It being,

Sweet Potato Cookies

My friends told me that sweet potato cookies sounded disgusting.  But, I convinced them to try them and they ended up just not believing that theses were not only healthy, but had sweet potatoes in them.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 sticks room temperature butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 egg (or two egg whites or 1/4 cup thoroughly blended silken tofu)
• 1 cup mashed sweet potato insides (cooked at 400° for 45 minutes – prior to mashing)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (you may make this whole wheat if you really like baked goods with it)
• 3/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoons salt
• 3/4 cup oats
• [optional] 1 cup raisins, nuts, and/or chocolate chips

Breakfast:

Lean cuisine – Three Cheese Stuffed Rigatoni.

Only picture I took with good lighting - at the desk in my room

I take the other pics on our kitchen counter.

Snack:

An everything bagel with cream cheese.

*Sorry about the bad camera quality and lighting.

Lunch:

Panini with lettuce, pepper, tomato, and parmesan along with an apple and a cute, little peanut butter granola bar.

Dinner:

*Not photograhed because I was eating with my roommate and would of felt awkward taking a picture of it

Panini with tomato, parmesan and pesto along with a potato and a piece of salsa toast (just toasted bread with salsa – yes, I’m weird).

And also yes, my panini maker does make a lot of my meals

Dessert:

Cascadian Farms Cinnamon Crunch cereal with almond milk and a Cascadian Farms chocolate chip granola bar.

Yes, I do use a measuring cup because it's the only cup big enough for my serving

Hey, this was fun.  Maybe I’ll do it again sometime – With more appetizing pictures of course!

What’s your favorite type of panini?  Mine is probably the one with tomato, parmesan and pesto.

What’s you all-time favorite drink?  All I like is water and hot chocolate, but I very rarely have hot chocolate.  I only drank water today.

You know, these things

I remember always wanting to be the one to whack it against the table.

So, I once thought, what if I make a cookie recipe that combined these two flavors.  Well, let me tell you, it was a good idea.

Orange Chocolate Cookie Recipe: 

Ingredients:

• 2 cups sugar, divided(you can use packed brown sugar)
• Zest of 1 1/2 oranges, divided
• 2 sticks of room temperature butter (or 16 tbsp of buttery spread, or any type of oil (except olive oil))
• 2 eggs (or 3 egg whites or 1/2 cup of thoroughly blended silken tofu)
• 2 tsp orange extract
• 1-2 tbsp orange juice
• 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cream of tartar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, but milk and white chocolate would both work well)

Directions:

• Orange sugar: In a mini food processor, thoroughly process 1/2 cup of sugar with 1 tsp orange zest.
• Cookie dough: In a large mixing bowl mix together butter, 1 1/2 cup of sugar, eggs, orange extract, orange juice, and remaining orange zest. Sift in flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda and mix well.  Fold in chocolate chips.
• Refrigerate dough for at least one hour.
• During the last 5 minutes of refrigeration, preheat oven to 350° F.
• Roll cookie dough into 2 tablespoon sized balls and roll into lemon sugar. Place sugar-coated balls onto greased [or nonstick] pan at least two inches apart.  Press down on each ball lightly to help it spread out.
• Bake 10-12 minutes.

I originally made this recipe because I wanted to bake something unique and I happened to have some of these ingredients laying around from previous baking escapades.  It’s seems like a weird combination at first, but trust me, these are reeeeally good!

INGREDIENTS

• 1 1/2 stick room temperature butter
• 1 2/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 cup crystallized ginger
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup + 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

COCONUT!

Are you up to the challenge?  Although, I personally don’t like coconut, everyone else I know does, and my family once asked me to make a coconut cookie and they ended up loving them!  I also once made these for a bake sale and they sold out quick, I even got several returning customers!  Is that a good enough reason for you to make these?

White Chocolate Lemon, Coconut Cookies 

1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 stick of room temperature butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
zest from one lemon
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 cup toasted sweetened coconut flakes (you can toast coconut flakes by putting them in a 350° F oven for 5-8 minutes, or until golden brown)
1/2 white chocolate chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350° F.  In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugars, egg, vanilla, lemon zest and lemon juice.  Sift in flour, baking soda and salt and mix well.  Fold in toasted coconut flakes and white chocolate chips. Butter a baking sheet and drop in cookie dough by 2-tablespoon fulls, about two inches apart.  Bake 10-12 minutes.  It’s okay if they’re a bit soft in the middle when you take them out because they’ll firm up.

What’s your favorite food with coconut?

Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies: 

Ingredients:

2 sticks room temperature butter
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup of any small type of pretzel

Directions:

Cream together butter, sugars, vanilla, and eggs.  Sift in flour, baking soda and salt and mix well.  Fold in chocolate chips and pretzels.  Refrigerate dough for an hour.  Preheat oven to 350° F.  Roll dough into 2-tablespoon sized balls and bake for 9-12 minutes.

