Neiman Marcus Bars
| 1 Box | Butter Cake Mix |
| 1 Stick | Butter, melted |
| 8 oz. | Cream cheese, softened |
| 2 | Eggs |
| 3 ½ cups | Powdered Sugar, unsifted |
| ½ cup | Chopped Pecans |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover 9” x 13” pan with parchment paper and then spray with non-stick spray. Mix cake mix with melted butter and press into bottom of pan. Mix cream cheese, eggs nuts and powdered sugar together in separate bowl. Pour this mixture over the initial layer. Bake for 35 minutes. Cool thoroughly before serving.
Chocolate Chip Cookies
| 1 cup | Butter, softened |
| 1 cup | Sugar |
| 1 cup | Homemade Brown Sugar* |
| 2 | Eggs |
| 2 tsp | Vanilla Extract |
| 3 cups | All Purpose Flour |
| 1tsp | Baking Soda |
| ½ tsp | Salt |
| 2 cups | Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix the butter, sugar, homemade brown sugar, eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl. Then add the flour, baking soda, salt and chocolate chips. Mix together. Use a scooper to place on baking sheets covered in parchment paper. Bake for 8-10 minutes but watch carefully! Allow cookies to cool before serving. *Mix one cup of granulated sugar and 2 tbs of molasses thoroughly.
Brownies
| 2 sticks | Unsalted Butter, softened |
| 3/4 cup | Unsweetened cocoa |
| 2 cups | Sugar |
| 4 | Eggs |
| 1 tsp | Vanilla Extract |
| 1 cup | All Purpose Flour |
| ½ tsp | Salt |
| 1 | 12 oz package semi-sweet chocolate chunks (or chips) |
| 2 cups | Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Melt the butter and mix with the cocoa, blending well. Add sugar, mixing well. Then, add eggs, one at a time. Add flour, vanilla and salt and stir until just mixed together. Stir in chocolate chunks and spread in a 9” x 13” pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.
Strawberry Truffle Kiss Cookies
| 1 | Strawberry cake mix |
| 8 Tbsp | Butter, melted |
| 1 | Egg |
| 1 tsp | Strawberry extract |
| 4 oz | Cream Cheese, softened |
| 48 | Chocolate Hershey kisses |
| Pink sanding sugar | |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Take the wrappers off the Hershey kisses and place in the freezer. Combine the dry cake mix, butter, egg and extract and mix until a soft dough forms. Add the cream cheese and mix in completely. Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes. Roll into 48 dough balls and roll in the sanding sugar. Bake for 8 minutes. Let set on the hot cookie tray for 2 minutes before removing and placing on parchment paper. Top with a Hershey Kiss.
Strawberry Chocolate Chip Cookies
| 1 box | Strawberry Cake mix (like Duncan Hines 18.25 oz box) |
| 1 tsp | Baking powder |
| 2 | Large eggs |
| ½ tsp | Vanilla Extract |
| 1/3 cup | Vegetable/canola oil |
| 1 ¼ cup | Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line large baking sheet with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix cake mix and baking powder and set aside. In a smaller bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil and vanilla by hand. Add this mixture to the cake mixture and stir to form a dough – stir vigorously until all pockets of dry cake mix are gone. Gently mix in the chocolate chips. Drop rounded balls of dough, about 2 tablespoons each, onto baking sheet. The balls of dough should be taller than they are wide. Bake for 10 minutes. Do not let the cookies get brown. Allow to cool on sheet for 3 minutes; cookies will be very soft. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Fabulous Cookie Cups
| ¾ cup | Butter flavored shortening 1 Egg |
| 1 ¼ cup | Brown Sugar, firmly packed 1 tsp Salt |
| 2 Tbsp | Milk 1 pkg Muffin cups |
| 1 Tbsp | Pure vanilla |
| 1 ¾ cup | All Purpose Flour |
| ¾ tsp | Baking Soda |
| ½ cup 1 cup | Chopped Pecans (optional) Chocolate Chips |
| 1 | Package of your favorite brownie mix |
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Make brownie mix according to package instructions. Line muffin tin with paper baking cups. Fill 1/3 of baking cup with brownie mixture, sprinkle each cup with pecans and set aside. For cookies, combine shortening, brown sugar, milk and vanilla in large mixing bowl. Beat at medium speed of mixed until well blended. Beat in egg. Combine flour, salt and baking soda. Mix into creamed mixture just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips. Roll teaspoon of dough into a ball and place one in the middle of the brownie mixture in each baking cup and press down slightly. Bake accordingly to brownie package instructions. A 10-11 oz brownie mix will yield approximately 12 cups and you will have enough cookie dough to bake additional cookies.
Chocolate Covered Pretzels
1 bag Snyder’s Olde Tyme Pretzels
1 bag Wilton Candy Melts (or some other white chocolate/almond bark)
Sprinkles
Have your pretzels and sprinkles open and ready and a pan to sprinkle over and plenty of wax paper to sit the pretzels on after they take a dip in the glorious chocolate. Next, melt chocolate according to the package directions. Two things to not do – over cook the chocolate or add water. Suggestion: cook for one minute in the microwave at 50% POWER, then stir. They usually are barely starting to melt. Then, return chocolate to the microwave for another 30 seconds at 50% power. Stir it really well and then go for one more spin in the microwave. Dip the pretzel into the yummy creamy chocolate. Gently tap the pretzel against the side of the bowl, before holding it over my sprinkle area. Wait until the chocolate has cooled and thickened a bit and then dip into the sprinkles of your choice. Lay down on wax paper with pretty side up.
Brown Butter Blondies
| 2 sticks | Unsalted Butter |
| 2 cups | All Purpose Flour |
| 1 tsp | Kosher Salt (heaping tsp) |
| 2 | Eggs |
| 4 tsp | Vanilla Extract (good quality preferred) |
| 1 ¾ cups | Dark Brown Sugar (light brown is a good second choice) |
| 1 cup | Bittersweet Chocolate Chips |
Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan. Swirl it around a few times. It will foam and spatter. After 3-4 minutes, it will start to smell nutty. Don’t walk away. It’s ready when the sizzling quiets down and you see little brown bits drop to the bottom of the pan. Pour into a large bowl. Cool completely (about 30 minutes). Alternatively, if you want a blondie marbled with chocolate, cool butter for only 5 minutes and proceed with the recipe. The warm dough will melt the chocolate chips a bit. Heat oven to 350°. Prepare 8” x 8” baking pan with butter and flour, parchment paper, or aluminum foil. Set aside. Whisk together flour and salt. In another bowl, whisk together eggs and vanilla. Set aside. Add brown sugar to the cooled butter. Mix with a wooden spoon for about a minute. Add egg/vanilla mixture to butter/sugar mixture. Mix until combined and shiny, about 20 seconds. Add flour mixture to the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Mix until there are still a few pockets of flour visible. Add chocolate chips. Mix until evenly distributed and all flour pockets are gone, but be careful not to over-mix! Spoon dough into your prepared baking pan. Spread evenly with the back of wooden spoon (it will keep its shape). Bake for 25-30 minutes. Look for a crispy top that’s just starting to crack, firm slightly-browned edges, and when you press on the center, you don’t want it to feel really soft. Remove from the oven. Cool completely before removing from pan. The blondie block should pop right out (either pull out by parchment/aluminum foil or if in a greased pan, just invert onto a cutting board and carefully flip it back over). Cut into desired portion sizes. These keep for a few days at room temperature in an airtight container or you can freeze them for a few months.