Vanilla Bean Coconut Macaroons

You might have noticed that I go through phases with my cooking and baking. I will cook the same type of foods for a few weeks or months and then move onto something new. Well, welcome to the treat phase. My brain has been thinking up all sorts of fattening, sugary ideas. Cupcakes, cookies, hot chocolates, puddings. It's all on it's way. I find it convenient that all of these ideas have bombarded me during Christmas. Maybe it has something to do with peppermint extract. I have a thing for peppermint extract right now. And white chocolate too.

Oh how pungent the vanilla bean was in these little cookies. It made these macaroons rich. Such a great depth of flavor. Some of the macaroons stayed naked and some were given pants, red pants to be precise. My grocery store had cherry baking chips. So I melted some up and dipped half of the macaroons in it. Very festive.



1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and all the black goop scraped out with the back of a paring knife
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 cups sweetened shredded coconut (14 oz)
3 egg white, at room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cream of tartar

Set oven to 325 degrees. Spray two cookie sheets with non-stick spray or line with Silpats and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine sweetened condensed milk, vanilla bean goo and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine, until vanilla specks are evenly mixed. Fold in shredded coconut and set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine eggs white, salt and cream of tartar. With a hand mixer on medium speed, whip egg white until soft peaks form. Fold egg white into coconut mixture.

With a cookie scoop or two tablespoons, scoop mounds of coconut mixture onto a cookie sheet, spacing them one inch apart. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the edges and tops are lightly browned. Let cool completely on cookie sheets before removing. Store in an airtight container.

Yields 24 macaroons.

Rookie's Notes: Why vanilla bean and vanilla extract? Because I am a miser with my vanilla beans. I love the flavor and one bean was enough to get the deep vanilla flavor. Two would have been great, but I didn't want to part with another one, so vanilla extract was use.

For EXCELLENT prices on vanilla beans, Arizona Vanilla Company is where it's at. Thanks to my friend Mindy for the heads up.

Cookie Makes a Comeback 2009

Here it is. Cookie Makes a Comeback 2009 Master List. There are some delightful recipes on here and I am excited to give them a go. Hopefully some of these give you the urge to pull out your cookie sheets. Happy Baking!


Cookies on a Stick by Sydney's Cafe

Giant Ginger Cookies by A Bountiful Kitchen

Cannoli Cookie Sandwiches by Good Life Eats

Soft Sugar Cookies with Cherry Cream Cheese Frosting by Gina's Favorite Recipes

Fabulous Chocolate Chip Cookies by Gina's Favorite Recipes

Maple Pistachio Crèmes by Remark from Sparks

Peanut Butter Fudge Puddles by Family Favorite Recipes, submitted by Kalle Davis

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies by A Time To Eat

Butterscotch Chip Cookies by Shmorganza

Softest Oatmeal Cookies by This Is Us

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies by The Judd Family

Peanut Butter Banana Elvis Cookies by Yummables

Grandma Holdaway's Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies by Lovely By M

Snickers Cookies by Something a Little Happier

Haystack Cookies by Jaime and Jen Dish

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies by Cookie Sheets and Cake Pans

Choc Chip Cookies by The Jackson Five

Oatmeal Cookie Sandwiches by Whatcha Got Cookin?

Probably The Best Peanut Butter Cookies Ever by Ray Ray Says

Chocolate Chip Cookies by Jessica Makin, submitted via e-mail:
Jessica M.'s Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla
3/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
3 cups flour

1 bag choc chips (I use half milk and half white chocolate, I like the flavor combination, but it depends on what you prefer. Splurge on the Ghirardelli chips.
Totally worth it.)

Cream together butter, and both sugars for a good 5-6 minutes, until the batter can hold peaks (kind of like when you make whipped cream). Add the eggs and mix for another couple minutes. Add vanilla and mix. Combine salt, baking soda and flour and slowly add to the mixture. After fully combined, add your choice of chocolate chips. Unless you have a Kitchen Aid/Bosch mixer you will have to add the choc chips by hand. my hand mixer gets tired after I add the flour!

Bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes. Enjoy!

I've found with this recipe that the real key is mixing each ingredient for several minutes. They bake nicer when you take the time to do it. Definitely worth it! If you decide to double the recipe, it makes A LOT of cookies. Also, if you double it, only use 3 eggs, not 4. The recipe above is actually half of the original recipe, but it makes a more reasonable amount of cookies.