What’s you favorite salty food?

*TheCookieBoss blog is not held accountable in the instance that this recipe does not change your life.

White Chocolate Lime Cookies:

Not my picture

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks or room temperature butter (you can use 16 tbsp of fat-free sour cream, buttery spread, apple sauce, or any type of oil (except olive oil))
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg (or 2 egg whites or 1/4 cup of thoroughly blended silken tofu)
• 1 egg yolk (or 1/8 cup of thoroughly blended silken tofu)
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 1 1/2 teaspoon grated lime peel
• 2 cups of white chocolate chips

Or even, what’s better than cheesecake?

WHAT!  You don’t know!!!

Well, I guess I can tell you…

A CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE CHEESECAKE BAR!

this picture is from Google!

This AMAZINGNESS!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup packed brown sugar (both light and dark work)
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 12 tbsp of room temperature butter
• 2 eggs (substitute it for 3 egg whites or 1/2 a cup of silken tofu blended until smooth)
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour (you can substitute with whole-wheat flour or 1 cup of whole-wheat and 1 cup of all-purpose)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 12 oz of cream cheese
• 2 cups of any type of chocolate chips

Lemons are good for you (I know!… DUH) 

Well, here’s why:

“1. Lemon being a citrus fruit, fights against infection.

It helps in production of WBC’s and antibodies in blood which attacks the invading microorganism and prevents infection.

2. Lemon is an antioxidant which deactivates the free radicals preventing many dangerous diseases like stroke, cardiovascular diseases and cancers.

3. Lemon lowers blood pressure and increases the levels of HDL (good cholesterol) .

4. Lemon is found to be anti-carcinogenic which lower the rates of colon, prostate, and breast cancer.

They prevent faulty metabolism in the cell, which can predispose a cell to becoming carcinogenic.

Also blocks the formation of nitrosamines in the gut.

5. Lemon juice is said to give a glow to the skin.

6. A few drops of lemon juice in hot water are believed to clear the digestive system and purify liver as well.

7. The skin of lemon dried under the sun and then ground to make powder can be applied to the hair for a

few minutes before bath which relieves head ache and cools the body.

8. Applying lemon juice to acne dries the existing ones and prevents from getting more.

9. Lemon juice acts as a natural hair lightner and skin bleach which reduces the pigment melanin and prevents

the risk of chemical allergic reactions which is common with hair dyes and bleaches.

10. Lemon juice is given to relieve gingivitis, stomatitis, and inflammation of the tongue.

11. Lemon juice is given to prevent common cold.

12. Lemon juice is given to prevent or treat urinary tract infection and gonorrhea.

13. Lemon juice is applied to the sites of bites and stings of certain insects to relieve its poison and pain.

14. Lemon juice relieves colic pain and gastric problems.

15. Lemon juice soothes the dry skin when applied with little glycerin.

16. Lemon juice used for marinating seafood or meat kills bacteria and other organisms present in them,

thereby prevents many gastro-intestinal tract infections.

17. Lemon juice with a pinch of salt (warm) every morning lowers cholesterol levels and brings down your weight.

18. Lemon juice is the best drink to prevent dehydration and shock in case of diarrhea.

19. Lemon juice can also be used as a mouthwash. It removes plaque, whitens the teeth and strengthens the enamel.

20. A table spoon on thick lemon syrup everyday relieves asthma.

21. Lemon juice relieves chilblains and itchy skin.

22. Gargling lemon juice relieves throat infection and also used as a treatment for diphtheria.

23. Lemon juice is an excellent treatment for dandruff and greasy hair.

24. Lemon applied over the face removes wrinkles and keeps you young.

25. Lemon juice helps to prevent and cure osteoarthritis.”

From: http://health-tipz.blogspot.com/2009/07/25-health-benefits-of-lemon.html 

So here’s the recipe:

Lemon Meringue Cookies:

Ingredients:

6 room temperature egg whites
1 tbsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp lemon extract
1 1/4 cup sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 200° F. Put egg whites, lemon juice, salt and lemon extract in a bowl and beat until very foamy.  Then slowly add sugar and beat until there are stiff peaks.  Use piping bag to shape cookies on a greased oven pan and bake for an hour.  Then decrease oven temperature to 175° F and bake for two more hours or until dry.

Then PRESTO!

You get something like this:

What’s your favorite thing to put lemon in?

I found it on the Food Network site.

But, they are AMAZING – with the modification I made!

Maybe I’ll make my own recipe for homemade oreos one day, but not now.

‘Oreo’ Cookie Recipe:

Ingredients

For the Dough:

• 1 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
• 2 cups granulated sugar (brown sugar will work)
• 2 large eggs (or 3 egg whites or 1/2 cup of thoroughly blended tofu)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Filling:

• 2 stick unsalted butter, softened
• 3 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions