Tag Archives: chocolate

Boston Cream Cookie Cups

Posted on March 18, 2017 by Ruthanne

These adorable cookie cups are filled with white chocolate pudding, and topped with rich chocolate and buttercream.

A perfect mini-dessert!

Let’s hear it for Boston Cream Pie! I’m not sure why they call it pie when it is so obviously cake… but that aside, it is wonderful! I love little bite-size mini desserts, and I’ve wanted to create a Boston cream pie one for some time. These turned out exactly like I wanted them to. Beautiful, bite-sized, and delicious! 🙂

Plus we use refrigerated cookie dough and instant pudding- so these are easy to make!

Here’s how we made these little guys (printable recipe here)

INGREDIENTS: (makes 48 cookie cups)

One tube of refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 box (3.3 oz.) of instant Jell-O brand white chocolate pudding (plus milk to make according to box)
2 sticks of butter (divided)
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Red Sixlets candy or sprinkles

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350F degrees and liberally spray a mini muffin tin with cooking spray.
Roll cookie dough into 48 small balls (about 1 heaping teaspoon in size)
Place balls into mini muffin cups and bake for 8-10 minutes.
Use a tart shaper or a wooden spoon to press centers of baked cookie into a cup.

Cool just slightly and then run a small knife around edges to free cup from tin. Cool completely.
Make pudding according to box and place into a large zip-top bag. Clip a corner and pipe evenly into all 48 cups.
Melt 1 stick of butter and chocolate chips in a microwave in 30-second increments, stirring until smooth.
Spoon into a zip-top bag, clip a corner and pipe over top of pudding.

Allow chocolate to harden.
Place stick of butter, powdered sugar and vanilla into a mixing bowl and beat on high until light and fluffy.
Spoon into a small zip-top bag that has been fitted with a decorating tip, and pipe a dollop of icing on top of each cookie cup.
Top with a Sixlet candy and ENJOY!!!

My thoughts: These are so yummy. A little extra work to make them into little mini-desserts, but aren’t they cute??? I love the cookie flavor with the filling and chocolate- it adds a different taste than your usual Boston Cream Pie 🙂 One note: make these just a day or so before serving them, as the pudding tends to make the cookie cups a little soggy after sitting a few days. Hope you get a chance to try these! ~r

Other fun mini-desserts here on Easybaked (click on a photo to see the recipe):

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Bailey’s Irish Cream Brownies

Posted on March 11, 2017 by Ruthanne

These dense chocolate brownies are topped with a creamy Bailey’s filling and a layer of soft chocolate. Yum.

It’s St. Patrick’s Day! Time to break out the Bailey’s Irish Cream (or non-alcoholic equivalent!) and add it to everything chocolate for a special break-the-monotony-of-March treat!

Doesn’t St. Patrick’s Day come at a good time? Just when you are weary of all the grey winter weather along comes a holiday that adds some GREEN to your life! These are delicious little brownies with just a touch of Irish Cream. I don’t often add alcohol to recipes, but Irish cream really adds such a fun sweet flavor here. If you want to avoid the alcohol, use the non-alcoholic coffee creamer! I actually made half of my filling with it (to compare) and I honestly couldn’t tell the difference.

Here is how we made these delicious little treats: (printable recipe here)

INGREDIENTS:

Brownie:

1cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk

Irish Cream Filling:

5 cups powdered sugar
8 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup Bailey’s Irish Cream, or 1/3 cup non-alcoholic Bailey’s coffee creamer

Fudge Topping:

12oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 tablespoons butter (do not substitute margarine here!)

DIRECTIONS:

Brownie:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Beat in eggs, cocoa, vanilla and salt.
Add flour and milk (alternating them and mixing well in between)
Spread evenly in greased jelly roll pan (12 1/2 x 17 1/2 x 1″).
Bake at 350F degrees for 15 minutes or until done in center and just starting to pull away from sides.
Cool.

Irish Cream Filling:

Add melted butter and Bailey’s to powdered sugar.
Mix well, using water to bring it to a thick but spreadable consistency.
Spread across top of cooled brownies, covering them completely.

Fudge Topping:

Melt butter and chocolate together in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.
Pour over the top of filling and spread to edges.
Sprinkle with jimmies before chocolate hardens (if desired)
Cool completely and cut into squares.
Store in air-tight container with parchment or wax paper between layers. Also may be frozen if tightly sealed for up to a month.
Enjoy!!!

