Cowboy Bark

Quickly running into Trader Joe's one day, I had a moment of weakness at the register. As I came up to pay for my healthy fruits and veggies, there at the display right before the check out was what can only be described as chocolate crack. At Trader Joe's it goes by the name of Ruggedly Awesome Cowboy Bark. Sucked in by dark chocolate studded with sandwich cookie pieces, pretzels, peanuts, almonds and toffee bits, I bought a bag. Then I immediately got in the car, opened the bag and indulged. Holy crap this stuff is good. I may have hid the bag in the car and never told Dave about it, just selfishly nibbling a piece to make the commute home that much more bearable. And possibly a second bag was purchased without my husband's knowledge until I realized this stuff would be far cheaper to make myself. So the last crumbs and pieces made their way into the kitchen (and Dave was introduced) so I could mimic this delicious sweet, salty, chocolatey treat. Besides being cheaper to make yourself, this recipe makes way more than you'd get in the package from TJ's, making it an even better value. But really, the important thing is that you can whip this up in no time, particularly helpful when you don't have time to get to Trader Joe's. This is a crave-able candy, and you're going to want it often.

Maple Toffee Cookies

These cookies scream fall in New England without being pumpkin or apple flavored.  There's nothing like stopping at a sugar shack in Vermont while leaf peeping to pick up a jug of maple syrup, and possibly some other maple goodies.  But cookies are not a maple treat I typically see in our New England travels, so I was eager to try them and they certainly are delicious.  These maple toffee cookies have a strong maple flavor and are studded with crunchy toffee and speckles of chocolate.  A delicious and crisp cookie perfect for enjoying with coffee or tea, you might find these as a new fall favorite.

Peanut Butter Lover's Monster Bars

Oh these bars are good.  You know Dave and I are peanut butter junkies--it's Dave's favorite for desserts and right up there with chocolate for me.  So a peanut butter blondie stuffed to the gills with peanut butter goodies?  I'll take two, please.  We had game night with our friends Felise and Nick, so I made these bars when we went to their house.  These bars have everything--peanut butter, peanuts, peanut butter chips, milk chocolate chips, toffee candy bits, and peanut butter M&Ms.  They are so loaded with peanutty mix-ins that there's barely any batter--which is just fine.  There is exactly enough batter--peanut butter flavored, that is--to keep all the tasty bits and candies together.  So much so I wouldn't be surprised if Dave asked for these for birthday baking.  Or because it's a day that ends in 'y'.  One of those.

German Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Personally, I've always found German chocolate to be a subtle flavor and the real essence of what we've come to know as German chocolate comes from the supporting players like nuts and coconut.  As you know I'm wary of cakes, but I like the idea of these flavors for a cookie, especially for the holidays.  The result is a cookie with a good texture and nuttiness, but without a cohesive flavor throughout.  Dave was a little disappointed the recipe didn't include coconut and thought the chocolate was far lighter than most German chocolate treats he's enjoyed.  Depending on your audience, this could be hit or miss as it.

I found this recipe posted from Jeannieskitchen on BetterRecipes.com, and it was originally a Taste of Home recipe submitted by Joyce Robb.  First off, I had to halve this recipe when I saw it made 13 dozen cookies!  I'm all for recipes that make a lot of cookies, but this was little much for my crowd.  Feel free to double up the quantities below and you'll have a great cookie exchange treat.  Second, I would add a little more than the 2 ounces of German chocolate (maybe 4 ounces), increase the toffee bits to at least a cup and add flaked coconut.  That was really the flavor that was lacking to give you that ultimate German chocolate taste. 

Kid's Candy Cookies

So good.  Like I can't describe.  I've been looking for a way to bake with Pretzel M&Ms ever since they came out and these are delicious.  Seriously these may be my new favorite cookie.  I mean, there are technically 4 kinds of candy in these cookies.  What's not to love?

