bounty chocolate: cookies

Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts

Showing posts with label cookies. Show all posts

Red velvet cookies and another German movie

I’ve been really into Europeans movies lately and, so far, I have seen really good films: after the Danish directors I went a little South and watched the excellent The Edukators (with the now Golden Globe nominee Daniel Brühl).

Since I’d already loved Soul Kitchen and The Wave I got into a German state of mind and decided to watch another movie from my grandmother’s home country, one that

MUDDY BUDDY COOKIES

I do believe I have a new favorite cookie. Once these are complete, the cookie gets softer and when you bite into it...it's like eating a Reese's peanut butter cup cookie! Yup! That good! I did have trouble getting my chocolate to thin out (tried making it 3x) and had to spread it on rather than dip but they were still absolutely delish!!!! A must make!!!! Thanks to Cookies and Cups for this winning recipe!

Oh and the peanut butter cookie on its own? Also incredible if you need a standard pb cookie recipe!

Ingredients

Cookie

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup flour

Coating

1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar

How to Make

Preheat oven to 350°F
Line a baking sheet with parchment
Cream butter and peanut butter together until smooth. Add both sugars and beat for 2 minutes.
Add egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt.
Add flour.
Scoop tablespoon amounts. Roll into a ball and then flatten to approximately 1/2 inch thick. Place on baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 10 minutes until golden edges.
Remove from oven and cool completely.

Coating

In microwave safe bowl combine chocolate chips, peanut butter and butter. Heat on high for 1 minute and then stir until smooth.
Place powdered sugar in bowl.
Dip each cookie in chocolate and using a fork remove cookie, tapping off excess chocolate. You don't need a lot of chocolate coating on the cookies.
Immediately dip the cookie into the powdered sugar and toss to coat completely.
Place back on cooling rack to until chocolate is set. Repeat for all cookies.

Store at room temp covered

TOASTED COCONUT THUMBPRINTS FILLED WITH DULCE DE LECHE AND A CHOCOLATE DRIZZLE

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup unsalted butter, slightly firm

¼ cup granulated sugar

¼ cup dark brown sugar

2 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large egg whites for coating, beaten until frothy

Toasted coconut, crumbled and in a shallow bowl (cook carefully on a pan at 350 till browned)

Dulce de leche for centers (Nestle sells a can and I put it in a piping bag)

Melted milk or dark chocolate for piping

1. In the large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter on medium-low speed until smooth. Pour in the sugars and mix just until incorporated. Add the egg yolks and vanilla, mixing only until blended. Add flour and salt.

2. Roll the dough into small balls. Dip into frothy egg whites then roll in toasted coconut. Using the handle end of a wooden spoon, make an indentation in the center of the dough ball. Repeat with remaining dough. Chill until firm, at least an hour, or place in freezer bags and freeze until needed.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F. Place cookies evenly apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper and bake until lightly golden, about 14-15 minutes. Remove from oven. If indentations are no longer as pronounced, gently re-impress them with the rounded side of a ½ teaspoon measure.

4. Let cool completely. When cookies are cooled, fill indentations with dulce de leche. Pipe melted chocolate over cookie.

Adapted from the Pastry Chef's Baking

White chocolate ginger buttons + the best horror film of all time

Much like my “to make” recipe list, the list of movies I want to watch grows longer every day – there is always something interesting I haven’t seen yet, new releases every week... I don’t think I’ll be ever done with either list. :D

To make things harder, now and then I feel like watching my favorite movies again, especially the ones I saw in my teenage years – it seems that now that I’m

PLATTER MAKING IN SESSION!

Vanillekipferl (Viennese vanilla crescents), and a not so fair competition

The people behind the Oscars have apparently developed a strategy of leaving the most powerful performances out of the competition (maybe to make sure the-not-so-great ones get the awards? Who knows). Last year both Tilda and Michael Shannon weren’t included in the game (and they were absolutely magnificent in We Need to Talk About Kevin and Take Shelter, respectively), and 2013 will be

Skippy Dark Chocolate Peanut butter Gluten Free Oatmeal M & M cookies

Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Peanut butter Oatmeal M & M cookies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups Dark Chocolate Skippy Natural Peanut Butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup granulated white sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3 large eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups instant oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
2 cups M&M's (1 cup in batter, rest for decorating tops)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Mix everything up to the chips in a mixer and by hand stir in the chips & 1 cup m & m's.
3. Drop the cookies by heaping Tablespoons on the sheets. Press in a few m &m's on top to look pretty.
4. Bake 10 to 13 minutes. Will firm up on the sheets while cooling. Once out of oven, immediately top with a few extra chips or m and m's to look nice! Can also add a chocolate drizzle if desired by melting some chocolate chips.
yield: approx 30 cookies

*I partnered with Skippy Peanut Butter to help launch a Cookie Workshop on Facebook. All recipes and opinions are my own.

