Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel Cookies

I made these tonight and thought I would share the recipe here.  If you already have all your cookies made for Santa, that's okay. You can try them later. And you'll want too! They are easy and delicious.
I mean the name says it all!
Three delicious ingredients = one super delicious cookie!

I started with a simple peanut butter cookie recipe and tweaked it just a little.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Caramel Cookies
Adapted from allrecipes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup baking cocoa
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 (11oz) bag Kraft caramels, unwrapped

2-3 TBPS milk

1/4-1/2 cup chocolate melting wafers, optional

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Cream together butter, peanut butter and sugars. 
3. Beat in eggs.
4. In a separate bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. 
5. Stir into batter.
6. Roll into 1 inch balls and put on baking sheets. Slightly flatten each ball with the back of a spoon or with you fingers. 
7. Bake for about 9 minutes. Until cookies crackle slightly. Watch closely, do not over-bake.
8. Let cookie cool completely
9. Melt caramels and milk in microwave safe bowl. Stir until smooth.
10. Melt chocolate melts in microwave and stir until smooth.
11. Spoon a small amount of caramel onto top of each cookie.
12. Drizzle chocolate over cookies.
13. Let rest until caramel and chocolate are set.

I hope you enjoy these yummy treats as much as I did. We'll be sharing them on Christmas with all the other goodies.

Happy Holidays :) 

I think Santa will enjoy these too!
We made a special plate just for him.

SAP
Flour De Lis

Christmas Wish Cookies (Update)

So far I've shipped off 7 boxes roughly 12 dozen cookies for the Christmas wishes!
I am so thankful to all the wonderful people who opened their hearts and shared their stories with me!
I've had lots of fun along the way!

Here are pictures of some of the cookies I've made so far.

Lots and lots of cookies flying out of here daily! 4 more boxes to ship out on Monday and than I'll finally get to packing! Only a few more days until we move to the new place!

Yay!

SAP
Flour De Lis

999 Facebook Fan Giveaway Sneak Peek!

I know you are wondering what I'll be giving away when I reach 999 "like" on Facebook. Right?.
I kinda teased you and said it would be AMAZING!
I love all of these things! They make cookie-ing easier and prettier and lots of fun!

The is prize package will include all of the following,

SAP

Wilton Decorating Basics Lesson Plan

Wilton Flowers and Cake Design Lesson Plan

Wilton Gum Paste and Fondant Lesson Plan

These three books have so many wonderful tips and guides! There are step by step pictures for the all the techniques you need to know. If you don't have them already, you need them!

4oz Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Bean Paste

This stuff is the BEST! There is no comparison to flavor and quality for baking. It's the only vanilla bean paste I use.

Plus 100, yep 100 cookie cutters! I don't have a picture of them, but they might be these ones here, it's hard to tell 

They are a set of assorted plastic cutters, but not from Wilton. So a lot of mystery cutters :)

We only have 175 fans to go until we get to the giveaway, so please help spread the word! 

Plus I am bound to add a few things I find here and there during the wait, so the prize will probably be ever better!

If you're not a fan on Facebook yet, what are you waiting for? Head on over here and join the fun!

Flour De Lis

Thanksgiving Cookies

Here are a few more pictures of all the recent Fall cookies.

I made three trays of these for Thanksgiving, but my camera battery died after this picture! And it was Thanksgiving, I had too many other things to do!

Lots and lots of little acorns!

Fall leaves

A few little Gingy's for each platter! I love gingerbread!

 Mmmmmm pie! Pumpkin, Key Lime and Chocolate Cream! All on Citrus Vanilla Bean cookie

Don't they just look good enough to eat!

SAP
Flour De Lis

Christmas Wish Cookies

I have some big news! We're moving!
I currently live in a wonderful little one bedroom apartment in the heart of Seattle. And in less than 1 month I'll be relocating to beautiful Mercer Island, WA.
If you are familiar with the area, you know I am only moving about 10 miles :)

But it's going to be a HUGE change for us. I work in downtown and only have to travel about 3 miles, it takes me about 13 minutes in the morning to get to my office. DH2B walks every morning. We are pretty lucky to have such an easy commute!
All that will change when we trade it in for a lovely 2 bedroom condo on the island. The view is gorgeous, the price is right and there is lots of extra room for cookies ;)
I'll take all of that in exchange for the tedious I-90 traffic. I am already dreading it though!

I'll be sure to keep you all updated on the move and post pictures once we get there.

