Allow me to introduce you to one of my favorite desserts: the pizookie. It'll be your favorite, too.

I've been making these since college, but I guess I've been holding out on sharing them. The concept is about as simple as it gets. You put cookie dough into a ramekin. Bake it until it's just starting to brown on the top. Pull it out of the oven, and put a big scoop of ice cream on top.

The next few minutes are pure bliss. The cold ice cream combines with the warm cookies. Everything is melting together. Your mind goes blank. You're not sure if you've ever had anything so good in your life, etc.

This is the easiest thing on my blog. You can use homemade cookie dough if you have time -- I have in the past -- but Tollhouse and Pillsbury are in every grocery store for a reason. They save you time and they've spent decades perfecting the recipes. These pictures are made with Tollhouse and Turkey Hill French Vanilla.

I gave my roommate and longtime #1 recipe taste-tester the extra pizookie after taking pictures. She's had them multiple times since I make these any time I'm tasked with dessert and don't feel like baking before dinner. After we finished them (mine was already half gone from taking pictures), she confessed that even though she knew these were easy, she thinks they're the best thing I make. I can't really take credit for store-bought cookie dough and ice cream, but seriously...they might be.

I have only tried pizookies with variations of chocolate chip cookie dough. I also prefer them with vanilla ice cream (probably the only time plain vanilla is my preference) or cookie dough if I'm really feeling the cookie vibe. There are an endless number of potential combinations. I'm sure they're all great.

You can make this in any ramekins you have around the house. You will need to adjust the amount of cookie dough you add and cooking time based on your choice. The amounts I've detailed below are guidelines based on the ramekin size I was using. You can adjust the recipe based on the number of servings and the ramekin size. I usually fill them a little over half full if I'm using smaller ramekins (4-6oz). The key is to cook them until each pot is just slightly starting to brown around the edges. The top will be set, but it's still soft in the middle.

Enjoy!

Pizookies
Serves: 4
Total Time: 15 Minutes (3 Active)

Ingredients
16oz Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
4 Scoops Vanilla Ice Cream

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill each ramekin with approximately 4oz of cookie dough (cookie dough should be about 1-inch deep in the ramekin). Place on cookie sheet. Bake the cookie sheet of ramekins on the middle rack for 12-16 minutes*, or until cookie dough is just starting to brown around the edges and the top is set. Do not overbake! Cookies will be cooked through, but the inside should still be soft.

Remove from oven, let sit for two minutes, and top each ramekin with a cold scoop of ice cream, pressing down slightly in the center. The ice cream will start melting right away, so DIG IN! Make sure not to hold the ramekins without a napkin or something to prevent you from burning your hands (since this would really cut down on the enjoyment factor).

*Time range varies based on ramekins used, amount of dough added, and oven.

And since I was going to eat the pizookie anyways, I documented:

Immediately after dropping ice cream on the pizookie.

Eating and photographing. Photographing and eating.

And then all the bites start looking like chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, which is never a bad thing.

Perfection. (Put down the camera to focus on eating)

And this is what it looks like if you don't eat it right away.

 

These cookies are excellent in every way. I only baked them to add to a batch of cinnamon ice cream I was making, but they deserve so much more than just being a complementary player. These cookies are a star on their own. Seriously.

Sometimes oatmeal cookies spread too much. Sometimes they dry out. They'd be high up on my favorite cookie list, but until now I've never had a dependable recipe to use. For the ice cream I wanted to make (a homemade version of Ben & Jerry’s Oatmeal Cookie Chunk - recipe coming soon!), I needed a great oatmeal chocolate chip cookie to add. This one fit the bill.

I like to make recipes based on how people describe them. Mel over at Mel’s Kitchen Cafe posted the recipe in 2009, and at the time she wrote that she’d made them three times in two weeks. She posted an update in 2013 that said 4 years later she was still making this recipe.

I can see why after trying these for myself. We managed to finish off the first batch before they stood a chance at making it into the ice cream. I was happy to make a second batch since it meant a few more days of these cookies. I would eat them every day if that were a viable option (sadly, it's not).

Since it's a fairly large batch they will probably last longer than a few days for most people--in which case, you could keep the extra dough in the fridge for up to two days to make them in multiple batches or pop it in the freezer for fast cookies in the future. I refrigerated the dough overnight before baking them, but this isn't a necessary step with these cookies. Some people (myself included), prefer to always refrigerate the dough if time permits, but it's nice to know you can skip that step if you're in a rush.

Enjoy!

Classic Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Café

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips

Directions

1. Cream together the butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Beat until light and fluffy. Add baking soda, powder, and salt and mix. Add flour, oatmeal and chocolate chips. Mix until combined.
2. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Cookie cake reminds me of elementary school when every birthday was an all out celebration. That's my style. Someone's parent would send them to school with a cookie cake. The teacher would cut it into a million tiny pieces. You'd hope you got the piece with a small portion of the balloon made out of icing. No one wanted the plain cookie square. Ah, those were the days. As I get older I've realized people place less importance on birthdays. Gone are the days of cookie cakes. How depressing!

