Baking Away!

This past week was pretty serious when it came to my cooking. Not only did I make Eggplant Enchiladas and Southwest Soup & Tortas, but I also did some pretty serious baking. Well, for me at least. Of course it was nothing like Serial Baker, but that’s besides the point.

On Wednesday after getting in an argument with our upstairs neighbor about “stinking” because we cook, I decided to finally start my cupcake experiment. Don’t worry; there will be a post about that in the near future. Then on Saturday, I had two occasions to bake for – first, I was going to meet more of my fiancé’s family at Passover dinner, and it was also one of our friend’s birthdays.

For whatever reason when I was little, I wished I was Jewish. It probably came down to the simple fact that I wanted to be something I wasn’t. Just like I always wanted glasses, and secretly hoped I’d break a lower-extremity bone so I could use crutches. At any rate, my fiancé is half Jewish, and though his family isn’t really practicing, they do have Passover dinner just as a way to all get together. They don’t do any thing really traditional (such as the Seder, etc.), but there was some typical fare. That’s where my first baking attempt came in to play.

Early last week I was trying to figure out what I could bring with us. I wanted to make something, but wasn’t sure what. I had remembered my mom’s principle (she’s a school nurse) making “matzo bark” and I had asked for the recipe. She never got it, but conveniently later in the week I was reading YumSugar and stumbled upon a “Toffee-Chocolate Matzah” recipe! We’ve had a box of matzo for awhile, so I knew I was at least half way there with the ingredients. After reading over the recipe, I realized it was completely doable in terms of ingredients, skill level, and time.

Once I had made that recipe, I moved onto my next task – Kahlua Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies. Say that 10 times fast! I found the recipe from Recipe Girl, who also provided me with the delicious Pumpkin French Toast I had made this past fall. Again, I had to cream the butter by hand with the back of a spoon, which I complained about continuously. But other than that, the recipe was pretty straight forward. I did have to go out and get more chocolate chips and powdered Espresso, but that was it!

I did make a few alterations to the Kahlua Espresso cookies… I didn’t have any Kahlua, but I did have Bailey’s (from my Guinness & Bailey’s cupcakes). So instead of going out and buying more alcohol that would just sit around, I figured I’d use what I have. Also, between the two recipes, I ran out of brown sugar. But I did have a brown sugar and Splenda mix, so I was able to use that for the rest of the cookies. While I haven’t had the original recipe, I can’t imagine mine tasted much different from them.

When we arrived at my fiancé’s Aunt’s house, I was thrilled to hear that everyone was a huge fan of chocolate covered matzo. They were definitely enjoyed by everyone, and since there was so much food we got to take home the leftovers! Say hello to a delicious little snack during the week! The cookies were also a hit at our friend’s party. By the time we got there, they had an ice luge out and in full force, so some sustenance was in order. I’m pretty sure everyone enjoyed those as well.

So, if you ever find yourself with some extra Matzo hanging around, or the inability to eat leaven bread, I suggest giving the Toffee-Chocolate Matzah a try. Here’s the recipe from YumSugar, who got it from Martha Stewart:

Ingredients:
4 sheets unsalted non-egg matzah
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 cup packed dark-brown sugar
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
Coarse sea salt

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper Place matzah in an even layer on baking sheet and set aside.
3. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add brown sugar and immediately reduce temperature to low. Cook, stirring, adjusting heat as necessary, until sugar has completely dissolved and begins to bubble. Drizzle toffee over matzah and spread to cover using a spatula.
4. Transfer toffee-covered matzah to oven and bake until toffee has a rich, shiny sheen, 10 to 20 minutes.
5. Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Tent matzah with aluminum foil and let stand 20 to 30 minutes.
6. Remove foil tent and spread melted chocolate over matzah to cover; sprinkle with sea salt. Transfer matzah to refrigerator and let chill at least 2 hours.
7. Break chilled matzah into pieces. Matzah will keep in an airtight container for up to 4 days at room temperature.

And, if you’re ever looking for some chocolate, coffee, liquor and cinnamon, give these Kahlua Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies a whirl!

