Mocha-Toffee Truffle Bars

Hello. Today has been a crazy day! The weather has been crazy! We have been under a tornado watch all day and we have had heavy rain, hail, high winds and tornado's. Thankfully the tornado's did not come into my town, but I pray for everyone that was hit by a tornado today. Please be safe if these storms have not hit you. What awful weather we are having for March!

Today I wanted to give you guys a dessert. I made these as part of my cookie extravaganza and they were amazing! I came across this recipe in one of my many holiday cookie magazines from Betty Crocker.  Don't be afraid of the mocha taste, its really not that strong. These where chewy because of the toffee and have a really nice chocolatey taste. These are a must try and great for any occasion. Here is how you do it.

Not as pretty as the Betty Crocker picture, but trust me, these are worth it. Look at that toffee topping and chocolate middle. So good! The other cookies are chai spiced cookies. I'll show those another day.

Ingredients/recipe

Recipe adapted from Betty Crocker

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® sugar cookie mix
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated)
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 package (11.5 oz) milk chocolate chips (2 cups)
1 package (8 oz) toffee bits (1 1/2 cups)
1 cup chopped honey roasted peanuts
   
Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, melted butter and egg until soft dough forms. Spread dough in bottom of a 9x13-inch ungreased pan. Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until light golden brown. 
While the dough bottom is cooking, heat the sweetened condensed milk uncovered on High for 1 minute. Stir in espresso powder and mix until dissolved. I had to reheat mine to finish getting it dissolved.
Sprinkle warm crust with chocolate chips, toffee bits and peanuts. Pour the sweetened condensed milk mixture evenly over peanuts.
Bake 23 to 27 minutes or until top is golden brown and bubbly in center. Cool completely, about 2 hours. For bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows. Store covered at room temperature.

 I want these right now! I hope you guys try these and enjoy!
 

Happy December 1st, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Can you believe it is December 1^st already?! I am still getting my decorations up! Talk about the holidays being overwhelming. I feel like my list to do is getting longer and longer. What I really need to do is get on the ball and start my holiday baking, which still needs to be done. I am really trying to get my Christmas decorations up, so hopefully after this weekend I will start. 

Since we are talking about baking here is a cookie I tried during the summer. This is the cookie I made for my Mint chocolate chip cookie ice cream. I found the recipe from one of the blogs I visit Brown Eyed Baker and I really loved them. They stayed moist and chewy and I even messed up. I was adding just an egg yolk when I noticed the white got into the batter because I was taking the yolk out wrong. I also didn’t weight my ingredients ( I don’t have a scale) and I made them into normal size cookies. They still came out great and here is my version!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Original recipe found here

2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (10 5/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Mix the butter and sugars until blended. Beat in the eggs, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips.

4. Roll about 2 tbs of dough into a ball or scoop out with a cookie scoop.

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden brown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets and enjoy but in a tightly sealed container.

Enjoy

Halloween Food Fun!!!

Hey guys whats cooking? I hope everyone has fun this weekend and just relax, enjoy and be safe. You should also get in that kitchen and make some fun treats!!! here are a few to get you started. English Muffins Mummies, Worms in a cup, Ants on a Log, and a Candy Corn mixture!! These are easy, fun and tasty!

English Muffins Mummies

Split English Muffins, put on tomato sauce or pizza sauce, add mozzarella cheese and olives. Bake at 375 until cheese is melted about 15 minutes.

My faces didn't turn out great, but its still fun!

Worms in a cup


Make any pudding mixture you want, add to cups. Add some crushed Oreo's. Top with cool whip then finish with more crushed Oreos and gummy worms.

Ants on a Log


Wipe and cut celery. Add peanut butter to top and place raisins on top of Peanut Butter

The Ants on the Log are next to the pumpkin and the Candy Corn Mixture is next to those.

Candy Corn Mixture

Mix Candy Corn with Peanuts--yum!----See picture above.