Sweet Spot

In honor of my second favorite Holiday (it’s a close race with Christmas), and in celebration of our recent partnership with the amazing San Diego dessert truck, Sweet Treats Truck, I made you some adorable sugar cookies. But not just any sugar cookies, candy corn sugar cookies. No, they don’t have candy corn in them, however, they are adorable (and easy) which make them awesome. All the cuteness aside, they are also VERY yummy. Thick, chewy, sugary goodness. These would be great for a school Halloween party, an adult Halloween party, or perhaps a party where you are the only one invited and the only one attending. Do it.

Here is our Cast of Characters:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty basic stuff!
Oh, also…these little cuties. In order to dye the dough, you’ll need yellow and orange gel food coloring. I used Wilton- all was well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
Preheat your oven to 350°.

Cream the butter, shortening and sugar together on medium high until light and fluffy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Add in the eggs and vanilla (use PURE vanilla if at all possible. That goes for any baking you do. Pure vanilla gives a much more vanilla taste with no after taste….I cannot say the same for imitation although some people say they don’t notice anything different. Personal preference I guess) and mix until combined.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients into wet ingredients and mix well to combine completely.

Once the mixture is completely combined, divide it into 3 equal size chunks. Place each chunk in its own bowl. Leave one of the chunks alone- this will be the white dough. Grab your dye and add enough to dye one bowl yellow and the other bowl orange. I don’t know how much dye I used but take a toothpick and add it into the dough in small amounts until you reach the desired shade. I wanted mine to be bright so I added in 3 or 4 additions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The next step is super fun. Take a small ball of each color and stack them as pictured below: white, then yellow, then orange.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now you can one of two things. You can smoosh them down vertically, then flatten the cookie by pressing it down flat into a circle. This will give you the candy corn stacked look, like this:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or, you can smoosh them flat, rip the dough in half, re-layer it and twist it to create kind of a tye-dye effect! This would be really fun with bright colors for a birthday party!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Either way, lay them on your parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

They bake up looking like this- funky!

I kind of prefer the candy corn look-a-likes….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pretty cute, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Try them and let me know what you think! Thanks for stopping by and don’t forget to print out the recipe!

Let me just begin by saying that these are my new favorite cookies. This recipe makes 12 cookies. I have 1 cookie left. My daughter ate 1/2 of one cookie. You do the math….

They are sugar sweet and lemon tangy. The marshmallow fluff glaze perfectly balances the citrus in the cookie and the graham crackers add a lovely crunch. They don’t spread much so you can choose to leave them in balls and have a super thick, fluffy cookie, or, you can press them down and have a more flat but still fluffy cookie. Either way, the taste is to die for. Make these, as soon as possible, seriously….go.

Cast of Characters for this go around include:

Preheat your oven to 350˚

Mix your flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.

Grab another bowl and, using a microplane or zester, zest 2T (approx. 2 large lemons) of lemon rind. Let’s see how many times I can say zest in one sentence. Zesty, zestier, zestiest. Zest. And, I’m done.

To your lemon zest (hee hee), add the sugar. Using a spoon, mix, press, combine and blend the zest and sugar together. The point here is for the sugar to take on the flavor and scent of the lemon zest, (somebody stop me.)

Place the sugar mixture into your mixing bowl and add the room temperature butter. Mix on medium for about 30 seconds until well combined and fluffy.

Add your egg, vanilla and lemon pudding mix. Mix until incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and slowly add the flour mixture while beating on low. Once all of the flour is incorporated, scrape down the bowl and mix on medium to medium high until well combined.

Grab your two graham cracker sheets and break them up into edible chunks. They should be big enough to create a crunch in the cookie, but not so large that they stick out all over the place.

Place your mixer on low (or “stir”) and get all of those cute little graham’s mixed in.

I like to use a standard size cookie scoop for my cookies, but if you prefer a smaller scoop, grab it and get to scoopin’!

Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat mat. Like I said up top, these don’t spread so if you want them to be “flat topped” as opposed to more of a “dome” shape, now is the time to smoosh them down to a thickness you desire. I baked the first 6 as domes, and the 2nd 6 as flat tops and I liked them both so it’s totally a personal preference thing.

Place them in the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes. They should be matte finish (no gloss on top!) and barely golden  brown around the edges. When they are done, leave them to cool on the baking sheet and then move them to a cooling rack.

