Craziness.

That pretty much sums up what’s been going on here lately. Between working, general life stuff, and gardening (read: trying not to kill plants), I’ve spent very little time baking.

I haven’t even used a single stick of butter in the past 3 weeks. Tragic.

Another reason I haven’t been baking sweets could be due to the fact I have a bridesmaid dress fitting approaching rapidly. Yep, that might have something to do with it.

However, I needed a dessert to take to a dinner party so, I settled on toffee nut squares. They have the texture of a chocolate chip cookie bar, but with a toffee-nut flavor and they are a cinch to throw together. They were a hit at the party and disappeared quickly!

Toffee Nut Bars
adapted from Great Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm
2 cups lightly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons medium-fine chopped walnuts, divided
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 10″x15″ jelly roll pan.

In a small mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until lightened in color. Add the brown sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, then add the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in three additions. Mix just to incorporate.

Fold in 1 cup of walnuts and the chocolate chips using a rubber spatula. Spread the mixture in the pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts on top.

Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until the sides are lightly browned. Do not over-bake. Cool for 1 hour, then cut to desired size and shape.

Note: Because I love chewy cookie bars, I under-baked mine by about 3 minutes.

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© Stormie for BiteSizeBaker.com, 2010. | Permalink | One comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chocolate, Cookies & Bars, Toffee, walnuts

I wouldn’t call myself a chocolate chip cookie expert, but I’ve tasted many a cookie in my day. And, I have to say, these are by far the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever eaten or baked. They are everything a great chocolate chip cookie should be; slightly crisp on the outer edges with a soft, chewy center. The chocolate chip to cookie ratio is perfect. I hate nothing more than to taste a chocolate chip cookie with only 2 chocolate chips. Kinda defeats the purpose, don’t you think?

Although these cookies do require some planning ahead (they have to chill out in the fridge for 6 hours), they are well worth the wait. You can also refrigerate them for up to 5 days (in an airtight container) so you can bake a batch whenever the urge hits.

It was all I could do to get the cookie dough from the mixing bowl to the baking sheets. It was quite a struggle. While they were baking, the smell of brown sugar and chocolate was pleasantly wafting through the kitchen and into the rest of the house. Ahh, pure happiness!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, soft but cool
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 2/3 cups (16 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli)

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda together and set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating until each is incorporated. The mixture will look light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat for 5 seconds.

Add half of the flour mixture and mix for 15 seconds. Add the remaining flour mixture and beat until just combined.

Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold in the chocolate chips.

Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for 6 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Scoop out dough in 2-tablespoon-size balls. Shape the dough into perfect balls and place them on the prepared baking sheets, about 1 inch apart. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, rotating the pans once during the cooking time, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown and the tops start to darken.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool on a wire rack for 5 minutes. Use a spatula to transfer the cookies to the rack; cool completely.

Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Tip: Once the cookie dough comes out of the fridge, and the cookies are formed, try to get them in the oven quickly so the dough doesn’t have time to soften. This could cause them to flatten out while baking.

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© Stormie for BiteSizeBaker.com, 2010. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cookies & Bars

Warning: If you are on any kind of diet, you may want to look away.

I first made these bars over the Christmas holidays last year with the intention of blogging about them. Well, let’s just say, they didn’t make it that far. They seemed to disappear before I could get pictures. So obviously I had to bake them again. For the sake of pictures, of course.

The bars look so sinful and taste incredible! They have a blondie type texture with chocolate chunks, carmel pieces, mini marshmallows and butterscotch chips mixed in. And it doesn’t stop there, oh no, right before you bake them, the batter is topped off with even more chocolate, carmel, marshmallows and butterscotch. Oh yeah!

I’m not sure why they are called Rocky Ledge bars but quite frankly, I don’t really care what they are called when they taste as wonderful as they do!

