No-Bake Cookies

I LOVE these cookies! They are super fast and quite tasty. Chocolate peanut butter goodness! I also love that I can make them in the summer without making my kitchen feel like an oven.

 1/2 cup butter
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup milk
4 Tbsp cocoa
1/2 cup peanut butter
3- 3 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
2 tsp. vanilla Add the first 4 ingredients in a saucepan.  Bring to a rolling boil, and boil for 1 minute.  Stir in the next 3 ingredients.   Drop onto wax/foil/parchment paper. Let cool until set.  Yep, it's that easy :-)

These are some of my favorite cookies!

Pizookie

 I'm not sure why I had never heard of these before, but when I had one at a local dessert cafe I fell in love. It's so simple, but tastes amazing. It basically a cookie in a cup, topped with ice cream. Today was my last day of school (teachers love summers just as much as the kids, probably even more) and this dessert seems fitting to celebrate with. Cookie dough - Use your favorite homemade recipe or store-bought, I don't think it really matters. I just made the recipe from the back of my chocolate chip bag.Ice creamOptional: You can add some chocolate, caramel sauce, whipped cream, sprinkles, whatever your heart desires...  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Make your cookie dough (or take store-bought kind out of your fridge). Fill ramekins half full of cookie dough. Bake about 14 minutes, or until they are browned around the edges (middles will still be soft).  Top with a scoop of ice cream. Enjoy!    This is a very fast, and simple dessert, but it tastes perfect! The warm, gooey center is to die for! And I love the hot cookie/cold ice cream combo :-)

Cookie Dough Stuffed Cinnamon Rolls

Do you like cookie dough? Do you like cinnamon rolls? How about combing those two favorites into a crazy delicious combination...

Three words:  Best Combination Ever!

 
For the Cinnamon Rolls:
2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sugar
1 package dry yeast (or 2 1/4 teaspoons)
4 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
melted butter
cinnamon
sugar

  For the cookie dough:
2 sticks softened butter
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tbsp milk
1 tbsp vanilla
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup mini chocolate chips 

  
For Vanilla Cream Glaze:1 heaping cup of powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 1/2 tablespoons milk

 I first saw this combination at How Sweet It Is. I knew I had to try it. Cinnamon rolls are good, but stuff those with more cookie dough goodness.... irresistible! I worried about using a cookie dough with eggs because it might not cook enough, so I opted for an egg-free dough I found at Kevin & Amanda's blog. Anyways, if you're wondering how to make these glorious rolls... here we go...
Cinnamon Rolls:Mix the milk, sugar and oil in a large pot. Scald the mixture, then let cool for one hour.
**I'm going to be honest, I had no idea what scalding was. I had to look it up. Basically you heat the mixture to the point right before boiling. This happens at 185 degrees F, so I used my candy thermometer because I was afraid of messing up.

When it has cooled (but is still slightly warm), sprinkle the yeast into the milk mixture and let it sit for a minute.

Add four cups of flour and mix until a dough forms, then cover and let rise for at least one hour.

Before Rising

After Rising

After an hour, add the remaining 1/2 cup of flour, baking soda and powder and mix. Use your hands to make sure the dough completely comes together.

Flour your workspace and roll the dough with a rolling pin until it’s thin and somewhat rectangular.

Then brush with melted butter (as much as you want).

 Generously cover with cinnamon and sugar.

 Drops balls of cookie dough all over the cinnamon roll dough, then starting with the end away from you, roll the dough into a line towards you. Roll tight!

 Slice the rolls about 1 inch thick and lay in pans that have been brushed with melted butter. Let the rolls rise for about 30 minutes.

 Bake at 400 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

See that oozing cookie dough... it's pretty much a bite of heaven.

 Cookie Dough:

Combine the butter and sugars in a mixing bowl and cream on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 mins. Beat in milk and vanilla until incorporated and smooth. Beat in the flour and salt until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips (I used chocolate and white chocolate swirled chips because I couldn't pass them up when I saw them at the grocery store). 

**This makes more cookie dough than needed for the cinnamon rolls. I was happy to eat some and save some extra in the fridge for later. If you don't want extra cookie dough you can cut the recipe in half.

Vanilla Cream Glaze:

Add sugar to bowl and stir in heavy cream and vanilla until mixture resembles a thick batter. Add milk one tablespoon at a time, stirring until smooth – about 3-5 full minutes. Mixture may look lumpy at first but just continue to stir and it will come together. Pour over cinnamon rolls.

Sugar Cookies with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting

These are Jirik's favorite cookie!. I've been meaning to make them for a while now, but I finally got around to it this weekend. I really enjoy this recipe as it is pretty easy to roll out to make cut outs. Most of them are plain circles though because all of my cookie cutters are holiday shapes, and I wasn't making these for any holiday. I topped some of the cookies with a lemon cream cheese frosting. Yum!

 

Cookies: 3 sticks butter, softened2 cups sugar4 eggs1 teaspoon vanilla extract5 cups flour2 teaspoons baking powder1 teaspoon salt
Frosting:1/2 stick butter1 8-oz pkg. cream cheese1 teaspoon vanilla 3 cups powdered sugarlemon extract to taste  Sugar Cookies (If you don't have time to make them from scratch, I like the Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix.)

In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt. 

 

Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour (or overnight). 

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out dough on floured surface 1/4 to 1/2 inch thick. Cut into shapes with any cookie cutter. 

I made a few shapes, but with most of them I just rolled them into balls and pressed the flat side of a cup onto the cookie ball to flatten it. With some of them I dipped the cup in colored sugar before pressing into the dough ball. 

Place cookies 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheets. I used parchment paper for easy removal. Bake 6 minutes in preheated oven. Cool completely. 

  Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting Cream butter, sugar, and vanilla until smooth. 

 Slowly mix in powdered sugar until smooth and creamy. Add lemon extract to taste. Frost!