Samoa Girl Scout Cookies

Growing up, I was a Girl Scout for many years. I was always a shy girl, making cookie season difficult for me - I hated going door-to-door to sell cookies! Needless to say, I never won any top seller awards!

Since I moved out after graduating high school, I rarely get girl scout cookies any more. I don't have any friends with kids (or at least, kids old enough to be in Girl Scouts!), and while there are occasionally lists at work to buy off of, I'm in a different unit or hospital every month, making it difficult to pick them up if I were to order.

Because I've missed my favorite cookies sooooo much, I decided to make my own this year! Growing up in the Midwest, they were always called Samoas. (Here in the New England, everyone calls them Caramel deLites). These were a very close substitution for the boxed version, and were quickly devoured at work. (I particularly enjoyed cleaning out the bowl that I made the topping in - yum!)



Samoa Girl Scout Cookies Clone (From Once Upon a Plate)
Makes about 3 1/2 to 4 dozen

Cookies:
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
up to 2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream together butter and sugar in a large bowl. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, next, the vanilla and milk, adding in the milk only as needed to make the dough come together without being sticky (you may not need any at all). The dough should come together into a soft, pliable ball. Add in a bit of extra flour if your dough seems sticky.

Roll the dough out to about 1/4-inch thickness (or a little thinner), using a 1 1/2-inch cookie cutter to make rounds. Place on a parchment lined (or on silicone mat) baking sheet. Repeat until the dough is used up (it's okay to re-roll, this dough is shortbread-like and very forgiving.)

Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until bottoms are very lightly golden brown around the edges.

Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, to allow them to firm up slightly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.


Topping:
3 cups shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)
12-ounces chewy caramels
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons milk
8 ounces chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300 degrees (F)

Spread coconut evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and toast 20 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes, until coconut is golden. Watch carefully, especially near the end of toasting time; the coconut toasts very quickly once it begins to become golden.

Cool on baking sheet, stirring occasionally. Set aside.

Unwrap the caramels and place in a large microwave-safe bowl with milk and salt. Cook on high for 3-4 minutes, stopping to stir a few times to help the caramel melt. When smooth, fold in toasted coconut with a spatula.

Using the spatula or a small offset spatula, spread topping on cooled cookies, using about 2-3 teaspoons per cookie. Reheat caramel for a few seconds in the microwave if it begins to firm up, to make it soft and spreadable once again.

While topping sets up, melt chocolate in a small bowl. Heat on high in the microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring thoroughly to prevent scorching. Dip the base of each cookie into the chocolate and place on a clean piece of parchment paper. Transfer all remaining chocolate into a piping bag or a ziplock bag with the corner snipped off and drizzle finished cookies with chocolate.

Let chocolate set completely before storing in an airtight container.

ENJOY!

Chocolate Turtle Cupcakes

Carmel Pecan Candies (AKA "Turtles") had always been a special treat in my household while growing up. They were my mom's favorite candy, and if we were lucky, we'd get a bite of her cherished treat (she often got large boxes of them for holiday presents). I love the chocolate/pecan/chewy caramel combination & knew it would make a fantastic cupcake flavor. Plus, it gave me another opportunity to find a chocolate cake recipe that I really liked. (I liked this better than the Hershey's recipe that so many love). And, it gave me another opportunity to use the tasty dulce de leche that I've made a few times this year. I used the same frosting for this as I did for my Vanilla Bean Dulce de Leche Cupcakes.



Chocolate Cupcakes (From Cook's Illustrated, May/June 2010)
Makes 12-15 cupcakes

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped fine
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa
3/4 cup hot, strong-brewed coffee
3/4 cup bread flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
6 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons white vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 and line a muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Place chocolate and cocoa in a medium bowl, and pour hot coffee over the mixture. Whisk until smooth, and transfer to the refrigerator to cool completely, 20-30 minutes.

Whisk flour, sugar, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Whisk oil, eggs, vanilla, and vinegar into the cooled chocolate mixture until smooth. Add flour mixture and whisk until batter is smooth.

Divide batter evenly among muffin pan cups, filling each 3/4 full.

Bake until cupcakes are set and firm to the touch, 17-19 minutes. Allow to cool in pans 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before frosting.


DULCE DE LECHE BUTTERCREAM (Adapted from Joy the Baker)

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 Tablespoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 cup prepared dulce de leche

Cream together butter and dulce de leche on low using an electric mixer. Add cream and vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat to incorporate.

Frost cupcakes as desired. Garnish with drizzles of chocolate syrup & dulce de leche (slightly melted), and top with a half of a pecan.

ENJOY!

