Whiskey Chocolate Chip Cookies

Every year for my birthday, my husband bakes me a dessert. One year it was a drunken cherry chocolate cake, another a smores pie. This year he made the most amazing chocolate chip cookies ever. I'm not a big drinker, but damn do I like booze in my desserts. I don't know if I'll be able normal chocolate chips cookies after these whiskey chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 tablespoons whiskey (we used honey whiskey)
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (we like to use a mix of dark, semi, and milk)

Directions:
In a heavy bottomed pan, heat butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it begins to brown and has a nutty aroma. Allow to cool for ten minutes (so you don't accidentally cook the egg).

Pour butter into a large bowl. Add brown sugar and white sugar. Beat until smooth and combined.

Add egg, vanilla, and whiskey. Combine.

Add baking soda, cornstarch, salt, and flour. Beat until combined.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Line two baking sheet with parchment paper or tin foil sprayed with cooking spray. Scoop out heaping tablespoons of cookie dough and space them two-inches apart on the baking sheets. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 4 hours or overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 11-14 minutes. Allow cookies to cool on pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!

More Boozy Desserts:
Drunken Cherry Chocolate Cake
Spiced Rum Brown Butter Cookies
Red Wine Ice Cream
Easy Rum Balls
Baileys White Chocolate Chip Cookies
Spiked Apple Cider Bon-Bons
Apple Cider Cupcakes with Caramel Filling and Spiked Buttercream

Chocolate Swirl Cake (Made with Swiss Cake Rolls)

Swiss cakes rolls bring back memories of brown bagged lunches in elementary and junior high school. First I'd eat all the coating coating off, then rolls the cakes out the best I could, lick off the cream filling, and finally devour the cake. I may or may not still eat them this way. But if you asked me what my favorite Little Debbie snack was, I'd have to go with Nutty Bars--unless we're including their seasonal snacks then it's Pumpkin Delights hands down. Eric favors the Swiss Rolls bar none. And that's why to celebrate his very last day of class (Eric is now a college graduate!) I am making him this Chocolate Swirl Cake. It is no-bake, incredibly decadent, and contains Swiss Rolls--in other words, the perfect cake for Eric.

This recipes comes from Taste of Home with a few minor changes.

Ingredients: 
20 Swiss Rolls (a little less than 2 boxes)
2 3.9-ounce instant chocolate fudge pudding mix
2 3/4 cups cold milk
1 8-ounce (2 cups) container of Cool Whip, thawed

8.5-inch springform pan

Directions:
Slice each cake roll into six pieces. When you cut them, the chocolate coating is going to break off; reserve the chocolate for decoration. Line the pan with the cake pieces, beginning with the sides. I made four rows of cake pieces. Then line the bottom of the pan. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the milk and pudding mixture until well combined and smooth. Place in the refrigerator for approximately 5 minutes until the pudding has thickened. Fill the center of the cake with the pudding. Top with the Cool Whip and sprinkle bits of chocolate coating on top. Cover and store in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before serving.

Notes:
This dessert is chocked full of calories. In order to bring the calorie count down at least a little bit, I used skim milk to make the pudding and fat free Cool Whip.

Eric went nuts when he came home after his last college final and saw this cake waiting for him. But I guess it didn't have enough Swiss Cake Rolls to satisfy him. He had a huge slice of this dessert with a side of cake rolls.

Sorry the picture is a little blurry. Those are Eric's photography skills.

Enjoy!

~Krissy

Cake Mix Cookies

I first discovered cake mix cookies when I was in junior high school. I may not have been into cooking or baking, but I did like sweets (still do!).  My mom was always buying cake mixes when they went on sale and they'd sit in the cupboards for months, sometimes years. Somewhere I found a recipe for cake mix cookies. They were super easy to make and incredibly versatile.

These days I mostly make my cookies from scratch. But sometimes I just have a craving for the ease and taste of a cake mix cookie.

These recipes makes roughly three dozens.

Grasshopper Cake Mix Cookies

Grasshopper Cookies

I had a recipe for grasshopper cake I was going to make last St. Patty’s day but decided to be lazy and turned the cake recipe into a cookie recipe instead. The outcome was delicious.

Ingredients:
1 package yellow cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup chocolate chips
12-14 drops green food coloring
2 teaspoons mint extract.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.


Beat the cake mix, eggs, oil, extract and food coloring together until the batter becomes stiff. Add chocolate chips. If you want cookies with green swirls instead of solid green cookies, add food coloring with the chips. Roll into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until the cookie bottoms turn a golden brown.

Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies

I’ll admit, these are one of my all time favorite cookies. Everyone I’ve ever made these for absolutely fell in love with them too. They taste just like chocolate covered cherries. Every batch disappears in a blink of an eye.

So far, the only brand I’ve found that makes cherry cake mix is Betty Crocker.

Ingredients:
1 package Betty Crocker Cherry Chip cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the cake mix, eggs and oil together until the batter becomes stiff. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until the cookie bottoms turn a golden brown.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies are a close second to the Chocolate Covered Cherry Cookies.

Ingredients:
1 package chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
¾ cup peanut butter chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the cake mix, eggs and oil together until the batter becomes stiff. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until the cookie bottoms turn a golden brown.

Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
I love coconut. Sadly, I only know two or three people (and Eric isn't one of them) who also love coconut so I don’t get to make these cookies very often.

Ingredients:
1 package white cake mix (you can also use coconut cake mix)
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Beat the cake mix, eggs and oil together until the batter becomes stiff. Stir in coconut and chocolate chips. Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for approximately 10 minutes or until the cookie bottoms turn a golden brown.

You can also add a ¼ cup of chopped almonds if you so desire.

Also check out my butterscotch cake mix cookies.

Enjoy!

~Krissy