Now for the marshmallow fluff glaze!

In another bowl (I know, I know, this recipe uses a lot of bowls but I PROMISE- it’s totally worth it!) mix together the marshmallow creme, lemon juice, softened cream cheese and vanilla. I used a hand mixer for this step since my big mixer was occupied with delicious lemony graham goodness.

Once your fluff is creamy and smooth, add the powdered sugar and continue to mix until you reach your desired consistency. I wanted mine to be a bit more glaze like in texture so I added about 2t of milk as I mixed. Add it or not, it’s totally up to you!

Once the cookies are COMPLETELY cool (and yes, I know this step is the hardest by far. Waiting for cookies to cool is useless in my kitchen too.) grab that marshmallow glaze and get to dipping/spreading. For the dome shaped cookies I found the dipping method to be more effective. Also, I dipped them twice. Stop judging me. For the flat topped cookies, I poured a little glaze on top and spread it to all sides using a cake or icing spatula.

And….voila!

Really though, don’t wait to try these. If you do, come back and let me know what you think. I promise you’ll love them!

Thanks for stopping by and be sure to access the printable recipe below!

Let’s talk about camping.

You may or may not be surprised to know that I am not a camper. It’s not that I am against the idea of camping, it’s more the part about actually GOING camping that I struggle with.

Not showering.

Bugs.

Sleeping on the ground.

Bugs.

The potential for wild animal encounters.

Bugs.

Feeling (and smelling) so, so, so dirty.

Also, bugs.

So, as you see, I am not the first to raise my hand when asked, “who wants to rough it in the woods this weekend??”

I am, however, the first one to raise my hand when asked, “who wants to make s’mores?”

It’s sad, I know, but it’s true. I am not going to deny it. If you ask me to go camping I will respond with, “will there be s’mores?” and if your answer is yes, then mine will be too.

Smore’s are sticky, and gooey, and so wonderful- but sometimes you may want something a bit easier to clean up and manage while sitting fireside with no running water or soap close by. Enter, my Campfire Cookies. They are all the loveliness of a giant smooshy s’more, without the stickiness- and since today is National S’mores Day, what better day to try them out?

Preheat your oven to 350°.

Start by mixing up your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. I like this one because it makes the cookies fluffy and soft. Since we are stuffing these we don’t want a dough that creates thin, crispy cookies!

Grab 5 full graham crackers and break them up with your fingers. You don’t want them to be crumbs, but small manageable chunks will work great.

Add your chocolate chips. I like using milk chocolate chips for these in keeping with the traditional Hershey’s bar flavor. Also, the bigger the better! If you think it sounds fun, try using Hershey kisses instead of chocolate chips!

Using a 1/2 C measuring cup, scoop out the dough and press it into a flat circle in your palm.

Now grab those beautiful, fluffy mallows. Lay a jumbo mallow on its side in the middle of your circle of dough.

Lay seam down on a parchment lined (<– VERY IMPORTANT!) baking sheet. Don’t make these unless you have a Silpat mat or parchment paper handy. The spillage will stick everywhere and you will be mad and grumpy about your ruined (but still very tasty) cookies. I know this from experience. Gently fold the sides of the dough all the way around your mallow, sealing all cracks or holes where the gooey stuff could escape!

My sheet barely fit 6 cookies at a time. I definitely wouldn’t bake more than 6 at a time.

Stick your cookies in the oven and bake for 16 minutes. Sometimes I add 1 or 2 minutes after checking them at 16, it just depends on your oven. You want them to be barely golden brown on top. Leave them on the baking sheet after removing them from the oven so they set up and finish baking. After about 15 minutes, remove them to a wire rack and let them cool completely.

Indulge and share, if you want to. Check out the link for the printable recipe below!

Right now I’m going to tell you a story. A story about a lizard. It’s a true story, and it goes a little something like this…

Last Friday I was in my kitchen, baking (obviously) a few batches of my favorite Hershey kiss chocolate chip cookies. As my oven beeped letting me know my first batch was done, I turned and grabbed my oven mitt to retrieve them. Out of the corner of my eye I noticed a small, brownish “tube” like thing sticking out from behind my microwave, in between the wall it’s screwed into and the back of the microwave. I think nothing of it and assume it is just some piece of tubing that has slipped out and needed to be pushed back in. As I’m raising my hand to readjust this “tube” (since when do microwaves have tubes?!) I look a bit closer and realize that said “tube” has….wait for it….SCALES.