Easy Caramels

For as long as I can remember, my family has made a table full of Christmas goodies each holiday season. It's always been a family event - I have fond memories of being young (4 or 5) and requesting specific frosting colors on cut out cookies so that I could decorate them with sprinkles, red hots, etc.

As we've grown older, and fewer family members are able to make it to the holiday celebrations, the variety of goodies has decreased, down to a few key favorites. These caramels are one of the recipes that continues to be made annually (and often more than one batch per season). Even this year, where my husband & I will be celebrating without our extended family, I couldn't resist whipping up a batch.



EASY CARAMELS

1 cup butter
1 pound (2 1/4c) brown sugar (I've used both light & dark, depending on the flavor you want)
dash of salt
1 cup light corn syrup
14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Butter the bottom & sides of a 9x13 inch cake pan, set aside.

Melt butter in a heavy pan. Add brown sugar and salt. Stir until combined. Blend in corn syrup. Gradually add condensed milk. Stir constantly over medium heat until candy reaches firm to hard ball stage. (My thermometer has firm ball as 248F and hard ball as 260F - I like the texture best when at 255F on my thermometer). This will take 12-15 minutes.



Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour into buttered pan. Cool completely, and cut into squares. Wrap as desired. (I use the non-stick foil wrap to carefully twist around the candies, growing up we used the plastic backed floral foil - the colorful variety we'd use looked great!)

ENJOY!

Caramel S'More Cups

I usually love to make things from scratch. However, sometimes, we all just need something quick to whip up when we are busy. This is one of those treats. They were quickly devoured at work, but took me only a few minutes to make. No one guessed that the base came from a box. (Although, it would be easy to substitute your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe - again, I was limited on time!)

The recipe originally called for Rolos, but I couldn't find any. Plus, the caramel in the Kisses is a little softer & made for a nice, gooey center.



CARAMEL S'MORE CUPS (Adapted from Betty Crocker)

1 package of chocolate chip cookie mix, mixed as directed on box/bag
Caramel filled Hershey's Kisses
8-12 large marshmallows, cut in half
1/3 cup chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray mini muffin cups with cooking spray.

Make cookie dough as directed on package, using butter and egg. Shape dough into 1 1/2-inch balls. Place 1 ball into each muffin cup.

Bake 8-12 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Remove from oven; firmly press 1 kiss (point down) into center of each cookie until flush with cookie top. Top each with 1/2 of a large marshmallow. Bake 2 to 4 minutes longer or until marshmallows are puffed. Cool 10 to 15 minutes. Loosen edges of cookie with small metal spatula and remove to cooling racks. Cool completely.

Place chocolate chips in small dish. Microwave on High about 1 minute or until softened. Put into a ziplock bag, with a small corner cut off. Gently squeeze bag until chocolate is smooth. Squeeze bag to drizzle chocolate over marshmallows. Let stand until hardened, about 10 minutes.

ENJOY!

Dulce De Leche Liqueur

If you like Irish Cream & caramel, you'll love this liqueur! I had a small amount of dulce de leche left over from my cupcakes, so I made a scaled down version of this recipe. It took a little time to get it mixed well, but it was a delicious treat! It would be fantastic mixed in with coffee for an after dinner drink.



DULCE DE LECHE LIQUEUR (Adapted from All Our Fingers in the Pie)

1-2 cups dulce de leche (adjust based on your preference)
1 cup vodka
2 cups half & half

Measure ingredients into a clean jar. Mix well and chill. Store in the fridge.

ENJOY!

Snicker's Cupcakes

While I've always like Snickers, I'm not sure that I'd rank these at the top of my cupcake list. The concept of a Snicker's Cupcake is a great idea. (Snickers are wonderful in most things - I make an awesome Snicker cookie at Christmas, and I LOVE Snicker Blizzards). However, the cupcake itself didn't impress me. Many people in the blog world seem to love the Hershey's chocolate cake recipe. While it was VERY light & moist (I'd be scared to make a layer cake with it!), mine sunk quite a bit after baking. Maybe I did something wrong, but I think I'd use a different chocolate cake recipe next time. And, although I'm critical of the cupcakes, they quickly disappeared, so I don't think all of my taste testers minded that they were a little flatter than I had hoped!)



SNICKER'S CUPCAKES (From Homemade By Holman)

HERSHEY'S PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE CAKE
Makes approx 36 cupcakes

2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line pans with cupcake liners.

Combine sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder & baking soda in a large boil. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla and beat on low until just incorporated. Increase speed to medium and beat two minutes. Stir in boiling water. NOTE: the batter will be thin!! (This is by far the thinnest batter I've made/used) Transfer batter to prepared pans, filling each liner about 1/2-2/3 of the way full.

Bake approximately 22 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pans about five minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Fill cupcakes with caramel ice cream topping, if desired.