Another recipe from the Food Network Magazine (May 2011 issue), with name like Kid's Candy Cookies, it had to come from Adam Gertler from Food Network's Kid in a Candy Store.  I made these for my friend Lisa's birthday and also sent some to my Dad for Easter.  Then I happily ate the remainder (well, I did share with Dave).  These would be awesome for a kid's birthday, bake sale, or just any occasion.  They would probably be great for an upcoming summer BBQ because they're sweet and tasty, but not heavy considering they are loaded with different flavors.  The original recipe says you'll get "about 25 cookies" and while I even graduated to my medium cookie scoop and made big cookies, I actually got 4 dozen.

Kid's Candy Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 cup Pretzel M&Ms
3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup toffee pieces
3/4 cup peanut butter chips

Whisk together flour and baking soda in a medium bowl.

Using your stand mixer and paddle attachment, cream the butter, then add sugars and cream on low until incorporated and then on high until light and fluffy.  Scrape sides of bowl as necessary.

Add salt, vanilla, egg and egg yolk and beat until thoroughly combined.  Add Pretzel M&Ms and beat for just a few seconds until they are slightly crushed.

Gradually add the flour mixture and mix on low until combined.

Add bittersweet chocolate, toffee pieces and peanut butter chips.

Using a medium cookie scoop, mound dough onto parchment or silcone lined baking sheets about 2 inches apart.  Slightly flatten each dough ball (I used the bottom of a glass, but you could use your fingers or the palm of your hand).

Bake at 350 degrees F for 11-13 minutes or until edges are golden brown and centers are set.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.

Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks.

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

Almond Toffee Bars

Apparently, these are good.  I'm not being passive aggressive, but I didn't realize until I tried these that I'm not particularly fond of toffee.  And apparently neither is Dave.  They aren't bad and I did eat a whole bar, but I just wouldn't reach for this flavor necessarily.  But, they got rave reviews when I took them into work, so I'm listening to my audience.

I randomly picked this recipe from the Betty Crocker website when searching for a bar recipe to bring into work for a morning meeting.  I wanted something with enough "breakfast" overtones that it wouldn't turn everyone off at 9:30 in the morning, but also something that would transcend the rest of the day as leftover snacks.  This worked.  I did use a different size pan. (Who has this elusive 15 x 10 x 1 inch pan?)

Almond Toffee Bars

Ingredients

3/4 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 cups almonds, coarsely chopped
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, beat 3/4 cup butter and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.  Beat in egg.

Beat in flour on low speed (especially if you didn't change out the beater attachment like I did).  The dough will be relatively crumbly, (like the Cinnamon Bars) but I should have switched to the paddle attachment because I find the beater breaks up the dough into finer crumbs and it doesn't the consistency I want.  I ended up adding a splash (less than a Tablespoon) of milk just to get it to come together.
 

Grease bottom and sides of a 9 x 13 inch pan.  Press dough evenly into pan.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 13-18 minutes (I did 15 minutes) or until edges are light golden brown.

Yes, I realize there is little difference in the before and after baking pictures. These are slightly browned, though.

At this point, if you're like me, you'll realize that you only have a 1/2 cup of butter left and will bat your eyelashes at your husband until he goes and gets more butter.  If you're not like me, you would have read the recipe correctly and have enough ingredients.  (Thank goodness we live less than a mile from the grocery store.)

While you're waiting for the butter to arrive, coarsely chop almonds.

When butter magically appears (thank you, honey!), in a heavy sauce pan, heat 1 cup of butter, brown sugar and corn syrup to boiling over medium hear, stirring frequently.

Boil 2 minutes without stirring.

Quickly stir in almonds.

Spread over baked layer. (Would you believe I was able to time all this so the baked layer came out of the oven just as I was done stirring in the almonds?) 

Bake 15-20 minutes or until dark golden brown and bubbling (16 minutes worked for me).

Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over the hot bars.

Let stand for 5 minutes and when the chips are slightly melty, gently swirl the chocolate over the bars with a spatula.

Let cool completely, about 30 minutes.  Cut into squares (5 x 6 rows).  The chocolate will still be soft, so you may want to let them set up longer.

Makes 30 bars.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess

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