Oh…….wait…..what?!? Instantly I think, “wait a minute. what is that? Microwaves don’t have tubes and they definitely don’t have scales. That almost looks like a tail. A brownish….reptile like….tail. But no, there is not a reptile in my kitchen! That is absurd (I am now sweating profusely) why would a lizard…how did a lizard…oh God, it’s a LIZARD!!!! IN MY KITCHEN!!! AND HE IS ALIVE!!”

The shouty capitals are necessary because that is exactly what I was doing….freaking out. I was screaming, and sweating and crying and laughing hysterically. I was like The Joker…in flannel pajama pants…wearing one oven mitt. My 3 year old was in hysterics because I was in hysterics and I could not calm down. It was so ridiculous.

Let me just sidestep here and explain something. I. HATE. LIZARDS. All lizards…the cute garden ones, the medium house pet ones, the big blue tongued ones….all of them. It’s their scales, and their sliminess, and their wee beady eyes (name that movie for 500 points!) that make my skin crawl. I want nothing to do with them. So to have one in my kitchen, my sacred space, it was…well, it was too much. I lost it.

In a moment of sheer terror I called my Mom at work. She lives in Colorado so obviously she was a huge help. She could not understand a word of what I was cry-laughing into the phone and sat laughing at me for most of the “conversation.” Awesome Mom. Thanks.

My next completely irrational thought was to call a pest exterminator. Perhaps not completely irrational, but I pretty much knew before I even dialed that they were going to say “sorry ma’am, we don’t do lizards”, and they did. It was what else they said that really just adds to this whole debacle. After explaining to me that they “don’t do lizards” I was instructed to go ahead and just call 911. I am dead serious. The exterminator told me to call 911. For fear of being the next YouTube sensation for “100 dumbest emergency phone calls EVER” I opted against that suggestion. I mean, really? “Hello, 911? Yes, could you please take a break from fighting crime and saving lives to come pull a lizard out from behind my microwave?” No.

Next option….who is home in my neighborhood that could come rescue me? All 3 of my surrounding neighbors are at work. Of course. I look down the street and see one car parked in the driveway. I’m pretty sure it was emanating some kind of soft golden glow as I ran (no, sprinted) down the street to see if they were home. My biggest fear was that the dragon behind my microwave would skitter off somewhere leaving me eternally afraid of finding him adrift in my cupcake pans. NO! The thought of it made me run faster.

Kurt (my personal lizard slayer) was home and more than willing to come rescue me. He popped on some hospital grade rubber gloves and we were on our way.

Being the Knight in Shining Armor that Kurt is, he sees the tail and just grabs it. I puked in my mouth a little. He pulled gently…hmmm…nothing. He pulled again and I hear little scratching sounds on the back of my microwave, like nails on a chalkboard. I didn’t know how much more I could take at which point Kurt announces, “I’m afraid if I pull too hard I will pull his tail off.” I’M SORRY, WHAT!?  I continue my profuse sweating and now I have perma-goosebumps all over. He asks for a butter knife and upon my handing one to him he proceeds to gently wiggle this gigantic gila monster out from behind my microwave. I screech once more as he grabs him and tosses him into a Rubbermaid container. He throws the lid on top and before he walked outside to toss the mini serpent over my backyard fence I snapped a quick pic of the reptile that nearly destroyed my lovely morning. It was no cute garden lizard folks….check. it. out.

Kurt took him out back and tossed him far, far away. Then he jumped up on his trusty white steed and rode off into the morning sunrise. I kid. He tossed his doctor gloves and went home. I seriously don’t know what I would have done if he hadn’t been home. My lizard hero.

As a thank you to Kurt, I made him a delicious batch of cookies (duh). These are a new creation and holy cow- they are delectable. Toot, toot.

I found this recipe on Eat The Love and wanted to re-create it in a different way. I substituted the raspberry with peanut butter and (just for kicks) threw a few Snickers chunks in the middle. Because, why wouldn’t I? Snickers make everything better. Fact.

These are fun to make (even if they do take a bit longer since you are “marbling” 2 doughs) and so very worth the extra fuss.

Here is our cast of characters:

Preheat the oven to 350°.

We will start with the peanut butter dough…

Using a whisk, combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Stir until well combined.

