Toasted Marshmallow Buttercream

Difficulty: easy
Time consuming: no.

I tend to have a ton of extra chocolate cupcakes in my freezer at all times. This happens when a recipe says it will yield 2 dozen cupcakes but actually yields closer to 3. And then I don't neeeed the extra cupcakes but can't waste them either. So into the freezer they go. And out they come for a handy snack or dessert when friends come over.

I recently topped some chocolate cupcakes with toasted marshmallow butter that was incredible. It's reminiscent of nights around the campfire, complete with little bits of toasted marshmallows!!

Toasted Marshmallow Butter Cream

Depending on how generously you top your cupcakes, this should yield enough frosting to cover 24 cupcakes.

Ingredients
4 ounces (in weight) of marshmallows (about 16 large mallows)
1 cup of marshmallow fluff
1 cup powdered sugar (doesn't need to be sifted)
2 sticks of butter at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Directions
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place marshmallows (not fluff) on sheet and toast under the broiler. This will happen quickly so pay attention. A little brown toastiness is okay. Set aside to cool.

2. In a large bowl, beat the butter with a hand mixer on high until creamed. Decrease the mixer speed, add powdered sugar and beat, increasing speed until the mixture becomes fluffy.

3. Add toasted marshmallows, fluff, and vanilla extract, and beat until the frosting becomes light and airy.

4. Top on your cupcakes and enjoy. Or eat it straight out of your piping bag or bowl, I won't judge you.

**Note: if your toasted mallows are too warm when you add them to your butter/powdered sugar mixture it will be almost impossible to whip up a proper buttercream. Don't worry! Just set the bowl in the fridge for 5-10 minutes to help firm up the butter, take out, and whip as planned.

From Baking Me

Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars with Peanut Butter Caramel Filling

Difficult: No
Time Consuming: No

This is one of my favorite desserts to bring to events because... 1) They come together quickly.  2) The filling makes them incredible soft.  3) The caramel adds a sweetness that's tempered by the peanut butter, so it's not too sweet.  4) I can't stop eating them.

These bars are amazing.  Possibly one of my favorite things I've made this year, they're that good.  The cookie layers perfectly sandwich the peanut butter caramel middle.  To make it extra special, as I was cooking the caramel for the filling, I dropped in a vanilla bean and stirred until all the little flecks of vanilla caviar speckled the gooey filling (just make sure you take it out before you spread it over the cookie base).

This recipe makes a 13x9" pan of incredible bars.  When you're spreading the first layer of cookie into the pan, you will worry that there is no way that two-thirds of the dough will cover it.  But just keep squishing it around until you get the whole bottom covered - it will seem thin, but the layer will puff up when it bakes.  For the cookie topping, I dropped teaspoon sized dough balls all over the surface, they puff up and spread out, but still leave little windows for the silky, gooey peanut butter caramel to peak through.

The Recipe:

yields one 9x13 pan, cut into whatever size you'd like

Ingredients
 chocolate chip cookie dough
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt 
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
5 tablespoons shortening (if you have a tablespoon sized cookie scoop, it makes quick measuring from a tub of shortening)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips 

Peanut Butter Caramel Filling
1/2 cup (4 oz) evaporated milk
11 ounces caramels, unwrapped (you can buy Kraft Caramels, Kraft Caramel Bits, or Werther's Original Chewy Caramels - I used Werther's because someone bought out all the Kraft caramels)
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
*optional: the caviar from 1 vanilla bean, or 1 whole split vanilla bean

1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Optional: Coarse salt, like Kosher or Sea Salt.  You can be extra special by using vanilla sea salt if you have it.

Directions

1.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Line a 9x13" pan with foil - leave enough overhang so you can lift the bars out of the pan when they're done.  Set aside.  In a medium bowl, lightly whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together, set aside.

2.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and shortening together until combined.  Add both sugars and beat for about 2 minutes - until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla, beat until combined.  Mix in chocolate chips.

3.  Add half of the flour mixture, and mix until just combined.  Then add the remaining flour mixture and mix again until just combined.

4.  Take about two-thirds of the dough and press it into the bottom of the pan.  It will seem like it won't cover, but just keep smooshing it until it covers - it will be fairly thin.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, until it's just set and hardly brown.

5.  While the base layer is baking, begin making the filling.  Unwrap caramels and place in a medium saucepan.  Add peanut butter, evaporated milk (and the vanilla bean if you are using it).  Whisk over medium heat until smooth.

6.  When the cookie base is finished (which probably happened while you were making the filling), pour the peanut butter caramel over top, and spread evenly (if you put in a whole split vanilla bean, make sure to remove it.)  Sprinkle 1/4 cup of chocolate chips (or more, I'm not judging) over the peanut butter caramel.

7.  Drop teaspoon sized dough balls over the surface of the caramel layer.  Sprinkle lightly with salt (optional) and bake for 18-20 minutes (until the cookie dough on top is lightly browned)

8.  Cool completely in pan then cut into 24 squares (or however many you want).  I chilled mine in the fridge to make cutting a little easier.


From Everyday Reading

Fudge Puddle Cookies (gluten free!)

Difficulty: easy
Time consuming: prep 20 minutes, bake 10 minutes


When my husband and I drove home from Florida, we spent an awesome long weekend with my Aunt Kathy in Atlanta which included meeting up with a friend for lunch (hey, Rach!), going to the aquarium, and hanging out. About an hour into our drive home, we got a text from her saying that my wonderful husband left his favorite sneakers at her house and that she'd mail them back to us. She's awesome. As a thank you, I mailed her a care package of desserts including these cookies:

I call these fudge puddle cookies because I can't think of any other way to describe the intense chocolatey flavor of these treats. The cookie gets a lightly crisp exterior, like the delicate skin on the top of the best brownies, and the middles are chewy, dense, and fudge-y. The soft balls of dough melt into thin puddles packed full of delectable dark chocolate. And as a perk, these cookies are gluten free!! Milk was made for these cookies, so have a glass nearby!

