Strawberry, avocado, and poppy seeds… Oh my!

The time has finally come to share my recipes for Baker Bettie’s Cookie Wars 2012.  I hope you’re as excited as I am, because these aren’t your every day cookies.

The basic rules of the Cookie Wars contest were that you had to include at least two of the ingredients on the contest list, and they had to be used in an original cookie recipe.  Submissions were judged on taste, appearance, and required ingredient use. Fun, right?

Most of the items on the contest list weren’t your typical baking ingredients…  But of course, therin lies the fun! Luckily I had an accomplice in this particular baking adventure.

Last week, my mom traveled from Texas to Florida for some quality mother daughter time.

We had a wonderful weekendend of lying on the beach, going to the UF baseball game, and cookie baking… so much cookie baking.

I couldn’t think of a better partner in baking crime then my Momma! Win or lose, we had tons of fun creating our recipes,  baking, and let’s be honest, eating our cookies. Here’s what we came up with for the Cookie Wars 2012~

Peanut Butter, Honey, and Banana Sandwich Cookies

The contest ingredients used in this cookie were honey and cream cheese.  This recipe was inspired by my favorite lunchtime sandwich as a kid- peanut butter, honey, and banana.

Ingredients

Cookies

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 ripe banana mashed
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Filling

• 8 oz cream cheese
• 1 cup Peter Pan honey roasted creamy peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add mashed banana and honey.
3. Gradually blend in the dry ingredients, add peanut butter chips. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto lightly greased cookie sheets.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet two minutes before removing to cool on wire racks or wax paper.
5. While cookies bake, combine cream cheese, peanut butter, vanilla and powdered sugar for filling.  Beat with hand mixer on high for 2-3 minutes. Refrigerate until cookies cool. Using an ice cream scoop, spoon filling onto cookie and sandwich another on top.

The base for this recipe was allrecipes.com easy sugar cookies – http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-sugar-cookies/

 

 

Chocolate Oatmeal Surprise Cookies

The contest ingredients used in this cookie were dark chocolate and hazelnuts. I decided to add my own surprise ingredient for an interesting  flavor combination- orange essence prunes! Don’t knock it til you try it, they’re crazy good!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 3 cups (260 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped hazelnuts
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips
• Surprise: 3/4 cup diced Sunsweet Orange Essence Pitted Prunes

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease cookie sheet..
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cocoa and cinnamon. Set aside.
3. With hand mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar until creamy and smooth. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat to combine.
4. Add dry ingredients, and stir in the hazelnuts, oats, diced prunes, and dark chocolate chips.
5. Using a large spoon or ice cream scoop, form a ball of dough, and flatten slightly between hands. Space the cookies about 2 inches apart on the baking sheet.
6. Bake the cookies for about 12 – 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack, or wax paper to cool.

The base for this recipe was allrecipes.com oatmeal chocolate chip cookies- http://allrecipes.com/recipe/chocolate-oatmeal-cookies/

 

 

Strawberry and Avocado Poppy Seed Softies

The contest ingredients used in these cookies were avocado and poppy seed.  Believe it or not, these cookies were inspired by a salad!  My friend Amanda makes an amazing strawberry and avocado salad with poppy seed dressing… I just had to try that flavor combination in a cookie.

Ingredients

• 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tbsp poppy seeds
• 1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup avocado, mashed
• 1/2 cup fresh strawberries, diced

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly grease cookie sheets with cooking spray.
2. In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, sugar, poppy seeds and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth. Beat in egg and vanilla.  Slowly add mashed avocado and diced strawberries. Add in the dry ingredients.
4. Roll rounded teaspoonfuls of dough into balls, and place onto cookie sheet, 2 inches apart.
5. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until golden. Let stand on cookie sheet for a few minutes before removing to cool on wire racks or wax paper.

The base for this recipe came from allrecipes.com easy sugar cookie recipe- http://allrecipes.com/recipe/easy-sugar-cookies/

 

 

When all was said and done, we tested five different original recipes, and these were the clear winners.  Out of these three, the Strawberry and Avocado Poppy Seed Softies were definitely the fan favorite among my taste testers, however I was partial to the Chocolate Oatmeal Surprise cookies myself.

Baker Bettie hasn’t revealed her contest winners yet, but I’ll keep you posted on the results!  In the meantime, I hope you’ll try these new recipes for yourself, and let me know what you think.

Happy Baking!

~Sweet Charity~