Chocolate Dipped Caramel Biscotti {2013 Food Blogger Cookie Swap}

One of the best parts about the holiday season is all of the baking and all of the sharing of treats. I love to bake every single day of the year, but at Christmas it's more fun to share baked goods, since people seem to be a little less concerned about calories =)

A fun way to share (and receive treats) is through the annual Food Blogger Cookie Swap. You sign up, and you receive the names of three bloggers to send cookies to, and then you receive cookies from three different bloggers. I sent cookies to Kelly (Running Blonde), Kimberly (Mammy2Grammy) & Lisa (Cooking With Curls). 

Once I received my matches, it was time to pick the right cookie. One thing I've learned as a military spouse & the (self proclaimed) Queen of Care Packages is that you need a sturdy cookie. Like biscotti. I had tried to make biscotti once before and it didn't work very well. So I found a recipe that sounded amazing, adapted it a smidge, and was completely blown away by it. The test batch I made... Graham & I devoured it in about two days. 

  

Chocolate Dipped Caramel Biscotti

(Recipe adapted from this one.)

Ingredients:

• ½ C unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2/3 C granulated sugar
• 1½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp coarse sea salt
• 2 large eggs; room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2¼ C all purpose flour
• ¾ C Kraft caramel bites
• 2 cups of milk chocolate chips
• coarse sea salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Beat butter in large bowl with a mixer for about 30 seconds then add sugar, baking powder, salt & beat until thoroughly combined.  Add eggs and vanilla extract & beat until just combined. Slowly add in the flour, and when it is just combined, fold in the caramel bites.
3. Divide dough into half. On a lightly floured surface, with floured hands shape the dough into two logs about 10" x 2".  Place dough 3" apart onto a cookie sheet lined parchment paper.
4. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned.  Cool pan on a wire rack for 20 minutes. (It’s important to let it cool otherwise it will crumble and break if you try to cut it while hot)
5. Reduce oven temperature to 300º.  Using a serrated knife, cut each roll diagonally into ½ inch thick slices.
6. Place slices cut side up on the cookie sheet about ½ inches apart and bake for 12- 15 minutes.  Cool biscotti on wire racks.
7. Place medium glass bowl over a pot of simmering water. Make sure that the water is not touching the bowl. Add chocolate to bowl and stir until chocolate has melted. Turn off heat and dip the biscotti into the chocolate.  Place dipped biscotti onto a lined cookie sheet. While chocolate is still wet, sprinkle each with a pinch of sea salt.

And what's even better than giving cookies? GETTING cookies! And I received excellent cookies this year! I received caramel stuffed apple cider cookies from How to be Awesome on $20 a day, Sicilian almond paste cookies from Solano's Kitchen & cardamom orange mocha brownies from Sweet Anna's. All were so, so good! The caramel apple cider cookies were amazing! The cider flavor was so intense. The almond cookies were amazing. The flavor was incredible, and the texture was different, but perfect. They were light & crispy on the outside, and so soft on the inside. The brownies were equally amazing. The brownies were rich, moist & delicious. The flavors of the orange & the cardamom were present, but not overwhelming.  

Everything that I received was amazing, and I'm so excited for next years cookie swap!

Peanut Butter Overload!

I don't really like peanut butter.

There, I said it.

I am obsessed with really like the Earth Balance Creamy Coconut & Peanut Spread and Peanut Butter & Co.'s White Chocolate Wonderful, but regular peanut butter? Eh. Yet for some reason a few weekends ago I wanted to bake and I wanted to bake with peanut butter. I made cookies stuffed with so many good peanut buttery things, I knew they would be either really good, or really bad. And I made chocolate cupcakes, stuffed with said cookie dough and topped with a peanut butter buttercream.

The result: total epicness.

Recipe: Carmelitas

During Christmas I took place in a food blogger cookie swap. Each person got three boxes of cookies in the mail from random food bloggers.  One of the bloggers I received cookies from was The Lean Green Bean. Lindsay sent me these chocolate carmelitas and they were one of the best cookies I have ever had. Graham and I both raved over them and finished them off very, very quickly.

He and I were talking via Skype one night and he requested I send him M&M cookies, and M&M trail mix. I sent him what he requested, and I decided to make and send these as well. And I am so glad I did. They were even better than I remembered them to be. Luckily they made it to him quickly, and he and his friends loved them as much as I did. They're gooey and chocolately and just absolutely delicious.

Thank you Lindsay for introducing me to these, thank you Graham for requesting various M&M snacks, and thank you USPS for getting this care package to him much quicker than the last one.

