Chocolate chip cookies are not only a delicious twist on the classic cut out sugar cookie, but they can also be beautifully decorated or filled. I’m going to tell you all about them today.
Making chocolate chip cookies is very easy. I combined the basic recipe for vanilla sugar cookies with chocolate chips. It’s that easy! To be honest, several batches went into the oven until I got the right ratio. Of course, you want to taste just the right amount of chocolate in your cookies.
So what do these chocolate chip sugar cookies taste like? Kind of like very crunchy chocolate chip cookies, actually. Delicious! Of course, an official chocolate chip cookie is supposed to be soft and a little crunchy around the edges. If this is what you are after, then you should definitely start with my chocolate chip cookie recipe, and save these chocolate chip sugar cookies for later.
You can choose to mix mini chocolate chips into your cookie dough, but I found it worked just as well to use a bar of chocolate and chop it finely. The pieces of chocolate in your cookies will be different sizes, but I didn’t find that to be a problem.
The great thing about baking sugar cookies is that they hold their shape in the oven. The dough is perfect for using a cookie cutter to cut into all sorts of pretty shapes and baking the cookies on a baking sheet.
For this recipe, I used a relatively small heart-shaped cookie cutter. But pick a shape (or several!) that you like, and keep in mind that it’s helpful to bake cookies of the same size on each baking sheet. That way, the cookies will bake and brown evenly.
My cookie cutter collection is already huge, but you can find lots of cute sugar cookie cutters here. Personally, I love having the 12-piece round cookie cutter set around the house. They come in handy for many recipes.
Because sugar cookies hold their shape so well, they are great for decorating with a glaze or royal icing after baking.
Another fun idea is to melt chocolate and put it in a piping bag. Then decorate the cookies with it. The taste is perfect, too.
Cookies come out of the oven soft and get firmer as they cool. So you cannot “feel” when they are done. The best way to bake cookies is to use your eyes and trust the recipe. When your cookies have golden brown edges, they are done.
I used dark chocolate, but you can also use milk chocolate.
You absolutely can! You can store cookie dough for a long time, especially in the freezer. Packaged in an airtight container, cookie dough will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator and up to three months in the freezer.
You certainly can. If you omit the chocolate from this recipe, you will be making classic cut-out sugar cookies. There are many more flavors, I will share them with you soon!
Chocolate chip cookies are not only a delicious twist on the classic cut out sugar cookie, but they can also be beautifully decorated or filled. I’m going to tell you all about them today.
Making chocolate chip cookies is very easy. I combined the basic recipe for vanilla sugar cookies with chocolate chips. It’s that easy! To be honest, several batches went into the oven until I got the right ratio. Of course, you want to taste just the right amount of chocolate in your cookies.
So what do these chocolate chip sugar cookies taste like? Kind of like very crunchy chocolate chip cookies, actually. Delicious! Of course, an official chocolate chip cookie is supposed to be soft and a little crunchy around the edges. If this is what you are after, then you should definitely start with my chocolate chip cookie recipe, and save these chocolate chip sugar cookies for later.
You can choose to mix mini chocolate chips into your cookie dough, but I found it worked just as well to use a bar of chocolate and chop it finely. The pieces of chocolate in your cookies will be different sizes, but I didn’t find that to be a problem.
The great thing about baking sugar cookies is that they hold their shape in the oven. The dough is perfect for using a cookie cutter to cut into all sorts of pretty shapes and baking the cookies on a baking sheet.
For this recipe, I used a relatively small heart-shaped cookie cutter. But pick a shape (or several!) that you like, and keep in mind that it’s helpful to bake cookies of the same size on each baking sheet. That way, the cookies will bake and brown evenly.
My cookie cutter collection is already huge, but you can find lots of cute sugar cookie cutters here. Personally, I love having the 12-piece round cookie cutter set around the house. They come in handy for many recipes.
Because sugar cookies hold their shape so well, they are great for decorating with a glaze or royal icing after baking.
Another fun idea is to melt chocolate and put it in a piping bag. Then decorate the cookies with it. The taste is perfect, too.
Cookies come out of the oven soft and get firmer as they cool. So you cannot “feel” when they are done. The best way to bake cookies is to use your eyes and trust the recipe. When your cookies have golden brown edges, they are done.
I used dark chocolate, but you can also use milk chocolate.
You absolutely can! You can store cookie dough for a long time, especially in the freezer. Packaged in an airtight container, cookie dough will keep for up to a week in the refrigerator and up to three months in the freezer.
