tricks-or-treats

Feliz Dia de los Muertos, and happy belated Halloween, y'all.  We had a fun weekend of dress up, sugar consumption, and fun parties.  I'll kick things off with a new recipe that I made for my friend Sarah's party on Friday night, Caramel-filled Chocolate Cookies (courtesy of Allrecipes).  Here's the skinny (although there isn't much that's skinny about these bad boys):

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon white sugar
48 chocolate-covered caramel candies (I used Rolos)

Directions

1.Beat butter until creamy. Gradually beat in white sugar and brown sugar. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, and cocoa. Gradually add to butter mixture, beating well. Stir in 1/2 cup walnuts. Cover and chill at least 2 hours.

2.Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

3.Combine remaining 1/2 cup nuts with the 1 tablespoon sugar. Divide the dough into 4 parts. Work with one part at a time, leaving the remainder in the refrigerator until needed. Divide each part into 12 pieces. Quickly press each piece of dough around a chocolate covered caramel. Roll into a ball. Dip the tops into the sugar mixture. Place sugar side up, 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets.

4.Bake for 8 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool for 3 to 4 minutes on the baking sheets before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
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They were pretty easy, although a little time consuming.  Here are some pics of the process:
 

After the dough is fully refrigerated (don't skip this step!), roll into balls.  I made mine on the small side so the cookie-to-caramel-center-ratio would be about half & half.  I also used parchment paper on the cookie sheet, per many of the reviews on Allrecipes.

 

 Next, make a little "well" for the Rolo (my thumb worked great for this), press the Rolo into the cookie, and seal the dough around it.

Dip in sugar, and then chopped walnuts.  You can skip the walnuts (or sub for another kind of nut), but I'm not sure why you'd want to do that unless you're allergic!  They add a lot to the texture and also the Delicious Factor.

Here they are fresh out of the oven.  Also do not skip the cooling step or they will fall apart on you.  A few minutes is all it takes.

Are you ready for this? 

 

  **DROOOOOL**

They were super awesome, if I do say so myself, and a hit at the party.  Speaking of which, a few shots from said party - Rod and I went as Juno & Paulie Bleeker:

 Kristen, Bill & I

 Sarah, our hostess, puttin' the hurt on some Journey.  I love how Rod looks like he's stretching for the 50 yard dash in this shot.

My favorite costume of the night, Sarah's dog Billie.

It was a super fun night, and you can see more pics of Sarah's kick-ass decorations on her blog, Badder Homes & Gardens.  She went all out & her house really looked super spooky and awesome.  Thanks again for the good times!