Recipe to Reality: Chocolate Chip S'mores Cookies

My husband and I share the same group of best friends, which is a really amazing thing.

In fact, his best man at our wedding introduced the two of us at college.

Every month one of us hosts a get-together weekend where we provide meals, housing, and entertainment. We plan these rituals so that we can keep in touch, even though we live within a 4 hour range of one another.

Last weekend, my friend Cup of Joe (who was also mentioned in my Breakfast Muffins post) really wanted to try these incredibly deceiving Chocolate Chip S'mores Cookies.

The idea is to make a tiny s'more and surround it with cookie dough.

I was reluctant because I wasn't sure how a crunchy graham cracker was going to taste in my cookie (since I love soft, chewy cookies) but Joe was super excited so we went for it.

Here's What You'll Need!

• Graham Crackers
• Mini Marshmellows
• Hershey's Chocolate Bars
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (we used premade)

Putting it All Together!

1) Assemble mini s'mores.

2) Surround mini s'mores in cookie dough! (This part was tough! I needed a lot of cookie dough to cover up the edges and we used a whole roll of dough to make 7 of these cookies!)

Sticky business!

3) Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes.

We only made 7 cookies!

As you can see, a bunch of them exploded in the oven, cracking open. Overall, we didn't notice that much of a difference with the addition of the s'more. I mean, don't get me wrong, they were delicious...but I'd say more work then they're worth. Fun to say that we made these though! It was definitely an experience baking with my buddies :)

Stay Sweet,

Recipe to Reality: Nutter Butter Balls

Hey Sweethearts!

Long time no blog! Sorry that I have been neglecting my posts, I have had a few busy weekends! Nonetheless, today I am here to post about a super easy recipe I recreated this week-Bakerella's Nutter Butter Balls! I found these delicious treats through Pinterest (follow us here) and when a window of opportunity presented itself on Wednesday, I jumped at the chance to make them! The best part is that they are no bake! This is my first experience with a "no bake" recipe, and I was a little hesitant at first, especially working with an ingredient like cream cheese, which can be pretty iffy when left out at room temperature for too long. However, I was surprised at how easy the process was, and grateful for not having to wash so many dishes and utensils!

The overall process was super easy-

1) Start by using a food processor or the back of a spoon to finely crush all but 5 Nutter Butter cookies from the package.

2) Combine the 8 oz. of cream cheese with the cookie pieces. I found that it was easiest to use my hands, even though it got a little messy. Simply use a kneading motion to combine the crumbs and the cream cheese. It should take a little elbow grease, but I think that this is the best way. It's almost like creaming butter with sugar, except doing it without the help of a standing mixer.

3) Using your hands, form the mixture into little balls about 1 inch in width and place on a cookie sheet covered in wax paper. I ran into a little trouble as I reached the bottom of my bowl because I hadn't incorporated all of my crumbs with the cream cheese. So, some of the balls ended up falling apart a little, but it didn't bother me so much.

4) Melt your chocolate in a small bowl. I really don't like semisweet chocolate, and was unable to find any milk chocolate baker's squares, so I used about 3/4 of a bag of milk chocolate chips.
5) Coat the balls in the melted chocolate. I used my hands and looking back realize that it was probably not the best idea. Try your luck placing the ball on a spoon and into the chocolate, rotating it to coat the bottom and top.
6) Place the newly coated balls back onto the wax paper, and leave them to set in the refrigerator.

Once your desserts have been left in the fridge for about 2 hours or so, they are ready to eat! Just make sure that you store them in the refrigerator to prevent running into any problems with spoiled cream cheese or melty chocolate.

I thought that these treats were great, easy for anyone to make (like many of my recipe to reality posts) and would satisfy any peanut butter-chocolate craving! Plus, it only took me 15 minutes tops to create them, so they would be perfect for anyone scrambling for something to bring to a last minute party. Since they are small, they are a great after school treat as well!

Stay Sweet,