Salted Chocolate Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Caramel Bits
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As I may have mentioned, I finally found those Kraft caramel bits at Target and have been wanting to use them. I knew I would make something salty-sweet, and a quick Google search later, I came across this recipe. Chocolate cookie, sea salt, chocolate chips, and caramel. Um, HELLO.
These cookies taste as good as they sound. Chocolaty with a hint of salt (in fact, I would add more next time), chewy, and full of caramel pieces. I do have to admit they are better served warm, but that’s what the microwave is for, right?
Ingredients
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
1 cup chocolate chips
8 caramels, chopped into fours (I used about 3/4 cup Kraft Caramel Bits)
Photos of the process.
Preparation
Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.
Fold in caramel pieces and chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 4-6 hours (or more). When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350, roll into balls and set on baking sheet. (Note: refrigerating is the most important part. If you don’t refrigerate, when the cookies go into the oven, the caramel pieces will sink to the bottom and stick to the cookie sheet.)
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Let cool completely. Don’t move the cookies to a cooking rack; either eat them or let them cool.
Recipe adapted from How Sweet It Is.
Smores Cookie Bars
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Over the last couple of years, and especially when I was out of work, I started taking after my dad and stocking up on certain items when they’re on sale. This easily explains why I have about a million bars of soap as well as a lifetime supply of Glad Press N Seal (best stuff ever!). Anyway, sometime at the beginning of summer, I noticed graham crackers and marshmallow creme on sale. Not a big fan of the creme, I bought and figured I’d use it to make fudge or something. Well, that something turned into these bars.
The original recipe calls for these to be made in an 8×8″ pan and cut into 16 bars. We have way more than 16 people at my office, so I knew this was one recipe that needed to be doubled. (You’re welcome Evan!) The bars were easy to pull together and taste incredible. I was on the fence about them the night I baked them, but the following day they won my heart. A soft, chewy cookie, a layer of chocolate, a layer of marshmallow, and topped with another cookie.
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 (1.55 oz. each) milk chocolate candy bars
1 cup marshmallow creme
Preparation
Heat oven to 350°F. Grease 8-inch square baking pan.
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well. Stir together flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder and salt; add to butter mixture, beating until blended. Press half of dough into prepared pan.
Arrange chocolate bars over dough, breaking as needed to fit. Spread with marshmallow creme. Patch together pieces of remaining dough over marshmallow; carefully press to form a layer.
Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
Recipe adapted from Hershey’s.
Sugar Cookie Bars
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Did you know last Friday was Sugar Cookie Day? Neither did I, until Thursday afternoon when two coworkers hinted at it. (This is what happens when you’re the coworker with the baking blog.) Not wanting to let anyone down, and always up for trying a new recipe on willing guinea pigs, I decided this was the perfect opportunity to test the sugar cookie bar recipe I’ve had bookmarked for a few months.
I love sugar cookies, but they’re a pain–you have to roll the dough, cut the shapes, then frost each individual cookie. That is why sugar cookie bars are such a brilliant thing! No rolling or shape cutting–simply put the dough on a cookie sheet, bake it, then frost and slice the giant cookie. Simple!
Flavor-wise, I really like the cookie. The frosting was not my favorite (I like a glaze or cream cheese frosting on sugar cookies), but it was a HUGE hit at work, so it may be best to ignore my opinion. My coworkers especially liked the cookie to frosting ratio, which was about 50-50. Overall, these were a tremendous success and I would definitely use this recipe again.
Cookie Ingredients
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Cookie Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 13 x 18 inch sheet pan and line with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda and set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixture, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes on medium high. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Add the vanilla. Add the flour mixture in 2 addition, mixing until just combined.
Press the cookie dough into the sheet pan, using a greased spatula or parchment paper to spread it evenly. Bake for 10-15 minutes until lightly golden and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean. Cool completely.
Frosting Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
4 cups confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4-5 tablespoons milk
Pinch of salt
Frosting Preparation
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the shortening and butter until combined and smooth. Add the vanilla and salt and mix until combined. Add the confectioners sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing after each addition. Cream together on medium high for about a minute. Add the milk 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing until smooth.
Spread onto cooled cookies. Slice into bars and serve.
Recipe from And Now for Something Completely Delicious.
