Turtle Thumbprint Cookies

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12 Day of Christmas Cookies: Day 1

Here we go, jumping into the holiday season.

 I committed to doing 12 days of Christmas cookies and its already been tough.  I spent all weekend making cookies so I would be caught up during the week but yet I still feel behind.  Oh well, who needs sleep when you can be baking and blogging.

I also got a new camera this weekend, Nikon D3300 which I love so far.  It was a steal on black Friday at Costco so I couldn't resist.  No more Iphone photos on this blog!

On to the cookies, they are delicious and are perfect for any holiday party.  I have never made or even ever tried a turtle cookies but they turned out amazing.  These are definitely going on a rotation in my holiday baking.  I handed some around to neighbors and friends and they were a huge hit.  People were saying they were too pretty to eat, but I don't they that lasted long.  I made my cookies on the big side and the recipe only yielded 15, so be sure to scoop your dough small if you want more then that.

Happy Holidays!

Turtle Cookies - Adapted from Tastes Better From Scratch
Yield: 16-20 cookies

Ingredients:
1 Cup Flour
1/3 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/4 Teaspoon Salt
½ Cup (1 stick) Butter, unsalted and room temp
2/3 Cup Sugar
1 Large Egg, separated
2 Tablespoon Milk
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Pecans, finely chopped

For the Caramel:
2/3 Cup Kraft Caramel Bits (or regular caramels, melted)
1/2 Teaspoon Water

1/4 Cup Dark Chocolate for Drizzle

Directions:

1. Combine flour, cocoa and salt. 
2. In a separate bowl cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg yolk, milk and vanilla. 
3.  Stir in flour mixture, just until combined. 
4. Chill dough in the refrigerator for one hour.
5. Whisk egg whites in a bowl until frothy. Place chopped pecans in another shallow bowl. 
6. Remove dough from fridge and roll into small balls (however many cookies you want–I made 20 small ones).
7. Roll each dough ball in the frothy egg whites, and then roll and press in the chopped pecans.
8. Use the back of a small measuring spoon to make an indentation in the center of each dough ball.
9. Bake at 350 Degrees F for about 10-12 minutes, or until set.
10. As the cookies come out of the oven, gently re-press the indentations with a small spoon.
11. In a microwavable bowl mix the caramel bits and water. Microwave at 30-second intervals, stirring after each interval, until caramel is melted (1-2 minutes). Pour small spoonfuls of caramel into the indented cookies. 
12. Drizzle with melted chocolate.
13. Enjoy!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

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While walking the isles of the grocery store, I came across the new Toll House Delightfulls - chocolate chips filled with different flavors.  I decided I would buy a bag of the caramel filled chocolate chips and use them in a recipe.  When I stumbled across the recipe for these cookies I wanted to make them with caramel bits like it calls for but after an unsuccessful shopping trip, I figured I would substitute some of the caramel bits for the caramel Delightful chocolate chips along with a few caramels cut up into small pieces.   

These cookies turned out amazing.  I am always nervous about sprinkling too much salt on top but I am getting better at it.  I passed these out to the neighbors and they were gobbled up immediately.  One of the neighbor kids tried to pay me a dollar for the cookies I gave to this family.  I just ran away...

The Toll House Delightfulls are bigger chocolate chips then normal, but I didn't think they added much flavor to the cookie and I didn't see any caramel in the middle when it bit into it.  If you are going to make these cookies I would recommend trying to find the Kraft caramel bits - I think you can get them at target, not 100% sure on that though.  If not, cutting up caramels work too.  About 10 or 12 caramels (made for baking) is about all you need.

Hope you enjoy these cookies as much as we all did!  

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies - Adapted from Two Peas And Their Pod

Yield: 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients:
2 Cups Flour
2 Teaspoons Cornstarch
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Sea Salt
3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter - room temperature
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Large Egg - room temperature
2 Teaspoons Vanilla Extract
1 Cup Chocolate Chips - I used 1/2 Cup Semi Sweet Chocolate chips and 1/2 Cup Toll House DelightFulls - Milk Chocolate filled with caramel

1/2 Cup Kraft Caramel Bits - I could not find these so I cut up about 6 caramels into little squares

Sea salt, for sprinkling on cookies

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a large baking sheet with a Silpat baking mat or parchment paper and set aside.   I like to use my AirBake pans that do NOT need a baking mat or parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, whisk flour, cornstarch, baking soda and sea salt together. Set aside.
3.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together butter and sugars until smooth and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Slowly mix in the dry ingredients.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips and caramel bits. Form cookie dough into tablespoon balls and place on prepared baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt.
5. Bake cookies for 10 minutes, or until slightly golden brown around the edges. 
6. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for two minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.
7. Enjoy!!

