Chocolate Covered Cookie Dough

My favorite thing from Old Tyme Pastries is their chocolate covered cookie dough.  So where I came across this recipe I knew I had to make them.  You know, to compare.  Yea, purely for comparison reasons.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
14 oz. can sweetened, condensed milk
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips
Shell: 1 1/2 lbs chocolate disks or chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy.  Add vanilla.  Gradually beat in flour and add sweetened, condensed milk.  Add chocolate morsels, mixing well.  Shape into 1" balls.  Place on waxed paper, chill 2 hours.
   *Since the dough is sticky, you can roll your fingers into flour.  This will make it easier to roll.
   
2.  Melt chocolate disks or chips in a double boiler.  Using 2 forks, dip cookie balls into candy coating to cover.  Place on waxed paper and chill to set.  Store in refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

These were good!  Not as good as Old Tyme.  But maybe because I: 1) didn't have milk chocolate chips, and 2) used semi-sweet chocolate chips for melting too.  I think they would have been better had I used the 2 different chocolates.  And, I again had problems properly coating the chocolate around the dough ball.

Make it.  Try it.  Enjoy it.  Just don't eat it all.

Crunchy Jumble Cookies

Who likes chocolate chip cookies?  Who likes rice krispie cereal?  So why not put the 2 together!

I came across this recipe on Megan's Munchies site last week and decided to make them.  Granted, I kinda messed up, but they were still yummy!

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups rice cereal
1 (12 oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (about 2 cups)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.  Lightly grease cookie sheets.
2. Stir together flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl; set aside.
3. In large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
4. Add egg and vanilla; beat well.
5. Gradually add flour mixture.
6. Stir in rice cereal and chocolate chips.
7. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto prepared cookie sheet.
8. Bake 11-13 minutes or until lightly browned.
9. Remove immediately from cookie sheets onto wire rack.  Cool completely. 

Yield:  3 dozen.

My mistake...?  Well, for some reason, I took 1/2 cup of butter for 1/2 cube of butter.  So, ah, there was 1/2 the amount of butter.  Needless to say, they were dry, dry, dry cookies.  The dry batter was still good though.

Oreo Truffles

2 things about these little treats:
1.  They're easy.
2.  They're good.

'Nuff said!

There are about 3 million versions of this recipe floating round the 'net, and I got mine from How Sweet It Is.

Ingredients:
a package of Oreo cookies
8 oz. block of cream cheese

1. Using a food processor, chop up the oreos to smithereens.  Once oreos are processed into fine crumbs, add the cream cheese.  Just keep running it until the two pretty much ball up. 
2. After you end up with one large ball, it's time to break it down to small balls.  Roll them into 1" balls, put them on a cookie sheet, and stick them in the freezer for about an hour to harden. 
3. Melt some chocolate in a double boiler and dip the oreo balls in.  Once dipped, through them in the freezer again.

Alterations:

• I used 1/3 less fat cream cheese AND reduced fat oreos.  I don't think the flavors were altered at all.
• I also had major issues when it came to dipping them in the chocolate.  So if you have any advice I'd love to hear it.
• 10/31/10 - I used peanut butter oreos... SO GOOD!  I'll be trying other flavored oreos in the future.

Pan Fried Onion Dip

I've had this twice, then I decided I had to have the recipe.  And thank goodness, with Food Network's help, I found it on their site.  And yep, when I made it, it was still just was scrumptious as ever!

Ingredients:
2 large yellow onions
4 tbs unsalted butter
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temp.
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup good mayo

Instructions:
Cut the onions in half and then slice them into 1/8" thick half-rounds.  (You will have about 3 cups of onions.)  Heat the butter and oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add the onions, cayenne, salt, and pepper and saute for 10 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, for 20 more minutes until the onions are browned and caramelized.  Allow the onions to cool.
Place the cream cheese, sour cream and mayo in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth.  Add the onions and mix well.  Taste for seasonings.  Serve at room temperature.

Makes about 2 cups

Me, true to my I-can't-follow-the-recipe-and-must-alter-it fashion made a few minor adjustments...
-The cream cheese was 1/3 less fat, and I ended up using the full 8 oz. block.
-Sour cream was fat free.
-Mayo was low fat.

1999 The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook of online here

Peppermint Chocolate Cookies

Some time or a year ago, I came peppermint chips.  Not the swirly ones you can find at the grocery store, nice ones that you can find at Cost Plus.  So for some time now or a year, these chips/chunks have been in my freezer taking up room.  This is the year that I was going to use them.  And I did.  With chocolate.  Chocolate cookies from a recipe adapted from a Pillsbury cookbook.

Prep Time:  30 minutes; Yield:  24 cookies

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 egg white
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tbs unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate peppermint chips

1. Heat oven to 375F.  In a large bowl, combine brown sugar and butter; beat until light and fluffy.  Add vanilla and egg white, blend well.
2. Add flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, mix well.  Stir in chocolate peppermint chips.  Drop dough by teaspoonfuls  inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet.
3. Bake at 375F for 8 to 9 minutes or until set.  Do not overbake.  Cool 1 minute, remove from cookie sheets.