Candy Bar Chocolate Chip Cookies

I recently started following The Picky Palate and she posted a recipe for these cookies last week and I knew I had to make them.  It's no secret that Reese's PBC are my favorite candy, so how could these cookies not be the most delicious cookies?!  Luckily, I was not disappointed - these cookies are awesome (and huge!) and super easy to make.

pure heaven

Ingredients:

2 sticks of butter, softened (I used margarine)

1 C granulated sugar

3/4 C light brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 Tbsp pure vanilla 

3½ c all purpose flour

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

10 oz bag of chocolate chips (I could only find 6 and 12 oz bags, so I just didn't use all of the 12oz bag.  And I used milk chocolate chips instead of semi-sweet)

variety of fun sized candy bars (I used Reese's and Snickers)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a stand mixer, combine sugars and butter.  Add eggs and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.  Gradually mix flour mixture into sugar mixture.  At some point, you will have to mix by hand so as not to put a lot of strain on your mixer's motor.  I got about 3/4 through adding the flour before I had to mix by hand.  The batter will seem a little dry, but that's ok.  Add in chocolate chips.

4. Using a cookie scoop (or spoon for those of us that don't have a cookie scoop), place one scoop on top of your candy bar and one scoop on bottom like this:

photo courtesy of The Picky Palate

5. Seal the dough around the candy by pressing and shaping the dough until the candy bar is completely enclosed.  Place onto cookie sheet and bake 9-13 minutes or until edges are firm.  Cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 24 cookies (LARGE cookies)

One thing I would change is the size of the Reese's I used.  I bought the small ones because I was worried about how big the cookie would be if I used a regular sized one, but next time I will definitely use regular sized ones (more peanut butter!), but the same amount of dough now that I know how easy it is to make these cookies exactly how you want them.

She also makes this recipe using Oreos instead of candy bars, those are on my list as well!

first house project of 2011

After almost 3 years in our house, we are finally nearing the end of our major renovation projects.  All we have left is the kitchen and the room next to it (we call it the breezeway) that will end up being a den/playroom area with a small mud "room" area as well.

The first step to this project was replacing the door from the garage.  When we had our home inspection, one of the major things found was that the (former) door was not fire-rated (it was wood - so more like fire-inviting) and it also opened the wrong way (opened into the garage instead of into the house.  this wasn't a concern of the inspector, just a pain to us).

MrT installed the new door yesterday and also rearranged/added some electrical work.  There's now a new recessed light inside the door and the light switches have been moved to the other side of the door.

old door:

you can see the (black) light switches on the left of the door

also notice the cardboard in the bottom left pane - the glass fell out quite a while ago and we've had cardboard there ever since - not really insulating or secure!

 

new door:

it now opens INTO the house and no more cardboard window panes.  

here you can see the new light in the ceiling - there's a second one just out of sight by the windows - it's so bright there now!

Next up is knocking down the mini-closet (seen to the left of the door) and building a new closet.  Not sure when MrT plans on doing that, but hopefully soon!

so much snow

Happy 2011!

Living in New England, we're accustomed to getting a lot of snow each winter.  This winter has been no exception so far.  Today we dealt with blizzard #2 of this winter (the first hit the day after Christmas).  By the time we woke up this morning, we had probably 8 inches.  By 10am when MrT went outside to clear the driveway, we had a foot and it was still coming down like crazy.  It's stopped snowing, we have probably 18", and it's drifting all over the place.

Sugar Cookies

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes and it's so simple!

Ingredients

2/3 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 egg

1 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees.

2. Beat butter w/ electric mixer (I used my stand mixer) on high speed for 30 seconds.  Add sugar, baking powder, and salt.  Beat until combined.  Beat in egg, milk, and vanilla.  Beat as much of the flour as you can w/ mixer. Stir in any remaining flour.  Cover and chill dough for at least 30 minutes.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough at a time until 1/4 inch thick.  For best results, keep the half you're not working with in the refrigerator.  Cut into desired shapes.  Place 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet.

4. Bake 16-18 minutes or until edges are firm and bottoms are lightly browned (Add 3-4 minutes for insulated baking sheets).  Transfer to a wire rack (or counter) and let cool.  Let cool completely before frosting - I used Wilton Cookie Icing that I found at Target.

Enjoy!

Christmas Festivities

Instead of doing multiple long posts to recap the last couple of weeks, I'm just going to do one really long post :)

Last weekend, all of the girls from Mr T's side of the family (aunts, cousins, cousins' wives, etc) were planning on taking his grandmother to the Rockette's Christmas Show that was showing in Boston.  However, she had hip replacement surgery just before Thanksgiving and while she is doing very well, she wasn't up to going out for a night on the town.  The rest of us went anyway and had a great time!  We had dinner at a great family-style Italian restaurant and enjoyed the show (despite getting yelled at to stop taking pictures - we arrived as the show was starting and missed the announcement about no pictures - oops!)

The day after the show, Mr T and I hosted our annual holiday party - I don't have any pictures from it, but we had a wonderful time with our friends and family and I have many recipes to share!

Then, my favorite night of the year - Christmas Eve!  Ever since Mr T and I have been dating, I've attended the T family Christmas Eve "Extravaganza" (as I've designated it).  It is one of the two holidays that basically no one in the family misses (4th of July being the other).  In all, 28 people gathered at his aunt's house for dinner, gifts, and quality time together.  My love for this night as only grown since being privileged enough to experience this family gathering - I'm so blessed to have such a wonderful second family.

 my father-in-law

Mr T and his dad

 The grab (basically a Yankee swap)

my brother-in-law and Santa

family love - the "kids" and great aunt G

And last but not least, Christmas Day!  Mr T and I spent the morning opening our gifts to each other and getting ready to host our parents, my sister, and Mr T's brother for dinner.

