Mike needed to bring a dessert to one of his meetings. I stumbled upon this recipe and I couldn’t resist – chocolate with caramel? Yes, please! These cookies are so good – soft, gooey, and so easy to make. I think the most difficult part was unwrapping all those darn Hershey’s Kisses 🙂

Caramel Filled Chocolate Cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup and 1 tablespoon white sugar
1/2 cup walnuts, finely chopped
48 chocolate-covered caramel candies*

1. Beat butter until creamy. Gradually beat in white and brown sugars until well incorporated. Beat in eggs one at a time and beat in vanilla.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually add dry ingredients into butter mixture, beating well. Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes.
3. Preheat oven to 375°F.
4. Combine 1/2 cup nuts with 1 tablespoon sugar in small bowl. Place 1/4 cup sugar into another small bowl.
5. Divide dough into 4 parts. Divide each of the 4 parts into 12 pieces to get 48 cookies.
6. Take a piece of dough and form it into a bowl shape. Place chocolate in the center of the cookie and mold the dough up around the candy. Roll the cookie in your hands to mold into a smooth ball. Roll cookie into a ball and dip top into sugar or sugar/nut mixture.
   
   
   
7. Place cookies, sugar/nut side up on ungreased cookie sheets and bake for 8 minutes.
8. Let cookies cool completely on cookie sheets before removing.

*I used Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses with Caramel. They were great – the caramel stayed soft inside and it was easy to shape the cookie around them. I may try another chocolate next time, though!

These cookies are very similar to the Gooey Chocolate Cookies I posted about a few weeks ago. They aren’t as simple to make since they require a few more ingredients, but I think that they taste so much better! Give these a try when you have a few extra minutes to make cookies.

Chocolate Truffle Cookies
from allrecipes.com

4 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
6 tablespoon butter
3 eggs
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. In the microwave or in a metal bowl over a pan of simmering water, melt unsweetened chocolate, 1 cup of the chocolate chips, and the butter stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. In a large bowl, whip eggs and sugar until thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Stir in the vanilla and the chocolate mixture until well mixed. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually stir into the chocolate mixture. Fold in remaining 1 cup chocolate chips. Cover dough and chill for at least an hour or overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Roll chilled dough into 1 inch balls. Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets so they are 2 inches apart.
3. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

This cookie was originally made by Erika Davis from Top Chef Just Desserts. They looked so good and Sylvia Weinstock, a renowned cake decorator, asked for the recipe! After that, I knew that these had to be good.

Chunky Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie
adapted from bravotv.com

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 pound butter
2 1/2 cup all purpose flour
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1 cup walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 345°F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Cream butter, sugars, and eggs together on high speed with an electric mixer. Mix in vanilla, salt and baking soda.
3. Scrape the sides and add the baking powder and flour.
4. Mix until just incorporated and add the walnuts and chocolate chips in.
5. Scoop balls of cookie dough with a medium cookie scoop and place onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, or until bottoms are lightly browned. Let cool slightly on baking sheet before transferring to a cookie rack.

Making Christmas cookies has become a tradition of mine. This year, I opted to make an entirely new set of cookies. Ever single recipe used was something new. A lucky few got packages of cookies, and my sister has been insisting that I post the recipe for the gooey chocolate cookies ASAP.

These cookies were delicious. The best part? They were so easy to make!

Gooey Chocolate Cookies
adapted from foodtv.com

1 8-oz block of cream cheese, room temperature
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 18-oz box Pillsbury Moist Supreme Dark Chocolate cake mix (or any other moist cake mix)
confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, cream the cream cheese until smooth. Beat in butter until creamy.
3. Beat in egg and vanilla extract until incorporated.
4. Beat in cake mix.
5. Cover and refrigerate dough for 2 hours or overnight to firm up. Using a medium cookie scoop, form uniform balls.
6. Roll the balls in confectioners’ sugar.
7. Place balls 2 inches apart on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet.
8. Bake 12 minutes. The cookies will remain soft and gooey and appear under-done.
9. Cool completely and sprinkle with more confectioners’ sugar if desired.

I have yet to find a person that dislikes these cookies. I’m not a huge fan of chocolate, but I love these!! I have the ingredients to make these cookies on hand at all times, because you never know when you’re going to need it!

Chocolate Mint Cookies
adapted from allrecipes.com
yields 3.5 dozen cookies

6 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon water
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 egg
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/2 (4.5 ounce) packages Andes mints

1. Heat the butter, sugar and water in a small pot over medium heat; stir occasionally until melted. Remove from heat and pour in the chocolate chips. Stir until melted. Set the mixture aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Pour the chocolate into a mixing bowl and beat in the egg. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and then stir into the chocolate mixture. Put the dough into the fridge for 1 hour to chill.
3. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease the cookie sheets.
   
4. Roll the dough into 1-inch sized balls and place on the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes, being careful not to overbake!
   
5. When cookies come out, place 1 (or half) of an Andes mint on the top of each cookie. Let it melt slightly and then use the back of a teaspoon to swirl the Andes mint around to cover the top of the cookie. Let cool completely on wire racks.

Chocolate Freckles
yield varies depending on cookie cutter size

1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup cocoa powder
7 ounces dark chocolate, melted
Nonpareil sprinkles

1. Sift the flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder together into a medium-sized bowl.
2. Beat the butter, sugar and egg in a bowl with an electric mixer until combined. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients, one half at a time.
3. Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth – it shouldn’t take very long. Roll the dough between two sheets of parchment paper until 1/4 inch thick. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
5. Using a round cookie cutter (I used a 1 1/2 inch biscuit cutter), cut out as many cookies as you can. Take the leftovers from each round of cutting and knead, roll, and refrigerate to get more cookies. Do this until you can’t possibly get any more cookies!
6. Bake for about 11 minutes and then cool on a wire rack.
7. Melt the dark chocolate in the microwave. Microwave in 15 second bursts, stirring after each time until the chocolate is melted.
8. Spread the chocolate over the cookies and sprinkle the nonpareils on top!