Bready or Not Original: Pecan Caramel Chip Cookies
I love creating new recipes using my favorite grocery find in recent years, caramel chips! This original recipe for Pecan Caramel Chip Cookies is sublime and delicious.
This recipe was inspired by my favorite recipe for White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies. The secret to success in that recipe is white chocolate chips are melted and mixed into the dough.
I considered a bag of caramel chips and thought, hey, if it worked for white chocolate chips, why not caramel?
I opted to use pecans because 1) they go so well with caramel, and 2) they are cheaper and generally more accessible to people.
The melted caramel chips don’t simply add sweetness to the dough, but a smooth, silky texture that helps these cookies to bake up fat and chewy.
You might need to hunt around for caramel chips. I’m still mad that my local Walmart carried them for a year then stopped, but most grocery stores around still carry them. Kroger even stocks their own version, which doesn’t look or taste quite as amazing as Hershey’s or Ghirardelli’s, but it’s still good. And cheaper, for sure.
Bready or Not Original: Pecan Caramel Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 bag caramel chips divided
- 1/3 cup white sugar
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar packed
- 11 Tablespoons unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 3/4 cup chocolate chips
- 3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325-degrees. Place 1 cup of caramel chips in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on 50% power in short increments, 20-25 seconds, and stop to stir between passes until the chips blend smoothly. Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together both sugars, butter, vanilla extract, and eggs until they're creamy. Mix in the melted chips. Stir in flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar. Fold in the remaining caramel chips, chocolate chips, and chopped pecans.
- Use a tablespoon cookie scoop or spoon to place dough in rounded lumps on cookie sheet. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the tops just begin to turn light golden brown. Cool on the sheet for several minutes, then move to a rack to cool.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
These are not mere blondies. No, these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars are practically cake.
Seriously, this could work as a birthday cake for a chocolate-peanut butter lover. These bars are THICK and loaded with goodness.
This recipe makes a full 13 by 9 pan, so there’s plenty to share. As dense as each bar is, you probably don’t want to cut them large.
Bars like this freeze very well, too, so you can stash some away to enjoy later.
I can’t help but wonder how this recipe would be with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups chopped into it, too. I should try that sometime.
Recipes are stories. There will always be other ways to twist them into something new and enjoyable.
Bready or Not: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Bars
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/4 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 3/4 cups peanut butter chips 1 bag
- 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven at 350-degrees. Line a 13X9 baking with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- In a big bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, scraping the bowl as necessary.
- Add the vanilla extract and vanilla yogurt next, followed by the flour, cinnamon, and baking powder. Fold in the peanut butter chips and 1 cup of the chocolate chips.
- Scoop the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips and the peanuts over the top and gently press them in.
- Bake pan for 30 minutes or until the center passes the toothpick test. Let cool completely. Use foil to lift contents onto a cutting board to slice into bars.
- Store in a sealed container at room temperature or in the fridge. Freeze bars between waxed paper in a sealed container to make them last even longer.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Bacon-Toffee Cookies
Bacon, chocolate, and toffee complement each other in these incredible Bacon-Toffee Cookies.
Fact: My Bacon Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies (originally shared at the Holy Taco Church lo those many years ago) is among my most popular recipes.
This recipe is different. The previous take makes a crisper cookie, while these are chewier with some extra sweetness and crunch from the Heath toffee pieces.
This recipe makes a lot, too: about 70 cookies if you use a teaspoon scoop!
That sounds like a lot, but my husband’s co-workers inhaled them, so I don’t know how well they keep beyond a day. One of those good/bad problems to have.
Modified from Fall Baking 2016 by Better Homes & Gardens.
Bready or Not: Bacon-Toffee Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup shortening
- 1 1/2 cups brown sugar packed
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup Heath bits
- 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 6 thick-cut bacon slices chopped up
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 375-degrees. Ina large bowl, beat butter and shortening together until turning fluffy. Add brown sugar, baking soda, and salt, followed by the eggs and vanilla. Gradually beat in the flour.
- Stir in the Heath bits, chocolate chips, and bacon. Use a teaspoon scoop or spoon to dollop dough onto baking sheet, spaced out to allow for minor spreading. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until edges are just turning golden. Cool for five minutes, then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
- Store cookies in a sealed container.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not Original: Chickpea Almond Butter Blondies
No one will be able to tell that chickpeas form the base of these healthified blondies, but the truth is right there in the name.
A food processor is necessary for this recipe as the chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) must be utterly pulverized. Weirdly enough, a lot of health cookbooks and blogs have discovered chickpeas end up eerily like bland cookie dough once they are mashed up.
