Mmmm....Chocolate Crinkles!

Huh. Here I was all set to post a lovely recipe for cookies I only remember ever making near the holidays - Chocolate Crinkles. They're the ones Penguin & I were making here. I even took some photos of them all lined up pretty, cooling on their wire racks.

But hey...
I guess I didn't need to...

Oh well, at least I can add the note that we like them much better when they're made with baking chocolate, rather than the substitution of butter & cocoa - they hold their shape better & stand up taller. Still yummy either way though!

Wednesday Fun #113 - C is for Cookie!

Life's been busy 'round here with holiday prep, including some cookie baking. So far we've made a variation of Syl's Pretzels and Hugs with caramel kisses as well as some sugar and molasses cut-out cookies. Not that we actually made the dough for the cut-out cookies (yay, store-bought buckets o' dough!), because that's NOT the fun part of those. The fun parts are rolling, cookie cutters, and sprinkles!

So, how about you? Have you made/do you plan on making any cookies this holiday season? What kinds? Anything especially drool-worthy that, gosh, you should probably share with the rest of us Recipeeples? :)

Nutella Cupcakes

Ok, I know this is not a quickbread, but every once in awhile I come across a recipe and I know that I must share it with you all right away. This is one of those times.

Nutella Frosted Cupcakes
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup, 12 oz) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups sifted all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
Nutella, approx. 1/3 cup

Preheat oven to 325F. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners or grease the cups with some butter. Alternatively, butter an 8-inch round cake pan.

Cream together butter and sugar until light, 2 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time, until fully incorporated. Don’t worry if the batter doesn’t look smooth. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt and baking powder until batter is uniform and no flour remains.

Fill each muffin cup about 3/4 full (or pour all the batter into the cake pan). The batter will be thick. Top each cake with a dollop (I used about 2 tsp per cupcake and about 1/3 cup dolloped in tablespoon measures for the cake round) of Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, making sure to fold a bit of batter up over the nutella.

Bake cupcakes for about 20 minutes and the round cake for 25-30.

Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 12 cupcakes or 1 8-inch round cake.

Ok, who is making these first? Call me, I will come over and help you eat them. :)

Easter Cookie - from a fall favorite

I turned a fall favorite cookie into an easy Easter Cookie.

We made them today and I think it worked.

7 Layer Bars

Made these for a party last night and I was shocked at how much folks loved them. Despite being one of Wog's favorites and tasty, they are so simple, everyone back home has this recipe type of recipe. But, if you don't here you go. Super easy.

1 - 1 1/2 c crushed graham crackers (about one package of crackers out of a box)
1/2 c melted butter.

Pat this onto bottom of 9x13 pan. Will be a very thin layer, don't worry.

On top of crust put ingredients in this order
1 c. chocolate chips
1 c. butterscotch chips
1 c. flaked coconut
1 c. chopped nuts (I use walnuts, but nuts altogether are optional)
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk poured/spooned over the top. You do NOT have to evenly spread it, but try to avoid putting a lot right at the edge or the edges will be hard to get out of the pan.

Bake at 350 for 30 min.

The first bar you take out will probably crumble a bit, but after that you should be able to take them out no problem.

Molten Lava Cakes

Ok, this is actually from All-Knowing Jen, but I pulled it out of a comment so that it'd show up on searches with labels and such. Yay for chocolate!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I made Chocolate Lava cakes last year -sooo yummy!

Molten Lava Cakes- Recipe courtesy Paula Deen/Food Network

Ingredients:
6 (1-ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate
2 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 large eggs
3 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons orange liqueur (I left this out, didn't have any, they were still good!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Grease 6 (6-ounce) custard cups. Melt the chocolates and butter in the microwave, or in a double boiler. Add the flour and sugar to chocolate mixture. Stir in the eggs and yolks until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and orange liqueur. Divide the batter evenly among the custard cups. Place in the oven and bake for 14 minutes. The edges should be firm but the center will be runny. Run a knife around the edges to loosen and invert onto dessert plates.

Turkey Cookies

Turkey Cookies -

I made these 3 years ago and thought you all might like to try. They are made with striped cookies (bought). The round chocolate ball is a peanut butter ball but you can use chocolate covered cherries (store bought). I made the peanut butter balls as I do not like chocolate covered cherries. Candy corn head. Use melted chocolate to get everything to stick together. Enjoy!!

Have also made Marshmallo Pilgrim Hats but could not find a picture.

We have also had something like Sugar-Cone Cornucopia.

Wednesday Fun #57 - Pumpkin!

I was torn between two topics this week- both of them Halloween-ish even! But in the end decided to go the obvious pumpkin route and I will save the other one for next week. (I know you are on the edge of your seats now!)

I want to know, What is your Favorite pumpkin (or other squash) recipe? Pie? Soup? Ravioli? And then, once you tell us what it is, you should dig out the recipe and post it sometime this week. That way we can all try it! Neat, huh?

