cookies Archives - Makin' it Mo'Betta

3-Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookies {no cake mix!}

Kim

What if I said you can make delicious chocolate chip cookies with only 3 ingredients, and it does not contain cake mix? Yep, I’m for real. I’m the Queen of quick and easy recipes. Five ingredients or less, I’m in…3 ingredients? Even better.

My kids and I have made these a few times now, and each time I am surprised by how tasty they are. And how EASY!

All you need are graham crackers, sweetened condensed milk, and chocolate chips. Seriously!

They have a nice hearty texture (similar to oatmeal cookies), and I love the graham cracker and condensed milk flavor combo. I could seriously polish off that plate right now.

3-Ingredient Cookies

16 whole graham crackers (approx 3 1/4 cups coarse crumbs)

1 (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats (this is needed to prevent sticking)
Crush the graham crackers into coarse crumbs (a food processor makes easy work of this. I do not recommend using store-bough graham cracker crumbs or pulsing the graham crackers super fine, unless you cut back on the amount of crumbs used.)
In a large bowl, stir together graham cracker crumbs, sweetened condensed milk and chocolate chips. Batter will be pretty thick.
Scoop tablespoon sized cookie balls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown around edges.
Allow to cool before removing from pan.

Recipe Source:

You may also be interested in my 2-Ingredient Apple Angel Food Cake or this 4-Ingredient Chocolate Dump Cake!

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The Best Cookie Icing!

Kim

Cookie (and cake) decorating is a fine art. I’ve seen some beautifully decorated and detailed cookies, and I think “Wow. I do not have the patience for that.” And really, if I put so much time into decorating a cookie, I certainly wouldn’t want anyone to just eat it. Therefore, I am not a cookie decorator. However, I am partial to slapping a glaze and some sprinkles on a cookie and calling it a day.

Sprinkles are fun. My kids love them, and let’s face it, icing is extra sugar so it makes cookies even better. Mo’betta if you will.

I love a good homemade cookie, but I don’t stick my nose up at a box mix either. When I saw this new Meyer Lemon cookie mix, I just had to give them a try. Did you catch my “all things Meyer Lemon” post? Love them. I thought adding some icing and sprinkles (and the mix came with the colored sugar) would make a pretty and Spring-y cookie. Since it was 20 degrees but felt like OMGthisisridiculous degrees, I needed something to get me through!

Sometimes you just have to bake your own sunshine.

In the past, I have made icing for cookies, but it usually stayed wet and sticky or got dry and flaky. This past Christmas, when making Gingerbread Men with the kids (that I forgot to post!), I stumbled upon the perfect icing. It hardens enough that you can stack a cookie or two on top of each other, but not rock hard so it’s crunchy. It’s like edible puff paint! It is now my go-to cookie icing, whether it’s gingerbread men or sugar cookies.

You can use different extracts to change the flavors, or add food coloring to make different colors and it always sets up nicely. My kids got very creative at Christmas!

Cookie Icing (Glaze)

1 cup powdered sugar, sifted

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon corn syrup (light)

1 drop of lemon juice (we added several drops to give it a lemon flavor for lemon cookies above)

Add all ingredients to a small bowl and stir to combine. Add food coloring if desired. Top cookies with glaze and add sprinkles before the icing sets.

*For cookie decorating tips, such as flooding, outlining, etc. see the recipe source at *

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Red Velvet Cookies

Kim

In honor of that sappy holiday coming up, the kids and I made some treats. One being these Red Velvet Cookies…

Because even though Valentine’s is all lovey, dovey, romance-y grossness…I will use any excuse to make cookies! That’s how I roll.

The dough was delicious, but not as red as it was supposed to be since I thought we had plenty of red food coloring, and of course, we didn’t. Story of life. The MM’s are Red Velvet too! They were just okay IMO (in my opinion. I’m getting all text savvy. Not really.) You know I love you little hard shelled candies, but this was not my favorite flava. Sorry love. Obviously, you could use any M’s you choose (html code hates the ‘and’ symbol and does weird things if you are wondering why I am not writing MM’s correctly. Just a little useless fyi.)

Red Velvet Cookies

1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1.5 tablespoons red food coloring (we only had a scant tablespoon)
3/4 cup Red Velvet MandM’s candy

1/4 semi-sweet chocolate chips

Whisk together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a large bowl.
In a separate mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars together until creamy.
Add the egg, milk, and vanilla; mix until combined.
Add food coloring and mix.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix on low until soft dough is formed.
Stir in MM’s and chocolate chips.
Cover the dough and chill for at least 1 hour (recipe source says up to 4-5 days and to make sure you let the cookie dough sit at room temperature for 45 minutes before baking if chilling for more than 1 day.) We let ours chill overnight.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat. Roll dough into balls (about a tablespoon) and bake about 7-9 minutes.
These cookies do not spread. At all. So when they come out of the oven, press down on the tops to slightly flatten them. You can add a couple of candies or chocolate chips to the tops if desired.

Recipe Source: (visit source for great detailed baking info. I’m more of a ‘wham-bam, thank you, here’s a cookie’ gal)

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Apple Pie Cookies & Dessert Mash-Ups Cookbook Review

Kim

I just realized that my last post was also apple pie related, but you will want to stick around for this one too. The cookies are delish, but the cookbook it came from is divine!

It’s from Dorothy Kern, the woman behind the fabulous blog . I have been following her blog for quite a while now and love all the desserts she comes up with. This cookbook is a compilation of dessert “mash-ups”…two-in-one treats like these Apple Pie Cookies. I have several recipes bookmarked, like Chocolate Chip Cookie Toffee Bark (definitely going on my Christmas “to make” list), Cookies ‘n’ Cream Magic Bar Pie (my kids really want to make this!), Oreo Peanut Butter (holy yum) and Pumpkin Pie Magic Bars (I have a thing for magic bars and all things pumpkin. These will be made very soon!)

I’ve been given permission to share the recipe for these Apple Pie Cookies…but if apples aren’t your thing, Dorothy offers variations, like Reese Cups or Hershey Kisses. My kids came up with some of their own variations as well…

Apple Pie Cookies

Yield 30 cookies

Prep Time 20 minutes

Chill Time 30 minutes

Bake Time 11 minutes

1⁄2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1⁄2 cup packed brown sugar

1⁄4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, divided

1 large egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda

1⁄2 teaspoon salt

1 1⁄2 teaspoons ground cinnamon, divided

1 1⁄2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all- purpose flour, divided

1 large Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and diced small (just about 1 1⁄2 cups)

1⁄2 cup water

 Powdered sugar, for dusting *I omitted this

Tip: If apple isn’t your thing, you can simply place the cookie dough in the muffin pans, bake them, and then add a Hershey’s Kiss or a mini peanut butter cup to the top when they come out of the oven. It’s a great flavor twist!

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray three 12-cup mini muffin pans with cooking spray.

2. Cream together the butter, brown sugar, and 1⁄4 cup of the granulated sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat in the egg and vanilla.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the baking soda, salt, 1 teaspoon of the cinnamon, and 1 1⁄2 cups of the flour. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix until combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.

4. Place the diced apple in a small saucepan with the water. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, just until the apples begin to turn translucent, about 5 minutes. Drain well and let cool for 10 minutes.

5. Scoop 1-tablespoon balls of cold cookie dough and place one in each cavity of the mini muffin pans. Press down to flatten slightly, and use your finger to create an indent in the centers for the apples.

6. Sprinkle the remaining 2 tablespoons granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, and 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon over apples. Stir to combine. Place 1 teaspoon of apples in the hole of each cookie.

7. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until the cookies are browned. Cool at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan. It’s easiest to remove them with a knife. Cool completely on a rack, then dust with powdered sugar before serving. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

*reprinted with permission from

Needless to say, these cookies didn’t last long! If you have a foodie friend with a sweet tooth on your Christmas list, this cookbook would be an excellent gift. The recipes are awesome and each has an absolutely drool worthy picture to accompany it!

*I was given a complimentary copy of this cookbook for review from Ulysses Press. I received no compensation. All opinions are my own.

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My “Go-To” Cookie Base for Thick, Chewy Cookies

Kim

I think it’s well established that we make cookies a lot in the Mo’Betta house. I have tried many different recipes for homemade cookies, I’ve taken short cuts and made cookies from cake mix or cookie mixes, and a few months back I found a cookie base recipe that turns out great every time. It makes thick, chewy cookies and doesn’t have to be chilled. However, if you chill the dough, the cookies are even thicker!

We made cookies for the teachers at Christmas….

I also learned the trick to making nice BIG cookies…

Yep, do the double stack for even bigger, thicker cookies!

We made cookies at Easter. I’m a sucker for the seasonal chocolate chips, can you tell?!

We made bite size, thick cookies for the girls’ volleyball coach.

We also made cookies with M&M’s! My son’s favorite. That’s the great thing about this dough…use whatever add ins you want.

We made ‘supersized’ cookies for Teacher Appreciation. My daughter actually made these…using an ice cream scoop to get nice big mounds of dough.

