12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 5: Brownies topped with Nutella Crunch

Day 5: Brownies with Nutella Crunch - made November 29, 2014, recipe adapted from Cravings of a Lunatic

Ah, nutella crunch topping, how do I love thee? Let me count the multiple brownies I've made with you. All different brownie bases but only roped in so the nutella crunch topping has something to sit on. You might not consider a brownie to be a "cookie" but I'm taking liberties and counting it since technically, brownies are bar "cookies".

Seriously, it almost doesn't matter which brownie recipe you use for this as long as you use good quality chocolate (choose recipes that call for more semisweet or unsweetened chocolate in the base batter, not sweet or milk chocolate) and don't overbake it. Avoid cakey brownie recipes that call for beating the eggs a lot and/or use chemical leavening like baking powder or baking soda. You want fudgy brownies. And for once, I don't advocate making a thick brownie because the topping is literally another layer on top of it and too thick of a brownie layer plus the crunch topping layer makes for awkward eating and contortions of your mouth that just won't be pretty.

Fortunately, this recipe fit the bill. The brownie layer probably got a bit compressed when I was smoothing the crunch topping over it but that's okay. It contributes to the fudginess. If you want a smoother, more "flowy" topping, cut back on the chocolate chips and increase the nutella in equal proportions, i.e. decrease chocolate chips by 1/4 cup, increase nutella by 1/4 cup. I also like to cram in a fair amount of Rice Krispies, almost like I'm making Rice Krispie treats because I like the crunch.

8 tablespoons of butter
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
¼ cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt

Nutella Crunch Topping
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cup Nutella
1 tablespoon butter
1 to 1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies cereal (more if you prefer)

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line 8 x 8 pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate together over low heat in a medium saucepan. Stir until melted and smooth. 
3. Remove from heat and add the sugar. Stir well. 
4. Add eggs and vanilla, stirring until smooth. Add chocolate chips, flour and vanilla salt. Stir until well blended. 
5. Pour into pan and place in oven. Bake for 35-45 minutes, toothpick inserted in the center should come out with a few moist crumbs. Remove and cool on a rack.

Lofthouse-Style Peanut Butter Chip Sugar Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting

Lofthouse-Style Peanut Butter Chip Sugar Cookies with Peanut Butter Frosting - made dough November 22, 2014 from Averie Cooks

We interrupt the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies posts to sneak in this cookie recipe I made for Thanksgiving. I made these because a) they're from Averie's blog and you can rarely go wrong trying out a recipe from there and b) to have an excuse to use up the autumn-themed sprinkles on frosted cookies for the kids.

It's best to think of these as soft sugar cookies with the peanut butter flavor coming from the peanut butter chips inside the cookies and the frosting topping the cookies. I didn't use as many peanut butter chips as the recipe called for, maybe only half a bag, since that's what I had and I'm not big on peanut butter anyway.

The frosting had a nice consistency and good flavor if you're a peanut butter lover. My ulterior motive was just to have something for the sprinkles to sit on so I could keep a Thanksgiving theme for my desserts.

I will say this is the type of cookie I like in terms of chubbiness (chubby cookie = good, chubby pastry chef = not so much) but make sure you bake it from frozen dough so it won't spread and stays obligingly rounded and thick after baking. The cookie is good even without the frosting but if you're going for the Lofthouse look, it probably needs the frosting to qualify. If you don't want to frost domed cookies and prefer them with a flat top but still thick, shape the dough into thick discs before freezing and baking. And if you want to adapt these for a Christmas-themed dessert, simply swap out the autumn sprinkles with red and green sprinkles (or blue and white for Hanukkah) on the frosting.