My thoughts: These are my go-to-brownie recipe, so they always work beautifully, and this time was no exception. All I ever do is mix up the flavors in the filling, and this was a good one! I also love this recipe because it freezes so well. Nothing better than having a dessert already in the freezer ahead of time! (plus they are fabulous cold!!!) I hope you get a chance to try them- Happy St. Patrick’s Day to you! ~r

Other fun Irish treats for your holiday! (click on a photo to see the recipe)

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Posted in Brownies and tagged baileys brownies, baileys chocolate recipe, baileys irish cream recipe, brownie picture, chocolate, dessert recipe, irish cream brownies, irish cream chocolate, irish cream dessert, irish dessert, layered brownie recipe, st patricks day brownies, st patricks day recipe, st patricks dessert, st patricks dessert picture. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate Covered Coconut Cut-out Cookies

Posted on March 4, 2017 by Ruthanne

Crunchy bits of toasted coconut make these cut-out cookies one of my favorite cookie recipes ever!

I love coconut! It reminds me of sunshine and beaches and (for some weird reason) Easter. Well, it isn’t Easter yet, but you can practice up so you are ready next month!

Story time!!!!! Last Christmas I made shortbread cookies with really cute little Christmas chocolates on top. The mold I used was made by Silikomart in Italy, and I got them on Amazon. I loved that they were a thin mold- so they added a cute bit of chocolate to a cookie without being too much chocolate. I looked for other varieties and found these ADORABLE winter animal ones. Cute little foxes, and hedgehogs?? I had to find them!

I found them on Ebay and ordered them- but they sent me the wrong ones…from Italy… and then told me afterward that they were out of stock.

Sigh.

The only other place I found these was on a website out of Poland- that only ships to Poland. But I have friends in Poland, and long story short, I just got these in the mail with a fun note and a Polish chocolate bar.

I’m telling you this so that you won’t think it is easy to get this particular mold. Silikomart has a lot of other molds on Amazon (they call these chocolate tags)- so hopefully you can find one you like and make similar cookies to these. Of course, if you live in Poland…or Italy…. 🙂

Here is how we made these: (printable recipe for the cookies here)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 48 small cookies)

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter (softened)
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
2 teaspoons of coconut flavoring
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of salt
2 cups of shredded sweetened coconut (or one cup of toasted, chopped coconut)
2 bags of Wilton Candy Melts in dark chocolate
Edible shimmer dust (if desired)

DIRECTIONS:

Start by making your chocolate tags.

Set mold on a small cookie sheet so it is easy to move.
Melt candy melts in a bowl in the microwave. Stir every 30 seconds until smooth.
Spoon melts into a zip-top bag. Clip a corner and squeeze chocolate out and into mold. Tap on counter to flatten out into mold and remove bubbles Photo of this here.
Place in freezer for about 5-10 minutes and then pop out of mold onto clean and cool surface.
Repeat 2 more times (so you have 48 pieces)
Use a food-grade paint brush to add a little edible color and shimmer to these (if desired!)

Then toast your coconut.

While you are waiting for these to harden, preheat oven to 350F degrees and spread 2 cups of coconut out in a baking dish.
Bake for about 10 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes and watching closely. Coconut toasts fast- so be careful not to burn it!
Cool coconut to room temperature and then place in a food chopper and chop it up fine. Set aside.

Finally, make your cookies.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar until smooth.
Add eggs, vanilla and coconut flavoring and mix well.
Add all dry ingredients except coconut and mix until able to knead into a firm ball of dough.
Add coconut and knead it in.
Roll out on a floured counter with a flour coated rolling pin to desired thickness (I made them fairly thick)
Cut into rectangles just a little bigger than the size of the molds you use on top and place on a parchment-paper covered baking sheet.
Bake at 350F degrees for 8-10 minutes and slide off the cookie sheet (leaving on parchment paper) to cool.
While the cookies are still warm, set a chocolate on top and then let them cool completely. The entire chocolate will get soft. It won’t lose it’s shape, but if you touch it before it hardens back up you will make a mess 🙂
Allow cookies and chocolate to cool completely (a couple of hours)
Enjoy!

