Congo Bars, Chocolate Chip Blondies, or Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars?

I totally learned something new making this dessert. Originally I found a recipe on Pinterest for Congo Bars. Like most recipes I find there, I was attracted to the picture; I had no idea what a Congo Bar actually was. If you know me, I google everything. So I look up Congo Bars: basically blondies with chocolate chips and toasted coconut, at least traditionally. The recipe didn't call for coconut so I guessed it was really a blondie? Not a big deal. However, I've always stayed away from blondies simply for the fact that I thought they were just brownies without the cocoa powder, and being a chocoholic I prefer brownies. But as I'm making this recipe, it occured to me that I'm really making chocolate chip cookie bars. My mom used to make them every Christmas when I was a kid so I'm fairly familiar with them. I go back to Google and ask the search engine what's the difference between blondies and chocolate chip cookie bars. Answer: other than chocolate chips being optional in blondies and a prerequiste for the cookies, nothing really.

So whatever you want to call these bars--congo, blondies, or chocolate chip cookies--they are delicious.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

2 3/4 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup butter, room temp

2 cups brown sugar

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs and vanilla and mix. Gradually pour in flour while mixing until well combined. Fold in chocolate chips with a rubber spatula.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the bars are a golden brown. Allow bars to cool before cutting.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Dessert Recipes:
Soft Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Spiced Rum Brown Butter Cookies 
Brown Sugar Cookies
Baileys White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Apple Cider Cookies with Spiced Rum Glaze
Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frostin

The Best Sugar Cookies

I'm not going to lie, this sugar cookie is a little bit of a pain to make, but it's so worth the sink of dirty dishes. For that reason I haven't made them for the last few Christmases. However, Eric loves his sugar cookies something fierce. And I wanted to use my delicious sugar cookies to make stain glass cookies. I turned the leftover dough into regular cookies.

This recipe comes from my mom, but because it dirts sooo many dishes, she has been on the search for an easier one that is just as good. She tried the store bought cookie mixes and I don't even know how many other recipes--she tested out yet another one for Thanksgiving. I ate one cookie and that was more than enough. Since I don't make sugar cookies often, I'm sticking to making the best sugar cookie recipe when I do, no matter the mess it makes.

Ingredients:
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
4 teaspoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

Directions:
Medium Bowl: Combine flour, tartar, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

Small Bowl: Stir together eggs, milk, and vanilla extract. Set aside.

Large Bowl: Beat butter with a mixer on medium speed for approximately 30 seconds. Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Alternating, add a little bit of the flour mixture then a little bit of the egg mixture to the butter mixture while beating. Once ingredients are combined, wrap the dough in wax paper and chill for 2 to 24 hours.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Lightly flour your work surface and roll out the dough to 1/4- to 1/8-inch thickness. (I like to roll out dough between two lightly floured pieces of waxed paper). Use cookie cutters to make cookies. Place the cookies on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are a light golden brown.

If desired, frost with royal icing.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Christmas 2013 Baking List
Dark Chocolate Cover Cranberries
Michigan Cranberry Brownies
Honey Cake
Soft and Chewy Gingerbread Men Cookies 
Christmas Kiss Cookies 
Gingerbread House 2013
Three Chocolate Truffles: Mint, Rum, and Orange
Cherry Snowball Cookies
Stained Glass Cookies

Spiced Rum Brown Butter Cookies

These cookies absolutely wowed me. I mean . . . they are out of this world good. Eric tried one and said, "There goes all that weight I lost." I think he was home from work for less than five minutes and had already devoured four or five of them. And he doesn't even care for spiced rum. But the spiced rum is the key to these amazing cookies. Their spice profile is like nothing I've had before. It's not the cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, allspice that I'm familiar with yet my first bite made me think of Christmas. There is a warmth to the flavor of these cookies which makes them perfect for a cold snowy day. And the brown butter adds a nuttiness and complexity. Don't even get me started on how amazing the cookies smelled while cooking in the oven.

