Day 31: Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

So the health talk thing didn't work out. It may have been better to do it at a location that's not our house. We should have known people aren't going to go to a strangers house..it's just not comfortable. And it's a lot easier to say "yea sure we'll come" and not show up than it is to tell us to our face their not gonna come. That's something Matt also experienced a lot as a missionary trying to get people to come to church. Anyway we learned a lot from it, mostly what not to do. We're still doing the cookie thing because that's not the reason we started it. But we're not going to be inviting people to come to anything anymore, instead we'll just meet them, give them our contact info and leave it at that. We started this because it sounded like a fun idea. However, instead of everyday we're going to cut back to about once a week.. just for the fact that it's a lot.. a lot of time, effort and money. From now on i'll start posting by week number instead of day. I'm thinking Wednesday's sound like a good day to do it..we'll see.
With that said, I still made cookies for today. We had a lot of carrots leftover from yesterday so I thought i'd use some and make carrot cake cookies! It didn't take up nearly as many as i'd hoped..but i'll find something else to do with the rest i'm sure. These are really good, I was going to put some very finely chopped walnuts in, but I forgot. And I left out the raisins.

Carrot Cake Sandwich Cookies

Makes about 25 sandwiches
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots, (about 3 large carrots)
1 cup raisins
Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpat baking mats or parchment paper, and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine sugars and butter; beat until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla, and beat on medium speed until well combined.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger; stir to combine. Gradually add flour to butter mixture; mix on a low speed until just blended. Mix in oats, carrots, and raisins. Chill dough in refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour.
Using a 1/2-ounce ice-cream scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Transfer to oven, and bake until browned and crisped, rotating pan halfway through baking to ensure even color, 12 to 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat baking process with remaining dough. Once cooled completely, use an offset spatula to spread about 2 teaspoons of cream-cheese filling onto a cookie. Sandwich together with a second cookie. Repeat with remaining cookies. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days in the refrigerator.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Makes about 2 cups
8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into pieces, room temperature
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Place cream cheese in a medium mixing bowl. Using a rubber spatula, soften cream cheese. Gradually add butter, and continue beating until smooth and well blended. Sift in confectioners' sugar, and continue beating until smooth. Add vanilla, and stir to combine.

Day 30: Sweetie Pies

We went to 3 places again today. They were all really good contacts. The first place we saw the lady outside so we to her. All the places we went to today have been in the neighborhood for a long time. She lived there with her husband and 10 yr. old daughter and she's 9 wks pregnant also. The next couple was an older man and woman and they told us we should go to their neighbors, so we did. One of the lady's there has diabetes and wouldn't be able to eat the cookies but the other lady could (and said they were good) and her granddaughter was there visiting today. We also went around to (almost all the houses) that we've visited and just left reminders for today on the door. A lot of people have told us they have plans already but some said they would come.

This recipe one of my best friends, Jessica, sent me. A lady made these for Sunday school at church and she said they were really good. And they were good. They tasted just like brownies. I think these would also be good with nuts in them, if you like nuts in your cookies, or brownies. I would also suggest just mixing the marshmallows and chocolate chips into the dough rather than doing them individually. I'm sure it would yield the same results but without all the extra work.

Sweetie Pies

3 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1 cup white sugar

1cup light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup salted butter, softened

2 large eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 cups miniature marshmallows

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa and baking soda. Set aside. Combine sugars in a large bowl. Blend in butter. Add eggs and vanilla, and whip till light and fluffy. Add the flour mixture and blend until well combined. Batter will be stiff.

Take a heaping tablespoonful of dough, and flatten it out in your palm. Place 4 marshmallows and 3 chocolate chips in the center and wrap the dough around them, completely encasing them and forming a 2-inch diameter dough ball.