Here is mine:

Pumpkin Chocolate-Chip Squares

Makes 24; Prep time: 30 minutes;
In addition to keeping the cake from sticking to the pan, lining the pan with foil makes it easy to lift it out after baking.

2 C. All-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
1 Tbl. Pumpkin-pie spice (Note: If you don't have pumpkin-pie spice, substitute 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ginger, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon cloves (all ground).
1 tsp Baking soda
3/4 tsp Salt
1 C. Unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 C. Sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 CUP Canned pumpkin purée (Note: Not the whole can! Just one cup!)
1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°. Line bottom and sides of a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pie spice, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

2. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar on medium-high speed until smooth; beat in egg and vanilla until combined. Beat in pumpkin purée (mixture may appear curdled but it's not, it's ok). Reduce speed to low, and mix in dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

3. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake until edges begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in pan.

4. Lift cake from pan (using foil as an aid). Peel off foil, and use a serrated knife to cut into 24 squares.

*I got this recipe from a message board I belong to, so I am sure it is someone's somewhere, but I'm sorry I don't know who to give credit to. All I know is that I never would have thought to mix pumpkin and chocolate chips together but it is seriously yummy and delish.

Candy Corn Cookies

Candy Corn "Log"

Uncooked cookies

ENJOY!!

Candy Corn Cookies

1 1/2 cups butter (no substitutes), softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
Yellow and orange food coloring

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture. Divide dough in half. Tint one portion yellow. Divide remaining dough into two-thirds and one-third portions. Color the larger portion orange; leave smaller portion white.

Shape each portion of dough into two 8 in logs. Flatten top and pinch side in at a slight angle. Place orange logs on yellow logs; push the sides in at a slight angle. Top with white logs; form a rounded top. Wrap in plastic wrap. Chill for 4 hours or until firm.
Unwrap and cut into ¼ inch slices. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until set. Remove to wire rack to cool

Yield: about 5 dozen

Tip– I rolled the logs a lot longer. I thought the first time I made them they were too large.

Rhubarb Bar

I know I am really slow at getting on and posting things. I love to cook and have lots of things already typed up on my computer. I am excited to now be able to post. I thought I remember someone looking for rhubarb things. This is just one of our many that our family makes. Enjoy!!

Rhubarb Bar
1 Cup Flour
5 TBL Powder Sugar
½ cup butter
Mix together press into a 9x9 and bake @ 350 degrees for 15 Minutes
(I doubled the whole recipe and put it into a large bar pan.)
Mix
2 beaten eggs
1 ½ cup sugar
¼ cup flour
¾ tsp. Salt
2 cup finely chopped rhubarb
Spoon onto crust and bake 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Best if eaten the same day but we eat it for many days afterwards.

Chocolate-Mint Bars

Another recipe from Cooking Light. This one was on the cover of the March 2008 issue. Quite tasty. Here's the link. Recipe copied below for archival purposes.

http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1714574

"The dense base layer is like a rich, fudgy brownie, so don't overcook it or the dessert bars will be dry. Refrigerating the mint bars allows the chocolaty top layer to set properly. You can make the dessert up to one day ahead. For a more grown-up taste, you can also use dark chocolate chips for some or all of the semisweet chocolate chips in the glaze."

Bottom layer:
1 cup all-purpose flour (about 4 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup egg substitute
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, beaten
1 (16-ounce) can chocolate syrup
Cooking spray

Mint layer:
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup butter, melted
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
2 drops green food coloring

Glaze:
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons butter

Preparation
1. Preheat oven to 350°.

2. To prepare bottom layer, lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour and salt; stir with a whisk. Combine granulated sugar, egg substitute, 1/4 cup melted butter, 2 tablespoons water, vanilla, eggs, and chocolate syrup in a medium bowl; stir until smooth. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture, stirring until blended. Pour batter into a 13 x 9–inch baking pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 23 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool completely in pan on a wire rack.

3. To prepare mint layer, combine powdered sugar, 1/4 cup melted butter, and next 3 ingredients (through food coloring) in a medium bowl; beat with a mixer until smooth. Spread mint mixture over cooled cake.

4. To prepare the glaze, combine the chocolate chips and 3 tablespoons butter in a medium microwave-safe bowl. Microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until melted, stirring after 30 seconds. Let stand 2 minutes. Spread chocolate mixture evenly over top. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve. Cut into 20 pieces.

Yield
20 servings (serving size: 1 piece)

Nutritional Information
CALORIES 264(30% from fat); FAT 8.7g (sat 5.2g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 2.8g; CHOLESTEROL 38mg; CALCIUM 12mg; SODIUM 139mg; FIBER 0.5g; IRON 0.9mg; CARBOHYDRATE 45g

Megan Patterson ,Cooking Light, MARCH 2008

Chocolate Crinkles

This is another childhood recipe. I always loved how the powdered sugar makes a crazy quilt sort of pattern over the chocolate once they're baked. Note: These have to chill for a while before baking, so allow time for that (or take advantage of it and mix them up ahead of time).

