Gooey Butter Cookies

Michael and I had friends over a few weeks ago who were home for the weekend. Gooey butter cake is a St. Louis speciality, so I decided to make the cookies as a reminder of home. A bit time consuming to make, only because you have to make the dough and let it chill for a few hours before rolling into balls, but otherwise easy to make. They were perfectly soft and Michael had to force himself to stay away from them otherwise he'd have eaten them all. I thought they tasted a bit too much like the cake mix. I'll make them again, however, and maybe next time try another flavor mix. (Note that the original recipe is for chocolate cookies).



Gooey Butter Cookies
Source: Paula Deen, Food Network.com
Yield: 2-3 dozen cookies

1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18-ounce) box moist yellow cake mix
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese and butter until smooth. Beat in the egg. Then beat in the vanilla extract. Beat in the cake mix. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours to firm up so that you can roll the batter into balls. Roll the chilled batter into tablespoon sized balls and then roll them in confectioner's sugar. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, 2 inches apart. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and "gooey." Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners' sugar, if desired.

Banana Blondies with Mini Peanut Butter Cups

You know what's nuts? You can prepare one batch of blondie mix, split it in two, add different things to each batch, and you might not even be able to tell that they are related! This is what happened to me last night. With half of the batch, I added toffee bits. The bar was chewy like a cookie. To the second batch, I added smashed banana and mini peanut butter cups and the bar was cake-like. Goes to show how versitile this dessert bar is.

Kinda like having kids, I guess.

Anyway, like I said above, these blondies are more cakelike than your traditional blondie (the expert that I am, having made my first ones last night). Not that a fork is required. Though a glass of milk might be. The banana flavor is clearly there, but the best bites are those where you get a mini peanut butter cup. Completely great.

Basic Blondies

Source: Baking Blonde

Yield: 16 bars

6-7 Tbsp butter, melted (I used 6)

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder (optional, creates lighter blondie texture)

Ellen's additions:

1 1/2 ripe bananas, smashed
3/4 cup mini peanut butter cups (I used Trader Joe's)

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and lightly spray with PAM.In a large microwave safe mixing bowl melt the butter. Allow to cool for 5 mintues. Mix the brown sugar with the melted butter and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour and baking powder (if using). Mix in any additions (some ideas below). Pour into prepared pan and use a greased spatula to evenly spread mixture in pan and level the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle. (I baked for 22 minutes) Cool on rack before cutting.

* I doubled the basic recipe before splitting it in two and adding my additions. I also baked in 9x9 pans, which accounts for a thinner bar.

Toffee Bit Blondies

In preparation for this weekend's roadtrip, last night I made two types of blondies. Want to know what makes making blondies so excellent?

1) You likely have all ingredients in your house;

2) no forethought is required - you can decide to make them and get started immmediately;

3) they take all of 20 minutes to bake;

4) and you can double (or triple) the batch of basic blondie batter, split it, and add whatever you like, so you end up with two or three different bars.

You know what else is completely excellent about blondies? They are delicious!

For this batch, I made the basic blondie recipe (borrowed from my blondie-making inspiration, the appropriately named Baking Blonde), and added Heath chocolate-covered toffee bits. If I had pecans on hand, I would have added those as well, but alas, I did not. I might also add some toffee bits and chopped pecans on top once it's almost baked. As my pans are 9x9, the bars were a little thin. Next time I make two batches of blondies, I'll likely triple the recipe before dividing it in two. The texture of these bars were that of a cookie cake. Rich and delicious.

Basic Blondies

Source: Baking Blonde

Yield: 16 bars

6-7 Tbsp butter, melted (I used 6)

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup flour

1/4 tsp baking powder (optional, creates lighter blondie texture)

Ellen's addition:

3/4 cup chocolate-covered toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8x8 pan with foil and lightly spray with PAM. In a large microwave safe mixing bowl melt the butter. Allow to cool for 5 mintues. Mix the brown sugar with the melted butter and beat until smooth. Beat in egg and then vanilla. Add salt, stir in flour and baking powder (if using). Mix in any additions. Pour into prepared pan and use a greased spatula to evenly spread mixture in pan and level the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until set in the middle. (I baked for 22 minutes.) Cool on rack before cutting.

*Note that I doubled the basic recipe and split it in half so that I could create two types of blondies.

Fiber One Crunchy Fudge Cookies

Michael loves Fiber One cereal and is often trying to make me eat it. I do not enjoy it, as it is not Captain Crunch. However, he left the box out on the counter last Friday and I noticed this recipe. I know from doing Weight Watchers in the past that the more fiber a recipe has, the lower the points, so these were immediately appealing to me. Plus, I had all of the ingredients. What I enjoy most about these cookies, besides how quick and easy they are to make and the low point value (one point per cookie!!) is how cinnamonny they taste. Next time I'll probably crush the cereal a bit before adding it to the mix, as these are a little too crunchy for me (every time I bite into one I expect it to be semi-chewy, since they look like they are, but then there's the cereal). However, they're good dipped in milk, and if you're dieting and looking for a chocolate fix, this is a great recipe.

Fiber One Crunchy Fudge Cookies

Source: Fiber One Cereal Box

Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies (my batch yielded 2 1/2 dozen)

1 box (1 lb 2.3 oz) fudge brownie mix

2 cups Fiber One cereal

1/3 cup water

1 egg

1 Tbsp vegetable oil (I subbed apple sauce)

2 tsp vanilla

1/8 tsp cinnamon

2 Tbsp mini semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350. Line cookie sheet with parchment. In large bowl, mix all ingredients with spoon. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls two inches apart on cookie sheet.

Bake 10 - 12 minutes until set. Cool two minutes, remove from cookie sheet to cooling rack. Cool completely. Store in tightly covered container. Can store baked cookies for up to two months in freezer in tightly wrapped.

Per cookie: 70 calories, 1g fat, 2g fiber - 1 WW point