Toffee Crunch Cookie Brittle

Super YUM

Super crunch!

So these beauties were on the platter I made for Superbowl. But I make these all the time. They are really quick and easy. You don't have to wait for the butter to get to room temp, because it gets melted in the microwave. Plus, you don't need a mixer...it's all done by hand. And they are totally addicting.

Ingredients:

1 and 1/2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cups unsalted butter, melted in micro and slightly cooled

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed

1 tsp vanilla

1 and 1/2 cups crushed Heath Bar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, both sugars and vanilla until smooth. Use a large spoon to stir in the flour mixture. The dough will look smooth.

Stir in the Heath bar and the dough will look crumbly.

Spoon the dough onto the parchment lined baking sheet. Press the dough into a rectangle shape that is about 13X9 inches, and about 1/2 inch thick. Pat it to make it an even layer.

Bake until the top feels firm, looks dark golden and the edges look light brown, about 19 minutes.

Let it cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes.

Then use a large spatula to slide the giant cookie onto a cooling rack. If it breaks, it's okay!

Let the cookie cool completely. It will harden/become crispy.

Break into uneven pieces. 

Enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from a cook book called, "Big Fat Cookies." The original recipe calls for 1 cup of walnuts. But I'm not a huge fan so I left them out.  

Superbowl, baby!

This platter of yum was what I brought to the Superbowl party that we went to last weekend! Needless to say, it was demolished faster than you can say, "Katy Perry's Half Time show was awesome!" 
It was m'n'm cookies on the left, chocolate dipped pretzels at center and Crunchy Toffee cookies on the right. Recipes to follow!

Whoopie Pies with Cookie Dough Filling

It was a phase I was going through. I made a bunch of different Whoopie Pies. 

This one was A-mazing. Read it and weep!

Ingredients for the Whoopie Pie:
(makes 15)

• 1 2/3 cup of flour
• 2/3 cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 5 Tbsp butter, room temp (unsalted is best)
• 3 Tbsp vegetable shortening
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup whole milk

Directions: 

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
2. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper
3. In a bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt
4. In a mixer, cream together butter, shortening and brown sugar until combined
5. Add egg and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes
6. Turn mixer to low and add half of dry mixture (flour and cocoa), then half the milk; Repeating until all mixed in.
7. Drop by rounded tablespoon, two inches apart onto the baking sheets
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until centers are set
9. Cool on pan for 5 min and then transfer, using spatula to wire rack to finish cooling.
10. Once cool, fill with your prepared filling. 

Ingredients for Cookie Dough filling:

• 1 cup butter (room temp)
• 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp milk
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions for filling:

1. In a mixer, cream together butter and both sugars
2. Add in vanilla and milk and stir until combined
3. Slowly add in flour and turn up mixer to medium until mixed well
4. Fold in chocolate chips
5. Fill ziplock or piping bag with cookie dough filler and pipe onto whoopie pies. 

This amazing recipe came from Cookiesandcups.com

MAJOR flashback to Middle School

See? I told you I've been baking, but not posting! Here's a major flashback to a cake I made for my Dad's birthday in April of 2012. I had pink streaks in my hair back then!

It was a Triple Chocolate Cake. I garnished it with crushed meringues (my idea) and sliced strawberries (my idea too). The recipe was from The Modern Baker, by Nick Malgieri. Go get it! NOW!

Here's my Dad accepting the cake. Look how happy he was. And that's my little bro trying to get into the action!

Oh ya, I also put strawberries in the center layer. But that was my Dad's request!

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

This is one of those MUST HAVE recipes. This cake is moist, fluffy and just perfect. It's the kind of a cake that people ask for again and again. AND...you will have all the ingredients at home all the time, with one possible exception...8 ounces of cream cheese. But is that so hard to remember to buy?

Chocolate Chip Coffee Cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:

1 stick unsalted butter, at room temp

8 ounces cream cheese, room temp

1 1/4 cups sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/4 cup cold milk (any level of fat is ok)

6 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips (mini is best)

For the topping:

1/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped pecans

Add topping ingredients to the blender. Mix and set aside.

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degress

-Grease 9x13 springform pan OR tube pan (AKA Angel food pan). I use the tube pan so it always cooks all the way through. Springform sometimes leaves center uncooked.

-In large bowl of Kitchenaid, mix butter, cream cheese and sugar.

-Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition

-Add vanilla, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix well.

-Stir in cold milk and chocolate chips, by hand. Mixture will be very thick.

-Pour into pan, sprinkle with topping and sprinkle with a handful of chocolate chips.

-Bake 50-55 minutes. Allow to cool a little before you take it out of the pan. 

Recipe cred goes to my mom's friend, Allison.

CARAMEL APPLE CAKE

SERIOUSLY???????

YES!!

So while on the topic of caramel apple today, I have to show you this amazing cake I made! So pretty, right? But...don't be mad, I'm not going to share the recipe with you. But just go buy Baked Explorations by Lewis and Poliafito. It's full of great photos and really great recipes! 

OWEN

As I was looking through all my baking pictures, I came across this beauty and couldn't resist sharing. OWEN. Love of my life. When he was a puppy. I'll post more recent pictures later!

Caramel Apples!

They're not just great for Halloween! These are so good for any time of year and can be a really fun activity to do with friends! I used a really easy recipe and tried lots of different toppings. But you will need a candy thermometer.

Caramel Apples

You'll need: 
6 apples (I like Granny Smith because the tart goes well with the sweet caramel). 
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
water
salt
vanilla
parchment paper, baking sheet and cooking spray
candy thermometer
sticks (I buy mine at Michael's)

• Wash and dry 6 apples. 
• Put sticks into the stem ends of the apples. Set aside.
• Prepare a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and spray with Pam. 
• Mix 2 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup of light corn syrup and 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan. Boil over medium-high heat. Keep stirring until the sugar is dissolved. Then stop stirring and start swirling the pan until the candy thermometer says 320 degrees. It should take about 8 or 9 minutes. 
• Then remove the pan from heat and whisk in 1/2 cup of heavy cream, 2 teaspoons of vanilla, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 2 Tablespoons of butter (unsalted is best).
• Put heat to low and whisk until your mixture is smooth. 
• Let cool until the caramel is thick enough to coat your apples.
• Dip the apples into the caramel. Let the extra drip off. 
• Roll in any topping you like. I love English Toffee bits, m'n'ms, peanuts and colored sprinkles.
• Let cool on parchment paper.
• You can cut them into slices and SHARE! or just take a bite!

I'm BACK!

It's been such a long time since I've last posted...but don't think I haven't been baking! Actually, I've been baking a lot. So I'm going to try catch you up on some great recipes and pictures! Stay tuned...