie before I cooked them so that they would look prettier.

Fast and Easy Oreo Cake Cookies

These cookies are a favorite at my house! And they are soooo easy to make. You can use any cake mix for the cookies to give it a twist, however my favorite is of course none other than chocolate!

Cookies:


1 Box Chocolate Cake Mix (or any other flavor that you like)
1/2 Cup Butter, softened
2 Eggs


Mix together cake mix, butter, and eggs until combined. If really dry, add a little vegetable oil, and/or water to make sure it is all moistened. (I usually have to add a little extra because I'm in a high altitude area). Dough should be moist, but not sticky.

Make 1 inch balls and place onto baking sheet (4 rows of 4 is a good measurement - that should give you plenty of space for that size).


Bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees.

 Cool, then either enjoy plain or frost and with the cream cheese frosting to make the Oreo Sandwiches!


Cream Cheese Frosting/Filling:


4 Tbsp (1/2 stick) Butter softened
4 oz (1/2 package) Cream Cheese, softened
8 oz Confectioner's Sugar (or to taste)
1 Tsp Vanilla (or to taste)


With a mixer, cream together butter and cream cheese. Mix in vanilla.
Gradually add sugar - mix until smooth.


I usually don't like cream cheese frosting/filling super sweet like some, and I tend to like to taste the vanilla. Honestly, this stuff's so easy to make, so you can just mess around with the proportions to make it perfect for you!


Note: After I make the Oreos, I usually put the cookies in to refrigerate for about 20 minutes (if I can wait that long). That just helps the filling set better so that it isn't squeezing out all over the place when you take that first terrific bite.


Makes about 32 cookies, or 16 Oreos.

Chocolate Chip Cookies (Pizza Factory)

I was in the mood for a "Never on Sundae" last night, like they serve at the Pizza Factory here in Utah. They start with either a super-gooey and delicious brownie or cookie (still warm), and then pile on ice cream, and top it off with caramel sauce and hot fudge. And is there whip cream, too? I don't even remember, but I'm sure that would also be delicious.


Thanks to Laurie Jacobsen for first introducing me to this. Warning: dessert is not for the faint of appetite. I can usually hold my own when it comes to desserts, but this is very rich. I have to share this with someone or I regret it later.


Anyway, I found a recipe for the cookies. Tried it out last night - turned out good - it was pretty comparable to the original - I still think I'll try tweaking it in the future to get it just right.


Pizza Factory Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c butter (1 stick)
1 egg
1/3 c granulated sugar
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/8 tsp almond extract
1 1/3 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 c chocolate chips (or whatever suits your chocolately preference)
1/2 (1.5 oz) box french vanilla pudding mix(or vanilla works)


Cream together butter, eggs, and sugars. Mix in vanilla and almond extract.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and vanilla pudding mix
Slowly add the dry ingredients into the large bowl.
Once mixed, stir in chocolate chips.
Drop cookies on baking sheet - I made normal size cookies last night, but I think I would prefer to make them super huge. Also, I'm going to try baking them sometime sheet cookie style.


Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes (do not overcook).


Makes 18-24 depending on the size.


I served with Vanilla Frozen Yogurt rather than Vanilla Ice Cream last night so that they wouldn't be "quite" as fattening. It was delish!