You certainly can. If you omit the chocolate from this recipe, you will be making classic cut-out sugar cookies. There are many more flavors, I will share them with you soon!
For years I have been baking the most delicious homemade chocolate chip cookies with this easy recipe. With all of my baking tips in this chocolate chip cookie recipe, you can bake them at home too!
This recipe is my basic recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I have made all kinds of variations on this recipe, but a good starter recipe is essential. To be honest, this is also the cookie recipe I make the most.
I like to tell you more about this recipe, the ingredients and of course I also give baking tips and answer frequently asked questions about these chocolate chip cookies.
My recipe for homemade chocolate chip cookies contains 8 ingredients. If you’re lucky, you’ll have all the ingrediënts in stock and can bake these cookies right away.
To get your cookies perfectly round, use a round cutter immediately after they come out of the oven. I always use a large cutter from this set of round metal cutters. You put the cutter around the cookie and spin it around so the cookies get a nice round shape.
Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature. This is an important rule for baking (unless the recipe states otherwise, of course).
You can buy these ready-made, but chopping up a bar of chocolate is also fine. I did the latter myself this time, for a rustic look. Just don’t chop it too finely.
I always use brown sugar, but if you can’t find it, you can use dark brown sugar or white sugar as well. Just remember that this affects the color of the cookies as well as the taste and texture.
Most cookie recipes say to let the dough rest in the fridge for at least an hour, but it’s better to allow even more time for this. I left my dough in the fridge all night and did not proceed with it until a day later, which made for the most beautiful and tasty. They rise more, and the texture is also better
I’m starting to develop a bit of an addiction to mug cakes. It’s really nice to be able to conjure up a delicious cake so quickly and easily, isn’t it? This Oreo mug cake was another real success!
It’s been years since I shared my very first mug cake recipe with you (or at least it’s been years since I shared it on the Dutch website). Those were a vanilla mug cake recipe and a chocolate mug cake recipe. Many of you have been asking for more mug cakes recipes. While I generally prefer a ‘real’ cake like my favorite vanilla loaf cake, sometimes it is so convenient to whip up a delicious cake in no time at all. Today I am sharing my easy Oreo mug cake recipe.
Now for this Oreo cake you need only a few simple ingredients. That’s the fun of making a mug cake right? It’s such an easy dessert and serve it with a scoop of ice cream for an even better dessert. Or use a big dollop of whipped cream. So good.
In addition you will also need a microwave-safe mug. I like to use a mug that is roughly a little more than a cup in size.
Now this easy mug cake recipe requires you to mix the ingredients. And that’s about all that there is to it. The only difference is that you need to keep the Oreo cookies and the chocolate chips separate. You can simply mix all the ingredients together in the mug itself.
If you find that a little hard to do you can also use a separate small bowl for mixing the ingredients and then pour it into your mug. You really do not need a food processor for making this. A whisk or spatula is enough.
The microwave will need to be on high power for making the Oreo mug cake. Now how much that is depends on your microwave. For mine that is 800 watt. On that setting it takes a total of 140 seconds (2 minutes and 20 seconds) to make the best Oreo mug cake ever.
You might have seen the Oreo mug cake trend on TikTok where only two ingredients are used. Crushed Oreos and a cup of milk. While it looks good (haven’t tried this for myself though!) I would think it is not exactly a cake-like texture. It’s more a giant Oreo cookie after it’s been baked in the microwave.
But by all means try this for yourself! If you do want the airy texture of a cake? Try my Oreo microwave cake. I might try the tiktok version next time!
If you love baking cookies, you might want to know why chilled cookie dough is essential for a perfect cookie. You might feel the need to skip that all important chilling step, but let me explain why it is a good idea to place your dough in the fridge before baking.
Chilling the dough is essential for both cookie dough as well as the base of a short crust pastry. If you’re the kind of person who skips this step, this post is for you!
It’s not hard; the only thing you need to do is to have patience for an hour or so. During that time you can start tidying up the kitchen and make any other preparations for your finished product.
Resting the dough is essential for chocolate chip cookies, sugar cookies and almost any other type of cookie you can think of. I know resting the dough can be a bit of pain. You want to just get on with the recipe and skipping the resting part is so easy to do. You want to just place those cookies on the cookie sheet, plop them in the oven and get it over and done with. The sooner you can start eating that freshly baked batch of cookies!