Ingredients:
2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
½ tsp. salt
½ Tbsp. espresso powder
1 Tbsp. Kahlua
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed firmly
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted & cooled a little bit
1 (12-ounce) package semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
3. In a small dish, dissolve espresso powder in Kahlua; set aside.
4. In a large bowl, use electric mixer to cream butter and sugars together. Add Kahlua mixture, eggs and vanilla; beat until thoroughly combined. Add cooled, melted chocolate and continue to beat until it’s mixed in. Add flour mixture and beat at low speed until all flour is incorporated into the dough, scraping down sides of the bowl as needed. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls (or use a cookie scoop) 2-inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are golden brown and no longer look gooey in the middles. Cool completely on wire rack.
Yield: About 5 dozen

Being in a rush after all the baking, I didn’t take a picture of them after they were done. Then, I wound up eating all of the cookies and matzo before I realized I still needed a picture! So my sincerest appologies for not having pictures of the deliciousness. But I promise they were yummy!!

Happy Pi Day!

I wanted to name this post “The easiest pie you’ll ever make,” but since it’s Pi Day, I had to go with that, since without the day I probably wouldn’t have made pie. I don’t remember exactly where I got the recipe, but I’m sure it was one of my regular site visits.

I’m not exaggerating when I say this is the easiest pie you’ll ever make. Not only does it not require any baking, you use a pre-made crust, and two ingredients. I know this might sound blasphemous to the avid baker, but if you’re ever in a time crunch or feeling lazy, this is really a great recipe to have on hand.

I have never been a fan of math. So, it might seem odd that I am super excited that it’s Pi Day. You know, 3/14, which is 3.14, pi. But let’s be honest here; the mere thought of piE made it all worth the while to endure some “yay math!” moments.

So to the recipe. This is a Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Pie. Sounds delicious? It is! And if you’re a fan of easy and delicious, this is definitely for you. It took me about 10 minutes to combine the ingredients, and then it just needed to set for 2 hours. Sure, mixing was a little labor intensive, but that was the extent of my manual labor.

With the combination of chocolate, peanut butter, and Cool Whip, how could you resist? I’ve recently had serious cravings for chocolate and peanut butter combinations, so this was right up my alley.

Of course, I varied a bit. Instead of using regular Cool Whip, I went for their light version, in hopes it would lighten the calorie and fat content of the pie just a smidgen. I also didn’t get a chocolate pie crust. Instead, I went with a graham cracker crust.

I brought the pie to my parent’s to have after dinner, and everyone loved it. My only complaint was that there seemed to be a little more crust than filling. But, the crust I got was a bit larger than normal (it was advertised as so, at least), so I’m thinking that might be why. I also might not have mixed the peanut butter and Cool Whip together as well since my hands were getting tired. Oh, to have a Kitchen Aid stand mixer. But it was still delicious!

So, next time you are in need of some pie, consider this recipe.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Mousse Pie

Ingredients:
1 16 oz. jar of Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams *
1 8 oz. tub of Cool Whip
1 Keebler Chocolate Pie Crust
1/2 cup chopped salted peanuts

Directions:
1. Empty contents of peanut butter into large mixing bowl, stir to soften.
2. Fold in Cool Whip until well-combined
3. Spoon mixture into pie shell, cover with plastic wrap, and place in freezer to set for 2 hours.
4. Top with peanuts, serve.

Notes:
* if you don’t have this, just gently melt a few tbsp of semi-sweet chocolate chips into peanut butter.

Happy math nomz!

Cupcake Storage: An Experiment

I don’t bake too often, but when I do, I always make the full recipe. Since there’s only two of us, I always have leftovers. This poses a problem with baked goods; what are you supposed to do with those left over?! Leave them out in the open? Wrap them in foil? Put it in an air-tight container? Refrigerate? Freeze? So many choices!!

When I last baked, I made the Chipotle Cinnamon Chocolate Cupcakes, and my fiancé and I wound up throwing about half of them out, because I had forgotten to cover them. When we were in Disney World, we picked up Minnie’s Cupcake Mix, and I was thinking about how it’s time to make them. But, worried about having extras and storage, I turned to Google.

I read a ton of different suggestions, that really just left my head spinning. Some sites said just to cover them and leave them at room temp. Others said air-tight at room temp. Or in the fridge air-tight. I also found a little tip section on one of my favorite cupcake blogs, Cupcakes Take The Cake about freezing them.

So, since there were so many different suggestions, I decided to take matters in to my own hands. I’m going to make those Minnie Mouse cupcakes (sans frosting), and store one in each of the aforementioned styles. I’ll freeze one, leave one out uncovered, another out in foil, another out in an air-tight container, and another in the fridge in an air-tight container. I already know that simply putting them in the fridge bare or in foil results in hardening in just a few days. I’ll leave each of the test cupcakes in their designated areas for two days. Then, I’ll sample each of the five cupcakes for freshness, and report back.

