Treat number two for the 2nd football Friday – chocolate chip cookies. I swapped out the sugar and used corn syrup. I also used a combo of butter and Crisco. You can use all butter or all Crisco. There is cornstarch in this recipe. I am a big fan of using it in cookies to keep them from spreading too much.

Remember to scoop your flour from your container into your measuring cup. I chilled the dough overnight. Don’t forget to preheat your oven for 20 minutes before baking so the temp is correct. Another tip – I open a new baking soda at the start of each month to make sure I am using fresh baking soda for optimal baking.

• Ingredients
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Crisco
• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 tsp cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 cups chocolate chips

Directions – cream butter, Crisco and brown sugar. Add egg, corn syrup, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Stir in flour and cornstarch. Mix in chips. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough. Chill a few hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Stagger dough on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or nonstick baking liners.

Bake 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes. There will be light golden spots on top., cool completely. Store in covered container.

This Friday football treat for the second Sunday of 2020 – peanut butter cookies topped with melted chocolate! I know that usually these cookies have a Hershey kiss placed on top, but I decided a while back to melt the kisses instead. Yay me! One of the funny things about these cookies – they look remarkably the same before as after they are baked! I love puffy cookies!

I used a combo of Crisco and butter. You could probably use all butter or all Crisco if you want. Remember to scoop your flour from your container into your measuring cup to get the right amount. I chilled the dough overnight. Also preheat your oven for 20 minutes to get the right temp.

• Ingredients
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Crisco
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1 tbs milk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups flour

Directions – cream Crisco, butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add egg, vanilla and milk. Fold in dry ingredients. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough into mounds. Chill a few hours or overnight. Preheat oven to 350 for 20 minutes. On a cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners. Stagger cookies.

Bake 10 to 13 minutes (golden spots on top). Cool completely. Store in covered container.

I didn’t start out with marbled chocolate chip cookies in mind. They just wound up that way because I made a late call on making them and possess no patience in letting the browned butter cool. But i think my impatience has paid off, in terms of a good cookie. Couple of things to remember – scoop your flour from your flour bag into your measuring cup to get the right amount. Chill your scooped out cookie dough for at least a couple of hours, so the cookies don’t flatten too much. And, preheat your oven to 350 for 20 minutes before baking.

• Ingredients
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tbs cornstarch
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips
• 1 cup semisweet,chocolate chips

Directions – brown butter, stirring occasionally. you will see little specs of brown in the bottom. Remove from heat and pour in a mixing bowl. Add brown sugar and sugar. Stir in eggs and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients. Add mini chips. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough. Chilla few hours. Preheat oven,for 20 minutes. Stagger dough on a cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners. Gently press semisweet chips on top. Bake 10 to 13 minutes. Cool completely. Store in covered container.

Part two of my football Friday treats – black and white cookies. Pretty proud of myself I finally remembered to frost the bottoms of the cookies. I went with the traditional vanilla cookie base. I will share b&w cookies with other flavors another day. Remember to scoop your flour from your flour container into your measuring cup so you get the right amount. If you don’t have cake flour, you can add 2 tbs and 1 tsp of cornstarch to 2 1/2 cups flour and sift together. You could try all the flour as all purpose flour, but I am not sure how that will affect the cookies. If you don’t have buttermilk, you can add 1/3 tbs pf lemon juice or vinegar to 1/2 cup milk. I also chilled the dough after I scooped them out, so they didn’t spread as much.

• Ingredients
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 2 1/2 cups cake flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup crisco
• 1 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 4 eggs
• 1/2 cup milk or buttermilk

Directions – cream Crisco, butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Fold in dry ingredients, then milk., scoop out 1/4 cups of dough (you may need to flour your hands to form them into mounds. Dough can be a little sticky). Chill a few hours. Preheat your oven to 375 for 20 minutes (to get the right temp). Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Cool completely.

• Vanilla frosting – combine together
• 3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbs corn syrup
• 3 tbs hot water
• 1 tsp vanilla

• Chocolate frosting – combine together
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tbs corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup hot water
• 3 /4 cup chocolate chips, melted

Place cookies flatside up. Frost half of each with vanilla frosting, the other half with chocoate. Store in covered container

So finally, week 1 of the NFL season is here. Last season, I baked each week during the season, and the Bills went 10-6 and clinched a playoff spot. So I am continuing the tradition in 2020. For our first football Friday, I made stuffed cake mix cookies and black and white cookies. These cake mix cookies a need just simple 5 ingredients. They are super easy! Use any flavor cake mix you want. I opted for chocolate. And these are stuffed with oreos. You can also use candy! Remember to preheat your oven for 20 minutes before you bake the cookies to get to the right temperature. (An LG tech taught me that trick)

• Ingredients
• 1 cake mix
• 1 egg
• 1/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tbs water
• Oreos, candy

Directions – preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Combine cake mix, egg, oil and,water. Place 1 tbs on top of an Oreo and another tbs on the bottom. Seal edges. Stagger on a cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners. Bake 10 to 12 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar. Cool completely. Store in covered container.

I could not decide whether to make brownies or cupcakes, so I went with a hybrid – a brownie cupcake.

The recipe is a flourless, so the cupcakes are quite dense. And I topped them with chocolate frosting. I made 8 jumbo cupcakes, using my jumbo cupcake pan, jumbo cupcake liners and my jumbo cupcake batter scoop (one of many treasures I have from Bed, Bath and Beyond). If you know me well, you are not surprised I have mini, regular and jumbo size cupcake pans, and mini, regular and jumbo size cupcake batter scoops.