CARAMEL BUTTERCREAM

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup caramel sauce (I used ice cream topping)
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4-5 cups powdered sugar

Mini Snickers bar for garnish

Beat butter on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about two minutes. Add caramel sauce, heavy cream and vanilla and mix to incorporate. Add powdered sugar, one cup at a time, beating on low speed until incorporated to reach the right consistency. Increase speed to medium-high and whip about one minute until light and fluffy. Frost as desired.

Garnish with Snicker's pieces (I chopped into small slices).

ENJOY!

Vanilla Bean Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

I think I may have found my new favorite cupcake! Caramel has long been one of my favorite flavors - I always choose caramel sundaes to chocolate ones, and prefer ice cream with caramel ripples.

I was excited to have found this flavor combination. I love using vanilla beans in baked goods, and the combination of vanilla bean cupcakes with the flavor of Dulce de Leche was WONDERFUL! The buttercream is by far my favorite buttercream flavor I've made yet (in fact, the leftovers may not make it onto more cupcakes, or even onto graham crackers... it may end up in by stomach by way of a spoon!).



VANILLA BEAN CUPCAKES (Adapted from The Culinary Chronicles)
Makes approximately 24 cupcakes

2 1/4 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
3 X-Large Eggs
1 1/2 Cups Vanilla Sugar
3/4 Cup Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
2 Tablespoons Vanilla Extract
Seeds from 2 Vanilla Bean Pods
2/3 Cup Sour Cream

Preheat the oven to 350°degrees and place paper liners in pans.

In a standing mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until light and creamy for about 2 minutes. Add the eggs, vanilla bean seeds, and vanilla extract. Mix until well incorporated. Slowly incorporate dry ingredients until well blended. Fold in sour cream until smooth.

Fill each lined cup 1/2 to 2/3 full. Bake for approximately 15 minutes. Cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes clean. Remove immediately from pan & cool completely on a wire rack.

Cut a small cone out of each cupcake & fill with a small amount of Dulce De Leche.




DULCE DE LECHE BUTTERCREAM (Adapted from Joy the Baker)

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
3 Tablespoons heavy cream
1 Tablespoon vanilla
4 cups powdered sugar
pinch of salt
3/4 cup prepared dulce de leche

Cream together butter and dulce de leche on low using an electric mixer. Add cream and vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth. Add the powdered sugar and beat to incorporate.

Frost as desired.



ENJOY!

Dulce De Leche

I don't know that I can really call this a "recipe." This has got to be the easiest Dulce de Leche ever to make. While, some may say this is a little risky, I've had no problems.



Since I discovered this last fall, I always like to keep a stock on hand. You'll see a few recipes using Dulce de Leche coming up on my blog, but this is definitely tasty straight out of the can. It also makes a delicious ice cream topping!




DULCE DE LECHE

Sweetened Condensed Milk

Remove the labels off of the cans of sweetened condensed milk. Bring a large, deep pot of water to a boil. Place full (unopened) cans into the boiling water. Boil for 3-4 hours. (I make multiple cans at a time...if you're boiling 1 can for this long, you just as well boil multiple cans!) Be sure to keep the water level at least 1 inch above the top of the cans. After 3-4 hours, turn off the fire. Let water cool completely with cans in it (I usually let them sit overnight).

Open cans & dig in! (Keep in closed can until ready to use; once open, store in fridge)

ENJOY!

Easy Caramel Dip

I've always loved apples. Growing up, my grandparents had 2 huge apple trees in their back yard. Not only was it fun to climb them, they always provided plenty of apples to eat and bake with. While I would eat them plain (and would even eat the skin alone when my grandma would peel it all off in one spiraling piece), it was always a special treat when my mom would make this dip for the apples. It's so easy to make!



EASY CARAMEL DIP

1 8oz package cream cheese, softened (I use the 1/3 less fat version)
1/2 cup brown sugar (I use dark brown sugar for a richer flavor)
1-2 teaspoons vanilla

Mix all ingredients together. Store in the fridge - it may need to be stirred again before serving if it's been prepared more than a day in advance.

ENJOY!

Chocolate Double Caramel Cupcakes

One of my colleagues, who loves to taste my cupcakes, has been requesting something with chocolate, and maybe some caramel, for quite some time. (My fruit-flavored cupcakes don't seem to satisfy his sweet tooth!) To celebrate one of his last days in clinic before his move out West, I decided to try out a recipe that I hoped would meet his expectations. I'm pretty sure they did - he quickly devoured 2 in a few hours! Even my hubby, who isn't a huge fan of sweets, has eaten more of these than I have. While these have a few steps to complete them, they are actually very easy. (Sorry they use a cake mix - that was actually part of the reason they are so easy! Making the mix with sour cream helps them taste less like a boxed mix)



CHOCOLATE DOUBLE CARAMEL CUPCAKES

Easy Sour Cream Chocolate Cupcakes (From Recipe Rhapsody)

1 dark chocolate fudge cake mix
1 cup sour cream
1 cup water
3 eggs

Preheat oven to 350 and line 24 muffin cups with paper liners.

