Giant M&M Cookies

August 30, 2012 by 28 Comments

Notice anything different?! This little blog got a big face lift and its very own .com! Huge shout out to Amy at Lexilyn Studios for creating the new site! I’m really happy with the way it has turned out and I hope the new features make it easier for you to find what you’re looking for! I’m doing what I can to have the blogspot.com traffic redirected, but in the mean time you may want to update your bookmarks! Also, if you come across anything that doesn’t seem to be working right, please let me know so we can fix it.

In celebration of the new look, I made GIANT Bakery Style M&M Cookies! Like the new blog layout, these cookies are bright and colorful. I love the chewy texture mixed with the crunch of the candy coated M&M’s. These cookies are sure to put a smile on your face!

 

Giant Bakery Style M&M Cookies

Ingredients

2 cups plus 2 Tbsp flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 sticks (12 Tbsp) salted butter, melted and cooled*
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup mini m&ms regular m&ms are also OK

*If you use unsalted butter, add a 1/2 tsp of salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, stir together the flour and baking. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until well combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla, beating until combined. Gradually stir in the flour until it forms a dough, then mix in the m&ms.

To make giant cookies, take 1/4 cup of dough and shape into a ball. Place the ball on the cookie sheet and press down slightly with the bottom of a cup or measuring cup to flatten (for smaller cookies, portion into 2 Tbsp balls).* Be sure to leave several inches between cookies to allow for spreading!

Bake for 12-15 minutes (reduce to 8-10 minutes for smaller cookies) or until the edges start to turn golden brown, but the centers are still soft and puffy. Allow to cool on wire rack and enjoy with a big glass of milk!

Source: Cook’s Illustrated, as seen on Beantown Baker and How Sweet It Is

 

 

Filed Under: Cookies, Dessert Tagged With: , , , , ,

Easy Cinnamon Roll Muffins

August 16, 2012 by 9 Comments

When I was younger I used to love these prepackaged cinnamon roll muffin things. They might have even come in a low-fat version…. I can’t remember the brand name (maybe it’s Hostess?), but man did I love those little devils. I can even recall coming across them in a vending machine and feeling like I had won the lottery. Nowadays, I prefer my sweet treats to have ingredients that I can pronounce, but I can still appreciate the idea behind my old favorites.

A few weekends ago I lazily rolled out of bed well after 9 with a very strong craving for cinnamon rolls. Not wanting to wait hours for the whole process, I had to go on an internet search for something else to have with our eggs.Then I remembered something from my friend Josie’s blog. Sure enough, easy cinnamon roll muffins sounded perfect, and totally reminded me of the treats I used to eat.

What I really like about these is how quickly they come together, you don’t even have to preheat the oven! I also like how they still have light yeasty taste to go along with the cinnamon sweetness. No, they are not a perfect replacement for real cinnamon rolls. But they are a still a great, quick, easy, sweet treat.


Easy Cinnamon Roll Muffins

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
4 teaspoons instant yeast*
2/3 cup warm milk (100-110 degrees F)
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Filling/Topping
2 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
2/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pinch of ground cardamom

Icing
1 cup powdered sugar
3-4 Tablespoons half and half or milk

*Some have felt that the yeast flavor was very strong. If you are worried about that, you can try reducing the amount to 3 tsp (1 Tbsp). I haven’t tried it personally, so I can’t stand behind it 100%, but I don’t think it would affect the rise too much. 
 
Directions
Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin.

In a glass measuring cup, stir together the yeast and milk. While the yeast is dissolving, sift together the flour, sugar, and salt in to a large bowl. Pour the milk/yeast, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, and egg in to the bowl. Stir until smooth.

Divide the batter evenly among the 12 cups. Set aside and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

While you are waiting, add the ingredients for the filling to a small bowl and combine with a fork, until crumbly. Divide the filling evenly among the 12 cups and gently swirl into the dough with the fork.

Place the muffin tin in a cold oven, then set the temperature for 350 degrees. Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean and centers spring back if lightly touched.

While allowing the muffins to slightly cool, stir together the powdered sugar and milk until smooth. Drizzle over warm muffins and serve.

These muffins taste best warm, so serve them immediately or reheat in the microwave for a few seconds.

As seen on Pink Parsley, originally from Joy the Baker and Baking Bites

 

Filed Under: Breakfast Treats, Yeast Doughs Tagged With: , , , , ,

Salted Caramel Sauce

August 2, 2012 by 2 Comments

I know I just posted a recipe for Dulce de Leche but can you really have too many different kinds of caramel? The answer is no. You can’t ever have too many kinds of caramel.