Place balls on ungreased baking sheets, 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cool on pan 2 minutes, then transfer to a cool, flat surface-like the counter. A rack is not good for these cookies, as it causes them to break apart. They are very soft till they are well cooled. This recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Day 29: Zucchini Cookies

We met quite a few people today. We went to 3 house and they were all famlies with kids. The first house we went to lives right behind us, our backyards face eachother. The next one was a man that has 4 kids and is living with his parents since his house in Tracy burned down. On our way back home there was a lady walking and she stopped us and talked for a little bit. She lives a couple streets down and has been here for 60 years. She has 19 grandchildren. We invited her to come tomorrow and she said she'd stop by since she's usually out walking around that time and she doesn't have any kids or anything around.
Yesterday I picked the first zucchini from our garden. So what did I decide to do with my zucchini? Make cookies of course! I've never had a zucchini cookie before..last year my mom sent me a recipe from chocolate chip zucchini cookies but I never got around to trying it. I still haven't. I thought i'd try a different one this time since i've already given you a few recipes with chocolate chips. I really think the chocolate chips would have made this cookie a lot better though (to me atleast). I'm not really a big fan of spice type cookies, like ginger cookies or anything like that. I'll eat them..but I don't really care for them. However if you're into those kinds of things this might be somethin worth trying out. These are very soft and much like a cake. I left the raisins out of mine. Don't forget, tomorrow, our back yard, be there.

Zucchini Cookies

1/2 cup margarine, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 cup grated zucchini
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1 cup raisins

In a medium bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar until smooth. Beat in the egg then stir in the zucchini. Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into the zucchini mixture. Mix in raisins. Cover dough and chill for at least 1 hour or overnight.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Drop dough by teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheet. Cookies should be about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven until set. Allow cookies to cool slightly on the cookie sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely

Day 28: Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies (copycat)

The first place we went to today was a lady that lived by herself. She has a couple dogs and a cat. I thought we should go by there since we've seen her outside before and I thought she lived alone since we never saw anyone else. We also went by another house and we heard the people inside but they didn't come to the door..weird. Then we walked up and down the street trying to randomly pick a place, it's not as easy as it sounds. We picked a good one though. It was a younger family and they had a 3 month old baby boy. They were really nice and said they may come to our thing Saturday. We haven't asked anyone for referrals in a long time since (atleast the people that lived on our street) always said their neighbor, so we just figured we'd go to the whole neighborhood. So we might start asking people again if they know anyone.
Have you ever been to Levain bakery? Or even heard of it? I've never been there either, it's in New York. But they make huge cookies! And of course they keep their recipe secret, but there are people who try to copycat it. On their website they even have a list of a few links to copycat recipes people have come up with. I tried the one from vanillakitchen, and although I can't compare it to the original, it seemed to have been pretty close! The cookies came out huge and tasted great! I'm not gonna tell you how many I ate, but as hard as it is, you gotta be careful since 1 of these is equal to probably about 2 or 3 regular sized cookies. The first batch I made came out somewhat flatter, but I think because I didn't cook them long enough; they had a doughier taste to them. The next 2 batches came out fat, both were equally delicious. Maybe if I would have taken them out of the oven a little sooner they would have been gooier like the originals. Ok, so the first photo is an actual cookie from Levain bakery, the next 2 pics are the copycat ones I made. p.s. In my pics you can see one of my flatter ones in the background.

*I only used about 1/2 c. walnuts and put the dough in the freezer for a few minutes before making the first batch of dough balls. While the cookies baked, I stored the rest of the dough in the refrigerator. You could make the dough the night before and just let it chill in the fridge for use the next day.

Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut copycats

8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, (cold & shredded like cheese)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 cups all purpose flour

3/4 ts sea salt

1 and ¼ ts baking powder

1/2 ts baking soda

12 ounces (2 cups) good quality semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

1 cup walnuts

If using dough right away, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. (It’s best to chill, though) (note: keep in mind this is a very dry dough, and will be hard to mix once you put the chips and nuts in) Take the butter and using a cheese grater, shred the butter into a bowl, put it back in the freezer until ready to use. In a mixing bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and both sugars just until just combined. Don’t overbeat. Add the egg and vanilla and beat just until incorporated. Stir together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. When thoroughly mixed, add to batter and stir just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. Divide dough into 12 big 4 oz lumps. (I weighed the dough on a scale, kitchen scales are great, if you don't have one, you might wanna think about it). Mold into giant golfballs; do not press flat! Keep them as balls on the cookie sheets. Bake on ungreased cookies sheets (one sheet at a time). Put the cookies in a 375 degree oven and set timer for 8 minutes. When timer rings, without opening oven or removing cookies, reduce heat to 325 degrees and bake for another 8-10 minutes or until cookies appear set. OR at 365 degrees for 18-22 minutes or until done.

Makes about 12

Day 27: Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bars

We had 3 plates for deliveries today but instead we just took them all to one house since we saw there were a lot of people. We walked by and there were some people on the porch, they were having a birthday party at their house. It was a pretty big family. None of the people that were outside on the porch lived there but they all lived close by.
I'm not that big of a fan of peanut butter. It's not that I dislike it, but I don't crave it or enjoy it nearly as much as I do chocolate. I made these a little bit different than the recipe (found on pillsbury website). First of all I didnt have crunchy pb so I used creamy. And after spreading the pb on the top I broke up 3 regular sized Hersheys bars and put it on top and after about a minute I spreaded it. Then instead of drizzling chocolate over the top of the marshmallows I did caramel. The photo (and recipe) is from Pillsbury so mine looked a little different. They didn't mush up at all like some bars.












This was Rylee when she was about 2 months old. Our little cookie monster in training :)

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Bars

1/2 cup Crisco Butter Shortening Sticks, plus additional for greasing
1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup Jif Extra Crunchy Peanut Butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 salt
1/2 cup Jif Creamy Peanut Butter
4 cups miniature marshmallows
1/2 cup Smucker's Chocolate Sundae Syrups Ice Cream Topping

1. HEAT oven to 350ºF. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish with shortening.
2. COMBINE brown sugar, 1/2 cup shortening, peanut butter, sugar and egg in a large bowl. Beat at medium speed of electric mixer until well blended.
3. MIX flour, baking powder and salt. Add gradually to creamed mixture at low speed. Beat until well blended. Cover. Refrigerate 15 minutes. Press into prepared dish. Bake 20 minutes or until light brown. Do not overbake. Cool 2 to 3 minutes.
4. PLACE peanut butter in microwave-safe measuring cup. Microwave on HIGH (100% power) for 1 minute. Pour over cookie base. Spread to cover. Cover with marshmallows. Drizzle chocolate syrup over marshmallows.
5. RETURN to oven. Bake 5 minutes or until marshmallows are light brown. Do not overbake. Loosen from sides of dish with knife. Remove dish to cooling rack. Cool completely. Cut with sharp greased knife into 2 x 2-inch bars. Yield: 2 dozen bars

Day 26: Peppermint Patties (No Bake)

It kind of sucks knocking doors. Usually we knock on a few before someone opens the door. We have a baby, and cookies it's not like we're salesmen..Today we went to 2 places then the 3rd was another chiro student's place. Then we knocked on a door and the man (i dont think he had very good english) just said no no no and that was about it we said ook...And the person next to him Matt saw peek through his blinds but they didnt open the door. Then the next one was a lady, she wasn't feeling very good and she didnt want our cookies, she said we woke her up so we just said ok maybe we'll come visit you when you feel better. Then the last house was a man and woman they were from China and had poor English but atleast they were nice. They took our cookies and said they've been here since 1996, the woman used to live in SF. It's awesome when you get people that are really friendly, it's a lot easier to keep it up but when people don't care it's like why bother? Anyway, we've meet a lot of good people and that's what it's about!
This recipe was found on joyofbaking. I don't really know what these would be classified as..not really a cookie, maybe candy? mint? Anyway these taste just like the York candy or those little ones in the bag with the silver and green wrapper. They're gluten and egg free for anyone with those issues. They are soo easy to make and takes no time at all! Except while they're chilling..but put them in the freezer and they're done in no time! It depends on how big/thick you make yours but I got 19 out of this recipe.

