Day Five: Peanut Butter Blossoms

These cookies are an old stand-by, but I like to add this little twist:

 These chocolate stars are the bane of my existence. Seriously. I have been looking for them EVERYWHERE.  I saw a suggestion a few years ago to use these stars instead of Hershey Kisses.  Last year I easily ordered them on amazon, but this year no-such-luck.  I went on the Brach's website, found a local reseller, and when I got there they told me they were no longer available, unless I wanted to order a case of 24 bags.  Several drug and grocery stores later, still no luck.  I went back to amazon and found ONE reseller who said that these used to be unavailable but recently came back into stock.  So I ordered them up, and paid shipping and everything.  That is how committed I am to my little chocolate stars.  Not only are they cuter, they also spread the chocolate-to-cookie ratio out.  And they are just a higher quality chocolate overall, which of course leads to a better cookie!

I didn't take many photos this time around, but I did want to take picture of this beautiful batter!  It was close to last night's but different - this one made with Crisco.

Rolled balls of goodness!

These actually go into the oven in balls - no pressing needed. 

When done, they come out fluffy and cracked.

You then push your chocolate down immediately - and get that crackled, delicious look.  The chocolate will melt a bit, but that is great because it adheres to the cookie this way.  Just be patient and let them harden back up before storing them, or you'll have a chocolaty mess.

This batch only made 42 cookies, and these are my favorite, so I am definitely going to need to make a second batch sometime after Christmas.  Yum, yum!

P.S. All of my cookie recipes can be found on google.  :D

Day Four: Snickers Surprise

I love these cookies, and I've made them before.  When I was growing up, my VaVao and I (grandmother) would make these really yummy cookies called "Cookie Pops."  They consisted of a snack-size snickers or milky way, shoved onto a Popsicle stick, surrounded with peanut butter cookie.  However, they are really big, and bulky, and hard to store.  These "Snickers Surprises" are close enough, a bit smaller and without the stick.  So yummy!!!

Once again, my trusty mac book is open on the end of the bar, providing me the recipe. 

 I had breakfast on the stove while I prepared the dough, which needed to chill for 2 - 3 hours before forming/baking/freezing.

 I had all of the ingredients lined up, ready to be mixed once breakfast was finished.

 Butter and sugars, yum yum yum!

 I had a friend ask me about my scraper/beater thingy recently, and yes, it is awesome and does work the way they describe.  It scrapes the sides while you mix!  I also have the pouring shield which is so/so - I mean, it sort of helps but I still get flour everywhere.

 See?  Flour everywhere!

 Oh, this dough looks so yummy!  Now it's ready to be chilled.

 This is my very handy Tupperware mix-and-pour-and-store.  (Or something like that.  But it is handy!)

 Okay, several hours of housecleaning later, and I'm ready to roll!

 Steve did his part and unwrapped the snickers for me.

 Balls of yummy goodness, ready to be frozen!

 Rolled in sugar!

 My assembly line.

 First, the scoop.

 Then a thumbprint.

 Next, set in the snickers.

 Roll it all up!

 Once they are baked they are super yummy and soft!

 Ohm - nom - nom - nom. 

Chewy Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

Day 2

I did mention that I am not actually doing ONE batch of cookies each day, right?  I mean, not in 12 successive days anyway.  And there will be some days when I do 3-4 batches.  Anyway.  I just wanted to clarify.

So after running all over the county looking for the exact right ingredients and still not finding them, I finally took some time to actually make some cookies tonight.  These are some of my favorite, because if you know me and/or if you read my blog, you know I love chocolate and peanut butter all combined together. 

First, you have to start with the number one peanut butter chips.  (Are there any others?)  The recipe is on the back!!

Mix all of your dry ingredients - including cocoa!

Have I discussed my awesome and super cute new matryoshka doll measuring cups?  I love them!

 Get that mixer ready to rumble!

 My super huge batch of vanilla that I buy from Costco several times a year.  :)

 While we're at it, this is my super cute new owl sugar dispenser that I got from West Elm after Marlo and Ashley introduced me to the store!  It's great if you haven't checked it out.

 Butter warming on the oven since it just came out of the fridge.

And here are our yummy balls of goodness, ready to go in the freezer to chill.

When I was halfway through this recipe, Steve came down from a work call and tried to tell me about this Cable scandal that we've been dealing with for days.  I got so distracted that I accidentally put 2 Tablespoons of vanilla in this recipe instead of 2 teaspoons.  Whoops!  They still taste fine, if I do say so myself.

"The Mulligan"

So I had a weekend at the beach coming up, with an added Friday off, so I knew I'd use my extra time to make a batch of cupcakes.  I am trying to build my professional portfolio, so I wanted to be able to try a new recipe and also take some more professional pictures.

My friend Dawn would be celebrating her birthday that weekend, so I decided to ask her if there was anything special I could make for her.  She mentioned the flavor that I had made for her bridal shower, so I decided to scrap the plan of a "new" flavor and stick with the plan of taking professional pictures of a cupcake that I was too busy to photograph last time.

Since we'd be staying at a family friend's beach house, I wasn't going to have all of the tools I needed, but I did pack a few essentials.

I mixed the dry ingredients, melted the fattening ingredients, and then mixed them all together - all with only my Pampered Chef Spatula!

This cake recipe is very runny - but it makes the cake so, so good!  I could just pour the batter into the pans.  (Right now I am working on getting rid of these horrible Wilton cupcake liners:)

See how they fold in?  I HATE them!

Now for the frosting: 

Have two things ever looked as yummy?  I think not.




The double boiler came in handy, but of course the frosting was too runny.  Oh well, it all worked out in the end!

The week leading up to the trip I saw something fantastic in a blog and I decided to try it in some of my cupcakes:

I then crushed up the rest of the Reese's Cups and sprinkled them on top.  They were enjoyed by all, and were GONE by the end of the weekend!