doubletree chocolate chip cookies

Woah. Haven't updated this blog in the longest time.

With everything going on though, I've been feeling a little restless so I thought it was time to dust it off and start showing up around here again.

I've been seeing posts about how great the DoubleTree Hilton chocolate chip cookies are. Have you ever tried them? I haven't. But so many people claim that they are some of the best so I needed to know for myself. And that means making them at home.

halloween oreo brownies

Or how to make boxed brownies better.

I feel guilty even writing this a blog post because it's so easy, but I always like sharing helpful tips like this. And while you'll need to have some kind of Oreo for this, you'll need one more ingredient that I bet you always have in your kitchen. It's probably even something you have every day. And you'll need so little of it that you can just put it aside in the morning.

Are you ready?

homemade filled chocolates

There isn't a new video today {I'll be back with one next week!} so a fun little recipe will have to do!

I've always thought that making homemade chocolates, especially if they're filled, would be difficult. You need to temper the chocolate. You want them to be shiny. You hope they come out of the molds. You hope they come out of the molds without breaking!

With so many things to worry about, I put off making filled chocolates for a long time. A few weeks ago, I decided it was time to face my fears and just melt some chocolate and see how it goes. I had a silicone Disney ice cube tray laying around and decided that it would be the most perfect mold for my first attempt at homemade filled chocolate. If they didn't turn out, at least they were cute, right?

Jokes on me because homemade filled chocolate are the easiest thing in the world to make! So easy in fact that once you read through this recipe, you'll want to do it yourself.

peanut butter m&m chocolate chunk cookies

If you follow me on Instagram, then you probably saw that I made cookies over the weekend with red, white, and blue M&Ms. And if you guessed that those cookies were going to end up on the blog - then you are correct!

These are super easy to whip up {you don't need a stand or hand mixer!} and you can use any kind of M&M variety really. Either way, I promise you'll love them!

festive christmas cookies

I love to bake, but Christmastime is my favorite time to whip up lots of goodies. There's something about the holiday season that really gets me in the baking mood. Everything from cookies to cakes, cinnamon buns to baked donuts - I love infusing all of it with festive flavors of the season.

This year though, I really want to try my hand at recipes I've never attempted before. Of course, I'll still be making cinnamon buns on Christmas morning {from scratch and a family tradition!}, but I've been researching lots of different things to bake in the days leading up to Christmas. These five caught my eye and look absolutely delicious so I just had to share them with you!

Chocolate Espresso Thumbprint Cookies from Half Baked Harvest

Chocolate Peanut Butter Saltine Toffee from Pinch of Yum // I've made toffee using graham crackers and I'm curious as to what it tastes like with saltines!

Grinch Cookies from Wanna Bite // One of my favorite stories and movies during the holidays!

Chocolate Peppermint Ganache Cookies from Two Peas and Their Pod

Santa's Trash Cookies from Delish 

And apologies for the lack of posts lately! If you follow me on Snapchat {sheriann_snaps}, you know that my laptop's charger was literally taped to my computer. I've been using it sparingly but don't worry! Videos and blog posts for the next few weeks are coming your way! :]

Happy baking!

ryder cup m&m cookies

If you follow me on Snapchat {sheriann_snaps} and Instagram, then you'll know that I'm at the Ryder Cup! And I'm so incredibly excited to be here! We left on Monday night and have going to the golf course every day to just walk around and see Team USA and Team Europe practice a bit before the real action starts today.

If you don't know what the Ryder Cup is, let me give you some information. It's one of two {the other being the President's Cup} team competitions in golf and happens every two years. Team USA will face off against Team Europe {consisting of players from Great Britain, Ireland, and continental Europe} in three days of matches. Today and tomorrow there will be four matches in the morning and four in the afternoon. Sunday consists of just singles matches, and that's where we get to see some real action. Team Europe has won three of the last four Ryder Cups, so it's about time we bring it home for the USA!

I baked up a batch of really simple M&M cookies last weekend before we left to help get into the spirit of things. Of course, you don't have to specifically make them with any event in mind. The sugar cookie dough itself is really delicious so you could just throw in M&Ms and call it day! In fact, I'm already thinking these would make a really great go-to Christmas cookie...

Ryder Cup M&M Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
5 ounces M&Ms

Directions:
1. Cream together the butter and sugars in a mixer. Then, add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Make sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that everything is incorporated.
2. Add in the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Mix together on low until combined.
3. Chill the dough for at least two hours.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
5. Scoop out a teaspoon amount of dough and roll it between your hands to form a ball. Only place 6-9 cookies per sheet because these will spread a lot.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. If they look under-done, let them sit on the baking sheet for another 5-6 minutes and they'll be perfect!
7. After about a minute out of the oven, press your M&Ms into the top of the cookie just slightly. Press hard enough to have them in the dough but not all the way through the bottom of the cookie.
8. After 5 minutes of cooling on the cookie sheet, move them to a cooling rack and ENJOY!