Recipe Swap - Lemon-Basil Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies

Want to see what other Fruit recipes were made during the swap? Here is the link to the Fruit Recipe Swap Roundup

Now that spring is here and we're starting to see more fruit in the supermarket I thought fruit would be a great theme for the recipe swap. I submitted a savory recipe (my favorite Thai Pineapple Rice) but many of the participants chose sweet recipes, like this one for Lemon-Basil Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies from my friend Jessica over at The Jey of Cooking.


Jey couldn't stop raving about these cookies when she sent me the link for the swap and when I read her blog post I got even more excited about making them. I loved the idea of the basil mixed with the lemon and blueberry. And muffin tops are my favorite part of the muffin so I knew these would be a hit. I had some basil leftover from my Weeknight Spaghetti and Meatballs, so I decided to make these immediately.


I let Baby Girl have half a cookie as she watched me take these photos and she absolutely loved them. She rarely has cookies (this kid does NOT handle sugar well), but I was impressed that she enjoyed all the complex flavors. These are certainly not your traditional cookies. I also brought about half the batch to church on Sunday since we had signed up to bring food for fellowship after the service. They were a big hit and someone even asked me for the recipe. Yay!


I'll definitely be making these again over the summer when my basil plant gets out of control. Jey's original recipe listed 3 large basil leaves but that alone only yielded 1 tablespoon when chopped, so I used the rest of the plant (about 1/4 cup total) and that was perfect.

Make these soon and you won't be sorry!

Lemon-Basil Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies
The Jey of Cooking

1 1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup sugar
Zest of 2 lemons, 1 1/2 tablespoons reserved
1/4 cup fresh basil, finely chopped, 1 tablespoon reserved
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup buttermilk*
1 cup blueberries
Confectioner’s sugar (powdered sugar)
Juice from about 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add sugar, lemon zest and basil to a small food processor and pulse to combine.

Beat the butter, in a stand mixer or a regular bowl using a hand mixer, until creamy. Add the sugar mixture and beat again until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, then turn the mixer down to low. Slowly add in the flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating in batches beginning with 1/3 of the flour, then 1/2 of the buttermilk, 1/3 of the flour, the other half of the buttermilk, then the rest of the flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. Fold in blueberries.

Using a cookie scoop or a leveled tablespoon, drop dough onto the baking sheet, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between cookies.

Bake each sheet for 12 minutes. Cool for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cookie rack.

Whisk together confectioner’s sugar (about 1/2 cup), lemon juice and reserved lemon zest and basil until you reach your desired consistency and flavor. Drizzle on top of the cookies. Allow to cool completely and the glaze to harden before serving.

* To make you own buttermilk, put 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice into a glass measuring cup. Add enough milk to equal 1 cup. Stir and allow to sit for about 5 minutes, until the milk begins to curdle. Stir before using in a recipe. For this recipe I did 1 tablespoon of white vinegar and enough milk to make 1/3 of a cup.

Recipe Swap - Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Want to see what other Secret Recipe Club recipes were made during the swap? Here is the link to the Secret Recipe Club Recipe Swap Part 2 Roundup


The SRC-style Recipe Swap was so popular last time that I decided to make it a regular theme. This go-round I ended up with my good friend Jaida's blog, Sweet Beginnings. Jaida actually reached out to me because of the recipe swaps, which she had seen on my blog. She wanted to start a blog of her own and we found ourselves emailing and chatting on a regular basis. That's one of the things I love about the blogging community - I've met so many great people through my blog. One day I'll make it out to Texas or she'll make it out to PA and we'll actually get to meet in person.


As much as I love being able to choose whatever recipe I want for the SRC-style swap, sometimes having to make that decision can be difficult. Jaida's blog is full of delicious recipes I want to try and narrowing it down was hard. As you'll see in Tuesday's post, I couldn't pick just one thing so I opted to make one savory and one sweet recipe. I recently won a McCormick giveaway on Chocolate Moosey, so I decided to finally bake these Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies I've been drooling over for months. Like Jaida, mint chocolate chip is my favorite ice cream flavor. I've always loved it and 8 out of 10 times that's the flavor I'll pick if we're having ice cream. I couldn't wait to try it in cookie form.


