S'more Cookies

These are fantastic and unique cookie! I love the graham cracker crust and chewy marshmallows inside the cookie dough and then when you bite down into that chunk of chocolate...heavenly. In the first batch I made the graham cracker burnt, but I really liked it, tasted like a burnt s'more, which i happen to love. The second batch I used a little less cookie dough and that seemed to do the trick. 

Make some today! 

• 11 Tablespoons butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup mini marshmallows
• 3 regular sized Hershey's bars, broken into pieces (I used the fun size Hershey's)
• 1-2 packages graham crackers, broken into squares

In your stand up mixer, cream the butter with the sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and combine on low. Fold in the chocolate chips and marshmallows. Chill dough in fridge for at least 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350. Line your cookie sheets with parchment papers (marshmallows will stick to your cookie sheet so don't skip this step!) Lay out your graham crackers side by side on the pans as close as possible, they should be touching. Place a scoop of cookie dough (about a tablespoon full). Bake for 5 minutes and then remove from oven and top each cookie with a Hershey's. Bake for another 6-8 minutes or until the cookies edges begin to turn a golden brown. Remove to wire rack to cool. To cut, make sure cookies are completely cook and cut down the seam of the graham cracker squares.

Makes about 2 dozen.

Recipe from:

http://www.the-girl-who-ate-everything.com/2011/06/smores-cookies.html

S'more Cupcakes

These are the perfect summer treat, and bonus, you get to use a torch.

• Graham Cracker Layer:
• 1 ½ cups crushed graham crackers
• ⅓ cup butter, melted
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• Chocolate Cupcake layer:
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¾ cup boiling water
• Toasted Marshmallow topping:
• 8 egg whites
• 2 cups sugar
• ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• Hershey Chocolate pieces 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line your muffin tin with 2 dozen liners. Pulse graham crackers in your food processor, add butter and sugar and mix until well mixed. Press 1 full Tablespoon onto the bottom of each liner. Put to the side. Make the batter: in your stand up mixer add all the dry ingredients and whisk well. In a separate bowl mix together the eggs, buttermilk, oil and vanilla. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Slowly add in the hot water. Mix just until incorporated, do not overmix. Scoop unto graham cracker layer until about ⅔ full. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until cooked through and bounce back when lightly touched. Place one bar of hershey chocolate in the middle of each hot cupcake. Let melt and spread around chocolate. Place cupcakes to the side and finish cooling. Make the marshmallow topping: put the egg whites, sugar and cream of tartar in the heat proof bowl of your mixer. Place the bowl over a saucepan with boiling water. Whisk constantly until sugar dissolves and is warm to touch. Do not let it get hot. Place bowl back on your stand up mixer and using the whisk attachment, whisk, starting on low and then gradually going up to high. Mix for 8-10 minutes. Or until it forms stiff peaks. Add vanilla and mix until incorporated. Place marshmallow frosting into your bag fitted with a 1M tip and pipe onto your cooled cupcakes. Torch and place a hershey chocolate piece into each cupcake. 

Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes.

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Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes

These might be one of my favorite cupcakes. I could probably sit down and eat a whole bowl of just the custard filling. There just so good. Try some for yourself!

• Custard filling:
• 1 ⅓ cups heavy cream
• 3 egg yolks
• ⅓ cup sugar
• 4 teaspoons cornstarch
• 2 Tablespoons butter, cut into 2 pieces
• 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
• Cupcakes:
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 ½ cups flour
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• 1 ½ sticks butter, at room temp and cut into small pieces
• Ganache:
• 8 ounces chocolate, chopped (semi-sweet or dark)
• ⅔ cup heavy cream
• ¼  cup light corn syrup
• ½  teaspoon vanilla

Make the pastry cream by bringing the heavy cream to a simmer over medium heat in a saucepan. In a small bowl, whisk the egg yolks, sugar, and cornstarch together until pale yellow and thick. Slowly stir some of the hot cram into the egg mixture, then return the whole bowl in the saucepan and cook, whisking constantly, until thick and glossy, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter. Transfer to a small bowl, cover with plastic wrap, pressing directly to surface of custard. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. 