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Stuffed Cookies

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I AM BACK!!

After about a 6 month hiatus, I am back baking and blogging.  I started a new job in July, got married in August then went on a two week honeymoon to Thailand & Cambodia in September.  Now that we are back and things have calmed down, I finally have time to blog again.  I made these cookies way back in April but I am just getting around to posting them.  They were such a hit that I actually made them twice in about a weeks time.  My husband's family said these were the best cookies I have ever made.  I am a sucker for anything dark chocolate, and salted caramel is one of my new favorite flavors.  This recipe combines both of those delicious flavors into my dream cookie.   I hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I do!!

Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Stuffed Cookies - Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction

Yield: 14 - 16 big cookies

Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1/2  Cup Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Large Egg, room temperature
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Flour
2/3 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/8 Teaspoon Salt
2 Tablespoons Milk
1 1/2 Cups Nestlé® Toll House® Dark Chocolate Morsels - or store brand
16-17 Rolos - about two rolls
Coarse Sea Salt

Directions:

1. Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter on medium speed for about 30 seconds. 
2. Add the sugars with the mixer running on medium speed. Cream it all together until light and fluffy. 
3. Beat in the egg and vanilla. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
4. In a separate medium size bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. 
5. Slowly add to the wet ingredients. Stir in the milk, then fold in the dark chocolate morsels. The dough will be thick and very sticky. 
6. Chill for at least 1-2 hours.
7. Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mat. Set aside.
8. Take 2 Tablespoons of chilled dough and split in half and roll each into a ball with your hands. Stick a caramel into 1 ball of dough. Top the caramel with the other ball of dough and seal down the sides so that the caramel is securely stuffed inside. Repeat with the rest of the dough and 18 caramel candies. 
9. Sprinkle each with sea salt before putting into the oven.
10. Bake for 12-13 minutes. Cookies will appear undone and very soft. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
11. Enjoy!

Chocolate Fudge Caramel Brownies

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This Valentine's Day, surprise your loved ones with these simple and delicious chocolate fudge brownies with a gooey caramel center. This exquisite treat is perfect for anyone with a BIG sweet tooth.  I was busy running around on Saturday so I went with a box mix brownie this time.  We had friends coming over for dinner so I made these to spoil them afterwards! After dinner, we walked over to my neighbor's house for game night and I brought the rest of the batch with me. Instantly, my brownies were a hit! No one could tell that these brownies were made from a box because they were super moist and gooey.  

Chocolate Fudge Caramel Brownies

Adapted from I Heart Nap Time
Ingredients:
Fudge Brownie Mix (+ ingredients the box calls for) - I used Ghirardelli Supreme
1/4 Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk
1 Cup Chocolate Chips - I used semi-sweet ones
1 (11oz) Package Caramel Bits or Wrapped Caramels
1/2 Cup Sweetened Condensed Milk

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a 9x13 or 8x8 pan with foil and set aside. I made mine in an 8x8 for thicker brownies.
2. In a large bowl combine the brownie mix and the ingredients that the box calls for. Then mix in 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk and the chocolate chips.
3. Then, combine your caramels and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk in a small pan over medium heat.  Keep an eye on the caramel so it doesn't burn and stir constantly.
4. While the caramel is warming up, pour half of the batter into the pan and bake for 8-10 minutes.
5. Stir the caramel mixture until smooth (about 10 min) and then pull out the brownie pan and drizzle the caramel over the bottom layer. Then pour the remaining brownie batter over top. Continue to bake the brownies for approximately 25-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes clean.
6. Remove pan from oven and allow to cool. Then lift the foil and brownies out of the pan for easy cutting. - I stupidly skipped the foil step and boy was I sorry.  I lost lots of precious brownie that stuck to the pan and was too hard to eat.
7. Enjoy!

Two Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies

These cookies are a bite of heaven in your mouth.  The original name for these cookies was "I want to marry you cookies"  but I made they and well I am still not married so I figured I would change the name.  They are made a little differently then most cookies and in the beginning I was a little worried but in the end they came out perfect!  You melt the butter and then add lots of brown sugar which give the cookie a caramel flavored base.  Then with the oatmeal and both white chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips you get a delicious cookie.  The real kicker here is the hint of cinnamon.  My boss told me they taste like Christmas and she wants to have me make some for her Christmas party this year.  You cannot go wrong adding these cookies to your holiday baking list.