No Bake Cookies by Jackie, submitted via e-mail:
Jackie's No Bake Cookies
Bring to a boil:
1 cube butter
2 c sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c milk
1 c peanut butter

Mix in 3 1/2 c quick oats ~ Drop on waxed paper, (cheap sandwich bags also work well for kids to stick their hand right into) ~ Place in freezer to chill at least 45mins before serving, (when wax paper is pulled away from bottom of cookie-cookie should stand out stiff)

Pina Colada Cookies by Emily Eyre, submitted via e-mail
Emily E.'s Pina Colada Cookies
1 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
4 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1-20 oz can crushed pineapple, drained

Set oven to 350 degrees. Cream the shortening, sugar and brown sugar together. Add the vanilla and eggs. Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Mix well. Stir in crushed pineapple. Place balls of dough on cookie sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool and spread frosting on top.

Frosting Any whipped vanilla frosting a few drops coconut extract shredded coconut (the amount is up to you) *if you're not a coconut fan, whipped cream cheese or just plain vanilla are excellent too!


A big cyber high five to my ladies that submitted. Thanks for all your delicious looking recipes! Hope to see you again next year!

Cookie Makes a Comeback 2009

I am bringing the cookie back. That's right ladies.
It's time the cookie was brought back into the spotlight.
Scoot over cupcakes!
You have some competition!

Why should the cookie make a come back? Simply because they are better. Cookies are easier to make, don't take as long to bake and the possibilities are endless. Sorry cupcake, you aren't as special as you thought.

To spread the revolution, we are having a cookie recipe blitz appropriately named "Cookie Makes a Comeback". On Monday, May 18, I will be posting your cookie recipes. From now until May 18th, make your favorite cookie recipe and post it. Send me the link to your post by May 18th and I will compile all the cookie recipes into one fabulous list. Please be sure it is a new post and not something you posted previously. Not a food blogger? Not to worry. You don't need to be a food blogger to share your favorite cookie. E-mail your link to whitney_leigh_ingram@yahoo.com

So get out your flour and sugar and leave the muffin tins in the cupboard. This is the cookie's time to shine.

I have unchained my graphic designer from her basement hovel so that she could make us a button. Spread the word of this revolution and recipe blitz. Post about this and tell everyone. It is time we give the cookie its just dues.


<center><a href="http://www.rookie-cookie.com/2009/05/cookie-makes-comeback-2009_18.html"><img src="http://i290.photobucket.com/albums/ll244/knuckleheaders/CookieComebackButtonA.png"></a></center>

Here's to the cookie, whether it be chocolate-chipped or frosted!
Here's to grabbing a little stack of cookies
and nibbling while you watch "The Office"!
Here's to eating a treat with ONE HAND!!!
Step down cupcakes of the world
and make way for the classic of the ages!

Chocolate Caramel Cookies

The geniuses over at Kraft are brilliant. You know the little square caramels wrapped in plastic? Well, those are now in chocolate chip form. Kraft Premium Caramel Bits. These cookies were their fate. Chocolate cookie with gooey caramel and melted chocolate chips? Yes please.

I have made mention of my sister Mal and her upcoming nuptials (I actually hate that word). She has this huge surge of desire to learn anything domestic. Since I cook pretty much constantly, she has requested that I include her in all culinary chores and experiments. When making these cookies, I realized that her presence from here on is crucial. The child needs some serious guidance.

I instructed her to measure out the dry ingredients. She did so as I creamed the butter. I then told her to measure out the sugar. She did that and promptly put the sugar with the other dry ingredients. GAH! No! The poor little thing didn't know about creaming the butter and sugar together. I took out what sugar I could salvage and we moved on.

Once the butter and sugar were whirling together, I told Mal to get the eggs out of the fridge. Then before I know it, she is cracking one into the dry ingredients! Luckily, I caught her before any egg white came oozing out of the shell. My little Mallory, stay close. I will teach you everything you need to know.



2 cups flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup caramel bits or chopped up caramel squares
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Set oven to 350°F.

Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar. Add eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in caramel bits and chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes or just until set. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely.

