Birthday Cake Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well this is it kiddos. The last blog post of my 20s. Tomorrow morning I officially turn the big 3-0. Actually, when the clock strikes midnight in just a few hours. I would say I’ve managed to be overly dramatic about dreading ending my 20s the past few months in true Becca fashion. Lots of references to becoming a cat lady coupon hoarder. But after an amazing weekend doing some early birthday celebrations with my friends in Boston, I was happily reminded about all of the great people I’ve met in my 20s, so I say bring on 30. Or at least the 29th anniversary of my first birthday. I was rocking the bangs back then. And I still get that excited when I see cake in front of me. 

I absolutely love birthdays. Always have, hopefully always will. But especially with being away from home so much lately with work travel, spending my entire weekend with so many of my favorite people home in Boston was just great. And the celebrations will continue this weekend for Easter weekend to celebrate my birthday and Skips 30th anniversary of turning 30. I was actually due to be born on Skip’s birthday, but decided to be a good daughter and pop out a few days early back on Palm Sunday in 1985 so that he could have a birthday month all to himself. You’re welcome Dad. And then next week I head to Punta Cana with two of my favorite friends for more celebrations. I’m rubbing this all in because I’m writing this blog post from my hotel room in Philadelphia trying to make the best of being on the road for the big day. But anyways, I digress. Let’s get to the good stuff – the cookies.

Birthday cookies. And obvious choice for this week’s recipe. It felt appropriate when I came across this recipe on one of my favorite blogs Cookies and Cups to bake these up this week. Also, I may have been in Stop and Shop yesterday afternoon with my sunglasses on eating french fries from Tasty Burger and drinking a Gingerale in the cookie aisle looking for inspiration. (Almost-30-year-old-post-birthday-celebration-hangovers are painful my friends. Worth it, but painful). So I saw these Birthday Cake Oreo Cookies. Never saw them before, but obviously it was like the little baby Jesus guiding me right to these. Two of my favorite things in one: Birthdays and Oreos.

They are vanilla wafer Oreos with basically funfetti tasting icing in the middle. Addicting. And delicious. So Cookies and Cups had the right idea when she decided to put these cookies IN a cookie. Genius. Also, while recovering from Saturday night, I needed an easy cookie recipe that just involved me throwing a lot of things in the mixer and hoping for the best. These cookies are easy to throw together, and so delicious. Some of the best tasting cookie dough. Chilling the dough is an important step, so just make sure you give yourself enough time to chill the dough for at least two hours before popping these in the oven.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1½ cups cake mix (I use Funfetti)
• 1½ cups flour
• ½ cup sprinkles
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 2 cups coarsely chopped Birthday Cake Golden Oreos

Step 1: In your mixer, cream together butter and sugar for a minute until it gets fluffy. I normally just stick to light brown sugar, but I did use dark brown in this recipe. Add in the eggs and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Scrape the side of the bowl down before adding in the dry ingredients.

Step 2: Slowly add in the baking soda, salt, flour, and cake mix. Beat on a low speed just until the dry ingredients are incorporated.

Step 3: With the mixer still on a low speed, add in the sprinkles, chocolate chips and chopped Oreos.

I only had chocolate chunks in my magic baking drawer this week so I used those. Do what makes you happy. And with whatever you have on hand.

Step 4: Chill the dough for at least two hours, or overnight.

Step 5: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. On a sil-pat or parchment-lined baking sheet, use a medium cookie scoop to place large balls of dough at least two inches apart.

Step 6: Bake at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes or until the edges are slightly golden. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Happy Birthday cookies to me! Honestly, Funfetti, Oreos, birthdays and cookies. All my favorite things in a bite-size delicious form. I undercooked mine a little bit so they were extra soft and chewy. With each bite you get a little bit of a different flavor combo in the cookie. Either Oreo, or Funfetti or Chocolate or any combo of the three. Definitely a good cookie to end my 20s with.

I ran out of big plastic bags this weekend, so ended up putting these cookies in 6 mini zip-loc bags and transporting them to Philly for my coworkers, which felt a little silly packing my carry-on this morning, but I think my coworkers were happy. My most loyal cookie fan indulged in 4 within the first hour of me arriving at work. Made the 4:15am wakeup call almost seem worth it. Almost.

So let’s recap the past week, but mostly the super fun weekend.

