Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls

While 99% of the meals I eat are vegan, the sweets I bake are only about 50% vegan because I find that non-vegan baked goods don’t bother my stomach as much as regular food. After looking through my past couple of posts, I realized I hadn’t posted a vegan recipe in a loooooong time. These are one of my favorite vegan cookies and I couldn’t believe I hadn’t written about them yet!

This recipe comes from one of my favorite vegan blogs, Peas and Thank you. Sarah has some really great easy recipes that even my meat loving husband enjoys eating.

These peanut butter cookie dough balls are quick, easy, and taste delicious. Even though they are baked, they still retain a doughy texture which makes them highly addictive.

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Balls

From Peas and Thank You
Makes 12-18 cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup non-dairy margarine
3/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup non-dairy peanut butter chips
1/2 cup non-dairy chocolate chips

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat margarine, peanut butter, sugars and vanilla until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine baking powder, baking soda, salt and flours.
Add the dry mixture to the peanut butter mixture a bit at a time, until dough forms.
Stir in the peanut butter and chocolate chips.

Chill dough for 30 minutes.

preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Scoop dough with onto a cookie dough sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will still be soft and won't spread that much. Be careful not to overbake or you will lose the doughy-ness! Let the cookies cook on the pan for one minute before transferring to a cooling rack.

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Frosting Creations Winners

Thank you all for entering the Duncan Hines Frosting Creations giveaway. The following three winners were chosen by random.org:

• #42 Sara Hanne
• #31 Deidre
• #35 Stacy Knight

Congratulations to you all!

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S’more Cupcakes {Giveaway}

We had Murphy neutered last week. He was not a happy camper.

I also cleaned the carpet, only to have Murphy run all over it with his muddy paws. I know. It’s an exciting life I lead.

In other news, I made these cupcakes.

The folks at All You magazine sent me a kit to try the Duncan Hines new Frosting Creations. Frosting Creations are basically packets of different flavorings that you can add to a can of unflavored frosting

I’m a sucker for anything s’mores so that’s why I decided to try the chocolate marshmallow frosting first! They came out pretty well and frosting was good although it I didn’t really detect much marshmallow taste in the frosting.

I also made these whoopie pies using the orange creme frosting. You can find the recipe here. I liked the taste of this one as well but found both frostings to be a little too runny for piping.

Overall, I like the offers unique flavor choices that Frosting Creations offer. You should  be able to find them at your local Walmart (mine didn’t have them in yet). I would like to try the cotton candy and white chocolate raspberry next!

And now, you can enter for a chance to win a Frosting Creations kit! The kit includes:

• 2 boxes of Duncan Hines devil’s food cake mix
• 2 boxes of Duncan Hines french vanilla cake mix
• 4 starter cans of frosting
• 4 flavor packets (chocolate marshmallow, orange creme, cherry vanilla, and strawberry shortcake)

I’m giving three kits away; here’s how to enter:

1. Leave a comment letting me know which new frosting flavor you would like to try
2. Become a fan of The Caramel Cookie on Facebook, leave a comment letting me know you are
3. Follow @Caramel_Cookie_ on twitter, leave a comment letting me know you follow me
4. Pin the cupcakes on pinterest and leave a comment letting me know

The giveaway ends on March 30th at 10:00pm.

*I was given the frosting creations kit and a copy of the lastest All You by All You. All reviews and opinions are my own*

Note: the devil’s food cake mix, frosting starter and orange creme frosting appear to be vegan. Yay!

S'more Cupcakes

From Duncan Hines

Ingredients:

Graham Cracker Layer:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
¼ cup melted butter
2 tbsp. sugar
pinch of salt

Cupcakes:
1 pkg. Duncan Hines® Devil's Food Cake Mix
3 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 1/3 cups water
2 cups marshmallow fluff
2 cans Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Frosting Starter
2 packets Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Chocolate Marshmallow Flavor Mix
2 tbsp. graham cracker crumbs (optional, for topping)
24 mini-marshmallows (optional, for topping)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place cupcake liners in muffin pans.

Mix 1 cup of graham cracker crumbs, melted butter, sugar and salt in small bowl. Place 2 tsp. of the graham cracker mixture in bottom of each cupcake liner. Use bottom of small juice glass to pack and flatten graham crust in liners. Bake for 5 to 7 minutes until graham cracker layer is golden. Let cool.

Meanwhile, prepare cake batter as directed on package. Scoop cake batter on top of graham cracker crust, filling cupcake liner no more than two-thirds full. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until toothpick inserted into cupcakes comes out clean.

Let cupcakes cool for 5 minutes, then turn out of pans to finish cooling.

Cut a cone-shaped piece from middle of cupcake. Do not cut through graham cracker layer. Put marshmallow fluff in a piping bag or plastic bag with the corner cut off and squeeze fluff into hollow of cupcake.