So, the recipe already! I’m now seriously craving cookies. Which is nothing new…

Thick, Chewy Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt (decrease to 1/4 if using salted butter)
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white (granulated) sugar
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups add ins of choice (candy, chocolate chips, toffee bits, nuts, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees if baking immediately.
Whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.
In a mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and white sugar until fluffy (medium speed, 2-3 minutes). Scrape down the sides.
Add egg and vanilla to mixing bowl, mix until incorporated.
With mixer on low, add in flour mixture until dough forms. Scrape sides as necessary.
Stir in 1 1/2 cups of desired add ins.
At this point, you can cover and refrigerate the dough for a couple of hours or overnight – make sure it’s covered well or the dough will begin to dry out. You can also roll the cookies into balls and freeze to make at a later date.
Scoop out dough and place on lined cookie sheet – about a tablespoon for small cookies; “double stacked” tablespoon for larger, thicker cookies; 3 tablespoons or more for large cookies. Just make sure to leave space for them to spread and adjust baking time. Small cookies only need around 8 minutes. You want them to look a little underdone (shiny) in the middle, as they will continue to cook a bit once removed from the oven.

Recipe Source: ,

Now, since National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day is May 15th, I highly recommend making some cookies! If you don’t want to make them from scratch, check out this giveaway!

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National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day – Celebrating with a GIVEAWAY! {#sponsored}

Kim

I love cookies. You may have noticed by the 13,000 cookie posts on the blog. (Mild exaggeration) I have decided cookies are my dessert of choice…more than cakes, cupcakes, pies….cookies are where it’s at. So, when I found out that May 15th was National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, I had to think of a good way to celebrate. Obviously, I have to make cookies.

My friends at agree that National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day is a day to celebrate with wild abandon. They even have a Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix to help honor the occasion!

Soft, chewy cookies with slightly crisp edges and filled with chocolate. Yes please!

Are you ready to celebrate with me?!

This cookie photo session had to be cut short due to one of the *models* disappearing.

Don’t look at me. Those aren’t cookie crumbs around my mouth. Nope. No sir. {wink}

GIVEAWAY–

In honor of National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, Krusteaz has been gracious enough to offer a complimentary box of Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix, along with 3 free product coupons, to one Makin’ it Mo’Betta reader. Just complete the rafflecopter form and you will be contacted via email if you are the winner! US residents only.

I received a complimentary box of Krusteaz Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix and 3 free product coupons to help facilitate this post. The winner will receive the same package via Krusteaz. No other compensation was received and as always, all opinions are my own. {And chocolate chip cookies are awesome. That’s just a fact.}

Cake Mix Cookie Bars {4 ingredients}

Kim

I know I’ve shared cake mix cookie bars on the blog before, but this recipe is even easier! Just a few ingredients, and a little oven time and you can have an entire pan of chewy, yummy cookies. I mean, your kids can have a pan. Because I made it for them. Seriously. It wasn’t my insane PMS-induced chocolate cravings that prompted me to make an entire 9 x 13 pan of cookies. *ahem* Moving on –

Mr. Three requested M&M’s on the cookies. I’m cool with that. There is just something about that candy that screams happy. If I could leave jars of them around the house, just for decoration I would. However, they wouldn’t last a microsecond in my house. We have chocolate issues.

I like this recipe because it calls for a lot less oil than other recipes I’ve seen, and as you can see, this is a dense cookie texture, not a fluffy cake-like texture. And they are super fast and easy to throw together. This is probably not a good thing for my waistline. I mean really, a whole pan of cookies in less than 30 minutes?! Dangerous.

Cake Mix Cookie Bars

1 box cake mix (any flavor, I used chocolate fudge)

2 eggs

1/3 cup oil

1 1/2 cups mix-ins (I used M&M’s and chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Spray a 9 x 13 pan with cooking spray.
Mix together first 3 ingredients in a medium size bowl until dough comes together in a thick dough (it will be like cookie dough, not like cake batter)
Stir in your preferred mix-ins.
Press dough into prepared pan and bake for 15-20 minutes.
Allow to cool (I’m kidding…of course you are going to dive right in to hot cookies! But just in case you are making them to take somewhere, let them cool before cutting into bars!)

Recipe source:

There is no wonder I have a stock pile of various candies, chocolate chips and cake mixes. You just never know when a cookie emergency will strike. Gotta be prepared 😉

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Chocolate Chip Granola Cookies

Kim

If you were to explore the recipes on my blog, you would know that we like cookies. A LOT. Having all these snow days this winter has not helped, because what’s better when you’re snowed in than to bake (and eat) cookies?! I was under the false impression that Spring was on it’s way, but considering school is cancelled today due to icy road conditions, well….ugh. Let’s make cookies!

