Zesty Cook » cookies

Cookie Me Up: Sweet & Salty

zesty — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:30:42 +0000

Happy Friday to you! Another week gone by and it is Friday the 13th. Good luck for some bad luck for others.. lets hope for some good luck. So let me start into a little story behind these cookies. A while back we attended a benefit dance/bake sale on for a colleague of Mrs. Zesty and well of course I get somewhat excited when I hear bake sale. We chatted about it and tried to come up with some fun ideas on what to bring to the “table”.

It turns out we came up with a few ideas:

Double Chocolate Chunk Brownies
Toffee Bit Chocolate Cookies
Sweet & Salty Cookies

As you can guess from the title of the post I decided to share the Sweet & Salty morsels of goodness. These fellas were delicious ( I had to taste test just to ensure quality). Packed with pretzels, m&m, smarties and a few potato chips… I could eat these all day. Super easy to make and check out my packaging idea(s) – Mrs. Zesty really thinks I am a bit over the top sometimes. Ha! We sold each for for $40. Totally joking… not even sure what the amount was but I had fun making them.

Ingredients

1 Cup unsalted butter
3/4 Cup Granulated white sugar
3/4 Cup Brown sugar
2 Eggs
1 Tsp. Vanilla
2 1/3 Cups All-purpose flour
1 Tsp. Baking soda
3/4 Tsp. Salt
1 Cup chopped candy coated pieces
1 Cup crushed or jumbled savoury snacks such as pretzels and potato chips

Method

In a large bowl, beat butter, and both sugars until fluffy.
Beat in eggs, one at a time; beat in vanilla
Whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into butter mixture.
Stir in candy and crumbled snacks.
Drop balls onto parchment paper- lined baking sheets
Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 10-12 minutes rotating the pan halfway through.

Makes about 30 cookies
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: Make these cookies ahead and store in an air tight container for up to 3 days. Good luck having them last that long.

Alright, I hope you have a great start to the weekend and I really hope you give these cookies a try. I think we can call these cookies…. “clean out your pantry with whatever goodies you have cookies”. I will talk to you all on Monday.

Take care

zesty

Remember… Good Eats and A Movember Update

zesty — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:49:51 +0000

Happy Friday! Let’s take a moment to remember all the men and women who served for our Country over the years and reflect on the amazing work that they have done for us and how much we appreciate them. Today as most of you know is Remembrance day in Canada and Veteran’s Day in the US. I just wanted to let let everyone know to take a moment and really think of the importance of these heroes.

GOOD EATS

As I was surfing around last evening I happen to bump into a couple of recipes that I just had to feature and share today for you to admire. First off is something from Aggie’s kitchen with a Mushroom and White Bean Tart. When I saw the picture I literally almost drooled with excitement and knew that this is something I had to make.

For complete information on the recipe… you must go over to Aggie’s kitchen and feast your eyes. You will be happy you dropped over.

Second tasty treat that I spotted yesterday was one of my favorite flavors embedded into a cookie. Chewy Lemon Cookies by Jessica at HowSweetEats. These cookies look amazing! I cannot wait to try them. Can you imagine sitting on the couch with a plate of these watching your favorite Tv show?

I can already picture that. I would only eat 3 or 4 at a time and likely not exceed 12 in one day. Great Job Jessica.

MoVember Update

Well Friday is here. We are 11 days into Movember and I promised to give you a zesty MoVember update every Friday for the month. Here is a link to my profile and if you are interested you by all means can donate and help raise money for Prostate Cancer. The Donate link can be found here. So without further waiting in anticipation, I took a few self shots of the stash this morning for you to see. it is coming along quite well. Hopefully it will fill in a little more in the coming weeks. I have not solidified the final shape as of yet.

Do you have any recommendations on the shape?

Alright, I better get back to some house cleaning, some writing and relaxing. I hope you have a great weekend. I will touch base with you on Monday before I head west to Anaheim for a work conference.

Take care

zesty

Toffee Chocolate Chip { Cookies }

zesty — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 13:00:05 +0000

Good morning you! Big day in Zesty land today. It’s Mrs. Zesty birthday today!! We don’t have much time after work to celebrate but we will squeeze in some time around supper time to have some fun with the family. Lately it seems there is not enough hours in the day to get everything done but hopefully that is just a phase.