I know, it sounds crazy, but I’ve tried out a few recipes like this and it’s the truth. And these blondies WORK. They taste good. The sweetness is just right, not hardcore, but it doesn’t taste at all like ‘health food.’
I found the base recipe in an issue of Cooking Light and significantly modified it into something new. The original had tahini (which I do not like, so I subbed almond butter) and dark brown sugar (which I usually don’t have).
The pecans add a wonderful texture to these blondies. If you don’t like pecans, I would suggest still using some kind of nut or seed for a mild crunch.
Bready or Not Original: Chickpea Almond Butter Blondies
Ingredients
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 15 oz unsalted chickpeas aka garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
- 3 Tablespoons almond butter
- 2 Tablespoons milk or half & half
- 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/3 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
- Using a small saucepan, brown the butter, stirring often. Transfer to a bowl to cool for 15 minutes. Whisk in brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
- Place chickpeas, almond butter, and milk in a food processor, and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides often. Stir the chickpea mixture into the butter mixture.
- Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl and whisk together. Stir dry mix into the chickpeas. Fold in the pecans.
- Pour batter into ready pan. Bake for 25 to 27 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test in the middle.
- Cool in pan for hour or two. Use foil to lift blondies onto cutting board to slice into pieces. Store in a sealed container, with waxed paper between layers, at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 3 days. Bars also can be frozen for later enjoyment.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Chewy Coffee Cookies
Eat your coffee in these Chewy Coffee Cookies, and get your day off to the right start.
These cookies are chewy with a slight crunch, with the outside pleasantly crusted with turbinado sugar and coarsely-ground coffee.
My husband’s work lives on coffee. It probably runs through people’s veins. Needless to say, they liked these cookies.
These are the sorts of cookies that are good for breakfast, snack, or a party spread. Just maybe an event early in the day because, you know, caffeine.
I am told these cookies also taste good with coffee. Who knew?
Modified from Food network Magazine December 2017.
Bready or Not: Chewy Coffee Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 3 Tablespoons coffee beans coarsely ground
- 1/3 cup turbinado sugar
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar packed
- 1 large egg
Glaze
- 1 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar
- 3 + teaspoons milk or water
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a small bowl, combine 1 Tablespoon of ground coffee with the turbinado sugar. Set aside.
- In another bowl, mix the rest of the coffee with the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon.
- In a big bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy; using beaters, about 3 minutes. Add the egg. Gradually stir in the flour mixture.
- Drop a teaspoon of dough into the coffee and raw sugar, and roll to cover. Place on parchment with two inches of space to allow for spread.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until set but still soft. Let cool on pane for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to fully cool.
- Once all of the cookies are baked, make the glaze. Stir together the confectioners' sugar and liquid of choice until the glaze is thick but spreadable. Use the back of a spoon to glaze each cookie. Let set about 15 minutes before packing in sealable containers, wax paper between the stacked layers.
- OM NOM NOM!
Bready or Not: Oat and Toffee Grahams
These Oat and Toffee Grahams are a delicious, unique kind of fast-fix homemade candy bar.
The base consists of graham crackers. (I know, what a shock considering the name of the recipe.)
On top of that you mix up a homemade filling with oats, butter, sugar, and a few other things, and it bakes up into a kind of toffee layer.
Then you add the chocolate chips on top–bake it a minute, long enough to melt the chips–even out the layer and add some almonds. Ta-da!
I expected the end result to be crunchy. To my surprise, the crackers actually softened in the baking process. The end result was delightfully chewy.
These are sweet, sublime, and chewy, with crunchiness only from the almonds. They are just a great combination of flavors and textures.
Modified from Brownies & Bars Magazine.
Bready or Not: Oat and Toffee Grahams
Ingredients
- 12 graham crackers whole rectangles
- 1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar packed
- 3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup butter melted
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 sliced almonds or chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line a 15x10x1-inch baking pan with foil and apply nonstick spray. Arrange graham crackers in a single layer side by side. They will not cover the entire surface of the pan.
- In a large bowl, stir together the oats, white sugar, brown sugar, and flour. Stir in the melted butter, egg, and vanilla until just mixed. Spoon the oat mixture atop the graham crackers, covering them completely.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until top is bubbly. Sprinkle all of the chocolate on top. Bake for another minute. Use an uneven spatula to smooth the softened chocolate to cover the graham crackers. Sprinkle on the almonds.
- Cool in pan. If slow to set, place in fridge until firm. Use a knife or--recommended--both hands to break the bars into pieces. Store in a sealed container with parchment or waxed paper between the layers.
- OM NOM NOM!