It’s not often that I say “GO MAKE THESE COOKIES”, because even though I’m extremely bossy, I know that everybody has different taste buds. However, today I am saying it. Go make these cookies! They are awesome! In my humble opinion of course. But, I am a {self proclaimed} cookie expert.

I enjoy your basic chocolate chip cookie. But, I also really like a cookie with a lot going on. Lots of textures all crammed into a cookie. Some soft chewiness, a little crunch, a blast of chocolate flavor…these cookies have it all.

Chocolate Chip Granola Cookies

1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup of white sugar
1/3 cup of brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 stick of butter, room temp
1 egg
1 cup of granola (I used Enjoy Life)
1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup of shredded coconut (optional, could also use dried fruit or nuts)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Set aside.
Add the sugars, vanilla, and butter in a mixing bowl, and beat on medium speed until creamy and smooth. Add the egg and mix until well combined.
Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture a little at a time until mixed.
Add the granola, chocolate chips, coconut (or desired add-ins) and mix until just combined.
Place rounded tablespoons of dough onto a baking sheet (I used a silicone mat with mine) about 1 inch apart.
Bake for approx. 11-13 minutes or until lightly golden around edges.
Remove from oven and let cool on baking tray for a few minutes before transferring to wire rack to finish cooling.

Recipe source:

Delicious! They are thick cookies that are soft and chewy, crunchy, chocolate-y, with hints of coconut. I will definitely be making these again!

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The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Kim

It’s time to start thinking about that certain holiday that’s all about red and pink and chocolate. Oh, and love, I suppose. My LOVE of CHOCOLATE drives me to make things like this. ‘The Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie’. That’s quite a name to live up to…the ‘ultimate’. Well, first, I didn’t name them, the recipe came straight from the back of the butter flavored Crisco package. Second, these were pretty darn good, but I will have to do lots more ‘product testing’ before I can actually consider them the ‘ultimate’. Yep, I foresee lots of taste testing of chocolate chip cookies in my future. It’s a hard life 😉

I know some people are anti shortening…me being one of those people. At least I was, until I actually compared shortening to butter. Basically, neither one is a health food, so if you are going to eat cookies….it’s all about moderation. Because, honestly, I’m not giving up my chocolate chip cookies. Some people are also quite adamant about shortening vs butter in their cookies. I’m on the fence, again, more product testing will be necessary for me to determine which I like better!

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 stick Crisco® Baking Sticks Butter Flavor All-Vegetable Shortening
1 1/4 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (yes, tablespoon)
1 large egg (I like Eggland’s Best eggs)
1 3/4 cups unbleached All Purpose Flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup chocolate chips (I used by Ghirardelli)
1/2 cup semi-sweet mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375ºF.
Beat shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large bowl on medium speed until well blended. Beat in egg.
Add flour, salt and baking soda to shortening mixture and mix until just blended.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Scoop rounded tablespoonfuls 3 inches apart onto ungreased or silicone mat lined baking sheet.
Bake 8 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies, or 11 to 13 minutes for crisp cookies.
Cool for a couple of minutes on baking sheet then move cookies to cooling rack.

Recipe adapted from .

Cookies are best served slightly warm with a large glass of milk and a cute straw. In my opinion of course.

This recipe was featured at !

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Happy Thanksgiving & Acorn Cookies

Kim

I hope everyone who celebrates Thanksgiving has had a wonderful day full of food and family. I enjoyed both! It probably wasn’t necessary to try all the desserts, but I felt it was my duty as a food blogger 😉

You may have seen these Acorn Cookies on or ….

“Acorn” Cookies

Mini Nilla Wafer Cookies
Hershey Kisses
Mini Chocolate Chips
chocolate wafers, melted

Melt chocolate wafers, use the melted chocolate to “glue” the Hershey Kiss to the bottom of a mini wafer. Then use a small amount of melted chocolate to adhere the mini chocolate chip on top of the mini wafer. End result – cute little acorn cookies!

We used Caramel Hershey Kisses and they were tasty little treats. We also made Pumpkin Spice Rice Krispie Treats and added them with the acorn cookies to treat bags for the kids’ teachers. The treat bag tags were found at (free printable!). I have also discovered that you can cut the butter in the cereal treats back to 3 T., but it’s best not to cut it back to 2 unless you want really crispy Krispie Treats! Just a little FYI. Sorry teachers!

This recipe is linked up with