It’s funny how things change once you have kids.

Pre-kid’s, I use to make these elaborate cookie trays, create the cutest packaging, handmade gift tags, and pass them out to friends, neighbors, and coworkers throughout the holidays.

With kid’s, the thought of making those same cookie trays is utterly exhausting. With a 2-year-old and a 4-month-old, I need easy. I still have a love for baking and love the idea of handmade gifts, but this year, I’m keeping it simple.

When it comes to simple and easy, biscotti is one of my favorites. Mostly anyone can eat them with coffee or tea. Plus, all you have to do is put them in a cellophane bag, tie a cute ribbon around it, and you’re all set.

You can make them plain, or add in some fruit and nuts. My staple biscotti recipe is my Anise Almond Biscotti, but for a different flavor I changed up the recipe and added some dried cranberries and walnuts.

These were delicious, simple, and tasted perfect alongside my morning cup of coffee. Hopefully my friends and neighbors will enjoy them just the same

Cranberry Walnut Biscotti adapted from Taste of Home

Ingredients

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 3 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. In a small bowl, whisk eggs, vegetable oil, and vanilla; add the wet ingredients to your dry ingredients and stir until mixed through. Fold in walnuts and cranberries .

• Spray a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray. Divide dough in half.  Lightly floured hands and shape each half into a 10-in. x 2-1/2-in. rectangle. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
• Carefully remove to wire racks and cool for 10 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and cut diagonally with a serrated knife into 1-in. slices. Place cut side down on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Hi There A couple weeks ago I received an email from Weekly Bite reader Maura. Her email included one of her favorite recipes {VEGAN OATMEAL CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES}. She gave these cookies such high praise I just had to try them!

These cookies are AMAZING! I kid you not, these are some of the best cookies I’ve ever tasted. And it has nothing to do with the fact that they’re vegan. They are rich, moist, gooey, and delicious. Everything I look for in a cookie.

Mr. Weekly Bite couldn’t stop eating them. After each bite he’d ask “Are you sure these are vegan?”

No mixer is needed with this recipe. Just a bowl & spoon.

Here’s how to make these delicious cookies….

First thing you want to do is combine all your dry ingredients in one bowl: flour, brown sugar, oats, salt, & baking soda.

In a separate bowl, combine all your wet ingredients: canola oil, orange juice, & vanilla.

Add your wet ingredients to your dry ingredients. Mix well with a spoon. The mixture will be crumbly. No need to worry, its suppose to be that way .

Add in your chocolate chips.

Roll the dough tightly into 1.5-2 inch balls & bake.

Vegan Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2 cups unbleached flour
1 cup quick cook oatmeal
1 1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup vegan chocolate chips
3/4 cup vegetable oil, or melted vegan butter (I use corn oil, I find it works better)
1/3 cup orange juice
1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
In a large bowl mix together the dry ingredients. Combine the oil, orange juice, and vanilla; then mix with the dry. Roll the dough in your hands to make 1 1/2 inch balls. Place them on a large cookie sheet and flatten them to about 1/4 inch thick with your fingers or a fork. Bake at 400 degrees on middle rack for about 12 minutes or until they are just beginning to brown. Cool on cookie racks.

These cookies will be making regular appearances in our house! Thanks Maura

If you have a recipe you’re in love with and would like it featured on Weekly Bite, email me at contact@weeklybite.com

Have a great day!!

I’m so glad you all enjoyed my Nutrition Q & A! Your comments were all so sweet! I am so proud to be a cancer survivor and I do my best to support the cause. I plan on writing a more detailed post on it in the future.

On most days, my day starts at 6:15 a.m. My alarm goes off at that time every morning. Sometimes I wake up to it… sometimes I get woken earlier by you know who.

This day she slept in till 7 a.m., so I was able to get breakfast ready for her before she woke up.

This is her “Mom why are you taking a picture of me so early in the morning with egg on my face?” face.

