Bourbon Maple Bars

I have had this recipe tucked away for some time now.  It was actually one of the recipes I got when I first started in G+.   Since then I have pulled a couple more from the site.  The recipes are from Micheal Recchiuti, that has a lot of talent when it comes to confections.  His site has a lot to offer in the way of treats as well as recipes.

As far as this recipe, I am glad I found something a little bit upscale and unique in comparison to all the blondie and brownie recipes floating around out there.  The moist maple and bourbon cake along with the crunchy toasted walnuts turned out to be a pretty tasty bar.  The only change I made to the recipe was making 1/2 a batch more of the glaze.  The original recipe amount left too much of the bar showing through, so it was not enough in my opinion.  

Due to the fact it was late and I was unable to get in touch with Micheal prior to this post for permission to post the recipe details here, I have provided a direct link to his site for the recipe:
Dad's Bourbon Maple Bars

Outside of the fantastic recipes, I am thinking that I may splurge for Halloween and try some of his chocolate candy. However, for right now I am splurging on these maple bars!
                             **LAST YEAR: Chestnut Chocolate Muffins***

Auntie Mary's Cookies & A Feature

You probably have two thoughts running through your head.  One, you are wondering if the above is one cookie or three.  It is actually three.  The other is who is Auntie Mary?  Not any relation, just the originator of this recipe.  Apparently, she is a relative of someone associated with the Ladies Home Journal.

Do not let this picture fool you though.  These cookies do not have jam in them-they actually have a fudge-like filling with walnuts.  The best part about them is that the elements are equal.  This means that one bite gives you 50% cookie flavor and 50% nutty chocolate flavor.  In my book this does make the grade, so these will be added to my traditional cookies list. This recipe makes about 4 dozen. 

Also, I wanted to mention that Sofie from The German Foodie contacted me in regards to doing a feature on me and I agreed.  She is doing a series on why she follows certain blogs and picked mine to feature first, which made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside since there are so many wonderful blogs to choose from.  So if you are curious about the feature or if you would like to meet a special blogger who has some great tutorials on her site as well as some tasty German cuisine, be sure and pop on over to Sofie's site at The German Foodie,


Auntie Mary's Cookies
adapted from Ladies Home Journal

Ingredients/Cookies
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 oz cream cheese softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups flour
powdered sugar, for sprinkling

Ingredients/Filling
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
2/3 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

To make the dough, sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  In another bowl, cream together the butter, cream cheese and both type of sugars.  Then beat in the egg and vanilla extract until blended evenly.  Fold in the dry ingredients, making sure no dry streaks remain.

Separate dough into four equal parts and wrap with plastic wrap.  Place in fridge for a minimum of  2 hours.  I left mine in the fridge to chill overnight.

After the chilling time is complete, preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease two cookie sheets.

Then you are ready to make your filling!  Place chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a saucepan placed over medium heat.  Stir and cook until all chocolate chips are melted and mixture is smooth.  Remove from heat and stir in the walnuts.  Let cool to room temperature.

Lightly dust a flat surface with flour and place 1 piece of dough in the center.  Roll dough out to a 6 X 10 inch rectangle, lifting and turning to make sure dough does not stick.  Once you reach that size, take 1/4 of the chocolate mixture and smooth it down the center of the length of the dough.  Then fold sides over.  Then transfer to cookie sheet, seam side down.  I used a spatula and a bench scraper side by side underneath to transfer the log and then flipped it over.  Repeat this process with the remaining 3 logs.  You should have two  on each cookie sheet.

Place in oven and bake 20-25 minutes or until the dough is lightly browned.  Remove pans and transfer logs to a cooling rack.  Once completely cool, sprinkle with confectioners sugar.  Then slice each log into 12 equal portions. 
             **LAST YEAR: Roasted Cauliflower and Onions**

Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies

Well I have finally finished my 12 dozen cookies for donation.  I did make 2 types of cookies but out of the two I liked these the best.  They are triple flavored with chocolate-cocoa, semi-sweet and milk.  In addition, they have toasted walnuts and cinnamon.

I had all the ingredients and pulled the chocolate chips out of the fridge.  There was one rather clumpy bag.  The milk chocolate chips must have gotten melty in the car.  The semi-sweet chocolate chips were the ones in the recipe that had to be melted, so it was just my bad luck that the ones that had to remain as chips were now big clumps.  I had to take an ice pick to the milk chocolate.

This comes from one of my favorite sections in Bon Appetit, the RSVP.  If you are not familiar with it, readers write in asking for restaurant recipes and Bon Appetit prints them.

This particular recipe yields 3 dozen cookies.  They are rich and chewy, something to satisfy a true chocoholic craving.  I have had a few and wish I had made more.

Chocolate Cinnamon Cookies
courtesy of Bon Appetit (prior to 2005)

Ingredients
36 walnut halves for top of cookies 
1 cup of chopped, toasted walnuts
6 oz chocolate chips
2 eggs
1/4 cup plus 2 tbs of butter, room temp
1/4 cup plus 3 tbs of sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of salt
1/4 cup cocoa powder (I used special dark)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
8 oz semi sweet chocolate (melted and cooled)
additional melted chocolate for drizzling (optional)

Prepare two baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, sift together cinnamon, flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In another bowl beat the butter, sugar and eggs together until smooth.  Pour in the 8 oz of melted chocolate and mix until completely blended.  Then fold in the flour mixture.  Lastly, mix in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Once all is combined, scoop out a tablespoon of batter and drop onto baking sheet.  I used a small melon baller as a scoop.  Continue placing additional scoops onto baking sheet about 1 inch apart.  After the sheet is full, press one walnut half in the middle of each cookie.

Bake in the oven for about 11 minutes.  Cookies are done when they are still soft to the touch but appear dry and cracked on the outside.  Remove and place sheet on rack to cool for 5 minutes.  Then remove and place each cookie on rack to cool completely.  

If you decided to drizzle the cookies with chocolate, place wax paper under the cooling rack. Then dip fork tines into the chocolate and wave over the cookies to form a zig zag pattern.  Chocolate will need to set before serving or storing.

Repeat the process of forming, baking and decorating the cookies until there is no more batter left. Then it is time to relax and enjoy some chocolate!