Gingerbread stars because Christmas is around the corner

One of the things I hear the most these days is that time flies and I couldn’t agree more – I cannot believe that December has already arrived; it’s time to decorate the Christmas tree, to buy gifts for the loved ones and to start thinking about the food – since it’s too early for turkey I kicked things off with these cute and delicious gingerbread stars. :)

I usually shy away from cut out

OVER THE TOP REESE'S COOKIES

THERE TRULY ARE NO WORDS FOR THESE COOKIES. THEY ARE NOTHING SHORT OF PERFECT! MAKE SOME TODAY!!!
OVER THE TOP REESE'S COOKIESOver the Top Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies

3/4 cup butter, soft
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup SKIPPY peanut butter
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
32 mini Reese’s peanut butter cups, each cut into 4 pieces

Mix the ingredients down to the vanilla. Add soda, salt, and flour. Fold in chocolate chips.
Using and ice cream scoop, scoop dough (these are big cookies). Place 6 scoops of dough on ungreased cookie sheet. Use your hand and slightly flatten each scoop of dough. Cook for 12 minutes at 350.
Remove cookies from oven and lightly press 8 cut up pieces of the Reese’s peanut butter cups over the top of each cookie. Return to oven for 2 more minutes. Cool on baking sheet 2 minutes before placing on cooling rack. Makes 18 cookies.
ADAPTED FROM REAL MOM KITCHEN

Marzipan cookies and less is more

As I drove to work the other day listening to one of my favorite songs I started thinking about the two or three episodes of The X Factor I’ve watched recently and how everyone seems to sing in the absolute same tone – I don’t think that one has to have Christina Aguilera’s voice to make good music (and let’s just say that the girl shouldn’t feel very proud about her repertoire), and my humble

CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES!!!

Cranberry double chippers

Ingredients:

3/4 c. salted butter, softened

3/4 c. brown sugar (I used dark brown)

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 egg

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 c. all purpose flour

2 tsp. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. bittersweet chocolate chips-Ghirardelli

1/2c. dried cranberries

1/2c. white chocolate chips

(Use some extra chips/cranberries to press in immediately after coming out of the oven.)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet with parchment.

2. Beat butter and sugars till creamy. Add egg and vanilla.

3. Add flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Fold in chocolate chunks & cranberries.

4. Using a cookie scoop drop dough onto sheet. Mine baked about 14 minutes but check the time depending on the size. They should be lightly brown. The tops do not really brown so don't over bake.

5. Remove and push in a few extra chips/cranberries. I got about 20 cookies from this recipe.

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM APPLE A DAY
and Sally's baking addiction

Whole wheat currant sablés

My blog can’t be considered a very healthy source of recipes – yes, I’m aware of that :) – but I do like to use healthy ingredients and it’s not like I’m living on sweets (I’m not, I swear). :D

One ingredient I like using is whole wheat flour, and to be honest I would love to use it more often in my baked goods. My favorite recipe with this type of flour is Nigel Slater’s wholemeal apple and

BEST EVER CHOCOLATE CHIP AND M & M COOKIES!!!

Ingredients

1/2 cup salted butter, soft
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1-1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons instant vanilla pudding- (the powder-do not prepare the pudding)
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
3/4 cup mini choc chips
1-1/2 cups mini M & M's

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add egg and vanilla. Add flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt till combined. Fold in chips and M & M's by hand.
Use a large tablespoon to scoop dough onto sheet. Bake 11-13 minutes until edges are golden. Cool on cookie sheet and remove to rack.

Adapted from Picky Palate

Zesty oaty cookies + the book I have finished reading

It took me a while to start reading "Gone Girl" but when I did I found it impossible to put the book down: I’d be reading it every chance I got, even if it was for five minutes while waiting for the elevator. I got seriously hooked on Gillian Flynn’s story and how well written it is. While reading the book I kept thinking of how perfect Rosamund Pike is for playing Amy and how wrong Ben Affleck

Almond poppy seed cookies + someone who should shut up

I have, several times, spoken of my love for Jamie Oliver’s recipes – except for one problem years ago, everything I have made from his books and website turned out really good. But unfortunately when the guy opens his mouth for something else other than eating we are “graced” by so many ridiculous remarks that it’s very hard to digest. It’s a shame that someone like him, who reaches out to

Vanilla cookie buttons with strawberry icing and being tricked by my memory

I don’t know about you, but sometimes my mind plays tricks on me and I just can’t trust my memory. I was listening to “Never” the other day when my husband asked whose song that was. I told him it was Heart’s and said “remember that band from the 80s formed exclusively by girls?”, but he had no recollection of it. Then I decided to show him the music video, and there was a man playing the drums

Iced little lemon drops and the reasons behind each recipe

Those of us who cook and bake have different reasons for choosing this or that recipe, right? I believe that wanting to eat is the most basic reason, but that is followed by the ingredients available, the seasons, the weather, if we’ve having company or if we’re eating alone... Do you agree?

I add to that list a certain technique I want to learn or improve, recipes with curious names, and

Grown up Oreos

My visit to Bouchon Bakery last year was one to remember and every now and then I think of the delicious treats I had there. However, I never got to taste Thomas Keller’s version of the Oreo cookie – me being me I ended up ordering lemon and raspberry sweets.

Days ago I set out to make Keller’s Oreo cookies, a recipe from "Bouchon Bakery", but wasn’t in the mood for rolling out cookie dough –

Coconut lime oatmeal cookies + the lovely Sarah Carey

I have several favorite TV cooks – Nigella, Nigel Slater, Jamie Oliver, among others – but there is one lady I adore and she’s not on TV, she’s on Martha’s website: the lovely Sarah Carey. It’s wonderful to watch her around the kitchen, not only because her recipes are delicious but also because she’s too much fun! :) I find her videos very useful, too, for beginners in the cooking department

Double chocolate peanut butter cookies and being short

Back in my school days, I hated being short – I had all sorts of nicknames, and not many were cute as Smurfette (I believe that was the only one I liked). At 34 I no longer care and funnily enough I have developed a taste for mini food – humans are strange beings, I know. :D

A jar of peanut butter in the cupboard and a Donna Hay magazine with several pb recipes (which had already produced