secret recipe club: salted totally chocolate chocolate chip cookies

for this month's secret recipe club pick at my hobbie lobbie, i had a couple recipes picked out: baked fish in mushroom sauce [i'm always on the lookout for simple, delicious ways to prepare fish, and mushrooms are always a hit in this house], savory french toast [think baked french toast casserole with peppers, onions, and cheese], monster cookies [chocolate chips + peanut butter + oats + M&Ms] and these totally chocolate chocolate chip cookies [melted chocolate & cocoa in the batter with dark chocolate chips mixed in]. i woke up one saturday morning all ready to make the savory french toast, when i realized i was missing one - arguably the - key ingredient: bread. so i settled - if i can even call it settling, when so much chocolate is involved - on the totally chocolate chocolate chip cookies. the only change i made was to convert the ingredients from metric to US measurements using my kitchen scale & i added a sprinkle of sea salt to the top of half the cookies. i loved the salt, jason didn't care for it, but we all agreed the cookies are delicious.

carmelitas

i've had my eyes on a couple recipes for carmelitas - an oatmeal bar cookie stuffed with creamy, salty caramel and chocolate chips - for years. one saturday afternoon, about six months ago when i was eight months pregnant, they soared to the top of my "must make now" list. i took advantage of nap time and was digging into these a couple hours later. making them is the easy part, it's waiting for them to cool completely before eating that takes restraint!

secret recipe club: butterscotch M&M oatmeal cookies

by something short of a miracle, both boys slept a full three hours yesterday. the weather outside was absolutely perfect, so i grabbed a stack of these cookies i made with winn late last week, made myself a mocha iced coffee (coffee + whole milk + hershey's syrup), grabbed my latest copy of cooking light, and had a full two hours all to myself outside. it was pure bliss. no one yelling "mama", no babies crying, no housework begging to be done. i honestly can't remember the last time that happened.

secret recipe club: snickerdoodle bars & slow cooker chicken fajitas

for this month's secret recipe club pick at anna's bcmom's kitchen, i followed the same format as last month: a delicious dessert and an easy dinner. and while both were delicious, i have to give it to the snickerdoodle bars. the fajitas were easy - chop, dump, and cook for 8 hours - but i forgot how much i love the still crunchy texture of vegetables in fajitas. anyone that's slow cooked vegetables knows they don't stay crisp. so while the flavor was good and the ease of making them spot on, the texture of the vegetables weren't the best for me.

and then there were the bars. when i was making them, i honestly didn't think they would be anything special and was pleasantly surprised when i had my first bite. they have the perfect balance of sugar cookie and cinnamon sugar goodness, in bar form. so good, i had to hide them from my toddler. otherwise, i heard "mama! bar!" a couple times a day when he saw them sitting on the counter.

grandpa's favorite double chocolate cookies

when i first started this blog four and a half years ago, i was pleasantly surprised to find my grandpa to be one of my biggest readers and fans. yes, this grandpa that still grows his own strawberries and then turns them into jam, and every year provides me with enough tomato plants he grew from seed to fill out my garden. a couple times a year, usually after i've posted a relatively mediocre recipe review, a letter comes in the mail with my grandpa's favorite version of said recipe. i'm slowly getting through them all. and just like his jam and tomato plants, these cookies did not disappoint. easy, quick - no chilling! - and the perfect chocolate fix.

salted chocolate chip peanut butter oatmeal cookies

my favorite cookie needs two things: chocolate + one bowl + no refrigeration time. that way i can go from no cookies to eating cookies in under 20 minutes. because let's be honest; when i want a cookie, i want it now. not tomorrow after waiting for dough to chill. this cookie meets all of those criteria plus a bonus: peanut butter, jason's favorite cookie. toss in some oats and top with sea salt just for kicks and in 20 minutes you'll be eating fresh cookies too.

secret recipe club: almond strawberry jam thumbprints

this month's secret recipe club assignment couldn't have come at a better time. for the last few years, a good friend has hosted a bunch of us ladies in december for a cookie party. only this year, with the rush of the holidays - and i swear, the short time between thanksgiving and christmas made christmas come even quicker this year - the party was in january. and while i had plenty of cookie recipes bookmarked for holiday baking that i didn't even come close to making, the majority involved chocolate or peanut butter - two things i was surprisingly sick of.

secret recipe club: almond butter cookies

it must be this time of year: i am craving cookies like crazy. not fancy, fussy kind, but more of the slice and bake or drop variety. last month, jason and i were out somewhere, eating some kind of almond flavored dessert - a cake, maybe? - when he casually mentioned that it had been a long time since i made anything almond flavored. he was right and i've been on the lookout for an easy almond cookie ever since. when i spied these iced lemon butter cookies at cooking mimi for this month's secret recipe club, i knew with some simple swaps, i could have exactly what i wanted.

chocolate peanut butter sandwich cookies

if you've been a long time reader or know my husband jason, you know two things: he doesn't particularly care for sweets, especially cake, and for the rare times he chooses something sweet, it almost always involves chocolate and peanut butter. so in 2011 we celebrated his birthday with peanut butter chocolate chip cookies and in 2012 it was black bottom peanut butter pie. this year, these sandwich cookies were on the menu.

