Chocolate and Caramel Cookies.  The perfect combination of salty-ness, chocolate and creamy caramel. These are on my favorites list for sure.   Have an awesome weekend!

Chocolate Caramel Cookies
recipe makes about 3 dozen

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cups cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 (3.2 ounce) box instant chocolate pudding mix
1 package Rolo’s Chocolate Candies

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugars. Slowly add the eggs and vanilla. Slowly add the pudding mix and mix until smooth. Gradually add the dry ingredients until well incorporated. Chill the dough for about 30 minutes in the fridge. Using an ice cream scoop, scoop equal balls of dough and place one rolo in the center of the dough. Cover and roll into a smooth ball. Place cookie dough balls onto cookie sheets lined with parchment paper and bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Don’t overbake.

Hint: If you don’t have the pudding mix, don’t fret, just go without it.  I like to use it in my cookie doughs only because I love the texture it brings.  It makes for a more substantial cookie.  My opinion only of course.  Every one has their own.  :)

Enjoy!

My Mom challenged me to try my hand at French Macaroons.  This was my attempt.  Honestly – I’ve never even tried one before this, so I have nothing to compare it to.  These were surprisingly tasty.  They were light and chewy and paired with Nutella as the filling were the perfect combination.  I used Almond Meal, which is really just ground up almonds.  I liked the nutty flavor and texture.  They were pretty easy too.

So if you are feeling daring, give these a try.  I have heard that they can be quite temperamental, but I didn’t have a problem.  The hardest part was piping them onto the cookie sheets and trying to make them flat and perfect.  I’m sure with some more practice I can manage to perfect them a bit more.

Happy Baking!

French Macaroons

-1 cup almond meal or almond flour (I found this the cheapest at a local health foods store that sold bulk items) (or you can just grind up your own using almonds)
-1 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
-4 egg whites, at room temperature (it is best to use aged egg whites, I set mine out on the counter in a glass bowl covered with plastic wrap for about 48 hours)
-4 tablespoons granulated sugar
-food coloring paste if you want to tint it (I used a lavender, which people actually seemed pretty unsure of, they thought it was going to taste like grape or something)

In a medium bowl, sift the almond meal and the confectioners’ sugar together. Set aside. Using a mixer, whip the egg whites on medium speed for about 1-2 minutes. It will get foamy and start to thicken a bit. Start adding the granulated sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time and continue to whip the egg whites while you are slowly adding the remaining tablespoons. Once all the sugar is added in add your food coloring. Continue whipping the whites for another minute or two until they become glossy and shiny. Remove from the mixer and fold in about half of the flour/sugar mixture. When it is almost all folded in, add the remaining flour/sugar mixture. Fold until the mixture is smooth and stiff.

Cover cookie sheets with parchment paper. Using a piping bag with a small round tip, pipe out the batter into small rounds about 1 inch in diameter. Try to minimize the peaks that naturally form. To flatten them, simply dip your finger tip into water and flatten the peaks. Shake the cookie sheets a bit to get out some of the air bubbles that might have been in the batter.

Let the cookies rest before you bake them about 20 minutes, or until the batter is not longer tacky when you touch it.

Bake one cookie sheet at a time on 300 degrees for about 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. I used Nutella to sandwich in between the cookies, but you can use any kind of filling. Raspberry preserves, lemon curd, chocolate ganache, use your imagination!

I know I have an endless supply of Chocolate Mint Cookies here on my blog, but I have to say these are probably at the top of my list these days, so I had to share.  They are just my basic pudding cookie recipe, but with a some extra ingredients to make them sooooo good.  If you love mint oreos, you will want to stop what you are doing and make these right now.
Seriously.

Have an awesome week!  Me? I am just hoping the weather will actually be warm so I can get some sun and survive the rest of this year.  I swear we have had winter weather for the past 9 months, and it is getting O.L.D.  And when I am cold, I bake.  So the extra 15 pounds I can’t get off my body makes perfect sense!  

Happy Baking friends!

Chocolate Mint Pudding Cookies
makes about 3 dozen

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 (3.4) ounce package instant chocolate pudding
1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
12 Mint Oreos, crushed coarsely

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda. Set aside. Using a mixer, cream the butter and sugars until creamy. Add eggs one at a time. Add vanilla and pudding mix. Slowly add the flour mixture until well incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and crushed oreos.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and using an ice cream scoop, scoop out dough onto cookies sheet. I roll my dough to make a perfect ball. (they look prettier that way) Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes or until set. Don’t overcook.

A little tip from me to you: I roll out all the dough while my first batch is baking and place them in the fridge until they harden and set a bit. I then put them into a ziplock bag and put them in the freezer. That way, when naptime is on, I can put a few in the oven, just for me when the need arises. You are welcome!