Irene's Butter Cookies

Irene was our back fence neighbor when we were growing up. The only things I really knew about Irene were that she made sugar cookies to give out to trick-or-treaters, she had gray hair and her kids were smart. They were the kind of kids that were toilet trained by 9 months- no joke.

Another thing about Irene was that she saved my life. I was in the backyard sitting in the tree swing and spinning around. I wasn't paying attention and my hair got stuck in the rope of the swing. So I screamed and screamed and my mother didn't hear me. But Irene did. She hurdled over the fence like an Olympic track star and rescued me. Wait a minute, I think that was one of my sisters and not me. I don't know. Either way, she saved one of our lives.


I mostly made these because of the terrible butter cookies everyone gets at Christmas. You know the ones. They are called butter cookies, but they are so obviously made with sawdust. The only thing they are good for are unknowing toddlers and maybe making a pie crust with. Irene's butter cookies are scads better than Christmas sawdust cookies. I had to make these to prove to my family that the crap cookies we got were gross. These are buttery and melt in your mouth. They taste best when they come right out of the oven.



1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 cup powdered sugar
1 cup oil
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp salt

Set the oven to 350 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar, powdered sugar and oil. Beat until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition and being sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl. Stir in the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cream and tartar and salt. Whisk to combine. Add to the wet ingredients and mix until combined, but being sure not to over-mix.

Scoop balls of dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until sides are barely browned. Immediately remove cookies from the cookie sheet and set on a cooling rack.

Rookie's Notes: If you want the cookies to glisten a little, roll the dough balls in some sugar before baking.

Root Beer Cookies

What? Root beer cookies? Like cookies with root beer in them? Sounds good, right? Actually, it gets better. How about cookies with those little root beer barrel candies in them? Now we're talking.

As I post this, Ethan is demanding I give him credit for these. Here Ethan, hold your hands out, here is a heaping spoonful of credit.

When Ethan and I first got married, I did the baking and he did the cooking. It wasn't really specified like that, that's just the way it was. He was better at one and I was better at the other. One day, he decided to broaden his horizons and bake. He went through some of his mom's cookbooks and found this recipe. We went on the hugest hunt for root beer barrels. I remember we went to like four store in one day looking for them.

These cookies involve a bunch of root beer barrels being crushed into crumbs and then mixing them in like chocolate chips. In the oven, the little candy chunks turn into gooey globs of root beer goodness. If that isn't enough, you top the cookies with a root beer glaze, made with actual root beer. This might not be the most festive of treats, but it is one of the most delicious and fun.



2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp allspice
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1/3 cup finely crushed root beer barrel candies

Root Beer Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
3-5 teaspoons root beer

Set oven to 350°.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and allspice.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, and mix until incorporated. Stir in the flour mixture and crushed candies.

Drop dough using a tablespoon cookie scoop onto parchment lined baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden. Let cool for 1 minute and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a small bowl, combine powdered sugar and enough root beer to thin out the glaze. Drizzle over the cooled cookies.

Rookie's Notes: On how to crush these up; there are lots of way. You could put them in a ziploc bag and take a hammer to them. You could chew them up in your mouth and spit them into the batter. You could get your really rambunctious toddler to jump on them. You could get a train to run over them. Or you could use one of those fancy little hand choppers like I did.

Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

So I post a lot of recipes, right? You people must think that I am nuts. Maybe you think I have nothing better to do than dirty dishes and clean them up. Or maybe you think I am REALLY fat. All these yummy things I post have to be eaten by someone. :)

But the truth is, cooking and baking are therapy for me. I'm not going to lie, moving away from my Southern California home has been hard. Ethan and I are quite good at throwing pitty parties for ourselves. When so much isn't consistent in my life, cooking is.

So I guess I could say that my best food is busted out when my life is hectic. Feel bad for me. Or just take advantage of my situation and come over and I will cook for you.



1 cup butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 cups quick oats
Peanut Butter Molasses Buttercream, recipe follows

Set oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and peanut butter together in a large mixer on high. Add the sugar, brown sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until the mixture is fluffy. Add the egg and beat until combined. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and oats together in a separate bowl and add to the butter mixture. Mix until well combined.

Place the batter onto a sheet pan by the tablespoonful, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake until the cookies are golden, about 10 minutes. Remove and let cool.
When the cookies are completely cool, put a teaspoonful of the butter cream. Top with the remaining cookies, pressing down until the filling squeezes out a bit. Refrigerate until ready to serve.