My thoughts: I love coconut, I love coconut and chocolate together, and I think these are simply the cutest little chocolate molds ever! Please Silikomart— sell more things in the US!!! Your stuff is SO fun!!! 🙂 I hope you get a chance to try these yummy little cookies out- I think you will love them!!!! ~r

Plus, if you don’t want to bother with the molds, you can cut these cookies into any shape and just drizzle them with the candy melts! Less fuss…same amazing cookies. I totally did a few- just so you can see 🙂

Other favorite coconut recipes here: (click on a photo to see the recipe)

Valentine’s Day Mug Topper Cookies!

Posted on January 28, 2017 by Ruthanne

Mug Topper Cookies

These adorable little cookies hang on the edge of a cup of coffee, cocoa or milk. Handy for dipping, and a perfect Valentine’s Day treat!

Aren’t these fun? When I have a few minutes of spare time, I like to wander around online looking for fun new kitchen and baking tools. I saw these cookie cutters and had to click on the photo to read more, because they didn’t make sense to me. They had several cute little shapes- but each one had a wedge cut out on one side. WHY?? I quickly discovered that the little wedge makes them not just cookie cutters- but mug-hanging cookie cutters! I happen to love dunking cookies in my coffee- so I knew I had to try them!

Valentine Mug hanging cookie

Does a cookie get more fun than that? I think not.

I was already making two different sorts of cut-out cookies for an event, so I set aside a little dough from each batch to make these. Here are the two recipes I used:

Chocolate Espresso Cut-out cookies (recipe here)
Buttery Cut-out cookies (recipe here)

I kneaded some red and pink jimmies into the buttery cut-out dough before I rolled it out to cut it.

You can use either of my recipes, or use your own- but you must choose a recipe that doesn’t puff up and get bigger in the oven. I have a fabulous gingerbread cookie recipe that would never work with these. If the dough changes shape as it bakes, that little wedge will not be big enough to slide onto the edge of a mug.

I also baked these on parchment paper, so I could slide them all off the cookie sheet and onto a counter to cool, without having to use a spatula to pick them up.

Because they are tiny little cookies to handle.
Because the wedge makes them more fragile until they cool and harden up.

Those are my “helpful hints”. They really are easy to make and so fun!

So a Valentine idea?

Make some of my Spiced Mocha Mix (recipe here).
Spoon 3-4 teaspoons into a cello bag.
Place a cookie into a second cello bag.
Print these tags (open link here).
Staple tag over the tops of the two bags.
Give away as a fun Valentine gift! (instructions for making mocha are on back of tag)

I hope you get a chance to try this little cookie cutter idea out! If you were careful, I suspect you could even use a knife to cut a little wedge out of a plain old heart cookie too…? More time consuming, but then you don’t need to purchase a new cookie cutter. Enjoy!! ~r

Other Valentine’s treats here on Easybaked (click on a photo to see the recipe)

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Posted in Cookies and tagged buttery cut-out cookies, chocolate, chocolate cut-out cookies, cookie recipe, easy valentines recipe, edible valentine, mocha, mocha mix recipe, mug topper cookies, over the edge cookies, specialty cookie cutters, unique cookies, unique holiday cookies, valentine cookies, Valentines Day cookies, Valentines gift idea. Bookmark the permalink.

Fall Marshmallow Cakes

Posted on November 3, 2016 by Ruthanne

These delicious little chocolate cakes are filled with creamy sweet marshmallow, and decorated to make everyone at your fall table smile!

I’ve been craving HoHos lately. Do they even still make those? Seems like Hostess went out of business awhile back…? Anyway- or those Little Debbie Swiss Cake Rolls. Both of those desserts remind me of high school lunches. My friends and I would sit at lunch, peel them apart in layers, and talk about boys and such while we ate them.

Anyway… so I started thinking about a way to do a grown-up version of these flavors. My friend Angie gave me SUCH a fun pan- it makes little cakes with a cavity in the center that holds filling. See what I mean HERE. I’ve used these pans before here on Easybaked and they seemed perfect for this idea. Instead of topping cake with cake—- I topped each cake with a thick layer of chocolate glaze that was decorated with chocolate transfers.

I love how they turned out! This was my 1st time using transfers, and they are a little fussy- but the wow factor….!!!!!