I Want To Marry You Cookies - Adapted from Cookingchanneltv.com
1 Cup Butter, unsalted
1 1/4 cups Dark Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Egg, room temperature is best
1 Egg Yolk, room temperature is best
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 Cups Flour
1 Cup Rolled Oats
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Cinnamon
3/4 Cup White Chocolate Chips
3/4 Cup Chocolate Chips

Directions:

1. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat until melted. Remove from the heat.
2. Add the dark brown sugar and white sugar and stir until sugars are incorporated and smooth. Chill the mixture for 10 minutes or more.
3. Remove from the refrigerator and stir in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla.
4. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and cinnamon and mix together.
5. Stir in the white chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips.  At this point it will look pretty oily, so I chilled the dough for the 30 minutes and then formed the balls and chilled a little more.  
6. Roll by hand into about 30 medium-size balls or use a cookie scoop, and place on a light-colored cookie sheet.
7. Chill for 30 minutes.
8. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Remove the cookies from the refrigerator and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Snickers Brownies

All my favorite boys were in town this weekend so I wanted to make them something they would all love.  I know they all like brownies so I figured this would be a good recipe.   I actually used two different recipes from My Baking Addiction.  I used her recipe for Amazing Brownies for the brownie part, and then her idea for the Snickers part.  I didn't have all the ingredients for the Snickers Brownie recipe so I had to find another.  These were super easy to make and a huge hit with everyone.   I loved the brownie recipe alone, but with the added nuts and caramel, they were delicious.  I will be making these again soon!

Snickers Brownies - Adapted from My Baking Addiction
Yield:16 or 24 depending on how you cut it
Ingredients:
2/3 Cup Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
6 Ounces Semisweet Chocolate Chips
10 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
1 Cup Sugar
2 Teaspoons Vanilla
3 Eggs
3 Regular Size Snickers Bars

Directions:

1. Whisk flour, salt and baking powder in a small bowl; set aside. Spray an 8-inch baking pan with cooking spray. Fit a sheet of foil in pan and up two sides, so you can use it as a handle to pull cooked brownies from pan (I used parchment paper). Spray sheet with cooking spray.
2. Melt chocolates and butter in a medium bowl over a pan of simmering water. Remove from heat; whisk in sugar and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, fully incorporating each one before adding the next. Continue to whisk until mixture is completely smooth and glossy.
3. Add dry ingredients, whisk until just incorporated.
4. Cut up the Snickers bars into thin slices.
5. Pour 1/2 the batter into prepared pan; place the snickers to cover the whole pan.  Pour the rest of the batter on top.  Bake until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in center comes out with wet crumbs, 35-40 minutes.
6. Cool brownies in pan on a wire rack for five minutes. Use handles to pull brownies from pan. Completely cool brownies on rack. Cut into squares and serve. Whole brownie cake can be wrapped in plastic wrap, then foil, and refrigerated for up to five days.
7. Enjoy!!

Snickers Peanut Butter Cookies

Here is an amazing cookie recipe.  I don't have much more to say other then "try these!!"  They are the perfect combination of a soft peanut butter cookie but with some chocolate, caramel, and crunchy peanuts on top.  

Snickers Peanut Butter Cookies - Adapted from Lovin From The Oven
Yield: 4 Dozen or more...
Ingredients:
1 Cup Unsalted Butter, room temperature
1 Cup Sugar
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
2 Eggs
1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
2 1/2 Cup Flour
2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 Bag of Snickers Minis, or another mini size candy bar...


Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Cream butter, sugars and peanut butter. Add eggs and vanilla. 
3. Stir or whisk together flour, soda and salt. Add to creamed butter mixture and mix well.
4. Roll into balls or use a cookie scoop.
5. Cut the candy bars in half and place them cut side down on top of the rounded cookie and press down gently.
6. Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Remove from oven and leave cookies on cookie sheet for 4 minutes to rest. Cool on a cooling rack for ten minutes or more.
7. Enjoy!!

Churro Cupcakes

Happy Cinco de Mayo, a few days late.  I made these on Cinco de Mayo for some friends and they were a huge hit!  The cupcakes was very light and fluffy, and full of flavor!  I have never made a cupcake where you beat the egg whites separately, and fold them in at the end.  The cupcake bottom is just a cinnamon cake base, but they were so good I ate a few plain with no whipped cream.  These cupcakes have 3-4 steps, depending on how much time you have.  First I made the caramel, I used the oven method because it was the fastest and safest.  After about an hour in the oven the Dulce de Leche was ready.  Then I went on the make the cupcakes, which turned out perfect.  I decided I would try to make the Churros for the top of the cupcake, but that was a major failure.  The batter looked like mushed bananas, so that went straight into the trash and I wasn't willing to try again.  I made the whipped cream and started an assembling them.  I used an apple corer to take out the center, then put some caramel in the middle, put the top back on, and squeezed some whipped cream on top.  Last but no least, I drizzled all the cupcakes with the extra caramel and sprinkled with a cinnamon sugar! For as much of a mess as these are, they are amazing!!

