It’s my birthday week! I mean, I guess yesterday technically started my birthday week, but my internet was down so I could not share this post with you. I wanted to take this week to share things I love with you. This post focuses on two things I love: clearance aisles and cinnamon.

I am obsessed with the clearance aisle at Target. Well, I’m pretty much obsessed with Target in general, but mostly because that is where I do my extreme couponing. Even if I do not have a coupon for something, I love all the weird finds with those little red stickers on them. This weekend I found that little heart shaped plate in the top picture for under a dollar. Valentine’s may be over, but my affection for everything adorable clearly isn’t.

My two true loves when it coms to baking are vanilla extract and cinnamon. I have had multiple people write me about recipes claiming there was an error with the vanilla extract in it. Nope. I just really like vanilla extract. It tastes awesome and smells like what I want heaven to smell like. Then there is cinnamon. Oh. Man. That is why when girls at work offered me this recipe,  I jumped at the chance to make it. These cookies are so simple, yet so tasty. They are soft, doughy, and rolled in cinnamon sugar bliss. Try them for yourself.

Recipe: Simple Cinnamon Cookies

Makes 2 dozen

What You Need:

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon sugar

   

  What To Do:

  1. Heat the oven to 350 F.

  2. Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the egg and vanilla extract until smooth.

  3. Stir in all dry ingredients.

  4. Roll into balls a little larger than golf balls. Roll each ball of dough in cinnamon sugar.

  5. Bake for 10 minutes.

It’s Leftovers Club Day! This month I was paired with Sandra from Meadows Cooks. I decided to stick with what I know and make her some awesome cookies. I know that everyone is looking for healthy recipes this month, but I just couldn’t help myself. If it helps, white chocolate isn’t actually chocolate. No? Whatever. Use your cheat day to indulge.

Recipe: Nutty White Chocolate Cherry Cookies

Makes 2 1/2 dozen

What You Need:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup macademia nuts, chopped
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 5 oz dried cherries
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

What To Do:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 300  F.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugars, salt, and baking soda.

3. Add in the butter, vanilla, and eggs until evenly incorporated.

4. Gently fold in the nuts, cherries, and white chocolate chips.

5. Drop dough by the rounded tablespoon onto an ungreased baking sheet.

6. Bake for 15 minutes.

Want to see what all my friends made? Follow the links below! Happy Thursday!

Cranberry Almond Shortbread Tartlets – Meadows Cooks

Spiced Pecans – Lacey L Moody

Mud Pie Stuffed Oreo Brownie Cupcakes – Frugal Foodie Mama

Strawberry Jam Thumbprint Cookies – Cooking with Milton

Banana Bread – Recipe for Random

The Best Dang Granola Bars Ever – Sugar Dish Me

Honey Ginger Candied Grapefruit Peels – Pinch and Swirl

Blood Orange Rosemary Olive Oil Bread – Girl in the Little Red Kitchen

Meyer Lemon Macarons – Joanne Eats Well With Others

Homemade Sriracha – Mind Over Batter

Roasted Banana Muffins – Cooking in Stilettos

Chocolate, Banana, and Buttermilk Muffins – Omeletta

Maple-Buttermilk Muffins – Low-Acid Kitchen

Pecan Bars – Food Ramblings

Spicy Cracked Pepper and Romano Cheese Crackers – Live Bake Love

Homemade Cinnamon Granola – Take A Bite Out of Boca

I am so excited for Christmas this year. I am pretty sure I bought more presents than I ever have before. There is something so special to me about the thought that goes behind selecting gifts for people. The present doesn’t even have to cost any money. It isn’t about what you get, it’s about spending the holidays with the people who matter. This year I have encountered so many new people who are already so incredibly important to me, especially friends I made at the job I started over the summer. While several of them and I are exchanging actual gifts, I am working hard to develop some holiday-themed snacks to share with the rest my newfound crew.

Anyone who is close to me will tell you how much I love couponing. My favorite source is Ibotta, a free app that pays you back when you buy a specific product. I discovered through the app that Jif now makes spreadable chocolate- peanut butter hybrids and immediately stopped what I was doing to go purchase all of them. The whipped peanut butter and peppermint one is insanely good and is the icing on these chocolate delights.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter & Peppermint Cookies

Makes 2 dozen

What You Need:

• 2 & 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint
• 1/2 cup Jif Whipped Peanut Butter and Peppermint Chocolate Spread

What To Do:

1. Mix the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla in a large bowl.

2. Add in all other ingredients except for the peppermint and the Jif.

3. Sprinkle in half of the crushed peppermint and mix until fully combined.

4. Refridgerate dough for at least one hour.

5. Pre-heat oven to 375 F.

6. Scoop dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet by the heaping teaspoon.

7. Gently flatten the dough by pressing it lightly with your fingers.

8. Bake for seven minutes.

9. Let cool completely.

10. Spread a generous spoonful of the chocolate spread onto each cookie until it creates an even coating. Top each cookie with the remaining peppermint pieces.

