These are a staple at our house. Nothing beats fresh-out-of-the-oven chocolate chip cookies. This recipe is everywhere on the back of many brands of chocolate chips, but it makes the best cookies.
chocolate chips
Frito Candy
Every time I make this candy it is a hit. It’s the perfect combination of sweet and salty. I found the recipe on Cookie Madness, an excellent blog that you should enter at your own risk (try not to drool on your keyboard when you visit that site!).
Gather up your ingredients:
2 cups of pretzels
1 cup fritos
8 mini peanut butter cups
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 bag of chocolate chips
Break the pretzels and fritos up with your hands. Place them in a 9×13 pan that is lined with parchment paper or no-stick foil. Coarsely chop up the peanut butter cups and scatter them in the pan as well.
Melt the butter over medium heat, then stir in the brown sugar. Bring it to a full boil and boil 1 minute, stirring once or twice. Pour this mixture over the pretzel/frito/peanut butter cups. Bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees. Take the pan out of the oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Pop it back in the oven for a minute to melt the chips. Spread the chocolate over the top. Cool and then refridgerate for a while. Take it out of the pan and break it up, using a knife to cut it into rough pieces.
Mocha Fudge
I hope you have will power, because this stuff is perfect, smooth, deep chocolate. It’s easy to make and turns out every time.
Gather up your ingredients:
12 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup milk chocolate chips (not the full bag you see in the pic)
2 Tbs. milk
1 can sweetened condensed milk
4 tsp. instant coffee dissolved in 1 Tbs. water or 1 Tbs. coffee liqueur
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup nuts, optional
Dig in the very back of your pantry for the coffee liqueur. Wipe the dust off the bottle and take a good sniff. Ponder how good this would be to pour into hot chocolate.
Okay, back to the recipe. Put all the ingredients (except the nuts) in a heavy saucepan and melt them together over low heat. When it’s good and smooth, pour it into a foil lined pan (add the nuts first if you’re using them). I have made this many times with the instant coffee and it’s also good that way, so if you don’t have liqueur, don’t feel you need to buy any.
Pop the pan into the frige and chill for about 3 hours. Turn the fudge out onto a cutting board and peel off the foil. Cut into small squares. Wetting the knife helps this process go smoother. Store in the fridge and try not to eat the whole pan by yourself!
Toffee
Of all the delicious ways to eat a stick of butter and lots of sugar, Toffee is one of the best.
This is easy to make, but you do need a candy thermometer. I clipped the recipe out of an old Southern Living magazine. There are all kinds of yummy variations but we go for plain and simple at our house.
Toffee
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup butter
- 1 Tbs. light corn syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Lightly grease a baking sheet.
- Bring the sugar, butter, corn syrup and water to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Cook until the mixture is golden brown and the candy thermometer reads 290-310 degrees (or Hard Crack)
- Pour the mixture onto the baking sheet.
- Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and let them stand for a minute until they begin to melt. Spread them out evenly over the top.
- Chill for an hour and break into pieces.
Chocolate Chip Cheeseball
Like chocolate chip cheesecake, only easier.
Gather up your ingredients:
Santa begged me to be in the picture. He’s old. He has no beard because my sister and I used to rub the soft little beard when we were little and now the beard is just gone. He was part of a salt and pepper set that belonged to my Grandma.
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup powdered sugar
2 Tbs. brown sugar
3/4 cup miniature chocolate chips (plus some for the outside)
Graham crackers
Cream the cream cheese and butter together with the vanilla. Gradually, add the sugars and mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Place the mixture onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape into a ball and refrigerate. Roll in more chocolate chips (or chopped pecans, if you like).
I make 2 small cheeseballs, but you could make just one big one.
Enjoy!