Rocky Ledge Bars
adapted from Martha Stewart

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
2 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 cups packed dark-brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
18 soft caramel-candy cubes, coarsely chopped
1 cup miniature marshmallows
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used semi-sweet chocolate chunks)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Lightly butter a 9-13-inch baking pan and line with parchment paper, allowing an overhang on the longer sides. Lightly butter parchment with butter (not overhang).

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, salt and baking powder; set aside.

Mix butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix until combined. Mix in flour mixture until just combined, being sure not to over-mix. Fold in half of each of the caramels, marshmallows, butterscotch chips and chocolate.

Pour batter in pan and spread evenly. Distribute the remaining caramels, marshmallows, butterscotch chips and chocolate on top. Bake until golden brown or a cake tester comes out clean, about 35 minutes. Let cool. Lift out of pan and move to baking sheet. Refrigerate 30 minutes or until set.

Remove the parchment and cut into pieces. Store in an airtight container at room temp for up to 1 week.

Note: the original recipe called for white chocolate but I omitted it. If you prefer, add 1 cup white chocolate, coarsely chopped, in with the rest of the goodies (1/2 cup in batter, 1/2 cup on top).

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© Stormie for BiteSizeBaker.com, 2010. | Permalink | 13 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Blondies, butterscotch, caramel, chocolate, cookie bars, Cookies & Bars, marshmallow

Need to warm up? These chewy Dark Chocolate Chipotle Cookies will certainly help. The wonderful dark chocolate taste comes through first, followed closely by the kick of the chipotle. Such a great flavor combination!

The recipe originally comes from Nantucket Cookie Company via the Food Network and it is the January Cookie Carnival recipe. I halved the quanity mainly because I just couldn’t bring myself to use 4 sticks of butter. I tried, I just couldn’t do it. In the end, my hips thank me, I’m sure of it.

The recipe calls for crushed dried chipotle peppers but my grocery store was out (and has been for a while) so I substituted with ground chipotle powder. Being cautious because I didn’t want to make them too spicy, I started with 1/8 tsp and worked up from there, according to taste. The final amount I used was somewhere between 1/2 tsp and 1 tsp. Really accurate, I know. After tasting the cookies, I do think I could have added even more. The taste was very subtle but it added a lot to the overall flavor of the cookies. I plan on trying these again when my grocery store gets the crushed dried peppers in stock.

I recommend trying these warm, right out of the oven, with a glass of milk or some hot chocolate!!

Dark Chocolate Chipotle Cookies
adapted from Food Network (Courtesy of Nantucket Cookie Company)

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar, plus 1/4 for topping
1/4 cup cocoa powder sifted
1 teaspoon crushed, dried chipotle peppers (or Ground Chipotle Chili powder)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons water
4 oz (0.25 lb) high-quality bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
3/4 cup high-quality bittersweet chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl; set aside.

With an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter until smooth, scraping sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the sugars, sifted cocoa powder and chipotle peppers and mix at medium speed until light and fluffy (about 1 minute). Add eggs, vanilla and water. Beat at medium speed until combined, about 30 seconds. Add the slightly cooled melted chocolate and mix again, scraping the bowl to evenly mix everything.

Add the flour mixture, and mix until well incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and mix briefly (about 5 seconds).

Refrigerate the dough in the bowl until cool and fudge-like, but not solid, for approximately 1 hour. You can use an ice cream scoop to create large, even sized cookies. These cookie-dough balls can also be frozen at this point, and baked right from the freezer whenever the need arises.

When ready to bake, press the tops of the cookie dough-balls into the sugar, and then top with 2 to 3 pieces of dark chocolate chips. Place onto parchment-lined baking sheets, allowing space for the cookies to spread (Note: I did about 4-6 cookies per sheet because they spread out quite a bit). Bake for 12 to 14 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven when they are still a little underdone. Slide the parchment paper with the cookies onto a cooling rack and allow to cool before removing from parchment.

Made about 2 dozen large cookies.

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© Stormie for BiteSizeBaker.com, 2010. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Chipotle, chocolate, cookie carnival, Cookies & Bars