In light of the move, I had planned to close up the shop for the rest of November and December to allow us time to pack and move and unpack and get settled. We'll be pretty busy between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
I do have quite a few orders already placed including some for recent giveaway winners. All current orders will be honored and delivered as scheduled.
However instead of filling up and remaining spots with holiday orders, I'd like to dedicate all my available time to making someones Christmas a little merrier.

I am asking you to nominate someone you know, maybe yourself, for a Christmas cookie package. Christmas is my favorite holiday and it's my favorite time of the year. I want to spread the love and joy and holiday cheer this year!

Please, please, if you know a family or individual who is in need of a little holiday cheer consider nominating them for some Christmas cookies.
Email me (samantha726@gmail.com) your nomination with a description of the family or person and why you want to give them cookies.
If you are willing to pick up the orders (local friends) or pay for shipping please include that in the email. It won't exclude anyone if you can't but it will make it easier for me to pick more families. I'd like to have at least 3-4 families for this and any help with shipping would be greatly appreciated.
Please email me no later that December 3rd, with your nominations. I'll do my best to respond to everyone and will hopefully make my decisions by the 5th of December.
I want to be able to get all the cookies off in plenty of time to be enjoyed for the holidays.

Each package will include about 2 dozen individually wrapped cookies and with a card about your Christmas wish to brighten their holiday season. I'll try to accommodate special requests and any personalization.

I found this on Pinterest, originally here.

Thank you!

SAP
Flour De Lis

The BEST $25 I've spent on cookie decorating (giveaway challenge)!

After reading the blog post by Flour Box Bakery, I knew I had to get a heat gun. I know had two reasons I needed one. The other I'll show you later. I am still working on that project!




Today I went to Home Depot after work looking for the Black & Decker model I had studied online and decided on.

It was very reasonably priced, only $29.97. The only problem, was that they couldn't find it when I got there. So I went with this little lovely instead.

It's a few dollars cheaper at $22.96. I paid almost $25 with tax. Great price, it's a pretty shade of mellow yellow and it small and very lightweight!

I LOVE it!

I had an order of cookies to work on. I already hand-cut the shape and baked them so I had a long night ahead of me to get them all done.

I decorated all 2 dozen cookies in less than an hour and they were completely dry to the touch! Done. I bagged them and wrapped them and am heading to the post office first thing in the morning! I have the rest of the night to myself!

These cookies are for a friend of mine, the doctors wife :)

I did the lid first, in 20 second icing and gave it a blast on the low setting for about 30 seconds. Seriously 30 seconds. I made quicker time by piping about 4 at a time and lining them up and using the heat gun for about a minute on each set.

Did the label and bottle next with the same process and the details last.

Forgive me Jo for posting about them and ruining the surprise, but I had to share the results :)

And a fun GIVEAWAY challenge :)

Here is what I love about this tool. Not only are the cookies completely dry, they have a gorgeous glossy shine that you normally only see when the icing is wet. No more all nighters in my future trying to finish 200 wedding favors in 2 days. Just think of all the spare time you'll have to spend with your family or catch up on reality t.v. shows :)

Or work on more cookies! That's more likely, right? You can now take that last minute order that you might have really wanted to do and not have had time for!

Plus the best part, (well maybe the time spent with your family is the best part) the SMELL! The heat kinda cooks the sugar, not visibly it doesn't start to turn golden brown like toast, but it smells like creme brulee! I kid you not. I now have a ferocious desire to eat creme brulee, like for dinner. Like I might be trying to see if the heat gun will actually make creme brulee, right now...

Anyway, back to the matter at hand! If you haven't already pick this up. You should. It's gonna be a lifesaver! At least a sleep saver :)

The only con is that it gets HOT! Only the metal part though, so don't touch! Even if you think you've waited long enough (5 minutes in not long enough BTY), don't do it! It's gonna burn you!

Remember that giveaway I posted a few days ago, right here. Well I challenged you to share the giveaway and help me reach 1,000 fans on Facebook by Thanksgiving. In return I'll give one lucky FB fan this :

 Well I am going to sweeten the pot! If we reach 1,000 FB fans by Thanksgiving, I'll also giveaway a $25 giftcard to the Home Depot. And if we reach 2,000 before Christmas I'll give away two more! 

You can use it to buy the heat gun I bought or towards a different model.  Or if you could care less about the heat gun or already have one a $25 Home Depot giftcard would be a pretty great stocking stuffer for your husband, sister, dad, daughter-in-law, son, grandpa, crafty cousin or whatever! 