On to some cookies ( YUM ). Another cookie we brought for the bake sale last week were Toffee Chocolate Chip cookies. I really enjoyed the flavor but most of all the texture. They were soft and chewy with the amazing flavor of toffee and chocolate. Needless to say the remaining cookies that did not make the bake sale… lasted all of 2 hours on the counter.

Ingredients

2/3 Cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 Cup brown sugar
1/4 Cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 2/3 Cups All purpose flour
1/2 Tsp. Baking soda
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Cup Toffee bits
1/2 Cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl, beat butter with both sugars until fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla
Stir together flour, baking soda and salt; stir into butter mixture until combined.
Toss in toffee bits and chocolate chips.
Drop by rounded teaspoon onto parchment paper lined baking sheets.
Bake in oven until golden about 10-12 minutes.
Let cool on pan and then transfer to cooling rack.

Zesty Tip: Making these cookies in multiple batches was a way to experiment with timing and baking of the cookie. I preferred the texture around the 9 minute mark especially after they cooled. They stayed soft and chewy.

Ok so Monday is here, let’s make the best of it! The weather is sub-par and has been for as long as I can remember. I need to get the garden planted but am getting a little leery that time is passing. I may start some plants off as opposed to the seed. I will touch base with you on Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

Finally A Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookie

zesty — Wed, 23 Feb 2011 14:00:27 +0000

The finally portion of this post title is for me. I have been telling myself what feels like years that I am going to make a gluten free cookie to share with you and my family. Finally the time has come where I did it and I was totally surprised by the results. Not that I thought they would taste terrible but I was not expecting that they would be this yummy.

To put it in perspective, they lasted 3 hours and 15 minutes. zesty juniors, Mrs zesty and a couple of zesty in laws popped over after the cookies made their way out of the oven and every one gave the thumbs up. I had to improvise slightly with the recipe as I found it was a little dry prior to adding the chips. That is when I went with the yogurt addition. As I said earlier, the results were very positive.

When I took them out of the oven I was a bit skeptical. They were very delicate and I thought maybe I made them too thin. Zesty junior was the first tester and my biggest critic. His face said it all and as he placed the cookie on the counter and immediately placed “two” thumbs up – I knew we had a winner.

I am not gloating by any stretch but I seriously suggest to try these cookies. For the recipe, I had put a number of recipes together based on the ingredients I had on hand. In the end I used this recipe as a guide and modified a few ingredients based on taste and added in the yogurt.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup butter (softened)
11/4 Cup rice flour
1/2 Cup white sugar
1/2 Cup packed brown sugar
3 Tbsp. Plain Yogurt
1 egg
1/2 Tsp. Baking soda
1/2 Tsp. Baking powder
1 Bag chocolate chips

Method

In a bowl beat butter,flour, sugars, egg, baking soda and powder with an electric mixer until well blended.
Add yogurt and mix until thoroughly combined.
Add in chocolate chips and mix with a fork.

Drop onto an ungreased cookie sheet ( makes about 24 normal size cookies – I made 16 ) I also flattened them down a little so they would be thin and chewy.

Bake at 375 for 6-8 minutes or until lightly browned.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: I added sliced almonds to the second batch and made them slightly larger. They puffed up slightly higher but still had the soft texture. The almonds added a nice crunch and texture. In the future, if no one was looking I would add the almonds every time.

Have a super Wednesday! I cannot believe the week is half over already. Stay tuned on Friday as I announce the final arrangements for the Disney World trip and a very special thanks to a fellow blogger. Talk to you on Friday.

Take care

zesty

It’s Baking Day!

zesty — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 14:00:05 +0000

Happy Monday to you! It is a scattered holiday throughout North America today with presidents Day in the US, family day in some parts of Canada and Islander day at home here in PEI. With that said, I have deemed it baking day! We have 3 items on the agenda to tackle this morning and I am excited. Gluten free chocolate chip cookies, lemon blueberry muffins and possibly a homemade biscotti recipe will round out the morning.

Before I rush off and get elbow deep in rice and almond flour, I wanted to share a few photos to get your taste buds going of some past baking times with zesty. I hope you enjoy and be sure to check back in on Wednesday for the results.

Zesty’s Baking Past

Have a great Monday, enjoy the weather if you can and I will see you mid week for some delicious fun.

