Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

Print

Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

11 mins

Total time

21 mins

 

Author: Holly

Recipe type: Dessert

Serves: 20

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• ½ cup sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2½ cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder'
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1½ cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup toffee bits
• sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions

1. In a medium pan, melt the butter on medium/high heat. Stir every min or so, it will be bubbly and popping. Stir until the butter has brown bits start to form at the bottom, remove from heat and pour into a metal or glass mixing bowl.
2. Add the sugar and brown sugar to the hot butter, stirring to combine. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
3. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder.
4. Whisk the eggs, and vanilla into the butter mixture until combined. Slowly stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips and toffee. Scoop the dough into 2" balls, place in an airtight container and refrigerate for 1-2 hours or overnight.
5. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Put dough on cookie sheets.
6. Bake for 10-13 mins until the edges start to get light brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle small amount of sea salt, if desired.

3.5.3251

This is how the browned butter should look right before you remove from the heat.

Making Snickerdoodle cookies is near and dear to my heart because it was one of the very first recipes I ever baked on my own. This recipe makes soft thick Snickerdoodle Cookies without Cream of Tartar. This is a small batch cookie recipe that makes about 12 large soft and thick Snickerdoodle cookies.

I used a large cookie scoop that scoops about 2.5 Tablespoons of cookie dough so each ball of dough shown below is about 2″ in size or about the size of a golf ball.

When it comes to making these without cream of tartar added you have a few options. You can substitute the cream of tartar for lemon juice, vinegar or baking powder. I have tried making it all three ways with the three substitutes I have listed. So far my favorite substitute was using distilled white vinegar in the recipe but you can use any of the three options.

I have also played around with changing the baking temperature and 375 F. degrees seems to be my favorite temperature to bake these at. For me it produces a cookie that has a light crisp on the very edge but the rest of the cookie is soft. When I baked them at 350 F. degrees I ended up with a cookie that was super soft and almost too soft and it took a lot longer to bake.

Snickerdoodle Cookies without Cream of Tartar

 

Print

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

• ¾ cup sugar
• ½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened (I used salted)
• 1 egg
• ½ teaspoon vanilla
• 1½ cups all purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice, vinegar or baking powder
• -For Rolling-
• 3 Tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375 F. degrees.
2. Mix soft butter & sugar together. Add egg & vanilla, stir.
3. Add flour, baking soda and lemon juice (or vinegar or baking powder) & mix well.
4. Prepare the cinnamon & sugar mix for coating in a small bowl.
5. Roll dough into 2" gold ball sized balls and roll in cinnamon & sugar mix.
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheet & bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are just starting to turn a light golden brown.

3.5.3251

Conchas are a Mexican sweet bread known as Pan Dulce in Spanish and they are served at panaderías (bakeries). Concha bread is soft and fluffy with lots of butter and sugar in the dough. The top has a sweet and crunchy streusel topping that is also sweet and buttery. The recipe below makes 12 Conchas.

My sister’s sister-in-law who is originally from Mexico was coming into town over her birthday so my sister surprised her with some sweet treats from a local Mexican bakery. One of the items she bought at the bakery was Concha’s and ever since then we’ve been wanting to try making some homemade ones. Like homemade cinnamon rolls I think these rolls taste so good when they are served warm.

The 3 photos above starting from top left side show some of the process of shaping the dough into balls and placing them on the cookie sheet. The middle photo shows covering the dough balls with the streusel topping and cutting lines in the topping so it looks like a seashell. The third photo shows what they look like after rising for about 40 minutes just before going into the oven to bake.

I made vanilla flavored Conchas but I’ve also seen you can make chocolate ones by adding some cocoa powder to the topping or people also make pink topping by adding red food coloring or strawberry Nesquik.

PS. If your looking for a bread machine (amazon affiliate) to help knead the dough I always use my Sunbeam bread (amazon affiliate). It’s such a time saver for kneading dough plus it helps the dough rise faster because it heats the dough up.

