Homemade Ice Cream Sandwiches

Gluten free baking: take one.

The hubs is a cookie fiend.  Love loves cookies (especially chocolate chip cookies), cookie monster style. Sadly since I've been cutting out gluten, his weekly cookie consumption has also taken a hit.  So I figured I should do right by him since he's been so wonderful about this diet change and work on perfecting his chocolate chip cookie.

While I'm anxiously awaiting my shipment of flours and new digital kitchen scale, I was shopping at Costco the other day and came across one of their new products, Namaste Perfect Flour Blend.  Each of the flours in this blend are ones that I ordered so I figured for $10, I should try their perfect blend (and ended up buying two bags in case it really was perfect).

First batch of cookies, I used a recipe I found online that called for coconut milk, a few different types of flours, and less eggs.  I followed the recipe exactly except for using the Namaste flour blend.  The blend is pretty dense, so I ended up cutting the amount of flour down.  When I get my kitchen scale, I'll actually measure out the flour by grams which should be a little more accurate.

Batch 1: Overcooked and crumbly.
Batch 2: (same dough) Cooked for less time, better right out of the oven, super crumbly the next day.

Day 2, I decided to "make" my own recipe based on what I had read for GF baking and going off of my favorite Tollhouse recipe.  Result: awesome.  You'd never know they were gluten free.  Even the dough was dare I say pretty much identical---even better after it was chilled for a few hours. To combat the "crumbly" day after cookie, I let them cool almost to room temperature then packaged them away and put them in the freezer.  The days following, we would grab a few and let them come to room temp microwave them for immediate enjoyment and they were perfect.

And to kick things up a notch, I made some this Salted Caramel Coconut Ice Cream on Labor Day to make sandwich cookies out of.  Also great to just scoop out onto warm, microwaved cookies---truth be told, that's what I had for breakfast after I worked out this morning.  That's okay, right?

Tips and Tricks for GF Baking I tried:

• Bake at a temperature 25 degrees lower than regular recipe
• Chill dough prior to scooping and baking
• Use brown sugar for chewy cookie and more egg yolks
• Beat butter and sugar longer than normal
• Use room temperature ingredients

All in all, GF baking round 1 = success.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups Namaste Perfect Flour Blend
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt in separate bowl and set aside.  Beat butter until light and fluffy ( I used my paddle attachment).  Add brown sugar and continue to beat until well combined and fluffy.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.  Gradually add in flour mixture until well mixed. Fold in chocolate chips.

Chill dough for 1-2 hours.  Drop by spoonful onto parchment paper lined baking sheet.  Slightly press down tops of cookies.  Cook for 8-10 minutes. I cooked for 8 minutes then let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 2 more before moving them to cooling rack.

Eat or freeze!

***I also made gluten free pizza crust with the Namaste Perfect Flour Blend and it turned out fabulous.  Nice and chewy and delicious!***

Lately...

The heat in Texas makes for less than optimum baking weather...aka I haven't wanted to turn on my oven and warm up the house.  But a quick hello and to show you have a few things I have made lately...

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cheesecake
(same cheesecake recipe I used last year but added sliced strawberries and a drizzle of chocolate)

Another repeat, the hub's favorite birthday cake- Tres Leches.

 Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting to celebrate the discharge of one of my little ones---based on my favorite onesie that he wore.

Pistachio Cupcakes with Almond Cream Cheese Frosting

(need to tweek the recipe, but it will be up shortly)

And last but not least, Fall Cookies-my attempt to welcome the season!

Hopefully with cooler temperatures in the forecast, I'll find motivation to bring my pretty pink mixer back into action!  Will be back soon. :)

Choco-what?

Happy Friday, everyone!  I have no special reason to make this recipe, no special event, no requests my friends or family, this was purely a "I'm bored at work home and browsing blogs and stumbled upon this fabulous looking recipe."  You know, one of those. 

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love cookie dough, way better than the actual baked cookies.  So when I read the title for this recipe, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies, I said to myself "Choco-what?" (Say it like the "Milka-what" commercial).  Not only that, but the picture looked like a brownie topped with a massive amount of chocolate chip cookie dough.  Yes, please.

Chocolate chip cookie dough (sans the eggs so you can eat them without fear of Salmonella) on top of a very chewy, chocolately brownie, with a drizzle of more chocolate.  These are good. Real good. 

The only thing that would make these better....is if they were served warm and gooey.  The recipe says to keep them refrigerated until ready to serve (because of the cookie dough), but I have every right mind to microwave one of these bad boys next time.  I guess that would negate the "dough" part though.  Whatev.

Until I get a fancy-schmancy camera for my birthday/wedding anniversary/Christmas present (ahem, hubs), this is as close as my little point and shoot will go.  

Lori said they were best served and presented in cupcake wrappers and I couldn't agree more.  I like her style.

Have a great weekend!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

adapted from RecipeGirl

Brownie:

4 oz unsweetened chocolate

1 cup butter, room temp

2 cups packed light brown sugar

4 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup AP flour

Cookie Dough:

3/4 cup butter

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup white sugar

1 tbsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp milk

1 1/2 cup AP flour

1/2 tsp salt

 1 1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips

Drizzzzle:

1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips

1 tsp shortening

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  In separate bowl, begin to melt chocolate in 30 second increments.  Careful not to burn.  Set aside to cool.  In mixer, beat butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add in eggs and vanilla.  Fold in flour just until mixed.  Pour in greased 9x13 pan and bake for 25-35*minutes.  Remove when toothpick comes out clean.

