Giftable Goodies! Chocolate Dipped Cookies and "Stir-In" Spoons

Hooray for some more giftable goodies! Today's featured yummies are Chocolate dipped sandwich cookies (like Oreos), and "Stir-In" spoons. Basically it's a bunch of stuff dipped in chocolate and sprinkled with more sugary stuff. Haha.

These really are pretty easy to do, but be prepared to get slightly messy. It's amazing how melted chocolate seems to get everywhere. It wasn't too terrible, and most of it was on my hands, so it all worked out. ;)

The "stir-in" spoons are basically just spoons dipped in chocolate, and you stir them into either coffee or hot chocolate to flavor the hot drink. I did chocolate and white chocolate, but you can be creative. Caramel dipped spoons would be fun, and adding certain types of candy like peppermints can add another dimension of flavor (think peppermint mocha). The possibilities are endless.

So without further ado...giftable goodies!

Dipped Cookies
Ingredients:
-1 package sandwich cookies (like Oreos)
-1 package chocolate chips (you might need a little more than 1 package, depending on how many cookies you do)
-sprinkles, crushed candy, or whatever other topping you'd like (you could also melt some white chocolate and drizzle...)

Directions:
Melt the chocolate chips, either in the microwave or with a double boiler. In the microwave...dump the chips into a microwave safe bowl (I used my large Pyrex glass measuring cup). Heat the chips for 1 minute, then stir to get the chips all mixed up. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring after each time, until the chips are JUST melted. If you over heat the chocolate, it will get nasty. I know this from experience. Be very careful. Haha. In a double boiler, heat the chips, stirring frequently, until just melted. Remove from the heat.

Dip one side of the cookie in the melted chocolate. Let the excess drip off.

Next, drop the whole cookie into the chocolate, non-dipped side down, so the already dipped side is facing up out of the chocolate.

Using a fork, make sure the bottom and sides of the cookie are covered in chocolate. Scoop the cookie out of the chocolate pool with the fork, letting the excess chocolate run off through the tines.

Place the dipped cookie on a waxpaper lined baking sheet.

While the chocolate is still wet, sprinkle with whatever sprinkle or crushed candy you have to decorate the tops.

When the cookie sheet is full of dipped cookies, place in the fridge for about 30 minutes to let the chocolate set. When the chocolate has set, package the cookies in whatever fun packaging idea you have, and give away! (If you can manage not to eat most of them yourself...)

I packaged mine in clear plastic bags with some pretty ribbon and a tag. :)



"Stir-In" Spoons
Ingredients:
-Plastic disposable spoons (you can use nicer non-disposable spoons if you want the gift to be a little nicer)
-1 package chocolate chips (I did some chocolate and some white chocolate), which will dip between 10 and 15 spoons, depending on how generous you are
-Fun sprinkles, crushed candy, etc for decorating/flavoring

Directions:
Melt the chocolate chips, either in the microwave or with a double boiler. In the microwave...dump the chips into a microwave safe bowl (I used my large Pyrex glass measuring cup). Heat the chips for 1 minute, then stir to get the chips all mixed up. Heat in 30 second increments, stirring after each time, until the chips are JUST melted. If you over heat the chocolate, it will get nasty. I know this from experience. Be very careful. Haha. In a double boiler, heat the chips, stirring frequently, until just melted. Remove from the heat.

Dip each spoon into the chocolate, making sure to cover both sides well. Let the excess drip off, then set on a wax paper lined baking sheet.

While the chocolate it still wet, sprinkle with your decorative/flavoring fun stuff.

When the sheet is full,

place in the fridge for about 20 minutes to let the chocolate set up. When the chocolate is set, package the spoons for gifting!

I used some long, skinny clear plastic bags I got at a craft store. They were labeled pretzel bags, and I also use them for my dipped pretzel rods. They were the perfect size for this.

I will say that whatever packaging method you choose to use, they should probably be air-tight so the chocolate doesn't start to look odd. Sometimes as chocolate dries out, it starts to look spotty or weird. Not great for gifting.



Just as an aside, I'm posting pictures of my little goodie bags I'm giving away to friends. They include a Cookie Tower (a stack of three types of cookies in a clear plastic bag), my dipped pretzels, the stir-in spoons above, the dipped cookies above, previously posted peppermint bark and turtles, and a candy cane. I included a little Christmas card as well, so they know who it's all from and that we wish them a Merry Christmas! :)

Here's my table covered in goodies waiting to be packaged up,

and here is my table with all the goodies in cute little gift bags, ready to go!

And here's a look inside!

So excited to see how they are received. Enjoy your giftable goodies!

