brown butter chocolate chip cookies

Me want cookie.

a la Cookie Monster.

That guy is so cool. With his googly eyes and questionable, yet super awesome eating habits.

Anyway. You guys. I've been a cookie baking machine.

Something about being sick the past couple weeks has made me crave cookies like something fierce. Maybe it's that chocolate chip cookies always feel like the ultimate comfort food.

I love that they are so simple, yet so delicious. I love that you can eat them warm out of the oven. Note: warm. Not straight-off-the-pan-and-still-sort-of-baking HOT.

Bottom line, I love me some cookies. They're just about the only dessert that I eat and eat and eat. And eat.

On the day I was feeling the crappiest, I decided that I really needed cookies. Warm, gooey chocolate chip cookies. Never mind that I couldn't really taste anything. Never mind that I should have been sleeping off the drowsy pills.

My medicated self decided that boiling butter over a fire to brown it would be a good move. What a smart person she is. I like her.

So, I baked these up using my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, but with brown butter. The smell alone was outrageous. I inhaled three of them for the sake of having my cookies.

But, I made Matt taste test since I was clearly not qualified. His reaction? Pure bliss. Then I had my co-workers taste them. Record timing of treat disappearance. These cookies were seemingly winners.

Luckily, I saved myself some cookie dough to bake up when my tastebuds decided to rejoin the party.

And woah. Just woah. These are the best dang chocolate chip cookies everrrrr. Obviously to be enjoyed with a glass of milk. Duh.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 24+ cookies
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Ingredients:

12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

2 cups PLUS 2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg PLUS 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter until browned and little black bits start to form on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool until warm.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the sugars and brown butter on medium-high speed until lightened in color and creamy, about 3-4 minutes. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, mixing until combined. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients, mixing just until combined. Mix in the chocolate chips.

Scoop the dough (about 2 tablespoons) onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until lightly golden around the edges. Be careful not to overbake. Let cookies cool on pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!


Source: adapted from Annie's Eats

Om nom nom nom nom.

milk bar mondays - compost cookies

Composting is cool.

Especially when it results in cookies.

So, I'm just gonna throw this out there. Mondays are working their way up to becoming my favorite day of the week.* Say whaaaaa?!

I know. What a weirdo.

But these Milk Bar Monday posts are totes exciting for me. I am so in love with everything we've baked so far!

This week, Krissy chose Compost Cookies. They're a Milk Bar favorite, and I get it. The cookies are stuffed full with crazy things like graham crust and potato chips. Sounds questionable but it.just.works.

These cookies were really easy to make. You could actually just throw whatever you have in your pantry into these cookies. You pick the fillings! Just maybe not shrimp chips. <-- Those totally exist & are super amazing. Don't question me.

Anyway, I wish I could explain how these cookies taste. Sweet, but salty. Crunchy, but chewy. Chocolatey, but kind of coffee-y. And since that helps in NO way, I'm just going to tell you that they're fantastic. And that you should make them.

For the recipe, visit Krissy at Krissy's Creations. And don't forget to say hey to the rest of the Milk Bar Monday girls and check out their takes on the Compost Cookies!

Audra at The Baker Chick

Averie at Averie Cooks

Cassie at Bake Your Day

Erin at Big Fat Baker

Jacqueline at The Dusty Baker

Meagan at Scarletta Bakes

Follow the Milk Bar Monday ladies on Twitter! 

*I've decided that Mondays are still only my 6th favorite day. Sloooowly but surely moving up.

nutella cupcakes

I don't think you're ready...

...for this jelly.

Ohhhh yeah. Totally bringing it today with the "Bootylicious" reference. Wut wuuuttt!

Which reminds me. Funny story. So right after high school, my family was packing up to move to Japan. I was dancing around to that song and got so into backing my thang up, that I tripped over boxes and fell into my suitcase, scraping my back on the plastic edge. And by scraping I obviously mean slicing open. So now I have a scar on my back that will forever and ever remind me of "Bootylicious". I'm soooo lucky you guys.

Remember this teaser from Instagram?

Oh right. The cupcakes.

These cupcakes are no joke.

Super serious and super chocolatey. Let's call them: Super Fantasmic Best Cupcakes of your Life. I wish I could shove one in your face right now so you could experience the true bliss that is the nutella cupcake.

First off, this chocolate cupcake is dooope. THE best that I've had. Ridiculously moist (eww) and fluffy.

Second, the nutella buttercream is  - actually, I don't need to finish that. It's freaking nutella buttercream!!

If you haven't already sprinted out the door to go buy some nutella, I highly recommend that you do.

No, seriously. Do it.

Oh-ho, naughty cupcake!

