Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

What's better than a warm chocolate chip cookie and a glass of milk? Nothing! These pudding cookies are soft, moist, and all around yummy!! Add these to your holiday cookie plates and people will surely ask you for the recipe!

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
¼ cup white sugar
1 (3.4 ounce) package instant vanilla pudding mix
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375°F.
Combine the flour and baking soda. Set aside. Mix the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, pudding mix, and vanilla. Beat until creamy. Add the eggs and mix well. Gradually stir in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips. Drop onto ungreased cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Makes about 3 dozen.

Oatmeal Coconut White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

As promised, here is my winning oatmeal cookie recipe from this year's fair. Sorry it's taken me so long to get it up!! This cookie has to be one of my all time favorites, it's crunchy and chewy at the same time. Has some of my favorite ingredients in them and they are just so yummy!! I was kind of worried when I entered it in the fair as an oatmeal cookie that it wouldn't win anything, because it's not your ordinary oatmeal cookie, but luckily the judges liked it! I'm sure you'll love them too!

Oatmeal Coconut White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

½ c. butter (no substitutes)
½ c. shortening (no substitutes)
1 c. packed brown sugar
½ c. granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 ½ c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
3 c. old fashioned oats
½ cup coconut
1 c. macadamia nut pieces
1 c. white chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350° F.
Cream the butter and shortening together in an electric mixer. Add sugars and continue mixing until nice and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gradually add flour, a little at a time, mix well but not too much! Add baking soda and salt. Add all of the oats, and mix well. Add the coconut, macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips and mix. Drop by the rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 – 12 minutes. I bake mine for 10. Let cool on sheet for at least 4 minutes and then transfer to a rack. Store in bags or an air tight container. Enjoy! Makes about 3 dozen.

Loaded Brownie Chipper Cookies

I came up with the idea for this cookie one afternoon while looking at a plate of brownies on my counter. I'm sure that my kids would have eaten the last 4 brownies, but I wanted to see how a cookie with leftover brownies inside of it would turn out. So, I set out to make these cookies. They turned out pretty good!! With the peanut butter and chocolate chips inside, it gives for a nice flavor. And the chunks of brownie inside the cookie are nice and crispy and chocolaty. I'll be making these again for sure if I have any leftover brownies!

Loaded Brownie Chipper Cookies

½ cup butter, softened
½ cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups pre-made brownie chunks, cut into ¼” pieces

Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a stand or electric mixer, cream together the butter and shortening. Add the sugars and mix until well combined and creamy. Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Mix in the flour, baking soda and salt, making sure that the mixture is thoroughly combined. Add in the peanut butter and chocolate chips, mix until combined. Lastly, add in the brownie bits, only mixing until just combined. Do not over mix with the brownie bits inside of the dough. Place dough onto ungreased cookie sheets with a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, or equivalent. Make sure the cookies are about 2 inches apart and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and enjoy!

Coconut S'mores Cookies

The other day I was at the store and bought some coconut marshmallows. I was thinking about making some s'mores cookies and once I saw those marshmallows, I knew I had to make coconut s'mores cookies! I looked online to see if anyone else had ever made s'mores cookies and how they went about dealing with the marshmallows and came across Cookie Madness' version of s'mores cookies. She said that it was best to put the marshmallows on towards the end of cooking, so that is what I did. These cookies turned out so good! If you are looking to make some cookies, please try these! You won't be sorry! I made two different sized cookies. Some really big ones that I used a 1/4 measuring cup to scoop and then I used my 2 tablespoon cookie scoop for the smaller ones. I like the size of the big ones, they are really impressive, but you only get about 12 cookies out of the whole batch.





Coconut S'mores Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1 ¼ cups coarsely crushed graham cracker crumbs
3 regular sized Hershey's bars, coarsely chopped and divided
12 large toasted coconut marshmallows, cut with kitchen shears into 8 pieces each

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cream together butter and sugars with an electric mixer until smooth. Add in eggs and vanilla and mix well. Mix in flour, salt and baking soda until combined. Add the flaked coconut, graham cracker crumbs and 1 ½ chopped Hershey bars, until combined well. To make large cookies, use a ¼ measuring cup to scoop dough onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies look almost all of the way baked. Take cookies out of oven and then evenly divide the marshmallows and the remaining Hershey's bars among the cookies. Bake for another 1 to 3 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown and the chocolate and marshmallow has begun to melt. Do not over bake. To make smaller cookies use a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop and scoop onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 or 9 minutes, or until the cookies are almost all of the way baked. Take the cookies out of the oven and evenly distribute the marshmallows and chocolate bars and then bake for another 1 to 3 minutes, or until the cookies are set and the chocolate and marshmallows have started to melt. Do not over bake. Remove onto a cooling rack to cool and enjoy!