Carmelitas
(Adapted from this recipe.)

Ingredients:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup butter, melted
• 1 14 ounce package caramels; unwrapped
• 1/3 cup skim milk
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup of plain M&M's
• 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1/4 cup of shredded coconut (optional)
• Cooking spray  

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with foil. Let the foil hang over the side (the 13 inch) side of the pan. Spray the foil well with cooking spray and set aside. 
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, 1 3/4 cups of the oats, brown sugar, soda, and salt. Add melted butter and mix until texture is crumbly. Mix the last 1/4 cup of the oats into half of the mixture and set aside & press the other half into the bottom of the baking dish.
3. In a small (microwave-safe bowl) combine caramels and milk. Microwave on 50 percent power for 3 minutes; stir & then microwave for an additional 3 minutes or until caramels are melted and mixture is smooth.
4. Sprinkle chocolate chips, candy, coconut and pecans over crust. Drizzle evenly with melted caramel mixture and top with reserved crumb mixture.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Cool in pan on a wire rack. When cool, use foil to lift out and & then cut into squares. 

These are super rich, so cut into fairly small squares. I got about 30, but I think anywhere between 24-36 is a reasonable amount to get.

Emily's "Best Ever" Chocolate Chip Cookies

Get Emily's recipe here

I'm not big on cookies. There. I said it. If I'm going to kill a meals worth of calories on a baked good, I want it to be soft, moist and covered in fluffy, heavenly frosting. Like a cupcake.

Anyways. Graham is deployed and I LOVE sending care packages. Cupcakes wouldn't make it all the way to Southeast Asia. Cookies and brownies do. So tonight I did some serious baking. I made a batch of brownies with Heath bits mixed in. Oh my, they were good.
 
And then I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies. Emily at over at Sugar Plum made these and claims they are the best chocolate chip cookies ever. I can't say if they are the best in the world, since I haven't been fortunate enough to try every cookie in the world. But I can say they are the best I've EVER had. The outside is crispy, the inside is soft and chewy and they are a little bite of heaven. Next time I will definitely omit the walnuts though. I'm not really a big fan of any nuts except for Blue Diamond almonds (side note: try the buffalo ones. AMAZING!)

I used her recipe exactly as it was (only using chocolate chips instead of chopped chocolate). In preparing them, I used a regular sized ice cream scoop and I got 21 really big cookies out of the recipe instead of 16.

If you need a cookie recipe for whatever reason, I HIGHLY recommend these. I hope they are half as good when they get to my husband as they are at this moment.

I love this container! (On sale for $1.00 at Michael's!) 

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars

This is another recipe from the wonderful, amazing, BRILLIANT Jamie over at My Baking Addiction. Discovering this blog is the reason that I have gained like 20 pounds in the past year. Her recipes are easy and so delicious. Everything I've made of hers has turned out perfectly, and these were no exception.

Oh yes.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cheesecake Bars
Recipe adapted from My Baking Addiction

Ingredients

For the Crust

• 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (about one sleeve)
•   1/2 stick of unsalted butter, melted

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough

• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

For the Cheesecake Filling:

• 10 oz cream cheese, room temperature
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 large egg

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F. Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Mix the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs until thoroughly combined. Press the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Let sit in freezer while you prepare the cheesecake filling and cookie dough.
3. To prepare the chocolate chip cookie dough: in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, the sugars, salt and vanilla until thoroughly combined. Mix in the flour on low speed, and mix until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips. Put dough in a separate container and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment cream together the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and well incorporated. Mix in the egg on low speed until smooth. Pour the cheesecake batter into the prepared crust. Using your hand to form clumps, distribute the cookie dough onto the top of the cheesecake batter in teaspoon-sized clumps. It seems like a lot, but you will need to use all of the dough. It will cover most of the cheesecake batter.
5. Bake for 40 minutes until the entire pan looks set if given a gentle shake. Move bars to a cooling rack and allow to cool completely.
6. Lift the bars out by the overhang; slice into desired size (I cut mine into 12 equal pieces) and store in the refrigerator.

In other news, my grated finger still hurts and looks awful. I'm going home soon and have a fancy event to go to. The stupid thing needs to hurry up and heal so I'll be able to get my nails done.

Ew.

My wall is coming along nicely. I decided on a color for the print, and I'm in the process of tracing it on to the wall with chalk so it'll be ready to paint over this weekend.

I'm LOVING how it's turning out.