So what's a grown up cookie cake? This right here. You don't even need a birthday for it. This is one of my all time favorite recipes. It's three layers of wonderful. The first layer is a delicious cookie, the second is rich ganache, and the third is cold, sweet whipped cream. It's also a simple recipe despite the three parts. It may take a little extra time to allow the layers to cool, but it's definitely worth it. I've yet to meet a person who didn't love it!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Cookie and Cream Tart
Elinor Klivans' The Essential Chocolate Chip Cookbook 
Mixing time: 20 minutes for crust, filling, and topping
Baking: 350 F for about 17 minutes

Crust
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (6 ounces ) semisweet chocolate chips
Filling

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2/3 cup (4 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping
1 cup cold heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Crust
Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 10-inch springform pan.
Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until smoothly blended. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until blended, about 1 minute. On low speed, add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated. Mix in the chocolate chips.
Use your fingers to spread the dough evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake just until the top begins to turn golden but the center is still soft, about 17 minutes. Cool the crust in the pan on a wire rack.

Filling
In a medium saucepan, heat the cream and butter over low heat until the cream is hot and the butter melts. The mixture should form tiny bubbles and measure about 175 F on an instant read thermometer. Do not let the mixture boil. Remove pan from heat, add chocolate chips and let mixture sit for 30 seconds to let chips soften. Whisk chocolate together smoothly and add vanilla. Let the mixture cool and thicken at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Spread sauce over crust leaving a 1-inch edge uncovered, refrigerate for about 30 minutes to firm the filling.

Topping
In a large bowl beat cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla together until firm peaks form. Spread the whipped cream over the chocolate filling, mounding it slightly in the center. Serve or cover carefully and refrigerate. Serve cold.

Sorry for the brief break between posting--I've been having some camera issues recently. It seems they may have fixed on their own, but we shall see! On the bright side, I've been baking up a storm. I'm all settled in my new place and I can finally fit all of my cooking supplies. It's a glorious thing. I may not have been able to take pictures of everything, but it was all so good I guess I'll just have to take one for the team and go for round two. More to come in the next few weeks with those. 

As I'm sure is pretty apparent, I love adding candy to recipes. The dough base for these cookies is fantastic, and I'm fairly certain it would be great with all sorts of candy add-ins. I stuck with the recipe this time and the results were amazing. The caramel melts out, the twix cookie provides the perfect crunch, the chocolate...well, you know how I feel about chocolate. Basically this is just a great cookie. It's nothing fancy or complicated, but I loved every part of it! 

Sidenote: after three years I finally was about to snag a chocolate therapy domain name before someone renewed the contract. You can now get to my page by going to www.mychocolatetherapy.com. The blogspot address will redirect there. Spread the word!

Twix Bar Cookies

Recipe from Sprinkled with Flour

2 cups plus 2 tbsp all-purpose flour

½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt

12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm

1 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 cups coarsely chopped Twix bars

Preheat oven 325°. Coarsely chop the Twix bars (about 1/4-inch chunks). I used mini Twix bars and cut them in half  I like to cut each bar in half lengthwise, and then make several cuts width ways to make even blocks. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and beat at low-speed just until combined. Gently stir in the Twix chunks.

Roll a scant half cup of dough into a ball. Break into two pieces, placing each on the baking sheet with the rough sides facing up and keeping ample room between mounds of dough. Repeat until all dough has been used. If you run out of room in the oven, store the extra dough in the fridge until you have space to use it. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 15-18 minutes). Do not overbake. Allow the cookies to cool completely on the baking sheet. Since the caramel from the Twix can make the cookies stick a little, I use an offset spatula to slide under the cookies without breaking them apart. Enjoy!

Hold on to your pants, folks. This is a healthy...yes, healthy...cookie pie. I am skeptical of any delicious food that's not completely terrible for me. I have long stood by my theory that to possibly be deemed an amazing food, something has to forfeit its healthful qualifications. It's just a sad truth. Sure, some healthy foods are good, but we all know that at the end of the day cream, butter, sugar, or whatever fits with the dish would bring it up a notch.

My second bit of skepticism towards this recipe was its secret ingredient: beans. I don't want beans in my cookies. That's just that. Alas, I decided I would give it a try because a healthy cookie recipe could be life-changing for me. Results? Bean Cookies-1. Sarah-0. It was great. If I had the metabolism of a 10 year old boy I would still choose a regular cookie any day of the week, but that's not the case.

My roommates thought this was just about the most groundbreaking thing I'd ever made. When college girls can justify a dessert you better watch out. I chose not to mention that there is still a good portion of brown sugar and chocolate chips in here. "Everything in moderation." It's not like we're eating celery, here. It lasted all of 24 hours (which I realize is kind of disturbing considering the blog I found it on said she got 20 servings out of it). My roommate and I decided that you could slightly taste the texture of the beans, but not enough that it was a deterrent. I probably should have processed them up a bit more before throwing them in. Anywho, if you get around to making this let me know your thoughts!

Healthy Deep Dish Cookie Pie
Recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie

• 2 cans white beans or garbanzos (drained and rinsed) (500g total, once drained)
• 1 cup quick oats
• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 3 T canola oil
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 and 1/2 cups brown sugar (Seems like a lot, but this makes a big pie. I think we got like 20 servings from it! You can try adding less, if you’re used to healthy desserts; I chose to use this much because the people to whom I served it are used to “normal” desserts. Also, white sugar will work if you don’t have brown.)
• 1 cup chocolate chips

Blend everything (except the chips) very well in a food processor. Mix in chips, and pour into an oiled pan (I used a 10-inch springform pan, but you can use a smaller pan if you want a really deep-dish pie.) Cook at 350F for around 35 minutes. Let stand at least 10 minutes before removing from the pan.