Here is a picture of the smaller version of these cookies, I couldn't fit as much stuff on the top of them, but they were still really yummy!

Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

I don't make cake or cupcakes very often, simply because I like baking cookies a lot better because you get more out of them and they are easier to share and store. So, you probably won't see too many cake or cupcake recipes here. But the other day I was looking in my cupboard at a box of cake mix and part of a package of Oreos that needed to be used and came up with this recipe. I know there are lots of recipes for cookies & cream cupcakes out there, but I threw this one together and I think it turned out pretty good. My favorite part was the frosting and crushed Oreos on top! My kids also absolutely loved these!


Cookies & Cream Cupcakes

1 (18 ounce) white cake mix
1 ¼ cup buttermilk
1/3 cup oil
4 eggs
12 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped
chocolate buttercream frosting (recipe follows)
6 Oreo cookies, crushed for topping

Preheat oven to 350° F.
Mix together the cake mix, buttermilk, oil and eggs in an electric mixer. Once it has been combined mix on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add in the chopped Oreos and mix until combined. Pour into a muffin pan that has been lined with cupcake papers. Be sure not to overfill them, about 2/3 of the way is good. Bake in preheated oven for 12-18 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Be sure not to over cook them. Let cool for a few minutes in the pan and then take them out and let cool completely on a wire rack. Frost with chocolate buttercream frosting and sprinkle crushed oreos on top.

Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2 2/3 cups powdered sugar
½ cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup milk
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add in the cocoa powder, mixing well. Stir in milk and vanilla extract and beat on high for 2 minutes, or until the frosting has lightened slightly. Frost your favorite cake and enjoy!

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This recipe won me a blue ribbon at the state fair a few years ago, so if your searching for a winner of an oatmeal cookie, you've found it right here! When I entered it into the fair, I didn't put in the chocolate chips and added a bit more raisins so that it was just a pure oatmeal raisin cookie. I encourage you to try it like that, but with the chocolate chips it takes this cookie over the top! Be sure to use both butter (never use margarine) and shortening in this recipe. It makes the cookie crunchy and soft at the same time, trust me they are killer good. The guys at my husband's work request these babies often and these are always a great cookie to take over to a neighbor's house. Have fun baking!

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies

½ c. butter (no substitutes)

½ c. shortening (no substitutes)

1 c. packed brown sugar

½ c. granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 ½ c. flour

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. cinnamon

½ tsp. salt

3 c. old fashioned oats {can use quick cooking or mix the two kinds}

1 c. raisins

1 c. chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350° F.

Cream the butter and shortening together in an electric mixer. Add sugars and continue mixing until nice and creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, then vanilla. Gradually add flour, a little at a time, mix well but not too much! Add baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Add all of the oats, and mix well. Add the raisins and the chocolate chips and mix. Drop by the rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 – 12 minutes. I bake mine for 10. Let cool on sheet for at least 4 minutes and then transfer to a rack. Store in bags or an air tight container. Enjoy! Makes about 3 dozen.

Surprise Cupcakes

My original idea for these surprise cupcakes was to make a hostess-like cupcake at home. But then after making the filling, I realized that I had way too much of it and I didn't want to waste it. So, instead of making a ganache for the topping, I added a couple of baker's chocolate squares to the filling and made my frosting. I still decorated them to look like hostess cupcakes and they sure do taste yummy!! But the surprise about these cupcakes is not that they are filled with a creamy center. It's that they are made with yellow squash puree!! So, if you've got lots of yellow squash in your garden, I highly recommend pureeing some of it and making these super moist cupcakes! Your family will have no idea that these are made with some of your garden vegetables!! You could even try making these with zucchini puree if you don't have any yellow squash, I'm sure they will still turn out delectable!


Surprise Cupcakes

1box devil's food cake mix
1 cup yellow squash puree
½ cup water
¼ cup vegetable oil
3 eggs
½ cup plain yogurt (I used fat free Greek)

filling & frosting

½ cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
6 cups powdered sugar
½ cup milk
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 squares bittersweet baking chocolate, melted (for the frosting)

Preheat oven to 350° F.
To make the cupcake batter, mix together the cake mix, squash puree, water and vegetable oil. Mix until combined and then add the eggs, mixing between each addition. Finally add the yogurt and mix until the batter is light and fluffy. Pour batter into paper-lined cupcake pans, filling to 2/3 full and bake according to cake mix directions, about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Once done baking, remove from oven and let sit in pans for ten minutes. Then transfer the cupcakes to a wire rack and let cool completely.

