Cookie Countdown - Day 2

"Day 2": 2-Ingredient Chocolate-Peanut Butter Truffles

It was a bit ambitious of me to think I could make a new recipe each day, so I will likely be doing an every other day challenge. As a result, here is the second recipe of the #PillsburyCookieCountdown

At first when this recipe appeared in my inbox, I thought "Truffles? That is way too complicated for me". Truffles seem so sophisticated, elegant, intricate, I figured that there was no way a home baker with my skill level would be able to make these. Boy was I wrong! These were extremely easy and created a dessert that I feel very proud of!

Cost

• 1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated peanut butter cookies -- $3.29
• 1 bag (12 oz) semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups) -- $0.00

Total Cost: $3.29

Due to a store promotion I was able to get the bag of semisweet chocolate chips for free by purchasing the bag of dark chocolate chips for the day one recipe.

Expectation vs. Reality

This recipe created 30 truffles, as opposed to the 24 called for by the recipe. However, unlike the ganache from the first recipe, the amount of melted chocolate was much more reasonable for coating the truffles. Although there was some extra, I do not think that making less would have been successful due to the nature of needing to cover the entire truffle.

Verdict

As I said at the beginning of the post, I was pleasantly surprised with the ease of this recipe and they taste pretty great as well! I am not a huge peanut butter and chocolate fan, but the two flavors are well balances in these truffles. Additionally, they are small enough to just pop in your mouth, making them easy and mess free to eat.

For "Day 3", the recipe is for a Holiday 7-Layer Bar, which has a fairly large number of ingredients but will hopefully not be too difficult to put together.

Happy baking!

Cookie Countdown - Day 1

A month or so ago, I saw on Facebook or Instagram, that Pillsbury was going to be doing a "Cookie Recipe a Day Countdown". I love to bake, but I always end up making the same thing so I figured I would sign up to receive the daily e-mails (plus a bunch of other ones along the way) and try and bake a new cookie each day.

I wanted to document my baking extravaganza here so I would be able to look back on the recipes I liked, or wasn't fond of, and remember a little bit more about each cookie, the cost of ingredients, time and difficulty, etc. I often feel like recipes say one thing, or call for specific amounts of ingredients, but then when I follow the recipe it is always just a little bit off from what they claim. So I want to document those things here as well.

If you'd like to join me on this adventure, click here, and sign up! I will mention that the e-mails don't come into my inbox until around 3:00pm, so I will be a day "behind" on the cookie making. I would love to hear and see your successes in the comments!

On to the cookies!

Day 1: Chocolate-Cherry Thumbprint Cookies

This is definitely not a recipe I would normally make, as I don't really know how I feel about maraschino cherries. However, it was the first recipe to come to my e-mail, so make them I did!

The first thing I will mention is that prior to beginning this adventure I did go out a buy a cookie dough scoop from Bed, Bath & Beyond (click here). I purchased both the small and medium sized scoops and I was amazed at how well they worked. I can't believe I have gone so long without having these in my life, but I would highly recommend making this purchase if you plan to make a lot of cookies.

As far as cost for this recipe, here was the breakdown I ended up paying for the ingredients. Ingredients with a price of $0.00 were ones that I already had at home.

• 1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury refrigerated sugar cookies -- $3.29
• unsweetened baking cocoa -- $0.00
• 4 oz cream cheese -- $0.00
• dark chocolate chips -- $2.49 (on sale from $2.91)
• heavy cream -- $2.85
• butter -- $0.00
• maraschino cherries -- $1.47

Total Cost: $10.10

Expectation vs. Reality

The recipe asks for balls of cookie dough that are 1.5" in diameter. For this I used the small cookie scoop and ended up with 36 cookies, instead of the 24 the recipe claimed to make. Mine turned out pretty identical to the picture on the website, so I am fairly sure I sized them correctly. I'm not too upset about this because otherwise I would have had half a jar of left over maraschino cherries. Instead I only had five extra.

The other major difference between the recipe and what I feel I actually needed is the chocolate ganache. The recipe calls for 3/4 cup dark chocolate chips. If I were to make this recipe again I would only use half a cup and adjust the other ingredients accordingly. I had WAY too much ganache for the number of cookies I made, and remember I even had a dozen more than the recipe originally intended!

This was a fairly easy recipe that didn't take much time, which was great given that I have a six and a half month old who requires much of my attention. To ensure even baking I rotated and switched the position of the pans in the oven half way through the baking time. 

Verdict

These are a great two bite cookie. The cherry is nice as it cuts through the otherwise intense chocolate flavor. They also turned out perfectly soft and chewy, which is the way I like my cookies! I would say the first day was a success!

The "Day 2" e-mail came in while I was baking and it looks like tomorrow will be 2-Ingredient Peanut Butter-Chocolate Truffles.

Happy baking!