brown sugar espresso chocolate chip cookies

sometimes, i just need a cookie. know what i mean? i went through oreos like they were nothing when i was pregnant, and although i'm not usually a chocolate chip cookie girl, lately i've been all over them. i don't know if i'll ever find the perfect recipe - each one i've made has been super delicious for it's own reason. alton brown's chewy stays nice and soft and chewy for a long time. thomas keller's version is perfectly salty. wegmans chocolate chips are a classic and bring back some college nostalgia every time i make them. the browned butter in cook's illustrated's version is nutty and delicious. and the brown sugar in these makes them nice and sweet, not to mention the kick from instant espresso. it doesn't hurt that the recipe makes a ton and they freeze well, so next time i need a cookie, i've got a freezer bag full of them.

secret recipe club: pig out cookies

for this month's secret recipe club, i didn't follow my normal process when choosing a recipe on lisa's blog, cook lisa cook. instead, i clicked around somewhat haphazardly, reading through her list of recipe tags and clicking on the ones that sounded good. i didn't make it very far down the list, as cookies sucked me in! as soon as i saw these "piggy out cookies" i knew i was going to make them as soon as i saw bacon. i didn't read the rest of the ingredients list until i was making my grocery list later in the week!

secret recipe club: pasta with blistered tomatoes & arugula and iced grapefruit cookies

last march, i made this whole wheat grapefruit cake for my secret recipe club selection and fell in love with grapefruit in baked goods. so this march, when i stumbled on these pink grapefruit cookies at life of a modern housewife for this month's secret recipe club, i knew they would be delicious. it just so happened i had absolutely nothing planned for dinner that same saturday night, so lucky for me while browsing her recipes, i also found this fettuccine with blistered tomatoes and arugula. it's one of my favorite kind of meals - meatless, pasta, and ready in less than 30 minutes. i will definitely be making it again.

grandma's snowballs

this is it. this is grandma's cookie recipe that us kids remember. back at a time when we hated anything with nuts, and coconut but i've already mentioned that many times, we devoured these cookies, always asking what was in them. and grandma never told - at least not me - because she knew if i knew, i'd never eat them again.

cranberry bliss bars

the last few times i went to starbucks was blazing early in the morning, in jfk, after an hour flight from airport with a long day ahead of me, ending with a return flight home. about a year ago, when the salted caramel mocha first came out, i used one of these hellish days to try one. and was shocked at how much i did not like it. how much it didn't even remotely taste like coffee.

my grandma's friend gladys' molasses cookies

i have no doubt that my love of christmas comes from my grandmother. while i told you about her fudge last christmas, this year has been all about her cookies.

gingerbread biscotti

it has been almost a year since i made biscotti last. and while last year's holiday version was definitely a keeper, this year i seem to be all about the spice, so a gingerbread version is in order. normally i would adapt my favorite basic biscotti recipe, but i was nervous how adding molasses would affect the dough and turned to google for inspiration. slightly different versions of the recipe i settled on were all over the internet and they all promised one thing: classic, crunchy biscotti with delicious gingerbread flavor. and they did not disappoint.

pumpkin whoopie pies

this fall, i've had a minor pumpkin obsession going on. first spiced pumpkin chocolate chip loaves, then pumpkin pie bars and pumpkin spice bundt cake. couple that with my adoration for the baked cookbooks (i've already started looking through the first two books to pick out this year's birthday cake) and i knew these whoopie pies would be killer. these are the first whoopie pies i've ever made. if others are as simple and delicious as these, i better jump on the whoopie pie train, asap.

cooking light's browned butter chocolate chip cookies

for the last couple months, i've been on a chocolate chip cookie kick. i don't know if it's the simplicity of a chocolate chip cookie, the minimal time commitment, the deliciousness, or a combination of the three, but something keeps drawing me to them. and while i declared cook's illustrated's browned butter and alton brown's the chewy versions to be my favorites, i'm always drawn to new recipes.

wegmans chocolate chip cookies

you know how people love trader joes? and by love, i mean, blog their cart full of groceries and profess their undying love for trader joes products. it's funny, of all the people i've heard go on and on about grocery stores - there are others that admire whole foods - i've never once seen someone online talk about wegmans. what's up with that? it's the reason alec baldwin's mom won't move away from the syracuse area (and yes, alec & his mom did a few commercials for them too).

if you live along the east coast, and especially rochester, since wegmans was started and is still headquartered here, wegmans is probably your neighborhood grocery store. i've been to a few trader joes and a handful of whole foods, and let me tell you what: they don't even come close to wegmans. the stores are clean, they carry anything and everything you'd ever want, their prepared foods section is insane (sushi, burrito bar, & fish fry among others), their staff is super nice, and they've been in the top 5 "best companies to work for" for the last eight years. this place is no joke. (somewhere, my mom and dad are laughing, saying my wegmans radar is going crazy!) long story short, if you ever get the chance, go to wegmans. if you're in the rochester area, go to the pittsford wegmans. i believe they still offer guided tours.

secret recipe club: lemon lime meltaways

i'm starting to get too comfortable with this whole secret recipe club thing. you see, i joined as a way to find other great bloggers, get inspired by their recipes and photographs, and try something new every month. while i've definitely discovered new bloggers and been inspired by their photographs and food, i've become a slacker in the "try something new" department. lately i've chosen recipes that looked good, sounded good, appear relatively easy, and are foods that i know i would enjoy. no shame in that, but no real learning either. so watch out october, it's new foods all the way!