Mr T and the beer-brewing kit I gave him

he got me the Kinect for our XBox - this thing is awesome

playing with the Kinect - who says you can't get toys when you're a grown up?!

Sox and me

 Sox tired from the morning gift-opening

my mom, sister, and parents' dog, Lucy

my dad and his baby girl

Lucy and my mother-in-law

We actually have one more day of festivities awaiting us - our Christmas with Mr T's parents, brother, sister and brother-in-law.  But we're in the midst of a blizzard (12-18" expected by tomorrow morning!) so we postponed our get-together until next weekend.  Instead, I'm curled up on the couch, in front of a roaring fire and the NCIS marathon on TV, hoping we don't lose power!

Happy Holidays!

hopefully I'll start blogging more regularly in 2011!  I have a lot to post from the last 2 months!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies

Last, but certainly not least, my favorite product from this weekend's baking extravaganza...the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies!  Another winner from my good friend MrsD!

Her recipe includes the from-scratch versions, I cheated a little and made the brownies from my favorite boxed mix, but I did make the cookie dough from scratch.  I have no pictures of my finished product - I cut them up and put them away before I remembered the camera, so I'm borrowing MrsD's image

I also didn't make the ganache for the top - I'm not really a fan of chocolate frostings, and I didn't want to ruin these for myself!

Ingredients

For the brownie part:
1 box of your favorite brownie mix + whatever you need to make the mix as directed

For the cookie part:
1 cup plus 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup butter, softened
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
¼ cup plus 2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels (I used mini-morsels)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 9x13 inch pan.

2. Prepare brownie batter as directed on box.  Pour batter into greased pan.

3. For the cookies, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in small bowl and set aside.  In separate large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla.  Add egg and mix well.  Gradually add in flour mixture.  Fold in chocolate chips by hand.

4. Drop by spoonfuls into brownie batter, pressing down lightly on the dough.

5. Bake 35-40 minutes.  Let cool in pan for about 1 hour.


And even though I didn't use it, I wanted to include the recipe for the chocolate ganache in case you want it:

For the ganache:1½ cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
6 Tbsp. butter
In a small saucepan, heat cream and butter until just before the boiling stage. Pour over the chocolate morsels. Let stand for about 20 seconds, then stir until smooth. Pour over the brownies, and smooth to cover completely. Let set before cutting. (This takes a crazy long time, but make sure to wait before cutting into them. I usually let them sit overnight, then cut them in the morning.) Cut into small pieces and enjoy!

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I had been talking to one of my friends at work about how I was planning on baking all weekend and his request was "oatmeal!".  I wanted to try some new stuff, so I went in search of another cookie that has oatmeal, but something different than your usual oatmeal raisin cookies.  I found this recipe and couldn't wait to try it.

Ingredients
3/4 C shortening
1 C packed brown sugar
1 egg
½ C mashed ripe bananas (~2 bananas)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 C all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
3 C oats (I used old-fashioned)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease cookie sheets

2. In large bowl, cream together shortening and brown sugar.  Beat in egg, banana, and vanilla

3. In separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.  Gradually mix into banana mixture.  Fold in oats by hand.

4. Drop spoonfuls onto cookie sheets. Bake 8-10 minutes (add 3-5 minutes if using insulated baking sheets).  Cool on pan for ~5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool comletely.

Makes 3 dozen cookies.


Adapted from AllRecipes

Pumpkin Bars with Cream Cheese Frosting

Sticking with the pumpkin theme, I found this recipe online and made a couple of changes to it.  I made the same cream cheese frosting that I had for the Banana Cupcakes.

I'll admit that I have no idea how these taste - my coworkers are my taste-testers when it comes to pumpkin recipes.  But they came out exactly as I'd hoped texture-wise and they smell amazing, so I'm guessing they're good.

Ingredients
3 eggs
2/3 C vegetable oil
3/4 C white granulated sugar
1 15oz can pumpkin puree
2 C all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp salt

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In large bowl, mix eggs, oil, sugar, and pumpkin.  In separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and cloves.

3. Gradually add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture until combined.

4. Spread batter evenly into ungreased 10x15 inch jelly roll pan.

5. Bake 25-30 minutes.  Cool completely before frosting.

Makes 2 dozen bars.


Adapted from AllRecipes

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been a slacker with blogging lately, but I have 4 new recipes to make it up to you.
After the success of my pumpkin bread, I started gathering more pumpkin recipes to try out.  I came across this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe on my friend, MrsD's blog and it could not have been more perfect!  I've made 3 batches in the last 2 weeks - they're so easy and everyone l.o.v.e.s. them.  I've actually had coworkers ask me if I put drugs in them (but no worries, these cookies are drug free!).  The only addition I made was a teaspoon of ground cloves.

Ingredients
1 C canned pumpkin puree
1 C white granulated sugar
½ C vegetable oil
1 egg
2 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp milk
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 C chocolate chips (1 12oz pkg)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a medium bowl, mix together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves. In a separate, large bowl, combine pumpkin, sugar, vegetable oil, and egg.

3. Dissolve baking soda with milk and add to pumpkin mixture.

4. Gradually add flour mixture to pumpkin mixture.  Mix well.  Then add in vanilla and chocolate chips

5. Drop by spoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.  Bake 10 minutes or until light brown and firm (add 3-5 minutes for insulated cookie sheets).  Let cool on pan for 2 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

Makes 3 dozen cookies