Another S'more Dessert

Yesterday I was lurking on the nest when someone posted a link to her new blog. The first post had some cookie recipes. One that immediately caught my eye was for S’more cookies. Now, nothing beats the chocolaty, sticky goodness of a S’more but, I was pleasantly surprised with the S’more Cupcakes and knew I had to give these cookies a shot. These weren’t difficult to make, just different due to the marshmallows.

S'more Cookies
From Telly's Tasty Tidbits
My changes in italics



1 Stick butter
1 Stick margarine - I didn’t have margarine so I used 2 sticks of softened butter
1 Cup packed brown sugar
½ Cup white sugar
½ Tsp baking soda
2 Eggs
1 Tsp vanilla extract
2 ½ Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup chocolate chunks
1 Cup crumbled graham crackers (leave some chunks at least ½ inch in size) – I used graham cracker crumbs because I had them on hand.
1 Cup mini marshmallows

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees – use ungreased cookie sheet or parchment paper.

2) In a large mixing bowl beat butter and margarine with mixer on medium-high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, white sugar and baking soda. Beat until mixture is combined, scrapping sides of bowl occasionally.

3) Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer and stir in the rest. Fold in chocolate chunks, marshmallows and graham crackers.

4) Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2-inches apart on cookie sheets. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes or until edges are slightly brown. Transfer to wire rack and let cool.

What it should have looked like....

I was on msn earlier and found a bunch of holiday candy recipes. Two of them were from a cookbook I own and have tried to make before.....

This Toffee, should have looked like this:




This Candy, should have looked like this:



Sad how it doesn't quite turn out that way.

A Christmas Must!

My favorite cookies to eat around Christmas are Gooey Butter Cookies. I absolutely lurve them. Every year my aunt makes them and I usually eat almost the entire batch. :) This year I thought, why wait? I'll make 'em now.

Gooey Butter Cookies



1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar


1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2)In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Add cake mix, and stir until well blended. Roll into 1inch balls and roll the balls in the confectioners' sugar. Place 1 inch apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. (next time I make these, I'm going to let the dough chill for a couple hours before putting it on the cookie sheet)

3)Bake for 10 to 13 minutes in the preheated oven. Remove from baking sheets to cool on wire racks.

Simply Tasty

I found this recipe on the back of the Almond Bark package. It is quite tasty, kind of like a Girl Scout Tagalong/PB Pattie (depending on what bakery your GS's get their cookies from). I made a ton so I took some to work and my coworkers just loved them.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies



1 Box Ritz Crackers
1 Jar Peanut Butter
1 Package of Chocolate Almond Bark


Put a generous helping of PB between 2 Ritz crackers. Dip in melted chocolate. Place on wax paper to harden. I also added some sprinkles to mine.


I think next week I'm going to dip Oreos into Vanilla Almond Bark and sprinkle crushed Candy Cane on top. Yum!

Fiesta, Fiesta

Last week I came to the conclusion I'm a huge fan of any dish that has corn and black beans in it. I made this last Thursday, Friday for lunch ordered Vegetarian Black Bean Soup, and for dinner had Southwestern Chicken Wraps that had corn and black beans in them.

This recipe is super easy and delicious. All the ingredients are things I usually have on hand and it makes a lot, so there are leftovers. We had this with a packet of Spanish rice and it was a perfect meal. My changes are in italics.

Chicken and Fiesta Cornbread Casserole
from ... and a cookie for dessert



4 boneless skinless chicken breasts cut into bite size pieces
2 Tbsp EVOO
1 package taco seasoning (I have a jar of taco seasoning. I used more than a packet's worth)
2 cans black beans drained & rinsed
1 can ro-tel drained
2 cans Mexican corn drained (I used 2 cans of regular corn)
1 package corn bread with ingredients to make it
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 cup red bell pepper (I used 1 cup)
1/4 cup green pepper
1/8 cup green chilie peppers
Fresh Cilantro to taste


Heat oven to 350 degrees spray 3 quart dish with cooking spray.Heat EVOO in large skillet over medium heat. Brown chicken until the middle is no longer pink.

Make cornbread according to instructions, then stir in cheese and peppers, and cilantro.

Sprinkle taco seasoning over chicken. Add black beans, Rotel and corn, add more taco seasoning if desired. Mix together then pour into prepared dish. Pour cornbread over the top (Because I added extra peppers, I had to add more milk to the cornbread mixture to thin it out and make it pourable)

Bake for 30 minutes or until the cornbread is golden

Dangerous...

To anyone who is trying to limit their sweets, home alone, bored, or just in the mood to make something super easy and delicious.... Dangerous. I found these while blog-stalking one of my favorite blogs a few weeks ago and I made them for a bake sale at work. They were one of the first things that sold out.... YAY! I also made them yesterday when I was stuck at home due to icy roads. I have a feeling I'll be making these peanut butter bars a lot.

Reese's Peanut Butter Bars
from ... and a cookie for dessert




1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
2 cups powdered sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter (I used close to 1 1/2 cups)
11 tablespoons butter, melted
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I think I used about 1 3/4 cup)

Combine graham cracker crumbs and powdered sugar in a large bowl. Add melted butter and peanut butter; stir to combine.

Press peanut butter mixture into a 9x13" dish. Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave until smooth.

Spread melted chocolate over peanut butter mixture. Refrigerate until firm. Remove from refrigerator and let sit 15 minutes before cutting to avoid cracking.

Choc-o-lot

We had a bake sale at work last Thursday and I decided to make these cookies. They are full of chocolaty goodness and sold out very quickly. (woohooo!) They are a healthier cookie and can be gluten free. These will definitely be making an appearance on Christmas Eve.


Choco-gasm Cookies
from Cara's Cravings
(I forgot to take a picture....)

2 1/4 cups (9 ounces) confectioners' sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon espresso powder (I used instant coffee)
1 cup (3 ounces) cocoa powder, Dutch-process or natural
3 large egg whites
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Whisk together the sugar, salt, espresso powder, and cocoa. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together the egg whites and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the egg whites, and mix at low speed of an electric mixer for 2 minutes.

The batter will seem dry at first, but will become shiny and smooth as it mixes. Cover the bowl, and refrigerate the batter for 3 hours, or up to overnight.

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Thoroughly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets. Drop the dough in ping pong-sized balls onto the prepared baking sheets; a tablespoon cookie scoop works well here. (The dough is not like your typical cookie dough, but more like the consistency of store-bought cake frosting. It's sticky, you won't be able to roll it with your hands. A scoop would work really well, but if you don't have one, a rounded tablespoon coated with cooking spray works too.)

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes, reversing the pans (top to bottom, bottom to top) midway through. Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely.

Yield: fourteen big (3 1⁄2") cookies.