If you’re like me and bake and have left overs, stay tuned to find out the best way to store them. Expect an update next week!

Another Snow Day Means Baking!

Today we got MORE snow, so I was off from work. Unlike my past few snow days, though, I got stuck doing some work which was no fun. Aside from getting my TV and internet surfing fix, I made some Hot Chocolate Brownies!

As soon as I saw the recipe, I knew I had to make them immediately. I got the recipe from the blog New York City Dish, which I follow on Google Reader. Thankfully, I had every ingredient readily available, except for the marshmallows. I’m not a huge marshmallow fan, so I wasn’t too upset about having to leave them out.

I’ve never made brownies from scratch; I’m a big supporter of the Ghiradelli chocolate brownie mix; it’s super decadent and really chocolate-y, which I love. So, I was a little nervous about making my own brownies, but it turns out it’s super easy! And I got to add in chocolate chips for some extra gooey deliciousness.

If you’re someone that bakes relatively frequently, you probably have all of these ingredients already. So next time you’re bored, and in the mood for some chocolate, I definitely suggest these!

Hot Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)
1 bag mini marshmallows

Directions:
1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour baking pan.
2.Stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Add eggs and beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add dry ingredient mix to the egg mixture and beat until blended. Add chocolate chips if desired. Spread batter evenly in pan.
3.Bake the brownies for roughly 20 minutes, until almost baked through. Distribute marshmallows evenly across top and bake for another 2-5 minutes until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Cool completely and sprinkle with decorative sugar, if desired.

Should make roughly 16 brownies.

Valentine’s Spice

For Valentine’s day, my fiance and I decided to go low key; maybe just a card, and then we’d get some Thai food for dinner. So, I thought it’d be nice to at least make something to go along with my card. I scoured the internet for some spicy cupcake recipes, and surprisingly didn’t find much. I did, however, happen upon a recipe from Vanilla Garlic.

I was overly excited to make this recipe for two reasons; 1. it started off with boxed cake mix (cheating, I know. But so easy!) and 2. it had chipotles in adobo sauce in it – one of my favorites!

So, after going to the gym and running 6-7 miles each for our half marathon training, we somehow mustered up enough energy to go out for Thai food. When it comes to spice, neither of us skimp. The particular place we went to, Thai Kitchen, offers spice in their dishes on a level of elephants from one through five. When I first started going there I went small; only a level two. By now, though, I’m up to five and loving it. We like to joke that if you aren’t sweating when eating Thai food, you’re doing it wrong. I also find that you eat less when it’s spicy, and I’ll never complain about that!

Enough rambling about my favorite Thai restaurant, back to the cupcakes! These were super easy; I only needed one actual chipotle pepper and some of the adobo sauce. I now need to search for some chipotle friendly (and quick and easy) recipes so I can make one for dinner this week. Other than that, they were just plain chocolate cupcakes. They didn’t use any frosting, though. Instead, I combined cinnamon and powdered sugar, and coated the tops with that. For my man, I used some decoration frosting and wrote I ❤ You on 5 of the cupcakes.

They were surprisingly good! I was actually a bit nervous, since I’d never combined spice and chocolate. I know it’s a big thing, and those Aztecs knew what was up, but I just wasn’t sure if my palate would appreciate it. Well, it did! The spice was a nice note in the background; the adobo sauce gave it a little bit of a smoky flavor, and then there was just a little bit of a kick at points as well. I also added chocolate chips into the batter, which was a nice melty gooey surprise as well.

While my family was skeptical about the spice and chocolate combination, I’m glad I went through with it and made them. Both my fiance and I loved them, and I’m looking forward to devouring the rest!

You can find the recipe below… happy spicy nomzing!

Chipotle Cinnamon Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 Box of Dark Chocolate cake mix
Whatever the box tells you you’ll need. Probably eggs, water, and oil
1-2 tablespoon pureed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce (base on your heat tolerance)
1 1/2 teaspoons of cinnamon, plus some extra
powdered sugar

Directions:
1. Mix the cake mix as the box says.
2. Place the chipotle peppers in a food processor and puree. Add two tablespoons to the mix. Add the cinnamon.
3. Scoop into cupcake papers. Bake for 15-18 minutes or until cake tester comes out clean.
4. Let cool. Combine the powdered sugar and some cinnamon to taste in a bowl, and scoop out, or sift on top of cupcakes.

Mini Cookies ‘n Cream Cheesecakes!

