Chocolate S'mores Cookies: A Guaranteed Hit

I hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season! I know I have. I honestly can't believe it is over already. I am definitely ready for a detox though. My body is going through sugar shock. For someone that doesn't eat a lot of sweets but has an extreme sweet tooth, this time of the year is so difficult for me. It is definitely time for a detox. But for now...we talk cookies! A couple of weeks ago, they had some cookie recipes in the county newspaper. I adapted from a rocky road cookie recipe to make these.

I made these Chocolate S'mores cookies for work and for my family for Christmas day. A hit in both places. I heard repeatedly how good they were. My boss is "super work out guy" and eats VERY healthy and rarely picks up any sweets. When he went back for another cookie, I knew they were delicious. I put them in the work kitchen at 9am and by noon there were only 2 left. These are easily adaptable to be gluten free. However, I think it would be hard to make them egg free unless you could find a good replacement for egg that would go with chocolate. Powdered egg replacer will not work. Maybe a flax seed mix would work, but I wouldn't recommend that unless you have experience with it, which I do not.

The best part about these cookies? You make them with cake mix! You want to use a double fudge or triple fudge mix. Even a devil's food cake mix would work well. To make them gluten free, you just sub in a gluten free chocolate cake mix. Betty Crocker makes a wonderful mix that can be purchased at a regular, non-specialty grocery store.

The recipe:
S'mores Cake Mix Cookies (makes about two dozen cookies)

1 box chocolate fudge cake mix (or gluten free chocolate cake mix)
2 eggs
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup mini marshmallows, cut in half
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or enjoy life chocolate chips for dairy free)
4 squares graham crackers (gluten free graham crackers can also be used)

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl, combine cake mix, oil, and eggs. Mix until well blended. The batter will be very thick.
3. Cut marshmallows in to small pieces (I used kitchen scissors and cut in half). Add marshmallows and chocolate chips to batter. It may be tough to mix. I used a thick wooden spoon to stir. 
4. Break up graham crackers in to small pieces. Sprinkle on top of batter and mix carefully. You can also wait and put a couple of pieces of crackers in cookies after scooped.
5. I recommend a cookie/ice cream scoop to scoop 1 inch balls of dough on to cookie sheet. Roll each ball to make cookies more uniform.

6. Bake cookies on middle rack of oven for approximately 10 minutes. (9-11 minutes) Remove from oven and let cool for a couple of minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Make sure they are cool enough to pick up with spatula without falling apart. A cooling rack will help cookies cool quickly and evenly.

I stored mine in a plastic bag and then inside a Tupperware container. It keeps them moist a lot longer than if they were just sitting on the counter.

If you want an easy recipe that will impress people with how amazing the cookies taste, these are the ones for you! Happy baking! Make sure to comment and let me know if you make these yourself. I would love to know how it went.

Gingerbread Granola: A Bowl of Nutty Goodness

Well, it's been quite some time since I last posted. I apologize for my lack of consistency. I have no good excuse. Just pure fall-time laziness. I can't tell you how many times I put my blog on my list of things to do. What is it about fall weather that makes you so tired? Let's talk about the time change while we are at it. Is it really necessary??? I don't think so. Especially not in California. I get out of work at 5 and it is pitch black outside. It makes me want to do nothing more than go home, eat dinner, put on pajamas, and go to bed. Which is exactly what I have been doing. A lot. But huzzah! I have a list going of projects I want to do. More about that later. Let's get to the yummies!

Gingerbread Granola. You read that correctly. I love granola. I eat it almost every day. My go to is Kind brand of granola. They have great flavors, it's gluten free, and you can find it at almost any supermarket. Once in a while though, you just want something different. Bonus: the house will smell amazing!

As I have said before, Pinterest is a love of mine. Why wouldn't it be? With all the wonderful recipes and crafts? So of course, the recipe I used was from Pinterest. You can find the original recipe here. I switched out some of the nuts to use what I had in the house, but essentially kept the recipe the same. 

You will need:

1. 1 cup almonds
2. 1 cup cashews (walnuts or pecans)
3. 2/3 cup pepitas/pumpkin seeds (or other small seed)
4. 1/2 cup coconut flakes (optional)
5. 1 tsp cinnamon
6. 1/2 tsp ground ginger
7. 1/2 tsp salt
8. Pinch of ground cloves
9. 1/3 cup maple syrup
10. 1/4 cup coconut oil
11. 2 tbsp molasses
12. 1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat your oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Add the almonds, cashews, and pumpkin seeds into a food processor and pulse to break the mixture into smaller pieces. If you do not have a food processor, you can chop them up in to smaller pieces using a chef's knife. I chose to have mine in larger pieces as seen below. Smaller pieces might even be better.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, melt the maple syrup, coconut oil, molasses, and vanilla together for 30-45 seconds. You don't want it too hot, just warm enough to melt together.

Remove from the microwave and stir the mixture until mixed together. Add the cinnamon, ginger, salt, and cloves. Stir well and make sure it is well combined. Next, add in the nut mixture from the food processor, and stir gently. It's best to use a large, sturdy wooden or plastic spoon for this step as it will make it easier to scoop and stir.

Add shredded coconut. Transfer the granola mixture to the lined baking sheet and spread it out in an even layer. I used an offset spatula to make sure it was thin and even.

Put the pan in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until golden. The liquid mixture may still be liquid. This is because it is hot sugar. When it has cooled, it will harden so don't over bake the mixture or it will taste like burnt sugar. Remove granola from the oven, stir around to make sure sugar coating is mixed in, and then let sit and cool completely. Break into chunks and store in an airtight container or resealable bag for up to a week.

If the mixture is over baked, it will probably give it a smokey/burnt sugar flavor. My oven is a bit temperamental so unfortunately mine was slightly overcooked. It still smelled and tasted amazing. 

As you can see, this is a pretty easy recipe. You can substitute the nuts for what you have or what you like. The spices and molasses are what makes it taste like gingerbread. Just don't over cook it and it will be amazing!

In other news, I have many things on my list to blog about. I will try to get a new post out to you each week. With the holidays it has been hard, but it is my goal. I am going to finally try making a Jamberry application video, I have some holiday cookie baking to do, AND I was just introduced to needle felting. I am going to try out the needle felting before I decide if I will blog about it, but it seems awesome, inexpensive, and it turns out adorable results! So for now I will say Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, and Season's Greetings. Keep baking and keep crafting!