Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Cookies

I have to confess that as much as I love to cook and bake, I have always been terrible at baking cookies.  I usually undercook, burn, or otherwise just ruin cookies.  So I had put the cookie jar into hiding and decided that I was incurable and would just enjoy cupcakes, brownies and other desserts.  Until now!  Recently, I found an intriguing chocolate chip cookie over at Sally's Baking Addiction.  I was skeptical at first, but desperate enough to try if at least once.  With the first batch, I didn't have the dark brown sugar the recipe called for, but I tried them anyway and they turned out FABULOUS!  I've never made such thick chocolate chip cookies before.   I have made more batches of these this past month than I care to count (TRUE STORY!).   After a few batches, I decided I wanted to try my own spin on her cookie recipe.  I happened to have some Kraft Caramel bits on hand and decided to try a chocolate caramel pretzel combination.  I love the sweet/salty combination!  You've gotta try these!  Before you scroll past all my pictures and straight to the recipe, though, be sure and read because I want to share some of Sally's tips.  THEY ARE JUST AS IMPORTANT AS THE RECIPE!!  Better yet, check out her chocolate chip cookie blog post for yourself HERE.

Sally shares some important tips on her blog about baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie.  I found these to be crucial.

1. CHILL the dough.  I have found that I get a much better result if I chill the dough for at least 2-3 hours or even overnight!  Trust me!  Don't ignore this step!

2.  I cook mine a bit longer - exactly 9 minutes.  Cool for exactly 3 minutes.  Depending on your oven, the actual cooking time could vary from 8-10 minutes.  They should be only a light golden brown when you remove them from the oven.  Don't overbake! 

3.  Use only cool pans to bake cookies!  This was the biggest mistake I was making when baking cookies.  I usually would put a second or third set of cookies on a cookie sheet that had already been through the oven.  So THAT'S why the last set was always overdone!

These make me smile!!

 

Salty/sweet heaven!! 

 

Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Cookies

 

adapted from: Sally's Baking Addiction

 

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 c. dark brown sugar

1/4 c. sugar

1 tsp. vanilla

1 egg

2 c. all-purpose flour

2 tsp. corn starch

1 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 c. pretzel pieces

1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips ( I used Ghiradelli!  My favorite chips!)

1/2 c. Kraft Caramel Bits

 

Cream butter, sugars, vanilla, and egg in medium mixing bowl.  In another bowl, combine flour, corn starch, baking soda and salt.  Gradually incorporate dry ingredients into wet mixture and mix well.  Fold in pretzel pieces, chips and caramel bits.  Chill dough for several hours.  Roll dough into balls (about 1 T. of dough) and place on cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes (only until slightly golden around the edges).  Remove from oven and let rest on cookie sheet for 3 minutes.  Transfer to cooling rack.

Orange Fluff

With two little ones at home, I seem to be getting busier and busier.  I don't have a lot of time to sit at the computer and get my recipes posted, but I'm trying.  I made this recipe for a potluck back in April and knew I had to share this with all of you!  My mom has been making this salad for years and she shared the recipe with me a few years ago.  It's so refreshing and so very easy to put together!  It's a perfect dish for spring and summer, but I've even made it for Thanksgiving a time or two because of the beautiful orange color.  This is a crowd pleaser!  There are a ton of recipes on the internet for "Orange Fluff", but this is my favorite version!

 

So yummy!!

 



Orange Fluff

1 16 oz. container low fat cottage cheese  (blend in blender until SMOOTH!)
2 small pkgs.  (3 oz. size) orange jello
1 12 oz. container Cool Whip
2 11 oz. containers mandarin oranges, drained
1 15 oz. can crushed pineapple, drained

Blend cottage cheese in blender until smooth.  Mix in orange jello until completely dissolved.  Then add oranges and pineapple and mix well.  Fold in Cool Whip! 

French Onion Meatballs

I found this recipe a while back on Six Sister's Stuff.  If you haven't visited their site, go take a look.  They have lots of recipes and they look wonderful! 