Here's how it works, all you have to do is share my Facebook page and help me reach 1,000 fans. Just by being a fan, you'll be entered into the giveaway for the mixer and the first $25 gift card. If we reach 2,000 before Christmas I'll chose a winner or two from my Facebook wall. All you have to do is send people to my page, all they have to do is leave a comment on my wall saying who sent them and you'll both be entered to win. When we reach our goal, I'll use random.org and choose one wall comment for the winners!

It's worth every cent by the way! If you can't wait to win one, go get it now. It's the best $25 I've spent in a long time!

SAP
Flour De Lis

My Favorite Things (GIVEAWAY)!

Fall is in full gear now! Coats and scarves and boot and warm drinks are everywhere!
I wanted to dedicate this post to some of the things in my life and especially in my kitchen than make me smile!
So I am sharing a few of my favorite things. Things that I love, things I can't live without and things that make cookie-ing so much easier!
And than I'll be giving away some of those things to YOU! Because dear reader, YOU make me smile too!

Thanks for taking time out of your day to read my ramblings and comment on my cookies!

I would venture to guess that all of us have a favorite cookie cutter or a set of cutters that get used more than any other? For me, it's my AMAZING set of graduated circle cutters. I found them on Amazon (which is an obsession of mine).

Many, many good things come from Amazon! I have a package waiting for me nearly everyday from them :) I told you, obsession! How can you beat FREE two-day shipping?!? 

I also found these cute little Ninja Bread Men on Amazon. I haven't found an occasion to make them yet, but I am so looking forward to it! I've had them for almost a year now!

Keep reading I'll tell you how to win these!

In addition to my Amazon obsession, I also need my daily dose of Sbux! I should buy stock! It's that bad. I mean good :) I am a Grande, non-fat, extra hot Chai. And October through December I alternate by adding a pump of pumpkin spice! So good! 

I always carry my Starbucks gift card and keep it loaded so I earn point for all my purchases. Did you know that if you register your card online you get a FREE drink after every 15 purchases?  

I have at least 3 Starbucks within walking distance to my office, so I go every Monday-Friday. It's ridiculous really. But it's delicious and it makes me smile :)

$10 on a Starbucks giftcard is also up for grabs. Keep reading :)

When it comes to making cookies, I have a few tools that I can't live without! I mean I could, but I wouldn't be making cookies very often! First of course, is my handy, dandy KitchenAid Mixer. I've had it since college. I LOVE IT! I use it almost everyday, but only for making cookies. 

Isn't she gorgeous?!? I don't really know if she is a she, but I imagine she must be to keep up with everything I expect of her ;)

I only use my KitchenAid for cookies. I've never made anything savory in here. People always said I should try my mashed potatoes etc. because it's so much easier and faster. But it just seemed wrong! 

So I bought this guy, here to handle the other stuff!

I'll tell you how to win this below!

The Kalorik stand mixer is smaller and a lot lighter, but it easily handles all my miscellaneous food prep! You can find it here on you guessed it, Amazon! It's also much cheaper! I am saving all my pennies (and Swagbucks) for a second KitchenAid to make cookie-ing a little quicker, so the $69 price tag was very nice!

Sugar cookies are pretty delicious fresh out of the oven! They're soft and warm and taste so yummy. But they wouldn't be nearly as pretty if we ate them just like that!

One of my favorite cookie tools is really a wonderful edible product :)

Americolor gel food colors! They're the best! When I first started out, I ordered the starter kit of Ateco food color gels. I've gone through several bottles of Americolor in different shades and upgraded my most used colors to the 4.5 oz sizes, but that box of Ateco colors are still in my drawer. I've used them only a few times with disappointing results. I save them thinking I'll use them for non-cookie dyeing (maybe this Easter). I like to buy mine from here, because they have a great selection (in all sizes) and they're in WA, so I consider them a local business and I prefer to support them. Plus the customer service is GREAT! They also carry meringue powder in bulk, for a great price! 

I have a few bottles of random colors in the .75 oz sizes that I'll throw into the giveaway too! 

If you use disco dust, you are probably wishing you had a few of these next items! These little Pixie Dust Shakers from Karens Cookies are amazing little tools! The store the disco dust for you, apply it  as needed and they are clear so you can always tell which color you are using! 

You can win 3 of these!