Fudge Puddle Cookies

Makes about 20 cookies

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups bitter or semisweet chocolate chips, divided
3 large egg whites, room temperature
2 3/4 cups powdered sugar, divided
1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper or spray with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

2. In a small, microwave safe bowl, melt 1 cup of chocolate chips (microwave for 30 seconds on 50% power, stir, and repeat until smooth. Do not over heat or the chocolate will seize and be ruined). Set aside to cool slightly.

3. In a small bowl, whisk together 1 1/4 cup of powdered sugar, all the cocoa powder, the cornstarch, and the salt. Set aside.

4. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, beat the 3 egg whites to soft peaks. Turn off mixer and add 1 cup of powdered sugar. Resume mixing until the mixture resembles marshmallow fluff and has soft peaks.

5. Add the flour mixture to the egg white mixture, mixing until incorporated and scraping down the sides and bottom as necessary. Mix in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.

6. Place 1/2 cup of powdered sugar in a small bowl. Using a tablespoon size cookie scoop, drop scoops of dough into the sugar (the dough will be extremely soft but will hold its shape well). Coat evenly in sugar (shaking off excess) and place on baking sheet, leaving about an inch or so between each cookie.

7. Bake for 10 minutes. The tops will look cracked and the chocolate peaking through in between will look molten and under baked (it's not). Remove from oven, let cool on trays for 10 minutes (this helps make them chewy), then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Eat with a glass of milk.

Adapted from Picklee

Watermelon Cupcakes with Watermelon Cream Cheese Buttercream

 Difficulty: easy
Time consuming: about an hour start to finish for the cakes and 30ish minutes to make the frosting and top the cupcakes

Sweet Your Heart Out is officially 1 year old. I can't believe I've been posting recipes for a whole year. Although I didn't post as much as I wanted to, a lot has happened in the past year: another school year has passed, we went to Florida and planned our next vacation, we bought a new car, I started weight training at this awesome new gym (I can dead lift my body weight!), I replaced the bicycle I got in 2nd grade, I assisted coaching cheerleading, I coached a Girls on the Run team for my school, and  now we're in the process of buying a house!

So the best way to celebrate a year of sweet recipes and as a perfect way to kick off summer, I made watermelon cupcakes with watermelon icing. I brought 2 1/2 dozen of these to a party on Memorial Day weekend and they were gobbled up. The pink cake is moist and speckled with black jimmies to look just like watermelon seeds. The icing has cream cheese in it which I think helps temper the overall sweetness of the cupcake and keeps from having an overwhlming watermelon flavor. The watermelon flavor of these cupcakes reminded many of starbursts, jolly ranchers, or bubblegum.

I bought the black jimmies, large black nonpareils, chunky white icing sugar, and watermelon oil from Cincinnati Cake and Candy located in Reading , Ohio. For the cupcake liners, although I bought bright green liners, they turned brownish with the pink batter inside (flashback to basic art skills - complimentary colors make brown). To remedy that problem, I printed this cupcake liner template, traced it onto green scrapbook paper, and wrapped it around my cupcakes.

These cupcakes tasted phenomenal! But if you wanted to vary up the flavors a bit, I would try the watermelon cake with a vanilla basil buttercream, these watermelon cupcakes with white chocolate and lime, or just make a plain vanilla cake and tint it pink and use your favorite buttercream recipe - you could even add chocolate chips to the batter instead of jimmies to look like seeds since the chocolate would be paired with vanilla (yum) instead of watermelon (watermelon and chocolate, nothankyou).

Watermelon Cupcakes
Makes 2 1/2 dozen

Ingredients

Watermelon cupcakes
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened at room temperature
2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 dram (1 teaspoon) watermelon flavoring oil (like Lorann) - link to ccc
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 – 16 ounce container (2 cups) sour cream
Food coloring (optional) (I used Wilton rose colored gel food coloring)
3-4 tablespoons black jimmies (optional)

Directions
Watermelon cupcakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. line to muffin pans with cupcake liners and set aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together and set aside.

2. In a large bowl or the bowl of a standing mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.  Add eggs 1 at a time, mix well between each additions.  Add watermelon flavoring and mix to incorporate.

3.  Add 1/3 of the flour mixture, and mix until just combined.  Then add 1/2 the sour cream, beat until just mixed.  Then the second 1/3 of flour.  Then the last 1/2 of sour cream.  And finally add the last 1/3 of the flour mixture.  You should have mixed until combined between each addition.

4.  Add food coloring as desired.

5.  Fill cupcake liners about 2/3 of the way full, and bake for 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs sticking to it.

Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Watermelon Frosting
makes enough to lightly (not huge swirls) frost 24 cupcakes

Ingredients
1 dram (about 1 teaspoon)  teaspoon watermelon flavoring (like LorAnn's)
1/2 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
8oz cream cheese, room temperature
*food coloring (optional)

1.  In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together.

2.  Add sugar (1/2 cup at a time so it doesn't *poof* all over the kitchen) and mix until blended.

3.  Add food coloring (if using) and watermelon extract, beat on high until light and fluffy.

*If you want a thicker frosting, add more powdered sugar.  If you want a thinner frosting, add milk 1 tablespoon at a time until the desired consistency is reached.

To make the cupcakes really look like watermelon, I rolled the edge of the frosting in white icing sugar (the big crystals) and dotted the top with large, black nonpareils.

