Chocolate Chip Cookies

The King Arthur Flour Company is based in Norwich VT.  It's only 15 minutes away from where my family will be this summer!  So while the boys are hiking some mountain I say the girls take a tour of their facilities and enjoy some baked goods and coffee from their cafe!  At the Hudsonville library I was able to check out their cookie cookbook which is about the size of a dictionary and really is an amazing resource.  I've made these cookies twice.  Once for the Sunday School kids and once for friends of ours who came for games.  They take two surprising ingredients: unsalted butter and vinegar.  After looking at more of the recipes in the cookbook all of them used unsalted butter which isn't what I'd normally use.  The other is vinegar which reacts with the baking powder to make the cookies fluffy.  These are awesome.  The recipe below is from their blog there's over 2,000 recipes!

Baking is tiring!

The amazing cookbook, surprising ingredients and the jumbo size cookies.

Ingredients
2/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, right from the fridge, or at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract, optional
1 teaspoon vinegar, cider or white
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 large egg
2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets.

1) In a large bowl, combine the sugars, butter, shortening, salt, vanilla and almond extracts, vinegar, and baking soda, beating until smooth and creamy.

2) Beat in the egg, again beating till smooth. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a spatula to make sure everything is thoroughly combined.

3) Mix in the flour, then the chips.

4) Use a spoon (or a tablespoon cookie scoop) to scoop 1 1/4" balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2" between them on all sides; they'll spread.

5) Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, till their edges are chestnut brown and their tops are light golden brown, almost blonde. Remove them from the oven, and cool on the pan till they've set enough to move without breaking. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Sausage and Cheese Crescent Squares

Last Saturday was VOLT.  It stands for Volunteer Orientation and Leadership Training.  Twenty five youth and childrens' ministry volunteers were being trained and during the break would get breakfast!  These (also found on Pinterest from Pillsbury's site) were a huge hit.

Ingredients

2 cans (8 oz each)  crescent dinner rolls

1 lb spicy or mild bulk pork sausage

1 package (8 oz) cream cheese

2 cups shredded sharp Cheddar cheese (8 oz)

Directions

1 Heat oven to 375°F.  

2 Unroll 1 can of dough into 2 long rectangles. Place in ungreased 13x9-inch (3-quart) glass baking dish; press over bottom and 1/2 inch up sides to form crust.  

3 In 12-inch skillet, cook sausage over medium heat, stirring frequently, until no longer pink. Remove sausage from skillet; discard drippings. To same skillet, add cream cheese. Cook over low heat until melted. Add cooked sausage; stir to coat. Spoon evenly over crust in baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese.  

4 If using crescent rolls: Unroll second can of dough on work surface. Press to form 13x9-inch rectangle; firmly press perforations to seal. Carefully place over cheese. 

5 Bake 21 to 26 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 15 minutes. Cut into small squares.

 

Note: If you're planning on using this for an appetizer make small squares.

If you're planning on using this recipe for breakfast scramble 4-5 eggs and add to sausage and cream cheese, then bake a minute or two longer to compensate for the extra moisture.  Cut into more generous squares. 

Carmalitas

I didn't get pictures of this one. . .it went too fast.  Batch number one (yes there were multiple batches this weekend) was cooling on the counter and Fig after a busy morning at work came home, asked if he could have a snack. He took two pieces back to work!  They were finished that night by a group of friends we had over for games.  I made a double batch (9x13 size) for the Sunday school kids and that night one of the moms came over and said, "Mrs. Fig my son wants me to get the recipe of those bars you made!"

Carmalitas
Ingredients
32 caramel squares, unwrapped
1/2 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup butter, melted
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 cup flour
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions
Combine caramels and cream in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir until completely smooth; set aside. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, brown sugar, flour, oats, and baking soda. Pat half of the oatmeal mixture into the bottom of an 8x8" pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and sprinkle chocolate chips over crust. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Crumble remaining oatmeal mixture over caramel. Return to oven and bake an additional 15-20 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and cool completely before cutting.
*A stint in the fridge will help them cool off if you're pinched for time. They shouldn't be served cold, but all of that molten caramel takes a long time to cool down. They should be stored and served at room temperature.
**To make a 9x13" version, simply double the amounts.

Irresistible (Peanut Butter Chocolate) Bars

I've been baking so much I haven't had time to keep the blog updated!  This recipe I got at a bridal shower my church through for me while I was engaged but I found it again on Pinterest!  These are for the Profession of Faith class will be teaching tonight.  Bottom cookie crust, fudge middle, crumble top nuff said.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars
by Greta White

1 (18.25) package plain yellow cake mix

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 eggs

1 (12 oz) package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
2 Tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2) Combine cake mix, melted butter, peanut butter, and eggs in a large bowl using a mixer or spoon. Press this into a 9X13 pan reserving 1 1/2 cup of the mixture to crumble on top.

3) In a small pot, melt chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, and butter. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla and coconut.
4) Spread chocolate mixture over the mixture pressed in the pan and then crumble the 1 1/2 cups of reserved cake mixture on top evenly.
5) Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool completely before cutting into bars.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie Bars

Spring break is here which means lots of kids hanging out at the house!  I've been making lots of snacks for the teens.  I wanted to make chocolate chip cookie bars but I had some toffee bits left over and  knew it'd be a good mix.  The brown sugar caramelizes really nicely and adds a nice crunch!

Ingredients:
2.5 c. flour
1 tsp. salt
1tsp. baking soda
1 c. butter
1.5 c. brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 c. toffee bits
1 c. chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Combine flour, salt, baking soda in a small bowl.  Set aside.
Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.

Add eggs and  mix one by one.

Slowly incorporate the flour mixture and mix well.
Mix in the toffee and chocolate chips.
Place mixture in greased 9x13 and bake in oven for 30 minutes.
Place on bottom rack for 10 minutes so it won't burn on top but will be baked all the way through!