But for the most delicious cookies you do need to have that little bit of patience. I’ll explain why that is.
One of the reasons for chilling your dough is that having used soft butter also means that your dough is quite soft. It will be stickier because of this and if you want to use it right away the cookies will expand and spread a lot more. So let’s say you are trying to make cute Christmas cookies and have used a cookie cutter. You want the shape of those cookies to stay intact, but baking the cookies right away will probably make the shapes less pronounced.
Once the dough is chilled (and the butter is once again cold butter) it is much firmer and will be less likely to ruin the shape of your cookies. You will have less spread of the cookie dough. This also depends on the recipe you use, I have a special cut out sugar cookie recipe for perfectly shaped cookies!
Now if you take your dough from the fridge after the chill time, it might still be too hard to roll out. It will crack and crumble. So when I take the cold dough out of the fridge I quickly and briefly knead it by hand before rolling it out and place the cookies on the baking sheet. The short kneading is enough to make the dough pliable again.
Yes, chilling your dough also means your cookies will have a better flavor! Cookies and shortcrust pastry actually taste better if you leave the dough in the fridge. The flavors will be absorbed and the final cookies and crusts will have a better texture. If that is not enough reason to give your dough time to chill!
The longer the dough is left in the fridge, the better the result. Personally, I like to make the dough the day before when I make cookies with spices. That way I know the dough has had a sufficient chilling time. Especially with gingerbread or speculaas, the flavor is so much better. You can even freeze most cookie doughs. Obviously frozen dough needs to defrost first, but it’s the ideal way to always have delicious baked cookies in no time at all.
Do you have a love for crispy cookies? Then make sure you let them cool. It will make a huge difference. Most cookies contain gluten, which makes them tougher. But when you let the dough rest, the gluten relaxes. Relaxed gluten makes for crispy cookies. And we all want delicious chewy cookies with lovely crispy edges right?
So as you can see, for the best cookies you just need to have a little patience and give the dough enough resting time. You will be rewarded with a delicious cookie.
Before I answer some questions on this topic, I would love to share a few recipes that definitely need a chilled dough for the very best results:
For resting cookie dough the times are the same for all kinds of cookies and for all kinds of basic cookie dough. Around an hour should be enough. If you have large balls of dough you might need just a bit more so the cold can get all the way through the dough. For small dough balls it might be quicker but to be on the safe side you can use a longer amount of time for the chilling process.
For best results you should always chill your cookie dough. It will give you more flavor, crispier and a chewier cookie and overall the best results. So for next time, don’t skip the chilling. It’s not impossible to bake the cookies right away, but know the result will be different.
You can leave your cookie dough in the fridge for up to one week. Any longer and you will need to freeze it. It will be good to use for up to 2-3 months. Freezing is not necessary, but it sure is easy. Especially if you want to serve freshly baked cookies at any time.
It depends. If you want to shape it using cookie cutters, you definitely need to defrost. If you’ve already shaped the cookies into balls you can just bake them straight from the freezer. Keep in mind that the baking time might vary if you do. Usually you should add 2-3 minutes baking time to the recipe.
Time for another Dutch recipe: egg cakes! We call them ‘eierkoeken’ in The Netherlands and they are sort of a ligt and airy sponge cakes, very fluffy. You could even call it an egg sponge cake. They are known as a snack. Just plain, or with whipped cream and fresh berries.
Baking egg cakes is actually a bit like making a very airy sponge cake for a delicious cake. In fact, just like a sponge cake, the base for an egg cake batter is eggs, sugar, and flour. And perhaps more importantly (and to the surprise of many), you don’t use butter to bake these small cakes.
Some people separate the egg whites and egg yolks, but i don’t do that. I just put the whole eggs in a large bowl and mis them several minutes on high speed until they are light and fluffy. I always have the best results this way.
Eierkoeken were made famous by the Dutch Sonja Bakker, she is a well known dietician and advices to eat egg cakes as a healthy snack when following her program. I wouldn’t say eierkoeken are very healthy, but they are a good snack indeed.
You can even make a nice treat out of them by piping a nice swirl of whipped cream on an egg cake and add some fresh fruit. Not a healthy snack, but many people think it’s a nice alternative to a slice of cake or pie. And I do agree with that.
A homemade egg cake is best stored on room temperature. Don’t store them in de fridge, as they will dry out faster in here. I always store the egg cakes in an airtight container or a plastic bag. Packed airtight and stored out of the refrigerator, the egg cakes will keep for up to 4 days.