On the menu for Miss M was a scrambled organic farm fresh egg, chopped kiwi, and a toasted whole wheat english muffin with Crofter’s Super Fruit Spread.

She ate all the egg and kiwi, and picked at the English muffin.

It still amazes me that two brown eyed people conceived a child with some of the bluest eyes I’ve ever seen!

My mission for the day other than taking care of my little munchkin was to purchase a large suitcase and play around with a new cookie recipe.

M and I are traveling to Minneapolis to visit my brother We’re so excited! But… traveling alone with a baby is tough. There are so many items to pack… hence the need for a very large suitcase!

Here are just some of the items I will be traveling with:

• Stroller
• Car Seat
• Car seat base
• Pac-n-play for her to sleep in
• Tons of diapers
• Wipe
• Multiple changes of clothes
• Snacks
• Travel Meals
• Toys to keep her occupied
• Not to mention a million odd and ends and my clothes too!

Between my husband and I, we had accumulated a lot of REI dividend points, so I ventured to REI and ended up purchasing this monster of a suitcase! Its not the most attractive suitcase… but with all the points we earned it was practically free! Score!!

I was also able to squeeze in a yoga class. My yoga studio has childcare now! I’m so happy about that because no childcare = no yoga

I also experimented in the kitchen.

I’m such a messy baker!

I’ve seen these cookies before but have never attempted to make them. I decided to add my own little twist to them and try to make them into a healthy snack.

I used whole wheat flour and flax meal as the base. These cookies were so moist and dense! It made for the perfect afternoon snack!

Ingredients:

• 2 very ripe bananas
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter (softened)
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 14 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup flax meal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream bananas and butter together. Add sugars and vanilla. Mix until creamy. In a separate bowl, combine flour, flax meal, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Mix until combined.

Drop by rounded tablespoon onto cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Let cookies set on cookie sheet for a few minutes, then move to a cooling rack.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Do you have any big plans for the holiday weekend?
My husband will be in town so we’ve got lots of fun family time planned
Have a great weekend!!!!

Hi

To say that I’ve been “feeling under the weather” is an understatement.

I know I don’t have the flu, but this is about as bad as a cold can get.

Whatever I have has completely wiped me out! I was out for count for a few days!

The good news is I feel like I’m on the mend… kinda!! Phew!

Bear with me as I try to recoup

Ok… so let’s move on to these cookies!

I mentioned in this post that I was going to birthday party over the weekend.

I made some chocolate chip coconut macaroons and these M&M Chocolate Chip cookies

I wish I could take credit for this recipe.

A while back I was reading Alice’s blog Savory Sweet Life. She claimed that these were the best chocolate chip cookies ever!

I knew I had to try this recipe.

These cookies do not disappoint!! These ARE the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve had in a very long time!

I altered the recipe just a tiny bit.

I added 1 tablespoon of vanilla and being that this was a child’s party, I added some dark chocolate M&M’s to add some color!

Both the kids and adults loved these cookies!

You can find the original recipe here.

Have a great HUMPDAY

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Question of the Day?

What’s the best cookie you’ve every had?

I have never in my life been so excited about the weather as I am today.

You see, this girl (me), was born and raised in South Texas where I met my super cool husband.

My husband took me from Texas to San Diego… I know… I’m spoiled…

Then, my husband took me from San Diego to Washington, DC.

Here in DC, I have experienced some of the most beautiful fall weather with gorgeous fall leaves.

We have a giant Cherry Blossom tree in our backyard, which when bloomed in the spring, looks like pink cotton candy flowers.

And here, in DC, this girl from Texas has experienced more snow then I have seen in my entire life. Thirty-seven inches to be exact!

I have never been more ready for spring!

And today, this first day of March, the weather is suppose to reach a high of just over 50 degrees!!!!!!!!

Spring is on its way! I may even bust out the jogging stroller today… who knows… the options are endless!

Okay… I’m done gloating

If you haven’t figured this out yet… chocolate chip cookies are my absolute favorite!