In your stand mixer, cream together the cream cheese, butter and sugar.

Add one egg and mix on low, then add the additional egg yolk, vanilla and peanut butter. Mix on low until combined.

Keep your mixer on slow/medium speed while you gradually dump in the dry mixture. Scrape down the bowl and mix again until dough forms. If the dough seems crumbly or is falling apart you may need to add a little milk. About 2T should do the trick!

Transfer to another bowl, cover and set aside. Clean out your mixing bowl and let’s make the chocolate dough!

In that small bowl you used earlier go ahead and combine the flour, sea salt, cocoa and baking soda. Whisk until all mixed and uniform in color.

Now, back to the mixer! Cream together the cream cheese, butter, sugar and dark brown sugar- about 1 minute or until fluffy.

Add the egg and mix on slow speed. Keep the mixer on slow while you add the egg yolk, and vanilla.

Dump in the dry ingredients and keep the mixer on slow as you do. Speed it up slowly as the wet ingredients and dry ingredients combine. Scrape down the bowl as needed and mix again until well combined.

At this point you can use either a 1t scoop (for smaller cookies) or, if you want bigger cookies you can use a small cookie scoop.

Scoop 2 balls of peanut butter dough and 2 balls of chocolate dough. Lay them, alternating, on top of each other and press down. Roll them into a ball and set aside.

Grab your Snickers bars and cut them up width wise in 1/2″ chunks.

Stick your thumb into the center of one of your balls of dough and spread it out, creating a bit of a hole in the dough. Stick your Snickers chunk in and pinch the dough over it so it cannot be seen. Roll the dough into a ball and place on a parchment (or Silpat) lined baking sheet. At this point you can manipulate the dough as you wish to achieve the marbling affect you are going for.

Place in the oven for about 13 minutes. Add time in 2 minute increments until slightly brown around the edges, and no longer glossy.

Let them set up on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool.

And, voila! Adorable and oh so tasty marbled cream cheese cookies! Indulge and enjoy!

Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think in the comments section below. Here is the printable recipe:

Yesterday, I was browsing my favorite foodie websites when I stumbled upon this little gem from one of my favorite bloggers, Kristan at Confessions of a Cookbook Queen. Kristan is one of the funniest ladies I know, and as if that isn’t enough, she also makes some seriously slammin’ desserts. Slammin’…yep, I used it. Believe it. Hang around this blog long enough and be amazed at the 80′s jargon that falls from these lips o’ mine.

Anyhoo….I saw this post and thought, ” I wonder if I could somehow translate a piece of cheesecake into a cookie?” After a little brainstorming and a few Google searches I came up with, what I think, is a pretty damn good cookie. If you love cheesecake, are a fan of white chocolate and prefer your slice covered in cherries- you owe it to yourself to try these out. They are so easy, and beyond scrumptious.

The following recipe is adapted from Elle’s New England Kitchen.

Here is our cast of characters:

I forgot to add the Graham Crackers to the above picture…so…just pretend you see them.

Start by preheating your oven to 325°.

Add your softened butter and cream cheese to a large bowl. Cream together along with the sugar, salt and both extracts.

Add your egg and half & half (or milk) and mix well.

Slowly add in the flour and mix on medium high for about 30 seconds until well combined. Scrape down the bowl as necessary and give it one last quick mix.

Grab the white chocolate bar and chop it up. A “course chop” as they say. I use a Food Chopper to get a nice chunky chop. It’s pretty awesome and even though I think I’m supposed to use it on things like tomatoes and onions…I rarely eat those things so mine gets used for chopping chocolate.

Add the chopped chocolate to your bowl and mix on slow to incorporate.

Stick the dough in the fridge to firm up a bit.

Place 3 or 4 sheets of Graham Crackers in a ziploc bag and dig deep inside to find some frustration that you have been needing to work through and smash up those crackers. Smash, pinch, grab, punch and squish until you have a semi-fine bag of graham crumbs. A few bigger chunks are ok- it adds texture!

Dump the crumbs into a bowl and add 1t of sugar. Mix it all up.

Get your dough out of the fridge and grab your ice cream scooper. Scoop your dough and drop it into the graham crumbs. Cover all sides and the top and press gently all over before placing the ball on your parchment lined baking sheet.

Take your thumb and make a nice little “well” in the center of your cookie. Not deep enough to go all the way through, just a little indent that will help your cherries stay in place.