Lemon Bars
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I’ve always loved the look of lemon bars, but the taste, eh, not so much. Whenever lemon bars are on a platter I admire their beauty but always pass on them. In fact, I don’t think I’ve even had a bite of a lemon bar since I was a kid. So when I found myself with a few extra lemons after making lemon cakes for my dentist (I know, the irony), I thought I’d give lemon bars another try. I remembered my friend Jami had mentioned her killer lemon bars before so I asked for her recipe.
When I brought these bars into work I put a note on the container that said “Ugly Lemon Bars” because I wasn’t happy with the look of the sliced bars. I was anxious to taste them and cut them before they were completely set, thus ruining the smooth pretty look of the glaze. Yes, these bars are glazed rather than sprinkled with powdered sugar, which is a plus in my book. I hate powdered sugar on things. Not only does it get all over the place, there is no way to neatly bite into anything with a powdered sugar top. Anyway, I put these bars in the kitchen at 8:00 a.m. and they were gone before noon. And all morning long people came up to me and said, “The Ugly Lemon Bars are soooo good!” There were even a couple of people who said they don’t usually like lemon bars, but they really liked these.
For the record, I still don’t like lemon bars. I’m a huge texture person when it comes to food, and the lemon bar filling I just find odd. Some people may say I am odd, but whatever.
Photos of the process.
Crust Ingredients
2 cups flour
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 cup unsalted butter
Crust Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F. Mix together the crust ingredients with a pastry blender or fork until crumbly. Press into the bottom of a 9″x13″ pan. Bake for 20-30 minutes or until crust is light golden brown.
While crust is baking, prepare filling.
Filling Ingredients
4 eggs, slightly beaten
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup lemon juice
Filling Preparation
Mix together eggs, sugar, flour, and baking powder thoroughly. You can just stir it all together with a whisk. Add lemon juice and beat well. Pour over warm crust and return to oven. Bake 20-30 minutes. (Don’t let it get too brown.) Cool completely.
Glaze Ingredients
1 cup powdered sugar
2-3 tablespoons lemon juice
Glaze Preparation
Whisk together powdered sugar and lemon juice to make a relatively thin glaze. Drizzle (or spread) over the bars.
Allow glaze to dry, then cut into small squares.
Yields 40-48 small lemon bars.
Recipe from Night Baking.
Oatmeal Turtle Jumbles
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There are certain recipes that get bumped up to the top of my to-bake list. When I saw this in my Google reader, I knew this was one such recipe. How could it not be?
Not only does it have chocolate and caramel, it’s made in a pan and can just be sliced. With that said, the bars are a bit time consuming–you have to unwrap caramels (I still can’t find the unwrapped baking caramels anywhere in LA!) and there is a melt on the stove step, but they’re definitely worth the fuss!
An oatmeal cookie base, gooey chocolate layer (with pecans if you don’t think, as I do, that nuts ruin everything), and oatmeal and caramel top. It really doesn’t get much better than that, does it? I think the next time I make these (trust me, there will be a next time), I’ll sprinkle some sea salt in the chocolate mixture because I’m still on my salty-sweet kick.
Photos of the process here.
Base and Topping Ingredients
6 ounces (12 TBSP or 1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup purchased caramels halved
Filling Ingredients
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
2 TBSP unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup pecans (I omitted these)
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F; coat a 9 x 13-inch baking sheet with nonstick spray.
- Cream butter and both sugars in a bowl with a mixer until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and mix to blend, followed by the flour, baking soda, and salt; mix to incorporate. Add in oats and mix on low speed until incorporated.
- Crumble 2 cups of dough over the bottom of the prepared baking sheet. Press to cover base of the pan (don’t push dough up the sides); set aside.
- Add halved caramels to remaining dough, working them in with your fingers; set aside for the topping.
- Melt chocolate chips, condensed milk, and cocoa powder together for the filling in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Cook until mixture is smooth, stirring constantly to prevent scorching. Remove from heat and stir in the pecans and vanilla.
- Pour the filling over the dough in the pan and spread evenly. (I used an offset spatula to do this.) The layer will be fairly thin.
- Crumble dough with caramel pieces evenly over the top of the chocolate. Bake bars for 30 minutes, or until chocolate is set and topping is firm. Cool bars completely before cutting.
Recipe adapted from Culinary Concoctions by Peabody.