Take care

zesty

Dark Chocolate Chip Yummy Cookies

zesty — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 14:30:12 +0000

Remember me telling you a while ago that I was slightly addicted to dark chocolate? Well I was not really lying. I seem to eat it multiple times through the week (only in moderation of course) and I love it!! I cannot get enough of it, especially as a little treat after a savory meal.

With that said, I thought to myself about making dark chocolate chip cookies. I mean pretty easy – just substitute the milk chocolate chips in for dark chocolate chips and away you go. Genius, but then I said… what if I eat the whole batch of cookies? Mrs Zesty and little zest’s do not love dark chocolate at all as a matter of fact, zesty junior coins the taste as ” ewww yuck, Dad that is terrible”.

But guess what? I made the cookies anyway and pretty much did eat the whole batch…. go Bowflex!

Ingredients

2/3 Cup Melted Butter
2 Cups Lightly Packed Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Tbsp Hot Water
2 2/3 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/4 Tsp Salt
1 Package (270g) Dark Chocolate Chips

Method

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large mixing bowl, add melted butter, brown sugar, eggs and hot water and mix well.
Stir in the remaining dry ingredients.
Add the chocolate chips and mix thoroughly.
Drop from spoon onto ungreased cookie sheet
Bake at 375 for 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown on the bottom.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: For a chewier thinner cookie, press the dough down with a spatula or fork and make sure you under cook them slightly. I would suggest 7 minutes depending on the thickness. Trial and error as this batch will yield at least 24-36 cookies.

So it is Friday and Monday is a holiday here for us. Whoooo hooooo. We have a sleigh ride slated for tomorrow afternoon but the weather may throw a wrench into that plan. Too early to tell so I will play it by ear. Other than that, I think this weekend may be deemed relaxation and catch up on consulting work. Oh and likely a few Dexter episodes. Have a super Friday and I will catch you Monday for a new week.

Take care

zesty

Would You Like A Snicker Bar Cookie?

zesty — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 13:00:14 +0000

Middle of the week…. Middle of Christmas vacation…. Middle of a cookie with snicker bar….. Oh My! Hey How are you? Time is flying by but I am having a relaxing and fun time home for the holidays. I have to say I am not even on the computer nearly as much as normal despite having a lot of work to do for clients. But this time of the year is time to recharge and get the battery pack full for 2011.

So I wanted to try a new cookie for a holiday event last week and I did a combination of a snicker ball surprise and a cookie. Were they the best cookie ever made…. No not at all. Were they good? Yes they were!

Below is the lowdown on how I came up with this cookies.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup Butter
3/4 Cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/3 Cup Flour
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1/2 Tsp. Vanilla
2 SNICKERS® (cut in sm. pieces)
1/3 Cup Dark Chocolate (Chopped)

Method

Cream butter and sugar until smooth.

Beat in egg.

Stir in other ingredients.

Chill and drop by teaspoon on greased cookie sheet.

Bake in 375 degree oven about 10 minutes.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: This cookies need to be soft! Do Not Overcook. Add a slice of bread to the storage container as well to keep these cookies soft. It really works!

OK, there you have a quick simple cookie for everyone to enjoy. The one negative fact about this cookie besides the fact that it is not great for your hips is that by cutting up the cookie I find that you spread out the taste of the SNICKERS bar and my taste buds were lost. The cookies were good and I think you should try them but I think a better option would be to wrap the cookie dough around bite size pieces of snicker bars…. similar to the snicker ball recipe.

Have a super Wednesday.

Take care

zesty

Crunchy Jumbles

zesty — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 12:00:26 +0000

I hope you survived Halloween. In the new house, for our first Halloween we had 5 kids. Yes you read that right! Living on a quiet street makes for a quiet Halloween with a lot of “junk food” leftover.

What do you think of that name for a cookie? Clever? I think so…. but whatever name you put on these morsels of crunch doesn’t really matter. Last week, one evening zesty junior and I whipped up a batch of these for so called “dessert”. We wanted something easy and quick so we could eat even faster. The ingredient list is pretty simple and we had everything in stock.

They took all of 5 minutes to prepare which is so my style. Zesty Mother in Law makes a very similar cookie to this and I seem to devour those when I visit – so I had a good idea my taste buds would approve.

Tell me what you think of these. I decided to go back with some step by step pictures.