If you’ve made a lot of egg cakes, it’s a good idea to freeze them. That way, you can take an egg cake out of the freezer every day to enjoy as a snack later in the day.
Freezing an egg cake works the same way, wrap it tightly airtight. Personally, I like to put a piece of baking paper between each cake so they don’t stick together and I can easily take a single cake out of the freezer and let it thaw.
Over the years, I have made many different flavors eierkoeken. With apple and cinnamon, blueberries and even chocolate egg cakes. I will share some more egge cake recipes in the future, but here are some ideas in the mean time:
No, I would not, as this will add (too much) moisture to the recipe and will not improve the end result. Optionally, you could add a few drops of lemon extract to replace the lemon zest.
I have been asked this question many times. I’ve never tried it, and since I like these homemade egg cakes better than store-bought, I don’t expect I will try this anytime soon.
The egg cakes you’ll find in stores are often made with ammonium carbonate, but it’s an ingredient which many home bakers can’t find easily. I don’t miss it in my recipe and it makes it a lot easier.
You can replace the flour and some of the baking powder with self-rising flour, but you will still need to add baking powder to get the right airy effect.
The egg cakes were baked a bit too long, I recommend you try to bake them a bit shorter next time. Every oven is different. By the way, these homemade egg cakes are a little more chewy after cooling than the ones you’re used to from the store.
Please note that I use an convention, so if you have a fan oven, lower the temperature by 10-20%.
Oh dear, that’s not intentional. This can happen for several reasons:
Looking from more authentic recipes form The Netherlands? Make sure to check my collection of Dutch recipes!
Do you love cheesecake and cookies? Then this recipe for delicious Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies is for you. Delicious soft and chewy cookies with that creamy cheesecake filling that taste great. You will want to try these!
The combination of strawberries and cheesecake is always a good idea. Just look at these no-bake strawberry cheesecake bites. Then imagine a cheesecake inside of a cookie with fresh strawberries, it’s incredibly delicious. I know what I’m going to bake multiple times this strawberry season!
These cheesecake cookies are certainly not difficult to make yourself. But to be honest, it can get a little messy when you wrap the cheesecake filling in the dough. Let me tell you, it’s totally worth it! And I’ll share my tips for making the least amount of mess possible.
I use a dough similar to chocolate chip cookie dough for the base of these cookies. A favorite of many! This dough makes these cheesecake cookies deliciously creamy and they stay a little chewy and soft. Personally, I really like that about these cookies. And even better: you only need a few simple ingredients.
I first made cheesecake cookies for my cookbook ’50x Koekjes’ (50x Cookies in Dutch) and they were so good, I just had to make more. With a strawberry twist!
Of course, you can vary the flavors of these strawberry cookies even more. Think of different kinds of fruit or white chocolate in them. I can’t wait to make more cheesecake cookies.
I made a simple cream cheese filling for these cookies. As for cream cheese, I like to use Philadelphia, but you can use any kind of regular cream cheese for these cookies. Just use a brand that’s not too watery or thin.
Once you have made the cream cheese mixture, use a teaspoon to make small dollops of cheesecake filling on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You don’t need the chopped strawberries yet, I add them together with the cheesecake filling in the cookies dough. That gave me the best results.
Keep the portions of cheesecake filling in the freezer until you fill the cookies. It melts quickly, so it’s best to take it out of the freezer one (pair) at a time. Believe me, otherwise it will be messy 😉 .
I used fresh strawberries for this recipe, which are a little less moist than frozen strawberries.
You can also use frozen strawberries, but be aware that they may be a bit more moist. If you decide to use frozen strawberries, I would use them frozen in the cookies and not let them thaw first.
Keep in mind that the cookies may need a 1-2 minutes extra in the oven.
Another option: freeze-dried strawberries! I did not try this, but I have baked with them before and I know -almost- certain this would work as well.
Once you have you cookie dough balls, frozen cream cheese balls and chopped strawberries, it is time to make them into strawberry cheesecake cookies.
Take a ball of cookie dough and remove about a third of the dough. Make a ball of the bigger piece of dough, flatten it a bit and make a dimple in the dough.
Put a piece of frozen cheesecake in this simple. Add some strawberry pieces and use the small piece of dough to cover it up. Press the edges together, form into a nice round ball and place on a prepared baking sheet.