Make the cupcakes: preheat oven to 350 degrees and line your cupcake pan with cupcake liners. In your stand up mixer, mix the flour, sugar, and baking powder. Beat in the butter, adding 1 Tablespoon at a time. Continue to beat until the mixture looks like moist crumbs. Beat in the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla, mixing well. Scoop into your prepared liners, filling about 3/4" full. Bake for 18 minutes. Let sit for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely. 

Make the ganache: Microwave all the ganache ingredients together, whisking often, until melted and smooth, about 1-2 minutes. Let glaze cool until it's thick but pourable. About 30 minutes. 

To fill the cupcakes with the custard: scoop out the inside of the cupcake by cutting around the inner edge of the top of each cupcake, removing a cone-shaped piece from each cupcake. Fill with 2 Tablespoons of the custard, trim and replace the cupcake top and set back on wire rack over wax paper. Spread ganache over cupcakes.
Makes about 2 dozen cupcakes.

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

One of my all-time favorite cookies. Chewy with the crunch of the M&M's, makes it one great cookie!

• 2 cups flour (¼ cup flour added for higher altitude)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, at room temp
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons milk
• 1 1/2 cups M&M's

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper, set aside. In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream the butter, sugars and peanut butter, mixing until smooth, about 3-4 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla and milk and mix on low until completely combined. Slowly add the flour, salt and baking soda. Fold in the M&M's. Drop the cookie dough by rounded Tablespoons on cookie sheets and bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden around the edges. Let cool on wire rack.
Makes about 3 dozen.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Tiramisu

This dessert is a lot like a tiramisu, but instead of layers of ladyfingers there are delicious chocolate chip cookies. And in between those layers of chocolate chip cookies? A creamy mascarpone mocha mousse. And it's perfect for these hot steamy days when you don't want to turn the oven on.

• 2 cups cold heavy cream
• 12oz container mascarpone cheese
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup coffee liqueur, such as Kahlua
• 2 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 24oz chocolate chip cookies

Using the whisk attachment of your mixer, combine the heavy cream, mascarpone, sugar, coffee liqueur, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and vanilla. Mix on low speed to combine and then slowly raise the speed, until the mixture forms firm peaks.  To assemble the dessert: arrange cookies in a 9x13 dish fitting as many as you can. Spread half of the mixture onto pan. Place another layer of cookies and then the remaining mousse. Top with sprinkles, cocoa powder or chocolate shavings. Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight (the longer you refrigerate the better it will taste!).
Serves 12-16 people.

Red Velvet White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies

 

• 1 cup butter (2 sticks), softened
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 5 heaping Tablespoons cocoa powder
• ½ - 1 teaspoon red food gel (if using liquid food dye use 1 Tablespoon)
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup chopped macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with cooking oil and set aside. In the bowl of your stand-up mixer: beat the butter, both sugars, cocoa powder and red food gel until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Slowly add the flour, baking soda, salt, chips and nuts. Using a medium size cookie scoop, scoop out cookie dough. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until set. Cool for 5 minutes on cookie sheet before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Gluten Free Double Chocolate Cupcakes

These gluten free cupcakes are so good, you won't even be able to tell there's no flour in them! 

• 2 ½ cups gluten free all-purpose flour, I use Bob's Red Mill
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup cocoa powder
• 1 heaping teaspoon Xanthan gum
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup buttermilk
• ½ cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• ¾ cup boiling water

Chocolate Buttercream

• 1 cup butter, softened
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 lb bag of powdered sugar
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla
• 2 Tablespoons heavy cream (or more as needed)

In the bowl of your stand up mixer whisk together your dry ingredients until well blended. Slowly add the buttermilk, oil, eggs and vanilla. Add hot water. Mix on low speed, just until incorporated. Careful not to over mix. Pour into prepared cupcake liners and bake at 350 degrees F for 18-20 minutes. Or until tops bounce back when touched. Let cool and then frost.

To make buttercream: beat butter on high until creamy. Slowly add powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add vanilla and heavy cream and mix until creamy. Adding more heavy cream until you get the desired consistency. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes.

Makes 30 cupcakes.