Mmmm……!! So there is some special equipment to make these exactly like I did (cake pans, silicone molds to make the top chocolate layer). If you hate to purchase the pans and chocolate mold, make these as cupcakes. Fill them with marshmallow and pour the glaze over the top. Or make this as a layer cake maybe- with the marshmallow in the middle and the glaze drizzled over the top?

However you choose to make it, the flavors are wonderful together!

Here’s how we put these together. (Printable recipe here)

Ingredients (makes 8 mini cakes)

Cake:

1 chocolate cake mix (plus water, oil and eggs to make according to package)

Filling:

2 cups marshmallow creme
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Topping:

2 cups chocolate chips
12 tablespoons of butter
1 large (12″x16″) chocolate transfer sheet (here is where I got mine)

Directions:

Start with the chocolate toppers. To add a chocolate transfer on top, cut 8 circles in a 4 inch diameter. I traced the pans with a marker and the cut the transfer just inside the line. Place the smooth side down and the rough side up inside a 4 inch silicone cake mold (I got mine here, in the medium size).
Place chocolate chips and 12 tablespoons of butter into a microwave safe dish and melt in 30 second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Gently spoon chocolate over the top of each transfer until it is covered completely.
Freeze for about 20 minutes- until completely hard.
Gently peel away the silicone mold, leaving the chocolate. Keep this chocolate in the freezer until use.

Repeat process (re-melt chocolate glaze if needed) until you have 8 toppers in the freezer.
Make cake according to mix and bake in 4 pans as directed on box. Only fill the pans 1/2 full, or they will overflow. And grease the pans generously!!! My 1st batch stuck a little.
You will need to bake two batches to get your 8 cakes. Cool completely.
Make filling by beating together the marshmallow creme and the butter until smooth and light (about 2 minutes).
Slowly add the powdered sugar, beating on low until it is fully mixed in, and then increasing to high and beating until light and fluffy (another 2 minutes or so).
Place filling into a zip top bag and zip it tightly closed. Clip a corner off and squeeze filling into each open cake cavity.
Gently set a chocolate topper over the filling, pressing it lightly against the filling. As the topper warms to room temperature, it will soften and stick more firmly to the cake.
Gently peel away the plastic from the top of the transfer.

Keep at room temperature until serving. Kept covered, these can be stored for two to three days.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: If you don’t mind the extra equipment and a little bit of time, these are positively the most elegant and delicious little cakes! I had so much fun serving these as individual desserts- and everyone loved them. If what you are aiming for is extra special- this is your dessert. If you need your chocolate fix right now? Get those Little Debbies!!! 😉 ~r

Other fall treats here on Easybaked:

1 Comment

Posted in Cakes, chocolate and tagged cake, chocolate, chocolate transfers, fall dessert, fall recipe, filled cakes, fudge, ganache, glaze, how to use chocolate transfers, individual dessert, marshmallow, marshmallow chocolate cake, thanksgiving dessert. Bookmark the permalink.

Spiderweb Oreo Pops

Posted on October 21, 2016 by Ruthanne

These web-wrapped Oreos with M&M spiders are not only cute fall treats- but delicious ones!

It’s that time of year again. That time when spiders think it’s too cold outside, and find little cracks around my windows and doors to creep in through. There’s nothing worse than sitting here, innocently blogging about a dessert recipe, only to be shocked by a giant black spider racing out from behind the couch. Seriously- they move so fast!

In any case, I make a lot of spider-themed treats. Maybe because candy spiders are so cute- and they don’t move. These are especially cute little guys- and they are perfect on top of these web-coated Oreos! Plus, as is true with all Oreo pops, you can make them weeks ahead and have them all wrapped in pretty bags and ready for a party. I love recipes like that.

Here is how we made them: (printable recipe available here)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 24 pops)

One box of Double Stuff Oreos
24 lollipop sticks
2 bags of Wilton’s Candy Melts in white
1/4 cup of Wilton’s candy melts in dark chocolate
36-ish dark brown M&Ms (no worries–you can eat the rest of the bag while you work 🙂 )

DIRECTIONS:

Make your spiders 1st.
Melt dark chocolate melts in microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until melted and smooth. Spoon into a small zip-top bag and clip a tiny corner off (or use a decorator tip, if you have one).
Pipe spider legs on parchment paper (see photo) and place an M&M in the center. I make more than 24, because the legs sometimes break when you peel them off.