1 large egg
1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4  teaspoon baking soda
pinch salt, optional and to taste
one 10-ounce bag peanut butter chips

Peanut Butter Frosting
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter (not homemade or natural peanut butter)
1/4 cup unsalted butter (half of 1 stick), softened
1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar
pinch salt, optional and to taste
splash cream or milk, if needed to achieve proper consistency (I used about 1 1/2 tablespoons cream)
chocolate sprinkles, optional for garnishing

1. For the Cookies - To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the first 5 ingredients (through vanilla) on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
2. Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the next 5 ingredients (through optional salt), and mix on low speed until just incorporated, about 1 minute; don't overmix.
3. Add the peanut butter chips and mix until just incorporated. 
4. Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping two-tablespoon mounds. Place mounds on a large plate, flatten mounds slightly, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. 
5. Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart and bake for about 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges have set and tops are just beginning to set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet  for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooking. 
6. For the Peanut Butter Frosting - To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the peanut butter and butter, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
7. Slowly add the sugar, optional salt, and mix until frosting comes together.
8. Add a splash of cream or milk as necessary to achieve desired consistency.
9. Add a generous dollop (about 2 tablespoons) to each cookie, and smooth it as desired with a knife or spatula.
10. Optionally garnish with sprinkles. Serve immediately.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 4: Chocolate Turtle Cookies

Day 4: Chocolate Turtle Cookies from Pixelated Crumb

I love these cookies. They're cute, chocolate, caramel and delicious. They're also perfect for the holidays because you can make the dough ahead of time, portion into dough balls, roll in toasted pecans or almonds (your choice), shape with the "thumbprint" indent in the middle and freeze until you're ready to bake them. Then while they're baking, you can make the caramel, fill the indents when the cookies come out, let cool and package them up or set them out if they're for a party.

During the busy holiday season, I typically focus on timesavers. I don't have long stretches of free time to bake as much as I need to bake but I break up the steps, do as much advance cookie dough making as I need whenever I can snatch pockets of time (15-20 minutes here and there) then bake cookies off at the last minute right before I need them, typically 20-30 minutes or so, depending on how much I'm baking. Easy. Plus, these are cute and little, perfect for a cookie swap, dessert party, and/or cookie plate for giving away. And look at that caramel. This is one of those cookies I have to give away immediately so I don't eat more than one. Maybe two.

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg, separated, plus 1 egg white
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups pecans, chopped fine 
14 soft caramel candies
3 tablespoons heavy cream

1. Combine flour, cocoa, and salt in bowl. With electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture until just combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, 1 hour.
2. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk egg whites in bowl until frothy. Place pecans in another bowl. Roll dough into 1-inch balls, dip in egg whites, then roll in pecans. Place balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Using 1/2-teaspoon measure, make indentation in center of each ball. Bake until set, about 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking.
3. Microwave caramels and cream in bowl, stirring occasionally, until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes. Once cookies are removed from oven, gently re-press existing indentations. Fill each with 1/2 teaspoon caramel mixture. Cool 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 3: Red Velvet Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Day 3: Red Velvet Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies from I Am Baker

Another holiday favorite whenever I throw a holiday dessert party or give out holiday goodie bags is Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies. I have friends who always go for these first just to make sure they have room for them. Which I think is pretty funny. For the holidays, I went with I Am Baker's Christmas twist of making a red velvet version. Just as easy to make and the color scheme screams, "Hello, Christmas, what took you so long?"

To keep the red color front and center, I rolled the cookie dough balls in red sanding sugar ($5.95 from Williams Sonoma in the little jar beats the finer "crystals" of the cheap grocery store red sugar) before baking them. I thought they looked a bit prettier that way plus I like the additional crunch and sweetness from the sanding sugar.

1 bag Hershey's Kisses
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter 
1 1/3 cups sugar
1 egg 
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla 
1 teaspoon red gel food coloring (I used Schilling red food coloring)
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa 
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda 
pinch salt
1/4 cup red sanding sugar

1. Beat butter, peanut butter, and sugar in stand mixer for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Reduce speed to low and add egg, milk, vanilla and red food coloring. Mix for about 30 seconds to incorporate, then increase speed to medium high and blend until light and fluffy.
2. In a separate bowl, sift cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to sugar mixture and beat until just combined.
3. Shape dough into 1" balls. Chill for at least 1 hour. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. 
4. Pour red sanding sugar into shallow bowl. Roll dough balls in sanding sugar and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart.
5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. While cookies are baking, unwrap Hershey Kisses. When cookies are done, remove from oven and immediately press Hershey Kiss lightly into the center of each cookie. Cool to room temperature.

