Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

Oh. My. Goodness.....These are DELICIOUS!!!! They are all of my favorite things combined into one amazing cookie! I found them because I was looking for something to do with all the pretzel pieces I had left over from the chocolate covered pretzels I made for Christmas. These are the perfect way to use up broken pretzels. {or you can break some up if you need to!}

I found the caramel pieces in the baking isle at the grocery store, they are made by Kraft. They are already unwrapped and in little "bits" so you don't have to chop them up. WAY EASIER!!!

Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies

3/4 C butter, softened
3/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla
2 C Flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 C milk chocolate chips
1 C Kraft caramel bits
1/2 C crushed pretzel pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Add Flour, cornstarch, soda and salt and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips, caramel bits and crushed pretzel pieces. Using a standard size cookie scoop, drop by scoopful onto prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt if desired. I pressed pieces of pretzel into the top of all my cookies.

Bake  8-10 minutes until just golden brown on the edges. DO NOT OVER-BAKE. {mine were 8 minutes}. Let cool and enjoy!

Molasses Crinkle Cookies

These are a family favorite. I just drizzled some white chocolate that I had left over to make them a little more festive.

MOLASSES CRINKLE COOKIES {Jenson Family}

1 1/2 C Shortening
2 C Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
1/2 C Molasses
4 1/2 C Flour
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp cloves
2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt

Cream together sugar and shortening. Add eggs and molasses. Combine flour with all the spices and mix together well. Slowly add flour to the other ingredients.

Roll cookies into balls and then roll in granulated sugar. Flatten just slightly on the cookie sheet. {I just used the palm of my hand}.

Bake at 375 for 7-9 minutes. These are better slightly under cooked so make sure you watch them carefully. {I did mine for 8 and it was a little too long.}.

Let cool and enjoy!

Orange Zested Cranberry White Chocolate Bliss Bars

I absolutely LOVED these bars. I ate SO many of them...and I don't want to know how many calories they have. Of course, the recipe is from Mel's Kitchen Cafe, I LOVE everything I've ever tried from her blog. I basically just followed her recipe, so you can find it HERE or on my Pinterest HERE.

Best EVER Cookies and a Dirty Diet Coke {Swig Copycat}

I found this recipe on Pinterest for copycat Swig cookies. {I know it's been all over the internet, I got the recipe HERE and it has lots of good pictures}.  I've never been to Swig. I don't even know if they taste the same, but I do know they are AWESOME sugar cookies. They are soft and just the right size and they taste AMAZING. I love the mix of sugar and salt that you put on the outside, every once in a while you get a little taste of the salt and it makes them SO good.

Look at those sugar crystals and that frosting....don't they look delicious!

Makes 3-4 dozen good size cookies.  I used the scoop just under the ice cream scoop size

1 c. butter (room temp.)
3/4 c. vegetable oil
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. powdered sugar
2 Tblsp. water
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cream of tartar
1 tsp. salt
5 1/2 c. flour

Sour Cream Frosting:
1/2 c. room temp. butter
3/4 c. sour cream
4 c. sifted powdered sugar
1 tsp. salt (I think I'll try just 1/2 tsp. next time)

Cream together butter, vegetable oil, sugars, water, and eggs.  Mix dry ingredients and slowly add to butter mixture.  Mix until everything is combined.  Your dough should be a little crumbly and not sticky at all.  Roll a golf ball sized ball of dough and place it on your cookie sheet.

Now is the time to give these babies their signature rough edge.  Put 1/4 c. sugar and a pinch of salt in a dish.  This is in addition to the sugar and salt listed above.  Stick the bottom of a glass in it.  This is going to be your cookie press.  Firmly press it into the center of your dough ball.  You want your dough to spill out over the sides of the glass.  If there is a ridge, it is even better.  Bake at 350 for 8-9 minutes.  They should just barely be browning on the bottom.  Move cookies to a cooling rack.  Once they are cool, put them in the fridge.

Sour Cream Frosting:

Start by creaming together butter and sour cream and salt.  Slowly add powdered sugar.  When it gets so thick its not frosting like add a splash of milk.  (I didn't need to add any milk).  Alternate this process until your frosting is the desired consistency.  Add 1 drop red food coloring and whip on high for 1 minute.

Keep cookies in a sealed container until they are ready to serve.  The magic of a Swig Sugar cookie is that the cookies are cold and the frosting is room temperature.  Frost right before serving (if you make the in advance and need to refrigerate the frosting make sure you give it time to warm up before serving).   Actually, I thought they were good without doing that.

Tastes BEST with a Dirty Diet Coke.