Chocolate Cupcakes

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makes 24+ cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot coffee

Directions:
       
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two cupcake pans with liners.
       
In a medium bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix on low speed until combined. With the mixer still on low, slowly add the wet ingredients until just combined. Continuing to mix on low, add the coffee and mix just to combine. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl, and mix again to make sure everything is combined. The batter will be very thin.

Fill the cupcake liners about 2/3 full.  Bake for 15-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Let cool in pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. 


Nutella Buttercream
makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but cool
1 (13-ounce) jar of nutella
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups powdered sugar (sifted, then measured)
5-6 tablespoons heavy cream or milk

Directions:
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the butter and nutella on medium-high speed until lightened in color and fluffy, about 5-6 minutes. Add in the vanilla and mix until combined. Slowly add in the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, and scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

With the mixer on low, add 4 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk, mixing until moistened. If the frosting is too dry, add an additional 1-2 tablespoons of heavy cream or milk. Turn the mixer to medium-high speed and whip until the frosting is smooth.

Decorate cupcakes as desired. Enjoy!

*NOTES:
- I transferred the cupcake batter to a spouted mixing bowl to easily fill the cupcake liners.
- There was enough left-over batter to make at least 4 regular sized or 12 mini cupcakes.

Source: cupcakes slightly adapted from Food Network (Ina Garten), frosting is a Sweet Peony original

DO IT.

lemon ricotta cookies

I know what you're thinking.

Cheese in cookies?

How disgusting, right?

You are sooooo wrong.

These cookies are delicious! So fresh and light. The ricotta cheese creates such a great texture, almost like a tiny cake. And they have the perfect amount of tang from the lemon.

Oh, and then there's the glaze. Ohhhh yes. Glaze makes everything better. Especially lemon glaze with cute little zesty specks.

I don't really care to share how many of these I ate, but it was somewhere around 3 x 7 + 19 - 25 or so. I kinda sorta maybe think that these are my new favorite cookies. They're that awesome.

If you still don't believe me, you've totally got to make these cookies for yourselves. And then come back and tell me that I was right about the cheese.

Lemon Ricotta Cookies
makes 4 dozen cookies
Printer-Friendly Version

Ingredients:
For the cookies:
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 stick unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 (15-ounce) container whole milk ricotta cheese
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

For the glaze:
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1 lemon, zested

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

For the cookies: Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating each one until incorporated. Add the ricotta cheese, lemon juice, and lemon zest, and mix to combine. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients.

Scoop the dough (about 2 tablespoons) onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake for 15 minutes, or until lightly golden around the edges. Let cookies cool on pan for 20 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the glaze: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl, stirring until smooth. Spoon about 1/2 a teaspoon of glaze onto each cookie and gently spread over the cookie. Let the glaze harden for about 2 hours.

Enjoy!

Source: Food Network (Giada de Laurentiis)

What can I say? I like to be right.

milk bar mondays - crack pie

Hi friends!

Remember me? I know... I've been super bad. I hope you'll forgive me. And maybe even be proud.

Cuz guess what? I got a job!!!

Yep! Pretty much as soon as I got back from hanging out with Jenny before she was deployed, I found myself applying, interviewing, and getting said job. Awesomeness, FTW!

Buuuttttt it turns out that working can be kind of exhausting. I sorta forgot about that. Don't worry though. I got my groove back. Just like Stella.

I can tell you guys totally missed me.

Mooooving on! Crack Pie.

C.R.A.C.K.P.I.E.

CRACK PIE!

Okay, I'm done. But it needed the emphasis. That's how freaking amazing this pie is. It's currently haunting me from my fridge. Come onnnnn, willpower!

This is the.best.thing I have made for Milk Bar Mondays. And that's saying a lot! I would describe this as a caramel pie in an oatmeal cookie crust. Oh yeah. Total amazeballs.

so gooey!

Surprisingly, it's not incredibly involved or complicated. Seriously! The recipe does call for a funky ingredient called corn powder. After trekking around to every Whole Foods in L.A. and finding that they were all out of freeze-dried corn to make the corn powder, I decided to just use cornstarch, and it worked perfectly.

I am begging you to make this. More like demanding. Because I can. And because I'm bossy.

Since Meagan is the host this week, please go visit her at Scarletta Bakes for the recipe. And don't forget to say hi to the rest of the Milk Bar Monday girls and check out their takes on the Crack Pie!

Audra at The Baker Chick

Averie at Averie Cooks

Cassie at Bake Your Day

Erin at Big Fat Baker

Jacqueline at The Dusty Baker
Krissy at Krissy's Creations

Follow the Milk Bar Monday ladies on Twitter!