Pumpkin Crumb Cake

Pumpkin Crumb Cake - made November 23, 2014 from Ldylvbgr

Interspersing this with the 12 Days of Christmas Cookies posts (don't worry, tomorrow's post will be the Day 3 cookie) since I made this earlier and want to get it posted.

If, in the rush of the holidays, you don’t have time to get fancy and want to do an easy but delicious cake, here you go. Making the streusel is the “hardest” part and even that isn’t difficult. Make it first so once you have the cake batter made and spread evenly in the pan, you can just drop the streusel over it. Try squeezing the streusel into big clumps with your hands then breaking the clumps into chunks before dropping it on top of the cake batter. I’ve always preferred chunky streusel to streusel dust.

The original directions say to bake this for 55 minutes so I thought I would be safe if I popped it into the oven and went to do a 30-minute workout. I swear I was only gone for 35 minutes, 40 max (hey, I had to cool down and wipe the sweat off), but when I did the toothpick test on the cake, the toothpick came out clean which was panic time as I thought I had overbaked it. 55 minutes, my left eye. Fortunately, it turns out I had baked it just right because once the cake had cooled and I tried a piece, the texture was soft and fluffy like a good little cake and was still moist. Score. I also liked the streusel crumb topping although next time I think I would add a bit more butter and brown sugar just to make more topping. Because you can’t have too much streusel.

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup canned pureed pumpkin
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Topping
2/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons rolled oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
6 tablespoons unsalted butter

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 9 baking pan with foil and spray lightly with nonstick cooking spray.
2. To make the topping, combine 2/3 cup oats, flour, sugar, and cinnamon in processor. Add butter and cut in until crumbly. Transfer mixture to medium bowl. Stir in remaining 2 tablespoons oats. Set aside. 
3. Sift the flour, pumpkin spice, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. 
4. In a separate bowl, beat the butter with an electric mixer until smooth. Gradually beat in the sugar and 1 egg at a time. Add the pumpkin and vanilla extract to the wet batter mix. 
5. Gradually beat the dry ingredients into the batter. Slowly add the milk and stir in the walnuts, if using. 
6. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and spread with the topping. Bake the cake until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, about 55 minutes (check at 40 minutes and every 5 minutes after that). 
7. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Turn the cake out onto a rack and cool completely.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 2: Holiday Caramel Treats

Day 2: Holiday Caramel Treats

There are two things I love about these "cookies" and what makes them suitable for the holidays. First, they're just cute to look at. In a sea of desserts, they stand out both because of the rounded toothpick speared through each one and because they can be garnished as cheerily as you wish, either with red and green sprinkles or, as I prefer, with chopped toasted almonds.

Second, the round cookie balls are easy and quick to make, always a good thing during the holidays when you're likely pressed for time. And lastly (okay, make that three things), if you have little helpers or even big helpers, this can be a multi-person baking project you can all share in and that's part of the fun of the holidays, right? Not just eating the final product but the memories you make in making them together. One person can make the dough, multiple people can roll into balls and the same helpers can spear the toothpicks in, dip into melted caramel and roll in sprinkles or nuts. I originally blogged about these here so please check that post for my original notes. Otherwise, here's the recipe - enjoy.

Cookies

¾ cup butter, softened

½ cup powdered sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ teaspoon liquid maple flavor or almond extract

Dash of salt

2 cups all-purpose flour

48 round wooden toothpicks

Coating

36 caramels, unwrapped

¼ cup milk

1 cup finely chopped peanuts, walnuts or almonds

1.   Heat oven to 350⁰F.  Have baking sheets ready.

2.   To make cookies, beat butter and powdered sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer until fluffy.  Beat in egg, vanilla, maple flavor and salt.  On low speed, gradually beat in flour.  Form dough into forty-eight balls, about 1 inch in diameter.  Place 1 ½” apart on baking sheets.  Bake 12 to 14 minutes until balls are set, but not browned (tops may crack slightly).  Insert a toothpick into center of each.  Cool on wire racks.