Watermelon Cake recipe from Bakingom
Frosting from Group Recipes

Chocolate Wafer Cookies

Difficult: Nope
Time consuming: About 10 minutes to whip up the dough, about an hour chillin' in the fridge, then 12 minutes per round of baking.

These chocolate wafer cookies are the cookies you can use to make a variety of yummy things with.  For starters, whip these up if you want a great icebox cake (the Nabisco box of chocolate wafers can be hard to find and is kinda pricey).  Or fill them with an Oreo cream frosting for copy-cat Oreo's.  The rich chocolate taste pairs well with almost anything (like home made marshmallow fluff or peanut butter buttercream, just to name a few...I did have to try the cookies, just to make sure they weren't accidently poisoned or anything.  At least that was always the excuse growing up).

Or you can make them for the same reason I did: ice cream crunchies.  Ya know, that amazing crunchy layer in Dairy Queen or Carvel ice cream cakes.  Yea, those.  Except I'm making my crunchies to put in between the layers of my birthday cake, which is gonna be a doozy :P

Note: this recipe yields about 20 ounces of finished cookies. A typical nabisco box is 9 ounces, so halve the recipe if you are following an ice box cake recipe that calls for a box of wafers. If you are making them to put in between layers of birthday cake (like I did), you can quarter the recipe and have just enough. But extra cookies never hurt anyone :)  Also, this dough is egg free, so if you happen to eat some, well, accidents happen :P

The Recipe:

Ingredients
6.75 ounces all-purpose flour (1 1/2 cups)
2.4 ounces unsweetened cocoa powder (3/4 cup) (I used Kroger brand because it was what I had on hand and I thought they tasted super, but better quality cocoa powder like Valrhona will produce better chocolate tasting cookies since chocolate is the star flavor)
1 1/8 c sugar
1/4 t salt
1/4 t baking soda
14 T (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
3 T milk
1 t pure vanilla extract

Directions
1. In the bowl of a food processor or stand mixer, pulse or stir together the flour, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking soda.

2. Cut the butter into tablespoon sized chunks and add them to the bowl. Pulse or stir (with the paddle attachment) until the butter is in pea sized chunks (this will take a little longer in the stand mixer, and you shouldn't mix faster than the lowest speed or you will poof flour everywhere).

3. Add the milk and vanilla in a steady stream to the running processor or mixer. Continue to mix until the dough clumps around the blade or paddle.

4. Transfer the dough to a work surface and knead a few times so that all the flour is evenly mixed in and the dough ball is cohesive. Roll the dough into a log no smaller (bigger?) than 14 inches long and about 1 3/4 inch wide. I wanted smaller cookies so I rolled mine to about 24 inches long. Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and have the racks positioned in the upper and lower thirds. Line the baking sheets with parchment paper. Cut the log of dough into slices no thicker than 1/4 inch, but thinner if you'd like. Place 1 inch apart on baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes. Rotate the pans front to back, top to bottom, halfway through baking.

6. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 4-5 minutes, then transfer to baking racks. If the cookies aren't crisp when cooled, put them back into the oven for a few minutes. They should not be soft when cooled.

Store in an airtight container for 2 weeks or freeze.

To make the ice cream crunchies, crush 9 ounces of cookies (about half of the above recipe) and mix with one 7.25 ounce bottle of magic shell.  Don't make this ahead of time, because once the magic shell hardens on the cookie, that's it, that's the shape you're stuck with.  Although I haven't tried it, I suppose you could just microwave it 'til the magic shell softens then you can reshape it.

And if you wanna be even more extra special, you can home make your magic shell.

Also, I had leftover crunchies after I put them in my cake, so I pressed them into muffin tins to make "cookies."  I popped them in the fridge to harden, then stored in a bag in the freezer.  They are great to eat out of hand or served with a dish of ice cream!













Chocolate wafer cookie recipe from Smitten Kitchen.

Hot Chocolate Cookies

Difficult: No way, Jose.
Time consuming: Nah.  About 10 minutes to mix up the cookie dough, and 10 minutes per sheet pan to bake.

Merry Christmas, everyone. Here's a recipe that made it to my cookie trays this year, enjoy!!

These cookies are incredible.  They taste just like hot cocoa and even have the little mini 'mallows in them (they don't get baked out!).  The cookies have a soft and chewy texture and is loaded with awesome cocoa flavor.  They have made it into my limited selection of cookies to make every Christmas, and probably more often than that.  My husband does not love sweets the way I do but he's already requested a second batch of these cookies, so that's how I know they're good.

The recipe makes a lot, about 5 dozen or so cookies.  Which makes it great for a cookie exchange party (where I took them last week) or for an office party, or for anyone who really, really, loves hot chocolate.  The recipe halves nicely, too, in case you don't need that many cookies.

FYI: this recipe calls for Kraft "'Mallow Bits" which I found at Krogers near the hot chocolate and coffee.  If you can't find mallow bits, I'm sure regular ol' mini marshmallows will be equally as tasty.  Rumor has it that Target also carries Mallow Bits.

Yields: About 60 cookies

Ingredient:
 2 sticks (1 cup) butter, room temperature
1 cup of sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/4 cup flour
4 packs of hot chocolate mix (not sugar free) (around 1/4 cup cocoa mix, if you have a canister rather than packets)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups chocolate chips (milk or semisweet) (about 1 full 12-oz bag)
1 cup (half of the container) 'Mallow Bits

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2.  In a medium bowl, whisk to combine the flour, hot cocoa mix, salt, and baking soda.  Set aside.

3.  In the bowl of a stand mixer (with paddle attachment), cream the butter and the sugars until light.

4.  Add eggs and vanilla to the butter/sugar mixture.  Mix to combine.

5.  Add the flour to the bowl of the stand mixer and mix until it seems evenly incorporated (I did mine about a cup or so at a time), (the dough will seem really thick).