Scones

Ever made scones from scratch? So. Good. I made a bunch for a get together recently, and I will be making them again someday. I broke up this basic recipe from allrecipes.com into thirds and made three different flavors: Cinnamon Raisin, Orange Cranberry, and Chocolate Chip. Two thumbs up from this gal. You could make so many variations, it's not even funny. I also made little scone babies instead of huge monster scones. The original recipe makes the huge monsters-one round cut into 12ths. All in all, I broke the dough into sixths (two rounds per flavor), made my rounds, then cut 8 wedges of each round. I also froze the scone wedges after I cut them, and baked them later, and they were still amazing. I wrapped each wedge seperately in wax paper, then wrapped each flavor (16 wedges) in foil. This made a lot of little scone babies, so if you're not making them for a gathering of people like I did, this is a good option to keep the dough "fresh" and let you bake them as needed. And they're amazing.
Ingredients:
-1 cup sour cream
-1 teaspoon baking soda
-4 cups all-purpose flour
-1 cup white sugar
-2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
-1 teaspoon salt
-1 cup butter
-1 egg

Directions:
In a small bowl, mix together the sour cram and baking soda, then set it aside. See how it looks like it bubbled up and expanded a bit? Yeah, it did. Keave some extra room in the bowl.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients. Cut in the butter until lit looks kinda like corn meal, then mix in the sour cream mixture and the egg. Don't over mix it...just let it get moistened.

At this point, I split the dough in thirds, then mixed in the flavors: For Cinnamon Raisin, about 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon and 1/2 cup raisins. For Orange Cranberry, about 1/2 teaspoon orange zest, and 1/8 cup orange juice, and 1/2 cup dried cranberries. For Chocolate Chip, about 1/2 cup chocolate chips.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead gently for a minute, not very long. Form into rounds, about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into 8 wedges, place on cookie sheet, and bake at 350 degrees for 12-15 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

These. are. amazing.

I mean, this hits three of my favorite types of cookies, all at the same time. How could you NOT want to eat this cookie? Or...all three dozen you made... I mean, what? I didn't do that.

I got the original recipe from allrecipes.com...here. I didn't change much, really. I added a teensy bit more peanut butter...cause I like more peanut butter. And I'm pretty sure the size of my cookies might have been a little bit bigger than the recipe called for. But really, I essentially followed the recipe. I'm a nervous baker. I follow baking recipes to a T most of the time, cause I'm scared of what will happen if I don't. Unless it involves chocolate chips...then I might add a few more than necessary. I apologize for the lack of process pictures...I got too busy thinking about how much I wanted to eat the cookies NOW and forgot to take pics except for at the very end. Woops. Next time I make them, I'll take pictures and add them. :)


Ingredients:
-3/4 cup butter
-1/2 cup white sugar
-1 cup packed brown sugar
-2 eggs
-1/3 cup peanut butter
-1/4 cup water
-1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-2 cups rolled oats
-1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

For this next part, I use my handy dandy stand mixer, but you don't have to. A handheld is fine. Let me take just a moment to say that I set out my ingredients early whenever possible, so that everything is room temperature when I start. Trying to mix together cold ingredients doesn't often bode well for me. That is especially true with butter. Cold butter is only good for pie crust. Haha. Ok, moving on.

Cream the butter and sugar together. When I say cream, I mean cream. NO LUMPS people! Butter and sugar should be ONE! Next, beat in the eggs, one at a time. Then comes the peanut butter. Oh, gooey goodness, yes please. Add the water and vanilla, and make sure everything is combined well, but don't overmix it or it will make a tough cookie. Haha...a tough cookie. I've been called that a time or two. Ok, moving on. Combine the flour and baking soda, and add it to the party. As an aside, if you're mixing this with an electric mixer, go slow with the flour. Flour+high speed=disaster. White will cover everything. So go slow until it's mostly mixed in. This next part, I do by hand, without the mixer. It's just easier. Stir in the oats, then the chocolate chips. Try to resist the urge to eat the dough. It will be tempting. I failed. (I know, I know, raw eggs in the dough=bad idea to eat it raw. I couldn't help myself, and they were fresh eggs!)

The recipe calls for dropping teaspoons of dough onto the baking sheet...what is that? I did rounded tablespoons, at least. Haha. Anyway, scoop the dough in equal portions onto the baking sheet, and bake for anywhere from 8-12 minutes. Mine take 12 cause they're big. The edges should be firm and starting to brown up when they're done. I let them cool just a minute or two on the baking sheet to firm up, then transfer them to a cooling rack to finish cooling. And usually, one cookie ends up disappearing before it reaches the cooling rack. I'm just saying. Someone has to do quality control testing...

These don't last long at my house, between me and my hubby. Mmm. Hope you enjoy too.