Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Million-Dollar Caramel Cookies

 
 Million-Dollar Caramel Cookies

(Makes 4 dozen)
  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1 cup white sugar, plus 1 TBSP
  • 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 1⁄2 cups flour, plus 1⁄4 cup
  • 3⁄4 cup cocoa
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 2 Heath candy bars
  • 1 bag Rolo chewy caramels
1. Preheat oven to 375°F. In a medium bowl, beat butter and sugars until fluffy, then add eggs and vanilla and beat well.
2. In a separate bowl, mix 2 1⁄2 cups flour, cocoa, and baking soda. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture a little bit at a time and blend well. If the dough feels too sticky, sprinkle in a little extra flour. Cover and chill dough in fridge for about 30 minutes.
3. Chop Heath bars into small pieces. Place in a small bowl and toss with 1 Tbs sugar.
4. Once dough has chilled, wrap a piece around each caramel, forming a 1-inch ball and covering the candy completely. Dip top of the dough ball into the candy topping and place on parchment-lined baking sheet.
5. Bake for 7 to 10 minutes. Cookies will look quite soft, but do not over bake. Cool in pan slightly, then move to a rack or the counter to finish cooling. Store in a covered container.

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Chicken and Dumpling Soup

originally from The Sisters Cafe Blog

64 oz of chicken stock
3-4 chicken breasts or 8-9 chicken tenders

Bake chicken and cube once baked. Set Aside.

Put chicken stock in a pot and start to heat up.

Add to the stock:

4 carrots or 1/2 bag baby carrots chopped
2 stalks of celery sliced
1 onion diced
1 1/2 cups of frozen peas (my family skips this part, but you may like it!)

Bring stock to a boil and simmer while you make the dumplings.

Dumplings:

2 beaten eggs
1 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder.

Mix together until dough forms. Roll out on floured surface and use a pizza cutter to cut into bite size pieces. Having them the same size is not really important. Add noodles to the soup and stir them around. Simmer for 20 minutes while making the cream sauce.


To make cream sauce:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 flour
3 cups milk

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir in the flour until smooth. Stirring with a whisk, add the milk slowly. Cook until thickened. Add to the soup, along with chicken. Simmer for 10 minutes and serve. Add salt and pepper if desired.

Hope you enjoy. My family loves this soup which is saying a lot...especially for me. I'm not a soup fan but I love how this is creamy and just have a really good flavor!