Red Velvet Sandwiches

Delicious! These cookies are just like red velvet cupcakes without the mess. I used one tablespoon of frosting in each sandwich, but some taste testers thought more frosting was needed. Let me know what you think!

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter cut into chunks
2 large eggs at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 teaspoons red food coloring
12 tablespoons cream cheese frosting

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Whisk all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat sugar and butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until crumbly, about 2 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, then vanilla and food coloring until smooth.
Slowly add in the flour mixture until combined.
Bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for 1 hour.
To assemble sandwiches: Place one tablespoon of frosting between two cookies.
Makes 12 sandwiches.

Sunflour Bakery

This bakery was very disappointing. While the cookies are large and thick, they taste very average. Iced cookies are $4.00 each. Sugar cookies are $5.99 for a package of six. I tried both varieties and was not impressed. The cookie base is the same, but the iced is topped with icing, and the sugar is topped with large sugar crystals. The cookies are beautifully decorated, though, so if you are looking for a gift that looks better than it tastes, I would recommend it over a place like Cookie Bouquet any day.

Sunflour Bakery is located at 2950 Grace Lane in Costa Mesa. Visit  for more details http://www.sunflourbakery.net/.

Doubletree Hotel Cookies

What more can be said about Doubltree cookies? Everyone knows and loves them, and Cookie Sleuth is no exception. Doubletree cookies are a thick, chewy blend of mini-chocolate chips, walnuts, and oats. The dominant flavor is chocolate, but the nuts and oats add texture and give the cookie what it needs to go beyond a regular chocolate chip cookie.

Watch out for a copycat Doubletree cookie recipe coming soon.

If you don't plan to stay at Doubletree anytime soon, you may visit www.doubletreecookies.com to order your own.

Cindy McCain's Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies

If the 2008 election had been based on cookie recipes, Cindy McCain would have won. While there has been a lot of speculation about the origin of her recipe (very similar to the one on my bag of Nestle Butterscotch chips), my focus is on the taste of the cookie. I offered this cookie to people who don't really care for butterscotch, and they still enjoyed it. Be sure to watch these cookies while they are baking as they can quickly go from perfect to overly brown.

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter softened
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 2/3 cups butterscotch chips 

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Blend in eggs and vanilla until mixture is smooth.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir into butter mixture. Then mix in the oats and butterscotch chips.
Drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie to allow for spread.
Bake for 10-11 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.
Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

Makes 36 cookies.

Cafe Bakery

Never again! I tried three kinds of cookies, and none of them were worth trying. Plus they all tasted the same. I would say the Face Cookies were very, very cute and would make a nice gift. Too bad they had no taste. Even the "chocolate frosting" used for the hair did not have much flavor. The "most popular" cookie was a bite-size butter cookie with pecan brittle in the center. I wonder who eats at Cafe Bakery to make this chewy mismatch popular.

The two mini-bags of bite-size cookies were $1 each. The face cookie was $1.50.

By the way, the woman at the counter was rude and pushy and seemed offended when I only wanted to purchase a few cookies instead of a giant cake, drink, or something from the "special table".

Cafe Bakery is located at 1202 South Idaho Street in La Habra.

Peanut Butter Butterscotch Cookies

This was my first time trying this combination, and it worked splendidly. The applesauce makes the cookies a bit more cakey, but I could not taste even a hint of applesauce. If you don't have butterscotch or prefer chocolate chips, you can make the substitution or go with no additions. The peanut butter base is very flavorful on its own.

Ingredients

1/8 cup butter

1/2 cup sugar
1 egg

1/2 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butterscotch chips 

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix butter, sugar, and egg until well-combined. Mix in peanut butter until smooth. Add in applesauce and baking powder. Gradually mix in flour. Stir in butterscotch chips.
Drop tablespoons of dough onto greased cookie sheets.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly browned.

Yields 18 cookies.

Treasure Island Cookies

Sweetened condensed milk is my new favorite ingredient! It is used in place of sugar in this recipe. This recipe does not use eggs either. Because of the condensed milk and coconut, these cookies are very, very chewy. Next time I will keep the pecan pieces large to balance the chewiness. Enjoy!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup melted butter
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans 

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375F. In a small bowl mix cracker crumbs, flour and baking powder. In a large mixing bowl, beat condensed milk and butter until smooth. Add cracker crumb mixture and blend well. Stir in coconut, chocolate chips, and pecans. Drop by rounded tablespoons on a cookie sheet sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake 9-10 minutes or until lightly browned.
Yields 24 cookies.

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies

This is a slightly crispy cookie with just the right amount of chocoloate and nuts. I chopped the nuts to make them similar in size to the chocolate chips for a more even flavor distribution. These cookies do spread, even after the dough has been refrigerated. For a thicker cookie, use only 1/4 cup of shortening. 