Peanut Butter Molasses Buttercream:
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup peanut butter
¾ cup powdered sugar
2 Tbsp molasses
1 Tbsp heavy cream
Pinch salt

Cream the butter and peanut butter together using an electric mixer. Add the sugar and molasses and beat until thick and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the heavy cream and salt and beat one additional minute. Spread on the cookies immediately.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is my sister Haley.

She is adorable. Especially when she is loving up my boys. She is so sweet to them and I appreciate that in people.

Haley and I made these cookies and ate WAY TOO MANY. But we had to. The time allotted for pumpkin consumption is short. We only have a few months out of the year to get it all in. So we were only doing what was necessary.

Three ingredients, only three. ANYONE can make these.



1 box spice cake mix
1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1 bag chocolate chips (milk or semi-sweet, whatever you like)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Combine the cake mix and the pumpkin. Add the chocolate chips and stir well. Spoon mounds of dough onto a cookie sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and allow to cool. Give one to each person in your family and then hide the rest for yourself.

Queen of Hearts Jam Tarts

The little puddin' head that helped me.

Have you ever noticed the little picture on the right column of my blog called "Rookie Reads"? Well, you should. That shows what cookbook I have been marking up with sticky notes. It might be a cookbook from the library (yes, the library has cookbooks. Borrow some and then break the law and photocopy recipes out of them), one I already had that I am falling in love with again or a new one.

This recipe is from "The Mother Goose Cookie-Candy Book" (see Rookie Reads at the right), a book my sisters and I had when we were little. I am rediscovering it and loving it.



1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp lemon juice
1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup sugar, poured onto a plate
Jam or jelly (we used homemade organic blackberry jam. Just kidding, don't you hate it when people do that? We just used regular Smucker's blackberry. Why do people feel the need to patronize me with their food adjectives?)

In a large bowl, cream the butter with a hand mixer. Gradually add the sugar to the butter and beat until light and fluffy.

Add each egg, beating between additions. Add vanilla extract and lemon juice. Sift together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. Combine the flour mixture with the butter mixture and mix well. Chill in the fridge for 1/2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Scoop out a small amount of dough and roll it in the sugar on the plate. Place the dough on a greased cookie sheet. With your thumb, make a small indentation. In the indentation, add a small amount of jam (use a 1/2 tsp measuring spoon). Repeat with the rest of the dough. The cookie do spread alot, so do not put anymore than 8 dough balls on a tray.

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from tray and cool on a cooling rack. Allow the cookie to cool completely. That jam gets REALLY freaking hot.

Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

I have this jar of Nutella in my cupboard. And it gets used for all the wrong reasons. An addition to a peanut butter banana sandwich. A spoonful to accompany me while at the computer. Dips from Jack’s chubby little fingers. I think we are totally underestimating Nutella around here. Hopefully this will do justice to this glorious spread.



1 3/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup Nutella
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 oz white chocolate, chopped

Set the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In another medium bowl, combine the Nutella, butter, sugar and brown sugar. Cream the ingredients together, about 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and blend until incorporated. Stir in the dry ingredients, just until incorporated.

Shape the cookie dough into walnut-sized balls. Place the cookies on a cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove cookies with a spatula and cool on a wire rack.

Melt the white chocolate in a glass bowl in the microwave for 30 seconds. Transfer to a zip top bag. Snip the corner of the bag and evenly squeeze the white chocolate onto the cooled cookies.

Ginger Softs

Christmas in July at it’s finest. Anything with ginger, cinnamon and cloves reminds me of the holidays. Jessica commented on my blog a while ago (pre-Van) asking if I knew of any recipes for ginger snaps that were soft. Well, a ginger snap is a ginger snap because it isn’t soft. So these are ginger softs.

Jessica, I hope you guys enjoy. These could also help with any morning sickness you might have right now. Ginger is a natural stomach soother. So eat as many of these as medicinally necessary. BTW, your daughter is absolutely beautiful.



