Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffles

Ok, I admit it. I am weird. I do NOT like chocolate chip cookie dough. Never have. I love chocolate chip cookies, but the unbaked dough is gross. But, that being said, I'm in the minority in this household, so I had my 3 guys begging me to make these after they spotted the recipe on Pinterest. 

I think everyone knows the warnings about eating raw cookie dough, because of the uncooked eggs. Fortunately, these use sweetened condensed milk as a liquid replacement for the eggs, but they DO contain uncooked *flour* which has recently become a bit of an issue, too. So eat at your own risk, cookie dough lovers.

Cookie Dough Truffles
Recipe from CakesCottage

Ingredients:
½ cup (1 sticks) butter, room temperature
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans*
1 pound dark chocolate candy coating**
*My family doesn't like nuts in their chocolate chip cookies, so I just upped the amount of chips to 3/4 cup
** I use the pound-plus bars from Trader Joes or the Ghiradelli chocolate wafers available at my local grocery store. 

Instructions:

1. In a bowl combine butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
2. Beat in the flour, sweetened condensed milk and vanilla until incorporated, beating well after each addition.
3. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts. (You can sub more chocolate chips for the nuts)
4. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for approx 1 hour, or until firm enough to handle.
5. Shape mixture into 1 inch balls by rolling a spoonful in the palm of your hand (I use a melon baller to keep the size consistent.)
6. Place on paper-lined baking sheets. Loosely cover and refrigerate for about 20 minutes or until firm again.
7. In a bowl, melt dark chocolate candy coating either by placing atop barely simmering water as a double boiler or by microwaving according to package directions. I got tired of dipping truffles about halfway through, so you might consider doing this in batches, depending on how much time you have.
8. Dip the cookie dough balls into the chocolate and place on parchment paper. I use a fork to dip and gently shake the excess off before placing on the parchment.
9. Let the truffles sit until hard, about 15 minutes.
10. Once set, remelt remaining candy coating.
11. Carefully drizzle chocolate over truffles either by using a ziplock baggie with a tip snipped off or by dipping a fork and gently shaking it about 2 inches above the truffles. As you can see by the fancy picture, I didn't bother with that part this time. They still tasted fine according to the boys.
12. Store in the refrigerator and serve cold. These can also be frozen for longer storage.

German Chocolate Macaroons

This was a Facebook find, via Pinterest, that my husband insisted I make for Christmas. He's a hard core macaroon fan (not to be confused with macaron). These are sweet, chewy, nutty, and pretty much the perfect coconut macaroon. They aren't difficult to make, but they are very time-consuming. So time consuming that I was way too tired to haul out the real camera and take fussy photos. This is my iPhone. Sorry. :)

The source recipe is from Chef in Training.

Ingredients

5⅓ cups shredded sweetened coconut (two of the smaller size bags)
¾ cup sugar
6 Tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon salt
5 egg whites
1 cup finely chopped pecans (Calls for toasted, but they were fine untoasted)

Chocolate topping

Melt 4 ounces sweet chocolate (The Baker's kind)
1 tablespoon shortening

Sweetened condensed milk topping

6 ounces sweetened condensed milk (I just did the whole 14 oz can because I had no use for a partial can.)

Texas Brownies aka Texas Sheet Cake (Recipe)

This is more traditionally known as Texas Sheet Cake, but the recipe I've always used calls them brownies. It's from a 1988 recipe card from Great American Recipes, one of those companies that used to send you free cards to entice you to subscribe to monthly recipe deliveries. (Which, of course, I never did).

What makes this weird is that most of the prep is done on the stove. There's no creaming of butter for either the cake or the frosting. It has a unique flavor and texture as a result. This is not a gourmet, chocolate aficionado's type of cake. It's a family potluck type of dessert. It's a cake-like brownie (or a brownie-like cake). Very sweet, slightly chocolate-y, and makes a huge pan!  I don't own a 17x11 pan. Mine was 15 x 11 and worked fine. Just adjust the baking time to your pan and test the center with a toothpick. I got 36 brownies from my smaller pan.

Make sure you pour the frosting on while the cake is warm and resist cutting into it while it's still warm. It cuts much more cleanly after it cools.

Recipe: Caramel Pecan Brownies

Caramel Pecan Brownies
These were originally from a Pillsbury pamphlet cookbook. I have no idea what issue. I've been making these for years, usually when I run out of baking chocolate and only have cocoa on hand.






1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
12 caramels
1 tablespoon milk

Heat oven to 350°F. Grease bottom and sides of 8 x 8 inch square pan. Mix sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs in a large bowl. Stir in flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Spread in the pan as evenly as possible. Sprinkle with pecans.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Heat caramels and milk in saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently, until caramels are melted.* drizzle over warm brownies. Cool completely, about 1 hr. Cut into 4 rows by 4 rows. 16 brownies.

*You can also pop the caramels and milk in the microwave and cook on high for 30 seconds. Stir and heat in 15 second intervals until drizzling consistency.