6.  Add the chocolate chips and 'Mallow Bits.  Mix until evenly distributed.  My KitchenAid was clunking around but it managed, and yours will, too.

7.  Drop tablespoon fulls of dough (I used my dough scooper) onto the parchment and bake for 10 minutes.

**While the first batch was baking, I scooped the rest of my dough onto a wax paper lined cookie sheet and popped it into the fridge.  I don't know if you need to do this, but it does help the cookies from spreading too much during baking.

8.  The cookies may look underdone, but if you want a soft and chewy cookie, take them out now, let cool on the sheet pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Slightly adapted from Baked Bree.

Mini Chocolate Chip Scones

Difficult: No way.
Time consuming: About 30 minutes to make, a 30 minute rest, and 20 minutes to bake.

 

I saw these mini chocolate chip scones on Pinterest and knew they would be my next sweet for our special ed team meeting.  Honestly, I had never had a scone before - which is actually pretty terrible considered I spent 10 days in London on spring break for a study abroad my freshman year of college.  So I didn't really know what to expect but these were great!...especially with a cup of coffee!!  These were sweet with bursts of chocolate in every bite. They have a drier texture compared to a cookie (making it so dunkworthy) but I really love how they turned out.  And the glaze was super easy to apply and helps hold in some moisture so they can last a few days before going stale (but only if they last that long!)

Prebaked.  They can all get squished pretty close on a baking pan.

I've been doing a crazy amount of baking with the holiday's coming up...so many great treats to share on here (eventually). First I made cut out sugar cookies, then I made these scones, then hot chocolate cupcakes with marshmallow buttercream to share at school, then hot chocolate cookies for a cookie exchange, then all the rest of my regular holiday baking (which I'm toning down this year to a chocolate cookie, my cut out cookies, peppermint shortbread, and soft ginger cookies).  Phew.  It's getting exhausting but I am loving every minute of it :)

 

The Recipe:

yields 32-64 scones, depending on how you cut them

 Ingredients:
Scones:
 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated, white sugar (I used vanilla sugar)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into pats
1-2 cups mini chocolate chips (I used 1 bag, which is two full cups)
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (but if you don't have it, you can up the vanilla to a full 2 teaspoons)
1/2 to 2/3 cup milk

Glaze: (honestly I had so much extra, you could probably reduce the quantities listed below but I haven't tried)
3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
7 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
 
Directions:

Before you start, line a large (18"x13") baking pan with parchment paper, and set aside.

1. In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder together.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or 2 forks.  The mixture will be unevenly crumbly and some large chunks of butter might remain, but that's ok.  Stir in your chocolate chips.

2.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, and 1/2 cup of milk.

3.  Add liquid ingredients to dry ingredients and stir until all the flour mixture has been moistened and the dough seems to stick together.  If it seems too dry, add a little more milk until it forms a nice dough.

4.  Well flour a work surface, and scrape the dough into a ball.  Roll it into an 8"x8" square, it should be about 3/4" thick.  Cut into 2" squares (so you have 16 squares), then cut each square diagonally into a triangle.  (I used a pizza cutter).  Transfer the triangles to the baking pan (I used an offset spatula to help with this) - you can keep them pretty close together because they don't spread a lot during baking.  All the triangles should fit onto one large baking pan.

5.  Pop the pan of scones into the freezer for 30 minutes.  In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees.

6.  After they chill, bake for 17-20 minutes, rotating the pan once during baking.  They'll be golden brown when their done. (Note: at 19 minutes, the bottoms on mine were on the verge of being over done).

7.  If you want smaller scones, cut each triangle in half down the center as soon as they come out of the oven (if you do this, you'll have 64 small triangles).  I didn't cut mine again, but I wish I would've made some of them smaller, it's nice to have the option of a small snack or just a bite.

8.  Let them cool on the pan for 10 minutes.  Then pop into the freezer for 10 minutes to quickly cool them.

9.  Prepare the glaze by mixing the powdered sugar, water, and extract in a bowl with a whisk.  Line a baking sheet with wax paper, pour a little less than half the glaze into the pan.  Take the scones out of the freezer and place them into the glaze.  Pour the remaining glaze over the scones.  Using a pastry brush, schmear the glaze all of the tops and the sides of the scones.

10.  Transfer the scones to a cooling rack and let the excess glaze drip off (I put wax paper under my rack to catch drips).  Allow the glaze to set before serving.

Recipe slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour.  Head on over there for some great step-by-step pictures.

Caramel Apple Bars

Difficult: Nope.
Time consuming: Nope


Thursday was parent-teacher conferences.  From 8 in the morning til 7 at night.  It was exhausting!  I whipped up these treats for the special ed team meeting but then we decided to go off campus to Cracker Barrel.  These bars were great snacks for our long day since we didn't have them in the morning. 

The oat crust layer was crunchy and just hefty enough to hold the tart apples and caramel.  The topping reminded me of an apple crisp - sweet and crunchy and just a little crumbly.  Eat these quickly though because after a day or two the topping starts to get soggy - although I doubt they'll last that long!

The Recipe:

Ingredients
1 c packed brown sugar
1/2 c butter (1 stick), softened
1/4 c shortening
1 3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 1/2 c quick-cooking oats
1 t salt
1/2 t baking soda
4 1/2 c coarsely chopped peeled tart apples (I used 5-6 small granny smith apples)
3 T all-purpose flour
1 bag (12-14 ounces) caramels (I used kraft brand)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400ºF. Line a 13x9" baking pan with foil and set aside.