It’s totally fine if there are soms cracks in the dough where you can see the filling. If you like, you can press some extra strawberry pieces into the dough.
After you have a cookie sheet full of freshly baked cookies, you probably won’t eat them all in one sitting. Fortunately, you can keep them well.
In a jar or airtight container, they will keep for about a week. Where I normally don’t store cookies in the fridge, these cookies will stay best in de refrigerator due to the cheesecake filling.
In an airtight container, the cookies will keep for up to 3 months in the freezer. I like to store them between layer of parchment paper so they don’t stick to each other.
It is certainly possible to make these strawberry cream cheese cookies ahead of time. The dough should rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, but longer is fine. Take it out of the fridge 1-2 hours ahead of time to allow it to come to room temperature before forming into balls.
You can make the dollops of cream cheese ahead of time too.
Want to make really nice round cookies? Use a big round cookie cutter. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, place the ring around the still-warm cookie and rotate in a circle until the cookie form is nice and round. Repeat with all the cookies.
Of course! I would recommend to use white chocolate chips. The combination of white chocolate and strawberries is really good!
Yes! You could use strawberry jam to flavor the cream cheese filling or to replace the fresh strawberries. No matter what you choose, the cookies will have a perfect strawberry flavor.
Imagine this: a delicious, creamy banana bread that tastes like a real treat. Look no further, this is the right recipe for you! The cream cheese mixed into the batter makes the most perfect cream cheese banana bread. You will love it!
I love a good banana bread. I make my recipe for healthy banana bread the most, but sometimes I love to make this banana bread with cream cheese. Where my healthy banana bread has no sugar of butter in it, this one does call for butter and sugar. And more important: cream cheese! It really takes a banana bread to the next level.
There are multiple ways of incorporating cream cheese into you banana bread. I chose to add it to the batter for that perfect creamy and moist results. But you could also make a banana bread with cream cheese filling by adding a sort of a cheese cake mixture in the batter before baking.
Another delicious variation: add a cream cheese frosting to your banana loaf after baking! To be honest, you could even do that with the recipe for my cream cheese banana bread. I’ll promise it will taste amazing with a cream cheese layer!
The recipe speaks for itself, but I will share some tips with you so you get the best results and this will become your favorite banana bread recipe!
Most important: the bananas! I always use overripe bananas for the best result. Mash the bananas with a fork or use a hand blender. It’s perfectly fine to have some lumps in your mashed banana. But if you like a more smooth batter, use a hand blender.
For my healthy banana bread I only use a whisk or spatula to make the batter, but for this recipe you will need an electric mixer. It’s important to mix butter, cream cheese and sugar into a creamy mixture and a electric hand- or stand mixer with the paddle attachment is best for that. Unless you have very strong arms 😉 .
The entire recipe is in the recipe card down below. But it’s actually no more than mix all the wet ingredients together and then add your dry ingredients and mix until incorporated. After that, you’ll pour the batter into a prepared loaf pan and your easy banana bread recipe is ready for the oven!
Oh and for preparing you loaf pan: you can use a nonstick spray, grease it with butter and dust with flour or just line it with parchment paper. Just pick you favorite way for a prepared baking pan.
And after baking: enjoy you best homemade banana bread recipe ever!
I’ve written a separate blog post about this subject. So if you want to know everything about storing banana bread, I recommend to read that post. Just looking for some quick tips? I will share them here!
I like to store my banana bread in slices. If you store them together in a container or freezer bag, make sure to put some pieces of parchment paper between the slices. This will prevent them from sticking together.
Before you wrap up you loaf for storing on room temperature or in the freezer: make sure you have let it cool to room temperature on a wire rack.
You can, but it is possible that the baking time will change a bit. I haven’t tried this myself, so I can’t tell you exactly how long it will need.
Of course! Just add in some chocolate chips, a swirl of peanut butter or some nuts. I bet it will taste amazing! I think I’m gonna try a chocolate chip banana bread myself the next time!
Yes it is. You can just replace the caster sugar with the same amount of brown sugar.
Again: yes you can! The recipe will make about 10-12 muffins. Bake them for 20-22 minutes (or until done).
Although both are a leaving agent, they are not the same in ‘strenght’. It is possible to make this recipe with baking soda, but the recipe will need a few adjustments. I haven’t tried this myself and therefore can’t share these adjustments.
Time for an easy banana bread recipe. This recipe is delicious, but also perfect for making even more banana bread recipes in all kinds of flavors!
