Brownie Cookies with Salted Caramel Creme Filling for Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day gave me the perfect excuse to make these beauties. And since my Valentine doesn't do back flips for chocolate and salted caramel quite like I do, I'll also be baking a pan of Meyer lemon bars. The things we do for love. 

The original recipe for these brownie cookies had a peanut butter filling so I'm sure you could get creative and adapt this recipe to make a raspberry filling, mint or whatever your favorite flavor combination is! 

Brownie Cookies with Salted Caramel Creme Filling

Recipe slightly adapted from Bakers Royale

Makes 24 one inch sandwich cookies (I only ended up with 14 sandwich cookies, and I promise I didn't eat that much of the dough) | Preparation: Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line bake sheet with parchment paper.

Ingredients:

Brownie Cookies (adapted from Donna Hay)

• 12 oz. chocolate, chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 2 large eggs
• ⅔ cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour, sifted
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder, sifted

Salted Caramel Creme Filling (This made a lot more than I needed, probably could have doubled the above brownie cookie recipe)

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups confectioner sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup caramel (I used Trader Joe's fleur de sel caramel but if you're an ambitious super star, you can make your own caramel. Click here.) 

Instructions:

To make brownie cookies:

1. Place 7oz. of the chocolate and the butter in a saucepan over low heat and gently stir until melted and smooth. Set aside.
2. Place the eggs, sugar and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment and beat for 15 minutes or until pale and creamy. Add in flour, baking powder, melted chocolate mixture, remaining 5 oz. of chocolate and mix to combine. Set aside to to stand for 10 minutes. Spoon a little under a 1 tablespoonful of the mixture, onto parchment lined bake sheet. Bake for about 8–10 minutes or until puffed and cracked. Allow to cool completely on trays.

To make caramel creme filling:

1. Place butter in a bowl and beat until creamed. Add in confectioner sugar and salt and beat until light combined. Add in caramel and beat until combined (since my caramel was already salted, I only put in a few more sprinkles of salt, not the 1/4 tsp. it calls for). 

Assembly:

1. Spread a  tablespoon and a half of caramel creme on underside of one brownie cookie and place a second brownie cookie bottom side down on top frosting.

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?

Itty Bitty S'more Pies

I had almost decided to let August quietly slip by without posting because there is nothing in me that wants to bake a pie -- ever. Then this little 4-ingredient recipe popped up in my Pinterest feed and since the word "pie" was in the title, it piqued my interest. Since chocolate was a main ingredient, I decided to go for it.

First, let's be honest. This little revolution of mini muffin versions of everything -- pies, casseroles, breakfasts and such -- is basically a cop out for lazy cooks like me who would rather not fuss with all the ingredients. Dumbed-down versions of the real thing. And I freaking love it, I'm not gonna lie. 

As it turns out, you don't even need a campfire to make s'mores as long as you own a muffin pan. Throw away those dirty sticks; here's the recipe you've been waiting for...

Itty Bitty S'more Pies
Swiped (and slightly altered) from Mess for Less

(For a half dozen muffin pan)

Pie Crust roll or Puff Pastry sheet

2-3 Graham Crackers

1-3 Hershey Bars

6-8 Marshmallows

Note: You're going to eat some of the ingredients (if you're a human) so I took that into account with the measurements.

Preheat oven to 375. Grease your muffin pan. Cut a piece of your pie crust and fit it inside each muffin tin, pressing until it's just right, or you just give up. Break graham cracker into pieces so they fill a good portion of the cup. Leave room for about 3 rectangles of chocolate to layer on top. Put in the oven to bake about 5 minutes. Remove and then place a single marshmallow on top of each tin. Put back in oven for about 10 minutes, or until marshmallows start to brown a bit. Drop another Hershey piece on top just because you can.

Things to consider: 1) Using pie crust. My tiny grocery store did not have any so I was stuck with puff pastry. Still worked. 2) Substituting Golden Grahams cereal for the broken graham cracker. 3) Making a Nutella and crumbled Nilla Wafers version. You can thank me later.

Since I'm pretty sure this recipe was intended for children, I decided to let this guy help me out.

But he ended up doing more of this and then dropping the pieces back into the muffin tins. Secrets in the sauce.

Really yummy and really easy. Pie month success. (Can I be done now?)

{Guest Post} Beachy Peach Pie with Rosemary Sugar

Kirsten, our favorite cocktail queen, shares her first pie making experience:

First of all, I admit I had never made a pie before this month. Give me a crumble, a crisp, a cobbler, no problem. But pie has always intimidated me, even though I will take a fruit pie over cake any day. (See Exhibit A: the pie bar instead of cake at our wedding).

Recently my husband and I went to the Oregon coast to join my parents for a long weekend. After spotting these gorgeous, organic peaches it seemed like they were meant to become a star ingredient in a pie. It also didn’t hurt that my mom was around to help, so I decided to brave it and attempt a peach pie, working from a Martha Stewart recipe my mom recommended.

I tweaked the recipe slightly (sorry Marth!) to incorporate an herbal element. I love the combo of fruit and herbs in cocktails, so I figured why not try it in a pie? And I can't resist a good crumble topping—with this recipe you get the best of both worlds, pie crust plus an amazing buttery and brown sugar topping. 

Rosemary sugar with a bit of lemon zest

We enjoyed our pie out on the deck followed by some prosecco, but this cocktail would also be delish (and use up any leftover ingredients!).

Beachy Peach Pie with Rosemary Sugar (adapted from Martha Stewart’s Fruit Pie with Crumble Topping recipe)

 

Pie Crust

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for rolling dough
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 2 tablespoons ice water, plus 2 more, if needed

Crumble Topping

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup light-brown sugar
• 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• 6 tablespoons chilled unsalted butter, cut into pieces

Pie Filling

• 5 cups peach slices (about 4-5 large peaches)
• ½ cup granulated sugar (I used less than Martha’s recipe, adjust as needed based on tartness of fruit)
• 3 teaspoons finely chopped rosemary
• Zest of one lemon
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions:

1. In a food processor, pulse flour, salt, and sugar several times to combine. Add butter. Pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal, with just a few pea-size pieces remaining. (We didn’t have a food processor at the cabin, so we used a fork and it worked just fine).
2. Sprinkle with 2 tablespoons ice water. Pulse until dough is crumbly but holds together when squeezed with fingers (if needed, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time).
3. Turn dough out onto a work surface; form dough into a 3/4-inch-thick disk. Wrap tightly in plastic, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.
4. Before baking, unwrap dough; place on a large piece of floured waxed paper. Roll dough to a 14-inch round. Using paper, lift and wrap dough around rolling pin (discarding paper); carefully unroll over a 9-inch pie plate. Gently fit into bottom and up sides of plate.

   

   
   

   My mom “helping.” I swear I did some of the work.

5. Trim overhang to 1 inch; fold overhang under itself. Pinch between thumb and forefinger to make a uniform edge around the rim. Crimp edge; refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.
6. For crumb topping: mix all dry ingredients. Cut chilled butter into pieces. With your hands, work in butter pieces, until large clumps form.
7. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine sugar with lemon zest, rosemary and salt and add to fruit. Add to fruit mixture 3 tablespoons flour, 1 tablespoon lemon juice. Pour into pie shell; sprinkle with Crumb Topping.
8. Place on foil-lined baking sheet in lower third of oven; reduce heat to 350 degrees. Bake until fruit bubbles and crust browns, 1 1/2 hours. If topping begins to brown too quickly, tent with foil.