M&M Cookie Bars

I made some of these to take to a Christmas gift exchange using holiday M&M's.  Boy, are these good!  Recipe credit to fearlesshomemaker.com for the recipe.

M&M COOKIE BARS

Recipe Notes

You can use any M&M's of your choice, but these are great for a holiday theme (Christmas, Easter, Halloween, etc.) when M&M's makes the color-themed M&M's.

Ingredients

• 2-1/8 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 12 tbsp (1-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
• 1 c. brown sugar (lightly packed)
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 12 oz. bag M&M's candies, divided

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

2.  In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy.  Add the egg and egg yolk, continue mixing.

3.  Add the vanilla, salt, and baking soda.  Continue mixing.

4.  Add the flour and continue mixing.

5.  Add 1 c. of the M&M's.  Mix until just combined.

6.  Turn dough out into a greased 9x13 glass baking dish.  Press remaining M&M's into the dough.

7.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the tops of the bars are light golden brown.  Cool completely before cutting and serving.

Neiman-Marcus Bars (aka Texas Gold Bars)

Who can argue with five ingredients?  These have had many names over the years....Neiman-Marcus bars, Texas gold bars, chess squares, gooey butter cake.  This list goes on and on.  This is a classic recipe that is great for bake sales, teacher appreciation luncheons, or party buffets.

NEIMAN-MARCUS BARS

Recipe Notes

I often try to go lower fat in my recipes, but baking is one place that I typically do not skimp because it ruins the consistency and/or the taste of the goodies.  This is another case where I would say use full fat everything and just enjoy the ride.

Ingredients

• 1 box yellow cake mix (I used Pillsbury Butter Yellow)
• 3 eggs
• 8 oz. cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 lb. box of powdered sugar

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

2.  Spray a 9x13 inch glass dish with cooking spray.

3.  Mix cake mix, melted butter, and one egg until if forms a soft dough.

4.  Press dough into the bottom of greased dish.  

5.  Mix powdered sugar, cream cheese, and two eggs until smooth.  Pour on top of cake mix layer.

6.  Bake for 40-50 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Allow pan to cool completely, slice, and enjoy!

Soft Sugar Cookies with Sprinkles

I found these cookies on Pinterest and thought they looked interesting.  I made some for my three-year-olds this past weekend, thinking they would love the sprinkles.  Unfortunately, they wouldn't go near them (I have no idea why?!).  Instead I ate several of them and brought the rest up to the office today.  I thought they were fabulous. 

SOFT SUGAR COOKIES WITH SPRINKLES

Recipe Notes

These cookies will not look brown when it's time for them to come out of the oven.  They will be cooked through and will stay soft even after cooling!  Adapted from The Novice Chef blog.

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. cream of tartar
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. sprinkles

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or foil and set aside.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

3.  In a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla extract.  Add flour mixture and mix until completely combined. 

4.  Stir in sprinkles.  I would recommend doing this step by hand.

5.  Roll 1 tbsp. of dough into a ball for each cookie and place on prepared baking sheet.  Leave ~1 inch between cookies to allow for minor spreading.

6.  Bake for 8-10 minutes or until center is set.  As mentioned above, the cookies will not look brown when they are done.

7.  Remove from oven and let cookies rest of baking sheet for five minutes.  Transfer to wire rack and cool completely.

8.  Serve or store in an airtight container for up to five days.

Best Gooey Brownies

These were on a long-forgotten recipe card from a college friend.  I was baking for a friend who just had a baby and came across this recipe....seemed like a nice one to try for my gift.  BOY, were these good!  The amount of butter in these brownies is simply appalling, but they taste so good it's pretty much worth it.

BEST GOOEY BROWNIES

Recipe Notes

From the kitchen of Elizabeth Grenfell Quasha.

Ingredients

• 12-oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 lb. (two sticks) butter plus 2 tbsp. butter
• 1 can sweetened condensed milk (I used fat free)
• 1 lb. box brown sugar (I used light brown sugar and I know that dark brown would work too)
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. salt

Instructions

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Melt chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk and 2 tbsp. butter, stirring frequently.

3.  Add remaining butter and cook until combined.

4.  Remove from heat and cool slightly.  Stir in brown sugar.

5.  Add beaten eggs, one at a time.

6.  Stir in flour, vanilla, and salt.

7.  Pour into greased, 9x13 glass pan.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  Do NOT overbake.

8.  Allow brownies to cool and cut into squares.

Mint Oreo Brownies (aka St. Patrick's Day Brownies)

Found these on Pinterest as a St. Patrick's Day treat (original website located here), and BOY are they good. They would also be excellent at Christmas time. Even the non-dessert-eaters in our family liked these! Enjoy!

MINT OREO BROWNIES

Recipe Notes

The original instructions are a bit difficult to follow, so I have modified the recipe to make it easier and I think it likely tastes the same.