The photos below are from my recipe for Spider Eggs, and some of them are piped on Lindt truffles. You can see how I piped them on parchment paper though.

Let spiders harden while you assemble your Oreos.
Twist apart all of your Oreos.
Melt a small amount of candy melts (<1/4 cup) in the microwave in 3o second increments, stirring between until smooth.
Dip the end of a lollipop stick into the melts, and press into white filling of Oreo. Place other half of cookie back on top and press together.
Place Oreo and stick on a cookie sheet. Repeat this process with remaining Oreos, and then freeze all Oreos until firm (10-15 minutes).
Melt one and a half bags of white Candy Melts using method from above.
Once Oreos are chilled, hold with stick and dip into Candy Melts until completely coated.
Tap on side of bowl to get excess off, and drag across lip of bowl to scrape excess off back of cookie.
Set on parchment paper to harden.
Melt remaining white Candy Melts and place in a zip-top bag. Clip the corner off and drizzle over each Oreo to make a messy web-like pattern.
Immediately place a “spider” on this melted drizzle and allow everything to harden up for at least a couple of hours.
Once hardened, store in an air-tight container or tie up in little cello bags.
Enjoy!!!

My thoughts: *Smile*!!! These are fun little treats- and not too difficult to make. I always love my Oreo pops. One of these days I should put all of them in one post since I’m getting such a large collection of them! I hope you get a chance to try these fun little treats! And I hope they are the only spiders you find in your home this fall!!! ~r

Other spider-y treats found on Easybaked: (click on a photo to see the recipe)

Spiderweb Brownie Tart

Posted on October 1, 2016 by Ruthanne

Fun stripes of color make this tart a beautiful addition to your fall table. Rich dark chocolate and creamy mint filling make it a delicious one!

Isn’t this fun? I love the October colors and the mint filling, but this could be made with any flavoring and in any combination of colors. Plus….it is EASY- I promise! The only special equipment you need is a 9 inch tart pan with a removable bottom- and if you don’t have that, you can make these in a regular 9×9 brownie pan. They aren’t quite as pretty- but still very fun!

This is my mom’s famous brownie recipe. If you’ve been following us on Easybaked for very long, you know that I use this recipe ALL THE TIME. I just rearrange it into different ideas. You also know that we lost my mom almost two years ago very suddenly to cancer. Every time I re-make her recipe into something new, it makes me smile. She would have loved this idea, and I wish she were here to try it!

The original recipe for these is here. The brownie is baked in a large jellyroll pan (like a Texas sheet cake) and then covered in mint and chocolate glaze. That recipe was WAY too large to use in a tart pan, so I reduced it to 1/3 of it’s size for this idea. I had to google crazy things like “what is 1/3 of 2 cups”- only to realize that 1/3 of one cup times 2 is…..(wait for it)….. 2/3 of a cup. Sigh. Math is not my strong suit. 🙂

I really hope you enjoy making, serving and (of course!) eating this fun little tart, dear friends!

Here is how we made it: (printable recipe is here)

INGREDIENTS:

Brownie:

1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons of dark cocoa powder (try to use dark- it makes it easier to color the brownie black)
Pinch of salt
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup milk
Food coloring gel in black

Mint filling: (this makes a little more than you need- but makes certain you have enough of each color)

5 cups powdered sugar
8 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons mint extract
Food coloring gel in orange, green and purple

Chocolate glaze/spiderweb:

1 cup of dark chocolate chips (again, use dark so it is easier to color black)
6 tablespoon of butter
Food coloring gel in black
About 1/4 cup of Wilton’s candy melts in each color: orange, green and purple

DIRECTIONS:

NOTE: Throughout this recipe, be careful when moving the tart pan, as holding it from the bottom will cause the edges to slide off. I usually keep tarts on a cookie sheet when I bake and decorate them- I took this one off (very carefully!) so I could photograph the process for you.

Brownie:

Preheat oven to 350F.
Cream butter and sugar together.
Beat in eggs, cocoa, vanilla and salt.
Add flour and milk (alternating them and mixing well in between)
Add black food coloring gel until batter is a dark almost-black color.
Spread evenly in 9 in tart pan that has been set on a cookie sheet.
Bake at 350 degrees for 14-16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Cool completely.