To make the filling, beat together the butter and cream cheese until soft. Add powdered sugar, being sure to add a little at a time, until combined. Add milk and vanilla and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Once the cupcakes are completely cooled, put about 1 ½ cups of the filling into a pastry bag with a medium sized tip. Pipe the filling into the cupcakes, going in through the tops of the cupcakes and filling until you can't put anymore in. It will be about 1 to 1 ½ tablespoons of filling per cupcake. Once all of the cupcakes are filled, reserve some of the white frosting to decorate the tops of the cupcakes, about 1 cup. With the remaining frosting, melt the baking chocolate in the microwave, according to the package directions. Mix the chocolate into the frosting and beat until well combined. Frost the cupcakes with the chocolate frosting and then take the reserved white frosting and decorate the tops of the cupcakes with a swirly design, using a small tip or putting into a small ziploc bad and then cutting a small hole in the tip. Refrigerate the cupcakes for at least an hour before enjoying for best taste. Refrigerate any leftovers.

Here's tip, if you don't have a pastry bag and medium sized tip to fill the cupcakes, make a hole in the top of each cupcake with the end of a wooden spoon and then place the filling inside of a Ziploc bag and cut the tip off of the bag. Then use the bag to pipe the frosting into the hole to fill the cupcakes. This is what I had to do because I couldn't find my tips. Also, to make the design on the top of the cupcakes, simply make a smaller cut in the tip of the bag and pipe on the top of the cupcakes! Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

If I wasn't the one that just baked this, I would tell you that this bread absolutely does not have zucchini in it. But, I did just bake this and guess what? There are 3 cups of zucchini in this recipe!! So, if your still looking for recipes to use up all of your zucchini, this is the bread for you! Trust me, don't tell your family that it has zucchini in it, they will gobble it up and not even notice!! My husband told me that I could make this bread every day and he wouldn't be sick of it. It's that good! I got this recipe from Tasty Kitchen, but I didn't add in the spices like the original baker did. I wanted a pure chocolate flavor in mine. Please do try this, it's so good!!




Double Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread

1 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups zucchini, shredded
2 cups flour
1 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° F.
In an electric mixer, mix together the oil, sugars, eggs and vanilla. Once combined add in zucchini and mix well. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt and mix well. Mix in the chocolate chips and then pour into two greased bread pans (I use baker's joy). The batter will be very thin, this is how you want it to look. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 65 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies

I came up with this recipe a couple of years ago when I heard someone talking about possibly putting cream cheese into a chocolate chip cookie. The person with the original idea didn't know how to actually make the idea into an end product, so I stepped in and came up with these! They are so good!!! Everyone will be asking you for this recipe!

Chocolate Chip Cheesecake Cookies

1 cup butter (no substitutes), softened

¾ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup brown sugar

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 ¼ cup flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cream together butter and sugars in an electric mixer, such as a kitchen aid. Add cream cheese and mix well. Add vanilla extract and egg, continue mixing. Add flour, baking soda and salt and mix until a nice creamy dough forms. Add in chocolate chips and mix until combined. Place dough onto ungreased cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart, using a small cookie scoop (or about 2 tablespoons). Bake at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes, I usually take mine out after 10 minutes of baking. The cookies should be light golden in color, and kind of soft. Let cool on cookie sheets for a few minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, store in a zip loc bag or other air tight container inside of the refrigerator. Eat cold and enjoy with a tall glass of milk!

Have you tried this recipe? If you have, head on over to Tasty Kitchen to rate and review!

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I had this idea in my head for a couple of weeks of a cookie that had pretzels in it. First I was thinking of just a chocolate chip pretzel cookie, which would probably be really tasty. But then I got the awesome idea to mix in some peanut butter into the cookie to make a cookie that was kind of like one of my favorite snacks, chocolate covered peanut butter pretzels. I've done it! This cookie is awesome, with a crunch from the pretzel and big bites of chocolate, it's a keeper!

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chunk Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 ¾ cups crushed pretzel pieces
1 (11.5 oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chunk morsels or chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.
Beat butter, peanut butter and sugars until creamed. Add vanilla and eggs and mix well. Add flour, baking powder and baking soda and mix. Finally add crushed pretzel pieces and chocolate chunks, mix until combined. Using a small cookie scoop, place cookie dough on ungreased cookie sheets, making sure they are 2 inches apart from each other. Bake at 350°F for 8-10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack and store in an air tight container.

Have you tried this recipe? If you have, head on over to Tasty Kitchen to rate and review!