And finally, the wonderful little bottles that make cookie decorating a breeze! Cleaning them is still an enormous chore, and I am not volunteering to help you with that! They are small, so you don't have to make a ton of icing to use them. They are very stable and don't leak! And they come with tips, but I rarely use them. In fact of the 20 or more bottles that I have, I think I've only used the plastic tips twice and that is because I ran out of Wilton metal tips!  You can find these in several places. I usually order them from Karen's Cookies or from Copper Gifts depending on which one of them has something else that I need! 

I'll share more of my favorites later, but I need to wrap this up before it gets to long! So here is the giveaway: 1 set of Ninja Bread cookie cutters, $10 Starbucks gift card, 2-3 assorted Americolor

Giveaway closed!

You can enter three ways:

1. You must follow this blog and leave a comment on THIS post saying you want to be entered in the giveaway.

2. If you are a fan on Facebook, just share this giveaway and leave a second comment HERE on the blog.

3. Share this giveaway on by tweeting, "I just entered to win some of @flour_de_lis favorite things!" Than leave a 3rd comment here, telling me you tweeted.

Easy peasy right?!?

Now if you are still reading, you are wondering about that Kalorik mixer! So here is the deal with that, if I reach 1,000 fans on Facebook before Thanksgiving, I'll giveaway that mixer to one lucky FB fan. 

Random.org is always used to pick a winner here. This giveaway is open to everyone, but when I giveaway the mixer it'll be US resident's only. 

All the prizes here are gifts from me. This is not a sponsored post.

This giveaway will close at midnight on November 15th. A winner will be selected and notified on the 16th.

Please read everything before entering, I will only accept entries here on the blog that meet the requirements above. Good luck everyone and thank you all for your support!

XOXOXO

Samantha

Flour De Lis

Welcome Home Cookies

One of my best friends from high school married a beautiful girl, then he joined the Air Force. He didn't get to be there to celebrate his 1 year anniversary with his wife and he wasn't home to see the birth of his beautiful baby boy.

It's amazing the things we take for granted. So many men and women in our country know this story too well. They miss out on many important events that the rest of us can't imagine not being there for.

We're all really proud of what he's doing, and very happy that's home with his little family.

Congratulations on your sweet new addition Nick and Isabel! 

Welcome to the world little baby Landon and welcome home to the new dad :)

I love you guys! Thanks for letting me spend the day loving on your sweet little man. I adore him :)

SAP

Flour De Lis

Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies

Fall is my favorite season. The colors are gorgeous, the flavors are enticing, the weather is nice and fashions are comfortable and stylish.

What I love most about fall is that we try to take every recipe we know and love and for 3 months we try to  incorporate pumpkin into them, someway, somehow. Pumpkin scones, pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup, pumpkin bread, pumpkin tarts, pumpkin ice cream, pumpkin cookies, roast pumpkin, pumpkin butter, pumpkin cream cheese, pumpkin ravioli,.. Okay I'll stop before I get all Forest Gump on you!
I am totally guilty of this!

And of course we use our pumpkins for extracurricular activities too! pumpkin carving is just good old fashion fun! No matter how old you get :)

Earlier this week we hosted a pumpkin carving party with lots of finger foods, and of course cookies.
I made a big old platter of cookies for everyone to enjoy! Some decorated and some just dipped in chocolate. Simple, pretty and tasty!

I am going to share the recipe here in case you want to try these simple shortbread cookies for your next party! I guess there ARE a few fall recipes that don't need pumpkin on the list of ingredients ;)

Harvest Moon Vanilla Bean Shortbread
Adapted from Food.com

Ingredients:
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup, cold butter
1 tsp. vanilla bean paste (I always use this)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350˚
2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour and sugar.
3. With a fork or pastry cutter, cut in cold butter until mixture resembles medium to fine crumbs.
4. Add vanilla bean to mixture.
5. Knead the dough just until smooth and homogenous.
6. Roll out on a lightly floured surface.
7. Cut into desired shapes.
8. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until lightly golden on the bottom.
9. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool completely before dipping in chocolate (if desired)
10. Melt chocolate or candy melts in the microwave for about 30 seconds stirring as needed. Don't let it scorch! Nothing is worse than wasted chocolate ;)
11. Dip cookies halfway into melted chocolate and gently shake off excess.
12. Place cookies on wax paper and let chocolate set before enjoying.

***Shortbread isn't as easy to work with as sugar cookie dough, so chill it as you need to and don't lose your patience, the melt in your mouth texture is worth it ;) ****

Sorry I didn't take more pictures during the process! I didn't know how yummy they would be!

You can serve them right along side your prettiest decorated cookies for any seasonal party!

Enjoy!

SAP
Flour De Lis