Every so often I find a recipe that screams, “make me now!” This particular recipe was one of them. I found it on Friday at work, and there I was making them Saturday morning before going snowboarding. Considering I’m a newbie at the whole winter sports thing, I figured there really couldn’t be a better way to nurse my wounds than with some mini cookies ‘n cream cheesecakes!

This is actually a Martha Stewart recipe, but I found it on The Indiscriminate Foodie’s blog. The pictures alone sold me. A whole Oreo at the bottom of a deliciously sweet and creamy concoction? It seemed like the cone-head sundae you get with a kid’s meal at Friendly’s! You know, the one with the Reese’s Pieces at the bottom!

The preparation for the cheesecakes themselves was pretty straight forward. Beat everything together, crush up Oreos, combine, cook, chill. I’m still having issues with my hand mixer, though. I’m finally at the point where I think it’s me. Maybe I need a bigger bowl, or to use a different setting? Whatever I’m doing isn’t working; nothing ever creams as I expect it to. Maybe I’ll just have to get that giant KitchenAid standing mixer!

Enough of my kitchen supply wants and desires, back to the deliciousness! These little mini heavens were a perfect ending to a successful day on the slopes. They had just the right amount of flavor you would expect in a cheesecake; cheesy, sweet, rich, creamy, decadent… you get my point. Add in some crunch at the bottom from an Oreo and you’ve got yourself some seriously good cheesecake.

I really love that they’re miniature; you don’t feel so badly for eating one. And believe me, one is enough! They’re so rich that any more would have put me over the edge; but it did take a lot of self control to stop! To be fair though, I had just inhaled a vegetarian fajita burrito from Chipotle only moments before. And sure, the fact that you cook them in cupcake pans didn’t really hurt either, since I’m completely obsessed with all things cupcake!

I can definitely see myself making these again, and maybe even with some different flavor variations!

I can’t encourage you to make these any more – prep time was about 20 minutes with a 20 minute bake time. The hardest part will definitely be the 4+ hours you wait while they’re in the fridge. But it’s worth it, I promise! So go get the ingredients and get started! Here’s the recipe:

Martha Stewart’s Cookies and Cream Cheesecakes

Ingredients:

21 Oreos or other creme-filled sandwich cookies. 15 whole, 6 coarsely chopped.
1 lb. cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large, room temperature eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup sour cream
pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 275°F. Line standard-sized muffin tin with paper liners and place one sandwich cookie into the bottom of each lined cup.
2. With an electric mixer on medium-high, beat cream cheese until creamy and smooth. Gradually beat in sugar until combined. Beat in vanilla.
3. Drizzle in the beaten eggs a little bit at a time until combined, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Beat in sour cream and salt. Then stir in the coarsely chopped cookies by hand.
4. Divide the batter evenly among the cookie-filled cups, filling each one almost to the top. Bake until the cakes are set (about 22 minutes), rotating the pans halfway through.
5. Remove from oven and place pans on wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, chill the cakes in the pans for at least four hours (or up to overnight).

A couple of notes:

To chop the cookies, I put the cookies in a zip-top bag and crushed them with his hands. A rolling pin works too!
When it comes to chilling them, I think the longer they chill, the better; mine were in for about 8 hours before I had a taste, and they were great!

Guinness cupcakes with Bailey’s buttercream icing

To start, Happy New Year! I really can’t believe it’s 2010 already.

I was able to ring in the new year with lots of food, good friends, and explosives; I don’t think I could have asked for a better night!

For the party, I decided to make Guinness cupcakes with Bailey’s icing. These are close to the “Irish Carbomb” cupcake, but without the chocolate ganache filling. I wasn’t comfortable enough with filling the cupcakes since I’m still pretty new to baking, so I skipped that part. I’m sure they would have been even more delicious with the chocolate and Jameson filling, but I think they turned out pretty darn good without it!

As I mentioned in my last post, I got the 500 Cupcakes cookbook for Christmas. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any New Years Eve/Day specific cupcakes, so I prowled the internet for a boozy recipe. Let me tell you, I found A LOT of recipes, that were all basically the same. I had originally seen the recipe from Smitten Kitchen. However, this time I went with We Are Not Martha‘s recipe since as a novice baker it had some more detail to the instructions (though the recipes are the same).

The cupcake recipe was pretty easy and straight forward (see below), and it didn’t take any longer than a regular mix would. The cake itself was a deep chocolate brown and smelled amazing when they came out of the oven. They had a really great texture, too.

The icing, however, was a little more tedious. For this, I went with Smitten Kitchen’s recipe (see below), since We Are Not Martha had a regular cream cheese frosting. The icing was definitely boozier than the cupcakes, since no heating was involved, leaving all of the alcohol.