Now we all know I don't bake, so this was a big deal for me. And I decided to bake these on a Wednesday night, which just goes to show how easy they are to make. I started at 7:50pm and had all the cookies baked and cooling by 8:35pm. That's impressive for me. I didn't even need to bust out the KitchenAid stand mixer; I just used my trusty hand mixer and it did a great job. What impressed me the most about this recipe was that the cookies didn't spread in the oven. That's always my biggest complaint when I make cookies. I like a moist, chewy, puffy cookie, not a crispy, thin cookie. These were perfect.

Since the recipe makes approximately 36 cookies I baked them in batches. And as you can see, my cookies aren't green. Sadly, I don't own food coloring (remember, I don't normally bake). I think the green color is fun and definitely alerts folks to the minty flavor, but it isn't necessary for a tasty cookie. I tried one after they'd been cooling for a few minutes and I had to physically restrain myself from eating another. This is why I don't bake, people. The results are just too tempting.

Thanks for a wonderful recipe, Jaida!

Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sweet Beginnings

1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon mint extract
8-10 drops green food coloring
1 egg
2 1/3 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 bag (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat together butter and sugar on low speed (using a hand or stand mixer) until fluffy. Stir in vanilla, food coloring, and egg; mix well. Sift together flour and baking powder in a small bowl and slowly add to the sugar mixture, combining well after each addition. Once combined, stir in chocolate chips using a wooden spoon.

Drop heaping tablespoons onto a foil-lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 7-9 minutes until just set. Remove to cooling rack.

Makes approximately 36 cookies

Cake Batter Cookies

We all know I don't really bake, so when our friends invited us to their house for dinner and asked that I bring dessert I figured I'd end up buying something at a bakery. Then I remembered seeing these Cake Batter Cookies on Stephanie's Top Ten Recipes of 2011 and thought it would be a nice way to use up some cake mix I had in the pantry and get Baby Girl in the kitchen with me.


These could not have been easier to make since all you are really doing is dumping the cake mix in a bowl and adding baking powder, eggs, oil and chocolate chips. Like Stephanie says, I bet these would be fun using different kinds of cake mix and different add-ins like nuts or M&Ms, raisins or even dried fruit. The possibilities are endless and because the dough is so simple the sky's the limit.

Baby Girl had a blast helping me (she especially loves stirring and dumping things into bowls). She even had her own spoon to take the dough from the bowl and put it on the cookie sheets. I love getting her into the kitchen and she loves helping so it's a win-win. My only complaint is that my cookies spread in the oven. Next time I'll chill the dough a bit before putting it on the cookie sheets. I've modified the directions below.

Cake Batter Cookies
Slightly Modified from Stephanie Cooks

1 (18.25 oz.) box cake mix
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

In a medium bowl, stir together the cake mix and baking powder. Add eggs and oil, then mix until well blended. Stir in chocolate chips, or your choice of add-ins. Cover the bowl and chill for 30 minutes. Once chilled, drop by rounded spoonfuls onto cookie sheets.

Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 30 cookies

Chocolate Crinkles

When I was a kid we would take frequent trips to a local orchard for pies, apples, donuts and cider. They also sold cookies and one of my favorites was the Chocolate Crinkle. I loved the rich, craggy, chocolate cookie dusted with confectioner's sugar, so when I saw this recipe for Chocolate Crinkle Cookies over at Ommy Noms I thought I'd give it a try.


You all know I'm not a baker, but the recipe was really simple and the results were delicious. I had my doubts, though. The mix looked more like cake batter than cookie dough, even after chilling for 4 hours. And the cookies didn't cook in the 10-12 minutes stated in the recipe, so I had to put them back in the oven. Thankfully, after they cooled the cookies crisped up and finally resembled the beloved chocolate crinkle from my childhood.

Note - This made a ton of cookies, and they were pretty large because I don't own cookie scoops, so I'd cut the recipe in half next time. They also didn't cook in 12 minutes so I upped the cook time to 15 to 18 minutes.

Chocolate Crinkles
Ommy Noms

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar

In a medium bowl, mix together cocoa, white sugar, and vegetable oil. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt; stir into the cocoa mixture. Cover dough, and chill for at least 4 hours. The dough will resemble cake batter and remain sticky, even after chilling.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. I needed 4 cookie sheets total. Roll dough into one inch balls, using a number 50 size scoop if available. Coat each ball in confectioners' sugar before placing onto prepared cookie sheets.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes. Let stand on the cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to wire racks to cool.