Welcome to Day Five of Christmas Week!!! This event is hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl in the Little Red Kitchen. We hope to inspire you to break out those holiday sprinkles and get your bake on!
Thanks to our sponsors for Christmas Week. Anolon is donating a 5-piece Bakeware Set. Swing by theirFacebook Page to show them some love. We also have Ball supplying us with 4 sets of Jars in their gorgeous Green Heritage Color. Swing by their Ball Canning and Recipes Facebook Page to say hello.
I am sitting here, trying to find the words to set off this post, yet all I can do is stare at the Mother of All Messes.
Yes, there’s a mess in my livingroom. And I can’t really function. You see, my mom’s Christmas gift to my children was painting their bedrooms. And I thought, well that is really sweet of her and the kids are ecstatic. My mom, she’s one of these ladies who is determined. She makes a snap decision and she sees it through. She’s like a freight train. It’s how she rolls. I love her for it. But you see, she made a snap decision on Monday. She took one look at the carpet in The Moonbug’s bedroom room and said; “Oh, this has to go. I’m getting the carpet ripped out and I’m putting in new floors.
And now everything is in my living room. Everything. A week before Christmas. And I haven’t put my tree up yet. The Christmas Spirit has not entered this house yet. Because. Everything is in my living room. I think I’m going to need a sedative. More like a horse tranquilizer. A horse tranquilizer that can take down a gorilla and a hippo. Simultaneously.
Gorillas and hippos don’t even share a habitat. You see? Can’t think straight.
Let’s talk about these cookies, yo. Back in July when it was waaaay too hot to bake and I was boozing like a mofo, Ruthy from Omeletta (I soo love that blog name) posted a batch of these amazing chocolate popcorn cookies on Instagram. I went crazy over them. I mean, popcorn and chocolate – Combining those in a cookie was effing genius. I printed out the recipe and swore the second the weather cooled (and I got sober) I was going to bake these cookies, hot dammit.
Then I forgot about them. For a few months. ‘Cause its how I roll. When I found the recipe, and this is a full disclosure situation, so don’t judge me – I was spooning dulce de leche in my mouth sprinkled with sea salt.
Booya. Lightbulb went off and I had my cookie situation. By the way, I’ve gotten my best ideas while spooning dulce de leche in my mouth. Helps me think. That’s my story.
I wanted to make these cookies easy, so I quickly popped some corn and mixed my batch of cookie dough. I folded in some milk chocolate chips, ’cause a sista’ can never have too much chocolate. #truth
The cookies are dropped on a parchment lined cookie sheet. You quickly make a small indentation on each ball of dough, as you would a thumbprint cookie. But instead of filling a thumbprint cookie with jam, we’re filling it with popcorn. Then we’re baking these cookies for 8-9 minutes. I prefer 8 minutes. Because under baked cookies are the BOMB.
Once these bad boys are out of the oven you add a bit more popcorn to them and allow them to cool. Then you drizzle them with dulce de leche. Go heavy on the dulce de leche. The dulce de leche situation is light in these photos, but TRUST – It was because I was drizzling dulce de leche in my mouth and ran out. I’ll never be skinny, people. I think I’m coming to terms with it. I’ve spent the week in leggings. ‘Nuff said.
Finally, a light sprinkle of flaked sea salt ties this situation together. The feel of these cookies is much like a nice little Christmas bow of salivary gland dripping flavor. The sea salt. Don’t skip it. It brings out every flavor in this cookie, exploding in your mouth like a batch of Pop Rocks from the 80’s, not that crap they’re passing off now. The old school situation.
Yea…
Get widdit.
[purerecipe]
Swing by all the participants to see what they’ve been whipping up for the holidays:
Gingerbread Fudge by Cravings of a Lunatic
Biscoff Chocolate Chip Cookies by Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts
Norwegian Lefse by Farm Fresh Feasts
Chocolate Dipped Madelines by My Catholic Kitchen
Chocolate Mint Fudge by Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks
Caramel Corn Chocolate Chip Cookies by Mind Over Batter
Boozy Cherries by Cooking In Stilettos
Salted Caramel Pie by From Gate to Plate
Chocolate Mint Fudge by Food Lust People Love
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Don’t forget – We have a giveaway situation happening!! One winner takes all!