A reminder to preheat your oven for 20 minutes before you bake so that it cycles to the right temperature.

• Cupcake ingredients
• 12 tbs butter
• 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
• 4 eggs
• 11/3 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 6 tbs cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Directions – preheat oven to 350. Line a cupcake pan with cupcake liners (I used jumbo). Melt butter and 1 1/2 cups chips (in 30 second increments in a microwave safe bowl, until you can stir smooth). Add sugar and eggs. Stir in dry ingredients and mix just until blended. Fold in remaining 1 cup chocolate chips. Spoon into cupcake pan lined with baking liners. You fill them almost to the top. The batter is thick and doesn’t rise much. Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely

• Frosting ingredients
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1tbs cornstarch
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 2-3 cups powdered sugar
• 1 tbs heavy cream

Frosting directions – Melt water and butter. Add cocoa and vanilla, then powdered sugar and cornstarch. Stir in cream. If you find the frosting too thin, add more powdered sugar. If you find it too thick, add more cream (1 tbs at a tine). Frost cupcakes and store in covered container.

I didn’t have time to bake for opening day for opening day for our new ESPN Radio lineup, so for the start of week 2, I am bringing a hat trick of treats to make up for it. One of the treats – red velvet cookies stuffed with oreos and topped with fudge frosting. You can use any cake flavor by the way, and any candy or cookie to stuff it with. There a bit of leftover frosting, so you might have to make something else to put it on. Or you can just eat it! (I won’t tell)

• Cookie Ingredients
• 1 cake mix (I used red velvet)
• 1 egg
• 2 tbs water
• 1/3 cup oil
• Oreos

Directions -preheat oven to 350 for 20 minutes. combine cake mix, egg, water and water. If you think the combination is too dry, add another tbs or two of watee. Take one tbs of cookie dough and flatten, as seen below.

Place an Oreo on top.

top with another tbs of flattened cookie dough.

Seal.

Stagger on a cookie sheet lined with nonstock baking liners.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes. Cool completely.

• Fudge frosting Ingredients
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1/2 cup butter
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup milk,chocolate chips

Directions – combine cream, buttwr, and sugar in a pan. Cook and stir until boiling. Boil 1 minutes. Add chocolate chips. Remove from heat. Stir smooth. Spoon over cooled cookies. Store in covered container.

Today’s recipe is yes, a chocolate chip cookie recipe. This one is a little different in that I used dark chocolate chips (I am a big fan of the large bag of chocolate chips from Bjs) and I used a combination of cake flour and all purpose flour. If you don’t have cake flour, for this recipe – you can blend together 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour with 1 tbs and 1 tsp cornstarch. I froze the dough for at least 30 minutes so they are don’t flatten too much. Remember to preheat your oven for 20 minutes before you bake the cookies so you get the correct temperature. These cookies are large. I used a 1/4 cup scoop, so I made 16.

• Ingredients
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 11/4 cups cake flour (or blend 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour with 1 tbs and 1 tsp cornstarch)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups dark,chocolate chips

Directions – cream butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Fold in chips. Scoops out 1/4 cups of dough. Freexe at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees for 20 minutes. Stagger on a cookie sheet lined with non-stick baking liners. Bake 14-17 minutes. Cool completely. Store in covered container.

It seems like we’ve had 5 straight weeks of hot and humid weather. That might stop most people from turning on their oven to bake… But not me! Today I present another chocolate chip cookie recipe. It was a last minute request from Rob after I got home from work, so I aed Crisco. You can use softened butter if you prefer. I only baked 2,or 3 at a time and kept the rest of the cookie dough in the fridge. That way you can have fresh baked cookies each day! Or you can bake them all at once and freeze them in a freezer bag once they cool completely. Then just pop one out and it should thaw out on the counter in an hour (unless you have a thief pup like us, then you may have to put it up a little higher)

Couple of tips – 1) scoop the flour from your flour container into you measuring cup to get the right amount. Do not pour directly into measuring cups. 2) make sure your baking soda is fresh. I open a new box each month and dump the old one down the kitchen sink. 3) i scoop out the dough and chill the mounds for at least an hour. I find it easier than scooping out the chilled dough. 4) preheat the oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes to make sure the temp os just right

• Ingredients
• 1 cup butter (softened) or Crisco
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 1/4 cups flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 bag mini chocolate chips

Directions – cream Crisco or butter, sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla., fold in dry ingredients. Mix in chips. Scoop out 1/4 cups of dough and form into mounds. Chill at least an hour, preheat oven to 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Stagger on a cookie sheet lined with nonstick baking liners. Bake 10-13 minutes. You will see little golden patches on top. Let cool completely. Store in covered container.

As this seemingly never ending year and pandemic continue, I present another chocolate chip cookie recipe. These are quite large – this recipe only makes 6. So when it is 95 degrees for the 20th straight day, the oven is not on long. I feel that is a win. Also, you eat one and feel like you’ve had 4. In my magical cookie land, that also feels like a win. Plus the NHL came back today and that is also a “w”. Banner day for those who like cookies and hockey!

• Ingredients
• 1/2 cup butter, softened to room,temperature
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbs vanilla
• 1 egg
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• Directions – cream butter, sugar ans brown sugar. Add eggs and vanill. Fold,in dry ingredients. Mix in chips. Divide dough evenly into thirds. Divide each third in half. Place the 6 mounds in the fridge for a couple of hours. Preheat oven to 375. Stagger on a cookie sheet lined w nonstick baking liner. Bake 13 to 16 minutes or until you see golden patches on top of the cookies. Let cool on sheet 10 minutes. Remove and cool completely. Store in covered container.