Now let me tell you, making buttercream takes a lot of work! I had no idea whatsoever as to the ingredients, the process, or anything. The icing definitely took me the longest. One benefit was definitely the great arm and hand workout I got! I started off creaming the butter with an electric mixer, but then once I added the confections sugar, I decided just a spoon would work better.

Overall it was a long process, since I only have one 12 cupcake pan, I had to do each batch separately. Making the buttercream also took awhile. I spent about 2 hours or so in the kitchen, but I think it was worth it in the end!

I was definitely nervous about the outcome, more so of the icing than the cupcakes themselves, though. I knew the chocolate and Guinness flavors would go well together, but I was apprehensive about the Bailey’s, and especially combining the two. Thankfully, they turned out deliciously! All 24 cupcakes were gone by about 1am, and I got tons of compliments. People were shocked at the ingredients, but really interested at the same time.

On my hunt I found some other really interesting boozy cupcake recipes, such as Jello shot cupcakes, gin & tonic cupcakes, red wine cupcakes, and others. I’m definitely going to try and make another alcohol infused cupcake for the next party I attend. Maybe in the future I’ll try to tackle these again, but with the filling.

I definitely suggest trying to make these if you have the time; they’re great for a party!

Here are the cupcake and icing recipes… enjoy!

Guinness Cupcakes (makes about 24):

What you’ll need:

1.5 C Guinness
1 stick butter, plus 1 T (unsalted)
3/4 C unsweetened cocoa powder
2 C dark brown sugar
3/4 C sour cream
2 eggs
1 T vanilla extract
2 C flour
2 1/2 t baking soda

Directions:

Chop butter into little pieces, and melt in saucepan over medium heat with Guinness
Once melted, remove from heat and whisk in cocoa and sugar
In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg and vanilla
Combine the beer and cream mixture
In another bowl, sift together flour and baking soda
Fold the dry ingredients into the Guinness and cream mixture
Bake the cupcakes at 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Let cool

Bailey’s Buttercream Icing:

What you’ll need:

3 to 4 cups confections sugar
1 stick (1/2 cup or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperatue
3 to 4 tablespoons Baileys (or milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

Directions:

Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes till light & fluffy.
Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.*
When frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle Bailey’s (or milk) and whip until combined.
If this has made the frosting too thin (it shouldn’t, but just in case) beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.
Ice and decorate!

*The slower the better! When you add the sugar slowly, quick buttercream frosting will be less grainy, and tend to require less sugar to thicken it up!

A special thanks to my oh so wonderful boyfriend for using his nice new DSLR camera to take the beautiful pictures of the cupcakes!

So here’s to 2010 and some seriously delicious nomzing!

A Foodie Christmas

This Christmas couldn’t have made it any more apparent how incredibly obsessed both my boyfriend and I are with food. This is a fact that I am more than okay with. I actually think there are some realms that our obsession is lacking, and I plan to make up for that in the coming year.

At any rate, the abundance of food related gifts were abundant this Christmas. I purchased a first-timer beer making kit for my boyfriend, from Mr. Beer. I’ve been told it’s an average beer making kit, and some of the more seasoned beer makers laughed at my purchase. Not knowing much (read: anything) about brewing beer, I thought it would be a good starter kit. For under $100 my boyfriend is going to get to brew two batches of beer!

As for me, my boyfriend got me two cookbooks. I’ve been pining over both, and apparently made comments about them every time I saw one. The first is a cupcake cookbook, 500 Cupcakes by Fergal Connolly. It boasts to be “the only cupcake compendium you’ll ever need.” I can’t disagree with that statement; not only does it have 500 recipes, it has a plethora of variations for each as well. I also received Hungry Girl’s 200 Under 200 book. This book details 200 recipes each under 200 calories! And let me tell you, there are some seriously impressive recipes in there; cupcakes, pizza, chips and dips, breakfast, desserts, shakes and smoothies… the list just goes on. I’m really looking forward to making them, since I’ve found a few of their recipes on the website and have been more than pleased with their outcome.

For both my boyfriend and I, we received quite a few appliances. One would think we were on a wedding registry! Together, we’ve stockpiled a giant George Foreman grill, a waffle maker, a four slice toaster, and a nice toaster/convection oven. We have so many appliances on our counter that we’re running out of space. While trying to make breakfast yesterday and running the toaster and microwave at the same time, I managed to short the circuit… whoops.