It’s time for a good recipe for one of the baked goods I make incredibly often, my go-to banana bread recipe! It’s one of the most popular recipes over on my Dutch blog. Over the past few years, I’ve tweaked the recipe a bit, especially in the proportions of different flours. Now I have found a combination that I never deviate from. And that’s when I know I have a good basic recipe. It’s a perfect destination for those overripe bananas on you kitchen counter.
A bowl, fork, spatula and some basic ingredients is all you need for making this recipe. No need for a hand or stand mixer. As always, all ingredients need to be at room temperature. Just follow the steps in the recipe card for the best moist banana bread recipe you’ve ever tried.
For my banana bread recipe, I use both all purpose flour and almond flour. You can make it with almond flour alone, but I find it a little too dense, and you can make it with all-purpose flour alone, but it gets a little less creamy and a little too firm for my taste. This combination works perfectly and results in an airy and creamy banana bread.
If you want to learn more about baking with almond flour, check out this article with a recipe for making your own almond flour.
Actually, the term is silly because I can’t really call it bread. Rather, it has the texture of a cake. Since there is no butter or sugar in this recipe, it is still more banana bread than banana cake. And that makes banana bread an instant healthy snack! Or as I like to eat it: a slice for breakfast with a scoop of yogurt on top. Delicious.
People often ask me if this is a healthy banana bread. I always tell them first of all that I am a (home) baker and not a nutritionist 😉 And although I don’t usually dare to make such statements, I would definitely dare to say that this is a pretty healthy banana bread! Simply because you won’t find any butter, oil or sugar in this recipe.
The banana bread is sweetened by ripe bananas, it stays nice and creamy thanks to the eggs and almond flour, but still airy thanks to the combination of baking powder and baking soda (and the eggs). A deliciously responsible snack! Can it be even healthier? Yes, by substituting whole wheat flour.
TIP: Looking for a less healthy banana bread? Try this cream cheese banana bread, it’s amazing!
As stated before: I have made many different kinds of banana bread. Although I think this is de best banana bread recipe ever, I still love to make different flavors. Here are a few of my favorite tweaks to this recipe:
Don’t want to make a banana bread? Scoop the batter in a muffin tin for delicious banana muffins.
No, bananas are really the base of banana bread. Other fruits would require changing the entire recipe.
I find it hard to determine if this recipe is sweet enough for someone else. Let’s assume that this is a healthy snack, so the base doesn’t taste that sweet. That’s the idea. It’s definitely sweet enough for me.
If the sweetness disappoints you, you can try adding 50 grams of sugar to the recipe next time. Or you can add some chocolate spread or Biscoff. Of course, that makes it much less healthy 😉.
I advise against omitting it, but you can substitute 1 teaspoon of baking soda for 3 teaspoons of baking powder. The combination of baking soda and baking powder gives the best results.
Personally, I do not like bananas. Not at all, in fact. However, I really like this recipe. Even though the banana flavor is present. It’s not overpowering at all for me (and trust me, that says something.)
You can, by substituting rice flour, for example. Any other gluten-free flour should work too.
That depends on what you are using it for, see the tip above. It is also possible to replace the flour with oat flour or whole wheat flour. You will keep the same weight of flour.
Cut out sugar cookies are the perfect cookies to use as a base and for decorating. They hold their shape and are delicious!
When I decorate cookies, these cut out sugar cookies are really my go-to recipe. They are my absolute favorite. I specifically choose this cookie recipe because they hold their shape so well while baking. Nothing is more annoying than when you’ve put a lot of effort into cutting cookies into a nice shape only to find out after baking that the cookies have deformed.
So you don’t have to worry about that with this recipe, this is really a recipe for making cookies that hold their shape. The reason that sugar cookies hold their shape so well is because of the amount of flour in the recipe; a relatively large amount of flour goes into the sugar cookie dough. Therefore, these cookies taste best with a layer of royal icing or some other fun cookie decoration.
BAKING TIP! Want to know why you should chill your cookie dough? In this article I will explain everything about why chilled cookie dough works best.
If I deviate from this basic vanilla sugar cookie recipe at all, it is usually for a different flavor variation. For example, it can be really fun to make chocolate sugar cookies by replacing 10% of the flour with cocoa.
And in the fall and winter, of course, gingerbread cookies are a favorite. Each of these variations holds its shape just as well as the basic recipe below. So you can enjoy different flavors as you get started with cookie decorating!
