Today is the big cookie-swap reveal day for the second annual Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap organized by the amazing Julie of The Little Kitchen and Lindsay from Love & Olive Oil! These ladies worked their butts off to ensure that food bloggers all over the world could exchange cookies. A big thank you to them for all the hard work on this much appreciated event! This year, the ladies added an extra step to the cookie swap. Everyone who participated donated $4 to Cookies for Kids’ Cancer. According to Julie’s (personal) Facebook page over $2200 was raised this year and my friends at OXO matched it so that means over $4400 in total was raised by the Great Food Blogger Cookie swap!!!
I made these Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies back in August, and then made them again in September, and then when I signed up for the Cookie Swap, I remembered that I had yet to blog about these cookies I instantly knew that these would be the cookies I would send out to my three lucky recipients! Plus these cookies are only 80 calories a cookie–a plus in my book (although you would never know because they are super moist and decadent)!
Who were my lucky recipients for the 2012 Food Blogger Cookie Swap?
Go and visit their blogs and show them some love!!!
I also made a cute recipe card for my three recipients. I found a photoshop file from Plucky Momo and I adapted the file to fit my needs. Download the PDF version of my recipe card here: Chewy Chocolate-Cherry Cookies Template
These chewy chocolate cookies are sure to please anyone who craves chocolate. Best of all, they are just 80 calories a cookie!
Ingredients
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
2/3 cup dried cherries
1/4 cup semisweet mini chocolate chips
cooking spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Sift flour, then lightly fill measuring cup and level off. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt (stir).
In a large bowl, place sugar and butter in bowl and beat using a mixer on high until well combined. Then add vanilla and egg and beat. Place the mixer on a low speed and slowly add the flour mixture to the bowl; beat just until well combined. Then, fold in dried cherries and mini chocolate chips.
Spray a cookie tray with cooking spray. Then drop a tablespoon-ful of batter on to the cookie
sheet. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees (or just until set). Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes. Then remove the cookies from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Earlier this week, Christine from Cook the Story and I spoke with Angie from Eclectic Recipes about Halloween treats! You don’t have to be a baker to make sweet treats. You can decorate semi-homemade treats by utilize store bought moon pies or cookies or you can go all out and make your own treats from scratch. Candy of all shapes and sizes can be utilized to create a creepy crawly treat to an oh-so chic one! Watch our most recent Google Hangout where we talk about Halloween Sweet Treats.
After our chat I decided to put together a list of some of my favorite Halloween sweet treats. These treats don’t have to be difficult to put together yet make a big impact. I hope this list gives you some wonderful ideas as we creep closer to October 31st.
I, like many others, have been enjoying the holidays with family. I wanted to post this recipe prior to Christmas, but was trying to stay clear from the computer giving myself a much needed break. I love peppermint bark. To be exact… the William’s Sonoma peppermint bark. It’s amazing, but it’s also $25 a tin! Way too much, for this thrifty person to pay!
In past year’s I’ve started making my own peppermint bark. It’s very simple and can make for a wonderful holiday gift. I also love to bring it to parties that we are invited too–it is always a hit! This takes a little less than an hour to make and can be passed as the fancy $25 version! The key to good peppermint bark is the quality of the chocolate you use! I always splurge and buy the Ghirardelli chocolate chips!
Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper, and set to the side.
In a microwave safe bowl place the bag of chocolate chips in the bowl. Microwave on 20 second intervals (stirring between heatings) until melted. Once the chocolate is melted carefully smooth it out on the parchment paper. Place in the freezer for 20 minutes.
While the chocolate is in the freezer, unwrap all 24 candy canes. Then place them in a freezer safe baggy, seal it, and begin beating the crap out of the candy canes with a mallet! You will want small pieces of candy cane! Place to the side until chocolate is ready.
Prior to pulling the chocolate out of the freezer begin melting the white chocolate. I add two tablespoons of unsalted butter to my white chocolate to help it smooth out better. Remember to microwave in 20 second intervals until melted. You do not want to over cook your white chocolate. It will be very difficult to work with! Pull the chocolate out of the freezer and spoon and smooth the white chocolate over top. Then add the crushed candy canes.
Place the chocolate back in the freezer for 20 more minutes. Upon pulling out the chocolate, begin to break with your hands. Place in an air tight container or in a zip lock bag. Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks!
Growing up I remember my mom always making cranberry bread during the late fall months. I made a loaf of cranberry bread the week leading into Thanksgiving so my guest would have something quick and delish to munch on for breakfast (or dessert or for a late night snack)!
