Fudgy Chocolate Cake Cookies

I remember the first time I had these cream cheese chocolate cake cookies. My co-worker brought them to work during the holidays and blew my mind by giving me one. Of course I asked for the recipe and couldn't believe how easy they were to make. So, my gift to you this holiday season is passing on her secrets...

Fudgy Chocolate Cake Cookies

Plan 2 hours ahead of time as the dough will need to cool in the fridge.

Ingredients

1 (8-ounce) brick cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (18-ounce) box moist chocolate cake mix
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 bar (100g) good bakers chocolate

1. Melt the chocolate in a small pot on low heat, stirring to make sure it doesn't become hard again.

2. Cream the cream cheese, add the butter and mix. Then add the egg and mix it all together, then add the vanilla.

3. Add the cake mix, next add the molten chocolate and blend it all together. Place the bowl in the fridge for at least 2 hours.

4. Preheat the oven to 350ºF (176ºC). Get your powdered sugar in a cereal bowl and the dough out of the fridge. Start rolling tablespoon sized balls between the plams of your hand (this will get sticky) then roll the ball in the powdered sugar and place it on an ungreased cookie sheet (repeat until you are out of dough).

5. Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. Let cool on the sheet for a bit and move to a cooling rack.

The fixings

I've never seen such aggression licking (eating) the chocolate off the spatula.

Chocolate Chip M&M Marshmallow Cookies

I woke up on Saturday and started to peruse Pinterest on my phone in bed, looking for the perfect cookie or bar recipe to post for Beauties and the Feast. All the fancy cookie pictures looked so yummy (and somewhat complicated). And then my six year old ran into our room and said, “Mom, can we make cookies today?” And I said, “Why, yes! I was just thinking about doing that!” So then I asked him, “What kind of cookies should we make?” And he said, literally without a second’s thought, “Chocolate Chip M&M Marshmallow Cookies!”

How can you say no to that? I’ve never made chocolate chip M&M marshmallow cookies before but I figured it couldn’t be that hard. So I took a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe and altered it slightly. They seriously turned out soooooooo good!

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) Butter, softened
2/3 cup Brown Sugar
2/3 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1 ½ tsp. Vanilla Extract
2 cups Flour
1 ¼ tsp. Baking Soda
1 tsp. Salt
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup M&M’s
½ cup Mini Marshmallows

Directions

1.      Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.      In a large bowl, cream butter and both sugars until well blended. Add egg and vanilla extract and mix to combine.

3.      In a separate bowl, stir the flour, baking soda and salt together. Slowly add these ingredients into the butter mixture and stir until combined.

4.      Fold in the M&M’s and chocolate chips.

5.      Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto a lightly greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart (or as I prefer, onto parchment paper).

6.      Stick 1 to 2 mini marshmallows into the top of each cookie.

7.      Bake for 10 minutes.

The boys were very "helpful" in the kitchen. How did they help, you ask? By eating most of the M&M's while sitting on the counter and watching me cook.

 

I was originally going to add the marshmallows into the batter but the batter was so sticky I thought they might not fold in that well, hence the sticking them into the top. It turned out great to have a nice gooey center. And they tasted just a bit like they’d been roasted over a campfire. We’ll definitely be making these again! They were so easy and the kids had a blast making them.

 

When Amber announced this month's theme, I decided I wanted to make cranberry bliss bars but in the pinterest search process, I got distracted and landed on this recipe instead. I normally gravitate toward chocolate, but these bars seemed very fitting for the holidays. They turned out well, not too sweet and not too rich, just the perfect satisfying bites with a tiny bit of tartness from the cranberries. Do note the recipe calls for 12 oz of cream cheese which is 1 1/2 blocks... I only bought one, so I ended up substituting 4 oz of mascarpone cheese. I also added extra lemon juice to the cream cheese, and a pinch of salt to the oatmeal mixture.

On a personal note, Graham finally met his Aunt Megan

and he LOVED her!

OATMEAL CRANBERRY CHEESECAKE BARS

Recipe from A Family Feast

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 ¼ cups quick-cooking oatmeal
• ¾ cups packed brown sugar
• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
• 12 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
  
  
• 1 16-ounce can whole berry cranberry sauce 
  
  
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 13x9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the flour, oatmeal, and brown sugar. Add the softened butter to the mixing bowl and mix on medium speed until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Measure out 1 ½ cups of the crumb mixture and set aside in a separate bowl.

Pour the remaining crumbs into the prepared baking dish and press evenly into the bottom of the dish. Bake for 15 minutes.

While the crust is baking, in the same bowl of the stand mixer, cream the softened cream cheese and sugar together on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add eggs, lemon juice and vanilla extract and mix well.

Also while the crust is baking, in a small bowl, combine the cranberry sauce and cornstarch and mix thoroughly.

When the crust is done baking, remove from the oven and pour the cream cheese mixture evenly over the crust. Then spoon the cranberry mixture evenly over the cream cheese mixture, spreading gently with the back of a spoon so that it is evenly coated. Then sprinkle the reserved oatmeal crumbs over the top of the cranberry mixture.

Bake for 40 or until completely set and very lightly golden brown.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Cover and refrigerate the baking dish for at least 3 hours so that the bars can firm up.

Once chilled, cut into bars and serve.

November Food Theme: Cookies and Bars!

It’s almost Christmas. I’m not kidding. I went to Fred Meyer on Halloween day to find some glow sticks and all the Halloween swag was already stuffed in a 40% off corner and it its place shone multi-colored plastic Christmas trees glowing with lights; ornaments hung with care.

So we’re jumping on that jingle-bell-adorned band wagon at BATF too. We know the holidays can be stressful. But they can also be a really good excuse to eat whatever you want and drink as much as you want too. You deserve it, after all, for what you’re about to put up with (crazy family, hot sweaty mall shopping, turning a blind eye to your ever-decreasing bank account). So we want to help you out with some holiday cooking ideas to take a bit of that stress off your shoulders.

Last year we did an entire month dedicated to Thanksgiving Recipes. This year we’re helping you prepare with cookie and bar recipes. ‘Cause what’s Christmas without some beautiful harp music, spiked eggnog, and your very own cookie making factory? This is supposed to be fun, right?