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.

 

Beauties & the Feast: Year in Review

I seriously can not believe it is 2013.....I know people say time really flies by but I feel like I just graduated college. Sorry for my recent long absence! I was busy traveling and just got back from Africa. It was a pretty amazing trip and experience. Then the holidays hit, and let's face it I got a serious addiction to Candy Crush on my iPad.  I mean luckily you have to wait to get more lives so I was able to fit in walking my sister's dog as well as eating and drinking while catching up with friends.

In reviewing the past year in the world of Beauties, I realized we neglected a very important moment of 2012. Ready for it? The introduction of our newest Beauty baby boy! Rachel welcomed Otto this past summer.  His favorite food currently is Mom's milk but we are sure that will change once Rachel's beautiful garden is ready.  How could you not love this gorgeous face?

Otto makes it Beauty baby boy number 6 and we are expecting Beauty baby boy number 7 from Miss Emily in February. Yes, the Beauties are working hard to raise a whole generation of male cooks....

We also had some amazing recipes this year.  We thought we would do a quick recap of our Top 5 for 2012.    Here you go:

#5:  The Best Way to Cook an Artichoke

#4:  Magic Chocolate Flan Cake

#3:  Lavender Infused Gin

#2:  Pulled Lamb Gyros

#1:  Ricotta & Artichoke Stuffed Eggplant

The Beauties would like to thank all our friend, families, and fans who make this blog so much fun!  We look forward to bringing in a new theme for 2013.   What was your favorite BATF recipe this year?