Hello! Here's a fun recipe that I made a few weeks ago. These little cookie cups are not super easy to make (probably because I don't have non-stick mini muffin tins) but boy oh boy are they tasty! And who doesn't love Nutella? It's all the rage these days so making it into frosting has to be one of the best ideas yet! They were a huge hit at the office and this Christmas I'm going to ask for some non-stick tins that will make this recipe even easier!
CHOCOLATE COOKIE CUPS WITH NUTELLA BUTTER CREAM
What you need for the cookie cups:
2 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2 cups of sugar
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa
2 cups of flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
What you need for the butter cream:
1 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup Nutella
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To make the chocolate cookie cups with butter cream:
1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with a mixer.
2. Add the eggs and vanilla to the sugar mixture and cream until combined.
3. In another bowl mix the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and continue mixing until combined.
5. Roll the dough into a ball and refrigerate until firm, about 20-30 minutes.
6. While the dough is chilling, grease your mini-muffin tins. Preheat your oven to 350.
7. Once firm, form small balls of dough and press into the greased muffin tins. Press a small indent in the middle of the cookie to allow for filling after baking.
8. Bake for 12-14 minutes and then allow to cool for about 10 minutes before removing from pan. If needed, while still warm press indent in middle of cookie again to allow for filling.
9. While cookies cool, prepare your butter cream by beating the butter in a bowl until creamy. Slowly add powdered sugar until combined. Then mix in the nutella, heavy cream and vanilla. If frosting is too thick, add more cream one tablespoon at a time; if too thin, add more powdered sugar.
10. Pipe frosting into the cookie cups once cool.
ENJOY!!
Good Afternoon! Yesterday I got busy in the kitchen with a another festive, fall recipe. Have you seen these new Pillsbury Caramel Apple mixes at the store? I thought it was time to give this a whirl! This is a modified version of the cookie pie recipe that was on the back of the box. They also have cake mixes of this stuff that you could probably do a lot with, too! I actually haven't tasted this yet but it looked pretty great and it smelled awesome after it came out of the oven!! Yay for October baking!!
CARAMEL APPLE COOKIE PIE
What you need to make the pie:
1 package Pillsbury Caramel Apple Flavored Cookie Mix
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 large egg
2 tablespoons water
2 cups chopped tart apples (I used Granny Smith)
2 heaping tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon instant oats
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Optional:
1 tablespoon melted butter mixed with 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
1/3 cup Pillsbury Creamy Supreme Caramel Apple Frosting
To make the pie:
1. Heat your oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Grease a 9 inch pie plate with non-stick cooking spray or Crisco.
3. Stir cookie mix with oil, egg and water in a large bowl until combined. Divide the dough in half.
4. Press one half of the cookie dough into the bottom of the greased pie plate.
5. In a small bowl, mix your apples with the brown sugar, oats and cinnamon.
6. Flatten the remaining piece of dough on a sheet of wax paper to the same size as your 9 inch pie plate. (I just put the wax paper on top of the dough already pushed in the pie plate to get a similar size.)
7. Spread the apple mixture on the base layer of the cookie with about 1/3inch remaining on the sides.
8. Invert your second, round piece of cookie dough on top of the apple mixture and seal the edges of the cookies together. Cut several slits in the top of the dough.
9. I then topped the cookie with the brown sugar/butter mixture in small drops all over.
10. Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until edges are golden brown.
11. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes.
12. In a small ziploc bag, place about 1/3 cup of the frosting and microwave for 7-10 seconds. Cut a small opening in the corner of the bag and drizzle frosting on the top of the cookie.
14. Cut and ENJOY!!
Fall is in the air!! I am so excited that there is a crispness outside and lighting the oven is no longer sinful! A couple of weekends ago I worked on mini-pies for some close friends of ours that just had a baby. In the midst of preparing these, mom and I decided we might use these for my brother's upcoming spring nuptials! We're preparing the dessert for the wedding festivities and the bride-to-be was hoping to have some sort of apple or cherry slices/turnovers. But after making these little mini pies-I'm convinced this could easily be a yummy, pretty, wedding treat! (Hence the hearts on top of the last batch.) You can make this recipe as easy or as difficult as you'd like...just decide how much time you have and how much effort you want to expend!
MINI PIES WITH CHERRY-BERRY FILLING
What you need for the mini pies:
1 box refrigerated Pillsbury pie crusts (now if you want to go all homemade, you can reference my pie crust recipe here...if you're in a hurry, these pre-made ones are a snap!)
1 recipe of cherry-berry filling (recipe to follow) OR
1 21oz can of ready made pie filling
What you need for the cherry-berry filling:
1.5 cup frozen cherry-berry fruit mix
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1.5 tablespoons lemon juice
1.5 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
To make the filling:
1. Mix all ingredients in a pan on top of the stove. Heat on medium heat until the mixture becomes warm-about 5 minutes. (If berries are whole-as mine were-remove from the pan and slice into bit size pieces and return back to the pan.
2.Continue cooking until mixture is hot and bubbling, about 5-7 more minutes.
To make the mini pies:
1. Heat your oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Remove pie crusts from packaging and unroll on a clean work surface. If you made yours, roll the pie dough out about 1/3 of an inch thick.
3. Using a 3 1/2 or 4 inch round cutter (in my case, I used the top of a drinking glass) cut out 6-7 rounds from one pie crust. Save the scraps if you want to make a topping decoration for later.
4. Fit the rounds into an ungreased muffin tin. (I experimented here and cut parchment paper rounds for the bottom of some of the tins as I was afraid the pie crusts would stick. Upon removal though, this was not necessary for the Pillsbury crusts.) You can play with the edges of the crusts in the cups any way you like.
5. Fill each cup with about 2 tablespoons of your choice of filling.
6. Bake in pre-heated oven for about 15-17 minutes until the crusts are golden and your filling is bubbling.
*If you want to top the cups with a decoration, just use your scrap pie dough. I cut free-hand hearts to place on top before popping them in the oven.
ENJOY!!