Pour 1 packet of Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Chocolate Marshmallow Flavor Mix into 1 can of Duncan Hines® Frosting Creations™ Frosting Starter. Stir until evenly blended. Repeat with second can and packet.

Frost cupcakes with the Chocolate Marshmallow frosting you just created.

Sprinkle tops of cupcakes with extra graham cracker crumbs and garnish with a mini-marshmallow, if desired.

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Tahini Lemon Cookies

A few weeks ago my husband decided that we needed a Playstation 3.  He’s never been much of a gamer and said he wanted it mainly for the Blu-Ray player. Why he couldn’t just get a Blu-Ray player made no sense to me but, alas, we ended up with a Playstation 3. He even picked up a few games from our local Blockbuster that was going out of business so he could “play something every once in awhile.”

And Call of Duty has offically stolen my husband.

So while Ryan was shooting some bad guys and Murphy was contently chewing on the furniture his toy, I kept myself busy by baking these cookies.

I’ve had a jar of tahini that needed to be used up and was intrigued by this recipe as I had never heard of cookie recipe calling for tahini.

I’m normally not a huge fan of tahini (except for in hummus) but these cookies were quite delicious. While I wasn’t thrilled with the taste of the cookies they were still quite good. They were soft and chewy and actually tasted better the day after they were baked. So If you find yourself with some leftover tahini I would recommend giving these a try–they are certainly interesting.

Tahini Lemon Cookies

Adapted from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar
Makes 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup tahini, at room temperature
3 tablespoons almond milk
1 tablespoon lemon bakery emulsion (or extract, or zest)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
extra sugar, for rolling

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, add the shortening and sugar and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy (about 2-ish minutes). Add in the tahini, almond milk, and lemon emulsion.

Next, mix in half of the flour with the cornstarch, baking powder, and salt. Add the rest of the flour, using your hands to mix if you have to. The dough should hold together when squeezed. Add more milk or more flour if needed (I had to use more flour since my tahini was so oily).

Roll dough into tablespoon since balls and roll them into the extra sugar. Place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silpat. Flaten the dough balls down just smidge and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are a very light brown.

Cool the cookies on the sheet for 10 minutes before moving them to a rack.

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Chocolate Cake

Have you seen the new cherry flavored M&Ms? They are delicious!

I bought a pack on sale after Christmas knowing they would be great on top of a chocolate cake–perfect for Valentine’s Day!

I was looking for simple cake recipe and ran across the chocolate cake and frosting recipe on the back of my Hershey’s cocoa box. Since it only uses one bowl I gave it a try and was very pleased with the results. The cake was moist without being too dense and the frosting complemented the cake well. I also topped the cake with chocolate ganache to make it extra special.

You can leave off the M&Ms if you can’t find them but I think they add the perfect punch of cherry flavor to take the cake up a notch.

Note: I halved the cake recipe to make two 6-inch rounds but used the full frosting recipe. You may want to double the frosting to top an 8 or 9-inch cake.

Chocolate Cake

From Hershey's
Makes one 8 or 9-inch two layer cake

Ingredients:

For the cake:
2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup boiling water

For the frosting: (you may want to double if you like a lot of frosting like me!)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup cocoa
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the ganache:
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
2/3 cup half and half (or cream if you have it)
1 tablespoon light corn syrup

1 package cherry M&Ms

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350. Spray AND flour two 8 or 9-inch pans.

In a large bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Add in the eggs, milk, oil, and vanilla and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes. Stir in the boiling water. Do NOT use the mixer unless you want a huge mess (I know this from experience).

Divide the batter between the two pans and bake for 30-35 minutes. Let cakes cool in pans for 10 minutes before removing to cooling rack to cool completely.

For the frosting:
Melt the butter in the microwave and pour into a large bowl. Mix in the cocoa. Add in the powdered sugar a cup at a time, alternating with half of milk. Add in the vanilla and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes. If the frosting is too thick, add a little more milk.

For the ganache:
Place the chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl.

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, bring the syrup and the half and half to a simmer. Pour the mixture over the chocolate and let stand for a few minutes, until the chocolate begins to melt.

Gently stir the cream and chocolate until the mixture is smooth. Let the ganache cool in the fridge for 10-15 minutes, stiring every 5 minutes. Pour the ganache evenly over the top of the frosting cake. Let cake set in the fridge for 10 minutes before topping with M&Ms.

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Eggnog Coffeecake

I know it’s way past Christmas time but I wanted to share this cake with you all–it’s soooo good! I made this coffeecake in early December for a party and it turned out to be a favorite holiday dessert for my husband and I.

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Murphy

Meet Murphy.

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Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas and great 2012! I’ll be back soon a post of what I’ve been baking up lately.

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Molasses Cookies

This year I participated in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap put on by Lindsay of Love & Olive Oil and Juile of The Little Kitchen.  I sent a dozen homemade cookies to three bloggers and received three dozen delicious cookies in return.

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Pumpkin Cornbread

Now that the weather is really cooling off I can only think of one thing: pumpkin.

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