2. Start melting caramel over low heat.  Keep an eye on it while preparing the recipe, stir occasionally.

2.  Mix brown sugar, butter and shortening in large bowl using an electric mixer. Stir in 1 3/4 cups flour, the oats, salt and baking soda (I used my hands to crumble everything together). The mixture will seem loose but that's ok. Set aside 2 cups oat mixture and press remaining oat mixture in pan.

3. Toss apples with 3 tablespoons flour and spread evenly over pan.

4.  When caramel is completely melted and smooth, pour evenly over the apples (work quickly because the caramel will start to harden - just smoosh it around as best you can).

5.  Top with reserved oat mixture and press down lightly.

6. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until topping is golden brown.

For 36 bars, cut into 9 rows by 4 rows while warm (I waited for about an hour after they came out of the oven). Store covered in refrigerator





Recipe from Betty Crocker

Cookies and Cream Popcorn

Difficulty: easy
Time consuming: nah.

For Halloween at school, I didn't dress up, I didn't decorate my room. I had a sad attempt at decorating my door.  And maybe 3 of my kids actually did Halloween related activities.  Not that I don't enjoy the holiday, but the month really got away from me.  I did manage to carve pumpkins and make pumpkin seeds, but that's pretty much the extent of it.  I did however dress up for the belated Halloween party this past Saturday and dressed as a rugby player (courtesy of hubby's closet).  I had a really clever costume planned around some Jay-Z lyrics, but hubby was a funhater and went as a sad hobo clown (dumb!).  But anywho.  For Halloween I did manage to whip up a treat for all the fantastic teachers at my school: Cookies and Cream Popcorn with Reese Pieces.  I doubled the recipe and it was almost completely gone by lunch.  I was told that my boss hi-jacked a container and didn't return it until it was empty.

The great thing about this recipe is that it is so adaptable.  You can add Reese Pieces, M&M's, or other candies.  You can use colored vanilla melts like red or green for Christmas, orange for Halloween (unless you go to Walmart and they only have lime green colored Wilton candy melts), red and blue for the Fourth of July, you get the idea.  And everyone will love you for bringing it.  I promise.

The recipe:

Ingredients
1 bag of kettle corn, popped; or regular unbuttered popcorn
6 oz vanilla candy melts or white chocolate
12 chocolate wafer cookies, like Oreo's, crushed
3/8 cup (give or take) candy like Reese Pieces (optional)
additional chocolate or vanilla candy melts for drizzling (optional and decorative)

Directions

1. Pop kettle corn in the microwave.  Be careful not to burn it!  Put popcorn in the largest bowl you have (I used a bowl that I make party mix in) and sort out as many unpopped kernels as you can (you don't want to chip a tooth).

2.  Melt the vanilla candy melts - put into bowl and microwave on 50% power for 30 seconds, stir, and repeat until melted and smooth.  Or you can melt over a double boiler.  Pour over popcorn.  Add Oreos and candy if you are using them.

3.  Using a spatula, gently fold the popcorn and white chocolate together until everything seems evenly coated.

4.  Line some cookie sheets or counter tops with wax paper and spread popcorn mixture over it.  Spread out and let dry, about 20 minutes.  Serve and eat immediately, at or store in an airtight container.


Recipe from Sweet Tooth plus I added Reese Pieces

Savory Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Difficult? No
Time consuming? Not after you've got your seeds.

Pumpkin | Part 1

Hubby's pumpkin on the left, mine on the right,

I love pumpkin seeds. I look forward to October every year just so I can carve pumpkins for seeds. I even have friends over to carve pumpkins just so I can collect more. Also they're really fun people to hang out with.

The worst part about making roasted pumpkin seeds is separating all the guts from the seeds, but it's a task that's well worth the effort. A trick to help separate seed from pulp is to put the seeds and pulp in a a tub of water and stir. Let sit for a few minutes and the pulp should sink to the bottom while the seeds float to the top. This method isn't perfect but gets the job started.

My pumpkin seeds are not "traditional," meaning I don't just cook and salt them. Rather they are a blend of favors that I like, but the quantities can be adjusted to your personal taste.

Start by separating the seeds from the pulp. If you aren't going to cook your seeds right away, store them in salt water in the fridge (no longer than a week). If you are going to wait a day or two before cooking, smash a clove of garlic and add it to 1 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil. Set in fridge until you're ready to use (Caution! Garlic sitting in olive oil can produce botulism if left out at room temperature for too long or if not used within 24-48 hours, so feel free to omit this step or be careful. And throw away any extra oil). When you are ready to cook, measure out how many cups of seeds you have (four medium pumpkins gave me just over 5 cups of seeds).

Boil 4 cups of water with 4 teaspoons of salt for every cup of seeds. You can decrease the amount of salt if you like but really this only lightly favors the seed. Add seeds and boil for 10 minutes. Drain seeds and pat dry with a clean kitchen towel or paper towels. Put into a medium sized bowl.

Brush olive oil on a foil lined sheet or roasting pan. Add oil, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings  to seeds. Stir until evenly coated. Spread out in a single layer on the pan (depending on your quantity of seeds you may need more than 1).

Bake for 1-2 hours at 250 degrees stirring occasionally. Seeds are done when dry and crispy.

The recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup of pumpkin seeds, cleaned of any pulp
4 cups water
4 teaspoons salt (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon)
1/2 teaspoon (garlic infused) olive oil
1/2 teaspoon  Worcestershire sauce

Spices:
3/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (more or less, to taste)
pinch of thyme (I measured out 1/16 teaspoon)
1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Line a baking sheet or a roasting pan with foil and brush with olive oil, set aside.

2. Boil 4 cups of water and 4 teaspoons of salt with seeds for 10 minutes. Drain in a colander, pat dry with a tea towel, and place into a medium sized bowl.

3. Add remaining olive oil (should be about 1/2 teaspoon), Worcestershire sauce, and spices. Stir until seeds are evenly coated.