11. Refrigerate the cookies until you are ready to eat them. The icing will never fully harden, so be careful when storing the cookies in containers.

Because it’s getting into that serious fall weather now (finally!!), I wanted to incorporate some of my favorite Thanksgiving flavors into whatever I made. These fluffy and light cookies are full of two traditional sides — sweet potato and cranberry. I loved the way the two came together. Feel free to skip a step and use sweet potato puree instead of making it from scratch like I did. Oh! I also went ahead and made these cookies vegan, my newest baking obsession. Look forward to more vegan baked goods on the blog this month!

Recipe: Sweet Potato Cranberry Cookies

Makes 2 & 1/2 dozen 

What You Need:

• 1 medium sweet potato
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup fresh cranberries

What To Do:

1. Peel the sweet potato and cut it into small cubes. Add the potato and a little bit of water into a food processor and blend until completely smooth. Set aside.

2. Mix together all of your dry ingredients — the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and the brown sugar.

3. Add in all the remaining ingredients except for the cranberries. Mix until the batter is smooth. Gently add in the cranberries, being careful not to mash them into the dough.

4. Refrigerate the dough for at least an hour.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 350 F.

6. Drop the dough by generous teaspoons onto a greased baking sheet.

7. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes.

8. Let cool before devouring

Want to see all the delicious things my friends made this month? Here’s links to all of them!

Candy Corn Popcorn Balls – Take A Bite Out Of Boca

Lemon-Pistashio Biscotti – The Low-Acid Kitchen

Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars – Food Ramblings

Pumpkin Pound Cake Cupcakes with Maple-Cinnamon Glaze – Eats Well With Others

Bourbon Soaked Orange Loaf Cake with Currants – The Spiced Life

Oatmeal Pumpkin White Chocolate Cookies – Pink Cake Plate

Pumpkin Cookies with Butterscotch Chips – Meadows Cooks

Neiman Marcus Bars – Lacey Moody

Pumpkin Bread With Dark Chocolate Walnut Streusel – Live Bake Love

In a last ditch effort to not eat both bags by myself, I threw together a batch of cookie dough for the remaining chocolate morsels and ended up with the softest, chewiest cookie recipe I have ever made. I had done some research and decided to try cornstarch in the batter. You can definitely taste it in there, but it does not take anything away from the candy or the rest of the vanilla extract-fueled dough. You have to chill the batter for a while before you bake it so that the bite-sized bars keep their shape, but the payoff is worth it. Recipe: Soft and Chewy Milky Way Cookies adapted from Center Cut Cook

Makes about 3 dozen

What You Need:

• 2 & 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 package Milky Way Bites
•  

What To Do:

1. Mix together all the dry ingredients.

2. Add in the eggs, butter, and vanilla extract until creamy

3. Gently mix in the Milky Way Bites, being careful not to break them.

4. Chill the batter in the fridge for an hour. This will harden the candy enough so that they keep their shape in the oven.

5. Form dough into tablespoon sized balls, making sure there is at least one candy bar in each.

6. Bake for 10 minutes. The cookies will look like they are not quite ready to come out yet, but once you let them cool down they will look awesome!

Happy Leftovers Club Day! Today I am sharing a recipe for my all-time favorite cookie. It’s a big day. Not only do I get to share these with you, but I also get to watch my cousin get married tonight. I figured that these cookies would be perfect to celebrate, as she’s the reason I eat so many of them every summer.

Why just the summer? Well, these Rainbow Cookies are made in bakeries and delis across Long Island, where I was born and have spent almost every summer since visiting. My Aunt Noreen makes sure the house is stocked with my favorite New York-only treats…and that my cousins and I have plans each day so we do not become giantic from eating them all.

Rainbow cookies are traditionally pink, green and yellow, but I put a little spin on them because of yesterday’s holiday. They take several hours to complete, but the payoff is worth it. While doing research on how to make the best version of them, I discovered that this unique dessert requires an unusual ingredient – almond paste. I had never heard of it before so do not worry if you haven’t either. Almond paste is sold at most stores in the baking section and is also incredibly easy to make from scratch. Once you make the dough with the paste, it is hard to stop eating it before you put it in the oven. I mean, what? That totally didn’t happen.

Recipe: Patriotic Rainbow Cookies

Makes 7 dozen

What You Need:

• 8 oz. almond paste
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 4 eggs, separated
• blue food coloring
• red food coloring
• 2 & 1/2 sticks butter, cut into chunks
• 1 jar apricot jam
• 1 bag semi-sweet chocolate baking melts or chocolate chips

What To Do:

1. Heat the oven to 350 F

2. Combine almond paste and 3/4 cup of the sugar in a mixer. The dough will be crumbly. Add in butter and egg yolks until the batter begins to be creamy and smooth. Add in the flour and mix until it is well incorporated into the dough.

