Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

I'm the queen of parties, I like to have a party for every occasion, Christmas, Halloween, birthdays, summer, Easter...pretty much anytime really haha and it also gives me an excuse to bake and make some fun and exciting goodies for guests! This time round was my sons Easter party so lots of 3 year olds to cater for and of course the parents!
My cookies are famous amongst my friends and I keep re inventing them with new flavours but I wanted something fun for the party and it came to me...well while looking through the Internet for ideas....Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip...it couldn't be more perfect and served with Easter shape cookies.
The only thing I noticed that I wasn't keen on was most of them were just cream cheese with sugar and some chocolate chips which is really not like cookie dough at all, so I came up with my own and wow was it a hit, it is like eating the cookie dough before you put it in the oven but without the egg...perfect! You can thank me later :))

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

2/3 cup butter softened
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 mascarpone
1 3/4 cup plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips

Add the butter and sugar into a bowl and mix until light and fluffy
Add the vanilla extract and mascarpone and mix well

Add the flour, bicarb, salt and mix until the dough starts to form together then add the chocolate chips and knead in

And your away...

I personally like it exactly like cookie dough but If you want it more dip like and softer, feel free to add more mascarpone until you get the desired consistency :)

Easter Cookie Nests

Easter is almost upon us, so me and my son decided to bake some easter treats....and as requested by him we made some cookies but with an easter twist :) here's the first recipe, nice and easy to make with little ones and very tasty :)

Easter Cookie Nests

1 batch of Cookie Dough (my chocolate chip cookie recipe)
Mixed Mini Eggs

Pre heat the oven to 180/170c

Make up the batch of cookie dough but leave out the chocolate chips
Line a baking sheet with baking paper.
Put spoonfuls of the cookie dough onto the baking sheet but don't flatten them as you need them to be thicker than normal.
In the centre of the cookie, push in a few of the mini eggs

Place them into the pre heated oven for around 10-12 minutes.

Leave to cool and enjoy :)

Creme Egg Cookie Pies :))

I'm sure you've seen the creme egg brownies that seem to have swept the nation hahaha and although they look lovely I decided to do something a little different with the creme eggs. Following on from the cookie baking session with my son we also made some Creme Egg Cookie Pies, this idea started off with a different cookie filling but as its easter Creme Eggs it is and honestly they are lovely :))

Creme Egg Cookie Pie

1 sweet shortcrust pastry case (homemade or shop bought)
I used the hazelnut sweet shortcrust pastry that I had left over
1 cookie batch (my chocolate chip cookie recipe)
Pack of creme eggs- I used the mini creme eggs

Pre heat the oven to 180/170c

If your making your own pastry case, blind bake the pastry case first.

Make up the cookie dough but leave out the chocolate chips.

Fill the pastry case with the cookie dough and spread evenly inside. You can do one large one or small individual ones if you prefer.

Cut the creme eggs in half

Place the cookie pie into a pre heated oven for 10 minutes, remove and place the creme eggs into the cookie dough and push them in gently, the dough will be very soft at this stage.

Place back into the oven for a further 4 minutes

My little baking secret...The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm going to let you into a little secret...my famous Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are just so tasty and I get asked all the time to whip up a batch with all different fillings! They started off as a vegan cookie as my son wasn't able to have egg or dairy when he was a toddler so I made these and once he outgrew the allergy then I adapted it to include egg and dairy but ill include the adaptions for you.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2/3 cup Butter or dairy free margarine

1/2 cup Soft muscavado sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 Egg or 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup Chocolate Chips or dairy free chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. In a bowl, combine the butter or shortening, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, then add the egg or applesauce. In a separate medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture and combine until creamy. Stir in chocolate chips and drop with a cookie scooper onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for about 12 minutes (depending on the size) or until lightly brown. Cool slightly on baking sheet and serve!

There's lots of variations which I will add on but if like me why not add some orange zest to the dough...yummy :)

A sweet valentine swirl

As its almost valentines day, I must of course add a little something sweet :) my son had his friends coming over for a play date and tea so we decided to make some mini valentine cookies for them and of course they needed to be fun and different so we went for some sweet valentine swirls pops....must say they were a huge hit :) Very simple to make but so effective!
Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tablespoons brandy, or milk (I prefer milk, surprisingly enough)
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions
Mix together flour, salt, and baking powder in a medium bowl; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar; mix until light and fluffy. With mixer running, add egg, brandy or milk, and vanilla; mix until well combined. With the mixer on low, slowly add reserved flour mixture. Mix until just combined.
Here is where we shake it up to make our swirl cookies.
Transfer half of dough to a work surface. in a bowl add 1/8 teaspoon of food coloring. Mix until just evenly distributed, try not to overmix.
Place your white dough between two pieces of parchment paper and roll into a rectangle as best you can. Repeat with the colored dough. Place on a baking sheet and put it in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge and peel the paper off of one side of the colored dough. Lightly flour your work surface and flip the dough over onto it, then peel off the paper from the other side.
Lightly brush the top of the colored dough with water.
Peel the paper off of one side of your white dough. Place it dough side down on top of the colored dough, trying to align the two rectangles of dough as well as possible. Then peel the paper from the other side.
Use a sharp knife to trim the edges of your rectangle so they are straight and even. Save the scraps and use to make other cookies such as marbled cookie shapes (rolling two colours together and cutting them out)
Start to gently roll the dough and Continue until it is all rolled up.
You might see some gaps if you look at the side of the dough. You don’t want those so gently roll the dough with two hands until the gaps disappear.
In a pan, empty your sprinkles or whatever cookie decoration you like. We used hundred and thousands.
Brush the dough with water, then gently roll in the toppings, pushing the toppings gently into the dough so they stick.
Wrap with cling film and Place in the fridge for one hour to firm up.
Preheat oven to 180/170 fan/350 degrees. Remove dough from the fridge and trim the ends of the dough flat.
Prepare two baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Evenly slice the roll to about 1/4″ thickness.
Place on the baking tray, at this point you can insert some lollipop sticks to create lollipop cookies and Bake until lightly golden, about ten minutes; do not allow to brown.
Enjoy :)))