The cookies bake out and for the most part the little well goes away, but it does provide a little indentation for those cute cherries.

Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes. You want the edges to be a little firm to the touch and lightly browned.

At 18 minutes, pull the cookies out and open up your can of cherry pie filling.

Grab a spoon and place 4 cherries and some filling in the center of the cookie. It’s ok if it slides around a little bit- it all tastes the same in the end.

Stick the cookies back in the oven for 3-5 minutes. Keep an eye on them to determine an exact amount of time. You don’t want to over bake them but the cherries make these a little heavy in the middle so you want them baked through enough to hold them. Trial and error my friends.

After they come out of the oven, let them rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

You can garnish with any leftover white chocolate chunks you make have, but you don’t have to. They are lovely either way!

Thanks for stopping by and please leave a comment if you’re so inclined Here is the printable recipe:

 

It’s true. You read that right. We will begin our late night delivery services (read: inundation of all Pacific Beach and Mission Beach residents) this Friday night, May 4th!!

Our new buddies over at PB Munchies (Hello Alex and Eric!) will be delivering our cookies from 6:00Pm to 3:00am every Friday and Saturday night. Hopefully, eventually we can increase it to more nights but for now we are starting with Fridays and Saturdays.

The best part is, ordering is so simple. Visit their order page, checkout the cookie menu and fill out the order form. That’s it! They will text you a confirmation and be at your doorstep in a matter of minutes. Believe it folks.

So….give it a try! Call them up (858-333-9238) or order online here and get your cookie on….it’s what all the cool kids are doing.

So…I’m a sweets addict. Obvi. <– Does is bother you when people do that, use the ridiculous shortcuts created by the youth (awesome youth, but youth nonetheless) of today? Does it make you cray-cray? It might bother me…I’m still undecided, but I digress.

The baking/candy aisles at any grocery store/Target/Wal-Mart are the first aisles I venture into.  I love to see if any new little treats have graced the shelves since my last visit. I feel like candy companies are getting more and more into being creative with their treats these days. Mini Rolos (yes, I used them, and yes you will see a blog post on just how I used them in the coming weeks…you won’t want to miss it!), mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Neopolitan Oreos, Dove chocolates in every flavor you can think of, and lots of M&M combos. Coconut, Mint, Peanut Butter…they’ve got the flavor spectrum covered for sure! Even Chips Ahoy started adding Reese’s Peanut Butter chunks to their classic Chocolate Chip Cookie. I tell you what- the times, they are a changin’!

On my last excursion to Target (pretty much my favorite store in the history of stores) I found myself thinking about what I might like to use these little beauties for…

Typically, I am not a “mix my fruits with my chocolate” kind of gal. I make the occasional exception (fondue) but If given a choice I will not be the one dying to order Raspberry/Blueberry/Blackberry/Banana and chocolate anything. However, these little guys just struck me as tasty. Maybe it’s the sassy purple packaging. Maybe it’s the smug little look that M&M is challenging me with, I don’t know, but they made it home with me.

I had a bit of an “aha!” moment when I opened my cupboard and found Raspberry preserves staring me straight in the face. “Interesting”, I thought….and here is what I did…

What? You were expecting something other than a cookie? C’mon people….it’s what I do!

Here is our cast of characters:

Start by preheating your oven to 350°.

Combine your butter and sugars in a mixing bowl and beat until light and fluffy.

Add your flour, vanilla, baking soda, eggs, salt and vanilla pudding powder.

Mix on medium speed until well combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the bowl and mix again for about 10 seconds.

Add in your Raspberry preserves.

Unfortunately, mine had seeds (lame). If you can, get seedless preserves. It didn’t make any difference in taste but I did get little seeds stuck in my teeth and that was pretty annoying.

Mix on a slower speed to incorporate the preserves. We don’t want to over-mix and kill all of those nice little air pockets your sugar and butter have created. Fluffy cookies are the best!

Switch to your biggest muscles and dump in your white chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips and the M&M’s. Spend the next 10 minutes getting all of these well combined and cursing yourself out for not trying harder when lifting weights. Make a mental note to remember the next time you are working out; the more you can lift, the more cookie dough you can stir= the more cookies you can produce= the more cookies you can eat! Feel free to make an annotated version of that…

Anyhoo!