Ingredients

- 1 box of brownies (I used Ghiradelli), prepared in a 9x13 dish according to package instructions and cooled completely
- 12 mint Oreos + 18 mint Oreos (one standard package)
- 7 oz. jar marshmallow Fluff
- 3/4 c. white chocolate chips
- 1 can prepared vanilla frosting (I used whipped frosting)
- 1/8 tsp. mint extract
- 8 drops green food coloring (or more to your taste for a specific shade of green)

Instructions

1. Hand crumble 12 mint Oreos and then 18 mint Oreos, keeping the two batches separate.

2. Melt white chocolate chips in a microwave-safe bowl. Stir in Fluff, vanilla frosting, mint extract, green food coloring, and 12 hand-crumbled Oreos.

3. Spread green icing mixture over the top of the cooled brownies. Top with remaining 18 hand-crumbled Oreos. Slightly press down on Oreo garnish to make sure it adheres to the icing.

4. Chill until ready to cut and serve.

Mrs. Forman's Low Fat Caramel Brownies

Many thanks to Emily Forman, Mary Forman, and their mom. I have been making this recipe for more than 10 years now, and it is still consistently one of my favorites. I have never met anyone who didn't love these brownies!

MRS. FORMAN'S LOW FAT CARAMEL BROWNIES

Recipe Notes

Caramels are frustrating....they only come in 14 oz. packages these days, and each of the caramels is individually wrapped. Arriving at 9 oz. of caramels is not an exact science....just guesstimate and do the best that you can!

Ingredients

• 9 oz. caramels, unwrapped
• 14 oz. can fat free sweetened condensed milk
• 1 box devil's food cake mix
• 1 stick margarine, melted
• 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Coat a 9x13 clear glass baking pan with Pam.

3. In the top of a double boiler, melt caramels with 1/3 c. sweetened condensed milk. Keep warm and set aside.

4. In a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix, melted margarine, and remaining sweetened condensed milk. Beat at a high speed until very well combined.

5. Spread 1/2 dough into the bottom of the baking pan. Bake 6 minutes.

6. Remove from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over partially-baked dough. Spread caramel mixture over chocolate chips and crumble remaining dough evenly over the top.

7. Return to the oven and bake fpr 15 minutes, or until sides pull away from the pan. Do NOT overcook.

8. Cool in pan or on wire rack and cut into squares.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

I am in charge of pick-up desserts for approximately 100 guests for a party a bunch of friends are throwing for our dear friends Gardner and Janna, who just got married in Hawaii last month. As a result, I needed to call on some of my old stand-by dessert recipes, and the easier the better (considering I've got two additional little people commanding a good bit of my attention these days). WARNING: NONE of the baked goods recipes that you will see on this site in the next week or so are good for you. Healthy baked goods are just no fun and generally, in my experience, not worth it. Enjoy this recipe - it is the easiest dessert I have in my card file!

CHOCOLATE CHIP PEANUT BUTTER COOKIE CUPS

Recipe Notes

Wait until the cookies have cooled completely in the tins before removing them. Otherwise, the cookie will separate out from the peanut butter cup and you will have a donut shaped cookie with no peanut butter cup in the middle!

Ingredients

• Store-bought, premade chocolate chip cookie dough (such as Nestle Toll House)
• Reese's peanut butter cups - miniature size

Instructions

1. Spoon cookie dough into 12-cup muffin tin sprayed with Pam. Heat oven according to package directions (likely approximately 375 degrees) and bake according to package directions (likely approximately 10 minutes).

2. Unwrap miniature peanut butter cups.

3. Remove baked cookie cups from the oven and gently press one peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie cup.

4. Allow cookies to cool completely before removing to a storage tin or platter.

Sadie's Corner - Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

Ok, these brownies from the Betty Crocker Website are a great ideain theory, using boxed mixes and canned frosting for speed of preparation, plus a healthy dose of chocolate. The flavor was truly awesome; however, these still went very very wrong.

I think that the problem lies in the fact that the treat combines two cookie types that require very different individual cooking times: the brownies (for which I tried Ghiradelli - love them!) typically take 30-35 minutes to cook in my oven, while the ready-mix chocolate chip cookies take 12. By the time that my brownie/cookies were 30 minutes in, the chocolate chip cookie portion was getting burned on top, and the top of the brownies looked done, so I assumed we were safe.

However, I found out the next day, when I went to go cut them, that all but the perimeter brownies were basically inedible because they were so undercooked (basically raw). So what's the happy medium? Char the tops of your brownie/cookies so that the whole pan is useable, or leave the center a molten pile of goo and only have the edges to work with? As I mentioned, the flavor was great, but the final product was a big bust.

Sorry little doggie....these are chocolate, and therefore you are not allowed to chow down!

Creme de Menthe Brownies

We had a Christmas cookie exchange in the office yesterday, and I ended up with nine different kinds of delicious treats, along with the recipes to make them. As such, you will probably be seeing several baked goods come across this blog in the next few days, as everything I have tried has been quite delicious. Here's a recipe for Creme de Menthe Brownies, which is the dessert that I contributed to the cookie exchange. Enjoy!

CREME DE MENTHE BROWNIES

Recipe Notes

Make sure that each layer cools completely before adding the next layer to the brownies! It can sometimes be difficult to find the old-fashioned cans of Hershey's chocolate syrup. I have the most luck finding this grocery item with the ice cream toppings. If you look with the rest of the hot cocoa and "squeezable" chocolate syrups, you probably won't find it.

