Chocolate + Caramel

Most of the time, my idea for a dessert or treat that I want to make starts out as something and ends up as something pretty different--probably having the same basic idea but not using what I intended to use or not the form I was thinking of...for example, these cho

colate sandwich cookies filled with homemade dulce de leche. I wanted to make something chocolately made with caramel bits. I got my something chocolately, but missed the boat on using these. Oh well, that just means more baking later :)

Chocolate Drops

4 squares unsweetened chocolate

3/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups sugar

3 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

Melt the unsweetened chocolate, either over a double boiler or in the microwave in 30 second increments. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile, beat the butter and sugar. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Stir in the flour, making sure not to over mix.

Fold in the melted and cooled chocolate until just combined. Drop by heaping teaspoons onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Place cookies on cooling racks and allow to cool completely

Dulce de Leche

(recipe created/adapted from multiple recipes/tips I read online)

1 quart whole milk

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda dissolved in 1 tbsp water

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

In a large, heavy pot mix the milk and sugar. Place on medium high heat, stirring constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture reaches a slight boil.

Remove from heat and add baking soda mixture. Beware that it will bubble up, just keep stirring. Once it goes back to the original volume, place back on burner on low to low/medium heat until it reaches a brisk simmer. Let it be for an hour-ish (aka no stirring needed), until it becomes golden brown.

Cook about 20-30 minutes until it is close to a spreadable consistency. (It will thicken up after it cools though, keep that in mind!) Once it is done cooking, place in a small bowl and refrigerate to speed the cooling.

Once the cookies and dulce de leche are ready, it's assembly time! Put about a teaspoon of dulce de leche on the bottom side of one cookie and top with another cookie.

Smush (yes, that's a technical term!) together until a little oozes out the side. Adjust the amount of dulce de leche you put in the middle if needed.

Enjoy, and take a bite!

Monster Cookie Bars

A while ago when I was talking to my grandma on the phone, she mentioned that she had made these Monster Cookie bars and that they were super easy and really good. I always trust my grandmas judgement :) So 0f course I was intrigued and told her I wanted the recipe. So along came the recipe and a giant jar of Skippy peanut butter--I guess she thought I would want to make a lot :) Well I finally got around to making them and packaged some up to send to a friend and took the rest to Kansas City last weekend for tailgating at the ISU game! I got them packaged up so quick that I forgot to take a picture of the finished product...oops! They were quite delicious though, I knew my grandma wouldn't lead me astray! Just like monster cookies--moist, chocolately, and chewy--but with a little less work!

Monster Cookie Bars

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

3 eggs

2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup M&M's

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 12x17 inch jelly roll pan. Combine butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter and mix until fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well between each addition. Mix in the baking soda and salt. Add the oats and mix well. Stir in the M&M's and chocolate chips by hand. Place dough in prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown.

Enjoy, and take a bite!

You can't go wrong...

...with a good solid chocolate chip cookie recipe. And an award winning one at that! I recently entered these cookies in the Minnesota State Fair and won third place! I was excited to win with just one of my entries, after seeing the dedication some people put into the baking contests! Haha! I'm totally willing to share my recipe so everyone can enjoy...and if you're lucky enough I might even bake some and bring them to you, like I did for my friends in Ames the weekend before last :)

This recipe is definitely one of my favorites, adapted from an America's Test Kitchen recipe for Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip cookies. We used to make it all the time when I worked in the kitchen at Riverside Bible Camp. This cookie and a glass of milk is just about perfect!
I love having a variation of mix-ins (as you might recall from this post), so while I always stick with the basic chocolate chips, I've also made them with Heath toffee pieces too! (that's what the pictures of forming the cookies are from)

Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes a bunch :) probably around 2 dozen if made bigger, 4 dozen if smaller

12 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 cups plus 2 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2- 2 cups chocolate chips (or other chip)

Heat oven to 325 degrees F. Make sure and melt your butter right away so it has time to cool. Mix flour, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg and set aside. Beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla until combined, about 30 seconds. Slowly add flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips.

To form cookies, first roll dough in a ball. Next pull the ball in half(as in picture below).

Then smash halves back together with pulled away sides facing upwards.

With this technique, you'll end up with "rugged" tops on the cookies. Bake for 15-20 minutes. Cool on cookie sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. Enjoy, and take a bite!

Oatmeal _________ Cookies

Who doesn't love cookies? I made these cookies with some inspiration from my sister, Rachel, who mentioned how much she loves oatmeal-butterscotch cookies when she was visiting me a few weeks ago. (I guess the nice thing to do would have been to make them for her then...oops!)

Anyway, I was in search of a cookie that was chewy and crisp, buttery and oatmeal-y, and just all around delicious!

I divided the dough and put butterscotch chips in half and cinnamon chips in the other half. I had those in my cupboard and thought they both would be a nice complement to the brown-sugar oatmeal flavor already present in the dough. And although I would love to make more variations, there is only so many cookies I can make in a week (although I wish I could make more)!

Adapted from this recipe from Hershey's.

Oatmeal _________ Cookies

(they can be made with any kind of chips, dried fruit, etc.)

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats

2 cups __________ (cinnamon chips, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips, raisins, dried cranberries, etc. etc. etc.)

Beat butter, brown sugar and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix flour and baking soda together and add to butter mixture. Stir until combined.

Drop by heaping teaspoons onto a cookie sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees F until lightly browned.

Enjoy, and take a bite!