Here is what you will have. The preserves give the dough kind of an odd gray/light purple color so I added a little bit of pink food coloring so it didn’t look so weird. You really can’t tell in this photo. The finished one above is a better example.

Grab your cookie scoop (for normal sized cookies) or your ice cream scoop (for Kelly sized cookies) and get to scoopin’! I like to line my cookie sheets with parchment paper as it keeps the bottoms from becoming too brown. A Silpat mat works too.

Bake for 8-10 minutes and when they are done, remove them to a wire rack to cool.

I really did love these cookies and that says a lot coming from a girl who rarely likes fruit in her chocolate!

If you try them, let me know what you think! Thanks for stopping by and here is the printable recipe:

We are so excited and proud to be participating in the 2nd annual San Diego Bloggers Bake Sale. Not only will it give me a fantastic excuse to bake up a few dozen cookies, all of the proceeds go to Share Our Strength, an organization fighting childhood hunger in America. Did you know that 16 million children in America are at risk of hunger? That’s more than 1 in 5. Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry^® strategy provides access to healthy, affordable food to families all across the nation, so that every child, regardless of circumstances, can get the nutritious food they need to thrive.

The Bake Sale will be held at Great News Cookware and Cooking School in Pacific Beach on Saturday, April 28th from 10:00am to 2:00PM. Not only will it be chock full of amazing local food bloggers- everyone is bringing delicious baked goods to sell! From cookies to cupcakes, and tarts to brownies….you will find an awesome array of everything you never knew you always needed to satisfy that nagging sweet tooth of yours. Don’t deny it…you know you have one.

I have been going back and forth about what to sell. Obviously, cookies, but what flavors?! Do I go traditional and do Cinnamon Oatmeal Raisin? Or perhaps I stir it up a bit and do White Chocolate Red Velvet? What about go ol’ chocolate?  I know for sure I’m bringing our Pillow Cookies (classic chewy Chocolate Chip cookie, stuffed with gooey brownie) but the remaining flavors are TBA.

While I continue to mull it over I figured I would provide you with a great recipe for any bake sale you may participate in. These are easy, fun and sure to please a variety of prospective buyers.  Because honestly, you can’t go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter!

Our cast of characters:

Preheat your oven to 350°.

Begin by creaming together your room temperature butter and shortening. Give it a good mix on medium to medium high until well blended. This shouldn’t take longer than 30 seconds.

Add your brown sugar and beat again on medium for about 30 seconds.

Add the rest of your ingredients to your mixer and mix until blended. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and mix another a few seconds.

This dough looks like a big fluffy chocolate cloud when it’s all said and done. Right? You see it too….don’t you? DON’T YOU!!!?

At this point you will grab that bright orange bag of Reese’s deliciousness and dump it all in. Grab your spatula and gently fold in the PB cups.

Find your ice cream scooper and get to scoopin’. I really do recommend a larger scoop for these because the PB cups are pretty big. Using a smaller scoop may leave you with “empty” chocolate cookies. Boo.

Bake in your preheated oven for about 10-12 minutes. Keep an eye on them. The edges will start to brown and the tops will no longer be “glossy”- that’s when they are done. Over baking these little pillows of chocolate goodness is a crime against humanity. Don’t do it!

Let them set up on the cookies sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

I couldn’t keep anyone out of the kitchen long enough for these to cool. No lie. They were going to great lengths to steal them out from under me. Thieves I tell you!! I don’t blame them though, they really are a wonderful cookie.

Also, these are 100% better the next day. The PB melts into the cocoa and not only are they just as soft and cakey (cakey? whatever.) they are even more full of flavor which makes them a great cookie to make a day before your bake sale, party or get together.

Look at that ooey gooey peanut butter. YUM.

Try these out and let me know what you think! What would you add to this chocolate cookie to make it suit your taste buds?

Thanks for stopping by, here is the recipe printout!

 

I spent the last week in Scottsdale, AZ visiting my lovely Ma-Ma and Aunt. Sitting poolside, eating way too much and experiencing some of the best food I’ve ever had were among only a few of the fun things I got to enjoy. The highlight for me was spending a few hours shopping through the HUGE Sur La Table store at Kierland Commons in Scottsdale.

I have always known about Sur La Table but there isn’t one within 10 minutes of me so it isn’t a place I make a point of getting to. Kind of like Williams Sonoma. I know it’s out there, I just don’t go seek it out unless I need something that can only be found there.