3. In a small bowl, mix together egg whites and the remaining sugar until they start to fluff. Add this to the batter.

4. Divide the batter evenly into three bowls. Mix drops of red food coloring into the first bowl until the batter is a dark pink color. In another bowl, do the same thing with the blue food coloring until you reach the desired shade you want. Leave the third bowl as it is.

5. Cover a rimmed 9 x 13 baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour one bowl of batter onto the parchment paper and smooth out with a spatula until it covers the entire surface of the pan and the layer is smooth. Bake for 10 minutes. Repeat this step with the two other colors. Let each one cool completely.

6. Now it is time to make the layered cake. Spread a thin layer of apricot jam onto the top of the blue cake layer. This is to keep the layers stuck together. Make sure you distribute it thinly, or the jam will ultimately make the layers slide all over the place. Trust me. I know from experience. Top the blue layer with the white layer and top that with jam as well. Carefully place the red layer on top and gently press on the cakes to make sure the jam sticks to each of the sides of cake. Place your layered cake in the freezer for two hours.

7. Place the cake onto a large cutting board. Heat your chocolate in a small microwave-safe bowl in 45 second increments, stirring after each time. When the chocolate is smooth, pour directly onto the top of cake. Using a spatula, spread the chocolate evenly onto the top and all 4 sides of the cake. Take a fork and gently press lines into the top of the chocolate.

8. Let the cake sit for a few minutes so that the chocolate hardens. If you notice that it isn’t hardening, place the cake in the fridge for a few minutes. It is imperative that the chocolate hardens, but do NOT leave it in the fridge too long because if the chocolate is too hard it will be hard to cut without the chocolate slipping off the cake.

9. Cut the cake by cutting it into lines. Then carefully cut those lines into inch long pieces. Store in an airtight container.

Interested in what all of my friends made this month? Here’s links to all of their posts. Check them out!

Happy Canada Day!! Canada Day is their equivalent of our 4th of July, a national holiday where the country celebrates with fireworks. Yes, I am from the US, but I have a fond admiration for all things Canadian. After all, the country has a lot to offer. Like Ryan Reynolds. See? Now you love Canada too.

Although I have always been a fan of Canadian actors and maple syrup, my true love of Canada hit its peak this year during the Dallas International Film Festival. If there’s one thing I love more than food, it’s movies. (Last year I watched 151 movies I had never seen before.) I write film reviews for Examiner.com and was invited to not only watch all the movies being presented as part of the press, but to interview any of the filmmakers I wanted. The first red carpet event that I did, I met the writer/director of a short film called Broken Heart Syndrome, Dusty Mancinelli. Hours later I ended up standing behind him in line for a midnight screening of a zombie film called Buck Wild when I overheard him talking to someone about how hard it is to make films if you are from Canada. When I audibly laughed, they turned and he recognized me from before. We started up a conversation about all the good things from Canada… which ultimately led to them trying to convince me to go back with them so I could help them win at trivia nights.

Dusty’s friend turned out to be another filmmaker who persuaded me into seeing his film, which I absolutely fell in love with. Luckily, you’ll get a chance to fall in love with it too because actor Kevin Smith (also Canadian) picked up The Dirties and will help distribute it later on this year. Because of my random introduction to these two kind strangers, I became intrigued by Canadian culture. I found new bands to listen to — and got to talk to other famed stars like Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg from This Is The End–, but also discovered things I already love that I did not realize have Canadian roots. My favorite? Peanut butter.

The peanut butter everyone adores today traces back to a patent given to a man in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1884. So when I discovered my second favorite country’s national holiday, I decided we should all celebrate with a peanut butter cookie. These bite-sized cookies have dark brown sugar and oats, which make them unique and addictive. This will be a Canada Day treat you won’t soon forget.

Recipe: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 4 dozen

What You Need:

• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
• 2 cups flour
• 3 cups oats
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter

What To Do:
1. Heat oven to 375 F.
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Add in eggs and vanilla.
4. Mix in flour, baking soda, salt, oats, and water until batter is smooth and creamy.

5. Add in your peanut butter until evenly distributed.

6. Drop dough by heaping teaspoon onto an ungreased baking sheet.

7. Bake for 10 minutes.

I came up with the idea for these cookies while I was sitting in line for the film festival and knew I had to make them for this month’s The Leftovers Club. In case you missed last month’s post, The Leftovers Club is the baked good exchange club between food bloggers. On the first Thursday of every month we take what we’ve made and ship it to another blogger to eat. I was so excited about the prospect of the cookies that I forgot the author of Healthy Delicious was going to receive them. They are delicious, but probably not so healthy. Sorry, Lauren!

