Lovin' From the Oven

Chocolate Chip Toffee Walnut Cookies

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I baked a bunch for my boyfriend’s niece’s birthday party on Sunday, and these were one of the treats that I brought. They were delightful and turned out perfect! The adults loved them more than the kids, though (probably because of the walnuts). I think the combination of toffee and anything always turn out good, so you can’t go wrong with this recipe. These cookies are thick, chewy, and sturdy. I imagine that they’d be perfect for shipping across the states to someone, for they stack up well upon one another and can handle a lot of moving without breaking.

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup toffee bits
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips, toffee bits and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; remove to wire racks to cool completely.
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Now, my boyfriend’s niece had a princess birthday party and absolutely LOVES all the Disney princesses. She was turning 3 this year, and I decided to do something fun and creative for her. I made her her own mini princess purse! At first, I bought a plain mini canvas tote and sketched some of the princesses on it. Hah, whoever knew that a baker was capable of other things than just baking, right?

This is how one side looked like after sketching, all free hand!
And a little bit of paint later…(Yes, I used an eyeliner brush. I find that they make the best paintbrushes and I don’t wear make up, so why not?)

Voila! Finished product of both sides. She loved it! I also got her a huge Disney princess puzzle kit thing.

For the paint, I used a bit of acrylic paint mixed with textile medium, which is really the greatest thing ever invented. That is also the only brand that I use, Ceramcoat. I’ve experimented with a lot of acrylic paints and always come back to that one. Anyways, medium textile turns any acrylic paint into fabric paint. It also saves you money because fabric paint is a lot more expensive to buy than acrylic paint.

If you want to buy a canvas tote bag, you can find one HERE.

Valentine’s Day M&M Cookies

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Happy Valentine’s Day! I made a little box of goods for my boyfriend (which I still have yet to give him, so hopefully he doesn’t see this before then) filled with cookies and miniature heart cakes. How cute are these M&M’s? I love that M&M’s come in different colors for every holiday season. It makes themed baking so easy! I had a busy baking day today; I baked 4 different types of cookies (3 dozen of each), a cake, brownies, AND truffles! So I’m a bit exhausted and a bit sleep deprived. I had midterms this past week and had about 15 hours of sleep total for those 5 nights. Eeeek! But I was so relieved to be done with tests and finally have time to bake again, so I went a bit overboard. Oh well! Everything turned out cute, that’s all that matters.

These cookies are ok. There’s something a bit off about them, but I haven’t quite bit my finger on it. I prefer the Nestle Tollhouse recipe over this one, along with my ultimate favorite CCC recipe. It seems that even though I’ve found my favorite CCC recipe, I can’t but help and try new ones. Why? I have no idea. Well, enjoy!

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted & cooled
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup valentine’s m&m’s

directions
1. Adjust an oven rack to lower-middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl.
2. In a large bowl, beat the melted butter and sugars together with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined.
3. Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add the flour mixture until combined. Mix in the chips until incorporated.
4. Working with 2 tablespoons of dough at a time, roll the dough into even balls and lay them on the baking sheets, spaced about 2 inches apart. Stud the dough with the m&m’s.
5. Bake the cookies until the edges are set and beginning to brown but the centers are still soft and puffy, about 16 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then serve warm or transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely.

Oh yeah! I managed to do a little blog-makeover the other day that seriously took me FOREVER redoing my gadgets and what not. What do you think?

Guittard’s Polka Dot Cookies

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Superbowl schmooperbowl. Football never really interested me, but how could I pass up the event of getting together and eating buffalo wings, 7 layer dip, and some barbeque? I couldn’t! Everyone knows that I’m a sucker for guacamole. I was at Cost Plus Word Market yesterday, one of my new found favorite stores, and came across Guittard’s mint chocolate chips! I’ve been looking for mint chocolate chips for quite some time now, and was ecstatic to come across them. I immediately bought a bag and made the recipe on the back to bring with me to a superbowl party today.

These cookies were soft, chewy, and mint/chocolatey. To be completely honest, I’m not really a fan of these mint chips after trying them and baking with them; I’d much prefer working with a bag of Andes mint. I do like that this recipe uses the same method of making the chocolate cookie as my favorite Andes mint cookies do, though. These cookies were good, but not GREAT, despite what the boys at the superbowl party said (they raved how they were better than Girl Scout thin mints). In my opinion, I’d take a thin mint over this cookie anyday. Mmmmm.. girl scout cookies.. Too bad they only sell ’em a couple months of the year AND they’ve downsized all their boxes. Worst ever.

2 cups (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (do not sift)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
3 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups (12 oz) Guittard Green Mint Chips

Preheat oven to 350F

In top of double boiler over low heat, melt semi-sweet chips and butter, stirring constantly until smooth. Set aside to cool. In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla until light. Blend in melted chocolate, then dry ingredients. Stir in green mint chips and chill for 10-15 minutes or until stiff. Drop by well-round teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes, cookies will be soft in centers but will harden as they cool.

Microwave instructions: Heat semisweet chips in a small bowl at medium power (50% or level 5) for 2-3 minutes, stirring well after each minute until smooth.

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