Monday, October 25, 2010

•Oreo Truffle Surprise Cookies•

There are no words to describe how AMAZING these cookies are!
And they are HUGE!!:)  My BIL fell in love with them and I am bribing him to come visit us if I make him a whole batch just for him.  I didn't have enough regular chocolate chips so I substituted white and it made them taste very good.  ENJOY...

Oreo Truffle Surprise Cookies-
2 sticks softened butter
3/4 Cup granulated sugar
3/4 Cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 Tablespoon pure vanilla
3 1/2 Cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 Cups chocolate chips

21 Oreos
3 oz softened cream cheese

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a stand or electric mixer beat butter and sugars until well combined. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until combined.

2. Place flour, salt and baking soda into a large bowl; mix. Add to wet ingredients along with chocolate chips. Mix until just combined.

3. Place Oreos into a food processor or blender, mix until finely ground. Place into a bowl and mix with cream cheese until dough forms. Take 1 Tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball. Continue until all dough has been rolled, you should get 36 balls, enough for all of the cookie dough.

4. With a large cookie scoop, scoop dough onto a silpat or parchment lined baking sheet. Press a little hole into center of dough and put Oreo Truffle inside, cover cookie dough around Oreo Truffle so it’s hidden in the middle. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until edges of cookies just begin to turn golden brown. Remove and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Now…..eat up!!
 I think I found this recipe over at Picky Palate - great blog - GREAT recipes;)

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!!

Another Fall favorite of mine is pumpkin chocolate chip cookies and bread.  Mmmm!!  So I searched the internet for a REALLY good recipe and once again I found a great one at Allrecipes.com:)  My husband is requesting them for work and my daughter even wants to take some to her teacher at school...guess they are a hit at our house!!!!
The Best Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever!
Courtesy of AllRecipes.com

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

1 c. granulated sugar
1 c. pumpkin
1/2 c. oil (corn or canola - not olive)
Beat these three together.

Add one egg

2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1. tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. salt
sift these four together

1 tsp. baking soda, dissolved in 1 tsp. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. chocolate chip cookies

Beat sugar, pumpkin, and oil with electric mixer. Add egg, beat.

Add sifted ingredients to pumpkin mixture.

Stir with baking soda/milk mixture. Add vanilla extract and chocolate chips. Stir (not mix).

Drop by tsp. onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes.
Yields 3 1/2 dozen.
(I like these cookies to be really moist. To accomplish this, after cooling, store cookies in plastic containers overnight. This makes them soft; yummy. If you like a harder cookie, you can store them in a cookie jar or box after cooling.)

Monday, October 11, 2010

○YuMmY Caramel Apples○

I LOVE Fall especially the treats...so we made some homemade caramel apples the other night...
Dipped in white chocolate and regular chocolate.  Sprinkled with nuts, orange sprinkles and my ABSOLUTE favorite cinnamon sugar!!  Other toppings M&M's, crushed Oreo's, chopped candy bars, coconut, marshmallows & nuts (Rocky Road style), toffee, etc.
Our family creations...mmmm!!
I learned this year that GREEN APPLES work the BEST and the tart with the sweet makes them even better!!!!


Easiest Caramel --
32 caramels unwrapped
5 Tbl. evaporated milk
Melt caramels and milk in saucepan on low.  Cool slightly and dip apples.

Easy Caramel --
1 lb. butter
2 cups sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
Cook on medium heat stirring continually, to the hard ball stage with your candy therm. (about 4-5 min).  Cool slightly and dip apples.

Creamy Caramel --
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar (white)
1 cup Karo syrup
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Cook first 3 ing. over medium heat to softball stage stirring constantly.  Then add can milk and cook to hard ball stage.  Pour into buttered dish and cool until ready to use.  Do Not put in fridge.

TIPS that I learned --
Place wax paper on cookie sheet, wash & dry Granny Smith apples, and put sticks in them.  Roll apples in caramel, wipe bottom quarter and excess with a butter knife, set on cookie sheet.  Repeat.  Once cookie sheet is full, put in fridge to cool completely before dipping in chocolate/decorating them.  Or you can even make them the night before.  Roll them in chocolate that is not too hot, then sprinkle immediately in desired toppings.  Set back on wax paper and refridgerate.  After cooled cut into wedges from the stem (like a pie) and ENJOY!!

AND here is a recipe I found today...

Honey Caramel Apples --
Recipe by Our Best Bites, inspired by Everyday Magazine

4 large (or 6 small) crisp apples, chilled in the fridge for at least 1 hour
1 Cup honey
1 Cup heavy cream
1 pinch salt (about 1/4 teaspoon)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
In a heavy sauce pan over medium heat, combine cream, honey, and salt. Once warmed and whisked together, bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to a simmer (it should still be bubbling, but not so hot that is splatters all over). Stir and scrape sides of pot down occasionally until a candy thermometer (you should all have one by now--they cost about 3 bucks!) reaches 260 degrees.

To reach 260 degrees can take about 30 minutes, so while your caramel is cooking prepare your apples. Wash and dry them and skewer them with a popsicle stick or bamboo skewer. Place in the fridge to continue chilling until ready to use. Also line a baking sheet or cutting board with waxed paper or parchment paper and set aside.

When caramel has reached 260 degrees, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. It should start thickening. You'll have to eyeball the consistency for dipping. If you'd like to help it along you can place your pot in a bowl of ice. And if it gets too hard to coat the apples, just return it to the heat until it's thin again.

Remove apples from fridge and dry them thoroughly with a towel. Dip in caramel, rolling and twirling each one so it gets well coated. Let excess drip off and then place on prepared sheet. Refrigerate for 10-20 minutes to set the caramel and then enjoy!

Sunday, October 3, 2010

Honeyed Banana Berry Cake Cookies

I found this recipe over at Picky Palate and after heading to Costco to get the blueberries we finally made them this week:)  DO NOT forget to grease your pan or use parchment paper while baking these...mine stuck to my very non-stick pan horribly.  BUT they were yummy and Dalt thought they tasted like pancakes so next time we will have them for breakfast:)

Berry Good Cookies:
 1 box yellow cake mix
4 large banana's mashed
3/4 c. dried blueberries
4 TBL creamed honey or 2 TBL regular honey
Mix all ingredients.  Drop by spoon full onto cookie sheet.  Bake at 350* for 11-15 minutes.
ENJOY!!

•Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars•

School started and I feel like our lives have been crazy.  Plus I have made Cake Pops/Bites for the past three weeks so I haven't done anything very creative in the cooking/baking department:)  But I have this amazing neighbor that loves to spoil us with all of her yummy goodies every once and a while and last week she brought us these.  I called her up to get the recipe and she told me it was off of a can of Crisco or off the package of chocolate chips - funny huh!!  Because they were SO good:)  Also her daughter didn't want to wait to keep baking the cookies so she made them into bars.  Wow I don't know if I will make "cookies" again, this was so easy!!!!

Cookie Bars:
1 c. butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/4 c. flour
1 pkg chocolate chips

Cream sugars with butter, beat in egg, add dry ingredients and stir in chocolate chips.  Press into greased baking sheet and bake at 375* for 10 minutes.  Cool and cut into bars.
ENJOY!!