The nice thing about baking sugar cookies is that you end up decorating them, of course. This can be done with a simple powdered sugar and liquid (milk or water) glaze, melted chocolate, or royal icing. Actually, I always go with royal icing and occasionally chocolate.
If you want to melt a small amount of chocolate for decorating, check out my hack for melting chocolate in a piping bag.
Don’t feel like decorating? Try adding chocolate chips in the dough and make chocolate chip sugar cookies!
I prefer to use all-purpose flour for cookies, but wheat flour works well too. Some cookie recipes call for a specific type of flour, in which case, of course, you use the flour called for in the recipe.
Cookies always come out of the oven soft. So you cannot rely on touch to determine when they are done. With cookies, you basically have to rely on the recipe and your own judgement. With natural cookies that are light in color (no cocoa powder or spices), you will see that they get golden brown edges.
Ha, I have an unbelievable amount of cookie cutters in the house. All shapes and sizes, you name it, it’s in my drawer. One thing that comes in handy is a set of round cutters with different diameters. I also have this set of 101 Wilton cutters, which is a nice base to have around the house.
Sure you can. Wrapped in an airtight container, you can store cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to a week. In the freezer, you can keep it much longer, up to three months.
Personally, I prefer to use vanilla sugar. If you want to replace it with vanilla extract or paste, you can (2 teaspoons), but you will have to replace the 50 grams of vanilla sugar with caster sugar.
I love chocolate cake and so there are many variations on my blog, but a basic chocolate loaf cake recipe was missing. Until now, because with this chocolate loaf cake recipe as a base, you can make any cake you want.
This chocolate cake is delicious without any additives. It is really light and creamy at the same time, just the way I like my cake. The chocolate flavor is present but not overpowering. Add a dollop of whipped cream and you have a delicious treat.
With this basic chocolate cake recipe, you can make any variation you like. For example, you can add chocolate chips or nuts. You can also add other flavorings like dried fruit or cookies. You can make it as tasty as you want!
Another delicious loaf cake is my recipe for lemon loaf. While I make the lemon cake on a regular basis, especially in the summer, this chocolate cake is often in the oven in the fall and winter.
Chocolate cake is not difficult to make, and it doesn’t take many ingredients! The ingredients are the same as a “regular” vanilla cake, except I add cocoa powder for a chocolate flavor. It’s that simple.
The preparation is the same as for a regular cake. First mix the butter and sugar until fluffy and creamy, then add the eggs, then fold in the dry ingredients with a spatula until completely incorporated. And your cake is ready!
A tip of mine: When I want to make a chocolate version of a recipe, I substitute 10% of the (self-rising) flour with cocoa powder. It always works great for me! Conversely, you could make a vanilla cake from this recipe by omitting the cocoa powder and using 200 grams of self-rising flour.
Bake the cake in the oven at 175 degrees Celsius or 345 degrees Fahrenheit (conventional heat). The cake will be done in 55 to 60 minutes.
You can always do a cake test just before the cake is done. Use a skewer or cake tester to poke the cake. If it comes out clean, the cake is done.
Do you have an oven that is often faster than the recipe says? Then you can test a little earlier, because every oven is different and a cake that is baked too long often gets dry. At the same time, the cake needs to bake well.
Properly wrapped, you can store this cake outside the refrigerator for 4-5 days. Do not store the cake in the refrigerator as it will dry out. You can also freeze it and the chocolate cake will keep for up to 3 months.
For this recipe, I use a 10″ loaf pan. This pan has been my favorite for years. A similar one is this set of 2 loaf pans. Of course, you can use a different pan, just be aware that the baking time may change.
There are several reasons for this, but often the batter is too airy. This can be caused by too much mixing or too much leavening agent. It can also happen if you open the oven too early or remove the cake from the oven when it is not quite done.
Is making your own scones difficult? Absolutely not! With this recipe for English scones you can easily make them yourself for a high tea or brunch, and serve them with clotted cream of course. Today I give you the recipe and all the baking tips you need.
After I once made scones years back that failed miserably, I was postponing baking them again. With about 6 or 7 years to be exact. I then made a chocolate chip variety that ended up being more like bricks than scones. They really were complete failures.
But every time I ate scones again, I started to feel the urge to make them myself. Last week I finally got around to making my own! At the time, it must have been because of the recipe I had, because actually, making scones yourself is extremely simple. With the right scones recipe to be exact.