Churro Cupcakes - Adapted from The Tribune News

Yield: about 30 cupcakes

Ingredients:

1 Cup Butter, unsalted and room temperature

2 Cups Sugar

4 Large Eggs, separated

2 3/4 Cup Flour

1 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder

2 Teaspoons Cinnamon

1 Pinch of Salt

1 Cup Milk

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350˚F and line a muffin tin with baking cups.
2. Beat the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed. Once the butter is smooth and creamy, turn the mixer to low speed and add the sugar. Keep beating the butter and sugar mixture until light and fluffy.  
3. Add the egg yolks one at a time, making sure to mix well after each addition.  
4. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
5. In a small bowl, stir the vanilla into the milk.  Alternate adding the flour mixture and the milk mixture to the butter-and-sugar mixture. You’ll want to start and end with the flour, and mix just until incorporated after each addition.
6. In a medium bowl, using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. It’ll be white and foamy. Fold the egg whites into the batter.
7. Fill your lined muffin cups about ¾ full of batter. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a cake tester stuck in the middle comes out clean. 
8. Let cupcakes cool completely.

Dulce de Leche Recipe

Ingredients: 

1 Can (14 ounces) Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 Pinch Sea Salt

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F.  
2. Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a shallow baking dish; a glass or ceramic pie plate works great.
3. Stir in just the tiniest bit of sea salt — a few grains will do it.
4. Place the pie plate in the middle of a larger pan and carefully pour in hot water into the larger pan until the water level hits about halfway up the pie plate. 
5. Wrap the top of the pie plate with aluminum foil and put it in the oven. 
6. Let it bake for 1 to 1¼ hours, checking the water level occasionally and add more water if you need to. 
7. When the milk is caramelized, carefully take the pan out of the oven and let cool to room temperature, then whisk until smooth.

Whipped Cream Recipe

Ingredients:

2 Cups Heavy Whipping Cream

4 Tablespoons Powdered Sugar

1 Teaspoon Vanilla

Directions:

1. Pour the cream, sugar, and vanilla into the bowl of your Kitchen Aid mixer.  Whip on high speeds until stiff peaks form.  (cream tends to fly everywhere so I would recommend wrapping a dish towel or paper towel around the mixer to help contain the mess!)

Mini Churros - If you want to attempt this!

Ingredients:

2/3 Cup Water

1/3 Cup Butter

1 pinch salt

2/3 Cup Flour

2 Eggs

1/4 Cup Sugar

1/4 Teaspoon Cinnamon

Vegetable Oil, for frying

Directions

1. Heat about an inch of oil in a wide, deep pan to 360F.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring water, butter and salt to rolling boil. Reduce the heat to low and add the flour, stirring until the mixture forms a ball, about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
3. Beat the eggs in a small bowl until blended and then pour in the saucepan as you stir.
4. Spoon the dough into a pastry bag fitted with a small star tip and pipe the mini churros right into the oil. Use a butter knife to cut off the squeezed-out dough when it’s about an inch long.
5. Fry the mini churros until they are golden brown. It should take about 2 minutes on each side.
6. Scoop the churros out of the oil with a slotted spoon and place on paper towels to absorb any extra oil.
7. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cinnamon, then dump onto the churros.

Enjoy!!

Twix Cookies

I love TWIX, therefore I love TWIX COOKIES! New favorite cookie for sure!

Yes that is a river of carmel!

Recipe adapted from lovintheoven


Twix Cookies
Recipe: Yield about 2 Dozen
2 Cups Flour
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
12 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter Softened
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Sugar
1 Egg and 1 Egg Yolk
2 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Cup Chopped Twix Bars - I bought 3 regular size bars and chopped that up, so six stixs of twix


Directiosn

1. Preheat oven 325.
2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.
4. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients. Gently stir in the Twix chunks.
5. Roll the dough into balls and bake on a baking sheet for 12-15 minutes.
6. Allow the cookies to cool for ten minutes before removing them off the baking sheet.
7. ENJOY!!

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