Bottom Layer Ingredients

• 1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
• 1 c. sugar
• 4 eggs, beaten
• 1 c. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1-16 oz. can chocolate syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla (I like to use good-quality vanilla, but imitation extract will work)

Bottom Layer Instructions

1. Cream butter and sugar.

2. Add eggs, flour, salt, chocolate syrup, and vanilla (in the order listed). Blend well.

3. Pour into a greased 9x13 inch pan and bake, 20-25 minutes, at 350 degrees. You will probably have gooey brownies in the center and well done brownies on the edges if you stick to this timeframe.

4. Let cool while preparing middle layer.

Middle Layer Ingredients

• 2 c. powdered sugar
• 1/2 c. butter (1 stick)
• 2 tbsp. creme de menthe liqueur (I substitute mint extract when I don't have creme de menthe)
• 2-3 drops green food coloring

Middle Layer Instructions

1. Blend powdered sugar, butter, creme de menthe, and green food coloring.

2. Mix well and spread over cooled brownies. (This is accomplished most easily with a bent icing knife). CHILL THOROUGHLY.

Top Layer Ingredients

• 1 c. chocolate chips
• 6 tbsp. butter

Top Layer Instructions

1. Melt butter and chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler.

2. Let cool to icing consistency. Spread over chilled brownies.

3. Cut into diamonds or square shapes for serving. Serves 48.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes, I just need to bake. Period. The urge doesn't come often, but when it does, it is palpable. As a result, my coworkers and Corey's coworkers were the lucky recipients of a batch of chocolate chip cookies this week. I had a large bag of chocolate chips to burn, hence the inspiration for my baking bonanza.

Recipe Notes

I must admit - the original is best (the Nestle Toll House Recipe, that is). However, I've made two modifications that I think are quite tasty: I double the chocolate chips (and include half milk chocolate chips and half semi sweet chips on occasion) and double the vanilla. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2-1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 3/4 c. packed brown sugar (I used light brown)
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 4 c. (two 12-oz. packages) chocolate chips, half milk chocolate and half semi sweet, if desired
  

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. Beat butter, both sugars and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Gradually add flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. You may also stir in one cup of chopped nuts here, if desired. I hate nuts in my baked goods so I always decline to include nuts.

4. Line a jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using two spoons, drop by rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet.

5. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown. I like to pull mine out when they are just slightly brown around the edges, as they usually cook a little more between the time that I pull them out of the oven and the time that I actually get them off the cookie sheet. Cool on a wire rack completely before serving.

Christmas Sugars

There is just something about baking sugar cookies at Christmastime with my mom and my sister that really signifies the season. We bake cookies every year on my sister's birthday, which is December 22, and then serve the cookies at family holiday events through the new year. (The photo above includes cookies that my sister decorated last year....I can't take credit!)

My mom sent me the recipe to include in my blog, and I think that you will really enjoy it! Why include these in September, you ask? Because these are also great at Halloween time (with a pumpkin-shaped cookie cutter and orange and green sprinkles) and for Valentine's Day (with a heart-shaped cookie cutter and pink or red sprinkles). Enjoy!

CUT OUT SUGAR COOKIES

Recipe Notes

This recipe was submitted by Alafair Kane and published in the 1968 Houston Junior League Cookbook. The ingredients that my mom uses are authentic to the recipe, but she has expanded and modified the preparation instructions.

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter (do not substitute margarine)
• 3/4 c. granulated sugar
• 3/4 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 2 c. all-purpose flour, spooned into a measuring cup and leveled with a knife
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

1. Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add vanilla and egg.

2. In a separate mixing bowl, use a whisk to blend flour, baking soda, and salt. Still using the electric mixer, gradually add dry ingredients to the butter mixture.

3. Divide dough in half. Roll out each half between two pieces of wax paper to a thickness of approximately 1/8 inch to 1/4 inch.

4. Place sheets of dough (still between wax paper) into the refrigerator. Refrigerate 10 minutes or until firm. Keep sheets refrigerated until you are ready to cut out the cookies.

5. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Remove a sheet of dough from the refrigerator and remove the top sheet of wax paper.

6. Cut the dough into shapes. Use the same cookie cutter for all cookies on a single cookie sheet. This will ensure that the cookies brown evenly.

7. Use a spatula or icing knife to transfer cookies to parchment-lined cookie sheet. Sprinkle the cookies with colored sugar or sprinkles and bake.

8. The original recipe calls for a 375 degree oven and 10-12 minute baking time. My mom's works best at 350 degrees. The time will depend on shape and thickness, but generally 5-7 minutes works for her.

9. The smaller and thinner the cookie, the faster it will bake. The more irregular the size of the cookie, the faster it will bake.

10. Remove from oven when cookies are slightly brown around the edges. Slide the entire piece of parchment paper and cookies onto a cooling rack. The cookies will become crisp as they cool.

11. Makes 4 dozen small cookies or 21 large cookies.

Enjoy! We make these every year!