Mint filling:

Melt butter and add to powdered sugar.
Add extract.
Mix well, using water to bring it to a thick but spreadable consistency.
Divide filling into three bowls and mix in gel food coloring until you get a desired shade of green, orange and purple.
As soon as color is mixed in, spoon each filling color into a small and sturdy (use freezer, not sandwich) zip-top bag. Push all the air out and seal tightly. As this filling is exposed to air it begins to harden up- so sealing these up right away prevents this. If you are slow, you can always add a little more water to get it back to the right consistency.
Set aside until brownie has cooled.
Cut a corner off each bag, and squeeze filling out into a circle at the center. Alternating colors, add rings around this until the entire top of the brownie is covered with filling.

Once the top is covered, set a piece of parchment paper or wax paper on top and gently press the filling down so that it goes all the way to the edges. You might need to push it into some of the fluted edge. Try to make it nice and flat. The glaze will cover all the ridges, but you want to be sure that the edges are pushed down enough that the glaze has room to get to the edge of the pan without overflowing.

Chocolate glaze:

Melt butter and chocolate together in the microwave in 30 second increments, stirring in between until completely melted and smooth.
Add black gel food coloring until glaze is a dark almost-black (I added quite a bit and never got it completely black- but close!)
BEFORE pouring glaze onto tart: melt each color of candy melts and place each in individual zip-top bags (so they are ready as soon as glaze is poured)
Pour glaze over top of mint filling, using a spoon or knife to push out to all the edges.
Before glaze hardens, cut a small corner on each bag of melted Wilton’s candy melts and pipe circles (like a target shape) in alternating colors on top of the melted glaze.
Use a toothpick or skewer to draw lines through the glaze, starting at the center and drawing lines out to the edge.
Add (if desired) black Sixlets at each point around the edge.
Chill until top layer of glaze is hardened. Do not remove outer ring of tart pan until this has completely hardened. Then, push up on the bottom firmly, until the edges slide out of pan. This takes a little patience- I refrigerated my tart overnight and then let it sit out for about 30 minutes before I was able to push the bottom up and remove that outer ring. If you have a hard time, push up in different spots along the edge, loosening all the edges 1st, before pushing the whole thing out.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: I wish you could have seen my face when I cut into this and pulled out that first piece. So many recipe ideas work great in my head but are a flop in the kitchen. This one was not a flop! It worked perfectly- and I love that striped layer SO much! I really hope you give this one a try, and enjoy it as much as I did! As always, when I post this brownie recipe… this one’s for you mom! *heart*

We have LOADS of fun October dessert ideas here on Easybaked! Here are a few of them: (click on photo to see recipe)

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Posted in Brownies, Tarts and tagged brownie, brownie tart, chocolate, chocolate glaze, colorful dessert, fun dessert ideas, Halloween dessert, halloween party ideas, Halloween recipe idea, kids halloween ideas, kids recipe, mint, mint brownies, mint tart, October dessert, October recipe ideas, spider dessert, spider recipe, tart. Bookmark the permalink.

Chocolate “Poo” Emoji Cookies!

Posted on September 24, 2016 by Ruthanne

Send a little smile with these Poo Emoji Cookies! They are a really delicious chocolate cookie swirled around a Hershey Hug!

Ok. Some of you are shaking your heads… 🙂 When I made my Emoji Oreo Pops last week, everyone loved them and the next question out of their mouths was, “What about the little Emoji Poo?? Are you going to make little Poos?”

Since an Oreo isn’t triangular, I went back to one of my favorite chocolate cookie recipes that doesn’t spread out and keeps its shape when baked. I wasn’t sure it would form swirls or keep this particular shape- but it worked perfectly! Plus it is the yummiest cookie recipe ever.