Not directly related to food making or consumption, but I also received a beautiful cupcake necklace on Christmas. When I unwrapped it, I thought it was a cupcake shaped keepsake box. Being inquisitive I opened it, to find a beautiful gold and diamond cupcake on an extremely thin gold chain. Nothing says “I love food” more than wearing a piece of food around your neck. Or, of course, simply writing it across your forehead.

Needless to say I’m starting to see great things in terms of food for 2010. This year really allowed me to delve into my foodie passion, and I hope to explore it more in 2010. Maybe I can even get a group together for more consistent foodie excursions!

I’ll be making Guinness with Bailey’s icing cupcakes for the New Year’s Eve bash I’ll be attending tomorrow, so look for a post in the near future about how they turned out!

Holiday Cookie Exchange

Yesterday I went to my first ever cookie exchange party! I actually hadn’t heard of them until recently, but they’re a pretty neat idea. Almost like a Tupperware party, but with baked goods you get to take home, with recipes to try them yourself!

One of my good friends at work invited me to her sister’s cookie exchange, which immediately made me nervous; what type of cookie was I going to bring?! What if they didn’t turn out good? What if I picked something someone was allergic to or didn’t like? All that aside, I was looking online earlier in the week for some inspiration, and found one of Betty Crocker’s Holiday cookie recipes. This particular recipe was actually from a contest, so I figured they would be good.

The cookies were Choco-Hazelnut Latte Cookies. And let me tell you, you can taste the chocolate, the hazelnut and the latte without a doubt! Since I’m an absolute chocolate and coffee fanatic, I knew these would definitely be delicious. To top off the appeal, they used sugar cookie mix, which cut down about half of my prep time, making it much easier to make Sunday morning for the party later that afternoon.

After getting all of the ingredients, I set to work. I think the hardest part was mixing all of the ingredients together, and then getting them onto the pan without breaking. They were super soft and mushy, which for me is a favorite quality of cookies. After the mixing, I really just had to wait… and wait. It was worth it though! They are so rich and delicious, that I definitely think more than one or two would be way too much. But I recommend them to everyone! You can find the recipe below 🙂

As for everyone else’s treats, there were some really interesting and delicious cookies. There were lemon zest sugar cookies, lemon bars (made with tofu!), cream cheese cookies, Snickers cookies, peanut butter blossoms, Chinese chews, peanut butter chocolate balls, and more! The best part was that I got to bring a sampling of each home in cute little goodie bags. My boyfriend definitely liked that part!

Below you’ll find some pictures, as well as my recipe and some of my favorites from the event!

Choco-Hazelnut Latte Cookies (courtesy of Betty Crocker):

Ingredients:

1      pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/3   cup unsweetened baking cocoa
3      tablespoons instant coffee granules or crystals
1/2   cup butter or margarine, softened
3      tablespoons hazelnut-flavored syrup for beverages (from 12.7-oz bottle)
1 egg
1 1/2 cups toasted hazelnuts, chopped*
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2/3   cup Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy chocolate frosting (from 1-lb container)
4 1/2 teaspoons hazelnut-flavored syrup for beverages (from 12.7-oz bottle)

Directions:
1.     Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir together cookie mix, cocoa and instant coffee. Add butter, 3 tablespoons syrup and the egg; stir until soft dough forms. Stir in 1 cup of the nuts and the chocolate chips.
2.     On ungreased cookie sheets, drop dough with rounded 1 1/2 tablespoon-size cookie scoop or by rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart. Press each mound to flatten slightly.
3.     Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until set. Cool 3 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
4.     In small bowl, stir frosting and 4 1/2 teaspoons syrup. Spread about 1 teaspoon frosting on each cookie. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup nuts.

*To toast hazelnuts, heat oven to 350°F. Spread nuts in ungreased shallow pan. Bake uncovered 6 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until light brown

The results:

My other two favorite super simple cookie recipes (though they were all good!) are below:

Chinese Chews:

Ingredients:
2 cups Butterscotch bits
1 cup chocolate bits
1 can Chinese noodles

Directions:
In double boiler, combine the butterscotch & chocolate bits till melted. Remove from heat & add Chinese noodles. Drop 1/2 teaspoon of mixture onto waxed paper, cool 2 hours.

Cream Cheese Cookies:

Ingredients:
1/4 cup of butter
8 oz. package of cream cheese
1/4 tablespoon of vanilla extract
1 egg
1 package of cake mix (yellow)

Directions:
Cream together cream cheese and butter, followed by all other ingredients
Bake at 375 for 8-1 minutes

Happy Holiday baking everyone!