All I can say is thank God I don’t have one down the street. That store is like a red velvet cupcake with thick cream cheese frosting. I would have said crack but I am not addicted to that. I walked around like I was seeing kitchen utensils for the first time! “Look at this…, I have to have this!, I want these…all of them, wrap it up!!” I was out of control. I bought things I never knew I always needed!

 

Top O’ The Mornin’ to ya!

It’s no secret, and if you know me, you definitely know that I would do {almost} anything to have a thick Irish brogue. If I am ever given a penny to toss into a well, birthday candles to blow out, a clock that reads 11:11 or a fun singing genie that pops out of an ancient lamp that I picked up at the flea market in Agrabah- I always wish for the ability to sound like this:
Kelly MacDonald (Margaret Schroeder) from Boardwalk Empire

Don’t even get me started on how much I love Boardwalk Empire. That is a whole different post! I am watching them on DVD so I haven’t seen the 2nd season yet- don’t give anything away!

Irish roots run deep in my family. My maiden name is O’Connell. My brother’s names are Casey James and Shane Patrick. The main street in Dublin is O’Connell street for goodness sakes….I love all things Irish. I have yet to actually get to Ireland but I imagine that once I arrive in the mother land my thick Irish brogue will finally kick in and my life long dream will come true. I’ll go the “pub” and order a “pint.” I’ll wear “knickers.” I can sit on my “arse” and get “bolloxed” after too many aforementioned “pints.” It’ll be grand.

But until that day comes I will have to celebrate my Irish heritage here in the states. Baking green Celtic Knot Cookies and trying oh so desperately to catch those pesky leprechauns with my 3 year old.

Let’s get baking, shall we?

Here is our cast of characters this go around:

Do not preheat your oven just yet.

You will begin by stirring together your cake mix (make sure it has pudding in it!) with the flour. Now grab your KitchenAid or your hand mixer and add your vegetable oil, both eggs, the almond extract and the sour cream.

Mix on medium high until a dough forms. If you are using 2 different colors, separate your dough evenly into 2 bowls.

I wanted each green that I used to be a bit more drastic than they turned out but I didn’t want the coloring to alter the dough consistency too much. I only had Wilton coloring on hand (even though I prefer Americolor whenever possible!) so I used Kelly Green (umm, duh!) and Leaf Green. Using a toothpick, drop in small amounts of color and mix thoroughly. Continue adding color until you achieve your desired shades. Try not to curse too loudly when you realize you now have green fingertips and an increasingly green counter top.

Once your coloring is done, put both bowls into the fridge and let them chill for at least an hour. Once they are chilled, pull them out and grab either a baking mat or a good ol’ cutting board.

Preheat your oven to 350° while you form your cookies.

LIGHTLY flour your surface. I used too much. Use less than I did. Oops. 1teaspoon spread out is plenty.
Grab about 1T of each color and roll them out into about 5 to 6 inch tubes approximately the thickness of a magic marker. Bad size reference? Ok, how about a small carrot? Just go with it…

Now, pinch the ends together.

And twist, twist, twist! You can either hold the twisted ends and twist or pick up one of the tubes and wrap them around each other.

Once your pieces are wrapped all the way down, pinch the other ends together. Now, starting at the bottom, roll the ends inward to form the beginning of a circle.

Continue rolling…

At the end, place the tail under the cookie so it doesn’t stick out. Place all cookies on a silpat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Slip them into your oven and bake for 10-12 minutes. Mine were done at 10. You want them to be baked enough to stay together (brown on the bottom) but not over baked. The middles shouldn’t be jiggly, just set.

Aren’t they so cute? I like the colors, and the twisting. But mostly, I love the fluffy soft texture. These are the softest, most delicious sugar cookies EVER.

Now it’s time for the frosting!

Grab your butter and Crisco and mix them in your KitchenAid until smooth.
Add your salt, milk and vanilla extract. Blend slowly at first and increase your speed until well blended, about 1 minute.
Add your meringue powder and powdered sugar, and beat until frosting has a fluffy, light texture. If you are unfamiliar with meringue powder you can find it at Michaels and Hobby Lobby. It’s in the cake decorating section and comes in two sizes.

Once your frosting is all mixed up you can either pipe it or spread it in between 2 of your cookies and….tada! Sandwich cookies!

Have a wonderful St. Patrick’s Day and thanks for stopping by!