chocolate-peanut butter and shortbread chunk cookies

On my fridge sits many a recipe paper cut outs attached to various magnets. These are recipes that I need to try and also kick up. Some recipes have been there for years, some even longer. And with each new place we move to they come with only to get placed back up on the fridge to sit there.....forever. Well the other day I finally was able to take one down. One that came from a cut out from King Arthur catalog. A peanut butter-chocolate chunk cookie. King Arthur has fabulous recipes, and I'm so glad that they add them into their website and catalogs. Just like Barefoot Contessa, King Arthur has recipes you can trust and count on; tested, tried and true. So I didn't do that much to their original recipe, I only added on extra butter, some baking powder, used a double dutch cocoa powder (for more chocolately flavor) and of course added in the shortbread chunks. Why? I just knew that these cookies would be nice and soft and I just had to add in a subtle layer of 'crunch'. OK and more butter flavor too.
If you make these make sure to read all my cook notes. OK?

Do you want a money shot? Yeah of course you do.

chocolate-peanut butter and shortbread chunk cookies
sort of adapted from king arthur
print recipe

1½ cups and 3 TB all-purpose flour
6 TB Dutch-process cocoa (I used double dutch, either is fine)
½ ts baking powder
¾ ts baking soda
¾ ts coarse salt
1 stick (8 TB) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup and 3 TB creamy peanut butter (do not use all natural)
½ cup white sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 ts pure vanilla extract
2 TB whole milk or half & half
1 & ½ cups mini PB cups OR regular PB cups, chopped
1 cup of shortbread chunks, rough chop

Cook Notes: I used Trader Joe’s mini pb cups in this, but next time I will use Reese’s PB cups. The trader joe ones were not that peanut buttery for my taste. I just wanted a bit more peanut butter taste and I know that Reese’s will do it just right.
As for the shortbread chunks, use a good quality shortbread; one that is nice, buttery, crispy and thick like Lorna Doone.
As for the dutch process cocoa, I used a double dutch for that extra chocolate richness, but regular dutch process is just as fine too.
I made these cookies large using a regular size ice cream scoop. You can make them smaller, but whatever size you use I highly recommended using an ice cream scoop (any size) to scoop them onto baking sheet as the dough is very sticky.
Do the cookies freeze well? No.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, dutch cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, peanut butter, and both sugars.
Beat till light and fluffy. Then add in the egg, vanilla extract, and milk. Mix until smooth.
Next add in the dry ingredients and mix till just incorporated.
Then by hand, add in the peanut butter cups and shortbread chunks using a spatula.
Place in fridge and chill at least half hour, longer if it’s humid and/or hot outside.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using an ice cream scoop, scoop out even sizes of dough onto baking sheet, making sure to place doughballs at least 2 inches apart from each other. Cookies don’t spread that much.
Bake 13-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking.
The cookies will be soft to the touch. But as they cool they do firm up a bit. I know you might be tempted to overbake them, please don’t.

devils food cake pops w/ mint chocolate

Cake balls, cake pops, cake thingees-- I am now ok with them. Before I hated them. Remember when I made these midori cape pops? Yeah, those were hard to make! Hard to make the first time around, and even the second time around. Patience grasshopper; that was what my mind was telling me--have patience. First time around I did not have any patience and maybe got 4 to 6 good cake balls for a photo. Whew! Yes, out of like 50 cake balls I got 4 to 6 good ones--bad, very bad. Don't get me wrong they tasted wonderful, but were fugly. Instead of being cake pops they were cake nuggets! Hubby didn't care, they popped in his mouth like popcorn. And I swear each time I saw him eat one I would cringe thinking 'do you know how long it took me to dip that one? No, that one was even worse to dip! I can't watch!'
Since I was so disappointed in myself I gave them a second go without realizing why I had failed in the first place. So naturally the second time around failed--again. Retracing my steps like a detective from Law & Order: Special Cake Pops edition I realized that I did not let the cake pops set up in the freezer long enough; I was letting them set up in the fridge. They need to be a bit firm, not frozen, before you dip them in the chocolate bath that makes everything fall off the stick. LOL! I also found that using milk chocolate as opposed to candy melts makes a much nicer dipping process. AND the taste of pure chocolate tastes way better than candy melts. But that's just me. If you do decide to use milk chocolate instead of candy melts remember the milk chocolate will have a thicker shell than the candy melts.

If you're new to making cake pops or cake balls make sure to visit bakerella.com. She is the queen supreme of all things cake pop. She has a whole section of just cake pops, and if memory serves correct her first cake pop post was in 2008? She's certainly come a long way since then. Now she even has muppet pops (check out the Beaker pops!), kidney pops, and tea pop party! Glad to also hear that her health is on the mend and life is good for her. Congrats to you. How she gets her cake pops so perfectly round is still a mystery to me, but for now I love my lumpy cake pops.