Dirty Diet Coke

Recipe adapted by Our Best Bites
crushed ice
1/2 lime (cut the lime into quarters and use 2 quarters)
12 ounces Diet Coke
1-2 tablespoons half and half (optional)

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons coconut syrup

Instructions:

Pour the coconut syrup into the bottom of a 24-ounce glass. Fill it about halfway full with crushed ice. Squeeze the lime quarters over the ice and drop them into the glass so the rind is touching the ice. Pour the Diet Coke over the spent limes. If desired, add a splash of half and half. Add a straw to stir and serve. Makes 1 serving.

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

These are the BEST cookies EVER! I've been avoiding all sweets and haven't had much in the last two months....so maybe I'm biased because I've been sugar deprived....but these are SERIOUSLY SO GOOD!!!

*Makes 2-3 dozen cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup quick rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
12-ounce bag semisweet or milk chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl with an electric handheld mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until the batter is light in color, 2-3 minutes. Stir in the flour, oatmeal, baking soda and salt. When it is mostly combined but there are still dry spots, add the chocolate chips and mix until well combined. Scoop out tablespoon-sized balls of dough onto a lined baking sheet (with parchment, silpat or coated with cooking spray), spacing the cookies 1-2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes until very lightly browned and still soft in the center. Remove the cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Original recipe found HERE.

Peppermint Meltaways

My new OBSESSION this year. I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE these....I could have 100 of them!!!

The recipe can be found HERE at Taste of Home.

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cornstarch
• 
  FROSTING:
• 2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1-1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 2 tablespoons 2% milk
• 1/4 teaspoon peppermint extract
• 2 to 3 drops red food coloring, optional
• 1/2 cup crushed peppermint candies

Directions

• In a small bowl, cream butter and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in extract. Combine flour and cornstarch; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well.
• Shape into 1/2-1 in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 10-12 minutes or until bottoms are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
• In a small bowl, beat butter until fluffy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, milk, extract and food coloring if desired; beat until smooth. Spread over cooled cookies; sprinkle with crushed candies. Store in an airtight container. Yield: 3-1/2 dozen.

JUST A NOTE: Make sure you make them smaller than 1" and do not smash them down too much, just a little bit. They are really crumbly if you make them too big or too flat. Also, I just crushed up my peppermints and added them to the icing. It worked great. 

Chocolate Andies Mint Cookies

I got this recipe HERE on allrecipes.com. They are delicious!!!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 (4.5 ounce) packages chocolate covered thin mints

Directions

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, cook the sugar, butter and water, stirring occasionally until melted. Remove from heat, stir in the chocolate chips until melted and set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the chocolate mixture into a large bowl, and beat in the eggs, one at a time. Combine the flour, baking soda and salt, stir into the chocolate mixture. Cover and refrigerate dough for at least 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets. Roll cookie dough into walnut sized balls and place 2 inches apart onto the prepared cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, be careful not to overbake. When cookies come out of the oven, Press one mint wafer into the top of each cookie and let sit for 1 minute. When the mint is softened, swirl with the back of a spoon or toothpick to make a pattern with the green filling of the mint wafer. For smaller cookies, break mints in half.

FAVORITE Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've tried LOTS of chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years and this one is my favorite. Every time I make them they turn out GREAT. I got this recipe from a friend who used to live here, thanks Becky!!

1 C Butter, Softened
1/2 C white sugar
1 1/2 C brown sugar
2 Eggs
2 1/2 tsp. Vanilla
2 1/2 C Flour
3/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking soda
1 tsp Baking powder
2 1/2 C Chocolate Chips

In a medium bowl, mix together the butter and sugars by hand with a wooden spoon. Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix. Add all dry ingredients together and add to wet mixture. Mix until combined. Add chocolate chips and stir. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and drop spoonfuls of dough on sheets. Bake @350 for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake.

Becky's Notes: This needs to be mixed by hand. Use frozen chocolate chips. Use 2 1/2 C Mounded flour. If you level it off, use 3 cups. Don't overbake, they should look slightly underbaked.

This recipe makes about 3 1/2 dozen. I usually double it!

Candy Cane Kiss Cookies

I {HEART} Candy Cane Kisses! They are SO yummy! These are the BEST Cookies.


CANDY CANE KISS COOKIES

www.RecipeGirl.com

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1¼ cups butter, at room temperature
1 tsp peppermint extract, optional
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1/2 cup finely chopped Candy Cane flavored Hershey’s Kisses
granulated sugar
additional, unwrapped Candy Cane Kisses- about 30
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make room in either refrigerator or freezer for your cookie sheet.
2. In large mixer bowl, combine powdered sugar, butter, extracts and egg. Beat at medium speed, scraping bowl often until creamy (2-3 minutes). In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt. Add to wet mixture and beat, scraping bowl often until well blended (1-2 minutes). The mixture will be a bit crumbly. Stir in chopped Kisses.
3. Shape dough into ¾-inch to 1-inch balls; roll in granulated sugar. Place 1-inch apart on cookie sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until set. As soon as they come out of the oven, press a Candy Cane Kiss in the center of each cookie. They’ll crack a little around the edges, so just use your fingers to kind of hold the cookie together while you set the kiss inside. Put cookie sheet (with cookies) immediately into the freezer (preferred) or refrigerator so that the Kisses will set quickly. As soon as you press them into the cookie, they will begin to soften… so if you can get them into the freezer then they will keep their Kiss shape.
4. Store in a covered container- at room temperature for up to a week. In the freezer they should be ok for a couple of weeks.
Yield: About 2 1/2 dozen
Tips:
*The addition of peppermint extract is completely optional. The cookie gets plenty of peppermint flavor from the addition of the chopped kisses, but if you’d like it really minty then go ahead and add the peppermint extract.
YES YOU HAVE TO PUT THEM IN THE FREEZER OR REFRIGERATOR!
click the link below for a printer friendly version...
Read more: http://www.recipegirl.com/2008/08/08/candy-cane-kiss-cookies/#ixzz189kI1zAE

Monster Cookies

I had to make 10 dozen cookies for the Nativity. I made a batch of these and scooped them with my cookie scoop instead of an ice cream scoop. {Yes, they are supposed to be that big!}



Monster Cookies
{Jenson Family Cookbook, pg 96}

2 C Sugar
2 C Brown Sugar
1 C Butter
6 eggs
1 1/2 tsp Karo Syrup
1 1/2 lbs chunky peanut butter {I used an 18oz jar and it was fine}
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
4 tsp baking soda
9 C Oatmeal
12 oz pkg Chocolate Chips
12 oz pkg M&M's

Mix all ingredients together. Add M&M's and Chocolate chips last. Measure with ice cream scoop and bake on cookie sheet at 350 for 15 minutes.

*OPTION - Use a cookie scoop and bake on cookie sheet for 8 minutes. This makes 8 1/2 doz.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

There is not many desserts that I love.. but one is Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies.. I love them sooooo much.. I have always wanted the Prefect Recipe .. and I think I found it .. (yes it is from another blog) ..So all you do is mix One boxed Spice Cake Mix, One 15 Ounce Can of Pumpkin and the chocolate Chips to your liking ( a cup or 2) ..Loved these sooo much .. they are sooooo good!!! I will make them over and over again!!!! Once mixed you bake them at 350 for 15-17 minutes.. my oven always was 17 plus minutes.. and than Enjoy they are Delicous!!!!

*I like to add 1tsp pumpkin pie spice to give them more flavor! 

Minature Delights

I made a variation of shortbread cookies today....uhm, well the first batch didn't turn out....{let me just say that I am not good at halving or doubling a recipe unless I write it down first, I always mess something up} so once I figured out what I had done wrong......and washed all of this down the drain.......

I used this shortbread recipe {obviously without the cranberries and white chocolate chips} and put small cookie balls into my small muffin pan. Bake for 10 minutes and remove from oven. Place your favorite hershey's kiss in the center of the cookie and let melt. These are two new kinds of kisses. Chocolate Cordial Cherry and Peppermint Candy Cane. They are AWESOME! and super easy.

Lemon Cookies

1 lemon cake mix
1 egg
4 oz cool whip
Lemon or Lime zest
1 tbsp Lemon or lime juice

Mix all together. It is very sticky (and messy). Form into balls and roll in powdered sugar. I found that the easiest way is to form them with two spoons. They don't have to be perfect balls. Cover them with powdered sugar and form them into balls. Flatten slightly before placing them on cookie sheet.

Bake at 325 for 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Let cool and enjoy. (beware, they are VERY good)

Makes 2 dozen.

Shortbread White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

(from Kraft Foods).

2 C Butter
1 C Sugar

Cream together until smooth and creamy.

Add 4 Cups of Flour and mix well.

Mix in 1 pkg of White Chocolate Chips and 1 1/2 Cups of Cranberries.

(I did this with my hands)

Drop by spoonful on an ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten slightly with palm of hand.

(they come out exactally how they look when you put them in the oven!)

Bake at 350 for 10-14 minutes (I cooked mine for 12)

ENJOY!