2 1/4 cups flour

2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp water
1/4 cup molasses
2 Tbsp white sugar

Sett oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and 1 cup sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the egg, then stir in the water and molasses. Add the flour mixture into the molasses mixture. Shape dough into walnut sized balls, and roll them in the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar. Place the cookies 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet, and flatten slightly.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

UPDATE 7/6: These cookies have officially disappeared as of this morning. After Ethan got home last night, I asked him if he had tried any and he replied, "Yeah, I tried 3 of them." The rest of the cookies left the house hiding in a paper towel for a mid-church snack.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yesterday I was bored. I seem to want to bake when I am bored. Recently, I realized I haven’t been true to myself. I haven’t made cookies in ages. Cookies are my thing. I love cookies and they love me. But alas, I haven’t been much of a cookie baker lately. That all changed today and today’s baked good was oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. I would do raisins, but Ethan hates them. Such a shame.



1½ cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1½ cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp salt
3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
1½-2 cups chocolate chips (depending on your preference)

Set oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, cream sugar, brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Mix well and then add to the mixing bowl. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips.

On a greased cookie sheet, drop rounded spoonfuls of the dough 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are browned. Let cool on cookie sheets for one minute before transferring to a wire rack.

Rookie’s Notes: Yes, you have to grease the cookie sheets. And I recommend Pam’s Baking Spray. It smells so dang good. If they had it in a perfume, I would buy it and I would smell like delicious cookies all the time.

The credit for this recipe goes to Janeen. My dad thinks she made up this recipe. But she actually got it from one of my mom’s cookbooks. But we will just let my dad think Janeen is a genius.

Mocha Chocolate Meringues

I can't really take too much credit for making these. Megan did all the mixing and I just dumped in the ingredients. But over all, these were easy and GOOD. Jack couldn't get enough. And neither could I.



3/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp cornstarch
3 egg whites, room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp instant espresso powder
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Set oven to 300 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together sugar and cornstarch and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat egg whites and salt on medium speed until frothy. Beating constantly, add sugar mixture 1 tablespoon at a time. Beat until stiff, glossy peaks form, 6 to 8 minutes total (scrape down the bowl halfway through). Add espresso powder and cocoa and beat until well blended. With a rubber spatula, fold in chocolate chips.

Drop batter by level tablespoons onto prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake until crisp, about 40 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Cool completely on sheets, about 20 minutes.

Rookie's Notes: Meringue can be fussy. I think the trick to these is separating the egg whites and then let them come to room temperature. Megan is the meringue expert and she made sure we did that. It seemed to work because the egg whites were stiff and glossy like they should have been.

Snickerdoodles

This is my ma’s recipe. And it is a good one. The Christmas after I got married, my mom gave me a recipe book filled with the recipes I grew up with. Things like chicken tamale pie, frozen cranberry salad and her Sunday roast. I am so glad I have this book because I can make Jack the things I grew up loving. Side note: isn’t snickerdoodle the dumbest word you have ever heard?



2¾ cups flour
2 tsp cream of tartar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup shortening
1½ cups sugar
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
Cinnamon sugar, for rolling dough

Set oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cream of tartar, salt and baking soda. Whisk to combine and set aside. In another medium bowl, cream butter, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in vanilla and eggs until combined. Add flour mixture and mix until combined.

Roll dough into little balls and roll in cinnamon sugar. Set on baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

Rookie’s notes: When it comes to the baking time, do not wait for them to brown on the edges like most cookies. The longer you bake them, the tougher they will be. And some of the flavor gets lost. My first batch wasn’t as good as the second because I let it sit in the oven until they looked done. The second batch was much better because when they came out, they looked a little undone, but once they cooled, they were excellent. Also, to make a good ratio for cinnamon sugar, follow this- ½ cup sugar and 1 Tbsp. cinnamon.

Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

This recipe is my first post on my new Rookie Cookie blog. The maiden voyage should be a recipe that is important and something I am familiar with. Meet peanut butter cookie cups. They are so sinful you might have to repent to the bishop after eating them.

A friend of ours from church had ankle surgery yesterday so to cheer him up, I made these. It is also a good excuse to make them- they are insanely good.



½ cup butter, softened
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ tsp vanilla
1¼ cups flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
1 small bag of Reese’s peanut butter cups

Set oven to 375°.

Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg, peanut butter, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and combine and until smooth.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to creamy mixture. Roll dough into walnut-sized balls and place in a greased mini muffin tin.

Bake for 8-9 minutes. Remove from the oven and press a peanut butter cup inside each cookie. Let them sit for 10 minutes before removing. ENJOY!