Here’s how we made them: (printable recipe available here)

INGREDIENTS:

1 bag (12 oz.) semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 can (14 oz.) sweetened condensed milk
3 tablespoons of butter
1 1/2 cups flour
15-20 Hershey Kisses or Hugs (unwrapped)
Candy eyes
White fondant (or white candy melts piped into the shape of a smile!)
A little white chocolate (melt chips, or use a few candy melts)

DIRECTIONS:

Unwrap Kisses/Hugs.
Place parchment paper on a large cookie sheet.
Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
Place chocolate chips and butter together in a microwave-safe bowl and melt in 30 second increments in the microwave. Stir between until melted completely. It will be a fairly firm mixture.
Add condensed milk and stir until smooth.
Add flour until it becomes thick. This is the trickiest part to get right- you want to be able to pipe it out of a bag- so don’t add so much flour that you can’t squeeze it out. You want it to hold it’s shape though- so you have to add enough flour for that. As I was piping mine, I thought- PLAYDOUGH- this is the consistency of fresh Playdough.
Immediately scoop dough into a zip-top bag and seal.
Clip a large corner off the bag and squeeze out a small circle of dough. Place a kiss/hug in the center and then continue piping dough in a swirl that covers the kiss up. Use your other hand to press the swirl together as you go- so that the kiss is covered up completely.
Continue piping these “poos” out on the cookie sheet- you can put them fairly close together on the sheet- they don’t spread out much at all.

Eventually, the heat of your hands will draw some of the butter out of the dough and it will get harder to pipe in a swirl. You can: A. Place the dough back in the bowl and re-knead it together, place in a clean bag and pipe more swirls OR B. quit making swirls and just make some plain old poo cookies. (I promise that the plain ones will get more laughter than the swirls….really! Plus you don’t use up so many eyes!!)

Milk and cookies anyone??

Bake at 350F degrees for about 8 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet.
Use a little white chocolate or some White candy melts to “glue” eyes on, and use the same white chocolate to pipe on a smile (or— use white fondant and our fun cookie cutters from my Oreo Emoji recipe to cut out a smile and glue that on!)

My thoughts: These just make me laugh. They are funny and cute (and those non-emoji ones are SO gross- if one of those got dropped on the floor, my dog would get a talking to!) Have you seen the Kitty-litter cakes? Let me find a link to one in case you haven’t….. hold on….. found one (on a super cute blog called tbsp.- click here to see it) Who needs tootsie rolls when you can have such realistic cookies??? Bring on the Halloween gross-factor! Pair them up with Emoji cookies, or serve them alone… however you make them or serve them, I hope you enjoy!! ~r

Other gross-me-out recipes here on Easybaked (just in time for Halloween!!)- click on a picture to see the recipe!

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Posted in Candy, Cookies and tagged chocolate, chocolate cookie, dessert, dessert recipe, emoji cookie, emoji party idea, Emoji poo recipe, Emoji recipe, fudge, funny dessert, gross recipe, Halloween, hershey kisses, kids recipe, kitty litter cake, poop cookie recipe, poop cookies, silly dessert, silly recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

Cookie Butter Stuffed Oreos

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Ruthanne

A creamy layer of chocolate chip cookie butter is a wonderful surprise inside these easy chocolate cookies!

I may be out of the loop on things, but somehow I missed this whole craze over COOKIE BUTTER. When I was in the Czech Republic about a year ago, my friend Angie (the best gift-giver!) sent me home with a collection of European treats. Nestled in with the coffees and chocolates, there was this jar of “stuff” (all the labels were in Czech) and I wasn’t sure what to expect. I know that peanut butter is hard to find in Eastern and Central Europe- so I knew it wasn’t that- but it was close… it was butter- but not made out of peanuts..made out of COOKIES!!!!! Seriously. I fell in love.

Then I found it at Wal Mart. Here. In Indiana. #smile!!!

So, I’ve been stuffing Oreo Thins with all sorts of things over the past few months. Marshmallows….Key Lime Pie…I can’t stop. I have A LOT more ideas. This is just one more. (Prepare yourself…)

These are simply….delicious. I shouldn’t have been surprised that adding cookie butter to Oreos would create such a yummy combination- but I was. The combination is such a unique flavor- and I’m not kidding you- unbelievably good!

Plus they are SUPER easy to make.

Here’s how we did it: (printable recipe available here)

INGREDIENTS: (makes about 25 cookies)

One box of Oreo Thins Chocolate cookies
One jar of crunchy cookie butter (I’ve loved every brand I have tried, but I used Lotus for these)
One cup of mini chocolate chips
One and 1/2 bags of Wilton’s Candy melts in dark chocolate
A little bit of milk chocolate candy melts to make stripes on top (or any sort of sprinkles you’d like to add to make these for any season!)