For the recipe head over to Nescafe Dolce Gusto Facebook page, under the recipes tab!

pumpkin-cream cheese cinnamon rolls

It's amazing the amount of emails I receive, thanking me for the Trader Joe creations. To be honest, I wasn't sure if they might go over well, but glad to hear most of you enjoy them. I know most of them are semi-homemade, but in this tough economy saving money when making meals is a top priority of mine; you can imagine the amount of money I spend on food for creating recipes. Thank goodness Trader Joe's products are so versatile, user-friendly, what else (besides cheap?). Oh you know where I'm going with this......

I do get a lot of inspiration when Trader Joe's has the product sampling. Does yours do sampling? I imagine they all do. Last time I was at Trader Joe's, four days ago, they had samples of the rice balls with marinara, they were good. But what really caught my attention was the girl behind the counter serving the samples was quieting working on these cake ball like things. So being the chatty person that I am I asked her what she was making. She took the TJ's pumpkin bread mix, made them into cake balls with some agave, let them chill/firm up in the fridge and then was dipping them in white chocolate. She had made a small batch for the employees to try before launching onto them to the public. Interesting for sure. Pumpkin bread cake balls; might give that a try....would you?

Remember the peanut butter cream cheese cinnamon rolls topped with bacon that I did a while back? Well that is where I got the inspiration for these pumpkin ones. The instant cinnamon rolls from trader Joe's are so good, so easy and always beg to be kicked up somehow.

pumpkin-cream cheese cinnamon rolls
print recipe

1 pack of Trader Joe’s Cinnamon Rolls (in the can)
2-3 TB plain pumpkin puree
4-5 ounces of cream cheese, room temp
A few dashes of pumpkin pie spice
A few dashes of cinnamon
¼ cup of crushed pecans or walnuts, optional

Note: I thought I was going to need a bit of confectioners' sugar, but I did not. The icing pack that came with the cinnamon rolls was plenty sweet.

Bake cinnamon rolls according to package directions.

Take the icing pack that came with the cinnamon rolls and place in a bowl along with the pumpkin puree, cream cheese, pumpkin pie spice, and cinnamon. Stir until well mixed. Set aside.
When rolls are done baking, immediately put the pumpkin-cream cheese mix over the rolls. Top with extra spices if desired and crushed nuts.
Serve immediately.
(they don’t keep well for the next day)

apple-pecan blondies

I do love a good kicked up blondie. A blondie is the perfect vessel for housing different flavor combo's. The blondie base is the perfect ratio of butter, sugar, flour and eggs, leaving you to fill in the flavor gaps. And I did just that with sauteed apples and pecans. And the best part? It's easy peasy to throw together. What add in's would you use?

Head over to Nescafe Dolce Gusto Facebook Page for the recipe. This Blondie recipe can be found under "recipes" on their FB page. See you there!

chocolate covered pumpkin-walnut bars

I had started out wanting to make pumpkin cookies with no chocolate, but thought you gotta have chocolate chips/chunks when you make pumpkin cookies--I mean they just go so well together. Then I wanted to do butterscotch chips in pumpkin, and then finally I settled on bars. My mind changes so fast. To be honest, I'm not that into pumpkin. Butternut squash I love, just not pumpkin. The only time I made an exception is when I made the pumpkin cheesecake with nutella glaze--Oooo that was good. Just about anything in cheesecake form is good though.
These bars are good, if you like pumpkin. I got the thumbs up from several friends; I was not a good taste tester on this one given my lack of enthusiasm for pumpkin. But I am making pumpkin recipes for you. Ya'll requested them, and I'm delivering. Couple more coming your way soon. Any pumpkin creation requests?

chocolate covered pumpkin-walnut bars
print recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 ts baking soda
1/2 ts baking powder
A scant 1/2 ts pumpkin-pie spice (this gives a ‘gentle’ spice flavor, if you like stronger add in a touch more)
A dash or two of cinnamon
1/4 ts salt + pinch
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
15 ounces pure pumpkin puree
¾ - 1 cup of rough chop walnuts, optional but wonderful (make sure to toast walnuts before using)
6-8 ounces semisweet chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, pumpkin-pie spice, cinnamon and salt.
Using a spatula or an electric mixer, beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add in the egg and egg yolk, mix till smooth.
Next add in half the pumpkin puree, mix. Then add in half the flour mixture, mix till just combined. Then add in the rest of the pumpkin puree, mix till just combined, then add in the remaining flour and mix till just combined. Do not overmix. Add in the walnuts and gently fold in.
Grease up a 9 X 13 baking pan
Spread batter into pan, making sure to get the edges. Using a wet spatula will help spread the batter.
Bake until mixture is puffy and edges are golden, 25-30 minutes. Or until a cake tester comes out clean or slightly clean.
As soon as the bars are done, remove from oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top, let them melt, then spread with spatula. Let chocolate topping harden before slicing into bars.

Makes about 15-20 bars depending on how you cut them.