I love using my slow cooker, but I have trouble finding new recipes for it.   So many call for some kind of cream soup and those recipes just don't appeal to my tastebuds (or waistline for that matter)!  So I was pretty excited when I found this one!  It only has two ingredients and there was no cream soup!!  I served these meatballs on rolls, but I think they would also be great for an appetizer or even served over noodles with a veggie on the side! 

We all seem to have different tastes in our house so I'm very happy to add this to our menu rotation!  We ALL liked these!

 

You will need 2 (10.5 oz.) cans of French Onion soup and a 32 oz. package of fully cooked frozen meatballs.  I used the Italian style.  Spray your crockpot with nonstick spray. (Next time, I will use a slow cooker liner- I was out. . .)  Place meatballs in slow cooker and pour soup over meatballs.  Cook on low for 3 to 4 hours or high for about 2 hours.  I cooked them on low and they were done in about 3 hours and I just turned my slow cooker to WARM until we were ready to eat. 

 

 These are the rolls I served them on!   These would also be great on the smaller Hawaiian rolls for party size sandwiches!

 

 . . . or just pick up some fancy toothpicks and serve them straight out of the slow cooker as a yummy appetizer!

This is such a family friendly recipe!  Loved this one!

French Onion Meatballs
source:  Six Sisters' Stuff

1 (32 oz) package Italian style frozen meatballs ( the original recipe calls for 24 oz. but I couldn't find that size- the 32 oz. worked out great!)

2 (10.5 oz.) cans French onion soup

Spray your slow cooker with nonstick spray.  Place meatballs in slow cooker and pour soup over the meatballs.  Cook on low for 3-4 hours OR on high for about 2 hours.

Special K Bars

I've had this recipe for quite a few years.  When I was teaching, the mother of one of my students shared this with me.  I'm so glad she did because these are so good!!  It's been a while since I've made them and I forgot just how yummy they are!!  I was glad when they were gone because I couldn't stay out of them!  So yummy!  These are so quick to make and super scrumptious!!  Enjoy!!

 

 

 

Over low heat, cook light corn syrup and sugar together, just until sugar dissolves. Add peanut butter and stir until melted. Put cereal in a large mixing bowl and pour sugar/peanut butter mixture over cereal. Mix well and press into a 9x13 pan

 

 

For the topping, you will need 1 c. semisweet chocolate chips and 1 c. butterscotch chips.  Melt in microwave for 20 second intervals, stirring in between until completely melted.  Pour and spread evenly over bars.  I popped the pan into the fridge for about 10 minutes to allow the topping to set. 

 

 

Cut into bars and watch them disappear!

 

 

 

 

Special K Bars

 

1 cup white Karo syrup

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups peanut butter

6 cups Special K cereal

1 cup semisweet chips

1 cup butterscotch chips

 

Over low heat, cook syrup and sugar together, just until sugar dissolves.  Add peanut butter and stir until melted.  Put cereal in a large mixing bowl and pour sugar/peanut butter mixture over cereal.  Mix well and press into a 9x13 pan.  For topping, melt both kinds of chips together in microwave (in short intervals until melted) and spread over cereal mixture.  Allow topping to set before cutting into bars.



 

 

 

Cheeseburger Pie

I started making this recipe a few months ago and I've actually made it several times.  Everyone in my family seems to have their own taste so it's very hard to find something we all like.  This dish seems to fit the bill where that is concerned so it has become a regular recipe in my menu rotation.  It's easy to make and so delicious.  I almost always seem to have all the ingredients on hand as well!  Serve with fresh fruit or a veggie and dinner is served! 

Note:  I found this in a Bisquick cookbook.  I use the reduced fat version of Bisquick and also use the frozen onion seasoning blend (rather than chopping onion) that you see in many of my recipes.  That makes this recipe even easier to make!

 

Cheeseburger Pie

 

Source:  Bisquick Cookbook

 

1 lb. ground beef

1 cup chopped onion (I use the frozen onion seasoning blend.)

1/2 t. salt

1 cup shredded Cheddar

1/2 cup Bisquick baking mix (I use the reduced fat version.)

