• Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies
    Chocolate and Candy,  Cookies and Bars

    Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies

    I don’t know about you, but I never stop wanting to bake (and eat) chocolate chip cookies. Don’t get me wrong, I love baking all kinds of treats (thus…this blog exists), but I’m always thinking of different kinds of chocolate chip cookies to make. (Case in point…check out the list at the end of this post) Anyway, these Nutty Chocolate Chip Cookies have been floating around in my brain for months, and I finally got around to making them and writing up the recipe. Nuts and Chocolate Are Besties If you’re not a nut lover, you probably won’t like these cookies. You could leave them out, I suppose, and you’d…

  • Olive Oil Pistachio Brownie Cookies
    Cookies and Bars

    Olive Oil Pistachio Brownie Cookies

    I’ve been wanting to make an olive oil chocolate chip cookie for a while, and that’s how this one started out. But as I worked on the recipe, it ended up much more chocolatey and brownie-like than I originally intended. And I have to say, I’m not mad about it. This is a rich, fudgy dream of a cookie. Say hello to Olive Oil Pistachio Brownie Cookies! I have a feeling you’ll love them. Olive Oil In Cookies? Yep, You Read That Right. Cookies aren’t the first thing I think of when I think of olive oil. Pasta, bread, salad dressing, roasted veggies…there are a million and one savory ways…

  • Milk Chocolate Toffee Cookies
    Cookies and Bars

    Milk Chocolate Toffee Cookies

    Growing up, I loved a good Dairy Queen Blizzard. (TBH I still do, but now I opt for the “mini” size because I just can’t finish the large like I did when I was a kid). Anyhow, my favorite mix-in has always been Heath bar. For a while there, they had a Cappuccino Heath Blizzard that was TO DIE FOR. I loved it so much. Does anyone else remember that? And does anyone know if they’ll still make me one if I ask nicely? Well, the idea for these cookies sprang from my love for Heath bars. Milk chocolate and buttery toffee in a salted brown butter cookie…what could be…

  • Popcorn & Hot Chocolate Cookies
    Cookies and Bars

    Popcorn & Hot Chocolate Cookies

    A couple of weeks ago, on my birthday, I started taking an online creative baking class. The class is taught by Christina Tosi of Milk Bar—which, if you’re not familiar, is a chain of bakeries with amazing, unique treats that are ridiculously addictive. Over the course of a month we’re baking a few classic Milk Bar treats, then learning Christina’s prototyping method to develop our own unique creations. These Popcorn & Hot Chocolate Cookies were my first project. Sunday Night at Grandma’s House We were tasked with making a cookie based on a specific time—it could be a time in our lives, a time of year, a time of day…whatever…

  • Oatmeal Cookies
    Cookies and Bars

    Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Oatmeal Cookies

    Well guys, I’ve been staying home as much as possible for about 6 weeks now. Minnesota’s stay-at-home order began March 26th, but I started almost 2 weeks early (I have elderly folks in my building that I want to protect, plus I already work from home so it was pretty easy for me to do). Anyway, to combat cabin fever, I’ve been using my extra time at home the best I can – doing a ton of reading, going for lots of walks, FaceTiming with friends and fam, and, of course, baking. Since I have plenty of time, I decided to test half a dozen kinds of oatmeal cookies to…

  • Malted Coffee Blondies
    Cookies and Bars

    Malted Coffee Blondies

    This post contains affiliate links. This means that I may earn a commission if you make a purchase through one of these links. Despite the fact that I already have four chocolate chip cookie recipes on the blog (five if you count my Dark Chocolate S’mores Cookies), I can’t seem to stop making up new ones. This time I went for something in bar form – say hello to Malted Coffee Blondies! These chewy chocolate- and pecan-studded beauties have three sources of inspiration. First, the blondies I used to make when I worked at Amazing Grace Bakery here in Duluth (so good I dream about them). Second and third, recipes…

  • World Peace Cookies
    Chocolate and Candy,  Cookies and Bars

    Dorie Greenspan’s World Peace Cookies

    Well friends, the past couple of weeks have been pretty terrible across the world, there’s no two ways around that. With more than half a million people having contracted COVID-19, and nearly 25,000 dead from it worldwide (www.worldometers.info/coronavirus, as of today), we are all in the grip of fear and grief, and it’s difficult to be hopeful. There is hope though, if you look for it – medical staff and other essential workers putting their lives at risk for us all, neighbors helping each other out, whole communities coming together (in a properly socially distant way of course) to support small businesses and artists, and so much more. With everything…

  • Amaretto Dream Cookies
    Chocolate and Candy,  Cookies and Bars

    Amaretto Dream Cookies

    With the leaves turning, the blustery weather, and Halloween around the corner, my reading preferences are quickly turning to murder mysteries. Now, I have to tell you – I can be a bit of a book snob, and have been known to turn down my nose at anything that isn’t a classic. However, more recently I’ve embraced the joy of a good murder mystery. A few years ago I discovered a series of books that are equal part murder mystery and BAKING(!) by Ellie Alexander. This recipe for Amaretto Dream Cookies comes from book two in that series, “A Batter of Life and Death: A Bakeshop Mystery”. (Side note: if…

  • Browned Butter Bourbon Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies
    Cookies and Bars

    Brown Butter Bourbon & Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies

    Ok, so I didn’t plan it this way. I started working on this recipe about a month ago, with no concrete idea of when I’d have it ready. And it just so happens that the day I finally post it is National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day. Talk about serendipity! Let’s all give a hearty welcome to Brown Butter Bourbon & Rye Chocolate Chip Cookies. I know I already have a boozy chocolate chip cookie recipe on my site (Kahlua Chocolate Chip Cookies), but can you really have too many recipes for chocolate chip cookies, much less boozy ones?? I don’t think so. This recipe is adapted from Joy the Baker’s…

  • Dark Chocolate S'mores Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt
    Chocolate and Candy,  Cookies and Bars

    Dark Chocolate S’mores Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt

    Spring has sprung in Duluth, though we’re not quite out of the woods for snowstorms yet (we often get blizzards in April!). Still, I’m already dreaming of summer – sunshine, green grass, sandy beaches, long wooded walks, and s’mores around the campfire. I love a perfectly toasted marshmallow (or even a burnt one, I’m not that picky). On its own it’s delicious enough, but add some melty chocolate and graham crackers and I’m in heaven! Since it’s not quite campfire season, I decided to create these dark chocolate s’mores cookies to tide me over until summer. And oh boy, are they good! These cookies are rich and fudgy with chocolate…