Candy Corn and White Chocolate Softbatch Cookies

I love candy corn.  It's so so yummy.  Yes, it's a bit like eating a candle.  But a really good honey-flavored candle.  A friend of mine tagged me in a post on facebook, and it was this recipe.  A few weeks ago I made Candy Corn Krispy Treats (you can find the recipe here on my blog) and this seemed like a logical next step.  This recipe was on Pinterest (from Averie Cooks...I don't know if Cooks is her last name, which would be cool, or if it's a verb).  This is my first Pinterest recipe.  I was hoping it wouldn't be a Pinterest Fail...have you ever seen those?  If not it is worth 15 minutes (at least) of your time to google "Pinterest Fail" and see what comes up...

Candy Corn and White Chocolate Softbatch Cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (I never have unsalted so I used salted)
3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp cream or half and half
2 cups flour
2 tsp cornstarch
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt, optional (I think if you use salted butter you don't have to add this, but I still did)
1 1/2 cups candy corn
1 cup white chocolate chips

Place first 5 ingredients (through vanilla) in stand mixer and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Stop and scrape down sides of bowl, then add next 5 ingredients.  Mix on low for 1 minute, just until incorporated (don't overmix).

Add candy corn & white chocolate chips and mix just until incorporated.

Using a cookie scoop, scoop cookies onto a plate; flatten slightly.  Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 3 hours or up to 5 days (I got stuff to do, I can't wait 3 hours...I waited 1.5 or so).  Do not bake without chilling or cookies will spread too much. 

Important note (she says): "strategically place candy corn so that it's not baking directly on cookie sheet because it will melt, burn, or turn runny if it is.  The candy corn pieces need to be in the interior of the cookies, shielded and buffered by dough" (how do you think this turned out?  I certainly did not carefully shape my dough around each piece of candy corn...I just do not have that kind of time).

Preheat oven to 350.  Place mounds on baking sheet (use cooking spray or silpat baking mat [she says])(I used my baking stones) spaced at least 2 inches apart and bake for about 9 minutes, or until edges are set and tops are just beginning to be set, even if slightly undercooked, pale and glossy in the center.  Do not overbake because cookies will firm up as they cool.  Baking longer than 10 minutes will result in cookies with overly browned undersides (this is never an issue if you use stones though--in my experience at least).  Cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks.

Results:
Well, you can see the picture above.  Those were the best looking ones.  A great  many of them turned out like this:

And then folded up on themselves when removed from the cookie sheet like this:

Ha!  Oh wait, do you want to know how they tasted?  Pretty good (of course).  I thought these were going to be crazy sweet.  But really they weren't.  Maybe baking the candy corn makes it lose some of that famous sweetness.  So this was kind of a fail, but kind of not.  I did get like 13 normal looking cookies.  And some halfway between the melted ones and normal ones.  And then a lot of folded up ones.  These were fun to try and the kids were really excited about them.  But I think this is more of a novelty thing that I won't make again....but I'm glad I made them today :)

Baked Caramel French Toast

I really like french toast.  If we're out for breakfast it's usually what I order.  But I can't really make it at home.  The bread is always too soggy.  I've tried many different things through the years and haven't really found a perfect recipe.  I still haven't, even after today. Ha.  But when I came to this recipe it did look good in their picture (that is part of the conspiracy of cookbooks that we will explore another day).  My mom got me a Pillsbury Annual Recipes cookbook this last Christmas.  I have made a bunch of things out of it and most of them have been very good.  This one wasn't terrible, it just wasn't restaurant french toast either.  It did nicely fit my schedule, since I had to be out late this afternoon.  I made it this morning, had it in the fridge all day, and then it just got popped in the oven when we got home.  Defense against fast food because if it's already made I am far less likely to stop and get something on the way home :)

Baked Caramel French Toast
Topping:
1 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp butter
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tbsp light corn syrup
French toast:
3 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
8 (3/4" thick) diagonal-cut slices French bread

Spray 9x13 glass baking dish with cooking spray.  In 2-quart saucepan, combine topping ingredients over medium heat.  Stir constantly until smooth.  Do not boil (oops, I walked away and let mine boil by accident.  I think they say this though so it doesn't start cooking the eggs on the bread yet...so I just let the topping cool off some before I proceeded). Spread topping in baking dish.