DIRECTIONS:

Set half of Oreo cookies on a small tray or sheet that will fit in your freezer.
Mix jar of cookie butter and mini chips in a small bowl.
Scoop or spoon cookie butter on top of each Oreo and press a second Oreo on top to make a sandwich.

Freeze for about 30 minutes.
Melt Candy Melts in microwave, in 30 second increments, stirring in between, until melted and smooth.
Take 3 or 4 cookies at a time out of freezer and carefully dip in melted chocolate, using a fork to tap excess chocolate off and sliding the bottom of the cookie along the edge of the bowl to remove excess from the bottom.

Set on parchment paper to harden.
Add sprinkles (if desired) before chocolate hardens, or after it hardens, drizzle or pipe a little bit of contrasting chocolate across the top of each cookie.
Enjoy!

My thoughts: Mmmmmmm! These cookies were eaten up so fast- and I got back so much positive feedback on them- everyone loved them! The only tricky part might be dipping them (if you haven’t dipped things in chocolate before). The trick is to tap off excess chocolate and to remove excess off the bottom. If you aren’t feeling confident in your dipping skills, try just dipping half of the cookie and leaving half of that yummy cookie butter visible! I hope you get a chance to try these!!! Enjoy!! ~R

More delicious Oreo ideas! (Click on a photo to see the recipe)

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Posted in Candy, Cookies, Easy recipes and tagged chocolate, chocolate chips, chocolate cookies, chocolate dipped cookies, Chocolate dipped Oreos, Christmas cookies, Cookie Butter, Cookie butter recipe, cookie ideas, cookie recipe, cookies, dessert, dessert recipe, Fall Cookie recipe, oreo ideas, Oreo Thins, Oreo This recipe ideas, Oreos, recipe, unique cookie recipe. Bookmark the permalink.

Salted Caramel Tart

Posted on September 3, 2016 by Ruthanne

A dense, dark chocolate tart covered in creamy, salted caramel sauce. Salty, sweet, and rich dessert flavors!!!!

This recipe is a combination of some of my favorite elements from other desserts. The chocolate tart is the perfect base for just about any topping. You can adjust it from dark to milk chocolate just by swapping out the type of chocolate you add. The caramel sauce is my go-to sauce for so many recipes. It’s not from-scratch, but it is honestly better (and soooo much easier)!

That caramel layer does firm up after being chilled- but I wanted to cut into this right away- so these pictures show it in all of the gooey happiness that happens just after baking. Yum!

Here’s how we made this tart: (printable recipe here)

INGREDIENTS:

One refrigerated pie crust
1 10 oz. bag of dark chocolate chips
5 egg yolks
5 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
2 teaspoons of vanilla
5 tablespoons of powdered sugar
32 Kraft Caramels (unwrapped)
1 can (14oz) of sweetened condensed milk
1 stick (1/2 cup) of butter
1 tablespoon salt (to taste)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray a 9 inch tart pan with cooking spray and line with pie crust. Poke holes into bottom with fork and set on a cookie sheet.
Melt dark chocolate chips. Allow them to cool to room temperature.
In a separate bowl combine eggs, cream, vanilla and powdered sugar.
Add cream mixture to chocolate and blend well. Pour into crust and bake for 20 – 25 minutes until center is set.
While tart is baking, make caramel sauce by placing caramels, condensed milk and butter into a medium saucepan.
Heat over medium/high heat, stirring constantly, until melted and smooth (about 6 minutes).
Allow caramel to cool in pan a bit, and add salt, mixing well to combine.
Once tart has been removed from the oven and allowed to cool, pour caramel over the top until entire crust is filled (YUM!!!)

Chill, and drizzle with a little chocolate sauce- if you want- for decoration 🙂
Remove sides from pan, serve and enjoy!!!!

My thoughts: Straight up delicious. The sweet caramel has a little bite of salt and that dark chocolate tart is the perfect balance to the sweet. I love the textures of this dessert. The chocolate is so dense and creamy, and the caramel is so soft. This is just “one of those” desserts. The kind you think about long after the last bite. This tart was given away last weekend to friends, and these pictures are killing me… I wish I had another piece right now…! Enjoy this one, friends!!! ~r