Peanut Butter Pretzel Cookies

I ate waaay too many of these cookies, but they were too delicious to stop eating! These chewy cookies paired well with the chocolatey, salty crunch of the pretzels. I liked bigger chunks of pretzels. I also added in a 1/2 cup of chocolate shavings to boost chocolate flavor and add more color to the cookie.

I have heard of a potato chip cookie. Have you ever tried it? This pretzel cookie combo makes me think it would be worth a try...

Ingredients
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2  cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/4 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate covered pretzels, chopped 

Instructions
Preheat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat sugars, peanut butter, butter, shortening, vanilla and eggs until creamy. Stir in flour, baking powder and baking soda. Stir in pretzels.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.
Bake 10 minutes or until light brown.
Yields 2 dozen.

Dark Chocolate Mint Cookies

This indulgent treat is actually very easy to make. I melted dark chocolate in the microwave and added it before stirring in the mint chocolate chips. It produced a rich chocolate cookie that was very hard to stop eating!

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup melted dark chocolate
1 cup mint chocolate chips

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
In the microwave, melt dark chocolate. Stir into the cookie dough.
Stir in morsels. Drop by well-rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set.
Yields 18 cookies.

North End- Mike's Pastry & Bova's Bakery

This Italian food mecca in Boston is THE place for Italian restaurants and groceries. I find it a lot easier to navigate and more friendly than New York's Little Italy, and the food is just as delicious. I can't stop eating even when I'm full! Desserts from Mike's Pastry and Bova's Bakery were no exception.

Everyone who lives in or who has visited Boston knows Mike's Pastry and their canolis. Any why wouldn't they? They're delicious and well known as the best in the city. Behind the canolis are their cookies! Of the butter cookies and giant bakery cookies, I selected the M&M cookie ($1.50). Soft and saucer-sized, it was full with M&Ms AND chocolate chips. I planned to share half of it, but ended up eating 3/4. They cookie was scrumptious (eaten the next day after the canoli- still remained very fresh), and I will be sure to get one next time I stop in for a canoli. Visit www.mikespastry.com for more details.

Bova's Bakery is off the beaten path. The cashier was chatting with a customer about the Red Sox game when we came in. It's definitely a true family run business. Cookies (mostly butter cookies) are by the pound. I tried four different kinds, and my total was $1.72. The chocolate walnut cookie (about 1 tablespoon in size) is a great after dinner treat and was my favorite. The chocolate chip lacked flavor. If you're not in the mood for chocolate, the crumbly butter cookies with sprinkles melt in your mouth. Visit http://bovabakeryboston.com for more details.

Quincy Market/Faneuil Hall

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! I'm not baking cookies today, but here's another review from my trip to Boston...


What trip to Boston is complete without a stop at Quincy Market and Fanueil Hall? Two bakeries caught my eyes as I was going through the row of enticing flavors and smells. 


Kilvert & Forbes Bakeshop- Maggie's Sweets 

Their slogan under the chocolate chip cookie display read, "less butter, more chips". I don't know if they really used less butter (the cookie was chewy and just slightly sweet), but they sure used more chips! Delicious! I declare their Heath Cookie the best in Quincy Market. Super chewy with a great combination of toffee, chocolate chips, and white chocolate chips, this cookie had it all. Giant cookies are $3.50 each.

Carol Anns Bake Shop

After trying Maggie's Sweets, this was a disappointment. Oatmeal raisin, M&M, and chocolate chip varieties were available. I tried the small sized chocolate chip. It tasted like an average grocery store bakery cookie- too sweet, crispy on the edges and overly soft in the middle. Small cookies are $1 each. Large cookies are $3 each.

Do you have a favorite food in Quincy Market?

Gecko Cookies

With the holidays coming up (Watch in the coming weeks for a list of top cookies gifts!), I wanted to share an easy holiday gift option with you. Gecko Cookies makes all of their desserts fresh daily (made to order only) and has a super-friendly staff to help with suggestions.

When I created my own "Confection by the Dozen" box, I tried:
Butter Shortbread- light and slightly buttery and sweet
Chocolate Chip- very few chocolate chips, but a great brown sugar base, slightly crispy
Oatmeal Butterscotch Coconut- chewy and dense, somewhat salty base worked well with the sweet butterscotch chips- my favorite
Canyon Cookie- like a ranger cookie with chocolate chips, dried cherries, and coconut- the cherries were a little large for my liking, but overall a great cookie
Snickerdoodle- lots of cinnamon sugar, great cookie for kids
Peanut Butter- a somewhat sandy texture, but a balanced peanut butter flavor
Lemon Sugar- slight lemon flavor, crispy
Nutella Fudge Brownies- didn't taste nutella, but it was super fudgy 

Treats are $2.25 a piece. Their website (www.geckocookies.com) has a variety of lovely gift boxes, too.

Chocolate Graham Cookies

I have been on a graham cracker kick recently and wanted to find another way to eat them! This is a great chocolate cookie that doesn't overpower the graham crackers. Depending on how you prefer your graham crackers, you can crush/break them to the size of your choice. Mini chocolate chips would mix in nicely as well.

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
2 cups crushed graham crackers (not finely crushed)

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add egg. Gradually beat in flour mixture. 
Stir graham crackers. Drop by well-rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until cookies are puffed and centers are set.
Yields 18 cookies.

Cook's Farm

Copley Square in Boston is always busy (not the overwhelming annoying busy, but the always something interesting going on busy). Twice each week there are mini-farmer's markets. Mixed in with all of the flowers, bread, and fresh produce was the tent for Cook's Farm.  

Cookies, brownies, pies, jams, bread, and maple syrup heaven! With everything I had been eating, I controlled myself and just got one chocolate chip cookie (even though I could have purchased 3 for $5!)

The cookie was HUGE. Crispy and not overly sweet, it tasted like a traditional Toll-House recipe chocolate chip cookie. For it's great size, I was hoping it would be more magnificent. I enjoyed it though, since it tasted just like a jumbo version of my grandmother's chocolate chip cookies. (Even though it's just the recipe on the back of Nestle chocolate chips, I can't seem to make them taste just like hers. Do you have that problem with any of your family recipes?)

Cookies are $2.00 a piece. For more information, visit the Cook's Farm and Bakery website: http://cooksfarmandbakery.com/