4. Spread seeds into a single layer on baking sheet (or roasting tray) and bake, stirring about every 30 minutes, for at least1 hour, or until seeds are dry and crispy (which may take up to 2 hours; mine took one and a half hours for my desired crispiness).

Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies

Difficult: Not any more so than other cookie recipes
Timely: only passively, the cookies have to sit overnight before baked.

These chocolate chip cookies are the bomb-diggity!!  They bake up huge and thick, the outside gets crisp while the inside stays incredibly soft and chewy and full of chocolate.  This is the infamous recipe by Jacques Torres and was published in the New York Times.  It's been floating around Pinterest for quite some time but I always put off making it because it includes bread flour and cake flour which I don't keep on hand.

Don't let the inclusion of bread flour and cake flour deter you from making these cookies. Believe me I put off baking anything that included "other" flours (aka not all-purpose) but these have changed my mind. The bread flour, with it's extra gluten, give the cookies their heft. The cake flour (with a lower gluten content) offsets the bread flour for a delicate and chewy bite. Trust me, it's worth it.

These cookies are freakin' huge! After I made the dough, I weighed it and it came in at a whopping 4 pounds and 5 ounces. And 1 pound of that came from the chocolate chips. JT would tell you that making your cookies huge are one of the secrets to their success (3.5 ounces per cookie). But I'm a quantity girl and I discovered a chewy and crisp cookie weighing in at only 1.75 ounces. Although not as thick, still incredible in my book.

The one on the left weighs 3.5 ounces, the one on the right weighs 1.75 ounces.

3.5 ounce cookie bakes to around 5-6 inches in diameter.

The 1.75 ounce cookies bakes to about 3 inches in diameter.

The only downer to this recipe is that it doesn't offer immediate gratification - once you prepare the dough, you have to wait an excruciating 24-36 hours before you bake. Torture, I know. But totally worth it. The overnight sit in the fridge helps the dough come together and allows all the liquid ingredients to really absorb into the dry ones, which helps to produce a chewy texture and to not spread too much when they bake in the oven.

The recipe

Ingredients
2 cups minus to 2 tablespoons cake flour
1 2/3 cup bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups (2 1/2 butter) butter, unsalted, room temperature
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 cups plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds chocolate (the original recipe recommends at least 60 percent cacao content, I just used 2 bags of semisweet)
Sea salt for garnish

Directions

1.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder and soda, and salt. Set aside.

2.  In the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attached (or using a hand mixer), cream the sugars and butter until light and fluffy (about 5 minutes set to speed 6 on a Kitchen Aid). Decrease the mixer speed and add eggs one at a time mixing thoroughly after each addition. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.

3.  Slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated, about 5-10 seconds. Add chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed. You can mix the chips in by hand if you prefer. Whichever floats your boat.

4.  Press Saran wrap over the surface of the dough and refrigerate 24-72 hours. Or create a neat little block of cookie dough and wrap in Saran wrap and pop that into the fridge if you don't want the bowl taking up space.

5.  Weigh out dough using a digital kitchen scale to 3.5 or 1.75 ounces, then bake at 350 degrees according to the specifications below:

• Large cookies will bake to 5-6" in diameter and will yield 18-20 cookies: weigh dough out to 3.5 ounce balls (a little bit larger than golf balls).  Space dough a few inches apart (4-6 to a sheet unless you have huge professional sheets, then you can do more) on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Garnish with sea salt. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
• Smaller (but not small) cookies will bake to 3" in diameter and yield around 3 dozen cookies: weigh dough out to1.75 ounce balls (just smaller than a golf ball) and place a few inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet (6 fit on a regular baking sheet for me).  Garnish with sea salt.  Bake for 14-16 minutes. 

 Some tips:

• Take cookies out of the oven just when the tops are starting to look brown for a softer cookie.  
• Rotate your pans during baking- especially if your oven has hot spots. 

6.  Leave cookies to cool on pan for 10 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Or eat immediately with milk.

If you dislike the odd quantities of ingredients required for these cookies (although I honestly didn't have a problem measuring out 2 cups plus or minus 2 tablespoons), check out the Cilantropist's version of these cookies.

Inspired by Bakerella 
Some input on size from the Cilantropist
Recipe from ABC's The Chew

Brownie Batter Dip

Difficult? Nope
Time consuming? Nope

Who doesn't love licking sweet, chocolatey brownie batter from the bowl (and spatula and fingers) before tossing all the dirty dishes in the sink?  Except for that whole don't-eat-raw-eggs thing.  That can end badly.  This brownie batter dip has no eggs in it and definitely got a thumbs up from my six-year-old niece who basically just ate this with her fingers.

The recipe

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1 (8 oz) package of cream cheese or neufchatel, room temperature
2-3 cups powdered sugar (doesn't have to be sifted)
5-8 tablespoons of cocoa powder (also doesn't have to be sifted)
2 tablespoons brown sugar, lightly packed
1 tablespoon white sugar
2+ tablespoons of milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:
1.  Using a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and cream cheese together.
2.  Add one cup of powdered sugar, mix.  Add 1 tablespoon of milk, mix.  Add another cup of powdered sugar, mix.  Add another tablespoon of milk, mix.
3.  Add 5 tablespoons of cocoa powder, all of the brown and white sugars, and the vanilla.  Mix.
4.  Taste it - is it still too tangy from the cream cheese?  Add more cocoa powder.  Is the consistency too thin?  Add more powdered sugar.  Is the consistency too thick?  Add more milk.
5.  Serve with pretzels, vanilla wafers, graham crackers, Oreo's, anything.  And enjoy.

Recipe modified from Something Swanky.

Muddy Buddy Bars

Time consuming? Not at all.
Difficult? Not at all.