Sneaky Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bars

I made these sneaky chocolate chip zucchini bars yesterday to use up some of my surplus of garden fresh zucchini. I got the recipe over at 2 Kids and Tired Cooks. I'm happy to report that my kids ate these without even thinking twice about the fact that there was a vegetable in it! They couldn't even tell! I think they kind of got distracted by all of the gooey chocolate in them! My husband got home after work and ate some dinner and then asked what was for dessert, I pulled these out and he ate 3 huge squares of them. So, they are tasty! He even asked if I put any in his lunch this morning. I did make a bit of a change to the original recipe, I added a bit more sugar than the recipe called for, simply because I thought that 1/2 cup for the entire recipe wouldn't be sweet enough. I think that they turned out great the way I made them! Be sure to peel your zucchini before you grate it, this way your end product won't be green and it will be easier to get picky eaters to eat them!

Sneaky Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bars

¾ cup butter, softened
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups zucchini, peeled and grated
1 ¾ cups flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 ½ cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° F.
In an electric mixer, cream the butter, sugar and eggs together. Add the vanilla and zucchini and mix well. Add the flour, salt and baking powder mixing well. Finally add in the chocolate chips and mix until just combined. Pour into a 9x13 inch cake pan that has been greased. Bake in preheated 350° F for 35 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool and cut into bars. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Drizzle Popcorn

I bet that you don't look at that picture and think that this gourmet looking popcorn is a food storage recipe, but guess what? It is!! Everything in the recipe is completely shelf stable, which equals food storage! Wouldn't your family be delighted to eat this if you had to live off of your food storage? I know mine would! Food storage doesn't have to be all wheat, rice and beans. Although those things are really good to have in your food storage, you should have a variety of things, like popcorn, peanut butter and chocolate!

I love peanut butter and chocolate combined, those two together is probably my all time favorite flavor combo. If you're like me, then you'll love this tasty popcorn treat! Not to mention that it looks so gourmet that you'll impress your family and friends!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Drizzle Popcorn

¾ cup light corn syrup
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
10 cups popped popcorn
1 cup chocolate chips

Make the popcorn either with an air popper or on the stove top according to the directions on the bag, set aside in a large roasting pan or two large cookie sheets. In a saucepan over medium heat mix together the corn syrup, sugar, peanut butter and vanilla. Bring to a boil stirring constantly, once it has reached a boil, cook for one minute. Take off heat and pour over popped corn, working fast stir in all of the peanut butter coating, mixing well so that all of the popcorn is evenly coated. Let popcorn sit for about 10 minutes and then mix again to break up the pieces. In a bowl melt the chocolate for 20 seconds at a time in the microwave, stirring in between each 20 second cooking, until the chocolate is melted through. Be sure not to burn the chocolate. Once the chocolate is melted drizzle the chocolate over the popcorn either with a spoon or by spooning the chocolate into a small zip loc bag and then cutting a small hole at one of the tips and then drizzling over by squeezing the bag over the popcorn. Let set for 30 minutes and then break up the popcorn! If the chocolate isn't setting you can put your cookie sheets or roasting pan into the fridge for 15 minutes and then you should be good to go! Enjoy!

Cookies & Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

One thing that I'm pretty well known for is my cookies. I've been baking cookies ever since I was a kid, every weekend growing up that's what I did. My uncle Ruben would come over just for some of my chocolate chip cookies, which at the time was just the Toll House recipe on the bag. But, he loved them. Today the guys at my husband's work always ask when more cookies are coming and they even request certain kinds! I'm kind of known as the cookie lady, which I'm perfectly fine with! I was actually talking to my mom the other day about how it would be fun to open up a little shop that just sells treats like cookies, cupcakes, cinnamon rolls... stuff like that, but then when I think about it, that would take the fun out of baking for me. So, I'll just stick to what I'm doing and share my recipes with you instead so that you can make them for yourselves!

This cookie is a new favorite in our house and everyone that has tried them has loved them. With the combination of Oreos and chocolate chips, you can't really go wrong! One thing that I've noticed with these cookies is that if you cut the Oreos up into big chunks, your cookies will turn out to be a higher cookie and if you crush the Oreos your cookies will be flatter. The picture here is of the Oreos being crushed, I'll have to make them again with the cookies cut and take a picture of them that way. They also look a lot more grey when you crush them, since little bits of crumbs are being distributed throughout the dough. I actually prefer them with the Oreos cut up instead of crushed, but they are yummy either way!

Edited to add picture of cookies with cut up Oreos instead of crushed Oreos.

Cookies & Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 ½ cups flour
2 cups chocolate chips
20 Oreo cookies, cut up or crushed

Preheat oven to 350°F.
With an electric mixer cream butter and sugars until nice and creamy. Add vanilla and egg and mix. Slowly add flour, a little at a time. Add baking soda and salt and mix well, add chocolate chips and oreo cookies and mix well. Scoop cookie dough by the rounded tablespoon onto a cookie sheet; make sure they aren’t too close though! Bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes. Cool on a rack and enjoy!