Giveaway Prizes include:
One 5 piece set of Anolon Bakeware Set
Two Sets of Ball Heritage Collection Quart Jars (each set includes 6 jars)
Two Sets of Ball Heritage Collection Pint Jars (each set includes 6 jars)
One Set of 1 Dozen Assorted Cookie Sampler Box from The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen Bake Shop
Two Sets of Brownie Brittle Snack Sampler (each set includes One 5-ounce bag of each flavour)
Plus 1 Copy of each of these cookbooks:
One Autographed Copy of Make Ahead Bread by Donna Currie
One Copy of The Mixer Bible by Meredith Deeds
One Copy of 175 Best Babycakes Cake Pop Recipes by Kathy Moore and Roxanne Wyss
One Copy of 175 Best Mini Pie Recipes by Julie-Anne Hession
One Copy of The 250 Best Brownies, Bars & Squares by Ester Brody
One Copy of Oatrageous Oatmeals by Kathy Hester
One Copy of Adventures in Comfort Food by Kerry Alteiro
One Copy of Food Truck Road Trip by Kim Pham
One Copy of Decadent Gluten-Free Vegan Baking by Cara Reed
One Copy of 100 Juices, Smoothies and Healthy Snacks by Emily von Euw
One Copy of CopyKat coms Dining Out at Home Cookbook Recipes by Stephanie Manley
One Copy of Copykat.com’s Dining Out At Home Cookbook 2 by Stephanie Manley
Be sure to enter the giveaway below. Open to U.S. residents only. Good luck everyone!
Ingredients
For the popcorn
- 1 tablespoons coconut oil or vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup unpopped popcorn kernels
For the cookies
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour lightly spooned then leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 cup melted unsalted butter cooled slightly
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cup milk chocolate chips preferably couverture chips
- Popped popcorn kernels
To finish the cookies
- 1/2 cup dulce de leche
- Flaked sea salt
Instructions
Pop the popcorn:
- Add the popcorn and coconut oil to your popper of choice and follow manufacturer’s directions.
- Alternatively, you can pop this situation old school. Add oil to a large pot, preferably stainless steel. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the popcorn kernels and toss gently to coat. Place the lid on the pot and keep the lid on tight. Heat until you hear the kernels begin to pop. Shake the pan gently as the kernels pop. Continue shaking until there are no more popping sounds. Remove the popcorn from the heat and pour it into a bowl to cool.
Melt the dulce de leche:
- Place the dulce de leche in a small microwavable bowl. Melt in the microwave in 10 second intervals. This can take about 4 intervals of 10 seconds. Alternatively, you can melt dulce de leche using the double broiler method (bowl atop a pot of simmer water).Transfer the melted dulce de leche to a piping bag, a cornet, or a zip-lock back with a tiny hole in it. Set aside in a warm place until ready to use.
Make the cookies:
- Preheat the oven 350 Fahrenheit. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Mix with a fork to combine and also set aside.
- In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, combine the brown and granulated sugars, melted butter, eggs and vanilla extract, Mix over medium speed until combined, about 10 seconds.
- Fold the flour into the sugar/egg mixture until just combined. If you see some dry flour bits, it’s cool. Slowly fold in the chocolate chips.
- With a cookie scoop or a teaspoon, drop spoonfuls of cookie dough on prepared baking sheet, spacing the balls of dough about 1 ½ inches apart. With your thumb make a small indentation in the middle of each ball. Press about 3-4 popcorn kernels on top of each cookie.
- Place cookies in the oven and bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes. At the 4-5 minute mark, open the oven and press the popcorn kernels into the melted dough. Continue baking until you hit the 8-9 minute mark. This cookie will remain slightly soft and underbaked.
- Once the cookies come out of the oven, while still warm, add a few more popcorn kernels.
- Finish off with a drizzle of melted dulce de leche and a light sprinkle of sea salt.
- Cookies will keep for about 3 days if covered tightly and stored in a cool, dry place.