1 cup milk

2 eggs

 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Cook ground beef and onion over medium heat until meat is browned.  Drain and stir in salt.  Pour meat mixture into a greased pie plate.  Sprinkle cheese over meat mixture.  Mix remaining ingredients and spread evenly over all.  Bake for 25 minutes or until knife inserted into center comes out clean.  Let pie sit for about 5 minutes before slicing.



M&M Pretzel Bark

I picked up some bags of those pretty Valentine M&Ms a few weeks ago and have been wanting to make something with them.  I decided a chocolate bark would be delish and I was right.  I added pretzels for a little crunch and some sprinkles for some extra bling.  This bark is so good and will be perfect for your Valentine!!

 

 You will need about 20 oz. of chocolate melting caps (I used about 4 cups), 1 1/2 cups of pretzel twists, 1 cup of M&Ms, divided, and some sprinkles for a little bling!

 

 Break the pretzels slightly to get smaller pieces.  I broke them in half.  Lay out a piece of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.  Notice I forgot to do this.  Get the cookie sheet under there.  You will need to be able to carry this to the fridge.  Fortunately, I was able to get the cookie sheet under later without messing up my finished bark.   Lay all the pretzels and 1/2 cup of the M&Ms (save the other 1/2 cup to sprinkle on top) on parchment in a rectangle.  My rectangle was about the size of a sheet of paper (8 1/2x11). 

Melt chocolate in the microwave for 25 second intervals until chocolate is completely melted.  Stir in between times.  Spread chocolate evenly over pretzel and candy mixture.  I drizzled the chocolate around the edges first to sort of hold everything in place.  Do this slowly so the pretzels and candy don't move around too much.  Spread chocolate evenly over all.  I wish I had spread mine just a tad thinner through the middle.  It was a little too thick but still delicious!!  :)

While the chocolate is still melted, sprinkle on the remainder of the M&Ms and some sprinkles!

 

Chill in the refrigerator until set and break into pieces!

M&M Pretzel Bark

20 oz. of melting chocolate ( I used melting caps and added a couple of cubes of chocolate bark because I didn't have enough of the caps)

1 cup M&Ms, divided

1 1/2 cups pretzel twists, crushed

decorative sprinkles

Spread broken pretzels and half the M&Ms on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  Melt chocolate in microwave for 25 second intervals until melted.  Spread melted chocolate evenly over pretzel and M&M mixture.  Then sprinkle with remainder of M&Ms and some decorative sprinkles.  Chill in refrigerator until set and break into pieces.

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Everyday Mom's Meals

Banana Chocolate Chip Bars

Apparently, bananas aren't so popular around my house at the moment.  This week I had four brown bananas sitting on my kitchen counter.  The first two went into a loaf of my chocolate chip banana bread and you can find that recipe HERE.  The other two sat another day on my counter before I found this recipe in an old cookbook.  It was a cookbook that was written by a ladies group in my nearby hometown (many years ago).  You know the kind of cookbook - the ones where a familiar person's name (maybe even a relative) is under each recipe.  Those are my favorite cookbooks!!  When I found this recipe, I knew I had a way to use those bananas.  The original recipe called for the bars to be baked in a jelly roll pan, but as I was mixing the batter I knew that might be a problem.  It just didn't seem like enough batter for such a large pan.  I decided to bake them in my trusty 9x9 brownie pan.  They turned out to be the texture of a snack cake and were so scrumptious!!  So moist!!  You've gotta try this one!

 

Cream butter, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, 1 egg, and 2 mashed bananas.  Add in dry ingredients.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes.

 

 See how they are golden brown and pulling away from the edge of the pan??  Perfection!  I did the toothpick test too!  These are so good and my 2 year old loved them!

 

Banana Chocolate Chip Bars

 

3/4 c. butter

3/4c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 t. vanilla

1 egg

2 mashed bananas (overripe bananas will work well for this recipe)

2 c. flour

2 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

1 cup chocolate chips ( I used Ghiradelli Bittersweet chocolate chips - just because I like them!!)

 

Cream first six ingredients.  In a separate bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt.  Gradually incorporate dry ingredients into wet mixture.  Fold in chocolate chips.  Spread batter evenly into greased 9x9 pan.  Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool completely and cut into bars.

 

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Walking on Sunshine