This bread recipe is perfect! The bread is dense yet moist and the tones of cranberries you can find throughout! This is a simple recipe that any novice baker could make and wow their guest! I plan to bake another batch for my guest who will be celebrating Christmas with us next week!
Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9- by 5-inch loaf pan.
Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Meanwhile combine egg, milk and butter in a small bowl. Add wet mix to dry mix and combine thoroughly then stir in cranberries.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with raw sugar. Bake until golden brown and a cake tester comes clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes. Run a knife around pan to loosen bread. Turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
I made these quick and easy truffles last weekend for a tacky sweater Christmas party that my husband and I attended. I renamed these to play along with the tacky Christmas party theme as “Schweddy Balls” after the classic Christmas SNL skit. Everyone at the party got a big kick out of the name and fell in love with these rich mis-shappend balls. Sorry… I had too! I couldn’t resist. That skit is probably one of my favorites during the holidays!
Melt the chocolate and cream on low in a sauce pan. Make sure you stir constantly and do not let the chocolate come to a boil. You simply want to melt the chocolate. As soon as the chocolate pieces are melted remove the pan from the stove, and place melted chocolate in a small bowl. Stir in the balsamic vinegar. Cool the chocolate in the refrigerator for 1 hour. Remove from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 1-1/2 - 2 hours, until firm but moldable.
Use a teaspoon to scoop out chocolate. Use your fingertips to shape into balls about the size of a cherry. Set the chocolate balls on a parchment-lined tray.
Place the cocoa powder in a small shallow dish. Roll each truffle individually in the cocoa powder; rolling to coat the entire truffle. Return the coated truffles to the baking sheet. Continue with the remaining truffles. Once all the truffles have been coated with cocoa powder place each individual truffle in a mini cupcake wrapper. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Matches were sent out last month and I sent my cookies out last week. I can finally share with everyone the cookies that I baked and the three lucky recipients! Here were the three food bloggers I sent cookies too:
Tomorrow I’ll be sharing what cookies I received, the recipes, and of course the blogger behind the cookies! *I did not receive cookies from the same people whom I sent too!
Now, on to the cookie I baked for this special event. I don’t make many chocolate based cookies, and have had this cookie recipe bookmarked for longer than I can remember. I love the chocolate/ peanut butter combo, and just had a feeling these cookies would be amazing. I am a fan of the chewy-soft cookie. Some like theirs hard, thin, thick, etc… I like mine chewy and soft, and of course preferably fresh out of the oven! These cookies encompass everything I love about a cookie and more. The ratio of chocolate to peanut butter (in my opinion) is perfect! I hope you’ll bake these cookies up and share them with family, friends, and neighbors!
Heat oven to 350°F. Stir together flour, cocoa, bakingsoda and salt; set aside.
Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer untilfluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beatingwell. Stir in peanut butter chips. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreasedcookie sheet.
Bake 8 to 9 minutes. *Do not over bake; cookies willbe soft.
I’m not a huge fan of pumpkin; however, I can’t get enough of pumpkin bread! There is something about the spices that lure me in every time! Growing up my mom always made pumpkin bread from a box mix. Me being the naive young child I had no idea that people could make this from scratch. I hardly ever use my fancy William’s Sonoma Bundt Pan that I received as a wedding gift, so when I was searching for a recipe this one caught my eye. Not just because of the bundt pan, but because I was looking to use up my buttermilk!
This cake by far out beats any stupid box mix out on the market. It’s amazing. It’s moist, and full of fall flavors. I did alter the icing recipe. I only used 1 cup of confectioners sugar opposed to the additional half cup the recipe suggested and I used 3 tbsp of buttermilk. I’ve made this recipe now, twice in the past week since making it. Just looking at these pictures intrigues me to make another one for my family arriving in town this week!
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, softened, plus additional for greasing bundt pan
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour plus additional for dusting pan
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin
3/4 cup well-shaken buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3 large eggs
Ingredients for the Icing:
3 tbsp well-shaken buttermilk
1 cup confectioners sugar
Directions:
1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter bundt pan generously, then dust with flour, knocking out excess.
2. Whisk together flour (2 1/4 cups), baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in a bowl. Whisk together pumpkin, 3/4 cup buttermilk, and vanilla in another bowl.
3. Beat butter (1 1/2 sticks) and granulated sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes, then add eggs and beat 1 minute. Reduce speed to low and add flour and pumpkin mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and mixing until batter is just smooth.