It took me three attempts to get these cookies right. On the first go around, my puppy jumped up on me while I was adding salt to the batter. This wouldn’t have been a problem except the Kitchen Aid mixer was spinning when it happened so you can imagine how lovely those tasted. The next time I added too much syrup and not enough baking powder and the cookies came out in one, big flat sheet. Finally I realized what they needed was a little chilling time before baking. They came out of the oven heavenly, syrup-y, and packed full of bacon.

Recipe: Pancakes & Bacon Cookies

Makes 3 dozen cookies

What You Need:

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup pancake mix
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 12 pieces bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
• 1 egg

What To Do:

1. Cream together the butter, sugar, and the egg.

2. Add in flour, pancake mix, baking powder, and baking soda.

3. Gently pour in maple syrup. Mix well.

4. Add half (6 slices) of your bacon. Mix until there is bacon in all of your dough.

5. Chill dough for at least 1 hour. **This step is so important. If you don’t refrigerate the dough, the cookies will be too runny and will ultimately bake together into one large, thin sheet.**

6. Preheat oven to 350 F.

7. Heap teaspoons of the dough onto greased cookie sheets. Using your teaspoon, gently press down the top of cookies.

8. Add two or three pieces of the crumbled bacon to each dough ball.

9. Bake for 10 minutes, or until cookies are slightly golden.

Love these cookies? Check out the Chocolate Covered Espresso Cookies I made for the club last month:

Want more Leftovers Club goodies? Here’s what all of my fellow bloggers made this month —

For one, I loved these cookies and was pleasantly surprised with how well they turned out.

Secondly, (and semi-embarrassingly) after having my DSLR for 5 years I actually sat down and played with the settings. It resulted in far better pictures than I usually take. Although I still need to learn a lot more about it, I feel at least a little more confident about the pictures going up on this site now.

However, I am most excited about this post because it is my first recipe I made specifically for The Leftovers Club. What is The Leftovers Club, you ask? Well, Jennifer over at Savory Simple had this awesome idea to pair up food bloggers once a month to do a baked goods exchange — whatever you make, you send to your partner and vice versa. That way you don’t have to eat everything that you make but you also get to try something drool-worthy from someone else’s blog. This month I was partnered with Meagan from A Zesty Bite and she made me these ridiculously awesome Oreo Toffee Brownies.  If this sounds like something you’d want to join, we’d love to have you. Just head over to The Leftovers Club and fill out the form. It is a great way to meet fellow bloggers and to hep people who read your blog fall in love with some others.

Now back to the cookies. In my last year of college, I bought some trail mix at Target that had chocolate covered espresso beans in it. I am not much of a coffee drinker, but I became obsessed with them. I ate them all the time….and then wondered why I had trouble falling asleep. For that reason, I tried to cut them from my diet. However, when I found them on sale at Aldi last week I could not resist getting them. I added them to this coffee cookie base and voila! Now I am addicted to something completely different.

Chocolate Covered Espresso Cookies

Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies

What You Need:

• 1 & 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground coffee
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 7 oz dark chocolate covered espresso beans
• What To Do:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.

  2. In a mixer, cream together sugars, egg, and vanilla.

  3.  Add in butter until smooth.

  4. Mix in all dry ingredients.

  5. Slowly add in espresso beans.

  6. Spoon dough onto cookie sheet. Bake for 10 minutes.

  

Want More Leftovers Club recipes??

Here’s links to what everybody else in the club made this month!

Savory Simple – Quinoa Granola

Bakeaholic Mama – Amish Friendship Muffins

Damn Delicious – Cinnamon Puppy Chow

Frugal Foodie Mama – Coconut Chai Biscotti

Let’s Give Peas a Chance – Chocolate Chip & Potato Chip Cookie Bars

A Zesty Bite – Oreo Toffee Brownies

MarocMama – Gluten-Free Moroccan Piped Cookies

Sugar Dish Me – Chocolate Cake Cookies

Diethood – Chocolate Cloud Cookies

Eats Well With Others – White Chocolate Blondies

Souffle Bombay – Spicy Dark Chocolate Brownies aka Mexican Brownies

Kelly Bakes – Lemon Thyme Shortbread

Pineapple and Coconut – Chocolate Dipped Caramel Cream Filled Coconut Shortbread

The Spiced Life – “Twisted Tollhouse” Shaved Chocolate Cookies

Eat Bake Drink Cook – Frosted Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

Food n’ Focus – English Muffin Bread

Omeletta – Whiskey Lemon Bars

Domestic Fits – Sriracha Caramel Corn

This recipe has been entered into the Safest Choice Eggs recipe contest hosted on Bakeaholic Mama and Buns In My Oven.