Ultimate Cheese Fondue

For New Year's Eve we did the fondue meal- all three courses including this ultimate cheese fondue. We had some awesome pretzel bread to dip into the cheese, along with Italian bread, veggies and apples.

Cheese Fondue
submitted by Brittany

2 cups grated Swiss cheese (I used baby Swiss which was very mild)
2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tb cornstarch
Dash of pepper
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup chicken broth
French bread, cubed

Melt Swiss cheese and Monterey Jack cheese in 1 3/4 cups chicken broth with garlic added.  Keep broth barely under a boil, stirring until cheese is completely melted (it will be stringy).

Combine cornstarch, pepper, salt, nutmeg, Worcestershire sauce in 1/4 cup chicken broth.  Add to cheese mixture, stirring until smooth.  Put fondue mixture into a preheated fondue pot and keep at temperature hot enough to maintain desired texture without scorching.

Cut French bread into chunks. Sourdough rolls are great too.  Cut so each bite size piece has a bit of crust on it. It is a good idea to cut the bread and leave it out in the open for awhile before dipping into the fondue.  The fresher the bread, the more difficult it is to successfully dunk in the cheese fondue.  All that is left to do is eat and enjoy!

Homemade Oreos

I have made these a few other times, but made them again just last night. Love these- and I just used vanilla butter cream frosting for the filling since I always have some in the fridge. They are super sweet and yummy. I also make them a little smaller than called for since they are so rich and delicious. This particular recipe is from mycupofcake.com, but I also just recently saw it in a Paula Deen Christmas cookbook, but her recipe is doubled for a large crowd.

Homemade Oreos

      Cookies:                                                Filling:
        1 Devils Food Cake mix                         4 oz cream cheese
        2 eggs                                                       ¼ cup butter
        1/3 cup oil                                                 1 ½ cups powder sugar*
                                                                          ½ teaspoon vanilla 
       Yield: 24 cookies, 12 sandwiches

        Directions:
            1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
            2.    Mix Devil’s food cake mix, eggs, and oil together.  The dough will be very thick.
            3.    On a greased cookie sheet or on parchment paper, place dough balls about the size of a golf ball.  You will 
            need to make sure they are round and then pat them down with your fingers.
            4.    Bake for 7-10 minutes.  Wait until just after they start to “crack” on the top. 
            5.    Let cool on sheet for 2-3 minutes and then remove.
            6.   Filling: Beat cream cheese and butter together until smooth.  Add vanilla. Add as much powdered sugar as 
            desired. 
            7.    Refrigerate filling in Tupperware or in a piping bag until firm and cookies are cooled.
            8.   Frost cookies and make into sandwiches. 
            9.   Refrigerate cookies for at least 2 hours and serve chilled.  Trust me, this makes them much better. 

Crispy Butterfinger Cookies

These cookies from the blog "Two Peas and Their Pod" are packed full of good stuff including Rice Krispies, chopped Butterfinger candy bars, and oats and chocolate chips. They spread thin and bake up crispy- true to their name. If you like the flavor of Butterfingers, you will like these!

Crispy Butterfinger Cookies

Yield: 2 1/2 dozen cookies

Cook Time: 10-12 minutes

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 ¼ cups Rice Krispies cereal
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped Butterfinger candy bars

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat and set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Combine butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until smooth and creamy, about two minutes. On low, add in egg and vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
3. Slowly add in the dry ingredients. Stir in the oats, cereal, chocolate chips, and Butterfinger chunks. Don’t over mix. You don’t want to crush the cereal too much.
4. Scoop dough into balls, about a tablespoon each, and place on prepared baking sheet. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are slightly brown, the centers should still be soft. Allow cookies to cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet. Move cookies to a cooling rack and cool completely.

• Chocolate Fudge Butterfinger Cookies from Picky Palate
• Butterfinger Cookies from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen
• Homemade Butterfingers from In Katrina’s Kitchen

---

This delicious recipe brought to you by Two Peas & Their Pod
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/crispy-butterfinger-cookies/

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

This week's cookie is one of Gabrielle's favorite- with 1/2 pound of chocolate in the recipe. When it bakes it has a cracked top that I think is reminiscent of a snowflake in the powdered sugar. This recipe is from joy of baking.com

Chocolate Crinkles Recipe 4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter 8 ounces (230 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar 2 large eggs, room temperature 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract 1 1/2 cups (195 grams) all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 teaspoon baking powder Topping: 1 cup (110 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar, sifted