4. Spoon batter into pan, smoothing top, then bake until a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on a rack 15 minutes, then invert rack over cake and reinvert cake onto rack. Cool 10 minutes more.
5. While cake is cooling, whisk together buttermilk and confectioners sugar until smooth. Drizzle icing over warm cake, then cool cake completely. Icing will harden slightly.
Happy 4th of July! The whole reason why I wanted to make homemade marshmallows was because I had seen a similar version on Pinterest. Melanie, from Whimsical Creations recently blogged about “Smores on a Stick“! That’s when I knew that this would be the perfect opportunity to make my own homemade marshmallows, put them on a stick, and dip them in chocolate and sprinkles!
Well, I can definitely say it worked. However, I was in a rush and failed to put the chocolate dipped marshmallows on parchment paper to dry–so they dried directly on the plate. A big dummy move on my behalf, but that’s how we live and learn. My husband was eventually able to get them off with a few seconds in the microwave and gently prying them off by using a fork! In any event–make sure you use parchment paper. These treats are delectable and you’ll want to come back for more!
Ingredients: 1 cup chocolate melting discs 1 batch of homemade marshmallows Sprinkles Lollipop sticks
Directions: 1. Line a baking tray with parchment paper.
2. Place a lollipop stick in each of the marshmallows.
3. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl (in 30 second intervals). Once the chocolate is melted carefully dip the marshmallow on a stick into the chocolate. Then pour sprinkles over the chocolate covered marshmallows. *You will want to have a dish under where you will be pouring the sprinkles.
4. Let the lollipops cool in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Remove from the refrigerator and serve!
Last month at work we had a “creative cookie contest”. Each participant was to submit a creative cookie. This challenged me to finally make and decorate with, royal icing. I scoured the internet for recipes, tips, and techniques, and ultimately landed back at my favorite go-to dessert blog, Annie’s Eats! I saw that she had a fabulous tutorial on sugar cookies and royal icing. I was sold. Little did I realize that these cookies were going to take a lot of TLC to get completed. The baking part was easy (although a bit time consuming). It was the decorating part that was the difficult part. That’s why I’ve decided to make this a 2-part post. One on the cookie itself and the other on the royal icing and decorating!
Pictured above is the mess I was left with and the beautifully baked and cut sugar cookies.
2. Cream butter. Add powdered sugar. Blend in egg, almond extract, vanilla, salt and flour. Chill dough until firm. Roll to ¼” thickness on well-floured surface. Cut with cookie cutters. Place on greased cookie sheets. Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 min. *Cookies should not brown.
3. Frost and decorate when cool. Yields roughly 40 cookies.
I love peppermint and I love brownies, but I’ve never thought about putting them both together until Annie posted this recipe on her blog a few weeks back! I’ll be honest here. This was my first time ever baking brownies from scratch. I’ve always been a bit intimidated by it! It wasn’t so bad; however, my brownies were more of fudge consistency than an actual light fluffy brownie (which wasn’t bad, but just not the normal consistency I’m use too)! I also could not find peppermint kisses so I went with the Ghirardelli peppermint squares (a little on the pricey side), and put them on a little early. Annie’s picture (brownies) look much better than mine; however, the end result yielded deliciousness, so I guess that’s all that really matters. Whatever holiday you celebrate I hope you had/have a wonderful one and can spend it with the ones you love!
4 (1.55 oz) milk chocolate bars, broken into segments
1 bag Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses, wrappers removed and coarsely chopped
Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with foil and spray lightly with cooking spray. Combine the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water; heat, stirring occasionally, until completely melted and smooth. Remove from the heat. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the chocolate mixture with the sugar and eggs until well blended. Whisk in the peppermint and vanilla extracts and the salt. Whisk in the flour just until incorporated.
2. Spread half of the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Layer with the milk chocolate pieces. Spread the remaining batter evenly over the milk chocolate pieces. Bake 30-35 minutes.
3. Remove the brownies from the oven but maintain the oven temperature. Sprinkle the chopped Candy Cane Kisses over the top of the brownies and return the pan to the oven for 3 more minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let cool to room temperature. Chill the brownies until the candy topping has firmed up. Slice and serve.
I'm Katie Jasiewicz: home cook, food blogger, and recipe developer. I’ve always had a love for cooking, and more so in the past few years a love for eating!
Join me on a culinary adventure where life always tastes good. {more}
I'm Katie Jasiewicz: home cook, food blogger, and recipe developer. I’ve always had a love for cooking, and more so in the past few years a love for eating!
Join me on a culinary adventure where life always tastes good. 