In a shallow bowl, beat eggs with fork, then beat in milk, vanilla, and salt.  Dip bread slices into egg mixture; arrange over topping in dish.  Cover and refrigerate 8 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, remove cover and place casserole dish in oven.  Turn heat to 400 (if you preheat the oven and then put a glass dish in there, sometimes that's bad...).  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until bubbly and toast is golden brown.  Remove from oven; let stand 3 minutes.

Invert large heat-proof serving platter over casserole dish; turn platter and baking dish over.  Remove baking dish, scraping any extra caramel topping onto toast (that is SO not what I did...can you imagine the mess?? And the potential for injury?  I understand that they want the pretty caramel to be on top, so I just took each piece out individually and then flipped them onto our plates, caramel side up.  Way less risky).  Serve immediately.

Results:
Soggy bread, sticky coating.  The kids all loved this (predictably; it was like candy on a plate).  We had it with fruit and sausage.  I couldn't even eat all of one piece of this because of the sweetness.  Sam had 3 pieces. And now his blood sugar is 432.  Ha. So, an easy meal, and the kids loved it.  But this is not a good enough performance to make it into the keeper book.


 

Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter

This is nuts, but it has been a year and 2 days since I posted anything!  I have still been cooking (of course), but last fall, about this time, I started doing Dinner + Dessert + Delivery as a fundraiser for our Haiti trip.  It was very successful but also made me very busy.  I cooked like crazy until we left, and we got back in mid-April.  And then, I was out of the habit.  I contemplated scrapping this whole blog, because it had been so long, and also because this is clearly an amateur effort :) and when I go to other cooking blogs they are light years ahead of mine, as far as polish and professionalism.  So last week a friend asked me about it (she might have been kidding because I can almost never tell with her) and then today my sister asked me about it.  She is a great one for advice, that one.  Both ladies were like (and I'm paraphrasing here) "who cares about how professional it looks?"  So, I sally forth.  Nothing gets me in the mood for baking like fall weather, so this is what I made today.  A few months ago a friend from church gave me a huge stack of Taste of Home magazines from the past several years...some of them I had already seen and cooked through, but a lot of them I hadn't.  So this recipe is from their Oct/Nov 2008 issue.

Pumpkin Scones with Berry Butter
Butter:
2 tbsp dried cranberries (we didn't have these so I used raisins...still good)
1/2 cup boiling water
1/2 cup butter, softened
3 tbsp powdered sugar
Dough:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (I used 1 1/4 cup white and 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour...to make them "healthier" and also to eat them for breakfast with less guilt)
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cold butter
1 egg
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/3 cup milk
2 tbsp chopped pecans, optional (but I added them because I love them)

Place cranberries in a small bowl; add boiling water.  Let stand for 5 minutes; drain and chop.  In a small bowl beat butter until light and fluffy.  Add powdered sugar and cranberries; mix well.  Cover and refrigerate at least 1 hour (I did not refrigerate mine).

In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, pie spice, salt, and baking soda.  Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.  In a small bowl whisk the egg, pumpkin, and milk; add to crumb mixture just until moistened.  Stir in pecans if desired.

Turn dough onto a floured surface; knead 10 times.  Pat into an 8-inch circle.  Cut into 8 wedges; separate wedges and place on a greased baking sheet (my dough seemed wetter than it should [maybe because I used some wheat flour] and I knew separating the wedges would be futile and frustrating.  So I did knead the dough on a lightly floured surface but then I put it on my baking stone and smooshed it into the 8-inch circle, and then cut it into 8 wedges.  I tried to separate them a bit so that it wouldn't be one giant cookie [you can see it in the picture above].  It worked pretty well).

Bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes (mine took about 18; it always takes longer on baking stones, I've found) or until golden brown.  Serve warm with berry butter.

 

The results:
Yum yum yum yum yum.  These aren't the prettiest scones ever.  But they tasted amazing. Both older children really liked them.  The little one wouldn't try ("I can't eat those.  Because of the pecans." But he could if he wanted to, he's just picky).  So delicious with my coffee this afternoon.  And THIS JUST IN my friend just stopped by and ate one and said "Mmmmmmm."  So I am very pleased to resume blogging with this yummy thing.  Even if only my sister and a couple other people read it :)