Ingredients

1/2 Cup butter
1 Cup White Sugar
1 Egg
1 Tsp. Vanilla
1 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
1/2 Tsp. Baking Soda
Pinch of Salt
2 Cups of Rice Krispies ( you can also add rainbow bit rice krispies as I did here in the video)
1 Cup Chocolate Chips

Method

Preheat the Oven to 350 Degrees and lightly grease two sheet pans
With an electric mixer, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

Beat in egg and vanilla. Sift over the flour, baking soda and salt; fold in.
Add the cereal and chocolate chips. Stir to mix thoroughly.

Zesty Junior - loves chocolate chips.... leftover stash

Drop spoonfuls of the dough on the prepared sheets.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: For even crunchier cookies add 1/2 cup of walnuts, coarsely chopped with the cereal and chocolate chips.

OK, I have to head to a couple of meetings and if I soon do not stop typing I will be late. Have a super Monday and I will talk to you mid week for some more fun.

Take care

zesty

An Oatmeal Raisin Cookie To Remember

zesty — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 12:00:09 +0000

Help The Students Event: Day 22

Welcome to the finale of Help The Students Event. For the final post, I wanted to share with you a little treat. Nothing over the top, but one of my all time favorite type of cookie – Oatmeal Raisin. Who loves oatmeal raisin cookies? My hand is way up in the air right now and I bouncing in my chair for you to see me. These cookies go down the hatch like water on a hot summer day. I normally eat 5-6 in a sitting with frequent sittings until the batch is gone.

Do you bake cookies and store them in the freezer? I attempted that game plan but failed miserably as all I had left after they cooled were 4 cookies. Whether you are home, in an apartment or a dorm room on campus, this cookies are quick, simple and fun to make. You will not be disappointed with the results. Give them a try.

Ingredients

3 Eggs, well beaten
1 Cup Raisins
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
1 Cup White sugar
2 1/2 Cup flour
1/2 Tsp. Salt
1 Cup Butter
1 Cup Brown sugar
2 Tsp. Baking soda
1 1/2 Cup Oatmeal

Method

Preheat oven at 350 degrees.
Combine eggs, raisins, & vanilla and let stand for 1 hour, covered w/ plastic wrap.
Cream together butter and sugars and then add flour, salt, and baking soda to sugar mixture; mix well.
Blend in egg-raisin mixture, oatmeal.
Drop by using a teaspoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 for 9 – 10 minutes. Let cool on a rack for 10-15 minutes.
ENJOY!

Zesty Tip: There really are two tricks to creating this amazing cookie. Do not over bake and to ensure the soaking of the raisins. If you do not have time to soak the raisins – that is OK and the recipe will still be fine. By soaking you plump up the raisins and make them much juicier thus a moister cookie.

HELP THE STUDENTS EVENT: WRAP-UP

I first want to thank everyone who participated in the event by talking to me and sending me their tips, recipes to share with everyone. I think it was a resounding success from my side of the fence and I will definitely doing something similar in the future. Before we wrap up today I thought it would be fun to give you a little recap of where you can find all the recipes that made up this successful event.

For all the recipes and ideas you can go to the Help The Students Event category and thumb through the recipes. Have a super Thursday and I will see you tomorrow for a wrap up of a fun week.

Take care

zesty

Let's Go Bananas!

zesty — Wed, 19 May 2010 12:00:29 +0000

Happy Wednesday! Ever just feel that there is one food that is so versatile for any meal? I think for me it has to be the banana. Whether it is breakfast, lunch , dinner or dessert - the banana can make you happy. High in potassium and fiber (9 grams for one), bananas are a no-brainer when it comes to eating your five a day quotient of fruits and veggies.

I was contacted by the folks at Endless Simmer and was asked if I would mind if they featured zesty in a post titled “100 things to do with a banana”. Of course I said yes and always more than honored when fellow bloggers choose to feature my recipes and posts. The one that was chosen is my use of banana on the super star toast. Here is a snap shot of the toast if you never saw it before.

Below are a few more banana recipes that I have feature in the past on zesty.

Peanut Butter and Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Monkey

Super Star Toast II

Banana Walnut Bread

Triple Decker Peanut Butter Sandwich

There you have a quick summary on the fabulous food called “BANANA“. Tell me what your favorite ingredient is for anytime throughout the day and feel free to plug your blog if you have one and link to the recipe in the comments.

Have an amazing mid week Wednesday! It is going to be sunny here… finally.

Take care

zesty