Chocolate Crinkles: In a heatproof bowl, placed over a saucepan of simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature. In the bowl of your electric mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment (or with a hand mixer), beat the eggs and sugar until thick, pale, and fluffy (about 3 to 5 minutes). (When you slowly raise the beaters the batter will fall back into the bowl in slow ribbons.) Then beat in the vanilla extract. Add the cooled chocolate mixture and beat until incorporated. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Add dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm enough to shape into balls (several hours or even overnight). Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the sifted confectioners sugar in a shallow bowl. First, form the chilled dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) balls, and then roll each ball in the sugar. Make sure each ball is completely coated, with no chocolate showing through. Place the sugar-covered balls on the prepared baking sheet, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Bake cookies for about 8 to 10 minutes or just until the edges are slightly firm but the centers are still soft. (For moist chewy cookies do not over bake. Over baking these cookies will cause them to be dry.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. These cookies are best eaten the day they are baked. Makes about 3 dozen cookies. Next up: Crispy Butterfinger Cookies

Betty Crocker Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Treats

More research- this is definitely Holiday worthy! Tastes like Puppy Chow or the Chex "Muddy Buddies" in the form of a cookie. Amazing! You could add rice krispies for the cereal crunch if you wanted to. And it was not as messy as I thought it was going to be. There is a good video on Betty Crocker website demonstrating the recipe as well. I love the Betty Crocker recipes that start with a mix- all of their little pouch cookie mixes are so good with very consistent results. Pick up the seasonal flavors while you can. There are excellent pumpkin and gingerbread ones! But for now - PB&C!

Ingredients

1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon water
1 egg
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 oz)
1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 to 2 cups powdered sugar
Directions

Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir cookie mix, oil, water and egg until soft dough forms.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. On ungreased cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart.
Bake 8 to 9 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 15 minutes.
In small microwaveable bowl, microwave chocolate chips, butter and peanut butter uncovered on High 1 minute to 1 minute 30 seconds; stir until smooth. Stir in vanilla.
Place 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar in 1-gallon resealable food-storage plastic bag; set aside. Place 12 cooled cookies in large bowl. Pour 1/3 of chocolate mixture over cookies in bowl. Using rubber spatula, toss cookies gently to coat. Place cookies in bag with powdered sugar; seal bag. Gently turn bag to coat cookies. Remove cookies from bag to cooling rack to set. Repeat with 12 more cookies and 1/2 of remaining chocolate mixture; repeat again until all cookies are coated, adding additional powdered sugar to bag as needed.

Oreo Cheesecake Cookies

I am trying out some new cookie recipes for "research" purposes. You know, Christmas is coming and well, somebody has to do it. These are yummy- even the dough frozen into little balls would be good.

Ingredients

• ½ cups Unsalted Butter, Softened
• 3 ounces, weight Cream Cheese, softened
• 1 cup Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1 cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ cups Mini Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Oreo Cookie Crumbs
• ½ cups White Chocolate Chips, Melted (optional)

Preparation Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and cream cheese using a hand mixer until they are well combined.
Add the sugar and vanilla and mix until ingredients are well combined. Add the flour and mix on low until the flour is incorporated. Stir in the mini chocolate chips.
Scoop the dough into 1″ balls (I used a scoop to insure all measured the same) and roll in Oreo cookie crumbs so cookie is covered. Place covered cookie balls onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the tops are slightly puffed.
Cool on the pan for two minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Once cool, drizzle cookies with melted white chocolate. Enjoy!

Apple Caramel Dip

Sorry for such a long hiatus from the recipe blog. Life has taken over! I did this caramel dip for apples the other night. It was so yummy- well, just look at the list of ingredients. I just made it and let it sit on the stove until I was ready to serve. Slice up some apples and bananas and dip away! Pretzels are wonderful dipped in the caramel as well.

APPLE CARAMEL DIP

1/2 c. butter, melted 2 c. dark brown sugar 1 c. light corn syrup 2 tbsp. water 14 oz. sweetened condensed milk 1 tsp. vanilla 10 apples, seeded & cut into 8 wedges each Cook butter, sugar, water and milk until all the sugar is dissolved over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add vanilla. Cut unpeeled apples into wedges, and then in half again. Dip into salted water for about 1 minute to prevent them from turning brown. (Apples should be done as close to serving time as possible.) Seal apples in an airtight container until use. To serve, heat caramel sauce and pour into chafing dish. Place apples in a bowl beside the caramel with toothpicks for dipping. Serves 25 to 30.The caramel sauce will keep in the refrigerator for 4 to 6 weeks. It is divine served warm over ice cream or pound cake.