Peppermint Patties

Ingredients:

2 cups confectioners sugar
1 1/2 tbsp. unsalted butter
2 tsp. mint extract or 1 tsp. peppermint ext.
1/4 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp. heavy cream
8 oz. dark or bittersweet chocolate
1 tbsp. vegetable shortening

Directions:
1. With standing mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the sugar, butter, extracts and heavy cream. Add the ingredients in that order so they combine correctly.
2. Once the ingredients are combined, turn the mixer to medium speed and beat another minute or 2 til the mixture looks a bit like a paste.
3. Line a cookie sheet with waxed paper and using a teaspoon , scoop out a small amount of the mixture and roll between your palms a 1" ball.
4. Once all the balls are made, flatten each one with your fingertips to make a patty.
5. Chill in the fridge for 20 minutes.
6. While they're chilling, melt your chocolate and shortening in a double boiler or in the microwave and let it cool to room temp.
7. Take the patties out of the fridge and coat each one in the melted chocolate/shortening mixture, using the 2 forks (spoons work better for me though) to help you turn them over to coat well on each side.
8. Put them back in the fridge to chill again 2 hours.
9. Store any leftover patties in the fridge, separated with waxed paper.

Day 25: M&M Cornflake Caramel Marshmallow Cookies

So there were 2 posts posted accidentally last Friday. The last few days i've been writing the recipe part so the next day all I have to do is 'edit' and put the story in then post. I didn't realize the dates for the entries went by when I first wrote it instead of when I posted. So like today's post I started yesterday but i'm finishing it today but it has yesterday's date on it.. so from now on i'll just have to write it all and post on the same day. Good thing my neighbor came by and asked where the recipe was at or I probably wouldn't have noticed! So anyway today we met a man that lives or was visiting (i don't remember) his parents. We met him and his mom. Then the next place was another student's place. Actually 2 students live there. So Matt told them too about what we're doing. We've gone to everyone on our street that has opened their door. Some places we've gone to a couple times but they're never home. Now we're working on the street at the end of ours but we'll be done with that one in a couple of days then i'm not sure where we'll go!
There's quite a bit goin on with this cookie. I kinda took the recipe I found on cookiemadness and adapted it to what I thought sounded good. Originally it had butterscotch and pecans but I put in M&Ms and a few caramels and cut them up into small pieces. These turned out really good! The cornflakes added a nice little crunch and it didn't taste like too many things at all. The only thing I would do different next time would be to maybe add a little more butter and the whole egg. The cookie isn't a moist one, it's kinda dry and even a little crumbly. Even the dough I had to squish together in a ball to keep together. But they were nice and thick and had good flavor. Also make sure to cool these for a while on the pan after taking them out of the oven, mine fell apart if I didn't wait. After cooling they're fine though. I even liked these better after they had cooled for a couple hours than I did hot. Also, the dough balls were really large but they didn't spread to be huge. I baked 8 cookies at a time. I'm not sure what the yield is, maybe about 1 1/2 dozen.

M&M Cornflake Caramel Marshmallow Cookies

Use your food processor to grind the cereal and oats
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick)
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons lightly beaten egg
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cups ground up corn flakes (measure after grinding)
3/4 cups coarsely ground oatmeal
1/4 caramels chopped into pieces
3/4 cup M&Ms
1/2 cup marshmallows, frozen if you have time to freeze them

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Cream butter and both sugars in a mixing bowl; beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in oil.
Add flour mixture and stir until it is almost fully incorporated, then stir in the ground corn flakes, oatmeal, caramels, marshmallows and M&Ms Continue stirring until flour disappears.
Roll into balls and place on baking sheet. You should have balls that are larger than golf balls (about 2 inches diameter).
Space balls about 3 inches apart on parchment lined cookie sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet for about 2 minutes then transfer to a rack to cool.