Tag: Cookie Thursday is a Thing

Cookie Thursday 11/14/24-Butterscotch oatmeal bites with caramel

The fall theme for November continues with these delightful butterscotch oatmeal bites with caramel chips as a topping.

I was really very pleasantly surprised at how good these were. In fact, I reserved 1/4 of the finished bars for my own breakfast in the coming days.

There are only one and a half cups of sugar, no flour, peanut butter, oatmeal, eggs, and some butterscotch and caramel chips in the bars. These did not taste sweet at all.

Which is why I reserved some for personal eating.

The recipe didn’t call for the caramel chips but a mostly used bag of them was stored in the same container as the butterscotch chips and I thought what the hell and added them on top.

Next time, and there will be a next time, I will replace some of the peanut butter with banana and halve the sugar. Some sweetness will be lost because of the lesser amount of sugar but will also be gained with the banana.

Probably one of the best new things I’ve made all year.

Cookie Thursday 10/24/24- Reese’s Pieces Cookies

This is the final week of the candy-in-cookie theme for October.

The candy chosen for this weeks cookies is the Reese’s Pieces.

There’s a reason that Reese’s Pieces is on the last Thursday before Halloween. The answer is simple. It is one of my favorite candies and since my broken tooth/badly abscessed cracked tooth saga that began in AUGUST is nearing its end and I can chew again I arbitrarily chose this week for this candy.

It’s been a long, expensive road to get here. Thankfully there is dental insurance. Even then it’s been expensive.

If I want to have my favorite candy in a cookie I damn well better be able to eat it.

I had 2 cookies.

But there was a surprise in the dough. I wondered if I could amp up the peanut butter flavor, without adding too much liquid into the dough. Peanut butter powder has entered the chat. I added about 1/4 of peanut butter powder along with the flour, salt, and baking soda.

This was surprisingly effective.

I will have to explore the possibilities of using this powder in other cookies. I wonder how it would go in oatmeal cookies. Oooh, with cinnamon chips?

That’s for the new year.

Or is it?

I have something devilish planned for next week. After all, it will be Halloween.

Cookie Thursday 10/17/24- pop rocks cookies

I don’t normally buy specific ingredients for Cookie Thursday is a Thing. But since the October theme is ‘This is Halloween’ and I am doing candy in cookies, I had to buy poprocks.

My original idea was to do a simple sugar cookie, with vanilla frosting and poprocks pressed into the frosting. I figure that would give me the best possibility of having poprocks survive. Because I’ve used poprocks before, during a red, white and blue themed July month two years ago. Into frosting. And it was a fail then. Well, not a fail, just not as intended.

Instead, I put the pop into the cookie dough. I specifically used a dryer cookie dough for this.

Turns out poprocks don’t like ANY liquid, no matter how dry the cookie.

Well, at least they are pretty.

These are not poprocks branded poprocks. These are Kool-Aid brand poprocks that I got at the dollar store.

I should mention the poprocks were a variety pack; there were strawberry, lemon, blueberry, and purple (I am not sure what this is).

They do make a pretty cookie.

And the Kool-Aid flavoring is interesting in a plain cookie.

My quest to have poprocks in a cookie is not over. I just have to go back to the drawing board, eh, I have to go back to the kitchen island.

Cookie Thursday 7/18/24- broccoli-feta bars

Reminder, this month’s theme is “Belly up to the Bar” and the makes are bars of some sort.

This is because it is very hot and the surge warnings from the electric company are real. Which means I have to keep the electrical consumption to a minimum. Bars usually only take 40 minutes to bake, instead of the two hours it takes to bake a batch of cookies. Every little bit helps!

This week’s make is a broccoli-feta bar. Or call it a broccoli-feta brownie if you want, although there is ZERO chocolate. I wonder why it is called a brownie.

Be right back.

Well, that was a rabbit hole!

The first records of the word brownie hail from around 1520. Yep, just over 500 years ago. It was meant to signify the color of the baked good, as it was brown. It is synonymous with a chocolate dessert cookie. According to Scottish and British folklore, a brownie is a small creature that lives in houses or barns and likes to work. Kind of like a J.K. Rowling’s house elf without the slavery.

