It's a cookie?!?! It's a brownie?? Its a brownie cookie!

I think blogger is punishing me for being such a bad blogger!!! I wrote the post but just had to add pictures and of course was slacking; wel today I came back to add the pics and the post was gone! I get it blogspot I am a bad blogger and am not worthy! However, these cookies are totally worthy (hopefully your guinea pigs are worthy of these cookies)! One nite I decided that I was going to skip the gym thanks to some really bad shin splints and I was going to make cookies, not that I ever need an excuse to skin the gym and bake cookies but hey why not use it! I was craving something chocolate and WOWSERS this recipe was totally worth it and my guinea pigs just loved it! I added peanut butter chips to the recipe. I usually bake my cookies at the low end of the time spectrum but these needed a few extra minutes. The first day I made them I probably left them in about 11-12 minutes and they were cruncy on the outside but super soft on the inside and when I made them 2 day later I baked them for a minute or so less and they were just soft all the way around so keep your eyes on them. But this recipe is definitely a keeper! ENJOY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SOFT CHOCOLATE COOKIES
Source: All Recipes)

INGREDIENTS

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup baking cocoa
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
confectioners' sugar
1 bag of peanut butter chips (optional)


DIRECTIONS

- In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture.

- Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.(I did less than an hour)

- Roll into 1-in. balls. I used an ice cream scoop and then molded them

- Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork if desired. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are firm. Remove to wire racks. Dust warm cookies with confectioners' sugar. (optional)

Chocolatey Caramel Love!

I do not know how I never blogged about these brownies, they are amazing! They are delicious and one of the biggest crowd pleasers o and easy (easy is the key for me!!). I know they take a lot of steps but so worth it. Love these so much. I unwrap the caramels when they are in the oven for the first time. Enjoy these!




CHOCOLATE CARAMEL BROWNIES

INGREDIENTS

1 pkg (18.25 oz.) chocolate cake mix
1 cup chopped nuts (I've never included the nuts...it's your preference)
1 cup Carnation evaporated milk, divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or magarine, melted
35 (10-oz pkg) caramels, unwrapped (I would recommend 40-50 (around 12oz)
2 cups (12-oz pkg) semi-sweet chocolate morsels

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat: oven to 350° F.
Combine: cake mix and nuts in large bowl. Stir in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and butter (batter will be thick). Spread half of batter into ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Bake: 15 minutes. ( I normally do for 13-14 minutes)
Heat : caramels and remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted. Sprinkle morsels over brownie; drizzle with caramel mixture.
Drop: remaining batter by heaping teaspoon over caramel mixture.
Bake: 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack.

Minty Delicious Bars!

I love Andes Mints and a few months ago I made Brownies with them but when I found this recipe it seemed like a perfect December recipe to me, I always associate mints and chocolate with the Holidays. These came out soooooooooooo much better then I could have expected, it somehow got around the office that I had them and people were randomly stopping by the office for them. These were excellent!!

The only caveat I would say is that the recipe says to bake the first part for 12 to 15 minutes; however, I think mine were in for almost 30 minutes...just keep checking on them and make sure they don't get hard and are still soft! I used just a regular rectangluar pan.




ANDES MINT BARS
(Source: cooks.com)

BASE:

1 c. butter
4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
3/4 tsp. peppermint extract
1 c. flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter and chocolate; set aside to cool. Beat sugar, eggs, peppermint and flour, add chocolate mixture. Pour into a greased 10 x 15 inch pan. Bake for 12-15 minutes; do not over bake. Allow to cool.

FILLING:

6 tbsp. butter
3 c. powdered sugar
3/4 tsp. peppermint extract
2 drops green food coloring
3-4 tbsp. milk

Mix butter, sugar, peppermint and food coloring. Add enough milk to make desirable spreading consistency. Spread over cooled base. Chill for 15 minutes.

GLAZE:

4 oz. chocolate chips
4 tbsp. butter

Melt chips and butter. Allow to cool. Carefully spread over filling. Chill. Cut into squares. Makes 30.

O What A Day!

The other day was just one of those days! I was in the supermarket picking up a few things and the only thing I wanted was something chocolatey, minty, and ice cream! But because it was one of those days I could not find something I truly wanted so I decided to take matters into my own hands!

A few years ago the supermarkets briefly had chips that were made out of Andes Mints, now this was my idea of nirvana! However, I have not been able to find them in years so instead I took a box of Andes Mints chopped them up and threw them into some brownie mix! I also found these mini containers of ice cream, now this was heaven!! I bought one box and used most of it, minus a few that I ate along the way!

I thought that these brownies could possibly be too minty but none of my taste testers (aka coworkers) said anything about that! Though my officemate's 8 year old daughter said they smelled a little funny, that my dear is the delicious smell of mint!

Butterscotch Brownies!

In the past few weeks it seems like everyone has been making brownies so when my office was having an ice cream party I thought it was a great opportunity to make a delicious batch. I know that everyone loves these because people kept coming up to ask which ones were mine and they disappeared the quickest!! One of the great things about this recipe is that I substitute different types of chips and they always come out great!


This recipe is originally from the family I used to nanny for and they are delicious.







BROWNIES

Ingredients:
- 4 oz unsweetned chocolate
- 1 stick butter
- 4 eggs
- salt
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 1 C. Flour
- 6 oz Chips (butterscotch, chocolate, and peanut butter)

Directions:

- Preheat the oven to 350
- Melt the chocolate and butter together
- Beat the eggs and salt
- Slowly add sugar and vanilla and mix
- Stir in the melted chocolate and butter
- Mix in the flout
- Add your favorite chips

Pour into a 9 x 13 in. pan and bake for 25 minutes. Watch out they go fast!!