Conchas (Mexican Sweet Bread) Pan Dulce

 

Print

Recipe type: Dessert

Ingredients

• -DOUGH-
• 2¼ teaspoons instant yeast
• 1⁄2 cup warm milk (105 degrees F to 115 degrees F or 40 to 46 celsius)
• 3 -3 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• ½ cup butter, softened (1 stick)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)
• -Streusel TOPPING-
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ½ cup (1 stick) salted butter, softened
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour

Instructions

1. Use your favorite bread making method (bread machine, stand mixer w/ dough hook or by hand). If making by hand: Add yeast, water, then the rest of the dough ingredients to a large bowl & begin stirring with a wooden spoon. You may need to add more or less flour, I started with 3 cups and ended up adding a little more to get the right consistency (the amount of flour needed varies depending on the brand/type of flour you will be using).
2. Once a dough ball has formed move the dough to a well floured surface.
3. Knead dough for 10-15 minutes until it is smooth & elastic like.
4. Move back to the bowl & cover with a clean cloth.
5. Let rise 1 hour or until double in size
6. After about 1 hour of rise time divide dough into 12 equal pieces.
7. Shape each piece into a ball; place on a greased cookie sheet (I fit about 6 on each cookie sheet).
8. Prepare the Topping by whipping the sugar and butter together with an electric mixer until light a fluffy. Add vanilla and mix in. Slowly mix in the flour until a thick paste forms (you might not need to add quite the full cup of flour, you don't want it too dry or it will crack).
9. Divide topping into 12 equal parts (I roll it into a log shape and slice it into 12 pieces)
10. Pat each piece into a 3-4 inch circle to match the size of the top of the rolls.
11. Place 1 circle of streusel topping on each ball of dough, shaping it down over the ball and pat it down lightly.
12. Make 5 or 6 line cuts across the topping, using a table knife, to form a shell pattern.
13. Let rise about 40 minutes or until double in size.
14. Preheat oven to 350 F. degrees.
15. Bake at 350 F. degrees for 16-20 minutes or until the bottom is golden brown.
16. Let cool

3.5.3251

I am sharing a recipe for Crockpot (slow cooker) Cheesy Shredded Potatoes made without condensed soup.  I only see recipes for cheesy potatoes that call for a can of soup which I can not do due to food allergies. I made this recipe for our families Easter meal this year. My sister has made it in years pasted but she bakes it in the oven as a casserole. I was using the oven to bake something else and didn’t have room to make the potatoes too so I used the Crockpot. I believe my Crockpot is the 7 quart size for reference.

I needed to feed about 35 people so I made a large batch but you can cut the recipe in half if you want to make a small batch.  I used frozen shredded potatoes but I thawed them in the fridge the night before. The potatoes take awhile to cook and having them frozen makes it harder to ensure even cooking.

Note: If you use the cubed potatoes instead of the shredded potatoes or non thawed potatoes it will take longer to cook.

Make sure you keep an eye on the potatoes and stir them occasionally so they don’t start burning or overcooking, every slow cooker cooks a little different.

Crockpot Cheesy Shredded Potatoes No Soup

 

Print

Recipe type: side dish

Ingredients

• 2 bags of shredded potatoes (about 26oz each) I bought mine frozen then thawed in the fridge the night before
• 16 ounce container sour cream (2 cups)
• 1½ cups milk
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• black pepper, to taste
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2-3 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• ½ cup chopped onion (about 1 small onion)

Instructions

1. Lightly grease crock pot inside before adding ingredients
2. Add the shredded potatoes, sour cream, milk, garlic powder, black pepper, salt, shredded cheese and onion to the prepared crock pot. Stir ingredients well and cover.
3. Cook on low setting for approximately 4-5 hours or high 2-3 hours if using thawed shredded potatoes. Cook until potatoes are done. If using frozen shredded potatoes or diced potatoes it may take longer to cook. Stir occasionally to ensure even cooking.

3.5.3251