My coworker Charlotte and I are allegedly running the Brooklyn half marathon in May. I’m not a hundred percent convinced this is going to be a reality given it’s only been the past week that the sidewalks are not snow-covered and it’s kind of warm enough to run outside without freezing to death. But as running buddies, we went for a run last Tuesday after work down around Philly. Of course halfway into our 5 mile run, it started pouring like a mother. So on our way running back to the hotel, we made a pitstop at the Rocky Stairs for motivation. That’s most rain on my shirt, not insane sweat. 

So of course the only logical thing to do after getting in some solid exercise was to go and eat Steak and Cake. Dinner of champions. We started the birthday celebrations early with this insanely delicious chocolate cake from from Butcher and Singer. I was so full at the end of the night I felt like that fat kid from the movie Matilda who is forced to eat an entire chocolate cake. So good though. Thursday I had my first Philly Cheesesteak at Reading Terminal, which is like Quincy Market on steroids. Definitely going to be somewhere I need to make some more lunch trips to explore in the near future. I left it up to my trusty sidekick Nathan to order for me because the guy taking orders at the Cheesesteak place was intense. And who wants Cheese Wiz on their meat? People in Philly apparently consider that a delicacy. Anyways, the cheesesteak was good, but I needed a nap right after. But it was fly home Thursday! So no time for napping. Except it was a typical fly-home-PHL Thursday which means delays delays delays. I saw a grown man go absolutely batshit bananas at the gate next to mine when they wouldn’t let him board so he threw his sport coat on the ground and was screaming like a crazy person. Luckily his psychotic episode (which I can relate to, but I choose Pinkberry over outward emotion in public) led to me making friends with two of the consultants sitting next to me, who also do the BOS > PHL weekly grind. The three of us were all in first class this week (yeahhhh Upgrade! the good life!) so the guy in front of me told me some good advice not to waste my time with the free wine, but go for the vodka because it was Tito’s, which in airline world is high quality. His advice came in handy because after being delayed for 2 hours before boarding, we rush on the plane to meet our wheels up time, and 5 minutes later the pilot says there’s a ground stop in Boston and next update would be in an hour. Womp Womp. But instead of throwing my sportcoat on the ground in a public tantrum (and because I am a lady so I don’t have a sportcoat handy) I took my new friend’s advice, got myself some Tito’s vodka sodas and free Milano cookies and rocked out to my new favorite Spotify playlist “Have a Great Day!” Next thing you know, we landed in Boston around 9:15 and I had listened to Me and Julio Down by the Schoolyard on repeat for 45 minutes. True story. Hey, it’s a great jam. Like my Grandpa always says, you can’t fight city hall. So then Friday, the weekend! I had plans at night with my tennis friends, who are just the best. First I got a manicure with my friend Heather, and then our other tennis friends Caitlan and Jacqui met us out at The Paramount for a delicious dinner and good times over some bottles of wine. And of course, dessert!

Saturday morning my coworker Maya flew in from Philly and we had a nice day in Newton/Chestnut Hill shopping, Cheesecake Factory-ing and hitting up the spa. We then had a delicious birthday dinner at one of my new favorite restaurants in Boston, Nebo Cucina near South Station. There were 10 of us at dinner, and we filled ourselves on delicious zucchini lasagna and lots of pizza and wine! They also have great gluten-free options that taste great too, if that’s your style. I can’t wait to take my mom there next time she’s in town. Old and new coworkers, friends from home, and tennis! And then we went to Lucky’s. My favorite Saturday night spot in Boston. I tried to think of somewhere classier to go for my birthday this year, but why fight what’s right. I always have the best time at Luckys. And so many of my favorite people showed up, and we drank and danced and sang, and earned our hangovers on Sunday. This is just a sampling of the fine crew that showed up on Saturday night.

Yesterday was a much needed lazy Sunday with my friend Maya. We finally did surface from the couch mid-afternoon for some fresh air, Tasty Burger fries and decided that we’d take advantage of not flying on a Sunday (Maya endures weekly red-eye flights) to cook ourselves a nice dinner of Butternut Squash Risotto with sage. 

So all in all, I’ve got a good feeling about my 30s. My sister-in-law recently reminded me of the scene from the movie 13 going on 30, where the girl wishes to be Thirty, Flirty and Thriving. And I think that’s a pretty good thing to wish for. Even with only 2 hours left of my 20s, I hope to be 30, flirty and thriving. With great friends, lots of travel adventures, and many more cookie recipes to come.