Heath Bits Cookies

These were originally a chocolate chip cookie recipe, but come on... Who wouldn't rather have a bit of toffee in their cookie?

Heath Bits Cookies
Originally found at Pin Cookie

3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix well. Stir in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt until well combined. Fold in toffee. Drop dough by the tablespoonful onto an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. Allow to cool 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

My Notes:
Interesting recipe. It really does create a nice, thin, chewy cookie. And the bit of crunch from the toffee just makes it divine. Be careful--these cookies don't really brown. The bottoms will, but the tops won't, so you don't want to bake them for longer than 10 minutes, even if they don't appear to be done.

Salsa Chicken Casserole

Salsa Chicken Casserole
Originally found at Budget Bytes

1 cup uncooked rice
1 (15 oz.) can corn, drained
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 (16 oz.) jar salsa
1 cup chicken broth
½ Tbsp chili powder
½ tsp oregano
1.5 lbs. chicken breasts, cut into serving-size portions (about the size of a deck of cards)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place rice, beans, corn, and salsa into 9x13 baking dish. Stir until evenly combined. Add chicken broth, chili powder, and oregano and mix. Push the chicken pieces into the rice mixture. Cover tightly with foil, and bake for one hour. Check for tenderness of rice, and bake up to another 10-15 minutes.

My Notes:
This is actually pretty flavorful. It took forever for the chicken to cook in the container I used (and I had thawed it all out beforehand), but when it was done, the rice was nice and fluffy and oh so much flavor. Definitely something I'll make again.

Turtle Cookies

So I broke my tradition of having at least one post per month. I was away for half of November, which makes trying new recipes a bit challenging (since you're trying to use up all the stuff you have in the fridge so it doesn't spoil while you're away. Which I probably should have done more diligently, since I now have a heck of a task in cleaning out the fridge. Bleh).

But I'm hoping to make up for it a little this week, as I have several recipes on the list that I want to try. Probably won't get to all of them, but if I get 2-3, I'll consider it a success.

Also, I have no idea how I managed it, but I forgot to take a picture of these cookies. I could have sworn I took like 10, but evidently I didn't. So in the interest of getting this blog out, I'm skipping the picture for now. It's flagged for me to remember to take a picture next time.

Turtle Cookies
Originally found at The Kitchen Is My Playground

8 Tbsp butter (1 stick), softened
2/3 cup sugar
1 large egg, separated
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp water
1 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups pecans, finely chopped
14 soft caramel candies (the kind you'd use to make caramel apples)
1 tsp milk

With an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg yolk, 2 Tbsp milk, and vanilla until well combined. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Add to sugar mixture slowly until just combined. Cover and chill 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk egg white with 1 tsp water, until frothy. Roll dough into 1 inch balls, then dip in egg white mixture, then roll into pecans. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheet. Just before baking, press an indentation into the center of the cookie. Bake until set, about 12 minutes. Allow to cool 1 minute on sheet, then remove to wire rack.

Place caramels and 1 tsp milk into a microwave safe container, then microwave for 30 seconds. Stir until caramels completely melted, heating more if necessary. Consistency should be thick, but pourable. If needed, additional milk can be added. Spoon a small amount of caramel into indentations in the cookies. Cool completely, then store in airtight container.

My Notes:
Despite what the author of the blog above states, I really don't think these were the most amazing turtle cookies ever. They were a bit dry, and the original recipe for the caramel was way too thin, so I had to adapt that a bit. But they're not bad. A bit time consuming, but not bad. My roommate loved them, especially drenched in the too-thin caramel sauce, so I've decided that I'm just on the picky side. Which is fine, these are probably something I'll make again, I just might try to figure out some way to make them a little more moist.