Everyone knows what muddy buddies are. They also go under the names puppy chow, dog food, monkey munch, and apparently also chewbacca chew (although I've never heard of that last one before). It's silky, melted chocolate and peanut butter covering a crunchy cereal (typically Chex or something similar) and tossed in powdered sugar. Absolutely melt-in-your mouth heaven!

These bars are slightly less messy to eat and better portion controlled than the bowl of sweet and crunchy amazing-ness I grew up with; yet they still retain the original experience of powdered sugar melting on you tongue quickly followed by the one-two punch combo of chocolate and peanut butter, all completed by that tell-tale crunch of the cereal that meant it was time to toss a few more bites in your mouth.

Good luck sharing these with anyone.  My friend Jamie and I made these for our cheerleaders and completely ate the entire pan ourselves.  And don't think I wasn't tempted to pummel her with a spatula just so I didn't have to share at all.

The recipe: Muddy Buddy Bars
yields 16-25 (more or less depending on how big or small you cut them)

Ingredients
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups chocolate chips
4 cups crispy rice cereal

1 cup marshmallows
Powdered sugar for dusting (about 1/2 cup, more or less)

Directions
1. Line a 9x9" baking dish with foil and spray with nonstick coating. Set aside.

2. In a large, heat proof bowl set over a double boiler, stir peanut butter and chocolate chips with a large spatula until smooth and melted. Remove from heat.

3. Add cereal and gently fold to coat. Add marshmallows and continue to fold until everything seems evenly coated with the chocolate mixture.

4. Spread cereal mixture into the prepared baking pan evenly. Top with the powdered sugar sifted evenly over top and refrigerate until cool. The freezer also works if you are impatient, just don't leave it in there so long that the bars freeze solid.

5. Once cooled, remove the bars from the pan by lifting the foil overhang. Cut into desired sizes and serve.


Recipe from Cookies and Cups

Espresso Buttercream

Difficulty level: easy
time consuming: nope

I.  Love.  Frosting.  My mom and I have been known to keep extra in the freezer, pull out spoons, and snack on it like ice cream.  Healthy, I know.  So when I made macarons the other day (my second attempt ever), I filled half with Nutella, and I asked my husband what flavor filling he wanted for the other half.  He said, "Coffee, but only because I can't think of any other flavors right now."  I perused my go-to baking blogs and came across this frosting recipe before he could change his mind.  After whipping up a batch, I brought him a spoonful to see if it met his expectations.  He told me it tasted "flour-y."  Which I guess was his way of saying he didn't care for the texture of the powdered sugar (but he's also been spoiled by the Italian buttercream I like to make on special occasions when I have the time).  I thought it was perfect though.  I filled my macarons and topped some mini cupcakes for friends that were coming over later that night.

The response from friends was unanimously positive, and I will definitely use this frosting in the future.  The coffee flavor was pleasant and not overwhelming or bitter, like I had worried about.  The vanilla in it rounds out the flavor nicely, too.  This pairs well with chocolate desserts but also was delicious in macarons (where the only other flavor to pair with was almond).  I can already imagine a cake layered with this frosting and ganache....

I used the espresso frosting to top chocolate cupcakes and garnished with a chocolate covered coffee bean and dusted with cocoa powder.

I filled my macarons with the espresso butter cream.  Some also got a schmear of Nutella or caramel sauce to compliment the coffee flavor.

Keep reading below for the recipe and directions!

So today is the last day of my first (and probably only) ever work free summer since I was 16.  Man it flew by fast.  Hubby and I stayed very busy; we went to Sanibel Island for a week, Cleveland for weddings and to visit with family for 2 separate weeks, I started coaching cheerleading, I read a ton of books, we played golf (FYI if you're not very good at golf but like to try, only count half of your strokes so you don't get frustrated when your group is kicking your butt), went to Kings Island and Soak City, visited with his family from out of town, celebrated a few birthdays, volunteered at our church festival, redecorated some rooms in our house, and of course baked.  I hope you've enjoyed the recipes I shared this summer, I think I did a pretty okay job keeping up with posting.  I plan to continue to post a few times a month or more during the school year so keep checking back for more delicious tried-and-true recipes!

Recipe: Espresso Buttercream

Ingredients
2 sticks (aka 1 cup) of unsalted butter at room temperature
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder (you can find it by the instant coffees at the the grocery store)

Directions
1.  Measure the instant espresso in a small bowl then add the vanilla.  Mix to dissolve the espresso.  Set aside.
2.  Sift your powdered sugar into a bowl if it isn't already sifted.  Set aside.
3.  Using an electric mixer or your Kitchen Aid mixer with the whisk attachment, cream the butter (Kitchen aid speed 6 for about 5 minutes).  Scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
4.  Slowly add powdered sugar to butter.  I did scant 1/2 cup at a time, turning off my mixer to add and scraping down the bowl between additions.
5.  Once all the sugar has been added, whip on speed 8 for a few minutes until the mixture has grown in volume and become light and fluffy.
6.  Add the vanilla/espresso mixture and whip on high until it is incorporated.
7.  Use with cupcakes, cookies, cakes, or eat it out of the bowl.  Yum!



Recipe from Brown Eyed Baker, directions were adapted.

Sweet & Salty Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Bars

Time consuming: Nope
Difficulty level: Not at all

On Friday, my husband's rugby club had their annual "skip" day. Since we're both teachers, we didn't have anything to skip but we still got to have to an awesome day with some fun people. We started the day with golf, which went much better for me than I expected.  I am terrible at golf - I only counted half my strokes and still only made par for the front nine, I guess I better stick to things I'm good at, like baking. After we played the front 9 holes, we came home, relaxed, and I prepared these babies:

After the rest of the group played the back nine, a few people came over for some drinks before we headed out for a Reds game.  The game was exciting, the Reds won, and the night ended with fireworks set to music! All in all, a great skip day!

These bars tasted great, but they were kinda hard to eat in this Ohio heat as both the top and bottom layers can get pretty melty. Next time, I might try to make a pretzel crust similar to how you'd make a graham cracker crust and then add a layer of pb and pretzels then the layer of chocolate. My favorite thing about this recipe was that it was no-bake, so I didn't have to heat up my kitchen using the oven!!

Sorry for the lack of photos, I was a little rushed because I snuck a nap in after golf and forget to snap pics as I went.

First, line an 8x8" baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick spray. Next, crush up pretzles in a food proccessor until you have fine crumbs. Some big chunks are ok, though. My mini food processor made a half cup of crumbs when I filled it with mini pretzles.

In a microwave safe bowl, melt butter. Add to pretzle crumbs, powedered sugar, and peanut butter. Mix until thoroughly combined then pat into the foil lined pan. Pop into the fridge so it can firm up a bit while you prep the chocolate.

In a microwave safe bowl (the one you melted butter in is fine), mix chocolate chips and peanut butter. Microwave in 30 second increments at half power, stirring in between, until the chocolate mixture is melted and smooth. Pour this over peanut butter layer and smooth over so that it is evenly distrubuted. Pop into the fridge or freezer until the chocolate has set. Cut, serve, and enjoy!

The recipe:
Sweet and Salty, Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel No-Bake Bars 


Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/2 cups pretzel crumbs, fine
1/2 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons peanut butter

Directions
 1. Line 8×8 pan with foil. Spray with baking spray.

2. In a medium microwave-safe bowl, melt  butter in microwave (about 30 seconds on HIGH). Combine with pretzel crumbs, peanut butter & confectioners sugar. Spread evenly into prepared pan and refrigerate at least 10 minutes.

3. Combine semi-sweet chips and peanut butter and microwave in 30 second intervals at half power, stirring frequently until melted and smooth. Spread evenly over the peanut butter/pretzel layer and refrigerate at least one hour. Remove from pan and cut into squares.

4. Sprinkle with fine grain sea salt for an extra punch of salt to really compliment the chocolate on top. Or not. They're great either way.

This recipe is slightly adapted from Baker Lady who slightly adapted it from the Craving Chronicles.

Chewy Brownies & Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last week, my husband and I spent the week in Sanibel Island, Florida with my brother and his girlfriend. Look how pretty it was:

It was an 18 hour drive from Ohio, and let me tell you I am NOT much of a car trip person. But it was worth the savings in gas, and it let me visit some family in Georgia. I thought it'd be nice to have some home baked goodies for the drive and while on vacation. I stumbled around Brown Eyed Baker for awhile and came across two recipes that really interested me: Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and Chewy Brownies. Both from the America's Test Kitchen crew, so I figured they couldn't be bad.

They were good. They weren't great. But they were good. I much prefer the brownies I made a few weeks ago, which I just made again yesterday and shared with family. As for the cookies, I deviated ever so slightly from the recipe, and while they tasted awesome, their chewy texture didn't last for more than a day - likely because I made my cookies smaller than the recipe recommended which I recently learned can affect texture if your not careful about baking time. Either way. Both recipes were good, but I probably wouldn't make either again. But give them a try, you be the judge!

Up first: Chewy Brownies!

Ingredients

1/3 c Dutch-processed cocoa (I used regular, unsweetened cocoa, but dutch processed is supposed to give a better flavor.  Use it if you have it)
1½ t instant espresso (optional, but I used it - it helps deepen the chocolate flavor)
 ½ c plus 2 T boiling water (5 oz)
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
4 T (½ stick) unsalted butter, melted
½ c plus 2 T vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 large egg yolks
2 t vanilla extract
2½ c (17½ oz) sugar
1¾ c (8¾ oz) all-purpose flour
¾ tsalt
6 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into ½-inch pieces

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and check to make sure the oven rack is in the lowest position. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with foil or parchment paper (leave an inch or so overhang on all sides). If using foil, spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Set the pan aside.

2. Sift cocoa into a large bowl and whisk with espresso powder and boiling water together until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter and oil (the mixture may look curdled - don't worry) Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and fully combined.

3.  Whisk the sugar into the chocolate mixture. Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until there are no streaks for flour visible. Fold in bittersweet chocolate pieces.

3. Pour and scrape the batter into the pan and bake for 30 to 35 minutes - until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1½ hours (don't remove the brownies from the pan yet).

4. Using the foil/parchment overhang, lift the brownies from the pan. Continue to cool the brownies on the wire rack and let cool completely (this takes about 1 hour). Cut into desired sizes and serve.

 

  

 

awesome with a glass of milk!

 (Brown Eyed Baker took this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated, March & April 2010 issue)

Up next, Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies:

 

Ingredients: (For this recipe, I tried weighing my ingredients using a digital kitchen scale, since that was what was recommended from the original recipe, but measuring cups work just fine if you don't have one)

2 c plus 2 T (10 5/8 ounces) unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
12 T (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 c packed (7 ounces) light or dark brown sugar
1/2 c (3 1/2 ounces) granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 t vanilla extract
1-1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1. Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper or spray them with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed just until combined. Stir in the chips to taste.

4. Roll a scant 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart. This should give you an idea of how to do it - it's what gives bakery cookies their unique surfaces (image from Baking Illustrated, uploaded by Brown Eyed Baker).

5. Bake until the cookies are light golden grown and the outer edges start to harden yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the sheets. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets with a side metal spatula.

yum!

(Brown Eyed Baker took this recipe from the book Baking Illustrated on page 434)