I have a few recipes that I love. One of them is this recipe. When I made these vegan cookies, people can’t even tell they’re vegan.

Well… they’re kinda vegan. I’m not a huge fan of carob, so I use regular semi-sweet chocolate chips

A couple of years ago I came across this recipe online from Dreena Burton of Eat Drink & Be Vegan.

Over time I’ve slightly altered the recipe. What I love about her recipe is the creative use of molasses.

The molasses combined with maple syrup makes this cookie taste like there’s tons of brown sugar in it… but there’s none at all!

My favorite part about baking chocolate chip cookies is eating the cookie dough!

The fact that there’s no eggs in this recipe makes me feel less guilty about indulging!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon blackstrap molasses
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or carob chips)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and sugar. Whisk until combined.

In a separate bowl, whisk maple syrup, molasses, vanilla, and canola oil.

Combine wet ingredients with dry ingredients. Mix until well combined. Add in chocolate chips.

Drop by HEAPING tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet. Will make about 9 cookies.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven immediately. Let set on cookie sheet for 2 minutes, then carefully remove and place cookies on cooling rack.

Enjoy!

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Have a great Monday!!!!

What do you do when you have an intense craving for Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, have all the ingredients but the chocolate chips, and there’s three feet of snow outside with blizzard like conditions?

You break into the chocolate drawer….

I broke into my beloved Dove Chocolate stash to complete these cookies.

Just so you know… I firmly believe everything happens for a reason.

There was a reason I forgot to replenish our stash of semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Dove Dark Chocolate Promises were meant to be a part of this cookie…

This cookie answered my chocolate cravings! These cookies are so rich, all I needed was half a cookie to satisfy my craving.

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks salted butter – softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
• 2/3 cup cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, or 3/4 package of Dove Dark Chocolate Promises, roughly chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 360 degrees.

Combine flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl… mix together then set aside.

Cream butter and both sugars until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes at medium high speed.) Slowly add in flour mixture and mix at low speed until combined.

Stir in chocolate chips. Dough will seem thick… that’s okay, its suppose to be thick.

Drop dough (about 2 tbsp worth) onto cookie sheet. These will be a nice size cookie.

Bake for 12-14 minutes.

Let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet, then carefully transfer to cooling rack.

Enjoy!

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Question of the Day?

What’s the craziest thing you’ve done to satisfy a craving? When I was pregnant, it was 9:30 at night, my husband was out of town, and I wanted ice cream so bad. I drove to the store in my sweats and Uggs, and couldn’t decide what ice cream to buy, so I bought 3 different flavors…. That was the most intense craving I ever had

I peaked.

Seriously… I should just retire now. I should retire from cookie making.

I’ve literally died and gone to cookie heaven!

This is the best damn cookie I’ve ever made!

Never has a bite of cookie brought me to my knees.

Can you tell I love these cookies!

I originally started out with all intentions to make standard oatmeal cookies. As I started to pull all the ingredients out… I thought to myself “Wait a minute… I don’t even really like oatmeal raisin cookies.” I put the raisins back in the cabinet and pulled out the chocolate chips. Behind the chocolate chips was a huge jar of Jif peanut butter (my husband refuses to eat the all the natural stuff). From this, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies were born.

To scoop out my cookies I use a small ice cream scoop (about 1.5-2 tablespoons). This makes for the perfect seven bite cookie. My husband went nuts over these cookies! They were so good he said I shouldn’t make them for while (cause he’ll eat them all)!

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks butter (softened)
• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour (all-purpose flour can be used too)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3 cups quick cooking oats (old fashioned oats will work too)
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chip cookies

Heat oven to 350 degrees

Beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes). Add eggs and vanilla, beat well. Add peanut butter, mix until creamy.

Add combined flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix well. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.

Use a small ice cream scoop or about 2 tablespoons worth of cookie dough onto ungreased cookie sheet. With your fingers, flattened cookie a little.

Bake for about 13-15 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let cool on cookie sheet for about 3 minutes. Transfer to wire rack.