1/2 c. oil
4 oz. unsweetened bakers' chocolate (or you can sub in 3/4 c. cocoa + 1/4 c. butter)
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Powdered sugar for coating - around 1/2 c. or so

Mix together the oil, chocolate (or cocoa and butter) and sugar. Add the 4 eggs, one at a time, stirring well between each. Stir in the 2 tsp. vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add to the sugar mixture and stir well.

Chill several hours. Shape into balls and roll in a bowl of powdered sugar to coat.

Place on Pam-sprayed cookie sheet and bake 10-12 minutes in a preheated 350F oven. Be careful not to overbake them - they're better a little underbaked and squishy than overbaked and hard.

Pretzels and Hugs

This is my favorite simple snack item -

Buy a bag of Hershey's Hugs and a bag of small pretzels - but not the stick kind. Put a layer of wax paper on a cookie sheet, lay out the pretzels, and place a hug on each one. Put them in the oven on some ridiculously low temperature (I use 300?) and just watch them for a few minutes until the Hugs are starting to melt into the pretzel.

Remove from oven and throw in the fridge. Remove from paper after about 30 minutes in the fridge.

I've experimented with other Kisses, but these were the original recipe and have turned out the best. I'm not the biggest fan of white chocolate, but it seems to work out on these.

Oreo Balls

I made these for christmas one year and it was demanded that I make them again. I currently have to take holiday orders for my Dad and my MIL. It's not hard at all, you don't even have to bake them.

1 pkg Oreo cookies (regular old school style)
1 pkg (8oz.) Cream Cheese, softened
1 pkg Semi-sweet chocolate chips (12oz) *

This recipe works best if you have a stand mixer, but you could probably do alright with a hand mixer or a food processor.

Break the Oreos up in to chunks and throw them in a bowl. (If you are using a food processor, go ahead and chop them up to fine pieces.) Add in the cream cheese. Mix on med. speed until everything is well mixed together and doughy. Refrigerate cookie mixture for 30 min or so, just to make it easier to work with. Scoop dough out into small rounded balls onto a wax-paper lined cookie sheet.

Melt chocolate chips in a small saucepan over low heat. Dip the balls into the chocolate, place back on the cookie sheet. (this gets a little futzy and messy). Once the chocolate has cooled and hardened you can stack them together. Store in the fridge. I think they are best cold, but they hold up well out on the table all day too.

* You can get fancier with the chocolate if you want to- Some people prefer white chocolate. Some do half and half. I've colored white chocolate to be festive. I've dipped in regular chocolate and then come back later and drizzled the white across the top (or vice versa). You could add crushed candy cane or toffee bits on the top. The possibilities are endless.

Peanut Butter Bon Bons

This one is a X-mas favorite at the Wog home.

2 1/2 c peanut butter
1/2 c. butter or margarine
16oz (4 1/2 c) sifted powdered sugar
3 c rice cereal
12 oz package of chocolate chips OR 6 oz choc chips and 6 oz butterscotch chips OR almond bark

Melt peanut butter and butter in a sauce pan. In a large bowl combine powdered sugar and cereal. Pour peanut butter mixture over the cereal mixture. Blend together by hand. It will seem a bit crumbly but will hold together when you form it into balls. Don't worry. Form into 1/2 inch balls. Chill until firm.

Melt chocolate (or chocolate and butterscotch). Dip balls into chocolate. Place on waxed paper and chill. Enjoy!

Thumbprint Cookies

These cookies are a family tradition at X-mas time.

I suggest doubling or trippeling this recipe as it really doesn' t make much.
A double batch makes about 36, 1 1/2 inch cookies.

1/2 c. shortening/butter
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 c. flour
1/4 tsp salt
Mix.

On the side, have the egg white and around 3/4 chopped nuts (I recommend walnuts)

Roll into 1 inch balls. Dip in egg white. Roll in finely chopped nuts. Place about 1 inch apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 5 min at 375 degrees. Remove from oven and quickly press thumb on top of each cookie to make a depression. Return to oven and bake 8 minutes longer. Cool.

Fill the depression with candied fruit, jelly, or tinted frosting. We always do the last one (powdered sugar, almond extract and a bit of cream until smooth but thick - add whatever color you want).

Chocolate Carmel Bars

Any time there was a family event, I would force my mom to make and bring these bars. Eating the Sexy Blonde's brownies made me remember them.

Beat:
1 c. margarine
2 c. brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 1/2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
3 c. oatmeal

Pat 3/4 of this mixture on bottom of 9x13 pan.

In a double boiler (or microwave), melt:
14 oz Kraft caramels
2 Tbsp. water
15 oz. sweetened condensed milk

Pour this over the batter in the pan. Sprinkle 3/4 cup chocolate chips on top. Then sprinkle remaining batter on top. Bake 20-25 minutes at 325.