Oreo Cupcakes

For the Chocolate Cupcakes:

Dry ingredients

• 1 1/3 of a cup of cocoa powder
• 2 ½ cups of flour
• 2 1/4 cups of white sugar
• 2 teaspoons of baking soda
• 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 ¼ of a teaspoon of salt

Wet ingredients

• 2 eggs
• 2/3 of a  cup of  warm water
• 1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 ¼ cups  of milk
• 2/3 of a cup of coffee
• 2/3 of a cup of vegetable oil

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Grease your muffin tins
3. In two separate bowls, mix your dry ingredients in one and the wet ingredients in another
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix them with a hand mixer (or do it old school and get your wooden spoon out)
5. Pour the batter in your muffin cups (about half to 3/4 of the way full.. mine rosse like crazy)
6. Bake for about 15 minutes (stab them with a knife and make sure it comes out smooth just to be sure) and them cool before icing

For the Oreo Icing

Please note I suck at measuring things and I always encourage you to taste as you go. I made wayyyy too much icing but, this is APPROXIMATELY how much of what I used:

• 100 grams of Philadelphia cream cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons of softened butter
• 3/4- 1 cup of ground oreos (plus full oreos left aside for garnish)
• 3 tablespoons of icing sugar 

Once you have iced your cupcakes, garnish them with an oreo cut in half! Ohm nom. 

Double Chocolate Cookies

1 cup of flour

1/2 a cup of cocoa powder

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/2 a teaspoon of salt

1/2 a cup of softened butter

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

1 cup of baking chocolate (melted)

1/4 a cup of dark chocolate (coarsely chopped)

1/4 of a cup of white chocolate (coarsely chopped)

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius & line your cookie tray with paper.
2. Combine the butter, sugar and vanilla extract and mix well before adding beaten eggs. Slowly add in the melted chocolate.
3. In a separate bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder.
4. Combine the separate mixtures and then add the chopped chocolate.
5. Drop the cookies on the sheet (about 2 tablespoons of dough each and 3 inches apart).
6. Bake them for about 15 minutes.
7. Brag to all of your friends that your cookies taste better than the ones at Starbucks. 

Peppermint Chocolate Brownie Cookies

A heavenly mix between a cookie and a brownie :)

• 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of peppermint flavouring
• 14 tablespoons of butter
• 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt
• 1/2 a cup of cocoa powder
• 1 cup of milk chocolate (chopped)
• 1/2 a cup of dark chocolate chopped
• 1 & 3/4 cups of flour

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius
2. Combine the eggs, softened butter, sugar vanilla and peppermint in a bowl and mix well
3. Chop the chocolate and mix it in
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, baking soda and flour
5. Slowly mix the two bowls together
6. On a baking sheet, place a large spoons of dough an inch apart
7. Bake for about 10 minutes

 

Sugar Cookies

(From Katrina's Kitchen) 

·        2 cups of butter, softened

·        2 cups of sugar

·        2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

·        1 teaspoon of almond extract

·        2 eggs

·        4 teaspoons baking powder

·        6 cups flour

Directions:

1.   Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.   In the bowl of your mixer cream butter and sugar until smooth.

3.   Beat in extracts and eggs.

4.   In a separate bowl combine baking powder with flour and add a little at a time to the wet ingredients. The dough will be very stiff. If it becomes too stiff for your mixer turn out the dough onto a countertop surface. Wet your hands and finish off kneading the dough by hand.

5.   DO NOT CHILL THE DOUGH. Divide into workable batches, roll out onto a floured surface and cut. You want these cookies to be on the thicker side (the idea is to hold a lot of icing, right?!).

6.   Bake at 350 for 6-8 minutes. Let cool on the cookie sheet until firm enough to transfer to a cooling rack. 

For the icing: Mix together softened butter, icing sugar and water to taste and decorate away!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

• 1 cups of flower
• 1/2 a cup of white sugar
• 1 cup of packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda
• 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
• 3/4 of a cup of unsalted butter
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 2 cups of chocolate cut into chunks

1. Preheat the oven to 165 degrees Celsius 
2. Grease a baking sheet
3. Combine all the dry ingredients in one bowl and all the wet ingredients - including the sugar - into another bowl. Then slowly combine them.
4. Place balls of dough about 3 inches appart

Chocolate Chunk & Macadamia Nut Cookies

• 3 cups of flour
• 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 1/4 tablespoons of baking soda
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of sea salt
• 280 grams of butter 
• 3 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups of chocolate (cut into large chunks)
• 1 1/2 cups of chopped macadamia nuts

1. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius
2. In a bowl, combine the softened butter, sugar, vanilla extract, eggs and nuts
3. In another, mix together the baking soda, powder, flour and salt
4. Slowly combine the two bowls and add in the chocolate chunks
5. On a baking sheet, place a tablespoon of dough 2 inches appart
6. Bake for about 13 minutes

Chewy Ginger Molasses Cookies

These cookies... are dangerous. They just taste too good. Full stop.  

I got this amazing recipe from Can You Stay for Dinner and changed it minimally. 

You will need:

• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/4 of a cup of molasses
• 1 egg
• 2 cups of flour
• 1/2 ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence
• 3/4 of a cup of butter (I know... terrible..)
• 1/2 a teaspoon of baking soda

1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius 
2. In a bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, molasses and egg and mix well
3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, salt and baking soda
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet, stirring well, your batter will not be as solid as most cookies
5. On a baking sheet, place a sheet of baking parchment and drop tablespoons of batter at least 3 inches apart (they spread a lot)
6. Bake them for approximately 10 minutes and leave them on a cooling rack

A song from my dear friend Chingiz :)

Coconut or Almond Shortbread Snowflakes

These are especially nice for Christmas! If you're not a big fan of coconut or almond, feel free to just remove it and have regular shortbread cookies :)

You will need:

• 1 cup of butter (make sure you've left it out of the fridge long enough to soften)
• 1 cup of flour
• 1/2 a cup of icing sugar
• 1/2 a cup of corn starch
• 1/2 a cup of shredded coconut or ground almonds
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract  

1. Preheat your oven to 150 degrees Celsius
2. Mix your ingredients together until well stirred. I find using my hands is better than a standard mixer
3. Flatten the dough with a rolling pin
4. With a cookie cutter, cut your shapes and place them on a greased baking tray
5. Bake for approximately 20 or so minutes
6. Sprinkle your cookies with icing sugar if you'd like!