There are lots of delicious things you can put on these easy scones, but this is the most important: clotted cream. If you have enough time (and patience) then it is wonderful to make clotted cream yourself (I will share my recipe soon). But you can also buy it at the store.
The clotted cream is usually combined with jam. Usually this is strawberry jam, but I also like raspberry jam very much for my homemade scones.
What is really delicious too: lemon curd! A combination that makes it nice and fresh, perfect for Easter or a summer brunch.
As you can see, there is no egg in this recipe which makes it egg free scones. Here in The Netherlands, it is more common to make English scones and those often don’t require eggs in the recipe. You really don’t need eggs to make perfectly delicious scones yourself.
What do you actually need if you’re going to make a scones recipe? Not much. I can tell you that in advance. You probably have the ingredients already in your house, so hopefully after reading this post, there’s nothing stopping you from baking these delicious, slightly sweet scones yourself.
It’s best to bake them right away and then store them in a container for a day. The next day they are still delicious! You can reheat the scones for about 8-10 minutes. If I don’t eat them right away (or the next day), I always freeze them. That works perfectly.
Several of you have informed me that soy milk or rice milk works fine in this recipe as a substitute for the cow’s milk. If you want, you can use whipping cream too. It makes the flavor and structure even more rich.
If so, they were probably baked too long and/or hot. Try baking the scones a little less long or hot.
If you prefer to use flour you can, but you will need baking powder. Without leavening agent, you won’t get the desired results in this recipe.
Would you like to replace the self-rising baking flour with a gluten-free alternative? Pay attention to what it says on the package of the gluten-free flour, I have no experience with this.
You can, but then you quickly over-knead it, making it sticky and unworkable.
I love oatmeal cookies and have made many variations. These Pumpkin Spice Oatmeal Cookies are a new favorite out of all my cookie recipes and perfect for fall and pumpkin season. I like to add different spices to my biscuits. There are several spice mixes available online that are great for baking, one of which is pumpkin pie spice.
It is often used in baking with pumpkin, but I also find it an ideal spice for baking without pumpkin puree like in these cookies. Especially during the autumn and winter season this is absolutely my favorite spice mix. If you want to try something new you can also make these with my Dutch speculaas spice mix for a Dutch twist to this oatmeal cookie. (or try these speculaas cookies instead)
Now as I mentioned I really love oatmeal cookies. The classic oatmeal cookies are lovely, chewy and tasty. Easy to make and always a crowd pleaser. Funny enough oatmeal cookies took a while to get a hold in the Netherlands. I used to grab one when going to work for a while but there weren’t many places you could actually get them.
But why buy them when you can make them yourself with this super easy recipe? The pumpkin flavor in these oatmeal cookies make it the perfect cookie with fall flavors. You will find the full instructions in the recipe card below.
Using a food processor, you need to cream the butter and the sugar together. Use the paddle attachment for this and keep it turning for a few minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl a few times if needed. You can also do the same in a large bowl with a hand mixer. I just like using the bowl of a stand mixer for this as I don’t need to wait for the butter and sugar to do their thing.
Once the butter is soft and creamy you add the other dry ingredients to the mix. Knead it into a firm dough.
Keep in mind that it should be firm but not dry. If you find it is too dry and it cracks when you roll it? You can add a little bit of butter or a tablespoon of milk to solve the issue.
Now make a roll of the dough of about 2 inch in diameter and wrap it tightly in cling film. Leave it in the fridge for at least an hour.
Once properly cooled (and why you should not skip this step I will explain soon!) cut the roll into thick slices of around half an inch each. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes. Nothing better than the sweet smell of the pumpkin spice flavors wafting through the kitchen!
Once baked let them cool down on a cooling rack or wire rack. They will crisp up when cooling. You can keep the cookies for up to two weeks in an airtight container.
If you want sweeter cookies you can choose to add an icing on top of the cookies.
You sure can. Even better; you can easily freeze the dough so you always have a ready made supply that is easy to plop on a baking sheet and bake into a delicious cakey cookie in no time at all. In the fridge, you can keep the dough for about a week and in the freezer it keeps up to 3 months.
Absolutely. If you don’t want to use the pecan nuts you can leave them out or replace them with something like dark chocolate chips or white chocolate chips.
Not to worry. If you don’t want to make your own pumpkin spice mix or don’t have all the ingredients handy you can use just cinnamon and also get delicious fall oatmeal cookies.