Ahem, I digress, but that is what a research rabbit hole is for.

Where was I?

Oh, yes, the CTIAT make of the week.

It is also a bit of an experiment on my coworker. I have no problem taking the leftovers home and eating them for breakfast.

But, if you are one of my coworkers, give the make a chance.

You might like it.

Even if it has green stuff in it.

Cookie Thursday 7/11/24-peanut butter chip brownie brittle

New month, new theme. The July theme is Belly Up to the Bar and will be focused on bar cookies. Brownies, blondies, cookie bars, oh my.

This is a good theme to have for a hot July because it requires minimal oven time. Instead of baking tray after tray of cookies, this is pour, bake, and done. Which heats up the house less.

No heat is coming in August, but July is hot enough to have less baking time.

One of my new coworkers asked if I could make a brownie. I hate making brownies. The dark brown of the cocoa makes it hard to discern when it is done. But I was pleased to have been asked, so I said yes.

Also, I realized that this would mean less time baking and more time with the oven off.

I had a recipe that I wanted to try, a brownie brittle. This is the first time I made it and it went really smoothly. After the batter is done, the recipe gave the option of mix ins. Nuts or chocolate chips. And I thought I have peanut butter chips, I will use them.

Because we all enjoy a peanut butter chocolate mash up.

10/10 would make again. Next time I will mix up the flavoring, maybe add some mint! Both mint chip and mint flavoring. Not mint with peanut butter, that’s just weird.

Cookie Thursday 6/20/24- Rice Krispy Treats

This is an experimental Cookie Thursday is a thing. Reminder, the theme for the month is After School Treats.

The reason I named it as experimental is because I was using up the giant marshmallows that I bought. They are really for s’mores but I haven’t made any and these were taking up space in the baking pantry. I had no idea how they would melt. Would they melt consistently, or not melt at all?

Of course, my fears were moot because they are marshmallows; of course they melted.

The marshmallows did get a little toasted because of their size and the heat of the burner. I ended up stirring them more often than I normally would with mini marshmallow. I was wondering if the toasted marshmallow flavor would carry over into the final product.

The toasted marshmallow flavor DID NOT carry over into the final product.

Pity, that would have been interesting. I could have called them Toasted S’mores Rice Krispy treats then. But that makes me wonder what if I toasted a bunch of marshmallows and added Rice Krispies? Research ideas are everywhere!

And the chocolate topping I made with semi sweet chocolate chips didn’t solidify either. No idea why.

And the sprinkles that I used that I also had on the shelf were harder than I expected and I will have to write a warning gown card to put with the treats as some of the sprinkles are quite large.

As always, I wouldn’t kick these treats out of the cookie jar.

They aren’t exactly what I intended. There is a message in that.

Just because it isn’t “perfect” in your mind doesn’t mean that no one will enjoy it.

Cookie Thursday 4/25/24- poor man cookies

This is the last week of the Tax Man Cometh theme for April 2024.

Recap- we started off the month with Millionaire shortbread and Billionaire bites. Then, boom, tax day. Last week Cookie Thursday was surviving off crumbs. Literally, pie crust cookies.

This week is the Poor Man cookies.

This recipe is from the Great Depression and is made without eggs or butter. The fat in these cookies is vegetable shortening. And no butter or eggs. These cookies are very delicate.

But damned tasty for such a simple cookie.

1 cup of vegetable shortening
1 c flour
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 cups oatmeal
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c water
1 tsp salt.

Cream shortening and sugars together, and stir in water. This step takes the longest as it DOES NOT WANT TO COMBINE. Keep with it. Add in flour, baking soda, and salt.

It was here that I veered from the recipe. Of course, I did. I added 1 tsp of cinnamon because the dough was looking a little pale. Mix in the oatmeal and bake in a moderate oven (350 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 minutes.

Ta-da! Poor man cookies.

It occurs that I could use this dough for no heat month edible cookie dough. There are no eggs. Hmm.

Next week starts the May theme. I can’t wait to discover what it is going to be.