Recipe is from here.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons spiced rum*
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar, divided
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups flour
pinch of salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place 1/2 cup white sugar in a shallow dish and set aside.

Over medium heat, melt butter in a medium sauce pan. Continue to cook it until it turns a dark golden brown and gives off a nutty aroma, stirring occasionally.  Allow to cool for appromixately 20 minutes.

Combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt together in a medium bowl. In a second bowl (of the bowl of a standing mixer) mix together the cooled butter, egg, vanilla, spiced rum, brown sugar, and 1/2 cup white sugar. Gradually add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients until well combined and a dough forms.

Roll about 1 tablepoon of dough into ball then coat in white sugar. Place dough balls about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until the bottoms turn a light golden brown.

*So I sort of made a rookie mistake while making these cookies. You're never supposed to pour your ingredients into your measuring cups over your mixing bowl. If you spill, you get the excess ingredient into what you're making. Same reason you should never crack an egg directly into your mixing bowl; you might get a shell in there. Well, my mixing bowl got a rather large extra splash of spiced rum. It made my dough a bit more wet than it should have been, but the cookies still turned out delicous. And I might just give them an extra splash again to give them that extra dose of flavor. But I know I will be making these cookies again. If Eric had his way, probably tomorrow.

UPDATE 1/11/14: So it seems that my mistake in adding more rum was actually the key to making these cookies so amazing. Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of rum instead of 2 tablespoons.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

More Cookie Recipes:
Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting
Brown Sugar Cookies
Baileys White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Creamsicle Chocolate Chip Cookies (Cream Cheese Cake Mix Recipe)
GrasshopperCookies
Chocolate Covered Cherry
Chocolate Chip Cookie in a Mug!
Cinnamon Meringue Cookies
Easy Rum Balls
Edye's Molassess Krinkles
Healthified Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies 
Kiss Cookies
No-Bake Marshmallow Cornflake Wreaths
No-Bake Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies with White Chocolate Chips and Dried Cranberries
Skinny Chocolate Chip Cookies
Smores Cookies!
Soft Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Tea Cookies
Yummy Butterscotch Cookies

Edye's Molasses Krinkles

It seems like everyone who bakes has that one recipe they make better than everyone else, their signature dish. I had heard about these molasses krinkles from Eric, his sister, and his dad long before I had ever tasted one. A while back Edye made a batch and they certainly lived up to their hype. She said I could share the recipe with you so here it is:

Ingredients:
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup shortening
4 tablespoons molassess
1 egg
2 1/4 cups flour, sifted
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cloves
granulated sugar for dusting

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees

Cream the shortening, sugar, and molasses. Add the egg and then sift the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Combine well.  Roll the dough into small balls, dip into granulated sugar and place on a cookie sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Smores Cookies!

If you don't have access to a fire pit (or a gas stove or wood-burning fireplace) these cookies are the next best thing to actual campfire smores. You should have seen Eric's face when I told him I was making smores cookies. But it was nothing compared to when I gave him one to taste. Before I was done baking, he sneaked into the kitchen to steal a few more. I already know these cookies won't last long.

This recipe comes from here with a few minor changes. It makes about two dozen cookies.

Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/3 cup flour
3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup mini marshmallows



Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray your cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Use a food processor to turn your graham crackers into fine crumbs. The site where I found this recipe said to use 7 graham cracker sheets to get 3/4 cup. I used 7 sheets and ended up with 1 cup of crumbs. So maybe 5 graham cracker sheets will work better?

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the crumbs, flour, baking powder, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until well combined. You can do this with an electric mixer, but I found it easier to do with my hands. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dough and press two or three marshmallows into the center of the cookie* and place on the cookie sheet. Repeat with the rest of the dough.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

*The original recipe called for Jets Puffed Mallow Bits and added them to the dough at the same time as the chocolate chips. I tried adding the mini marshmallow into the dough, but when I baked my first batch of cookies, the marshmallows on the sides and bottoms of the cookies melted out.