2.  While brownies cool, prepare cookie dough.  Beat sugars and butter in mixer.  Add vanilla and milk.  Combine flour and salt and add to sugar/butter mixture.  Fold in chocolate chips.  

3.  When brownies are cool, spread the cookie dough over the brownies and put in refrigerator (or freezer) until cold.  Slice into individual squares and place in cupcake wrappers.  

4.  Melt reserved chocolate chips and shortening.  Place in ziploc bag and snip a corner off.  Drizzle on individual brownies.  Refrigerate until ready to serve. 

*Mine took 35 minutes

Triple Threat Chocolate Cookies

As we all know (or should know), I'm not a huge chocolate fan.  In this household, I like chocolate chip cookies without the chocolate chips...and a little cinnamon.  So you might as well just give me a snickerdoodle.  However, I'm probably one of few people like this.  I'm pretty sure most people love chocolate.  And this cookie is for them.

Way back in February when we bought our house (!!),  a family friend, who happens to be a real-estate lawyer, looked over all of our closing documents to make sure they were all legit.  Since he's a family friend and all, he did all of this work for free, however, I intended to pay him with cookies. (Obviously)

When asked what his favorite types of desserts were, his daughter said "anything with chocolate." Thus, I made this cookie but tweaked it to be more intensely chocolate-ly.

These cookies are jam-packed with cocoa, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and 60% dark chocolate chips.  Whoa. Intense.

To be honest, after trying this dough, I thought I may have turned a new leaf and started to like chocolate.  Then I ate a snickerdoodle blondie and resumed my old ways.

Sidenote: I forgot to take pictures of these cookies before dropping them off at my parents for them to deliver to said lawyer-friend.  But, I have an amazing mother who so graciously snapped a few pictures for me and my obsessive self so I could blog about them. Thanks, mom! :) 

Triple Threat Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from RecipeGirl

1 1/4 cup butter, room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups AP flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 (12 oz) package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 (12 oz) package 60% cocoa chips (I used Ghiradelli)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Cream butter and sugars together until smooth.  Add vanilla and eggs and beat well. 

3.  In separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt and mix together with whisk.

4.  Slowly incorporate into butter mixture until combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

5.  Eat some dough.

6.  Drop by spoonful onto cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. Transfer to wire rack and let cool. 

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Pies

When I first set out for something to make, I had my heart set on homemade Nutter Butters.  Don't ask me why, I'm pretty sure I heard the words Nutter Butter in passing (since people everywhere talk about Nutter Butters on a daily basis) and I immediately started wanting some.  But since I refuse to buy store bought cookies (unless their purpose is to be smashed and used for a pie crust), I intended to make my own.

In my head, I was thinking some sort of peanut butter shortbread with a peanut butter buttercream filling.  Well, I couldn't find a recipe for peanut butter shortbread, or for any cookie that had a peanut butter buttercream filling.  So I made do.

I found this recipe for Bouchon Bakery's Nutter Butters (Bouchon's is a popular place in NYC evidently) and while it wasn't exactly what I was anticipating, it was not disappointing.

The cookie is more of an oatmeal cookie with peanut butter.  Not that I'm complaining, I love soft oatmeal cookies.  They remind me of the packaged Oatmeal Cream Pies that Little Debbie makes, only peanut butter flavored.

Rather than following their recipe to a "T", I filled these oatmeal puppies with my very own peanut butter buttercream. Truth be told, I still had buttercream in the freezer from my cookie cupcakes, so I just used that and added peanut butter to it.  

Let me tell you. These cookies are not for the faint of heart.  4 sticks of butter AND peanut butter? The dough was sinful and we all know I love cookie dough more than the actual baked cookie, so I had to bake these up as fast as I could.

A few tweaks that I made to the recipe (other than using buttercream for the filling), I did not use chopped peanuts in the cookies. Instead, I had chunky peanut butter on hand, so I went with that. Forget it, that was only one tweak.  

Now I'm packaging these guys up for the hubs to take to work.  Get ready, boys!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Pies

adapted from Bouchon Bakery's Nutter Butters

For the cookie dough:

2 cups flour

2 tsp baking powder

4 tsp baking soda

4 sticks butter (room temp)

2/3 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups old fashioned oats

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix flour, baking powder, and baking soda in separate bowl.  In a mixer, beat together butter and peanut butter.  Add sugars and beat for 4 minutes on medium speed.  Add eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Slowly add in flour mixture until combined. Stir in oats. 

Drop onto cookie sheet (I went with about a round teaspoonful size---they spread).  Bake 7-10 minutes or until lightly browned.  Allow to cool and fill with buttercream.

For the peanut butter buttercream, I used about a third of this recipe for Very Vanilla Buttercream and added 2/3 cup creamy peanut butter. Placed in ziploc bag, snipped the tip and applied to half of the cookies.  

You can also go to the original recipe posted above for the alternate PB filling.

Enjoy!