Salted Caramel is pretty popular right now and for good reason. If you’re new to the salted craze you may think it’s a strange addition. But don’t be scared. The salt really takes the caramel, and anything it touches, to a whole new level. This sauce is amazing on apple slices, ice cream, pies, or straight up on a spoon. It’s also the perfect ingredient to take a special dessert to the next level (spoiler alert for tomorrows post!).

You might think caramel is hard to make, and if your making candy it’s can be a bit more challenging, but for this sauce it’s really not hard at all. You won’t believe how quickly it all comes together. And I’m including a boat load of pictures to help you along the way.

 

Salted Caramel Sauce

Ingredients
1 cup white sugar
6 Tbsp unsalted good quality butter (I sprung for the President!) 
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tsp sea salt, divided

Directions 
Spread the sugar in a thin layer in a thick bottomed pan over medium heat. Leave undisturbed until the sugar around the edges starts to melt. Give the pan a swirl to redistribute the sugar. Repeat a few times. When most of the sugar has melted, you can give it a stir with a wooden spoon. When all of the sugar has melted and it is a dark golden amber color, remove from the heat.

When the melted sugar is off the heat, add the butter and stir. It will foam up. Stir until melted. Once the butter has melted entirely, pour in the cream and whisk/stir until you have a smooth sauce. Stir in half the salt then allow to cool completely. Once cool, stir in the other half of the salt.

Can be store in a covered container in the fridge for about 2 weeks.


Sugar in a thin layer in pan
 
Sugar starting to melt

Giving the pan a swirl, sugar continuing to melt
Sugar is a dark golden brown/amber color so I removed it from the heat
Adding the butter

Stirring the butter until it melts, see how it’s foaming up?
Adding the cream

Adding the salt

The whisk that I should have been using to stir the entire time

Filed Under: Dessert, Sauce/Condiment Tagged With: , , , , ,

Double Dose of Cookie Dough

May 31, 2011 by 2 Comments

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If you love cookie dough and kind of like cookie dough ice cream but usually find yourself just picking out all of the chunks of cookie dough and ending up with a bowl of melted ice cream (oh, that’s just me?), then this ice cream will knock your socks off. I knew pretty much the moment I saw this recipe that I would like it, but it some how managed to exceed my expectations. The double dose of brown sugar goodness is what I think really pushes it over the edge for me. I ate every last bite, not just the cookie dough, and I even had it for lunch, twice.

I’ve been inspired and now I want to play around with this a little bit and see if I can come up with a peanut butter cookie dough ice cream. Now that is something that I KNOW Jesse would enjoy (hurry home honey so I can feed you delicious things!!).


Double Dose Cookie Dough Ice Cream
(Adapted from Pink Parsley with props to Annie, David and Joy)

For the cookie dough:

5 Tbs salted butter, melted and cooled for a few minutes
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips (mini chips would really be best but the Target I was at didn’t have them)

For the ice cream:

3 Tbs unsalted butter
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups half and half (I just couldn’t bring myself to use heavy cream when I knew I would eat a ton of this ice cream)
4 large egg yolks
pinch of kosher salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup mini-chocolate chips – I used regular chips and a lot less(as you can tell from the pics) but next time I will definitely use more

In a medium bowl, stir together the butter and sugar until smooth. Mix in the flour and vanilla then fold in the chocolate chips. Wrap the mixture in plastic wrap, form into a disk, and refrigerate until firm.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter and brown sugar. Cook, stirring often, for 3 minutes, being careful not to burn it. Pour in the half and half whisking constantly until well blended with the sugar. Heat until simmering.

While the cream mixture is coming to a simmer, whisk egg yolks until light and fluffy in a medium bowl. Then, using a soup laddle, add a small amount of the cream mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly. Whisk in the rest of the cream mixture one laddle full at a time. Once all of the cream has been added, return the mixture to the saucepan, and cook over medium heat, stirring often, until it has thickened slightly and can coat the back of a spoon (170-175 degrees).

Remove from heat and pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl, that is sitting in an *ice bath. Stir in the vanilla, salt, and milk. Let sit in the ice bath until the bowl is no longer warm to the touch, then cover with plastic wrap and chill until very cold.

Freeze in an ice cream maker, according the manufacturers directions. During the last minute of freezing add the chocolate chips to the ice cream. Then while transferring to a storage container add chunks of chilled cookie dough through out.

Always store homemade ice cream in an container with a well fitting lid (I like the Ziploc brand quart containters with screw top lids) and a sheet of plastic wrap pressed directly onto the top of the ice cream.

*Whenever I make ice cream I always fill my sink with 3 inches of cold water, 2 cups of ice and teaspoon of kosher salt. Then I place a large glass bowl in the water so when I am ready to pour the custard into the bowl it is cold and the ice bath is ready to go.

Filed Under: Dessert, Ice Cream Tagged With: , , , ,