Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

This delicious cookie pie is a family favorite! Grab a glass of milk, you will need it for this tasty treat!

To make this cookie stand out from your standard cookie, I added caramel filled chocolate morsels. Have y'all seen the Nestle Delightfulls? They come in lots of fun flavors and I couldn't resist the Caramel Chocolate Combo. Those two are always a winner in my book. I found the Delightfulls at Target and I know they carry them at Walmart too. Give them a try if you haven't yet. They are delicious and add something extra special to your desserts! If you aren't able to find the Delightfulls, you can always substitute your favorite chocolate chips. It will be delicious too, I promise! I've made this recipe many times before with chocolate chips and it tastes just as yummy.

This cookie pie tastes great the next day too! I'm not sure that you'll have much left though once you try the first piece! Enjoy this tasty recipe and let me know how you like it in the comments below.

Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Adapted from: Chocolate Treats

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 tablespoon butter, melted, divided

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 package (9 ounce) Nestle Delightfulls Caramel Filled Chocolate Morsels

Hot fudge sauce

Vanilla ice cream

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly grease a 9-inch pie plate.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat 1/2 cup of melted butter and brown sugar until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla. Add flour and baking powder; beat until well blended. Fold in chocolate morsels using a rubber spatula or spoon.

3. Place dough into prepared pie plate. Flatten and smooth the top and bake for 30 - 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. After removing the pie, brush the remaining 1 tablespoon of melted butter over the top of the pie. Place pie plate on wire rack to cool.

4. To serve, cute pie into wedges and top with ice cream and hot fudge sauce. 



Caramel Soaked French Toast

I have a great brunch recipe for you today.  I made this as our Christmas breakfast and as always it was a hit!  I love the crispy, crunchy french toast top with the caramel soaked, oh so delicious ooey-gooey bottom.  You've got to see this for yourself to believe how fantastic it is!  This would be a perfect addition to a New Year's Day brunch!  I don't make this very often because it makes so much, but when I do I want to make it over and over again!  I must admit that the leftovers are really tasty the next day. They loose their crunchiness, but not their caramel gooeyness! :)  Little Man kept wanting more french toast both times that we ate it!  He couldn't get enough of it either!  Make it one of your New Year's resolutions to make this for breakfast, it's one resolution that you can keep!
Caramel-Soaked French Toast
from: Southern Living: Our Best Five-Star Recipes

1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
10 slices French bread (~1 3/4" thick)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 1/2 cups milk or half and half
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Combine first 3 ingredients in a medium saucepan.  Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, 5 minutes or until mixture is bubbly.  Pour syrup mixture evenly into a lightly greased 13x9" pan.  Arrange bread slices over syrup.
2. Combine eggs and next 3 ingredients; stir well. Gradually pour mixture over bread slices. Cover and chill at least 8 hours.
3. Combine 3 tablespoons sugar and cinnamon; stir well. Sprinkle evenly over soaked bread. Drizzle 1/4 cup melted butter over the bread.  Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45-50 minutes or until golden and bubbly. Serve immediately. Makes 10 servings.
Happy New Year!  2011 is going to be a great year!

Chocolate Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

Chocolate+Caramel=Delicious

That's really all you need to know about these cupcakes.  I used this recipe to create these yummy cupcakes last week, and let me tell you they didn't last long!  I shared them with our small group and they went over quite well! :)

The chocolate base of the cupcake was so moist and crumbly.  There was a slight hint of the dulce de leche in each bite, which worked out much better than my caramel candy experiment that you can read about here.  The frosting was super sweet (at least to me)...I will try to adjust the ingredients the next time I make it.  I'm thinking that if I leave out a spoonful of the dulce de leche it will help...I used the maximum that she called for in the recipe.

As C says, "Each cupcake that I try gets better and better!"  That's really the only review you need.  He's basically a cupcake connoisseur, so if he likes them so will you! :)

I knew that these cupcakes needed to be transported, so I broke in my new cupcake carousel!  It's this gigantic container in the shape of a cupcake that holds 24 standard size cupcakes.  Here it is stacked up with cupcakes.

You can see that my cupcakes weren't "standard" by their standards.  I had to cram them in each layer to actually fit 8 per tier.  It's probably because these cupcakes are so puffy at the top!  Either way, I love it and can't wait to use it more!  I found mine at HEB, but they are already gone.  I did find it online here if you want to check it out!  It also comes in a pretty hot pink color.

Chocolate Caramel Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Buttercream Frosting

Wow...you must make these! They were so rich, fluffy and delicious. I used this recipe for the base of the cupcakes. I altered it some by placing a caramel candy into each cupcake before baking. When these came out of the oven, the smell was like walking into your very own bakery.

For the frosting I chose a peanut butter buttercream. I searched for a recipe and finally ended up combining a couple.

Here's what I did:
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 creamy peanut butter
2 Tbs milk

With an electric mixer, beat together sugar, and butter until creamy. Add peanut butter, beating well. Add milk and beat until smooth and creamy. The icing will seem very stiff, but is quite easy to pipe.

Verdict:  The cupcakes were moist and crumbly.  They were so decadent, I could only eat one at a time (but we did finish off the dozen during the weekend...did I mention that we have sweet teeth?).  The melted caramel in the center left a gooey layer of sweet, sticky goodness near the bottom of the cupcake.  Next time, I'll add more caramel to each one.  Have you seen the caramel bits in the chocolate chip aisle...next time I'll experiment with them.  The frosting was very peanut buttery...if that's a word.  If you like peanut butter, this is the recipe for you.  Next time I might cut down on the peanut butter, though my better half might not agree!  He's a fan!  We even let Little Man try them, and he was more than happy to eat more!

As a final note, I am working on my piping skills, obviously.  It's evident that I didn't use the right tip and promptly went out and bought the Wilton Jumbo 1M tip.  Much better!  The next cupcake experiment turned out better!  I also have very limited food photography skills, though I am trying to get better.  I've been reading blog after blog on just about every aspect of food photography, cupcake recipes, blog design and who knows what else!  Bear with me as I start this crazy ride!