 So on the second batch I put the marshmallows in the center of the cookie. This fixed the problem.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting

I will use just about any excuse to try out a new dessert recipe. Visiting my parents for Independence Day was the perfect excuse to test not just one recipe, but two. These applesauce cookies were the second batch of cookies I prepared, the Baileys Cookies being the first. Applesauce cookies don't exactly scream summer--they do, however, yell out for autumn--but I had all the ingredients and I didn't want to wait months to try them. And I'm glad I didn't wait. They are cakey, fully of spice, and super yummy.

I slightly adapted this recipe. It makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Cookie Recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 ts baking soda
1 ts baking powder
1 cup applesauce
1/2 ts cinnamon
1/4 ts ground cloves
 
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and cloves together. Set aside.

In a second large bowl, cream the sugar and shortening with an electric mixer. Mix in the eggs and applesauce. Gradually stir in dry ingredients until well combined. Spoon a heaping tablespoon of dough on a cookie sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Allow to cool.

Naked Cookies

Frosting Recipe
Ingredients:
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup half and half
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar

Directions:
Place the butter, half and half, and brown sugar in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat, stirring until the mixture boils.* Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla. Allow to cool and then stir in the powdered sugar. Spread over the cookies.

*The caramel taste of the frosting isn't really that strong. My mom commented that she thought it tasted more maple than caramel and I agree with her. The brown sugar just didn't get to caramelize long enough, so next time I make these, I'm getting my candy thermometer out and boiling the brown sugar mixture until its temperature reaches 248 degrees. That should give it a good, strong caramel flavor.

Applesauce and Baileys cookies

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Baileys White Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the Fourth of July, Eric and I headed up north to spend the holiday with my parents at their cabin. If anyone has a bigger sweet-tooth than us, it's my parents. So before we left I made two different cookies, Baileys White Chocolate Chip Cookies and Applesauce Cookies with Caramel Frosting, to surprise them with. The cookies barely made it three days.

The Baileys White Chocolate Chip Cookies were my personal favorite. They are fluffy, chocolaty, and not overly sweet. Not only did I love their taste, but I loved making them. I could smell the chocolate in the cookies from the moment I began mixing the ingredients together until the cookies were baked and cooled.

I found this recipe here. It makes roughly 3 dozens.

Ingredients:
2 sticks of unsalted butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 2/3 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoon Baileys Irish Cream
1 cup white chocolate chips*

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together. Set aside.

In another large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Add the eggs and vanilla and combine until fluffy. Mix in the Baileys. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ones. Fold in the chocolate chips. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerator for approximately 2 hours.

Seriously, I could not stop eating the dough.

Scoop a heaping tablespoon of dough on a cookie sheet, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes.

*I'm going to let you in on a secret. Most recipes call for a 1 cup of chocolate chips, which is a perfectly adequate amount of chips. But I always add more. I pour in the cup then I add more until the dough looks like it has enough chips in it.

Baileys and Applesauce cookies

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Brown Sugar Cookies

Given a choice of cookie--chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter, and so on--I'll always choose a sugar cookie last. I like them just fine, but there are just so many better cookies out there. But I might have fallen a little in love with these brown sugar cookies. Made with browned butter and brown sugar, these cookies have a deeper, richer taste than traditional sugar cookies. The browned butter gives it a nutty flavor while the brown sugar gives it complexity. Eric, who loves sugar cookies (especially with frosting) might just favor the brown sugar version too.

I have never had cookies come out of the oven looking more perfect and pretty than these.

Ingredients:
14 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 cups packed brown sugar, divided
2 cups all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Directions:
Position the oven rack in the middle of the oven and heat to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with foil.

In a skillet, melt 10 tablespoons of butter over medium-high heat. Once melted, continue to cook, stirring constantly, until butter turns a dark golden brown and gives off a nutty aroma, about 2 or 3 minutes. Pour the browned butter into a large, heat-proof bowl. Stir in the remaining 4 tablespoon of butter. Allow butter to cool for approximately 15 minutes.

