a trio of culinary sins

I found a very sinful recipe via pinterest for candied bacon chocolate chip cookies - which you know I just HAD to try.  I call it my trio of sins with bacon, chocolate, and sugar being in the mix.  Actually I should make that 4 sins because it's got a lot of butter in it too.  I will also say the candied bacon by itself it divine! =)

As I was making the dough, something seemed off to me with the original recipe.  From my mies en place I realized that there was not enough bacon (thank goodness I made way more than the recipe called for) and way too much chocolate.  Not only that, but I also felt that the chips should be milk chocolate, not semi-sweet to further balance the flavors.  The end result of my concoction?  My official taste tester who is NOT a fan of sweets said that they were *THE* best chocolate chip cookies he's ever had.  I have to agree, although I must say I am a bit biased...

candied bacon chocolate chip cookies

For the candied bacon:
12 slices of good thick center cut bacon (from your butcher would be best)
3/4 cup brown sugar

for the cookie dough:
2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
1 tbs pure vanilla extract
1 whole egg + 1 egg yolk
1-1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Arrange bacon in a single layer on a foil lined cookie sheet with a rim. Sprinkle brown sugar over the top of the bacon.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Remove from over and flip pieces over.  Bake an additional 10-15 minutes, or until crispy.  You may have to do this step twice to accommodate all the bacon.
3. Remove from over and place on a wire rack to cool.  DO NOT put bacon on a paper towel or anything of the sort.  The melted sugars will stick a bit to whatever you put it on so make sure it's something you're not going to be picking off it later.  Dice bacon to around chocolate chip size once fully cooled.
4. Reduce your oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
5. In a large bowl, cream the butter with both the white and light brown sugars.
6. Add the vanilla, egg and egg yolk to the bowl and beat until light and creamy.
7. Add the flour and baking soda, mix well.
8. Add the candied bacon and chocolate chips.  Stir by hand until combined.
9. Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Make golf ball sized balls of the cookie dough and place on the cookie sheet about 2" apart.  Bake for 13-15 minutes or until edges are brown.  Remove from oven.  lLt the cookies sit in the pan for about a minute before removing to a wire rack.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.  Enjoy! =)

sweet, salty, buttery goodness

i am a pretty regular watcher of ABC's "The Chew" and a while back Carla Hall made some potato chip cookies which i have been DYING to try for quite some time.  finally i decided i was going to make them this weekend, mainly as a treat for sticking to my half-marathon training program for 5 weeks now.   these cookies are fantastic in all forms - as raw dough, as a plain cookie, or with the chocolate and potato chip toppings.  they remind me of salerno butter cookies when plain, something i ate a lot of as a kid.  but enough already, i know your mouth is probably watering.  here's the recipe as i made it:

potato chip cookies

1 cup butter, partially melted
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1-1/2 cup crushed kettle cooked potato chips, divided
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
confectioners sugar
1 bag hershey's milk chocolate chocolate chips

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. mix together with a mixer the butter and sugar til well blended.  change to a low speed and blend in 3/4 cup of the crushed potato chips.  add in the vanilla extract and mix til combined.  add the flour and use the mixer just a bit to get it somewhat blended.  finish by hand with a spatula as you do not want to overwork the dough.
3. make 1" balls and place them on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper about 2" apart.  flatten them with your fingers.  dust with confectioners sugar.
4. bake cookies for 10 - 15 minutes (mine took about 12 minutes) or until golden brown.  allow to cool.
5. melt the chocolate chips, but not all the way.  with a small spatula, "frost" the cookies with the melted chocolate.  while chocolate is still soft, sprinkle more crushed potato chips on top.

makes about 3 dozen cookies.  enjoy! =)

♠ ♠ ♠

download a printable copy of this recipe at...
http://www.oncupcakemoon.com/recipes/potatochipcookies.pdf

sometimes you need to take 5

sometimes life doesn't go as planned, as the last month has been for me.  i had big plans of handmade gift guides, wearing handmade wednesdays AND weekends, and many recipe postings of all my holiday baking.  instead i feel like i've been crazy doing things i HAD to, and didn't get much time to devote to things i really WANTED to do...  the holidays seem to do that to me.  maybe that's why i'm not the biggest fan of them.

anyway, one of the things i did manage to get to was making these cookies.  i really love all the flavors of hershey's take 5 candy bars (chocolate, pretzels, caramel, peanuts, and peanut butter) and was looking for something that was similar in cookie form.  i spent hours looking for recipes a few months ago and found nothing remotely close so of course, i decided to make up my own.  i'm pretty pleased with them as i ate a lot of them in the last couple of weeks.  i'll be seeing the treadmill a bit more in the next couple of weeks, lol!

deb's "take 5" inspired cookie bars

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup butter, melted
1-1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 cups flour
1-1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 11.5 oz bag (2 cups) hershey's milk chocolate chips
1 cup (or more if you like more pretzel taste) pretzel sticks chopped into 1/2" pieces
heath bits o' brickle toffee chips

1. preheat oven to 350.  spray a 13 x 9 x 2 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
2. in a large bowl beat peanut butter, butter, brown sugar and eggs til well blended.
3. sift together flour, baking powder and salt.  add this to the mixture and beat just a little bit (dough will be dry at this point).  add in milk and vanilla and beat until all is well blended.  when done, spread the dough in the pan.  use a lightly floured glass as a rolling pin if needed.
4. bake for 15 minutes.  add the entire bag of chocolate chips to the top and bake 3 minutes more (you may need an extra minute or so for the chocolate to melt thoroughly - test by trying to spread the chocolate with a spatula).  remove from oven.  sprinkle pretzels over the top of the chips.  immediately start to spread the chocolate and pretzel mixture into a nice layer across the top with a spatula.  when finished, sprinkle toffee chips over the top.  if needed, put in refrigerator to harden the chocolate.
5. to serve, cut into bars.

makes about 3 dozen cookies.  enjoy! =)

♠ ♠ ♠

download a printable copy of this recipe at...
http://www.oncupcakemoon.com/recipes/take5inspiredcookiebars.pdf

freshly baked

once halloween is over, the thing i look forward to is holiday baking.  i make cookies, a cinnamon & sugar bread, cakes, cupcakes (lots of these recipes to come)...  yeah, i am in the gym A LOT in the winter, haha.

but since i have not done a dessert recipe in a while, i thought i'd start with these peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies that i was craving madly while working today.  it's a dreary, rainy thursday and what better way to catch up on the blog recipes by sharing this one!

peanut butter & chocolate chip cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
1 egg
1-1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1-1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (i use hershey's brand)

1. preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. in a large bowl, combine all ingredients except for the peanut butter and chocolate chips.  once combined, add the peanut butter.  when that is well mixed, fold in the chocolate chips.
3. form into firmly packed 1" balls and drop onto ungreased cookie sheet about 2" apart.  flatten to about 3/8" with the bottom of a glass.
4. bake 5-7 minutes.  remove from cookie sheet and let cool.

makes about 4 dozen cookies.  enjoy! =)

♠ ♠ ♠

download a printable copy of this recipe at...
http://www.oncupcakemoon.com/recipes/peanutbutterchocolatechipcookies.pdf