Mix the cake ingredients on medium for two minutes, scraping sides of bowl. Fill muffin cups 1/2 – 2/3 full. Bake for 17-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of largest cupcake comes out clean.

Let cool in pans for five minutes, then remove to cooling racks. Cool completely.



Caramel Icing (Adapted from Piece of Cake)

1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
5 tablespoons butter, cut into a few chunks
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup confectioners' sugar

Put the dark brown sugar, butter and salt in a medium saucepan, and melt them together over medium heat, stirring often.

Bring the mixture to a boil and add the milk and vanilla. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Dump in the confectioners' sugar all at once and beat with a wooden spoon until the icing is thickened and smooth.

Quickly ice the cupcakes by holding each by the base and dipping the tops in the hot icing, rolling them slightly to coat evenly. Turn them quickly upright so the icing will even out while it's still warm and will set smoothly. (I kept my stove on the very lowest setting - it's a gas stove, and there was barely any flame visible. It was just enough to keep the icing from setting while working with it).



Whipped Caramel Ganache (From Recipe Rhapsody)

1 c sugar
1 ½ c heavy cream
1/8 t salt
1 lb semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 lb (4 sticks) butter, cut into tablespoon-sized pieces, softened

Make a dry caramel with the cup of sugar by putting it into a large saucepan and setting it over medium heat. When the bottom starts to melt and the sides turn brown, start pulling the melted sugar toward the center. Continue doing this, constantly pulling & stirring, until all the sugar is melted and it has turned a deep amber color. Remove from heat.

While the sugar is melting, take a minute to bring the cream to boiling and then remove from heat.

Immediately pour the hot cream into the burnt sugar as soon as you remove it from the heat. It will bubble like crazy (so be sure to use a large saucepan!), but just keep stirring until all the caramel is dissolved into the cream. If some of the caramel seizes up, put the saucepan back on medium heat and stir, stir, stir, until all the caramel is dissolved and you have a thin, smooth mixture.

Let the mixture sit for five minutes.

Meanwhile, measure your chocolate into a metal or glass bowl. Pour the caramel mixture over the chocolate and allow to sit for a minute before stirring. Stir until all the chocolate is melted and the ganache is smooth. Allow to sit until the mixture is room temperature, about fifteen minutes. You can pop it in the fridge to speed the process, stirring every few minutes. (I actually found it works best to put it into the fridge so that the bowl is slightly on the cold side - it whips better that way)

With an electric mixer, beat the softened butter into the caramel ganache on low speed and then increase speed to medium-high and beat until mixture is thickened and lighter in color, about 3-5 minutes.

(The original author notes that the ganache frosting freezes well in an airtight container - she's kept it up to a year in the freezer!)



ENJOY!

Easy Caramel Rolls

These have got to be one of the easiest caramel roll recipes that exists. This has been an all time favorite recipe of my family for years, and is often requested by guests. As children, some of my cousins could easily eat 4++ rolls, so make sure you make enough! They reheat wonderfully, so if you have extras, just keep them in a tupperware, and heat them up in the microwave for a few seconds - just as good as when they first came out of the oven.



EASY CARAMEL ROLLS
Makes 18 small rolls

1 pkg cook'n'serve butterscotch pudding
1 1/2 dozen Rhodes frozen dinner rolls
cinnamon
1/2 cup butter or margarine (I always use butter)
1/2 cup brown sugar
nuts (optional)

Arrange frozen rolls in a 9x13 pan sprayed with a non-stick spray. Sprinkle with dry butterscotch pudding and cinnamon. Melt butter and brown sugar in small saucepan, and bring to a boil. Pour over rolls. Sprinkle with nuts.

Allow to sit overnight (on the counter) for at least 8-9 hours to rise, longer if your home is on the cooler side.



Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes, invert onto plate or cookie sheet with an edge.



Serve by pulling apart the rolls.

(One of my favorite parts is cleaning out the caramel from the pan & off the cookie sheet!)

NOTE: Here in New England, the Rhode's Dinner Rolls - or any other frozen dough dinner roll - don't seem to exist (we called and visited multiple store before giving up). So, buy a bag of 3 loaves of bread & let them thaw just enough that you are able to cut up the dough (about 2 hours on the counter). I cut each loaf into 12 pieces - 6 slices, each cut in half. One bag then made 2 batches of caramel rolls. I double the recipe right away - I don't know that I'd try to refreeze dough that has started to thaw. Proceed with the recipe as stated above.

Enjoy!