3.   To make coating, melt caramels in milk, stirring often.  Keep warm over a pan of hot, not boiling water.  Dip each cookie into the caramel mixture, coating completely and drawing bottom of cookie across edge of pan to remove excess caramel.  Dip bottom of each in chopped nuts.  Place on sheet of wax paper to set.  Store loosely covered; best served within 24 hours.

12 Days of Christmas Cookies - Day 1: Copycat Panera Chocolate Chip Cookies

Copycat Panera Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough November 16, 2014 from The Pinning Mama

Let's kick off December with cookies. Over the next 12 posts (or so), I'm going to blog some of my favorite cookies for the holidays (and often year round). Some will be seasonal suitable for the occasion while others will simply just be great cookies to make for holiday parties, social gatherings, care packages and gifts. Regardless, they're my go-to recipes for the massive amount of baking I do during the holidays. And if you want to know what I mean by massive, here's a picture of the inventory from one of my pantry shelves that I took while I was taking stock to see what I already had and what I still needed (mini chocolate chips in case you were wondering from the picture). Have to get ready for my baking season.

Not pictured: 72-ounce bag of Tollhouse semisweet chocolate chips

As you may know, I’m a sucker for a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. Even though I have at least 3 I love (Bakery-StyleChocolate Chip Cookies, Alton Brown’s Chocolate Chip Cookies and Averie’s Softand Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies), I still keep trying out new recipes. My friend, Annie the Baker, says it’s because I haven’t found the perfect one. I say it’s because I’ve found 3 perfect ones and I still have recipe ADD. Plus any excuse to make chocolate chip cookies…. Even though chocolate chip cookies are not really seasonal like pumpkin pie, gingerbread men, snowflake cookies or anything eggnog, when I unleash my holiday baking extravaganza every December, chocolate chip cookies still rank as a top favorite and request amongst my baked goods recipients. Some things are just timeless. 

I have very picky requirements for trying out new chocolate chip cookie recipes though. If a picture accompanies the recipe, the pictured cookie must be thick, chubby and moist-looking like it’s chewy, not cakey. If it’s so thin that the chocolate chips make bumps out of the flattened cookie, I move on. It also must be a purist cookie, i.e. no nuts, oatmeal, coconut, peanut butter or any other foreign substance. I’ll still bake with those ingredients but then they’re not a chocolate chip cookie. Butter, sugar, brown sugar, flour, eggs, leavening, salt and chocolate chips. Maybe something innocuous like a vanilla pudding mix. Otherwise, that’s it and the only difference between the recipes is the proportion of ingredients and the baking method.

This copycat Panera recipe met my criteria so I added it to my cookie experiments. I used mini chocolate chips as the recipe suggested. I’ve seen that suggestion in many recipes; the point is you actually get more chocolate in each bite since the mini chips are plentiful and more evenly distributed throughout the cookie. I have no issues with that concept but, being a milk chocolate-crazed eater, I wish they made mini chocolate chips in milk chocolate instead of just semisweet. I’m sure if I looked hard enough I could find milk chocolate mini chocolate chips but I’m going to guess they’d cost me half an arm more than the normal Tollhouse mini chips.

Let's cut to the chase on this one. Remember how I said I had 3 favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes? Make that 4. Yep, this one is amazing too. The dough handles easily and does not spread very much, Not only did it remain thick and chewy but it was also moist and had the perfect texture. I didn't even mind that the chips were semisweet. This is a good cookie. Plus, look at 'em. Cute, right?? Just make sure you underbake these or you won't get the wonderful, moist, chewy texture pictured here.

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 bag mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Mix butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. 
2. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until well combined. 
3. Combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt and mix together. 
4. Mix dry ingredients slowly into wet ingredients and blend well. Add in mini chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed. 
5. Using ¼ cup measure, scoop out dough and form into a thick disc (not a ball as these don't spread much). Continue until all dough is portioned out. Place dough in the freezer for 2 hours or overnight.
6. Place frozen cookies onto parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for 15 minutes.  Let cool 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling