Milk Chocolate Caramel-Filled Chip Cookies

June 27, 2015June 26, 2015 / Jodi / 28 Comments

If you give a mouse a cookie….

He’s going to ask for a glass of milk.

And then he’ll probably want a straw.

As I was looking at these shots of my latest twist on chocolate chip cookies, I couldn’t help but be reminded of that fun children’s book.

Especially after this stack – I kept thinking… more – More – MORE!

I bake chocolate chip cookies A LOT.

I’m kinda known for it.

Especially with our sons’ friends.

And I love the joy it brings – the smiles they create – the happy tummies – the grateful hugs.

But I get bored with the same old thing, so I am always looking for a way to change them up a bit – as you may have noticed if you’ve been hanging out here at LifeinBetween.me for any length of time… (Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Chips, Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies, Peanut Butter White Chocolate Chip…)

This latest version was a BIG HIT!

Instead of semi-sweet morsels, I used the new Nestle Toll House Delightfulls Caramel Filled Morsels.

Could you just die?!!?

Milk Chocolate Caramel Filled Chips in a cookie!!

I used my tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe – subbing these DELIGHTFULL morsels for the regular chocolate chips.

Easy Peasy – and guaranteed to be a Big Hit with whoever you decide to share these with!

And PS – I had forgotten how amazing a chocolate chip cookie tastes dunked in milk! I have not done that in ages, but sampled a bite after this “photo shoot.”

Grab a glass of cold milk – even if it is Skim – and DUNK!

Pure delight!

Kicked Up Milk Chocolate & Caramel Chip Cookies

Servings: 5-6 dozen
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Ingredients:

4 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
5 cups all purpose flour
2 9-oz bags Nestle Toll House Delightfulls Milk Chocolate Caramel Filled Morsels

Directions:

With electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together until completely incorporated. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat until light and fluffy. Add baking soda and salt, and mix another minute. Gradually add flour and beat until well incorporated, but do not overbeat.

Fold in chocolate caramel morsels. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. With your hands, form a cookie dough ball about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Place on baking stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Allow to cool on baking stone for 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Cheers & Chocolatey Caramely Hugs,

Jodi

Fudgy Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Chip Brownies

May 4, 2015May 13, 2015 / Jodi / 27 Comments

Just when I thought my guys couldn’t like anything better than the Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies I made recently — – – TWICE! – – – meet Fudgy Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Chip Brownies!

Get ready to rumble friends!

Not only are these super easy – they are TOO DIE FOR!

My guys were practically fighting over the last one.

The kids were all coming over Saturday evening to watch the “big fight” (Mayweather / Pacquioa). I’ve never watched a fight in my life before Saturday, but I kinda got caught up into the hype as my guys talked about it. So when Mom and Dad offered to pay the Pay Per View fee, our house was the place to be. (Any excuse will do for me to have the kiddos here and have a chance to cook and visit with them!)

The weather was gorgeous this weekend, and I didn’t want to spend all day in the kitchen, but I certainly had to have some goodies just in case. I had a box of Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate Brownie mix in the pantry (is there any other kind – chocolate brownies with chocolate chips in them and a packet of chocolate syrup to assure there is enough chocolate?!). So I thought I would zip it up a bit (as if it isn’t zipped up enough – eh?)

But O.. M.. G…. throw in some fresh raspberries and a handful of white chocolate chips – and we are talking DESSERT HEAVEN!

And just like when I bake cookies, I always slightly UNDERbake my brownies so they are ooey and gooey and fudgy wonderful! This is barely a recipe, but I guarantee you will be a ROCK STAR if you make these for your family or take to a gathering.

Fudgy Fresh Red Raspberry Chocolate Chip Brownies

Servings: 16
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Ingredients:
1 Box Ghiradelli Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix (or YOUR favorite brownie mix)
1 pint fresh red raspberries
1/2 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:
Prepare brownies according to package directions, but after you pour the batter into your pan and before you put them in the oven, press 16 whole ripe fresh red raspberries into the batter and then broken up pieces of the remainder of the berries intermittently throughout the batter. Sprinkle the white chocolate chips on top. Bake until just down.

Take these to your next picnic, make for your hubby/wife/partner if you want to buy a new outfit, living room furniture or a new car, or make for your boyfriend/girlfriend if you are waiting for a proposal! 🙂

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Jack & Coke Chocolate Cupcakes

April 25, 2015April 24, 2015 / Jodi / 29 Comments

Jack & Coke Cupcake

Imagine… moist chocolate cupcakes flavored with Coca-Cola… then filled with fudgy Jack Daniels whiskey flavored ganache… top that with sweet Jack Daniel’s flavored buttercream frosting… and add a gummy cola candy for good measure…

Jack & Coke Cupcakes

Yep – this is what I made last night for a special buddy we’ll be seeing today.

Jack & Coke Cupcakes

These Jack & Coke cupcakes are from a recipe I found a while back on stressbaking.com and modified a bit to my liking.

Jack & Coke Chocolate Cupcakes

Cupcakes:

1 12 oz can Coke (Not Diet Coke – you need the sugar in the original)
1 stick butter
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

Ganache Filling:

1/2 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
1/3 cup heavy cream
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp Jack Daniels whiskey

Frosting:

6 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 sticks butter
8 Tbsp Jack Daniels whiskey
2 tsp vanilla extract
18 gummy cola bottles (only if you want them to be extra cute)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees, and line 18 cupcake cups with paper or aluminum liners.

Combine Coke and butter in a medium saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add cocoa powder, sugar, brown sugar and whisk until sugars are dissolved and mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes.

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Add cooled cocoa mixture. Stir to combine. Add flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Pour batter into cupcake liners to 3/4 cup full. Bake 15 mins. until a toothpick stuck in the center comes out clean. Transfer cupcakes to wire rack to cool completely.

While cupcakes are cooling, prepare ganache by melting chocolate chips, cream, butter and Jack Daniels in a small saucepan on low-medium heat. Stir until smooth. Remove from heat, and let cool completely (you can even stick in the freezer to quick cool it).

Cut the centers out of the cooled cupcakes with an apple corer, and pipe ganache into the holes in each cupcake.

Prepare frosting in electric mixer by combining butter, powdered sugar, vanilla and Jack Daniels. Pipe onto cupcakes as simple or fancy as you like and top with a gummy cola bottle to make it extra cute.

Enjoy! And remember don’t eat Jack & Coke Cupcakes and drive! 🙂

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Thanks Leslie @ stressbaking.com for a great idea and recipe!

Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

April 14, 2015April 15, 2015 / Jodi / 36 Comments

O – M – G ! Fresh raspberries meet freshly baked homemade chocolate chip cookies – Can you even imagine the yumminess?!?!

I was a little skeptical about trying this, but I wanted to do something a little different…

something a little extra special…

You see I have a very special house guest arriving tonight. My sweet McSister, Kelly.

And what kind of hostess would I be if I had no fresh cookies on hand??!! (And besides – last week’s batch of chewy oatmeal raisin cookies has vanished, so we needed a fresh stash for my hungry guys.) 🙂

All I did was take my standard chocolate chip cookies recipe and fold in some fresh raspberries.

In order to avoid making a big pink, smooshy mess of the dough, I simply added a fresh raspberry to each ball of cookie dough as I formed it assuring that some of the berry remained in tact and the rest spread around to flavor more of the cookie.

If you love red raspberries, you are going to go crazy for these!

I hope my McSis likes them.

In case you are wondering why Kelly is so special…

Well – besides being an incredibly amazing woman, hospice advocate, and the best dirty martini maker east of the Mississippi, Kelly saved my life…

At least that’s the way I see it.

Several years ago, I was on a business trip to our Northeast PA office in Wilkes-Barre, PA. It was a newly acquired entity to our business, and I didn’t know many of our new employees. I don’t remember a lot of the details of the trip, with the exception of one biggie – the town decided to flood during my trip.

It was scary! People were being evacuated, businesses were closed, and I was very anxious to get home.

Problem was – every road that led back home was flooded – even the major interstate. Try as I might to drive home, I kept getting turned around and blocked by rushing water.

Giving up, I found the first hotel in the town I was in when I got stuck, but alas no room at the inn… At every place I tried….

Kelly was one person in this area that I had talked to at least a couple of times. I had her number in my cell phone, and I called her, practically in tears, seeking direction.

Kelly calmly informed me that she lived on “high ground” near the Pocono Mountains, and didn’t even hesitate to guide me, road by road, turn by turn, to her home, welcome me in with a hug as if we’d been friends for life, provide me with a soft, warm bed, some simple delicious food, and the best dang dirty martinis I have ever ever ever had (and I’ve had my share!)

Another co-worker had been evacuated from her home, so Kelly invited her to join our “party.”

That night, three ladies – all with last names that start with Mc – became “sisters.”

We laughed, we cried, we drank, we ate, we hugged, and we formed a bond that I will never ever ever forget.

My sweet Kelly has moved away from that area to a warm southern climate where her hubby got a new job, but she is still a valuable member of our company’s hospice team and a lifelong friend. So when she informed me she was heading to Mars to visit our HQ office, there was no questions where she would be staying. Her room is waiting. Cookies are baked. Olives are ready to be stuffed with blue cheese to float in martinis.

And my hubby will finally get to meet my McSister, Kelly.

Love you buddy!

Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

Servings: 5-6 dozen
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Ingredients:

4 sticks butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
5 cups all purpose flour
3 cups Nestle Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks (1 1/2 bags)
2 cups fresh red raspberries

Directions:

Fold in chocolate chunks. Refrigerate dough for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. With your hands, form a cookie dough ball about 1-1/2 inches in diameter. Make an indentation with your thumb and place a fresh raspberry in the indentation. Squeeze together, shape and flatten slightly. Place on baking stone. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Allow to cool on baking stone for 2-3 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

To make eating these even more special, enjoy with a nice glass of Port wine. Oooooo Laaaa Laaa!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Cadbury Mini Egg Blondie Bars

March 26, 2015March 25, 2015 / Jodi / 14 Comments

I’ve been randomly buying Easter candy to play with in baking (don’t you?!?) and couldn’t resist picking up a huge bag of Cadbury Mini Eggs just knowing they would be great in something (because they ARE great – right?!).

And according to one of my guests last night, these Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies are her new favorite. (Thanks sweet Katie!)

When perusing for ideas, I came across this recipe by Bakeaholic Mama.

And since the recipe only made an 8×8 pan, I obviously doubled it! But then realized (after I began cutting them…) that doubling an 8×8 recipe in a 13×9 pan makes for some pretty thick blondies! (Next time I would do in a bar pan if doubling.)

Since they were extra thick, I just cut them in smaller pieces.

Below is the single recipe. Double it if you dare! And if you don’t like blondies (boo to you!), these little mini eggs would taste great in a batch of brownies too!

Cadbury Mini Egg Blondies

Servings: 16
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Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 cups Cadbury Mini Eggs

Directions:

Combine flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.

Cream melted butter with sugars using electric mixer. Add vanilla and eggs, and beat until light and fluffy.

Slowly add in flour mixture until incorporated.

Fold in Mini Eggs.

Spread batter into a greased 8×8 or 9×9 baking dish.

Bake at 325 for about 40 minutes or until a tooth pick is inserted in the center and comes out clean.

Let the bars cool for 30 minutes before slicing.

Recipe from Bakeaholicmama.com

ENJOY!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Thin Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

March 22, 2015March 21, 2015 / Jodi / 15 Comments

Imagine fresh baked chocolate cupcakes topped with icing that is “spiked” with Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies (and then topped with one more to grow on!)

Yep – that’s what I baked yesterday… in between a trip to the gym, putting out the patio furniture, a walk with Mikey, and caring for the toughest guy I’ve ever known (dear hubby) who is recovering from some shoulder repair surgery he had this past week like nobody I’ve ever seen! (That’s my Marty!)

You may remember I recently made some Girl Scout Cookie Thin Mint Cookies (my youngest son, Nick’s favorite ever); so when I had the urge to bake some cupcakes and was considering what to make, I knew I had to try these when I came across this recipe by Lizzy @ YourCupofCake. Lizzy’s recipe called for using a boxed Devil’s Food Cake Mix, but I didn’t have that, so I made mine from scratch.

I also baked mine a minute or two too long (darnit!). I’m more of a cookie and pie baker than cake/cupcake, but I’m working on it. And truthfully, I’m not sure you can beat a Duncan Hines Cake Mix, so don’t hesitate to use your favorite chocolate boxed cake mix or cake recipe for this. The real KEY to this cupcake recipe is all in the icing!

So bake your favorite chocolate cupcakes, and then frost with this yumminess from YourCupofCake.

Thin Mint Chocolate Cupcakes

Servings: 14 cupcakes
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Ingredients:

14 Chocolate Cupcakes – baked and cooled

Thin Mint Frosting:

1 cup softened butter

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tsp. peppermint extract

1/4 cup milk

10 Thin Mint cookies, finely crushed & sifted

2 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Directions:

Beat butter with electric mixer for 2 minutes. Add cocoa powder, vanilla and peppermint extract and milk. Beat again. Add crushed cookies and powdered sugar, and beat until smooth. Pipe onto cooled cupcakes. Top with sprinkles and and an extra cookie if desired.

This is my second entry for this week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge, because I just had to share something FRESHly baked!

Thanks to everyone who “liked” my photo yesterday, by the way! In my 10 months of blogging so far, I received notice that yesterday’s post was my all-time favorite post for “Likes.”

I hope you like this one as well! 🙂

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Girl Scout Thin Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

March 7, 2015March 5, 2015 / Jodi / 16 Comments

It is Girl Scout cookie time around here! Thin Mints are a perennial favorite for many – right?! Well – this “Kitchenista” (as my sweet blogging friend, Laura has dubbed me) is not satisfied with just a regular ole’ Thin Mint Cookie.

So last year I decided to try chunking them up in my Jodi’s Almost Famous Chocolate Chip Cookie dough, and POW! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner! Nick (my son) awarded these his ALL-TIME FAVORITE version of my chocolate chip cookies.

So I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a box or two and make them for him again this year. After all, his birthday is coming up very soon, and for me, any excuse will do to bring a smile to my guys’ faces and bellies. 🙂

Hope you’ll give them a try! If you do, let me know what you think.

Girl Scout Thin Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies

Servings: 5 dozen large cookies
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Ingredients:

1 lb (4 sticks) butter, softened to room temperature
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 3/4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 bag Nestle’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunks (or Chips)
1 sleeve of Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies – crushed into chunks, but not pulverized

Mix softened butter and sugars with mixer until well blended. Add vanilla and eggs and mix until creamy. Add dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) until well incorporated. Fold in chocolate chips and thin mint chunks.

Refrigerate dough for several hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Shape dough into 1 1/2 – 2 Tbsp balls and flatten slightly. Bake on baking stone for 8-9 minutes. Let cool on stone for approximately 5 minutes, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.

Cookies freeze well in Ziploc bags (and Nick actually prefers to eat them straight out of the freezer).

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Reward

February 28, 2015February 27, 2015 / Jodi / 29 Comments

This week’s WordPress Daily Post Weekly Photo Challenge is “Reward.”

There are so many things I could think of to post that represent “reward” in a photo, but I decided upon this one that brings so much joy to my heart and such a huge smile to my face – e v e r y single time I look at it!

As a baker, there is no greater reward than for someone to completely and thoroughly enjoy what you baked – right?

Have you ever seen greater enjoyment over eating a sweet treat than this little guy eating a chocolate Thanksgiving Turkey Oreo Cookie Ball I made this past Thanksgiving?

I snapped the photo from across the table trying to freeze the joyous moment in time.

This is REWARD to me!

Can you look at it without smiling?

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

Chocolate Sprinkle Cherry Kiss Cookies

February 7, 2015February 6, 2015 / Jodi / 19 Comments

Chocolate Cookies… Sprinkles…. Hershey’s Kisses…. How can you go wrong?!?!

Before heading away for a week, I had to make a special sweet treat for the guys.

I had some Hershey’s Cherry Cordial Kisses in the pantry and thought it was time I used them. PLUS I was dying to eat one or two or ten or twenty.

I found a recipe for a Chocolate Valentine Kiss Cookies on The Kitchen is My Playground that sounded good, but since I didn’t have “Valentine” sprinkles, I just used some fun colorful ones and some chocolate ones. Tracey’s are really cute with Valentine sprinkles though, so check the out here if you want to see.

They are really chocolatey fudgy inside, a little crispy on the outside with the sprinkles and just the right amount of creamy chocolate cherry cordial in the center for a bite or two!

Enjoy!

Chocolate Sprinkle Cherry Kiss Cookies

Servings: 25-30 cookies
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Ingredients

1 c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. salt
8 T. (1 stick) butter, softened
2/3 c. sugar
1 egg yolk
2 T. milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 to 1 c. assorted sprinkles
25 to 30 Hershey’s Cherry Cordial Kisses (or your own favorite flavor)

Directions

Combine flour, cocoa, and salt; set aside.
With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg yolk, milk, and vanilla; mix until incorporated. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture until just combined.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour or overnight.
Roll chilled dough into 1-inch balls and roll each ball in sprinkles completely covering the dough ball with sprinkles. Place balls about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Gently press down into the center of each ball slightly to make a very small indentation.
Bake at 350 degrees 10-12 minutes.
After removing cookies from the oven, immediately place a Hershey’s Kiss in the center of each cookie. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 3 minutes, remove to a cooling rack to cool.

Original recipe found at The Kitchen is My Playground – please check out Tracey’s yummy blog.

Cheers & Hugs,

Jodi

Apricot Chocolate Chip Cookies

January 31, 2015February 3, 2015 / Jodi / 28 Comments

Apricot and semi-sweet or dark chocolate is such a yummy combination, so I thought I’d try it in a cookie – as a twist to my “almost famous” chocolate chips cookies.

and it’s a winner according to my guys.

I snipped a half pound of dried apricots into the batter.

and tweaked up my original chocolate chip recipe by exchanging vanilla extract with half almond and half orange extract (though I think vanilla might be yummy too) and used 1/2 a bag of mini semi-sweet chocolate chips to allow the apricot to be the “star” of the cookie.

The balance of flavors seemed just right.

Hope you’ll give them a try.

And can you believe it is the last day of January 2015 already!?!? We are hunkering down for a snow storm here in Mars this weekend, and of course, the Super Bowl, so we will be set with some sweet treats if “needed.” 🙂

How about you? What’s happening in your part of the world this weekend?

Have a good one!

Cheers & Hugs,
Jodi

And here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Jodi's Apricot Chocolate Chip Cookies

Servings: 2 dozen large cookies
Time: 10 mins
Difficulty: Easy
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1 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. almond extract
1/2 tsp. orange extract
2 eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) dried apricots, snipped into small chunks
1/2 lb. (8 oz.) Nestle’s Mini Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Blend softened butter with granulated and brown sugar with mixer until well incorporated. Add in almond and orange extract and eggs and mix on medium-high speed until creamy. Add in flour, baking soda, and salt on low speed until incorporated. Fold in apricots and chocolate chips.

Chill dough for at least 2 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Roll dough into golf ball sized balls and flatten slightly.

Bake for approximately 10 minutes.

I think I will share this recipe with my friends over at Fiesta Friday for the Anniversary Party, because every party needs cookies – right?! Check it out for lots of awesome recipes by some amazing foodie bloggers!

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the creative life in between

cherishing the moments and exploring my passion for creativity… through art, photography, food, and writing

Chocolate

Fudgy Fresh Raspberry Chocolate Chip Brownies

Fudgy Fresh Red Raspberry Chocolate Chip Brownies

Jack & Coke Chocolate Cupcakes

Jack & Coke Chocolate Cupcakes