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup white chocolate chips
5 ounces macadamia nuts chopped

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease cookie sheets.
Beat butter and shortening until soft and creamy. Gradually add the sugars and beat well.
Add egg and vanilla and beat well.
Combine flour, soda and salt; gradually add to butter mixture beating well after each addition. Stir in chips and nuts.
Drop dough by rounded teaspoonfuls onto lightly greased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until done. Remove to wire racks to cool.

Yields 18 cookies.

The Sugar Me Bakery- Orange

Walking into The Sugar Me Bakery, I was excited to see a case full of beautiful cupcakes and a small selection of giant cookies. $1.75 per cookie is a good value considering how large each cookie is.

I sampled the snickerdoodle and the chocolate chip.

The snickerdoodle was overly soft and somewhat chewy at the edges. Unfortunately, it was not very flavorful. The chocolate chip cookie more than made up for the lackluster snickerdoodle. The chocolate chip was thin and chewy with crispy edges. It was filled with tons of mini-chocolate chips. The best characteristic of this cookie was its slight coffee flavor. Yum!

The Sugar Me Bakery is at 3353 E. Chapman in Orange. Visit http://www.thesugarmebakery.com for more information.

Do you know a coffee-flavored cookie? Send me the info. I want more!

Peanut Butter Delight Cookies

These are soft, airy cookies. They do not have a strong peanut butter taste, so add more peanut butter in place of the butter if you prefer. I first made these with less Reese's Pieces, and they lacked flavor, so be sure to use the full amount, even though it looks like a lot. For a crispier cookie, press down on the tops of the cookies before baking as they do not spread.

Ingredients

1/2 cup of Butter 

1/2 cup of smooth peanut butter 

1/2 cup of dark brown sugar 

1/4 cup of white sugar 

1 egg 

1 tsp of Vanilla 

1/2 tsp of salt 

1 tsp of baking soda 

1/4 cup of Milk 

2 cups of flour 

1/2 cup Chocolate chips 

1 cup Reese's Pieces 

Instructions

Mix the butter, peanut butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, salt, baking soda, and milk together until creamy and sugar is no longer gritty. Stir in the flour until well incorporated. Stir in chocolate chips and Reese's Pieces.

Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets.

Bake at 350° for 13-15 minutes until golden brown.

Let sit on cookie sheet to cool for 5 minutes. Then move to cooling rack to cool completely.

Yields 3 Dozen

Blue Frog Bakery- Orange

This is my new favorite bakery! For only 95 cents, you can buy yourself a dense, thick cookie.

I selected the chocolate chunk, chocolate chocolate chunk, and Blue Frog's version of an everything cookie. All of the cookies were heavy and full of flavor.

The chocolate chunk was soft, chewy, and filled with many chocolate chunks. Of the cookies I tried, my favorite was the chocolate, chocolate chunk. Like the chocolate chunk, this cookie was soft and chewy with plenty of chocolate chunks. The rich, dark chocolate base put this cookie over the top. The everything cookie included chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, lots of toasted coconut, and macadamia nuts. I wish there were more chocolate/white chocolate chips to make the coconut flavor less dominant. This cookie was not as thick as the others, but it was just as chewy.

The Blue Frog Bakery is located at 136 Glassell Street in Orange. They also serve breakfast and lunch. Visit http://www.bluefrogdesserts.com/ for more details.

White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

The sweet white chocolate chips contrasts the tartness of the cranberries nicely. Depending on your preference, change the ratios of the add-ins or even include some orange zest. These cookies will turn a very light golden brown when done. 

Ingredients
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt 

1/8 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 butter, softened

1 1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Combine flour and baking powder, salt, and baking soda; set aside.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and mix well. Gradually add the flour mixture until just mixed. Stir in white chocolate chips and dried cranberries.

Drop heaping tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto a lightly greased baking sheet.

Bake 12-15 minutes until lightly browned. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Yields 24 cookies.

Baby Cakes at the M Resort- Las Vegas

Baby Cakes has a cookie for every palate. At $2 a piece for a large cookie, you can afford to try each kind.

The chocolate chip cookie was very cakey and buttery with a generous portion of chocolate chips.

Skip the chocolate walnut cookie. It tasted like a smashed, burnt brownie. The whole walnut halves were not appealing either.

The peanut butter cookie was phenomenal. The peanut taste was strong but not overpowering. This was the most chewy peanut butter cookie I have ever eaten and definitely one of the best. For this cookie (and their banana marshmallow tart), Baby Cakes will be a regular stop whenever I am in Las Vegas. Visit http://www.themresort.com/dining/babycakes.html for more information.

Where in Vegas do you think has the best cookies? Leave a comment and let me know.