In a shallow dish, combine the granulated sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar by rubbing the two between your fingers until well combined. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.

Add remaining 1 3/4 cups brown sugar and salt to the butter. Mix on medium-low speed until there are no sugar lumps left. Add egg, yolk, and vanilla, and mix again on medium-low speed until well combined. Pour in the flour mixture and mix until filly incorporated.

Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough into a ball, roll the ball in the sugar mixture and place on the prepared baking sheet, spacing the balls approximately 2 inches apart.

Bake one cookie sheet at time for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are browned and puffy, the edges have set, and the centers still look soft. Rotate the baking sheet halfway through the baking process.

Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and allow the cookies to cool.

This recipes comes from Cook's Illustrated.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Tea Cookies

These tea cookies are new to my baking list, but I think they are here to stay. I decided to give them a try because they kept popping up whenever I searched for new holiday recipes, they look like snowballs, and everyone seemed to love them. And now I know why. I don't usually go for crumbly, dry cookies--I generally like mine soft and chewy--but there is just something about these cookies that makes you want to eat the whole batch in one sitting.

Tea Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for rolling
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup walnuts, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Beat butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla  together until creamy. In a separate bowl mix the flour, walnuts, and salt. Gradually add the dry mixture to the creamy one until well blended. Shape into 1-inch balls and place the balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8 to10 minutes or until the cookies are firm but not brown. Allow the cookies to cool until they you can handle them. While still warm, roll the cookies in powdered sugar. Allow to completely cool, and roll in powdered sugar a second time. Recipe yields about 3 dozen.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

2011 Christmas Baking List:
Mint-Chocolate Truffles
Starlight Mint Cake
Sea Salt Caramels
Rocky Road Chocolate Log
Candied Citrus Peels
Easy Rum Balls
Homemade Marshmallows
Christmas Kiss Cookies
Tea Cookies

Other Holiday Cooking Ideas:
Snowflake Tortillas
Gingerbread House Decoration Ideas
Christmas Peep S'mores

Easy Rum Balls

I made these rum balls for the very first time last year and absolutely fell in love with them. So much so, that they've been added to my annual Christmas baking list. They are quick and easy, require no baking, and taste divine--if you like the taste of rum. The longer these cookies sit, the stronger the rum flavor becomes. This year I decided to make one batch with the dark rum as I usually do and another batch with coconut rum. Next year I can't wait to experiment with more flavors.

Rum Balls

Ingredients:

1 cup walnuts
2 cups Voortman vanilla wafers, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup powdered sugar, plus extra for rolling
3-4 tablespoons dark rum (or any other flavor of rum)
¼ teaspoon light corn syrup

Directions:

Place walnuts, wafers, and powdered sugar in your food processor. Pulse a few times until the ingredients are well mixed. Be careful not to turn the wafers or nuts into powder. Add 2 tablespoons of rum and corn syrup. Pulse 2 to 3 times. Add the last 1-2 tablespoons of rum.* Pulse until well mixed.

Lightly coat your work area and hands with powdered sugar. Roll dough into walnut-sized balls. Coat balls in powdered sugar and place on cookie sheet. Refrigerate for a half hour. Store your rum balls in an air tight container in the fridge. Recipes yields about 1 1/2 dozen.

You can also use chocolate wafers or coat your rum ball in unsweetened cocoa, melted chocolate, or chopped nuts.

*After 3 tablespoons of rum, your dough will still be crumbly but will stick together easily. 4 tablespoons makes the dough wet and the rum taste a lot stronger.

Rum Balls with dark rum.

Rum balls with coconut rum.

 Enjoy!

~Krissy

2011 Christmas Baking List:
Mint-Chocolate Truffles
Starlight Mint Cake
Sea Salt Caramels
Rocky Road Chocolate Log
Candied Citrus Peels
Easy Rum Balls
Homemade Marshmallows
Christmas Kiss Cookies
Tea Cookies

Other Holiday Cooking Ideas:
Snowflake Tortillas
Gingerbread House Decoration Ideas
Christmas Peep S'mores