Proceed to enjoy the best cookie you’ve ever had!

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Question of the day?

In cookie heaven, what cookie would you be surrounded by? You know my answer

Remember…. January 4th!!

Speaking of no diets… check out these babies!

Even though the holiday season is just about gone, I still can’t stop baking… or cooking for that matter. Plus… there’s always room for chocolate chip cookies… right?!? Amuse me and nod your head “YES.”

Thanks!

In my book, when it comes down to cookies, chocolate chip is the all time classic! Give me one of these with a glass of ice cold milk and my belly is happy!

When is comes to cookies, I’m pretty picky about the size. I like a nice size cookie that takes up at least the size of my palm, and takes around seven bites to eat. Seven bites is good enough to thoroughly enjoy the cookie.

For a good seven bite cookie, I use a small ice cream scoop (or heaping tablespoon) to scoop out the cookies.

The result is this perfect seven bite chocolate chip cookie

Recipe adapted from Barefoot Contessa

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 granulated sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs at room temperature

2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light a fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, mix well. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and mix at low speed. Fold in chocolate chips.

Using a small ice cream scoop, or a heaping tablespoon, drop the dough on a baking sheet about 2.5-3 inches apart. Flatten dough slightly with hands. Bake for 15 minutes (no more, no less). Remove from oven and let cool slightly in the pan, then transfer to cooling rack.

Enjoy!!

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Question of Day….

What’s your perfect size cookie? Are you a bite size cookie person or a seven bite cookie lover like me?

Because of this…

This weekend we had the fifth worst snow storm in DC history!

Thanks to my hubby for shoveling for over 5 hours!

We did manage to get Marin out for some “first snow” pictures

Stuck inside the house with nothing to do and an intense craving for peanut butter cookies led to these.

I pulled out my whole-wheat pastry flour to make the cookies and thought to myself “Screw it! I’m using regular flour!” (I know, I’m a wild women!)

The result was a flaky, peanut buttery cookie that just melts in your mouth!

Recipe adapted from “All You” Magazine.

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/4 cup light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together flour, baking, soda, and salt in medium bowl.

With mixer on medium high speed, beat butter and both sugars for about 3 minutes until light and fluffy. Add eggs, vanilla. Beat until smooth. (Be sure to scrape down the sides.) Add peanut butter and beat until creamy.

Slowly add flour mixture to creamy mixture. At low speed beat until just combined.

Drop by heaping tablespoon onto baking sheet (sprayed w/ non-stick cooking spray). Make sure cookies are 2 inches apart. Flatten each ball by pressing a crisscross pattern with a fork.

Enjoy!

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Question of Day:

What do you do when you cooped up inside your house?

I either bake or do some sort of obsessive cleaning and organizing.

To start, I mixed together whole wheat pastry flour, cocoa, salt, & baking soda

In a seperate bowl, I mixed the sugar, canola oil, vanilla, soy milk, & flax meal

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients, then mix in the chocolate chips.

Drop by HEAPING tablespoon onto ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake in oven preheated to 350 degrees for no more than 10 minutes

Let cookies set in pan for 2 minutes, than carefully place on cooling rack.

This last step is super important… if you leave them in the oven too long or let them sit on the pan too long, they will overbake.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 teaspoon unsweetened baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup soy milk
2 cups natural sugar (you can just use regular sugar)
4 teaspoons ground flax seed
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Sift flour, cocoa, baking soda, & salt in a large bowl. In seperate bowl, mix oil, soy milk, sugar, flax meal, & vanilla. Add wet mixture to dry ingredients, mix well. Mix in chocolate chips.

Drop by heaping tablepoon on ungreased cookie sheet ( I use a silpat). Cook at 350 degrees for no more than 10 minutes. Remove cookies immediately, let cook in pan for 2 minutes, carefully transfer to baking sheet.

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Question… have you ever “Veganized” a baked good? If so, what method do you use, and how does your product come out? I’m super interested

Have a great day!