Raspberry M and M's and Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies

I saw this package of M and M's and who could resist the beautiful pink packaging. Also, who could resist the combination of raspberry and dark chocolate. Not me, I tell you that. 

So I thought I would toss these into some cookies with the always delicious mini chips and they turned out pretty great.  Fun treat for the weekend. 

You will see that I used cold butter. That's because I didn't have any softened and I was decided to make cookies. I just slice the butter into 1 Tablespoon servings and cream that with the sugar. It may take a bit longer to get it creamy, but it works just as well for the end result. ~Bake away.

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• Raspberry M and M and Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies
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• Ingredients:

1 stick salted butter, can be cold, cut into 1 Tbsp squares

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste,or vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tablespoons vanilla instant pudding mix

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 package of raspberry M & M's

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F. 

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugars together until well combined. Add the egg and vanilla, mixing to combine. Add the flour, pudding mix, baking soda, stirring to combine.

Stir in the mini chips and the M & M's.

Scoop dough onto cookie sheet 1-inch apart from each other. Bake for 10-14 minutes until cooked through. Let cool on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.

I made 2 1/2 dozen.

~Michelle

Linzer Cookies with Chocolate and Raspberry

It's time to start baking for Christmas.  This is another classic style cookie but it has a twist.

I love the combination of chocolate and raspberry so much. These have to be one of my favorite cookies because of that. The dough has such wonderful flavor because of the cinnamon that is added. Plan ahead because you do have to chill the dough. Enjoy

I love these cookies so much :)

The cinnamon makes the dough taste so good. 

 Roll and cut out the cookies.

Sprinkle with powdered sugar. 

Add the melted chocolate to the flat side of the whole cookies.

Put the jam in the center and top it with the sugared cookies.

Chocolate Raspberry Linzer Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
One 12-ounce, package (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used 1 cup semi and 1 cup dark)
6 Tablespoons raspberry jam or preserves
Powdered sugar

Directions

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt; set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat sugar and butter until creamy. Beat in the eggs and almond extract. Gradually add flour mixture. Divide dough in half. Wrap in plastic wrap; refrigerate until firm.

Preheat oven to 350F. On lightly floured board, roll out half of dough to 1/8-inch thickness. Cut with 2 1/2-inch round cookie cutter. Repeat with remaining dough. Cut 1-inch round centers from half of unbaked cookies. Place on ungreased cookie sheets. Re-roll dough trimmings, if necessary.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes just until set. Let stand on cookie sheets 2 minutes. Remove from cookie sheets; cool completely. 

Over hot (not boiling) water, melt semi-sweet chocolate morsels, stirring until smooth.
Spread 1 measuring teaspoonful melted chocolate on flat side of each whole cookie. Top wit 1/2 measuring teaspoon raspberry jam. sprinkle confectioners' sugar on cookies with center holes; place flat side down on top of chocolate-jam cookies to form cookie sandwiches.

makes about 3 dozen sandwich cookies.

recipe from Holiday Cookies

Chocolate Raspberry Puff Pastry

Since I was helping out in the retail part of a friend's bakery recently and seeing all of the pastries and delicious desserts, I was wondering if I could make something with pastry dough. I did not have time to actually make pastry dough from scratch, although it is on the list of things to try. Here is a recipe that I'm going to try one day. 

I did use the Pepperidge Farm frozen pastry sheets for this recipe.

Recipe from Pepperidge Farm

I only made half of the package and I used raspberry jam.  I totally had a hard time rolling it out and then folding it up. :)  I guess this takes some serious practice.  They tasted pretty good. I will have to use more filling and just make sure that it is sealed up tightly so they don't leak out. I enjoyed them for breakfast with a cup of Tim Hortons Strawberry Shortcake coffee.

~Michelle

Chocolate Raspberry Bars

I searched high and low for my recipe for Chocolate Raspberry Pretzel bars and I just could not find it.  It was one of those situations where whenever I am looking through my cookbook cupboard I see this printed piece of paper and think, I should make these.  Well, I'm ready to make them and I have no idea where the paper with the recipe went.  So, I googled it to see if I could somehow find it.  No luck.  I did find this recipe and it turned out amazing. The original recipe called for strawberry jam, however, who can resist the combination of chocolate and raspberry, not me.

I made it for my friends at work who have been laid off. We went out for dinner to a local Italian restaurant, that my grandma happen to work at many, many years ago.  Then we came back to work and enjoyed some sweet snacks on their last day.  Sad to see things end this way but I know they will all find better jobs.

recipe from Very Best Baking

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INGREDIENTS:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups (12-oz pkg.) semi sweet chocolate chips, divided
1 jar raspberry jam 10 oz)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

Beat butter and 1 cup granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until fluffy.  Beat in egg.  Beat in 2 cups flour.  Stir in 1 cup chips.  Spread mixture in prepared pan.  Spread jam evenly over mixture in pan, leaving 1/2-inch border.

Combine 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup granulated sugar in medium bowl.  Cut in 1/4 cup butter with pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly.  Stir in remaining chips.  Sprinkle streusel evenly over preserves.

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until top is golden brown.  Cool completely in pan on wire rack.  Cut into bars.

Combine powdered sugar, milk and vanilla extract in small bowl.  Drizzle over bars; let stand until set.

YUMMY

~Michelle

Muffins, Muffins, Muffins

The title "Muffins, Muffins, Muffins" reminds me of the episode from the "Brady Bunch" where Jan says "Marcia, Marcia, Marcia".

Anyway, I made a trio of muffins the other day and took them to work. (The people at my work will eat anything:) The first muffin I made was the same one that I made for my breakfast party , raspberry and dark chocolate. They are so delicious that I had to make them again for a different audience. (These muffins are in the first picture in the collage).

The second muffin I made was a blueberry cinnamon muffin. OHHH what a wonderful muffin, moist and full of blueberries and the topping was wonderful. I'm thinking of trying different fruits inside next time. Thanks evilshenanigans for the recipe. I got rave reviews at work and at home for this one.

The last one was an oatmeal apple muffin. It was moist and tasty. Well, no one at home liked them and there were some left in the container at work so I guess not popular there either. I can't remember where I got the recipe from. But here is a picture of the muffin.


~Michelle